Sunday, December 22, 2013

Chromecast commercial features "La Danse de Zorba" by Dalida

This year's TV commercial campaign by Google for its Chromecast Web video and music interface for HDTV units uses one of French pop singer Dalida's most successful songs, "La Danse de Zorba."

Here is the French song by Dalida used in the Chromecast commercial : "La Danse de Zorba," is a cover of Mikis Theodorakis's "Zorbas."

This is the second major TV commercial for an American product this year that uses a hit French song for its soundtrack. Verizon Android Island commercial used "Comment te dire adieu" for its soundtrack.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Bill de Blasio and Melissa Mark-Viverito : Checks and balances are for stooges

Bill de Blasio Prods City Council to Elect Puppet as Speaker

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito said on Wednesday that she had lined up enough support to win the speaker's post, thanks to the intervention of mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. By Saturday, the editorial board of The New York Daily News has now published another denunciation of the conflicts of interest that are giving rise to Ms. Mark-Viverito's speakership : "Keep the bums out." This follows a prior editorial published last month in which the same editorial board expressed their opposition to Ms. Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign : "No to Mark-Viverito."

RRELATED : Melissa Mark-Viverito Lobbyist Firm Never Quit, Continued Lobbying Despite Investigations

Friday, December 20, 2013

Bill de Blasio Prods City Council to Elect Puppet as Speaker

Checks and balances are for stooges.

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito said on Wednesday that she had lined up enough support to win the speaker's post, thanks to the intervention of mayor-elect Bill de Blasio.

How soon before somebody makes a "puppet show" video about Ms. Mark-Viverito ?

Melissa Mark-Viverito Lobbyist Firm Never Quit, Continued Lobbying Despite Investigations

Mission Accomplished : Mark-Viverito Defeats Garodnick ; Checks And Balances Are For Stooges

New York City Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito self-delcared herself the winner in the race to be the next City Council Speaker, saying she had defeated Daniel Garodnick and replacing Christine Quinn, who leaves office on Dec. 31, 2013 ; although, the vote to actually select the next Council speaker won't actually take place until Jan. 8, 2014, leading Jim Dwyer of The New York Times to write, "And you do wonder if former President George W. Bush has phoned City Hall to offer the loan of his Mission Accomplished banner."

Mission Accomplished Melissa Mark-Viverito MMV

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio violated separation of powers by championing Mark-Viverito's speakership. His support for her flies in the face of a possible ethics violations during her speakership race and a campaign finance investigation into the shady dealings of one of her lobbyists. If Mark-Viverito does become speaker, she and the mayor-elect will have authority over the Campaign Finance Board and the Conflicts of Interest Board to make these investigations go away. How convenient.

The County Boss system has been surpassed by the corruptive influence of money and lobbyists in politics. While neither system is free from corruption, it is incumbent upon good government groups to address the fact that if Mark-Viverito does cinch the speakership, then it will be because of the role of lobbyists and the pay-to-play promises of Council chair appointments, payments of lulus, and distribution of Council slush funds.

These progressives-in-name-only are seizing power through machinations that violate the very anti-corruption principles of progressivism.

What is more, violating separation of powers, campaign finance laws, ethics, and flouting anti-corruption ideals are coming from the "Left." These kinds of actions are typically ascribed to the sleazy, corporate-controlled "Right" in American politics. What a disgrace that all this is playing out in the progressive capital city of New York -- and it's coming from the "Left !"

The Advance Group Flouts Campaign Finance, Ethics Regulations

The Advance Group Never Quit Mark-Viverito Speakership Campaigning, Other Lies Told To The Media

"As controversy simmers around the Advance Group, Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito revealed tonight she is no longer taking free advice from the leading consulting firm in her bid for City Council speaker," Ross Barkan reported on Dec. 2, adding that Ms. Mark-Viverito said that, "we will not be receiving any additional advice from The Advance Group."

After Ms. Mark-Viverito's association with Mr. Levenson and The Advance Group was at risk of derailing her speakership campaign, she misrepresented the role of The Advance Group just long enough to take the heat off her campaign, and let one of the lobbying group's consultants continue to provide "crucial" support.

Seventeen days later, it was confirmed that Ms. Mark-Viverito never completely stopped receiving advice from The Advance Group. The very same reporter, Mr. Barkan, to whom she had said, "we will not be receiving any additional advice from The Advance Group," now reported that Mr. Levenson's chief deputy, Jonathan Yedin, kept lobbying on behalf of Ms. Mark-Viverito.

"Ms. Mark-Viverito’s team was Brooklyn-infused for this purpose and included a paid operative, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s chief of staff John Paul Lupo, and an operative with the controversial Advance Group, Jonathan Yedin, who has been working in Brooklyn Democratic Party politics for more than a decade and belongs to Mr. Seddio’s political club."

It's unclear how Ms. Mark-Viverito can fire The Advance Group but keep receiving advice from one of their chief consultants ? Was Mr. Yedin's involvement just a backdoor way for Scott Levenson to each of keep tabs on the negotiations and feed instructions to Mr. Yedin in a smoke and mirrors attempt to confuse the editorial board of The New York Daily News ?

These are not the only misrepresentations that have been told to the media by those connected with The Advance Group. Representatives from The Advance Group were caught telling two different stories about the firm's work to defeat LGBT candidates for the City Council.

In a Nov. 21 report in The New York Daily News, a spokesperson for the lobbying firm said that the anti-LGBT work that the firm did was as a result of a "favor for a political operative." Four days later, Mr. Levenson told Michael Powell of The New York Times that, "I didn’t do my due diligence."

But Mr. Levenson has a calculating reputation and "tends to hedge his bets" on clients. At the time he was advancing Ms. Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign, it was reported that he had previously attended a function promoting another Council speaker candidate, Inez Dickens. Mr. Levenson also worked for opposing candidates in the same political race.

It may be too soon to find out if all these misrepresentations will have any impact on the investigations, before Ms. Mark-Viverito has them dismissed against her and her lobbyist firm, or if prosecutors will look into this mess.

Conflict between the old County Boss system of Big Business and the Super PAC's and Lobbyists of Special Interests

The aggressive and deliberate flouting of campaign finance laws and ethics regulations pushed the Editorial Board of The New York Daily News to denounce Ms. Mark-Viverito's Council speakership candidacy last month. Relatively speaking, all the backroom machinations of the mayor-elect and the Council speaker-select are making the old County Boss system, never transparent and always shady, look like reformers. As Sal Albanese wrote, "You can't make this up."

Sunday, December 15, 2013

India Section 377 Protest NYC #NoGoingBack #377DayOfRage

Protest in Union Square NYC Against Section 377 Indian Supreme Court Ruling

On December 11, 2013, the Supreme Court of India reinstated the British Raj era law known as Section 377, which criminalises homosexuality. This Judgment has inspired anger across different sections of society around the world. While the legal battle continues, it is important that we make our voices heard.

Activists organized protests in approximately 40 cities around the world on Sunday, December 15, 2013. This video depicts some of the activists, who gathered in Union Square in New York City, to denounce the Indian Supreme Court ruling as unfair, unjust, and discriminatory.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Racism And Police Brutality Concerns Can Go On, Depending On Schools' Chancellor Pick : Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts Alluded To Believing That Bratton's Racial Profiling Concerns Would Be Placated By An Agreeable Schools' Chancellor

Last week, Michael Grynbaum said on The New York Times Close-Up program on NY1 that he noticed that there had been some "hand-wringing in the progressive blogosphere" about the appointment of William Bratton as the next New York Police Department commissioner, adding that there were concerns about how would the Bratton appointment affect stop-and-frisk.

Stop-and-frisk is a controversial program of the NYPD, which has been found to be a state-sponsored program that discriminates based on race, violating the civil liberties and civil rights of millions of innocent New Yorkers caught in its indiscriminate dragnet use.

Mr. Grynbaum concluded his remarks on this subject by saying that some of the mayor-elect's leftist base were troubled by the appointment

To these concerns, Sam Roberts flippantly said, "And maybe that will be alleviated in the coming week, when he is likely to name a schools' chancellor," as if the racism and police brutality of the NYPD "will be alleviated" by what ? The naming of a minority schools' chancellor ?

Is Mr. Roberts out of touch ? Does he need cultural competency training ?

Cat reaches under bathroom door to steal bathroom rug

A wacky cat, being a usual wacky cat, reaches under the a bathroom door and digs its front claws into a recycled rag bathroom mat, and the cat tugs at the rug until the cat pulls the entire rug under the bathroom door. Laugh Out Loud funny.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Hunger Games : Bill de Blasio NYC Andrew Cuomo NYS Budget Realness

Expanding pre-kinder, making good on union backpay demands, and fighting income inequality will be paid for by how ?

Bill de Blasio will be sworn into office as the next mayor of New York City on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, a frigid day of painful New Year's Eve hang-overs and desperate resolutions that this will finally be the year when we make real change come true.

Hold your horses.

"The biggest challenge Mr. de Blasio will face in the first few months of his administration is negotiating contracts with nearly all of the city’s municipal unions," The New York Times reported, noting that, "The unions have been working under expired contracts for several years and are asking for some $7 billion in retroactive pay."

This potential $7 billion backpay price tag comes on top of a campaign proposal central to de Blasio's political win : a plan to expand pre-kinder to every child in New York City, a plan that is estimated to cost several hundred million dollars, WNYC has reported.

According to Mr. de Blasio's campaign Web site, he "called for an increase in taxes for New Yorkers earning $500,000 or more to dramatically expand after-school programs for all middle schools students, and to create truly universal pre-K programs."

To raise other money, Mr. de Blasio plans to also raise property taxes on empty lots, in order to spur more real estate development. "The goal is to spur development of affordable housing — the theory being that lot owners would rather sell to developers than face dramatically higher taxes," CBS reported. It's not known, as usual with desperate campaign promises, how the tax rate hike on vacant lots will exactly only create "affordable housing" and what will govern just how "affordable" the new housing will be. But there is a great need for affordable housing. By City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's own account, New York City has lost 300,000 affordable housing units in the past few years alone.

The mayor-elect's campaign promises are set to clash with a neoliberal governor set on window dressing the state budget as a springboard to a presidential run in 2016.

With so much pressing need, how can social, legal, and economic reforms be paid for ?

  • Since 2006, a total of 10 New York City hospitals have either closed or downsized, and several more hospitals have been identified for possible closure. Some astute political observers have said privately that they believe that Governor Andrew Cuomo is trying to make large, indiscriminate healthcare cuts by closing entire hospitals in a desperate effort to window dress the state budget in preparation for a run for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential race. (Activists take protest to save hospitals to governor’s office * WestView News)

Bill de Blasio Andrew Cuomo Bill Thompson photo 2013-09-16Bill-de-Blasio-Andrew-Cuomo-Bill-Thompson_zps4c42cc21.jpg

Economic realities will fracture Democratic unity : Pension IOU vouchers and hospital closings that will pay for the $2 billion election year tax cut gimmicks of Andrew Cuomo

Gov. Cuomo faces an election year campaign that overlaps with mayor-elect de Blasio's first year in office. Gov. Cuomo is already out of the gate with an expensive $2 billion tax cut proposal to endear himself with big business interests as he eyes a presidential run in 2016.

"New York’s corporate tax rate would be cut to its lowest level since 1968 as part of reductions in property and business levies called for by a commission appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo," reported Bloomberg News.

Former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch has blasted Gov. Cuomo's tax cuts on NY1's program The Road to City Hall :

"I think he's going to look for additional help, and I think the problem is the state is likely to put very severe caps on the growth of healthcare spending and education spending, which will have a terrible effect on New York City," Mr. Ravitch said, adding, "Based on what we read, the governor wants to cut taxes at at time when his social needs are growing, and that will be an interesting political battle. I think we are going to see a very, very interesting dilemma given Bill de Blasio's genuinely-held social commitments," noting that Gov. Cuomo's tax plan was "frankly … nonsense : The cities in New York state and the largest counties in New York State are in serious trouble."

Mr. Ravitch identified several counties, which are having to borrow money, in order to pay for operating deficits. "That's why New York City almost went bankrupt in 1975. Nobody learned the lessons of the past," Mr. Ravitch said.

"Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Phoenix and Jacksonville, Florida, are among large cities that had 60 percent or less of what they need in their retirement systems to cover promised benefits, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. At least 29 public plans in 16 states are less than two-thirds funded, according to Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research," reported Bloomberg News. While city, county, and state governments continue to wallow in a fiscal mess exacerbated by the 2007-2008 global financial crisis and recession, one dangerous quick fix governments have resorted to is to issue IOU's or vouchers to their pension plans, leading to severely underfunded conditions.

The Neoliberal Hunger Games - Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio Tax Cuts Realness photo TheNeoliberalHungerGames-AndrewCuomoandBilldeBlasioTaxCutsRealness1_zpsb21b75db.jpg

  • Moody’s has put 12 towns and villages in New York on notice for failing to provide enough details to maintain their credit ratings, a move that affects $56.5 million in debt, reported Gannett Albany.
  • Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent $140 million of emergency relief meant for victims of Hurricane Sandy in an ad campaign to convince businesses to move to update New York, reported The National Review.

The Hunger Games : more of the tumultuous clash between community groups that have been starved of budgetary resources.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants billions from Washington in federal Medicaid dollars he's "saved" by making wholesale healthcare cuts, including closing entire hospitals, through the his neoliberal austerity program, the Medicaid Redesign Team.
(Cuomo spars with Obama administration over Medicaid exemption * The Washington Post)
The Rep. Paul Ryan federal budget deal will cost New York hospitals several hundred million dollars a year by cutting reimbursement rates for hospital procedures provided to patients, who do not remain hospitalised for more than two days under a controversial "two midnight rule."
(House budget tweak costs N.Y. hospitals millions * Capital New York)

Gov. Cuomo made an ''implicit threat that he could unilaterally pull out of Medicaid expansion, dealing a major blow to the success of the Affordable Care Act at a critical juncture if the state’s request isn’t granted.''

In an environment where mayor-elect de Blasio made brash "pie in the sky" promises to attract the votes of working families with school-age children as an election year gimmick, he must now contend with Gov. Cuomo's own "pie in the sky" promises of corporate tax cuts, in spite of the fact that voters have expressed demands for economic equality, not more corporate welfare.

Gov. Cuomo plans to pay for his $2 billion tax cut by having gutted Medicaid. He achieved wholesale healthcare cuts by closing entire hospitals that served the poor, uninsured, or underinsured. Those savings, and the billions he is now demanding from the Obama administration, will go to pay for corporate tax cuts. Added to that, Gov. Cuomo's gambling initiative will suck more money from the desperate poor, further depriving some poor people of their poverty wages. The poor are rightly looking for an elusive safe harbour from the today's tumultuous economic straights, but how sad that Gov. Cuomo wants to herd them into casinos, instead of giving the working class a living wage. Mayor-elect de Blasio, meanwhile, made it a fiscal priority to propose a tax-the-rich plan to pay for universal pre-kinder, that only benefits taxpayers with toddlers. Of all the pressing needs across the five boroughs, did taxpayers agree that the first order of business should be to expand pre-kinder ? First of all, there aren't enough classes to accommodate the number of children enrolled in New York City public schools. Where will the de Blasio administration find the classrooms to house toddlers ? It's unclear if the $500 million price tag for universal pre-kinder includes the cost of classroom construction that may be impossible to accomplish in old school buildings in dense urban New York City neighborhoods.

The finite tax dollars is already squeezing governments, as Mr. Ravitch said. "We're using promissory notes to make the contributions to the state pension funds."

Left out of the debate, for now, are the unions, affordable housing activists, healthcare activists, education advocates, homeless activists, public library supporters, and other stakeholders on how the decreasing tax revenues are going to be spent.

In this era of government budgetary famine, stakeholders are already having to fight against each other for resources. When Gov. Cuomo empaneled his Medicaid Redesign Team to close hospitals, he appointed affordable housing community groups to the panel and convinced them that the only way to find nickels and dimes for new housing programs was to close entire hospitals and to make cuts to healthcare for the poor.

One also saw this kind of friction between community groups when Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center for homeless New York City youth, threw Rev. Pat Bumgardner under the bus over allegations of inferior conditions at Sylvia’s Place, the homeless shelter for LGBT youth operated by Rev. Bumgardner's church.

Because New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn never made it a political and budgetary priority to put an end to homeless problem of LGBT youth, one could view Mr. Siciliano's attacks on Sylvia's Place as a way to shut it down in order to keep more of the city's homeless tax dollars for himself -- the same way affordable housing activists went along with an irresponsible spree of closings entire hospitals in order to build 154 housing units in the Bronx. These units are set to open in either 2015 or 2016.

Why are community advocacy groups pitted against each other, instead of trying to lift everybody up ? The fact is that there's only so much public assistance and private philanthropy, making community advocacy groups get stuck in a "us vs. them" worldview. The price society pays is that nobody dares to make a demand for all the resources needed to fully address social issues, like providing universal healthcare for everybody or providing shelter for all LGBT homeless youth. Where's the focus on the bigger picture to get *all* the needed resources ?

The Grand Central Air Rights Deal Won't Be Enough To Feed Everybody

Because community advocacy groups fail to make a full demand for resources, and because politicians lack the courage to impose a Wall Street financial tax of less than ½ of 1% on Wall Street transactions, you see all manner of budgetary and economic contortions, to try to mine new tax dollars (aka "resources"). The scramble to structure bespoke taxes or new government fees is wrought with corruption. Take, for example, the city plan to sell air rights for several blocks around Grand Central Station in Manhattan. The plan, which was the vision of outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg to upgrade the size, facility, and infrastructure of Midtown East office buildings, would raise about $1 billion in new tax resources for New York City, reported Bloomberg News.

Should Gov. Cuomo succeed at both enacting his foolish $2 billion tax cut and blocking Mayor-elect de Blasio's tax-the-rich plan, this $1 billion would be all that there is to divide among unions, affordable housing activists, healthcare activists, education advocates, homeless activists, public library supporters, and other stakeholders. Either the mayor-elect will miraculously divide the fish and loaves sufficient to satiate the hungry, or else look for either an escalation of the "interesting political battle" between City Hall and Albany predicted by Mr. Ravitch or else more community groups taking each other down as they fight for survival.

Big business interests always win, even after countless "change" elections

Note how the Grand Central air rights sale turned taxpayer's $1 billion bailout will enrich real estate speculators and developers.

This is, after all, a city that allows billion-dollar real estate projects to exploit tax breaks only after they make campaign donations in a corrupt political culture of pay-to-play. (Gov. Cuomo got $100,000 from developer, then signed law giving it big tax breaks * The New York Daily News)

And lobbyists, such as James Capalino, George Arzt, and others, stand to exploit their close connections to both the Cuomo and de Blasio administrations to benefit their lobbying clients, and it should come as no surprise that these and other lobbyists get involved in politics in order to keep their pockets lined while community groups go at each others' throats.


(Updated : Saturday 14 Dec 2013 15:10)

Carl Siciliano contacted me by Facebook to deny that he was motivated to close Sylvia's Place. He made complaints about the lack of licensing and other problems with Sylvia's Place, and he said that he's committed to "calling upon the City and State to commit to a plan to add 100 youth shelter beds per year until there are no longer waiting lists at the youth shelters."

Separately, statistics from PFLAG NYC show that, "Studies indicate that between 25% and 50% of homeless youth are LGBT and on the streets because of their sexual orientation or gender identity."

According to New Alternatives NYC, "Every night, thousands of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender youth and young adults are homeless in New York City. Whether they have been kicked out by homophobic families, forced to flee conservative communities, aged out of foster care, or come from families torn apart by poverty, AIDS, drug abuse or eviction, these youth sleep in the City’s parks, on the subway, and in public facilities such as Port Authority and Penn Station. A fortunate minority find a safe haven in one of NYC’s handful of housing programs and shelters designed for this population, facilities so underfunded that youth wait months to get in or sleep on concrete floors and countertops. Another portion of the homeless youth population finds not-so-safe shelter in large, City-funded institutions or the men’s shelter on Ward’s Island, where they are subject to homophobic harassment- and even violence -at the hands of both staff and peers. The least fortunate of all find themselves practicing “survival sex” – trading their bodies for money or a place to stay."

Two years ago, GLAAD estimated that the census of homeless LGBT youth in New York City is approximately 1,500. It would take several years before all homeless LGBT youth in New York City would find housing if the rate of expanding shelters is capped at 100 new beds per year. Left unexplained is why community advocacy groups fail to make demands today for all the resources needed to provide shelter to all homeless youth in New York City, a point made to Mr. Siciliano, but which Mr. Siciliano refused to directly address.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Ydanis Rodriquez and Jumaane Williams Confronted on Bratton Appointment

"What a hypocrite," one activist shouted at Ydanis Rodriguez

Activists critical of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio's appointment of William Bratton as NYPD commissioner confronted Councilmembers Ydanis Rodriquez and Jumaane Williams on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 10. Some of the activists included family members of people murdered by police when Mr. Bratton was first Police Commissioner, from 1994 to 1996.

When activists asked Councilmember Rodriguez what he thought of the Bratton appointment, Mr. Rodriguez responded by saying, "I support the mayor," shocking the conscience of activists.

"You support the mayor ?" one activist asked, having to repeat Mr. Rodriguez's statement, because Mr. Rodriguez was only recently a very visible critic of abusive NYPD policies, such as stop-and-frisk. The one activist continued, "You support the mayor, when you used to march with us [against] police brutality ?"

Indeed, on Feb. 29, 2012, blogger and activist Javier Soriano reported that Mr. Rodriguez stood alongside Councilmember Williams at a demonstration in support of NYPD reform legislation. (New Yorkers United to End Stop-and-Frisk and Discriminatory Policing * JavierSoriano.com)

Jumaane-Williams-Ydanis-Rodriguez-9730Jumaane-Williams-Copyright-Javier-Soriano-29-Feb-2012 photo Jumaane-Williams-Ydanis-Rodriguez-9730Jumaane-Williams-Copyright-Javier-Soriano_zpsadbcb909.jpg

Yet, Mr. Rodriguez was now supporting the Bratton appointment, which reform activists view as a betrayal of community demands to end the state-sponsored forms of racism that are at the crux of stop-and-frisk and police brutality, which have been sources of conflict in Bratton's history.

"What a hypocrite," another activist shouted at Mr. Rodriguez. Through other jeers, still yet another activist is heard telling Mr. Rodriguez, "You support the people, who have no respect for human rights."

Mr. Bratton's selection to succeed Ray Kelly as NYPD commish has been Mr. de Blasio's first administration scandal, triggering a wave of protests weeks before Mr. de Blasio is set to be sworn into office. It appears that the mayor-elect is breaking a major campaign promise to "end the stop-and-frisk era." The betrayal comes from the fact that Mr. Bratton has been described as the "architect of stop-and-frisk," and he has had a controversial record in Los Angeles, where he was once police chief, and other municipalities, where he has served as an outside consultant to other police forces. One would never have guessed from Mr. de Blasio's campaign propaganda against stop-and-frisk that Mr. de Blasio's pick to lead the NYPD would be the "architect of stop-and-frisk." (Bill de Blasio Bill Bratton Stop and Frisk Broken Campaign Promises * YouTube)

Already Mr. de Blasio has reacted with cunning calculation against the stop-and-frisk protesters by thwarting their First Amendment rights to protest by deploying both NYPD and FDNY resources. (Did Bill de Blasio misuse FDNY Fire Drill To Thwart Stop-And-Frisk Protest ?)

Back on the steps of City Hall, when activists noticed Mr. Williams, they swarmed around him. One activist pointed out Mr. Williams' duplicitous support for Mr. de Blasio's pick to lead the NYPD. "Look at what they did to you," one activist said, adding, "Do you think they care about you ?"

This was a reference to the egregious incident when the NYPD detained Mr. Williams for no other reason than the color of his skin. (Police Detain Brooklyn Councilman at West Indian Parade)

Activists are trying to appeal to the conscience of past reform leaders, who used to call for an end of racism and brutality by the troubled police department. But many activists see the past reform leaders being paid off with appointments, City Council slush funds, lucrative Council chairmanships, or promises of increased power, authority, or influence under the incoming de Blasio administration as some reasons why past reform leaders are turning their backs on previous commitments to reform.

The struggle over the next top cop comes at a challenging time for a police force beset by a ticket-fixing scandal, continuing controversy over the city's appeal of a landmark stop-and-frisk court ruling, and allegations of malicious motivations to interfere with freedom of the press. The incoming de Blasio administration would love nothing better than to quiet down any community backlash to his appointment of Bratton.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Section 377 of Indian Penal Code Supreme Court Ruling Exposing Ignorance, Racism

India's Supreme Court Ruling Continues British Raj Era's LGBT Discrimination ; American Reaction Turns Ugly

Following today's controversial Indian Supreme Court's ruling to recriminalise homosexuality, the reaction on some American-based Web sites has revealed cultural and historical incompetencies by the West of the East.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises homosexuality, was enacted in 1860 by the British Raj, the former colonial rulers of India. "Enacted" is a relative term, because the law was basically imposed on India the way British colonists imposed everything else on Indians. Because British rule lasted from 1858 to 1947, and the culture and values of modern India are still informed by the shadow of injustice and discrimination that marked British colonial rule, including lingering laws on India's books. Also note that the inception of the epoch of British Raj overlapped with British Victorian Era, a period of extremely conservative moral values.

When news broke about the Indian Supreme Court's ruling on Section 377, people with no knowledge of India's history instantly reached for charicatured generalisations of Indian culture based on stereotypes of IT tech support and call centers.

"India's Supreme Court rules Gay Sex illegal ... it's time to pull out of that shithole .. bring Tech Support back on-shore," wrote one prominent LGBT activist on Facebook.

On the popular LGBT blog named Joe My God, one commenter wrote, "we need to get a list of all companies using call centers based in india. and boycott indian restaurants. they use a lot of products coming straight from their homeland." (India Court Recriminalizes Homosexuality * Joe My God)

A Facebook follower of Joe Jervis, the author of the Joe My God blog, commented on Facebook that, "The tech companies and the Queen of England should weigh in on this." Never mind that there are companies in India other than "tech," and India endured a violent partition once it was liberated from British rule. Even though the Queen of England has no more power or authority over India's governance, this one comment had attracted four Facebook "likes."

Another commenter on the Joe My God blog wrote, "I wonder how many of the corporate sponsors of the Sochi Olympics have call centers in India?" While presumably the author of this comment was trying to find an intersectional-political pressure point between the violent crackdown against LGBT Russians and the Indian Supreme Court's disappointing ruling, it's notable that the commenter's focus was, again, a call center.

On another popular LGBT blog, Towleroad, the very first commenter posted this reaction to the Indian Supreme Court's ruling : "If you use a call center that is based in India then contact the company that subcontracts their call center to India and ask to use a non-Indian call-center." Another commenter on Towleroad posted, "Does anyone have a list of US companies who subcontract their helpdesks and call centers to India." (In Shocking Ruling, India's Supreme Court Restores Criminalisation of Gay Sex * Towleroad)

These harmful, divisive stereotypes contrast with an article posted by Cathy Kristofferson on OBlogDeeOBlogDa, where she wrote : "India is one of the many countries in the world still suffering with a left over British colonial penal code criminalizing homosexuality."

And the hurtful generalisations about India also ignore the very visible and organized opposition and protests taking place in India against the Supreme Court's "retrograde" ruling.

Another indication of uninformed reaction to the Indian Supreme Court's decision was that in the long string of organising, litigation, and politicking for LGBT civil rights right here at home, American LGBT's were dealt a major setback in 1986 with the SCOTUS decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld the constitutionality of anti-sodomy laws in the state of Georgia. It took 17 years before the SCOTUS overturned Bowers with the Lawrence v. Texas decision. During that time, were Indians calling for a boycott of McDonalds ?

Many prominent Indians are even denouncing their own Supreme Court's adversarial decision, including famous Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, but Americans, who are uninformed of Indian culture, would not know the full spectrum of debate taking place in India right now, sometimes highly conflicted. How can one have a meaningful debate to change the hearts and minds of people, to ask them to make room for equal rights for everybody, when one first resorts to unfairly categorizing Indians as a way to assign blame for a Supreme Court ruling that frustrates the march to equality ?

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Did Bill de Blasio misuse FDNY Fire Drill To Thwart Stop-And-Frisk Protest ?

Protest against Bratton's Use of Stop-And-Frisk And His Appointment as NYPD Commish

Protest against Bill Bratton's record on stop-and-frisk and against Bill de Blasio for picking Bratton as NYPD commish ; at The Nation magazine gala at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street, NYC.

Bill Bratton is the architect of stop-and-frisk, a police policy that has been shown to be a state-sponsored program of racism that targets minorities.

Watch as activists jeer former NYC Public Advocate Mark Green, former TV talkshow host Phil Donahue, former GMHC CEO Ana Oliveira, Manhattan Borough President-elect Gail Brewer, and The Daily Show contributor Lewis Black for standing by Bill de Blasio's pick of Bratton as NYPD commish. Bill de Blasio, and possibly Bill Bratton, snuck in through the freight entrance at the back of the building, avoiding protesters. They used an FDNY practice exercise as a decoy to close West 19th Street from some activists.

This was a private event, but yet there was Bill de Blasio abusing his authority over NYPD and FDNY to use public resources for a private event -- a similar complaint that reform activists used to have about Christine Quinn. This is not change ; rather, this is more of the same.

de Blasio misused FDNY resources by deploying a fake emergency fire drill at the back of the building, where activists were protesting last night.

Was the FDNY decoy exercise deliberately planned to interfere with last night's protest ?

NYPD Sends Subpoena To Reporter, Reporter Fired, NYPD Ticket Fixing, Other Free Press Updates

The First Amendment On The Ropes

''In what The New York Times described as a 'broadly worded, five-page subpoena,' New York City lawyers are demanding that former Village Voice reporter Graham Rayman turn over tape recordings police officer Adrian Schoolcraft made of his superiors at the NYPD’s 81st precinct in Brooklyn," Time magazine is reporting, adding, "The tapes were the basis for Rayman’s book, The NYPD Tapes, which alleges officers manipulated crime data in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn."

It's questionable why city lawyers are infringing on Mr. Rayman's free press protections under the First Amendment, and many are concerned that the NYPD is trying to harass Mr. Rayman in retribution for Mr. Rayman's exposé of police corruption. Because of the legal wrangling with the city, one activist, Suzannah B. Troy, wondered whether the litigation was an excuse used by the new owners of the Village Voice to lay-off Mr. Rayman.

Investigating the NYPD of corruption is something that rarely happens. Many have called for a federal commission to come in and investigate the New York City police force. After many unfounded shootings of innocent people, no police ever gets convicted. One recent scandal, a massive, illegal operation involving ticket-fixing, has only resulted in one officer losing his job.

Aside from the subpoena served on Mr. Rayman, the NYPD has also tried to harass Mr. Schoolcraft. A judge ruled that Mr. Schoolcraft can't be hit by a countersuit from his former supervisor. At every step of the way, the NYPD are trying to suppress any corruption investigation of its police officers.

The duplicity of NYPD, tasked with enforcing the law, but which now is acting to suppress a free press, somewhat parallels the duplicity of the Obama administration. At the same time when President Obama is secretly obtaining the phone records of Associated Press reporters, in an effort to suppress a rigorous free press from investigating his administration, Vice President Joe Biden registered complaints with Chinese government officials over hacking and other threats against foreign journalists. Give me a break.

All of this is taking place against a backdrop where New York City officials and the Obama administration refuse to comply with freedom of information requests.

The very idea of a republic implies rights conveyed to citizens to meet and consult one another, and to petition their government, if they so choose. How can citizens exercise their rights to free speech, to assemble, and to petition, when the government restricts, delays, or prevents the sharing of information necessary for our citizen activities ? Our guarantees to free speech are being diminished, shortened, and restricted by conditions created by harassing reporters, retaliating against whistleblowers, and denying freedom of information requests.


A Fox News reporter will not have to divulge the confidential sources who provided information for her story on the 2012 mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, New York's highest court ruled on Tuesday. (Reporter Allowed to Keep Sources Secret in Colorado Theater Shooting * The New York Times)

(Updated : Friday 13 Dec 2013 19:48)

Protest against Bratton's Use of Stop-And-Frisk And His Appointment as NYPD Commish

Activists Protest Outside The Nation Magazine Gala, Honoring Bill de Blasio, Who The Nation Had Endorsed. Now, de Blasio Was Rewarding Them By Appearing At Their Gala In Exchange.

Protest against Bill Bratton's record on Stop-And-Frisk and against Bill de Blasio for picking him as NYPD commish ; at The Nation Magazine Gala at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street, NYC.

Bill Bratton is the architect of Stop-And-Frisk, a police policy that has been shown to be a state-sponsored program of racism that targets minorities.

Watch as activists jeer former NYC Public Advocate Mark Green, former TV talkshow host Phil Donahue, former GMHC CEO Ana Oliveira, Manhattan Borough President-elect Gail Brewer, and The Daily Show contributor Lewis Black for standing by Bill de Blasio's pick of Bratton as NYPD commish. Bill de Blasio, and possibly Bill Bratton, snuck in through the freight entrance at the back of the building, avoiding protesters. They used an FDNY practice exercise as a decoy to close West 19th Street from some activists.

This was a private event, but yet there was Bill de Blasio abusing his authority over NYPD and FDNY to use public resources for a private event -- a similar complaint that reform activists used to have about Christine Quinn. This is not change ; rather, this is more of the same.

de Blasio misused FDNY resources by deploying a fake emergency practise exercise at the back of the building, where activists were protesting last night.

Was the FDNY decoy exercise deliberately planned to interfere with last night's protest ?

Monday, December 9, 2013

Exploiting NYC, NYS Campaign Finance Law Loopholes

PUBLISHED : MON, 09 DEC 2013, 10:21 AM
UPDATED : SUN, 06 APR 2014, 12:00 PM

Melissa Mark-Viverito and Carl Kruger exploit campaign finance loopholes

Former New York State Sen. Carl Kruger, who is currently imprisoned after having been convicted on federal bribery charges, is still receiving contributions to his New York State campaign finance account, reports The New York Daily News, adding, "Kruger, a Brooklyn Democrat, is one of dozens of former - and even deceased - lawmakers who still maintain active campaign accounts. He has spent more than $200,000 from his account since heading off to prison, most of which was used to pay his lawyers. His account still had a $415,753 balance as of his most recent filing in July."

A series of editorials by the Editorial Board of the same newspaper slammed City Council speaker candidate Melissa Mark-Viverito for first circumventing city campaign finance laws and then for exploiting loopholes in the state's campaign finance laws.

"Mark-Viverito has opened a campaign account under state regulations. She is apparently accepting contributions and apparently paying different consultants to advance her cause. Who’s giving her money and who’s getting her money will not be disclosed until after the speaker’s contest is settled," the Editorial Board wrote in the second editorial, noting, "At the same time, hopefuls Dan Garodnick of Manhattan and Mark Weprin of Queens are dipping into campaign accounts to give tens of thousands of dollars to fellow councilmembers and party organizations," before concluding, "None of this is acceptable."

Eleanor Randolph is disappointed that the Moreland Commission didn't do more to report on the pay-to-play corruption in New York politics.

Eleanor Randolph, appearing on The New York Times Close-Up on NY1 photo Eleanor-Randolph-The-New-York-Times-IMG_5319_zps42b52e22.jpg

Last week-end, Eleanor Randolph appeared in the roundtable segment of The New York Times Close-up on NY1, and she expressed annoyance that the Moreland Commission didn't do the kind of investigation typically reserved for journalists. Forgetting that she is an editor of the newspaper of record, namely, The New York Times, Ms. Randolph overlooked her own role in being able to expose pay-to-play corruption and corralling public opinion to demand campaign finance reforms. Instead, Ms. Randolph expected the Moreland Commission to do her job for her, for example, she complained that the commission didn't "name any names." Ms. Randolph, as an editor of The NYTimes, can assign investigative reporters to examine, for example, the corruptive influence of money in politics playing out right now in the New York City Council speaker's race. But she has not.

One of the main concerns over the conditions of the current Council speaker's race, where lobbyists are seemingly allowed to provide free or discounted campaign services to politicians, is that politicians become indebted to these same lobbyists, creating a conflict of interest where politicians then must return favors to these lobbyists. Campaign reform activists complain that favor-trading like this is a form of pay-to-play politics, because politicians are receiving campaign and lobbying services that they either cannot afford or that exceed or violate campaign finance caps or regulations.

Thus far, only one article has been published by The NYTimes, namely "In Campaign, Cash Flowed Circuitously" by Michael Powell, even though The New York Observer, Crains Insider, Capital New York, The New York Daily News, and most notably True News From Change NYC have been examining in depth the role of one influence-peddler, Scott Levenson, in some shady backroom machinations, including his role in selecting the next Council speaker.

Two weeks prior on The New York Times Close-up, Ms. Randolph acknowledged that the campaign to determine the next Council speaker was an "insider race" where the public had no role, but The NYTimes has not reported to what degree that "insider race" is creating the same pay-to-play culture of corruption, which Ms. Randolph takes to television to denounce. She herself is enabling the lack of transparency, untimely public disclosure, and exploitation of campaign finance loopholes.

Federal prosecutors are depending on investigative journalism to help expose corruption, but journalists are relying on the government to police itself.

Preet Bharara - The Only Policeman In New York State photo Preet-Bharara-dbpix-henning-tmagArticle-NYTimes_zpsaf6e1719.jpg

Preet Bharara : New Media Will End NYC's Journalism of Sheep. In testimony before the Moreland Commission, Mr. Bharara lamented the loss of investigative journalists, but he put high hopes on new outlets and revived old media. * U.S. Attorney To Commission : Political Corruption Is Out Of Hand In New York State (CBS New York) :

To repeat a longstanding lament, investigative journalists have become a dying breed, although there are still a few extraordinary practitioners, some of whom are here tonight. With each press outlet that closes or downsizes, opportunities to ferret out fraud and waste and abuse are lost.

And that is too bad because, as Edward R. Murrow once observed, 'A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.'

But maybe the thinning ranks of investigative journalists will be fortified :

Maybe Politico’s purchase of Capital New York and its planned infusion of staff and resources will mean more Albany muckraking.

Maybe Jeff Bezos’s purchase of the Washington Post and his reported interest in rejuvenating a storied history of eye-popping investigations will prove contagious.

And maybe fresh news outlets like BuzzFeed whose editors are said to be bent on doubling down on political investigations will provide grist for Commissions like this one.

We shall see.

See Also : Preet Bharara hopes for more muckraking in Albany


One week after our original post, Eleanor Randolph announced her resignation from the Editorial Board of The New York Times.

(Updated : Tuesday 17 Dec 2013 16:06)

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Mark-Viverito, Garodnick, Weprin Skirting Campaign Finance Law, Ethics

Update ! Melissa Mark-Viverito Lobbyist Firm Never Quit, Continued Lobbying Despite Investigations (Mise à jour : samedi 21 déc. 2013 14:45)

Melissa Mark-Viverito is not alone in skirting ethical edge in race for speaker.

Scott Levenson, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Daniel Garodnick, Mark Weprin : Call the ethics cops : Running for speaker in a race without rules

From the Editorial Board of The New York Daily News : Call the ethics cops : Running for speaker in a race without rules :

Would-be Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has stopped accepting freebie consulting services from a lobbyist whose clients would come begging to her as boss of the municipal legislature. Well, duh.

Mark-Viverito had to distance herself from influence-trader Scott Levenson as she seeks to rise from councilmember representing East Harlem and parts of the Bronx to the city’s second most powerful post. Her coziness with Levenson put Mark-Viverito on the wrong side of ethics rules, demands investigation by the Conflicts of Interest Board and should rule her out of consideration for speaker.

Meanwhile, Mark-Viverito and competitors are playing money games in the race for the speakership. There’s no public election for this job. Guided by Democratic county leaders, the Council will vote one of its members into the position. It’s an insiders’ play — one not fully covered by the city’s campaign finance rules.

Mark-Viverito has opened a campaign account under state regulations. She is apparently accepting contributions and apparently paying different consultants to advance her cause. Who’s giving her money and who’s getting her money will not be disclosed until after the speaker’s contest is settled.

At the same time, hopefuls Dan Garodnick of Manhattan and Mark Weprin of Queens are dipping into campaign accounts to give tens of thousands of dollars to fellow councilmembers and party organizations.

None of this is acceptable.