On Thanksgiving Day, New York Jets Mark Sanchez fumbling after he ran directly into the rear end of guard Brandon Moore and fumbled, leading to a New England Patriots touchdown. LOLZ
News, politics, commentary, and cultural reporting with a New York perspective.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Are NYPD Cyber Searching Political Blogs ?
NYPD Violate #Handschu and Deny #FOIL Request by @maslowsneeds christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2012/11/NYPD-V… #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #dueprocess
— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) November 25, 2012
NYPD continue to monitor peaceful activists in violation of the Handschu Agreement. In this latest case, NYPD officials are visiting this blog even though NYPD refuse to answer to a Freedom of Information request by the author of this blog.
Remember, this is on top of the fact that there have been allegations that Speaker Quinn has instructed the NYPD to use physical force against the author of this blog.
If Speaker Quinn can't find a way to violate due process by firing you, then she puts the NYPD on the case, to harass and cybermonitor you ?
2012 11 24 NYPD Cybermonitoring Louis Flores Handschu AgreementQuinnipiac Poll : Lhota and Carrion Non-Starters
If the election were held today, MTA boss Joe Lhota would lose to the Democratic nominee 60% to 9%, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. Another potential Republican candidate, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, would not fare much better than Lhota, the poll found: Carrion would lose 62% to 11% if he ran on the Republican ticket.
(Source : The New York Daily News)
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Obama's First Drone Attack Policy
Since Barack Obama became President, there have been more than 300 drone strikes and some 2,500 people killed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. military, The New York Times has reported.
Supposedly, the Obama administration is "still pushing to make the rules formal and resolve internal uncertainty and disagreement" about when drone attacks are justified. Prior to his reƫlection, the Obama administration was in a rush to put together some kind of manual or standard operating procedure for drone attacks, to deflect criticism by liberals and progressives, of the Obama administration's reckless use of drone attacks.
Now that he has been safely reƫlected, there's no more pressure on the Obama administration to finalise the administration's first formal drone attack policy. For example, The Times reported that "Mr. Obama and his advisers are still debating whether remote-control killing should be a measure of last resort against imminent threats to the United States, or a more flexible tool, available to help allied governments attack their enemies or to prevent militants from controlling territory."
Will the Obama administration finally deliver a doctrine on its use of extra-judicial "remote-control killing" ?
Read also : The Long War Journal
2013 NYC Mayoral Dowry
In 2006, when she was elected to become Speaker of the New York City Council, Christine Quinn turned to help from Vito Lopez in Brooklyn, for the votes of Brooklyn councilmembers, in an effort to thwart Bill De Blasio, who (no surprise) failed in his campaign to become Speaker. Like then, Speaker Quinn is now turning to extending favours to Mr. Lopez. Only now, what is at stake is not the speakership, but the mayoralty.
Speaker Quinn needs to pump the political machine in Brooklyn for votes, because she has angered so many voters in her own City Council District over community-crushing development that is allowing New York University to overwhelm the special social fabric of Greenwich Village, that closed St. Vincent's Hospital, and that is going to destroy the character of Chelsea Market.
And, in exchange, Speaker Quinn is being suspected of delivering to Mr. Lopez a redistricted seat in Brooklyn, to give him a soft landing, once he gets kicked out of the New York State Assembly.
Facebook proposes to end voting on privacy issues
USA WikiLeaks CableGate Detainee Policies
Manual (SOP) for procedures for medical evaluation of detainees Iraq | http://wikileaks.org/detaineepolicies/doc/US-DoD-Detainee-In-Processing-TFM-115-SOP-2005-02-12.html
Manual (SOP) for detainee dispensary services, Iraq | http://wikileaks.org/detaineepolicies/doc/US-DoD-Detainee-Dispensary-Services-TFM-115-SOP-Draft-2005-02-12.html
Manual (SOP) for dental personnel, Iraq | http://wikileaks.org/detaineepolicies/doc/US-DoD-Detainee-Dental-Inprocessing-TFM-115-SOP-Draft-2005-02-12.html
Manual (SOP) for duties in event of detainee death, Iraq | http://wikileaks.org/detaineepolicies/doc/US-DoD-Detainee-Death-Policy-Draft-2005-02-12.html
Manual (SOP) for detainee assault or abuse reporting, Iraq | http://wikileaks.org/detaineepolicies/doc/US-DoD-Detainee-Assault-or-Abuse-Reporting-Policy-Draft-2005-02-12.html
Bangor, Maine News Anchors Cindy Michaels And Tony Consiglio Resign
During their 6 p.m. newscast last night, Bangor-based TV news anchors Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio resigned on air, citing, as the Bangor Daily News has described it, "a longstanding battle with upper management over journalistic practices at their Bangor TV stations."
Black Friday Mic Check at Maryland Walmart
From Occupy Wall Street :
According to the Organization United for Respect at Walmart, 1,000 protests occurred at Walmart stores across 46 states, with hundreds of workers walking off the job in an unprecedented decentralized, open-source strike at the retail giant.
David Tovar, the Vice President for Communications, spoke with Carol Costello from CNN on Tuesday, November 20, before the Black Friday actions took place across the nation.
Ray Kelly Stop And Frisk Awards Ceremony
Members of Stop Stop & Frisk, #OWS, and students at Columbia present NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly with the 2011 Bull Connor Award, for excellence in cracking down on people of color. At Columbia University's SIPA, Matthew Swaye thanks the world's top cop for the privileges his administration affords heterosexual white men.
Bull Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. He took covert actions to enforce racial segregation and deny civil rights to African American citizens
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Nobel Peace Laureates Slam The U.S. Over Bradley Manning Case
Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Northern Irish activist Mairead Maguire, and Argentine artists Adolfo PĆ©rez Esquivel have authored a statement to be published in an upcoming issue of The Nation that condemns the United States’ persecution of the 24-year-old Army private and implores the rest of America to question the country’s secretive torture of a soldier that the prize winners say defended democracy.
“As people who have worked for decades against the increased militarization of societies and for international cooperation to end war, we are deeply dismayed by the treatment of Pfc Bradley Manning,” the laureates write.
Left unaddressed by the Nobel laureates was why supposedly progressive, LGBT politicians, such as Christine Quinn, are questionably silent about the persecution of PFC Manning.
Read more : Nobel laureates slam the US over Bradley Manning case
Hurricane Sandy Occupy Thanksgiving Feast
Russian Lawsuit Against Madonna Is Dismissed
A Russian court rejected a $10 million lawsuit against Madonna on Thursday by a group of anti-gay activists who accused her hurting their feelings by promoting homosexuality at a St. Petersburg concert. Judge Vitaly Barkovsky did not explain his decision but also ruled the activists should compensate legal expenses to companies which organized Madonna's concert. The activists said they will appeal the court ruling. Homosexuality, punished with jail terms in the Soviet Union, was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but much of the gay community remains underground as prejudice runs deep. (Reuters)
GHV2 BY MADONNA (CD) (Google Affiliate Ad)Line Clogging Demonstration At Golden Farm (Nov. 21)
On the busy day before Thanksgiving, activists demonstrated for union rights at Golden Farm grocery store in Brooklyn.
The owner of a YouTube channel called Matt H. posted this video yesterday of a direct action demonstration in support of employees, who want to unionise at the Golden Farm grocery store in Brooklyn.
On November 21, I stopped by a picket being held outside the Golden Farm grocery store on Church Ave and 4th St. The group was picketing in support of workers rights and union benefits. Their demands were : fair pay and compensation for when they made below minimum wage ; holidays off ; and personal days off. The majority of the time was spent with a picket outside the store. About 12 Minutes were spent inside the store doing what was called a "line clog." It was hilarious...
Among the activists, who took part in this demonstration, were members of OccuEvolve.
The History and Effects of Trade Unions in the United States (Google Affiliate Ad)Christine Quinn Betrays The LGBT Community
What measurable, real, and tangible actions have openly lesbian City Council Speaker Christine Quinn taken in respect of LGBT civil rights ?
Let's examine the following examples of LGBT civil rights violations, to which City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a high-profile openly lesbian politician, has been spineless in her response :
- When over 30 men where being entrapped and were the targets of sexual orientation profiling by the NYPD, what did Christine Quinn do ? That's right, she did nothing to hold the NYPD accountable for their systematic discrimination of LGBTQS men.
- In the interest of public health, New York City hands out free condoms, and then NYPD arrests LGBT New Yorkers for carrying condoms. And Speaker Quinn looks the other way, of course. Read more : New York City's Condom Bait-and-Switch
- Look at the case of Jabbar Campbell. If LGBT New Yorkers get beat up by haters, you can count on Speaker Quinn to elbow her way in for photo opportunities. But if the haters are NYPD officers, you can count on Speaker Quinn to look the other way.
- In her YouTube video announcing her mayoral campaign, Speaker Quinn did not say that she was a lesbian, and she did not mention her wife. Is this another case of self-hate or internalised homophobia ?
- Each year, Speaker Quinn allocates taxpayer money to support hate groups that discriminate against LGBT New Yorkers. Ask yourselves : What is an openly lesbian politician doing by funding groups that discriminate against LGBT New Yorkers ?
- On the evening when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the historic marriage equality bill into law, the NYPD raided the Eagle Bar in yet another demonstration of sexual orientation profiling. What has Speaker Quinn done to hold the NYPD accountable for their systematic discrimination of the gay men patrons of the Eagle ? That's right, she's done nothing.
- Before New York State enacted its historic marriage equality law, Speaker Quinn was already being non-committal about fighting all the way to win, which is her usual strategy on everything.
- After the Obama administration violated the due process rights of an LGBT whistleblower, what did Speaker Quinn do ? She turned the other way and pretended not to look.
- When one of her own staffers, Tony Simone, dropped the F-bomb on gay rights leaders Allen Roskoff and Donny Moss, what did Speaker Quinn do ? She did nothing.
- When Mayor Michael Bloomberg appealed the 2005 landmark marriage equality ruling by Judge Doris Ling-Cohan, what did Christine Quinn do ? BINGO ! She did nothing.
- Speaker Quinn's position of Paid Sick Leave has ramifications for the LGBT community.
- Even though the stop-and-frisk policy of the NYPD targets the transgendered New Yorkers, Speaker Quinn supports NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who is adamant about maintaining the unconstitutional police program.
- When former Mayor Ed Koch passed away, lesbian NYC mayoral candidate Christine Quinn released a statement calling Koch a 'great mayor' and a 'great man,' even though Mr. Koch was mayor during a period of time during which the AIDS epidemic broke out -- a crisis that many have said Koch essentially ignored during his time in office. Many AIDS activists found Speaker Quinn's statement tone deaf and dismissive of the tens of thousands of local AIDS deaths attributable to the former mayor.
- Related : Two gay men explain their beef with Christine Quinn
With an LGBT record like this, LGBTQS New Yorkers would do good to question Speaker Quinn's integrity and commitment to LGBT civil rights.
Make a pledge today to support Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn on Kickstarter.