Free Republic

There are few questions that have plagued human existence for centuries: What is the meaning of life? What happens to us after we die? How come baby animals are so darn cute? Then, there is maybe the most hotly debated question of them all: Does New York City tap water really make the city's bagels and pizza taste better? At times, emotion and bias have co-opted the question. But according to science, the answer is a definitive... yeah, kind of. While the city's water is certainly unique and has defining qualities, the impact it has on the actual taste...

Texas is busing illegal immigrants to New York City, but one of its lawmakers is calling for New York cops to pack their bags and move to the Lone Star State. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, Texas Republican, will run a full-page ad in the New York Post on Tuesday urging law enforcement officers that it’s “time to escape New York and move to Texas.” “Every New York Republican understands these courageous officers are put in impossible, life-threatening circumstances and I’m sure they want what is best for them — which may be to relocate to a law and order state...

The woke city of New York is being overrun by rampant crime, illegal immigrants, and now squatters thanks to a law that turns them into tenants after 30 days. New York City homeowners are being pushed to financial limits that allow squatters to live rent-free. At the same time, the owners are forced to keep paying electricity and maintenance bills for the apartments. Under New York City law, anyone who lives in a home or apartment for at least 30 days can claim squatter’s rights, even if they broke into the property without permission from the owner. Squatters are taking...

The Sharia colonization of the West continues. According to a report out by Michael Dorgan and published by Fox News, the New York City government has agreed to a “preliminary financial settlement” of $17.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought against the city in 2018 by Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz, two Muslim women who were forced to remove their hijabs in order to get their mugshots taken after they were arrested for allegedly violating orders of protection (restraining orders). Now, also per Dorgan, the agreement still has to be approved by a district judge, but this is...

An artificial intelligence-powered chatbot created by New York City to help small business owners is under criticism for dispensing bizarre advice that misstates local policies and advises companies to violate the law. In responses to questions posed Wednesday, the chatbot falsely suggested it is legal for an employer to fire a worker who complains about sexual harassment, doesn’t disclose a pregnancy or refuses to cut their dreadlocks. Contradicting two of the city’s signature waste initiatives, it claimed that businesses can put their trash in black garbage bags and are not required to compost. At times, the bot’s answers veered into...

The Big Apple is seeing a troublesome trend of unwelcome squatters illegally bedding down in private homes and apartments in the five boroughs — and it’s gotten much harder to kick them out. A backlog of housing court cases and changes in the law in recent years have made it a bigger and longer-lasting headache for landlords to boot unwelcome tenants.. “This is happening far more now than in the past.. Squatters have become far more sophisticated than before. They set up elaborate schemes, fake documents and investigate the homes before breaking in.” Two changes in city law in 2019...

Hillary Clinton was branded a 'super predator' while husband Bill was called a 'piece of s**t' during an ambush by pro-Palestine protesters in New York City. The Clintons were accused of 'facilitating genocide' by the demonstrators who hurled abuse at the couple as they exited a Biden fundraiser on Wednesday. Hillary was leaving the Music Box Theater where she and her husband were watching a preview of the show 'Suffs' for which she is a producer. She and fellow host Hamilton writer Lin-Manuel Miranda used the occasion to stump for Biden. But the Clintons were met by a hostile crowd...

New York City has agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by two Muslim women who were forced to remove their hijabs for police mugshots. Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz filed the class-action lawsuit in 2018 claiming they felt shamed and exposed and liked their treatment to be strip-searched. 'When they forced me to take off my hijab, I felt as if I were naked. I'm not sure if words can capture how exposed and violated I felt,' Clark said. 'I'm so proud today to have played a part in getting justice for thousands of New Yorkers.'...

Stand down — and fix this mess! Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday nixed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s efforts to squeeze a $750,000 toll from the organizers of the New York City Marathon — after The Post highlighted widespread outrage over the “cash grab” move. “I’ve directed the MTA to fix this mess and allow the marathon to move forward as it always has,” Hochul said in a statement to The Post. “The marathon is an iconic symbol of New York City’s tenacity and resilience that unites communities across the five boroughs each fall.” Hochul’s decision to thwart the MTA’s latest...

Serious crime spiked again last year to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to internal NYPD data obtained by The Post — even as Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly claimed that “crime is down” in the Big Apple. For the second year in a row under Adams, overall crime was on the rise — driven by a historic surge in assaults, which neared 28,000 for the first time in the city’s publicly recorded history, according to the police department’s rolling report. The report tracks the tally of seven major felony offenses after the time of arrest to when cases...

Security camera footage shows the moment a suspected porch pirate walked into a Queens homeowner’s trap by trying to steal a fake parcel deliberately left on the stoop. Carlos Mejia said he was “done” with thieves following FedEx and UPS trucks and raiding his parcels, and decided to take matters into his own hands last week by leaving out “decoy packages” outside his door with the aim of catching one of the bandits in the act. “I was just trying to make an example for those out there doing the same thing … stealing from others,” Mejia told Storyful. Video...

Serious crime spiked again last year to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to internal NYPD data obtained by The Post — even as Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly claimed that the city’s rampant unlawfulness is just a “perception problem.” For the second year in a row under Adams overall crime was on the rise — driven by a historic surge in assaults, which neared 28,000 for the first time in the city’s publicly recorded history, according to the police department’s rolling report. The report tracks the tally of seven major felony offenses after the time of arrest to...

The MTA’s latest congestion pricing scheme: Charge runners for crossing the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The transit agency is waging war against the organizers of the New York City Marathon, demanding $750,000 to make up for toll revenue lost during the iconic race. And if New York Road Runners doesn’t pay up, the agency is threatening to restrict use of the bridge, potentially reducing the number of runners who can compete in the wildly popular event each November, the New York Times reported Wednesday, citing internal memos. During hardball negotiations, the MTA initially said runners — who start the marathon on Staten...

Do you recall that supposedly autonomous "CHOP" zone (originally "CHAZ) that was set up in Seattle at the height of the BLM riots? That turned out to be an unmitigated disaster in many ways. Unfortunately, when the socialists come up with a bad idea that appears to work, even for a little while, others take notice and begin to imitate them. That appears to be what's happening in Zuccotti Park in New York City this week. But instead of Black Lives Matter activists, this one is being organized by a curious combination of pro-Hamas antisemites and transgender activists. The usual...

Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis reportedly cited the incident involving members of the New York City Fire Department booing state Attorney General Letitia James and chanting in favor of former President Trump last month in suggesting that a racist culture persists at the FDNY.

More than 200 of New York’s Finest packed a Queens courtroom Monday as two career criminals were indicted in the slaying of hero cop Jonathan Diller during a traffic stop — with prosecutors revealing that the driver admitted, “I shoot people.” Lindy Jones — who was behind the wheel of the Kia Soul stopped by cops when his passenger, Guy Rivera, allegedly opened fire on Diller last week — didn’t show any emotion as prosecutors said he faces four counts of felony gun possession. ... Rivera, who wasn’t in court and remains hospitalized with a gunshot wound, was indicted on...

Four of New York City’s five boroughs have lost a higher percentage of residents since COVID than any of the 40 largest counties in the country, a startling new review of US Census data shows. Topping the list is The Bronx — with a 7.2% drop in the past three years, according to the analysis of county-level population estimates. “It’s been good for us — we get more work — but it’s sad,” said Manny Gomez, a 42-year-old Bronx resident and employee of Morgan and Brothers Manhattan, a storage and moving company, in the borough’s Mount Eden section.

An outraged Manhattan clothing-store owner whose shop was ransacked twice by a violent mob says state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s refusal to toughen retail-theft laws is simply “ridiculous. “I’d be glad to talk to him so he can learn what it’s like firsthand dealing with these problems and getting the same people who come back over and over and over again to rob us,” seethed Kenneth Giddon, co-owner of Rothman’s New York in Union Square, to The Post on Monday. “I think it’s ridiculous,” Gidden fumed after the powerful Albany pol last week scoffed at enacting harsher penalties for violent...

Two alleged squatters are suing the owners of a duplex after they were accused of making themselves at home in the pricey Queens residence and refusing to move out. The home’s price was listed at $930,000, the New York Post reported Sunday. The outlet noted New York City has “permissive” laws when it comes to such situations.

A Denver official recently encouraged new migrants there to pack their bags for New York or other US cities — warning they would “suffer even more” if they stayed in the Colorado capital, according to reportedly obtained footage. City worker Andres Carrera told a group of migrants staying inside a shelter that Denver didn’t have the resources to support them as he made clear that “the opportunities are over,” according to a video obtained by 9 News and aired over the weekend. “We are not going to block you if you want to stay here … I am here to...