Free Republic

Bad Apple. New Yorkers rate the Big Apple’s quality of life — on issues such as public safety, cleanliness and mass transit — significantly worse than the pre-pandemic times and just slightly better than two years ago, a Citizens Budget Commission survey of more than 1,700 residents found. Just over a third of residents said quality of life in the five boroughs was good or excellent — a significant drop from 2017, when about half of New Yorkers surveyed gave it the top rating. The deep level of displeasure regarding crime and government services presents a challenge to whoever the...

The British Prime Minister has launched his Strategic Defence Review at a shipyard in Scotland on Monday, promising cash for new nuclear warheads, new attack submarines, and a building programme for new munitions factories. The United Kingdom, which presently spends 2.3 per cent of its GDP on defence, will boost that to 2.5 per cent by 2027 and 3 per cent by some time in the 2030s, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday morning. The announcement was criticised from both sides, on one hand for three per cent of national output on defence being woefully low for...

Confidence is growing that a more active than average Atlantic hurricane season is about to begin in just over a week. NOAA is now forecasting a 6-in-10 chance of an above-average hurricane season. By The Numbers: NOAA expects 13 to 19 storms to form in 2025, six to 10 of which will become hurricanes and three to five of which will reach Category 3 status or stronger, according to the outlook released Thursday. These ranges are on the high side of the 30-year average for both hurricanes and storms. The range for the number of hurricanes is slightly shy of...

Kamala Harris was left aghast when President Joe Biden donned a “Trump 2024” cap at a Pennsylvania firehouse in a bizarre scene at the height of last year’s presidential race, a bombshell new book has revealed. During a visit to a Shanksville firehouse while commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Biden, now 82, posed with more than a dozen youngsters clad in pro-Trump attire — then briefly put on the cap after being egged on by a member of the crowd. “What is he doing?” Harris — by that point the Democratic nominee after Biden ended his re-election...

Dave Portnoy just handed out one of his highest pizza ratings ever to a newly opened pizzeria in Little Italy – which is now causing impatient lines and sold-out pies. The Barstool Sports founder is known for his viral — not to mention controversial — one-bite pizza reviews. And he recently gave Ceres — a three-month-old-or-so pizzeria at 164 Mott St. run by two former Eleven Madison Park chefs, Jake Serebnick and Julian Geldmacher — a whopping 9.2 out of 10 score. Portnoy showered it with praise, calling it “spectacular” and “must-have, top-of-the-list Manhattan pizza … as good as it...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- For more than half a century, chilling questions have lingered: Were there more victims of Houston's notorious "Candyman," Dean Corll, the serial killer whose crimes predated even the term "serial killer" and if so, who are they? On a recent Tuesday night, family members, friends, and true crime enthusiasts crowded into Murder By The Book bookstore to get answers. "There's still a reason to tell this story because there are still people like this out there, and teenagers need to know," said investigative journalist Lise Olsen in an interview prior to the launch of her new...

Friedrich Merz is spending his first day as leader of Germany visiting France and Poland, promising a “fresh start” to EU relationships and signalling defiance to President Trump in saying they will never accept an “imposed” peace on the Ukraine War. The French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed newly appointed Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Paris on Wednesday, the leaders of the two largest and richest countries in Europe publishing a joint statement vowing greater cooperation on defence, economics, and the Ukraine War. Merz will later today travel to Poland for more meetings, which in both cases he said were to launch...

The U.S. services sector picked up speed in April, according to the Institute for Supply Management, with growth broadening across key components of the economy’s largest segment. The Services PMI rose to 51.6 percent last month, up from 50.8 percent in March and beating expectations for a modest dip. The increase marks a reversal from the prior month’s slowdown and suggests the sector may be reaccelerating heading into the second quarter. Three of the four major subindexes that feed directly into the headline PMI improved in April, with increases in new orders, supplier deliveries, and employment. Only the business activity...

Iran unveiled a new solid-fueled ballistic missile and claims it has stationed similar systems nationwide, according to state-run TV, which cited military officials promising the ability to strike U.S. bases and interests “wherever they are” if war breaks out. On Sunday, Iranian state media broadcast images of the new “Qassem Basir” missile during a televised appearance by Defense Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, amid rising tensions with Washington over Tehran’s growing missile capabilities and nuclear enrichment program. The missile reportedly boasts a 745-mile range, precision strike capacity without GPS, and improved defense-evading agility. According to Nasirzadeh, the system was last tested...

President Trump has ordered himself a ritzy private plane after giving up hope that Boeing could hand over a revamped Air Force One. The commander in chief is getting an L3Harris jet decked out with suites, plush carpeting, leather couches and more that was once owned by the Qatari government, according to The Wall Street Journal. The interior of the opulent plane was done by famed French interior design firm Alberto Pinto Cabinet — and boasts gold-colored walls and gold furnishings, reminiscent of Trump’s opulent home in Trump Tower. L3Harris is working to transform the lavish plane into one with...

The City Council passed a slew of bills Thursday — including one that would ban noisy non-essential helicopter flights from city heliports following the horrific crash in the Hudson that killed a family of tourists and another to add a new gender ID to city documents. The two bills easily passed the Democratic-majority council but still need Mayor Eric Adams’ signature to become laws. A proposal aimed at cracking down on tour and commuter helicopters passed near unanimously — just two weeks after a couple and their three young kids visiting from Spain and a Navy veteran pilot all died...

She can finally have some pride in her job! Former President Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has landed a new gig out of the White House as a grand marshal of NYC Pride Parade. Jean-Pierre, who became the first openly gay spokesperson to hold press briefings for a US president, will be among those to head the Big Apple’s famed annual parade in June, CBS reported. “It goes back to that trail-blazing career that she’s had in politics and representing the community at the highest microphone that exists,” NYC Pride spokesperson Chris Piedmont said of Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre, 50 —...

Putting partisan politics far above patriotism (if he has any), top Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin is outright threatening vengeance on foreign leaders who work with the Trump administration. Yes, he washes it through rhetoric about fighting “authoritarianism in our country,” but that’s simply cover for goonish threats. Raskin (D-Md.) issued it on the “Pod Save America” podcast, after progressive host Tommy Vietor cited (surely left-wing) Latin America experts as urging Democrats to warn off “any foreign government that participates in the extraordinary rendition of American citizens.” Reality check: No one is proposing any “extraordinary rendition of American citizens.”

Tuesday on FBN’s “Mornings with Maria,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) acknowledged the short-term pain associated with the Trump administration’s tariff policy but acknowledged there would be tangible benefits in the long term. According to the Louisiana Republican lawmaker, the proof was in other nations’ efforts to negotiate a resolution with the United States. “[T]he problem is, is, with all of this uncertainty around tariffs, this bill becomes so much more important, just for clarity for the markets, so that we don’t see a deterioration in market value. The White House says almost 70 countries have reached out to negotiate on...

A bombshell report from a clean energy group admitted that shifting to solar and wind may mean chaos for New York’s power grid as the state’s green energy law creates hurdles for cost and reliability. The report from the New York Affordable Clean Power Alliance, which represents solar and wind energy firms, noted that the state’s timetable to phase out energy generated by fossil fuel is unrealistic — and even dangerous. “The New York City area is forecasted to experience a generation shortfall starting in 2033, driven by an increase in peak demand and the planned retirement of existing dispatchable...

WASHINGTON — President Trump spoke Friday with Canada’s new prime minister as the US prepares to slap 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports — and referred to Mark Carney by his title, dropping the “governor” moniker he applied to predecessor Justin Trudeau. “I just finished speaking with Prime Minister Mark Carney, of Canada,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States...

FBI Director Kash Patel hopes to expand the bureau’s new task force to all 50 states after rounding up dozens of migrant gang members since its debut, and prosecutors on Long Island — which has seen its communities terrorized by MS-13 — are urging Gov. Hochul to roll out the red carpet. “Gov. Hochul should be open to a conversation about having a gang task force here. I support it. We should do everything in our power to take down these gangs,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly told The Post. “In Nassau, we always work closely with our federal...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — A new proposal in Springfield would change how Illinois funds its roads, by charging drivers by the mile instead of a gas tax. The proposal, filed by Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and Sen. Christopher Belt (D-East St. Louis), calls for starting a pilot program to study the effectiveness of charging drivers by the mile, something the state is considering due to the prevalence of more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles on Ilinois roadways. Since fuel-efficient cars use less gasoline, fewer tax dollars will be available for road infrastructure. Electric vehicle owners currently pay a $100 premium on...

Alejandro Mayorkas, the nation’s top border official from 2021 to 2025, is denying blame for President Donald Trump’s smashing victory in 2024, which has scattered and impoverished the Democratic Party’s many interest groups. Instead, Mayorkas is blaming Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott and the upstart new media that he could not control as he gambled the party’s future by importing more than 10 million migrants for use by businesses and progressives.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) wondered what the federal government is “doing as they find a new COVID virus in China and we’re not part of the World Health Organization?” Co-host Boris Sanchez asked, “The argument from supporters of DOGE is that the federal government, as the president put it, is bloated and overgrown, that spending levels are unsustainable, that the country would go, de facto, bankrupt, as Elon Musk put it, without drastic changes to spending. Where do you think DOGE should focus then? Where should we see cuts?” Dingell answered, “