Tag: new york

Bloomberg pours more cash into Cuomo super PAC, bringing his total contribution to $8.3M

Mike Bloomberg’s vast wealth is continuing to power Andrew Cuomo’s front-running mayoral bid.

The billionaire former mayor contributed $3.3 million to a super PAC supporting Cuomo’s attempted comeback in the nation’s largest city — a donation made public on Wednesday that comes just days after Bloomberg gave $5 million to the group.

With the latest gift, Bloomberg is now single-handedly responsible for one-third of the PAC’s total haul of $24 million since it launched in March, according to a POLITICO analysis. Other real estate and finance executives who make up New York’s monied elite, including billionaire Donald Trump supporter Bill Ackman, have poured cash into the group.

A spokesperson for the super PAC, which is called Fix the City, did not comment on Bloomberg’s latest contribution.

The money — and the flood of mailers and TV ads funded by it — indicate Cuomo supporters are nervous about the rise of his principal opponent, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. The state lawmaker has been running a strong second to the ex-governor in most polls; a Marist College survey on Wednesday found Cuomo would defeat Mamdani after seven rounds of ranked-choice voting, 55 percent to 45 percent. But early voting is high in some neighborhoods that would appear to benefit Mamdani, and temperatures are expected to hit 100 degrees next Tuesday, which could suppress turnout among older New Yorkers Cuomo is counting on.

Likely motivating Bloomberg, who had a rivalry with the former governor during their overlapping tenures, are Mamdani’s far-left politics and criticism of Israel. He wants to raise taxes on the rich to pay for services like free bus fare and as recently as this week, refused to criticize the phrase “globalize the Intifada,” calling it an expression of Palestinian rights.

The former mayor endorsed Cuomo last week, and called him the “one candidate whose management experience and government know-how stand above the others.” Cuomo is 67 and worked in and around government and politics his entire career; Mamdani is 33 and counters criticisms of his thin résumé with reminders of the scandals that drove Cuomo from office.

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X Sues New York For Demanding Social Media Data To Censor Speech

Social media company X sued New York to challenge a state law that requires social media companies to submit semi-annual reports about how they are suppressing certain kinds of speech to the New York attorney general. According to the lawsuit, provisions in the “Stop Hiding Hate Act” violate social media companies’ First Amendment rights and threaten free speech.

The law, in part, outlines “terms of service reports” in which companies must disclose to the state whether the terms of service for each of their platforms define certain “categories,” including hate speech, racism, extremism, misinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference. If their terms of service do include these categories, the companies would also be required to include those definitions in the report. The reports would also require companies to disclose a “detailed description” of their “content moderation practices” regarding these categories. Failing to submit the report could engender $15,000 per day. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the law in December, and it is set to go into effect this year.

X challenged the constitutionality of the “Content Category Report” portions of the law, arguing that they force companies to disclose “highly sensitive and controversial speech” protected under the Constitution. X also noted that content moderation “engenders considerable debate among reasonable people about where to draw the correct proverbial line,” and that “[t]his is not a role the government may play.”

Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” bought Twitter in 2022 to return the platform to “a digital town square” where ideas could be debated freely. He loosened the platform’s content moderation rules and readmitted suspended users, including President Donald Trump.

New York State Sen. Brad Holyman-Sigal and Assemblywoman Grace Lee, both Democrats, sponsored the law. In a letter that X quoted in the lawsuit, the two politicians said that X and Musk have a “disturbing record,” which “threatens the foundations of our democracy.” In a Tuesday statement responding to the lawsuit, the two lawmakers called social media companies, including X, “cesspools of hate speech,” and claimed the “Stop Hiding Hate Act” is necessary for “transparency.”

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Antifa Blog Posts Anonymous Confession Taking Credit for Arson Attack on Multiple NYPD Vehicles

An Antifa blog has posted an anonymous confession taking credit for an arson attack on multiple New York Police Department vehicles.

Eight NYPD vehicles parked near the 83rd precinct in Brooklyn were set on fire during the early morning of Thursday, June 12th.

A post to the anarchist blog “Never Sleep” titled “Solidarity with Los Angeles! Arson attack on multiple NYPD vehicles” was said to be written by the arsonist.

The post began, “Multiple NYPD cars were set on fire in the early, early morning of Thursday June 12th. The cars were just waiting there, practically begging for a new makeover! Tips on replicating this can be found on most counterinfo sites or just common knowledge; this was way easy. And so fun. Apologies to the community for the smell and the noise. And fuck you and haha to that pig—yeah, you know who you are.”

“There are many reasons for doing this, but for the sake of time it can be boiled down to four: 1) Solidarity with the uprising happening in Los Angeles where community and rebels are fighting Amerikkkan pig forces. From one cop city to another, death to the pigs and the surveillance state. 2) Revenge for the NYPD’s continuous physical and sexual harassment/assault of protestors, particularly femmes (incidents include removing of hijabs, forced nudity, degrading remarks, and more). 3) Something to show that repression breeds resistance and 4) Demonstrating that solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, immigrants, Black people doesn’t mean pointless demos where everyone gets arrested, endless marches to nowhere, and vapid chants. Solidarity means ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!”

The post was signed, “Sincerely, the anarchists and the rats and the brats and the lawless.”

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NY Supreme Court Judge Advances Lawsuit Demanding Full Hand Recount After Kamala Harris Receives ZERO Votes in Rockland County

After years of denial, Democrats are finally embracing the idea of election fraud—when it’s politically convenient.

A New York Supreme Court judge has shockingly advanced a lawsuit demanding a complete hand recount after voters discovered zero recorded votes for Kamala Harris in certain Rockland County districts.

In late May, SMART Legislation—the action arm of nonpartisan watchdog SMART Elections—filed suit in Rockland County Supreme Court, alleging that voting machines “failed” to record any votes for Kamala Harris in four of the county’s five towns despite sworn affidavits to the contrary, according to the Economic Times.

The case, Sare v. Rockland County Board of Elections, was filed by U.S. Senate candidate Diane Sare, two local voters, and an election integrity organization known as SMART Legislation.

According to the verified petition, Sare was stunned after reviewing the official results and realizing that the number of people who claimed to have voted for her didn’t match the official vote count.

In one example, six individuals signed sworn statements saying they voted for Sare in Election District 39, but the official results showed only five votes.

The lawsuit also cites statistics: in District 35, 331 voters picked Senator Gillibrand but zero chose Harris, and in District 55, 909 voted Gillibrand, yet barely two selected Harris.

On Tuesday, Democrat Supreme Court Justice Rachel Tanguay ruled that the evidence raised “serious questions” warranting full discovery and a hand recount of all presidential and Senate ballots in the county.

Judge Tanguay has now green‑lit the case, allowing plaintiffs to begin discovery proceedings — including subpoenas, sworn depositions, and forensic inspections of every paper ballot in Rockland’s presidential and Senate races.

A court hearing is now slated for September 22, 2025.

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N.Y. Gov. Hochul humbled in sanctuary debate

Rep. Elise Stefanik took the sanctuary debate straight to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday, leaving the Democrat struggling for answers over why illegal immigrants were running loose in communities to commit horrific crimes.

Ms. Stefanik ticked off appalling cases, including the rape of a 5-year-old, the rape of a 15-year-old and a sleeping woman lit on fire and burned alive in the subway — all of which were perpetrated by migrants shielded by sanctuary laws, the New York Republican said.

Ms. Hochul said she didn’t recall any of the cases — “I’m not familiar at this moment” — though she denounced the crimes themselves.

“These crimes are horrific,” she said. “In all of these cases, we would work with ICE to remove them.”

The exchange came during a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with governors whose states have sanctuary policies.

One of the New York cases involved Raymond Rojas Basilio, an illegal immigrant set free by local authorities after serving a child molestation sentence.

Another involved a migrant accused of sneaking up on the sleeping woman and lighting her afire, killing her.

“ICE was told not to detain this individual, and he burned a woman alive on the subway, in Kathy Hochul’s New York,” Ms. Stefanik said.

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Watch arrogant way NYC anti-ICE protesters mock mom begging them to let her get to work

A Big Apple mom was filmed begging anti-ICE protesters to let her get to her job as they blocked traffic Tuesday — just for one to admit he didn’t care while sarcastically mocking her.

“I have a kid and I need to go to work,” the unidentified woman pleaded with a man and a woman after getting out of her car during Tuesday’s protests, where at least 80 demonstrators were arrested.

One of the demonstrators shot back, “These people are having their children taken.”

“But what about my kid?” the mom asked despondently.

Savanah Hernandez, a reporter with Turning Point USA who filmed the exchange, asked the two protesters how they felt as “white people … stopping a black woman from going to work?”

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NY state Senate approves doctor-assisted suicide bill, sends it to Hochul’s desk for approval

State Senate Democrats passed highly controversial legislation that would allow terminally ill people to take their own lives with the help of doctors in a razor-thin vote Monday — leaving it up to Gov. Kathy Hochul whether to sign it into law.

“This is one of the great social reforms of our state,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), the bill’s sponsor in the upper chamber, touted at a press conference earlier in the day Monday — putting the measure on the same tier as the legalization of gay marriage.

“This is about personal autonomy, this is about liberty, this is about exercising one’s own freedom to control one’s body,” Hoylman-Sigal continued.

The measure passed 35 to 27, with six Democrats – Senators April Baskin, Siela Bynoe, Cordelle Cleare, Monica Martinez, Roxanne Persaud, and Sam Sutton – voting against it. 

“The governor will review the legislation,” a spokesperson for Hochul said.

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Urban NYS Dems want to limit how many cows dairy farms can own in latest green push — sparking upstate-downstate beef

This new cow law is total bull.

State lawmakers from the Big Apple want to limit the number of cows on dairy farms in their latest green push – a proposal that opponents argue would cripple the industry.

The legislation, whose backers include members of the Democratic Socialists of America, would prohibit new or expanding dairy farms from reaching or exceeding 700 cows, a measure supporters said would improve the environment and help smaller family farms across the Empire State.

But the proposed moo-ve has sparked an upstate-downstate beef between lawmakers from rural and urban districts — with even Gov. Kathy Hochul viewing the bill as “insane,” according to a source close to the Democratic leader.

“Let’s be clear: this bill makes no sense,” Sen. Mark Walczyk (R-Jefferson) said in a statement.

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Leaders of ‘orgasmic meditation’ women’s wellness company OneTaste convicted in forced labor trial

The leaders of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” have been convicted of federal forced labor charges.

A Brooklyn jury on Monday found Nicole Daedone, founder of OneTaste Inc., and Rachel Cherwitz, the California-based company’s former sales director, guilty after deliberating for less than two days following a five-week trial. The two each face up to 20 years in prison when sentenced later.

Prosecutors had argued the two women ran a yearslong scheme that groomed adherents – many of them victims of sexual trauma – to do their bidding.

They said Daedone, 57, of New York, and Cherwitz, 44, of California, used economic, sexual and psychological abuse, intimidation and indoctrination to force OneTaste members into sexual acts they found uncomfortable or repulsive, such as having sex with prospective investors or clients.

The two told followers the questionable acts were necessary in order to obtain “freedom” and “enlightenment” and demonstrate their commitment to the organization’s principles.

Prosecutors said OneTaste leaders also didn’t pay promised earnings to the members-turned-workers and even forced some of them to take out new credit cards to continue taking the company’s courses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta, in her closing statement last week, said the defendants “built a business on the backs” of victims who “gave everything” to them, including “their money, their time, their bodies, their dignity, and ultimately their sanity.”

“The jury’s verdict has unmasked Daedone and Cherwitz for who they truly are: grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants’ benefit,” said Joseph Nocella, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

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Alleged manifesto of murder suspect Luigi Mangione highlights lessons learned from Unabomber: Court docs

Police caught up with Luigi Mangione, 27, at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after he allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel last December. In addition to allegedly finding a 9mm handgun, a homemade silencer, multiple cartridges, a fake New Jersey ID, a passport, approximately $7,800 in cash, and a written admission of guilt on his person, police reportedly found a notebook detailing plans for the shooting.

Mangione’s defense attorney asked the court overseeing the case to rule the notebook inadmissible, claiming the search of Mangione’s backpack where it was located violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The defense also asked the court to dismiss his indictment altogether.

Prosecutors responded with a damning court filing on Wednesday containing entries from Mangione’s alleged notebook, which they claim reveals “in unambiguous terms [the] defendant’s intent and motive in deliberately assassinating the CEO of the country’s largest health company.”

In an Aug. 15, 2024, entry, Mangione allegedly wrote, “I finally feel confident about what I will do. The details are coming together. And I don’t feel any doubt about whether it’s right/justified. I’m glad — in a way — that I’ve procrastinated bc it allowed me to learn more about UHC. KMD [the initials of another apparent target considered] would’ve been an unjustified catastrophe that would be perceived mostly as sick, but more importantly unhelpful.”

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