Imbeciles on Dirt Bikes Jam Up Can Wyck

The two guys they caught are 30 and 39.  Grow up, people.

ATV & Dirt Bike Riders Wreak Havoc In Queens

"The NYPD seized five more ATVs and dirt bikes off the city's streets after a group of bikers flooded the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, driving against the flow of traffic and jumping onto the median. Police received reports of unruly bikers on the expressway near Hillside Avenue yesterday at around 5 p.m. According to an NYPD release, officers saw the rider of a blue Yamaha ATV drive against the flow of traffic down an exit ramp, until he was forced to stop after being confronted with a wall of vehicles who had stopped to avoid hitting him."

http://gothamist.com/2014/08/31/nypd_seizes_more_atvs_dirt_bikes_in.php

And don't sell the damn things at auction.  Drill the engines and scrap them.

The King of Unintentional Comedy

Peter King is a clown. Yet as long as Iowa's Steve King remains, he's not the stupidest guy named King in Congress.

Eternally Outraged Congressman Not Trying to Be 'Trivial,' But Doesn't Think Obama's Tan Suit Was Appropriate

"President Obama's ugly beige suit has quickly gone from stupid joke — "The president stands squarely behind the decision he made yesterday to wear his summer suit," the White House press secretary said today — to stupid faux controversy thanks to who else but Long Island Republican Representative Peter King. "There's no way, I don't think, any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday. I mean, you have the world watching," said King on right-wing internet TV today."

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/08/peter-king-outraged-over-obamas-tan-suit.html

Bless his heart.

Saint Ronnie, Patron of Domestic Spying and Foreign Skullduggery

The cult of Reagan worship is creepy (see Noonan, Peggy) and for many, rooted in profound ignorance of what Reagan actually did.  The guy was actually a terrible president with awful policies in pretty much every category.

Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12333 in 1981, reversing the Carter and Ford reforms of government surveillance (sparked by the Church Commission, convened in the wake of Nixon's wiretapping scandal); GWB expanded it twice more, once during each term. This order is the legal cover and excuse deployed internally by spy agencies when they break the law and violate the Constitution. In Ars Technica, Cyrus Farivar tracks down many internal memors, and statements from a wide variety of ex-spies, including the famous NSA whistleblowers Bill Binney and Thomas Drake, to paint a vivid picture of how 12333 is the all-purpose excuse for any kind of funny business. Farivar also notes that Snowden asked several pointed questions about 12333, without getting any kind of satisfactory answers, before he left the NSA, taking many damning documents with him.

http://boingboing.net/2014/08/28/the-secret-oral-history-of-t.html#more-327684

We'll be paying for this actor's cowboy ways for decades more to come.

Gawker Nails The Gutlessness of NYT Non-endorsement In Governor's Race

The Times is as establishment as it gets. The notion that the Times is somehow a "liberal" paper merely because it is literate and takes an enlightened view of women and LGTBQ issues is deeply misguided.

The New York Times Is Just as Corrupt and Cowardly as Andrew Cuomo

"In other words, Zephyr Teachout can't replace Cuomo as governor because she is not already the governor. It is true that Teachout is not an experienced politician. The experienced politicians in New York State are hacks and criminals. That is the situation that the New York Times editorial board would like you to believe it cares about. Yet the Times will not back the nomination of someone who comes from outside of the state's culture of political corruption—not some reckless crank, a goldbug or anti-vaccinationist or animal-rights activist, but a degree-holding product of Yale and Duke, a former law clerk, a person who works full-time at understanding the process of political reform."

http://gawker.com/the-new-york-times-is-just-as-corrupt-and-cowardly-as-a-1627221473?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gawker%2Ffull+%28Gawker%29

Neocons and Humanitarian Interventionists

More alike than they'd like to admit.  No matter the question, the answer is always the same: we have to bomb somebody right now!  

Because if we stopped to think longer than a second, we might not bomb at all. 

Thought for the day

"A year ago everyone was agitating for the US to bomb Syria on behalf of the rebels in order to unseat the war criminal Bashar Assad who was committing atrocities on innocent civilians. Today the same people are agitating for the US to bomb Syria on behalf of Bashar Assad in order to push back the rebels who committing atrocities on innocent civilians.* I don't have an answer for the problem of ISIS but I think it's a very good idea to take a breath and ask some questions before running around screaming like the Martians have invaded."

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/thought-for-day.html

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Rails to Trails - Both Is Better

I'd be surprised if we don't see more biking/hiking trails paired with active rail rights of way in the coming years.  And at some point I imagine we'll see some converted trails turning back into rail - perhaps with complementary trails.  Where geometry permits we could have the best of both worlds.

Why It Makes Sense to Add Biking and Walking Routes Along Active Rail Lines

"Rather than fear the liability associated with permitting a trail along an active rail corridor, railroads should embrace them as a safety measure, as they help control crossings, making them safer and more predictable. "That is the biggest selling point for railroads," said Jerry Walls of SEDA-COG. Many railroads have prohibitions on new at-grade crossings that slow trains down and introduce the possibility of injury. Where trail managers can't find a way to get a safe at-grade crossing approved, they can build grade-separated crossings. While costly, these create valuable connections for pedestrians and prevent headaches for the railroads. They're perfect places to walk and bike. These rights-of-way have gentle grades that are easy and accessible for all trail users, says Kelly Pack of RTC. They also tend to be contiguous and uninterrupted, with fewer street crossings than normal trails or on-road facilities. And though nearly 60 percent of existing trails are within 30 feet of the tracks, at least 70 percent of them have physical barriers separating them from the tracks."

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2014/08/18/why-it-makes-sense-to-add-biking-and-walking-routes-along-active-rail-lines/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Streetsblog+%28Streetsblog%29

I'd rather walk next to a rail line than a highway any day of the week.

Comey and Goldsmith and Mueller, Oh My

I've long suspected something like this but never had the facts to back it up.  They are still more honorable than Cheney, Addington and Gonzalez (who isn't?) … but sadly not by much.

The Hospital Confrontation Heroes of Rule of Law Gutted Separation of Powers

"The same heroes of the hospital confrontation, lionized for the last decade for their courageous defense of the rule of law, thereby gutted the separation of powers, in secret. All to serve still more secrecy … and the power of the presidency they purportedly reined in two months earlier. They may have won Bush — and themselves, who otherwise would have signed off on an illegal program — legal cover by doing so. But in the process they corroded the balance of powers enshrined by the Constitution, turning the FISC into a place where expansive executive branch programs get rubber-stamped in secret."

http://www.emptywheel.net/2014/08/14/the-hospital-confrontation-heroes-of-rule-of-law-gutted-separation-of-powers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-hospital-confrontation-heroes-of-rule-of-law-gutted-separation-of-powers

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Who Is Campbell Brown?

Campbell Brown is a shill for some truly despicable people who want to destroy unions and public education. 

http://www.esquire.com/_mobile/blogs/politics/The_Campbell_Brown_Moment?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_79275630

"Brown and her shadowy network of supporters got a big win out in California with the Vergara decision. (Scott Lemieux explained how bizarre that decision really was.) Now, they've brought their carnival of magic tricks and misdirection to New York. Remarkably, or not so remarkably, she's managed to find some disgracefully triangulating Democratic operatives to shill for the con, searching undoubtedly for their own "Sister Souljah moment." Former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs is on board, as is, as we have seen, super-lawyer David Boies. In fact, working through Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the administration has shown a deplorable level of enthusiasm for the snake-oil that is being sold here. (Duncan, who may be a worse cabinet appointee than Tim Geithner, was fulsome in his praise of the Vergara decision.) Now that the playing field has moved east, expect to hear more from Campbell Brown about how she and her unnamed benefactors are really only in it for the kids, and about how they can barely leave their homes for fear of mobs of angry math teachers, who have protractors, dammit, and they know how to use them, and enough well-funded cries of imaginary martyrdom to gag a hundred Nixons. This is about political power, and that is all it's about, and Campbell Brown is the spokesperson for grifters and mountebanks, and that's all she is. Not that it matters, because Campbell Brown is Good On TV, and that's what's most important. The only thing her Partners For Educational Justice care less about than education, is justice."

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention once again her husband is loyal Bushie Dan Senor.

NYT Public Editor: NYT Screwed Up Perlstein Coverage

The Perlstein book smears were obvious even to a layman, and the major media, like the Times, that enabled those smears should be ashamed. 

Kudos to the Public Editor for addressing the issue, but this never should have happened. 

Thanks for Nothing

"Yes, the claim was "out there" but so are smears of all kinds as well as claims that the earth is flat and that climate change is unfounded. This one comes from the author of a book on the same subject with an opposing political orientation. By taking it seriously, The Times conferred a legitimacy on the accusation it would not otherwise have had. And while it is true that Mr. Perlstein and his publisher were given plenty of opportunity to respond, that doesn't help much. It's as if The Times is saying: Here's an accusation; here's a denial; and, heck, we don't really know. We're staying out of it. Readers frequently complain to me about this he said, she said false equivalency — and for good reason. So I'm with the critics. The Times article amplified a damaging accusation of plagiarism without establishing its validity and doing so in a way that is transparent to the reader. The standard has to be higher."

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/08/12/thanks-for-nothing-2/

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The Real Campbell Brown …

Is a shill for the right wing and a Republican.  And if course get husband is the right wing GOP operator Dan Senor. 

The travesty is the way these people present themselves as non-partisan or Democrats to fool people about their objectives. 

Groups Slam Campbell Brown's Republican Registration

""The Real Campbell Brown has trouble telling the truth, and now she's been caught in another lie. She's a Republican with close ties to conservative Wall Street leaders, and has zero credibility on education. In my more than 10 years of advocating for equitable education funding, she's been silent. I've never heard her fight to improve public schools or help vulnerable kids," Zakiyah Ansari, advocacy director of the Alliance for Quality Education, told the Observer. The two groups are behind the "Real Campbell Brown" campaign, an aggressive operation aimed at highlighting Ms. Campbell's ties to conservative causes in an otherwise liberal, overwhelmingly Democratic city. Ms. Brown, who the city Board of Elections database shows is registered as a Republican, said through a spokesperson that she is a "lifelong independent" who has registered as a Democrat and a Republican in the past to vote in city primaries, and has given political donations only to Democrats. The spokesperson also said Ms. Brown is now not registered in a party, a fact that could not be immediately and independently confirmed."

http://observer.com/2014/08/groups-slam-campbell-browns-republican-registration/

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Gambling Our Way To Prosperity!

NJ edition. While this highlights one of the failures of Chris Christie, there is a more important broader point. 

As more and more casinos pop up around the region, they are going to cannibalize existing casinos. These are not sure fire investments. And they are a terrible use of public funds. 

Doesn't anyone in power have better economic development ideas than casinos and sports stadiums or Xanadu?

Heckuva Job

"ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City's Revel Casino Hotel says it will shut down in September after failing to find a buyer in bankruptcy court. The company announced the move Tuesday, saying it would close its doors Sept. 10. The $2.4 billion casino opened just over two years ago, and never turned a profit."

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2014/08/heckuva-job.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FbRuz+%28Eschaton%29

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Even The Liberal New York Times

Your occasional reminder that the NYT enabled the Bush torture regime for many years. 

In addition, of course, to enabling the Iraq war and suppressing its own domestic spying reporting until after the 2004 election.  And that's what passes for a "liberal" paper in our glorious republic. 

Speaking of journamalism

Speaking of journamalism by digby Last week I noted that the New York Times has belatedly changed their policy and is now calling torture by it's true name --- torture. But FAIR has some interestin…

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/speaking-of-journamalism.html

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Wanker of the Year

Torture apologist, closet Republican and alleged journalist Ron Fournier. 

Both the torture AND the lying must be punished. 

The Village and mortal sin (Yes, torture *is* patriotic)

"I'd like to see a poll with this question: "Do you believe it it worse that the government tortured people or that they lied about torturing people?" I don't know how the American people would respond to that. But I know what is worse: the fucking torture is worse. "

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-village-and-mortal-sin-yes-torture.html

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The CIA and The Culture of Impunity, Part Infinity

When will anyone be held accountable for the repeated lies and coverups?  When will anyone be prosecuted for the illegal torture?

Failure to prosecute obvious war crimes is rotting our society and culture from within. 

Shared from the Digg iPhone app:
So what's in the Torture Report? Well, I can't quote from it, because the intelligence community and the White House have done such a good job of delaying its public release (although a redacted version is widely rumored to be coming soon). But by all accounts, the report not only discloses abuse that was more brutal, systematic and widespread than generally recognized, but also chronicles how the people most intimately involved in the torture regime lied to others inside the CIA, lied to Justice Department lawyers, and lied to the public; how they lied about what they were doing, they lied to make it sound like it accomplished something, and afterwards, they lied some more. Brennan reportedly told Feinstein and intelligence committee vice chairman Saxby Chambliss on Tuesday that he was sorry. But it's hardly the first time he's been caught in the act. There was, for instance, that time in June 2011, when he was President Obama's counter-terrorism advisor, that he asserted that over the previous year there had not been a single collateral death from drone strikes. (He later amended that to say there was no "credible evidence" of such deaths.) But there was indeed ample and credible evidence. (Just as one example, a March 2011 CIA drone attack in Pakistan killed some 50 people, including tribal elders who were gathered for a tribal conclave.) Brennan's erstwhile boss, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, famously lied when he assured the Senate intelligence committee that the government wasn't collecting data on Americans in bulk when, as it turns out, it was. Lying, of course, has always been a problem in Washington. But especially after the 9/11 terror attacks, the Bush-Cheney regime took lying to new post-Nixon heights. Maybe even pre-Nixon. When I sat down to write my last "White House Watch" column for the Washington Post, what struck me most about the Bush years were the lies. The most consequential, of course, were the lies about the war. The most telling were the lies to cover up the lies about the war. And the most grotesque were the lies about torture. The other thing is that there were no consequences. No one got in trouble for lying. The only semi-casualty was Scooter Libby, briefly convicted of lying while obstructing the investigation into vice president Cheney's lies.

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/31/lying/

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Wanker of the Day

David Frum.  Meritocracy!

David Frum Axes Evil (or So He Thought)

"As I noted elsewhere, Michael Shaw's always-excellent BagNewsNotes today took apart David Frum's multiple claims--eight times, I think--that the NYT and Reuters had faked photos showing some severe suffering in Gaza.  Frum now says he is looking into, and sure to apologize any minute.  I pointed out earlier that Frum's source was same clown I exposed a few days back for claiming that the viral video showing a young Gaza man shot by a sniper was totally faked.  The young man's father had claimed his body at the morgue.  Now read this piece based on an interview with the perp.  Almost feel sorry for him, he is a kind of tragic figure.  Almost."

http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2014/07/david-frum-axes-evil-or-so-he-thought.html

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High Times

It's long past due. 

The New York Times Endorses Legal Weed

"In addition to pointing out that pot is fairly harmless, especially when compared to alcohol or tobacco, the editorial cited "the social costs" of today's hundreds of thousands of marijuana arrests — which, it noted, "[fall] disproportionately on young black men" — as the main reason to change the law. "There are no perfect answers to people's legitimate concerns about marijuana use. But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization," the Times declared."

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/new-york-times-endorses-legal-weed.html

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Weekend Subway Service Advisories, G-pocalypse Edition

The G-pocalypse begins.  

The local:

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 26 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, July 28, F trains will run local in Queens due to CPM signal modernization at Forest Hills-71 Av and Kew Gardens-Union Tpke, and CPM track tie renewal at 65 St

Beginning 10:30 p.m. Friday, July 25, until 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 2, G trains are suspended between Long Island City-Court Sq and Nassau Av due to MOW Fix & Fortify Sandy Recovery Work in the Greenpoint Tube. Transfer out-of-system (with MetroCard) between the Broadway G station and Lorimer St JM stations. Free shuttle buses provide alternate service along two routes:

• Via Manhattan Av between Nassau Av and Court Sq, stopping at Greenpoint Av and 21 St.
• Via McGuinness Blvd between Lorimer St L and Court Sq, stopping near G stations at Nassau Av, Greenpoint Av, and 21 St.

And the big picture:

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2014/07/25/g-train-shutdown-beings-as-weekend-work-affects-xx-subway-lines/

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Common Sense

Lost in the militarization of police work: common sense.

Tasers are part of the problem not the solution

"The thrust of this piece is the fact that too many police officers are losing their common sense. A good cop will know when to exert her authority and will understand that it's not necessary in every interaction. It's not the only thing they have to work with --- psychology, patience and compassion are also necessary tools in their arsenal. The militarization of police departments --- this us against them attitude --- is turning them from public servants into occupying soldiers. It's a problem. "

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/tasers-are-part-of-problem-not-solution.html

Tasing people, pepper-spraying people, the indiscriminate corralling and detainment of protesters - all these are part of the problem.

The Worst Place In NYC

The Port Authority Bus Terminal.  A soul-crushing pit of despair that gradually saps the life from all those who pass through its halls, with an absurdly Byzantine layout that is the polar opposite of user friendly.  This $90M is certainly welcome, but the functional equivalent of Bactine on a Komodo dragon bite.

At PABT, a $90 million bandaid for a gaping wound

"The exact details of the investments will be unveiled at a Port Authority board meeting in September, but PA officials let slip some details surrounding the plans. According to Foye, the bus terminal will see an improved heating and air conditioning system, better cellphone and wireless service and a more aggressive outreach program for the homeless New Yorkers who, for better or worse, call the bus terminal home. The bathrooms too may see some upgrades. Ultimately and unfortunately, it's insulting to pigs to say this is putting lipstick on a pig. The Port Authority Bus Terminal, simply speaking, is an embarrassment and likely an impediment to more transit service in New York City. People eschew buses because trying to travel through the terminal is a singularly unpleasant experience. But something is better than nothing. At some point, the Port Authority will have to make some tough decisions with regards to its bus terminal. The agency estimates that it could take 10-15 years and at least $1 billion to replace the thing (though a future replacement could include lucrative air rights and development upward). For now, we get air conditioning and some better cell service. I guess that's forward progress, but it sure ain't reinventing something that sorely needs to be reinvented."

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2014/07/24/at-pabt-a-90-million-bandaid-for-a-gaping-wound/

I love this city, and I hate every moment I ever have to spend in the PABT.  Fortunately those moments come very infrequently.

The Death Penalty Is Institutionalized Brutality

Let's not pretend otherwise.

Executions Should Be by Firing Squad, Federal Appeals Court Judge Says

"Using drugs meant for individuals with medical needs to carry out executions is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and beautiful — like something any one of us might experience in our final moments," U.S. 9th Circuit Court Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote in a dissent in the Arizona death penalty case of Joseph Rudolph Wood III. "But executions are, in fact, brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality. Nor should we. If we as a society want to carry out executions, we should be willing to face the fact that the state is committing a horrendous brutality on our behalf."

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-na-nn-arizona-execution-kozinski-20140723-story.html

I'm opposed to the death penalty.  To the extent we still have one, this business of lethal drug cocktails is sophistry.  Institutional, state-sponsored murder is murder.  There is more dignity and humanity in a gunshot to the back of the head than in this falsely clinical approach.  Putting on scrubs does not turn an executioner into a medic, nor does it change poison into medicine.  Who are we trying to kid?