Tag Archives: jersey

Chris Christie Really Wants You to Know He Doesn’t Like Black Lives Matter

by CharlesHumes Posted on November 11, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

At Tuesdays kids-table presidential debate in Milwaukee, Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) tried to remind Republicans why they ever liked him in the first place—by getting really angry at everyone. Here are some of the targets of Christie’s attacks:

China: A former US attorney, Christie appeared to take the Chinese government’s hack of a massive database of federal employees personally. “If the Chinese commit cyber warfare against us, they are gonna see cyber warfare like they’ve never seen before,” he promised. Christie explained that his administration would then leak embarrassing details from its counter-hack of the Chinese government. “They’ll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they’re spending money in China.” In case there was any remaining ambiguity about his position on China, he unloaded on the Obama administration for not challenging China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. As president, he promised that his first move on China (even before he launched a cyber war, evidently) would be to fly Air Force One over China’s artificial islands. “That’ll show them I mean business,” he said.

Black Lives Matter: Christie has won praise for his campaign-trail compassion on substance abuse. That empathy doesn’t apply to victims of police violence. He ripped into Democratic politicians for, he alleged, turning their backs on police officers. “They’re not standing behind our police officers across the country, they’re allowing lawlessness to rein across this country,” Christie said. He promised things would be different if he’s elected: “When president Christie’s in the Oval Office, I’ll have your back.” Christie returned the subject unprompted later, even connecting support for Black Lives Matter to overseas engagements with ISIS. “When the president doesn’t support law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to command anyone in uniform,” he said.

Hillary Clinton. More than anything else, Christie wanted to talk about the Democratic front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “She is the real adversary tonight, and we better stay focused as Republicans on her,” Christie said right off the bat. And he lived up to his word, responding to every question as if he were her likely opponent rather than an also-ran. He came prepared with a series of one-liners. (“The bottom line is this: Hillary Clinton’s coming for your wallet everybody”) and promised to “prosecute” her on the debate stage next fall. Clinton’s quip at the first Democratic debate that the enemies she’s proudest of in her career were Republicans also struck a nerve. Christie called it “the most disgraceful thing I’ve seen in this entire campaign.”

The only people Christie didn’t beef with were his fellow also-ran candidates on stage. The New Jersey governor explicitly refused to respond to a challenge from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. And in that respect, he won by default, as the only candidate who seemed to remember that the point of the smaller stage was to get off it.

Originally posted here:  

Chris Christie Really Wants You to Know He Doesn’t Like Black Lives Matter

Posted in Anchor, Cyber, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Oster, Prepara, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chris Christie Really Wants You to Know He Doesn’t Like Black Lives Matter

The Unauthorized History of the GOP’s 30-Year War on Planned Parenthood

by CorneliGandon Posted on August 21, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

As a secretive anti-abortion group continues to leak videos selectively edited to portray Planned Parenthood officials breaking federal law, a swarm of states, from New Hampshire to Utah, have renewed efforts to strip the country’s largest women’s health care organization of government funding.

The number of attacks is unprecedented. Just a few weeks after Republicans in Congress made a failed attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, five states—Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Utah—have cut off Planned Parenthood from federal and state Medicaid dollars. The funds, intended for low-income women, pay for family planning services, breast cancer and STI screenings, and abortions in cases of rape or threats to the health or life of the mother. The Obama administration warned two governors that the move violated federal law protecting patients’ rights to choose their provider. But that didn’t stop new states, including Arkansas, from continuing to slash the funds after the warning came down.

“This is the longest and broadest set of attacks we have seen,” says Elizabeth Nash, a researcher for the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights think tank.

But history shows that anti-abortion lawmakers don’t need damning videos to mount attacks on Planned Parenthood. A look back at these older attempts to defund Planned Parenthood shows that today’s onslaught is part of a broader, three-decade-old campaign by anti-abortion lawmakers to jeopardize family planning dollars.

This timeline traces the history of the crusade against Planned Parenthood, and with it, the destruction of family planning programs that continues today.

1979

The Minnesota legislature passes a sweeping law to end all state family planning funding to groups offering abortion, abortion counseling, or referrals. A federal judge strikes down the law in 1980, noting, “Planned Parenthood’s unpopularity in and of itself and without reference to some independent considerations in the public interest cannot justify the law.” Similar laws in Arizona and North Dakota also tank. Anti-abortion activists start seeking a work-around to the rulings.

1980

In Utah, lawmakers reroute $390,000 in family planning funds from the Planned Parenthood’s five clinics to county health departments.

1984

The Reagan administration imposes a new policy that prevents any foreign funding from going to health care providers that perform abortions. The move applies to hundreds of millions of dollars the government sets aside to promote family planning in impoverished countries. The policy is in place until President Bill Clinton rolls it back in 1993.

Colorado approves a constitutional amendment banning state funds from being spent on abortions.

1985

California legislators accidentally send Gov. George Deukmejian a version of the state budget that bars any group providing abortion services from receiving money from the state’s $34 million annual family planning budget. Deukmejian, a Republican, refuses to veto the measure, which lawmakers had previously voted to remove. “The clear target of the provision, which was introduced…at the request of anti-abortion groups, is Planned Parenthood and its 16 local affiliates,” the Los Angeles Times reported. An appeals court struck the measure down.

Continue Reading »

Original source:  

The Unauthorized History of the GOP’s 30-Year War on Planned Parenthood

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Ultima, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Unauthorized History of the GOP’s 30-Year War on Planned Parenthood

The 5 Unmissable Moments From the Big GOP Showdown

by MarisaMeeks Posted on August 7, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

From Donald Trump to Rand Paul to Chris Christie to, well, Donald Trump, the first Republican primary debate of the season did not disappoint. So without further ado, here are the highlights from Thursday night’s Fox News debate, featuring the 10 leading candidates.

Continue Reading »

See original article here:  

The 5 Unmissable Moments From the Big GOP Showdown

Posted in Anchor, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The 5 Unmissable Moments From the Big GOP Showdown

Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah Just Got Indicted. Here’s What He’s Accused Of.

by HyeNelmsamd Posted on July 29, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

The Department of Justice dropped 29 federal racketeering charges on Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) and a handful of close associates this morning, claiming that he diverted campaign and charitable funds to cover the cost of a failed mayoral run and to pay off his son’s student loans. Investigators have been circling Chattah for years. Last year, a top aide pleaded guilty to helping Fattah divert the money towards his son’s student loan debt, and Fattah’s son is awaiting trial on federal charges of his own in connection to the scheme.

Fattah is the second Democratic member of Congress to be indicted on corruption charges by the Department of Justice this year. New Jersey’s Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted in April, stemming from accusations he helped a campaign donor obtain benefits from the federal government in exchange for favors. Fattah, who was first elected in 1995, is the third sitting member of Congress to be indicted on corruption charges in the last two years. Former Republican Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), who represented Staten Island, was charged with fraud and tax evasion in April 2014 and was sentenced to eight months in prison earlier this month.

In this case, Fattah and his associates face a slew of charges, including mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. In announcing the charges, the DOJ assembled a laundry list of alleged misdeeds, including:

Using a secret $1 million loan from a wealthy supporter to back his 2007 run for mayor of Philadelphia.
Repaying the donor’s loan through a nonprofit Fattah controlled that had received funding from the federal government.
Attempting to steer a $15 million federal grant to a political consultant who Fattah’s campaign owed $130,000.
Using campaign funds to pay a consulting company, which then paid off $23,000 in student loans for Fattah’s son.
Taking an $18,000 bribe from an associate in exchange for attempting to secure him an ambassadorship and masking the bribe in the form of a fake car sale.

Fattah and his alleged co-conspirators could face decades in prison if convicted.

Fattah represents Pennsylvania’s 2nd congressional district, an overwhelmingly Democratic district that encompasses much of the city of Philadelphia and its close suburbs. Despite his son’s indictment and the guilty plea by his aide last summer, Fattah easily won reelection last fall with 88 percent of the vote.

Link – 

Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah Just Got Indicted. Here’s What He’s Accused Of.

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah Just Got Indicted. Here’s What He’s Accused Of.

Do You Live in a Fuck State or a Shit State?

by JeseniaYnh Posted on July 17, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

The Guardian reports today on the latest work of Jack Grieve, a professor of forensic linguistics at Aston University in the UK, aided by research from Diansheng Guo and Alice Kasakoff of the University of South Carolina and Andrea Nini, of Aston University. Their research topic is this: how do people swear in different US states? Only a British newspaper could publish this, since American newspapers would never allow such family-unfriendly swill in their august pages. Hell, I may be stretching things by doing it at Mother Jones.

You can click the link for the full rundown, but you’ll be interested to know that “fuckboy” is one of the fastest rising words of 2014. It’s apparently popular in the mid-Atlantic region and in California starting just north of where I live—which explains why I’ve never heard of it.

In any case, here’s a sample of Grieve’s linguistic maps. On the left are states where “fuck” is especially popular, and on the right are states where “shit” is especially popular. California is clearly a fuck state, which fits with my observations of a lifetime. Of course, you also have some states—mostly in the polite Midwest—that don’t use either, and some—mostly the coastal areas from South Carolina up to New Jersey—where they really like them both. Fascinating, no? Certainly more interesting than the old soda-pop-coke chestnut.

Visit site – 

Do You Live in a Fuck State or a Shit State?

Posted in FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Do You Live in a Fuck State or a Shit State?

Chris Christie Is Officially Running for President. Here Is Everything You Need to Know About Him.

by Tyler5177jc Posted on June 30, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

New Jersey’s brash and outspoken Gov. Chris Christie is expected to officially launch his presidential campaign today, making him the 13th contender in the crowded GOP field. Christie will launch this effort in his hometown of Livingston, New Jersey, at Livingston High School, where he was class president for all four years he went there.

In 2011, Christie was widely considered a leading presidential contender. The Koch Brothers were early supporters, and David Koch was “inspired” by him, describing him as a “hero” and “my kind of guy.” Christie didn’t end up running in that campaign cycle and backed Mitt Romney instead. Still, even after his lackluster and Christie-centric speech at the 2012 Republican Convention in Tampa, Christie, though not embraced by the conservative wing of the GOP, was seen as a strong potential candidate for the 2016 race.

Then in 2013 Christie became entangled in the Bridgegate Scandal. An internal investigation cleared the New Jersey governor of any direct connection to the politically motivated traffic jam (two political aides took the fall), but he could not shake suspicions that he used his office (or allowed his underlings to use his office) to inconvenience thousands of people in order to punish political foes. More importantly, the episode raised questions about Christie’s dealings in other matters and prompted investigations that are still under way.

Now Christie consistently ranks toward the back of the pack in polls, and the Koch brothers have found other “heroes.” However, as Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum put it, he “could maybe catch on if something really lucky happens.” But it might have to be really, really lucky.

From Bridgegate to bullying to battles with journalists, here is what you need to know about Christie:

Christie is currently waging 23 court battles to keep state documents secret. What does the New Jersey governor not want you to know?
His Social Security proposal is cruel and callous.
Here’s a look at his bridge scandal, explained. (In short: Emails indicate that a senior aide ordered a nasty traffic jam in Fort Lee as political payback.)
He has denied a bridge for political revenge nine times.
Good news! He actually believes in global warming 🙂
That said, he also believes parents should have a “choice” when it comes to vaccines.
Check out this audio of Christie letting loose at a 2011 Koch Brothers confab.
Here’s how the right will try to destroy him.
Christie once endorsed the use of cruel pig crates. Jon Stewart proceeded to skewer him on the Daily Show.
Mother Jones DC Bureau Chief David Corn spoke with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews about what Christie’s bridge scandal means for 2016.
Here are some reasons why Christie will NOT be our 45th president.
Watch eight videos of Christie yelling, belittling, and name-calling.

This article – 

Chris Christie Is Officially Running for President. Here Is Everything You Need to Know About Him.

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chris Christie Is Officially Running for President. Here Is Everything You Need to Know About Him.

Why Chris Christie Is Fighting the Release of His Media List

by CarriWinning Posted on June 22, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

For years, the news media has been battling New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for access to a host of ostensibly public records. In February, Mother Jones’ Molly Redden reported that Christie’s administration was fighting 23 open-records requests in court, on everything from Bridgegate to Christie’s out-of-state travel and contracts awarded in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. These fights over records aren’t just minor squabbles between pesky reporters and a prickly governor—they are costing New Jersey taxpayers serious money. As of September 2014, the Christie administration had shelled out $441,000 reimbursing lawyers for plaintiffs who successfully sued for records (and that doesn’t include other costs, such as government lawyers’ time).

Even when the Christie administration loses, it doesn’t go down without a fight. The New Jersey Watchdog, an independent investigative reporting outlet, reported Monday that the Christie administration is challenging a court’s order to release a comprehensive media list that was created by the governor’s communications office. The communications office is staffed by 16 people who earned more than $1.3 million in taxpayer-funded salaries last year.

The list, requested by the New Jersey Watchdog, includes “contact information for roughly 2,500 reporters, producers and editors, subdivided into categories, which enables Christie and his staff to selectively target efforts to promote their political ambitions,” according to the outlet. The Christie administration is arguing that providing the list would give the New Jersey Watchdog an unfair competitive advantage over other media outlets and is refusing to release it under a law that allows the government to withhold records that include trade secrets or proprietary information of government contractors.

“New Jersey Watchdog does not bid on government contracts,” Mark Lagerkvist, the site’s reporter and editor, wrote Monday. “It is a non-profit investigative news site that freely shares its content with other news outlets.… The governor’s argument suggests the governor has a proprietary, or ownership interest in the list. But the governor’s office is not a private business. And while the media list may be a valuable asset for his political future, it is not Christie’s property.”

Lagerkvist told Mother Jones that his attorney will file a response to the administration’s challenge and the judge in the case will likely schedule a hearing to decide the matter.

Read this article – 

Why Chris Christie Is Fighting the Release of His Media List

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Why Chris Christie Is Fighting the Release of His Media List

This Likely GOP Presidential Candidate Actually Believes in Global Warming

by MillaZ18sqebdk Posted on May 11, 2015

Mother Jones

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination, thinks climate change is real and caused—at least in part—by human activity, according to MSNBC.

Christie said he believes there’s “no use in denying global warming exists” but that he’s skeptical about most of the mainstream approaches to dealing with it. That includes cap-and-trade programs and unilateral steps to reduce America’s carbon footprint, such as President Barack Obama’s proposed restrictions on power plant emissions.

Christie’s comments essentially matched those he made in back in 2011, the last time he spoke publicly about the issue. In some respects, his position is refreshingly distinct from those of his probable rivals in 2016. Many of the GOP contenders—for example, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio—sit somewhere on the spectrum of climate change denial. But at the same time, Christie’s track record in New Jersey suggests that as president, he’d be unlikely to actually do much to confront global warming, even if he thinks it’s happening. As Climate Progress put it:

As governor, Christie withdrew New Jersey from the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade program aimed at reducing emissions, in 2011. Last year, Christie called RGGI “a completely useless plan” and said that he “would not think of rejoining it.” Christie even vetoed an attempt by the New Jersey state legislature to rejoin RGGI…New Jersey also doesn’t have a statewide climate change plan—the state is the only one on the eastern seaboard to not have one in place or be in the process of developing one, according to the Georgetown Climate Center.

Christie’s logic—that even if climate change is real, there’s nothing we can do to stop it—is out of step with mainstream science. And it ignores the growing international political momentum around climate action, which Obama has sought to lead. Moreover, if Christie thinks that kind of rhetoric is going to help him score points with Republican voters in the wake of the federal indictments handed down last week in the Bridgegate scandal, he has a long way to go: The latest polling puts Christie behind all of his serious opponents for the nomination.

Taken from:  

This Likely GOP Presidential Candidate Actually Believes in Global Warming

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, Green Light, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This Likely GOP Presidential Candidate Actually Believes in Global Warming

Top Chris Christie Crony Pleads Guilty for Role in Bridge Scandal, Two Others Indicted

by AidaWithrow Posted on May 1, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

On Friday, federal prosecutors indicted two top aides of GOP Gov. Chris Christie for their roles in orchestrating a massive traffic jam as political payback against a New Jersey mayor. Bridget Ann Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff in Christie’s office, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority, have been charged with several counts each of conspiracy to commit fraud.

The indictments came just hours after another close Christie ally, former Port Authority official David Wildstein, pled guilty to federal charges for ordering the lane closures that caused three days of gridlock in the town of Fort Lee. The news is grim for Christie, who is preparing to make a bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

Wildstein’s plea and the looming indictments are a result of a 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge scandal. In September 2013, Port Authority officials shut down several access lanes in the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey, setting off a mammoth traffic jam that lasted for days. Christie’s office denied involvement. But the following January, a judge released texts and emails suggesting that Christie’s inner circle masterminded the traffic debacle as political payback against Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor. The mayor, Mark Sokolich, had refused to endorse Christie for reelection earlier that year.

Wildstein has admitted to ordering the lane closures that led to the traffic jam. The Port Authority official, who went to high school with Christie, was described as the governor’s “eyes and ears” inside the agency. But after the bridge scandal burst into public view, Christie sought to distance himself from Wildstein. Wildstein resigned his Port Authority position in December.

The messages released in January revealed that Kelly and Baroni had also helped order the lane closures. The day of the traffic jam, Kelly wrote to Wildstein: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” “Got it,” Wildstein replied.

Christie has repeatedly denied having any prior knowledge of the lane closures. On Friday, Wildstein’s lawyer said that “evidence exists” which proves that Christie knew about the lane closures.

Original article:  

Top Chris Christie Crony Pleads Guilty for Role in Bridge Scandal, Two Others Indicted

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Top Chris Christie Crony Pleads Guilty for Role in Bridge Scandal, Two Others Indicted

Casino Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Is Shocked—Shocked!—by Online Gambling

by MauriciEir Posted on February 19, 2015

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Casino magnate and conservative megadonor Sheldon Adelson has been on a full-scale crusade against internet gambling. An advocacy group he launched and helps to bankroll is currently at the vanguard of a lobbying effort to pass a federal ban on online wagering. The billionaire, who says he’ll spend “whatever it takes” to support the ban, claims he opposes internet gambling on “moral” grounds, because it preys on the most vulnerable members of society. What he doesn’t say is that for years his company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., tested the waters on getting into this business for itself.

Adelson’s pet cause got a boost in Congress earlier this month when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced (for the second time) the Restoration of America’s Wire Act. The bill aims to strengthen the Federal Wire Act of 1961, which prohibited phone and wire-based wagering, by applying it to internet gambling—effectively banning the practice. The Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, an Adelson-launched group whose chairs include former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown (D), is lobbying heavily for the bill and running ads online and in print in support of the cause. On its website, the group casts online gambling as an out-of-control phenomenon that “crosses the line of responsible gaming by bringing gambling into our living rooms and onto our smartphones” by “targeting the young, the poor, and the elderly where they live.”

Continue Reading »

Visit site: 

Casino Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Is Shocked—Shocked!—by Online Gambling

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, Jason, LAI, LG, Mop, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Casino Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Is Shocked—Shocked!—by Online Gambling