If Mylène Farmer was a real gay icon, she would denounce the Russian government's violent crackdown against LGBT community

Mylène Farmer is one of the most successful French singers in recording history. She's a widely followed "gay icon" amongst the LGBT community around the world. Yet, she took her most recent tour to Russia, and, whilst there, she never denounced the Russian government's crackdown on LGBT civil rights.

One of her Russian fan clubs has expressed ambivalence about whether Mylène has any responsibility to her Russian LGBT fans, describing the plea by activists to hold the Russian government accountable for the violence and discrimination as "squabbles" of Mylène's LGBT fans.

Si Mylène était icône gay, elle aurait dénoncé discrimination contre LGBT Russes http://t.co/fypl9zRktr @TETUmag pic.twitter.com/32h5SOnkDG

— Louis Flores (@maslowsneeds) November 10, 2013

Contrasting "Narratives" on Medicaid, Hospital Budget Cuts Under Obamacare

#Gov1%, Hospital Budget Cuts, Medicaid Redesign Team, Stephen Berger, and GOP-Controlled States Take Toll on Life-Saving Emergency Care

Dr. Herbert Pardes, who used to lead New York-Presbyterian Hospital as president and CEO, earned $4.3 million in 2010, boosted by a $339,101 SERP payment. That came on top of a $6.8 million SERP payment that vested in 2008. (SERPs up! Hospital execs win big : Deferred plans boost chiefs' 'longevity pay' by millions of dollars * Crain's)

Dr. Pardes gave an interview on Channel 13 today, where he sounded pretty desperate to spin a win-win situation for patients under Obamacare. But there was a competing article published in The New York Times on the same day as his interview. The article showed that cuts to hospital budgets, caps on Medicaid, and refusals to expand Medicaid, and hospital closings was leading to serious life-threatening healthcare emergencies. Yet, Dr. Pardes remained ignorant of public health disaster caused by the wave of hospital closings instigated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo under Stephen Berger's Medicaid Redesign Team.

HERBERT PARDES: … I think to his credit, the Governor in New York did a good job in terms of putting a cap on the Medicaid budget. And he worked collaboratively with the providers and brought the cost down substantially.

So, the whole story isn’t beautiful, but there are parts which are.

RICHARD HEFFNER: But you’re saying, I gather … and that’s a beautiful point, if, if I understand correctly … that service is not going down, costs are not leveling because people are being less well served.

PARDES: Well, that’s exactly the kind of combined focus that people should undertake. Which is to say, bring costs down, but not at the expense of a clinical care of the patients. And we feel very strongly about that. So wherever we’ve taken out costs and there’s another part to this story, which is New York Presbyterian simply taking out costs … we’ve done it, but protected the clinical care aspect of our hospital. So … (More about the Dim Future of American Medicine * Thirteen.org)

If uninsured or underinsured patients have no insurance under Obamacare because Republican-led states opted out of expanding out of Medicaid, how do Obamacare supporters explain the draconian, scorched-earth campaign by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Wall Street banker Stephen Berger's efforts to close hospitals, which are used as safety net care by the poor, before primary care is set up as a replacement ? Conveniently, it always goes unsaid how the closing of emergency rooms, full-service hospitals, and trauma centers will impact patients' likelihood of survivals (their healthcare outcomes) in life-threatening medical emergencies, when the next nearest full-service hospital or trauma center is further away ?

… A government subsidy, little known outside health policy circles but critical to the hospitals’ survival, is being sharply reduced under the new [Obamacare] health law.

The subsidy, which for years has helped defray the cost of uncompensated and undercompensated care, was cut substantially on the assumption that the hospitals would replace much of the lost income with payments for patients newly covered by Medicaid or private insurance. But now the hospitals in states like Georgia [, which like other Republican-led states, refused to broaden Medicaid after the Supreme Court in 2012 gave states the right to opt out, ] will get neither the new Medicaid patients nor most of the old subsidies, which many say are crucial to the mission of care for the poor. ...

… The cuts in subsidies for safety-net hospitals like Memorial [in Georgia] — those that deliver a significant amount of care to poor, uninsured or otherwise vulnerable patients — are set to total at least $18 billion through 2020. The government has projected that as much as $22 billion more in Medicare subsidies could be cut by 2019, depending partly on the change in the numbers of uninsured nationally.

The cuts are just one of the reductions in government reimbursements that are squeezing hospitals across the country. Some have already announced layoffs. In Georgia, three rural hospitals have closed this year. … (Cuts in Hospital Subsidies Threaten Safety-Net Care * The New York Times)

New York’s Ongoing Blackout: Hospitals in Lower Manhattan (Pro Publica) * St. Vincent’s Is the Lehman Brothers of Hospitals (New York magazine) * Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid cuts may kill 10 city hospitals (The New York Post)

Election Big Loser Kathy Wylde, reports True News

Kathy Wylde had one job, and she blew it ! How long will she remain as head of the Partnership For New York City ?

(Revised : Thursday 7 Nov 2013 1:05 p.m.)

Beaten By The Working Families Party, The Flack For The 1% Kathryn Wylde Fights To Keep Her Job

CYA Statement from Wylde : “I keep telling my members that the Bloomberg era was an aberration,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a leading business group. “Bill captured the disconnect for many New Yorkers between the fact of the city’s prosperity and the reality of their lives in this increasingly unaffordable city.”

The election of Bill de Blasio and the take over by the Working Families Party has more to do with the city's corrupt election system and an elite media, which most New Yorkers no longer follow. In the past, the 1% made it possible with great schools, hospitals for the poor, and good jobs for the 99% of New Yorkers to move themselves and their children up the social and economic ladder. Most New Yorkers today face an economic crisis as big as the crime crisis of the 70's and 80's.

The change voters were looking for in the exit polls was good jobs, good educations for their children, and an affordable place to live. The job of the Partnership For New York City, which Kathryn Wylde has run for the last decade, was to keep that social contract the rich always had with the other New Yorkers. Wylde sat there in her fancy office and collected her fat pay check while her real estate partners pushed the city's poor and middle class out of New York. Wylde lunched with her rich partners at the city's best, trendy restaurants in Manhattan, while record high numbers of New Yorkers went without jobs. Wylde visited her friends penthouses on Park Avenue, where their children pay $50,000 for private schools, while most New Yorkers parents send their kids to failing schools, destroying their children's future. Wylde sold her rich and media partners that the way to keep her fellow looters in power was through Bloomberg's puppet, Speaker Christine Quinn. It's not so much that the Working Families Party grew powerful and took over, so much as that the clueless Partnership-backed Joe Lhota did not even put up a fight. Wylde and her elite partners in government and the media allowed the protectors of the poor and middle class to be run by a bunch of bottom feeders. Elected officials and party leaders, who only care about growing rich and getting jobs for their friends. A media who tries to control New Yorkers rather than further their Bill of Rights mission to inform to protect. If Wylde stays in power and the Partnership does not end it class war in NYC, then so will the Working Families Party and Bertha Lewis.

True News's Biggest Loser of the 2013 Election : The Partnership's Kathy Wylde

From True News From Change NYC :

If you think the Giants are having a bad year check out the head of the Partnership. Wylede allowed the Working Families Party to take over the mayor's and Public Advocate's office. She now must count on Virginia resident Corrupt Queens' Boss Joe Crowley to line up enough councilmembers to elect Mark Weprin as Council Speaker. As long as Wyde is in power there will never be reform of the city's corrupt party leadership or Board of elections.

OFFICIAL DISPATCH from Lhota's closed-door meeting yesterday, via Kathy Wylde of the Partnership for NYC: "Joe Lhota met with about thirty members of the Partnership for New York City today to detail priorities he would focus on as mayor including support for job creation, making the city more affordable, and ensuring that it remains safe. the big question was whether there is a path to victory for a Republican in an increasingly Democratic town. Joe argued that most New Yorkers agree with him on big issues if he can get his name known and his message across. Those attending included CEOs from finance, real estate, media and law. The Partnership has met with all mayoral candidates, but does not make endorsements. Joe was introduced by Loews CEO Jim Tisch."

(Original : Friday 11 Oct 2013 3:10 p.m.)

The New York Times was unclear which galaxy contains billions of potentially habitable planets

Galaxy contains billions of potentially habitable planets, say Berkeley, Hawaii astronomers

"Astronomers reported that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable Earth-size planets in the galaxy, based on a new analysis of data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft," The New York Times is reporting, adding, "One out of every five sunlike stars in the galaxy has a planet the size of Earth circling it in the Goldilocks zone — not too hot, not too cold — where surface temperatures should be compatible with liquid water, according to a herculean three-year calculation based on data from the Kepler spacecraft by Erik Petigura, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley."

Three other weird things about The New York Times article is that it kept referring to "galaxy," when I think that they really mean "universe." Each time they refer to "galaxy," I could not figure out which "galaxy" within the "universe" they meant. Did anybody figure out which "galaxy" the reporter meant ?

Also, it is not explained why the scientific study cited in the article required that the habitable planets being search had to be approximately the size of our planet, earth ? Wouldn't it not matter what size a planet was, so long as the planet had water, breathable air, sufficient atmospheric pressure, and gravity to make life possible ?

What kind of "life" were astronomers thinking that they would find : life that would identically resemble human life ?

Corrupt Campaign Finance and Lobbyist Influence in de Blasio and Cuomo administrations

"Bags of Cash"

Real estate developers, gambling interests, and lobbyists corrupt New York City and New York State politics. In this YouTube video, questions are raised about why the super-majority of liberal and progressive politicians in New York are unable to propose and enact real campaign finance and lobbyist reforms. Are Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Prosecutor Kathleen Rice more interested in milking big business interests and lobbyists of campaign donations to dare to reform the broken political system ?

Stay tuned ....

Verizon Android Island commercial uses "Comment te dire adieu" for its soundtrack

A recent advertising blitz by the cellphone carrier Verizon uses one of French pop music's most successful songs. A handsome young couple are racing in a speed boat in beautiful, azure shallow waters when the motor on the cigarette boat breaks down. The commercial is meant to highlight the long-lasting battery life of Verizon android cellphones.

Here is the original, chic French song used in the Verizon commercial : "Comment te dire adieu" by Francoise Hardy.

True News Investigates Political Expenditures Dark Pool ; Conflicts of Interest ; Damaging Local Impact of Citizens United ; Near Media Silence

• Rolling Updates From : True News From Change NYC

Eight campaign consultants all but one are also lobbyists, have monopolized NYC elections system that only the Justice Department using the Sherman Antitrust Act can bust. (Organized Crime Politics * True News From Change)

True News Investigates Political Expenditures Dark Pool ; Conflicts of Interest ; Damaging Local Impact of Citizens United ; Near Media Silence

All the Media Silent On Local Impact on Citizens United. We have just gone though the first local election since the Citizen United ruling where two major IE groups Jobs4NY and NYClass has pumped money into almost every first time winning candidate or attacked their opponent. CrainsNY reporter Chris Bragg has done a good job showing that on of the big PAC groups headed by Advance's Scott Levenson was not following the election law and was in some elections working against the interests of his council clients. Only True News has asked where is the media on Citizens United effect on the city's elections. Mark Levine ran in a minority created district he did not even live in won with the help of Jobs4NY, NYClass and United for the Future.* Politicians for Sale (NYT Editorial) The Supreme Court should follow its own precedent and uphold overall campaign contribution limits.

Cuomo's Public Financing Way Out ? As Goo Goos Stand Up For Moreland Commission Independence. . . Cuomo Looks for Exit

Update : Moreland Commission. Cuomo’s Moreland Act Commission on Public Corruption is discussing the possibility of disbanding after recommending that a constitutional amendment be offered to voters for a public campaign finance system, The Times Union writes.

The state Legislature and the governor’s office have interfered with the Moreland Commission’s efforts to investigate corruption in Albany, and sources say that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering an exit strategy from the commission, The New York Times reports * The Times Union writes of the need for strong ethics rules and watchdog bodies, praising state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for their efforts in bringing integrity to government * The TU praises AG Eric Schneiderman and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for joining forces to try to restore some ethics to government.

Media Ignores : Large Ongoing Crimes Being Uncovered That Have Nothing to Do With Public Finance. “(A)ccording to people familiar with the commission’s work, the effort to investigate corruption in Albany is burdened by resistance from the Legislature, which has refused requests for information about lawmakers’ outside income, and by unexpected involvement by the governor’s office, which has leaned on the commission to limit the scope of its investigations.”* A Cuomo spokeswoman insisted the commission is “moving forward aggressively.”* The special Moreland Commission appointed by the governor in July will convene again, privately, today, amid a flurry of stories questioning its independence from the Cuomo administration. Recent reports say the commission held back subpoenas at the administration's request, and Capital reported yesterday that commissioners are in discussions with the administration to propose a public campaign finance system as a constitutional amendment. * It's the first step toward negotiating a truce that leaves the commission irrelevant, or, as Jim Odato suggests this morning, nonexistent.

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Is Advance Group Gaming Public Fiance ?

Advance Group's Logo on Phony Group Makes Millions in Matching Funds, Main Stream Media Ignores. Several payments that a UUFT super PAC sent to a fictitious political consulting firm “Strategic Consultants” have the Advance Group logo on their invoices.

10.09.13 FOIL Docs-3 by Chris Bragg

Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice( CrainsNY) Last week, The Insider broke the news that the United Federation of Teachers' super PAC had paid more than $370,000 to a fictitious political consulting firm "Strategic Consultants Inc.," which was actually the well-known Manhattan consulting firm the Advance Group. An open records request that came back on Tuesday from the City Campaign Finance Board (and is embedded below) offers fresh and somewhat amusing evidence of the connection between the two: Many of the invoices the agency received from Strategic Consultants have the Advance Group logo on them.* Supreme Court Again Weighs Spending Limits In Campaigns. This decision could = the death of democracy.

It is very clear that Wall Street has Dark Pools where traders operate beyond the regulators. What is not clear is that their are also Dark Pool where lobbyists, campaign consultants and elected officials make deals with each other undermining democracy hidden from public view.

Ray Kelly Booed Off Stage During Brown University Talk

Ray Kelly Booed Off Stage During Speech at Brown University in Boston : "Racism is not for debate"

A student-led backlash to NYPD Police Commish Ray Kelly speaking at the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University had been brewing for days, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several student groups and Providence residents attempted to get the university to rescind Mr. Kelly's invitation, which was denied. "Mr. Kelly has been heralded for bringing crime in New York City to the lowest point in more than 50 years, but he has also been in the spotlight after a federal judge ruled that the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practice was unconstitutional because it disproportionately targets minorities," The Wall Street Journal report added. Watch the video of the heckling. One student shouts, "Racism is not for debate !"

• Video : Ray Kelly Heckled Off Stage At Brown University (Gothamist)
• Ray Kelly Booed Off Stage During Speech at Brown University (The Wall Street Journal)

During the recent Democratic primary race for the next mayoral administration in New York City, Mr. Kelly became the intense focus of criticism when former primary front-runner Christine Quinn expressed her unflinching support for Mr. Kelly's unconstitutional policies of racism and police brutality. Controversies over police procedures has been a hallmark of the Bloomberg-Quinn administration.

Joe's Walk For Change - Arriving at Love Park

Joe Bell set off on foot across the United States after losing his son, Jadin, to suicide. Jadin was bullied relentlessly for being gay, both in school and online. After this terrible loss, Joe set off on a cross-country walk to raise awareness about bullying and to change people's minds. Unfortunately, Joe died after he was run over by a big rig.

Joe's death has inspired many people to take up what's come to be called "Joe's Walk For Change," in an effort for others to complete segments of Joe's walk that he left unfinished. Here's a very inspiring video by Brad Crothers, who walked a 57 mile segment from Quarryville, PA to Philadelphia.

Joe's Walk For Change is a nonprofit organization created by Joe Bell, who was walking across the United States to stop bullying and save lives.

U.S.A. Has Been Spying On Angela Merkel Since 2002

La N.S.A. Espionnait Les Français by connaissable

Did Barack Obama Know About N.S.A. Wiretaps on Angela Merkel's Cellphone ?

"Le quotidien Bild am Sonntag cite ce dimanche des sources des services de renseignement américains selon lesquelles le chef de la NSA, Keith Alexander, avait informé Barak Obama d'une opération d'écoute des communications de la chancelière allemande dès 2010," meaning that President Obama knew of the spying on Angela Merkel since 2010.

"Le Spiegel indiquait samedi soir, au vu de documents de la NSA, que la chancelière figurait sur une liste d'écoutes depuis 2002, et l'était encore quelques semaines avant la visite du président américain à Berlin, en juin dernier," meaning that Merkel was still on the list of spy targets just a few weeks before President Obama's visit to Berlin last June.

However, the article ends in confusion, because it was reported that, " Selon Der Spiegel, le président américain lui aurait dit que s'il l'avait su, il y aurait immédiatement mis fin," meaning that Obama said that he would have ended the spying on Merkel if he had known about it, creating a contradiction between what Der Spiegel and Bild am Sonntag are reporting. If President Obama said he would have ended the spying on Merkel if he had known about it, then why are there indications that he was informed of it in 2010, but Merkel continued to appear on the spy list until this year ?

Source : Scandale de la NSA : Angela Merkel était écoutée depuis 2002 (Le Parisien)

The N.S.A. spy programme is causing a growing diplomatic crisis for Obama

La N.S.A. Espionne Les Françaises by connaissable

Did White House officials approve the N.S.A.'s spying of 35 world leaders ?

The growing scandal of the U.S. spying on our European allies is threatening to engulf the White House, and, typically, administration officials are trying to protect the president from accountability for the scandal. "Inside the administration it has touched off behind-the-scenes recriminations between the White House and the intelligence agencies over how much detail was given to White House officials about which world leaders are being monitored," The New York Times is reporting, adding, "A senior administration official declined to say what Mr. Obama knew or did not know about monitoring of Ms. Merkel’s phone, but said the president 'doesn’t think we are in the right place.' " If it is illegal to spy on Germans without proper legal authority, did the Obama administration break German law by spying on the German chancellor ? If the Republicans weren't such a joke right now, they should be leading the charge to investigate these allegations.

• N.S.A. monitored calls of 35 world leaders after U.S. official handed over contacts ; NSA encourages departments to share their 'Rolodexes' (The Guardian)
• Angela Merkel and François Hollande lead push at E.U. summit to reshape transatlantic spying and agree new code of conduct (The Guardian)

The official U.S. response has "evolved" from accusing the N.S.A. contractor Edward Snowden of being a "spy," to denying reports that the U.S. has spied on European citizens, to trying to isolate the White House from legal and political ramifications of the unconstitutional and illegal N.S.A. surveillance programme. Since our own impotent reporters inside the Beltway appear to enable the Obama administration's expansion of the NSA espionage programme, then the only outside pressure that is going to make a real difference is going to be the foreign press, especially from our allies. Let's see if our allies have the courage to "draw a line in the sand" or to propose economic sanctions against the U.S. until President Obama dismantles the illegal surveillance state his administration steadfastly helped to build ? The N.S.A's espionage may now amount to acts of crime in the eyes of foreign nations. If American courts are not going to recognize the violations of law by the N.S.A., then surely the courts of our allies will.

Meanwhile, the political legitimacy of the N.S.A. surveillance programme continues to come under fire. President Obama's rationale for spying was that it was intended for foreigners, not Americans. Now that European leaders are complaining about the tracking of "foreigners," how legitimate is the N.S.A. surveillance programme now ?

(Updated : Friday 25 Oct 2013 8:20 a.m.)

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France In The NSA Crosshairs : Phone Networks Under Surveillance

I was unable to post this information as a status update on Facebook this morning, so I am sharing it here, hoping that I can link back to it on Facebook.

France summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to the French Foreign Ministry office on the Quai d'Orsay to protest allegations in Le Monde newspaper about large-scale spying on French citizens by the U.S. National Security Agency.

"If an allied country spies on France or spies on other European countries, that's totally unacceptable," French interior minister Manuel Valls told Europe 1 radio, according to a Reuters report published by The New York Times.

Meanwhile, CNN is also reporting that according to Le Monde, this is how the system worked : "When a telephone number is used in France, it activates a signal which automatically triggers the recording of the call. Apparently this surveillance system also picks up SMS (text) messages and their content using key words. Finally, the NSA apparently stores the history of the connections of each target -- or the meta-data." It wasn't immediately clear from the article if the conversations were being recorded or just the data surrounding each call. The CNN report added that the Le Monde investigation followed a separate report in the German news magazine Der Spiegel, which showed that the NSA "systematically" eavesdropped on the Mexican government. It hacked the public e-mail account of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, which was also used by Cabinet members, according to Der Spiegel.

Separately, in an article published in English this morning by Le Monde, Glenn Greenwald shared a by-line in an article questioning why France has not been as critical as Germany or Brazil of the U.S. spy programme on sovereign nations. The article concludes with indication of the global nature of the U.S. spy programme : "One of the documents which Le Monde was able to consult notes that between 8 February and 8 March 2013, the NSA collected, throughout the world, 124,8 billion telephone data items and 97,1 billion computer data items. In Europe, only Germany and the United Kingdom exceed France in terms of numbers of interceptions."

(Originally Posted : Monday 21 Oct 2013 9:15 a.m.)

James Capalino, Other Lobbyists Lined Up To Help Host Million-Dollar Bill de Blasio/Hillary Clinton Fundraiser

James Capalino, Other Lobbyists Lined Up To Help Host Million-Dollar Bill de Blasio/Hillary Clinton Fundraiser

From Daily News Daily Politics :

The host committee of Bill de Blasio's million-dollar Monday-night fundraiser with Hillary Clinton read like a who's who of big-league city lobbyists -- and it's drawing fire from his GOP foe in the mayor's race.

"The level of Bill de Blasio's hypocrisy is alarming. He takes cash from developers and special interests while telling New Yorkers he supports something different," Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Republican nominee Joe Lhota, told the Daily News. "I don't think anyone can trust who the real Bill de Blasio is when he always tries to play both sides."

De Blasio spokesman Dan Levitan declined comment on both Proud's comments or the number of lobbyists involved in the cash bash.

Among those on the host committee for the Roosevelt Hotel soiree : James Capalino, who in the past lobbied for Rudin Management, which is developing high-end condos near the site of the shuttered St. Vincent's Hospital, and A-list lobbyist Suri Kasirer, who has met with de Blasio on Atlantic Yards project.

Kasirer characterized her role in the fundraiser as more about old friendships than pending business.

"It was kind of like Old Home Week," said Kasirer, who said her 25-year friendship with the mayoral frontrunner goes back to the administration of former Mayor David Dinkins and continued through and past Clinton's 2000 run for the Senate.

While Kasirer says she's closely watching issues that may extend into the next administration, such as Midtown East rezoning, she painted the evening as "a way for a lot of New Yorkers to give a boost to Hillary and let her know that we were eagerly waiting for her decision and want her to run [for president]...

"I think for me it was less about lobbying than it was about sort of longtime relationships."

Capalino didn't immediately return a call about the fundraiser.

Fordham University's Costas Panagopoulos said the list wasn't surprising given that given that "money follows power and special interests can read the polls just as well as anyone else can," and that de Blasio and many of his backers are "established politicians with access to lobbyists and other donors" happy to help raise cash for a man who may make decisions critical to their clients.

The political science prof also said there is of course the issue of "whether someone who's been elected partly as a result of having attracted considerable financial support is subsequently beholden to those interests" if he or she wins.

"We'd like to think that kind of quid pro quo -- or some would go so far as to call it corruption -- doesn't exist, but it's a legitimate question," he said. "Answering this question will require vigilance and surveillance if [de Blasio is] elected."

Others on the lengthy host committee list included Stan Natapoff and Alexandra Stanton of Empire Global Ventures; Rachel Amar of Waste Management Of New York; and Michael Woloz of Connelly McLaughlin & Woloz.

Guardian wins Gannett Foundation Awards for NSA and GCHQ Files Reporting

"The Guardian has won two 2013 Online Journalism Awards. At a ceremony in Atlanta on Saturday night, the Guardian accepted the Gannett Foundation Award for Investigative Journalism and the Gannett Foundation Watchdog Journalism Award, both for its work on the issue of National Security Agency surveillance. Now working in partnership with the New York Times and ProPublica, since June the Guardian has investigated and reported upon NSA files leaked to it by the former NSA analyst Edward Snowden. The investigation has expanded to the include the operations of GCHQ, the British government's surveillance centre. The three journalists who broke the story were Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill," The Guardian is reporting.

"The OJAs are awarded by the Online News Association, the world's largest association of digital journalists, working in partnership with the University of Miami's School of Communication. Other winners on Saturday night included the Boston Globe, which was honoured for its coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and other stories, the Texas Tribune and the New York Times," the report concluded.

Read more : Guardian wins two online journalism awards for NSA Files reporting : Guardian wins Gannett Foundation Award for Investigative Journalism and Watchdog Journalism Award in Atlanta

Amanda The People's Clueless Burden AKA Gentrification Enabler

'What We Haven't Figured Out Is the Question of Gentrification'

From The Atlantic :

Maintaining enough affordable housing and keeping income diversity in a city as it prospers are two of the most contentious and perplexing questions in U.S. urban policy today. In a CityLab panel on urban expansion, economist and New York University professor Paul Romer decried rent control and argued that affordability is a problem for the free market to solve — and met with objections from Amanda Burden, director of New York City’s department of city planning.

"I had believed that if we kept building in that manner and increasing our housing supply … that prices would go down," Burden said. "We had every year almost 30,000 permits for housing, and we built a tremendous amount of housing, including affordable housing, either through incentives or through government funds. And the price of housing didn’t go down at all. That’s a practitioner’s point of view."

"What we haven’t figured out is the question of gentrification," Burden added. "I have never, since I had this job, come up with a satisfactory answer of how to make sure everyone benefits. It’s a question I would welcome more answers as to how to make this a more equitable city. Because that’s how we continue to attract people from all over the world, is people perceive the city as an equitable city, and a city with opportunity for all. It’s not just those poetic words. But I really wonder how we can do it."

NYC's Impotent Protected County Political Party Bosses

New York Party Bosses Can't Get It Up Anymore

I am not endorsing the Working Families Party, but, as a third party, it was able to make advances this year, even though it may have involved shenanigans. Until the neoliberalism can be gutted out of the Democratic Party, maybe supporting a third party can either lead the Democrats to reform themselves (or face irrelevancy) or else help build up a third party that can actually deliver reforms ? Either way, reformers win.

From True News From Change NYC :

Broken Party Bosses. Today both The Daily News and City and State both have done stories crediting the Working Families Party with winning the Mayoral election. What both papers failed to talk about is the disconnect of the city's Democrats and Republicans party bosses from the voters in their own parties. In other words they can no long deliver the vote. More importantly they represent only themselves and a few close criminal co-conspirators in dysfunctional parties that have cut off the public they claim to represent. The Queens Boss supported Quinn, the Bronx and Brooklyn bosses supported Thompson the Manhattan and Staten Island bosses did not endorse anyone. Over on the Queens side none of the party bosses supported Joe Lhota in the primary, but the voters in their party did.

Party Bosses and Ballot Lines For Sale. Former Bronx Republican Party leader Jay Savino and Queens GOP Vice Chair Vincent Tabone wait for their used to selling their party line to Bloomberg tried to sell their party this year to Malcolm Smith. The Queens party leaders even lost control of who runs the Board of Elections. It very strange that the media is doing story of Bill Lipton's WFP big win and not talking about who the losers are. What the newspaper should be looking into is not only the corruption connected to these party leaders, but how few people participate in party elections and picking who leads party bosses. Why are the newspapers and the city's permanent government, led by the partnership protecting the party leaders? The cluelessness of their Quinn endorsement shows they are as disconnected from the voters as the party bosses are. The permanent government has allowe a political and election system where only cleaver activists from the WFP know how to win in. And a media that covers the horse race rather the getting to the realities of the real issues that effect New Yorkers. The Working Families Party's long game is paying off(NYDN) * Last Look: Bill Lipton (City and State)

Robert Kennedy : The Last NY Politician, Who Tried to Reform the Party Bosses * Incumbent Protection * Party Leaders. Elected officials have taken over the party positions with the sole purpose of centralizing power and using it resources to help them get reelected. The party has no agenda or issue it pushes for. Most of the people in party positions have never beenchallenged. It function more like the old soviet union' Communist Party, then a democratic institution. It is even allow according to the U.S. Supreme Court to use politics to pick judges. Lopez Torres v. NYS Bd of Elections

Elected Officials, Reformer, Goo Goos Groups Silent On Party Reform. It has been 50 years since anyone has tried to reform New York's Democratic Party. In the mid 60's Robert Kennedy who defeated the democratic machine to become senator set his sights on cleaning up the state's Democratic Party. Kennedy tried to clean up Manhattan’s Surrogate Court, which to this day remains a Piggy bank for party patronage. Kennedy called the Court "a political toll booth exacting tribute from widows and orphans." He took aim at cronyism in Albany and fought to strengthen home rule of New York City. He also proposed nonpartisan redistricting, a move aimed at eliminating one of the main tools party leaders use to keep their incumbents in office for decades. Fiercely battled by a faction of the Democratic machine, Kennedy’s attempts reform the city's political parties died with his 1968 assassination. So called reformer and good government groups have never taken up his cause.