Tag Archives: nyc hall

DNAinfo / Gothamist shut down by CEO : Union busting or Free Enterprise?

On November 6, 2017, the staff of DNAinfo and the Gothamist rallied in NY City Hall Park, in the name of independent journalism. This was after the abrupt shutdown by the owner, founder and CEO, Joe Ricketts. (Ricketts was not only chief executive officer of DNAInfo and Gothamist but also the founder of TD Ameritrade) 

Mayor de Blasio and several city officials expressed support for WGAE’s organizing drive … de Blasio called Ricketts a “coward” for shutting the sites down.

Ricketts shut down all DNAInfo and Gothamist affiliated websites (including DCist and SFist) a week after the National Labor Relations Board conducted a formal vote that resulted in DNAInfo New York and Gothamist employees joining the Writers Guild of America East. The Workers voted to join the union in April, but Ricketts didn’t recognize the union. The NLRB required management to begin collective bargaining with the union. Ricketts shut the sites down instead.” [amsterdam news]”

In September of 2017, Ricketts blogged about why he doesn’t like unions,  “I believe unions promote a corrosive us-against-them dynamic that destroys the esprit de corps businesses need to succeed” which might explain why he would choose to close these businesses before they might fail.”

“Staffers of the now-defunct DNAinfo and Gothamist news sites joined union members, elected officials and others at City Hall Park Monday to call out their owner  (CEO, Joe Ricketts) for the company’s sudden shuttering.

The 30 reporters and editors… proudly wearing their NYPD press badges, said the move was devastating to the New York City communities they covered. “This is an attack on the millions of people who depend on our reporting.” …  Ricketts shut down both news outlets — costing 116 reporters and editors around the country their jobs.” [amny]

Brief Flickr slide show (much more to see in the youtube playlist)

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Is Joe Rickett’s guilty of Union-Busting? Does a business owner have the right to CHOOSE how he spends his capital? Should union thuggery be legal?

Arrived early, so I decided to cover a community center presser that was in process on the steps of City Hall.

This was the birthday of the late Armando Perez, co-founder of Charas/El Bohio.

Today the LES/EV Community celebrated Mayor de Blasio’s announcement to “re-acquire” this building.  deBlasio came through for this community, ‘giving back’ a building (once a school/community center) sold by Giuliani over ten years ago.

“For too long, the old PSD 64/Charas-El Bohio set empty, abandoned, left to rot by an unscrupulous developer only interested in … seeing this beloved landmark destroyed. de Blasio needs to put deeds behind his words; bring this treasured community resource back to its rightful place serving the people of the Lower East Side (LES) and the City of New York.” (Andrew Berman, Exec Dir East Village Community Coalition)

This was a familiar Leftist presser. Home-grown activism. Colorful signs. Handmade (by someone). A papier mache mask (that does not appear to be ‘factory made’). A celebration told through community activism – an out-reach meant for the immigrant community – making them loyal (democrat) party voters.

Flicker Slide show

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But, WHERE was the writer guild protest? Oops. It was City Hall PARK, not City Hall steps.

And there they were. The Writers Guild East pro-union presser behind impenetrable barricades. Had to take a walk around the park to join them.

This woman was our HINT: Protest INSIDE Park – HERE.

Once there, i found a sea of press-badges shilling for a “Free Press”.

Surrounded by writers and editors pushing, jockeying for the best spot to film, take pictures, to cheer each other on.

“When the employees unionized around a week ago, DNAinfo reporter Katie Honan told The New York Times that, “No one’s trying to bankrupt anybody.” She added, “We just want to have an ability to negotiate things and not necessarily money.” [Mashable]

Down with rich, greedy capitalists. Union-Busting must be stopped!

YouTube play list of speakers, their names precede the videos:

Lowell Peterson, Exec Dir Writers Guild America East
Scott Stringer , NYC Comptroller

Stringer impressed some with the “novel” idea that the “workers take control”. Run the shop. Create jobs. The greedy business owner has NO RIGHTS. No right to close “their” business. To open their business? Nor run their business. And definitely NO right to CHOOSE to be a non-union shop. On and On…and ON.

Letitia “Tish “James, NYC Public Advocate
Brendan O’Connor (Warning Profanity) Gizmodo (aka Gawker) Media Group

“FUCK Ricketts,” said a writers guild rep Brendan O’Connor. “If you are not organized in your workplace, get organizing. The workers have the power apart from the union, apart from our elected officials. It’s the worker that decides what happens in this town and this country if we use our power. What happened last week is a single event in a decades long war against workers. It is class warfare.”

Ben Fractenberg, DNAinfo & Emma Whitford, the Gothamist
Vincent Alvarez, President NYC Central Labor Council
Gabrielle Carteris, SAG.AFTRA President
Helen Rosenthal, NYC Councilwoman
Hector Figueroa, 32BJ
Donovan Richards, NYC Councilman
Michael Gianaris, NY State Senator
Writers Guild NYC Union Protest – the crowd

Video playlist begins here:

As I left, pushing my way through this tight mob of FREE press aficionados, I emerged to see those on the perimeter, mainly Fast Food union members.

Once their Union Shakedown accomplished its goal, more money in the union coffers, predictably they created FEWER jobs for the workers.

But, this was NOT greed, so say the union bosses. Only business OWNERS are capable of GREED.

Familiar Commie/Socialist rally-mongers were also hanging on the perimeter.

The “red flags” of shakedown cronyism spewed from mouth to ear: Communism, SI! Free Market Capitalism, NO!

UNIONS claim to be “the Davids” fighting the Capitalist Goliath. (ya think?) Power To The People! WORKERS UNITE!

In conclusion, from the pen of Oleg Atbasian, “Shakedown Socialism”.


The six contradictions of socialism in the USA

  1. America is capitalist and greedy – yet half of the population is subsidized.
  2. Half of the population is subsidized – yet they think they are victims.
  3. They think they are victims – yet their representatives run the government.
  4. Their representatives run the government – yet the poor keep getting poorer.
  5. The poor keep getting poorer – yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.
  6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about – yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

The TRUTH impedes what the complicit, naive “enemedia” desires: “Shakedown Communism“. We have been warned.

[Pictures and videos property of Pamela Hall]

“nakba” 2016 – “palestine” – one long endless hoax

  Genocidal Chants and Lies commemorating the“nakba” fraud were blasted outside NY City Hall on Sunday, May 15, 2016.


The “nakba” is
the failed invasion of Israel by foreign Muslim armies, by Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian and Jordanian forces, that began on May 15, 1948 and is now an annual “day of mourning” over the miserable defeat of their invading armies at the hands of the indigenous Jewish population.

That’s the “nakba” … when the Muslim armies INVADED Israel…

[to] celebrate Islamic terrorism and discuss who was living in Israel first: These two topics are the beginning and end of any “Palestinian” identity. And both of them involve hating Jews.

https://godshourglass.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/ciqhch5wwaqfvgn.jpg?w=774&resize=410%2C328

“palestine” is one long endless fraud.

FACT: “palestine” is a parasitic political entity that derives its wealth… water… electricity from Israel and gets its history… culture… its entire reason for existing from Israel.

The only ‘palestinian’ culture is appropriation.

The LIES: An exhibit in March 2012, at the Metropolitan Museum, perpetuated the HOAX of a peaceful Islamic Cultural expansion. FACT: Islamic culture is genocidal appropriation comprised of “historical” LIES and Fraud.

“… as the Muslim Invasion continues, their version of history goes unchallenged in this visible and invisible world of the 21st c. ”

https://thesilentmajoritynomore.com/2012/03/28/islamic-art-bridges-the-world-at-the-metropolitan-museum/


The Muslim INVADERS claim that King David was a Muslim, that Jesus was a “palestinian” and that the Star of David, which long predated Islam, is an Islamic symbol.


150 years ago, Mark Twain visited Muslim-occupied Israel
and wrote of “unpeopled deserts” and “mounds of barrenness,” of “forlorn” and “untenanted” cities.

Palestine is “desolate,” he concluded. “One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings.”

The same is true of the “palestinian” Museum which opened in 2016 with much fanfare and one slight problem: while admission is free, there’s nothing inside for any of the visitors to see except the bare walls.

“palestine” is an empty building with nothing in it.


“palestine” is a political Potemkin village. There’s a flag, an anthem, a museum and all the trappings of a country but, if you look closer, there’s nothing inside.

“palestinian” identity has no meaning or context without hating Jews. It IS ABOUT ISLAM’s HATRED of all things NON-Muslim BUT in particular all things JEWISH.

‘palestine’ has no past … no future. When the Muslim Invaders take over countries. cities. villages. churches. cathedrals. synagogues. temples. All must  accept Islam, SUBMIT or Die.

They ERASE all evidence of any history before Islam. Perpetuating the LIE that ISLAM is not the problem. The JEWS are. Israel IS.


The INDIGENOUS peoples of the Holy Land are THE  JEWS. Which is WHY a museum a few miles outside the capital of the “palestinian” Authority… find(s) (no)thing “palestinian” to exhibit in what it claims is historic (“palestinian”) land…. The bare walls testify that… there is no palestinian culture. There is no palestinian history.

VIDEO 1 – THE TRUTH denied as anti-Israel Genocidal Chants and Lies assault all who pass-by

The chants: Hudna, Hudna don’t you cry, “Fakestine” will never die” – We Want 48, We don’t want a Two State – We don’t wanta a Two- State, We want 48! – “When People are Occupied, Resistance is Justified “(followed by the ubiquitous chants) “The People United will Never be Defeated” and “Free Free “Fakestine”, “Long Live “Fakestine”.


A male speaker:
“When we say we want to return, it’s not just a slogan. We don’t play any games. We are genuine about our cause and about our beliefs. Make no mistake, when we said we want “Fakestine’ to be free, we MEAN just that : “From the River to the Sea! “Fakestine” will be Free.” Let the whole world hear you. let the politicians , the Zionists walking around taking picture (I think he means ME)… the Mossad. We have no doubt that ONE DAY, no matter how long it takes, we will return to our beloved “ancestral-homeland” “Fakestine” . LONG LIVE “FAKESTINE”. It’s not over til we get our LAND back. Never Forget. Never FORGIVE. We WILL Return! Free Free “Fakestine”

VIDEO 2 – “nakba” lies outside NY City Hall joined by Communist radicals warn that “violence is necessary”.  Laura Whitehorn & Lamis Deek Whitehorn  spent 14 years in Federal Prison. Deek is an attorney who never met a radical she didn’t want to represent.  Both in New York’s CITY HALL Park demanding the creation of ANOTHER Islamic State of Apartheid – in the Middle East- those “BASTIONS of equality!”

[00:00 to 00:48] Excerpt from Communist Radical [aka “political” prisoner] LAURA WHITEHORN was charged with “conspiracy to influence, change, and protest policies and practices of the United States government by violent and illegal means”. https://i0.wp.com/www.prp2.org/0.04_0.02_0_0_250_369_csupload_60267064.jpg?resize=140%2C207 She received a sentence of twenty years – released after 14. In the 60s, Whitehorn was active in the “civil rights” movement, supported the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Movement and the New Afrikan Independence Movement, Puerto Rican Independence and the liberation of women, gays and lesbians. Whitehorn also lists fighting the KKK and organized white supremacy … YET she was in CITY HALL park demanding the creation of ANOTHER Islamic State of apartheid – in the Middle East- those “BASTIONS of Equality!”  WHITEHORN insists that “the delegation Jews are anti-Zionist Jews .This has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. It is an national Liberation Movement.”

[00:49 to 3:56] Second female speaker most likely, Jihadi Attorney at Law- LAMIS DEEK. https://i0.wp.com/thesilentmajoritynomore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/dc277-6a00d8341c60bf53ef017c32acbc7b970b-600wi.jpg?resize=274%2C206&ssl=1“Fakestinians” do not accord legitimacy to Israel. Israel is called the 48. BRING that message HERE. Stop saying Israel! Israel is “48”. Israel’s BANNED from the Land of “Fakestinians”. we must FREE “Fakestine” A “Two-State Solution” is ABSOLUTELY NO Solution. We fought apartheid. We fought racism. we fought genocide in “Fakestine” and it is our responsibility here in the U.S. to make sure that this does not continue to happen. The U.S. as we all know funds Israel to the tune of 4-5 BILLION dollars. That means in the U.S. our hands are filled with blood. We need to take a stand against it. We need to be in the streets. And we need to LINK the Black Liberation Movement AND the Liberation Movement of OPPRESSED people IN the United States – Native Americans, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans…. fight to ‘free Fakestine” . We stand here in solidarity. Every year. The crowd cheered as Lamis gave encouragement and support for violence as a necessary act of resistance (when necessary)

Re Political Prisoners: Whitehorn and Deek waxed on and on about violent felons [also “political” prisoners”] claiming they were imprisoned wrongfully. Bombs – they’re just another form of litter…perhaps… Lamis seems to think so…. As she mentions that Whitehorn spent 14 years in prison (in part) because she BOMBED the headquarters of the Israeli Aircraft Industry right here in NYC. (the crowd CHEERS). “Part of what we need to understand, people who’s Nations have been under ‘attack” have THE RIGHT- by any means necessary to DEFEND their homeland “(the crowd goes wild with CHEERS again) “In the United States- Black Political Prisoners. White Political Prisoners. Chicanos. Native Americans. We say FREEDOM to “Fakestine”. We won’t stop until Freedom until “Fakestine” is Free.

Outside NY City Hall Park- Patriot Jim defended Israel by exposing the LIES about “Fakestine”.
At one point he was joined by a British fellow passing by who also challenged the “Fakestinan” LIES. This man, as well as Patriot Jim, were a huge source of irritation for the Commies and Muslims .

VIDEO 3 – “What a SUCCESS story you guys are. yeah yeah Liberal States have been great for Gays…good for gays, good for women…what a joke…you’re all so confused…44 Arab States, not enough: Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq- another one and then another one- you’re a BASTION of equality; a bastion of democracy.”(Responding to a Muslim female) “Every Arab country’s apartheid. How about women’s rights, gay rights…you’re an f-ing moron. How about women’s rights?”

(The Muslima responds) “They’re Great” (followed by a non sequitur) “A 100,000 ‘palestinians’ died.” (The Brit responds as cops make him leave ), You’re not a Liberal, you’re a MORON”. Move along-mustn’t upset the Muslim protestors chanting over and over for “One solution- Intifada- Revolution”. Translated: “Death to the Jews. ERASE “the 48, aka Israel” from the history books.

The TRUTH: “There is no such thing as a “palestinian” people, no such thing as a “palestinian” history and no “palestinian” language exists. There has never been any independent, sovereign “palestinian” state in all of recorded history.”


VIDEO 4 –  A couple of “Fakestinians’ claim they are the NICE guys.

City Hall Park- NYC-  Muslims. Communists. Black Panther Racists join the media (our schools) our educated fools to preach the “Fakestinian” narrative: “Muslims Good. Zionists (Jews) BAD.”

The “Fakestinian” Hoax. The Fraud is dedicated to the destruction of  “the 48” (Israel) and teh LIE that the  Zionists have NO right to live on “MUSLIM” land (ISRAEL)

My slideshow pics

IN CONCLUSION. The agit-prop on the Fakestinian Facebook page :

“On the 68th anniversary of the “occupation” of palestine … as the palestinian people enter the 68th year of “dispossession” and “exile”, we call on all… supporters of “justice” and “liberation” to come together to… commemorate the “nakba”, stand against the “continuing” nakba… to call for the “right of return” for palestinian “refugees” and freedom for palestine.

The war of 1948 …  over 800,000 palestinians driven from their homesthe State of Israel created on that land …the”struggle” for their “right to return”…. continues today.”

The speakers included representatives of New York City Students for Justice in Palestine, Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, International Action Center, Existence is Resistance, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Muslim American Society, BAYAN USA and other groups struggling for “Justice” in “Fakestine” and internationally.

“We don’t want two states – we want 48!” Lamis Deek (Jihadi attorney)

nyc-nakba-michael4Nerdeen Kiswani of New York City Students for Justice in palestine wrote that the rally was full of palestinian youth, which gave me an intense feeling of hope and optimism, that the next generation does not forget their history, their roots, and the right of return. w-nerdeen-kiswani-102514-1425566723They cheered loudly whenever someone proclaimed that refugees languishing in camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, don’t want to just go to the West Bank and Gaza, they’re entitled to go back to the homes they were expelled from. Back to Yaffa, back to Haifa, back to Akka. Although so many here today were people born and raised in Brooklyn, because their grandparents were displaced from palestine, they know where their roots lie and that the right of return is not just symbolic but a key aspect of the palestinian struggle.”

In Parting : There has never been any independent, sovereign “palestinian” State in all of recorded history. The “palestinian” people do not exist.


The Truth does not change. Truth is truth
. If something was true 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, it is still true today. And the truth is there was very little confusion on this issue of “palestine”

FACT: “There is no such thing as a palestinian people.” (the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir)

June 5, 2016 –  NYC CELEBRATES the TRUTH and The State of Israel! Am Yisrael Chai!Parade printable flyer

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