Because it might cause problems in front of jwhose house?
"Chris Christie aides joked about traffic jam at rabbi’s home; Supporter of N.J. governor says he can’t imagine why" by Serge F. Kovaleski and Matt Flegenheimer | New York Times, February 28, 2014
NEW YORK — Weeks before a manufactured traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge overtook Fort Lee, N.J., at the behest of aides to Governor Chris Christie, two people central to the scheme jokingly discussed creating traffic problems at a less prominent site: the home of a local rabbi.
“We cannot cause traffic problems in front of his house, can we?” wrote Bridget Anne Kelly, then a deputy chief of staff for Christie.
David Wildstein, a Christie ally at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, suggested they think bigger. “Flights to Tel Aviv all mysteriously delayed,” he wrote. (He appeared to be kidding.)
And rerouted: $100m upgrade for Logan’s international terminal
The exchange was revealed in documents supplied by Wildstein as part of an investigation by the New Jersey Legislature.
**********
Though it is unclear why Kelly or Wildstein might have been upset with the rabbi, and though a jam at the rabbi’s house appears never to have happened, the documents lend new context to the charged environment in which Christie’s aides operated, an atmosphere of political paybacks in which the lane closings for Fort Lee could be joked about as a weapon to be wielded.
Not the kind of White House you want, is it? Had enough of those kind.
The exchange began with a picture of the rabbi, Mendy Carlebach of South Brunswick Township, posing with a man who appears to be the House speaker, John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio.
“I think this qualifies as some sort of stalking,” Kelly wrote. “You are too much.”
“He is Jewish Cid Wilson,” Wildstein replied, a reference to a past candidate for a state Assembly seat. (Wilson’s Twitter page features many photos with prominent officials.) Wildstein added that Carlebach “has officially pissed me off.” Seven minutes later, Kelly raised the prospect of creating traffic problems at the rabbi’s home.
Carlebach said he did not know why he might have drawn the officials’ ire. “I am clueless,” he said.
Looks like a CLINTON-TYPE TRAP to me, in true dirty-trick Nixonian fashion!
Indeed, Carlebach seems to have been in their good graces. Since 2011, he has served as a Christie appointee on the New Jersey-Israel Commission, established in 1989 to promote trade and cultural exchange.
He was among Christie’s guests during ceremonies held at ground zero 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2012, Carlebach was part of a group that traveled with the governor to Israel on an “economic mission” to increase trade.
Do I really need to type out how deeply embedded Zionist Israel is in AmeriKan politics?
Carlebach says he has been a longtime supporter of Christie, and he was listed as a Middlesex County cochairman in the Jewish Leaders for Christie coalition, according to an e-mail from the governor’s reelection campaign on Sept. 3.
But Carlebach, who has also served as a chaplain of the Port Authority Police Department, made a distinction between supporting and endorsing a candidate. “I never came out publicly and endorsed,” he said. “I am a clergyman. As a policy I don’t endorse, but I support the governor.”
Before the governor’s re-election last November, his campaign aggressively sought the endorsements of Democratic mayors, religious leaders, and other groups in the hopes of running up an impressive margin of victory.
That way his presidential aspirations would be given a big selling point.
A prevailing theory about the lane closings is that they were intended to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, who did not endorse Christie.
The documents include no definitive answer as to why the lanes were closed, or why Christie’s allies were angry at Sokolich. But they do help to clarify the roles of various Christie aides now entangled in the scandal, and their attempts to cover up the traffic ruse.
Cover up? In AmeriKa? Surely you jest with this one-day wonder!
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Not worried about citizens crossing bridge, were worried if it would inconvenience a powerful Jew. Globe can't see the New Jersey Shore either, although Christie is hearing about it (happened on his watch).
Time to hit the campaign trail:
"Chris Christie is low-key at governors event; N.J. Republican shuns limelight amid scandal" by Steve Peoples | Associated Press February 23, 2014
WASHINGTON — Moving cautiously to repair his image, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is maintaining a low profile this weekend as the nation’s governors gather in Washington.
Republican officials have been eager to change the subject as Democrats link Christie’s troubles to vulnerable GOP governors in a challenging election season.
The usually outspoken Christie is scheduled to attend just one public event during the three-day annual meeting. He avoided a media-sponsored forum Friday, was not granting interviews, will not attend a White House dinner, and was skipping a news conference hosted by the Republican Governors Association, an organization he heads.
The reporters never like that.
Christie arrived at the National Governors Association meeting with his wife, Mary Pat, and a group of aides, declining to respond to reporters’ questions as he entered the ballroom. Before the start of the meeting, Christie chatted with a Kentucky Democrat, Governor Steve Beshear, and agreed to a few quick photographs with attendees near the podium.
‘‘I think he’s getting a bum rap,’’ said Lily Kersh of Russellville, Ark., who took a ‘‘selfie’’ photo with Christie.
Asked by reporters afterward whether the bridge scandal came up in meetings with governors, Christie said: ‘‘No, just by you guys.’’
Christie is leaving Washington Sunday to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and focus on an upcoming budget address, according to his office. Advisers privately acknowledge a larger effort to reduce media coverage of ongoing abuse-of-power investigations in New Jersey that threaten to derail his ambitious political future.
When elected to his second term last fall, Christie was considered one of his party’s strongest prospective presidential candidates.
‘‘Governor Christie may be hiding under a bridge somewhere or stuck in traffic, but the fact that he’s a liability for Republican governors remains readily apparent this weekend,’’ said Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.
Scandal erupted in New Jersey six weeks ago when internal e-mails revealed that senior members of the Christie administration ordered traffic lanes closed near the George Washington Bridge, perhaps to punish a Democratic mayor. The closures created days of gridlock that stalled commuters, schoolchildren, and emergency responders.
But it did not affect a certain person, thank God.
Federal authorities are conducting a criminal inquiry, while state lawmakers are pursuing their own civil probe. Christie has denied personal involvement, but five people close to him have been fired or have resigned.
Not the kind of thing a presidential campaign survives.
GOP governors seemed keen on avoiding questions about Christie’s leadership of the organization responsible for electing GOP governors. Republicans face a challenging political map going into the November midterm contests. They are defending 22 of the 36 governor seats up for election, including six in states that President Obama twice carried.
So the Senate goes Republican and the state houses shift to Democrats next year. So what?
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, is expected to attend a Christie fund-raiser in Boston this week. The event is expected to be private.
Oh, Romney is going to show up, huh?
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See:
Romney Still Running Republican Party
Romney to Again Run For President
Third times a charm, right?
"GOP event with Christie, Romney raises $1m" by Jim O’Sullivan and Joshua Miller | Globe staff, February 28, 2014
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, embroiled in scandal over a punitive traffic jam, swung into Boston Thursday to raise money for Republican gubernatorial candidates, but stepped into a different type of controversy when organizers had to scramble to change venues.
The last-minute shift, from a private home in Newton Corner to a Back Bay hotel, came after the event, featuring arguably the nation’s most newsworthy Republican and the party’s most recent presidential nominee, drew unwanted attention from reporters.
Christie, who chairs the Republican Governors Association and is considered a formidable potential 2016 presidential candidate, was in town to raise money for the governors association alongside former governor Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, and Charlie Baker, the party’s leading candidate for governor in Massachusetts this year.
Baker’s campaign worked during the afternoon and evening to keep the location shift a secret, declining repeated requests for the information about the event, which raised about $1 million from about 20 people.
They are not even pretending we are a democracy or anything of the sort anymore. Not even the trappings of public openne$$ anymore.
Initially, the fund-raiser was scheduled at the home of New Balance chairman Jim Davis, a political benefactor who gives to both Democrats and Republicans and who contributed $1 million to a super PAC backing Romney in the 2012 election, according to a report by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The evening was intended to be a staid and intimate affair, in keeping with Davis’s low-key, press-averse nature. After its location became public Tuesday, unwanted attention, including reporters outside Davis’s house Thursday, prompted organizers to reconsider.
No wonder news coverage is so atrocious in AmeriKa.
Thursday afternoon, they decided to switch the venue to the Lenox Hotel on Boylston Street and Davis decided not to attend, said one person familiar with the decision.
Even then, organizers and attendees worked to keep the location a secret. Aides to Baker, who has made much on the campaign trail about his commitment to transparency, refused to say where the fund-raiser would be held. The governors association also declined to identify the venue.
Such sensitivity points to the delicate political position Baker finds himself in, attempting to appeal to moderate voters while hoping to benefit from the largesse at stake when two of the biggest names in national Republican politics are in the same room.
See: Baker Faces Backlash For Picking Polito
From who?
Even amid the scandal, which unfolded after Christie aides reportedly ordered the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge that caused massive congestion, the Garden State Republican has proved a dogged fund-raiser. The governors association said that January brought a record $6 million in fund-raising. Wealth inequality at all time highs and increasing.
Now you know where $ome of the money is going.
Some of those dollars are expected to flow into Massachusetts in support of Baker, who faces a primary challenge from Mark Fisher, a Shrewsbury Republican.
The association has come to Baker’s aid before, in 2010, raining negative ads on Timothy P. Cahill, the treasurer running as an independent that year against Baker and Governor Deval Patrick.
Baker declined to answer questions at the hotel before the event, but after it ended, he addressed reporters.
There, you guys happy now?
*******************
The event featured three of the archetypes of the Northeast Republican brand, which tends to be more socially moderate than elsewhere in the country. A primary reason that Romney endured such a harrowing primary during the 2012 campaign was doubt among the party’s base that he was sufficiently socially conservative.
Like Romney, Christie has had problems with his party’s grass roots, which felt he did not put up enough of a fight against a court decision legalizing gay marriage in New Jersey.
Christie also irritated many Republicans in 2012 when he sidled up to President Obama in the closing weeks of the campaign, praising the federal response to Hurricane Sandy and lending Obama some bipartisan credibility.
Another myth we live with.
Baker, too, has had problems courting the right wing of his party.
That's why he considered Politotics.
On Tuesday, the Republican State Committee adopted a platform emphasizing the party’s opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Baker favors both abortion rights and gay marriage.
Related:
North Dakota abortion suit settled
Suit challenges Ariz. rules said to restrict abortion by medication
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer won’t seek a third term
Will she abort or birth a presidential run?
US judge strikes down Ark. law banning abortion after 12 weeks
Sorry, ladies, but I'm not spending my time on wedging and divisive side issues this election season, be it abortion, race, or sexual preference.
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Ah, memories of better times....
What else has been happening in New Jersey since I've been kind of backed up:
"Judge ousts convicted Trenton mayor" Associated Press February 27, 2014
TRENTON — The mayor of New Jersey’s capital was removed from office by a judge Wednesday, 19 days after a jury found him guilty of corruption in a case that started with a government sting.
Mayor Tony Mack of Trenton had fought to remain in office until his sentencing in May while also seeking to have his conviction thrown out. But Judge Mary Jacobson rejected his arguments and signed an order removing him from office.
Mack is ineligible to hold office in the future and has been stripped of his taxpayer-funded pension.
Within hours after Jacobson signed the order, City Council President George Muschal was sworn in as acting mayor....
‘‘You can’t move a city forward when there’s full-blown corruption,’’ Muschal told reporters at City Hall after he was sworn in at a hastily organized private ceremony.
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Also see:
New Jersey Roaches
More Houses of Horror in New Jersey
The place $tinks:
"Dove drops ‘Armpit of America’ billboard in N.J." by Candice Choi | Associated Press March 05, 2014
NEW YORK — Dove is learning the hard way that New Jersey residents do not appreciate being referred to as ‘‘The Armpit of America.’’
Unilever, the brand’s parent company, said it no longer plans to run a billboard featuring the well-known dig at the Garden State.
The ad was intended to promote a new line of deodorants by encouraging people to see armpits in a more positive light.
The text of the ad read, ‘‘Dear New Jersey, When people call you ‘The Armpit of America,’ take it as a compliment. Sincerely, Dove.’’ It featured a smiling woman in a white tank top raising an arm behind her head to expose an armpit.
As long as it wasn't hairy, right?
Dove is known for its unconventional ads, including a campaign that celebrates ‘‘Real Beauty’’ by featuring women who do not look like the typical models featured in most other ads. But the latest campaign apparently hit the wrong nerve with New Jersey residents.
The news of the billboard, which was set to run in July, sparked complaints after The New York Times published a story about it last week.
There they go, stirring up trouble!
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"Court to rule on N.J. man’s rap lyrics | Associated Press March 03, 2014
NEWARK — A New Jersey man whose rap lyrics threatened to kill will have his attempted murder case considered by the state’s Supreme Court, which will decide if the words he penned should have been admitted at trial.
When are the hearings and trials of those that signed orders to go to war and invade places over lies that resulted in the deaths of millions? Or those that sign the orders for drone missile strikes?
In an amicus brief, the ACLU New Jersey contends that rap lyrics, because of their violent imagery, are treated differently than other writings.
What is so odd is war lies in newspapers are protected by the courts, and they result in far more damage to people.
“That a rap artist wrote lyrics seemingly embracing the world of violence is no more reason to ascribe to him a motive and intent to commit violent acts than to . . . indict Johnny Cash for having ‘shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,’ ” according to the brief.
After an initial trial ended without a verdict, Vonte Skinner was convicted at a second trial of shooting Lamont Peterson in 2005, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
During the trial, prosecutors read 13 pages of rap lyrics, some penned three or four years earlier, found in the back seat of the car Skinner was driving when arrested.
In a 2-1 ruling that overturned the verdict, an appellate court said caution must be exercised when allowing prior writings as evidence in a trial.
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All other problems, war, looting, institutional rot, corruption on every corner, and this is the concern? A singers lyrics? I no longer recognize this country. The battle has been lost for now. It needs to implode so we can pick up the pieces.
Or be poisoned?
"Life in prison for N.J. chemist who poisoned husband" Associated Press October 01, 2013
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A chemist who worked for a decade at one of America’s biggest pharmaceutical companies was a cold, calculating murderer who poisoned her husband rather than let him divorce her, a judge said Monday as he sentenced her to life in prison.
Tianle Li, 42, won’t be eligible for parole for more than 62 years for the killing of Xiaoye Wang, a computer software engineer, in early 2011....
Li continues to deny any role in her husband’s death, said her attorney, Steven Altman. In a brief, tear-filled statement read in court Monday, Li said she prays for her husband’s soul and will appeal the verdict. The couple’s 4-year-old son is in the care of relatives.
The former Monroe resident worked for biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Prosecutors introduced evidence during the trial that Li ordered thallium, a tasteless, odorless poison, through work in 2010 after researching its effects on humans.
Thallium has been banned for consumer use in the United States since 1972. It can be fatal in doses as small as a gram and has been called ‘‘the perfect poison’’ because it is difficult to detect in lab tests.
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So what is the heroin epidemic like in New Jersey?
No one asking yet.
Related:
Dookhan a Democrat
Pattern of neglect at state drug lab found
“You know there’s a problem when the guy who is supposed to be in charge has a bag of crack on his desk for no apparent reason.”
Yeah, I guess so.
SJC limits ability of drug defendants to change plea
They should all be released.
Florida's Reverse Dookhan
Think of it as the flip side.
"Bus driver faces charges in infant’s death in NJ" by David Porter | Associated Press August 01, 2013
WEST NEW YORK, N.J. — A bus driver who hit a light pole that toppled onto a stroller, killing an infant and injuring seven other people in a chain-reaction crash, faced criminal charges including using a cellphone while operating a vehicle, authorities said Wednesday.
Have a little sympathy, will you?
Idowu Daramola, 48, was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday but the hearing was moved back to Thursday morning. The Thornwood, N.Y., man is also charged with death by auto and reckless driving in Tuesday afternoon’s crash.
Daramola also had two outstanding warrants for picking up or discharging passengers in an unauthorized area, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Mike Makarski.
The accident happened in West New York on a road that overlooks the Hudson River and offers a panoramic view of Manhattan....
On Wednesday morning, a makeshift memorial of lit candles, teddy bears, and flowers had been set up as utility crews worked to reinstall the light pole. The bus stop sits between a park and playground atop a swath of trees and shrubs running down a steep slope....
Related: Darryl Dookhran Deserved to Die
Thus the memorial was removed.
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Also see: Crash in N.J. kills Harvard student
"Mother tells of plot in toddler’s death" by Associated Press March 14, 2014
FREEHOLD, N.J. — A man accused of throwing his 2-year-old daughter, still strapped in her car seat and tied to a car jack, into a New Jersey creek said he planned for the girl’s mother to accompany him the night the little girl died, according to a letter read Thursday at his trial.
‘‘You should have came with us,’’ Arthur Morgan III wrote in the jailhouse letter to his ex-girlfriend, Imani Benton. ‘‘It would have been so different, I’m sure. That was the plan, to go as a family.’’
Morgan is on trial in the 2011 death of Tierra Morgan-Glover. The toddler’s body was found in a creek 20 miles from her Lakehurst home, one tiny black and purple sneaker sticking out of the water.
Benton testified she believes that she, too, would be dead if she had gone along on an outing that was supposed to be a trip to a movie.
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"Missing autistic N.J. teen returns home" | Associated Press November 29, 2013
MARLBORO TOWNSHIP, N.J. — An autistic New Jersey teenager who went missing for a week before being found in Ohio is now back home.
Michael Karwan, 19, of Marlboro, and his parents arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday, a day after he was found at a men’s shelter in Cleveland.
Monmouth County authorities said Karwan left his parents’ home Nov. 11 and traveled by bus to Manhattan. He went to upstate New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh before arriving in Cleveland on Saturday.
Karwan tried to check in to a men’s shelter that day, but a staffer referred him to another shelter that took him in. But the staffer at the first shelter recognized Karwan from a Facebook newsfeed item and called Marlboro police.
See how good all the spying through social media is? They found the kid.
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One final poot:
"GAS BLAST AFTERMATH -- Insulation hung in tree branches Wednesday (above) after an explosion Tuesday at a townhouse complex in Ewing, N.J. Public Service Electric & Gas, a utility, said a contractor, Henkels & McCoy, had been working to replace electric service to a home when it damaged a gas line, setting off the blast (left). A resident, Linda Cerritelli, 62, died. Seven utility workers were injured. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration had cited Henkels & McCoy for safety violations last year and had fined it more than $100,000 (Boston Globe March 6 2014)."
Related: N.Y. City Gas Blast Reminds Me of Past
Time to move forward with more posts.
