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The mayor-elect chastised a synagogue that hosted an event promoting migration to Israel and settlements in occupied territories. His stance further tested his strained relationship with pro-Israel Jews.

Mr. Mamdani, the mayor-elect, responded the next day, saying through a spokeswoman that he “discouraged the language” used at the protest and that New Yorkers must be “free to enter a house of worship without intimidation.”

But it was what he said next that alarmed some Jewish leaders: He chastised the synagogue, saying through his spokeswoman that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”

(Bloomberg) -- New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has selected several corporate executives to join his transition team as the democratic socialist seeks to mollify concerns his policies might harm the city’s business community.

Among those chosen to help in his move to City Hall are former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Margaret Anadu, developer Jed Walentas and Kathy Wylde, head of the Partnership for New York City. Wylde and Anadu will serve on the Committee on Economic Development & Workforce Development, and Walentas will join the Committee on Housing, according to a statement from Mamdani’s transition team on Monday.

Walentas, the Brooklyn developer behind the revamp of the Domino Sugar Refinery, had spoken with Mamdani before the election as part of a charm offensive by the candidate to reassure business leaders who were wary of the 34-year-old’s policies. The incoming mayor, who takes office on Jan. 1, ran on a pledge to freeze rents and provide free childcare and bus service, and promised to pay for his programs with a tax on corporations and the wealthy.

More than 100 homes have been damaged after a tornado touched down in a residential area outside Houston, authorities in Texas said Monday.

No injuries were reported.

Photos and drone video posted on Facebook by the Harris County Precinct 4 constable showed roofs with shingles ripped off. Some debris blocked roads.

The damage affected the Memorial Northwest neighborhood, according to the office of Mark Herman, the constable.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/42401522

Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, whose 2017 election renewed hope for Democrats in Alabama, announced Monday that he is running for governor of the state in 2026.

Jones announced his campaign Monday afternoon, hours after filing campaign paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office. His gubernatorial bid could set up a rematch with U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican who defeated Jones in 2020 and also is running for governor. Both candidates have party primaries in May before the November general election.

“I am running for governor of Alabama,” Jones said in a campaign video posted on social media. “Folks in Alabama deserve a governor who is going to fight for them.” He will do an official campaign kickoff next month.

On Saturday night, members of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America voted not to recommend endorsing New York City Council Member Chi Ossé’s nascent primary challenge against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

In an online vote, roughly 52% of eligible members of NYC-DSA’s Electoral Working Group voted against endorsing Ossé’s congressional campaign. In total, 1,205 DSA members voted, with 626 voting against the endorsement and only 555 voting in favor, with 24 abstaining.

The outcome of the vote will likely come as welcome news to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who has tried to discourage Ossé from running and even attended Wednesday’s DSA candidate forum to appeal to comrades in person not to recommend endorsing Ossé’s congressional bid.

Democratic-backed candidates beat out Republican-backed ones in numerous school board elections nationwide during the recent Democratic Election Night elections, showing a successful repudiation of Republican messaging about banning books and restricting transgender restroom use. Democratic groups hope the recent wave of victories can be repeated in the new wave of school board elections next year.

Republican takeover of school boards spiked after the COVID-19 shutdown, amid conservative upset over mask mandates, trans-inclusive policies, “pornographic” library books, and progressive curriculum (like so-called critical race theory).

Of all the democratic socialists who piled into a Manhattan church on Wednesday evening, none had the cachet of the man handed a microphone toward the meeting’s close.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani offered some pleasantries — “Hello friends, Zohran, he/him, Queens D.S.A.” — before launching into his mission: torpedoing the candidacy of a left-leaning ally, Councilman Chi Ossé, who is attempting to unseat Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat.

The remarkable scene was both a reflection of the tricky political calculuses Mr. Mamdani confronts as he prepares to take office next year and the egalitarian nature of a group that served as the grass-roots organizing machine of his political success.

A federal judge dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after finding the prosecutor who brought the cases, former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed.

"I agree with Mr. Comey that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid. And because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment," U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie wrote in her ruling, finding the indictment should be tossed because the appointment of former Donald Trump personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan was invalid and she'd lacked the authority to present a case to a grand jury.

"All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey’s indictment, were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside," the judge wrote.

She issued a separate, similar ruling dismissing the James case.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 2024 diary has revealed regular close contact with Republican senators in the US and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

The diary, which was published this week at the request of the non-profit group Hatzlaha, showed that Netanyahu held seven meetings and nine phone calls with Republican Senator Lindsay Graham.

The diary, much of which was redacted on national security grounds, also reveals that Blair and Netanyahu met seven times.

On 29 October 2024, the Israeli prime minister spoke with UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed, a call that was unreported at the time.

Federal prosecutors have filed a new indictment in response to a July 4 noise demonstration outside the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, during which a police officer was shot.

There are numerous problems with the indictment, but perhaps the most glaring is its inclusion of charges against a Dallas artist who wasn’t even at the protest. Daniel “Des” Sanchez is accused of transporting a box that contained “Antifa materials” after the incident, supposedly to conceal evidence against his wife, Maricela Rueda, who was there.

But the boxed materials aren’t Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs, or whatever MAGA officials claim “Antifa” uses to wage its imaginary war on America. As prosecutors laid out in the July criminal complaint that led to the indictment, they were zines and pamphlets. Some contain controversial ideas — one was titled “Insurrectionary Anarchy” — but they’re fully constitutionally protected free speech. The case demonstrates the administration’s intensifying efforts to criminalize left-wing activists after Donald Trump announced in September that he was designating “Antifa” as a “major terrorist organization” — a legal designation that doesn’t exist for domestic groups — following the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Ridership jumped, people cut back on driving and, over the summer, the city extended the program another year.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20251122084007/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/climate/iowa-city-free-buses.html