Free Republic

This prose piece was published by Henry Livingston in the New-York Magazine in February, 1792. It describes the world as seen from the point of view of a pine tree first emerging from its cone. Narrated by Byron Nilsson and illustrated.

Fare-beating has long been a problem for the MTA, but transit officials say it has grown worse, and is one reason fares have to go up in March. They say fare-beating increased after the Manhattan District Attorney last year stopped prosecuting most cases, a response to concerns that black and Latino violators were being disproportionally singled out. The NYPD also has eased enforcement, issuing civil summonses to the majority of turnstile jumpers instead of arresting them, focusing instead on more serious crimes. NYPD numbers show more than 10,000 fewer arrests for fare-beating since January, compared to the same period last...

Open borders tour guides in Mexico illegally shepherding 1,500 Central Americans to the United States border declared victory this week. Mexican officials reportedly are offering humanitarian visas to avert a showdown. But the parade of immigration lawlessness marches on -- with reckless aiding and abetting by churches across the U.S. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the group in charge of the annual "migrant caravan," launched its effort during Holy Week by invoking the Stations of the Cross with biblical costumery and prop crosses. When they're not serving as human traffickers masquerading as human rights activists, these travel agents for amnesty busy themselves...

Important note: this terror plot to murder thousands of American holiday shoppers was planned  by essentially the same Stalinist terror-sponsors who rule Cuba today and who receive an estimated $4 billion annually from the U.S.-- thanks mostly to Obama’s executive orders that loopholed the “Cuban embargo” half to death. For his transition team, President-elect Trump has just appointed a former Treasury Dept. official who probably ranks as the most knowledgeable American on how horribly the letter of U.S. law [the Cuban embargo] has been violated by Obama in his “opening” to the terror-sponsoring Castro regime. Consequently, nobody is better...

Full title: Harvey Weinstein's Lawyer Gave $10,000 To Manhattan DA After He Declined To File Sexual Assault Charges Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer delivered $10,000 to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. in 2015, in the months after Vance’s office decided not to prosecute Weinstein over sexual assault allegations, according to an International Business Times review of campaign finance documents. That contribution from attorney David Boies — who previously headlined a fundraiser for Vance — was a fraction of the more than $182,000 that Boies, his son and his law partners have delivered to the Democrat during his political career....

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June ordered state Attorney General Barbara Underwood to pause her investigation into Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s handling of the Harvey Weinstein case, a spokeswoman for Underwood confirmed Tuesday.

As a native Illinoisan, I can appreciate the wildly corrupt nature of this story. New York Governor Mario Cuomo received a $25,000 donation from the law firm representing Harvey Weinstein just six days before he called off an investigation into the movie mogul's behavior. The explanation from the law firm for the donation could have been lifted from a Chicago alderman's playbook. Page Six: “Neither Mr. Boies, nor anyone from his firm, ever discussed Harvey Weinstein or Mr. Vance with Mr. Cuomo, or anyone from his office, at any time,” the spokesperson told online political publication Capital and Main. “Mr....

A young Manhattan man allegedly stole $1million from a Silicon Valley executive by hacking into his phone and stealing his cryptocurrency. Nicholas Truglia, 27, faces 21 felony counts after he allegedly went on a hacking spree that targeted six victims. Authorities said Truglia successfully hacked into six victims' phones, but was only able to steal money from Robert Ross.

Hillary Clinton will run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, according to a former adviser and a top Democrat in New York. Mark Penn, a pollster and senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from 1995-2008, and Andrew Stein, a former Manhattan Democratic party figure and New York City Council president, wrote Sunday in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee would not let "two stunning defeats stand in the way of her claim to the White House." "Mrs. Clinton has come unbound. She will not allow this...

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an openly gay supporter of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, called Cynthia Nixon an “unqualified lesbian” a day after the actress announced she’s going to challenge the governor in a primary. In an interview with The Post, Quinn also denounced Nixon for endorsing Bill de Blasio over her in the 2013 Democratic primary for mayor. “I’m surprised by this race. It’s a flight of fancy on her part,” Quinn said of Nixon’s announcement Monday that she would take on Cuomo in September’s Democratic primary. “Cynthia Nixon was opposed to having a qualified lesbian become mayor of...

Ana Navarro is a bitter, pro-amnesty Bush hack who can’t handle the fact that Donald Trump not only won the presidency, but completely destroyed the Bush dynasty and any future in politics for Bush and their lackeys. Christine Quinn is a butch liberal New Yorker who ran for Mayor of NYC and failed to Communist Bill de Blasio. Both Ana Navarro and Christine Quinn were reduced to screamer at Kayleigh McEnany and Jeffrey Lord.

And people have been worrying whether the Trump administration would conduct itself in a mature manner? . . . On CNN this morning, Christine Quinn—former NYC Council Speaker and a Hillary surrogate—used childish antics in an attempt to silence conservative radio talk show host Ben Ferguson on the subject of sanctuary cities. At one point [1:46 in video], Quinn raised her hand and angrily yelled “ah, ba-ba-ba-ba!” to shut Ferguson down. It was the most churlish display by a political pundit this Insurrectionist can remember. Ferguson took it all in stride, smiling wryly through Quinn’s antics. View the video here.

During a heated CNN interview on Wednesday night, Donald Trump surrogate Kayleigh McEnany questioned the appearance of Omar Mateen's father at a Hillary Clinton rally earlier this week. When McEnany questioned liberal Christine Quinn on the incident, Quinn screamed “Wait a minute, no!… You can’t ask me a question!” “‘Because you can’t answer the question,” McEnay said. Quinn shouted back, “Oh! You can’t ask me a question, honey, I can’t answer!” McEnany complied with Quinn's demands. "What attracted the father of the Orlando terrorist to your candidate?" she asked. "He's a mentally ill individual!" Quinn said. McEnany then concluded that...

As recently as 1998, New York State’s Republican party controlled the governorship, a United States Senate seat, and the mayor’s office in Manhattan. Today, it is greatly diminished, with its sole beachhead of influence in the state senate, where it shares a majority with four independent Democrats. In contrast, the Working Families party (WFP), a 15-year-old left-wing, union-fueled group with just 20,000 members, now holds the whip hand over much of the dominant Democratic party in New York — and is already spreading its wings to other states. The WFP not only was a major force behind Bill de Blasio’s...

If the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) stuck to its stated mission statement and only did civil rights work protecting Muslim Americans from discrimination and bigotry, you likely would never see it mentioned on this site.But CAIR has a second, perhaps more paramount objective that it never directly acknowledges: To oppose Israel and promote Palestinian nationalism.CAIR’s mission statement makes no mention of Palestine. Instead, it says it aims to “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.” It describes its lobbying arm as focusing “on issues related to Islam and Muslims. The department monitors legislation and government activities and responds...

CNN goes into typical leftist “downplay” mode. On Friday, just days after 11 people were murdered in a Pittsburgh synagogue, New York City , for vandalizing a New York synagogue with anti-Semitic messages. “Die Jew rats we are here,” read one message, along with “Jews better be ready,” and “Hitler.” The next day, CNN failed to report that Polite, 26, was a Democrat activist who had worked on the Obama campaign in 2008.  CNN described him as a “Brooklyn man” arrested and charged with a hate crime for the anti-Semitic messages and “criminal mischief and making graffiti.” Other reports found...

A 26-year-old man charged with vandalizing a historic New York City synagogue on Friday, just days after the Pittsburgh massacre, has been identified as a former campaign worker for Barack Obama who was profiled by the New York Times in 2017. The Times described James Polite as a young man who “spent much of his childhood in foster care,” and performed canvassing work for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. After a chance meeting, he got a job that year as an intern for Christine Quinn, a former speaker of New York City’s city council who was also a former mayoral candidate....

James Polite, the 26-year-old man who was arrested Friday for allegedly vandalizing a synagogue in Brooklyn Thursday, is a Democratic activist who once worked for New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and also volunteered for Barack Obama. The New York Times reported Saturday:Mr. Polite was arrested on Friday and charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime for writing “Die Jew Rats,” “Hitler,” “End It Now” and “Jew Better Be Ready” in marker on walls of the Union Temple of Brooklyn.The police said surveillance video captured Mr. Polite, of Brooklyn, inside the synagogue.He was taken into custody on Friday...

This is exactly the phenomenon that I had described after the Pittsburgh shootings in, "If the Synagogue Shooter Were Muslim, the Media Would Be Defending Him." In 2006, Naveed Afzal Haq used a teenage girl as a hostage to force his way into the Seattle Jewish Federation where he shot 6 women. The Muslim attacker shouted, “You Jews” at the non-Jewish marketing director and shot her in the stomach. The bookkeeper went into cardiac arrest, died at the scene, was revived and died again on the operating table and still lived to testify at Haq's trial. "I want these Jews...

When President Trump was asked for comment regarding the arrest of Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin for assault charges on Friday, he responded with just four simple words. Baldwin, who dresses up and mocks Trump on Saturday Night Live, was arrested and charged for attacking a man over a parking space in the West Village area of Manhattan. Liberal 60-year-old Baldwin has a history of arrests related to his anger management issues.