Free Republic

The city Conflicts of Interest Board gave Mayor de Blasio the green light for a free trip to Germany because it achieved a “city purpose” — of opposing President Trump, a spokesman said Monday. An email from the conflicts board’s lawyer, sent at 10 p.m. Friday — more than a day after de Blasio flew to Germany — said the board approved his itinerary based on a rule that allows acceptance of travel-related gifts if “the trip is for a city purpose and therefore could properly be paid for with city funds.”

Cops once again turned their backs on Mayor de Blasio at a police funeral. Scores of officers who assembled for assassinated police officer Miosotis Familia on Tuesday showed Hizzoner their backs during the mayor’s eulogy — a move reminiscent of the funeral for slain officer Wenjian Liu in 2015. --SNIP-- The protest comes after de Blasio skipped town for Germany Thursday — the day after Familia was assassinated by cop-hating gunman Alexander Bonds.

Remember when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hopped on a jet and took off to Germany right when the city was in mourning over the assassination of yet another police officer? To say that this was a political misstep is the definition of an understatement, but the fallout of that stunt isn’t quite over yet. Some people are raising the awkward question of precisely who paid for that little public relations disaster. As you could probably have guessed without my telling you, it was the taxpayers of New York City. But fear not, citizens! The New York City...

Remember when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hopped on a jet and took off to Germany right when the city was in mourning over the assassination of yet another police officer? To say that this was a political misstep is the definition of an understatement, but the fallout of that stunt isn’t quite over yet. Some people are raising the awkward question of precisely who paid for that little public relations disaster. As you could probably have guessed without my telling you, it was the taxpayers of New York City. But fear not, citizens! The New York...

New York City's suburban commuters are bracing for the start next week of what has been called the 'summer of hell' as the United States' busiest train hub partly shuts down for extensive track repairs. The work at Pennsylvania Station is due to begin Monday and run through Sept. 1, leaving the roughly 600,000 commuters who arrive there each morning from New Jersey and Long Island scrambling for alternate ways into the city.

Mayor de Blasio made a surprise departure from New York City yesterday—just one day after the assassination of NYPD officer Miosotis Familia while she guarded a violence-plagued Bronx corner—in order to attend anti-capitalist protests in Hamburg, site of the G-20 summit. A few hours after de Blasio’s plane departed, a train derailed in Penn Station, where extensive track work is scheduled to begin this weekend. It was the third derailment at Penn since March; the incidents have become so commonplace that New Jersey Transit commuters reportedly showed little surprise when their train car slid off the track. The mayor has...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he is so fed up with the city’s panhandlers begging for money on the street that he wants to ban the practice. “I’m saying that not as a matter of policy. I’m saying that as a human being, bluntly,” Mayor de Blasio told WNYC radio Friday.

In 2013, one storyline of the raucous and unpredictable Democratic mayoral primary was Christine Quinn’s bid to become the first woman elected Mayor of New York City. Then the City Council Speaker and the early frontrunner in the race, Quinn largely avoided talking about that history-making potential. Running as the continuity-with-change candidate based on her close working relationship with outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Quinn finished third in a crowded primary field behind the eventual winner of the election, Bill de Blasio. As de Blasio seeks reelection this year, he appears set to face Republican Nicole Malliotakis in the general election...

In 2013, one storyline of the raucous and unpredictable Democratic mayoral primary was Christine Quinn’s bid to become the first woman elected Mayor of New York City. Then the City Council Speaker and the early frontrunner in the race, Quinn largely avoided talking about that history-making potential. Running as the continuity-with-change candidate based on her close working relationship with outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Quinn finished third in a crowded primary field behind the eventual winner of the election, Bill de Blasio. As de Blasio seeks reelection this year, he appears set to face Republican Nicole Malliotakis in the general election...

Facing widespread criticism over his decision to fly to Hamburg just after the shooting death of a Bronx police officer, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Americans’ views don’t align with President Trump’s and need to be represented abroad. While the national governments will probably only make limited progress, the rest of us don’t have that choice. If we make only limited progress we’ll only be going backwards,” de Blasio told Bloomberg before speaking at a Saturday protest that coincides with the Group of 20 summit attended by Trump and other world leaders in Germany. “We almost have Washington as an...

Police protect the rights of demonstrators objecting to the G20 summit this weekend in Hamburg, Germany, Mayor de Blasio said Saturday in an appearance before a protest rally of tens of thousands of people. “Our right to protest is directly related to the fact that our police protect us,” the mayor said. He began his speech by remarking at the size of the audience he spoke to: “We have a phrase in America we like to use: This is what democracy looks like.” De Blasio appeared on the outdoor stage in central Hamburg with his son Dante, a Yale University...

“Die Kitties Die!” screamed the headline in the New York Daily News when, in 2013, former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Joe Lhota criticized a decision to pause trains in a Brooklyn subway station to rescue a pair of kittens lost on the tracks. These days, New York so badly needs to get the trains to run on time that Lhota, whose unfortunate anti-cat comments caused a minor scandal, has been brought back as chairman of the transit agency.

On Thursday, July 5, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, with no advance notice to the public he serves, jetted off to Hamburg, Germany, to attend the G-20 Summit, where heads of state and leaders or representatives from worldwide organizations and entities meet to discuss global imperatives. The mayor is not there to participate in the open dialogue between more than 20 participating countries and scores of international organizations and invited guests. He is to be the keynote speaker for an event called Hamburg Shows Attitude, which is described as a protest really for “democracy and human rights.” He...

New York City "Democrat" "Socialist", "Communist" Mayor, DeBlasio should be thrown out of office, immediately by the citizens & voters of NYC. His hidden trip to Hamburg, Germany to openly address the violent, rioters in Hamburg is disgusting by itself...but, with the brutal murder of an innocent NYC police officer, a 42 year old mom, with three young children....and DeBlasio skipping out of town and not attending a graduation of new NYC police cadets in this mourning period, is inexcusable and unforgivable. NYC...have you no heart, no consideration for this hero mom, her family, her children, and the new cops...

With its belated posting of the grim results of this year’s street homelessness census, City Hall just exposed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s real homelessness policy: Hide the bad news. The count was done back in February, but didn’t get posted until Wednesday — after Politico had published it. It’s obvious why Team de Blasio didn’t want you to see the numbers: They show 3,892 people living on the streets, up 40 percent from last year and the highest rate since 2005.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is jetting off to Germany on Thursday to protest President Trump and other world leaders attending the G20 Summit meeting. The day after a cop was assassinated in The Bronx, de Blasio skipped an afternoon swearing-in ceremony for 524 new NYPD recruits ahead of his flight overseas. snip The cost is being paid for by organizers of “Hamburg Shows Attitude,” said mayoral spokesman Eric Phillips, who’s among the aides joining de Blasio on the trip.

Last Friday, Nigerian immigrant Henry Williams Obotetukudo, aka Henry Bello, opened fire with an AM-15 rifle at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, killing one doctor and injuring a half-dozen others. I would prefer to leap right in and offer my ideas for stopping these immigrant shooting rampages, but first I’ll have to tell you the facts the media won’t. The New York Times, still unaware there’s an internet, is trying to pass off the Nigerian as a Californian, the non-doctor as a doctor, and Mr. Obotetukudo as “Dr. Bello.” In the Times’ major biographical profile of Bello the next day, he was...

Despite a drop in costumed character arrests in Times Square over the past year, police have reported a rise in complaints, and a majority of visitors to the Crossroads of the World say they’ve had negative interactions with the characters, according to advocates and reports.

If she was looking for a quiet night on the town, she must have been wildly disappointed. Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation as she and former President Bill Clinton made their way to their seats for a performance of the Tony Award-winning play “Oslo” in New York City on Sunday night. The former secretary of state and presidential candidate was quietly walking down the aisle when audience members caught sight of her and broke out into applause and cheers. “We love you, Hillary!” several people were heard shouting as others began chanting her first name.

New York City may be a cradle of gay rights, but for many in the gay community it is still not an easy place to grow old. Mary Ellen Green can attest to that. Her only refuge is a senior center in Manhattan that serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. She can sit down to a hot meal or settle in with a book without worrying about being harassed by her neighbors. But when the center closes at night and on weekends, Ms. Green, 61, a freelance writer who is homeless, is on her own again. Ms. Green...