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newyorkthegoldenage · 6 months

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He was defeated in his bid to become president, but Governor Al Smith still graciously congratulated Franklin D. Roosevelt after the younger man was elected to succeed him as New York governor, November 8, 1928.

Photo: Associated Press

#vintage New York #1920s #Franklin D. Roosevelt #Al Smith #election #FDR #politics #Nov. 8 #8 Nov.#vintage NYC #defeat #1928 election #NY state politics #successor

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workersolidarity · 24 days

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🇺🇲 🚨

SIX DRUMS FILLED WITH TOXIC CHEMICALS DEPOSITED BY NORTHROP GRUMMAN FOUND BURIED IN CANCER-PLAGUED LONG ISLAND TOWN

📹 Six 55-gallon drums filled with toxic chemicals, and encased in concrete coffins, some broken, were found buried under Bethpage Community Park in cancer-plagued Bethpage, a town on Long Island in New York State, which was deposited by U.S. military contractor Northrop Grumman.

Previously, the town of Bethpage had to contend with a 6-square mile toxic plume of hazardous waste resulting from Northrop Grumman's dumping of chemicals underground in the area.

At least one of the 55-gallon drums was found punctured, and some contained flammable chemicals.

The drums were found buried just 4-feet underground, underneath the Park's baseball field which was previously abandoned more than 20 years ago due to concerns over soil contamination.

According to a report in New York Post, a layer of clay was found under the drums, where authorities believe chemicals could have seeped into the ground.

Oyster Bay Supervisor, Joseph Saladino, called on authorities with New York's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to clean up the park by collecting all the contaminated soil and removing it from Long Island. The community's tax payers previously paid $20 million to clean up the site to allow local residents to use the Park's skating rink.

Saladino also filed a lawsuit against Northrup Grumman 10 years ago to reimburse the community's costs for the cleanup, while a new lawsuit was filed in December to order the further cleanup and removal of the toxic soil.

Local residents have been complaining of higher cancer rates in their community for years, arguing that surrounding communities have far lower rates to their own, while the DEC claimed the discovery posed "no immediate threat to public health."

Still, local residents say they're fed-up, continueing to call for the immediate removal of toxic substances, along with demands for a full soil excavation in the park.

“I’ve had it. I’ve had it. I’ve been working on this for over 20 years as a New York state Assembly member and now as the supervisor of the fourth-largest town in America and I’m not going to sit by idly,” Saladino is quoted as saying.

Northrop Grumman, for its part, said it continues to work with the DEC to address the situation.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

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captainjonnitkessler · 1 year

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Yesterday my coworker was telling me about how our former coworker moved to Florida to avoid the cold weather and I was like “oof, what a pay cut though”. Because unions in the south are pretty weak and I know for a fact that Florida in particular pays absolute shit for our union.

And he spent five minutes telling me all about how Actually, the cost of living there is so much lower, and Actually Florida doesn’t have state income tax, and Actually New York fucks you over so much in taxes, and Actually we’re the lowest-paid local in New York anyway, so Actually moving to Florida would be a great financial decision, because Actually Florida is a Bastion of Freedom safe from the Liberal Elites who only want to squander your hard-earned tax dollars.

Bestie after you adjust for cost of living every single local in Florida save one is making $15 an hour less than we are in base pay and an additional $5-$10 less in benefits, and I promise you NYS is not taxing us $15/hour. Half of the Florida locals don’t even have pensions??? It is so, so easy to find this information. Pull your head out of your ass. Stop being a Republican. Republicans are actively and intentionally destroying unions. You cannot claim to care about unions and workers and also be a Republican.

And it’s ironic because it’s like . . . the exact same logic people use to disparage unions in the first place. “Oh sure, the pay is higher but they take it all in [dues/taxes]!” When the pay raise is ten times higher than the cost of dues or taxes. Back-of-the-envelope math is that moving to Florida would cost me about $30,000 in pay cuts and save me $5,600 in taxes. Please. The math isn’t that hard.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, this is just a vent post because I am so fucking sick of listening to union members talk about how they’re gonna move down south to escape the evils of the Liberal Shitholes they think they’re stuck in. Fuck, New York has done more to improve worker’s rights in the last ten years than my actual fucking local has (but that’s a gripe for another time).

#red states: score worse than blue states in every available metric of health prosperity and happiness #republicans: that's what freedom looks like!#also like . . . nys tax for our tax bracket isn't really that high comparatively #like buddy we are not making a million dollars a year. calm down #and if we WERE we'd be well able to afford slightly higher taxes #construction #labor rights #us politics

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drbtinglecannon · 20 days

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Just doing a last minute reminder to fellow usamericans to file your taxes before April 17th 2024, with a high recommendation you use the IRS free filing or one of the affiliate programs they have if you make less than 79k a year (because the more people use it the better, fuck Inuit TurboTax & H&R Block)

You will need to make an ID.me account which isn't really any more difficult than making any other login (you will need your SSN tho), but the filing itself was so simple it took me no time at all and was way faster than using TurboTax because the IRS site doesn't waste a bunch of time doing needless animations to "show your progress" while filing

I filed my taxes a week ago and I've already gotten both my federal and state returns direct deposited. I've never gotten my returns so quickly, it has never been so easy to file, and if people continue to use this service from the IRS it'll only get better.

Also important things to remember with tax season! The IRS will never call you with an automated response about your taxes, those are scam calls just ignore them, and if you do make a mistake while filing don't worry too much because the IRS will just quietly fix your return and either mail you the check/bill or direct deposit it. Happy filing! You got this!

#the irs free filing is only available for 12 states rn as it's rolling out: AZ CA FL MA NV NH NY SD TN TX WA & WY #if you live in one of those states & make less than 79k I cannot recommend using it enough. I did free filing with the affiliate programs #through the IRS the last two years and while they are still way better than turbotax the IRS' program was by far the quickest and in a week #I got both returns. if you don't live in one of those 12 states I still recommend the affiliate programs cuz they are guaranteed to be free #& are just as user friendly as turbotax. the more people move away from tt & h&r block the better cuz those companies are the biggest #lobbyists against the IRS just fucking sending us a bill/check every year instead of us filing this shit ourselves. fuck those companies #tax season #irs free file #american politics #I know bigger blogs have already talked about this but the deadline is coming up! get your refunds!

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softpastelqueer · 2 years

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If I see any white person doing the whole “don’t tell us to vote” or “this is proof voting is useless” I will clock them upside their head

WHITE WOMEN AND WHITE MEN BOTH VOTED FOR REPUBLICANS

So, yes, if you’re white, then you need to get your ass out there and vote in primaries and general elections instead of whining about politics online

ALSO HARASS WHITE MEN UNDER 30 TO VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS

They’re the only under 30 group to STILL support Republicans

#I’m so tired of white centrists #politics isn’t a game #not every state has been controlled by Dems like cali or NY #most states have a Republican trifecta #I don’t have a SINGLE dem representing me local state or federal #and I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that #also stop telling poc to vote they are the only reliably anti Republican votes #you need to harass your white friends and white family members instead #sorry for my rant #rant

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withbriefthanksgiving · 6 months

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The director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN (UN OHCHR), Craig Mokhiber, has resigned in a letter dated 28 October 2023

the resignation letter can be found embedded in this tweet by Rami Atari (@.Raminho) dated 31 October 2023.

The letters are here:

Transcription:

United Nations | Nations Unies

HEADQUARTERS I SIEGE I NEW YORK, NY 10017

28 October 2023

Dear High Commissioner,

This will be my last official communication to you as Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

I write at a moment of great anguish for the world, including for many of our colleagues. Once again, we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes, and the Organization that we serve appears powerless to stop it. As someone who has investigated human rights in Palestine since the 1980s, lived in Gaza as a UN human rights advisor in the 1990s, and carried out several human rights missions to the country before and since, this is deeply personal to me.

I also worked in these halls through the genocides against the Tutsis, Bosnian Muslims, the Yazidi, and the Rohingya. In each case, when the dust settled on the horrors that had been perpetrated against defenseless civilian populations, it became painfully clear that we had failed in our duty to meet the imperatives of prevention of mass atrocites, of protection of the vulnerable, and of accountability for perpetrators. And so it has been with successive waves of murder and persecution against the Palestinians throughout the entire life of the UN.

High Commissioner, we are failing again.

As a human rights lawyer with more than three decades of experience in the field, I know well that the concept of genocide has often been subject to political abuse. But the current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs, and coupled with explicit statements of intent by leaders in the Israeli government and military, leaves no room for doubt or debate. In Gaza, civilian homes, schools, churches, mosques, and medical institutions are wantonly attacked as thousands of civilians are massacred. In the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, homes are seized and reassigned based entirely on race, and violent settler pogroms are accompanied by Israeli military units. Across the land, Apartheid rules.

This is a text-book case of genocide. The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine. What's more, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, are wholly complicit in the horrific assault. Not only are these governments refusing to meet their treaty obligations "to ensure respect" for the Geneva Conventions, but they are in fact actively arming the assault, providing economic and intelligence support, and giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel's atrocities.

Volker Turk, High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais Wilson, Geneva

In concert with this, western corporate media, increasingly captured and state-adjacent, are in open breach of Article 20 of the ICCPR, continuously dehumanizing Palestinians to facilitate the genocide, and broadcasting propaganda for war and advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, and violence. US-based social media companies are suppressing the voices of human rights defenders while amplifying pro-Israel propaganda. Israel lobby online-trolls and GONGOS are harassing and smearing human rights defenders, and western universities and employers are collaborating with them to punish those who dare to speak out against the atrocities. In the wake of this genocide, there must be an accounting for these actors as well, just as there was for radio Mules Collins in Rwanda.

In such circumstances, the demands on our organization for principled and effective action are greater than ever. But we phave not met the challenge. The protective enforcement power Security Council has again been blocked by US intransigence, the SG [UN Secretary General] is under assault for the mildest of protestations, and our human rights mechanisms are under sustained slanderous attack by an organized, online impunity network.

Decades of distraction by the illusory and largely disingenuous promises of Oslo have diverted the Organization from its core duty to defend international law, international human rights, and the Charter itself. The mantra of the "two-state solution" has become an open joke in the corridors of the UN, both for its utter impossibility in fact, and for its total failure to account for the inalienable human rights of the Palestinian people. The so-called "Quartet" has become nothing more than a fig leaf for inaction and for subservience to a brutal status quo. The (US-scripted) deference to "agreements between the parties themselves" (in place of international law) was always a transparent slight-of-hand, designed to reinforce the power of Israel over the rights of the occupied and dispossessed Palestinians.

High Commissioner, I came to this Organization first in the 1980s, because I found in it a principled, norm-based institution that was squarely on the side of human rights, including in cases where the powerful US, UK, and Europe were not on our side. While my own government, its subsidiarity institutions, and much of the US media were still supporting or justifying South African apartheid, Israeli oppression, and Central American death squads, the UN was standing up for the oppressed peoples of those lands. We had international law on our side. We had human rights on our side. We had principle on our side. Our authority was rooted in our integrity. But no more.

In recent decades, key parts of the UN have surrendered to the power of the US, and to fear of the Israel Lobby, to abandon these principles, and to retreat from international law itself. We have lost a lot in this abandonment, not least our own global credibility. But the Palestinian people have sustained the biggest losses as a result of our failures. It is a stunning historic irony that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in the same year that the Nakba was perpetrated against the Palestinian people. As we commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the UDHR, we would do well to abandon the old cliché that the UDHR was born out of the atrocities that proceeded it, and to admit that it was born alongside one of the most atrocious genocides of the 20th Century, that of the destruction of Palestine. In some sense, the framers were promising human rights to everyone, except the Palestinian people. And let us remember as well, that the UN itself carries the original sin of helping to facilitate the dispossession of the Palestinian people by ratifying the European settler colonial project that seized Palestinian land and turned it over to the colonists. We have much for which to atone.

But the path to atonement is clear. We have much to learn from the principled stance taken in cities around the world in recent days, as masses of people stand up against the genocide, even at risk of beatings and arrest. Palestinians and their allies, human rights defenders of every stripe, Christian and Muslim organizations, and progressive Jewish voices saying "not in our name", are all leading the way. All we have to do is to follow them.

Yesterday, just a few blocks from here, New York's Grand Central Station was completely taken over by thousands of Jewish human rights defenders standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demanding an end to Israeli tyranny (many risking arrest, in the process). In doing so, they stripped away in an instant the Israeli hasbara propaganda point (and old antisemitic trope) that Israel somehow represents the Jewish people. It does not. And, as such, Israel is solely responsible for its crimes. On this point, it bears repeating, in spite of Israel lobby smears to the contrary, that criticism of Israel's human rights violations is not antisemitic, any more than criticism of Saudi violations is Islamophobic, criticism of Myanmar violations is anti-Buddhist, or criticism of Indian violations is anti-Hindu. When they seek to silence us with smears, we must raise our voice, not lower it. I trust you will agree, High Commissioner, that this is what speaking truth to power is all about.

But I also find hope in those parts of the UN that have refused to compromise the Organization's human rights principles in spite of enormous pressures to do so. Our independent special rapporteurs, commissions of enquiry, and treaty body experts, alongside most of our staff, have continued to stand up for the human rights of the Palestinian people, even as other parts of the UN (even at the highest levels) have shamefully bowed their heads to power. As the custodians of the human rights norms and standards, OHCHR. has a particular duty to defend those standards. Our job, I believe, is to make our voice heard, from the Secretary-General to the newest UN recruit, and horizontally across the wider UN system, incisting that the human rights of the Palestinian people are not up for debate, negotiation, or compromise anywhere under the blue flag.

What, then, would a UN-norm-based position look like? For what would we work if we were true to our rhetorical admonitions about human rights and equality for all, accountability for perpetrators, redress for victims, protection of the vulnerable, and empowerment for rights-holders, all under the rule of law? The answer, I believe, is simple—if we have the clarity to see beyond the propagandistic smokescreens that distort the vision of justice to which we are sworn, the courage to abandon fear and deference to powerful states, and the will to truly take up the banner of human rights and peace. To be sure, this is a long-term project and a steep climb. But we must begin now or surrender to unspeakable horror. I see ten essential points:

Legitimate action: First, we in the UN must abandon the failed (and largely disingenuous) Oslo paradigm, its illusory two-state solution, its impotent and complicit Quartet, and its subjugation of international law to the dictates of presumed political expediency. Our positions must be unapologetically based on international human rights and international law.

Clarity of Vision: We must stop the pretense that this is simply a conflict over land or religion between two warring parties and admit the reality of the situation in which a disproportionately powerful state is colonizing, persecuting, and dispossessing an indigenous population on the basis of their ethnicity.

One State based on human rights: We must support the establishment of a single, democratic, secular state in all of historic Palestine, with equal rights for Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and, therefore, the dicmantling of the deeply racist, settler-colonial project and an end to apartheid across the land.

Fighting Apartheid: We must redirect all UN efforts and resources to the struggle against apartheid, just as we did for South Africa in the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s.

Return and Compensation: We must reaffirm and insist on the right to return and full compensation for all Palestinians and their families currently living in the occupied territories, in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and in the diaspora across the globe.

Truth and Justice: We must call for a transitional justice process, making full use of decades of accumulated UN investigations, enquiries, and reports, to document the truth, and to ensure accountability for all perpetrators, redress for all victims, and remedies for documented injustices.

Protection: We must press for the deployment of a well-resourced and strongly mandated UN protection force with a sustained mandate to protect civilians from the river to the sea.

Disarmament: We must advocate for the removal and destruction of Israel's massive stockpiles of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, lest the conflict lead to the total destruction of the region and, possibly, beyond.

Mediation: We must recognize that the US and other western powers are in fact not credible mediators, but rather actual parties to the conflict who are complicit with Israel in the violation of Palestinian rights, and we must engage them as such.

Solidarity: We must open our doors (and the doors of the SG) wide to the legions of Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian human rights defenders who are standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their human rights and stop the unconstrained flow of Israel lobbyists to the offices of UN leaders, where they advocate for continued war, persecution, apartheid, and impunity, and smear our human rights defenders for their principled defense of Palestinian rights.

This will take years to achieve, and western powers will fight us every step of the way, so we must be steadfast. In the immediate term, we must work for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the longstanding siege on Gaza, stand up against the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank (and elsewhere), document the genocidal assault in Gaza, help to bring massive humanitarian aid and reconstruction to the Palestinians, take care of our traumatized colleagues and their families, and fight like hell for a principled approach in the UN's political offices.

The UN's failure in Palestine thus far is not a reason for us to withdraw. Rather it should give us the courage to abandon the failed paradigm of the past, and fully embrace a more principled course. Let us, as OHCHR, boldly and proudly join the anti-apartheid movement that is growing all around the world, adding our logo to the banner of equality and human rights for the Palestinian people. The world is watching. We will all be accountable for where we stood at this crucial moment in history. Let us stand on the side of justice.

I thank you, High Commissioner, Volker, for hearing this final appeal from my desk. I will leave the Office in a few days for the last time, after more than three decades of service. But please do not hesitate to reach out if I can be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,

Craig Mokhiber

End of transcription.

Emphasis (bolding) is my own. I have added links, where relevant, to explanations of concepts the former Director refers to.

#Israel #Palestine #October 2023 #28 October 2023 #United Nations #Described #Long post #I’ll add more links to the things he is talking about later

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resdayn · 9 months

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Can't believe people in the notes of the SB 1782 post are saying shit like "you guys really think Illinois could make GOOD laws?"

Here's just a few laws that Illinois has passed recently:

Guaranteed free school lunch statewide for K-12 (HB 2471)

Codified right to grow your own food on your property (HB 0633)

Capped price of insulin at $35 with insurance (HB 2189)

Prohibited libraries and future laws from banning books (HB 2789)

Blocked police from using license plate readers to track abortion patients (HB 3326)

Includes AI deepfakes and 'digitally altered images' under laws banning revenge porn (HB 2123)

Requires insurance to cover prosthetics for maximizing full body function (SB 2195)

Eliminated cash bail (HB 3653, Amends SAFE-T Act)

Illinois is already an extremely strong blue state and getting more blue by the day. It's also been a safe haven in the Midwest for trans healthcare and abortion access amidst the surrounding sea of red states.

#illinois #us politics #trans healthcare #abortion access #prosthetics #cash bail #my posts #ask to tag #these aren't even the most recent OR most impactful laws il has passed. we're just that good #also. illinois is the only state in the US to eliminate cash bail.#not even CA or NY has done that. wonder why

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qqueenofhades · 1 year

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Welp, Democrats are taking a pretty good shellacking in New York State House races. It is pretty clear that Cuomo was a disaster for far more reasons than being a pervert, and the state-level party needs to take a good hard look at itself and do some reforms asap.

#hilary for ts #politics for ts #i mean if new york and fucking florida are the democratic problems #they still had a pretty good night considering #and hochul (gov) schumer (sen) and james (AG) all won re-election #but moderate establishment dems are getting creamed unfortunately #cuomo fucked a lot of things up literally and this needs a revamp #NY is a blue state and should not be this disappointing

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stephanie568 · 1 year

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So apparently the governor of NY (least my parents said it was the gov) wants to ban masks because of some bank robber. I shouldn't have to tell you all that this is a bad idea, can someone make a petition to help stop this ban? I'd do it myself but I have no idea about how to do it.

#NY politics #NY state #Mask ban #This ban is just plain stupid #Hopefully it doesn't happen #United States

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auroraluciferi · 1 year

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I feel George Santos is eventually going to burn for being possibly the dumbest asshole ever elected to the US House of Representatives, but if I am forced to see another article about him I may lose it

this is ultimately what you get supporting career charlatans and politicians like Donald Trump

so many people see Trump and go “oh wow - I too can be a spoiled, compulsive liar and get elected to Congress or the Judiciary or the White House for doing jack shit my entire life and then lying about everything else.”

one amazing thing about George Santos is that it is not currently illegal for House candidates to just lie about everything on their resume

as far as US law and the FEC is concerned, if you are elected by voters for saying anything you want regardless of evidence, That’s Just Democracy Baby

the other important thing to note about all this is that NY Democrats have long had full access to everything journalists are now unearthing about Santos, and did nothing to oppose his race

and as a direct result this lying dickhead has been elected to the most powerful legislature on the planet

well done

#2023 #us #united states #congress #politics #george santos #donald trump #house of representatives #democracy #republican #republicans #GOP #democrat #democrats #NY #corruption

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toshootforthestars · 1 year

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