Ridgewood NJ, perhaps they forgot , but suddenly the New York Times omits party affiliation in article of ethically challenged New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez. The Times wrote a story that was 30 paragraphs and 1288 words yet amazingly the one word the was missing was DEMOCRAT.
Menendez 63, faces 12 charges stemming from accusations that he traded political influence for lavish gifts from Florida ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Melgen. Menendez initially didn’t report the gifts included private flights and vacations. Melgen also donated $750,000 directly and indirectly to Menendez political campaigns. Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor was found guilty of Medicare fraud.
A sea change in New Jersey politics is coming next year, not only because Gov. Chris Christie will be leaving office, but because many prominent voices in the Legislature will be gone or are shuffling into other positions.
A string of departures announced this year in the Assembly and Senate and the death of state Sen. Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic) will take a toll on the body’s institutional knowledge. And, depending on the outcome of the November elections, even more legislative leaders and longtime hands could be headed for the exit.
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) likely will be ousted from the top job in the lower house by his fellow Democrats and replaced with Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex), and there’s a chance Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) could lose re-election in his district to a Republican challenger backed by the powerful New Jersey Education Association.
Ridgewood NJ, according to federal prosecutors and court documents filed, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez allegedly starting taking bribes from a wealthy donor Salomon Melgen shortly after he entered the Senate in 2006!
“The Government’s evidence at trial will demonstrate that, over time, the defendants’ bribery scheme grew in magnitude and breadth. The jury will hear testimony from a variety of individuals who witnessed the scheme unfold, including guests and pilots who were present for the lavish vacations Melgen furnished for Menendez, public officials that Menendez pressured on Melgen’s behalf, and Menendez staffers who helped carry out Menendez’s advocacy. In addition, the jury will see evidence of the defendants’ corrupt bargain in scores of contemporaneous communications between the defendants, their agents, and the officials they endeavored to influence, as well as records spanning everything from flight manifests and hotel bills to credit ”
Menendez’s bribery and corruption trial is set to begin next week. Justice Department prosecutors filed a new document Wednesday laying out their case against the New Jersey senator, as well as Dr. Salomon Melgen, his alleged co-conspirator. Melgen has already been convicted in a separate case of bilking Medicare but has not been sentenced yet.
Pelosi Statement Condemning Antifa Violence in Berkeley
August 31,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , Democrats finally begin to take antifa violence seriously and start to distance them selves.
San Francisco, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement denouncing the violent protests carried out this weekend in Berkeley, California:
“Our democracy has no room for inciting violence or endangering the public, no matter the ideology of those who commit such acts. The violent actions of people calling themselves antifa in Berkeley this weekend deserve unequivocal condemnation, and the perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted.
“In California, as across all of our great nation, we have deep reverence for the Constitutional right to peaceful dissent and free speech. Non-violence is fundamental to that right. Let us use this sad event to reaffirm that we must never fight hate with hate, and to remember the values of peace, openness and justice that represent the best of America.”
Americans are being emotionally manipulated to take up cause with those whose ultimate purpose is the repeal of the First Amendment and erasure of national memory.
Wars are won or lost based mostly on perceptions of events, not on what actually happens. This is true for any given battlefield, whether it’s the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam or the ideological battlefield over the future of the First Amendment as played out in Charlottesville in 2017. The reality of what takes place in the public arena is always secondary to any projected illusion.
So let’s never forget this: Whoever has the power to dictate public perceptions of reality is in a position to dictate public opinion and behavior. Abusing language and images to stir up emotions is an ancient trick of power-mongers. And once journalism turns into unchecked propaganda, we become trapped in its dangerous illusions.
Only the teensiest fraction of Americans have any real interest in violent extremism, whether it be the violence represented by the specter of the Klu Klux Klan or the violence promoted by groups like Antifa who pretend they are fighting for social justice. But the media is promoting imagery of the former as a foil for the latter
New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, a crushing burden to middle-class families and indisputably the top concern of voters.
It’s a problem that can’t be solved until we contain the salaries and benefits of public workers. That is not a liberal view, or a conservative view. It is about the math. And it’s up to the next governor to face it.
The first test is coming soon, when a law setting a 2 percent cap on salary increases for police and firefighters in arbitration settlements is set to expire in December. The Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, wants to renew the cap. But the front-runner, Democrat Phil Murphy, is keeping his options open.
Sheila McPherson is listed as a homemaker on an Internal Revenue Service report from the Democratic Governors Association. This year, Ms. McPherson donated $80,000 to the association, the first time, records show, that she gave to the national group. She also sent $10,000 to the New Jersey Democratic Committee.
Mrs. McPherson, who lists her residence in Rutherford, N.J., is married to Kenneth McPherson, a lawyer at a powerful firm, Waters, McPherson, McNeill.
Had her donations gone directly to Philip D. Murphy, the Democratic candidate for governor in New Jersey, it would have prevented her husband’s firm from getting any state contracts under a potential Murphy administration, the result of New Jersey’s strict pay-to-play laws. She also would have been able to give only $4,300 to Mr. Murphy directly.
Had she donated to any of the officials in counties where her husband’s firm has contracts, which total about $630,000, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, they too would have come under scrutiny for potential pay-to-play violations.
Updated on August 27, 2017 at 10:38 AM Posted on August 27, 2017 at 6:55 AM
By Paul Mulshine
Columnist, The Star-Ledger
Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?
That question used to be part of an old joke. But the answer might soon be “no one” if certain New York politicians get their way.
New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio has called for a review of the historic relevance of public monuments in the city. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito has said she wants Grant’s Tomb to be on the review list. It seems that during the Civil War, Grant issued an order expelling Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi in an effort to crack down on black-market trading.
Christopher Columbus is on the list as well, of course, and Columbus Circle and its giant statue of the explorer are under review as well.
All of this is part of that national effort by the left to cleanse history of historical figures with checkered pasts.
That effort has been in the news ever since that fight in Charlottesville, Va., over the proposed removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Government spending essential to eclipse viewing … Never let a crisis, or, seemingly, an astronomical observance, go to waste. That’s the message of Emily Atkin, who wrote in the New Republic, “Trump’s budget cuts could mess up your next solar eclipse viewing.” Apparently if the government doesn’t spend money it doesn’t have on satellites, you won’t be able to see an eclipse. This is absurd, unless her audience was astrophysicists who use the equipment.
Coverage gap … As I mentioned last week, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is scheduled for trial on corruption charges on September 6, 2017. The jury selection in that trial starts today. While local newspapers like the NY Times and local television stations have covered jury selection, cable networks have been eerily silent. American Commitment president Phil Kerpen asks an important question on Twitter: “Any networks doing stand ups outside Menendez’s jury selection this morning?” I wouldn’t hold my breath, Phil.
What bombing plot? … Yesterday, a man was arrested for allegedly trying to blow up a confederate statue in Houston. According to NewsBusters, none of the broadcast networks covered the case. If this was someone they could pin to the Right, you know it would have been covered.
With the Rev. Al Sharpton at his side, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy made a campaign stop today at a hi-tech education center in Newark’s South Ward, saying the state needed to support urban youth to succeed in a globalized and digitized economy.
“We’ve got to be here, backing up these kids, to make sure that they can achieve all that they can achieve,” said Murphy, flanked by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Newark native Sheila Oliver, the Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial candidate. “Centers like this are at the very center of our economy. This is the future of our economy.”
Murphy appeared at NAN Newark Tech World, a center dedicated to improving Internet-based technological skills critical for many careers in the increasingly digital economy. A key part of the center’s mission is to provide access to opportunities available through the Internet by offering classes in computer training skills and other technology programs.
Remember Robert Menendez? The Democratic Senator from New Jersey has kept a relatively low profile since being indicted in early 2015on corruption charges, perhaps hoping to play out the clock. His effort to stave off a trial by using the Speech or Debate Clause ran aground at the Supreme Court in April, and the scene will shift to the courtroom in just under three weeks.
So far, Menendez has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence and refused to resign. A conviction for corruption will leave no choice but to vacate his seat, and as Shane Goldmacher reports at the New York Times, that will have consequences far beyond the electoral complications. With Chris Christie able to appoint an interim replacement, Democrats worry that Mitch McConnell might finally get the 50 votes he needs to repeal ObamaCare once and for all:
by Jonathan Tamari, Washington Bureau @JonathanTamari | [email protected]
WASHINGTON — The stakes for Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption case have grown to national proportions.
More than two years since the Democrat was charged with allegedly trading influence for lavish gifts, his trial begins Tuesday in Newark, N.J. — with major implications for both a four-decade fixture in Garden State politics and the Democratic fight against President Trump’s agenda.
Menendez has vowed he will be vindicated at trial.
But if he is convicted and forced from office, the result could tilt Washington’s political balance by allowing Republicans to claim one more Senate seat as they push to rewrite the tax code and perhaps make another run at health care reform. That’s because Gov. Christie, in his final weeks in office, would have a chance to appoint Menendez’s replacement — almost certainly filling the reliably blue seat with a fellow Republican, at least temporarily.
The significance of that potential shift was illustrated in July, when the GOP’s health-care overhaul was blocked by a single vote.
“It potentially has enormous implications for the entire legislative agenda,” said Phil Kerpen, the head of the conservative lobbying group American Commitment.
Tax hikes for millionaires, hedge fund managers, large corporations and pot smokers anchor Democrat’s plan.
Phil Murphy’s proposed tax increases would raise roughly $1.3 billion a year, his spokesman told Observer on Thursday, releasing for the first time a cost estimate of the Democratic gubernatorial nominee’s plans to pay for a multitude of campaign promises.
A separate $80 million to $100 million would be generated through savings from reining in out-of-network health care costs for public workers covered by state plans, the spokesman said, for a total annual gain of $1.4 billion in revenue.
When is Cory Booker going to be taken down? He wants to be known as the former Mayor of Newark, but he really is from the silver spoon community of Harrington Park. He claims to have lived on Hawthorne Avenue in Newark during his tenure in office, but I would be he couldn’t find it on a map. Much less have the intestinal fortitude to get out of the chauffeur driven limousine to enter the home on a regular basis. Pay interns? Surely you gest. Chuck Schumer doesn’t let any cash flow from his nicotine stained fingers.
Weeks after the collapse of the attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, uncertainty around federal action is affecting premium rates and continues to unsettle the health insurance industry.
“The continued uncertainty is making it very difficult for carriers,” said New Jersey Association of Health Plans president Ward Sanders.
In two recent reports, from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Stop the Health Insurance Tax Coalition lobbying firm, premiums are estimated to increase by hundreds of dollars for New Jerseyans.
According to Stop the HIT, with the reintroduction of the premium fee:
Individuals will see an increase of at least $178.
Small group plans will increase by $209 for individuals and $556 for families.
Large groups will see an increase of $207 for individuals and $615 for family.
Seniors and disabled individuals in Medicare Advantage will see their premiums increase $516 per couple (or $248 for every individual).
State Medicaid programs will incur an additional cost of $268 for each of their insured Medicaid enrollees in 2018.
“From what we’ve seen from other state filings (as highlighted in the KFF report), the cost sharing reduction payments, if they are not going to be there, it is going to have a significant impact on insurance premiums,” Sanders said.
Whether or not the individual mandate and federal subsidies are kept intact, plus the reintroduction of the premium fee on insurers — which alone will increase premiums by close to 3 percent — are forcing significant increases for 2018 plans.
If subsidies are cut off for marketplace enrollees and the individual mandate is removed, insurers are likely to see fewer (mostly healthy) enrollees and therefore need to increase premiums.
