Free Republic

**SNIP** “If government dependence on welfare is rising in a good economy, what’s going to happen in a bad economy?” wondered study author Stephen Eide, who said the trend was antithetical to data dating back to around 1960. The surprising uptick, reformers say, is partly by design. De Blasio’s pick to head the $10 billion Human Resources Administration, Steven Banks, is a proponent of loosening welfare restrictions. With Banks at the helm, the HRA launched a series of sweeping changes in its state-approved Biennial Employment Plan, including changing requirements for welfare recipients with kids younger than 4 years old. Recipients...

OAKLAND - Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf made a pitch Wednesday morning for the 82 percent of Oakland voters who passed a minimum wage hike in November to support local businesses struggling to adjust to higher costs. "It's time for Oaklanders to put their money where their votes were," Schaaf said at a news conference outside of Farley's East coffee shop on Grand Avenue.

Sen. Kirk: Chicago Could End Up Like Detroit If Mayor Emanuel Not Re-Elected March 2, 2015 Craig Dellimore (CBS) — Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk has given his tacit endorsement of Mayor Rahm Emanuel for re-election, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore. He refused to call it an endorsement, but Senator Mark Kirk made clear he feels Chicago would risk dire financial straits like Detroit has seen if Mayor Emanuel is not re-elected.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will take on Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia in a runoff election on April 7. With 92 percent of precincts reporting, Emanuel had 45 percent, shy of the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff. Garcia had 34 percent of the vote, separating him from the rest of Emanuel’s challengers and putting him in position for the runoff. Trailing Garcia is businessman Willie Wilson in third with 10 percent, Alderman Robert Fioretti in fourth with 7 percent and William “Dock” Walls was in last with 3 percent.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will easily take first place in Tuesday’s municipal election, but polls show he may miss the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a run-off in the race to lead the financially challenged, third-largest U.S. city. Emanuel, 55, a former adviser to President Barack Obama seeking a second term as mayor, has already spent millions of dollars in the non-partisan race against four challengers, and a second round will mean six more weeks of expensive campaigning. Emanuel is close to the mark, getting 48.3 percent of the vote in a recent Ogden & Fry poll. His nearest...

The Muslim mayor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said this week that Europe has no place for extremists who are not willing to live within the bounds of its norms. Speaking to CNN’s Michael Holmes on Wednesday, the mayor, Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb suggested that those Muslims who don’t embrace values should leave Europe. “You are not forced to be with us; it’s a choice,” he said. “Work with us together to construct a ‘we society.’ But if you want to stand out of the ‘we community,’ you threaten us, you go to Yemen to learn how to use a Kalashnikov and...

And some Boston residents have taken the opportunity to engage in potentially deadly stunts - leaping from windows and high decks onto snow piles. Now, Mayor Martin Walsh has publicly scolded those filmed participating in the jumps, saying: 'This isn’t Loon Mountain. This is the city of Boston.'

Just when I thought Democrat elected lawmakers in Washington, DC, the District of Corruption, couldn’t do anything stupider, they surprise me. Celebrating black history month, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced February 4, 2015 that she appointed Rahman Branch to be the city’s first Director of the Mayor's Office on African American Affairs. It’s a full-time paid job, probably in the six figures, to...wait for it) address the needs of the shrinking black community in DC. Never mind, DC is no longer "Chocolate City" where blacks accounted for 70.3 percent of the population in 1980 and today only make up a...

Raw video: Sun Prairie politician bitten during ceremony

College Park may be getting a new mayor soon. Tauheed Epps, well-known as the rapper 2 Chainz, is not only a native of the Georgia city, but he’s expressed his desire to run to be its mayor. “I am looking forward to running at the end of this year or next year,” the “We Own It” rapper told the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Tuesday.

Miami-Dade County’s task force on rising seas wants the county mayor to take the reins on the mounting problem and will propose a suite of resolutions before commissioners on Wednesday to address the issue. The measures will serve as “marching orders” to increase the county’s response to sea rise, County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa said during a meeting with Miami Herald editors last week. She sponsored the legislation carrying out the task force recommendations as one of her last acts as commission chairwoman. The resolutions ask Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to take formal oversight and dedicate staff and resources to shepherd...

NEW YORK – Mayor Bill de Blasio, his administration threatened to be overwhelmed by a rift with rank-and-file New York Police Department officers, on Monday condemned the thousands of cops who turned their backs to him during a pair of funerals for slain police officers. In his first public remarks on the officers' protests, de Blasio said the cops' searing rebuke was hurtful to the families of the two officers killed in an ambush last month and was an offense to the city at large. "Those individuals who took certain actions the last two weeks, they were disrespectful to the...

Bill de Blasio aides asked political allies to publicly slam NYPD officers for turning their backs to the mayor at funeral Bill de Blasio's lobbyists called top political allies and asked them to publicly slam the NYPD unions and cops for turning their backs on the New York mayor at a funeral for a slain officer, it has been revealed. DNA Info quotes two lawmakers who go calls from the de Blasio's aides asking them to speak out against the NYPD for its protest. 'City Hall wanted me to blast the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for turning their backs on him,'...

There’s nothing quite like the fury of a cornered political hack. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave a remarkable press conference on Monday afternoon where he blamed the media for creating the air of paranoia and racial tension currently hanging heavy over the Big Apple. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQAh5MAkO8“What are you guys gonna do? Are you gonna keep dividing us?” de Blasio demanded of reporters, angry at them for daring to report the ugly behavior of certain demonstrators. You can tell from his body language that de Blasio feels the wall pressing hard against his back. He needed a scapegoat, fast,...

**SNIP** Hours after their deaths, police unions and certain conservative allies are taking the slayings as deadly confirmation of what they've believed all along: pro-Garner protesters and Mayor Bill de Blasio are abandoning the NYPD at a time when their public perception is at an unprecedented low. The deaths have turned de Blasio's already-tense relationship with the NYPD into a full-blown crisis, with police unions pointing the finger at the mayor for siding with protesters. Strong words: The Sergeants Benevolent Association, one of several police union groups that has a rocky history with the mayor, blamed de Blasio directly for...

From 1997 to 2004, Republican political strategist John Hancock was the executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. A decade after leaving that full-time role, Hancock is considering a return to the organization. This time, he wants to be chairman. Early last month, Republicans supporting Hancock’s candidacy began informally polling members of the Missouri Republican State Committee about the possibility of a run and even challenging the incumbent chairman, Ed Martin. Their findings were apparently positive, as Hancock has quietly began personally working members of the state committee.

Now this… Ferguson Mayor James Knowles told FOX 2 anchors late on Monday night that he had repeatedly requested the National Guard Monday night… But his requests were ignored. “I know I’ve been on the phone in contact with the County Executive’s Office. I know he has requested. I am requesting. I’ve requested the National Guard troops to come out from their command post to help restore order along the business district. We have not seen that… Those calls have gone unheeded at this point… We need to have the governor step up and give us the resources that he’s...

<p>I was mad at the State. I was mad at the county. I was mad at the city. I was mad at myself. I was mad at each team member. I was mad at Presbyterian.</p> <p>The idiot 'RAT mayor, among those who have accelerated the descent of Dallas to a third world cesspool is right. He's scared and he is MAD, as in insane. What an idiot but so typical of leftists.</p>

The website ontheissues.org notes that: "Since an abortive run for Congress in 1992 while still a City Councilor, Menino has supported legal abortion and the public funding of abortion. In his first campaign for Mayor in 1993, he indicated that he would continue the practice of taxpayer finance abortions at Boston City Hospital." See here. As Mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino marched with homosexuals, promoted same-sex "marriage," and expressed his desire to keep the restaurant chain Chicj-fil-A out of Boston because of its adherence to Biblical values. See here.

Houston announced Wednesday that it will withdraw the subpoenas of sermons from five pastors who publicly opposed an ordinance banning discrimination against gay and transgender residents, The Houston Chronicle reported. "I didn't do this to satisfy them," Mayor Annise Parker said, referring to critics of the subpoenas. "I did it because it was not serving Houston."