Free Republic

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York claimed on MSNBC Monday morning that he was an “immigrant,” despite being born in the United States. Host Stephanie Ruhle asked Cumo if, “New York [is] prepared for those people when the airports open to leave Puerto Rico and move to your state?” in reference to the victims of the recent recent disaster in Puerto Rico. Gov. Cuomo stated, “New York is prepared to do whatever we can do to help. We believe in immigration in New York. We are a state of immigrants. I am an immigrant. I’m wholly against this anti-immigrant fever...

Wonder why New York property taxes are sky-high, particularly in the Long Island and Lower Hudson Valley suburbs around the city? The Empire Center’s latest analysis flags one key reason: the astounding pay doled out to government workers in those areas — especially uniformed services, like police and firefighters. For the second year in a row, the center found, 47 of the top 50 highest-paid local-government workers outside New York City were police officers — with five of the top seven on the Town of Ramapo payroll. The No. 1 earner, Ramapo Police Officer Thomas Donnelly, pulled in $441,968 in...

There's a new complaint against Rochester Judge Leticia Astacio. She is accused of violating the conditions of her probation. The complaint was filed on Friday after her ankle monitoring device reportedly detected alcohol. According to News 10 NBC, Astacio's lawyer blames the reading on body lotion containing alcohol. The apparent violation was on July 14th, one day after Astacio got out of jail. A hearing is set for Wednesday. Judge Astacio recently served jail time. She has been ordered to spend three years on probation and six months with an ankle monitor for violating the conditions of her conditional discharge...

Apparently Chuck Schumer just had a “Come to Jesus” moment with his thinking on Trump and Russia, Russia, Russia. Or else aliens have abducted the real Chuck Schumer. “When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview.

If we ever want to have viable public transportation in New York, it is essential that we get our elected and appointed officials onboard. Not just metaphorically onboard to adequately fund mass transit, but actually onboard the trains and buses that are the lifeblood of the city. Anyone who lives or works here knows the wretched state of New York’s mass transit. In April, there were 74,000 subway delays, up 164% from the average monthly delays in 2012. Talk to a New Yorker and you’ll get a recent subway or commuter rail horror story, or three.

Since May, dozens of illegal immigrants have been arrested and deported from Saratoga Springs, raising concerns about how increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement action could impact the busy horse racing season. At a town hall meeting on Monday, Saratoga Mayor Joanne Yepsen made it clear that the city's police force would not be initiating or participating in ICE deportation efforts. The declaration was met with applause, WTEN-TV reported.

Ryan Mauro and Martin Mawyer at Clarion have an interesting report linked to Islamberg. A long-time associate of a U.S.-based Islamist terrorist organization, Muslims of America (MOA), has been arrested in Johnson City, NY. Authorities discovered that he had a large cache of weapons inside a storage locker. A source inside MOA says the weapons were intended for the group’s “Islamberg” headquarters in Hancock, NY. On May 31, Abdullah was arrested after trying to steal four boxes of ammunition from a local Gander Mountain store. When police questioned him about the purpose of the ammo, his answers made them suspicious,...

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley defended the Trump administration’s plan to drastically cut America’s spending on the UN Tuesday. She told a House subcommittee that the proposed cuts had sent “shockwaves” through the body — and that such cuts had put the UN “on notice.” “My job was to go the UN and find value,” Haley told a House appropriations subcommittee. “We want to make sure the U.S. voice is strong, use it for negotiations in every way possible, to push foreign policy… but at the same time the UN has fat around the edges.” Haley faced tough opposition from...

WE, GENEVA RESIDENTS CONCERNED ABOUT THE POISONED FOUNDRY ZONE, DEMAND: •An apology from the city government to the community •All communications from the city about the foundry zone in both English and Spanish, and an interpreter at council meetings •Signage and fencing on the foundry site alerting people of the contamination there •An immediate public and independent investigation of what the city knew, when they knew it, and why they didn’t tell residents •Private residences must be decontaminated before the foundry site •No new development before our neighbors are cared for •The city must inform every resident in the contamination...

This is what happens when the New York City subway literally feels like hell. Desperate straphangers stuck for nearly an hour in a powerless subway car with no air conditioning tried to break out of an F train at Manhattan's Broadway-Lafayette station Monday evening, video posted to Twitter shows.

What in the name of RuPaul is wrong with the New York City Board of Education? Parents are furious after children as young as 5-years-old were exposed to an erotic drag show performance at what was supposed to be a school district talent show. “My first reaction was what the hell is going on,” parent Raquel Morales told me. The New York Daily News described the lewd performance as “complete with gyrations, tongue gymnastics and a flashed G-string.” The May 25th performance shocked and enraged parents who could not believe the school district would allow a grown man to spread...

Bill Clinton will deliver the commencement address at Hobart and William Smith Colleges next month, the schools announced Wednesday. Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States and founder of the Clinton Foundation, is scheduled to speak at the Geneva colleges on Sunday, May 14. “We are honored to welcome President Clinton back to Hobart and William Smith as the 2017 Commencement speaker,” HWS President Mark Gearan said in a release. “President Clinton’s leadership has transformed millions of lives around the world, from his time as Arkansas attorney general and then governor, to two terms in the White House, and...

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University officials say the college's oldest all-male a capella group has been permanently dismissed from campus for hazing that included requiring new members to put Icy Hot muscle cream on their genitals........

New York is set to make tuition at public colleges and universities free for middle-class students.Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo (KWOH’-moh) proposed the tuition plan, which will cost an estimated $163 million.

City Controller Alan Hevesi took sides yesterday in a City Council primary slugfest, endorsing Pauline Chu in her contest with veteran Flushing incumbent Julia Harrison. Hevesi, of Forest Hills, cited controversial remarks made by Harrison last April, when she was quoted as saying Asian immigrants in Flushing "were more like colonizers" than other groups that had settled in her district. Chu, an Asian-American who lost a primary to Harrison in 1991, is president of Community School Board 25.

City Controller Alan Hevesi yesterday endorsed Assemblywoman Deborah Glick for Manhattan borough president taking sides in a primary that has split the Democratic Party's gay and black constituencies. Hevesi chose Glick, a lesbian, over her leading opponent in the coming Democratic primary, City Councilwoman Virginia Fields of Harlem, who is black. The move came just two days after Hevesi endorsed Brooklyn Assemblyman Roger Green, who is black, in Green's longshot bid to oust Public Advocate Mark Green in the Democratic primary. Critics accused Hevesi, a likely mayoral contender in 2001, of endorsing Roger Green to avoid political problems with black...

Democratic assemblywoman Deborah Glick of the New York State Assembly has introduced legislation that would fine people who do not vote, and has been promptly criticized on the constitutionality of the measure. Glick's legislation proposes a $10 fine for those who fail to vote without providing a "valid excuse," but she does not specify what a valid excuse would be, the New York Daily News reports.

Which are the worst three states for exercising your right to keep and bear arms? There are several contenders for that dubious distinction. The worst states can be found with the answers to a couple of questions. First: Do you have to ask government permission to purchase a firearm? Some states require that you obtain permission before purchasing handguns. A smaller subset require that you obtain permission before purchasing any gun. That infringement is a must have for the worst states.  There are twelve states that have the requirement for all guns.  They are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii,...

A disturbing online video shows a straphanger wedged between subway doors from the neck up as passersby casually walk past her on the platform. The woman found herself caught in between the doors of a No. 4 train at around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday as the train reached the end of the line at the Woodlawn station in the Bronx, transit sources said. Apparently realizing too late that the train was at its last stop and had already emptied out, the woman rushed for the doors and became trapped, sources said. The woman, who was standing inside the train car, can...

ALBANY — New York edged closer to its first-ever government shutdown Sunday as lawmakers struggled — once again — to reach agreement on a new spending plan. With the state entering its second day without a budget in place, legislative leaders said negotiations with Gov. Cuomo made progress but final agreements were elusive. As it has been all week, a proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York from 16 to 18 remained the critical stumbling block.