“If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people— including me— would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.“ —Hunter S. Thompson
Those of you who have an involvement in the dangerous game of politics, it may be of interest to know who’s telling the truth these days, and, whether the articles we read are real or imagined disinformation, emanating directly out of a governmental PR department. No genuine journalist would ever rely on such a source for the truth. As publisher of the SoHo Journal, through personal experience, take it from me that it is possible to become a political target for simply writing about the truth. And the mainstream media and writers eat their own for sales— as well as take orders from their masters— corporate, financial and political masters. Always pay attention to the agenda. Read between the lines. That is the basis of real reporting and political comprehension. Not the rehashing of a press release. OWS had a handle on this reality as well.
Pay attention to the current daily blog written by Gary Tilzer. His True News is one of the few remaining sources for political investigative reporting. His fearless reporting of the truth in political circles is worth noting. His web address is http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/.
Tilzer is a political consultant, writer and blogger whose articles have appeared in the New York Sun, the Village Voice as well as his own blog True News. Tilzer's blog is heavy on muck- breaking, investigative stories as well offering analysis and the breaking news of the day. True News has broken stories about corruption involving both the Brooklyn and Queens county leaders and other officials that that have been picked up by the city’s old media including the New York Times. Tilzer was nominated by the Village Voice for an investigative series of articles about landlords that used block busting to qualify for federal housing grants called the “Lords of Flatbush.” As a political consultant has specialized in taking on incumbents and the political machine. He is the only one in over 100 years to elect a Surrogate Judge in Brooklyn against the party bosses -- which he has done twice -- 2005 Margarita Lopez Torres and in 2007 Diana Johnson. Tilzer also ran the campaign for the first Orthodox woman to the City Council, the first Sephardic woman and the first Asian-American to the Assembly.
ELECTED OFFICIALS VIOLATE THEIR REDISTRICTING PLEDGE
Elected officials have united--in an ironic display of bipartisanship--in their shared goal of closing the electoral process to the citizenry at large. In an effort to insure that meaningful competition remains absent from electoral politics, the district lines for state senate and assembly districts have been drawn without any regard to the needs of the voters.
Eager to gain the title of good-government officials, candidates in the last election signed onto former NYC Mayor Ed Koch's "Heroes of Reform" movement and sincerely pledged to support nonpartisan redistricting. Obviously, the word of an incumbent eager to retain power wasn't worth much.
The proposed redistricting scheme violates the pledge that almost every current state senator and state assembly member made during their 2010 campaign to support independent redistricting. The new lines once again insure that Albany continues its woeful status quo.
Further adding to their insincerity, little notice was given about the timing of hearings at which public comment could be given. Citizens Union, testifying before the State Legislature, stated:
"A deeply flawed process- in which self-interested legislators draw their own
lines- unsurprisingly yields an unacceptable and defective product. ... Communities of interest, political subdivisions, compactness, diversifying the legislature, equally-sized districts- these are mere obstacles to circumvent in the majority parties' quest to retain their stranglehold on the levers of power."
Past efforts to legally, if immorally, rig elections in the Empire State have been highly successful. During the past decade, the re-election rate of state elected officials has been an astronomical 96%, and in one year, it actually reached a disgraceful 100%.
As New York continues to endure an unemployment crisis, the new district lines at least achieve one purpose-they create exactly one extra job. Of course, that will go to a politician. An additional senate district has been instituted-in a state where the per-capita cost of government is already the highest in the nation.
The sad state of New York politics is, of course, not just the result of redistricting.
Over the years, and under a variety of excuses, an entire patchwork of rules and procedures has been grafted onto the body politic. Arcane regulations and onerous red tape hurdles conspire to keep the electoral process largely inaccessible to citizens who wish to participate, but don't have the support of party machinery. During election years, many incumbents abuse their "official" newsletters, as well as their role in handing out member items, to turn these taxpayer-funded programs into thinly veiled campaign assets.
With apologies to Abraham Lincoln, Albany has become a government of the politicians, by the politicians, and for the politicians.
New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, joined by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (far l.), City Councilman Jumaane Williams (c.) and others, calls for a change to the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy during a news conference on the steps of City Hall this afternoon.
The NYPD stopped and questioned a record number of people last year, mostly minority-group members who were not charged with any wrongdoing, newly released numbers show.
There were 684,330 stops in 2011, more than six times the 97,296 stops in 2002, the first year of the Bloomberg administration.
Blacks and Hispanics were the targets of 87% of all stops, while whites were involved in only 9%.
“This is not a problem that impacts New Yorkers equally,” said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Little wonder that to many, policing in New York City is a tale of two cities.”
The NYPD denies it uses racial profiling.
It said officers stop people based on a number of factors, including descriptions provided by crime victims and witnesses.
“Stops save lives,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD’s top spokesman. “Over the past 10 years, there were 5,430 murders in New York City, compared with 11,058 in the decade before Mayor Bloomberg took office.
“That’s a remarkable achievement — 5,628 lives saved — attributable to proactive policing strategies that included stops.”
Browne also said cops recovered 819 guns during those stops — but Lieberman said that doesn’t justify stopping the innocent.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is white, said the issue doesn’t resonate with white New Yorkers, but should be of concern to all races.
In Harlem, where some men sport buttons that read “Stop and Frisk” with a red line through the words, Dominick Sanchez, 20, said he was stopped Monday and questioned about robberies on the block.
“If you’re not white, you’re going to get stopped,” said Sanchez, who is black. “I want to talk back to them, but they threaten you.”
Stanley Jenkins, 33 and black, knows that feeling.
“A lot of times when they do stop and frisk they do so on a hunch,” said Jenkins, who is black. “They say they ‘got a call,’ which is untrue nine out of 10 times.
“It’s embarrassing — especially if you did nothing wrong.”
The New York Police Department stopped and interrogated people 684,330 times in 2011, by far the highest total since the Police Department began collecting data of its troublimg stop-and-frisks since that year, the first year of the Bloomberg administration, when there were only 97, 296 stops, according to NYCLU report.
Kate Taylor notes: “On the last Sunday before a city policy went into effect barring religious services in public schools, leaders of congregations around the city expressed a range of responses, with some taking a pragmatic attitude and others vowing to not give up without a fight.”
Nina Bernstein reports: “New York’s charity care system, partly financed by an 8.95 percent surcharge on hospital bills, is one of the most complicated in the nation, but many states have wrestled with aggressive debt collection by hospitals in recent years. Like New York, several passed laws curbing hospitals’ pursuit of unpaid bills, including Illinois, California and Minnesota. But a new study of New York hospitals’ practices and state records finds that most medical centers are violating the rules without consequences, even as the state government ignores glaring problems in the hospitals’ own reports.”
Colin Moynihan writes: “On Sept. 11, 2001, Police Officer Alonzo Harris rushed to the World Trade Center to try to evacuate people from the burning towers. When the first tower collapsed, he dove beneath a parked car as thick plumes of dust and debris blotted out the sun. Later, he said, he sealed the grit-covered uniform he had worn that day in a plastic bag. On Sunday, police union leaders and elected officials displayed that uniform as they called upon Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to release police medical records to a panel that is studying possible links between cancer and contaminants unleashed by the destruction of the trade center.”
NEW YORK — Jeremy Lin keeps getting better. Better even than Kobe Bryant on Friday night.
Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85.
Buried deep on the bench a little more than a week ago, Lin led the Knicks to their fourth straight win, tying their longest streak of the season. His two free throws with 52 seconds left and some booming "MVP! MVP!" chants stopped the Lakers' final rally and allowed the undrafted Harvard product to pass Carmelo Anthony for the highest-scoring game by a Knicks player this season.
Iman Shumpert added 12 points for the Knicks, who are still without Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. But they have Lin, the point guard that two other teams gave up on in December and didn't get his chance in New York until three other players couldn't do the job.
Bryant finished with 34 points, but he got off to a horrendous start and finished only 11 of 29 from the field. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but All-Star Andrew Bynum was only 1 of 8 for three points with 13 rebounds as the Lakers' nine-game winning streak against the Knicks was snapped.
Five of those wins had come at Madison Square Garden, where fans used to roar for Bryant.
They've got a new favorite now, and who could have ever predicted it'd be Lin?
The most surprising story in the NBA came back into the game with 9:25 left after the Knicks' lead had been trimmed to three. Shumpert hit a jumper and blew by Bryant for a dunk before Lin knocked down a jumper to push the lead to 76-69 with about 8 minutes left.
The lead was still eight before Lin nailed a long jumper, then was wide open after an offensive rebound for a 3-pointer from the wing, making it 84-71 as fans stood and screamed throughout the Lakers' timeout.
Lin followed his 28-point, eight-assist outing Monday in his first career start by scoring 23 points and handing out 10 assists Wednesday against Washington, becoming the first player since LeBron James in 2003 and just the sixth since 1970 to have at least 20 points and eight assists in his first two starts, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau provided by the Knicks.
He became an instant star in New York just as fans were ready to check out basketball after the Giants' Super Bowl run was over, and just when it appeared the Knicks might fall too far behind in the standings to salvage the season.
Some Lin shirts were scattered throughout Madison Square Garden – though Spike Lee was still wearing Landry Fields' No. 2 in his courtside seat. Ratings on MSG network are up since Lin joined the lineup, and the NBA said some of its Asian TV partners have added Knicks games to their broadcast schedules so fans can see the league's first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.
Already drawing comparisons to Tim Tebow for his impact on teammates and the way he speaks of his faith afterward, the hype around him will only grow now after beating one of the league's marquee franchises in his first nationally televised game.
A night after needing overtime to win at Boston, the Lakers had nothing to start the game, and Lin quickly jumped on them. He started 4 of 5 as the Knicks raced to a 13-4 lead, and it grew to 19-8 as Los Angeles missed 12 of its first 13 shots.
Lin's four field goals in the first quarter matched the Lakers' total in 18 attempts (22 percent).
The Lakers cut a 14-point deficit to five late in the half before Lin put the Knicks back in control. He had a turnaround jumper then spun around to leave Derek Fisher behind on his way to a layup, pushing it to 47-38 with 2:44 remaining. It was 49-41 at halftime.
Bryant started 1 of 11 before hitting five of his next six shots. The record holder at the current arena with 61 points, he also grabbed 10 rebounds but got going far too late.
Notes: The Knicks had two points taken off the board in the third quarter when the referees ruled a foul earlier in the period on Metta World Peace shouldn't have counted against the Lakers' team foul total, so the Knicks shouldn't have been in the bonus and shot free throws yet on a later foul. ... Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said Anthony told him he was feeling better and walking without pain. The All-Star forward is expected to be re-evaluated Sunday, but D'Antoni said he doubted Anthony would play Tuesday at Toronto. The Knicks said Anthony was expected to miss a week or two after he was hurt Monday. ... Stoudemire, whose brother died in Florida on Monday, is expected to rejoin the team at practice Monday. ... Fisher made his 400th consecutive start. He has played in 522 straight games, the longest active streak in the league. ... Celebrities on hand included actor Ben Stiller, wrestler and actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Giants Justin Tuck, Brandon Jacobs, Hakeem Nicks and Antrel Rolle.
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 10: Jeremy Lin #17 of the New York Knicks drives against Pau Gasol #16 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden on February 10, 2012 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Chris Chambers/Getty Images)
Argentina has accused Britain of sending nuclear weapons to the disputed Falkland islands, in an ongoing controversy between the two countries.
The South American country took its case to the United Nations (UN) secretary general and UN Security Council on Friday, where Ban Ki-moon, the UN leader, appealed to both sides to avoid an "escalation" of their sovereignty battle.
With both countries about to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, Hector Timerman, Argentina's foreign minister, called the islands "the last refuge of a declining empire".
Timerman said Britain had sent a nuclear submarine, the HMS Dauntless, to the South Atlantic and was "militarising the region" in breach of a 1967 Latin American treaty which bans the presence, pursuit or use of nuclear weapons.
Argentina also denounced the dispatch of Prince William, second in line to the throne, to serve as a rescue helicopter pilot in the area.
Britain, however, says both are routine moves. Mark Lyall Grant, the UK's UN ambassador, said that his country would "robustly" defend the Falklands and that while Britain wanted talks with Argentina, there could be no sovereignty negotiations unless the population wanted it.
Argentina invaded the islands, which it calls the Malvinas, in 1982 and Britain sent a naval force to reclaim the territory. Argentina has since regularly taken its claim to the islands to the UN.
'Absurd claims'
After talks with Timerman, Ban "expressed concern about the increasingly strong exchanges between the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom," said Martin Nesirky, the secretary-general's spokesperson.
"He expressed the hope that the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom will avoid an escalation of this dispute and resolve differences peacefully and through dialogue."
Ban said he was ready to use the UN's "good offices to resolve this dispute" if both sides requested, Nesirky said.
Grant, Britain's UN envoy, would not comment on whether a nuclear submarine was near the Falklands, but he said the claims of militarisation were "rubbish" and "manifestly absurd".
"It is only because Argentina illegally invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982 that we had to increase our defence posture. Nothing has changed in that defence posture in recent months or recent years," Grant said.
"We are not looking to increase the rhetoric. We have not started a war of words," said the ambassador.
"But clearly if there is an attempt to take advantage of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War by Argentina then we will obviously defend our position and defend it robustly."
The Argentine minister called for Britain to discuss sovereignty at negotiations, and attacked Britain's use of military power to control the South Atlantic islands from 14,000km away.
"It is perhaps the last refuge of the declining empire," Timerman said. "It is the last ocean that is controlled from the UK. Britannia rules only applies in the South Atlantic."
Britain has reaffirmed its stance in recent days that there can be no negotiations over the future of the islands unless the 3,000 Falklands inhabitants want it.
Britain has complained about Argentina withdrawing from joint accords on the Falklands.
Age-old dispute
Argentina in December persuaded the Mercosur Latin American trade bloc to stop Falklands-registered ships from entering member ports.
It has stopped charter flights heading for the Falklands from using Argentine airspace.
Diplomats say the tensions can mainly be attributed to the anniversary of the conflict sparked by Argentina's invasion of the islands on April 2, 1982.
Britain sent a task force to retake the territory it has held since at least 1833.
The 74-day war cost the lives of 649 Argentine, 255 British troops and three islanders.
Since the war, the UN General Assembly has passed resolutions calling on Britain and Argentina to negotiate a settlement.
Argentina also presses its claim each year at the UN's Decolonisation Committee.
Your Free Press is proud to publish the following e-mail written by El Diario former Managing Editor, Miguel Alvaro Sarmiento, to former and present employees of El Diario de Nueva York warning them of sale of the "influetial" daily to the Argentian newspaper the NATION. Read Mr. Sarmiento warning and boycott El Diario. Rafael Martínez Alequín
To all:
I am Not a former disgruntled Impermedia employee. I am a currently disappointed El Diario/La Prensa ex employee. El Diario is the oldest Hispanic newspaper in the United States- it will turn 100 years old in 2013) and the second largest.
From 2008 to 2010 I was its Managing Editor. I also worked as Impermedia’s Ombudsman and El Diario’s Interim Editor. I supervised a team of employees who have dedicated the better part of their lives into making El Diario the voice, not only of the Hispanic community in the North East of the United States, but of immigrants, women, gay and lesbians, minorities and blue-collar workers through the nation.
In my stay at El Diario we got a New York Senator to change her stand on Immigration, we got a racist radio talk host suspended from the airwaves and we were the only paper in the United States increasing circulation in the midst of the so called Newspaper crisis- We also won many journalism awards. And, went through the Russian Spy crisis in which the company promised- but never delivered, a review by experts of its editorial policies in response to a WSJ Editorial. This is due to the fact that El Diario’s Publisher vehemently opposed it for personal reasons that I now understand may have lead to her dismissal.
In November of 2010 I left the company. I did so due to a combination of reasons chief among them my health. During the months leading to my resignation I had many disagreements with the company’s new management and the direction they wanted for El Diario as well as their management style.- The Publisher calling for the ‘castration’ of male employees who did not obey women supervisor’s orders and the Vice President of Content calling impatient men ‘Premature Ejaculators” while promising to bring “Truth and Transparency” to the company.
Through 2011, up until today, most of my former employees have been in contact with me and have kept me abreast on what’s going on in the company; and what’s going on at Inpermedia runs directly contrary to what its publications print in its pages each and every day and the ‘Truth and Transparency’ promised by management.
On its pages the company seems to be on the side of the worker - the American employee, but in practice it is exporting good paying jobs abroad and importing high salaried executives and non-union foreign employees in order to bust the Union. What is happening at El Diario not only runs contrary to its original mission, it is hurting its employees, the community it was created to serve and its good will.
Recently the company announced a change of ownership to foreign investor (presumably wealthy people from Argentina looking to park their money here because they are in disagreement with Argentina’s current President. Conditions of the sale transaction presumably dictate that El Diario must begin rounds laying employees off and forcing them to sign an agreement which run contrary to their interests.
I am writing this note with the hope that someone out there will be able to come to aid of this venerable publication, its dedicated employees and the community before is too late.
Imeprmedia is the largest multiplatform Hispanic media company in the country- it owns publications in the six biggest media markets in the United States. El Diario is Impermedia’s flagship and only moneymaking publication and up until last year the only one with a Union (La Opinion formed a Union after most of its staff was laid off).
“Gotham” columnist Michael Powell weighs in on the critical audit of the Port Authority: “…There has been for some time a scandal-foreordained feel to this audit. Mr. Ward is widely hailed as a public infrastructure visionary with an independent mind. That trait can be a character failing in politics. So in October, a Cuomo official appeared to whisper to the New York Post columnist Fredric U. Dicker that the audit had found that Mr. Ward engaged in ‘extravagant overspending.’ This was curious, as the auditing firm had only just commenced its work.”
Blau & Deutsch report: “A veteran jail supervisor will be criminally charged for beating an inmate who had just punched a female correction officer, the Daily News has learned. Veteran Assistant Deputy Warden Edwin Diaz has been asked to turn himself in to authorities Thursday for his role in the attack on inmate Jesus Alejandro on Sept. 24, 2008, a source familiar with the investigation said.”
Parascandola & Fisher write: “Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has ordered a top-to-bottom review of all street level narcotics enforcement procedures after it was revealed that the cop who killed an unarmed Bronx teen had never been properly trained.”
Wills & Gendar note: “Archbishop Timothy Dolan is grabbing the olive branch the Obama administration extended on birth control, saying he’s happy to offer the feds a “graceful exit” from the election-year uproar.”
Ken Lovett writes: “Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s Long Island district is on the chopping block as state leaders begin redrawing congressional boundaries, the Daily News has learned. State Senate and Assembly negotiators are looking at merging McCarthy’s Nassau County district into a Nassau-Queens district now held by fellow Dem Gary Ackerman, sources close to the planning said.”
Pete Donohue reports: “The city plans to make one of Manhattan’s most dangerous corridors safer for pedestrians. The Transportation Department said Wednesday it will shorten 14 crosswalks on Delancey St. between the Bowery and Clinton St. by widening sidewalks and medians.”
First Posted: 02/ 8/2012 9:12 amUpdated: 02/ 8/2012 9:54 am
In a fiery new Special Comment, Keith Olbermann blasted the Susan G. Komen Foundation and its founder and CEO Nancy Brinker on his Current TV show Tuesday night.
According to Olbermann, the Susan G. Komen Foundation remains corrupt under Brinker's leadership despite the resignation of the foundation's controversial vice president of public affairs, Karen Handel.
Olbermann harshly criticized the Komen foundation for it's handling of the recent controversy. He said that Handel decided that the foundation should collaborate in the "witch hunt that the nation's right-wing has directed against Planned Parenthood."
He referred to Komen's reversal of its "new policy" a "spineless convenience by which Komen has still not really committed to continuing its funding of Planned Parenthood, and perhaps more importantly, by which it has not committed to staying out of this dangerous, ideological game, which will kill some freedoms, and which could kill some women."
Olbermann also addressed what he called the "fundraising favor" Komen did for Planned Parenthood. Olbermann said that now the "consciousness has been raised" among people who had since been unaware of how Planned Parenhood was used as a political tool.
"One of the vote-getting machines in this coutnry was zeroing in on Planned Parenthood as the scapegoat for all the evils which that vote-getting machine exaggerates, to whip up paranoia and political power among the easily led of this nation," Olbermann said.
The real issue, Olbermann said, was Komen's "attempt to hide its new partnership" with people Olbermann called the "guttersnipes, purveyors of hate, and fear, and revenge fantasies."
He also said that "all of the dark periods in American history have begun with acts like Komen's and excuses like Komen's." As for Brinker, Olbermann said that she "continues to lie" about the organization's motives and has "dishonored both her sister's memory and this essential cause." Brinker founded the Komen foundation in honor of her sister Susan who died of breast cancer.
Federal prosecutors are trying to shut down several wacky escape routes ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada may try to use to weasel out of corruption charges at his trial next month.
The feds are asking Brooklyn Judge Frederic Block to preclude Espada and his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, from arguing that the case against them is part of a political vendetta.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Pokorny cited in court papers an Aug. 10, 2011, Daily News article in which the former Bronx Democratic political boss accused Gov. Cuomo of having a "personal obsession to take on and dominate my world and my manhood."
The Espadas were indicted on charges of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a nonprofit Bronx health clinic they operated after a joint investigation by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office, then-state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.
If Espada thinks he's the victim of a selective prosecution, he should make that argument to the judge, not a jury, the prosecutor wrote.
Prosecutors are also trying to head off at the pass any claims that Espada's Soundview Healthcare Center never actually purchased his for-profit janitorial company for the agreed-upon sale price of $1.
Pokorny said once Soundview owned the janitorial company, the defendants looted it to pay for extravagant personal expenses like throwing a lavish birthday party for Espada's grandchild, paying a company to repair his credit score, and hiring a ghostwriter to work on a book project.
Espada's lawyers have disclosed in earlier court filings that his accountants approved the use of taxpayer funds for personal items.
Perhaps the most unusual argument prosecutors are seeking to bar is that Soundview board members and employees were negligent for failing to stop Espada and his son from lying and misusing federal funds, the court papers state.
Defense lawyer Susan Necheles did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thousands of fans roared as New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning hoisted the team's Super Bowl trophy from a glittering blue-and-white float Tuesday during a victory parade through New York City. (Feb. 7)
Thomas Kaplan reports: “Lawmakers and labor unions on Monday pointedly criticized a secret decision by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration to greatly expand the state inspector general’s access to tax returns filed by state employees. The State Department of Taxation and Finance signed an agreement last month with the inspector general’s office to allow dozens of people to look at the records, as part of investigations, without needing approval from the tax department or a court.”
John Eligon notes: “The State Senate passed a bill on Monday that would allow churches to continue holding worship services in public schools, but the future of the legislation remained in question as the Assembly speaker expressed skepticism about it.”
David Chen writes: “In a sign that Democrats are eager to reclaim a Congressional seat in New York City, Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman plans to announce on Tuesday that he intends to challenge Representative Bob Turner, a freshman Republican, in the November election.”
An undercover investigation released in December by Mayor Bloomberg’s office named Mormon Church-owned website the third most active gun listings site on the Internet.
The Mormon Church in Salt Lake City owns one of the most active and unregulated gun sale portals on the web, according to a new report.
An undercover investigation released in December by Mayor Bloomberg’s office named KSL.com the third most active gun listings site on the Internet.
The online hub came under scrutiny Monday when the news website Buzzfeed revealed Deseret Media Companies, the for-profit arm of the Mormon Church, operates it.
The mayor’s report said the site — where 1,327 handguns and 1,003 rifles were listed for sale Monday — allows buyers and sellers to complete a gun sale without identifying themselves.
Undercover agents performed “integrity checks” on the site, trying to buy guns while declaring openly that they could not pass a legit background check.
In eight of 12 attempts, the seller happily sold the gun to the shady buyer .
“It’s very easy for websites to take simple steps to make sales safe,” said a spokesman for Bloomberg.
A civil racketeering lawsuit was sealed because documents revealed that one of the principals had a criminal past and had helped prosecutors convict dangerous criminals.
Artist Todd Lockwood's portrait of Stephen Colbert as a 'true American hero.' (photo: toddlockwood.com )
By Dahlia Lithwick, Slate
04 February 12
he Supreme Court has always had its critics. Chief Justice John Marshall had to contend with the temper of President Andrew Jackson ("John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!"). And Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes went toe-to-toe with FDR, who wouldn't let up with the court-packing. But in the history of the Supreme Court, nothing has ever prepared the justices for the public opinion wrecking ball that is Stephen Colbert. The comedian/presidential candidate/super PAC founder has probably done more to undermine public confidence in the court's 2010 Citizens United opinion than anyone, including the dissenters. In this contest, the high court is supremely outmatched.
Citizens United, with an assist from a 1976 decision Buckley v. Valeo, has led to the farce of unlimited corporate election spending, "uncoordinated" super PACs that coordinate with candidates, and a noxious round of attack ads, all of which is protected in the name of free speech. Colbert has been educating Americans about the resulting insanity for months now. His broadside against the court raises important questions about satire and the court, about protecting the dignity of the institution, and the role of modern media in public discourse. Also: The fight between Colbert and the court is so full of ironies, it can make your molars hurt.
When President Obama criticized Citizens United two years ago in his State of the Union address, at least three justices came back at him with pitchforks and shovels. In the end, most court watchers scored it a draw. But when a comedian with a huge national platform started ridiculing the court last summer, the stakes changed completely. This is no pointy-headed deconstruction unspooling on the legal blogs. Colbert has spent the past few months making every part of Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion in Citizen United look utterly ridiculous. And the court, which has no access to cameras (by its own choosing), no press arm, and no discernible comedic powers, has had to stand by and take it on the chin.
It all started when Colbert announced that, as permitted by Citizens United, he planned to form a super PAC ("Making a better tomorrow, tomorrow"). As he explained to his viewers, his hope was that "Colbert Nation could have a voice, in the form of my voice, shouted through a megaphone made of cash ... the American dream. And that dream is simple. That anyone, no matter who they are, if they are determined, if they are willing to work hard enough, someday they could grow up to create a legal entity which could then receive unlimited corporate funds, which could be used to influence our elections."
Then last June, like a winking, eyebrow-wagging Mr. Smith, Colbert went to Washington and testified before the FEC, which granted him permission to launch his super PAC (over the objections of his parent company Viacom) and accept unlimited contributions from his fans so he might sway elections. (He tweeted before his FEC appearance that PAC stands for "Plastic And/Or Cash.") In recent weeks, Colbert has run several truly insane attack ads (including one accusing Mitt Romney of being a serial killer). Then, with perfect comedic pitch, Colbert handed off control of his super PAC to Jon Stewart (lampooning the FEC rules about coordination between "independent PACS" and candidates with a one-page legal document and a Vulcan mind meld). Colbert then managed to throw his support to non-candidate Herman Cain in the South Carolina primary, placing higher on the ballot than Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, and Michele Bachmann.
The line between entertainment and the court blurred even further late last month when Colbert had former Justice John Paul Stevens on his show to discuss his dissent in Citizens United. When a 91-year-old former justice is patiently explaining to a comedian that corporations are not people, it's clear that everything about the majority opinion has been reduced to a punch line.
Colbert took the mainstream by storm in interview after interview that schooled Americans about the insanity of Citizens United and garnered blowback from NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd, who complained that Colbert is "making a mockery of the system" and questioned whether the real agenda was to "educate the public about the dangers of money and politics ... or simply to marginalize the Republican Party?" Then came the un-ironic defenses of the irony of Colbert and the obligatory navel-gazing about whether Colbert is in fact effecting real change or in peril of succumbing to "irony fatigue."
At one level, this is all just comedy, and it's hard to measure whether Colbert's sustained attacks on the court's campaign finance decisions are having any real impact, beyond making us laugh. On the other hand, when the New York Times declares that Colbert's project is deadly serious, and it's just the rest of politics that's preposterous, something more than just theater is happening. I spoke to Trevor Potter, former chairman of the FEC and adviser to John McCain, and the man Colbert has designated his "personal lawyer," about the consequences of Colbert's assault on the campaign finance regime. Potter is very careful not to ascribe an end game to Colbert's efforts but says that he has seen Colbert's campaign finance crusade as an "opportunity to open up to the rest of the world what we lawyers already know: that the whole area of campaign finance is a mess." He adds that Colbert's antics are "having a real effect in terms of public understanding about how the system works" and getting people to start to think about how to fix it.
Potter is also emphatic that the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision is not the sole cause of the problems he sees. (You can thank the media for its bang-up job of suggesting that the court singlehandedly designed super PACs with its decision in CU). Potter says Kennedy's majority opinion is not so much disconnected from reality but, rather, "assumed that the world would work in the way he thought it would." (In Kennedy's fantasy, there would be no chance of corruption, no coordination between PACs and candidates, and full disclosure of corporate contributions.) And had the FEC done its job, had Congress passed better disclosure rules, had shareholders been better able to control corporate activity, the Kennedy decision would have been less monumental. (Potter is quick to point out that the court needn't reverse itself completely for the country to fix the worst problems in the post-CU system.) Still he adds that Citizens United "epitomizes the problem of having a court where no justice has ever run for any office, including dogcatcher."
Of course that's precisely the problem: The institutional aloofness that allowed the Roberts court to pen such a politically naive decision is the same blind spot that precludes them from even understanding, much less responding to, the media criticism. And as professor Lyrissa Lidsky, who teaches law at the University of Florida College of Law, reminded me last weekend, there is amazing language in Justice Kennedy's majority in Citizens United about the need to elevate corporate speech to the same protected status as that enjoyed by the cable news shows. As Kennedy observed, "Speakers have become adept at presenting citizens with sound bites, talking points, and scripted messages that dominate the 24-hour news cycle. Corporations, like individuals, do not have monolithic views."
In other words, (if you can stand the irony) in Citizens United, the Supreme Court empowered Colbert to create a super PAC so he could answer back to, well, folks like Stephen Colbert. The opinion even notes that "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington may be fiction and caricature; but fiction and caricature can be a powerful force." Now, courtesy of Mr. Colbert, no one knows that better than the court itself.
A group of 33 American Muslim, Arab and South Asian civic groups want state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to investigate how the NYPD investigates Muslim communities in the city.
The AP reported today that police began increasing surveillance of "thousands" of Shiite Muslims and their mosques.
In August 2011, the NYPD was believed to be participating in similar actions, targeting roughly 250 mosques, schools and businesses without firm evidence of any offenses.
The groups also have a problem with NYPD officers having been shown "The Third Jihad," which seeks to portray an Islamic world bent on global domination. In their letter to the Attorney General, the organizations said, “Newly released documents showed that the film was played for three months, viewed by almost 1,500 officers, and even more troubling, that its producers conducted a ninety-minute interview with Ray Kelly.”
Though Kelly said he believed his participation in the film to be a mistake, he refused to step down over the issue and believes that the NYPD and Muslim communities interact “very well,” according to WNYC.
The arrests of four East Haven officers resulted from a two-year investigation, but they happened mostly because the area’s most vulnerable residents took a stand.
Garages at 153rd St. and River Ave. near Yankee Stadium have few fans, or customers, and owner has become a tax deadbeat.
THE FIRM that built and manages the new Yankee Stadium parking garages can’t repay $237 million in tax-exempt bonds the Bloomberg administration arranged for it four years ago, new financial records show.
Bronx Parking Development Company LLC is running perilously low on cash reserves and faces a looming default by the end of the year, according to a report filed Friday by a trustee for the firm’s bondholders.
Time is running out, in other words, to avoid one of the biggest failures in decades of bonds issued by a New York City agency.
The simple fact is that Bloomberg and his aides made a costly mistake when they succumbed back in 2005 to the Yankees’ demand for a 9,000-space garage system. It was all part of the deal for the team to build a new stadium in the Bronx.
But Yankees fans have shunned the garages, where gameday self-parking rates soared last year to $35 — up from $23 previously and more than double the original $14 charge. Valet parking now goes for $48.
So many fans are staying away, in part due to the lure of cheaper local competition, that Bronx Parking Development now projects only 3,500 paying customers per game for the upcoming season.
And that occupancy rate — a measly 38% — will exist only on days when the Bronx Bombers take the field. For the rest of the year, the garages will remain a ghost town, since a mere 70 South Bronx residents currently park there each day.
At the same time, Bronx Parking Development has turned into a giant tax deadbeat. The firm, which is not connected to the Yankees, has failed to pay any rent or property taxes, even though the garages sit on 21 acres of leased public land.
It currently owes the city a whopping $25 million.
In a desperate effort to preserve cash, the company plans to slash the salaries of a handful of full-time garage employees and to reduce the number of game-day parking attendants from 76 to 57. But those cuts are unlikely to stave of its collapse.
For the second year in a row, garage revenues will be “insufficient” to cover debt service payments due in April and October, the bondholder trustee said, thus triggering default provisions of the bonds.
The company’s chairman, William Loewenstein, has repeatedly referred all questions about the garages to the city Economic Development Corp., the agency that sponsored Bronx Parking Development’s creation. Two of Bronx Parking Development’s board members, in fact, are officials from the EDC and the Parks Department. Another is a representative of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
“There’s no way this crisis can continue this way into next year,” one board member said.
Diaz has been pressing City Hall to come up with an emergency plan to restructure the bonds, tear down some of the garages, and replace them with low-income housing or even a new hotel.
But four private developers who responded late last year to a request from Diaz for hotel proposals all wanted major city subsidies, one official said.
“We continue to actively assist the (Bronx Parking Development) Board as it evaluates all options,” said EDC spokesman Dave Lombino.
Bloomberg’s aides say the city never pledged to back these bonds, nor did its Industrial Development Agency, the entity that actually issued them. Any loss, they say, will have to be borne by the bondholders.
So, while City Hall keeps washing its hands of any responsibility for this mess, overpriced garages on 21 acres of city land keep producing nothing of value for the public.
Councilmembers Ydanis Rodriguez and Elizabeth S. Crowley along with Brooklyn D.A. Hynes calling for increased penalties for assault again sanitation workers.
Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network and Hazel Dukes of the NAACP, along with various community leaders from across New York, held a rally on the step of City Hall in New York City blasting State Senate Republicans for dividing and disenfranchising minority communities. The called for Governort Cuomo to veto the redistricting product issue by the State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment.
Tilzer is a political consultant, writer and blogger whose articles have appeared in the New York Sun, the Village Voice as well as his own blog True News. Tilzer's blog is heavy on muck- breaking, investigative stories as well offering analysis and the breaking news of the day. True News has broken stories about corruption involving both the Brooklyn and Queens county leaders and other officials that that have been picked up by the city’s old media including the New York Times. Tilzer was nominated by the Village Voice for an investigative series of articles about landlords that used block busting to qualify for federal housing grants called the “Lords of Flatbush.” As a political consultant has specialized in taking on incumbents and the political machine. He is the only one in over 100 years to elect a Surrogate Judge in Brooklyn against the party bosses -- which he has done twice -- 2005 Margarita Lopez Torres and in 2007 Diana Johnson. Tilzer also ran the campaign for the first Orthodox woman to the City Council, the first Sephardic woman and the first Asian-American to the Assembly.
Slide Show: Champagne, Showers and a Double Bed
he Supreme Court has always had its critics. Chief Justice John Marshall had to contend with the temper of 
