Good morning from LaGuardia Airport in New York. I’m on the road. It’s Election Day in several states. It’s really hot in Europe. And there’s more news below, including an excellent recipe for asparagus and tofu. I’m going to start, though, with mayors.
Bread and rosesSocialist mayors were a real thing in the first half of the 20th century, when the Socialist Party of America held political sway. Milwaukee had a roughly 40-year run of them, so-called sewer socialists committed to building out the city’s infrastructure and instituting political reform. They lost power in 1960. Then there was Bernie Sanders in Burlington, Vt., for most of the 1980s. “I’ve stayed away from calling myself a socialist,” he told The Boston Globe after his first win in 1981, “because I did not want to spend half my life explaining that I did not believe in the Soviet Union or in concentration camps.” He soon embraced the label. And now? The mayor of New York City, the nation’s largest city, is a democratic socialist. Another one could become the leader of Los Angeles, the nation’s second biggest city. The mayor of Seattle is a socialist. And next year, a democratic socialist is all but sure to occupy the mayor’s office in Washington, D.C., a 15-minute walk from President Trump’s residence at the White House. No one can say for sure whether their success portends national change. Their victories, or their chances of victory, have mostly come in dark-blue Democratic cities. And not every socialist running for mayor in a largely Democratic city has triumphed. Left-leaning candidates recently lost in San Francisco and Philadelphia. But as my colleagues Campbell Robertson, Jill Cowan and Anna Griffin write, the success of those socialist mayors who did win their races says something about the state of the Democratic Party in the run-up to this fall’s midterm elections. And it gives us a glimpse at what happens when the far left actually takes office. It’s complicated, the reporters say: The act of governing is the big test for a movement propelled by idealism and bold promises, along with a disenchantment with the compromises that its followers believe are too often made by those in power. As an example, they point to Katie Wilson, Seattle’s mayor: Tension between Ms. Wilson and a Seattle City Council that is more moderate has so far led to negotiations rather than conflict, as when she agreed to turn on newly installed security cameras in the city’s stadium district during the World Cup, despite her initial opposition. Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor, has done some relenting himself, they report. He retained the city’s moderate police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, and has given her freedom to run that department largely as she sees fit. He’s backed off from his plan to give up unilateral control of the city’s public schools, and from his expensive promise to subsidize more housing. He’s developed a working relationship with Kathy Hochul, New York’s moderate Democratic governor, and one of sorts with Trump, whom he’s called a fascist. These mayors are reflecting political realities, in other words, and perhaps putting down a marker against the future. As the reporters write: “Socialist success indicates an ascendant left — a generational movement as much as a political one — might have considerably more room to run.” Read their whole story. (We’ve made this link free for you, along with several others in the newsletter.) Truck stop
I didn’t think I’d be back writing about trucks so soon, but they’re in the news again, as the Trump administration has weighed in on the use of “defeat devices.” These are mechanisms that circumvent hardware and software that limit the tailpipe emissions of diesel engines. The result is trucks with more power and reliability. Also, more pollution. Looking at the issue in 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that emissions controls had been removed from more than half a million diesel pickup trucks in the previous decade. That allowed the vehicles to discharge harmful nitrogen oxides at up to 300 times the legal limits — the equivalent of adding nine million additional diesel pickups to American roads. Defeat devices are illegal. After Volkswagen was caught using them in its cars in 2015, and paid out upward of $30 billion in fines and fees, the Justice Department used the Clean Air Act to seek criminal felony charges against shop owners who installed the devices on individual vehicles. Or, they were illegal, reports Karen Zraick, who writes about legal affairs for our Climate desk. The Justice Department quietly stopped prosecuting the cases this year, a development that has gone little noticed beyond the world of diesel truck enthusiasts. “We believe that the Trump administration got it right when they eliminated the criminal liability for this conduct,” one lawyer who defended defeat device clients told Karen. “If you want to make tampering with a mobile source a felony, go to Congress.”
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Alan Greenspan, who led the central bank under four presidents (of both parties) from 1987 to 2006, was the most recognizable economist of his time — arguably of any time. He died at 100. At the peak of his fame in the late 1990s, a mere utterance from Greenspan could send markets on a roller-coaster ride. His face, behind thick glasses, was as familiar as any movie star’s. While he nurtured a long run of economic prosperity and wealth creation, his record nonetheless remains a subject of intense debate. Some say his approach — faithful in the power of markets, averse to regulation — nurtured the conditions that led to the 2008 financial crisis. Read more about Greenspan’s life and legacy.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and Bernie Moreno, a Republican, can agree on one thing: Congress must act now to save Social Security. I thought No Child Left Behind would fix public schools, Ross Wiener writes. I was wrong. Subscribers always win. Here’s why. You can now save 75% on your first year of a New York Times Games subscription. Discover all of our word and logic games (and play past puzzles), earn badges for your achievements, plus more. Time is running out though, so subscribe today.
Hitmaker: Clive Davis rose from a midlevel legal position at Columbia Records to become one of the music industry’s most powerful and enduring household names. He guided the careers of Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Aerosmith and dozens of others. He died yesterday at 94. His obituary is a doozy. Gray divorce: Older adults are no longer staying in “empty shell” marriages. (This link is free to read.) Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a landscaper’s death in the Hamptons. Be prepared: If you’re visiting a national park this summer, expect big crowds and reduced staffing. (This link is free to read.)
63 billion— That is how many gallons of water California could save each year by covering its 4,000 miles of irrigation and drinking water canals with solar panels. Those canopies could also generate some 13 gigawatts of solar power, roughly half the new solar capacity needed to meet California’s energy targets. Is that even possible? The tests are promising.
Lionel Messi broke the record for the most goals scored in World Cups by one player, scoring his 17th and 18th in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria. Kylian Mbappé also scored twice in France’s rain-soaked 3-0 victory over Iraq, giving him 16 career World Cup goals. Erling Haaland scored twice yesterday, too, for Norway during the second half of a nail-biting 3-2 win over Senegal. Jordan’s first qualification for the World Cup has also brought a World Cup berth for the millions of Palestinians who live there.
This is the time of year when my diet runs to 70 percent asparagus. One of my favorite recipes for it is Melissa Clark’s |
