Free Republic

A Long Island criminal defendant tried faking his death to avoid sentencing, but the phony death certificate his lawyer submitted had a glaring spelling error that made it a dead giveaway for a fraud, prosecutors said Tuesday. Robert Berger, 25, of Huntington, New York, now faces up to four years in prison if convicted in the alleged scheme. That's in addition to pending sentences for earlier guilty pleas to charges of possession of a stolen Lexus and attempted grand larceny of a truck — punishment prosecutors say he was looking to avoid.

On Sunday, a gunman shot and killed the son of a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, at the family’s home, and shot and injured her husband in the same attack. The judge, Esther Salas, 51, was at home at the time of the shooting but was not injured, and her husband, Mark Anderl, a 63-year-old attorney and former Essex County assistant prosecutor, is reportedly in stable condition. Officials believe the gunman who opened fire Sunday, killing Salas’ 20-year-old son and injuring her husband, had been dressed as a FedEx employee, The Associated Press reported. Unidentified law enforcement officials told...

ABC News reports that the Suspect in shooting of Judge Salas family was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.A gunman wearing a FedEx driver’s uniform came to the home of a federal judge connected to high-profile cases, one involving Jeffery Epstein, killing her son and leaving her husband in critical condition after they answered the door to the assailant, according to news reports and law enforcement officials.Judge Esther Salas is linked to federal court cases involving Jeffery Epstein, and oversaw cases involving the reality TV couple the “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” as well as very dangerous gangs that...

<p>Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano served six full tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and the Ranger regiment and a half dozen more combat tours overseas. He rose to become a decorated Green Beret and a Silver Star recipient. He had just moved to Washington, D.C., to start a coveted job at the Pentagon. Two days after the Fourth of July on Monday night, after having dinner with his former battalion leader, Marckesano returned home from dinner in Old Town, Alexandria, and died by suicide in front of his wife. He had three small children and was still on active duty.</p>

Today, Second Lady Karen Pence participated in a call hosted by PREVENTS to address ways faith-based communities and organizations can play a role in ending veteran suicide. The call was in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiative (CFOI) and the National Chaplain Center.As the Lead Ambassador for PREVENTS, Mrs. Pence emphasized the importance of PREVENTS in leading the change around suicide prevention and how more than ever before we need to empower and support veterans experiencing suicidal thoughts or feelings. She also emphasized the way an individual’s connection to a faith based community serves as a protective...

Landon Fuller, an outgoing 11-year-old from Hobbs, loved to make people laugh. He enjoyed sports, riding his bike around the neighborhood with his friends and attending church with his parents and two older sisters. The shuttering of schools and the stay-at-home orders implemented to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19 were hard on him, his mother said, and he often asked to go out and play or accompany his parents to the grocery store. On April 23, almost six weeks after his last day in a classroom, Landon took the gun his father carried to protect himself from rattlesnakes while...

Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused procurer of under-aged sex slaves for Jeffrey Epstein’s bordello for the powerful and famous, was very publicly arrested by the FBI this week. FBI spokesperson Richard Ratsinger emphasized that “she is fully cooperating and will be naming names. No one who has participated in Epstein’s sordid exploitation of minors for the sexual pleasure of the rich and powerful can expect to escape our net.” Ratsinger pointed out that “for those who are interested in her forthcoming testimony, she will be held in the same jail where Epstein hanged himself against his will last year. Whether Maxwell...

Administration leaders are moving to curb the nation's exploding suicide crisis through a new, three-digit number to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai expects to designate 988 as a special code to connect people quickly and easily to the lifeline, he told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview—a response to the two-decade surge in suicide deaths that Pai called "stunning" and "epidemic." The change will be voted on by the full FCC at its July 16 open meeting and is expected to pass unanimously, one FCC staffer told the Free Beacon. The new...

The “Clinton Body Count” is an urban legend where people claim that the Clintons have their enemies or associates who “know too much” murdered, but they make it look like a suicide. The term comes from a rather long list of friends, enemies, and associates of the Clintons who have been found dead from “apparent suicide.” If you go on Twitter the hashtag #ClintonBodyCount is very active and filled with all sorts of juicy tidbits and theories. While the #ClintonBodyCount is mostly a funny joke, like with all “jokes” there’s truth in it…why do so many of Clintons “associates” die?...

Steve Bing, Bill ClintonClinton friend, philanthropist, film financier and multi-millionaire, Steve Bing, 55, jumped from a Century City building on Monday and was found dead at the scene.Steve Bing was a longtime friend of the Clintons. According to reports, Mr. Bing donated up to $10 million to the Clinton Foundation. Both Clinton and Bing were in the past reported to be part of a billionaire clique that included Burkle and Jeffrey Epstein – reported LA Mag. Deadline reported: Steve Bing, the film financier and philanthropist who backed hit movies from Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express and Beowulf to the...

Steve Bing, a producer, philanthropist and screenwriter, has died by suicide in Los Angeles. He was 55. Police and the coroner’s office said a man fitting his age jumped from a Century City apartment building on Monday. Sources told TMZ he had been suffering from depression. Bing, who inherited a fortune of some $600 million from his grandfather, L.A. real estate developer Leo S. Bing, also contributed millions of dollars to Democratic political causes. In 2003, he co-wrote the action comedy “Kangaroo Jack,” and he also contributed to “Missing in Action” and wrote an episode of “Married With Children.” Bing...

On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, the President signed into law:S. 2746, the “Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act,” which establishes the Law Enforcement Officers Suicide Data Collection Program to collect data on the suicides, and attempted suicides, of law enforcement officers; andS. 3414, the “Major Medical Facility Authorization Act of 2020,” which authorizes various major medical facility construction projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and authorizes various appropriations to carry out those projects. The White House

A Unity flag now flies above City Hall Plaza, marking the 50th anniversary of LGBTQ Pride Month in Boston. Introduced to the city this year, it brings black and brown stripes (representing marginalized LGBTQ communities of color) to the traditional rainbow flag. Also added are pastel blue, pink, and white stripes (for transgender pride).

A female Manhattan cop fatally shot herself in the head, police sources said Sunday. The NYPD officer, who worked at the 23rd Precinct in East Harlem, was found dead by her fellow-cop girlfriend in the wee hours in their living room, sources said. The girlfriend had just returned home from work, sources said.

SAN DIEGO -- An Egyptian-born financial analyst charged in a nationwide stock swindle may have known about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and tried to profit from them, a federal prosecutor said Friday. Amr I. "Tony" Elgindy telephoned his broker on Sept. 10 and asked him to liquidate his children's $300,000 trust account, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Breen told a federal judge at Elgindy's detention hearing. "He made a comment predicting the market would drop to 3,000" at a time when the Dow Jones stock index was at 9,600, Breen said. "Perhaps Mr. Elgindy had pre-knowledge of the Sept....

As our country struggles forward against economic recession and pandemic, we will look to the heroes of our past and present to show us the way forward. During Memorial Day, calls to suicide hotlines reportedly “surge” from veterans who find themselves overcome with war-time memories, or riddled with survivors’ guilt as they think of their fallen brothers and sisters in arms. This year, there is increased likelihood that some veterans will experience acute struggles on Memorial Day due to isolation, and constraints on cemetery visitations and social gatherings resulting from the coronavirus response.On Memorial Day, Americans are called to reflect...

Trauma doctors at a northern California medical center say the hospital has seen a huge spike in suicide attempts amid the coronavirus COVID-19 lockdowns. Dr. Mike deBoisblanc, head of the trauma at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek near San Francisco, said the loss of more than 37 million jobs across the country amid state shutdowns of businesses deemed “nonessential” and lengthy lockdowns have affected mental health.“We’ve never seen numbers like this, in such a short period of time,” he said. “I mean we’ve seen a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks,” deBoisblanc told ABC-7....

It is only the last decade or two when those who want a disarmed population in the West have started to stress “suicide” as a reason for disarming the population.  The early pushes for population disarmament were predicated on the excuse of reducing violent crime, particularly homicides. The actual motivation had nothing to do with crime. The original motivation was to reduce armed rivals. In New York, to reduce armed resistance to organized crime, particularly the Tammany Gang. In England, to reduce armed support for a potential revolution. Originally, the push was to eliminate handguns from almost all the population....

In addition to addressing the general looming mental health crisis, we must be specifically prepared for the mental health problems we will see in frontline health care workers. I am a psychiatrist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. I have many great colleagues on the medical side of things who are performing heroically during this pandemic, many of whom I met as a medical intern 15 years ago. The ties we developed during that grueling year are lifelong. I check in with them regularly to see how they are managing during this difficult time and lend an ear when I...

California doctors warn a surge in suicides is outspacing deaths from coronavirus as pandemic lockdowns take a far greater toll on American life than the virus itself.Dr. Mike deBoisblank who serves as the head of the trauma department at John Muir Medical Center in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay told ABC 7 his hospital has seen a “year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.”“We’ve never seen numbers like this, in such a short period of time,” deBoisblank said, pointing at the state’s stay-home orders as the primary culprit for the spike in crises.Now...