My official statement on the budget, as read in chambers this evening, before I was muted:
"I’ve been a member of this city council going on five years now. And I’ve voted yes on the budget every year so far. All of them had problems. All of them contained things I didn’t like or agree with. But I’m not here to demand perfection, I’m here to work with what we have — within reason.
Unfortunately, this year is very different. And I must vote no.
Even in the context of our dysfunctional city government, this year’s budget represents a complete departure from reality, spending more money than we’ve ever spent — precisely when we can least afford it.
We have never seen a larger single-year increase in spending in the history of this city. Requiring not only new taxes from Albany, but pension deferrals and an eight billion dollar bailout from the Governor. And even still, the revenue projections are optimistic at best.
This isn’t a ‘balanced budget’ — it’s budget by bailout. A ticking time bomb.
And it’s the beginning of a fiscal death spiral that our current leadership will not be able to pull us out of, because they lack both the experience and the seriousness to do so.
What will we do next year? And the year after?
The only responsible way for our city to spend more is to grow the economy. New businesses, new private economic development, major investment. That’s how you grow an economy, and get more money into the city budget.
But we’re doing the opposite. Deliberately chasing away everything our city needs to sustain our spending with childish political attacks on very people we need most.
Our tax base is isn’t growing. It’s leaving.
The middle class, the financial sector, and businesses of all sizes are choosing to go elsewhere. And they’re being replaced with low-income foreigners and transplants who require significant subsidies just to survive here.
We’re trading investment banks and small businesses for delivery app drivers on welfare, and nonprofit workers whose paychecks ultimately come from government spending. That isn’t growth.
And when ordinary New Yorkers complain, they’re told to shut up and leave if they don’t like it. And that’s exactly what many are doing.
This is obviously unsustainable. But nobody in this chamber really seems to care.
And what are we getting for our money? We already spend more in real dollars AND per capita on everything from schools to housing to healthcare than anyone else in the country.
We can’t even build a public bathroom for less than three million dollars.
Why would anyone believe that shoveling even MORE money into this broken system will improve anything?
It won’t. I guarantee that we’ll all be sitting here again a year from now, with the exact same problems, listening to the exact same lectures about how the city needs even MORE money, AGAIN.
At what point do we, as a City Council, start to demand results before we allow more spending? When do we demand accountability?
The answer seems to be never. Because this spending isn’t really meant to fix anything. It’s meant to keep the machine going, keep the money flowing into the special interests and nonprofits and the political allies of the Mayor, with no real consideration for anything else.
I realize a lot of people don’t want to hear this, but we are a municipal government, not a sociology experiment or a political slush fund or the United Nations.
We are here keep the lights on, keep the water running, pave the roads, and put criminals in jail. That’s it. And we would be very well advised to get back to basics. Because we’re failing on nearly every count, other than our peerless ability to hand out free money.
Shame on this Council for pretending this budget is anything other than a disaster. I know that my single vote ultimately doesn’t matter here, but nonetheless I won’t put my name on it. I respectfully vote no."
Zohran just said "Socialists just solved years of Capitalist mismanagement"
The State of New York just gave his administration an $8B bailout and he deferred pension payments.
This is bold face lying.
If your family settled Jamestown in 1607, you’re an invader with no claim to this stolen land.
If your Chinese mom pops you out in Guam tomorrow, America is your birthright.
🚨 JUST IN: Sheridan Gorman's angel mom just dropped this raw truth nuke straight to Democrat members of Congress
"I don't understand why it's only the REPUBLICAN side that cares about our American children!"
"Basically what you just did, what you said was, 'I'm so sorry for your loss. I have a daughter too. I have a son. I feel your pain...'"
"You DON'T feel my pain. Because the next words out of your mouth were, 'BUT.'"
"There's no 'BUT' when your child is in a coffin!"
"And I need you to understand that. And if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here, I'm going to buy you a bench. I'm going to buy. You can put that on the record. I'm going to buy Congress the bench. And they can come and sit and hold my hand and look me in the eye and explain to me why illegal immigrants are more important than my daughter. I really want to know what because I don't understand!"
Today, on my final day as Director of National Intelligence, I’m releasing never-before-seen communications and documents exposing how Dr. Fauci provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, worked with politicized elements within the Intelligence Community to suppress the truth about his actions and hide the virus’ lab-leak origins, and lied to Congress while under oath in 2024. It’s time you know the truth.
https://t.co/3YJSstB7d4
How do I know the media is brainwashing people?
Obama's ICE Chief received the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service for removing over 900,000 illegal aliens.
Trump's ICE Chief is called a Nazi.
It is the same person.....Tom Homan....
The only difference? The narrative.
Let me ruin your June for a second.
Every year when National Gun Violence Awareness Month rolls around, the same people who have not read a single page of John Lott's 13,312-regression peer-reviewed study start posting pictures of children and demanding you feel responsible for deaths you did not cause and had nothing to do with.
So. Let us talk about children. Since they brought it up.
In 2006, the CDC recorded 642 accidental firearm deaths in the entire United States. For children under the age of ten — the number was 31. Thirteen under age five. Eighteen between five and nine.
Tragic? Absolutely. Every single one.
But here is the number that will not appear on a single "Orange Friday" awareness post: 80.
Eighty children under the age of five drown in bathtubs every year. Every. Single. Year.
ALMOST THREE TIMES as many children drown in bathtubs annually as die from ALL firearm accidents combined — including adults. And forty more drown in five-gallon water buckets. The kind you buy at Home Depot for $4.99.
I have given this information at talks and watched jaws drop, because people genuinely believe the number is in the thousands. They have been so thoroughly marinated in "gun violence awareness" content that their perception of actual risk is completely detached from reality. That is not an accident. That is the point of the campaign.
Where is Bathtub Awareness Month? Where is the congressional hearing on five-gallon bucket control? Where is the hashtag? Where are the orange ribbons for the children who drowned while their parents were in the next room?
There are none. Because the campaign was never about children. It was never about safety. If it were about safety, they would be equally outraged about cars — which killed 1,305 children that same year. Or fire. Or drowning. But they are not. The selective fury lands exclusively on firearms. And if you are a scientist, which I happen to be, you do not get to cherry-pick your data based on which conclusion you prefer. Quinn's Law Number Six: facts are the enemy of liberalism.
Now let us talk about what the actual data says about guns and safety, because John Lott ran 13,000-plus statistical regressions across every county in America and the results are not ambiguous.
Fifty-six percent of convicted felons surveyed in a ten-state study said they would NOT attack a target they believed was armed. Fifty-six percent. The deterrence is real, it is documented, and it functions whether or not a shot is ever fired. The firearm you carry protects your neighbor whether your neighbor knows it or not.
When states passed right-to-carry laws, multiple-victim public shootings — what the media insists on calling "mass shootings" to maximize terror — dropped by 67 percent. Deaths in those events dropped by 75 percent. Injuries by 81 percent. States that adopted these laws virtually ELIMINATED mass public shootings within four to five years. The remaining events? They happened almost exclusively in the specific locations where guns remained banned. The gun-free zones. The places we hang the sign that only the law-abiding ever read.
There were between 760,000 and 3.6 million defensive gun uses in the United States last year alone, depending on which of fifteen national polls you consult. A JAMA Network Open study from March 2025 estimated 489,000 DGUs in which a firearm was actually discharged. The Department of Justice's own National Crime Victimization Survey puts the conservative floor at 65,000 defensive uses per year against assaults, robberies, and home invasions.
No dead body. No coverage. No awareness month.
Here is one more number for you: 74. Seventy-four percent of convicted felons in a National Institute of Justice survey said they actively avoided homes they believed were occupied by armed residents. Criminals respond to incentives. That is not ideology — that is basic deterrence theory, and it is confirmed by the people who actually commit the crimes.
I also want you to think carefully about something the Supreme Court already settled. DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989). Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005). Two separate rulings establishing that the government has NO legal obligation to protect you as an individual. None. You are your own first responder. That is not my opinion — that is settled constitutional law from the highest court in this country.
So the political class that just told you the government is not required to protect you... is also the one demanding you surrender the tool you use to protect yourself.
I want fewer people dead. That is why I know the data. That is why I read the book. That is why I am furious every June when emotion and fundraising replace science and evidence in a "debate" that has actual life-or-death consequences for real people.
You want to honor the children? Honor ALL of them. The ones who drowned. The ones who died in car crashes. And the ones who will never be born because a woman alone in her house at 2 a.m. had no way to stop what was coming through her door.
But what do I know — I am only a published textbook author, a science teacher, a father of four, and a combat medic who spent his career reducing human suffering and who actually read the peer-reviewed data before forming an opinion.
IF you agree:
LIKE this post so the algorithm shows it to people who need to read it.
SHARE this.
COMMENT below — did you know the bathtub number? Or did the narrative keep that from you? Tell me.
And if you want MORE of this -- the data, the history, the science, the stories -- JOIN Bski's Classroom community on X or YouTube.
#MAGA #Veterans #Trump
@JoJoFromJerz@GuntherEagleman@catturd2
He’s the President of the United States — not your ex, not your personal villain, and not the cause of your misery. You don’t have to support him. That’s America.
But if someone is simply backing the sitting President and it makes you rage, cut people off, attack families, or act like garbage — you are the problem.
You’ve turned politics into a personality disorder: nonstop outrage and toddler meltdowns online. Grow up. He won. The sky didn’t fall. Pay your bills, care for your family, touch grass, and move on.
NO white person alive today owned slaves. Teach your kids that.
NO black person alive today was born a slave. Teach your kids that.
Not all white people owned slaves back then. Teach your kids that.
Millions of white people fought and died to end slavery. Teach your kids that.
People should not inherit guilt from their ancestors. Teach your kids that.
People should not inherit victimhood from their ancestors. Teach your kids that.
You are responsible for your own actions, not the actions of people who lived 200 years ago. Teach your kids that.
America is not perfect, but it is not uniquely evil. Teach your kids that.
The West is responsible for some of humanity's greatest advances in freedom, science, medicine, and prosperity. Teach your kids that.
Loving your country is not racism. Teach your kids that.
Wanting secure borders is not racism. Teach your kids that.
Wanting safe communities is not racism. Teach your kids that.
Wanting merit over quotas is not racism. Teach your kids that.
Questioning political narratives is not racism. Teach your kids that.
People should be judged by their character, not their skin color. Teach your kids that.
History should be taught honestly, not used as a weapon. Teach your kids that.
A nation that teaches its children to hate their heritage will not survive. Teach your kids that.
Your country is your home. Protecting it is not something to be ashamed of. Teach your kids that.
You do not owe an apology for being born. Teach your kids that.
Never let fear of being called names stop you from speaking the truth as you see it. Teach your kids that.
The West has created an utterly evil state religion where an accusation of “racism” is the gravest offense that can be committed, even worse than rape or murder!
So if police show up at a crime scene and a British boy is bleeding out and an immigrant says the British boy is racist the cops will cuff the dying British boy.
Dear @WhiteHouse, my name is Rodney Smith Jr., founder of Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service in Huntsville, Alabama. Through our 50 Yard Challenge, over 6,000 kids across the country have signed up to mow free lawns for the elderly, disabled, veterans, active-duty military, first responders, and single parents. With America celebrating its 250th birthday this year and me also being born on July 4th, I wanted to humbly ask if a few kids from our program and myself could travel to Washington, D.C. to help mow the White House lawn for this historic celebration.
More than anything, I want these kids to see how a simple act of service something as ordinary as mowing a lawn for someone in need can lead to extraordinary places. What better lesson in community service than showing them that helping others can take them all the way to our nation’s capital? I’d also love to bring my American flag-themed mower in hopes that the President might sign it, so I can later auction it off and donate 100% of the proceeds to a nonprofit supporting veterans. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight the importance of service, patriotism, and the impact young people can have when they choose to make a difference. 🇺🇸
It is difficult to imagine an American who has been a greater parasite on the public coffers than @BernieSanders. He has contributed NOTHING to the United States other than decades of cantankerous and sullen envy-fuelled anger at those who create.
@BernieSanders If I threatened a company and told them they needed to give me half of everything they own they’d call the cops. I guess it’s legal when a politician does it.