Washington DC .Judicial Watch today announced it filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for information about former FBI Director James Comey’s memorandum written after his meeting with President Trump regarding potential interference by the Russians in the 2016 presidential election (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:17-cv-01189)).
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Department of Justice failed to respond to a May 16 FOIA request seeking:
The memorandum written by former Director James Comey memorializing his meeting and conversation with President Trump regarding the FBI’s investigation of potential Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election. For purposes of clarification, this memorandum was reportedly written on or about February 13, 2017 and is the subject of a New York Times article … dated May 16, 2017.
The memo purportedly recounts a conversation between President Trump and Comey about a pending investigation of Gen. Mike Flynn.
Judicial Watch is pursuing six FOIA lawsuit (see here, here, here, here and here) related to the surveillance, unmasking, and illegal leaking targeting President Trump and his associates during the FBI’s investigation of potential Russian involvement.
“That we have to sue in federal court to get a document that was read to a reporter at The New York Times is a scandal,” stated Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton. “This Comey memo should be released forthwith and, frankly, the president can and should order its immediate release.”
Separately, Judicial Watch yesterday sent Acting FBI Director Andrew G. McCabe a warning letterconcerning the FBI’s legal responsibility under the Federal Records Act (FRA) to recover records, including memos Comey subsequently leaked to the media, unlawfully removed from the Bureau by Comey.
Ridgewood NJ, the Village Council recognized the Ridgewood Art Ambassadors, Audrey Fink and Rosey Mccoe.
3rd grader Emilia Kelly and Madison Lenard a graduating senior was recognized ,for her work with the augmented reality virtual gallery.
photo courtesy of Ridgewood Arts Council
The mission of the Ridgewood Arts Council is to promote and support the vital part all arts play in enriching our lives, and the lives of our children and community.The Emerging Artist Gallery is still up along Ridgewood Ave. There are 51 pieces of art. Download the Wallame App and discover our virtual gallery.
Why liberal conspiracy theories are flourishing in the age of Trump.
Updated by Zack Beauchamp@[email protected] May 19, 2017, 8:30am EDT
President Donald Trump is about to resign as a result of the Russia scandal. Bernie Sandersand Sean Hannity are Russian agents. The Russians have paid off House Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz to the tune of $10 million, using Trump as a go-between. Paul Ryan is a traitor for refusing to investigate Trump’s Russia ties. Libertarian heroine Ayn Rand was a secret Russian agent charged with discrediting the American conservative movement.
These are all claims you can find made on a new and growing sector of the internet that functions as a fake news bubble for liberals, something I’ve dubbed the Russiasphere. The mirror image of Breitbart and InfoWars on the right, it focuses nearly exclusively on real and imagined connections between Trump and Russia. The tone is breathless: full of unnamed intelligence sources, certainty that Trump will soon be imprisoned, and fever dream factual assertions that no reputable media outlet has managed to confirm.
Twitter is the Russiasphere’s native habitat. Louise Mensch, a former right-wing British parliamentarian and romance novelist, spreads the newest, punchiest, and often most unfounded Russia gossip to her 283,000 followers on Twitter. Mensch is backed up by a handful of allies, including former NSA spook John Schindler (226,000 followers) and DC-area photographer Claude Taylor (159,000 followers).
There’s also a handful of websites, like Palmer Report, that seem devoted nearly exclusively to spreading bizarre assertions like the theory that Ryan and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell funneled Russian money to Trump — a story that spread widely among the site’s 70,000 Facebook fans.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the issuance of an executive order forming the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Integrity. The President also named Vice President Mike Pence as Chairman and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as Vice-Chair of the Commission.
Five additional members were named to the bipartisan commission today:
Connie Lawson, Secretary of State of Indiana
Bill Gardner, Secretary of State of New Hampshire
Matthew Dunlap, Secretary of State of Maine
Ken Blackwell, Former Secretary of State of Ohio
Christy McCormick, Commissioner, Election Assistance Commission
“This action by President Trump fulfills another promise made to the American people,” said Vice President Pence. “We can’t take for granted the integrity of the vote. This bipartisan commission will review ways to strengthen the integrity of elections in order to protect and preserve the principle of one person, one vote because the integrity of the vote is the foundation of our democracy.”
The Commission on Election Integrity will study vulnerabilities in voting systems used for federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations, improper voting, fraudulent voter registrations, and fraudulent voting. The Commission will also study concerns about voter suppression, as well as other voting irregularities. The Commission will utilize all available data, including state and federal databases.
Secretary Kobach, Vice-Chair of the Commission added: “As the chief election officer of a state, ensuring the integrity of elections is my number one responsibility. The work of this commission will assist all state elections officials in the country in understanding, and addressing, the problem of voter fraud.”
Additional Commission members will be named at a later time. It is expected the Commission will spend the next year completing its work and issue a report in 2018.
Ridgewood NJ, On Friday June 9th at 8 p.m. Ridgewood Friends of Music will present a one-of-a-kind benefit concert featuring internationally renowned banjo master Tony Trischka and the locally beloved bluegrass band Blue Plate Special. Surprise guests will join them.
Tony Trischka is one of the most influential banjo artists in the world. His Grammy-nominated album Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular features appearances by banjo luminaries like Steve Martin, Earl Scruggs and Béla Fleck. In 2007 he was named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Banjo Player of the Year. His latest album is Great Big World (Rounder Records). The artist has also been featured on multiple NPR programs like Mountain Stage and A Prairie Home Companion. He produced Steve Martin’s Grammy-nominated album Rare Bird Alert (Rounder Records) that featured Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks. A dedicated chronicler of banjo history, Trischka was the Musical Director and Co-Producer of the 2011 PBS documentary, “Give Me the Banjo”.
Blue Plate Special (Jay Friedman, Dave Gross, James Hempfling, Rob Hecht, Dan Whitener and Tom Wise) plays the kind of music that can make you feel like you’re home wherever you are. A group of infinitely talented musicians and singer-songwriters, Blue Plate Special performs Americana, bluegrass, and swing. Their latest album, Back By Popular Demand (2016) features fourteen original tunes. Thematically eclectic, the songs will take you on a bluegrass-style journey through life, from the depths of a man’s sorrow, to courtship on a rotary phone. The band has a sense of humor as well; one of the catchiest tunes on the album is a waltzy number about the end of the world. Even if you’ve never heard a lick of bluegrass, a night with Blue Plate Special will make you realize this music was in you all along.
“Bluegrass Under the Stars” will take place outdoors at Graydon Pavilion (rain location GW Middle School). All of the proceeds of this event will go to support Ridgewood Public Schools’ music programs grades K-12. Friends of Music funds music assemblies, helps pay for RHS concert venues, provides showcases and master classes for young musicians, lends financial support to the Ridgewood Summer Music Academy and offers a college scholarship to a graduating senior.
Tickets are $25 online and $30 at the door. Bring your own lawn chair.
By Craig McCarthy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 29, 2017 at 11:25 AM, updated April 29, 2017 at 1:28 PM
One of the people at the center of the Fyre Festival fiasco, Billy McFarland, is a New Jersey native and college dropout, who’s been referred to as Ja Rule’s “tech partner.”
The 25-year-old co-organizer told Rolling Stone on Friday the planners were “overwhelmed” and “a little naive” in trying to pull off the botched luxury festival in the Bahamas, which promised a genre-spanning lineup of bands.
Ridgewood NJ, Today, April 27, the Ridgewood High School Department of Fine and Applied Arts will present the final Maroon & White Music Recital for the 2016-17 school year. The last of five such events for this year, the concert will be held in the newly renovated RHS Learning Commons beginning at 3:45PM, followed immediately by a reception in the Carroll Art Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public.
The recital will feature three outstanding musicians, presenting a varied program and will begin with a performance by Stefanie Haas, a freshman trombonist making her Maroon and White debut. Miss Haas, who has performed as a member of the All-Bergen County Band, as well as the Region I Intermediate Band and Junior Jazz Ensemble, will perform the second and third movements of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s renowned Concerto for Trombone. Kari Wong, a junior harpist who has also been recognized for her outstanding performance on the oboe in the All-Bergen County, Region I, All State and All Eastern Bands, will perform Susann McDonald’s Ballade, Claude Debussy’s First Arabesque, and the Chanson dans la nuit by Carlos Salzedo. Grace Gu, a sophomore pianist and First Prize winner in the 2015 Cremona (Italy) International Music Academy and Competition, will round out the recital by performing the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Frederico Mompou’s Paisajes II – El Lago, and the Concert Paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto by Franz Liszt.
Following the concert, audience members are invited to a reception in the Carroll Art Gallery, which is currently showing the Maroon and White Senior Art Exhibit.
The Maroon and White Recital Series began in 1964 as a means of highlighting outstanding Ridgewood High School musicians in a featured solo capacity. Over the past five decades, the series has expanded to include art exhibits as well as a recital featuring only dancers. Musicians and dancers are selected through competitive audition, while artists are chosen after an extensive portfolio revue. Past Maroon & White recitalists include Jonathan Spitz, principal cellist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Elizabeth Ostling, associate principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the piano duo of Sarah and Susan Wang, renowned Broadway singer/dancer Ali Stroker, Stephanie Buesser, dancer with Ballet West, New York City choreographer Yael Nachajon, Broadway director Marc Bruni, jazz organist Jared Gold and many others. The list of past artists includes Lauren Roth of Lauren Roth Art, renowned illustrator Kyle McCullough, Giovanni Forlino, whose work can be seen on display at the Getty and Guggenheim museums, plus a host of professional freelance artists who work in a wide variety of visual art related fields.
By Craig McCarthy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 17, 2017 at 7:20 AM, updated April 17, 2017 at 4:28 PM
NEW BRUNSWICK — A Somerset County woman is suing Wells Fargo Bank alleging she was fired for refusing to participate in an alleged scheme similar to the bank’s widespread account scam that led to millions of dollars in federal fines.
Melinda Bini, a former assistant vice president and regional private banker at the Highland Park bank’s branch, says in a recent lawsuit that supervisors instructed her to manipulate accounts and sell banking products or investments that were not the customers’ best interest or without their knowledge.
The lawsuit, filed in Middlesex County Superior Court on April 5, names Wells Fargo and three local bank supervisors.
Editors note CNN tries the same tactic as the Bergen Record when they came to Ridgewood and told residents its not news till they tell you it is and you have no right to question anything.
‘We will not aid and abet the people trying to misinform you’
Apr 4, 2017
Since news broke Monday that the Obama Administration’s National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, directed the “unmasking” of NSA intercepts of Trump associates, CNN has raced to shoot down the blockbuster report.
CNN Tonight’s Don Lemon went so far as to announce he would ignore the news at all costs.
While interviewing a Democratic congressman, CNN’s Chris Cuomo claimed it was “demonstrably untrue” Rice sought surveillance of the Trump team, even as that’s exactly what yesterday’s reports prove.
Over the last 24 hours, the network has also repeatedly called on its chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, to dismiss the reports as a non-story; Sciutto has even excused Rice claiming ignorance of the unmasking scandal two weeks ago, arguing Rice “wasn’t aware” what unmasking Rep. Devin Nunes (D-Calif.) was referring to.
And on Tuesday’s “New Day,” anchor Alisyn Camerota openly pleaded with Sen. John McCain to write-off the news as unimportant.
Last night, Lemon began “CNN Tonight” with an announcement that the Rice report a “fake scandal ginned up by right-wing media and Trump” that he would not be baited into justifying with coverage.
“On this program tonight, we will not insult your intelligence by pretending,” it’s legitimate, he said. “Nor will we aid and abet the people trying to misinform you, the American people, by creating a diversion. Not going to do it.”
By Thomas Moriarty | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 03, 2017 at 5:31 PM, updated April 03, 2017 at 8:22 PM
CAMDEN — A Camden County teen admitted in federal court Monday to plotting to kill Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to Philadelphia.
Santos Colon, 17, of Lindenwold, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden to a charge of attempting to provide material support to terrorists, according to court records.
Colon, also known as Ahmad Shakoor, had tried to recruit a person he thought was a sniper to join him in his plot, which involved shooting the Pope during his Papal mass and setting off explosive devices, according to a statement from Acting U.S. Attorney William E Fitzgerald and Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord.
Authorities say the “sniper” was actually an undercover operative for the FBI, which arrested Colon after he scoped out possible targets with an informant, who Colon also instructed to purchase bomb components.
A New York labor union has exhausted its pension fund, leaving thousands of retirees at risk and sparking calls for a forensic audit.
Teamsters Local 707, which represents 4,000 retirees out of Long Island, became the first of several embattled Teamster locals funds to fully exhaust its money. The union was forced to turn over its pension fund to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), an independent federal agency.
Several retirees discussed their distress with the New York Daily News. Tim Chmil spent 30 years as a trucker and deducted portions of every paycheck to cover the costs of a defined benefit pension. He has now seen that money dry up as the pension fund teetered toward insolvency.
“It’s a nightmare, it has just devastated all of our lives. I’ve gone from having $48,000 a year to less than half that,” Chmil told the Daily News.
Neither Local 707 President Kevin McCaffrey, nor the PBGC returned requests for comment
Let’s compare what President Trump has accomplished since the inauguration (with that enormous crowd!) with what congressional Republicans have done.
In the past three weeks, Trump has: staffed the White House, sent a dozen Cabinet nominees to the Senate, browbeat Boeing into cutting its price on a government contract, harangued American CEOs into keeping their plants in the United States, imposed a terrorist travel ban, met with foreign leaders and nominated a Supreme Court justice, among many other things.
(And still our hero finds time to torment the media with his tweets!)
What have congressional Republicans been doing? Scrapbooking?
More than 90 percent of congressional Republicans kept their jobs after the 2016 election, so you can cross “staffing an entire branch of government” off the list. Only the Senate confirms nominees, which they’ve been doing at a snail’s pace, so they’ve got loads of free time — and the House has no excuse at all.
Where’s the Obamacare repeal? Where are the hearings featuring middle-class Americans with no health insurance because it was made illegal by Obamacare?
The House passed six Obamacare repeals when Obama was president and there was no chance of them being signed into law. Back then, Republicans were full of vim and vigor! But the moment Trump became president, the repeals came to a screeching halt.
After the inauguration (gigantic!), House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put out a plan for repealing Obamacare … in 200 days. They actually gave their legislative agenda this inspiring title: “The Two Hundred Day Plan.”
Ridgewood NJ, the RHS Jamboree 2017 has wrapped up and in a statement released the 2017 Jamboree producers;
“A Big THANK YOU to everyone who supported the 2017 RHS Jamboree “World Tour”. Through Ads, donations, tickets and sales a whopping $141,500.00 was raised for the Jamboree Scholarship Fund for scholarships for the Class of 2017. This is an incredible achievement and one that could not have been accomplished without YOUR continued support.”
Mayor Susan Knudsen came up on stage to read the Proclamation!!!
THANK YOU !!!
Finally we wish to thank our amazing 2017 RHS Jamboree producers, Linda Aktar, Gail McCarthy, Vivienne & Mike Muldoon who’s continued believe in us took Jamboree to new heights, thank you guys !!! But as per tradition the Jamboree baton must be passed on and it’s our pleasure to welcome and congratulate our 2018 RHS Jamboree Producers Meghan Bracken, Tony Cambria, Carrie Johnson & James Sharo.
Ridgewood NJ, 2016-2017 RHS Maroon & White Series Continues On Thursday, February 2, the Ridgewood High School Department of Fine and Applied Arts will present the third Maroon & White Music Recital and Art Exhibit for the 2016-17 school year. The third of five such events for this year, the concert will be held in the newly renovated RHS Learning Commons beginning at 3:45PM, followed immediately by a reception and gallery opening in the Carroll Art Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public.
The recital will feature four outstanding musicians, presenting a varied program and will begin with a performance by Jacqueline Johnson, a junior soprano vocalist who has performed as a member of the All State Choir, who will perform Tu lo sai by Giuseppe Torelli, Romance by Claude Debussy and The Sky Above the Roof by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Sophomore trombonist Nik Gambardella will continue the program with a performance of the Menuet from Johann Ernst Galliard’s Sonata No. IV. Isaac Peabody, also an All State Choir member in his junior year, will perform Stefano Donaudy’s Spirate pur, spirate, Franz Schubert’s Das Fischermädchen, and Sea Fever by John Ireland. Jonathan Negron, an accomplished All-Bergen County trumpet player in his junior year, will round out the recital by performing Preludio, Aria e Scherzo by Ennio Porrino, a transcription of Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, and Chet Baker’s I Can’t Get Started.
Following the concert, the February Maroon & White Art Exhibit will officially open in the Carroll Art Gallery. The exhibit will include original works by seven highly accomplished students in a variety of media. The work of senior Maxine Earl varies from realistic, abstract and illustration, all relating to her concentration on influenced emotion. Anna Koontz, a junior, experiments with many different media, with an emphasis on markers and oil pastels. Sophia Swanson, sophomore, creates whimsical illustrations and ethereal portraits using pencil, pen, and colored pencil and has experimented with chalk pastel and watercolor paint, while this exhibit’s other sophomore artist Sarah Taggart, specializes in ceramics. Senior Danielle Testa creates artwork that displays emotions and provokes thought using media from colored pencil to paints to photography, and Julia Yoon, junior, uses oil pastel and pencil drawing to express color and texture in her artwork.
The Maroon and White Recital Series began in 1964 as a means of highlighting outstanding Ridgewood High School musicians in a featured solo capacity. Over the past five decades, the series has expanded to include art exhibits as well as a recital featuring only dancers. Musicians and dancers are selected through competitive audition, while artists are chosen after an extensive portfolio revue. Past Maroon & White recitalists include Jonathan Spitz, principal cellist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Elizabeth Ostling, associate principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the piano duo of Sarah and Susan Wang, renowned Broadway singer/dancer Ali Stroker, Stephanie Buesser, dancer with Ballet West, New York City choreographer Yael Nachajon, Broadway director Marc Bruni, jazz organist Jared Gold and many others. The list of past artists includes Lauren Roth of Lauren Roth Art, renowned illustrator Kyle McCullough, Giovanni Forlino, whose work can be seen on display at the Getty and Guggenheim museums, plus a host of professional freelance artists who work in a wide variety of visual art related fields.
Upcoming Maroon & White Recital/Exhibits will take place on March 9, April 6 (Dance) and April 27. All recitals are held in the RHS Learning Commons, with the exception of the dance recital, which takes place in the Little Theater. For more information, please contact the RHS Department of Fine and Applied Arts at 201-670-2800 x. 20542.
The drug-abuse crisis among teenagers and young adults isn’t abating
January 27,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Prescription drugs, especially opioids, are a growing threat to the health of young people, with 6 percent of teens 12 to 17 saying they use the drugs for non-medical reasons. And in 2014, prescription drugs caused the overdose death of 1,741 young people ages 18 to 25, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
If those statistics aren’t alarming enough, studies reveal that 3 percent of teens have used heroin and that drug’s use is on the rise. In 2009, 21,000 teens sought treatment for heroin addiction, compared to 4,400 10 years earlier, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
So how can parents concerned their teen might be using opioids or other drugs find out for sure? Some parents seek to confirm their suspicions with one of the many drug-testing kits available at the corner pharmacy.
But clever teens and free-market ingenuity are making the accuracy of those urine drug tests questionable. In fact, the urine drug test cheating industry is estimated to be near $1 billion, with products easily purchased on the web, including synthetic urine, substitute urine and even devices aimed solely at defeating the drug test.
“Unfortunately, there’s a whole industry of products out there that help people cheat the drug tests,” says Dr. Matt McCarty, CEO and founder of Genotox Laboratories (www.genotoxlabs.com). “Even if you decide to make your child use a urine test, savvy teenagers know that once you send them into the restroom alone they can substitute a friend’s urine or synthetic urine and trick you.”
The challenge for parents is to confirm that their handy drug-testing kit really is testing their teen’s urine and not someone else’s. They aren’t the only ones who face that predicament. Drug-test cheating is a problem that human resource departments, law enforcement and other agencies or businesses that test for drugs encounter as well.
Cheating the tests also is a problem when monitoring patients who are taking opioid medications under a doctor’s care, or who are undergoing rehab and recovery from addiction.
But there are ways to foil the cheaters. Genotox Labs, for example, developed a product called ToxProtect™ that adds a cheek swab to the urine-collection process so the DNA can be matched.
“With a DNA test, there’s no maybe about it,” McCarty says. “It either matches or it doesn’t match.”
What might lead a parent to insist on a drug test for their teen? The National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence says there are drug-abuse warning signs parents can look for, and McCarty says all parents should be on the lookout for these signs. They include:
• Physical and health signs. Bloodshot eyes; pupils smaller or larger than normal; frequent nosebleeds; changes in appetite or sleep patterns; sudden weight loss or weight gain; deterioration in personal grooming or physical appearance; and impaired or unstable coordination. • Behavioral signs. Skipping class and declining grades; loss of interest in extracurricular activities; acting isolated, silent or withdrawn; demanding more privacy and avoiding eye contact; and sudden change in relationships and friends. • Psychological warning signs. Sudden mood changes, irritability, angry outbursts or laughing at nothing; periods of unusual hyperactivity or agitation; lack of motivation and inability to focus; appearing fearful, withdrawn, anxious, or paranoid for no apparent reason.
While schools and other agencies may provide some help, ultimately it’s up to the parents to address a teen’s drug problem, McCarty says.
“All evidence suggests that preventing drug abuse starts at home,” he says. “It’s not someone else’s responsibility. It’s the person who has the problem and their family who need to deal with it. That’s why if you test your kid for drugs at home, you want to make sure you’re getting their results and aren’t letting them fool you.”
About Dr. Matt McCarty, M.D.
Dr. Matt McCarty is a board certified, fellowship trained physician specializing in chronic pain management. Aware of the growing need for medication monitoring and personalized medicine, he founded Genotox Laboratories (www.genotoxlabs.com), a rapidly growing national reference lab providing medication monitoring services through urine drug screen confirmations and pharmacogenomics testing. He believes that earlier and better monitoring by all physicians prescribing controlled substances could lead to lower rates of addiction, diversion and overdose deaths. With his team at Genotox he invented a patent pending DNA authenticated sample matching method called ToxProtect™. It ensures urine submitted for drug testing is matched to a specific donor. ToxProtect™ uncovers the use of substitute and synthetic urine and detects substance misuse, abuse and relapse when all other urine drug testing fails. He hopes that through the most advanced genomic testing platform offered by Genotox, a clinician can uncover substance misuse abuse and relapse allowing for earlier intervention.
