The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Trenton NJ, in a move with major implications for immigration enforcement across the U.S., President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compile a full list of sanctuary cities and states within the next 30 days.
Continue reading Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Sanctuary Cities and States
photo courtesy of Ridgewood High School New Players
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood High School New Players are gearing up to stage their last show of the 2023-24 season, and they are determined to make it a memorable finale. From July 25 to 28, the talented students will bring to life the legendary 1975 musical, Chicago, at Ridgewood High School.
Continue reading Ridgewood High School New Players: CHICAGO Opens tonight
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Ridgewood NJ, Senate Democrats are seething over what they say was a “political stunt” by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who have sent planeloads and busloads of Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard.
Continue reading Most Voters Approve of Bussing Illegal Immigrants to “sanctuary cities”
photo by Boyd Loving
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Ridgewood NJ, Members of Black Lives Matter Chicago held a rally on Monday night in support of more than 100 people arrested following widespread looting and rioting in the city the night prior.Speaking at the rally outside a police station in the South Loop where organizers said the suspected looters are in custody, organizer Ariel Atkins excused the looting — which reportedly caused at least $60 million in property damage and left 13 police officers injured — calling the theft “reparations,” NBC Chicago reported.
A reader asks “Black Lives Matters just came out in support of the riots and looting in Chicago this weekend. They said looting is a form of reparations. Anyone ask Ridgewood BLM if they concur, and when we can expect the looting?”
Trump blasts Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel for record-setting 762 homicides and 4,331 shooting victims in 2016 and says he ‘must ask for Federal help’ if he can’t fix Windy City
One of the most violent years in Chicago history ended with a sobering tally: 762 homicides, the most in two decades in the city
‘Chicago murder rate is record setting – 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016,’ Donald Trump tweeted on Monday
‘If Mayor [Rahm Emanuel] can’t do it he must ask for Federal help!’
Emanuel and Trump met December 7 in New York City but reportedly talked about illegal-immigrant ‘dreamers,’ not gun violence
The nation’s third largest city also saw 1,100 more shooting incidents last year than it did in 2015
The increase in homicides compared to 2015, when 485 were reported, is the largest spike in 60 years
By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com and Associated Press
PUBLISHED: 20:39 EST, 1 January 2017 | UPDATED: 18:37 EST, 2 January 2017
Published: June 30, 2015 10:23 a.m. ET
When Chicago Public Schools announced on June 24 that it would borrow $1 billion to make a $600 million-plus pension payment due June 30 an eerie feeling spread across bond investors and taxpayers alike.
It was the same feeling that gripped investors when Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Chicago’s credit rating to junk based almost entirely on the city’s pension problems.
The fear was that elevated pension costs, in cities like Chicago, might push these public entities into insolvency, wiping out much of the holdings of municipal-bond investors.
Once a sleepy corner of the municipal bond market — often not even properly reflected on cities’ balance sheets — public pensions have recently turned into the biggest headache for taxpayers and municipal-bond investors, threatening to bring down the finances of U.S. cities and states.
In some places, like Puerto Rico, Illinois, New Jersey and Chicago, entire balance sheets of cities or states hang in the balance.
Detroit, as well as three Californian cities — Vallejo, Stockton and San Bernardino — had to declare bankruptcy because of their overwhelming pension costs.
In those cases, the courtroom turned into a brutal battlefield pitting bond investors trying to save the money they invested in those cities’ municipal bonds on one side. And on the other side have been public employees trying to save the dwindling pensions that were promised to them.
Recent cases have shown that bond investors are clearly losing this battle.