Free Republic

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Despite having killed someone less than a month ago, “Black Lives Matter” protestors continue to block ambulances This is really despicable.Less than a month after a man died because “Black Lives Matter” protestors blocked an ambulance in Berkeley, “Black Lives Matter” protestors just blocked an ambulance in Boston.The Boston Globe reports:Protesters snarl morning commute on I-93 near BostonProtesters affiliated with the activist group Black Lives Matter carried out their most audacious and disruptive demonstration yet in the Boston area Thursday, blocking the largest highway into the city, snarling rush-hour traffic, and stopping an ambulance in its...

Why Obama goes into metaphoric pretzel mode all to avoid calling the scourge of the day what it undeniably is: Radical Islamic Terrorism What’s in a name? Everything when power is your game. That’s why Barry Soetoro (Barack Obama) and Warren Wilhelm Jr., New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio changed theirs. Barack Obama sounds much more exotic than plain old, plebe-like Barry Soetoro. Bill de Blasio is a name that goes so much further to impart the image of being “one of the guys” than does Warren Wilhelm. Both Obama and de Blasio know the power in a name;...

It’s official: Mayor de Blasio is going to be spending part of Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Hizzoner last week refused to say whether he would be attending the annual King tribute at Sharpton’s National Action Network Harlem headquarters. But the mayor’s office on Saturday confirmed he’ll be there. De Blasio would not confirm last week if he would be attending the annual King tribute at Sharpton’s National Action Network Harlem headquarters.De Blasio would not confirm last week if he would be attending the annual King tribute at Sharpton’s National Action Network Harlem headquarters. PreviousNextDemocratic...

Rocket launcher recovered during investigation in Brooklyn Updated 26 mins ago BUSHWICK -- Police say a rocket launcher was recovered in Brooklyn as part of an ongoing investigation Friday. The weapon was seized by the NYPD from a home on Knickerbocker Avenue in the Bushwick section. Initially, authorities said the weapon was operational, but it is actually inert. Investigators have charged 41-year-old Juan Garcia with weapons and drug possession. Authorities say an investigation that started in the Bronx led police to Garcia's address in Brooklyn. Along with the rocket launcher, brass knuckles and drug paraphernalia were also recovered at the...

So, let’s get this straight. At a decisive moment in history when our nation required a strong and unbiased voice from its’ senior law enforcement official, you Mr. Holder, made it your personal mission to join with other racial antagonist and politicize a tragic event, accusing a young white police officer of a racially motivated killing in what we now know was a justified self-defense shooting of a predatory felon. Your behavior is unbelievable. You sir, have sacrificed your integrity on the altar of political expediency. You, Mr. Holder, are the “coward” and hypocrite you so loudly denounce when speaking...

New York City shouldn’t exist. Its population of waiters waiting to become actors, professors waiting to write bestsellers, muggers waiting to become drug kingpins, welfare cases waiting for American Idol and cyclists waiting to become international humanitarians are the natural constituency of the left. Like every major city in the last fifty years, New York City is caught between a progressive death wish to embrace every single insane policy of the left from midnight basketball for crackheads to a 99 percent tax on everyone who has a job and the common sense competence that keeps it afloat. Every election is...

Not long after Mayor Bill de Blasio sat beside the Rev. Al Sharpton at a July summit meeting on police reform, a political adviser gave the mayor a blunt assessment: You have a problem with the cops. Rank-and-file officers felt disrespected by the mayor, the adviser explained, and were dismayed to see Mr. Sharpton, a longtime critic of the New York Police Department, embraced at City Hall. But Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, rejected the notion that officers disliked him. His message, the adviser later recalled, was clear: Everything was under control. That confidence would last until late last month,...

Across New York City, policemen are being put on notice by higher ups, get back to business as usual, or no vacations, or sick days, according to reports. And borough commanders want to see the proof. “Throughout the city, precincts are being ordered to hand up to borough commanders ‘activity sheets’ indicating the number of arrests and summonses per shift…” Said one union source, according to the New York Post, “Police officers around the city are now threatened with transfers, no vacation time and sick time unless they write summonses.”

It’s a slowdown showdown. At precincts across the city, top brass are cracking the whip on summons activity and even barring many cops from taking vacation and sick days, The Post has learned. Throughout the city, precincts are being ordered to hand up to borough commanders “activity sheets” indicating the number of arrests and summonses per shift, sources told The Post. “Police officers around the city are now threatened with transfers, no vacation time and sick time unless they write summonses,” one union source said. “This is the same practice that caused officers to be labeled racist and abusers of...

Dec. 23 marked a banner day in the Peyser/Phillips household. My daughter, Eliza Phillips, turned Sweet 16. This was an excuse for her parents to enjoy mountains of cake (and a few nips of Scotch.) But it also brought us a sense of extreme anxiety. For soon my kid will choose a career. But like millions of parents, infamously including Mayor de Blasio, this seemed as good a time as any for me to sit my child down and give her “the talk.’’ I warned her — Do not join law enforcement. This makes me sad. Just as de Blasio...

There’s 35,000 of them, but they’re not an army. So, it’s a new year, and we’re already hip-deep in horrors. I can’t even begin to write about the Charlie Hebdo massacre; I’m not an expert on terrorism or on France, and in general I agree with Dan Murphy of the Christian Science Monitor, who’s made a good point recently on Twitter that there are too many of these “what’s it all mean” pieces and all far too soon. Instead, I want to go back to one of the stories we were all arguing about before the Paris massacre: the tension...

(Reuters) - On the sidewalk of a public housing development in Brooklyn, New York notorious for gang violence and drug activity, the words "Fascist pig, go home!" in black spray paint are fading but still legible. These are the Marcy Houses, 27 brick H-block buildings, each six stories high, that are home to nearly 4,300 people, many of whom are black or Latino. The rapper Jay-Z, who grew up in the complex, described Marcy as "a block away from hell," the place where "news cameras never come," in a song called "Where I'm From."

The civilized world is still reeling from Wednesday's brutal attack against the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo by gunmen seeking revenge for cartoons attacking Islam. Nevertheless, Breitbart.com reported Thursday, the White House announced it would make fighting Islamophobia a priority. "Never mind that most Westerners aren’t Islamophobic, but rather GettingShotInTheFaceForExpressingMyOpinion-Phobic," Ben Shapiro wrote. Speaking with reporters, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the real problem is lack of leadership in defending Islam. "There are some individuals that are using a peaceful religion and grossly distorting it, and trying to use its tenets to inspire people around the globe to...

Wonder no more why the Supreme Court voted for Obamacare or why New York Mayor Bill de Blasio re-appointed Brooklyn Judge Laura Johnson who freed without bail 2 defendants who had threatened police just days after the double assassination of officers in Bedford Stuyvesant. The communist version of law is “social justice” as opposed to the rule of law. The Constitution protects the individual, whereas “social justice” protects the aims of the collective. That is why the Communist Party began sending certain of its members to law school; to gain credibility in the courts and subvert the Constitution by distorting...

Of all the statistics from the recent New Year’s Eve in Times Square—1 million revelers, 2,000 pounds of confetti, thousands of police officers, dozens of surveillance cameras—there is one number that stands out: zero, as in zero tickets for low-level crimes. No tickets for having an open container of alcohol, no tickets for public urination, no tickets for double parking, no tickets for furry, costumed characters hassling tourists to take their picture. Add in low-level arrests, and there was just one, for a subway-related offense. And that wasn’t just on New Year’s Eve. That was for the entire week containing...

Oh sure, Mayor Bill de Blasio—aka Mayor de Blaze-io (GET IT)—probably doesn't smoke marijuana anymore, regardless of what certain people want you to believe. But he definitely used to, and he doesn't mind you knowing that—he slyly sent out this tweet on Thursday as reports of his past pot use once again made "news." To put this all in context for you, let's count down the 10 best young BDB photos and wildly speculate on what corresponding drugs he might have been taking at the time.

The Amazing Kreskin wants to read de Blasio’s mind The Amazing Kreskin will celebrate his 80th birthday with a star- studded bash at City Crab on Monday, and Bill de Blasio is invited. But if the mayor shows, “I will read his thoughts in public, in front of the audience,” offered the mentalist, who admits he’s at odds with de Blasio over his crusade to ban horse carriages. “I only have one fear — I may draw a blank,” Kreskin cracked of de Blasio’s brain.

Zoo Won’t Let de Blasio Hold Groundhog After He Killed One Last Year The NYPD isn't the only city organization that has lost complete confidence in the esteemed Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. After he dropped the groundhog during last year's Groundhog Day celebrations, the Staten Island Zoo has unequivocally banned De Blasio from holding or handling any more of their animals in a celebratory setting. - Mayor de Blasio won’t be killing any more groundhogs — zoo handlers are forbidding the butter-fingered mayor from holding the critter at the annual shadow-sighting ceremony on Feb. 2, The...

**SNIP** Sharpton said, “This is the largest majority Republicans have had since the 1920s, and what will happen, and how we deal with our interests, when we have both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives dominated by the Republicans — one, we need to realize and recognize, had we voted like we should have we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “But secondly, all is not lost, the president can use veto power, which he already said he is going to do about the Keystone Pipeline legislation, and executive action.” “Even though the legislature is tied down, the executive...

Security: In the wake of the Islamist terrorist attack in Paris, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani argues to reinstate a policy cancelled by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has arguably left the city as exposed as it was on Sept. 10, 2001. Although the Paris terrorist attack by Islamists has not been linked to any mosque, the historical record is dotted with similar attacks that have such links, including the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at the Army base in Killeen, Texas, by Maj. Nidal Hasan that killed 13 and wounded 31 as the self-proclaimed "Soldier of Allah" shouted "Allahu...