Tag: new york

New Yorkers ‘Stunned’ as Mamdani Admin’s Orders ‘Ruined’ Mothers Day for Countless Families

It’s telling when you finally find a rich person or moneyed entity that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani can get behind.

Sure, he’ll berate Citadel hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin outside Griffin’s home with a video touting new property taxes, even though it wasn’t terribly far from where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated not long ago.

And sure, he’s the kind of guy who talks about the city’s hemorrhaging of wealthy New Yorkers due to his tax policies as an “imagined exodus.”

But at least the infamously leftist mayor knows where to draw the line: He’ll let Hollywood millionaires ruin Mother’s Day for everyone who wanted to go in or around New York City’s Chinatown to let a studio film a movie.

According to the New York Post, Mamdani’s office issued filming permits for “A Quiet Place 3” for Sunday in the historic neighborhood, where residents “were jolted awake with predawn sounds of explosions and had to navigate traffic and parking chaos all day.”

“Residents were left not-so-quietly fuming at the Mamdani administration for issuing permits to Paramount Pictures to film the blockbuster sequel on the special day, gobbling up parking spots on a dozen streets and creating a Mother’s Day madhouse in the neighborhood,” the paper reported.

One woman, who crossed into the movie set with her daughter as a protest, decried the disruption.

“My Mother’s Day is terrible because they’ve blocked the whole f***ing place. It’s already ruined,” she told the newspaper.

A man who spoke to reporters wasn’t much happier.

“This is unexpected and annoying. I just want to get home so I can cook for my wife,” he said.

And this wasn’t an ordinary disruption put upon by billionaire moguls and millionaire actors and directors, either.

At 4 a.m., the whole shindig began with military vehicles and fake weapons lining up around the neighborhood.

By the time Mother’s Day brunches were beginning hours later, the filming had congested traffic around the intersection of Bowery and Canal Street — the heart of the district — making it difficult to reach the not-insignificant number of restaurants there.

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Teen Girl Raped in NYC After Uber Driver Skipped ID Check, Attacker Had Just Completed Soft on Crime ‘Alternative-to-Prison’ Program for Criminals Under 27-Years-Old

A 16-year-old girl from Long Island was allegedly raped, filmed, and terrorized in Brooklyn after an Uber driver picked her up without checking her ID, delivering her straight into the hands of a 26-year-old repeat offender who had just completed a lenient “alternative to incarceration” program designed for criminals under 27.

The horrifying March attack took place in Bushwick after the victim had been communicating with rapist Ralfy Figueroa on Snapchat since at least January.

Figueroa allegedly paid her $35 for a nude photo, to which she sent a fake image from the internet, and later used threats to lure her into meeting him.

On the day of the assault, Figueroa sent chilling Snapchat messages, including, “You have to, I know your address. Confirm your address, if you don’t, I’m gonna hurt you and your family.”

The terrified teen got into an Uber from her Long Island home, which was sent by her attacker.

The driver never asked for identification, in clear violation of Uber’s own policies for unaccompanied minors under 18.

The New York Post reports:

Uber bars strangers from calling for rides for passengers under 18, and youngsters are not supposed to ride alone, unless they have a specific account intended for teenagers, according to the company.

“When picking up riders, if you feel they are underage, you may request they provide a driver’s license or ID card for confirmation. If a rider is underage, please do not start the trip or allow them to ride,” according to the company’s web site.

But instead of ending the ride, the driver brought the victim to Bushwick and dropped her off without making sure she was safe or with a guardian, allegedly breaking another tenet of Uber’s policies regarding youngsters.

There, she met Figueroa, who allegedly forced her into his car and sexually assaulted her.

According to the criminal complaint, he demanded oral sex, offered her $1,000 if she complied, continued the assault until she vomited, filmed the entire act, and threatened to send people to her home while claiming he had guns.

Afterward, Figueroa called another Uber to send her home, but canceled it once she was inside the vehicle, leaving her stranded.

At the time of the attack, Figueroa had just completed a program called Cases ROAR (Reframing Opportunities, Alternatives and Resilience), a court-mandated alternative to incarceration run by the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) for 16 to 27-year-olds facing misdemeanor or felony charges.

Figueroa was placed in the program as part of a plea deal after a July arrest for selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer in Bushwick, a crime that was not bail-eligible.

Figueroa was arrested shortly after the March assault and charged with first-degree rape. He pleaded not guilty and is being held at Rikers Island on $100,000 bail.

The Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor has already requested a hearing to revoke his plea deal in the earlier drug case, which could send him to prison for up to nine years.

“We have requested a hearing to determine whether defendant Ralfy Figueroa has violated the terms of his plea to felony and misdemeanor narcotics charges and should immediately be sentenced on those charges,” spokesperson Kati Cornell told the Post.

The victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against Uber, claiming the driver’s failure to follow basic safety protocols directly enabled the assault.

The lawsuit states the girl “did not understand the danger of the situation” and that the company’s lax enforcement left her vulnerable.

“My daughter has told me that, if the videos of the assault were to be made public, she would kill herself,” the mom said in the lawsuit against Uber, according to the New York Post report.

The teen is now receiving mental health treatment at an out-of-state facility.

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REPORT: As People Flee New York City Over Mamdani’s Policies, NYC Public School Enrollment is Going to Drop Dramatically

As New York City’s new Democratic Socialist (communist) Mayor Zohran Mamdani implements his new policies, there has been a lot of talk about wealthy people fleeing the city, but that is only part of the story.

Everything is connected on some level. As people leave the city, the number of children enrolled in their public schools is going to drop, which will have other rippling effects.

At some point, too much of the foundation is eroded away and things start to crumble. Then the real problems begin.

FOX News reports:

New York City’s declining public school enrollment projected to lose over 150K more as population declines

New York City’s public schools are projected to drop, mirroring the downward trend of its overall population since last year.

According to a “Statistical Forecasting” prepared for the New York City School Construction Authority, New York City is projected to lose thousands of students in the 2034-35 school year.

“Enrollment is projected to be 721,251 in 2034-35, which would be a decline of 153,000 students from the 2024-25 enrollment,” the outlet reported.

“Over the next ten years, enrollments are projected to decline in each of the five boroughs. Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx are projected to have the largest declines in the next ten years, losing 45,000, 43,000, and 35,000 students, respectively,” it added.

The projected shortfall was attributed to continuing falling birthrates, an exodus of residents, and an aging population. “Statistical Forecasting was retained by the New York City School Construction Authority (“SCA”) to perform enrollment projections for the New York City Public Schools for the ten-year period beginning with the 2025-26 school year and ending in 2034-35,” the document states…

New York City public schools lost 22,000 students this year from last year’s 906,248 students. According to preliminary Department of Education data, a total of 884,400 students were enrolled in the city’s traditional public schools. NYC had more than 1,002,000 students enrolled at the start of the 2019-2020 school year, meaning it has since lost more than 117,000.

New York City currently spends more per school student than any other place in the country and gets mediocre results on reading and math.

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New York Turns Blind Eye to Crazy Man Terrorizing Bronx Apartment Building

Things in New York City are not good, and getting worse under the Zohran Mamdani administration. Democrats make deliberate choices to lower the quality of life for law-abiding citizens in order to prop up dangerous, violent, and deviant criminals. In one Bronx apartment building, residents are being terrorized by a violent “transgender” person named Anthony Orozco, and the government doesn’t seem interested in ending his reign of terror.

A cross-dressing “tenant from hell” has terrorized a Bronx apartment building by wildly waving around weapons, masturbating in a hallway and almost causing a catastrophe when he turned on all his gas burners, according to footage and neighbors.

The off-the-rails renter apparently wears an array of wigs when harassing neighbors and hasn’t paid rent in more than a year at the East 214th Street building in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, according to the building management company and apartment residents.

But management can’t give him the boot just yet as building residents live in fear.

“The blonde wig, he messes with me. The pink wig, he messes with the guy on the second floor. The red wig, he messes with the third floor,” tenant Leonia Clemente, 44, told The Post.

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Hochul Dragged on Social Media After Post Targeting Privately Made Firearms

I get that states like New York, and governors like Kathy Hochul aren’t fans of gun ownership in general, but especially when they don’t get to have some kind of control over who gets a gun and who doesn’t. They want to be able to peer into the industry and know everything, which is why anything that removes a gun from that paper trail is a bad thing. For them, 3D printers spell doom, which is why Hochul opted to go after them.

But the truth of the matter is that the internet is a strange place, and if you’re going to live by the tweet, you will also die by the tweet.

Hochul made a post about “ghost guns,” and unsurprisingly, the internet had thoughts.

Here are just a few of the responses Hochul’s post received:

  • “Democrats are the fastest-growing gun safety threat in the country.”
  • “People will just buy the printers in another State.”
  • “Have you considered banning basements and garages to stop the construction of these ghost guns?”
  • “Does she realize guns aren’t generally printed only certain components so good luck with ‘software’ that can determine what is exactly being printed.”
  • “Yay! Another way to control Americans…You. Are. So. Brave.”
  • “Why would NY expend any resources to prevent people from exercising their Second Amendment rights? Meanwhile, you release violent criminals without bond and they repeat their crimes harming more New Yorkers. You should be ashamed.”
  • “Eliminate the Gang Data Base. Handcuff Police. Provide Sanctuary to Illegal Aliens. Track 3d printers.”

And the backlash extends through post after post.

And it should.

See, the truth of the matter is that so-called ghost guns are certainly scary sounding, but the data doesn’t really back up the idea of them being some massive threat. When I wrote about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s jihad against 3D printers, I noted how few of these guns turn up, even with this massive growth in their use, especially when compared to violent crime involving a firearm as a whole.

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Antifa activist who celebrated Charlie Kirk murder arrested on child sex crime charges in New York

A queer-identified Antifa activist who celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk has been arrested in upstate New York on suspicion of felony child sex crimes.

Justin Robert Stroup, 37, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., was arrested on April 30 by the New York State Police following a joint investigation involving Plattsburgh City Police and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). He allegedly shared child sex abuse material.

Stroup is a leftist activist and guitarist for the left-wing death metal band Dead Solace. The band announced on Instagram after the news of his arrest that they were immediately disbanding.

“This decision follows recent actions by a member that do not align with our values, our expectations of one another, or the respect we believe should exist within our community,” the band said in a statement.

In 2022, Dead Solace performed a charity concert in Burlington, Vt., co-organized by Planned Parenthood. 

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Mamdani Berates Billionaire Outside His Residence Near UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassination Site

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin responded to a viral Tax Day video from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in which he was filmed outside of the billionaire’s penthouse promising to charge new taxes on the property of wealthy individuals.

The democratic socialist, whose city is facing a budget crisis, released a video on April 15 vowing to impose a new pied-à-terre tax on the non-primary residences of wealthy New Yorkers.

Mamdani is seen in the video on the street outside Griffin’s penthouse, which was purchased in 2019 for $238 million — marking the most expensive home sale in American history, according to a report from Fox Business.

“This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full-time in the city,” Mamdani said in the video.

“Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million,” he continued, calling out Griffin by name.

Griffin responded with remarks at an investment conference in Oslo, Norway, saying that he was disturbed by the “personal attack” and the possible security ramifications.

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HORROR: Three-Times Deported Illegal Alien from Honduras Beats Man Unconscious, Rapes Him Behind Dumpster

An illegal alien from Honduras beat a man unconscious and raped him behind a dumpster.

Jose Ignacio Bonilla-Garcia was charged with assaulting a man, dragging his unconscious body behind a dumpster, and raping him in Suffolk County, New York.

The victim was intoxicated and collapsed after leaving the Esperanza Deli Café on March 27.

Jose Ignacio Bonilla-Garcia, a three-times deported illegal alien, fled to Texas and tried to escape to Mexico after committing the heinous crime.

“This is one of the most egregious criminal offenses that I’ve come across in my entire career and another example of why it’s vital for law enforcement at all levels to work together in the interest of public safety,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez.

“Following the alleged assault, Bonilla-Garica traveled to Texas in a suspected attempt to flee to Mexico to evade prosecution for his alleged crimes,” Martinez added.

“With a limited amount of time to work with, and a lot of ground to cover, the law enforcement community quickly came together to help track down this dangerous fugitive and he was safely taken into custody by the U.S Marshals Service’s Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force before he could leave the country,” he said.

“Without teamwork and collaboration between law enforcement at all levels, the outcome would have likely been very different,” he added.

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Man Accused of Running Chinese Police Station in NYC Admits Working for CCP

A Chinese-American who allegedly operated an overseas Chinese police station in New York City admitted to opening the police station and to his link to Chinese state security in interviews with the FBI in the fall of 2022, Assistant United States Attorney Lindsey Oken said in opening statements at his trial Wednesday.

Lu Jianwan, 64, an American citizen, also known as Harry Lu and the former head of the American ChangLe Association, admitted he had a handler in China’s main security and law enforcement organization, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), in interviews with the FBI in October and December of 2022, prosecutors said.

Lu is charged with conspiring to act as an agent of the Chinese government, and with failing to register as a foreign agent. He is also charged with obstruction of justice for deleting his communications with China’s MPS.

Oken said Lu also admitted to the FBI that he communicated via Chinese messaging app WeChat with the MPS. After meeting with the FBI, Lu allegedly deleted messages from those communications. Oken said the FBI was able to recover some of these messages from other devices, and the government will present them at trial.

Appearing in a black suit and a light blue tie, Lu seemed calm and at ease as his trial started Wednesday in the Brooklyn borough of New York City in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), anyone acting on behalf of a foreign government is required to declare their association by filing documentation with the FARA office at the Department of Justice.

In his opening statement, Lu’s attorney, John Carman, said, “Harry Lu was arrested for failing to file a form,” and belittled the obstruction charge as being about a missing WeChat message. Carman said the case is one of “guilt by association,” arguing that Lu did nothing wrong, but merely associated and communicated with officials of the Chinese government, which the Department of Commerce has officially designated as an adversary.

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REPORT: Area Where Zohran Mamdani is Planning to Build Government-Owned Grocery Store Already Has 45 Markets Within Walking Distance

The neighborhood where NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is planning to build a government owned grocery store already has almost 50 markets within walking distance, raising further questions about his far left pipe dreams.

Is the new store even necessary? Mamdani probably does not care about that. This is merely a campaign promise and he likely sees it as something on which he has to deliver.

What is often not discussed is the competition this government owned store is going to create for all of these other privately owned stores.

Ask any business owner, and they will tell you it is near to impossible to compete with the government, which always has more resources and money.

FOX News reports:

NYC grocers sound alarm on Mamdani’s supermarket plan: ‘We’ll lose customers’

A proposal by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to open a city-run grocery store is facing pushback from East Harlem grocers who say the area is already saturated with supermarkets and bodegas.

The plan, part of a broader effort to address rising grocery costs in the city, would establish publicly run stores across New York’s five boroughs — but the push to improve affordability could come at a cost for small businesses already on thin margins.

The first store is expected to open next year in La Marqueta, an existing public market space at Park Avenue and 115th Street in East Harlem. The city will spend roughly $30 million to build the store.

Roughly 45 grocery stores sit within a 35-minute walk of the proposed grocery site, according to a Fox News Digital analysis.

The existing stores include a mix of major chains like Whole Foods and Lidl, as well as smaller neighborhood markets and bodegas.

The area is also well served by public transit. There are multiple subway and bus lines giving residents several ways to reach nearby stores if they are not in reasonable walking distance.

Some local grocers say the added competition of the city-owned store could hurt their businesses.

“Of course it will affect this store,” said Sarah Kang, manager at a CTown Supermarkets location about a 35-minute walk south, or one subway stop, from La Marqueta.

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