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NYC: Molotov Cocktail Wielding Killer Burns Alive Older Woman In Elevator

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Editor’s note: For an update, read our latest story here.

An elderly woman was burned alive by a molotov cocktail attacking man as she rode the elevator to her fifth floor New York City apartment Saturday afternoon with grocery bags around her arms. The woman, tentatively identified by neighbors as a postal worker, was murdered sometime before 4:00 PM by a man whom she may have known, police say, in his forties. Her murder, one week before Christmas eve, took place at 203 Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, an area lauded for being ethnically-diverse, with tree-lined streets and many landmarked properties.

Describing the horrifficly gruesome attack, The New York Times notes that “in the beginning, it seemed routine: a man dressed as an exterminator, wearing gloves, with a protective mask perched atop his head and carrying a container on his back, takes the elevator to the fifth floor.”

Sometime later, an older woman carrying groceries took the same ride to the fifth floor.

Two cameras recording from different positions, one inside the small tiled elevator and another in a hallway, show the doors open and the man with the container approach. The man, who appeared to be in his 40s, first sprays the woman in the face, then douses her methodically from head to toe with what a city official said was an accelerant as she turned and cowered, raising her hands, the grocery bags hanging from her wrists.

Having cornered the woman in the elevator, the man struggles to light a barbecue lighter. He then ignites a Molotov cocktail — a wine or Champagne bottle filled with accelerant with a rag stuffed in its neck. He retreats and comes back again, spraying more liquid on his victim. And suddenly the silent video goes white with a conflagration in the small space: the woman, on fire.

…

While officials did not release the woman’s name on Saturday night, neighbors said they believed she was Delores Gillespie, though they were unclear as to the exact spelling of her first name. Ms. Gillespie was a postal worker, one neighbor said.

Residents were evacuated from the building after the fire. Hours later, some, like Maria Daley, wept while sitting on a city bus that had been provided for the displaced tenants. “She was my friend,” Ms. Daley said. “I just spoke to her yesterday.”

Another neighbor, Heidi Matthews, 46, said Ms. Gillespie had given her a plant on Mother’s Day. “It’s hard to believe somebody would do that to her,” she said.

“We all loved her,” Ms. Matthews said. “She was a part of this neighborhood for years.”

The New York Post adds,

Police think they know who did it, the witness told The Post.

“The cop told me, ‘We know exactly who did it and we have him on video,’” he said.

New York City has a relatively lower murder rate compared to other U.S. cities, based on 2010 crime statistics. The number of violent crime is less than a quarter of those in cities like Detroit and St. Louis.

Image: NYPD

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Trump Is ‘Destroying Pillars of American Democracy’ to Gain Power: NYT

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6 hours ago

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May 20, 2026

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The New York Times Editorial Board, in a strongly worded editorial, says “There Has Never Been an Example of Presidential Corruption Like This.”

The paper of record is accusing President Donald Trump not only of “presidential corruption,” but also of “political self-dealing,” and “destroying pillars of American democracy to empower himself.”

At issue is what the Times calls the Trump Justice Department’s “$1.8 billion political slush fund.”

“Ostensibly set up to compensate those who the department claims have ‘suffered weaponization and lawfare,’ it will in fact reward loyalists willing to defy the law and commit violence on behalf of the president,” the editors charge.

They allege that the fund actually encompasses three of Trump’s “most alarming behaviors”: corruption, using the DOJ “as an enforcer to punish his perceived opponents and protect his friends and allies,” and attempting to rewrite history “about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress.”

How is Trump destroying pillars of American democracy?

“He claims elections are legitimate only if he wins,” they write. “He uses federal law enforcement to investigate and prosecute his perceived enemies. He purges his party of officials who defy him. He describes members of the other party and civil society as traitors and enemies.” Trump “incentivizes his supporters to break the law on his behalf and rewards them when they do,” and he “directs his allies to change election rules to keep his party in power.”

The agreement to create the fund came after Trump dropped a highly-controversial $10 billion lawsuit which reports say IRS lawyers were intending to contest.

In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, Trump and his supporters would receive “government handouts,” the Times says.

Trump and his family would gain immunity from IRS audits, and his supporters who were allegedly victimized by government lawfare would receive payments.

Times editors note that the fund holds another purpose: encouraging “future lawlessness on Mr. Trump’s behalf.”

“It sends the message that he will use his power not only to shield people who break the law from accountability,” they say, “but also to shower benefits on them. Just as punishment is a deterrent, rewards are an incentive.”

The editors urge Americans to be “cleareyed” about what Trump is actually doing: “taking their money and showering it on criminals.”

 

Image via Reuters 

 

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‘Fantasy World’: CNN Fact-Checker Dismantles Trump’s Pre-War Price ‘Lies’

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7 hours ago

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May 20, 2026

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President Donald Trump has concocted a “fantasy world” where prices were low in the months before he began his Iran war, says CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale. Prices are up and Americans are “unhappy.”

“When he’s been asked about the inflation or the unhappiness, Trump has repeatedly responded with lies — fictional stories about how low prices supposedly were before the war,” Dale reports.

He suggests that — unlike the president — consumers have a good memory of what prices were like in the days before the Iran war.

“But the president has concocted a fantasy — of sub-$2 gas, sub-2% inflation, and generally reduced prices — that bears little resemblance to the actual state of the country prior to the first strikes against Iran on February 28,” Dale writes.

For instance, on Tuesday at the White House congressional picnic, Trump told attendees that “inflation was at 1.6% for the last three months just prior to the war.” Last week, he had said it was 1.7%.

“Neither number is accurate,” Dale notes.

“The year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index was 2.7% in November 2025, 2.7% in December 2025 and 2.4% in January 2026,” he writes. “The inflation rate was 2.4% again in February 2026, for which nearly all the data was collected before the war began on the last day of the month.”

In March, it jumped to 3.3% and last month, 3.8%.

“We inherited high prices and we got the prices down, and we got them down to numbers that in some cases people have not seen before,” Trump said at Tuesday’s picnic.

“You know, when they talk about high prices, I inherited the high prices,” he told Fox News last week. “I’m getting them down; I’ve got them down incredibly.”

Dale explains that while some prices may have gone down, “the president keeps talking as if overall prices were down before the war — or even are down overall today — and that is clearly not true.”

Trump continued the fantasy with gas prices.

“We had numbers that nobody’s seen in a long time. So you had $2 a gallon,” he told reporters on May 7. “We were down — I think you were $1.85, $1.90 in Iowa, and a lot of other places.”

Dale hit Trump with a fact-check: “Nope.”

The day before the Iran war began, the national average price of gas was $2.98 a gallon, according to AAA.

“As for Iowa? Its average price for regular gas on both February 27 and February 28 was $2.64 per gallon, according to AAA,” Dale said.

Now?

According to AAA, the national average price of gas for Wednesday is $4.56.

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘No Fantasy’: CNN Analyst Says the GOP Is ‘Right to Be Scared’ in Texas

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8 hours ago

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May 20, 2026

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“Texas is absolutely in play,” CNN analyst Harry Enten says. He wants to put to rest the idea that Democrats can’t win Texas.

“Republican senators are running scared,” following President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Texas MAGA Attorney General Ken Paxton over mainstream Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn. It appears Paxton is now favored to win the nomination for Cornyn’s seat.

A Paxton primary win, Enten says, could land Texas Democratic state Representative James Talarico in the U.S. Senate seat.

“James Talarico could very well win in Texas,” Enten says, noting that the scenario is now very different from 2018, when Democrat Beto O’Rourke tried to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Enten also notes that “the numbers, at this point, absolutely support the conclusion that James Talarico can win.”

Cruz was up by seven points in the polls in May of 2018. Paxton now is down by seven points.

“Ted Cruz was actually decently popular, but Ken Paxton is anything but — in poll after poll after poll, he is underwater.”

Cruz “was clearly ahead. But look at the polling average now when you match up Ken Paxton versus James Talarico — it’s actually Talarico that’s ahead by four points.”

Enten notes that “Talarico is polling better than any Democrat in at least 24 years. You have to go all the way back to 2002 to find a Democrat, even polling anywhere close to where Talarico is polling right now.”

Texas Democrats have “dreamt” about turning the Lone Star State blue, and this time, “the numbers actually support the idea that they may actually be able to do it.”

The other part of the equation, Enten notes, is that in 2018 Trump was up by four points in Texas polling. Now, he is down by three.

“Trump is considerably less popular in Texas, which, of course, matches what we’re seeing nationally, which is that Donald Trump is less popular now than he was at this point in term one,” Enten said. “You put it all together, you look at the general election pulse. You look at the popularity of the potential Republican candidates.”

“Talarico winning in Texas is no fantasy,” Enten added on social media. “The GOP is right to be scared.”

Image via Shutterstock

 

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