Free Republic

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- For the second time this year, a gun rights group has won an open records lawsuit against New York State. SCOPE, or Shooters Committee On Political Education, most recently sued Governor Andrew Cuomo after his office failed to turn over documents related to a gun rights rally that took place in front of the state capitol in April 2014. The rally was attended by an estimated 3,000 people, including Buffalo developer and former gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino as well as current presidential candidate Donald Trump. Those at the rally claim State Police confiscated replica guns and other...

Mayor de Blasio’s patronage mill is churning out junk jobs funded with taxpayer money for longtime pals, campaign grunts and acolytes. In addition to creating a $150,000 post for Stephanie Yazgi — the longtime girlfriend of his top strategist, Emma Wolfe — de Blasio has created positions to amp up his progressive agenda and national profile and spread propaganda touting his “transcendent” accomplishments. The city’s television station — led by de Blasio buddy Janet Choi — devotes much of its taxpayer-funded $5.7 million budget to broadcasting his ribbon-cuttings, announcements and features about his friends, including his wedding singer. His $105,000...

Rev. Al Sharpton will push America’s black churches to lobby in favor of the Iran nuclear deal, a new report says. Sharpton is launching his push backing President Obama’s pact with Tehran this weekend, according to The Huffington Post. “I am calling on ministers in black churches nationwide to go to their pulpits Sunday and have their parishioners call their senators and congressmen to vote yes on the Iran nuclear plan,” he said Friday. “We have a disproportionate interest, being that if there is a war, our community is always disproportionately part of the armed services, and that a lot...

I have read numerous comments online and in the press about how Obama, New York Mayor Bill Deblasio and race baiter Al Sharpton are to blame for the protests and the shooting of two NYPD officers. We are told that the shooter was empowered by what had happened to “gentle giant” Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York City. A few facts first: 1. Bassem al-Masri, a Palestinian terrorist who had been to the White House as an advisor, has taken control of the local mobs. 2. In New York, the protests-those that have been violent-have been...

I have read numerous comments online and in the press about how Obama, New York Mayor Bill Deblasio and race baiter Al Sharpton are to blame for the protests and the shooting of two NYPD officers. We are told that the shooter was empowered by what had happened to “gentle giant” Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York City. A few facts first: 1. Bassem al-Masri, a Palestinian terrorist who had been to the White House as an advisor, has taken control of the local mobs. 2. In New York, the protests-those that have been violent-have been...

There is a haunting familiarity to the arguments defending Planned Parenthood’s sale of body parts from aborted babies for medical research: an echo of another era of medical innovation amid moral ambiguity. Then, as now, the response of cultural leaders — especially religious leaders — is a story about the corruption, and potential renewal, of Western civilization. Today we’re told there is no other way to achieve the research results we desire, because fetal tissue is a “uniquely rich source” of stem cells, which provide invaluable clues to human development. Second, we’re led to believe that research on aborted babies...

New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio has come under fire after he was accused of giving an unadvertised job to his aide’s girlfriend with a reported salary of $150,000 a year. Appointed as ‘campaign director’ for de Blasio’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in May, Stephanie Yazgi’s salary will initially be paid for by the taxpayers until it is covered by a delayed private grant. The 38-year-old is the partner of one of the mayor’s most trusted aides, Emma Wolfe. The startling findings were revealed by the New York Post, who were told by one Democrat insider that it was...

Forget the Twitter blog for emoji responses to how millennials feel about student debt. As the New York Daily News’ Alejandro Alba notes, the condescending approach didn’t generate much respect from Hillary Clinton’s target audience. The beleagured Democrat tried to shift attention to policy from the e-mail scandal, focusing on her $350 billion proposal to overhaul higher-education finances, which is in a shambles largely due to federal government intervention in the first place.Mission not accomplished: While some users thought the question was “relatable,” others believed the question was offensive and condescending.Many users began to reply to the tweet with...

The Guardian Angels are back — and their leader says it’s because Mayor Bill de Blasio can’t keep New York City safe. Curtis Sliwa, 61, radio personality and founder of the unarmed anti-crime patrol, joined five of his Angels in their first sortie into Central Park in more than two decades Sunday night. “If the mayor won’t let the cops do their job, then we, the citizens, will have to go back to guarding our parks, streets and subways,” Sliwa said. Modal Trigger The Guardian Angels patrol next to the Central Park reservoir.Photo: Robert Mecea The Guardian Angels, who wear...

Mayor de Blasio was booed at Sunday’s Dominican Day Parade by people angry he slammed the country’s government for wanting to expel ethnic Haitians. “He talks too much,” said heckler Francisco Bens, 53, of Brooklyn, who greeted de Blasio with scattered boos along the Sixth Ave. parade route. “He doesn’t like the Dominican Republic. ... He says Dominicans don’t like black people. That’s not true.” De Blasio hosted a press conference in June to condemn the looming deportations of thousands of people of Haitian descent from the Dominican Republic. “It is clearly an illegal act. It is an immoral act....

RUSH: A new Fox poll out yesterday, last night shows Donald Trump is just soaring. Trump is gaining ground on everybody in the GOP field and over Hillary. It's a Fox News poll, NBC poll, and in both of these polls, Hillary, the bottom is starting to fall out identically, exactly as it started to happen in 2008. And that's why the Democrats are starting to push out these stories about what a great guy Biden is and those gaffes that he makes, why, they just make him more lovable. That's old Joe. Telling the guy in a wheelchair to...

"... advice that Sharpton thinks Donald Trump could use now." James Brown said to me, “Reverend, let me tell you something…. There’s a difference between the lounge act and the acts that play the main room.” We’re at Caesar’s Palace. I’m about 19 - 20 years old. And I said, “What do you mean?” You’ve got to be ready. You gotta have choreography. You gotta be rehearsed. You gotta have polish, Sharpton said Brown told him. “[But] when you get on the main stage, Reverend, whatever you did to get out [of] the lounge, don’t do that on the main...

Former SC Democratic party chair Dick Harpootlian told MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki Sunday Vice President Joe Biden’s consideration of a presidential run actually gives Democrats the best chance of retaining the White House in 2016. Harpootlian said Hillary Clinton’s track record will cause her and the Democrats to “die a death of a thousand cuts,” yet Biden is “an inspirational figure” that voters can rally around. HARPOOTLIAN: I think Hillary comes into the race, as she did in ’08 with all kinds of baggage… There’s going to be distractions, we saw just this week with the Wall Street Journal about payments...

It was so hot Wednesday that City Hall issued a 24-hour heat advisory warning people to stay indoors — but officials also cautioned against blasting the A/C. New Yorkers should keep their air conditioners at 78 degrees to help reduce the risk of blackouts, Mayor de Blasio said. “If the air conditioning is set at 78 degrees, people are safe and they will be able to deal with the hot temperatures,” he said. A 75-degree setting uses 18% more electricity, and a 72-degree setting uses 39% more, he said. The city’s fragile power grid was already showing signs of strain...

Pinstriped sage Yogi Berra has been credited with the observation that “you can learn a lot by watching.” Alas, such wisdom is wasted on Mayor Putz. Asked why he wasn’t at the unveiling of the glitzy plan for LaGuardia Airport with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Vice President Joe Biden and other officials, the mayor offered a revealing response: He only goes to events where he’s invited to speak. OK, we get it. De Blasio’s war with Cuomo continues, and because the gov wouldn’t let him near the microphone, the mayor boycotted the event rather than fume in silence. I think we...

RUSH: Craig in Scarsdale, New York. Great to have you on the program. Hello, sir. CALLER: Thank you very much, Rush. I can't believe all these reporters out there who are just dumping on Trump. It's unbelievable. They gotta go back 30 years to find something that can actually stick to this guy. RUSH: No, no. They have to go back 30 years to make up something. CALLER: I'm sorry? RUSH: They had to go back 30 years to make up something. CALLER: To make up something. And not just that. Why don't we go back 30 years and look...

Out of Twitter’s 2,910 U.S. employees, only 49 (1.7 percent) are black, and that fact has black activists led by Rev. Jesse Jackson racing to condemn the company. Jackson, who has been pressuring tech companies for years to hire more blacks, told The Guardian black Americans are “becoming intolerant” of Twitter’s slow growth in diversity.

Attendees of the Convening's opening ceremony raise their fists as a symbol of power during an organizer's speech.Activists from across the nation converged in Cleveland this weekend for a conference meant to draw national attention to police brutality and race relations in the wake of a number of incidents involving police and black Americans. The National Convening of the Movement for Black Lives began Friday at Cleveland State University where activists will attend sessions that range from viewing films to open discussions on topics that highlight issues that affect all aspects of black culture. The conference is happening amid an...

Mayor de Blasio is a big fan of presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders — because the Vermont senator is a proud “Democratic socialist.” [Snip] De Blasio was quick to correct CNN’s Carol Costello after she called Sanders a “socialist,” telling her the senator is a “Democratic socialist.” “I think there’s a lot to like in that title,” he gushed.

Governor’s races in South and Midwest could be lost if party brand becomes too liberal. Centrist Democrats were wiped out in the 2014 elections and in their absence emerged a resurgent liberal movement, embodied most recently by the surprisingly competitive presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. But the suddenly ascendant left — its populist overtones becoming part of the mainstream Democratic pitch — is worrying Democrats who want to compete on Republican-leaning turf. The party lost every competitive gubernatorial and Senate race in the South last year. And Democrats didn’t fare much better in the heartland. Now, as Bernie...