Normal view

There are new articles available, click to refresh the page.
Today — 6 January 2025Politics

Subway mayhem spurs Cuomo to urge halt to new NYC driving tax

6 January 2025 at 01:00

As New York’s "congestion pricing" inner-city tolling plan takes effect Sunday, one of its major proponents is questioning whether the timing is right for a policy meant to drive people to an increasingly dangerous mass transit system.

Through a spokesman, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed that he still backs the system that now tolls drivers $9 to cross below Central Park or enter Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey – but questioned whether now is best to implement it.

"Governor Cuomo believes congestion pricing is ultimately the right policy, which is why he fought and succeeded in passing it after more than a decade of failed attempts," longtime spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Fox News Digital on Friday.

Azzopardi said that Cuomo’s original plan, which found agreement from then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, was based on a "safe and reliable subway system" and a thriving city core. Prior Mayor Michael Bloomberg had proposed a similar plan in 2007, but it died in Albany.

HOCHUL SPARKS BIPARTISAN OUTRAGE OVER CONGESTION PRICING REBOOT AS DEMS WORRY TRUMP WILL BLOCK

"[G]iven the obvious lack of confidence the public currently has in the subway system – combined with the tenuous state of New York City post-COVID, [Cuomo] called for a data-driven study on the impact of congestion pricing to inform the timing of such a major policy change and to ensure New York was not creating additional obstacles to its comeback."

Cuomo previously wrote in a March op-ed that congestion pricing’s success hinges on confidence in the MTA and mass transit, which he noted has also statistically still not recovered from COVID levels.

He noted how congestion pricing is meant to "incentivize" subway use – but that that is hard to do when people are getting brutally attacked underground – and noted that it was his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, who first beefed-up police presence after the "bad old days."

At the time of a prior column in the Post, Cuomo cited a conductor with 24 years of service to the MTA vowing never to go back underground after he was slashed in the neck and required 34 stitches while operating an A train in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

NEW ‘DRACONIAN’ LAWS TAKING EFFECT IN 2025: FROM SHAMPOO TO IMMIGRANT CARE

More recently, an Ocean County, N.J., woman was burned alive in Coney Island, and there have been several near-fatal cases of people being randomly shoved in front of trains, occurring from Morningside Heights to TriBeCa, since Christmas.

"It is undeniable that New York is in a dramatically different place today than it was in 2019, and without a study forecasting its consequences based on facts, not politics, it could do more harm than good to New York City's recovery," Cuomo’s spokesman said Friday.

But Cuomo’s onetime deputy, Gov. Kathy Hochul, appeared full-steam-ahead in enacting the policy, which is intended to drive commuters and residents to consider mass transit to head to work or play in Midtown.

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES ON NYC CONGESTION PRICING

In a recent statement lauding her current plan, Hochul’s office said the reduction of the congestion toll from its original $15 will save drivers $1,500 per year, and that commuters will see "new and improved subway services."

"By getting congestion pricing underway and fully supporting the MTA capital plan, we’ll unclog our streets, reduce pollution and deliver better public transit for millions of New Yorkers," Hochul said.

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber, who oversees the state-run metro subway, bus and rail network, said that Hochul is "stepping up" for people who want cleaner air, safer streets and less gridlock.

CUOMO JOINS NETANYAHU'S LEGAL DEFENSE TEAM, MULLS 2025 NYC MAYORAL RUN

He also noted that upgrades have already taken place on the 7 subway from Times Square to Flushing, Queens, and the L train from Union Square to Canarsie.

However, Cuomo’s camp maintains that it was he who envisioned and oversaw the upgrades to New York’s transit network without the added tolls in effect – and ripped Hochul and Lieber for claiming that he had gotten cold feet. 

When the New York Post asked Hochul for comment on Cuomo suggesting she "hit the brakes" on congestion pricing, the governor directed comment to a Lieber spokesman, who blasted Cuomo for "flip-flopping."

"What would really harm New York’s continuing recovery is starving subways of a desperately needed source of funding after decades of underinvestment," the MTA’s Aaron Donovan said.

"The $15 fee was passed by the MTA under Hochul’s watch, but please gaslight away," Azzopardi told Fox News Digital. "New Yorkers aren’t stupid."

Cuomo previously told WNYW that people have the option to work from home, which they didn’t have when he first pushed the plan in 2019 – and that if he were a commuter, he would likely balk at the idea of added costs at a time of "high crime and homelessness."

Cuomo’s camp also said that Hochul likes to take credit for the achievements of his three-term administration that presaged the new tolls.

"The difference here is that Governor Cuomo built the [new Amtrak/MetroNorth] Moynihan Train Hall and the Second Avenue Subway [extension to East Harlem], as well as fixed the L train and did the hard work to get [Grand Central’s] East Side Access and the LIRR Third-Track done. All Hochul wanted to do was cut the ribbons," Azzopardi said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Cuomo’s calls for a pause were joined by several New York Republicans, yet the former governor and potential 2025 mayoral candidate remains supportive of congestion pricing, while the GOP wants it nixed entirely.

Commuters from New Jersey must still pay Port Authority tolls to cross the Hudson River, and outer-borough commuters the same via the East River – albeit with a slight credit toward their "congestion" fee.

Drivers who remain on the FDR Drive or Joe DiMaggio West Side Highway will not be charged unless they turn onto surface streets.

Diet and nutrition experts weigh in on how RFK Jr's nomination could impact how we eat

6 January 2025 at 01:00

It is unclear what Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s day one priorities will be if he is confirmed to be the next Health and Human Services Secretary, but diet and nutrition experts suggest Kennedy could effectuate changes on a number of different fronts when it comes to healthy eating. These potential reforms might include overhauling school lunch programs, establishing new standards for seed oils and ultra-processed foods, setting limits on toxins, and more.  

Kennedy, who wants to "Make America Healthy Again," has been a staunch advocate for reforms to the food industry and President-elect Donald Trump has said he will have permission to "go wild on health" if he is confirmed.

One major opening for Kennedy would be overseeing a revision of the federal government's "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," one of the most powerful tools in terms of shaping public perception about what is healthy. The guidelines must be revised every five years and the deadline for the next update arrives in 2025. Kennedy, if confirmed, would ultimately be in charge of hiring the experts who draft the guidelines.

RFK JR ‘NOT KIDDING’ ABOUT AMERICA'S ‘TOXIC SOUP’ DIET, DR. SIEGEL EXPLAINS

"I know that they really want to focus on kids," Nina Teicholz, nutrition expert and founder of The Nutrition Coalition, told Fox News Digital. 

Teicholz, who has been in discussions with Kennedy's team about the new national dietary guidelines, suggested that he could potentially use them to implement changes to school lunches, such as adding a limit on sugar, for which Teicholz said there currently is none, and bringing back whole milk to school cafeterias, which was prohibited under the Obama administration. 

The addition of whole milk to school cafeterias could limit how frequently children consume high-sugar, flavored-milk beverages, Teicholz said. She also pointed out that current recommendations that are keeping whole milk out of schools "is based on the saturated fat content in milk, but there's really no good evidence to show that saturated fats have any negative effect on children."

"I think that Kennedy has aimed to stand for evidence-based changes to policy," Teicholz said. "So, that means not making policy based on weak science."

Teicholz added that in addition to school lunches, there is other "low-hanging fruit" associated with the guidelines that Kennedy could go after. 

Kennedy could use the guidelines to narrow the definition of ultra-processed foods, she pointed out, which is a sector of the food industry that Kennedy has previously been critical of. Teicholz also said that research on "ultra-processed foods" is scant, and, therefore, you could see Kennedy commissioning more studies on such foods as well.

TEEN SUES FOOD GIANTS OVER ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS AFTER BEING DIAGNOSED WITH FATTY LIVER DISEASE

Dave Asprey, an author and nutrition advocate who has written several New York Times best-selling books about healthier eating, said he thinks it is likely Kennedy will also add toxin limits within the new dietary guidelines, aimed at pesticides and herbicides that have come under scrutiny. He also said he wouldn't be surprised if Kennedy and his team were to implement new standards around animal feed.

Asprey added that Kennedy's experience as a trial lawyer could aid him tremendously in initiating legal proceedings if he wanted to pursue companies that "are continuing to push outdated, unhealthy guidelines."

"Where can he actually impact real change? The dietary guidelines – because they control how we feed our kids, what we do in hospitals and a lot of our public policy," Asprey said.

Kennedy has recently been courting support for his nomination on Capitol Hill, and, according to GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Kennedy told him that he would exercise restraint and use a light touch when seeking to regulate the food and agriculture industries.

But, according to Mara Fleishman, CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, a healthy-eating nonprofit, the Trump administration's desire for a more limited-government approach to governing could clash with Kennedy's efforts to reform the food industry.

"I think time will tell what – if anything – RFK Jr. can, or will, do," Fleishman said.

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Kennedy but did not receive a response.

Yesterday — 5 January 2025Politics

Biden takes departing jab at Trump, says he was a 'genuine threat to democracy'

5 January 2025 at 17:04

President Biden took a departing jab at Trump, saying that what the president-elect did was a "genuine threat to democracy." 

Ahead of the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Biden was asked if he still thought Trump was a threat to democracy.

"We've got to get back to establishing basic democratic norms," Biden told reporters in the White House East Room on Sunday. "I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy. I'm hopeful that we are beyond that."

Biden made the comments to the press after signing the Social Security Fairness Act.

Biden also discussed his plans to visit New Orleans on Monday to grieve with family members of victims and meet with officials after the terrorist attack in the city on New Year's Day. 

BIDEN ADMIN RIPPED AFTER JUDGE UPHOLDS PLEA DEALS FOR ALLEGED 9/11 MASTERMINDS: ‘KICK IN THE GUT’

"I've been there. There's nothing you can really say to somebody who has had such a tragic loss. And my message is going to be personal to them," he said. "They just have to hang on to each other and there will come a day when they think of their loved one, and they'll smile before a tear comes to their eye."

DID BIDEN DO ENOUGH ON TERROR?

The visit comes after 14 people were killed and dozens injured after police said 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar rammed a rented pickup truck into pedestrians on bustling Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning. Police fatally shot Jabbar after he opened fire on officers.

"We established beyond any reasonable doubt that New Orleans was a single man who acted alone. All the talk about conspiracies with other people, no evidence of that, zero," Biden said.

"He had real problems in terms of his own, I think, mental health, going on. And he acted alone in the same way as what went on in Las Vegas," Biden said. "But there is no evidence, zero evidence of the idea that these are foreigners coming across the border, but they worked here, they remained here."

Musk renews harsh rebuke of Dems who rejected deporting sex offenders: Vote out ‘every one’

5 January 2025 at 10:53

Tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk renewed criticism of the more than 150 House Democrats who voted against deporting illegal immigrants convicted of sex offenses, demanding each of the lawmakers be voted out of office. 

"There is no excuse. Please post the list of people who opposed this law and want to keep illegals who are convicted sex offenders in America," Musk posted to his X account on Saturday referencing a September House vote. 

"They all need to be voted out of office. Every one of them."

The Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act passed the House in September, after all 215 present Republicans voted in favor of the bill, and were joined by 51 Democratic colleagues. A total of 158 Democrats, however, voted against the bill. 

158 DEMS VOTE AGAINST BILL TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO COMMIT SEX CRIMES

The Democrats who voted against the bill came under scrutiny in September, and are facing renewed criticism on social media this month as commenters resurrect the vote ahead of President-elect Trump taking office this month. 

"The bill targeted rapists, pedophiles, domestic abusers, and stalkers, ensuring they couldn’t stay in the U.S. Opponents claimed it ‘demonized immigrants,’ but how does protecting convicted predators help anyone – especially their victims?" X show host Mario Nawfal posted to his account Saturday, sparking Musk to weigh in. 

"Deporting violent offenders isn’t ‘fearmongering’ – it’s basic public safety. Why would anyone vote to keep criminals who prey on women and children?" Nawfal added.

EX-BORDER CHIEF WARNS OF 'SIGNIFICANT THREAT' AS MIGRANT NUMBERS SKYROCKET: 'ENTIRE SECTORS' MISSING AGENTS

The legislation would deport illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes, and would ​​also deem illegal immigrants who admit to domestic violence or sex-related charges – or are convicted of them – to be inadmissible in the U.S., Fox Digital previously reported. The legislation is currently with the Senate, and was referred to the Judiciary Committee. 

Notable Democrats who voted against the legislation included Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., former California Rep. Adam Schiff, who now serves in the Senate, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Musk’s call for the Democrats to be voted out of Congress over the vote comes after he vowed in December to fund moderate Democratic politicians in deep blue districts, "so that the country can get rid of those who don’t represent them."

CLYBURN BRUSHES OFF MUSK'S PLAN TO FUND MODERATES IN DEMOCRATIC DISTRICTS

Musk is also slated to serve alongside Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an upcoming presidential advisory committee, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will work to cut excessive government spending and slash the size of the government under Trump’s second administration.

According to the office of the House clerk, the 158 Democrats who voted against the legislation are:

The Democrats who voted against the legislation came under fierce scrutiny in September from conservatives. 

"If you vote against it, you're sexist against women," South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace, who introduced the legislation, said in September to Fox Digital. 

ELON MUSK AGREES WITH RON PAUL'S CALL TO 'ELIMINATE FOREIGN AID'

"I mean, truly, because we're talking about illegals who are here who are committing domestic violence, rape and murder on women and children – they’ve gotta go. They shouldn't be allowed into our country."

"158 Democrats just voted AGAINST deporting migrants for s*x offenses. This is a slap in the face to every victim and their family members. Democrats hate you and your children," popular conservative X account Libs of TikTok posted at the time. 

Democrats who voted against the bill characterized it as xenophobic and an example of "fearmongering" against immigrants. 

"Here we are again, debating another partisan bill that fear mongers about immigrants, instead of working together to fix the immigration system," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said during debate on the bill.

"I probably shouldn't be too surprised. Scapegoating immigrants and attempting to weaponize the crime of domestic violence is appearing to be a time-honored tradition for Republicans."

Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

Top GOP senators call for reform, 'consequences' in wake of law enforcement 'leadership failure'

5 January 2025 at 10:11

Top GOP senators criticized recent law enforcement failures by the FBI and other groups Sunday, calling on President-elect Trump's administration to enact reforms.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Americans have lost trust in the FBI. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., also told "Fox News Sunday" that there need to be "consequences" for law enforcement failures that allowed incidents like last week's terrorist attack in New Orleans.

"The FBI is an agency that I think is in need of reform, and it needs a good makeover, so to speak, and probably a good amount of housecleaning when it comes to the perception the American people have of it and these institutions that the American people need to have confidence and trust in," Thune said Sunday.

He added that Trump's nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, "understands the mission."

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT VICTIMS OF NEW ORLEANS TERRORIST ATTACK

Meanwhile, Cassidy reacted to news that New Orleans police had access to 48 barriers that could have prevented last week's deadly truck attack. The permanent barriers blocking vehicle access to Bourbon Street were being replaced at the time of the attack, but authorities in the city could have deployed archer barriers that are rated to stop a 5,500-pound vehicle going 60 miles-per-hour.

SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AS FBI INVESTIGATES ACT OF TERRORISM AFTER BOURBON STREET ATTACK

"There has to be leadership at the top. And if the leadership failed, as you describe it, then absolutely there has to be consequences. Period. End of story," Cassidy said.

"Now, I think we're going to have a kind of complete review of everything from top to bottom. And if that's the way it ends up shaking out completely, she should be replaced," he added, referencing New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.

Thune and Cassidy's statements come days after Trump's allies excoriated the FBI for its initial characterization of the truck attack as not terror-related, before the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency backtracked and launched a terrorism investigation allegedly connected to ISIS.

OFFICIALS POSTPONE SUGAR BOWL IN  THE WAKE OF TERROR ATTACK ON BOURBON STREET

"The FBI has a no-fail mission. There is no room for error. When they fail, Americans die. It's a necessity that Kash Patel gets confirmed ASAP," a source close to Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday morning. 

Patel is one of many incoming Cabinet nominees who will need to go through Senate confirmation after Trump is inaugurated later this month.

Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Gingrich warns Freedom Caucus to study his era as conservatives issue demand letter following Johnson vote

5 January 2025 at 09:58

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who led Republicans to their first House majority in four decades in 1994, said Saturday the House Freedom Caucus should recall how his own caucus led conservatives to power within the party.

Gingrich tweeted that he and other conservatives had developed "positive action principles" in 1983 as part of what they called the Conservative Opportunity Society.

"[Those] led 11 years later to the Contract with America and the first GOP House Majority in 40 years."

"If the Freedom Caucus would study them, they could be dramatically more effective," Gingrich said, going on to cite and agree with a sentiment from political reporter Mark Halperin’s "Wide World of News" newsletter.

"[T]he Freedom Caucus is a bunch of rebels with a series of causes but no coherent path to achieving said causes," Halperin wrote.

In the 1980s, although Ronald Reagan was in the White House, Boston Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill wielded strong control of the House. O’Neill and Reagan had a notably friendly but ideologically disparate relationship.

Coinciding with the early days of C-SPAN televising live floor proceedings, Gingrich would often take to the well of the House in the late-night hours and address conservatives’ issues to a mostly empty chamber but with a captive audience on the new TV format.

GINGRICH BLASTS HARRIS' ‘RAMBLING’ SPEECHES

Gingrich biographer Craig Shirley told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the Freedom Caucus should study the work of their comparative predecessor, the Conservative Opportunity Society, as well as the path Gingrich led from a low-profile congressman to speaker.

"I guess the word brilliant is thrown around so, so cavalierly. So let me just say, it was extremely smart politics to make the case for conservative governance," Shirley said of Gingrich’s work in the 1980s and 1990s.

"Reagan had already blazed that path eight years before Gingrich did."

While critics say the GOP has shifted hard to the right on some issues and softened on others, Shirley said it’s essentially the same as it was during Gingrich’s rise.

"Less government, more freedom, less taxes, strong national defense, pro-life."

Former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., another top member of Gingrich’s conservative group, said in a PBS interview that there have not been too many groups like the Conservative Opportunity Society (or the Freedom Caucus, which hadn’t been formed at the time of the interview) and that there was the same issue with apprehension over angering their party leaders.

Weber said there had been a few small intra-caucus conservative groups prior to the Reagan era, including one in the 1960s led by then-Rep. Donald Rumsfeld, R-Ill. – who would go on to serve as Pentagon chief two times.

On the last day of the 1982 session, Gingrich approached Weber and asked, "What are you doing next year and for the next 10 years after that?." 

"I thought that was interesting and I said, ‘I expect to be back here, but nothing special other than that,’" Weber recalled. 

"What he was saying was that he, as one person, was not being effective…. He identified me in the [GOP] conference as somebody [who] had been supportive of his point of view and maybe had some ability to organize things," Weber said.

MIKE JOHNSON RE-ELECTED HOUSE SPEAKER

Shirley said the current Freedom Caucus has the rare opportunity to achieve their goals if they play their cards right, with full Republican control of Washington.

"They don't have a ‘contract,’ but they have the next best thing there. They have a core set of issues and an ideology that they can easily follow," he said, adding that "no one should ever doubt" Speaker Mike Johnson’s commitment to "Reaganite" principles.

In additional comments to Fox News’ "Hannity," Gingrich said the one-round vote Friday was a "great victory" for Johnson, R-La.

"[He’s] just a decent, hardworking, intelligent human being.… I could not have been the kind of speaker he is. I don't have the patience. I don't have that ability to just keep moving forward. It's really very extraordinary."

Meanwhile, Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News the group met with Johnson earlier and that he "just didn't come away with the feeling that the ‘umph’ or the willingness to fight for Trump's agenda was there."

"And I use as a backdrop what’s happened the last 14 months, we had 1500-page omni-bills that you couldn’t read – where you had no spending cuts to offset $100 billion in new spending."

"And I know we had a slim majority, but that's over with now. What we wanted to impress with [Johnson] yesterday was, are you going to fight for these things that we've been asking for, like a balanced budget? Like offsets? Like getting behind all of the Trump agenda?"

Norman, along with Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, initially did not vote for Johnson, which would have set up a second round of speaker votes.

But, Norman told "The Story" that that action was the "only way to let my voice be heard."

He said Johnson "gave his word" to fight for the things he mentioned to Fox News, and that agreement, plus a message from Trump that Johnson was the only speaker candidate with support in the caucus, guided his decision to ultimately support the Louisianan.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter released Friday, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., and his members expressed several policy points that Johnson should commit to in order to "reverse the damage of the Biden-Harris administration," as well as achieve long-standing conservative goals.

The letter indicated they had voted for Johnson because of their "steadfast support" of Trump and ensuring the Jan. 6 elector certification can run smoothly.

"We did this despite our sincere reservations regarding the Speaker’s track record over the past 15 months."

The caucus called for Johnson to modify the House calendar so its schedule is as busy as the Senate’s, ensure reconciliation legislation reduces spending and deficits in "real terms," and halt violations of the "72-hour-rule" for debate on amendments to bills.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

They also demanded Johnson not rely on Democrats to pass legislation that a majority of his own caucus won’t support.

In comments on "The Story," Norman said he believes Johnson now understands – through the initial silence of several Republicans during the first roll call and his and Self’s initial non-Johnson-vote – that he will have to work to consider the conservative bloc’s demands.

Schumer says Dems must ‘look in the mirror’ after losing White House, Senate: ‘We did some things wrong’

5 January 2025 at 08:43

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday conceded that Democrats should regard the 2024 election as a loss and reflect on what went wrong for the party after losing both the White House and Senate and failing to flip the House of Representatives.

Schumer appeared on NBC’s "Meet the Press," where he was asked about Democratic strategist James Carville’s assertion that the reason Democrats lost was because of "the economy, stupid."

"I told my caucus, and I’ll say it here, too… certainly it was a loss, but it’s also a challenge," Schumer said of the election.

Schumer said Democrats faced "severe headwinds" to win four of seven contested Democratic Senate seats, though conceded that "we did some things wrong and we have to look in the mirror and see what we did wrong."

JAMES CARVILLE CONCEDES HE WAS WRONG ABOUT KAMALA HARRIS' CHANCES: ‘IT WILL ALWAYS BE THE ECONOMY, STUPID’

President-elect Trump defeated Vice President Harris to win the White House, while Republicans flipped the Senate and retained a razor-thin majority in the House.

Shumer said "there are some things we didn’t do that we should have done," such as focusing on working families in America.

KAMALA HARRIS' BUNGLED ANSWER ON ‘THE VIEW’ ABOUT BIDEN SEEN AS TURNING POINT FOR CAMPAIGN

Schumer said Democrats talked about the mechanics and details of the legislation, though "didn’t show the kind of empathy or concern, or enough of it, to average working families."

This failing made working families not "realize how much we have done and how much we care for them," the minority leader said.

"What we’re going to do is spend time talking to working families, showing them how much we care for them," Schumer said. "And not just talk about legislation, but talk about the conditions that have made so many working families worried about their futures."

❌
❌