Free Republic

This Sunset Park family is growing by leaps and bounds! Lindsay and Dane Demchak were all set to throw a birthday party Saturday for their son Omri, who was born Feb. 29, 2016, the last Leap Year. But that soiree was put on hold when the 31-year-old stay-at-home mom unexpectedly gave birth Saturday morning, four days early, to a 7-pound, 2-ounce baby girl at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn. “We’re the double Leap Year family!” a beaming Lindsay Demchak boasted from her hospital bed as she cradled a swaddled Scout on her right arm. “We don’t believe in superstition. We...

Four years ago, candidate Donald Trump’s pitch to African Americans heading to voting booths was simple: “What do you have to lose?” While he captured just 8 percent of the black vote in 2016, recent polls suggest things could be different this time around. In November, an Emerson poll reported a 34.5 percent approval rating among black voters, and a January Gallup poll reported a 14 percent increase in satisfaction over race relations among Americans. “We’ve had this wild surge of new testimonials coming in the past few weeks, largely in the black community,” said Brandon Straka, founder of #WalkAway,...

New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz is a legislative genius. When last we checked on his work, he was planning to GPS-enable every new gun in the state, and require firearm owners to have just the sort of insurance that the state was busily shutting down. Amidst all of that, I somehow missed another one of his bills. A03779 Establishes a statewide database to maintain and track coded ammunition; establishes penalties for individuals who violate such provisions; also establishes the ammunition coding system database fund. That’s all bad enough. Basically, it would require every single, individual cartridge in the state, for...

With almost eight million people riding MTA subways, buses and commuter trains every weekday--often in overcrowded conditions--the transit system has the potential to spread the coronavirus should a serious outbreak occur in New York. So what is the agency doing to prepare for the virus and help to protect public health? NY1 Transit Reporter Dan Rivoli has the details: The MTA's safety chief begins each day trying to learn the latest about the spread of the coronavirus. "Every morning--about 8:30--we bring together all of the safety and health and emergency management individuals from not only the headquarters here but all...

'No Hate in Our State' is a new campaign being launched by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. It's a series of proposals in the 2021 budget designed to combat hate, division and anti-Semitism in New York. The campaign includes a first-in-the-nation domestic terrorism law, a $25 million investment to help protect not-for-profit religious organizations, creating an education curriculum on diversity and tolerance, and investing $2 million to support the Hate Crimes Task Force. "The rash of anti-Semitism and hate crimes that has been spreading across our State and the country is a virus. I thought that New York would be...

After a four-year battle with the state, the proposed Constitution natural-gas pipeline project has been abandoned, as National Grid warns of a coming natural gas supply emergency next Winter. The State of New York has a natural gas shortage, the result of years of the administration of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and environmentalists fighting the construction of new supply pipelines. A June 2019 report by The Manhattan Institute documented the shortage and its causes, Out of Gas: New York’s Blocked Pipelines Will Hurt Northeast Consumers:

The owner of Vince Young Steakhouse says homelessness in Austin is reaching a boiling point... The first real major incident that I had was I had my head split open,” Brown said in an interview. “We had a guy, he was knocking over tables on our patio.” When he called 911, he said the man believed to be homeless hit him in the head. He needed 13 stitches. Then about six months ago, he found a man relieving himself in the parking lot. When Brown asked him to leave, Brown said the man responded, “This is Austin. We can do...

Despite her massive national media presence, it appears U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., isn’t taking reelection for granted. At a Saturday kickoff event in her bid for a second term, the far-left freshman congresswoman told supporters she wanted to see voter turnout in New York’s 14th Congressional District increase by “four times” over her previous run in 2018. No fewer than 12 Democrats have filed in the district to run against Ocasio-Cortez in the primary election on June 23, according to radio station WINS of New York City. In addition, at least three Republicans will vie for a chance to...

New York’s governor plans to propose to President Donald Trump that the state could share some driving records with federal immigration agencies if the administration reverses its move to block state residents from Global Entry and other programs that allow travelers to avoid long border security lines.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is scheduled to meet with President Donald J. Trump at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a 2017 change in federal tax law that the governor contends has been devastating to New York and other "Democratic states." Last week, Cuomo had announced New York is facing an unexpected $2.3 billion shortfall — the most significant in eight years — that he attributed in large part to the federal rollback of the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT. Cuomo's administration contends that the $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions of state and local...

It’s an issue that law enforcement and District Attorneys have been raising concerns about for the last few months, that these new criminal justice bills are placing a strain on their already tight budgets. And now the Mayor of the Village of Freeport is saying he has had to find another way to cover these added costs. "We haven’t raised taxes in the Village of Freeport in 7 years," said Robert Kennedy.  Kennedy is not only the Mayor of the Village of Freeport, he is also President of the State Conference of Mayors. And he says that he has already...

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her boyfriend Riley Roberts offered a gradual three-step approach for helping white people do their part to combat racism. The New York Democrat took on a wide range of questions from followers in her latest Instagram Q & A session Friday night, including one about how white people can help "chip away" at racist beliefs among fellow Caucasian friends and family. Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts--who has largely avoided public remarks during his girlfriend's time in office--offered side-by-side "tips on combating racism as a White person," as well as responses to questions about generational wealth and the "hot...

The Trump Administration announced late Wednesday that New York State residents will no longer be allowed to apply for or renew Global Entry, the fast-track program that lets verified travelers use automated kiosks when returning from overseas. New York's new "Green Light Law," which took effect in December, allows people without legal immigration status to apply for drivers' licenses in New York. As part of the law, New York blocked access to DMV databases to federal agencies that enforce immigration laws. Although the law was passed in June, federal officials were reportedly caught off-guard when it took effect in December....

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it will no longer allow New York state residents to enroll in programs intended to expedite international travel because of a state law that blocks immigration authorities from accessing motor vehicle records. New York's "Green Light" law, which took effect in December, allows immigrants without legal status to apply for driver's licenses. It also includes a provision barring state officials at the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing data with immigration authorities unless a judge orders them to do so. Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary at DHS, told reporters on a conference call...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says it is imperative for Democrats to back the eventual 2020 nominee - even if “subversive policies” by party leaders torpedo a campaign. The New York Democrat - a staunch supporter of Sen. Bernard Sanders‘ campaign - told Time magazine that underhanded tactics should not deter Democrats in the general election of their candidate were targeted during primary elections. **SNIP** Ms. Ocasio-Cortez went on to warn key decision makers not to attempt to politically kneecap Mr. Sanders‘ campaign. “Ocasio-Cortez also discouraged Democrats from using party rules or other mechanisms to block Sanders if he advances,” the magazine...

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf exclusively told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday that DHS was immediately suspending Global Entry and several other Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) for all New York state residents -- a dramatic move in response to the liberal state's recently enacted sanctuary "Green Light Law." The sweeping order came a day after President Trump, in his State of the Union address, condemned left-wing states and local governments that "release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public," and called on Congress to pass a law establishing civil liability for sanctuary cities. In a letter to...

The autistic Long Island boy left to freeze to death in his garage — allegedly as “punishment” by his father — was sent to the house of horrors by a judge who ripped him from his mother’s custody without even holding a hearing, court transcripts obtained by The Post show. Nassau County Judge Hope Schwartz Zimmerman’s fateful Sept. 6, 2017, decision to put 8-year-old Thomas Valva and his two brothers in the custody of their dad, Michael, was made on the fly, the shocking transcripts show, without any formal, court-filed accusation of wrongdoing against their mom, Justyna Zubko-Valva. Michael Valva and his...

They thought she was making it all up. It cost a little boy his life. From cops and social workers to lawyers and judges, Long Island mom Justyna Zubko-Valva claims no one took her warnings about her NYPD cop husband, Michael Valva, seriously. Alleging sex abuse, starvation, brainwashing, beatings and possible child porn, the mom had insisted their three sons were suffering at Valva’s hands. But instead of getting help, Zubko-Valva became lost in a legal labyrinth where she was the one on trial, painted as a scorned woman with a “vendetta,” court papers show. One Suffolk County Family Court prosecutor...

Victim Angela Valle and "Grim Creepa."Facebook   The last words Angela Valle says she heard before her boyfriend drove an ax into her skull were a chilling omen she can’t forget.  “You all are not getting out of this,” Jerry Brown said, clutching the 3-foot hatchet as he stood over Valle and her childhood best friend Savannah Rivera, while they sat on the sofa in Valle’s Bushwick apartment. “It’s me, it’s me, what is wrong with you?” Valle tried to reason.  “Shut the f–k up. Just shut the f–k up. Sit on the floor,” Brown ordered, Valle recalled in her...

Not even this brutal, caught-on-video mugging — in which a struggling 83-year-old woman was dragged to the ground, and her purse wrenched away — is enough to get a suspect locked up these days under the state’s new bail reform law. Exclusive video obtained by The Post allegedly shows 56-year-old Dana White, of Jamaica, Queens, walking up behind the victim in front of a building on Eldridge St. on the Lower East Side at about 5:45 a.m. Monday. The victim is so petite compared to her attacker, that she stands only as high as his chest as he grabs at...