DagwoodIII

The old guard Fire Chiefs screwed themselves and the city numerous times.

There was an ongoing suit saying the FDNY hadn’t hired enough minorities. At the same time, the FD had taken over the city EMS from the City’s Health and Hospitals Corp. EMS was 75% minority. If FD had said that the EMS crews were equal to the Fire Fighters they would have been compliant with the anti-discrimination laws. The Chiefs decided to fight on both fronts, and lost both times.

So, the people who couldn’t organize to get Bernie past the DNC are going to be able to put together an actual army?

Explain to me in detail how you see ‘armed revolution’ playing out in 2025.

Most local police departments have armored vehicles that can handle rifle fire.

The 0.01% can hole up in Switzerland or bunkers while their mercenaries handle the rough work.

And please don’t bring up Vietnam or Afghanistan. The US today is nothing like either of those places.

One year, I got fifty gold colored US dollar coins and put them in a drawstring bag [the kind Robin Hood would carry] I gave it to my buddy for his birthday.

It was great watching him play with the money like he was a pirate, or a Roman emperor, or Conan the Barbarian.

I should have stayed in high school.

High school girls are always the same age, but I keep getting older.

D&C

Back in 1995, the FDNY did a hostile takeover of EMS.

EMS had originally been under the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, a city agency that oversees the public hospitals. In 1993, HHC funded an independent study to see what the best way to move forward was. The consultants looked at all the options, including moving EMS to police or fire supervision, ro making it an independent service. They decided that the best course was to keep EMS under HHC, but give it $3 million to upgrade.

At about that time, FD decided they wanted to study taking over EMS. The City Council voted them $5 million to do a test where FDNY responded to EMS calls in one borough. Even though the New York State agency in charge of licensing paramedics said FD had failed, the City decided the test was a great success. FD got control of EMS.

Pretty much the day FD took over, old time EMS people started leaving. Some retired, and others went to other civil service jobs.

Only one Fire Chief bothered to take an ride-alongs with EMS. Most never stuck their nose into an EMS station.

Look up Al Capone.

He had lots of guns.

Guess what? You live in a country where most of the people are ‘center right.’

Mamdani was running against a know sex criminal and a local joke shock jock and he barely got 51% of the vote. He did worse than Harris.

Rudy Giuliani got 65% when he ran for a second term.

I’d love to have a massive Left vote, but I doubt I’ll ever see it.

Try looking at some recent history.

Obama came in with both Houses, and barely got the Affordable Care Act passed.

If you want a strong Dem majority you have to fight harder.

The GOP will block anything it can.

deleted by creator

I’ve read a lot of novels set in Germany/Europe in the Hitler Era.

I always used to be amazed at the people who would see what was going on, and who stayed.

One of my favorite series is the Bernie Gunther [Berlin Noir] novels by the late Phillip Kerr.

Bernie stays in Germany because he’s a German. He was born and raised in Berlin and it’s his home. No strong family ties, he just stays because he can’t imagine living anywhere else.

GOP President violates laws, attacks our allies, openly takes bribes, and is barely functional.

Voters say ‘We must be rid of him.’

Dem President steers a steady, if unspectacular, center Left policy that slightly improves voters’ lives.

Voters say ‘He’s weak! We must be rid of him!’

This is one of my favorite ‘made in NY’ movies.

Got Times Square right.

https://youtu.be/quW2pSOOclA

New Yorker here.

Do yourself a favor and do not go to that event.

Before 9/11 it was cool. People wandered from bar to bar, or drank in the street, and at midnight you’d watch the ball drop.

Since 9/11 there are a million cops, you are penned in with few bathrooms, and it’s a nightmare to get in or out.

Baseball players went on strike in 1972. They’d had a ‘union’ since the 1800s, but always bowed to the owners.

A spoiler is a spoiler, no matter how old.

And it’s not like you gave it away inadvertently. You clicked the link, did the math, and decided you had to jump in and ruin it for anyone who may only now be getting interested in Jean smart or Kris Kirsstopherson.

Very good story. Actually better than either ‘The Martian’ or ‘Project Hail Mary.’

[off topic]

In ‘The Sandman’ stories by Neil Gaiman there’s a scene where a 12,000 year old wizard is finally killed.

When he meets Death, he boasts that he had a pretty great run.

Death tells him that he got what everyone gets, a single lifetime.

Here’s what I’ll do.

I’ll put in the link, so you can see it on YouTube.

If people don’t want to know anything, they can just not click.

https://youtu.be/DRjt2ATLZss

I’m not going to spoil the movie by giving the title…

There’s a pretty good old thriller that halfway through becomes a JFK assassination cover-up story.

I always wondered what it would have been like if one of the Kennedy family had just gone in to see a nice action movie and suddenly got flashbacks to the actual killing.