It’s a Queens District Attorney debate, with the first real election for the borough’s top law enforcement position since the 1970s(!) less than a month away. Candidates Tiffany Cabán, Rory Lancman, Greg Lasak, Nina Malik and Jose Nieves joined Christina Greer, Harry Siegel and the New York Times’ Azi Paybarah at the Rocco Moretto VFW Post 2348 in Astoria Wednesday morning for a special episode of FAQ along with Racket Media, our executive producer Alex Brook Lynn’s new entry into the heretofore...
May 30, 2019•1 hr 36 min
Azi Paybarah, who left FAQ — WTF?! — for the NYT returns to talk with Harry and Chrissy about the city’s rats, goats, and sharks, including political shark Bill de Blasio’s presidential run and what it means to be America’s mayor-in-chief.
May 23, 2019•41 min
ABC Criminal Justice reporter Christina Carrega joins Harry Siegel, Christina Greer, Victoria Bekiempis and Alex Brook Lynn to talk abut what she's seen at the disturbingly low-stakes department trial, inside One Police Plaza, of the officer whose chokehold killed Eric Garner—and who's still drawing a check from the NYPD nearly five years later.
May 16, 2019•35 min
Dr. Michael Lindsey, director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, discusses his work leading the working group for the Congressional Black Caucus’ newly convened emergency Task Force on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health. Then Alex Brook Lynn, in Albany, visits Albany to report on dark talk about dirty vice cops in New York City. Finally, Patricia Williams, mother of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, calls in for Mother's Day to look back on raising a boy in Brooklyn....
May 09, 2019•58 min
This was going to be the year that pot was flat-out legalized in New York, or so said Gov. Cuomo, perhaps inspired by primary opponent Cynthia Nixon. Then three wo/men went into a smoke-filled room and everyone forgot about it. State Senator Diane Savino joins Chrissy, Harry and Cannabis Wire's Alyson Martin to discuss what happens, and what happens — or more likely doesn't — now.
May 02, 2019•49 min
New state Senator Zellnor Myrie walks up to Alex Lynn's rent-stabilized apartment to sit down with his constituent Christina Greer and talk about the rent-stabilized apartment he grew up in, why New York needs stronger new rent regulations, statewide, and more.
Apr 25, 2019•41 min
For now we see through a black box, darkly, as Albert Fox Cahn and Liz O'Sullivan of STOP - The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project — visit Bleecker Street to talk about what's happening with algorithms and AI in de Blasio's New York.
Apr 18, 2019•37 min
Within Universal Pre-K, there are two groups of teachers — one that works for the city, and one that works for community groups the city contracts with — that do the same work, for very different salaries. Christina Veiga of Chalkbeat joins us to talk about a looming strike, and the value of a woman's work in de Blasio's New York. Plus, Victoria Bekiempis calls in to run down the court drama this week from the NXVIM sex cult cum pyramid scheme, and more.
Apr 11, 2019•47 min
FAQ presents a new, highly irregular podcast about courts and the justice system with Victoria Bekiempis and Alex Brook Lynn talking with with legendary courts reporter Christina Carrega about the highly irregular trials of Chanel Lewis, convicted this week for the murder of jogger Karina Vetrano.
Apr 04, 2019•42 min
Rosie Goldensohn of The City comes in to explain how the city blew $369 million to save $30 million on a niche transportation system that charges $2.75 per ride that the city pays $13 to provide, state Senator Alessandra Biaggi calls in to discuss how $175 billion of state budget sausage gets ground up.
Apr 04, 2019•52 min
Mark Alan Stamaty’s great visual novel MacDoodle Street—the story of dishwashing poet Malcolm Frazzle that first appeared in the pages of the Village Voice in the late 1970s—is back in print thanks to the fine nerds of the New York Review of Books. Bill Bramhall, editorial cartoonist for the Daily News, joined Harry Siegel and Alex Brook Lynn for a conversation with Stamaty about his work, God, drugs, those hacks Artman and Andy Warhol, donuts and love, and, of course, umbilical oralism and the ...
Mar 28, 2019•39 min
Harry Siegel and Alex Lynn talk with state Senator Jessica Ramos about sex work and the new push to decriminalize in in New York, and much more. Plus, Emma Whitford runs down her reporting on loitering laws, massage raids, and why the NYPD says we can’t arrest our way out of this problem; Harry talks with Peter Edelman about the criminalization of poverty, and Alex and Victoria Bekiempis go inside the courts.
Mar 22, 2019•1 hr 11 min
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez talks with Harry and Alex about his Justice 2020 action plan, what happens when prosecutors with legal hammers stop treating people like nails, policing the police, sex crimes and much more. Then Alex and Victoria go in the Manhattan courts to talk about a busy week there for the Trump gang, what with his old campaign manager getting charged in a court where the president has no pardon power, while his TV lawyer — our old mayor! — was back again to get di...
Mar 14, 2019•51 min
As Cuomo's Democratic Party looks to blow up fusion voting in New York, the Post's Michael Benjamin joins Christina and Harry to discuss the state of the party here and nationally in the shadow of Trump. Plus Victoria and Alex go in the courts to talk about the case of Statue of Liberty climber Patricia Okoumou.
Mar 06, 2019•40 min
New Public Advocate-elect Jumaane Williams called Christina Greer just before the polls closed to discuss his vision for the office—and why there needs to be an investigation of how his sealed police records from a decade-old domestic dispute ended up dropping days before the election. Then Gotham Gazette Executive Editor and Max and Murphy co-host Ben Max visits the FAQ crew to break midnight breaking down the results, and what they mean for NYC and the players in its long game of political mus...
Feb 27, 2019•36 min
A double-sized episode with Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer explaining to Chrissie and Harry why he isn't interested in negotiating with Amazon, or serving with Ruben Diaz Jr. Plus—deep breath!—Daily Beast special Fashion Week correspondent Sarah Shears on Paris Hilton lighting her own photos, ace courts reporter Victoria Bekiempis on Chapo’s conviction, Community Voices Heard Executive Director Afua Atta-Mensah on organizing against Amazon, and Sexual Harassment Working Group members Rita Pasarell ...
Feb 14, 2019•1 hr 3 min
With the tragic death of Malaysia Goodson reigniting New Yorkers' fears and concerns about making it into and out of the subway tunnels, we spoke to engineer and advocate Chris Pangilinan about a system that still mostly depends on stairs — and what it's like to depend on that system when you can't use the stairs.
Feb 07, 2019•39 min
We talk federal arrests inside state courts with Documented NY's Mazin Sidahmed and Felipe de la Hoz. Plus, state Sen. Gustavo Rivera talks with Christina about the blue new day in Albany, and Victoria Bekiempis explains to Harry why Robert de Niro's divorce is — really! — a matter of some public importance.
Jan 31, 2019•43 min
Chrissy and Harry talk with turncoat Azi Paybarah about door knocking Peter Parker in Queens, Timesman Alan Feuer about the madness of the El Chapo trial in Brooklyn, and courts reporter Victoria Bekiempis about Harvey Weinstein's wired new legal team.
Jan 24, 2019•44 min
The state of the state is changing fast, for a change. Chris Smith joins Chrissy and Harry to discuss.
Jan 17, 2019•45 min
The governor controls the train authority that planned and warned for years that the L train tunnel would need to be shut down for repairs after Hurricane Sandy ravaged it back in 2012. Then Governor Cuomo walked through the tunnel in 2019, and emerged with a new plan averting the shutdown and a retconned origin story about that plan. Huh? MTA board member Veronica Vanterpool and transit reporter Aaron Gordon join us to make some sense of this, and, err, break down the sorry state of our public ...
Jan 10, 2019•47 min
We talk De Blasio, Cuomo, NYCHA, and more. Plus Alex Brook Lynn on the death of the Cornelia Street Cafe, and Victoria Bekiempis takes you in the courts.
Dec 20, 2018•41 min
White supremacists holding rallies with fascists and anti-fascists brawling outside, and war looming. Maybe that sounds like NYC in 2018, but we're talking NYC in WWII and the years around it along with special guests John Strausbaugh, author of "Victory City: A history of New York and New Yorkers during World War II," and Ron Howell, author of "Boss of Black Brooklyn: The life and times of Bertram L. Baker."
Dec 13, 2018•47 min
“I’m a single woman. I don't come from wealth. How do I survive this experience so I can get a job again? In politics, your loyalty and your network is your value and taking on a member as powerful as Vito, you’re not just taking on that member—you’re taking on their entire network and everything that network has to lose and especially if your claims aren’t enough to bring them down…I started to change my own behavior just to survive… I was suicidal. I was on my last legs."
Dec 06, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Councilman Ritchie Torres and Daily News investigative reporter Greg B. Smith discuss lead, neglect, private money and public housing. Plus Gwynne Hogan goes to the Andrew Jackson houses in the Bronx to talk with Daniel Barber, the leader of the group of tenants associations suing New York City.
Nov 29, 2018•46 min
Voting in New York is a certified disaster. Michael Benjamin joins the FAQ crew to discuss why that is, and how to fix it. Plus Chirissy Greer, on her way to Georgia, breaks down the unsettled governor's race there, and much more…a including ChapAzon.
Nov 15, 2018•40 min
Ben Max of Gotham Gazette sat down with us in the wee hours of Wednesday morning for a first look at the polls, and a new day in New York where fat cats just might get slapped back. Plus Alex Brook Lynn hits Staten Island and South Brooklyn Tuesday to talk with voters, and so much more.
Nov 07, 2018•45 min
🎶 Corey Johnson may be the City Council speaker, but we've got him singing in our first ever musical episode.
Nov 01, 2018•35 min
We talked in person about the sad state of the Republican party here, and on the phone with the Republican who would be governor who evokes some of what the party once was and, he hopes, could be. Alex Lynn reports from her night out partying with Anthony Scaramucci and his mom who—spoiler alert!—also does not think much of Steve Bannon. Plus a truly disgraceful tribute to Azi, and it all adds up to oh so much New York in your ear.
Oct 25, 2018•42 min
With Democrats poised to keep holding every statewide office, FAQ talked with City and State's Rebecca C. Lewis about the high stakes fights for control of the state Senate in Albany and the House in Washington, and the races here that could decide which party triumphs.
Oct 11, 2018•41 min
