Tag: new york

The Assassination of ‘Peanut the Squirrel’

Did state officials execute a squirrel? That appears to be the case for this New York couple whose story set social media ablaze. It’s a classic tale of government overreach. It’s overkill—literally. The squirrel was a social media sensation, having been rescued by Mark Longo of Pine City, New York, several years ago. For some reason, the Department of Environmental Conservation thought ‘Peanut’ and another of Longo’s critters, Fred, the raccoon, were illegally owned. The length at which the state secured search warrants for the Longo home. 

Mr. Longo alleges that he was treated like a terrorist as Peanut and Fred were seized by the state and then euthanized. Let’s call it what it is: the squirrel and the raccoon were brutally murdered because these woodland creatures just had to be taken because they posed a severe risk or something. What a crock. The incident even attracted the attention of the Trump campaign on TikTok. There was a statement that Mediaite thought Trump issued about the death of Peanut but that was fake news…

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Desperate New York Governor Kathy Hochul Says if You Vote for Republicans in NY You’re Anti-American

New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently appeared on MSNBC and said that if you vote Republican, you’re anti-woman and anti-American.

It has been amazing in this election cycle, how Democrats have become so comfortable insulting and degrading their fellow Americans for the crime of disagreeing with them.

Their deranged rhetoric makes them look very desperate, like they know they’re losing.

What is this all about? The New York Post explains:

Kathy Hochul and top NY Dems face ‘national embarrassment’ if GOP keeps control of House

New York, with seven competitive races for the US House of Representatives, will again play a major role in deciding which party controls the chamber.

Republicans hold a slim 220-212 seat edge in the House, thanks in large part to Congressional Democrats losing four New York seats in 2022.

On Long Island, Democrats are gunning to unseat freshman GOP incumbents Anthony D’Esposito and Nick LaLota…

If Democrats fail to regain control of the House, it would be a “national embarrassment” for Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs, and House Minority Leader and Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, said longtime Democratic political strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

“New York will again be blamed again for destroying Democrats’ chance to take control of Congress,” he said.

Wouldn’t it be funny if New York went red for Trump this year? NY Rep. Elise Stefanik seems to think it’s possible.

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Violent Leftist Arrested For Beating Trump Supporter in Grocery Store, Breaking His Teeth Over ‘Trump 2024’ Hat

This is what happens when Trump supporters are labeled “garbage,” “Nazis,” and “Fascists” by Democrat leaders and their media stenographers.

A violent leftist was arrested for beating a Trump supporter at a Bath, New York, grocery store on Friday.

60-year-old Robert Yott was arrested on Friday after he became aggressive and confronted a Trump supporter wearing a ‘Trump 2024’ hat at Tops Friendly Markets.

According to police, Yott repeatedly punched the Trump supporter in the face and broke his teeth.

WETM reported:

A Bath man is facing charges after he allegedly attacked a stranger in a grocery store for wearing a Trump hat.

Robert Yott, 60, was arrested following an incident at Tops Friendly Markets on West Morris Street in Bath on Nov. 1. According to the Village of Bath Police Department, Yott became aggressive and started a confrontation with a stranger shortly before 10 a.m. on Friday because the stranger was wearing a Trump 2024 hat.

Police say Yott punched the victim in the mouth and head multiple times. The victim’s teeth broke, and their mouth became bloody because of the attack, which appeared to be a random act of violence. Yott and the victim had never met before the attack.

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton have referred to Trump supporters as “Nazis” and “garbage” over the past week.

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P’nut the Squirrel, beloved pet and internet sensation, euthanized after being seized by NY state

P’nut the Squirrel, of internet fame, has been euthanized after the pet was seized by New York state earlier this week, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

The seven-year-old gray rescue squirrel, commonly referred to as “P’Nut” on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, was put to death, along with Fred the raccoon, so that the animals could be tested for the presence of rabies, according to a statement from the agency obtained by WETM.  

P’nut’s guardian Mark Longo took to Instagram to memorialize his beloved pet in a video.

Through tears Longo, with his girlfriend at his side, said, “P’nut was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

“RIP MY BEST FRIEND. Thank you for the best 7 years of my life. Thank you for bringing so much joy to us and the world. I’m sorry I failed you but thank you for everything,” Longo wrote in a caption to the post announcing P’nut’s death.

Longo also asked fans for financial help for a “legal battle” and for his non-profit P’Nut’s Freedom Farm.

The DEC claims that P’nut, who was notably docile and friendly over the course of his very public facing life, bit one of the investigators on the hand while being confiscated from his Elmira home on Wednesday.

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House COVID-19 panel refers Andrew Cuomo for possible prosecution for lying to Congress: report

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Wednesday night sent a referral to the Justice Department for the possible prosecution of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the New York Times reported, over allegations that he lied to Congress.

Cuomo, who was governor during the COVID-19 pandemic, issued a mandate in 2020 that required nursing homes in the state to admit untested or possibly contagious patients. It resulted in the deaths of over 15,000 people. 

The panel reportedly accused Cuomo of participating in a “conscious, calculated effort” to avoid accountability for the thousands of nursing homes deaths that occurred from COVID-19, and of lying behind closed doors.

Cuomo had testified to the panel that he had not reviewed a State Health Department report about the nursing home deaths, but the New York Times reported that Cuomo did review it and helped write portions of an early draft of it.

The referral was signed by subcommittee chairman Brad Wenstrup, according to the outlet.

“Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the select subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability,” Wenstrup wrote in the referral. “The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo’s prior allegedly wrongful conduct when evaluating whether to charge him for the false statements described.”

The former governor’s spokesman Richard Azzopardi defended Cuomo in a statement to the outlet and claimed he had testified that he did not remember having a role in the report.

“This taxpayer-funded farce is an illegal use of Congress’s investigative authority,” Azzopardi said. “The governor said he didn’t recall because he didn’t recall. The committee lied in their referral just as they have been lying to the public and the press.”

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NYC law used to shutter unlicensed weed bodegas is unconstitutional, judge rules

A Queens judge ruled Tuesday that the local law that let New York City rapidly shut down more than 1,000 businesses accused of selling cannabis without licenses is unconstitutional because it denies shop owners their rights to due process.

The decision calls the legality of the closures into question and has the potential to halt the city’s enforcement effort, known as Operation Padlock to Protect, which Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly hailed as a success.

Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Tuesday the city will appeal the ruling.

“Illegal smoke shops and their dangerous products endanger young New Yorkers and our quality of life, and we continue to padlock illicit storefronts and protect communities from the health and safety dangers posed by illegal operators,” she said.

The city updated its administrative code earlier this year to make it easier to shut down stores suspected of selling cannabis without licenses. But New York Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan has ruled that the portions of the city’s law that allow the sheriff to unilaterally decide whether to keep a store closed for up to a year are unconstitutional.

Under the law, the owner of a business that has been padlocked for allegedly selling cannabis without a license is entitled to a hearing with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, or OATH. After listening to the facts of the case, the hearing officer makes a recommendation as to whether the store should remain closed.

But the ultimate decision is up to the sheriff — and lawyers representing businesses that have been shut down say it’s not uncommon for the sheriff to ignore OATH’s recommendations.

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Managers Of New York Cannabis Social Equity Fund Earned $1.7 Million Despite Accusations Of Predatory Lending And Mission Failure

They haven’t come close to fulfilling Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) goal of helping 150 people victimized by the state’s old, racially biased drug laws enter the legal cannabis business—and some they have assisted fear their dispensary dreams are collapsing.

But the three managers of a public–private loan fund established to carry out the primary social mission of New York’s sweeping cannabis legalization program are doing just fine.

Records obtained by THE CITY show that they earned $1.7 million over the most recently tallied 12-month period and stand to make millions more in years to come, even though the New York Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund has faced charges of predatory lending, secrecy and mission failure. By a conservative estimate computed by THE CITY, the managers’ longterm haul could easily come to $15 million over a decade.

The state selected the three managers, who operate under the almost identical name of Social Equity Impact Ventures, after a bidding process in June 2022: Bill Thompson, a former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate; the former NBA star Chris Webber; and Lavetta Willis, a former sneaker entrepreneur based in Los Angeles.

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Iran Revolutionary Guard charged by US in alleged plot to kill Iranian dissident living in NYC

An Iran Revolutionary Guard official was charged by the US government over a plot to kill an Iranian American journalist and Iranian opposition activist who is living in NYC, according to an indictment which was rewritten and filed on Tuesday.

Masih Alinejad, the Iranian dissident whose identity was confirmed to the Associate Press, was targeted to be killed by Ruhollah Bazghandi and three other men who were added to the indictment against others also accused of trying to kill Alinejad. The author fled Iran after the disputed 2009 presidential election and has been living in exile in the United States while continuing to be a vocal human rights activist against the Iranian regime.

Bazghandi, who has not been detained in custody, has been described in court papers as a brigadier general of the Revolutionary Guard who previously served as chief of the counterintelligence department. In April 2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control within the US Department of Treasury identified Bazghandi as being involved in assassination plots against journalists, Israeli, citizens, and others deemed as enemies of Iran, per the AP. The indictment also said he participated in the in the “detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran and involvement in operations in Syria by the Revolutionary Guard’s counterintelligence department.”

This comes after the Iran Revolutionary Guard was designated by the US as a global terrorist organization as a supporting wing if Iran’s international terrorism.

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New York high schoolers to stage WALKOUTS in protest of ballot measure that will allow trans athletes to participate in girls’ sports

High school students across New York are planning to walk out of their classrooms on Oct. 24 in protest of a ballot measure that would allow transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sporting events.

New York’s Proposal 1, also known as the “Equal Rights Amendment,” would add language to the New York Bill of Rights to provide that people can’t be denied rights based on their “ethnicity, national origin, age and disability” as well as due to their “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

Campaigners in favor of Proposal 1 are marketing the ballot measure as a pro-abortion measure that would enshrine abortion rights into state law. However, the Coalition to Protect Kids, the main organization that has organized the statewide walkouts, argue that Proposal 1 would not only protect abortion rights but also mandate extreme “trans rights” in New York, including the participation of transgender athletes in girls sports.

The statewide demonstration, dubbed “Walk Off for Fairness Day,” is organized by the Coalition to Protect Kids with support from the Catholic Church, the New York Republican State Committee and the Conservative Party of New York State. (Related: World Athletics bans transgender athletes from competing in female category at international events.)

“Girls are being systematically canceled in this state, and ‘Walk Off for Fairness Day’ will give them a safe opportunity to make their voices heard,” said Coalition spokeswoman Ayesha Kreutz. “So many of these young women are afraid of speaking out, so they’re forced to watch as 50 years of female athletic progress gets washed away by destructive ideologues. Girls are not second-class citizens, so why are they being treated that way?”

Many high school students across New York have spoken out in support of the walkout.

“It’s not right for boys to compete against girls in sports. It’s a huge disadvantage for girls,” said Hannah Pompeo, a 16-year soccer player at Eden High School near Buffalo.

Similarly, Millie McCormack, a dancer from Somers High School, stated that she and her sister would join the protest because they believe transgender athletes threaten the fairness of girls’ sports. “I don’t think it’s right for men to be in our safe spaces. We worked hard for places on our teams. Boys have physical advantages we don’t have.”

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NYC seeks 14,000 hotel rooms for migrants through 2025 – with each one costing $352 PER NIGHT

Beleaguered New York Mayor Eric Adams has been told to get a grip as the bill for housing the city’s migrants soars towards $2.3 billion.

City Hall is warning that 14,000 hotel rooms will be needed until at least the end of next year when the total cost of providing for the new arrivals will reach a staggering $5.76 billion.

More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in the city since the start of 2022, many bussed north by GOP governors determined to make Democrat cities share the burden of the crisis on the southern border.

And more than 150 hotels are still being used to house the influx at an average cost of $352 a room each night.

‘The taxpayers can’t pay for this indefinitely,’ Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute think tank told the NY Post. ‘We should stop using hotels as shelters by the end of the year.’

The figures emerged as the City began looking for a contractor to ensure it secured the thousands of rooms needed going forward.

‘The New York City Department of Homeless Services is seeking to continue the City Sanctuary Facility program by procuring a vendor who can assist in acquiring the use of large scale commercial hotels and hotel management services to help address the current emergency,’ the agency announced.

It came after City Comptroller Brad Lander revealed that one contractor, DocGo Inc, had billed the city $1.7 million for 9,874 vacant hotel rooms it had claimed were housing migrants during May and June last year.

The New York City Hotel Association is currently paid $100,000 a month to manage three migrant housing contracts and said it would apply for the new one.

‘We have five full time employees specifically for fulfilling the contractual obligations, besides work done by regular HANYC staff for the contract, in addition to their normal duties,’ said CEO, Vijay Dandapani.

‘We will be filling in the request.’

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