New York City
January 8, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Times reports on Mayor de Blasio’s plan to “guarantee health care for all New Yorkers,” legal and otherwise. The mayor announced his plan on MSNBC’s Morning Joe (the tweet below is carried in the version of the Times story posted online): New York City Mayor New York City will spend $100 million to provide health care for undocumented immigrants and others who cannot qualify for insurance, Mayor Bill de
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June 13, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Let’s imagine an academically elite public high school in a big, diverse city. Admission is based solely on how well one does on an entrance examination. No racial or ethnic preferences, no preference for children of alums, no preference for athletes, no guidance counselor recommendations. Just the test score. We have imagined Stuyvesant High School, the crown jewel of the New York City school system. In a better world, we
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April 15, 2018 — Steven Hayward
Reagan used to like to tell a joke about the two Russians talking on the street, where one asks, “Have we reached peak Communism? Is this it?” To which his compatriot replies, “Oh no—things are going to have to get a lot worse!” This comes to mind with the observation that just when you think liberals can’t get any more out of touch or ridiculous, they step up with something
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April 9, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Reagan Stevens, a deputy director in the New York Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, was arrested along with two young men on Saturday for illegal weapons possession. The three were sitting in a double-parked car near the scene of a shooting in Queens. The vehicle reeked of marijuana, according to police. A loaded, 9mm semi-automatic pistol with its serial number scratched out was hidden in the car’s glovebox. There was
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December 11, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Via Twitter I’m trying to follow the news of an explosion at the New York Port Authority this morning. The New York Post has just posted Yaron Steinbuch’s story reporting: “Several people were injured Monday morning when a device exploded at the Port Authority bus terminal on 42nd Street, according to law enforcement sources. One person is in custody after his device partially detonated inside a tunnel, sources told The
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November 2, 2017 — Scott Johnson
In Barack Obama’s world, Islamist terrorism was never about terrorism. When Muslims went on jihadi rampages shouting “Allahu akbar,” the motive was always a deep secret to be kept from the American people. In the eyes of Obama and his crew, we couldn’t handle the truth. The Islamic State — not Islamic. The Islamic Republic of Iran — not Islamic. Hamas, Hezbollah and all the rest, well, you know. Can’t
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September 6, 2017 — Steven Hayward
One of the things I learned taking in the APSA last weekend is how fully today’s radical left rejects the liberal democratic tradition in toto. The rule of law, democratic institutions, and majority rule itself are all tools of oppression that need to be replaced. And then there’s New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was interviewed a few days back by New York magazine. He was asked, “In
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August 4, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
My conservative cousin from New York has more to report on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s effort to impose leftist cultural orthodoxy on the City. He writes: Mayor Bill De Blasio appears to be coasting towards a second term. He faces only token opposition in the Democratic primary. Polls show him running better than 3 to 1 against his likely GOP opponent, a relatively unknown State Senator who represents Staten Island,
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July 25, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
In this post, my cousin wrote about Mayor de Blasio’s “One Book – One New York” initiative which urged Gothamites to vote for a work of literature to all read together. The nominees were anti-American screeds by the likes of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chimamamda Ngozi, and Junot Diaz. Commenting about the post, David Randall of the National Association of Scholars (NAS) calls “One Book – One New York” a college common
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July 22, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
My conservative cousin from New York has been following New York City mayors since the days of Robert F. Wagner, Jr. I think John Lindsey remains his nominee for the worst of the lot, but the current mayor seems to be closing in fast. My cousin reports: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is an ardent admirer of Communist Cuba and the Sandinistas. He presides over a town whose
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July 9, 2017 — Scott Johnson
The New York Post remains unrelenting in its campaign to call its lunatic left-wing mayor to account. First the Post alerts us to the news inside with this irate cover. Then the Post reports: Mayor de Blasio flew all the way to Hamburg, Germany, to praise that city’s police in a speech — while cops back home continued to mourn, without him, the assassination of one of their own in
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July 8, 2017 — Scott Johnson
New York Post columnist Bob McManus follows up on the Post’s bon voyage to Mayor de Blasio on his trip to join the protest of the G20 summit in Hamburg. The Post headlines McManus’s column “Comrade de Blasio doesn’t care about New York.” I had forgotten the word “philippic.” McManus’s column dredged it up from the back of my mind. The column is a philippic. Here is the opening: Kaiser
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July 7, 2017 — Scott Johnson
The New York Post is not too thrilled by the timing or the mission of Mayor de Blasio’s sudden departure to join the mob in Hamburg. The Post headline reads “De Blasio races to Germany to protest G20 summit.” The Post has five reporters on the story. They bring the heat: Mayor de Blasio on Thursday skipped an NYPD swearing-in ceremony made somber by this week’s assassination of a cop
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April 24, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Michael Goodwin summarizes the latest news emanating from the prosecutors circling around New York’s Mayor de Blasio in the New York Post column “The mayor is going down!” The schadenfreude is overwhelming. The Post runs the column with the tabloid cover below. I’m thinking there must be something to it. Goodwin writes: Less than a week ago, Mayor de Blasio was offering aid to Ecuadorians after the earthquake there. Now
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January 30, 2016 — Scott Johnson
We’re in New York for 48 hours to celebrate an anniversary (late) and see a couple of Broadway shows. Speaking of New York values, as we were in what already seems like the ancient past, I came across a sidewalk pushcart at 47th and Lexington in midtown Manhattan, a block from where we are happily staying (photo below). No animals were harmed! I thought it might bring a smile or
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November 15, 2015 — Scott Johnson
The Manhattan Institute’s City Journal is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. The table of contents for the twenty-fifth anniversary issue is posted here (subscribe here). To salute the magazine’s milestone, and bring the magazine to the attention of readers who might not be familiar with it, I submitted a set of questions to long-time editor Myron Magnet (now retired) and current editor Brian Anderson. I posted my exchange with Myron Magnet
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November 14, 2015 — Scott Johnson
The Manhattan Institute’s City Journal is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. The table of contents for the twenty-fifth anniversary issue is posted here. City Journal is a fantastic and fantastically influential quarterly magazine that I have read regularly over the years (subscribe here).To salute the magazine’s milestone, and bring the magazine to the attention of readers who might not be familiar with it, I submitted a set of questions to long-time
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