From: Sarah Hunnewell

I don’t know if you all know this, but the “new” Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill uses vastly more electricity than any other building on the East End of Long Island. 

You all know that it has a vast roof!

Years ago, when we learned of the Parrish’s energy use (based on a meeting with GreenLogic Solar and representatives of the Parrish), and we tried to convince the museum to install solar on that roof but got nowhere because, apparently, the trustees and architect objected to the effect solar panels would have on the building’s aesthetic.

Well, the Parrish now has a new director and we have decided it’s time to try this again.  This time, though, we’d like to have as much community support behind us as possible.  I will send a letter to the new director below, requesting a meeting to discuss the solar possibilities.  Will you agree to be a signatory to this letter?  We would love to gather as many signatures as possible – from museum members and patrons, artists and architects, and community members in general.  (You wouldn’t need to physically sign anything.  I would just add your name to the list.)   Also, if you agree, will you forward this request to everyone you know on the East End who might be sympathetic?

Respond to Sarah Hunnewell <shunnew@gmail.com>

On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 2:20 PM James Ewing <jhewing4@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 2:20 PM James Ewing <jhewing4@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello all. This is a general missive I am forwarding in our efforts requesting the new Parish Art Museum in Southsmpton to install s solar array on their huge southern roofs. Currently they consume @ 2 Megawatts of power which is @ 25% of the total electricity shortfall East of the Hampton Bays Canal– @8 Megawatts shortfall. If interested please consider contacting myself or Sarah H. and simply tell us if you are willing to add your name to our letter below  to the museum. We will include it in our letter.

And please feel free to forward this off to anyone you think might be interested.

We hope for a minimum of 100 signees.

Thanks everyone.

James E

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she nominated Judge Hector LaSalle to become the state’s top judge because he was the right person to “bring a fractured court together.”Credit…Hans Pennink/Associated Press https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/nyregion/hector-lasalle-chief-judge.html

From: Peter Martin <pmartin@communityalternatives.org>

Dear allies,

As many of you know, yesterday Gov. Hochul nominated Justice Hector LaSalle, one of the most conservative judges in New York, to be the state’s next Chief Judge—and the backlash was swift and powerful. In under a day, eight Democratic senators had already announced their public opposition, the AFL-CIO and CWA had put out statements of opposition, and many other organizations did the same, including the Working Families Party.

We have an incredible opportunity to block this awful nomination within the next few days. Please join us in the fight by taking the following actions today:

1. Ask all elected officials and organizations that you have relationships with to put out statements of opposition to LaSalle immediately.
   1. You can scroll CCA’s Twitter feed for statements that have already been released, as examples.
   2. While only state senators will get to vote on the nomination, statements of opposition from other elected officials are also helpful—as are statements by any organizations. 
   3. If you’d like more information on LaSalle’s record, see pages 12-14 of this factsheet.
2. Direct as much outreach as you can today to all senators who have not yet announced public opposition to LaSalle, demanding that they state their opposition—publicly and immediately.
   1. As of right now, the senators who have publicly announced opposition are Rivera, Jackson, May, Salazar, Brouk, Brisport, Hinchey, and Gonzalez. Several other senators have told us privately that they are opposed. We do not doubt their sentiments, but what is needed right now are public commitments that put them on record and help convince others to come forward too.
   2. Every other senator should receive overwhelming outreach ASAP—until they put out a public statement of opposition.
   3. To contact your senator and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, you can use this tool or call/email/tweet at them directly. This tracker document lists phone numbers and Twitter handles, and email addresses are listed at nysenate.gov.
3. Pass along this information and these requests to anyone else who can take these actions and help put out the call to action.

Let me know if you have any questions, and thank you all for all your support in this

Peter F. Martin 

Director of Judicial Accountability | Center for Community Alternatives, Inc.

25 Chapel Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 | communityalternatives.org

pmartin@communityalternatives.org | 917-558-1479 | @peter_f_martin

www.Newhourforwomen.org

Weddings are well-known high-risk events for Covid. Guests schmooze, they laugh (emitting microdroplets), they kiss.. contacts are often prolonged, longer than required for transmission of SARS CoV2 (10 min). The newest Omicron variants are even more infectious than their precursors. With meals pre-wedding, at the wedding, and post-wedding, and guests necessarily unmasked, the risk is obvious. Add singing in a church or otherwise…more microdroplets.

No wonder weddings have been canceled at high rates during the pandemic. But they are coming back. As a younger relative explained to me, the best remedy was alcohol, especially Scottish Whiskey! Yes you guessed right, I attended the wedding of my nephew in Edinburgh. In a Scottish castle!

We tested for Covid by PCR prior to getting on the flights from the US and from other European countries. All were negative. Then there were daily parties: (1) an indoor cocktail party to introduce the families, no masks, (2) a romantic outdoor party around a bonfire, no masks, (3) a formal dinner at the castle, hosted by the grooms family, no masks, (4) the chapel service, the wedding dinner, and dance party, no masks, and (5) post-wedding brunch and parties, no masks.

The first of us with symptoms, including high fever, became sick the night of the wedding. In rapid succession 4 others became sick. 4/5 had sat and dined at the same table, not once but twice! One had shared the backseat of a car for 45 min while on our way to a hiking destination.

While it seemed pretty clear how the virus had spread within the wedding party, no one knew where it had come from. The overnight Delta flight from New York to Edinburgh? Any of the numerous persons serving and preparing for the wedding events? The possibilities and wild theories abounded!

Of course, we went into quarantine (5 days minimum). Thank you so much to my brother and sister-in-law for hosting us! Their home became a Covid sick ward. Flights were canceled and rebooked at considerable costs. Job-related meetings were canceled. Etc.

In hindsight, I ask, what would I do differently?

1. MASK, MASK, MASK
2. Avoid in-flight meals
3. Avoid all indoor wedding events or at least attend heavily MASKED – no indoor dining events…. that is a hard one to impose on the wedding couple.

PS1: this was my 2nd bout with Covid and far worse than the first one. Like all of us who got this virus in Scotland, I was fully vaccinated and boosted although not yet with the latest Omicron vaccine which we could not get scheduled in time for the wedding.

PS2: on our way home via Toronto on West Jet, a Canadian company, the attendant happily announced that Canada was canceling their on-flight compulsory MASK policy as of Nov 1, 2022. The cabin erupted in applause. I am genuinely nervous about the upcoming winter season for Flu and Covid.

Forwarded from Gerri Maslanka:

If you have 31 minutes (and you missed Simon Rosenberg’s talk on why Democrats can win in November) watch this. VERY encouraging, informative and exciting. Really.

Gerri 🇺🇸

Don’t miss this! David

Follow Simon Rosenberg on Twitter:

New York Libertarian Party contests signatures were duplicates and photocopies

Joshua SolomonJuly 14, 2022 in the TIMES UNION. Submitted by Gerri Maslanka (Sag Harbor)

ALBANY — U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, is unlikely to run on the Independence Party line after the state Board of Elections invalidated nearly 13,000 signatures that were included in his petitions. 

Zeldin’s campaign operation had submitted about 52,000 signatures, well above the 45,000 needed to get his name on the third party line, but the disqualified signatures left him well short following the board’s ruling. The filing period ended May 31. 

Zeldin’s petitions were challenged by officials with the New York Libertarian Party, who not only contested the signatures were invalid but also noted that about 11,000 of them were photocopied duplicates.

“Republicans talk a lot about election integrity, but the Zeldin campaign attempted to fly under the radar and submit over 11,000 fraudulent signatures in an attempt to get a third line on the ballot,” Andrew Kolstee, secretary of the Libertarian Party, said in a news release Thursday. 

Kolstee, who was the objector to the signatures, claimed that the Libertarian Party officials and the campaign of Diane Sare for U.S. Senate found 900 sheets with 11,000 signatures that were photocopies of the original sheets filed by the campaign.

The Board of Elections does not make determinations on fraud related to petition signatures. The issue is pending in court. A spokeswoman for the board said it does not comment on pending litigation. 

A judge could potentially overrule the board’s decision, which would leave Zeldin with an outside shot of still appearing on the Independence Party line. 

The board ruled Tuesday that 12,868 signatures were invalid, leaving Zeldin with 39,228. 

Prior to changes pushed by then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2019 that made it more difficult to get onto a statewide ballot for a third party, it was 5,000 signatures needed every four years. 

Zeldin’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

On Zeldin’s campaign website, it requests people join “Team Zeldin’s Election Integrity Task Force.” 

“Our team will be working around the clock now and into November to ensure we have fair elections, but we can’t do it alone,” the campaign’s website states. 

In December 2020, Zeldin tweeted that “ballot integrity always matters regardless of the circumstances and regardless of whether the issue impacts one vote or thousands.” He recommended a series of changes, including “signature verification with campaigns able to participate.” His comments came as then-President Donald J. Trump was contesting the results of the election. Zeldin subsequently voted against certifying the results of the presidential election. 

Following a recent decision out of a lower court in New York on whether to allow non-citizens the ability to vote in New York City elections, Zeldin issued a statement through his campaign stating that “one person, one vote belongs to U.S. citizens, and no one else!” 

“I’m honored to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the leaders across our state who stood up for election integrity and the rule of law to put an end to it,” Zeldin said last month. 

Zeldin is set to face Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Democratic nominee, in the general election on Nov. 8. Zeldin is to appear on the lines of the Republican and Conservative parties while Hochul is set to appear on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines. 

“Zeldin submitting 11,000 fake signatures just emphasizes his hypocrisy and proves he is willing to sell New Yorkers another ‘big lie’ to benefit his failing campaign,” state Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said in a statement. He noted to Zeldin’s backing of Trump’s election fraud concerns in the 2020 presidential election. 

Other candidates who were also invalidated that sought to run on the Independence Party line by the board were Zeldin’s running mate, Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Alison Esposito, as well as the Republican candidates for comptroller, Paul Rodriguez, attorney general, Michael Henry, and U.S. Senate, Joe Pinon.

Comments on Twitter (please retweet and “like”):

And then there is this regarding the victims within the Capitol Police force:

For Zeldin to claim he is a military man is worse than shameless. It is shmegegge. (Yiddish) baloney; hot air; nonsense.

Here is an action for you: “like” and “retweet” here

The Sedition Caucus includes Lee Zeldin.

Six Congressmen That Have Failed to Cooperate with the January 6th Committee Have Received Over $826K In Corporate Donations 

Washington, D.C. — Ahead of the January 6th Committee’s first public hearing, watchdog Accountable US released a new analysis finding Fortune 500 companies and corporate trade associations given over $1.4 million in April alone to the members of Congress that voted against certifying the 2020 election in the aftermath of the January 6th insurrection. Contributing companies include UPS, FedEx, Visa, Home Depot, GM, and Exxonmobil. Since the violent coup attempt, total donations from corporate interests now stand at over $16 million to the group that has been called the ‘Sedition Caucus’. 

Full list of companies here: