An excellent op-ed in the NY Times, but the people who need to read it either won’t or will just dismiss it:
Mr. de Blasio isn’t going to say it, but somebody has to: With these acts of passive-aggressive contempt and self-pity, many New York police officers, led by their union, are squandering the department’s credibility, defacing its reputation, shredding its hard-earned respect. They have taken the most grave and solemn of civic moments — a funeral of a fallen colleague — and hijacked it for their own petty look-at-us gesture. In doing so, they also turned their backs on Mr. Ramos’s widow and her two young sons, and others in that grief-struck family.
These are disgraceful acts, which will be compounded if anyone repeats the stunt at Officer Liu’s funeral on Sunday.
The New York Police Department is going through a terrible time, and the assassinations of those officers only underscore the dreadful dangers that rank-and-file cops face every day. And, in truth, there is some thanklessness to being a cop. Officers often feel beleaguered, jerked around by supervisors and politicians, obligated to follow rules and policies that can be misguided, held responsible for their mistakes in ways that the public is not, exposed to frequent ridicule and hostility from the people they are sworn to serve. It has always been that way with cops.
But none of those grievances can justify the snarling sense of victimhood that seems to be motivating the anti-de Blasio campaign — the belief that the department is never wrong, that it never needs redirection or reform, only reverence. This is the view peddled by union officials like Patrick Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association — that cops are an ethically impeccable force with their own priorities and codes of behavior, accountable only to themselves, and whose reflexive defiance in the face of valid criticism is somehow normal.
It’s not normal. Not for a professional class of highly trained civil servants, which New York’s Finest profess to be. The police can rightly expect, even insist upon, the respect of the public. But respect is a finite resource. It cannot be wasted. Sometimes it has to be renewed.
The failures of some cops, the misguided policing tactics that feed a sense of oppression in parts of the city, the offensive provocations of some in the police-reform protest movement, and the horrific killings of two officers, have led the city to a dangerous point.
But there is a way out of this cul-de-sac. It was stated at Officer Ramos’s funeral by an exemplary public servant — and stout de Blasio ally — Commissioner William Bratton.
The reasons they won’t change, at least in the short term, are multiple. First and foremost, what is motivating a lot of this is anger at de Blasio’s very election, which was in large part based on the abuses of the NYPD. His very existence is, to these guys, as slap in the face. Second, this is about money and power. Contract negotiations are underway, and PBA’s Patrick Lynch is up for re-election. Third, this is an ingrained “us vs. them” mentality on several levels. Police vs. civilians and white vs. non-white:
On Thee Rant, a popular chat site known to be an online watercooler for active duty and retired NYPD officers, commenters fret about possible ambushes by black gang members, obsess over radical leftists, organize boycotts of chain stores and a Chipotle outlet they deem “anti-cop,” and hatch plots to target protest leaders. While the forum attracts a disproportionate number of cops with a proclivity for outrageous hyperventilation, it also offers a rare look at the unvarnished views of the retired police activists and old guard officers mobilizing against the mayor.
As veteran NYPD observer Len Levitt wrote of the forum, officers “are often so constricted by the department that Thee Rant is often their only outlet. That’s good, until it isn’t.”
In comment threads, de Blasio is routinely referred to as “Kaiser Wilhelm,” a derisive reference to his birth name, Warren Wilhelm Jr. Police resentment of de Blasio has simmered since his campaign for mayor, when he ran against Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk policies. The anti-de Blasio sentiment grew during the early months of his term, as he wrangled with the Policemen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) over police salaries and dropped a Bloomberg appeal of a federal lawsuit that found NYPD officers unfairly targeted people of color with stop-and-frisk tactics.
But nothing fueled NYPD outrage like de Blasio’s relationship with Al Sharpton. When the mayor hired a former Sharpton aide, Rachel Noerdlinger, as the chief of staff to his wife, Chirlane McCray, then defended Noerdlinger against atorrent of bad press for her relationship with an ex-convict and her son’s Facebook postings referring to cops as “pigs,” NYPD anger exploded.
On a Thee Rant forum, commenters homed in on Noerdlinger’s race (she is black) and her gender. While one commenter described her as “a weed soaked cum dumpster low life POS,” another officer wrote of her and her partner: “The bit-ch will be bugging mofo’s ass, if she hasn’t done so already, about making nigge-r noise in court and he will begin clobbering her, and then junior will jump in and snap his neck!”
“They’re born N I _ _ E R S , live like N I _ _ E R S and usually die like N I _ _ E R S,” a police commenter added. His language was typical of commentary appearing on the forum whenever Noerdlinger’s name was mentioned.
When de Blasio remarked this month that he had instructed his son, Dante, to use extra caution when engaging with cops, Thee Rant commenters lit up the chat boards. In a typically lurid thread, a Thee Rant commenter made light of the struggle de Blasio’s daughter, Chiara, has waged with substance abuse. “Somebody should slip her a ‘hot bag,’” a fellow officer who called himself Thisroundsoneme replied, suggesting a cop plant drugs on her to frame her for possession.
Finally, what has made this the new normal is the fact that cynical operators on the right have hijacked this as their new cause du jour in the never-ending war on the left. You’ve got high profile wingnuts out there making this a Democrat v. Republican issue, so it is most likely here to stay. Add to it the long history of the NYPD refusing to allow themselves to be actually be policed, to borrow the term, by elected civilian officials whose job it is to control them. It’s astounding to me that police think they can do to Americans what would get a soldier court-martialed if they did it overseas, but that is where we are nowadays.
You can see how this is a mess that is going to be here for a while. And, as always, the price paid for this bullshit will be the blood of innocents.
beth
I predict some cops will not only turn their backs during Liu’s funeral; they will now do it holding the New York Times just to be assholes.
Kryptik, A Man Without a Country
And more than likely, those innocents will be the only one paying a price, while the simmering and snarling assholes will get all the lauds and plaudits imaginable for being so brave and principled.
C.V. Danes
The reason they won’t change is because organizational and cultural change is exceptionally difficult, even when everyone involved agrees that there needs to be a change. Take an organization like the NYPD, which has 30,000 members and a culture that goes back for generations, and you can see that this is not something that will change on a dime. There’s a tremendous amount of cultural inertia there that will take decades of consistent application of power to change. More that what you’re gonna get from a one or even two term mayor.
cahuenga
Whatever you do DO NOT visit that Thee Rant site.
Good grief my faith in humanity is shot.
Couldn't Stand the Weather
Sheeyit. These gasholes are worse than I thought.
That rant board is public, and those cops have to know that. As mentioned before, they just don’t care.
Villago Delenda Est
Well, Patrick Lynch IS a pig.
Gin & Tonic
@C.V. Danes: I don’t believe it has changed one iota in the last half-century, since Serpico joined the force, and it certainly won’t change now.
scav
They’re also apparently tremendously good at ignoring all the right-wing male crazies that have a tradition of ambushing cops and taking out multiples and blaming all the violence on Fergason and minorities. I’m certainly more conscious of how self-ideological-serving (rather than rationally based) their own estimation of dangers they face is.
They seem a lot dimmer than one might have hoped — not all the single-digits are safely stowed as mall cops.
Kryptik, A Man Without a Country
@scav:
Yeah. All the fear about rabid lefties and psychotic rampaging savage blahs and whatnot, and no worries about the Bundies of the world, the Oath Keepers and Sovereign Citizens, etc. Apparently, those guys are just sane, common working Americans who wouldn’t dream of harming a cop or some dumb shit.
C.V. Danes
@Gin & Tonic: Nope. Nor will it ever. You’ve got cops who’ve been on the force for 15, 20+ years who know all they have to do is dig in and let it blow over. Mayors come and go, protests come and go, the NYPD stays the same.
Tree With Water
“..what is motivating a lot of this is anger at de Blasio’s very election”.
The NYPD is taking their cue from the party of rule or ruin. New Yorkers should start thinking long term, and seek ways to replace ALL their cops with replacements ASAP. They really have no choice, unless they’re willing to eat shit for the rest of their lives courtesy of people who have no business wearing badges.
Benny Ace
“Slip her a hot bag” refers to giving her contaminated drugs. The wish is not to “frame her possession”, but to kill her.
CONGRATULATIONS!
My comment from the last thread – but this needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.
Blasio can have his Reagan moment – call in the National Guard and fire every single police officer, status not eligible for rehire. I would without hesitation.
I am no union buster but this is a union whose successors will need to have a forceful reminder of who it is they actually work for.
C.V. Danes
@Tree With Water:
Not only the cops, but the system that makes the cops, feeds the cops, promotes the cops, and retires the cops, using a model different from anywhere else, because cops are pretty much the same the world over.
Davis X. Machina
Good time to rent Cop Land....
FlipYrWhig
They sound just like the open-carry douchenozzles. They’re the last defense against the Coming Negro Apocalypse.
Davis X. Machina
@FlipYrWhig:
Radio Raheem isn’t exactly going to choke himself to death, now is he?
John
That’s not what “Slip her a hot bag” means. A hot bag or hot shot means heroine (usually) that has been deliberately adulterated with some substance that will kill the user. Sometimes that’s straight up poison like drain cleaner, and sometimes it’s some additive drug like Fentanyl or Scopolamine that greatly increases the potency of the heroine. Basically, the post by “Thisroundsonme” is a death threat.
Davis X. Machina
@John:“Flaking” is the term of art for planting drugs as evidence….
Betty Cracker
There’s a take on this issue from a self-described liberal Democrat cop from “suburban NY” over at TPM. He describes how the overwhelming majority of his fellow cops are raging wingnuts — so much so that when he meets another liberal cop, it’s like encountering a fellow member of the “French Resistance” (his characterization, not mine).
His take on the protests won’t universally endear him to BJ readers, but it’s an interesting perspective. One of our commenters here, CMM, is a cop, and I always find CMM’s comments thoughtful and wish there were more of them.
BGinCHI
Thin Skin Blue Line.
Judge Crater
Did you see that both New York football teams’ coaches wore NYPD baseball caps on Sunday?
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Benny Ace:
Yep — it’s a death threat. If nothing else, I guess the writer never saw Scorsese’s “Ca$ino,” where Sharon Stone’s character is given a “hot shot” that kills her.
SatanicPanic
@Betty Cracker: That’s really intersting, you should frontpage that
Goblue72
Pigs gonna be pigs. It is of their nature. We shouldn’t be surprised when a pig acts like pigs.
gene108
@Kryptik, A Man Without a Country:
Those right-wing crazies are somebody else’s problem.
Gun-nuts doing para-military style training in rural Michigan, Nevada, up-state New York, etc. are probably low on the list of NYPD’s concerns of possible hostile threats.
Tack on, by U.S. standards, NYC’s fairly strict gun laws, and I can see the NYPD not caring about those guys.
The national media on the other hand really needs to answer why they feel the Ferguson protests, Eric Garner / NYC protests, etc. that about cops not killing black people for no violations-or-minor violations of the law are “anti-cop rhetoric that will lead to a blood bath of dead cops”, whereas the Millers and the rest of the Bundie ranch crew are good honest Americans just expressing their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights.
The media, as usual, has done a piss poor job of conveying any meaningful information.
Les Nessman
@Betty Cracker: I say its like that in all jobs that are low skilled. Thats been my impression.
I’ve worked with all types, across all spectrums, and have only run across a handful of people that would self identify as “progressive/liberal”, or even Democrat.
To me, some of the agreed upon discourse here is pretty far removed from what I encounter all day every, that is why I come here.
gene108
@Judge Crater:
Did not see the Jets game, but I did notice Coughlin having an NYPD cap on in the Giants game.
As Rex just got canned and there’s a good chance Coughlin may not be back next year, maybe neither of them care what their mostly African-American players think about the recent NYPD protests.
wilfred
The Times published a ringing editorial denouncing torture and calling for prosecutions. No one gave a shit. Now they’ve broken out the tissue for Di Blasio and even more people won’t give a shit.
Cops were made sacred after 9/11, along with the gluuuuuurious troops, firemen, CIA henchmen and anyone else the Times, among others, pimped for. Now the shoe dropped.
Be careful picking a fight with cops.
jomo
They had the empathy and support of most of NY after the killings. Their immediate need to use it to further their own political grievances against the mayor have squandered it. We rely on them to protect us but we also give them all guns and the ability to take away our freedom. They owe is more than this. There is no other profession where this type of crap wouldn’t get a person fired.
Waynski
@Tree With Water:
This. A thousand times this. I’ve been saying to Mrs. Waynski that De Blasio should fire them all and make them beg for their jobs back. I don’t minimize what they do everyday and I believe there are more good cops than bad, but you are not above criticism and just like the rest of us, you are not above the law. That a deranged man from Baltimore gunned down two of your (and our) finest, doesn’t give you license to throw a hissy fit in front of your commander-in-chief. When you f**k up, fess up. That’s what you ask of citizens everyday. We expect you to do the same.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Death threats toward the Mayor’s daughter on a public forum (and “hot bag” as noted above refers to lethal bag) from a current or retired LEO. Idaho men shooting up a Walmart with BB guns are ultimately arrested, while OH man fatally shot for holding a BB gun in a Walmart. Something about differences, but I can’t put my finger on it.
Betty Cracker
@Les Nessman: I think you’re right about that too, though the degree to which cops are conservative seems higher than what I’ve encountered among blue collar workers in general. But yeah, we shouldn’t be surprised that a profession dominated by hard-right Republicans comes across like Freepers.
chopper
@Davis X. Machina:
“let’s sprinkle some crack on him and get outta here”
CommishTheFirst
I thought a “hot bag” referred to a dose of uncut drugs. That would mean the comment wasn’t about setting up the Mayor’s daughter for a bust, but inducing her to OD.
Mike in NC
@Tree With Water: The pundits started calling DeBlasio a failure the night he was elected. Something to do with having a “D” after his name.
Goblue72
@chopper: and people thought Chappelle was joking.
There’s a reason Chappelle walked away from it all.
Goblue72
@CommishTheFirst: It is precisely that. A poisoned dose of a drug. It was indeed a death threat.
Kristin
@Betty Cracker: Good stuff, thanks.
Side note: I don’t get why people hate Al Sharpton so much (to the point of claiming that saving him from an assassination attempt was one’s biggest mistake). Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention.
The Bobs
It’s police versus the world. They’re all heroes in their own minds.
Who are they heroes for?
Mike in NC
@Betty Cracker: There are several retired NYPD (and FDNY) guys living in our development. Hardcore wingers all.
Mnemosyne
I don’t know how many people outside of the Los Angeles area have heard of the Ezell Ford case — he was a mentally ill black man who was shot and killed by LAPD only a few days after Michael Brown was killed. You probably haven’t heard much about it because LAPD actually let people protest peacefully and weren’t dicks about it.
The autopsy report was just released yesterday and guess what? Still no police riot (though they did stop people from stopping traffic on the freeway). No rubber bullets, no tear gas, no military vehicles. Funny how these things don’t run out of control unless the police run out of control first.
Mike in NC
@gene108: What are the odds that tomorrow Chuck Todd’s guest will be Patrick Lynch?
Mike E
@Goblue72:
You mean his mental health issues? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t due to his despairing over our f’d up legal system.
Couldn't Stand the Weather
Shit.
I kinda suspected what “hot bag” meant, but I wasn’t certain. These fuckers are worse than I thought.
Where are Benson and Stabler when I need them? Captain Cragen? Fin and Munch?
At this point, I’ll take Dick Wolf’s fictional cops over the majority of the real ones up there.
Goblue72
@Betty Cracker: The institutional butthurt over Sharpton is just so much b.s. When you look at how much worse shit NYPD has done over and over and over again, then pulling Sharpton out of their Staten Island / Long Island asses over something that happened decades ago is just total crap on their part. White people need to get the eff over it.
As for the protests, when a people have been denied justice repeatedly while provided the short end of every stick since being dragged here in chains like so much livestock, at a certain point, a people have a right to resist.
And that resistance can – and should – take the form of civil disobedience. Anything else is just marching around in farce and theater. Sit-ins and marches in the South fifty years ago were not passive protests – they were breaking the law both de jure and de facto as it existed at the time.
Blocking traffic, human chains, forcing the shutdown of transit systems, etc – it’s just part of a long chain of the means oppressed people seize for themselves to resist the institutional power of their oppressors.
Betty Cracker
@Kristin: I don’t share the typical cops’ attitude toward Sharpton, but I can understand it, given his past history. However, it’s totally dishonest and/or ignorant of them to pretend that de Blasio has some sort of special and unprecedented relationship with Sharpton. Steve M at No More Mr. Nice Blog exploded that myth here.
Frankensteinbeck
@gene108:
I would say the relative coverage of, to take a random example, Teabagger rallies of a couple of thousand people vs. pro-immigrant rites rallies of a hundred thousand people during 2009 make it clear what the national media thinks is important. The national journalist class is a cesspool of racism. They just use polite language and only think about the issues of whites rather than typing the n-word in all caps on online forums.
Goblue72
@Mike E: It’s well known that he started to realize that his white audiences were treating him like a trained monkey, laughing less at the political satire than the antics of a Stepin’ Fetchit.
Roger Moore
@Goblue72:
And an admission that police have both the inclination and the wherewithall to get poisoned drugs into the hands of people they don’t like.
Couldn't Stand the Weather
Uh… what?
The incredibly crazed nature of Hollywood is enough to make anyone consider quitting that “business”. I don’t care about Dave’s issues; the rest of us have enough dysfunction to make us less than optimal casters of stones.
Admittedly, some people (like certain members of certain police departments) have MUCH more dysfunction than others.
Judge Crater
Also, the NYPD has always been a force unto itself. They have 36,000 cops, 70 some precincts, thousands of support staff and special units for everything from terrorism to shoplifting.
For decades, until a couple of investigating commissions came down on them, they indulged themselves in every sort of petty graft they could get away with. Free meals, free smokes, free booze, free anything they could get while on duty. It was a way of life.
Of course there were the larger scandals, drugs, prostitution, brutality, etc. But they were the “Princes” of the city (there was a movie about it). Most don’t even live in the city, with the exception of Staten Island and maybe Queens. They are, in a sense, an occupying army. And boy, can they be self-righteous.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: How would you define “the national journalist class”?
Waynski
@Kristin:
Tawanna Brawley and a riot in Harlem that killed two Jewish shopkeepers on 125th Street. I’ve forgiven him, because I think he got fooled on the first count and I don’t think he meant to incite a riot on the second, yet that’s what happened. Nevertheless, I understand why other people can’t forgive him. I wish they would, because his heart’s in the right place, but to say he’s made no mistakes would be naive.
Goblue72
@Waynski: I agree that he’s made mistakes. Just that the way certain wingers and others trot out the Sharpton piñata at this point has gotten old. And says more about those whining ABOUT Sharpton than it does about Sharpton himself.
paradox
Please excuse me for not being precise with no link, but I remember being surprised this month reading at Daily Kos how far down on the list policing is for employment mortality. Sheesh, being a fisherman, logger or truck driver and you’re in a lot more danger than being a cop.
[sigh] No, those cops on that public message board are not fully cognizant that it’s public and brutally in place, it will come back to them for a long time. Citizens have felt powerless for a long time, they’re going to seize that public text and with infinite patience try any tactic they can to nail those cops with it. Those cops fear nothing, heh, I truly believe it, it’s a very good way to get crushed. Someday.
Mike E
@Goblue72: Mental health it is. But I get it: he came to our local symphony hall and, as a huge fan, I watched him do 2 sets and concluded he would rather work “free” than get hemmed in by his CC image; and, while appearing on stage as a real flesh and blood human being, he was also quite guarded and noticeably fragile. Staff was even told to deal quickly with hecklers…don’t comedians “handle” heckling as part of their stock and trade? Really?
I’m not only his fan but also a performance venue veteran, so I haz a little perspective. YMMV
Goblue72
@Mike E: the amount of heckling he’s been subjected to is way far and above anything I’ve ever seen at any other stand-up show.
Maybe you don’t know it, but it’s been well documented. Far, far beyond ordinary heckling. One show of his I saw, the heckling pretty much destroyed the second half of his set. It was a total mob mentality and involved almost solely the white members of the audience (this was in a very mixed race audience in Oakland). Which was particularly upsetting as his set started off quite sharp & intelligent, and Mos Dep & Talib Kweli were performing as well, in a sort of mini-block party format.
Chappelle isn’t – and wasn’t – “crazy”. His (white) audience is.
Roger Moore
@Goblue72:
The underlying problem with all the stuff about Sharpton is that it’s a giant distraction. They don’t say it in so many words, but the basic argument is that he was wrong once in the past, so he can be safely disregarded from now on. It’s a giant argumentum ad hominem in the original sense of the term.
Waynski
@Goblue72: I agree that the Sharpton pinata has gotten old. I believe the only one trotting it out these days is Rudolphus Augustus Giuliani, and he’s been blowing on that dog whistle for decades. That said, I stand by my point. Anyone living in NYC metro area at the time didn’t always find Rev helpful for his own causes. But better to have the Rev. than not, though. Nobody’s perfect.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Goblue72: I confess I’m a bit puzzled, and annoyed (truth be told), by the claim that Dave Chappelle has mental health issues because he’d prefer not to deal with hateful audiences. Seems to be a sign of wellness to me. I’m glad I’m not alone in recalling how outrageously beyond “heckling” the audience behavior was.
Mike E
@Couldn’t Stand the Weather: I assume you are responding to me?…I was neither casting stones nor aspersions. ‘We’ can all handle dysfunction in our own individual ways, and Dave would be no exception… I think it was an odd inclusion to connect his travails in the biz to the subject matter at hand here, apart from his brilliant commentary on police work in his boyhood community.
When asked about his occupation prior to stand up comedy, he said, “I was in 8th grade.”
burnspbesq
@Tree With Water:
Unpossible under the current collective bargaining agreements. I suspect you know that. I also suspect that in general, you’re opposed to union-busting, which is what you’re advocating here.
burnspbesq
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
If you’re advocating wholesale violations of a collective bargaining agreement, you’re a union-buster.
If you want to argue that this particular union needs busting, you can make that argument, but let’s not lie about what we’re advocating, OK?
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I think it’s more that very few people can handle becoming a worldwide entertainment phenomenon. Chappelle is one of the few performers who was wise enough to realize that it was damaging to him and was able to step back before the damage was permanent.
Jonathan Winters is another comedian who would famously “bow out” for a few months every year or so to regroup and get some additional therapy, so I don’t see any reason for Chappelle to get shit for doing the same thing Winters did.
Roger Moore
@burnspbesq:
I think a lot of people here would argue that the unions’ decision to engage in a work slowdown constitute an illegal labor action, which justifies a strong response from the government. I would argue that an injunction is the proper initial response rather than a mass firing, but certainly a union that feels it has the right to violate its collective bargaining agreement with impunity is in need of some response.
Mike E
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): @Goblue72: I hadn’t seen him prior to our shows in any other venue, and only those recorded performances on CC, so I wasn’t aware of him getting mobbed like that. The requested vigilance makes sense now.
After the show he stood at the stage’s edge to shake hands and chat with fans…I think he appreciated this venue’s hospitality.
burnspbesq
@Roger Moore:
Are we talking about Al Sharpton or Andrew Sullivan?
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini):
I wonder what could possibly be different about the two that would cause people to have radically different reactions to them doing about the same thing. It’s a total mystery, I tell you!
burnspbesq
@Roger Moore:
Unless Lynch is even dumber than I think he is, what we’re witnessing is a classic “work-to-rule” slowdown. The cops are doing the absolute minimum that they can without being insubordinate or violating the CBA. It’s a well-known and time-honored tradition in labor-management relations. Erik Loomis undoubtedly approves.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Roger Moore:
Clearly it’s because psychiatry and mental illness was so much better accepted and understood in the 1950s and 1960s than it is today. Yeah, that’s it, that’s the ticket!
low-tech cyclist
As Arthur Dent put it, “Charming men. I wish I had a daughter so I could forbid her to marry one.”
He was talking about Vogons. These NYPD guys aren’t much of an improvement.
Han
@burnspbesq:
Are you unaware of what “ASAP” stands for? Or just like to be supercilious? I am reasonably certain without checking that the current collective bargaining agreement does not state that current members cannot be terminated for any reason whatsoever for the rest of their natural lives.
Ilya
I just read about this Rachel Noerdlinger person. Not saying that the NYPD is justified in acting like children, but de Blasio showed a massive lack of judgment in hiring her:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/nyregion/rachel-noerdlinger-top-mayoral-aide-to-take-a-leave-of-absence.html?_r=0
Her top hits include:
1) Her boyfriend is a convicted murderer
2) She owes the government tens of thousands of dollars in taxes
3) She was exempted from living in NYC unlike other city workers on flimsy pretenses
4) Her son is a drug dealer
burnspbesq
@Han:
I’m equally certain, having actually read a few CBAs over the years, that all of the current NYPD CBAs (a) provide that union members cannot be dismissed without cause and (b) include a definition of “cause” that you would find shockingly narrow. Ever heard of a “work-to-rule slowdown?”
If you want to continue to look stupid, be my guest.
Lurking Canadian
If the union can manage a 95% reduction in productivity while working to rule, their contract is very badly written indeed.
Han
@burnspbesq: Wow, you’ve actually read a few CBA’s over the years? That’s amazing!
Though the point I was making was you deemed the idea that New Yorkers should “seek ways to replace ALL their cops with replacements ASAP.” as definitively “Unpossible under the current collective bargaining agreements. ” Normally, that’s the sort of linguistic error you’d be all over.
And yes, yes I have heard of a “work-to-rule” slowdown. Do you honestly think they’re not going a bit beyond that, if the numbers are to be believed?
Roger Moore
@burnspbesq:
You have more faith in him than I do. I sincerely doubt that the rules include always waiting for backup.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Betty Cracker: I like how he spends so many words justifying Lynch or trying to understand cops shitty attitudes but can’t muster anything for protesters. He’s part of the problem.
Brutusettu
@FlipYrWhig: When the Negro Apocalypse happens, the perpetrators will be draped in Gadsden Flag shirts and white.
Brutusettu
@Betty Cracker: as far as first hand anecdotal evidence for me goes, I can say crazy uncle at Thanksgiving makes that wingnut cop claim supported at 1 for 1.
Darkrose
@Just Some Fuckhead: I also noted that his take on cops being racist was “Some of my best friends are black!”
Don
Probably means they don’t give them free food. I knew folks in the Miami-Dade PD who would put on their uniform to go through the McD’s drive-through to get dinner for the family. Many of them viewed it as theirs by right.