Free Republic

Migration and free trade impose huge unrecognized costs on ordinary people, says a Nobel-awarded Princeton economist who previously supported the unpopular, elite-backed policies. “I used to subscribe to the near consensus among economists that immigration to the US was a good thing,” Professor Angus Deaton wrote in a post for the International Monetary Fund. He continued: Longer-term analysis over the past century and a half tells a different story. Inequality was high when America was open [to migration], was much lower when the borders were closed [to migrants], and rose again post Hart-Celler (the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965)...

Embattled New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez will not run for re-election in November, although he still refuses to hand in his resignation, The Post has learned. “He will not be running,” said a source close to Menendez. The three-term federal senator, who resigned his powerful position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment last year, faces an 18-count indictment — and stiff competition from a group of Democratic primary challengers.

The Democratic superlawyer who resigned in disgrace from the #MeToo organization Time's Up after helping former New York governor Andrew Cuomo (D.) discredit his accusers is now defending Columbia University against a lawsuit alleging that it fosters a pervasive culture of anti-Semitism. Roberta Kaplan filed notice last month to represent Columbia and its sister college, Barnard, against lawsuits that accuse school leaders of enabling an "antisemitic hostile educational environment" in the wake of Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel. Students Against Antisemitism and a group of five Columbia students allege that school leaders have turned a blind eye as anti-Semitic activists...

A former Rikers guard who was sexually assaulted by an inmate claims a nurse at the notorious jail could have been spared an attempted rape if supervisors had taken her attack more seriously... Yessica Delacruz was working an overnight shift at one of the jail’s clinics and was transferring incoming inmates from an intake cell to the medical unit when she first encountered Michael Cleaver just after 2 a.m. ... Cleaver, 55, had just been arrested on Nov. 9 on charges of burglary, harassment and menacing... ... “He came to the door and started pushing the door, like a football...

A female inmate at a women’s correctional facility in New York filed a lawsuit alleging that a male inmate who claimed to be “transgender” raped her. The lawsuit was filed by “Rose Doe,” who was housed in the Rose M. Singer women’s jail on Rikers Island. Doe is suing a total of 20 defendants, including the city of New York, alleging that the staff at the jail ignored her warnings about the “transgender women” who was living with the female inmates (via NBC New York):"His introduction was, 'I’m not transgender. I’m straight. I like women,’" said the plaintiff, who is...

A New Jersey businessman charged with attempting to bribe Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) with a Mercedez-Benz for his political sway has pleaded guilty in the far-reaching corruption case. Jose Uribe entered a guilty plea Friday in federal court in New York to charges that include conspiracy to commit bribery, obstruction of justice, and tax evasion, court filings show. The terms of any agreement Uribe may have struck with the government remain unclear, but his plea could place Menendez in further legal jeopardy as he pledges to fight his charges and remain in the Senate. The Hill requested comment from Menendez’s...

It had been almost exactly 24 hours since Nikki Haley lost to Donald Trump in her home state of South Carolina by a 60-40 margin, and supporters who packed a Michigan hotel ballroom encouraged her to continue the fight so she can capitalize on any calamities that befall the frontrunner. ‘I think maybe she’s there in case something happens – she can pick up the pieces,’ said Dale Morgan, a retired chiropractor who came to see Haley after voting for Trump in 2020.

The New Jersey start-up that snagged a controversial no-bid $53 million contract with New York City to give migrants prepaid debit cards could net a whopping $1.8 million in profits by taking a cut of the funds doled out to asylum seekers, The Post has learned. The one-year deal signed by Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and tech finance company Mobility Capital Finance .. is now raising eyebrows with some members of the City Council, who noted the agreement didn’t undergo the usual competitive bidding process. “Something’s wrong with this deal, and taxpayers are getting fleeced,” Councilman Bob Holden (D-Queens) .....

Groceries are going up again in New York State. It's wild. You are going to look at some of the items and think how ridiculous the prices are. For example, wait until you see how much the regular price of peanut butter is at one local grocery store (and we are not talking about the JUMBO jar of peanut butter). Price Tracker' from Katie Morse and Channel 2 is going on again where they will post weekly prices of some of the most common items at the most popular grocery stores. You can see an example below, but it is...

Anti-Trump Republicans New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick and radio host Bill Spadea are vying to become the first Republican to win the Garden State governor’s mansion since Chris Christie in 2009. Bramnick and Spadea hope to replace outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who is term limited. Bramnick is an avowed moderate Republican and hopes to flip the governor’s mansion red, albeit with his anti-Trump flare. He hopes to buck the trend as Republicans have increasingly embraced former President Donald Trump as the leader of the GOP.

Unsettling Post footage and interviews with US residents along the Canadian border offer a rare glimpse into the thriving migrant smuggling operation that has taken hold up north in addition to the debacle to the south. ... smugglers have become so rampant that some locals are packing pistols to protect themselves and turning into amateur sleuths to help thwart them. “Now I’ve got the Border Patrol guys on speed dial,” local Chris Feeley, 52, recently grimly acknowledged. ... According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, the number of migrants illegally entering the US at the northern border last year...

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has not ruled out voting for President Biden while vowing to not back former President Trump as the two head toward a likely rematch in November. Christie was asked in an interview on Crooked Media’s “Pod Save America” podcast on Wednesday whether the choice between Biden and Trump matters in next November’s election as the two remain the front-runners of their respective parties. He did not commit to voting for Biden, suggesting that he would likely support a potential No Labels bid by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) instead.

Harvard is among the many U.S. schools that remain committed ... as of February 6, 2024, an astounding 68 American colleges and universities still have Covid shot mandates in place. Yes, you read that correctly. There are 68 schools in the United States that continue to push the mRNA serum on college students across America. ... The list includes historically elite schools like Harvard and Johns Hopkins. It also includes a variety of ultra leftist colleges in California and New York, and elsewhere, coupled with a significant amount of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). ... Speaking of Harvard, they...

Harvard University is obstructing a congressional probe into campus-wide anti-Semitism, leading lawmakers to warn the Ivy League school that it will face a deluge of subpoenas if it continues to stonewall the investigation. "Harvard's responses have been grossly insufficient, and the limited and dilatory nature of its productions is obstructing the Committee's efforts," Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.), the chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, wrote to interim Harvard president Alan Garber on Wednesday. Harvard has until Feb. 14 to produce documents outlining its internal response to a growing wave of anti-Semitism on campus, including records...

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said his hot-mic remark last month predicting GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley would get “smoked” in the race against former President Trump was a “complete mistake,” but he did not apologize for making the comment. In a preview of a “Good Morning America” interview set to air on Tuesday, Christie recounted the hot-mic moment that took place just minutes before he suspended his presidential campaign, when Christie was heard saying about Haley, “She’s gonna get smoked. And you and I both know it, she’s not up to this.”

A New Jersey-based migrant gang is smuggling hordes of illegal immigrants into the US across the Canadian border for a price of $6,000 a head, a new report reveals. The human smuggling gang took root after its founders were briefly detained and cut loose by federal immigration authorities. The ringleaders, migrants from Guatemala and Colombia, snuck across the Mexican border and set up shop in the Garden State, running the lucrative scheme while dodging the feds, according to a report by the Daily Mail. While US Border Patrol agents grapple with an overwhelming flow of asylum seekers from Mexico, the...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A former Atlantic City councilman who went to prison for bribery and a sex blackmail case is facing charges again. Craig Callaway, 64, is a sought-after political organizer and operative in and around Atlantic City, known for his ability to deliver large blocks of absentee ballots to election officials that often sway the outcome of elections. But he was arrested Thursday and charged with election fraud involving the misuse of absentee ballots — something of which his political foes had long accused him. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Callaway is charged with one count of...

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has been using taxpayer resources to promote his wife as she campaigns to become the Garden State’s latest US Senator, according to records and critics. Gov. Murphy’s press office has pumped out a slew of fawning press releases — which appear on the governor’s website — about First Lady Tammy Murphy after she announced her Senate run on Nov. 15. The releases include: Jan. 16, 2024: “First Lady Tammy Murphy Celebrates Signing of Doula Access Bill” Jan. 23, 2024: “First Lady Tammy Murphy today hosted a roundtable discussion to celebrate Maternal Health Awareness Day” Jan....

In November, Orsted nixed two major wind farm projects planned off the coast of New Jersey, citing the same problems that the company cited for the Skipjack Wind project.. Danish wind developer Orsted has canceled another contract on a planned offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean. The company said the 966-megawatt Skipjack Wind project, planned to be constructed off the coasts of Delaware and Maryland, would no longer be commercially viable at the contract prices due to inflation, high interest rates and supply chain issues. “Today’s announcement affirms our commitment to developing value creating projects and represents an opportunity...

NJ Transit wants to hike fares an eye-popping 15% but may still face a massive budget hole in a year – a dire situation that has the head of the MTA mocking the Garden State’s governor. MTA chairman Janno Lieber roasted New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday over his transit budgeting chaos, taking a dig at one of the most vocal critics of the planned congestion toll in Manhattan. “Phil Murphy said he was gonna fix New Jersey Transit if it kills him,” Lieber told New York state lawmakers during a budget hearing in Albany. “I’m not sure. He’s...