Tag: new york

New York’s Governor Seems Indifferent to the Health Consequences of a Steep Tax on Nicotine Pouches

By pushing a 75 percent wholesale tax on nicotine pouches, New York State Budget Director Blake Washington says, Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to address “a public health concern.” That rationale is absurd on its face, since this tax would sharply raise the cost of a nicotine product that is far less hazardous than cigarettes, perversely discouraging smokers from making a switch that could save their lives.

Hochul, who seems determined to portray a money grab as a benevolent intervention, is either oblivious or indifferent to the health consequences of taxing nicotine patches at the same rate as cigarettes. “We see it as a distinction without a difference,” Washington told reporters in January.

That position ignores the huge difference between inhaling tobacco smoke, which contains myriad toxins and carcinogens, and orally absorbing nicotine from a pouch placed between the lip and gums. Hochul’s framing also contradicts what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said four days before the end of the Biden administration, when it authorized the marketing of Zyn nicotine pouches in two doses and 10 flavors.

That decision was based on the FDA’s determination that “the new products offer greater benefits to population health than risks.” The data, said Matthew Farrelly, director of the Office of Science at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, “show that these nicotine pouch products meet that bar by benefiting adults who use cigarettes and/or smokeless tobacco products and completely switch to these products.”

Nicotine pouches contain “substantially lower amounts of harmful constituents than cigarettes,” the FDA noted. They therefore offer “a lower-risk alternative for adults who smoke cigarettes.”

How much lower? To give you a sense of the difference, the Royal College of Physicians estimates that “the hazard to health” from e-cigarettes, which likewise do not contain tobacco or burn anything but do require inhalation, “is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco.”

Nicotine pouches “contain far, far fewer harmful constituents compared to traditional tobacco products,” notes Mary Hrywna, a tobacco control specialist at the Rutgers School of Public Health. The FDA’s Zyn decision implicitly acknowledged that nicotine pouches are “much safer than cigarettes,” says Ray Niaura, a professor at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.

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Backlash After NYC Mayor Mamdani Blames Death of 7-Month Old Baby on Guns Instead of the Violent Criminals Who Killed Her

Radical socialist Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is facing backlash for politicizing the death of a 7-month-old baby and blaming ‘guns’ instead of the violent criminals responsible for the tragedy.

On Wednesday, the baby, Kaori Patterson-Moore, was shot and killed as her mother pushed her in a stroller down a Brooklyn Street. Two men drove past on a moped, with one of the men firing two shots at passersby.

Per The New York Post:

Sources said the tot’s mom heard the shots and rushed her daughter into a nearby bodega for shelter — then looked down at the stroller and saw the blood.

The suspects fled but crashed the moped two blocks away, sending one of them to the hospital where he was identified as a person of interest and the second goon still on the run.

Meanwhile, the tragic youngster was rushed by ambulance to Woodhull Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 1:46 p.m.

Rather than addressing NYC’s soft-on-crime policies and blaming the actual violent perpetrators, Mamdani instead blamed guns.

Mamdani said during a press conference, “Earlier today, a 7-month-old baby was shot and killed on the corner of Moore Street and Humboldt Street here in Brooklyn. A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant.”

“This is not the first family in our city to know this pain. Too many children have never grown up into becoming adults. Too many parents have had to bury those that they love the most. We cannot accept this as normal. In our city.”

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NYS bill would force MTA to tell riders about bed bug infestations

They’re itching for the truth.

New York State lawmakers are pushing a bill that would force the MTA to tell riders about bed bug infestation on trains and buses within 24 hours.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblymember William Colton (D-Brooklyn), would set rules to require the MTA to either post a message on its website or send an alert via email or text about any infestation.

“The MTA – for no good reason – has been resistant about alerting its customers when an infestation has been detected,” Colton said in a statement.

“Millions of New Yorkers use our critically important trains and buses regularly,” Colton added. “They should not have to add ‘will I bring home bed bugs?’ to their list of concerns as they go about their daily life.”

A previous version of the bill passed the Assembly but died in the state Senate, according to representatives. The latest legislation made it through the Assembly last month and is now in the hands of the Senate’s Transportation Committee.

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Prominent New York synagogue hosts presentation on why U.S. Jews should support the ethnic cleansing of Gaza

The American press does its best not to cover savage Israeli views of Palestinians, but a leading New York synagogue gave an honored platform to those views ten days ago. It hosted an Israeli advocate with connections in its government who argued for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and said American Jews need to support that operation.  

Benjamin Anthony said that all “Palestinian Arabs” in Gaza pose such a threat to Israel that the international community should use “muscular diplomacy” with Egypt so as force the population out of Gaza into an “enclave” in the Sinai peninsula. 

“I believe the international community would very handily be able to create some sort of enclave for the…Gazans in the Sinai peninsula. And then we might have the breathing room to think about long-term solutions.” 

Though those two million Gazans would likely be displaced again, into African countries, said Anthony, the leader of an Israeli think tank called the MirYam Institute. 

“I think someone like [Egyptian president] Sisi would likely move the Gazans along from the Sinai peninsula in the event that he didn’t want to build a place for them there, and you would probably see them dispersed through the continent of Africa quite quickly.”

Anthony’s argument is widely shared by Israelis (according to a 2025 poll), and it only received mild push back from Eliot Cosgrove, a leading conservative rabbi in the U.S., who had brought Anthony, his first cousin, onto the synagogue dais.  

Cosgrove called the scheme “very intriguing,” but protested that Anthony was conflating “Hamas with the entire Gaza population.” And that by creating a refugee population with a “narrative”, Israel was practically and morally kicking the can down the road. Speaking “as a proud Zionist,” Cosgrove said the scheme is not in Israel’s interest.

Anthony insisted that no Gazans could be trusted because Gazan civilians cheered the atrocities against Israelis on October 7. Cosgrove folded his hand: “Well, I love you, and I disagree with you, but let’s move on.” 

Cosgrove ended the hour-long dialogue by thanking Anthony “for fighting the good fight” and “for representing our people.”

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Hochul running mate Adrienne Adams funneled $435K to migrant shelter tied to federal probe

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s running mate – former NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams – dished out $435,000 in taxpayer-funded political pork to a shady migrant-shelter provider at the center of a federal corruption probe, The Post has learned.

The Democratic lieutenant governor candidate gave Brooklyn-based nonprofit BHRAGS Home Care Inc. $375,000 in discretionary funds through her speaker’s pot from 2022 to 2025, Council records show. The taxpayer’s dough was earmarked for the group’s senior and youth after-school programs.

The Queens-based pol also directly tacked on another $60,000 to help it assist the mentally ill, the records show.

In all, the Council under her leadership doled out $544,900 to BHRAGS since 2021, according to the records.

Councilwoman Farah Louis kicked in another $72,000, and other council members chipped in the remaining $37,900, records show.

The feds are looking into whether Louis; her sister, Deborah Louis, who serves as Hochul’s assistant secretary for NYC intergovernmental affairs; Edu Hermelyn, husband of state Assemblywoman and Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn; and others accepted bribes or kickbacks to boost BHRAGS.

The Flatbush-based nonprofit has received $185.4 million in no-bid city contracts since 2022 to provide emergency shelters for migrants and other homeless people, according to NYC Comptroller’s Office records. 

The nonprofit’s executive director, Roberto Samedy, its former board chairman, Jean Ronald Tirelus, and two others connected to BHRAGS were arrested Tuesday as part of the corruption probe for allegedly pocketing more than $1 million in kickbacks linked to city-run migrant shelters.

BHRAGS reps have said it’s “fully cooperating with law enforcement” and that Samedy was placed on administrative leave.

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NY assembly to get million-dollar lounge —while demanding huge tax hikes on hardworking New Yorkers

State assembly members are set to personally enjoy a million-dollar renovation for their lounge space just off the chamber floor — even as they push to hike taxes on businesses while driving up spending, The Post has learned.

The Office of General Services, a division of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration which handles much of the capitol complex, is moving forward with plans to renovate the space with the price tag potentially exceeding $1 million, according to bidding documents reviewed by The Post.

The move comes as the same pols who exclusively get to recline on the couches in the antechamber and chomp down on treats prepared in the lounge’s kitchenette demand Hochul hike taxes on businesses amid next year’s proposed $263 billion state budget.

“Albany Democrats always find money for themselves while asking New Yorkers to pay more. They are completely out of touch,” upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), a former assembly woman, told The Post.

Ex-Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Chautaqua) added, “The assembly members should work harder rather than ‘lounge’ around.”

A source confirmed to The Post that OGS had received a request from the Assembly for the project.

Lawmakers ran for the hills Wednesday for Passover break after failing to come to an agreement with Hochul on her proposed $263 billion state budget proposal.

Despite being on a scheduled two-week recess, lawmakers will likely have to gather to vote Tuesday on another stopgap spending bill to keep state workers paid.

At least some will likely skip the tally in person, Goodell said.

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The Seder That Turned on Mamdani

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani walked into the “Downtown Seder” at City Winery in Manhattan ready to set a tone. He spoke first, leaned into unity, and tried to present himself as a mayor who moves easily across lines that divide the city.

Unfortunately for the mayor, the room didn’t follow his lead.

Zohran Mamdani is clearly aiming to convince the world that he isn’t anti-Semitic in the most lefty-coded theater-kid way possible. It didn’t quite go as he planned.

The New York mayor attended what The New York Times called a “hip” Passover Seder on Monday.

The event was also attended by former CNN host Don Lemon, who is in a bit of legal trouble at the moment, and a whole host of other characters, including a drag-queen rabbi who phoned in from Jerusalem and George Floyd’s brother, who spoke about “racism,” according to the Times.

Michael Dorf, founder of City Winery and longtime host of the event, has run the gathering for over 30 years. Mamdani took a seat alongside Don Lemon and Amichai Lau-Lavie.

Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie will appear at the Seder by video from Israel. The rabbi and human rights activist is best known as the subject of the documentary film Sabbath Queen (2024), which followed Lau-Lavie’s “epic journey” as a “drag-queen rebel” who “challenge[s] patriarchy and supremacy.” It is not known if the rabbi will appear as himself or as his drag alter ego, Hadassah Gross. Other guests will include Terrence Floyd, brother of George Floyd, and Matthew Broussard, the actor and comedian who played “Comic 2 at Stage Deli” in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Mamdani addressed antisemitism and told the audience he stands with Jewish New Yorkers, framing himself as a bridge builder, even while promoting a political agenda rooted in democratic socialism and expanded government authority.

That contrast didn’t sit well.

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New York Democrats Introduce Bills to Preserve Mandatory Vaccines

Democrats in New York have introduced legislation that would preserve requirements for certain vaccines for children recommended by state health officials and major scientific organizations, even if federal authorities rescind approval of the shots.

State Rep. Amy Paulin, a Democrat, on March 26 unveiled one of the bills, which would alter the state public health law in New York that sets out required vaccines for children, including vaccines against polio, measles, and hepatitis B.

The bill, Assembly Bill 10711, would remove language stating that the vaccines need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Instead, the law would say that parents are required to have their children receive the vaccines “in accordance with regulations issued by the [state’s health] commissioner, utilizing generally accepted medical standards and taking into consideration recommendations of” nationally or internationally recognized scientific organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

A second piece of legislation would require insurance companies to cover vaccines even if they are not recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provided they are recommended by the commissioner based on recommendations from the same organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, or national or international groups.

New York has historically mandated only vaccines that are approved and recommended by federal health agencies.

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SURPRISE! Zohran Mamdani’s New ‘Free’ Childcare Program is Going to Cost $60,000 Per Child

Are you sitting down? This is shocking news.

It turns out that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new ‘free’ childcare program isn’t free at all. In fact, it’s going to cost $60,000 – Per child. Of course, it’ll be free for the people who get the service, but not for the taxpayers who are funding it.

This is the shell game that is always played by leftists. Nothing is free and they know it. Someone always pays.

Oh and by the way, this is just the rollout of the program. You know it will cost more down the road.

The New York Post reports:

Mamdani rolls out $2.3M day care pilot for NYC workers with hefty $60K cost per kid

The cost of “free” child care is soaring.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the opening of a new daycare center for municipal workers Monday that will cost more than double the average price of child care — to a tune of nearly $60,000 per kid.

The pilot program will start this fall on the first floor of David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan after a multi-million-dollar renovation of a room for just 40 children, ages six weeks to 3 years old.

The childcare center co-ops an initiative of Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, that was announced in October.

Mamdani said the Adams administration didn’t allocate operating funds for the center, which Hizzoner said would have a $2.3 million price tag and will be included in the city’s upcoming executive budget.

That works out to $57,500 per child to attend the day care from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On average, day care costs in the city for infants come in at $26,000 and $23,400 for toddlers, according to the city comptroller’s office.

City Hall didn’t respond to questions about the soaring cost to the city compared to private center-based programs.

That’s strange. Why do you suppose Mamdani’s city hall didn’t respond to questions?

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The Assisted Suicide Of Lofty State And Local Taxes

We get the government we choose to elect, hence the government we deserve. Voting for ever-higher punitive taxes on the rich is arguably a form of civic suicide. Consider that a wealthy New Yorker can get a raise of almost 40% just by moving.

That’s right. If moving eliminates a 14.8% top state and local tax rate, our top-tier taxpayer gets a 36% raise, not a 14.8% raise, by leaving. It’s doubtful if any of our city and state leaders have done this math, but it’s shocking.

Mamdani wants to take the top rate up another 2%, if not by the state then by the city, which would mean that our rich neighbor can get a 42% raise.

Here’s how the math works.

A rich New Yorker pays a maximum state and city income tax of 14.8%, on top of a maximum federal tax of 37%. But there are hidden taxes. Uncapped Medicare and Medicaid taxes push the marginal federal tax to 39.4%. If the income is earned on investments, the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT, another gift from Obamacare) adds another 3.8%, pushing the top federal tax above 43%.

So, top-tier New York taxpayers may soon pay a marginal tax of 43% to the IRS and 17% to the city and state of New York. The combined 60% marginal tax rates mean they have the privilege of keeping 40 cents of each new dollar they earn. A move to one of the nine states with no income tax allows our taxpayer to keep 57% of every additional dollar of income, instead of 40%. Do the math. That’s a 42% raise.

Forget the argument about “paying their fair share.” “Fair” is an entirely subjective term. Your fair share of someone else’s money might be seen as a ripoff by them, especially if the money is spent less wisely than we might spend our own money. If you are rich and believe you’ve earned your money, will you consider leaving a state for a permanent 40% raise? Of course.

This is hardly a phenomenon unique to New York. California’s headline top rate of 13.3% becomes 14% with the phase-out of deductions. A Silicon Valley billionaire can keep 43% of each new dollar of income. Moving to Dallas or Miami, or Anchorage for the adventuresome, boosts this to 57%, a raise of almost 33%. This doesn’t even count the “please leave now” impetus of a “one-time only” 5% wealth tax on billionaires. Never mind that the fine print on the wealth tax initiative turns a 5% tax into a 50% expropriation for billionaires like the founders of Google, because their 30% voting share at Google, not their 3% equity ownership, is used to determine the tax.

People have called the United States “50 laboratories of democracy.” A state or a city is welcome to impose whatever taxes, regulations, or laws are allowed by its own bylaws or the national Constitution. And citizens are welcome to choose whichever states have taxes, regulations, and laws that they feel best align with their values and beliefs.

Nor is it unique to our various states, with their diverse tax regimes. Taxes drove the Rolling Stones to their own “Exile on Main Street,” relocating to France of all places to escape England’s 90% top tax rate (where a tiny drop to 85% would provide a 50% pay raise). Even Switzerland has divergent tax rates, ranging from 22% in Zug to roughly 40% in Berne, Geneva, and Vaud. Where do the billionaires tend to live? Zug.

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