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Ouch ! Christie spent $82K on concessions at Giants, Jets games

Michael J

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mitt Romney and Jets Flight Crew Cheerleaders watch a Jets game from owner Woody Johnson’s private box in December 2014.Photo: Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com

Sorry I missed the party !

By Chris Perez

May 11, 2015 | 12:16pm
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mitt Romney and Jets Flight Crew Cheerleaders watch a Jets game from owner Woody Johnson’s private box in December 2014.Photo: Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com

Chris Christie shelled out $300,000 on food, alcohol and desserts during his five years as New Jersey governor — more than 80 percent of his state allowance, a report said.

The 52-year-old’s most noteworthy spending sprees came during Giants and Jets games at MetLife Stadium in 2010 and 2011, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of records released by the governor’s office on Monday.

Christie racked up $82,594 in concessions, which were paid for by debit card to Delaware North Sportservice. But the menu remains a mystery because the governor’s office did not provide any receipts, business reasons or names of individuals who were joining in on the feast, Watchdog reports.

“The official nature and business purpose of the event remains the case regardless of whether the event is at the State House, Drumthwacket or a sporting venue,” Christie press secretary Kevin Roberts explained in a prepared statement.

In the attempt to avoid a potential scandal which could shatter Christie’s dreams of becoming president, the New Jersey Republican State Committee chose to reimburse purchases from “DNS Sports” to the state Treasury in March 2012. The governor has stopped using his expense account at MetLife ever since.

On Monday, Christie’s camp was quick to explain the alleged spending — claiming he never made any purchases for his own use.

 

https://nypost.com/2015/05/11/christie-spent-82k-on-booze-food-at-giants-jets-games/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPFacebook&utm_medium=SocialFlow

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Supreme Court Justice Scalia: Constitution, Not Bill of Rights, Makes Us Free

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Kevin Mooney / @KevinMooneyDC / May 11, 2015

“This was a bad progressive idea,” said Assemblyman Michael Carroll, a Republican in Morris Plains, N.J. “The U.S. Senate was much more responsive and accountable prior to the amendment because it had to answer to the states.”

Without the 17th Amendment, said Assemblyman Jay Webber, a Republican in Parsippany, N.J., local party officials could exert influence at the national level.

“In a state like New Jersey, where the county party structure is so strong, you could expect to see influence shift to county chairs and other power brokers,” he said. “What they now do at the state level, they could have been in a position to do nationally.”

Although it might change the priorities of New Jersey’s U.S. senators, repeal of the 17th Amendment probably would not significantly change who served, according to Kim Guadagno, the state’s lieutenant governor.

“The Democrats have a significant registration advantage in the state,” she said. “I’m not sure you would see any kind of major change in who became the U.S. senators. But I am glad to see Justice Scalia focus attention on the amendment and what it meant for the country as a whole.”

Scalia said the trend toward using constitutions as lawmaking documents has increased in recent years as special interests have learned to insert “pet projects” into constitutions.

“A constitution is about setting structure; it is not about writing the preferences of special-interest groups,” he said.

In fact, he said, the less done to the Constitution, the better. During the question-and-answer session, someone asked if a constitutional convention would be in the nation’s interests.

“A constitutional convention is a horrible idea,” he said. “This is not a good century to write a constitution.”

https://dailysignal.com/2015/05/11/supreme-court-justice-scalia-constitution-not-bill-of-rights-makes-us-free/

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For First Time, Court Takes Action in Hillary Clinton Email Scandal

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A federal judge has agreed to reopen a lawsuit that seeks access to emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server.

The federal judge’s decision marks the first time a court has taken action in the email scandal.

Judge Andrew Napolitano explained the particulars behind the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit this morning.

Judicial Watch and the State Department – usually on opposite sides in these types of cases – are actually in agreement, with both asking Judge Reggie B. Walton for the documents to be turned over.

Napolitano called Walton a “tough cookie” and “probably the last judge in Washington, D.C., [Clinton] wanted this issue to be in front of.”

He said that the State Department consented to the request because they have been “embarrassed” by their lack of access to Clinton’s emails.

The court had previously dismissed Judicial Watch’s request, thinking the documents did not exist.

 

https://insider.foxnews.com/2015/05/11/first-time-federal-court-takes-action-hillary-clinton-private-email-scandal

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Report: Obama lied about bin Laden raid

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May 10, 2015, 03:37 pm
By Mark Hensch

An expose published on Sunday alleges that President Obama deceived Americans with his narrative of the 2011 assassination of Osama bin Laden.

Author Seymour M. Hersh accuses Obama of rushing to take credit for the al Qaeda leader’s death.

This decision, Hersh argues in the London Review of Books, forced the military and intelligence communities to scramble and then corroborate the president’s version of events.

“High-level lying nonetheless remains the modus operandi of U.S. policy, along with secret prisons, drone attacks, Special Forces night raids, bypassing the chain of command, and cutting out those who might say no,” Hersh wrote of the Obama administration’s counterterrorism policies.

Hersh based his report on a single, anonymous source. This individual, he said, is a “retired senior intelligence official who was knowledgeable about the initial intelligence about bin Laden’s presence in Abottabad.”

Hersh’s source alleged that the Pakistani government had an active role in approving and implementing the raid on bin Laden’s compound.

In addition, the source said that the Obama administration originally agreed to announce bin Laden had been killed in a drone strike rather than shot during an active Special Forces mission.

“Obama’s speech was put together in a rush,” Hersh wrote of Obama’s announcement of Operation Neptune Spear to Americans.

“This series of self-serving and inaccurate statements would create chaos in the weeks following,” he added.

“This was not the fog of war,” Hersh quoted his anonymous source as saying.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/241573-report-obama-lied-about-bin-laden-raid

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Readers not buying Ridgewood Police officer’s defense of Wyckoff dog Shooting

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Reader says , There is so much wrong with your editorial I don’t know where to begin.

It was a fenced in yard and the policeman was a stranger. He had a choice: run. Get the hell out of the yard. Or would that be too detrimental to the tough guy image?

Are you saying that people should not allow their dogs to roam their fenced in yards now? The dogs should be confined to the house? Is there a particular room inside the house where the dog should be sequestered?

Your fantasy about the cop saving a child from a fierce beast holds no water. If the kid was from the neighborhood, the dog would have known him. If there was a trespasser in the yard, then good.

I only hope, officer Elwood, that when you find a group of kids smoking a joint behind starbucks some night, and they all scatter, you realize that you do have a choice other than to shoot the slower ones.

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Bush courts evangelicals, defends religion in public life

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BY LESLEY CLARK

McClatchy Washington BureauMay 9, 2015 Updated 15 minutes ago

LYNCHBURG, VA. — Looking to win over skeptical evangelical voters, Jeb Bush pushed back Saturday against what he said are modern intrusions on religion as he lauded graduates and their families at Liberty University, a Christian college popular on the path to the Republican presidential nomination.

“Fashionable ideas and opinions – which these days can be a religion all by itself – have got a problem with Christians and their right of conscience,” Bush told an audience of 34,000 in the school’s football stadium.

“That makes it our problem, and the proper response is a forthright defense of the first freedom in our Constitution.”

Some evangelicals view Bush warily, questioning whether the former Florida governor and likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination would provide a suitable bulwark against gay marriage, illegal immigration and other issues key to conservatives.

Read more here: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/09/266130/bush-courts-evangelicals-defends.html#storylink=cpy

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This Boy Wonder Is Building the Conservative MoveOn.org in an Illinois Garage

Charlie-Kirk

May 7, 2015 11:00 AM EDT

Republican donors are counting on the 21-year-old to energize voters.

Charlie Kirk was just about to leave the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa when he spotted the multimillionaire investor Foster Friess in a stairwell. Kirk, who was 18 and fresh out of high school, had spent weeks memorizing the names and faces of the top 25 Republican political donors in case he found himself in just such a situation. He grabbed Friess into a handshake, took a nervous breath, and began his elevator pitch. Instead of going to college, he wanted to start a grass-roots organization to rival liberal groups such as MoveOn.org, which offer Democratic candidates a standing army of volunteer activists. All he needed, Kirk told Friess, was cash. Friess, who’d just blown $2.1 million on a failed quest to help Rick Santorum win the GOP presidential nomination, handed over his business card. Three weeks later, Kirk had a five-figure check. “He impressed me with his capacity to lead, intelligence, and love for America,” Friess says. “I instantly knew I wanted to support him.”

In the three years since, Kirk—who still sleeps in his childhood bedroom in Wheeling, Ill.—has built his organization, Turning Point USA, into the go-to group for reaching young conservatives. It has a presence on 800 college campuses, where fieldworkers hand out posters and collect e-mail addresses. At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, the group hosted an event featuring Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, who have each since announced they’re running for president. On May 8, Paul was scheduled to speak at a Turning Point rally at Arizona State University, and Carly Fiorina is on deck to speak in June at a Turning Point conference for women in Chicago. Kirk says he’s met candidate Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who is considering a presidential run.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-07/conservative-boy-wonder

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Fiorina: Next president needs ‘fundamental understanding’ of tech

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By Mario Trujillo – 05/05/15 03:43 PM EDT

The next U.S. president needs a fundamental understanding of technology and a vision to use it, GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Tuesday.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO said the next inhabitant of the White House also needs to know when to take a hands-off approach.

“It’s important to have someone in the White House who has a fundamental understanding of technology, a fundamental vision for how technology can be used,” she said at Tech Crunch Disrupt in New York.

“One of the things I think government shouldn’t be doing is trying to regulate in some bureaucracy how innovation progresses in the technology industry,” she added.

Fiorina announced her bid for the White House on Monday with low poll numbers in what appears will be a crowded Republican field. She previously ran for the U.S. Senate in California but has never held elected office.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/241103-fiorina-next-president-needs-fundamental-understanding-of-tech

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Hillary Clinton under fire in South Carolina for being ‘old, white and rich’ as Republican presidential hopefuls pile on the Democratic front-runner

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‘Freedom Summit’ speakers bring heavy anti-Clinton artillery to Greenville, South Carolina
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wondered aloud if Hillary would use ‘re-education camps’ to force Christians to change their views on abortion
Female GOP pollster: ‘The question isn’t whether you want “a” woman to be president. It’s whether you want “that” woman’ to be president’
Rick Santorum, a former senator, could only think of one nice thing to say to Hillary: ‘Happy Mothers Day!’
Donald Trump spent 15 seconds trying to think of something nice to say about her, but couldn’t

By DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN GREENVILLE, S.C.

PUBLISHED: 12:50 EST, 9 May 2015 | UPDATED: 13:06 EST, 9 May 2015

Democrats ‘don’t like “old, white and rich”,’ a red-meat conservative audience heard Saturday in the early hours of the South Carolina Freedom Summit.

‘And their answer to that is Hillary.’

Mrs. Clinton, the American liberal most likely to contend for the presidency in 2016, rivaled the ISIS terror army in taking punches from Republicans at the event, held in Greenville.

The demographic quip came from Kellyanne Conway, a pollster. But she wasn’t alone.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, four years ago the Iowa Caucus victor, complained that Clinton stood in the way of nuclear-related sanctions he once drafted when they were both senators.

Asked after his speech if he could think of a nice work or two for the former secretary of state, he stood puzzled and then shrugged: ‘Happy Mother’s Day?’

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3074826/Hillary-Clinton-fire-South-Carolina-old-white-rich-Republican-presidential-hopefuls-pile-Democratic-runner.html#ixzz3ZfrRpXGa

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Unshackled from Coalition partners, Tories get ready to push radical agenda

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OLIVER WRIGHT WHITEHALL EDITOR
Saturday 09 May 2015

David Cameron will use the Conservative Party’s first majority in the House of Commons for nearly 20 years to “deliver” on a radical agenda to cut welfare, shrink the size of the state and re-define Britain’s relationship with Europe.

Conservative insiders said Mr Cameron would move to the right to consolidate support among his backbench MPs after five years of compromise with the Liberal Democrats.

Among Mr Cameron’s first legislative priorities will be to enshrine an EU referendum into law, bring in the so-called ‘snoopers charter’ to give police greater powers to monitor internet communications and give English MPs a veto over legislation only affecting England.  The Tories also intend to publish plans to scrap the Human Rights Act within their first 100 days. All proposals had been previously blocked by the Lib Dems.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/unshackled-from-coalition-partners-tories-get-ready-to-push-radical-agenda-10237611.html

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Yudin slams Doherty for Christie criticisms

Bob-Yudin

In the wake of state Senator Mike Doherty’s (R-23) scorching criticisms of Governor Chris Christie following the guilty plea and nine-count indictments of three former members of Christie’s inner circle in connection with the closing of access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) Chairman Bob Yudin denigrated Doherty and defended Christie.

“[Doherty] made some charges about what he felt was the Governor’s lack of support for county and local Republican party organizations in 2013,” said Yudin, who declined to comment further on disparaging statements Doherty made about Christie’s 2013 strategy leading to what has become known as the Bridgegate scandal. “I couldn’t disagree more with the senator. My experience is exactly the opposite.” (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)

Yudin slams Doherty for Christie criticisms | New Jersey News, Politics, Opinion, and Analysis

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FBI director says Islamic State influence growing in U.S

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Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — In a dramatic assessment of the domestic threat posed by the Islamic State, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday there are “hundreds, maybe thousands” of people across the country who are receiving recruitment overtures from the terrorist group or directives to attack the U.S.

Comey said the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, is leveraging social media in unprecedented ways through Twitter and other platforms, directing messages to the smartphones of “disturbed people” who could be pushed to launch assaults on U.S. targets.

“It’s like the devil sitting on their shoulders, saying ‘kill, kill, kill,”’ Comey said in a meeting with reporters.

The FBI director’s comments come in the midst of a federal investigation into a foiled attack in Garland, Texas, involving two ISIL sympathizers, one of whom, Elton Simpson, was long known to federal authorities.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/07/isis-attacks-us/70945534/

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REVEALED: FOUR CLINTON FOUNDATION TRUSTEES CHARGED OR CONVICTED OF FINANCIAL CRIMES

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by WARNER TODD HUSTON7 May 2015

Shocking revelations show that at least four Clinton Foundation board of directors have either been charged or convicted of financial crimes, including bribery and fraud.

This newest, startling revelation is just one more of many in Peter Schweizer’s bombshell book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, the book that has sent the Hillary Clinton campaign and the media scrambling.

The book shows that there are many problems with the Clinton charity. In fact, the Clinton Foundation is so unlike a real charity that even charity watchdog group Charity Navigatorrefuses to rate the Clinton Foundation because of its “atypical business model.”

One of those problems is the fact that the Clintons put big donors and close pals on the board for reasons that are hard to fathom. In fact, at least four of these “board members” have either been charged or convicted of serious financial irregularities, crimes including bribery and fraud.

The most well-known of these board members is Vinod Gupta.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/07/revealed-four-clinton-foundation-trustees-charged-or-convicted-of-financial-crimes/

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Taxpayers Face Tax Increase as N.J justices appear divided along partisan lines in pension battle

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AP
New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justices Lee A. Solomon, left, and Jaynee LaVecchia, right, listen as Associate Justice Anne M. Patterson asks a question during a hearing Wednesday, May 6, 2015, in Trenton

Taxpayers Face Tax Increase as N.J justices appear divided along partisan lines in pension battle

MAY 6, 2015, 12:45 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2015, 11:30 PM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD

The state Supreme Court appeared split along ideological lines Wednesday on one of the biggest legal questions in New Jersey: Can Governor Christie ignore a pension-reform law he signed in 2011 and cut funding for the distressed retirement system?

Associate Justice Barry Albin, a veteran of the court’s liberal wing and a Democratic appointee, hammered Christie’s attorney and sounded incredulous that the Republican governor wanted to strike down a key part of his own pension overhaul. At one point, Albin suggested the courts could order a tax increase to meet pension-funding requirements.

Associate Justice Anne Patterson, a Christie appointee on the court’s conservative side, grilled the attorneys for public-worker unions suing over the funding reductions. Patterson said the courts were no place to be deciding state budget priorities and noted that Christie would have to make deep cuts to hospitals or schools in order to round up the funds missing from the pension system.

The outcome may hinge on the court’s lone independent, Associate Justice Jaynee LaVecchia. She asked tough questions of both sides and did not indicate which way she was leaning.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/role-of-government-powers-at-issue-in-pension-case-before-n-j-supreme-court-1.1326433

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Donors start backing Josh Gottheimer of Wyckoff as potential Garrett challenger for Congress

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ABC News Photo

MAY 4, 2015, 5:37 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015, 5:39 PM
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT |
THE RECORD

Top veterans of the Clinton and Obama administrations are lining up to help raise money for Josh Gottheimer of Wyckoff, a former speech writer for President Clinton who is preparing to run for Congress next year against Rep. Scott Garrett.

Gottheimer, 40, raised more than $219,000 in March and was set to add to that on Monday night at a fund-raiser at the Washington, D.C., home in of Patti Solis Doyle, a former adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton and to President Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

Other names among the 28 hosts for the fund-raiser include Mack McLarty, who was President Clinton’s chief of staff; Julius Genachowski, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; Sandy Berger, former national security adviser to Clinton; Paul Begala, Clinton political strategist and media commentator; and Jennifer Palmieri, communications director of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

The outpouring of support for a challenger is unprecedented this early in the campaign cycle in the Republican-leaning 5th District, a place Democrats in North Jersey have repeatedly said they could win if a candidate could raise enough money to define Garrett on New York television.

Gottheimer is a North Caldwell native who moved back to North Jersey with his family three years ago. A corporate strategist for Microsoft, he previously worked for the FCC and on the presidential campaigns of John Kerry in 2004 and Hillary Clinton in 2008.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/donors-start-backing-wyckoff-man-as-potential-garrett-challenger-for-congress-1.1325275