Posted by Jim on July 29, 2019
FIREHOUSE KITCHEN TALK: EMERGING THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES: COOPERATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FDNY
Join Friends of Firefighters (199 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231) on Wednesday, July 31, from 6:00-9:00 PM for a firefighter-prepared dinner followed by a presentation from Battalion Chief Sean Newman and Retired Colonel Patrick J. Mahaney, U.S. Army Special Forces on post-9/11 cooperation between the Department of Defense and the FDNY. This event is free for active and retired FDNY members. No RSVP necessary.
STREET RENAMING CEREMONY
On, Saturday, August 3, 2019, at 1030 hours, a Street Renaming Ceremony will be held honoring the memory of Lieutenant Christopher Raguso, Engine 302. The ceremony will be held at Commack Fire Department, 6309 Jericho Turnpike, Commack, NY 11725. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform.
SARATOGA FIRST RESPONDER APPRECIATION DAY
The Saratoga Race Course will host First Responder Appreciation Day on Wednesday, August 7, 2019. Gates open at 11:00 AM, First Post is 1:00 PM. Admission is free with firefighter ID. There will be a performance by the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drums following the 6th Race. A reception will follow the races at The Parting Glass, 40 Lake Ave, Saratoga Springs. Visit https://www.saratoga.com/event/celebrate-first-responders-appreciation-day-149952/ for more info.
FIRST RESPONDER DAY AT CITI FIELD
Citi Field will host First Responder’s Day on Sunday, August 11. Those who order with a group purchase will have early entrance to watch the FDNY vs. NYPD softball game happening on Citi Field from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM, along with entry to the Bullpen Plaza, where complimentary soda, beer, hot dogs, and popcorn will be served from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM. The Mets will take on the Nationals at 1:00 PM. Ticket options range from $30 – $60/per person. Additionally, it is also Family Day at Citi Field, with a promotional National Baseball Card Day giveaway and Mr. Met Dash for all children. Please email Max at mjohnson@nymets.com for tickets and questions.
Posted by Jim on
Church of Ireland (Anglican) Bishop of Clogher,
Right Rev John McDowell
Dear Prime Minister,
Now that the campaigning has ended and the governing must begin I wanted to write to you about the matter of the Border on the island of Ireland, which is close to where I live. Indeed, the Diocese of Clogher, which I serve, includes all of County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland and County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that my Diocese transcends the Border.
No doubt many others representing many people and interests will have communicated with you on this subject before. So I would first reassure you that I am writing as someone who has always recognized the almost impossible difficulties and stresses placed on those who have a vocation to public life, particularly politicians.
I cannot claim to represent a huge electorate or to have any specialist knowledge. But sometimes an individual should say things which might otherwise go unheard in the cacophony of other, better–known voices; the alternative would be to simply wither in the silence of exhaustion.
As Bishop of Clogher, I have a vocation to care for people on both sides of the Border and a responsibility to pray for both British and Irish Heads of State and their peoples, day by day. Although that is principally a spiritual job of work, it would be hypocritical of me to pray for something without actively working to achieve it. Besides, spiritual wellbeing needs a material basis on which to live.
So, although our priorities and the methods we use to achieve them may be different, I think it is fair to say that our goals overlap; nowhere more so than in the current difficulties surrounding Brexit and the Border, which (very worryingly) give every impression of escalating towards a crisis. For those of us old enough to have lived through longest civil conflict in post–War Europe, the very word “escalation” is resonant with overtones of lived horror and real tragedy. As such, it is reassuring that those in power on both sides have repeated their desire to find answers to the Brexit/Border conundrum problems that protect what has been achieved here since 1998.
What your Government chooses to do to that end will be inevitably one of historical magnitude.
Government’s role is to use the very substantial resources of the State to sift evidence, consider policy options and plan a way forward. In so doing it should take into account the needs of society as a whole, i.e. to seek the common good. In light of this, the worst thing a Government can be is irresponsible or careless. No Government should commit a country to a course of action in which the consequences were so opaque as to be incalculable. It would, therefore, be both logically and morally correct for a Prime Minister to give deep pause before allowing a no–deal Brexit.
But I principally wanted to write to you about the Border.
The Border and the problems which it poses for any form of Brexit are not only technical or technological issues. Nor are they simply issues to do with trade or security matters. Expressed in the starkest terms, the Border is the background against which all political and much cultural life in Northern Ireland (and in a more limited way in the Republic of Ireland) is worked out. Some people like the Border and others do not, but positively or negatively, consciously or unconsciously, it is pivotal to how politicians and people here assess almost all policy alternatives.
For this reason alone, any big change which has an impact on the Border is unavoidably complicated and inevitably charged with emotional and symbolic significance.
After a period of relative obscurity, it now appears that everybody is fascinated by the Border. It is interesting, for a while, to be at the center of the world’s attention. But on the whole, I think many of us would rather have been left alone.
For a political border, it is very beautiful in places. That is largely because of the hundreds of small farms looked after by hundreds of sturdy farmers along its length. There isn’t much money in it for most of
I think it was the great English public figure and man of Letters Thomas Babbington Macauley who said of Ireland that “the molten lava of the past flows hot and dangerous under the thin crust of the present”.
The ground on which people build and grow in the Border region feels particularly fragile today. It is almost possible to feel the heat of the past burning the soles of our feet. So, please, in your consideration of the future of this place: tread carefully. And with deep and genuine concern I would ask you to be very conscious of the legacy your Government will leave.
The Rt Revd John McDowell is Bishop of Clogher. The open letter was first published online by the Daily Telegraph on Friday, 26 July. END.
Posted by Jim on July 28, 2019
By AM Thursday, July 25, 2019 Share Tweet Share Share EmailEamonn McCann on why he believes Sinn Fein is spoofing again.
REBEL ⬌ THE NEW SOCIALIST WEBSITE
Sinn Féin are telling porkies again—this time over flags. The party voted against a proposal from PBP to remove ‘Soldier F’ banners, arguing instead for a catch all action against ‘all banners’, which PBP did not support. Now the Sinn Féin spin machine claims that it was PBP who opposed the removal of offensive parachute regiment banners. As Eamonn McCann explains, this is not the first time the party has used controversy over a specific incident to enact wider powers of control for the Northern state.
Belfast City Council took an awkward turn on July 1st when discussing the flying of flags supporting Soldier F, the paratrooper facing two counts of murder and two of attempted murder arising from the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry.
The ‘Soldier F’ flags and banners had widely been condemned. The July 1st council motion was a direct result.
But instead of simply demanding the removal of Soldier F flags and banners, or broadening the motion to take in sectarian symbols or threatening messages generally, Sinn Féin took the lead in proposing a wide-ranging ban on all banners which didn’t have the approval of Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure—legal owner of street fixings such as lampposts.
Posted by Jim on
by Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams
Micheál Martin should take positive leadership role in Irish unity process
In the same week that Boris Johnson achieved his long held ambition to
be British PM, Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin said he “can’t comprehend”
why there is no Executive and Assembly in the North.
I don’t believe this. Micheál Martin understands
exactly why the institutions collapsed. He knows why they have not been
restored. But he doesn’t let this get in the way of his totally self serving
narrative.
Micheál Martin has long been obsessed with the
perceived threat to Fianna Fáil posed by Sinn Féin. He rarely misses an
opportunity, in or outside the Dáil, to attack the party. Facts are irrelevant.
The crisis in the North is shamefully exploited time and time again.
Last year when the deal agreed between Sinn Fein and the DUP collapsed,
because the DUP walked away, Martin was out of the traps almost immediately
with his irresponsible and inaccurate tweet: “The continued failure of
the two dominant political parties in the North to agree restoration of
government is bitterly disappointing… “
There was no failure by Sinn Féin. The deliberate attempt to present
Sinn Fein as unwilling to negotiate in good faith and of being one of the two
problem parties, has been a constant refrain of Martin’s since Fianna Fáil lost
power in 2011.
He knows it is untrue. He knows the obstacles to progress in the North
arise from British government stupidity and indifference to Ireland, allied to
failures by successive Irish governments, and to resistance from the DUP and
others within political unionism who oppose the Good Friday Agreement.
This week Mr. Martin was at it again. Speaking at the MacGill Summer
School he said that he “can’t comprehend” why there is no Executive and
Assembly. This from the same Fianna Fáil leader who in September 2015 called on
the two governments to suspend the institutions in the North!
He also repeated his claim that Sinn Féin conspired
to bring down the Executive in January 2017. Micheál Martin knows this is
untrue. Why on earth would Sinn Féin do that? He also knows that Mary Lou
McDonald and Michelle O Neill have made exhaustive efforts, alongside the Irish
Government and others, to establish the basis for the power sharing government
to be restored. As far as Sinn Féin is concerned this has to be is on the basis
of equality as set out by the Good Friday Agreement. That basis has yet to be
achieved.
So why should citizens in the North be expected to
tolerate the denial of human rights available to Irish citizens elsewhere on
the island of Ireland – or indeed by citizens living in Britain? Why should
they embrace a system of governance which denies these rights? Micheál Martin
clearly thinks they should.
He also knows that the Renewable Heat Initiative
scandal, which brought the crisis to a head and which was inextricably linked
to serious allegations of DUP corruption at a cost of hundreds of millions to
taxpayers- could not be ignored by any responsible partner in government. His
own long tenure in various Ministerial roles saw Fianna Fail ministers accused
of corruption. Mr Martin did nothing about this. He should now know how this
undermines public confidence. That is why Martin McGuinness took the action he
did. Martin McGuinness was right.
In addition, Micheál Martin’s claim that marriage
equality would already be on the statue books in the North, if the institutions
had not collapsed, ignores the record of Sinn Féin and others within the
Assembly who tried to get the necessary legislation passed. Marriage equality
was blocked five times in the Assembly by the DUP. Five times. On the last
occasion, despite a clear majority of MLAs in favour, the DUP used a petition
of concern to oppose it. There remain sufficient DUP and unionist MLAs to use
the petition of concern again, if they wish.
These are the facts.
Finally, Micheál Martin’s can also be judged by his
abject failure to produce the 12 point plan on Unity he announced two and a
half years ago. Not only has there been no progress on that front but a commitment
to organise Fianna Fáil in the North has not materialised.
When leading Fianna Fáil representatives Éamon Ó
Cuiv TD and Seanadóir Mark Daly attempted to launch the Fianna Fáil party in
Tyrone they were publicly censured by their leader. Ó Cuiv was sacked from the
party’s front bench and Mark Daly was sacked as deputy Seanad leader for Fianna Fáil and spokesperson for foreign
affairs.
Two years ago I wrote to the Fianna Fáil leader and
I met him to ask for his support in establishing an Oireachtas Committee to
prepare for Irish Unity. This is a modest common sense attempt to plan for the
future. If we want to persuade unionists or anyone else to vote Yes in a
referendum for Irish unity then we need to examine all the issues involved in a
thoughtful and inclusive way. An Oireachtas Committee could look at the
economic arguments, as well as the cultural and societal elements of such a
process to create an agreed Ireland.
Micheál Martin said no.
The Fianna Fáil leader’s negative campaigning against Sinn Fein is not
about the interests of citizens in the North. It is not about the national
interest. Like Boris Johnson it is about narrow self-interest. Its real
focus is the electoral contest between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin in the South.
This approach does a disservice to citizens who live here and to the genuine
desire of many across this island for unity.
As the relationships on this island and between us
and Britain continue to change, as more people look to a future, which is more
democratic and hopeful than that envisaged for us by Boris Johnson, my hope is
that Mr. Martin will take a more positive leadership role. I urge to him to do
so.
Posted by Jim on July 25, 2019
WTC
Retired FDNY Auto Mechanic James J. Sottile
WAKE Sunday, July 28, 20192:00 PM – 4:00 PM & 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
O.B. Davis Funeral Home
1001 Route 25A Miller Place, NY 11764
FUNERAL Monday, July 29, 2019 11:00 AM
St. Marks Roman Catholic Church
105 Randall Road Shoreham, NY 11786
All Off-Duty Members should attend in Class A Uniform.
