While other politicians are just noting Memorial Day by honoring active, retired and late members of military, Senator Chuck Schumer is also worried for an important constituency: Those who love to grill food during these warm weather months. Which nicely complements one of his other efforts—keeping microbrews cheap.
Chuck Schumer Wants Your Barbecues To Be Safe
NYC Rated #7 In Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities, Behind Minneapolis And D.C.
Bicycle Magazine, the publication that Senator Chuck Schumer totally stores under his mattress and reads with a flashlight under the covers, has rated New York City the 7th best city in the country to pedal around on two wheels. #1 was Portland, Oregon. We demand to know which city has more subscribers to Bicycle Magazine!
Schumer Wants To Ban U.S. Citizenship-Renouncing Facebook Co-Founder
Listen, Eduardo Saverin, you may have co-founded Facebook and you may have renounced your U.S. citizenship in anticipation of tomorrow's big IPO day, but there's something you're not familiar with: The wrath of Senator Chuck Schumer. Chuck and Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania are looking into ways to bar tax dodgers like Saverin. Schumer said today, "Saverin has turned his back on the country that welcomed him and kept him safe, educated him and helped him become a billionaire. This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong... Sen. Casey and I have a status update for him: Pay your taxes in full, or don't ever try to visit the U.S. again."
Chuck Schumer Wants To Keep Your Microbrews Cheap
Senator Chuck Schumer has taken many a courageous stand against issues like arsenic in apple juice and OnStar snooping, but his defense of the microbreweries in the face of a recent elimination of a tax exemption in New York ranks among his most noble. “It would be a great thing for our state to have this industry grow, but this court decision could clobber them,” Schumer said at an appearance at the East Village Tavern. Too bad he didn't extend that Super Bowl bet to making Robert Kraft pick up the new taxes.
Fran Drescher Still Wants To Be A Senator From New York
Could the flashy girl from Flushing, the Nanny named Fran, be heading to Washington? She'd sure like that! Fran Drescher, television's Nanny and owner of one of the more distinct voices working, someday thinks she'd like to run for elected office. And she isn't interested in a paltry two-year contract to work the House. Drescher says that "ideally I'd rather run in the Senate."
Schumer Wants To Know If Your Boss's Facebook-Prying Is Legal
Perhaps to protect future protégés from sexxxy scorn, Senator Chuck Schumer is asking the Justice Department to investigate the legality of the recent practice of employers obtaining employees' Facebook passwords. The AP reports that Schumer, along with Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, specifically want to know if it violates the Stored Communications Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Sadly, expressions like SMH, ROTFL, and "Amazeballs" remain legal.
After Surviving Iraqi Attack, Marine Gets To Keep Her War Dog
And, for a change, some nice news out of the military! Today Senator Chuck Schumer's office announced that the New York senator (and recent PPW bike rider) has arranged to reunite a Marine Corporal with her beloved soldier dog, Sergeant Rex. The two were injured together in Iraq in 2006 and now they can spend the rest of Rex's life in peace.
Pigs Fly: Photo Of Chuck Schumer Biking In PPW Bike Lane
Maybe we have stepped into the Bizarro World: Transportation Alternatives' Executive Director Paul Steely White just posted this photograph of Senator Chuck Schumer riding his bike in the Prospect Park Bike Lane ("Omg").
Shocker: Senator Schumer Mixes Up DJ Kool Herc And LL Cool J
Senator Chuck Schumer is not actually a hip hop or rap or any type of music expert, even if he has been spotted hangin' with Jay-Z and Beyonce in the past. In Williamsburg, no less. At a Grizzly Bear concert. Still, he is a politician, so we're guessing he probably doesn't even know what Chillwave is, even if he's riding his bike all over Brooklyn. So the fact that he mixed up L.L. Cool J and DJ Kool Herc is really not very surprising.
Schumer Wants Airport "Passenger Advocates" To Deal With Inappropriate TSA Agents
In December, after a series of embarrassing airport security incidents involving elderly women, Senator Chuck Schumer called on the TSA to implement "passenger advocates" at airports. These advocates would, in theory, be summoned by passengers "to hear their concerns" if they feel they’ve been inappropriately treated by transportation security officers. Schumer says the TSA ignored his request, so now he's kicking it up a notch by introducing legislation that would require the agency to provide passenger advocates.
Report: Congress Is The 1% Leading The 99%
Whether it's refusing to use a national tragedy as a xenophobic soapbox, keeping their genitals out of the public eye, or nobly declining to have sex with prostitutes while wearing diapers, we can always count on our elected representatives to put aside petty differences and do what's right for America. But shocking new data shows that Congress has lost touch with average Americans and has grown richer over the last several decades, at a faster rate than even the richest 10% of the country.
Inhalable Caffeine Is A "Party Enhancer," And Chuck Schumer Wants It Banned
Next month a new "inhalable caffeine" product called Aeroshot is supposed to hit our stores, and yesterday our own senior Senator, Chuck Schumer, decided to give the company the best Hanukkah present a new company could ask for: He held a press conference denouncing it. And he didn't even hold the presser on a Sunday, as is his usual M.O.! "The truth is, AeroShot is nothing more than a club drug or a party enhancer, designed to give the user the ability to drink until they drop," he said yesterday, making the product's press team's job that much easier this holiday season.
John McCain Is Sorry Chuck Schumer Can't Take A Joke About Long Island
During a Senate debate about the treatment of enemy combatants, GOP Arizona Sen. (and Ed Harris opposite day impersonator) John McCain made a throwaway joke about the good people of Long Island: "Last I checked, Long Island was part—albeit sometimes regrettably—of the United States Of America." Instant rimshot! Sen. Chuck Schumer didn't find it so funny though, which led to some seriously catty back and forth insults between the two.
Bigger Brother: Stores Want To Track You Via Cell Phone
According to CNN, some malls in the US rolled out a new technology on Black Friday that allows retailers to track customers' cell phone signals while they're shopping. The technology is already being used in Europe and Australia, and it was scheduled to be tried out in two malls in California and Virginia. That was until Senator Chuck Schumer put a stop to it.
DOT Axes Grand Army Plaza Two-Way Bike LaneFor Now
Bike lane haters are still smarting after being forced to chug a gallon of Haterade after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Prospect Park West bike lane. But as they appeal the decision, the DOT has handed them a small victory by omitting the construction of a two-way bike lane on East and West Plaza Streets at Grand Army Plaza. "If we had not done what we've been doing with the bike lanes, they probably would have moved ahead," Louise Hainline of Neighbors That Don't Use Bike Lanes Neighbors For Better Bike Lanes tells the Daily News.
Schumer Proposes LIRR Riders Bill of Rights
Senator Charles Schumer had his Sunday press conference decrying prescription drug price-gouging, but since this is Columbus Day, he's having ANOTHER one today about a Long Island Rail Road passengers' bill of rights, spurred by the September 29 lightning strike that made commuting a mess. His office said it would be "similar to a passenger's bill of rights established for the airline industry, to provide baseline protections for passengers of Long Island's commuter rail system."
Taxing Those Making $1 Million-Plus 5.6% Works For Obama
Top Democrats were upset that President Obama wanted to tax wealthy Americans, because as our own Senator Chuck Schumer put it, making $250,000 a year doesn't make you wealthy in New York. So now they are offering a new plan to tax the rich: A 5.6% tax on those making $1 million or more a year, which would raise about the $447 billion needed to fund Obama's American Jobs Act.
Cuomo Targeted In Death Threats Over Letting "Millionaire Tax" Expire
Governor Cuomo and other state politicians have received threatening emails for refusing to renew a tax on millionaires that is set to expire at the end of the year. The tax is actually levied against New Yorkers with income over $200,000, but Assembly Democrats want to extend it for those literally making more than million dollars a year. It's estimated that extending the tax on the richest 3% of New Yorkers for another year could generate at least $1 billion in desperately-needed revenue. But isn't it better to drown the government and let that billion trickle down on its own, as many millionaires argue? No, say people sending threatening emails!
Schumer Unsure On Jobs Bill, Prefers Pissing Off China
Many economists believe that president Obama's $447 billion jobs bill will help stimulate the economyalbeit not quite as much as the administration is predictingby bolstering the GDP and creating or keeping at least 275,000 jobs. To pay for the plan, the president has asked the wealthy to dig under their manatee-leather couch cushions and be taxed as much as middle class folk. New York Senator Chuck Schumer thinks this is a bad idea. "The main hangup is not the jobs bill itself," Schumer tells the Daily News, "[Obama] proposed ways of paying for it that are probably not the best way to garner the votes. We're looking for better ways." Schumer then began furiously scratching a stack of Instant Take 5s.
Prospect Park West Bike Lane Haters Appeal Lawsuit's Dismissal
Last month the dismissal of the lawsuit against the Prospect Park West bike lane led to a cleansing, "Tahrir Square" moment for cyclists who felt the community-approved bike lanes were under siege by a few rich NIMBYs. Hopefully that feeling was savored, because Streetsblog reports that Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety have appealed the ruling.
Schumer: Obama's Tax Plan Is Flawed, $250K "Doesn't Make You Rich" In NY
While President Obama's call to tax the wealthy at the same proportion of the middle class is strongly supported by moderates and independents, politicians of all stripes whose districts have moats around them aren't so sure about this whole "fairness" thing. Among them is important apple juice-purifier Chuck Schumer, who told CBS, “$250,000 makes you really rich in Mississippi but it doesn’t make you rich at all in New York." Indeed: the check average at the Whole Foods on Bowery last month was $245,325.
Chuck Schumer Takes Important Stand: No Arsenic In Our Apple Juice
First, he came for our prescription drugs, but we said nothing. Then, he went for our Prospect Park West bike lanes, but we were still pretty zonked out from the prescription drugs. Now, Chuck Schumer wants to regulate how much arsenic is in our apple juice. This is where we draw the line: it's not a tall glass of apple juice unless we're convulsing with joy!
Schumer Proposes Denying Libya Aid Until Lockerbie Bomber Jailed
After questioning the credibility of reports that Libyan Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is once again close to death, New York Senator Chuck Schumer has written a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to withhold aid to Libya's nascent governing body, the National Transition Council. "If the new Libyan government continues to shield this convicted terrorist from justice, then they should not get one more cent of support from the United States," Schumer writes.
Sen. Schumer Wants Proof That Lockerbie Bomber Is Near Death
According to his family, Libyan Lockerbie bomber and murderer of 246 people Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is really really sick and can't come out to play or face extradition. Sure, he's been on death's door before, only to miraculously stop acting keep living to ensure safe passage from Scotland to Libya in exchange for sweet sweet oil. But Senator Chuck Schumer tells the Daily News that he isn't buying it this time: "We're going to need a lot more verification than the word of local Libyan officials."
PPW Bike Lane Opponents Aren't Fazed By Dismissal
After Judge Bunion dismissed the lawsuit against the Prospect Park West bike lane on Tuesday evening, we wondered if the fat lady had finally sung in the matter, so people could get on with their lives, and the DOT could go back to making the city safer for everyone. But it was not to be so: Jim Walden, the attorney for the two community groups who filed the suit, Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety, issued a "demand" letter stating that the dismissal meant nothing, and the groups will be pressing on to obtain DOT records to prove that the bike lane was indeed part of a "pilot program."
Freed Lockerbie Bomber Who Had "90 Days To Live" In 2009 Spotted On Libyan TV
Nearly two years after his release on "compassionate grounds" by Scottish authorities, the convicted bomber of Pan Am flight 103 from JFK that killed 270 people, 103 of them Americans, in 1988 was seen on Libyan state television yesterday being introduced at a tribal rally. The announcer in the video declares that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was arrested because "half the world conspired against" him, and BBC reports that the broadcast yesterday was "live." Megrahi's appearance reflects poorly upon the Scottish authorities, who released Megrahi because Libya threatened to withold contracts to British-based oil giant BP worth "hundreds of millions of dollars."
9/11 Commemorative Coin Formerly "New Low," Now $56.95
After politicians decried 9/11 commemorative coins being sold for profit, the federal government is now selling its own 9/11 commemorative coin for $56.95. Ten dollars of the proceeds of each coin will go towards funding for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. A law co-sponsored by Senator Schumer and Congressman Jerrold Nadler allows the US Mint to "strike up and offer for sale up to 2 million one-ounce silver 2011 September 11 National Medals." Sounding similar to some reprehensible infomercials we've seen, Schumer said in a press release, "These medals, commemorating the 10th anniversary of September 11th, provide a unique way to honor the bravery of those who perish and recall the patriotism and community that their sacrifice inspired in the nation."
Schumer Wants A "No-Ride List" For Our Trains
Senator Chuck Schumer, who just lurves his Sunday press conferences, yesterday called on the Department of Homeland Security and Amtrak to institute a "no-ride list" to complement the existing airline "no-fly list." His call to action came after files found at Osama bin Laden's compound suggested that Al Qaeda was planning a train attack for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It is unclear how exactly such a system would be implemented, but Amtrak says it will review the proposal.
Chuck Schumer Wants To Beat Canada At Maple Syrup
Don't worry, New York, maple syrup is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it prevents cancer...or we just tell ourselves that to justify eating it by the spoonful. (Everyone does that, right?) According to Senator Chuck Schumer, New York state has more sugar maples than Quebec, and he is renewing his efforts to make the state "global leaders in the maple industry."
Brooklyn Real Estate Fraud Is So Hot Right Now
Police are searching for a scam artist claiming to be a Brooklyn real estate agent. Cops say the man has struck at least eight times in Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, "showing" apartments in buildings under construction to prospective renters, making them sign a fake lease and taking their cash security deposit before disappearing (a familiar crime). But until they track him down, Brooklyn police will have their hands full with the 17 other people arrested and charged with various real estate crimes recently.

