Free Republic

On Tuesday a ballot measure to raise income taxes on Coloradans to raise funds for increased education spending failed. In fact, the measure, Amendment 66, didn’t just fail–it went down in flames. The measure was defeated by a 32 percent margin. This major defeat was in spite of the fact that the measure’s backers outspent the opponents by a large margin, raising $10 million to support the initiative, including a $1 million each from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill and Melinda Gates. Amendment 66 would have eliminated Colorado’s flat rate income tax of 4.63 percent in favor of...

The new mayor of New York City is a Red Sox fan. According to the rules of the New York I grew up in, I'd expect to see the Hudson turn into a river of blood and Zabar's to close due to a locust infestation before that happened. But if De Blasio's remarkable rise proves anything, it's that the rules can change. A liberal's crazy liberal, De Blasio still waxes nostalgic about the noble struggle of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, for whom he raised money in the 1980s. He violated the ban on travel to Cuba for his honeymoon with his...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants Colorado as his personal plutocracy and is willing to spend. If he succeeds, Coloradans will be subject to laws and politicians bought and controlled by an outside demagogue. Bloomberg, the man who tried to control how his constituents consume soft drinks and salt, has never received a vote in Colorado. He has never lived here. Yet, he's paying for ads that tell Coloradans to spend their hard-earned wages on the Amendment 66 tax increase - a deceptive attempt to channel more than $1 billion a year to state government under the guise of helping...

DENVER - In the final week before voters decide on Amendment 66, the campaign supporting the education tax increase received $2 million in donations from Melinda Gates and a charity run by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "It is a testament to the breadth and depth of our reforms that Colorado has attracted the attention of business leaders across the country," Gov. John Hickenlooper said of the donations. The donations from out-of-state, wealthy and politically-connected Democrats drew criticism from conservatives opposed to the tax increase. "Billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg should have realized by now that he can't buy...

Twofer: MAIG Mayors going to prison (Don’t drop the soap, boys) October 15, 2013 It’s been a busy week for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) group of gun-grabbing mayors. First up, Filthy Filner, the San Diego Mayor who had a reputation for sexually harassing lots of lots of ladies, pled guilty to some reduced charges. Rumor had it his plea was to avoid convictions with the word “sexual” in them.

<p>The city is launching a new offensive to monitor tanning salons and warn customers of the dangers of skin cancer from overexposure to UV radiation, The Post has learned.</p> <p>In what could be the Bloomberg’s Administration’s final health crusade, the anti-tanorexic plan will be submitted to the Board of Health on Tuesday,. The board — all appointees of Mayor Bloomberg — is expected to adopt the new rules, which would take effect in the spring following public hearings.</p>

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been hit with two suits this week, one demanding information on his anti-gun campaign, and the other targeting his soda and fat bans. Both are Freedom of Information lawsuits from Washington groups that charge the mayor's office with delaying release of critical information about his efforts to start a national campaign to limit guns and boost the health value of food sold in cities. The public watchdog group Judicial Watch on Thursday filed their suit demanding emails between Bloomberg's office, his group Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Vice President Biden. The group charges that...

By now, you really would have thought Michael Bloomberg would have learned his lesson. The out-of-touch New York City mayor has lately made it his business to be in everyone else’s business – whether that means trying to decide for New York residents what they are allowed to eat or drink, or trying to tell people from other states what to think of their elected officials. More often than not, however, Mayor Bloomberg’s overreaches have been repelled. The courts struck down Bloomberg’s ban on large sodas. Notable Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, from Bloomberg’s home state, is on the record as...

Questions are being raised whether outgoing billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is courting Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) to enact gun control measures in Virginia if he should win the statehouse in November. On Tuesday, voters in Colorado recalled two state senators--Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) and Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs)--that supported Colorado Gov. John Hickenloooper's (D) sweeping gun control legislation, which he signed into law in March. As Breitbart News reported, Morse lost his recall election 51 to 49 percent, and Giron lost hers by a "whopping 56 to 44 percent." Bloomberg reportedly called Hickenlooper...

President Enrique Pena Nieto's plan to tax sugary drinks to curb Mexico's obesity epidemic earned him praise Tuesday from New York's mayor and health advocates but soda makers slammed it as ineffective. Pena Nieto wants Mexicans to pay an extra peso (almost 8 US cents) for every liter of sweetened drink in a country that guzzles more soft drinks than any other and rivals the United States for the dubious honor of world's most obese nation. If Congress approves the tax, Mexico would join France in introducing a special levy on sodas. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose plan to...

As you may know, Colorado will have a recall election on September 10 to remove two anti-gun senators from office. While Buckeye Firearms Association generally focuses on Ohio, this particular election involves New York City Mayor Bloomberg and could have national repercussions. Three BFA leaders have traveled to Colorado to help lead the fight. And you can be part of the battle as well.

For many years, the gun ban lobby has portrayed the National Rifle Association as the big money bully in the gun control debate, but stories published today and yesterday suggest that the real big spender is anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has dumped a wad of cash into thwarting a Colorado recall election in defense of two Democrats who could get the boot for backing that state’s new gun control laws. Bloomberg may not have spent any money in Washington State so far to help determine the future of a 15-page gun control initiative, but that battle really...

The recall elections for two Democratic lawmakers has become a political soap opera — with subplots, new characters and daily developments — that Tuesday included a $350,000 donation from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court. Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs and Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo face separate recall elections in their districts on Sept. 10 for supporting gun-control legislation in the 2013 session. Bloomberg's group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, supported the gun measures, which passed the Democratic-controlled legislature and were signed into law by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. Bloomberg donated...

Heading into the September 10th recall elections of Colorado state senators Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) and John Morse (D-Colorado Springs), it is important for voters to remember Giron's admission that if either she or Morse falls it will be detrimental to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun control dreams. Giron's said: "For Mayors Against Illegal Guns, if they even lose one of these seats, they might as well fold it up. And they understand that." ... a vote against Giron is a vote to stop Bloomberg's runaway gun control agenda.

As of right now, Bill de Blasio is the man to beat in the race to be the next mayor of New York City. The latest polls put him at 43%, which is enough to avoid a run-off in the Democratic primary, and it is widely believed that whoever wins the Democratic primary will sail into office. For the most part, sitting mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has stayed out of the race, but in an extensive interview with New York Magazine the term-limited Independent ripped de Blasio's campaign as "class-warfare and racist":

The news for Bloomberg’s anti-gun group just keeps getting worse, and even while 50 reported members have already left the group, there is yet another story about how shady this group really is. Mayors Against Illegal Guns is not just against illegal guns. They are against guns in general, and their propaganda shows that. Now a Mayor of NY has come forward to explain how the group offered to “pay him off” in order to retain his membership. According to an article, Walden, NY Mayor Brian Maher never intended to support the group effort’s in the first place. In fact,...

Angela Giron, one of two Colorado state senators who is up for a recall election on Sept. 10 as a result of voting for new gun restrictions earlier this year, did not hesitate when I asked her over the weekend what the recall meant for New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and the rest of the national gun-control movement. “For Mayors Against Illegal Guns, if they lose even one of these seats, they might as well fold it up. And they understand that,” she said. ... Bloomberg’s heavy investment in the race has become an easy...

With less than two weeks until voters cast ballots in the first two recall elections in Colorado history, both state lawmakers defending their seats are taking legal action– again. On Tuesday, an attorney for Senate President John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo, filed a cease and desist order with Xfinity asking the cable provider to stop airing an ad by a group supporting their recall ... Also Monday, Gov. John Hickenlooper asked the Colorado Supreme Court to weigh in on whether voters must vote yes or no on the first question of the two-part recall ballot —...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote a personal check for $350,000 to Taxpayers for Responsible Democracy, the issues committee fighting the recalls targeting Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron. ... Billionaire Eli Broad also wrote a $250,000 check to the organization, which raised a total of $708,000 in contributions between April and Aug. 22. With exactly two weeks remaining until the Sept. 10 recall elections that will determine the fate of Morse and Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo

New York City seems on the verge of making the same mistake that Detroit made 40 years ago. The mistake is to abolish the NYPD practice referred to as stop and frisk. It's more accurately called stop, question and frisk. People were stopped and questioned 4.4 million times between 2004 and 2012. But the large majority were not frisked. The effectiveness of this police practice, initiated by Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 1994 and continued by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is not in doubt. The number of homicides -- the most accurately measured crime -- in New York fell from a peak...