WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR WATCH ON THE RHINE. From the Service Employees International Union 32BJ:

The following statement may be attributed to Lenore Friedlaender, Assistant to the President of 32BJ SEIU and the union’s leader in the Hudson Valley:

“As one of the nation’s largest unions with majority immigrant membership, we thoroughly condemn he Trump administration’s massive workplace raids in Mississippi yesterday. By arresting almost 700 men and women at their jobs, the administration has ripped apart families, communities and local economies, traumatizing thousands upon thousands of native and foreign-born residents alike, while further terrorizing immigrants of all statuses across the country. 

For over a dozen years, administrations both Republican and Democratic have refrained from these massive militarized assaults on workplaces, knowing that the damage they wreak to residents of American soil is simply indefensible.

 All workers — black, brown, white — deserve to be treated with dignity in the workplace, and the well-being of their children and communities should always be a top priority for government. The Trump administration, however, counts working people’s pain as their political gain.

The timing of the raids also adds reprehensible insults to this grievous injury, coming months after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission won a lawsuit in support of abused Latinx workers, and on the very day that President Trump traveled to El Paso in the wake of a white supremacist terror attack that was apparently emboldened by Trump’s hateful words and deeds. We offer our deepest condolences to all those affected by these raids, and our solidarity to all those committed to defeating this rogue and racist administration through action in the courts, votes at the polls, and voices in the streets.”

La siguiente declaración se puede atribuir a Lenore Friedlaender, asistente al presidente de la 32BJ SEIU y líder de la union en el valle del Hudson. 

“Como uno de los sindicatos más grandes de la nación con membresía mayoritaria de inmigrantes, condenamos a fondo las redadas masivas de la administración Trump en Mississippi ayer. Al arrestar a casi 700 hombres y mujeres en sus trabajos, la administración ha destrozado familias, comunidades y economías locales, traumatizando a miles y miles de residentes nativos y nacidos en el extranjero por igual, a la vez que aterroriza aún más a los inmigrantes de cualquier estatus por todo el país. Durante más de una docena de años, las administraciones republicanas y demócratas se han abstenido de estos asaltos militarizados masivos en los lugares de trabajo, sabiendo que el daño que causan a los residentes de suelo estadounidense es simplemente indefendible. Todos los trabajadores, negros, marrones, blancos, merecen ser tratados con dignidad en el lugar de trabajo, y el bienestar de sus hijos y comunidades siempre debe ser una prioridad para el gobierno. Sin embargo, la administración Trump considera el dolor de la gente trabajadora como su ganancia política. El momento de las redadas también agrega insultos reprobables a esta grave lesión, meses después de que la Comisión de Igualdad de Oportunidades en el Empleo ganó una demanda en apoyo de los trabajadores Latinx maltratados, y el mismo día en que el presidente Trump viajó a El Paso tras un ataque terrorista supremacista que aparentemente fue envalentonado por las odiosas palabras y acciones de Trump. Ofrecemos nuestras más sinceras condolencias a todos los afectados por estas redadas, y nuestra solidaridad a todos los que se comprometieron a derrotar a esta administración corrupta y racista a través de la acción en los tribunales, los votos en las urnas y las voces en las calles.”

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WPCNR OBSERVATIONS. By John F. Bailey. Reprinted from the WPCNR Archives. August 6, 2019 Updated in view of recent events:

In view of Russia’s Vladimir Putin being reported by The New York Times Monday as saying he would retaliate with nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear attack by the United States, it is sobering to note that Mr. Putin has taken this policy gambit.

The President of the United States has a problem. He governs by one tweet at a time and his gut. His “gut reactions” to events and public comments, often deliver “over-the-top” comeback.

I would like to point out to Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump what an atomic attack does. We have scientific evidence.

Seventy-four years ago today in 1945, the Enola Gay, a single American bomber dropped an Atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan.

The terrible effects of that single bomb are a horror that has never been repeated

A second bomber, Bock’s Car on August 9, dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

Unknown thousands of Japanese citizens’ lives were vaporized, burned,  and maimed and two cities leveled to the ground in an instant in both bombings.

To grasp what one atomic bomb did to Nagasaki, readers may see the photographs Japanese photographer Yosuki Yamato took of the aftermath of Nagasaki the day it happened at http://www.exploratorium.edu/nagasaki/photos.html#journey/63.jpg

The decision to drop the bombs was made after the United States, Great Britain and the Republic of China demanded Japan  surrender in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26 or face  “prompt and utter destruction”.

The Japanese government did not surrender.

The United States deployed two nuclear weapons  dropping one on Hiroshimi, 74 years ago today and one on Nagasaki on August 9.

Over four months the bombs resulted in the deaths of   90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, half dying the day the bombs fell.

The Hiroshima prefecture health department estimated that, of the people who died on the day of the explosion, 60% died from flash or flame burns, 30% from falling debris and 10% from other causes. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness.

In a US estimate of the total immediate and short term cause of death, 15–20% died from radiation sickness, 20–30% from burns, and 50–60% from other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities, most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizable garrison.

The horror of those two bombings and the aftermath, the injuries created have resulted in an effort and reluctance on the part of nuclear-armed powers to avoid any nuclear attacks since that date.

Within a few days of those bombings, Japan surrendered unconditionally, officially ending World War II.

The decision to use the bombs by the United States has long been debated. A dialogue on what the bombs did, why the decision was made was collected in 1995, the fiftieth year since the bombings. It is available at http://www.exploratorium.edu/nagasaki/commentary/decision.html

It is important that the two most powerful men in the world, both mentally mired in the past and with delusions of grandeur, get a grip.

Trying to justify a first strike nuclear attack as a deterrent to a perceived possible attack will destroy the country attacked, their economy, millions of people. If a little bomb like the one dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki can level and anniliate the population of a city, a series of nuclear strikes in a first strike or a retailiatory strike with today’s super bombs the world may suffer from prolonged radiation clouds. Mr. Putin should know. He needs to be the adult in this situation and not get Little Lord Fauntleroy too upset.

Please Mr. Putin, boost Mr. Trump’s ego. Do not tempt him. He has been shown in 2 and a half years to make bad situations worse as a policy tactic.

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WPW for 8-2 – link to youtube 

https://youtu.be/dW9rHcelc4Q 

link to wpweek.com

http://www.whiteplainsweek.com/

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2019. By John F. Bailey. August 1, 2019:

Chairman of the Board of Legislators Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR this afternoon that he expects final legal department-approved bond legislation to buy 50 ELECTION BOOKS and 30 Plan B Election Machines capable of displaying multiple district ballots to be to the Board of Legislators “shortly.”

After that authorizing legislation is provided, Boykin said it would be sent out to the Public Works Department and Budget and Appropriations committees for review, and he expected the full Board of County Legislators to approve it at the meeting of September 16 , if not earlier.

Election Books and new voting machines are the “hardware” required to enable a registered voter from anywhere in Westchester County to walk in and vote at the currently 16 designated polling places where you may vote early beginning October 26 through November 3.

Reginald Lafayette Commissioner of the Westchester County Board of Elections, told WPCNR the machines have already been ordered from companies Election Systems & Software, and Dominion Monday afternoon after an hour and a half meeting with the County Legislature Budget & Appropriations Committee Monday morning.

He expects deliveries to begin within two weeks and would begin training of force of 100 early voting election supervisors to run the 16 Early voting polling places in the county as soon as machines arrive.

He said election books and voting machines are available now because the manufacturers had anticipated the demand for the machines the early voting legislation (approved eight months ago with the New York State Budget) mandated.

Lafayette reports to WPCNR his department has been working with the County Attorney’s office for an official draft of the bond request and would have a final bill ready for the Board of Legislators “shortly”.

This afternoon, he and Boykin each estimated the cost of the Election Books and new voting machines, including training would be $750,000. He also anticipated more purchase of voting machines and Election Books for next year’s Presidential Election.

Asked if this was a dry run for next year’s early voting system, Mr. Lafayette said, “absolutely.”

In the meeting Monday morning, the issue of early voting in local elections came up, and Mr. Lafayette said currently the state legislation passed does not extend to early voting in local village and town elections. He said it is an issue the state legislature did not address.

Mr. Lafayette announced steps to prevent double-voting.

He and his Co-Commissioner Douglas Colety, would review whether to add a 17th Early Voting Polling Place at the Mamaroneck Town Center. Though it should be pointed out that the Board of Legislators had gone along with Mr. Lafayette and Mr. Colety selections of the 16 Polling places selected for Early Voting in July. Since then, the Board of Elections elminated one Mount Vernon location (leaving City Hall as the Early Voting Place), and added one in the Town of Greenburgh.

The Election Books include ballots for all election districts in the county and registered voters, Mr. Colety said Monday. At each Early Voting Location, an election official looks up the early voter’s name, and election district, then prints out a ballot for his district.

At the close of the Monday meeting, Mr. Colety explained how forgetful early voters who vote on election would be identified. He said that early voting ends November 3. The county will safeguard against “double-voting,” Colety said by running printouts by district from the Election Books of persons who have voted early by matching votes on the early voting machines at the actual Election Day on November 5.

Voters should be the alert for postcards the Board of Elections will send out prior to the start of early voting announcing where they can vote early.

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For the first time in over a decade, Westchester County will welcome a new ride at Playland as County Executive Latimer will officially open “Dragonator” to the public Tuesday.

“Dragonator” holds 24 riders and is designed with a back restraint which leaves both arms and legs free to move as riders are spun around and travel along a “U” shaped track.  The ride is part roller coaster and part spinning ride.