Today’s Links: Moonshine Makers Blame Bureaucratic Bungling, South Brooklyn Senator Comes Around On Speed Cameras & More

Politics in Brooklyn are hot as ever—from progressives in South Brooklyn calling for the GOP to disinvite anti-Semite and Islamophobe Sebastian Gorka from speaking in the borough, to the brave Republicans who protested Cynthia Nixon’s visit to Bay Ridge last week.

A Red Hook brewing operation was busted for bootlegging by the State Liquor Authority, accused with operating illegal stills, but the arrested owner (and his attorney) say it’s just a case of bureaucratic bungling.

In other legal news, the leader of a Brooklyn drug crew pled guilty to conspiracy after plotting to take down a rival dealer’s operation in Queens, and two men who kidnapped and tortured a man to find the location of drugs were convicted on a raft of charges.

A lawyer who was shopping with her daughter was handcuffed by cops in Williamsburg after being accused of shoplifting from the vintage boutique Amarcord—a protest in front of the store soon followed.

And after Shomrim leader Jacob Daskal was arrested and charged with raping a child, the New York Post Editorial Board published their opinion: it’s time to end the scandal-ridden Boro Park Shomrim. With the Shomrim’s checkered past, it will be interesting to see what the reaction from the city is.

One thing the city hasn’t reacted to is cries for help from a family made homeless for weeks on end after the roof fell in on their NYCHA apartment.

Transportation takes a hit as ReachNow scraps their ambitious plans for Brooklyn: launched with 250 cars, the ride-sharing service will continue on with a mere six. The people driving those cars might have to be a little more careful, as well, now that State Senator Marty Golden has reversed his position on speed cameras after years of opposition.

And the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has picked up on the discrepancy between two types of e-bikes in the face of the Mayor’s crackdown—a story we wrote about last year.

Meanwhile, Councilmember Rafael Espinal, who has fought for DIY spaces and is an advocate of urban agriculture, sat down to talk with Remezcla about progressive politics, being a Latino in New York politics, and creating a greener city.

Across Brooklyn, the loss of “political godmother” and grassroots organizer Mary Sansone, has been felt by all those who have fought to improve the city in which we live. Mrs. Sansone, who died at 101, sought to unite Brooklynites and New Yorkers of all types for common good.