Spies Like Us!

I’m sure glad that big terror plot sting operation went so well now that New York’s law-abiding Muslim community has become suddenly distrustful of the NYPD:

It is no secret to the Muslim immigrants of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, that spies live among them.

Almost anyone can rattle off what they regard as the telltale signs of police informers: They like to talk politics. They have plenty of free time. They live in the neighborhood, but have no local relatives.

“They think we don’t know, but we know who they are,” said Linda Sarsour, 26, a community activist.

It is another thing for them to be officially revealed. Over the last several weeks, during the trial of a Pakistani immigrant who was convicted on Wednesday of plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station, Muslims in Bay Ridge learned that two agents of the police had been planted in the neighborhood and were instrumental to the case.

They absorbed the testimony of an Egyptian-born police informer who had recorded the license plate numbers of worshipers at a mosque. They heard that an undercover detective, originally from Bangladesh, had been sent to Bay Ridge as a “walking camera.”

The trial’s revelations, and its outcome for the defendant, Shahawar Matin Siraj, have brought a bitter reckoning among Muslims in the city. Many see the police tactics unveiled in the case as proof that the authorities — both in New York and around the nation — have been aggressive, even underhanded in their approach to Muslims.

And despite the conviction of Mr. Siraj, who was found guilty on all four of the counts he faced, some Muslim leaders remain convinced that he was entrapped, including an imam who knew the informer and had found him to be suspicious.

. . .

“It’s like a police state here,” said Omar Maged, 34, an assistant teacher at a public high school. “We do not feel that we are living in the most free country in the world.”

Where Have All The Shoe Stores Gone?

They’ve overstocked gaudy sequined high heels, every one. When will they ever learn? They will never learn:

As anyone who has recently walked down Eighth St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. can’t help but notice, the block resembles a retail ghost town, as if the Great Depression had hit all over again. Virtually every other store is vacant, with For Rent signs prominently posted. In all, about 20 stores were empty when a reporter walked the street two weekends ago. On Sixth Ave., the former Sam Goody space, also in the BID’s district, is vacant.

. . .

Carol Wilson, W. Eighth St. Block Association co-chairperson, is still waiting to return home after her apartment was literally pulled apart after the recent unsettling incident where mercury was mysteriously found in it. But she’s also disturbed about the retail situation on W. Eighth St., where she says the stores don’t offer anything anybody living on the block wants.

“Most of it’s now club clothing, tattoo stuff, smoking apparatus, belt buckles,” she said. “We don’t shop there. I don’t think N.Y.U. students even shop there. People are shopping at discount shoe stores on 14th St., and look at the shoes they sell here — high-heeled, with sequins. Who wears those?”

With Big Smiles On Faces Young And Old, A Realization That You Get What You Pay For

Unfortunately, sometimes you get what you pay for with those cut-rate outerborough circuses:

With big smiles on faces young and old, Queens families have been flocking to the Big Apple Circus, which is currently being held in Cunningham Park. A circus may be the type of entertainment that likes to bring the audience into the action, but at their opening show, Big Apple brought the action into the audience.

At the circus’ Saturday, May 13 show, one of the acrobats in the Garamov Troupe fell into the crowd while performing an aerial stunt.

Nikita Pavlov (like the dog guy), fell into the seats in Section 6 when he missed his trapeze partner’s hands.

However, Pavlov only suffered a few scratches and a bruised elbow. Though he was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures, he waved to the audience to show everyone that he was all right as he was taken out on a stretcher. No one in the audience was hurt either.

Some Call It A Foot Fetish, Others Know It As Sexual Abuse And/Or Forcible Touching

There’s no such thing as friendly foot licking on the subway:

Joseph Weir, 23, was arraigned last Thursday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Suzanne Melendez on four separate complaints, each one charging Weir with one count of first degree sexual abuse, one count of forcible touching, one count of third degree sexual abuse and one count of second degree harassment. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison with respect to each complaint.

According to the complaints filed in the case, the first incident took place on the W train near 31st Street and Astoria Boulevard on the evening of May 27, 2004, when a 44 year old woman was allegedly approached by the defendant, who requested that she go out with him. When she declined his offer, the defendant allegedly knelt in front of her and, grabbing her left foot, licked it before fleeing the scene.

Five months later, Weir was riding a Queens bound R train when he allegedly lay on the floor in front of a sleeping 27 year old woman. When the victim stood to exit the train in the vicinity of Queens and Woodhaven Boulevards, she observed him lying on the floor and attempted to step over him. At this point, Weir allegedly grabbed her left foot and began kissing it. When the victim resisted by kicking the defendant, he stood up and forcibly grabbed her rear end before fleeing when another female passenger came to her aid.

I blame this guy.

Now You Know Where To Find That Sweet Razr You’ve Been Looking For

What with the mayor being all hardass about that cell phone ban, students have had to get creative:

Students interviewed by the Daily News said they have been stashing their phones outside of schools because they don’t want to have to go through the hassle of getting their phones confiscated — then waiting on line to get their phones back at the end of the school day.

“Mostly everybody does it,” said Vince Williams, a senior at Grady High School in Brighton Beach. “If they’re leaving it at home it’s probably because they hid it once and it got stolen.”

Armando Garcia, 18, said he doesn’t worry about losing his phone — even though he routinely drops it in a garbage can near his school.

“People walk past it every day, and never see a thing,” said Garcia, a junior at Brooklyn’s Lincoln High School, adding that he also has hidden his phone in an apartment building’s laundry room near the school.

Brighton Beach homeowner Gary Collier said he’s caught students retrieving phones from his backyard twice — and his jaw dropped when he learned one of the gadgets was a $400 T-Mobile Sidekick.

“I just happened to see them last week, but who knows how long this has been going on,” said Collier, 60, a retired Legal Aid Society paralegal. “When kids are going to these lengths, it’s clear we’ve gotten off the beaten path.”