New York City

In Advance Of Frankenstorm Sandy, NYC Suspending All Transit Services At 7:00 PM Sunday

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– In Advance Of Frankenstorm Sandy, NYC Suspending All Transit Services At 7:00 PM Sunday (ZeroHedge, Oct 28, 2012):

It seems like it was only yesterday that the panic ahead of Hurricane Irene, which was a light breeze by the time it hit NYC, was being spread by various government agencies and every possible media. It is deja vu time, and moments ago, in order to be “fully prepared” ahead of Frankenstorm Sandy, NY governor Cuomo just announced that at 7:00 pm tonight, the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, i..e., subways, buses and trains, is suspending all service at 7:00 pm (and 1,100 national guards are being activated). This also means that tomorrow Wall Street will be a complete ghost town as everyone takes a day off, and the algos will be the only ones in charge (more or less as usual).

And an update on what is actually happening from the Wunderground blog:

Sandy’s tropical storm-force winds now extend 450 nautical miles from the center on the northeast side of the hurricane. This is a very, very large storm, and I suspect the #1 spot (Olga of 2001) is in jeopardy, as well.

Read moreIn Advance Of Frankenstorm Sandy, NYC Suspending All Transit Services At 7:00 PM Sunday

Iconic NY Steakhouse ‘Gallagher’s’, Which Survived The Great Depression, Is Closing

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– Iconic NY Steakhouse “Gallagher’s”, Which Survived The Great Depression, Is Closing (ZeroHedge, Oct 25, 2012):

The Department of Labor’s WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) website may have been exempt from layoff notices related to the fiscal cliff, but it still provides a sufficiently (bleak) complete picture about the real nature of layoffs and business cycle in general in America’s busiest city. Which is why it was precisely using the WARN website that we learned that one of New York’s most historic steakhouses, “NY’s Prime Steakhouse since 1927” Gallagher’s, located on 52nd street, and which survive the great depression, is shutting down on January 16. Surely neither the surging price of meat, nor the ability of patrons to spend charge $46.95 for an 18 ounce sirloin, has had any impact on the decision to close this iconic restuarant which survived the Great Depression, but failed to survive Tim Geithner’s “recovery“.

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From WARN:

Date of Notice: 10/23/2012

Read moreIconic NY Steakhouse ‘Gallagher’s’, Which Survived The Great Depression, Is Closing

Mayor Bloomberg’s Soda Ban Will Cause New Yorkers To poison Themselves With More Aspartame

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– Mayor Bloomberg’s soda ban will cause New Yorkers to poison themselves with more aspartame (Natural News, Sep 14, 2012):

Ah, the hilarity of the nanny state knows no bounds, it seems. Especially not in New York City, where Mayor Bloomberg oversaw a large-sized soda ban that just became law. The really hilarious part of the law? It does not apply to aspartame-laced “diet sodas” which, by any honest measure, are far more toxic to your health than regular sodas made with HFCS.

HFCS may cause diabetes and obesity, but aspartame causes neurological damage and early-onset Alzheimer’s. But that’s just what New York needs, it seems: A wave of crabby soda-drinking senior citizens who are half blind and can’t remember where their apartment building is located. (Or has that already happened?)

That the New York city health board actually thinks diet soda is healthier than regular soda is a sad, sad commentary on the state of nutritional ignorance in NYC. So under this nanny state plan, citizens will be pushed to consume more neurotoxic aspartame — gee, what a brilliant plan! Why not ban vitamins, too, and just force everybody to take a daily chemotherapy pill and call it a “public health initiative?”

Read moreMayor Bloomberg’s Soda Ban Will Cause New Yorkers To poison Themselves With More Aspartame

Goldman Sachs To Invest Nearly $10 Million In New York City Jails Program

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– New York tests social impact bond investing with Goldman Sachs (Reuters, Aug 2, 2012):

Goldman Sachs will invest nearly $10 million in a New York City jails program, using an innovative financial instrument in which private investments fund public social services, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Thursday.

Goldman will create one of the nation’s first “social service bonds” to help fund a New York City program that aims to lower the 50 percent recidivism rate among youthful offenders jailed at the Rikers Island correctional facility.

Unlike similar proposals being developed elsewhere, most of Goldman’s ‘Rikers bond’ will be guaranteed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the mayor’s philanthropic group, which will back $7.2 million of the $9.6 million investment the bank plans.

Read moreGoldman Sachs To Invest Nearly $10 Million In New York City Jails Program

Secrets in Plain Sight (Full Video)

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A MUST-WATCH!!!

(Especially for all those sheeple that still believe that there could not possibly exist a conspiracy by a power elite.)

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Source

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YouTube

Synopsis:

Secrets In Plain Sight is an awe inspiring exploration of great art, architecture, and urban design which skillfully unveils an unlikely intersection of geometry, politics, numerical philosophy, religious mysticism, new physics, music, astronomy, and world history.

Exploring key monuments and their positions in Egypt, Stonehenge, Jerusalem, Rome, Paris, London, Edinburgh, Washington DC, New York, and San Francisco brings to light a secret obsession shared by pharaohs, philosophers and kings; templars and freemasons; great artists and architects; popes and presidents, spanning the whole of recorded history up to the present time.

As the series of videos reveals how profound ancient knowledge inherited from Egypt has been encoded in units of measurement, in famous works of art, in the design of major buildings, in the layout of city streets and public spaces, and in the precise placement of obelisks and other important monuments upon the Earth, the viewer is led to perceive an elegant harmonic system linking the human body with the architectural, urban, planetary, solar, and galactic scales.

NY High-End Restaurant Chefs Learn At Japanese Cuisine Workshop How To Prepare … Of All Things … SUSHI, Woorkshop Organizer Chef Daniel Boulud ‘Believes’ Japanese Ingredients Are Safe!

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From the article:

Chef Daniel Boulud “believes that Japanese ingredients are safe“

And obviously there is a big difference between believing and KNOWING.

– Over 30% Of Tested Fukushima Children Have Thyroid Lumps

– Tepco: Fukushima Releases 70 MILLION BEQUERELS PER HOUR, Up 12 Million Bq From December

– Prof. Dr. Chris Busby: ‘You Shouldn’t Go On A Business Trip To Japan’ – ‘Get Out Of Japan’ – ‘Run!’ – ‘I Would Get Out Of Tokyo’ (Video)

Prof. Hayakawa of Gunma University:

‘If you don’t educate yourself now and fast, you’ll die.’

– NY Chefs Learn about Japanese Cuisine, and CM by the Japanese Government Promoting Food in East Japan (EX-SKF, Jan. 27, 2012):

This gotta be the scheme hatched by the Japanese government, to have a sympathetic French chef conduct a workshop in New York.

The Japanese people, like many Asians and for that matter Europeans (and New Yorkers themselves), seem to think everything revolves around New York when it comes to anything American.

Of all things, the workshop was about how to prepare raw fish for sushi…

Anyway, here’s NHK World (1/27/2012):

NY chefs learn about Japanese cuisine

Chefs at high-end restaurants in New York have taken part in a workshop to learn about traditional Japanese cuisine.

New York-based French chef Daniel Boulud organized the workshop. He led a group of chefs last July to cook meals for survivors in the tsunami-ravaged city of Kamaishi.

About 40 chefs took part in Thursday’s workshop.

A sushi chef explained traditional ways to prepare raw fish.

Boulud said Japan is striving to restore trust in food safety, and he believes that Japanese ingredients are safe.

Read moreNY High-End Restaurant Chefs Learn At Japanese Cuisine Workshop How To Prepare … Of All Things … SUSHI, Woorkshop Organizer Chef Daniel Boulud ‘Believes’ Japanese Ingredients Are Safe!

Snowstorm Pelts East Coast, Cuts Power To 2.3 Million – Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy: ‘If You Are Without Power, You Should Expect To Be Without Power For A Prolonged Period Of Time’ – States Of Emergency Declared In New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts And Parts Of New York (Video)

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– Snowstorm pelts East Coast, cuts power to more than 2M (USA Today, Oct. 30, 2011):

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – A snowstorm with a ferocity more familiar in February than October socked the Northeast over the weekend, knocking out power to 2.3 million, snarling air and highway travel and dumping more than 2 feet of snow in a few spots as it slowly moved north out of New England. Officials warned it could be days before many see electricity restored.

The combination of heavy, wet snow, leaf-laden trees and frigid, gusting winds brought down limbs and power lines. At least three deaths were blamed on the weather, and states of emergency were declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.

“If you are without power, you should expect to be without power for a prolonged period of time,” Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Saturday night.

The storm worsened as it moved north, and communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit. Snowfall totals topped 27 inches in Plainfield, and nearby Windsor had gotten 26 inches by early Sunday.

Read moreSnowstorm Pelts East Coast, Cuts Power To 2.3 Million – Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy: ‘If You Are Without Power, You Should Expect To Be Without Power For A Prolonged Period Of Time’ – States Of Emergency Declared In New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts And Parts Of New York (Video)

NYPD Warns Women About Wearing Skirts Over Sex Attacks

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– NYPD Warns Women About Wearing Skirts (NBC New York, Oct. 1, 2011):

Women in a Brooklyn neighborhood on edge over a spate of sex attacks are being told by police that wearing skirts and dresses might not be a good idea.

The surprising message from the NYPD is not being taken well.

“I think that women should be able to wear whatever they want,” said Theresa Troupson, a Park Slope resident. “I don’t think that they should be held responsible in any way for the actions of criminals.”

Lauren, who did not want her last name used, told the the Wall Street Journal that she was walking down the street in shorts and a t-shirt after leaving the gym on Monday when she was stopped by an officer who also stopped two other women in dresses.

Lauren said the officer asked them if they knew what was happening in the area, and asked them if they knew what the suspect looked for.

“He pointed at my outfit and said, ‘Don’t you think your shorts are a little short?'” she told the Journal. “He pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin.”

The officer also told them that “you’re exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting,” according to Lauren.

Read moreNYPD Warns Women About Wearing Skirts Over Sex Attacks

Top 5 Places NOT To Be When The US Dollar Collapses

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– Top 5 Places NOT To Be When The US Dollar Collapses (Don’t Tread On Me, June 23,2011):

The dollar collapse will be the single largest event in human history. This will be the first event that will touch every single living person in the world. All human activity is controlled by money. Our wealth,our work,our food,our government,even our relationships are affected by money. No money in human history has had as much reach in both breadth and depth as the dollar. It is the de facto world currency. All other currency collapses will pale in comparison to this big one. All other currency crises have been regional and there were other currencies for people to grasp on to. This collapse will be global and it will bring down not only the dollar but all other fiat currencies,as they are fundamentally no different. The collapse of currencies will lead to the collapse of ALL paper assets. The repercussions to this will have incredible results worldwide. (Read the Silver Bullet and the Silver Shield to protect yourself from this collapse.)

Thanks to the globalization and the giant vampire squids of the Anglo-American Empire,the dollar is the world’s reserve currency. It supports the global economy in settling foreign trade,most importantly the Petro Dollar trade. This money is recycled through the City of London (not to be confused with London) and New York. This fuels our corporate vampires that acquires and harvests the wealth of the world. The corporate powers suppress REAL assets like natural resources and labor to provide themselves massive profits. This Fascist,Statist,Collectivist model provides the money into the economy to fund an ever increasing federal  government. That government then grows larger and larger enriching its minions with jobs to control their fellow citizens. Finally,to come full circle,the government then controls other nations through the Military Industrial Complex.

This cycle will be cut when the mathematically and inevitable collapse of the dollar occurs. In order for our debt based money to function we MUST increase the debt every year in excess of the debt AND interest accrued the year before or we will enter a deflationary death spiral. When debt is created,money is created. When debt is paid off,money is destroyed. There is never enough to pay off the debt,because there would be not one dollar in existence.

Read moreTop 5 Places NOT To Be When The US Dollar Collapses

Severe Storms And Possible Tornado Heading Towards NEW YORK CITY (05/30/2011)

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Added: 29.05.2011

As of 110am CST a possible tornado listed on titan storm tracking via intellicast.com. heading towards New York City , NY .

http://www.intellicast.com

See also:

Read moreSevere Storms And Possible Tornado Heading Towards NEW YORK CITY (05/30/2011)

New York City Launches Smartphone Application For Free Condoms

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See also:

– And Now: iPhone Confession App – ‘Forgive Me iPhone, For I Have Sinned’

– NSA Turns to Smart Phones For Recruitment

– How Your Smartphone is Keeping Track of You: Apps Secretly Monitor Users

– Big Brother iPhone Patriot App Turns Users Into Government Spies

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Need a condom? There’s an app for that.

The New York City Health Department on Monday unveiled a smartphone application that will help users locate the nearest place in the area giving out free condoms.

“We want New York City to be the safest city in the world to have sex,” said Dr. Monica Sweeney, the city’s assistant health commissioner. “A lot of people come here for that, so we want them to practice safer sex.”

The application, available for download on the iPhone and Android phones, taps into the city’s database of over 1,000 different locations which offer free condoms.

Read moreNew York City Launches Smartphone Application For Free Condoms

IT BEGINS: Bloomberg Unveils His Plans To Slash Benefits, And Raise The Retirement Age From 57 To 65

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New York City’s pension was on track to run out of money in ten years. Thus no one is surprised that Bloomberg has proposed for major reform.

The key changes include raising the retirement age from 57 to 65.

He also wants to up the minimum term of employment from 5 to 10 years.

Additionally he would proscribe practices like adding accumulated overtime to final year pay to boost pension benefits.

The first two changes are constitutionally protected and require support from the state. Normally this would be unlikely, but in 2011 there’s a pension crisis everywhere from Albany to Greece.

Here are the full details from the Mayor’s press office, via the NYT:

CIVILIANS AND TEACHERS

Retirement Age/Vesting

· New Tier: Newly hired civilians and teachers will vest after 10 years of city employment and will be eligible to receive pension checks at age 65.

· Current: Most employees can vest after five years. Retirement ages vary, but are generally age 57 for civilians and as low as 55 for teachers with 27 years’ experience.

Employee Contributions

· New Tier: Civilian employees and teachers will contribute 5 percent of their salary in all years of employment.

Read moreIT BEGINS: Bloomberg Unveils His Plans To Slash Benefits, And Raise The Retirement Age From 57 To 65

New York City Cops Bust Chess Game

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ROOKED: Junior Mendoza says cops only “should have given us a warning.”

Drop that bishop and come out with your hands up!

A squad of cops in bulletproof vests swooped into an upper Manhattan park and charged seven men with the “crime” of playing chess in an area off-limits to adults unaccompanied by kids — even though no youngsters were there.

“Is chess really something that should be considered a threat to the neighborhood?” Inwood resident and mom Joanne Johnson wrote Mayor Bloomberg, the City Council and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly after the raid.

“This incident is an embarrassment to the officers from the 34th Precinct who felt that it was necessary to use their badge and authority to issue such a random summons.”

The knights in Kevlar armor gave all seven suspects desk-appearance tickets.

The chess tables where they were ticketed for “failure to comply with signs” are in a fenced-in area where posted notices read: “Adults allowed in playground areas only when accompanied by a child under the age of 12.”

Police said the rule protects kids from pedophiles or others who might want to harm them.

A police source added, “It’s the broken windows theory . . . small things can turn into bigger things. Some citizens may see it as police harassment, but God forbid something happens to a child, people would be complaining, Why didn’t the police enforce these rules? That’s what they would be griping about.”

Yacahuda “Y.A.” Harrison, 49, one of those chess aficionados, said he saw those signs months ago and “asked the [Parks] ranger if we had permission to be there.”

“The ranger said, ‘Oh no, that’s fine, that’s only written for pedophiles.’ “

Since then, he said, parents have welcomed him and the other players — and even had their kids take chess lessons from them.

“The day we got picked up, there were no kids” in the playground, he said. “They treated us like drug dealers. All we were doing was playing chess.”

Read moreNew York City Cops Bust Chess Game

US Environmental Police

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New York City is getting tough on so called Eco crime.

Every day officers dressed in green uniforms patrol the city to make sure no one is breaking environmental laws. Historically focused on hunting and fishing violations in Upstate New York, the force has been around since 1880. Now they moved to the city, where they patrol the streets armed with guns and handcuffs.


Date: 11th Apr 10

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine depicts the destruction of New York & Wall Street as described in the Book of Revelation

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The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

st-john-the-divine-cathedral

The Symbols

The impressive exterior of the cathedral provokes a humbling sensation at whom gazes at it. But what are you humbling yourself to? We’ll examine the details of the artwork.

The Apocalyptic Pillar

On the western facade of the building, stonemasons have sculpted numerous scenes that seem oddly out of place for a Cathedral. The most striking one is the chilling depiction of the destruction of New York city and its landmarks.

st-john-the-divine-cathedral-the-destruction-of-new-york

(Not only the) Twin towers collapsing.

The scene above was done in 1997, four years before the destruction of the Twin Towers.  Other recognizable skyscrapers are the Chrysler Building and the Citigroup center.

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Apocalyptic New York

The scene above might be unsettling for New York residents. We see the Brooklyn bridge crumbling with cars and buses falling into agitated waters. At the right is the Statue of Liberty, which seems to be sinking in the water. Beneath this horrifying prophecy is the New York Stock Exchange, with people trading goods around it.

st-john-the-divine-cathedral-the-destruction-of-wall-street-nysenyse

So, what is the purpose of this weird carving? Well, the first thing that needs to be mentioned is the actual St. John the Divine is credited for writing the Book of Revelation in the Bible, which describes in symbolic imagery the events of the apocalypse. Occultists believe that the Book of Revelation has been hermetically coded to reveal its true meaning to the initiates of esoteric teachings. This scene, carved on the west entrance of the cathedral, depicts New York as being “Babylon the Great”, the city who gets completely destroyed by the wrath of God. The Book of Revelation mentions:

“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!

She has become a home for demons

and a haunt for every evil spirit,

a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.

For all the nations have drunk

the maddening wine of her adulteries.

The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,

and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”

-Book of Revelation 18

 

The artists might be on to something because there is indeed numerous similarities between the actual New York city and the description of Babylon the Great in the Bible.  The Book of Revelation mentions:

 

  1. A “Great Prostitute” who sits on many waters – peoples, multitudes, nations and languages – holding a golden cup. She rules over the kings of the Earth. = The Statue of Liberty
  2. Merchants of the Earth who grew rich of her “excessive luxuries”, weeping because nobody buys their goods anymore = New York Stock Exchange

“The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn and cry out:

” ‘Woe! Woe, O great city,

dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,

and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!

In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’

– Book of Revelation, 18

 

Knowing that, still today, over 70% of the world’s capital goes through the NYSE, we understand why the building was depicted on the apocalyptic pillar. It represents the “financial” aspect of the Book of Revelation, where it repeatedly refers to rich merchants and trading goods.

So, a landmark of NYC, the St. John the Divine Cathedral, predicts in vivid detail the destruction of its home city. Pretty unusual. Under the rendering of the NYSE, we a skeleton and strange creatures, who seem to represent death and destruction. Is this some sort of prophecy?

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Background and History of the Cathedral

This unfinished building has been claimed as being the world’s largest cathedral. It is realistic to maintain such high aspirations when your sources of funding include tycoons like JP Morgan and prominent figures like the Grand Master of the Masons of the state of New York. The completion of the cathedral was such a prized accomplishment for the Freemasons that it was featured on the front page of “Masonic World” of March 1925.

masonic-world-st-john-the-divine-cathedral

The article states:

“It is particularly fitting that the Masons, who were the principal builders of cathedrals and churches during the greatest cathedral-building period, should now have a prominent part in the movement to build America’s greatest cathedral (…) Little need be added to the story of Freemasonry during the cathedral-building period; its monuments are its best history, alike of its genius, its faith and its symbols.”

The article openly admits that masonic cathedrals represent the best legacy of the Brotherhood and the symbolism is prominently showcased. The masses are however too ignorant to recognize the meanings behind the art, so they just stare at them, thinking “it’s pretty nice”.

illuminati-pyramid-and-all-seeing-eye-on-the-cathedral-02

Illuminati Pyramid and All-Seeing Eye on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

illuminati-pyramid-and-all-seeing-eye-on-the-cathedral

Illuminati Pyramid and All-Seeing Eye

Read moreThe Cathedral of St. John the Divine depicts the destruction of New York & Wall Street as described in the Book of Revelation

$4B shortfall – New York City may cut 23,000 jobs

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Mayor says New York City may need to reduce payroll by 23,000 and increase sales tax to close $4 billion budget gap.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Big Apple will have to tighten its belt as the city that leans heavily on Wall Street’s profits is expected to suffer a dramatic decrease in tax revenues in coming years.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that New York City may have to cut tens of thousands of jobs and it may have to increase the sales tax to make up for the city’s $4 billion budget shortfall in the fiscal year that begins in July.

“We had prepared for a downturn, but I think it’s safe to say nobody prepared for the severity of the downturn that we have been experiencing,” said Bloomberg.

As many as 23,000 city employees might be cut from the city payroll as part of an effort to save roughly $1 billion in expenses, the city said.

The public school system would suffer. If new aid does not come from the state, 14,000 teachers could lose their jobs. Most of the remaining 9,000 positions would be lost through attrition and about 1,000 layoffs.

The tax hikes could raise an estimated $900 million, Bloomberg said, but that may be “nowhere near adequate,” depending on the aid the city gets from the state and federal governments. He said he is hoping to get some concessions from city labor unions and aid from the state and federal governments totaling $2 billion.

Read more$4B shortfall – New York City may cut 23,000 jobs

McCain suggests military-style invasion modeled on the surge to control crime

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Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) spoke to the National Urban League, a group “devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream.” When an audience member asked him how he planned to reduce urban crime, McCain praised Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s efforts in New York Cirty before invoking the military’s tactics in Iraq as the model for crime-fighting:

McCAIN: And some of those tactics – you mention the war in Iraq – are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement, etc, etc.

Listen here:

Now that our military experts advocate approaching the “war on terror” with more policing and intelligence gathering, McCain wants to approach urban policing with more military power. (HT: Political Radar)

Read moreMcCain suggests military-style invasion modeled on the surge to control crime

NYC Is Getting a New High-Tech Defense Perimeter.

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Photo: Vincent Laforet

The Manhattan Project: Current and Future Security Measures for New York’s Financial District

At the southernmost end of Brooklyn, just off Dead Horse Bay, there’s a weather-beaten helipad where the New York Police Department keeps a gray unmarked twin-engine Bell 412 helicopter. Detective Brendan Galligan ushers me aboard. “We don’t really let people see this,” he says.

We climb in behind the pilot and find ourselves facing a console with three screens: One shows a map of the city; another, an interface for checking license plates and addresses; and the third, the view from a gyro-stabilized L-3 Wescam camera attached to the chopper’s nose. The camera can see clear across the city, in both the visible and the infrared slices of the spectrum; then it can broadcast the images to police headquarters using an onboard microwave transmitter.

The helicopter, part of New York City’s antiterror arsenal, takes off and climbs to 1,000 feet in the afternoon sunshine. Passing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Galligan scans for suspicious trucks lingering on approach ramps. Over the Staten Island Ferry, he explains how police routinely use the chopper to look for boats that might be trailing too closely. Then, as we swing past the gaping World Trade Center site, the 22-year veteran adjusts the joystick to turn the camera eastward, filling the third screen with the towers of lower Manhattan: the center of the center of the bull’s-eye.

The New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank, City Hall, four major bridges and tunnels — a bomb at any of these places could kill hundreds, cost the city billions, and rattle the world financial system. Al Qaeda has hit lower Manhattan twice, in 1993 and 2001, and officials say that several other plots have been broken up since.

City agencies have done their best to harden the financial district in the years since 2001. Today, explosives-sniffing dogs and two truckloads of cops wearing military-style body armor and waving M-4 machine guns surround the flag-draped stock exchange. Black metallic barriers rise out of the asphalt, blocking traffic on Wall Street, while concrete planters and strategically parked trucks keep vehicles off Broad Street. Some of the other streets surrounding the exchange have been cut off to pedestrians, and only invited guests are allowed inside. “Closed since 9/11,” the guard tells visitors.

But you can’t block off every street or have a guard by every door. There’s no budget for that, and no one would want to live or work in that kind of armed camp anyway. “You can make a justification for putting bollards in front of every building,” says a former high-ranking NYPD counterterrorism official. “But pretty soon you can’t walk anywhere. People leave.”

So New York has an audacious blueprint to wrap a high tech cloak around lower Manhattan. It will provide the most sophisticated armor of any major urban area in the world — one that relies on brains as much as brawn, on barely visible technology as much as brute stopping power. And the chopper I’m in will be just a small piece of it.

Read moreNYC Is Getting a New High-Tech Defense Perimeter.

Small Bomb Rocks NYC Times Square in Early Morning Hours

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A bomb exploded in New York City’s Times Square early this morning, damaging a military recruiting center. Police are now on the hunt for a man seen on a bike wearing a grey hoodie. While authorities remain on full alert, they insist that there is no imminent threat after the 4 a.m. explosion.

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Read moreSmall Bomb Rocks NYC Times Square in Early Morning Hours