OPEN THREAD: CELEBRATE THE LITTLE THINGS

Yay! That will be very nice.

No gripes from me. How can there be gripes in this nice weather? My only complaint is that I have to go to work.

Before we can celebrate anything, I am afraid that there is a most troubling matter that must be clarified. Does WSR condone, even passively, voter intimidation and the circumvention of the democratic process by the means of harassment, threats or violence? I am afraid that one could form such an impression from a recent statement made by longtime WSR commentator Bruce Bernstein. In a post dated March 14 to the “Trump Anxiety” thread (now relegated to page two), Mr. Bernstein wrote,

there then will be a mass movement of million [sic] in the streets and in the voting booths to deny him [Trump] the Presidency.

( https://www.westsiderag.com/2016/03/04/trump-anxiety-overtakes-uws-therapy-offices#comment-321917 )

Just what did you mean by, “in the streets” (as distinct from the voting booths), Mr. Bernstein? How can that be understood, if not as sanction of mass intimidation of Trump voters and/or Mr. Trump himself, through the threat (if not worse) of violence?

Imagine if someone had made such a statement here about one of the Democrat candidates. Would the reaction not be wildly different? Would the editors of the site remain passive?

That wouldn’t explain why the 199 zone was going to get smaller and not get any more kids from the Amsterdam Houses. I guess you missed that. Ps 199 claimed they couldn’t possibly continue with the current zone.

Jeremy:
You might want to try re-reading my post, carefully. Perhaps then you might see how completely off-the-mark your characterization of it was. To say that I was, “arguing for censorship” is…unseemly. And I was neither promoting nor condemning any specific candidate but raising and speaking-to larger issues and concerns. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that there was no malice or hostility behind your gross mis-reading and mis-characterization of my post.

First, I want to thank you, “West Sider”, for allowing my post here and for responding to it in a civil and substantive manner. Now, to respond to what you wrote.

“Take to the streets” is a common term used to describe protesting outside.

Context is everything. Surely you would agree with that, no?

In the sentence that I quoted, Mr. (Bruce) Bernstein (who shall hereafter in this post be referred-to as “BB”) explicitly spoke of denying the Presidency to a candidate who, by BB’s own acknowledgement, would lawfully be on the ballot.

Here is the quote again (starting from a sentence that I had previously omitted). Note the words that I highlight with bold-text.

“it looks like Trump will get the nomination of a quickly degenerating Republican Party. there then will be a mass movement of million [sic] in the streets and in the voting booths to deny him the Presidency.“

Note that, “in the voting booths“, is explicitly specified separately from, “in the streets“. (Note the word “and”, which I highlighted, between the phrases.) Doesn’t that make the latter, i.e., “in the streets”, imply something other than voting? (At least that is how I parsed the sentence.)

What could that something be? For any candidate who is lawfully on the ballot for any public office, is there any lawful and nonviolent means, other than voting, of denying that office to him? Much less one that could be achieved by “millions in the streets“?

Why not simply speak of a mass movement of millions mobilizing to defeat Trump at the polls? If that is the extent of what is meant by “denying him the Presidency”, why be less-than completely clear about it? Why leave room for ominous inference?

Also consider the difference between “defeat”, the term that I used in my hypothetical example above, and “deny”, the one that was used in the actual statement-in-question. Contrast the respective connotations of each term. (This, of course, is ancillary to the primary problem, which I elucidated above, with the statement as it is worded: the use of the phrase “in the streets”, as separate and distinct from, “in the voting booths”.)

Finally, although completely ancillary and inconsequential to my main concern here, I do feel it appropriate to also call attention to how BB concluded his screed against Trump and the millions of Americans from all races, ethnicities, religions and socio-economic groupings who support him: By branding all those who had posted in the thread that they were among said supporters, “haters and trolls”. (This, after having characterized Mr. Trump as, “someone who uses the most crass forms of political venom”. Full-post at the “Trump Anxiety” thread).

This past Saturday (March 12), I witnessed what looked to me like a brazen act of vandalism at the “Skate Park” in Riverside Park (108th st.; lower-level). This occurred sometime between roughly 3:00 and 3:30 PM, on the western side of the fence that encloses the facility; the side closer to the highway and river.

By all appearances, the skate park was locked. Be that as it may, several boys were unmistakably present within the facility, having obviously managed somehow to gain entry. These youths appeared to be white, in their early teens or thereabouts and were wearing helmets. One of the boys was holding an object that appeared to be a large shovel and repeatedly thrusting it against a portion of the fence, in an apparent attempt to create a breach in it. It looked as if the lad was indeed succeeding in doing just that, though I could not see clearly enough from where I stood. Standing just outside the fence, I could see at least one individual who I am fairly was an adult male. He stood opposite the boy, watching what he was doing and appeared to be guiding and instructing the youth in the apparent act of vandalism.

I walked over to the nearby Peter Jay Sharp Volunteer House, in the hopes of finding someone there whom I could report the incident to. Finding a door on the lower-level of that quaint structure open, I entered. I could hear a voice and followed it, all the way to the uppermost level of the building, where I found a group assembled listening to a man who was speaking. (From the few words I heard, it sounded as if the topic was gardening). I considered interrupting the speaker to tell of what I had just seen but decided not to, fearing it would not be appreciated.

Should I have approached the adult I had seen with the boys at the skate park? How likely is it that he was a volunteer or park worker and that the boys (at least the one yielding the shovel) were engaged in some form of legitimate work that had been approved by the appropriate authorities? How prudent would it have been, from a personal safety perspective, for me, alone, to approach such a group?

In the future, call 911 to report the incident.

Don’t know how to direct this but feel sufficiently wired to comment: This morning at 8 AM on my way to register for a class at Riverbank State Park I waited on my motorized disability scooter for the #M11 bus on Amsterdam and 92nd St. for about 10 minutes. When it came, the driver refused to take me on. His reason: he was crowded. I could see inside. About 8 or 9 children were on the seats, nobody was standing. I said the children could be asked to move until I was on, then they could come back
to one of the seats they had been occupying. He said no, the children had to get to school.

I said it was the law that he had to pick me up and he shook his head no and closed the door on me but sat there, with the children, another five minutes, before he took off, still refusing to listen to me (I was not shouting or being demonstrative). During this time another bus drive from a #7 bus came up to see what the matter was. The first bus driver told her his
ramp wasn’t working – not at all the reason he gave me for refusing me. She had no reason not to believe
him and told me another bus would be along shortly.
I waited another ten minutes for the next #11, with which I had no trouble at all. But a trip that should have taken me about 20 minutes took almost an hour
as I reached the park at 9 AM. And a driver who should have taken me on refused me for no valid reason. That was unconscionable. I don’t know his name but I took down his number: #6678. I hope this
will result in some serious investigation. We have a
right to responsible drivers in the system. This man clearly doesn’t want or need his job.