Sweeney camp says African-American legislators guilty of endangering children’s lives

By Rubashov
 
There is an increasing sense of desperation in the attempt by Senate President Steve Sweeney and his camp to pass a series of controversial and unpopular bills that they waited until after the November election to spring on the voters.  That’s right, everyone who is now pushing so loudly for things like this forced  vaccination bill didn’t have the balls to make so much as a squeak before the election, when the voters could do something about it. 
 
Everyone party to this lame duck scam now is being dishonest with the voters – and the voters know it.
 
Sweeney’s latest act of desperation happened late yesterday, when the Democrat Senate President trotted out Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) to suggest that Assemblyman Jamel Holley (D-20) would be culpable in the deaths of children.  Yes, that is how desperate they’ve become.  In an exchange on InsiderNJ, Senator O’Scanlon made this statement about Assemblyman Holley:
 
“Let’s be absolutely clear, the science is overwhelming, vaccines save lives.  Children’s lives.  As our solid, high levels of vaccination rates have fallen the occurrence of outbreaks of preventable, potentially life-altering or even deadly diseases has increased.  If Assemblyman Holley, or any other legislator, is successful in his effort to derail this bill he/they must accept responsibility for the results of their actions.
 
“It is not inconceivable that those results may include needless, preventable deaths of children.  And please don’t try to compare the infinitesimally smaller risk of vaccines to the dramatically greater risk of failure to maintain a high level of vaccination.
 
“Lastly, it isn’t just the optionally non-vaccinated that are at risk.  The elderly, the very young, the immunocomprosmised who can’t be vaccinated, the 1 in 10 children who are vaccinated who don’t develop immunity and wide swaths of the population whose immunity has lessoned over time. It will be these potentially permanently impacted lives that Assemblyman Holley will have to answer for.”
 
The Sweeney camp – with Republican Declan O’Scanlon as its spokesperson – are a group of non-scientists playing with science.  They make the claim that New Jersey’s vaccination rates have fallen and we are now facing a crisis.  Like it wasn’t a crisis before the election, but it is one now.  Now, in lame duck, children are going to die – and it’s going to be Assemblyman Holley’s fault!
 
But this simply isn’t true.  According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), New Jersey’s vaccination rates are higher than the national average.  So why did this crisis suddenly materialize after an election.  Isn’t that what you have an election for – to discuss issues like this, openly and honestly? 
 
Everyone know that the lame duck session is when you sneak through all the legislation average voters don’t want or care about as paybacks for those special interests who supported you during the election.  You know, the election where you didn’t discuss all these controversial issues in an honest and transparent manner.
 
Skepticism towards the pharmaceutical industry is not without reason.  After all, didn’t they tell us that opioids were the bomb, that they were just the thing for all our troubles, and not to worry?  Didn’t a court just rule that a major pharmaceutical company suppressed evidence that their product gave women uterine cancer?  And they suppressed it for three decades! 
 
So why should we listen to Sweeney and O’Scanlon’s assurances that Pharma knows best?  Isn’t that how the opioid crisis came about?
 
This is why you don’t do this kind of legislation after the election.  You do it before the voters have cast their votes, so that they have a say, so democracy can work.  Instead, we have the lame duck scam, and a lot of chest beating about a problem that wasn’t a problem the politicians wanted to talk about just a few months ago. 
 
And the desperation of the Sweeney camp is palpable.  Just look at the madness of the language employed by Sweeney spokesperson O’Scanlon:  “If Assemblyman Holley, or any other legislator, is successful in his effort to derail this bill he/they must accept responsibility for the results of their actions.  It is not inconceivable that those results may include needless, preventable deaths of children.” 
 
O’Scanlon is employing a very weird, highly unethical, form of bullying.  Afterall, given so loose an argument, wouldn’t this make Sweeney and O’Scanlon responsible for all the deaths resulting from their exemption?  If you really, really believed the b.s. you are laying on Holley, why would you exempt ANY child?  Would not their amendment be a kiss of death for those students? 
 
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases reports the risk of death from measles is higher for adults than for children.  So why isn’t the Sweeney camp mandating the vaccination of every public employee, everyone on any form of public assistance, every incarcerated adult and juvenile, and everyone attending a state supported institution of higher learning? 
 
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases recommends that all adults born in 1957 or later get “at least one dose of the MMR vaccine” and that all college and university students, healthcare personnel, and international travelers “receive two doses of the MMR vaccine.”  Heck, if we are talking science, that’s what the actual scientists are advising.
 
And the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases makes this politically-incorrect observation…
 
FACT: Most cases of measles in the US result from infections acquired in other countries or are linked to imported cases.
 
Holy dog crap!  So how come Sweeney, Murphy, and the Democrats are so committed to porous borders???  Like… if they were really committed to stopping the measles and protecting children…
 
Why is O’Scanlon silent on this point?
 
Have you noticed yet that the Democrat Senate President has successfully co-opted a Republican and got him to do his dirty work?  Sadly, this has happened before, on issues ranging from the imposition of the state income tax to the repeal of the death penalty.
 
Meanwhile, a host of very important issues go entirely unaddressed – beginning with property taxes.  Yeah, that thing that New Jersey leads the world in.  The highest property taxes in America, along with the highest foreclosure rate, along with the worst for business climate and job creation.  Why are none of the issues that average voters actually care about being taken up by the Legislature?
 
Why?  Because average voters don’t pay lobbyists, that's why… 

It’s like the Princeton University study says…
 
“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”
 
The Democrats know this – just as they know that they will always be able to find a Republican to help them push one of their special interest scams over the line.  Maybe Republicans should just refuse to participate in Sweeney’s scams until he agrees to actually address the important jobs that the average voters want the Legislature to do – like lower property taxes. 

Will Weinberg dare mention colleagues’ predatory sexual behavior???

By Rubashov
 
Led by Governor Phil Murphy, Trenton Democrats are feigning “shock” over an NJ.com report detailing the predatory sexual behavior of many who run New Jersey’s government, political, and lobbying institutions.  What shameless hypocrisy!  Their disbelief and shock are reminiscent of that famous scene from the movie Casablanca…

Save Jersey’s Matt Rooney was quick to note: “It’s especially curious given Murphy’s well-known practice of employing non-disclosure agreements to muzzle women who work for him.”
 
Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) expressed the disbelief shared by many, when he wrote:  “The fact that the Governor can utter these quotes with no sense of shame or irony, while his campaign attorneys continue to threaten female campaign consultants WITH RETALIATION (emphasis not enough) if they speak out about the atmosphere/incidents on his campaign, is astounding.”
 
Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) has proposed setting up an “ad-hoc committee” to address “misogyny and sexual harassment” among New Jersey’s political and lobbying class.  According to press reports, Senator Weinberg has invited veteran lobbyist Jeannine LaRue, political operative Julie Roginsky and Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Senate Majority Counsel Alison Accettola and Senate Minority Executive Director Christine Shipley to serve on the panel. 
 
Outside of Ms. Teffenhart, this appears to be an insiders’ panel and we seriously doubt that someone like Ms. Accettola will actually call out her bosses or a lobbyist like Ms. LaRue will be in an economic position to be an independent whistleblower.  It simply isn’t credible.
 
Senator Weinberg knows this – and her efforts appear more and more to be along the lines of an attempt to seize control of a potential scandal, control it before it gets out of hand, and then brush it under the rug.  Like they did the rape case, still unresolved, of Katie Brennan. Nobody was charged.  Blame was sufficiently obfuscated and dispersed.  The Trenton way.    
 
“Entering a sexual relationship with a subordinate, even when the contact is initiated by the latter, is considered unethical by some because of the subordinate's vulnerability to the superior and the inequality of power that characterizes the relationship.” (Wikipedia… on Sexual Misconduct)
 
Weinberg and her committee must be committed to taking on the problem at its source.  That means identifying those in the governmental/ political/ lobbyist power structure who sleep with staff members they have the power to fire at will.  Those who have sexual dependents on their payrolls. 
 
This is where the rot begins.  The military doesn’t allow such fraternization.  Neither do enlightened corporations.  What message does it send?  What tone does it set – when powerful people are allowed to hire paramours or groom them at the workplace?  Everyone knows what is going on, everyone sees it, people are rewarded, predators are lauded and further empowered – and nothing is said. 
 
Writing about the Weinstein rape case, Alexia Fernandez Campbell, of the Aspen Institute, notes: “Sexual misconduct is pretty broad — it can cover everything from asking a work subordinate out on a date to pressuring them for sex in exchange for career advancement.”
 
Are the reports detailed by NJ.com evidence of a social pathology at the heart of the Trenton Establishment?  Here is therapist Steve Becker’s take on sociopaths.  Does it sound like some of the folks rolling around Trenton? 
 
Pathologically self-centered individuals, such as sociopaths or narcissists, often project a level of self-confidence that is pathologically tremendous. This can be a problem for others who, unlike the sociopath, will be prone to empathy and self-reflection, along with which come self-doubt and hence fluctuating, less dependable levels of confidence.
 
But the pathologically self-centered individual is often seemingly immune to self-doubt and can thus seem implacably, impressively confident. Why?
 
The answer is surprisingly simple: When your interest in others is principally, if not entirely, about what you can get, or take, from them; when you lack the capacity for, and/or inclination to, genuine, thoughtful self-reflection; and when the meaning, or purpose, of life is fundamentally reduced to the expectation, and pursuit, of continual gratification, you have a prescription not only for pathological self-centeredness, but its frequent concomitant—pathological self-confidence.
 
Think about it: for such an individual, it is mostly, and sometimes only, about what he wants. And if he knows what he wants, such an individual will feel entitled to it. And his sense of entitlement becomes self-validating—self-validating, that is, of whatever argument, rationalization, or manipulation brings him closer to his demand.
 
In other words, the pathologically self-centered individual has something very powerful in his favor—conviction. His is the conviction of his entitlement, of his right to have what he wants—whether it’s agreement, an apology, special attention, cooperation, sex, a favor, forgiveness, you name it.
 
And he wields his sense of conviction powerfully and persuasively—all the more so if he’s also articulate and glib.
 
This explains how a sociopath can look you in the eye and blame you for something—even his victimization of you—and yet you struggle to fully disbelieve him. As I just noted, if he is intelligent and glib, he is in an even better position to erode your sense of reality. He can construct positions, however absurd and even confirming of his sociopathic orientation, that nevertheless have just enough superficial plausibility to arrest your attention.
 
Once you’ve been disarmed, even slightly, his impregnably confident assertions, stemming from his pathological self-centeredness, can have a brainwashing influence.
 
You wonder if you’re not crazy? The “gaslighting effect” is in full throttle. It is disorienting, literally, to have someone present even a ridiculous proposition, demand, or accusation with unwavering confidence and certitude.
 
And the disorienting effect is magnified exponentially when the assertion is simultaneously packaged in superficially intelligent, coherent, “rational”-sounding language. Confidence in one’s sense of reality can wane, and fail, under this combination assault.
 
This can explain why sometimes extremely intelligent, thoughtful and self-respecting individuals can actually be at greater risk of accepting and tolerating abuse. It can be a case of the exploiter’s pathologically inflated confidence overwhelming the more self-questioning, self-doubting individual’s reality.
 
Here’s an idea…
 
Why not ditch all those Trenton insiders and put together a committee made-up of average, common-sense taxpayers and mental health professionals?  Maybe the latter will confirm what the former has long suspected:  Trenton is nuts.

GOP Sen. O’Scanlon goes after Judge who let off rapist

Billionaire sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein might finally be facing justice, but here in New Jersey, the administration of rapist-coddling Governor Phil Murphy has remained quiet on not only the Epstein case, but also the case of a rapist who assaulted a 16-year-old girl, video taped the assault, and then shared the video with his friends.  Instead, the Murphy administration is going after members of law enforcement who cooperate with federal authorities in detaining and screening possible criminals who are here in the United States illegally.

The Murphy administration and the Democrats have remained quiet about Monmouth County Superior Court Judge James Troiano, who refused to allow prosecutors to bring adult charges against the 16-year-old male rapist because he came from a “good family”. The Judge said he was concerned about “ruining his life”.  No thought to the effect the rape has had on the 16-year-old female victim’s life.

Monmouth County Senator Declan O’Scanlon, a Republican, is having none of it.  He has called for the resignation of Judge Troiano.  The Senator is particularly angry over reports that the Judge had told the victim that she was not truly raped because her attacker didn’t use a firearm in the commission of his crime.

Senator O’Scanlon told the Monmouth County news website, More Monmouth Musings: “Judge Troiano’s comments are truly abhorrent and clearly highlight the fact that he needs to be removed immediately by the Supreme Court… We simply cannot stand by and allow a sitting judge to tell a 16-year-old sexual assault survivor that she doesn’t deserve justice because her attacker might get into a ‘good college.’”

A New Jersey appeals court blasted Judge Troiano and reversed his decision.  The Judge had attempted to downplay or justify the attack, even though the male perpetrator had reveled in what he had done.  According to prosecutors, he took the visibly drunk female victim to a closed-off, darkened area and then filmed himself on his cellphone “penetrating the girl from behind with her bare torso exposed and her head hanging down.”  The assailant reportedly sent the video to several friends and texted them with following: “When your first time having sex was rape.”

And where is the Murphy administration on all this… crickets!

Instead, Murphy and his appointee as Attorney General are conducting a jihad on the Monmouth County Sheriff’s office for cooperating with federal immigration officials in their on-going efforts to protect the families of American taxpayers.  NJ.com reported late yesterday that the Murphy administration had yet again threatened law enforcement in Monmouth and Cape May counties because they are following federal law instead of the fashion statements of the rapist-hiring-and-cover-up Murphy.  You can read more about it here…

https://www.nj.com/politics/2019/07/murphy-ag-warns-nj-sheriffs-dont-go-behind-my-back-to-work-with-ice.html

The Murphy administration is also in a battle with Sussex County Freeholders over their decision to allow the voters to advise their County Sheriff – who they pay for with their property taxes – whether to follow federal law or Governor Murphy’s whims.  The Freeholders are standing by the principle of democracy.  Governor Murphy wants to strip citizens of their right to vote – even as he signed millions more over to illegal aliens on Independence Day.  Even as the Democrats want to give illegals drivers licenses and violent criminals the right to vote and hire lobbyists. 

But can anything more be expected from a Governor who refused to take responsibility for the rape of one of his own female workers?  A Governor who justified, obfuscated, and covered-up instead of standing by the woman victim.  And she was someone personally known to him.  Imagine what common, every day victims of rape and sexual assault matter to him?

Senator O’Scanlon noted:  “The Supreme Court has the ability to remove a judge for misconduct in office, or conduct evidencing unfitness for judicial office. Judge Troiano’s disturbing and biased comments from the bench are a glaringly obvious display of his unfitness for judicial office.”

You can read Art Gallagher’s column here…

http://www.moremonmouthmusings.net/2019/07/08/oscanlon-calls-for-judge-troianos-resignation/

Regina Egea: Connecticut’s housing crash a warning for NJ

The Garden State Initiative’s Regina Egea has once again brought home some hard truths that New Jersey’s political class had better embrace.  Egea is one of the smartest thinkers on public policy in New Jersey.  An M.B.A., former AT&T executive, state Treasury Department official, and Governor’s Chief of Staff – Egea also served in local government as a Deputy Mayor and School Board Member.  As President of the Garden State Initiative, she’s been collecting data, studying issues, and coming up with solutions to New Jersey’s most pressing fiscal concerns.

On May 9th you too can be part of the solution.  The Garden State Initiative will be holding its 2nd Annual Economic Policy Forum.  Join policy leaders like Senator Steve Oroho, Senator Declan O’Scanlon, and Senate President Steve Sweeney in a discussion about the future of New Jersey.  The details are below:

Garden State Initiative's 2nd Annual
Economic Policy Forum  
Thursday, May 9th, 4 to 6 pm
Hyatt Regency - New Brunswick

Egea recently wrote:  “The Garden State Initiative's first research report in 2017, “Connecticut’s Fiscal Crisis Is a Cautionary Tale for New Jersey”, detailed how our neighbor up I-95, with its struggling economy, saddled with massive public debt and high taxes, served as a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for New Jersey unless we take the necessary measures to get our own fiscal house in order.”

Below are excerpts from Regina Egea’s op-ed published today in the Bergen Record and NorthJersey.com:

A recent Wall Street Journal report, “Wealthy Greenwich Home Sellers Give in to Market Reality,” on Connecticut’s real estate market should concern all New Jersey residents.

The report documents a severe price decline among high-end real estate in the Nutmeg State’s most exclusive areas, notably Greenwich, long a symbol of modern American affluence. Despite America’s booming economy, the report cited numerous reports of owners selling homes for far below what they paid a decade or more ago. 

This was typically preceded by these homeowners' establishing residences in more fiscally attractive states like Florida. (Sound familiar, New Jersey?)

The evidence is staggering. The median home price in Greenwich dropped by 16.7% last year to $1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a report by brokerage Douglas Elliman, with early reports showing a 25% decrease in early 2019. In a jarring anecdote, the Journal cited “a stately Colonial-style home on Greenwich, Conn.’s tony Round Hill Road is being sold in a way that was once unthinkable in one of the country’s most affluent communities: It is getting auctioned off. Once asking $3.795 million, the four-bedroom property will be sold … for a reserve price of just $1.8 million.”

…The storm that is currently hitting Connecticut’s real estate market has clouds gathering in New Jersey.

When the wealthy flee a state, sustaining massive losses on their homes in the process, it is unfortunate for the individual but likely devastating for those remaining, particularly if this occurs in New Jersey due to our extraordinary reliance on property tax revenues to sustain local governments and schools. 

The research firm Wealth X reported that New Jersey lost 5,700 people with liquid assets from $1 million to $30 million in 2018 — and that’s before the implications of the state and local tax (SALT) cap on federal taxes were truly felt. Recent reports indicate that New Jersey’s income tax receipts are falling well below projections.

Discussions around yet another tax increase on the wealthy, to fund the nearly $40 billion state budget, will only exacerbate the exodus of wealth. As reference, Connecticut has a top marginal tax rate of 6.99%; last year’s budget agreement increased New Jersey’s to 10.75%. The top 2% of all New Jersey income tax filers (those making $500,000 per year) account for over 40% of all income tax revenue to the state. Since close to 40% of state revenues are from personal income taxes, increasing dependence on this group exacerbates our vulnerability at both the state and local levels. An individual loss in this income category reverberates throughout the state.

The risk now is not just those wealthy fleeing our state. As high-end real estate values deflate, as in Greenwich, the taxes to support our local governments and schools will be redistributed to moderate- and lower-value property owners.

A recent Monmouth University poll illustrates that New Jersey residents’ views of the quality of life in our state are tumbling to an all-time low. The latest poll shows that only 50% of residents are positive, down from the prior result of 54%, and in no surprise, 45% of residents named property taxes as the state’s most pressing issue.

To read the entire article, visit NorthJersey.com…

https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/2019/04/29/connecticut-housing-crash-predictive-nj/ 

For more information on The Garden State Initiative, visit…

https://www.gardenstateinitiative.org