Ridgewood NJ, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi blasts Gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy and Democrat led ACA hysteria yesterday on Facebook ,
“I’ve taken some very targeted hits over the past month with claims that I am responsible for women dying and/or I hate women. These comments have been reprehensible and are flat out false as well as bizarre considering I am female and my own grandma died of ovarian cancer. For the record I support access for women to all health care, including family planning services. Several years before I ever ran for office a $7.5 million budgetary cut was made to “family planning services.” During this same period of time the ACA was enacted and several hundred thousand more people in New Jersey became eligible for health insurance coverage and Medicaid services. Certain medical providers, including Planned Parenthood saw significant increases in reimbursements during this time. Indeed Planned Parenthood has been funded to the tune of $1.5 BILLION per year and has felt financially secure enough to increase their executive salaries by 20 percent over the past two years (for an average executive salary of over $350-$400,000 per year) while giving out over $35 million in campaign contributions. But we shouldn’t let facts get in the way of hysteria.
Murphy’s Comments on Women Dying Are False, NJ Health Officials Say
By Christian Hetrick • 08/10/17 7:52pm
New Jersey health officials fired back at Phil Murphy on Thursday after the Democratic gubernatorial nominee said “women are dying” because of Gov. Chris Christie’s cuts to Planned Parenthood.
Ridgewood NJ, The mainstream media is conspicuously ignoring a newsworthy class-action lawsuit accusing the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Florida congresswoman—Debbie Wasserman Schultz—who chaired it of fraud for skewing the party’s primaries to benefit Hillary Clinton. The drama is playing out in a south Florida federal court where 150 Democratic voters and donors are also accusing their party and Wasserman Schultz of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, unjust enrichment, and negligent misrepresentation for secretly helping Clinton get the presidential nomination over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
“Despite the requirements in the Charter, and in spite of the multiple public declarations of neutrality and impartiality with respect to the Democratic primary process, the DNC was not neutral,” a 35-page complaint states. “To the contrary, the DNC was biased in favor of one candidate – Hillary Clinton (“Clinton”) – from the beginning and throughout the process. The DNC devoted its considerable resources to supporting Clinton above any of the other Democratic candidates. Through its public claims to being neutral and impartial, the DNC actively concealed its bias from its own donors as well as donors to the campaigns of Clinton’s rivals, including Bernie Sanders (“Sanders”).
The scandal broke when leaked DNC electronic mail showed that the committee favored and backed Clinton instead of Sanders during the primary. Wasserman Schultz resigned in disgrace as DNC chair, was publicly blasted by Sanders supporters and didn’t gavel in the party convention last summer in Philadelphia. Her hometown newspaper wrote that it was a hurricane-force controversy over leaked emails that showed the DNC under Wasserman Schultz was helping Clinton while Sanders was still a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. In the article, the veteran congresswoman from Broward County, Florida indicated that she stepped down as DNC chair to focus on “making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president.”
Democrats suing her insist that the congresswoman violated DNC’s charter and bylaws that say party chair “shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness” and “shall be responsible for ensuring that the officers and staff of the DNC maintain impartiality and evenhandedness.” Wasserman Schultz also made public declarations vowing to run a neutral primary, according to the lawsuit, while she and the DNC pushed for Clinton from the start of the 2016 presidential election cycle. The complaint cites a leaked internal DNC document dated May 26, 2015 listing a plan to provide a contrast between “GOP field and HRC [Hillary Rodham Clinton]” as well the use of “specific hits to muddy the waters around ethics, transparency and campaign finance attacks on HRC.” The DNC and Wasserman Schultz had actual knowledge of the wrongfulness of the conduct, the lawsuit says, adding that the conduct was so reckless it constituted a conscious disregard to the rights of the plaintiffs.
In the absence of media interest, the attorneys representing the class, a husband-and-wife team from Miami that supported Sanders, created a website where all documents related to the case are posted as well as courtroom illustrations and information on hearings. The docket is extensive and dates back to June 2016 when the complaint was filed. This is a valuable tool because, unlike state cases, federal court records are not available to the public for free and must be purchased through the government’s online system known as Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). The database is most commonly used by attorneys and journalists (though not in this case) to research federal criminal, civil and bankruptcy cases. Having access to dozens of documents related to this case is a true bonus, especially since there’s been no local or national media coverage.
The most recent activity in this ongoing political legal drama occurred just weeks ago when plaintiffs and their lawyers filed a motion seeking court-ordered security guards after being harassed and intimidated. Weird emails and phone calls as well as a break-in at a plaintiff’s Dassel, Minnesota home were cited in the motion. The Ft. Lauderdale-based judge, a Reagan appointee, denied the request because plaintiffs live in dozens of different states and it would require the entire United States Marshals Service to direct all of its efforts and attention to this specific case. “For their part, defendants deny any role in the incidents described in plaintiff’s motion,” the judge, William Zloch, wrote in his order. The saga continues and Judicial Watch will monitor it and report pertinent developments.
In the meantime, Wasserman Schultz is embroiled in another major scandal involving her top information technology aide, Imran Awan, who was recently arrested on bank-fraud charges at the airport while trying to flee to his native Pakistan. Awan had just wired $283,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union to Pakistan, according to a news report, and he had been fired by other members of Congress after getting busted stealing computers and data systems months earlier. For unknown reasons, Wasserman Schultz kept Awan, whose entire family is embroiled in a major scam, and he had access to her emails and files as well as the password to the electronic device the congresswoman used for DNC business before she was booted out last summer. Wasserman Schultz’s gatekeepers are shielding the notoriously media savvy politician from the media and a Florida newspaper points out that “the Weston Democrat has not explained why she continued to employ Awan,” until his arrest. Judicial Watch has launched an investigation and is pursuing public records.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Friday to halt U.S. taxpayer funding for the Palestinian Authority so long as it persists in the “pay-to-slay” policy whereby jailed terrorists and relatives of suicide bombers and other murderers receive salaries.
This heinous policy of rewarding killers and providing incentives for other Palestinians to attack Jews has been effectively subsidized by the United States for years. Shockingly, my good friend Cory Booker was one of only four senators to vote against the bipartisan Taylor Force Act.
Cory and I already had a serious public disagreement when he failed to stand on principle and oppose the catastrophic nuclear deal with Iran. I felt that surely the threat of genocide directed at Israel and the Jewish people would move him to oppose the funding of a government sworn to Israel’s annihilation.
Dizzying phenomenon of the swastika shaped fidget spinner
Antisemitic graffiti targets WZO in Ukraine
BYDANIELLE ZIRI
AUGUST 6, 2017 09:01
Before being used by Hitler’s Nazi regime, swastikas were commonly known as an ancient sign used by Hindus and Buddhists carrying positive associations such as auspiciousness and good fortune.
Ridgewood NJ, The House Majority PAC, a Super PAC associated with House Minority Democrat Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), whose goal is to regain a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, just released a new poll of white working class voters that is sounding alarm bells for the Democratic House leadership.
The House Majority PAC key findings held some very bad for Democrats: By a margin of 35 percent, more white working class voters believe that the term “will help improve the economy and create jobs” applies to Republicans in Congress than it does to Democrats in Congress.
In Other key findings of the poll are just as discouraging for Democrats:
Democrats trail on the initial Congressional ballot among white working class voters by 10 points, 43 percent to 33 percent.
A majority of white working class voters approve of the job President Trump is doing by a 52 percent to 44 percent margin.
66 percent of white working class GOP voters approve of the job House Republicans are doing, up from 44 percent last year.
The polling was part of the “White Working Class Voter Project” of the House Majority PAC, the survey was conducted by the firm of Normington Petts, and included “1000 total interviews in targeted House districts with a sample of likely 2018 voters.
Ridgewood NJ, For the second time in 28 days Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi’s attempt to get the State Assembly to relieve municipalities from over development arising from court-mandated housing requirements was denied.
The court mandated over development endangers Bergen County quality of life and will require many towns to build unneeded housing in a state with a declining population .
Schepisi said , “I’m very disappointed that the speaker again blocked my efforts to relieve municipalities of this incredible burden. The only roadblock helping our communities is Democrats’ continued refusal to take action,”
Earlier Schepisi asked Speaker Vincent Prieto to post her bill package addressing court-mandated affordable housing before today’s special voting session, but was again denied.
From the Assembly floor at 1 a.m. on July 4, Schepisi urged the legislature to suspend all affordable housing litigation until the end of the year so the legislature could address the issue. Her effort was voted down 44-26 along party lines.
“This is a bipartisan issue that has turned into a potential disaster for our towns and our constituents. Just ask the mayors from Democratic towns outside of my district who have asked me for help instead of their own local Democrat legislator,” continued Schepisi (R-Bergen).
“Maybe Democrats aren’t listening to their mayors, councils and constituents because Phil Murphy funds the non-profit suing our communities and forcing unwanted development. It’s not what is best for towns, our environment and our schools; it’s what is best for their party.”
On June 19 Schepisi introduced an eight bill package shifting all municipal obligations to the state and recalculate obligations based on reasonable need. It also makes changes to how affordable housing is administered to best help communities.
“I have introduced a package that addresses all of the concerns I have heard from mayors on both sides of the aisle. And it ensures that affordable housing will be built to accommodate the needs of the residents of this state,” concluded Schepisi.
Schepisi’s affordable housing package includes:
• Amending the state constitution to require the state calculate affordable housing obligations (ACR250).
• Increasing the numbers of senior and special needs housing that can count towards the affordable housing obligations in the State.
• Requiring COAH and Courts to take into account environmental considerations, municipal infrastructure, school and emergency services department capacities
• Allowing municipalities to provide preference to their own residents in need of affordable housing
• Requiring COAH to administer affordable housing obligations (A5025).
• Allowing municipalities to challenge obligations administered by COAH (A5026).
• Requiring COAH calculate obligations based on reasonable need factors and imposing a population increase cap (A5027/A5028).
• Eliminating the exclusion of urban aid municipalities from obligations (A5029).
• Amending the state constitution to prohibit exclusionary zoning and clarify municipal affordable housing obligations (ACR249).
• Prohibiting the builder’s remedy in exclusionary zoning litigation (A5030).
Many NJ seniors won’t qualify for property-tax reimbursement because program was capped at $70K following Great Recession — and that’s where the cap remains
A recent poll of New Jersey voters indicated the top issue this gubernatorial election year is the state’s notoriously high property taxes. Ever-rising property tax bills are also a particularly troubling issue for the state’s senior citizens because many are living on fixed incomes.
Yet the most recent state budget signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie earlier this month included fine print written quietly into budget documents that will keep many seniors from being able to collect sizable reimbursement checks that are offered through one of the state’s most popular property-tax relief programs.
The budget language effectively overrides the state law that funds the “senior freeze” Property Tax Reimbursement Program by lowering the program’s annual income cap from near $90,000 to $70,000. The cost-cutting measure started as the state faced deep budget problems in the wake of the Great Recession, but it has been maintained ever since even as revenue collections have now rebounded.
In the past, Democratic lawmakers have tried to block the income-cap change, but Christie, a second-term Republican, has used the line-item veto pen to override their wishes. But this year, Democrats prioritized increased funding for local school districts and several other programs in a budget showdown with Christie, leaving the frozen senior-freeze income cap in place for another year. That means it will likely be up to the state’s next governor to determine whether New Jersey seniors will eventually be made whole.
It’s almost a forgone conclusion that Phil Murphy will be elected New Jersey’s next governor come this November. So prepare yourself for our version of “Murphy’s Law”.
“Any tax than can go up, will….and at the worst possible moment”.
Our current governor has a dismal approval rating of just below 15 percent. It’s the lowest in the country and maybe of all time. It’s very easy now to deride Governor Christie for any number of missteps and insults to us citizens over the last few years.
No matter who becomes governor, accountants worried about NJ economy
But as I’ve said many times, once “Chubby” pulls his fat little thumb out of the dyke, the torrent of taxes and fees coming our way to pay for what the Democrats want, will drown us all.
Ridgewood NJ, The fiscal health of America’s states affects all its citizens. Indicators of fiscal health come in a variety of forms—from a state’s ability to attract businesses and how much it taxes to what services it provides and how well it keeps its promises to public-sector employees.
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s “Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition,”is now in its fourth year, Eileen Norcross and Olivia Gonzalez calculate indicators of fiscal health for all 50 states. Based on states’ 2015 financial statements, Florida ranks first as the most fiscally healthy state, while New Jersey ranks the lowest.
The study ranks each US state’s financial health based on short- and long-term debt and other key fiscal obligations, such as unfunded pensions and healthcare benefits. With refinements in its methodology, the 2017 edition updates the version that the Mercatus Center published in 2016. It presents information from each state’s audited financial report in an easily accessible format and is the most comprehensive snapshot of state financial health to date.
As usual New Jersey ranked 50th or dead last ,even behind bankrupt Illinois which ranked 49th. Even Connecticut with its aggressive taxation policies that drove out huge employers General Electric and Aetna still ranked 37th.
It’s clear that there has been a strategic move by the DNC in the last 10-20 years or so to build an election-winning bloc of various special interest groups. There’s the traditional blue collar workers, public employees, aging hippies, minorities, LGBT, millennials, and just about every other kind of person who feels bullied, disenfranchised, weird, out-of-the-mainstream, etc. This collective mixture makes up a pretty formidable size. They all tend to be highly advanced in terms on making noise and organizing, very much so in the Internet age. However, it’s very much a united we stand divided we fall approach. In other words, they all have to support each others agendas. This is where the support for the radicals who killed and bombed in the name of the cause back in the day. Off on a tangent now, but the reason Trump won is because this cabal of Democrats got way too powerful on the side of the angry vegans and open borders nuts, that they lost the traditional support of the blue collar folks.
It appears to be a case of the support for this killer having morphed from a relatively small number of radical lefties, to the overall umbrella of the Democrat Party. I’m sure there are a few that don’t support her, but I suspect if you asked most Democrats, they would support her in varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Groups who want the public to believe they ‘do good works’ supports a murderer………….. well, that kind of kills the do-good mantra now doesn’t it? We as a society have reached critical mass – murderers are supported, hard working tax payers who want to keep more of their take home pay ridiculed, people who are able but don’t work coddled and given every benefit to scam the system, illegal immigrants given equivalent rights to citizens – these are just a few issues, but they speak to the bizarre world we now live in.
Also, Democrats honored the Puerto Rican terrorist who led the terrorist attacks that killed many in NYC, including a man whose son now live in Glen Rock.
The same terrorist whose sentence Barack Obama commuted in his final days as President. The same terrorist who still refuses to express any remorse for him terrorist activities.
A decision on whether Illinois becomes the first U.S. state whose bond ratings tip into junk was not imminent on Monday as credit rating agencies said they were still reviewing the state’s newly enacted budget and tax package.
Analysts at the three major rating agencies, which rate Illinois one or two notches above junk, declined to comment on the timing of their decisions.
With the help of some Republican votes, the Democratic-controlled Illinois Legislature last Thursday overrode Republican Governor Bruce Rauner’s vetoes and enacted a $36 billion fiscal 2018 budget and a $5 billion income tax increase.
The action ended an unprecedented two-year budget impasse that ballooned the state’s unpaid bill backlog to about $15 billion.
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, a Democrat, on Monday unveiled a five-step plan to avoid a junk rating that included Rauner taking steps to issue up to $6 billion of bonds the legislature authorized to begin paying off bills. He also recommended the governor visit credit rating agencies to assure them he intends to implement the budget package.
A junk rating would make future bond sales more difficult and expensive.
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey Senate Democrats blocked the consideration of legislation sponsored by Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) that would offer financial protections to the victims of gender-based wage discrimination.
Senate Democrats voted to table Sen. Jennifer Beck’s legislation offering financial protections to the victims of gender-based wage discrimination. (SenateNJ.com)
Beck attempted to move her legislation, S-2458, that would protect from taxation any awards or settlements related to claims of unlawful gender-based wage discrimination.
“New Jersey has one of the most aggressive, progressive wage discrimination statutes in the nation,” said Beck. “When such discrimination has been resolved, either through a trial or settlement agreement, our State furthers the victim’s mistreatment through aggressive income taxation of damages that have been awarded. I’m disappointed that Senate Democrats voted against the interests of women today.”
Beck’s motion to relieve S-2458 from the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee where it has languished without hearing was immediately tabled by the Senate Democrats in a party-line 21-16 vote.
“It doesn’t help New Jersey women to have strong pay equity laws on the books if we simply allow the compensation for their mistreatment to be taxed away,” added Beck. “Victims deserve every penny they are awarded for their suffering. Senate Democrats should be ashamed for putting the financial interests of the State over the needs of women who have been victimized.”
Statement Condemning New Jersey Democratic Consultant Jim Devine
Our nation suffered yesterday as members of Congress were targeted and shot for political ideology. While Republican and Democrat leaders condemned this atrocious act Jim Devine, former Political Director of the State Democrat Party, turned this tragedy into a political football.
Devine used his social media platform to further divide our nation. He did so by tweeting “#HuntRepublicanCongressman” and “#HuntRepublicans”. Mr. Devine’s poor and incendiary decision to inflame the political rhetoric on social media is disturbing. The hate in this nation cannot and will not be healed unless, and until, the rhetoric of painting an opposing political party as evil is condemned. As a nation, we must come together.
On James Devine’s personal website, he claims he is “Outspoken and daring in defense of American Principles”. Devine clearly does not understand nor hold American principles. He insulted the families of the wounded and our nation. America did not become the world’s beacon of freedom by trying to silence another’s views. This nation has thrived through a multiple-party system and continues to do so today. Not only does Devine not represent America’s values, he offends them. All New Jersey leaders, whether Republican or Democrat, should condemn his illicit and outrageous commentary.
The delusions of anyone who believes it is a constitutional right to murder, or attempt to murder elected officials, their staff, or the police who protect them, should have no role in NJ politics or government.
James Devine, a well known New Jersey Democrat operative and local newspaper publisher from Union County, responded to the shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise and three others yesterday by creating the hashtag #HuntRepublicans and #HuntRepublicanCongressmenon his social media accounts. Devine declared that Democrats are “in a war” with Republicans.
