As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave an update for his city-owned grocery stores, he surprised the crowd by quoting former President Ronald Reagan.
“Standing here this morning, I cannot help but think of the words of our fortieth president, Ronald Reagan. He famously said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are &#8216;I&#8217;m from the government and I’m here to help.'&#8221;
The socialist mayor said it’s a “good quote,” but added that he disagrees with the message. 
“I think nine more terrifying words are actually, &#8216;I worked all day and can’t feed my family,&#8217;” he countered. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
MAMDANI: “Ronald Reagan…famously said ‘The nine most terrifying words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help’…I DISAGREE.” 
<a href="https://t.co/cAXqjRz9iI">pic.twitter.com/cAXqjRz9iI</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2056392177652023429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Unlike Reagan, who pushed for a limited government, Mamdani said his new city-owned grocery stores would act as proof of concept for expanded government. 
“We are going to use the power of government to lower prices to make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table,” he said. “When government understands its purpose as serving the very working people that it has left behind time and again, it can make a difference in the most pressing struggles facing our city today. It’s not just that government can help, it’s that the government must help, and our government will help.”
On Monday, Mamdani shared that the first city-owned grocery store is set to open in the Bronx in 2027 at the site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility. He secured $70 million in funding to not only remodel the detention center into a grocery store but to also build four more grocery stores. 
Mamdani previously announced that one of the stores would be placed where his favorite mayor opened a store 90 years earlier, the La Marqueta in East Harlem. The second store is expected to open in 2029. 
Mamdani praised NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who created a &#8220;municipal market” that consolidated independent vendors into a permanent place to sell their goods. The market functioned like a public farmers market rather than a city-owned and stocked supermarket. La Marqueta ultimately saw rapid decline in the 1970s as New York City teetered toward bankruptcy and crime skyrocketed. 
While two of the five properties have been selected, Mamdani has put out a casting call for the others. Through an application on the city’s website, property owners can submit their storefronts to be selected to house a public grocery store. It is not clear whether the city would then purchase the property from the landlord or become a tenant. 
Once the space is acquired, however, the city will select a third-party operator to run the grocery store, which the Mamdani administration claims has “no plans to turn a profit.” Those who want to run the store will go through a “future request for proposals (RFP) process.&#8221; The documents do not disclose who is eligible to apply or how much operational control the city will retain. 
While the city has not fully detailed how it will implement the program, officials have already outlined what they expect the results to be. 
“In these stores, prices will be cheaper. Workers will be paid fairly and treated with dignity. Going to the grocery store will no longer cause that same anxiety for so many New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.
After Mamdani won the 2025 mayoral election, The Daily Wire asked a bodega owner about his thoughts on the new grocery stores. The bodega owner questioned the fairness of the city government forcing him to compete against a grocery store not obligated to pay rent or property taxes. 
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TOPSHOT-US-MAMDANI-FISCAL-BUDGET

Zohran Mamdani Quotes Ronald Reagan As He Rolls Out Socialist Campaign Promise

New York City

Ronald Reagan

Zohran Mamdani

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) &#8211; Harvey Weinstein&#8217;s third trial in New York over allegations he used his Hollywood clout to prey upon and sexually abuse women ended in a mistrial on Friday, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a charge he raped the aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
Weinstein, 74, is expected to remain behind bars due to his convictions in other cases.
Weinstein was a top Oscar-winning film producer until sexual misconduct allegations led to his downfall and fueled a wider social movement that encouraged women to come forward with accounts of sexual abuse by powerful men.
His most recent trial centered on Mann&#8217;s allegation that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 while Mann resisted and repeatedly said &#8220;No.&#8221;
It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would seek to try the case for a fourth time.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the case, said his office was disappointed but respected the jury system.
&#8220;We will consider our next steps in consultation with Ms. Mann,&#8221; Bragg said in a statement.
Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo told reporters outside the courthouse that he would encourage prosecutors to drop the case, saying nine jurors voted not guilty and three voted guilty.
&#8220;In my view they were lucky to have won over three jurors,&#8221; Agnifilo said of the prosecutors.
Mann said she told the truth but did not clearly indicate how she wanted to proceed.
&#8220;I deserve justice,&#8221; Mann said in a statement.
FIRST CONVICTION OVERTURNED
Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree rape and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. His lawyers have argued that Mann fabricated the rape allegation after regretting that her consensual romance with Weinstein failed to advance her film career.
At his first trial in New York in 2020, Weinstein was convicted of raping Mann and assaulting onetime production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. But the state&#8217;s highest court overturned the conviction and Weinstein&#8217;s 23-year prison sentence after concluding he did not get a fair trial.
A Manhattan jury then convicted Weinstein of sexually abusing Haley at a trial in June 2025, but found him not guilty of assaulting former model Kaja Sokola.
That jury deadlocked on the third-degree rape charge accusing Weinstein of assaulting Mann, leading Justice Curtis Farber to declare a mistrial on that count.
The retrial began in April.
&#8216;HOPELESSLY DEADLOCKED&#8217;
During their third day of deliberations on Friday, jurors sent Farber a note saying they were deadlocked. The judge urged them to keep trying to reach a verdict.
Farber said outside the presence of the jury that it was clear they were &#8220;hopelessly deadlocked&#8221; and that there was no reason to keep them any longer.
He told lawyers for both sides to return for a hearing on June 25.
Juror Josh Hadar, 57, told reporters outside the courthouse that he voted not guilty over what he said were &#8220;contradictions&#8221; in Mann&#8217;s testimony.
Weinstein was also convicted of rape in California in 2022 and is serving a 16-year prison sentence. He is appealing that conviction and sentence.
The Miramax studio co-founder will face up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced for abusing Haley.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Rod Nickel and Bill Berkrot)

Former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for the retrial of his rape case, in New York City

Disgraced Hollywood Mogul’s Latest Rape Trial Ends Without Verdict

Alvin Bragg

Courts

Harvey Weinstein

Hollywood

MeToo

New York

Rape

U.S.

A growing wave of juvenile crime and “teen takeovers” in major Democrat-run cities is prompting renewed scrutiny of leftist policing policies, with critics warning that years of anti-law enforcement rhetoric have created an atmosphere of escalating disorder.
The phenomenon has erupted in cities including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in recent months, with incidents often coordinated through TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media platforms.
Col. Frank Carpenter, chief of police in Chesterfield County, Virginia, told <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/30/us-news/teen-takeovers-turn-city-centers-into-scenes-from-the-purge-cops/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Post</a> these scenes resemble “The Purge,” a dystopian horror film franchise depicting cities descending into lawlessness. Police sources say that massive groups of teenagers have increasingly overwhelmed officers, shut down public spaces, and engaged in assaults, robberies, vandalism, and shootings.
As with Virginia, these incidents are especially concentrated in Democrat-led cities. Chicago, in particular, has emerged as one of the most visible examples.
Last week, a silver sedan <a href="https://x.com/ChicagoContrar1/status/2053107479580479701?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rammed</a> a Chicago Police Department squad car during a downtown street takeover near Grant Park while crowds of teens surrounded the vehicle, cheering, filming officers on their phones, and pounding on the patrol car’s hood. Just two days later, on Friday, a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWl_IufDx1X/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second takeover erupted</a> on the city’s South Side. In another incident earlier this spring, teens allegedly set vehicles ablaze by igniting fireworks inside them.
Similar incidents have recently unfolded in Los Angeles beach communities and <a href="https://x.com/WellsJorda89710/status/2043154989682511888?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington, D.C</a>., where viral videos show large crowds overwhelming police presence and turning public areas into chaotic scenes. Though no one was killed, in one Los Angeles-area takeover, gunfire broke out and struck four victims ranging from 17 to 22 years old.
In New York City, police arrested a 17-year-old suspect in the fatal stabbing of 39-year-old Leonides Baez near Times Square. According to investigators, the teen allegedly said he was inspired by a TikTok trend known as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/nyregion/teenager-stabbing-times-square-nyc-tiktok.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">messing with crackheads</a>,” in which vulnerable or homeless individuals are harassed for entertainment and online attention.
Authorities say several teens approached Baez before he was stabbed to death outside of a restaurant.
Critics say the social media component is central to understanding this crime trend. The Wall Street Journal recently characterized many of the incidents as “performative crime,” that is, criminal acts committed for viral attention and social status online.
But some analysts argue the deeper causes run far beyond TikTok.
Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of &#8220;The War on Cops,&#8221; said authorities are failing to confront the fact that these crimes are overwhelmingly being carried out by young African Americans and reflect long-term breakdowns in the black family structure.
“This is a long-standing problem, and nobody wants to talk about what the causes are,” Mac Donald said during an interview with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/hosts/morning-wire?elementPosition=7&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Browse+by+Hosts&amp;rowType=Hosts+Carousel">Morning Wire</a>. “The criminal justice system is terrified, really, to do anything about it.”
The extreme nature of the takeovers is prompting Republican leaders to act though. On Friday, U.S. Attorney <a href="https://x.com/foxnews/status/2055326776549605474?s=43" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeanine Pirro announced</a> a significant offensive against the parents of minors participating in these crimes. Pirro pledged to pursue criminal charges against parents who neglect their supervisory duties, warning that such failures could result in substantial financial penalties or incarceration.
“If the evidence shows the parent knew or should have known or permitted or failed to prevent participation, we are going to charge them,” Pirro stated, adding, “If you drop your kid off and you fail to supervise them, or you let them skip school to join the chaos, you are going to face fines, court ordered classes, and possible jail time.&#8221;
Another contributing factor Mac Donald pointed to is schools, which she said have historically been reluctant to discipline black students after years of pressure from leftist activists and federal officials who claimed disciplinary disparities were evidence of systemic racism.
“Teachers now have been told they can’t do that,” she said, referring to enforcing discipline and behavioral standards in classrooms. She also blamed the lingering effects of the anti-police movement that exploded after the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri, riots and intensified following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
“Policing obviously has been under one prolonged assault since the Ferguson riots,” Mac Donald said. “The pressure is on them not to intervene at all because they don’t want another George Floyd riot or Ferguson riot in their city.”
The debate has intensified as some blue-city leaders continue pushing policies that restrict law enforcement.
Last week, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to curtail “pretextual” traffic stops by the LAPD. The stops are initiated for low-level violations such as broken taillights or expired tags that sometimes lead officers to uncover illegal weapons or narcotics. The city council&#8217;s vote is now set to be debated by the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, which has the final say.
Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has previously described aggressive law enforcement approaches as a “sickness” in Chicago that he wanted to “eradicate.”
Mac Donald argued that years of political hostility toward proactive policing have worsened violent crime. “There’s nothing more important that the police can do to lower gun crime than these types of investigative stops,” she said.
Although officials in cities such as New York and Chicago often point to declining overall crime statistics, Mac Donald said those numbers can obscure broader public disorder. “Murders don’t lie. You can’t hide the bodies,” she said, noting homicide rates remain elevated compared to pre-2020 levels despite recent declines from their peak.
Police recruitment has also become increasingly difficult in major urban departments. Mac Donald said cities including Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago remain severely understaffed as officers retire early, leave for red states, or avoid entering the profession altogether.
“If current policies continue,” she warned, “people who can leave are going to leave.”

US-NEWS-CHICAGO-SHOOTINGS-TB

Teen Takeovers Turn Blue Cities Into ‘Scenes From The Purge’

Chicago

Crime

Police

Teenagers

Washington D.C.

On Thursday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took to X to express his &#8220;outrage&#8221; over a swastika flag raised near Washington Square Park.
He wrote on X:
<blockquote>
I am outraged that a swastika flag was raised overlooking Washington Square Park. This hateful antisemitic act was meant to spread fear among and intimidate Jewish New Yorkers. It has no place in our city. Our administration is committed to fighting antisemitism in all its forms and protecting the safety of Jewish New Yorkers. The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is investigating this despicable act, and I am confident those responsible will be held accountable.
https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/2055059340596519411</blockquote>
Social media was quick to denounce him for his fakery.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
You&#39;re just mad that you&#39;ll have to eat German food when you dinner with whoever did it.
&mdash; Jimmy Failla (@jimmyfailla) <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmyfailla/status/2055090485518110803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Mamdani&#8217;s hypocrisy is breathtaking. Just weeks ago, Mamdani issued his first mayoral veto to kill Intro 175-B, the &#8220;educational buffer zone&#8221; bill. That legislation was a common-sense measure designed to ensure that students could enter schools and universities without being harassed by the same brand of radical activists Mamdani spent his career organizing. While Jewish students are being mobbed and intimidated on campuses across the city, Mamdani decided that protecting the &#8220;First Amendment rights&#8221; of the mob was more important than the physical safety of the students.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Stop pretending you&#39;re outraged, when this is exactly what you want.
We all know if you weren&#39;t Mayor you&#39;d be out marching with the rest of them.<a href="https://t.co/xY8HL7N8ee">https://t.co/xY8HL7N8ee</a>
&mdash; Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) <a href="https://twitter.com/chalavyishmael/status/2055060277721174029?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Notice how easy it is for politicians to condemn a Nazi flag hanging at NYU, yet how hard it is for them to condemn a masked mob of terrorist supporters gathered on the streets of Brooklyn to harass the Jews. <a href="https://t.co/TBYgcW1co1">pic.twitter.com/TBYgcW1co1</a>
&mdash; Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) <a href="https://twitter.com/Joelmpetlin/status/2055062966286868510?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Council Speaker Julie Menin <a href="https://council.nyc.gov/press/2026/04/24/3110/#:~:text=April%2024%2C%202026,intimidation%20should%20not%20be%20controversial.">correctly noted</a> that ensuring students can enter school without fear &#8220;should not be controversial.&#8221; Apparently, for Mamdani, it is.
The double standard doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse door. When a New York City synagogue was recently besieged by a screaming pack of anti-Israel activists during an informational event, Mamdani didn’t rush to defend the &#8220;sacred space.&#8221; Instead, his office issued a <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-895231">chilling statement</a> suggesting the synagogue brought the harassment on itself, claiming &#8220;sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is the most gaslighting post I’ve ever seen in my life.
Mamdani has incited antisemitism for his entire political career.
He shamefully campaigned on it. Now he pretends otherwise?
Mamdani is the problem, not the solution.
That’s why antisemitic hate crimes are up now. <a href="https://t.co/FnSqW5npat">pic.twitter.com/FnSqW5npat</a>
&mdash; Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/2055060155364991178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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In Mamdani’s New York, a house of worship is only &#8220;sacred&#8221; if its congregants remain silent. If they dare to discuss their ancestral homeland, they are fair game for the mob.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Bro, the antisemitism exploding in your city is your fault. Spare us the fake tears and empty statements. New Yorkers know exactly who you are!
&mdash; Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) <a href="https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2055072395333931209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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This is, after all, the same mayor who has torched decades of New York tradition by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdanis-latest-slap-in-the-face-to-jewish-voters">boycotting</a> the Israel Day on Fifth parade — an event every mayor since John Lindsay has attended. Instead of marching with the Jewish community, Mamdani is busy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1087213&amp;action=edit">filming promotional videos</a> with staffers wearing keffiyehs and boasting about his &#8220;Keffiyeh Cup&#8221; soccer tournaments to raise money for UNRWA — the same agency whose members were implicated in the horrific October 7 atrocities.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
First let me say:
 F U C K YOU 
Not a single sane Jewish person believes the performative condemnations you issue after yet another antisemitic incident under your mayorship.
You had countless opportunities to clearly condemn slogans like “Globalize the… <a href="https://t.co/gyBH2xqxn8">pic.twitter.com/gyBH2xqxn8</a>
&mdash; 🦁 Maccabi Lev-Ari מכבי לב ארי (@Maccabi226km) <a href="https://twitter.com/Maccabi226km/status/2055175917522014502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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No one believes this fake outrage. Where was your outrage, and more importantly, your action, when a mob of Jew-haters waving Hezbollah flags descended on our Jewish community in Midwood earlier this week? Where was your condemnation when that same mob terrorized Jews outside…
&mdash; Michael Novakhov (@MichaelforNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelforNY/status/2055064041849049284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Mamdani wants New Yorkers to believe he is &#8220;outraged&#8221; by a flag in a park, but his policy decisions tell the real story. By vetoing safety zones for students and justifying the harassment of synagogues, he has sent a clear message: in the socialist utopia of Mamdani’s New York, some forms of &#8220;despicable&#8221; intimidation are more equal than others.

US-NEWS-NYC-WORLDCUP-AIRPORT-BUS-NY

Mamdani Gaslights NYC With Fake Outrage

antisemitism

Nazis

This week, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, America’s perennial socialism-salesman, lauded New York City’s Zohran Mamdani, saying the new mayor had “inherited a huge budget deficit” and “brought it down to zero,” while still boosting spending.
Sanders and others have been quick to cheer Mamdani’s plan to balance the $125 billion city budget, which still must be approved by the City Council. But these boosters, quite conveniently, avoid getting into the details. That’s by necessity. Closer inspection reveals how much New York City’s problems were of its politicians’ own making — and the extremes to which they’re going to avoid making hard choices.
Mamdani, with great alarm, announced <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/01/mayor-mamdani-details--adams-budget-crisis-">in January</a> that the city faced a budget crisis. The city’s looming fiscal crunch was hardly news; state officials <a href="https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/osdc/pdf/report-9-2026.pdf">had been warning about it</a> for many months.
There was a kernel of truth to the mayor’s worries, though: the city was in its fourth year of spending more than it took in. The trouble, though, was exclusively on the expenditure side. There was no single culprit, but rather a systemwide expansion of costs, including newer programs — such as a housing-voucher system whose cost quadrupled to almost $2 billion in just four years.
One particular, and avoidable, trouble spot was a state-imposed “class-size” mandate set to cost the city close to $1 billion annually by requiring the city to hire more teachers. Then-Assemblyman Mamdani, along with most lawmakers, had supported the rule in 2022, which was a thinly veiled effort to shield the NYC teachers’ union from the pain of school consolidation driven by collapsing student enrollment. Part of the mayor’s budget triumph came from Albany simply postponing the law’s implementation.
Mamdani will eventually have to confront the gap between his vision for democratic socialism and the extent to which New York’s public employee unions, and their stranglehold over city operations (and the state Legislature), prevent agencies from delivering, in his terms, “public excellence.”
But that fight for greater efficiency is not happening today.
The mayor, always quick to bemoan spending restraint as “austerity,” instead seems to have squeezed more aid from the state government, though Albany hasn’t yet approved a budget for the state’s current fiscal year (which began six weeks ago).
That extra cash is only available because of the combination of Albany’s steep personal and business income taxes and the recent strong performance of the NYC-based financial sector. When markets do well, cash rains in. But when capital gains dry up, so do tax receipts.
The Global Financial Crisis, and the resulting collapse in capital gains, flooded the New York state government in a sea of red ink, which washed thousands of state workers out of their jobs, and forced the state to close its aid spigot for local governments and school districts.
New York pols treat that as ancient history instead of a cautionary tale about the imprudence of counting on tax receipts that might not exist a year from now.
The mayor’s antagonism toward the city’s high earners, and recent expansions by financial heavyweights into Texas and South Florida, have put NYC at greater risk of tax-base erosion.
The biggest chunk of Mamdani’s budget-balancing strategy is arguably the least responsible: he’s simply punting costs into the future.
New York City pays into five public pension systems on behalf of current workers, expecting that the payments, plus investment returns, will be sufficient to fund each worker’s pension in retirement.
But that often hasn’t been the case. The City right now is about two-thirds of the way through paying off an extra pension debt that hit its balance sheet around 2010 as the pension systems acknowledged that retirees were living (and collecting pensions) longer and that investments couldn’t be counted on to generate such high average returns (8% per year) over the long run.
Instead of paying off the last of that decades-old pension debt in 2032, Mamdani wants to “restructure” the city’s pension payments in each of the next few years and instead stretch the costs out to 2037. That means deferring $1.6 billion in pension costs in the next fiscal year alone and forcing city taxpayers to pay it back, with interest.
New York’s state constitution guarantees public pensions, meaning they can never be reduced, so if the pension systems’ still-generous assumptions about future investment performances don’t materialize, taxpayers will be hit up for even more to make up the difference.
Mamdani should be looking more seriously at the decisions that put New York City in the red, and use the time-tested methods of previous mayors (like “programs to eliminate the gap”) to get costs back under control.
In the meantime, for the people eager to tout the weekly triumphs of socialism in Gotham, these inconvenient details about the city’s long-term standing are a problem for another day.
***
Ken Girardin is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Zohran Mamdani’s Budget Boondoggle Could Sink New York City

MI x DW

Pensions

New York City operates the nation’s most expensive public schools, and they are empty.
The city’s proposed Department of Education <a href="https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/03/Department-of-Education.pdf">budget</a> is $38 billion, an 8% increase from last year. At the same time, enrollment continues to decline. Last year alone, New York City <a href="https://x.com/dany_egorov/status/2052395204510994473?s=20">lost</a> 3,500 pre-K and kindergarten students. This is not an anomaly. The School Construction Authority <a href="https://dnnhh5cc1.blob.core.windows.net/portals/0/Capital_Plan/Demographic_projection_Reports/Volume%202-2026.pdf?sv=2017-04-17&amp;sr=b&amp;si=DNNFileManagerPolicy&amp;sig=pl1f%2BywRLsn%2BsVXvRXNIEbkxmnewwAydpZBsa%2F8kIm4%3D">projects</a> that enrollment will decrease by another 153,000 students over the next decade. This decline is mostly due to demographic changes — since 2000, the <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/an-education-agenda-for-new-york-citys-next-mayor">number</a> of children born in the city has decreased by more than 20%. But also, New York families are increasingly <a href="https://cbcny.org/research/competitive-nyc">choosing</a> charter schools and homeschooling.
Currently, 380 schools — nearly 25% of all city schools — already <a href="https://cbcny.org/sites/default/files/media/files/CBCTESTIMONY_DOE-Prelim-Budget_03232026_1.pdf">operate</a> below 60% capacity.
Maintaining a sprawling system of underenrolled schools is fiscally irresponsible and educationally unsustainable. Even left-leaning publications such as the Atlantic have <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/new-york-city-schools-budget/686971/">acknowledged</a> the growing crisis facing NYC school districts with shrinking student populations.
New York City’s political leaders can no longer avoid reality. The mayor and chancellor should create a strategic plan to merge and close underenrolled schools, ensuring a better allocation of the education budget and improving academic outcomes.
My new report for the Manhattan Institute, <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/what-to-do-about-nycs-empty-schools">“What to do about NYC’s empty schools,”</a> analyzes the city’s enrollment declines and offers recommendations for rightsizing the district, particularly by addressing underperforming and underenrolled schools.
The underenrollment problem is getting worse. Last year, 112 city schools had fewer than 150 students; this year, that number has risen to 134. One <a href="https://www.nycenet.edu/offices/d_chanc_oper/budget/DBOR/galaxy/galaxybudgetsummaryto/default.aspx">school</a> currently employs 21 staff members for just 28 <a href="https://apps.schools.nyc/dsbpo/sbag/default.aspx?DDBSSS_INPUT=K319&amp;fy=2026">students</a>.
Charter schools, by contrast, face much stronger accountability pressures. Because they are funded on a per-pupil basis, shrinking enrollment forces them to adapt or close. Nationwide, charter schools represent only 7.5% of total student enrollment but accounted for nearly 12% of all school closures in 2021.
District schools face no comparable pressure. The NYC DOE continues to fund underenrolled schools as though they were operating at full capacity, <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026/03/23/nyc-school-budgets-zohran-mamdani-hold-harmless-enrollment-decline/">costing</a> taxpayers nearly $388 million annually.
Unfortunately, city leadership has repeatedly shown an unwillingness to address this problem. Last March, New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels canceled a plan to <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/03/us-news/nyc-scraps-plan-to-close-school-at-center-of-hunter-college-professors-racist-hot-mic-scandal/">close</a> Community Action School after a parent made a racist comment on a Zoom meeting. The school remained open so students and their families could “process and recover from” the scandal. The comment was despicable, but it should not have prevented closing a failing school. Community Action School went from 229 students in 2020 to 141 in 2024. Its students&#8217; academic performance is below the district’s average.
More recently, Chancellor Samuels pulled back a plan to close and relocate three schools. One <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/11/opinion/mamdani-keeps-bankrolling-failure-in-nycs-schools/">proposed</a> for closure lost 240 students over five years and had only 54% of its eighth graders reading at grade level. This decision to throw good money at failing schools lowers educational standards across the board. By keeping bad schools afloat, we leave less money on the table for successful schools to open and expand.
New York City students desperately need high-quality education. Despite record spending, only about half of New York students are proficient in reading (53%) and math (57%), <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/12/05/us-news/nearly-half-of-students-across-ny-state-fail-to-make-the-grade-on-math-english-tests-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the results of 2024–25 New York State assessments
The decision to close and merge schools is a serious one and should be carefully considered. It creates disruption for students and staff — and it can have a small negative <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/short-and-long-term-impacts-school-closure-student-outcomes">impact</a> on students’ outcomes. But refusing to act is even more damaging for students and taxpayers alike.
The Mamdani administration will inevitably have to address this reality, given the continuous decline in student enrollment and the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/12/opinion/zohran-mamdanis-unbelievably-dishonest-budget/">budget</a> gaps the city faces. The city cannot continue operating a school system designed for a much larger student population that no longer exists.
Other major cities — including <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-11-20/bps-proposes-closure-of-three-more-schools-by-2027-amid-sharp-enrollment-decline">Boston</a>, <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-school-board-closure-vote/">Philadelphia</a>, <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2026/02/27/hisd-approves-plan-to-close-12-schools">Houston</a>, and <a href="https://www.ideastream.org/education/2025-12-09/cleveland-school-board-approves-sweeping-consolidation-plan">Cleveland</a> — are already dealing with this problem and have approved plans to close schools. It is time for New York City to follow suit. Every year the city delays action, it wastes hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars maintaining half-empty buildings instead of directing resources toward effective classrooms and student achievement. Students deserve a school system focused on quality, accountability, and academic success — not one committed to preserving empty seats and bureaucratic inertia.
***
Danyela Souza Egorov is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

American Primary School: Interior of Modern Empty Classroom with Desks for Students

The Ghost Classrooms Haunting America’s Education System

Education

Public Schools

For decades, New York City mayors — from John Lindsay to Eric Adams — understood that standing with the Jewish community wasn’t just a political tradition; it was a moral imperative. They marched up Fifth Avenue in the Celebrate Israel Parade, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvVtu7iSfT4">built sukkahs</a> for visiting Israeli prime ministers, and declared themselves &#8220;brothers&#8221; to a community that forms the very backbone of the Big Apple.
But in 2026, that tradition has been unceremoniously torched by leftist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani’s refusal to attend the Israel Day on Fifth parade is more than just a scheduling conflict; it is a calculated, partisan boycott. As Assemblyman Michael Novakhov (R-Brooklyn) rightly noted, this is a &#8220;disgraceful insult&#8221; to Jewish New Yorkers.
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Zohran Mamdani has officially confirmed that he will boycott New York City’s Israel Day Parade — becoming the face of a Democratic Party now controlled by radical anti-Israel extremists.
After weeks of antisemitic chaos outside synagogues across our city, this should surprise… <a href="https://t.co/rhKZzxZPU0">pic.twitter.com/rhKZzxZPU0</a>
&mdash; Michael Novakhov (@MichaelforNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelforNY/status/2054593999097225375?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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For a mayor to snub an event that brings 50,000 marchers to the streets — an event every mayor since Robert Wagner in 1964 has honored — is nothing short of a radical break from the city’s identity.
While Mamdani claims he won’t attend a parade for a state with a &#8220;system of hierarchy on the basis of religion,&#8221; his calendar tells a different story. This is the same man who proudly marched in the Pakistan Independence Day parade. Apparently, a state that enforces brutal blasphemy laws and enshrines a specific religion in its governance is perfectly fine for a photo-op, but the world’s only Jewish state is a bridge too far.
On Thursday, while the Jewish community reels from Mamdani&#8217;s snub, City Hall is celebrating &#8220;Muslim Day.&#8221; The contrast is staggering. While Mamdani and New York City&#8217;s government find the energy to host press conferences for his preferred constituencies, he exhibits a pathetic lassitude toward the antisemitic rot festering in his own streets.
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Yet another one of these events planned at City Hall this week.
Particularly tone deaf after the violence we’ve seen directed at synagogues and Jewish neighborhoods over the past few days, but they REALLY want to make sure we understand who’s in charge now. <a href="https://t.co/q5vlXpkpii">pic.twitter.com/q5vlXpkpii</a>
&mdash; Hon. Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) <a href="https://twitter.com/VickieforNYC/status/2054600253521776893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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In neighborhoods like Midwood, the &#8220;mob&#8221; that Novakhov warned about is <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2054153512422944809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2054153512422944809%7Ctwgr%5Ea93ea06288579be4d5f10e6ec74cc83c12314519%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1095129action%3Dedit">already here</a>. In the streets, &#8220;anti-Zionist&#8221; thugs have waved Hezbollah flags, shouting &#8220;Globalize the Intifada&#8221; and screaming &#8220;Remember Khaybar&#8221; — a chilling reference to the 7th-century slaughter and subjugation of Jews. Women have been dragged by their hair and residents harassed in their own doorways by masked agitators shouting &#8220;baby killer.&#8221;
And where is the mayor? He is busy evading questions about his double standards and hiding behind bureaucratic platitudes about &#8220;equal rights.&#8221; His administration’s response to these intimidation tactics has been one of profound indifference.
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It’s almost 48 hours since <a href="https://twitter.com/WOLPalestine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WOLPalestine</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/PAL_Awda?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PAL_Awda</a> terrorized the Jewish community in Brooklyn. 
Yet, not a word from the Boy <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYCMayor</a> on X condemning the conduct of groups associated with <a href="https://twitter.com/NerdeenKiswani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NerdeenKiswani</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/lsarsour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@lsarsour</a> doing so.
But tomorrow it’s Muslim Day at City Hall. <a href="https://t.co/6xc2Q9TYnv">https://t.co/6xc2Q9TYnv</a> <a href="https://t.co/XaEcRxGEOA">pic.twitter.com/XaEcRxGEOA</a>
&mdash; SCOOCH.NYC (@david_sivella) <a href="https://twitter.com/david_sivella/status/2054634662371246104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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While the City Council recently <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/mamdani-vetoes-school-buffer-zone-bill-leading-jewish-groups-pan-profound-failure/">passed legislation</a> to protect houses of worship from these vitriolic sieges, the police are still waiting for the green light to actually enforce it.
Mamdani’s boycott isn&#8217;t a principled stand for human rights; it is a signal to the most radical elements of his base that the Jewish community is fair game. By refusing to stand with Israel, he has chosen to stand with the Jew-hating mob that feels increasingly emboldened under his watch.

NJ/NY Gotham FC v Boston Legacy FC

Mamdani’s Latest Slap In The Face To Jewish Voters

Anti-Semitism

Israel

Pakistan

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) &#8211; A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after a trial over federal prosecutors&#8217; allegations that he operated a &#8220;secret police station&#8221; on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan&#8217;s Chinatown neighborhood.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Lu Jianwang, 64, should have alerted the U.S. Attorney General that he was a Chinese agent when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. They also said he helped China&#8217;s government locate a pro-democracy activist living in California.
Lu was arrested in April 2023. He had pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges he faced: conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, acting as an unregistered agent of China, and obstruction of justice.
A jury in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict after a weeklong trial. Lu faces up to 30 years in prison.
&#8220;May today’s verdict send a message to other foreign agents–the FBI maintains its unwavering resolve to reveal and disrupt the clandestine operations of adversarial nations,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle in an announcement of the verdict.
The Justice Department has in recent years been ramping up probes into what it calls &#8220;transnational repression&#8221; by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran to intimidate political opponents living in the United States.
CHINA CALLS CHARGES FABRICATED
China&#8217;s government has called the charges in the case &#8220;fabricated&#8221; and part of an effort to smear the country&#8217;s image. Beijing has said there are centers outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that aim to help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.
In her opening statement on May 6, prosecutor Lindsey Oken said Lu &#8211; a naturalized U.S. citizen &#8211; had ties with Chinese law enforcement and met with officials who tasked him with opening the station during a trip to China in 2022.
Oken said Lu ran the station out of a nondescript office building in Chinatown. She said he started out by helping Chinese nationals living in New York with renewing driver&#8217;s licenses, which alone is a crime if not disclosed to the U.S. government.
Oken said Lu also agreed to help the Chinese government locate a pro-democracy activist living in the United States. Prosecutors did not allege that the activist was harmed.
John Carman, a lawyer for Lu, said his client agreed to open the center to help Chinese nationals who were unable to travel to the country to renew documents due to the COVID pandemic. But Carman said Lu was not tasked by the Chinese government to do so.
A co-defendant arrested alongside Lu, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiring to act as an unregistered Chinese agent.
The arrests followed a 2022 investigation published by Spain-based advocacy group Safeguard Defenders that reported China had set up overseas &#8220;service stations,&#8221; including in New York, that illegally worked with Chinese police to pressure fugitives to return to China.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Karen Sloan; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

FILE PHOTO: Lu Jianwang arrives at Brooklyn federal court during his trial in New York City

Chinese Agent Found Guilty In NYC ‘Secret Police Station’ Case

China

Communist China

A 23-year-old woman in New York City said she did not want to cooperate with prosecutors after a man attacked her on the subway because she did not want to “put another black man in jail.” The same suspect is now accused of pushing a 76-year-old man to his death at a Chelsea station.
<a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/08/us-news/stranger-assaulted-by-maniac-weeks-before-he-pushed-retired-nyc-teacher-to-death-recounts-frightening-attack/">The New York Post</a> interviewed the unidentified woman, who recounted a harrowing experience with a friend on a Manhattan subway. On April 2, the suspect, Rhamell Burke, a former Broadway dancer who fell off during the pandemic, approached the woman and her friend and tried to strike up a conversation. The two shut him down and tried to move to another subway car, according to The Post.
The alleged attacker didn&#8217;t take no for an answer. Burke, according to the woman, yanked the back of her head and kicked her friend. 
“He comes up, and he kicks my friend in the back, and basically pushes him through the transition of the cars,” the woman said in an interview with The Post.
“My friend freaks out, runs away, and then he grabs me by the head and pushes my head down, trying to, like, maybe throw me on the ground or something. But I didn’t, I resisted as much as I could. I didn’t fall, and then I immediately opened up the car and then ran towards my friend,&#8221; she said to The Post. 
The woman and her friend got off the train at the West 4th Street–Washington Square station in Greenwich Village, but Burke followed them, she said.
“We started running a little bit, but then thank God the cops were right there because, I mean, we kept thinking about, imagine that there were no cops, we would have had to literally run for our lives. They immediately arrested him. It was shut down really fast by the cops, and we respected that,&#8221; the woman said. 
Cooperation with law enforcement appeared to stop there. The alleged female victim declined to cooperate with prosecutors, and the same suspect is now accused of fatally shoving 76-year-old Ross Falzone down a flight of stairs at Manhattan’s 18th Street subway station.
Falzone, a retired high school teacher who lived alone, landed on his head at the bottom of the stairs and sustained a traumatic brain injury, a fractured spine, and a fractured rib, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/nyregion/mamdani-bellevue-subway-attack-investigation.html">according to the New York Times.</a> He later died from his injuries. 
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NEW: Repeat offender and Broadway dancer shoves a 76-year-old retired teacher down New York City subway stairs, killing him.
32-year-old Rhamell Burke was seen grinning in court after allegedly carrying out the horrific murder.
The victim, Ross Falzone, was a social worker for… <a href="https://t.co/cBlbscyOOW">pic.twitter.com/cBlbscyOOW</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/2053867272704561250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
Three months before the deadly attack, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/nyregion/mamdani-bellevue-subway-attack-investigation.html">Burke had been arrested four times</a>, including for assault on a police officer.
New York Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was &#8220;horrified&#8221; by the killing and called for an investigation into whether the tragedy could have been prevented.
“New Yorkers deserve answers,&#8221; Mamdani said in a statement. &#8220;That is why I’ve directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct both an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy and a comprehensive review of their psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols.”  
Police had previously taken Burke to a hospital after he was observed “acting erratically.” About an hour later, he was released and allegedly carried out the deadly attack later that night, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/08/us-news/stranger-assaulted-by-maniac-weeks-before-he-pushed-retired-nyc-teacher-to-death-recounts-frightening-attack/">according to the New York Post.</a>
“I regret it 100%, and I actually feel really bad that a man lost his life,” the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/08/us-news/stranger-assaulted-by-maniac-weeks-before-he-pushed-retired-nyc-teacher-to-death-recounts-frightening-attack/">woman said of her decision not to cooperate with prosectors.</a> “Maybe a part of me was just like, I don’t want to put another black man in jail, but, you know, at some point, if you are a criminal, you’re a criminal, and he was scary, he was a scary guy.”

NYC Subway

Woman Refused To Rat On Murder Suspect Because She Didn’t ‘Want To Put Another Black Man In Jail’

News

Subway

New NYPD data showing increases in subway murders and robberies comes amid a string of high-profile violent incidents underground that have fueled growing public concern over safety in New York City’s transit system.
The Daily Wire has extensively reported on the recent wave of subway violence, including multiple attacks involving repeat offenders, illegal immigrants, and mentally disturbed suspects.
Earlier this year, authorities arrested Honduran national Bairon Posada-Hernandez after he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-accused-of-shoving-air-force-veteran-onto-subway-tracks-was-deported-four-times">allegedly shoved</a> two men — including 83-year-old Air Force veteran Richard Williams — onto Manhattan subway tracks in an unprovoked attack. Federal officials said Posada-Hernandez had previously been deported four times and had accumulated at least 15 prior criminal charges before allegedly attacking the two commuters.
Williams later died from his injuries, prompting prosecutors to upgrade the charges against Hernandez to second-degree murder. The veteran’s death became a flashpoint in broader debates over immigration enforcement, sanctuary city policies, and violent crime in the city.
In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/warmth-of-collectivism-repeat-offender-pushes-woman-onto-nyc-subway-tracks">another recent incident</a>, a repeat offender allegedly pushed a woman onto subway tracks in Brooklyn before punching another woman in the face. The suspect, Curtis Signal, had a lengthy criminal history and was already on probation at the time of the attack.
Those cases have helped intensify scrutiny of subway safety as riders report increasing anxiety over random acts of violence, aggressive behavior, and disorder underground.
According to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/09/us-news/murders-robberies-surge-in-nyc-subway-nypd-data-shows/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=nypost">latest NYPD statistics</a>, robberies in the transit system are up 18% this year compared to the same period in 2025, while misdemeanor assaults have climbed 15%. Murders connected to the subway system have also increased sharply, with four killings reported in or around the transit system this year compared to just one during the same period last year.
The latest deadly incident occurred Thursday when police say a mentally disturbed repeat offender allegedly shoved a 76-year-old retired teacher down subway stairs in Manhattan, killing him just hours after being released from Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric ward.
Despite the rise in transit violence, city officials continue to point to broader declines in overall crime citywide. NYPD officials say major crimes in the subway system overall remain essentially flat year over year and note that robbery and assault arrests have increased alongside expanded police patrols underground.
Police recently added more than 175 officers per day to subway patrols as part of an effort to reassure riders and crack down on violent offenders.
Still, many commuters say the statistics do little to calm fears generated by repeated violent attacks. “Every time I hear something like this, I get more fearful,” one subway rider previously told reporters after a separate track-shoving incident earlier this year. “It’s happening too often.”

NY Subway Station

New York City Subway Riders ‘More Fearful’ As Murder Rate Underground Spikes

Politics

New York City businessmen are already looking for the exits as newly elected democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani keeps promising &#8220;free&#8221; stuff they&#8217;ll be forced to subsidize.
Mamdani ran his campaign on a litany of socialist fever dreams like frozen rents, free city buses, and city-run grocery stores — but almost every one of his major policies is dependent on on a robust local economy replete with multi-millionaire and billionaire business owners who are willing to turn the other cheek while he robs them blind. Thus far, business owners don&#8217;t appear inclined to bite.
Apollo Global Management&#8217;s CEO, according to a <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/06/business/wall-street-giant-apollo-aims-to-open-second-headquarters-outside-nyc-in-latest-fallout-from-mamdanis-war-on-the-wealthy/">report</a> from The New York Post, is eyeing Florida and Texas as possible new hubs for the massive private equity firm. Billionaire CEO Marc Rowan has already begun to build up a presence in Florida, and he&#8217;s been scouting office locations in Miami and Palm Beach as well as in Austin, Texas.
Apollo alone paid more than $1 billion in income taxes in the past two years ($1.062 billion in 2024 and $1.276 billion in 2025), and although it is not clear how much of that went directly into the city&#8217;s coffers, it is clear that New York City would take a sizable hit if that money went elsewhere.
Billionaire hedge fund manager <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/06/us-news/billionaire-ken-griffin-scales-back-nyc-jobs-in-response-to-mamdanis-tax-the-rich-antics-sparking-fears-wealthy-exodus-has-begun/">Ken Griffin</a>, majority owner of Citadel LLC., also announced a plan to expand in Florida — and directly tied it a video that Mayor Mamdani posted recently.
Mamdani stood in front of Griffin&#8217;s Midtown penthouse to tout his plan for a &#8220;pied à terre&#8221; tax — which would slap additional taxes on second homes valued at over five million dollars — and Griffin made it clear that he did not appreciate the gesture.
&#8220;We will add far more jobs in Miami over the next decade as an immediate and direct consequence of the mayor’s poor decision here with respect to his posting of that video,&#8221; Griffin said, calling Mamdani&#8217;s video &#8220;creepy.&#8221;
The Citadel CEO&#8217;s threats are not likely to be idle, either — he relocated part of his company from Chicago to Miami in 2022 because of increasing crime and poor city and state leadership under then Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D-Chicago) and Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL). Citadel still has a large part of its company based in New York City.
&#8220;I think looking at what Mamdani just did to me, and more broadly is doing to the city of New York, is triggering of the trauma I went through in Chicago. Chicago went through a renaissance during most of my 30 years there, and then under the leadership of J.B. Pritzker, Lori Lightfoot, and the current mayor, has just devolved into a state that has lost its way,&#8221; he said.
Griffin and Rowan aren&#8217;t likely to be the only two considering escape, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow John Ketcham warned.
&#8220;New York City is losing its competitive edge and Mayor Mamdani makes it far less competitive,” he explained. &#8220;Investors and job creators have options and they will go where they’re treated well. Increasingly New York City has treated them inhospitably. New York City leaders have assumed they can’t do business elsewhere, even though we have seen in the last several years a dramatic expansion of the financial sector’s activities in states like Florida and Texas.&#8221;
The Partnership for New York City, a pro-business group, estimates that Mamdani&#8217;s policies could cost the city more than $168 million in annual city and state tax revenue – more than 2,500 jobs in the financial sector alone.

Illustration by The Daily Wire

Escape From New York: Mamdani’s Cash Cows Already Seeking Greener Pastures

Escape From New York: Mamdani's Cash Cows Already Seeking Greener Pastures

Business

Democratic Socialism

Taxes

Wealth Tax

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, is battling pneumonia complicated by ash exposure from the 9/11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center.
Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman, who announced on Sunday that &#8220;America&#8217;s Mayor&#8221; had been hospitalized and was in &#8220;critical but stable condition,&#8221; explained the situation in more detail in a statement posted Monday morning via X.
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Mayor Rudy Giuliani is recovering from pneumonia. On September 11th, Mayor Giuliani ran toward the towers to help those in need, which later led to a diagnosis of restrictive airway disease.
This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly…
— Ted Goodman (@TedCGoodman) <a href="https://twitter.com/TedCGoodman/status/2051326625061446030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Mayor Rudy Giuliani is recovering from pneumonia,&#8221; Goodman posted — and then explained how such a diagnosis could be far more dangerous to someone whose respiratory system was already compromised due to exposure to the dust and ash that blanketed New York in the aftermath of the 2001 Islamic terror attacks. Giuliani, who was mayor of New York City at the time, earned the nickname &#8220;America&#8217;s Mayor&#8221; as he shepherded the city through the weeks that followed the attacks.
&#8220;On September 11th, Mayor Giuliani ran toward the towers to help those in need, which later led to a diagnosis of restrictive airway disease,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilize his condition.&#8221;
The good news, Goodman added, was that Giuliani had stabilized somewhat and was able to breathe without medical intervention.
&#8220;He is now breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side,&#8221; Goodman said. &#8220;Mayor Giuliani is the ultimate fighter — as he has demonstrated throughout his life — and he is winning this battle. His family deeply appreciates the outpouring of love and support. The mayor believes in the power of prayer, and we are feeling that strength today. He remains in critical but stable condition. Please keep the prayers coming.&#8221;
When the news broke on Sunday that Giuliani had been hospitalized, President Donald Trump was quick to send out a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116513195579187634">statement</a> on behalf of his longtime friend and ally: &#8220;Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition. What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!&#8221;

Conference In Support Of Freedom And Democracy In Iran

As Giuliani Battles For His Life, His Illness Is Complicated By Heroic Actions On 9/11

9/11

Islamic terrorists

Rudy Giuliani

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