Free Republic

If cleanliness is next to godliness, then NYC’s basically heaven on Earth (kinda). Despite its vermin, trash-lined streets and only-in-New York smells, the Big Apple did not rank as one of the top 10 “Dirtiest Cities in America.” It’s a miracle on 34th Street — and it’s not even Christmas. “From clean drinking water to sewage disposal, littered streets to missed garbage pick-ups, we analyzed 12.3 million sanitation-related 311 complaints in a series of U.S. cities to reveal which metropolises need to clean up their act,” wrote study authors from HouseFresh, an indoor air quality imprint.

Today we have a new audio book release, this time from Edward Bernays with his 1928 work "Propaganda". Download the audio here. There is a lot to learn about progressivism in this book. Among other things (prior post on this) Bernays believed the following items which were captions on a newer reprint cover: As civilization has become more complex, and as the need for invisible government has been increasingly demonstrated, the technical means have been invented and developed by which opinion may be regimented(Page 39)Nowadays the successors of the rulers, those whose position or ability gives them power, can no...

A 19-year-old man has been charged with arson for allegedly sparking the massive wildfire in the New Jersey Pine Barrens that has torched 15,000 acres, prosecutors said. Joseph Kling, of Ocean Township, allegedly started a bonfire in the vast Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area with wooden pallets that exploded out of control when he did not properly put it out, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. Kling was taken into custody at Ocean Township police headquarters and taken to the Ocean County Jail, where he is awaiting his detention hearing.

"How can I help you today". That is what you see when you open Microsoft Edge's new tab page in the latest development version. Microsoft is replacing the traditional new tab page with a page that is all about Copilot. It is the second Copilot feature that has been added to Edge recently by Microsoft. Currently, that is only an experiment, but there is a chance that this new AI-powered page is replacing the classic new tab page, at least as an option. Snip.... Many of the interactions with Copilot redirect you to the Bing website where the results are...

When Melissa G. Moore came home one afternoon in the spring of 1995, her mother Rose Hucke took her and her two younger siblings aside. The Shadle Park High School senior immediately knew something was very wrong: her parents never held family meetings. In the unfinished basement of Moore’s grandmother’s Spokane, Wash., home where the family lived at the time, Rose shared that the children’s father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was in prison for murder. The news rocked Moore to the core. “I had a cot and a cellar area that I designated as my bedroom. I just remember going in...

Long Island Rep. Laura Gillen is urging the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to hold an emergency hearing on the nationwide “surge” in deadly traffic accidents — after an unsettling investigation revealed that a serious car crash occurs every seven minutes on Long Island. “The failure to secure our roads has led to thousands of lives being cut short, families being ripped apart, and a terrible void being left in too many communities,” Gillen wrote in her letter compelling the committee to take action. The Democratic lawmaker’s campaign comes after an investigation by Newsday revealed that Long Island drivers get...

A woman who lives on a cruise for free for half the year has revealed all the perks that come with it – and the one “weird” thing she can’t do. Christine Kesteloo, who is originally from the US and lives in the Netherlands when she’s not sailing, has visited a whopping 109 countries and counting. The 44-year-old doesn’t cook, clean, make her bed, do laundry or pay for food, and it’s all thanks to her husband Pete’s role as a chief engineer for the Holland America Line cruise company. Christine, who documents her life at sea for her almost...

Not to be blunt, but Gail Zanchelli hated marijuana as a teen growing up on Long Island. “Tried it, never liked it,” Zanchelli, 64, told The Post. Now it’s part of her nightly routine. The Deer Park resident takes 60 milligrams of gummies infused with THC — the main active ingredient in marijuana — before bed to relieve chronic throbbing in her tailbone. She’s part of a budding group of seniors who use cannabis to relax, ease pain, sleep better or manage their mental health.

"It's a tragedy, but it was so utterly preventable." Out on bond & awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a prior murder, Austin Collette fatally shot & killed his 21-year-old girlfriend. Judge Hilary Unger authorized Austin Collette's release on bond. Despicable.

Tax season can be a bit stressful for many Americans, but for those with unfiled returns or back taxes, the stress levels can be overwhelming. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is one of the most powerful collection agencies in the country and it has considerable power to pursue any unpaid taxes you owe. The agency also has a long memory when it comes to collecting what it's owed. That said, the IRS can't come after you for your old tax debts indefinitely. Most debts have statutes of limitations that eventually render them uncollectible — and the same is true for...

Karmelo Anthony's mother says family has been "under attack," that her daughter has been afraid to sleep in her own bed, and that her husband's "mental health is deteriorating day by day."

An activist group supporting Karmelo Anthony, who is accused of murdering fellow teenager Austin Metcalf at a Texas track meet, posted a bizarre POV-style video on social media showing their security team escorting the alleged killer from jail after he made bond. In the clip posted by the Next Generation Action Network (NGAN), a member of the organization’s security team shakes the teen’s hand and tells him to “get behind us” and “just stay close” as they walk past the media while leaving the Collin County Jail. One female reporter shoves a microphone in Anthony’s face and asks if he...

An incoherent New Jersey mom was allegedly caught on police bodycam video slurring her words after she drunkenly plowed into a truck with her three young daughters — and open bottles of wine — in her SUV. Megan Fackler, who admitted to working for the Garden State’s DOT, was arrested over the alleged drunken ordeal in Ewing Township, N.J., last October, newly released footage obtained by Transparency Bodycam shows. The mother had allegedly drifted into incoming traffic and crashed her 2020 Chevrolet Traverse into the truck after taking her kids — aged 8, 7, and 4 years — to dinner...

(CNN) - US District Judge James Boasberg ruled Wednesday that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders in mid-March halting the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members. The judge is still deciding punishment and the next steps he may take, and is giving the Justice Department an opportunity to respond.

The unhinged vagrant who attacked a decorated Delta Force vet with a brick in a shocking broad-daylight attack in the East Village is now locked up on $25,000 bail. James Lawson, 44, who already had five busts and an open case on his rap sheet, appeared with his face covered in bruises as he was arraigned Monday night and shipped off to Rikers Island in the Sunday morning attack on vet Mark Antal. Antal, 54, was waiting for his daughters outside a pilates studio near his Manhattan home when Lawson allegedly ordered him to get off “his street” shortly before...

Metro First pics of teen shot dead in NYC love triangle murder-suicide revealed By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon Published April 13, 2025, 5:27 p.m. ET 205 Comments The teen allegedly shot dead by his girlfriend’s jealous ex was 17 — as the first images of the youngster were revealed Sunday. Neo Secaira left work early on Saturday to pick up his 19-year-old girlfriend in Bayside on Saturday night, only to walk into a bloody murder-suicide that left him and US Marine Frank Liu, 28, dead while their mutual love interest looked on in horror, police and sources told The Post. Photos posted...

Oprah Winfrey is so proud of her bestie. The billionaire, 71, cried when her BFF Gayle King took off into space on the Blue Origin mission Monday morning alongside five others, including Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’s fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. Winfrey was on scene at the launch site in West Texas and told a reporter during the livestream that she wore yellow because King, 70, is “sunshine.”

(UPI) — Boston Public and Dazed and Confused actor Nicky Katt has died at the age of 54. His lawyer John Sloss confirmed the sad news to The New York Times, TMZ and The Hollywood Reporter Sunday, but he did not offer any details about the cause or circumstances of his death. The South Dakota native appeared in dozens of films and TV shows from the time he was a child. Among his credits include Fantasy Island, CHIPS, The Facts of Life, Uncle Buck, Sin City, Boiler Room, School of Rock, A Time to Kill, Batman & Robin, The Way...

The total tariff shall be: 1. 25%, on aircraft grade aluminum alloys and automotive grade ferrous metal, 2. on national security products [we could and should make], a. initially 0%, and then increasing by 2% at the start of every IRS quarter month after 2025 to 20%, on I. industrial level components, II. any drug for lawful retail sale & consumer use, III. drug, chemical and plastic industrial inputs, other than refinery hydrocarbons and those for making fertilizer, VI. semiconductors, V. solar cells and panels, VI. basic rare earth element products other than ore, 3. 0%, on a. other raw...

January 21, 2022 With inflation at a record high, millions of its citizens fleeing the country, and a political opposition recognized by most Western democracies as the legitimate government of Venezuela, the regime of Nicolás Maduro seemed to be on the brink of collapse in 2019. But Maduro regime survived, thanks to a number of factors — among them the external support it received from malign state actors such as Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing never wavered in their political support of the Venezuelan regime, or of Maduro himself, including by refusing to recognize the constitutionally mandated interim presidency...