Free Republic

Mayor de Blasio brought down the hammer Thursday on three charter schools operated by his nemesis Eva Moskowitz, leaving hundreds of kids without classrooms this fall. “This has to be the saddest day for the Success Academy’s children, family, teachers, school leaders,” Moskowitz said after meeting with stunned charter parents in Harlem. “Right now, our kids are being evicted. Evicted out of their school. It’s wrong and we need an explanation. You’re going to have to ask Mayor de Blasio what the motivations are for a decision that will hurt so many children now and, frankly, forever.”

by Susan Frommer | Top Right NewsKindness and consideration is something to be admired especially when helping firefighters who have spent hours in subzero weather battling a local fire.  So when McDonald’s Manager Heather Levia saw a way to help them by donating food and paying for it out of her own pocket for them, being fired never occurred to her.  But that is exactly what followed for the New York former manager at an Olean, NY McDonalds, according to Fox 44. Total disbelief is one of the motions that had to have come across the young woman’s face when her...

Quick — someone check to see if the Koch Brothers have bought Time Warner Cable News! Harry Reid needs to know, after all, because all of these “horror stories” about ObamaCare are just lies. Actually, we may need to see if the Kochs have bought all of New York, because small-business owners are discovering that Reid’s law does anything but “bend the cost curve downward” (via Daniel Halper):CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO ,/H4> “Everything is on hold. We won’t grow. We won’t reach that threshold. It is not worth it for us,” says pet store owner Matt Sames.The reporter...

As the People’s Republic of New York continues to congeal into tyranny, not even 5-year-olds are safe from Big Government intrusion. Unfortunately the sort of people who would put up resistance to government encroachment will be ever more outnumbered as people escape Andrew Cuomo’s statist dystopia in search of freedom, opportunity, and lower taxes.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is airing TV ads around the country that offer tax-free status for 10 years to new business start-ups entering his state. The ads' claims are deceptive because they come with a lot of government strings attached. You only get a tax cut if you put your business where the state tells you to put it, plus meet other state requirements. Critics say Cuomo's sweeping claims are not what they're cracked up to be. Once again, not unlike President Obama's tax credit proposals, the Democrats think they can dictate the rules that produce successful businesses and...

The Cuomo administration has a serious, potentially deadly laser pointer shortage. That's the only way to explain a report from the Albany Times-Union that Jerome Hauer, the state's commissioner of Homeland Security & Emergency Services, used the the laser sight on his handgun as a pointer during a presentation in October, panicking a bunch of foreign delegates from countries where guns are only used for civilized things like shooting people.

Simple design tweaks are allowing gun makers to get around restrictions New York put in place following the 2012 school shootings in Connecticut, prompting some critics to say the laws were mere window dressing. New York lawmakers passed the SAFE Act last year, and announced with fanfare that it effectively banned the sale of “assault weapons.” But AR-15s, the most popular type of guns often referred to as assault weapons, are sold in Empire State gun shops, freely and legally. The gun is being marketed by Stag Arms as a "New York-compliant AR-15," and features a slightly modified stock and...

The mayors of New York and Boston both plan to snub St Patrick’s Day parades in their respective cities because organisers continue to ban gay people from marching. The Mayor of New York, Bill De Blasio, said he plans to boycott the parade because of the exclusion of LGBT groups. He is the first New York mayor in about 20 years to do so. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has also vowed to boycott the South Boston St Patrick’s Day Parade if organisers do not reconsider allowing members of the LGBT community to march.

The chief of staff and star witness against a Democratic New York state assemblyman charged with taking bribes from undercover agents was recorded at a restaurant admitting that taking her own illegal payoff didn’t make her feel shame but arousal. “You just, like, made me hot,” said William Boyland Junior’s chief of staff, Ry-Ann Hermon, when an agent gave her a $1,000 payoff at the Blue Water Grill in Manhattan during a recorded 2011 meeting. The audio was played Thursday at Mr. Boyland’s corruption trial in Brooklyn federal court.

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Even if Kerry Kennedy accidentally drugged herself with a sleeping pill before getting in her car, she broke the law if she kept driving after feeling the drug’s effects, prosecutors say. In filings Tuesday, the Westchester County district attorney’s office asked a judge to reject Kennedy’s second attempt to have her drugged-driving case dismissed. Prosecutors said a dismissal would send the wrong message to the public about how “people of wealth and power” are treated. Kennedy is the ex-wife of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the niece of...

An unhinged Brooklyn man accused of punching seven women — including a 78-year-old — in brutal “knockout” attacks last year told cops he attacked six of them in “self-defense,” and hit another woman because she almost made him spill his Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, court papers revealed Wednesday. Barry Baldwin, 35, hit the women in seven separate attacks in Canarsie and Midwood between Nov. 7 and Dec. 27, court papers state. His Jan. 3 arrest came in the midst of a slew of possible “knockout game” attacks — in which innocent people are sucker-punched by thrill-seeking punks — including multiple attacks...

Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., threatened to "break" a local reporter in half and throw him off the balcony in the Capitol rotunda during a post-State of the Union interview turned toxic. Grimm, who is under federal investigation over his 2010 campaign financing, refused to answer a question from NY1 reporter Michael Scotto about the investigation. But as the cameras continued rolling, Grimm returned to physically confront Scotto, and according to a transcript posted by NY1, threatened him. "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f***ing balcony," Grimm says.After several...

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Recently, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a now-famous rant, put out the "Not Welcome" mat in front of Empire State pro-lifers.  If you're conservative, he said, you're not welcome in his state.  NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio sided with him "100%". Oklahoma State Representative Rebecca Hamilton, who has served in the Oklahoma House for 18 years, has published a response to the governor's inflammatory remarks on her blog, Public Catholic, which can be found on the Catholic Portal at Patheos.   Rep. Hamilton first gratefully acknowledges the statement from Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, who publicly...

I am watching them take my country from me -- the Obamas, the de Blasios, the Holders, the generic Democrats with their imaginary sincerity and their simplistic complaints about income inequality. As if excellence and the ability to earn are wicked traits. In the meantime, Obama and his ilk are living pretty well. They are not sleeping in boxes on cold urban streets. Like thieves in the night, they try to steal the votes from the poor so that they can live even richer lifestyles. They pretend to identify with the middle class, as if their lifestyles and prestige even...

Teachers unions supply the Democratic Party with money and foot soldiers. But if Democrats intend to make income inequality their issue in 2014 and 2016, they will have to give up their slavish devotion to these unions, which deny inner-city kids a shot at a quality education and an escape route from poverty. A few Democrats, such as former Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have challenged union power, but not New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Anyone eyeing Cuomo as the backup candidate for president in 2016, in the event Hillary Clinton doesn’t run, needs to take...

Sean Hannity tells his audience he is leaving New York state after Cuomo’s comments. Sean said he discussed it with his wife and they are moving to Texas or Florida. “Look, I have contractual obligations, I can’t leave here. My kids are in school. And there are about over 100 people who that rely on me. People who have kids and mortgages and homes. I can’t selfishly pack up and leave. But my wife and I discussed last night Dana that we are going to leave. I wouldn’t pay a 10% state tax in Florida or Texas. I would save...

While we are not surprised at any outrageous thing liberals say, it is becoming increasingly disturbing how brazen they now are in their un-American pronouncements. This past Friday the Democrat Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, flatly declared that people who hold conservative views on life, guns and homosexuality have no place in New York. He called these views “extreme.” This is the governor of a state in America, not a member of the lunatic fringe Left on MSNBC. Well, he may be a member of the lunatic fringe Left, but he is—sadly—still a governor! The New York Post reported...

"Their problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves," he said. "Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that's who they are and they're the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that's not who New Yorkers are." Cuomo can walk this statement back all he wants, but the fact is, when liberals speak off the cuff and let their guard down -- without the protection that comes from teleprompters and prepared speeches -- they speak their...

“Now I want to tell you something – I was born and raised in New York,” Hannity said. “I want you to know that and I can’t wait to get out of here. I really can’t. I don’t want to pay their 10-percent state tax anymore. I live in the second-highest property taxed county in the entire country in Nassau County. I can’t wait to sell my house to somebody who wants it. I can’t wait to pay no state income tax down in Florida or Texas. I haven’t decided yet, but I’m leaning Florida because I like the water...

Editor’s Note: On Sundays we usually try to focus on spiritual matters, but this column deals with such a direct and serious threat that we thought it urgent to bring it to you today. – Robert Royal    I was born in New York State and have lived here for more than 61 years. During that time I have paid plenty in state and local taxes and have served the public in a number of capacities including two terms as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.I am also a Catholic and a member of...