N.Y.C. Police Maligned Paradegoers on Facebook

Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
The West Indian American Day Parade is held annually over the Labor Day weekend as a celebration of Caribbean culture.

By WILLIAM GLABERSON

Published: December 5, 2011

They called people animals and savages. One comment said, Drop a bomb and wipe them all out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/nyregion/on-facebook-nypd-officers-malign-west-indian-paradegoers.html

St. Nicholas DayDecember 6

In Holland, everyone celebrates the Feast of Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas, on the eve of December 6. After dinner, Dutch families hunt for presents, following clues in funny, anonymous poems. They also eat cookies and candies, especially spicy Speculaas, crispy ginger-cookie figures formed in traditional wooden molds.

The life of St. Nicholas is, like the lives of many saints, shrouded in mystery. We know that he was the bishop of Myra in Lycia, part of Asia Minor, during the 4th century. He is credited with saving three sisters from lives of ill repute by throwing bags of gold into their house (some say down the chimney; others say through the window) to provide for their dowries.

In many places in the United States and abroad, children still hang their stockings by the chimney or place their shoes by the window for St. Nicholas to fill them with presents and sweets on the night before his feast day.

See recipe for Speculaas and other sweet gifts from the kitchen.

African-American – News December 6, 2011

African-American lawmakers don’t like legislative maps (Houston Chronicle)
Contending that African Americans have been an afterthought during the contentious yearlong redistricting process, four Houston lawmakers on Monday voiced their objections to the interim House map a three-judge panel drew recently.

NAACP warns Black and Hispanic Americans Could Lose Right To Vote (Free Republic)
NAACP warns Black and Hispanic Americans Could Lose Right To Vote Civil rights group petitions UN over ‘massive voter suppression’ after apparent effort to disenfranchise black and Hispanic people The NAACP called the move the ‘most vicious, co-ordinated and sinister attack to narrow participation in our democracy since the early 20th century’. The … (more)
Government jobs are jobs, too (SFBG Politics Blog)
The New York Times weighed in Dec. 4 on an economic fact of life that I’ve been harping about for years now: Jobs in the public sector are … Jobs.

Computer glitch leads to challenge before Michigan Supreme Court (Michigan Radio)
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear a case tomorrow where an African-American man claims he was denied a fair trial because of a computer error.

NAACP calls racist slur on Bay City’s Vets Park sledding hill ‘terrorism’ (MLive)
Local NAACP leaders said they were shocked and dismayed by the racial slur that marred the first accumulating snow in Bay City.

Ellison Calls For Unemployment Benefit Extension (Patch)
Rep. Keith Ellison has joined members of the Congressional Black Caucus to call on House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to support an extension of federal unemployment benefits through 2012.A “Needing unemployment assistance is about being unable to find work in a weak economy with limited job opportunities,” caucus … (more)

NAACP: Don’t ‘block the vote’ (Politico)
Some states across the country that saw unprecedented levels of electoral participation by blacks and Hispanics in the 2008 presidential election are being targeted for voting restrictions, according to a new report Monday by the NAACP.

Leader of Atlanta mega-church quits after sex claims (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Bishop Eddie Long with Coretta Scott King and Laura Bush at a service to honour Martin Luther King in 2002.

Cultural events planned around town for Kwanzaa (The Courier-Journal)
Women drummers at Catholic Enrichment Center Kwanzaa observance 2010. Left to right, Yetunde Adeyinka-De’Leon, Lolita Ewing, Geraldine Weathers, Dr.

NEW THIS MORNING:

* A Facebook group formed for NYPD officers who hate working the West Indian American Day Parade was filled with comments disparaging paradegoers as animals and savages, the New York Times says: http://nyti.ms/veqsV1

* Aides to Mayor Michael Bloomberg are discussing raising property taxes to avoid cutting agency budgets by 10 percent or more, but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says it would be dead on arrival, the Post reports: http://nyp.st/vX76L9

* Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants income tax rates to rise with every $500,000 of income between $1 million and $2.5 million, while cutting taxes for those who make less than $125,000, the Post says: http://nyp.st/tGG2yR

* Cuomo will veto a bill allowing New York City livery cabs to pick up fares on the street unless at least 1,500 new yellow cab medallions are for handicapped-accessible cabs, the Daily News reports: http://nydn.us/tZ6XYp

* Some trustees of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum pressured their colleagues to donate to Cuomos re-election event held there last night, while they seek approval to expand the museum on state-owned land, the Times says: http://nyti.ms/ukK38i

* Former Gov. David Patersons papers will be donated to the state archives, not to Cornell University as he first intended, and the $250,000 he allocated to Cornell for processing remains unspent, the Times Union reports: http://bit.ly/u7nGBK

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