Last evening, the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, I found myself at Arlington National Cemetery touring with 8th-graders from Ohio. It was 6pm sharp, we were at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and the changing of the guard was underway. It being the day that it was, a sentinel was in charge rather than a […]

Kathleen Stanley and Cheri Zosh Right on the heels of the settlement in the Hernandez case, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed charges on behalf of Kathleen Stanley and Cheri Zosh, longtime FRD members, against both the Fairfax County, Virginia, Fire and Rescue Department (FRD) and International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2068, the Fairfax County […]

Ted Kaczynski is probably the only person in American who hasn’t seen a video of New Yorker Aaron Schlossberg engaging workers and customers in a diatribe about the speaking of English in the U.S. He chose language as the reason to lay down his gauntlet but that’s just a pretext, a fatuous wedge issue. Listen […]

Old Dog, Old Trick I was online the other night and was served an advertisement for the “IAFF Center of Excellence.” A click on the ad provided “404 error messages” or a block by Google which usually happens when there is a security issue with the site. Either way, not so excellent. I eventually learned […]

Why the Retaliation Finding is So Significant Shortly after filing a complaint alleging a hostile work environment, including sexual harassment, Magaly Hernandez received a written reprimand for workplace violence and unbecoming conduct.  The U.S. Fourth District Court of Appeals referred to the activity giving rise to the reprimand as the “basketball incident” saying, “Hernandez, “was involved […]

Hernandez Settles and Fairfax Pays In January, the U.S. Fourth District Court of Appeals issued a withering and decisive opinion regarding Fairfax County’s appalling handling of the Magaly Hernandez complaint. Hernandez alleged a hostile work environment with sexual harassment and retaliation, the Court agreed that a jury could well conclude the same. From the Fourth […]

Busy Day in Fairfax The news and Facebook, of course, were awash with stories of yesterday’s unusual spate of multiple-alarm fires in the western part of the County, including a couple of rows of town homes, a large apartment building and a bank. Those back porches ablaze are reminiscent of Boston. I left the active […]

“Mr. Kelly has told Mr. Trump it is frustrating for staff members that the president deems most news media stories fake news but believes the ones accusing various advisers of leaking, according to people familiar with the discussions.” (NYT)     Whether you love or hate Donald Trump, that sentence, buried deep in an article, […]

I’m a bit conflicted about this past weekend’s fire on the 50th floor of Trump Tower in New York, especially after hearing that Trump lobbied against the requirement for sprinklers in residential high-rise buildings. Let’s be honest–any building code that doesn’t require sprinklers is job security for firefighters, the public be damned. Trump apparently said […]

Fatal Accident Data Missing On March 9, 2018, DC Fire and EMS Engine 26 was involved in a fatal accident at 12th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE. Now, WJLA reports that the data card for the on-board camera is missing. They say, “Investigators are trying to determine when the camera stopped recording, and how […]