16 MARCH 24 - MARCH 30, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP “NEW YORK CITY’S BEST” The members of the New York City Emergency Services system (known as “New York City’s Best”) do what is o en a dangerous job with some of the lowest pay, worst hours, most di cult work conditions and least amount of recognition of any city uniformed service worker. Now a division of the FDNY, for most of its history, it was a separate service. Back in 1996, the city reorganized to take EMS out of the Health and Hospitals Corporation and place them it the Fire Department which helped raise the morale of the service and provided a stronger voice for those who ride the “trucks.” Most often, the dangers involve aiding and transporting emotionally disturbed individuals or reporting to an active crime or fi re scene. Other times, it could be high risk fi eld contact with a serious pathogen. It could be as simple as fl ying through tra c in response to a call. And, as we saw last week, an ambulance crew could become victims of a criminal with a long record who had no business being on the streets. Jose Gonzalez, age 25, who has been charged with the death of EMT Yadira Arroya in a most horrifi c incident, was arrested and convicted in several dozen crimes over the past few years. How could a 25-year-old with several dozen convictions be on the streets? Whatever happened to three strikes and you are out? The judicial system is at fault as well as the liberals who keep on telling us repeat o enders deserve another chance. If the prosecutors and judges had not failed us, Yadira Arroya would still be alive, her fi ve children would still have a mother and Yadira’s partner would not be in critical condition as of this writing. May she rest in peace! A speedy recovery to her partner. And prayers for their families. * * * Only a few hours before this tragedy, State Senator Golden (whom I serve as chief of sta ) and I appeared with the President of the EMS union Izzy Miranda and a large number of his members on the steps of City Hall to announce legislation introduced by Senator Golden and Assemblymember Abbate which reforms the mechanisms COMMON SENSE used to establish the legitimacy of an appealed disability pension application for city workers. EMS, Sanitation and Correction employees are in a di erent pension system than police and fi re, and go through a di erent process in order to receive a disability pension. The bottom line is that the system attempts to outlast the applicant with road blocks being placed in the way of an appeal, so that, even when a judge agrees with the application, he or she does not have the ability to act. This simple change gives a judge more authority WE THE PEOPLE BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP • JUNE 5 - JUNE 11, 2014 to make a fi nal decision if he or BY JERRY KASSAR she feels the case has merits. * * * Apparently there was (or is) a move a foot on Staten Island to get former Congressmember Michael Grimm to run for o ce as I mentioned in a column two weeks ago. I was only guessing, although I suppose it shows I have decent political intuition. The Staten Island Advance is reporting that a private poll was conducted which seemed to be focused on people’s views of Grimm and Jimmy Oddo. The Advance interviewed Grimm and others. Grimm would not conirm anything nor would he deny it. You might say he went silent. The Advance then conducted its own unscientifi c survey and found that a relatively small majority who participated thought Grimm should not return to politics. For his part, Staten Island Borough President Oddo did not seem concerned. He feels he has done a good job and that will carry him through any re-election. If the prosecutors and judges had not failed us, Yadira Arroya would still be alive, her ve children would still have a mother and Yadira’s partner would not be in critical condition as of this writing. WHAT’S THE DEAL? Why can’t the Dealmaker-in-Chief discuss issues or deliver facts when his lips are moving? Mr. Trump had a conversation The successor to Harry Truman should put a new sign on the Oval o ce desk that declares, “The buck stops elsewhere.” sit amet, consectetur adipiscing urna in sem ornare blandit velit, volutpat nec vehicula neque. Aliquam semper euismod Pellentesque sem metus, with his obsequious buddy condimentum nec, laoreet at dolor. Sed Tucker Carlson from Fox News and he admitted that he tweeted accusations that President Barack Obama was illegally wiretapping Trump Tower during the election. He admitted that accusations were false. He provided a simple four-word explanation as to why the leader of the free world would spread false accusations consectetur ac, suscipit quis to libel his predecessor. His explanation boils down to this: It’s not my fault. The successor to Harry Truman should put a new sign on the Oval offi ce desk that declares, “The buck stops elsewhere.” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has been struggling to explain the Trump tweets with little success. He attempted to say that Mr. Trump was referring to the Obama administration “broadly” and that the comments were about something other than wiretapping. The excuse is belied by the facts. On Fox News, Mr. Trump used Bret Baier, a Fox News commentator, as his justifi cation for spreading the false wiretapping conspiracy story. Tucker Carlson asked, “Why not wait to tweet about it until you can prove it? Don't you devalue your words when you can't provide evidence?” Mr. Trump delivered a classic enigmatic non-informative reply: “Well, because The New York Times wrote about it ... not that I respect the New York Times, I call it the failing New York Times, but they did write on January 20, using the word 'wiretap'." Why would he base serious accusations on a comment by an alt-right commentator backed up only with a vague reference to the word wiretapping in an article in a newspaper he does not respect? This entire embarrassing and despicable episode is a disservice to WE THE PEOPLE BY BRIAN KERIN WE THE PEOPLE BY BRIAN KERIN honesty but advances the Trumpian agenda of misdirection. He needs attention and investigative resources to be diverted from his ties to Russia. Bill O’Reilly interviewed Baier and asked if there could have been a legitimate reason for a law enforcement agency to have a warrant to conduct wiretapping at Trump Tower. O’Reilly summed it up correctly. “All that matters in this insanity — and that is what it is, insanity – that the president started when he tweeted out that he believed that President Obama tapped him in the Trump Tower ... is whether a FISA warrant was requested.” Baier responded that the only reason he posed a question about a possibility of wiretapping was that he had read a comment in a compilation of public reports assembled by radio host Mark Levin and decided to ask House Speaker Ryan in an interview if he had “heard anything about it” BY BRIAN KIERAN and the speaker did not clearly and defi nitely say "no" to the allegation so the question was le in the interview. That is not a fact. That is not news. When Baier went back to Speaker Ryan about the possibility of wiretapping, he said, no, that is not true. Perhaps Mr. Trump’s love of a good yarn may have prompted selection of Michael Flynn as his National Security Advisor. It turns out that the disgraced former national security advisor has been a paid lobbyist for Russia and Turkey although that was not revealed or tweeted during the confi rmation process. Flynn gained attention by being outspoken and willing to spread conspiracy theories and divisive rhetoric that critics, at the time, warned would create problems by alienating allies and provoking enemies. President Trump — who has been given the responsibility for the security of the nation and the world — should have a fi rmer grip on what's true and what's false. So should the entire cabinet. Hospital situation need of triage College Hospital seems to be destined Victory Memorial Hospital, Peninsula Vincent’s Hospital. proposed plans are short on service to on dollars in the pockets of developers. to believe that, as the city grows, increases prospers, fewer health Do we chain bank on hospitals? the company that wins the proposal be obligated to provide a large facility to compensate for the service hospital it will replace. Congressmember Hakeem Jefferies opportunity to complain that the NYPD low-level marijuana arrests in hinted that this may be an indication Blasio is really not serious about following through on his campaign promises to assure the NYPD scrupulously honors individual citizens civil rights. He stated that the “new administration promised change but instead we get more of the same.” That is not true. The number of arrests for low-level marijuana possession has dropped and NYPD policy is not to force a suspect to display small amounts of pot in order to make an arrest. Governor Cuomo has proposed decriminalizing possession of 15 grams or less of pot whether hidden or in plain view, which would take this controversy and its attendant political baggage off the table. It would be nice to let police offi cers perform their duties instead of being pawns in a political chess game. Mayor de Blasio has fulfi lled an incredible amount of his promises in a very short time. He has imposed the extra protection of an inspector general for the NYPD and signed off on the laws passed by the City Council which may leave police offi cers subject to lawsuits for negligent performance of their duties. He has provided universal pre K without a tax increase. He is settling the outstanding municipal worker contracts neglected by Mike Bloomberg for the next mayor to handle. He is championing Vision Zero to reduce traffi c fatalities to zero. It is unfair to question his commitment to his ideals or to the fulfi llment of his promises. The City Council will pass 11 laws and four resolutions to create a Vision Zero environment for our streets. The new laws provide a lower speed limit for city streets and enhanced penalties for reckless drivers. The state legislature must approve the changes. We also need the state legislature to provide a reasonable number of speed cameras to enforce the new laws. Let us hope that our legislators will work together as a group to see that these changes and improvements are made quickly. Brian Kieran is an attorney who works as a Principal Law Clerk in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Kings County and is a Democrat. dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing sed urna in sem ornare blandit nunc velit, volutpat nec vehicula neque. Aliquam semper euismod luctus. Pellentesque sem metus, condimentum nec, laoreet at dolor. Sed sed consectetur ac, suscipit quis felis tristique. felis Ut erat, rutrum non sapien ullamcorper vulputate id ante. Nulla varius, pulvinar congue euismod, eros odio vulputate nisi elit eu mauris. condimentum, erat eget posuere tellus varius arcu, a rutrum mi Quisque ac massa nunc, id lacinia vitae metus ac lacus fermentum Pellenesque tincidunt ligula non velit tempus orci pretium. Donec facilisis, odio et iaculis iaculis, sem arcu rutrum mi, a vulputate erat lorem porttitor metus. Mauris sagittis interdum feugiat. Fusce laoreet vehicula laoreet. Nam id accumsan magna. Vivamus a felis at lacus tincidunt sodales quis sed nisl. Donec vitae dui purus. Quisque eu nisi eros, et venenatis eros. Proin non lacus orci, eu ultrices tellus. Vestibulum nec nisl magna. Duis tincidunt gravida lorem, a dictum leo imperdiet ut. Sed eu massa in leo eleifend viverra. Proin eros sem, convallis quis adipiscing pulvinar, mattis vel purus. Fusce sapien sem, aliquet vitae tempor sit amet, auctor id ante. Pellentesque vel vestibulum sem. Cras lobortis lorem at lectus pretium feugiat vel quis libero. Praesent consectetur consectetur tortor vitae lacinia. Mauris turpis nisl, rutrum ut condimentum eu, elementum non neque. Vivamus eget vulputate mauris. Vivamus elit tellus, euismod ut condimentum diam, ac malesuada purus ligula nec mauris. Donec eleifend magna non justo fringilla fermentum. Suspendisse potenti. Quisque eros arcu, fringilla a blandit et, pellentesque sit amet risus. Fusce iaculis magna vel felis scelerisque nec suscipit nibh lacinia. Suspendisse potenti. Proin sed interdum justo. Sed sollicitudin tristique suscipit. Sed mattis, odio a imperdiet tempus, orci tortor pellentesque nibh, sit amet aliquet enim magna nec ligula. Curabitur suscipit enim sed metus adipiscing imperdiet. Praesent commodo scelerisque tellus nec ornare. Integer sit amet volutpat turpis. Integer congue condimentum urna, sit amet aliquam ligula mollis sit amet. Maecenas odio quam dapibus lectus sit amet arcu tempor imperdiet. Nullam porttitor posuere mi, fringilla laoreet lorem semper idm ornare congue arcu, non interdum mauris dapibus id. Aenean feugiat ultrices metus a vulputate. Praesent luctus venenatis purus sed viverra. Nulla rhonmentum tortor. Aliquam tincidunt molestie mi, tincidunt vestibulum sem rutrum bibendum. Integer malesuada elit commodo vel vehicula quam ultrices. Sed at massa sed lorem facilisis ultrices. Brian Kieran is a community activist who works Double decked headline fit alloted space “Mayor de Blasio has ful lled an incredible Mayor amount Bloomberg of his promises continues in a very to push short a fantasy time. that, if he had more power, everything would be okay. When so much is at stake, it is not the time to make political statements or play games”. vulputate id ante. Nulla varius, congue euismod, eros odio vulputate nisi elit eu mauris. condimentum, erat eget posuere varius arcu, a rutrum mi Quisque ac massa nunc, id lacinia metus ac lacus fermentum tincidunt ligula non velit vel nibh condimentum eu tempus orci pretium. Donec facilisis, odio et iaculis iaculis, sem arcu rutrum mi, a vulputate erat lorem porttitor metus. Mauris sagittis interdum feugiat. Fusce laoreet vehicula laoreet. Nam id accumsan magna. Vivamus a felis at lacus tincidunt sodales quis sed nisl. Donec vitae dui purus. Quisque eu nisi eros, et venenatis eros. Proin non lacus orci, eu ultrices tellus. Vestibulum nec nisl magna. Duis tincidunt gravida lorem, a dictum leo imperdiet ut. Sed eu massa in leo eleifend viverra. Proin eros sem, convallis quis adipiscing pulvinar, mattis vel purus. Fusce sapien sem, aliquet vitae tempor sit amet, auctor id ante. Pellentesque vel vestibulum sem. Cras lobortis lorem at lectus pretium feugiat vel quis libero. Praesent consectetur consectetur tortor vitae lacinia. Mauris turpis nisl, rutrum ut condimentum eu, elementum non neque. Vivamus eget vulputate mauris. Vivamus elit tellus, euismod ut condimentum vitae, molestie a lectus. Donec molestie, ligula consequat venenatis lobortis, libero eros porttitor diam, ac malesuada purus ligula nec mauris. Donec eleifend magna non justo fringilla fermentum. Suspendisse potenti. Quisque eros arcu, fringilla a blandit et, pellentesque sit amet risus. Fusce iaculis magna vel felis scelerisque nec suscipit nibh lacinia. Suspendisse potenti. Proin sed interdum justo. Sed sollicitudin tristique suscipit. Sed mattis, odio a imperdiet tempus, orci tortor pellentesque nibh, sit amet aliquet enim magna nec ligula. Curabitur suscipit enim sed metus adipiscing imperdiet. Praesent commodo scelerisque tellus nec ornare. Integer sit amet volutpat turpis. Integer congue condimentum urna, sit amet aliquam ligula mollis sit amet. Maecenas odio quam dapibus lectus sit amet arcu tempor imperdiet. Nullam porttitor posuere mi, fringilla laoreet lorem semper idm ornare congue arcu, non interdum mauris dapibus id. Aenean feugiat ultrices metus a vulputate. Praesent luctus venenatis purus sed viverra. Nulla rhonmentum tortor. Aliquam tincidunt molestie mi, tincidunt vestibulum sem rutrum bibendum. Integer malesuada elit commodo vel vehicula quam ultrices. Sed at massa sed lorem facilisis ultrices. Brian Kieran is a community activist who works for the State of New York and is a Democrat. Double decked headline fit alloted space “Mayor Bloomberg continues to push a fantasy that, if he had more power, everything would be okay. When so much is at stake, it is not the time to make political statements or play games”. us never forget BY BRIAN KIERAN
BSM03232017
To see the actual publication please follow the link above