Saturday, April 8, 2017
Friday, April 7, 2017
FCC Chairman Plans Fast-Track Repeal Of Net Neutrality, Sources Say
Ajit Pai
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
is moving quickly to replace the Obama administration’s landmark net
neutrality rules and wants internet service providers to voluntarily
agree to maintain an open internet, three sources briefed on the meeting
said Thursday.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, met on Tuesday with major telecommunications trade groups to discuss his preliminary plan to reverse the rules, the sources said.
The FCC declined to comment but Pai previously said he is committed to ensuring an open internet but feels net neutrality was a mistake.
The rules approved by the FCC under Democratic President Barack Obama in early 2015 prohibited broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a “fast lane”, to certain internet services over others. As part of that change, the FCC reclassified internet service providers much like utilities.
Pai wants to overturn that reclassification, but wants internet providers to voluntarily agree to not obstruct or slow consumer access to web content, two officials said late Tuesday.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Huffington Post
Celebrities Call For Compassion After Trump’s Missile Strike On Syria
By Cole Delbyck
Celebrities took to social media to voice their opinions following President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a direct attack on the Syrian government Thursday night.
According to Trump, the missile strikes were ordered in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on civilians that left at least 100 people dead earlier this week.
“It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump said Thursday from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Everyone from Rosie O’Donnell to Kerry Washington to Patton Oswalt to Lena Dunham weighed in on the military action. Many of them noted the apparent hypocrisy in bombing a country in one stroke and refusing to come to the aid of its refugees in another.
“If you support bombing Syria because they attacked with chemical weapons, but [you] supported banning Syrian refugees, [you’re] a f**kin hypocrite,” actor D.L. Hughley tweeted, referencing Trump’s attempts to enact a travel ban targeting Muslim-majority nations, including Syria.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Huffington Post
Trailblazers in Black History: James Benton Parsons
Additional information is available here.
Source: Wikipedia
Neil Gorsuch Confirmed to Supreme Court After Senate Uses ‘Nuclear Option’
The Senate confirmed judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court Friday
in a mostly party-line 54-45 vote that reflected weeks of bruising
political fighting which deepened congressional divides and changed the
nature of high court appointments in the future.
Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's first major
court nominee, will fill the seat that has been vacant since Justice
Antonin Scalia passed away in February of 2016. He will be officially
sworn in on Monday morning.
Click here for the full article.
Defense Sec Mattis Briefs President Trump on Military Options in Syria
Defense Secretary James Mattis briefed President Donald Trump on
Thursday at Mar-a-Lago on military options against Syrian leader Bashar
al-Assad's regime in the wake of a deadly attack which activists said killed at least 100 people — including 25 children — and injured 400 others earlier this week.
The White House and Pentagon have had detailed
back-and-forth conversations over the past two days about options,
including a National Security Council meeting Wednesday. Mattis and
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster have had repeated contact about
the best way forward in Syria, a U.S. official told NBC News.
Click here for the full article.
Stockholm ‘Terrorist’ Truck Attack Causes Deaths in Crowd: Police
At least two people were killed and many others injured Friday when a
truck was driven into a Stockholm department store in what Sweden's
prime minister said was likely an act of terrorism.
The vehicle plowed into a crowd on the busy
pedestrianized street of Drottninggatan before ramming into the side of
the Ahlens store, the country's security agency said.
Eyewitnesses described panic as smoke from the crash filled the building.
"Everything indicates that this is a terrorist act," Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said.
It would mark the latest in a series of low-tech, vehicle-based terror attacks across Europe over recent years.
Click here for the full article.
Russia Calls U.S. Strike on Syria ‘Act of Aggression’, Suspends Deconfliction Deal
MOSCOW — Russia reacted strongly to America's missile strike on
Syria early Friday, calling it an "act of aggression" and suspending an
agreement that prevents direct conflict between U.S. and Russia forces
in the region.
The launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles was
an "egregious and obvious violation of international law that cannot be
justified," its foreign ministry said in a statement.
It called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting "to discuss" the response.
President Vladimir Putin also believes the
response will further harm relations between Washington and Moscow, his
spokesman Dmitry Peskov told local news agencies.
Click here for the full article.
WISDOM Holds 'Madison Action Day', Petitions Delivered to Governor Scott Walker
Members of EXPO deliver petitions to Walker.
The following was submitted by David Liners, State Director of WISDOM.
Madison Action Day was one of the
largest and best events we have ever had. We are still working through
the evaluations and the reports from the scores of legislative visits that were
made. It is already clear that the day made an impact. While we
don’t know the final outcome of any of the issues we presented, we do know that
our concerns were heard and, apparently, taken seriously by some. More
striking is that participants obviously found great value in interacting with
other WISDOM members, and feeling the power of belonging to such a large and
diverse network of people of faith and good will.
Since Madison Action Day, more than 20 WISDOM members have offered testimony before the Joint Finance Committee in Platteville and West Allis regarding issues that are addressed in the budget. There are still four more opportunities to make your voice heard by those who are working on the state budget for the next two years. The remaining budget hearings are:
Friday, April 7 – Berlin High School (Berlin is sort of near Ripon)
Tuesday, April 18 – Spooner High
School (Spooner is between
Eau Claire and Superior)
Wednesday, April 19 – Ellsworth High
School (Ellsworth is in far west
central Wisconsin)
Friday, April 21 – Marinette High School (northwest of
Green Bay)
The hearings all start at 10 am. If you want to coordinate with other WISDOM people who might be going to the same hearing, call the WISDOM office at 414-831-2070 and we’ll help you connect.
On Madison Action Day, many people were also inspired to be more involved in some of our Issue Workgroups. Here are the times for upcoming conference calls:
Parole and
Compassionate Release
– Saturday, April 8 at 8:30 am
Transit – Monday, April
10 at 7 pm
Solitary
Confinement
– Tuesday, April 11 at 4 pm
Prison
Prevention
(TAD and 17 year-olds) – Tuesday, April 11 at 5 pm
Post-Release
Issues
(Revocations, etc.) – Thursday, April 27 at 7:30 pm
New members are welcome to join the
groups. Just dial in to 712-432-1601, and use the access code 423950#. The
calls all take just an hour. It is a good way to stay up-to-date on the
issues, help fashion the next actions, and stay in touch with the others who
share your values, concerns and hopes.
‘The Bronx Is Here and We’re Here to Stay’—DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake Talks Plans
By
Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake—a
34-year-old veteran of ex-President Barack Obama’s presidential
campaign and White House—might have seemed a longshot when he launched
his bid late last year for one of the Democratic National Committee’s
six vice chair slots, but a month after his victory he proclaimed that
the “Bronx is here and we’re here to stay,” signaling his own return
to the national stage.
Blake and Queens Congresswoman Grace Meng both won their bids in the vote among party insiders held in Atlanta in February—and, combined with new Chairman Tom Perez
and Treasurer Bill Derrough, make four New Yorkers in the national
party organization’s leadership. Rumors abound that Blake is eyeing
Bronx Congressman José Serrano’s seat, despite just two years experience
in Albany—and the DNC post has brought him back to the national scene
from the Bronx for the second time, a decade after he after he
spearheaded on the Obama campaign in Iowa.
Click here for the full article.
Source: Observer (via The Empire Report)
NYPD Supports Making ‘Revenge Porn’ a Crime Under City Council Bill
By Erin Durkin
The NYPD supports making it a crime to spread “revenge porn” — naked
pictures or sexual images that are posted online to get back at an an
ex.
“The Police Department supports the creation of criminal sanctions to
hold perpetrators accountable,” NYPD legislative affairs director Oleg
Chernyavsky testified at a City Council hearing on a bill that would
make revenge porn a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
It’s already illegal in New York state to secretly record sexual
encounters — but it’s not a crime if explicit snaps are voluntarily
shared with someone who later makes them public without the subject’s
consent.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The New York Daily News (via The Empire Report)
Lester Shulklapper, Noted Lobbyist, and Civil Rights Lawyer Robert Isseks Have Died
Two attorneys who left their marks in very different ways on New York state government and public policy, lobbyist Lester Shulklapper and civil rights lawyer Robert Isseks, have died.
Shulklapper died Sunday at the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was 82.
Isseks died Monday in Middletown. He was 65.
Shulklapper
rose to prominence among Albany lobbyists at a time when their industry
expanded exponentially, with spending on lobbying state government and
the Legislature increasing to $243.1 million in 2015 from $5.7 million
in 1978, according to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics. His
clients at the leading lobbying firms of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker and at Shulklapper & Vacek included, at varying times in the 1970s through the 2000s, the New York Bankers Association, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the Healthcare Association of New York State, Consolidated Edison, Morgan Stanley and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Click here for the full article.
Source: New York Law Journal (via The Empire Report)
2017's Academic Rankings of New York's Top Public Colleges
Business First released their 2017 rankings of the top public
colleges in the nation. This year the top spot went to the University of
Michigan, followed by the state universities of North Carolina and
California. Read the full report here.
In the slideshow above, find out where New York's four-year public colleges rank in the national top 250.
499 colleges were analyzed based on 22 factors, including but not
limited to admission rate, average annual cost of tuition, gender
balance of student body and faculty, and earnings after six years. See the full explanation of the methodology here.
Source: timesunion.com (via The Empire Report)
Albany Is All "Dysfunction And Chaos," Just How Gov. Cuomo Likes It
Throughout Wednesday,
details about a supposed budget deal between Governor Cuomo, Senate
Republicans, and Assembly Democrats started to emerge that seemed not
only odd, but incredibly unrealistic. The massive 421-a tax break for developers, which expired last January, would now be tied to city rent regulations, meaning that if the $800 million a year
in developer subsidies were ever removed, the city of New York would be
thrown into free market chaos as regulated tenants saw their rents
skyrocket. Charter schools would now see a massive increase in funding at a time when public schools were scrambling for funds. Raise The Age was being watered down to a point beyond recognition. And funding for indigent legal services was now something that Cuomo wanted to revisit, after he vetoed it last year.
In
fact, Cuomo kept bringing up more and more issues with the budget in
the supposed final hours of negotiations. By the end of Wednesday,
lawmakers threw up their hands, and many left town wondering what the
hell just happened.
Announcing the BJHI Speakers Bureau
The following statement was submitted by the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative.
BJHI
is proud to present its Speakers Bureau with selected topics by BJHI
Board members. Our speakers represent a broad spectrum of Brooklyn
Jewish history and reflect variety of subjects. Our speakers are highly
qualified and represent a broad spectrum of Brooklyn Jewish life.
Subjects include humor, sports, history, popular culture, art and literature, as well as synagogue architecture. Each speaker would be happy to speak to potential venues and work out particular details and subjects.
Click here to view the subjects our speakers are available to discuss.
To get involved or be considered for the Speakers Bureau, please email info@brooklynjewish.org.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Relatives of the Men Who Endured the Syphilis Study Speak Out
It has been 45 years since the nation learned
that more than 600 African-American men from rural Alabama were
experimented on without their consent, and left untreated in a notorious
federally funded syphilis study.
The participants in the "U.S. Public Health Study of Untreated Syphilis in Negro Males in Macon County, Ala.,"
have all since died. Ernest Hendon, who passed away in January 2004,
was the last survivor. But this week, in the town where these husbands,
fathers, brothers, and great-great grandfathers were recruited, they
lived again through a great crowd of witnesses who gathered to tell
stories.
The lives and fate of these men are now
well-known through countless books and movies. And every first-year
medical student learns about the syphilis study conducted from 1932 to
1972, in which a group of black men, some with syphilis, were given a
placebo treatment and monitored while their health declined.
But few, if any of the descendants have found their way into the history books.
Click here for the full article.
Oval Office Chat: Shinzo Abe
President Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to
discuss regional matters of concern, particularly North Korea’s launch
of a ballistic missile
yesterday. The President emphasized that the United States stands with
its allies Japan and South Korea in the face of the serious threat that
North Korea continues to pose.
The President also made clear that the
United States will continue to strengthen its
ability to deter and defend itself and its allies with the full range
of its military capabilities.
President Trump and Prime Minister Abe
agreed to stay in close communication to enhance cooperation on North
Korea and other regional issues of mutual interest.
Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary
Westchester County Residents, Executives at War Over Indian Point Nuclear Plant Closing
The closing of the controversial Indian
Point nuclear plant has created a deepening rift between Peekskill residents
and executives.
Set to shutdown in 2021, opponents of
the plant say it's an environmental and health disaster waiting to happen.
Supporters say it's providing jobs and badly needed money for local businesses
and schools.
Click here for the full article.