Tag: new york

Incremental Socialism

Imagine you own an apartment building and need to sell it. The mortgage comes due, insurance premiums keep climbing, repairs cannot wait, and you have found a willing buyer. You have negotiated a price and are ready to close. Then New York City tells you to wait.

Your financial obligations do not wait. Your buyer may not wait. But under New York City’s Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, known as COPA, the government can insert a lengthy process between you and the sale of your own property. What should be a private transaction becomes subject to a timetable designed to give selected organizations an opportunity to purchase the building first.

This is the kind of incremental change worth examining. Socialism does not always announce its arrival with bullets and revolution. Sometimes it arrives as a statute that sounds reasonable, addresses a genuine concern, and changes the rules one transaction at a time.

On October 22, the New York City Council passed COPA by a vote of 38 to 9, with two members abstaining. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has championed the measure. The revised bill is narrower than earlier proposals and is expected to cover roughly 2,100 multifamily buildings meeting specified conditions involving serious housing violations, city enforcement programs, or affordability restrictions. Qualifying owner-occupied buildings with five or fewer units are exempt. The law is scheduled to take effect one year after enactment.

Under COPA, owners of covered properties are mandated by to inform the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development when they intend to sell. Qualified nonprofit organizations have 20 days to express interest and another 70 days to submit an initial offer. Additional procedures can give a qualified organization the right to match an outside buyer’s offer. A legal analysis by Cullen and Dykman estimates that the process can delay a transaction by approximately 130 days when the applicable stages are triggered. The final timetable depends on the transaction and the rights exercised. Owners may apply for an exemption based on undue financial hardship, but that exception does not eliminate the underlying process.

For an owner facing mounting expenses, those delays are not abstractions. Mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, utilities, and repairs continue regardless of what the city requires. A willing buyer may move on. A deal that could have helped an owner meet financial obligations may disappear while the government process runs its course. Ann Korchak, president of Small Property Owners of New York, has warned that COPA could contribute to the extinction of small property owners. Her concern deserves attention. A policy intended to preserve affordable housing can impose new costs and risks on the people responsible for maintaining the buildings in the first place.

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NY’s Top Prosecutors Go Silent When Asked by a Reporter if They Ordered Lighter Charges for Illegal Aliens to Avoid Deportation

New York Attorney General Letitia James, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez went silent when a New York Post reporter asked them at a Thursday gun-seizure press conference whether they had ordered prosecutors to downgrade charges against illegal aliens so they could avoid deportation, as detailed in a recent House Judiciary Committee report.

The reporter specifically asked, “Did any of you order prosecutors to downgrade gun charges to keep illegal immigrants in the US, per the Judiciary Committee report?”

“This is a gun-safety question,” the Post reporter pressed. “Any response from any of you?”

James smiled and said nothing, Katz shrugged with her hands up, and staff quickly moved the event along after Katz muttered, “Our answer couldn’t help it.”

After the presser, the attorneys again refused to address the House investigation, with James smiling without a word and Katz deferring to a spokesperson, according to a report from the New York Post.

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New York Bans Artificial Intelligence Features for Children

New York’s governor has signed a law that bans artificial intelligence (AI) operators from offering certain chatbot features to minors.

Prohibited features include responses that suggest the chatbot is “a real or fictional individual or character that is human, alive, or experiences human emotions.” Responses that engage in flattery or sycophancy, endorse suicide and drug use, and encourage isolation from adults are also barred.

“No longer will minors have access to chatbots that pretend to be their friends and boyfriends and girlfriends,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a signing ceremony on Oct. 28.

“No longer will chatbots be allowed to keep sensitive information about a minor’s emotional and physical health. No longer will chatbots discourage kids from seeking help from licensed professionals. And I’m not sure why we have to pass a law against something so obvious, but no longer will minors have access to chatbots that may in any way encourage thoughts of suicide.”

The law authorizes New York’s attorney general to sue in response to indications of violations and seek relief, including money from the chatbot operators and the destruction of illegally obtained data.

“We will not hesitate to defend New Yorkers with the full force of the law,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

New York legislators approved the bill earlier this year, and it takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

“For everyone wondering whether the public can have any say in determining how AI impacts us, New York again has an answer: Absolutely,” Assemblyman Alex Bores, a Democrat who voted for the legislation, said in a statement.

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that supports restrictions on AI, was among the groups praising the legislation.

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Woman Arrested for Attacking Jews in NYC with Syringe- Faces Multiple Charges Including Hate Crime

A woman was arrested on Saturday after an attack on a rabbi and another Jewish man in New York City

The New York Post reports that Anna Mochalova, 32, was arrested and is facing charges, including assault as a hate crime, after jabbing a young rabbi in Midtown Manhattan. Officials also revealed she attacked another Jewish man just minutes later.

Per The New York Post:

The alleged bigot began to stalk Yosef, a 26-year-old rabbi, who is seen in surveillance video wearing traditional Orthodox garb, before stabbing him in the back with a needle near West 47th Street and Fifth Avenue on Wednesday at 5:50 p.m., according to prosecutors.

Yosef, the young rabbi stabbed with a syringe, previously told The Post he believes he was targeted because he is “visibly Jewish.”

In another incident a few minutes laters, Mochalova is alleged to have deliberately bumped into a 37-year-old Jewish man wearing a yarmulke.

Mochalova bumped into the man several times, causing a stinging sensation in his right arm, prosecutors alleged – before chillingly telling the man “run away from here. I have a gun. I’m going to shoot you.”

The man was later treated for lacerations, according to authorities.

Prosecutors also claim that a third potential victim was not harmed after he was Muslim.

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NYC to force landlords to offer buildings for sale to non-profits first

The New York City Council has passed a bill that will force some property owners to give nonprofits first dibs on buying their distressed properties if the bill becomes law. The bill has headed to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s desk for his signature.

The “Community Opportunity for Purchase Act,” or COPA, will force some landlords to offer up their properties to “community land trusts” and nonprofits for 90 days so that they can have first dibs on the properties. Although a similar proposal has been floated before that would have applied to a much larger number of properties, this one is not as extreme. The original COPA bill was vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams right before he stepped out of office.

The bill will impact 2,100 NYC buildings that are mostly managed by the Housing Preservation Department in the Big Apple. The previous bill would have covered around 10,000 buildings in the city. The bill was brought by Brooklyn lawmaker Sandy Nurse, who claimed that the bill last year was “legally sound” but that changes were made for government agencies.

“It was more that there was a number of different points that could be sued over, so it wasn’t that there was anything unconstitutional; it was just that they wanted an opportunity to re-strengthen now that they’ve had a third review of it,” she said.

Ann Korchak, the board president of the Small Property Owners of New York, slammed the bill. “COPA, in any form, is a destructive housing policy for renters, owners, and affordable housing. COPA will devalue buildings, forcing small, often immigrant and multigenerational, owners to sell their buildings for pennies on the dollar,” she said.

“Giving the right-of-first-refusal to nonprofits shuts out conventional buyers who have the financial wherewithal to immediately improve and rehabilitate a failing building,” she added, per the New York Post.

If the measure goes into effect, it will slow down property deals for those buildings that are impacted by it. The previous version of the bill was lauded by socialist New York City Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who said in a policy proposal that NYC should “pass COPA to give CLTs [Community land trusts] and non-profits the right of first refusal when landlords sell.”

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Zohran Mamdani Instructs Illegal Migrants How to Dodge ICE

New York City’s (NYC) socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani advised illegal aliens on how to dodge U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and instructed them on their rights.

In a video posted to X with English subtitles, Mamdani, speaking in Spanish, explained that ICE agents “cannot legally enter” private spaces unless they have a judicial order, and that illegal migrants have the right to be silent.

“If you encounter ICE, these are your rights,” Mamdani said. “First, ICE cannot legally enter private spaces without a judicial order. These spaces include your home, hospitals, churches, and private areas of your workplace.”

Mamdani continued to explain that on documents, the illegal aliens should keep an eye out for the words, “United States District Court” and for a judge’s signature. The NYC mayor added that if the agents “don’t have a judicial order,” they can state that they “do not consent” to the ICE agents entering.

“Second, you have the right to remain silent. If ICE stops you on the street, ask, ‘Am I free to go?’ If the agent says yes, walk away calmly. Speak with a lawyer before signing any documents or making any decisions about your immigration status or case,” Mamdani continued. “Third, you are not alone. Anyone can call the city’s immigration legal support line.”

Breitbart News previously reported that Mamdani, who “used his citizenship to win the city’s mayoralty at the head of a ‘Red/Green’ coalition of migrants, Muslims” and progressives, has referred to criminal illegal aliens as being New Yorkers:

Mamdani’s declaration means he is forcing Americans in New York to share their civic spaces, culture-setting ability, limited economic resources, and political power with all foreigners who sneak into the city. That demand is shared by an increasing number of Democrats.

Mamdani is a Ugandan-born Muslim who got citizenship after his foreign-born parents brought him to the Unite States at age seven in 1991. He used his citizenship to win the city’s mayoralty at the head of a “Red/Green” coalition of migrants, Muslims, progressives, college graduates, Latinos, and blacks.

In a letter with roughly “100 Democrat officials across the sanctuary state,” Mamdani requested that “parking lot and parking garage owners” inform ICE agents that they are not welcome. The letter came after Oscar Belgal, a criminal illegal alien, “tried to use his vehicle to run down and injure or kill ICE agents who were trying to arrest him,” Breitbart News reported.

Mamdani’s comments advising illegal aliens on how to dodge ICE agents comes as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials along with New York state officials “raided dozens of adult care centers” as part of an investigation regarding Medicaid fraud, according to Fox5NY.

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DEMS GONE WILD: Democrat Candidate Gets Into NASTY Brawl With Her GOP Opponent’s Mom in Bathroom During Campaign Event

The latest entry in the ‘Democrats Gone Wild’ series has dropped, and it is among the most insane yet.

As The New York Post reported, Kisha Skipper, a Democrat who is trying to unseat GOP Westchester County Legislator James Nolan, got into a wild and nasty brawl with his mother during a campaign event at the Beczak Environmental Center Wednesday night in Yonkers, New York.

Yonkers police say the brawl started during a break at the event, when Skipper got into an argument with a former campaign staffer.

Nolan’s mom, Donna, then decided to try to separate the two women. Police say she “sustained an abrasion to her lip.”

Then, Donna Nolan and Skipper began fighting.

After the brawl concluded, Donna Nolan was transported to the hospital via ambulance.

Skipper also appeared to sustain a significant injury. As The Post notes, she shared a Facebook post showing her wearing a sling on her arm at the hospital’s emergency room entrance.

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New York Fines Amish Schools After Ending Religious Exemptions from Vaccination

New York has fined three Amish schools a total of $118,000 for enrolling unvaccinated children. According to the Second Circuit opinion, the commissioner of health fined Dygert Road School $52,000; Twin Mountain School, also known as Pleasant View, $46,000; and Shady Lane School $20,000. The schools serve Amish settlements in Clymer, Heuvelton, and near Canajoharie. New York has approximately 25,000 Amish residents, the fifth-largest Amish population of any state.

Under New York Public Health Law § 2164, children attending public, private, or parochial schools for more than 14 days must be vaccinated against specified diseases unless they qualify for a medical exemption. Each violation carries a fine of up to $2,000, and the Department of Health counts each day an unvaccinated student attends school as a separate violation.

For Dygert Road and Twin Mountain, the department assessed $2,000 per unvaccinated student, counting one day of noncompliance for each. Shady Lane provided no student records, so the department calculated its fine based on one student attending for 10 days. The commissioner described the totals as “principled and conservative under the circumstances.”

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New York Body Armor Ban Ruled Unconstitutional in Major 2A Win

I’ve always been a little bemused at the notion of heavy body armor, unless one is a cop or a soldier, or unless you live in one of America’s major cities where the chance of being used for impromptu target practice is a possibility. Around here in Alaska, body armor won’t do much good against a bear or a moose; if you are wearing body armor, a moose will just pop you like a hard-boiled egg, and a bear could probably bite through it. Even so, it’s one of those things that any reasonable person should reckon that someone ought to be able to buy, should they choose to.

In New York, though, for inexplicable reasons, the state barred citizens from buying body armor. No more: A federal judge, on Wednesday, struck down New York’s ban on civilians buying and wearing body armor, and he did it on Second Amendment grounds. Win.

We’re getting accustomed to winning, especially after the landmark Bruen decision. It’s a little odd, I admit, to think of purely defensive body armor as an “arm,” but there you are, and we should not presume to debate Judge Sinatra’s wisdom in this matter, especially since we won.

“[B]ody armor is an “Arm” protected by the plain text of the Second Amendment. As such, regulation in this area is permissible only if the State demonstrates that the new enactment is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of sufficiently analogous regulations. New York fails that test,” wrote District Judge John Sinatra Jr.

Both the plaintiff and state had filed for summary judgment in their favor, with the judge granting the plaintiff’s motion. Sinatra stayed his own order for 14 days to give the state time to appeal.

In making his decision, Sinatra cited the Supreme Court’s 2022 precedent from New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which imposed a standard that the government must demonstrate that any form of gun control is consistent with the nation’s history of limiting access to arms.

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The New York City Council Quietly Passed Measure to Aid Government-Seizure of Private Property

The New York City Council has passed a measure that’s clearly laying the groundwork for the eventual government seizure of private property. The “Community Opportunity for Purchase Act” (COPA) requires some property owners to delay putting their properties on the open market for 90 days so “community land trusts” and nonprofits have an exclusive shot at buying them first.

But the new legislation, which was recycled by progressive Brooklyn lawmaker Sandy Nurse earlier this year, is a watered-down version of a prior proposal that included a much larger number of properties.

Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) called the bill’s initial proposal an “attack on private real-estate ownership” in the five boroughs.

“We’re sliding headfirst into a communist dystopia where the government and their apparatchik developers own all the property, and the rest of us get forced into perpetual rentorship, and this legislation is helping to get us there even quicker,” Ariola said at the time.

The tweaks brought some real estate groups on board with the legislation.

It’s absolutely an attack on private real estate ownership. As of right now, this legislation impacts about 2,100 New York City buildings, down from 10,000 under the previous version of the bill. Former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed similar legislation before leaving office.

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