Recommended Reading, December 29, 2024

Robert Cox

30 Dec 2024 — 6 min read

Time is running out…

D-DAY FOR FREE ACCOUNTS IS THIS TUESDAY: Free Accounts end in 2 DAYS (12/31/2024). This is the final newsletter for those subscribers who do not upgrade to a paid account.

As of January 1, 2025, I will only allow access to paid subscribers — either a BASIC subscription ($5.00 a year) or a PREMIUM subscription ($7.00 a month or $70.00 a year). For those remaining with Free accounts, now is the time to choose a paid account option. Skim to the bottom for details.

DUBLIN, IRELAND (December 29, 2024) — Let me start by wishing readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukah and a Happy New Year. It has been quite a year for covering corruption, so there may not be enough lumps of coal to go around.

I should probably write a year-in-review article, but I am up to my eyeballs in a new Thimblerig story that has opened up a new can of worms: Kingdom Community Consultants, LLC (“KCC”). Created in 2021, this is essentially the business arm of Generations Church, Mark McLean and the Mott family. As usual, I was stonewalled on my FOIL. On December 10, I was sent 1,438 pages of public records. It has taken a while to go through these pages, line by line, wrap my head around the material, and distill out a narrative, so readers can follow along. This is the work you pay me for: I grind it out, taking all the threats and abuse, so you can know what government officials do not want you to know.

It is now apparent to me that the City of New Rochelle’s dealings with KCC are rife with waste, fraud, and abuse — conflicts of interest, workers comp fraud, six-figure unsigned contracts, violations of the City Charter (up-front money on contracts, procurement policy/bidding and RFPs, nepotism, non-discrimination policy), and violations of New York State Law (GML, non-discrimination law), and violations of the state and federal constitution, and violations of the terms of the contracts, with at least $904,271 paid to KCC from 2021 to 2024 (and I am not sure if there is not more).

For the bulk of that money ($830,271.04), there is no supporting documentation for the invoices. I have gone back to Dawn Warren to either get a statement that there are no supporting documents (which means the City paid out hundreds of thousands dollars in violation of the City Charter which requires supporting documentation) or to provide them even if that means demanding KCC produce them (which means Dawn lied in her decision on my FOIL Appeal).

The KCC tale goes in many directions. I am still waiting on records. I am going to proceed with what I have for now. This story is shaping up to be a multipart arc within the Thimblerig series, and I am following the old newspaper adage, “go with what you know”.

On another note, as I mentioned last week, I have been testing generative AI videos with Flicki.ai and posting to my “new” TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkofthesound

The videos are getting about 100 plays each on TikTok, one got over 800. The account is newly in use with just 15 followers, so those are decent numbers.

Not surprisingly, those same videos are doing much better on Facebook, where I have been at it longer and have more followers, so plays are 200 to 1,000 per video.

On Instagram, the plays are between 375 and 1,100.

There is no good way to present stats on plays per video on X, but I can in the analytics it is about 100 to 200 plays per video.

Overall, that is about 1,500 plays on TikTok, about 3,500 plays on Facebook, about 5,500 plays on Instagram, and about 1,200 on X or about 12,000 plays across all social media. I cannot see any data to support it, but I have to believe I am reaching a new audience with these videos.

That is a good enough start to interest me. Unfortunately, in the learning process, I burned through 80% of my monthly credits allotment in the process. I can only do several more this month before my monthly limit resets. A key driver of this effort will to be efficient enough to make this cost-effective.

FYI. #7 Notre Dame v #2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl is on from 1:45 am to 5:45 am Dublin time. So that I can enjoy a “live” experience of the game on DVR when I wake up on January 2, my phone will be switched off when I go to bed on New Year’s Day. Do not call!

Go Irish!

Content Only for Premium Subscribers

Content for All Paid Subscribers

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part XVI

Content for Everyone

Articles from Words in Edgewise, Talk of the Sound and Elsewhere on the Web.

New Rochelle to Ring in 2025 with NYE Kick-Off Party

Kwanzaa community event held in New Rochelle

New Rochelle Public Library Joins Digital Navigators Program to Boost Digital Access

Marc Jacobs Life in Rye

Trump Nominates Emil Michael, ‘89 New Rochelle High School Grad, for Defense Undersecretary Role

New Rochelle Police Arrest Suspect in Disturbing Animal Cruelty Case

Police Department Investigates Carjacking Incident

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part I

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part II

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part III

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part IV

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part V

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part VI

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part VII

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part VIII

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part IX

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part X

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part XI

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part XII

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part XIII

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part XIV

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part XV

The New Rochelle Thimblerig — Part XVI

Sustainable Westchester 2024 Contract: 10 Part-Series

Three Reasons Why Sustainable Westchester Should be Indicted for Criminal Fraud

Links to Sustainable Westchester Articles

CROWDSOURCING PROJECT: Help Document NO votes on Sustainable Westchester

Sustainable Westchester Body Count

Why Upgrade?

Free Accounts are no longer available to new subscribers. Those grandfathered in today who do not upgrade to a paid account by December 31, 2024, will be removed on that day. In the remaining few months, free subscribers will be limited to a weekly email newsletter with links to recommended articles on Talk of the Sound (free), links to articles elsewhere on the web (mostly free but some paywalled content) and the headlines of my Paid and Premium content with a teaser but not the actual articles.

Basic Accounts are just $5 a year with the first month free and include the weekly email newsletter described above, full non-Premium articles, commenting, and access to the archive of non-Premium content.

Premium Accounts are $7 a month or two-months free, with an annual subscription costing $70 instead of $84 — either with the first month free. Premium includes everything and is the best value: all articles in full, the newsletter, commenting, archives, bonus content and more.

I would encourage all Free Account subscribers to upgrade immediately to at least a Basic Account and certainly consider a Premium account, which is the gold standard and helps support my journalism.