Hard to add anything to the abhorrent contents of the Senate CIA torture report, except to say to those who think revealing the top secret, state-sanctioned brutality was a greater crime than the brutality itself: Try really hard to remember what exactly it is that America stands and fights for.
To propose raising part time N.Y. lawmakers’ salaries due to the rising cost of surviving in NY is, pardon the phrase, rich.
The numbers are in, and according to the experts, everything is looking spectacular. We’ll take their word for it.
The vast majority of police officers are good people doing good work, so body cameras shouldn’t be a problem for most. Nonetheless, it’s smart — as Ronald Reagan famously said — to “Trust but verify.” After all, civilians are told that the security, red-light and speed cameras trained on us are detriments to lawbreakers.
Good luck in conversation with your Fox News-watching distant uncle and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
During this past week of angst and rage over immigration policy, I noticed that obituaries for director Mike Nichols noted that he was an immigrant who spoke no English when he arrived as a child from Germany. I wasn’t born here either, so I can tell you firsthand that looking in from the outside, America’s draw is very strong. We must remember to be proud of that.
Industrial Development Agencies were a great concept initially, but that now seem to be used primarily just to keep ordinary retail operations from moving. A savvy retail operator of course COULD threaten to leave town, get a sweet tax break from the IDA as an enticement, then stay put. (Not that anyone would abuse something like that…)
A judge has demanded an inquiry into insurance companies’engineers editing/fudging reports on Sandy damaged homes, so that they could get out of…drumroll…paying claims! And so superstorm Sandy slowly continues its miserable path of ruination.
Throughout the last century, a ladder was a universal symbol of personal growth both professionally and economically. In the 21st Century, worker productivity has soared — and with it corporate profit and the overall economy. Yet Americans’ paycheck growth has remained nonexistent. How you like them apples?
There are approximately 70,000 untested rape kits — filled with valuable DNA evidence — just sitting on shelves in the U.S. Apparently that’s because it’s too expensive to test them. In the world’s wealthiest country.
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. has pledged up to $35 million to try to clear up the backlog that goes back years, sometimes decades. Let’s hope it’s the start of a welcome shift in law enforcement and prosecutorial priorities.
