Paladino on Shredd & Ragan

Buffalo School Board member Carl Paladino’s batting average on local radio programs is in the toilet.

First, Sandy Beach embarrassed him with respect to Paladino’s misguided support of racist joke Joe Mascia. Shredd and Ragan spoke with me about it on July 31st.

On Wednesday morning, Paladino called in to the Shredd & Ragan show around 9:30 am and Tom Ragan did a great job. The topic was Paladino’s behavior on the school board, which has been combative, uncompromising, and characteristically obnoxious. Paladino is proud of that noxious behavior, and thinks he’s accomplishing something, and Ragan explained to him why that wasn’t so.

On at least a few occasions, Paladino referred to “the blacks”, “them”, and “they”, clearly delineating race as the dividing line between him and his enemies on the board, when that’s not remotely necessary. Paladino made it as crystal clear as could be that his goal is the complete dismantling of not only the public teachers’ union, but of public education in Buffalo as it exists today. He wants to replace everything with charter schools or vouchers because Nichols costs less per pupil than BPS, and also arglebargle.

Paladino demands that his hand-picked superintendent candidate – Kevin Eberle – be selected as deputy if Kriner Cash is hired for the top job. Ragan rightly pointed out what a set-up that is; if Cash does something Carl doesn’t like, or acts too slowly for Carl’s liking, he’ll just shoot off an email blast demanding his resignation. Ragan implored Paladino to at least give Cash a month. Astonishingly, Paladino treated this like some sort of conspiracy theory, rather than an accurate recitation of a particular M.O.

Ragan asked Paladino to cut it out calling people “blacks”, and Paladino essentially refused, accusing Ragan of being one of those “liberal” “socialists” who scream “racism” all the time, and then telling Ragan that he’d send him “some stuff”.

Listen to the whole thing – it’s an eye-opener. Imagine the Buffalo News comments section coming to life and its very essence being embodied by one wealthy and influential man who now presides over the calculated, planned destruction of a public school system.

I think the whole area has gone mad.

Paladino Beached

carlsandy

I never thought I’d be praising WBEN’s Sandy Beach for aggressively taking on dumb people and racism, but this Joe Mascia thing seems to have brought out the best in him. Late last week, Beach eviscerated Mascia himself, who called in as part of his fauxpology tour. On Wednesday night, however, Carl “Damn Asians” Paladino expressed his continuing support for the deadbeat Mascia, and Beach took that up as his topic on Thursday. Indeed, I saw a lot of Carl cultists expressing dismay and disbelief over that decision.

The list of people defending Mascia is small and malevolent.

Paladino called in sometime just before lunchtime Thursday and it was a simply jaw-dropping call. It left Paladino hanging up sounding defeated. Here is the audio:

I also live-Tweeted it:

I heard David Bellavia bring up the topic generally, pivoting it into a discussion about a typical WBEN trope – political correctness run amok. It’s the excuse Carl tried to use, and it’s weak.

It’s weak because nine times out of ten, the people whining about being victims of “political correctness” are defending themselves for having behaved like assholes. I posited it this way for Bellavia: there’s a fine line between “political correctness run amok” and common human decency. One example I heard on the afternoon drive was about how Seinfeld can’t perform at colleges because these kids are so PC, and a caller called these people “weak”. No. The difference is that the younger generation doesn’t want to be treated like shit by some asshole.

That right there is, to me, the central theme of the anti-PC whinging – it’s people defending their right to be complete assholes to other people. We see it, for instance, in Lancaster with the “Redskins” controversy. Calling your team a racist epithet may have been just swell, or the bee’s knees 70 years ago, but we’ve evolved as a society to the point where it’s not ok to denigrate American Indians, or to treat them as less than people. We’ve grown to the point (or, at least, we’re trying) where we acknowledge their basic humanity. The people whining about how the effort to change the name to the “Legends” is PC run amok are merely fighting for their ability to continue to be assholes about Native American people.

Coming back to l’affaire Mascia, Carl Paladino whining like a baby to Sandy Beach about “political correct liberals” is shorthand for his true intent, which is to defend and excuse Joe Mascia’s asshole behavior.

Is it PC to complain or condemn someone calling an Italian a “wop”, a Jewish person a “kike”, a Black person a “nigger”? Well, I suppose it is, within the dictionary definition – the use of those epithets is improper, inappropriate, and disqualifies anyone from running for public office. If you willingly use words that dehumanize an entire group of people, you are not fit to serve anyone. But is it unreasonable political correctness? Absolutely not – again, condemnation of someone using racial epithets, or someone who deliberately picks on an entire race of people to make a falsely and inaccurately lie about how they are subsidized by taxpayers or steal college slots from American kids, that’s you being an asshole, and people are right to condemn you for being an asshole. If your defense is, “you’re PC!” rather than, “sorry I lied and picked on an entire race of people who look different than I”, then you’re just an old joke of a fossil.

Carl Paladino and Joe Mascia may have grown up in old Italian families, but just because your forefathers might have called black people “tizzun” or “nigger” doesn’t give you some special license to continue the practice. That, after all, was Paladino’s best defense. It was laughable, and frankly raises the question of whether he uses that word himself, coming from a similar background. The outrageous logic – Paladino said what Mascia did was ok because he was only calling individual black people “nigger”, not the whole race. It was likely the stupidest thing I heard in a week of unrelenting stupidity.

Mascia and Paladino: BFFs

Courtesy of Tommunist.com

Courtesy of Tommunist.com

On Twitter, someone commented that Mascia must have, “missed the thing about integrity is what you do in private.”

Generally speaking, you can get away with saying you’re not racist so long as you’re not, I dunno, caught on tape calling black political leaders “fucking nigger” multiple times, “camel jockey” once, and “tizzun” once. Rod Watson’s column in the Buffalo News, however, posits a very important question about racism and the perception of racism.

On the one hand, Mascia has spent time fighting for BMHA tenants of all races, but is caught on tape blurting out horrible racist things. On the other hand you have Carl Paladino, who has forwarded emails just as racist and disgusting, and who has used subtle codes to express his feelings about people not like he, but

One’s racial slur draws immediate condemnation and calls for his political exile, from both black and white members of the political establishment, as well as other members of his own board. The other’s racist rants and forwarding of emails depicting the black president and first lady in despicable terms drew silence from those same elected officials.

Watson concludes that it’s easy to condemn Mascia because he’s a nobody; a little-known, essentially powerless gadfly. Yet few people stand up to Paladino,

…a wealthy developer and political power broker whose money and influence seem to have neutered the principles that other leaders apply so easily against Mascia.

This is true. Mascia has no business, at this point, being anywhere near elected public office because he has disqualified himself from it. His casual, repeated use of hateful racial slurs are, frankly, inexcusable. In all of his public pronouncements, he’s expressed remorse over those words, but he’s much more upset over having been caught.

I have no idea, thankfully, how Carl Paladino privately refers to people who don’t look, act, or think like he, but he’s at least never been caught using race-hate on tape. A few weeks ago, he told reporters with mics and cameras about how those “damn Asians” were coming to take slots at UB away from real American kids. When challenged, Paladino made a fauxpology, as the Buffalo News reported,

Paladino said he does not take issue with the fact that foreign students attend UB, but thinks their education should not be subsidized by taxpayers. He said he selected Asians as an example of out-of-state students because it is easy to assume they are not from the area, an assumption for which he apologized.

UB made it clear that Paladino’s feeble “point” about foreign students being subsidized is false and inaccurate; they pay their full ride, and they pay it in cash. They can’t claim New York domicile by attending school because they’re here on student visas that automatically disqualify them from doing so. But the real racism here is the notion that Paladino reckons that Asians probably “are not from the area”, which is just fundamentally inaccurate (New York is a big state, by the way, and it’s got Asians in it), and picking on a racial group because of their non-Caucasian appearance – there’s a word for that and the word is “racist”.

Yet while Mascia is pilloried in the media and community for calling the Mayor a horrible racist epithet, Paladino skates. Where’s Sandy Beach to viciously cross-examine Carl Paladino about not only his anti-Asian animus, but the falsity of his underlying charge about “subsidizing” foreign students?

Hulk Hogan gets caught on tape using the word, “nigger”, and he apologizes and the WWE scrubs all evidence of his very existence. Joe Mascia gets caught on tape using the word, “nigger”, and he’s running for public office, and now being defended by…

Carl Paladino.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Oh, yeah. Carl’s not a racist – he’ll laughably threaten to sue you for defamation if you think that of him and express itHe just supports the racist guy. Carl’s not a racist, he just thinks it’s cool to say that Dr. Pamela Brown and Dr. James Williams were hired simply because they were black. Carl’s not a racist, he just sends around emails showing the President and First Lady dressed as a pimp and ‘ho in full blaxploitation garb. Carl’s not a racist, he just sends his buddies emails with links to videos of African tribesmen dancing, calling it the rehearsal for the Obama inauguration. Carl’s not a racist, he just selects people who look different from him, calls them “damn Asians” and accuses them of stealing opportunities and tax dollars from real Americans.

Wednesday afternoon, Mascia defiantly refused to leave the race for the Fillmore District. Forget the racism for a second – this guy still owes about $10,000 to people for his past runs for County Legislature and Assembly. Every penny he takes in for his city race should go to pay off his creditors. He’s unelectable because he can’t handle money, and he’s a racist dummy. Here is his statement (obviously [sic])

Mascia is now in full victim mode, and oblivious when it comes to crisis management. You don’t double down and become Mr. Self-Righteous. You bow out and re-examine what you’ve become. This behavior is, alas, some sort of oddball narcissism. At this point, you have to assume that Mascia is digging the attention.

But in the end, here is the real insanity with respect to all of this: Paladino’s support and defense of the guy who called black political leaders “fucking niggers”:

Carl P. Paladino, the 2010 Republican candidate for governor and member of the Buffalo School Board, said Wednesday that Mascia represents the only “balance against corruption in the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.” He added that tapes of Mascia’s recent “N-word” characterization of several African-American politicians result from a “purposeful attack on him.”

See? Carl agrees – Mascia is the real victim because that audiotape viciously recorded Mascia’s words, verbatim. Carl, too, has been a victim of that insidious practice when the media recorded his thoughts about students foreign and Asian.

“They’re going after a guy who keeps going out on a limb about corruption,” he said. “He should be respected, and I don’t see anybody buying into this racist stuff.”

Carl Paladino, the Italian-American multi-millionaire developer and forwarder of racist emails isn’t offended, so it’s no big deal – not a fundamental character flaw, just a conspiracy to smear the guy who called Mayor Byron Brown a “tizzun”!

Paladino – Mascia’s major financial supporter in past elections and again this year in the Fillmore District campaign – called him an “honest guy.”

“He is sorry,” Paladino continued, claiming Mascia was tricked into using racial slurs in the tape.

“Now all the politically correct people want to get up and say ‘Oh my God’ about this,” Paladino said.

Wait – why is Mascia sorry if this is all just political correctness run amok? Mascia isn’t honest – he lied, at first, when confronted about using “nigger” before the tape came out. Mascia may say he’s sorry, but his media blitz reveals that he’s much sorrier about having been caught. The news flash for Paladino is that it’s not just the “politically correct” who find fault with calling the Rev. Darius Pridgen a “fucking nigger” who, with his “nigger” cohorts just wants all the power. Mascia’s words were reprehensible and ugly – Paladino’s apologia is, amazing as it seems, even more so.

But while Paladino is being ignorant and tone-deaf, Conservative fusion Party head Ralph Lorigo sees the real deal:

“He has told me it’s a conspiracy and that it will all come out,” said Chairman Ralph C. Lorigo. “Unfortunately, no other person put those words in his mouth.”

Exactly. No one’s interested in excuses – the tape speaks for itself. Paladino probably feels a need to defend Mascia because he’s heavily invested in that person. As the News reports, Paladino has contributed over $20,000 in money and things to Mascia’s various efforts to get elected to something.

Paladino said Wednesday he realizes he has been criticized for racial views, pointing to controversial emails that figured in his unsuccessful campaign for governor. His recent remarks in Olean about “damn Asians” and other “foreigners” attending the University at Buffalo on discounted tuition also provoked criticism.

“I have never made racial remarks,” Paladino said, adding his recent comments pointed only to observations that out-of-state students – whether foreign born or not – are taking advantage of New York’s heavily subsidized university system at the cost of taxpayers.

“They were legitimate statements and did not have racist intent,” he said.

Two deluded guys strutting around Buffalo spitting racist crap and getting away with it. We can do better than this, can’t we, Buffalo?

Look at the pattern: Paladino denigrates “damn Asians” because they look different and “aren’t from this area”, and he thinks that’s not racist? He claims no racist intent? That’s sort of the definition of racism. Ignorant. Base. Unbecoming of a public servant. Disgusting. He pretended to apologize, but now continues to defend what he said as a “legitimate point”, but UB explained in detail how it was a completely illegitimate point. So, it was, at best, racially insensitive and factually false. Yet he continues to defend it, and his loopy gang of groupies holds a rally for him.

For his part, Mascia thinks that getting caught repeatedly using racial epithets on tape now qualifies him to be a social justice warrior. No, that’s not how this works. Although he has apologized for what he said, he’s claiming to be the victim now, blaming the guy who taped him for doing so without his knowledge, for waiting to release the tape, and for somehow tricking Mascia into saying what he did. No, that’s not how this works.

Mascia doesn’t deserve public support, but then, neither does Paladino. Mascia’s a deadbeat and Paladino’s an influential millionaire, and the latter is defending the former. Finally,

You know what they say about birds of a feather.

Carl’s Spontaneous Yay Carl Demo

Hey, kids! All those mean people are saying horrible things about Uncle Carl! Won’t you show up to a “support Carl” rally at 5pm Wednesday on the steps of City Hall?

All of your favorite kids from Getty stock photos will be there!

The image, specifically, is called “Kids K through 12th Grade” and here’s what the rally is all about!

Carl even went on WBEN to argue that he’s not a racist! You guys! And from whence did this totally not-at-all-astroturf display of spontaneous affection for our Carl come from?

Awesome!1!!

Carl's Kids!

All the kids say: Yay Carl!

Paladino’s Fauxpology

Area Man Gesticulates To Make False Point

Area Man Gesticulates To Make False Point

Why won’t the liberal media stop unfairly quoting things Carl Paladino says, verbatim?

Carl Paladino is a misomniac; he hates everything. Well, maybe that’s not true. He hates most things, though. He hates liberals and the media and gun control and Brian Higgins and…for a guy who has $150 million in the bank he’s quite the grouch. If I had that kind of scratch, I’d have the sunniest disposition, ever.

But Carl’s having something of a bad week. There is, of course, the Public Accountability Project’s series exposing Paladino’s demeanor, behavior, and connections. Also, at a recent ammosexual rally in Olean, Carl said some really factually incorrect and hateful things to some reporters about international students at UB – especially the “damn Asians”. He later apologized, amazingly enough.

Paladino’s original argument had been that international students at UB take opportunities away from in-state students, and that they somehow connive to claim New York residency after their first year of studies in order to pay a heavily subsidized in-state tuition.

UB responded that this was impossible, since 99.2% of international students are here on a temporary student visa, thus leaving them legally unable to claim any sort of domicile in New York. In subsequent missives, Paladino has effectively recanted his apology. Consider this story from WGRZ, and this response:

More about this re-framing of his argument (and victimhood) in a second. He then posted a note he received from attorney James Tresmond, praising Carl and attacking the press, and later included some comments he received from random people.

It bears mentioning – repeating? – that Carl Paladino and his right-wing talk radio ilk are a dying breed. Fueled by misinformation and animus, they expertly don an unearned, false mantle of victimhood. They are ignorant, xenophobic, racist, people who examine their own lives and need to blame someone for something – they look at Buffalo and WNY and decide that the real culprits are those who wield the least power. They blame immigrants and minorities for real and perceived ills, regardless of the facts. Coming from someone whose own parents are immigrants, that sort of childish mindset is especially sinister.

Buffalo and WNY aren’t perfect, but such a place doesn’t exist. Blaming immigrants is stupid – we should be welcoming them and their talents and experiences with open arms. They’re here to work, not to mooch. To repeat what the International Institute’s Eva Hassett said,

Immigrants, refugees, international students, foreign born professionals are are critical to the region’s economic growth. International students in particular are more likely than native born students to study in STEM fields, which relate highly to making the investments in the BNMC, Solar City, etc turn into jobs. Lots of cities get this. What they also get is that communities need to be ‘welcoming’ to the foreign born, or none of their other strategies work. Being inclusive and tolerant is a great base for an economic development strategy. Not to mention making it a nicer place to live.

What foreign-born physician or scientist is going to want to work in Buffalo’s fledgling knowledge-based industries if there’s some rich, powerful fossil yelling hateful things about them? What refugee is going to find safe harbor here among our small-minded loudmouths? Elon Musk – a South African by birth – is opening a new plant in South Buffalo in spite of our provincial xenophobia, not because of them.

But as far as UB is concerned, Carl Paladino’s reactionary xenophobia is false. UB has already said that it is complete fiction to allege that international students displace New Yorkers. Of the 5,000 international students attending UB, 99.2% of them pay cash, and they’re here on an F-1 visa; they’ll never get in-state tuition. I also confirmed with UB that the out-of-state tuition Paladino cites above represents the unsubsidized actual cost to attend the school. Comparing UB to Canisius or any other private university is wholly unfair.

According to UB, by the way, its international students had a positive local economic impact of $140,307,100 in 2013, supporting almost 2,000 local jobs.

Let’s examine the comments he approvingly re-posted and endorsed.

You are 100% right on this issue. I have been told that many SUNY graduate programs are almost entirely filled with foreign and non-resident students. They justify this by saying that without these students, they would not have enough students to make the programs viable. This I’m sure is not true, but the cost to these students is a real bargain and subsidized by us.

Keep ‘Hammerin em’!

Ray

It is not “subsidized by us”. On the contrary, these international students pay the full cost of their education – in cash – and they have an incredible positive impact on the local economy. This mindset that the inclusion of an international student represents a state subsidy or displacement of a local hopeful is simply false.

But that sentiment is hardly as bad as this:

Carl,

Not just Asians and Indians but S. Americans, Mexicans, Middle Easterns, Africans, just about anybody that comes here and DemoRats want to make them their voters. They get priority of all our benefits while we work our butts off to make ends meet and send our kids to school.   My and your taxes are paying for them and we keep on getting left back at the end of the line.

What’s the use of being a citizen of American if America doesn’t take care of us first…

Rosa

That’s some laundry list of brown people that Rosa considers to be moocher-takers. I don’t know exactly what “benefits” an international student on an F-1 visa can claim “priority” for on Rosa’s back, but facts don’t matter when you have blind hatred on your side.

This policy affected my son, a prospective med student at Georgetown. He was told by the interviewer that there was a significant percentage of foreign students that had to be placed at Georgetown, which, of course, drastically reduced the number of American students who had tax paying parents.  Very disheartening.

Anne

Georgetown is a private university. To call this anecdote irrelevant is a vast understatement.

AMEN, welcome to the liberal-owned media. Thanks Carl, for being real/honest/and direct.

Father Joe.

Yeah, AMEN because how dare the liberal media quote your own words verbatim, Carl!

See? Liberal media, askin’ questions and transcribin’ answers!

Hang in there Carl-we know it’s just your passion for Western New York speaking. Too bad the media is not as passionate in the integrity of their reporting. I’m with James Tresmond, who is a true gentleman, all the way. Keep up the fight for us Carl.

Sincerely,

Jim

See, Carl might have said something really hateful and ignorant, but his heart was in the right place – he loves WNY, just not all the people who live in it, if you know what I mean. Especially that pesky media again, writing down things you say. Who do they think they are?!

I completely agree….keep up the good work. As a long-time resident of the area around UB’s South Campus I can assure you that UB spends a lot of money putting a positive spin on any bad news coming at them….in other words….they speak with a “forked tongue”……!!

Fred

Or, you know, pushing out facts to rebut wholesale falsehoods. Tomato, tomahto.

One common refrain is that Paladino is generous and thoughtful in his private philanthropy. That’s laudable, if true. It does not, however, excuse these sorts of knee-jerk mouthnoises.

The real tragedy is that Paladino’s companies are doing some really good things locally, and they would – themselves – endear Paladino to people. All of this sound and fury not only signifies, but accomplishes nothing.

There are no winners here. All of this – and especially Paladino’s continued support in the community – reflects poorly on Buffalo and western New York. 

UB’s International Students

 

Via Wonkblog

Via Wonkblog

Yesterday saw something unprecedented happen. Carl Paladino apologized.

As originally reported in the Olean paper, Paladino appeared at something of a failure of a tea party rally over the weekend, and said hateful and ignorant things about Asian students at UB.

On Monday, Paladino said the point he wanted to make at the rally is that out-of-state students – whether foreign-born or not – are taking advantage of New York’s heavily subsidized university system at the cost of taxpayers. Since the state – via taxpayers – heavily contributes to its university system, the tuition for out-of-state residents is far lower than the actual cost to educate them, Paladino says.

“I don’t think that’s fair to taxpayers,” Paladino said Monday. “Even nonresident tuition is highly subsidized tuition. I was pointing out deeper problems that are not otherwise being expressed.”

UB boasts – BOASTS – about 5,000 international students. 99.2% of them attend UB on an F-1 student visa. While in-state students pay a tuition of just over $6,000 per year, international students pay close to $20,000 to attend UB.  Before obtaining an F-1 visa, the student must have already applied – and been accepted – to a school that is certified under the Student & Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).  In order to obtain an F-1 visa, the applicant must prove that he does not intend to abandon his foreign residency. As such, it is impossible for the holder of an F-1 visa to claim domicile in New York State in order to reap the benefits of a subsidized in-state SUNY tuition.

Paladino said he does not take issue with the fact that foreign students attend UB, but thinks their education should not be subsidized by taxpayers. He said he selected Asians as an example of out-of-state students because it is easy to assume they are not from the area, an assumption for which he apologized.

“I apologize to all Asians for the coarseness of my remark and selecting them as my example,” he said. “That wasn’t the point I was trying to make.”

“Easy to assume they are not from the area” – here’s a case of an apology being pretty much as bad as the original insult. The International Institute’s Eva Hassett explains, “Immigrants, refugees, international students, foreign born professionals are are critical to the region’s economic growth. International students in particular are more likely than native born students to study in STEM fields, which relate highly to making the investments in the BNMC, Solar City, etc turn into jobs. Lots of cities get this. What they also get is that communities need to be ‘welcoming’ to the foreign born, or none of their other strategies work. Being inclusive and tolerant is a great base for an economic development strategy. Not to mention making it a nicer place to live.”

Paladino isn’t the disease, but merely a symptom of longstanding, ingrained xenophobia and ignorant animus plaguing western New York. Look no further than the absolutely disgusting, desperate clinging to a racist team name going on in Lancaster. Imagine people willing to turn their backs on the student who designed the new Lancaster mascot, or yelling “Heil Hitler” at the school superintendent. Lancaster isn’t the disease – it’s also a symptom.

We seem to have this mentality that it’s not our own fault that the region doesn’t – or we individually don’t – advance. Don’t blame the easily identifiable Asians or brown people or black people, western New York. “Stop being a bigot” may just be the key to regional and personal advancement.

Paladino: New Year, New Lies

Carl Paladino _ Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Google Chrome 2015-01-06 13.49.18Carl Paladino loves to send emails. In fact, outside of WNY, that’s sort of what he’s famous for. Anyone who was on the email list for his gubernatorial run gets these, but this one is special.

From: Carl Paladino

Sent: Monday, January 05, 2015 9:10 AM

Subject: FW: ACTION ALERT To FIRE John Boehner as Speaker of the House.

We’re off to the races, with everyone’s favorite cranky uncle Carl forwarding other people’s emails. But here, he adds his own two cents.

John Boehner is an establishment boy who was conditioned to think that you go along to get along. He’s a pro at the Washington 2 step. He was a complete bust on Benghazi never ostracizing Obama for the stand down order, the IRS, (the criminality of which just vanished in the night), the disaster of Obamacare, etc., etc., etc.

The Republican effort to turn Benghazi into a scandal is notable because it has been an utter and repeated failure. When efforts to blame the Obama Administration for lying to the public about what caused the attacks went nowhere, they pivoted to accusing the government of ordering troops to “stand down”.  That is the lie that Paladino is parroting in this email, and it’s an especially repugnant one.

The Republican-led House Armed Services Committee expressly considered and rejected the notion that any “stand down” order was issued.  Paladino is lying.

Ingrained in that carefully crafted lie is a central theme that Obama is the “other” – not “American”.  That he is so foreign in name, visage, heritage, birth, and religion that it is believable that he would have done anything short of personally ordering or directing the terrorist attack on the compound that killed four American diplomats. This endlessly repeated “Obama let Benghazi happen” lie has its roots in xenophobia and racism. It’s not surprising, then, that Paladino – who famously forwarded emails depicting the Obamas as a 70’s-era pimp and whore, Africans as apes, and an image containing the n-word – believes that the President would deliberately put American diplomats in harm’s way.

As for the IRS “scandal”, its “criminality vanished” because there never was any to begin with.

It’s time for real leadership. Send the establishment gang-led by Boehner and McConnell- packing. That is what the American people want. Grow a set balls. How could any representative of the people give any respect to a President who ordered his military to stand down and leave American soldiers on the battlefield.

All of that is [sic], by the way. I’m hard-pressed to remember an incident where Boehner or McConnell gave a whole lot of respect to Obama in the first place, but again – Paladino thinks that these two Republican Congressional leaders aren’t extreme enough.

Incidentally, the 246 Congressional Republicans held their vote for Speaker of the House on Tuesday. John Boehner won 216 – 25. Another Paladino / tea party victory.

How can any American family allow their child, father, or husband to put his or her life at risk and feel comfortable with the military leadership.

You know, the Commander in Chief is a black man. First one, ever.

Wake Washington up. If it is to be Jeb Bush and business as usual, forget about 2016.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. If Jeb Bush is the nominee, forget it.

The American people want the lying and scheming Obama politically destroyed.

When was that? In 2008, or 2012? The irony of Paladino – in this missive – accusing anyone of being a liar is fantastic.

They want the likes of Gruber and the liberal elitist crowd to be gone from the landscape.

Gruber is the MIT economics professor who said something stupid about how Obamacare (Romneycare) was passed thanks to the stupidity of the American voter. In what way does Paladino want MIT professors whom he hates, or with whom he disagrees, “gone from the landscape”? Which landscape? “Gone” how? He was never an elected official. He’s not on any landscape, except MIT’s.

They want a strong military, respect from the rest of the world and a domestic policy that encourages achievement and is fair to all. They want leadership they can be proud of.

Our military is the most expensive thing in the federal budget. We throw money at it like there’s no tomorrow. What, exactly, does Paladino think is so weak about it? The fact that it’s been mired in two Asian land wars in the last 14 years? What part of the domestic policy discourages achievement or is unfair? Obama is well-admired domestically, and our country is respected by some, and disrespected by others, same as it’s ever been.

One thing is for sure – Americans do want “leadership they can be proud of.”

That’s why, since 2011, the title of Governor of the state of New York has been held by Andrew Cuomo.

New Yorkers know a disgrace when we see one.

Carl Paladino Has Important Things to Say About Things

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Carl Paladino ran for governor of the state of New York.

The market has improved for residential development. It’s fairly good right now for apartments…Young people – and it’s just a trend thing – they’ve had it with … mowing lawns and all that. They want the urban life they see on TV, and to live approximate to things

Carl Paladino is a wealthy developer who is well-respected in the community.

Paladino said he hopes the mostly vacant Commodore Perry housing complex nearby will eventually be torn down.

“We’re just praying that they don’t rehab those apartments and put people back in them. Hopefully, they will get rid of the whole thing and tear it down. That Perry Street has caused a lack of interest in any development there.”

Carl Paladino is an elected school board member who has his finger on the pulse of goings-on in WNY.

“They made a big mistake by making [Ohio Street] into a two-way highway when it should have been a four-lane. It’s a terrible mistake. You can’t park a car. And if you’re on it and stuck in traffic, you can’t even turn around. And they’re talking about it being one of the feeders to the Outer Harbor,” Paladino said.

Carl Paladino is on the board of Buffalo Civic Auto Ramps, which is so forward-thinking and consumer-oriented that its ramps take only cash, even in 2014.

“How many people are riding bikes in this community? For four or five months a year you can’t ride a bike in the snow. If you want to ride a bike, do it on the sidewalk. That’s why they have sidewalks,” he said.

It is against the law for adults to ride bicycles on the sidewalk. It’s a sidewalk – not a sideride. Just shut up and run your company. No one gives a shit about your lunatic crackpot opinions.

Cuomo: Epic Trolling of Paladino

On Tuesday, Governor Cuomo’s official Facebook page displayed this message:

Governor Andrew Cuomo - Google Chrome 2014-11-26 11.36.45

 

An observant local Twitter user identifies the house on the left as that belonging to Carl Paladino.

Indeed, a check of relevant records, and of Google Maps reveals that the house on the left in this image is the one belonging to Paladino – you can tell by the flags and political signs.

An epic troll by Governor Cuomo of his 2010 rival and consistent critic – using Paladino’s house to raise money for the Food Bank and Meals on Wheels.

slow-clap

 

Slow clap.

Carl Being Carl

Courtesy Marquil at EmpireWire.com

It was a cool evening; cool in the sense of temperature as much as atmosphere. The sun had just set and the cloudless sky was turning a lovely shade of dark blue, with a disappearing tinge of orange on the horizon. 

I pulled my car into a spot about a block down from the Dinosaur BBQ on Franklin Street to attend the City & State “welcome to Buffalo” party. The New York-based paper had just hired a Buffalo reporter, and it was hosting a celebration. 

As I walked up Franklin, I ran into County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who was rushing to get to a dinner at Bacchus with bigwigs from a local utility company. I saw Buffalo Rising’s Newell Nussbaumer and said hello. As I approached the Dinosaur, I saw Mike Desmond from WBFO speaking with City & State Editor-in-Chief Morgan Pehme and Chris Thompson – Pehme’s new Buffalo hire. 

After a while, a very slim, dapper gentleman from the statewide office of AARP came by to chat with Pehme and Desmond. He mentioned that Erie County had the 9th oldest population in the country. 

Right around that time, I caught a glimpse of a black BMW X5 across Franklin. It stopped to let out City & State President & CEO Tom Allon and G. Stephen Pigeon. Allon is a tall, bespectacled man who looks like he stepped right out of a Brooks Brothers catalogue. I introduced myself to both men. Pigeon shook my hand. Understandably, he wasn’t especially warm and friendly to me, but behaved like a gracious adult. They went inside. 

At this moment, the BMW had made a u-turn and parked, halfway in a spot, in front of the Dinosaur BBQ. Out comes Carl Paladino, and he is smiling and gesturing at me as if I was someone he was happy to see. He came around the car and was being gregarious and friendly with everyone. As we both extended hands to shake in greeting, I hesitated and said, “you don’t like me. I’m Alan Bedenko”.

At this he recoiled and inquired whether I was fucking serious. When I answered in the affirmative, he took a step or two back to tell me that I’m “a real fucking asshole, you know that?”  I replied that yes, indeed, I am, as I grinned from ear to ear.  He went on to berate me as a “disgrace” and a “fucking coward”.  I continued smiling as this old man angrily spat expletives at me on a sidewalk, in front of people, on a cool Buffalo night. He then went inside in disgust, informing the people with whom I was chatting that he would not speak to them while they were talking to an asshole like me. It was surreal. 

I continued speaking with Mr. AARP guy, Pehme and Desmond before going inside to check the event out.  I met Erie County Legislator Joe Lorigo, who is a nice fellow even if his politics are all wrong. I like that he recognizes that the legislature is – and should be – a deliberative legislative body, and the role he plays in it.  I saw his dad, too, but we didn’t get a chance to speak. I spoke with lobbyist Jack O’Donnell and met his lovely wife, Marina. It was O’Donnell’s birthday, evidently, and Pehme led the gathering in a round of “Happy Birthday”.  There was even cake. 

I spoke at some length with Camille Brandon, fresh off a primary loss in her Assembly race. While we were chatting, Paladino passed behind me and said hello to her, but indicated that he would speak to her later when “that asshole” was gone.  She later found me and said Carl had asked her why she was speaking to that “asshole”. He was entering Mean Girls territory. 

I saw Jim Heaney and Dan Telvock of Investigative Post, and Justin Sondel from the Niagara Gazette.  I spoke briefly with @HeyRaChaCha from Twitter, and we talked about all the fascinating people who were there. 

As I spoke with Sondel and Mark Cornell from Poloncarz’s office about hydrofracking and Niagara County journalism, Pehme and Allon took to the stage to thank everyone for coming to the event.  Evidently, Paladino was a sponsor of the event because he, too, took the mic.  He welcomed City & State to Buffalo, adding that it was about time Buffalo got some real journalism up in here. He added that Buffalo media had too many “worms like Alan Bedenko”, expressing surprise and dismay as to how I even got into this event, to which I had been invited. 

Of all the elected officials, journalists, and dignitaries who filled that room, only one name was mentioned – mine, spat out by Buffalo’s favorite son – a walking, talking insult billboardatorium

Oh, how delightful this all was. I don’t think you’ve really arrived in Buffalo until you’ve been viciously cursed out by Carl Paladino.

What have I done to this man, except tell the truth about him? His sordid racist emails? His failed candidacy? The horrible things that come from his mouth? This guy is the personification of dishing it out but not being able to take it. (Mr. Tea Party is hanging out with Steve Pigeon, now?) What have I done, except be one of the few not in thrall of his money or perceived power? He hides behind his money, hurling misogyny, homophobia, and invective from emails and billboards, but I’m the coward?  I mean, I never circulated anal horse pornography, but that’s just not my thing. 

What’s with the hate and anger? Here he is, a millionaire in his $70,000 truck, being feted and paid attention to by all sorts of VIPs from not just the region, but throughout the state, but he’s got to take especial time to attempt – and fail – to insult me from the stage at the Dinosaur BBQ at someone else’s event. How great is that

Almost everyone said it was “just Carl being Carl”. It was, indeed.  That is, of course, the problem, but he’s attained folk hero status and can get away with just about anything, and the list of “cowards” who are willing to call him on it is regrettably short these days. There’s a fine line between being a straight talker and the state of being “Carl”. 

As for me, it was one of the proudest nights of my life; a story to remember. I make it a point to never knowingly do business with Carl Paladino, and I didn’t touch a drop of liquid or morsel of food that he underwrote at the event. 

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you. – Matthew 5:44. 

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