Sam Antar

NYC: Where Transparency Takes a Vacation

/ 8 minutes of reading

When Transparency Takes a Vacation Amid the swaying palms of Puerto Rico, New York City officials and their growing entourages continue their annual ritual of luxury networking at taxpayer expense. The SOMOS conference, nominally about Hispanic legislative priorities, has devolved into New York’s premier Caribbean junket – where politicians and their staffs strike poolside deals while constituents back home struggle […]

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, , , , , , , , , , Corruption

NYC Council’s $1.2M Black Box: A Study in Financial Opacity

/ 9 minutes of reading

A Study in Strategic Opacity Despite today’s expectations of government transparency, the New York City Council under Speaker Adrienne Adams has mastered financial opacity. This persists even with oversight from City Comptroller Brad Lander and Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan – both wielding significant fiscal authority yet remaining silent on how council funds vanish into a maze of undisclosed purposes.

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, , , Corruption

Racial Disparities in NYC Violent Crime Victimization

/ 5 minutes of reading

The trend of violent crime victimization in New York City up to September 2024 highlights persistent racial disparities and troubling trends. During this nine-month period, violent crime victimization increased by 5.4% in 2024 compared to the same timeframe in 2023. This rise has disproportionately impacted different communities, with minority groups experiencing the majority of the increase in violent crimes. Disproportionate

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, Crime

NYC Council Speaker’s $1,393 Car Service: Questions of Coincidence

/ 5 minutes of reading

The Investigation A thorough examination of public records has revealed a questionable expense in the NYC Council’s spending: a car service bill that raises significant questions about the use of public funds. After multiple unanswered requests for explanation, the matter has escalated to a formal Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to uncover the details of this . The Speaker’s

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, Corruption

The $4.2 Billion Vanishing Act: NYC’s Creative Accounting of 2023

/ 4 minutes of reading

Part 3 of “NYC’s Creative Accounting Chronicles” – Following “Fiscal Follies: Unveiling NYC Officials’ Creative Accounting Circus” and “NYC’s Financial Circus Continues: Board of Elections’ $29M Car Service Splurge“ Introducing Our Latest Discovery Welcome to New York City’s most impressive disappearing act yet. Following our previous exposés of fiscal acrobatics and car service extravaganzas, we present something remarkable: $4.2 billion

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, , , , , , Corruption

NYC’s Financial Circus Continues: Board of Elections’ $29M Car Service Splurge

/ 3 minutes of reading

A Continuing Investigation into NYC’s Creative Accounting When I examine New York City’s accounting practices, I feel like I am swimming in raw sewage. In my last blog post, titled “Fiscal Follies: Unveiling NYC Officials’ Creative Accounting Circus,” I investigated the accounting practices of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. I highlighted their seemingly contradictory

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, , Corruption

Fiscal Follies: Unveiling NYC Officials’ Creative Accounting Circus

/ 9 minutes of reading

Setting the Stage: A Tale of Fiscal Smoke and Mirrors Welcome to New York City’s fiscal funhouse, where transparency vanishes, and accountability takes an indefinite vacation. We’re exposing creative accounting practices of Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, whose offices have elevated questionable bookkeeping to high art. Prepare for murky expense reports where “N/A Privacy/Security” explains everything, credit

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, , Corruption, Crime

Inevitable Upward Revision in FBI Violent Crime Numbers

/ 4 minutes of reading

Introduction In a recent blog post, I explored the FBI’s underreporting of violent crime in New York City for 2023, raising concerns about the reliability of its national crime statistics. John Lott, writing for the New York Post, revealed that the FBI quietly revised its national violent crime rates for 2021 and 2022 in its 2023 report. This revision shows

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, , Crime

VP Debate Fact Check: Walz’s Misleading Claims and Adams’ Data Suppression

/ 2 minutes of reading

In the recent vice presidential debate, Tim Walz made a troublingly disingenuous claim about gun violence research, stating, “And we can start to get data, but here’s the problem, if we really want to solve this, we’ve got folks that won’t allow research to even be done on gun violence.” (57:49 into debate video) Walz’s statement isn’t true and seems

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, , , , , Crime

Crime Victimization by Racial/Ethnic Group Across U.S. Administrations (2009-2023)

/ 8 minutes of reading

Introduction This essay examines crime victimization rates among different racial and ethnic groups in the United States from 2009 to 2023, spanning the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. The data is sourced from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and presents rates of violent victimizations per 1,000 people aged 12 or older. The analysis includes

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, , , Crime
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