Until I mentioned his name in  my blog of two days ago , chances are that you never before heard of him.   Making a spectacular finish:  Muslim 32-year old Zohran Mamdani, a progressive state legislator. Well, as you know by now,  Mamdani shocked the city by beating former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary on Tuesday .  A huge hurdle remains:  4November2025 when he runs against Cuomo ( who will be allowed to compete as an independent) , current mayor Eric Adams ( also now an independent ), the Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and other potential independent candidates.   Under normal circumstance, you would give Sliwa no chance.  But this time, three Democrats will trisect their votes, providing Sliwa an opportunity to sneak in as mayor.  I saw this WABC radio spot actually suggesting Sliwa as a possible Veep candidate last year. Ranked choice will not be used.  This process is called the  first-past-the-post...

 The news of the day: 70% of American adults have taken at least one shot , finally hitting Biden's target, but about a month late.   However, keep in mind that the 0-11 age group has not yet been vaccinated, and they represent 15% the U.S. population.   This means that the unvaccinated figure is slightly higher than 40%. According to my posting yesterday, the Delta variant means herd immunity is at 92%.  We are thus today below 60%. Some states have returned to mandatory masking. While we are a humane country and don't want our citizens in jeopardy, those vaccinated are actually being discriminated against. What about allowing the vaccinated full freedom to not wear masks and letting them enter theaters, restaurants, cruise ships, airplanes and the like, while preventing those unvaccinated from these privileges? More and more mandates are actually being invoked, and found by the courts to be legal. But you say, some unvaccinated will find a way to circumve...

From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):          DAY    USA    WORLD     Brazil      India      South Africa June     9    1093     4732       1185        246       82 July    22     1205     7128        1293      1120      572 Aug    12     1504     6556        1242       835      130 Sept     9     1208      6222       1136      1168       82 Oct     21     1225      6849         571       703       85 ...