Published on Portside (https://portside.org/)

Tidbits-Jun 25 – Reader Comments: Democratic Socialists Surge in Mayoral Races; Brad Lander: Why We Won; Orange Vandal of Reflecting Pool; Israel’s New Party; American Family; Author Corrects One-Sided Article NYC Elections and DSA and WFP

https://portside.org/2026-06-25/tidbits-jun-25-reader-comments-democratic-socialists-surge-mayoral-races-brad-lander-why
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"We have an opportunity in this moment. A responsibility. To insist on everyone’s humanity, all the way through."


Brad Lander
June 24, 2026
Facebook
 



 

Re: Democratic Socialists Surge in Mayoral Races Across the US
 

Of course I love it. My favorite socialist organization, Democratic Socialists of America has been helping DSA candidates and allies into elected office across the US. We are at an early stage of using the electoral process to pursue our justice struggles. Our efforts are meeting some success. Here via Portside an AP report. In the comments, NYT articles. We have much more work to do.

Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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DSA candidates devote more energy on demonizing Israel than on economic policy.

Roy Moskowitz
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Roy Moskowitz:  Last I checked, Roy, DSA candidates for whom I was working were focused on People before Profits, taxing the rich and making our costs of living tolerable instead of crushing. DSA has opposed as I do Bibi government actions.

Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Of course the Times is nasty. But my question about DSA is what does it define as democratic socialism. My opinion is that social democracy as practiced by the Nordic countries which i have visited is about the best of which humanity is capable. And the Nordic countries are not nearly as multicultural as the US. That is one of our greatest attributes.

Nora Lapin
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Nora Lapin:  As it is given to me to understand, Nora, the slogans the DSA campaigns on are the best way to judge what we’re about: people before profits, tax the rich, freeze the rent, no ICE, peace instead of the endless wars we’ve endured, a green new deal to create good jobs and to respond climate change. Winning those demands and more will be a long difficult struggle.

Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Daniel Millstone:  You didn’t mention health care which is very important. My point is that is not the conventional definition of socialism. It’s really social democracy.

Nora Lapin
Posted on Portside's Facebook page



 

Re: Why Did Unions and the WFP Oppose Last Night’s Electoral Breakthroughs in NYC?  Author Updates and Revises His Hasty Piece

(Posting on Portside Labor)
 

I published yesterday an ungenerous and un-nuanced take on this week’s election results, and bunch of comrades (and a few haters) reached out with useful criticisms of the piece, almost all of which I agreed with

So instead of doubling down on a not-great piece, it seems better to me just to own the mistake and write a much-updated version (link below), which acknowledges the still-major limitations in DSA’s organized base, as well as the various recent examples of the WFP actively backing anti-establishment candidates in NYC. Appreciate everybody who reached out — the new version strikes me as more well-rounded and more strategically useful. Mea culpa



Eric Blanc
Post on Facebook
June 25, 2026
 


 

Reflecting Pool - Disgusting  --  Meme
 




 

Re: How the Trump Administration Pushed Judges To Deport Children

 

A very long, reputable article that is not very comforting, especially why SIJ, asylum applications, and more are things of the past. I see this change in court hearings (including decent judges being fired.) You seriously might want to delete without reading as it's way too depressing (no kidding.)

Dena Fisher



 

Vandal  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Rob Rogers
 


“Donald Trump consistently refuses to take responsibility for his failures. In his view, lost elections are rigged, guilty verdicts are the fault of activist judges, allegations of misconduct are dismissed as hoaxes, and botched memorial renovations are blamed on vandals.”

Rob Rogers
June 22, 2026
TinyView
 



 

Trump blames green Reflecting Pool on vandals  ==  Cartoon by Ann Telnaes
 


There's certainly been vandalization in D.C. and he's responsible for it.

Ann Telnaes
June 22, 2026
Open Windows- Ann Telnaes
 



 

Re: The Anti-Defamation League Was Rotten From the Start
 

Yep. They considered the later wave of less educated, non-professional Jews from Slavic countries (my grandparents' generation) inferior. But my blue collar, trade unionist, lefty grandparents never considered themselves inferior to anyone. And they were not Zionists. They were hard core trade unionists for all workers everywhere.

Felice Sage
Posted on Portside's Facebook page



 

Re: This New Party Wants To Write a New Future for Israel
 


This is a terrible move that will do nothing but further divide an already woefully small peace movement, and especially the Palestinian citizens of Israel. As Zonszein notes herself, "For nearly 50 years, the only functional Arab-Jewish party in the country has been Hadash, founded in 1977, which wants an end to the Israeli occupation and a two-state solution." How is this new party intended to be anything other than an effort to divide supporters of two states?

Jon D Weisberger
Posted on Portside's Facebook page



 

Make America Greasy Again  --  Cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
 



Lalo Alcaraz
June 22, 2026
Lalo alcaraz
 



 

Re: Ten Years After Brexit, Every Grim Prediction Has More Than Come True
 

Why, oh why, can't Brexit be reversed? Why is it set in stone?

Joe Bryak



 

Re: The American Family Is at a Breaking Point. Our Politics Have Finally Noticed.
 

Male children need to be raised with the expectation that if they become fathers they will need to put in a minimum of 50% daily of all the work it takes to care for and raise children, not just money earners, but the day-to-day, face-to-face physical, emotional, psychological and intellectual labor that this takes.  This will require a fundamental shift in the world of work where men will have the time for this labor.  No more "this is women's work" excuses!

Elinore Krell
Baltimore MD



 

Re: Green Shoots of Hope in the Labor Movement

(Posting on Portside Labor)
 

In difficult times, it's important that we find reasons for hope.

Third Act Union
Posted on Portside's Facebook page



 

Vandalism  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Nick Anderson


Donald Trump has finally identified the culprit behind the disastrous renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Not the rushed timeline. Not the no-bid contracts. Not the decision to paint a historic monument “American Flag Blue.” Not the fact that algae naturally thrive in shallow, sunlit water. Not the peeling paint. Not the cost overruns that transformed a $1.8 million project into a nearly $15 million project.

No, the real villains are apparently a shadowy gang of super-vandals armed with knives, corrosive chemicals, and an inexplicable hatred of patriotic water features.

According to Trump, these mysterious saboteurs somehow carved a 250-foot gash into the pool lining. Then the story grew to 300 feet. Presumably by next week it will have stretched across the Potomac and into Northern Virginia. Reporters who visited the site found no obvious evidence of the alleged damage, but that’s exactly what clever vandals would want you to think.

The vandalism explanation is especially convenient because it spares everyone from considering a far more troubling possibility: that a project designed primarily for publicity may have encountered predictable problems that experts might have anticipated. After all, this was the same renovation that was supposed to transform the Reflecting Pool into a majestic shade of “American Flag Blue” in time for America’s 250th birthday. Instead, within days it had become a giant green science experiment visible to tourists, television cameras, and apparently satellites.

What makes the story even more remarkable is the administration’s insistence on treating every setback as evidence of success. The water turned green? The algae are losing. The paint is peeling? The paint is winning. The project is over budget? That’s because excellence costs money. The pool looks worse than before? Fake news.

The Reflecting Pool has become a perfect metaphor for modern Trumpian politics. First declare a problem that urgently requires your intervention. Then promise a miraculous solution. Award contracts to friendly people. Declare victory before the project is finished. Watch the project fail in public. Blame sabotage. Arrest a few confused bystanders. Repeat as necessary.

There is something almost admirable about the determination. Most people would look at a green, peeling, over-budget reflecting pool and conclude that perhaps a mistake had been made. Trump looked at the same pool and concluded that an organized conspiracy of aquatic criminals must be responsible.

In fairness, he may be onto something. There really was a culprit behind this fiasco. It just wasn’t the guy pulling a loose piece of paint out of the water.

The vandal responsible was the one who looked at a century-old national monument, decided it needed a patriotic paint job, and then spent $15 million proving otherwise.

Nick Anderson
June 22, 2026
Pen Strokes
 

Source URL: https://portside.org/2026-06-25/tidbits-jun-25-reader-comments-democratic-socialists-surge-mayoral-races-brad-lander-why