Dear friends,
I hate to start the day talking about the likes of Madison Cawthorn, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, and Lauren Boebert, but my teacher-self knows that we cannot tolerate bullying and threats.
Omar responded with her usual moral clarity:
“Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t funny and shouldn’t be normalized. Congress can’t be a place where hateful and dangerous Muslims tropes get no condemnation.”
Boebert and her fellow buffoons — for they are unserious about legislating — are creating a climate of fear among legislators. As you may recall, last week, Cawthorn, Gaetz, and Gosar, tripped over themselves to invite Kyle Rittenhouse to accept a Congressional internship. Historian Joanne Freeman has noted that the relentless bullying is designed to silence and intimidate political opponents.
Some of it is playing to an audience. Depending on how it’s acted out and the language that’s used and the posturing that’s taken by the members of Congress, it’s deliberately intended to rile up Americans, which it does. That kind of violence can encourage violence, intensify political rhetoric [and] seemingly justify extremism and violence. It has an impact on the public.
Freeman notes that even when there are punishments like censure and expulsion, the base may reward the perpetrators. Nonetheless, it is incumbent upon those in Congress to address the behavior.
Contact your Congressional Representative and let them know that Boebert, Cawthorn, Gaetz, and Gosar have to face consequences for their bullying and threats. There is a ready-made message.
I’m keeping it close to home this morning, with some NYS/NYC actions.
There is new legislation under consideration in NYS to expand access to permits for street vendors, in order to decriminalize work that is an important part of the fabric of the city, especially as more commerce has moved outdoors during the pandemic. Street vendors are part of what is sometimes called the informal workforce, even though they may work long, regular hours.
Their workplaces are inside homes or out on the streets and sidewalks; they are everywhere and yet they are overlooked, forgotten, ignored.
There are about 2 billion informal workers worldwide. They make up more than 60% of all the world’s workforce, and 90% of workers in developing countries. One in five workers in the U.S. is employed informally.
Last summer, it seemed that the police were issuing fewer tickets to vendors, but by September, ticketing was on the rise. As with immigration law, the laws that apply to street vendors are based on a disingenuous premise: we depend on these businesses, but we make it impossible for folks to obtain the permits that our laws require, thereby placing the workers in needless jeopardy.
Ask your state senator and representative to co-sponsor the bills A5081A/S1175A. There is a sample message provided.
A while back, I undertook an educational initiative in response to Eric Adams’s obsession with cryptocurrency. I found his interest in crypto insidious and ill-advised.
As it turns out, Adams and his partner flew to the SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico earlier this month on the private plane of Brock Pierce, a bitcoin billionaire. Adams had publicly insisted that he flew to San Juan
on “my dollar, my dime and my time.”
My quick research put a price-tag on each one-way flight at $38,000 per person, which means that Adams accepted a gift from Brock valued at roughly $150,000.
Adams himself has called money the “enemy of politics” and voiced support for complete public financing of campaigns. He has also correctly noted that
“Black candidates for office are often held to a higher, unfair standard — especially those from lower-income backgrounds such as myself.”
His support for crypto seems to be generated under the influence of pricey gifts. It does not square with his promise to “lead by example on climate change.”
Educate Adams about cryptocurrency. There’s an updated message and he really needs to hear from all of us!
According to city numbers, more than a thousand incarcerated people, about twenty percent of the city’s jail population, are being held in jail for misdemeanors and non-violent felony accusations.
This is especially important as a new Covid variant appears to be crossing national borders at an alarming rate.
Contact your District Attorney and add your voice!
At the same time, correction officers are way behind on their suicide-prevention training, with just 2,400 of the 8,800 COs having completed their required refresher training in the last year. This is of particular concern because
53% of [the population of city jails] have a mental health diagnosis and 16.5% have a serious mental health diagnosis.”
Fortunately, it is a myth that suicides increase during the holiday season.
Support Envision Freedom Fund, formerly known as the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund.
There are a number of reasons that the CCRB lacks teeth when it comes to reining in police misconduct.
Three of the board’s 15 members are appointed by the police commissioner. One of the NYPD designees serves on every panel overseeing complaints, and the police commissioner has final say over whether officers face discipline.
While the proposed legislation, Int 2440-2021, does not address the most serious of these defects, it would allow the CCRB to respond to events reported on Twitter, often with accompanying video evidence.
It would also require that the Police Department’s early intervention system collect and utilize the results of CCRB-initiated complaints and the results of all CCRB investigations of CCRB-initiated complaints.
With the mayor-elect due to appoint the next police commissioner, it seems like a good time to call attention to the role of the CCRB and to strengthen its hand in any way possible.
Contact your city council representative and ask them to support Int 2440-2021.
Have a great day!
with love,
L