Source: euronews.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
City & State: New York City's 100 Most Powerful People
Everyone is talking politics these days, but what politics means depends on who’s doing the talking.
According to one definition,
politics is simply the art or science of government. It’s also the way
in which people influence governmental policies. Taking it a step
further, it’s the accumulation of control over government – or, to sum
it up, power.
With that final definition in mind, we take up our annual ranking of the most powerful people in New York City politics.
It’s not an easy task, so we’ve established a few criteria to guide us.
One
is a political figure’s track record: What bills has a lawmaker passed?
What policies have aides or advocates shaped? What programs have
deputies run, and how effectively?
Another
criterion is the importance of any group that someone serves. The mayor
of New York City has faced challenges in Albany, but he still runs a
government serving more than 8 million people. Elected officials,
commissioners, business executives, lobbyists, labor leaders and
journalists all represent constituents, clients or customers – and with
that responsibility comes some degree of power.
Finally, we take
into account proximity to power – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
evolving inner circle, top appointees to both the mayor and the governor
as well as key outside advisers who have the ear of a small handful of
influential elected officials.
Click here for the full article and listing.
Source: City & State
Monday, February 26, 2018
BLM’s Alicia Garza Launches Census Project To Mobilize Black Political Power
By Taryn Finley
Black
Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza has created a new initiative aimed
at helping black communities achieve greater political power.
Garza on Monday announced the launch of Black Futures Lab, which promises to “develop strategies that help Black people imagine the political, social and economic alternatives needed at the local, state, and federal level, while also building the political power needed to implement those alternatives.”
Conditions for black people in America are “incredibly dire,” and it’s important to have avenues for policy changes that benefit black communities, Garza told HuffPost.
“We have a president that is openly supportive of white nationalist groups and working alongside his administration to dismantle the tatters of what was left of a safety net in this country and also working hard to dismantle organizations that work for the end of economic and political and emotional support of black people,” Garza said.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Huffington Post
Eye on Africa: Nigerian Goverment Admits Missing Schoolgirls Have Been 'Abducted'
Source: FRANCE 24 English
'States for Gun Safety' Coalition Adds New Members
Governors Baker, Carney and Rosselló are joining the multi-state
partnership launched this month to combat the gun violence epidemic in
the face of continued federal inaction.
Click here for the full announcement.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
New York Mayors Endorse Governor Cuomo's Tax Fairness for New York Campaign
Governor Andrew Cuomo today announced 65 mayors
from across New York endorsed his Tax Fairness for New York Campaign:
to combat the devastating impacts the destructive, partisan GOP federal
tax law will have on New York. The mayors endorsed Governor Cuomo's
three-pronged effort to fight the federal tax assault on New York, as
announced in his 2018 State of the State Address. The
first step is the multi-state coalition to sue the federal government.
The second prong of the effort is to launch a repeal-and-replace
strategy, and the third prong is to explore the feasibility of a major
shift in the structure of State tax policy.
"With the Tax Fairness for New York campaign we are fighting back against Washington's federal tax assault on New York," Governor Cuomo said.
"I am proud to have the support of mayors across the state as we work
together to mitigate the impacts of this plan and do everything we can
to protect the rights and wallets of hardworking New Yorkers."
To
advance the state's efforts to overhaul the tax code, and to generate
the best ideas and solutions, New York State Budget Director Robert
Mujica as well as other New York State representatives have been meeting
with experts from state and local government, academia, and
the private sector to obtain feedback and comment on the preliminary report released
in January by the Department of Taxation and Finance. The report
outlines options for state tax reform designed to mitigate the adverse
impact of the federal legislation on our economy and on New Yorkers.
Earlier this month, Budget Director Mujica unveiled 30-day amendments
to the FY 2019 Executive Budget, including legislation to create a new
optional Employer Compensation Expense Tax system, create two new funds
to accept donations to fund health care and education programs, and
provisions to decouple the state tax code from the federal tax code.
Click here to review the list of mayors and their quotes.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Short Takes 1: Trump-Stuff and the Florida Shooting/Gun Control
By Steven Jonas
With this column I am beginning an occasional
series of what I will call "Short Takes."
That is, instead of a lengthy column on a single theme, I will be
offering a series of thoughts, briefly stated, on a variety of themes. In length, they will more often than not be
like Tweets, but fully spelled out, which Tweets by myself and others often are
not. Some of them, actually, will be
expanded versions of recent Tweets of mine.
And so, here goes.
1. On
Trump, what would we political writers do without him? He provides endless fodder for the political
gristmill. But since he doesn't do much
that is Presidential in the traditional sense, and shows absolutely no interest
in learning about either the form or content (especially the latter) of that
role, he does have to fill up his time somehow.
Doesn't he?
2. That
is except when he fills it up by having affairs while married, then paying off
the affairee to attempt to keep her
quiet. Which tactic is not working too
well right now. Has Las Vegas yet set up
odds for how many more such women will be coming forward? At least so far, those Hillary supporters who
had to stand by while Hillary got it from both Right and Left for standing by
her man, can point to Melania for doing the same thing.
3. Speaking
of porn-stars and Playboy cover models with whom Trump has allegedly been
involved, and the payoffs that his lawyer/fixer Mike Cohen (who followed Roy
Cohn of "Angels in America" fame), in that role, has "made out of his own
pocket." What a generous man. One wonders if he will have to/have had to
pay gift tax on the amount, since the sums would seem to be made for Trump's benefit. Wouldn't that amount to a gift?
4. On L'Affaire Porter, Trump has said that he
is "opposed" to domestic violence. Isn't
that sort of like being "opposed" to the TPP or immigration of any kind (except
for Norwegians)? What? He couldn't say that he "condemned" domestic violence? Nah!
That would reveal "imbalance."
5. Trump and his flaks have been all over
the FBI because tips on the Florida murderer were sent to them and nothing was
done. But w hat precisely could have
been done? Florida is an open-carry state.
AR-15 ownership is legal nationally. An indignant Rubio gets 3 + mil [!] from the NRA. One cannot
be locked up for making threats. And if
the FBI had tried to do something with this White/Racist/Right-wing Terrorist,
every NRA shill in the country, starting with Sean (Let's Put Armed Guards in Every
School) Hannity (Trump's best bud, donchaknow) would have been jumping down
their throat. I don't know who is the
worst FL political hypocrite, Sen. Rubio or the Gunner Gov. Scott.
6. On
the "armed guards in the schools" thing, a) who would pay for them (?) and b)
of course a killer like the one just seen, who planned everything out very
carefully, would simply have cased the joint and taken out the armed guard(s)
first.
Click here for the full article.
Source: OpEdNews.com
Street Dedication Honoring NYPD Officer Edward Byrne
The video begins close to the two-minute mark.
Source: NYC Mayor's Office
The Week Ahead in Washington
Source: C-SPAN
Mark Janus and Jacob Huebert on Janus v. AFSCME
Mark Janus, lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME, and his attorney Jacob Huebert talk about today’s Supreme Court case on union dues.
Source: C-SPAN
Trailblazers in Black History: George Edward Alcorn, Jr.
This video was published on YouTube on May 13, 2015.
George Alcorn is a pioneering physicist and engineer noted for his
aerospace and semiconductor inventions. His x-ray imaging spectrometer,
patented during his career at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC),
allowed for the detection of radio signatures at a more distant and
accurate rate than previously possible and influenced the continued
evolution of imaging devices.
Source: National Inventors Hall of Fame
U.S. Civil Rights Trail Guides Tourists Through Black History
by Michael Cottman
For Wanda Battle, serving as a tour guide for the Dexter Avenue King
Memorial Baptist Church, the historic red-brick building where Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. accepted his first pastoral assignment, has
enriched her soul.
“I have been transformed by this job,” Battle told NBC News. “It’s been a life-changing experience.”
Battle said thousands of tourists travel from across the country and from around the world each year to visit the celebrated church in Montgomery, Alabama, that was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
“They
come to this little church because people want to be inspired by the
Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King’s legacy,” she said.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Second Weekend for 'Black Panther' is One of the Best Ever
By Associated Press
NEW YORK — "Black Panther" scored one of the best second weekends
ever, with an estimated $108 million in ticket sales, putting it on
track to rank among the highest-grossing blockbusters ever.
Ryan
Coogler's Marvel sensation is on a box office course that few films have
managed, according to studio estimates Sunday. It is only the fourth
film to earn $100 million in its second weekend, along with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($149.2 million), "Jurassic World" ($106.6 million) and "The Avengers" ($103.1 million).
Only "The Force Awakens" had a better second weekend than "Black Panther," which dropped by 47 percent after its opening weekend of $201.8 million.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Collusion or Not, Russia Probe is Worst Political Scandal in Decades
WASHINGTON — After tallying the guilty pleas and indictments by
special counsel Robert Mueller, as well as digesting the dueling
Republican and Democratic memos from the House Intelligence Committee,
here is what we know — so far — about the Russia probe:
- Nineteen individuals have been charged with crimes, including President Trump’s former campaign chairman (Paul Manafort), as well as 13 Russians.
- Five have pleaded guilty, including Trump’s former national security adviser (Michael Flynn), a former top Trump campaign and transition official (Rick Gates) and a former campaign adviser (George Papadopoulos).
- Both Republicans (the Nunes memo) and Democrats (the Schiff memo) have confirmed that the FBI’s Russia probe originated with Papadopoulos’ claim to Australia’s top diplomat that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton.
- The Schiff memo reveals that, by mid-September 2016, the FBI had opened “sub-inquiries” into MULTIPLE individuals connected with the Trump campaign — beyond former adviser Carter Page.
Whether or not Mueller ever finds a smoking
gun that Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia, this is already
the biggest political scandal in decades. And we are just more than a
year into Trump’s presidency and nine months into Mueller’s probe.
“Clearly the worst presidential scandal since at least Iran-Contra, but
probably since Watergate,” said political scientist Jonathan Bernstein.
Click here for the full article.
Jared Kushner’s Access to Classified Intelligence in Question
This report was broadcast on February 25.
Chief of Staff John Kelly put in place a new policy tightening access to secrets for staffers without permanent security clearance, but the White House has not said if Kushner’s access is restricted.
States Examine Prisoner Voting Rights as Incarceration Rates Rise
Joseph Jackson was one of the millions of Americans inspired by Barack Obama's
2008 White House bid. A black man in the nation's whitest state, he
coordinated voter registration drives and cast his first-ever ballot for
the candidate who would become the nation's first African-American
president.
And he did it all while incarcerated in a maximum-security prison, serving 19 years for manslaughter.
That's because Jackson, 52, was convicted in
Maine, one of just two states that allow felons to vote from behind
bars. In the U.S., nearly all convicted felons are disenfranchised
during their prison sentences and, often, barred from the ballot for
years after release. Sometimes, offenders lose the right to vote for life.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Federal Civil Rights Law Protects Gay Workers, U.S. Appeals Court Rules
by Reuters
A U.S. appeals court in Manhattan on Monday ruled that a federal law
banning sex bias in the workplace also prohibits discrimination against
gay employees, becoming only the second court to do so.
The 2nd
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled prior decisions and said that a
worker’s sex is necessarily a factor in discrimination based on sexual
orientation.
The ruling went against a court brief filed by the Trump administration in 2017 that said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not intended to provide protections to gay workers.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Russia's President Putin Orders Daily 'Humanitarian Pauses' in Eastern Ghouta
Source: FRANCE 24 English
Syria: UN Security Council Unanimously Backs 30-Day Humanitarian Ceasefire
Source: FRANCE 24 English
Veteran Transit Workers Say MTA Isn't Training New Hires Properly
A New York Daily News Exclusive
By James Fanelli
It's old school versus new school at the MTA.
A group of veteran transit workers are griping that the MTA doesn’t
give newly hired subway operators the same quality training they
received years ago, leading to gaffes and screwups that delay rides and
endanger straphangers.
“There are operators who constantly mess up because they just don’t
know what they are doing,” said a Metropolitan Transportation Authority
worker who asked not to be identified out of fear of being disciplined.
“We all started out as new employees but what we are seeing now is
ridiculous.”
The sources said the foulups are inconveniencing riders and pointed to the last two weeks as the latest example.
Click here for the full article.
Source: Empire Report New York
Activists Rally in Front of Governor Cuomo's Home to Call for Climate Action
MOUNT KISCO - People from across the Hudson Valley came together
Sunday in front of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's home in Mount Kisco to call for
climate action.
The group, which included religious leaders from
different faiths and environmentalists, are asking the governor to stop
state-funded fossil fuel projects.
Click here for video.
New York Independence Party Backs Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s Reelection Bid
By Kenneth Lovett
The third party previously endorsed Gillibrand in 2010 when she ran to fill out the unexpired Senate term of Hillary Clinton, and again in 2012 when she successfully sought a full six-year term.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The New York Daily News (via Empire Report New York)
NYS Senator to Host Free Movie Screening of 'Black Panther'
NO ADDITIONAL SEATING AVAILABLE!!
Source: The Office of State Senator James Sanders, Jr.
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