Free Republic

The mask is essentially useless: The mask is not an adequate defense against the COVID-19 virus... The virus checks in at somewhere between 0.06 and 0.14 microns, meaning it’s too small for any commercially available mask to effectively filter it out. The pores on an N95 mask, which are the best masks you’re reasonably going to find, and the vast, vast majority of you are not going to have N95 masks but rather cloth masks, which perform far less well, are 0.3 microns ... Staten Island a mob of “karens” forced a woman from a store for not wearing a...

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A pregnant woman and her boyfriend were fatally shot inside their Staten Island home Monday by a convicted killer during a botched home robbery, ­sources said. The suspect Philip Moreno, 45, allegedly stormed into the home in Arlington at about 5 p.m. and gunned down both victims in the living room, according to law-enforcement sources. Ana Desousa, 33, who was pregnant, and her partner, Alafia Rodriguez, 46, were discovered dead on the floor by police.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Car thefts keep rising on Staten Island during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, continuing a trend of grand larceny auto incidents in the borough, data from the New York Police Department shows. From April 27 to May 3, police responded to nine grand larceny auto incidents on Staten Island -- an increase of seven more thefts compared to the same period last year, the data shows.

Carmelo Saia says he has a whole new outlook on life just weeks after COVID-19 nearly took his life while battling the deadly virus in the Intensive Care Unit. Saia is still recovering from his bout with coronavirus, but he’s back in his Grasmere home and now believes he’s living proof that it’s not an automatic death sentence when you contract the disease. Acknowledging that approximately only 20 percent of people who go on ventilators, as he did, survive, he believes his life was saved after giving a doctor the thumbs up to use the experimental drug hydroxychoroquine after it...

In early March, the Eltingville Pastosa introduced Cannoli Ravioli to patrons. The sweet spin on the Italian dessert merged with the store’s house-made ravioli proved an instant hit with Staten Islanders. Danny and Umberto De Rosa were stunned at the new product’s rabid reception. In just a week on the market, the cannoli ravioli sold out as fast as they could produce them. So the brothers increased production on the store’s ravioli machines. A box for a frozen 12-count costs $7.49, treats that customers can fry up at home from their icy state or room temp. They recently started pan-frying...

Amazon fired a worker who organized a walkout at a New York warehouse to demand greater protection against the new coronavirus, saying the employee himself flouted distancing rules and put others at risk. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the city’s Commission of Human Right to investigate whether the dismissal was retaliatory. New York Attorney General Letitia James called on the National Labor Relations Board to investigate and said her office is also considering legal options. […] Amazon said the worker, Christian Smalls, received several warnings for violating social distancing guidelines. Amazon said Smalls showed up at the...

U.S. Rep. Max Rose of Staten Island announced his endorsement of Michael Bloomberg’s presidential bid, making Mr. Rose the first member of Congress to back the former New York City mayor’s campaign. Mr. Rose, a Democrat, specifically cited Mr. Bloomberg’s management of the city in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Mr. Bloomberg was elected to the first of his three terms as mayor that year. “Mayor Bloomberg’s even-keeled and visionary leadership is what we need to reduce the chaos, partisanship and hyper-vitriol that has overtaken Washington,” Mr. Rose said. “Rather than submit to another stage of...

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" were the last words of 21-year-old American patriot Nathan Hale, who was hanged by the British without a trial on SEPTEMBER 22, 1776. A Yale graduate, 1773, Nathan Hale almost became a Christian minister, as his brother Enoch did, but instead became a teacher at Union Grammar School. When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, Nathan Hale joined a Connecticut militia and served in the siege of Boston. On July 4, 1775, Hale received a letter from his Yale classmate, Benjamin Tallmadge, who became General Washington's...

According to court documents filed in New York on Friday, the March shooting death of prominent Gambino crime family boss Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali was not a mob hit at all, as had previously been assumed. Cali was allegedly shot by 24-year-old Anthony Comello in the Todt Hill section of Staten Island on March 13 this year, but Comello was not acting on the orders of one of the five major New York crime families. In fact, Comello seemed simply to be a man who lived with his parents and was obsessed with President Trump and a far-right conspiracy theory...

U.S. Rep. Max Rose, a Jewish New York Democrat in his first term in Congress, apologized to visibly frustrated constituents at a town hall in Staten Island on Tuesday for not "protecting them" from fellow freshman Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar's repeated use of "anti-Semitic tropes." Rose's comments came as Minnesota Democrats are seriously considering the prospect of supporting an unprecedented primary challenge against the 37-year-old Omar in 2020, following bipartisan condemnation of several of her remarks, according to officials and state representatives. Earlier this month, the House passed a bipartisan resolution condemning hate of all kinds in the wake of Omar's comments. But Democrats kept Omar's...

A 24-year-old man was arrested in connection with the killing of Francesco Cali, a reputed boss of New York's Gambino crime family who was gunned down in a brazen hit this week, the NYPD said. Anthony Camello, of Staten Island, was taken into custody in New Jersey, police said. Investigators anticipate returning him to Staten Island where he will face murder charges for Cali, said Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea. ... The sources said the murder wasn't related to the mob. One source described the man in custody as a “conspiracy theory type” of guy while a second source said...

The mafia didn’t kill Gambino boss Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali — a twentysomething Staten Island hothead with a personal beef did, police and sources said Saturday. Anthony Comello, 24, a non-mobster who works odd construction jobs, was named as the suspect who blasted at least ten slugs into Cali, 53, on the street outside the boss’s brick mansion. It was the first assassination of a New York City mob boss since an upstart John Gotti had Gambino boss Paul Castellano whacked outside Sparks Steak House in 1985. Investigators quickly feared a mob war in the making.

The Gottis are back in town — and the bloodshed could just be beginning. Police are taking a serious look at whether Gambino crime family boss Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali was whacked in an internal war for control — with one of John Gotti’s brothers and a key associate fresh out of prison and possibly looking to seize power, law enforcement sources told The Post on Thursday. While the motive for the Wednesday hit on Cali outside his Staten Island home remains under investigation, cops were probing whether it was part of a brewing American-vs.-Sicilian power struggle — with Gene...

A man said by federal prosecutors to have been a top leader of New York's notorious Gambino crime family was shot and killed Wednesday on Staten Island. Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali, 53, was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his body at his home in the borough's Todt Hill section just after 9 p.m.

EXCLUSIVE: Gambino mob heir predicts Michael Cohen will get WHACKED in prison because 'inmates love Trump and hate rats' An heir to the Gambino crime family has issued a stark warning to Michael Cohen, predicting that President Donald Trump's former personal attorney may face retaliation behind bars over his Congressional testimony. 'Inmates love Trump, and hate rats. If he wants to get out alive, he better keep his mouth shut about Trump,' Giovanni said.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido’s patriotic-themed truck was vandalized, LoBaido announced on Facebook today. The American-flag-painted vehicle appeared to have a strip of black spray paint across the side of the vehicle. In the video, LoBaido can be heard saying, “this happened last night,” referring to Saturday, February 23. “So lucky I wasn’t there! Detectives combing thru my security cams,” LoBaido wrote on Facebook.

WASHINGTON — These Congress members are sleeping on the job — and defending their right to do it. Crying poverty amid decade-long stagnant salaries and Washington’s steep cost of living, an increasing number of House lawmakers have turned into professional squatters at night, hitting the sack in their Capitol Hill offices — on everything from cots in closets to futons stashed behind constituent couches — to save a few bucks during the work week. “Washington is too expensive,” said Rep. Dan Donovan (R-SI), who credits the cot that he sleeps on in a tiny alcove in his office as the...

Republican Staten Island Rep. Dan Dovonan was defeated by an Afghan war vet in a major House upset Tuesday night, losing his bid for a second full term in a seat he was favored to win for months. The upset came at the hands of Democrat Max Rose, who combined a massive fundraising haul with an energetic persona to dispatch the longtime politician. Donovan quickly conceded at his election night party.

Staten Island Rep. Dan Donovan is locked in a surprisingly close race with Democratic challenger Max Rose, according to a poll released Tuesday. Donovan leads Rose by 4 points — 44 to 40 percent, the New York Times Upshot/Siena College survey found. Green Party candidate Henry Gardel gets 1 percent and 15 percent of likely voters remain undecided, the poll said. The 11th congressional district that encompasses Staten Island and southern Brooklyn has been considered a safe Republican seat. Staten Island accounts for about 70 percent of the vote and Brooklyn 30 percent.