TRAILER: History In The Making

Clip recap:

This feature-length documentary, History In The Making: The Marriage Equality New York Archives 2007-2015, follows an all-grassroots organization, Marriage Equality New York (or MENY) from the NYC streets to Albany and eventually to the Supreme Court. Directed & edited by Fred Anguera. Filmed by Cristina Wolff, Rob Martin, Reed Davis, Fred Anguera, Emmanuel Migrino, Carmine Nicholas Tzavis. Appearances by Cathy Marino-Thomas, Edie Windsor, Brendan Fay, Margaret Cho, Maggie Gallagher, Sen. Thomas Duane, Christine Quinn, Danny O'Donnell, Candy Samples, Gilbert Baker, Chic, Ann Northrop, Gov. David Paterson, Sassy, Ron Zacchi, Fred Anguera, Sheila & Jackie Marino-Thomas, Cynthia Nixon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Kate & Darcy Tuscano and more.

Get tickets to the screening.

NRA Vs "Elitist" Michael Bloomberg

From the clip recap:

Nobody insults your life like Michael Bloomberg. Billionaire, elitist, hypocrite. He's tried to ban your snack foods, your soda and most of all your guns. Bloomberg said the largest county in Colorado is "as far rural as you can get. I don't think there's roads there." That's what he thinks of your state too. Tell Bloomberg to keep his politics in NY and his hands off our guns and our freedom.

Bloomberg To Spend $50M To Fight NRA

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that he will spend $50M to back candidates that support gun control.

Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said gun control advocates need to learn from the N.R.A. and punish those politicians who fail to support their agenda — even Democrats whose positions otherwise align with his own. “They say, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to go after you,’ ” he said of the N.R.A." ‘If you don’t vote with us we’re going to go after your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids. And we’re never going to stop.’" He added: “We’ve got to make them afraid of us.” The considerable advantages that gun rights advocates enjoy — in intensity, organization and political clout — will not be easy to overcome. Indeed, Mr. Bloomberg has already spent millions of dollars trying to persuade members of Congress to support enhanced background check laws with virtually nothing to show for it.

The NRA declined to comment on Bloomberg's announcement, but Gun Owners Of America head Larry Pratt taunted Bloomberg to go ahead and "waste" his money. Bloomberg's campaign will target specific states.

The group will zero in on 15 target states, from places like Colorado and Washington State, where gun control initiatives have advanced recently, to territory that is likely to be more hostile like Texas, Montana and Indiana. They have set a goal of signing up one million new supporters this year on top of the 1.5 million they already have. Previous efforts by Mr. Bloomberg to push gun control have touched off tensions with national Democratic leaders, because he has run negative ads against incumbent Democrats whom he views as insufficiently supportive of gun control. The Democratic leaders argue that Mr. Bloomberg threatens to hand control of the Senate to Republicans, which they say would doom any hope of passing gun control legislation. Mr. Bloomberg dismissed those fears, saying he was concerned only with the long term. “You can tell me all you want that the Republicans would be worse in the Senate than the Democrats,” he said. “Maybe they would. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.”

Breitbart readers are reacting as you'd expect.

VIDEO: The Makeover Of NYC Streets

Via the Atlantic:

Clarence Eckerson has been documenting conditions on the city's streets since the 1990s, and he has a huge archive of footage. Here, he juxtaposes images of key New York locations before, during, and after radical redesigns that took place under the jurisdiction of the Bloomberg administration’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan. Eckerson shows the transformation of Times Square, Herald Square, the Brooklyn waterfront, the Queensboro Bridge, and several other formerly car-choked areas that are now havens for human beings on foot and on bicycles. If you've been walking or riding a bike in these places over the years, you know how profound the changes wrought by Sadik-Khan’s policies have been. But now that New Yorkers have begun to get used to more humane streets in many parts of the city, it's startling to see just how stark the contrast is. It makes you wonder, how did people accept the previous status quo?

Lets hope that De Blasio's administration continues one of the few Bloomberg campaigns that everybody loved.

NYC Obesity Rates By Borough

From a survey released last week by the city, we see what some argue is the primary benefit of living without a car.

Staten Island shares top place in the citywide obesity record with the Bronx. The percent is lower in Brooklyn, where 27 percent of the population was reported as obese, followed by Queens, with 22 percent. The smallest percent of obese residents lived in Manhattan, arguably the city's most walking-active borough. There, slightly under 15 percent of the population tipped the scales over the obesity mark, according to the survey. More Staten Island men are obese (34 percent, or 58,000 people), compared to women (30 percent, or 56,000), the Health Department reported. Staten Island Borough president-elect James Oddo called the statistics "brutal," adding that the numbers "verify what I see with my own eyes."

Despite the various campaigns of the Bloomberg administration, the overall obesity rate in NYC has climbed 25% since he took office in 2002.

Body Language

New York City Mayor-Elect Bill De Blasio sat down with Bloomberg yesterday. Gothamist writes: 

The people of New York pulled a fast one on Mayor Bloomberg last night, defying Dear Leader and electing his supposedly "racist," "class warfare"-waging arch-enemy to replace him. So it should come as no surprise that Bill de Blasio got a very grumpy-looking Bloomberg this morning when the two sat down for some special post-election bonding time at City Hall. De Blasio reportedly told the press that the mayor had given him some "good advice," and that being at City Hall as the mayoral-elect was a "special feeling," though from the looks of things, Bloomberg was brewing his own "special" brand of good old fashioned rancor.

NEW YORK CITY: Cigarette Sales Banned For Those Under The Age Of 21

In what may be his final victory against smoking in New York City, yesterday Mayor Bloomberg applauded after the City Council approved a ban on the sale of tobacco products to people under the age of 21. 

Thomas Farley, the city’s health and mental hygiene commissioner, said the law, the Sensible Tobacco Enforcement Act, represents a "historic advance in our fight against New York City's leading killer." Bloomberg said the new age requirement will prevent more teenagers from developing a smoking habit, saving lives. Research shows that more than 80% of smokers in New York began lighting up before the age 21. When it is enacted, the new law would add one more component to Bloomberg’s legacy of anti-smoking and public health initiatives. Since he became mayor, the city has banned smoking in bars and restaurants and in public places, such as city beaches and parks. Aides say Bloomberg was convinced to raise the smoking age by data from London showing a major decline in youth smoking after that city raised its minimum age to 21.

RELATED: In addition to the above-cited measures, during his 12-year tenure Bloomberg also ushered in a series of tax hikes on cigarettes, which now retail at $13-$15 a pack at many locations. Those are the highest prices in the nation.

Quote Of The Day - Muffie Potter Aston

"I fear for New York City if Mr. de Blasio gets elected. He just wants to tax everyone to smithereens. You have to be fair to everyone. You have programs that support all of the people of New York. But if you continue to tax what you see as the upper-income brackets, it’s still only going to be providing a small percentage of additional income. I would love to support a fourth term for Mike Bloomberg. So if we can float that, you can say Muffie Potter Aston wants a fourth term for Michael Bloomberg." - Manhattan socialite Muffie Potter Aston. Yes, that's her real name. (Via Women's Wear Daily)

Forbes Issues Updated Billionaires List

Forbes writes:

The combined wealth of the Forbes’ 2013 ranking of the richest people in America is $2 trillion, up from $1.7 trillion in 2012 and the highest ever, due in part to the strength of both the U.S. stock and real estate markets. The average net worth of a Forbes 400 member is a staggering $5 billion, the highest to date, up from $4.2 billion last year. Bill Gates retains the top spot on the Forbes 400 for the twentieth straight year, at $72 billion. Up $6 billion from 2012, Mr. Gates is once again the world’s richest person, having passed Mexico’s Carlos Slim in May. Warren Buffett, #2, is the biggest dollar gainer this year at $58.5 billion, up $12.5 billion from last year. Larry Ellison (#3), worth $41 billion, is the same as last year; he is the only one in the Top 10 who did not add to his fortune. Mark Zuckerberg was the second biggest gainer at $9.6 billion. He returns to the Top 20 (#20) at $19 billion after dropping to #36 last year, while Carl Icahn is back in the Top 20 (#18) for the first time since 2008.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's wealth increased by $6B just this year. Another interesting note: "There are 48 women on the list, including retired Army lieutenant colonel and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune Jennifer Pritzker (#327), formerly known as James Pritzker and the first transgender billionaire." Homocon PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel ranks at #314 with $1.6B.

Bloomberg: De Blasio's Campaign Is Racist

In an interview with New York Magazine, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg denounced the mayoral campaign of Bill de Blasio as "racist" because he uses his black wife and son in commercials.

"He's making an appeal using his family to gain support," Bloomberg said. "I think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching what he's been doing." De Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, is African-American and the couple's 16-year-old son Dante, have been ubiquitous presences on the campaign trail, even appearing in a direct-to-camera television ad in support of his father's campaign. While Bloomberg insisted he doesn't think de Blasio himself is racist, he said the candidate is using divisive politics to punch his ticket to the city's highest office. "It's comparable to me pointing out I'm Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote. You tailor messages to your audiences and address issues you think your audience cares about," Bloomberg said.

While Bloomberg has not issued an official endorsement in the campaign, in the interview he praised Christine Quinn, saying, "She did a very good job for seven and a half years of keeping legislation that never should have made it to the floor, that would have been damaging to the city, from ever getting there."

NYC Council Overrides Bloomberg's Vetoes Of Bills To Create New NYPD Oversight

The New York City Council yesterday voted to override Mayor Bloomberg's veto of two bills intended to crack down on the abuses of the NYPD.

The predominantly Democratic council voted 39 to 10 yesterday to pass the inspector-general measure and 34 to 15 to nullify a second veto of a bill allowing lawsuits when an officer uses racial profiling as a reason for questioning someone. Votes by at least 34 of the council’s 51 members are required to override a mayoral veto. The inspector-general decision followed a federal court ruling this month that police violated the U.S. Constitution in stop-and-frisk encounters with hundreds of thousands of mostly black and Hispanic young men. To restrain the practice, U.S. District Judge Shira Sheindlin appointed a monitor she said would ensure that police act lawfully.

Bloomberg is furious: "Today’s vote is an example of election-year politics at its very worst and political pandering at its most deadly. We will ask the courts to step in before innocent people are harmed."

The Gay Men's Health Crisis applauded the vote.

"Stigma related to race, sexual orientation and gender identity continues to be a driving force of the HIV epidemic in New York City," said Janet Weinberg, Chief Operating Officer of GMHC. "It is critical that police committed to protecting all New Yorkers stop harming them through profiling based on real or perceived race, sexual orientation, gender identity and HIV status."

NEW YORK CITY: Bloomberg Suggests Fingerprinting Public Housing Tenants

Speaking on his weekly radio address, yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested fingerprinting the city's public housing tenants.

“What we really should have is fingerprinting to get in. And of course there’s an allegation that some of these apartments aren’t occupied by the people who originally have the lease,” said Mr. Bloomberg during his weekly radio sit-down with WOR’s John Gambling. The mayor noted that, while New York City Housing Authority building house about five percent of the city’s population, they account for about 20 percent of city crime. “We’ve just gotta find some ways to keep bringing crime down there,” he said, arguing that most people who live in the buildings want more police protection. “If you have a stranger walking in the halls of your apartment building, don’t you want somebody to stop and say, ‘Who are you? Why’re you here?’ Because the locks on these doors, with so many people coming and going, you really can’t,” he said.

Democratic mayoral candidates immediately slammed the idea.

Within an hour of Bloomberg's radio appearance, the mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson derided the fingerprinting idea as "disrespectful" and "disgraceful." "Just like stop-and-frisk, this is another direct act of treating minorities like criminals," said Thompson, a former city comptroller, in a statement. "Mayor Bloomberg wants to make New Yorkers feel like prisoners in their own homes." The public advocate Bill de Blasio, who is one of the front-runners in the mayoral race, called Bloomberg "out of touch" and urged the mayor to instead install security cameras within such public buildings, which house more than 400,000 people.

Christine Quinn also issued a statement.

“It’s a completely ludicrous and outrageous notion that NYCHA residents and their guests should have to be fingerprinted to gain access to their own homes and to visit family and friends,” she said in a statement. “Rather than go after law abiding citizens who live in public housing, the City needs to provide residents with the security systems they have been promised for years.”

A spokesman for the mayor dismissed privacy concerns, because...iPhones.

“All security is moving towards biometrics – even the next iPhone will have fingerprint security. Every day the Mayor logs into his computer by placing his finger on the keyboard to login. Why wouldn’t we want to think about providing the highest level of security possible for NYCHA residents?” he asked via email. “You place the strongest security measures on things of most value – what is more valuable than their homes?”

RELATED: The city is about to retrofit 20 public housing towers with hotel-style key cards that will replace standard locks. That project is costing $11M.

NEW YORK CITY: Bloomberg Files Appeal To Fight Stop-And-Frisk Ruling

Earlier this week a federal judge ruled that the NYPD's infamous stop-and-frisk policy is unconstitutional.  Today the Bloomberg administration filed a notice of appeal of that ruling.

Speaking Friday on his weekly radio show, Bloomberg blasted U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin, who earlier this week ruled the tactic was unconstitutional. “What does she know about policing? Absolutely zero,” Bloomberg said. “Your safety and the safety of your kids is now in the hands of some woman who does not have the expertise to do it.” Bloomberg and other officials have credited the policy in part for a pronounced drop in the homicide rate. The city averages one homicide a day currently, compared with six in 1990. “We think the judge could not be more wrong. The Supreme Court has ruled, we follow the rules,” he said. “This would be a disaster for the city.”

With today's notice to the court, the city now has 90 days to file their formal brief.

UPDATE: Just in from Christine Quinn.

Despite our urging Mayor Bloomberg not to appeal Judge Scheindlin’s decision in the stop, question and frisk case, the Administration has announced that they will move forward with their appeal. Communities across the City have suffered long enough under unjust, unfair and unconstitutional practices. There should be no further delay to long-needed reforms to stop, question and frisk. That’s why we will file declarations in the Courts to oppose any motion for a stay. My office will fight any attempt to prevent these reforms from being implemented. In addition, we will work closely with the plaintiff in this case to oppose any stay pending the appeal and to urge the Second Circuit Court to uphold the district court decision.”

NEW YORK: Federal Judge Rules NYPD's Stop-And-Frisk Policy Is Unconstitutional

Big news this morning. The New York Times reports:

In a repudiation of a major element in the Bloomberg administration’s crime-fighting legacy, a federal judge has found that the stop-and-frisk tactics of the New York Police Department violated the constitutional rights of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, and called for a federal monitor to oversee broad reforms. In a decision issued on Monday, the judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, ruled that police officers have for years been systematically stopping innocent people in the street without any objective reason to suspect them of wrongdoing. Officers often frisked these people, usually young minority men, for weapons or searched their pockets for contraband, like drugs, before letting them go, according to the 195-page decision.

RELATED: Earlier this year the same judge issued a limited ruling on the issue.

NEW YORK CITY: Appeals Court Squashes Mayor Bloomberg's Big Soda Ban

LGBT Groups Demand NYC Council Overide Mayor Bloomberg's "Stop & Frisk" Veto

Saying that the NYPD's infamous stop-and-frisk policy unfairly targets LGBT people of color, a coalition of 34 national and local LGBT groups are demanding that the New York City Council override Mayor Bloomberg's veto of their bill to restrict the practice. Via press release:

Today, national and international LGBT organizations – including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal, the National Black Justice Coalition, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and GLAAD – joined with local LGBTQ organizations to urge New York City legislators to defend historic legislation banning discriminatory police profiling against a veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“We know all too well the impact that police profiling has on marginalized communities. LGBT people -- especially transgender people and LGBT people of color -- are unjustly targeted by law enforcement for harassment and policing at unbelievably high rates,” said Darlene Nipper, Deputy Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applauds the New York City Council for passing this historic law and urges all Council Members to stand up for equality and vote to override Mayor Bloomberg's veto.”

The passage of the legislation made history just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act by creating the first enforceable ban against police profiling based on sexual orientation and gender identity, alongside race, religion, immigration status, age, gender, housing status, disability, and HIV status.

The statement issued by 34 local and national LGBTQ organizations noted that “from Stonewall to stop and frisk, LGBTQ people - and particularly LGBTQ people of color, LGBTQ youth, and transgender and gender nonconforming people - have long been targets of profiling and other forms of discriminatory policing. The consequences have ranged from death to deportation, assault to arrest, homophobic harassment to humiliation.”

The statement’s signatories called on legislators to “continue to stand firm with LGBTQ people and communities of color, and to vote against efforts to veto this landmark legislation and turn back the clock on this victory. The safety of LGBTQ New Yorkers depends on it.”

The bill was approved by the City Council back in April. Bloomberg vetoed the bill last Wednesday.

Bloomberg Vetoes NYPD Oversight Bill

Mayor Bloomberg today vetoed a bill that would create an office to oversee the NYPD and that would make it easier for citizens to sue the police for abuses. Gothamist reports:

The Community Safety Act, which is comprised of two separate laws meant to crack down on the NYPD's racial profiling, was passed by the City Council with enough votes to override Bloomberg's veto of the measure. Many view Bloomberg's veto as a stalling tactic until he can pressure enough City Council members to change their votes. Should the override succeed, Bloomberg has hinted at a court challenge, arguing that the bill conflicts with state law. (He's also been looking at other ways to get back at council members who support it.) "There is no need for additional oversight of the NYPD," Bloomberg wrote of his veto. The override vote could happen in August, just a few weeks before the mayoral primary.

The bill was supported by Christine Quinn, although she only backs the portion that would create the Inspector General office. When the bill passed last month, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, whom Quinn has pledged to keep on if she is elected (but maybe fire later), said, "Take heart al Qaeda wannabe's because the City Council has found a way to undermine our partners."

After today's veto, NYC Public Advocate and mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio issued a press release: 

"Today, Mayor Bloomberg continued to turn a blind eye to the racial profiling that takes place in our neighborhoods each and every day. I believe we need a real change, and encourage City Council members to stand by their votes and override the Mayor's veto. Our young men cannot afford for us to waver in the face of intimidation from City Hall."

Bloomberg Unveils $20B Storm Plan

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has unveiled a massive $20B plan to protect the city from again suffering the devastating flooding wrought by Hurricane Sandy. The plan calls for an extensive network of barriers, levees, and bulkheads along parts of the city's 520 miles of waterfront. That $20B figure is just a jumping off point and is approximately equal to the damage estimates from the storm.

In the first phase of building defenses, the report released on Tuesday calls for erecting barriers at Hunts Point in the Bronx to protect the food distribution center, on the East Harlem waterfront along Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive, on the East Side where several of the city’s hospitals are, on the Lower East Side, in Chinatown, in the financial district and in Red Hook, Brooklyn. On Staten Island, the plan calls for a system of permanent levees. Along some parts of the coast, stone or concrete bulkheads would be installed, while in other places, dune systems would be built. The city’s power infrastructure also should be better protected, the report said. Currently, 53 percent of power plants are in threatened neighborhoods. By the 2050s, according to the report, 97 percent will be.

Aside from the damage to city and state owned infrastructure, the storm cost private businesses billions more. Among the hardest hit were downtown business and residential towers, most of which had key electrical and mechanical systems in their basements. Some of those buildings went up shortly after the Bloomberg administration invested hundreds of millions to develop parks and other public areas on the shorelines of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Ricin-Laced Letters Sent To Bloomberg

Yesterday the NYPD confirmed that two ricin-laced letters were sent to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The letters contained messages about Bloomberg's support for gun control.

The suspicious material found in the two letters was a "pink-orange oily substance," he said, adding that it was the second of two tests that showed what appeared to be trace amounts of ricin. The substance is being tested at the National Bioforensic Analysis Center in Maryland, with conclusive results expected by Friday. Some of the emergency services workers who touched the letter Friday were examined after they showed minor intestinal symptoms of ricin exposure on Saturday, Browne said. The symptoms have since subsided. Civilian workers showed no symptoms, Browne said in a statement. "We take a lot of security measures as you know," Bloomberg said. "The men and women that open the mail for example ... they are well trained."

Bloomberg says that he will not be intimidated: "The letter obviously referred to our anti-gun efforts, but there's 12,000 people (who) are going to get killed this year with guns and 19,000 that are going to commit suicide with guns, and we're not going to walk away from those efforts."  Ricin, for which there is no antidote, can be fatal if inhaled or ingested. A mere "pinpoint" of ricin can cause death with 48 hours.

Mayor Bloomberg And NYPD Chief Hold Joint Press Conference On Hate Crimes

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Chief Ray Kelly last night held a joint press conference on the wave of violent anti-gay hate crimes sweeping New York City. From the mayor's remarks:

"Last Friday, the murder of a young man named Mark Carson shocked our city. He was murdered because of his sexual orientation - and only because of his sexual orientation. It was a cold-blooded hate crime that cut short a life full of promise - and brought back awful memories for people who were once afraid to walk down the street with the person that they loved. No person - regardless of what they look like or who they love - should ever walk down the street in fear. Thankfully, we have come a long way from those days - but the murder of Mark Carson is a tragic reminder of how far we still have to go."

Kelly then provided numerous details about the assault in the East Village. The suspect has since been arrested.