Murdoch tabloid leads charge as big freeze persists – could the mayor please do something about the weather?

It snowed two weeks ago in New York. Since then, the temperature has barely risen above freezing – a temperature science naturally dictates is necessary to melt snow and ice.

But science isn’t enough for some US political critics, however, who have instead blamed Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new socialist mayor, for the snow not having melted and still clogging up some of the city’s streets.

The New York Post, the rightwing tabloid and a frequent Mamdani critic, has led the charge. This week the newspaper claimed that “slushy streets” were “ruining travel for everyone”.

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[–] 124 points 6 months ago (1 child)

They didn't take this chance to criticize global warming?

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  • [–] 44 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Trump did almost immediately...

    But that's only because people who think they understand it but don't keep saying "global warming" instead of climate change

    As long as naive idiots who think they understand keep saying "global warming" you can't expect the other idiots to understand the problem.

    But good luck convincing any of them to stop using the phrase they learned 30 years ago, or to incorporate new information.

    In 30 more years they'll all be acting like boomers because they never actually understood any of this, they're literally doing the same as boomers and insisting what they were told in he high will always be true

    It's incredibly depressing knowing it's gonna keep happening.

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  • [–] 21 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    The only benefit of "climate change" over "global warming" is that it does not suggest it will get warmer everywhere, though in turn it fails to communicate that the global annual temperature is steadily increasing.

    And worse yet, the change in terminology suggests a retreat from a prior position, allowing denialists to suggest that scientists changed their mind and they are two distinct concepts.

    It's a terminology change not worth arguing about. Global warming causes local climate change, and climate change is just the local effect of global warming.

    We should absolutely use whichever term communicates best with the audience we are trying to reach, but mocking someone for the terminology they use is counterproductive and reinforces the fallacy that the ideas are meaningfully different.

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  • [–] 11 points 6 months ago

    The main benefit of rhetorically talking about "climate change" instead of "global warning" is that "climate change" sounds fairly innocuous to the layperson, and can be easily misconstrued as "natural".

    How many conservatives have you heard say something like "of course the climate changes, it happens every day!"

    There's a reason the bush administration pushed the "climate change" narrative so hard.

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  • [–] 18 points 6 months ago (9 children)

    These deep freezes are literally caused by global warming.

    The higher layers of the atmosphere are unusually warm, causing instability in the arctic weather systems which lead to these jet streams escaping the vortex, blasting freezing air way farther south than it usually goes.

    I've tried explaining this to my conservative family and they just stare at me blankly and nod like they think it's a cope that doesn't deserve their attention...

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  • [–] 98 points 6 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 96 points 6 months ago

    OMG, the right wingers were right. Once Mamdani was elected, the city got filled with snowflakes!

    smh

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  • [–] 46 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    How DARE Zohran Mamdani NOT control the Weather!

    -People who KNOW that Trump has NOTHING to do With this whole Epstein Debacle!

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    [–] 43 points 6 months ago

    How cute. It's almost like we're back in the Obama era when the most inconsequential of things make a Democratic leader weak in conservative media. It's really jarring when Mamdani's news is juxtaposed with Trump's ICE bullshit, involvement in the Epstein files, threatening other countries with annexation, ruining the economy, etc.

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  • [–] 35 points 6 months ago

    Ah yes, socialism is to blame for... checks notes... snow in New York...

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  • [–] 25 points 6 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Ashton Kutchner hates freedom, and is integral to bringing the trojan horse of ai threat detection in to survel everything everyone does or says online.

    Family Guy had a good take on Ashton, a better tv show for him...

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  • [–] 20 points 6 months ago*

    Thanks Mamdani...

    This is great! Obama is finally off the hook.

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  • [–] 20 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    I can't really speak for NYC, because I don't live there anymore. I'm in Albany, NY, 150 mi north, and it's been hovering around -15 to -20 centigrade. (Water freezes at 0 centigrade.) A quick weather search shows it's been hovering at/below freezing down there. Snow doesn't melt when it's this cold out. I don't know where the fuck the post thinks the snow is going to go.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    They know what they’re saying is stupid. They are trying to build anger and when there is nothing material to twist, they have to invent something. Eventually they will build an entire alternate universe mythology around Mamdani, just as they do with all their enemies.

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  • [–] 19 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    How stupid can people be? Don't they know it's the Jews that control the weather?

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  • [–] 19 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Sucks the streets are slushy. Maybe take i dk the metro?

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  • [–] 18 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Are you trying to question my sacred right to drive anywhere in my ludicrously oversized emotional support vehicle?

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  • [–] 18 points 6 months ago* (2 children)

    politicians and oligarchs raping children and eating babies while giving away state secrets and money to Israeli and Russian spies

    Establishment politicians: …We should just move on.

    The snow isn’t melting and it’s inconvenient

    Also Establishment politicians: blame socialism with every billionaire backed news organization and launch several expensive sensationalist investigations

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    [–] 16 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Canadian here. "Barely risen above freezing" means it's above freezing. That means it's warm. Are right wing pundits just a bunch of wussies?

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago*

    They’re narrative opportunists. They seek out ways to dilute the information sphere, because that weakens the effectiveness of any productive conversation overall.

    • Did cigarettes give you cancer, or could it have been asbestos from an old house?
    • Did greenhouse gases cause global warming, or is it cold outside right now and that means everyone except you is an idiot?
    • Are we setting up a surveillance state, or do we just want infrastructure to help you find your lost dog one day?

    Truth becomes arbitrary, opinionated, prone to interpretation… how can society continue to operate when they can’t agree on anything? When the ball isn’t in the court of institutional knowledge, it’s free of the taking by whoever wants to construct narrative in their favor.

    Check out what percent of psychology studies these days can actually be reproduced via peer review.

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  • [–] 15 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Is it possible, being as how snow removal is the city's responsibility, they're actually complaining about that? If snow removal isn't done in a timely manner, slush does indeed form and just moves around, not melting much.

    Quickly reading the article suggests that's the actual complaint.

    I like the Guardian and Mamdani but come on here. Let's focus on whether or not that complaint is accurate, and whether he's had any chance to impact the city's snow removal plans, which are generally done well in advance by someone other than the mayor.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Former NYC resident here. Growing up, NYC rarely got snow like the storm we just had the last week of January. Like maybe it happens Once every 2-5 years. On top of that, the city tends to warm up quickly because of the jet stream and being on the coast, so the snow tends to melt faster. (Specific heat of water keeps the temps there above freezing.) It's been freakishly cold in the city, well below the freezing point of water, for an extended period of time, so it's not melting as fast. It just gets pushed around. Also, the mayor took office 1 month ago. Like give the guy a break.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Thank you! Same thing happened in the South after the freak storm in January, we had snow/ice for like 10 days which is hugely abnormal, no snow removal was done, streets became sheets of ice. Mail delivery stopped for a week. Everything did. Schools shut down over a week. I worked from home for a week. Number of people blaming the mayor? 0

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  • [–] 14 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Aren’t these the same people who believe in a rodent to tell them how long winter is?

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    [–] 12 points 6 months ago

    When you blame the mayor for the weather.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    Must be the water.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    Clearly Trump is punishing another blue city by withholding the aid of his weather Sharpie

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago
    [–] 6 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Aren't they against cloud seeding?

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago

    If they are going to blame Mamdani, they should know that ultimately it will be Trump's fault. And also God's.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    Well damn Jackie I can't control the weather!

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    Not The Onion.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    The man solves global warming in three months and suddenly he's the bad guy.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    "Piove, porco governo"

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    Cause he’s preventing climate change?

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