sorry, i think that reply is hilarious

Attn New York voters. Lee Zeldin is a creep.

Vote for Gov Kathy Hochul.

In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a measure which allows pharmacies in the state to sell birth control pills without a prescription. And the law doesn't apply only to residents; somebody living in Jersey City (for example) could hop on a PATH subway train to Manhattan and in minutes head back to NJ with the medications.

On Tuesday, at the College Parkside Pharmacy in Albany, Governor Kathy Hochul and State Health Commissioner James McDonald signed into law a new order from the state Health Department, which would allow drugstores to sell three varieties of contraception medication without a prescription. “This will dramatically, dramatically increase access to this for women, particularly at a time when women are feeling discouraged and not listened to and powerless,” Hochul said. Per the new regulations, the three forms of contraception newly available over the counter are birth-control pills, contraceptive patches, and vaginal rings. Participating pharmacists can dispense up to a 12-month supply of the medication, which will be covered under insurance. The state’s Board of Regents, which distributes pharmacy licenses, approved the change last week.

Do the anti-abortion and fundamentalist patriarchal fanatics in Texas understand that their GOP governor is bussing thousands of migrants to a state where they can easily get abortions and now obtain a year's worth of birth control at the corner drug store without a prescription?

Republicans would station fundamentalist police in your bedroom and doctor's office if they could get away with it. Only Democrats are committed to reproductive freedom.

“The state of New York passed a law Thursday prohibiting the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores. The move is an attempt to halt the puppy-mill-to-pet-store pipeline and stop abusive breeders.

“Dogs, cats and rabbits across New York deserve loving homes and humane treatment,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul says in a statement. “I'm proud to sign this legislation, which will make meaningful steps to cut down on harsh treatment and protect the welfare of animals across the state.”

Puppy mills—or large-scale dog breeding facilities—are often unregulated. At these sites, the dogs’ welfare is compromised in favor of maximizing profits, per the Humane Society of the United States, but most puppy mills remain legal...

Animal rights activists have praised the new law, saying it will help diminish animal cruelty and encourage people to adopt some of the 6.3 million shelter animals in need of a home annually...

The new law, which goes into effect in 2024, will allow pet stores to rent out their space to shelters for adoption events. Under the law, customers may still buy animals directly from breeders, which proponents say will make them more aware of where their pets are coming from, writes Maysoon Khan for the Associated Press (AP).

“If a consumer went to a mill and saw the awful conditions, they wouldn’t buy these animals,” New York State Senator Michael Gianaris tells the AP. “Dealing with a breeder allows people to see where their dog comes from, and it cuts off the middlemen that serve as a way to wash off the awful activities that take place at the mill.”” -via Smithsonian Magazine, 12/16/22

MADINA TOURÉ and IRIE SENTNER at Politico:

NEW YORK — Speaker Mike Johnson said he will call Joe Biden and demand the president send the National Guard to Columbia University — an escalation after protesters constantly shouted him and other Republicans down during a visit to the campus Wednesday.

Johnson, flanked by GOP lawmakers from New York and elsewhere, repeated his calls for the university’s embattled president to step down. But protesters shouted “who are you people?” “Mike, you suck!” and chanted “free Palestine,” making it almost impossible for the gaggle of reporters and others to hear the speaker. “This is dangerous. This is not the First Amendment, this is not free expression,” Johnson said. He later added: “If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard.” Johnson directly faced the Gaza Solidarity Encampment that has thrown the Ivy League campus into turmoil over the past week — demonstrations that have drawn bipartisan anger over incidents of antisemitism. Johnson earlier in the day called Columbia President Minouche Shafik a “weak and inept leader” who can’t guarantee the safety of Jewish students during a radio interview.

While he’s the most senior elected official so far to push for Shafik’s resignation, numerous Republican lawmakers — including New York’s GOP delegation — and at least one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), are also pushing for her ouster. “My message to the students inside the encampment is go back to class and stop the nonsense,” Johnson said. “Stop wasting your parents’ money.” Johnson’s comments Wednesday capped off a week of chaos at the school that started when Shafik and other university leadership testified before House lawmakers, followed by her calling in police to arrest around 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on campus. The protests and arrests spawned similar demonstrations at NYU, Yale, MIT and beyond and have become the latest domestic flashpoint in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

“Columbia University is in a free fall,” House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said Wednesday, accusing Shafik of presenting false testimony during the hearing. “I have a message for President Shafik and a message for you all too: The inmates are running the asylum,” she added.

[...] Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) — who has accused Columbia of bowing to “right wing pressure” with its arrests of students — dubbed Johnson’s visit as another tactic in a conservative attack on educational institutions and an effort to silence “anti-war and pro-Palestinian sentiment.”

Yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was hellbent on making Kent State look like a picnic by demanding President Biden call in the National Guard to quell pro-Palestinian protests on campuses nationwide. Speaker Johnson got deservedly shut down by protesters.

See Also:

HuffPost: Speaker Johnson To Columbia Protestors: 'Go Back To Class And Stop The Nonsense'

LMAOOOO 😂😂😂

I see Kathy Hochul is going the, conservadem, “Andrew Cuomo” route of empowering and placing conservatives in charge, so that when things go wrong she can throw her hands up, blame the system, and say her hands are tied. PLEASE ask yourself: why tf is a Democratic “progressive” 🙄 putting a union-busting, anti-choice conservative in charge of the courts, when she doesn’t have to??

And mark my words: IF the mainstream media grows a pair and presses her on this incredibly bad call, you can expect Hochul to deflect with weaponized identity politics, and over-emphasize the fact that LaSalle would be the first Latinx person to hold the position. I’m Black af, but I would happily take another old white male politician who vociferously calls out fake pregnancy crisis centers and believes in unions, than Hector LaSalle. There are other, better qualified candidates available to fill that position.

If LaSalle does end up being New York’s Chief Justice, absolutely no one should be surprised when, in a cloud of “bipartisanship” + “reaching across the aisle” + “compromise,” he starts union busting and watering down pro-choice abortion laws. You’ll know who helped make it possible. Don’t forget.

‘This is her opportunity’: governor Kathy Hochul could forever unmask New York’s financial criminals

A first-in-the-nation transparency act on Hochul’s desk would name those involved in financial crimes and potential money laundering

Texas governor Gregg A-Butt abbott & republicans: “We have to solve the mental health issue” Also, Greg Abbott, republicans, Mayor Adams, and Governor Hochul: it’s perfectly fine choke to death anyone with a mental health issue

Texas and New York: y’all could had beto O’Rourke, tish james and Maya Wiley respectively.

Democrats standing strong across the country 💙💙

Kathy Hochul is doing her best to illustrate to New Yorkers that she lives in a left-wing information bubble and has no idea what is going on in her state. On Friday, she tried to make an issue of the state of “political discourse” and blame it for the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, but she shot her own message in the foot by launching this argument on the radio show of a left-winger known for his own incendiary rhetoric. On Sunday, the floundering New York governor went on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC showto remind voters how unserious and unconcerned she is about crime, calling it a “conspiracy” for New Yorkers to believe that they are unsafe:

“These are master manipulators. They have this conspiracy going all across America trying to convince people in Democratic states that they’re not as safe. Well guess what? They’re also not only election deniers, they’re data deniers,” she told the show’s host, the Rev. Al Sharpton. “Safer places are the Democratic states,” she claimed. Murders were down by 14% in New York City compared with last year, but all other major crimes were up — including a 33% rise in robberies, police statistics show.

This is yet another example of elected Democrats being unable to tell the difference between getting the press to buy their media talking points and saying things that are actually believable to voters who have eyes and ears and can observe the world around them.

Worse, at a time of rising concern over antisemitism, the governor of New York is blessing Al Sharpton with her presence — something she has previously done by appearing on his show and speaking to his organization. Sharpton is as toxic a figure as exists in American public life. I have detailed at great length here and here Sharpton’s many sins, which include inciting murder, riot, and arson, leading a hoax rape accusation against innocent men, antisemitism, and tax evasion. As Joe Scarborough recited in a congressional resolution back in 2000:

Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as ‘‘bloodsucking [J]ews’’, and ‘‘Jew bastards’’; Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has referred to members of the Jewish faith as ‘‘white interlopers’’ and ‘‘diamond merchants’’;… Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton’s vicious verbal anti-Semitic attacks directed at members of the Jewish faith, and in particular, a Jewish landlord, arising from a simple landlord-tenant dispute with a black tenant, incited widespread violence, riots, and the murder of five innocent people; Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton’s fierce demagoguery incited violence, riots, and murder in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, following the accidental death of a black pedestrian child hit by the motorcade of Orthodox Rabbi Menachem Schneerson; Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton led a protest in the Crown Heights neighborhood and marched next to a protester with a sign that read, ‘‘The White Man is the Devil’’; Whereas the Reverend Al Sharpton has insulted members of the Jewish faith by challenging Jews to violence and stating to Jews to ‘‘pin down’’ their yarmulkes…

All of which is, one must assume, just fine by Kathy Hochul.

I Do Political Campaigning Now. Renewable Heat Meow!!!! Climate change is real and terrifying, we need to stop emitting, and one of the fastest ways to not make things worse is to stop building new buildings that use fossil fuels for heat. We have all the technology we need, just need politicians to do the right thing. Kathy Hochul, Crystal Peoples-Stokes, and Carl Heastie are in a back room at the NY State capital negotiating the budget and deciding what bills should get funded. Feel free to send them an email and let them know we want Clean Energy for New York State. It's the 11th biggest economy on the planet, and what happens here tends to start trends in state policy worldwide.

Solar, Wind, and other renewables are right here to replace dirty fossil fuel power. If we just... stop building new buildings with appliances, then as the grid cleans up, the built environment cleans up and there's no messy retrofits required. This legislation happened last year in NYC, and now it's time at the state level.

Non-paywall version here.

"Shortly after a federal appeals court ruling threatened to hamstring Berkeley’s ban on new natural gas hookups, New York state has passed a budget barring gas appliances in new buildings.

New York, which was America’s sixth-largest state consumer of natural gas in 2020, became the first state to enact such a ban when the state’s 2023-24 budget was passed [on May 2, 2023].

“Changing the ways we make and use energy to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels will help ensure a healthier environment for us and our children,” New York House Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, said in a news release.

Los Angeles is among more than 70 California cities and counties that have banned or discouraged natural gas hookups in new buildings. The City Council voted in May to do so, citing climate change. However, no state had passed such a ban until now.

The requirements for electric construction will be phased in starting in 2025, and include some exemptions: “Hospitals, critical infrastructure and commercial food establishments” will be left out, according to Heastie’s statement, as will “buildings where the local grid is not capable of handling the load.” ...

The ban is part of an overall strategy “to reduce our state’s carbon emissions and move us away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources,” Assemblymember and Energy Committee Chair Didi Barrett said...

Gov. Kathy Hochul... released a statement touting the budget and its “$5.5 billion investment to promote energy affordability, reduce emissions, and invest in clean air and water, building on more than $30 billion committed to climate action. ”

The budget, according to Hochul’s website, includes “nation-leading building decarbonization proposals that will prohibit fossil fuel equipment and building systems in new construction, phase out the sale and installation of fossil fuel space and water heating equipment in existing buildings, and establish building benchmarking and energy grades.”"

-via Los Angeles Times, 5/3/23

In Democratically controlled NY, right now, the Dem. Governor is holding the state budget hostage to dramatically change the state's bail laws to lock up thousands of Black & brown people. Needlessly. Lawmakers are getting ready to give judges the most power they've had in history to detain innocent people pretrial. NY State Democrats are ignoring facts about bail reform & choosing to listen to a NYC Mayor, who has expanded the torture of solitary confinement on Rikers, gutted public schools/libraries to pay billions more for police, and ended Medicare for retirees.

Bail reform has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to fight their charges while keeping jobs & housing, supporting their loved ones, & avoiding the pressure that all too often pushes people to plead guilty. All while saving hundreds of millions & reducing rearrest rates.

Top Democratic lawmakers in New York said they will again look to change New York’s wrongful death law this year after Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill late Monday that would have made it far easier for grieving families to seek compensation.

Hochul, a Democrat facing a Monday deadline to act, vetoed the measure just before midnight, accusing lawmakers of failing to take the potentially far-reaching consequences of the bill into account, such as a boost in insurance rates and confusion in the legal system.

But lawmakers said that’s not fair. The bill had been around in various forms for more than two decades, and it passed in June by a wide, bipartisan margin.

For now, New York is left with one of the most restrictive statutes in the country, preventing families from suing for damages from their pain and suffering caused by a wrongful death.

“Obviously, we passed it. A bipartisan supermajority of the Legislature knows how important this is,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. “We were hoping, obviously, that we would have it signed, but we will continue to look at it.”

The Grieving Families Act, as the bill is known, would have made broad changes to the state’s wrongful death statute, which was enacted in 1847 and has largely remained intact since.

Since the bill was passed by last year’s Legislature, the current Legislature cannot vote to overturn Hochul’s veto. But lawmakers could choose to pass the bill again to try to force Hochul’s hand, something Stewart-Cousins didn’t rule out on Tuesday.

The current law allows beneficiaries to seek only “pecuniary” damages — economic costs like lost wages and earning potential — in wrongful death cases. That has particularly hamstrung parents of small children killed in such cases, who had no wages to lose.

Under the vetoed bill, New York would have changed the law to allow the deceased’s families to seek a wide variety of damages, including for emotional costs such as grief and anguish and loss of companionship resulting from a wrongful death.

The bill also would have expanded the pool of family members who could file a wrongful death claim to include any “surviving close family members,” including but not limited to spouses, domestic partners, parents, grandparents, stepparents, siblings and others allowed by the court. And it would have lengthened the statute of limitations for filing a case from two years to three-and-a-half years, or up to four years for those who die of 9/11-related conditions.

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