file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
We did not believe what we saw and heard until we watched it again on instant replay.
During last nights re-organization meeting of the Ridgewood Village Council, newly appointed Mayor Paul Vagianos refused to place his hand on the Bible as he was being sworn in as mayor of the Village of Ridgewood for the next two years. Yes; he flatly refused. Maybe he knows something we don’t.
God help all residents of the Village of Ridgewood for the next two years.
Get ready for the bumpiest ride of your life.
You ain’t seen nothing yet!
Boycott it Greek to Me
I started boycotting years ago. He’s not a nice person and his food really isnt very good.
Boycott this Blog
He”s bringing a new broom ‘
His first sweep ? Well you will see.
Were his fingers crossed behind his back too?
He then asked for a copy of Das Kapital.
A Lot of changes coming to Ridgewood, and not in a good way !!
Maybe he prefers the Koran!
Let the sore loser mud slinging from this Blog begin.
BS. Easy for the mayor to just follow protocol and start with an obvious fxxk you stmt
How in God’s name did that skunk get elected mayor..?
Talk about trolling.
Every incoming elected official has the choice of whether or not to use the bible, as well as weather their oath of office is taken using “swear” or “affirm,” and whether or not to use “so help me God.” Each is entitled to their choice – you know, the whole separation of Church and State thing?
Paulie – you live in Montclair now, stay off the RW Blog.
Wait! What? Paul lives in Montclair? Do tell.
If there was a true separation of church and state no one would sweat on a bible.
I’ll take my church and state separate, thank you very much.
Bye bye Heather
This could be the first point on which I fully support his decision. Hope it’s not the last.
Bibles should not be used for swearings-in. As another poster notes, “affirm” is legally fine.
What he did was completely justified and appropriate.
When I was sworn in to testify at a hearing in town some years ago I was greatly relieved not to have to refuse to swear on the Bible. I was going to, but knew it would look bad. Fortunately, no Bible was presented and God wasn’t mentioned.
I think the bigger story here is that Susan pulled a Hillary Clinton and didn’t show up. She suddenly “got sick” the day she was to be ousted. Bad form in my opinion. And if you haven’t already realized it already Ridgewood is woke so them not saying “so help me God” is not terribly interesting.
Wait, what? When did Hillary not show up?
I do remember Donald refusing to show up for Biden’s swearing in….
Uhm, Hillary showed up for Trump’s inauguration. What are you referring to here?
Maybe referring to Trump NOT showing up to Biden’s?
Sad, actually. Vey unfortunate.
Where is Dom Nizza when we need him? Ridgewood, A Village in Turmoil.
Well we find very interesting now all the sudden she cares about other peoples health of getting them sick, really, what about over a year ago when Covid was running rapid, with the mask situation, the only thing we can say in a nice way is, hummmmmm. Upper management better watch their ass because no one saving them anymore like in the past two years, remember, remember, or do we need to remind everyone.
Or…..(and I do not know the new mayor’s religious views), But… It could be that some people go by the passage in Matthew 5:33-37
From the Bible, where they will not “swear” an oath, just an affirmation yes/no.
“…ancients were told, ‘[aa]You shall not [ab]make false vows, but shall fulfill your [ac]vows to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, take no oath at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, nor [ad]by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you take an oath by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 But make sure your statement is, ‘[ae]Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is [af]of evil origin.”
Anyway, just a thought
I love reading the headlines and comments on this site. Good for my ego knowing I’m a better person than the trolls and lemmings who frequent here. Looking forward to the pedestrian plaza come spring!
glad to see you will be spending money with local merchants
We need food trucks in the CBD. What say you Mayor.
Best comment of the year.
can you park a food truck in front of greek 4 me
What is everybody Jumping on the bandwagon regarding saying trolls, give me a break find a new word, new saying
You’d have to convince them that they just might not be with the times anymore and that their relevance fades daily.
Gooooood luck with that.
See also: “Woke”.
Sadly, many cities and small towns are having serious problems because of so called progressive policies…I do not wish that on any town or city. What is most sad is when cities continue to elect the same people over and over despite the results.
Matthew 6:5-7 says that hypocrites pray in public to be seen by others, and that one should do so to their god in private.
This is a non-issue. No bible, no Koran, nor any other religious book needed. We have a secular government.
We are a diverse country of people with various beliefs and a rapidly growing number of our citizens who have no religion at all. NO religious test or text is appropriate. Being sworn in on the US Constitution would be a better choice for the ceremony.
US Constitution: Article VI. 3. states that “… no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
The NJ State Constitution: Article I. 5 states that “No person shall be denied the enjoyment of any…right, nor be discriminated against in the exercise of any…right…because of religious principles…”
There’s a new sheriff in town, a few of you better Be careful this guy is not playing games. Especially individuals that were voted in for employment. You have no contract,
When did the Ridgewood Blog become the Christian National Blog?
You must be new here.
Yes, Susan Knudsen was sick on Wednesday, and probably still is. When I spoke with her on the phone only hours before the reorg, she was still considering attending. Her voice was an octave lower than usual and her cough was very deep. She described having had the worst sore throat of her life. It would have been an antisocial act for her to show up, much as she wished to. We agreed that she would have been criticized harshly, and she could barely talk anyway. So please let that one go.
Okay Mayor.
Can you name any elected officials in recent or distant history, near or far, who happily swore on a Bible and proceeded to lie, cheat, steal, or otherwise fail to respect the oath of office? I can.
Do you rationalize everything?
Asking for a friend.
The People of Ridgewood have only themselves to blame for electing an atheist for their Mayor.
And just what do you think is wrong with someone being an atheist?
I believe people perceived his act as narcissistic , self-centered, self-absorbed , entitled , made him look small, as for me I would have sworn on “Gardens Make Me Laugh” by James Rose
This mayor will be involved with all departments. The old rug will be removed from village hall, meaning no more sweeping dirty sneaky info under that rug. He will be informed from a few on who to watch out for. No more so called Secret info clubs. And the mayor will have info from the a private info crew that can be trusted. We have info on every one. And we mean every one. Yes you.
LOL
I have the dirt on you Mr. Wise Guy. Your days are numbered, you have been warned.
Uh-oh, an angry Star Trek fan. I’m sure the commenter is terrified.
I don’t know about this guy except for his prior antics with the flower boxes ‘wall’ on the curb.
I do recall during his failed attempt to run as a Democrat for other office *NJ Assembly?* his campaign posters were prominently displayed in the old Lincoln Mercury dealership (now an apartment complex) that is controlled by one of, if not the largest developer of property in the CBD .
I’d hope for the sake of the ‘village’ we don’t turn into a city like Montclair and any acquaintance is beneficial not a detriment .
At least with Vagianos you know what you’re getting (bullshit right to your face) and you know not to turn your back on him because he may have a knife (figuratively speaking, not literally). Winograd is the added wild card that needs to be monitored closely. It took just one meeting of the new & “normal” Ridgewood Village Council for me to become positively disgusted with her. Perhaps if she would stop flipping her hair every three minutes, stop offering to “help out” with anything and everything being proposed, stop promoting her defenseless number of social media pages, and stop being so bossy (her words, not mine), I could stomach her for longer than three minutes. Four years of her on the dais is more than I’ll be able to withstand. If I am lucky, maybe she’ll pull a Bernie Walsh and leave before her term is up. Praying to God she just quits!