OUR TIME PRESS | December 20-26, 2018

| From the Villa ge of Brook ly n |

OUR TIME PRESS THE L OCAL PAPER WITH THE G LOBAL VIEW

| VOL. 22 NO. 51

December 20-26, 2018 |

Since 1996

Jeffries to Dems: Stay Energized and Focused

Michael Flynn sentencing postponed after judge issues blistering rebuke

Independent-minded Federal court judge Emmett Sullivan confronted Administration lies and demanded spoken facts from former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. Page 2

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Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, 8th CD, addresses community and national issues with local press. Page 12

Stats on Russians Trolling Blacks are Staggering The tally: 10.4 million tweets, 116,000 Instagram posts, 61,000 Facebook posts and 30 Facebook pages set up, and 1,107 YouTube videos on 10 YouTube channels. Among the YouTube videos, 571 were related to police brutality and encouraged Black people to stay away from the polls in protest. These ads, videos, articles and memes often invoked or featured discussion of Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party or other scenes from Black History and movements for justice and civil rights. They were coming from sites and Twitter handles obtained by the Russians, like Blackmatter.us, black4black.info, blacksoul.us DONOTSHOOT.us, @woke_blacks and @afrokingdom.

Black activists were also targeted by posts on sites such as Blacktivist. See page 3

By Katelyn Polantz, Tara Subramaniam and Marshall Cohen, CNN

ashington (CNN)Former national security adviser Michael Flynn expected to be sentenced Tuesday by a federal judge.

But after almost two dramatic hours in a courtroom discussing his crimes, he asked to postpone his sentencing for several months so he can have more of an opportunity to cooperate in federal investigations and attempt to mitigate the judge's disgust with his actions.

"I want to be frank with you, this crime is very serious," federal Judge Emmet Sullivan said in the courtroom Tuesday. "Not only did you lie to the FBI, you lied to senior officials in the incoming administration."

Flynn, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to FBI agents in a January 24, 2017, interview in the West Wing of the White House, told the judge on Tuesday "I was aware" that lying to the FBI was a crime.

He said he accepted responsibility for his actions.

Prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller's office had asked the judge to give Flynn little to no jail time because he had

cooperated extensively with them and in at least one other investigation, a case in Virginia against Flynn's former business associates in which they are accused of illegally lobbying for Turkey. Prosecutors said Tuesday that Flynn had already given the "vast majority of cooperation" the judge should consider for his sentence but it was possible he could still help in other prosecutorial actions.

But Sullivan, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, veered the sentencing hearing off its course.

After formally accepting Flynn's guilty plea, the judge threw a series of questions at him that highlighted how unusual Flynn's case is and how consequential his actions may be.

Did Flynn believe he was not guilty? Did he think he was entrapped by the FBI when they interviewed him without a defense attorney present? Had Mueller's team considered charging Flynn with other crimes, including treason? ➔ Continued on page 2

This Monday, as firefighters from Weeksville’s Engine 234 escorted a smiling Santa Claus off their gleaming red fire truck, hundreds of children excitedly watched from inside the Interfaith Medical Center lobby and burst into singing “Jingle Bells.” Santa’s dramatic arrival marked the official kick-off of the 6th annual Interfaith Medical Center Winter Wonderland.

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OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 51

Brooklyn Community Board 8 Has a Plan for Responsible Growth

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rooklyn Community Board No. 8’s (BK CB8) latest general meeting was held Thursday, December 13th at 1000 Dean Street. Presiding was Robert Witherwax, Chair of the Environment, Sanitation and Transportation Committee.

BK CB8 Chairperson Nizoni Granville was absent to attend her company’s holiday party. Shalawn Langhorne, longtime chairperson of the Public Safety Committee and First Vice Chairperson, stepped down due to health concerns.

Prior to examining the night’s action items, Alison M. Hunt, LMSW, promoted the New York Mentoring Program. Hunt is the Regional Coordinator for Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens. The brainchild of Mrs. Matilda Raffa Cuomo, the program features a mentor meeting with an elementary, middle school or high school student one hour per week on school grounds for one year.

They discuss school work, life skills and/or the school dynamic. Ms. Hunt encouraged people to become mentors.

The Land Use Committee deliberated over two ULURP applications: 1800422MK, N180043ZRK for the rezoning of Block 1133’s, Lots 32 and 42 located on Pacific Street between Grand and Classon Avenues.

PC’s Richard Sheldon Lobel and Jay Valdora of Studio Architecture led the presentation which seeks to change the zoning from M1-1 to R7D/C1-4 permitting the applicants to construct “an 11-story building with mixed residential, commercial and community facilities.”

The building would contain 154 apartments with one-to-three bedrooms, 39 designated affordable “under Mayor de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Initiative Option 1 or 2.” The developer defines affordable as 80% of AMI, while BK CB8 defines it at 50% of AMI. Further, the proposal includes 63 parking spaces, (with no explanation of how they’d be assigned) and 7,600 sq. ft..

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of commercial space and 4,000 sq. ft. of community arts space.

This ULURP application includes 11 other nonapplicant-controlled lots and is supported by buses, subways, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and bike lanes. Given this transit coverage, the Brooklyn Borough President questions why the plan does not include a parking waiver.

The Land Use Committee asked about the number and size of apartments that would be rented at unspecified “affordable rates” and the council member’s representative indicated the developer is providing a binding commitment for affordable housing though the rent range is unspecified. Although other concerns were raised, the preeminent concern for the Land Use Committee is the completion of BK CB8’s

Judge Shakes Up Flynn ➔ Continued from page 1 Flynn and the lawyers' answers to all of these questions were no.

Yet Sullivan pressed on, his voice growing more shrill as he discussed Flynn's actions.

Flynn lied even "in the presence of the White House," Sullivan added. "You can't minimize that."

"I am not hiding my disgust, my disdain for your criminal offense," Sullivan said, pausing between each statement. "Yes, your honor," Flynn said. He was not asked a question.

M-CROWN Rezoning Project*. This project covers the entire area and focuses on job creation, particularly of light manufacturing.

The committee requests that 1010 Pacific Street Rezoning be put on hold until after this project is completed.

Further, they discussed withholding support pending changing the eastern boundary to 230 feet west of Classon Avenue. Gib Veconi made a motion to deny approval of the application. The vote was 22 in favor and 3 abstentions. The second ULURP application, presented by Richard Lobel of Sheldon Lobel, PC and architect Paul Jansen of Eric Safyan, Architects, PC., was for a Zoning Map Amendment affecting 1050 Pacific Street. This project seeks to erect two 8-story buildings containing 104 apartments and roughly 16,913 sq. ft. of

At one point, Sullivan wrongly suggested Flynn had acted as an illegal agent of a foreign government while serving as national security adviser. "That undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out," Sullivan said.

Later, the judge walked that comment back, acknowledging that Flynn's unregistered lobbying for the Turkish government ended in November 2016, while Flynn worked on the Trump campaign and transition and before they took the White House.

As much of the hearing unfolded and the tension in the room grew, there was little obvious reaction from members of the Flynn family, some of whom have

ground-floor commercial space. Both buildings would have 15-feet setbacks above the sixth floor. Approximately 21 dwelling units or 25% of floor area will be affordable under Mayor de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Initiative. Cellar parking for 42 cars and 54 bicycles will be provided. The applicant pledged to make 0.25 FAR of the ground-floor specified for M-CROWN uses. The committee stressed the need for permanently affordable apartments, securing the open-air courtyard corridor from Dean to Pacific Streets on a 24-hour basis, ensuring it closes at night and that ground-floor uses be local retail The Land Use Committee has these conditions for a motion to support the application: The western boundary of the area be rezoned, moved to 100 feet east of Classon Avenue and exclude the lots on Classon Avenue; the applicant make a binding commitment to develop the residential component per R6A MIH with remaining bulk for nonresidential use, full groundfloor lot coverage for nonresidential use, not including lobby, core and parking entrance.

Should a commitment not be received, the rezoning would be amended to R6A/M1-4 and the application to select MIH Option1 at 60% AMI. *M-CROWN stands for “Manufacturing Commercial, Residential Opportunity for a Working Neighborhood with a Living Wage.”

BK CB8 seeks to get it designated as a MX District.

embraced and amplified unfounded claims of FBI misconduct on their social media accounts. Many of them sat in the front row of the courtroom, and when the judge rhetorically asked if his "treason" implication was incorrect, some of Flynn's supporters loudly said, "Yes." Before the hearing, about a dozen family members and friends present had appeared to be in a good mood, with Flynn even telling his supporters as he entered the courtroom, "You made it."

Trump himself had wished Flynn "good luck" in a Tuesday morning tweet, adding that it "will be interesting to see what he has to say."

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OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

Did Trump Campaign Borrow Russian Trolls’ Black Voter Tactics?

■ “Before You Vote Listen to Michael Jackson: ‘All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us.’

This message, via a meme featuring Jackson’s photograph, was sent far and wide across social media. It’s just one of the many, many ads, memes and messages now revealed to have targeted African American voters –most heavily in 2016, as early as 2015, and yes, somewhat in 2018. The overall effort, according to two reports released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, was developed by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) a “troll farm” with Kremlin ties. IRA’s intent was to capitalize on and exacerbate racial and other tensions in the United States.

The Senate committee turned to Oxford University’s Computational Propaganda Project and New Knowledge, a cybersecurity firm specializing in “defending public discourse and providing brands with disinformation protection” to get a clear overview of the Russian’s operation. The scope, resources and lengths to which the trolls went is breathtaking to ponder.

The tally: 10.4 million tweets, 116,000 Instagram posts, 61,000 Facebook posts and 30 Facebook pages set up, and 1,107 YouTube videos on 10 YouTube channels.

Among the YouTube videos, 571 were related to police brutality and encouraged Black people to stay away from the polls in protest. These ads, videos, articles and memes often invoked or featured discussion of Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party or other scenes from Black History and movements for justice and civil rights. They were coming from sites and Twitter handles obtained by the Russians, like Blackmatter.us, black4black.info, blacksoul.us DONOTSHOOT.us, @woke_blacks and @afrokingdom. Black activists were also targeted by posts on sites such as Blacktivist.

The NAACP has called for a Facebook Logout for one week, (it started on December 18th) to protest that company’s cooperation in this illegal intrusion. Mark

By Maitefa Angaza

Examples of Russian social media propaganda campaign targeting African Americans.

Zuckerburg, CEO, is being blasted for having knowingly aided the Russians by handing over user info for money. Some political analysts believe this allowed the election to be stolen for Donald Trump. Of course, Facebook, which also owns Instagram, is not the only platform that was used.

Fake online publications were set up to distribute the type of stories the trolls selected. Some of these fake sites even hired American writers to create additional articles about other subjects, in order to pose as legitimate media entities.

“Many posts solicited protestors, writers, activists, lawyers, and photographers to attend the property’s numerous events,” the report states. “They posted job ads for real American writers to create content … a clear example supporting the hypothesis that the IRA engaged in narrative laundering.”

Some of the campaign was aimed at people who hate immigrants, or the LGBTQ community, or hate those who pray to a different God. There were photos of immigrants standing in line, with text stating that they were waiting to vote; images depicting Jesus in a MAGA cap, and photos

of funerals of police officers accompanied by text blaming their deaths on Black Lives Matter activists. One ad featured a photo of Barack Obama altered to appear to be dressed in white Muslim garb with a flag bearing the star and crescent of the Muslim faith behind him with the words: “There is a traitor in our midst” in bold print.

What is also remarkable is the extent to which some Trump campaign strategies mimicked the tactics of the Russians. Aside from widespread voter-suppression efforts leading up to the 2016 election, the Trump campaign used its own online attacks like a hidden gun. In an article in the October 27th 2016 issue of Business Week, reporters Joshua Green and Sasha Issenburg somehow got a senior official on Steve Bannon’s team to say – on record, but anonymously – “We have three major voter suppression operations under way.” The reporters stated that these were aimed at idealistic white liberals, young women and African Americans.

Steven Pascale, then of the Trump campaign, told the reporters that the team was playing up Hillary Clinton’s 1996 comment

about young African Americans charged with crimes, labelling them, “super predators who must be brought to heel.” He said the campaign had come up with animation related to the comment which would be delivered to African Americans through “dark posts” on Facebook, “Only the people we want to see it, see it,” he said.

The Senate report presents the Russians shared this focus on Black voters. It states: “Messaging to African Americans sought to divert their political energy away from established political institutions by preying on anger with structural inequalities faced by African Americans. These campaigns pushed a message that the best way to advance the cause of the African American community was to boycott the election and focus on other issues instead.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said, “They sought to harness Americans’ very real frustrations and anger over sensitive political matters in order to influence American thinking, voting and behavior. The only way we can begin to inoculate ourselves

against a future attack is to see first-hand the types of messages, themes and imagery the Russians used to divide us.”

As egregious as the attack on African American voters is, it reveals that the Black vote is indeed a change-making force. The world knows it and it would be great if more Black citizens did. But we did show up this year, Black people of all ages, millennials in great numbers and women, as always.

And despite the Russians, the gerrymandering and other forms of voter suppression, Trump still lost the popular vote.

Arielle Davis, a young activist living in Brooklyn, said, “If there is voter suppression happening from within one’s own country, which is basically what the Republican Party has been doing for some time, and now this is being added to by people outside the country – that’s indicative of how powerful this voting bloc is. Because to have multiple governments work so hard… I do think it’s horrible! It’s disenfranchisement, it’s undemocratic.

But it implies that there is a level of importance to how Black and brown people are voting – and if they’re voting.”

Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos Continue Attacks on Student Protections

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ASHINGTON — Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos created the Federal Commission on School Safety that was supposed to address gun violence in our schools and recommend actions schools should take to keep our students safe. Instead, their commission announced today that it recommends stripping students of civil rights protections, which seek to prevent racial disparities in student discipline. Although the report does not endorse DeVos’s idea that teachers should be forced to carry firearms in school, it does recommend pressuring educators to possess dangerous firearms in our schools.

National Education

Association (NEA) President Lily Eskelsen Garc?a responded to the ruling stating: “Instead of the Federal Commission on School Safety taking its charge seriously — addressing gun laws in this country and putting supports in place for students after the horrors of Parkland, Marshall County, Santa Fe and the countless other school shootings that have occurred this year — Betsy DeVos and the commission are doing the exact opposite. The recommendations do little to make students safer in our nation’s public schools.

They are dishonoring the memory of the students and educators who have lost their lives.

“More to the point, today’s announcement is further proof

that we cannot count on Betsy DeVos to protect students’ civil rights. Her decision to rescind critical federal guidance meant to address racial disparities in school discipline undermines the safety and dignity of students and educators in our public schools.

“Schools should continue to advance responsible and fair discipline policies and practices because they are best for students, the learning environment and meet legal obligations to address discrimination. Educators, schools and school districts must continue to enforce anti-discrimination laws. Period.”

“Betsy DeVos’ U.S. Department of Education is using

the commission to pursue her agenda to dismantle students’ civil rights protections — an agenda that affects our most vulnerable students the hardest. We do not need the appearance of safety; we need real solutions that create safe schools and address the underlying root of school violence. We need strategies to create positive, supportive learning environments and prevention efforts that end the hardening and over-policing of our public schools.

“The commission’s recommendations were decided in a vacuum without any real input from the real education experts — America’s teachers and school personnel working in public schools. We do not need more

guns in schools. Students deserve real solutions that will keep them safe — that is what our students have asked of us. It is shameful that the Trump Administration is using the real risk of gun violence in our schools to strip vulnerable students of their civil rights while doing nothing to keep all our students safe.”

The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employer organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. Learn more at www.nea.org.

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OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 51

WHAT’S GOING ON ■

By Victoria Horsford and lived up to its reputation. The gala was a veritable multicultural feast with a gourmet Kosher and Halal buffet, live music and dancing. Ms. Gandy Thomas, Haiti Consul General, NY; Dani Dayan, Israel Consul General, NY; and Israel Nitzan, Israel Deputy Consul General, NYC were the evening’s honorees.

BLACK ENTERPRISE

Nancy Wilson

NEW YORK, NY Mayor de Blasio attacks peace officers who were suspended for the misfortunes visited upon Brooklyn single mom Jazmine Headley, 23, at the HRA Boerum Hill Medicaid Office in Brooklyn on Friday, December 7. He has apologized to Ms. Headley, but not taken any action nor reprimanded the NYPD for its involvement.

The police and the peace officers were out of control. There has to be a change in NYPD culture concerning Black people.

As reported here last week, a Black woman was manacled by the NYPD during her childbirth in the Bronx earlier this year.

The NYPD overrode the doctor’s argument about handcuffs being illegal. Jane Doe is suing NYC for her experience. Ms. Headley also plans to sue the city. Both women will likely get handsome cash awards. Cash does not solve the problem of an errant police department which frequently operates above the law while Mayor de Blasio is impotent in his ability to effect change in NYPD/Black interactions.

NYS Senate and committee chair assignments: freshman senators Rachel May, Aging; Robert Jackson, Cities; Alassandra Biaggi, Ethics; Subcommittee chairs include Julia Salazar and John Liu, NYC Education.

Committee assignments for reelected senators: Liz Kruger, Finance; Gustavo Rivera, Health; Brian Kavanaugh, Housing; Helley Mayer, Education; and Brad Hoylman, Judiciary. Democrats hold 39 of 63 seats in the Senate.

Brooklyn-based The Bridge Multicultural Advocacy Project hosted its Annual Unity in Action Holiday Party on December 16

The following is a narrative about the Madam CJ Walker legacy. Madam Walker, the Black entrepreneur best known for the manufacture and distribution of hair care products for Black women, amassed a fortune, becoming the first American woman self-made millionaire. She bought the 34room mansion, Villa Lewaro, in Irvington, NY in 1918. When she died, she left the estate to a Black organization strapped for cash, which sold it. Decades and many title searches late,r a Black couple, Helena and Ambassador Harold Doley, bought and resided in the villa for more than 25 years.

The Doleys sold the sprawling, restored villa to Liberian-born businessman Richelieu Dennis, 48, founder/CEO of Sundial Brands, which makes cosmetics and skincare products for people of color. This week, Mr. Richelieu meets with Irvington city fathers to pitch his idea of using part of Lewaro as a training center/retreat for Black women

Princess Jenkins entrepreneurs, whom may duplicate Madam Walker’s successes. Last year, Richelieu launched New Voices Fund, endowing it with $100 million to bolster Black women’s entrepreneurial pursuits. Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are some of the fund supporters. BTW, Richelieu bought Essence Communications last year, restoring the storied periodical to Black ownership.

NEWSMAKERS Remember African-American Channing Dungey, former head of the ABC-TV entertainment division who fired Roseanne Barr for untoward comments this year? She resigned last month. Ms. Dungey now joins

N

millions in restitution and penalties and a bar on President Trump and his three eldest children from serving on the boards of other New York charities – remains ongoing.

Attorney General Underwood released the following statement: “Our petition detailed a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation – including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more.

This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.

“Today’s stipulation accomplishes a key piece of the relief sought in our lawsuit earlier this year. Under the terms, the Trump Foundation can only dissolve under judicial

Channing Dugay with the Wilson magic. She was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment of the Arts.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Richelieu Dennis

Trump Foundation Dissolved EW YORK – Today, Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced that – following a court decision in favor of the Attorney General – the Trump Foundation has signed a stipulation agreeing to dissolve under judicial supervision, with review and approval by the Attorney General of proposed recipient charities of the foundation’s remaining assets.

This stipulation follows the court decision last month allowing Attorney General Underwood’s lawsuit against the Trump Foundation to move forward.

Attorney General Underwood’s lawsuit sought the dissolution of the foundation under judicial supervision and with the oversight of the Attorney General's Charities Bureau. The lawsuit – which also seeks

Netflix, the streaming company with the huge worldwide membership. It’s all over the global media landscape in TV, films, She’ll have an executive position as vice president for original content and be reunited at Netflix with ABC success stars like Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, and Kenya Barris, creator of Black-ish. The Disney Corporation closes on the acquisition of the 21st Century Fox Corporation next year. Dungey, as other ABC-TV executives, would have had to defer to 21st Century Fox executives after the merger.

RIP: Beloved Harlemite Wilfred Defour, 100, a Tuskegee Airman, passed last week.

A “Greatest Generation” man to be sure, he was featured prominently in print and electronic media last month during the ceremony

renaming a US Post Office in honor of the heroic Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black US military aviators who fought during WWII. Viewing: Benta’s Funeral Home, 630 St. Nicholas Avenue on 12/20, 4-8 pm. Funeral: St Phillips Episcopal Church, 210 West 134th Street, Harlem on 12/21 at 11:30 am, then on to Woodlawn Cemetery.

Song stylist Nancy Wilson, 81, passed last week. The fabled Wilson career spanned five decades, peaked in the 60s, when she was first lady of song and TV. She was an adept vocalist in jazz, pop, Broadway, R&B torch songs. Dinah Washington and Nat King Cole were her muses. A three-time Grammy winner, she also garnered an Emmy for her eponymous TV show. Wilson toured extensively and recorded more than 70 LPs. Song titles like, “Face It Girl, It’s Over” and “Guess Who I Saw Today” are synonymous

The Vulcan (NYC Fire Department’s Black Fraternal Order) Society, University Settlement, Assemblyman Walter Mosley and Council Member Laurie Cumbo will co-host a free Family Holiday Celebration at the Ingersoll Community Center, located at 177 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, on Friday, December 21 at 5:30 pm. The festivities include food, arts and crafts, music, clothes, toys, tree-lighting, viewing fire trucks, a raffle for household appliances and more.

Call 718-522-5051 or e-mail: icc@universitysettlement.org.

The Harlem Business Alliance is on to something real big with its Holiday Gift Guide 2018 Edition which includes 38 gifts – one for each of the HBA anniversaries.

The guide is a feast of shoppers’ treasures.

All vendors are Black and their brickand-mortar businesses are Harlem-based.

There are HARLEM EATS: Belle Harlem Restaurant, Cupcake Queen Rave, Harlem Chocolate Factory, Granapoos Creations, Sugar Hill Beer and Harlem Hydration. The SNACK vendors are: Sol Cacao Chocolatier, Mama Pops, Mere Violas and Ida Preserves.

Boutiques are ubiquitous like Princess Jenkins’ The Brownstone, NiLu and Ruth Nathan’s. More cerebral gift-givers would be disposed to Seul Luxe, 125th Street Collection and Ardent Cannabis Harlem.

[Visit HBANY.org] A new show, Circus Abyssinia/Ethiopian Dreams, will be ongoing through December 30 at the New Victory Theater, located at 209 West 42nd Street, Manhattan. A family-friendly entertainment, the circus is the brainchild of two Ethiopian brothers. It seems to have originated in England. [Visit newvictory.org or call 646.223.3010] A Harlem-based management consultant, Victoria can be reached at Victoria. horsford@gmail.com.

Ivanka Trump shown with husband Jared Kushner will be under state investigation.

supervision – and it can only distribute its remaining charitable assets to reputable organizations approved by my office.

“This is an important victory for the rule of law, making clear that there is one set of

rules for everyone. We’ll continue to move our suit forward to ensure that the Trump Foundation and its directors are held to account for their clear and repeated violations of state and federal law.”

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OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

Thinkers Notebook

The Era of Fake News: Polluting Our Information Pool

By Marlon Rice Trump is right about one thing.

The history of journalism spans far before technology, way before television or the Internet.

The beginnings of journalism, defined as the process of gathering and transmitting news and information, comes straight from the Old World when merchants and explorers would return to their homeland with news about the world abroad. Usually, the news originated from the ports, where seamen would share stories of what they witnessed while away.

Peddlers and ear hustlers would hear these stories, leave the piers and then begin to tell their versions of these stories to their friends and family. If it was deemed an important occurrence, someone might tell a scribe and that scribe would write it down or even draw an illustration based on the information. The obvious problem with this kind of reporting is that it is highly unreliable. Why? Because,

given the structure and flow of information in the Old World, the dissemination of the news had the attention of the community, and unless you were there at the origin of the story or you knew someone who was there, the guy reporting the news couldn’t be fact-checked.

And so, he told his stories with eloquence, with proper enunciation and with a bit of embellishment here and there. His neighbors liked his updates, would follow him whenever he returned, and they shared his updates with their friends.

The printing press has to be the single most important invention of the last millennia. The press made it possible to transcribe information via ink onto multiple pieces of paper or cloth. In no time, the printing press spread throughout East Asia and Europe.

Now, people were printing books and learning how to read and were being exposed to literacy and information in a way that was new and exciting. Eventually, people decided that news and current

events could be printed, too.

The first newspaper in America began in 1690. It was titled, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic. It lasted three days before the government shut it down for publishing privy content without expressed authority. The needle had been moved yet again though, and until the invention of the television, people got their news from newspapers.

Now, we can certainly delve into the various overt and covert intentions regarding print news, including its use as a propaganda machine, as a tool of hatemongering or even as a method of programming, and one could find truth in many of those assertions.

However, journalism as a trade and a career comes with rules that are to be abided. The five core principles of journalism are: truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity and accountability. If a journalist writes an article and is mindful of these core principles, then it can be said that the journalist is reporting

in an ethical manner.

But what happens when the person writing the article isn’t even a journalist?

The digital world is an ever-evolving one. What exists within the space of the Internet today may either be expanded upon or disbanded completely next year, but the one glowing truth is that through its use, humans are ingesting more information than they have ever had before. `But when you eat too much, you’re liable to have a stomachache, especially if everything you’re eating isn’t good for you.

Weblogging, or blogging, was barely a thing 20 years ago. There were 23 blogs in the entire World Wide Web in 1999. Today, there are over 50 million blogs on the Internet, a number that continues to grow every day. Every blogger isn’t a journalist, but blogs are now seen as tools to disseminate news and information, pretty much on par with traditional newspapers.

The line between what should and shouldn’t be considered news

outlets is becoming more and more blurry. The fact is that most online news sites have blogging arms to them, and those blogs are often cited as newsworthy, even if the writer knows nothing about journalism, even if the article was written not as an informative essay but with the expressed intent to marginalize or demonize a person, group or ideal. These articles get shared through social media, discussed as news items and ingested as part of the information upload each of us has every day when we log onto our desktops, laptops and smartphones. We are losing the ability to tell the difference between what is news and what is a person embellishing their angle to make their point a valid one.

Freshwater is flowing from the same spigot as the sewage, and yet we wait happily with our empty cups every day yearning to fill them, caring not about what may flow from the faucet when we turn it on because we’ve stopped being able to tell the difference.

Trump is right about one thing.

Fake News is permeating throughout our information pool.

Gov. Cuomo Moves to Legalize Marijuana

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alk about “Disruption.” If steps are not taken, a major financial blow is about to fall on Black and brown communities in New York with the coming legalization of marijuana. An economic tectonic plate will move in the City’s economy and the shaking will be felt in the Administration for Children Services, tenant court, welfare offices, health care, criminal justice and affordability of the city.

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Reacts to Gov. Cuomo’s Call for Legalized Recreational Marijuana WASHINGTON, D.C. – “As states have legalized marijuana, those with criminal records for low-level marijuana convictions have watched while others have become wealthy from the business of selling marijuana, said Kristen Clarke, Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “It is unconscionable that the wealthy and the resourceful benefit from a booming marijuana market while low-level marijuana convictions prevent disproportionate numbers of African-Americans and Latinos from obtaining housing, credit, an education or a job.

“Any effort by Governor Cuomo to legalize recreational marijuana must include a plan to expunge low-level marijuana convictions in order to give people the second chance they deserve. Such reform must also seek to address the racial disparities that infect the growing cannabis industry, which is overwhelmingly white, as the cost of licenses operate to exclude vast numbers of poor people and people of color. We may not be able to erase all of the damage that the war on drugs has unleashed on marginalized communities, but it is critical that we provide all individuals with low-level marijuana convictions the chance to start anew."

Of the 8.2 million individuals arrested for marijuana between 2001 and 2010 in the United States, 88% of those individuals were arrested for possession. This

has disproportionately affected Black Americans, who are three times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana.

BP Adams on Governor’s Marijuana Announcement “It is time overdue for New York to chart a path toward marijuana legalization. As legislative debate begins on this issue in Albany, we must keep mindful of longstanding disparities between communities across our state in commercial entrepreneurship, criminal justice and public health. There must be mechanisms in place that ensure the public is protected from recreational marijuana’s harmful effects, as well as to create truly meaningful pathways for historically disadvantaged and persecuted communities to be uplifted out of the shadows and into the bright light of a new economic and social opportunity for themselves, their families and the communities in which they live. That includes expunging the records of individuals previously convicted of low-level marijuana-related crimes such as possession misdemeanors.

“A legal marijuana market requires setting stringent health standards just like

recommended dosages for alcohol and warning labels for cigarettes. Without these kinds of advisories and protections, we risk exposing our communities to lifelong health damage, which could also lead to an increasing burden on our healthcare system.

We cannot have legalization lead down a path toward irresponsible use of marijuana that exacerbates health disparities in poor, urban communities of color.

“We must also empower disadvantaged communities to actively participate in a newly regulated market that would eliminate racial and socioeconomic disparities.

Licensed vendors should be able to open new establishments in disadvantaged communities through the promotion of local entrepreneurship, particularly in communities of color.

“In the months ahead, I look forward to working with my colleagues in the state legislature on this important matter, as well as preparing for the opening of the first medical marijuana dispensaries in our borough.”

Williams, Drug Policy Alliance Respond to Marijuana-Related Proposals NEW YORK, NY: Council Member

Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn), Deputy Leader, and Melissa Moore, New York State Deputy Director of the Drug Policy Alliance released the following statements in response to the new proposals for spending incoming revenue that would result from marijuana legalization.

Williams said: "As a longtime advocate for the legalization of marijuana, regardless of the political environment, I am glad that government in New York is catching up with what has been clear for years. Marijuana must be legalized for recreational use. That said, the recent calls for what to do with the revenue in that legalized industry are a bit premature and misplaced. When marijuana is finally legalized in New York, the top priority should then become the expunging of records for those whose lives have been ruined by past arrests and convictions. Those same individuals need to then have open access to succeed in this new marketplace.

Above any other considerations, revenue from that industry must be used to revitalize the very communities of color that have been targeted by these unjust policies for too long. No proposal can be put ahead of the people who have been victimized for decades by the criminalization of Black and Brown communities as a result of prohibition."

6

OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 51

■

All Photos by Winston Wharton

Over 450 Children Celebrate Winter Wonderland at Interfaith Medical Center

By Fern Gillespie

Allois Simpkins Behavioral Health, Bristol Brown Patient Relations, Roxanne Cook Lab, Officer Rodriguez

LaRay Brown, President and CEO of Interfaith Medical Center and CEO of One Brooklyn Health welcomes young people to the Winter Wonderland

I

n Brooklyn, kids know Christmas is coming when they see Santa on a firetruck.

This Monday, as firefighters from Weeksville’s Engine 234 escorted a smiling Santa Claus off their gleaming red fire truck, hundreds of children excitedly watched from inside the Interfaith Medical Center lobby and burst into singing “Jingle Bells.” Santa’s dramatic arrival marked the official kick-off of the 6th annual Interfaith Medical Center Winter Wonderland.

“When my cousins in Long Island and my cousins down south would have things around

Christmas, Santa Claus was always on a fire truck. I thought, why shouldn’t the children in Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Weeksville experience the same thing,” said Sharonnie Perry, director of community relations at Interfaith Medical Center and founder of the annual Winter Wonderland.

Through donations from volunteers, donors, companies and Interfaith staff, the Interfaith Medical Center Holiday Fund provides the annual Winter Wonderland celebration for children ages 3 – 6 in pre-K, day

Students of PS 305 with Bristol Brown, Alois Simpkins Douse-Lois Santa, Sharonnie Perry, Roxanne Cooke and Emma Catizone

VOL. 22 NO. 51

Students, seen here are participating in the city’s first Pre-K program for three-year-olds. Proud teachers, including Ms. Lovell, center, and Ms. Diaz, Ms. Hercules and Ms. Springer brought the students and this community news item to our attention. Thank you! Also seen here are Officer Hardy at leſt and Deputy Inspector Faison, commanding officer 81st Pct., on the right care, kindergarten and first grade programs. Each of the children receives a Christmas present from dolls to action heroes and has a personal photo with Santa.

“The children are really excited to get the presents and see Santa. I think it’s a nice way for us to invite the community into Interfaith Medical Center,” said LaRay Brown, president and CEO, Interfaith Medical Center, Inc. “We want people to know that we are open and we’re also committed to supporting the community in ways that are not just providing sick care.”

Over 450 children from Brooklyn Community Parents Head Start, Brooklyn Brownstone School, Medgar Evers Head Start, PS 305, PS 243 and the Children’s Corner attended this year’s Winter Wonderland. Gloria McNeil, a paraprofessional at PS 243 in Weeksville, has been participating in Winter Wonderful from the beginning. She brought almost 80 children to the Monday event.

“We have so many needy children in our neighborhoods today,” she said. “They just enjoy receiving a gift and just seeing Santa Claus.”

Brooklyn youth advocate Cynthia Cumming is executive director of Community Parents, Inc, a nonprofit which has been serving low-income families in Brooklyn for over 50 years. She been attending Winter Wonderland for over five years and brought 125 children from her programs at Community Parents Head Start and Medgar Evers Head Start. “We are so appreciative of Interfaith Medical Center for having us and sharing the joy during this holiday season—especially for the children that we serve, who may not necessarily have the gift and joy given to them as Interfaith has given them today,” she said. “Interfaith Medical Center guarantees that every child in our programs will receive something for the holidays.”

For Winter Wonderland, Perry personally manages the event and picks out the gifts. “At lot of the times, we hear from the principals and teachers that the families might not have enough money to buy nice gifts,” she said. “So, we make sure that we buy the hot items so the kids get one of the hot items from that year as gift. This year, it was Star Wars, Batman. Spider Man, Barbie and Baby Alive.”

At Interfaith Medical Center, the Christmas cheer for children

7

OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

will be creating fun themes from Disney movies to Black Panther in six patient rooms. “We’re working with local artists to paint large movable murals,” said Brown. “We’re having the murals painted in bright colors. Hospitals can be a scary place and we want to make sure it’s a cheery environment for children.”

Interfaith Medical Center has a year-round outreach to children and families. In addition to the inhouse pediatric ward, there is an outpatient pediatric program at Bishop Orris G. Walker, Jr. Health Care Center. For oral care, there is an outpatient pediatric dental clinic at Interfaith Medical Center and one on Bedford Avenue.

“We want people to know that we provide great care to our community. In addition to giving great healthcare, we are also committed to supporting the community in

Staff and parents of the Weeksville School.

“Faith ‘n children” took on new meaning when Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn hosted a joyous morning of giſt-giving to 500 public school children, last Monday, in celebration of the Christmas spirit.

For starters, Interfaith long-time employee Roxanne Cornelius, a dedicated holiday elf for more than five seasons, greeted FDNY’s firetruck from Bensonhurst Engine Company 243 (Ladder 168/Battalion 42) which held some of the borough’s most “dear” drivers: superhero firefighters. spans December. On Wednesday, at Interfaith Medical Center’s Bishop Orris G. Walker, Jr. Health Care, police officers from Brooklyn North dressed up as super heroes to greet children and hand out gifts. For Christmas Eve, the children hospitalized in the pediatric ward will have a special celebration. The festivities include Santa, elves and staffers

bringing holiday cheer and presents to the children and their families.

“If you’re in the hospital during the holidays its hard for the youngster and their family,” said Brown. “And, we want to bring a little joy.”

The Interfaith Holiday Fund

also includes Secret Santa and special children’s projects. This year, through Secret Santa, Interfaith Medical Center purchased a decorating makeover at the pediatric ward and state of the art hospital cribs for infants. Brooklyn artists

ways that are not just providing sick care, but supporting the health of the community, the health of children in daycare centers, senior centers and more,” said Brown. “We want families to have a medical home at Interfaith Medical Center.”

8

OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 51

Westchester Mourns the A Black Child is Racially Bullied to Loss of Dr. Olivia J. Hooker Death in an Alabama School: Did anybody there really SEE McKenzie Nicole Adam?

W

■

By Sandra T. Blackwell

Library in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.

Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1915, Hooker was a small child when her family moved to Tulsa.

Her father owned a department store and her mother taught grade school in the Greenwood District, which was referred to as “Black Wall Street,” home to hundreds of successful Black business owners and professionals during the early 1900’s.

Tulsa had its share of racial problems like many cities only 56 years after the Emancipation ➔ Continued on page 9

Photo: Barry L. Mason

HITE PLAINS, NY – We lost a living repository of history When Dr. Olivia J. Hooker, the last-known survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, passed away in her Greenburgh, New York home on November 21st at age 103. Her family suffered at the hands of an angry lynch mob who burned down the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a section locals called “Black Wall Street” on May 31, 1921. This writer heard Dr. Hooker tell her story several years ago during a presentation at the Croton Free

In this Dec. 5, 2018, photo, Rear Adm. Andrew Tiongson, commander First Coast Guard District, salutes Petty Officer 1st Class Tija Hopkins as she hands over a folded American flag during funeral services for Olivia Hooker in White Plains, N.Y. Hooker, the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard and one of the last survivors of a race riot in Oklahoma, has been laid to rest with military honors. Hooker passed away on Nov. 21, 2018, at the age of 103.

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ardon me for mentioning McKenzie’s name so often in this column. But I think it is important that we speak and write McKenzie’s name as much as possible, in part, because the label “victim,” even when preceded by the word “tragic,” robs McKenzie of her full human personality and reduces this child to just another “hit” on the news cycle. Meanwhile we, the living, then find it easier to become emotionally disassociated and disconnected, which means we can just “move on.” McKenzie’s family may be able to move forward, but I am not sure if they will ever be able to “move on.”

The question is not necessarily where the school is located (although we must take notice of Alabama’s past and present “particular” treatment of its Black residents!), but rather the issue is where was the school philosophically when this racial bullying started and continued uninterrupted to a tragic conclusion; and more importantly, where was the school’s “SuperVision” leader-the principal?

It took me three starting-and-stopping attempts to read the news story about the tragic bullying death of 9-year-old McKenzie Nicole Adam. It was

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emotionally hard for me to take in this information with the faces of so many children being called up into my professional memory.

It’s very difficult for me, time after time, to read about the preventable serious injuries and deaths of so many school children. And when these terrible moments do occur, my school supervision and administration mind immediately kicks into “analytical-deconstruction” mode as I think about all of the many places and moments before the incident that provided the best opportunities to prevent the tragic act from ever occurring.

As a superintendent (in times past I would rather forget), I have sat across from principals whose schools experienced some terrible event, and the most difficult part of those conversations was reviewing the many “lost chances” leading up to the “crises;” those school leadership “stepping-up” moments; the opportunity windows of supervisory clarity and courage when the tragic incident could have been prevented, or at least have its terrible effects greatly minimized. Which is why I say that any principal who does not understand why McKenzie’s death was preventable… Well, all I can say is that I hope my prayers reach and protect the children in the school they claim to lead.

Parents send their children to

school in the hope of one day seeing them in a graduation ceremony, not a memorial service – a cap and gown, not a funeral shroud.

And that is why while reading about McKenzie’s death my mind travels back to my first-year-first principal’s conversation with my superintendent Joyce Coppin. She made it very clear; yes, I must be a strong agent for student academic achievement, but my first responsibility as a principal was to make sure that my students and staff were safe, and for all of my 11 years as a principal I never forgot or abandoned that sacrosanct principle of my job responsibilities. This nonnegotiable credo I vowed to uphold, of having a “safe school” was like every principal’s executive decision, inextricably connected to the quality of teaching and learning. A teacher who is injured or traumatized by an unsafe school environment is unable to effectively teach. The young person who does not come to school because of actual or potential bullying acts due to school-related violence, who is home injured or in the hospital, or sadly in this case, deceased. None of these students are in classrooms learning.

We could easily be geographically dismissive with this story and just say: “Well, in a place (Alabama) that has fully embraced

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OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

Robert Turner, pastor of Vernon AME Church.

“Hooker fought for civil rights throughout her life.. When she was 100, the Coast Guard named a training facility after her. When circles were built to keep her out, she pushed in and she became the first,” said Nehemiah Frank of the Black Wall Street Times.

NOTE: Reprinted with permission from Sandra Blackwell & The Westchester County Press, as printed in The Westchester County Press Vol. LXXXIX No. 48 Thurs.

Nov. 29, 2018 Edition. Submitted

by Lees Funeral Home.

Photo: Barry L. Mason

remembered at a memorial service in the old family church, Vernon AME which was burned and rebuilt after the riot. In a twohour the community gathered to remember a soldier who did not leave her troops on the battlefield.

She fought for the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot to the very end of her life. She never got tired of telling their story.

“She had to leave everything she and her family knew. That didn’t deter her. She continued on in her education, got a Ph.D. and she went on to serve her country. A country that never really did much for her, as far as justice,” said Dr.

Rev. James A. Forbes Jr., spoke at the ceremonies

Hooker ➔ Continued from page 8 Proclamation was signed.

Segregation was the law of the land and lynching was common whenever whites felt Blacks were getting out of line or moving up too fast. Tulsa citizens were already upset about the lynching the day before of Dick Rowland, 19, who entered the only downtown building where Blacks could use the toilet. When he stepped on the elevator, the white woman elevator operator screamed. The local newspaper’s headline the next day read: “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator.”

The next day an angry lynch mob descended on the courthouse where Rowland was being held to take justice into their own hands.

They faced a group of Black war veterans who tried to save the young man, but many died, some were burned alive, some saw their homes and property destroyed as the white mob ran through the town. These acts of violence against the Black citizens are considered to be one of the worst atrocities in American history, when 300 members of the Black community were killed in the twoday assault.

Hooker said her mother made

School bullying ➔ Continued from page 8 an anti-intellectual president and self-selected to serve as the “patient zero” state for his vulgarity virus that has so contaminated our nation, how in a place like

sure she was an eyewitness to what she never saw as a riot.

“She took me to the front window and had me peer through the blinds and said, “That’s a machine gun up there,” said Dr. Hooker in an interview. “This is not a riot, this was a massacre.”

This writer heard Dr. Hooker tell her story several years ago during a presentation at the Croton Free Library in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. She was only six years old when her community was destroyed, resulting also in the burning of more than 1,000 homes and businesses. She vividly remembered being awakened by the thudding sounds of machine-gun ammunition raining down on her family’s home.

Hooker’s family survived because of the quick thinking of her mother, who hid the children under a big oak dining room table. From their hiding place, the children watched as the men broke their property, stole valuable items and smashed things they didn’t want or couldn’t carry.

The massacre forced 10,000 Black Tulsans from their homes.

Possibly more than 300 people were killed. The Hooker family survived the terrible massacre and her father moved the family to Topeka, Kansas. He returned to Tulsa to try to rebuild his business.

that could there be any teaching and learning of tolerance in its schools?” But that’s too easy and ignores the reality that racially driven learning disparities and inadequate and unfair Black child safety protection practices exist nationwide and can even be adeptly inflicted on students of color by

Olivia eventually returned to finish high school.

“My father’s store was destroyed,” Hooker told Radio Diaries. “There was nothing left but one big safe. It was so big they couldn’t carry it away, so they had to leave it — in the middle of the rubble.”

Dr. Hooker earned her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University and taught third grade. During World War II, she was a part of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s efforts to integrate the Navy. After being denied entrance to the Navy, she became the first African-American woman to serve in active duty in the Coast Guard, earning the rank of Yeoman, Second Class.

She went on to earn a master’s degree in Psychological Services from Teachers College at Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of Rochester, where she was one of two Black female students. In 1997, along with other survivors, Dr. Hooker helped found the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, which drafted recommendations for restitution. Their case went to the Oklahoma State Legislature and to Capitol Hill where she and others testified before the United States Congress and initiated a federal lawsuit.

Olivia J. Hooker was

adults who themselves are (phenotypically speaking) “Black” (see those “Black-controlled” districts/ schools where Black children are not effectively learning, and neither are these students reasonably safe in those schools).

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10 NEW BUSINESS FORMATIONS NOTICE OF FORMATION of 39 West 72 Debt LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/14/18.

Off. Loc.: Kings County. SSNY has been desig. as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy to is: The LLC, 225 Broadway, 32nd Flr, New York, NY 10007.

Purpose: Any lawful act.

Sports Guardian Group, LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the SSNY on 11/30/2018. Office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the David Geffrard, 8922 Avenue L Brooklyn, NY 11236. Purpose: any lawful act.

Urban Tea Kitchen, LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the SSNY on 10/24/2018. Office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the Urban Tea Kettle, 426 East 22nd Street #3H, Brooklyn, NY 11226.

Purpose: any lawful act.

THEDANCEBOX, LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the SSNY on 9/19/2018. Office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to THEDANCEBOX, LLC, 89 Den Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Purpose: any lawful act.

AL TALENT AND MEDIA LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/02/2018.

Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 110 Broadway # 705 Brooklyn Ny 11249. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of OCEAN CAPITAL HOLDINGS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/02/18. Office location: Kings County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/12/18.

Princ. office of LLC: 426 Sterling Pl., Apt. 1A, Brooklyn, NY 11238. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, State of DE, Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity LEGAL NOTICES SUPREME COURT, COUNTY OF BRONX, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, vs. Patricia Campbell, Chase Manhattan Bank USA, N.A. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as nominee for Alliance Mortgage Banking Corp., New York City Environmental Control Board, New York City Parking Violations Bureau, New York City Transit Adjudication Bureau, People of the State of New York, Chase Bank FKA The Dime Savings Bank of NY FSB, Anthony Harris, Kemeisha Robinson, Sandra Tyndale, Trevor Grant, Donald Lee Davenport, Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated November 5, 2018 and duly entered thereafter, Steven B. Shapiro, Esq., the court appointed Referee will sell at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., the premises known as 1301 St. Johns Place, Brooklyn, NY 11213; all that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the County of Kings, City of New York, and State of New York Block 1377, Lot 149. Approximate amount of judgment is $1,037,948.72 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of said Judgment Index No. 27873/2009. Steven B. Shapiro, Esq., Referee Lawrence & Walsh, P.C., 215 Hilton

OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018 Avenue, Hempstead, NY 11550, Attorneys for Plaintiff NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, D/B/A CHRISTIANA TRUST, NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT AS TRUSTEE FOR PRETIUM MORTGAGE ACQUISITION TRUST, Plaintiff, vs. DOROTHY ALEXANDER, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on May 24, 2018 and an Order Pursuant to CPLR 2004 Extending the Time to Set Sale and to Ratify Sale Nunc Pro Tunc duly filed on November 29, 2018. I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on January 24, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 420 Autumn Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 4170 and Lot 25. Approximate amount of judgment is $465,190.34 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 512372/2015. Helene Blank, Esq., Referee Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, 565 Taxter Road, Suite 590, Elmsford, NY 10523, Attorneys for Plaintiff Cash will not be accepted.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT: KINGS COUNTY. NATIONAL PAYMENT RELIEF LLC, Pltf. vs. ELESHA CAMPBELL, et al, Defts. Index #12400/13.

Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale dated Nov. 5, 2018, I will sell at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams St., Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., prem. k/a 155 Legion St., Brooklyn, NY a/k/a Block 3536, Lot 8. Said property located at a point on the easterly side of Barrett St. distant 150 ft. 5 1/2 in. northerly from the corner formed by the intersection of the easterly side of Barrett St. with the northerly side of Blake Avenue; being a plot 100 ft. x 25 ft. Approx. amt. of judgment is $137,194.33 plus costs and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale. LEO SALZMAN, Referee. THE MARGOLIN & WEINREB LAW GROUP, LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 165 Eileen Way, Ste. 101, Syosset, NY. #96098 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - COUNTY OF KINGS NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC, V. FARVEZ HOSSAIN; ET AL. NOTICE OF SALE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to a Final Judgment of Foreclosure dated September 13, 2018, and entered in the Office of the Clerk of the County of Kings, wherein NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC is the Plaintiff and FARVEZ HOSSAIN; ET AL. are the Defendants. I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the KINGS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 360 ADAMS STREET, ROOM 224, BROOKLYN, NY 11201, on January 17, 2019 at 2:30PM, premises known as 235 VERMONT STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11207: Block 3706, Lot 10: ALL THAT CERTAIN PLOT, PIECE OR PARCEL OF LAND, WITH THE BUILDINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS THEREON ERECTED, SITUATE, LYING AND BEING IN THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN, COUNTY OF KINGS, AND STATE OF NEW YORK. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 513568/2016. Jacob N. Gelfend, Esq. - Referee. RAS Boriskin, LLC 900 Merchants Concourse, Suite 310, Westbury, New York 11590, Attorneys for Plaintiff. For sale information, please visit www.auction.com or call (800) 280-2832.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., Plaintiff, vs.

JEAN ROBERT SELAMY, JEAN GUY

SELAMY, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on April 06, 2016, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on January 17, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 1315 Troy Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 4978 and Lot 64. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 13825/09. Deborah M. Marshall, Esq., Referee Berkman, Henoch, Peterson, Peddy & Fenchel, P.C., 100 Garden City Plaza, Garden City, NY 11530, Attorneys for Plaintiff NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF Kings, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, doing business as Christiana Trust, not in its individual capacity, but solely as legal title trustee for Bronze Creek Title Trust 2013-NPL1, Plaintiff, vs. Frederick H. Townsend, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Decision and Order duly filed on September 17, 2018 and Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on May 08, 2009, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on January 10, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 662 Georgia Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 4296 and Lot 20. Approximate amount of judgment is $431,660.27 plus interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 33873/07. Helene Blank, Esq., Referee Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, 565 Taxter Road, Suite 590, Elmsford, NY 10523, Attorneys for Plaintiff Cash will not be accepted.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT KINGS COUNTY U.S. BANK NA SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE TO BANK OF AMERICA NA SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO LASALLE BANK NA ON BEHALF OF THE HOLDERS OF THE WAMU MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES SERIES 2005-AR 15, Plaintiff against ALON FISCHER, et al Defendants Attorney for Plaintiff(s) Fein Such & Crane, LLP 1400 Old Country Road, Suite C103, Westbury, NY 11590 Attorney (s) for Plaintiff (s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale Entered September 19, 2018 I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on January 3, 2019 at 2:30 PM. Premises known as 1230 East 72nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11234. Block 8357 Lot 48. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York. Approximate Amount of Judgment is $648,914.15 plus interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index No 501674/2016. Doron Leiby, Esq., Referee SPSJN181 SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Index No.: 035848/2017 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF ROCKLAND FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION ("FANNIE MAE") A CORPORATION ORGANIZED AND EXISTING UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STAPES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, -against- MYRNA PHILLIPS AJK/A MYRNA LYNN PHILLIPS AS HEIR AT LAW AND NEXT OF KIN OF BETTY PHILLIPS AJKIA BETTY JOAN PHILLIPS; JOHN DOE 1 AND JANE DOE 1 THROUGH 50, INTENDING TO BE THE UNKNOWN TRUSTEES OF THE

VOL. 22 NO. 51 LIVING TRUST OF BETTY PHILLIPS A/K/A BETTY JOAN PHILLIPS, THEIR SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST IF ANY OF THE AFORESAID DEFENDANTS BE DECEASED, THEIR RESPECTIVE HEIRS AT LAW, NEXT OF KIN, AND SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST OF THE AFORESAID CLASSES OF PERSON, IF THEY OR ANY OF THEM BE DEAD, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE HUSBANDS, WIVES OR WIDOWS, IF ANY, ALL OF WHOM AND WHOSE NAMES AND PLACES OF RESIDENCE ARE UNKNOWN TO THE PLAINTIFF; "JOHN DOES" AND "JANE DOES," SAID NAMES BEING FICTITIOUS, PARTIES INTENDED BEING POSSIBLE TENANTS OR OCCUPANTS OF PREMISES, AND CORPORATIONS, OTHER ENTITIES OR PERSONS WHO CLAIM, OR MAY CLAIM, A LIEN AGAINST THE PREMISES,Defendants. TO THE ABOVENAMED DEFENDANTS: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the complaint is not served with this summons, to serve a Notice of Appearance on the Plaintiffs attorney(s) within twenty (20) days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service, where service is made by delivery upon you personally within the State, or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner, and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint. NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home.

Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to your mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. YOU ARE HEREBY PUT ON NOTICE THAT WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS: The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable SHERRI EISENPRESS of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, signed on October 17, 2018 and filed with supporting papers in the Office of the Clerk of the County of Rockland, State of New York. The object of this action is to foreclose a mortgage upon the premises described below, executed by BETTY PHILLIPS A/K/A BETTY JOAN PHILLIPS to CITIBANK, N.A., bearing date January 6, 1994 and recorded in the County of Rockland on January 25, 1994 in Book 679 of Mortgages, at Page 68. Thereafter said mortgage was assigned to CITIMORTGAGE, INC., by assignment of mortgage bearing date October 12, 2012 and recorded under Instrument No. 2012-00039926 in the County of Rockland on October 26, 2012.

Thereafter said mortgage was assigned to FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, by assignment of mortgage bearing date February 13, 2014 and recorded under Instrument No. 2014-00004793 in the County of Rockland on February 19, 2014.

Said premises being known as and by 19 VALLEY DRIVE, NANUET, NY 10954.

RAS BORISKIN, LLC Attorney for Plaintiff BY: DYZIO J. GUZIEROWICZ, ESQ. 900 Merchants Concourse Westbury, NY 11590 516-280-7675

VOL. 22 NO. 51

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OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

Friday, December 21st

Emmanuel Baptist Church, 279 Lafayette

189 Bridge St.,11AM-11PM, FREE. The public is cordially invited to celebrate the beauty and gift of Kwanzaa. Focusing on Umoja (Unity) and Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Amarachi will offer a complimentary meal showcasing delicious dishes from the African Diaspora and an opportunity to shop with local vendors. And in the spirit of celebration, some of NYC’s very best DJ’s will keep the party going all day and night spinning the best in Afrobeat, Soca, Reggae, House, Hip-Hop and R&B.

Thursday, December 27th

Total Praise Choir of Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Holiday Artists Showcase Saint Luke’s Church, 520 Clinton Ave. (bet. Fulton & Atlantic), 7PM, FREE. The Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet Cultural Arts Program gifts the community with a pair of free performances featuring the talented young people in its dance program.

Winter Wonderland Family Holiday Celebration Ingersoll Community Center, 177 Myrtle Ave., 5:30PM (doors @ 5), FREE. Admission and toy tickets are first-come, first-served at this event, with a capacity of 150 people. It features a toy giveaway, raffle to win household appliances, food, free new clothing, tree-lighting, games, arts & crafts, music and performances. Meet members of the Vulcan Society, the Black firefighters organization sponsoring the event along with Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley and City Council Majority Leader Laurie A. Cumbo. Giveaways are while supplies last.

For info call 718-522-5051.

The Gift: A Christmas Musical The Church of the Open Door, 201 Gold St., 7PM, FREE. Join The Church of the Open Door’s Music Ministry as it presents The Voices of Praise, The John R. Thomas Choir, The Walter Johnson Choir, The Men’s Chorus and the PPG & Friends Community Choir.

Saturday, December 22nd Holiday Artists Showcase JHS 113, 300 Adelphi Ave. (bet. DeKalb & Lafayette), 1PM, FREE. The Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet Cultural Arts Program gifts the community with a pair of free performances featuring the talented young people in its dance program.

Monday, December 24th A Christmas Eve Worship Experience

The Kwanzaa Collective presents A Unity Celebration, JHS 57, 125 Stuyvesant Ave., 1-8PM, FREE. The Kwanzaa Collective is pleased to announce its annual celebration taking place on Kujichagulia day this year. Featuring several performances, including one by the legendary Asase Yaa African-American Dance Theater. Bring the family and enjoy a Karamu (feast), activities and gifts for the children, a market with vendors offering beautiful cultural merchandise, a raffle drawing and more.

Dr. Maulana Karenga Neighborhood Bakery.

OYO ORO Afro-Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble, American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, Manhattan, 12PM & 3PM. Free w/museum admission. Get there early! Suggested donation: Adults $23, children 2-12 $13, seniors and students $18. OYO Oro features over a dozen musicians, singers and dancers celebrating the African Diaspora in Cuba. Also discover Kwanzaa’s core values with Yaffa Cultural Arts Artistic Director Dr. Linda H. Humes and master drummers Sanga of the Valley and LeeAnet Noble. Enjoy Kwanzaa Con, when seven artists from the Black Comics Collective live-draw illustrations and strips representing the Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles). Kwanzaa 2018 is co-presented

by Community Works and New Heritage Theatre Group. The Kwanzaa marketplace is organized by the Harlem Arts Alliance.

Sunday, December 30th The African Village Annual Kwanzaa Celebration, Bedford-Stuyvesant

OYU ORO Afro Cuban Dance troupe Ave., 7PM, FREE. Join the congregation for a joyful Christmas worship experience. All are welcome.

Tuesday, December 25th MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY KWANZAA EVE!

Wednesday, December 26th 1st Day of Kwanzaa Program, Sistas’ Place, 456 Nostrand Ave. @ Jefferson, 7PM, Donation. Join in “Lighting the First Candle of Unity in Struggle for Human Rights.” All gathered will observe Umoja/Unity: “To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.” Sponsored by the December 12th Movement. For info call 718-398-1766.

KwanzaaFete, Amarachi Restaurant,

Afrikan Village Kwanzaa

Saturday, December 29th

Creative Outlet Dance Company

52nd Annual Kwanzaa Celebration with Dr. Maulana Karenga, JHS 258, 141 Macon St., 4-8PM (Doors at 3), $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and children under 12. The New York Chapter of the National Association of Kawaida Organizations, in conjunction with the International African Arts Festival, will host a 52nd Anniversary Kwanzaa Celebration. The creator of Kwanzaa, Dr. Maulana Karenga, will be present to deliver his yearly founder’s message entitled, “Reimagining and Remaking the World: A Kwanzaa Commitment to an Inclusive Good.” Cultural presentations by the Donald Smith Quartet and Asase Yaa AfricanAmerican Dance Theater and catering by

Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton St., 3-8PM, $20 or a donated dish. Drumming, dancing, food, fun and family are all on the program for The African Village’s Annual Kwanzaa Celebration. RSVP at 917-681-0315 or 347-915-3636.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Monday, December 31st NYE Jazz Vespers presents 3 Women & Their Music, Emmanuel Baptist Church, 279 Lafayette Ave., 6-7:30PM, FREE. Stop by before your New Year’s Eve celebrating to enjoy some live music by these talented women. Madame Pat Tandy sings the blues, Patsy Grant sings jazz and Stephanie Bates sings R&B.

12

OUR TIME PRESS December 20-26, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 51

The Board of Directors, Staff, Seniors & Children of Fort Greene Council would like to wish you

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Albany Neighborhood Senior Center 196 Albany Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11213 Tel:718-773-2600

Stuyvesant Heights Neighborhood Senior Center 562-574 Madison Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11221 Tel:718-230-0824

Christopher Blenman Neighborhood Senior Center 720 East New York Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203 Tel: 718-773-7400

Teresa Moore Neighborhood Senior Center 2702 Linden Blvd. Brooklyn, NY 11208 Tel: 347-663-7770

Grace Agard-Harewood Neighborhood Senior Center 966 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11238 Tel: 718-638-6910

Willoughby Neighborhood Senior Center 105 North Portland Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11213 Tel:718-875-1011

Grant Square Neighborhood Senior Center 19 Rogers Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11216 Tel. 718-363-3133

OUR DAY CARE PROGRAMS Serving children 2 years to 12 years old.

Hazel Brooks Neighborhood Senior Center 951-963 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11226 Tel: 347-435-3287

Young Minds Day Care UPK Program and Day Care 972 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11238 Tel:718-622-8622

Hugh Gilroy Neighborhood Senior Center 447 Kingsboro 4th. Walk, Brooklyn ,NY 11233 Tel:718-756-8400 Marcus Garvey Senior Club 1440 East New York Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212 Tel: 718-346-7167

Maria Lawton Neighborhood Senior Center 400 Hart Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206 Tel:718-452-7474 Remsen Neighborhood Senior Center 3304 Clarendon Road, Brooklyn, NY 11203 Tel: 718-282-1259 Seth Low Senior Club 137 Belmont Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212 Tel:718-4895-4991

Young Minds COMPASS( After School) Program 972 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11238 Tel: 718-8622 Ext# 2 Jazz966 966 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York 11238 917-593-9776

Jeffries to Dems: Stay Energized and on Message

C ■

By David Mark Greaves

ongressman Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY (8th CD), the Democratic Caucus Leader-Designate (putting him in line to be Speaker of the House), held a small press gathering for local media in his office at the Shirley A. Chisholm Office Building.

As leader of the Caucus, Congressman Jeffries made a point of setting an example by staying on message – a lesson he says the Republicans taught the Democrats in the 2016 election. “Keep the base energized and also move swing-voters in our direction” was the goal, and this involved the Caucus taking opportunities to take “principled” stands against Donald Trump’s agenda.

The first such opportunity came with Trump’s Muslim Ban. Seeing the level of resistance people were willing to put up, “It was a significant moment,” said Jeffries, “because it demonstrated to all of us the level of activism that was going to be necessary to push back immediately and aggressively against the direction that Donald Trump and his allies were going to try to take us in as a country.”

With the Republican attempt to kill the Affordable Care Act, the Dems had another opportunity to put into practice their new messaging strategy and to sharpen their communication skills. They realized they had to “deploy a messaging approach that would be different than the manner in which we traditionally communicated to the American people.” They

saw that, “the only way for us to break through in this environment was for House Democrats to communicate with simplicity and repetition. We needed to speak in clear, compelling, yet simple terms to the American people and then repeat that message over and over and over again.”

And the message was that tens of millions would lose health care, increased co-pays for preexisting condition coverage, Jeffries said.

“Period, full stop! Hit repeat, over and over and over again.

The Reps were forced to pull the bill in March,” the repeal of the AFFORDABLE CARE ACT was later defeated in the Senate.

“We called the effort a GOP tax scam where 83% of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1% and repeated that message over and over and over again. We didn’t go into the details of the bill much beyond than to say it was going to result in an additional 1.5-2 trillion dollars’ worth of debt that our children and grandchildren would be forced to saddle, and they may try to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in order to pay for these massive tax cuts to millionaires, billionaires, the wealthy and the well-off. Simple message repeated over and over and over again.”

The success of this strategy can be seen in the lack of Republican enthusiasm for their highly unpopular tax bill. They were last seen “running toward the Democratic message of lowering healthcare costs and protecting people with

preexisting conditions.”

As we go to press, the congressman’s bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform Bill has passed the Senate, will be voted on in the House and is expected to be signed by the president this week.

The congressman said that the bill, “will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in creating opportunity for currently incarcerated individuals to successfully reenter society, transform themselves, save taxpayer dollars and dramatically reduce recidivism.” It will also correct mandatory minimums, expand “the safety valve mechanism for judges to depart from sentencing guidelines in the interest of justice, particularly as it relates to nonviolent drug offenders and provide retroactive relief to currently incarcerated individuals who were sentenced under unjust “crack cocaine” laws largely in the 80's and 90's.”

Regarding our mercurial president’s expected signature, Jeffries later said, “My hope is that we can get criminal justice reform over the finish line without him backtracking in the next 48 to 72 hours.”

Because NYCHA falls under HUD, Jeffries was asked about what can be done to help the agency handle the housing of a half-million peopl, at a time when many residents are distrustful of the de Blasio Administration after lead revelations, etc. The congressman acknowledged that there were misgivings in Washington that NYCHA was currently capable

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries 8th CD, the Democratic Caucus Leader-Designate at an office press conference. of handling the infusion of money necessary to correct the estimated $20 billion in capital funds needed.

He said that only the federal government has those kinds of resources. In the Democratic infrastructure proposal, there is $70 billion for public housing across the country, and because NYCHA is the largest public housing development in the nation… …it's widely anticipated that NYCHA will be the largest beneficiary.”

For Jeffires’ district, the affordable housing crisis remains the most important. “We need an all-hands-on-deck approach that will involve additional engagement at the federal level including by reforming the low-income-housing tax credit program in a way that

incentivizes the creation of more affordable housing in high-cost cities like New York, as well as reviving the Section 202 senior housing program, because there are many seniors throughout the Eighth Congressional District and beyond who are struggling to afford to live in the communities that they helped to revive.” The infrastructure plan would also help the MTA with the money that agency needs for repairs and upgrading.

(Next week: Climate Change, Immigration, Religious Freedom and challenges of bringing together the new progressive and conservative Democrats taking the reins in January.)