January Will Be A Consequential Month, The Mamdani Era Begins, Russia Is Not Winning In Ukraine
Simon Rosenberg
Morning all. Congress returns from its break next week, and it is going to be a deeply consequential month ahead. If there is no fiscal year 2026 budget the government will run out of money again on January 30th. The lawlessness of the DOJ and a flood of new Epstein files/photos/video will keep this rancid affair front and center. Trump’s tariffs could be struck down by the Supreme Court, throwing the budget negotiations into chaos; or perhaps worse for the Rs, they will be allowed to continue, further weakening the economy and keeping prices too high. Next Tuesday is the 5th anniversary of Trump’s attack on the Capitol in 2021, and Democrats will be marking it with a day long set of events. The fight to prevent Trump from selling out Ukraine and Europe - and our own security - to Putin continues, as does the fight to stop Trump from continuing to commit War Crimes and violate both US and international law in the Americas. Across the country state and local elected officials at all levels of government are returning to govern against the harms Trump has done to their people - higher prices, rising joblessness, the assault on health care and food assistance, soaring utility prices, an out of control DHS/ICE, worker shortages, struggling farmers and small businesses - which will make the ugliness of what they’ve done far more proximate to people all across the country.
It is going to be a very consequential month. Rest up this weekend and get ready to go to work on Monday.
The Mamdani era began yesterday in New York City. Professors Pamela Heard and Don Moynihan have a thoughtful early take on his ambitious speech yesterday, Understanding Mamdani’s Vision: His inauguration speech challenges the left to to govern. You can watch the speech here, and find a transcript here. Let’s all find time in the coming days to watch/read the speech and share our impressions as the Mamdami era begins……
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine posted this reminder on Bluesky a few days ago. As we’ve often discussed here Democrats should be taking far more credit for having brought down violent crimes of all kinds over the past generation, everywhere. America is much safer today:
A remarkable trend that will come as a shock to you if your only info about NYC is from this Fox News.
— Mark D. Levine (@marklevinenyc.bsky.social) 2025-12-31T23:40:22.876Z
Homicides in NYC...
1990: 2,262
1993: 1,927
1998: 629
2001: 649
2013: 335
2019: 320
2021: 488
2024: 382
2025 (as of 12/28): 302
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/january-will-be-a-consequential-month