Tuesday, September 16, 2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.
The more Republicans leave the House, the better November’s election looks.
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More endorsements come in for Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
In Iowa, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) criticizes New York members of Congress who haven’t endorsed Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy for NYC Mayor.
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) September 13, 2025
“That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of,” he says. “They need to get behind him, and get behind him now.” pic.twitter.com/j9Nl4oN4RR
Kathy Hochul: Why I Am Endorsing Zohran Mamdani.
New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat she has endorsed to be NYC’s next mayor.
In the four years since I became governor of New York, one of my foundational beliefs has been the importance of the office working hand in hand with the mayor of New York City for the betterment of the 8.3 million residents we both represent.
The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought.
I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
In the past few months, I’ve had frank conversations with him. We’ve had our disagreements. But in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family. I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support.
I also shared with him my priorities, making it very clear that our police officers should have every resource to keep our streets and subways safe. I urged him to ensure that there is strong leadership at the helm of the N.Y.P.D. — and he agreed.
We discussed the need to combat the rise of antisemitism urgently and unequivocally. I’ve been glad to see him meet with Jewish leaders across the city, listening and addressing their concerns directly. I look forward to working together to make sure New Yorkers of all faiths feel safe and welcome in New York City.
I emphasized to him my belief in keeping and attracting businesses so that New York remains the center of the global economy and we create even more good-paying jobs for our residents.
Affordability has long been my top priority as governor, and it is the No. 1 concern I share with Mr. Mamdani. As governor, I’ve taken actions to realize this goal, including lowering middle-class income taxes and making school meals free for all students. But there is more work ahead of us.
And in light of the abhorrent and destructive policies coming out of Washington every day, I needed to know the next mayor will not be someone who would surrender one inch to President Trump.
I didn’t leave my conversations with Mr. Mamdani aligned with him on every issue. But I am confident that he has the courage, urgency and optimism New York City needs to lead it through the challenges of this moment.
I draw upon my personal experiences while considering a possible endorsement. When I walk the streets, attend religious services or ride the subway, I meet New Yorkers who love their city but, despite hard work, feel they can’t afford to live and thrive here.
I know what that struggle feels like. My parents started married life in a trailer park outside Buffalo. In the early years, they raised six children on a tight budget. My mom bought our clothes on layaway or at secondhand stores, and she stretched dinners with Spam sandwiches on day-old bread pulled from the freezer. Those experiences will never leave me.
Families cannot wait another year, another month, another election cycle. They need urgent action now. Since taking office in January, Mr. Trump has killed jobs and dragged down our economy with tariff tax hikes that make life more expensive for working families. He’s gutted Medicaid and food assistance, slashed federal funding New York City relies on and threatened a federal takeover of New York — all while trying to put his thumb on the scale of our local elections.
New York needs leaders who will put aside differences, stand up and fight back against Mr. Trump.
Mr. Mamdani and I will both be fearless in confronting the president’s extreme agenda — with urgency, conviction and the defiance that defines New York. And we must never allow Mr. Trump to control our city like the king he wants to be. Anyone who accepts his tainted influence or benefits from it is compromised from the start.
My entire career, I have embraced the Happy Warrior, can-do spirit that meets any challenge undaunted. I and other New Yorkers have seen that in Mr. Mamdani.
Public life is an extraordinary privilege. It should never be about power for its own sake, but rather always about making the lives of others better.
Some will say Mr. Mamdani and I are unlikely allies: a mom governor from Buffalo and a 33-year-old assemblyman from Queens. To me, that’s the beauty of this moment. What New Yorkers deserve right now is not grievances or grudges, but steely resolve to fight like hell.
Mr. Mamdani and I don’t see eye to eye on everything, and I don’t expect us to. I will always reserve the right to disagree honestly and to argue passionately. But I also believe that New York State and New York City are at our best when we stand together against those who attempt to tear us apart.
For all these reasons, I am endorsing Zohran Mamdani in the upcoming election for mayor. And I look forward to working with him to ensure that New York City’s best days lie ahead.(Op-Ed, New York Times)
One more thing.
Earlier in the month, Trump implied that he had given up on stopping Mamdani by dirty politics by referring to Mamdani as "my little communist" and saying, "it would look like he's going to win". Guess he is not quite accepting as he suggested. 🤨
The authoritarian POTUS stomps his feet and threatens when he can’t get his way.
A few more updates from to make clear who Trump is, in case you forget.
The narcissistic POTUS cares nothing about anyone.
The omnipotent POTUS cares noting about who he kills and what laws he violates.
The oh-so-wise POTUS has an opinion about how every industry should run and he often tries to impose his will.
Last but certainly not least - If this doesn’t make you call your Senators, and add Chuck Schumer to that list, even if you don’t live in New York. (202) 224-3121.
Click on the image on the link below, to read the whole article in The New York Times.
Trump is ending the war on cancer
The New York Liberty won Game 1 of their first round of playoff games in a nail-biter against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday. Wednesday is Game 2.
Click to see the WNBA Playoff Bracket 2025, Full Schedule and Matchups. .
Here again is my original post - What the WNBA means to me.
The “W,” as it is often called, is more than basketball sports programming. It is the fullest expression we have of the dreams of equality put forth by the women’s movement of the 1960’s.
There may be only 28.7% female legislators in the House of Representatives and only 26% female Senators, and we have not yet been able to elect a Woman President, but most nights in 2025, in living color, from early May through mid October, we have packs of strong, confident female athletes on our screens, fulfilling the promise of equality by their very existence.
Title IX, when signed into law by Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972, offered a simple text:
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
But sports proved to be only a start. Title IX was the first piece of legislation that embodied the aspirations for equality that had been fought for and growing since Seneca Falls, the first women’s rights convention held in 1848. More than half a century later, the cry which started at Seneca Falls spurred the nation to pass the 19th amendment in 1920, giving women the right to vote.
Creating a revolution in sports, Title IX was soon responsible for greater change as well. It quickly became the legal vehicle to address sexual harassment and assault on campus, as well as bias in admissions, hiring, and promotion in academia.
The women of the WNBA are the children of Title IX all grown up… the Right Wing of America’s worst nightmares. They wear their politics on their sleeves, broadcast their activism loud and clear, and speak for women’s equality and reproductive freedom, making clear too that some in their ranks are “out” lesbians with children and same-sex spouses.
The relationship between WNBA players and their fans is no traditional sports relationship. These players embody their fans’ hopes and dreams for a better and fairer America, where women’s strength is celebrated, diversity is a given, and equal pay is a shared goal within reach. Friendships that cross racial, national, and sexual identity lines.- these are who the WNBA is.
Recently, committed players from teams across the country appeared at games, during the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations with the League, wearing “Pay Us What You Owe Us“ tee shirts, electrifying fans who chanted back “Pay them! Pay them!”
Yes, there have been flare-ups, like the racial tension stirred when Caitlin Clark’s arrival brought her outsized media attention. But time and again, players and teams pushed back against the narrative of division. This is a League that fights for fairness—across race, gender, sexuality, and even national borders.
The New York Liberty’s current championship roster, for instance, has six international players—a legacy of the years when American women had to play overseas for better pay, building bonds with teammates from around the globe. Today, the League embraces them all. Diversity, equity, and inclusion aren’t slogans here—they are the WNBA’s DNA.
And the far right knows it.
Starting on July 26, dildos were thrown on WNBA basketball courts in 3 American cities-an attempt to humiliate, mock and even threaten the players - a sexual threat against their gender - not yet as dangerous but metaphorically the equivalent of KKK crosses on fire in the backyards of blacks racists perceived as disruptive of the racial order.
The players laughed off the attacks publicly, but the message was clear: the WNBA stands for more than basketball, and its opponents know it.
This is why Donald Trump, Jr., after the initial Dildo attacks, posted an AI photo of his father joining the misogynistic attacks, by throwing down a dildo from the White House roof onto a basketball court filled with women players.
Many - including me - recognize how much is at stake in each WNBA game.
Did you hear that Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a video on X featuring pastors calling for the repeal of women’s right to vote—and urging wives to submit to their husbands? He captioned it: “All of Christ for All of Life.”
In this political environment, WNBA players are our warriors and critical spokespeople, fighting for women’s right to equality, fighting for women’s right to fight.