Tag Archives: New York City

People Who Live Or Work In New York City Will Cheer This

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On Wednesday, The New York Post reported that the much-hated congestion toll in New York City will be going away. The Department of Transportation (DOT) under President Trump has pulled the previous approval of the toll.

The article reports:

New York City’s spectacularly unpopular congestion pricing scheme is on death row as the Trump administration announced Wednesday it is pulling its approval of the toll — slamming it as “backwards and unfair” — in a major blow to Gov. Kathy Hochul, The Post has learned.

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration terminated the approval of the controversial program, according to a letter Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent to Hochul on Wednesday afternoon.

“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” said Duffy, noting that commuters entering NYC have already financed the construction and improvement of city roadways through their taxes.

“But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair,” he said, blasting the program as harmful to small businesses in the Big Apple that depend on customers from New Jersey and Connecticut.

I have a nephew (who has since moved to North Carolina) that worked in New York City in the motion picture industry. The toll would have resulted in more than $100 a week in commuting expenses. There were times when he needed to bring his truck into the City for his job, and the extra expense would be a problem. The people paying this toll are not the people who can afford it–they are the working people who are afraid to ride the subways because of safety issues. During the 1960’s, I rode the subway every day when I commuted to school, but I wouldn’t want to ride it now. This tax needed to go away, and I applaud Secretary Duffy for ending it. Also, some serious effort needs to be made to clean up the subways and make them safer.

One Possible Solution To Rising Crime On The New York City Subways

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On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article citing one possible solution to the increasing level of crime on the New York City Subways.

The article reports:

The Guardian Angels are resuming their patrols of the Big Apple’s subways as if it were crime-riddled Gotham in 1979, after the horrifying arson murder of a sleeping straphanger on a train last week, founder Curtis Sliwa said Sunday.

The red-beret-wearing volunteer vigilante squad is beefing up its ranks to its level 45 years ago, Sliwa said.

“We’re going to have to increase our numbers, increase the training and increase our presence as we did back in 1979,” Sliwa said at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station in Brooklyn where the woman was killed.

Curtis Sliwa is now 70, but  he still loves his city as much as he did then. He has been a fighter for the city for a long time.

In August of 2005, The New York Times reported:

Testifying in the federal racketeering trial of John A. Gotti, Mr. Sliwa said he thought he had “hit the lottery” when he climbed into the back of the cab he had hailed near his apartment in the East Village before dawn on June 19, 1992. The driver recognized him and seemed to know that he was going to the WABC radio studios near Madison Square Garden, where he was host of a morning show. Within moments, Mr. Sliwa said, a second man popped up from under the dashboard “like a jack-in-the-box,” pointing a silver-plated pistol at his belly.

“Take this, you son of a bitch,” Mr. Sliwa recalled the gunman saying. He said he heard at least three shots, and felt blood spurting under his shirt and then searing pain in his legs, “like a knife through hot butter.”

Mr. Sliwa managed to escape the taxi and survived. Now he is back to help again.

In 1994, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton instituted what is called the Broken Windows Theory which resulted in a decrease in crime in New York City. One of my daughters was a freshman at Cooper Union in New York in 1992. The difference in the city the year she began her education there and the year she ended it was noticeable. New York City needs a mayor like Rudy Giuliani again (and the help of the Guardian Angels).

Some Tyrannies Have A Long Grasp

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On Wednesday, The Epoch Times reported that a man living in New York City has admitted to operating a secret police station for Beijing in Manhattan. In November 2022, I first posted an article about the Chinese police operations in New York City (article here).

The article at The Epoch Times reports:

A New York City man has admitted to acting as an illegal Chinese agent by operating a secret police station for Beijing in Manhattan.

Chen Jinping, a 60-year-old U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty on Dec. 18 in front of U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison, a development that prosecutors lauded as the latest progress in countering the Chinese regime’s transnational repression scheme.

Chen was one of two individuals the FBI arrested in April 2023 over the illegal police station, one of more than 100 identified overseas Chinese police outposts Beijing had operated globally.

He faces up to five years in prison.

The New York City site runs under the cover of a Chinese organization called the America ChangLe Association in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The association ostensibly serves as a mingling place for immigrants from China’s southeastern Fujian Province, where the namesake district, ChangLe, is based.

Chen was the secretary general of the association at the time of the arrest, while the other man arrested, Lu Jianwang, was the former president. Lu, also known as “Harry Lu,” has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is awaiting trial.
The article notes:

Beijing refuted Chen’s guilty plea.

“The so-called secret police stations do not exist,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in a press briefing on Dec. 19.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace of the Eastern District of New York said the prosecution was part of his office’s efforts to protect vulnerable people who “come to this country to escape the repressive activities of authoritarian regimes.”

Countering the malign activities of foreign states that violate U.S. sovereignty by targeting local diaspora communities is a priority of his office, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division called Chen’s effort in operating the secret outpost “brazen.”

The Department of Justice will “pursue anyone who attempts to aid the PRC’s efforts to extend their repressive reach into the United States,” he said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s national security branch, said Chen’s admission of guilt was “a stark reminder of the insidious efforts taken by the PRC government to threaten, harass, and intimidate those who speak against their communist party.”

These police stations don’t exist, but they take up space but they rent space in buildings around the world.

Now That The Election Is Over…

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On Thursday, The New York Post reported that New York State Governor Kathy Hochul is restarting the congestion pricing plan. The cost of entering midtown Manhattan was originally set at $15, but the Governor has magnanimously reduced it to $9. She did wait until after the election so that voters wouldn’t be influenced by her adding the tax.

The article reports:

Hochul had abruptly paused the program just before it was set to go into effect in June with a base rate of $15 — and then relaunched with with the lower fee just before President-elect Donald Trump’s administration had an opportunity to block it.

Critics argue the first-in-the-nation toll — which was first approved by state lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019 — is just a cash grab for the MTA that’ll saddle New York City drivers with yet another fee.

The article includes the details:

When does congestion pricing start?

Cars will be tolled beginning at midnight on Jan. 5, Hochul said.

How much will drivers be charged?

Standard passenger vehicles using an E-ZPass will be charged $9 per day for entering the tolling zone during daytime hours, defined as 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

That base amount is set to increase to $12 in 2028.

Other types of vehicles, like motorcycles and trucks, pay at different rates as follows:

    • Motorcycles: $4.50
    • Small trucks and non-commuter buses: $14.40
    • Large trucks and tourism buses: $21.60
    • Taxi and Black Car Drivers: $0.75 per ride
    • Uber, Lyft and other rideshare drivers: $1.50 per ride

The toll is reduced by 75% during overnight hours, between 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., to around $2.25.

Drivers without an E-ZPass will will receive a bill via mail and pay an inflated toll amount, though it wasn’t immediately clear how much.

Where is the toll zone?

The toll zone encompasses all areas below 60th Street – effectively all of Manhattan south of Central Park.

The article concludes:

Currently, the Biden administration is on board with the congestion pricing program. A spokesperson for the Federal Highway Administration confirmed that it is working to sign off on Hochul’s revised plan and get the toll up and running by Jan. 5.

The incoming Trump administration will almost definitely feel differently, with the president-elect telling The Post that he considered the toll the “most regressive tax known to womankind.”

Hochul has previously said she believes the toll can survive court challenges, even at its reduced $9 base rate.

This is one more reason tourists might want to stay out of New York City.

A Call To Restore New York City

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New York City used to be a fun place to visit. I went to school there many years ago. There was an energy to the city. There was culture and knowledge available to visitors in whatever area they wanted to pursue. The museums were wonderful, the buildings were fascinating, and the culture was diverse and interesting. I rode the subway to school every day and never thought twice about it. Today I would be afraid to walk down the street.

On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about President Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden. I only watched part of the rally, but like everyone else, have seen a lot of the short videos from the rally. One of the people who spoke that impressed me was Melania Trump. She said what many of us who have spent time in New York City in the past are thinking–let’s restore our city.

The article reports:

During former President Donald Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden, his wife, Melania Trump, praised New York City for being the place where “architectural symbols of strength, courage, and unity” made a “canvas for the world’s undisputed capital of industry.”

Melania encouraged voters to “envision a wonderful America where the seats of security, prosperity, and health” would be sewn.

“Hello, Madison Square Garden, our hometown, where architectural symbols of strength, courage, and unity create a canvas for the world’s undisputed capital of industry,” the former first lady said. “Where titans of finance, fashion, and entertainment convene among an iconic range of superior design, structures, and artistic accomplishments. And, American ingenuity blossoms among determined citizens who race across city streets and between offices striving for success. It is you who are the heartbeat of this great metropolis. It is you who are the pulse of this America.”

…“Crime is on the rise, while public safety diminishes creating an environment where families with young children chose to relocate” Melania added. “And this story repeats itself from coast to coast, across our nation: This is America. For generations, this town has produced America’s most fearless leaders, whose mark changed the course of the world. New York City and America needs their magic back. A country of tomorrow that will shape our future and reset expectations for the generations. Envision a wonderful America where the seats of security, prosperity, and health are sewn once again for benefit of our families. Let us charge together with a shared vision that builds on American greatness.”

It is time to bring our cities back to being places where families can live and work in safety and enjoy the diverse cultures around them. New York City has people from every country and most of the time they have all lived in peace. Some of my ancestors were Irish chauffeurs and Czech maids in the mansions of New York City at the beginning of the twentieth century. My husband’s French and Swiss ancestors lived in New York City in the beginning of the twentieth century when they immigrated here.

Let’s make New York City a place of peace, safety, diverse cultures, and great food again.

How Many Is Appropriate?

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During a recent interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week, JD Vance brought up the subject of illegal migrant gangs taking over hotels in American cities. When Martha Raddatz commented “The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes and the mayor said our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns — a handful of problems.”  JD Vance replied, “Do you hear yourself? Only ‘a handful’ of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem? Not Kamala Harris’s open border?” (The quotes are from RealClearPolitics.) How many gang takeovers of American apartment buildings is appropriate?

On Wednesday, Zero Hedge reported:

The Biden-Harris administration misled the public with phony FBI crime statistics, pushing the narrative that far-left policies were actually making America safer. Weeks later, those numbers were “revised,” revealing a shocking truth: a 2.1% decrease in US violent crime in 2022 was actually a 4.5% increase! 

…This brings us to the current crime crisis spreading across certain New York City boroughs, like stage four cancer, where armed illegal alien kids are brazenly robbing citizens and tourists alike.

…Here’s more from a separate NYPost report:

Law enforcement sources said gang members hid among the millions of asylum seekers who crossed the US border with Mexico since 2022, then scattered throughout the country.

…

In New York, gang members exploited the city’s migrant shelter system, running robbery crews, as well as trafficking drugs, guns and sex workers under the noses of private security guards. according to sources.

Tren de Aragua has become such a significant concern that leaked US Army documents estimate more than 5,000 of these gangsters, some of which are armed, are running amok nationwide.

These are the illegal immigration numbers from recent years. When you let in that many unvetted people, there are going to be bad apples in the bunch:

The article concludes with a message from a truck driver:

Do yourself a favor this holiday season: Avoid NYC and, in fact, boycott sanctuary towns. Spend your money elsewhere.

Immigration policies (or lack of) have consequences.

 

Priorities, People!

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On Thursday, The EconoTimes posted an article about the role of the government in providing relief to the victims of Hurricane Helene. The Biden/Harris administration has warned Americans that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) may run out of money before the end of the hurricane season.

The article reports:

In a shocking development, the Biden-Harris administration announced that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) may not have enough resources to make it through the rest of hurricane season. This warning comes on the heels of billions of dollars being allocated to foreign aid, raising concerns about the government’s ability to respond to domestic natural disasters.

“FEMA’s Running Dry — And They Just Sent Billions Overseas! How Are We Supposed to Get Through This?”

The administration’s statement was made public on Monday, September 30, raising alarm about the depleted state of FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). With hurricane season still in full swing, this could leave millions of Americans vulnerable in the event of further catastrophic weather events.

In June 2023, The New York Post reported:

New York City is set to receive $104.6 million in grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help cover its growing expenses related to the ongoing migrant crisis, Sen. Charles Schumer’s office confirmed to The Post.

That’s a third of the $363 million left in the pot allocated by FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, dedicated to helping municipalities around the US and nonprofits providing shelter and other services to homeless migrants who crossed into the country from the southern border. 

Although it’s also far less than the $650 million total initially requested by NYC Mayor Eric Adams earlier this year, the Big Apple has now received the largest grant from the program compared to other jurisdictions.

The migrant crisis in New York City is a crisis caused by the open-border policies of the Biden/Harris administration. The devastation in western North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida is caused by a natural disaster. FEMA money should be reserved for natural disasters–not man-made crises.

This Was Inevitable

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On Tuesday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article explaining how Chipotle is dealing with the new minimum wage requirements for fast-food establishments in California. This is not surprising and should give legislators in all states a reason to pause before changing the minimum wage laws.

The article reports:

Chipotle has introduced two robots that can take over tasks normally done by its workers. 

The ‘autocado’ can peel, stone and cut an avocado for guacamole in 26 seconds. Meanwhile, a ‘digital makeline’ portions up salads and bowls based on orders on the app.

The machines are part of an automation drive that Chipotle bosses hope will cut down the number of workers needed – slashing rising labor costs. 

So, it is no surprise they are being put to use first in two of the Mexican chain’s restaurants in California, the company announced on Monday. 

Recent legislation raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20-an-hour in the state. 

The controversial wage hike – $4 more than the minimum wage in the state for any other job – was introduced by California Governor Gavin Newsom at chains with more than 60 locations in the US, and came into effect on April 1.

Chains including Burger King have already ramped up the roll out of digital ordering kiosks to cut the number of cashiers needed in Californian restaurants.  

It is not yet clear how the production costs of using Chipotle’s new machines compares to human labor when making Chipotle menu items. 

Also, robots don’t call in sick or require vacations or sick days.

The article concludes:

Chipotle’s sales this year beat Wall Street expectations – boosted by price hikes and a jump in loyal customers. 

But the company has come under fire for its reported varying portion sizes. 

It prompted Chipotle’s then CEO Brian Nicol – who has now moved to Starbucks – to deny that he had instructed staff to scrimp with servings as he revealed the company will be instituting changes to ensure satisfaction.

He revealed Chipotle will be retraining its staff to ensure ‘generous portions’ are consistent across its more than 3,500 stores.

Last month, Wells Fargo analyst Zachary Fadem and his team tested the theory that Chipotle has been skimping on its usually-large portions, after a series of videos posted to TikTok showed employees barely filling their burrito bowls.

The team ordered and weighed 75 bowls – all with the same ingredients –  from eight locations across New York City.

They discovered that the consistency of the burrito bowls varied widely from restaurant to restaurant. Some locations served bowls that weighed up to 33 percent more than others, the study found. 

Even without the minimum wage hikes, fast food is another victim of Bidenomics.

 

Random Thoughts On September 11, 2001

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We all remember where we were when we got the news of the attack on the World Trade Center. I was living in Massachusetts at the time and working an early morning job. I got home just before 9 am and turned on the television set. Shortly thereafter I saw a picture of an airplane in the side of a building. My first thought was that I was seeing a special effect from some new action movie. Then, as I listened to what was being said, reality set in. Then, as I watched, a second airplane struck the South Tower. I watched in shock until I had to leave for a doctor’s appointment. While I was in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, the towers fell. Because some of my immediate family and a lot of my extended family lived or worked in New York City at the time, the shock of what I had seen was soon replaced with concern for their safety. In my morning travels, I then heard about the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The next day I learned that the daughter of one of my co-workers worked in the South Tower and had not been heard from. The fate of Susan Blair, 35, was unknown until she was listed as a casualty after about two weeks.

The events of September 11 were a rude awakening for Americans. What had we done to precipitate an attack on American civilians? Why were some people in New York City neighborhoods celebrating the attack? After the attack, we heard the name Al Qaeda. We even heard the name Muslim Brotherhood. The attack of September 11 was an act of kinetic jihad by Al Qaeda. The Muslim Brotherhood was not happy about the attack–they engage in stealth jihad or cultural jihad.

America slowly stood back up after the attacks. We can never replace the people we lost that day, but we can move forward as a tribute to them.

This is a day for unity in remembering that we need to work together to survive as a country.

Let’s work hard to eliminate the forces that committed the barbaric acts of September 11, 2001.

How About Sharing With Homeless Veterans?

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On Friday, Breitbart reported the following:

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is expanding his program that rewards newly arrived migrants with pre-loaded debit cards for food — paid for by New Yorkers who remain some of the most tax-burdened residents of the United States.

Adams started the debit cards-for-migrants program in February, noting that it would cost about $53 million to provide roughly 500 migrant families with the prepaid cards meant only for food. The program came even as a study recently found that 56 percent of New Yorkers live near the poverty line.

According to The New York Times:

The debit cards are expected to be distributed to more than 7,300 migrants over the next six months at a cost of about $2.6 million, city officials said, building from a pilot program that began earlier this year with roughly 900 families, or nearly 3,000 migrants. [Emphasis added]…

With more than 60,000 migrants currently in the city’s care, the program — which is expanding from three hotels to 17 — could serve about 1,230 people per month, or roughly 2 percent of the total migrant population. [Emphasis added]

The program is part of a contract with Mobility Capital Finance, known as MoCaFi, that could eventually cost the city as much as $53 million, with as much as $2 million going to the company and the rest being distributed to families, city officials said. Under the pilot program, a family of four with young children received about $350 per week for a month. [Emphasis added]

I don’t want anyone to go without food, but why can’t we just send them home since we can’t afford them?

Hotels are being paid to house the illegals. Again, why weren’t hotels being paid to house homeless veterans?

When Radical Isn’t Radical–It’s Original

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I am not an economist, but I am an observer of the obvious.

In a recent speech, President Trump talked about ending the Income Tax and restructuring the Federal Reserve. Either or both of those things would be good for all Americans and for the American economy.

Before 1913, the United State had neither the Federal Reserve nor the Income Tax. Both measures were passed in 1913. On February 25, 1913, the 16th Amendment (Income Tax) was certified as part of the U.S. Constitution. On December 23, 1913, the Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve.

The men who met at Jekyll Island to create the Federal Reserve represented 25 percent of the wealth of the entire world. They met in secret, and their identities were concealed for many years afterward. Their goal was to keep that 25 percent of wealth in their hands. They created the system for the purpose of keeping New York City banks as the center of America’s wealth. The federal reserve created a system where money could be created out of nothing and loaned out through a leverage system to create interest. For example, over a 30-year mortgage, a bank can earn more from the sale of a house than any contractor who worked on the house.

The Income Tax was supposed to only impact the top 1 percent of Americans. Before 1913, the government’s expenses had been handled through tariffs.

To end the Income Tax, you would have to end the Welfare State. One way to do that would be to tax welfare benefits but not wages. When it becomes more lucrative to work than to collect welfare, it is possible that the work ethic that used to be part of American culture might be revived. You would also have to slash the bloated bureaucracy. The economic boom created by ending the Income Tax would give those who lose their jobs in government a great job market in which to search for new jobs. We need to get rid of any government department that is not successful–has education improved since the Department of Education was created? What has Housing and Urban Development accomplished? How many people in the Justice Department would have to be fired to end the corruption? You no longer need the Internal Revenue Service. You see where I am going with this.

The opposition to this plan would come from federal workers (fear of losing their jobs). Opposition would also come from Washington swamp creatures who would see it as a threat to their power (in Washington controlling money is power). It would also come from welfare recipients.

The other issue would be Social Security and its related taxes. That could be worked out easily by balancing payments to people who have paid into the program for more than forty years with alternatives for younger workers. With a retirement age of 70, most Americans pay the most into Social Security from about the age of 30.

This is all possible if Americans are willing to elect a businessman who has the economic knowledge to put it all together.

Imagine a world where you get to keep all of what you earn and the government cannot intimidate you about your taxes.

Karma Isn’t Fun

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On Wednesday, PJ Media posted an article titled, “What a  Bad Day to Be a Democrat.” The article lists seven reasons for that statement. Please follow the link to read the details.

Here are the seven reasons:

1. By now you’ve heard that the Trump donation site crashed as patriotic Americans, 29.7% of whom were first-time donors, bombarded Trump with over $50 million in about 24 hours after the guilty verdicts, and a grand total of $200 million for the month of May.

2. A poll just out of my home state of Michigan revealed, much to the pain of the wailing, sissy-Mary sitzpinklers on the left, that the 34 guilty verdicts did not hurt Trump but, as America’s favorite commie-hating, radio talk show host/ PJ Media pundit/bourbon-drinking comedian pointed out, likely helped him.

3. New York City decided to incur a $15 “congestion tax” on people who travel south of 60th St. in Manhattan. The commies in charge thought it would be a tasty way to stick it to the profit-grabbing Milburn Pennybags of the Big Apple. 

But on Wednesday, Komrade Kathy Hochul delayed the tax indefinitely until the day after the presidential election because she knows New York State might, actually, possibly vote Republican for the first time in years.

4. As you’ve likely heard, the House Oversight Committee informed America’s notorious tergiversator, Merrick Garland, that it has proof that Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden lied to Congress, which is a big, fat, juicy felony. The committee recommended criminal investigations.

4.5. The gun case against Hunter is pretty daming. But he is on his own turf, so it’s hard to say how this case will go. If the jury just looks at the facts and doesn’t succumb to the sympathy of the ghost of Hunter’s dead brother Beau, who has already made an appearance, Hunter should be found guilty.

5. Georgia’s sassiest pinko, Fani Willis, might get booted from the Trump prosecution case. That could go either way, but we recently learned that the Trump trial will not proceed until a judge has decided whether or not to send Fani to the showers.

6. Judge Aileen Cannon just might decide that Jack Smith has no legal right to persecute Trump in what the Castromaniacs are calling the “classified documents trial.”

7. The Wall Street Journal released a damning article about how Joe Biden has the mental faculties of a carrot. Biden’s dementia is becoming an inconvenient truth for the Democrats who see voters — especially black and brown people — leaving the Democrat plantation in record numbers.

Almost all of these are ongoing issues. Stay tuned.

What He Says vs. What He Does

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President Biden has pledged to get tough on illegal immigration. It’s about time. However, are you going to believe what you hear or what you see?

On Sunday, The New York Post reported the following:

While the Biden administration is attempting to look like it’s getting tough on the border, behind the scenes it’s operating a program of “mass amnesty” for migrants, The Post can reveal.

Data show that since 2022, more than 350,000 asylum cases filed by migrants have been closed by the US government if the applicants don’t have a criminal record or are otherwise not deemed a threat to the country.

This means that while the migrants are not granted or denied asylum — their cases are “terminated without a decision on the merits of their asylum claim” — they are removed from the legal system and no longer required to check in with authorities.

The move allows them to legally, indefinitely roam the US without fear of deportation, effectively letting them slip through the cracks.

The article includes the following chart:

The Democrats keep talking about saving ‘Democracy’ (we are a Republic–not a Democracy), but have they ever considered that the number of people entering this country illegally cannot easily be assimilated? Have they ever considered the number of Americans unemployed because many of these immigrants are working ‘under the table’ for very low wages? Have they considered the impact on our social safety net of having illegals in need of housing, medical care and food? If you are not yet familiar with the Cloward-Piven theory, it is now time to look it up.

The article concludes:

Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s attempt to tighten things up at the border has included issuing a rule in May that asylum claims must be resolved within 180 days for migrants who list their final destination in the US as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles or New York City.

The administration is also poised to issue an order to close the border once the number of migrant crossings reaches 4,000 per day, sources told The Post.

In April, US authoriites in the southwest intercepted an average of 5,990 migrants per day, according to US Customs and Border Protection. That figure didn’t even include the so-called “gotaways” who escape detection and arrest.

I am hoping we can hang on until we can change administrations in November and begin deportations in January.

Let’s Even The Playing Field

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On Saturday, PJ Media posted an article titled, “Time To Fight Dirty.” Frankly, I was put off by the title, but when I read the article, I realized that there were some good ideas there.

The article notes:

After witnessing the banana republic court spectacle in New York City this week, I ask our elected Republicans… have you seen enough? Are you going to continue lobbing limpwristed slaps at your enemy’s shoulder as they continue to kick you below the belt? Are you still hiding behind the whole “civility” façade, which the Left abandoned decades ago? Or are you ready to actually man up and fight like our lives, our loved ones, and our liberties depend on it?

We need to start fighting dirty, like they do. If we don’t, what remains of our constitutional order will continue to dissipate until all that remains is the totalitarian state they’ve been working for generations to achieve, complete with state censorship, show trials, and political prisoners.

And when I say we need to fight dirty, let me clarify what I am not saying. I am not saying that we should persecute innocent people, like the Left does. I am saying that we need to go full-throttle, no-holds-barred lawfare against those who do break the law and smugly get away with it.

The article lists a number of times Democrats have broken laws and suffered no consequences. The author of the article believes that there need to be consequences for anyone who breaks the law. I agree.

The article concludes:

The fiercely abolitionist Quakers contributed absolutely nothing towards winning the Civil War, nor was slavery ended by peaceful legislative process. It was ended by the soldiers who slashed and burned their way through Mississippi and Georgia, backed by a Republican president who suspended habeas corpus, who emancipated slaves with a constitutionally-tenuous executive fiat, and who secured the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment via corruption and bribery. And they were right to do so. America is a better place because Larry Hogan’s forefather wasn’t president in 1860.

They all get away with it. They always get away with it. If we win in November, our leaders must ensure that they don’t get away with it, no matter how dirty the fight gets. We need to do to them what they’ve been doing to us, and we need the moral courage to do so. Fighting is dirty only if just one side is doing it.

Holding EVERYONE accountable for their misdeeds is the only way American can move forward. Our laws need to apply to everyone.

This Is What Taking A Stand Looks Like

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On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about a speech given by Senator John Fetterman at Yeshiva University in New York City.

The article reports:

Sen. John Fetterman told Yeshiva University graduates Wednesday that he was “profoundly disappointed” in Harvard University’s inability to address antisemitism on campus before removing the ceremonial crimson academic hood representing his alma mater.

The Pennsylvania Democrat expressed his disapproval of the Ivy League school during his commencement address at the private Orthodox Jewish university, which bestowed on him its “Hero of Israel” award, the institution’s highest honor. 

“I have been profoundly disappointed [in] Harvard’s inability to stand up for the Jewish community after Oct. 7,” Fetterman, 54, told the new grads at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens. 

Senator Fetterman has openly condemned the attacks of October 7th and supported Israel in its efforts to defend itself.

The article concludes:

Fetterman received his undergraduate degree in 1991 from Albright College in Pennsylvania and obtained an MBA from the University of Connecticut in 1993.

The senator graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999 with a master of public policy degree. He has previously said he doesn’t “recognize” the school as the same place he once attended. 

“As an alum of Harvard — look, I graduated 25 years ago, and of course, it was always a little pinko,” he told Semafor in January. “But now, I don’t recognize it.”

Last month, Fetterman endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. and current US Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to take over the presidency of Harvard, which is currently being held on an interim basis by Alan Garver, the university’s former provost.

Senator Fetterman has a rather questionable sense of decorum–if you look at the pictures in the article, you notice that he is probably wearing his signature gym shorts under his robe. However, I must say that some of his statements as a Senator have impressed me. He is not afraid to speak his mind when he disagrees with his fellow Democrats. He was elected in 2022 and will be in office until 2028.I wonder if the Pennsylvania Democrats will run a candidate against him if he decides to run for another term.

Setting An Ugly Precedent

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As we await the verdict on the New York City trial of President Trump, there are a few things that we need to keep in mind. One thing is the impact this trial will have on future politics and future elections.

On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about the possible impact of this trial.

The article reports:

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that a conviction in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial would weaponize the justice system.

Frankly, I think it has already been weaponized.

The article continues:

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that a conviction in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial would weaponize the justice system. 

“If there’s a conviction here, it will change the justice system forevermore,” Dershowitz said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “It will weaponize the system. It will mean that both sides will try to use the legal system as a way of winning elections.”

Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment involving porn star Stormy Daniels. 

…”If there’s an acquittal, maybe at least we can say the jury system works,” Dershowitz said. “But if there’s a conviction or even a hung jury, it will show that the prosecution benefits from bringing a case, which is no crime at all.”

Dershowitz, who was in the New York courtroom, went on to criticize Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the Trump case.

“I don’t know the reason but it’s obvious that he is not unbiased in this case,” he said. “He wants a conviction.

It is distressing that Loren Merchan, the Judge’s daughter, has been raising money for Democrats using the case as a fund-raising tool. I am not sure that America has ever seen this level of corruption in a presidential election.

The Basic Goals Have Been Met

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On May 14th, Newsmax posted an article about the true purpose of the trial of President Trump that is currently taking place in New York City.

The article notes the three purposes:

“The purpose of this trial is three-fold,” Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, said on “National Report.” “No. 1, to convict him down and dirty before the election, although it will get reversed after the election. No. 2, to have a gag order on him, and No. 3, to keep them locked up in the courtroom, so he can’t campaign, and those goals may very well be accomplished.

“This is election interference at its most obvious, and every American, no matter whether you’re for Trump or against them … I voted for [President Joe] Biden … whatever your political affiliation is … I’m a Democrat … you should be equally concerned about how this legal system is being weaponized and abused for partisan purposes.”

It is becoming obvious that if President Biden remains as the Democrat candidate in 2024, he is going to have a problem being re-elected. His approval ratings are very low, and any public event he holds has an attendance problem–no one wants to come. There is definitely an enthusiasm gap. It’s going to take an awful lot of computer manipulations and mail-in ballots to steal the upcoming election, and the only way the Democrats can win it is to steal it. I don’t think the American people would believe a President Biden victory.

There is also the question of the precedents being set. Do we really want to live in a country where a political party freely uses the justice system to go after its opponents? This is an awkward question because if the Republicans take Congress and the White House, there are going to have to be some people held accountable for the weaponization of the justice system. I hope that there are some Republicans who care enough about equal justice to hold people accountable. Based on the lack of outrage over the unconstitutional treatment of the January 6th political prisoners, I am not sure Republicans are any more concerned about our Constitution than Democrats.

Is Anyone Surprised?

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On Thursday, The Post Millennial posted an article about a recent group of people who were squatting in the Bronx. These squatters were arrested on drug and gun charges.

The article reports:

Four of the illegal immigrant squatters who were arrested in a Bronx home on charges related to firearms, drugs, and child endangerment reportedly skipped their processing appointments with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

According to the New York Post, Yoessy Pino Castillo, Yojairo Martinez, Javier Alborno, and Yerbin Lozado-Munoz, aged 25, were detained by the US Border Patrol in Texas over a year ago. However, they were subsequently released into the country due to overcrowding at processing centers. They failed to appear for their processing appointments.

Johan Cardenas Silva, another individual involved in the squatting incident, was taken into custody in 2022 and had previously been ordered for removal by an immigration judge. However, he was released from his detention center under an order of supervision to report to New York City. Silva failed to attend his Enforcement and Removal Operations appointment upon arriving in New York City.

“At the check-ins, migrants are supposed to file a claim, that could be for asylum, and let officials know where they are staying. Immigration officials can then determine what level of supervision is required,” the Post explained.

The four men were among eight squatters recently apprehended for occupying a house where firearms, drugs, and a seven-year-old child were discovered in the basement.

This is what happens when you fail to secure the borders of the country.

Laws For Thee But Not For Me

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On Wednesday, The New York Post reported that Jon Stewart, after stating that “that Donald Trump’s civil real-estate case overvaluing his properties was “not victimless,”” was found to have done similar things.

When The New York Post did some investigating, this is what they found:

But it didn’t take long for internet sleuths to look into Stewart’s own property history, which shows his New York City penthouse sold for 829% more than its assessed value, records confirmed by The Post reveal.

In 2014, Stewart sold his 6,280-square-foot Tribeca duplex to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million.

The property’s asking price at that time is not available in listing records.

But according to 2013-2014 assessor records obtained by The Post, the property had the estimated market-value at only $1.882 million.

…The actual assessor valuation was even lower, at $847,174.

Records also show that Stewart paid significantly lower property taxes, which were calculated based on that assessor valuation price — precisely what he called Trump out for doing in his Monday monologue.

Pande, who purchased the penthouse from Stewart, then resold the property at a nearly 26% loss, according to the Real Deal — at just over $13 million — in 2021.

Clean up your own backyard!

The article concludes:

Trump had valued the property, known as Seven Springs, at $261 million.

The difference between Stewart and Trump’s cases is that a judge ruled that Trump sometimes exaggerated to lenders about how big his properties were, including the square footage of his Trump Tower apartment.

Last month, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million — and temporarily banned him from doing business in the state — relying heavily on the assessed valuations of the properties to determine the ruling.

The $454 million bond to appeal the ruling marks the highest bond ever recorded in United States history against a single individual.

I guess the laws only apply to some people.

Protecting Property Rights

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If  you are a homeowner, you have a deed which says you own your home. If you are a renter, you have a least that lists the conditions of your rental agreement. These are legal documents designed to protect people who are paying for a place to live. Unfortunately, not all states are protecting private property rights.

On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about a recent incident between a homeowner and a squatter living in that home.

The article reports:

A New York City property owner recently ended up in handcuffs following a fiery standoff with a bunch of squatters she has been trying to boot from her family’s home, tense footage of the ordeal shows.

Adele Andaloro, 47, was recently nabbed after she changed the locks on the $1 million home in Flushing, Queens, that she says she inherited from her parents when they died, ABC’s Eyewitness News reported.

“It’s enraging,” the homeowner said of the squatter saga. “It’s not fair that I, as the homeowner, have to be going through this.”

Andaloro claims the ordeal erupted when she started the process of trying to sell the home last month but realized squatters had moved in — and brazenly replaced the entire front door and locks.

Fed up, she recently went to her family’s home on 160th Street — with the local TV outlet in tow — and called a locksmith to change the locks for her.

A heated, caught-on-camera spat with the alleged squatters quickly unfolded and ended with some of the so-called tenants — and Andaloro — being led away in cuffs.

In New York City, a person can claim “squatter’s rights” after just 30 days of living at a property.

Under the law, it is illegal for the homeowner to change the locks, turn off the utilities, or remove the belongings of the “tenants” from the property.

“By the time someone does their investigation, their work, and their job, it will be over 30 days and this man will still be in my home,” Andaloro said.

“I’m really fearful that these people are going to get away with stealing my home,” she added.

During the recent encounter at her home, Andaloro — who was armed with the deeds — was filmed entering the property after one of the apparent tenants left the front door open.

The article concludes:

The ordeal is just the latest involving squatters in the Big Apple in recent weeks after a couple’s plan to move into a $2 million home in Douglaston, Queens, with their disabled son was derailed by a squatter who claimed to have an agreement with the previous owner.

Separately, a squatter was also found to have turned a Rockaways home into a stomach-turning house of horrors by keeping more than a dozen emaciated cats and dogs trapped inside the property.

Whatever happened to the rule of law?

 

Lawlessness Affects Us All

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On Saturday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

‘We’re Just Waiting for Another 9/11’: Migrants Buy Fake Green Cards, Social Security ID from NYC Gangs

The article reports:

Black market fake green cards and social security identification are being openly hawked to illegal migrants on the streets of New York City, a report revealed.

Criminals linked to MS-13 and other gangs have been spotted selling the fabricated documents this week in Queens, the New York Post reported.

At least ten men were selling the bogus cards for $80 to $250 while “camped out in broad daylight at four corners along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens,” according to the outlet.

Roy Fenoff, an associate professor at the Department of Criminal Justice at the Citadel, South Carolina, said the documents grant migrants access to almost everything a citizen has.

“Once people have these fake cards, they can work, they can travel, they can access a lot of aspects and services in the United States,” he said. “There are people getting these cards that are not here just to get a job, that they have other intentions, and this helps them carry out criminal activity.”

I wonder how many of the fake id card purchasers will vote in November. How many of them will be paid to vote? How many of them will link up with groups with nefarious purposes?

The article concludes:

Illegal aliens can even skirt past criminal charges by giving fake identities to law enforcement.

“If they’ve never been fingerprinted before, under their fake name they can get arrested five, six, seven, eight times… and they themselves would never have a record,” said John Cutter, retired NYPD deputy chief of the Intelligence Division.

“With fake IDs, they become [a] ghost, so they become more emboldened and more willing to break the law and potentially do something that’s really serious,” he added.

The brother of Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal migrant who allegedly killed 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, has been charged with allegedly possessing a fake green card, which he used to get a job at the University of Georgia.

Diego Ibarra, 29, was taken into custody by the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office after being fired from his dishwasher job at one of the school’s dining halls upon refusing to provide additional identifying documents, Breitbart News reported.

Diego has “been linked to a brutal Venezuelan gang,” according to the New York Post.

How many Venezuelan gang members does it take to plan a terrorist attack or terrorize a small town? I am hoping we don’t find out.

“Get Off My Lawn,” He Shouted

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Last night I watched the State of the Union Address. I watched the entire speech and the rebuttal. I learned that to our ‘representatives’ and the elites in Washington, the most most important issues are Ukraine and January 6th. In the rebuttal, I learned that the four things important to Republicans are our southern borde5r, conflicts overseas, inflation, and crime–not necessarily in that order. When the State of the Union Address was over, I felt like someone had yelled at me for an hour and a half. The speech proved that President Biden does have the energy to give an hour and a half speech. It also left many Americans wondering if there were drugs involved.

In his speech, the President needed to allay doubts about his cognitive abilities. He also needed a reset from his image as a tired old man. He did a reasonable job on both counts as long as you ignored the yelling and the slurred speech near the end of the address.

There were a number of lies told during the speech. January 6th was not an insurrection–there were no guns involved and no one has been convicted of insurrection. The President did not inherit a struggling economy–he inherited low inflation, low interest rates, energy independence, and an economy on the rebound from the Covid lockdowns. A large number of the jobs he claims to have created were simply people returning to the jobs they held before the Covid lockdowns. I would also like to note that many of the jobs currently being created are part-time jobs. During the past two months, the number of full-time jobs has significantly decreased. The President also claimed that crime is down under his administration. That is simply not true, although much of the increase in crime is due to Democrat-run cities who have eliminated bail and are not keeping criminals in jail. In New York, the National Guard has been called up to patrol the New York City subways because crime has become a serious problem there.

Also, why was there a fence around the Capitol, but not a wall at our southern border? Do fences and walls work or do they not work? There was also a comment about increasing taxes on corporation and on the wealthy. Corporations do not pay taxes–they pass them on to their customers, fueling inflation. “Taxing the rich” is a proposal that simply feeds class envy. If you want to see the results, look at the Laffer Curve. I would also like to note that during the Obama administration, General Electric paid no income taxes. Why weren’t they sharing the burden?

The speech was loud, inaccurate, and divisive. The tone was not attractive. I do wonder if this speech, which seemed more like a campaign speech than a State of the Union Address, actually won over any undecided voters.

Where Can We Sign Up?

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On Monday, The New York Post reported that New York City Mayor Eric Adams is giving out pre-paid cash cards to illegal immigrants. Maybe I am missing something, but it seems to me that if you want to discourage people from coming to your city, you don’t hand them $10,000 without any kind of an identification check. The possibilities for fraud are endless. Also, what impact does putting $50 million into the New York City economy have on inflation. Didn’t we learn a lesson about that from the Covid stimulus payments?

The article reports:

Earlier this month, The Post broke the story that Mayor Eric Adams is giving out pre-paid cash cards to migrants.

Unusually for the mayor, Adams didn’t publicize this story himself, and his administration for nearly a month has failed to correct several public misperceptions about it.

One misperception is that the program allows the city to give out just $50 million to migrants.

No wonder the mayor has been reticent.

This debit card program — if you read the actual contract — has the potential to become an open-ended, multibillion-dollar Bermuda Triangle of disappearing, untraceable cash, used for any purpose.

It will give migrants up to $10,000 each in taxpayer money with no ID check, no restrictions and no fraud control.

The article also points out that the company overseeing this program is Newark-based Mobility Capital Finance, which also has an office in Harlem. The article explains some of the background of the company and some interesting aspects of the program.

The article notes”

Yes, the city can ask MoCaFi to activate or deactivate certain merchant or spending codes.

But these restrictions are not built into the contract; they are at the city’s changing discretion.

The city can even enable cardholder “consumers” to withdraw cash from the cards at domestic and international ATMs. “ATM withdrawal amounts per day can be restricted as required by the city,” the contract reads. “Should ATM access be included as part of the program, card fees will be subject to the schedule provided.”

The article concludes:

As the mayor told radio host Gary Byrd earlier this month, “it’s important for us to speak directly to you to separate the facts from fiction … Fact from fiction is the migrant cards that we gave out to migrants to purchase food. Just some quick bullets that you need to know about these cards. They are not American Express gold cards, folks. This is a pilot project we’re doing with 500 migrants.”

The fiction is in what the mayor says.

The fact is in the contract documents.

The city has given itself the full contractual and technical authority, under a supposed “emergency,” to disburse billions of dollars in cash to unidentifiable people who otherwise are not eligible to access the American financial system, in untraceable global cash.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. I wish our veterans were treated this generously.

Reading Between The Lines

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On Sunday, The Hill quoted a statement by New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

The article reports:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) addressed New York business owners in a new interview and told them there was “nothing to worry about” after former President Trump was hit with a $355 million fine and a ban on conducting business in New York for three years.

Hochul joined John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM, where she was asked if other New York businesspeople should be worried that if “they can do that to the former president, they can do that to anybody.”

“I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about, because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul responded.

They are very different than Donald Trump because they are not Republicans who do not support globalism who are running for President and may win. If you honestly believe that President Trump’s real estate practices were significantly different than other New York City real estate businesses, I admire you naivete. If you honestly believe that President Trump would have been tried even if he were not the probable Republican nominee for President, you haven’t been paying attention. Before President Trump became a Republican and ran for President, he received awards from civil rights groups and New York City organizations thanking him for the role he played in rebuilding the city after the city almost went bankrupt. Obviously those currently in power have chosen to forget that. This is political. It has nothing to do with the law.

The radio host who commented that if “they can do that to the former president, they can do that to anybody” got it right.

 

A Legal Perspective

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On Saturday, Attorney Jonathan Turley posted an article at The Hill about the recent New York verdict against President Trump.

The article notes that Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School. He is well qualified to evaluate the verdict.

The article reports:

In laying the foundation for his sweeping decision against former President Donald Trump, Judge Arthur Engoron observed that “this is a venial sin, not a mortal sin.” Yet, at $355 million, one would think that Engoron had found Trump to be the source of Original Sin.

The judgment against Trump (and his family and associates) was met with a level of unrestrained celebration by many in New York that bordered on the indecent. Attorney General Letitia James declared not only that Trump would be barred from doing business in New York for three years, but that the damages would come to roughly $460 million once interest was included. 

That makes the damages against Trump greater than the gross national product of some countries, including Micronesia. Yet the court admitted that not a single dollar was lost by the banks from these dealings. Indeed, witnesses testified that they wanted to do more business with Trump, who was described as a “whale” client with high yield business opportunities. 

The article concludes:

In “Bonfire of the Vanities,” Tom Wolfe wrote about Sherman McCoy, a successful businessman who had achieved the status of one of the “masters of the universe” in New York. In the prosecution of McCoy for a hit-and-run, Wolfe described a city and legal system devouring itself in the politics of class and race. The book details a businessman’s fall from a great height — a fall that delighted New Yorkers.

It is doubtful Trump will end up as the same solitary figure wearing worn-out clothes before the Bronx County Criminal Court clutching a binder of legal papers. But you do not have to feel sorry or even sympathetic for Trump to see this award as obscene. The appeal will test the New York legal system to see if other judges can do what Judge Engoron found so difficult: set aside their feelings about Trump.

New York is one of our oldest and most distinguished bars. It has long resisted those who sought to use the law to pursue political opponents and unpopular figures. It will now be tested to see if those values transcend even Trump.

If the verdict is not overturned on appeal, it will be interesting to see what its impact will be on the business climate of New York. I suspect that the businesses that President Trump runs in New York City and State bring in considerable tax revenue. New York may have just shot itself in the foot.