Free Republic

Both of the festering Andrew Cuomo scandals, the lying about the nursing home deaths and the sexual harassment, stem from the fact that he is a bully with an extra-large ego. An article in Vanity Fair magazine written by Michael Shnayerson, who covered Cuomo as a reporter and wrote a biography of the governor in 2015 called The Contender, validates that diagnosis and his Shnayerson’s bullying claims are backed up by other sources. In the piece, Shnayerson “recounts the governor’s checkered, bullying, spiteful past—and brings to light a hushed allegation of physical abuse.”The article provides twelve truths about Cuomo to...

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will likely approve more than $100 million in permanent housing for low-income residents. At their Tuesday meeting, supervisors will consider approving five housing complexes that would total to 566 new units and house roughly 2,100 people. “This is our ‘all in’ program meaning we’re going to make sure we get our homeless community housed, and those who are also in high need of housing,” Chavez said in front of a potential site in Alum Rock on Monday. The funding will come from a 2016 Measure A housing bond passed by voters authorizing the...

A combined $1.3 million will go toward three developments in Bend that will create more than 400 units of affordable housing. Bend City Council this week approved $1.3 million that will go toward three new affordable housing developments. The projects will create more than 400 units of affordable housing in the coming years. Bend remains among Oregon’s fastest-growing cities, which has contributed to a housing shortage in recent years. The city doesn’t have enough available housing, particularly for low- and middle-income people, nor does it have adequate shelter space and transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness. Continued population growth makes...

Cuomo told HUD's then-Inspector General Susan Gaffney that his top aides saw her as the "embodiment of evil," she told senators. Two decades before being accused of misconduct against women while he was New York governor, a younger Andrew Cuomo was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint from a government official who claimed that Cuomo — serving at the time in Bill Clinton's cabinet — also hounded her with "a series of attacks and dirty tricks." Susan Gaffney filed the 2000 complaint against Cuomo while he was secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and she was...

There are few things more synonymous with the American way of life than the suburbs. While certainly not without problems, the suburbs have been home to middle class Americans since the end of World War 2, and even before. But the suburbs are under attack from certain elements of the left as a source of social inequality and (what else?) “white privilege” and “white supremacy.” If you are alarmed by this article, that’s a good thing. Because these elements of the American left seek nothing more than the total destruction of your way of life, from the people who live...

President Trump will stand with the suburban Americans who are being threatenedThe longer presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Joe Biden stays hidden in his basement, the further away he gets from everyday Americans. Only the left can get to him in his basement, and the result is a steady slide to politically disastrous positions. His most recent attack on the American people was his endorsement (or borrowing) of the Cory Booker-James Clyburn plan to use the federal government to destroy the suburbs by forcing changes imposed by Washington bureaucrats. The plan would seek to diversify American suburbs by withholding...

The Trump administration officially deep-sixed a secretive Obama-era scheme on Friday. That’s more good news for all Americans who appreciate the fundamental right of freedom to associate. As Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson declared, “President Donald Trump and I agree that the best run communities are the ones run locally. Today, we are tearing down the Obama Administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which was an overreach of unelected Washington bureaucrats into local communities.” Carson then hit the nail on the head: “The AFFH rule was a ruse for social engineering under the guise of desegregation, essentially...

Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, spoke to Fox News about what he called a "tremendous accomplishment" of the Trump administration, one that the mainstream media apparently failed to notice. In an interview on "Life Liberty & Levin" that aired Sunday, Kurtz shed light on the "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule," (AFFH) a law added by former President Barack Obama to the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which the conservative scholar said has aimed to expand federal influence over suburbia. On Thursday, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Dr. Ben Carson announced he's stripping...

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he may end one Obama-era housing rule, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH). “At the request of many great Americans who live in the Suburbs, and others, I am studying the AFFH housing regulation that is having a devastating impact on these once thriving Suburban areas. Corrupt Joe Biden wants to make them MUCH WORSE,” he wrote on a Twitter post. “Not fair to homeowners, I may END!” At the request of many great Americans who live in the Suburbs, and others, I am studying the AFFH housing regulation that is having a devastating...

President Trump had a great riff at his rally the other day in Phoenix. It was all about “abolish,” about how the Left wants to abolish the police, ICE, bail, even borders. Trump’s riff is effective because it is true. The Left has gone off the deep end, and they’re taking the Democrats with them. Well, there’s another “abolish” the president can add to his list, and it just might be enough to tip the scales this November. Joe Biden and the Democrats want to abolish America’s suburbs. Biden and his party have embraced yet another dream of the radical...

Former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro said that Congress should pass direct rental assistance to avoid a housing crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic. The CARES Act, signed in late March, included a moratorium on evictions for tenants in units with federally-backed mortgages or other assistance who were unable to pay rent, which only applies to about a fifth of renters. The rest are subject to local eviction moratoria, which have begun to expire. Castro, who served under President Obama, told NBC News that Congress should allocate $100 billion in direct housing assistance. “We should invest $100 billion...

Today, First Lady Melania Trump and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, visited the National Archives of the United States to view the Emancipation Proclamation and the Charters of Freedom.  David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States and Maureen MacDonald, Special Assistant to the Archivist, joined Mrs. Trump and Secretary Carson during the tour and provided details on the significance of the National Archives and its historic records.The First Lady and Secretary Carson began their visit in the Rotunda to view the three founding documents of America that constitute the Charters of Freedom: the Declaration of Independence,...

The lone African American member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet said Monday he would “work” the president on the issue of athletes taking a knee during the national anthem, though Trump has shown no signs of softening, tweeting over the weekend that he would not watch soccer or football if players don't stand for the national anthem. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said he believes that players are kneeling to protest police brutality, not because they disrespect the flag. He added that players need to make that clear.

Subprime Scandal: We've long suspected the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission wasn't honest in examining events before the meltdown. But an ex-commissioner says the probe was actually a full-blown political cover-up. In a just-released book, former FCIC member Peter Wallison says that a Democratic Congress worked with the commission's Democratic chairman to whitewash the government's central role in the mortgage debacle. The conspiracy helped protect some of the Democrats' biggest stars from scrutiny and accountability while helping justify the biggest government takeover of the financial sector since the New Deal. Wallison's sobering, trenchantly written "Hidden in Plain Sight: What Really Caused...

Some of the Democratic candidates for president support studying reparations to blacks to compensate for slavery. But in many ways, America has made reparations to blacks. What are race-based preferences if not a form of compensation for historical wrongs? Many cities have "set-aside" programs that award government contracts to minority contractors. President Lyndon Johnson pushed his Great Society programs to "end poverty and racial injustice." But few think of the federal government's housing policy, particularly the Community Reinvestment Act, or the CRA, as a form of reparations. But that is exactly what it was and still is. In many ways,...

HUD ISSUES IMPROVED FAIR HOUSING RULE WASHINGTON - The U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today published its proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which offers clearer guidance to states and local governments to help them improve affordable housing choices in their community. Read HUD's proposed rule. "HUD's commitment to Fair Housing remains as steadfast as ever before, and this improved rule reaffirms our mission of giving people more affordable housing options in communities across the country," said Secretary Carson. "By fixing the old Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, localities now have the flexibility to devise housing plans that...

The Trump administration took steps Tuesday to roll back an Obama-era rule intended to ensure that communities confront and address racial segregation in housing, saying local governments have been overburdened by the requirements. The proposed Department of Housing and Urban Development rule would redefine fair housing standards to place more emphasis on improving housing choice rather than reducing discrimination. It would reduce regulatory burdens and eliminate the assessment tool used to map racial segregation under the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. According to HUD, simplifying the process for cities to meet fair housing requirements would help them meet their...

Virginia House Del. Ibraheem Samirah introduced a bill that would override local zoning officials to permit multi-family housing in every neighborhood, changing the character of quiet suburbs.Oregon passed a similar bill, following moves by cities such as Minneapolis; Austin, Texas; and Seattle.Proponents say urban lifestyles are better for the environment and that suburbs are bastions of racial segregation. Democrats in Virginia may override local zoning to bring high-density housing, including public housing, to every neighborhood statewide — whether residents want it or not.The measure could quickly transform the suburban lifestyle enjoyed by millions, permitting duplexes to be built on...

How on earth is Maxine Waters able to judge the intelligence of Dr. Ben Carson, a world-renowned surgeon who invented new surgical procedures while a professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, at the very top of prestige and accomplishment in academic medicine? Yet the arrogant House member from Los Angeles, who somehow, on the basis of a political career, manages to live in a multimillion-dollar house in one of the fanciest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, denigrates the intelligence of one of the greatest medical innovators in the country and world. You can watch for yourself as Waters criticizes the intelligence...

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Monday accused Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., of lacking “basic manners” over a letter she sent to President Trump last month saying his “shamelessness knows no bounds," according to a report. Waters’ Oct. 28 letter demanded answers about the administration’s potential plan to push homeless Californians off the street and out of homeless camps, Politico reported. “Shamelessness," Carson wrote, "is a career politician of 30 years laying blame. Shamelessness is allowing more than 55,000 Americans to live on the very streets they represent,” he said about her district in South Los Angeles County....