Free Republic

It has been almost two Months since the vicious attack on Brian Milligan, and still no arrests have been made. If He were black and the perpetrators were white, it's my guess that the FBI would be involved to find the perpetrators of the hate Crime.Am I the only one who thinks that Obama should tell his FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate the crime? After all, we are reminded often how it was the federal government and the FBI who had to go into the South and investigate crimes against the black community by the KKK because the...

over the last six years, Buffalo taxpayers have paid millions of dollars to teachers not to teach. Twelve different teachers have collected $2.25 million in salary while under suspension and waiting for disciplinary hearings during that time. And that amount doesn't include the costs for substitutes and the hearings themselves. The average wait for those hearings: three years. The school district doesn't release the names of the teachers, or what they've been charged with, but we've learned that right now there's a Physical Education teacher awaiting a hearing who was suspended four years ago this month and has been paid...

The Rev. Francis X. Mazur, right, Wednesday points out details of the former St. Gerard Catholic Church at Delavan and Bailey avenues to the Rev. David M.Dye of Georgia. St. Gerard Catholic Church, open for a century before the doors shut after last year’s final Mass, has attracted a priest now raising $15 million to take the place apart this spring and rebuild it outside Atlanta. Wednesday, church and architectural representatives from Georgia were in Buffalo to build public support and attend an evening forum about church reuse, organized by the nonprofit Preservation Buffalo Niagara and held in Unitarian Universalist...

A recent mob-beating of a Buffalo, NY teen has caused a great deal of outrage within the community, and while the crime has been covered locally, the national mainstream press has completely ignored the story. The victim is white and the assailants were black. On August 18, Brian Milligan Jr., 18, was walking home when he was reportedly attacked at the corner of Genesee Street and Floss Avenue, by between 10 to 15 black men. In addition to being punched and kicked, Milligan’s attackers hit him in the back of the head with a brick. Amazingly, despite his severe injuries,...

DAYTON, Ohio -- Here's an idea for saving Rust Belt cities: Tell bloggers and radio stations to stop calling your town a basket case. That was one suggestion from representatives of eight of the 10 cities labeled last year as America's fastest dying. They met at the Dayton Convention Center last weekend to swap ideas about how to halt the long skid that's turned cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, N.Y., into shorthand for dystopia. The city representatives lunched on $6 sloppy Joes and commiserated through Power Point strategy sessions: Lure back former residents, entice entrepreneurs and artists, convert blighted...

Freepers and other concerned citizens gathered to protest the Health Care Bill in Buffalo at a fund raiser for Democrat Brian Higgins. Higgins had already said he would support the bill. About 200 protestors gathered to shout and laugh at about 2 dozen mindless supporters. The supporters had such convincing arguments such as "Health care for people not for profit" but a shouted question of "What's wrong with profit?" confused their addled brains significantly "Read The Constitution" and "No to Socialism" broght no coherant reply. A young supoporter asked "What wrong with socialism?" to some laughter and embarrassment (for his...

The NYTimes: Top Bush administration officials in 2002 debated testing the Constitution by sending American troops into the suburbs of Buffalo to arrest a group of men suspected of plotting with Al Qaeda, according to former administration officials. Some of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney, argued that a president had the power to use the military on domestic soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be known as the Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants. Mr. Bush ultimately decided against the proposal to use military force. ~~~ Mr....

The Bush administration in 2002 considered sending U.S. troops into a Buffalo, New York, suburb to arrest a group of terror suspects, the New York Times reported. WASHINGTON - The Bush administration in 2002 considered sending U.S. troops into a Buffalo, New York, suburb to arrest a group of terror suspects in what would have been a nearly unprecedented use of military power within the United States, The New York Times reported. Vice President Dick Cheney and several other Bush advisers at the time strongly urged that the military be used to apprehend men who were suspected of plotting with...

For the second time this year a tourist at Yellowstone National Park has been attacked by a bison. a 55-year-old man from Norco, California, was taking pictures of a bull bison that was wandering in the Bridge Bay Campgrounds. The two were about 10 feet apart when the bison charged. a bull bison can stand six feet tall, weigh up to 2,000 pounds and run up to 30 miles an hour. During the next several weeks they are more dangerous than usual because it's their mating season.

FORT HUACHUCA — For years, Building 66050 has been vacant. It is deteriorating, but members of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers are determined to save the structure, which during World War II housed the Colored Officers Club. The building, its paint now peeling, windows broken and interior unsafe, is where black entertainers such as Lena Horne would come to the post to perform for black soldiers when the Army was segregated. The fort is where two black divisions, the 92nd and 93rd, trained before heading off to combat in World War II. One division went to Italy and the...

Some members of 'Anti-American Imperialism Forum', protesting against US President Barack Obama's "Bangalore to Buffalo" remark were arrested when they tried to forcibly enter Bank Of America, on M G road here on Wednesday. About 25 protestors of the city-based outfit, carrying placards and shouting slogans - "Down, Down Big Brother Obama", "Buffalo has buffaloes, Bangalore has brains" "Osama terrorised innocent, Obama terrorises BPO workers" - were arrested when they tried to forcibly enter Bank Of America, deputy commissioner of Police (Central Division), G Ramesh said. The agitators took out a protest march from Mahatma Gandhi statue to the Bank...

'Say no to Bangalore and yes to Buffalo,' seems to be the latest mantra of US President Barack Obama as he struggles to bring the ailing American economy back on track. Meeting one of his major election promises, Obama yesterday announced end to years of tax incentives to those US companies which create jobs overseas in places like Bangalore. Instead, the incentives would now go to those creating jobs inside the US, in places like the Buffalo city -- bordering Canada in upstate New York. "We will stop letting American companies that create jobs overseas take deductions on their expenses...

City School Board racks up big bills for travel, dinners. Tune in to public-access TV just about any time, and there’s a good chance you’ll catch the Buffalo Board of Education in action during a televised meeting. There’s also plenty that you won’t see. You won’t see board members and top administrators digging into a buffet every Wednesday before meetings. Last week, for instance, they could choose from egg rolls, shrimp lo mein, General Tso’s chicken, pepper steak, sesame chicken, cheesecake, cookies and flan, among other goodies... Other weeks, board members enjoy meatballs, turkey, chicken, potatoes, corn and salad. Sometimes,...

Bishop Robert J. Cunningham Syracuse, N.Y., Apr 21, 2009 / 10:50 am (CNA).- The Diocese of Syracuse in New York received the news this morning that it has a new shepherd—Bishop Robert J. Cunningham. The Buffalo-born bishop will move from the Diocese of Ogdensburg in upstate New York to serve the faithful in his new diocese.Pope Benedict's appointment of Bishop Cunningham to lead the Diocese of Syracuse comes almost two years after Bishop James Moynihan submitted his resignation upon reaching the age of 75. Until Bishop Cunningham is installed on May 26 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception...

BUFFALO — About 1,000 men and women encircled speakers Saturday afternoon at the Buffalo inner harbor to protest taxes and almost everything about Albany. With the USS Little Rock as a backdrop and the dilapidated Memorial Auditorium in the foreground, many people carried protest signs. An emotional Clarence man rushed up to the speaker and put $20 in protest money on the podium. Protesters were discouraged from tossing tea in the water, but a stream of citizens rushed to the stand and donated cash. “People came forward with loads of cash. I had no idea this would happen,” said Jim...

[One of the funniest photos you will ever see!] About ten days ago, an ad for “Muslim matrimonials” appeared right next to our story about the Muslim TV executive who beheaded his wife. You can see the hilarious juxtaposition on the screen capture above. Click the image or here for a full size, full screen image. At first we thought our internet advertising provider had merely misinterpreted the context of the key words in the story — Muslim, husband, wife – and placed the ad there by mistake. But we’ve changed our minds. Because these are the smartest companies in...

BAGHDAD, Feb. 20, 2009 – The U.S. military fielded its 10,000th mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle in Iraq today during a ceremony on Camp Liberty, just 22 months after it was introduced into the theater of operations. Mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles sit in a row on the Camp Liberty, Iraq, fielding site, Feb. 20, 2009. The day marked the introduction of the 10,000th vehicle into Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Christopher Gaylord  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Servicemembers and civilians from across Victory Base Complex gathered among rows of MRAPs at the largest fielding site in Iraq to acknowledge the...

The statement on Buffalo Beheading by the National Organization of Women.

(video) The story of Muzzammil Hassan beheading his wife Aasiya has been purposefully suppressed or under-reported by the mainstream media since the the horrific murder was committed last Thursday in Buffalo, New York. We know why, of course. It’s because Hassan is a Muslim-American whose mission was to improve the image of Muslims in the United States, and even with the obvious irony of the situation, the press just won’t let a good story get in the way of their agenda. So let’s play along, and instead of telling you more of how Aasiya’s head was knifed off in a...

The commuter plane that crashed near Buffalo was on autopilot until just before it went down in icy weather, indicating that the pilot may have ignored federal safety recommendations and violated the airline's own policy for flying in such conditions, an investigator said Sunday. Federal guidelines and the airline's own instructions suggest a pilot should not engage the autopilot when flying through ice. If the ice is severe, the company that operated Continental Flight 3407 requires pilots to shut off the autopilot.

The website of a New York TV network whose aim is to improve American perceptions of Islam was shut down this morning, two days after its founder admitted to the beheading of his wife. And while that irony might bring a momentary smile, another attempt to conceal the facts behind an honor killing right here in America should stir nothing short of outrage. Muzzammil Hassan, CEO of Bridges TV, whose motto is "connecting people through understanding," apparently didn't think Thursday's honor killing -- and make no mistake about what this was -- at the station might somehow blur that message....

Three days ago in Buffalo, NY, Muzzammil Hassan sawed the head off his wife Aasiya Hassan — we’re going to say it — Islamofascist-style in a gift to the press that’s normally insatiable for this type of story. Ironically, Mr. Hassan is the founder of Bridges TV network, formed to improve the image of Muslim-Americans in the U.S. So where’s the story? Conservative commentators knew there would be just token press, and they were proven right. If it were a Christian (or any non-media-protected group), it would have been all over television and print media. But, just three days out,...

Muzzammil “Mo” HASSAN, the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV Muzzammil “Mo” HASSAN, the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, a Buffalo, NY based Islamic television Network he helped pioneer in 2004 amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light, reportedly admitted to police that he beheaded his wife at the television station yesterday afternoon.The victim was identified as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37, who just last month, filed for and received an order of protection against her husband. According to police, HASSAN walked into the Orchard Park police station shortly after...

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband -- an influential member of the local Muslim community -- reported her death to police Thursday. Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder. "He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead," Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning. Muzzammil Hassan told police that his wife was at his business, Bridges TV, on Thorn Avenue in the village. Officers...

Minutes before Continental Flight 3407 plummeted to the ground killing all on board the pilots noticed a build up of ice on the plane's wings and windshield, an official said Friday. The plane was on its approach to Buffalo airport, New York state, when the crew spotted the problem, according to recordings taken earlier Friday from the aircraft's black boxes after the crash left 50 dead. "The crew discussed significant ice buildup, ice on the windshield and leading edge of the wings," Steve Chealander, an official with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), told a press conference. "The crew briefed...

WASHINGTON – Up until the very last moments of her life, Sept. 11 widow Beverly Eckert poured her grief into action — pushing presidents, lawmakers and even herself to do more to make the country safer. Eckert was on a commuter plane approaching the Buffalo airport Thursday night when it nose-dived into the ground, killing all aboard and one person on the ground.

Here is video report containing audio of communications between Air Traffic Controllers and other planes about the crash of a commuter airplane in the Buffalo, New York area that killed 48 passengers and one person on the ground last night. The plane crashed into a house. On the recording, they first try to raise the plane in distress, and then ask other cockpits to assist in looking for the plane. After a short time, they confirm the crash. The video also contains some shots from the scene and a discussion about the crash. . . . . (Watch Video)

New York state police say a 50-passenger commuter plane has crashed into a home in suburban Buffalo. State Trooper John Manthey says the plane hit a house in Clarence around 10:10 p.m. Thursday. The house is engulfed in flames.

SNIPPET: "BREAKING NEWS — A Continental Express plane with 48 people aboard crashed into a suburban Buffalo home and erupted in flames on Thursday night, killing everyone onboard. The FAA reported 44 passengers and 4 crew members were on the plane. There was one unconfirmed death on the ground." SNIPPET: "Authorities say Continental Airlines Flight 3407 was operated by Manassas, Virginia-based Colgan Air. It was en route from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo. The plane is a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400."

It seems to be a commonplace, taught everywhere from elementary schools to colleges, that modern Western culture (in particular, America) sucks. We are told that our society is self-indulgent, uninformed, out of touch with nature, and not given to sustainable practices. In this, we are contrasted both with "developing countries" and with primitive societies, whose practices we are supposed to imitate. With this in mind, it might be worthwhile to take a closer look at one of oft-cited examples -- the Plains Indians in the United States, and their relationship to the Buffalo. Indians were (before being cruelly starved, harrassed,...

December 29, 2008 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/December/08-nsd-1151.html Former Maryland Man Charged with Conspiracy to Act as an Iraqi Agent Defendant Allegedly Worked for the Government of Iraq and Assisted the Iraqi Intelligence Service WASHINGTON – A criminal complaint was filed today charging Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, age 47, formerly of Maryland, with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, specifically, as an agent of Iraq, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Patrick Rowan, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Darwish is a Canadian citizen born in Iraq....

Farmers Panic About a ‘Cow Tax’ By Kate Galbraith Should their greenhouse gases be taxed? (Photo: Steve Ruark for The New York Times) The comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency’s exploration of greenhouse gas regulation ended last Friday, with farmers lobbying furiously against the notion of a “cow tax” on methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted by livestock. The New York Farm Bureau issued a statement last week (PDF) saying it feared that a tax could reach $175 per cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and upward of $20 for each hog. Such a tax would represent a...

Hey, Cuomo, stand up and fight. I’m talking to Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general of New York. Stand up and fight. For the last two weeks, as the Caroline Kennedy coronation has been going on, the man whose career she is destroying has been silent. It’s as if he fell off the face of the earth. The story is that Caroline Kennedy has announced that she wants to be a U.S. senator from New York. She has no experience, no preparation, no training. She has never stood before the voters. She has never even visited vast stretches of the state...

Kennedy Takes A Beating From Upstate Media Reporters Jump All Over Mostly Silent Princess Of Camelot; Mayor Of Syracuse Doesn't Offer Endorsement Who Should Get Senate Gig? Siena Poll: Cuomo 26, Kennedy 23 Reporting Marcia Kramer NEW YORK (CBS) Caroline Kennedy took a page from Hillary Clinton's playbook and began an upstate listening tour On Wednesday. The road trip included stops in Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo to help convince Gov. David Paterson and voters she's the one to replace Clinton in the U.S. Senate. But it was a tough crowd. The black SUV pulled up to Syracuse city hall Wednesday...

Gov. David Paterson is heading near Indian Country to sign a bill that would call for the state to collect taxes on sales by Indian retailers. Despite urgings by the Seneca Nation for the governor to veto the measure, he is traveling to Oneida County to sign the legislation in Utica on Monday

New taxes, deep cuts to education and health care, and a restructuring of the state's economic development programs will be hallmarks of Gov. David Paterson's first budget plan to be released in two days, according to interviews of people briefed on components. The plan will come with a host of revenue raisers — increased taxes on hospitals and insurance policies, for instance — and at least one new assessment, a so-called obesity tax on non-diet soda to raise $404 million. The governor also is contemplating requiring new license plates to raise cash, reviving sales tax on clothing purchases, removing the...

Thirty-four years ago, it took Pierre Trudeau's formidable glare to back American football off Canada's doorstep. Today, on the eve of the 96th Grey Cup in Montreal, they're warily allowed in. But the mammoth NFL has found the first step is a doozy. By contrast, the CFL finds itself in an uncommonly healthy spot ahead of tomorrow's dream match-up between host Montreal and Calgary. That's led to a feeling of cautious optimism that maybe, just maybe, Canadian football won't be pancaked by its southern cousin. "We're much different. We are grass roots. We have a loyal fan base," CFL commissioner...

ONE of the most cynical clichés in architecture is that poverty is good for preservation. The poor don’t bulldoze historic neighborhoods to make way for fancy new high-rises. That assumption came to mind when I stepped off a plane here recently. Buffalo is home to some of the greatest American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with major architects like Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright building marvels here. Together they shaped one of the grandest early visions of the democratic American city. Yet Buffalo is more commonly identified with the...

The man accused of arranging for the killing of 32 bison on a neighbor's property struck a deal this morning in which he'll face minimal or no jail time but will have to open his wallet wide. Jeffrey Scott Hawn, CEO of Seattle-based software firm Attachmate, pleaded guilty to a class 3 felony of criminal mischief and to a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals in Park County Court. At his Jan. 28 sentencing he could get up to two years of probation and up to 10 days in Park County Jail. Four generations of the Downare family, in cowboy...

A Chinese restaurant in the Town of Hamburg was shut down by the Erie County Health Department Friday after an inspector found employees butchering a deer inside. Officials don’t know whether the dead deer at China King, 5999 South Park Ave., had been hunted or if it was road kill...

Down in the place where they can't build (or expand) churches fast enough -- namely, The Entire South -- a friend always keeps musing, and grieving, that they can't just bring relocate at least some of the (many) closed Northeastern temples of old and keep 'em in good use. Windows, statues and other pieces from decommissioned structures have routinely been recycled... but now, in a first as monumental as the building itself, a wholesale relocation just might happen to a grand, now-shuttered Buffalo church: A parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta wants to buy St. Gerard Church at Bailey...

A software CEO from Texas accused of allowing the killing of his neighbor's bison in South Park last winter is due in court. Forty-four-year-old Jeffrey Scott Hawn of Austin has been charged with 32 counts of animal cruelty, one count of theft of more than $20,000 and a one count of criminal mischief. Prosecutors allege that he "tortured, needlessly mutilated or needlessly killed" the bison, who belonged to another rancher.

Possible settlement in South Park bison slaughter FAIRPLAY — The software chief executive accused in the killing of 32 of his neighbor's bison is considering a plea agreement. Jeff Hawn appeared at the Park County courthouse Monday with his attorney, Pam Mackey, to enter a plea. Minutes before the hearing was to begin, an assistant district attorney asked Mackey to step outside, and when they returned for the hearing, Mackey said Hawn needed 30 days to consider a plea agreement that had been offered. The judge approved the delay. Neither side would discuss the details of what had been offered...

SIERRA VISTA — A Vietnam War hero whose father served with a black division during World War II will be honored at this year’s Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers gala and fundraiser. Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, known as the “Drug Czar” during the Clinton administration, also will be the guest speaker at the annual event on Sept. 27. The association is presenting McCaffrey its annual “Spirit of the Buffalo Soldier Award” to honor both his military career and that of his father, the late Lt. Gen. William J. McCaffrey who served as the chief of staff with 92nd Infantry...

The principal of an Islamic boarding school on Buffalo’s East Side has been forced to resign after allegations that he was sexually involved with one of his students and that he claimed to have taken her as a second wife. Evidence suggests Mohammed Ibrahim Memon, a father of seven, persuaded Sajidah Khan, then 21, to marry under Islamic law as a pretense to sleep with her.

He may have taken student as second wife The principal of an Islamic boarding school on Buffalo’s East Side has been forced to resign after allegations that he was sexually involved with one of his students and that he claimed to have taken her as a second wife. Evidence suggests Mohammed Ibrahim Memon, a father of seven, persuaded Sajidah Khan, then 21, to marry under Islamic law as a pretense to sleep with her. Memon, an Islamic scholar and imam, has agreed to leave his post at Darul-Uloom Al-Madania, 182 Sobieski St., for a minimum of seven years...

The fact that charter schools have posted some of the highest state test scores among Buffalo schools this year speaks to the validity of what was once considered an educational experiment. As recently reported, a couple of city-based charter schools posted math and English test results among the best of any schools in Erie and Niagara counties — and charter schools significantly outperformed the city’s traditional public schools. Tapestry, South Buffalo, Elmwood Village and Buffalo United consistently ranked in the Top 10 among all Buffalo schools in the recent math and English tests. Community, Westminster and Pinnacle schools appeared in...

A federal judge today ruled against the Seneca Nation's Buffalo Creek Casino, saying that casino gambling cannot legally take place on the nine-acre site on Michigan Avenue. U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, in a 127-page decision, vacated the earlier decision by the commissioner of the National Indian Gaming Commission to allow gambling. It was not immediately clear whether Skretny's ruling will halt construction on the $333 million permanent casino, but it is clear that the temporary casino no longer has the legal right to operate. Skretny ruled that the parcel is indeed Indian country. "However, the court finds that...

"Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain might not burn up the campaign trail around Western New York this election year, but the University at Buffalo may have scheduled the next best thing. GOP strategist Karl Rove and former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will debate the issues of the presidential campaign Sept. 26 as part of the university’s Distinguished Speakers Series, The Buffalo News has learned. As surrogates for the parties’ standard bearers, the two also could square off more than once at other locations around the nation. “We’re working on something like that for our Distinguished Speakers Series,”...

By T.J. Pignataro - News Staff Reporter 03/26/08 A public alert was issued early this evening by Buffalo Police, warning that a gang could be staging rear-end collisions tonight on area roadways and then attacking drivers as part of an initiation ritual. Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson called an emergency news conference at police headquarters just before 6:30 p.m. to make the announcement. He said police received "credible information" late this afternoon suggesting that the initiation ritual could involve gang member recruits intentionally causing rear-end collisions and then robbing or assaulting the other driver. Gipson suggested motorists be aware of their...