New York

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Ivana Trump died of blunt force injuries to her torso, medical examiner says

      by

      Ivana Trump died of blunt force injuries to her torso, medical examiner saysDonald Trump’s first wife died aged 73 at her Manhattan home and the fatal injuries are believed to be unintentional Ivana Trump, the first wife of Donald Trump and the mother of his three oldest children, died from blunt force injuries to her torso that she suffered after an accidental fall, New York City’s chief medical examiner said Friday.The former president announced that Ivana Trump died aged 73 a day earlier at her Manhattan home but didn’t include any details about the cause or manner of her death. On Friday, a spokesperson for the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed reports that Ivana Trump apparently fell inadvertently and was found at the bottom of her home’s stairs.Ivana Trump: a life in picturesRead moreUS health officials consider falls to be the leading cause of injury-related death for people who are 65 years of age or older. About 64 out of 100,000 elderly people die as a result of accidental falls, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Ivana Trump was born in Zlin – now the Czech Republic – in 1949. She was a skier, ski instructor and model before marrying Donald Trump in 1977, when he was a real estate tycoon.She partnered with Trump in managing casinos and hotels while helping him become a Manhattan and global socialite throughout the 1980s. She was also the mother to his children Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.The pair divorced in 1992, with Donald Trump’s infidelity precipitating their split. He later married and divorced Marla Maples, with whom he had daughter Tiffany and is now with his third wife, Melania Knauss Trump, the mother of his son Barron and the first lady during his presidency from 2017 to 2021.Ivana Trump obituaryRead moreIvana Trump had said she supported her ex-husband’s run for the White House but said she wanted “this whole thing to be over with” after he lost to Joe Biden and desperately sought to overturn the result, including by telling his supporters to “fight like hell” shortly before hundreds of them mounted a deadly attack on the Capitol.She said she believed her children “enjoyed being around Donald and running the election and seeing what will happen” but she wanted them to one day “be able to live their normal lives”.On Thursday afternoon, emergency responders investigating a call from Ivana Trump’s home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side found her unconscious. They pronounced her dead at the scene and noted that there did “not appear to be any criminality”, police said in a statement.Trump, Donald Jr and Ivanka were supposed to be questioned Friday as part of a New York civil investigation into their business dealings.But the New York state attorney general’s office postponed the depositions as a result of Ivana Trump’s death. New dates for the depositions weren’t immediately set.A statement from a state AG spokesperson read: “We offer our condolences to the Trump family.”The Associated Press contributed to this reportTopicsDonald TrumpUS politicsNew YorkReuse this content More

    • 263 Shares149 Views

      in US Politics

      Why a ‘spider crab’ is crawling to the top of a US ‘I voted’ sticker contest | The fight to vote

      by

      Why a ‘spider crab’ is crawling to the top of a US ‘I voted’ sticker contestVoters in Ulster county, New York, may receive a sticker of Hudson Rowan’s design this November – and many say it’s ‘a fitting image’ of the political scene Get the latest updates on voting rights in the Guardian’s Fight to vote newsletterHello, and Happy Thursday,One morning a few months ago, Ashley Dittus, a Democratic election commissioner in Ulster county, New York, came into work and saw that someone had sent in the first submission in a countywide contest for an “I voted” sticker. She opened the email and was shocked. “It was a moment I’ll never forget,” Dittus told me on Wednesday.The design was a skull-like head with bloodshot eyes and multicolored teeth sitting atop turquoise spider legs. To the creature’s right, the words “I voted” were scribbled in graffiti-like font. It was 4/20 so she wondered whether someone was playing a trick.But the design was real. It was the creation of Hudson Rowan, a 14-year-old from Marbletown, which is about 100 miles north of New York City. Dittus circulated the design around the small office, evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and everyone laughed.The staff chose it as one of six finalists in the contest and put it on the board’s website for the public to vote on. Now, it appears extremely likely that Ulster county voters will get the sticker when they go to the polls this November. As of Wednesday morning, it had received nearly 174,000 votes out of nearly 186,000 cast. That’s more votes than there are registered voters in the county (voting is open to all members of the public). Last year, in the county’s first design contest, 2,200 people voted.I’ve become mildly obsessed with the design, which is such a clear break from the usual charming, but restrained, designs of the stickers Americans get when they cast their vote. Hudson told me yesterday that when his mom told him about the contest, he wasn’t really into the idea because the typical “I voted” designs aren’t really his style of drawing. But he decided to bring his own style to the contest and doodled out the creature in about 10 minutes on his iPad. There wasn’t anything in particular that inspired the creature, but he noted it was reminiscent of a robot spider he used to paint when he was younger.“I didn’t want to do what everyone would expect. I just decided to import my own style of drawing and see what would happen,” he said.“I think the colors and the craziness just represents the world how it is right now. And how everyone feels when they’re like voting and how the world is. And everyone’s kind of emotions through the colors,” he said. “I feel like my creation kind of changes it up … adds a new flair and hope to the world.”He said the last few days have been “amazing” as the design has gone viral and people have reached out with support.“I’m glad that I can and I hope I will inspire many people to vote. So many people have told me that they’re going to go vote just so they can get my sticker, which I think is crazy and amazing,” he said.I sent the sticker design to my colleague Jonathan Jones, who reviews art for the Guardian, and asked him why he thought it had resonated with so many people. He said the design was “hilarious” and “perhaps a fitting image of the desperate political scene”.“This grimacing skull-like head on kinda spider legs has the nihilism of Rick and Morty and speaks to a generation whose recent political education includes a riotous coup attempt and a supreme court revoking an essential human right,” he said. “Yet it turns that monster around, making it a comedy badge of using the vote to fight back.”There’s also something about the unpolished drawing that may resonate with average people, said Jeremy Fish, an artist who grew up in upstate New York. “This humanoid spider crab is an ugly drawing, and sometimes that is what it takes to get the average dude to engage in the ugliness of modern politics,” he said. “Cheers and good job, Hudson.”Raquel Breternitz, the design director for Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, said she had also become obsessed with the image. It is “very obviously not what you’d expect from a ‘political design’”, she said. It’s not polished, and lacks the typical red, white and blue, and iconography typically used in politics, she noted.“What I believe is speaking to people about this image is that it hits at more nuanced, mixed feelings re: voting, than what we’ve come to expect,” she wrote in an email. “It gives the sense of us, continuing to go and cast our silly little votes, for our silly little democracy, while things feel desperate; like they’re falling to pieces around us, and the representatives we voted for seemingly lack the political will to respond in kind.”“The fascinating piece of this to me is that the design legitimately is motivational and is expected to boost turnout. It’s inspiring people to vote,” she added. “At this point, what a lot of people want to hear isn’t the bland, positive assertion that voting is some great duty that will fix what ails us, but the honest admission that it’s small, desperately small in the face of things, and yet still – essential.”Siddhartha Mitter, an art critic in New York, was concise in his review. “Looks about right,” he said.Dittus, the election commissioner, said her office has been flooded with calls from all over the country asking how to get one of the stickers and requests for T-shirts and other apparel with the design. She said she has passed the branding requests to Hudson, who said he’s considering it.She said she hopes that the sticker will increase voter turnout, especially for voters aged 25 and under, traditionally a group with low turnout. “If it inspires people to go vote just to get a funny sticker and take a second to think about and look at what’s on the ballot, then I think we’ve done a good job of raising awareness for voting,” she said.“Whatever this humanoid is, he certainly looks very happy in the picture. He’s smiling, his rainbow teeth are on full display. He looks happy that he voted.”Also worth watching …
      Grid published a deep dive into the Conservative Partnership Institute, a conservative non-profit, that has been leading a push to recruit election workers, among other efforts.
      The Wisconsin supreme court ruled on Friday that ballot drop-boxes were illegal. Writing in dissent, three justices said the majority’s rhetoric was “downright dangerous to our democracy”.
      Election officials are worried about insider threats to voting systems
      TopicsUS voting rightsFight to voteUS politicsNew YorkfeaturesReuse this content More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      How Elise Stefanik rose from moderate Republican to Maga star

      by

      How Elise Stefanik rose from moderate Republican to Maga star The New York congresswoman’s political profile has shifted dramatically as she has surged to prominence in WashingtonElise Stefanik was worried about chocolate milk.Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman representing much of northern New York state, sounded a clarion call on 4 March that New York City – perceived by many rightwingers as a hotbed of leftist depravity – was trying to cancel a wholesome children’s beverage.“Rather than going after violent criminals, New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams is prioritizing banning chocolate milk from NYC’s public schools,” Stefanik said on Twitter. No matter that Adams hadn’t recently made any notable moves to ban the beverage, according to Politico: in the days and weeks that followed, Stefanik would intensify her efforts. While there was an across-the-aisle element in these efforts – Stefanik signed a bipartisan letter expressing valid concerns about cutting kids’ access to a nutritious drink – she used Republican talking points about liberals to publicize this letter.Stefanik then introduced the Protecting School Milk Choices Act to Congress, which would require that schools participating in the US school lunch program offer pupils a minimum of one flavored milk option.When Adams abandoned talk of banning chocolate milk in schools, Stefanik transformed this “win” into yet another GOP dog whistle. “Make no mistake, any effort of Mayor Adams to ban chocolate milk and replace it with vegan juice is an absolute non-starter and will be opposed by parents, families, kids, and New Yorkers,” she told the New York Post. During this crusade, Stefanik repeatedly praised her constituents who provided this milk, saying “our dairy farmers work hard to produce nutritious milk for our communities”.‘Watergate for streaming era’: how the January 6 panel created gripping hearingsRead moreStefanik’s rhetorical approach to a largely non-partisan belief – lots of people like the idea of kids having milk in school – helps explain her meteoric rise from moderate New York Republican to a potential 2024 vice-presidential contender who has moved increasingly to the right. And unlike her colleagues Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Josh Hawley, Stefanik has avoided embarrassing public gaffes, positioning her to become a key architect of the Republican legislative agenda.In her district, Stefanik appeals to many constituents, from dairy farmers to struggling blue-collar workers, by saying things that suggest she’s actually listening to them. On the national stage, Stefanik has appealed to the Republican base with dogged support for Donald Trump and more moderate Republicans alike, often by using favorite GOP talking points, such as a purported anti-police crime wave and the bogeyman of veganism. “Where she comes from, up in St Lawrence county, is a rural conservative area, and she is appealing from the standpoint that she is unapologetically conservative – and I think that’s what has brought her quickly to rise in prominence in the Republican party,” said the Republican New York state senator George Borello. Stefanik, who now bills herself as “ultra-Maga” and “proud of it”, wasn’t always a Trump evangelist. When she won her congressional seat in 2014 – then the youngest woman ever elected to the job, at age 30 – many described Stefanik as a rising star in the party. Indeed, she had the pedigree and political relationships that any Republican politician would envy – a Harvard undergraduate education, a job in the George W Bush White house, and a stint with the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign.She cast herself as an establishment Republican, eschewing the acerbic rhetoric which, around that time, had made Trump a disliked outlier in his party. “I’m a Republican because I believe in limited government,” she said in a 2015 C-Span interview cited by NPR. “I think Republican principles help the vast majority of all Americans achieve the American dream and I believe in the constitution.”Stefanik’s early voting record was relatively moderate. Heritage Action for America, a Republican lobbying organization, gave Stefanik a 29% rating on its conservatism “scorecard” for the 2015-2016 session, partly because she voted on legislation that went against her party’s lines, including a measure that provided $170m to tackle the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and a continuing resolution to fund Planned Parenthood. During the 2017-2018 congressional session, her score dipped to 24%.Stefanik changed her strategy around November 2019, during the House intelligence committee’s Trump impeachment hearings. “This is the fifth time you have interrupted members of Congress, duly elected members of Congress,” she told the committee chair, Adam Schiff, a Democrat. Stefanik subsequently tweeted: “Adam Schiff flat out REFUSES to let duly elected Members of Congress ask questions to the witness, simply because we are Republicans.” She told Roll Call that barb-trading with Schiff had boosted her re-election campaign, reportedly saying her district was “becoming more Republican”.“She has this moment that kind of goes viral,” said Shawn J Donahue, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo’s department of political science. “That was one of the things that helped really get her on a lot of programs on Fox and such. You saw her become a really ardent defender of Trump during the impeachment process.” Her Heritage score increased to 56% in the 2019-2020 session. It’s now at 86%.Stefanik was ultimately among the Republican lawmakers who backed litigation that attempted to get the US supreme court to overturn President Joe Biden’s win. While she did condemn the violence on January 6, she also voted that evening to reject Biden’s win in Pennsylvania.Trump loyalist Elise Stefanik wins Republican vote to replace Liz CheneyRead moreStefanik’s allegiance to Trump paid off in May 2021. House Republicans, weary of the Wyoming representative Liz Cheney’s criticism of Trump, booted Cheney from the role of conference chair. Two days later, they chose Stefanik to replace Cheney – making her the No 3 House Republican.One year later, Stefanik’s ascent is all the more consequential. She has come out swinging against the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. She has also furthered conspiracy-minded rhetoric, including campaign ads that drew comparisons to the “great replacement theory”, according to the New York Times. This racist and often antisemitic belief, allegedly expressed by the suspect in the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, in May, holds that the ruling class hopes to “replace” white Americans. (Stefanik’s campaign and office did not respond to multiple requests for an interview with the Guardian.) When the supreme court ruled last week to overturn New York’s handgun restrictions – and overturned the Roe v Wade decision that granted women the right to abortion in the US – Stefanik celebrated. “While the Far-Left continues to push unconstitutional gun control measures as New York’s failed bail reform policies have made our communities more unsafe, this ruling comes at a crucial time,” she said. Stefanik, whose district is largely rural and pro-gun rights, described herself as a “major supporter of the lawsuit” that prompted the gun ruling.Stefanik; the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy; and the House Republican whip, Steve Scalise, said jointly of the Roe decision: “Every unborn child is precious, extraordinary, and worthy of protection. We applaud this historic ruling, which will save countless innocent lives.”Stefanik’s seeming transition from traditional Republican to the far right comes as her district appeared to shift more conservative: while Barack Obama won the district in 2008 and 2012, Trump won in 2016 and 2020 with 54% of the vote each time. Less clear, however, is whether this is because the district is actually more Trump-minded – or constituents simply don’t like Democratic policies.Jon Greenwood, a Stefanik supporter, runs Greenwood Dairy in Potsdam, New York. His black-and-white Holsteins live in spacious barns, where they can eat, lounge and get massages with an electric brushing machine as they please. “She, to me, seemed like a very bright, energetic candidate who understood small business and wasn’t a big government person and that the answer to all our problems isn’t some new program or new law,” Greenwood said.Greenwood said that while “I don’t agree with everything that she does”, he believed that she was doing a good job generally. He pointed to Stefanik hosting a phone panel with dairy farmers.“There were 15 farmers on, maybe more, and she would go around and each one of us would tell what our concerns were, and then we’d have to have, you know, back and forth, but you would make sure that everybody on the call had a chance to have input,” he continued. “I think more people are interested in the policies than they are in what she says and doesn’t say about Trump.”Daniel Whitten, who runs Whitten Family Farm in Winthrop, New York, said he was “very likely to support Elise”. “I don’t think she’s entirely stuck on party lines. I think she looks at things as individual items,” said Whitten, who grew up in a Republican family but describes himself as having a “more libertarian” viewpoint.On the main thoroughfare of Lake George, a popular tourist town in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, two storefronts beckon would-be customers with a poster of Trump in sunglasses, with the words “The Trumpinator” written above his head. Below, the poster reads “I’ll be back 2024,” a play on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous line in the Terminator franchise. The shops are for William Massry’s clothing brand, Dilligaf, which stands for “Do I look like I give a fuck?” Dilligaf is a general mantra about living freely, said Massry, who described himself as an independent and said he voted for Bill Clinton and Obama, but “my customers are Republican. They love Trump. They think Trump’s walking on water. Trump is God to them, so I target market [to] my customers.”“I don’t like Trump as an individual. I think he’s ruined the atmosphere. He’s a bully. I don’t like him making fun of handicapped people, which he has done. He, I mean, he has [had] many incidents that embarrassed me to even say he’s our president. However, he’s great for the economy,” Massry said.“Now, Elise, I don’t think she feels that way. She will do anything for the votes. And it’s got her very far, and God bless her. She’s a politician, much like I’m a businessman. She does what she needs to do to stay in power and rise the ranks.”While Stefanik and her district have grown more conservative, there remains a contingent of constituents who are less concerned with political horse-trading than they are with just getting by..At the Veterans of Foreign Wars outpost in Glens Falls, a modest house that serves as a community hall for veterans old and young, Lisa Springer didn’t want to get into partisan discourse. But she was willing to share her concerns on veterans’ issues. “I think she could do better. OK. I’m not gonna say it’s bad, but you know, she, I think she could do better and just do more, especially as far as advertising is out there,” Springer said. “Some people don’t even know that there’s programs out there that can help them, or where to find them.”Republicans seek to install ‘permanent election integrity infrastructure’ across USRead moreSpringer, who runs a trucking company, is feeling economic pressures like so many other Americans. “Ten dollars an hour today isn’t what it was 10 years ago, five years ago. I have three kids. So paying $5 a gallon for gas is definitely robbing the food out of the fridge,” Springer said.Elsewhere in the district, the Glens Falls resident Andrew Sundberg, 57, is among the disenchanted. Sundberg, a registered Republican, did not vote for Stefanik in the last election, nor will he in the upcoming race. “Elise is terrible,” he said. “She believes in Trump’s ‘stop the steal’, which did not exist. She’s not the only problem, but she is a problem.”He surmised that Stefanik enjoyed support in the district because she’s a Trump Republican and supports law enforcement. Unlike some others interviewed, he felt that Republicans in the district were Trump-aligned, not just supportive of party policy.“I will not vote Republican again after January 6,” he said.For political insiders, Stefanik’s fast ascent wasn’t expected, but they knew from the get-go that she was the candidate they wanted.Gerard Kassar, the New York state Conservative party chairman, said the party had endorsed Stefanik early on. “That very effectively assisted her in winning the Republican primary because in many ways, having a conservative line for GOP voters is like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval.“Did I know at that point someday she would be a potential candidate for speaker? No, I had no idea,” Kassar said. “But I did certainly know that she was the right person to support for Congress.”“As her time in Congress has moved forward, she’s gone from the center right to really, a clear right-leaning member of Congress, which, in the Conservative party, that’s what we want to see.” TopicsRepublicansUS politicsUS CongressDonald TrumpNew YorkfeaturesReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Police arrest New York man accused of slapping Rudy Giuliani on back

      by

      Police arrest New York man accused of slapping Rudy Giuliani on backEmployee Daniel Gill, 38, apparently asked Giuliani, 78, ‘What’s up, scumbag?’ during incident in ShopRite store on Staten Island A 38-year-old Staten Island store employee was arrested for allegedly hitting Rudy Giuliani on the back, an attack that the former New York City mayor says felt as if he had been “shot”.A surveillance video showed Giuliani standing inside a ShopRite store with a group of people he later identified as his supporters. As he was standing, 38-year-old Daniel Gill walked up from behind Giuliani, slapped his back and continued to walk, the video showed.The video, obtained and published by the New York Post, also showed Gill saying something to Giuliani as Gill walked past the group standing with the 78-year-old, who has also previously served as a lawyer to Donald Trump.Gill asked Giuliani, “What’s up, scumbag?”, according to a statement from the New York police department. As the group of onlookers watched, the woman next to Giuliani immediately began patting his back as if to soothe him.Gill continued to say something while he walked away into an aisle, and another person in a cap tried to talk to him. It was not clear from the video if that man was also a store employee.As Gill walked into one of the aisles, Giuliani was seen shaking his finger and saying something back.The New York police department confirmed the encounter to the Guardian and said Gill has been charged with two counts of assault. One of the counts alleges assault on someone 65 or older, the NYPD said.According to an interview with the Post, Giuliani said he felt “this tremendous pain in my back”.Giuliani claimed Gill said: “You … you’re one of the people that’s gonna kill women. You’re gonna kill women.” That appeared to be reference to the decision by the supreme court’s conservative majority to overturn the right to abortion that had been established nearly 50 years ago by Roe v Wade.“Then he starts yelling out all kinds of, just curses, and every once in a while, he puts in that woman thing,” Giuliani added.The encounter occurred during a campaign event for Giuliani’s son, Andrew, who is running to become New York’s next governor.Father and son have turned the incident into a part of their political pitch, with the younger Giuliani claiming the slap was the latest example of “​​the left wing … encouraging violence”.The elder Giuliani – who refused medical treatment – reportedly said he was pressing charges against Gill to create “an example that you can’t do this”.Neither ShopRite nor Andrew Giuliani’s campaign immediately responded to requests for comment.In a statement, Andrew Giuliani said: “Innocent people are attacked in today’s New York all of the time. This particular incident hit very close to home. The assault on my father, America’s Mayor, was over politics.“I will stand up for law and order so that New Yorkers feel safe again.”Mentions of Giuliani have been frequent during the recent series of public hearings held by the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.For instance, the committee aired evidence that, in attempting to overturn election results in service of Trump’s lie about voter fraud in his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race, Giuliani told an official the battleground state of Arizona: “We’ve got lots of theories. We just don’t have the evidence.”A purportedly “inebriated” Giuliani also urged Trump to falsely claim victory on election night, according to evidence that the committee aired during the hearings.TopicsRudy GiulianiNew YorkUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Protests continue across US to voice anger over supreme court ruling

      by

      Protests continue across US to voice anger over supreme court ruling In New York, thousands gathered downtown to celebrate Pride and give voice to anger after decision that overturned abortion rightsProtests over a US supreme court decision that overturned abortion rights continued across the country this weekend. In New York, thousands marched to voice their anger at the ruling that came at the end of a dizzying week around not just reproductive rights but also gun carry laws and the US Capitol attack.US supreme court overturns abortion rights, upending Roe v WadeRead more“Not your uterus, not your choice,” many shouted as the demonstrations progressed in Washington DC., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta and Austin.In Providence, Rhode Island, tempers flared so much that an off-duty police officer was accused of punching a woman at an abortion protest. Jennifer Rourke, a state senate candidate, told the Providence Journal she was punched in the face by Jeann Lugo, who had been running for the GOP nomination for a Rhode Island state senate seat but dropped out the race.Lugo said he was “not going to deny” the punching allegation but added that “everything happened very fast”. For the most part, protests across the US have been peaceful.In New York, they fell across Pride weekend honoring the achievements of the LGBTQ community, with thousands gathering downtown to simultaneously celebrate and give voice to anger. Marchers said in some cases they were both shell-shocked by the supreme court decision and happy to be celebrating, gender identities and sexual orientations that some like the court’s conservative justices might find contrary.“It’s a similar feeling to when Trump got elected,” said film editor Oriana Soddu. Soddu said she knew the stripping of nationwide abortion rights was coming after the 2 May leak of a draft ruling saying so, but “for it to actually happen is still a shock”.The anger, Soddu said, was toward the political system itself. “The Republicans clearly have a very strong agenda and we’ve let this happen,” she said. “My fear is they’re going to go after gay marriage” next.The crowds that gathered in New York’s Washington Square on Saturday were, for the most part, there to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the New York City Dyke March. Organizers billed the march as a “celebration of our beautiful and diverse dyke lives” that also doubled as a protest of discrimination, harassment, and violence against lesbians, but it also energized a pro-abortion rights demonstration.“It’s been different to realize that in the eyes of the constitution and the court you’re not really a person and you don’t have autonomy over yourself,” said longtime American activist and socialist organizer Leslie Cagan. “A lot of good things have come for virtually every community that has struggled for a modicum of rights, and now it’s all hanging by a thread.”“I hope that those people and those communities are beginning to get it that if we don’t work together and get beyond the rhetoric of solidarity in which everybody does their own thing, none of our people are going to win,” Cagan added. “We haven’t been collectively tuned in to how big and dangerous the power against us is.”Cindy Greenberg, also marching Saturday, said she thought those forces were really not committed to the notion of a democracy.“It feels like when Trump was elected,” Greenberg said. “This whole period of time has shown that they’re not. This week has been extraordinary – it shown us that they’re willing to sell all of us down the river.”Abortion banned in multiple US states just hours after Roe v Wade overturnedRead moreLisa Ann Markuson said she came with her typewriter to write poems for protesters gathered in the park in part because having a normal Pride party day felt strange. “It’s not, ‘Yay, we’re cool, we’re queer!’ It felt farcical to come out here and party like it’s 2008 because it isn’t. People want to set something on fire, but there’s also a sense of apathy and alienation.“America is supposed to be about freedom but [what] is this? Corporations have freedom and people are supposed to think they have freedom because they have a lot of consumer choices.”Mel Melendes said that being proud and protesting were one and the same. “I’m proud to be here because the louder we express ourselves the more you shine light on what’s wrong.” Added Elisa Buttafuoco: “If we weren’t fighting we wouldn’t be ourselves, we wouldn’t be the queer community. Queer rights is abortion rights is trans rights. It’s all interwoven.”Some on the march wondered if the protest would go the same way if the decision to lift abortion protections primarily affected the queer community.“As a minority community it feels like we’re protesting for everything,” said Afrah Boateng. “It feels like there is something to protest every year around Pride. Today it’s for straight families and straight women. But I guess Pride started as protest, so it’s built in.”According to a CBS poll published Sunday, most disapprove of overturning the nationwide abortion rights established by the landmark Roe v Wade case, including two-thirds of women. By more than a 20-point margin, Americans call it a step backward for the US.Younger people are especially likely to disapprove; most moderates disapprove along with nine in 10 liberals; two-thirds of Hispanic Americans disapprove, three-fourths of Black Americans and just over half of White Americans disapprove.The three-fourths of conservatives who do support the ruling said they felt hopeful and happy.TopicsRoe v WadeAbortionUS politicsHealthNew YorknewsReuse this content More

    • 225 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      New York has a chance to generate all its electricity from clean energy by 2030 | Ross Barkan

      by

      New York has a chance to generate all its electricity from clean energy by 2030Ross BarkanIf Democrats act, New Yorkers will begin to get the government they deserve. With climate cataclysms here, the political system can’t afford more delays It has been, for progressives in New York, a trying year.Major pieces of legislation that were supposed to reshape the state to safeguard the working class have stalled out. A bill to create a statewide single-payer healthcare system is no closer to passage than it was several years ago. A push to guarantee new protections for tenants as rents soar in New York City could not find the votes. And ambitious legislation to combat climate that did have the votes to go through the state legislature was halted by the speaker of the state assembly.Unlike in Washington, Democrats in New York have no one to blame but themselves. The party holds supermajorities in both chambers, the state senate and state assembly. Progressives have grown their clout in each. A handful of socialists occupy seats as well.The trouble is that institutional forces – those aligned with the real estate and fossil fuel industries in particular – have plenty of clout, too. The left is stronger, in numbers, than it’s ever been, but the state’s power brokers are centrists or those most hesitant to challenge entrenched power structures. This is true in other Democrat-run states too, but it’s been sobering in New York where progressives have nurtured such high hopes for change.The left, of course, has gotten much further in New York in the last few years than it had in the previous decades. In 2019, Democrats took control of the state senate and immediately passed a large number of bills that had been bottled up for years. Legislation to help tenants, reduce the use of cash bail, and protect voting rights and women’s health all easily passed the body and were signed into law. In 2020, the pandemic hit and ambitious legislating was put on hold. The 2021 session was more of the same.This year offered hope. The Build Public Renewables Act, or BPRA, would mandate that the state’s public power provider, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), generate all of its electricity from clean energy by 2030 and establish a process through which it can build and own renewables while closing down polluting infrastructure. The state itself could build out wind and solar energy. With its high bond rating, the NYPA could easily finance projects. Passage of the bill would have profound national implications. New York would be a leader in the fight against the climate crisis and inspire other states with Democratic governors to follow their lead. With Republicans poised to retake Congress, state-level action is crucial.Independent power producers, who fiercely oppose the BPRA, currently build out new power generation infrastructure beyond NYPA. Solar industry trade associations fought the bill bitterly. They have made inroads in the legislature.In turn, a strange thing happened: the BPRA amassed the votes to pass the state assembly – it had already passed the senate – but was never brought up for a vote before the end of the legislative session in early June. The speaker, Carl Heastie, claimed the votes were not there because, apparently, the more than 80 lawmakers who backed the bill did not inform him personally they would vote that way.Advocates and supporters, however, were certain they had the votes. At first glance, it would appear Heastie had a point, since it is theoretically true the speaker cannot know who will vote for what if he has not been told about the intentions of each lawmaker.But that’s not how lawmaking really works in Albany, the state capital. There are hundreds of bills and the speaker cannot personally hear from all legislators before one is put on the floor for a vote. Rather, most Democrats vote reflexively with the speaker unless the bill has an organized constituency in their districts that opposed it. There is no popular, grassroots outcry against the BPRA. Most New Yorkers don’t know what it is.Why did Heastie claim the votes were not there? Some moderate Democrats are wary of passing any far-reaching bills in an election year. Organized labor had opposed earlier versions of the bill, but the New York AFL-CIO had agreed to stay neutral this time. Governor Kathy Hochul may not support the BPRA either, but she would be hard-pressed to not sign the bill if it reached her desk, especially if New York’s large environmental movement and progressive infrastructure mobilized for it.The good news is that the legislation may not be dead for 2022. Though lawmakers depart Albany in June and typically don’t reconvene until the new year to pass bills, Heastie requested the chairs of the assembly’s committees on energy, corporations and environmental conservation convene a hearing on 28 July. A hearing may mean a special session – a chance to get the BPRA to Hochul’s desk before 2023.If the Democrats in Albany act as they should, New Yorkers will begin to get the government they deserve. With climate cataclysms here, the political system can’t afford any more delays.
      Ross Barkan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of Demolition Night, a novel, and The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York
      TopicsEnvironmentOpinionEnergyRenewable energyUS politicsNew YorkClimate crisiscommentReuse this content More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Chris Jacobs withdraws reelection bid amid GOP fire on his gun control stance

      by

      Chris Jacobs withdraws reelection bid amid GOP fire on his gun control stanceRepublican congressman said he would support measures limiting access to highly lethal firearms used in recent mass shootings A Republican New York congressman who recently voiced support of gun control legislation announced on Friday that he will no longer seek reelection after receiving backlash over his stance.Chris Jacobs’ support of such legislation – which came in the wake of deadly mass shootings at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store and Uvalde, Texas, elementary school – had prompted his conservative and GOP colleagues to withdraw their support.Jacobs, who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in 2020 and recently introduced legislation to protect bankrupt gun owners’ rights, did not back any policy that would dramatically impact gun ownership. Rather, Jacobs expressed his favor for several measures that would limit access to the particularly lethal weaponry used in recent mass killings.Grim body count unlikely to be enough for Republicans to act on gun reformRead more“A ban on something like an AR-15, I would vote for,” Jacobs said on 27 May. “So I want to be clear, I would vote for it.”“Individuals cannot buy beer, they cannot get cigarettes [until] 21,” Jacobs said. “I think it’s perfectly reasonable that the age limit, at least for these highly lethal, high capacity semi automatic weapons, should be 21.”Jacobs said that he planned on introducing legislation that would limit access to body armor and would name the bill after Aaron Salter, a retired police officer who was killed in the mass shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo on 14 May, reported Ashley Rowe, an anchor with 7 Eyewitness News. Salter worked as a security guard at the supermarket and opened fire on the shooter in an attempt to stop him, but the gunman was wearing body armor and killed 10.In explaining his support of such measures, Jacobs told the Buffalo News: “Being a father and having young children and visualizing what those parents are going through and, I guess, being able to feel it more personally certainly has had an impact as well.”Jacobs’ comments on gun legislation stood in stark contrast to his GOP counterparts, who have often blamed mass shootings on mental illness and suggested that school safety hinged on armed security. Some conservatives and Republicans effectively framed Jacobs as a traitor to his party due to his comments.“This is not the person we endorsed. We did not endorse this Chris Jacobs … he’s actually to the left of [US House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi on this,” said Gerard Kassar, New York’s Conservative party state chair, to the New York Post on Thursday.The Erie county, New York, Conservative chairman, Ralph Lorigo, described Jacobs’ position as “very disappointing” and said “we can’t support him in this district”, according to Rochesterfirst.com.“‘Republican @RepJacobs already caved to the gun-grabbers whose proposals won’t do a single thing to protect our families & children from criminals & murderers,” Donald Trump Jr said on Twitter. “He knows this but he can’t resist getting a few glowing headlines from the mainstream media.”Jacobs insisted he did not decide to withdraw from the race over backlash, saying: “I didn’t feel any heat on this issue. No one called me about the assault weapon ban.”“This is purely a personal contemplation, prayer, and talking to people, that I felt this was the right thing to do,” he said. “And the time was now to do it.”Jacobs’ announcement came one day after Joe Biden made an impassioned plea for an assault weapons ban and prohibition on high-capacity magazines.Reactions to the president’s speech largely followed party lines, with Democrats supporting his proposals and Republicans slamming them as unduly politicized.Movement on gun control legislation at the state and federal levels suggests the prospect of mixed results rather than unified policy. While Maine Republican senator Susan Collins recently said that a bipartisan group of senators made significant progress in negotiating gun law reforms, GOP opposition in the senate could easily stymie these efforts.States have taken different approaches in addressing gun violence. New York’s legislature on Thursday passed a set of bills that barred most civilians from purchasing body armor and upped the age requirement for buying a semiautomatic rifle to 21, the New York Times reported.In Texas, Republican governor Greg Abbott asked his lieutenant and a high-level state legislator “to each convene a special legislative committee”. Abbott insisted “we must reassess the twin issues of school safety and mass violence,” but Texas has historically eased firearms restrictions following mass shootings.TopicsUS gun controlNew YorkRepublicansUS politicsBuffalo shootingTexas school shootingReuse this content More

    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Democrats rush to push gun safety laws after mass shootings as Republicans stall

      by

      Democrats rush to push gun safety laws after mass shootings as Republicans stallNew York governor seeks to ban people under 21 from buying assault rifles, while California governor intends to sign restrictions, including the right to sue gun manufacturers With Republicans stonewalling for years on any significant federal gun safety legislation, some states are now rushing to take steps themselves following large-scale shootings in New York and Texas this month.Democrats in some blue states are making fresh efforts to reinvigorate proposals toward what gun control advocates call “evidence-based policy interventions”.In New Jersey, Democratic governor Phil Murphy singled out four Republican state lawmakers opposing gun safety and accused them of taking “blood money” while urging them to pass a stalled gun control package that included raising the age to 21 for purchases of long guns, such as assault rifles, and removing laws that shield gun makers from civil lawsuits.Among those Murphy named were state senators John DiMaio, co-sponsor of a bill that would eliminate the statutory prohibition against the possession of “hollow point” ammunition; and Ed Durr, sponsor of a bill to remove magazine capacity limits and repeal a “red flag” law prohibiting guns for people deemed to pose “a significant danger of bodily injury”.“In the face of children being slaughtered to the point where the reports indicate these beautiful children were unrecognizable, I say let these folks come out from behind their press releases and their tweets and cast votes before the residents of this great state,” Murphy said.In New York, where the gunman was charged with first degree murder in the deaths of 10 Black customers and employees of a supermarket in Buffalo two weeks ago, state Democratic governor Kathy Hochul said she would seek – at a “minimum” – to ban people under 21 from purchasing AR-15-style assault rifles.Military-style assault rifles were used in Buffalo and last week in the school shooting in Uvalde, south Texas, by 18-year-olds in both tragedies, Hochul pointed out.“That person’s not old enough to buy a legal drink. I don’t want 18-year-olds to have guns. At least not in the state of New York,” she said.Among the measures Hochul enacted by executive order after the Buffalo massacre was a unit within the state’s office of counterterrorism that would focus exclusively on the rise of domestic terrorism and extremism.As the law stands in New York, a person must be 21 or older to obtain a license to purchase a handgun but the state doesn’t require licenses for long guns, such as shotguns or rifles, and someone can own one at 16. Hochul hopes to get the law through this week.In California – which has experienced a string of mass shootings, including one at a church luncheon two weeks ago – Democratic governor Gavin Newsom has called for tougher gun controls to be fast-tracked through the legislature.“California will not stand by as kids across the country are gunned down,” Newsom said last week.“Guns are now the leading cause of death for kids in America. While the US Senate stands idly by and activist federal judges strike down commonsense gun laws across our nation, California will act with the urgency this crisis demands.”“The Second Amendment [to the US Constitution, on the right to bear arms] is not a suicide pact. We will not let one more day go by without taking action to save lives,” he added.An initial package of bills Newsom has committed to signing include restrictions on advertising of firearms to minors, curbs ghost guns, establish rights of action to limit spread of illegal assault weapons, and the right for governments and victims of gun violence to sue manufacturers and sellers of firearms.However, few Republican-controlled states have followed their lead. Conservative lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Michigan prevented efforts to introduce votes on gun safety legislation, while officials in Texas including the hard-right governor Greg Abbott, have blamed the school massacre there on a gunman with mental health problems, not the fact that he was legally able to buy semi-automatic rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition as soon as he turned 18 earlier this year.“Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period,” Abbott said a day after the Uvalde shooting.At the federal level, a group of bipartisan senators have said they would work through the weekend to reach agreement on steps to limit access to guns, although there are no big moves afoot to ban assault weapons, as Vice-President Kamala Harris called for anew on Saturday, or raise the eligibility age to 21.“It’s inconceivable to me that we have not passed significant federal legislation trying to address the tragedy of gun violence in this nation, especially because since Sandy Hook, we’ve seen even worse slaughter, in Las Vegas, in Orlando,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on ABC on Sunday.Pennsylvania Republican Senator Patrick Toomey said: “Times change. There’s a possibility that might work this time.”TopicsUS gun controlBuffalo shootingTexas school shootingUS politicsNew YorkTexasCalifornianewsReuse this content More