From: punditster@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/20/2026 9:15 AM, Wilson wrote:   
   >   
   > New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that to give city   
   > residents all the cool new free stuff, we all have to make some   
   > sacrifices. Major. (His first choice is for New York’s governor to   
   > simply raise income taxes even higher; get ’em to 60 percent, why not!)   
    >   
   According to what I've read, people and businesses are moving out of   
   there in droves, according to reports from U-Haul. Why?   
      
   Because the rent is too damn high already!   
    >   
      
   > But Kathy Hochul has so far refused. And if income taxes on the wealthy   
   > and corporations can’t be raised: “We are forced to raid the rainy day   
   > fund, the retiree health benefits trust reserve, and to increase   
   > property taxes,” Mayor Mamdani said this week. He’s looking at a 9.5   
   > percent property tax hike. See, with all the new government-funded stuff   
   > he wants to do, there’s a $5.4 billion budget gap. So I hope your   
   > grandma in the home is okay with watery soup.   
   >   
   > Meanwhile, Mamdani is rolling out his new “rental ripoff” hearings, but   
   > his administration will ban testimony from anyone renting in public   
   > housing. Since the government is a perfect landlord, why would you ever   
   > need to complain about it? One other funny thing about the budget: A big   
   > chunk of it goes to public schools, which we are always told are “an   
   > underfunded, overcrowded public system”; in fact, that’s what The New   
   > Yorker called them last week. Like a sort of mantra, we are always told   
   > this. No matter that New York spends over $40K a year per student, and   
   > that the number of students enrolled dropped by 2.4 percent last year.   
   > So technically they’re. . . overfunded and undercrowded. Details! Like   
   > your retiree health benefits: They are not important.   
   >   
   > And a new favorite character is emerging among his coterie. It’s Mathis   
   > E. Roy Vigne, the champagne socialist, whose name, fit for calligraphy,   
   > is a big clue: He spends his days doing communism and his nights   
   > throwing fits at airlines for business class treatment, including a very   
   > upsetting downgrade to economy. On this I must say: Real recognize real.   
   >   
   > Example: “Service @ @AmericanAir is beyond disgrace. Have a   
   > Transatlantic Business Class Ticket, am entitled to Flagship Lounge   
   > access @ ORD—where I went after my inbound flight—but am being denied   
   > access this time for no admissible reason. Disgusted. Why should I fly   
   > American ever again?”   
   >   
   > And: “Earned Flying Blue Silver Status through my travels with   
   > @airfrance. Flying TLS-CDG-JFK today, with two complimentary checked   
   > bags. Yet, the checking area agent was rude and unhelpful. @AirFranceFR,   
   > why do you have to make everything feel like such a pain?”   
   >   
   > And: “Not to make things better, @FlySWISS did not finish its beverage   
   > service, leaving som pax [ed. note: “some passengers”] with a dry throat   
   > because they were late to start. They also forced us to stow our tray   
   > tables without collecting our waste. You only get one chance at a good   
   > 1st impression.”   
   >   
   > I’m in love. I know Mamdani calls himself a socialist, but it’s not real   
   > until the administration is entirely run by people who treat a parched   
   > throat like a curb stomp. When all of housing is socialized in Mamdani’s   
   > New York, you think Mathis E. Roy Vigne will be in a crappy little   
   > shoebox like the rest of us pax, at risk of a potential waste collection   
   > delay? No, no, silly comrade. You only get one chance at a good 1st   
   > impression.   
   >   
   >   Nellie Bowles   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)