Free Republic

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Thursday he will sign an executive order to create the Office of Community Safety (OCS), a step toward his vision of public safety that prioritizes support and prevention rather than policing and penalization. The office, housed within the mayor’s office, will oversee multiple existing public safety programs and signify a major step in building out Mamdani's $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety. The announcement comes after Mamdani pledged to revise the city's police response in non-criminal emergencies, including mental health crises.

A teen thug allegedly admitted to police that he knew he “was guilty” of slashing a Queens mom of three on her way to work after cops showed him a surveillance video of the vicious attack, according to prosecutors. Luis Emmanuel Valencia Ponce, 18, allegedly aired the stunning admission of guilt to detectives after police showed him footage of Lisette Ramales being stabbed at an East Elmhurst bus stop on Monday morning, Assistant District Attorney Isabelle Dudek told the courtroom during his arraignment at Queens Criminal Court late Thursday. “If I’m being honest with you, I don’t remember running towards...

Yes, I am going to say it-Zohran Mamdani’s wife, the First Lady of New York City, Rama Duwaji is a Jew-hating, terrorist lover. “Sure, Lisa”, you say. “Tell us something we did not yet know”. Rama, 28 year-old wife of Mayor Zohran Mamdani who is already under fire for social media posts calling Hamas’ mass raping of Israeli women a “hoax“. Side bar: does she really live with him at Gracie Mansion? Zohran was spotted at the gay bars on Halloween. Word on the street was that he was, uh, “campaigning“… The mayor said his wife’s views should not be...

New York City has more than tripled spending on unsheltered homelessness since 2019, shelling out nearly $368 million even as the number of people living on the streets continued to rise, according to a state comptroller’s report. The city’s own numbers show the unsheltered population grew from 3,588 in fiscal year 2019 to 4,504 in fiscal year 2025, a 26% increase from pre-pandemic levels. Over that same period, spending on services for the unsheltered jumped 262%, from $102 million to nearly $368 million. That works out to roughly $81,700 per unsheltered person in FY 2025 — slightly more than the...

An immigration judge has ordered the deportation of a former New York City Council employee federal officials said in January was an undocumented immigrant with a prior assault arrest. City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced the deportation ruling on Wednesday, condemning it as a "miscarriage of justice and wholly deplorable" and pledging to fight back by filing an appeal. Two months ago, Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, 53, was detained during an immigration appointment and was identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a Venezuelan "criminal illegal alien" who overstayed his visa. Federal officials said despite having no work...

Six progressive, anti-Israel candidates running for Congress in Illinois, all of whom AIPAC reportedly sees as potential members of the “Squad,” lost their primaries in the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th Districts on Tuesday. Most drew endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America, members of the “Squad” in Congress or a combination of the two. Marc Rod, of Jewish Insider, wrote on March 16, the day before the primaries, that “a source close to AIPAC says the group’s main goal in Chicago is stopping who it sees as six potential Squad members: Robert Peters, Kina Collins, Junaid Ahmed, Yasmeen Bankole,...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, celebrated Palestinian terrorists in a flurry of resurfaced social media posts she made as a teenager and in her early 20s, a shocking new report said.

A New York City Council bill under consideration wants to limit the number of items at self-checkout in an effort to combat retail theft.Pharmacies and grocery stores across the five boroughs would be required to limit the number of items customers can bring to the self-checkout line to 15. Stores must also staff at least one employee nearby for every three kiosks, according to the proposal.

Kathy Hochul has a big problem: she and Mamdani have big spending plans, but the tax base of New York is eroding because high-net-worth individuals are leaving the state for greener pastures. Her solution? Ask them to come back. Be patriotic. Take one for the team. No, really. This is how well Democrats understand economics. With the war raging in the Persian Gulf, it's easy to let a host of other stories fall to the wayside. But there are plenty of them still out there that deserve attention. I have a bunch of stuff about crime, immigration, elections (did you...

Labor leaders, elected officials and community advocates gathered on the steps of City Hall on March 10 to launch the “$30 for Our City” campaign, backing legislation that would gradually raise New York City’s minimum wage to $30 an hour. The bill, introduced by Sandy Nurse, would nearly double the city’s current $17 hourly minimum and phase in the increase over several years, reaching $30 by 2030 for large employers. Supporters say the proposal is a response to the city’s worsening affordability crisis, arguing that wages have failed to keep pace with the cost of living. “Costs are up and...

Someone should do a wellness check on The New York Times. Looks like its journos read the portents wrong — AGAIN — on another one of its apocalyptic prognostications on the economic consequences of President Donald Trump taking out the Islamist regime in Iran. Times business reporter Emmett Lindner nonsensically tried to dig up the corpse of the 1970s oil price shock following the Yom Kippur War as a comparative case study to what is transpiring around the Persian Gulf as Israel and the U.S. decimate Iran’s war machine. “Echoes of the ’70s in What’s Now the Largest Oil Shock...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the SAVE America Act “one of the most despicable pieces of legislation” he has seen ahead of the bill being brought to the floor for a vote this week. Speaking to reporters on a Sunday phone call, Schumer claimed that President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are attempting to “disenfranchise millions of Americans and undermine democracy by pushing this despicable SAVE Act,” also called the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act. He also called the election integrity bill “one of the most despicable pieces of legislation I’ve come across in the many years I’ve...

As was predicted by many, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to ridiculous policy. But the Democrat-majority New York City Council is not much better. Their latest push is to address shoplifting in the city. Most New Yorkers are likely on board with that endeavor, but the solution they have come up with is more typical Democrat failure to connect the dots. The focus is on self-checkout lanes. Designed for the convenience of law-abiding citizens, but apparently a dream come true for shoplifters in the Big Apple. On Tuesday, Councilwoman...

New York City's charismatic new socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has a ruthless and tyrannical streak behind closed doors, progressives who have crossed him say. The 34-year-old skyrocketed to popularity among New Yorkers and Americans alike during his mayoral campaign as his team positioned him as a man of the people. Known for his smiling and seemingly unflappable attitude, Mamdani attacked both Donald Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat whom he deemed too centrist. But sources inside Mamdani's political circle have now alleged that the mayor wields his power for personal gain and has no qualms sidelining...

A graffiti message reading “Kill a Jew, go to heaven” was found over the weekend on a bike trail in New York City’s Riverside Park. The sprayed sentence was discovered on a large stone along the trail between 97th Street and 105th Street, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a major hub of the Jewish community. The Combat Antisemitism Movement, a global coalition of pro-Jewish groups, tweeted that it was “a direct public call for violence against Jews.” The nonprofit added, “Last month alone, 28 antisemitic incidents were reported in New York.” U.S.-based organization StopAntisemitism also responded to...

WASHINGTON — President Trump will sign an executive order Monday afternoon formally creating a benefits fraud task force chaired by Vice President JD Vance — the president’s designee to lead a nationwide “war on fraud.” Vance will join Trump in the Oval Office for the signing, underscoring the president’s continued emphasis on the project after highlighting a social-services scam scandal in Minnesota that has led to dozens of indictments, including for phony nutrition and autism care programs. A document describing the looming order says “there is strong reason to believe similar vulnerabilities exist in California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and...

Yesterday I had some figures from the NYC vs LA deathmatch over who can spend more on the homeless population. Los Angeles was looking pretty good with $650,000 per housing unit for the homeless, but don’t count NYC out yet. These numbers come from the NY comptroller’s annual report via Mike Bird of the Economist. New York City’s unsheltered population increased from 3,588 in FY 2019 to 4,504 in FY 2025 — a 26 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels In that time, spending on services for this population has more than tripled, growing from $102 million in FY 2019...

In New York’s large suite of self-destructive public policies, it’s hard to choose which one is the very worst. But an excellent candidate is the regime for regulation of residential rents, mostly going by the name of Rent Stabilization. Because of rent regulation, New York’s rental housing stock is older, more outdated, and less well-maintained than the housing of any other American city. If you got yourself into one of the regulated apartments a few decades ago, you likely enjoy a significant bargain on your monthly rent versus comparable space, to go along with your 30- or 40-year old kitchen...

The latest poll of registered voters from NBC News found that President Trump was viewed less unfavorably than the two leading Democrats contenders for the 2028 presidential nomination. Trump's percentages were 41% positive to 53% negative for a net -12%. Gov. California Gavin Newsom's were 27% positive to 45% negative for a net -18%. Former Vice-President Kamala Harris' were 34% positive to 51% negative for a net of -17%. Comparisons for the Republican and Democrat Parties were similar. Voters rated Republicans as 37% positive to 51% negative for a net -14%. Democrats were rated 30% positive to 52% negative for...

Messages sent to an A-I chatbot were at the center of a preliminary hearing for a former NFL player charged with first-degree murder. Investigators say dozens of messages between Darron Lee and ChatGPT were presented in court as prosecutors outlined their case surrounding the death of Lee’s girlfriend, Gabriella Perpetuo, who was found dead inside their Ooltewah home. Hamilton County Sheriff’s Detective Brian Lockhart testified that Lee contacted the chatbot just a day before Perpetuo’s death, describing a disturbing situation.