Past NYPD experience with video cameras shows pattern of editing to thwart accountability for misconduct

The NYPD have a history of manipulating their own videos, as a 2004 City Council report found

Excerpt from Chapter 7 of "Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn" A special report from the City Council Committee on Governmental Operations showed that, “In the aftermath of the numerous confrontations between demonstrators and police at the February 15th rally the Civilian Complaint Review Board (“CCRB”) investigated 54 complaints containing 114 allegations of misconduct by police officers.” Among the NYPD violations the report found was that the police department’s Technical Assistance Response Unit provided to CCRB heavily edited videos in a deliberate effort to disguise the police officers who committed violations. “Thus, many complaints were dropped where the officers went unidentified.” This is how the NYPD operated when it knew its actions were not going to be supervised or subjected to any accountability. From Chapter 7 of ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn'' by Louis Flores (Scribd) How can CCRB, much less the public, have faith and trust in NYPD officers maintaining control over their own body cameras ? According to news reports, the New York Police Department are considering a pilot program to video record police officers on duty. NYPD Commissioner William Bratton told reporters that the pilot program under consideration would allow police officers to control the activation of their own body cameras, raising concerns amongst police reform activists and civil libertarians. How can the press honestly report that this is a "pilot program," and that a police department program aiming to film their own operations is about to be created ? The NYPD have been filming their own operations for years. What is more, many charge that the NYPD make video recordings of activists' peaceful and lawful political activities, which constitutes violations of activists Constitutional, civil rights, civil liberties, and other rights. Some of these records also violate a court order known as the Handschu Agreement. The proposal to use body cameras has been criticised by civil libertarian advocates, who question the police motivations to record innocent citizens. With the NYPD's experience and technology, they have already demonstrated a track record of how they mishandle their own video records and of the recordings of innocent New Yorkers. Based on a report about police misconduct published over a decade ago by the New York City Council, it has been shown that the NYPD cannot be trusted to record themselves, because, in the past, the NYPD have deliberately edited videos of their own performance with the blatant intention to circumvent accountability and oversight for their own misconduct, brutality, and other violations of police procedures. Some police reform activists believe that recording police while they are on duty is a good reform, but not all police reform activists agree. Others take share the same concerns of civil libertarians. However, if there is a way to fully address the concerns of civil libertarians, for the use of body cameras to work, police officers should not be able to control, limit, turn on, or turn off their body cameras in any way. For body cameras to work, both the audio and video should be recorded during the entire duration of police officers' shifts. This information should be stored for as many years as it would be needed to facilitate the frequent federal, state, and municipal investigations into police misconduct. However, it remains to be seen whether the concerns of civil libertarians can truly be addressed. Over the decades, the NYPD have created so much distrust in New York City. The proposal to use body cameras is already polarising some in the police reform activist community. Based on the lack of trust and faith between the NYPD and citizens, it's difficult to tell whether everybody's concerns can be fully addressed.

RELATED 50 NYPD cops set to begin wearing body cameras in pilot program (The New York Daily News) ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn'' by Louis Flores (Scribd) Report and Briefing Paper, The New York City Council, Committee on Government Operations, 16 June 2004 (Scribd) Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist. Flatiron Massage is located in New York City.

Like a young Richard Nixon, Christine Quinn trying to make a political comeback

PUBLISHED : THURS, 04 SEPT 2014, 05:05 PM
UPDATED : THURS, 04 SEPT 2014, 09:10 PM

Political bloggers fear that Christine Quinn is organizing a come-back into politics after the electoral thrashing she received last year. After Richard Nixon lost embarrassing campaigns in 1960 and 1962, he finally won in 1968 and again in 1972.

Last September, almost 85% of Democratic Party primary voters cast their ballots against Christine Quinn After former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn suffered a humiliating defeat in last year's mayoral race, she has been in relative hiding, licking her wounds, plotting her political comeback. During that time, she's limited her public appearances. She reportedly turned down a job offer to lead the troubled AIDS services organization GMHC, and she has tested the waters by joining the boards of a couple of nonprofit organizations, an area she exploited over two decades ago to launch her political career. Although to some degree Ms. Quinn has become politically radioactive, due to a long record of community betrayals and allegations of corruption, she has managed to latch onto another failed politician, who has similarly become the target of voter anger : Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In exchange for fluffing his sagging reelection campaign, Gov. Cuomo has apparently promised to Ms. Quinn a way around the wrath of angry voters by offering her a rumored appointed commissionership after Ms. Quinn made statements to the press, offering superficial validity to the governor's astroturf political party, the Women's Equality Party. Ms. Quinn's propaganda confers to the governor some hope of tricking some voters to cast their ballots for him on the politically-expedient Women's Equality Party line. Gov. Cuomo has faced a tough reelection battle ever since his administration began a downward political following the launch of an investigation by federal prosecutors into alleged obstructive acts by the governor's office to thwart the corruption-fighting work of the now-defunct Moreland Commission after the panel began looking into some of the governor's political allies. To further Ms. Quinn's political reset, she deleted her old Twitter account and began anew, erasing the Twitter history of her failed political past. For her part, Ms. Quinn is no stranger to controversies about her political ethics. Activists and the media have drawn attention to the corruptive role of big money campaign donations in government, but no meaningful legal reforms ever came about during Ms. Quinn's 15 years in public office. In a 2008 report published by The New York Times, the two largest real estate contributors to the candidates expected to run for mayor in 2009, of which Ms. Quinn was one, were the owners of Rudin Management Company, who would become entangled in a protracted real estate battle over the fate of St. Vincent’s Hospital, and people tied to the Related Companies, one of the final two developers selected to work on the Hudson Yards project. When activists demanded that the local district attorney investigate the shady closing of St. Vincent’s, talk of an investigation went nowhere. Former Council Speaker Quinn approved the Rudin luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent’s, she approved decreased affordable housing requirements at the Hudson Yards project, and she exempted the living wage bill from applying to parts of the Hudson Yards project. Credible information exists about how a former campaign donor of former Council Speaker Quinn got access to a meeting involving the creation of legislative proposals and about how discretionary City Council funds from a secret reserve fund were steered to groups in former Council Speaker Quinn’s district. But when established patterns of political activities spanning for years potentially rise to the level of violations of law involve the potential for prosecution of significant political or government individuals, who may pose special problems for the local prosecutor, no federal prosecutor sees a special need or purpose to bring an federal indictment necessary for a successful prosecution of the government’s case against these individuals. An overhaul of this broken system is impossible when there is no fear of prosecution to create the political will to end the exploitation of this broken system. It’s a catch-22.

RELATED Back in Politics, Quinn Will Be Adviser on Abortion-Rights Strategy (The New York Times) ''Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn'' by Louis Flores (Scribd)

After early ridicule, Tim Wu calls out de Blasio as "accomplice" in Hochul's voter deception

Gov. Cuomo's running mate, Kathy Hochul, supports the Keystone XL energy pipeline, which the fracking industry needs to keep expanding their water-poisoning extraction across North America

The Cuomo administration is under federal investigation for reportedly obstructing the anti-corruption work of the now-defunct Moreland Commission, and Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito don't care. They're endorsing the Cuomo-Hochul ticket. Once it became clear that the self-anointed progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio was going to endorse former Rep. Kathy Hochul for lieutenant governor in this year's Democratic Party primary, the first reaction from the Teachout/Wu campaign was to give Mayor de Blasio and his enablers the room to double-cross progressive voters. Many government reform activists see Mayor de Blasio's endorsement of Ms. Hochul's campaign as a betrayal of voters' progressive sensibilities. Not only is Ms. Hochul a supporter of the fracking industry, but she has also voted to limit or roll back regulations under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. She once earned the endorsement of the N.R.A., and she also voted to repeal Obamacare while she was in Congress. Even the specter of a federal investigation into the Cuomo administration's role in reportedly obstruction the corruption-fighting work of the now-shuttered Moreland Commission hasn't stopped Mayor de Blasio and his cronies from propping up the Cuomo/Hochul ticket. Nevertheless, the Teachout/Wu campaign initially didn't want to publicly question Mayor de Blasio's motivations for planning to endorse such an abysmal and conservative record as Ms. Hochul's. However, once government reform activists began to question the Teachout/Wu's silence, the Teachout/Wu campaign took a different approach. BdB sucks. RT @Taniel: Ah what government does to you: de Blasio endorses Kathy Hochul for Lieutenant Governor. http://t.co/tPYdtVcRcF — Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) September 3, 2014 This right here is one of biggest reasons why we never get reforms, bc politicians are situational/sleazy when it comes to elections. @Azi — Louis Flores (@maslowsneeds) September 3, 2014 Pressure on the Teachout/Wu campaign kept building this morning, especially after some wise political reporters began to notice the blatant contradictions in Mayor de Blasio's spin, leading Ms. Hochul's opponent, Tim Wu, to call out Mayor de Blasio for his duplicity. Tweetdeck makes sense of NY politics. cc @superwuster @KathyHochul @MMViverito @BilldeBlasio pic.twitter.com/f4Vzx5LB5h — Azi (@Azi) September 3, 2014 In a press conference this morning, Mr. Wu reacted to news of Mayor de Blasio's impending endorsement of Ms. Hochul with some of the harshest words yet expressed of Mayor de Blasio's dishonest portrayal of Ms. Hochul as a "progressive." "When it comes down to it, Kathy Hochul's record is out there. No one can look honestly and deeply at that record and say she's a progressive Democrat," Mr. Wu said at his press conference, adding that Mayor de Blasio was "serving as an accomplice" in "misrepresenting her record." .@superwuster says De Blasio is serving as 'accomplice' to Hochul http://t.co/1GMcgNaYgn via @conorskelding — Reid Pillifant (@reidpillifant) September 3, 2014 For her part, Zephyr Teachout, Mr. Cuomo's opponent in the gubernatorial race, said, "I'm thrilled that Bill de Blasio's my mayor, I supported him, but he's wrong on this. Kathy Hochul's a conservative."

RELATED Tim Wu: Mayor de Blasio serving as ‘accomplice’ to Hochul (Capital New York) Cuomo, de Blasio Panic As Progressive Candidate Tim Wu Gains Traction (The Gothamist) Activists fear Teachout will back Cuomo in General if she loses in Primary (NYC : News & Analysis)

1199's Kevin Finnegan to NYC community hospital patients : Kiss Off !

Cuomo “first governor we haven’t gotten into a fight with in a long time,” said Kevin Finnegan. http://t.co/XsqYPbIMaw @1199SEIU #saveLICH

— Louis Flores (@maslowsneeds) September 2, 2014

The corrupt political mercenaries running unions lead rank and file astray. 1199's Finnegan is Cuomo's lackey. @HammerDaily

— Louis Flores (@maslowsneeds) September 2, 2014

La rentrée 2014 : Election and Omnibus Update

Reforms come about by taking action

Remember the hospital closing crisis was manufactured by the Gov. Pataki's Berger Commission and by Gov. Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team AS NEW YORKERS PREPARE FOR THE ANNUAL REENTRY, it's that time of the year when everything happens all at once : the summer ends, a new school year begins, the high season of the arts is upon us, and the primary elections are only one week away. The last year has been remarkable for civic engagement and activism. We made many gains, like voting Christine Quinn out of office. We still face many challenges, like holding the de Blasio administration accountable to fully overhauling the New York Police Department and implementing other reforms. Voters are building upon this by vowing to hold Gov. Andrew Cuomo accountable in the Democratic Party primary election on Tuesday, Sept. 9. Ever since news broke of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's admitted interference with the Moreland Commission's anti-corruption investigations, the Cuomo administration has been in a downward spiral. Voters are angry that each year, politicians promise us a "change election," but no change ever comes. Gov. Cuomo campaigned for office in 2010, promising to end corruption up in Albany. By many press accounts, it took less than four years for Gov. Cuomo to embody the culture of corruption up in Albany. Back in 2010, the Cuomo campaign told St. Vincent's activists, "We'll see you after the election." What happened ? Not only did the governor fail to take action to save community hospitals in New York City, but he appointed mean old man Stephen Berger of the 1990's Berger Commission to keep closing full-service hospitals across New York City. Gov. Cuomo turned out to be another weasel of a politician, who had no intention of serving the common good. Instead, he was intent on an austerity agenda that would dismantle hospital infrastructure and enact Medicaid cuts that would negatively impact entire communities across New York City. This reoccurring pattern of political and community betrayal was what finally led voters to vote former Speaker Quinn out of office after 15 years of failure. That long period of time exasperated voters. It finally woke voters up to the opportunity cost of reelecting unprincipled incumbents, who gamed the system for their own benefit, not the communities'. Voters no longer have patience for wasting time on failed leadership. This impatience explains why activists began to protest mayor-elect Bill de Blasio last December, after he announced his regressive appointment of William Bratton as NYPD commissioner. In the time since, all New Yorkers have come to see how Mayor de Blasio was never fully committed about ending police brutality or overhauling other controversial police policies, like the Broken Windows approach to policing that essentially criminalises the poor and minorities. Minorities in New York get arrested trying to use public transportation. That stark example of discrimination that once ran rampant in the racist South now takes place right here in New York City. If the mayor was committed to a complete overhaul of the NYPD, then he would have each of appointed a culturally competent police commissioner, ended Broken Windows policing, and updated and strengthened civilian police oversight, disciplinary proceedings, and other forms of police accountability. The true test of reforms is very simple : Does the status quo come to a complete end once reforms are implemented ? Other issues awaiting the mayor that will determine if he is going to truly roll-out an aggressively progressive reform agenda, or if he is just going to keep recommending neoliberal policies that are approved by big business lobbyists. Only a civically-engaged electorate can hold elected officials' feet to the fire. As promised in a previous newsletter, here is an omnibus update : Governor's Race. Please remember that Gov. Cuomo exacerbated the hospital closing crisis in New York City by appointing Stephen Berger to close more hospitals on top of the large number of hospitals that closed following Mr. Berger's first commission report on hospital closures. Last Sept. 9, Mr. Berger was still advocating for more hospital closures. How fitting that exactly one year after that article was published, voters get to cast votes to reject these healthcare cuts that The New York Times reported went too far. Equally important, activists continue to call for reforms to end campaign and political corruption, but the media that made the Moreland Commission scandal an issue has since retired the issue, proving once again that, like with former Speaker Quinn, it is up to citizens journalists and activists to keep pressing for an end to corruption. Many bloggers are writing about the Moreland Commission (like the Perdido Street School blog and the Atlantic Yards Report blog), and it is up to voters to stay the course on an issue like this, especially when the media gets distracted or is subverted. Indeed, the bombshell report published by The New York Times about the Cuomo administration's reported obstruction of the Moreland Commission failed to mention the corrupt role of the Partnership for New York City in Albany politics. Likewise, The New York Times never reported Brad Hoylman's employment at the Partnership for New York City when he was overseeing Rudin's luxury condo conversion application at the same time when Bill Rudin was a director at the Partnership for New York City. When the media won't tell the whole story, it is up to us to keep each other informed. Keep seeking out new bloggers and alternative news Web sites. Take an average of multiple sources of information as a way to read between the lines. The Cuomo campaign is under so much stress from angry voters that Gov. Cuomo is reportedly considering dumping his running mate, former Rep. Kathy Hochul, in favor of embracing the reform candidate, Tim Wu. This is kind of what is looks like when the system turns on itself under the scaled-up participation of reform-minded voters. Whatever you do, I hope that on Tuesday, Sept. 9, you will please call your friends and families and make sure that everybody goes to the polls and votes Gov. Cuomo out of office. Christine Quinn. After almost 85% of Democratic Party primary voters voted former Speaker Quinn out of office last September, Ms. Quinn has been desperate to worm her way back into the business of politics. Baring an indictment by federal prosecutors or a negotiated plea deal calling for Gov. Cuomo to resign, Ms. Quinn's latest scheme is to shill for Gov. Cuomo in apparent exchange for a commissionership appointment in his next administration. As you may recall, last year Ms. Quinn exploited identity politics as an election year gimmick. Now, Ms. Quinn is using women's issues against another female candidate, Zephyr Teachout, to benefit a man, Gov. Cuomo, who sided with Republicans to jam the state legislature, one consequence of which was the stalled Women's Equality Act. This is a classic example of Ms. Quinn's corrupt approach to government : putting the most politically-expedient, self-serving politics ahead of long-over due reforms. It's no wonder that Ms. Teachout called out Ms. Quinn. "Christine Quinn is the one who stood in the way of paid sick days for New York City women," Ms. Teachout said, adding, "There are several ways Christine Quinn has stood in the way of core Democratic values. She was Mayor Bloomberg’s staunchest ally. She represents the corporate wing of the Democratic Party." Some political bloggers are privately worried that if the electorate is not careful, Ms. Quinn will attempt a political comeback similar to that of Richard Nixon after he lost the presidency in 1960 and the California governorship in 1962. GMHC. Many LGBTQ and AIDS activists have scored a major victory by pressuring Gay Men's Health Crisis to get rid of an entire slate of bad management. After an activist-driven campaign to force GMHC to reform itself, CEO Marjorie Hill, Chairman of the Board Mickey Rolfe, Director Manny Rivera, and former communications director Dirk McCall have separated from GMHC. Some activists have reservations about a new director, Roberta Kaplan, and the agency's new CEO, Kelsey Louie. However, if GMHC is to ever renew itself, then it certainly has a better chance now, under new leadership, than before. Time, and your continued oversight, will tell. LGBT Sell-Outs. Keep checking the LGBT Sell-Outs blog, as an updated poster will be revealed soon.

RELATED Married to a sleazy political consultant, Errol Louis uses NY1 to protect all political consultants (NYC : News & Analysis) Pledge 2 Protect latest advocacy organization to hire The Advance Group, masking donors behind a law firm (NYC : News & Analysis) Tone deaf to calls for NYPD reform, de Blasio stands by Bratton and Broken Windows policing (NYC : News & Analysis) USAO mum on new revelation about Cuomo's e-mail deleting policy (NYC : News & Analysis)

NYPD. Following the homicide of Eric Garner in Staten Island from an illegal choke hold by police, activists organised a rally outside City Hall calling for Commissioner Bratton's resignation, an end to the discriminatory Broken Windows approach to policing, and for a federal investigation into corruption at NYPD. Partly as a result of political cover provided by "veal pen" groups like VOCAL-New York and the Communities United for Police Reform umbrella group, the mayor has turned a deaf ear to grassroots activists calling for a complete overhaul of the NYPD. As with many political, social, and legal issues facing society, all one has to do is follow the money to identify what is blocking reforms. When one pulls back the curtain on the flow of money to some of the "veal pen" groups, one will see how in this year's city budget, over $7 million was allocated to some police reform groups, money which the de Blasio administration essentially used to strong-arm community groups to down-play police reform. This, and George Soros' financial connections to each of Communities United for Police Reform and to Mayor de Blasio, help to explain why a 1% policing policy, like Broken Windows, could be so vehemently defended by Mayor de Blasio, a blatant contradiction to the lip service he likes to give to his self-anointed progressive sensibilities. Again, reforms will only come about when the citizenry stays engaged, regardless of the empty rhetoric from politicians. Talk is not reform ; rather, reform can only take the shape of tangible changes that put an end to the status quo, in this case, of relentless incidence of police killings, police brutality, police discrimination against citizens -- all with no police accountability. Follow the money. The corrupt roles of big money donations and lobbyists continue to undermine elections in New York. In the 2009 municipal election cycle, the Working Families Party used an affiliate, Data and Field Services, Inc., to allegedly game the city's campaign finance laws. Those activities are now the subject of an investigation by an independent prosecutor. In the 2013 municipal election cycle, we saw how Working Families supporter The Advance Group and possibly other lobbyists coordinated their management of official campaigns with the activities of Super PAC's, a violation of the city's campaign finance regulations. And in this year's state election cycle, the Working Families Party is at it again : political operatives with connections to the Working Families Party were behind the use of Mayor de Blasio's 501(c)(4) nonprofit political arm, the Campaign for One New York, to send campaign-like literature spinning positives about the closure of Long Island College Hospital in the 52nd Assembly District in Brooklyn. That dark-money LICH mailer has propped up WFP-endorsed candidate Peter Sikora, because it takes some of the heat off the hospital closing. The value of that mailer, if indeed partly coordinated to benefit Mr. Sikora, may violate campaign finance regulations if not properly declared. Given the subversive activities of the Working Families Party during each of these election cycles, it is clear that their intention is to win political elections, not to save hospitals from closing. As if we all need to remember, 13 full-service New York City hospitals have closed or downsized since 2006. The true test of reform would have been the saving of LICH under Mayor de Blasio's watch. He failed ; LICH is closed. Now, voters in Brooklyn must decide for whom to vote in the Sept. 9 Democratic Primary in the 52nd Assembly District : Jo Anne Simon, who endorsed the disgraced Charles Hynes for Brooklyn District Attorney in last year's election, or Doug Biviano, who is the anti-lobbyist candidate calling for reforms to government. Whilst the de Blasio administration relies more and more on the same lobbyists behind the dark-money LICH mailer, such as BerlinRosen, government reform activists wonder if the media's initial reporting about the mayor's nonprofit political arm will go the same way of reporting about the Moreland Commission : by becoming history. Under conditions where those in elected office lack media scrutiny, it becomes essential that voters turn to bloggers and alternative news Web sites for information in order to cast informed ballots. Department of Justice. Besides voting, how else can average citizens participate in efforts to bring about unfinished reforms ? The first step is to test the system to determine how broken it is. This is what I have done with the U.S. Department of Justice. Under President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice has been politicised to enable and extend the Bush era's use of warrentless wiretapping, to crackdown on whistleblowers and activists, and to harass enterprising reporters in an effort to abridge freedoms of speech and of the press. Against this backdrop, I filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain records from the Department of Justice pertaining to the government's vindictive prosecution of Lt. Daniel Choi, who led the heroic effort to end the military's discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The Department of Justice has promised to answer an appeal of its initial constructive denial of the FOIA request. The second step to reform is to see what happens when the system realises that it being tested. Juxtaposed with how the DOJ answers the FOIA request, I await how the U.S. Attorney's Office will act upon an updated statement I filed to support the complaint against the corrupt lobbying firm, The Advance Group. Either the DOJ makes good on each of the FOIA request and on investigating how politicians and lobbyists have made swiss cheese of campaign finance laws, the DOJ makes good on one but not on the other, or the DOJ makes good on neither. Either way, we will soon find out how much integrity the DOJ has when it comes to upholding the government's own principles of justice. Also outstanding are the U.S. Attorney's Office's own investigation into the unfinished work and the possible obstruction of the now-defunct Moreland Commission. Political bloggers speculate whether federal prosecutor Preet Bharara will hand down indictments in his Moreland investigation before this year's general election. On a larger scale, some activists believe that Attorney General Holder is expected to step down from his post. We will find out shortly in what shape he leaves the DOJ. NYC IBS Support. A new support and advocacy group for people living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome is forming in New York City. The group is searching for a doctor to be a medical information sponsor for the group. If you are a gastroenterologist and are interested in being the group's information sponsor, or if you live with IBS and would like to join, please send an e-mail to : newyorkcityibs (at) gmail (dot) com.

Green Party candidate slate banner at West Indian Day Parade

.@NYGovCuomo. Labor Day $15 hr min wage, full employment through 100% clean energy by 2030. http://t.co/6is8CeZMCN pic.twitter.com/qUi2BJdlVx

— Howie Hawkins (@HowieHawkins) September 1, 2014

His political and legal problems mounting, Cuomo now blames Hochul

Having turned on itself, the ‘‘System’’ is becoming more and more unpredictable

Waiting in the wings : Preet Bharara Ever since news broke of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's admitted interference with the Moreland Commission's anti-corruption investigations, the Cuomo administration has been in a downward spiral. An egotistical fuck, Gov. Cuomo has tried to deflect blame, pretend like everything is normal, gone into hiding, and now, in a final act of sexist desperation, is looking to make somebody the fall gal. Due to rising discontent amongst Democratic Party primary voters, Gov. Cuomo is reportedly examining the scorched earth option of dumping his running mate, former Rep. Kathy Hochul, candidate for lieutenant governor, in order to substitute Lt. Gov. candidate Tim Wu as his running mate, if Mr. Wu wins the Sept. 9 primary. Gov. Cuomo has until Sept. 16 to make this substitution. Motivating this substitution is the fact that many Democrats have become angry at the conservative bent in Gov. Cuomo's economic and social policies, and although Gov. Cuomo's opinion poll ratings remain high, word on the street is that his pick of former Rep. Hochul for lieutenant governor is vulnerable. Obsessed with winning by a huge margin of victory, Gov. Cuomo is taking drastic measures as his political and legal future becomes bleak. Following revelations that top ranking officials in the Cuomo administration reportedly obstructed the work of the Moreland Commission's anti-corruption investigations, Gov. Cuomo faces the fallout of a federal investigation into obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and possibly other crimes. As it stands, three officials connected with his administration or the Moreland Commission should have already met with federal prosecutors, to discuss their activities in the alleged obstruction : Larry Schwartz, the highest ranking aide to Gov. Cuomo, voluntarily agreed to meet with and be interviewed by federal prosecutors in August about his involvement with the doomed Moreland Commission ; Mylan Denerstein, official counsel to Gov. Cuomo, voluntarily agreed to meet with and be interviewed by federal prosecutors in early August about her involvement with the doomed Moreland Commission ; and Heather Green, the former assistant to Moreland Commission Executive Director Regina Calcaterra, testified before a Manhattan federal grand jury on July 28. As Gov. Cuomo becomes more and more desperate, he appears to be looking to blame others for his impending political and legal downfall. Whilst Gov. Cuomo tries to shore up his trouble reelection campaign, some political bloggers and government reform activists privately speculate whether federal prosecutors will be able to hand down criminal indictments before the primary and general elections, further adding to Gov. Cuomo's political and legal troubles.

RELATED ‘‘Wu is me’’ : Cuomo may dump Hochul, fearing a Tim Wu primary win (The New York Post) Afraid to come out of his cave, Cuomo is told by the Editorial Board : ‘‘Debate them, governor’’ (The New York Post)

Teachout calls for investigation into LICH sale

‘‘Classic corruption’’

Statewide “whistleblower tour” brings Teachout to Long Island College Hospital “The closing of LICH and the process through which the sale happened -- a sale where a health facility becomes a real estate development – is classic corruption,” said New York gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout. Joining Ms. Teachout at the demonstration outside LICH was Doug Biviano, candidate for the Democratic Party primary in the 52nd State Assembly District race. Mr. Biviano told The Brooklyn Daily Eagle that he looked forward to Ms. Teachout drawing attention to the “special interest relationships, the power grabs behind all this,” referring to the closure and the sale of LICH to a luxury housing developer. Mr. Biviano added that there was reason to worry about the close relationships between the “political machine,” Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Working Families Party, Brooklyn Democratic County boss Frank Seddio and his law partner and SUNY attorney Frank Carone, according to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle's report.

RELATED In Brooklyn, Teachout calls for investigation into LICH sale (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Joan Rivers - The Roast Of Joan Rivers UNCENSORED [HQ]

In tribute to Joan Rivers, here is a look-back at Ms. Rivers' trademark wit, humour, and potty mouth at : Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers (2009).

Joan Rivers Returns to The Tonight Show

Jimmy Fallon interviewed Joan Rivers on The Tonight Show.

Ms. Rivers' daughter Melissa is asking everybody to pray for her mother's recovery. But don't cry that Ms. Rivers is in intensive care ; rather, take a moment to smile that she shared her humour with us.

Is Comptroller Stringer stirring gay-baiting fears in the rush to roll-out prekinder expansion in New York City ?

Is Comptroller Scott Stringer trying to sabotage Mayor Bill de Blasio's prekinder expansion by fear mongering that children will be unsafe at the hands of "child pornographers" ? As much as this blog has been critical of Mayor Bill de Blasio for having betrayed every constituency group that elected him, one can't help but be exasperated at the apparent homophobic fear-mongering by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer in his scheme to derail Mayor de Blasio's ambitious expansion of prekinder throughout New York City. Even as the de Blasio administration hastily tries to accommodate a record influx of prekinder students, there's no reason for Comptroller Stringer to stoop so low as to stir up fears of "bad actors" and "child pornographers," who have probably already been screened out by existing facilities that the mayor is reaching out to, to house the prekinder classrooms. "We have to make sure the classrooms are safe. We have to make sure that there's integrity to this," Comptroller Stringer said, adding, "We have to make sure that the safety violations, the insurance information, and bad actors are all resolved before this gets ready," before he concluding by saying, "That's my job." Comptroller Stringer is whipping up concerns in the media that background checks of teachers have not yet been conducted before school starts. Why is he stoking unfounded fears about bad teachers ? Comptroller Stringer told WCBS 2 New York that his office wants to review all of the contracts that the de Blasio administration has signed with hosts of the city's prekinder classroom programs, describing the contracts as, "This is paperwork that identifies a child pornographer. This is paperwork that looks at open violations. This is paperwork that matters for parents with children." "Because of inadequate public school capacity, the de Blasio administration has been urging religious schools and community organizations to consider hosting the added programs," an early August report in The New York Times indicated, raising the possibility that Comptroller Stringer is stirring hateful gay-baiting concerns over religious groups hosting prekinder classroom programs as a result of a lack of secular public school classroom space. Before he was elected to the Comptroller's position in New York City government, Mr. Stringer served as Manhattan Borough President, where he had close ties to the ultra-liberal West Side establishment of Manhattan, where residents are highly reactionary of any effort to blur the church-state divide. Given the Catholic Church's child abuse history, could Comptroller Stringer be referring to religious teachers as "bad actors" and "child pornographers" as a way to protest the use of faith-based institutions as hosts of prekinder classroom programs ? If so, then Comptroller Stringer is trying to taint the mayor's use of religious schools as festering with child abusing teachers. However, nobody is exactly certain of Comptroller Stringer's mixed-motivations. As Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña seek to calm parents' nerves as the city rolls out its expanded prekinder program, they appear afraid to call out Comptroller Stringer's fear-mongering homophobia. Given their own history of sticking their heads in the sand, Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña are trying to minimize Comptroller Stringer's crazy talk by focusing on preparations for the first day of school, set for Sept. 4. However, civic leaders need to come forward and challenge Comptroller Stringer to account for his fear-mongering crusade.

RELATED Mayor Bill de Blasio Downplays Comptroller’s Prekindergarten Concerns, Says Sites Being Vetted (WCBS 2 New York) de Blasio’s Prekindergarten Expansion Collides With Church-State Divide (The New York Times)

Activists fear Teachout will back Cuomo in General if she loses in Primary

PUBLISHED : FRI, 29 AUG 2014, 07:42 PM
UPDATED : SAT, 30 AUG 2014, 05:53 PM

Given Teachout's Soros-connection, if you are voting in the Democratic Party gubernatorial primary, then please consider voting for Randy Credico. While many in the mainstream media take up the cause of protest candidate Zephyr Teachout to oust the corrupt incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this year's New York gubernatorial race, many overlook Ms. Teachout's connection to the scandal-plagued financier George Soros. According to the Open Society Foundations Web site, "Zephyr Teachout is a member of the Information Program Advisory Board and a member of the Fellowship Selection Committee." Mr. Soros uses his Open Society Foundations to control the liberal agenda to suit his political needs. "... control over the social sciences by monied interests has depoliticized this field and reinforced a capitalist view of modernization." There is a hypocrisy in the political left that the extremist, right-wing billionaires from the Republican Party are destroying democracy in America ; meanwhile, there are billionaires doing the same thing amongst the political left. The role of big money in elections destroys any voice of the people marginalized in the money-driven society that billionaires seeks to maintain. For Ms. Teachout's participation in Mr. Soros' billionaire politics, Democratic voters going to polls in the gubernatorial primary on Sept. 9 should consider casting their anti-Cuomo votes for Randy Credico, a long-time activist. And if rejecting the role of billionaires in politics isn't enough for Democratic primary voters, then consider that many political bloggers fear that Ms. Teachout will bend to conventional Democratic Party pressure if she loses the primary, leading to her eventual endorsement of Gov. Cuomo for the general election. Visit Mr. Credico's Web site and educate yourself on your options. Voters have more choices than the false binary choice between Ms. Teachout and Gov. Cuomo in the Sept. 9 Democratic Party primary.

RELATED Comedian/activist Credico seeks Dem nod for governor (Press Connects) Zephyr Teachout (Open Society Foundations) Reforming the World : George Soros, Global Capitalism and the Philanthropic Management of the Social Sciences (Centre de Sociologie Européenne) Soros charitable foundation sometimes leans right : Groups touting conservative ideals among recent beneficiaries (The Tucson Sentinel)

Pledge 2 Protect latest advocacy organization to hire The Advance Group, masking donors behind a law firm

Elected officials no longer listen to voters, unless a community forms a nonprofit organization and hires corrupt lobbyists in a scheme that cloaks the identity of donors

#BREAKING #ARRESTED 4 protesting E91st #MTS Barbara Jayson longtime resident of #Yorkville concerned citizen of #NYC pic.twitter.com/sh6zYvHUcz

— Pledge 2 Protect (@p2pnyc) August 26, 2014

Exploiting a loophole in campaign finance laws, the small Manhattan law firm Marquart & Small is hiding the identity of donors funding the Pledge 2 Protect advocacy group The community advocacy group, Pledge 2 Protect, which is nobly fighting the opening of a huge marine waste transfer station in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is flouting campaign finance laws to do it, Crain's New York Business reported today. Pledge 2 Protect is using a law firm, Marquart & Small, to hide the identity of its big money donors. In two months of this year, those monies have been used to pay a small army of lobbyists and consultants : $78,000 to The Advance Group, a lobbying firm that doubles as a campaign consulting firm headed by Scott Levenson, was involved in the astroturf group, NYC Is Not For Sale ; $20,000 to The Black Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by former ACORN head Bertha Lewis ; The Black Institute shares office space with The Advance Group ; $20,000 to Gladstein Neandross and Associates, an environmental consulting firm based in California ; and $7,000 to Rubenstein Public Relations, which is also the official rep for New York Yankees baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez. The fact that Pledge 2 Protect is skirting campaign finance laws calls to mind the controversies engulfing another noble-purposed group, NY-CLASS. NY-CLASS is a group seeking a ban of horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Last year, NY-CLASS was the primary force behind a Super PAC named NYC Is Not For Sale ; both NY-CLASS and NYC Is Not For Sale received campaign consulting and lobbying assistance from The Advance Group. The city's campaign finance regulatory authority, the Campaign Finance Board, has ruled that a forbidden pattern of coordination took place between the Super PAC and official campaigns also managed by The Advance Group, and The Advance Group is the subject of a complaint filed with federal prosecutors on the fourth anniversary of the corrupt Supreme Court decision in Citizens United over its electioneering work. Now that Pledge 2 Protect seems to be trying to skirt disclosure laws through gimmicks and tricks, how long before regulators or prosecutors crack down on the shady structure set up to pass-through campaign donations to benefit Pledge 2 Protect ? Upon hearing news of Pledge 2 Protect's shadowy campaign finance structure, some of New York City's political bloggers lamented that elected officials refuse to listen to grassroots community demands. The only way elected officials seem to offer their ear is when dollar bills start exchanging hands with lobbyists with insider access to City Hall. Both The Advance Group and The Black Institute are headed by individuals with close ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio. What does it mean when the only way to impact City Hall is to pay-off individuals with close ties to the mayor ? Community groups wouldn't need to hire lobbyists if the character of officials elected to public office embodied a true ethic of public service. Perhaps before hiring lobbyists and setting up structures to cloak the identity of big money donors, the many nonprofit groups in New York City should first band together to vote out of office any politician, who makes hiring lobbyists as a condition precedent before listening to community demands, followed by a strengthening of campaign finance laws to close all loopholes ?

RELATED East Side garbage foes hide behind loophole (Crain's New York Business) Ongoing Levenson-Lewis-de Blasio political activities that may rise to be prohibited ? (YouTube) Using political entities, operatives close to mayor exploit campaign finance regulations through ''pattern'' of activities (NYC : News & Analysis)

de Blasio continues support of Cuomo reelection, in spite of NYTimes non-endorsement

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio today reiterated his continued support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's reelection campaign, even though the governor was denied the endorsement of the powerful Editorial Board of The New York Times in the upcoming Democratic Party gubernatorial primary.

"I don't conjecture about any editorial board and what it does...I'm strongly supporting Gov. Cuomo"-@BilldeBlasio on Times non-endorsement

— Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) August 28, 2014

For months, Gov. Cuomo has appeared to be a person of interest to federal prosecutors, as the U.S. Attorney's Office for New York's southern district investigate the unfinished files of the now-defunct Moreland Commission and the role of Cuomo administration officials in thwarting the panel's investigations. In July, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara issued a warning letter to Moreland Commission members, asking that his office be kept informed if Gov. Cuomo or other administration officials try to influence the public statements by former commissioners in respect of the panel's record of performance.

In the time since Gov. Cuomo took action regarding the Moreland Commission to "shut the whole thing down," political bloggers and government reform activists have been expecting that possible federal criminal charges could be brought against senior Cuomo administration officials, if not against Gov. Cuomo himself. It remains to be known how could Mayor de Blasio continue to support Gov. Cuomo's campaign if Gov. Cuomo is potentially exposed to impending federal criminal charges, some political bloggers wonder.

Joan Rivers in critical condition after she stopped breathing during throat procedure in clinic : reports

The comedian and TV shopping channel personality Joan Rivers was reportedly rushed to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, after she stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest during a procedure on her vocal cords at a clinic. Ms. Rivers' daughter, Melissa, is en route to New York, the gossip Web site TMZ reported.

#BREAKING: Joan Rivers stops breathing during surgery, taken to NYC hospital, sources say http://t.co/KgvHYlR3Aw pic.twitter.com/C7aE83WpcJ

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) August 28, 2014

Ms. Rivers' out-patient procedure at a clinic shows the risks involved in the anti-hospital movement by health insurance companies. The "reforms" to healthcare really amount to healthcare cuts, where money is saved by blocking patients from receiving complicated procedures in out-patient settings. Once Ms. Rivers, 81, went into cardiac arrest, she had to be rushed to a full-service hospital, where trained medical experts in complicated medical practices could attend to her emergency healthcare needs. Some healthcare activists said today that Ms. Rivers was fortunate that the out-patient clinic, where she stopped breathing, was near the many hospitals of New York's Upper East Side, where there is a concentration of full-service hospitals. If Ms. Rivers had been having her out-patient procedure in lower Manhattan, for example, then the ambulance ride to a full-service hospital would have taken longer. It remains to be seen whether the mainstream media or Hollywood gossip Web sites will take notice of the healthcare implications for other senior patients using out-patient clinics for surgeries.

Meanwhile, news watchers expect President Barack Obama to issue a statement, calling for prayers for Ms. Rivers' full recovery. Ms. Rivers' health emergency follows the tragic suicide of comedian Robin Williams, who passed away on Aug. 11. The White House issued a statement in Mr. Williams' memory on the same day as his passing.