Rock Hackshaw's blog

THE ROAD TO CITY HALL (Part Two)

After I wrote the first part to this column, I received a call from someone claiming that I must have known Anthony Weiner was contemplating a run for mayor; prior to writing said column. I did not. Later, I heard over the radio- I think it was on WINS/1010AM- that some firm was “push-polling” for Weiner at two positions: mayor and city comptroller. To me, the implications of this new information appear to be this: Tony is seriously looking at some kind of city-wide run this year.



JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING VOTERS SHOULD THINK ABOUT: FOR THOSE BRAVE SOULS ON THE “ROAD TO CITY HALL”

It’s been exactly three months since I last submitted a column to my editors for publishing. This is the longest hiatus (by far) I have taken in the past 8 years writing on the blogs. Let’s just say that some of life’s challenges had me on the run for a moment; so I took a time-out.  Let me acknowledge those of you who took the time to contact me just to enquire about my health and wellbeing. It’s nice to know that my columns are appreciated worldwide.


THIS IS WHAT THE TALKING (and writing) HEADS OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA WOULDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT THE UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

I start this column with exactly two weeks to go until the election. The debates ended tonight (thank God, or who, or whatever). Pollsters are now destroying their fingers and credibilities. Canvassers are becoming Jehovah-witness- like nuisances, with their incessant door-knocking and bell-ringing. Fundraisers are begging credit-card holders for as little as three dollars a clip. E-mails from Obama and his minions are flooding my inbox.


A COLUMN FOR EVERYONE INTERESTED IN THE OUTCOME OF NEXT MONTH’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

I start this column in New York City. It’s three o’clock on the morning of a public holiday we celebrate in this city: Columbus Day. It’s only fitting that I write this column today since it deals with a simple but profound prediction: Mitt Romney has no chance of winning next month’s presidential race. He will be soundly defeated. This is a general election that has been over long before the primaries started: contrary to all the media hype of it being a close race. 



NOTE TO THE VOTERS: ABE GEORGE FOR BROOKLYN’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY.

A few years ago I wrote a column positing that all five district attorneys in New York City should be term limited to twelve years. It was simply an extension of my thesis that ALL elected officials in New York (federal, state, city/local) should be term-limited accordingly. There is no need for me to revisit the many arguments for term limits that have been made in this city since way before 1991. Three referendums have shown overwhelming voter support for the proposition.


A PEEP AT OBAMA’S 2016 DILEMMA

For almost two years now, I have been writing columns telling you that Mitt Romney will handily lose this upcoming presidential election.  So I am moving beyond that now: it’s a “fait accompli” in my book. Romney is -and has always been- as horrible a candidate as any the republicans could have nominated. There are much better presidential candidates in the Republican Party. Most of the good ones chose not to run this time around.



COUNTDOWN (Part Two): WITH A DEEPER LOOK INTO THE CHRIS BANKS v. INEZ BARRON RACE

Since I had some unfinished business relative to Thursday’s primaries, I thought I would do another pertinent column. Here is the big story: sources are saying that Chris Banks can upset assembly woman Inez Barron (60AD) in East New York.  I am told that Chris got around 1500 votes two years ago as a judicial delegate candidate (without lifting a finger). Is that an epic of things to come this year?


COUNTDOWN TO THURSDAY’S PRIMARIES (SOME SURPRISES HERE

It’s Monday morning (09-10-2012) as I start this column. Hopefully it will be published before Thursday’s primary elections. This year’s primary is being held on Thursday 13th September, 2012. The reason is simple: avoid the “09-11” clash with all its painful reminders. I have been told that in the future, New York will hold federal, state and local primaries in June: starting next year with the city council elections.


NOTE TO THE BROOKLYN VOTERS: YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.

Although I haven’t written much lately, my focus as a political-journalist remains the same: to educate voters in the hope that they would eventually make the right choices; especially in Brooklyn’s elections. The politics of Kings County is as stale and stinking, as a week-old patty sitting in the rusty showcase of some fledgling Caribbean-American bakery on Flatbush Avenue.



BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA v. WILLARD MITT ROMNEY: BORING ME TO TEARS

After 8 summers writing about politics on these here blogs (websites), my fans are encountering my least productive season. Some of them have reached out to me for the reasons why, and I have facilitated with genuine answers: a combination of dealing with quite a few adverse personal issues; plus the fact that politics has started to become boring to me: after a lifetime of community involvement, political activism and academic pursuit in this area (mainly but not entirely).  



THE COLUMN OF THE YEAR FOR BROOKLYN POLITICS

Primary elections for federal offices were held in Brooklyn last week: no big thing. Turnout was tepid as usual. Nothing new; just more blue(s). The regular political hustlers made a couple dollars hassling voters outside polling sites; and that’s always entertaining. A few consultants made an early-vacation exit with smiling faces and bulging pockets: and that too is always entertaining (and expected). Winners told jokes heartily; and losers -along with their supporters- used expletives at random. 



CHARLES BARRON v. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: NOT MUCH OF A CONTEST; IS IT?

I really didn’t want to touch this race; however, some of my advisors convinced me to say something about it or be branded a chicken/lol. 

You see near every time I write something about Charles Barron I get these strange (and often inane) calls or e-mails, from different folks with different strokes.  And it doesn’t matter if I write something critical or something positive. They are out there and they are watching. 



AN UNTIMELY POLITICAL FAUX-PAS

Ostensibly there are very few people willing to say the obvious: that relative to recent political events dealing with the issue of “same-sex marriage” (or “marriage-equality” as others label it), Joe Biden and Barack Obama both messed up. And in my estimation they messed up big time. 



A BROOKLYN POLITICAL LOVE STORY: THE QUEEN IS GONE; LONG LIVE THE QUEEN.

I was out of the country for a couple weeks and because of this I missed the passing and funeral of a political friend and activist-ally: Jenny Ortiz-Bowman. Those of us who knew her well called her “The Queen”.  I knew of her long before I formally met her and worked with her in 1996. She was one of the many colorful people who played the Brooklyn political theater in the last half-century. 



ATTORNEY TERRY HINDS FORMALLY ANNOUNCES CHALLENGE TO ASSEMBLYMAN NICK PERRY

Last night on a Brooklyn Cable Access Television (BCAT) program, attorney Terry Hinds formally announced his challenge to Assemblyman Nick Perry, for Brooklyn’s 58th assembly district. The date for this year’s state primary elections is still not known; but rumors abound that we will have an August election-date instead of the usual post-Labor Day September-primary. Jamaican-born Nick Perry has been the elected representative here since 1992, and has only faced three primary challenges during his long tenure.


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