By Alex Napoliello | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 19, 2016 at 2:15 PM, updated October 19, 2016 at 3:58 PM
HIGHLANDS — U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone’s attempt Wednesday to tout legislation for more oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency turned into an opportunity for Hurricane Sandy victims to vent about the agency.
“We need you to make a louder voice,” George Kasimos, one of the founders of the group Stop FEMA now, told Pallone (D-6th Dist.) “You’re a senior congressman with a lot of clout, and you got to stand up.”
Kasimos’ outburst from the rear of the Highlands Community Center came about six minutes into Pallone’s press conference.
Kasimos said there are 20,000 people nationwide who have been treated unfairly by FEMA, and maybe approximately 30,000 more who have lost their homes and are still waiting for a check.
Pallone acknowledged that FEMA and its National Flood Insurance Program have to do a better job. He even raised the possibility of getting rid of FEMA altogether.
“The reason I’m here … is because I believe there have been all sorts of problems and they continue, not because they’ve been solved,” Pallone said.
Note: This story has been updated with additional information
The following is a news media analysis and commentary
Regardless of who is your chosen – or least favorite – presidential candidate, independent minds should be concerned about the latest revelations in the news media’s unseemly relationships with government and political actors. While there are many responsible journalists working today, inside documents and leaks have exposed serious lapses constituting the most far-reaching scandal our industry has known. It’s our very own Newsgate.
Compromised reporting has always existed as a result of covert collaborations between reporters and political officials—Democrats and Republicans alike. For example, in my new book out next year, The Smear, I’ll report on instances of improper collusion that surfaced during the Bush administration. The most recent available evidence is heavy on Democrat-ties due to the nature of the available documents and leaks.
It can be argued that some individual accounts can be rationalized and are not serious breaches of ethics. But taken as a whole, it’s easy to see how we as journalists have done a poor job protecting ourselves from being co-opted by organized interests, often ones that are paid and politically-motivated. Whether we realize it or not, they’ve figured out how to exploit the media and use us to publish their propaganda. It implies a broad and growing trend that has seriously undermined the credibility of the news industry.
Opinion reporters and those who work for obviously ideological news groups are entitled to publish party propaganda. It’s one matter to provide viewpoint journalism. But it’s quite another for us to act as a tool of any interest, publishing narratives or talking points upon suggestion or demand, without disclosing we’ve done just that.
The only common sense was reduction in the estate tax. It should be immediately eliminated if the full gas hike is immediate. Everyone I know has already changed their domicile to Florida and “self-exiled” for 182 days per year in order to preserve their money.
Forcing those with expendable income to go elsewhere for 6 months a year hurts nj economy but you can’t explain that to some moron democrat .
The gas tax massive increase will get pissed away by the democrats who control the state legislature.
The proper way to get more bang for the buck is to allow non Union construction companies to perform the work. I see the same 3 contractors doing the majority of the work.
That explains why it costs nj 2 million per mile, the most in the USA
At Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s City Hall press conference on Tuesday a recognizable local figure showed up and stood at the outskirts of the activity.
This person had shown up to “gloat,” in the words of one person familiar with the dynamics of how and why the endorsement went down. He was front and center, shaking people’s hands and saying things like “glad we are on the same team.”
Insiders knew him mostly because of a publicized row he had with the mayor going back to 2013.
It was former Police Chief Robert “Bubba” Cowen, and in the hours following Fulop’s shocking exit from the 2017 governor’s race he increasingly became the subject of considerable local speculation.
Two sources today told PolitickerNJ that Cowen possesses evidence backing up his claims in a lawsuit that Fulop tried to politicize his police duties in a mini local version of Bridgegate.
picture Steven Sweeney and Vincent Prieto and the Trenton gang
September 29,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, It’s that time of the year again! The Rax Foundation released their 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index, which allows you to compare you state’s business tax burden across 5 major categories and taking into account over 100 variables. New Jersey ranked dead last in business tax climate . The report credits Trenton leadership with, “some of the worst-structured individual income taxes in the country.”
This year, the states at the top of the pack are Wyoming (1), South Dakota (2), Alaska (3), Florida (4), Nevada (5), Montana (6), New Hampshire (7), Indiana (8), Utah (9), and Oregon (10).
The states at the bottom of the pack include Louisiana (41), Maryland (42), Connecticut (43), Rhode Island (44), Ohio (45), Minnesota (46), Vermont (47), California (48), New York (49), and New Jersey (50).
According to the Tax Foundation ;the states in the bottom 10 tend to have a number of shortcomings in common: complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates. New Jersey, for example, is hampered by some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance tax and an estate tax, and maintains some of the worst-structured individual income taxes in the country.
Hillary Clinton’s once formidable lead over Donald Trump in national and battleground polls is evaporating.
Trump has pulled into the lead in Florida and Ohio, two crucial states where he has trailed Clinton for most of the race, and several states that once looked out of reach for Trump — Colorado and Virginia, among them — suddenly appear competitive.
One survey showed Trump swinging to a lead in Nevada, a state that President Obama carried with ease during both of his presidential campaigns. And a poll of Iowa, which has only gone for the GOP nominee once in the last seven elections, found Trump ahead by 8 points.
The swing in national polls is equally dramatic.
While Clinton led Trump by an average of 7.6 percentage points one month ago, her advantage is now down to a meager 1.8 percent, according to the RealClearPolitics average.
“No question there’s a movement toward Trump right now,” said Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray. “When the media is focused on one candidate over the other, it’s generally negative. The media has been focused on Clinton and her health, and Trump smartly did not try to steal the limelight from her.”
“Nobody is even putting up a pretense here that the Democratic lobbying establishment isn’t trying to buy an election”
(Hackensack, New Jersey) – BuzzFeed News just posted an explosive story about how the Democratic lobbying establishment is looking to help buy Josh Gottheimer New Jersey’s Fifth District congressional seat:
“Josh Gottheimer has the entire D.C. Democratic political establishment working to help buy him this election. He doesn’t care about the views and values of Fifth District residents — he’s working to win the approval of the D.C. elite like lobbyist Steve Elmendorf and Goldman Sachs. This is merely a preview of what Josh Gottheimer would be like as a member of Congress. If Josh Gottheimer is so interested in representing Goldman Sachs’ values, maybe he should be their lobbyist, rather than a congressional candidate. Scott Garrett’s values are not for sale. He represents the people of the Fifth District — not the check-writing lobbyists in Washington, D.C.,” Neibart said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
Gottheimer is a former aide in the Clinton White House, and has not only the support of the Clinton machine but also Washington’s Democratic establishment. He also has outraised Garrett this cycle by a wide margin, taking in $2.9 million compared to Garrett’s $1.3 million, according to Open Secrets.
Democrats have made toppling him a priority. Last week, a political action committee connected to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi began running ads against him. And as election-day approaches, Garrett can expect that more is on the way, Democratic operatives warn.
But most damning for Garrett has been the campaign by Elmendorf and a group of other financial and technology lobbyists to end Garrett’s tenure in Congress by drying up his pool of potential corporate contributions.
Elmendorf and his allies began meeting with lobbyists for major corporations, focusing particularly on investment firms and banks, Garrett’s campaign finance life-blood.
[A] Republican campaign strategist insisted that regardless of where the business community stands on LGBT issues, the involvement of powerful lobbyists is little more than the sort of backroom dealings most Americans believe happen every day in Washington. “Normally, we like to pretend that lobbyists don’t have the kind of influence the rest of America thinks they do. But nobody is even putting up a pretense here that the Democratic lobbying establishment isn’t trying to buy an election,” the strategist said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have gained ground on Democrats in registering voters in three battleground states and kept their razor-thin advantage in Iowa — encouraging news for Donald Trump eight weeks before Election Day.
Republicans added hundreds of thousands of voters to the rolls since 2012 in states including Florida and Arizona, and narrowed the gap in North Carolina, according to data compiled by The Associated Press. In Iowa, Republicans prevented Democrats from surpassing them, aided by a court ruling upholding a ban on voting by ex-felons, who often register as Democrats.
As Election Day approaches, voter registration drives are in full swing.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is staging registration rallies and appealing in particular to non-whites and young people, who are more likely to vote early — if they vote at all. Trump is relying mostly on a base of white voters, urging supporters to be vigilant for voter fraud and “rigging.”
By Anne Gearan, Jenna Johnson and John Wagner September 9 at 8:23 PM
NEW YORK — With Election Day less than two months away, Democrats are increasingly worried that Hillary Clinton has not built a formidable lead against Donald Trump despite his historic weaknesses as a national party candidate.
Even the Democratic nominee’s advisers acknowledge that she must make changes, and quickly. Clinton leads Trump by three percentage points, having fallen from her high of nine points in August, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average. That tightening has frustrated many Clinton allies and operatives, who are astonished that she isn’t running away with this race, given Trump’s deep unpopularity and his continuing stream of controversial comments.
“Generally, I’m concerned, frankly,” said former Democratic Senate leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.). “It still looks positive, and I think if you look at the swing states and where she is right now, she’s got a lead. But it’s certainly not in the bag. We have two months to go, and I think it’s going to be a competitive race all the way through. I would say she’s got at least a 60 percent chance of winning.”
At the same time, Daschle said, “all the things that Trump has done, the numbers should be far more explicitly in her favor, but they’re not.”
JEREMY BEAMAN – UNIVERSITY OF MOBILE •SEPTEMBER 6, 2016
‘A safe space for Black CSLA students …’
California State University Los Angeles recently rolled out segregated housing for black students.
The arrangement comes roughly nine months after the university’s Black Student Union issued a set of demands in response to what its members contend are frequent “racist attacks” on campus, such as “racially insensitive remarks” and “microaggressions” by professors and students. One demand was for a “CSLA housing space delegated for Black students.”
“[It] would provide a cheaper alternative housing solution for Black students. This space would also serve as a safe space for Black CSLA students to congregate, connect, and learn from each other,” the demand letter stated.
file photo Sweeney & Prieto
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 25, 2016 at 5:11 PM
TRENTON — New Jersey’s public pension fund is shakier than all but two U.S. states also known for their notoriously underfunded retirement systems, according to a new comparison by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The pension fund was just 42 percent funded in 2014, based on the latest data available for 238 retirement plans in 50 states, Pew said.
Illinois and Kentucky were each only 41 percent funded. Only three states — South Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin — were more than 100 percent funded.
“Then in February the FDA rejected Teva’s generic EpiPen application. In June the FDA required a San Diego-based company called Adamis to expand patient trials and reliability studies for still another auto-injector rival.
Mrs. Clinton claims the EpiPen price hikes show the need for price controls, and she says she’ll require drug makers to “prove that any additional costs are linked to additional patient benefits and better value.”
The government thwarts competition, and so a life-saving Epi-Pen costs $500 where it was just $100 in 2008. When you have a monopoly, you can charge anything you like. The solution is not government price controls, Hillary, but increased competition.
Alieta Eck, MD For Real Health Care Reform
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 1:32 PM ET, Thu August 25, 2016
Washington (CNN)The incredible increase in the cost of EpiPens, auto-injectors that can stop life-threatening emergencies caused by allergic reactions, has hit home on Capitol Hill.
One Democratic senator whose daughter has allergies has called for action and another Democratic senator’s daughter is CEO of the company responsible for the price hike.
Sen. Joe Manchin said Thursday Mylan, the company which manufactures Epipens which is headed by his daughter, is responding to constituent and lawmaker questions.
“I am aware of the questions my colleagues and many parents are asking and frankly I share their concerns about the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs,” the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement. “Today I heard Mylan’s initial response, and I am sure Mylan will have a more comprehensive and formal response to those questions.”
His daughter, Heather Bresch who is Mylan’s CEO, announced Thursday the company is taking steps to make the product more affordable, including providing $300 savings cards to cut the price in half, though she told CNBC the health care “system” needed to be fixed.
Half of American voters think labor unions have an outsized role in the country’s politics, a new poll has found.
Additionally, according to a new survey from Rasmussen Reports, 57 percent of respondents say union leaders are out of touch with their members. Just one in five Americans believe labor executives do a good job representing union members.
The same rate of of respondents who are now or have ever been union members said union leaders are out of touch and the groups have too much political clout. One in three current or former union members say unions do not have enough influence, compared to one in four among the general population and just one in five among non-union members.
Democrats are, unsurprisingly, much more sympathetic to unions and their leaders. Just one-third of the more labor-friendly party think the groups have too much influence, while nearly 70 percent of Republicans say the same.
By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 09, 2016 at 7:30 AM, updated August 09, 2016 at 7:56 AM
TRENTON — With a ballot question asking voters to constitutionally guarantee state payments into the public worker pension fund dead on arrival this year, the head of the state’s largest teachers’ union suggested that Senate PresidentStephen Sweeney’s likely 2017 gubernatorial campaign will meet the same fate.
Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, stopped short on Monday of calling Sweeney’s refusal to post the measure for a vote ahead of a Monday’s deadline to get it on the ballot this year a deal breaker.
But he was also clear about the NJEA’s priorities — more specifically, its top agenda item.
“Our No. 1 priority has been passing this constitutional amendment,” Wendell said.
“I’m telling you that we will certainly send out a questionnaire to all of the candidates and we will screen all of them,” he said. “But we are definitely going to get involved in the primaries this year.”
The NJEA, FOP and other public-sector labor unions are attempting to influence the legislative process with campaign donations? Wow, there’s a surprise. Union thugs have destroyed NJ’s economy and made property taxes so unreasonable that the state suffers from net migration out and an economy that lags the recovery in surrounding states. The unions and their paid-for cheerleaders in Trenton are 100% to blame, they are driven by shameless greed.
