Free Republic

Michael Bloomberg and his battle against bulging waistlines are targeting new villains: sweet tea, energy drinks and fruit juices. New York City’s health department launched a series of TV and bus ads on Monday that warn people about the high sugar content in drinks that are seemingly healthy. The ads cost about $1.4 million and are part of a “pouring on the pounds” campaign that dates back to 2009, The Daily Mail reports. One of the television ads shows a young boy happily slurping on a juice box. The scene takes a dramatic turn when it flashes to what appears...

Senate President John Morse isn’t hiding his budding bromance with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg anymore ... Morse openly declares his fervent hope that Bloomberg rides to the rescue with some more cold hard cash for his recall defense campaign. He’ll need it after recall organizers turned in over 16,000 signatures, compared to the only 13,866 votes Morse received in his last election in 2010. Any Bloomberg bucks would be in addition to the at least $20,000 Morse’s recall defense campaign has already taken from Bloomberg-backed America Votes.

In 35 years as Manhattan DA, Robert Morgenthau has gotten along with every mayor of New York -- except the current one. Mike Bloomberg, says Morgenthau, "doesn't want anybody around who doesn't kiss his ring, or other parts of his body." In a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal, the 90-year-old, who leaves office Thursday, addresses everything from his feud with the mayor to the international crimefighting role his office has played during his tenure. As usual, he pulls no punches: On enforcing economic sanctions against Iran and its business partners: "The president is smoking pot or something if...

NJNR: What are your thoughts on the Minnesota Independence party backing Mayor Bloomberg for president in 2012? JV: He's a bright man. He's done an outstanding job here in N.Y. to the best of my knowledge. I mean New Yorkers would know better than me. Whenever I come here it seems he's done a great job with the city. If he runs as a true independent he gets my full support because I don't vote for Democrats or Republicans. I refuse to vote for them and I encourage everyone else in this country to do the same. The problem with...

Old Man Bloomberg ignored the opinions of medical professionals and various other data today on his weekly radio address to deem any non-recreational use of the nation's favorite herb fake. "Yeah, right, medical, come on," he said. "There's no medical. This is one of the great hoaxes of all time." While the mayor famously said, "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it," when asked if he'd ever smoked weed, he insisted, "I don't have any personal experience in terms of today," before reverting to his recycled talking points like, "marijuana is much stronger today than it was 20 or...

New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs has given notice to 17 restaurants that offer sidewalk cafe dining: Stop the outdoor service. “Please be advised you have 100 business days from, and including May 1, to complete one of the following options,” the agency, which operates under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, said in a statement, reported by The New York Post. Option No. 1: Provide the city with a “certified land survey” to prove the cafe business is conducted on private property. Option No. 2: Filing for an exemption of zoning law. Or Option No. 3: Surrender the business permit...

The list of keynote commencement speakers at Ivy League institutions for 2013 does not include a single conservative, a recent study authored by the conservative Young America’s Foundation (YAF) found. Instead seven of the elite schools opted to invite ideological liberal speakers such as media billionaire Oprah Winfrey, Vice President Joe Biden (D), Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), among others. Only Brown University, which chooses a commencement keynote from among its students, did not have a 2013 speaker who is generally associated with the left. YAF spokesman Adam Tragone told Campus Reform on Tuesday the list...

New York City is going green — with ganja. Pot arrests and seizures are plummeting as low-level offenders duck jail and cops ease off dealers, who are racking up record profits, police sources say. Gov. Cuomo vowed in January to wipe out the lowest marijuana charge — fifth-degree criminal possession — for those caught lighting up in public or flashing their stash. The crime, which currently calls for an arrest if the pot is in public view or weighs more than 25 grams, accounted for 149,951 of 155,048 marijuana busts in New York City since 2010 — 99.2 percent of...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was denied a second slice of pizza today at an Italian eatery in Brooklyn. The owners of Collegno's Pizzeria say they refused to serve him more than one piece to protest Bloomberg's proposed soda ban,which would limit the portions of soda sold in the city.....

For the record, I tend to think that a cigarette ban for minors may be appropriate. While I oppose prohibition for adults, I think it makes sense to say that adults shouldn’t be permitted to entice children into certain unhealthy choices. Of course, if such a prohibition is put in place, it needs to be justified by banning a substance that is clearly dangerous, not just “unhealthy” by some statistic that we know doesn’t apply to all people. If the evidence qualifies tobacco as such a substance, then I can see restricting it from children.But recent news about a new...

(CNSNews.com) – If you sell a gun to your son, “there’s something wrong with your family," says New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In a radio appearance on Friday, Bloomberg, a gun control activist and co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, praised the legislation that is now moving forward in the Senate. The bill would require universal background checks for most sales of firearms, including those online and at gun shows. “The only thing it would not cover is if you sold a gun to your son, for example,” Bloomberg told radio host John Gambling. “Number one, I don't know...

Granted, the actor did get into some trouble recently when he wondered aloud if gay marriage would “debase” marital law, allowing men to marry their sons to avoid estate taxes. And less recently he said, ”If a man puts his hand on a woman’s bottom, any woman worth her salt can deal with it. It’s communication.” (Perhaps that’s how it works for Jeremy Irons. I remain skeptical.) Whatever the case, his position on paternalistic do-gooders in this HuffPo Live interview, is right on.

On HuffPost Live today, actor Jeremy Irons (Reversal Of Fortune, Die Hard With A Vengeance) blasted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg over the proposed restrictions on soda, along with the smoking ban, describing himself as a "complete libertarian" and likening Bloomberg's policies to a "nanny state." JEREMY IRONS: I'm a complete libertarian. I think it's very, very dangerous. I really mean that. I think the smoking ban is a tip of an iceberg of society -- the leaders of society telling us how to be. I think it's not their business. I think it is their business to tell...

The Los Angeles Times is up for sale, and there are super-wealthy conservative bidders. Get the popcorn out and watch the liberals squeal. The hilarious kickoff came when two leftist collectives -- the Daily Kos website and the California-based Courage Campaign Institute -- set out to buy an ad in the LA Times to protest the Koch brothers pondering a bid. I kid you not, the ad began: "WE NEED NEWS, NOT MORE SPIN." This would assume that today's Los Angeles Times -- which just endorsed Obama's re-election -- is an oasis of objectivity in a desert of media bias....

So, all of a sudden the left in America is concerned with anti-Semitism. That’s a riot. Is this the same left that constantly sides with the Muslim Brotherhood and goes out of their way to support Islam? That left? It just goes to show, when pundits on the left want to accomplish something — there is no end to the lengths they will go. I’m speaking, in this case, of gun control and the fascist mayor Michael Bloomberg’s one-man crusade for their confiscation. And don’t think for a moment that it’s not his endgame. As with everything Bloomberg involves himself...

New York City is asking appeals judges to reinstate a ban on supersized sodas and other sugary drinks, which was struck down by a Manhattan judge the day before it was to go into effect. The city had vowed an appeal and said Thursday that lawyers had filed it late Monday. In his decision on March 11, State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling said the 16-ounce limit on sodas and other sweet drinks arbitrarily applies to only some sugary beverages and some places that sell them.

Mayor Bloomberg admits soon NYPD surveillance cameras will be on nearly every corner and in the air. 'You wait, in five years, the technology is getting better, they'll be cameras everyplace . . . whether you like it or not,' Bloomberg said Friday. 'The argument against using automation is just this craziness that 'Oh, it's Big Brother.' Get used to it!' Big Brother is watching. Now get used to it! Envisioning a future where privacy is a thing of the past, Mayor Bloomberg said Friday it will soon be impossible to escape the watchful eyes of surveillance cameras and even...

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre on Sunday challenged New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to spend $12 million on ads meant to pressure senators into backing strict new gun control measures, saying Bloomberg "can't buy America." Bloomberg confirmed Sunday that he plans to spend $12 million to run ads in at least 10 states, suggesting there could be a political price to pay for opposing the measures. Making clear he intends to be a counterweight to the NRA, Bloomberg said he wants to make sure the powerful gun lobby is not "the only voice" in this debate. If he can...

In NYC, any masochist can apply for a gun permit. The labyrinthine, invasive and expensive vetting process was designed by bureaucratic sadists to discourage the general public from ever attempting it. On that level, it works. Even applicants who pass extensive background investigations can ultimately be rejected for reasons that are not explained and for which there is no appeal. Moreover, if you get turned down, that fact alone can be used against you in unrelated matters. And just so you know, if you are an average upstanding American citizen with a clean record seeking a ‘concealed carry’ permit, your...

When Governor Andrew Cuomo quickly passed tough new gun control measures in January, he faced a raft of criticism for skipping the standard deliberative period and allegedly ignoring the more minute legislative details. The criticism recently found new substance with the bill’s apparently unworkable 7-bullet magazine requirement, which Albany is now working to reverse. And, on his weekly radio show with John Gambling, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that “one criticism” may indeed have merit. “This is true of a lot of things,” Mr. Bloomberg said after accusing an unrelated City Council bill of having unintended side-effects. “You asked before about the magazines in...