New York City has had a rough few years. It lost nearly four percent of its population during the pandemic. There was a historic crime surge, particularly violent crime. Buildings were empty as people continued to work from home. Pundits all over the world declared New York City “over.”
Disappointed in this interview; not hard hitting at all. Adams comes across as highly political and Barri asks no hard questions. She never makes him uncomfortable. Wasted opportunity.
I disagree. There isn’t much substance to Mayor Adams and I feel that Bari’s interview exposed that. The man evaded the question about why changing admission standards for elite public schools might be driving members of Asian communities to lean Republican - a hot button topic. But it was nice of him to share his homemade vegan recipes.
This was the most disappointing Honestly yet. Eric Adam’s talks like a politician and a NY politician at that. He didn’t offer anything new to the conversation outside of what we already know about NYC and it’s current state of crime, politics, etc. Bari typically has a way with getting her guests to open up and reveal their humanity, but Adam’s just sounds like every other NY Democrat.
One word for Randi Weingarten: “Smart”. OMG. I can’t think of one person in America who has been more harmful to the African American kid. Adams’ answer is obviously nothing other than political. So sad.
I tried to give Mayor Adams the benefit of the doubt, but he stated that shutting down was a good decision by the prior administration - the stupidity continues. We sacrificed kids to protect the elderly, and it did not work. A reminder to myself to never live in a city or state that embraced lockdowns, and have an alternative when the next health "emergency" happens. Dems love bodily autonomy, as long as that means unborn children, but not in any other way.
Have to say I disagree that there weren't any difficult parts at all. She hit school shutdowns, antisemitism, crime, addiction, it's not like she didn't ask any substantive questions. And sure, he gave a lot of politician answers, but he articulated some things in there that could get him banned from a college campus. The fact that she got half an hour with a prominent Democrat when his entire tribe shuns the "heterodox" world is not nothing.
If the Bari Weiss media empire is going to go anywhere, she's going to have to navigate the tension between asking real questions and convincing people to give the interview in the first place. Given where mainstream media is on that question, I don't think she's doing badly.
If the Barri Weiss empire's model includes groveling to accommodate politicians with commitments to throw softball questions at them then what are we all subscribing to? You believe getting 1/2 hour with a city Mayor is a big deal, the Israeli PM gave Barri an hour.
You have a different definition of softball questions than I do. And I think that if even these questions were asked and the same sorts of answers were given on a regular basis for more politicians, it would improve the country dramatically. I'm pretty sure that was a tougher interview than Joe Biden has given during his entire presidency. A low bar, to be sure.
You may be right. Independent media specifically substack for the moment still remains somewhat of a place that's independence I would hope underlying principles are still based on the truth. Not my truth or the writers. That is a very high bar. I guess it's easy to fall into the trap of only subscribing to writers that feed us what we want to hear. That is the role of the corporate media groups. There are only so many substacks that I can subscribe to so Barri (I may be wrong) appears to be building a media source that is broad, well financed and could potentially staff and fund investigative journalists. That's fine. The Free Press home page is getting pretty busy. Perhaps a bit too much for me and why would I want to pay to listen to the Eric Adams of the world when his redundant answers can be found for free on NYC local news yoytube segments. I hope the Free Press doesn't become what it told us it's not.
This is one of the rare moments that I read the comments before considering listening to the podcast. I'm glad I didn't waste my time. I'm sure Eric Adams is a decent man with some good intentions but lacks the intelligence, skills and imagination to pull NYC back from the brink. That would require a very unique individual. But it's over for NYC. The world has moved on. What was once a great city built on excellence in engineering, architecture, the arts with a unique culture and urban experience that was specific to that once great metropolis has been systematically destroyed through incompetence and by demagogues who try as he may Mayor Eric appears to be one.
Thank you, Bari for further confirming why we in NYC have little idea of what our mayor is about. You’re correct, he doesn’t hold regular town halls or radio interviews and I think 30 minutes was more than enough time for this episode.
I’d love it if you could have an interview with Kathryn Garcia. She came a close second to Adams in the mayoral race. Has an interesting background, including head of the NYC department of sanitation (pretty bad-ass in this town, especially for woman), politically moderate and had some really good, practical ideas.
Not sure how to take that but you can watch a repeat of one of the mayoral debates and know what I'm talking about. She's a life long New Yorker who graduated from one of the top schools in the city and it shows. "Running the garbage trucks" is a huge undertaking in any big city.
You all deserve better than Ms. Garcia or the current guy. She would have most likely won but New Yorkers would rather stick a hot poker up their noses before voting for a white girl over a black man. This is not meant to be an insult towards you as I don't know you and I believe you care deeply for your city. I've lived most of my life on the West Coast but did spend my teen years in NYC a place with many problems but incredible creativity and innovation. During recent years the loss of its culture, filth, and tolerance of crime is so tragic and I doubt that Ms. Garcia a product of the NY political class can see its problems with any clarity or be able to resolve.
Yes - this was a tremendously disappointing puff piece of an interview. Mayor Adams just replied with platitude after platitude.
Two examples, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is concerned about jobs. So why did she chase off Amazon, a company that would have brought in thousands of jobs that 1) did not require a college degree 2) would help fund a college education 3) paid above minimum wage and 4) paid benefits to people working over 20 hours a week.
Second, Randi Weingarten advocated for remote education 1) long after it we knew if was not needed for the safety of children 2) long after we knew if caused great harm to kids, particularly kids of color. If racism is defined by disparate outcomes that harm people of color and people advocating disparate outcomes like this are racists, then how is Ms. Weingarten not a racist. That may be a bit strong, but you get the point.
Bari, this was beneath you. It would have been better not to talk to the Mayor.
Sometimes the news is bad. But it's still news, and it's important. I thought this was an instructive interview. I voted for Adams because I had high hopes for him, especially after de Blasio. Now I know for sure that he's a vapid, self-aggrandizing blowhard. The interview wasn't beneath Bari, Adams was beneath the interview. We shouldn't blame the messenger. It's her job to get the story. It was a public service.
Not the type of interview I have come to expect from Barri. Lots of big words like "justice" but not drill down as to what that means. He admires Randy Weingarten. Does that mean he is aligned with Teachers Unions? If so, how will that improve schools
Where is he on Charters?
He comes across as a typical Democrat who checks all of the boxes
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought I heard him say that the criminal justice system was “more racist than before” because both perpetrators and victims of crime were disproportionately black and brown and that this is now a “generational” thing. So instead of acknowledging the myriad cultural problems in urban black communities we’re gonna blame whitey? Is he willfully blind, captured by ideology, or just stupid....
Disappointing. Barri seems starstruck whenever she interviews a famous person. She's so proud of getting the interview, she seemingly makes it as pleasant as possible. The complete lack of follow up questions just made this an opportunity for the mayor to platform his agenda.
Disappointed in this interview; not hard hitting at all. Adams comes across as highly political and Barri asks no hard questions. She never makes him uncomfortable. Wasted opportunity.
I disagree. There isn’t much substance to Mayor Adams and I feel that Bari’s interview exposed that. The man evaded the question about why changing admission standards for elite public schools might be driving members of Asian communities to lean Republican - a hot button topic. But it was nice of him to share his homemade vegan recipes.
This was the most disappointing Honestly yet. Eric Adam’s talks like a politician and a NY politician at that. He didn’t offer anything new to the conversation outside of what we already know about NYC and it’s current state of crime, politics, etc. Bari typically has a way with getting her guests to open up and reveal their humanity, but Adam’s just sounds like every other NY Democrat.
One word for Randi Weingarten: “Smart”. OMG. I can’t think of one person in America who has been more harmful to the African American kid. Adams’ answer is obviously nothing other than political. So sad.
I tried to give Mayor Adams the benefit of the doubt, but he stated that shutting down was a good decision by the prior administration - the stupidity continues. We sacrificed kids to protect the elderly, and it did not work. A reminder to myself to never live in a city or state that embraced lockdowns, and have an alternative when the next health "emergency" happens. Dems love bodily autonomy, as long as that means unborn children, but not in any other way.
Have to say I disagree that there weren't any difficult parts at all. She hit school shutdowns, antisemitism, crime, addiction, it's not like she didn't ask any substantive questions. And sure, he gave a lot of politician answers, but he articulated some things in there that could get him banned from a college campus. The fact that she got half an hour with a prominent Democrat when his entire tribe shuns the "heterodox" world is not nothing.
If the Bari Weiss media empire is going to go anywhere, she's going to have to navigate the tension between asking real questions and convincing people to give the interview in the first place. Given where mainstream media is on that question, I don't think she's doing badly.
If the Barri Weiss empire's model includes groveling to accommodate politicians with commitments to throw softball questions at them then what are we all subscribing to? You believe getting 1/2 hour with a city Mayor is a big deal, the Israeli PM gave Barri an hour.
You have a different definition of softball questions than I do. And I think that if even these questions were asked and the same sorts of answers were given on a regular basis for more politicians, it would improve the country dramatically. I'm pretty sure that was a tougher interview than Joe Biden has given during his entire presidency. A low bar, to be sure.
You may be right. Independent media specifically substack for the moment still remains somewhat of a place that's independence I would hope underlying principles are still based on the truth. Not my truth or the writers. That is a very high bar. I guess it's easy to fall into the trap of only subscribing to writers that feed us what we want to hear. That is the role of the corporate media groups. There are only so many substacks that I can subscribe to so Barri (I may be wrong) appears to be building a media source that is broad, well financed and could potentially staff and fund investigative journalists. That's fine. The Free Press home page is getting pretty busy. Perhaps a bit too much for me and why would I want to pay to listen to the Eric Adams of the world when his redundant answers can be found for free on NYC local news yoytube segments. I hope the Free Press doesn't become what it told us it's not.
I share that hope. I haven't been shy about criticizing some other pieces here, nor should anyone else be.
This is one of the rare moments that I read the comments before considering listening to the podcast. I'm glad I didn't waste my time. I'm sure Eric Adams is a decent man with some good intentions but lacks the intelligence, skills and imagination to pull NYC back from the brink. That would require a very unique individual. But it's over for NYC. The world has moved on. What was once a great city built on excellence in engineering, architecture, the arts with a unique culture and urban experience that was specific to that once great metropolis has been systematically destroyed through incompetence and by demagogues who try as he may Mayor Eric appears to be one.
Thank you, Bari for further confirming why we in NYC have little idea of what our mayor is about. You’re correct, he doesn’t hold regular town halls or radio interviews and I think 30 minutes was more than enough time for this episode.
I’d love it if you could have an interview with Kathryn Garcia. She came a close second to Adams in the mayoral race. Has an interesting background, including head of the NYC department of sanitation (pretty bad-ass in this town, especially for woman), politically moderate and had some really good, practical ideas.
I'm sure the person who ran the garbage trucks would be just a brilliant interview with great insights and imagination.
Not sure how to take that but you can watch a repeat of one of the mayoral debates and know what I'm talking about. She's a life long New Yorker who graduated from one of the top schools in the city and it shows. "Running the garbage trucks" is a huge undertaking in any big city.
You all deserve better than Ms. Garcia or the current guy. She would have most likely won but New Yorkers would rather stick a hot poker up their noses before voting for a white girl over a black man. This is not meant to be an insult towards you as I don't know you and I believe you care deeply for your city. I've lived most of my life on the West Coast but did spend my teen years in NYC a place with many problems but incredible creativity and innovation. During recent years the loss of its culture, filth, and tolerance of crime is so tragic and I doubt that Ms. Garcia a product of the NY political class can see its problems with any clarity or be able to resolve.
Yes - this was a tremendously disappointing puff piece of an interview. Mayor Adams just replied with platitude after platitude.
Two examples, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is concerned about jobs. So why did she chase off Amazon, a company that would have brought in thousands of jobs that 1) did not require a college degree 2) would help fund a college education 3) paid above minimum wage and 4) paid benefits to people working over 20 hours a week.
Second, Randi Weingarten advocated for remote education 1) long after it we knew if was not needed for the safety of children 2) long after we knew if caused great harm to kids, particularly kids of color. If racism is defined by disparate outcomes that harm people of color and people advocating disparate outcomes like this are racists, then how is Ms. Weingarten not a racist. That may be a bit strong, but you get the point.
Bari, this was beneath you. It would have been better not to talk to the Mayor.
Sometimes the news is bad. But it's still news, and it's important. I thought this was an instructive interview. I voted for Adams because I had high hopes for him, especially after de Blasio. Now I know for sure that he's a vapid, self-aggrandizing blowhard. The interview wasn't beneath Bari, Adams was beneath the interview. We shouldn't blame the messenger. It's her job to get the story. It was a public service.
Eric Adams isn't as bad as de Blasio but he still sucks. Insane that he defends school shut downs.
Not the type of interview I have come to expect from Barri. Lots of big words like "justice" but not drill down as to what that means. He admires Randy Weingarten. Does that mean he is aligned with Teachers Unions? If so, how will that improve schools
Where is he on Charters?
He comes across as a typical Democrat who checks all of the boxes
Need a follow-up on this one
Would love to see a word count of the number of times Mayor Adams says "I". Sign of a poor leader.
Thank you for acknowledging the man's narcissism. His use of "I" is tragic.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought I heard him say that the criminal justice system was “more racist than before” because both perpetrators and victims of crime were disproportionately black and brown and that this is now a “generational” thing. So instead of acknowledging the myriad cultural problems in urban black communities we’re gonna blame whitey? Is he willfully blind, captured by ideology, or just stupid....
Disappointing. Barri seems starstruck whenever she interviews a famous person. She's so proud of getting the interview, she seemingly makes it as pleasant as possible. The complete lack of follow up questions just made this an opportunity for the mayor to platform his agenda.