#New York City Council District 17

[gonzoduran]

Gonzalo Duran Weekly Campaign Update 3/4/23

Just updating you on my petitioning and asking for volunteers. http://www.gonzaloduran.nyc

[gavinkaysen5555]

On Saturday, June 15th, chef Jamal James Kent passed away unexpectedly.

Jamal was a generational talent. A veteran of some of the top fine dining institutions in New York City, where Jamal earned the respect of his peers for his formal skill in the kitchen. In the days following his death, it has quickly become clear that his greater distinction was that he was a uniquely supportive member of the restaurant community. He was dedicated to mentoring younger cooks and lifting their careers, and sharing resources with people, including those who are overlooked by others. We, his family and friends, are committed to building the legacy that he started.

This fund will support The James Kent Family Legacy Trust, a vehicle created exclusively for Jamal's family–his wife, Kelly, and children, Gavin and Avery–to ensure that they’re financially stable and well cared for.

Jamal James Kent

Chef and Managing Partner, Saga Hospitality Group

A Greenwich Village native, Jamal Kent started his culinary career as a summer apprentice at Bouley when he was fifteen years old. After taking classes at Le Cordon Bleu in London and Paris then graduating from Johnson and Wales, Kent moved back to New York where he spent time in the kitchens of some of New York’s most storied restaurants including Babbo and Jean-Georges. In the spring of 2007, Kent joined the team at Eleven Madison Park as a line cook and was quickly promoted to sous chef. In 2010, Kent placed first in the Bocuse d’Or USA Competition; he then represented the United States at the international finals of the Bocuse D'Or in Lyon, France the following year where he placed 10th in the world. When he returned to New York, Kent was named chef de cuisine of Eleven Madison Park. Under his leadership, EMP received nearly every accolade bestowed on a restaurant including four stars from the New York Times, three Michelin stars, and a coveted spot on the list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants. Kent was promoted to Executive Chef of the NoMad in the fall of 2013, the same year that it received one Michelin Star.

In late 2017, Kent set out to open a pair of restaurants and a cocktail bar in the landmark Art Deco building at 70 Pine Street in Manhattan’s Financial District. Crown Shy–an ambitious neighborhood restaurant on the ground floor of the building–exceeded expectations, collecting a Michelin star within a year of opening and raves from the New York Times and The Infatuation. Kent and his team followed up their success with Saga on the building’s 63rd floor, and Overstory, one floor up. They were rewarded with two Michelin stars and the #17 spot on the list of the World’s 50 Best Bars, respectively. With the restaurants at 70 Pine as their calling card, Kent and his partners at SC Holdings set their sights on other New York landmarks.

In Fall 2024, Saga Hospitality Group will open a restaurant in the ground floor space at 360 Park Avenue South on the corner of 26th Street. Later in the year, SHG will become the first retail tenant at Refinery at Domino–the former Domino Sugar Factory on the Williamsburg waterfront.

Kent was an active supporter of a number of charities working to eradicate childhood hunger in New York City including No Kid Hungry and Rethink Food, for which he sat on the Chef’s Council. Kent twice co-chaired the annual Chef’s Benefit dinner for Cookies for Kids Cancer, a nationally-recognized organization that provides funding for pediatric cancer research. And he was a mentor for the Mentors BKB foundation, an organization devoted to inspiring culinary excellence in young professionals and preserving the traditions and quality of cuisine in America.

[lboogie1906]

Judge Bernette Joshua Johnson (born June 17, 1943) is a retired Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. She is the first African American woman to serve on the Louisiana Supreme Court and the second female to hold the position of Chief Justice. Born in Lemannville, Louisiana to Olivia Joshua and John Joshua, a serviceman in the Navy.

Her family moved to New Orleans following her father’s discharge. She earned an academic scholarship to Spellman College, where she graduated with a BA in Political science. She moved to New York City and was employed as a social worker for youth in the foster child care system. She enrolled at Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University, one of the first African American women to attend and graduate with her JD. She married Paul Johnson and they had four children.

She joined the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation and served as managing attorney. She worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and served as deputy city attorney in the administration of Ernest Morial. She was elected as the first woman judge to serve on the Orleans Parish Civil District Court and was reelected. She was appointed to the Louisiana State Supreme Court. She was reelected twice and became Chief Justice of the Court.

She served as chair of the Louisiana Judicial Council Human Resources Committee, a member of the Legal Services Task Force and the National Campaign on Best Practices, as well as a member of the Judicial Budgetary Control Board. Her work with Louisiana’s High Court’s Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Committee on Bar Admissions allowed her to advocate for the training and certification of Limited English Proficiency Interpreters in Louisiana’s courts.

She received an Honorary Doctorate in Law, the LSU Law Center’s Hall of Fame, the Distinguished Jurist Award, and the President’s Award for Exceptional Service (Louisiana Bar Association). She is a member of the American Judges Association, the National Association of Women Judges, the Louisiana State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #zetaphibeta

[hjgale]

Justice Delayed: After thousands of people have settled, four cases for false arrest at the 2004 Republican Convention go to trial in 2014

UPDATE: On Tuesday July 1, 2014 a jury in federal court ruled that the four plaintiffs who refused to settle were entitled not only to compensatory damages but also to punitive damages, indicating, in the words of the NYPD defense council, that an NYPD officer was guilty of "evil intent," or, in the words of presiding federal district judge Richard J. Sullivan "the jury could infer malice sufficient to award punitive damages based solely on the Court's finding that there was no probable cause to arrest Plaintiffs." Howard Gale discusses the outcome of this case here.

_____________________________________

June 15, 2014 --  On Monday June 23, 2014, my lawsuit* for false arrest at the 2004 Republican National Convention will finally be having its literal "day in court", a climactic end to a ten year journey. Below is a summary of the case to date, and the reason why this trial is so important. Just days ago (June 10, 2014) NYC settled a lawsuit for wrongful arrests, during a January 2012 Occupy Wall Street protest, for $583,024. This highlights the importance and relevance of my trial, and marks it as highly unusual: over the last few decades virtually all, if not all, legal claims resulting from these sorts of police abuses get settled before trial. This has clearly not changed the abusive behavior of NYC police.

On August 31, 2004, during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in New York City, I was arrested along with 226 others at a march organized by the War Resisters League (WRL), a 91 year old NYC based pacifist organization. From August 26-31 the NYC police had arrested an estimated 1,806 people, with nearly two-thirds of those arrests happening on that last day of August. Well over 90%, possibly over 98%, of those arrested ultimately had their charges dismissed or were otherwise exonerated. A recent New York Times editorial stated that the 2004 RNC "was mostly unmarred by chaos or violence, unless you count the damage inflicted by the New York Police Department to the constitutional rights of innocent people swept up in mass arrests" (NYT, 1/17/2014). On January 15, 2014 an $18 million settlement for the 2004 RNC arrests was announced, likely the largest such settlement in US history for the false arrest of people engaging in free speech activities (in 2010 there was a $13.7 million settlement made by Washington, DC for wrongful arrests during a demonstration in 2000).

The arrests at the August 31 WRL march were the most egregious of all the illegal arrests committed by the NY police during those last six days of August 2004. The arrests were the somewhat inevitable product of the new model of policing -- designed to disrupt and preempt free speech activities -- established during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, and spread across the US over the next five years. These abuses have continued over the last ten years, as can be seen by the recent settlement made by NYC for one wrongful arrest during the Occupy Wall Street protests, with many cases from that period yet to be resolved.

On that fateful hot summer afternoon on August 31, 2004, while the police wished us a safe march at the rear of the procession, the police had already stopped the front of the march and decided to arrest everyone, including bystanders and members of the press. This was the first mass arrest of the day, followed by over ten other mass arrests at various locations in Manhattan, netting -- quite literally, since we were trapped in orange plastic netting -- around 1,187 citizens who spent the next 30 to 48 or more hours in police custody. For me it was around 34 hours from the time I was detained until the time I was released and could reclaim my property.

Much of our time in custody was spent in 10' by 20' razor wire topped fenced cages, designed to hold maybe a dozen people but sometimes holding over 40 people. These razor wire topped cages were located within an abandoned city bus maintenance facility contaminated with numerous toxic substances: a variety of solvents, oils, brake fluid, asbestos, etc. Many police officers would later file claims for illnesses resulting from their exposure to toxic substances while working at this facility during the RNC, and some detainees went straight from court to the hospital suffering from rashes and asthma. Our time in custody was needlessly and illegally delayed by repeated processing, searches, moving us between facilities, and illegal fingerprinting. We were unable to lie down (unless you wanted to get up looking like a chimney sweep and increase your exposure to toxic substances), sleep, or eat (unless you could force down warm gray bologna sandwiches, not an option for vegetarians like myself). It took a contempt of court order from a state judge to force the police to release us (the police were violating the presumptive rule in NY State that time in detention, between arrest and arraignment, not exceed 24 hours).

The day after our arrest was the RNC balloting for the presidential nominee, and the day after that was the address by George W. Bush to the convention. These were the two most important days of the RNC. It seemed obvious that these arrests were designed to get potential protesters off the streets prior to these high profile convention events and to send a clear message to others thinking of engaging in any First Amendment activities on those days: do so at great peril to your liberty, health, and safety.

Almost ten years has passed since that August 2004 arrest. As a result of the 1,806 arrests, numerous individual and class action lawsuits were filed, mostly in Federal court. NYC has fought all claims tenaciously, especially as regards releasing information on the country-wide spying activities engaged in by the NYPD during the 18 months prior to the RNC. For my arrest group, NYC demanded that each one of us return to NYC and suffer eight hour plus abusive depositions which were carried out like interrogations. These depositions, as was the case for me, involved insults, accusations, and threats to pry into our private affairs, with specific threats that NYC authorities would contact our friends and employers. These harassing depositions caused many people to abandon their claims. NYC was determined to compound rights denied with harassment, fear, and justice delayed.

It was not until the fall of 2012 that significant progress was made in these lawsuits, all of which were ultimately consolidated under one federal judge. The group that I was arrested with obtained "summary judgment" from the Federal Court in the fall of 2012, decreeing that our arrest was so flagrantly illegal that it was not even necessary for a jury to consider that question.

As a result of the court's 2012 summary judgment, in 2013 NYC made an $18 million settlement offer to approximately 1,630 plaintiffs (of the estimated 1,806 arrests, 142 had previously been settled for $1.8 million, leaving about 34 people who either failed to make, or had abandoned, any claims against NYC).

In August 2013 plaintiffs were notified of the settlement offer, which was ultimately accepted by virtually everyone, after great pressure from both our lawyers and the Federal judge. Eleven plaintiffs refused the settlement: seven pursuing separate causes of action because they had suffered significant physical and/or emotional harm during their detention, and four of the 226 people arrested with me at the WRL march. I am one of those four. As explained below, a major reason for rejecting this offer is based upon NYC's refusal to admit to any wrongdoing in 2004 and for continuing these illegal practices over the last ten years.

The settlement offer from NYC and accepted by all but eleven plaintiffs, was officially announced on January 15, 2014 and totaled $18 million: $10.4 million to plaintiffs, $2.6 million for legal costs, and $5 million to the attorneys. My share, if I had accepted the settlement, would have been $13,700.

NYC stated they had spent $16 million in legal fees fighting these lawsuits, and another $1.8 million in earlier settlements. The total publicly announced costs for NYC violating civil rights during that six day period in 2004 has so far come to $35.8 million.

As large as this sum seems, it must be considered in relation to the total projected NYC government expenses for 2014: $53.32 billion. What NYC is paying for the 2004 abuses therefore represents an insignificant 0.067% of this year's city expenses. Taking into account that NYC successfully delayed punishment or costs for ten years, the real cost to the city is less than seven-tenths of a penny per thousand dollars per year: an amount of money far less than the probable consequences of sun spots on the interest rates for NYC borrowing.

After rejecting the $13,700 offered by NYC, a Federal Magistrate demanded I appear before him in NYC last fall to explain my decision. Despite pressure from my attorneys and the magistrate, I, as well as the other three remaining plaintiffs in my arrest group, continued to reject the settlement. As a result of this continued rejection we now have a Federal trial before a jury scheduled for June 23, 2014 in NYC.

Recently NYC increased their settlement offer for the four of us to $40,000 per person. We all unanimously rejected that offer.

There are five major reasons why I rejected both last fall's settlement offer and the recent offer, instead deciding to proceed to trial:

(1) The settlement only addressed wrongful arrest, not the infringements on First Amendment rights. The settlement failed to take into consideration what people were doing at the time they were arrested and the responsibility the NYC police had in actively protecting their constitutional rights. (2) The infringement on my First Amendment rights is not simply a personal indignity or injury: it is an injury to our constitution and places in jeopardy the rights of millions of fellow citizens both now and in the future. Trivial sums of money are not commensurate with the damage done, and clearly provide no protection against NYC repeating these illegal actions in the future.

(3) The timing was wrong: with a new and progressive NYC mayor, Bill de Blasio, weeks away from taking office in January 2014, our lawyers should have refused a settlement involving only money.

(4) The vast majority of First Amendment cases like mine, involving arbitrary or preemptive arrest, get settled for money. In fact, I can't find any notable cases not settled over the last 30 years, beyond a case in DC in the early 2000's. This provides clear evidence that (i) settling cases for only money has absolutely no effect on deterring illegal police behavior, (ii) we have no basis for understanding what other outcomes are possible by always foreclosing on going to trial, and (iii) without a trial we deny the public the opportunity to learn the specifics of what happened (including who gave orders to make arrests, who instructed patrol officers to lie on arrest forms, etc.), as well as hear what a jury of our peers feel the consequences of these misdeeds should be. Plaintiffs can demand that there be court enforced consent decrees (or add consent decrees to settlements) to provide some impediment to continued bad behavior by police.

(5) Without a trial we do not get to address punitive damages. While the City can not be held liable for punitive damages, individual NYC police officers absolutely can (though, in most cases, they are immunized by NYC and NYC would pay any punitive damages on their behalf). Unlike a settlement this sends a clear message that individuals acted illegally and that they should be held responsible (regardless of who eventually pays the bill). Holding individuals accountable offers some hope of stopping these abuses in the future.

This is not, and cannot be, simply about money. The City's metric for a win in this case is simple: be able to preserve their ability to repeat the illegal practices at issue here for a small fee. For me an acceptable resolution is based upon being able to preserve and safeguard First Amendment rights. To the extent that a monetary fine can do that it would have to be extraordinary given a NYC budget of over $53 billion a year.

Any acceptable settlement offer from NYC must involve two components: (i) an admission of guilt, an acceptance of responsibility, and a specification as to what tactics the NYC police will avoid using in the future (e.g., with a consent decree), and (ii) monetary damages. To the extent that (i) is full and forthcoming then (ii) can be smaller (e.g., at the level of the settlement offered last fall), contrariwise, to the extent that (i) is minimal (e.g., NYC will avoid admitting guilt, but will renounce the claim that their practices were legal and reasonable), then (ii) will have to be considerably larger, and even larger if the City persists in claiming that their actions were legal and reasonable. A very much larger settlement/fine would, while not being a deterrent in itself, provide for more publicity, increase the embarrassment of the City, increase it's financial exposure in future claims (e.g., in current cases around police abuses during Occupy), and allow for those falsely arrested to set aside a considerable sum of money to further efforts at ending such police behavior.

I was born and raised in NYC. Both my parents were victims of mid-1950's McCarthy Era abuses. Until shortly before his death in 1974 my father engaged in almost no free speech activities -- attending civil rights or anti-war demonstrations, writing letters, speaking publicly, etc. -- for fear of loosing his job (my mother had already lost her job as a NYC public school teacher). Growing up I was very aware of the toll this took on my father, a man who cared passionately about social justice, yet could take little part in the events of the 1960's. For me this is very personal, and not simply about abstract constitutional rights. My father had little choice but to sacrifice his rights for financial security. I am fortunate to have a choice to not sell my rights, and the rights of innumerable others, for money.

Police actions to suppress free speech have only become more common during these last ten years. These actions not only have a corrosive effect on free speech, but foreclose on a fundamental American engine of social change: civil disobedience. During the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, if police preemptively arrested people for First Amendment activities there could never have been bus boycotts, lunch counter sit-ins, farm worker strikes, anti-war sit-ins, etc. These police actions threaten not just civil liberties, but a very vital force which has made America a better place. These actions don't just arrest people, they also arrest a better future.

--------------------------------------------

* The trial -- (Abdell et al v. The City of New York et al, case number 1:05-cv-08453-RJS-JCF)will be in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan at 500 Pearl St., NY, NY. The case files can be found on the PACER system here, or accessed for free via Court Listener. The final ruling by the judge can be read here.

[nycannabistimes]

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 #Repost @theblackinstitute ・・・ We are thrilled to announce Miriam Aristy-Farer as our CANNABALL NYC Industry Award recipient. LINK IN BIO A purpose-driven, curious blend of design, advocacy, and gardening, Miriam Aristy-Farer was Born in Washington Heights and raised in Queens. Her family returned to their native Dominican Republic when she was 17, where she attended for 3 years The Parsons School of Design, Altos de Chavon campus. Returning to NYC in the early 90’s she furthered her studies in communication design at Parsons. Out of college, her professional life began, designing for the music industry and quickly moving into the cosmetics industry. After 15 years, as a successful senior art director in the cosmetics industry in NYC, she took a leave from corporate beauty and launched Fristys LLC in 2009, a branding collective with a mission of giving back. She focused her volunteer efforts on public education equity and even launched NPO, Friends of PS 153 with 3 other parents at her son's school in Northern Manhattan. 2 Manhattan Borough Presidents appointed her to the Community Education Council for District 6, where she served as president representing 24 elementary schools both in the city and state on all policy items. She became well-versed in navigating government, city & state policy & urban gardening while working with the local school districts on equity & green initiatives. In the process, she fell in love with plants and with family in Colorado, and a curiosity about cannabis began. That newfound love of plants helped her to launch, Herbas®, a plant-based body care in 2016. Miriam continues to sit on CB9, on the youth & education committee & is currently co-chairing the cannabis task force after having co-chaired the health & environment committee for 2 years. She has served on the board of directors at Riverstone Senior Center in Washington Heights and serves as Vice President of NYSER (New Yorkers for Students Educational Rights). her brand was recently accepted into the inaugural cohort for mentorship and compliance under the OCM. #cannabis #cannabisindustry #fundraiser #womenempowerment #entrepreneur #womenentrepreneurs (at NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoV0KDTsi5M/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.26

661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. 1531 �� The 6.4–7.1 Mw Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. 1564 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War. 1699 – For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers. 1700 – The 8.7–9.2 Mw Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records. 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day. 1808 – The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales. 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state. 1841 – James Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong. 1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory. 1856 – First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all-day battle with settlers. 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union. 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker. 1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent. 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Virginia is readmitted to the Union. 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon. 1905 – The world's largest diamond ever, the Cullinan, which weighs 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa. 1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress. 1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers' Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war. 1926 – The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird. 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj ("Complete Independence") which occurred 17 years later. 1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City. 1934 – German–Polish declaration of non-aggression is signed. 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.[26] 1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland. 1945 – World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor. 1949 – The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976). 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as the first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India. 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. 1956 – Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland. 1959 – The 41-acre (17 ha) Chain Island is listed for sale by the California State Lands Commission, with a minimum bid of $5,226. 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km). 1966 – The three Beaumont children disappear from a beach in Glenelg, South Australia, resulting in one of the country's largest-ever police investigations. 1972 – JAT Flight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries. 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 301 crashes during takeoff from Izmir Cumaovası Airport (now İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport), killing 66 of the 73 people on board the Fokker F28 Fellowship. 1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni. 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi. 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 2001 – The 7.7 Mw Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India, leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured. 2001 – Diane Whipple, a lacrosse coach, is killed in a dog attack in San Francisco. The resulting court case clarified the meaning of implied malice murder. 2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina. 2009 – Nadya Suleman gives birth to the world's first surviving octuplets. 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others. 2015 – Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) recaptures the city of Kobanî from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), marking a turning point in the Siege of Kobanî. 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board, including former five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant. 2021 – Protesters and farmers storm the Red Fort near Delhi, clashing with police. One protester is killed and more than 80 police officers are injured.

[urbangeographies]

Hong Kong Election Results

Over the weekend, Hong Kong held local elections which saw a landslide victory for pro-democracy candidates. More than half of the 452 local district council seats were flipped from pro-Beijing to pro-democracy candidates, giving pro-democratic forces control of 17 out of 18 district councils. The election also saw record high voter turnout with 4.1 million registered voters, a 71% increase since the last election cycle in 2015. These council members are eligible to be elected to six seats in Hong Kong's legislature and will control 117 of 1,200 seats in the panel that selects the city's leader. Current Chief Executive Carrie Lam, whose administration has been the target of ongoing pro-democracy protests, has promised to respect the results of the election.

Further Reading:  American Geographical Society, BBC, The Guardian, Washington Post, AP News, 

Graphic Source: New York Times

[yegarts]

Artist David Garneau to Install 400 Paintings at Tawatinâ Bridge

Edmonton’s Valley Line Southeast LRT project reaches new milestone

Bridges have been said to symbolize flexibility and change. A freedom to move from one side to another. The new Tawatinâ Bridge, which now spans across the North Saskatchewan River, connecting the north and south banks, is no exception. Nor are the 400 panels of artwork that will be installed on the ceiling of the pedestrian walkway beneath it. The artwork was commissioned through Edmonton’s Percent for Art policy, managed by the Edmonton Arts Council, and is one of fourteen public artworks selected for the Valley Line Southeast LRT project. Artworks were chosen from a total of 260 proposals by a series of selection committees comprising community members, local artist representatives, and project personnel. Internationally celebrated artist David Garneau, whose practice includes painting, curation, and critical writing, was awarded the commission in 2017.

The 400 panels for the project were constructed from a material used for making signs so that the artwork would not corrode. Each piece was trimmed, gessoed three times, and finished with three coats of varnish—a process made easier thanks to many hands. In fact, though Garneau is the designer and architect of the commission, he considers this work a collective project rather than a personal one.

“I love making art as a form of self-expression. This work has some of that, but mostly it is truly a work of public art. Before lifting a brush, I consulted with First Nations and Métis people about what needed to be painted. Then, I worked with more than a dozen artists to complete the panels. While I researched and designed the panels and painted about half of them myself, many hands, minds, and hearts made this collection possible. It is more a collective expression than a personal one.”

Each piece was shaped, painted, and arranged to suggest interconnectedness between people and the other beings in the region. But as Garneau explains, though the arrangement invites narratives, the pictures are not stories—the stories are what people bring to the pictures.

“The paintings are images. They are visual fragments that need Storytellers to bring them to life. Stories are how we make meaning of them. Some will focus on settler readings, some will read for Cree or Métis narratives… there are lots of reading possibilities. Once the works are up, Storytellers, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers will lead a storytelling tour of the paintings. They will tell aspects of the stories needed at that time. Nothing will be written down. Memories of the stories will be shared with others, and Keepers will need to be consulted to revivify the stories from time to time.”

Garneau’s connection to the river valley and the bridge dates back much further than 2017 when he was chosen to complete the commission. His great-great-grandparents, Laurent and Eleanor Garneau, after whom the nearby Garneau district was named, owned the river lot (number 7) neighbouring Tawatinâ Bridge.

“We grew up in Edmonton and knew a little bit about my great-great-grandparents. Their presence made me feel connected to that territory. As kids in the 70s, we spent a lot of time in the river valley. The opportunity to work on the bridge was a way for me to honour that connection.”

As Garneau explains, the bridge and its restoration are also symbolic of relationships past and present.

“This project is a form of reconciliation. In 1885, Laurent Garneau was arrested as an ally of Louis Riel. He was threatened with hanging. He spent six months in jail. Chief Papaschase took care of the family—Eleanor and eleven children—during the imprisonment. Years later, after the Papaschase Band lost their land and the Chief was on the verge of destitution, Laurent built a cabin for his old friend in remembrance of the care Papaschase showed his family. With this project, and others, I have been able to rekindle the friendship between Papaschase Cree, in the form of present Chief, Calvin Bruneau, and Elder Fernie Marty, who I consulted for this work. The paintings also show the entwinement of First Nations and Métis people. There was a good relationship, and now it’s being restored. The bridge is in suspension between the two sides of the city. It was an important crossing place for all kinds of people.”

The finished panels have been sitting in storage in Edmonton for more than two years now, awaiting their installation, set to take place October 7 to 17. It’s an occasion Garneau has been looking forward to and is hopeful to share with generations to come. As he explains, the ways in which to interpret each panel are as multifaceted as the people who will look up at them.

“There are many ways to engage these paintings. There are familiar scenes, plants and animals from the region. There are paintings from historical photographs. Many panels are informed by Métis belongings in the Royal Alberta Museum. There are humorous juxtapositions, and there are even some hidden messages, codes, and references. There are images that lead to secret stories that only Story Keepers can reveal in person and at the right time. And many images are placed next to each other to suggest a particular narrative. I hope to keep people interested for many years to come.

David Garneau’s artwork for the Tawatinâ Bridge was commissioned through Edmonton’s Percent for Art policy, managed by the Edmonton Arts Council. It is one of fourteen public artworks selected for the Valley Line Southeast LRT project. Click here to learn more.

About David Garneau

David Garneau (Métis) is Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. His practice includes painting, curation, and critical writing. He recently curated Kahwatsiretátie: The Contemporary Native Art Biennial (Montreal) with assistance from Faye Mullen and rudi aker; co-curated, with Kathleen Ash Milby, Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound, National Museum of the American Indian, New York; With Secrecy and Despatch, with Tess Allas, for the Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney, Australia; and Moving Forward, Never Forgetting, with Michelle LaVallee, at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina.

Garneau has given keynote talks in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and throughout Canada on issues such as: misappropriation, public art, museum display, and contemporary Indigenous art. His art appears in exhibitions nationally and internationally—including the National Gallery of Canada; Canada House, London; the International Symposium on Electronic Art—and is in numerous public and private collections. He is currently working on a large public art work for the City of Edmonton.

[gonzoduran]

Why I Chose to Join the Bronx Conservative Party

My decision to distance myself from the Democratic Party was not taken lightly; it evolved in response to the concerning state of our city. Over the past few months, as I campaigned for the New York City Council, I observed that many Americans and New Yorkers held the assumption that Democrats primarily championed the interests of the less fortunate, while Republicans were seen as more aligned…

[elcinsultan]

Giacomo Colosimo , better known as Big Jim Colosimo, was an Italian-American mafia crime boss who built a criminal empire in Chicago based on prostitution, gambling, and racketeering. Immigrating from Italy in 1895, he gained power through petty crime and the heading of a chain of brothels. He would lead the Chicago mafia from about 1902 until his death in 1920. When prohibition went into effect in 1920, Johnny Torrio, an enforcer Colosimo imported in 1909 from New York, pushed for the gang to enter into bootlegging, but Colosimo refused. In May 1920, Colosimo left Chicago to marry his second wife, Dale Winter (he had deserted his first wife). After Colosimo returned to Chicago a week later, Torrio called him and let him know about a shipment arriving at his cafe. When Colosimo appeared at the cafe to wait for its delivery, he was shot and killed. The initial murder suspect was his new wife but no one was ever arrested for the murder. It was widely believed that Torrio ordered Colosimo's killing so that the gang could enter the lucrative bootlegging business. Torrio reportedly brought in New York colleague, Frankie Yale, to murder Colosimo. Al Capone has also been suspected as Colosimo's assassin. After his death, Colosimo's gang was controlled first by Johnny Torrio and then Al Capone. It became the infamous Chicago Outfit.

Three weeks after his marriage to the beautiful singer Dale Winter, James Colosimo remained giddy, and nervous. Known as “Big Jim” or “Diamond Jim” for his obsession with the gems, Colosimo reigned as boss of a whorehouse empire in Chicago’s Levee vice district. Celebrities, powerful pols and opera performers crowded his Colosimo’s restaurant, with a café-cabaret and separate late-night fine dining room.

On May 11, 1920, Colosimo and Winter set a date for dinner in the city’s fashionable and exclusive Loop area, along the shore of Lake Michigan. But Colosimo phoned Winter to tell her he’d be late, due to a sudden appointment. “Angel, just got a call,” he said to her. “Gotta meet a guy at the restaurant. It’s important.”

Colosimo had his chauffer drive him in his Pierce-Arrow to the restaurant that afternoon. Inside the still-closed restaurant, he asked a porter, Joe Gabrela, if he’d seen a man looking for him. Gabrela said no. Colosimo entered his office. Soon, Gabrela noticed a man in the dining room. “Mr. Colosimo’s in the office,” he told the man before leaving the room. Then the restaurant’s accountant noticed Colosimo exit the office. About a minute later, he heard a gunshot.

Colosimo had just peered out a windowed door to the large foyer of his café toward the street, when a gunman strode behind him and fired a .38-caliber revolver into the base of his brain, killing him instantly. The suspect fled, but Gabrela provided police with a detailed description. Chicago Police, acting on tips, shrewdly theorized that Brooklyn mobster-killer Frankie Yale did it. Gabrela did identify Yale in a photo lineup. But as things often wound up in gangdom in those days, his fear got the best of him. Taken to view a live police lineup in New York that included Yale, Gabrela declined to finger him. Practically everyone knew it was Yale, but lack of evidence meant no murder charges filed against anyone.

Johnny Torrio, Colosimo’s righthand man and Yale’s former saloon partner in Brooklyn, leapt into action. He organized an extravagant funeral for his dead boss that would serve as the template for future over-the-top, flowery send-offs for murdered mobsters of the 1920s. In a tribute to Colosimo’s political influence, mourners at the funeral inside his home included the all-powerful First Ward alderman and Cook County Democratic committee member Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna, the second First Ward alderman “Bathhouse” John Coughlin, several other aldermen, a couple members of Congress, a state legislator and a few judges. About 5,000 people, some holding banners for the Democratic Party and street laborers union, trailed a hearse carrying Colosimo’s body in a $7,500 silver and mahogany casket to Oakwood Cemetery.

When people outside Colosimo’s brownstone watched Torrio enter Kenna’s waiting car, they realized who had moved in as Big Jim’s heir apparent in the First Ward. The Chicago Outfit was born.

Torrio most surely planned Colosimo’s assassination, enlisting Yale, his friend, former business partner and experienced hitman. His motivation to off his boss, acknowledged by history, came from his understanding that Prohibition, effective that January 17, clearly offered massive profits, based on his and Colosimo’s existing model of payoffs to police and local office holders to look the other way from Colosimo’s many prostitution houses in the area. Torrio read that the federal Prohibition enforcement agents would be political appointees, not subject to U.S. civil service rules. In other words, low-paid, low-skilled hacks, ripe for bribery and inattention to liquor smuggling.

But Colosimo, still in rapture with his new bride, disagreed with Torrio, fearing the prospect of federal law enforcement without the protection he was used to. Better to keep things the way they are locally, in the Levee and Loop, he thought. He nixed Torrio’s idea to make a major racket out of bootlegging.

However, it is rarely reported that Colosimo did in fact approve Torrio’s scheme to reopen closed breweries to make and sell illegal, real beer to underground merchants and barkeeps in Chicago. Earlier, before Prohibition, Colosimo invested $25,000 in a brewery operated by one of his saloon owners, Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik (one author claimed Guzik garnered his nickname for serving beer with his thumb in the stein). Still, this didn’t go far enough for Torrio. Just as he convinced Colosimo to expand the brothel business to the rising suburbs and towns bordering Chicago, he rightly predicted that unbridled bootlegging of beer and hard liquor would produce far more money — millions. Colosimo was dead set against going much beyond prostitution in Chicago and the suburbs, and his popular restaurant. For Torrio, to build this new domain, his shortsighted boss had to go.

Colosimo, born in 1878 in Palermo, Sicily, moved with his parents to the Windy City at age 1. He would not have reached his height as top pimp in Chicago – the nation’s brothel capital – without Hinky Dink Kenna’s well-paid protection. Hinky Dink and Bathhouse Coughlin represented the First Ward, when wards had two city alderman each, from the 1890s to the early 1920s. Two masters of influence and graft, Hinky Dink, thin, stoic and not quite five feet tall, and the floppish, flamboyant Coughlin, helped themselves to payments, not only from the vice businesses in the Levee, but on everything awarded by the city council in their ward – licenses, permits and utilities needed for hotels, banks, shops and clubs in the Loop as well as federal and state offices, the police, courts and jails. Colosimo, as Torrio after him, served at the pleasure of Kenna as his vice gang underlings and made sure he received his cut of the proceeds. Kenna let the illicit gambling operators and brothel madams run as long as they, as precinct captains, delivered him the votes to win elections.

Colosimo’s links to Hinky Dink started in the 1890s when Jim was an engaging young bootblack inside Kenna’s rowdy Workingman’s Exchange saloon. Kenna took a liking to the kid and later arranged for a city patronage job as a street cleaner. Colosimo ingratiated himself with Italian immigrants and got them to support Kenna. The boss in return promoted Colosimo to street cleaning supervisor. Colosimo organized his Italian men into a street cleaners union.

By the early 1900s, prosperous Chicago had been a bastion of illegal but tolerated prostitution for decades. Colosimo, with Kenna’s approval, made the move to the brothel business by marrying Victoria Moresco, a madam – six years older than Big Jim — of a pair of dollar-a-go whorehouses. Kenna elevated him to precinct captain to deliver the Italians to the polls. Colosimo was second only to Ike Bloom, the First Ward’s vice money bagman, in political power, under bosses Kenna and Coughlin.

In 1909, the dangers of Chicago vice life intruded on Colosimo’s rising stardom. Black Hand extortionists, by letter and then at gunpoint, demanded Colosimo pay them $50,000. He needed a bodyguard. Victoria knew someone who might be right for it – her cousin, Johnny Torrio (born in southern Italy in 1882), who co-owned a saloon called the Harvard Inn in Coney Island, Brooklyn, with Frankie Yale. They offered to pay Johnny’s expenses and put him up in their Chicago brownstone. Torrio, weary of years of gang wars in the New York area, decided to make the move, and sold his share in the Harvard to Yale.

Unsure of the calm, squat, chubby Torrio, Colosimo told him about his problem. Torrio, a veteran Black Hand-style extortionist himself in Brooklyn, assured Big Jim he had it covered. Driving a horse-drawn carriage with two Colosimo gunmen hiding inside, he lured the three extortionists one night with the promise of a payment. The gunmen stood up, shot and killed two of them and mortally wounded the third. Colosimo hired Torrio as his bodyguard. As time went by, Colosimo noticed Torrio’s talent for finances and leadership and delegated responsibility for managing prostitution houses to him as a “male madam.”

In the 1910s, Colosimo rose to vice boss and Kenna’s collector in the First Ward, thanks both to Hinky Dink’s sway with police, judges and prosecutors, and Torrio’s business acumen. With the Loop district’s thriving businesses and fancy residences, the First Ward developed into perhaps the richest area in the whole Midwest.

For Torrio’s headquarters, Colosimo bought a four-story building at 2222 S. Wabash Avenue. Torrio opened an office, a saloon – the Four Deuces – a gambling house and fourth-floor brothel. While there, his old friend Frankie Yale sent him a letter, asking if he could give a 19-year-old roustabout bar worker of his, Alphonse Capone, a job. The teen cut up a man in a fight and needed to leave New York. Torrio made Capone his front door bouncer and then, after seeing his violent side, his bodyguard.

By his death in 1920, Colosimo had unknowingly fathered the shell of an organization that Torrio, and Capone who succeeded Torrio in 1925, would transform into the Outfit, one of the most powerful crime syndicates in American history.

Big Jim Colosimo

(February 16, 1878 - May 11, 1920)

[mpxkrystal]

muse intros~!

Hey guys, it’s Nyx~ Under the cut are some quick little intros to my 8 muses so that I’m not bombarding all of the new muns dms with my brats. Feel free to hmu on discord at Nyx#2757 for plots :3

First up is the OG, Krystal Jung.

I used to describe her as my poor sad doctor however, over the past year she’s really grown into a wonderfully beautiful, strong woman. All it took was some TLC and sometime to face her demons. Krystal is 27 years old, daughter of Airmid (healing powers), she’s an ER Resident at Asclepius working towards her fellowship. She grew up in Seattle with an extremely abusive father. He passed when she was 17, so she moved in with her grandmother in Seoul where she finished school and went to university. She has severe PTSD and insomnia among other issues due to the abuse but, she has a lot of love to give and appreciates her found family immensely. Krystal is a workaholic type but also your resident mom friend~!

Next up is Valentina Ruiz-Kim.

Valentina is a flirty, super sweet, 27-year-old from San Diego. She grew up very spoiled with 3 older half-sisters. Her stepdad didn’t know she wasn’t his biologically until she was 17, following that admission he sent her and her mom to Seoul to live away from the family. As a daughter of Tohil, she wields fire and just generally runs at a feverish temperature all year round. She’s a dancer at Minx and teaches at Loco Motion, on top of that she is also a well-known cosplayer and twitch streamer. Her social media following is huge but her ego does not match it. She is confident and loves all of her friends like family but, she will throw hands if she has to.

Here we have Lucas Walker.

Lucas is 30 years old, a son of Nuwa and a single dad of a 4-year-old daughter named Jasmine. He grew up in Australia, raised by a single mom. He was a wild child addicted to a good adrenaline rush. Before becoming a dad he ran a successful YouTube channel as a travel blogger. He worked as a travel photographer for a few years after finishing high school and he’s spent at least a day in almost every country. Now he works as a Paramedic/Firefighter for the MPFD and on loan as a paramedic for the hospital. Being a dad to his baby girl comes first but he is still a true lads lad. Luke very rarely bothers with his demigod powers and loves to hang out with the boys.

Then we have Siobhan Jeon-Evans!

Siobhan is 24 years old and is from Eglwysbach/Colwyn Bay in North Wales. She is a daughter of Emma-O and chooses not to use her powers, though her intuition is out of her control. Sio grew up in an isolated village where everyone knew everyone. She’s always been obsessed with death and figuring out how and why people and animals die. Which is what lead her to be ostricized from her town and into the life of working as an intern medical examiner. Siobhan dresses in all black all the time, if her aesthetic were to be called anything it would be grunge goth meets e-girl. She tends to be very icy and cold on the outside to protect herself from people who may find her weird but once she trusts you, you becomes a real sweet heart.

My final demigod is Melody Park ~ 

Melody was born and raised in Buffalo, New York and ended moving to Quantico, Virginia as an adult. She’s 34 years old, a daughter of Horus, and works freelance as a private investigator, as well as, a professor of criminology at the university. Melody has an IQ of 186 and can read 25,000 words per minute. After graduating high school early and university early with two PHDs in Criminology and Psychology she was recruited by the FBI where she worked until a few months before moving to the island. She’s currently in hiding from a psycho ex-girlfriend turned unsub and is a very new muse for me so let’s learn about her together!

Onto the gods I play - First up is Zico (Ah Puch/Cizin)

Zico aka Ah Puch or Cizin is the Mayan god of death. He’s 2 meters tall and as terrifying to look at as you would think. He is a purely evil character that relishes in people's misery and pain. Currently, he owns Sombra Muerte, an oddities shop deep in the hidden alleyways of the red light district. The shop is a front for his very successful drug empire. He has been playing the role of a creepy shopkeeper for years in order to keep his main business on the down-low. It is rare for him to show any type of emotion and he thrives that way. He is a businessman first and foremost and the head of one of the most prolific mafia’s in the world he takes that role very seriously. If you cross him or his business he is unafraid to show you who is really in control... even if he has to torture you.

Next up is Poseidon~

Poseidon is a goofball but we love him. He is the Fire Chief for MPFD and his job is really the only thing he takes seriously. Poseidon used to be on the city council but was kicked from his seat by his dear sister Hera who believed she would do a better job. He is known to be the fun uncle who wears socks with sandals, Hawaiian shirts, and board shorts as his go-to summer look. He spent some quality time as a pirate/sailor back in the day. Sei will talk to anyone and everyone about ocean conservation and loves to teach people how to swim or surf!

Finally to finish off my muses is - Hera!

This is my second attempt at writing the Queen of Olympians. Hera is not in the best place right now but, she’s got some good friends helping her out since her breakdown after Zeus left. She owns For the Fairest and is seated on the city council after booting Poseidon from what was her seat originally her last time here. Most of her time has been spent in Paris and other major cities running her many designer dress boutiques. She is a world-renowned wedding gown designer and works very hard. Hera has come a long way from how she was in the past, she’s grown and changed into a more warm and loving goddess. She is known to take in demigods whose parents are not on the island or that she believes need a little TLC.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Trump Suffers Key Setbacks in Bid to Overturn Biden Victory (Bloomberg) President Donald Trump’s long-shot bid to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory suffered major setbacks on Friday, with news networks calling Georgia for the Democrat and legal challenges crumbling in three other key states. North Carolina was called for Trump by four networks. ABC and CNN projected a Biden win in Georgia, which would give him 306 electoral votes, far above the 270 needed to win, leaving Trump with 232 electoral votes. All 50 states’ presidential races have been called. The networks called Georgia for Biden and North Carolina for Trump with an estimated 99% of the vote counted, meaning that they believe there are not enough votes left that would change the projected outcome of the race. The Electoral College will meet on Dec. 14 to officially cast their votes for Biden, and Congress is scheduled to accept the results on Jan. 6.

Democrats keep winning the popular vote. That worries them. (AP) Democrats won the popular vote in this year’s presidential election yet again, marking seven out of eight straight presidential elections that the party has reached that milestone. And, for some Democrats, that’s worrisome. President-elect Joe Biden has so far won 50.8% of the vote compared to the 47.4% who voted for President Donald Trump, a 5 million vote advantage that is likely to grow as Democratic bastions like California and New York continue to count ballots. Biden’s 77.5 million votes to date are the most for any winning candidate, and Trump’s 72.3 million also set a high water mark for a losing one. But what alarms many Democrats is a growing gap between their popular vote tallies and their political power. Democrats may be winning over more supporters, but as long as those votes are clustered on the coasts or in cities and suburbs, they won’t deliver the congressional victories the party needs to enact its policies. That power gap is especially clear this year. While Biden was racking up those historic margins, Democrats lost at least eight seats in the House of Representatives and failed to gain a single statehouse—in fact, they lost control of New Hampshire’s legislature. They also fell short of taking back control of the U.S. Senate, with their hopes now resting on winning two run-off elections in Georgia that are considered an uphill climb for the party. Whether it’s a problem—or a necessary check on power—is a point of debate. The founders created a U.S. system of government based partially on geography. Wyoming, with its population of 500,000, has as many senators as California, home to 39 million people. The presidency is a won by amassing a majority of electors allocated to states.

Progressives look to make early mark on Biden White House (AP) Leading progressives are pressuring President-elect Joe Biden to embrace their policy agenda even as more centrist Democrats argue such proposals prevented the party from retaking full control of Congress. The jockeying amounts to the opening round of what is likely to be a lengthy debate over the future of the Democratic Party. Some centrists have blamed losses in the House and a disappointing performance in the Senate on Republicans’ ability to paint Democrats as having moved too far to the left. That’s creating tension for a party that should be basking in the glow of defeating an incumbent president for the first time in nearly 30 years.

In Rural ‘Dead Zones,’ School Comes on a Flash Drive (NYT) Shekinah and Orlandria Lennon were sitting at their kitchen table this fall, taking online classes, when video of their teachers and fellow students suddenly froze on their laptop screens. The wireless antenna on the roof had stopped working, and it could not be fixed. Desperate for a solution, their mother called five broadband companies, trying to get connections for their home in Orrum, N.C., a rural community of fewer than 100 people with no grocery store or traffic lights. All the companies gave the same answer: Service is not available in your area. The response is the same across broad stretches of Robeson County, N.C., a swath of small towns and rural places like Orrum dotted among soybean fields and hog farms on the South Carolina border. About 20,000 of the county’s homes, or 43 percent of all households, have no internet connection. The technology gap has prompted teachers to upload lessons on flash drives and send them home to dozens of students every other week. Some children spend school nights crashing at more-connected relatives’ homes so they can get online for classes the next day. Millions of American students are grappling with the same challenges, learning remotely without adequate home internet service. “It’s not fair,” said Shekinah, 17, who, after weeks trying to stay connected to classes through her cellphone, was finally able to get online regularly again last month through a Wi-Fi hot spot provided by the school. “I don’t think just the people who live in the city should have internet. We need it in the country, too.” Even as school districts like the one in Robeson County have scrambled to provide students with laptops, many who live in low-income and rural communities continue to have difficulty logging on.

Oregon, New Mexico order lockdowns (AP) The governors of Oregon and New Mexico ordered near-lockdowns Friday in the most aggressive response yet to the latest wave of coronavirus infections shattering records across the U.S. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown ordered a two-week “freeze” starting Wednesday, under which all businesses will be required to close their offices to the public and mandate work-from-home “to the greatest extent possible.” While most Oregon stores will remain open, gyms, museums, pools, movie theaters and zoos will be forced to close, and restaurants and bars will be limited to takeout. Social gatherings will be restricted to six people. The Democratic governor warned that violators could face fines or arrest. “For the last eight months, I have been asking Oregonians to follow to the letter and the spirit of the law, and we have not chosen to engage law enforcement,” Brown said. “At this point in time, unfortunately, we have no other option.”

Minneapolis violence surges as police officers leave department in droves (Washington Post) The sound of gunfire has become so familiar across North Minneapolis that Cathy Spann worries she has grown numb to it. Day and night the bullets zip through this predominantly Black neighborhood, hitting cars and homes and people. The scores of victims have included a 7-year-old boy, wounded in a drive-by shooting; a woman who took a bullet that came through her living room wall while she was watching television with her family; and a 17-year-old girl shot in the head and killed. Spann, a longtime community activist who works for the Jordan Area Community Council, cannot recall another time when things were this bad—not even when the city was branded “Murderapolis,” during a spike in violence in the mid-1990s. “If you want to talk about pandemics, we’re dealing with a pandemic of violence,” Spann said on a recent afternoon, just as word came of two more nearby shootings. “We’re under siege. You wake up and go to bed in fear, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next. . . . And our city has failed to protect us.” Nearly six months after George Floyd’s death here sparked massive protests and left a wide swath of the city burned and destroyed, Minneapolis is grappling with dueling crises: an unprecedented wave of violence and droves of officer departures that the Minneapolis Police Department warns could soon leave the force unable to respond to emergencies. In June, a city council majority vowed to defund and dismantle the police department and replace it with a new agency focused on a mix of public safety and violence prevention—a move that could go before voters in 2021. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said more than 100 officers have left the force—more than double the number in a typical year, and more are considering departing.

Western Union says suspending U.S. transfers to Cuba (Reuters) Western Union said on Friday it was suspending U.S. money transfers to Cuba in 10 days due to the Trump administration’s latest sanction on the Communist-run island, in a blow to the many Cubans who rely on remittances from family abroad. Its customers will now have to find new ways to send transfers against the backdrop of Cuba’s deepest economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Remittances have become one of the top sources of hard currency in an inefficient state-run economy laboring under a crippling U.S. trade embargo.

Armenians torch their homes on land ceded to Azerbaijan (AP) In a bitter farewell to his home of 21 years, Garo Dadevusyan wrenched off its metal roof and prepared to set the stone house on fire. Thick smoke poured from houses that his neighbors had already torched before fleeing this ethnic Armenian village about to come under Azerbaijani control. The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan on Sunday as part of territorial concessions in an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting with Armenian forces. The move gripped its 600 people with anger so deep that they destroyed the homes they once loved. The settlement—called Karvachar in Armenian—is legally part of Azerbaijan, but it has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the 1994 end of a war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. That war left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands. Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians once lived together in these regions, however uneasily. Although the cease-fire ends the fighting, it aggravates ethnic animosity. “In the end, we will blow it up or set it on fire, in order not to leave anything to Muslims,” Dadevusyan said of his house.

India virus surge continues in New Delhi (AP) India’s overall tally of new coronavirus cases remained steady on Saturday, but officials were watching a surge of cases in the capital that comes as people socialize during the festival season. India’s Health Ministry reported 44,684 new positive cases in the past 24 hours and 520 deaths. Of those, 7,802 new cases were reported in New Delhi, with 91 deaths. New Delhi has seen a spike in recent weeks, recording more new cases than any other Indian state. The rising numbers coincide with a busy festival season nationwide, with millions celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, on Saturday. COVID-19 beds in government-run hospitals are nearly full and the availability of intensive care unit beds with ventilator support in the city has reached an all-time low, according to the government data. The New Delhi government has said that cases are projected to rise to nearly 12,000 daily by the end of November.

With protests muzzled, Hong Kong takes aim at the press (Washington Post) Choy Yuk-ling, better known as Bao Choy, is among this city’s most dogged journalists. Her work for public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong has tackled police misconduct, election-rigging, and flaws in personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, nearly a dozen officers arrested Choy at her home for a routine journalistic practice: accessing a public database of car registrations. She was investigating the failure of police to keep a mob from attacking anti-government protesters and others at a subway station last year. Two other journalists were charged that same week, one for resisting the police while filming and another for obstructing officers. The moves sent a chill through the city’s once-freewheeling media, already shaken by a new Chinese security law that ended free-speech protections long available in Hong Kong but not elsewhere in China. Combined with newsroom censorship, managerial shake-ups and visa denials, the arrests underscored officials’ intensifying drive to tighten control over what is said, written and heard in Hong Kong. “What state power has been doing is to try and subdue the few organizations that remain independent, daring and professional,” said Francis Lee, a professor of journalism and communications at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “They really want to close down this environment of open information.”

Vietnam braces for Typhoon Vamco, 53 dead in Philippines (Reuters) Vietnam was bracing for Typhoon Vamco to make landfall in the country’s central coast early on Sunday, as the death toll in the Philippines rose to 53 from that country’s deadliest storm this year. Packing winds of up to 165 kph (103 mph), Vamco is forecast to hit a swathe of Vietnam’s coast from Ha Tinh to Quang Ngai province, the government’s weather agency said on Saturday. Vietnam is prone to destructive storms and flooding due to its long coastline. Vamco will be the 13th storm that affects the Southeast Asian country this year, where more than 160 people have been killed in natural disasters triggered by a series of storms since early October. “There has been no respite for more than eight million people living in central Vietnam,” said Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, Vietnam Red Cross Society President. “Each time they start rebuilding their lives and livelihoods, they are pummelled by yet another storm.”

Polisario leader says Western Sahara ceasefire with Morocco is over (Reuters) The leader of the Polisario Front, Western Sahara’s independence movement, said on Saturday the group had ended a 29-year ceasefire with Morocco to resume its armed struggle following a border confrontation. A collapse of the truce could reignite a long-dormant guerrilla war in the remote desert region and aggravate decades of friction between Morocco and neighbouring Algeria, which hosts the Polisario. Polisario leader Ibrahim Ghali said he had signed a decree announcing the end of the group’s commitment to abide by the truce, and blamed Morocco for breaking it. His statement was carried by the group’s official news agency, which also said Polisario fighters had attacked Moroccan positions along different parts of the frontline, which stretches hundreds of miles across the desert. A diplomat familiar with the situation said on Friday that heavy weapons fire was audible near the buffer zone from the direction of a Moroccan military build-up.

Nigeria Goes on Offensive Against Youth Protesting Police Brutality (NYT) Nigeria—Africa’s most populous nation—was turned upside down last month by an uprising that grew into the largest popular resistance the government has faced in years. The demonstrations began as an outcry against the SARS police unit, but evolved into a larger protest over bad governance. The government has adopted a two-pronged strategy to try to put a stop to the uproar. It has tried to persuade people that it is listening to the protesters—commissioning panels of inquiry and announcing that SARS is being disbanded. But it is simultaneously using its power to repress and intimidate activists by throwing many people in jail, and harassing others in ways large and small. Protesters say that the government is conducting a targeted campaign against people associated with the uprising in order to harass, impede and break up the movement—destroying any good faith the government had hoped to build.

[brajeshupadhyay]

PARIS — As the two women sat in deck chairs enjoying the last rays of sunshine near the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris on Sunday evening, nearby loudspeakers jolted them with a reminder that they were in a new mask-mandatory zone. “You’ve got your mask?” Safiya Zenag, unmasked, asked her friend, who replied: “No, I didn’t bring it. I hate wearing it.” Faced with a recent resurgence of coronavirus cases, officials have made mask wearing mandatory in widening areas of Paris and other cities across the country, pleading with the French not to let down their guard and jeopardize the hard-won gains made against the virus during a two-month lockdown this spring. The signs of a new wave of infection emerged over the summer as people began resuming much of their pre-coronavirus lives, traveling across France and socializing in cafes, restaurants and parks. Many, especially the young, have visibly relaxed their vigilance and have not followed rules on mask wearing or social distancing. In recent days, France has recorded about 3,000 new infections every day, roughly double the figure at the beginning of the month, and the authorities are investigating an increasing number of clusters. But 30 percent of the new infections are in young adults, ages 15 to 44, according to a recent report. Since they are less likely to develop serious forms of the illness, deaths and the number of patients in intensive care remain at a fraction of what they were at the height of the pandemic. Still, officials are not taking any chances. “The indicators are bad, the signals are worrying and the situation is deteriorating,” Jérôme Salomon, the French health ministry director, told the radio station France Inter last week. “The fate of the epidemic is in our hands.” Mr. Salomon warned that the virus would continue to circulate and that people would have to adjust their behavior. “We have to live with it,’’ he said. France suffered 30,400 deaths from the virus — one of the world’s worst tolls — and experienced an economically devastating lockdown from mid-March to mid-May. Thanks to the lockdown, however, France succeeded in stopping the spread of the virus and lifted most restrictions at the start of summer. Philippe Juvin, the head of the emergency department at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, said he was not surprised by the rise in cases. “You lock down people during two months, putting a stop to infections,” he said. “Once people are again allowed to go outside, it is not surprising that infection quickly resumes.” The course of the pandemic in Europe has followed a somewhat similar trend, with Spain also reporting new local clusters. But important disparities exist among countries. In the past week, as France reported 20,000 new cases, Italy reported 7,000, and Britain, 3,000, according to data collected by The New York Times. Mircea Sofonea, an epidemiologist at the French University of Montpellier, said today’s situation had “nothing to do in terms of imminent health risk” with the situation that preceded the European lockdowns because the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients and deaths remains very low. In France, the daily number of deaths has hovered around 15 in the past week. By contrast, at the height of the epidemic in March and April, hundreds died every day in France, with the toll sometimes rising into four digits. In April, intensive care units were at 140 percent capacity; only 7 percent were occupied about 10 days ago. Mr. Sofonea said all European countries were expecting a rebound of the epidemic in the fall, when people who have been away on vacation come back to work and when social interaction resumes. The French authorities fear that the rising number of infections in young people, many of whom are asymptomatic, may contribute to the spread of the virus to older, more vulnerable people. “Young people felt a little more invincible,” said Olivier George, a 36-year-old baker. “That’s probably what made them the most affected group.” Across the continent, crowds of young people are flocking to illegal parties organized in outdoor areas, regardless of the risk of infection. While the number of new cases in France has been rising steadily, it is difficult to draw comparisons with earlier stages in the epidemic. The number of tests being carried out across France has increased to about 600,000 a week — or about six times the numbers performed during the height of the epidemic. At that time, France suffered from severe shortages of test kits, making it impossible for many suspected of having Covid-19 to get tested. Raphaëlle Escande, 23, a business school student, said she fell ill in March with symptoms of the disease, including the loss of smell, a sore throat and fever. “That lasted three weeks,’’ she said. “I stayed home because you couldn’t get tested.’’ The Coronavirus Outbreak › Frequently Asked Questions Updated August 17, 2020 Why does standing six feet away from others help? The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It’s a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it’s windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you’re far enough apart. I have antibodies. Am I now immune? As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time. I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief? The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all. What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work? What is school going to look like in September? It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California’s two largest public school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won’t be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There’s no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community. France’s scientific council, a government body that advises President Emmanuel Macron on the coronavirus crisis, said in a report in late July that “the balance is fragile, and we can change course at any time to a less-controlled scenario.” The council warned that a second wave was “highly possible” in the fall, given the current trend. The sharp rise in cases has led the government to declare Paris and the region of Marseille as high-risk zones, effectively granting the local authorities power to impose new measures aimed at containing the spread of the disease. In Paris, mask wearing had been limited to public transportation and indoor establishments, as it was in the rest of the country. But the requirement was extended to crowded outdoor areas about a week ago, and further expanded across many more swathes of the city over the weekend. Prime Minister Jean Castex warned last week that the country had been going “the wrong way” for the past few weeks, and said he wanted “to extend as far as possible the obligation to wear masks in public spaces.” The government’s reliance on face masks as a main weapon in its fight against the virus amounts to an about-face in its strategy. Early in the epidemic, faced with severe shortages of masks, the government said they were useless against the virus — contradicting its own longstanding public health policies. “I didn’t find them coherent at all,’’ said Laura Castel, 31, a high school teacher. “In the beginning, it was, ‘Don’t wear masks, they’re not necessary.’ But that’s because we just didn’t have masks, in my opinion.’’ Now that France has more than sufficient supplies of masks, Ms. Castel said, the government was “singing a new tune.’’ Perhaps because of the government’s contradictory messages on masks, people were slow to start wearing them in newly mask-mandatory zones in Paris. Along stretches of the Seine over the weekend, only about half of pedestrians had their faces covered. The police will be enforcing the measures — which will be in place for at least a month — with a fine of 135 euros, or $159. In addition to masks and tests, France now has other tools that were unavailable at the start of the epidemic, including contact-tracing teams and a contact-tracing smartphone application — though neither have been fully tested yet. As the French learn how to live with the virus, health officials have adapted by quickly moving to extinguish local outbreaks and tightening restrictions as needed. The goal is to prevent local clusters from spiraling out of control and pushing France again into a national lockdown. Anthony Rasoloarimanana, 40, a travel agent who was walking under the elevated metro tracks of Boulevard de la Chapelle in northern Paris, a new mask-mandatory zone, said he was worried that the recent period of resurgence was similar to the one just before the lockdown in March. “Have the sacrifices we’ve made over several months been for nothing?” he said of the lockdown. “That would be terrible.” Théophile Larcher contributed reporting from Paris. Monika Pronczuk contributed reporting from Brussels. The post Beaten Back, the Coronavirus Regains Strength in France appeared first on Shri Times News. from WordPress https://ift.tt/3g0JpqQ

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/08/beaten-back-coronavirus-regains.html

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.26

661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil. 1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Mw Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. 1564 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War. 1565 – Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent. 1699 – For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers. 1700 – The 8.7–9.2 Mw Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records. 1736 – Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne. 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day. 1808 – The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales. 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state. 1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States. 1841 – James Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong. 1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory. 1856 – First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all-day battle with settlers. 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union. 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker. 1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent. 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Virginia rejoins the Union. 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon. 1905 – The world's largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa. 1911 – Glenn Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane. 1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress. 1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers' Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war. 1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company, which he later sold to his former employer. 1926 – The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird. 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj ("Complete Independence") which occurred 17 years later. 1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City. 1934 – German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed. 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona. 1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland. 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins encircling the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia, which will end in destruction of the 4th Army two months later. 1945 – World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor. 1949 – The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976). 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as the first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India. 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. 1956 – Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland. 1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be the first woman Physician to the President. 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km). 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India. 1972 – JAT Fight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries. 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 301 crashes during takeoff from Izmir Cumaovası Airport (now İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport), killing 66 of the 73 people on board the Fokker F28 Fellowship. 1980 – Egypt–Israel relations are formally established. 1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni. 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi. 1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons. 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 2001 – The 7.7 Mw Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured. 2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina. 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others. 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board, including former five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant.

[handeaux]

One Hundred Years Ago, Cincinnati Slid Into The ‘Roaring Twenties’ With Optimistic Celebrations

The “Roaring Twenties” arrived in Cincinnati bathed in cautious optimism.

The War, the Great War, the war not yet known as World War I, was over and almost all our troops had returned home. The pandemic influenza of 1919 was just a memory. The Reds were baseball’s world champions. Business was humming along and, with railroads nationally still tangled due to wartime materiel demands, Cincinnati actually benefitted from old-time river traffic. The Enquirer [1 January 1920] summed up the world of 1920 as “Bolshevism, strikes and presidential possibilities.”

The brand-new Hamilton County Courthouse, dedicated on 18 October 1919, overlooked the dried and drained remains of the old Miami and Erie Canal, as construction began on the “Rapid Transit Loop” later dismissed as Cincinnati’s doomed subway. By June 1920, nearly 15 percent of subway construction was complete, even as land acquisition continued. The 1920 City Directory saw big things ahead:

“This improvement is a belt railway, touching the outlying districts of the city and suburban towns, designed to more conveniently admit interurban railway tines and connect the various lines of street railway with the central part of the city. It will tend to induce citizens to use the hill-top sections for residence purposes and relieve down-town congestion.”

Nationally, Prohibition of alcohol sales kicked in on January 17, but Cincinnati, like most of the country, had been living with a wartime ban on alcohol for nearly a year. Still, the wartime ban affected only the sale of alcohol, not manufacture or transport, so New Year revelers in Cincinnati brought their own bottles to the many downtown parties. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer [1 January 1920]:

“Had not the Government given its permission for the owners of trusty ‘private stocks’ to keep their stocks for their own use? Had not the same Government given permission for these owners to tilt their bottles of ‘private stocks’ to their own lips, as often as they desired? And had not hotel proprietors said, solemnly, that they had no way of preventing their guests from taking a taste or two at New-Year’s tables, if it was from their ‘private’ bottles?”

Despite a year as a dry town, Cincinnatians had not yet generally adopted illegal and dangerous tactics to get a drink. The first speakeasy doesn’t show up until much later in the year and there are few reports here of wood-alcohol poisoning. The Cincinnati Post [1 January 1920] found that a book by Albert A. Hopkins titled “Home-Made Beverages,” including recipes for alcoholic concoctions, had been checked out of the Public Library only six times since wartime prohibition took effect. (It appears that this book is no longer among the collections of the Public Library.)

Perhaps the wildest of the year-end revelries was the frolic staged by the Cincinnati Grain and Hay Exchange in the ballroom of the Hotel Gibson. Jazz and ragtime music propelled dancers throughout the event, interspersed with some songs performed by Exchange executives in black face and an assortment of vaudeville acts. Although the Exchange celebrated a good year, with record deliveries of grain and hay, the celebration carried the ominous echo of the band playing as the Titanic sank. All of this grain and hay, after all, was fuel for the horses that still trundled over the city’s streets, dodging the new and increasingly popular horseless carriages.

The Traction Company shifted schedules an hour later than normal to accommodate party-goers returning home after midnight. Cincinnati’s streets were alive with loud and dangerous noisemakers. The Enquirer reported:

“With whistles, bells, revolvers and noise-making devices of every conceivable nature they brought the lusty infant, 1920, into existence.”

For those of a less exuberant disposition, Cincinnati also offered a massive poultry show at Music Hall, where Willinez Farm of Holmdell, New York, won the Sussex Cup for their exhibition of speckled poultry.

Before the parties got rolling, civic leaders gathered on New Year’s Eve to debate plans affecting downtown congestion. Traffic jams had become such a concern that many expressed a belief that Cincinnati’s future growth hang in the balance. According to the Enquirer [1 January 1920]:

“These officials are of the opinion that the plan of one-way traffic streets of Fourth and Sixth streets, as proposed by Councilman [Michael] Mullen in an ordinance he will submit to City Council next Tuesday for approval, is a step in the right direction and should result in better traffic conditions in the shopping district.”

Still, according to civic leaders surveyed by the Enquirer, Mullen’s plan was a stop-gap measure and real relief would arrive only when the subway reached down to Fourth Street.

In addition to shopping, downtown Cincinnati was the entertainment district and the many theaters were split between motion pictures and live acts. On New Year’s Day 1920, the Walnut Theater was showing “Mind The Paint Girl” a silent film drama starring Anita Stewart. That film is now “lost” with no known surviving copies. The Strand enticed viewers to “The Thunderbolt,” a silent film starring Katherine MacDonald. At the Olympic Burlesque Theater, which advertised itself as “clean-cut classy,” the Broadway Girls held forth in a performance the Olympic declared safe enough for your “mother, wife or sweetheart.” The Empress Theater, not yet harboring its famous chili parlor, offered “Round The Town,” billed as “the giggly girly show.”

The big New Year’s game was Harvard versus Oregon in the Rose Bowl. (Harvard won, 7 to 6.) But most of the sports pages were given over to predictions on a boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier – a match that would not take place for another year.

[shadowron]

The Districts of the Seattle Sourcebook (1st Edition): Puyallup: The District No One Can Pronounce

Poo-Yall-Up? Pee-Wallop? Poo-ey-aw-lup? All of these sound like 2050’s slang for drekking your pants. Even the “correct” pronunciation, pew-AL-up, sounds like something throwing up. Which given the state of the district, shouldn’t be surprising. Puyallup is the Other Barrens.

As detailed in the previous post, Redmond turned Barren after an economic collapse. What happened here?

A literal collapse. Under fragging LAVA.

From the core rulebook, detailing the US government’s response to the Great Ghost Dance:

“By August 17, the government had finally managed to assemble its troops, and the operation began to roll. That morning, at 10:32 A.M, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams all erupted in cataclysmic fury. Mother Earth had announced whose side she was on, and even the most skeptical became believers.”

Borders

The district splits the former city of Puyallup down the middle and shares it with Tacoma; its northern border following MR-512, MR-167, and MR-410, extending westward to MR-7, its border with Ft. Lewis, and MR-507 south to the Nisqually River where it abuts the Salish-Shidhe Council (Sinsearach, the elven tribe that stayed behind when Tir Tairngire split off). The southern border follows the Nisqually until it janders north to meet the Puyallup River, follows that for a while before cutting over to MR-165, its eastward border, and up to meet 410 outside of Buckley.

Organized Crime

Mafia – Major

Yakuza – Major

Seoulpa Rings – Minor

Gangs – Major

# Plot Hooks: 17

Places of Note

Underworld 93

Address: 4819 96th Ave E. Present day is a patch of farmland north of a distribution center and a Kroger, in 2050 it will be home to one of the hottest nightclubs in the Metroplex. The first (several) scenes from Mercurial take place here.

Tarislar

“They say it means "remembrance" in Elvish, but remembrance of what? The dead? The power of nature? The living? No one can say. It's almost as though the place named itself.”

Dramatic spooky introduction can only mean its from Harlequin, Present in particular. It is an elven refuge near the southern border, centered around Tule Luke, about halfway between Harts Lake and Silver Lake, and northwest of Ohop Bob.

Oh, did you know there’s a placed called Ohop Bob? I didn’t make that up.

Told ya, chummer.

Hell’s Kitchen

No, not that one.

No, that’s in New York

There you go. Situated where the foothills of Mt. Rainier join civilization near Orting, in 2050 Hell’s Kitchen is a “vast squatter’s wasteland of solidified lava flows, boiling mud fields, steam geysers, and ash dunes. In other words: the perfect place for that recreation of the climactic fight on Mustafar between Obi-Wan and Anakin in Revenge of the Sith.

Just think about all of the cyberware he can get now... He should be thanking Kenobi.