The far-left, borderline socialist Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, has endorsed the openly socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
According to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/politics/bill-de-blasio-endorsement-bernie-sanders/index.html">CNN</a>, the New York mayor will be campaigning with Sanders in Nevada prior to the state&#8217;s caucuses next week, joining the socialist at a rally in Carson City on Sunday. In a statement on Friday, Sanders praised de Blasio for understanding that the &#8220;only way&#8221; to defeat President Trump is to hammer an agenda that helps working families.
&#8220;Mayor Bill de Blasio knows that the only way we can defeat Donald Trump is by uniting people from all backgrounds around an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families,&#8221; Sanders said in a statement to CNN. &#8220;Jane and I grew up in Brooklyn, and we are so proud to have the support of a New York City mayor fighting every day to improve the lives of New Yorkers. Bill is a leading example of what bringing the Democratic Party together around so-called &#8216;radical ideas&#8217; like universal pre-K, paid family and sick leave, and defending immigrant neighbors can do for our country.&#8221;
With the endorsement of de Blasio, Sanders has all-but-shored up his support from the Democratic Party&#8217;s far-left progressive base, which began in October 2019 when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed him over Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and former Vice President Joe Biden.
&#8220;I have grown to appreciate the enormous consistent and nonstop advocacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders,&#8221; said AOC.
Far-left documentary filmmaker Michael Moore also endorsed Bernie Sanders at the same rally, bashing the out-of-date politics of yesteryear.
“They are doing everything they can to throw everything they can come up with to get people to think differently about Bernie,” Moore <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/10/michael-moore-endorses-bernie-sanders-saying-for-2020-1202764460/">told the crowd</a>. “So what do they say? Bernie’s too old. Yeah. Well, here’s what’s too old. The electoral college is too old. That’s what’s too old. A $7.25 minimum wage. That’s too old. Women not being paid the same as men. That’s too old. Thousands and thousands of dollars of student debt. What is that? Too old.”
“It’s actually a gift that we have a 78-year-old American running for president of the United States,” he continued. “Bernie has seen the things many of us have never seen – a pay raise! How about that?”
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-national-poll-gives-bernie-sanders-double-digit-lead">reported</a> by The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ashe Schow, Bernie Sanders is well on his way to securing the Democratic nomination, with one major national poll putting him ahead of his competitors by double-digits.
<blockquote>A new Morning Consult <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2020/02/13/sanders-cements-front-runner-status-after-new-hampshire-win/">poll</a> found Sanders now has a 10-point lead over his closest challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has obtained only six delegates so far in the primary.
“The latest <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2020/02/13/sanders-cements-front-runner-status-after-new-hampshire-win/">Morning Consult poll</a> finds Sanders at 29 percent support, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden at 19 percent and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at 18 percent. Sanders gained 3 points in the poll after winning the New Hampshire primary this week, while Biden lost 3 points after a disastrous fifth-place showing,” The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/482969-sanders-builds-double-digit-national-lead-poll?amp">reported</a>.
The outlet noted also that Sanders received more votes in the Iowa caucuses while receiving one less delegate than Buttigieg – a microcosm of the Democrats’ complaints about the national popular vote vs. the Electoral College.</blockquote>
Establishment Democrats have increasingly grown anxious over the prospect of a Bernie Sanders candidacy, fearing that his extremism could secure President Trump an easy victory. Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville has openly worried if the party has gone too far.
“We have candidates on the debate stage talking about open borders and decriminalizing illegal immigration,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-democrat-strategist-james-carville-on-2020-elections-were-losing-our-damn-minds-people-dont-want-to-hear-this-st">Carville said</a>. “They’re talking about doing away with nuclear energy and fracking. You’ve got Bernie Sanders talking about letting criminals and terrorists vote from jail cells. It doesn’t matter what you think about any of that, or if there are good arguments – talking about that is not how you win a national election.”

BlasingBernie

Shocker: Far-Left New York Mayor Bill De Blasio Endorses Socialist Bernie Sanders

2020 Election

Bernie Sanders

Bill de Blasio

Democratic Party

Socialism

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is (<a href="https://nypost.com/2020/02/06/bloombergs-naked-bid-to-buy-the-white-house-is-an-assault-on-democracy/">quite literally</a>) currently attempting to buy the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination, has found himself in seriously hot water this week. A resurfaced audio clip from 2015 depicts the multibillionaire discussing in rather stark and unartful terms one key aspect of the famously aggressive policing policy he oversaw as New York City mayor. The clip can be <a href="https://twitter.com/BenjaminPDixon/status/1227067093692055553">heard here</a>, and The Daily Wire&#8217;s James Barrett <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-tweets-deletes-newly-uncovered-audio-of-bloomberg-total-racist">wrote it up</a> yesterday:
<blockquote>“95% of your murders — murderers and murder victims fit one M.O.,” Bloomberg allegedly states in the audio. “You can just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 16–25. That’s true in New York, that’s true in virtually every city and that’s where the real crime is.” &#8230;
“So, one of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in the minority neighborhoods,” he stated. “Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the walls and frisk them. And then they start say[ing], ‘Oh I don’t want to get caught.’ So they don’t bring the gun. They still have a gun, but they leave it at home.”</blockquote>
There is a lot to digest and break down here. First, Bloomberg&#8217;s statistics are <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/why-bloombergs-2015-stop-and-frisk-remarks-are-riddled-with-inaccuracies-john-lott">likely somewhat off</a>, at least using the FBI&#8217;s national Uniform Crime Reports as a helpful proxy for the local statistics in New York City itself. Second, Bloomberg&#8217;s line about &#8220;taking[ing] the description&#8221; of a suspect, &#8220;Xerox[ing] it, and pass[ing] it out to all the cops&#8221; is ugly and plays on some rather unsavory stereotypes. Third, and perhaps most importantly for those of us conservatives of a pro-police bent, Bloomberg&#8217;s rhetoric about &#8220;throw[ing]&#8221; kids &#8220;up against the walls&#8221; paints cops in an unfortunate light and does the thin blue line little in the way of justice or charity.
It would not be improper to describe this as racially charged rhetoric, even if it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-bloomberg-isnt-racist-but-he-is-a-nanny-state-megalomaniac-control-freak">not per se racist rhetoric</a> because it is far likelier than not that Bloomberg simply exaggerated/misstated his statistics to make an overarching point. The <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/expanded-homicide">FBI&#8217;s 2018 Uniform Crime Reporting Program states</a> that &#8220;[w]hen the race of the offender was known&#8221; in federal murders, &#8220;54.9% were Black or African American, 42.4% were White, and 2.7% were of other races.&#8221;
The underlying policing policy at issue is stop-and-frisk, which was largely implemented in the 1990s during then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani&#8217;s historic crime reduction in the Big Apple, and which was largely continued by then-Mayor Bloomberg during New York City&#8217;s tumultuous post-9/11 years. Contrary to Bloomberg&#8217;s inflammatory description in the leaked audio clip, here is how <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/stop_and_frisk">Cornell Law School&#8217;s Legal Information Institute (LII) describes</a> a cop&#8217;s stop-and-frisk procedure: &#8220;A stop-and-frisk refers to a brief non-intrusive police stop of a suspect. &#8230; If the police reasonably suspect that the suspect is armed and dangerous, the police may frisk the suspect, meaning that the police will give a quick pat-down of the suspect&#8217;s outer clothing.&#8221;
I understand that conservatives, (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-here-are-three-reasons-why-i-plan-vote-josh-hammer">properly</a>) unified as the overwhelming majority of us are around Donald Trump&#8217;s hopeful re-election as president of the United States, see in Bloomberg&#8217;s audio clip an easy opportunity to score a cheap political shot. I also understand, as previously mentioned, that Bloomberg&#8217;s rhetoric is neither helpful nor (in all likelihood) truly statistically spot-on.
But conservatives, who largely defended stop-and-frisk policy while it was implemented by Giuliani and Bloomberg, must not now turn on it. Stop-and-frisk is (1) constitutional, (2) effective, and (3) proper.
The 1968 U.S. Supreme Court case of <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/392/1/">Terry v. Ohio</a> upheld standard stop-and-frisk procedure on Fourth Amendment grounds. &#8220;According to the Terry court,&#8221; LII notes, &#8220;a reasonable stop-and-frisk is one &#8216;in which a reasonably prudent officer is warranted in the circumstances of a given case in believing that his safety or that of others is endangered, he may make a reasonable search for weapons of the person believed by him to be armed and dangerous.'&#8221; The key words here are the multiple times &#8220;reasonable&#8221; (or some close derivative of it) is used. It is almost assuredly true that, while &#8220;probable cause&#8221; is traditionally required for the issuance of most search warrants, &#8220;reasonable suspicion&#8221; suffices as a legal standard to justify a mere stop-and-frisk of suspect believed to be armed and readily dangerous. The text of the Fourth Amendment, after all, prohibits &#8220;unreasonable searches and seizures&#8221; (emphasis added), and here there is necessarily &#8220;reasonable suspicion&#8221; for a Terry stop to be lawful. Some more libertarian-leaning conservatives may <a href="https://twitter.com/jonathanurick/status/1227435098879995904">disagree</a>, but I recall well my criminal procedure professor at the University of Chicago Law School, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Epstein">Richard Epstein</a>, announcing to our class his belief in the constitutional soundness of Terry. And Richard Epstein, for what it&#8217;s worth, is the single most influential libertarian legal theorist of the past century.
Stop-and-frisk policy in New York City, furthermore, was undoubtedly effective. &#8220;Since 1990, major crimes have fallen 81.9% in a period that spanned the administrations of four mayors, both Republican and Democratic, including Michael Bloomberg, who switched from being a Republican to an independent during his three terms in office,&#8221; Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-crime/murders-in-new-york-city-rose-in-2019-defying-long-term-decline-in-crime-rate-idUSKBN1Z525V">reported</a> last month while lamenting the fact that murders in the Big Apple actually rose last year under the infamously anti-cop reign of Mayor Bill de Blasio. While it is ultimately impossible to disentangle stop-and-frisk from other aspects of the Giuliani/Bloomberg anti-crime public policy portfolio, such as so-called &#8220;broken windows policing,&#8221; the reality is that New York City became one of the safest big cities in America over the exact same time span that stop-and-frisk proliferated in popularity. It is nothing short of tragic that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jailbreak-is-to-blame-for-spike-in-nyc-crime-de-blasio-admits">de Blasio has reversed</a> these salutary trends.
Finally, stop-and-frisk, as implemented by Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, was a generally sound public policy initiative. It is simply true that law enforcement is beset by limited resources, and that police therefore have to routinely make decisions about how to maximize results — here, measured in terms of less crime and fewer criminals on the street — given those constraints. For example, prosecutorial discretion as a law enforcement concept has a centuries-long history in the Anglo-American tradition (that, of course, does not mean that prosecutorial secretion is not <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jeff-sessions-right-end-obamas-unlawful-approach-josh-hammer">sometimes bastardized</a>). Similarly, cops — the procedural antecedents, in a sense, to prosecutors — need to make on-the-ground decisions about where to best deploy resources in order to safeguard the public safety and the common weal. It is simply common sense that they would disproportionately target the neighborhoods where there is actually disproportionate crime committed.
By all means, conservatives can find proper bones to pick with Bloomberg&#8217;s resurfaced audio clip. But please do not lump in all of stop-and-frisk policy with those criticisms.

NYPD

HAMMER: Conservatives Should Not Oppose Stop-And-Frisk Policy

Constitution

Crime

Fourth Amendment

Michael Bloomberg

New York Police Department (NYPD)

Police

Racism

On Monday, far-left New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio conceded that the recent high-profile surge in crime in New York City may, in fact, have something to do with New York state&#8217;s new deeply controversial &#8220;bail reform&#8221; law that de Blasio and his fellow leftist Democrats championed prior to its enactment.
&#8220;We had, for six years, steady decreases in crime across the board. There’s not a whole lot of other environmental things that have changed recently,&#8221; de Blasio said, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/02/07/de-blasio-admits-nyc-crime-jump-is-linked-to-bail-reform/">reported</a> by the New York Post. &#8220;It sort of stands out like a sore thumb that this is the single biggest new thing in the equation and we saw an extraordinary jump.&#8221;
“Of course there’s always a possibility this is plain statistical variation, that happens sometimes,” the mayor added, the newspaper noted. “But I think it’s pretty clear that there’s only one new major piece in the equation.”
De Blasio did offer one concrete proposed reform to the &#8220;bail reform&#8221; law: Offering judges the discretion to impose pretrial detention upon those defendants deemed a bona fide public safety risk. “I think judicial discretion should be clarified so that there are very clear checks and balances, so that we avoid any inkling of bias entering into the process, but I think a system predicated only on the question of flight risk misses the fact that there are some individuals who are just consistently, by their own actions, and by the proof of due process, consistently creat[ing] a threat to their neighbors,&#8221; he said.
New York&#8217;s new &#8220;bail reform&#8221; law, which outright eliminates bail for all but the most truly violent criminals, has faced mounting opposition amid a panoply of headlines showcasing the awful caliber of criminal defendants let off into the streets pretrial. In fact, as The Daily Wire&#8217;s Amanda Prestigiacomo <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disaster-dems-consider-changes-to-ny-bail-reform-just-one-week-after-implementation">reported</a> last month, even many Empire State Democrats have been pushing to tweak the pro-criminal law.
&#8220;After an onslaught of bad press over the disastrous first week of Democrat-implemented &#8216;bail reform&#8217; in New York, Democrats are considering changes to the legislation,&#8221; Prestigiacomo noted.
&#8220;Bail reform, which was reportedly implemented early in New York City by &#8230; de Blasio, led to a woman charged with an anti-Semitic attack to be arrested and released three times in five days,&#8221; Prestigiacomo continued. &#8220;[Tiffany] Harris &#8216;was nabbed for allegedly slugging three Jewish women and yelling &#8220;F-U, Jews!&#8221; but let go Saturday with no bail, despite an open assault case. Last month, she got no jail for a felony in another incident,&#8217; [the Post] <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/30/revolving-door-injustice-serial-slugger-gets-sprung-again/">reported</a>. &#8216;Nabbed again Sunday in a new attack, she was once more freed, on no bail, Monday.'&#8221;
Appearing last month on “Tipping Point With Liz Wheeler” on One America News Network, I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-hammer-on-tipping-point-with-liz-wheeler-new-yorks-insane-pro-criminal-bail-law">strongly criticized</a> New York&#8217;s new criminal-mollycoddling law:
<blockquote>The problem with the Left is the Left speaks about justice and compassion and all these fancy words. They never focus on the people who actually suffer … from their policies. So in the case of border security and amnesty, there is no one who suffers worse from an open border and the human trafficking by drug cartels than the aliens themselves who are trafficked. In the case of “criminal justice reform,” “bail reform,” no one suffers more than victims of crime.
Where is anyone speaking for the victims of crime? But you know what the Left also does, Liz? The Left is amazing at getting the right version of language for their policies. “Bail reform,” it sounds so innocuous, right? What they’re doing is they’re throwing out a system of bail that has existed since at least 13th century England! That is how far back bail goes — cash bail, monetary bail. This is literally a centuries-old phenomenon that they are just throwing out.</blockquote>

Jailbreak Is To Blame For Spike In NYC Crime, De Blasio Admits

bail reform

Jail

New York City

New York Post

Prison

True Crime

Violence

The Daily Wire conducted an email interview with New York City Jewish leader <a href="https://twitter.com/HikindDov">Dov Hikind</a>, a former Democratic New York state assemblyman, founder of <a href="https://twitter.com/AmericansAA">Americans Against Antisemitism</a>, and prominent public-facing activist representing large swaths of New York&#8217;s Orthodox Jewish community. Just last month, President Trump called Hikind a &#8220;highly respected Jewish leader&#8221;:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Thank you to highly respected Jewish leader Dov Hikind for his wonderful statements about me this morning on <a href="https://twitter.com/foxandfriends?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@foxandfriends</a>.
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1211655287247126535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
What follows is a question-and-answer exchange about anti-Semitism — and how to fight it.
The Daily Wire (TDW): Anti-Semitism is, of course, the world&#8217;s oldest bigotry. But why has it been so on the rise over the past decade or so in Europe and now, it seems, in the U.S.?
Dov Hikind (DH): The answer is complex, as there are many factors involved. Though Europe and the U.S. are experiencing increased anti-Semitism, the sources aren’t exactly the same. In Europe, most physical attacks and verbal assaults are committed by Muslims — though there is also a resurgent far-Right. In America, nationally, it is primarily a white supremacy problem; but in the major cities, which happen to be areas with high concentration of Jews, it’s the far-Left and minority groups that are responsible for perpetuating anti-Semitism and justifying the violence committed in its name. But what they do have in common is that the rise happens because hatred is tolerated and anti-Semitism is back in vogue. Additionally, the cesspool of hatred that can be found on social media has no borders or political affiliations and serves to feed the growing hateful appetites on both sides of the Atlantic.
TDW: How much do you blame Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio for the rise in anti-Semitism in New York and New York City, specifically?
DH: I’m not in the habit of blaming any single individual for a massive problem that predates their own existence. The governor and mayor did not create anti-Semitism and certainly don’t directly contribute to its rise. They are, however, responsible for reacting appropriately and swiftly to restore the sense of security that has been robbed of the Jewish community. And here, the onus is more on the mayor than the governor since it’s New York City that is far beyond out of control in comparison with any other city in America. That’s not a great distinction for New York to hold. So I don’t blame them for the rise, but they are to be held accountable for the lack of results on the ground.
TDW: To what extent have Mayor de Blasio&#8217;s constant attacks on police undermined the safety of Jews in New York City?
DH: That goes to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-hammer-on-tipping-point-with-liz-wheeler-new-yorks-insane-pro-criminal-bail-law">broader issue of policing and criminal justice</a> that we’re seeing unfold now. There’s no doubt that when respect for law enforcement is undermined, so is respect for the law itself. Add to that the lack of consequences for violent anti-Semitic criminals, and there’s no doubt as to why there’s a lack of deterrence and the attacks continue unabated. The police of New York City are the best; they just need to be enabled to do their jobs with the dignity and respect they deserve. Strong policing ensures safe communities; they go hand in hand. It remains to be seen if these trends will be reversed or if they continue to deteriorate.
TDW: Why do so many Jews seem to not take self-defense seriously? Why is a fear of guns and gun ownership so seemingly popular among large swaths of the Jewish community?
DH: Two reasons: First, there is a notion that G-d protects every person, not guns — so if a person’s time comes, no gun will help. Second, there is a legitimate fear that in households filled with children, bringing in a lot of guns to a community that is not especially adjusted to it will only lead to accidents and tragedies that will be painfully regretted. Also, there’s a notion that the fighter, the one to take up arms, is not for every segment of the Jewish population. Some study and pray, some fight. I do think it’s important for every person, Jewish or not, to know how to defend oneself in this crazy and unpredictable world, but that’s a decision for each individual to make.
TDW: Why do so many people politicize anti-Semitism and weaponize it as a cudgel? Why do so many on the Left, in particular, only focus on white nationalist/neo-Nazi anti-Semitism and turn a blind eye to anti-Semitism from Islamists, so-called &#8220;anti-Zionists,&#8221; and black nationalists alike?
DH: Anti-Semitism has always been used as a cudgel. Rather, more precisely, Jews have always been used as political cudgel (in previous times, known as “the Jewish question/problem”). What it signifies is a certain decay and rot within society. When a society cannot face its decisions and actions, and instead seeks a scapegoat, the most available and returned to in history, are the Jews. Easy. Convenient. And it comes with an entire repertoire of “reasons” for hating Jews. Now, at this point in time, in America, it is the Left that has a major blind spot when it comes to anti-Semites in their ranks, and that’s because anti-Semites got so good at couching hateful rhetoric in the guise of humanitarian concern that they’ve lost sight of what they’re really promoting. Think of the morning Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) woke up to find that David Duke had tweeted in her support! A white supremacist neo-Nazi tweeting support for an African-American anti-Zionist anti-Semite! That’s the level of distortion and blindness at play in the current landscape that leads to such strange political bedfellows.
TDW: Is so-called &#8220;anti-Zionism&#8221; the same as anti-Semitism, pure and simple?
DH: Yes. Pure and simple. Why? Because can you find a similar movement that is “anti-China” over its detention of over 1,000,000 Uighur Muslims? Is there any anti-Syria movement over Bashar al-Assad’s committing genocide against his own people? The list goes on. The answer is no. There is only one movement of people that are mobilized to challenge the &#8220;right to exist&#8221; and sovereignty of a single nation on Earth, and that so happens to be the lone Jewish state. Anti-Zionism is simply one variation of anti-Semitism. It’s on the menu. You can hate Jews because we’re not white (neo-Nazis), because we’re white and share in its privilege (far-Left), or because we’re baby-killing, Zionist-colonialists who have absolutely no history in the land of Israel (radical Islamism). They can take their pick from the &#8220;hate du jour.&#8221;
TDW: What can be done to make Zionism and the pro-Israel cause palatable and popular again among the American and international Left?
DH: You know, traditionally this question gets an answer like, “we have to show how valuable Israel is to the world, how the start-up nation is innovating for the betterment of the world by bringing water and irrigation technologies to rain-deprived regions in Africa and being among the first to send rescue teams and humanitarian aid when natural disasters strike any country on earth.” But I’m personally sick of those answers because it implies that we need to constantly compete in some kind of warped popularity contest. Our deserving of equal rights and treatment on the global stage should not be tied to how wonderful Israel is. No. Let’s take Israel for no better than any other state, no more amazing — it would still be no less deserving of fair treatment! So I don’t think we can magically make Zionism and Israel more palatable, but more importantly, I don’t think that’s where our energies should go.
TDW: Why is Israel so unpopular on the American university campus? What can be done to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-how-pro-israel-students-campus-can-fight-josh-hammer">counter growing anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment</a> on the university campus?
DH: We know for a fact that a lot of money has been pouring into the American university system from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">terror-supporting states like Qatar</a>, which bankrolls <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">Hamas</a> as well as the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a> and its American subsidiary, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/firester-cairs-fight-to-undermine-u-s-border-security-continues">CAIR</a>. These benefactors are behind groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, which is single handedly responsible for creating a terribly toxic environment for Jewish students and faculty. Frankly, I don’t believe Jewish groups will ever invest the same resources in combating those efforts as the enemies of Israel do, but it goes back to high school education. When you peel that layer back and see what kind of Jewish education students have received prior to arriving on campus, it becomes clear that too many lack the basic and adequate knowledge to defend themselves against the malicious lies and libels that anti-Semitic student groups spread. If we can better educate our high school students, they’ll have a better chance at fighting back against anti-Semitism on university campuses.
TDW: What role does education play, exactly, in countering anti-Semitism? How can education about the Holocaust and Jewish history, in general, help counter the trend?
DH: Crucial. Central. It’s all about education. Hate is borne of ignorance. But the task is doubly as hard because it’s not only a matter of getting the right information to students, but working to counter all the lies and falsehoods that are perpetuated at astounding speed and frequency. The Holocaust is the central case study of anti-Semitism because it encapsulates from beginning to end what the dangers of unchecked anti-Semitism look like. What starts with hateful rhetoric can easily end in a genocide perpetrated by the most &#8220;cultured&#8221; and &#8220;civilized&#8221; of European societies, with a majority of its citizens partaking in the apparatus that annihilated six million Jews. No society is immune to the plague of anti-Semitism. However, those who choose ignorance and denial of the Holocaust rather than wrestling with its wrenching paradoxes are those most likely to repeat its darkest chapters.
TDW: What advice would you give to those who are trying to make a difference in their own lives, in terms of countering anti-Semitism?
DH: Action! Get involved with an organization, like Americans Against Antisemitism, that takes concrete steps to combat this hatred. Taking part gives the individual a sense of control, that we are not victims or pawns, that we will not be pushed around, but will stand up for our G-d-given rights. But individuals can do anything that works for them. For some, it’s being loud on social media; for others it&#8217;s hosting events and attending rallies. The point is for every individual to do his or her part, no matter how small or big, because our force is increased with unity. And to be clear, one need not be Jewish to take up the fight against anti-Semitism; the fight to eradicate this special and oldest of hatreds is quintessentially an American struggle for the right to live in freedom and pursue happiness.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind &#8211; Jewish organizations held a protest

Fighting Anti-Semitism: An Interview With Jewish Leader Dov Hikind

Andrew Cuomo

Anti-Semitism

CAIR

Hamas

Hate Crime

Holocaust

Israel

Judaism

On Saturday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continued its pushback against the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-why-no-one-pointing-out-sanctuary-cities-josh-hammer">lawless</a> scourge of sanctuary cities — this time focusing upon the particularly recalcitrant government of Mayor Bill de Blasio&#8217;s New York City.
ICE &#8220;served four immigration subpoenas Friday on the New York Department of Corrections (NYDOC) requesting information on multiple illegal aliens who were criminally arrested in New York City, and yet under New York’s non-cooperation policies officials have refused to honor ICE detainers or even provide ICE with information about the release dates of criminal alien public safety threats,&#8221; the agency stated via <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-issues-subpoenas-obtain-information-refused-under-ny-sanctuary-policies">press release</a>. &#8220;Issuance of these immigration subpoenas was necessary because the NYDOC has continued to ignore ICE’s requests for information and cooperation.&#8221;
&#8220;ICE uses statutorily-authorized immigration subpoenas to obtain information as part of investigations regarding potential removable aliens,&#8221; the release continued. &#8220;ICE has not historically needed to use its lawful authority to issue these subpoenas to obtain information from other law enforcement agencies as most law enforcement agencies throughout the country willingly provide ICE with information regarding aliens arrested for crimes in the interest of public safety.&#8221;
&#8220;ICE is using every tool available to obtain information regarding the whereabouts and other relevant information regarding removable aliens from jurisdictions that chose to, or are unable to, cooperate with ICE,&#8221; the agency wrote, before providing details about the four criminal aliens — ranging from age 21 to 38 — about whom it recently sought information from NYDOC.
&#8220;Like any law enforcement agency, we are used to modifying our tactics as criminals shift their strategies; but it’s disheartening that we must change our practices and jump through so many hoops with partners who are restricted by sanctuary laws passed by politicians with a dangerous agenda,&#8221; lamented Henry Lucero, acting deputy executive associate director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, as quoted in the ICE press release.
Just yesterday, The Daily Wire&#8217;s Hank Berrien <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ice-releases-list-of-9-violent-illegal-immigrants-freed-by-ny-sanctuary-policy-plus-6-more-who-could-be-released">reported</a> that ICE has also released a list of nine illegal aliens whom ICE claims have been &#8220;released in New York communities&#8221; due to the metropolis&#8217;s sanctuary policies. &#8220;ICE also named six additional illegal immigrants who may be released, some of whom have been charged with murder and child rape,&#8221; Berrien noted.
As <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-illegal-immigrants-freed-by-new-york-citys-sanctuary-city">reported</a> by Fox News, acting ICE Director Matthew Albence &#8220;cited statistics saying that last year ICE lodged 7,526 detainers via its New York field office. Those individuals accounted for 17,873 criminal convictions and 6,500 criminal charges. He went on to say that those charges and convictions include over 200 homicides, over 500 robberies, over 1,000 sexual offenses, over 1,000 weapons offenses, and over 3,500 assaults. However, only about 10 detainers were honored by the city, officials said.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-why-no-one-pointing-out-sanctuary-cities-josh-hammer">Daily Wire op-ed</a> last July, I argued that most sanctuary jurisdictions flagrantly violate federal law — and in particular, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1373">8 U.S.C. § 1373(a)</a>, which provides: &#8220;Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal, State, or local law, a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the [Department of Homeland Security] information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.&#8221; I opined:
<blockquote>It is true that the U.S. Supreme Court’s so-called “<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-the-supreme-court-reinforces-the-10th-amendment">anti-commandeering doctrine</a>,” most famously articulated in the 1992 case of <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1991/91-543">New York v. United States</a> and the 1997 case of <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1996/95-1478">Printz v. United States</a>, stands for the proposition that the federal government cannot forcibly “commandeer” state governments to help the federal government enforce federal law. As Justice Scalia <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/95-1478.ZO.html">wrote in Printz</a>, “The Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems, nor command the States’ officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program.”
But a plain reading of 8 U.S.C. § 1373(a) does not seem to countenance a violation of the anti-commandeering doctrine. Under § 1373(a), state and local officials are not coerced into “enforc[ing] a federal regulatory program.” Rather, under the text of the statute, all state and local officials are prohibited from doing is issuing a “restrict[ion] [upon the] sending to, or receiving from, the [Department of Homeland Security] information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.” Put simply, the issue at hand in § 1373(a) is not federal commandeering of state actors to enforce a federal program; rather, the issue is the prevention of state and local officials from openly defying and subverting federal law. And the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause plainly forbids the states from openly defying and subverting federal law. The Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, as applied to § 1373(a), therefore prohibits state and local governments from shielding a removable illegal alien from ICE when ICE issues a detainer request on the alien.</blockquote>

Immigration and Customs Enforcement logo

ICE Hits Back, Issues Subpoenas Against Criminal Aliens In Sanctuary New York City

Illegal Immigration

Immigrants

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Sanctuary Cities

On Tuesday, a federal official blamed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for the murder of a 92-year-old Queens woman by an illegal immigrant, citing New York City’s “sanctuary policies” triggered the immigrant’s release after he had already been arrested on assault and weapon charges.
Thomas Decker, New York field-office director of enforcement and removal operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-lodges-detainer-against-guyanese-national-arrested-murder-92-year-old-new-york">stated</a>:
<blockquote>It is made clear that New York City’s stance against honoring detainers is dangerously flawed. It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets after his first arrest included assault and weapon charges, and he now faces new charges, including murder. New York City’s sanctuary policies continue to threaten the safety of all residents of the five boroughs, as they repeatedly protect criminal aliens who show little regard for the laws of this nation.
In New York City alone, hundreds of arrestees are released each month with pending charges and/or convictions to return back into the communities where they committed their crimes, instead of being transferred into the custody of ICE. Clearly the politicians care more about criminal illegal aliens than the citizens they are elected to serve and protect.</blockquote>
On November 27, Reeaz Khan, 21, an illegal immigrant from Guyana, was arrested for allegedly slashing his father with a broken ceramic mug, prompting ICE to initiate a detainer request; Khan was charged with misdemeanor assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment, and released without bail after being slapped with a temporary order of protection for his dad, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/01/14/feds-blame-de-blasio-for-murder-sex-assault-of-92-year-old-woman/">The New York Post</a> reported.
On January 10, Khan was arrested for the sexual abuse and murder of Maria Fuertes, 92; Fuertes was found near death on a Richmond Hill sidewalk in the early morning of Jan. 6. The Post noted, “Fuertes had been lying in the 32-degree weather for about two hours after being sexually assaulted and strangled, law-enforcement sources have said.” Fuertes later died at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, having suffered a broken spine and rib fractures. Khan was charged with murder, sexual abuse, contact by forcible compulsion, and sexual abuse against a person incapable of consent.
The Post added that Fuertes “allegedly implicated himself before being arrested last Friday.” Before he was charged with the murder of Fuertes, Khan informed police he was only trying to help Fuertes on the ground when he “fell down, his belt broke, his pants fell down and his penis fell near her vagina,” but Assistant District Attorney Joseph Grasso said at Khan’s arraignment, “Defendant then stated that he did lift up her skirt and tried to put his penis inside of her.”
&#8220;The city’s detainer law and policy mandates that officials turn over to ICE only those who are convicted of violent and serious offenses, and only when ICE has met legal and due process requirements, according to a city official,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/nyregion/92-year-old-woman-queens-murder.html">The New York Times</a> noted. The NYPD said it “did not receive an ICE detainer” regarding Khan, but ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow noted a fax confirmation receipt of a detainer request sent to the NYPD’s Queens Central Booking unit at 7:41 a.m. on Nov. 27.
ICE stated:
<blockquote>ICE lodges detainers on individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable aliens. The detainer asks the other law enforcement agency to notify ICE in advance of release and to maintain custody of the alien for a brief period of time so that ICE can take custody of that person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody. When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and carry out its mission.</blockquote>
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Security Around New York City Increased After U.S. Missile Strike In Baghdad Kills Iranian Top General Qasem Soleimani

Feds Blame De Blasio For Murder Of 92-Year-Old Woman By Illegal Immigrant

Murder

Recently, documentary filmmaker and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ami-horowitz-talks-about-his-attempt-reach-65000-frank-camp">tongue-in-cheek</a> former 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Ami Horowitz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvw4_boUOi0">hit the ground running</a> in Brooklyn to highlight the increasingly unavoidable anti-Semitism epidemic currently plaguing New York City. Horowitz published a video last Sunday entitled, &#8220;Anti-Semitism Grows in Brooklyn.&#8221;
WATCH:
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In the video, Horowitz approaches various Brooklyn denizens and asks them whether they believe New York City has an anti-Semitism problem.
&#8220;Video journalist Ami Horowitz recently spent two hours on the streets of Brooklyn asking black men and women why Jews are being attacked in New York,&#8221; the Jewish Press <a href="https://www.jewishpress.com/multimedia/video-picks/ami-on-the-loose-antisemitism-grows-in-brooklyn/2020/01/06/">reported</a>. &#8220;We believe the video important for several reasons and therefore are sharing the transcript of it below &#8230; .&#8221;
Because The Daily Wire agrees with the Jewish Press as to the importance of this brief documentary film, The Daily Wire is also sharing a nearly full transcript of the interview portions of Horowitz&#8217;s video. <a href="https://www.jewishpress.com/multimedia/video-picks/ami-on-the-loose-antisemitism-grows-in-brooklyn/2020/01/06/">Hat tip to the Jewish Press</a>:
<blockquote>Horowitz: What’s going on? What do you think is going on here?
Respondent #1: Know what I think is going on? Because it seems like — I’m not being a racist or anti-Semitic — but it seem like the Jewish people own all the buildings out here, and they own everything, and they’re not sharing nothing.
Respondent #2: They own everything down here. They comin’ over here and they takin’ over, but they’re not bringing it back to us. See, they kickin’ us out.
Respondent #1: And I don’t want to go back to World War II with Hitler and all of that, but it seem like they own all the property, and we don’t, they don’t even try to help us.
Respondent #3: We’re not sayin’ that it’s right, but they tryin’ to take over our buildings, and so they tryin’ to make everything more expensive for us.
Respondent #4: The Jewish is known to be rich for Brooklyn. So, you know, of course &#8230;
Horowitz: So is that a reason why you think the attacks are happening?
Respondent #4: That is why the attacks are happening.
Respondent #1: The “haves” and “have-nots.”
Respondent #5: That doesn’t mean that’s the majority thought over here. … Not everybody in this neighborhood has a problem with Jews. I really think you’re insulting African-Americans by being in this neighborhood and asking that question.
Respondent #6: The blacks are doing this to the Jews just to get by. It’s not right. It’s not right.
Respondent #7: I taught my children love. Love conquers all. … They controllin’ all the jobs, economic growth in the community.
Respondent #3: [They’re] comin’ from their country into our country and they tryin’ to change up our country to how they live.
Respondent #8: They’re gonna get money from here, and they’re gonna send it home to their country.
Horowitz: Which, which country? Not …
Respondent #8: Not in the United States.
Horowitz: That’s not their country.
Respondent #8: No.
Horowitz: So do you think the Jews here are not really American?
Respondent #8: They not.
Horowitz: So black people would have reason to attack Jews?
Respondent #9: I wouldn’t say they have reason to, but it is understandable ‘cause everybody takin’ from us.</blockquote>
New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz penned a <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/29/how-liberals-are-allowing-anti-semitism-to-flourish/">potent recent piece</a> about how the leftist governments of New York City and New York state are allowing anti-Semitism to fester there.
&#8220;I used to write about Europeans and their apathetic attitudes ­toward the Jew-hatred around them,&#8221; Markowicz wrote. &#8220;Synagogues torched, Jews beaten — just another day on the Continent. But now the demon is here, in America. Worse, it’s stalking Jews with increasing regularity in New York City, my city, home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel.&#8221;
&#8220;In 2020, I don’t want to read ­another column like this one,&#8221; Markowicz continued. &#8220;All Jews want is to live our lives in safety. To ensure that, [New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio] will have to stop using the violence against us to fight his invisible political foes. De Blasio’s ideology has led to apathy, which, in turn, has resulted in injured Jews in our city.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-an-armed-and-trained-jew-is-the-best-kind-of-jew">Daily Wire op-ed</a> following the recent horrific machete attack in Monsey, New York, I called for American Jews to train and arm themselves en masse:
<blockquote>It is wholly appropriate for us to demand concrete action, and not mere grandstanding, from <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/29/how-liberals-are-allowing-anti-semitism-to-flourish/">those politicians</a> who have allowed this despicable resurgence of the world’s oldest bigotry to fester under their watch. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio should both be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for their tepid responses, to-date, for what is rapidly metastasizing into a full-blown epidemic.
But ultimately, the imperative is on each individual Jew to be the guardian of his/her own security. Why on Earth would Jews, the most systemically persecuted group of humans to have ever lived, delegate responsibility for their own lives to third-party actors?</blockquote>

Orthodox Jews NYPD Brooklyn

WATCH: Ami Horowitz Hits The Ground In Brooklyn To Highlight NYC’s Shocking Anti-Semitism

Ami Horowitz

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After an onslaught of bad press over the disastrous first week of Democrat-implemented &#8220;bail reform&#8221; in New York, Democrats are considering changes to the legislation.
&#8220;Democrats are opening the door to changes on New York&#8217;s bail reform law as the legislative session begins this week,&#8221; a <a href="https://www.whec.com/news/democrats-consider-altering-bail-reform-law/5600135/?cat=565">News 10 NBC</a> report outlined on Tuesday. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo &#8220;says he will consider adding hate crimes to the list of offenses for which judges can set bail.&#8221;
The blue state&#8217;s criminal justice reform package has come under fire from even liberals, as noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-bail-reform-woman-involved-in-anti-semitic-attack-arrested-released-for-3-crimes-in-5-days">The Daily Wire</a>.
Bail reform, which was reportedly implemented early in New York City by Mayor Bill de Blasio, led to a woman charged with an anti-Semitic attack to be arrested and released three times in five days.
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Harris “was <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/27/jewish-mom-son-assaulted-in-latest-anti-semitic-attack-in-brooklyn/">nabbed for allegedly slugging three Jewish women</a> and yelling ‘F-U, Jews!’ but let go Saturday with no bail, despite an open assault case. Last month, she got no jail for a felony in another incident,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/30/revolving-door-injustice-serial-slugger-gets-sprung-again/">The New York Post</a> reported. “Nabbed again Sunday in a new attack, she was once more freed, on no bail, Monday.
In another case, a man charged with second degree manslaughter in connection to the murder of a 29-year-old Albany woman was released from jail after the judge overseeing the case reportedly claimed Democrats’ new “bail reform” legislation no longer allows her to keep the charged party in custody, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-man-charged-with-second-degree-manslaughter-released-from-prison-under-democrats-bail-reform">The Daily Wire</a> reported Thursday.
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“Happening now: Paul Barbaritano is being released on his own recognizance,” Spectrum News Albany&#8217;s Jaclyn Cangro reported. “He is charged with 2nd degree manslaughter in connection to the death of Nicole Jennings.”
“Barbaritano was being held at the Albany County Jail. The DA’s Office argued he made admissions that he ’caused’ Jennings’ death,” Cangro noted.
The judge “repeatedly said that’s no longer the burden for bail,&#8221; the reporter added.
“A city man charged with second-degree manslaughter in the strangulation-and-stabbing death of a woman was released from jail Thursday under the new bail reforms that eliminated bail for that charge and most other felonies,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Albany-man-accuse-of-woman-s-death-set-free-under-14944854.php">Times-Union</a> echoed.
Last Tuesday, a man with a conviction for shooting an upstate New York police officer under his belt was released without bail for new drug offenses, <a href="https://www.rochesterfirst.com/crime/tyquan-rivera-man-who-shot-rpd-officer-in-2009-released-from-custody/">Rochester First</a> reported:
<blockquote>Tyquan Rivera, the <a href="https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/tyquan-rivera-released-from-prison-a-day-early/">man convicted of shooting Rochester Police officer Anthony DiPonzio in 2009</a>, was released from custody without bail Thursday.
Rivera is <a href="https://www.rochesterfirst.com/crime/tyquan-rivera-man-who-shot-officer-in-2009-pleaded-not-guilty-to-drug-charges/">facing two new counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree</a> after being arrested in December. According to court paperwork, Rivera sold Fentanyl in 60 envelopes to two undercover officers in two separate sales.
Assistant District Attorney Matt Schwartz said Rivera’s release is the result of the <a href="https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/as-bail-reform-laws-approach-some-leaders-express-concerns/">newly-enacted bail reform laws in New York state</a></blockquote>
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<div class="col-xs-12">&#8220;Law enforcement officials and Republicans have spent months raising red flags on the changes, but their criticism caught more fervor in the last week as courts across the state have released people who would have remained behind bars under the old rules,&#8221; News 10 NBC highlighted.</div>
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&#8220;We are done laying down and taking it,&#8221; warned New York Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy. &#8220;We are going to fight back and fight back with authority as Republicans.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-man-charged-with-second-degree-manslaughter-released-from-prison-under-democrats-bail-reform">Man Charged With Second Degree Manslaughter RELEASED From Prison Under Democrats’ ‘Bail Reform’</a>
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NYC Mayor De Blasio And Governor Cuomo Discuss Amazon 2nd Headquarters Decision

DISASTER: Dems Consider Changes To NY ‘Bail Reform’ Just One Week After Implementation

New York

As has <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/29/how-liberals-are-allowing-anti-semitism-to-flourish/">finally </a>been noticed by the mainstream media, anti-Semitism in America has harrowingly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-hammer-tipping-point-liz-wheeler-why-no-one-daily-wire">been on the rise</a> over the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-times-just-made-stunning-admission-about-ben-shapiro">past couple</a> of years. While the first two lethal incidents occurred in synagogues in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-we-cling-tree-life-ben-shapiro">Pittsburgh</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-jews-simply-must-arm-themselves-now-josh-hammer">Southern California</a>, the recent upsurge of violent Jew-hatred has been disproportionately centered around the broader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/phillips-a-year-of-rampant-anti-semitism-in-new-york-city">New York area</a>. The epidemic reached its bloody December apogee first in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jersey-city-shootout-assailants-kill-police-officer-3-orthodox-jews">Jersey City, New Jersey</a>, and later in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-mass-stabbing-attack-reported-at-new-york-synagogue">Monsey, New York</a>.
Monsey is not terribly far from where I grew up, and has long been home to a sizable Orthodox Jewish community. The town is part of Rockland County, New York, which has the <a href="https://www.ny.gov/counties/rockland">largest Jewish population per capita</a> of any county in the United States.
Alas, despite this, Monsey and some of its surrounding towns in Rockland have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/29/county-gop-ad-saying-jewish-candidate-is-plotting-takeover-is-slammed-anti-semitic/">long been victimized</a> by noxious anti-Semitism. I would know, because <a href="https://firstliberty.org/about-us/">First Liberty Institute</a>, the nation’s largest nonprofit law firm solely dedicated to the protection of religious liberty of all and where I serve in an <a href="https://firstliberty.org/team/josh-hammer/">of counsel</a> capacity, has long been on the frontlines of this particular battle.
Specifically, in Airmont, New York, which directly neighbors Monsey, village officials have deployed discriminatory zoning tactics to prevent an Orthodox Jewish day school — Central UTA of Monsey — from peaceably operating. First Liberty helped <a href="https://firstliberty.org/cases/central-uta/">file a federal lawsuit</a> on behalf of Central UTA; for that matter, we have also helped file a <a href="https://firstliberty.org/cases/airmont/">similar lawsuit</a> on behalf of several individual Orthodox Jewish residents of Airmont. Overall, for decades now, the village of Airmont has systemically discriminated against the Orthodox community living there. Local officials in the Airmont/Monsey area of Rockland County have brazenly and shamelessly attempted to prevent their Orthodox Jewish population from actually practicing Judaism.
But the connection hits even closer to home. In our capacity representing the Central UTA Jewish day school, we at First Liberty directly represent school administrator Rabbi Moshe Rottenberg, who is the cousin of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg — the very <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/nyregion/monsey-synagogue-stabbing-anti-semitic.html">owner of the home</a> that was infamously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-mass-stabbing-attack-reported-at-new-york-synagogue">machete-attacked</a> last month toward the end of Chanukah.
Small world indeed.
To date, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not officially taken action in the Central UTA case besides collect relevant information. To DOJ&#8217;s great credit, however, it did file an official &#8220;Statement of Interest&#8221; in our other Airmont case, regarding oppressive and discriminatory zoning laws. The United States &#8220;wishes to refute any suggestion &#8230; that the United States has previously provided its imprimatur to or otherwise endorsed the legality of&#8221; Airmont&#8217;s discriminatory zoning ordinances, DOJ wrote in a filing from this past September. The United States &#8220;believes that it is important &#8230; for the [district court] to have a full understanding of the troubled history of Airmont’s zoning code, its impact on Hasidic residents, and the numerous legal actions against [Airmont] that have been necessary in the past,&#8221; the DOJ filing continued.
Good for Attorney General <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-america-is-better-off-for-having-bill-barr">Bill Barr</a> and for DOJ. In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/phillips-a-year-of-rampant-anti-semitism-in-new-york-city">sharp contrast</a> to the blithe aloofness of both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Barr has taken official action to convey his interest in the rampant anti-Semitism occurring in Rockland County, New York.
For the Central UTA litigation, we are currently awaiting the trial judge to rule on a handful of motions. But as someone serving in an of counsel capacity at a law firm representing the cousin of the homeowner of the house that was brutally machete-attacked barely over a week ago, I can personally attest to one thing: Jew-hatred in heavily Jewish Rockland County, New York is hardly new. The only thing that is new is the mainstream media attention such anti-Semitism has suddenly been receiving — and, perhaps, whether local and statewide politicians might decisively act to stop this bigotry.

Police Jews Monsey

HAMMER: Anti-Semitism Around Monsey, New York Is Not New. Here’s How I Know.

Department of Justice

Discrimination

Lawsuit

Media Bias

William Barr

The year 2019 wraps up as one of the most anti-Semitic in the recent history of New York City — capped off by a slew of hate crimes occurring over the celebration of Chanukah and even extending into the nascent new year.
In just over a week, nine incidents were perpetrated against Jews in the greater New York area, among them a machete-wielding attacker injuring five individuals at a suburban Monsey Chanukah celebration, a shooting threat at a Jewish organization’s headquarters in Brooklyn, and a Hasidic man punched and thrown to the ground by a group of thugs. At least 13 anti-Semitic assaults have been reported in New York City just since December 23.
And while the latest wave of anti-Semitism carried out in the New York City metropolitan area is disturbing, the upward trend of anti-Semitic attacks over a span of several years demonstrates a much larger and more predictable pattern. Anti-Semitic incidents in New York state surged over 96% from 2016 to 2017, with over 50% of the anti-Semitic assaults committed nationally occurring just in the Empire State. For the year 2017, more than 60% of New York state anti-Semitism took place in New York City.
The year 2018 saw anti-Semitic assaults in New York proliferate yet again, this time by an order of 55% — all of that just within the five boroughs. And yet again, in 2019, anti-Semitism accounted for considerably over half of all hate crimes perpetrated in the city.
Nationally, similar patterns arise, with anti-Semitism consistently ranking as the most prominent form of religious discrimination, but the unenviable ascent of anti-Semitism in New York City remains unparalleled in any other big city.
And the logic for the rapid rise in New York City-based Jew-hatred lies, in no small part, with the leadership and neglectful inaction by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming narrative surrounding any form of discrimination — anti-Semitism chief among them — in New York City places blame squarely with those on the far-right. Ironic, perhaps, given that New York City consistently ranks among the most liberal urban areas globally, that the far-right might hold sway there. Nonetheless, de Blasio trudges forward, claiming last summer that “the violent threat, the threat that is ideological, is very much from the Right.”
Sadly, the vast majority of the recent anti-Semitic attacks have been perpetrated by <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/8240/black-on-jewish-violence-marks-the-new-new-anti">black and Hispanic individuals</a> and in some of the most liberal enclaves of an already left-leaning city. In the first four months of 2019, with anti-Semitic hate crimes on pace to increase by 82% from 2018, de Blasio denied City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s request for a fully-funded Office of Prevention of Hate Crimes. Speaker Johnson noted, at the time, that the funding necessary for a fully functional office would nearly double in the 2020 fiscal year, yet de Blasio has shown no intention to allocate any additional funds.
Beyond budgeting shortfalls, New York City’s criminal and bail reform practices have demonstrably returned virulent anti-Semites to the street without bail set. Thirty-year-old Tiffany Harris, responsible for the aggravated assault of three Jewish individuals last week, was released from police custody without bail following the first assault, only to commit the same heinous act twice more — a day later. She was again released with no bail. A policy enacted for the new year disqualifies swaths of crimes from being eligible for bail altogether in New York state. The laundry list of now-disqualified crimes includes third-degree assault, forms of aggravated assault, terrorist threats, arson in the third- and fourth-degrees, and even second-degree manslaughter. These crimes are often the direct criminal behaviors that have been taking place against Jews.
Tangible solutions and an end to the public safety crisis faced by Jews won’t come about by denying the realities of the situation. Pragmatically, significant fault lies with de Blasio himself and the state legislature, due to enacting poorly conceived policies and deflecting responsibility for the attacks to a preferred ideological foe.

Sunset in New York City

PHILLIPS: A Year Of Rampant Anti-Semitism In New York City

On Friday, New York mayor Bill de Blasio ripped President Trump for the airstrike on Thursday that killed Qasem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. De Blasio’s comment triggered a withering blast from former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who had previously ripped de Blasio for his inaction targeting anti-Semitism.
De Blasio tweeted, “Worried for our city + our nation. Without the approval of Congress, the US Government effectively declared war on Iran tonight. The American people had no say in the matter, despite voting time + again to stop endless wars + bring our troops home. This one will not end soon.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Worried for our city + our nation. Without the approval of Congress, the US Government effectively declared war on Iran tonight. The American people had no say in the matter, despite voting time + again to stop endless wars + bring our troops home. This one will not end soon.
&mdash; Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1212950046863478789?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hikind angrily replied, “That Shabbat when my mother recounted her horrors in Auschwitz, you vowed to always stand up against those who want to harm Jews. No one person posed a bigger threat to the Jewish people than ‘We will wipe Israel off the face of the earth’ Qasem Soleimani. You lied to my mom.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
That Shabbat when my mother recounted her horrors in Auschwitz, you vowed to always stand up against those who want to harm Jews. 
No one person posed a bigger threat to the Jewish people than ”We will wipe Israel off the face of the earth” Qasem Soleimani. 
You lied to my mom. <a href="https://t.co/vGgB2illTL">https://t.co/vGgB2illTL</a>
&mdash; Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) <a href="https://twitter.com/HikindDov/status/1213115890990010368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last week, Hikind <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ny-dem-eviscerates-de-blasio-blaming-trump-for-anti-semitic-attacks-those-jewish-communities-love-the-president">appeared on Fox &amp; Friends</a>, where he <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/dov-hikind-slams-de-blasio-for-blaming-washington-for-rise-of-anti-semitism-hes-childish">ripped de Blasio </a>for blaming President Trump for the recent rash of anti-Semitic attacks. Hikind named the Jewish communities that had been hit by the attacks, then asserted, &#8220;All of these communities: they love the president. They are his greatest supporters.&#8221;
De Blasio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/de-blasio-appears-to-blame-trump-for-violence-against-jews">had stated</a>, &#8220;An atmosphere of hate has been developing in this country over the last few years. A lot of it is emanating from Washington and it&#8217;s having an effect on all of us.”
Fox News’ Ed Henry interrupted, “Wait, so you’re blaming the president by saying it comes from Washington.”
De Blasio answered, “Not just the president, I’m saying, but we have to be clear: we need a different tone starting in Washington; we had, by the way, with Democrats and Republicans both in the White House, that encourage this country to actually find some unity and some common ground. We haven’t had that the last few years.”
Hikind started his attack on de Blasio by saying:
<blockquote>First off, it’s an excuse. It’s childish. Being in elementary school or kindergarten, you’d blame someone else. He’s the mayor of the city of New York. He is in charge. And isn’t it fascinating that all of these communities that have been victimized by anti-Semitism, unprecedented anti-Semitism, in New York, in neighboring New Jersey now, in Monsey, all of these communities: they love the president. They are his greatest supporters. And by the way, most of them are Democrats. The love the president. So you have these ‘experts,’ like the mayor of New York and the governor; they’re the ‘experts,’ that it is Washington, it is the president that is responsible.</blockquote>
He continued:
<blockquote>It is just not true, and it is an excuse. You’re the mayor; you’re responsible; do your job, which you have not done up until now. Don’t look for excuses. Don’t blame the president. And as I said: Borough Park; Williamsburg; Crown Heights; Monsey: they love —The president’s approval rating in those communities is above 90%. So how dare the mayor insinuate what he’s insinuating.</blockquote>
Fox Host Pete Hegseth asked, “So when those communities, those Jewish communities look at the hate that they’re facing, they’re not looking at right-wing hate or views; they’re looking at something quite different.”
Hikind replied:
<blockquote>It’s not right-wing period, unless you’re blind, unless you want to fool yourself. If you look at those who have perpetrated the hate, we know who they are. Video surveillance; we see who they are: they’re not white people. They’re not alternate-right. Most of them are minorities, so stop—how do you solve a problem if you refuse to acknowledge and deal with the problem. And that’s exactly what the mayor is doing.
The mayor’s a nice guy, he cares about anti-Semitism, but he hasn’t done very much to deal with the problem, and blaming the president? That’s playing to the base.  That’s not being honest; that’s being dishonest. But he’s more interested in the politics than he is in dealing with the hate. No American, no New Yorker, should be afraid to walk the streets. No parent should be afraid to let their kids out in the street. This is America.</blockquote>
&nbsp;

New York mayor Bill de Blasio speaks on stage during 2019

De Blasio Rips Trump For Airstrike Killing Soleimani. Dov Hikind Shreds Him.

On New Year’s Eve, a Domino’s Pizza in New York City’s Times Square decided to sell $30 pizzas to those awaiting the 2020 ball drop, reports the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/12/31/dominos-sells-30-pizzas-to-times-square-ball-drop-revelers-on-new-years-eve/">New York Post</a>.
Upset by the restaurant’s alleged price increase, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took to social media to express himself:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Jacking up your prices on people trying to celebrate the holidays? Classy, <a href="https://twitter.com/dominos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dominos</a>.
To the thousands who came to Times Square last night to ring in 2020, I’m sorry this corporate chain exploited you — stick it to them by patronizing one of our fantastic LOCAL pizzerias. <a href="https://t.co/rO6I9oYIku">pic.twitter.com/rO6I9oYIku</a>
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1212427695595905024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>Jacking up your prices on people trying to celebrate the holidays? Classy, <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/dominos">@dominos</a>. To the thousands who came to Times Square last night to ring in 2020, I’m sorry this corporate chain exploited you — stick it to them by patronizing one of our fantastic LOCAL pizzerias.</blockquote>
For this tweet, the mayor was ratioed big time. While de Blasio’s tweet has 1,667 “likes” and 339 retweets as of publication, it has been commented on approximately 5,500 times.
User Ethan Case wrote: “Even at $30 its price competitive with full pies at any of those ‘local’ pizzerias near times square on a normal day, and they have to pay delivery guys to run that pizza through a crown on foot b/c people can&#8217;t leave their position to go to a pizza place.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
Even at $30 its price competitive with full pies at any of those &#8220;local&#8221; pizzerias near times square on a normal day, and they have to pay delivery guys to run that pizza through a crown on foot b/c people can&#8217;t leave their position to go to a pizza place.
— Ethan Case (@EthanCase) <a href="https://twitter.com/EthanCase/status/1212429157008920577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
User Emily Barry echoed Case, writing: “First, $30 is not that far off from what a large pizza costs around Times Square anyway, and the added $ to get it to through the crowds to the person is completely justified. Second, Dominos franchise operations are also owned by hardworking NYers. This is a bad take.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
First, $30 is not that far off from what a large pizza costs around Times Square anyway, and the added $ to get it to through the crowds to the person is completely justified. Second, Dominos franchise operations are also owned by hardworking NYers. This is a bad take.
— Emily Barry (@emilyhbarry) <a href="https://twitter.com/emilyhbarry/status/1212453424949796871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
They’re not incorrect. The Daily Wire surveyed several local pizza restaurants around Times Square, and found large pepperoni pies ranging from $23.95 before tip to $31.57 before tip.
A large pepperoni pizza from the Times Square Domino’s location goes for approximately $17.24 before taxes, tip, or delivery fees. Once tax and delivery are added in, and with a 20% tip, you’re looking at a $28.73 pizza.
User The Safest Space made a salient point, writing: “And if the $30 was too expensive then nobody would have bought it. The market worked perfectly here, people who really wanted pizza got it despite the chaos of NYE in Times Square.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
And if the $30 was too expensive then nobody would have bought it. The market worked perfectly here, people who really wanted pizza got it despite the chaos of NYE in Times Square
— The Safest Space (@TheSafestSpace) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSafestSpace/status/1212454525510000641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
User Marie Brown wrote: “He wants $15 minimum wage with $1 burgers and $5 pizzas. He has never had to make a payroll or earn a dollar through earned revenue. Taxes, fees and fines are his sources of revenue.  He should call out the high personal property taxes in NYC and leave his local businesses alone.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
He wants $15 minimum wage with $1 burgers and $5 pizzas. He has never had to make a payroll or earn a dollar through earned revenue. Taxes, fees and fines are his sources of revenue. He should call out the high personal property taxes in NYC and leave his local businesses alone.
— Marie Brown (@mariebrown) <a href="https://twitter.com/mariebrown/status/1212905665271881728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
Mayor de Blasio has been championing higher minimum wages for several years now. As a matter of fact, as of January 1, 2020, New York City’s $15/hour minimum wage law goes into full effect.
According to the <a href="https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2019/12/23/new-yorks-minimum-wage-rising-again-heres-what-itll-2020/2586881001/">Democrat and Chronicle</a>:
<blockquote>Wages are finally reaching $15 an hour this year – at least in New York City, where workers at small businesses with 10 or less employees will be receiving a $1 raise from the current $14 per hour wage. Large New York City employers with 11 or more employees began paying $15 last year, as did city fast-food employers.</blockquote>
As to the mayor’s suggestion that New Yorkers shun Domino’s and patronize “local pizzerias” instead, a spokesperson for the company <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/varney-bill-de-blasio-dominos-pizza-times-square">told</a> Fox Business Network:
<blockquote>Every store in [New York City] is owned by a local resident. &#8230; Every employee is a local New York resident. Those stores provide jobs to thousands of his fellow citizens. With his comments, the mayor is suggesting that New Yorkers who own or work at a franchise are “lesser than” those who don&#8217;t.</blockquote>

Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio Rebukes Times Square Domino’s For Selling $30 Pizzas At NYE Ball Drop; Gets Wrecked On Social Media

Dominoes pizza

Economy

In October 2018, during Sabbath morning services, a white supremacist attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, murdering 11 people and wounding another six. In April 2019, in the middle of Passover, a white supremacist attacked the Chabad of Poway synagogue, murdering one person and seriously wounding another three. Both incidents started absolutely necessary conversations about the prevalence and nature of the white supremacist threat to Jews across the country.
Four people were murdered at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City by self-described Black Hebrew Israelites just weeks ago; five people were stabbed at a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, New York; this week alone, New York police are investigating at least nine anti-Semitic attacks. The upsurge of violence against Jews in New York in particular has finally prompted commentary from Democratic politicians ranging from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who just weeks ago expressed shock at anti-Semitism reaching &#8220;the doorstep of New York City&#8221;; to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who expressed puzzlement at the attacks, noting broadly: &#8220;This is an intolerant time in our country. We see anger; we see hatred exploding.&#8221;
This isn&#8217;t new. Back in 2018, The New York Times admitted there was a massive spike in anti-Semitic attacks in the city — and even acknowledged that the newspaper of record had failed to cover that surging anti-Semitism because &#8220;it refuses to conform to an easy narrative with a single ideological enemy.&#8221; But that has always been true of anti-Semitism. It&#8217;s possible, as the Times should recognize, to walk and chew gum at the same time in covering anti-Semitism.
But it&#8217;s not mere lack of focus and time preventing the media from taking anti-Semitism in New York seriously. It&#8217;s the identity of the attackers. Armin Rosen wrote for Tablet Magazine back in July 2019 about the Jew hatred in New York and correctly noted &#8220;that the victims are most often outwardly identifiable, i.e., religious rather than secularized Jews, and the perpetrators who have been recorded on CCTV cameras are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic.&#8221; This throws the media — and many left-leaning Jewish organizations — into spasms of confusion, since it cuts directly against the supposed alliance of intersectionality so beloved by the political Left. White supremacists attacking left-leaning Jews fits a desired narrative. Black teenagers beating up Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg doesn&#8217;t.
And so the Left ignores the wrong type of anti-Semitism.
The same media that will ask whether President Donald Trump&#8217;s executive orders designed to protect Jews on campus are ackshually anti-Semitic will ignore the fact that former President Barack Obama sat in Jeremiah Wright&#8217;s church for 20 years — the same Jeremiah Wright who railed against Jews and Israel routinely during those years; who said Jews kept Obama from talking with him after the election; and who avers that &#8220;Jesus was a Palestinian.&#8221; Democratic candidates who suggest that Trump has emboldened anti-Semites will make pilgrimage to Rev. Al Sharpton, who was instrumental in not one but two anti-Semitic riots. The same commentators who will police Republican references to George Soros for hints of anti-Semitism completely excuse open anti-Semitism when it comes from Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. It&#8217;s deemed completely vital by our intelligentsia to survey white Americans for signs of white supremacy and, by extension, signs of anti-Semitism. Those same intelligentsia will patently ignore the fact that anti-Semitic attitudes among black Americans far outweigh similar attitudes among other racial groups, according to repeated polling by the Anti-Defamation League.
Anti-Semitism grows when the victims become secondary and the perpetrators become primary. If you&#8217;re only concerned about anti-Semitism from white supremacists but utterly blithe about Jews being beaten in the streets of one of the nation&#8217;s largest cities by suspects who clearly are not white supremacists, you&#8217;re part of the problem. And that goes for those who govern New York, from de Blasio to Cuomo.

Bill De Blasio

SHAPIRO: When Anti-Semitism Doesn’t Matter

On Monday, former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind appeared on Fox &amp; Friends, where he <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/dov-hikind-slams-de-blasio-for-blaming-washington-for-rise-of-anti-semitism-hes-childish">ripped New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio</a> for blaming President Trump for the recent rash of anti-Semitic attacks. Hikind named the Jewish communities that had been hit by the attacks, then asserted, &#8220;All of these communities: they love the president. They are his greatest supporters.&#8221;
De Blasio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/de-blasio-appears-to-blame-trump-for-violence-against-jews">had stated</a>, &#8220;An atmosphere of hate has been developing in this country over the last few years. A lot of it is emanating from Washington and it&#8217;s having an effect on all of us.”
Fox News’ Ed Henry interrupted, “Wait, so you’re blaming the president by saying it comes from Washington.”
De Blasio answered, “Not just the president, I’m saying, but we have to be clear: we need a different tone starting in Washington; we had, by the way, with Democrats and Republicans both in the White House, that encourage this country to actually find some unity and some common ground. We haven’t had that the last few years.”
Hikind started his attack on De Blasio by saying:
<blockquote>First off, it’s an excuse. It’s childish. Being in elementary school or kindergarten, you’d blame someone else. He’s the mayor of the city of New York. He is in charge. And isn’t it fascinating that all of these communities that have been victimized by anti-Semitism, unprecedented anti-Semitism, in New York, in neighboring New Jersey now, in Monsey, all of these communities: they love the president. They are his greatest supporters. And by the way, most of them are Democrats. The love the president. So you have these ‘experts,’ like the mayor of New York and the governor; they’re the ‘experts,’ that it is Washington, it is the president that is responsible.</blockquote>
He continued:
<blockquote>It is just not true, and it is an excuse. You’re the mayor; you’re responsible; do your job, which you have not done up until now. Don’t look for excuses. Don’t blame the president. And as I said: Borough Park; Williamsburg; Crown Heights; Monsey: they love —The president’s approval rating in those communities is above 90%. So how dare the mayor insinuate what he’s insinuating.</blockquote>
Fox Host Pete Hegseth asked, “So when those communities, those Jewish communities look at the hate that they’re facing, they’re not looking at right-wing hate or views; they’re looking at something quite different.”
Hikind replied:
<blockquote>It’s not right-wing period, unless you’re blind, unless you want to fool yourself. If you look at those who have perpetrated the hate, we know who they are. Video surveillance; we see who they are: they’re not white people. They’re not alternate-right. Most of them are minorities, so stop—how do you solve a problem if you refuse to acknowledge and deal with the problem. And that’s exactly what the mayor is doing.
The mayor’s a nice guy, he cares about anti-Semitism, but he hasn’t done very much to deal with the problem, and blaming the president? That’s playing to the base.  That’s not being honest; that’s being dishonest. But he’s more interested in the politics than he is in dealing with the hate. No American, no New Yorker, should be afraid to walk the streets. No parent should be afraid to let their kids out in the street. This is America.</blockquote>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=6118850110001&#038;w=466&#038;h=263"></script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href="https://www.foxnews.com">foxnews.com</a></noscript>

Republican Presidential Hopeful Rick Perry Speaks To The Media In New York City

NY Dem Eviscerates De Blasio Blaming Trump For Anti-Semitic Attacks: Those Jewish Communities Love The President

Donald Trump

In an interview with <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/after-string-of-anti-semitic-attacks-de-blasio-laments-hatred-emanating-from-washington">Fox News</a>, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio seemingly blamed President Trump for the wave of anti-Semitic acts in and around New York City, saying, “An atmosphere of hate has been developing in this country over the last few years. A lot of it is emanating from Washington and it&#8217;s having an effect on all of us.”
Fox News host Ed Henry played for De Blasio the remarks of former Democrat state assemblyman Dov Hikind, who in the wake of the mass stabbings at a synagogue in Monsey, New York over the weekend voiced his fury on Fox News at New York’s elected officials, saying, “Unfortunately, the leadership, the mayor of New York, what’s his plan? That’s all what I wanted to know. I want to know what’s his plan? For him to tell me, every time there’s an anti-Semitic incident, that he condemns it, that he feels the pain, and then he goes home and waits for the next incident and does the same thing; what is going to be done by the mayor? The governor?”
Henry noted that Hikind had openly condemned the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the Left, then asked De Blasio if he would condemn the rhetoric of Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
De Blasio protested, “I have! I have! When I think something is anti-Semitic, I say it. I’ve said it about fellow Democrats. But I also want us to be clear about what’s happening: An atmosphere of hate has been developing in this country over the last few years. A lot of it is emanating from Washington and it&#8217;s having an effect on all of us.”
Henry interrupted, “Wait, so you’re blaming the president by saying it comes from Washington.”
De Blasio answered, &#8220;Not just the president, I’m saying, but we have to be clear: we need a different tone starting in Washington; we had, by the way, with Democrats and Republicans both in the White House, that encourage this country to actually find some unity and some common ground. We haven’t had that the last few years.”
Last June, after a string of anti-Semitic acts had taken place in and around New York City, De Blasio blamed the political Right. As the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/06/04/de-blasio-says-anti-semitism-is-strictly-a-right-wing-movement/">New York Post</a> reported, De Blasio stated, “I think the ideological movement that is anti-Semitic is the right-wing movement.”
The Post noted, “De Blasio said he did not agree with a claim by a reporter that there is also rising anti-Semitism ‘on the left in the BDS movement and around the world.’&#8221;
De Blasio stated, “I want to be very, very clear: the violent threat, the threat that is ideological is very much from the Right.” Chaim Deutsch, a Brooklyn Democrat, snapped back, “I don’t agree with the mayor. I have not seen any white supremacists coming in here committing these hate crimes.” Staten Island Republican Borelli mocked De Blasio, saying, “A simple look at where anti-Semitic hate crimes have occurred just disproves this– unless you count central Brooklyn as the home of a vast right-wing conspiracy. Bill de Blasio regularly says stupid things, but this is literally the stupidest effing thing he’s ever said.”
&nbsp;

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio Accepts Resignation Of NYPD Commissioner O&#8217;Neill, And Names Predecessor

De Blasio Appears To Blame Trump For Violence Against Jews

On Sunday, it was learned by <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/03/nearly-900-city-inmates-may-be-freed-even-before-bail-reform-law-takes-effect/">The New York Post</a> that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has plans to release nearly 900 inmates before the new year, days before a new bail-reform law takes effect.
But the criminals don&#8217;t just get early release; New York City mayor and failed 2020 presidential candidate Bill de Blasio is sweetening the deal, the Post reported, by giving the convicts free Mets tickets, gift cards, and movie passes to entice them into showing up for their court dates.
“You’re literally rewarding them for committing a crime,’’ a senior staffer in Manhattan Criminal Court told the New York outlet.
And it gets better. De Blasio has admitted that he&#8217;s not even sure how much the program will cost, or where the funds will come from to fund Convict Day in Citi Field Stadium.
&#8220;Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted Wednesday he has no idea how much his administration is spending on tickets to movies and Mets games used to entice accused criminals into returning for their mandated court appearances — three days after The Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/03/nearly-900-city-inmates-may-be-freed-even-before-bail-reform-law-takes-effect/">revealed the program’s existence</a>,&#8221; the Post reported Wednesday.
“I’m not aware of the specifics of the budgeting and how it works and where the funds come from,” the mayor said during a press conference.
The program is reportedly run by de Blasio&#8217;s &#8220;Office of Criminal Justice in conjunction with the not-for-profit Criminal Justice Agency,&#8221; the Post noted.
“In a world where want speedier trials, if small incentives are part of what actually makes it work then that’s a smart policy,” de Blasio argued.
Think the deal can&#8217;t get any sweeter for the law-abiding citizens of NY? Think again. The criminals who would potentially receive early release and score sweet Mets tickets have committed violent crimes, including homicide, according to the Post:
<blockquote>&#8220;The more than 400 offenses include such heinous acts as criminally negligent homicide, aggravated assault on a child under 11 and selling drugs on or near school grounds, according to a memo being circulated by prosecutors across the state and obtained by The Post.&#8221;</blockquote>
Trump reacted to the expected release of the criminals on Tuesday, writing via Twitter: &#8220;So sad to see what is happening in New York where Governor Cuomo &amp; Mayor DeBlasio are letting out 900 Criminals, some hardened &amp; bad, onto the sidewalks of our rapidly declining, because of them, city. The Radical Left Dems are killing our cities. NYPD Commissioner is resigning!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
So sad to see what is happening in New York where Governor Cuomo &amp; Mayor DeBlasio are letting out 900 Criminals, some hardened &amp; bad, onto the sidewalks of our rapidly declining, because of them, city. The Radical Left Dems are killing our cities. NYPD Commissioner is resigning!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1191718159583240192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The New York City mayor was once a 2020 hopeful, but his dismal polling triggered him to drop out of the race in September.
“Getting out there, being able to hear people’s concerns, address them with new ideas, has been an extraordinary experience,” de Blasio said at the time, as noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-mocks-de-blasios-exit-presidential-race-nyc-ashe-schow">The Daily Wire</a>. “But I have to tell you, at the same time, I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary election and it’s clearly not my time so I’m going to end my presidential campaign.”
Trump was quick to mock the short-lived run, tweeting:
<blockquote>“Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, <a href="https://twitter.com/BilldeBlasio">@BilldeBlasio</a>, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking [sic] dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!”</blockquote>
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Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, <a href="https://twitter.com/BilldeBlasio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BilldeBlasio</a>, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1175017370139729926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Mayor Bill de Blasio

CRIMINALS FIRST: De Blasio Giving Away 900 Mets Tickets To Convicts. Seriously.

Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio mocked President Trump after he announced he would leave New York and make Florida the state of his permanent residence. Cuomo <a href="https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo/status/1190059166129426432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1190059166129426432&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fandrew-cuomo-snaps-good-riddance-at-trump-leaving-ny-don-jr-levels-">tweeted,</a>&#8221; Good riddance. It’s not like <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a> paid taxes here anyway&#8230; He’s all yours, Florida.” De Blasio <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1190118081181487104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1190118081181487104&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2019%2F11%2Fhateful-idiots-nyc-mayor-de-blasio-and-ny-governor-cuomo-">echoed</a>, “Our deepest condolences to the good people of Florida as Trump attempts to outrun his past (and near future).”
What Cuomo and de Blasio ignore are these salient facts: more people reportedly leave New York City daily than any other city in the nation, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, between July 2017 and July 2018, New York state lost 48,560 people, the biggest plunge in the U.S. The <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/01/19/why-more-people-are-leaving-new-york-than-any-other-state/">New York Post</a> added, “In 2017, roughly 131 people left the metropolitan area each day, compared with 43 in 2014.”
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-29/new-york-city-metro-area-exodus-soars-to-277-people-every-day">Bloomberg News</a> wrote in August that according to 2018 Census data, “Scores of people are leaving the New York City area behind every day. New York leads all U.S. metro areas as the largest net loser with 277 people moving every day — more than double the exodus of 132 just one year ago.” Bloomberg added, “Seven cities had on average more than 100 new arrivals every day. Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Austin.”
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/09/05/new-yorkers-are-leaving-the-city-in-droves-heres-why-theyre-moving-and-where-theyre-going/#455da51a41ac">Forbes</a> noted in September 2019:
<blockquote>The costly living expenses, crumbling infrastructure and high tax rates are a big problem for residents. If you live in NYC, you are forced to pay exorbitant taxes. The schools, bridges, tunnels, trains, airports and hospitals are falling apart. Casually walk the streets of NYC and you’ll notice that they are crowded and dirty … The politicians don&#8217;t seem to care. Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, was out of the state—busy with his Don Quixote quest for the presidency of the United States—while New York suffered a major blackout.</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/3-reasons-so-many-people-are-getting-the-hell-out-of-the-northeast-2018-10-20">Marketwatch</a> reported in January 2019, “<a href="https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/survey-reveals-americans-biggest-money-fears-2017/">Data released by personal finance site GoBankingRates.com</a> reveals that the No. 1 financial fear of people who live in the Northeast is that they will live in debt forever; the Northeast is the only region of the country ranking this factor as No. 1.”
As Kristin Tate wrote in <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/442210-moving-from-new-york-to-florida-saves-much-more-than-just-taxes">The Hill </a>in May 2019 of a fictional character considering whether to move to Florida from New York, his “$100,000 salary would go much further outside the Empire State. After inflation and relative costs, that amount would be equivalent to only $87,000. In Florida, the same $100,000 is worth roughly $101,000. Tally up the totals and it is easy to understand why so many people flee New York for Florida, especially as they enter peak earning years and think about retirement.”
Trump wrote on Twitter, “I cherish New York, and the people of New York, and always will, but unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state. Few have been treated worse. I hated having to make this decision, but in the end it will be best for all concerned.”

Erin Scott/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

NY Dems Mock Trump For Leaving. Data Shows Trump Is Far From Alone.

Florida

President Donald Trump slammed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio – both Democrats – on Friday after they lashed out at him for his decision to leave New York and make Florida his permanent residence after his time in the White House is done.
&#8220;I love New York, but New York can never be great again under the current leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo (the brother of Fredo), or Mayor Bill DeBlasio,&#8221; Trump tweeted. &#8220;Cuomo has weaponized the prosecutors to do his dirty work (and to keep him out of jams), a reason some don’t want to be in New York, and another reason they are leaving. Taxes and energy costs are way too high, Upstate is being allowed to die as other nearby states frack &amp; drill for Gold (oil) while reducing taxes &amp; creating jobs by the thousands.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8230;.in New York, and another reason they are leaving. Taxes and energy costs are way too high, Upstate is being allowed to die as other nearby states frack &amp; drill for Gold (oil) while reducing taxes &amp; creating jobs by the thousands. NYC is getting dirty &amp; unsafe again, as&#8230;.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1190375830247104513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;NYC is getting dirty &amp; unsafe again, as our great police are being disrespected, even with water dumped on them, because a Mayor and Governor just don’t ‘have their backs.’ New York’s Finest must be cherished, respected and loved,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;Too many prople are leaving our special New York. Great leaders would work with a President and Federal Government that wants our wonerful City and State to flourish and thrive. I Love New York!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8230;..with a President and Federal Government that wants our wonerful City and State to flourish and thrive. I Love New York!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1190375834529468423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
The president&#8217;s remarks came after Cuomo and de Blasio <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/trump-leaves-new-york-for-florida-de-blasio-and-cuomo-mock">attacked</a> him for moving out of the state.
&#8220;Don’t let the door hit you on the way out or whatever,&#8221; de Blasio tweeted. &#8220;Our deepest condolences to the good people of Florida as Trump attempts to outrun his past (and near future).&#8221;
&#8220;Good riddance,&#8221; Cuomo tweeted. &#8220;It’s not like <a class="PrettyLink profile customisable h-card" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" data-mentioned-user-id="25073877" data-scribe="element:mention">@realDonaldTrump</a> paid taxes here anyway&#8230; He’s all yours, Florida.&#8221;
CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/why-president-trumps-move-from-new-york-to-florida-could-hit-a-wall.html">noted</a> the tax benefits that come with living in Florida versus living in New York:
<blockquote>The warm weather isn’t the only reason why someone would want to leave New York for the Sunshine State.
Florida doesn’t tax personal income, and it has no estate or inheritance tax.
In New York, the top state income tax rate is 8.82%. Residents of New York City also face top rate of 3.8% on income.</blockquote>
The remarks from the New York Democrats came after Trump tweeted on Thursday: &#8220;1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House, is the place I have come to love and will stay for, hopefully, another 5 years as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, but my family and I will be making Palm Beach, Florida, our Permanent Residence. I cherish New York, and the people of New York, and always will, but unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state. Few have been treated worse.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8230;.New York, and always will, but unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state. Few have been treated worse. I hated having to make&#8230;.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1190079192358105088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
Trump added, &#8220;I hated having to make this decision, but in the end it will be best for all concerned. As President, I will always be there to help New York and the great people of New York. It will always have a special place in my heart!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
&#8230;.this decision, but in the end it will be best for all concerned. As President, I will always be there to help New York and the great people of New York. It will always have a special place in my heart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1190079193582899200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2019</a></blockquote>

Trump

Trump Punches Back At ‘The Brother Of Fredo’ And De Blasio Over Leaving New York

The New York Post has done it again. The paper best-known for its hilarious front-page headlines (the most famous of which being “Headless Body in Topless Bar”) published an “obituary” to commemorate New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s exit from the Democratic primary.
“Obituary: Bill de Blasio’s presidential campaign, May 15, 2019-Sept. 20, 2019, dead of ego-induced psychosis,” the fake obituary reads. It continues:
<blockquote>Neighbors said the body had been in rigor mortis for some time.
It died doing what it loves best – being as far away from New York City as possible.
It was surrounded in the end by friends, MSNBC hosts. It’s in a better place now – a Park Slope gym.
Whether it was in the empty churches of South Carolina, the sun-kissed empty deserts of Nevada or begging someone, anyone, to talk to de Blasio at the Iowa State Fair, the campaign always gave 100% &#8211; and always polled at 1%.
“Can’t” was never part of its vocabulary. Neither was “won’t,” “please stop,” or “this is a dumb idea.”
The campaign is survived by hotel industry officials who expect favors from City Hall. And 8 million suffering New Yorkers.
In lieu of flowers, de Blasio asks for donations to his slush fund.</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“In lieu of flowers, de Blasio asks for donations to his slush fund.” <a href="https://t.co/RNoreC4A5o">pic.twitter.com/RNoreC4A5o</a>
— Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) <a href="https://twitter.com/harrysiegel/status/1175376107564126208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
De Blasio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/52020/trump-mocks-de-blasios-exit-presidential-race-nyc-ashe-schow">announced</a> he was abandoning his bid for the Democratic nomination Friday Morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Getting out there, being able to hear people’s concerns, address them with new ideas, has been an extraordinary experience,” de Blasio told the hosts. “But I have to tell you, at the same time, I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary election and it&#8217;s clearly not my time so I&#8217;m going to end my presidential campaign.”
De Blasio consistently polled below 1%. His final polling average, according to RealClear Politics, was 0.2%, above only Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, The Daily Wire previously reported.
The Post “obituary” highlights some of the lowlights of de Blasio’s campaign. De Blasio has been regularly criticized for decrying climate change while taking SUVs across town nearly every day so that he can use a Park Slope gym. As for the hotel-industry favors, a state watchdog agency revealed the day before de Blasio exited the race that three developers settled after being accused of making illegal gifts to de Blasio. The City <a href="https://thecity.nyc/2019/09/state-fines-developers-for-their-gifts-to-mayor-de-blasio.html">reported</a> that the developers wrote “five-figure checks to his now-defunct charity, the Campaign for One New York.”
De Blasio also agreed to require hotel developers to seek a special permit after a major industry union announced its support for his presidential campaign, <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-de-blasio-hotel-development-special-permit-htc-trades-council-20190826-65pehba2pnagddulbup7tjwjam-story.html">reported</a> the New York Daily News.
De Blasio’s campaign may be over, but investigations into his campaign finances are not. Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2019/09/20/fec-finds-fault-with-de-blasios-campaign-finances-1203806">reported</a> Friday that the campaign received a letter from the Federal Election Commission detailing issues with his fundraising practices:
<blockquote>In a July public filing, the de Blasio camp noted a $52,852 debt owed to the NY Fairness PAC, a state political action committee controlled by the mayor. The campaign had argued that this was a permissible loan from one organization to another. But the FEC&#8217;s senior campaign finance analyst, Robin Kelly, wrote this week that the practice is not allowed by campaign finance rules.
Such transfers are capped at $5,000 per election cycle, Kelly&#8217;s letter said, meaning the campaign took more than ten times the permissible amount from the state PAC and spent it on travel and advertising. Kelly mandated that the campaign refile an amended report by late October that corrects the transfer, and noted that an audit of the campaign may follow.
The campaign repaid the loan Thursday, the day it received the FEC’s letter, spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg said.</blockquote>
Politico further reported that “donors who had already given the max to de Blasio&#8217;s presidential campaign were also donating to both of his PACs. And PAC money was being shifted back into the presidential warchest.”

New York Post Publishes Hilarious Obituary For Mayor De Blasio’s Campaign

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Friday morning, prompting a mocking tweet from President Donald Trump.
De Blasio, 58, announced he was exiting the race during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
&#8220;Getting out there, being able to hear people&#8217;s concerns, address them with new ideas, has been an extraordinary experience,&#8221; de Blasio said. &#8220;But I have to tell you, at the same time, I feel like I&#8217;ve contributed all I can to this primary election and it&#8217;s clearly not my time so I&#8217;m going to end my presidential campaign.&#8221;
In response to de Blasio’s announcement, Trump trolled the former candidate on Twitter.
“Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, <a href="https://twitter.com/BilldeBlasio">@BilldeBlasio</a>, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking [sic] dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!” Trump tweeted.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, <a href="https://twitter.com/BilldeBlasio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BilldeBlasio</a>, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1175017370139729926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
De Blasio had, in fact, failed to poll above 0%. He is currently hovering around 0.2% on the RealClear Politics <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html">polling average</a>. That’s down from his peak polling average from June, where he reached 1%.
The only person on the RealClear polling average below de Blasio was Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, who is polling at absolute zero. A Siena College <a href="https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/SNY0919-Crosstabs-091719.pdf">poll</a> from earlier this week put de Blasio below 1%, meaning even people in his home state of New York didn’t want him to be president.
De Blasio announced he was running for president back in May, highlighting the progressive policies of New York City such as the city’s minimum wage of $15 per hour.
&#8220;As president, I will take on the wealthy, I will take on the big corporations, I will not rest until this government serves working people,&#8221; de Blasio said in his announcement video. &#8220;As mayor of the largest city in America, I&#8217;ve done just that.&#8221;
De Blasio announced he was running for president even though an “overwhelming majority of the mayor&#8217;s constituents said last month that they did not want to see him join the 2020 field,” USA Today <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/15/new-york-city-mayor-bill-de-blasio-announce-2020-presidential-bid-thursday/3687622002/">reported</a> at the time. A Quinnipiac poll published in April found that 76% of voters in New York City did not want the mayor to run for president.
De Blasio struggled to appear radically progressive in a field of radically progressive candidates. He chastised former Rep. Beto O’Rourke during a debate for suggesting Medicare and private health insurance could coexist.
“Private insurance is not working for tens of millions of Americans when you talk about the co-pays,” de Blasio said. “The premiums, the out of pocket expenses, it’s not working.”
This assertion didn’t set him apart from top-tier candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who support a “Medicare for All” health insurance solution. The plan would increase taxes on middle-class Americans, something Warren <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/20/taxes-are-the-least-of-elizabeth-warrens-medicare-for-all-problems.html">has avoided discussing</a> in recent weeks. She has been so elusive on the subject that left-wing late-night host Stephen Colbert actually <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/09/18/stephen-colbert-grills-elizabeth-warren-on-middle-class-tax-hikes/">gave her campaign advice</a> on how to handle the issue.

Bill DeBlasio

Trump Mocks De Blasio’s Exit From Presidential Race: ‘NYC Is Devastated, He’s Coming Home!’

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