The progression of moral fortitude in the US, generally, is historical fiction. For example, a sanitized backgrounder by ABC news accompanies promotion of Ava "Artistic License Thwarted in Selma" DuVernay premiere broadcast. It will become award-winning trash supplanting the pulp made of Fruitvale's fatally flawed black martyr, for example, which has not disturbed the scripture of Harper Lee in the annals of neurotic redemption and cos-play.

I was living in NYC in 1989. Weeks of hysteria were difficult to ignore then or ignore today. As it happens, I reminisced with another NYC 'fugee (Poor People campaigner near 20 years my senior) over lunch the other day. We agree, the opprobium now heaped on Trump's profile at the time is misplaced and disingenuous. The Story of Trump's Ad materializes now instead of, say, 2002 absolves rather than exonerates picaresque journeys of NYC tourists unwilling to grasp a simple truth: Trump's burlesque role in "society" gossip pages --among other symbols of nouveau riche incontinence-- titillated New Yorker subscribers from a distance for 40 years. The jury was never charged. An ensemble (Tawana & The Preppie Killer animated a sub-thread of venal excess which they never tired of until the cretin Tarantino's "virtual integration" of film noir in L.A. years later.

Locally the yella sheets --including the tabloid NYT-- concocted a daily gin of race-baiting and financial crime (also 1989) for strap hangers, as was the custom since god made dirt, frankly, to dispose all mayors. At the time three-term Ed "How am I doin'" Koch days were numbered. Hold that thought. Retcon 2019 delivers short shrift to the antagonistic métier of the Naked City.

Koch was succeeded, not coincidentally, by Dave Dinkins. The mild-mannered Dinkins' appearance in the epic cycle of "retail" politics was immediately cast by local press as ineffectual despite his competent performance portraying a pivotal-proto-post-racial-appeaser (first and only BLACK mayor). He was succeeded by the golum f* Giuliani, who viciously campaigned on restoration of law and order and eventually assumed the crown, "America's Mayor", until Wall St. recruited a replacement to avert another demagogue. Three-term Bloomberg deflected the heat from customary, sciencey "racial profiling" back on golum f*'s police commissioners. Sadly, the pendulum of Panic ushered a trend in "criminology" to which the doyenne Fairstein rode to its ignominious end in "transactional" value. The preceding events should put her supporting role in Retcon 2019 in perspective. The answer is: Her useful life coincided with the rise of the second pivotal-post-racial-appeaser de Blasio.

Sufficient popular demand warranted continuous publication of Fairstein's purient literary specialty --sex and crime drama subjects. Fairstein retired from the DA in 1991 to pursue lucrative, artistic projects, the article notes. Besides "writing", Fairstein could easily have secured a retainer as "technical consultant" on production of, say, Law and Order (1990-2010) franchise, of which "Law and Order: SVU" (Special Victims Unit) 1999-present, which was/is shot on location in NYC.

Undoubtedly, too, contractual obligations between the parties specified that Fairstein produce a number of titles for the duration of her contract. Which is to say, no incentive for the publisher to cancel buy-out, release, or litigate the contract existed until liability appeared to exceed benefit of her local notoriety. At which point, say, declining sales or breach or hidden defense costs triggered some lengthy settlement arbitration between the parties. (Add 10 years)

Mystery solved.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Duly noted: Queens Democrats Veer ["]Left["] in Prosecutor Primary Race

Defeating the Democratic Party machine, defense attorney Tiffany Cabán landed one step closer Tuesday to fundamentally reshaping criminal justice in Queens [NY county, NYC borough]. The insurgent candidate for [NY] district attorney wants to end the drug war and decriminalize sex  work [BWAH!] in a borough known for the harsh prosecution of petty crimes.

Have I mentioned Staten Island lately? Borough "enclave"? "Amazon of" city unions? heh

In choosing Cabán, Queens Democrats issued a mandate for a radical departure from the policies of late Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, a tough-on-crime prosecutor who died in May at the age of 86.

hmm

Cabán vowed to swap these traditions for those progressive prosecutors such as Philadelphia's Larry Krasner

UPDATE 3 May 2009

running on a platform of reducing mass incarceration and eliminating racial injustice in law enforcement.

In many ways Cabán has gone farther than her predecessors, though, with her slate of ambitious proposals. She has called for prosecuting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for civil rights abuses in a borough whose population is larger than six states and includes immigrants from more than 100 nations.

wikiwtf map is kind of useless, if you're wondering about you-know-who. FYI: Long Island City isn't in NY-14. Name places roughly indicate municipal subdivisions (NYC council districts, 51 total). And the highway boundaries are a better fit with prevailing economic pain points.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.