I know that there are people who are upset about the Michael Brown/Eric Garner cases. I know that the cases have ripped open old wounds that have to do with America’s legacy on race and race relations. I know that it is high time to focus on the overextension and abuse of police power. But life doesn’t come to a screeching halt even in the aftermath of the decision not to indict Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo. Work still has to be done, and duties still have to be attended to. So, it is more than a little appalling that Columbia…
Pejman Yousefzadeh
Pejman Yousefzadeh
Scribbling, scribbling, scribbling on the Internet.
Tagged New York City
The Murder of Eric Garner and the Failure of Justice
As others have noted, while there may have been some reason not to indict Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to have refrained from indicting Daniel Pantaleo for the murder–yes, the murder–of Eric Garner. And why was Garner murdered? For selling “loose” or untaxed cigarettes. “Appalling” does not even begin to describe this situation. There was even a video of the entire situation. As Sean Davis notes, the video shows that Garner “wasn’t a mortal threat to anyone. He carried no weapons. He did not shove or attack any police officers in such…
Some Sanity in New York
The nanny-state suffers a blow: The Bloomberg big-soda ban is officially dead. The state’s highest court on Thursday refused to reinstate New York City’s controversial limits on sales of jumbo sugary drinks, exhausting the city’s final appeal and dashing the hopes of health advocates who have urged state and local governments to curb the consumption of drinks and foods linked to obesity. In a 20-page opinion, Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr. of the New York State Court of Appeals wrote that the city’s Board of Health “exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority” in enacting the proposal, which was championed…
Speaking of Bill de Blasio . . .
This is unconscionable: Mayor de Blasio brought down the hammer Thursday on three charter schools operated by his nemesis Eva Moskowitz, leaving hundreds of kids without classrooms this fall. “This has to be the saddest day for the Success Academy’s children, family, teachers, school leaders,” Moskowitz said after meeting with stunned charter parents in Harlem. “Right now, our kids are being evicted. Evicted out of their school. It’s wrong and we need an explanation. You’re going to have to ask Mayor de Blasio what the motivations are for a decision that will hurt so many children now and, frankly, forever.” Fulfilling a…
The de Blasio Administration: Where Ideology Trumps Competence
Let me start this post by being fair to Bill de Blasio: He won the election, his political philosophy got affirmed in the process, and as a consequence, he has the right to hire people who share that philosophy. That having been written, it would be nice if he would balance out ideological hiring with hires on the basis of competence as well. But the still-newish mayor of New York doesn’t seem to be all that inclined to do that. The dangers of de Blasio’s approach are, of course, obvious to everyone but de Blasio and his acolytes: . .…
How Bill de Blasio Addresses Inequality
Andrew Rotherham and Richard Whitmire discuss the fissure that has occurred within the Democratic party regarding the issue of education reform. There is a Bill de Blasio camp when it comes to education policy, and the duo describe that camp’s “contribution” to the formulation and implementation of principles and programs that shape how kids are schooled: With charter schools, de Blasio has singled out a special foe, fellow Democrat Eva Moskowitz, who runs 22 Success Academy charter schools that educate 6,700 students. The mayor cites Moskowitz as the kind of charter operator who needs reining in. Classroom and office space that…
Man of the People
Behold Bill de Blasio’s common touch: Despite repeatedly promising this morning that he’d take questions about the controversy surrounding his caravan breaking multiple traffic laws, Mayor Bill de Blasio shut down questions on the topic at an unrelated press conference this evening. Before walking away as reporters shouted questions at him, Mr. de Blasio read a brief statement referring to NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton’s earlier comments defending the conduct of the mayor’s security detail. “I have great respect for NYPD security training and protocals. I am committed, obviously to traffic safety and safe streets in NYC. That’s why we put forward ‘Vision Zero.’ Commissioner…
It’s Good to Be the Mayor
I get the fact that running New York city comes with certain privileges, and I understand that Bill de Blasio wields a great deal more power than he used to as the public advocate for the city. But unless I was grossly misinformed, or missed some kind of memo, I believe my understanding that there are supposed to be some limits to that power is at the very least, largely correct. So I guess that is why I am more than a little disturbed when I read stories like this one. Oh, I suppose that it is nice and charming in its own…
De Blasio’s Crowd
New York City is in trouble because of the mayor it elected, and because of the people who rode his coattails into office: She lied on her first day on the job — and got caught. Just hours after being sworn in as the city’s public advocate, Letitia James went on TV to claim that she played a key role in helping expose “the face of poverty in the City of New York” on the ‘front page of The New York Times. James, a former City Council member, said she had appointed a task force to examine conditions at the…
Question of the Day
For me, at least. How many Bill de Blasio voters fell good about having voted for this? Stephen Malone is a city-slicked John Grady, driving his black and plumed horse in loops around Central Park. After decades in the business, Malone has a relationship with his horse that he finds hard to explain — he knows his horse’s mannerisms and mood, and the beast in turn has adjusted to the rhythm of the city and his owner, moving in sync with traffic lights. Yet Malone’s career may soon be cut short, thanks to New York City’s new mayor. “We are going…
