Choosing the Next NYC Mayor

Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander, Scott Stringer, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie & Michael Blake

Updated March 1, 2025 vs 2/28/2025 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Things To Do Events / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC. This report was first published embedded in the WTD.

1) Watch Polls & Funding

I attended what I believe may have been the first Mayoral candidate forum a couple of weeks ago. I haven't yet published my report on it, but hope to do so next week. In the meantime we've been focusing on Mayor Adams, who is still one of the three leading candidates.

Adams slipped to number three [10%] in recent polling [last week], behind Andrew Cuomo [38%] who has not yet announced his candidacy, and Zohran Mamdani [12%]. The only two other candidates above 5% are Brad Lander [7%] and Scott Stringer [5%].

At present, Adams and Lander, both of whom are funded by the real estate developer and investment communities, are leading with cash on hand, with over $3 million apiece. But that doesn't tell the whole tale, as NYC Mayoral wild card Zohran Mamdani qualified for matching funds last week. The matching funds raised Mamdani's funding to $2.8 million. Given Mamdani raised it from 55,000 people, is impressive - and perhaps more importantly - he has momentum, which none of the other candidates have. And unlike Andrew Cuomo who stepped down as NYS Governor because of sexual harassment complaints, Mamdani has little baggage. Cuomo's other big baggage includes both the CoVid Nursing Home scandal and Albany Corruption scandal.

The Democratic NYC Mayoral primary is June 24, 2025. Be sure to register and absentee vote if you won't be here.

• CLICK here to read the rest of our report on the NYC Mayoral Race 2025 including Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander, Scott Stringer, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie & Michael Blake.

2) Doing Your Homework in the Disinformation Age

TV has Become a Sensationalist News Source & Hence is No Longer as Reliable

There's an old adage in journalism, which says, "Consider the source". Meaning be careful of from whom you're getting your information, because it could be false, misleading or deceptive. We no longer live in the Information Age. Today we live in the Disinformation Age. The Romans used to tell buyers "Caveat Emptor" or buyer beware. Today, a similar warning applies to information, with "Caveat Lector", which means reader beware.

For my money TV News is at least as guilty as social media when it comes to spreading disinformation. The fact that both CNN and CBS agreed to do presidential debates - without any fact checking - of one of the most prodigious liars this country has ever seen [Trump], is an example of how radically the TV News landscape has changed since Walter Cronkite [aka Uncle Walter] used to reliably broadcast the nightly TV News to the nation. The Washington Post reported that Donald Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first term in office.

In the graphic above is a headline about Fox News loss of a lawsuit claiming they broadcast false and misleading coverage following the 2020 election. In the graphic below is a headline about CNN broadcasting unchecked lies / misinformation / disinformation during the 2024 presidential debate. If TV News can't get something as important as the presidential election straight, then imagine how much additional false or misleading information they are passing on due to incompetence, ignorance or complicity.

The disinformation on TV News comes from them basically providing lying or deceptive candidates and government officials with an open mic and then being too lazy or too ignorant to fact check them to make sure their audiences receive accurate information in real time. TV News is also guilty of sensationalizing rumors, allegations and innuendo, which by their very repetitive broadcasting of these, lends some level of credibility to them no matter what the TV numbskull newspeople say. There's also nobody in TV News today that does a credible job of contextualizing the news. They've become a parrot press that just repeats what they hear without thinking about it, analyzing it, filtering it and then translating the raw data or research into something intelligible and meaningful. TV News is mostly headlines and garbage, with some exceptions.

Institutions change with the people who control and operate them. And TV News is no exception. Three of the major TV networks have changed hands at least once or more times since the golden age of TV News, which is oftentimes cited as the 1950's and 1960's, when TV surpassed newspapers as the primary news source. But TV News held sway into the 1980's, attracting nearly half of the nation to its screens, before cable TV, and then the internet, began taking huge shares of audience away from them.

3) Case Study of Mass Media Manipulations of the Electorate, by New Owners

Billionaire Controlled TV News & Papers Used to Manipulate Voters' Perceptions, to Elect Politicians who will use Public Power to Augment Billionaire's Private Profit

Mayor Adams allegedly illegally used his publicly entrusted power, to aid one of his leading illegal campaign contributors, with a real estate project in NYC. Adams is also alleged to have enriched himself via free plane trips and hotel stays from the same campaign contributor.

There's been a newsman's hunch circulating recently, that suggests that further investigation into Adams' real estate deals as Mayor, might yield further evidence of even deeper corruption. Many of Adams' funders are involved in deals orchestrated by the Adams Administration that look to be immensely profitable, and this doesn't even include the City of Yes real estate developers' and investors' bonanza, that Adams pushed through the City Council and then signed in December.

If I were starting an investigation into what I believe is Adams' greatest corruption, I would start with the Fulton, Elliott Chelsea NYCA deal involving Stephen Ross and Related Companies. This could be done at both the NYC and NYS levels, so Trump wouldn't be able to interfere, and it would keep Eric Adams on his toes. But be advised that Stephen Ross, Related Companies and their REBNY industry organization have made HUGE inroads into coopting the politicians at both the city and state levels, so it's uncertain how much of a will there will be to properly investigate.

That is unless the voters start paying attention, quit relying so heavily on an incredibly inadequate, failing TV News, take to the web to inform themselves and get involved in helping a government by, for and of the people work for them again. Those weren't just words to the nation's Founders, they were a philosophy and call to action that each generation must commit to and make their own.

These days many of our largest media outlets are controlled by the billionaire class. They appear to use their media outlets to manipulate people's perceptions of political candidates, to favor those who will bend to their will, like Adams allegedly has, as noted above; as well as to use their media assets to discredit their favored pols' opponents.

In the graphic above is Brian Stelter, whose news show was cancelled by CNN in 2022. Billionaire conservative John Malone, who is a major shareholder and Board member of Warner Bros / Discovery, the parent company of CNN, said he wanted CNN to become more like Fox News. As a result Malone reportedly pressured out former CNN President Jeffrey Zucker, and replaced him with a Brit, Mark Thompson, who proceeded to set up the first U.S. presidential debate in 2024 without any real time fact checking.

Let's be clear about what's going on here. News outlets abandoning the truth is not good for the nation.

A) Case Study: Murdoch gets Rudy Giuliani Elected NYC Mayor using NY Post & Fox News - Giuliani Uses Mayoral Power to Help Force Murdoch's Fox onto Cable in Access Deal

Have you noticed how Murdoch's NY Post headlines have left Eric Adams and all of his scandals off the front page of the newspaper? And how Fox News has continually served up what are essentially open mic, soft ball, propaganda interviews like Dr. Phil does on Merit?

Billionaire Murdoch's media manipulations of the electorate's perceptions appear to have net him huge returns. Rupert Murdoch [controls Fox News, the NY Post and the Wall Street Journal] appears to have sensationalized rumors and allegations against those pols he opposes like former Mayor de Blasio, while providing biased sycophantic reporting, an open mic and free airtime [aka propaganda machine] for those he favors, like Eric Adams.

A small historic example of this, is when Rudolph Guiliani ran for NYC Mayor in the 1990's. Murdoch seemed to use his NY Post and Fox News to promote Rudy Giuliani, while appearing to attack and discredit Giuliani's opponents. After Giuliani became NYC Mayor, he went onto provide Murdoch with access to the NYC-controlled TV cable system, while Murdoch was negotiating his contract with Time Warner for cable TV access / rights.

In what seemed a part of this Quid Pro Quo, Giuliani's partner was given a plumb job, with much better pay than her prior job, at one of Murdoch's news outlets.

And separately, but possibly related, Murdoch wasn't investigated for allegedly tapping the phones of 911 victims, to get exclusive sensational headlines for his news outlets [Fox News & NY Post], after the World Trade Center bombing. It's worth noting that this was after Giuliani's terms as mayor, but Giuliani's connections could have helped Murdoch navigate his way out of being investigated for this scandal. A fate which Murdoch wasn't able to escape back in Britain.

Click here to read more about the numerous, worldwide disinformation exploits of Rupert - Chairman of the Murdoch Ministry of Propaganda. If I hadn't done the research myself, I would find them unbelievable, as it appears that Murdoch literally would do almost anything for a sensationalist headline. And Murdoch also seemed the embodiment of the old Mark Twain saying, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.". Murdoch's most recent lawsuit setbacks were a payout of $12 million for illegally hacking Prince Harry's phones for headlines, and a loss of $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems for defamation. The latter was the largest such settlement in U.S. history.

4) Media Ownership & Biased and Manipulative Reporting

Pay Attention to how Mass Media New Owners' Interests Differ vs the People's

By far and away Murdoch isn't the only culprit in this regard. And unfortunately it's getting worse, which means the voters have to step up to the plate and do a better job of informing themselves.

All four of the commercial TV Networks are controlled by billionaires. ABC by Bob Iger, CBS by the son of Billionaire & Trump Backer Larry Ellison, NBC by Brian Roberts, and Fox by Rupert Murdoch [see case study above]. While these billionaires differ in many respects, the one thing they all have in common is that they are all very rich, which means their financial interests and your financial interests aren't likely to be the same.

A simple example of how the billionaires' goals and yours might differ, would be tax cuts for the wealthy passed by Reagan in the 1980's. W. Bush in the 00's and by Trump in 2017. Extending the tax cuts for the wealthy is a program that Trump and Musk are feverishly trying to make happen, by dismantling all of the U.S. federal government services and protections.

Another example is shown above, where former CBS President Leslie Moonves was reported to have said that he prioritized his TV News outlets' ratings and his company's profits, over the national good.

B) Are Billionaires Rupert Murdoch & Larry Ellison First in Line for the Trump Public Policy for Private Profit Handouts?

In the graphic at right are two billionaires, Rupert Murdoch who controls the Wall Street Journal, the NY Post and Fox News. Seated next to him is Larry Ellison who is Chairman and Founder of Oracle Corporation. Ellison's son, David, is set to become the Chairman & CEO of Paramount Global which owns CBS TV Network. CBS, like CNN, decided NOT to do real time fact checking during the live presidential debates between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Larry Ellison held at least one fundraiser for Trump at $100,000 per head for a golf outing in 2020.

Both men are likely there with hands out, wanting some 'Quid Pro Quo' equivalent for helping Trump's 2024 campaign. Ellison's Oracle hosts Tik Tok cloud for an estimated $480 - $800 million in revenue each year. And 93 year old Murdoch [his mom lived to 107] always manages to get something from the presidents he helps elect, such waivers to FCC Ownership rules from Reagan, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 from Clinton, further FCC ownership rules changes from George W. Bush, and then more of the same from Trump in his first term, followed by preservation of Trump FCC changes by the Trump Supreme Court.

Does this smell like an oligarchy or a democracy?

5) Caveat Suffragator - Voter Beware

Billionaires use Politicians & Identity Politics to Get What They Want

We live in a world, and at a time, where ethnic identity plays a major role in people's decision making, particularly as it relates to voting for elected officials. Voting for people who look like you, talk like you or came from the same type of neighborhoods as you, makes sense - but only if they aren't just pretending to be, and therefore care about, someone like you.

But beware the politician who sells you out in order to fill his own pockets, like Adams appears to have done to NYCHA residents in some of the deals he's been working on there, as well as the City of Yes, where he appears to have sold out most of the residents of NYC. Click here for our City of Yes Zoning Changes in NYC reporting.

Many politicians and government officials are inherently dishonest and corrupt, and will gladly sell out their constituencies in pursuit of their own fame and fortune. So voters have to be careful and do a better job of doing their homework on the candidates before voting. And these days, voters also need to be particularly wary of the media outlets they trust / rely upon, because so many outlets are owned outright or influenced - like the pols - by whomever is funding them. And truth seems to be valued for as little, as I've ever seen it valued, in my lifetime.

6) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu - Bad Actions & Abuse of Power, by a High Profile Identity Group Member, has Negative Consequences for Other Members of the Group, as the Leader's Behaviors are Imputed Them too

One of the best and most recent examples of the abuse of racial / cultural identity by a leader - and the attendant collateral damage to the other members of the group - is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has been on a murderous rampage, for what seems his own administration's failure of security. To date Netanyahu's Israeli Military has killed 49,000 Palestinian people in Gaza - most of whom were innocent women and children [70% according to UN estimates] and maimed and starved tens of thousands of others. Netanyahu's Israeli Military also levelled most of the homes of over two million people in Gaza, in what appears to be Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people.

Netanyahu's murderous rampage was ostensibly in response to a Hamas terrorist attack on an Israeli Kibbutz on October 7, 2023, where 1,195 people of whom most were Israelis, were brutally murdered.

In the graphic above, Israelis Netanyahu and Gallant, are charged with war crimes, along with Dief, the leader of Hamas.

In the two graphics at right and below, you can see that antisemitic incidents are rising in both the U.S. and the E.U. as a response to Netanyahu and Israel's alleged genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

In late September of 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused everyone at the United Nations of being anti-semitic, because the world has been horrified by Netanyahu's and Israel's unrestrained response to the October 7th attack by Hamas. Thus by calling everyone at the UN anti-semitic, Netanyahu was seeking to exempt himself and Israel from being held to the same standards of decency expected of others worldwide. And instead of answering for his crimes, he falsely claims that the world's outrage regarding his actions is because he's Jewish, which quite frankly has nothing to do with it at all, as other Israelis have stepped up to point out.

The result of Netanyahu's odious actions is that anti-semitism is on the rise worldwide. In nations around the world non-Jews are blaming the Jews in their communities, for things the local Jews had nothing to do with [meaning Netanyahu's and Israel's genocidal actions]. So Jewish people livingoutside of Israel, around the world, are paying a collateral damage price for Netanyahu's indecent actions, likely because Netanyahu is the most widely known / highest profile member of their identity group.

Sadly, to date, Netanyahu remains in a frenzied state and has not yet been reigned in by a majority of the Israeli people, nor by the powerful Jewish Americans who have influence in Israel. See our prior reporting on Netanyahu, Israeli Imperialism & the collateral damages to Jewish Americans and Europeans, which also includes discussing the collateral damage of Netanyahu's actions, which have imperiled Jewish people around the world.

7 ) Dr. Martin Luther King - Great Achievements by High Profile Identity Group Leaders Pays Dividends via a 'Halo Effect', wherein Positive Traits are also Attributed to Other Members of the Group

Now, let me be clear, Mayor Adams' alleged crimes have zero comparison to the alleged crimes of Benjamin Netanyahu. What each of these politicians have allegedly done wrong is neither relevant nor the point of this analogy. What matters is that they both appear to have done something significantly wrong, and neither has yet been required to make amends for it.

The point of this analogy is that a leader or famous member of an identity group, has a responsibility to their fellow group members because of the collateral damage or halo effect that the others will have to bear based on the famous person's actions. Leaders and famous people should be model citizens. They should be paradigms for how humanity should conduct itself.

With great power comes great responsibility. Yes, I'm quoting a line from the Spiderman series, but the Spiderman series borrowed it from the French philosopher, Voltaire, who died shortly after the American Revolutionary War began.

Martin Luther King is a perfect example here. Who wouldn't want their children to conduct themselves like he did or write the speeches that he did or achieve some of the things that he did for others? Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Mahatma Ghandi of India are also good examples of responsible leaders who were paradigms of decency [notice the title of the book MLK is reading]. As far as I know, the members of these men's identity groups are proud to be associated with them and their achievements. And for good reason. They were men whom we should all aspire to be. I would also add Senator Bernie Sanders to the list. Senator Sanders is a Jewish American, and someone in whom we take great pride.

8) When an Identity Group Leader goes Rogue, Like Netanyahu or Adams

They Should be Held Accountable - Not Supported

As mentioned above, when famous people, politicians or government officials of an identity group abuse their power for their own fame or fortune - as both Adams and Netanyahu appear to have done - their heinous actions have consequences for the other members of their group.

And because these leaders have failed their identity groups, they should not be propped up and receive continued support from that group - just because these failed leaders are members of that group. But rather these leaders should be brought to account by their own group in order for that group to show the world that these failed leaders / lost souls no longer represent them or their values.

If an identity group rallies around a wrongdoing leader for ethnic identity reasons, they are aiding and abetting them. And worse, they are abandoning the human moral code,ostensibly for selfish reasons of that group. And if an identity group abandons doing the right thing, by supporting a wrongdoing leader, they are informing the world that a large number of the members of this group can't betrusted to act decently, while this leader wields significant influence.

Hitler's Germany, Netanyahu's Israel and Putin's Russia are all good examples here. Enabling bad leadership doesn't bring the world together, but rather further drives it apart. Embracing wrongdoing of ethnic, cultural or any leaders, moves our communities in the wrong direction, back in time, to a darker, more dysfunctional place. And this is at a time when Mother Nature is slowly creeping up on all of us, threatening to take away what has been a planetary paradise, via climate change.

9) Adams Tries to Discredit those Who want to Hold him Accountable for his Actions, Just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Accused the Members of the UN of Anti-Semitism, in order to Escape Answering for his Alleged Genocidal Conduct last Fall

Two weeks ago, at a Black History event at Gracie Mansion, an angry Eric Adams attacked his critics saying,

"... All these Negroes who were asking me to step down, God, forgive them, ... [Fox 5 on 2/26/25] "

Hmm. Donald Trump also said he was spared the assassination attempt last Fall, because God wanted him to Make America Great Again.

Neither Eric Adams nor Donald Trump are God's choices for NYC Mayor or U.S. President, respectively, but rather are political candidates who received the most votes. Somehow, they both seem to be under the illusion that they are in their positions because of their 'divine right' to govern. That is a very old and very outdated notion.

The 'Divine Right of Monarchs' began in Europe in Medieval times, prior to the Enlightenment period which was approximately 1650 - 1800 A.D.. Kings claimed that they had the 'Divine Right' to rule over other men, because God had chosen them. The Christian Church was a party to this arrangement as well, which is why the Church was and still is involved in national coronation ceremonies. Although their presence today, is more about tradition, than God. The claims by royalty of the 'divine right of monarchs' to rule other men began to lose credibility during the Enlightenment, when reason and science began to shift how people viewed the world.

During the Enlightenment, science, rational thought and our Founding Fathers, flushed that Royal Oligarchic propaganda down the toilet. Our Nation's Founders came up with a new paradigm - that men are rational enough and adult enough to govern themselves - and that they can chose their own leaders, who would then derive their power and authority, through the consent of the governed. And thus our democratic republic was born. But I digress. So back to Eric Adams.

Earlier this month, at African American churches in Queens, the NYT reported Adams saying the following " ... If you're not going to be with a brother — Negro, shut up ...". [NYT 2/16/25].

I couldn't help but see how far Eric Adams has gone astray from the teachings of the people, the 1960's African American civil rights leaders, who paved the way for him to be the Mayor of NYC. What Adams was telling his audience at those Queens churches appears to be the exact opposite of what Dr. Martin Luther King had told his audiences in the 1960's.

You can see both men's words in the graphic at right. It appears that Adams was trying to BULLY his audience into voting for him because of the color of his skin - not the content of his character. Conversely, Dr. Martin Luther King looked forward to the day when people would be judged NOT by the color of their skin - but rather by the content of their character.

Adams has had the impudence to compare himself to MLK on multiple occasions, which I have found to be disingenuous at the very least, and generally bordering on offensive, for its brazen dishonesty and deception. Pause and take note, because this tells a lot about who Eric Adams really is - not who he wants you to believe he is - when he makes all of those deceitful and manipulative comparisons of himself to MLK.

Unfortunately, it appears Eric Adams is taking the same approach that Benjamin Netanyahu took at the United Nations. He is attacking his critics, in order to avoid having to explain his actions. That is why both men change the subject, take to the offensive and launch very aggressive unsubstantiated, demonizing or discrediting attacks, on those who want to hold these men accountable, for what appear to be their illegal and immoral transgressions.

These two leaders' words and actions, do not bear any resemblance to those of good men ... let alone good leaders.