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As NYC Considers a $30 Minimum Wage, Business Owners Are Warning About the Consequences

New York City stands to make a decision about its minimum wage that can only hinder growth, create layoffs, and result in price hikes.

City Council recently introduced a bill to set the minimum wage at $30 per hour. Democratic City Councilwoman Sandy Nurse put the “$30 for Our City” legislation forward, WPIX reported on Tuesday.

The outlet laid out the wage hike scheme from the bill.

Businesses and franchises that employ more than 500 people must pay $20 an hour in 2027, $23 in 2028, $26 in 2029, and $30 by 2030.

Small employers have a different road map, with a $19 minimum in 2027, $21.50 in 2028, $24 in 2029, $27 in 2030, and $29 in 2031.

The increase would include a cost-of-living adjustment and yearly hikes that account for inflation.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Melissa Fleischut, president of the New York State Restaurant Association, anticipating one of the consequences of this potential change, said that “we feel like we’re at a tipping point with consumers” with respect to price increases that would offset higher wages.

“There’s only so much you can charge for a slice of pizza or a cheeseburger,” she added.

The Wall Street Journal also reported comments by Moe Chan, who has a coffee and tea company in Queens: “As much as I would like to pay $30, we don’t have money.”

According to the New York state government website, the minimum wage for the city is set at $17, seeing a $0.50 increase at the beginning of 2026.

Although The Wall Street Journal said food delivery drivers who make $21.44 under other regulations are not impacted, 1.68 million workers stand to see an increase. The outlet said Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani — unsurprisingly — supported the $30 wage during his campaign.

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AI Can Now Unmask Anonymous Internet Users, New Study Finds

It looks like AI can now unmask any anonymous account on the internet. That’s according to a new study by Simon Lermen (MATS), Daniel Paleka (ETH Zurich), Joshua Swanson (ETH Zurich), Michael Aerni (ETH Zurich), Nicholas Carlini (Anthropic), and Florian Tramèr (ETH Zurich), published on arXiv.

In the paper, “Large-Scale Online Deanonymization with LLMs,” the researchers show that modern large language models (LLMs) can re-identify people behind pseudonymous online accounts at a scale and accuracy that far surpass previous techniques.

The core contribution is an automated deanonymization pipeline powered by LLMs, according to the new study. Instead of relying on structured datasets or hand-engineered features—like earlier attacks on the Netflix Prize dataset—the system works directly on raw, unstructured text.

Given posts, comments, or interview transcripts written under a pseudonym, the pipeline extracts identity-relevant signals, searches for likely matches using semantic embeddings, and then uses higher-level reasoning to verify the most promising candidates while filtering out false positives. The result is a scalable attack that mirrors—and in some cases exceeds—the effectiveness of a dedicated human investigator.

To evaluate their approach, the researchers constructed three datasets with known ground truth. The first links pseudonymous Hacker News users to real-world LinkedIn profiles, relying on cross-platform clues embedded in public text. The second matches users across movie discussion communities on Reddit. The third takes a single Reddit user’s history, splits it into two time-separated profiles, and tests whether the system can reconnect them.

Across all three settings, LLM-based methods dramatically outperformed classical baselines, which often achieved near-zero recall.

The headline numbers are striking. In some experiments, the system achieved up to 68% recall at 90% precision—meaning it correctly identified a substantial portion of targets while keeping false accusations low. Even when matching temporally split Reddit accounts separated by a year, performance remained strong. In contrast, traditional non-LLM approaches struggled to produce meaningful matches. The findings suggest that advances in reasoning and representation learning have transformed deanonymization from a niche, data-hungry attack into a broadly applicable capability.

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NYT Reports First ‘Confirmed’ Attack by Gulf Nation Against Iran, as Missiles Were Fired From Bahrain Against the Mullahs’ Regime

Will the Gulf states turn on Iran?

It does seem at this point that the first attack by an Arab nation against the Iranian mullahs has already happened.

The New York Times reported (behind a paywall) that they were able to verify video showing ballistic missiles launched from Bahrain toward Iran.

“A video verified by The New York Times shows ballistic missiles being launched from Bahrain in the direction of Iran, in what appears to be the first confirmed instance of an attack on the Islamic Republic originating from a Persian Gulf country since the war began.”

By hosting the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, Bahrain has been accused by Iran of enabling US military operations.

The footage was originally shared on X by a user calling himself Egypt’s Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT), and was geolocated to northern Bahrain, near the airport.

NYT’s Experts identified the launcher for at least one missile as a U.S.-made M142 HIMARS truck.

“That launcher is a U.S.-made M142 HIMARS truck, according to Wes J. Bryant, a national security analyst who served in the U.S. Air Force, and Fabian Hoffmann, a missile specialist at the University of Oslo.”

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Florida Gives Tech Platforms Deadline for Age ID Checks

Florida’s attorney general has handed tech companies an ultimatum: build identity verification systems into your platforms by April 8, or his office starts filing lawsuits.

The deadline comes as a federal appeals court hears arguments this week on whether the state can legally force millions of users to prove who they are before accessing social media.

The law driving this, HB 3, bans anyone under 14 from social media entirely and requires parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds. It also forces adult content sites to verify visitors are 18 or older.

Attorney General James Uthmeier gave tech companies 30 days to implement age restrictions and 60 days to deploy parental consent mechanisms. “It is the law of the land,” he said at an Orlando event on March 9. Non-compliance means litigation.

What Florida is actually mandating is a digital ID checkpoint at the entrance to the internet. The law doesn’t specify which verification methods qualify as “reasonable.” It doesn’t cap how long platforms can retain identity documents. It doesn’t limit what platforms can do with the surveillance infrastructure once it’s built. Florida gets the policy win.

Users hand over their documents. The data sits in corporate systems indefinitely, available for breaches, subpoenas, and purposes nobody has disclosed yet.

Uthmeier even named TikTok and Discord specifically. Discord’s attempt to introduce digital ID age verification has been met with much backlash, especially after a leak over over 70,000 government IDs. Uthmeier appears unconcerned.

NetChoice, co-plaintiff in the legal challenge, named this directly: the law creates a security risk by “mandating the surrender of sensitive information.” That’s the part Florida’s child-protection framing is designed to obscure. Every minor blocked from TikTok requires millions of adults to first prove they aren’t minors. The verification burden falls on everyone.

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Colorado: Democrat Bill to Decriminalize Prostitution Dies amid Opposition and Lack of Support

A bill that would have decriminalized prostitution in Colorado was killed this week because it did not get the votes needed.

It was opposed by conservatives.

According to state Sen. Lisa Cutter (D), the bill did not get enough votes to make it out of committee, Denver 7 reported Tuesday.

The Colorado General Assembly’s website identified it as SB26-097,  titled “Decriminalize Adult Commercial Sexual Activity.”

Per its summary:

The bill requires the statewide decriminalization of commercial sexual activity among consenting adults. It declares that decriminalizing commercial sexual activity among consenting adults is a matter of statewide concern and expressly preempts statutory or home rule city, town, city and county, or county ordinances, resolutions, regulations, or codes criminalizing commercial sexual activity.

The bill repeals the state criminal offenses of prostitution, soliciting for prostitution, keeping a place of prostitution, patronizing a prostitute, and prostitute making display. It also repeals the offense of pandering when it involves knowingly arranging or offering to arrange a situation that permits a person to practice prostitution.

Meanwhile, the Daily Signal reported one of the Colorado lawmakers, a Democrat, was abandoning his own bill to shield those involved in prostitution from having to testify.

“State Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, the main sponsor of SB26-097, told the Colorado Sun that his bill lacks the necessary support to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee, so he will ask to delay the measure until after the 2026 legislative session, effectively killing the bill,” the outlet stated.

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Palantir CEO Says AI Will Take Power Away From Democratic Voters and Toward Working-Class Men

Palantir CEO Alex Karp has said that artificial intelligence (AI) could shift economic influence away from highly educated voters who tend to support Democrats and toward vocationally trained, working-class men.

In an interview with CNBC, Karp discussed the broader societal impact of artificial intelligence and how it is expected to transform employment.

“This technology disrupts humanities-trained, largely Democratic voters, and makes their economic power less.”

“And increases the economic power of vocationally trained, working-class, often male, uh voters,” Karp said.

“So these disruptions are gonna disrupt every aspect of our society,” he said.

“To make this work, we have to come to an agreement of what it is we’re going to do with the technology; how are we gonna explain to people who are likely gonna have less good, and less interesting jobs.”

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Ben Affleck Once Criticized AI, Now Netflix Is Buying His AI Startup For $600 Million

Ben Affleck—who has previously warned about the risks artificial intelligence poses to Hollywood—has sold his own AI filmmaking startup to Netflix in a deal that could reach $600 million, according to Bloomberg.

The cash portion of the acquisition is smaller, with additional payments tied to performance targets, but it still ranks among the largest AI-focused deals by a major studio.

The startup, InterPositive, developed software designed to help directors edit footage after filming, such as removing stray objects or changing elements in the background. The tools are intended to work with existing film rather than generate entirely new content. Director David Fincher has already used the technology on an upcoming movie starring Brad Pitt.

Netflix’s purchase highlights how studios are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to streamline production and reduce costs. Rivals such as Amazon and The Walt Disney Company are also exploring AI tools for film and television development.

Bloomberg writes that Affleck built InterPositive with backing from RedBird Capital Partners and initially kept the project quiet before seeking investors in 2025. He has argued the technology should function as a controlled filmmaking aid: the system trains only on footage from a specific film and doesn’t scrape outside movies or generate new works independently.

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CNN’s Hack Abby Phillip Forced to Issue Humiliating On-Air Correction After FALSELY Claiming Islamist Terror Attack in NYC Targeted Socialist Mayor Mamdani

Far-left host Abby Phillip was caught red-handed spreading a massive lie this week, forced into a humiliating on-air correction after she shamelessly lied about an Islamist terror attack in New York City.

In a desperate attempt to smear House Republicans, Phillip claimed that an ISIS-linked bombing was targeted at NYC’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, the chaos unfolded on Saturday when 18-year-old Amir Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Nick, launched homemade bombs during an anti-Islam protest organized by former January 6 political prisoner Jake Lang, who was pardoned by President Trump last year.

According to the New York Post, authorities said the homemade device was constructed using sports drink bottles packed with triacetone triperoxide (TATP)—a highly unstable explosive widely favored by terrorists and often referred to as the “Mother of Satan.”

Federal authorities are digging deeper, revealing that these aren’t just misguided kids; they’re part of a broader network with alarming links to foreign radicals.

Following the attack, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) responded with an extremely provocative comment that infuriated the left: Muslims do not belong in the United States.

“Muslims don’t belong in American society,” Ogles wrote on X. “Pluralism is a lie.”

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Connecticut Citizens Break the State: Midnight Revolt on Guns, Vaccines, and Homeschooling Sends Public Health Committee Scrambling to Lawyers

In the early hours of Thursday, March 12, 2026, the Public Health Committee paused after midnight as members left their seats to consult with lawyers regarding the earlier rule requiring hearings to close at 12:15 a.m as more citizens lined up to testify. Despite the consultation, the attorneys could not seem to unwind the earlier vote that ended public testimony at that time. A point of order was called to request an extension, but the vote had already run out the clock for the public. Those who remained sat quietly to hear the final outcome, as the discussion turned back to the attorneys. In effect, the public broke them.  A public filibuster!

An electric revolt hit the Connecticut Capitol as 6,000+ parents, homeschoolers, and citizens packed the building and forced lawmakers to sit until midnight, unleashing hours of blistering testimony on guns, vaccines, homeschooling, and state overreach. At the center was the Public Health Committee, overwhelmed by citizens demanding informed consent, the right to refuse vaccines, and the right not to feed their children into a failed Department of Children and Families that has already shattered too many families.

Parents and homeschoolers warned that proposals tying homeschooling to DCF oversight presume guilt and hand more power to an agency with a long record of missed abuse and wrongful interference. They described homeschooling as a lifeline from failing schools, bullying, and ideological agendas, not an evasion of responsibility, and asked why families seeking to educate their children at home should be treated as suspects instead of partners. AbleChild submitted testimony highlighting the horrific murder of a child under DCF care and a mother who was herself a product of the same system—as a stark warning of what this failed agency is already producing.

Again and again, ordinary people invoked God and the Constitution, insisting that children belong first to their families, not the state, and that medical decisions and education are matters of conscience, not government coercion. Many tied gun rights into the same struggle, arguing that a government that cannot safeguard children in its own systems has no moral authority to disarm responsible citizens or force medical interventions on unwilling families.

By midnight it was clear this was no routine hearing but a public vote of no confidence in Connecticut’s Democrat‑run system. Whether the bills advance or not, lawmakers were put on notice: families are done being managed from above, and they are willing to show up, stay late, and speak out to defend their children and their God‑given rights. AbleChild was thrilled to see parents finally stand up to the Democrat supermajority and refuse to surrender their children, their conscience, or their God‑given rights. At the same time, Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto must be held accountable for failing to secure any real balance in Connecticut’s elections, helping entrench a political class now openly at war with the families it is supposed to serve.

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‘Equity for All Patients’: Arizona Senate Moves to End Vaccine Incentives for Doctors

The Arizona Senate this week approved legislation that would bar insurance companies — including Medicaid — from reimbursing physicians at different rates based on whether their patients “refuse one or more vaccines,” according to the Arizona Mirror.

Lawmakers passed the bill Tuesday by a 16-13 party-line vote. The measure now moves to the Arizona House of Representatives. If approved there, it would head to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs for consideration.

Bill sponsor Sen. Janae Shamp, a Republican nurse, said the proposal is a response to parents who say they struggle to find pediatric care for their children if they don’t follow the full childhood vaccination schedule from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“This specifically comes from a lot of parents asking for help for their children to be able to go to a pediatrician’s office when they don’t meet the entire vaccine schedule minimums to go to a practice,” Shamp told colleagues on the Senate floor. “This is about equity for all patients.”

Shamp previously said she lost her nursing job after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.

‘Bill protects families’ rights to make informed decisions’

Ursula Conway, president emeritus of Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) Arizona Chapter, said the legislation reflects broader debates about medical choice and physician incentives.

Shamp’s bill reflects “Arizona’s commitment to each individual’s right to make their own healthcare decisions,” Conway said.

She said some physicians receive financial bonuses tied to vaccination rates within their practices. She argued that those incentives can influence how doctors treat families who decline shots.

“Consequently, some practitioners choose to restrict their practice to those families who agree to the recommended vaccine schedule, thus securing their bonus income,” she said.

Families who don’t follow the schedule face difficulty finding care, according to Conway.

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