New York Approves Congestion Pricing, First in the Nation

New York State lawmakers approved a new congestion pricing program for Manhattan on March 31 as part of the state’s $175 billion budget—the first U.S. city to have one. But the major details, such as how much drivers will have to pay and how it will be implemented, haven’t been hashed out yet. The program is aimed at lessening the traffic in congested parts of Manhattan by charging drivers who are heading into the city—pushing drivers to reconsider public transportation. New York City now joins other cities outside of the United States that have already employed such a system, such as London, Stockholm, Milan, and Singapore.

On March 31, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters at a news conference that the toll would be set in 2020 by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) once they have a capital plan established. “Today, we’ve gotten it done,” Cuomo said. “First state in the nation.” The governor also described the traffic in Downstate New York as a “problem that is only getting worse.” His office didn’t respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.

Vehicles, including cars and trucks, would be tolled when they enter the congestion toll zone, a large area with more than 600,000 people. The zone would run from 60th Street, near the bottom of Central Park, all the way down to Manhattan’s southern tip. Revenue from the tolls would go toward fixing the metropolitan area’s increasingly unreliable mass transit system. A proposal released in 2018 by an advisory panel said the tolls could raise about $1 billion a year. “It forms a Central Business District, charges a higher rate for traveling in the Central Business District,” Cuomo told reporters. “It’s designed to reduce congestion [and] raise revenue.”

There are some notable exceptions, including the West Side Highway and FDR Drive, that would be exempt from the toll, as well as emergency vehicles and some cars transporting those with disabilities. Also exempt from the new law are those residing in the congestion zone who make less than $6o,000 a year. The toll amount has yet to be determined, but earlier proposals have suggested a fee of around $12 per day for most drivers and up to $25 for trucks, with possible variations based on time of day and day of the week. But the program has also sparked concern from suburban commuters, since it is hard for them to access trains or buses, and businesses that make deliveries. Those who live in the city’s outer boroughs but run errands or pick up friends downtown would also be affected by the high tolls.

Starting in February, rideshare companies such as Uber, Lyft, and other for-hire vehicles below 96th Street were subjected to a surcharge. The fee is $2.50 for taxicabs and $2.75 for others. The surcharges were approved by lawmakers in 2018 in what was described as a first step toward congestion tolls. “After decades of underinvestment, the MTA desperately needs a new source of revenue in order to give New Yorkers the mass transit they deserve,” a link for people to show their support to the program stated. “Congestion Pricing … would raise critical funding for public transit while also reducing the traffic and air pollution that plagues midtown and lower Manhattan.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/new-york-approves-congestion-pricing-first-in-the-nation_2861630.html

>>6014143

Andrew Cuomo to Become Highest Paid US Governor in Country

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to become the highest paid governor in the United States due to a pay hike approved by lawmakers in the Democrat-led Senate and Assembly. Cuomo’s salary would gradually increase from the current $179,000 to $250,000 on Jan. 1. 2021, as part of the new state budget. Lawmakers approved the raise in a vote early on April 1. The state’s new $175 billion budget includes a statewide ban on plastic bags and a new congestion pricing program to help combat the high-traffic areas in the city. New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will also see a pay increase, going up from $151,500 to $220,000 in 2021. Both pay raises were recommended by a state pay commission last year. It needed legislative approval first for it to be implemented.

It has been two decades since the governor and lieutenant governor have seen a salary increase. The last time was in 1999. Lawmakers also saw their first pay increase in nearly two decades in January, when their base salary went from $79,500 to $110,000. Their pay will ultimately rise to $130,000 by 2021. The salary increase for Cuomo, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, marks a stark difference to how the president handles his wage. Trump has donated all of his paychecks—$100,000 a quarter—since taking office. In March, the most recent quarter’s paycheck of $100,000 was donated to the Department of Homeland Security. Trump posted a picture of the check he wrote to the department, writing on Twitter: “While the press doesn’t like writing about it, nor do I need them to, I donate my yearly Presidential salary of $400,000.00 to different agencies throughout the year, this to Homeland Security.”“If I didn’t do it there would be hell to pay from the FAKE NEWS MEDIA!” he added. In January, Trump donated his salary from the third quarter of 2018 to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/andrew-cuomo-to-become-highest-paid-us-governor-in-country_2862194.html

>>6014209

Indeed, perhaps we could entertain the thought of having him in something similar, kek

American hackers helped UAE spy on Al Jazeera chairman, BBC host

A group of American hackers who once worked for U.S. intelligence agencies helped the United Arab Emirates spy on a BBC host, the chairman of Al Jazeera and other prominent Arab media figures during a tense 2017 confrontation pitting the UAE and its allies against the Gulf state of Qatar. The American operatives worked for Project Raven, a secret Emirati intelligence program that spied on dissidents, militants and political opponents of the UAE monarchy. A Reuters investigation in January revealed Project Raven’s existence and inner workings, including the fact that it surveilled a British activist and several unnamed U.S. journalists.

The Raven operatives — who included at least nine former employees of the U.S. National Security Agency and the U.S. military — found themselves thrust into the thick of a high-stakes dispute among America’s Gulf allies. The Americans’ role in the UAE-Qatar imbroglio highlights how former U.S. intelligence officials have become key players in the cyber wars of other nations, with little oversight from Washington. The crisis erupted in the spring of 2017, when the UAE and allies — including Saudi Arabia and Egypt — accused Qatar of sowing unrest in the Middle East through its support of media outlets and political groups. The UAE camp demanded Qatar take a series of actions, including shuttering the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite television network, withdrawing funding from other media outlets Doha supports, and cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic movement some Arab governments regard as a threat. In June 2017, the UAE camp severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed an air, land and sea blockade against the tiny nation. It was an unprecedented confrontation among Arab countries that had historically prized consensus.

That week, Project Raven operatives sprang into action, launching operations to break into the Apple iPhones of at least 10 journalists and media executives they believed had connections to the Qatari government or the Muslim Brotherhood, according to program documents reviewed by Reuters and four people involved in the activities. Raven targeted Arab media figures who spanned a range of political thought — from a Beirut-based BBC host to the chairman of Al Jazeera and a producer from a London satellite channel founded by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The goal, the former Raven operatives said, was to find material showing that Qatar’s royal family had influenced the coverage of Al Jazeera and other media outlets, and uncover any ties between the influential TV network and the Muslim Brotherhood. Reuters couldn’t determine what data Raven obtained. Al Jazeera has long maintained it is independent from Qatar’s government. Jassim Bin Mansour Al-Thani, a media attaché for Qatar’s embassy in Washington, said “the government of Qatar does not request, ask, or enforce on Al Jazeera any agenda whatsoever.” Al Jazeera “is treated like any other respected media outlet. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. The NSA declined to comment. A Department of Defense spokeswoman declined to comment.

Dana Shell Smith, the former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, said she found it alarming that American intelligence veterans were able to work for another government in targeting an American ally. She said Washington should better supervise U.S. government-trained hackers after they leave the intelligence community. “Folks with these skill sets should not be able to knowingly or unknowingly undermine U.S. interests or contradict U.S. values,” Smith told Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-raven-media/

U.S. welcomes China's expanded clampdown on fentanyl

BEIJING (Reuters) - Washington welcomed China’s move on Monday to list all fentanyl-related substances as controlled narcotics, after criticism from President Donald Trump for allowing the synthetic opioid to be shipped to the United States. The United States is battling an epidemic of opioid-related deaths, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said he hopes to include China’s commitments to curb the drug in any agreement to end the two countries’ bitter trade war. “This significant development will eliminate Chinese drug traffickers’ ability to alter fentanyl compounds to get around the law,” the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said in a statement. “We look forward to our continued collaboration with China to reduce the amount of this deadly poison coming into our country,” the DEA statement said.

Earlier on Monday, China had announced the expanded control of all fentanyl-related substances at a press conference, even as it blamed U.S. culture for abuse of the drug. China said the addition of fentanyl-related substances to the supplementary list of controlled narcotic drugs will take effect on May 1. Fentanyl itself and its “analogues” had previously been listed and remain controlled.

The drug in its illegal form has gone by street names, including China White, China Girl, and Dance Fever, according to the U.S. government. It is a highly addictive painkiller many times more potent than morphine. “Resolved. All resolved,” Liu Yuejin, a senior public security ministry official and vice commissioner of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, told reporters when asked if U.S. concerns had been resolved.

But Liu said the amount of fentanyl from China going to the United States was “extremely limited” and that U.S. criticisms of China being the main source of the drug “lack evidence”. “We believe that the United States itself is the main factor in the abuse of fentanyl there,” Liu said, adding that American culture was partly to blame.

He said the United States had a long tradition of abusing prescription medicines and that enforcement and education about the dangers were not good enough. “Some people link drug consumption with freedom, individuality, and liberation,” Liu said. “If the United States truly wants to resolve its fentanyl abuse problem, it needs to strengthen its domestic work.” Chinese officials in the past year have vowed to step up cooperation with Washington on illegal drug production and sales, referring to it as a bright spot in relations.

The White House said after a December meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina to deescalate trade frictions that Xi had agreed to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance. U.S. Representative Chris Smith, a Republican, said enforcement is crucial. “We have heard soothing but empty rhetoric before from China’s leaders … so we must continue to monitor developments closely and hold Chinese officials and manufacturers accountable if they fail to take decisive action and enforce this new policy,” he said in a statement. Trump has called on China to apply the death penalty for “distributors and pushers” of the synthetic opioid.

The volume of drugs coming into the United States through the mail has grown in step with legitimate online shopping, U.S. customs agents say, as Americans have taken to ordering drugs from overseas via the dark web. A U.S. congressional probe into the use of fentanyl in the United States found in 2018 that the substance could easily be bought online from Chinese “labs” and mailed to the United States due to gaps in oversight in the U.S. Postal Service. Such imports of prescription medicines and controlled substances are illegal, and China has become the main source of fentanyl in the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice says.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-fentanyl/u-s-welcomes-chinas-expanded-clampdown-on-fentanyl-idUSKCN1RD137?il=0

>>6014395

Agreed, but it can sure, let the Big Name Corrupt Politicians and non elected appointees and other corrupt officials, help themselves at taxpayer expense. You just have to ask yourself with a budget as big as that one is..why aren't there better road and bridge conditions there..

>>6014322

>>6014143 New York Approves Congestion Pricing, First in the Nation

Reminds me of the Green Deal…only this one comes with the greenbacks.

>>6014541

Wouldn't that be facing East?

See something Say Nothing

Former DHS Official Phil Haney wrote a book, See Something, Say Nothing to represent his experiences in DHS where he was told by Obama's DHS heads, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson to emphasize right wing groups, and to purge their files of any derogatory information on Radical Islamic Extremists.

Thinking opposite narrative "see something say something"

>>6014638

See Something, Say Nothing

Chris Gaubatz, who successfully posed as a Muslim and infiltrated CAIR, warns President Trump about the threat of Islam to the USA

Why Donald Trump must address and confront radical Islam in America

Get "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America"

https://www.facebook.com/See-Something-Say-Nothing-1617384118572556/

>>6014638 >>6014659

Chris Gaubatz Testimony Willful Blindness: Consequences of Agency Efforts to De-emphasize Radical Islam in Combating Terrorism Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts Report submitted June 27, 2016 For June 28, 2016 hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building 226 2:30 pm EST

’m going to discuss one jihadi group, the Muslim Brotherhood,based on evidence entered into the largest terrorism financing and Hamas trial ever successfully prosecuted inUS history, the Holy Land Foundation trial, and based upon my experience conducting undercover research with Hamas doing business as CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations. The HLF trial was adjudicated in Dallas, TX in 2008, and identified CAIR as a member of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, which is Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The U.S. Government identified Hamas as an “outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood”. Documents entered into evidence in the HLF trial also revealed that ISNA, the Islamic Society of North America,is a Muslim Brotherhood organizationwhich financially supports Hamas –a terrorist organization.

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/06-28-16%20Gaubatz%20Testimony.pdf

>>6014731

Taxpayers of NY need to speak up, maybe starting with a petition… might help. Not the only problem imho. That congestion tax is no joke either..and it looks like Chuck Schumer's wife gets to set the rate for that..

>>6014766

I like it! Sweeeeeeeeeet

>>6014783

>it would only expose themselves if they tried?

Once the lefter's started digging they couldn't deny the truth is on our side….(((they couldn't be out in the streets)))