Mamdani's crackdown on food delivery tips inspires ire

New York City's newest socialist experiment in mayoral form, comrade-jihadi Zohran Mamdani, is out here acting like he just invented tipping after taking credit for a reported $104 million bump in delivery worker tips that critics note was locked in by legislation that hit the books long before he ever set foot in City Hall and was failing as a rapper.

The anti-Zionist mayor declared at a press conference Wednesday and in a social media post, "We've put $104 million back in delivery workers' pockets," pointing to changes in the Uber Eats and DoorDash apps that made tipping pop up more obviously."This is only the beginning," Mamdani wrote.

Those app tweaks come straight from a city law the New York City Council approved BEFORE Mamdani became mayor. [The way he's going with the lies, it wouldn't surprise me if he took credit for the Oct, 7, 2023 attack on Israel.]

Former Mayor Eric Adams (D) neither signed nor vetoed the thing, so it became law after 30 days. The rules kicked in this past January under the Mamdani administration, which handled the implementation and enforcement. Before that law took effect, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection found that Uber Eats and DoorDash had hidden the tip buttons and set default tips under 10 percent, which helped cause a 79 percent drop in tips for delivery workers. 

The law forced the companies to make tipping more visible, and city officials claim those changes have generated an estimated $104 million in extra tips since. Mamdani's office brushed off the notion that the mayor was grabbing credit for work that wasn't his, much like Joe Biden did with the economy. Mamdani claimed that while the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection pushed the reforms earlier, the rules got implemented under his watch starting January 26.

"A law is only as good as its implementation," a spokesperson for Mamdani told Fox News Digital. "We have been intentional about enforcing the laws on the books so that we are putting money back into the pockets of working New Yorkers." 

Conservatives and political commentators on social media wasted no time calling out Mamdani over the already sky-high costs of everything in New York City, with more than a few accusing him of claiming ownership of legislation that predated his term.

"This guy is a fantastic lying politician," actor Michael Rapaport posted on X. "He had literally nothing to do with this. City Council passed the bill last August and 419 Eric Adams never signed it so after 30 days the bill became law. It went into effect when Mamdani was in office. He just taking the credit." [See meme below.]

"In other words you are trying to say that you forced Uber and Doordash to make it that New Yorkers pay more for their food deliveries by having the default tip amount be a lot higher," conservative influencer account Leftism posted on X."

Socialism 101 — have others pay for things and make as if it's your accomplishment. Coming soon — $50 avocado toast," Washington Free Beacon reporter Jon Levine posted on X.

"So you increased prices for your citizens?" National Review contributor Pradheep Shanker posted on X. "Congrats."

"Suckers"

"What really happened," finance podcaster Joseph Carlson posted on X. "They forced delivery drivers to be paid minimum wage of $22/hr. This wage is paid by higher fees passed on to DoorDash or Uber customer. Since the customer was already paying these higher fees, these apps made tipping optional. Then New York required them to also be tipped on top of the higher fees."

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So now New York (residents) get to enjoy paying both a high base pay and a tip on top of it. The customer is double-paying for delivery. All of this cost is passed onto the New Yorker resident. They’re paying more than the market demands for a product and service because of market manipulation."Leave it to a democratic socialist mayor to celebrate making your takeout order more expensive while pretending it's a personal victory for the working class. 

Classic.

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Seattle Discovers Firing Police Chief Creates Exactly One New Emergency

In a shocking development that absolutely no one outside Seattle City Hall could have predicted, Seattle Mayor and Democrat comrade, Katie Wilson, has managed to turn one public safety disaster into two.

Police Chief Shon Barnes is out. Officially, he "resigned." In political English, that usually means someone politely handed him a cardboard box and had him escorted toward the exit.

Barnes took the fall after the chaotic response to last weekend's Bite of Seattle shooting that left three people dead. Unfortunately, being the city's top cop while spending significant time somewhere else apparently tested even Seattle's famously flexible workplace standards.

According to KOMO News:

After multiple Seattle City Council members told KOMO News that Mayor Katie Wilson asked Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes to resign Wednesday night, and that the mayor has confirmed to the council that there will be a "transition" in the Chief's office, the mayor's office officially released a statement announcing the resignation Thursday.

The mayor is appointing Deputy Chief Andre Sayles as Interim Chief of the Seattle Police Department, the announcement said.

"Chief Barnes has served this department and this city with dedication, and I am grateful for his service," said Mayor Wilson. "The courage and professionalism that the officers of the Seattle Police Department showed deserves to be honored. I share Chief Barnes' hope that we can return our focus to addressing youth gun violence and ensuring that every family can feel safe in their neighborhood and across the city."

Seattle then immediately remembered it is Seattle.

Rather than debating whether the city's leadership failed to keep residents safe, the political conversation quickly shifted to whether firing a Black police chief was itself the real crisis. Black civil rights leaders reportedly confronted Wilson, demanding answers and hoping she would reverse course.

Apparently, in modern progressive governance, every personnel decision comes with a complimentary identity politics audit.

Wilson now finds herself trapped in the classic progressive paradox. If crime goes unchecked, voters complain. If she fires the official responsible, activists complain. If she hires another police chief, someone will probably demand the position be abolished altogether. 

Welcome to socialism, boys and girls.

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For a mayor whose executive experience could generously be described as "under construction," this episode has reinforced what many Seattle residents were already beginning to suspect. Running campaign rallies is considerably easier than running a city where bullets have developed a habit of interrupting food festivals.

Seattle wanted transformational leadership. Instead, it got a master class in how to create a second controversy before the first one has finished making headlines.

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