Free Republic

Nothing concentrates attention quite like the rattle of gunfire. Certainly Albany County District Attorney David Soares — a one-time disciple of civic-disrupter George Soros — is not immune. The fellow has had an epiphany, and good for him. There have been at least 13 gun homicides in New York’s capital city this year — two just this past week — and roughly 80 shootings. Adjusted for population, this would approximate 1,100 homicides in New York City, and 6,800 shootings — stats sure to grab any honest man’s attention. Soares appears to be that honest man — though it’s been a...

Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday accused Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple and state Attorney General Letitia James of "incompetence" and "abuse of law" after he was charged with a misdemeanor sex crime last week. "In the last 72 hours, Sheriff Apple and Tish James have epitomized the worst combination of politics, incompetence and abuse of the law," the Democrat tweeted.

Siena College has dropped charges against a student who posted hundreds of flyers to raise awareness of the hostility conservatives face from professors. Zachary Butler, a junior studying political science, told Campus Reform last week that he posted roughly 600 flyers depicting an email exchange in which a Siena College professor called conservative students “miserable” to work with. As Campus Reform reported, Professor Jenn McErlean sent an email on March 20 announcing that she quit her school’s committee on civil discourse because the thought of working with conservative students was “making me miserable.” Though Butler was not involved in the...

The federal government and the Obama administration are under fire for a variety of unconstitutional programs aimed at both militarizing and controlling local police and law enforcement, including supplying a vast array of sophisticated U.S. Defense Department “weapons of war” to city and county governments. Billions of dollars in military equipment has already been handed to municipal police departments and county sheriffs’ offices nationwide under the rapidly expanding federal schemes, but concerns from across the political spectrum are growing quickly as well. This year alone, over 150 so-called “mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles,” or MRAPs, used by U.S. forces in Iraq, were...

In early November, the Albany County legislature voted 24-12 to forbid the use of styrofoam containers by county businesses with more than 15 locations nationally and at least one locally. Yesterday, it was signed into law. This bill thus allows the continued usage of styrofoam by the majority of Albany businesses, but responds to an apparent wave of Albany County citizen displeasure with the menace of local corporations with at least 14 locations nationally and at least one locally that maybe sell soup. […] Of course, New York State will suffer an immediate economic hit. In addition to the extra...

The U.S. is engaged in a bloody war in Iraq for the purpose of eliminating the remnants of a terrorist regime, foreign terrorists, and bringing democracy to Iraq and the region. It is a big gamble that has put radical Islam on the defensive around the world. But shocking evidence demonstrates that controversial former U.S. Marine and former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who now writes for the anti-American Arab "news" organization Al Jazeera, was involved in a controversial effort to stop the war by enlisting prominent personalities in a "peace" campaign.

Lawyer Arrested for Wearing a 'Peace' T-Shirt — NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall. According to the criminal complaint filed on Monday, Stephen Downs was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just purchased from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near Albany. "I was in the food court with my son when I was...