Tag: New York

Dems Are Looking Confused

This past Tuesday in some primaries especially in NY mainstream Dems were handed their butts….

New York’s primary night delivered a jolt to the Democratic establishment—and a boost to the city’s left flank, the New York Times reports. Brad Lander, a former city comptroller, unseated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in a marquee House primary, attacking him from the left and zeroing in on his stance on Israel. In Brooklyn and Queens, state lawmaker Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for the seat being vacated by longtime Rep. Nydia Velázquez. And in upper Manhattan and the Bronx, community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier beat incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the AP reports. That means New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept the primaries in which he logged endorsements: The Democratic Socialist backed Lander, Valdez, and Chevalier, using the primaries as a test of his growing influence and broader left-wing project.

More on the outcome from these primary wins from a blogger I follow, the Secular Jurist….

Democratic Party establishment rocked by socialist earthquake in New York

The old man of Dem strategists, Carville, is butt hurt that progressives are winning elections….

Longtime figure on the right Tucker Carlson no longer wants to be part of the Republican party because of how it’s changing. Now longtime figure on the left James Carville no longer wants to be part of the Democratic party for the same reason. On the podcast Politicon, Carville said it’s time to openly consider splitting the party after three progressive candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won House primaries in solidly blue districts on Tuesday, reports Mediaite.

“Lady, I ain’t in the same party as you,” Carville said of union organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, referencing her past comments that white people should not be in interracial relationships. “I’m sorry. I’m just not. And I actually do think it’s time for Democrats to talk the ‘s’ word: schism. I really do. Everybody’s always said, ‘No, no. We’re a coalition. We’re a big tent. And there’s just some s— I can’t be in the same tent with.” Avila Chevalier unseated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in Tuesday’s primary, while state Rep. Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, and former New York City comptroller Brad Lander easily beat Rep. Dan Goldman.

“I’m done,” said Carville. “In not in that … political party.” He also referenced Israel, saying that he doesn’t want to be in a party “that denies the right of the state of Israel to exist.” In a separate appearance on NewsNation, Carville suggested the progressives form their own party. “All of these people hate Democrats,” he said. “Why do you want to run as a Democrat? Start your own movement. If it’s such a powerful, sweeping movement that’s got momentum everywhere, then go ahead and be at the head of it. Don’t use the Democratic Party to advance it.”

First of all Carville was never on the Left he has always been a centrist, a big dollar Dem…..second the best thing that could happen to the Dems is he takes a bow and shuts the fuck up….and he has been in Israel’s pocket for decades…time for him to fade away.

It looks like the DNC needs to realize what is happening and adjust their focus……but will they?

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/24/socialists-draft-aggressive-new-agenda-democratic-party/

You know the Right will be frothing at the mouth and will inevitably start their bullshit about socialists….personally I am glad to see some progressives getting into the fray with the DNC, a tired dinosaur that needs replacing.

Now if they can just keep up the pressure and win these  damned elections.

BTW, DSA is not a socialists organization….makes good propaganda to say they are socialists but that would be a lie and we know the the Right has mastered lying.

Not to worry I will be explaining the DSA once again so people can keep up and try to dispel the misinformation from the Far Right slugs.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

NYC Does It Again

I recently wrote about a policy that the new mayor of NYC will pursue…..city owned grocery store….personally I think it is a great idea and more cities should be so concerned.

The mayor has yet another plan for the city….this time it will help city employees with child care….

Tucked in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sprawling universal childcare plan is a little-talked-about milestone: In September, the city will open what appears to be the first free daycare for municipal workers in the country.

The center, called The Little Apple, is a pilot program that could prove to be a model for cities across the country that are childcare curious, but not ready to take the big universal swing.

Housed in a renovated space on the first floor of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan, home base for more than 2,000 city workers, the Little Apple will offer free care to the kids of full-time staff. All workers in the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), a city government support agency, can also take advantage of it regardless of their work location.

The center will be small — just 40 seats for children ages six weeks to 3 years old. To pay for it, the city budgeted about $1.5 million, or $35,000 per child.

“This is what Wall Street could call a good investment,” Mamdani said in a press conference announcing the new center. “We know that after housing, the cost of childcare is what is pushing working families out of this city.”

DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei told The 19th said the solution came about as a retention strategy, responding to the needs workers shared. In surveys, workers enthusiastically embraced the idea. One worker described access to free childcare as “life-changing.”

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-mamdani-new-york-will-be-first-to-open-free-childcare-center-for-city-workers/

So far this man has done just about everything he said he wanted to do….he has my vote of mayor of the year.

Right after the first of the year the mayor first major proposal was a tax plan….

A number of new taxes have been proposed this winter and spring to address the City’s structural budget gap. They range from a surcharge on high-income Personal Income Tax filers, to a partial recapture of the federal tax benefits accruing to Pass-Through Entity Tax filers, to higher rates for the City’s business income taxes, to higher real property transaction taxes on luxury properties at time of sale. One of the most likely, and possibly only, new tax revenue to be included in the FY 2027 State budget is a tax on pied-à-terre properties in New York City.

To date, details on the proposed tax have been hard to find, but Governor Hochul announced a revenue estimate of $500 million from 13,000 “second homes” with market value of at least $5 million.  The lack of further information has spurred wide-ranging conjectures regarding which properties might be subject to the tax and how much they might pay.

In this Fiscal Note we use previous pied-à-terre tax proposals to estimate potential revenues and highlight areas of uncertainty. Based on the parameters chosen for the analysis, tax revenues are critically dependent on the share of targeted properties that are rented and on the behavioral responses to the tax. We find that, before adjusting for these factors, our choice of tax rates and brackets could raise almost exactly $500 million from a little over 11,200 properties. However, revenues could be reduced to between roughly $340 million and $380 million based on assumptions on exclusions for rented units and behavioral changes following the imposition of the tax.

The Pied-à-Terre Tax and Its Potential Revenues

Another policy that meets with my acceptance….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those City-Owned Grocery Stores

Everyone knows and has felt the bite to the price of groceries….and the mayor of NYC promised to introduce city-owned stores to help bring down the cost of food….

How has it so for?

 

https://time.com/article/2026/05/21/mamdani-city-owned-grocery-stores-east-harlem-manhattan-the-bronx/

 

WE will see how well this idea works for the people of NYC….maybe it could help the rest of the country as well.

Sadly, we probably will not here much about this if it is a success but everything if it fails…..for the MSM does not want a success to become a national morn.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Decent Cops Are Penalized

We all have heard about the killings by these brutal cops…but we hear very little about decent cops doing the right thing.

Let’s look a Buffalo.

We know that the cops there injured an old man and when they two we charged the rest of the unit was so upset they resigned (I say good riddance to garbage and now Buffalo can look for good cops)….but did you hear about the Buffalo cop that lost her job for doing the right thing?

No?

Let me help out.

In Buffalo, New York a former police officer is fighting for her pension after being fired from the city’s police department for interfering with another officer she claims was abusing an arrested suspect. Cariol Horne was fired from the force in 2006 and charged with obstructing another cop during an arrest over a domestic dispute, ABC 7 reported last week. 

Horne claims that fellow Buffalo officer Gregory Kwiatkowski was abusing a suspect who had already been placed under arrest in handcuffs. “He was handcuffed in the front and he was sideways and being punched in the face by Gregory Kwiatkowski,” explained Horne. Horne said she intervened when she saw Kwiatowski begin to choke the man. “I’m like, ‘Greg! You’re choking him,’ because I thought whatever happened in the house he was still upset about so when he didn’t stop choking him I just grabbed his arm from around Neal Mack’s neck,” said Horne.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvaqa3/buffalo-cop-loses-job-and-pension-after-she-intervenes-with-fellow-officer-choking-a-suspect

That may have been in 2006 but that does not matter….apparently she was doing the right thing and was penalized by Buffalo for her actions….that begs the question does Buffalo truly want to do the right thing or are they reacting to the moment these days and will revert back to the bad behavior that they have done in the past?

I feel like it is the latter.

Then there is the chief of police in Portland Oregon….who stepped aside to let another officer work on major reforms…..

With the police department in Portland receiving heavy criticism from the ACLU of Oregon and others for its response to the protests, Chief Jami Resch considered what the city needs. The answer, she decided, was someone else as police chief. She turned to Lt. Chuck Lovell, who hadn’t sought the job, the Oregonian reports. “You never wanted it,” Resch told him Monday. “You were meant for it.” The job offer stunned Lovell, 46, who will become Portland’s fourth black police chief. But he said that “when your boss comes to you and says the community needs you,” you have to take it. Resch called him “the exact right person at the exact right moment.” Mayor Ted Wheeler, who ordered police to limit the use of tear gas on Saturday, said more changes are coming, per Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Resch said she asked the mayor to support the change on Sunday, and he welcomed the new chief. “Together we will work on meaningful and bold reforms,” Wheeler said Monday. Resch had only been chief since January, and activists pointed out that appointing a new chief in the past hasn’t brought meaningful change to the department. Resch agreed that it’s only a start. At the announcement, Lovell said what struck him most when he watched the video of George Floyd dying in police custody in Minneapolis was the lack of compassion among the officers, a problem that he said the community could come together to battle. “The fight is not with each other,” Lovell said. “The fight is against that idea – that people, institutions, the agencies that can harbor that feeling in their heart.”

She moved at the right time and did the decent thing for the city and the times…..

I realize these are not the only time that the police have acted in a meaningful way….but it is some that will illustrate the point.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Speaking Of 9/11

We all remember that faithful day in 2001….when the dastardly deed was done…..and after many years and many setbacks the museum dedicated to that day will be finished soon and open to the public……a memorial to those that lost their lives on that day……a place of remembrance and reflection…..

But if you plan on showing up to see the place or offer your prayers or just to cure your curiosity…..then be sure to bring your wallet!

(Newser) – A somber visit to New York City’s planned Sept. 11 museum will also be an expensive one. The board of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum yesterday voted to charge adults a $24 admission. That places it among the city’s priciest museums (the Guggenheim is at $22, MoMA at $25), and the New York Daily News points out that unlike places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it’s not a suggested donation, but a required fee. Memorial president Joe Daniels cited the lack of government funding to pay for operational costs. “A Museum admissions [charge] will also ensure the Memorial, which has had more than 11.5 million visitors since opening two years ago, will be free,” as it currently is.

The AP reports that the museum is scheduled to open this spring; the total annual cost of operating the museum and memorial is estimated at $63 million. Families of Sept. 11 victims won’t be charged, and there will be a three-hour free window each week. Philip Kennicott at the Washington Post writes that the price tag “just doesn’t feel right,” and worries that the museum will feel pressure to be entertaining to justify it. He predicts that many people looking to pay their respects will skip the museum and do so at the free memorial. (Read the intriguing story of one of the items being prepped for inclusion in the museum, the “Angel of 9/11.”)

Now I have a problem with that…..how much public money was used to construct this massive mausoleum?  what does the cash go for once I have paid my entrance fee?

Questions!  I have questions!

How about you?

Enough With Christie!

Finally, the professor will actual comment on the Chris Christie debacle!  He has been avoiding it like the plague…..but there comes a time when the avoidance must cease…..today is that day…..joy, joy!

I heard recently a major news anchor say that the whole country is disgusted with the actions in New Jersey, Bridge-gate if you like.

I say bollocks!  There is NO one in Peoria that gives a crap what happens in New York/New Jersey and people in LA have their own sets of problems…..so hyping the story by saying that the whole country is disgusted seems a bit disingenuous.

If you are one of those that could care less….let’s review what we ‘know’…….a traffic study was done in close proximity to the GW Bridge that closed off access to the city of Ft. Lee, NJ….the mayor did not endorse Christie………now there are emails that appear to be some sort of retribution against the Dem mayor of the city….those that are involved are many close Christie advisers and appointees…..but Christie has not been implicated by any yet with the exception of the media.  An investigation has been set up and subpoenas issued…..and the investigation continues…..

That is a very simple explanation of what is happening so far….if you want a more detailed one then I suggest that you clean off your Goggle finger and go to work….

Christie the Bully

Before I go any further I want to state that I Am Not Defending Christie!  Personally, I think is an egotistical prick, a typical maniacal politician that wants everything his way and will do whatever he must to get his way…..a typical politician.

Now to the reason that I am posting this……..knowing how politics works I think the investigation will find, that is according to what we know now, that the people involved in this political retribution did it without informing the governor….why?  Plausible Deniability!

These people did what they thought would help their friend and boss and did not tell him to protect him from recriminations.  They did what they thought would be in the best interests of the admin and will go down covering Christie’s butt.  So it is plausible that his people did this without his knowledge….loyalty is a funny thing……people will act impetuously to try and make things ‘right’…..for lack of a better word….and those acts are not always on the up and up.

Is Christie guilt free?  Probably not, but he has the buffer zone to survive the ‘scandal’…….all this depends on whether or not another shoe falls…but for now I do not see this as a problem for him in the 2016 election….the only problem he has for now, is the media is like a Pitt Bull with a human leg bone….just will not let it go.

PS:  After I wrote this draft for future post….that damn ‘other shoe’ dropped!  Now he, Christie,  is in some lukewarm water, not hot yet, over the possibility that he withheld some Sandy recovery money from a city in New Jersey for political reasons…..someone is lying….either the mayor or the governor……is it possible I was a bit premature?

And now runner Carl Lewis is throwing accusations at Christie…….

Add Carl Lewis to the list of people piling on Chris Christie. The Olympic legend today revived his allegations that Christie’s administration abruptly ditched a plan to name him New Jersey’s “youth fitness ambassador” as soon as Lewis announced that he’d be running for state Senate as a Democrat, the Star-Ledger reports. “I felt like he was trying to intimidate me, absolutely,” he says, alleging that Christie directly told him that “if you run, we’re going to have to cancel the program.” Lewis first made the allegationsback in 2011. Christie’s administration has always denied them. “A lot of people said, ‘He didn’t do that, he didn’t say that,'” Lewis tells the paper. “Now you’re calling to ask about it because it’s a lot more plausible.” Christie’s administration ultimately got Lewis kicked off the ballot for not meeting state residency requirements. “It’s interesting, everyone calling him a bully. I don’t really see him as a bully,” Lewis says. “I see it more as someone who’s insecure … and has got power.”

Could all these shenanigans really have some substance behind it?

Let me have your thoughts.

And So It Begins

There was excellent news a couple of days ago….ah geez, I forgot what it was…..sorry could not resist…..the good news is that the state of Texas will have a new governor…..Rick Perry has decided not to run again….mostly likely to prepare for the 2017 presidential elections…..oops….2016.

(Newser) – As Rick Perry was waxing poetic over his political future yesterday, he refused to rule out a 2016 run for the White House, calling it “certainly … an option out there.” Today, Texas’ longest-serving governor said he “will not seek re-election” in 2014, reports the AP, during a gathering of friends and supporters he called to discuss “exciting future plans.”

“The time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership,” he said, as per CNN; his move opens the door for longtime Texas AG Gregg Abbott. And it does nothing to quell speculation about a run in 2016, notes Politico. “I will spend the next 18 months working to create more jobs, opportunity, and innovation,” said Perry. “I will actively lead this great state. I’ll also pray and reflect and work to determine my own future path.” The AP has a timeline of Perry’s career here.

But the better news is that Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York, is trying to make a political comeback….this time as comptroller of the City of New York…..if you recall he was caught with a high priced hooker and forced to resign…..but after five years he will attempt a comeback….I mean if Sanford can do it, Wiener can do it, why not Spitzer?

A former attorney general known for being a Wall Street watchdog and  in his own words a “steamroller,” Spitzer resigned in 2008 after reports surfaced that he had patronized a high-end prostitution group, Emperors Club VIP. No charges were ever brought against him.

“I’m hopeful there will be forgiveness, I am asking for it,” he said in a telephone interview to The New York Times Sunday night. He plans to forgo the city’s public campaign funding and finance the campaign himself. He will need to garner 3,750 signatures by September in order to get on the ballot.

If he makes it on the ballot, Spitzer will arguably have the best name recognition on a ballot of otherwise local names: the top contender is Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who has already earned the endorsement of many in the New York City mayoral race in the hours since Spitzer’s announcement.

From what I know, Spitzer is a very capable person and his past is just that…his past…and whatever he did it is between him and his conscious….I mean if criminals like Vitter and Ensign can find room to still play politics…..why not Spitzer?

A Boner Tax?

Sunday, a day of total relaxation and Zen…….this is how you keep from burning out of the crap we call….politics…….and NO!  I am not talking about the Speaker of the House….this post kinda goes along with yesterday’s post…….

Speaking of pole dancing!

We have many on the Right saying that we are taxed to death……we pay too much corporate tax or income tax or estate tax or…..well you get the idea…..we are taxed to death, so to speak……we pay taxes on everything…..now New York has another one….you know the state where they want to ban salt and tax soft drinks or ban cell phone use while walking…….they have a new tax to invoke…….a tax on a lap dance……

A state appeals court has dismissed a bid by an Albany-area strip club to wiggle out of paying $125,000 in back sales taxes on lap dances and admission fees charged to customers — and the ruling is arousing “exotic” dance clubs in the Big Apple.But the Appellate Division on Thursday unanimously ruled that Nite Moves was a typical jiggle joint subject to the sales tax — more bump-and-grind than art.

“In our view there can be no serious question that — at a bare minimum — petitioner failed to meet its burden of establishing that private dances offered at its club were choreographed performances,” Justice John Egan Jr. wrote in the Appellate Division, Third Department ruling.

So now NY wants to tax a boner….but is not sales tax charged on stuff that is tangible, like food or clothing or transportation?  Well, I guess one would get something tangible from a lap dance….but would not it be more of a service charge…..after all you are spending money for a service….you know kinda like hiring an architect or a lawyer?
All these political types want to cut taxes……but not if it is a sin tax……once again they are imposing their moral bullshit on me……or others, in this case……are other spectator sports taxed heavily?