Mayor Mamdani? Not So Fast - Albany Holds the Key

 🗽 “Mayor Mamdani? Not So Fast—Albany Holds the Keys”

Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral platform reads like a progressive dream: rent freezes, fare-free buses, universal child care, city-owned grocery stores, and higher taxes on the wealthy. But here’s the cold truth—most of it can’t happen without Albany’s blessing.

New York City may be big, bold, and brash, but it’s still tethered to the state’s leash. The governor and state legislature hold the power to approve rent regulations, tax hikes, and sweeping social programs. That means Mamdani’s most ambitious promises—freezing rents, taxing billionaires, and universal child care—are dead on arrival without state cooperation.

So what can he do?

---

✅ What Mamdani Could Do Without State Approval

• Fare-Free Buses: NYC’s mayor can subsidize MTA bus fares using city funds. While the MTA is state-controlled, the city can negotiate or pilot fare-free programs.

• City-Owned Grocery Stores: The city has full authority to launch and operate municipal grocery stores through its economic development agencies. No state permission needed.

---

🚫 What Requires Albany’s Permission

• Rent Freezes: Rent regulation is governed by New York State law. The mayor can advocate, but not unilaterally impose freezes.

• Universal Child Care: NYC can expand subsidized programs, but full universal coverage demands state and federal funding.

• Higher Taxes on the Wealthy and Corporations: The city cannot raise income or corporate taxes without approval from the state legislature and governor.

---

Even if Mamdani wins the mayor’s seat, he’ll need to win over the statehouse too. Otherwise, his platform becomes a pamphlet of good intentions with no legislative legs.

New Yorkers deserve bold ideas—but they also deserve honest roadmaps. If Mamdani wants to lead the city into a new era, he’ll need more than votes. He’ll need permission.

God Will Prevail and Will Taken Down Communism in China

Nothing is impossible with God. Everything is possible with God.

In 1917, the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to 3 shepherd children on the hills of Fatima, Portugal. She saw the secularism spreading throughout Russia and promise to the end communism with the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As years went on, the evil Russian empire has gotten worst. America’s relationship to Russia went from an “ally” to a bitter adversary. Since 1917, we experienced two world wars, a Vietnam war, and the Korean conflict. There were other conflicts like the Cuban Missile crisis that brought headaches, but the Cold War got everybody nervous. Nuclear proliferation went beyond a point of no return. By that time, many countries had a nuclear weapons. Nations throughout the world were getting anxious who would be the first one to launch a nuclear strike. This wasn’t a joke. Anxiety was running high.

Fast forward to 1991, something of great importance happened. The promise on the hill of Fatima, Portugal, of the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary had been fulfilled. It took 77 years in the making. God work in mysterious ways. On December 8, 1991, of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is considered one of the sacred holy obligation of the Catholic Church, the Cold War ended. US president Ronald Reagan, British PM Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II worked together to bring down the Soviet Empire. On that day, the Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev announce the breakup of the Soviet Union. On the day of the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day, the Russian leader resigned. On January 1, 1992, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Soviet Union was dissolved.

Whether a believer or non-believer to the Christian faith, the miracle in Fatima is undeniable. Next to the miraculous story of the Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Fatima remains a modern day miracle. The power to convert and bring lost souls back to God is spiritually uplifting and rewarding. These stories have spread like wildfire throughout the world. Dictators tremble knowing that religion can incite the masses to overthrow a government. But what about a country? Can Christianity be a threat to a country with a tyrannical government with the power to brainwash people? The answer is an astounding YES!

I speak of this because communism is an ideology that believes in no God. Communism saw religion as a form of protest by the working class. Giving people hope would encourage a revolt. This would give ultimate power to the government. This is the same idea we are seeing with Communist China.

China is a communist country that understands that God is the enemy. The fear people practicing Judaism, Islam, or Christianity would lead to the downfall of the Chinese government, which are absent of religion. They consider their president as a deity as the government would make the people of any state run organized religion sing patriotic songs and bow to the picture of the president. Even though the Chinese government says there is freedom of religion, it is vastly restricted. In fact, persecution of Muslims and Christians run rampant. They would put Muslims in re-education camps, and put Christians in jail.

Christians are being punished severely because they believe in Jesus Christ. There may be 90 million members of the Chinese Communist Party in China, but there are over 100 million Christians living and practicing the Christian faith and the numbers are still increasing. It is expected Christianity in China will flourish to 250 million by 2030. This got the leaders of the Communist party shaking in their shoes. The fear of a revolt is real. The fear that  martyrs may lead may be a reality. The fear that communism will fall is inevitable. The Chinese government isn’t ignoring it. They understand that communism is on the verge of extinction.  Looking at the history of Russia, it took three individuals to bring down a regime. What are the chances to see over 100 million strong bring down the Communist Party? I would give Christians the advantage. I would proclaim that God will prevail over communism or the devils work. We had seen it before and we will see it again.


Xi’s China Ends 2019 With The Worst Religious Persecution In The Country’s History

Theories

by Mark A. Cohen

Written : Aug. 21, 2012

Rich DeVos, a co-founder of Amway, speaking to a group of young people, once said that as we travel, we “…find people who don’t believe that people should be rewarded in direct proportion to the effort they put forth. They think that all people should be treated equally like in the socialistic or the Communistic governments. And what that means is that everybody should be equal. What they really mean to say is that everybody should be equally poor – because that’s about where they stand… And they’re telling me that that system’s the wonderful one.” He then quoted someone who told him, ‘Your theories are all wrong.’ To which Mr. DeVos replied to his audience, “And all I can say to the boys with the theories is, ‘Friend, I’m not talkin’ theory.’”

What Rich DeVos tried to convey was that while capitalism isn’t perfect, it has a proven track record. Our system has provided more for people than the entire socialist and Communist countries ever did – put together. Is that a statistic I can quantify? No. But over hundreds of years it provided for people while Communism, in its short history has failed millions. In each case it failed. It will always fail. That system creates insecure, intolerant dictatorships which murder fellow countrymen who disagree with them. And yet, we still hear people talking about the benefits of the redistribution of wealth, which hurts individuals and makes them weak, and causes their nations to become vulnerable to the decay of diminished expectations and laziness.

Case in point was the appearance of MIT Political Science professor, Andrea Louise Campbell, on yesterday’s Washington Journal. She will soon publish an article entitled, The U.S. – The Undertaxed. In it, as in her segment, she states that we need more infrastructure, more public education, transportation. A caller, in support, stated another obvious left-wing talking point. We need more firefighters and police. We’ve heard this all before, and, duh. But Andrea Louise Campbell didn’t examine the question, “Can we afford them?” The government has to be funded somehow – is another simple excuse the left uses to bolster this theory. As I have demonstrated in this blog, if you took all the wealth of all the rich folks away and gave it to the feds, you could not pay down this nation’s nagging debt.

More taxes on the rich. We’ve heard this theory before. Kim Kardashian should pay her fair share. Right. How do we know how she divides her income? As Ms. Campbell calmly described the incomes of the wealthy, she called it ”take home pay.” But the rich don’t take home most of their earnings. They invest most of their bucks - in companies, in stocks, and some in, dare I say, infrastructure (government bonds). For all you know you could be hurting the public sector, too, by sucking the wealthy dry. I don’t claim to know how people like Paris Hilton salt away their funds, but – think about it - they don’t have much take home pay. Ms. Campbell should update her failed socialist theories and look into good old competition. Redistribution of wealth is destructive, not constructive. As Rich DeVos said, “if we don’t challenge them, they’ll take the day.” So stand up and tell people like Ms. Campbell, “It’s not that way!” Our system works, but socialism is still but a dreamer’s theory.

SUGGESTED VIDEOS

The Government Can

Third video down: Rosa Koire explains Agenda 21

Agenda 21 as explained by Karen Schoen

SUGGESTED TV SHOW - for your DVR

Red Eye

SUGGESTED MOVIE

Obama’s America 2016 – Love Him Hate Him – You Don’t Know Him

BLOG ROLL (Political):

Merlin

Gotta B Right

Conservative Blogs Central

Denver Tea Party

Coffee4Conservatives

Libertarian Party Platform

BLOG ROLL (Open Source Hacking):

azcrumpty

BLOG ROLL (Writers):

C.K. Fardoe

BLOG-PING SITES:

FeedPing,

PingMyBlog,

AutoPinger

Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative blog, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, Red Eye, MIT, Professor Andrea Louise Campbell, Rich DeVos, socialism, Communism, Capitalism, infrastructure

Keywords: "Conservatism", "Conservative blog", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right", “Red Eye”, “MIT”, “Professor Andrea Louise Campbell”, “Rich DeVos”, “socialism”, “Communism”, “Capitalism”, “infrastructure”

Mark A. Cohen is currently seeking representation for his memoir, From The Left to the Right.

Mark A. Cohen is a member of and helps run the Parker Writers Group

Mark A. Cohen is a member of the Castle Rock Writers

Mark A. Cohen currently sits on the committee which will host the 2012 Castle Rock Writers Conference.

Mark A. Cohen spoke for about 30 minutes at the Douglas County Republicans’ First Friday Breakfast in Parker, CO, held at The War Horse Inn, on Dec. 2, 2011. He will speak this summer, but these speeches are, as yet, unscheduled.

Click on the logo below to get to the main CBC site:

Or, you can find From the Left to the Right on Conservative Blogs Central (it’s now on page 3) by clicking this text.

You might also find From the Left to the Right on the left hand side (after clicking this text) under ‘navigation’ (scroll down a bit) – or, look for/search for/find the text ‘from the’

From the Left to the Right - Follow this link to Facebook

Hyper Smash

What Attracted Me to Conservatism (Part II)

by Mark A. Cohen

Several people I know expressed the desire to read about my memoir in this blog and I’ve avoided the theme for a long time. Some of my rationale is exposed in this multi-part series.

I expected otherwise, but discovered my educated and intelligent right-wing in-laws embraced everyone. Through careful observation I discerned no prejudice whatsoever. People of all shapes, sizes, races, and orientations shared meals with us and interesting talk, but my in-laws didn't do it to prove their open-mindedness. They questioned, but never bad-mouthed liberals - or anyone else. And, they never mulled over anyone’s nationality or religion. On the other hand, my left-wing radical parents brought up their gay and black friends in casual conversation to impress people. They figured out a person’s country of origin from the spellings of their last name. That's prejudice. I found out from my own observations that what the left says (usually with misguided outrage) about the right is untrue, but instead, actually describes the left. I say this with no malice at all - it just seems factual to me - and I do love my radical, left-wing family!

Dad once told me the main difference between the left and the right is how much each trusts government. He loved his own humanity and placed human beings on a pedestal, but thought little of individuals in general. He therefore leaned toward a strong, centralized government. "People are not smart enough to do the right thing," he told me. I always disagreed with him and instead embraced freedom and opportunity, a chance to get ahead, and a positive outlook rather than bitterness, hand-outs, and dependence upon government. He said that Communism offered everyone the same free life, free apartments, food, the same pay as everyone else... but I always sought to play the game and compete with others for more. Dad thought that if people band together they can improve their circumstance, but although we can help each other, I saw my life more as an individual struggle. Nothing is perfect, but a man striving to improve himself produces the best outcome. Just ask the people who died at the hands of Mao, Stalin, and other Communist and socialist leaders. Our way is better, comrade!

For the most part I talk about politics from a conservative perspective here. Thoughtful debaters on the other side of the issues raise good points; worthy of consideration, for sure. A few have made me laugh with jokes about their take on conservatism. That’s okay, I often enjoy it, and one in particular made me laugh out loud - and filled me with good humor. Several wrote in or spoke to me employing stereotypes and tedious, sarcastic, and angry rhetoric to minimize or make fun of my point of view. That’s okay, too, but it speaks to the closed-mindedness and intolerance I encounter from time to time. Each time I receive impolite and immature comments they serve to reinforce my decision to evolve from the left to the right.

SUGGESTED VIDEOS

The Government Can

SUGGESTED TV SHOW - for your DVR

Red Eye

BLOG ROLL (Political):

Merlin

Gotta B Right

Conservative Blogs Central

Denver Tea Party

Coffee4Conservatives

Libertarian Party Platform

BLOG ROLL (Open Source Hacking):

azcrumpty

BLOG-PING SITES:

FeedPing,

PingMyBlog,

AutoPinger

Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative blog, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, Barack Obama, Susan Roesgen, Mainstream Media, Occupy Wall Street

Keywords: "Conservatism", "Conservative blog", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right", "Barack Obama", "Susan Roesgen", "Mainstream Media", "Occupy Wall Street"

See Mark's 'Author of the Month' page at Castle Rock's Local Gathering Place

Mark A. Cohen is currently seeking representation for his memoir, From The Left to the Right.

Mark A. Cohen is a member of and helps run the Parker Writers Group

Mark A. Cohen is a member of the Castle Rock Writers

Mark A. Cohen currently sits on the committee which will host the 2012 Castle Rock Writers Conference.

Mark A. Cohen spoke for about 30 minutes at the Douglas County Republicans’ First Friday Breakfast in Parker, CO, held at The War Horse Inn, on Dec. 2, 2011.

Click on the logo below to get to the main CBC site:

Or, you can find From the Left to the Right on Conservative Blogs Central (it’s now on page 3) by clicking this text.

You might also find From the Left to the Right on the left hand side (after clicking this text) under ‘navigation’ (scroll down a bit) – or, look for/search for/find the text ‘from the’

From the Left to the Right - Follow this link to Facebook

Hyper Smash