Risperdal Causes Abnormal Male Breast Growth

ATTENTION Parents of boys who took Risperdal - A medication for the treatment of ADHD, Autism, and Bipolar Disorder has been linked to Gynecomastia, a medical condition in which boys develop female breasts. If your son has taken Risperdal and developed gynecomastia, has developed female breasts, has had breast removal surgery or has lactated, call 1-800-BAD-DRUG today. Your family may be entitled to significant compensation. Some claims have already settled.

• RELATED : Risperdal Schizophrenia Drug Makes Boys Grow Breasts (Lawyers.com)

Vision Zero Nanny caught running stop signs, speeding, breaking traffic laws

CBS 2 New York Report : Mayor’s Caravan Violated Traffic Safety Laws Days After Safety Event

#CBS2 EXCLUSIVE @ 5 @BilldeBlasio car speeding, running stop signs-days after his plan to make streets safer pic.twitter.com/pKw1NreCHa

— Sarah Walters (@SWaltersTV) February 20, 2014

Just days after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his #VisionZero traffic safety improvement plan, CBS 2 New York reporter Marcia Kramer busted the mayor running stop signs and speeding, according to an exposé broadcast by CBS 2 New York Thursday night.

"When the mayor announced his 62-point safe streets initiative, which includes lowering the speed limit to 25 mph, he said, 'We want the public to know that we are holding ourselves to this standard,' " Ms. Kramer reported.

Because the mayor appears to have been caught being hypocritical about the enforcement of his new #VisionZero traffic safety plan, he's going to have to explain why traffic laws seem to apply to regular New Yorkers, but not to the mayoral caravan.

• RELATED : Mayor de Blasio’s Caravan Caught Speeding, Violating Traffic Laws (CBS 2 New York)
• RELATED : Bill de Blasio unveils a ‘definitional’ Vision Zero plan (Capital New York)
• RELATED : Bill de Blasio’s Vow to End Traffic Deaths Meets Reality of New York Streets (The New York Times)

The fact that the mayor believes that the application of his #TaleOfTwoCities traffic safety plan only applies to others, but not to him, will undoubtedly embarrass his administration in tomorrow's tabloids. But this pause would be a great opportunity to really evaluate the "pie in the sky" promise of dropping all traffic accident deaths to zero.

According to The New York Times, police statistics show that 176 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents in New York City in 2013. How many of those traffic deaths were attributable to the city's encouragement of more pedestrian use of the city's streets ? We have numerous street fairs during the summer, marathons, cement parks have taken over parts of city streets with some tables and chairs mere feet away from moving traffic. Now, there are bike racks right on the streets ! The city has been encouraging more pedestrian use of the streets, and now the de Blasio administration wants to ticket people for using those same streets, either because they jaywalk, or because they are becoming victims of traffic accidents caused by vehicular traffic.

If we have situations were the mayor's caravan can run stop signs, speed, and break other traffic laws without a police escort blaring its lights and siren, how can citizens take Mayor de Blasio's new #VisionZero traffic safety plan recommendations ? There are all these mixed signals : use the streets, don't use the streets, the streets are safe, the streets are not safe. What are we to believe ?

Before the NYPD started in on its ticket blitz and brutalized jaywalkers, the mayor and the police department should have looked to what Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe tried to do to make that city safer for pedestrians. After Paris installed its wildly successful bike sharing program, the Paris municipality set out to make the city safer for all its pedestrians, bicyclers, and motorists. They rightly started their program, in part, with a huge public awareness campaign to change people's behavior. Huge signs were posted along some of the busiest streets, like the Boulevard de Sébastapol, to make pedestrians -- and drivers -- more aware of each other.

Mayor Delanoe's traffic safety program aimed to make it safer on Parisian streets after that city had encouraged tens of thousands of more people to take to the streets on bikes. It was after this mass new infusion of people on the streets that the effectiveness of the traffic safety plan was revealed to only be marginal. More than 10,000 pedestrians were injured in 2008 in Paris. By 2012, that number decreased only to about 8,327, and that was after a few year's worth of the Paris mayor's traffic safety plan.

Gains in pedestrian traffic safety will undoubtedly be made, but Vision "Zero" is impossible, because there will always be accidents, especially because the New York City is encouraging more and more people to take to the very same streets occupied by motor vehicles. Mayor de Blasio is overlooking how "Zero" is an impossibility. A much-needed traffic improvement plan should not be sold like that. How are we ever going to get to "zero," when certain drivers think that speed limits, traffic signs, and other traffic laws don't apply to them ?

Wow. @billdeblasio's office tells Marcia Kramer to call the NYPD about his detail speeding and running stop signs.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggiepolitico) February 20, 2014

Making the city "safer" for pedestrians needs to involve more than ticketing people for jaywalking, more than just empty talk, and certainly more than letting the mayor run through stop signs when he thinks nobody else is looking. Some of the safety improvements that Paris made were as a result of a whole host of efforts.

Several years in, the traffic safety effort in Paris has only made marginal improvements in safety. Their valiant efforts show that no matter how much you do, traffic is always going to be risky, if not dangerous, because human behavior will always involve risk, whether you are in a speeding cab, driving in dangerous weather conditions, or riding in the mayoral caravan. Making an effort to improve traffic safety is admirable, but let's be realistic. Vision "zero" is nanny-talk.

Cute goats balancing on a flexible sheet metal

Cute young goats, called kids, jumping on and off of flexible sheet metal.

Shih Tzu blood-curdling scream when his name is called

A Shih Tzu dog named Cody screams out loud when his name is called.

Poor puppy. How'd it come for him to react that way ? Unless the puppy thinks that when his name is called, it is a form of howling ? And the puppy must be howling back ?

This is one pet video that certainly is not the same as all the other cute videos on YouTube.

WATCH : Elaine Stritch dropped the F-Bomb on The Today Show

This morning, Broadway legend Elaine Stritch was interviewed on The Today Show when she dropped the F-Bomb. She was talking about how she always says whatever comes to her mind. Kathie Lee and Hoda reacted with restrained shock ! Ms. Stritch then rambled on in the interview, and when Ms. Stritch missed the cues that the interview was coming to an end, she was eventually cut off mid-sentence.

Alrighty then. 89-year-old Elaine Stritch drops an f-bomb in telling Hoda and Kathie Lee about her unrestrained style on @TODAYshow.

— Jon Belmont (@jbelmont) February 18, 2014

Ms. Stritch had appeared on The Today Show to promote her new documentary, "Shoot Me."

Ms. Stritch dropped the F-Bomb on The Today Show.

Is Washington Post and MSNBC contributor Chris Cillizza expressing Transphobia on Twitter ?

In response to a Tweet showing two photographs that may demonstrate a what many are reporting to possibly be the transition to a more prominent female gender expression from a cismale gender expression by the former Olympian athlete Bruce Jenner.

This is horrifying RT @ThenVersusNow: Bruce Jenner pic.twitter.com/H7n1t63Leh

— The Fix (@TheFix) February 17, 2014

An LGBT activist on Twitter asked Chris Cillizza if he had a phobia or prejudice against expressions that may reflect femininity.

Why are you threatened by photographs that may suggest feminity ? What kind of phobia or prejudice do you harbor ? @TheFix @ThenVersusNow

— LGBT Civil Rights (@lgbtcivilrights) February 17, 2014

If we see Mr. Cillizza's reply, we will update this post.

NSA Spy Programs : French President Got Paid Off, German Chancellor's Worries Continue

Just days after French President François Hollande declared that France had "restored" its trust with the Obama White House after the growing N.S.A. spying scandal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a proposal to create a Europe-only Internet apparatus that would circumvent the N.S.A. backdoor taps, almost universal decryption, and data collection.

During his state visit to the United States, French President François Hollande declared that the U.S. and France had restored mutual respect between the countries, because both nations are committed to respecting the right to privacy. President Hollande's remarks appeared to contradict the N.S.A. relentless spying program on French citizens in apparent violation of Article 9 and 1382 of the French Civil Code and Articles 226-1 and following of the French Penal Code. It's unclear what side deals President Barack Obama might have made with France to induce the French president to announce a reconciliation with the U.S. government. When the data collection of the N.S.A. spy program was first reported to include the private information of millions of French, German, and Spanish citizens, amongst others, popular outrage erupted in Europe to the growing corruption of the Internet by the N.S.A.

• RELATED : Ecoutes de la NSA: la "confiance mutuelle a été restaurée", affirme Hollande (Le Parisien)
• RELATED : Data protection : Angela Merkel proposes Europe network (BBC)
• RELATED : La N.S.A. Espionnait Les Françaises (Daily Motion)
• RELATED : Quelle vie privée ? François Hollande, la N.S.A., et l'Article 13 (YouTube)

Meanwhile, German Chanchellor Angela Merkel made an announcement after the conclusion of President Hollande's state visit to the U.S. that she would propose to France the creation of a new Web network to ensure secure communications in Europe.

No word, yet, on how the Obama administration will respond to Chancellor Merkel's proposal.

Conspicuously absent from President Hollande's agenda during his state visit was any addressing of the latest General Motors TV commercial, which engages in French-bashing.

Lack of checks-and-balances haunts de Blasio's scandalous jail favor for Bishop Findlayter

Who has oversight over a mayor, whom many question may have abused his authority ?

Facing questions from the media on Friday about Mayor Bill de Blasio's questionable interference with a judge's order in the case against Bishop Orland Findlayter, New York City Public Advocate Tisch James essentially told a reporter from The New York Post that it was not her job to question the mayor's judgment.

Several people followed Ms. James from City Hall to her office on Friday, asking her to comment on the growing scandal that has forced the mayor to cancel one press conference, forced Bishop Orlando Findlayter to cancel a public statement, and forced the Rev. Al Sharpton to contort himself into a politically expedient embrace with his arch-nemesis, the former racist mayor, Rudolph Giuliani. Mayor de Blasio has defended his intervention in Bishop Findlayter's detention as "absolute appropriate."

Outside City Hall, Ms. James was asked to comment about the mayor's actions that sprung Bishop Findlayter, a crucial political supporter, out of jail, a move seen by many as a favor granted by the mayor to a member of his inaugural committee. As public advocate, Ms. James is tasked with challenging the city government if she sees wrong-doing.

"You are the public advocate, do you have anything to say ?" a reporter asked.

"No comment, no comment," was her first response -- before a reporter repeatedly asked the public advocate for her opinion, finally prompting the public advocate to say, "I will defer to the mayor of the City of New York."

Tish James from yoav gonen on Vimeo.

• RELATED : Mark-Viverito, Letitia James avoid mayor-pastor controversy (The New York Post)
• RELATED : Bill's Buddies : Too much coziness for comfort in Mayor de Blasio's City Hall (The New York Daily News)

Just last summer, Ms. James demonstrated she was able to speak truth to power, when she challenged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to place a moratorium on hospital closings. She has it in her to stand up to powerful men. Left unexplained is why Ms. Tames is standing beside Mayor de Blasio as his young administration becomes engulfed in serious questions about abuse of authority and, quite possibly, obstruction of justice.

In respect of Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, during her campaign for the speakership, many raised serious concerns about her ability, or her willingness, to serve as a check on the mayor's power. Because the mayor lobbied on her behalf during the Council speaker race, Speaker Mark-Viverito owes her political allegiance to the mayor. There's no check on the mayor's power.

In respect of the scandal resulting from the mayor's defense of his call to police to help his political supporter, Speaker Mark-Viverito has predictably sided with defending the mayor.

The importance of checks-and-balances in a government plays an important role in being able to reign in the uncontrolled power if one branch exceeds its authority. But checks-and-balances also comes into play to prevent one branch of government from getting into trouble with the law. If the police had told the mayor that they could not let Bishop Findlayter go before his scheduled appearance before a judge, then the de Blasio administration would not be having all these problems. A courageous cop could have stopped all this from snowballing into an uncontrollable scandal. Checks-and-balances exist to both protect the integrity of our three branch government system, as well as to protect political insiders from abusing their authority or obstructing justice. Because the mayor was obsessed with extending his power and influence into every corner of city government, only wanting "Yes men" -- and "Yes women" -- around him, now he has to deal with a mess of his very own creation. For a mayor with major control issues, this is like a form of karmic justice.

To prove that there is no check on the mayor's power, when serious questions were raised about the electioneering activities of one of the mayor's political supporters, the lobbying and campaign consulting firm known as The Advance Group, the matter was referred for investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, precisely because the mayor appoints officials to the Campaign Finance Board and the Conflicts of Interest Board, two city agencies that would be tasked to investigate allegations of wrong-doing by the mayor's political supporters. The matter was also referred to select members of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's public corruption investigation panel, the Moreland Commission.

• RELATED : Shadow of a Doubt : Questions about independence of DOI chief nominee Mark Peters (City & State)

More concerns were raised by the publication, City & State, in a the publisher's editorial column, questioning the independence of the mayor's nominee, Mark Peters, another close political ally of Mayor de Blasio, to head the city's Department of Investigations.

The possible political damage to Mayor de Blasio's agenda

Because Mayor de Blasio's administration is now in full crisis mode over the police's early release of Bishop Findlayter, this means that Gov. Cuomo will be able to run roughshod over the de Blasio administration's weakened state of governing. The mayor's team is too distracted now with politically protecting the mayor that the mayor is no longer able to fully press for his tax rate hike for the very wealthy. Mayor de Blasio needs the tax rate increase to fulfill on his campaign promise to fund pre-kinder for all New York City toddlers. The mayor's other plans to raise the minimum wage may also be in jeopardy. Until City Hall releases the e-mails that City Hall officials sent to the NYPD leading up to Bishop Findlayter's release and fully answers questions about what appears to be political favors that the mayor may be granting to his campaign supporters, Mayor de Blasio will be be governing from a diminished position.

NYPD Rejects Freedom of Information Request for Freedom of Information Handbook

From Obama to de Blasio, Democratic administrations block freedom of information

No surprise. Citizens can be duped more easily if they are kept ignorant of the true workings of their own government. It's sad to see this, but that's where things are headed. The lazy mainstream media, the one with the resources, need to challenge this, but that would mean that they would have to actually call out what is happening : a deliberate subversion of the truth. You won't see The New York Times do shit, though. Like Goldilocks trying out chairs, it took three articles spread out over three days (first)(second)(third) for them to finally do a decent reporting on the bishop being busted out of jail for free story, and that was only after every major daily (and the AP wire) had out-reported The NYTimes. There was once a time when I used to think of The NYTimes as the "Bible" of journalism. There are some times when they are spot on, but more and more each edition seems like the apocryphal texts of journalism.

As much as I have pushed "progressive" LGBT activists to speak out on other betrayals by the new administration, I'm now resigned to see how many LGBT activists sweep this one under the rug, too. There was once a time in New York when LGBT activists were on the forefront of pushing forth new progressive achievements. That was back then.

In an era when the media refuses to "vet" politicians for the truth, we only have activists to rely upon, and perhaps good government groups. But the way that the New York Civil Liberties Union has retreated from holding the NYPD accountable, who is left to apply pressure politics to government officials, forcing them to adopt a truly progressive reform agenda ?

• RELATED : NYPD Rejects FOI Request for FOI Handbook (MuckRock)
• RELATED : Most recent update on Freedom of Information Act Request pertaining to vindictive prosecution of Lt. Daniel Choi (NYC : News & Analysis)

LGBT activists fought so hard to come out of the closet, but now they feel so right at home locked up in the veal pen.

Will NYPD ever adopt @NYCLU police reform recommendations following 2003 anti-war protest ? @CommissBratton http://t.co/mMGeHlSBNB

— Bold Progress NYC (@boldprogressnyc) February 9, 2014

Although a lawsuit connected to the 2003 anti-war protest was settled, police abuses later continued against Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. What do "settlements" mean, if there is on-going compliance or oversight of the NYPD when it comes to broader constitutional rights and civil liberties reforms ?

Will NYPD ever adopt @NYCLU police reform recommendations following 2004 RNC protest ? @CommissBratton http://t.co/59XSIpxEiY

— LGBT Progress NY (@LGBTProgressNY) February 9, 2014

---

• RELATED : MuckRock Podcast : FOIA By Numbers

In Twitter exchange, NYTimes reporter admits he looks the other way on human rights abuses

LGBT rights activists upset with NYTimes reporter over incomplete article

Sam Borden, a reporter for The New York Times, wrote an article about some American Olympic athletes being upset with LGBT activists, who are calling attention to the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia under President Vladimir Putin ("American Lugers Annoyed by Group’s Gay Rights Video," 11 Feb 2014).

Christian Niccum and Preston Griffall, both American Olympic athletes competing in Sochi, said they were ruffled by some of the social media activism of LGBT supporters and allies. In particular, the pair of athletes objected to a YouTube video by Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion lampooning the savage heterosexism now sweeping Russia.

In the article, the American athletes bemoaned stereotypes that they now felt that they must endure because of the CIDI video, but The New York Times reporter never asked the athletes what they thought about the violence that LGBT Russians must face in the current oppressive crackdown atmosphere in Russia.

Perhaps if Mr. Niccum and Mr. Griffall had been able to have empathy for the plight of LGBT Russians, the Sochi Olympics might garner them some additional fans. But the silence from American Olympic champions and even from reporters from The New York Times seems to suggest that there's an unofficial attitude of appeasement toward President Putin's violent crackdown.

Here is the CIDI video, which ridicule only scratches the surface of the brutal heterosexism in Russia. Even this small amount of humorous criticism triggers painful cognitive dissonance for athletes and media, who'd apparently want to keep the extreme violence locked up in a closet. This video has now been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube :

2014 Cadillac ELR Coupe : "Rogue" French-Bashing Commercial Adds to GM Woes (UPDATED)

PUBLISHED : FRI, 14 FEB 2014, 04:06 PM
UPDATED : FRI, 11 APR 2014, 01:35 PM

The American carmaker General Motors has resorted to bashing French citizens for their unique culture in the new "Work Hard" TV commercial for the 2014 Cadillac ELR Coupe hybrid. Neal McDonough, who stars in the controversial new Cadillac commercial, mocks French cafés, the French family values sensibility that places a special importance on the annual summer vacation, and France's emphasis on quality of life. The commercial implies that the French do not work hard at all, nor are the French capable of accomplishing major scientific breakthroughs, like landing on the moon -- an example of "American exceptionalism." Meanwhile, the truth is that the French invented each of aviation, motion pictures, and antibiotics ; they revolutionized astronomy and statistics ; and a Frenchman created the first digital form of writing, Braille, amongst many other notable breakthroughs. Indeed, René Lorin, a Frenchman, invented the ramjet, a supersonic jet engine that allowed later jets to travel at speeds between Mach 3 and Mach 6. Mr. McDonough does not ever identify France in the commercial as the target of his scorn, but the litany of his generalizations and stereotypes unmistakably points to France, and, as if to remove all doubt, at the end of his rant, he asks with a knowing wink, "N'est-ce pas ?"

Adding to the controversy, this commercial has been being broadcast during the karmically-doommed Sochi Winter Olympics, the latter which has become the target of global protests over the violent anti-LGBT crackdown taking place in Russia under President Vladimir Putin.

(An earlier YouTube video of the Cadillac commercial, which went viral after TV viewers become outraged by the discriminatory commercial's theme, was mysteriously censored removed from YouTube. A replacement video was subsequently also censored removed from YouTube.)

• RELATED : Google Changes Sochi Olympics Home Page To Protest Russia's Violent Anti-LGBT Crackdown
• RELATED : Is it time for Greenlight Capital to short stock of Sochi Olympic Sponsors ?

Mr. McDonough, who stars in the Cadillac ELR Coupe hybrid commercial, is a handsome and charismatic actor, who has attracted widespread goodwill in Hollywood for his roles in movies, like Captain America : The First Avenger, in which he played Dum Dum Dugan. How much goodwill will it personally cost Mr. McDonough with his fans for having made this controversial commercial ? What's been the reputational risk ?

Social ills, like de facto discrimination, are usually based on ignorance. It's not known why U.S. networks on broadcast and cable TV would accept money in exchange for airing this commercial, given the controversial use of harmful and stupid generalizations of the French. For GM's part, that ignorance is all the more clear. The luxury automaker brand of Cadillac was named after a French explorer, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. It's unknown whether GM's advertising executives are even educated about how the new French-bashing Cadillac TV commercial actually attacks the company's namesake's own homeland ?

Perhaps in a wink and a nod to their Red State-minded target customers, the controversial Cadillac commercial was produced by a new advertising outfit known as Rogue, an Interpublic Group of Cos. team reporting to the following GM executives : Bob Ferguson, vice president of Global Cadillac ; Craig Bierley, Cadillac's advertising director ; and Steven Majoros, a former Campbell Ewald advertising agency executive now at Cadillac, according to a pre-commercial review of Cadillac's marketing team by Advertising Age. The advertising agency Campbell Ewald had previously done work for GM for its Chevrolet unit. Adweek provides the complete credits for the controversial Cadillac commercial.

That GM is integrating cultural contempt and bullying of the French in its new Cadillac commercial is a new low for the once great carmaker. Once the largest automobile manufacturer in the world, GM has since yielded that title to Toyota. In the wake of this "identity crisis" for GM, it's now developed a dubious track record of making commercials that have been judged to be controversial at best and racist at worst. The commercial for the 2013 Chevrolet Trax subcompact crossover was called racist over its use of a controversial Chinese soundtrack.

GM further sparked controversy when some politicians questioned whether the automaker was deliberately underpaying its new CEO, Mary Barra, because she is a woman. Institutionalised de facto discrimination runs rampant at GM. Whether you are French, Chinese, female, Black, or belong to a union, it seems that the troubled automaker is intent on insulting your equality.

Maybe GM wouldn't have such a hard time selling cars to people, if it first learned to treat people with dignity and respect. Compris ?

Three Brooklyn Hospitals Face Down-sizing, Despite Billions in State and City Resources

No Political Commitment to Save Hospitals

Brookdale Hospital, Interfaith Medical Center, and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center will now have to down-size in order to survive, aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today. No mention was made if Long Island College Hospital, a fourth Brooklyn hospital that has been targeted for closure by Gov. Cuomo, would survive the chopping block.

As part of a controversial Medicaid waiver, New York state must reduce inpatient hospital beds across the board in accordance with the wishes of Stephen Berger, a New York investment banker and member of a working group of Gov. Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team. Since 2006, Mr. Berger has overseen the closure or down-sizing of 11 hospitals in New York City alone.

• RELATED : Healthcare As Bargaining Chips in New York City Politics // The Pelican Brief (Updated)
• RELATED : Bill de Blasio, New York Liberals, and the Veal Pen (Updated)

Gov. Cuomo wants to use some of the money from the Medicaid waiver to down-size hospitals into urgent care centers, emergency units, and specialized treatment facilities. “We will be able to fund the structural and rebuilding needed to transform hospitals so they can be profitable and thrive and remain open,” one aide to Gov. Cuomo said.

Because the Medicaid waiver was negotiated in secret, it is not known if any of the down-sized facilities in Brooklyn will "transform" into spin-offs as for-profit healthcare corporations.

No response, yet, from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who campaigned outside the former St. Vincent's Hospital with a promise to stop hospital closings.

Billion in Surplus State and City Budgets

Gov. Cuomo says that New York state has no money to save our hospitals, yet he is spending "surplus" state tax money that was "made" by closing entire hospitals. From this "pot of gold," the governor is offering tax breaks to the wealthy and to corporations, so much so that the Moral Monday movement is now coming to Albany, to fight the irresponsible way in which Gov. Cuomo has politicized state tax dollars. Many observers note that Gov. Cuomo is diverting "surplus" money from healthcare cuts to cozy up to corporate supporters in order to increase his margin of victory in his re-election bid later this year as a way to launch a campaign for the 2016 presidential race.

• RELATED : In election year, governor is in a giving mood, except for healthcare
• RELATED : Moral Mondays Come to Albany : Morality Meet Cuomo's Budget
• RELATED : Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2016 Presidential Machinations

Mayor de Blasio has also attracted some scrutiny in how he's using tax money. The new mayor enjoys a $3 billion budget surplus, and the city stands to make an additional $1 billion from the sale of new air rights around Grand Central Terminal as part of the mayor's plan to rezone the east side of Midtown Manhattan. But so far, Mayor de Blasio has not proposed to use any of these resources to save two hospitals on the verge of closure, Long Island College Hospital or Interfaith Medical Center, both in Brooklyn.

• RELATED : Budget Puzzle for Mayor : What to Do With a Surplus That May Top $3 Billion
• RELATED : City Council Postpones Decision on $1 Billion Midtown Air Rights Sale

As each of Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio plan their next budgets, now is the time to hold them to account to save our community hospitals.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina 'Beautiful Day' Delusion As Killer Snow Storm Strikes New York City

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina faced resounding criticism today as she decided to keep New York City public schools open on a day of a massive snow storm that destroyed a ferry ramp in Brooklyn and a snow plow ran over and killed a pregnant woman in Brooklyn. Chancellor Farina said of the weather conditions : "It's absolutely a beautiful day out there."

• RELATED : 'It's absolutely a beautiful day out there,' schools chancellor says—but students and parents disagree, with just 45% attendance as snowstorm piles a foot of snow on the city (The New York Daily News)
• RELATED : Mayor Bill de Blasio Defends Controversial Snow Day Decision (Politicker)

School attended was about 45%, according to The New York Daily News. Earlier in the day, Mayor Bill de Blasio added the controversies surrounding the city's response to the snow storm when the mayor insulted NBC Today Show weathercaster Al Roker. Before the snow storm struck New York, it had killed more than a dozen people. After Mr. Roker said that people should take this snow storm seriously, Mayor de Blasio said, "It's a different thing to run a city than to give weather on TV."

On Twitter, Chancellor Farina's "beautiful day" remarks were transformed into hilarious memes with lightning speed.

#BeautifulDay #carmenfarina @NY1thecall pic.twitter.com/lODCp20ptf

— Five Boro Fund (@5BoroFund) February 14, 2014

Carmen Farina said it was a "beautiful day" today #howtomakeCathieBlacklooksmart

— cardozoenglishhonors (@cardozoenglish1) February 13, 2014

Despite Dangers, New York City Public Hospitals Set to Outsource Dialysis Care to Private Chain

Four of the city’s public hospitals are expected to turn over dialysis care to a for-profit franchise called Big Apple Dialysis despite government data showing the company’s chains did not perform as well as the hospitals themselves.

The motive to make money from dialysis patients at for-profit chains has resulted in what researchers describe as starkly higher mortality rates than at patient-care centered clinics that are operated as non-profits.

The four New York City hospitals, where dialysis patients may face worse healthcare outcomes, including a risk of higher mortality, are : Kings County Hospital, Lincoln Hospital Center, Metropolitan Hospital, and Harlem Hospital.

The nurses union New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and other healthcare advocates are critical of the effort to outsource dialysis care.

Please contact Councilmember Corey Johnson, the chair of the Council Health Committee, to express your opinions about this controversial outsourcing contract : 1 (212) 564-7757.

Rep. Joseph Crowley asks DOJ to release information regarding vindictive prosecution of Lt. Daniel Choi

New York Congressman presses Department of Justice to answer Freedom of Information Act request

U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley (D-NY) wrote a letter to the staff of the U.S. Department of Justice, requesting that the agency answer a Freedom of Information Act request submitted last year.

The FOIA request was submitted on 30 April 2013 to obtain information about the Department of Justice's policy of aggressively prosecuting activists. One activist in particular, Lt. Daniel Choi, who led the charge to over turn the military's discriminatory policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," was the target of a "vindictive prosecution," according to a court finding. A pattern of others being targeted for their activism shows that some federal prosecutors may be overreaching in a deliberate campaign to punish activists.

• RELATED : FOIA Appeal Update Regarding the DOJ's ''vindictive prosecution'' of Lt. Daniel Choi

Lt. Choi's circumstances very visibly highlight questions about why the government chose to press federal charges against one of the nation's most visible LGBT civil rights activists. Lt. Choi's activism, sometimes involving direct action, was undertaken to end the military's discrimination against gays and lesbians in the U.S. Armed Forces. After the U.S. Congress acknowledged the harmful discrimination of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and repealed the policy, and after President Barack Obama signed the repeal into law, the government still prosecuted Lt. Choi as if he were a criminal, even though his activism was undertaken solely to advance social justice. Rep. Crowley's crucial letter to the Department of Justice comes as the FOIA request remains pending over nine months after its initial, formal filing. In December, the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP filed an appeal in support of the FOIA request after it had become apparent that the Department of Justice had constructively denied the FOIA request by refusing to provide any response.

2014-02-10 Rep Joseph Crowley Letter to DOJ - Lt Dan Choi FOIA Request by Connaissable

Here is the appeal filed in December by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP :

2013-12-06 Lt Daniel Choi FOIA Appeal - Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP - Flores Louis by Connaissable

And here is the original FOIA request, formally filed last April :

2013-04-30 Lt Daniel Choi DOJ FOIA Request Louis Flores by Connaissable