Correlation is not always causation but wow are statewide covid death rates plainly correlated with a few objective, exogenous factors: elderly, obesity, poverty and density (urban). Hard to see any sizeable & reliable effect vs. the trendline from any interventions.

Is the prototypical New Yorker reader really, in their heart of hearts, comfortable with a paragraph like this? Tasteless and ungrateful, especially in an issue so close to America's 250th.

Full disclosure: literally my mom's idea and design. But a good one! Start using this symbol to mark non-AI content. this.us.org

"Covid really screwed her up. That was the catalyst." "Covid screwed a lot of people up." Amazing that when you overhear a snippet like this (as I just did waiting in line) you can be 99% sure they are referring to the lockdown era and not, like, the respiratory illness.

Wait how did Nelly write this lyric 26 years ago? 😳

I really don't think we've reckoned with the Orwellian nightmare of COVID lockdowns, or the long-term harm they inflicted on our social fabric.

I simultaneously agree with @christopherrufo that his abrasive/provocative style does seem to often be the only way to move the needle, and he deserves "thanks" for achieving what a LOT of people quietly wanted done... while also really, really hating that fact about the world.

My theory has long been that they told him he would save the people with a summer shot and then he would be reelected as a hero. He went for it like a fish to bait. Can't prove it because he has never explained what precisely happened.

NYC drives you insane and then you turn a corner and it looks like this

Have any of the "no book bans!" organizations in the US, where there are in fact no actual book bans, raised a finger in protest against the real thing when it happens in Hong Kong? wsj.com/opinion/my-book-is-b…

We excused a lot of people of normal social responsibilities during COVID -- kids didn't have to go to school. Employees didn't go to the office. I think a lot of people never quite got out of this mentality.

Still can't believe they really tried this

I am mostly in "resigned" mode wrt Mamdami but still kind of shaken by things like this... neither he nor any member of his team understands the basic mechanics that a 2% tax hike on $1M is not the same as "$20,000 per year?"

Private school kids get a day off, public school kids get "devices in hand" to stare at a screen. Democratic socialism!

Could not be more overjoyed that Tim Walz is exiting the political scene. He really was just the worst, even apart from mishandling the fraud story. He was a covid tyrant, militantly enforcing social distancing and masking, even by setting up a snitch hotline. He said misinformation isn't free speech (wrong). He defended sending sick people back to nursing homes. He spent public money recklessly. He was a terrible VP for Kamala. He said he was there to "code talk to white guys" so they would be comfortable voting for her. He is identity politics at its most vacuous. Good riddance, and have fun watching football and fixing your truck or whatever.

Mamdani's recent campaign funding has depended on non-NYC donors.

Everyone needs to give Adams another look.

Economically isn't "freezing the rent" largely just a transfer of wealth from landlords to employers, who don't need to pay more, and to stores, that don't need to charge less?

Children in New York City were locked out of school continuously or for extended periods for more than 2 years from early 2020 to June 2022 when children were still being sent home for days at a time from school for ‘COVID exposures.’ Students missed out on key social and educational experiences and many academically struggling children will never make up what they lost. Many poor children in NYC depended on schools for a daily life that had a semblance of normalcy and dignity: to be fed, to wash clothes, to be social, and to get away from homeless shelters full of unwell, chaotic, and irresponsible adults. It’s reprehensible that people still can’t own up to the harm this policy has done - they lack good character and judgement and every effort should be made to ensure they never touch the levers of power again.