TWF 356: Pride On The Mile Has Grown So Much In Two Years

 Hello, friends,

Back in 2023, Freeporters organized and launched Pride On The Mile, a to-become-yearly Pride event centered around celebrating Freeport's incredible diversity in a whole new way.

I mean, growing up Queer in Freeport in the 90's was certainly challenging, but it was also rewarding.  I was never as alone as I sometimes felt, and I was never unable to find people like me.

Last year, I wasn't able to attend. I was ill, and I just figured it to be a better idea to stay home and rest up than risk getting anyone sick.

With my neck in quite bad shape, I decided I wanted to definitely get down there this year because I felt like things were different.

And they were.

Now, I lack last years' performance to compare this years' to, but I do remember how relatively small the event was in 2023. It had a few dedicated vendors, some events, some businesses on board.

The first thing I noticed about this years' event was that there were a number of cars in the parking lot with Pride stickers, decorations, and the like.

The second thing I noticed this year was that there was a huge stage set up in the parking lot across from the esplanade, a place where performers could really get a great view of the crowd, and vice-versa.

Also, this year? The vendor section (where I spent most of my limited time) was wonderfully large in comparison to the first time through.

Okay, so some of them were relatively 'normie' things like Mount Sinai and Northwell Health having booths.

It's coming up on election season in Nassau, and I noticed a number of Democratic candidates had boots set up. Didn't see any Republicans that I'm aware of. I wonder why? (No, I don't)

If you read this before it's too late to get down there, try getting down there! There are events all night.

TWF 355: ICE Is Active In Freeport - Be Careful

 Greetings, friends,

This is one whereby the headline tells you a lot of what's up, and your knowledge of the history of this publication and my political beliefs gets you the rest of the way there.

About a day or two ago, Freeport resident and activist Carmen Piñeyro posted alerts that ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) was operating in Freeport, presumably to illegally arrest and disappear undocumented immigrants living in Freeport.

At the time, all I could really do is share the post around and notify people as I found out.  Hopefully, that helped people.

But with the way things are escalating in Los Angeles tonight, it's worth reiterating to Freeporters that, in fact, ICE is active in Freeport and actively looking to interfere with peoples' lives in the worst ways possible.

Now is when I remind you that I no longer live in Freeport, so I can't serve as a rapid response person (not that I'm physically able).  Still, I hope my hometown is taking steps to be safe with these roving bands of brigands in its streets.

ICE, I mean.  They're the ones who exile American children.  Who did you think I meant?  Maybe you need to check that.

Anyway.

I just hope Mayor Kennedy is making sure that Freeport PD will in no way assist ICE in its crimes against Humanity; I really, truly hope he's prepared to have Freeport PD protect its residents against due process violations, even if that means getting between ICE and its victims.

I know how insane that might sound to some, but, such is our life as we resist Fascism.

In the meantime, if you are at all at risk for being targeted, be as safe as you possibly can.  If that means you have to prepare go-bags and be ready to leave on a moments' notice?  I'm so sorry, but please do what you have to to be safe.

Freeport is being targeted for its integrated community, but it's a community like few others.  I firmly believe the Village can resist, provided its government does the right thing early on.

TWF 354 - Nautical Mile Festival: June 7th, 2025

 Hey everyone,

No big news, here.  Just one event to talk about, really:

For those maybe using a text reader, the Nautical Mile Festival is going to be Saturday, June 7th, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

I don't know that I'll be able to get down there and be there in person, but I do hope the Festival goes on safely and smoothly - and profitably, for those vending and those who own established businesses, alike!

TWF 353 - Pride On The Mile, June 21st!

 Hello, friends,

Just spreading the word about the third annual Pride On The Mile!

As per their post on Facebook, this year's Pride On The Mile is going to consist of:

"New this year:

The Pride Caravan, a rolling celebration of visibility and pride! Registration opens soon (limited space — stay tuned!)

Here’s what else to expect:

 🏳️‍🌈 A bustling vendor market featuring local LGBTQ+ makers and businesses.

🏳️‍🌈 An afternoon festival entertainment and performance. 

🏳️‍🌈 The return of the iconic Dragaret, a ticketed drag showcase you won’t want to miss, followed by an after party. 

🏳️‍🌈 Light activities for all ages to explore and enjoy throughout the day. 

Let’s come together, make memories, and fill the Mile with all the love and pride we can! You won’t want to miss this."

Stay tuned at their Facebook group for more announcements.

TWF 352 - Protest At Merrick Train Station Was Hugely Successful

 Hello, friends,

I hope this message finds you well.  As we reported on our Facebook pages (both our "Page" and our "group"), there was a protest today at the Merrick Train Station.

Remember:  Any nearby/Nassau County protests will be announced on that Facebook group, so if you haven't already checked it out, check it!

As a tentative heads up, it looks like 50501 is going to be doing a May 1st protest.  I won't be able to cover that one due to prior engagements, but I do support them!

That said, let's talk about our Merrick Train Station protest:

Merrick Train Station Protest.  Photo by Jesse Pohlman

About The April 19th Protests In Merrick, NY

It was definitely an interesting experience, as most of the people were gathered in the east-side parking lot.  That meant that as you approached the train station itself, it was hard to see the action.  But the trickle of people with signs told me all I needed to know, and I parked as close to the protests as I could, hoofed it over, and stood actually at the front of the westbound lane's line of sign-holders.

It was a nice experience.

It wasn't perfect, of course.  There were a couple of trucks that drove by with Trump flags or flipping us off.  One lady parked her car in front of the protest line, got out of it, whipped out an American flag and started chanting "Trump" until the cops forced her to move for blocking traffic.  One person decried us all as terrorists, which was funny because January 6th happened and they don't seem to mind insurrectionist terrorists, so...That's noteworthy.5

But at the same time, the number of people honking and giving a thumbs up was huge.

I'm not a professional crowd estimator, but I'd estimate about a thousand people came out for the event.  There were speakers, many of whom came from various Democratic Party clubs in the area - sort of a surprise to see them out and about, to be honest.

After all, the whole Merrick event was organized by the Merrick-Bellmore Democratic Club.  So, props to them.

I might not be a Democrat at this time (Go Working Families Party!  I can hook you up if you have any questions), but I'm happy to see my former party actually starting to wake up and go, "Holy shit this is a real threat."

Whether that'll pay off in the long run is another story, but, yeah.

Other Protest Events Which Took Place Today, April 19th, 2025.

My understanding is there were two other protests planned in just the Long Island area.

One was a continuation of the Tesla Takedown campaign up in Manhasset, but that's a specific movement with a specific goal.

The other was a similar event to the Merrick one, but held out in Patchouge.  I don't know who organized it, but my hope is that it went just as well.  If you're someone who attended, please leave a comment on this article and I'll be happy to add a little credit.

Anyway, until next time:  Be safe, be strong, and don't tolerate Fascist shit.

TWF 351 - Hands Off Protests At Nassau County Courthouse; Huge Crowd!

Hello, friends,

Hope you're all doing well.  I'm pretty happy, all things considered, as today I'm happy to report on the sheer size of the Hands Off rally at the Nassau County Courthouse which took place just hours ago!

Let's Talk About The Event

The event was especially geared towards NOSH, a north-shore food pantry.  See, food pantries and other help-the-poor projects were hampered by harsh funding cuts and support slashing.  So the goal was to help gather a whole bunch of food, or at least donations to that organization.

NOSH isn't the only food pantry in the area.  In fact, Freeport has one, the Long Island Food Pantry, that I'm sure could also use donations and other forms of support.

With that said, food banks weren't the only goal of the event:  It was, after all, a protest!

I know that picture might be chaotic, but if you look straight at the center you'll see what is, in fact, a mobile billboard.  There was a mobile billboard brought to bear.  Neat.

In all seriousness - despite the rain, estimates are that about 2,100 people confirmed they would be attending.  That number may have been predicated on people saying they'd go who later didn't, but it also included people who weren't on the e-mail list.

I've been to a number of protests at the courthouse and I've never seen it this crowded.  Or, if I have, it's been a long time.  Maybe one of the Roe v Wade protests matched it, but the Schumer/Gillibrand protests - though large! - didn't come close to matching what I saw today.

I missed it!  How do I find out about future events?

First of all, insofar as it falls on me to tell you protests are taking place, I'm sorry I kinda dropped the ball on this one.  My neck has been extra-bad, so I've been dropping balls.  ...Okay that's ripe for a joke.  Back to seriousness:  Surgeon appointment near the end of the month, then we schedule a cut or two.

That said, I recently did a video on my Dystopian Review channel all about the various organizations and protest lists you can look up.  That includes Mobilize.us as well as the Big List Of Protests.

These resources and others like it will help you stay in touch with local organizers who might be hosting an event near you.

With all that in mind, I'll try to do a better job of announcing these events ahead of time for the next one, but I'm quite sure there will be a next one.

What if I don't agree with the protests?

I dunno?  Organize a counter-protest if you can find the people to do it?  But you should probably be open to reconsidering your position, and this publication won't be helping you.

Remember:  I'm not politically neutral except in matters exclusive to Freeport.

Thank you for reading.

Jesse Pohlman is a retired teacher and former Rec Center lifeguard who now busies himself writing sci-fi/fantasy and political stuff.  Check out his website here!

TWF 350 - Redistricting Discussion At The Library, March 27th 6:00 PM EST

Hello, friends,

Just passing this information along as I get it.  I know it's short notice, but you might be interested in it! 

Basically, it's a meeting about (I assume) some recently-won changes to the way Nassau's districts are drawn, and the representation you'll get in the future.

Check it out!

TWF 349: Village of Freeport Elections: March 18th, 2025; some TWF updates.

Hello, friends,

Hope you're all doing fantastic.  Life is okay - imperfect as always.

This is just a reminder that this Tuesday, March 18th, are the Village of Freeport elections.

Spend the next 48-ish hours getting together your information as to how you might wish to vote - then, vote on Tuesday!

Pretty simple, right?

So let's do a couple of updates.

Reminder on TWF's activity:

I really only publish one of these posts when I have something worth saying that relates to Freeport, be it a weather update or an event that's taking place - or maybe something that I cover directly, if for some reason I feel compelled to head back home.

So if you don't hear from me much, or hear from me twice in a row out of the blue and then hear nothing for a while, that's probably why.

If there is a charitable event that you'd like me to talk about, reach out to me (the best way to do this is through my Bluesky - and NOT just submitting your event through the comparative graveyard that is Facebook) and we can talk about if there's something I can do to help you out.

 - I definitely won't share your religious event. (You probably aren't my religion, BTW)

 - I probably won't share your business-related event. (That's called an ad.  You wanna pay for one, reach out to me)

 - I probably will share your fundraiser event. (That would be charity)

 - I definitely will share Freeport's Pride events. (Because it's newsworthy and a good charitable thing, too)

If that helps lock you in when it comes to what I'm talking about when I mention charitable events, well, that's good.  That's good to hear.  

Important update to the "non-endorsement" rule:

 First, as a blanket statement:  The Weekly Freeporter does not endorse candidates for Freeport-only office.  I don't live there anymore, so this will not change.  I have little-if-anything to do with it except for fond memories.

However.

As non-partisan as The Weekly Freeporter began, it's time to make something clear:  I am not, and have never been, impartial. I think you all knew that.  But we live in a time when trying to be politically agnostic is impossible.

Thus:  Insofar as elections where Freeport and I intersect (I.E, we are both impacted), I will provide my political insights to the best of my abilities.  This means I will consider endorsing for certain Nassau County, New York State, and Federal offices.

For the purposes of context as to what sort of coverage you might expect, I will report that I am presently a member of the Working Families Party.  I figured you have the right to know that much.

As to how you can get endorsed by me?  There's one way, really, and that's for me to know you, know your positions, and know I can trust you with power.  That means either I'll do it without you ever knowing I'm planning on it, or - if you ask me - then I'll dig into your beliefs until I'm sure one way or another.

And if you're Chuck Schumer or Kristen Gillibrand?  Who later sold us out on the 2025 Enabling Act?  No.

But if you're reading this three years from now and thinking about primarying Chuck Schumer or Kristen Gillibrand, then, your odds have gone up substantially.

TWF 348 - Protests at Schumer & Gillibrands Melville Offices

Hello, friends,

It's time for the first article of the year from this once-weekly publication.  As a reminder, I hiatus'd this project in 2015, so it's been non-weekly for almost a decade, now.  Neat, huh?

But this news effects all of Long Island - the whole country, in a sense - so we're diving right in.

Up-front:  I'm biased.  Real journalism has biases.  Deal with it, or just click off now.

What Were These Protests?

Protest on 2/5/2025, photo by Jesse Pohlman

In many ways, these protests were frustration-ventilation for those of us who are fed up with unelected not-even-bureaucrats getting access to our Treasury department.

But for a more focused take on things, the protests were held at the Senators' offices to encourage them to do something about this situation.  The truth is, there are a few simple demands, some of which I'm sure I'm missing:

 - No more approvals.

 - Quorum checks.

 - No more unanimous consent.

 - No more voice votes.

Leeja Miller does a fantastic breakdown of what Democrats could be doing about the situation, for those who want the juicy details.  She goes over how each tool would work, and all that jazz.

Now, would these decisions be a departure from the norms?  Sure!

But we've already widely departed from the norms.  Here's an interim U.S. Attorney dismissing charges against an accused criminal who was - at the time! - his client as a defense attorney.  Picture that!  Imagine if any criminal you don't like (I dunno, insert Osama Bin Laden for New Yorker anger) had a defense lawyer who, over the course of defending charges against them, got a job as a U.S. Attorney supervising their case.

They then dropped their own case.

So...Yeah.  Norms?  Those are long gone.

Is That All?

Well, no.  Technically the protests were focused on Russell Vought, the Project 2025 co-author who wants to be in charge of the Office of Management and Budget.  You know!  That office Trump's been sued over?  Look it up.

Anyway, the goal was to get the Senate to do the above things to slow down, if not totally block his appointment.  A good goal.  After all - didn't Trump run on Project 2025 NOT being his thing?  We shouldn't be letting Project 2025 people in, then - right??

Also, coincidentally, there was a movement I'm aware of called "50501" which had the goal of hitting 50 state capitals in 50 states in 1 day.  Obviously this wasn't an Albany-based protest, but it also was coincidental timing, wasn't it?  Or maybe they knew that Indivisible, MoveOn, and The Working Families Party were doing events today, and just kinda winged it.  Who knows?  I approve.

What Can You Do?

The three organizations I just mentioned (Indivisible, Move On, and The Working Families Party) are all good groups to follow for more actions.  You can always call your Senators, Representatives, and who-so-ever.

As part of another project I'm doing, I made a whole video with a few protest tips using my experience as a teacher/TA under the Taylor Law as an example of things to be aware of when trying to organize a movement.

That said, today's protest had about 400 people at it - and I know there were others like it in NYC, in Peekskill (though I believe that was on the 4th), and many more.

I've seen video of plenty of protests nation-wide, to boot.  This wasn't just a New York thing, even if this article is about Long Island's end in the business.

But, anyway.  That's all I have for you.

Well, other than the fact that the police threw us out of the Senators' office.  I don't even know which Senators' office we were at, since they're separate but adjacent buildings.  And...Well, let's just say they didn't want to face us.

Jesse Pohlman is an author from Freeport, New York, who will always remember his roots in Port Knox.  The easiest way to reach him is through his Bluesky account.

Editorial note:  I reached out to the protest organizers for comment about being thrown out, but they didn't get back to me.  If they do, I'll update.

Update:  I was notified by the protest organizers that they did indeed get to speak to representatives.  So at least our message was conveyed.  There's that.

TWF 347 - Efforts To Save Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) Underway! Or...Are They? Let's Look!

Hello, friends,

I hope you're all having a great, happy holiday season - whatever it is you celebrate.  It may be that you don't celebrate anything, in which case I hope you're just plain-old happy.  If not, I hope things improve.

Just as a reminder, I don't really use The Weekly Freeporter for much, these days, seeing as I'm no longer in Freeport.  I may not be as nosy, these days.  Still, when major news or issues are in the air, I do still have a nose, so I sniff about.  And sometimes a story involves all of Nassau County (Where I do, in fact, live), or Long Island, or New York.  Sometimes it's about more than Freeport.

That's how we got to today's story.

Now, this is a classic, "Jesse sat down to write because of a mailer he got."  It's about NUMC - Nassau University Medical Center.

Now, unlike our dive into Maven Charter Schools, hopefully this doesn't become a gigantic rabbit hole.  Let's more-or-less start by looking at the document in question, and we'll dig into the website.

BUT!  One quick note:  I don't suggest anyone scan random QR codes, but I do believe this mailer came from a legitimate source because the website in question seems to be legit.

So What's Up With NUMC?

The mailer says some heavily charged things, there's no question about that.  Besides listing some statistics on how much care NUMC provides, the big shocker of a claim is this:

New York State has been violating Federal law with regards to NUMC, slashing the funding it's entitled to and - therefore - crippling the institution and delivering worse care to Long Islanders as a result.

Nobody loves going to the hospital, but we do want them to be funded because if (really more when) we wind up in one, we want the doctors to be paid well to investigate deeper; we want the nurses well funded so they have lower patient-to-staff ratios and can take better care of us; we want the chefs well paid so the hospital food isn't quite as terrible.

And if NYS is shortchanging Nassau?  THAT'S a problem.  We LIVE here!  WE might be taken to the hospital through no fault of our own!  And if that hospital might not exist?  Or might be crippled?  Or in fact is crippled?  We should know.

So let's keep digging.

The mailer also says that "Albany politicians" (A loaded term, to be sure) are planning to take over and run the hospital.  Well, that's neat!  How's THAT work?

Let's look at the website, next.

Digging Deeper, Because Of Course We Are!

Hey.  Unlike Maven, this is actually very important - and maybe the website will have more to say.  Again, that website is at this link.  I strongly advise you to read it on your own, because whatever it ends up saying?  That'll be important.

One quick read later, and my thoughts are...

Okay, so, here we go.  The website goes into more detail about these claims, but it doesn't provide a bevy of links to reporting or fact sheets or budgets, which is unfortunate because it means now I have to do that work.  Which is what I was hoping to avoid.

When I say it doesn't provide a "bevy" of links, that doesn't mean it doesn't provide any.  For example, here's a link to a .PDF-file-format letter from NHCC Chairman Matthew J. Bruderman to the New York State Department of Health and its Commissioner, James V. McDonald, dated November 19th, 2024.

In it, Bruderman goes into more detail about some of the, well...Concerns?  Is that the right word for, "You're fucking with my hospital?"  Concerns he has about how New York State is, well, fucking with his hospital.

Yes, I curse when appropriate.  I am a born-and-bred Freeporter, what did you expect?

Now, I have to interject something, here, because sadly it's extremely relevant:  Bruderman was a very controversial pick for his position.  He's described by ABC News as a "millionaire investor and entrepreneur" who just so happened to be the biggest donor to Bruce Blakeman's campaign for Nassau Executive.

Interesting.

It's interesting that Blakeman put a complete novice in Healthcare in charge of such a vital, if decaying jewel of Nassau County's.  Because he's an "outsider," and surely not at all because he may have paid for the opportunity to run the place to his benefit.

In fact, Bruderman apparently offered to donate $1.5 million to NUMC if - IF - he was allowed to take over.  What?!

It's also worth noting that NUMC was already struggling with funding issues, so whatever's up, it isn't strictly a Blakeman-NYS conflict.  It predates that.  So whatever's up, this isn't strictly a "Blakeman's guy messed it up" situation.  It's more a, "It's been messed up for a while, and Blakeman's guy hasn't necessarily helped."

ALSO-ALSO:  Newsday points out that Bruderman is in charge of NuHealth, which is in fact the organization responsible for the mailer and the website.

In other words, this is definitely some kind of rabbit hole.  Dammit.

Anyway, the letter.  It's proving...Interesting.

Bruderman's Letter

Some of the terms in the letter, like "VAPAP 2025 Application" are totally unknown to me.  It seems to relate to the Nursing Home Vital Access Provider Assurance Program.  It seems there's some kind of dispute over that, but Bruderman isn't particularly clear.

In fact - and, like, I'm trying to be generous here - Bruderman goes on to rant about political processes (which, okay?) and then starts yelling about a person named Meg Ryan (the actress?  He doesn't introduce her role well, but I think she's NuHealth's CEO) and the work she's done to - I think? - boost the financial situation of NUMC.

He literally opens a paragraph with, "While we're on the topic of Meg, What's your obsession with her?"

INTERESTING

The longer this letter goes on, the more insane it starts to sound.  This doesn't sound like a person begging for a reconciliation, it sounds like a person seeking to blame others.  Maybe he has good reason to?  I don't know, because he isn't explaining it very well.  Then again, maybe when he wrote it he didn't expect to have to make it public?  But, then, why the political posturing about Meg?

Honestly, it sounds like a bunch of Crybulling.  That's basically when you complain that you're a victim, but throw a bunch of accusations and attacks against those who you complain about and expect that you'll get your way when maybe there's more to it than that.

Okay.  So Bruderman's letter is...Unhelpful.  If I were grading it, it'd get at best a C-; and that depends on me knowing background information that wasn't well presented here.

On to another document, one I hope will do me better.

NuHealth's Press Release - It's...It's Bad, Y'all.

According to this press release from...

......Fuck, they don't have a date.  There's no date!  NO!  DATE!  Whoever this press person is?  In my own personal opinion, they need to be fired for gross incompetence.  You always date a press release.  Why?  Because some hack-job journalist (meee!) might stop by and have questions.

I feel like I can't even use this because I don't know what time it's referring to.  Like, do I really want to spend my limited time in this life reading documents that won't even tell me up-front what time period they're relevant to?

And you know what?  I tried.  I went back a page to their Press Release page.  I tried the 'ol Ctrl + F feature to MAYBE match a headline to an article and get a date.  And you know what I got?  Nothing!

So as far as I'm concerned, this press release may as well not have any context.

Basically put:  This article accuses New York State of withholding roughly one BILLION dollars.  But since I can't even find a date for it, I'm not reading through some poorly written schlock to find out specific details that, based on my first read, don't seem to really exist.

Sorry, but if you want your argument heard, do a halfway-decent job of presenting it.

Seriously.  You can reach out to me as a consultant.  I am available as a writer.  I don't even charge that much.

We're zero-for-two.  But I still have to try, don't I?  Consider what's next under protest.

The big takeaway I get from the article is that NUMC is lawyering up (HEY their demand letter is dated November 19th, 2024!!!) to sue New York State for inappropriately withheld money.  Yep?  Yep.  Got it.

Enough with this nonsense. Let's look at some independent reporting and cross-examine what we've got here versus what others are on about.

What News Agencies Are Saying

Let's start with the Long Island Herald's Jordan Vallone.  What a shock - he put a date on his article!  Amazing!  It's almost like you can just do that.

We're looking back to December 13th, 2024.

Vallone pretty much sums up what I've been able to piece together.  NUMC wants $1.06 billion plus interest because, basically, they were denied funds they were entitled to 

As per Vallone, Governor Kathy Hochul's Long Island Press Secretary, Gordon Tepper, said that Hochul is trying to work with Nassau on the issue of funding.  Sooooo nothing, because I know how Hochul operates (Warning:  Link is political - like even more than this mess), and that's Hochul-speak for "nothing."

  

But wait!  There's more!  Here's a December 11th, 2024 article by the Newsday Editorial Board.  It states that NUMC has debts of over $300,000,000 - yes, $300 million! - to the state.  The board attacks Bruderman's management, arguing that his aggressive approach is a "doesn't want you to know" one designed to keep your mind off the fact that the aforementioned Megan Ryan was hired in a questionable manner.  INTERESTING.

It's also interesting that, right after this article came out in Newsday, Nassau County switched its Paper of Record from Newsday to the New York Post.  Almost like the editorial board said something Blakeman didn't like, so he switched to a far-right rag?

Interesting.

So it seems like this fight is on a lot of levels.  NUMC is hiring people that apparently aren't qualified (like, sayyyy, Bruderman, himself?  Megan Ryan?  Maybe others?), is fighting these battles to some victories in court, and ultimately this is a dispute about who owes who money conducted by people who at least, on the surface, appear to be politically inclined.

I tried to find some kind of response letter from NYS DOH to NUMC, but I couldn't find one.  In fact, none of the State's replies to NUMC seem to be showing up. All I found was a much earlier letter dated May 16th, 2024, from Bruderman and Ryan replying to an un-findable letter from Commissioner James V. McDonald with...A lot of the stuff I really would have appreciated from them on the website set up to 'save' NUMC!  What?!  WHAT?!  What is this Kafkaesque madness!?

This information should be front-and-center with your appeal to the populace to save the hospital!  This is literally the first thing I looked for, and I had to do a random Google search to find letters SENT TO YOU to find one YOU sent to THEM (because why would NYS do any informing of its own!?  Under Hochul?  BWAHAWHA!) MONTHS ago?!

It's fucking dystopian.

Meanwhile, patients suffer from the lack of funding - and that's when political fights are supposed to end, and they haven't.

We need solutions, not bullshit.

So What Should Be Done?

Medicare For All, honestly.  Here's my write-up of that.  It'd solve this entire problem.

If not Medicare For All, then maybe the New York Health Act.  What a shock!  I've written about that, too!  It'd also solve this problem, and NYS Senator Jabari Brisport says there are more co-sponsors of the bill than votes needed.

But if we can't get an actually useful healthcare system in place to take care of sick people?  What should be done about the present situation?

Honestly, both sides need to shut the fuck up and sit down at a negotiating table.  We need to have a non-partisan committee of some healthcare experts (NOT insurance people, mind you - actual healthcare policy experts) sit down and figure out who owes what.

 - Was NUMC robbed?

 - How much does NUMC owe New York State when you consider what it was supposed to get versus what it has gotten?

 - What can be done immediately to ensure NUMC does not stop operating?

 - What can be done to ensure local control while also not allowing NUMC and its patients to be political footballs run by a big-ticket donor appointee with absolutely no relevant experience?

These are all questions I can't answer without hours upon hours of digging through documents.  My current word count is...1931 (Prior to revisions; it's gone up).

My hands hurt.  I have none of the documents I'd need to look at, such as budgets, contracts, and sections of law.  I wouldn't even know where to start, because I am not a healthcare expert.  I know about enough about healthcare to get through my personal and familial medical problems, including "Sitting in this chair is bad for my neck."

I'm a guy who isn't in either of the two big political parties (sorry, Dems; I left when so many of you abandoned Trans people - I guess I'm "Far Left," after all, even though I'm really just a European Center-Left guy).  

On one level, it's the same old politics, too:  Republicans are loud and shouting about everything not being 100% in their favor, and Democrats refusing to say anything at all because that MIGHT make them have to stick to a position and that's scary.

I'm just a guy who can read, who understands fundamentals, who asks questions, and who knows how to date a fucking document.  Which I guess means I'm better qualified than some of the people currently doing the job for NUMC, but, so can your average middle-school student, thus I've digressed.

But the bottom line is that this certainly appears, from every scrap of information I've been able to find so far, like a political fight where patients lose.  Hochul is her typical silent self - none of my searches for statements really turned much up from NYS's perspective.  In fact, as stated previously, they've only turned out more statements from NUMC that'd have actually been useful IF NUMC chose to use them to make their arguments instead of tirades and anger.

As for "Save NUMC?"

How about NUMC save itself by being less dumbassedly combative and more constructive?

How about Hochul do her job for a change (Although she seems to think that's giving hundreds of millions of dollars to billionaires for stadiums, so maybe she should delegate a professional) and actually be forthright with the people about the problem?

And how about we, the people, hold our electeds and unelecteds alike accountable by not letting partisan hacks get through primaries, and not voting for them if they do.

Jesse Pohlman is a recovering Social Studies and ELA Teacher from Freeport, NY.  He still lives in Nassau County and still cares deeply about those who are sick and unable to get healthcare.  He also thinks we need to take the profit motive out of healthcare.  Go figure.  His website is at the attached link, in case you want to read more.  He is most frequently found at his Bluesky account.

TWF 346: Public Hearing On Proposed Charter School: Thursday, August 22, 2024, 6:00 PM EST. Plus, my thoughts on the idea.

 

[EDIT:  I received some additional documentation, reported on below]

Hello, friends!

It's certainly been a while.  I was thrilled to get a chance to visit Freeport's second-annual Pride On The Mile event back in June, but I wasn't physically well enough to put an article about it together.  I just wanted to start with that belated shoutout because, well, they deserve it!

On to the star of today's article:  Maven Charter Academy School is interested in opening, well, a Charter School in Freeport, and I want to discuss that a little bit.

Now, before I say anything else:  I am biased on this issue.  I spent eight years working in public education.  Nearly five of them were spent as a Teaching Assistant at Freeport High School.  I am very big into public education, very confident in Freeport's academic strengths, and based on my experience in education, I am very hesitant to think that a charter school is going to do the best job it can with the resources its given.

With that out of the way, I want to encourage you to undertake all the possible research you can if this issue at all attracts your attention, because it is a community-redefining one.

For starters, here's a Freeport Public Schools public hearing flyer for you to peruse.  I'll have more to say after you look at it.

You don't necessarily have to have something to say to go to a public hearing, by the way.  You aren't required to speak.  You can go and listen.  Remember a decade and change ago, when myself and my sometimes co-conspirator Jason Bass would go to the Village of Freeport Board of Trustees meetings and take notes, then report back?

You can do this for yourself, or report it for others through your own publication, Facebook group, whatever.  Freeport School District meetings are (or at least used to be) usually easy to get in and out of, usually have plenty of seating, and are generally polite affairs.

I was also able to get a more detailed briefing for the meeting, along with some initial information on the School District website:

This letter stresses that the State University of New York's Charter Schools Institute, and the State Education Department itself, are deeply involved.  This document goes so far as to imply, if not directly state, that the final decision will be made by the SUNY Board of Trustees, and so how much actual say the Freeport Public Schools has over this issue is...Questionable?

I legitimately don't know.

Now, On To Maven.

One of the first things any parent considering where to send their school - or any citizen trying to evaluate a school - should do is research their website.

Maven does have a website laying out some of their plan, which is nice.  And, I'll be up-front about fairness:  They don't exactly have a school running yet, so I don't expect there to be too much information.  But let's see what they've got.

 - They say they provide Youtube content, but I can't find any that's clearly related to them.

 - Their "About" page is two paragraphs long with an invitation to reach out to find out more.

 - Their "Academics" page is one paragraph long with a few Eduspeak buzz-words and little concrete information.  There is a "Learn More" button on this page that does nothing so far as I can tell.

Of greater interest:  Their "Student Life" page has some actual information, if you know how to translate it out of Eduspeak.  Their thoughts about "Social Emotional Learning" are, though not detailed, at least the boiler-plate for what I'd expect a good school to be.  They talk about restorative justice as a cornerstone of discipline, which is a practice I'm familiar with and happen to think works well about 85% of the time.

Then it starts getting weird.

Maven Might Be Religious.

The commentary about "Emotional, Moral, and Ethical" development raises "spirituality," which I find incredibly dangerous.  Spirituality tied to moral and ethical growth?  Is this a religious school?

Well, I went looking around their site and didn't see much, so I hopped on their Twitter account and found, well...

And it gets...Less pleasant.

When trying to research who exactly was behind this project (because their website lacks details), I discovered this Long Island Herald article.

Maven's ringleader seems to be Craig Mercado, a former principal of - among other things - a religious school, St. Ephrem Catholic Academy.  All the talk about "classical education" I see on their website, plus those references to spirituality, plus those posts about doing information blitzes outside of churches and also the concerns about faith-based charters coming?

Add that to a religious educational background and you get me deeply suspicious that this would be a religious charter school.

I know Maven goes to great length to try to claim they don't take money from public schools, but that's obtuse at best.  "Charter school students are removed from public school enrollment, and the per-pupil funding for those students is then directed to the charter school. The community is paying the same cost for the child's education, and the local public school continues to be funded for every child it educates."

Not only is that still tax dollars going to what I can only assume, at this point, is a religious institution, but the idea that the Charter School is somehow going to pay for its own building and infrastructure, it's own material resources, and its own teachers - all without any taxpayer dollars - and turn around to make a profit based solely on average per-student expenditure?

Well, here's one way that Maven's other mastermind, Dr. Patrick Fogarty talks about achieving this pipe dream in his Long Island Herald article:  Using non-union labor.

In other words:  The plan is to provide teachers less job protection - and probably lower wages, since unions typically raise wages.  This means that the students get inferior teachers who are constantly fearful that their job could screw them over at any moment.  After all, that's what "lower overhead as far as teachers we hire" must mean, because how could you spend more money on a teacher that's got lower overhead?

The Bottom Line - It's A Bad Idea.

The goal of a charter school isn't student outcomes.  It's to turn a profit.

Supporters might argue, "If the school doesn't produce good outcomes, enrollment will fall off and it will fail!"  And, yes, it might.  But school results aren't super hard to fake, especially at the lower grade levels that Maven seems to be targeting.  There are some state-wide tests, of course, but a lot of that could be resolved simply by teaching students how to take the test, and not actually teaching them what they should be learning at those grade levels.

I know I'm not an elementary specialist, but I've worked in elementary classrooms.  It's not easy.  It's definitely not something you're going to want to do without a union to protect you if you rub your principal the wrong way.  You're not gonna wanna put as much effort in when you find out that you don't have the same kinds of retirement, health care, and compensation packages that your union teacher at the public school has.  I know because I've talked to Charter school teachers who have felt this way.

Never mind that this school seems awfully shady when it comes to whether or not its a religious institution, talking about "spirituality" and the unleashing of faith-based charter schools, but not clearly delineating a particular faith, and also not clearly delineating that it is non-faith-based.

The truth is, there's not enough information available about what these guys want to do:  And if you're heading into public comment to try to get public school money to pay for your private profits?  And you don't have enough information for curious readers to decide?  When you aren't clear if you'd just be accepting Freeport students, or if you'd also accept from nearby communities?  When you don't even seem to have a shortlist of locations to actually build your school in a Village that doesn't exactly have the most prime real estate available?

I would be strongly against this.

-----ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CAME IN-----

I managed to get hold of a bunch of documentation regarding this school.  I found this page particularly disturbing.

"While not explicitly stated," they are aligning with Catholic school values.

This is a Catholic school in disguise.

Jesse Pohlman is a recovering teacher, sci-fi/fantasy author, and the publisher of The Weekly Freeporter, which is no longer Weekly nor a Freeporter's perspective, but rather an occasional former Freeporter's take on topics that generally go broader than just the Village.

TWF 345: Nassau County Bans Masks In The Name Of Safety, Makes County Less Safe

 Hello, friends,

As per the NY Civil Liberties Union, as well as many other sources, Nassau County has passed a ban on wearing any form of face covering.  There are supposedly medical and/or religious exemptions to this, but those are reportedly unclear and vague.

Friends, let me tell you:  For the chronically ill, for those who are headed to or from a doctors' office, for those who will be in a confined space with strangers?  Masks are a lifeline that allows them to participate in public life with less fear of getting sick and dying.

Now, those people may be subject to fines and possibly - I am not kidding - a fucking YEAR of imprisonment.

Just a month ago, our usually-inept governor issued a warning that CoVID infections were once again on the rise.  Thus, our county's ban flies in the face of basic public health.

The rationale I keep hearing is "public safety."  The idea that everyone on the street must be identifiable so that crooks can't hide who they are.

I may not love our governor, but she's right to warn us that CoVID is still a serious threat.  I may not choose to mask under most circumstances, but I damn sure don't believe in taking that right away from others. Should our police really be playing "Check people wearing a mask for a doctors' note"?  Is that what you want our tax money spent on?

I promise you this much:  At least once, while a cop is harassing someone over their mask, a real crime will be committed that they could have stopped.  And that'll be on the cop for enforcing the stupid law, the legislature for passing the stupid law, and county executive Bruce Blakeman for signing the stupid law.

Because it seems like our county doesn't give a damn if innocent immunocompromised people die.  They just want to watch those peoples' face as they choke down their last agonizing breath.

This ban needs to be overturned, and people need to speak out about it.

TWF 344: Lego At The Library!

Hey all,

Been a while.  Hoping to make it to Pride On The Mile this year (June 15th I believe), but in the meantime I just had to share this.

After all, I am a huge Lego fan.  I just wish there were more opportunities.

TWF 343: Hurricane Lee Isn't Quite Coming to Town

 Hello, friends,

This is a short update to let you know that Hurricane Lee is in the neighborhood, this weekend.

I've found Ryan Hall to be a pretty good meteorologist to listen to.  His prediction is that Hurricane Lee will pass Long Island to the east.  It'll push a lot of water our way.  I was listening to another meteorologist talking about how we aren't likely to get rain or super-heavy wind, but we will experience a pretty severe high tide that might, I suspect, flood parts of the south shore of Long Island.

That means South Freeport might flood, too.

Image courtesy of Accuweather

I was unable to find anything on the Freeport website or the Facebook page for the Office of Emergency Management about predicted impacts, so maybe it won't be that big a deal, but it's still worth being weather-wise.

Jesse Pohlman is a sci-fi/fantasy author and part-time journalist who occasionally publishes The Weekly Freeporter when there's important news like hurricane information.  You can find his website here if you're interested in a fantastical adventure of some kind.

TWF 342: Sparkle On Stage At The Esplanade On Thursday, 8/17/2023, at 7:00 PM!

Hello, friends!

This is just a quick signal boost about the Long Island Arts Council and its partnership with Sparkle On Stage to put on the original musical 'Woof!'  If you're in the area and especially if the weather is good, I hope you can make it to the 7:00 PM showing at the Nautical Mile Esplanade.

The Weekly Freeporter is no longer a weekly production, but it gets broken out when a good cause can use a signal boost.  Jesse Pohlman is an author born and raised in Freeport; you can check out his sci-fi/fantasy novels and other projects here at his website.

TWF 341 - Some Randall Park & Lifeguarding Stories

 Hello, friends,

It’s summer-time, and the other day, as I sometimes do I, was driving around south Freeport where I spent thirty years of my life.  My plan was simple:  To swing by Randall Park and say hello to any of my old lifeguard friends who might be working there.  For those who are new to The (once-)Weekly Freeporter, I was a lifeguard for the Village for, give or take, twenty years.

It was, surprisingly for 3:30, closed, with what looked like maintenance work in-progress.

That’s got me feeling like telling some of my stories today.  Nothing too crazy, just some of the experiences I had.

To begin with:  I grew up two blocks away from Randall.  I didn’t go there too often as a child (I did a lot of swimming at the Rec on swim teams), but I started lifeguarding primarily at Randall when I was 16 years old.  It is, by and large, a wonderful thing for the community to have a local pool.  Freeport has two such facilities besides the Rec Center:  Randall at the mouth of the Nautical Mile, and Martin Luther King Jr. Park up on Stevens Street.  I’ve worked at both, and both are fantastic resources that by-and-large have nice people that visit.

Randall Park, photo by the Village.  I know it's not the pool area, but it's a big Randall Park sign!

Swim Lessons At The Rec

Some of the best were my times as a Water Safety Instructor (WSI) for the Rec.  I had a practice mostly oriented towards adults.  I taught a few years worth of the Wednesday night Adult Swim classes, but I also did private lessons where I primarily taught adults - many of whom were terrified of the water.

You see, here’s the thing:  When my mom was a kid, she was pushed into water over her head and nearly drowned.  For the rest of her life, she never went into water above her knees.  She never learned to swim, even when I became a swimmer.

Her story was not unique.  I came across many adults who were afraid of various swimming components.  Some were comfortable going into water they could stand in, but couldn’t put their faces in the water.  Others were trickier, being afraid to get in the pool altogether.

It takes a lot of time to get people to trust the water.  My usual method was to let the student hold on to my arm when putting their face in the water.  Oftentimes, this resulted in them clamping down on my arm.  This, in turn, meant that there were definitely days at which I went home to my wife with fingernail wounds.

That was always fun.

I also have to give a shout-out to my time not so much with the Village, but with the Freeport Schools (who I TA’d for) as the assistant boys swim team coach.  I got to watch a whole generation of Freeport lifeguards start as swim-team kids, some of whom were hardly able to swim, and help them elevate their skills so that they could not just compete, but make a bit of cash as lifeguards.  I’m still in contact with a lot of swim team folks.

As a side-note:  I believe that between her work as the head for aquatics at the Rec Center and her role as the head swim team coach for many years, the Rec Center pool should be named in honor of Carole Murphy.  She was an amazing boss, an excellent coach, and an all-around cool person to know.

The Scariest Day Of My Career

I won’t go into too much detail about this, but even though about 90% of lifeguarding is just sitting back in a shade-umbrella and watching a pool, maybe while twirling a whistle, there are emergencies.  They can be all sorts of unnerving - sometimes bloody, sometimes heat-related, sometimes fall-related.

The scariest day of my career, one of the scariest in my life, happened when I was at Randall.  I was patrolling the deck when I observed a woman floating face-down, someone who hadn’t been there thirty seconds ago.  I blew three whistles - our code, at the time at least, for “I need a backboard” - and leaped into action.  I rolled her over with training long-ingrained in my muscle memory, and I threw up a prayer (a successful one, I suppose) that I could observe her breathing.

I will never forget her eyes - she was unconscious, but her eyes were open, staring at the sky, absent.

We put her on the backboard while EMS was on its way.  She regained consciousness as we lifted her out of the water and was clearly terrified. I can’t honestly say I know what happened to her because information doesn’t usually flow back down to us, and what we get are often just rumors.  But we know she survived.  We know that on that day, everyone worked to keep her alive, and we succeeded.

So the next time you see a lifeguard just chilling in a chair ‘doing nothing,’ just remember that somewhere else there’s a lifeguard saving a life.

Filter Follies And Rain Days

Of course, a pool is only as safe as the water is clean.  By and large, Randall (and MLK) are clean pools, but filters are hard to operate.  I received a decent amount of training on how they work.  I know how the water traveled through the pipes, I know how to clean and maintain the waffles in the vat, and I know how to shovel chlorine tablets into a chlorinator, usually without accidental inhalation of anything unpleasant.

With that said, as far back as when I was a kid, there were days when the filters simply would not work.  These situations often led to relatively easy days where one or both pools were closed and our job was to stand by in case of some kind of medical emergency in the park - or, at the very least, there was a lessened demand on our attention with one pool closed, and we got a little extra time away from the sun.

Of course, sometimes this led to patrons getting agitated - and I can't blame them! As much 'fun' as it might have been to be on standby, many of us like our days to be 'the usual day' for better or worse, and unusual days can be good or bad. We get it, we're lifeguards because so many of us grew up in the water and we like to swim, so we sympathize. We just can't help that sometimes old filters don't hold up.

But I’ll never forget the rainy days, the days where we knew there’d be a few hours where we were going to be closed while thunderstorms filled the sky.  We hung out in the office.  Back in the day - in the early 2000’s - we had someone bring in a portable TV to watch. This was a time before cell phones had touch-screens.  Other times, we played board games (Risk and Monopoly were favorites), and we imagined what it would be like if we suddenly had to face a zombie invasion.

Zombies were popular at the time, you see.

All This To Say

Lifeguarding is a great ‘starter job’ for young people to learn responsibility.  You can start saving lives as early as 16.  But it’s a hard job, too.  Sitting outside in hundred-degree heat is draining even if you’re in the shade.  Training and staying in shape for the job is difficult (I resigned in large part because my neck issues became overwhelming).  The easy times seem easy, but the hard times require quick decision making to save a life.

That's training that can last - and start! - a lifetime.

I picked up the Long Island Herald at my dad’s house and I saw that Freeport was talking about how it’s police department had expanded and promoted officers.  I recognized a name on the list of promoted officers and I smiled to myself because I knew that man when he was a youngster.  He wasn’t always the best behaved of the bunch, either, being a little sneaky-sneak with his cell phone once upon a time!  But he turned out to be a good dude, and last I saw him we had a nice chat.

And he’s not the only one I’ve known who has gone into either policing, fire-departmenting, or EMS work.  Many lifeguards use lifeguarding as a starter job for a career in public service, either as first-responders or in some other capacity.  Many others, like myself, become teachers and lifeguard as a summer job while educating during the rest of the year.  It’s like public service was a calling to most of us.

But at the end of the day, the vast majority of lifeguards at the Rec are young folks who are charged with no less a task than saving lives in an emergency.  Whether they’ve been there two decades like I was, or a few weeks like the young man who was second in the water on the day that woman I talked about nearly died, they deserve to get paid well, to be taken care of, and to get respect.

I hope that happens. With that said:

It’s my understanding that contract negotiations are rapidly approaching, and I hope the Village will consider that those young people who are just getting their start in civil service could use a fair paycheck for a fair day’s work. I won't lie - it was widely known that our salary was some of the lowest in the county.

The world is only getting hotter - Last week it hit new record highs - and Freeport is not immune from the weather. Yes, we're on an island where there's some breeze and air exchange, but it still gets hot.  Freeport needs as many lifeguards as it can get, and higher salaries will make sure that when the mercury is high, the pools are open and ready to cool residents and outsiders alike down.

Thanks for reading The Weekly Freeporter.  Jesse Pohlman is a sci-fi/fantasy author from Freeport.  You can check his novels out at his website.