"Forget Ray Kelly, Bill de Blasio is getting his policing advice from the real experts — hardened criminals. A group of 50 ex-cons, junkies and chronic vagrants gathered at a Manhattan “Think Tank” Thursday to describe what they thought the NYPD should be doing to make their lives easier.
The felonious forum outlined a clear “get-soft-on-crime” vision.
“I like the idea of ending stop and frisk. That was the first thing that was totally there for me,” opined Mikell Green-Grand, a 49-year-old former jailbird who has convictions for grand larceny and identity theft.
Arthur Castillo, 38 — who has been convicted for possessing stolen property and assault — said he would be much obliged if the cops just left him alone to do his thing.
“Cops won’t leave us alone!” he said. “Newly released prisoners are watched by the police and a lot of us don’t feel we have an opportunity to readapt to normal life because we are treated as criminals even though we are free.”
The event, which was held in Morningside Heights, was hosted by an advisory group called Talking Transitions, run by liberal billionaire investment magnate George Soros."...
[Ed. note: George Soros Open Society and Rockefeller Brothers Fund often share interests as is the case in Talking Transitions. Actual elected officials are minor figures these days with billionaires like Soros and Rockefeller so influential in government. It follows that voting doesn't matter much anymore either. Soros and Rockefeller groups are active in local, regional, national, and global governance so we don't need to worry about these things].
(contining): "The goal was to offer de Blasio tips on “policing, corrections, parole policies and more.”
Since Talking Transitions is actually advising de Blasio during his preparations for assuming office, the opinions posited by the panel of crooks and deadbeats will be relayed to him and could have real policy effects.
“Bloomberg forgot about all of us. I’m hoping DeBlasio remembers us,” said Gregorio “Koko” Cruz, 63, who was convicted of first degree manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping and criminal possession of a weapon.
“After 12 years of Bloomberg, it’s time for a change,” the thief Green-Grand added.
Castillo, of Bayside, Queens, called for de Blasio to both “redistribute” the wealth and pay what is, in effect, protection money.
“A lot of money is spent on the prison system — it should be used to cultivate prisoners lives,” he opined. “The money should be redistributed to help those who want to change while they are incarcerated.”
Other ex-cons suggested that de Blasio make the city easier for illegal immigrants to find work.
“Currently, our policies with foreigners coming in here is a problem,” said ex-con Michael Francis.
A day before the convicts talked policy uptown, De Blasio toured Talking Transitions SoHo headquarters.
The group says it is “an open conversation about the future of New York City…to help shape the transition to a new mayor.”
De Blasio didn’t appear at the event, but he will be brought up to speed by reps from the organization, who partnered with the The Fortune Society, which helps prisoners transition into the real world after release."
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"Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America," David Callahan, 2010
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11/22/13, "Leave an Idea, Take an Idea," NY Times Editorial Board
"Saturday is the last day for New Yorkers to give Bill de Blasio, the mayor-elect, a piece of their mind under the big white “Talking Transition” tent on Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas. Since the Nov. 5 election, inside that tent, in mobile tents that roamed the boroughs and online at talkingtransitionnyc.com, thousands have offered suggestions on stickers and postcards; sent emails; taped videos; and attended forums on topics like “food justice,” affordable housing and immigrant integration....
Mr. de Blasio had nothing to do with Talking Transition; it’s a private
project of the Open Society Foundations, run by George Soros, and nine
other groups. But he and the leaders of his transition team have dropped
by the tent, and Mr. de Blasio, who could hardly have done otherwise,
welcomed the effort. “They’ll become part of our agenda if we find that
they’re helpful ideas," he said, trying to sound receptive and
noncommittal.
Talking Transition has tried to tap a hunger for civic participation
that many New Yorkers profess to feel. Not that they necessarily act on
it; in a city of more than eight million, only about a million people
voted in the mayoral election, apparently a record low.
Openness and inclusion were central themes of Mr. de Blasio’s campaign,
but since the election his public schedule has been light."
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1/23/12, "George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War," Daily Beast, John Arlidge
"As anger rises, riots on the streets of American cities are inevitable. “Yes, yes, yes,” he says, almost gleefully. The response to the unrest could be more damaging than the violence itself. “It will be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States.”"...
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1/23/12, "George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War," Daily Beast, John Arlidge
"As anger rises, riots on the streets of American cities are inevitable. “Yes, yes, yes,” he says, almost gleefully. The response to the unrest could be more damaging than the violence itself. “It will be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States.”"...
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