Dave Smith

Ex-editor of the NYTimes Week in Review and managing editor of The International Herald Tribune. Freelance editor. Exec. Committee Lexington Democratic Club.

[Paula Pant @AffordAnything]

Let's lay out the math:

You own an NYC apartment that's been occupied by the same tenant for 30 years. It's rent-stabilized, so the tenant is paying substantially under market rate.

The tenant moves out / passes away, and legally, you're required to invest $100k into lead abatement, wiring, asbestos, etc., to bring the unit to code before you re-lease it to the next tenant.

But because of a 2019 law called the HSTPA (Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act), you can't raise the rent enough to cover the renovation costs.

You go to the bank to ask for a renovation loan. They say, "Can you pay it back?" You say, honestly, "No." They say "Denied," as they should.

Your only other option would be to pay cash out-of-pocket if you happen to have that kind of money laying around.

Your financial advisor says, "Why wouldn't you just put that money into T-bills, or TIPS, or long-term Treasuries? Or heck, even a high-yield savings account? Or a CD?"

You run the math and realize all of the above would pay a higher return.

So it doesn't make sense to pay cash. You can't get approved for a loan. And you can't legally rent out the apartment without doing this renovation work.

So you leave the apartment vacant.

There are 57,421 rent-stabilized vacant units in NYC, according to the latest data, which was released in June 2026.

That's about a 16.18% increase over the previous year, when NYC had 49,426 vacant units.

That trend line is worrying. And it's about to get worse.

[Jonah Platt @JonahPlatt]

You know things are bad for Jews when entire industries of Jewish celebrities are TERRIFIED to come on a podcast to discuss their Jewish identity. I’m talking major names who are absolutely frozen by fear of the hate. It’s really wild, and really disheartening.

[Dave Smith @DaveSmithNY]

Gaza could have had an airport, a seaport and billions in new industry if Hamas had agreed to disarm.
Always pay attention to @afalkhatib

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

The Great Gaza Scam; Just Listen to Hamas: What you’re seeing in this video is the plain truth, even though it’s coming from slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. I was directly involved in one of the efforts he’s indirectly referring to. This is a confession from a jihadist organization responsible for immense harm, acknowledging that Gaza’s blockade & conditions were not because Israel was hell‑bent on blocking development. Israel became the lazy, convenient explanation & excuse for people unwilling to look beneath the surface and understand what actually happened in Gaza over the last twenty years.

Here, the head of Hamas admits there were real offers on the table: an airport, a seaport, new industries, major cash infusions – opportunities dating back to 2014. Former Israeli officials like Shaul Mofaz floated plans to raise tens of billions for Gaza’s development, and large parts of Israel’s security establishment were open to letting Gaza grow and prosper. Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Western governments were prepared to invest serious money, far beyond just humanitarian aid.

In 2015, I launched a multi‑year effort to build an internationally run, Israeli‑approved airport in al‑Mawasi, southern Gaza Strip. The proposal drew intrigue from senior Israeli officials, including Herzi Halevi and Avigdor Lieberman. In 2017, through intermediaries, I even appealed directly to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s former chief and architect of October 7, urging him to consider the airport proposal and think strategically about Gaza’s future.

So, what was the price that Israel and the world wanted in exchange for all of this?

As Haniyeh states in this video, the price was Gaza’s disarmament and demilitarization so that it wouldn’t be dragged into endless, self‑destructive wars. Hamas was offered a dignified off‑ramp: integrating its employees and former fighters into civilian police, receiving salaries, and shifting toward nation‑building instead of terrorism. That offer was real, with a political pathway for the group.

After October 7, and Gaza’s vast destruction, tens of thousands killed, and $ billions wasted, Hamas is forcibly entertaining disarmament and demilitarization. This video exposes the “resistance” cheerleaders who celebrated October 7 and the Westerners who insist Gaza could never have developed because of Israel. Listen to Hamas; whether you support them or think they are useful idiots, Gaza’s development was blocked because the terror Islamist group turned the territory into a fortress of violence, tunnels, rockets, smuggling, and radicalization. And no, Gaza and the West Bank are not comparable cases. Gaza had a genuine chance to become the crown jewel of the Palestinian people, a truly compelling model of prosperity and self‑rule.

The pathway forward requires introspection, accountability, responsibility, and Palestinian agency.

[The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetter]

BREAKING: Iran has forced US forces to withdraw from Kuwait and Bahrain following weeks of constant Iranian missile attacks, pushing the US to reposition them further afield to Jordan, Israel and beyond. After 6 months of war with Trump, Iran has seized the initiative so that the US is "increasingly fighting at a pace set by Tehran," per FT.

Iran's strategy that made the withdrawal happen is to force the US as far away from Iran as possible, out of the Gulf, Syria, and Iraq, and having them "holed up in Israel and Jordan," which is where US forces came under heavy Iranian fire in recent weeks, with hundreds of public figures signing a letter demanding immediate American withdrawal.

That forced repositioning to Jordan has let Iran strike US soldiers more effectively, killing 3 US soldiers at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base more than 2 weeks ago.

[Steven Pinker @sapinker]

When I ask Israeli colleagues why there isn't movement toward a 2-state solution, they say, "Because a Palestinian state would instantly be taken over my Hamas, who would launch nonstop suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and 10/7s in a campaign to destroy Israel." The response of Western pro-Palestinians: "Yes!!!!" | Is the Pro-Palestine Movement the Israeli Right’s Unlikely Ally? https://t.co/ccTFE8cz0b

[James Surowiecki @JamesSurowiecki]

This entire story is Trump's presidency in a nutshell: the DOJ brings totally baseless charges against an ordinary citizen in order to satisfy Trump's narcissistic delusions, and then, after having wreaked havoc on the guy's life, says "Never mind." Utterly pathetic.

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

Trump didn’t want to admit that he personally hired an unqualified contractor who screwed up the Pool and cost taxpayers millions. So instead he had the hack Fox host who he installed as US attorney indict an innocent man so he could blame him and others for his own incompetence.

[Richard Hanania @RichardHanania]

Good news!

The MAGA media is declining.

Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Benny Johnson, and other poisoners of the public discourse are becoming less popular.

Is there hope for post-Trump America?

[Boris Zilberman @rolltidebmz]

“Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, said today at an antisemitism roundtable with local Jewish community leaders that she will not be attending the Michigan state Democratic Party convention in August because she would not feel safe there…” - @jewishinsider

[Dr Jessica M. DNP/MSN/MPH, CCNP, FNP-C, CFNP @Jessicam6946]

Is anyone old enough to remember when a male boxer beat up female boxers in the 2024 Olympics while millions of people worldwide cheered him on?

[Aaron Blake @AaronBlake]

Trump's approval this week in high-quality polls:

CNN 34%
AP-NORC 33%
Quinnipiac 32%

[Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias]

What’s the ratio of articles imploring Democrats to learn from a guy who won a mayoral election in New York City to learning from a guy who’s winning yet again in North Carolina?

Fifty to one? Five hundred?

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

🇺🇸Jews are only 2.4% of the US population, yet 69% of US religious hate crimes target Jews

🇬🇧Jews are only .5% of the UK population, yet 29% of US religious hate crimes target Jews

🇨🇦Jews are only 1% of the Canadian population, yet 71% of all religious hate crimes target Jews

🇦🇺Jews are only .5% of the Australian population, yet 14% of all religious hate crimes target Jews

Jews are targeted disproportionately all over the world. The silence enabling it is disproportional, too.

[Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias]

There are very strong financial incentives throughout the media to tell an unrepresentative group of highly engaged, educated, younger progressives what they want to hear.

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

Implying that Israel is the reason Americans don’t have schools or healthcare is a reformulation of blaming Jews for all of society’s problems.

American military aid to Israel mostly goes into purchases from American companies. The money is not sent abroad.

By the way, Hamas started the war with Israel by murdering over 1000 people and taking hundreds hostage. No court has deemed it a genocide.

Hope that helps!

[Dave Smith @DaveSmithNY]

I was at this show. Unforgettable.
@Cavett

[BiffBifford™ 🇺🇸 @TBifford]

📺This is one of the most famous walk-offs in talk-show history.

This is great. Dick Cavett is such a gentleman and handles this with such class. THIS IS A MUST-WATCH... 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

In 1970, Georgia Governor Lester Maddox appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. The conversation turned to his segregationist record and civil rights, and the exchange grew increasingly tense. After Cavett pressed him on his own language and policies, Maddox demanded an apology, didn’t get one, and walked off the set.

It’s a raw piece of live television from a very polarized moment in American politics.

❓Do you think hosts today would handle a guest like this the same way Cavett did? 👇

#DickCavett #LesterMaddox #TalkShow #TelevisionHistory #CivilRights

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: The Justice Department said it would withdraw subpoenas that sought phone records and grand jury testimony from New York Times journalists. https://t.co/Bz9p1Vj3kQ

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of British opposition party says what many in the UK seem to forget: Israel doesn’t need the UK, but it is thanks to Israel's intelligence that British citizens are saved every day 🇮🇱 🇬🇧

[Sally Goldenberg @SallyGold]

NEW: When @NYCMayor told @LuluGNavarro last week he was in “active conversation” over whether he could arrest Netanyahu, lawyers had already told him he couldn’t. PD then drafted a statement with the same conclusion. Story w/ @danarubinstein @liamstack

https://t.co/fkqKxCYOmR

[CAMERA UK @CAMERAorgUK]

This is from Benny Morris' take-down of Omer Bartov's book promoting the genocide libel, but it also captures one the greatest failures of the mainstream media's coverage of the region.