Morning Links

Jeffries endorses Mamdani, Crypto and another perspective on Platner

Had a family function last night so I’m running late this morning. Here are three intresting links:

First, John sent this story about Jeffries finally endorsing Mamdani, and being kind of pissy about it.

"Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a Mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy," Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement on Friday. "In that spirit, I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election."

[…]

On Friday, in the U.S. Capitol, Jeffries disputed the characterization that he’s “refused to endorse” anyone in the race.

“I have not refused to endorse. I have refused to articulate my position, and I will momentarily, at some point in advance of early voting,” Jeffries told reporters, one day before early voting begins in the five boroughs.

This is how you end up standing for nothing, and it’s characteristic of the way that Jeffries operates. He is never out front, and when he finally decides to do something, he does it halfway and reluctantly. He’s a back bencher who’s way out of his depth. He needs to go.

Scott sent a piece on crypto, which frames it as the biggest success of libertarianism, which is about right. It’s a NYT op-ed, and I hate to give that paper a click, but here’s a paywall-bypassing link.

Finally, Steve M has a piece on the possibility that Platner may survive the tattoo. He embeds a video of Platner explaining the tattoo and revealing his cover up tat. I watched the video and Platner does a good job making his story sound plausible. He did finally cover it up, too, which is a fact I didn’t know when I wrote a couple pieces earlier this year. I think Steve M has some of the best political judgment of any writer in politics today, so, I guess I’m re-thinking Platner’s chances of survival. If you missed the pod we did with Steve M, it’s here.

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