"You can't knock us down."

Presented without comment. Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy The silver spire topping One World Trade Center on Friday was fully installed on the building’s roof, bringing the structure to its full, symbolic height of 1,776 feet. Loud applause and cries of joy erupted from assembled construction workers as [...]

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Bureaucracies gone wild.

The other day, I mentioned the disheartening case of Uber cab and New York City’s many rules and regulations governing their business model, which just so happen to allow established cab companies and their associations plenty of recourse for rent-seeking rather than coping with the competition brought on by Uber’s arrival on the scene. Most [...]

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Creative destruction, disallowed.

If you happen to live in a major city like San Francisco, Chicago, or DC, have a smartphone, and you’ve never tried out Uber cab for your taxi-hailing needs — it is fantastic and I freely recommend it. Instead of having to go out on a potentially cold and/or sketchy street to search for a [...]

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Suspicions

I love a good mystery, though I usually stick to old Nero Wolfe novels. Erika wrote about this story last night, but I didn’t get to pay much attention to it until this morning. The object in question turned up in a tiny, 18 inch gap between two buildings in New York City at 51 [...]

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"My mustache and haircut are too damn fly!"

Despite the city’s infamous levels of market-distorting rent control, the rent is apparently still too damn high in NYC. After his campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination fell through (oh yeah, that happened), perennial candidate Jimmy McMillan — of 2010 New York gubernatorial debate-fame — is in campaign mode again, this time running to [...]

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Babying bureaucrats strike again.

Oh, good grief. It’s no wonder at least some gun-control advocates were probably less-than-thrilled with Bloomberg’s recent foray into gun-control advertising campaigns; his particular brand of loathsome nanny-statism run amok hardly lends credibility to the cause, because of course, once nanny-staters get on a top-down regulatory roll, they’re difficult to deter: The age to legally [...]

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C is for C'mon, Man!

Second look at who’s the greatest enemy of Muppets? New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. introduced legislation Tuesday that would either ban or introduce tight regulations on costumed characters in New York City… Vallone told CBSNewYork.com that he had introduced two separate bills to combat the problems with costumed characters. One bill would require [...]

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Second look at rich loathsome nanny buying election?

And here we thought Michael Bloomberg was as bad as it gets.  Instead of having a multi-billionaire buy the office, though, the FBI busted a half-dozen people this morning for allegedly attempting to rig the next New York City mayoral race, which will take place this year.  The good news?  Political corruption is bipartisan: State Senator [...]

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Party line

Eliana Johnson over at National Review picked up on an item from the home of the Loathsome Nanny State Mayor which didn’t catch much attention in the press. Apparently the young, hip and on the move kids of the Big Apple have access to all sorts of public services, many of them quite useful indeed. [...]

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Adios, assault weapons ban

I don’t know how many millions of dollars Michael Bloomberg is sitting on in his bank account – and frankly, it’s none of my business – but if he keeps blowing it at this pace, he may run the tank dry before too long. The king of all nanny state ideals is dumping another $12M [...]

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Revolting

What with the recent changes to various regulatory aspects regarding the lives of American citizens I was expecting a bit of backlash against President Obama, but I certainly didn’t see this coming. President Barack Obama’s approval rating in New York fell precipitously in the past month, according to a poll released Monday, and three-fifths of [...]

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Forward

Michael Bloomberg has received more than a few broadsides for his seemingly endless parade of new, nanny-state laws designed to tell you how to live. (You know… for your own good.) And now he’s taking another shot across the bow from New York University professor and nutritionist Marion Nestle. But unlike most of the criticism [...]

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Loud noises.

Listen up, New Yorkers: Your local government is here to educate you about the dangers of listening to your iPod too loud. Whatever would you do without them? The NY Post reports: Mayor Bloomberg — who has already cracked down on smoking, junk food, trans fats, salt and super-sized drinks — is embarking on a [...]

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Am I right, or am I right?

Because curtailing people’s freedom of choice within your own jurisdiction doesn’t amount to nearly enough government overreach for humanity’s self-anointed paternalists, obviously. Bloomberg’s big-soda ban is set to go into effect in just a couple of weeks on March 12, but the law only applies to food establishments regulated by the Health Department; stores in [...]

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Big.

Alternate headline: “Local man bored with job he’s held for 11 years.” How the size and composition of beverage containers became a priority for the mayor of America’s biggest city I still don’t understand, but give this guy credit for consistency. His concerns about your consumption of caffeinated drinks extend not only to how much [...]

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On to the next crusade.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on extra-large sized sodas will not come into full effect until next month, but in the meantime, he’s got his eyes on his next crusade for forcibly manipulating New Yorkers’ behavior: A ban on styrofoam. The NY Post reports: The Bloomberg administration is considering banning Styrofoam cups and containers [...]

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A potty primer on the ownership society.

Relax — this video is safe for work.  It might not be safe for lunch, though, so be warned.  Reason TV takes a look at the Big Apple’s big public-toilet problem, and casts it into a lesson in how free enterprise solves more problems than the “collective action” Barack Obama hailed in his inaugural speech [...]

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Koch on Koch: "A liberal with sanity."

A rare modern politician whose legendary status didn’t just exist between his own ears, New York City Mayor Ed Koch has passed away from congestive heart failure early this morning.  Koch was 88 years old, and a ubiquitous figure on the national stage for decades: Former Mayor Ed Koch, the combative, acid-tongued politician who rescued [...]

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Beats the alternative!

Hey, why not?  Hillary Clinton would be a shoe-in to win, and she’s going to be available to run very, very soon — although the exact timing might depend on whether Barack Obama appoints John Kerry or Susan Rice to replace her.  In fact, she’d probably get bipartisan support, since a four-year term as Bloomberg’s [...]

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Swamped.

Glenn Reynolds notices similarities, in USA Today: One parallel: A late evacuation order. Even before the storm struck, weatherblogger Brendan Loy — famous for calling for early evacuation of New Orleans before Katrina struck — criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for not ordering early or extensive enough evacuations in New York, and for making the “ignorant” statement [...]

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And "When are we gonna get some f*****g help?"

The initial response to Hurricane Sandy appeared adequate, at the very least.  All levels of government seemed engaged, first responders had the resources needed, and confidence was high that we could quickly address the immediate human needs and then shift quickly to rebuilding.  Those hopes have vanished in a fumbled response at the local and [...]

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Implosion

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been on the receiving end of a firestorm of criticism lately, particularly for his ham handed handling of the Hurricane Sandy recovery. But this story is almost too stupid to check. Mayor Bloomberg has snubbed Borough President Markowitz’s impassioned plea to bring the National Guard to Hurricane Sandy-scarred [...]

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Generators going to NYC Marathon instead.

Hurricane Sandy delivered a wide swath of destruction to the Northeast, but possibly nowhere more devastating than Staten Island. Half of the storm’s deaths occurred there, and residents remain without power, heat, and in some cases shelter. ABC News reported last night on the desperate pleas of those stuck in the area, telling city, state, [...]

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