New York City’s Transformation To Giant Corporate Event Space Finally Complete

In case you were wondering what the true purpose of municipal government is — serving its citizens or whoring itself for corporate donations — this should help set you straight:

As hundreds of thousands of Big Apple residents suffer in homes left without power by Hurricane Sandy, two massive generators are being run 24/7 in Central Park — to juice a media tent for Sunday’s New York City Marathon.

And a third “backup” unit sits idle, in case one of the generators fails.

The three diesel-powered generators crank out 800 kilowatts — enough to power 400 homes in ravaged areas like Staten Island, the Rockaways and downtown Manhattan.

As of Friday morning, five generators sat outside of the park along with electrical stations and transformers.

In addition to the generators, a food services truck dropped off hundreds of cases of water . . .

Groping At Straws

Is it really that easy to get tagged not only as a serial groper but a dapper one at that on such flimsy evidence? In Bloomberg and Kelly’s New York, yes:

His nightmare started on April 12, when two detectives showed up at his Park Slope apartment asking him questions about groping attacks on women in fancy Manhattan neighborhoods.

Someone who knew [the suspect] called the NYPD’s anonymous Crimestoppers tip line and told them that a surveillance video image of the attacker looked like him.

Of course shitty police work can be fixed but first impressions are forever. This guy seems remarkably cheerful for someone who was accused of being this close to being a rapist.

As A Famous Online Essay Once Said, “Beauty And Evil Are Never Far Apart In Keats’s Poetry,” Which Is To Say, Have You Ever Seen $60,000 Worth Of Sushi?

It’s like Baudelaire, Keats or maybe GG Allin; there’s something almost beautiful in the utter sinfulness:

A “greedy” Senate leader and his son raided a Bronx health clinic of more than $500,000 — blowing $60,000 just on sushi and lobster dinners, and spending “thousands and thousands of dollars” on spa treatments, luxury cars and political campaigns, a federal prosecutor charged yesterday.

Because In The End, It’s Not Really The Higher-Ups Who Put This Guy In The Psych Ward, It’s The People Even Higher Up Who Created This Absurd Culture

Which is why Ray Kelly should go and why Michael Bloomberg should stay way the fuck away from the West Wing, except for lunch. I guess. The Times’ Jim Dwyer picks up on the Voice stories about the horrific harassment of a police officer who questioned the stat-obsessed NYPD:

To date, neither Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg nor Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly have publicly discussed why Officer Schoolcraft was thrown into a psychiatric ward.

Third Terms Work Best When Everyone Shuts The Fuck Up And Does What The Higher-Ups Want

At some point you have to wonder if even the cops themselves are embarrassed about stuff like stop & frisk:

[The victim] said the officer who frisked him [ . . . ] was “really aggressive,” especially when grabbing around his crotch area. He felt violated. The search of his car came up empty, but the cops issued [the victim] a summons for parking in front of a fire hydrant. [The victim] took down [the officer’s] badge number and later filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Months later, the board ruled that [the officer] had abused his authority by frisking [the victim] and searching his vehicle. [The officer’s supervisor] was also convicted of abuse of authority for allowing the search.

[The victim] said he felt validated, but it doesn’t stop him from worrying about being stopped again.