Forty-One Years That’s how long I have been a proud member of the IAFF, I joined in 1976 when I was nineteen-years-old and W.H. “Howie” McClennan was our International President; I met him at one of the first local union meetings I attended. I kept in touch with Howie; he would occasionally call me at […]

Out and About The snow is nearly melted from the other day’s surprise weather and the pace of the guiding season is picking up. To wit, some images from around town. Scaffolding is up at the Jefferson Memorial as they repair (at least) the interior lighting. Generally speaking, the major memorials are in poor condition […]

7th Fleet Mafia The US Justice Department has charged nine more senior Navy officials in the long-running scandal where the Japan-based 7th fleet staff conducted what amounts to a continuing criminal enterprise as they illegally passed information to Leonard Francis, owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA). “Fat Leonard”, as he is known, used the […]

General George Washington on Traitor Benedict Arnold Damn that Arnold, traitor turn-coat, left wife behind too, no worry-we will treat her well–pretty young thing.  SO SAD! Adams to Jefferson on Missing His Inauguration  Tommy, skipping the big “do”, catching early stage to Philly, give Sally a kiss and my best to the kiddies. DRESS WARM! […]

Proposed $370M Cut Donald Trump’s signature campaign promise, a multi-billion dollar wall on the southern border, will apparently be paid for, at least in part, by steep cuts to FEMA. Politico reports the cuts will come from the, “agency’s program for countering violent extremism and preparations for a wide-scale terrorist attack.” The New York Times […]

Never-Ending Afghanistan We may have gone to war in Afghanistan in 2001 to destroy Bin Laden and al Qaeda, but yesterday’s deadly attack on a military hospital in Kabul which killed 30 and wounded 50, was staged by ISIS, our newest enemy there. Our actual “enemy of note” isn’t even ISIS but rather the Taliban, who […]

First Time Ever There are a few people, Kelly Fox, Jim Lee and Kevin O’Connor among them, who were in Harold Schaitberger’s original “Inner Circle” and who recall how he dominated the IAFF in order to win the presidency in 2000. That domination has continued ever since, made much easier once he had control of […]

Gorman Cites Additional Retaliation Peter Gorman, a 34-year FDNY member, former president of local 854 during the 9/11 attacks, and Schaitberger’s chief of staff for seven years, was fired in 2015 after he raised concerns regarding hiring practices at the IAFF. In firing him, Schaitberger said, according to court documents, “That he no longer trusted […]

Sunset, Saturday, March 4, 2017

Into the Trumposphere Just like Haley’s comet, every few decades bigotry reappears here resulting in some group suffering oppression, often violent and obscene. Jews are a perennial favorite but over time Catholics, Mormons, Italians, Irish and others have had their “turn in the barrel.” The bigotry and hate very often comes under the guise of […]