Politics

GOP Super PAC Gunning For Shelly Silver -- And Why It Won't Make A Bit Of Difference

A recently formed GOP Super PAC has Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver in its sights and says it will actively campaign -- and drop an estimated $1.5 million -- to see to it that he's not re-elected as Assembly speaker.The Super PAC -- which is being financially fueled by the group Americans for Real Ch ... More >>

NY GOP: Andrew Cuomo's Election Day Executive Order Disenfranchises Upstate Hurricane Relief Workers

Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order allowing residents of "federally-declared disaster counties" to vote at any polling place they want.Included in the governor's order are relief workers who "reside in one of the federally declared disaster counties."Problem is, not all the r ... More >>

NY GOP Confident, Arrogant at Midtown "Victory Party"

The New York State Republican Party is holding its election night "victory party" on the third floor of the Westin Grand Central in Midtown right now, and spirits are high amongst GOPers as their horse in this year's presidential election appears to stand a chance at pulling off a victory."I think i ... More >>

Christine Quinn, Best Bud

The City Council Speaker's conspicuous Sandy presence

Presidential Election Night Party

Goodbye, Affirmative Action?

A Supreme Court case has colleges considering how to stay diverse if race-based admissions is axed

Don't Get On An Obama Email Feed!

It's not that I don't want to hear all the great news about his superior views. It's just that I don't want to be bombarded with them all the livelong day. Between two sources ("Obama For America Press" and Barackobama.com), I seem to get most of my email these days. They are relentless--and when ... More >>

Barack Obama Opened Three New Campaign Offices In New York. But Why?

In the 2008 presidential election, President Barack Obama mopped the floor with Senator John McCain in New York, beating the GOP challenger by more than two million votes.In fact, a Republican presidential candidate hasn't won the Empire State in nearly 30 years, when President Ronald Reagan absolut ... More >>

Rightbloggers Say Romney Won 2nd Debate, And If He Didn't No Fair Because Liberal Media Bias

Don't look now, but the Presidential race seems to be neck-in-neck with just 16 days to go. Nervous? Think how they feel. Both Romney's and Obama's campaigns undoubtedly spent last week gearing up for the final push with phone banks, GOTV, last-minute ad blitzes, election fraud monitor training, etc ... More >>

Hispanic Commerce Group Continues to Pressure City Council and Speaker Quinn With Rally Outside City Hall

Representatives from the New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce voiced their outrage on the steps of City Hall yesterday over a proposed bill that would lower procurement goals for Hispanic-owned businesses bidding for city work. Earlier this month, the city announced revisions ... More >>

I Couldn't Watch Last Night's Debate

The presidential one that preceded it was one of the most painful experiences I've ever had. I cringed watching slick Mitt, with all his lies and flip flops, wipe the floor with Obama, who came off like a nice uncle who'd wandered in for some tea and some chit chat. I felt like I was watching my f ... More >>

City Council Drills Mayor's Lawyer On NYPD Reform

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly didn't attend Wednesday's City Council hearing to discuss a raft of bills aimed at reining his department. In fact, no one from the NYPD showed up to the meeting. The only person the Bloomberg administration did send to testify on the bills was mayoral counsel Michael ... More >>

NOW Outlines Expectations In JCOPE's Probe Of Vito Lopez's Pervy-Ness -- And Silver's Coverup

Assemblyman Vito Lopez is a grade-A pervert. That much we know (for example, he would prefer you not wear a bra to work, ladies). But the lengths to which Assembly leaders -- most notably Lopez's former pal/current Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver -- went to coverup Lopez's multiple gropings of young ... More >>

New York's Not Exactly "Open For Business": Report

Governor Andrew Cuomo earned a big, fat D in a recent grading of his fiscal policies by the Libertarian Cato Institute.This, of course, comes as the governor has declared New York "open for business."Cuomo's D  -- on a scale of A through F -- might have a little bit to do with a different group ... More >>

NY GOP Wants Investigation Into Rep. Steve Israel's Sketchy Mortgage "Bailout"

The New York Post ran an "exclusive" story yesterday suggesting that Long Island Congressman Steve Israel's 2008 support of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for financially strapped banks is the reason he was granted a "bailout" on the mortgage for his Dix Hills home. The bank that holds Isr ... More >>

Hispanic Business Community Fuming Over Christine Quinn's Support of New Bill

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's support of a revised law aimed at helping women and minority-owned businesses secure contracts with city agencies could cost her Hispanic votes in the upcoming 2013 mayoral election. "[Christine] Quinn is going to lose the Hispanic vote because we're going to ... More >>

Debate Over Won't Back Down Shines Light on City's Brewing Education Battle

Considering that Won't Back Down is reportedly the lowest grossing opening film in Box Office history, it sure has garnered a lot of attention both nationally and here in New York.The attention the movie's received in New York sheds light on the city's educational landscape -- where there's an int ... More >>

Mr. Ahmadinejad Is Coming to NYC; You Know What That Means!

Protests. Tons of them.It has become a common trend now in New York City news that when the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran comes to town for a United Nations gathering, it can only be expected that hundreds of people will meet him half-way with angry remarks and on-the-ground disapp ... More >>

Obama Back in New York To Hobnob With Jay-Z; GOP Pissy (Redux)

President Barack Obama will be back in the Big Apple to hobnob with celebrities, and -- per usual -- the state's Republicans are pissy about it.The "fundraiser in chief" will be in Manhattan tonight, where he will party with Jay-Z and Beyoncé at a $40,000-a-person fundraiser at the rappers 40/40 Cl ... More >>

With Budget Cuts in Mind, Bloomberg Hands Out Raises To A Smaller Staff

Yesterday, we reported on the $2 billion worth in cuts that would skewer the budget in the next two full fiscal years. The main targets included the Police, Sanitation, Corrections, Education and Fire Departments of New York City; overall, the Mayor told the departments that they would have cut thei ... More >>

Rightbloggers Turn Benghazi Truthers, Spin Egypt, Libya Riots As Obama Treason

Last week, upon learning that an anti-Islamic film existed, extremists in several Arab cities rampaged, and in Benghazi killed four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton denounced both the violence and the film, and Libyan authorities apprehended so ... More >>

Rightbloggers Declare Democratic Convention a Failure -- Which May Be Why It Succeeded

A week after the party of Kang had their national convention, the party of Kodoshad theirs in Charlotte, NC. It was a lively affair, with a floor fight strong-armed by party bosses, and big speeches by Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, Sandra Fluke, and some guy running a crap economy who nonetheless no ... More >>

Senate Candidate/Former Assembly Staffer: "Nobody Listens" To Complaints Of Sexual Harassment In Silver's "Boys Club"

New York Post scribe Fred Dicker supposedly is the "dean of the Albany press corp." When he's not puckering up to the rump of Governor Andrew Cuomo, Dicker is pegged with the task of weeding out scandals and corruption at the highest levels of state government. That said, you'd think that if a forme ... More >>

Obama Mentioned Gays Three Times Last Night!

President Obama's speech was strong and confident, not only in the digs at Romney (who's still convinced Russia is our number one enemy, zanily enough), but in its nods to LGBT people, who are usually invisible when it comes to vote-for-me orations. Obama noted that gays aren't responsible for our ... More >>

New York GOP Owes Assemblyman Vito "Gropez" Lopez A Thank You For His Alleged Pervy-ness

New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox has issued three statements in the past 24 hours -- which is three more than he's issued in the past two weeks -- each of which references shamed Democratic Assemblyman Vito Lopez's pervy-ness.In each statement, Cox seems outraged that Lopez allegedly is a d ... More >>

Defying Silver: Assembly Wannabe Frank Commisso's Cojones Could Spell Political Suicide

Frank Commisso Jr. currently serves on the Albany Common Council representing the city's 15th Ward. He's also running for Assembly as a Democrat -- and may have just committed political suicide.Enter Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful politicians in New York, who currently is ... More >>

Gloria Alred, NOW Have Shelly Silver In Sights Over Hush Money For Pervy Pal Vito Lopez

Isn't there an old saying about how it's seldom the crime but "always the coverup" that lands politicians in the hottest of water?Well, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver may want to revisit that adage, because it's his "coverup" of sexual harassment allegations against his old pal/current Assemblyman ... More >>

New York's "Public View" Marijuana Law Ranked "Dumbest Drug Law" In America

Of all the ineffective, unfair and idiotic drug laws out there, New York's "public view" marijuana law officially is the dumbest -- according to a recent ranking of idiotic drug laws, anyway.We've been covering the debate over the controversial law for several months. It essentially says that having ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg, Soda Cop: 60 Percent Of New Yorkers Hate Proposed Big-Gulp Ban

There's good news and bad news regarding Mayor Mike Bloomberg's proposed "Big-Gulp" ban. First the good news: a new poll shows that even fewer New Yorkers support Hizzonor's idiotic plan now than they did when it initially was proposed.The bad news: it's no skin off Bloomberg's ass -- he's not runni ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg: Fat Kids Eating Two Breakfasts Is Riskier Than Kids Not Eating At All

A few months ago, we told you about how Mayor Mike Bloomberg's office was enforcing a ban on donating food to homeless shelters because the city wouldn't be able to monitor the sodium content of the food -- hungry homeless people (who don't care how much sodium is in their food) be damned.At the tim ... More >>

Congressman Michael Grimm (Et al) In "Congressmen Gone Wild: Sea Of Galilee Edition"

Nearly three dozen GOP lawmakers are in a PR nightmare this a.m. after reports surfaced that -- after a night of drinking in Israel last year -- they took a boozy, late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee. We're compelled to inform you that a hometown boy is on the list.Congressman Michael Grimm joined ... More >>

Joe Biden Talks About Chains; Rightbloggers Hardest Hit

Vice President Joe Biden said in a speech last week that the GOP's calls to "unchain Wall Street" really mean "they gonna put y'all back in chains." Having just launched their own Vice-Presidential candidate to less than earth-shaking effect, rightbloggers flipped out over Biden's remarks, expressi ... More >>

While Florida and Pennsylvania Make Voter Registration Harder, New York Makes It Easier Online

The states of Florida and Pennsylvania have been trying to make it harder to register to vote in 2012. While the former's efforts have been stalled somewhat and the latter's have been upheld in court, New York State has taken the radical step of actually making it a bit easier to register to vote. ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg, Health Cop: New Yorkers Hate Big-Gulp Ban, Baby Formula Hide-And-Seek

Mayor Mike Bloomberg's nanny-state has taken a turn for the absurd with his plans to limit how much soda New Yorkers are allowed to drink and to hide baby formula from new mothers -- and voters seem to think it's just as ridiculous as we do.A new poll shows that the vast majority of New York voters ... More >>

State Senator Malcolm Smith: An Illegal Gun Should Cost You 8 Years In Prison. About That...

As it currently stands, anyone caught with an illegal gun in New York is looking at a maximum of two years in prison. Two years, apparently, is chump change -- according to Democratic state Senator Malcolm Smith, anyway, who now wants to up the ante for those busted with less-than-legal firearms."We ... More >>

Breaking News: New York Teenagers Like Smoking Weed

In what might come to a shock as precisely no one, teenagers in New York like to smoke weed. What is somewhat shocking is the number of teens willing to admit that they like smoking weed.A new survey conducted by the Centers For Disease Control shows that 17.7 percent of New York City teens smoke po ... More >>

Rightbloggers Rejoice as Ryan Revives Romney, Reaganesquely

The ideologically fluid Mitt Romney surprised a lot of people this weekend by choosing as his Vice-Presidential running mate Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a hardcore conservative best known for frightening off independent voters. Democrats portrayed the choice as a gift. So did rightbloggers, often for ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg, Gun Hypocrite: City Sells 28,000 Pounds Of Shell Casings To Georgia Ammo Store For Re-filling

A report was released earlier this week by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives showing that of the 8,793 guns seized in New York in 2011, only 1,595 were actually purchased here.Numbers like that fuel Mayor Mike Bloomberg's incessant call for other states to implement tougher reg ... More >>

New York's Tough Gun Laws Are Pretty Worthless: Report

Mayor Mike Bloomberg is on a crusade to rid the world of guns. Unfortunately, it's not doing a whole lot to keep guns out of the hands of thugs in New York City, according to a recently released report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.According to the report, 8,793 guns w ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Cheerleader Fred Dicker Rushes To Gov's Rescue As Criticism Mounts Over Blackberry Use

Governor Andrew Cuomo has found a somewhat creative way around New York's public records laws: his Blackberry.Cuomo's use of Blackberry's BBN message system (and his refusal to use official state email) to communicate with staffers and other pols has come under fire by many (read: just about everyon ... More >>

NYC Living Wage Bill Heads to Court

'Living' sounds much better than 'minimum.'When Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced the introduction of a 'living' wage bill, Mayor Bloomberg compared the gesture to Soviet statism in April, arguing that "the last time we really had a big managed economy was the USSR, and that didn't work ... More >>

Gun Bully Mike Bloomberg To Host Fundraiser For NRA Darling Scott Brown

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has made it explicitly clear that he hates guns. For example, he recently urged cops across the country to go on strike in protest of the nation's lax gun laws. Additionally, he founded the organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns in an effort to get rid of loophol ... More >>

City Council Approves NYU 2031 Expansion

In face of jeers from Greenwich Village residents, the City Council approved New York University's 2031 expansion plan by a 44-1 vote this afternoon. The nearly 20-year construction project, which will not begin until 2014, will expand the university's campus to include additional academic facilit ... More >>

Would Stricter Gun Laws Have Done Anything To Prevent Colorado Killing Spree?

As the entire country tries to make sense of what happened in Colorado last week, the obligatory debate whenever one of these mass shootings occurs has commenced: would stricter gun laws have prevented 24-year-old James Holmes from marching into a sold out movie theater and shooting more than 70 peo ... More >>

Mitt Loves N.Y.: Robert Rosenkranz

With Mitt Romney as its de facto candidate, the roster of Restore Our Future, Romney's designated Super PAC slush fund, reads like a laundry list of New York City's wealthiest denizens. And, according to the Center for Responsive Politics and contrary to popular belief, Super PAC ... More >>

Is Anthony Weiner Lying About Plotting Return To Public Life? Sure Seems Like It..."Bro"

When asked about rumors that he was plotting a run for mayor, shamed former Congressman Anthony Weiner claims the highly publicized tale is a "clown story, bro."Yet, he recently sat down for an interview with People Magazine, in which he rolls out his young son in an apparent attempt to come across ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg's Worthless Big-Gulp Ban: 60,000 Pissed Off New Yorkers Can't Be Wrong

As you know, Mayor Mike Bloomberg's idiotic plan to ban soda served in containers larger than 16 ounces makes precisely zero sense; relegating adults to children incapable of making their own decisions aside, the plan will do nothing but hurt New York businesses -- all while doing absolutely nothing ... More >>

City Council Gives Preliminary Greenlight to New York University Expansion Plan

After a tense five years between Greenwich Village residents and NYU, it seems the battle over the university's 2031 expansion plan might be coming to an end.Today, the City Council gave a preliminary thumbs up to the university's expansion plan, leading up to the decisive Council vote on the issue ... More >>

Mayor Anthony Weiner? Really? Really?

Remember that guy who got himself elected to Congress, landed a powerful/gorgeous wife, then sent pictures of his dick to several women, lied about it -- repeatedly -- and then had to resign from his House seat in disgrace? Well, now he apparently wants to be your mayor, New York.That's right -- sha ... More >>

Harlem Walking Tour Reveals Why Mike Bloomberg's An "Idiot" And His Big Gulp Ban Will Only Hurt Businesses (And Piss People Off In The Process)

As you know, Mayor Mike Bloomberg's proposed "Big Gulp Ban" is one of the stupidest ideas in the history of both stupidity and ideas. In addition to doing literally nothing to curb obesity, it also will hurt businesses, piss people off, and it relegates adults to children who are incapable of making ... More >>