In a city where pretty much everything is already political, New York City firefighters are being called out for daring to express their dislike of Attorney General Letitia James.
Members of the FDNY are being told to “come forward” after they reportedly booed James and chanted former President Donald Trump’s name during a promotion ceremony. The firefighters will need to be “educated” according to officials at the department who have made it clear that there is a double standard when exercising freedom of speech.
It’s hypocritical that they are looking for the FDNY that booed Leticia James and chanted “Trump” repeatedly while the 2020 Summer of Love rioters and looters were just exercising their 1st Amendment rights according to these same democrats pic.twitter.com/ofQdp67WuG
— • ᗰISᑕᕼIᗴᖴ • (@4Mischief) March 11, 2024
Video footage from the ceremony at the Christian Cultural Center’s Brooklyn Campus in Starrett City last week shows James, who brought a civil lawsuit against Trump, not getting a warm welcome as she took the podium.
NEW: Letitia James gets booed at an FDNY ceremony in New York City, drowned out with chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
PATRIOTS pic.twitter.com/FlKV6N7glw
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) March 7, 2024
“Oh, come on. We’re in a house of God. First, simmer down,” James told the crowd. “Thank you for getting it out of your system.”
Her remarks were momentarily drowned out at one point when the audience began chanting, “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
The FDNY firefighters who booed NY AG Letitia James will be punished and face reeducation.
FDNY firefighters are now being asked to turn themselves in or risk being hunted down.
Memos and emails from the Uniformed Fire Officers Association (UFOA) & Uniformed Firefighters… pic.twitter.com/pBq8DccGf8
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 9, 2024
“James was invited to speak at the event to honor her friend, The Rev. Pamela Holmes, who was being sworn in as the department’s second female chaplain, and the first Black woman to hold that title,” according to the New York Post.
Now, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is reportedly “hunting down” those who expressed themselves, according to the newspaper which reported that FDNY Chief of Department John Hodges revealed the department’s Bureau of Investigation and Trials is looking into the matter.
Appointed by Mayor Adams. How bout that. Don’t make those “job related ceremonies” political, right? How’d that go at the ceremony for his police chief? Graphical communist manifesto.
What a fucking disgrace NYC has become. pic.twitter.com/FMEht6zvh5
— Theo Jordan (@Theo_TJ_Jordan) March 11, 2024
“BITS is investigating this, so they will figure out who the members are,” Hodges reportedly wrote in an email Saturday to FDNY chiefs.
“I recommend they come forward. I have been told by the commissioner it will be better for them if they come forward and we don’t have to hunt them down,” he said in the message obtained by The Post.
“The [deputy chiefs] shall direct the captain of the company to make a list of those who come forward and send it directly to [FDNY operations]. I realize members might not come forward but they should know that there is clear video of the entire incident and they will be contacted by BITS if they don’t,” Hodges directed.
The Post reported that the deputy chiefs were given a list of “talking points” that noted, “We want the members to come forward. They will come to headquarters to be educated why their behavior is unacceptable.”
Brooklyn native and retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz called the move simply “unconstitutional.”
“Firefighters have an absolute constitutional right to boo the attorney general, and the government has no power to punish them for it,” he told The Post. “So efforts to get the names of the booers is an effort by the government to chill free speech and is unconstitutional.”
A retired member of the FDNY blasted the department’s “political stunt.”
“It was a political stunt for the city to have the AG there. When it backfired, they sent their fascist pit bulls after guys for exercising their First Amendment rights,” he told the newspaper. “Most were off-duty and not in FDNY uniform.”
Why was Leticia James speaking at the FDNY promotion ceremony in the 1st place?
They attempted to make the FDNY promotion ceremony political, and it backfired.
Now they’re mad.
Too damn bad!! https://t.co/V5j3OfDiph
— NURSE VQN (@NurseVqn) March 10, 2024
A firefighters union warned members that the department is in “possession of video footage of the event” and is coming after them.
“As part of this discussion, questions may be asked to specific UFOA members over their actions or their recollections,” the union message read.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis accused James of “trying to burn down our justice system” and told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that the FDNY “is calling her out on it.”
Attorney General Letitia James has been setting our justice system on fire, and members of the @FDNY called her out.
Our country affords us the freedom of speech whether Democrats like it or not. pic.twitter.com/mcgJzajExM
— Office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (@RepMalliotakis) March 11, 2024
A spokesman for the FDNY defended the investigation but denied anyone was being hunted down.
“Nobody is hunting anyone down. We’re looking into those who clearly broke department regulations,” Jim Long said. “It has nothing to do with politics. It’s about professionalism at an official event held in a house of worship.”
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Author: Frieda Powers
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