Tag: new york

Blackstone Executive Wesley LePatner Among the Four Victims Killed in Manhattan Shooting

New details have surfaced of one of the four victims in the tragic Manhattan shooting that occurred on Monday evening.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, 27-year-old Shane Tamura from Las Vegas has been identified as the shooter who opened fire on the 33rd floor of the Manhattan building that houses the NFL and Blackstone headquarters.

A new report by Blackstone has revealed that one of its executives was killed in the shooting.

In an announcement, Blackstone wrote, “We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePartner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue.”

Per The New York Post:

A Blackstone executive was among the four people shot and killed by the crazed gunman who shot up a Midtown office building, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Married mom Wesley LePatner, a senior managing director for the financial giant, was shot and killed in the lobby of the ritzy Park Avenue office tower when Shane Tamura opened fire in anger at the NFL, which shares the same building.

“We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePartner, was among those who lost theor lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue,” Blackstone told The Post in a statement.

“She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond.

“She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children and family.”

Keep reading

Gunman who killed 4 in New York was trying to get to NFL offices and claimed to have CTE: Officials

A gunman who killed four people at a Manhattan office building before killing himself claimed in a note to have a brain disease linked to contact sports and was trying to target the National Football League’s headquarters but took the wrong elevator, officials said Tuesday.

Investigators believe Shane Tamura, a Las Vegas casino worker, was trying to get up to the NFL offices after shooting several people in the skyscraper’s lobby on Monday but entered the wrong elevator bank, Mayor Eric Adams said in interviews.

Four people were killed, including an off-duty New York City police officer, Didarul Islam.

The gunman blamed the NFL

Tamura, who played high school football in California nearly two decades ago but never in the NFL, had a history of mental illness, police said. In a three-page handwritten note found in his wallet, he claimed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy and accused the NFL of concealing the dangers to players’ brains for profit. The degenerative brain disease has been linked to concussions and other repeated head trauma common in contact sports such as football, but it can only be diagnosed after someone has died.

In the note, Tamura repeatedly said he was sorry and asked that his brain be studied for CTE, according to the police department. It also referenced former NFL player Terry Long, who was diagnosed with CTE, and the manner in which Long killed himself in 2005.

The NFL long denied the link between football and CTE, but it acknowledged the connection in 2016 testimony before Congress and has paid more than $1.4 billion to retired players to settle concussion-related claims.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called the shooting “an unspeakable act of violence in our building,” saying he was deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers who responded and the officer who gave his life to protect others.

Keep reading

Inside socialist Zohran Mamdani’s posh wedding bash at secluded Uganda compound — complete with phone jamming system, armed guards

Socialist NYC mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani celebrated his recent nuptials with a lavish, three-day affair at his family’s ritzy, secluded Ugandan compound — complete with masked security guards and a cellphone jamming system, The Post has learned.

The gates of the bustling, private compound, which sits in the wealthy Buziga Hill area outside the capital city of Kampala, were heavily guarded by military-style, masked men this week, with guests streaming in and partying until midnight, according to sources in the town who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Mamdani, 33, eloped with artist and animator Rama Duwaji, 27, in February.

He told his social media followers Sunday he was heading to his homeland to celebrate with his wealthy filmmaker mom and professor dad, who own the Buziga Hill property.

The neighborhood is home to some of Uganda’s richest, including billionaire businessman Godfrey Kirumira, a city tycoon with stakes in real estate, tourism, petroleum and infrastructure, and houses neighboring the Mamdanis easily fetch more than $1 million.

Keep reading

New York Teachers Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccines Take Case to U.S. Supreme Court

A group of 19 teachers who sued the city of New York after they were denied religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review lower court rulings, which they allege unconstitutionally favored some religious beliefs over others.

In a petition filed Monday, the teachers allege that New York City granted religious exemptions only to people who belonged to religions whose leaders had not publicly endorsed COVID-19 vaccination.

The city denied requests by teachers who applied for exemptions based on personal religious beliefs that contradicted their religious leaders’ official support of the vaccines, the appeal said.

Michael Kane, a plaintiff in the case and founder of Teachers for Choice, said:

“What New York City did was so egregious. To allow this to stand sets a horrendous precedent for my children and grandchildren. The discrimination was so intense and constitutionally shoddy it must not be permitted.”

According to Kane, most of the teachers are “still out of work or doing odd jobs, making half their previous income.”

Although New York City Mayor Eric Adams rescinded the mandate in February 2023, the city didn’t rehire the teachers.

The case stems from two lawsuits filed in 2021 challenging New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and its denials of the religious exemption requests: Kane v. de Blasio and Keil v. City of New York. Children’s Health Defense is supporting the combined lawsuit.

Several lower courts, including the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November 2024, ruled against the teachers.

The New York City Department of Education, its Chancellor, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, and New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan are among the defendants named in the combined lawsuit.

Keep reading

New York Man Arrested After Building and Stashing 7 Bombs on Subway Tracks, Rooftops

A New York man was arrested and charged after building at least seven bombs and stashing them on rooftops and subway tracks.

Michael Gann, 55, was taken into custody last month and on Tuesday was charged by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

According to prosecutors, Michael Gann “manufactured at least seven improvised explosive devices (“IEDs”) using precursor chemicals—chemicals that can be combined to create an explosive mixture—that he had ordered on the internet, stored at least five IEDs and shotgun shells on adjoining rooftops of residential apartment buildings in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, threw at least one IED onto the subway tracks of the Williamsburg Bridge, and subsequently lied to law enforcement about having disposed of his explosives and supplies in a dumpster.”

Gann stored 5 IEDs (pictured below) on the rooftops of residential buildings in SoHo.

Gann tossed one of the IEDs on the subway tracks on the Williamsburg Bridge.

Keep reading

Her Biggest Scandal Yet! Iran and China Are Circumventing Sanctions via Notorious Bank and Letitia James Is Implicated

The Standard Chartered Bank sanctions evasion case, now in court in the US Second Circuit, found at least $9.6 billion of illegal payments by the bank to Iranian and Hezbollah entities.

The case implicates NYAG Letitia James and the Federal Reserve for ignoring billions of these illicit payments and ignoring Treasury sanctions designations. Maximum Pressure is not being enforced because of the failures of the Fed and the NYAG.

Make sure this case continues.

** Call the Southern District of New York …. Office number: 212-637-2200

At least $9.6 billion of specifically identified illicit payments were made by SCB from its NYC branch to OFAC and known terrorist names. The $9.6 billion was found in internal trade reports turned over by bank whistleblowers and represents the first batch from SCB Dubai office that cleared through SCB NYC. There are estimated over $100 billion more of illegal payments that are more recent and from SCB China where it has 53 mainland branches that facilitate dollar trade payments for oil and war-making materials.

These payments were hidden by SCB from required disclosure in its ongoing Deferred Prosecution Agreement now under the jurisdiction of DCUSA Pirro and SDNY Clayton where both were briefed on SCB after their appointments. There are career blockers at each jurisdiction.

Keep reading

Columbia University says it has suspended and expelled students who participated in protests

 Columbia University announced disciplinary action Tuesday against students who participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the Ivy League school’s main library before final exams in May and an encampment during alumni weekend last year.

A student activist group said nearly 80 students were told they have been suspended for one to three years or expelled. The sanctions issued by a university judicial board also include probation and degree revocations, Columbia said in a statement.

The action comes as the Manhattan university is negotiating with President Donald Trump’s administration to restore $400 million in federal funding it has withheld from the Ivy League school over its handling of student protests against the war in Gaza. The administration pulled the funding, canceling grants and contracts, in March because of what it described as the university’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.

Columbia has since agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration, including overhauling the university’s student disciplinary process and adopting a new definition of antisemitism.

“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community,” the university said Tuesday. “And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution’s fundamental work, policies, and rules. Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences.”

It did not disclose the names of the students who were disciplined.

Columbia in May said it would lay off nearly 180 staffers and scale back research in response to the loss of funding. Those receiving nonrenewal or termination notices represent about 20% of the employees funded in some manner by the terminated federal grants, the university said.

A student activist group said the newly announced disciplinary action exceeds sentencing precedent for prior protests. Suspended students would be required to submit apologies in order to be allowed back on campus or face expulsion, the group said, something some students will refuse to do.

Keep reading

New York Has Awarded $600 Million To Sanctuary Groups Resisting Trump

New York’s city and state governments have given more than $600 million of taxpayer money to legal and immigrant-advocacy groups fighting President Trump’s immigration agenda.

One group, the Bronx Defenders, has received more than $500 million in city contracts since fiscal year 2018 to provide legal services to migrants.

Other groups, such as Make the Road NY, have received tens of millions of dollars in contracts as well.

Make the Road organized a rally at the state capitol last month in support of a sanctuary bill. Protesters chanted, “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”

The New York Immigration Coalition received $46 million in taxpayer money.

“New York City should not be in the business of carrying out Donald Trump’s mass disappearance agenda, which is in fact illegal under our local laws,” Tweeted Murad Awadeh, executive director of the NYICC.

These groups have been pushing a statewide sanctuary bill called the New York for All Act that would prevent state and local law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. This would include providing ICE with information, as well as turning over or deporting illegal immigrants.

Another bill in the works, the Dignity not Detention Act, would ban local jails from renting space to ICE for detention of migrants.

Neither bill has yet passed the state Senate.

Keep reading

Village tries to fine Long Island woman who replaced lawn with native plants

“That front yard look hideous”

Xilin Zhang overhauled her front lawn with native plants in New Hyde Park.

“It’s a very natural look,” she said. “There’s tons of butterflies and bees and birds coming … It’s not just some grass doing nothing.” 

It’s the outgrowth of a Town of North Hempstead grant to encourage native plant gardens. But Zhang was told her yard clashes with the village code, and she received a summons with a fine up of $2,000. 

The village mayor, bluntly, said Zhang’s yard was “hideous.”

“When ugly is that overwhelming, you have to call it what it is. That front yard looks hideous,” Mayor Christopher Devane said. 

After four rounds in court, the village and Zhang reached a compromise. The summons was dismissed, but the garden must stay below 4 feet. 

“We need to move away from big green lawns”

Native plant advocates in Port Washington launched a movement to get suburbanites to ditch their lawns. Gardens, like Zhang’s, have more attractive benefits, they say. 

“Sustainable gardens are not just beautiful for the eye. They protect our drinking water,” Mindy Germain, Port Washington’s water commissioner, said. “We’re trying to move away from these big green lawns that are sucking up too much water from our aquifer.” 

“There are lots of towns on Long Island which are encouraging people to put in wild flowers because they don’t want all that pollution going into the bay,” Raju Rajan, president of Rewild Long Island, said. 

Keep reading

America’s Armchair Revolutionaries: How The Left Is Rediscovering Marxism As The Ultimate Virtue Signal

During the Cold War, Soviet communists reportedly referred to American liberals as “useful idiots.”

Although the origin of the quote has been challenged (and attributed to both Lenin and Stalin), it captured many of the adherents of communism after World War II. From higher education to Hollywood, dilettantes on the left embraced Marxism with little real understanding of the philosophy or its implications.

We are now seeing the rise of a new generation of armchair revolutionaries who are calling for everything from the overthrow of the U.S. government to the seizure of factories and homes.

Democratic New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani personifies this new movement of young people lacking any memory of the failure of socialist and communist systems in the 20th Century.

Mamdani is perfect for this rising movement of Latte Leninists and trust-fund baby Trotskyites. The privileged son of a radical Columbia professor and a Hollywood producer, Mamdani went to the elite Bowdoin College, which charges over $70,000 annually in tuition. He is part of the “radical chic” of American higher education, where extreme views are fully mainstream.

Mamdani shows the appeal of mouthing Marxist manifestos as manifest truths. It is Marxism-lite — promises of everything from rent control to making “Halal eight bucks again.”

In one speech before the Young Democratic Socialists of America conference, Mamdani even stated matter-of-factly how one of the goals is to “seize the means of production” in America.

“Right now, if we’re talking about the cancellation of student debt, if we’re talking about Medicare for all, you know, these are issues which have the groundswell of popular support across this country,” he said.

“But then there are also other issues that we firmly believe in, whether it’s [boycott-divestment-sanctions against Israel] or whether it is the end goal of seizing the means of production, where we do not have the same level of support at this very moment.”

Mamdani offers few details of what it would mean to seize all industry in this country or how such a system would work in the United States after failing in literally every nation where it has been attempted.

He has also called for the seizure of unoccupied luxury condos in New York to turn over to the homeless.

Keep reading