Free Republic

Add New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn to the list of Democrats distancing themselves from the party's leaders. The lawmaker slammed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday for his attacks on President Trump in a new fundraising email. Instead of "villainizing" the White House and the "hard right," Hikind suggested Schumer and his fellow Democrats at least admit that the economy is improving and that there are radicals in their own party. He wrote his suggestions in a Facebook post. "You forgot to tell us about the economy," Hikind tells Schumer. "As good as it’s been, economists...

These middle-schoolers are getting moved up a grade — but their principal wants them to know they didn’t earn it. A Brooklyn principal sent some parents a letter last week congratulating their sixth graders on being promoted — then implying the kids passed only because the school is too broke stick them in summer school.

<p>A good Samaritan wrestled a homeless maniac to the ground after he attacked two elderly women as they were leaving a Brooklyn grocery store on Sunday morning, police said.</p> <p>Andres Flores allegedly punched the two women — 77 and 79 — after they left the Shoppers World on Pitkin Avenue near Herzl Street in Brownsville at about 9:45 a.m., police said.</p>

You Tube

Getting from point A to point B should, theoretically, be a relatively simple task. But in order to travel, the transportation infrastructure needs to be in place and up to par. Across the state, major projects are underway to repair and update that infrastructure so that New Yorkers can get where they need to go – whether that’s through the air, over land or over water. Though some may be on track to be completed while others wallow in planning, here are five major projects underway that should make it easier for New Yorkers to get around.Gov. Mario M. Cuomo...

Last month, Senator Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the executive summary of their final report investigating the CIA's controversial detention and interrogation program. As part of their study, the Democrats compiled twenty case studies, which were intended to address claims made by the CIA regarding the efficacy of its interrogations. One of those case studies focused on the identification and arrest of Ali Saleh Kahlah al Marri, who was freed from a US prison just days ago. Al Marri served as a "sleeper" operative for al Qaeda inside the US in 2001....

They’re back. This paper has learned exclusively that the Brooklyn Friends of the NRA, whose event featuring a gun auction was booted from two Brooklyn venues over the past couple of months after local residents and elected officials expressed strong objections, will be holding their dinner at the Dyker Heights Knights of Columbus, at 86th Street and 13th Avenue, tonight, beginning at 6 p.m.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is on a campaign to wipe out the large populations of rats that plague the city and, in particular, some of the city’s housing projects. Yesterday, he gave a presentation on his plan while sitting behind a large sign that read "Watch Out Rats!" "We love our city but our city is associated for many generations with the problem of rats," de Blasio said. He then outlined a new approach to the problem which involved the use of dry ice to humanely suffocate entire rat colonies in their burrows. In order to demonstrate...

A prominent New York lawyer has died after setting himself on fire in Brooklyn's Prospect Park to protest against the use of fossil fuels. David Buckel, 60, had been well-known for his work on behalf of the LGBT community, as well as with environmental groups. A suicide note near the lawyer's remains said he had immolated himself using fossil fuel to symbolize the damage humans are doing to the Earth. Buckel had also reportedly sent the note to multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, warning that people were dying early deaths as a result of breathing in bad...

A lawyer nationally known for being a champion of gay rights died after setting himself on fire in Prospect Park in Brooklyn early Saturday morning and leaving a note exhorting people to lead less selfish lives as a way to protect the planet, the police said. The remains of the lawyer, David S. Buckel, 60, were found near Prospect Park West in a field near baseball diamonds and the main loop used by joggers and bikers. Mr. Buckel left a note in a shopping cart not far from his body and also emailed it to several news media outlets, including...

A prominent LGBTQ rights lawyer died after setting himself on fire in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on Saturday. David Buckel, 60, killed himself after sending messages to multiple news outlets including The New York Times claiming his intentions to set himself on fire to protest the world's usage of fossil fuels at the expense of the environment. "Pollution ravages our planet, oozing inhabitability via air, soil, water and weather," Buckel wrote the Times in an email. "Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result - my early death...

The New York Post reports that environmental activist and legal expert David Buckel has committed suicide in the name of environmentalism. The high profile lawyer, who made a name for himself as a prolific gay and transgender rights attorney, set himself on fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park earlier today.   From the New York Post: "In a gruesome protest against the ecological destruction of the earth, David Buckel, 60, left behind a charred corpse and a typed suicide note that said he was burning himself to death using “fossil fuel” to reflect how mankind was likewise killing itself, police sources said.He...

A sad case of self-immolation with fossil fuels, to protest fossil fuels A green activist who was a pioneering lawyer for gay and transgender rights — including in the infamous “Boys Don’t Cry” murder case — committed suicide by setting himself on fire Saturday morning in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.In a gruesome protest against the ecological destruction of the earth, David Buckel, 60, left behind a charred corpse and a typed suicide note that said he was burning himself to death using “fossil fuel” to reflect how mankind was likewise killing itself, police sources said. He left the note behind in...

A prominent gay rights activist set himself on fire in a protest suicide in Brooklyn's Prospect Park in the early hours of Saturday morning. David Buckel, 60, was found in the park at 6.30am on Saturday before hundreds descended on it to enjoy the warm Spring weather. He left a note in a bag for police which read: 'My name is David Buckel and I just killed myself by fire as a protest suicide. 'I apologize to you for the mess.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5616241/Prominent-gay-rights-lawyer-60-sets-fire-protest-suicide-Prospect-Park.html#ixzz5ChC9t5Qt Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

A Brooklyn legislator was accused Wednesday of delivering a bizarre tirade against Jews, while ripping Mayor Bill de Blasio as a sellout, during a local community board meeting this week. Assemblywoman Diane Richardson’s 50-minute rant during the Board 17 meeting Monday night faulted Jews for gentrifying in her district, which includes East Flatbush, Flatbush, Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens, according to an eyewitness.

The NYPD received multiple reports Wednesday of a man walking through Crown Heights, Brooklyn pointing what appeared to be a handgun at people. Five officers responded to the 911 calls. As NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan described the situation when they approached Saheed Vassell . . . “The suspect took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object at the approaching officers, two of whom were in uniform.”Four of the officers sent a total of ten rounds at Vassell, killing him. The silver thing he’d been holding turned out to be a pipe with a knob on one...

Police fatally shot a man in Brooklyn Wednesday afternoon. Police were responding to 911 calls reporting a man with a gun around 4:40 pm when responding officers encountered the suspect, who authorities say was holding a metal object near the corner of Montgomery and Utica Avenues in Crown Heights. Chief of Patrol Terrence Monahan says four officers opened fire and struck the man at least once in the abdomen. He was rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County where he was pronounced dead. …

President Donald Trump’s administration must defend a lawsuit targeting his plan to end a program offering protection from deportation for hundreds of thousands of children of undocumented immigrants. U.S District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, New York, narrowed but didn’t dismiss the suit on Thursday, finding that there was a “plausible inference” that it was illegally aimed at Mexicans. He previously blocked the U.S. government from ending the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and from halting the renewal process, but hadn’t decided whether to allow the case to proceed.

They cheated the kids. John Dewey HS students got credit for sham “Project Graduation” classes in a grade-fixing scheme that robbed them of their education, according to a new state audit that also slams the city for shrugging off the findings. The Brooklyn school’s “make-up” and “credit recovery” courses failed to meet a slew of requirements — letting many students improperly graduate, says the blistering audit sent to the city on Friday and provided to The Post.

One New York City firefighter has died and two have been seriously injured battling a blaze that broke out late Thursday on a film set in upper Manhattan, authorities said. The deceased firefighter was Michael Davidson, 37, authorities said. The 15-year department veteran, who had reportedly been cited for bravery four times, leaves behind his wife and four daughters.