The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, yesterday the OPRAmachine platform celebrated its 5th anniversary helping residents of New Jersey shine a light on the rampant political corruption in the state . OPRA remains a key tool to access public information amid the state’s effort to weaken public disclosure by New Jersey politicians.
Continue reading The OPRAmachine platform celebrates its 5th anniversary
May 12,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The New Jersey Division of Elections wishes to remind citizens of the upcoming deadline to register to vote for the upcoming primary election ahead of the June 5 primary election.
The deadline to register to vote in the June 5 primary election is Tuesday, May 15, 2018. Applications are available at county and municipal offices as well as online at the Division of Elections website: nj.gov/state/elections.
The voter registration applications downloaded from the website must be mailed to the County Commissioner of Registration/Superintendent of Elections in the resident’s home county or to the Division of Elections, as an original signature is required. Applications submitted by mail must be postmarked by May 15.
To register to vote in New Jersey you must be: a United States citizen, at least 17 years old, and understand that you may not vote until reaching the age of 18, a resident of the county for 30 days before the election and you are not currently serving a sentence, probation or parole because of a felony conviction.
New Jersey’s primary election law allows unaffiliated voters to select a party when voting in the Primary Election. However, voters registered as Democrats can only vote in the Democratic primary and voters registered as Republicans can only vote in the Republican primary.
Venezuela’s new decree: Forced farm work for citizens
by Patrick Gillespie, Rafael Romo and Osmary Hernandez @CNNMoney
A new decree by Venezuela’s government could make its citizens work on farms to tackle the country’s severe food shortages.
That “effectively amounts to forced labor,” according to Amnesty International, which derided the decree as “unlawful.”
In a vaguely-worded decree, Venezuelan officials indicated that public and private sector employees could be forced to work in the country’s fields for at least 60-day periods, which may be extended “if circumstances merit.”
“Trying to tackle Venezuela’s severe food shortages by forcing people to work the fields is like trying to fix a broken leg with a band aid,” Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas’ Director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.
President Nicolas Maduro is using his executive powers to declare a state of economic emergency. By using a decree, he can legally circumvent Venezuela’s opposition-led National Assembly — the Congress — which is staunchly against all of Maduro’s actions.
According to the decree from July 22, workers would still be paid their normal salary by the government and they can’t be fired from their actual job.
https://money.cnn.com/2016/07/29/news/economy/venezuela-decree-farm-labor/
