New:Follow us on TWITTER BloggingHeads.tv
Click here for Inner City Press' weekday news reports, from the United Nations and elsewhere. Click here for a recent BBC piece on Inner City Press' reporting from the United Nations Search This Site Click for March 1, 2011 BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption by Inner City Press. Click here for Inner City Press front page
ICP has published a (double) book about
a variety of Bronx-relevant topics -- a review in
Commonweal magazine of Dec. 5, 2003, opines that
"Predatory Bender... is as vivid an account of life in
the Bronx as you are likely to read" -- click here for
sample chapters, here for
an interactive map,
here
for fast ordering
and
delivery, and here for
other ordering
information. See
also, "City
Lit: Roman a Klepto [Review of ‘Predatory Bender’],"
by Matt Pacenza, City Limits, Sept.-Oct. 2004. CBS
MarketWatch of April 23, 2004, says the
the novel has "some very funny moments," and that the
non-fiction mixes "global statistics and first-person accounts."
The Washington
Post
of March 15, 2004, calls Predatory Bender: America in
the Aughts "the first novel about predatory lending;" the
London
Times of April 15, 2004, "A Novel Approach," said it "has
a cast of colorful characters." The Pittsburgh
City Paper of Dec. 11, 2003, wrote that it "may, in fact,
be the first great American lending malfeasance novel" including
"low-level loan sharks, class-action lawyers, corporate bigwigs,
hired muscle, corrupt politicians, Iraq War veterans, Wall
Street analysts, reporters and one watchdog with a Web
site." And all in The Bronx! Click
here
for that
review; for more information, contact us.
2014: MRL on
Beacon Reader
August
14, 2017
In
UN Guinea
Bissau Holds Night
Event With
Chinese Art,
MOU With UNCG,
Ng Echo
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 12 – In the UN on August 11, the Ambassador of Guinea Bissau gave a speech in front of a curved wall of painting by a Chinese artist, praising a Memorandum of Understanding reached between his country and something called “UNCG,” which he did not define.In UN tonight, event with #GuineaBissau, speaker(s) translated from Chinese, echoes of the Southern District https://t.co/Mjpybp4CDx
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) August 11, 2017
August
7, 2017
UN
Allows
Censorship by
N Korea of Art
Show,
Leaves
It & Press
Restrictions
UNexplained
By
Matthew Russell Lee, video here
UNITED
NATIONS, August 5 – The day after an art exhibit
in the UN had four paintings removed by North
Korea, the acting head of "Global
Communications" for the UN declined address the
UN's role in this and other censorship. Maher
Nasser who took over on April 1 from Department
of Public Information chief Cristina Gallach,
named in the UN's own pre-guilty verdict audit
of Ng Lap Seng's lawless purchase of another art
show in the UN, was asked about continuing
Gallach's restrictions on Inner City Press, and
about North Korea banning the paintings.
He did not even purport to respond on the later,
and dissembled on the restrictions on Inner City
Press. First he said
"You have same access for accredited media." But
this is false: for example, the Egyptian state
correspondent Sanaa Youssef his DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' long time office to could
stake-out General Assembly meetings without
having the minder Inner City Press is now
required to be accompanied by (this also cuts
into what questions can be and are asked, the
purpose of minders.) Youssef, purportedly
representing Sisi's Akhbar al Yom, didn't even
come in for Egypt's August 2 press conference,
nor the August 5 Security Council meeting under
Egypt's presidency. It is a fraud. While Nasser
cited a policy about the UN Bookstore - where
numerous dubious pro-UN books are for sale - he
refused to state what "policy" results in a
critical media present and asking questions
after day being restricted, without hearing or
appeal, and a no-show state media that asks no
questions having its office and full access.
Youssef is a former president of the pro-UN (and
Ng Lap Seng funded) UN Correspondents
Association; another former UNCA president Giampaolo
Pioli hosted Nasser at his Hamptons
shindig. Earlier on August 5 Nasser lavished
praise on a pro-UN piece by yet another former
UNCA president, here. So Nassar hob-nobs with
people who vowed to get Inner City Press evicted
for its coverage, while continuing the
restrictions on Inner City Press. Global
Communications, indeed. We'll have more on this.
The show that opened in the UN Delegates
Entrance on Friday night promised to have four
paintings by North Korean artists, without the
approval of their government, set
for further sanctions the next day. But when
Inner City Press attended the show, all four
paintings were gone and pages 49 through 52 had
been ripped out of the show program it picked
up.
July
31, 2017
The scam continues, in the DNA: "The Crescendo is being billed by Carnegie Management as 'a residential complex built to commemorate the history of an area once filled with musical references.' In October 2015, a billboard went up near the Third Avenue Bridge declaring Port Morris to be the Piano District. The sign was installed by Somerset Partners and The Chetrit Group, the developers that joined together to buy two properties along the Harlem River, at 2401 Third Ave. and 101 Lincoln Ave., for $58 million with plans to turn them into a residential community featuring retail. The backlash was swift, spurring use of the hashtag #WhatPianoDistrict on social media."
July
24, 2017
The
New York State
Department of
Environmental
Conservation
(DEC) has
received
Brownfield
Cleanup
Program (BCP)
applications,
Draft Remedial
Action Work
Plans and
Final
Investigation
Reports from
Concourse
Village West
Owner LLC for
the following
sites:
Concourse
Village West
Apartments -
North, site ID
#C203091. This
site is
located in the
Borough of
Bronx, within
the County of
Bronx, and is
located at 180
East 156th
Street.
Concourse
Village West
Apartments -
South, site ID
#C203092. This
site is
located in the
Borough of
Bronx, within
the County of
Bronx, and is
located at 741
Concourse
Village and
702 Grand
Concourse.
Copies of the
applications,
Draft Remedial
Action Work
Plans, Final
Investigation
Reports and
other relevant
documents are
available at
the document
repositories
located at NY
Public Library
– Melrose
Branch, 910
Morris Ave,
Bronx, 10451
and Bronx
Community
Board 4, 1650
Selwyn Ave,
Suite 11A,
Bronx, 10457.
As Reuters Live-streams Spicer's House, Got Press Evicted From UN For Streaming Formal Meeting
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 21 – With Reuters getting trashed from the right and left for live-streaming Sean Spicer's family residence in Virginia, it's the hypocrisy that jumps out to the Press. At the UN, Reuters and the UN Correspondents Association on which it has a permanent seat got Inner City Press evicted from the UN Press Briefing Room and UN for live streaming a formal meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room, see here and here. Reuters later got the UN Spokesperson's office to allow it to deny corruption on UNTV. Now Reuters live-streams a private residence. Hypocrisy much? On July 16 Reuters reported a letter to FIFA from what it called the "boycott states" demanding that Qatar be stripped of the 2022 World Cup. There's only one problem: FIFA denies receiving the letter, and Reuters doesn't even claim to have "seen" it. This is the same Reuters which for example at the UN has used its "Palais" (insider) status to lobby to get smaller investigative Press thrown out. Here was a message with Reuters signature block to the UN's Stephane Dujarric, which Inner City Press not only saw but published, only to have Google grant a frivolous Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint (that an anti-Press email could be copyrighted) and banned from Search. The complainant's successor has continued the campaign, using Reuters' permanent seat on the board of the UN Correspondents Association, and followed up with a false complaint to UN Security, which subsequently ousted Inner City Press. We'll have more on this.July
17, 2017
Bronx
shelters, per
Daily News: "A
caseworker at
a Bronx
homeless
shelter faces
sex abuse
charges after
befriending a
family and
molesting
their
10-year-old
son,
authorities
said
Thursday.Amin
Laboriel, 37,
was
apprehended
last month in
Miami as he
tried to flee
the country,
prosecutors
said. He had a
one-way ticket
to Honduras on
him when he
was put in
handcuffs.
Prosecutors
said he met
his victim’s
mother at his
job at the
Bridge Haven
Family
Transitional
Residence and
quickly gained
the family’s
trust. On June
2, he offered
to take her
10-year-old
boy to his
Jackson
Heights,
Queens, home
for a night.
During the
sleepover,
Laboriel
sexually
abused and
sodomized the
child,
prosecutors
said. Police
were alerted
to the crime a
few weeks
later — just
as Laboriel
was about to
fly out of
Miami
International
Airport."
July
10, 2017
NYC
court beat: In 1st
UN
Bribery Case, Lorenzo
Admits
$20,000 a
Month from Ng's
South South
News, in UNTV
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 7 – In the UN bribery case against Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, for which jury selection ran from June 26 through June 28 (Periscope here), on July 6 former Dominican Republic Deputy Ambassador and South South News chief Francis Lorenzo started to describe the corruption at the United Nations. He was making $72,000 a year from his country, when Ng Lap Seng started paying him $20,000 a month and put him in charge of South South News despite, Lorenzo testified, having never done journalism in his life. (The UN Department of Public Information, with now-spokesman Stephane Duajrric in charge of television, put Ng's and Lorenzo's South South News' content in the UNTV archives; Dujarric repeatedly refused to explain to Inner City Press how this happened.) Lorenzo described how UN General Assembly President John Ashe, since mysteriously killed by his own barbell, became part of the push for Ng's company Sun Kian Ip Group to procure UN Secretariat documents to build a multi-billion dollar convention center in Macau. Ng's lawyers, who are preparing to cross-examine Lorenzo, have said they may use in his defense some UN documents which they have not yet specified. The prosecution has argued "defense counsel stated, 'We also have another document that is from the UN that we are going to introduce which is the secretary delegation members list.” (Tr. 138.) In addition, when sharing proposed opening slides, the Government learned that the defendant had printed out or downloaded two excerpts from UNOSSC websites that have never been produced or identified to the Government, but that the defendant asserted he intends to introduce at trial. The Government does not have a copy of the pertinent webpages, nor does it know whether the website from which they came is currently available or whether, in any event, the excerpts fairly and accurately capture the website." Inner City Press which has covered this inside the UN (and been thrown out by the UN for seeking to cover, in the UN Press Briefing Room, an event by a group funded by Ng's South South News, which will now host Secretary General Antonio Guterres' deputy Amina J. Mohammed) notes that the Office of South South Cooperation has refused to hold a press conference. On July 6, Inner City Press asked UN holdover Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about, video here, UN transcript hereJuly
3, 2017
At
Bronx Lebanon
Hospital,
Henry Bello
shot and
killed
32-year-old
Dr. Tracy
Sin-Yee Tam,
who grew up in
Queens...
June
26, 2017
We
agree: bring
bike-share to
The Bronx.
"The Bronx
currently
suffers from
the worst
health
outcomes in
New York
State, and
initiatives
that support
active
transportation,
such as Citi
Bike, should
be made
available to
all residents
of the
borough. As it
improves
access to
farmers
markets,
shopping
districts and
other forms of
transit, our
communities
deserve the
same access to
Citi Bike as
other parts of
the city. We
call on Mayor
De Blasio to
extend this
valuable city
resource to
the Bronx
now." - Father
Ricardo
Fajardo,
Pastor, Holy
Spirit Church.
June
19, 2017
A
brownfield at
1888 Bathgate
Ave is slated
for
redevelopment
- with Low
Income Housing
Tax Credits,
recently
scrutinized by
Frontline and
NPR. So, two
things to look
at...
June
12, 2017
If
you're going
to replace the
Sheridan
Expressway, it
should be with
parks, not
another truck
road...
June 5, 2017
MetroNorth's
service to The
Bronx gets
worse and
worse. On June
3 the 2:54 pm
train stopped
for more than
20 minutes at
125th Street,
with
misleading
announcements
about a delay
of 5 to 10
minutes, then
a blaming of
“congestion”
in The Bronx.
We'll have
more on this.
May
29, 2017
Just
south of the
Bronx:
At Cameroon "National" Day, UN DSG & CdC, French Delattre, Toasts to Biya's Wife, No Internet
By
Matthew Russell Lee, New
Platform
UNITED
NATIONS, May 24 – While the UN Security Council
visited Cameroon during the 94 day Internet cut
off and said nothing publicly about it (but see
below), Inner City Press has obtained and has
exclusively published
on Patreon and now Scribd,
here Cameroon's "Urgent and Confidential"
letter to the UN Security Council, about
weapons. On May 23, Inner City Press went to the
New York event for Cameroon's "National" Day,
which was boycotted in the Anglophone regions of
the country. In New York, however, UN Deputy
Secretary General Amina J. Mohammad and Antonio
Guterres' Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro
Viotti attended, along with French Permanent
Representative to the UN Francois Delattre,
Burundi's Albert Shingiro and others. Video here.
May
22, 2017
UN
Credit Union
Solicits N
Korean &
UNA-USA Funds,
After NK
Missile, Nikki
Haley Says
Tighten Screws
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive follow up
UNITED
NATIONS, May 14 – The UN Federal Credit Union,
regulated by the US National Credit Union
Administration, openly solicits the business of
both North Korean employees of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea's mission to the UN
and the members of the UN Association of the USA
(UNA-USA), amid questions of immunity and a
previous UNFCU settlement for sanctions
violations.
UNFCU's
website lists
under “Missions to the UN in New York eligible
to join UNFCU” that of “North Korea (DPRK).”
Now, after the latest North Korean launch, US
Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on May 14 told
ABC's This Week that the screws will be
tightened on North Korea, to isolate them. So,
at the UN, what about the (US regulated) UN
Federal Credit Union?
Inner
City Press asked UNFCU's Senior Manager of Media
Relations Elisabeth Philippe questions including
“why some UN member states' missions to the UN
are eligible to join UNFCU, including the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and
others are not, why members of UNA-USA became
eligible to join UNFCU, what regulatory filings
in any UNFCU made for this change in field of
membership, and any restrictions on the use of
these UNA-USA members' funds, and what services
UNFCU offers to UN agencies and country teams,
in which countries, and if there are any
restrictions or safeguards.”
May
15, 2017
Not
good: the
beating of
Souleymane
Porgo of
Burkina Faso,
on the Grand
Concourse -
even the US
Embassy in
Burkina has
had to
apologize...
At UN, Press Coverage
of Biz Event Praising Goldman Sachs Hindered
by DPI Censorship
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 11 – When the UN hosted an event
and press conference about small businesses,
they made it nearly impossible for Inner City
Press which actually covers the topic, to access
the speeches which praised, among others,
Goldman Sachs and Facebook. (A surreal tango
reception, however, was accessible as Inner City
Press was invited and DPI wasn't around to
exclude it: Periscope here.)
The event was in the ECOSOC Chamber, which Inner
City Press cannot access, unlike other
correspondents who didn't bother to cover the
issue, or even to come in to the UN. More than
fourteen months ago, acting against Press
coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption
cases, the UN Department of Public Information
had Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN. Audio
here.
May 8,
2017
At UN's
World Press
Freedom Event,
ICP Asks of UN
Censorship,
WIPO &
FAO, 1-Line
Response
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video here
UNITED
NATIONS, May 4 – At the UN's World Press Freedom
Day event, the hypocrisy of the UN was on
display. After a UN panel gave speeches praising
the UN's work, the floor was opened for
questions. Inner City Press raised its hand
throughout. First the Department of Public
Information's Margaret Novicki called on a non
governmental organization; then she switched to
pre-selected questioners. A DPI staffer told
Inner City Press Novicki erred in calling on the
NGO, but to keep its hand raised. Inner City
Press waited and then asked about the UN's own
commitment to press freedom, using as examples
the World Intellectual Property Organization's
use of criminal defamation laws against a Swiss
radio station, FAO going after a website for
reporting on corruption, and the UN's lack of
due process protections for journalists. All
Novicki said, to the three questions, was that
"as you know," DPI is committed to freedom of
the press. Video here.
Really?
Contrary to Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling
for an end to crackdowns on the press, more than
fourteen months ago, acting against Press
coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption
cases, the UN Department of Public Information
had Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN. Audio
here.
May 1,
2017
History in the soil, 198 East 135th Street: "Prior site uses include a railroad freight yard, coal yard, warehousing, and various industrial uses (some of which included oil storage). Historic fill is also present at the site. "
April
24, 2017
At UN, DPI Prejudice Against
Critical Press
UNanswered,
Bello Wiffs on
Haiti and Roma
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 21 – The UN which evicted Inner City Press
14 months ago after it sought to covering UN
corruption in the UN Press Briefing Room has on
April 20 responded
that it is fine to continue to confine it to
minders, while giving much more access to pro-UN
or state media like Akhbar al Yom and others
which never ask questions, or challenge
incompetence. This mendacious answer continued,
by default, at an event in the UN Bookstore on
April 21, video
here.
April
17, 2017
At UN,
Request
To Explain
Censorship of
Press Yields
1-Line, Spox
Says Criticism
Is Harassment
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 13 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on
both press freedom and transparency, evicted
Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in
the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it
even now, after the evicting official is gone
from the UN's unaccountable Department of Public
Information. A formal request
for reversal, below, was filed 13 days ago. So
far only a Kafka-esque one line response,
followed by an accusation by the UN's lead
spokesman Stephane Dujarric that Inner City
Press' criticism of the UN and some of its
officials is "harassment." Video
here. When Dujarric was in charge of media
accreditation at the UN, he summoned Inner City
Press about a mere tweet, here.
This, then, is censorship. And those who took
over accreditation after Dujarric, in what's
being revealed as the DPI of UN bribery indicted
Ng Lap Seng can't even explain the basis of
minders and metal detectors for Inner City Press
while, for example, Egyptian state media Akhbar
al Yom was nowhere to be seen, hasn't asked a
single question in ten months. The
UN is Corrupt - we'll have more on this.
Having no response other than a forward to yet
more UN DPI officials, Inner City Press asked
and was told, Didn't [a particular] DPI official
talk to you? Well, no.
April
10, 2017
The fight for
freedom of the
Press, from
the Bronx has
spread south
to Manhattan's
Turtle Bay,
with this
filed: "
At UN, Formal
Request Made To End Restrictions on Press, Is
Officer in Charge, In Charge?
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 5 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on
both press freedom and transparency, evicted
Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in
the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it
even now, after the evicting official is gone.
(A formal request for reversal, below, as been
filed). After the UN's head of Communications
Cristina Gallach was given a strange farewell
toast on March 30, the UN told Inner City Press
that the "position will be filled by
an Officer-in-Charge... while
the process to find a new
Under-Secretary-General for
Public Information continues."
On
April 3, Inner City Press
wrote to this Officer in
Charge, who copied the
request to several others to
be named:
"Four
hundred and five days ago, without any hearing or
opportunity to be heard, I was ordered out of the
United Nations for having sought to covering a
meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room that was
nowhere listed as closed to some journalists and not
others. Inner City Press, still without any hearing
and no appeal since, was then evicted from its
shared office S-303 which has sat largely unused
since. I have been forced, for more than a year, to
only enter through the metal detectors at the
Visitors Entrance, and my pass has not worked on the
second floor turnstile, precluding me from covering
events on the second floor as other correspondents
could. There are other restrictions and double
standards, hindering reporting, of which DPI has
been made aware.
Yesterday was the last day atop DPI for the official who without speaking to me once signed the February 19, 2016 letter, and for the April 2016 eviction. The Deputy Spokesperson told me yesterday, in a noon briefing where I asked six questions (earlier the week there was a noon briefing where from the entire rest of the accredited press corps there were only three questioners), I was told that you are the Officer in Charge of DPI. In that capacity, this is a formal request that Inner City Press be restored to the office it was ousted from without due process... and that I be restored to Resident Correspondent accreditation immediately... I also incorporate this link to the Special Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders letter: and, again, this petition."
Days later, no ruling, attempted jokes while Inner City Press worked to write up the Syria UN Security Council meeting from a bench in the UN lobby. We'll have more on this. On March
28, forwarded not sent to Inner City Press,
this: "UNCA will host a farewell reception in
honor of Under-Secretary-General of DPI,
Cristina Gallach, on Thursday, March 30th at
5:30 pm in the UNCA room (3rd floor, UN
Secretariat Building, room 310). Food and wine
will be served. Please join us for a farewell
toast!" Toasting what? Allowing into the UN with
no due diligence the Macau-based businessman Ng
Lap Seng, as detailed in the UN's own audit
at Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b? Evicting the Press
without
any hearing or appeal? The decline in
media access? On March 29, Inner City Press
asked among other things, "yesterday your Office
replied, regarding the USG of DPI, 'We will
announce arrivals and departures as they occur.'
Now that your partner has arranged a farewell
for this USG for March 30, what is the rationale
for your Office refusing to confirm her
departure and the status of recruiting a
replacement?" The UN spokesman replied,
"Regarding Under-Secretary-General Cristina
Gallach, her position will be filled by an
Officer-in-Charge upon her departure while the
process to find a new Under-Secretary-General
for Public Information continues." We'll have
more on this.
In early 2016, covering the UN corruption
scandals which have resulted in two sets of
indictments for bribery involving the UN, Inner
City Press was ordered to leave the UN Press
Briefing Room by then Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
April
3, 2017
Gentrification watch: Treetop Development has announced plans for a $160 million, dual-tower development in the South Bronx. The 12-story rental towers will be part of a mixed-use project of roughly 360,000 square feet. The developer is also planning a 260,000-square-foot residential project with retail on the ground floor, as well as a 100,000-square-foot rental development, nearby....
March
27, 2017
There's a fight-back against closing Junior High School 145 in Morrisania. In the 2015-2016 school year, only eight percent of students at JHS 145 passed state reading exams, and only three percent passed state math tests....
March
20, 2017
The (lack of)
respect for
the Bronx was
exemplified by
the stairs
down to the D
Train on
Tremont during
and after the
snow storm...
March 13, 2017
Excess
and
gentrification
to come:
Chetrit Group
and Somerset
Partners are
laying out
their vision
for the future
buildings at
101 Lincoln
Ave. and 2401
Third Ave....
March
6, 2017
Last
week, Bronx
Borough
President Diaz
said he
supports
Queens
Assembly
Member Andrew
Hevesi's Home
Stability
Support plan,
which would
give rent
subsidies to
those in
danger of
losing their
homes...
February
27, 2017
When an Amber
alert went off
all over New
York on
February 24,
it mentioned
The Bronx.
Afterward,
this: "Cops
initially
tracked
Hernandez to
Louis Nine
Blvd. in the
Foxhurst
section of the
Bronx — about
53 miles from
Bridgeport —
after
Hernandez was
spotted in the
area, and his
cell phone
pinged there."
Who
calls that
Foxhurst? Call
it Hagstrom
hangover.
February 20,
2017
Slumlord or vivero? "details are being released about the victims who contracted a rare disease transmitted by rat urine, including a link to a Bronx business just a block away from the building that has become the main target of both tenants and the city. In the last two months, three people along a single block have contracted leptospirosis, a rare bacterial infection. Two of the victims, including one man in his 30s who died last year, at one point worked at a nearby live poultry shop."
February
13, 2017
Bronx
Catholic
schools hit
hard: The
Archdiocese of
New York
has
announced that
St. Ann School
in Norwood,
Visitation
School in
Kingsbridge
and St. Mary
School in
Wakefield will
close, along
with St.
Gregory the
Great School
on the Upper
West Side and
St. Peter's
Regional
School in
Sullivan
County. Sts.
Peter and Paul
School in
Morrisania
will turn into
a universal
pre-K program
starting in
September...
February
6, 2017
Electeds
to the
Postmaster:
"Since
late November,
the Bronx Post
Office has
been removing
mailboxes all
throughout the
borough in
order to
replace them
with new boxes
that will
prevent mail
fishing. We
appreciate the
post office’s
concern with
the safety of
our
constituent’s
mail and are
pleased to see
them taking a
proactive
approach to
combatting
this issue.
However, most
of the
mailboxes that
have been
removed still
have not been
replaced, and
the Bronx Post
Office has
either been
incapable or
unwilling to
give us a
timeline as to
when these new
mailboxes will
be installed.
We represent a
large
constituency
of people who
are elderly
and living in
apartment
buildings that
are not easily
accessible to
our local post
office
branches.
These people
rely on the
mailboxes on
their block to
pay their
bills and send
their
correspondences.
After more
than 2 months
of these
mailboxes
missing, we
find it
completely
unacceptable
that the Bronx
Post Office
still has not
replaced them
and cannot
give us an
answer as to
when, if ever,
they will all
be replaced.
We would
appreciate it
if your office
would look
into this
matter
immediately
and provide
any possible
assistance to
help resolve
the problem.
The USPS
should also
consider
dispatching
mobile
collection
units in the
affected
communities as
a temporary
measure."
January
30, 2017
RIP
Wayne Barrett
- and ex-Rep
Bobby
Garcia...
January
23, 2017
UN
Again
Bans
Staff From
Women's March,
ICP
Questions,
Gallach at
Power's Elex
Party
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, January 21 – UN system officials told
their staff not to attend the "Global Women's
March" on Saturday, January 21. From the NYC
march, Periscope
I and II,
photos
here, here
and here.
After
Inner City Press asked, the directive was
reversed - then reinstated at 6 pm the night
before the march. Below is UN email first
published by Inner City Press. Meanwhile senior
UN officials like Under Secretary General
Cristina Gallach violate the stated UN rules.
Below is an email from the UN World Food
Program.
After Inner City Press published and Periscoped
about it and asked four WFP spokespeople about
it, by email and phone, UN deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq at the January 20 noon briefing
answered Inner City Press that WFP's Ertharin
Cousin, from Chicago, reversed her agency's
Ethics Officer and said staff can march. YouTube
video here.
But
then just before 6 pm on January 20, the eve of
the March, another UN "Broadcast" email went
out, further muddying the waters before the
Women's March and showing again that Cristina
Gallach (and some other USGs) have violated the
UN's rules. That email is below; here are the
questions Inner City Press has submitted to the
UN's top three spokespeople for clarification:
"These
are two Press questions asked before the Women's
March (in DC, and in front of the UN, as well as
elsewhere) starts, in light of the unsigned,
unclear Ethics Office broadcast email below sent
out yesterday evening after, and contradicting,
the answer given to my question at the noon
briefing about the UN's position on the March.
Given that, and many questions Inner City Press
has received from confused (and angry) UN staff
- and the unprecedented request for the
extradition of the just-former Secretary
General's brother - these questions should be
responded to immediately:
Who is responsible for the Ethics Office
broadcast email below? Is Elia Armstrong still
the head of / involved in the Ethics Office?
Why is it unsigned? Who is accountable for it?
Was it cleared with the Office of Legal Affairs?
Are there two different instructions for
Secretariat staff and Ertharin Cousin's WFP
staff?
Separately, please comment on the US government
formal request to South Korea to extradite Ban
Ki Sang, and again, was the UN ever contacted by
prosecutors about Ban Ki-moon or his family
members?
There are still the majority of the
questions below [only two and a half of 22 have
been answered.] On deadline." Watch this site.
The
UN's 6 pm, January 20 email:
"To:
OAH, DPKO, UN Funds Programs & Tribunals, HQ
NY Secretariat
From: BROADCAST-UNHQ/NY/UNO
Date: 01/20/2017 05:57PM
Subject: Message from the Ethics Office: Public
Pronouncements and Political Activities
Recently, there have been a number of questions
regarding public pronouncements including
participating in political activities and social
media discussions. The questions include
participation in tomorrow’s Women’s March on
Washington. Are such activities in line with our
status as international civil servants?
In this respect, we would like to remind staff
of their obligations as international civil
servants.
The private activities of UN staff members must
remain within the limits of the Organization’s
core values as reflected in Staff Regulation 1.2
and Staff Rule 1.2. While the Organization
respects the inviolability of your personal
views and convictions, including your political
and religious convictions, as well as your right
to freedom of expression, we must ensure that
the expression of those views and convictions do
not adversely reflect on our status, or on the
integrity, independence and impartiality that
are required by that status.
As international civil servants, we are called
upon to uphold and respect the principles set
out in the Charter, including faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person and in the equal
rights of men and women. Nonetheless, as
international civil servants, our Standards of
Conduct (para 9 and 33) make clear that we do
not have the freedom of private persons to take
sides or to express our beliefs publicly on
sensitive political matters, either individually
or as members of a group nor can we criticize or
try to discredit a Government.
Public pronouncements, which could have an
impact on our independence and impartiality as
international civil servants, come in many forms
including but not limited to:
-marches,
protests, demonstrations;
-online petitions:
-social media activity:
-group walks/activities.
Accordingly, participating in certain
activities, especially those with political
overtones, may be viewed as incompatible with
our status as international civil servants."
January
16, 2017
ICP
Asks Samantha
Power of Ban
Ki-moon's
Family
Indicted, She
Says
Doesn't
Involve UN
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, January 13 – There are those in the UN
who like Samantha Power for what they think she
stands for. By the same token, Power and the
Obama administration were unrelentingly
defenders of the UN for what they said it stood
for. But were either right?
On January 13 Samantha Power took up the UN
Press Briefing Room for more than an hour to
extol her and Obama's virtues. Her outgoing
spokesman called early on two US Voice of
America affiliates.
Between
questions, Inner City Press asked, What about
the indictment of Ban Ki-moon's brother and
nephew? Tweeted
video here.
Power looked over and said, “I don't have any
comment. It's not something that involves the
UN.”
Well, no. The indictment by the US Attorney's
Office says Ban's nephew repeatedly cited his
family's access to the Amir of Qatar to help
selling a building in Vietnam. Ban knew of this
for at least a year and a half. Any UN OIOS
investigation? But Samantha Power was never
about reforming the UN.
Inner City Press asked, What about Haiti
cholera? Power smirked / shrugged, and her
spokesman moved on. So the UN bringing cholera
to Haiti and killing 10,000 people, not paying a
penny - that "is not something that involves the
UN?" We'll have more on this.
ICP asked @AmbassadorPower about indictment Ban Ki-moon's family. She: doesn't “involve UN.” Smirked at UN's #Haiti cholera pic.twitter.com/VwjH9rVMxT
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 14, 2017
When the UN killed 10,000 plus people in Haiti by bringing cholera, what did the Obama administration do? The issue wasn't even mentioned in Power's 8000 plus word Exit Memo. Nor was Burundi or Yemen, where US-made cluster bombs have been dropped on schools and hospitals. A problem from hell, indeed.
Power and her Deputy Permanent Representative
for Management and Reform Isobel Coleman have
said nothing about the indictment for bribery of
Ban Ki-moon's brother and nephew for using the
UN, nor about the John Ashe / Ng Lap Seng UN
briefing case about to come to trial.
January
9, 2017
So
what will be
the
displacement
impacts of the
NY Times
calling the
South Korea a
must-visit
place for
tourists?
January
2, 2017
So Ban Ki-moon
dropped the
ball, one last
time, over
Times Squares
on New Year's
Eve, promoting
Planet
Fitness...
Ban
Ki-moon Used
UN to Run For
S Korea Prez
As Early at
2010
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Seventeenth in a Series
UNITED
NATIONS, December 31 -- In the final
days of Ban Ki-moon's decade as UN
Secretary General, covering up
genocides in Sri
Lanka, Burundi
and Yemen
and evicting
the Press which asked about (t)his
corruption, Inner City Press is
reviewing Ban's end, year by year. See
also this
Twitter Moment.
In 2009,
Ban misspoke about his history in Sri
Lanka, the mass killing in which he
ignored to attend his son Woo-hyun's
wedding, and where his
son in law Siddharth Chatterjee had
previously played an active, killing
role.
While Ban
would later evict
and still restrict Inner City Press,
in 2009 his strategy was to get it
removed from Google News - and it
happened (though it was later
reversed). Here's Inner City Press' report from
June 3, 2009.
And
now Ban threatens
to sue, for ambition.
Ban hyped up his appearance in Times Square - where he only stood with De Blasio like a sidekick, waving inanely and promoting a corporation, Planet Fitness. It was a fit ending.
December
26, 2016
Brownfield,
198 E 135
Street "is
vacant and
used to store
vehicles
associated
with a
storage/moving
company
located
adjacent to
the property.
The Harlem
River is
located
approximately
600 feet to
the southwest.
Current Zoning
and Land Use:
The site is
currently
inactive, and
is zoned for
mixed-use
high-density
residential
and commercial
use. Past Use
of the Site:
Prior site
uses that
appear to have
led to site
contamination
are railroad
freight yard,
coal yard,
warehousing,
and various
industrial
uses (some of
which included
oil storage).
The site also
appears to be
contaminated
with historic
fill." We'll
have more on
this.
December
19, 2016
UN
Thugs Attack
ICP Outside
Ban Ki-moon's
$1200 Wall
Street Event,
Throw Phone
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December
17 --
Outgoing
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
headlined a
$1200 a ticket
event on Wall
Street on
Friday night.
Inner City
Press went to
cover the
event, and
while
live-streaming
Periscope
video outside
was physically
attacked by
thugs exiting
the UN event.
Video
here. This
is what the UN
has come to.
Shortly
before, Inner
City Press
spoke with Ban
Ki-moon, now
Antonio
Guterres
official
Kyung-wha
Kang. She
said, of Inner
City Press'
eviction from
the UN and
nine months
and counting
of minders,
“There must be
a process.”
But there is
no process, no
rule, no
appeal right.
And, it is now
confirmed,
there are
thugs.
Call it, now,
the Dark Side
of the Moon (music).
Outgoing
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson, who
has received a
petition on
the matter, to
his credit
came over and
greeted Inner
City Press --
before the
attack.
Representatives
of the US
Mission to the
UN, who did
nothing about
the earlier
eviction
despite a request
by the
Government
Accountability
Project,
did not.
Not seen was
UN Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach, who
by her no due
process
eviction, audio
here, and
allowing UNCA
chief Pioli to
at the
televised UN
Security
Council
stakeout call
Inner City
Press a*hole,
audio
here, created
this
atmosphere.
But where is
the Committee
to Protect
Journalists,
ostensibly now
concerned
about press
freedom inside
the
terroritorial
United States?
Where is Human
Rights Watch,
whose UN
representative
in fact tried
to get Inner
City Press
thrown out of
the UN, here,
then got
Google to
censor from
Search his
request,
misusing the
Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act?
The only
solution is,
at a minimum,
to restore
Inner City
Press to where
it was before
the no due
process
eviction. Then
to work from
there. Watch
this site.December
12, 2016
After
NYC Praises
UN, ICP Asks
Ban's Spox of
Gallach's
Violations of
Free Press
& Due
Process
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 7 -- When Mayor Bill
de Blasio's Commissioner for
International Affairs Penny
Abeywardena took
questions about the United
Nations' impact on New York City, she
answered Inner City Press' question
about Legionaires disease by saying
the UN works with the City to comply
with applicable local laws.
On December
7, Inner City Press asked the UN's
deputy spokesman if this compliance
extends to the US First Amendment and
due process guarantes, both of which
Abeywardena's co-panelist Cristina
Gallach of the UN appears ot have
violated. From
the UN transcript:
Deputy
Spokesman: I would refer you back to
what Penny Abeywardena said yesterday
in her role as the New York City
Commissioner for International Affairs
about the more than $3.3 billion, I
believe it was…
Inner City
Press: I asked her whether the UN is
subject to New York City health rules
like on Legionnaires' disease and on
self-inspection, and she sort of said,
oh, we work very closely, the UN
basically kind of philosophically
accepts all of these things even if
it's not legally required.
So I'd wanted to know, one, things
like the First Amendment, as to the
freedom of the press or due process,
is there… can you say that the UN is…
is… is accepting, in the same way she
described as Legionnaires' disease and
health regulations, of freedom of the
press and due process provisions of
its host country?
Deputy Spokesman: It's not about
the laws of the host country. Of
course, the UN also upholds the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
and as you know, that includes the
freedom of the media, freedom of
expression, freedom of assembly and
many other key rights.
Then
how could the UN's Gallach order Inner
City Press out of the UN, for seeking
to cover an event in the UN Press
Briefing Room, without once speaking
to it - i.e. providing any due process
at the time, with no right to appeal
in the nine months since?
Gallach has
been written
to by the UN's own Special
Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression
and Human Rights Defenders and,
after a three month day, misled
them about a non-existent
"altercation." The UN and
Gallach do not comply with
locally-applicable laws.
On
December 6, there was an initial joke
about parking tickets, as if that
would be the extent of issues New
Yorkers might care about.
But while the City's study enumerates people directly employed by the UN Community, their lack of labor and other rights due to immunity was not acknowledged in the study.
Inner City Press covers both the UN
and its headquarters city, New York,
and routinely receives complaints from
diplomats' domestic workers and
drivers about work place abuse and
lack of benefits, and the lack of any
recourse. Due to immunity, not only
defrauded workers but those subject to
physical abuse are left without
rights.
Inner City Press asked Abeywardena
what the de Blasio administration
proposes to do about that - for
example, diplomat Joachim Haubrichs punched
his wife Henna Johnson, 35, in the
face and was not subject to arrest
at all. Abeywardena said, in
essence, that Johnson could get
counseling. Video
here.
What about the UN having brought cholera to Haiti and killed 10,000 people, leaving sorrow and economic harm in many New York City communities - does the de Blasio administration have a position on that? Abeywardena did not answer, leaving the question for the UN moderator Cristina Gallach.
But Gallach,
as mentioned even in the New York
Times, is responsible for the
ouster and eviction of the
investigative Press from the UN, and
its confinement to minders to cover
events on the UN's second floor for
the past nine months and for the
foreseeable future.
Gallach is giving Inner City Press' longtime shared UN office to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar al Yom, which rarely comes into the UN and never asks any questions.
@globalnyc @PAbeywardena at UN presser; ICP has questions on security, impunity, UN censorship: https://t.co/bDyNnnlkgW pic.twitter.com/bFkuOA5DF9
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) December 6, 2016
Abeywardena answered Inner City Press'
second round of questions by saying
the City works with the UN on such
issues as testing for Legionnaires
Disease - something legally required
for (other) buildings in New
York.
We question
whether the City administration is
doing or should do anything to ensure
that the UN lives up to the basic
principles, applicable right outside
the UN's gates, of press freedom and
due process.
Gallach's
pretext for throwing Inner City Press
out and restricting it since was Inner
City Press' attempt to cover an event
in the same UN Press Briefing Room on
January 29, as part of its coverage of
the ongoing Ng Lap Seng UN bribery
case set for trial in the US District
Court for the Southern District of New
York in January 2017.
Inner City
Press left the briefing room - which
had no “closed” sign on it - as soon
as a single UN Security officer said
to, at the request of UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric. But three weeks later,
without once speaking with Inner City
Press, Gallach
ordered it out on two hours
notice.
December
5, 2016
We're
for public
access to
North Brother
Island - and
Hart Island,
too....
November
28, 2016
Sin
City fall out:
http://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/pdf/2016-11-21-odell-beckham-letter.pdf
November
21, 2016
Ban Ki-moon NYU Speech Has Prerequisites While $100,000 Speech Withheld
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Follow
Up on Exclusives
UNITED
NATIONS, November 18 -- As
Ban Ki-moon's time at the
UN winds down and he prepares
coyly to run for
President in South
Korea, his packaging of
his legacy has become a
vanity amateur operation,
see below.
It
is now even worse that we
thought. While Ban Ki-moon
on October 14 gave a
speech in Washington DC
for which $100,000
sponsorships were sought
but a copy of which was
never released, now for a
speech at New York
University, an Inner City
Press request, twice, to
cover it has been
rebuffed.
There
are, it seems,
prerequisites to cover
this Ban Ki-moon speech.
The solicitation stated:
"In
his final weeks as UN
secretary-general, Ban
will deliver a keynote
address [at] NYU School of
Professional Studies
(NYUSPS) Center for Global
Affairs (CGA)... If you
are a member of the press
who wishes to cover it,
please contact Cheryl
Feliciano."
And so, covering Ban
Ki-moon closely, and his
promoted son in law at the
UN in Kenya, and brother
Ki-ho mining in Myanmar,
Inner City Press wrote to
NYU's Feliciano: "Hi, I
cover the UN and would
like to cover Ban
Ki-moon's Nov 22 speech.
This is my RSVP. Please
confirm."
But what came back was a
strange request: "Hi
Matthew, Do you have an
official UN press
credential?"
Inner City Press replied,
cc-ing the Free UN
Coalition for Access
(FUNCA), that "I do. But
why would that be a
prerequisite to cover a
speech by Ban Ki-moon not
inside the UN? Please let
me know."
It is particularly strange
given that in Washington,
at least on October 14,
for nothing but money one
could hear Ban Ki-moon
speak.
NYU's response came from
its director of Media
Relations Christopher
James:
"The
prereq. Is NYPD press
Creds or UN press creds.
Security being what it is,
these are the ONLY
acceptable forms of I.D.
for journalists. If you
are on assignment, please
have you editor email us
to this effect."
That is, yet another prerequisite to hear this sure to be groundbreaking speech by Ban "$100,000" Ki-moon... Other attendees include Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu and Kim Won-soo a/k/a Ban's Brain or now, shaman. To this has the end of the Ban Ki-moon era at the UN sunk.
November 14, 2016
In The Bronx, it seems on November 8 in Assembly District 84, ED 79 (Mott Haven-Port Morris) only 2 votes were cast: 1 for Clinton and 1 for Trump...
November 7, 2016Call it read-lining: Barnes & Noble is closing its store in The Bronx...
October
31, 2016
Gentrification:
"the South
Bronx’s
Melrose/Morrisania
co-ops jumped
17 percent to
$236,000.
Nearby in Mott
Haven/Port
Morris/Hunts
Point,
one-to-three
family home
prices jumped
70 percent to
$520,000." REBNY
report
October
24, 2016
On the killing of Deborah Danner, where is the UN and its human rights Special Rapporteurs?
October
17, 2016
Tour
de Bronx,
October 23: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tour-de-bronx-2016-tickets-26789955478
October
10, 2016
We
agree: "Since
1981, the
Belmont
Library has
sat adjacent
to Arthur
Avenue,
offering key
services to
the vibrant
community
while enjoying
the energy,
uniqueness,
and spirit of
the Bronx's
own Little
Italy," said
New York
Public Library
Chief
Operating
Officer Iris
Weinshall.
"The dedicated
staff at this
branch can
certainly
attest to the
greatness of
this storied
street and the
people that
bring it to
life."
October
3, 2016
Rare
Bronx - UN
connection:
the head of
the Clay
Avenue Tenants
Association is
headed to
Quito
for the
HABITAT
conference. We
hope to have
more on this.
September
26, 2016
South
Bronx
gentrifying http://furmancenter.org/thestoop/entry/new-report-analyzes-new-york-citys-gentrifying-neighborhoods-and-finds-dram
September
19, 2016
While
the UN
General
Assembly
meets, click
here for that,
there's this
(Maduro) in
The Bronx:
Thursday
September 22,
2016
6:00 p.m.
Location:
Latino
Pastoral
Action Center
14 West 170th
Street Bronx
NY, 10452
September
12, 2016
This
footage of
the killing of
Reynaldo
Cuevas is
troubling...
September
5, 2016
Glad
to see LinkNYC
wi-fi coming
into The
Bronx: "The
program has so
far installed
25 kiosks in
The Bronx,
although nine
do not have
wireless
access yet,
and the
borough will
see a total of
more than 700
kiosks
installed over
the next few
years."
August
29, 2016
Old school: "The papers were apparently left by workers at the Langston Hughes Young Explorers Academy, also called PS 236. They are from the 2007-2008 school year, but many contain up to date addresses and phone numbers of students and parents, and potentially embarrassing medical information along with social security numbers."
August
22, 2016
Last
week, Inner
City Press /
Fair Finance
Watch
challenged
People's
United -
Suffolk County
National Bank.
Now:
"Elizabeth
Montgomery, a
People’s
United
spokeswoman,
said the bank
does not
comment on
pending
litigation,
but noted that
it feels
“comfortable”
with its
lending
practices.
“We’re a
highly
regulated
institution
and we’re very
proud of our
history of
residential
lending and
we’re
comfortable
with our
practices,”
she said.
Suffolk did
not return a
call for
comment."
Comfortable?
In the
the New York
City MSA in
2014, the most
recent year
for which Home
Mortgage
Disclosure Act
data is
publicly
available,
People's
United made 82
home purchase
loans to
whites and
NONE to
African
Americans or
Latinos.
That's NONE.
We'll have
more on this.
August
15, 2016
Another
Inner City
Press nominee
for the Bronx
(and Brooklyn
and Queens and
Harlem and
Washington
Heights) Hall
of Shame:
People's
United. ICP
has filed: "
in
the the New
York City MSA
in 2014, the
most recent
year for which
Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act
data is
publicly
available,
People's
United made 82
home purchase
loans to
whites and
NONE to
African
Americans or
Latinos. This
is redlining;
this proposed
acquisition
could not
legitimately
be approved
and People's
United should
be referred
for
prosecution
for redlining
by the
Department of
Justice and
CFPB.
For refinance
loans in the
New York City
MSA in 2013,
People's
United made 24
loans to
whites, 1 to
an African
American and
four to
Hispanics. For
home
improvement
loans in the
New York City
MSA in 2013,
People's
United made
eight loans to
whites, and
NONE to
African
Americans or
Latinos."
August
8, 2016
We
favor
forward-looking
relief - and
standing - in
Trowbridge v.
Cuomo,
16-cv-3455,
about the
unacceptable
delays in
Bronx Criminal
Court...
August
1, 2016
So an 8-story building will replace the church at 1017 Home Street... We remember when they tore down 975-981 Home Street... The History Channel billboard is out, iHeart radio is in. With heart?
July
25, 2016
Gentrification proceeds: Developer Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners has purchased a 16,000-square-foot warehouse at 9 Bruckner Boulevard for $7.5 million and says he intends to create a "Gansevoort Market-style food hall called Bruckner Market." We'll see...
After Press
Is Banned From Covering UN HLPF, Ban
Says That's How Security Works
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 22 -- When Inner
City Press went to cover the UN
conclusion of the High Level Political
Forum on July 20, it was told by a UN
Security official it could only do so
with an escort, or minder, from UN
Media Accreditation. There was no one
in that office - but when the
supervisor of it asked the UN Security
official to let Inner City Press
through the turnstile, he said only if
someone stayed with Inner City Press
the whole time -- that is, a minder.
The supervisor could not. And that was
it: censorship.
On July 22, Inner City Press asked Ban
Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq
why the Press was Banned, Video
here, UN
Transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask a
media access question and it doesn’t
only… it would presumably impact the
majority of journalists being
accredited here. There was a
meeting of the High-Level Political
Forum on the SDGs (Sustainable
Development Goals) on Wednesday and it
was listed in the journal as
concluding at 6:30 to 7:00, so I went
to cover it but was unable to stake it
out and speak to anyone, because there
was no one in MALU (Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit) and
the guards refused to let me through
the turnstile, which I want to clarify
to you… which doesn't work for green
‘P’ passes, which is the majority of
what the journalists have here.
So I wanted to know, it's not a
question of beating up on MALU for not
being present at 6:30, although the
meeting was listed, but what can be
done? What is the policy?
Does this mean the majority of
journalists can't stake out such
meetings, or should there be a policy,
when there is an official meeting at
that level at 6:30 that the
journalists can go through and speak
to diplomats about it?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, we
certainly try to make sure that access
is there for all meeting and MALU
tries… you know, the Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit tries
to be present as much as it can.
Obviously, for later scheduled
meetings, it's hard to have escorts
for all of these, but we have been in
touch with the media accreditation
people and they have assured us of
their constant efforts to try and be
there as escorts for you. And
with that…
ICP Question: Why don’t you tell
security to let people through?
If there is no escort you can't cover
it.
Deputy Spokesman: No. That
is not how security works.
That's not how BAN's security
and minder work...
July
18, 2016
As
YouTube
Hinders
Publication of
UN Q&As,
Censorship
Questions
UNveiled
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
15 -- Like
many
independent
media, Inner
City Press
publishes its
coverage not
only on its
website but on
a number of
third party
platforms like
YouTube,
Twitter,
Scribd and
SoundCloud.
YouTube is
owned by
Google, and
like its
parent allows
publishes to
monetize their
material with
advertisements.
But do YouTube
and Google
behind it
engage in
censorship?
This week, in
the midst of
Inner City
Press' fight
against the
eviction of
its shared
office in the
United Nations
while it is
asking
questions
about the Ng
Lap Seng UN
bribery case
as relates not
only to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon but
also Under
Secretary
General for
Communications
Cristina
Gallach, Inner
City Press
received
emails from
YouTube that
its videos
could no
longer be
monetized.
The emails
said “We
didn't approve
your video(s)
for
monetization
because the
content in
your video(s)
or video
details may
not be
advertiser-friendly....
Controversial
or sensitive
subjects and
events,
including
subjects
related to
war, political
conflicts,
natural
disasters and
tragedies,
even if
graphic
imagery is not
shown... We
depend on our
user community
to flag
inappropriate
videos to us
for our
review.”
But
they are video
of questions
and answers
(sometimes) at
the UN, of
protests in
the streets of
New York, etc.
Inner City
Press has
written, more
than 24 hours
ago, from to
Monetization
then to Press
[at]
YouTube.com:
“The videos
you are saying
are “not
advertiser-friendly”
are videos of
media
questions and
answers with
United Nations
spokespeople
and diplomats.
They are news.
The message
sent yesterday
and today said
“you can
request an
additional
review below”
- this is a
request for
review. Look
at the videos:
they are
Q&As in
the UN Press
Briefing Room.
This is also a
request to be
informed if it
was any
complaint to
YouTube /
Google which
triggered this
denial of
monetization,
and if so if
it came from
the UN or
any[one else.]
I note that
Reuters, got
one of its
anti-Press
emails to the
UN banned from
Google Search
with a
frivolous DMCA
filing: https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/1457339#
now [HRW] https://lumendatabase.org/notices/1457339#
Please confirm
receipt and
review the
above and
restore
monetization,
answering the
question.
Google and
YouTube should
not be
involved in
any form of
censorship,
including the
denial of
monetization
of news
footage.
Here are some
of the video
now denied
monetization:
July
11, 2016
ICP
Asked UN About
Philando
Castile &
Alton
Sterling,
Working Group
Condemns
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 8 --
After the police killings in
the U.S. of Philando
Castile outside St. Paul,
Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, the UN
said nothing. So Inner City
Press on July 7 asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about the killings, and
pattern. And on July 8, more
came from the UN in Geneva.
Here's the July 7
transcript:Video
here, UN
transcript here:
Inner
City Press: a US question.
Over the holiday or in the last
48 hours. two African-Americans
have been, in a very
high-profile way, killed,
Philando Castile in Minnesota
and Alton Sterling in
Louisiana. One was
captured on film, the whole
incident. And I wanted to
know, although these might seem
to be disparate incidents, does
the… what does the
Secretary-General think, if the
United States has enough
protections for particularly
members of minority or other
groups… being shot by the
police?
Spokesman: First of all,
our condolences go to the
families of the victims involved
in both shootings. I think
anybody who’s seen the videos,
they are extremely disturbing,
to say the least, and we would
hope that each of these cases
are investigated thoroughly in
order to find out what happened
and also to establish if there
is, in fact, any pattern.
From
the UN in Geneva on July 8:
Human
rights expert Ricardo A. Sunga
III, who currently Chairs the
United Nations Working Group of
Experts on People of African
Descent, issued the following
statement after this week’s
deaths of Philando Castile in
Minnesota and Alton Sterling in
Louisiana at the hands of the
police, and Thursday’s killing
of five police officers in
downtown Dallas.
“The Working Group is outraged
and strongly condemns the new
police killings of two African-
American men. These killings
which were captured on video
cannot be ignored. We call for
prompt independent
investigations to ensure the
perpetrators are prosecuted and
punished.
We also condemn the attacks on
police officers in Dallas and
call for the perpetrators to be
held accountable.
Excessive use of force by the
police against African Americans
in the United States is a
regular occurrence. African
Americans are reportedly shot at
more than twice the rate of
white people.
The Working Group is monitoring
the situation and has repeatedly
expressed its concern to the
United States Government about
police killings of African
Americans and called for
justice. The Working Group is
convinced that the root of the
problem lies in the lack of
accountability for perpetrators
of such killings despite the
evidence.
The killings also demonstrate a
high level of structural and
institutional racism. The United
States is far from recognizing
the same rights for all its
citizens. Existing measures to
address racist crimes motivated
by prejudice are insufficient
and have failed to stop the
killings.
It is time, now, for the US
Government to strongly assert
that Black lives matter and
prevent any further killings as
a matter of national priority.”
When the US State Department belatedly bragged on July 6 of some victories at the UN Human Rights Council's 32nd session which ended or was suspended on July 1, it did not mention Burundi or Sri Lanka, much less an attack on freedom of expression not only at but by the UN, on which it had done nothing but UN Special Rapporteurs David Kaye and Michel Forst had inquired with the UN.
Of course among the myriad of
issues, victories can be pointed
at. State Department humble-brag
here. But what about
Burundi, on which the US has been
reduced to calling for inclusive
talks, now postponed, while the UN
continues to pay Pierre Nkurunziza
for troops in Central African
Republic who are accused of rape?
On Yemen where the US stood silent
while its partner Saudi Arabia
paid to get its way off the UN's
Children and Armed Conflict
blacklist? Where is the follow
through on Sri Lanka? On freedom
of expression?
July 4,
2016
This, we
like: "July 10
show from
hip-hop
pioneer DJ
Kool Herc at 7
p.m. in
Crotona Park"
June
27, 2016
Pulling
the rug out:
"ABC Carpet
& Home is
closing its
warehouse
outlet in The
Bronx in
September.
70-plus people
will be laid
off and some
lost their
jobs last
week,
according to a
WARN notice
filed with the
NYS Department
of Labor. ABC
said it was no
longer
“strategically
viable” to
operate the
warehouse."
Why not?
June
20, 2016
We urge
investigation
of the attack
on Mohammed
Atique Ashraf
on June
16 on his way
to
the mosque on
McGraw Ave. in
Parkchester...
June
13, 2016
This,
we agree with:
roll
back the rent.
Thursday June 16
