wnyc:
Brian Lehrer and the WNYC news team are all over it. Read the indictment here, and stay tuned for more next hour on WNYC.
HATEBONER GROWING LARGER.
In what may be our most successful crop this year, we have this gorgeous patch of poison ivy.
State Senator Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran arrested for trying to fix this year’s mayoral race.
HA HA HA HA HA
Queens Pols Arrested for Trying to Rig Mayoral Election, Report Says
Halloran told a reporter outside his home that he “had no idea” why he was being arrested, the Post reported.
“I’m sure the truth will come out once I have an opportunity to find out what’s going on,” Halloran added.
The pair allegedly formed an alliance to place Smith, a Democrat who represents Queens Village, St. Albans and Jamaica, onto the Republican mayoral ballot by enlisting the support of major GOP leaders through bribes, according to the Post.
Smith needed the support of three boroughs to get the Republican nod without having to change party affiliation, the newspaper reported.
Halloran, a Republican representing northeastern Queens, was tasked with setting up those meetings and handling bribes totaling thousands of dollars, the Post reported.
The bribes were masked as legal and accounting services, the paper added.
Halloran has also been accused of pocketing bribes from a consultant in exchange for $80,000 in City Council funding, the newspaper said.
I’ve had a hateboner for this guy for years. I hope the charges stick.
I picked up this promo postcard for FASHIONABLE BABY&KIDZ in my local olive and dried fruit emporium and I am sad to report that in the time that has elapsed between then and my scanning and posting it, they’ve already gone out of business. Back to traveling to city or other places for the Most Prominent, the Most Fashionable.
ARA Releases Information On Golden Dawn North America After A Two And A Half Month Intelligence Operation | Anti-Racist Action
Over the past two and a half months, Anti-Racist Action has been involved in a quiet campaign to stop the nationalist organization from expanding in North America. One of our goals, which we achieved with great success, was to gain intelligence on members of New York’s Golden Dawn chapter, their supporters, and members within the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York who might be sympathetic to their views….
In our first email from Golden Dawn, we were told to contact Emmanouil Lallas, controller of New York Golden Dawn. We were given a Facebook account, email address, and phone number. Through his Facebook, we found that Lallas was friends with Demetrios Demetrios, the third vice president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, though not with any of the other members of the board. After a couple web searches, we found that he had spoken at a workshop put on by the Federation in May 2012.
Lou Rispoli, New York Gay Activist, Taken Off Life Support After Attack In Queens
This is so sad. He lived a block from us. I never met him, but he sounded like an amazing, loving, large-hearted man. RIP.
Stop-and-Frisk Targets Transgender Community Unfairly, Study Says
Transgender and gender nonconforming people of color are particularly vulnerable due to their visibility,” the study said. “In order to combat police misconduct, there must be legislation and policies that minimize the risk of these kinds of abuse occurring in our communities.”
Of the 305 residents contacted over the past year for the study, conducted by Make the Road New York and the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence project, 167 listed themselves as either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or “other.”
Of that group, 51 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual or other respondents said they were stopped by police, a third of whom said they were also physically harassed.
But for the 69 transgender people surveyed, those numbers were higher, the study showed. Fifty-nine percent of transgender respondents said they were stopped by police, almost half of whom said they were physically harassed.
For non LGBTQ respondents, the rate of being stopped and frisked was less than half — 28 percent.
Make The Road’s report: Transgressive Policing: Police Abuse of LGBTQ Communities of Color in Jackson Heights, Queens.
Successful Meeting in New York Against “Golden Dawn”
A crowd of over 220 people met at the Church of the Redeemer in Astoria, NY to express their opposition to the recent appearance of the neo-Nazi “Golden Dawn” in New York City. The event, which took place in October 9, was organized by Occupy Astoria/LIC, NY Aristeri Kinisi (Left Movement), Strike Debt, Situations: Project of the Radical Imagination and the socialist newspaper Justice, among others. The meeting opened with presentations by the moderators of the event, Nicholas Levis and Marina Sitrin who explained people’s outrage and the need to organize against fascism.
Because we’re too lazy to put up a sign on our door that says NO FLYERS, MENUS, CIRCULARS, enterprising folks leave a ton of shit for us. I’ve been saving them. Here’s one.
Sixto’s giant, forlorn, determined face stands in stark (Manichean!) contrast to his manic entreaties. Does he want to save my House Of Foreclosure? Does he want me to THINKING OF BUYING A HOUSE…?
I just don’t know, Sixto.
This is NOT an anarchist banner. This is a fascist banner, being hung by organizers from the Golden Dawn neo-fascist party. They are violent, antisocial racists.(1) It is being hung at the Stathakion Cultural Center.
In Greece, while Golden Dawn does better and better in the polls, their offices are being repeatedly smashed(2). Now they’re looking to expand into the US(3). Time has shown that bastards like these can be pushed back against successfully using a three-pronged approach. First, their ideological agenda must be countered ideologically. Wherever they speak, an opposition voice must speak also, speaking firmly and honestly. Second, their physical agenda must be met physically. You are left to your own devices to infer what this means. Third, their affiliations and ties to support must be severed, so they are left to recover from said aggressions on their own, and without the aid of others.
This post is being made because we know of Stathakion Cultural Center in Astoria, NY as one of their first US alliances. We don’t know whether the leadership of the Cultural Center supports them ideologically, is ignorant, or most likely, a mixture of both. We do know that Golden Dawn held a food and clothing drive to ‘be distributed to Hellenes, and only to Hellenes’ at Stathakion. You can read about it here: http://xanyc.org/?p=1
This post is being made for two reasons: first, to inform you comrades in the NE that you have some nasty neighbors moving in, and you should be aware of that and take whatever measures are necessary to stay safe with these violent xenophobes on the loose. The second relates to the third prong of the plan to dismantled fascist organizations. Call Stathakion Cultural Center and tell them what violent ultra-right fanatics they’ve been hosting. Tell them how important it is to you that they don’t host them again. Ask them what they’re doing to prevent this group from unleashing the same kind of violent terror they’ve been responsible for in Athens. Their number is (718) 204-6500. Please call them and then reblog this.
(1) http://www.theblaze.com/stories/shocking-video-greek-neo-nazis-attack-immigrant-vendors-outside-athens-onlookers-simply-watch/
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/greece-golden-dawn-firebombed_n_1773505.html
(3) http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/333341Note: This post is informational only and in no way advocates violence or property destruction against fascist organizers. Such acts would be illegal and thus, inherently wrong, regardless of how little harm it caused and how much good it caused. One must never be tempted to stand up against racist terror using anything other than kind words.
You can also contact the Hellenic Societies of Greater NY via their website or by email at hellenicsocieties@yahoo.com. FYI: The Golden Dawn NYC link above has been scrubbed; here’s the cache. Seeing as their fundraiser happened a few months ago, it might be that the center has since decided it no longer wants any affiliation with Golden Dawn. Can’t hurt to call/email, though.
