City Of Cambridge, MA Outstanding Employees Awards

[From list of award winners]
Cambridge City Manager Rich Rossi announced the recipients of the 2016 Outstanding City Employee Award on April 22.
The following workers will be honored at a ceremony on Friday, May 6, 9:30 a.m., in the Sullivan Chamber of City Hall:
[. . .]
- Alessandra Albano, executive assistant to the City Council, City Council Office
[. . .]
Gary Littles, laborer in the Streets Cleaning Division, Department of Public Works
[. . .]
- Jason Yee, associate librarian, Library
[. . .]
Rossi will also present an award in honor and memory of Brian Murphy, former assistant city manager for Community Development, to a person who is committed to making government improve the lives of other.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20160426/NEWS/160427069

Cambridge announces 'Outstanding City Employee' recipients
Posted Apr. 26, 2016 at 10:03 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

Five Wrongfully Convicted Of Homicide Awarded $40 million

Eric Glisson, right, with his lawyer Peter Cross

[From article]

Five innocent people who each spent nearly 20 years in the slammer for a murder they didn’t commit are dropping their malicious-prosecution suits in exchange for $40 million, Peter Cross, a lawyer for one of the ex-inmates, said Thursday.
Eric Glisson, Cathy Watkins, Carlos Perez, Devon Ayers and Michael Cosme were found guilty in the 1995 shooting of livery driver Baithe Diop, who was killed in The Bronx amid a rash of 1990s cabby holdups.
While in jail, Glisson learned Diop was actually killed by the Sex Money Murder gang, and he sent a letter with that info to the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office.

http://nypost.com/2016/04/22/five-wrongfully-jailed-murderers-get-40m-payout/

Five wrongfully jailed ‘murderers’ get $40M payout
By Bruce Golding
New York Post
April 22, 2016 | 2:41am

Privileged Harvard Law School Students Protest Award To Dean

"Reclaim Harvard Law spokesperson Alexander J. Clayborne [. . .] protested what [he] said was [the] university’s lack of diverse faculty last fall." Clearly "diverse" is a dog whistle for "black." Diverse includes persons with disabilities. Any of that diversity at the law school? As many if not more Americans have disabilities than there are black Americans. These privileged students demand more privileges revealing their greed, and lack of sensitivity for vulnerable humans, civil rights and equal opportunity for others. Is this what the law school teaches? Or do they bring those traits with them.
"protesters asked why Minow had not yet visited 'Belinda Hall,' the location of their ongoing sit-in." These privileged pampered student protesters are not thankful for their blessings. The Dean could have them forceably removed. But they are pampered and weak. May not survive an encounter with strong opposition.

[From article]
Reclaim Harvard Law spokesperson Alexander J. Clayborne [. . .] protested what [he] said was [the] university’s lack of diverse faculty last fall.
[. . .]
protesters asked why Minow had not yet visited “Belinda Hall,” the location of their ongoing sit-in.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/26/activists-interrupt-minow-brandeis/

Student Activists Protest Award Ceremony for Law School Dean
By CLAIRE E. PARKER,

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
February 26, 2016

Updated (3): Harvard Law School Withdraws Honor To Woman Lawyer Whose Taxpayer Funded Organization Produced Anti Police Video

Posted February 16, 2015 9:18 PM ET; Last updated April 13, 2015 8:38 PM ET


The "Hands Up" music video advocates killing cops, among other despicable acts.

Photo: YouTube

So the lesson is look at what you are endorsing before endorsing it? Is that really necessary for omniscient, morally superior beings? Perhaps the rule should be that ordinary people need to do that, but not superior beings. I mean, like, you know, um, the US Congress did not have to read the awesome health care bill before passing it into settled law. You know what I'm saying?


[From article]
Delivering the Law School Criminal Justice Institute’s inaugural “Trailblazer Lecture” in Wasserstein Hall Friday, Steinberg described her experience during the public scrutiny over the video. According to a New York City investigation, Steinberg did not check the content of the video before allowing two of her employees to appear in it.
[. . .]
While Steinberg said during the lecture Friday that the video at the heart of the controversy was largely misconstrued and its message distorted, she said that if her organization had been given the proper chance, it would have attempted to edit the video.
“Precisely because its message is so vulnerable to misinterpretation, we would have insisted on editing out those portions of the video that threatened even imagined violence against the police,” she said.
[. . .]
“It has only been in the terrifying and wild country of being a target myself that I have understood the depths of client need,” she said. “The paralyzing stress of daily fear and the abject loneliness that comes from being unheard and intentionally misunderstood by those with power above you too interested in using it. It is from this outcast state, my outcast state, that I fully intend to blaze a trail forward.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/4/12/steinberg-addresses-video-controversy/

Steinberg Addresses Video Controversy at Law School
By ANDREW M. DUEHREN ,

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
April 12, 2015

* * *

[From article]
The Harvard Women’s Law Association and the Law and International Development Society also said they were “hopeful that a ny further inquiries in New York will vindicate Ms. Steinberg, in which case we will look forward to considering her for an honor in a future exhibit.”
However, the investigation into the Bronx Defenders has been completed and no further determinations are expected.
Steinberg is currently serving a 60-day suspension imposed after a probe by the city Department of Investigation found she “made misleading statements to city officials” about the Bronx Defenders’ involvement in a video for the rap song “Hands Up.”
[. . .]
Two lawyers from the Bronx Defenders also appeared in a scene that was shot in their taxpayer-funded office. Those lawyers — Ryan Napoli and Kumar Rao — were forced to resign.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/16/harvard-cancels-tribute-to-lawyer-who-lied-about-anti-cop-video/

Harvard cancels tribute to lawyer who lied about anti-cop video
By Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding
New York Post
February 16, 2015 | 4:26pm

* * *

[From article]

The International Women’s Day exhibit at Harvard Law School will no longer honor Robin Steinberg, the executive director of the Bronx Defenders, a non-profit provider of public defense services in New York City. The annual Law School exhibit, which honors women in the legal profession, revoked its invitation to Steinberg following backlash for her link to the controversial YouTube video “Hands Up.”
Steinberg has come under criticism, as the video’s lyrics and images appear to endorse killing white police officers in retaliation for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, unarmed black men who were killed by white police officers this summer. Two lawyers from the Bronx Defenders were featured in the video, and a New York City Investigation revealed that Steinberg did not check the contents of the video before allowing her employees to take part.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/2/17/hls-students-honor-steinberg/

HLS Student Groups Retract Honor from New York Public Defender
By ANDREW M. DUEHREN

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
February 16, 2015UPDATED: February 16, 2015, at 10:50 p.m.

* * *

[From article]
Students at Harvard Law School plan to honor the Bronx public defender who was caught lying about her organization’s role in an outrageous anti-cop rap video, The Post has learned.
Robin Steinberg is among 50 female lawyers and policymakers who will be lauded next month as an “inspiration” to aspiring attorneys at the elite grad school.
Steinberg, executive director of the Bronx Defenders, is serving a 60-day suspension after city investigators determined she tried to cover up her taxpayer-funded group’s role in producing a rap video that showed a uniformed cop with guns pointed at his head.
Two underlings were forced to resign over the “Hands Up” video, first reported by The Post.
Despite her questionable ethics, Steinberg’s picture will hang in a place of honor at Harvard Law’s Wasserstein Hall for two weeks as part of the institution’s International Women’s Day celebration.
She will also be recognized in a March 10 keynote address organized by two student-run groups — the Harvard Women’s Law Association and the Harvard Law and International Development Society.
[. . .]


Robin Steinberg

Photo: Youtube

The Harvard Law website says Steinberg and other honorees were chosen “based on compelling narratives” about how they “strive for impact and excellence in the legal field” and serve as “an inspiration to students, faculty and staff.”
[. . .]
The video shows rappers “Uncle Murda” and “Maino” holding pistols to the head of a white actor playing an NYPD cop and features the lyric, “For Mike Brown and Sean Bell, a cop got to get killed.”
The two Bronx Defenders lawyers who appeared in the video — Ryan Napoli and Kumar Rao — quit after the video came to light.
The Department of Investigation found in a probe that Steinberg “made misleading statements to city officials about the organization’s involvement.”
Steinberg, who went to NYU Law School, was suspended for 60 days and warned that she would be under increased scrutiny for six months when she returns.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/16/harvard-law-to-honor-public-defender-amid-rap-video-scandal/

Harvard Law to honor lawyer who lied about anti-cop video
By Tara Palmeri, Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding
February 16, 2015 | 5:03am

New York Post

Cambridge, MA Church Honors High School Students For Demonstration Promoting Propaganda

In a related story Cambridge, MA students received an award from the Flat Earth Society for protesting the round earth theory. Three autopsies one ordered by Al Sharpton, one by the Justice Department led by Eric "White people are cowards" Holder, all found forensic evidence that the suspect did not have his hands up; that he was attacking the officer; and he tried to get the officer's service weapon. In addition the Grand Jury testimony revealed the same evidence. The Justice Department report by the misguided Attorney General found no evidence of wrongdoing by the officer. Yet a church in Harvard Square gives students an award for promoting lies? What lesson does this teach?  

[From article]
Gashaw, in her comments, spoke of being inspired by the Good Samaritan parable, saying, “I feel it is my duty to do or say something when I see that something is wrong.”

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150320/NEWS/150329614

Cambridge students honored for organizing Hands Up Walk Out protest
Posted Mar. 20, 2015 at 8:06 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

* * *



[From article]
On Dec. 1, 2014, four members of the Congressional Black Caucus repeated the gesture while delivering speeches on the House Floor titled, “Black in America: What Ferguson Says About Where We Are and Where We Need to Go.” Each of the members held up their hands, and the image spread widely online.
Yet the Department of Justice’s March 4, 2015, investigative report on the shooting of Michael Brown found federal investigators could not confirm witness accounts that Brown signaled surrender before being killed execution-style. The department’s descriptions of about 40 witness testimonies show the original claims that Brown had his hands up were not accurate.
[. . .]
Investigators have overwhelmingly rejected witness accounts that Brown had his hands up in a surrender before being shot execution-style. The DOJ has concluded Wilson did not know whether Brown was armed, acted out of self-defense and was justified in killing Brown. The majority of witnesses told federal investigators that the initial claims that Brown’s hands were up were not accurate. “Hands up, don’t shoot” did not happen in Brown’s killing, and it is a characterization that deserves Four Pinocchios. Politicians should step carefully if they try to highlight this expression in the future.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2015/03/19/hands-up-dont-shoot-did-not-happen-in-ferguson/

‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ did not happen in Ferguson
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee

March 19, 2015

US Court Awards $218 million Damages For Palestinian Attacks

Attorney Kent Yalowitz, representing those affected by attacks in Israel in the early 2000s, comments about the conclusion of he case outside a federal courthouse in New York Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. The court found the Palestinian authorities liable in the attacks, with jurors awarding the victims $218.5 million in damages at a civil trial.

(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) (The Associated Press)

[From article]

The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority were the catalysts for a series of terrorist attacks in the early 2000s in Israel that killed or wounded several Americans, a U.S. jury found Monday at a high-stakes civil trial.
In finding the Palestinian authorities liable in the attacks, jurors awarded the victims $218.5 million in damages for the bloodshed. The U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act could allow for that to be tripled.
The case in Manhattan and another in Brooklyn have been viewed as the most notable attempts by American victims of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to use U.S. courts to seek damages that could reach into the billions of dollars.
The PLO and Palestinian Authority had no immediate comment. None of the victims was in the courtroom Monday for the verdict.
In closing arguments, plaintiff attorney Kent Yalowitz had urged the Manhattan jury to order the PLO and Palestinian Authority to pay $350 million for providing material support to terrorists involved in six bombings and shootings from 2002 to 2004.
No amount could make up for the human toll, he said. "But if the only thing you can give them is money, then money has to stand in as compensation for the unspeakable loss," he added.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/23/us-jury-palestinian-authorities-liable-for-israeli-terror-attacks-2185m-in/

US jury: Palestinian authorities liable for Israeli terror attacks, $218.5M in damages awarded
Published February 23, 201

Associated Press

Fox News

Harvard University Honors Eva Longoria

Eva Longoria 

Great individual woman deserving of the award. Her extreme liberalism fits at Harvard University. Eva Longoria is a commencement speaker who will entertain and inspire, instead of the former Governor, lawyer who got rich, and who will bore you.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/2/23/longoria-speaks-cultural-rhythms/

Harvard Foundation Honors Eva Longoria at Cultural Rhythms
By CAROLINA I. PORTELA-BLANCO

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
February 23, 2015

Most Decorated Detective In New York City

Retired Officer Ralph Friedman is the most decorated detective in NYPD history.

Photo: J.C.Rice
[From article]
They watched a group of teens ask a man, Joaquin Castro, 37, for money. Castro turned them down.
“The kid called him a cheap bastard, so [Castro] pulls out a gun and shoots him right in front of us — his chest explodes,” Friedman recalled.
The cops sprinted after Castro along John Street, the killer firing at Friedman as he fled. De Matas tried to outflank him. Castro jumped behind cars and reloaded.
[. . .]
Friedman , now 66, is the most decorated detective in the history of the NYPD.
He has been in 15 gun battles and shot eight perps, including the four he killed. He collected 219 NYPD awards and 36 civilian honors, while piling up more than 2,000 arrests, 105 off duty. He has been stabbed, broke his hand twice, fractured his skull, and was smashed over the head with a tire iron.
[. . .]
“The ’70s were a different animal,” said Friedman, a Bronx-born DeWitt Clinton HS grad and massive bodybuilder who could once bench press 400 pounds. “You had to be combat ready.”
He had no friends or family on the force — his dad was a hotel manager — but when two pals asked if he wanted to take the police test with them, he agreed. After he passed, he ditched his furniture-moving job to join the NYPD in 1968 as a trainee handling calls for the city’s new 911 system.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/15/meet-the-most-decorated-detective-in-nypd-history/

Meet the most decorated detective in NYPD history
New York City
By Brad Hamilton
February 15, 2015 | 10:26am

Stabbing At BET Awards Ceremony, I Dead Nearby

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2674094/1-dead-4-injured-LA-shooting-ahead-awards.html

One person killed, five injured in two separate attacks at BET Awards pre-show parties in LA
A man was killed and four people injured in a shooting at Monalizza Restaurant and Banquet Hall in East Hollywood about 5.15am Sunday
A man in his 20s was stabbed in the stomach at Lure Nightclub in Hollywood about 9pm Saturday
The Saturday night party was hosted by rapper Meek Mill
Both incidents are being investigated and there have been no arrests
BET organizers said the parties were not part of the official events
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 11:44 EST, 29 June 2014 | UPDATED: 15:43 EST, 29 June 2014

Falling Standards For Journalists

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/05/the_downfall_of_american_journalists.html

May 25, 2014
The downfall of American journalists
Thomas Lifson

* * *

http://www.spectator.co.uk/life/status-anxiety/9212681/americans-cant-hack-it/

Chasing Pulitzers has ruined American journalists. That’s why they're edited by Brits
US journalists think they're public servants. We know we're hacks – and we're good at it
24 May 2014
Toby Young

Ayaan Hirsi's Response to Brandeis University Cowardice; What You Can Do

Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) "Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty."

Brandeis University has rescinded its offer of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born activist whose work has focused on the barbaric misogyny rampant in Islamic societies, like the one in which she was raised. Capitulating to a campaign by CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) and voluble student and faculty protests, Brandeis President Frederick Lawrence yesterday withdrew the honor. He has publicly shamed a courageous woman. CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism funding case involving Hamas.
Please read the eloquent and noble response of Ayaan Hirsi Ali below, and then please reach out to the Brandeis administration and express your outrage at this shameful action.

President Fred Lawrence - lawrence@brandeis.edu 781-736-3001

Brandeis University
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02453
Phone (781) 736-2000

Celia D. Harris
Executive Assistant to the President
cdharris@brandeis.edu

James Walsh   
Executive Director of Financial Operations
mlwalsh@brandeis.edu

Chris O'Brien   
Vice President for Financial Affairs and University Treasurer
obrien@brandeis.edu

Merrill Swig
Department Administrator
mswig@brandeis.edu

Elisa Gassel
Assistant Director, Office of Special Events
elisa@brandeis.edu

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s statement:

“Yesterday Brandeis University decided to withdraw an honorary degree they were to confer upon me next month during their Commencement exercises. I wish to dissociate myself from the university’s statement, which implies that I was in any way consulted about this decision. On the contrary, I was completely shocked when President Frederick Lawrence called me—just a few hours before issuing a public statement—to say that such a decision had been made.

“When Brandeis approached me with the offer of an honorary degree, I accepted partly because of the institution’s distinguished history; it was founded in 1948, in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust, as a co-educational, nonsectarian university at a time when many American universities still imposed rigid admission quotas on Jewish students. I assumed that Brandeis intended to honor me for my work as a defender of the rights of women against abuses that are often religious in origin. For over a decade, I have spoken out against such practices as female genital mutilation, so-called ‘honor killings,’ and applications of Sharia Law that justify such forms of domestic abuse as wife beating or child beating. Part of my work has been to question the role of Islam in legitimizing such abhorrent practices. So I was not surprised when my usual critics, notably the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), protested against my being honored in this way.

“What did surprise me was the behavior of Brandeis. Having spent many months planning for me to speak to its students at Commencement, the university yesterday announced that it could not “overlook certain of my past statements,” which it had not previously been aware of. Yet my critics have long specialized in selective quotation – lines from interviews taken out of context – designed to misrepresent me and my work. It is scarcely credible that Brandeis did not know this when they initially offered me the degree.

“What was initially intended as an honor has now devolved into a moment of shaming. Yet the slur on my reputation is not the worst aspect of this episode. More deplorable is that an institution set up on the basis of religious freedom should today so deeply betray its own founding principles. The ‘spirit of free expression’ referred to in the Brandeis statement has been stifled here, as my critics have achieved their objective of preventing me from addressing the graduating Class of 2014. Neither Brandeis nor my critics knew or even inquired as to what I might say. They simply wanted me to be silenced. I regret that very much.

“Not content with a public disavowal, Brandeis has invited me ‘to join us on campus in the future to engage in a dialogue about these important issues.’ Sadly, in words and deeds, the university has already spoken its piece. I have no wish to ‘engage’ in such one-sided dialogue. I can only wish the Class of 2014 the best of luck—and hope that they will go forth to be better advocates for free expression and free thought than their alma mater.

“I take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported me and my work on behalf of oppressed woman and girls everywhere.”

Equality, The Fantasy

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/03/27/are-we-equal-n1548400

Are We Equal?
Walter E. Williams
March 27, 2013
TownHall.com

Lawyer Wins $130 million in Third Medical Malpractice Trial

PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF: Long Island cerebral palsy victim Shannon Reilly received justice after her lawyer, Thomas Moore (top), refused to give up her malpractice fight and won the girl a $130M judgment.



PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF:Long Island cerebral palsy victim Shannon Reilly (at above with mom Danni) received justice after her lawyer, Thomas Moore, refused to give up her malpractice fight and won the girl a $130M judgment.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/this_lawyer_and_got_them_hXtlyh2Gl0sNc0LndjXEuI

This lawyer turned down $8M... and got them $130M
Vindicated by med-malpractice ‘Verdict’
New York Post
By JULIA MARSH and BOB FREDERICKS
Last Updated: 4:58 AM, April 18, 2013
Posted: 1:24 AM, April 18, 2013

News Awards

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/eon1019hs.html

HARRY STEIN
Man Bites Dog, 2012
When mainstream journalists commit actual journalism
19 October 2012

Media Research Center's 2011 Awards

Media Research Center's 2011 Annual Awards

http://www.breitbart.tv/media-research-center-celebrates-bestworst-in-media-bias-the-mrc-gala-awards-2011/

Rewarding Unworthy Others


This applies to many more awards. In the book Ether Day by Julie M. Fenster, she describes how the three men who discovered the use of ether as an anesthetic got no rewards and no awards. Society forgot their great contribution altogether.

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-case-against-awards?page=0,0

The Case Against Awards
Why the wrong person always wins.
Jonathan Chait
October 16, 2009 | 12:00 am

The "Bells" and Politics


John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens),called 'pullets,' and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.

He kept records, and any rooster not performing
went into the soup pot and was replaced.

This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells
and attached them to his roosters.

Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance,
which rooster was performing.

Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report
by just listening to the bells.

John's favourite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen,
but this morning he noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all!

When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, could run for cover.

To John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making.

Who else but a politician could figure out
how to win two of the most highly coveted awards
on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace
and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.

Vote carefully next year,
the bells are not always audible.

Obama Gets More Awards


http://townhall.com/blog/g/f712ef05-9cf9-4c60-9261-6b407ab67e86

This just in ...... More awards announced for President Obama
Posted by: Lee Habib at 12:00 PM
Townhall.com
Oct. 9, 2009 7:43 AM.