Right after he finished his term as governor, one politician many years ago decided to make a very big leap. He had the chutzpah to begin running for president. This little-known former governor, not from a big state, spent most of his time in Iowa and New Hampshire. There, he sought to know everyone of importance who played a role in shaping the political fortunes of aspiring presidential candidates. No crowd was too small, no event too minor. He was everywhere and after a certain amount of time the people of the Hawkeye State and the Granite State got to feel comfortable with him and he developed a following.
When the other, better-known names started to show up, they soon realized that they were too late. This little-known former governor had locked up the key endorsements because he had done the early work of contact and cultivation. The primary reason for his early auspicious electoral success was that this was his only job: running for president.
Elizabeth Slattery / @EHSlattery / Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / March 20, 2015
The IRS, however, extended the tax credits to the federal exchange by interpreting “State” to mean “federal government,” a reading that defies common sense and the normal rules of statutory interpretation.
Putting an imaginative spin on an unfavorable outcome for the administration, Professor Baude claims that the Constitution would allow the administration to apply the judgment only to the four plaintiffs and otherwise ignore the ruling for the rest of the nation. His rationale: “The King litigation is different, because almost everybody who is eligible for the tax credits is more than happy to get them.” Yet whether or not folks are “happy” about a particular regulation has no bearing on whether that rule is authorized by law.
Baude claims that the administration is “free to follow its own honest judgment about what the law requires.” But if the Supreme Court holds that the IRS rule violates federal law, it wipes out the IRS rule in its entirety. Baude raises the fact that President Lincoln ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling in the infamous decision Dred Scott v. Sandford. Yet this is a red herring. The King case is not about the separation of powers or the relationship between co-equal branches of government—it is simply a matter of statutory interpretation.
Such action by the administration would also potentially violate the equal protection principles embodied in the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause—recognized by the Supreme Court in Bolling v. Sharpe—because the administration would not be equally applying the rule of law to everyone in the nation.
Baude also makes the odd claim that such behavior by the administration “would not defy a Supreme Court order, since the court has the formal power to order a remedy only for the four people actually before it.” Again, that is simply not the case. If the Supreme Court holds that a particular statute is unconstitutional on its face or that a particular regulation was improperly issued by a federal agency, that ruling applies in all circumstances in which that statute or regulation was or could be applied—not just to the particular plaintiff in front of the Court unless the Court specifically limits its ruling to the plaintiffs before the Court.
In fact, the Court rejected Baude’s legal theory in Cooper v. Aaron, when it determined that officials in Arkansas were bound by the holding of Brown v. Board of Education even though only Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina and Virginia were the named parties in Brown. Obviously many students and school administrators were, at the time, unfortunately “happy” with segregation; that doesn’t mean the states that weren’t parties to the case could ignore the Court’s ruling in Brown.
This issue already came up in another Obamacare subsidies case, Halbig v. Burwell, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. As the Halbig plaintiffs pointed out, “[T]his Court has made clear that when it invalidates a regulation under the [Administrative Procedures Act], such a ruling has ‘nationwide’ effect, for ‘plaintiffs and non-parties alike.’”
Baude’s legal theory also ignores the Anti-Deficiency Act, which makes it a crime for a federal employee to spend funds without congressional authorization. Thus, if the Supreme Court rules that Congress did not authorize subsidies for the federal exchanges, and if the Obama administration continues to pay out these subsidies, every federal official involved in making such payments could be fined or even imprisoned.
Baude seems to be urging Obama to copy President Andrew Jackson’s shameful response to Worcester v. Georgia, in which the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia violated a federal treaty when it sought to regulate the Cherokees. Jackson allegedly responded, “[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it,” leading to the infamous Trail of Tears when the Cherokees were forced out of their ancestral homelands.
Let’s hope Obama doesn’t take this legal advice to channel Old Hickory and taunt Chief Justice John Roberts in such a way. Though the administration has shown contempt for the rule of law, it has not yet stooped to the level of ignoring a decision by the Supreme Court.
Fed whistleblower quits Wall Street, weighs book
By Kevin Dugan
March 20, 2015 | 11:53am
Carmen Segarra, the Wall Street whistleblower who secretly recorded 46 hours of private conversations with her fellow regulators — casting a light on the sometimes too cozy relationship between the New York Fed and the banks it oversees — is considering writing a book, The Post has learned.
Segarra, a lawyer, left her job at Barclays in New York earlier this month after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, in a March 3 speech, appeared to refer to Segarra’s rocky relationship with her then-Fed colleagues.
“It is important that anyone serving the Fed feel safe speaking up when they have concerns,“ Yellen said in her speech in New York City before the Citizens Budget Commission.
“It’s been an ongoing drain [for Segarra],” a person familiar with Segarra told The Post, talking about the publicity following her going public with her New York Fed issues.
Segarra does not yet have a book deal or even an agent, according to one person familiar with her plans.
Segarra’s 2011-2012 tapes were made public in September when WBEZ’s “This American Life” aired a report on regulators at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shrinking before bankers at Goldman Sachs over a “legal, but shady” deal.
David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal’
An election-season essay
By David Mamet Tuesday, Mar 11 2008
See also that most magnificent of schools, the jury system, where, again, each brings nothing into the room save his or her own prejudices, and, through the course of deliberation, comes not to a perfect solution, but a solution acceptable to the community—a solution the community can live with.
Prior to the midterm elections, my rabbi was taking a lot of flack. The congregation is exclusively liberal, he is a self-described independent (read “conservative”), and he was driving the flock wild. Why? Because a) he never discussed politics; and b) he taught that the quality of political discourse must be addressed first—that Jewish law teaches that it is incumbent upon each person to hear the other fellow out.
And so I, like many of the liberal congregation, began, teeth grinding, to attempt to do so. And in doing so, I recognized that I held those two views of America (politics, government, corporations, the military). One was of a state where everything was magically wrong and must be immediately corrected at any cost; and the other—the world in which I actually functioned day to day—was made up of people, most of whom were reasonably trying to maximize their comfort by getting along with each other (in the workplace, the marketplace, the jury room, on the freeway, even at the school-board meeting).
And I realized that the time had come for me to avow my participation in that America in which I chose to live, and that that country was not a schoolroom teaching values, but a marketplace.
Reader asks can someone explain to me how Project Graduation is raffling off a parking space on Heermance Place to a student for the next school year???
can someone explain to me how Project Graduation is raffling off a parking space on Heermance Place to a student for the next school year??? I am crazy or is that a public street?? I know that the public was booted in favor of “teacher only parking” but now they are raffling off a spot to a student to raise money for a party when I, a taxpayer, cannot park there??? HUH??? Something just smells here.
We have not been able to confirm or deny the “parking space ” raffle , here are other events and information we have confirmed on the BOE website for Project Graduation .
Project Graduation 2015 Updates
The Fashion Show is April 19. The Committee is now securing donations for the auction. Click here for more information and the donation form. Items may be dropped off at Gail Mandell’s office, Life Opportunities Unlimited, 75 North Maple Ave. Suite 104 Monday – Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fashion Show chairpersons are ShariHellman (201-310-6286 [email protected] and Gail Mandeli (201- 248-2575 or [email protected]).
PG-15 upcoming monthly meetings: April 9 and May 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the RHS Library.
Dues are due. Make $165 check payable to “RHS Class of 2015” and mail to Sharon Walker, 94 Sherwood Road, Ridgewood, NJ 07450.
Class of 2015 Project Graduation Representatives
Chairpersons Tara Callaghan 201-803-7778 and Rosie McCooe 201-602-8097
Chairpersons email: [email protected]
Treasurer Sharon Walker [email protected]
Communications Jeff Coster [email protected]
$598,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1508151
212 Walthery Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
3 Bedroom, 1 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Ghada Abbasi, Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker, Ridgewood
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
$599,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1509383
265 Edwards St, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
3 Bedroom, 2 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Kurt Hedden, Sales Associate
Keller Williams Village Square Realty
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
25
$615,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1508212
201 Walthery Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
3 Bedroom, 2 Full Bath, Col
Joanne W. Cheng, Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker, Ridgewood
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
19
$690,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1508298
757 Hillcrest Rd, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
5 Bedroom, 1 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Jennifer M. Parsekian, Broker
Keller Williams Village Square Realty
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
24
$699,900 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1506057
428 Sterling Pl, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
4 Bedroom, 2 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Robert Stemple, Sales Associate
RE/MAX Properties-Saddle River
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
15
$729,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1500976
154 Claremont Rd, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
3 Bedroom, 1 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Gina Fierro, Sales Associate
Weichert Realtors Ridgewood
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
20
$739,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1509016
520 Upper Blvd, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
4 Bedroom, 2 Full Bath, C/C
Linda Aktar, Broker Associate
Pamela Chmiel, Sales Associate
Tarvin Realtors
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. Sun. 3/22
20
$829,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1509194
153 Jeffer Ct, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
4 Bedroom, 2 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Mary Tarvin Passaro, Broker Associate
Tarvin Realtors
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. Sun. 3/22
24
$975,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1508158
114 Hamilton Rd, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
5 Bedroom, 3 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Christine McKinley, Broker Associate
Tarvin Realtors
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. Sun. 3/22
25
$999,900 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1508697
225 Sollas Ct, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
5 Bedroom, 4 Full Bath,
2 Half Bath, Col
Peggy Jung, Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker, Ridgewood
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
25
$1,079,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1509199
216 California St, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
4 Bedroom, 2 Full Bath,
2 Half Bath, Col
Frances Ekblom, Sales Associate
Tarvin Realtors
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. Sun. 3/22
$1,080,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1507630
449 Meadowbrook Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
5 Bedroom, 3 Full Bath, Col
Jolanta Krygier, Sales Associate
Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty-Saddle River
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
23
$1,249,000 in Ridgewood
MLS # 1508484
395 Knollwood Rd, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
4 Bedroom, 3 Full Bath,
1 Half Bath, Col
Laurin Steiger, Sales Associate
Terrie O’Connor Realtors/SdlRv
Open House: 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Sun. 3/22
Cable lobby eyes opening to rewrite Web law
By Julian Hattem – 03/21/15 11:42 AM EDT
Cable and telecom industry lobbyists are launching an effort to convince lawmakers to support new legislation that replaces federal Internet regulations.
After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its new regulations to treat the Web like a public utility, major companies are now sensing an opening to escape what they consider crushing net neutrality regulations.
“The 400-page order really is starting, to us, a process on the hill,” said one telecommunications industry lobbyist who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the plans.
Patrick Moore, Ph.D co-founder Greenpeace Why I am a Climate Change Skeptic
Patrick Moore
Dr. Patrick Moore is the co-founder, chair, and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies,
[Editor’s Note: Patrick Moore, Ph.D., has been a leader in international environmentalism for more than 40 years. He cofounded Greenpeace and currently serves as chair of Allow Golden Rice. Moore received the 2014 Speaks Truth to Power Award at the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change, July 8, in Las Vegas. Watch his presentation about this piece at the video player to the left.]
I am skeptical humans are the main cause of climate change and that it will be catastrophic in the near future. There is no scientific proof of this hypothesis, yet we are told “the debate is over” and “the science is settled.”
My skepticism begins with the believers’ certainty they can predict the global climate with a computer model. The entire basis for the doomsday climate change scenario is the hypothesis increased atmospheric carbon dioxide due to fossil fuel emissions will heat the Earth to unlivable temperatures.
In fact, the Earth has been warming very gradually for 300 years, since the Little Ice Age ended, long before heavy use of fossil fuels. Prior to the Little Ice Age, during the Medieval Warm Period, Vikings colonized Greenland and Newfoundland, when it was warmer there than today. And during Roman times, it was warmer, long before fossil fuels revolutionized civilization.
The idea it would be catastrophic if carbon dioxide were to increase and average global temperature were to rise a few degrees is preposterous.
Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced for the umpteenth time we are doomed unless we reduce carbon-dioxide emissions to zero. Effectively this means either reducing the population to zero, or going back 10,000 years before humans began clearing forests for agriculture. This proposed cure is far worse than adapting to a warmer world, if it actually comes about.
IPCC Conflict of Interest
By its constitution, the IPCC has a hopeless conflict of interest. Its mandate is to consider only the human causes of global warming, not the many natural causes changing the climate for billions of years. We don’t understand the natural causes of climate change any more than we know if humans are part of the cause at present. If the IPCC did not find humans were the cause of warming, or if it found warming would be more positive than negative, there would be no need for the IPCC under its present mandate. To survive, it must find on the side of the apocalypse.
The IPCC should either have its mandate expanded to include all causes of climate change, or it should be dismantled.
Political Powerhouse
Climate change has become a powerful political force for many reasons. First, it is universal; we are told everything on Earth is threatened. Second, it invokes the two most powerful human motivators: fear and guilt. We fear driving our car will kill our grandchildren, and we feel guilty for doing it.
Third, there is a powerful convergence of interests among key elites that support the climate “narrative.” Environmentalists spread fear and raise donations; politicians appear to be saving the Earth from doom; the media has a field day with sensation and conflict; science institutions raise billions in grants, create whole new departments, and stoke a feeding frenzy of scary scenarios; business wants to look green, and get huge public subsidies for projects that would otherwise be economic losers, such as wind farms and solar arrays. Fourth, the Left sees climate change as a perfect means to redistribute wealth from industrial countries to the developing world and the UN bureaucracy.
So we are told carbon dioxide is a “toxic” “pollutant” that must be curtailed, when in fact it is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, gas and the most important food for life on earth. Without carbon dioxide above 150 parts per million, all plants would die.
2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act
MAYOR: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”
3. Roll Call – Village Clerk
4. Flag Salute and Moment of Silence
5. Public Comments (Not to exceed 5 minutes per person)
6. Discussion Items
a. Review of Departmental/Utility/Other Accounts Budgets
To say that Los Angeles merely failed would be putting it mildly.
Earlier this week, the nonpartisan RAND Corporation released a study that helps demolish the argument that governments (cities, in this case) can socially engineer away residents’ obesity by restricting food freedom.
The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, focuses on a ridiculous, controversial, seven-year-old zoning ban on new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles. To say that the measure merely failed would be putting it mildly.
“Since the fast-food restrictions were passed in 2008, overweight and obesity rates in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods targeted by the law have increased faster than in other parts of the city or other parts of the county,” reads a RAND press release on the study.
Well then.
“The South Los Angeles fast food ban may have symbolic value, but it has had no measurable impact in improving diets or reducing obesity,” said lead author Roland Sturm of RAND.
The RAND study results represent some of the best evidence to date that policies that restrict food freedom do no make people healthier. The failure and repeal of Denmark’s so-called “fat tax” and damning research on mandatory menu labeling are two other convincing examples.
FTC staff report details how Google favored its own shopping, travel services over rivals
By Rolfe Winkler And
Brody Mullins
Updated March 19, 2015 7:25 p.m. ET
A previously undisclosed report by staffers at the Federal Trade Commission reveals new details about how Google Inc. manipulated search results to favor its own services over rivals’, even when they weren’t most relevant for users.
In a lengthy investigation, staffers in the FTC’s bureau of competition found evidence that Google boosted its own services for shopping, travel and local businesses by altering its ranking criteria and “scraping” content from other sites. It also deliberately demoted rivals.
For example, the FTC staff noted that Google presented results from its flight-search tool ahead of other travel sites, even though Google offered fewer flight options. Google’s shopping results were ranked above rival comparison-shopping engines, even though users didn’t click on them at the same rate, the staff found. Many of the ways Google boosted its own results have not been previously disclosed.
March 19, 2015 Last updated: Thursday, March 19, 2015, 12:31 AM
By Lianna Albrizio
STAFF WRITER |
Pascack Valley Community Life
A shuttle bus that offered a free reverse commute to passengers to and from the Ridgewood Train Station to their jobs at corporate buildings in Woodcliff Lake, Park Ridge and Montvale will cease operation.
Montvale Councilwoman Leah LaMonica, who was instrumental in finding funding for the three-year-running bus, said at the meeting that the county was “unwilling” to get another grant to keep the wheels on the service in motion. Alicia D’Alessandro, director of communications to the office of Bergen County Executive James J. Tedesco III, confirmed the shuttle’s eventual discontinuation.
“While a final decision hasn’t been made, it is likely that the operation of the shuttle will cease later this spring,” she said in a phone interview after the meeting.
The handicapped-accessible, 16-seat shuttle was funded via a $150,000 three-year environmental grant from NJ Transit in March 2012. The bus provided a reverse commute for passengers to and from the Ridgewood Train Station in Garber Square as early as 7:15 a.m. to as late as 6:30 p.m. LaMonica had worked with former state Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk to provide transportation for commuters to the tri-boro area, which the councilwoman previously said had been underserviced for years.
Ferriero racketeering trial: Wood-Ridge Mayor Paul Sarlo testifies
March 20, 2015, 12:48 PM Last updated: Friday, March 20, 2015, 9:39 PM
By JOHN BRENNAN and and JOHN C. ENSSLIN
Staff Writers |
The Record
The federal racketeering trial of former Bergen County Democratic leader Joseph A. Ferriero took a dramatic turn Friday when state Sen. Paul Sarlo, one of the most powerful Democratic lawmakers in North Jersey, testified that Ferriero “pushed hard” to persuade Wood-Ridge officials to hire a software company without disclosing that he stood to profit from the deal.
Sarlo, who is also the mayor of Wood-Ridge, said the town’s decision in 2007 not to hire the company, called C3, led to a confrontation during a political golf outing the next year.
“I don’t think they were happy with my response — it got tense,” Sarlo said of Ferriero and John Carrino, the owner of C3, a Nutley-based firm that helped towns with municipal websites and reverse 911 systems.
Once voices were raised, Sarlo said, his chief of staff, Chris Eilert, “intervened to make sure it didn’t go any further” by guiding Sarlo away from the other two men.
Sarlo’s testimony came in U.S. District Court in Newark, where Ferriero, 57, of Hackensack, is on trial on charges of using his position as party chairman in a series of extortion, bribery and kickback schemes. He has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and has accused the prosecutors of unfairly targeting him.
Rachel Brathen
Tuesday, March 24th@ 7:00pm
Inspirational Yoga Instructor on Instagram, Rachel Brathen
will sign her new book:
Yoga Girl
Each Person attending must have a book purchased at Bookends
We are taking RSVP’s for this event. Call us at 201-445-0726 to reserve your book NOW.
Book available March 24th
Bernard Kerik
Wednesday, April 1st @ 7:30pm
Former Police Commissioner of New York City, Bernard Kerik, will sign his new book: From Jailer to Jailed
Books available March 31st
Mariel Hemingway
Tuesday, April 7th @ 7:00pm
Actress from the Woody Allen Film, Manhattan, Mariel Hemingway, will sign her new books:
Out Came the Sun and Invisible Girls
Books available April 7th
Lorraine Bracco
Wednesday, April 8th @7:00pm
Actress from The Sopranos Lorraine Bracco, will sign her new book:
To the Fullest
Books available April 7th
Dan Gutman
Friday, April 10th @ 4:30pm
New York Times Bestselling Author, Dan Gutman, will be giving a talk and sign his new children’s books: The Genius Files and Willie & ME
Rick Bandazian
Sunday, April 12th @ 1:00pm
Former Owner of The Circus Rock Club, Rick Bandazian, will sign his new book:
Rock & Roll Meltdown
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.
Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
CBO: Obamacare to Hit Only 65 Percent of 2015 Coverage Target
7:23 AM, Mar 20, 2015 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON
Given that Obamacare’s supporters like to take the Congressional Budget Office’s overly optimistic scoring of the president’s signature legislation as gospel, it’s fun to look at how poorly Obamacare is actually doing in relation to earlier CBO projections. When the Democrats rammed Obamacare through Congress in 2010 without a single Republican vote, the CBO said that the unpopular overhaul would lead to a net increase of 26 million people with health insurance by 2015 (15 million through Medicaid plus 13 million through the Obamacare exchanges minus 2 million who would otherwise have had private insurance but wouldn’t because of Obamacare).
Fast-forwarding five years, the CBO now says that Obamacare’s tally for 2015 will actually be a net increase of just 17 million people (10 million through Medicaid plus 11 million through the Obamacare exchanges minus 4 million who would otherwise have had private insurance but won’t, or don’t, because of Obamacare).
In other words, Obamacare is now slated to hit only 65 percent of the CBO’s original coverage projection for 2015.
Obamacare’s under-publicized failure on this key point is attributable to a variety of factors, including but not limited to the following: People aren’t thrilled with Obamacare-compliant insurance’s high cost and limited doctor networks, and some would even rather pay a fine for refusing to buy such insurance than pay its premiums; the Supreme Court ruled that part of Obamacare was unconstitutional, thereby giving states more freedom not to help expand it; and HealthCare.gov has been more reminiscent of DMV.org than of Expedia.com.
