Bloomberg Thanks Quinn For Use Of Discretion Over Slush Funds

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that the slush fund operated by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was thankfully no longer the subject of public scorn, unlike the slush fund being operated by New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Chicago Teachers Union Closer To Going On Strike

From The Chicago Tribune :

The Chicago Teachers Union filed a 10-day strike notice on Wednesday in an attempt to put additional pressure on Chicago Public Schools negotiators in ongoing contract talks.

At a packed news conference Wednesday, CTU president Karen Lewis accused CPS leaders and the mayor of engaging in a "smear campaign" against teachers, raising the possibility for the city's first teachers' strike in 25 years. ...

Read more : Chicago Teachers Union files 10-day strike notice

Great Aunt Ida Launches Canadian Tour To Support LP ''Nuclearize Me''

Folky Canadian artist Great Aunt Ida (aka Ida Nilsen) launches a Canadian tour next week.

Fake Shelly Silver Tweet About Shirley Huntley Arrest

Gotta hand it to @agschneiderman: Taking down Shirley Huntley right before it's revealed that his office approved the secret Vito pay-out.

— Fake Sheldon Silver (@ShellySilver) August 29, 2012

Occupy Victory Over Obama Evolution On Citizens United

Earlier today, U.S. President Barack Obama announced during a Reddit chat that he was now open to a legislative remedy to put an end to a controversial 2010 Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. That case came to be known by the name of its appellant, Citizens United.

“Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t revisit it),” he wrote. “Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.”

President Obama's sudden change of heart over the unlimited influence of corporate money in campaigns comes as his re-election campaign comes to a close, and after his own campaign has benefitted from tens of millions of dollars raised through Super-PAC's, such as "Priorities USA Action, the super PAC that is supporting his candidacy and run by a former White House communications aide," reported The Huffington Post.

Groups that have been fighting the undemocratic influence that the Citizens United decision is having on elections in the United State see President Obama's newly expressed rhetoric as a starting place, but until his administration takes action, there is no telling how committed President Obama really is to election reform.

One of the winners of President Obama's "evolution" on Citizens United is the Occupy Wall Street movement. On January, 3, 2012, the New York City General Assembly of the Occupy Wall Street movement officially called for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United decision (See NYCGA Notes).

Gloria Steinem Paid Sick Leave Petition

"The feminist author Gloria Steinem is leading a campaign to pressure Speaker Christine C. Quinn to allow a City Council vote on a bill that would require businesses to give their employees paid sick leave." (NYTimes)

To sign the MoveOn.org petition, please click on the photo below :

Viral Video of Curiosity Descent Down To Mars

From This Is Colossal : New Interpolated HD Video of Curiosity Mars Rover Descent Depicts Real-Time Landing

Using footage provided by NASA, Reddit user Godd2 just spent the last four days on behalf of all humankind creating a stunning interpolated HD version of the descent. In layman’s terms interpolation involves taking a choppy video, in this case NASA’s 4 frames-per-second video, and rendering the “missing” frames in between resulting in an incredibly smooth 25 frames-per-second video. This is, I believe, the closest approximation ever of what it might feel like to land on another planet in real time using actual footage. Amazing.

Prince Harry Funny Facebook Family Nude Picture with Royal Family - Joke Photograph Las Vegas Photoshop

Since last week, a viral Photoshopped picture of a nude Prince Harry appearing in a group picture with the Royal Family has been making the rounds on Facebook pages. It's a funny joke, we hope you can get a few cheap laughs from it. LOL !

Suzannah B. Troy To Be Censored By YouTube and NYPD Intelligence Division

Suzannah B. Troy faces censorship yet again, this time by YouTube and the NYPD's Intelligence Division.

Following are the two videos, which face censorship :

"Mayor Bloomberg Yelled Down CityTime ECTP at Press Conference NYPD Intelligence Lt."

"Mayor Bloomberg Private Army NYPD Intelligence Det. Lynch Refuses to Identify Himself + Abusive!"

Who Shot All The Innocent Bystanders Outside The Empire State Building ?

Confirmed on NYTimes: Bystanders Hurt in Manhattan Were Hit by Police Gunfire

Confirmed on CNN: Police gunfire responsible for wounding all 9 innocent bystanders in Empire State Building shooting in New York

Was NYPD Responsible For All Innocent Bystander Shootings Outside The Empire State Building Today ?

Rumors are flying around that all of the innocent bystanders, who were shot outside of the Empire State Building this morning, were not shot by bullets from the the shooting suspect, Jeffrey T. Johnson -- who was shot dead by police -- but by bullets shot by police. Not yet confirmed, but I heard this from a very reliable source. I wonder how this will change the narrative of today's story of a disgruntled ex-employee shooting indiscriminately at the throngs of crowds outside the Empire State Building ?

From The New York Times, the police description of the firing of the bullets seems to indicate that the only people shooting their weapons outside the Empire State Building were police officers, not the lone gunman, Mr. Johnson :

The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said one witness had told investigators that Mr. Johnson had fired at the two officers, “but we don’t have ballistics to support that.” Mr. Browne said “it’s possible” that the officers had shot him before he could return fire.

One officer fired seven times, the other nine times, Mr. Browne said.

According to the Associated Press, the NYPD has so far admitted that some of the innocent bystanders were struck by bullets or bullet fragments shot by the responding police officers, but the story has not yet been fully told : if the gunman Mr. Johnson did not fire his weapon, that means that the collateral damage that took place today was as a result of "friendly fire."

Dead Father Tortures Gay Son From Grave : Get Married To Woman Or Lose Inheritance

Businessman's will orders gay son to marry woman, or else son will lose $180,000 inheritance. How's that for de factor LGBT discrimination ?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2190595/Frank-Mandelbaum-death-Businessmans-orders-gay-son-marry-surrogate-mother-grandchild.html

The late Frank Mandelbaum's dying wish was that his son marry the mother of his grandchild. Only Robert Mandelbaum, 47, a Manhattan Criminal Court Judge, is already married - to a man. Robert Mandelbaum is now fighting to overturn his father's will, arguing that the only 'mother' his two-year-old son knows is his longtime partner Johnathan O'Donnell, 39.

Rosie O'Donnell Has Heart Attack ; SVH Luxury Condo Fears Ambulance Response Times

Earlier today, Rosie O'Donnell blogged about having had a heart attack last week. Earlier this year, Mr. O'Donnell purchased a luxury condo from the Rudin family in the complex that used to be St. Vincent's Hospital, before it closed. Everybody is glad that Rosie is doing better, and we all wish her a speedy recovery. Some community activists hope that Ms. O'Donnell will see her heart attack as a wake-up call to create a full-service, Level I Trauma center in the Lower West Side. With the Rudin family's luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital, there is now no trauma-emergency care in the entire Lower West Side of Manhattan.

About the EMS response and transport time that people live in fear in the West Village, the artist and political blogger, Suzannah B. Troy, wrote that Ms. O'Donnell "would not have made it to Beth Israel like Richard Scheirer --- Rudy Giuliani's guy that died because he had a stroke and did not make it from the West Village where there is no St. Vincent's Hospital -- no trauma level 1 hospital."

2011-12-25 Bill Rudin Robber Baron Band-Aid Flyer

(CBS News) Rosie O'Donnell says she is "lucky to be here" after suffering a heart attack last week.

O'Donnell, 50, detailed the experience on her blog Monday, saying that she helped lift an "enormous woman" out of her car on Aug. 14 - and that a few hours later, her chest ached, her arms were sore, she became nauseous and had clammy skin.

She initially thought she had pulled a muscle, she continued, but then added in her free-verse writing style, "Maybe this is a heart attack/i googled womens heart attack symptoms/i had many of them/but really? - i thought - naaaa."

O'Donnell said she took a few aspirin ("Thank god/saved by a tv commercial/literally") and went to a cardiologist the next day.

She said her coronary artery was 99 percent blocked. A stent was inserted.

"They call this type of heart attack/the Widow maker/i am lucky to be here," she wrote. "Know the symptoms ladies/listen to the voice inside/the one we all so easily ignore/CALL 911/save urself."

A rep for O'Donnell told Us Weekly that she is now "home and resting comfortably." Earlier this month, she revealed that her fiancee, Michelle Rounds, was diagnosed with desmoid tumors.

The comedian recently hosted "The Rosie Show" on the Opera Winfrey Network. It was canceled in March.

moneyoutofpolitics mic check grand central station march to pfizer

After government integrity and healthcare activists held a mic check and balloon release inside Grand Central Station, the activists marched to Pfizer headquarters, where they did a speak-out and mocked the Pfizer marketing gimmick called, "Get Old."

Britain And Ecuador In Diplomatic Crisis Over Julian Assange

British authorities threaten to raid the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to get Assange

The wire services of Reuters is reporting that a major diplomatic crisis escalated on Wednesday in London over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after UK authorities indicated that they would storm Ecuador's London embassy if Ecuadorian diplomats did not turn over Mr. Assange, who has been taking refuge there for two months.

In response, the Ecuadorian government quickly raised legal and diplomatic concerns over the British threats. Reuters reported that Ecuadorean government officials said such a raid would be considered a "hostile and intolerable act," and it would violate the sovereignty of Ecuador's government, and, by extension, its Embassy in London.

"We want to be very clear, we're not a British colony. The colonial times are over," Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said in an angry statement after a meeting with President Rafael Correa, Reuters reported.

The Ecuadorian Embassy in London posted the following statement yesterday on it's mission's website :

“We are deeply shocked by British government’s threats against the sovereignty of the Ecuadorian Embassy and their suggestion that they may forcibly enter the embassy.

This is a clear breach of international law and the protocols set out in the Vienna Convention.

Throughout out the last 56 days Mr. Julian Assange has been in the Embassy, the Ecuadorian Government has acted honourably in all our attempts to seek a resolution to the situation. This stands in stark contrast to the escalation of the British Government today with their threats to breakdown the door of the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Instead of threatening violence against the Ecuadorian Embassy the British Government should use its energy to find a peaceful resolution to this situation which we are aiming to achieve.“

The Associated Press wire service has already reported that British police have made arrests of peaceful activists outside the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Cosmo Girl, Helen Gurley Brown, Dead at 90

Hellen Gurley Brown, who edited Cosmopolitan magazine during an era of great social change for women, died today. She was 90.

Ms. Brown tapped into the revolution in both society and in publishing that was already taking place in the late 1950's and early 1960's when she wrote her bestselling book, "Sex and the Single Girl," in 1962.

Ms. Brown updated Cosmo with sexy young contributors, who, as trailblazing writers, had embraced writing about daring and controversial subjects, such as workplace sexual harassment, pre-marital sex, birth control, and abortion. Among the bright and famous contributors, whom Ms. Brown recruited to write for Cosmo, included Rona Jaffe, who some argue helped to launch the sexual revolution in America with the 1958 publication of her shocking novel, "The Best of Everything."

Historians and women's rights archivists debate about which early writer was the first to begin to influence society away from the repressive and conformist 1950's, even at this late date, most people attribute "Sex and the Single Girl" with more influence, even though "The Best of Everything" preceded it by four years. For example, look at how The New York Times puts Ms. Brown into a separate category, as if Ms. Jaffe hadn't already begun to alter social mores with her own writing :

Helen Gurley Brown, who as the author of “Sex and the Single Girl” shocked early-1960s America with the news that unmarried women not only had sex but also thoroughly enjoyed it — and who as the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine spent the next three decades telling those women precisely how to enjoy it even more — died on Monday in Manhattan. She was 90, though parts of her were considerably younger. (NYTimes)

But there is no doubt that Ms. Brown did provide a platform for writers, such as Ms. Jaffe and others, to create an outlet for an alternative view of about what women had the freedom to do, other than to push each other on the rat race down the marriage aisle, like Ms. Jaffe used to say.

Cosmopolitan's Helen Gurley Brown dies aged 90 ; Editor's 32-year stint at helm of women's magazine saw introduction of frank discussions about sex (Guardian)