Ridgewood’s hearing with BPU scheduled for Sept. 9
Tuesday September 3, 2013, 10:03 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
At Ridgewood’s upcoming hearing before the Board of Public Utilities (BPU), set for Sept. 9 in Hackensack, the state regulatory agency will review the village’s concerns with PSE&G’s regional transmission upgrade project. The utility plans to install a total of 90 65-foot-tall utility poles with 69-kilovolt lines in some residential neighborhoods in Ridgewood.
The hearing will take place at 6 p.m. in the Freeholders’ Public Meeting Room at the Bergen County Administration Building, according to Village Attorney Matt Rogers.
Although it is rare for municipalities to take their complaints with PSE&G to the BPU, Ridgewood’s case isn’t the first time that a community has had concerns over a project. In Montclair in 2011, residents disputed a PSE&G project on a local street, citing concerns similar to those of Ridgewood residents living on Hope Street and Spring Avenue.
Montclair’s hearing with the BPU did not end as many residents had hoped: PSE&G began installing replacement utility poles and new higher voltage lines to serve a country club and some homes in nearby Glen Ridge. As part of that project, service people cut down 100-year-old trees on Gray Street in Montclair, where the lines were being installed.
Test ‘reveals Facebook, Twitter and Google snoop on emails’: Study of net giants spurs new privacy concerns
Study set out to test confidentiality of 50 of the biggest Internet companies Researchers sent unique web address in private messages through firms They found six of the companies opened the link from the message
By Martin Delgado
PUBLISHED: 17:37 EST, 31 August 2013 | UPDATED: 17:37 EST, 31 August 2013
Facebook, Twitter and Google have been caught snooping on messages sent across their networks, new research claims, prompting campaigners to express concerns over privacy.
The findings emerged from an experiment conducted following revelations by US security contractor Edward Snowden about government snooping on internet accounts.
Cyber-security company High-Tech Bridge set out to test the confidentiality of 50 of the biggest internet companies by using their systems to send a unique web address in private messages.
Experts at its Geneva HQ then waited to see which companies clicked on the website.
During the ten-day operation, six of the 50 companies tested were found to have opened the link.
Citing Obamacare, 40,000 Longshoremen Quit the AFL-CIO
In what is being reported as a surprise move, the 40,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced that they have formally ended their association with the AFL-CIO, one of the nation’s largest private sector unions. The Longshoremen citied Obamacare and immigration reform as two important causes of their disaffiliation.
In an August 29 letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, ILWU President Robert McEllrath cited quite a list of grievances as reasons for the disillusion of their affiliation, but prominent among them was the AFL-CIO’s support of Obamare.
“We feel the Federation has done a great disservice to the labor movement and all working people by going along to get along,” McEllrath wrote in the letter to Trumka.
The ILWU President made it clear they are for a single-payer, nationalized healthcare policy and are upset with the AFL-CIO for going along with Obama on the confiscatory tax on their “Cadillac” healthcare plan.
The Longshoreman leader said, “President Obama ran on a platform that he would not tax medical plans and at the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention, you stated that labor would not stand for a tax on our benefits.” But, regardless of that promise, the President has pushed for just such a tax and Trumka and the AFL-CIO bowed to political pressure lining up behind Obama’s tax on those plans.
McEllrath also went on to say that they support stronger immigration reform than the AFL-CIO is supporting.
Cory Booker Walks Back Opposition To Military Intervention In Syria
After making an impassioned case earlier this week against another war, the senate candidate defers to Obama’s judgement. “I expect that the president will clearly delineate what the strategic objectives are,” says Booker. posted on August 31, 2013 at 8:05pm EDT
LONG BRANCH, N.J. — On Wednesday, Cory Booker’s position on military intervention in Syria was clear: He opposed it.
In an interview on HuffPost Live, Booker said that he was “profoundly war weary”; that the United States “should not be going to war” or “unleashing missiles”; and that he disagreed with President Obama, his biggest booster, on whether the use of chemical weapons automatically requires a military response.
“I’m not drawing the red line that I know the Obama administration did,” he said.
Booker, the Newark mayor and frontrunner to replace the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg in the U.S. Senate this October, is already a Democratic Party star. And he emerged that day, somewhat unexpectedly, as one of the party’s biggest names resisting action in Syria — just as Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were readying an aggressive case to do the opposite.
But by Friday, as the White House made a public push for a strike on Syria, Booker softened his anti-war language and emphasized that, as a candidate, he does not have access to the intelligence briefings offered to sitting members of Congress.
By Saturday morning, after the administration declassified information about the gas attack that killed more than 1,400 people last Wednesday, Booker said his “default position [was] peace and non-violence always,” but suggested that he’d wait to see “what the president decides.”
For all the talk these days of how to revive our supposedly moribund American Dream, it took a college dropout-turned-actor to state the obvious.
“I believe that opportunity looks a lot like work,” Ashton Kutcher recently said at the Teen Choice Awards. “I never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.”
That such remarks made national headlines is revealing of the battered state of our once robust culture of work. In America, we no longer extol hard work the way we used to. For every movie that celebrates drive and dedication, Hollywood churns out dozens featuring irresponsible, dim-witted, lazy bumblers. The “work is for suckers” mentality is no longer confined to a few marginal Huck Finns: “Seinfeld’s” permanently unemployed Kramer is a cultural icon.
Public opinion has also become much more tolerant of idleness. When Alexis de Tocqueville travelled through America in the 1830s, he was struck by the very strong prejudice in favor of work:
I sometimes met rich young people, enemies by temperament of every painful effort, who had been forced to take up a profession. Their nature and their fortune permitted them to remain idle; public opinion imperiously forbade it to them, and they had to obey.
Public opinion imperiously forbids many things today, including smoking and not recycling, but not working is most definitely not one of them. We have not (yet) become a nation of slackers, mooches, and loafers, but we may reasonably wonder whether America is still “the Land of Labor,” as Benjamin Franklin described the country to prospective immigrants.
The erosion of our culture of work has profound ramifications for the health of the American Dream. Along with economic freedom, a culture that sustains, encourages, and honors hard work is one of the twin pillars that make the American Dream possible. The American Dream, after all, is dreamed by dreamers—but achieved by workers.
This is how our great apostle of upward mobility, Frederick Douglass, summed up his message to those trying to get ahead in life:
WORK! WORK!! WORK!!! WORK!!!! Not transient and fitful effort, but patient, enduring, honest, unremitting and indefatigable work into which the whole heart is put, and which, in both temporal and spiritual affairs, is the true miracle worker.
On this Labor Day, let us then remind ourselves that opportunity does indeed look a lot like work. Let us exhort people to work hard, persevere, and give it all they have, rather than sapping their spirits by emphasizing all that is unfair in life and channeling their energies toward demanding more from others.
Let us ask, “What can I do for myself and my fellow citizens?” and not “What must my country do for me?” And let us draw inspiration from those who have succeeded through their own efforts, rather than foster resentment by recasting their success as inequality.
Observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events. ( https://www.history.com/topics/labor-day )
The History of Labor Day
Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
A Nationwide Holiday
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.
10 recipes for the perfect Labor Day barbecue
Published August 29, 2013
FoxNews.com
While summer may be coming to a close, the end of grilling season is still a long way away. This Labor Day, take advantage of the fact that the old Weber isn’t covered with snow or plastered with rotting leaves. Think about it. You’ve only got a few more weeks before summer is over and the neighbors think you’re crazy for firing up the grill in a blizzard.
To aid in your Labor Day celebration, we’ve come up with a list of recipes that pay tribute to summer and welcome the fall. From barbecued turkey wings to a fall berry cocktail, we’ve compiled all the makings of an epic Labor Day feast. So turn on the grill, loosen that belt and let the Labor Day party begin.
Radio Talk Show Host Mark Levin Continues to Comment on interaction he had at Bookends over “natural-born Citizen.”
Hey PJ:
New radio commentary from Mr. Levin from the first hour of his nationwide show on Thursday, August 29th seems to show that the interaction he had with the Ridgewood man at Bookends is still sticking in his craw. Note at least one detail he provides for the first time during his August 29th broadcast (by employing the technique of a simulated colloquy) corresponds with a detail provided by a witness and publicized previously by you in this article (“After cursing at the challenger, Mark replied: “I never said he was a natural-born Citizen.”, upon which his challenger said: “But you must be a natural-born Citizen to be President!”. Mark then said: “No you don’t!”, and the challenger said “Yes, you do. Read the Constitution.”). This seem to show that he is once again alluding to events that occurred on Sunday, August 18th at Bookends in Ridgewood.
Anyway, here’s what Mark Levin said on his radio program on Thursday, August 29th. FYI, a segment about a critic of Levin’s new book precedes the segment about Cruz’s eligibility (it’s relevant, trust me):
Partial Transcript of the Mark Levin Show aired live on Thursday, August 29, 2013
(prepared using the podcast recording of the show provided free of charge at https://www.marklevinshow.com)
[start at 13:30 of the podcast recording]
Mark Levin: [Discussing a critic of his latest book “The Liberty Amendments, Restoring the American Republic”] It’s hilarious! [chuckles] But it’s really kinda … thin stuff. Silly stuff. I’m thinkin’, this guy used to run Pepperdine? And he’s at the Hoover Institute? David Davenport? That’s scary! And I may or may not address this later. I think I will. And, uh…the person who I will have on, his name is Rob Nadelson. Senior fellow in Constitutional Jurispri … prudence at the Independence Institute, the Montana Policy Institute, he’s a former law school professor, and he’s a scholar. And there are others. We had Randy Barnett on here. Georgetown University Law School. Professor. Great guy. Brilliant! I don’t always agree with him, but I don’t always agree with anybody. And he was on here last week. And what do the opponents have? Scare tactics, generalities, superficiality? I mean, folks … they can support the status quo. They can pretend that we’ll elect sixty conservatives to the senate, over and over and over again, to reverse course. They can pretend that all we need is a Republican president, to keep nominating Republicans to the Supreme Court. We’ve been doing that, by the way, for a long time! Somehow they progress, they evolve. But we’re in this position today, where the Constitution is really abused. It’s been disassembled. And some of us want to bring it back together. And then he says I must be the utopian. I must be the czar coming up with these amendments. Ladies and gentlemen, he clearly didn’t read the book! What do I say in the first chapter? These are just my reform proposals. My amendment proposals. Obviously, I’m not king of some state convention! The delegates to the state convention, they’ll make up their own minds, based on what the state legislature suggest that they do! I’m laying them out as what I consider possibilities that actually might help us! But I have no way of imposing them! So how am I a czar? This is what I mean. This guy used to head Pepperdine, and now he’s at the Hoover Institute! It’s stupid! You want to address this issue, I warn all you liberal crackpots, all the pseudo-conservatives, all the guys with degrees and the … and the funny hats at graduation and all the rest, I want to warn you all! You better be prepared. Because some of us has actually really, really dug in to this, and we know far more than you’ll ever know. So when you come up with your scare tactics, and your silly arguments, and you … and you throw your myths around, some of us do know what the framers said! Some of us actually know what the founding fathers said. Some of us actually know what occurred before the nation actually became a nation. What conventions were. How they were conducted. Who sent delagates. How they were selected. How they voted. We know! And you don’t. It’s obvious. With your silly … articles. But we’re ready! I’m ready. I can’t wait! But they don’t matter, ladies and gentlemen, you matter! It’s important that you’re convinced! Which is why I wrote “The Liberty Amendments”. And not one of these people so far, has proposed a serious alternative for restoring the republic. Not one! Because they have none. Not one of them has proposed a serious alternative based on what our framers said, and wrote! Not one! [Bumper music begins playing softly] They defend the status quo! And they pretend the status quo, is what the framers would support! Out of one side of their mouth, and out of the other side of their mouth, they condemn what Washington is doing. They don’t make sense! It’s time to give it up! It’s time to embrace what the framers said. Alright, more when I return! [Bumper music grows louder]
[Cut to different bumper music at 17:50 of the podcast recording (new segment)]
Announcer: This is America’s Constitutional Convention! The Mark Levin Show! Call in now. (877) 381-3811.
Mark Levin: Alright, we got a full board, I’ll get to the callers in a second. I want to throw this issue out there. Ready for this one? Uh, oh, here it comes! Do you know Ted Cruz, Mr. Producer? You’ve heard of that name? Senator from Texas? He’s an American Citizen. A naturalized American Citizen. He can run for President of the United States. Oh, it’s true! It’s true! Here’s the Cato Institute, of all places, libertarian think tank, Ilya Shapiro. “As we head into a potential government shutdown over the funding of Obamacare, the iconoclastic junior senator from Texas continues to stride across the national stage. And with his presidential aspirations as big as everything in his home state”, writes this writer, “by now many know what has never been a secret. Ted Cruz was born in Canada.” [Shouting] Oh my God! [Speaking at normal volume] “But does that mean that Cruz’s presidential ambitions are gummed up with marble [sic] syrup, or stuck in snowdrifts altogether different from those plaguing the Iowa Caucuses? Are the birthers now hoist on their own petards, having been unable to find any proof that Obama was born outside the Uni …” Uh, oh! “…by forcing their comrade in boots to disqualify himself by releasing his Alberta birth certificate? No, actually it’s not even that complicated. You just have to look up the right law. It boils down to whether … wh … ba … whether Cruz is a natural-born Citizen” … quote, unquote … “of the United States. The only class of people constitutionally eligible for the Presidency. You see, the founding fathers didn’t want their newly independent nation to be taken over by foreigners on the sly. So what’s a natural-born Citizen?” Well, may I add this? It’s not in the column. Seems like every jerk with access to Google has decided what a natural-born Citizen is. And they insist that everybody agree with them! “… but the Constitution doesn’t say. But the framers’ understanding, combined with statutes enacted by the first Congress, indicate that the phrase means both birth abroad to American parents, in a manner regulated by federal law, and birth within the nation’s territory, regardless of parental citizenship. The Supreme Court has confirmed that definition on multiple occasions and in various contexts.” [Shouting] Oh my God! [Speaking at normal volume] It’s true! [Shouting] Wait a minute! We have a meeting scheduled in my mother’s basement to go over this, eh … eh … we’re gonna, we’re gonna post a lotta comments on the Mark Levin eh … eh social sites! [Speaking at normal volume] Let me continue. “There’s no ideological debate here. Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe and former Solicitor General Ted Olson, who were on opposite sides in Bush v. Gore, among other cases, coauthored a memorandum on March 2008 detailing the above legal explanation in the context of John McCain’s eligibility. Recall that McCain, lately one of Cruz’s chief antagonists, was born to U.S. citizen parents serving on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone. In other words, anyone who is a citizen at birth, as opposed to someone who becomes a citizen later, that is, naturalizes, or who isn’t a citizen at all, is what we’re talking about. So the one remaining question is whether Ted Cruz was a citizen at birth. And that’s an easy one. The Nationality Act of 1940 outlines which children became nationals and citizens in the United States at birth. In addition to those who were born in the United States, or born outside the country to parents who were both citizens, or, interestingly, found in the United States without parents and no proof of birth elsewhere…” That would be people from Mars, I think… “…citizenship goes to babies born to one American parent who has spent a certain number of years here. That single parent requirement has been amended several times, but under the law in effect between 1952 and 1986 – Cruz was born in 1970 – someone must have a citizen parent who resided in the United States for at least ten years, including five after the age of fourteen, in order to be considered a natural-born Citizen. Cruz’s mother, Eleanor Darragh, was born in Delaware, …” Is Delaware part of America? I think so. “… lived most of her life in the United States, and gave birth to little Rafael Edward Cruz in her thirties. So why all the brouhaha about where Obama was born, given there’s no dispute that his mother, Ann Dunham, was a citizen?” Oh lord, I go down this … this road, all the kooks will be shooting at me. And he says “It may be politically advantageous for Ted Cruz to renounce his Canadian citizenship before making a run for the White House, but his eligibility for that office shouldn’t be in doubt. Remember George Romney? Born in Mexico. Remember Barry Goldwater? Born in the Arizona Territory. Cruz is certainly not the hypothetical foreigner who John Jay and George Washington were concerned might usurp the role of Commander-in-Chief.” Here’s the practical problem, … uh, in addition to all this. Do you think any court in the land … any court, because, you have to adjudicate this, right? Do you think any court in the land is gonna say “You know what? You were born of an American citizen mother in Canada, therefore you’re disqualified”? There’s really no historical basis for this. And actually, I could have added to this piece, you look at the 1790 Naturalization Act, which had some very terrible things in it, by the way, Cruz would qualify under the 1790 Naturalization Act! And there were a lot of …. founding fathers involved in that Act … the act of the first Congress. So can we cut it out? No. No, pe … people do not want to cut it out, they’re gonna keep it up, there gonna show up here and there, waving some crap in front of my face or somebody else’s, [Shouts] “Don’t you read the Constitution?” Yes. [Shouts] “It says natural-born Citizen!” Yes. [Shouts] “Well look at that.” I did read it. It says natural-born Citizen. He’s born of an American mother. [Shouts] “Yeah, well it doesn’t mean that.” Well, what does it mean? “Hey look! Haven’t you read the book by Cuckoo Clock over here, and uh, eh …” Please. Save it for somebody else. As a matter of fact, bother Hannity. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. No, Mr. Call Screener, no calls on this either. I’m just not interested. This bores me, the whole topic. I’m just raising it, to address it, knock it down, done with it, hopefully never to be spoken again on the Mark Levin Show. Let’s take some calls, shall we? Kerry – Houston, Texas. The great KTRH country, home of my buddy Michael Berry. Go!
In observance of Labor Day, Village offices will be closed Monday, September 2. There will also be no garbage or recycling collection that day. The Recycling Center on E. Glen Avenue will also be closed.
All offices and services resume operation Tuesday, September 2.
Rep. Garrett Statement on Possible Military Intervention in Syria
Aug 30, 2013
U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett of Wantage is the only New Jersey House member so far to sign a letter asking President Obama to seek Congressional authorization before launching a possible military strike in Syria.
Ridgewood NJ, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), founder and Chairman of the Congressional Constitution Caucus, issued the following statement regarding a possible United States military intervention in Syria.
“Any time our servicemen and women are sent into combat, the president must receive authorization from Congress. The United States Congress has the sole authority to send the American military into combat—not the United Nations or any other international institutions.
Engaging our military in Syria without prior congressional authorization—when no direct threat to the United States exists—would violate the separation of powers clearly outlined by the Constitution. If President Obama thinks it is in the best interest of the United States to intervene militarily in Syria, he must come to Congress and seek authorization.”
The Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the State regulatory agency, will hold a hearing on PSE&G’s regional transmission upgrade project. The project includes installing 90 65 feet tall utility poles with 69-Kv lines in Ridgewood. The hearing will take place at 6PM in the Freeholder’ Public Meeting Room at the Bergen County Administration Building in Hackensack.
Rental properties spark leap in N.J. housing activitiy
Monday August 26, 2013, 10:13 PM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Home-building activity in New Jersey has risen 32 percent so far this year, propelled by construction of rental apartments — another sign that the housing market is healing.
Through July, the state had issued building permits for 13,234 housing units in New Jersey, compared with just over 10,000 for the same period last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Monday.
“There’s an acceleration in activity,” said Patrick O’Keefe, an economist with CohnReznick, an accounting firm with an office in Roseland. “While we’re not back to the go-go days of 2005, we have gotten back to a more sustainable pace.”
The state is on track to start more than 22,000 housing units this year — above the nearly 18,000 begun last year, but below the housing-boom peak of 38,588 in 2005, and under the historical average above 30,000.
Multifamily construction accounts for more than 57 percent of the state’s permits so far this year. That has been the trend in recent years, as demand has climbed for rentals in the face of foreclosures and tighter mortgage lending standards.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/Rental_properties_spark_leap_in_NJ_housing_activitiy.html#sthash.v9SsVVLw.dpuf
Fast-food workers stage largest protests yet
Aug 29, 6:08 PM (ET)
By CANDICE CHOINEW YORK (AP) – Fast-food workers and their supporters beat drums, blew whistles and chanted slogans Thursday on picket lines in dozens of U.S. cities, marking the largest protests yet in their quest for higher wages.
The nationwide day of demonstrations came after similar actions organized by unions and community groups over the past several months. Workers are calling for the right to unionize without interference from employers and for pay of $15 an hour. That’s more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $15,000 a year for full-time employees.
Thursday’s walkouts and protests reached about 60 cities, including New York, Chicago and Detroit, organizers said. But the turnout varied significantly. Some targeted restaurants were temporarily unable to do business because they had too few employees, and others seemingly operated normally.
Ryan Carter, a 29-year-old who bought a $1 cup of coffee at a New York McDonald’s where protesters gathered, said he “absolutely” supported the demand for higher wages.
FreeRepublic blocks Ted Cruz Eligibility Issue story re-posted from the Ridgewood blog
On Tuesday morning, I reposted your article entitled “Mark Levin Addresses Ted Cruz Eligibility Issue posed by Ridgewood Resident at Bookends Book Signing” to the conservative website FreeRepublic.Com. In order to do this, I had to register with FreeRepublic.Com. I gave my email address, and picked a screen name: ‘one guy in new jersey’.
The post was a hit. The reposted article has since garnered nearly 500 comments from Freepers in just two days! Most other posts are not getting more than 20-30 hits in that kind of time, so the topic definitely hit a nerve, particularly during a slow news week with plenty of people on vacation.
Many of the comments were submitted directly to me (‘one guy in new jersey’) as the original poster of the article, some of which expressed support for Cruz’s presidential aspiration, and some of which stated he was ineligible. I was busy responding to comment after comment on Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday evening, until something strange happened late Tuesday night as the total number of comments reached about 300. All of a sudden, I was prevented from responding to comments, or even posting any comments at all.
The reason given for this prohibition by the system? One word: “Troll”.
I responded to the webmaster, and to James Robinson, who runs the site, via email, thinking some mistake must have been made, and that it was just some strange automatic feature I got caught up in. I asked to have my capacity to enter comments and respond to comments sent to me. It’s been nearly two days now, and I’m still shut out. The comments to my reposted article have increased by two hundred since I was ‘banished’, so they must be wondering what happened to me!
Curious, I looked back through the thread comments, fifty at a time, and found they were salted throughout with comments from the site owner, James Robinson. Based on his personal comments, it is clear to me that Mr. Robinson has had it up to **here** with talk that Cruz is not eligible for the U.S. presidency. As I was answering the comments made to me, I steadily revealed myself to be an individual who strongly questions Ted Cruz’s POTUS eligibility. In fact, the ‘axe’ fell just while I was in the middle of diligently answering my many well-spoken interlocutors. What is the problem here? Is Mr. Robinson willing to silence fellow constitutional conservatives simply because they disagree with him on this one issue?
I understand Mark Levin is an active freeper (I can’t remember his screen name). I wonder whether he dropped dime on me to Mr. Robinson…
Glen Rock Police Department : There were an additional 9 car burglaries reported last night. Please LOCK ALL VEHICLES.
CAR BURGLARIES ALERT: There were an additional NINE car burglaries reported to the GRPD last night, in addition to the multiple burglaries reported the previous two nights. In all cases but one, the vehicles were unlocked. In one case, a window was smashed because of items visible inside the vehicle. The GRPD urges all residents to please LOCK ALL VEHICLES and make sure that valuables are secured out of sight. Report suspicious persons and activity to police immediately. If anyone has any information regarding these incidents, please contact Det. James Calaski or Sgt. Eric Reamy at the GRPD Detective Bureau: 201-670-3948 or 201-670-3947.
Additionally, patrols have encountered juveniles on the streets between the hours of 2 am and 4 am. The GRPD encourages parents to know where their children are during the overnight hours. Thank you for your cooperation in advance as we are being proactive to stem this surge of criminal activity.
Instructions:
Please LOCK and secure all vehicles and valuables.
