Free Republic

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has picked a controversial rapper who did seven years in state prison for armed robbery to advise him on the criminal justice system. Mysonne Linen, 49, a Bronx convict-turned-activist who was found guilty of two felony heists in the late 1990s, was appointed by the democratic socialist to sit on a “criminal legal system” committee for his transition team as he prepares for the move to City Hall next month. “This is a testament to our decades of work advocating on behalf of black and brown communities and our expertise in gun violence prevention, legislative advocacy and...

New York City’s incoming mayor, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, released a video on X Sunday morning offering step-by-step advice to illegal immigrants on thwarting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Standing in front of a flip chart labeled “Know your rights,” Mamdani positioned himself as the defender of NYC’s “more than 3 million immigrants,” vowing to protect them from federal raids amid President Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda. The video comes on the heels of a disrupted ICE raid in Chinatown last weekend, where nearly 200 protesters blocked agents from leaving a parking garage. “Last weekend, ICE attempted to raid Canal...

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani offered advice to illegal immigrants on how to evade ICE in a video message Sunday — calling on illegal immigrants to “stand up” to the federal agents and “know your rights.” The democratic socialist positioned himself as the mayor of “more than 3 million immigrants” as he spoke following last weekend’s ICE raid in Chinatown, which was disrupted by protesters. “Last weekend, ICE attempted to raid Canal Street and detain our immigrant neighbors,” Mamdani said in a video posted on X on Sunday. “As mayor, I’ll protect the rights of every single New Yorker. And that includes...

At a private home in the West Village on Tuesday evening, a cryptocurrency billionaire, a Qualcomm heir and a son of George Soros hosted a sold-out fund-raiser for Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s incoming mayor. The next morning, Mr. Mamdani was off to TriBeCa, where a Hunt oil fortune heiress and a major cryptocurrency advocate held another fund-raiser for the mayor-elect. Next week, he is slated to appear at a star-studded reception on the Lower East Side featuring Hollywood royalty, including Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Tituss Burgess and the director Mira Nair, who is Mr. Mamdani’s mother. The...

It is always amazing that, in a place where liberal Democrats have reigned supreme for decades, and say they want a change, their answer always seems to be, "If we just elect some new Democrats..." Since he came on the scene during the summer, the entire nation has been able to see what's coming once Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani gets sworn into office. He is an unapologetic socialist and will implement ridiculous and useless socialist ideas in the Big Apple. When it comes to the city's homeless population, even Democrat Mayor Eric Adams knew there had to be some restrictions. But...

A grand jury in Virginia on Thursday declined to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on a new indictment related to allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. The decision comes after a federal judge dismissed the initial case against James last month, ruling that the federal prosecutor who brought the case was not lawfully appointed. The prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi. The grand jury's decision was first reported by CNN and NBC News, citing sources familiar with the matter. The second attempt to indict James was presented to the grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia,...

State Senator Lea Webb, who represents Tompkins, Cortland, and much of Broome County, is facing foreclosure on her Binghamton-area home, according to recent court documents. The Ithaca Voice reports attorneys for PHH Mortgage Corporation, a New Jersey-based lender, filed a civil suit against Webb in federal district court on October 22 over missed mortgage payments. Court filings indicate that as of June 2025, Webb was in default for $7,760, roughly equivalent to three months of payments. Webb purchased the four-bedroom home in Johnson City last December for $380,000, according to county records. The property is listed on Broome County tax...

Outgoing New York City New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed two executive orders Wednesday aimed at countering antisemitism and preventing city funds from supporting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The New York Post reported that Adams barred city business or pension investment decisions that discriminate against Israel, a move that could be viewed as a challenge to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who supports the BDS movement. While speaking at a conference in New Orleans sponsored by the North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism, Adams said his administration “recognizes the benefit of maintaining a strong relationship between the...

Siena men's lacrosse coach Liam Gleason has died, the school announced Wednesday, three days after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a fall at his home. He was 41. Gleason led the Saints to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament this past season, which was his seventh at the Loudonville, New York, school. "A sudden, senseless loss carries a kind of pain that defies understanding," Siena president Chuck Seifert said. "It's hard to imagine anyone more universally loved and admired than Liam. Our community was blessed by Coach Gleason's life."

n September the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division filed federal lawsuits against six states for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request: — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. As the Globe said at the time, “That the DOJ is hauling California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania into court for hiding their voter rolls is monumental, and specifically the accountability Americans have been clamoring for.” Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division did it again, but filed federal lawsuits against six additional states — Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island,...

The Trump administration fired eight immigration judges in New York City on Monday, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The firings followed an earlier round of job cuts in New York immigration courts and are part of a broader disruption across the country, which is taking place as the president seeks to accelerate deportations. They were confirmed by an official at the National Association of Immigration Judges, a union representing immigration judges, and a Justice Department official who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. The immigration courts are under the control...

It’s been one big, green goof. The Empire State’s green energy push has been a pie-in-the-sky bust as politicians hit the brakes on their alternate energy goals — and New Yorkers get sticker shock from ever-soaring utility bills, a scathing new report found. The analysis by the Democratic-leaning think tank the Progressive Policy Institute found a “clear and undeniable pattern of failure” across the most critical mandates of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Act. “New York set bold climate targets, but ignored the economic and technical realities required to achieve them,” said PPI’s report author Neel Brown. “The result...

Alleged gunman Luigi Mangione will be back in court Tuesday for a second day of testimony as the judge overseeing his state murder case weighs whether to throw out key evidence. On Monday, Judge Gregory Carro heard a 911 call a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, made telling the dispatcher some customers were concerned the alleged killer of United Healthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson, who was fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan, was in the restaurant. Two corrections officers who work at SCI Huntingdon, the state prison where Mangione was held until he was extradited to New York to face charges,...

Ever since Donald Trump welcomed Zohran Mamdani into the White House, we’ve been hearing the expected rhetoric from various usual suspects. Trump has sold out. He’s gone over to the dark side. Mamdani outwitted him and made him look like a fool in his own hometown. This has largely come from two sources: the hysterics who live for the moment where they can begin caterwauling that it’s all over, that nothing can be done, that we may as well give up… (Yeah, that’s right – I’m talking about you in the comment threads.) …and the sincere but limited individuals who...

he U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled Monday that two nonprofit pro-life pregnancy centers in New York and a nonprofit network of affiliated centers, all represented by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, are free to tell women about the life-saving potential of using progesterone for abortion pill reversal while their lawsuit continues. Last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued 11 faith-based, life-affirming pregnancy centers in state court in an effort to silence their speech about counteracting the effects of the abortion drug mifepristone using supplemental progesterone, a treatment commonly known as “abortion-pill reversal.” Her enforcement action...

Far-left New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani hasn’t even taken office yet, but the state has already been hard at work coddling illegal aliens and defying the Trump administration’s efforts to get criminal non-citizens off the streets. In fact, in this year alone, they’ve released almost 7,000 illegals, some of them accused of nasty crimes.These are the kind of people the left-leaning state is protecting instead of its citizens:New York state has released nearly 7,000 known illegal migrant criminals without notifying ICE since President Trump took office — including murderers, sexual predators and a maniac booted from the US eight...

New York state has released nearly 7,000 known illegal migrant criminals without notifying ICE since President Trump took over, and has more than 7,000 others locked up in jails and prisons, the Department of Homeland Security revealed. All of them are being protected by sanctuary laws, DHS says, and the feds are now demanding that New York Attorney General Letitia James hand them over so they can be deported, according to a letter DHS sent to the state’s embattled top lawyer Monday. The feds laid out how many of the migrants have been involved in thousands of crimes — including...

The Department of Homeland Security sent a letter Monday to New York Attorney General Letitia James, demanding that she turn over the more than 7,000 illegal migrants that are allegedly locked up in jails and prisons in the state. Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons claimed that nearly 7,000 illegal migrants, who had active detainers because they allegedly committed thousands of crimes, were released back into the state since January and 7,113 illegal migrants with active ICE detainers are currently locked up in New York, according to the New York Post. “These are people who are not only...

Gamblers will soon be able to roll the dice in New York City. A state board on Monday awarded three licenses to operate the first Vegas-style casinos in New York City that are expected to generate billions of dollars in tax revenues, jobs and economic activity — two in Queens and one nearby in The Bronx. The New York Gaming Facility Location Board, in a 5-0 vote, approved licenses to all three finalists: Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock’s Metropolitan Park gaming complex near Citi Field. The Genting Group Resorts World’s slots parlor’s expansion to offer table games next...

Repaired cracks cover the walls of every large New York Thruway rest stop near Rochester, according to a recent News10NBC investigation. The damage is visible at sites like Clarence, Pembroke, and Clifton Springs — all finished in 2023. The walls were built by Nexii, a Canadian company promoting eco-friendly materials. Applegreen, the Irish firm that rebuilt 27 rest stops with private funding, says the cracks aren’t a safety concern and repairs are ongoing. No toll or tax money funded the construction, officials confirmed.