After Evaluating Terror Threat, Authorities Move To Protect Area Golf Courses; On Lookout For Something With Feathers That Likes To Shit On The Green At 14

“Al Qaeda Terror Threat Looking More Like a ‘Goose Chase'”:

A possible Al Qaeda plot to launch an attack during the 10th anniversary weekend of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is “looking more and more like a goose chase,” a senior U.S. official told Fox News on Saturday.

Federal authorities have been questioning all day the credibility of a tip from a previously reliable source that that Al Qaeda had planned to attack Washington or New York, putting though both cities on high alert.

But authorities have not been able to corroborate any of the information from the source.

“The threat is looking less and less credible,” the official said, adding that the entire plot as outlined by the source “doesn’t seem feasible.”

“The time frame doesn’t make sense for when these operatives would have been moving into position,” the official said. “We are going back to the original source. The president will be briefed on it again in the morning, but people are questioning the credibility of this information at this time. Something is not adding up.”

It’s Broke . . . And Do We Really Have To Fix It?

Maybe you were wondering how toll takers got into real estate . . . and why this makes any sense . . . and how no one can do anything about it . . . and then The Times’ Joe Nocera really poops in the punchbowl in the weeks leading up to the tenth anniversary of 9/11:

But despite the shroud of patriotism that its supporters have always cloaked it in, it’s really just a big, fancy office building. An office building with such poor economics that it will soak New Jersey and New York commuters for decades to come. An office building only the government could love.

Lately, supporters of the project have begun saying that its economics have improved. They point to the fact that Condé Nast, the publishing giant, has agreed to be the anchor tenant. What they fail to point out is that Condé Nast’s rent is less than half the break-even cost of the 1 million square feet it will occupy. In other words, a company that publishes high-end magazines aimed at rich people will be getting an enormous government subsidy for the foreseeable future.

And who will be paying for that subsidy? The mailroom attendants who use the Lincoln Tunnel to get to work. The middle-class New Jersey-ites who use the George Washington Bridge. The firefighters and police officers who live in Staten Island. Thus, in the name of 9/11, does New York and New Jersey place another economic burden on the already overburdened middle class. How sad.

Get This Guy The Fuck Out Of Here Not Soon Enough

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a positive program — I’m sure it could be a positive program, but I don’t really care whether it’s a positive program. The key thing is that somehow in a time of severe fiscal austerity the city is paying $70 million for a program that all of the sudden happens just because the mayor himself gives $30 million to do it. Am I missing something? Isn’t this kind of insane? Is it kind of like now that there’s apparently no chance to be president he just wants to shoot the moon in terms of making the city his own philanthropic blank slate? Doesn’t anyone care? Oh well whatever nevermind:

To pay for the [$130 million] endeavor in a time of fiscal austerity, the city is relying on an unusual source: Mr. Bloomberg himself, who intends to use his personal fortune to cover about a quarter of the cost, city officials said. A $30 million contribution from Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation would be matched by that of a fellow billionaire, George Soros, a hedge fund manager, with the remainder being paid for by the city.

Plant First, Ask Questions About Pruning Later

Because what are you going to do, uproot them afterward? Bloomberg apparently has adopted another Robert Moses tactic. And Tony Avella has a knack for this kind of story:

Mayor Bloomberg bristled when asked about the tree pruning issues.

“We could cut all of the services and devote 100% of our resources to tree pruning — I’m not sure that that’s the smartest thing to do,” he said.

Homeboy’s So Proud, He Finally Got The Video Proof!

You suspected it was a problem, and now there’s video proof:

. . . [T]he Taxi and Limousine Commission sent out “secret shoppers” — actually Baruch College students, in this case — to try their luck at cadging rides to what are impolitely called the outer boroughs.

Several shoppers succeeded in their mission, which is to say, they did not succeed in persuading the cabbies to take them where they said they wanted to go.

“Make no mistake,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at the news conference accompanying the video release. “If you want to hail a cab, New York City cabdrivers are required by law to take you to any destination in New York City. Period. End of story. Every person who puts a hand in the air to hail a cab deserves to be treated the same.”

And then they attack:

The cabdriver, Mohammed Azam, 27, suggested they drive to a nearby police precinct station, Precinct 18 Midtown North on West 54th Street, to ask if he did, in fact, have to take the men to the Bronx. The police said they told him that he did, but when the men went back outside, police officials said, the driver hit two of them with his cab at the corner of West 54th Street and Eighth Avenue.