antoine-roquentin:danny barefoot is an ad consultant for the dem party and for closely associated NG
antoine-roquentin:danny barefoot is an ad consultant for the dem party and for closely associated NGOs. he’s pretty representative of the party structure, which is deeply supported by teachers’ unions, but which also loves to bash them because it plays well among suburbanites. meanwhile, similar behaviour at rikers is causing a humanitarian crisis: They needed 19 correction officers whom they had posted at the Queens criminal courthouse to fill in at the massive jail complex, where staffing was short, slashings and stabbings were up and detainees had gained control over some housing units. It was Columbus Day, a holiday, and the workload at the Queens courthouse was comparatively light.But when the bus to Rikers arrived at the courthouse, many of the guards refused to board it. Instead, according to interviews, they claimed the onset of sudden illness. Seven of them dialed 911, complaining of chest pain, leg injuries, lightheadedness and palpitations. One produced a cane as proof of disability. More than a dozen officers left in ambulances. Rikers remained understaffed.The Columbus Day episode underscores how easy New York City’s leaders have made it for jail guards to sidestep assignments they do not want, even as Rikers Island has been gripped by its worst crisis since it reeled from the crack epidemic in the early ’90s.The powerful correction officers’ union has said that hiring more guards would solve the problems. But records and interviews show that there is no staffing shortage in the jail system. In fact, on days this year when guard posts in volatile Rikers housing units went unfilled, hundreds of other correction officers were stationed elsewhere in less dangerous positions, including as secretaries, laundry room supervisors and even bakers.The groundwork for the violence and disorder on Rikers was laid over the years by successive mayoral administrations, which allowed power to shift to lower-level wardens and the guards’ union and then to incarcerated gang members themselves. As a result, guards have been posted throughout the system in wasteful and capricious ways, generous benefits like sick leave have been abused and detainees have had the run of entire housing areas.this is of course because rikers is, by design, a pretty fucking awful place to work at, and has become worse in the pandemic. the easiest solution would be to redesign classrooms and prisons to maximize ventilation and quality of life for those in them (in both cases, majority POC). it’s instructive to see not only that dems are unwilling to take these measures, but also who dems condemn in public as lazy and shiftless and who they avoid. the new democratic mayor of new york has already bowed to corrections officers’ unions and removed the head of investigations into abuses by prison guards. Pointing to Eric Adams as an example typical of Democrats is pretty off base.It feels like there’s nothing a Democrat can say that would be taken as reflecting actual beliefs. If they play COVID dove, they’re in hock to the teacher’s unions. If they play COVID hawk, it’s because they love selling out teachers to the suburban voters. When we read communications with lenses like that, how can we ever get factual news and so why bother reading? -- source link