NYC Mayor Eric Adams says he's leaving Democratic primary to run for re-election as an independent

 New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he'd be 'uninhibited' during his re-election campaign

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced he will run his re-election campaign as an independent instead of participating in the Democratic primary.

Adams told Politico on Monday that he wants to "mount a real independent campaign," saying that the federal bribery charges, which have been dismissed, "handcuffed him." The New York City Mayor said he'd be "uninhibited" while campaigning.

"I’m in the race to the end. I’m not running on the Democratic line. It’s just not realistic to turn around my numbers and to run a good campaign (from) where we are right now," Adams said. "It hurts like hell."

Adams faces an uphill battle in his re-election campaign. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on March 1 that he'd be running for New York City mayor.

U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho on Wednesday dismissed federal charges against Adams, which alleged he used his position to receive luxury travel and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish foreign nationals.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is running for re-election this year. 

A Quinnipac University survey that was conducted just before and just after Cuomo announced his run for mayor found the former governor enjoying 31% support among New York City Democrats, while Adams garnered 11%.

The same survey found Adams had a 20% approval rating.

During the interview, the incumbent New York City Mayor slammed Cuomo for signing bail reform measures into law which he says led to a rise in crime during the coronavirus era.

NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS INDICTMENT DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE

Former New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is mounting a run for New York City Mayor.

"Look at bail reform — that’s Andrew," Adams said. "He can’t say, ‘I’m going to save the city from the far left’ when he surrendered to the far left."

Reflecting on the now-dismissed federal charges, Adams said that he has been held back.

"I have been this racehorse that has been held back," Adams said. "This is so unnatural for me."

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City on Friday, November 1, 2024. Adams’ lawyers are seeking to have a bribery charge, one of the five federal corruption charges that have been filed against the mayor, dropped. 

Adams told the outlet that he would submit the required 3,750 signatures on May 27, which would put him on the ballot for November's election.

"Now I need this runway until November to redefine and remind people: This is why you elected me in the first place," Adams said.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/nyc-mayor-eric-adams-says-hes-leaving-democratic-primary-run-re-election-independent

Disney Animated Series ‘Win or Lose’ Features Character Saving His Gay Lover ‘Frankie Poo’

Disney-owned Pixar’s animated kids series Win or Lose showcased a love-charged same sex scene in which the umpire Frank (Josh Thomas) is saved from an enraged softball game crowd by the school Janitor (Flula Borg).

During a scene in the eight-episode series — which follows a middle school softball team in the week leading up to their championship game — characters yell at Frank, claiming he did not make the right call as an umpire, at which point the school janitor hears the shouts while sweeping the floor and says to himself, “Frankie poo.”

The janitor then arrives on the baseball field and saves Frank from attacks, before grabbing the umpire’s cheeks with both hands and looking into his eyes, saying, “Frank, it’s me, that’s right, it’s me. You brought me into your world, now I’m here!”

Watch Below:

While Disney injected a scene involving gay lovers in Win or Lose, the company reportedly decided to pull a transgender storyline from the series.

The show uses each episode to hone in on one character’s off-the-field life from their point of view, a concept similar to HBO’s Euphoria.

Notably, one of Euphoria‘s episodes focuses on transgender character, Jules Vaughn. But unlike the HBO series, a planned trans storyline will not no longer be coming to fruition on Disney-owned Pixar’s Win or Lose, a company spokesperson confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter.

“When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline,” the Disney spokesperson said at the time.

The transgender character, however, will remain in the show, with a few lines of dialogue referring to “gender identity” being removed, a source told the Hollywood Reporter, adding that this decision was made several months ago.

In the meantime, Win or Lose interestingly features a Christian character praying, making it the first time “a Disney character is portrayed offering an explicitly Christian prayer” since the 1996 animated film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, via its song “God Help the Outcasts,” Christian Post noted.

As for the trans storyline being pulled from Pixar’s Win or Lose, while the Disney spokesperson did not specify to the Hollywood Reporter when, exactly, the company made that decision, the mention of the decision having been made several months ago is curious.

Actress Carrie Coon, the star of season 3 of MAX’s (formerly HBO) White Lotus, recently revealed that her character’s “non-binary, maybe trans” child was cut from the show after President Donald Trump’s landslide election win.

Hollywood appears to have taken note of the 2024 election results, which has also been taken as a sign from the American people that they are vying to see the era of wokeness come to an end.

As Breitbart News reported, season 3 of White Lotus also featured a scene depicting a closet-conservative speaking with her long-distance liberal friends who are too narrow-minded to accept the fact that she enjoys living in Texas with conservatives.

Disney, however, still has some work to do, as its kids shows still feature same sex love-charged scenes and transgender characters.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2025/04/03/disney-features-christian-character-after-cutting-transgender-storyline-from-animated-series-for-kids/

6 people injured in 'senseless' DC stabbing, suspect in custody: Police

Six people were injured after a man who was in an "altered mental state" from an unknown substance began stabbing people in a Washington, D.C., neighborhood, police said.

The suspect, who also stabbed himself in the incident, is in custody, police said.


In this screen grab from a video, first responders are at the scene of a multiple stabbing in Washington, D.C., on April 3, 2025.© WJLA

The incident was reported around 3:22 p.m. on Thursday in the area of Montello Avenue and Meigs Place NE, in the Trinidad neighborhood, police said.

"Officers arrived on scene in less than a minute and located numerous people suffering from stab wounds," D.C. Chief Pamela Smith said during a press briefing.

Based on preliminary information, the suspect began stabbing himself while walking down the street before stabbing a female acquaintance who was with him, Smith said.

He then stabbed others who were outside on the block as well as two good Samaritans who tried to intervene, the chief said.

Four women and two men were transported to area hospitals "as a result of a senseless assault," Smith said. They include a grandmother and her two granddaughters, she said.

The victims are in stable condition and their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, Smith said. Their ages were not immediately available.




In this screen grab from a video, first responders are at the scene of a multiple stabbing in Washington, D.C., on April 3, 2025.© WJLA

Police located the suspect on the ground in the area, Smith said. A knife that police believe was used in the assault was recovered a few feet from him, she said.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was also transported to the hospital and is in surgery, she said.

"This incident highlights the need for assistance of substance abuse issues in our communities," Smith said.

Smith commended the two good Samaritans who tried to help, though she warned against trying to intervene in such incidents.

"Even though we're grateful for their intervention, we would ask that individuals who see incidents such as this to not intervene because these two individuals, although good Samaritans, were also stabbed as part of this assault," Smith said.

The incident remains under investigation.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/6-people-injured-in-senseless-dc-stabbing-suspect-in-custody-police/ar-AA1CfA0V?&ad=dirN&prod=DS&cmpgn=aug24&annot=false&sameTabLaunch=false&o=APN12174&installSource=nag&ctype=web&browser=Chrome&darkMode=false&lang=iso%3Acan&ueid=e120c400-5158-40c3-b77b-95d133e26c51&doi=2024-10-13

Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Long Term Strategy to Maintain Preeminence Over China

Victor Davis Hanson breaks down why Trump has made maintaining dominance over China a central issue for his administration on this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”

“He’s worried that China is intimidating countries in the Pacific and in Asia. Some of our strongest friends—Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam. Saying things like, 'The United States is in decline. You better cut a deal.'"

“ China is ascendant and we are static," he says.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, DAILY SIGNAL: I’d like to talk today about China—it seems to be on everybody’s mind, but explicitly on Donald Trump’s mind. That’s the one common denominator that explains his interest in Panama and not to turn over our key transit from East to West Coast to China—China has no business there—and the same thing with Greenland. He’s worried about the Chinese having access to the Arctic Circle, he’s worried about their trade surplus, he’s worried about circumventing unfair trade by assembling their products in Mexico, he’s worried about them sending raw product of fentanyl, he’s worried about their surrogates—the sort of mad pitbulls like North Korea and, increasingly, Iran—that China cuts the leash every once in a while and says, “Go to it, cause chaos.”

He’s worried that China is intimidating countries in the Pacific and in Asia—some of our strongest friends—Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam—saying things like, “The United States is in decline, you better cut a deal.”

Essentially, they’re like Japan in 1940, and they’re trying to refashion something like the Japanese East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere—that was a mercantile system aimed at the West, which soon they were to be at war with. So is it all depression? No—what Trump is saying is, for us to stop this, we’ve got to balance our budget—we can’t spend $3 billion a day on interest. If we’re going to do this, we have to have trade parity—we can’t keep running up a trillion, a trillion and a half dollars in trade surplus.

And when he looks at us at home, he says the ESG—this equity-social governance—that we don’t look at productivity and stocks but whether they’re politically correct, or DEI, and woke—that’s anti-American stuff, it doesn’t work. The Chinese love it—we will not be competitive. If you look at the border, you can’t have an open border with 30 million illegal aliens—that is a drag on productivity—you have to have security.

So what he’s doing in all these areas is identifying the threat that China poses and why we, with an open, transparent, and capitalist society, can achieve our preeminence—or guarantee our preeminence—if we make changes.

And it’s not necessarily a pessimistic picture—I just give you some statistics. Yes, China has 2,000 fighters, we have 1,500—but fighters aren’t the only story. The re are bombers, there are logistic planes, they’re intelligence planes—when you look at all of the U.S. Air Force, we have about 1,500 more planes, and we have over 500 fifth-generation fighters—I think they only have about 60. Yes, they are building 200 times more ships than we are. Remember, we built the largest navy in World War II that turned out, by 1945, larger than all the navies in the world. We were building a Liberty or Freedom mercantile vessel—big 10,000-12,000-ton vessels—every 5 days—we built 3,000 of them, we built 120 carriers of different classifications—so we were the shipbuilder, and now China is.

But when you actually look at our fleets, we still have 11 fleet carriers and army groups—navy groups—around them. They’re over 100,000 tons, they’re all nuclear—China has two and it’s building a third. We have about 85 to 87 submarines, they have about 60—but every one of ours is nuclear, not of theirs—they only have about six or seven.

If you look at all of these statistics on economics—they have 1.4 billion people, we have about 335 to 340 million people—but we produce one and a half times the nominal GDP that China does. So one American produces one and a half times more goods and services than his four Chinese counterparts.

If you look at per capita income, we’re still ranked sixth in the world—China’s 73rd. Americans have a lot more purchasing power per capita than the Chinese.

So let me put this all together in conclusion—China is ascendant, and we are static. Trump comes in, and he’s looking at things at home that will restore our global preeminence—fiscal discipline, secure borders, merit-based education, energy development—and he says, “Right now we still have the lead, and we will maintain this lead, but if we continue down the trajectory we’re at, we’re going to be in big trouble.”

Final note—we have 5,500 deliverable nuclear weapons, China has about 500—but they’re building six or seven a month, and they want to get up to a thousand in 5 years and then keep going. So what Trump is doing, again, is he’s saying, “Right now, our system is much superior—energy, agriculture, productivity, GDP, per capita income—but the trends in the future are not good, and if we don’t change, our rival will dominate the world, and I’m not going to let that happen on my watch.”

And I think that explains a lot of his otherwise sometimes inexplicable worries—from Greenland to Panama to the border to our universities.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/04/03/victor_davis_hanson_trumps_long_term_strategy_to_maintain_preeminence_over_china.html

Trump to Host Bukele at White House for Strategic Talks.

PULSE POINTS:

❓What Happened: President Donald J. Trump invited El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to the White House in a formal letter shared by Bukele.

👥 Who’s Involved: President Donald Trump, President Nayib Bukele, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem.


📍 Where & When: The White House, Washington, D.C. The invitation is set for April 14.

💬 Key Quote: “Your support of my efforts to combat illegal immigration is greatly appreciated,” stated Trump.

⚠️ Impact: The invitation highlights cooperation between the U.S. and El Salvador in dealing with border security and gang issues, showing joint efforts against illegal activities.
IN FULL:

President Donald J. Trump has extended an invitation to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for a visit to the White House. The April 14 invitation was outlined in a letter, which Bukele shared on the social media platform X.

The invitation acknowledges Bukele’s participation in U.S. initiatives to combat illegal immigration. It also highlights his administration’s use of the newly built prison facilities for housing criminals from notorious gangs such as Tren de Aragua. Trump praised Bukele’s handling of these security matters as a model of leadership.

“Your support of my efforts to combat illegal immigration is greatly appreciated,” Trump told Bukele. “For far too long, our southern border has been an open door. With the assistance of friends like you, we have made great progress in protecting Americans from illegal border activity,” Trump said. Bukele responded with appreciation for Trump’s words, emphasizing continued cooperation.

This follows a joint military operation that resulted in the deportation of 17 dangerous gang criminals from the United States. According to Bukele, these individuals are high-profile offenders, including six charged with crimes against minors.

President Trump has faced push-back from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, who has tried to block deportation flights of gang members. Late last month, President Trump announced he would be taking Boasberg to the U.S. Supreme Court to appeal Boasberg’s order barring the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport gang members.

READ:

https://thenationalpulse.com/2025/04/03/trump-hosts-bukele-at-white-house-for-strategic-talks/

North Dakota Mayor Resigns After Texting Masturbation Video to City Attorney

A mayor in Minot, North Dakota, resigned this week after reportedly accidentally texting the city attorney a video of himself masturbating.

This past January, Stefanie Stalheim, city attorney of Minot, North Dakota, opened up her phone and was startled to find she had been sent an explicit video of her city’s mayor, Tom Ross, masturbating on camera. The text message reportedly came just after the two city officials finished a phone call in which they discussed the suicide of a police officer who had been under investigation, according to the Minot Daily News.

Two weeks later, Stalheim filed a formal complaint against Ross, citing sexual harassment, calling his actions “reckless” due to his role as mayor and his “increased visibility, responsibility, and trust.”

“He knew the risk he was taking by engaging in such behavior,” the complaint said.

Ross, however, maintained that he sent the video by accident and even asked her not to open the video and delete it immediately. He claims that he meant the video for his girlfriend.

“Noting that he regrets the incident itself, Ross also expressed a desire for the matter to be conducted internally, not publicly. He added that he felt as if he’s had a good track record with others in the workplace and has never sexually harassed anyone at work,” noted PEOPLE.

“The investigation into Ross’ behavior concluded that his actions met the city’s parameters defining workplace harassment,” it added.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/04/02/north-dakota-mayor-resigns-texting-masturbation-video-city-attorney/

Thursday: Below the Fold

Trump ratchets up standoff with Maine, Hamas revises death toll, would-be Kavanaugh assassin to plead guilty, and more

• Musk leaving soon? Yesterday, Politico reported that Elon Musk would soon be stepping down from leading DOGE. The Leftmedia outlet spun this “revelation” as evidence of friction between Musk and President Donald Trump. However, from the very beginning, Musk’s role as head of DOGE was always understood to be temporary. Per federal regulations, no special government employee (SGE) can exceed 130 consecutive days in a position. Musk’s 130 days are up on May 30. A month ago, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Leftmedia claims that Trump was looking to keep Musk on indefinitely “garbage.” Furthermore, in a recent interview with Fox News, Musk himself noted the 130-day limit, stating, “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame.” Musk responded to Politico’s story in a post on X: “Yeah, fake news.”

• Trump vs. Maine: On Wednesday, the Trump administration ratcheted up its standoff with Maine over Democrat Governor Janet Mills’s refusal to comply with Donald Trump’s order barring males from competing in girls’ sports. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins observed that the state was in violation of Title IX. In a letter to Maine, she wrote, “Today, I am freezing Maine’s federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools. This is only the beginning, though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law.” Rollins did note that this action would not impact federal feeding programs or assistance to Mainers. The Pine Tree State’s Democrat-controlled legislature is also complicit in pushing the anti-female agenda, as it censured Republican state lawmaker Laurel Libby for speaking out against allowing males to compete in girls’ sports.

• American-made weapons under the gun in Europe: America has long been the primary provider of defense materiel to Europe. In the last four years, U.S. arms exports represented 43% of the global total, but Europe is signaling that it may want to wean itself off of the American supply. ReArm Europe is a plan proposed by the European Commission in March that would increase European defense spending and incentivize defense manufacturing on the continent. French President Emmanuel Macron says he is on a mission to convince European states used to buying American to buy continental instead. One key area of European defense is air power. Currently, the American F-35 is the only fifth-generation fighter on the market; that is unlikely to change. This European saber-rattling is in response to Trump’s actions regarding the Ukraine conflict and his comments about NATO.

• Gov’t-mandated backdoor in telecom opened door for China hacking: In his testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday, Georgetown University computer scientist and cryptographer Matt Blaze contended, “The job of the illegal eavesdropper has actually gotten significantly easier and … something like Salt Typhoon was inevitable and will likely happen again unless significant changes are made to our infrastructure and our approach to protecting it.” Salt Typhoon was a massive China-based hack against America’s telecom sector last year. Blaze argued that the massive scope of this hack was made possible thanks to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). Blaze said that China, in particular, has been taking advantage of CALEA due in large part to outdated safeguards of phone systems. CALEA’s requirement that telecom companies include a backdoor into devices is being exploited by hackers like Communist China.

• Hamas revises death toll: A rule of thumb when it comes to terrorist organizations reporting casualty numbers is to take it with a block of salt. In an obvious and blatant effort to distort and smear Israel’s military response to the October 7, 2023, pogrom, Hamas had claimed that 70% of Gaza casualties were women and children. Well, as time has passed, Hamas has quietly updated its list, removing thousands of names of Palestinians who were allegedly killed. Tellingly, as of March 2025, the updated percentage of Palestinian casualties has changed, with 72% of all fatalities being males between the ages of 13 and 55, which just happens to coincide with the demographic category for Hamas combatants. The new list of “identified” dead also shrunk by 3,400, and 1,080 children who had been included in that number evidently didn’t actually die. Go figure.

• Would-be Kavanaugh assassin to plead guilty: Nicholas Roske showed up outside Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in 2022 with a plan to assassinate him. Thankfully, once he saw the Secret Service presence in the area, he got cold feet and turned himself in. Roske’s attempted assassination came after Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer’s famous “whirlwind” comments on the steps of the Supreme Court and after the group Ruth Sent Us posted a map with pins near the homes of the justices. Despite their anti-judiciary stance just three years ago, today, Democrats applaud judicial interference vis-à-vis Donald Trump’s agenda. Roske’s legal team seems to have determined that their last-ditch effort to have evidence (including his confession) legally suppressed was doomed to failure. Roske has now pleaded guilty to avoid a disastrous trial with evidence stacked against him.

• SCOTUS upholds FDA’s ban on flavored vapes: It was a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court. How often do you hear that? The Fifth Circuit Court previously ruled against the FDA’s ban on flavored vaping products in a decision that the Supreme Court unanimously rejected. E-cigarettes — more commonly called vapes — are extremely popular with young Americans. They provide a hit of nicotine in a cloud of flavored water vapor. This decision specifically denies the right of Triton Distribution to market flavors such as Signature Series Mom’s Pistachio and Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry. The FDA believes these flavors would represent a risk to Americans under 18, and with those names, perhaps with good reason. The Supreme Court has confirmed the FDA’s ability to reject these flavors.

• Woman refuses to fence man, gets expelled from the team: It’s an outrageous story that is all too common in women’s sports: an average male athlete “transitions” and competes with great success in the women’s event. Recently, a female fencer in Maryland, Stephanie Turner (31), stood up for women’s rights and took a knee rather than duel a man. USA Fencing gave her a black card and expelled her from the team for refusing to fence an “eligible” opponent — standard procedure, they say. Surely, USA Fencing must ensure that eligible opponents in a women’s tournament are, in fact, women. According to the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), Redmond had competed on the men’s team during the previous season. Turner says that the issue of men in women’s sports has changed her from a lifelong Democrat to “voting red down the ticket this year.”

Headlines

• Senate Republicans release budget blueprint with new tax cuts and a $5 trillion debt limit hike (NBC News)

• Trump imposes new tariffs on cheap Chinese goods sold by companies like Temu and Shein (NY Post)

• Eric Adams dropping out of Democrat primary, will seek reelection as independent (NY Post)

• California funnels $18 million into the Left’s dark money network under Gavin Newsom (Daily Signal)

• Liberals stealing from Jeff Bezos because he isn’t sufficiently leftist (Hot Air)

• Nashville police downplay religious and transgender elements of Covenant shooting in final report (Just the News)

• The University of Michigan DEI walkback is worth celebrating (National Review)

• Humor: Cory Booker hosts 24-hour PSA on the dangers of crystal meth (Babylon Bee)

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https://patriotpost.us/articles/116024-thursday-below-the-fold-2025-04-03