As we discussed yesterday, Florida has been running into massive problems in trying to get enough doses of vaccine for all the senior citizens signing up to be inoculated. Far to the north, in New York State, pretty much the opposite problem is being encountered. Large numbers of vials of vaccine from both Pfizer and Moderna have been arriving in the Empire State. The problem is, they aren’t being injected into hopeful patients at anywhere near an acceptable rate. As of the end of the year, 630,000 doses have been received, but barely 200,000 have been administered. This has a lot of people, particularly healthcare workers and nursing home residents, asking what the holdup is and who is actually in charge of this mess.
Tag: new york
12,000 NYC Students Banned From School For Not Consenting To Random Covid Testing
Today in “how far can your rights be infringed upon before people start to push back” news…
About 12,000 New York City students are being prevented from attending in-person learning because their parents “failed to sign consent forms for weekly random testing”, Bloomberg reported last week. The students are part of a larger group of 190,000 pre-school through elementary students who returned to classrooms in December.
While about 60,000 pre-school and kindergarten students are exempt from testing, there are still about 130,000 students who are required to participate in random testing.
Taking the Piss: New York Briefly Bans Diners From Using Restaurant Bathrooms
New York City’s outdoor dining patrons who needed to relieve themselves were left out in the cold briefly by a state policy that forbade them from using a restaurant’s indoor bathroom.
On Thursday, the city, through the Office of the Counsel to the Mayor, issued a guidance FAQ to help restaurants understand Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order shutting down indoor dining in the city this past Monday, as well as guidance from the State Liquor Authority (SLA) interpreting that order.
Among those FAQs was a question asking, “If my SLA-licensed establishment is offering outdoor dining, may I allow customers to use the bathroom inside?” The answer was an emphatic no. “No. Customers may not enter the inside of the establishment for any reason,” reads the document.
The same document also made clear that restaurant staff were not allowed to share meals together. Employees were barred from eating or drinking at bars, in dining rooms, or other areas of their workplace that are used by the public. (Better that they eat their shift meal in a crowded kitchen, I guess.)
This FAQ document and the underlying state guidance sparked fierce criticism from restaurant advocates.
Cuomo signs bill banning sale of Confederate flags
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law aimed at banning the sale of “hate symbols” such as the Confederate flag or the swastika on state property — even while admitting the new edict might clash with the First Amendment and be struck down as unconstitutional.
The new law — effective immediately — prohibits the sale of hate symbols on public grounds including state and local fairs, and also severely limits their display unless deemed relevant to serving an educational or historical purpose.
But Cuomo said the rule likely needs “certain technical changes” so the Empire State doesn’t get caught treading upon free speech protections codified in the Constitution’s First Amendment.
NYC UFO sightings in 2020 are up 283% from 2018
UFO sightings across the city are up 31% from last year — 46, compared with 35 — and an eye-popping 283% from 2018’s measly dozen, according to the National UFO Reporting Center.
Brooklyn is tops in tin-foil hatters, with 12 close encounters. Not far behind are Manhattan with 11 and Queens with 10. Staten Islanders claim just eight — despite the borough’s rep for not social distancing. The Bronx is even more grounded, chalking up a mere five.
Upstate NY Mayor, Fmr Police Chief, Leads Cops on Chase, Throwing Crack From His Car
In a story that sounds like something out of an episode of an Adult Swim cartoon, the Mayor of Massena, NY, and the town’s former police chief was arrested this month after speeding away from police while throwing crack cocaine out of the window of his car.
Timmy J. Currier, the former police chief and current mayor of the village of Massena has announced a leave of absence this month after video showed him getting arrested at gunpoint after leading police on a high speed chase.
Before becoming mayor of Massena, Currier was the city’s top cop. He was the Massena police chief for over two decades — which is likely where he developed his affinity for crack.
According to police, during the chase, this former chief of police and current mayor began throwing crack out of the window to avoid getting caught with it.
The incident began as part of an undercover sting operation in which Currier was a suspect. Officials with the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said detectives and special agents from an undercover operation in association with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security attempted to pull Currier’s vehicle over on suspicion of drug sales and possession on Saturday Dec. 1, at 12:25 p.m.
However, Currier did not stop when police initiated the stop and instead led them on a chase. Detectives said they witnessed Currier throw the crack from his passenger’s side window as he was the only occupant of the vehicle.
When police finally caught up to Currier, the mayor was held at gunpoint and pulled from the car, before being handcuffed and brought to jail. According to Syracuse.com, Currier was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and released to appear at a later date.
Apparently, his two decades as the police chief and his current position as the mayor, has granted him a little privilege among the law enforcement class and he was simply allowed to walk right out of the jail, posting no bail, and facing no other charges despite running from cops.
New York Sends “Mask Squads” To Enforce Social Distancing In Two Counties
In another page right out of the Gestapo playbook, the Health Department of New York state – which is now losing thousands of people every day due to its high taxes, draconian rules and coercive regulations – has put out an urgent appeal for what the NY Post called “Mask squad” staffers to go to Rockland and Orange counties “to perform COVID-19 community outreach and enforce mask and social distancing safety protocols amid fears of a second wave of the virus.”
“The DOH is responsible for community outreach and enforcement of Executive Orders and regulations related to the use of face-coverings/masks and social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the department said in a Monday email to employees in its office of health insurance programs.
“Staff is needed for immediate URGENT deployment to Orange and Rockland counties to assist with this critical public health and community enforcement effort,” the recruitment pitch to staffers in the agency’s office of health insurance programs obtained by the Post said.
Staffers would volunteer to work in Orange and Rockland counties in shifts that run from Saturday, Dec. 5 through Friday, Dec. 11 and consequent weeks through New Year’s Day. Workers who volunteer for the Orange-Rockland mask squad will be eligible for overtime pay.
The two counties, which both have large ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities where some have defied safety protocols, have among the highest coronavirus infection rates in the state. The Middletown area of Orange had an alarming 8.16% COVID-19 infection rate as of Saturday. The city of Newburgh in Orange had a 7.78% infection rate, while the Orange-Monroe County border towns posted a 7.8 percent positivity rate. Rockland County’s infection rate was 5.8%.
NY Assembly Bill A11179
Requires a COVID-19 vaccine to be administered in accordance with the department of health’s COVID-19 vaccination administration program and mandates vaccination in certain situations.
NYC bar owner who defied coronavirus restrictions arrested
An owner of a New York City bar that was providing indoor service in defiance of coronavirus restrictions was arrested after a sting in which plainclothes officers went inside and ordered food and beverages, the city sheriff’s office said.
Protesters shouted as deputies arrested Danny Presti, the co-owner of Mac’s Public House on Staten Island, on Tuesday.
The tavern is in an area designated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as an orange zone because of spiking COVID-19 rates and was not supposed to be serving customers indoors. But the owners had declared the bar an “autonomous zone,” a nod to protesters who claimed control over a Seattle neighborhood in June.
New York City Wants People to Call 911 on Someone Smoking Cannabis
Somebody peacefully getting high without bothering or harming anybody else is listed together with “a disorderly person or small or large group, including protestors, causing a hazardous or dangerous condition right now” and “an emergency situation or condition that might cause danger to life or personal property” as reasons to call 911 instead of the 311 Citizen Service Management System.
According to the Observer, this is “yet another example of how police resources are used—and perhaps misused—in New York City for lack of any better alternatives, as there’s simply no one else to call.”
New York City has long held the unglamorous title as the most inhospitable city in the United States for cannabis users, with possession being most frequent reason why a New Yorker would be arrested.
And while cannabis possession was decriminalized in New York State last August the act of smoking weed is still a crime.
Hellbound and Down 
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