"DEMOGRAPHY is destiny, or so the saying goes, but Latinos are learning this political season that destiny can take detours.
As their population in the United States surged from 35 million in 2000
to nearly 57 million, Latinos became the subjects of a feel-good
political story that bathed a marginalized minority in the glow of
demographic triumphalism. Acting as a cohesive political force, Latinos
were supposed to power Democratic majorities for decades and enshrine
the welcoming immigration policies they overwhelmingly favor.
Instead,
the 2016 campaign is showing how viscerally the paranoia of a majority
can take aim at those gaining ground. Rather than a moment of triumph,
this could be the year of the Latino eclipse".
Bernie Sanders with
voters at an elementary school in Knoxville, Iowa, in December. A
victory in the state's caucuses is crucial to his candidacy.Credit
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
The Bernie Sanders campaign has assembled an
extensive ground operation for the crucial Feb. 1 caucuses, with 100
paid staff members and volunteer leaders.
Assemblyman Blake Voted for 421-a Which A
Developer Client of his New Lobbying Firm Needs to Build Luxury Towers
Against the Community Wishes
Bronx Lawmaker Joining National PR Consulting Firm (bronxchronicle) South Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake Joins Hilltop Public Solutions The
political establishment in the Bronx and Albany is agog at journalist
Mike Allen’s POLITICO Playbook item reporting that South Bronx
Assemblyman Michael Blake is joining Hilltop Public Solutions. * Bronx pol announces side job on same day as Skelos conviction (NYP)
Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake announced Friday that he’s taking a job
as a political consultant — without leaving office. The first-term
Democrat’s hiring at Hilltop Public Solutions comes amid calls for a ban
on such outside income following the convictions of ex-Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver and ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. The
state Legislative Ethics Commission approved the job, concluding that
it would not conflict with his legislative duties. Michael Benjamin, who
preceded Blake in the same Assembly seat from 2003 to 2010, criticized
the arrangement. “This isn’t appropriate given the climate we’re in,” he
said. “Not everything that is legal is appropriate for a sitting
lawmaker.”
Alarm raised about ‘dark money’ in de Blasio’s LICH -Fortis letter (Brooklyn Eagle) The
backlash continues against a letter sent out by a de Blasio lobbying
group supporting the sale of Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital
(LICH) to a developer. The controversial June 26 letter touts the
“stand-alone ER” that will be replacing the historic hospital. Although
it was signed by Carroll Gardens’ resident Gary Reilly, the letter was
mailed from the headquarters of de Blasio lobbyists operating under the
name “The Campaign for One New York.” In the letter, Reilly says, “I was
asked by Mayor de Blasio to share my views on what [the sale of LICH]
means for families in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights,
Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and Red Hook.” The outcome, Reilly
writes, “. . . is a lot better than we had reason to think one year
ago.”
With SUNY selling the hospital complex to developer Fortis
Property Group, “We will have a freestanding, high quality emergency
room, with up to 20 observational beds.” The letter has evoked a storm
of criticism from residents of these neighborhoods who fought for more
than a year to save the hospital, and who supported de Blasio in his
campaign for mayor largely based on his promise to save LICH. That
promise was seemingly forgotten after the election, however. In its
statement, the BHA disputes the letter’s claim that a “stand-alone ER”
could replace the 156-year-old hospital. After consulting area doctors,
BHA found that patients with serious conditions would have to be
transported to other hospitals to be treated. “When seconds count,
we’ll be out of luck,” their statement reads. BHA lists some of the
conditions that will not be able to be treated at the Fortis ER,
including, “acute heart attack or cardiac arrest, acute stroke, most
pediatric emergencies, massive gastrointestinal bleed, pulmonary
embolism, appendicitis, overwhelming infection leading to acute shock,
high-risk pregnancy with bleeding, or other major traumas, including car
accidents.” (See full letter below this article.)
The Campaign for One New York is led by Bill Hyers, de Blasio’s
campaign manager. Its treasurer, Ross Offinger, is the mayor’s former
campaign finance director. De Blasio’s former campaign consultant
Stephanie Yazgi serves as its secretary. This means that the same team
that crafted de Blasio’s election campaign -- and his pre-election
message that closing LICH would plunge Brooklyn into a health crisis –
has created his post-election message that LICH’s sale and development
is good news. Hyers, who joined the powerful public affairs and
political consulting firm Hilltop Public Solutions in December, operates
out of its New York City office at 32 Court Street in Downtown
Brooklyn. The Campaign for One New York also operates out of 32 Court
Street. Dr. Arnold Licht, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at
LICH for 25 years, said in a letter addressed to Reilly, “I would hope
that you are medically naïve and thus led astray by your ‘experts.’ The
alternative is that you are simply a toady for the de Blasio camp and
the Mayor’s abandoning LICH to the big money real estate interests.
Perhaps you know what the Mayor will get himself arrested for in his
next campaign as LICH won’t be around for him to use next time.” Dr.
Toomas Sorra, a member of Concerned Physicians for LICH, told the
Brooklyn Eagle, “The Reilly letter seems to be a blatant attempt by
Mayor de Blasio to justify his desertion of LICH. The Fortis ER will not
provide the backup necessary for any acute emergency, whether that be
cardiac, major trauma, surgical, obstetrical or otherwise. If you have
suspected appendicitis, have vaginal bleeding and are 30 weeks pregnant,
have major rectal bleeding or any other similar problem, the message
is: Don't go to Fortis ER if you have anything serious!”
Media and Good Govt Groups Cover Up How Lobbyists Were at the Center Of Corruption In Both Silver and Skelos Convictions
Lobbyist Cites Unease Over Payments to Sheldon Silver (NYT)
The meeting at the State Capitol in Albany took place nearly four years
ago, but Richard Runes, a lobbyist who oversees government relations
for Glenwood Management, a major real estate developer in New York,
recalled his unease at what he had discussed with Sheldon Silver,
then the speaker of the Assembly. The two men had spoken about an
agreement between Mr. Silver and Glenwood, in which Mr. Silver received
undisclosed payments from a law firm to which Mr. Silver had allegedly
pushed Glenwood to refer some of its tax business. Mr. Runes, testifying
on Monday in Mr. Silver’s federal corruption trial in Manhattan, said
he felt “shock and surprise” at the news of the payments. Mr. Runes’s
testimony, which began on Friday, is part of the second prong of the
government’s case, in which prosecutors say Mr. Silver received about
$700,000 in illegal payments from the law firm Goldberg & Iryami
in return for having referred it certain tax business from Glenwood and
a second developer, the Witkoff Group.
For Months True News Has Been Reporting the Interlocking-Directorates of the Corrupt Shadow Govt That Controls NY
On Friday, another Glenwood lobbyist, Brian Meara, testified that while vacationing in Florida in 2011, he received a call from
Mr. Silver, who mentioned how he might need to file new forms
disclosing certain fees he had received. Mr. Meara said he was
“surprised and concerned” and called either Mr. Runes or Charles C.
Dorego, a Glenwood executive. Mr. Runes testified that he spoke with
Glenwood’s owner, Leonard Litwin, and Mr. Dorego. Yet Mr. Runes said he
remained “uncomfortable with the arrangement,” and did not discuss it
with anyone else. “It was too hot,” he said. Ultimately, Mr. Silver’s
fee-sharing arrangement was described in a side letter that the speaker
signed, but it was omitted from the retainer agreement between Glenwood
and the law firm. Mr. Runes, asked by the judge, Valerie E. Caproni,
what he thought was being accomplished by putting the agreement in a
separate letter, said he believed that retainer documents were filed
publicly, “whereas the side letter would not be.” * Albany lobbyist
Richard Rune said he felt uneasy over payments to then-Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver for referring tax business to a firm and for outlining
related terms outside of the main retainer, The New York Times reports:
On Sunday, President Obama is expected to address
the nation on the broad threat of terrorism, while providing updates on
the investigation into the attack in San Bernardino, Calif.
Melissa Smith prayed Friday at a memorial to victims of the attack in San Bernardino, which is being investigated as terrorism.Credit
Chris Carlson/Associated Press
No wonder Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin look so good. A Berkeley biologist just released a study that says Puerto Rican’s are closest to the perfect genetic specimen. Puerto Rican WOMEN to be exact. Lior Pachter is a computational biologist in genomics at Berkeley. He recently published an article researching which genes would represent the “perfect physical specimen”. Here’s what he had to say: The nearest neighbor to the “perfect human” is HG00737, a female
who is Puerto Rican. One might imagine that such a person already
existed, maybe Yuiza, the only female Taino Cacique (chief) in Puerto Rico’s history.
The fact that the “perfect human” is Puerto Rican makes a lot of
sense. The best genes are spread throughout the world, and Puerto Ricans
have a diverse background. In a study,
Puerto Rican women born on the island but living in the United States
were shown to be 53.3% European, 29.1% West African, and 17.6% Native
American. That diversity means Puerto Ricans have inherited all the best
genes from those races, and more. Click here to share on Facebook!
et’s not mince words: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist.
Some will think this an outrageous label to apply to
the frontrunner for a major party’s presidential nomination. Ordinarily,
I would agree that name-calling is part of what’s wrong with our
politics.
But there is a greater imperative not to be silent in
the face of demagoguery. Trump in this campaign has gone after African
Americans, immigrants, Latinos, Asians, women, Muslims and now the
disabled. His pattern brings to mind the famous words of Martin
Neimoller, the pastor and concentration camp survivor (“First they came
for the socialists…”) that Ohio Gov. John Kasich adroitly used in a
video last week attacking Trump’s hateful broadsides.
It might be possible to explain away any one of
Trump’s outrages as a mistake or a misunderstanding. But at some point
you’re not merely saying things that could be construed as bigoted: You
are a bigot.
It has been more than a quarter century since Trump
took out ads in New York newspapers calling for the death penalty for
“criminals of every age” after five black and Latino teens were
implicated in the Central Park jogger case. The young men, convicted and
imprisoned, were later cleared by DNA evidence and the confession of a
serial rapist – and Trump called their wrongful-conviction settlement a
“disgrace.”
Since then, Trump led the “birther” movement
challenging President Obama’s standing as a natural-born American; used
various vulgar expressions to refer to women; spoke of Mexico sending
rapists and other criminals across the border; called for rounding up
and deporting 11 million illegal immigrants; had high-profile spats with
prominent Latino journalists and news outlets; mocked Asian accents;
let stand a charge made in his presence that Obama is a Muslim and that
Muslims are a “problem” in America; embraced the notion of forcing
Muslims to register in a database; falsely claimed thousands of Muslims
celebrated the 9/11 attacks in New Jersey; tweeted bogus statistics
asserting that most killings of whites are done by blacks; approved of
the roughing up of a black demonstrator at one of his events; and
publicly mocked the movements of New York Times (and former Washington
Post) journalist Serge Kovaleski, who has a chronic condition limiting
mobility.
He hasn’t gone after Jews recently, but his backers
have, and Trump was uncharacteristically silent when prominent booster
Ann Coulter, responding to Republican candidates’ support for Israel in a
debate, tweeted: “How many f---ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?”
Though all Trump supporters surely aren’t racists or
bigots, even a cursory examination of social media reveals that many
are. Those supporting Trump tend to be white, less-educated and
middle-aged and older – those who are anxious and angry because they are
losing ground as the American economy changes. An analysis of the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll
by my colleague Scott Clement found that Trump, who has the support of
14 percent of registered voters overall, does particularly well among
white men who aren’t college-educated (24 percent) and white,
non-evangelical Protestants (27 percent), but gets only 3 percent of
non-whites and 5 percent of those under 30 years old.
This doesn’t mean Republicans or conservatives
generally are bigoted. I wouldn’t label any other candidate in the GOP
field that way (though Carson’s remarks disqualifying Muslims from the
presidency crossed the line) and Trump, though leading in the polls,
lacks the support of most. Thirty-two percent of Republicans supported
Trump in the latest Post poll, which means 86 percent of the overall
American electorate hasn’t embraced him.
Trump’s rivals for the nomination are slowly and
haltingly finding the courage to call the man what he is. Chris Christie
on Monday criticized Trump’s treatment of Kovaleski. John Kasich, after
last week’s Neimoller video, issued an ad Monday showing Trump’s
mockery of Kovaleski’s disability and saying Trump isn’t “worthy” of the
presidency.
Some Trump defenders claim the candidate isn’t racist
but simply “careless and undisciplined,” as John Hinderaker of the
conservative website PowerLine put it. When I called in last week to a
radio show Hinderaker hosted, he defended the treatment of the black man
at Trump’s rally (“he was obviously being disruptive and he was a big
burly guy”), Trump’s tweet falsely blaming African Americans for most
killings of white people (“he just fell for some bad data”) and Trump’s
embrace of a Muslim database (“that was brought up by a reporter”).
I argued that the large number of instances over an extended period add up to a pattern of bigotry.
“We’d be at it a long time if we go back through history,” the host said.
Exactly. Shouldn’t Republicans take that time before they nominate a racist?
A Human Resources Administration supervisor working out of Jamaica,
Queens was arrested yesterday on charges that she facilitated a bulk
purchase of Red Bull at BJ's Wholesale Club using $120,000 in fraudulent
SNAP benefits, only to resell the energy drinks at local grocery stores
for a profit.
Eleven co-conspirators were arrested along with Cherrise
Watson-Jackson, 44, who allegedly received kickbacks for various other
schemes, totaling about $1.5 million in stolen government funds between
2012 and 2013. According to the Department of Investigation,
Watson-Jackson enlisted recruiters to convince Brooklyn and Queens
residents on public assistance to trade in their EBT cards for cash. The
EBT cards were then used to issue fraudulent Supplemental Nutritional
Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Thirty-five-year-old Corey Brock was charged with receiving about
$8,560 on his EBT card between October 2012 and November 2013, thanks to
Watson-Jackson. Isaac Allen, 39, of Brooklyn has been accused of
receiving about $9,444 between June 2012 and October 2013.
"During a season when we are reminded about hunger's prevalence,
these defendants are charged with shamelessly stealing the funds that
assist in feeding that basic need," said DOI Commissioner Mark Peters.
In a separate scheme, Watson-Jackson allegedly corralled a small group of New Yorkers to pose as landlords.
Watson-Jackson has been accused of registering each of them, and
proceeded to issue them rental subsidy payments. Her "associates" then
accompanied the fake landlords to cash-checking business like
Pay-O-Matic, where they redeemed cash. Prosecutors say one Maurice
Cromwell of Staten Island cashed 83 rental checks under other
peoples' names, worth about $72,560. Vernecka Petersen-Fowler of
Brooklyn cashed or deposited 43 rent checks totaling more than $31,000, a
portion of which was transferred to her personal bank account, and
subsequently over to Watson-Jackson.
Yesterday's arrests were the culmination of a joint investigation [PDF]
by the DOI, the US Attorney's Office, the FBI, and the New York State
Office of the Inspector General. Authorities also arrested 51-year-old
Petrolina Peralta, a former HRA employee, for allegedly processing
$600,000 in cash assistance benefits between 2008 and 2011 for about 140
ineligible recipients.
"Unfortunately, a very small number of our 14,000 employees used
their positions at our agency to steal the benefits of others," said HRA
Chairman Steven Banks in a statement. "HRA found and referred all of
these cases to the DOI after discovering them through internal
anti-fraud measures."
Watson-Jackson, who had been working for the city since 1993, was
making $63,241 annually at the time of her arrest. She has been charged
with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and could face up
to 20 years in prison.
In June, another HRA employee was arrested for allegedly doling out $250,000 worth of food stamps, for kickbacks between $100 and $200 per transfer.
The
article below is satire. Andy Borowitz is an American comedian and New
York Times-bestselling author who satirizes the news for his column,
"The Borowitz Report."
ormer
Florida Governor Jeb Bush announced that he was dropping out of the
race for the Republican Presidential nomination, while standing in front
of a “Mission Accomplished” banner draped over the façade of his
campaign headquarters, in Miami.
Speaking to his remaining staff members who were
seated in a dozen folding chairs, Bush thanked them for the hard work
that led to the triumphant completion of their mission.
“Our work is done,” Bush said. “Thanks to you, we have prevailed.”
While acknowledging that he took pride in the
impressive success of his campaign, Bush stressed that victory did not
belong to him alone. “This is a great day for America,” he said.
Upon the conclusion of his remarks, Bush bade farewell
to his staffers with a military-style salute before stepping into a
waiting helicopter and ascending to the skies.
Minutes after Bush flew away, however, reporters asked
senior Bush staffers to define more clearly the mission that Bush had
deemed accomplished.
“We feel really good about the work we did, our ground
game, getting the word out about Jeb’s accomplishments as a
conservative Governor in Florida,” said Bush’s campaign manager, Danny
Diaz, who added, “Please, just leave me alone.”
The
article below is satire. Andy Borowitz is an American comedian and New
York Times-bestselling author who satirizes the news for his column,
"The Borowitz Report."
n
the biggest free-agency acquisition of the 2016 Presidential contest,
the billionaire investor Paul Singer has acquired Florida senator Marco
Rubio for a rumored eight-figure sum, pending a physical.
Just hours after the deal was inked, Rubio was flown
by private jet to Singer’s training facility in East Hampton, where the
senator will submit to a series of gruelling drills before the deal is
finalized.
“We are making a four-year deal with Marco, with an
option for another four,” an associate of Singer’s said. “We like what
we’ve seen of him on tape, but we want to be sure that he has what it
takes to go the distance.”
According to those familiar with Singer’s physical
workouts for political candidates, Rubio will submit to a number of
demanding tests, in which the billionaire will bark commands and the
senator will be measured for his reaction times and accuracy.
“You have to be in peak condition for these workouts,” the associate said. “Jeb got totally winded.”
Arriving at Singer’s training camp, Rubio said he was “excited and honored” to be a part of the Singer organization.
“I talked to a lot of other billionaires,” he told
reporters. “Sheldon Adelson, and the Koch brothers, of course. But at
the end of the day Mr. Singer’s scheme was the best fit. I’m looking
forward to earning every dollar he paid for me.”
Right
now the school-to-prison pipeline is one of the biggest issues facing
our youth, especially Black, Latino, LGBTQ, and students with
disabilities. Suspensions mean lost schooling for children and increased
dropout rates, something that parents, researchers, and the Obama
Administration have acknowledged directly fuel the school-to-prison
pipeline.
This is why we’re firm in
our support for Fatima Geidi, a mother who has started this petition
“Tell the U.S. Department of Education to Stop Funding the Kindergarten
to Prison Pipeline.” She’s bravely started this petition in order to
bring necessary attention to the "zero tolerance" disciplinary codes
that many charter schools practice nationwide, and that her own child
suffered the brunt of in New York City’s Success Academy Charter
Network.
Eva Moskowitz, the CEO of
the Success Academy Charter Schools, has become the nation’s most
outspoken champions of suspending students. Bragging on suspending
5-year-olds, and claiming that it is best to "start them young," she was
recently exposed for having a “Got to Go” list of students one of her
schools deemed unfit. These students were repeatedly suspended until
parents felt forced to remove them. Just last year one of her schools
issued 44 out-of-school suspensions to just 203 kindergarteners and
first graders. Her aggressive suspension policies criminalizes Black and
Latino students.
If the Federal Government
wants to stop the school-to-prison pipeline, it should take back the
$13.4 million it budgeted for Success Academy this year alone.
In solidarity, Zakiyah Ansari Advocacy Director of the Alliance for Quality Education
Ben Carson. (photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty)
Carson Plummets in Polls Amid Reports He Did Not Stab Anyone
By Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
06 November 15
The
article below is satire. Andy Borowitz is an American comedian and New
York Times-bestselling author who satirizes the news for his column,
"The Borowitz Report."
ew
reports indicating that Ben Carson might not have actually stabbed
anyone during his youth have sent the retired neurosurgeon plummeting in
the latest Republican Presidential polls.
Carson supporters, reeling from the news that their
candidate’s past might have been devoid of stabbing, have deserted his
candidacy in droves, suggesting that Republican voters viewed Carson’s
stabbing as a key part of his résumé.
Indeed, a recent University of Minnesota poll showed
that a full third of Carson supporters singled out “his stabbing
experience” as a top reason for supporting him for the nation’s highest
office.
In Iowa, where Carson was the front-runner before the
non-stabbing bombshell hit, voters like Carol Foyler, of Des Moines,
expressed dismay and disillusionment that the retired doctor might have
fabricated his stabbing exploits to make himself more appealing to
Republican voters.
“I was on the fence about Ben Carson, but the stabbing thing really won me over,” she said. “Now, I don’t know what to think.”
et’s not mince words: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist.
ormer
Florida Governor Jeb Bush announced that he was dropping out of the
race for the Republican Presidential nomination, while standing in front
of a “Mission Accomplished” banner draped over the façade of his
campaign headquarters, in Miami.
n
the biggest free-agency acquisition of the 2016 Presidential contest,
the billionaire investor Paul Singer has acquired Florida senator Marco
Rubio for a rumored eight-figure sum, pending a physical.
ew
reports indicating that Ben Carson might not have actually stabbed
anyone during his youth have sent the retired neurosurgeon plummeting in
the latest Republican Presidential polls.