Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Sarah Palin is still getting speaking gigs thanks to Trig.
Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Party nominee for vice president, will speak at the 2018 New Jersey Right to Life (NJRTL) Banquet Dinner on April 20.
The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency, 2 Albany St., New Brunswick. Speaker, teacher and author David Hajduk will serve as master of ceremonies.
"We've actually been trying to get Sarah for a very long time," NJRTL Executive Director Marie Tasy said. "We are really excited that we are finally going to have Sarah come to New Jersey. She is an internationally sought speaker and a pro-life leader. We think her life experience is certainly one that people are very interested in."
Tasy said Palin has a child with Down syndrome.
"She does speak about her experiences when she found out she was carrying a child with Down syndrome," Tasy said. "I think it's certainly very impressive and inspirational to many women who face unexpected prenatal diagnosis and choose life.
"She is a great example of a woman who obviously chose life for this child. It's a great example to other women. It's especially inspiring now and is such a contrast to what we're seeing in places like Iceland who have virtually exterminated all children with Down syndrome through abortion."
Is still find this unbelievable.
It has been almost seven years since I wrote a post that offered definitive proof that Sarah Palin faked her 2008 pregnancy and birth, and STILL people refuse to accept that Sarah Palin is a ginormous fraud.
Man who knew that faking a pregnancy could be so lucrative?
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
New Jersey teenager celebrated 2018 by taking a semi-automatic rifle and killing almost every member of his family.
Minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve, a 16-year-old boy allegedly used a semi-automatic rifle owned by a family member to shoot and kill his parents, sister and a family friend inside the parents' home in a coastal city in New Jersey, the county prosecutor said.
The teen, whose name has not been released, is in police custody in connection with the shooting deaths of his father, Steven Kologi, 44; mother, Linda Kologi, 42; sister, Brittany Kologi, 18; and a family friend, Mary Schultz, 70, who was residing at the Kologi home in Long Branch, New Jersey, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni and a statement from his office.
The teen's brother and grandfather apparently escaped harm. They "thankfully left the home and came out OK," Gramiccioni said at a press conference Monday morning.
Police arrived on the scene shortly after receiving a call from inside the home about shots fired at 11:43 p.m. on Dec. 31, a statement from the prosecutor's office said.
The boy was arrested at the scene without incident, Gramiccioni said.
Boy it sure is a good thing we have that old 2nd Amendment to keep us safe, don't you think?
Just imagine how long it would have taken a teenager in Australia, Germany, or Britain to slaughter his entire family with a kitchen knife or an axe.
Could have taken as long as a half hour, and more of them might have been able to get away.
But not in America by god. When it comes to murder, we have the best tools to make it highly efficient.
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
Big night for Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey. Update!
Of course this defeat did not sit well with the Twitler, who desperately needed to deflect any blame that might be coming his way.BREAKING: Democrats will sweep in Virginia, claiming victories in the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general races, CNN projects #CNNElection https://t.co/BARA8oQvDR— CNN (@CNN) November 8, 2017
Ed Gillespie meet the under carriage of Trump's bus.Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017
Those were not the only victories in Virginia however, there was also this.
Damn! Look at Virginia getting all progressive and everything.JUST IN: Danica Roem elected as first transgender state legislator in Virginia https://t.co/enrHTTlFno pic.twitter.com/G00ewI4hgA— The Hill (@thehill) November 8, 2017
And then there was New Jersey.
I personally would blame Trump less for this defeat of the Republicans, and lay that blame directly at the tremendously overburdened feet of Chris Christie.Democrat Phil Murphy is elected governor of New Jersey https://t.co/acu67R5KRe pic.twitter.com/RTf7aQcosp— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 8, 2017
I thought I was finished blogging for the day, but these Democratic victories seemed too important to put off until tomorrow.
Update: And the hits keep coming.
Update 2: And coming.#BREAKING: Bill de Blasio elected to second term as NYC mayor https://t.co/1aNqjHbrrg pic.twitter.com/7t7eSJfAb1
— The Hill (@thehill) November 8, 2017
Update 3: And coming still.Democrat Vi Lyles is projected to win the race for Charlotte, NC mayor.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 8, 2017
She will become the first African-American woman to lead the city.https://t.co/qgqYl32uor
Jenny Durkan was just elected Seattle’s first lesbian mayor. She is also Seattle’s first woman mayor since the 1920s. https://t.co/UZ52y22MGW
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 8, 2017
Friday, October 20, 2017
Uncle Gryphen knows just what you need, here is a little Barack Obama to soothe your troubled brow.
And the hopefulness in his voice.....I had almost forgotten how good that sounds.
Here is how GQ Magazine described it:
Yesterday President Barack Obama re-emerged on the scene like Han Solo coming back at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope. Okay, maybe that's overstating it a little, but what can I say, we've been severely lacking in hope and here we have Mr. Hope himself back on the national political scene campaigning and reminding us what it was like to have an actual honest-to-God adult speaking to Americans. He campaigned for Democrats in both New Jersey and Virginia and in the process threw some political elbows at his successor and the depressing state of the American political landscape. You know how when you used to wake up and check Twitter, it was kind of fun, but now it just feels like someone spitting directly into your face first thing in the morning? Yeah, these speeches were the first things in a while that don't make me feel that way.
Exactly!
In the first part of this speech you can hear the crowd shouting "Four more years!"
And just for a minute did you not find yourself wishing that such a thing were possible?
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Trump supporters burn football tickets and merchandise to protest players taking a knee.
Courtesy of New Jersey.com:NFL fans burn season tickets and team paraphernalia in response to football players taking a knee to protest. https://t.co/Ec5CRF7TZu pic.twitter.com/fUKQX4chHX— ABC News (@ABC) September 26, 2017
In a video posted by ABC News, several NFL fans are shown burning season tickets and NFL licensed gear in relation for teams or individual players kneeling (or stay in the locker room) during the national anthem on Sunday.
"I'm a season-ticket holder, love the NFL, always have, always been a huge fan," Rodney Heard from Indiana said on a video shared on Facebook. "Wish I could have played in the NFL, if I'd have the athletic ability. Instead I went into the Marine Corps, I served my country, my grandfathers served our country, both of them fought in World War II. There are a lot of people who fought and died for that flag and to disrespect it like you did yesterday, I'm done."
Damn Trump supporters are ignorant.
But I guess if they weren't they would not be Trump supporters.
I don't think there is any way to explain to these idiots that taking a knee before the game is not to protest the military veterans or the flag, any more than you could explain to them that BLM is not a racist group attempting to suggest that ONLY black lives matter.
Simply put they are unreachable.
But I can guarantee you that once this whole thing blows over that they will rush right out and replace those tickets, pendants, and jerseys again.
Until then I guess they can always watch NASCAR.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Gee I wonder what ole Chris Christie has been up to? Oh, just yelling at baseball fans again.
Courtesy of HuffPo:At #Cubs #Brewers game. #ChrisChristie was getting razzed by fans, so he got in the face of one of them. 5:30 on @WISN12News pic.twitter.com/sx8euMgFy2
— Ben Hutchison (@BennyHutch) July 30, 2017
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got into a spat with a baseball fan at a game in Milwaukee on Sunday, his latest public relations snafu to cap a month of snafus.
In a video posted to Twitter, Christie is seen leaning over a fan who heckled him, angrily calling the man a “big shot” before storming away with a bowl of nachos.
A local news reporter for the station WISN12, Ben Hutchison, said he was a relative of the man Christie confronted, Brad Joseph. Joseph told the outlet he yelled the governor’s name “and told him that he sucked,” which sparked the encounter.
“I called him a hypocrite because I thought it needed to be said. He turned around back towards me and got in my face for what seemed like a long time, but was probably only about 30 seconds or a minute. (He) was yelling at me. First he told me, ‘Why don’t you have another beer?’ which I thought was a decent come back, and I thought that was kind of funny. Then he started calling me a tough guy.”
Speaking of "tough guy" I wonder how tough Christie would be without all of that Secret Service protection?
Besides what is the governor with the lowest approval rating in the country so mad about?
All the guy did was tell the truth.
Oh that's right, these GOP thugs are allergic to anything resembling the truth.
Wednesday, June 07, 2017
“You wish you were being f*cked by me.” New Jersey Councilman Richard Jassterzbski may be the new face of the Republican party.
GOP Councilman Richard Jassterzbski has been accused of harassment after yelling at and berating Susan Enderly-Peracchio, a Passaic County Regular Republican Organization employee.
“You wish you were being f*cked by me,” Jasterzbski said, according to a video filmed by Enderly-Peracchio’s daughter. “You don’t have to worry about me penetrating you at all. You wanted fair and square and you should have been satisfied with that, but you stood there and you let them corrupt the system of political process.”
Jassterzbski said he will not apologize to Enderly-Peracchio.
“I give the same amount of respect to anyone and I deserve the same amount of respect back,” he said. “I will defend myself and defend the voters and residents of the 1st Ward, as I have for the last 3-and-a-half years.”
Damn it just goes on and on doesn't it?
Here is a little context courtesy of Wayne Patch:
A police report on the incident states that Enderly-Peracchio was at the facility filing paperwork with her daughter, Taylor, when Jasterzbski entered and was "yelling and cursing at her as he approached." He accused her of taking a candidate's sign out of the headquarters' front window, the report said.
Enderly-Peracchio said she was concerned for her safety while he was yelling in her face, the report states.
"She believed she was going to strike her or her daughter during the incident," the police report states.
Enderly-Peracchio's other daughter, Danielle, arrived and approached Jasterzbski and pulled his arm and moved him away from her mother, police reported.
Jasterzbski reportedly yelled at Enderly-Peracchio in the past about other issues, but she did not report the incidents to the police, according to the report.
Just another day in Donald Trump's America kids.
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Watch out Donald Trump, there's a new Hitler in town. No, literally.
A former New Jersey man who gained notoriety for his Nazi allegiances and custody battle over his kids is now officially named Hitler as of Monday, according to mycentraljersey.com.
Born Isidore Heath Campbell, the Shippensburg, Pa. resident his request to change his name to Isidore Heath Hitler was approved in March by a judge and took effect on Monday.
Campbell once tried to have a supermarket inscribe "Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler" on a birthday cake for his son. He would later lose parental rights to his nine children.
Campbell was sentenced to 180 days in jail and two years of probation last year as part of a plea deal he made on charges of resisting arrest and obstructing justice, it was previously reported.
"Isidore?" If this guy was going to change any part of his name, why wouldn't he change that part?
Well you have to admit that his timing is on point.
After all if you are going to live in a newly fascist country you might as well look and sound the part.
Friday, May 05, 2017
Donald Trump claims he is saving taxpayer money by going to New Jersey instead of his home in Trump tower. Talk about fake news.
In what universe does it save money for Trump to have a squad of Secret Service agents travel with him to New Jersey instead of going to Trump Tower where there is already a large contingent of agents on the premises to protect his wife and son?Rather than causing a big disruption in N.Y.C., I will be working out of my home in Bedminster, N.J. this weekend. Also saves country money!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2017
That make no sense.
Maybe Melania has forbidden him to return to Trump Tower until after he is finished pretending to be the president?
Or maybe he was just trying to avoid seeing this in front of his favorite building.
Protesters gather outside the Intrepid ahead of Trump's arrival https://t.co/KHFZVFhRrg via @YahooNews pic.twitter.com/hbLdfBLM9l— Steven Wroblewski (@WrobStv) May 5, 2017
Anti-Trump protest on NYC Westside. pic.twitter.com/Bi9PITUHmL— Miguel Marquez (@miguelmarquez) May 4, 2017
"New York hates you, Donald Trump!" protestors yell around @TrumpTower in response to @realDonaldTrump's presence in NYC today pic.twitter.com/ZhARTcu0dm— Madina Toure (@madinatoure) May 4, 2017
By the way if Trump REALLY wanted to save taxpayer money perhaps he ought to force his wife and kid to join him in DC, and stop going to Florida every damn weekend.Hundreds march against Donald Trump ahead of New York visit https://t.co/rqR01Gry67 pic.twitter.com/eonA6Yett2— The Straits Times (@STcom) May 5, 2017
Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Remember that New Jersey GOP candidate who used that rapey language against the Daily Beast reporter? Yeah he dropped out.
You may remember this from Monday.This man who wants me to be raped today was a Republican candidate for office in NJ https://t.co/NgxtjOTaJ9 pic.twitter.com/H31Q5VmXVc— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) September 5, 2016
Well shockingly enough saying those kinds of things on Twitter is NOT a sure fire road to victory.
Courtesy of TPM:
A New Jersey Republican ended his campaign for local office Tuesday following reports that he called online for the rape of a Washington-based reporter for news and opinion website The Daily Beast.
Mike Krawitz, who was running for the township council in West Deptford, sent a handwritten resignation note to the party Tuesday saying he was dropping out.
I LOVE this dipshit's excuse.
On Monday, Krawitz told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his account was hacked and that he didn't make the comment on journalist Olivia Nuzzi's Facebook account.
That's right he claims he was hacked, which is apparently the go to douchebag answer when you get called out for being a douchebag.
But Nuzzi, a New Jersey native, said she has been harassed on social media by Krawitz since December 2015. Krawitz's recent comment said: "I. Hope. Somebody. Rapes. You. Today. :)."
Krawitz's account also posted a comment that said: "Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee. :)."
Bob Waller, chairman of the West Deptford Republican Committee, said in a statement before Krawitz stepped down that there is "no reasonable reason" to believe Krawitz was hacked. He had called on Krawitz step down.
Damn don't you wish that ALL of the GOP misogynists would blow their stupidity load early on Twitter so that the party could cull them from the herd before election day?
Now if only the national Republican party would have demonstrated that much integrity in response to Donald Trump's tweets.
Monday, September 05, 2016
New Jersey Republican posts on Facebook that he wants a Daily Beast reporter to be raped by Syrians. Well, he seems nice.
Courtesy of Raw Story:Mike Krawitz, a New Jersey Republican who is running for a spot on the West Deptford Township Committee this fall, told Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi on Facebook that he hopes she gets raped by a Syrian refugee.This man who wants me to be raped today was a Republican candidate for office in NJ https://t.co/NgxtjOTaJ9 pic.twitter.com/H31Q5VmXVc— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) September 5, 2016
What got Krawitz so worked up you ask?
Apparently this:
Yes as it turns out Krawitz is a YUGE Donald Trump fan.And by the way, this is what he was responding to: pic.twitter.com/AqV5OcTdtl— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) September 5, 2016
From his Facebook page:
A hateful misogynistic Trump supporter?
Yeah you could have knocked me over with a feather as well.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
More bad news for Chris Christie.
Courtesy of Raw Story:NEW court filing with texts between Christie aides, sent December 2013:— Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) August 10, 2016
"Are you listening? He just flat out lied." pic.twitter.com/iqIXqD21Y2
WNYC reporter Matt Katz points out that newly filed court documents show that Christie aide Christina Genovese Renna was sending text messages to Christie attorney Mark Sheridan during a 2013 press conference on the “Bridgegate” controversy.
In a particularly damning set of exchanges, Renna tells Sheridan that their boss completely lied to the media while answering a question about whether his campaign manager Bill Stepien had any knowledge of the George Washington Bridge lane closures that Christie aides coordinated to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing their boss during his 2013 reelection bid.
“Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved,” she said, referring to Christie’s campaign manager Bill Stepien.
Renna then goes on to openly worry about what happens if the e-mails get subpoenaed.
Yeah, that would be terrible wouldn't it?
I have to admit that I almost forgot all about Bridge-gate after watching Christie degrading himself in order to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump.
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Oh God, what have I done? |
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Primary day open thread. Update!
Today's offering will be, in the order that their polls close, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and finally California.,
New Jersey's polls should be closing right now.
The polls in North Dakota, South Dakota, and New Mexico close in about an hour.
Montana is next in about two hours.
And finally the big Kahuna California will close at about 7:00 PM AK time.
At this point there is of course no real suspense as Hillary is already the presumptive nominee, but it will still be interesting to see how certain states vote and if Sanders is actually able to steal California away from Clinton.
As always I will update this post as polls close and information is available.
Update: Well this doesn't bode well.
At some point you are just embarrassing yourself.Asked by @LesterHoltNBC if his campaign ends tonight, Sanders says he'll keep trying to turn super delegates pic.twitter.com/zf6XLJbpR3— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) June 7, 2016
Update 2: Donald Trump is speaking right now and reaching out to Bernie Sanders supporters who were victimized by a "rigged system."
I bet he really thinks he can get some of them to come over to the dark side too.Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders supporters: "We welcome you with open arms" https://t.co/oZz0jUmo8i #PrimaryDay https://t.co/HeiM2uj1D1— CNN (@CNN) June 8, 2016
And who knows, maybe he's right.
Update 3: Hillary just won New Jersey. Well that's one down.
Update 4: Sanders wins North Dakota. (It is the last caucus state.)
Update 5: In the speech she is giving right now Hillary Clinton just referred to herself as the first female presidential nominee in history.
Oh it is on now!
Update 6: New Mexico has been called for Hillary now as well.
Update 7: Hillary has now won South Dakota.
Update 8:
By the way Hillary is leading in California.Speaking is hard for me. But come January, I want to say these two words: "Madam President." #ImWithHer— Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) June 8, 2016
Update 9: Sanders has won Montana with a whole 21 delegates up for grabs.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Donald Trump under fire for claiming that he saw "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the 9-11 attacks. Spoiler alert: He didn't!
Donald Trump claims that "thousands" of people in New Jersey were "cheering" amid the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on US soil.
In an interview on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Trump doubled down on his assertion that he saw people in New Jersey — where the real-estate mogul claims there are "large Arab populations" — cheering as the World Trade Center came down.
"There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down," Trump said on Sunday. "I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down — as those buildings came down. And that tells you something. It was well-covered at the time."
Well if you watched cable news yesterday you saw this "fact" refuted multiple times, by multiple sources:
Despite Trump's insistence that he saw such celebrations, political fact-checkers across the board have found little to no evidence of any public celebrations after the attacks.
PolitiFact noted that there were several media reports of police inquiries into individuals who were suspected of celebrating the attacks in Jersey City and nearby Paterson, but there is no evidence that these investigations revealed any actual celebrations or resulted in any convictions.
"This defies basic logic," PolitiFact's Lauren Carroll wrote in a "Pants on Fire" ruling.
When I first heard the story I immediately went to Snopes where conspiracy theories and bullshit lies are usually laid to rest.
Snopes did a deep dive, and really tried to get to the source of Trump's misinformation, which seemed to stem from early rumors after the towers fell, that turned out to be false.
However not only does Trump seem impervious to facts, he is also demanded in apology from those calling him out on his BS.
Via @washingtonpost 9/18/01. I want an apology! Many people have tweeted that I am right! https://t.co/CpsMxs54qv pic.twitter.com/wrDEhXJlvR
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2015
You might notice that the portion which is quoted in the tweet above says the words "allegedly." That is because their was nothing to the allegations.At this point I think we have to take notice of the fact that according to polling the three top contenders for the GOP nomination, Trump, Carson, and Cruz, are all habitual liars who seem to have a specific allergy to facts.
Not exactly good news for the Republican party.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Home schooling lobby "Make the anti-vaxxers seem rational."
“I’ve never seen a lobby more powerful and scary,” said Ellen Heinitz, the legislative director for Michigan state Rep. Stephanie Chang, who ran up against HSLDA backlash when she tried to pass home-schooling regulations a few months ago. “They make the anti-vaxxers seem rational.”
The above quote was taken from a Slate article that reports on the struggle that one New Jersey State Senator faced when trying to pass legislation to require parents to notify the state that they were homeschooling their children, submit proof of annual physicals, and to complete the same yearly tests that other New Jersey students had to take.
The response to this bill was quick and incredibly aggressive:
Soon afterward, a small group of home-schooling parents began following Weinberg around the capitol. The barrage of phone calls from home-schooling advocates so jammed her office phone lines that staffers had to use their private cellphones to conduct business. “You would have thought I’d recommended the end of the world as we know it,” said Weinberg. “Our office was besieged.”
Ultimately the state senator, Loretta Weinberg, dropped the bill and has little success with modified versions of it, removing the testing requirements, since.
Slate also reports similar obstacles which halted legislation in other states. Including Michigan which is where we get that quote at the top.
Now for those who simply do not trust the government, and do not want them educating their children, this might seem like no big deal, but there are some very troubling statistics:
- Forty-eight states have no background check process for parents who choose to home-school. Two have some restrictions. Arkansas prevents home schooling when a registered sex offender lives in the home, while Pennsylvania bans parents previously convicted of a wide array of crimes from home schooling.
- Fewer than half of states require any kind of evaluation. In some of these, including Washington, New Hampshire, and Georgia, home-schooled students are tested, but these tests are not submitted to the school district, and there are no ramifications for failure. Others, like Oregon, require parents to submit the test scores only if the local districts request them. A third category of states, including Maine, requires that test scores be submitted but set no minimum score.
- Seventeen states have no required subjects for home-schooled students. Of the 33 states that do, 22 have no means of checking whether a parent is actually teaching those subjects.
- In 40 states, home-schooling parents are not required to have a high school diploma, even if they intend to home-school through 12th grade.
- Twenty-five states do not require home-schoolers to be vaccinated. Another 12 mandate vaccinations but do not require records. Only five states require home-schoolers to submit proof of vaccinations at any time.
However as many of you know I have very strong reservations concerning home schooling, ESPECIALLY religious homeschooling, based on my own experiences and interactions with home schooled children over the years.
So I will simply suggest that you read the article over at Slate and perhaps come back here afterwards to share your thoughts, whether they be pro or con.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Chris Christie enters the 2016 Republican primary. They're going to need a bigger clown car. Update!
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, whose meteoric rise as a national Republican in his first term was matched only by his spectacular loss of stature at home in his second, enters the 2016 presidential race on Tuesday morning bearing little resemblance to the candidate he once expected to be.
The economic recovery he promised has turned into a cascade of ugly credit downgrades and anemic job growth. The state pension he vowed to fix has descended into a morass of missed payments and lawsuits. The administration he pledged would be a paragon of ethics has instead conspired to mire an entire town in traffic and the governor’s office in scandal.
Chris Christie joins a field that is already bulging at the seams with 13 candidates.
He also enters the race with the lowest polling numbers from his home state yet. With only 35% of New Jersey registered voters approving of his performance, and 51% disapproving, he comes into the race carrying a huge deficit.
Oh and of course there is also "Bridgegate." (Personally I think that soon the investigation will lead directly to Christie, and won't that make for some interesting questions from the press?)
Christie is even being mocked by the superintendent of the high school where he made his announcement this morning:
Jim O'Neill, the Livingston School District's interim superintendent, has repeatedly criticized Christie in the press since the Tuesday event's location was revealed.
"It is my personal opinion that the governor adopts policies that he believes will serve his political agenda regardless of whether or not they are good or necessary," O'Neill told NJ.com.
Right now I think Chris Christie's chances of winning the Republican nomination are about equal to Donald Trump's.
In other words nonexistent.
Update: It might also be worth noting that the editorial board of the Star-Ledger is now calling Christie a pathological liar.
Gee we know a couple of those, don't we?
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Chris Christie spent over $82,000 of tax payer money on snacks at football games.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie is a big football fan, but he is also apparently a big fan of snacks at football stadiums. According to New Jersey Watchdog, Christie reportedly spent over $82,000 of taxpayer money on concessions at MetLife Stadium.
Christie paid for food and drinks at MetLife with a debit card 58 times over the 2010 and 2011 NFL seasons, accruing a bill of $82,594. That means he spent an average of nearly $1,500 on food and drinks every time he attended a football game.
Apparently the money came out of a $95,000 fund he is given quarterly to be "used for official receptions on behalf of the state, the operation of an official residence, for other expenses."
He gets $95,000 every three months? That is $390,000 annually. And he spends this much of it for food at football games?
How many hot dogs can one man eat?
I used to simply think we could not afford to have Chris Christie in the White House due to his abrasive nature, slippery relationship with the truth, and his conservative politics.
But now I wonder if we could even afford to feed him if he were the President of the United States.
By the way the Washington Post suggests several ways that Christie could have better spent that $82,594.
Friday, May 01, 2015
Indictment Friday part two. Bridge-gate.
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David Wildstein |
David Wildstein, a key figure in the Bridgegate scandal, today pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy in connection with the politically-motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013.
Two others — Bill Baroni, former Port Authority deputy executive director, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Chris Christie — have been indicted.
Ooooh! I had started to think that perhaps this whole thing was dead in the water.
Instead that might be an apt description for Chris Christie's future political aspirations.
The attorney for David Wildstein, Alan Zegas, today repeated the claim that Gov. Chris Christie was aware of the plan to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.
Yep, might be.
Of course Christie was quick to deny any culpability.
I had no knowledge or involvement in the planning or execution of this act.
— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) May 1, 2015
Uh huh.Gee, I want to believe him. But.....
Bridget Anne Kelly also came out swinging today:
A defiant Bridget Anne Kelly on Friday denied charges she was one of the masterminds behind the George Washington Bridge lane closures that have dogged the administration of her former boss, Gov. Chris Christie.
"I am not guilty of the crimes for which I have been accused," Kelly said during a press conference with her attorney, Michael Critchley, after prosecutors unsealed a nine-count federal indictment.
"David Wildstein is a liar," Kelly said.
Really? But what about this email from Kelly dated August 13, 2013?
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."
So who's the liar again?
Well I for one am going to stock up on popcorn, because THIS looks like it is going to be highly entertaining.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
The plaintiffs in the copyright lawsuit against SarahPAC want it to be known that the failure to reach a settlement was certainly not THEIR fault.
Pay attention to just how many times NJMG tried to get Palin's lawyers to even participate in the process.
Dear Judge Cecchi:
We represent plaintiff North Jersey Media Group in the above action, and are writing in response to the letter of Ronald Coleman, Esq. (Dkt. 37), attorney for defendants, to make two points.
First, the parties agree that defendants' motion to dismiss (Dkt. 29) should be reactivated and decided. (We believe that the analysis in the decision North Jersey Media Group v. Fox News, 13 Civ. 7153 (S.D.N.Y. February 10, 2015), should be dispositive. Defendants disagree.)
Second, the suggestion of Mr. Coleman that "defendants did enter into a settlement with plaintiff" is incorrect. Defendants did not act as if they intended to complete a settlement. Rather, defendants acted as if they wanted to be in settlement negotiations indefinitely. Here is the chronology.
1. Before Christmas 2014, the parties had agreed in principle upon a settlement amount.
2. Since the time of the agreement upon a settlement amount, until at least February 10, 2015, the parties could not agree on the terms that would keep the amount of the settlement confidential. Defendants insisted on this term. Plaintiff owns the second largest newspaper in the State of New Jersey, and would prefer that the truth be told.
3. At a telephone conference with Magistrate Judge Falk on January 29, 2015, I stated that the areas of disagreement were narrow, but that if the parties could not complete the settlement within 10 days, the settlement could not be completed.
4. Between the end of that conference on January 29, 2015, and February 2, 2015, the parties exchanged no fewer than 5 e-mails, including a proposal that I sent to defendants' counsel on January 30, 2015, at 10:59 a.m.
5. On Monday, February 2, 2015, at 6:29 pm, I wrote to defendants' counsel, Mr. Coleman:
"Ron, any word on this?"
6. At 6:34, Mr. Farkas, his associate, wrote back to me:
"Hi Bill – We're expecting to be able to speak with our client tomorrow or Wednesday, and will get back to you ASAP afterwards."
7. Having heard nothing by Wednesday despite the promise of defendants' counsel, I wrote back on Thursday, February 5, 2015, at 1:52 pm, stating:
"Have you made any progress?"
8. Four minutes later, Mr. Farkas wrote to me staying:
"We'll be in touch shortly."
9. Having heard nothing, on Monday, February 9, 2015, at 8:15 am, I wrote to counsel for defendants:
"Have you made any progress?"
10. Within minutes on February 9, 2015 at 8:38 am, Mr. Farkas wrote to me:
"Working on it. Should have something for you this week."
11. Mystified that counsel for defendants were not even able to commit to get back to me by the end of the week, I wrote to them at 12:34 pm on February 9, 2015:
"We told the Magistrate on 1/29 that if this settlement could not be finalized within 10 days, it cannot be finalized. We are no further along now than we were before Christmas. Moreover, since 1/29, we believe that our position has strengthened.
Accordingly, unless we have a signed agreement resolving this by the close of business tomorrow, we plan to write to the Judge and ask her to reactive the pending motions, and decide them."
12. Eleven minutes later at 12:45 pm, on February 9, 2015,
"We suggest the following, which is essentially what you'd proposed before but with minor tweaks and the addition of a third clause:
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the parties further agree that: (1) news reporters for the plaintiff are free to report on the existence of the settlement, and about whatever facts they learn from sources other than NJMG; (2) the parties or their respective attorneys or agents may respond to questions about the litigation posed by any third party, except that statements about the case must be limited to confirming its settlement and directing the third party to the court file; and (3) this settlement specifically incorporates, and does not replace, the terms of the Confidentiality Agreement entered into by counsel on September 13, 2013.
Let us know."
Because defendants' counsel had been unable to reach their clients 11 minutes before this e-mail, it seemed odd to me that this was a firm proposal, as opposed to another effort to waste time by keeping the confidentiality term up in the air. (The word "suggest" is vague.) I nevertheless assumed it to be a firm proposal, but wanted to keep our earlier deadline in place.
13. On February 9, 2015, at 5:22 pm, I wrote to counsel for defendants:
"I think that we are in agreement as to the attached settlement agreement.
I am also attaching to this e-mail the 9/13/13 agreement, so there is no confusion as to what this is.
Please return a signed copy of the settlement agreement to me in pdf by the close of business tomorrow."
14. We did not hear from defendants by the close of business the next day.
15. After the dilatory behavior defendants had exhibited during the prior six weeks, after defendants were given more than a reasonable opportunity to complete the settlement on the financial terms agreed upon before Christmas even though plaintiff had received a very favorable decision in NJMG v. Fox News, and after receiving no response from defendants within this time frame that we set for writing to the Court, we wrote to the Court on February 11, 2015 (Dkt. 36) and asked for the motions to be decided.
16. If defendants want to blame someone for not completing the settlement, they have no one to blame but themselves.
And then the NJMG lawyers sign off at the end in what can only be described as disgust.
As somebody has already pointed out on the other thread this has most certainly already cost SarahPAC more than the $15,000 being asked for in the settlement, and it is quite likely that now they will be forced to pay substantially more after the court renders its decision.
I think it's clear while reading through this that the problem was simply that Palin herself was virtually impossible to engage in this matter and seemed disinterested or downright hostile to the negotiations.
So for all intents and purposes it appears that Palin has managed to sabotage any possibility of settling this matter, and her indifference will now cost her PAC a tidy little sum.
I can hardly wait to see the next SarahPAC fundraising e-mail; "We need $100,000 before midnight. And we're not kidding this time!"
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Sarah Palin reaches $15,000 settlement over 9-11 copyright lawsuit, but only if the deal remains confidential. Well we're talking about it, so guess what?
Sarah Palin agreed in December to pay a New Jersey newspaper $15,000 to settle a lawsuit over her campaign's unauthorized use of an iconic photograph of firefighters hoisting the American flag on 9/11 — but the deal remains stalled over the former GOP vice presidential candidate's insistence on confidentiality, according to court papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court.
According to the documents, William Dunnegan, the attorney for North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record of Bergen County, says that on Dec. 22, 2014 -- four days after the two sides agreed in principle to settle the case -- lawyers for SarahPac, Palin's campaign organization, "asserted that there must be a broad confidentiality clause."
"Shortly thereafter, Palin's counsel, Ronald Coleman, Esq., told me that Palin required a confidentiality clause because her political action committee did not want any hint of a compromise associated with her name," Dunnegan writes.
Dunnegan included with his filing several emails exchanged with Palin's lawyers regarding the settlement.
"We have confirmed with our client, and accept your offer of a $15,000 settlement," Palin attorney Brian Farkas wrote in a Dec. 18, 2014, email that Dunnegan filed with the court. "We assume that this will include a mutual confidentiality/non-disparagement clause in the stipulation of discontinuance.''
Okay this cracks me up.
So after first claiming that the plaintiffs did not have a case, then claiming they lived in the wrong place to file a lawsuit, and then demanding that they move the case to Alaska, finally Palin reaches a deal and it falls apart because she does not want anybody to know that she settled?
Yeah wouldn't want anybody to think she was capable of compromise or anything, right?
I like how Palin claimed that she required the confidentiality clause because "HER political action committee did not want any hint of a compromise associated with her name."
As if SHE wasn't the person completely in charge of what the PAC wanted or did not want.
Well gee, guess what? We all know about it now.