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)

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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… Read More

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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… Read More

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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… Read More

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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… Read More

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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

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