-
Sponsored Links
Follow Us!
Author Archives: William
Lady Gaga vs. New York State Senator
Before a show in Buffalo, Lady Gaga called out one of the city’s two new state senators, Democrat-turned-Republican Mark Grisanti. Via twitter, Gaga told her fans to email him demanding he support marriage equality. I figure his inbox is lighting up like a christmas tree. (h/t Phil at The Albany Project)
Redistricting: Things to Watch Nationally
So dealing with redistricting across the country, there are three broad things to watch – The shifts in relative population among the states that result in changes in apportionment, The shifts of population and demographic changes within the states that can result in changes in balances of power, and New reforms in some states that will change the nature of the line-drawing process. Let’s take a look at the first two. I. Apportionment Here’s the map, courtesy of the Census. As you can see, us New Yorkers are the big losers, along with Ohio, losing two seats in Congress. Texas is the biggest winner, gaining four. Take a look at the map — the winners are in shades of blue, … More >>
Tagged redistricting
Leave a comment
NY Redistricting: Things to Watch
Want to learn more about redistricting and gerrymandering? Come to the screening of “Gerrymandering” we’re cosponsoring! Mapmakers shape the world — nowhere is that truer than in redistricting. We live in one of the states where redistricting is done by the state legislature, and not a special nonpartisan commission (although that could change! Read on to learn more). The results were decades of gerrymandering — very creative line-drawing to create favorable maps for political players — to cement divided rule in Albany, with Democratic members in the Assembly getting steadily safer and Republican majorities in the State Senate retaining control despite a growing Democratic advantage statewide. The results were constant gridlock in Albany, an out-of-control state budget, and temporary fixes … More >>
You Might Be On Swiss TV!
If you were at the State of the Union viewing party / bar night we co-sponsored with DL21C, Greater NYC for Change, and a number of other groups, you might have noticed a reporter and camera crew. Turns out they were working for a Swiss TV station, getting footage and interviews for a news segment on the State of the Union speech and public reaction. Among their interviewees was MYD member and Manhattan Democratic District Leader Paul Newell! I think my favorite part is when Paul starts talking, and then immediately they kill the volume on what he’s saying and a translator starts speaking for him…in Swiss German. Swiss German! Don’t you wish you could have whatever you say translated … More >>
Tagged foreign tv, nifty, sotu, we're on tv
Leave a comment
Late Night News: Egypt Has Cut Itself Off From The Internet. No, Really.
In case you missed it: in the wake of recent events in Tunisia, Egypt has been experiencing a massive wave of protests against its ruling regime, fueled and organized to a significant degree via social media and modern telecoms. Probably having learned the wrong lessons from the impact of the internet on unrest and protests against authoritarian/autocratic regimes in Iran and now Tunisia, Egypt’ has decided to go with what I guess we’ll have to call the Luddite Gambit strategy for clamping down on protests and civil unrest in the Twitter age: they’ve shut off the internet. All of it. Well, almost all of it. ZDNet’s Steven Vaughan-Nichols writes: First, Egypt blocked social networks like Facebook and Twitter. I had no trouble … More >>
Tagged egypt, online organizing, protests
Leave a comment
Ben Smith on Blame and the Snowstorm
In case you missed it, Politico’s Ben Smith had a post up last week with some interesting observations about Mayor Mike’s staffing changes and how they may have impacted city government’s effectiveness (or lack thereof) in dealing with the post-snowstorm cleanup last week. Key quote: Having covered Bloomberg’s City Hall for a few years, and still talking pretty regularly to people who know it better, the real issue seems to be the structure of the administration. Bloomberg had, until recently, had deputies whose jobs were, basically, running the city. When Marc Shaw and then Ed Skyler left, Bloomberg filled the slot of deputy mayor for operations with Goldsmith. But Goldsmith is a policy intellectual whose real charge was thinking deep … More >>
