-
Shouts & Murmurs: Kingmaker→
Shouts & Murmurs: Mayor Bloomberg vets his potential successors, from Thatcher and Schumer, to Winfrey and Mandela: http://nyr.kr/VHj9mI
On Bill Clinton: “He knows how to work a room, true, and he’s got solid executive experience. But, ideally, I’d like to see him thicken up his resume a bit first. I’ll admit he could be a solid candidate in 2017 or 2021.” -
“Downsizing Supersize” - In this week’s issue, James Surowiecki writes about why Bloomberg’s soda ban might work: http://nyr.kr/OEkkjb
-
Cartoon of the day. For more from this week’s issue: http://nyr.kr/MmVVNX
-
Wishing Mayor Bloomberg a Happy Birthday and a Happy Valentine’s Day. Cover by Barry Blitt, 2011.
-
“I’m as surprised as anybody that Newt Gingrich is a frontrunner,” says Barry Blitt, this week’s cover artist. “He’s a cartoon in himself—actually, he’s a punch line.
“When I first drew Newt as a baby, I put ‘1952’ on his sash, because even 1994 seems a little modern for him somehow. I think he’d be dragging us back farther than that, even if he thinks of himself as a futurist.”
Above, some of Barry Blitt’s recent political covers. For more, including this week’s Newt Gingrich cover: http://nyr.kr/w4GKEW
-
There will be many thousands more watching Thursday, when O.W.S. plans to stage a mass action, and attempts to shut down the New York Stock Exchange, take over bridges, occupy subway stations, and who knows what else—and public sentiment could easily turn again. (At least one significant poll finds that the movement’s national popularity has been in overall decline of late.) But even if Bloomberg’s extreme action was good for O.W.S., it was not the best thing for the city. In a democracy, a mayor who believes he can shut down the press at will is not defending public safety; and a mayor who believes the police can be unleashed to manhandle the citizenry without answering for it cannot claim to be on the side of law or order.
-
-
After Zuccotti: What Now for Occupy Wall Street?
What is needed is some way to build upon these successes while maintaining the energy and enthusiasm that O.W.S. has unleashed. The recent history of the “Indignants” in Spain shows that a heterogeneous protest movement can survive the loss of its focal point. In June, after repeated clashes with the police, the Spanish protesters decided to leave their encampment in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. The movement lives on: last month, hundreds of thousands of people marched in its support through Madrid, Barcelona, and other cities.
Can O.W.S. make a similar transition? I hope so.
- John Cassidy on whether Occupy Wall Street will be able to build on its successes while maintaining energy and enthusiasm: http://nyr.kr/tMxy7m
(Source: newyorker.com)
