Free Republic

De Blasio? Sharpton? Nope. The biggest blowback will be against the “reforming” Kentucky senator, because Republicans back cops, period.After New York City Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down in a retaliatory ambush on Saturday afternoon, the collateral damage was immediate. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio relationship with the police went from horrible to horrendous. Rev. Al Sharpton’s campaign to cleanse his race-baiting past grew more difficult, and Sen. Rand Paul—who had gone out of his way to break bread with Sharpton and to criticize police militarization—may now be facing an even more difficult task...

New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said Monday that tensions in the city are echoing those in the 1970s — a fear he expressed only days prior to the ambush killings of two police officers. “Who would’ve ever thought déjà vu all over again, that we would be back where we were 40-some-odd years ago,” Bratton said in an interview on NBC’s “Today.”

EXCERPT Commissioner Bill Bratton acknowledged that de Blasio has lost support of some police. “I don’t think it (the hallway protest) was appropriate, particularly in that setting, but it’s reflective of the anger of some of them,” Bratton told NBC’s “Today” show. (snip) “I don’t know that an apology is necessary,” he said. “One of the things, a concern at the moment, is this issue is really starting to go down partisan lines, Republican-Democrat. This is something that should be bringing us all together, not taking us apart.”

As cops were being threatened and assaulted and the city reeled over the execution of two officers, Mayor Bill de Blasio prayed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Sunday — then went into hiding. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton visited the scene of the horrific attack in Brooklyn and Gov. Andrew Cuomo paid a wrenching condolence call at the home of one of the slain cops, but de Blasio ran from reporters and was nowhere to be found after the church service. Modal Trigger De Blasio gets a blessing after taking Communion during Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.Photo: Helayne Seidman He showed up...

The way to honor those who defend our liberties with their lives — as did my father and grandfather — is not to curtail liberty, but to exercise it fully in pursuit of a just and peaceful society. According to Ecclesiastes, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose.” For me, today, that means a time to seek justice and a time to mourn the dead. The recent brutal murder of two Brooklyn police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, is a national tragedy that should inspire nationwide mourning. Both my grandfather and father were...

Actor James Woods took to Twitter on Sunday to blame the Rev. Al Sharpton, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and President Obama for being ‘responsible’ for the murder of two NYPD officers on Saturday. Sharpton came in for the worst of Woods’ abuse, with the former Academy Award nominee calling him a ‘race pimp’ and a ‘disgusting pig’. At one point on Sunday morning Woods’ tweeted: ‘This disgusting pig is DIRECTLY responsible for the murder of two good policemen. No discussion’.

<p>Decades ago, I taught at a community college. The bunch of us treated our shared office as if it were the neighborhood bar. We’d hang out for hours. That beat going home to our cheap apartments or our parents’ basements and watching TV, which was all we could afford on the pittance adjunct professors are paid. James was a jazz musician. Mo’s nose was always to the grindstone. Patrick was enthralling. I wish I had had a video camera recording our every conversation. His words glittered.</p>

Time Magazine warned of a growing threat to cops nationwide in September 2010. The nationally renowned publication argued that sinister individuals would launch targeted attacks against police officers and even ambush them in their patrol cars. Time alerted readers that these groups and individuals have a disturbing hatred of cops and that there was a real threat of “lone-wolf” attacks. Who are these groups that present such a threat to police? Right-wing militias, according to Time. [Snip] “Scores of armed antigovernment groups, some of them far more radical, have formed or been revived during the Obama years, according to law-enforcement...

Police officers turned their backs on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he walked into his press conference about the two NYPD officers shot and killed ambush-style in Brooklyn.

As cops were being threatened and assaulted and the city reeled over the execution of two officers, Mayor de Blasio prayed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Sunday — then went into hiding. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton visited the scene of the horrific attack in Brooklyn and Gov. Cuomo paid a wrenching condolence call to the home of one of the slain cops, but de Blasio ran from reporters and was nowhere to be found after the church service. [Snip] In other developments while de Blasio was AWOL: The NYPD said it is investigating more than a dozen threatened copycat attacks after Officers...

A lynch mob is all fun and games until someone actually gets lynched. At first everyone has a good time marching around and shouting “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe.” The police are accused of being racist killers by the defenders of actual racist killers like Mumia Abu Jamal.

Rafael Ramos and Wenjin Liu died because of the campaign to vilify police. Even as the events of Ferguson begin to fade, the campaign it helped engender rolls on, with new reports of demonstrations and protests appearing almost daily. Last week Carol Jackson, a federal judge, restricted police tactics against protestors. (This is kind of odd in and of itself. The last thing people want to hear about during the holidays is some hood getting his comeuppance. The same can be said about Sen. Feinstein’s “torture report” -- waterboarding is not likely to play well during the sleigh bell season....

On December 20 the NAACP Legal Fund issued a press release saying the execution of NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos show “the need for sensible gun control.” According to the release, we need also “need to thoughtfully address untreated mental illness.” One thing the NAACP Legal Fund’s release said we don’t need to do is to “suggest a causal link between between these killings and the recent protests and activism focused on the serious issue of police violence against unarmed African Americans.” They suggest that pushing such a “causal link” may escalate “an already tense state through rumor...

Barack and Michelle Obama, speaking to People Magazine, of all disappointments, shared the disheartening news that they have experienced what they called racism. Barack, for example, apparently has had trouble, before he was president, hailing a cab in Chicago, to which an immediate thought might occur to anyone who has been to Chicago: Who hasn't? Also, Barack, at a black-tie event, when he, too, was in festive livery, apparently was asked by another guest if he would get them a cup of coffee. For her recollection, Michelle came up with a visit to a Target store as first lady. She...

It would be a nice touch if some of the players did that, and in a small measure it would help to bring the country together. But no, I don't think that anyone will make the gesture.

I suppose I already know the answer, but I wonder if any of them regret wearing the "I can't breath" t-shirts last week.

Union: NYPD Now a 'Wartime' Police Dept. The New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the NYPD's union, has issued this statement following the deaths of two police officers in an ambush: "Starting IMMEDIATELY: At least two units are to respond to EVERY call, no matter the condition or severity, no matter what type of job is pending, or what the opinion of the patrol supervisor happens to be. “IN ADDITION: Absolutely NO enforcement action in the form of arrests and or summonses is to be taken unless absolutely necessary and an individual MUST be placed under arrest. “These are precautions that...

Someone knocked down and vandalized on Friday a sign on Interstate 580 that honors the four Oakland police officers who were shot and killed in 2009, the deadliest day in the department’s history.

Two uniformed NYPD officers were shot dead Saturday afternoon as they sat in their marked police car on a Brooklyn street corner — in what investigators believe was a crazed gunman’s execution-style mission to avenge Eric Garner and Michael Brown. “It’s an execution,” one law enforcement source said of the 3 p.m. shooting of the two officers, whose names were being withheld pending family notification of their deaths. The tragic heroes were working overtime as part of an anti-terrorism drill when they were shot point-blank in their heads by the lone gunman, who approached them on foot from the sidewalk...

It also appears that the yet unnamed Brooklyn shooter was also a Muslim, according to his Instagram account. We can see several instances where he professes his faith and celebrates the important feast of Eid-al-Mubarak.