Friday, March 8, 2019

Make-A-Wish®: Ethan's 'American Idol' Journey Begins


This report was published on YouTube on March 6. 

Click here to learn more about Ethan Payne and his condition.

Help for New York Farmers: $2.3 Million in Funding Available to Address the Impact of Climate Change


A total of $2.3 million in funding is available through round four of the Climate Resilient Farming grant program for farmers in New York State. The grants will help farms reduce their operational impact on the environment and better prepare for and recover after extreme weather events. 

Since the launch of the program in 2015, a total of $5.1 million has been provided to 40 projects across the state, helping 70 farms implement critical projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote energy savings, mitigate water and soil quality concerns and increase on-farm resiliency to climate change. 

"Extreme weather is the new normal and it is becoming more and more unpredictable each year," Governor Cuomo said. "This funding is vital to helping farmers mitigate the impact of climate change and allows them to take the necessary measures to protect their crops and livestock from damage caused by extreme weather while also helping reduce their environmental footprint." 

Click here for the full announcement. 

Source: The Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo 

Teenage Boys Have Emotional Reaction to Teacher's Homecoming


CBS News: A beloved teacher and coach from Utah was deployed in Afghanistan, and when he surprised his students with his homecoming, a group of teenage boys piled on top of him to give him a bear hug.

Paralyzed Dog Gets Wheelchair


This report was published on YouTube on March 6.

Red Cross Service to Armed Forces - Serving Those Who Serve


This report was published on YouTube on February 11, 2019. 

American Red Cross: The Red Cross helps members of the military, veterans and their families prepare for, cope with, and respond to, the challenges of military service.

International Women’s Day: Who Are the Women Making a Difference in Your Community?


Al Jazeera English: Lina Iris Viktor is a New York-based, London-born artist of Liberian descent who has the touch of gold. Her work uses the powerful contrast and symbolism of black and gold to explore race, gender and themes in African history. Her work is winning accolades, but on her own terms.

Women Who ROCK! (Canada's First Black Female Stunt Coordinator)


Global News: She was in AVP: Alien Vs. Predator, The Incredible Hulk, and Land of the Dead Movie – Stunt coordinator, Angelica Lisk-Hann talks about what it takes to bring action to life on television and movie screens as Canada's first black female stunt coordinator.

Girls for Gender Equity: Get Trained to Be a Poll Worker!


The following announcement was submitted by Girls for Gender Equity (GGE). 

GGE is proud to partner with the New York City Council to support the participation of young people in New York City’s Participatory Budgeting (PB) process! PB is a process whereby New Yorkers ages 11 and up can vote on how their city council members spend up to $1 million in public funding in their districts. 

PB is one way for the public - regardless of immigration status - to participate in the city budget. Thirty-one members of the New York City Council are participating in PB this year. Find out if your elected representative is participating here. Vote week is March 30 to April 7. 

Get Involved: Poll Worker Trainings 

Poll worker trainings are two-hour trainings on how to best assist during vote week at polling sites throughout the city. Poll workers can be as young as 11-years-old and volunteer regardless of immigration status. No sign up is needed but you must attend one of the trainings below in order to volunteer to be a poll worker for this PB cycle. 

Being a poll worker is a way to contribute to your community through support and assistance where you are needed and wanted.

Here are the training dates, times and locations. 

Click on the graph to increase its size.

Introducing 'ONWARD', A JustLeadershipUSA Newsletter



The following statement was submitted by DeAnna Hoskins, President/CEO of JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA). 


Dear Friend,

It is my absolute pleasure to welcome you to our new JLUSA newsletter, ONWARD.

In the past two years, JLUSA has expanded from a small team in a New York City office to a staff working in cities and states across the country. We have invested in the leadership of over 120 directly impacted Leading with Conviction fellows, and with our Emerging Leaders graduates, our network has grown to more than 600 trained leaders! Our advocacy campaigns continue to redefine justice as we work to decarcerate and end the reliance on mass supervision and harmful technology, build stronger communities through justice reinvestment, and demand a working future for the millions of our neighbors returning home. Finally, we count JLUSA members in all 50 states + D.C. and I hope you or a loved one will join this amazing network of change-makers.

All of these achievements reinforce our mission of cutting the US correctional population in #halfby2030 while empowering the people most affected by incarceration to drive policy reform.

In this and future newsletters, you will find campaign updates, leader highlights, upcoming events, and ways to get involved with our work. None of what we have accomplished so far would be possible without each and every one of you and we hope that you will continue to lend your voice, your passion, and your support in the months and years to come.

I could not be prouder of this team, our network of leaders, and our campaigns, and I look forward to fighting alongside all of you as we work to ensure a future that centers health, safety, and human dignity for all.

ONWARD!

DeAnna Hoskins, President/CEO  

Click here to review the newsletter in its entirety. 

Source: JLUSA

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Fired Florida Officer Guilty of Slaying Black Motorist

 
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A fired Florida police officer was found guilty of manslaughter and attempted murder Thursday for the fatal 2015 shooting of a stranded black motorist, becoming the first officer in the state to be convicted of an on-duty shooting in 30 years.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: Associated Press

Jeffrey Epstein, Alan Dershowitz, and Pals Accused of Sex-Trafficking Ring

 
A lawyer for one of Epstein’s victims claims he was part of sex-trafficking ring with Dershowitz and others—but the Harvard attorney says sealed documents will prove his innocence.

By Kate Briquelet 

Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz was accused of involvement in billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking ring by an attorney for one of Epstein’s victims, who claimed in federal court on Wednesday that the release of sealed documents will prove it.

Paul Cassell, who represents Virginia Roberts Giuffre, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that the testimony of other witnesses will show Dershowitz’s involvement in the alleged trafficking of “his close friend Jeffrey Epstein.”

“When all the records come out it will show that Epstein and [Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine] Maxwell were trafficking girls to the benefit of his friends, including Mr. Dershowitz,” Cassell said in oral arguments for a case filed by the Miami Herald to unseal a collection of court documents relating to Giuffre’s now settled lawsuit against Maxwell.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The Daily Beast 

Movement at North Korea ICBM Plant Viewed as Missile-Related, South Says

 
New activity has been detected at a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles plant, South Korean media said on Thursday, as U.S. President Donald Trump said he would be very disappointed if Pyongyang rebuilt a rocket site.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: Reuters

Senior Pentagon Leaders Testify on Substandard Living Conditions at Military Housing

 
Senior military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon testify at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the current state of military housing in the wake of a new report showing many military families living in substandard conditions.

Click here for video.

Source: C-SPAN

Op-Ed: It's Not About the Wall

 

Trump's most famous campaign promise, "Build the Wall and Mexico Will Pay for It," was never about a Wall, per se. Trump is so disinterested in any kind of real Wall, that he doesn't even know: a) how much of one there already is, b) how many other kinds of other barriers there already are, c) how many miles of the Mexico/U.S. border are either virtually impossible or prohibitively expensive to build on, d) that El Paso is one of the safer cities in the U.S., e) that there is a difference between Latino workers coming to find jobs that are being offered by U.S. employers at below U.S.-worker wages (and such workers would not be coming if such jobs were not being offered by, let's say, Trump-owned resorts) and refugee/asylum seekers, seeking to enter under the provision of U.S. and International law (about which Trump obviously knows nothing). And so on and so forth.  

So, if it's not about the Wall, per se, what is it about? (Let me say here that I know I am not telling the politically and Trump-ily aware folks in the U.S. [and indeed around the world] anything most of you don't already know. But I thought that it might be helpful to put it all in one place.) First and foremost, and this is very well-known, talked about far and wide, from the advertising master Donny Deutsch on MSNBC to the economics master Paul Krugman in The New York Times, it is about Trump's most valuable winning card: racism. As is well-known, Trump began his campaign for the Presidency not when he descended the golden escalator in 2015, but when he jumped up the birtherism movement in 2011. Then on the escalator he broadened the racist message from African-Americans to Latinos, specifically in the beginning to Mexicans. 

The "drugs-rapists-criminals-gangs" message has only been intensified in recent months, as the fight over wall money has itself intensified. But it did not have to, for the first two years of the Trump Presidency. In fact, it might be speculated that a reason that Trump did not seriously go for some significant sum of Wall money when he had the whole of the Congress is a sign that indeed the Wall per se is not the issue. For, and it is what I am speculating here, that what Trump wants is not a Wall, but the Wall-issue, as the symbol of his racism that is, for a significant portion (but not all) of his base, his most important characteristic.  

Click here for the full article. 

Source: OpEdNews.com

Alex Trebek Announces He Has Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer


This report was published on YouTube on March 6. 

From The G-Man wishes Mr. Trebek well in his effort to beat the odds. Fight on, sir. Fight on.

Seatbelts Required in the Back Seat? This and Other Surprises in Cuomo’s Budget

 
In New York, the state budget is often used as a vehicle to tuck in nonfiscal initiatives, and this year is no exception. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The New York Times

Looking for Details on Rogue N.Y. Police Officers? This Database Might Help


The Legal Aid Society has created a searchable database of lawsuits filed against the police since 2015 to help identify problematic officers and units.

Click here for the full article.

Source: The New York Times 

NYC Nurses Threaten to Strike Over Hospital Overcrowding

 
Nurses at three city hospitals said they will launch a strike within weeks if the medical centers continue to ignore their demands to address staffing shortages that put patients at risk.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The New York Daily News 

NYC Says Cable Giant Charter Communications Owes $6 Million in Fees

 
City Hall is dunning cable giant Charter Communications for $6 million in unpaid fees — and says the company needs to pay up or its lucrative franchise agreement may not get renewed in 2020.

Click here for the full article.

Source: The New York Daily News 

Number of Parents Refusing Vaccines 'High and Getting Worse,' Pediatrician Says


PBS NewsHour: The childhood vaccine program of the United States has proven to be one of the most powerful public health achievements of our history," Dr. John McCullers told a Senate hearing on Tuesday. And yet, vaccine opposition and hesitancy "are now impairing our ability to effectively ensure coverage," he said. McCullers, pediatrician-in-chief at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, explained how pediatricians can play an important role in counselling parents who get much of their misinformation online or from uninformed opinions on social media. But for parents who aren't swayed by their doctors, McCullers says broader educational and policy fixes are needed to combat this public health threat.

Queen Elizabeth Marks 50th Anniversary Charles' Investiture as Prince of Wales


Global News: Queen Elizabeth held a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the investiture of her oldest son Charles as Prince of Wales.

Venezuela's Guaido Holds News Conference After Meeting with Union Leaders


Global News: Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido meets with public workers and union leaders at the Colegio de Ingenieros a day after his return to Venezuela.

Kim Jong Un Receives Hero's Welcome Upon Return to North Korea


Global News: North Korea's state media released a video of its leader Kim Jong Un returning to Pyongyang on March 5 after visiting Hanoi for the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ocasio-Cortez, Warren and Sanders in an Unlikely Skirmish With N.Y. Democrats


They’re fighting over an arcane but critical aspect of New York’s election laws that gives small parties the ability to wield significant influence in state politics.

Click here for details. 

Source: The New York Times

NYPD Update: The February Crime Stats and Other Issues


Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner O’Neill hold a media availability at NYPD headquarters in Manhattan. 

Source: NYC Mayor's Office

Mayor de Blasio Signs Legislation on Basement Apartment Legalization


This video was published on YouTube on March 4. 

Source: NYC Mayor's Office

Monday, March 4, 2019

Governor Cuomo to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler: 'I Urge You to Visit the Hudson River'


"In New York, we are leading the fight to protect our environment with the most ambitious environmental agenda in the nation. 

"Administrator Wheeler, while you are in New York, I urge you to visit the Hudson River, one of this country's natural treasures that is also one of the most pressing Superfund sites in the country. New York has fought to restore this vital resource but the ball is now in the EPA's court. The EPA can either do the right thing and continue to hold GE accountable for continued clean up, or they can side with big polluters and let GE off the hook for its responsibility to clean up PCBs in the river. 

"The EPA has moved toward issuing a Certificate of Completion ending GE's responsibility for cleaning up the Superfund site, but our research confirms that high levels of PCBs remain in the river. We refused to allow PCB contamination to continue to jeopardize the health and safety of our communities for generations to come. We hope and expect that the EPA will join us in ensuring the full completion of the cleanup." 

Source: The Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo 

Here’s the State of African-American Media Today — and Steps It Can Take Going Forward



Appropriately, Democracy Fund released a report on the state of African-American media in the last days of Black History Month here in the U.S. It includes a detailed history of African-American media, from the 1800s’ Freedom’s Journal and Frederick Douglass’ The North Star — creating a legacy of, according to the late Columbia Journalism professor Phyllis Garland, “never [intending] to be objective because it didn’t see the white press being objective. It often took a position. It had an attitude. This was a press of advocacy. There was news, but the news had an admitted and a deliberate slant.”

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NiemanLab

Mocking the Dead: A Message for Michelle Malkin and the GOP


Karma's a Bitch! 

Get ready! It's coming for you, Michelle! It also has its sights on members of the GOP that have leaned so far to the right that they can't even walk down the halls of Congress without bumping into a damn wall. 

Those who cheered Malkin's recent act of disrespect toward Senator John McCain at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) can expect a visit, too. Taking pleasure or pride in mocking the dead doesn't make you a true conservative. It makes you a heartless dumb-ass. Period, end of story!

The universe is the greatest equalizer. Laugh now, but rest assured. You all will cry later. 

"G-Man"

It's Time to Finally Listen to Native Journalists


By Nick Martin

To be a Native American reporter—to be Native at all—is to be constantly active, constantly tired, and constantly mad.

I’ve written ledes that open this way numerous times in just the past few months. The repetition is part of a long history of Native issues being ignored or erroneously covered by the mainstream American media.

Depending on who you talk to, the non-Indigenous crowd’s coverage of Indian Country issues is either stagnating or improving too slowly. But no one who regularly covers Native issues will claim that the major publications are doing a good job. It’s not because they’re not trying to cover our issues; it’s because they’re trying to cover Indian Country without the journalists that call that place home.

“Are they doing it better? No, in short,” Native American Journalists Association President Tristan Ahtone, member of the Kiowa Tribe, told Splinter on a phone call earlier this month. “I think there’s effort there, but those organizations move at glacial speeds when it comes to change. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: Splinter

The Intercept: MSNBC Yet Again Broadcasts Blatant Lies


This Time About Bernie Sanders’ Opening
Speech, and Refuses to Correct Them

By Glenn Greenwald

MSNBC is a dishonest political operation, not a news outlet. It systematically and deliberately refuses to adopt a defining attribute of a news outlet: a willingness to acknowledge factual errors, correct them, and apologize. That they not only allow their lies to stand uncorrected but reward their employees who do it most frequently – especially when those lies are directed at adversaries of the Democratic Party – proves that they are, first and foremost, a political arm of the Democratic establishment.

The most recent example is as glaring as it is malicious. On Saturday in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders delivered his first speech for his 2020 presidential campaign in front of thousands of people. MSNBC broadcast the speech live, and anyone can watch the full 2-hour event, or just Sanders’ full 35-minute speech, on YouTube.

As a result, there’s no confusion possible about what was said. Everyone can see it with their own eyes.

Before Sanders spoke, he was introduced by a series of speakers including three African-Americans: South Carolina State Rep. Terry Alexander (who spoke of Sanders’ life-long commitment to equal justice and opportunity), former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner (who heralded Sanders’ long-time commitment to racial justice and his status as “only one of two white elected officials” who supported Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign run in 1984), and racial justice activist (and Intercept columnist) Shaun King (who described in detail Sanders’ history as an anti-racist and civil rights activist in the 1960s and his decades-long devotion to issues of racial equality).

After Sanders’ speech, MSNBC immediately asked its panel for its reaction. The first person they turned to was Zerlina Maxwell, who the host identified only as an “MSNBC analyst.” What the host omitted, but which Maxwell herself acknowledged, was that she was a paid official for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign against Sanders: that, revealingly, is the first person MSNBC had opine on Sanders’ speech.

After the host noted that Maxwell was making gestures of disapproval throughout Sanders’ speech and asked her what the cause was, Maxwell proceeded to state demonstrable lies about that speech. She said:

To be very serious about it, I clocked it. He did not mention race or gender until 23 minutes into the speech. And just for point of comparison, I went back and looked at Elizabeth Warren’s opening speech, for example. She mentions race and discrimination in the first paragraph. So that’s a big difference.

That is a big difference. It’s also a total lie.  

Click here for the full article.

The Week Ahead in Washington


Axios' Alayna Treene and the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jonathan Tamari preview the week ahead in Washington.

Click here for video. 

Source: C-SPAN 

Ogden R. Reid, Herald Tribune Editor and Congressman, Dies at 93



Ogden R. Reid, the former editor of The Herald Tribune who represented congressional districts in Westchester County, N.Y., for 12 years, first as a Republican and then as Democrat, died on Saturday at his home in Waccabuc, N.Y. He was 93.

His death was confirmed by his son David.

Mr. Reid was the scion of a newspaper publishing family whose grandfather was the editor and principal owner of the renowned New York Tribune and whose father merged it in the 1920s with the equally storied New York Herald to form The Herald Tribune. Mr. Reid was The Herald Tribune’s president and editor in the 1950s.

The newspaper was respected for its high-quality journalism but dogged by financial troubles that would help bring its demise in the 1960s; the family sold its controlling interest in 1958. Mr. Reid entered government service the next year when President Dwight D. Eisenhower named him ambassador to Israel.

In 1961, another Republican, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, appointed Mr. Reid chairman of New York’s State Commission Against Discrimination. Some politicians saw the move as intending to help make Mr. Reid better known in the state should he seek elective office. His family’s ties to the Republican Party went back to the 19th century.

Click here for the full article.

Source: The New York Times
From The G-Man salutes Mr. Reid's profound contribution to journalism and his service to the aforementioned congressional districts. May his family, friends and colleagues find some measure of comfort in the days to come, and may Ogden R. Reid forever rest in peace.  

Jon Stewart Sticks by Praise for Trump Administration's Handling of 9/11 Fund


WASHINGTON — Jon Stewart, no fan of President Trump, on Sunday stuck by his praise for the Trump administration’s handling of the cash-strapped program that aids ill and dying 9/11 responders.

“The Trump Justice Department is doing a good job running the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund,” Stewart told the Daily News.

Stewart spoke after Trump on Sunday night retweeted a supporter’s post of video showing Stewart praising the Justice Department’s handing of the fund.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The New York Daily News 

NYU Professor Says He Was Targeted for Turnstile Jumping at Harlem Station....



A New York University professor's turnstile jumping summons at a Harlem train station with malfunctioning MetroCard machines has prompted civil rights advocates to call on the NYPD's inspector general to probe racial disparities in fare evasion enforcement.

The Legal Aid Society fired off a letter last week to Inspector General Phil Eure asking him to look into a January ticket that Prof. Terrance Coffie received for going through the security gate at the St. Nicholas Ave. station when none of the MetroCard machines were working properly.

Click here for the full article.

Source: The New York Daily News