On Monday, August 26, 2019 at 1100 hours, a Plaque Dedication will be held honoring the memory of Firefighter Jimmy Martinez, E-157, who died on August 24, 2018. The dedication will take place in the quarters of Engine 157 & Ladder 80, 1573 Castleton Avenue, Staten Island, NY. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform.
FIREHOUSE KITCHEN TALK:
Q&A WITH A PROBIE For those interested in joining the greatest job in the world, come join us at Friends of Firefighters (199 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231) on Wednesday, August 28, from 6:00-9:00 PM for a firefighter-prepared dinner and Q&A session with a probie on his Fire Academy experience and first year on the job. Please notify your family members and friends. This event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. No RSVP necessary. For more information, call their office at 718-643-0980 or email info@friendsoffirefighters.org.
WORLD TRADE CENTER OAK PROJECT
Friends of Firefighters encourages all members to read about the World Trade Center Oak Project, a beautiful initiative started by one man who traveled from Michigan on September 13, 2017 to the September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center in New York City. After collecting 60 fresh acorns dropped from the memorial oak trees, he returned home to work on raising the trees again. He is now desperately seeking permanent homes for 41 oak tree saplings in NYC where they can act as ‘living memorials’ and be a sign of both remembrance and rebirth. Ideally, they need to find homes by the end of September or they will not last through the next season. Please contact Friends of Firefighters at 718-643-0980 or info@friendsoffirefighters.org if you or your firehouse is interested in planting a WTC oak tree in someone’s memory, perhaps the most fitting memorial gift of all as we approach the anniversary of September 11th.
FF WILLIAM TOLLEY FUNDRAISER
The 1st annual FF William Tolley Fundraiser, “Tolleyfest” is here. Join in honoring Billy’s legacy and supporting the First Responder Community. The fundraiser is Thursday, October 17, 2019, from 6:00 -10:00 PM at Black Forest Brewhaus. Tickets are $60 per person. Registration deadline is September 30, 2019. Contact Bobby Tolley at (631) 327-0659 or robert.tolley@firesanddrums.org for questions.
Paul Kelly has an uncomfortable question for the GAA.
So, Boris Johnson has finally achieved his lifetime ambition and made it to Number 10. “The end of the beginning” as his hero, Winston Churchill, once said. Or could it possibly be the other way around? Brexit is now in full-throttle Cronus mode and has clearly demonstrated that the truth is irrelevant when you’re chained to an antiquated and highly flawed ideology; the good old days when the sun never set on the British Empire. If devouring its own children in order to maintain the status quo is what it takes, then so be it. Former US president Bill Clinton summed it up perfectly to RTE’s Tommie Gorman in June. Expressing his concerns about those at the vanguard portraying the pursuit of a hard Brexit as a means of “liberating the United Kingdom” Clinton warned they may be: … consigning one of the world’s greatest nations in human history to a smaller role just so that people who have historically been in control can stay there. As much as we like to tut-tut at Boris, Rees-Mogg, Gove et al pining for a simpler time when Paddy knew his place, with regard to blind devotion to an archaic creed are we really in a position to cast the first stone? Take, for example, the GAA; arguably the final bastion in Irish society but an organization whose stubborn resistance to change rivals that of the Vatican. If the top table is unwilling to discuss a recent suggestion from Jarlath Burns (touted by many as a potential Uachtaran CLG) in relation to removing anthems and flags from GAA events in an attempt to welcome those of a different persuasion, are they (and thus by default, we) not handcuffed to an equally outdated doctrine also? What flew in 1884 doesn’t necessarily fly in 2019. What was written during a time of war doesn’t necessarily apply during a time of peace. All philosophies have a sell-by date. I believe this is what hurling pundit Donal Og Cusack was driving at with his ” … last remnants of British culture on these islands …” comment made during a recent post-match analysis in which he defended coaches criticized for exploring alternative tactics. For many the GAA is about identity; for others it’s simply chasing a ball around a field. I’d suspect the silent majority fall somewhere in between. Of course the GAA takes on different meanings depending on geography and I fully appreciate that carrying a hurley in Ballymena isn’t the same as carrying a hurley in Ballyhaunis. Placing less emphasis on historical and cultural aspects may be anathema to some; it was to me until recently. But I believe it’s time for what former Crossmaglen Rangers and Armagh footballer John McEntee described in his Irish News column as ‘uncomfortable conversations’. This thinking will no doubt meet with fierce resistance in some quarters but our rich culture, one which transcends burning tyres and pallets, isn’t jeopardized one iota by holding such discussions. One would think this is a more pressing matter for GAA president John Horan than introducing a ridiculous and totally unnecessary back-pass rule. ⏭ Paul Kelly is a Tuam based writer.
Brian Feeney. Irish News. Belfast. Wednesday, August 21, 2019.
One of the reasons, perhaps the main reason, why there is so much confusion about what’s going to happen in the UK at Halloween is because the media takes the statements of the British government and its ministers seriously.
All governments lie, but this British government’s current position is based entirely on one big lie, namely that it’s possible to make a deal with Brussels before October 31. It isn’t. All ministers know that, and so do all journalists, nevertheless they tie themselves in knots analyzing a delusion.
Yet, because it’s the government and prime minister who keep making mendacious claims the media, and especially the BBC, feel obliged to take them seriously. Everything becomes clear if you turn every pronouncement on its head, especially the pronouncements of the EU-illiterates in the Cabinet like Dominic Raab and Stephen Barclay.
Take [consider] the leaked document about impending catastrophe when there’s no deal. We’re told by Michael Gove, a man adept at twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid a straight answer, that it’s ‘old’. The contemptible DUP, a party which has never uttered a single word of its own devising on Brexit, immediately parroted, ‘it’s old’. It’s not, unless you count three weeks as old. Everything will be in order in 70 days time, so the stuff in ‘Operation Yellowhammer’ won’t apply. Oh yes it will because, guess what, everything will not be in order in 70 days. See? Just turn everything Johnson and his team of nodding dogs say on its head. After all, he hand-picked them to be nodding dogs.
There’ll be a deal by Halloween. No, there won’t. There can’t be. Here’s why. The British have made no proposals. The European Council hasn’t given its negotiators a new mandate, nor will
Johnson’s forthcoming trips to Berlin and Paris (the only forthcoming thing about him) will be hyped in the British media. He’ll tell Johnny Foreigner to back off or there’ll be no deal. Huh. Translate as, ‘give me what I want or I’ll jump out the window.’ Remember Theresa May sent the EU-illiterate David Davis round European capitals in 2017 and…nathin [nothing]. Individual EU leaders don’t negotiate, but even if they did Macron is contemptuous of Johnson and openly exasperated with the British, so… nathin [nothing].
The simple truth is this. There are only two options: no were cobbled together they couldn’t agree on whether to have Brexit or what kind of Brexit they want to have.
Johnson can get away with all the lies and delusions because the opposition to him is pathetic. They have no leader, certainly not Jeremy Corbyn who doesn’t know what he wants himself. Some want a second referendum, others want a new deal, but what kind? Some just want to bring down Johnson, but then what?
For Johnson by contrast it’s simple. He only wants one thing – an election – because his present position in parliament is unsustainable. In effect he has no majority so he must get one, do or die. Nothing else matters.
