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Thursday, June 7, 2018
CORRECTED : Queens Against Crowley 2018
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Queens Against Crowley 2018
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Friday, March 17, 2017
#Fast4FOIA - Week 2 Update
#Fast4FOIA Day 18 - YouTube Video
Today is Day 19 of the #Fast4FOIA. I began a liquids-only fast on February 27 to peacefully protest how the U.S. Department of Justice violates the Freedom of Information Act. This fast is expected to last about 22 days ; it may end sooner, if, before the end of 22 days, the DOJ files its Answer to the Complaint in my FOIA Lawsuit. In January, I filed a lawsuit under FOIA to obtain records of the speeches of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara because no records were ever released in response to my FOIA Request.
If this fast runs for the full 22 days, then I will have exceeded the longest fast undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi. There were two fasts, which Gandhi undertook, which were tied for the longest at 21 days.
I am posting daily reports on the #Fast4FOIA blog and posting daily videos on the #Fast4FOIA YouTube Channel. I am providing direct links to select vidoes, where you can see the progression of my weight loss on this liquids-only fast.
#Fast4FOIA - Week 2 UpdateHere is a list of my YouTube videos :
I have experienced severe hunger pains at different points in this fast, but I have remained faithful to my liquids-only regimen. Everything I have consumed is documented on the #Fast4FOIA blog. (I am only consuming coffee, sometimes iced tea spiked with extra lemon or lime juice, low-calorie Gatorade for minerals, Campbell's chicken broth soup, and prune juice to induce bowel movements. I can see myself reaching Day 22 of this fast, if it is necessary. All of this, because the DOJ believes it can violate FOIA without any consequences. I can't believe I'm writing this, but it looks like I should make it to Day 22, and, if so, I will have outlasted U.S. Attorney Bharara.* I have the utmost respect for the Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the public corruption unit, but I cannot accept that the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is so celebrated for fighting corruption, can violate FOIA so openly. * In my last newsletter, I complained that there was an apparent conflict of interest in U.S. Attorney Bharara overseeing this FOIA Lawsuit. I had applied for permission to file a letter motion, requesting his recusal. Now, because U.S. Attorney Bharara was removed from office by President Trump, I don't have to make such a filing. This lawsuit is not going to go forward like the DOJ thinks. It already isn't. I'm still looking for pro bono counsel. If anybody would like to volunteer to help me, I would be very grateful. But much more than my own gratitude, all the people filing FOIA Requests with the DOJ would be grateful, because there is a chance here to help bring the DOJ into compliance with FOIA. Louis Flores |
RELATED |
Saturday, March 11, 2017
#Fast4FOIA Day 12 - FOIA Lawsuit over records of speeches of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara
#Fast4FOIA Day 12 - YouTube Video
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The liquids-only fast that Louis Flores is on is expected to last 21 days, but it may end sooner, if the U.S. Department of Justice files it Answer to the Complaint in the lawsuit before the completion of the 21 days. Friday was Day 12 of the #Fast4FOIA started by reporter and activist Louis Flores on 27 February. The fast began as a peaceful protest against the DOJ for its record of violating the Freedom of Information Act. In January, Flores filed a lawsuit under FOIA to obtain records of the speeches of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, because no records were ever released in response to a FOIA Request made by Flores.
The DOJ has a pattern and practise of violating FOIA. News reports have revealed that the DOJ fought to defeat improvements to FOIA under the Obama administration. In prior litigation between Flores and the DOJ, the DOJ admitted that it waits for the makers of FOIA Requests to file lawsuits before the DOJ process FOIA Requests in clear violation of the spirit of FOIA. |
RELATED |
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Dalida's Tintarella di Luna in Las Vegas hotel commercial
The Venetian Las Vegas, a luxury hotel, features "Tintarella di Luna" in its TV ad campaign
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Use of European music continues in American advertising Zambezi, the advertising agency working for The Ventian Las Vegas, has been expanding the broadcast of its novel TV ad campaign for the luxury hotel in Las Vegas. The whimsical ad features the Italian song, "Tintarella di Luna," recorded by pop singer Mina. The song's popularity exploded across Europe in the 1960's after it was covered by French pop icon Dalida, who recorded the song in French, Spanish, and English. Mina's original Italian 1959 version is availabe on YouTube. The use in American TV advertising of European songs from the 1950's to today continues it recent upswing. In 2013, a TV commercial campaign by Google for its Chromecast Web video and music interface for HDTV units used an instrumental version of one of French pop singer Dalida's most successful songs, "La Danse de Zorba," which, in turn, was a cover of Mikis Theodorakis's "Zorbas." Another 2013 major TV commercial for an American product used a hit French song for its soundtrack. Verizon Android Island commercial used "Comment te dire adieu" for its soundtrack. Still yet another 2013 TV commercial, this time for Netflix, used a song, "Hey Now," from one of French pop music's most successful disk jockeys, Martin Solveig. Solveig's hit, recorded in English, shows the broadening appeal of European music in English-speaking cultures. |
RELATED Italian song "Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro" in Heineken commercial (NYC : News & Analysis) Netflix TV commercial uses "Hey Now" by Martin Solveig (NYC : News & Analysis) Chromecast commercial features "La Danse de Zorba" by Dalida (NYC : News & Analysis) |
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Do real estate developers control New York City's land use in the de Blasio administration ?
A lack of democracy in New York City's land use process
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"It's a lie anyway." To some progressive activists, seeing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s land-lease proposal to construct buildings on the property of the New York City Housing Authority following so closely on the sale of several NYCHA Section 8 buildings, with plans for further expansion of land-lease opportunities on NYCHA lands, amounts to a full-throttle assault to privatize large parts of NYCHA, essentially opening the floodgates for private real estate developers to stampede toward a land rush of city real property in exchange for the administration receiving credit for the construction a miniscule number of new affordable housing units. It seems like a huge price to pay for perhaps constructing an initial 500 new affordable housing units within a larger goal of creating 80,000 units over a ten-year span. These and other major city land use decisions are not being made with prior public input, much less without a specific mandate from voters. Although more and more tenants and activists are recognizing Mayor de Blasio’s pro-real estate agenda, what is missing is tenant and activist consensus about what to do about this. Some activists have been fighting the sale of public library branches to real estate developers, thinking that each sale is a singular transaction, independent onto itself, and not part of a larger, pro-real estate agenda by the de Blasio administration. Activists think that if they can just defeat the sale of one library, then the larger cause can be won. Efforts by developers and city planning officials to subject small fights to the arduous ULURP process, while sidestepping larger projects, has the impact of narrowing activists’ focus at the same time that they can be worn down.
As activists look to hold the administration accountable to activists’ expectations for a course for a post-Occupy Wall Street city that was not aligned with big business, there are many issues to consider. Firstly, how do activists plan to educate each other on a complete and accurate picture of how much of the political landscape in the de Blasio administration has been influenced by the real estate industry ? Secondly, will activists reject Mayor de Blasio’s incremental and inadequate remedy to the affordable housing crisis, and, if so, what can the community demand in its place ? And thirdly, what should be done about the veal pen nonprofit groups, which willingly deëscalate calls for political, social, and economic reform, based on the messaging emanating from City Hall ? Other issues undoubtedly also exist, but organizing cannot take shape about where we want to go as a city until everybody first agrees on what is actually happening now. |
RELATED A Special Investigation : A lack of democracy in New York City's land use process (Progress Queens)
Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City. |
Monday, April 20, 2015
Amidst ongoing probe of Senator Dean Skelos and son, Preet Bharara delivering speech on Friday
Preet Bharara to deliver a speech at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
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First public address since reports of Skelos investigation were confirmed U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the nation’s top federal prosecutor in New York’s southern district, is set to deliver a keynote address at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Friday. The address is the highlight of the 2015 Assembly of the Regional Plan Association, an urban research and advocacy organization of academics, real estate developers, financial interests, and other big businesses. The Friday address will be the first public appearance by U.S. Attorney Bharara since a report published by The New York Times confirmed an earlier report broadcast by WNBC Channel 4 News that federal prosecutors were investigating State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) for possible wrong-doing. The report by The New York Times added that Senator Skelos’ son, Adam Skelos, is also allegedly under investigation. Following the shocking arrest of Assemblymember Sheldon Silver (D-Lower East Side) in January on corruption charges, U.S. Attorney Bharara advised voters to “Stay tuned,” to his on-going fight against political and government corruption. One day after Assemblymember Silver’s arrest, U.S. Attorney Bharara delivered a speech at New York Law School, reinforcing his campaign against corruption. Government reform activists are eyeing whether the Friday address may be preceded by any further arrests. |
RELATED
Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City. |
Thursday, April 2, 2015
NY1 report exposes BerlinRosen's conflicts of interest with the de Blasio administration
Who is Jonathan Rosen ?
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NY1 broadcast journalist Grace Rauh pulled back the curtain on the unregistered lobbying firm, BerlinRosen The unregistered lobbying firm BerlinRosen has access to material, nonpublic, inside information about the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio. One of the firm's name partners, Jonathan Rosen, for example, attended 20 private meetings with Mayor de Blasio in 2014. That insider access allows the firm to exploit advantages for its roster of consulting clients, including some of the city's largest real estate developers. |
RELATED Who is Jonathan Rosen? The Most Powerful Man in Politics – Outside City Hall (NY1) |
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
City Council staff using taxpayer resources to post the happy birthday wishes of elected officials
Join us in wishing Speaker @MMViverito a very happy birthday! Wishing you a day full of joy, love & celebration! pic.twitter.com/QS9J9i5gqV
— NYC Council (@NYCCouncil) April 1, 2015Thursday, March 26, 2015
Albany ethics reform proposals ignore warnings of former JCOPE commissioner Ravi Batra
Ravi Batra : Albany makes sacred honor live in a spittoon
As Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-New York) negotiate ethics reforms up in Albany, Ravi Batra, a former JCOPE commissioner, says Albany wrongly refuses to grant ethics regulators the independence they need.
“If it wasn't for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's righteous indignation for being used as a prop to sell the public a farce by Andrew Cuomo, there would be no Shelly Silver indictment or the latest hyperventilated reform proposals by a control-infected Albany,” Mr. Batra told Progress Queens.
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The "Three Men In A Room" in Albany are negotiating ethics reforms in this year's state budget as U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is investigating Albany officials. 
Albany keeps proposing incremental reforms, which have enforcement mechanisms that deliberately lack independence, charges attorney Ravi Batra. |
READ MORE |
Building Collapse In East Village Near Second Avenue and St. Marks Place
Another photo from NYC —> RT @nypmetro: From the scene of the 2nd Ave building collapse http://t.co/uSENEsxT6r pic.twitter.com/vZ5mPRHOq8
— Michael Rusch (@weeddude) March 26, 2015Over 100 FDNY have responded to an apparent explosion of a building in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Fire rescue are trying to remove people, who may be in the buildings damaged by a possible explosion or collapse.
The building, which was has received the principal amount of damage, is located at 125 Second Avenue, according to a NY1 News report.
NYC —> RT @ScottWesterfeld: Whole building is in flames now. pic.twitter.com/ze2TpZF76Z
— Michael Rusch (@weeddude) March 26, 2015Explosion reported in New York's East Village; injuries unknown - @ScottWesterfeld; for more: http://t.co/dXEn6gh2iw pic.twitter.com/qg6f6nR9a9
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) March 26, 2015Two buildings are currently on fire, according to a live news report made by NY1 News journalist Dean Meminger.
So this doesn't look so good. Apparent gas explosion at 2nd Ave and 7th St, New York pic.twitter.com/sWFNgRHKt9
— Niall Stanage (@NiallStanage) March 26, 2015possible #gasleak on Second Ave & 7th Street #LowerEastSide - scary pic.twitter.com/zoHNprzTbP
— CBGB (@cbgbandomfug) March 26, 2015Possible gas leak on 2nd Avenue & 7th street causes explosion #EastVillage pic.twitter.com/gmBCpDmScB
— East Village Eats (@EastVillageEats) March 26, 2015BREAKING NEWS: MAJOR BUILDING COLLAPSE WITH INJURIES IN MANHATTAN. (@jmeyers44) pic.twitter.com/zmbwaEgU0w
— Breaking News Feed (@PzFeed) March 26, 2015Thursday, March 5, 2015
Bill de Blasio's war on public housing
Cash-strapped NYCHA sold apartment buildings that had been recently refurbished
NYCHA claimed that it needed to sell 900 Section 8 apartments, because it could no longer afford to maintain them.
However, a Progress Queens investigation has revealed that four buildings that were sold were recently refurbished by NYCHA, seemingly refuting claims that these buildings were too dilapidated for NYCHA to maintain.
Before NYCHA sold the buildings 1780 and 1782 Madison Avenue in Manhattan to private real estate developers, the city housing agency spent an unknown amount of money making unspecified refurbishing or repairs to the buildings.
Before NYCHA sold the building at 903 Halsey Street in Brooklyn to private real estate developers, the city housing agency spent an unknown amount of money making unspecified refurbishing or repairs to the buildings.
Before NYCHA sold the building at 55 Saratoga Avenue in Brooklyn to private real estate developers, the city housing agency spent an unknown amount of money making unspecified refurbishing or repairs to the buildings.
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Conflicts of Interest : Administration officials were either paid to lobbying in support of the sale of approximately 900 NYCHA Section 8 apartments, or else they had prior relationships with some of the developers. A controversial structured finance transaction originated by the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, to create a special purpose vehicle to offload some Section 8 buildings to private developers is coming into greater view, according to an analysis by Progress Queens. The portfolio of project-based, Section 8 buildings that NYCHA sold to a consortium of private investors named Triborough Preservation LLC included four buildings that had recently been refurbished. The portfolio of buildings that were sold were situated in neighborhoods, where there was a great potential for real estate value appreciation due to recent trends in gentrification, begging the question whether real estate developers had cherry-picked some of the best properties amongst NYCHA's roster of buildings. Two principal de Blasio administration housing officials, Gary Rodney and Vicki Been, have had prior close ties to two of the developers in the consortium, BFC Partners, L.P., and L&M Development Partners, Inc., respectively. A third de Blasio administration official, Jonathan Greenspun, who serves as a commission on the city's Commission on Human Rights, was a lobbyist for BFC Partners, L.P. Administration officials defended the controversial sale by arguing that NYCHA did not have the financial resources to maintain the dilapidated buildings. However, as documented in archival photographs published by Google Street View, four of the buildings had had scaffolding encircling the buildings, with one photograph showing workmen suspended along the front of one building doing exterior construction or repair work. Some government reform activists told Progress Queens that the de Blasio administration disenfranchised taxpayers and NYCHA tenants by sidestepping the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or the ULURP process, when it sanctioned NYCHA’s sale of the properties. According to one source, a lawyer with expertise in city legislation, Section 197-c of the City Charter requires that any disposition of city real property must be made through the ULURP process. City housing officials have suggested that they may seek to sell other NYCHA buildings in order to offload the responsibility of upkeep and maintenance for the buildings, a potential backdoor for for-profit real estate developers to raise the rents on tenants living in public housing. According to a reading of some of the transaction agreements, the city conveyed rights to the consortium of developers to building residential and non-residential units on developable land that was also sold along with the project-based, Section 8 buildings. Officials with NYCHA, City Hall, and the developers, who bought the Section 8 apartments, declined to answer questions about the transaction in time before the publication of Progress Queens report. |
RELATED Cash-strapped NYCHA sold apartment buildings that had been recently refurbished (Progress Queens) Councilmember Torres : A public housing puppet on REBNY's strings (Progress Queens)
Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City. |
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Italian song "Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro" in Heineken commercial
1965 hit in American TV commercial continues use of popular European songs as soundtracks
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Viva la pa-pa-pappa / Col po-po-po-po-po-po-pomodoro The beer brewer Heineken has used an Italian song, "Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro," popularised in 1965 by the singer Rita Pavone as the soundtrack to a cute new commercial. "Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro" was also recorded by the European superstar Dalida. Here is the version of the song, recorded by Rita Pavone, which is used in the Heineken commercial. In 2013, a TV commercial campaign by Google for its Chromecast Web video and music interface for HDTV units used an instrumental version of one of French pop singer Dalida's most successful songs, "La Danse de Zorba," which, in turn, was a cover of Mikis Theodorakis's "Zorbas." Another 2013 major TV commercial for an American product used a hit French song for its soundtrack. Verizon Android Island commercial used "Comment te dire adieu" for its soundtrack. Still yet another 2013 TV commercial, this time for Netflix, used a song, "Hey Now," from one of French pop music's most successful disk jockeys, Martin Solveig. Solveig's hit, recorded in English, shows the broadening appeal of European music in English-speaking cultures. |
RELATED Heineken | The Match, UEFA Champions League Commercial 2015 (YouTube) Dalida. Viva la pappa ! (YouTube) ♫ Rita Pavone ♪ Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro ♫ Video & Audio Restaurati (YouTube) |
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
de Blasio's "Blizzard of the Century" turns out to be, just like the mayor himself, very much a bust
"Historic" blizzard pounds six inches into New York
It was one of the most "historic" blizzard busts in New York City.
74th Roosevelt subway station still closed. Trains running, MTA workers swiping, entering under tape. #BlizzardBust pic.twitter.com/TFfHoQlCns
— Louis Flores (@maslowsneeds) January 27, 2015|
Really, folks, it was just another snow storm. Contrary to the soaring, aspirational rhetoric of Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-New York City), who had proclaimed this week's blizzard as "historic," snow fall totals didn't reach anywhere near expected forecasts of 18 to 24 inches. Only 4 to 6 inches of snow fell on New York City, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-New York). Subways service, which had been shut Monday night, resumed Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. with limited availability.
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RELATED Blizzard a Bust For NYC as Worst Fears Fail to Materialize (NBC News)
Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City. |
Sunday, December 21, 2014
With NYPD seemingly out of control, de Blasio set to end first year presiding over an ungovernable New York City
Mayor de Blasio heads a bi-racial household, yet, in wake of NYPD double homicide, he cannot unify a multi-cultural city
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Two NYPD officers killed in Brooklyn ; suspect reportedly commits suicide ; de Blasio in hot seat Rather than inspire from a place of equality, justice, due process, and the rule of law, Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner William Bratton are resorting to invoking fear to frighten New Yorkers, moving them in a direction of hatred and suspicion. At Saturday night's press conference at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, where the fallen officers were taken and later pronounced dead, in his brief remarks, Mayor de Blasio invoked a sense of fear to motivate New Yorkers into action, saying that, "every New Yorker should feel they, too, were attacked," that "our entire city was attacked," further requesting that New Yorkers should report any information about plans for attacks on police, a sense of fear that NYPD Commissioner William Bratton reaffirmed by saying that New Yorkers should consider this like the Homeland Security alert system, an alarum code that the Bush administration notoriously abused to keep Americans living in fear of terroristic attacks, so that the administration could keep pushing its political goals, as well as its agendas of war and surveillance. The reply messages of violence were further fueled by Patrick Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, or PBA, who Saturday night laid blame for the officers' deaths before Mayor de Blasio and police reform activists. The ratcheting up of inflammatory rhetoric and tensions comes at a time when the de Blasio administration had been trying to fluff its nominal accomplishments in its first year. Activists, who are calling for an end to discrimination, violence, and state-sponsored forms of oppression, are reaching for understanding and unity. However, elected officials and police union leaders remain entrenched in language of fear and suspicion. |
RELATED de Blasio set to end first year presiding over an ungovernable New York City (Progress Queens)
Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City.
Michael Hayes, LMT, has practiced massage for more than 20 years as a licensed massage therapist in New York City. |
