Port Authority PR Department On Roll

“Baggage handlers, jetway workers and even security people are all in on the ongoing scam to steal you blind” and then they’ll fine you when you refuse to turn off your iPad and the plane is delayed while they arrest you:

Be careful the next time you get into a spat with a flight attendant before takeoff: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced yesterday it will start fining passengers who delay planes.

The new rule is effective immediately, said Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.

Re: “Small Group That Wants To Throw Their Money Around In Political Races”; If By “Group” You Mean . . .

The ones who “want to be able to not wash their hands after they go to the bathroom, and not refrigerate their food, and not keep the cockroaches and the rats and mice out”* must be the same ones who are naysaying the most job-creative third term of all time:

City investigators have discovered evidence of large-scale fraud in one of the agencies leading Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s signature initiative to find jobs for unemployed New Yorkers.

. . .

The reports of fraud come as a blow to Mr. Bloomberg, who sought a third term based on his ability to lead the city in a tough economy and has heralded his administration’s success in finding jobs for unemployed New Yorkers. The mayor has praised the role nonprofit groups, paid by the city, have had in the jobs effort.

The news is also troubling for Seedco, a well-regarded nonprofit organization that has stood at the heart of many of the mayor’s initiatives, including job placement and cash grants for welfare clients, and loan programs for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Some Mayors Enjoy Nibbling On Straw Men Before A Main Dish Of Crow

When the mayor went on the offensive about the city’s new letter-grade restaurant inspection system, he boasted that salmonella incidents dropped an entire 14 percent since the new system was implemented (and revenues went up!) and derided critics as “people that complain because they don’t want to keep their restaurants clean”. No one can argue with a straw man, but about that salmonella statistic:

DOH boasted of a 14 percent plunge in reported salmonella cases in the grading system’s first full year. But the numbers reflect only a minuscule drop in an infection rate that was negligible to begin with.

In fact, reported salmonella cases fell from 15 per 100,000 New Yorkers between 2007 and 2010 to 13.7 cases last year — a difference of 1 case per 70,000 people.

The data don’t even say how many salmonella infections were contracted in restaurants compared with home or anywhere else — nullifying any correlation with inspections . . . per se.

That last post-elliptical comment being a reference to the apparent preferential treatment some restaurants receive.

Of Course It Will Always Be A Front Row Ticket To The Best Show On Earth When The Entire Earth Is Your Jurisdiction

Well, if no one else in charge will speak up then it might as well be Chris Christie:

Christie also proceeded to critcize the NYPD in a way that would have been unimaginable for a major national Republican figure ten or even five years ago, post 9/11: “I hope that almost 11 years past 9/11, we are not going to go back to those days because no one is omniscient,” he said. “No one knows everything in this world in law enforcement.” And, he added, “This is the New York Police Department. I know they think their jurisdiction is the world. Their jurisdiction is New York City. My concern is this kind of obsession that the NYPD seems to have that they’re the masters of the universe.”

Because The Only Thing That Would Make The Third Term Even Worse Is If He Skipped Out On It

To paraphrase Colin Powell, who paraphrased the Pottery Barn, you break it, you own it:

There are only a hand full of jobs that Mayor Bloomberg has publicly coveted and now one of them is open — presidency of the World Bank.

But mayoral aides said Bloomberg — who still has more than 22 months left to go in his third term — won’t be rushing off a resume.

“People have approached him many times,” said mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser. “People have asked his views on the World Bank. Intermediaries (have sounded him out) to see if he’s interested.”

In each instance, Loeser said Bloomberg responded that’s he’s committed to completing his elective term.