Author: James

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Financial Planning Association of New Jersey Warns of the Cost of College Debt on Social Security

RHS Grad
January 6,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, While Financial Planners have been advocating for smarter legislation on student loan programs for years, the news is finally spotlighting a concern over its impact on Social Security income if debts aren’t paid.

The Financial Planning Association of New Jersey (FPANJ) has long held advocacy positions in Trenton that have encouraged careful decision making with regard to student loan programs. However, the impacts haven’t been well publicized until recently, when the Wall Street Journal ran a piece on how Social Security checks can be reduced if debts for college aren’t paid.”Our efforts in public financial education – and in the Capitol – have included a message to stop the borrowing before it happens,” explained John Crosby, CFP® ,ChFC, CAS, CLTC, CRPC®, and Advocacy Chairperson for FPANJ. “The best solution to this issue is always to make an educated decision before you choose to borrow, where to borrow, and understand the types of student loans are available.”

The reality is that for student loans and other non-tax debts, the government can garnish wages or suspend tax refunds for anyon(e who fails to pay their student loans. They can take 15 percent of your Social Security check as long as the remaining balance doesn’t drop below $750. There is no statute of limitations on student loan debt, so it doesn’t matter how
long ago the debt occurred.

Crosby noted that lawmakers have an opportunity to protect Social Security in a bill (HR4988 Social Security Benefits Restoration Act) presented by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL) in April of 2016. However, this bill is still awaiting a co-sponsor, along with similar proposals from 2015.

The best way to protect yourself is to become knowledgeable, said Crosby.

“Financial Literary programs can address this topic to help students and/or parents understand the importance of higher education and the financial responsibilities that come with it. Partnering with a Certified Financial Planner(TM) is the best course in understanding your options, whether you plan on paying for college or taking out loans.

“Often a candid discussion among a planner, parents and the student can help avoid serious financial consequences down the road. And really, that is what FPANJ and its members are here to do.”

If people don’t have a Financial Planner, Crosby recommended a tool found on the FPANJ website (FPANJ.org) at the top of the page. “Find A Local Planner” helps consumers look for a specialist in the area of college planning, and within their geographic area.

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THE U.S. GOVERNMENT THINKS THOUSANDS OF RUSSIAN HACKERS MAY BE READING MY BLOG. THEY AREN’T

drstrangelove

Micah Lee

January 4 2017, 2:38 p.m.

AFTER THE U.S. GOVERNMENT published a report on Russia’s cyber attacks against the U.S. election system, and included a list of computers that were allegedly used by Russian hackers, I became curious if any of these hackers had visited my personal blog. The U.S. report, which boasted of including “technical details regarding the tools and infrastructure used by Russian civilian and military intelligence services,” came with a list of 876 suspicious IP addresses used by the hackers, and these addresses were the clues I needed to, in the end, understand a gaping weakness in the report.

An IP address is a set of numbers that identifies a computer, or a network of computers, on the internet. Each time someone loads my website, it logs their IP address. So I searched my web server logs for the suspicious IP addresses, and I was shocked to discover over 80,000 web requests from IPs used by the Russian hackers in the last 14 months! Digging further, I found that some of these Russian hackers had even posted comments (mostly innocuous technical questions)! Even today, several days after publication of the report (which used a codename for the Russian attack, Grizzly Steppe), I’m still finding these suspicious IP addresses in my logs — although I would expect the Russians to stop using them after the U.S. government exposed them.

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/04/the-u-s-government-thinks-thousands-of-russian-hackers-are-reading-my-blog-they-arent/

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RECALL COUNCILMAN JEFF VOIGT!!!

Jeff Voigt Ridgewood Council
January 6,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Councilman Voigt is quickly becoming the most disliked man in Ridgewood. Through social media we learned, on top of everything else, that Voigt also tried to circumvent the public meeting process. One by one, his malicious plans are backfiring and blowing up in his face. The real Jeff Voigt is being exposed. Residents are turning up at public meetings and on social media to express their disappointment and
say, “ENOUGH! VOIGT RESIGN OR BE RECALLED.”

Facebook Post, on 1/4, “It Takes a Ridgewood Village.”

ALL RESIDENTS: Last night was a very sad moment for Ridgewood. Our elected official is not what we expected. Amongst many things, we learned the reason why Councilman Voigt was asking members of the public to meet in private. It’s down right shameful! I was also asked to meet in private but refused (see below). I couldn’t understand why a Councilman was trying to circumvent a public, transparent dialogue. Now we know.

Read for more details. https://theridgewoodblog.net/ridgewood-village-council-meeting-groundhog-day/
Or watch the video and see for yourself. https://youtu.be/brc6pJr6yaQ

 Attachments area
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Reader says In 2016, we thought we were voting for three candidates that, if elected, would produce unanimous votes in favor of whatever was best for Ridgewood and its residents

village Council Elections

 

It was an electoral miracle that Ridgewood residents got their collective back up and soundly rejected the slate of three candidates that openly idolized and were in turn warmly endorsed by Aronsohn, Hauck and Pucciarelli (and, unofficially, by Sonenfeld). When in office from 2014-2016, Aronsohn, Hauck and Pucciarelli always seemed to have some sort of motivation different than what was best for the village as a whole. In 2016, by contrast, we thought we were voting for three candidates that, if elected, would produce in matters of importance a five-to-nothing unanimous vote in favor of whatever was best for Ridgewood and its residents. The last thing we wanted was another council member prone to wigging out and spitefully throwing a monkey wrench into the works every time someone came within a country mile of bumping into their precious little ego. Was it a pipe dream to think we had purged the Village Council of such nonsense? Four-out-of-five good eggs is not bad, but it is a far cry from five-out-of-five. Having one bad egg in a five-person Village Council sets up a situation in which the next municipal election could produce a three-to-two Aronsohn-like tyrannical majority bloc. And in the meantime, having that one bad egg colleague on the Village Council inevitably stresses out the four good-egg Council Members, precisely because they are good eggs! We desperately need the latter to remain in office, rather than quit in frustration. And clearly, we need to do whatever we can do to encourage them to run for re-election.

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Unprincipled Attacks on Ridgewood Mayor Are Nothing but an Attempt To Waste Councils Time

village Council

Dear Mayor, Council Members, Village Manager and Village Attorney,  

Last night’s meeting was upsetting to watch but also violated many aspects of Roberts Rules of Order.  The purpose of these guidelines is to provide ” for fair and orderly meetings and conventions”. A point of order can be used amongst many other things to call attention to” infraction of the rules or improper decorum in speaking”. 
The Mayor had to listen to old charges of supposed misconduct by members of the public as well as a council member.  She had every right to defend herself and to ask the village attorney to state the chain of events and facts. To have a point of order called in the middle of Ms. Knudsen’s response to Mr. Lehman which on his part was an  attack ( speaking directly to a council member in a personal and accusatory manner and also not allowed) seemed an attempt to silence and/or curtail the mayor’s right to speak on her behalf. Fortunately, she was not silenced.  
I would also like to add that according to Roberts Rules ” the agenda and all committee reports are merely recommendations” and liaisons to committees are to report back to the governing body and do not have independent powers.  
Mr. Voigt’s continued stance that the mayor had done something illegal after this allegation was addressed by Mr. Rogers back in November has taken away from all the positives that have been accomplished by the current council. I don’t understand it but I do know it is not in the town’s best interest and it is not the way to treat a colleague.  
Sincerely, Linda McNamara
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Despite the Hype “Russian Hacking” Claims Fail to Prove Altered Election Results

dr strangelove

January 6,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Misleading the American people to advance a political narrative has been a hallmark of President Obama’s foreign and domestic policy. The most recent example is the administration’s attempt to conflate the hacking of the Democratic Party with potential cyberattacks on the US Election.

Last week, federal officials went as far as to tell the Washington Post that malware linked to Russian hackers was found on a laptop at Burlington Electric, a Vermont power company. By Monday the Post had recanted, writing that investigators “are finding evidence that the incident is not linked to any Russian government effort.”

The Obama administration and many Democrats as well as Republicans led by Sen. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have ordered hearings and are pushing the Russian hacking story instead of focusing on the hacking of Hillary Clintons unsecured servers and Clinton operative John Podesta being caught in a basic phishing hack giving access to all his emails.

In October the Clinton campaign declined to confirm the authenticity of the WikiLeak documents but called them “stolen, and ” the latest move by Russian operatives they claimed were trying to help Donald Trump.

The problem for Democrats is the WikiLeak released emails, proved unequivocally that the DNC had rigged the primary race against Bernie Sanders, worked in collusion with the mainstream media, the Hillary received debate questions ahead of time, that DNC staffers used inflammatory and derogatory language toward minorities, women and gays, but the most damming was the implication that the entire media appeared to be on the Clinton’s payroll.

Recount efforts failed as Trump picked up more votes and voting irregularities in Detroit pointed to DNC tampering.

Today DNI Chief Clapper took swipe at Trump, Assange as he defended the Russia Hack Intel. This is of course is the same James Clapper who in 2014 the Washington Post featured a story in which a group of congressmen led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) were pushing for President Obama to fire, the director of national intelligence, claiming he misled Congress about the extent of the NSA’s domestic surveillance activity on American citizens.

NBC reported, Clapper without offering any evidence said Russia had “clearly assumed an even more aggressive cyber posture by increasing cyber espionage operations, leaking data stolen from these operations, and targeting political infrastructures systems.”

In mid-December  Jeh Johnson head of the Department of Homeland Security explained DHS’s cyber team was ready on election night and they didn’t see “anything that affected the ballot count,” he said.

When pressed, asking whether he could assure Americans that Russian hacking did not affect the outcome of the election.

Johnson said, “We see no evidence that hacking by any actor altered the ballot count for any cyber actions that deprived people of voting,”.

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Snow To Impact the Friday Morning Rush Hour

Ridgewood_snow_storm_theridgewoodblog

 

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE : THURSDAY JANUARY 5TH to FRIDAY MORNING JANUARY 6th.THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN
CONNECTICUT…NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK.

.DAY ONE…THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

UP TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT, WITH A POSSIBLE
IMPACT TO THE FRIDAY MORNING COMMUTE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME THAT WOULD MEET
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WARNING CRITERIA.

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK PROVIDES A SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL
WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER EVENTS THAT MAY REACH NWS WARNING
CRITERIA. MOST LONG FUSED NWS WATCHES…WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES IN
EFFECT ARE HIGHLIGHTED.

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Psychiatrist: Not Everything is a Mental Disease

Movie-HighAnxiety-MelBrooks-cropped-large

Michael Liccione | February 17, 2016

Some readers might recognize the name “Theodore Dalrymple.” It’s the pen name of the iconoclastic British psychiatrist Anthony Daniels, who in semi-retirement keeps on writing books. His twenty-third is Admirable Evasions: How Psychology Undermines Morality (2015).

An interview he gave soon after the book’s publication sums up his thesis, which is rather unconventional even if, given the course of his long career, not all that surprising. It’s a thesis thoughtful Americans would do well to ponder.

Here’s how the piece introduces it:

“Q: You lead with Shakespeare’s King Lear saying mental illness is ‘the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune…we (blame) the sun, the moon and the stars.’

A: Four hundred years later, it’s still true, but we blame psychology instead of astrology. We call it progress. Literature is far more illuminating into the human condition than psychology could ever hope to be.”

As presented, of course, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But most of us know people who blame everything and everybody but themselves for their faults—when they recognize those faults at all. Thus:

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/psychiatrist-not-everything-mental-disease

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18 Major Scandals in Obama’s ‘Scandal-Free’ Presidency

Obama-Golf

by JOHN HAYWARD2 Jan 20174,188

President Obama and his mouthpieces have embarked on a bizarre scheme to hypnotize America into forgetting the many scandals of his presidency. They seem to think that intoning “this administration hasn’t had a scandal” over and over again will make history disappear. It’s the lamest Jedi Mind Trick ever, and is being pushed on people who know Star Wars is just a movie.

Here’s a short list of the many scandals Team Obama thinks it can make America forget:

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/18-major-scandals-obama-presidency/

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Fair share? Top 400 taxpayers paid almost as much income taxes in 2014 as entire bottom 50% – top 0.001% paid more

Fair share? Top 400 taxpayers paid almost as much income taxes in 2014 as entire bottom

Mark J. Perry@Mark_J_Perry
December 30, 2016 1:03 pm | AEIdea

taxes1We hear all the time that “the rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes” (you’ll find more than 4,000,000 Google search results for that phrase). In a 2013 video at the start of this second term, President Obama celebrated his tax increases that “make our tax code more progressive than it’s been in decades,” but then reiterated his belief that the wealthiest Americans still aren’t paying their “fair share” of taxes.  Here’s an analysis using recent IRS data that suggests otherwise.

1. In 2014, the top 400 US taxpayers based on Adjusted Gross Income earned $127 billion collectively, and they paid $29.4 billion collectively in federal income taxes at an average tax rate of 23.13% (see chart above). Just those 400 taxpayers paid more than 2% of all the federal income taxes collected in 2014 ($29.4 billion out of $1.377 trillion).

2. In 2014, the bottom 50% of taxpayers, a group totaling nearly 70 million Americans, earned collectively more than $1 trillion and paid $37.7 billion in federal income taxes at average tax rate of about 3.4% (see chart above).

Update:

3. According to the IRS, the top 0.001 percent of US taxpayers (N = 1,396) paid $49.7 billion in federal income tax in 2014, which is $12 billion more than the taxes collected from the entire bottom 50% (see updated chart above). Also, because of the progressive income tax schedule, note that the bottom 50% of US taxpayers reported about 5 times as much income as the top 1/1000 of 1% (more than $1 trillion vs. $207 billion), but paid $12 billion (and 24%) less in income taxes in 2014.

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Georgia Tech Climatologist Judith Curry Resigns over ‘the CRAZINESS in the field of climate science.’

Georgia Tech Climatologist Judith Curry

She is a prominent critic of the “consensus” that man-made climate change is an impending catastrophe

Ronald Bailey|Jan. 4, 2017 12:05 pm

Wikimedia CommonsClimatologist and former chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology Judith Curry has announced her resignation effective immediately on her blog, Climate, Etc. I have long found Curry to be an honest researcher and a fair-minded disputant in the ongoing debates over man-made climate change. She excelled at pointing out the uncertainties and deficiencies of climate modeling. Given the thoroughly politicized nature of climate science her efforts to clarify what is known and unknown by climate science caused her to be pilloried as “anti-science” by other researchers who are convinced that man-made global warming is leading toward catastrophe. In her blog annoucement Curry explains her resignation:

A deciding factor was that I no longer know what to say to students and postdocs regarding how to navigate the CRAZINESS in the field of climate science. Research and other professional activities are professionally rewarded only if they are channeled in certain directions approved by a politicized academic establishment — funding, ease of getting your papers published, getting hired in prestigious positions, appointments to prestigious committees and boards, professional recognition, etc.

How young scientists are to navigate all this is beyond me, and it often becomes a battle of scientific integrity versus career suicide (I have worked through these issues with a number of skeptical young scientists).

Let me relate an interaction that I had with a postdoc about a month ago. She wanted to meet me, as an avid reader of my blog. She works in a field that is certainly relevant to climate science, but she doesn’t identify as a climate scientist. She says she gets questioned all the time about global warming issues, and doesn’t know what to say, since topics like attribution, etc. are not topics that she explores as a scientist. WOW, a scientist that knows the difference! I advised her to keep her head down and keep doing the research that she thinks interesting and important, and to stay out of the climate debate UNLESS she decides to dig in and pursue it intellectually. Personal opinions about the science and political opinions about policies that are sort of related to your research expertise are just that – personal and political opinions. Selling such opinions as contributing to a scientific consensus is very much worse than a joke.

https://reason.com/blog/2017/01/04/georgia-tech-climatologist-judith-curry

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FACEBOOK: Video Showing Torture Of Disabled White Trump Supporter “Doesn’t Violate Our Community Standards”

FACEBOOK, Video , Torture Of Disabled White Trump Supporter, “Doesn’t Violate Our Community Standards”

By Laura Loomer – on January 4, 2017

The Geller Report has obtained a screenshot of the response some Facebook users received after reporting a disturbing video showing the torture and beating of a disabled white Trump supporter in Chicago. Upon reporting the violent video, Facebook replied, saying “We reviewed the video and it DOESN’T go against one of our specific community standards.

https://pamelageller.com/2017/01/facebook-video-showing-torture-white-trump-supporter-doesnt-violate-community-standards.html/

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Girls Lacrosse Coach Karla Mixon received the William Corcoran Service to Youth Award at the 51st Annual Greater Bergen County YMCA Sports Award Banquet

Girls Lacrosse Coach Karla Mixon

January 4,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood Nj, Girls Lacrosse Coach Karla Mixon received the William Corcoran Service to Youth Award at the 51st Annual Greater Bergen County YMCA Sports Award Banquet held in November.  Karla is pictured here with YMCA CEO Glenn MacAfee. Karla teaches science at BFMS.

If the her name sounds familiar Ridgewood girls lacrosse was named state Team of the Year and Karla Mixon was named state Coach of the Year for 2011 by the Star-Ledger.

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How to Politically Condition a Generation

clock work orange

Some insights from The Rape of the Mind.
Devin Foley | November 10, 2015

With all of the intolerance of “offensive” speech and ideas, it’s worth considering what could be happening. Is it all just to create a better society or are we being coerced into a certain mindset?

Sure, what’s going on is not on the level of some of the tyrannies of the 20th century or fictions such as Clockwork Orange, nonetheless the tactics seem eerily similar.

In The Rape of the Mind, Joost Meerloo points out that:

“…he who dictates and formulates the words and phrases we use, he who is master of the press and radio, is master of the mind.”

And who today dictates and formulates the words and phrases we use? Usually, those that matter originate in our universities and institutions of higher learning. They then trickle down through society as those who were embedded with the new words and phrases make their way through society and eventually into positions of leadership. It is the long march through institutions to bring about cultural and then political change.

As more and more individuals have been imprinted with the new way of looking at the world, the more the new thinking permeates the culture and pushes out dissenting views:

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/how-politically-condition-generation