Zohran Mamdani looks like he’s the next Mayor of New York, says former LP Vice Presidential candidate Wayne Root, due to more residents having embraced a form of libertarian socialism (Marxism, plus some personal liberty issues) that has replaced the traditional ethnic make-up of the five boroughs:

…I’ve warned for weeks now on my national TV and radio shows that if Mamdani wins, it’s because the New York I knew…the New York I grew up in…is gone. Today’s New York is filled with foreigners, and most of them are illegal aliens.

Gone are the days of Catholics and Jews- who all spoke English, worked their fingers to the bone, pledged allegiance to the flag, and celebrated capitalism. Today’s New York is a city of Muslims, and communists, and atheists- many of whom should never have been allowed to enter our country.

They not only don’t love America, they hate America. They hate white people. They hate Jews. They hate patriots. They hate anyone who is successful. And they choose socialism and communism over capitalism.

When I read the details of polls in NYC today, I’m proven right…

The general breakdown of voters is exactly what I predicted…

Jews are voting 75% for someone other than Mamdani (mostly Cuomo).

Catholics are voting 70% for someone other than Mamdani (mostly Cuomo, but also Republican Curtis Sliwa).

But foreigners are voting overwhelmingly for Mamdani.

That’s why Mamdani is winning.

This explains everything. The New York of today is nothing like the New York I grew up in. Yes, it was predominantly Democrat then… and it’s still predominantly Democrat today.

But in the old days, those were normal, sane, Democrats who elected law-and-order Democrat Ed Koch as Mayor three times.

And who elected Republican Rudy Giuliani as Mayor two times.

And who elected Republican Michael Bloomberg three times.

And who elected Republican George Pataki as Governor of New York State three times.

That old New York was a combination of Jewish, Italian, Irish and black.

But today’s New York is a foreign country.

I don’t even recognize my old hometown. It’s filled with foreigners- most of them illegal aliens. No one speaks English. Walking on the streets of NYC is like being at the United Nations. They’re from every country in the world, but America. And many of them, if not most, hate America and our capitalist system.

Think I’m guessing? Nope. The Democracy Institute is the most accurate pollster in the country for the past decade. Their latest poll shows New York City voters prefer socialism over capitalism by 61% to 39%…Read More

Liberty Vault reflects on Dave Smith’s most recent anti-militarism commentary. The War Machine just keeps on forcing conflicts on us:

The reason why VP Vance and Secretary of State Rubio have scurried over to Israel since the latest ceasefire, has been to shore it up before it collapses. The real reason is as always—the Palestinians want to be part of the new administration planned to control Gaza, and thus a have a share of sovereignty, while the Israeli government wants the Palestinians gone from the area, with not a drop of sovereignty or statehood, ever. According to the peace deal, Hamas agrees to turn over its arms and militia to the new administration that includes Palestinians, while Bibi wants them to surrender arms NOW, at the start of phase II negotiations (which is not according to the deal). The Ron Paul Liberty Report explains, below (see also Iversen on Israel outright voting to annex all the territory):

Join LPQC for a lively discussion about college activism on November 8 at noon, at our Astoria location, Stamatis Greek and Mediterranean Restaurant at 29-09 23rd Avenue (in the back area, menu details at stamatisrestaurant.net), titled “Libertarian Outreach on Queens Campuses.” Faculty and students (or recent graduates) enrolled at the five schools in the county are invited, and will get their lunch paid, for attending to speak on building a liberty oriented club or group on their campus.

Concerned about free speech and intellectual freedom? Assaults on civil liberties and due process? Too much smearing of young Americans as traitors if they object to supporting endless intervention abroad? Or for not being ‘woke’ enough at home? Then this is the meeting for you! In the wake of the recent tragic assassination of youth activist Charlie Kirk, Libertarians in Queens and elsewhere seek to emulate his approach to stimulating real dialogue at campuses throughout the area. We also would like feedback on the LP’s current candidates, or future projects in NYC and state. Hope to see you there!  Details and Directions

Zohran is less than two months away from becoming Mayor, and leads by 22% in the polls. Here’s both parts of John Stossel’s breakdown of how Mamdani intends to take NYC down a socialism drain:

Christian libertarian Lawrence Vance on the basic distinction between NOT tolerating something morally, while tolerating it as a civil matter. If gambling is wrong, does that mean we should shut down Atlantic City? Since strippers are also sex workers, should we lock them up too? If another human being is not harmed or forced into it, shouldn’t personal liberty be the rule? From his Rockwell column:

The winner of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary was Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim democratic socialist who has been a member of the New York State Assembly since 2021. Conservatives are ecstatic that they have a professing socialist to attack so as to deflect attention away from their support of socialistic programs and policies like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and public education.

Mamdani advocates higher taxes on rich property owners, corporations, and millionaires; free childcare for children up to five years old; rent control; fare-free city buses; raising the city’s minimum wage; single-payer healthcare; and city-owned grocery stores.

Although many conservative opponents of Mamdani are hypocrites, their criticisms of his plans are nevertheless spot on—except for one thing.

Mamdani has advocated the decriminalization of prostitution. He told reporters he wants his policies to reflect those of ex-mayor Bill de Blasio, who advocated “community-centered services” for sex workers instead of arrest…

No one with any sense—except a deranged left-libertarian opposed to value judgments at all—would support or be ambivalent about his wife, daughter, aunt, mother, grandmother, granddaughter, mother-in-law, niece, or sister being involved in prostitution. No one but a libertine (which should never be confused with a libertarian) wants prostitutes hanging out on their street corner or near the local high school.

From a libertarian perspective; that is, a property and freedom perspective, prostitution is okay—not because it is wholesome, good, or harmless (it is just the opposite)—but because it is not the job of government to concern itself with how people choose to make a living, spend their money, or have sex as long as they don’t violate the personal or property rights of others when they are doing these things.   Read More

QL salutes a veteran activist and LPNY candidate for liberty, Donald Silberger, who was our 2006 candidate for Lt. Governor, and 2004 candidate for US Senate. From the LPNY newsletter:

The Libertarian Party of New York mourns the loss of longtime party activist and candidate, Donald “Don” Silberger, who died on July 22, 2025, at the age of 95.

He was deeply involved in the Libertarian Party of New York, serving as a candidate for statewide office multiple times, a Presidential Elector in several national elections, and holding leadership roles locally and on the State Committee, including a term as a Vice-Chair of the party.

Silberger was born on February 26, 1930, in York, Pennsylvania and graduated from York High School. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University and attended medical school, later teaching high school physics and chemistry for two years in East Cleveland. He then pursued graduate studies at the University of Washington, and earned his PhD in mathematics.

He became a mathematics professor at SUNY New Paltz, where he also served as faculty advisor for a college libertarian group in the late 1990s. He discovered libertarianism around 1991 and quickly became an active member of the Libertarian Party…More

Top liberty content creator’s critique of Zohran, and current affordability issues in NYC. Would Mamdani give an effective defense of his new politics of super left libertarian concepts in front of actual party Libertarians, or does it all amount to “just put a full-on socialist in charge of an authoritarian government, and it’ll all be alright” rhetoric? Note: LPQC Chair Clifton has actually met Mamdani (August 31) and formally inquired if he could appear at one of our meetings this fall. They are held at Stamatis Restaurant (in Astoria, his own Assembly District), so stay tuned:

Republican candidate for NYC Mayor Curtis Sliwa is down in the political polls, but may be up in significance in determining who wins, according to this take by Reason:

…Long before Curtis Sliwa became the Republican nominee for mayor of New York, long before his multi-decade career as a talk radio host preaching law and order, long before he launched the beret-sporting volunteer crimewatch group known as the Guardian Angels, he was a high school student at Brooklyn Prep in Crown Heights. Heading to school in the early ’70s, Sliwa would sometimes spot the Maccabees, a mostly Hasidic organization that patrolled the area to protect Jews from muggings and other assaults.

A couple blocks from Brooklyn Prep, Sliwa would watch Black Panthers serving free breakfasts to undernourished kids. Passing through East Harlem, he’d see the Young Lords, a militant group aligned with the Panthers; they impressed him, he recalls, by trying “to convince Puerto Rican gang members to serve the community, not war against one another.” He liked something else about those last two groups too: “The beret that the Black Panthers and Young Lords wore,” he says, “gave them an organized look.”

And in the Brooklyn neighborhood where Sliwa’s half-Polish, half-Italian family lived, there were the Concerned Citizens of Canarsie. They were militant too, but in a different direction—this was a white group best known for protesting plans to bus schoolkids across town for racial balance. But the organization would also discuss other issues affecting Canarsie, Sliwa remembers, “such as what to do with garbage in the streets, rabies-infected wild dog packs which were menacing people, and also teenagers drag racing.” Like the Maccabees and Panthers and Young Lords, they were “highly organized and results-oriented.”

…”I’m hearing a lot less ‘Curtis needs to step aside because we can’t have Mamdani,'” says Margaret Powers, secretary of the Rockaway Republican Club. She reads me a recent text from another activist: “I feel like if everyone would get in line and vote, we could win.”

Granted: Most polls haven’t been as favorable for Sliwa as HarrisX, and not every Sliwa fan is as optimistic as the leaders of the Rockaway Republican Club. A Siena survey in August showed Mamdani getting 44 percent of the vote and Sliwa in a distant third place, with just 12 percent. But the sheer volatility of the numbers is reason enough not to ignore this candidate: Even if he doesn’t win, he could help determine which of the other men will….  Read More

Libertarian Party of Queens County (LPQC) holds its fall general meeting on September 13 at noon, at our Astoria location, Stamatis Greek and Mediterranean Restaurant at 29-09 23rd Avenue (in the back area, menu details at stamatisrestaurant.site/). This official LP county committee function will further develop fall and winter goals for 2026, with status reports from the officers, and where committee or subcommittee members are to be appointed.

Attendees are asked to pay/renew dues of $20 to LPQC by or during the proceedings in order to vote. In this session members will again be offered to serve as key persons or “team members” for the following positions: media contact, membership/fundraising, candidate/activist outreach, youth/campus outreach, community/business outreach. Please attend, and volunteer to help in one of these areas! Hope to see you there!  Details and Directions

Retired Col. Douglas Macgregor and Daniel Davis on the peace process being negotiated. In a word, we need an “off ramp” from funding the conflict. Will a non-interventionist approach prevail, where the US acts based on considering its own interests, which lie mainly in ending support for the war, and frankly, in normalizing relations with Russia? And whatever you think of Macgregor’s view, why is this realist perspective never represented at the peace talks, while veteran pro-neocon/MIC voices like Rubio or Kellogg are at every key meeting? Will the “security interests” of Russia ever be officially acknowledged, or provided security guarantees, or will it be again cast as a demon that must be confronted and sanctioned? How will the latter path end the killing, or get to a settlement? See also Larry Johnson’s analysis:

Historian and LPQC Secretary Philip Schoenberg, recently recovering from medical issues, has had time to reflect on what ended the Joe Biden era or Presidency. The full essay can be found here, excerpted below:

…After the 2020 election, Joe Biden failed to deliver on what he had promised. His economic policies made inflation worse instead of better as voters were hit in the pocketbook. Trump’s sabotage of Biden’s belated compromise on immigration, another major issue of concern with voters, was reached during campaign season, too late to be implemented to have made a difference in the election. Concerns about his age, energy, and health mounted reached a peak when he performed poorly in a debate with Donald Trump as well as the failure to go beyond a statistical tie in the polling measured against Donald Trump. Kamala Harris was summoned by the Democratic Party to take his place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_2024_presidential_campaign

What faulty assumptions did the Democrats make about the 2024 election?

The Democrats lost because of five assumptions of what they thought had always favored them no longer worked in their favor. 1. Higher turnout tended to benefit Democrats. Democratic voters, better educated and well-off, tended to be reliable to coming to the polls in the midterms, the less educated and less well-off Republicans show up in the presidential election year. This assumption underestimated the turnout for Republican voters in presidential election years. 2. The Democrats are no longer the party of the working class; the Republicans are. 3. Trump could not expand his base. However, the Democrats failed to question why Trump was making inroads in what their base had been: cities, native American reservations, Latino communities, and affluent suburbs. 4. Latinos and immigrants will vote against restrictive immigration policies but Trump made inroads in these demographics who also did not vote as the Democrats assumed. 5. The Democrats claimed the Electoral College is biased but this time around Trump won both the popular and electoral votes in 2024. Alex Wald,”5 Democratic assumptions shattered by the 2024 election,” Politics Desk, NBC News, 25 November 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/democratic-assumptions-shattered-2024-election-politics-desk-rcna181725

How did voting blocs change in Donald Trump’s favor

Voting blocs changed in Trump’s favor. 6. The younger, more diverse electorate was more friendly to Donald Trump. 7. Men, especially men of color, shifted rightward causing a loss in Democratic support. 8. Women didn’t rally for Kamala Harris just because she was woman and pitched women issues, and Latina women moved rightward. Women remained roughly the same proportion of those that voted. 9. Younger voters, especially voters of color, moved rightward. 10. The Democrats aimed for those that voted regularly while Trump aimed for the less frequent voters. Amy Walter and Carrie Dann, “A Comprehensive New Data Analysis Into Why Harris Lost in 2024”, The Cook Political Report May 19, 2025. https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/national/national-politics/comprehensive-new-data-analysis-why-harris-lost-2024

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Summer polls show Zohran Mamdani leading at 56% in the NYC Mayoral race, but his “blue MAGA” brand of libertarian socialism seems to be splintering the left. A recent Staten Island incident shows him being chased away from his own rally by angry Democrats. MAGA analyst Steve Turley breaks down what this may mean:

As noted previously about the 2020 Presidential election, “shenanigans” happened, from disputed ballots to shady procedures, that appear to have deprived the LP of millions of votes for Jo Jorgensen (i.e., it wasn’t just Trump). Judicial Watch has now filed a brief with SCOTUS supporting the LP of Mississippi’s objection to the state allowing ballots to be counted after the election. From the Gateway Pundit:

Judicial Watch has teamed up with the Libertarian Party of Mississippi to oppose the state’s attempt to resurrect a law allowing ballots to be counted days after election day.

The case is now sitting before the U.S. Supreme Court after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Mississippi’s law permitting absentee ballots to be received up to five business days after Election Day.

In its ruling, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found:

Congress statutorily designated a singular “day for the election” of members of Congress and the appointment of presidential electors. Text, precedent, and historical practice confirm this “day for the election” is the day by which ballots must be both cast by voters and received by state officials. Because Mississippi’s statute allows ballot receipt up to five days after the federal election day, it is preempted by federal law. We reverse the district court’s contrary judgment and remand for further proceedings… More

Larry Sharpe’s radio show and podcast dives further into the gerrymandering squabble: