Free Republic

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon spoke Wednesday at a summit in Costa Rica where he placed blame on Israel for an attack at a UN school in Gaza. Not once mentioning Hamas in his speech, Ban said: This morning, yet another United Nations school sheltering thousands of Palestinian families suffered a reprehensible attack. All available evidence points to Israeli artillery as the cause. Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children. At least 16 civilians are dead, and many more are injured. I want to make it clear that the precise location of this Jabalia Elementary Girls School had...

A majority of the cigarettes for sale in New York are illegally smuggled into the state, according to a report out Wednesday from the conservative research group the Tax Foundation. According to the report, 56.9% of the cigarettes sold in New York—the highest importer of smuggled cigarettes—originated from out of state. Since 2006, cigarette smuggling in the state has risen sharply, by 59%, in tandem with a massive hike in cigarette taxes of 190%. New York state now has the highest cigarette taxes in the country, at $4.35 a pack. Residents of NYC must also pay an extra $1.50 per...

Of all the things to be nostalgic for, infectious diseases probably don’t make it onto many lists. However, if you happen to pine for the good old days when measles was an active public health threat, I have good news for you. The anti-vaccine crowd is bringing it back. There is currently an outbreak of measles in New York City. Considered eliminated in the United States in 2000, last year saw a record number of outbreaks around the country. It’s only three months into 2014, and not only is the nation’s largest city seeing cases in several boroughs, but other...

<p>An attacker pummeled a bus passenger so hard he smashed the bones in his face after calling the victim a “cracker” in Manhattan – marking the second time in two days that people appeared to be randomly targeted in racial tirades against white people, authorities said.</p>

Nypd beat cops posted a police-union warning in every precinct yesterday instructing officers not to go above and beyond the call of duty — or risk losing their jobs because of the new stop-and-frisk laws, The Post has learned. “All officers should take action if he or she sees a crime in progress, or if he or she sees that his or her life or the life of another person is in danger . . . [But] all officers should be careful not to initiate any law-enforcement action that could be construed as violating the new legislation and subject the...

A robber attacked an elderly woman after pretending to help her take pictures of her childhood home when she returned with her daughter after 73 years. Marjorie Ramondetta, 93, and her daughter Linda Reynolds, 65, were allegedly shoved down a flight of stairs in the building by a thug when they came back to the house in Washington Heights in Manhattan, New York. The man then stole the women's purses as they lay bruised at the bottom of the stairs, law-enforcement sources said.

As CBS 2’s Jessica Schneider reported, police on Wednesday were searching for several men wanted in the assault, which took place around midnight Tuesday night, shortly after the couple left the Chelsea Bowtie Cinemas on 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues. A rash of anti-gay attacks was plaguing the city only a few months ago. In the severest incident, Mark Carson, 32, was shot and killed on May 18 by a man who first called him and his partner “f***ots” and asked if they were “gay wrestlers,” police said.

The search warrant filed to investigate the Fox News reporter James Rosen proved as many had suspected: President Obama wants to make it a crime for a reporter to talk to a leaker. It is a further example of how President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom. The government's subpoena of The Associated Press's phone records was bad enough. But the disclosure of the search warrant in the Rosen case shows President Obama has delved into territory never before reached by previous presidents. The Justice Department...

The New York City Health Department’s NYC teen website now includes an app that teens can download to their smart phones to get information on “sexual health,” including where they can get birth control and abortions. The app, under the heading “Important Links and Info,” has three main links—Where to Go; sexual health services, What to Get; condoms and birth control; and What to Expect; at the clinic. … The app also provides a link to the NYC Teen website, which reminds teens about the lack of parental consent law in various formats, including a video called “Samantha’s Story,” found...

New York Times Co reported a decline in quarterly revenue on weak advertising sales but said it would try to grow out of the slump by expanding its suite of digital products. The 11.2 percent drop in advertising revenue in the first quarter underscores the pressure that the New York Times faces to increase its subscription revenue, especially for its digital products, and find new veins of income.

Liberal professor Ruth O’Brien from The City University of New York thinks we may have been a little too tough on the Boston Marathon Bomber who was killed by the police. O’Brien, who’s the author of the forthcoming book, Out of Many, One: Obama and the Third American Political Tradition, chided the Boston police for using “too much force” when they killed, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Sure, he may have killed a lot of people and their lives may have been at risk apprehending him, but they should have been a little kinder and gentler, darn it (Maybe his brother, who ran...

Weiner represented Queens and Brooklyn for more than a decade before resigning amid a 2011 scandal over lewd online behavior. NEW YORK — Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned over a sexting scandal in 2011, says he's weighing a run for New York City mayor this year. The Democrat told The New York Times Magazine in a story posted online Wednesday that "it's now or maybe never for me" but acknowledged that it's a long shot because some people "just don't have room for a second narrative about me." Weiner said that his political committee spent more than $100,000...

The victims died when a strike from an aircraft hit a house in the Shigal district of Kunar province during an operation which also killed at least eight militants. The Nato-led coalition confirmed it was investigating the allegation and that it had used aircraft in the area to support a force of Afghan and foreign troops. The incident had the potential to provoke another confrontation with Hamid Karzai's government. Mr Karzai has railed for years against the number of civilian casualties caused by Nato air strikes, though deaths from such air attacks have decreased significantly. The setback came as Gen...

Police are looking for the man who approached a woman waiting at a bus stop in Queens early Monday, forced her to a nearby cemetery and raped her at knifepoint...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Prosecutors say 16 New York City police officers and five other people will be charged in a corruption scandal covering a broad spectrum of crimes following a lengthy investigation. A statement by the Bronx district attorney's office says the indictments will be unsealed Friday morning. Two people familiar with the investigation tell The Associated Press the case centers on accusations the officers abused their authority by helping friends and relatives avoid paying traffic tickets. The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the cases weren't public. The charges stem from an internal probe...

OWS Protesters’ Restroom Issues, Constant Noise Driving Residents Crazy Man Claims Demonstrater Urinated In Tupperware, Dumped Contents In Street October 21, 2011 7:42 PM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — “Occupy Wall Street” is ending its fifth week, and some area residents are fighting mad over the chaos created by the protesters’ encampment. As CBS 2’s Mark Morgan reports, some say the park is turning into a noisy, raucous headache that won’t go away. To the protestors, the sound of drums is the sound of democracy in action. But to some residents who live in the area, it’s just noise — and...

Three people were killed and two police officers were wounded in a shooting a few blocks from the annual West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn, capping a violent holiday weekend in which nearly 70 people were injured by gunfire. Updated statistics obtained by NBC New York on Tuesday show that at least 67 people were shot between 12 a.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday. That includes nine on Friday, 10 on Saturday, 33 on Sunday and 15 on Monday. Preliminary numbers indicate as many as 10 were killed. In the police-involved shooting Monday near the parade in Brooklyn, bullet fragments...

In a sad display of anti-Christian censorship, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City has banned clergy from participating or praying at the 10th anniversary 9/11 memorial ceremony honoring the victims of terrorist attacks from September 11th, 2001.  Today I spoke with Bishop Dan Johnson, a 9/11 first-responder clergyman who ministered to the dead and dying in New York City on Sept 11th, 2001.  For the last nine years, Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg invited Bishop Johnson to the annual ceremony, but this year he was told by Mayor Bloomberg's staff that he cannot attend "in his capacity as clergyman," but...

Two police officers have been caught on camera in a furious physical row after a suspect screamed out in pain during an arrest. Shocking footage shows the NYPD cops come to blows after one is deemed to have used excessive force while roughing up a suspect.

The hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault filed a libel lawsuit Tuesday against the New York Post and five reporters over recent articles that said she had worked as a prostitute. The lawsuit was filed in the State Supreme Court in the Bronx, where the woman lives, and uses only her initials. According to the suit, the newspaper and its reporters "falsely, maliciously, and with reckless disregard for the truth stated as a fact that the Plaintiff is a 'prostitute,' 'hooker,' 'working girl' and/or 'routinely traded sex for money with male guests'...