Sunday, May 19, 2013

Vito Lopez is Counting On his New Age Political Machine to Win A Council Seat

Only Bloomberg, Cuomo and Quinn Can Stop Vito Lopez From Become the Next City Councilman

In 1993 the NYT wrote an article about Vito Lopez's New Age Political Machine. Lopez has been using his government funded political machine to get himself and a lot of other politicians elected through the years since.  Lopez's machine the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council is what he is counting on to get himself elected this year to the city council. Lopez's machine employees almost 2000 people in his council district.  Those 2000 people service thousands of other voters in Lopez's council district, especially seniors who vote.

Vito Lopez Uses Government Funds to Run His Machine(True News)

Ridgewood Bushwick has also built with Lopez's political help thousands of low costs apartments for residents in the city council district Lopez is running in. Lopez using his political skills and genius has included powerful pols and even Wall Street Tax Shelters guys in his housing programs not only in Bushiwick but throughout the city and state because of his control of all the housing in Albany and City Hall.  It was Lopez's political power and who he made deals with that has block him from any legal problems.  While others pols were sent to jail for using their member items to help their friends and family.  Lopez also used his government funded machine to help his friends and family, but was for 20 years untouchable because of his political power to elect to office DAs and others who would investigate him.  Only by closing down Lopez's machine the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council or treating to close it if he runs for City Council, can Vito be stopped from becoming the next city councilman. * Vito refuses to pull out of Council race (

Bloomberg Cuomo and Quinn Can Push the Vito Lopez Stop Button for Council
Only Bloomberg, Cuomo and Quinn has to power to cut off funds to Vito Lopez's machine. Quinn's city council charter commission gave him a district he can win in, even after moving his house out of the district.  We expect all the mayoral candidates will also promise to cut the funding to Lopez's machine if they get elected. The Mayor and Governor should do the same now. * Cuomo Spokesperson Calls Vito Lopez's Resignation "Best End To This Ugly Chapter" (NY1)

Vito Lopez Will Get Hasidic Support
Organizer in the Williamsburg Hasidic community: "Lopez should be judged on his record of helping Bklyn communities."

How Vito Lopez's Machine is Still Funded
For all your Vito Lopez backgrounder needs: state contracts with Lopez-connected Ridgewood-Bushwick Council  The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council got $873,589, despite having been under scrutiny from federal and state investigators since a probe found it had submitted fraudulent and questionable claims for taxpayer cash from the city this year. Funding was earmarked by Brooklyn Councilmen Erik Dilan, Steve Levin and Domenic Recchia, plus the borough delegation. (Cartoon NYP)

Vito Lopez's Campaign Funds
Vito Lopez raises more than $38,000 for City Council ru (NYDN) *Pervy pol’s hefty ‘harass’ets(NYP) * "I don't think he is the devil" Donors still backing disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez. Here's why:

PM Update 
As Lopez Is Set to Resign, Scrutiny of Silver Continues(NYT)

6m
.@JudyRapfogel: Buy and destroy every copy of the News. Take away 's office supplies.


Upstate Paper Says Silver Should Go
As soon as they get elected, like it or not, Assembly Democrats basically become Silver's employees

The Journal News  Legislators who are honest — & sickened by Lopez — know that speaking their minds would bring down Silver's wrath * The TU doesn’t believe Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver needs to be ousted in the post-Vito Lopez era – “His errors here were in matters of judgment and degree, not ill intent” – but does think he needs to prove he learned a lesson from this scandal.* The Kingston Daily Freeman disagrees, and calls for Silver to resign his speakership. “Enough is known of this matter to conclude that Sheldon Silver is a big part of the cultural and systemic problem of Albany World.” * Ditto, say The Journal News and the Daily News.

True News Saturday
 If It Fair to Call the Women Lawmakers Sexual Harassment Enablers Who Protect Silver's Leadership Position?
  1. 14m
    Exactly right. Where are the feminist lawmakers, when it seems the legislature is an unsafe workplace for women?
    Have you read series of appalling comments in support of Silver? She puts member items over women's rights

    Daily News Today Wag the Dog
11m
My column today: How boss rule turns the NYS Assembly into an army of enablers One result of the Assembly's stultifying environment is many smart, idealistic & ambitious legislators get out.  Former colleague: Lopez was boorishly mistreating women four decades ago. "Nothing has changed."


1m
Any NY Democratic assemblywomen weigh in yet on the finding that Speaker Silver's cover-up enabled Vito Lopez's activities to continue?





The Political Crooks Have Cost NY $50 Million
   $49,710,630.64! (NYP) These crooks cost us a fortune. Shady politicians and their backroom deals cost taxpayers at least $49,710,630.64 — enough cash to build two schools, bankroll the New York Islanders or pay for 100 new fire trucks — according to a Post analysis of documents relating to 15 city and state officials who’ve been jailed, indicted, censured or lost re-election bids under a cloud of suspicion since 2006.

The rogues gallery is led by former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who cost the state $36 million in pension-fund management fees after taking nearly $1 million in illegal gifts; ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada, who funneled $7 million to himself and family members through a Medicare-funded nonprofit; and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who cost taxpayers $103,000 in secret settlements after staffers accused him of sexual harassment.

The nearly $50 million tally doesn’t include bribes accepted or money embezzled from private entities, such as the $440,000 that state Sen. John Sampson allegedly raided from foreclosure escrow accounts he was appointed to oversee. It also doesn’t count taxpayer money that was promised but never doled out, such as the $80,000 in discretionary funds City Councilman Dan Halloran allegedly said he’d allocate to a dummy company in exchange for a bribe.


Other porkers caught with their snouts in the public trough include:
* Former City Councilman Miguel Martinez, who funneled $400,000 in public money to a nonprofit partially controlled by his sister; stole $106,000 in government funding meant for a Washington Heights nonprofit; and OK’d $51,000 in fake billing invoices to his council office. He was sentenced to five years in December 2009.


* Former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who steered $300,000 in discretionary funds to the nonprofit Libre, which he helped lead. He was sentenced to prison in December 2012 for using some of that money to pay for a state Senate campaign.

* Ex-state Sen. Shirley Huntley, who stole $87,700 from a taxpayer-funded charity she controlled. She pleaded guilty to embezzlement in January.



* Former City Councilman Larry Seabrook, who diverted $1.5 million to himself, his family and his mistress — and notoriously submitted a $177.64 bagel receipt to the city for reimbursement. He was convicted of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy in July 2012.

* Ex-state Sen. Carl Kruger, who directed $900,000 to several nonprofits in exchange for bribes. He was sentenced to prison on federal corruption charges in April 2012.




Also, Assemblyman William Boyland Jr., is facing a fraud indictment for allegedly chiseling $67,500 in bogus travel expenses from the state. He’s also looking at other criminal counts for allegedly soliciting more than $250,000 in bribes to influence business deals, including the sale of a hospital for $8 million.




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Mayor Campaign 8.9% Unemployment

Where Are the Jobs?
Mayoral candidates offer little on creating jobs for New Yorkers(NYDN Ed)

Ideas for economic growth get scant attention in campaign. While the Democratic mayoral candidates have tussled over prevailing wage and sick pay issues, their job creation strategies range from nonexistent to small-bore. And the Republican contenders have yet to publish any plans. Never mind that the economy has been adding jobs at the high and the low ends, hollowing out the middle class. Never mind that half the families whose annual incomes range from $35,000 to $75,000 cannot afford the city’s median rent of $1,300 a month. Never mind that the number of businesses with more than 50 workers has stalled for a decade. They face insurmountable obstacles to growth.Missing across the board are solid goals and big thinking about accomplishing them by improving the business climate. This is a sorry election.

The Daily News Keeps Picking On John
Mayoral candidates say the darndest things(NYDN Ed)

More wit and wisdom from John Catsimatidis
WNYC's  Lehrer asked Catsimatidis, who happens to have made lots of money refining oil, whether man-made global warming was real. Catsimatidis responded:“It seems like all the scientists that I listen to . . . there’s global warming all over the solar system among the other planets, too.” Surprised by Catsimatidis’ launch into outer space, Lehrer asked how that was relevant to Earth’s particular predicament. “You asked me for a scientific answer, I gave you the scientific answer,” Catsimatidis stated. This prompted some research, and — eureka! — a Russian scientist does claim that Mars is getting hotter, just like Earth. The fellow, who happens not to exist within a light year of mainstream thinking, also predicts the start of a mini-ice age next year. Chill, John, chill.

Queens Dem Organization
In addition to Quinn and Melinda Katz, Queens apparently is also going with Reshma Saujani for Pub Adv #2013 *  Queens Dems expected to back Quinn, Katz, Saujani (CrainsNY)
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More Lopez
Gropez: I’m quitting before they expel me(NYP)
ALBANY — Disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez will beat Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to the punch and resign “no later’’ than 10 a.m. Monday — preventing his all-but-certain expulsion from the Assembly that could have come Monday afternoon.*  State Legislator Facing Expulsion Says He’ll Resign(NYT) * Assemblymember Vito Lopez today informed Speaker Silver via fax in a One Sentence letter that he will resign his office effective Monday, May 20th at 9 a.m.

Albany Crooks in A Vito Lopez Panic What Do We Say?
VITO LOPEZ “Why should I hold out?” “For the sake of my family, for the sake of my close friends and for the sake of my own health, I will resign from the Assembly Monday morning by 10 a.m.,’’ said Lopez, 71, who is suffering from cancer.  “I want to make it clear that this is not an admission of wrongdoing on my part,’’ Lopez continued. “I have not admitted to wrongdoing, and I do feel I was denied an opportunity for due process in the investigations that took place.” Lopez also said he might soon end his campaign for the City Council, especially if a battery of cancer-related health tests he is to undergo this month aren’t encouraging. Lopez said he concluded that his expulsion was inevitable, saying wistfully, “Why should I try and hold out for another 3 1/2. “I was a member of the Assembly for 29 years, I dedicated my life to it. I would have expected better treatment and the ability to have my issues heard. weeks?” * Post: Vito Lopez To Resign From Assembly By Monday Morning(NY1) * ICYMI: HASTA LA VISTA, VITO!  Lopez.. (Daily Eagle) * Vito Lopez Says He Will Resign on Monday (NYT) * Lopez officially resigns from Assembly amid sexual harassment scandal(NYP) * Vito Lopez Reverses Course, Will Resign Monday(NBC) * Vito Lopez says he will resign effective Monday(WABCTV)

Vito Lopez Uses Government Funds to Run His Machine(True News)

7m
"Lopez also said he might soon end his campaign for the City Council, especially if a battery of cancer-related health tests.. encouraging."

v
NY Post & NY Times ed boards both think Sheldon Silver should go. Daily News accuses him of a JCOPE cover up

1. NYT: Time for Silver to Go

2. NYP: The Speaker Cover Up for Lopez and Cuomo's Cover Up for Silver  

3. Daily News Silver Fixed JCOPE to Save His Own Skin 




The Unforgiven NYT: Hell Has Frozen Over
NY Times: Silver "clearly no longer fit to hold" his leadership position 
 Breaking NYT Wants Vito and Silver Out

Unforgivable Conduct in Albany(NYT Ed)
Mr. Lopez should be expelled from the Assembly now. And Mr. Silver — whose colleagues made last-minute efforts to redact critical details from the report — should be replaced as speaker. Enough!

"Heave-ho, Silver, away"(NYDN Ed)
 The sordid details of how a once-powerful Brooklyn politician pawed, groped and taunted young women on his staff are more than an indictment of one politician, Assemblyman Vito Lopez. They provide a galling picture of the way Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker and one of New York’s top legislative leaders, failed to provide an environment in which young women could work without fear of being sexually assaulted by a bully like Mr. Lopez.
 
NYP The Speaker Cover Up for Lopez and Cuomo's Cover Up for Silver
The enablers’ enabler (NYP)What Lopez did is vile enough. But he couldn’t have got away with it for as long as he did without assistance from the most powerful man in the Legislature, Speaker Silver. Instead of moving to kick Lopez out when two staffers complained of sexual harassment, Silver enabled Lopez by paying the women over $100,000 from public funds to keep them quiet. Then there’s Gov. Cuomo. The governor says there must be “zero tolerance” for the behavior Lopez showed. But instead of calling for Silver to step down for the coverup, Cuomo is defending him. 
“I don’t see any comparison between what Vito Lopez and what Shelly Silver did,” says the governor. “There is a magnitude of difference.” Indeed there is. Silver is a leader who should be setting the standard. Instead, he covered for Lopez when he thought no one would find out, just as he did when his own chief counsel was accused of sexually assaulting women staffers. In other words, Lopez is out. The Speaker who covered for him remains. And the governor covers for the speaker.* Assemblyman Vito Lopez Resigns(WSJ) * Williamsburg Residents React To Assemblyman Lopez's Resignation (NY1) * Looking ahead to Vito Lopez's 'vigorous' Council campaign(Capital)

Albany Hush Fund Cover Up, Press Containment Timeline


6m
Vito Lopez Could Pick His Successor Unless Gov. Cuomo Calls Open Primary via

 
Heave-ho, Silver, away(NYP Ed)
Sheldon (Stonewall) Silver invoked the death penalty for his old partner in slime, Vito Lopez, in desperate hope of saving his own skin. Casting aside all orderly process and making up the rules in a panic, Silver, in effect, decreed that the Assembly Ethics Committee would hurriedly call for Lopez to be expelled from the body for the same offenses that Silver covered up 16 months ago. While Lopez most definitely has to go — in fact, he deserves arrest on charges of assaulting young women — Silver is fighting to keep the other 103 members of his Democratic conference from turning on him.



Daily News Silver Fixed JCOPE to Save His Own Skin
In a properly searing statement, lawyer Gloria Allred, who represented two of Lopez’s victims, got to the heart of that matter: “JCOPE did not have the power or political will to state the obvious: Silver broke the rules to protect himself.”

DN: Cover Up of A Cover Up
Daily News Says Silver's Friends On JCOPE Protect Him
Although the state ethics commission detailed all of Silver’s misfeasances, malfeasances and nonfeasances, the panel refrained from voicing the obvious, ultimate verdict that he had violated the Public Officers Law. Such a finding clearly would have disqualified Silver from continuing to serve as Assembly speaker. All evidence points to the conclusion that Silver’s appointees and allies on the Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted in secret to investigate only Lopez and not Silver — which would block investigators from labeling him a lawbreaker. Silver alone has the power to show that his friendly insiders had no hand in perverting the ethics commission under the cloak of confidentiality that is legally mandated under a statute drafted by, yes, Silver. He need only release to the public copies of his official communications with the panel. Distributing the documents is perfectly permissible. They would prove that he was not the beneficiary of a fix, or they would serve as his death warrant. Silver refuses to put the documents on the public record. Do you wonder why?

26m Why is sexual harassment not OK but using taxpayer $$$ to cover it up OK ? Silver must go !

7m
By talking to @fud31is Vito Lopez sending a message. Will POS Vito give up or make up stories about Guv?

1m
avoids ignominy of expulsion/comforts his delusion of leaving on own terms. Cuomo can now call open primary elex.

Lopez liked to play “footsie With His Female Interns
 Assembly’s blind eye (NYP) ALBANY — A former staffer of Vito Lopez says the pervy pol became emboldened to mistreat his female staffers after seeing that the Assembly wasn’t acting on her initial complaint of sexual harassment. The woman said Lopez liked to play “footsie.”...* 'A huge abuse of power': Former Vito Lopez staffer tells News alleged pervy pol is clueless to his own creepy actions(NYDN)

TV Waste Land
Local TV No Time to Report Vito Lopez Resigning Monday

Time for Weather, Traffic and Sports and:
WCBS TV: Preparing Your Yard For The 17-Year Cicada
WABC TV: 2 win Mega Millions, Powerball jumps to $600 million 
WNBC TV: Beyonce Expecting Baby No. 2, Sources Confirm
More Breaking News: Fire in a NJ empty abandon building, storm in New Mexico and who will win the Voice contests this week
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Honest Pol 

Confirmed: There'll be at least one NY politician left standing when federal prosecutors are finished
 Shocker! Post finds honest NY politician (NYP) Finally, an honest pol! City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer helped bust a businessman on a bribery charge, The Post has learned. Mike Wolfert, who’s developing a massive indoor rock-climbing center in Queens, allegedly asked Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) to pull strings for him after he was slapped with a stop-work order for doing construction work without a permit. But rather than accept Wolfert’s e-mail offer of “unconditional support” — including access to his company’s Facebook friends and free use of his facility for political events — Van Bramer blew the whistle, prompting a rapid-fire sting operation by the Department of Investigation that nabbed Wolfert within weeks, sources said.

Stay alert, Brooklyn — terror lurks!
Loretta Lynch urges Brooklynites to fight apathy and stay vigilant....(Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

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Mayoral Campaign

The $727,621 Question
When Bill Thompson released his tax returns this month, it revealed two interesting things about him. First, the former city comptroller is doing well for himself, having earned $727,621 last year. Politics pays. Second, he gave just $4,750 of that — less than 1 percent — to charity. To put it another way, of all the major Democratic candidates for mayor, Thompson raked in the most money but gave away the smallest portion to help the needy.
31s
. challenges claim of $727k public service, based on our revolving-door reporting.

A Cloudy Revelation From Quinn(NYT)
The current issue of Vogue features a portrait of the mayoral contender Christine C. Quinn standing on the steps of the New York Public Library with a windswept lift to her pageboy, wearing beige stilettos and a cobalt blue sheath designed by Carolina Herrera.  *
Big City: Female politicians remain under pressure to play both the broad and the girl


22m
After closings of 10 full-service hospitals under , #1199 union would naturally support anybody else !


Weiner Evades Comment As His Mayoral Run Seems All But Official(NY1)


A BIG LABOR FORUM(Gothamgazette)
Without saying a word, Comptroller John Liu was met with raucous applause and scattered boos at a mayoral forum organized by the city's largest public employee union last night. Despite being one of three candidates to arrive late at the District Council 37 mayoral forum yesterday, Liu cued up the audience for even louder cheers when he touched on stop-and-frisk and education reform. DC 37 represents a variety of public sector employees.
Liu: BX Homeless Shelters Abound(Bronx Times)
When it comes to the Bronx, the borough is socked with more homeless shelters than the rest of the city. Read more.



de Blasio Key Local 1199 S.E.I.U. Backing
De Blasio Gets Mayoral Backing From Major City Union (NY1)
Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio gets major endorsement (WPIX)* New York Communities For Change To Endorse Bill de Blasio(NYDN)The 45,000 member group that replaced now-defunct ACORN, will formally endorse de Blasio at an event at Brooklyn Borough Hall.  The liberal group, whihc focuses on affordable housing, labor organizing, and parent advocacy in schools, has its base in Brooklyn.

Campaign Contributions
DNAinfo reported on Tuesday that Thompson led the pack in fundraising totals with $600,000 earned between March 12 and May 11. Fellow Democrat Quinn came in close with $510,000 in the same period, but was out-raised by Republican candidate Joe Lhota's $558,000 in donations.






Against City Public Finance For State Public Finance
McDonald Who Went to Court to Get Ride of NYC Public Finance is Pushing for Public Fiance in State Races?
Actually, I wish you would stop wasting public/court resources for your own political ends. We need public financing for NYS






Jimmy McMillan Scores Coveted Papaya King Endorsement(NY Mag)



Who's ahead in the mayoral race? Do the math (CrainsNY)


Route to City Hall is now a numbers game of money, polls and votes.
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NYPD

FDNY Graduates First Round Of Probies In Five Years(NY1)

FDNY Welcomes 285 New Firefighters(WCBS)



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The Brooklyn DA TV Show

Keeping Up With Joe Hynes (NY mag)

The Brooklyn D.A. gets his television show

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Education

PM Update 
Education, Vision and the Mayor’s Race(NYT Ed)  
The candidates need to explain how New York City schools will get better after the Bloomberg era.

NYC schools Chancellor Walcott, in a speech to be given today: "I don’t like to involve myself in politics."* Walcott Claims Mayoral Candidates Pander To Teachers' Union (NY1)
Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott at a Brooklyn school on Friday. He defends Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s education record.Schools Chancellor to Strike Back at Candidates Critical of Mayor’s Policies(NYT)
Schools Chief Criticizes Calls to Reverse Reforms(NYT) * Chancellor Walcott Lashes Back At Mayoral Candidates Over(WCBS)
Preschool closure means 'classes' in parks(NYDN)
attn mayoral candidates. UFT : “We’re going to create our own truth commission."

The mayor thinks going to trade school to become a plumber is a better economic bet for many “average” teenagers than obtaining an undergraduate degree 

Schools Add to Test Load, Just to Assess the Questions(NYT)


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Bloomberg Strikes the Pose

 Bloomberg would only pose for photos with a preapproved list of power players at El Museo del Barrio’s glamorous gala last Thursday night.
 .
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Ghetto Tours
‘Ghetto’ gawking (NYP) Tourists are crowding onto a Bronx bus tour that promises “a ride through a real New York City ‘GHETTO’ ” — and local politicians are furious. Three times a week, Real Bronx Tours takes riders — mainly white Europeans and Australians — on a trip...  

 How to ruin a city: Luxury towers only "the rootless superrich" with no real stake in NYC can afford::
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Bike Share Safety First?


Rack & ruin(NYP)

Bike share will make NYC more chaotic and less safe — not that Mayor Bloomberg cares

Gore de France(NYP)

Paris’ bike-share deaths show the importance of caution on NYC streets
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Sandy


Storm Damaged Nathan's Ready For Summer Crowds(NY1)
Coney Island's Nathan's Famous rebuilds(Fox 5)

State of the Beaches: Rebuilding the Coastline, but at What Cost? (NYT)



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Media

STAY CLASSY, NEW YORK! Will Ferrell and co-stars bring the '70s back to the Big Apple while filming 'Anchorman' sequel







‘Really?!’ Amy Poehler Returns To SNL’s ‘Weekend Update’ For Seth Meyers’ Possible Last Night In Anchor Chair





SNL's Al Sharpton Bumbles His Way Through Coverage Of Obama's 'Uhrs' Scandal (VIDEO)
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Washington

Bob Woodward on : "This is not Watergate but there are some people in the admin who have acted as though they want to be Nixonian."
Obama's Trust-in-Government Deficit - Dan Balz, Washington Post
Higher-Ups Knew of IRS Case - McKinnon, Hughes & Paletta, Wall St. Journal
Disengaged Obama Adds to Aura of Scandal - David Rohde, The Atlantic
The False Nixon Equivalence - Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune
The Government Was Out to Get the Tea Party - Craig Shirley, Townhall
Benghazi E-Mails and Backside-Covering - David Ignatius, Washington Post
This Is Not the President Obama We Voted For - Heather Long, Guardian
Pin the Fail on the Donkey - John Podhoretz, New York Post
A Tough Week, But Obama's Agenda Isn't Dead - Eleanor Clift, Daily Beast
How Psychiatry Went Nuts - Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal
Ben Carson and the Gay Marriage Police - Michael Kinsley, New Republic
How Many Illegal Border Crossings Are There? - Byron York, DC Examiner
Republicans' Selective-Memory on AP Scandal - Kirsten Powers, Daily Beast

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads(Huff Post)
A Time for Humility From the President - A.B. Stoddard, The Hill
Why Can't Obama Give a Straight Answer? - Michael Goodwin, NY Post
Don't Link IRS Scandal With ObamaCare - Jonathan Cohn, New Republic
The Campaign to Silence ObamaCare Dissent - Bernie Marcus, CS Monitor
Pfeiffer: Obama will hold people who 'did anything wrong' in the IRS 'accountable'
Obama gets personal about race and manhood in Morehouse speech(Wash Post)
CBS' Bob Schieffer Tears Into WH Adviser Over Response To Scandals: ‘Is The President Out Of Touch?’ (VIDEO)

Editorials

Kathleen Sebelius Dances on an Ethical Line - Washington Post
Obama Must Act Like a True Leader - The Observer
America's Veterans Deserve Better Than This - Washington Examiner
Are Financial Markets Being Set Up For a Crash? - Bloomberg
The gap between the rich and poor is growing in developed countries(Wash Post)
takes on the IRS scandal (with Amy Poehler!)
 T-man tipped off (NYP)  WASHINGTON — Top Obama-administration Treasury Department officials knew last June — amid a heated presidential campaign — that IRS auditors were targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups, bombshell testimony revealed yesterday.

Taxing Times for Obama(NYT) Now comes the mess with the I.R.S. The president could use a little J.F.K., and a little Bulworth.
 Higher-Ups Knew of IRS Case - McKinnon, Hughes & Paletta, Wall St. Journal
Obama's Trust-in-Government Deficit - Dan Balz, Washington Post
Bernanke Says Better Days Lie Ahead - Binyamin Appelbaum, NY Times
The Government Was Out to Get the Tea Party - Craig Shirley, Townhall
Evidence Emerges Administration Knew - Margaret Brennan, CBS News
Obstruction Will Ruin GOP - Jonathan Bernstein, Salon
Keystone XL Shines Light on Obama Hypocrisy - Christi Parsons, LA Times
Why U.S. Manufacturing Can't Get Off the Mat - Matt Phillips, Bloomberg
Europe Will Haunt David Cameron's Legacy - Charles Moore, The Telegraph
Big Data Knows What Your Future Holds - Muller, et al, Der Spiegel
Are Gadgets Making Us Dumber? - Bob Sullivan, NBC News
Is There Any Limit to What the IRS Can Do? - Rep. Mike Kelly

Obama Seeks Path Forward Beyond Troubles - Landler & Shear, NY Times
The Autocrat Accountants - Mark Steyn, National Review
Disturbing Abuses of Power - Colbert King, Washington Post
Public Could Care Less About Obama's "Scandals" - Charles Blow, NY Times
America Should Stay Shocked by the IRS Scandal - Peggy Noonan, WSJ
Sr. Admin Officials Told of IRS Probe Last Year - Becker & Schroeder, Hill
IRS, Like Rest of Government, Is a Den of Liberals - David Weigel, Slate
Why the IRS Scandal Is Worse Than Watergate - Matt Kibbe, FOX News
Nixon Was Far Worse Than Obama - Matthew Dallek, Washington Post
A Staggering Abuse of Power - Sen. Rand Paul, Washington Times
Hard of Hearings - Gail Collins, New York Times
President Asterisk - James Taranto, Wall Street Journal
Online Education Solves Student Loan Crisis - Zachary Karabell, Reuters

Maher And Moore Clash With S.E. Cupp, Sorkin Over IRS: ‘Is It Unreasonable To Target An Anti-Tax Group?’

The Lethality of Loneliness - Judith Shulevitz, The New Republic
The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage - Jonathan Rauch, USA Today
Swearing in the Enemy - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wall Street Journal
Obama's Tapped-Out Trust - George Will, Washington Post
The Republicans' Scandal Machine - New York Times
Benghazi Scandal: Obama's Buck - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Republicans' Phony Libya Focus - Washington Post
Can Government Get Anything Right? - New York Post
Irony Alert: Rep. Charlie Rangel Tells Ousted IRS Head It’s ‘Wrong To Abuse The Tax System’ (VIDEO)
O’Reilly Seeks Out Informed Opinions On IRS & Benghazi Scandals From The Unwashed Masses
Nate Silver Debunks Peggy Noonan’s Claim IRS Also Went After Individuals Opposing Obama 
GOP Links IRS Scandal to Obamacare(Daily Beast)

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Wall Street

 $mells real bad (NYP) The latest move by Bloomberg LP to clean up its Spygate scandal doesn’t pass the smell test. The data and news giant said yesterday that it has appointed Sam Palmisano, the former IBM chief executive, as an independent adviser to head an internal...

EXCLUSIVE: Mayor Bloomberg privately fuming over Bloomberg News snooping scandal(NYP)

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Law and Order


PM Update

Girl Fatally Shot on Bus Wasn’t Target, Police Say(NYT)

'It’s just a tragedy': 14-year-old girl shot dead while riding Queens bus as gunman unloads 10 bullets(NYDN) * 14-year-old girl struck, killed by bullet while riding a city bus in Queens(NYP) * Village ‘gay slay’ underscores city's hate-crime spike(NYP) * Teen fatally shot on Queens bus(WABC) *  Girl, 14, Killed by Stray Bullet While Riding Queens Bu (NBC) * Girl shot and killed on bus in Queens(Fox 5) * Bullet Hits, Kills Queens Teen Aboard City Bus (NY1)


Man shot dead in Village after gunman shouted homophobic slurs: police(NYP)
 A gay man was shot dead in Greenwich Village early today after he was chased out of a restaurant and called homophobic slurs, authorities said. * A Killing in the Village Is Called a Hate Crime(NYT) * Village ‘gay slay’ underscores city's hate-crime spike(NYP) * In Shadow of the Stonewall Inn, a Gay Man Is Killed(NYT)

Daily News: NYC pays $1.5m on charges of illegal searches, violence, profiling, slurs by Lt & team. Then: promotion
FAR FROM THE FINEST: 'Ticking time bomb' cop and team have cost city over $1.5 MILLION in settlements for rough-and-tumble tactics like yanking a man's underwear down with a boot and beating another in front of his cancer-stricken son

Other cities' police departments save money by tracking (NYDN) While the NYPD has been ignoring calls to track and analyze lawsuits against it for decades, other cities have saved tens of millions of dollars by doing so



Rally held for Ramarley Graham in the Bronx(Fox 5)

Hofstra student victim of friendly fire from cop during home invasion shootout(NYP)
 TheTrial Weighs Importance of Arrests in Police Stops(NYT)

Bank bandit tells yelling teller: shhhhhhhhhh! (NYP)  A well-dressed bank thief desperately tried to quiet down a freaked-out Midtown teller
 —25-year-old gunned down on Greenwich Village street corner: police (NYP)


New York Divorce Law Moves Closer to Overhaul(WSJ)

Police Investigate Fatal West Village Shooting As Hate Crime(NY1)

 The says they've arrested a 2nd suspect in connection with an attack & robbery of an elderly man last week.

4 LI store employees arrested for selling alcohol to a minor (NYP)
Ramarley Graham's parents to join rally in Harlem(WABC)
Drugs Hidden in Beans and Pens: JFK Facility Roots Out (NBC)
5th Ave. Poker, With $25,000 Chips and an F.B.I. Ace in the Hole(NYT)

Child Is Coming for City Couple Who Lost Two in Nanny Case(NYT)