Bloomberg: What the hell is his problem?

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WHat was the deal with Gulianni anyways? Was he good? I heard he reduced crime, and of course he was sainted during the post 9-11 days, but what else did he do? I dont say that criticizingly, I really dont know much about his term.

Mike Hanle y (mike), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 04:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

He wore women's clothing.

Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 04:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

Did he hang around in bars?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 04:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

He stood next to Joe Torre

James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 04:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

They just passed a smoking ban in Florida this election. All restaurants and bars except for 'stand up only, no food bars' are required to remove their smoking sections. I understand the reasoning behind it, but doesn't it seem a bit overbearing? I mean, it's anyone's choice to smoke, right? And then you get the "I have asthma and smoking in restaurants is bad for my lungs" commercials...well no shit...go to another restaurant..i mean I'm sorry you can't breathe and everything, but go somewhere else....if you don't liek it here, nobody's keeping you here...just like nobody's telling me I have to smoke...

B, Tuesday, 10 December 2002 04:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh god, I had completely forgotten about Giuliani in drag.

rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 05:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

b - staff can't really go elsewhere.

minna (minna), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 05:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

Why not? The Union say they have to work there?

B, Tuesday, 10 December 2002 05:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

finding a new job is much harder than going outside for a cigarette!

minna (minna), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 05:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

I hate non-smokers. Anybody who's that anal about wanting to increase their life expectancy is just being narcissistic.

dave q, Tuesday, 10 December 2002 06:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

kick that bum Bloomberg out NOW!

Paul (scifisoul), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 17:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

Listen, I personally don't have issue with banning smoking in restaurants (it seems most already have anyhow?) and even those dodgy bar/restaurants you see so much in the city (and at Red Lobster) - but a regular no holds barred bar or club? Surely when you apply for a job there you no what you're getting into? It's like being an AA member in recovery and then becoming a bartender and being pissed at serving alcohol.

For what it's worth, most barmaids I know don't support the potential bars-included ban in NYC, because more customers nipping outside for a smoke = less customers inside tipping the barmaids.

Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

I must say, I really really really don't like smoking (I've never done it myself for a reason) but, uh, isn't that why bars were invented? So you could go out and smoke and drink and be bad until 9 in the morning? Hello!

M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

also, Bloomberg is a fucking scumbag for his recycling-suspension alone; for this he oughta be flogged (and I'm anti-smoking!)

M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

What about farting in restaurants? Its about time something was done. or "loudtalking".

Mike Hanle y (mike), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

I don't smoke either, and i don't particularly liek being around it, but a government ban as opposed to an individual restaurant decision is too impeding in my opinion.

B, Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

local governments can most definitely regulate (or ban outright) cigarette smoking ... it's a longstanding constitutional law doctrine that states and municipalities are free to regulate for the "health, safety, and welfare" of those under their jurisdiction unless such regulation violates some fundamental right. and i don't think anyone would get very far in any court by claiming that banning cigarette smoking in restaurants is an unconstitutional violation of a fundamental right.

(not saying that i like this regulation myself ... since i smoke like a chimney ... but it's probably constitutional)

Tadeusz Dershowitz, Esq. (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

i should have said "regulate (or ban outright) cigarette smoking in public places and probably restaurants."

but hey, i was too stupid to go to Columbia Law or Harvard Law, so cut me some slack ;-p

Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think that because a restaurant is a private institution esentially, it does violate a fundamental right of that establishment by regulating it's policies within. A police officer can't declare fault, or even respond in some cases, to an accident on private property....why should another function of that same government be able to regulatethe practices onthat same property?

B, Wednesday, 11 December 2002 06:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

states and municipalities already do regulate policies within restaurants and other private institutions -- through fire codes, environmental codes, health and safety violations, etc. and there are different legal standards governing how the police can constitutionally enter one's private property and how health and safety inspectors can enter one's private property (even in this Rehnquist Court world).

Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 07:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh Iknow, but where do they draw the line? Regulating building and fire codes ensures the safety of those around, which is just as well...but smoking only concerns those inside, which I believe is over the line...if we allow smoking to fall under the same categories as fire and building codes, then it could also be regulated in a personal dwelling...

B, Wednesday, 11 December 2002 07:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

(Giuliani getting credit for lowering crime rates is suspect: The city was in a serious economic boom, thus lots of jobs = no crime, fewer homeless, etc., etc. Obviously post 9-11 he was breathtaking... This will sound corny, but I felt much calmer after watching his press conferences in that wood-paneled room... But overall he's still a suckah!)

Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, but he was a suckah with a personality, which gets you a long way. Bloomberg has no personality besides strangely paperesque. And obv. insane.

I mean obviously being a song and dance fancy boy like Giuliani doesn't mean you're going to be a good mayor at all but it certainly is more entertaining.

i got the flu.

Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 20:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

Bloomberg is also 5'2" or something. I've met him twice (when I say met I mean he shook my hand for whatever reason) and he is astonishingly short. Who knows how many Manhattan phonebooks he's standing on behind those podiums.

Most uncomfortable Bloomie moment: When the NFL had the season kickoff party in Times Square and Bloomie went out to the drunk crowd, who had just been grooving to Bon Jovi, to rile them up more. He was stiffer than [penis joke] in a [penis joke]!

(I'm sick too. My girlfriend's got it way bad, though.)

Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 20:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

don't you all go and forget "Sensation" that stank.

Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 20:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

Giuliani had an extremely confrontational and dictatorial style that works well with people in the Police Dept but doesn't work so well in the spaghetti of city agencies and constituencies that any NY mayor has to placate and deal with on a weekly basis. He refused to play ball unless there was something in it for him (i.e. demonstrable votes or other more immediate civic powers). He would just announce things, bypassing consultations with groups that traditionally were included in policy discussions.

From what I hear Bloomberg's not nearly as confrontational and abrasive but he's actually worse about including people - poss due to his experience as CEO, where you don't generally poll the janitors or whatever before making a big change. At least with Giuliani you knew where you stood - in the rain, usually, getting beaten by cops.

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 21:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

Manon Lescault has got the flu!

nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 21:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pardon me, that's "Lescaut."

des grieux (nabisco), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 21:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Other Giuliani achievements: fining clubs for allowing patrons to dance and promising to prosecute people who set off firecrackers on Chinese New Year

I think it's safe to say that the man hates fun

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 21:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Giuliani had an extremely confrontational and dictatorial style that works well with people in the Police Dept but doesn't work so well in the spaghetti of city agencies and constituencies that any NY mayor has to placate and deal with on a weekly basis. He refused to play ball unless there was something in it for him (i.e. demonstrable votes or other more immediate civic powers). He would just announce things, bypassing consultations with groups that traditionally were included in policy discussions.

= GREATEST MAYOR EVER IN HISTORY! I never thought of him that way but that's exactly how I'd do things to, I'd be all like, fuck you all, I don't care what you gotta say, I pity the fool who thinks I care what you gotta say, then I'd be all doing things.

Except I wouldn't ban dancing, that's silly. The man can't hate fun though - the drag!

Manon Lescaut is officially a book for assholes, stop talking about it.

Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 23:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...
I'm a fan of Bloomberg. Why? 311 was a good idea. He's Laissez Faire. And I support the banning of car alarms and the ticketing for noisy dogs.

Ghostface Threadkillah (calstars), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 02:31 (nineteen years ago) link

if ally were mayor, she'd be a female giuliani. would she dress up as a dude on saturday night live, though?

Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 02:39 (nineteen years ago) link

I would immediately enact a law against me doing or saying anything while having the flu.

Allyzay, Wednesday, 16 June 2004 02:41 (nineteen years ago) link

made-up quotes attributed to john stuart mill (shit, throw in david hume too!) would be carved onto city hall's walls.

Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 02:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I was half-expecting this revive to be courtesy of the Pinefox.

Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 05:11 (nineteen years ago) link

there's something about bloomberg i actually like. perhaps his lack of "folksiness"--a disease that seems to plague all politicians these days, whether they come to it naturally or at the urgings of consultants.

what is manon lescaut?

amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 05:33 (nineteen years ago) link

A reference to Ally's email address. It is also a novel and an opera.

tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 11:32 (nineteen years ago) link

I 'm with amateur!st -- I sorta like that Bloomberg doesn't mind taking a few shots to get what he wants to do done. Whether you like his smoking ban, recycling cutbacks (restored), tax increases (rolled back), etc. or not, at least he's had the political will to see them through. He's had a tough act to follow, picking up where the deified Giuliani left off, and I think he's been smart not to try to fill those shoes.

rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 13:19 (nineteen years ago) link

311 was a good idea.

yeah, altho he didn't think of it. Chicago had a 311 line at least 2 years before NYC.

Bloomberg sucks because he hates ice cream and puppies.

hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 13:25 (nineteen years ago) link

four years pass...

http://i36.tinypic.com/91f9di.jpg

\\\\\\\\YES//////// (ice crӕm), Tuesday, 30 September 2008 18:55 (fifteen years ago) link

http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/35/92/68/18450207.jpg

Mackro Mackro, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 19:12 (fifteen years ago) link

not saying i'll vote for him (not saying i won't either), but term limits suck

gabbneb, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:24 (fifteen years ago) link

yah theyre completely undemocratic

\\\\\\\\YES//////// (ice crӕm), Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:25 (fifteen years ago) link

if i didn't think so, i might have more of a problem with his making a push as a sitting mayor in a 'crisis' context

gabbneb, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:25 (fifteen years ago) link

would i feel the same if we still had giuliani? uhhh.

gabbneb, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:27 (fifteen years ago) link

yes, term limits suck, and yes, Reagan's corpse wd still be prez if we didnt have em.

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:27 (fifteen years ago) link

^^only if the 22nd Amendment allowed for zombie presidents instead of imposing a term limit Morbs

Mr. Que, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:28 (fifteen years ago) link

Tom Bradley was mayor of L.A. for about 734 years, and even though I didn't dislike him as mayor, there's this "too settled" thing about not having term limits that tends to rot after a while, whether you like the mayor or not.

Mackro Mackro, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:29 (fifteen years ago) link

In the United States, term limits on executives are absurd. Bloomberg has been an excellent technocrat for a city that was in desperate need for one. Hopefully he’ll win a third term and create even a larger precedent for future mayor’s.

Allen, Tuesday, 30 September 2008 20:30 (fifteen years ago) link

Too arbitrary.

Suppose a convenience store started a promotion: "Buy a 31 oz. soda and get a free 1 oz. soda with it!" If they put them into two cups, would that violate the ban? Anything that could be so publically ridiculed and circumvented is not ever going to make a good law. It was either empty posturing, or a total failure to foresee its unenforceability.

Aimless, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:02 (nine years ago) link

the point is to make it marginally more difficult to sell massive amounts of soda, not impossible. stores wouldn't give people 1 oz cups of soda because that would look make the store and the consumer look ridiculous, and nobody would actually miss that 1 oz of soda anyway, which is the bigger point.

iatee, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:11 (nine years ago) link

people just want 'the biggest' and tend to finish what they order they don't have some innate desire to consume 32 oz of something

iatee, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:12 (nine years ago) link

Wait, what's he doing in Bermuda?

how's life, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:13 (nine years ago) link

he has dedicated the rest of his life and his entire fortune to studying the bermuda triangle mystery

iatee, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:13 (nine years ago) link

the point is to make it marginally more difficult to sell massive amounts of soda, not impossible.

bingo! there can't be a compelling state interest to reduce soda consumption, if that interest can be satisfied by a regulation that can't be shown to accomplish anything.

Aimless, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:21 (nine years ago) link

what. this is like arguing against gun regulations because you can kill people with knives. changing peoples behavior by making things marginally more difficult to do is not accomplishing nothing.

iatee, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:27 (nine years ago) link

this is like arguing against gun regulations because you can kill people with knives.

No. This is like arguing against a regulation on soda because the proposed regulation doesn't actually regulate soda.

changing peoples behavior by making things marginally more difficult to do is not accomplishing nothing.

But there is no requirement here that people change their behavior, only an inference that they might. so, the regulation cannot be shown to accomplish anything. One may infer that it might possibly accomplish something, which is different.

Aimless, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:51 (nine years ago) link

okay I am done talking to you

iatee, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:56 (nine years ago) link

thinking that there are plenty of stupid laws and that the soda law was one of them doesn't make you a libertarian. the soda law struck me as arbitrary and dumb in the same way you can't buy alcohol on sundays in some states

marcos, Friday, 27 June 2014 17:57 (nine years ago) link

Wait, what's he doing in Bermuda?

― how's life, Friday, June 27, 2014 1:13 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's amazing what they were able to keep in the closet about Bloomberg's personal life...he wasn't going to Bermuda every weekend to play golf, if you know what I mean...

― Iago Galdston, Friday, June 27, 2014 10:45 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Iago Galdston, Friday, 27 June 2014 18:44 (nine years ago) link

I think we all know what it means not to play golf.

Aimless, Friday, 27 June 2014 18:55 (nine years ago) link

ive heard all those whispers, but his gf never seemed like the beardo type

son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 June 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link

eight months pass...

which of these guys is most thrilled to be near the other three?

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-HI513_NYEGAN_H_20150310152901.jpg

touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 March 2015 15:36 (nine years ago) link

at that height is he really near anyone?

goole, Wednesday, 11 March 2015 21:37 (nine years ago) link

four years pass...

Bloomie, fuck you you fuckin fuck

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 7 November 2019 22:50 (four years ago) link

pic.twitter.com/12AwAY2cWA

— Jason Adam Katzenstein (@JasonAdamK) November 7, 2019

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 8 November 2019 01:14 (four years ago) link

two months pass...

I regret to inform you that Mike Bloomberg attempted to shake a dog’s mouth. pic.twitter.com/hKsagJ4xAf

— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) January 28, 2020

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 23:07 (four years ago) link

two weeks pass...

icymi

Bloomberg has explicitly argued that “our interpretation of the Constitution” will have to change to give citizens less privacy and the police more power to search and spy on them. In fact, he does not seem to believe that certain people have innate civil rights that the state must respect. If the NYPD wanted to spy on Muslims, even if they lived outside New York City, solely because of their religion or ethnicity, Michael Bloomberg thought it was a great idea. And as Jack Shafer recently pointed out, his dedication to ensuring submission began before he was an elected official—when he was the boss at a company notorious for its tyrannical treatment of employees.

Bloomberg’s three victorious mayoral election campaigns are depressing evidence that a substantial number of Americans are amenable to authoritarian politics and uninterested in protecting civil liberties. So long as the person overseeing the police state claimed to be surveilling people for their own good, it was easy to turn a blind eye, especially if the surveillance was concentrated in certain neighborhoods. ...

https://newrepublic.com/article/156560/michael-bloombergs-polite-authoritarianism

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:31 (four years ago) link

I genuinely don't know if Bernie can win the general, but I feel confident that Bloomberg would lose it. I'm upset by his entry into the race. He's a spoiler.

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:32 (four years ago) link

He is exactly the worst of both worlds -- he will dampen enthusiasm among the democratic base, but he also wants to come after your guns and soda and vape pens.

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:33 (four years ago) link

thread worth reading, this dude is almost as terrible as Trump is

What 2020 Presidential contender said the following?
- "I'd fuck that in a second,"
- "I’d do that piece of meat…”
- “If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains they’d go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale’s”
- Called women: “fat broads” & “horse-faced lesbian.”

— Sarah (@sarah_in_ny) February 12, 2020

frogbs, Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:34 (four years ago) link

he also wants to come after your guns and soda and vape pens spy on yr Muslim ass.

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:37 (four years ago) link

I don’t like to dunk on my short kings (hell I’m barely 5’9”) but fuck this elf

A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Thursday, 13 February 2020 16:37 (four years ago) link

What "unlimited resources" buys you:

Trump was in rare form during his post-acquittal speech. pic.twitter.com/jq8NTTn5yd

— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) February 6, 2020

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 13 February 2020 17:44 (four years ago) link

this asshole is in my state today and apparently a lot of prominent Dem politicians here are backing him. clap real good for Daddy Mike and maybe he'll toss you a tasty million or two bucks as a treat.

Evans on Hammond (evol j), Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:20 (four years ago) link

These people do not have the poster’s spirit. They’ve dishonored themselves and our noble profession https://t.co/uvfo7VthFD

— Sweetie in chief (@InternetHippo) February 13, 2020

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:27 (four years ago) link

wishing for an asteroid for each of em

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:33 (four years ago) link

from that list of Bloomberg quotes

"If I were a woman, I would wear high heels."

of course you would, dude, you're super short and probably have considered it anyway

mh, Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:37 (four years ago) link

Trump otm?

I'm not sure I would actually vote if Bloomberg was the nominee? I guess I would because of the Supreme Court, but there is a 50-50 chance Bloomberg selects a Federalist Society ghoul anyway.

We're jumping on the road with @Nickelback this summer! (PBKR), Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:38 (four years ago) link

Actually I doubt that. He's a Republican at heart, but he's not a FedSoc Republican.

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:41 (four years ago) link

bloomberg > trump just for the climate stuff. but yeah

mookieproof, Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:42 (four years ago) link

I will of course show up at the polls for him if it comes to that. Hell, I'd canvass for him if he was the nom, but does he even have volunteers? I feel like he probably just has an army of Boston Dynamics robots that go door to door for him.

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:51 (four years ago) link

to posit the possibility of a Bloomberg nomination is defeatism, you pikers

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:54 (four years ago) link

God, Trump would clown Bloomberg in a debate so bad. People that don't know Bloomberg well should check out clips of him doing dumbass everyday political stuff like opening a sports arena or honoring someone famous. He is so bad at that shit and has no charisma.

We're jumping on the road with @Nickelback this summer! (PBKR), Thursday, 13 February 2020 19:07 (four years ago) link

pic.twitter.com/Iy4yvGBOJw

— Garf Gab (@GarfieldFanArt) February 13, 2020

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 13 February 2020 19:11 (four years ago) link

Bloomberg is a remarkably poor public speaker. if he actually has to start talking his numbers will tank harder than Biden's

frogbs, Thursday, 13 February 2020 20:11 (four years ago) link

I didn't have much exposure to his speaking voice until recently but he really does have that patrician, speaking-down-his-nose-at-the-plebes tone nailed down.

Evans on Hammond (evol j), Thursday, 13 February 2020 20:12 (four years ago) link

bloomberg's 'actually, rich new yorkers are laughing at you' is exactly why people fucking vote for trump

mookieproof, Thursday, 13 February 2020 20:16 (four years ago) link

Wait till you hear him speak Spanish

Josefa, Thursday, 13 February 2020 20:16 (four years ago) link

https://twitter.com/ElBloombito

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 February 2020 20:19 (four years ago) link

BOOMberg

Bloomberg at his second event today in NC: Trump “calls me little Mike. My answer is Donald, where I come from we measure height from the neck up.”

whistling (brownie), Thursday, 13 February 2020 20:21 (four years ago) link

Would imagine that Trump is taller by that measure also

Josefa, Thursday, 13 February 2020 20:23 (four years ago) link

My answer is Donald, where I come from we measure height from the neck up.

God, I hate bullies and I want to give Bloomberg a wedgie.

We're jumping on the road with @Nickelback this summer! (PBKR), Thursday, 13 February 2020 21:02 (four years ago) link

it's interesting to see Trump spend his energy attacking the guy he'd have the easiest time beating while defending the person most likely to defeat him but that's how his brain works.

frogbs, Thursday, 13 February 2020 21:06 (four years ago) link


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