Fox News host <a href="http://www.dailywire.com.topic/jesse-watters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jesse Watters</a> said on Wednesday that New York might be in better shape if the state were to dump current Democratic Governor <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/hochul-wont-hire-back-unvaxxed-health-care-workers-despite-overturned-mandate-worker-shortage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathy Hochul</a> and bring back disgraced former Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was also a Democrat.
Spitzer earned a reputation for holding financial services professionals accountable and rooting out corruption while serving as attorney general of New York — becoming known as the &#8220;Sheriff of Wall Street&#8221; before he became governor in 2007. He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/nyregion/08york.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won in a landslide</a>, earning 69% of the vote — but <a href="https://www.npr.org/2008/03/12/88134976/spitzer-resigns-after-sex-scandal-pressure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned</a> after serving less than two years following reports that he had patronized a prostitution ring.
Watters referenced Spitzer during Wednesday&#8217;s broadcast of the network&#8217;s popular afternoon panel show &#8220;The Five,&#8221; during a conversation about Hochul&#8217;s refusal to reinstate medical professionals who were fired for failing to comply with vaccine mandates even though the state has since dropped the mandates.
Judge Jeanine Pirro quoted Hochul, who explained her decision by claiming that healthcare professionals who did not have the COVID vaccine were putting patients at risk of developing COVID while they were receiving care.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul says she won&#39;t hire unvaccinated healthcare workers despite the mandate being overturned:
&quot;I don’t think the answer is to have someone who comes in who is sick be exposed to someone who can give them COVID-19.&quot;<a href="https://t.co/qy6UICxGd4">pic.twitter.com/qy6UICxGd4</a>
&mdash; Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1617925432111951873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After airing a clip of Hochul&#8217;s comments, Pirro and her co-hosts discussed the fact that the vaccines have been proven to not stop transmission of the virus.
&#8220;She doesn’t know that vaxxed and unvaxxed can still transmit the virus? She doesn’t know that, and she’s the governor?&#8221; Watters asked. &#8220;I mean, what an idiot. Let’s say I go into the ER with a gunshot wound, and I’m bleeding out, you think I care if the nurse is unvaxxed? I think bullets are more dangerous than the ‘rona virus.&#8221;
Watters went on to tie in bail reform and the state&#8217;s still-rampant crime problem, saying, &#8220;We’re [more] afraid of people getting shot than we’re afraid of COVID at this point.&#8221;
That was when he suggested New Yorkers might fare better under the leadership of former Governor Spitzer, saying, &#8220;I don’t care if he sleeps with escorts. He was smart.&#8221;

Squawk Box – Season 20

Fox Host Says NY Should Dump Hochul And Bring Spitzer Back: ‘I Don’t Care If He Sleeps With Escorts, He Was Smart’

Fox Host Jesse Watters Says NY Should Dump Kathy Hochul And Bring Disgraced Governor Eliot Spitzer Back

Jesse Watters

Kathy Hochul

Media

New York

U.S.

Gov. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kathy-hochul" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathy Hochul</a> (D-NY) indicated Monday that she won&#8217;t permit the hiring of health care workers who&#8217;ve declined to get the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID</a> vaccine, despite her vaccine mandate being overturned in the courts and a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ny-healthcare-upended-over-vax-mandate-hospital-stops-delivering-babies-er-closes-wait-times-explode" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serious healthcare worker shortage</a>.
A state Supreme Court judge in Syracuse last week <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/health/2023/01/syracuse-judge-strikes-down-ny-vaccine-mandate-for-health-workers-state-overstepped-authority.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">struck down</a> the statewide vaccine mandate for medical staffers. The mandate was first implemented by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) in 2021, and then Hochul supported the edict when she became governor.
&#8220;Our healthcare systems are in desperate need of staff right now, we’ve had ambulances waiting five hours at our local emergency rooms to unload patients,&#8221; Rochester-based reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/WHEC_JLewke/status/1617630135431368710?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jennifer Lewke</a> <a href="https://www.whec.com/top-news/hochul-is-speaking-in-rochester-at-145-p-m-about-housing-and-lead-exposure-proposals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Hochul. &#8220;The hospitals and nursing homes say they’re waiting for DOH [New York State Department of Health] guidance on whether they can hire any of those workers back. What’s the latest on that?&#8221;
Hochul said she&#8217;s considering legal options to challenge the decision that overturned the mandate and highlighted recruitment efforts for more vaccinated healthcare workers.
The Democrat also acknowledged that the shortage is &#8220;a problem,&#8221; while claiming the answer is not to hire ousted unvaccinated workers. &#8220;I don’t think the answer is to have someone who comes in who is sick, be exposed to someone who can give them coronavirus, give them COVID-19,&#8221; the governor told Lewke. &#8220;I don’t know that that’s the right answer. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s not.&#8221;
&#8220;I think everybody who goes into a healthcare facility or nursing home should have the assurance, and their family members should know, that we have taken all steps to protect the public health and that includes making sure that those who come in contact with them at their time of most vulnerability, when they are sick or elderly, will not pass on the virus,&#8221; Hochul added.
Lewke again pressed the governor, &#8220;Couldn’t there be other safety precautions, masking? Or other mechanisms in order to allow some of them back in? I mean we’re at crisis level here in our hospitals and nursing homes.&#8221;
Hochul said she understood &#8220;the balance&#8221; but asserted that she &#8220;cannot put people into harm’s way, because when you’re going to a health care facility, you expect that you’re not going to come out sicker than you went in, I think that’s something every New Yorker would expect.&#8221;
Hochul is suggesting only unvaccinated people can pass along the virus, but <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/effectiveness/why-measure-effectiveness/breakthrough-cases.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it&#8217;s &#8220;likely that vaccinated people with breakthrough infection or people infected without symptoms can spread the virus to others.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul says she won&#39;t hire unvaccinated healthcare workers despite the mandate being overturned:
&quot;I don’t think the answer is to have someone who comes in who is sick be exposed to someone who can give them COVID-19.&quot;<a href="https://t.co/qy6UICxGd4">pic.twitter.com/qy6UICxGd4</a>
&mdash; Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1617925432111951873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ny-healthcare-upended-over-vax-mandate-hospital-stops-delivering-babies-er-closes-wait-times-explode" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NY Health Care Upended Over Vax Mandate: Hospital Stops Delivering Babies, ER Closes, Wait-Times Explode</a>

Hochul Won’t Hire Back Unvaxxed Health Care Workers Despite Overturned Mandate, Worker Shortage

Gov. Kathy Hochul Won't Hire Unvaxxed Health Care Workers Despite Overturned Mandate, Shortage Crisis

COVID

COVID-19 Vaccine

Health

Former House Speakeri <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/nancy-pelosi-permits-massive-raises-for-house-staffers-that-will-allow-them-to-make-more-than-lawmakers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nancy Pelosi</a> is blaming Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) for the Democratic Party&#8217;s failure to retain control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections.
Although Democrats fared better than they were expected to in the midterms — and Republicans only squeaked by with a slim majority — Pelosi claimed that Democrats could have kept the majority if Hochul had realized sooner that crime was a key issue with voters in her state.
Pelosi made the case in an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/21/opinion/nancy-pelosi-maureen-dowd-interview.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Maureen Dowd for The New York Times, arguing that down-ticket Republicans fared better in New York because Hochul had not had longer coattails.
&#8220;She said that she believed the Democrats could have held onto the House in November if top New York pols had realized that the key issue in that state was crime,&#8221; Dowd explained.
&#8220;The governor didn’t realize soon enough where the trouble was,&#8221; Pelosi said of Hochul, adding that the issue should have been addressed much sooner.
Hochul took a lot of heat from Republicans — not the least of which was her opponent in the 2022 gubernatorial race, Lee Zeldin (R-NY). In addition to calling Hochul out repeatedly for not addressing the issue, Zeldin found himself at the center of a couple of crime stories that he then used to great effect to bolster his point.
During one campaign stop, Zeldin himself was <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/breaking-republican-congressman-and-ny-gubernatorial-candidate-lee-zeldin-attacked-at-campaign-event/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">physically assaulted</a> — however, he and several others were able to subdue his attacker and hold him until police arrived to take him into custody. Zeldin, who was unharmed, resumed his speech on bail reform after the man was taken away — but his attacker&#8217;s quick release from jail only served to back up Zeldin&#8217;s claims that New York was not doing enough to put violent criminals behind bars and keep them there.
Later in the campaign, a <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/twin-daughters-of-ny-gov-hopeful-lee-zeldin-hide-as-shooting-unfolds-outside-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shooting took place</a> just outside Zeldin&#8217;s Long Island home — while his teenaged daughters were in the house doing school work.
&#8220;After my daughters heard the gunshots and the screaming, they ran upstairs, locked themselves in the bathroom and immediately called 911,&#8221; Zeldin explained. &#8220;They acted very swiftly and smartly every step of the way and Diana and I are extremely proud of them.&#8221;
The shooting was reportedly unrelated to Zeldin personally.

Celebrity Sightings In Los Angeles – January 20, 2023

Nancy Pelosi Blames NY Governor Kathy Hochul For Democrats Losing The House

Elections

Nancy Pelosi

Politics

U.S. House of Representatives

Approximately 7,000 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nurse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nurses</a> at two <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/new-york-city" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York City</a> hospitals began a strike on Monday morning over contract disputes.
<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/labor-unions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Union</a> officials failed to reach tentative agreements on Sunday with hospital administrators at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital, according to a <a href="https://www.nysna.org/press/2023/advisory-nysna-nurses-mount-sinai-hospital-and-montefiore-bronx-strike#.Y7wpAnbMKUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the New York State Nurses Association, which boasts more than 42,000 members. Negotiators <a href="https://www.nysna.org/press/2023/nysna-nurses-mount-sinai-morningside-and-west-reach-tentative-agreement#.Y7wo7HbMKUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reached</a> tentative agreements at seven other hospitals that will grant nurses pay raises over the next three years, lower costs for healthcare coverage, and improve staffing standards.
“The entire New York City Labor Movement stands with our nurses, who are courageously taking action against dangerous understaffing that threatens the safety of their patients,” AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council President Vincent Alvarez remarked. “The decision to go on strike is never an easy one, particularly for workers who care so deeply about the patients and communities they serve. But hospital executives created this crisis by failing to hire, train, and retain nurses while at the same time treating themselves to extravagant compensation packages. Now it’s time for them to fix what they’ve broken.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), as well as several members of the State Senate and State Assembly, voiced support for the strike.
“Nurses have been through hell and back for their patients,” Bowman commented. “They already fought unimaginable fights to keep us healthy and alive, and they shouldn’t have to keep fighting. Safe staffing ratios and healthy conditions common in every hospital.”
Roughly 12% of healthcare practitioners in the United States were members of unions as of 2021, according to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. New York had the second-highest overall union membership rate in the nation, with 22.2% of workers belonging to a labor union.
New York State Nurses Association officials encouraged residents to continue seeking healthcare services despite the strikes. Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) called for binding arbitration at Montefiore and Mount Sinai, affirming that the New York State Department of Health will enforce “staffing requirements under the law” at the hospitals.
&#8220;No one puts more on the line to care for New Yorkers than our nurses, which is why my team has been pushing for a fair labor agreement for these dedicated professionals and to ensure they have safe working conditions. For weeks now, we have been working tirelessly with our partners in New York City to broker negotiations between the nurses and affected hospitals and our efforts have achieved significant progress,” she said in a <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-kathy-hochul-negotiations-between-new-york-city-hospitals-and-nurses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “We will continue to work with partners and all parties so that New York City hospitals and nurses can continue to play their critical role in caring for New Yorkers.&#8221;
Some 71% of Americans currently express approval of labor unions, marking the highest degree of support for the organizations in nearly six decades, according to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from Gallup. Roughly one in six American households include a resident union member.
The negotiations in New York City occur after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-legislation-to-avoid-a-nationwide-rail-strike-bernie-sanders-intends-to-block-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nationwide rail strike</a> nearly crippled supply chains ahead of the holiday season. Members of Congress exercised their authority over interstate commerce to intervene in the negotiations under the Railway Labor Act of 1926, preventing the strike through a resolution <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/12/02/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-h-j-res-100-providing-a-resolution-to-avert-a-nationwide-rail-shutdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsed</a> last month by President Joe Biden.

Thousands Of New York City Nurses Go On Strike At Two Hospitals

Thousands Of Nurses At Two New York City Hospitals Go On Strike

Nurses At Two Hospitals Go On Strike

General

Jamaal Bowman

Labor Unions

New York City

Nursing

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York</a> became the sixth state to legalize the practice of composting human remains, a practice that has raised alarm bells among religious groups.
Legislation signed over the weekend by Governor <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/kathy-hochul" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathy Hochul</a> (D-NY) would add “natural organic reduction” alongside cremation and entombment as an acceptable burial method. The new <a href="https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2021/A382">law</a> defines the practice as the “contained, accelerated conversion of human remains to soil” in a “structure, room, or other space” in which decomposition can occur.
New York joins Washington, Colorado, California, Oregon, and Vermont in allowing the novel burial method. Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-CA) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-legalizes-human-composting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> the process last year as “more environmentally friendly” than practices such as cremation, adding that “with climate change and sea-level rise as very real threats to our environment, this is an alternative method of final disposition that won’t contribute emissions into our atmosphere.”
Recompose, a funeral home in Seattle that has encouraged passage of “human composting” legislation across the country, says their <a href="https://recompose.life/our-model/#the-process" target="_blank" rel="noopener">version</a> of the practice requires one-eighth of the energy needed in cremation or conventional burial. Staff members lay the deceased body in a “vessel surrounded by wood chips, alfalfa, and straw” for one month as bacteria catalyze “change on the molecular level, resulting in the formation of a nutrient-dense soil.” Loved ones can then use the material to “enrich conservation land, forests, or gardens.”
Religious groups have been among the most outspoken against the practice, contending that human composting subverts the dignity of the deceased. Josh Buice, the pastor of Pray’s Mill Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and the president of G3 Ministries, remarked to The Daily Wire that human composting is “in complete contradiction to the view historically held by Christians and Jews.”
“Pantheists have argued that everything can be reduced to matter, God is everything and everything is God, and that every existing entity is only one Being. Under this view, there is no difference between wood chips, alfalfa, and a human body,” he said. “From the earliest of times, the human body has been considered sacred. The rationale is based on what is known as the imago Dei, which affirms the fact that God created every person equally in his own image.”
The notion of the image of God in man serves as the ethic undergirding all other assertions regarding the infinite value of humans in the Christian worldview, according to Buice. “The whole of humanity has inestimable value and dignity before God and deserves honor, respect, and protection,” he continued. “Therefore, the sanctity of human life is not determined by sex, ethnicity, age, religion, condition, or socioeconomic status. This is the foundation from which the Christian community advocates for the protection of the preborn and opposes abortion or any form of mutilation of the human body including euthanasia and sex change surgery.”
Buice predicted that human composting will continue to be promoted by lawmakers out of a professed concern for climate change. He nevertheless contended that such practices contrast with historic Christian burial practices which, beyond honoring the deceased, serve to reflect the hope of the resurrection.
“Pagan traditions have practiced cremation and in some cases the burning of the body as a form of sacrifice to their idol,” he said. “However, Christians have buried their loved ones with the final resurrection of the dead in view when Christ returns, the world is renewed, and death is forever banished.”

Female gardener holding a sapling with soil

New York Is The Latest State To Legalize ‘Human Composting’

New York Sanctions 'Human Composting'

Christianity

Death

Religion

New York City Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/eric-adams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Adams</a> defended himself Wednesday after facing criticism last week for fleeing the city as the Big Apple braced for a severe winter storm during the Christmas holiday.
“Every mayor traveled away,” Adams told reporters. “I deserve private time — I’m a believer of that.”
Adams, a retired police captain who took office on January 1, 2022, reportedly took a couple of days off last week to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands while the city of about 8.8 million people braced for the winter blast.
Western New York suffered from a “once in a generation” winter storm that also swept across much of the country, producing dangerous conditions that knocked out power for more than a million customers, foiled holiday travel plans, and killed nearly 30 in the Buffalo area.
Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for the Empire State on Thursday as the approaching winter storm threatened all sorts of hazards, including plummeting temperatures, slick roads, strong winds, and power outages.
However, New York City’s mayor felt he needed to escape the major metropolitan area ahead of the natural disaster.
“I deserve to walk out of the building without a reporter hiding behind a flowerpot — without someone following me,” Adams said. “I deserve a moment to really de-escalate, and there will be many days that my body and my mind is going to tell me, ‘Eric, you need to get away.’”
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/27/eric-adams-went-to-virgin-islands-as-bomb-cyclone-hit-nyc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Adams made the first deputy mayor responsible for the city in his absence, who held a press conference “giving a complete diagnosis of what’s happening.”
First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo offered a defense of her boss, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-city-mayor-eric-adams-skips-town-ahead-of-winter-blast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a>, “Let me just say this to you — he might as well be here because we’ve been speaking constantly throughout the day,” according to the New York Daily News.
Adams further explained the city charter does not state that a mayor has to report his whereabouts to the New York City Press.
“I’m not going to do that,” Adams said. “And I’m not going to apologize for having the mental and physical capacity that’s needed to do the second most difficult job in politics in America.”
Adams returned to the city on Saturday night, where the Post spotted him attending Christmas Eve midnight mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan.
When a reported asked him where he went over the latter portion of the week, Adams said he was “getting some rest and hiding from the Post.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NYC Mayor Eric Adams defends Virgin Islands trip as city prepared for winter storm: 
&quot;I deserve private time. [&#8230;] Nowhere in the city charter does it state I have to report to the New York City press where my whereabouts are, and I&#39;m not going to do that.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/S1fJKWtbjC">pic.twitter.com/S1fJKWtbjC</a>
&mdash; Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1608178881537744897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.

Americans Head To The Polls To Vote In The 2022 Midterm Elections

‘I Deserve Private Time’: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fleeing City Ahead Of Severe Winter Storm

 NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fleeing City Ahead Of Severe Winter Storm

Eric Adams

Severe Weather

A 22-year-old woman was found dead on Christmas Eve after being trapped inside her car for nearly a day during the historic blizzard in Buffalo, New York, last weekend.
Anndel Taylor of Charlotte, North Carolina, was driving home from work on Friday afternoon when her car became stranded in the snowstorm for at least 18 hours, according to local media. The young woman had moved back to Buffalo, where she was born, earlier this year to care for her father after living in Charlotte with her family for the last two decades.
Wanda Brown Steele, Taylor&#8217;s mother, told WSOC she believes her daughter died from carbon monoxide poisoning rather than hypothermia. However, the official cause of death is still unknown.
&#8220;The car was running, and the snow was still coming, so it blocked the pipes, the exhaust pipe,&#8221; Wanda Brown Steele, Taylor&#8217;s mother, told <a href="https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/charlotte-woman-dies-after-getting-stuck-new-york-snowstorm/N5HF2CR76RA4HPABI53KRWMYOY/">WSOC</a>. &#8220;Then, after the car cut off, that&#8217;s when she iced up.&#8221;
Steele told the outlet her daughter called 911 emergency services for assistance and planned to sleep during the blizzard and then walk home. But with more than 40 inches of snow pummeling western New York over the Christmas weekend, authorities could not reach Taylor in what Gov. Kathy Hochul called &#8220;the blizzard of the century.&#8221;
The mother alerted relatives in Buffalo to search for Taylor.
&#8220;That&#8217;s when they busted open the window and seen that she was in there,&#8221; Steele said, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/27/anndel-taylor-22-dies-after-getting-stuck-in-buffalo-snowstorm/">The New York Post</a>.
Shawnequa Brown, Taylor&#8217;s sister, told WCOS that she &#8220;was telling my sister that she was scared.&#8221;
While Taylor waited inside her vehicle, she sent her family two videos showing the gravity of her situation, showing her car windshields covered in snow and then slightly rolling down her window to show the treacherous weather conditions.
Taylor became one of at least 28 people killed in what some reports indicated the storm was the worst blizzard to hit Buffalo in 45 years, coming close to a blizzard that hit the city in 1977 and killed nearly 30 people.
Although the winter storm that struck the city ended on Christmas morning, officials fear the death toll will rise.
Sylvia Taylor, Taylor&#8217;s grandmother, told WSOC-TV: &#8220;It&#8217;s so easy to ask yourself, &#8216;Why, God? Why?&#8221;
&#8220;But it&#8217;s not always meant for us to know the answer to that,&#8221; she said.
Family members told The Post that Taylor&#8217;s 23rd birthday was coming soon.
She &#8220;still got presents under the tree&#8221; for Christmas,&#8221; Shawnequa Brown said.
Brown called her sister &#8220;the golden child … The funniest, the realist, the hoodest little sister ever!&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m so so so sorry, I would do anything to have been there with you,&#8221; she wrote, according to The Post.

US-WEATHER-SNOW

Young Woman Trapped Inside Car During Buffalo Blizzard For 18 Hours Found Dead

Buffalo

Looters ransacked and damaged upstate New York businesses over the weekend as deadly extreme winter weather and low temperatures froze local authorities from performing regular patrols.
New York State Police reportedly responded to claims across social media that some businesses had their windows smashed and merchandise damaged and stolen in the City of Buffalo as at least 27 have been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/26/weather/arctic-winter-storm-new-york-blizzard-monday/index.html">reported dead</a> in New York alone after a massive snowstorm.
Local media reported that such stores include all Wegmans and Tops locations in Erie County, which have been closed since Friday due to the &#8220;once in a generation&#8221; storm.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told reporters Monday the looters taking advantage of the unsupervised stores were &#8220;the lowest of the low.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how these people can even live with themselves, how they can look at themselves in the mirror,&#8221; Mayor Brown said.
Brown added that the people who were out looting when others lost their lives in the harsh winter storm were &#8220;absolutely reprehensible.&#8221;
&#8220;And from some of the pictures that we&#8217;ve seen on social media of these looters, they&#8217;re not looting foods and medicines, they&#8217;re just looting items that they want,&#8221; the mayor said. &#8220;So these aren&#8217;t even people in distress — these are people who are taking advantage of a national disaster and the suffering of many in our community to take what they want.&#8221;
Two civilians spoke to a local <a href="https://www.wgrz.com/video/news/reports-of-looting-in-buffalo/71-871b4265-40ce-4b71-9bd0-271271e57cae">NBC affiliate</a> about the recent looting.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not about a need,&#8221; one source said. &#8220;It was a storm for one day — it&#8217;s not about a need.&#8221;
&#8220;Exactly,&#8221; the other source said. &#8220;They took TV sets.
New York State Police Superintendent Steven A. Nigrelli told local media authorities were dispatched to two confirmed reports of looting incidents.
&#8220;Those are still under investigation as we speak,&#8221; Nigrelli said. &#8220;Those are isolated incidents, and it&#8217;s not reflective of the great community of Western New York, and I&#8217;m sure that they&#8217;ll be limited to those two incidents — or at least that&#8217;s our hope.&#8221;
Local media reported City Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said authorities had made a &#8220;few&#8221; arrests related to looting over the weekend.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve been able to — throughout the storm — transition our patrol officers to get back [to] their patrol efforts while we have our search and rescue recovery teams that are going out and doing the very difficult work of recovering bodies,&#8221; Gramaglia said, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/26/looters-ransack-snowbound-buffalo-as-cops-are-stuck-elsewhere/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_medium=SocialFlow">The New York Post</a>.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement regarding price gouging, yet another side effect of the once-in-a-century winter storm, as reported by local media.
&#8220;Price gouging is illegal, &#8220;Hochul <a href="https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/buffalo/buffalo-mayor-looters-during-blizzard-are-lowest-of-the-low/">said</a>. &#8220;We have the attorney general&#8217;s office and our state is prepared to investigate any complaints of price gouging. Those who engage in this disgusting practice at a time when people in our community are hurting, when they&#8217;re trying so hard to get basic necessities, there&#8217;s a scarcity because stores have been closed since Friday, then shame on them. And they&#8217;re going to meet the law in a way they probably didn&#8217;t encounter. We&#8217;re going to be going after them.&#8221;
&#8220;The Department of Financial Services is engaging the insurance industry,&#8221; Hochul added, &#8220;making sure we have claims adjusters on the ground to help people who&#8217;ve had damage. Whether it&#8217;s the weight of snow on their roofs, whether it&#8217;s water damage &#8230; we want to make sure people know we&#8217;ll get help to them as soon as possible.&#8221;
New York officials implemented travel bans in Buffalo and surrounding areas, urging drivers to stay off the roads for emergency services to have a clear and passable route.
Hochul further noted that anyone whole violates the law &#8220;will be ticketed,&#8221; while members of the National Guard will be stopping drivers in areas where bans are in place.

Blizzard in Buffalo

Looters Ransack Upstate New York Businesses Amid Deadly Blizzard Conditions

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Yorkers</a> may have the chance to sue big oil companies and other fossil fuel producers under new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change</a> <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/S9612">legislation</a> proposed by a Brooklyn Democrat, which emulates a Texas law against abortion providers.
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) introduced the legislation last week that would target fossil fuel companies with annual revenues over $1 billion demonstrating &#8220;negligence&#8221; while &#8220;storing, transporting, refining, importing, exporting, producing, manufacturing&#8221; products such as petroleum and natural gas.
&#8220;The effects of climate change in New York — especially in communities like mine — are undeniable,&#8221; Myrie told <a href="https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/ny-state-of-politics/2022/12/12/texas-anti-abortion-law-becomes-model-for-climate-bill-in-new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local media</a>. &#8220;We are quickly running out of time to reverse this climate emergency, and my legislation gives ordinary New Yorkers a chance to hold bad actors in the fossil fuel industry accountable for decades of negligence and denial.&#8221;
Noted in the legislation, as reported by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/12/proposed-nys-bill-to-let-new-yorkers-sue-polluters-over-climate-change-damages/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&amp;utm_medium=SocialFlow&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post</a>, U.S.-based companies like ExxonMobile, Chevron, and 90 other foreign and domestic enterprises allegedly produce 63% of carbon dioxide and methane emissions into the atmosphere.
&#8220;The costs of inaction are so high — more homes destroyed by worsening floods, more lives ruined by chronic asthma and extreme heat that threatens us all. It&#8217;s time for regular New Yorkers to say enough is enough,&#8221; Myrie told the Post.
Myrie proposed the bill after a 2021 Texas law, which local media <a href="https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/ny-state-of-politics/2022/12/12/texas-anti-abortion-law-becomes-model-for-climate-bill-in-new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> allows any person to make civil claims for damages against abortion providers or anyone who assists with a woman obtaining an abortion after a pregnancy enters its sixth week.
He said the concept could &#8220;save our planet and protect our lives.&#8221;
However, Ken Pokalsky, vice president of the Business Council of New York, told the Post the law would benefit lawyers as it&#8217;s &#8220;designed for class action suits.&#8221;
Pokalsky said it would unfairly punish companies despite a state climate law that requires the state to reduce 85% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while New York adopts more renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not going to eliminate the use [of fossil fuel] anytime in the immediate future. We&#8217;re dependent on it — but you&#8217;re gonna say the person who provides this essential product is going to be financially liable for it?&#8221; Pokalsky said. &#8220;What&#8217;s the logic of that?&#8221;
Ryan McCall of Tully Rinckey, a national law firm, told the New York Post that the law could put courts in a vulnerable position when personal problems are caused by pollution with alleged negligence of the fossil fuel companies.
&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be similar, in my opinion, to any other personal injury action, where we&#8217;re gonna need to get medical experts that are going to be able to say, as a result of this specific emission, that this type of injury happened to you,&#8221; McCall said. &#8220;You would begin to see a flood of litigation when it comes to these types of environmental cases like we haven&#8217;t seen before.&#8221;
McCall added the bill could face formidable challenges from companies that object to state lawmakers dictating what they do within their company despite &#8220;plausible ways to make polluters pay for demonstrable damage caused by their use of fossil fuels.&#8221;
&#8220;I definitely think you&#8217;re going to see federal challenges come into this bill. I think that&#8217;s going to be highly likely, but I do definitely think this bill has a lot of merit when it comes to allowing private actors to bring litigation,&#8221; he said.
Myrie, however, told <a href="https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/ny-state-of-politics/2022/12/12/texas-anti-abortion-law-becomes-model-for-climate-bill-in-new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local media</a> that the fossil fuel industry &#8220;will be held accountable for the damage&#8221; caused to New York&#8217;s environment.
If lawmakers pass the legislation, the bill will advance to the desk of Governor Kathy Hochul, who supports the state&#8217;s move toward a so-called green economy.

Diferent Empire

New York Dem Proposes Climate Change Bill Allowing Citizens To Sue Big Oil Companies

Climate Change

Environment

Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kathy-hochul" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathy Hochul</a> (D-NY) survived her first election as governor of the Empire State on Tuesday night, besting GOP Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lee-zeldin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lee Zeldin</a> (NY) in a race that continued to tighten against the Democrat&#8217;s favor, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/DecisionDeskHQ/status/1590200595801333761" target="_blank" rel="noopener">projection</a> from DecisionDeskHQ.
Though it looked like 64-year-old Hochul would have an easy ride to victory as the incumbent Democrat, concerns over rising crime and sky-high inflation moved the race to a toss-up in recent weeks.
Notably, Hochul was not a traditional incumbent — she wasn’t elected to the position of governor, but took over for disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo after a sexual misconduct scandal led to his ouster in August 2021.
Zeldin, 42, during the campaign routinely highlighted what he called failed Democratic policies responsible for the raging crime wave in the state, specifically in New York City. The tactic seemed to tighten the polls in his favor, despite Hochul’s focus on social issues like abortion.
One of the early moments that seemed to contrast the pair on crime policies was in July, when Zeldin was attacked by a blade-wielding man during a campaign stop in Rochester. The attacker, identified as 43-year-old David G. Jakubonis, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/alleged-attacker-of-republican-congressman-released-from-custody">released</a> mere hours after his arrest.
“After being charged with a felony for last night’s attack, the man who tried to stab me was instantly released back onto the street due to New York’s insane cashless bail law. We MUST repeal cashless bail in New York!” Zeldin tweeted at the time, captioning a photo of the thwarted attack.
Jakubonis was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lee-zeldins-alleged-attacker-arrested-for-second-time-faces-federal-charges">arrested</a> days later on a federal assault charge.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
After being charged with a felony for last night’s attack, the man who tried to stab me was instantly released back onto the street due to New York’s insane cashless bail law. We MUST repeal cashless bail in New York! <a href="https://t.co/7pMpulaOoJ">pic.twitter.com/7pMpulaOoJ</a>
&mdash; Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepLeeZeldin/status/1550533346324664324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And in October, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twin-daughters-of-ny-gov-hopeful-lee-zeldin-hide-as-shooting-unfolds-outside-home">shooting</a> broke out outside the Zeldin family home while his two twin daughters were inside by themselves, hiding in a bathroom until the gunfire ceased.
&#8220;We cannot surrender any street anywhere in the state of New York to criminals,” the gubernatorial hopeful <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twin-daughters-of-ny-gov-hopeful-lee-zeldin-hide-as-shooting-unfolds-outside-home">said</a> following the shooting. “I want to see our law enforcement in charge of all of New York’s streets.”
Zeldin hit the same <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/absolutely-crushing-kathy-a-fiery-zeldin-comes-out-swinging-over-crime-in-debate-against-hochul">tough-on-crime</a> note during the pair&#8217;s debate, while Hochul zeroed-in on gun laws, despite the state having some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.
“Kathy Hochul believes that the only crimes being committed are crimes with guns; you have people who are afraid to be pushed in front of oncoming subway cars, they’re being stabbed, beaten to death on the street with hammers,&#8221; Zeldin said.
“Talk to the Asian American community and how it’s impacted them with the loss of lives, Jewish people targeted with raw, violent anti-Semitism on our streets — it just happened yet again,” the Republican continued. “We need to be talking about all of these other crimes, but instead, Kathy Hochul is busy patting herself on the back, job well done. No, actually.”
“Right now,” Zeldin said, “there should be a special session” to “overhaul cashless bail and these other pro-criminal laws with zero tolerance.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul&#39;s plan to address the spike in violent crime? More gun control. 
Congressman Lee Zeldin has other ideas. <a href="https://t.co/QlJ0T4Uz2F">pic.twitter.com/QlJ0T4Uz2F</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1585048013294403586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hochul during the debate painted Zeldin as too conservative for deep-Blue New York, specifically when it comes to abortion.
“You’re the only person standing on this stage whose name right now — not years past — that right now, is on a bill called ‘Life Begins at Conception,’” Hochul <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/25/nyregion/takeaways-hochul-zeldin-debate.html">said</a> of Zeldin.
“That is a frightening spectacle,” the Democrat added. “Women need to know that that’s on the ballot this November as well.”
Hochul refused during the debate to name a single restriction on abortion she would support. Notably, abortion is legal is some cases until the moment of birth in the Empire State.
The incumbent also refused to move on her harsh stance concerning COVID vaccine mandates, telling fired unvaccinated New Yorker health care workers she’d “do it again” with regard to the vax mandate.

Kathy Hochul/Lee Zeldin

New York Governor Kathy Hochul Holds On Against Republican Lee Zeldin: Projection

2022 Election

2022 Midterms

Lee Zeldin

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> (D) snapped at a young woman who attended a political rally that he hosted on Sunday at Sarah Lawrence College in New York for gubernatorial candidate Kathy Hochul.
&#8220;No more drilling. There is no more drilling,&#8221; Biden snapped at a young woman in the crowd. &#8220;I haven&#8217;t formed any new drilling.&#8221;
&#8220;There are at least five more years of offshore drilling,&#8221; the woman shouted back. &#8220;— in the Atlantic or the Pacific but in the Antarctic and off the gulf of New Mexico.&#8221;
&#8220;That was before I was president,&#8221; Biden responded. &#8220;We&#8217;re trying to work on that and get that done.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: Two days before the midterm elections, Joe Biden clearly states he is for &quot;no more [oil] drilling.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/2F9hZNOwMt">pic.twitter.com/2F9hZNOwMt</a>
&mdash; RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1589407963902533638?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Biden&#8217;s remarks come after he said late last week that he was going to be shutting down coal plants across the country amid an energy crisis.
“I was in Massachusetts about a month ago on the site of the largest old coal plant in America. Guess what? It cost them too much money,” Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/offensive-and-disgusting-joe-manchin-blasts-president-biden-as-divorced-from-reality-in-extraordinary-rebuke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at an event in Carlsbad, California. “No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of the existence of the plant. So it’s going to become a wind generation.”
“And all they’re doing is, it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on, we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power.”
The White House walked back Biden&#8217;s remarks after he was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-walks-back-bidens-remarks-about-shutting-down-coal-plants-after-manchin-nuked-him">blasted</a> by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the the Senate Energy &amp; Natural Resources Committee.
Former Trump White House senior adviser Stephen Miller responded to Biden&#8217;s remarks on Sunday evening by saying, &#8220;No oil, no coal, no shale. Pennsylvania: a vote for Fetterman is a vote to send your state into a Great Depression.&#8221;
&#8220;Biden and Democrats are hostile to oil and gas production. I am running for reelection to keep Texas #1 for oil and gas,&#8221; Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted. &#8220;I will protect the good paying jobs in the oil field and keep America energy independent.&#8221;
&#8220;Um, that&#8217;s a consequential gaffe,&#8221; meteorologist Ryan Maue tweeted. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think he was supposed to say that in public.&#8221;
&#8220;The mask slips,&#8221; Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tweeted.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) tweeted, &#8220;You can’t make it up.&#8221;
&#8220;Biden still out here messaging to his lunatic base which makes up about 10% of the country,&#8221; radio host Jesse Kelly tweeted. &#8220;Genius.&#8221;
Actor James Woods tweeted, &#8220;Diesel is over $7/gallon at my corner service station. #Vote&#8221;
This is a developing news story; refresh the page for updates.

US-VOTE-POLITICS-BIDEN

Ahead Of Midterm Elections, Biden Snaps At Rally: ‘No More Drilling! There Is No More Drilling!’

Executive

Joe Biden

An unidentified male choked a female protesting a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york">New York</a> Gov. Kathy Hochul rally on Saturday in Manhattan.
Viral News New York first posted a video on Twitter with over 300,000 views, showing at least two people attacking Angelica Torres, a supporter of Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/11/06/zeldin-supporter-choked-by-man-at-hochul-rally-tussles-with-nyc-councilwoman/">reports</a> the altercation near the Stonewall Inn, where Hochul appeared with Bravo host Andy Cohen in an apparent effort to garner more votes from the LGBTQ community ahead of the 2022 Midterm Elections.
&#8220;I was here holding my sign, and … peaceful protest, against you know, Gov. Hochul, and a woman — a very large heavyset woman, I&#8217;m assuming, you know, might have been a man — came and took my sign,&#8221; Torres told Viral News NY in a video tweet.
Although it&#8217;s unclear what led to the altercation, Torres said a man grabbed her by the neck and choked her as she attempted to retrieve her sign while two others prevented her from regaining her property.
&#8220;Never wanted to get physical with anyone, I was just there peacefully — just holding my sign — and you know, they didn&#8217;t want to hear what I had to say,&#8221; she added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
At the Rally for governor Hochul a counter protesters was choked during the protest. I spoke with the woman who was attacked. Here&#39;s what she had to say <a href="https://t.co/c60ad9LoiQ">pic.twitter.com/c60ad9LoiQ</a>
&mdash; Viral News NY (@ViralNewsNYC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ViralNewsNYC/status/1589020652291653632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Torres also spoke with <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-governor-lee-zeldin-supporter-attacked-rally-gov-kathy-hochul-video-shows">FOX News Sunday</a>, saying it upset her that someone attacked her for having a different opinion.
&#8220;I was very shocked and upset that I couldn&#8217;t express my opinions openly without violence,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Crime and violence is a big issue in our city.&#8221;
Torres received medical treatment and reported the incident to the local authorities.
Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, a Democrat representing Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, was also seen in the video getting pushed by Torres.
Hudson did not immediately respond to The Post&#8217;s request for comment.
The third-world style of political violence comes as no surprise in a melting pot like New York City. The latest crime figures from the New York Police Department.
According to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11396647/Zeldin-supporter-choked-man-Hochul-rally-tussles-NYC-councilwoman.html">The Daily Mail</a>, NYPD data shows violence has increased compared to statistics from last year, with an 11% increase in rape cases, felony assaults are up by nearly 14 percent, and robberies have jumped up more than 32 percent compared to last year.
The data reports 102,914 reports of serious offenses have occurred since the beginning of the year, compared with 78,892 in the same period of 2021.
A poll by the Trafalgar Group showed that Zeldin holds a lead of just under one point against Hochul, 48.4%-47.6%, with 4% of voters undecided.
Trafalgar Group chief pollster Robert Cahaly also reported that Zeldin was pulling support from an interesting group of Democratic voters in the race.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been saying that I had a theory, based on our last two #NYGov #polls, that what&#8217;s left of the #Cuomo machine could back @leezeldin,&#8221; Cahaly <a href="https://twitter.com/RobertCahaly/status/1587555916710395904">tweeted</a>.
Included in his tweet were two screenshots of hypothetical polls that showed disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo would have led Zeldin by 10 points, 55%-45%; a sizeable majority of voters said that Cuomo did a better job as governor than Hochul, 59.4% to 40.6%.
John Rigolizzo contributed to this report.

Hillary Clinton And Kamala Harris Join Kathy Hochul At Campaign Rally

WATCH: Female Protesting Gov. Hochul Rally Choked By Unidentified Male

Menu