Mayor Bloomberg again disrespects federal law: shot down by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, 12/30/10 – don’t the taxpayers fund these frivolous act lawsuits or defense? “New York (AP)” The city’s campaign to scare smokers with grotesque images of decaying teeth or a diseased lung wherever tobacco products are sold was struck down Wednesday [Dec 30, 2010] by a federal judge who concluded that only the federal government can dictate warnings that must accompany the promotion of cigarettes. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff handed a victory to the nation’s three largest tobacco manufacturers and the retailers who sell their products when he ruled on the legality of a 2009 city Board of Health code change requiring the display of smoking cessation signs where tobacco products are sold. “Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law, for our sake as well as theirs,” Rakoff said. He released the written decision just days before an agreement among the parties to delay enforcement of the rule was to expire on Saturday. He said the federal Labeling Act, first enacted in 1965, sought to balance public and commercial interests with a comprehensive federal program to deal with cigarette labeling and advertising. He said it was created in part to prevent “diverse, nonuniform and confusing cigarette labeling and advertising regulations.” Part of the law dictated that no state law could impose a requirement or prohibition with respect to advertising or promotion of cigarettes, he noted. [1] A New York City anti-smoking law that would require convenience stores to show grotesque images of diseased lungs, brain and teeth has been struck down by a federal judge. In handing the victory to tobacco companies, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the city’s Board of Health code requiring the displays was well-intentioned but overstepped its mandate, since only the federal government had the authority to impose conditions on cigarette promotion. “Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law, for our sake as well as theirs,” Rakoff said in his 13-page ruling at Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday. . . .” This is the question of federal law that pre-empts regulation of certain actions. Same as the mpg & emissions are pre-empted. How much money can Bloomberg, the control freak, spend of the taxpayers’ money? Bloomberg wants what he wants when he wants it. Will cabbies and individual medallion owners ever get free of Bloomberg’s draconian rule of NYC taxicabs? Not anytime soon, rumors abound that his deputy mayor Stephen Goldsmith, former mayor of Indianapolis, will run to be election when Bloomberg steps down [it is not clear Bloomberg will step down, but poll predictions will likely decide it, and Goldsmith (a possible puppet of Bloomberg) will take over. Otherwise, what if an outsider gets in? Will that Mayor sign the paper that busts up the limited medallion system in NYC, and the 10% rich who are running the NYC cab business, will be out on their ears? Not likely. Those billionaires have steel teeth.
Metropolis news article last August put city councilors’ salaries at $110,000, with “lulus” adding $10,000 to many of them, for committee work. Yassky must have been very happy with his appointment to TLC commissioner earning $200,000, a lot more than $110,000 or $120,000.
Ms. Posner, it turns out, is mostly full of crap, because she lost herself in faulty mathematics. Ms. Posner said the TLC says 700,000 passengers a day are carried by NYC taxis, she says in a year they carry 25,500,000 passengers. Of course, immediately you see this is wrong. [It think it is more like 1,000,000 a day carried by NYC taxis.] However, IF 1 million passengers a day are carried, that equals 365 million riders a year carried. If you go with the 700,000 figure, then it is .7 of 365 million. Somehow Ms. Posner dropped a zero and got 25,500,000 instead of 255,500,000 riders carried a year. [Ms. Posners comments come from her article in tv.com --taxi & limousine commission full of crap] http://www.tv.com/taxi-and-limousine-commission-full-of-crap/webnews/243975.html
Then from 1996 to present, it is 14 years. Multiply 255,500,000 by fourteen and that is about how many passengers were carried in all those years (accepting if you do the 700,000 a day figure). If you just estimate and say 255 mil times 14 = 3570 million which equals $3.57 billion riders carried since 1996. How many passengers did Ms. Posner say had been carried since 1996, she said “almost 358 million” and only 42 violations for dress code!!!! With the REAL MATH Ms. Posner makes even more than her point, which is WHY TLC fooling around with dress code when out of $3.57 billion riders only 42 violations for dress code found?
A note to Ms. Posner, a cabbies worst fear is a residential or business building right opposite a hotel. The cabbie decides he needs a rest, and wants to wait in line for an airport job — suddenly all the residents across the street, after the cabbie has waited 2 hours for an airport job, go to the TOP of the stand, and ask to be taken 8 blocks. That is why cabbies say, NOT ON DUTY. The hotel line is used as a rest, that is paid for by an airport job, not an 8 block job. If you are across the street from a hotel line, go to the END OF THE LINE and ask if the cabbie who just got there will take you. Maybe, maybe not — may need a bathroom break.
Fed court has shot down Bloomberg re: setting mpg & emissions standards 3 times. Now Bloomberg is planning to go right ahead full steam and set a standard taxi vehicle, chosen by who? Not individual medallion owners, not cabbies, but Bloomberg’s chosen. What makes Bloomberg think he can do this after being told no 3 times by fed court? Likely because in the last NO from the fed appeals court 2nd district, that case deliberation, the judge asked for an amicus curiae brief to be filed in the case from the US Dept of Transportation. This brief said the Dept Trans never intended to set standards for taxis, because they are of a particular use, the brief also had mistakes of fact in it. However, despite the Dept Trans brief saying that, the federal appeals court STILL SAID NO. That only the federal government could set mpg and emission standards. I am sure that Bloomberg read that brief and has mistaken that if he were to establish specifications for the Taxi of Tomorrow, that the federal court would say, well it is a vehicle designed to be suitable for a taxi. But the federal appeals court ALREADY knew the Dept Trans said that, and still said NO. While Bloomberg had wanted to require hybrids in the NYC taxi fleet, whatever the MPG fuel consumption and emissions of ONE TLC Bloombertg-specified taxi vehicle, whether an 8 cylinder, a 6 cylinder, or a 4 cylinder, Bloomberg will still be setting a mpg standard and emission standard, whether small or large. And hasn’t the federal appeals court already said NO TO THAT? I mean the judges could have said, OH, since Dept Trans said that, then I will say YES. Well the federal appeals court 2nd circuit said NO, BLOOMBERG SPECIFIED REQUIRED TAXI VEHICLE
Cut off — to continue: I mean the judges could have said, OH, since Dept Trans said they intended that, then I will say YES> However, we all know the federal appeals court 2nd circuit said NO. And there is no reason to think that after Bloomberg and Yassky get the huge $billion deals arranged and agreed, big money spent, production line created, the federal appeals court 2nd circuit will rule in favor or any differently than before. Except, those who are forced by time to ORDER said TLC specified vehicle, and to boot, no specifications of the vehicle available in detail for prospective buyers, especially the 4500 individual medallion owners. What’s going on? Has Bloomberg lost his mind? Likes to go to federal court? Likes to spend taxpayer money on these hare-brained schemes?
I just read it! In Miami many cabdrivers are homeless and use the cab like home at the airport parking lot. ( It could happen in New York City)
NYC commissioner sends e-mails to help Mosque backers present plans in best light. Dr. Michael Savage, of the Savage Nation, who is a syndicated talk-show host out of California [but was born and reared in NYC, and is usually a republican shill albeit a VERY engaging talker] was it last night? vilified Mayor Bloomberg during his talk show, and described Bloomberg almost as a madman (he used that and similar words). Savage said that Mayor Bloomberg’s commissioner for community and public relations has been sending e-mails to the backer’s of the Ground Zero Mosque instructing them how to present their plans (I guess to the city) in the best lights. Savage said that despite Bloomberg’s position is that he does not discriminate, what is he doing mixing religion and state/city governing? Savage was enraged. I wonder what Savage would think of Bloomberg’s federal court shenanigans with the NYC taxis and the non-smoking billboards? Control freak.
Mayor Bloomberg again disrespects federal law: shot down by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, 12/30/10 – don’t the taxpayers fund these frivolous act lawsuits or defense? “New York (AP)” The city’s campaign to scare smokers with grotesque images of decaying teeth or a diseased lung wherever tobacco products are sold was struck down Wednesday [Dec 30, 2010] by a federal judge who concluded that only the federal government can dictate warnings that must accompany the promotion of cigarettes. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff handed a victory to the nation’s three largest tobacco manufacturers and the retailers who sell their products when he ruled on the legality of a 2009 city Board of Health code change requiring the display of smoking cessation signs where tobacco products are sold. “Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law, for our sake as well as theirs,” Rakoff said. He released the written decision just days before an agreement among the parties to delay enforcement of the rule was to expire on Saturday. He said the federal Labeling Act, first enacted in 1965, sought to balance public and commercial interests with a comprehensive federal program to deal with cigarette labeling and advertising. He said it was created in part to prevent “diverse, nonuniform and confusing cigarette labeling and advertising regulations.” Part of the law dictated that no state law could impose a requirement or prohibition with respect to advertising or promotion of cigarettes, he noted. [1] A New York City anti-smoking law that would require convenience stores to show grotesque images of diseased lungs, brain and teeth has been struck down by a federal judge. In handing the victory to tobacco companies, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the city’s Board of Health code requiring the displays was well-intentioned but overstepped its mandate, since only the federal government had the authority to impose conditions on cigarette promotion. “Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law, for our sake as well as theirs,” Rakoff said in his 13-page ruling at Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday. . . .” This is the question of federal law that pre-empts regulation of certain actions. Same as the mpg & emissions are pre-empted. How much money can Bloomberg, the control freak, spend of the taxpayers’ money? Bloomberg wants what he wants when he wants it. Will cabbies and individual medallion owners ever get free of Bloomberg’s draconian rule of NYC taxicabs? Not anytime soon, rumors abound that his deputy mayor Stephen Goldsmith, former mayor of Indianapolis, will run to be election when Bloomberg steps down [it is not clear Bloomberg will step down, but poll predictions will likely decide it, and Goldsmith (a possible puppet of Bloomberg) will take over. Otherwise, what if an outsider gets in? Will that Mayor sign the paper that busts up the limited medallion system in NYC, and the 10% rich who are running the NYC cab business, will be out on their ears? Not likely. Those billionaires have steel teeth.
Metropolis news article last August put city councilors’ salaries at $110,000, with “lulus” adding $10,000 to many of them, for committee work. Yassky must have been very happy with his appointment to TLC commissioner earning $200,000, a lot more than $110,000 or $120,000.
Ms. Posner, it turns out, is mostly full of crap, because she lost herself in faulty mathematics. Ms. Posner said the TLC says 700,000 passengers a day are carried by NYC taxis, she says in a year they carry 25,500,000 passengers. Of course, immediately you see this is wrong. [It think it is more like 1,000,000 a day carried by NYC taxis.] However, IF 1 million passengers a day are carried, that equals 365 million riders a year carried. If you go with the 700,000 figure, then it is .7 of 365 million. Somehow Ms. Posner dropped a zero and got 25,500,000 instead of 255,500,000 riders carried a year. [Ms. Posners comments come from her article in tv.com --taxi & limousine commission full of crap] http://www.tv.com/taxi-and-limousine-commission-full-of-crap/webnews/243975.html
Then from 1996 to present, it is 14 years. Multiply 255,500,000 by fourteen and that is about how many passengers were carried in all those years (accepting if you do the 700,000 a day figure). If you just estimate and say 255 mil times 14 = 3570 million which equals $3.57 billion riders carried since 1996. How many passengers did Ms. Posner say had been carried since 1996, she said “almost 358 million” and only 42 violations for dress code!!!! With the REAL MATH Ms. Posner makes even more than her point, which is WHY TLC fooling around with dress code when out of $3.57 billion riders only 42 violations for dress code found?
A note to Ms. Posner, a cabbies worst fear is a residential or business building right opposite a hotel. The cabbie decides he needs a rest, and wants to wait in line for an airport job — suddenly all the residents across the street, after the cabbie has waited 2 hours for an airport job, go to the TOP of the stand, and ask to be taken 8 blocks. That is why cabbies say, NOT ON DUTY. The hotel line is used as a rest, that is paid for by an airport job, not an 8 block job. If you are across the street from a hotel line, go to the END OF THE LINE and ask if the cabbie who just got there will take you. Maybe, maybe not — may need a bathroom break.
Fed court has shot down Bloomberg re: setting mpg & emissions standards 3 times. Now Bloomberg is planning to go right ahead full steam and set a standard taxi vehicle, chosen by who? Not individual medallion owners, not cabbies, but Bloomberg’s chosen. What makes Bloomberg think he can do this after being told no 3 times by fed court? Likely because in the last NO from the fed appeals court 2nd district, that case deliberation, the judge asked for an amicus curiae brief to be filed in the case from the US Dept of Transportation. This brief said the Dept Trans never intended to set standards for taxis, because they are of a particular use, the brief also had mistakes of fact in it. However, despite the Dept Trans brief saying that, the federal appeals court STILL SAID NO. That only the federal government could set mpg and emission standards. I am sure that Bloomberg read that brief and has mistaken that if he were to establish specifications for the Taxi of Tomorrow, that the federal court would say, well it is a vehicle designed to be suitable for a taxi. But the federal appeals court ALREADY knew the Dept Trans said that, and still said NO. While Bloomberg had wanted to require hybrids in the NYC taxi fleet, whatever the MPG fuel consumption and emissions of ONE TLC Bloombertg-specified taxi vehicle, whether an 8 cylinder, a 6 cylinder, or a 4 cylinder, Bloomberg will still be setting a mpg standard and emission standard, whether small or large. And hasn’t the federal appeals court already said NO TO THAT? I mean the judges could have said, OH, since Dept Trans said that, then I will say YES. Well the federal appeals court 2nd circuit said NO, BLOOMBERG SPECIFIED REQUIRED TAXI VEHICLE
Cut off — to continue: I mean the judges could have said, OH, since Dept Trans said they intended that, then I will say YES> However, we all know the federal appeals court 2nd circuit said NO. And there is no reason to think that after Bloomberg and Yassky get the huge $billion deals arranged and agreed, big money spent, production line created, the federal appeals court 2nd circuit will rule in favor or any differently than before. Except, those who are forced by time to ORDER said TLC specified vehicle, and to boot, no specifications of the vehicle available in detail for prospective buyers, especially the 4500 individual medallion owners. What’s going on? Has Bloomberg lost his mind? Likes to go to federal court? Likes to spend taxpayer money on these hare-brained schemes?
I just read it! In Miami many cabdrivers are homeless and use the cab like home at the airport parking lot. ( It could happen in New York City)
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/A-Road-to-Nowhere-112614529.html
NYC commissioner sends e-mails to help Mosque backers present plans in best light. Dr. Michael Savage, of the Savage Nation, who is a syndicated talk-show host out of California [but was born and reared in NYC, and is usually a republican shill albeit a VERY engaging talker] was it last night? vilified Mayor Bloomberg during his talk show, and described Bloomberg almost as a madman (he used that and similar words). Savage said that Mayor Bloomberg’s commissioner for community and public relations has been sending e-mails to the backer’s of the Ground Zero Mosque instructing them how to present their plans (I guess to the city) in the best lights. Savage said that despite Bloomberg’s position is that he does not discriminate, what is he doing mixing religion and state/city governing? Savage was enraged. I wonder what Savage would think of Bloomberg’s federal court shenanigans with the NYC taxis and the non-smoking billboards? Control freak.