What is going on with these rail incidents?

This month, there has been an abundance of incidents involving subways and commuter railroads, in and out of the NYC Metropolitan area - - from the idiot woman trying to be a stuntwoman with her SUV on the Brighton Line on March 19th.  Less than 12 hours later, a cement truck driver strikes the elevated 1 line at Broadway and West 133rd Street, bending the el tracks and forcing southbound 1 line trains to run express from 137th Street to 96th Street (after it was briefly shutdown in this area)e shutdown between Dyckman and 96th Street stations for nearly 24 hours.  Last week in Chicago, a CTA Blue Line train jumped the bumper block and landed on the escalators at O'Hare terminal injuring at least 30 people.   

Despite the recent rash of rail incidents, public transportation is the safest way to travel.

The Patriot - - a Facebook page filled with racism, terrorism and hate

The U.S. Patriot is a ultra right-wing, anti-Obama, conservative page I follow on Facebook - - it's not a page I personally endorse or "like" but I use the like button to see about the comments posted on their page.  Most of the Patriot's post are against President Obama, his First Lady Michelle Obama and the Democrats as a whole.   Some other Patriot posts are about radical Muslims and terrorism.  While there is a true hatred against Obama by most of the people who post comments on the Patriot's post, there are some disturbing comments which are considered to be racist, and even a death wish on Obama.   Among the comments are:

"Well then, if Manhattan gets nuked, we know which muslim did it." - Edward Hove

"Commit suicide!" - Susan Benakova

"Die" - Donald Vaughan

"Take Potassium Chloride cyanide now please"  - Shaun Patrick Mcintosh

"I just read the book  'Killing Kennedy' I can hardly wait to read a book about you !!  'Killing Obama' - Norma Murdock

"That it is time for him to DIE" - Dave Hemmerle

Murder of the U.S. President or any elected official is a capital offense - and considered terrorism.   That's all I have to say.

Scandal S3 E13 "No Sun On the Horizon

 I know it's almost a week since I last week's Scandal aired, last episode ended with a BANG . . .literally.  Jake Ballard comes out of nowhere and shoots Vanessa then points the gun at James Novak (poor Cyrus) and David Rosen, two people who were setup in on-street "meeting" they never called in the first place with one shot and plenty of guessing #WhoGotShot.  As for the events leading up to the final confrontation and the mystery surrounding Jake's actions, we start with President Fitzgerald Grant taping a mock debate, in preparation for his Presidential debate with Sally.  James' hubby, Cyrus lets Olivia know that he covered up Sally's murder of Daniel while going all out crazy - calling Reston, Sally and his boss, Fitz, "murderers".  But Cyrus asks Jake to kill Sally, which he declines - go figure.     During the Presidential debate, Sally is about to make her confession to the killing while Tom (who is B-613, I have lost track - LOL) is ready to take out Sally with a sniper bullet.  But the shot apparently never went off as Fitz changes the subject around and the debate rages on.  Fitz "makes up" for lost time with Liv at the Oval Office.  Cyrus finds out that James planted a bug in his office and shows it to hubby - - James apologizes and tells Cyrus that David called a meeting with him.  But when James and David meet, David never called the meeting and neither did James.  They found out it was setup by Jake and that when the BANG happened. 

Full recap from opening bell to the "shot heard round the world" on the ABC website. 

Kitty Genovese: 50 years ago today

Today is the 50 anniversary of one of New York City most infamous and brutal crimes in recorded history, the "Kitty" Genovese killing.  The murder sparked a serious controversy about apathy and indifference among eyewitnesses to this killing which still radiates today with the advent of Instagram and You Tube when a Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) bus operator was attacked by a passenger while other passengers on the bus took pictures of the bleeding victim. 

On March 13, 1964, Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese was closing her Hollis, Queens bar for the night and drove to her apartment in 80-20 Austin Street in Kew Gardens.  Ms. Genovese parked her car at the Long Island Railroad parking lot across from her apartment building when she was stalked by Winston Mosley.  Ms. Genovese ran across Lefferts Blvd when she was stabbed twice by Moseley, as she started to scream for help.  Moseley returned at least one time to rape and stab Genovese in an area away from view of witnesses - it took nearly 30 minutes of the stabbing and rape before Moseley was finished with Genovese.  During the attack, there were up to 38 witnesses who saw or heard Genovese's screams for help but did nothing to call police.    By the time someone called police, one of Genovese's neighbors who went outside to help her, it was nearly an hour after the initial attack before police showed up.  Ms. Genovese died from multiple stab wounds while enroute to a hospital in an ambulance.  Media reports on the Kitty Genovese murder highlighted bystander's indifference to what society should do, the "It's not my problem" or "I don't want t get involved" attitude.  Criminologists use this case to highlight apathy and the effect on reporting crime.  The aftermath of the Kitty Genovese case brought reforms in how citizens report crimes in progress to the police and the urgency in responding to the crime scene, Moseley was caught almost week later on a burglary charge and is still serving life in prison, in addition to two 15 year terms stemming from his escape and recapture during transport to jail. 


I wonder 50 years later if the same crime happened today (of course, by God I hope not), would people use their cell phones and take pictures or videos of the attack then post them on Instagram or Facebook?  Would they bother to call police or do nothing but take pictures like the recent bus operator attack in Nassau County?  Would people help or just ignore their neighbors? 

ermergencies should be handled

MTA Bus Time arrives in Brooklyn and Queens

MTA Bus Time arrived last weekend in the final two boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, making it now all 5 boroughs where you can now track your route and bus through various online channels (web, text, QR Code scanning at bus stops, and a dozen good apps for your iPhone or Android device).   The MTA Bus Time application is a user friendly interface where people are no longer need to stand in the elements, waiting for their bus to arrive.  However, I and a few other eagle eyed busfans noticed a few hiccups in the Queens routes.  One of them were the bus stops on the Green Acres bound Q5 and Q85 routes which I noted in Buschat -  they have stop locations where stores went out of business a decade ago.  Pictured below is a snapshot of the Q5 route, notice on the stops along Sunrise Highway and Green Acres show "Caldor" (gasp!) "Woolworths" and "Sterns".  Woolworth's was gone by 1997, Caldor went belly up in 1999, and Sterns closed in 2001.

 

 

Two people on Buschat reported that many buses are not equipped with the GPS modules and therefore cannot be tracked on Bustime.   And another Buschatter noted that the Sunrise Multiplex bus stop was removed.   Hopefully, NYC Transit will correct these issues, because these are serious problems which need to be addressed.  Given NYC Transit's poor track record in correcting mistakes, we could see these old bus stop names for the next 20 years. 

FOX releases newest 24:Live Another Day YouTube video

This morning, Fox released a new 24:Live Another Day TV promo showing more information about the return of this great series.  We know that Jack Bauer, the man who saved the world 8 times in 96 hours, is still a fugitive hiding in London when he finds out the U.S. President is also visiting London to speak with the Prime Minister.  Jack also finds out that terrorists are planning (yet another) assassination attempt on the President (this story was also in Season 1 when President Palmer was targeted by more than one assassin). We also see a quick shot of one of the London Underground's rail lines.  Whether this will be good for the series return or rehashing an old plot from Season 1 remains to be seen - I will still be watching it anyway.  24 returns on Cinco de Mayo - May 5th. 

Scandal S3 E12 "We Do Not Touch The First Ladies"

Scandal continues to defy the way you watch TV with characters blackmailing and eavesdropping each other. Thursday's episode is no exception with the highlight that Jake's love interest to his "imaginary girlfriend", Olivia Pope, fizzles when his B613 credentials discover on hidden camera that she may not have any feelings for him. President Fitz asked Liv in the Oval Office if she had feelings for Jake and she replied "Honestly, I don't know". The conversation between Fitz and Pope was already recorded and delivered in a flash drive to Jake for him to see. In other developments, Andrew, the CA governor inside the White House has a dirty secret for President Fitz and his election team - he used Oxycotin painkillers while at the governor's mansion and a reporter is going to leak this dirty baggage to the public. Adnan blackmails Harrison by giving him a suitcase filled with dirty money as payback for Olivia by telling Harrison about Oliva's secret. Charlie is doing surveillance work on Olivia and Rowan at a local restaurant, whom he is being watched by Quinn. Charlie drives off but Quinn is busted by Olivia, however Quinn shows Olivia a gun and warns her to back off. Now as for Publis, a secret character that has ties to B613, we find out that Cyrus is Publis and is about to get his cover blown. So David Rosen agrees to pose as Publis but he eventually gets kidnapped and tossed into a car by Huck and Abby (David calls Abby that he is kidnapped and loves her but is shocked when she was behind the setup when the car trunk door opens.). At the end of this episode, we now learn that Adnan's plans to infiltrate the White House and Fitz now involve an important figure we haven't seen last week - - Olivia's mom, Maya. Here is the full recap from the official Scandal page on the ABC website Whew!

New on Netflix for March

I am a Netflix watcher - I love watching unlimited moves and TV shows for only $7.99 a month. Netflix has new offerings available for streaming, including the following: Silence of the Lambs (my favorite horror/suspense film), Capote (2005), The Blair Witch Project, Paul Newman in The Long Hot Summer, and the original Dirty Dancing with the late Patrick Swayze. Here's the CNN news story link for the inside scoop on Netflix's new goods. Binge away. :-)

Hello everyone

After 4 years (don't ask why so long) , I have now decided to start Blogging.  You can read my posts under wakefieldbxdave@blogspot.com.   I will be talking politics, the NYC Subway, maybe the day's news events in New York and around the world....and definitely a Scandal or 24 recap or two.  So, sit back and enjoy the ride, I will post once or twice a week.