2019: There are millions in conservative money in NJ

When it comes to picking through the detritus and finding the gems nobody does it better than David Wildstein.  Yep, before he was Wally Edge he was a political consultant, campaign manager, opposition researcher, and successful candidate for public office.  You can’t take that away from him.  He’s been in battles up close and personal.  He’s had to punch and claw.  And that’s what makes him different from a guy like Max Pizarro.  David Wildstein remembers what it was like to be in the muck of the trenches.  Max Pizarro has only known clean sheets and maid service.

Given the excruciatingly poor results Republicans have had raising the necessary levels of funding for legislative races in New Jersey, a recent post by Wildstein on his latest venture – NewJerseyGlobe.com – noted that the very conservative United States Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, has raised more money in New Jersey than his very woke, very hip, wildly popular with the Left opponent – Congressman Beto O’Rourke.  Cruz has raised $139,783 in New Jersey to fund his re-election effort in Texas.  Media darling Beto managed just $52,349.  

But here’s the clincher.  Wildstein notes that in his failed 2016 run for President, the plain-as-day, no-doubt-about-it, right-winger raised $903,417 in New Jersey. 

How is that possible?  We are endlessly told that there aren’t any conservatives in New Jersey – let alone nearly a million bucks worth (and that’s not counting what the other wingers raised in New Jersey, like Rand Paul, and Donald Trump himself!).  A million bucks would be a BIG part of the budget of a committee like ARV, wouldn’t it be?

Reminder to those concerned:  In preparation for next year, get a message that doesn’t ignore the acres of diamonds out there.

Is Media Matters’ depiction of Seth Grossman anti-Semitic?

By Rubashov

Eric Hananoki is a DC-based, DC-educated opposition researcher and writer for Media Matters – a leftwing organization that supplements the Democrat Party with attacks on its Republican opponents.  Mr. Hananoki is a good writer – very readable, entertaining, biased in the extreme, but you expect that from an outfit like Media Matters.  He serves his masters, which can be a compromise on his art.  It’s an old story well detailed by Cyril Connelly in his “Enemies of Promise.”

So much for the writer, who posted a rather crushing story today on the campaign of Seth Grossman.  A Republican candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 2nd District.  A longtime Libertarian from Atlantic City, Grossman was an eccentric member when he served in county and local government. 

Seth Grossman can be described as the Kinky Friedman of New Jersey – sometimes a strict constitutionalist, at others espousing a hippy individualism.  Grossman has argued for legal drugs and prostitution, said the State should default on its debt, and has given speeches in which he’s fondly recalled the days when the mob ran his home town.  Grossman has that kind of shoot-from-the-hip, radical honesty you almost never find in politics.

Yes my comrades, people love to be lied to – especially liberals – who lack that shitty exterior many conservatives develop.  “That’s not piss… it’s dew,” they advise us, as they skip from rationalized disappointment to the dawn of new and more hopeful disappointments. 

But honesty can be entertaining.  It can even be art.  Maybe a transgressive form, but still art, and we think a writer like Eric Hananoki – one day, when he’s ditched his current paymasters – one day, will get that about Kinky Grossman.

Not so the editor for Media Matters who selected the photo of Grossman for the story.  Whoever choose that picture read the name “Grossman” and went right for caricature.  He or she has the same ham-fisted touch as those propagandists who did “The Eternal Jew” for Joseph Goebbels in 1940 – and who made it too over-the-top for even him.

So careful now Mr. Hananoki.  You don’t want to get mixed up with a group of anti-Semites.  We thought we were done with them after they put out the last fire in Berlin, but who would have thought they’d be back – and so many, Left and Right.  Perhaps we’re too liberal in our expectations?  A conservative would have expected mankind to neglect the past, to unlearn it and forget.  Stupid, stupid, stupid, but we always do… until the times comes and there’s a great re-learning thrust upon us.

Take care now, Mr. Hananoki.  Mind the company you keep.

Tom Moran shits the bed again. NJ.com editorial goes nuts with the name-calling (again).

By Rubashov

At what point did Star-Ledger/NJ.com editor Tom Moran go from a somewhat reasonable – albeit excruciatingly liberal – man of journalism, to New Jersey’s own Julius Streicher, throwing invective and hate at anyone who doesn’t see the world through the increasingly dark and confused lens he does.  Like Streicher, who edited a newspaper called “The Attacker,” Moran discards journalism and adopts a political role as the state’s leading propagandist for what has come to be known as “The Resistance.”

Of course, what he is “resisting” is the outcome (under long established rules) of a national election in the world’s foremost democracy.  Moran and his movement are not only threats to the political and economic stability of United States, but of the World.  It takes humility to live in a democracy, to preserve a Republic.  But Moran and his movement place their will above all else – and if their will should triumph, all future elections would be fought after the fact, regardless of outcome, endlessly, the way they are fighting this one.

To Moran and his movement, we are in year three of the 2016 presidential election.  This election will not be over until they get their way.  Only then will they permit us to move on to the next election. 

But who is this movement?  They are the permanent Establishment Party of government.  That’s what they would be called if they were honest about it.  In Mexico, where honesty rates higher than in Washington, DC, the longtime ruling political party calls itself the Partido Revolucionario Institucional – the Institutional Revolutionary Party.  They held power for 71 uninterrupted years – until the corruption and economic decline got so bad that voters, in their pain, sought other answers (both good and bad).  Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, like Ralph Nader and Ron Paul before them, are symptoms of a corrupt institutional party producing more pain than benefits. 

Tom Moran is a chief propagandist for global corporatists, like those who publish his newspaper, and for all those who are made comfortable and secure by government and the largesse of the taxpayers.  These include the crony capitalists, pay-to-play government vendors, the Wall Street operators (like Moran’s heroes Jon Corzine and Phil Murphy), and the legions of lobbyists and senior bureaucrats who might as well be interchangeable.  It includes too, those well-off academics, like Brigid Harrison of Montclair State University.  A failed Democrat candidate, Harrison was provided a second life as an Establishment propagandist whose work has been pushed as required reading.    

The permanent Establishment Party straddles both established political parties in America – where our political choices are limited to faux chocolate and faux vanilla – and where propagandists like Tom Moran direct members of the working class to battle each other over race, ethnicity, and gender.  Using the last, they are now in the process of endlessly expanding the opportunities for internal division amongst the 99 percent. 

Candidates like Mikie Sherrill are the face of this “Resistance” to working class pain – to those same voters who bet on Barack Obama to rescue them in 2008, and who, in their pain, reached for Donald Trump in 2016.  A wealthy, expensively trained, representative of the Elite – whose career path was to “check the boxes” on the way to being given “power” as a safe pair-of-hands for those who actually wield it.

The means to Sherrill’s rise to celebrity are notorious.  Along with her Antifa-inspired thugs, she stalked and hounded the aged Congressman and Vietnam War Vet, Rodney Frelinghuysen.  They spat insults at him and lied about his record – acting as if this most bi-partisan and gentlemanly of public servants was akin to David Duke.  In this, they are not so different from Tom Moran and the NJ.com editorial board who over the weekend used words like “fraud” and “fanatical” to describe those who oppose their nurtured-by-hand celebrity, Mikie Sherrill.  If anything, they are using others as a mirror to reflect back what they see in themselves… frauds and fanatics.

Over the next two weeks and beyond – until they get their way and the result from the 2016 presidential election that they believe they are entitled to – Tom Moran and company will continue to behave the way they have been, calling names, spitting hatred, urinating down their own trousers.  They are like beings possessed, confirmed in their certainties, their righteousness and indignation.  They can not think outside of it… just ask Jonathan Salant. 

The same NJ media that covered up for Clinton, tries to do the same for Menendez

Remember how the newspapers tried to discredit the source for the claim that Bill Clinton had seduced Monica Lewinsky in the White House?  Remember how the media told us that Linda Tripp was a “liar” and that she used “right wing” media outlets to peddle her "meaningless" allegations?

All part of the “vast right-wing conspiracy” Hillary Clinton assured us.  And NOW – the National Organization for Women – stood by their man, and so did legions of Democrat women politicians.  They all assured us that Bill Clinton would NEVER act so inappropriately.

Yep, the media was right on that!  We all know today that Bill Clinton DID NOT have sex with Monica Lewinsky, right???

And as more and more evidence piled up, the media just dismissed it.  When other women came forward and said they were raped.  The media trashed them, called them trailer park trash, said it was all a plot to damage the good name of William Jefferson Clinton.  They advised us to Move On…

One New Jersey newspaper published an editorial with the title:  "GOTCHA" POLITICS HIT A NEW LOW WITH STARR'S SEX INVESTIGATION. 

Another New Jersey newspaper did an editorial that simply said:  TIME TO END IT.

Well, it’s déjà vu all over again!

On Wednesday, there was United States Senator Bob Menendez and, like Bill Clinton once upon a time, he was surrounded by NOW and a bevy of female Democrat office holders whose political fortunes (for better or for worse) are tied to the Senator’s.  There was Bob Menendez himself, doing his best… “I did not have sex…” imitation of Bill Clinton.  And there was the media, once again failing to read what they wrote last time, talking about “gutter” politics and “right wing blogs” and trashing the women, and the prosecutors, and the GOP. 

Hey Tom Moran, Fred Snowflake, Hand of Hand, Moe of Moe, and all those media mavens who want to shake their tallywhackers at us to make it so…

Guys, you bullshit us once.  Then – along comes Brett Kavanaugh – and you went back on your bullshit and said the opposite of everything you said when it was Bill Clinton.  Now (and it’s just been a few weeks for Christ sake!) you want to go back on everything you just said about Brett Kavanaugh and tell us there’s a new set of rules – and why?  Because it’s about Bob Menendez???

Fellas, keep your bullshit.  You have the collective credibility and moral authority of an unwiped ass.  Nobody is buying it besides those phonies from NOW.

Fred Snowflake tries to make excuses for Menendez and the underaged girls.

We remember when Fred was the editor for a legit newspaper – a real journalist.  Then he went corporate and ended up writing for a blog that shills for a Democrat vendor – yes, a greaser greasing the grease machine of contributions and contracts – a guy who lives so far up Bob Menendez’ ass that he wanted him to be Vice President instead of Joe Biden. 

Writing from the perspective of a Left Wing Blog, Fred tries to dismiss something because he claims it was written in a “Right Wing blog” and fails to see the irony in doing so.  It’s kind of pathetic.

Hey Fred, BelieveWomen!  Women made the accusation against Bob Menendez and just because those women are darker-skinned than Dr. Christine Blasey Ford or don’t have her economic and educational “privilege” – and maybe they don’t speak English, so what – that doesn’t make them liars, does it?  What’s wrong with you, Fred, are you some kind of racist?

Oh, you say they say they got their stories wrong?  After what?  After some corrupt criminal billionaire calls up the local Establishment he’s paid into down there and sets the “man” on them?  And the “man” down there don’t do due process, Fred.  Read up on it sometime, Fred, they have death squads down there.

And how about those lovely young ladies from Eastern Europe who the Honorable Member from New Jersey helped traffick into the United States for his old-assed buddy to play with?  Are you going to argue that they just hold hands?  Huh, Fred?  No Fred, it’s  a crime against nature that’s what that is.

Fred tries to dismiss what the FBI said and President Obama’s Justice Department said (that’s right – President Obama’s Justice Department – not Trump’s) about the scumbag behavior of Bob Menendez.  But Fred doesn’t examine the documents, he just waves his tallywhacker and expects all that documentation to magically disappear.

Documentation like this…

And this…

menendez Doc 2 by Sussex Watchdog

 And don’t forget this…

Yeah, it all comes down to hypocrisy, don’t it Fred?  Bob Menendez brought this upon himself the day he wanted to play “butter-doesn’t-melt-in-my-mouth” at the Kavanaugh confirmation.  The old Fred, the journalist, would have got it.  The new Fred, the shill for the greaser vendor and Menendez fundraiser, not so much.  Hey, things change. 

There’s an accused rapist prowling the State House in Trenton. Why are the Democrats protecting him?

A couple days ago, the story broke.  It had been suppressed up until then.  A woman on the campaign of Democrat Governor Phil Murphy accused a senior staffer of rape.  He got a cushy job in the Democrat administration.  She didn’t get justice.  Here is the story from the Star-Ledger…

The woman who accused a senior staffer in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration of sexually assaulting her while he worked for Murphy's campaign last year is a state official who says she is now telling her story because she has "received no justice." 

Katie Brennan, who later volunteered for the campaign and is now the chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, detailed her allegations against Albert J. Alvarez publicly for the first time in a story published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday afternoon.  

After the report was published Sunday afternoon, Brennan said in a statement: "On April 8th, 2017, Al Alvarez raped me. On April 9th, 2017 I learned that the system is broken." 

"I have pursued every form of justice available," Brennan, 31, of Jersey City, continued. "But it has become clear that this system is not built for survivors."

Brennan said she "decided to come forward because I know that Al Alvarez, and all perpetrators, must be held accountable, must never rape again, and the justice system needs a complete change with regard to sexual violence." 

"It is clear that leadership from the Murphy administration is needed to create meaningful policy change on several levels to make sure future victims do not have to endure what I have," she said.

Multiple media outlets -- including NJ Advance Media -- published reports this week citing anonymous sources saying Alvarez faced allegations of sexual assault while he worked as director of Latin and Muslim outreach for Murphy's campaign in April 2017. Alvarez, 44, of Wood-Ridge, was never charged with a crime. 

The victim detailed to the newspaper how both the Governor and Democrat Party let her down… 

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/10/woman_accusing_murphy_staffer_of_sexual_assault_te.html 

We recall last year how the entire Democrat Party – leadership and minions – piled on to berate various Republicans for making jokes about the Women’s March organization (which turned out to be led by a racist Jihadist) or about Democrat candidates who happened to be women.  Jokes.  This is an accusation of rape we’re talking about.  There was plenty of outcry then.  Why is it muted now? 

Where is Jay Lassiter on this?  Why are his panties not in a twist?  There are dozens and dozens of Democrats who have remained silent.  You know who you are.  We’re going to start naming the names of the “Pro-Rape” wing of the NJ Democrats.

And then there’s Bob Menendez… doesn’t anybody in the Democrat Party care about the FBI’s findings that he was using underaged prostitutes in the Caribbean?  Don’t they care that he trafficked young women for his old-assed buddy to play with?  These are crimes against nature we’re talking about.  But the Democrats just wank on by and blithely ignore it all.

Next time they open their fat mouth we’ll have plenty to fill it with.

The people who teach our children are shilling for a human trafficker. Yes, the world is a bad place.

Throughout the confirmation process of Brett Kavanaugh, we heard a lot from the Democrats and their allies – from newcomers like Antifa and the Women’s March to usual suspects like NOW and the NJEA.  We heard them shout in unison about “accusations” and “FBI investigations” – and how these things are enough to block someone from high office.  Well, there were enough allegations against Senator Bob Menendez, for President Obama’s Justice Department to indict him on federal corruption charges and to take him to trial.  It ended in a mistrial.  Out of that came a formal admonishment by the Senate Ethics Committee in April of this year.

What came out of the FBI investigation was that Senator Menendez was helping to bring young women into the United States for his friend and donor, Salomon Melgen to use as sexual objects.  It is our opinion that these women were being trafficked for sexual purposes and the FBI investigation appears to have led to the same conclusion. 

As was reported in the national and New York media, the FBI investigation came up with “corroborating evidence” concerning uncharged allegations of underage prostitution.  Specifically, prosecutors claim that the Senator and his donor friend traveled to the Dominican Republic to have sex with prostitutes, some of whom would have been underaged. 

If, in the era of #MeTooism, allegations are enough – as we were endlessly told by the Democrats and their Antifa allies – then why are Democrats and groups like the NJEA supporting Bob Menendez?  Why are they allowing RealPolitik to trump #MeTooism?

There is a lot more evidence of #MeTooism with Senator Menendez than ever existed in the case of Brett Kavanaugh.  And yet we still hear the self-serving dribble from the likes of Democrat congressional candidates Mikie Sherrill, Tom Malinowski, and Andy Kim.  Not to mention Senator Cory Booker – who wants to turn Israel, or what would remain of it after he removed their defensive wall, into a vast Yugoslav-style rape camp.  Does anyone doubt what would happen to the Israeli population – particularly its women and children – if they were ever turned over to the tender mercies of Hamas, Hezbollah, or even the garden variety governments of its “neighbors”?

In addition to their hypocritical support of Menendez and opposition to Kavanaugh, the indictments against these three candidates are as follows:

Mikie Sherrill worked with far-left radical elements allied with Antifa and the Jihadist Linda Sarsour (a racist allied with Louis Farrakhan) to drive out a moderate, bi-partisan member of Congress, who had served in-country during the Vietnam War.  They knew he was elderly and in failing health, but they worked on him until he had to give up.

Tom Malinowski turned a career as a human rights advocate on its head when he joined Obama’s Clinton-Kerry State Department and promptly became an apologist for those who use slave labor and who engage in human trafficking and the exploitation of women and children.  Far from standing up to dictators and authoritarian governments, he made excuses for them.

Andy Kim is one of the founders of “The Resistance.”  And he has lied about his record from the first – at one point even describing himself or allowing himself to be described as a “veteran” when he has never served in the military.  Now he’s running on a ticket that includes – not only Senator Menendez – but a Freeholder candidate who has been arrested for domestic violence and who had stalking complaints filed against him. 

These candidates are not pro-women or pro-anything, they are Democrat Party politicians looking for votes, and they will do anything or say anything to get them.  They are committed to getting power so that they can take away YOUR freedom.

So now we know how far they’ll go.  What are we going to do to stop them?  How determined are we?  Are we determined enough to tell our neighbors about their hypocrisy?  Are we determined enough to stand up after the church social and put it out there?  Are we determined enough to let everyone we know on Facebook where we stand and what the stakes are?  Or are we too pussy to do any of that?

Republicans who want to stay pussies are not going to make this fight any easier.

Don’t be pussies.  There’s too much at stake.  At the very least, think of those young women – the trafficked and the sexually exploited – those women the NJEA and Mikie Sherrill, Tom Malinowski, and Andy Kim conveniently forgot about.

Now go to it and motivate your friends, family, and neighbors to vote for reform.  Go to it like you really mean it… and don’t be afraid if the coddlers of human traffickers and sexual exploitation call you names.  Suck it up.  Embrace it.

Is the Star-Ledger’s Jon Salant a handjob? He re-wrote a hit piece for Menendez using old news.

There is a lot of real news floating around out there.  Certainly enough to prevent a writer from needing to plagiarize an early hit piece by the Menendez campaign for reuse as “fresh” news three weeks out from an election.  If the headline reads like the title of an attack piece put out by Menendez – that’s because it is: 

“Hugin says he's a different kind of Republican, but his campaign donations show otherwise.”

Breaking news… Republican Bob Hugin donates to the campaigns of (wait for it)… Republicans!!!  No shit. 

And this differs from (name ANY partisan candidate for office – Democrat or Republican) how?   

As evidence for his screwy contention, Jonathan Salant actually attacks Republican Bob Hugin and HIS WIFE for failing to support a Democrat Senator from Washington State.  Salant claims the Senator is bi-partisan… the record shows that she is the 5th most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.  Maybe we should just change Jonathan’s name from “Salant” to “Slant”.  What a pissbrain!

(Speaking of wives, as they have now been made fair game by Jonathan Slant, old Mrs. Slant is a kind of lobbyist/crony capitalist out on the hunt for taxpayer dollars for “deserving” corporations.  Yep, you can’t make this shit up.)

Salant’s hit on Hugin was all addressed earlier this year in a series of campaign attacks against Hugin by the Menendez campaign.  It is now being repackaged by the Star-Ledger and Salant in order to give it an “objective” slant – three weeks out from Election Day.  Salant’s goal is simple:  He wants to influence those women who have been turned off by Menendez’s trafficking of Eastern European women for his pal’s sexual purposes or the Obama Justice Department’s allegations about sex with underaged girls in the Caribbean.  Salant wants them to put that aside and pull the Big “D” lever (as they used to say).

Jonathan Salant wants reform Democrats to forget what kind of corrupt POS Bob Menendez really is.  Salant wants them to forget the bank scams and the Medicare fraud and stare straight ahead while they yank that Big “D”.  And the best he can come up with is that Bob Hugin is… a Republican. 

And that’s a big deal to a religionist like Jonathan Salant, who sincerely believes that being a Republican is a kind of original sin.  Salant, as his writing shows, will not be comfortable until the last of these venomous creatures is driven from the public square.

Every candidate gets stuck in the ass by the media.  It happens.  But there’s a difference between getting stuck by what was once a generally “uninvolved” or “non-partisan” press and getting stuck by a partisan writer like Jonathan Salant.  Salant is the kind of guy who will stick a candidate in the ass and not have the common courtesy to give him a reach around.  It’s an act of violence with him… and he’s going to make sure there’s nothing in it for the object of his attentions.

Cory Booker hearing Jonathan Salant’s confession.

That is our critique on the writing of Jonathan Salant.  We acknowledge that he is a “writer” of some standing and craft.  We dispute the title “journalist” being applied to him, because he has ventured so far from it.  Others may disagree… particularly the more “clubbable” members of the Establishment.  Nevertheless, these are our opinions.  If Jonathan Salant would like to dispute them on these pages, we will gladly publish what he writes, UNEDITED, which is a courtesy the corporate arse-lickers who run the Star-Ledger would NEVER extend to anyone with whom they disagreed.

SPJ: There is a better way of ranking journalists.

For those of you who think investigative journalism is dead… well, you haven’t been following a blog called Real Jersey City, where blogger-in-chief Michael Shurin has actually made a difference getting the bad guys removed from office and those in danger of going bad to straighten up and fly right.  Ideologically, Michael is a cross between Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul, so he doesn’t let ideology get in the way of ferreting out corruption and holding those responsible to account.  Check out his latest coverage of an important corruption trial that you won’t find anywhere else… https://www.realjerseycity.com/

Now you won’t find Real Jersey City or Michael Shurin on the pages of the recent InsiderNJ take on who’s who in New Jersey’s media.  No, you won’t find Michael sandwiched in between all those pricey advertisements from lobbyists, lawyer-lobby firms, vendors, greasers, and assorted politicians.  Yep, they paid for it.  And the firm paying for the whole thing – Fairview Insurance Agency – is so wrapped up in the Jersey City political establishment that they might as well use the Board of Education’s collective ass as its forwarding address.

You also won’t find the County Watchers blog – which keeps an eye on the critters who run Union County.  Yep, that’s everyone from his Lordship, the former Senator, Ray “Lord of Ass” Lesniak, to those magnificent Devanneys all bellied up to trough with both trotters stuck in.  Such nuggets as this are observed, investigated, and reported on by these citizen journalists…

With all the bombast over shared services we still have this in Union County:

2018-872: Authorizing the County Manager to award the proposed contract obtained through advertised public bidding in accordance with the Local Public Contracts Law, NJSA 40A:11-1 et seq: Engineering, Public Works & Facilities Management, Division of Facilities Management: T. Farese & Sons's, Newark, NJ, for the purpose of providing Waste Disposal Services at various locations throughout the County. The contract period shall be for twenty-four (24) consecutive months with the provision for one (1) twenty-four (24) month optional extension commencing upon contract extension. The contract will commence on November 1, 2018 through October 31, 2020, with a total contract amount not to exceed $424,728.91.

The amount was substantially higher than the last contract.
So why can't the municipalities pick up the county garbage at a little extra cost instead of having the county bill their taxpayers for this special pickup?

https://countywatchers.wordpress.com/2018/10/11/uccf-10-11-18-waste-in-union-county/

Of course, the folks who own InsiderNJ are themselves vendors working the grease machine of campaign contributions and contracts… so they have no interest in promoting at all those pesky citizen journalists who, unlike the paid-professional corporate types, are not forced to keep one eye on the want ads (and the government relations or public relations jobs, in particular).  You can’t blame someone for needing to feed a family (nevertheless it is sad when good people fall under the power of vendors, lobbyists, and political machines).

Now the old Editor of the once mighty PoliticsNJ – where the likes of Friedman and Kornacki and Moe of Moe got their training – is proposing to do his own “best of” series.  Will the media really take this? 

So here’s our proposal for rating the journalists who cover New Jersey politics and government.  Enter their names into one of the many awards given out each year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).  Instead of highlighting the banal droolings of an Alan Steinberg… propose someone real for an honor that is reviewed and provided by other JOURNALISTS – not one handed out by the mouthpiece of some scumbag vendor.  Then, if they make it, or get runner up, or an honorable mention, it will mean something besides the lawyer-lobbyist-vendor-political machine Establishment imaginings about how they would like them to lick their arses. 

Here are some awards – real honors—to consider:

The Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award, made annually, honors a collegiate journalism educator and recognizes outstanding teaching ability, contributions to journalism, journalism education and contributions toward maintaining the highest standards of the profession.  Deadline for nominations: March 18, 2019

The Ethics in Journalism Award honors journalists or news organizations that perform in an outstanding ethical manner demonstrating the ideals of the SPJ Code of Ethics. It also honors especially notable efforts to educate the public on principles embodied in the code or hold journalists ethically accountable for their behavior. The Society may present one Ethics in Journalism Award in any given year unless there are no worthy candidates. Nominations are open. Self-nomination is permitted.  Deadline for nominations: March 18, 2019.

The Sunshine Award recognizes individuals and groups for making important contributions in the area of open government.  The SPJ board of directors selects honorees for the Sunshine Award based on recommendations from the national SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. There is no predetermined number of honorees for selection. Deadline for nominations: March 18, 2019.

The Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award to honor a person or persons who have fought to protect and preserve one or more of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.   Mr. Pulliam, who died in January 1999, was publisher of The Indianapolis Star and The Indianapolis News until his death and was well-known for consistently supporting activities which educated the public about First Amendment rights and values. The Foundation has established this annual award to honor those committed to the same goals and as a tribute to the professional contributions that he made to journalism.  Deadline for entries: June 21, 2019.

The Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship was established to enable a mid-career editorial writer or columnist to have time away from daily responsibilities for study and research. The cash award allows Pulliam Editorial Fellows to: Take courses, pursue independent study, travel, pursue other endeavors that enrich their knowledge of a public interest issue. Deadline for entries: June 21, 2019.

Real Journalists critiquing the “best” journalism New Jersey has to offer… what a novel idea!

InsiderNJ is owned by an insurance vendor grease machine: So why did they get to choose who’s who in NJ media?

There’s an old saying among machine politicians in Philadelphia.  It goes like this, “If you say you’re the boss, and nobody says you aint the boss, then you’re the boss.”

John F.X. Graham probably heard it back in the day, when he was prowling around amongst the ward healers in that sainted city of brotherly love.  Back when “ethnic” meant second or third generation Irish or Polish or Italian and individual neighborhoods developed their own dialects (yes, people really did talk like Rocky back then).

John F. X. moved to New Jersey where he followed the yellow brick road of selling insurance to government entities.  Unlike South Jersey’s George Norcross, John F. X. wasn’t really interested in building a political machine.  He was content with a money machine – the old-fashioned kind, the grease machine that uses campaign contributions to lube the representatives of the taxpayers, so that their money pumps out in a nice, steady stream.

Last December, the Observer wrote about John F.X. and his operation – the Fairview Insurance Agency – in a “special report” about “How Insurance Brokers Reap Public Funds Without Disclosure.”  It makes for interesting reading:

Insurance brokerages that make political donations are declining to disclose large amounts of money received indirectly from public entities.

One of the biggest goldmines for contractors in New Jersey is selling insurance plans to public entities, which employ hundreds of thousands of workers across the state.

But an Observer review of dozens of public documents shows that in some cases, it’s difficult or impossible to get a complete accounting of the money going back and forth between insurance brokerages — some of which are deep-pocketed campaign donors — and the public entities that award lucrative insurance contracts.

For instance, Fairview Insurance Agency Associates is one of the largest political donors in New Jersey, giving more than $120,000 to various candidates and committees in 2016, the ninth-highest among businesses in the state, according to the state’s campaign finance watchdog agency.

The Verona-based brokerage is also a big contractor, raking in at least $1.1 million through public contracts or agreements across New Jersey in 2016.

Under state law, the firm is required to report annually all of its political donations and public contracts to the Election Law Enforcement Commission, provided it gets at least $50,000 in public contracts and makes at least one political donation of any amount. Curiously, however, some of the money Fairview gets indirectly from public entities is then reported to ELEC as $0.

The effect is that, to the average observer reading ELEC reports, Fairview would appear to have made much less from public entities and institutions than it actually got — directly and indirectly — in a given year.

Observer reviewed ELEC disclosures for five companies, only three of which were required to itemize their contracts and donations.

A review of six ELEC disclosure forms, 29 invoices, four contracts and eight resolutions by school boards and local councils revealed a loophole in state law that allows brokerages such as Fairview to not report to ELEC tens of thousands of dollars, or more, that they receive as a result of working for governments or public entities.

In 93 cases, three brokerages reported receiving $0 from public agreements in 2016 on their disclosure forms filed with ELEC...  In one case, Observer found that Fairview was paid $54,000 indirectly from Jersey City’s school board but later disclosed $0 to ELEC.

It works like this. Brokerages — which sell insurance plans to local governments — are often paid commissions or fees by third-party companies. In this scenario, the actual contract does not go to the brokerage, but to the third-party company, while the brokerage still gets a cut of the business.

In some cases, the dollar amount of these fees or commissions can be traced back by filing public records requests with local governments. Some public entities that answered such requests from Observer provided copies of the original public contracts, which in turn detailed the actual fees or commissions paid to insurance brokerages that were reported to ELEC as $0.

In other cases, there is no mechanism to piece together what a third-party company paid to a brokerage in commissions. Some public entities did not disclose or could not say how much their brokers were paid indirectly by their contractors.

In March 2015, the Jersey City Board of Education passed a resolution to award Fairview a $54,000 contract to be the school district’s prescription insurance broker for fiscal year 2016.

Fairview did not end up receiving an actual contract. The school board struck a deal two months later with Express Scripts to manage its prescription benefits plan, and in that contract, it directed Express Scripts to pay Fairview $4,500 per month on its behalf, according to a copy of the contract provided by the Jersey City school board. The school district essentially paid someone else to pay Fairview.

In the end, Fairview reported that it received $0 in 2015 and 2016 from its work for the Jersey City Board of Education, according to its annual reports filed with ELEC. The firm noted that the amounts it disclosed “do not include commissions received from the insurance carriers.” (Observer, December 6, 2017) 

Campaign contributions flowing one-way, huge contracts flowing the other… minimal to no transparency. That’s New Jersey. 

The problem is… the Fairview Insurance Agency owns the news agency (InsiderNJ) that just handed out the designations as to who is who in New Jersey media. 

Yep, there’s John F. X. Graham who owns both the Fairview Insurance Agency and InsiderNJ (he holds titles of founder and publisher, respectively).  Michael J. Graham is Chief Operating Officer of both the Fairview Insurance Agency and InsiderNJ.  Ryan Graham is the Director of Business Development for the Fairview Insurance Agency and the Associate Publisher of InsiderNJ. 

That’s it folks… John F.X.’s grease machine has its own media mouthpiece with which to skew perceptions.  And that’s a handy thing to have in an age of hollowed out local coverage and a dearth of what was once called “investigative journalism.”  The press is now routinely used to punish the whistleblower, the taxpayer advocate, citizen activist, the underdog.  It’s easy to see why.

Now don’t get us wrong, just because John F.X. is all about the money… and the money… and the money… and the money… That doesn’t mean he’s not above playing the part of the noble, the enlightened, crony capitalist.  Hey, didn’t some notorious mob boss put a roof on a church?  Doesn’t Johnson & Johnson make up for failing to warn women that their product could cause uterine cancer by being oh so woke on LGBTQ?  It pays to have fashionable connections and to assist those connections in the higher causes of fashion.

John F.X. is a friend of Hillary.  Yes, that old wind bag.  You could forgive him being a friend of Bill because, heck, who wouldn’t want a night out on the town with Bill Clinton?  He’d make a Saturday night seem like a month of weekends.  But Hillary?  You know that’s just fashion.

Nevertheless, John F.X. has been called “a top Democrat fundraiser” by newspapers like the Bergen Record and the Newark Star-Ledger.  In addition to Hillary Clinton, John F.X. raised money for John Kerry in his 2004 presidential race, and he’s been a big giver to United States Senator Bob Menendez.  In fact, it was John F.X. who pushed the idea of Menendez on a national ticket as vice president:

In January 2008, the Jersey Journal along with other media outlets reported that “John F.X. Graham, one of Hillary Clinton’s National Finance Co-Chairs, thinks that New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez would make a great choice if Clinton wins the Democratic Primary… Graham fired off an email this morning to Clinton Campaign Manager Terry McAuliffe listing politicians who would make good vice presidential material, including the choices most often brought up:  Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, John Edwards and Joe Biden.  But Menendez, a Clinton campaign national co-chair, would be the “most intriguing” choice, Graham wrote.”

“The name Richardson does not sound exactly Latino,” wrote Graham.  “The Latino voting block is becoming the most influential in this election, especially with the immigration and other economic issues confronting our prosperity.  For lack of a better term, he is the Latino Barack Obama with the experience.” 

Why would John F.X. think that encouraging people to vote along racial or ethnic lines is good public policy?  Has he not heard of the former Yugoslavia? 

Finally, John F.X. made his pronouncements while Senator Menendez was the subject of an FBI investigation.  Not that something like that matters when you are making a fashion statement.

Yes, so it seems that InsiderNJ can also be considered an outpost of the far-flung Clinton Empire.  Ahhhh, corruption at its most tasty. 

And it looks as though John F.X. is quite a big deal.  Even Wikileaks picked up loads of correspondence between John F.X. and his fellow Clintonistas.  Here is an example:

As far as the money goes, national contacts and a national reach does have its advantages.  We found dozens of John F.X.’s insurance agency’s outposts around the country.  All making him money – but northern New Jersey and Essex County in particular is his base.  It was reported in Politico (November 24, 2014) that Essex County Democrat Party boss Joe DiVincenzo’s son worked for John F.X.’s insurance agency.  He also held a full-time public job as well.   

So it was no surprise that the most corrupt political machine in the state – the Essex County Democrats – inducted John F.X. into their “Hall of Fame” in March of 2015.  InsiderNJ editor, Max Pizarro wrote the panegyric, which we suppose was less messy than the alternative. 

Now can we ask this again?  What are these people doing handing out the rankings on New Jersey journalists?  Shouldn’t some organization, like the Society of Professional Journalists, be doing it?  Or the Columbia School of Journalism?  Or anything but the god-damned grease machine itself!

Ten years ago, the authors of The Soprano State – two old-school investigative journalists – joined with journalists like Josh Margolin to decry the corruption tax that added to the cost paid by New Jersey taxpayers on everything to do with government.  Could they have guessed that, ten years later, not only would the tax be more imbedded and less transparent, but that the very news agencies responsible for exposing and reporting on it would now be wholly-owned subsidiaries of the same grease machine responsible for the corruption?

New Jersey… you can’t make this stuff up.

Why is the Grease machine picking who’s who in the media?

There’s an old saying among machine politicians in Philadelphia.  It goes like this, “If you say you’re the boss, and nobody says you aint the boss, then you’re the boss.”

John F.X. Graham probably heard it back in the day, when he was prowling around amongst the ward healers in that sainted city of brotherly love.  Back when “ethnic” meant second or third generation Irish or Polish or Italian and individual neighborhoods developed their own dialects (yes, people really did talk like Rocky back then).

John F. X. moved to New Jersey where he followed the yellow brick road of selling insurance to government entities.  Unlike South Jersey’s George Norcross, John F. X. wasn’t really interested in building a political machine.  He was content with a money machine – the old-fashioned kind, the grease machine that uses campaign contributions to lube the representatives of the taxpayers, so that their money pumps out in a nice, steady stream.

Last December, the Observer wrote about John F.X. and his operation – the Fairview Insurance Agency – in a “special report” about “How Insurance Brokers Reap Public Funds Without Disclosure.”  It makes for interesting reading:

Insurance brokerages that make political donations are declining to disclose large amounts of money received indirectly from public entities.

One of the biggest goldmines for contractors in New Jersey is selling insurance plans to public entities, which employ hundreds of thousands of workers across the state.

But an Observer review of dozens of public documents shows that in some cases, it’s difficult or impossible to get a complete accounting of the money going back and forth between insurance brokerages — some of which are deep-pocketed campaign donors — and the public entities that award lucrative insurance contracts. 

For instance, Fairview Insurance Agency Associates is one of the largest political donors in New Jersey, giving more than $120,000 to various candidates and committees in 2016, the ninth-highest among businesses in the state, according to the state’s campaign finance watchdog agency.

The Verona-based brokerage is also a big contractor, raking in at least $1.1 million through public contracts or agreements across New Jersey in 2016.

Under state law, the firm is required to report annually all of its political donations and public contracts to the Election Law Enforcement Commission, provided it gets at least $50,000 in public contracts and makes at least one political donation of any amount. Curiously, however, some of the money Fairview gets indirectly from public entities is then reported to ELEC as $0.

The effect is that, to the average observer reading ELEC reports, Fairview would appear to have made much less from public entities and institutions than it actually got — directly and indirectly — in a given year.

Observer reviewed ELEC disclosures for five companies, only three of which were required to itemize their contracts and donations.

A review of six ELEC disclosure forms, 29 invoices, four contracts and eight resolutions by school boards and local councils revealed a loophole in state law that allows brokerages such as Fairview to not report to ELEC tens of thousands of dollars, or more, that they receive as a result of working for governments or public entities. 

In 93 cases, three brokerages reported receiving $0 from public agreements in 2016 on their disclosure forms filed with ELEC...  In one case, Observer found that Fairview was paid $54,000 indirectly from Jersey City’s school board but later disclosed $0 to ELEC.

It works like this. Brokerages — which sell insurance plans to local governments — are often paid commissions or fees by third-party companies. In this scenario, the actual contract does not go to the brokerage, but to the third-party company, while the brokerage still gets a cut of the business. 

In some cases, the dollar amount of these fees or commissions can be traced back by filing public records requests with local governments. Some public entities that answered such requests from Observer provided copies of the original public contracts, which in turn detailed the actual fees or commissions paid to insurance brokerages that were reported to ELEC as $0.

In other cases, there is no mechanism to piece together what a third-party company paid to a brokerage in commissions. Some public entities did not disclose or could not say how much their brokers were paid indirectly by their contractors.

In March 2015, the Jersey City Board of Education passed a resolution to award Fairview a $54,000 contract to be the school district’s prescription insurance broker for fiscal year 2016.

Fairview did not end up receiving an actual contract. The school board struck a deal two months later with Express Scripts to manage its prescription benefits plan, and in that contract, it directed Express Scripts to pay Fairview $4,500 per month on its behalf, according to a copy of the contract provided by the Jersey City school board. The school district essentially paid someone else to pay Fairview.

In the end, Fairview reported that it received $0 in 2015 and 2016 from its work for the Jersey City Board of Education, according to its annual reports filed with ELEC. The firm noted that the amounts it disclosed “do not include commissions received from the insurance carriers.” (Observer, December 6, 2017) 

Campaign contributions flowing one-way, huge contracts flowing the other… minimal to no transparency. That’s New Jersey.

The problem is… the Fairview Insurance Agency owns the news agency (InsiderNJ) that just handed out the designations as to who is who in New Jersey media. 

Yep, there’s John F. X. Graham who owns both the Fairview Insurance Agency and InsiderNJ (he holds titles of founder and publisher, respectively).  Michael J. Graham is Chief Operating Officer of both the Fairview Insurance Agency and InsiderNJ.  Ryan Graham is the Director of Business Development for the Fairview Insurance Agency and the Associate Publisher of InsiderNJ. 

That’s it folks… John F.X.’s grease machine has its own media mouthpiece with which to skew perceptions.  And that’s a handy thing to have in an age of hollowed out local coverage and a dearth of what was once called “investigative journalism.”  The press is now routinely used to punish the whistleblower, the taxpayer advocate, citizen activist, the underdog.  It’s easy to see why.

Now don’t get us wrong, just because John F.X. is all about the money… and the money… and the money… and the money… That doesn’t mean he’s not above playing the part of the noble, the enlightened, crony capitalist.  Hey, didn’t some notorious mob boss put a roof on a church?  Doesn’t Johnson & Johnson make up for failing to warn women that their product could cause uterine cancer by being oh so woke on LGBTQ?  It pays to have fashionable connections and to assist those connections in the higher causes of fashion.

John F.X. is a friend of Hillary.  Yes, that old wind bag.  You could forgive him being a friend of Bill because, heck, who wouldn’t want a night out on the town with Bill Clinton?  He’d make a Saturday night seem like a month of weekends.  But Hillary?  You know that’s just fashion. 

Nevertheless, John F.X. has been called “a top Democrat fundraiser” by newspapers like the Bergen Record and the Newark Star-Ledger.  In addition to Hillary Clinton, John F.X. raised money for John Kerry in his 2004 presidential race, and he’s been a big giver to United States Senator Bob Menendez.  In fact, it was John F.X. who pushed the idea of Menendez on a national ticket as vice president:

In January 2008, the Jersey Journal along with other media outlets reported that “John F.X. Graham, one of Hillary Clinton’s National Finance Co-Chairs, thinks that New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez would make a great choice if Clinton wins the Democratic Primary… Graham fired off an email this morning to Clinton Campaign Manager Terry McAuliffe listing politicians who would make good vice presidential material, including the choices most often brought up:  Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, John Edwards and Joe Biden.  But Menendez, a Clinton campaign national co-chair, would be the “most intriguing” choice, Graham wrote.”

“The name Richardson does not sound exactly Latino,” wrote Graham.  “The Latino voting block is becoming the most influential in this election, especially with the immigration and other economic issues confronting our prosperity.  For lack of a better term, he is the Latino Barack Obama with the experience.” 

Why would John F.X. think that encouraging people to vote along racial or ethnic lines is good public policy?  Has he not heard of the former Yugoslavia? 

Finally, John F.X. made his pronouncements while Senator Menendez was the subject of an FBI investigation.  Not that something like that matters when you are making a fashion statement.

Yes, so it seems that InsiderNJ can also be considered an outpost of the far-flung Clinton Empire.  Ahhhh, corruption at its most tasty. 

And it looks as though John F.X. is quite a big deal.  Even Wikileaks picked up loads of correspondence between John F.X. and his fellow Clintonistas.  Here is an example:

As far as the money goes, national contacts and a national reach does have its advantages.  We found dozens of John F.X.’s insurance agency’s outposts around the country.  All making him money – but northern New Jersey and Essex County in particular is his base.  It was reported in Politico (November 24, 2014) that Essex County Democrat Party boss Joe DiVincenzo’s son worked for John F.X.’s insurance agency.  He also held a full-time public job as well. 

So it was no surprise that the most corrupt political machine in the state – the Essex County Democrats – inducted John F.X. into their “Hall of Fame” in March of 2015.  InsiderNJ editor, Max Pizarro wrote the panegyric, which we suppose was less messy than the alternative. 

Now can we ask this again?  What are these people doing handing out the rankings on New Jersey journalists?  Shouldn’t some organization, like the Society of Professional Journalists, be doing it?  Or the Columbia School of Journalism?  Or anything but the god-damned grease machine itself!

Ten years ago, the authors of The Soprano State – two old-school investigative journalists – joined with journalists like Josh Margolin to decry the corruption tax that added to the cost paid by New Jersey taxpayers on everything to do with government.  Could they have guessed that, ten years later, not only would the tax be more imbedded and less transparent, but that the very news agencies responsible for exposing and reporting on it would now be wholly-owned subsidiaries of the same grease machine responsible for the corruption?

New Jersey… you can’t make this stuff up.

Grassroots groups hit anti-religious bigotry in Democrat Murphy administration.

Two grassroots organizations have stepped up today and spoke out in defense of religious liberty.   The New Jersey Conservative GOP has joined the New Jersey Coalition of Pastors and Ministers in calling for the firing of Governor Phil Murphy Staffer Noemi Velazquez, for her anti-Christian, anti-Evangelical remarks. Noemi Velazquez referred to Republican policymakers in Washington as “Evangelical assholes!”

In a press release today, Paul Danielczyk – President of the NJ Conservative GOP – noted:  

“Such a vile bigoted anti-Christian remark by a state employee has no place in New Jersey government! Velazquez was given a 10-day suspension and will be required to undergo a sensitivity re-training!  A ten-day suspension is not feasible or acceptable for such disgusting remarks and she should be removed immediately!”

“This would send a clear-cut message that New Jersey government has no tolerance for anti-Christian bigotry. I’m stunned by the lack of attention given to this ugly bias from the legislature’s leadership of both parties!”

“Our organization calls on party leaders Sweeney, Coughlin, Kean and Bramnick to call on the governor for the removal of Noemi Velazquez. No religious affiliation should be treated to such revolting prejudice and that INCLUDES Christianity. ” Danielczyk concluded.

For further information, please contact Paul Danielczyk  at njcgop@aol.com

Is Social Security Going Broke?

By Theresa Yarosh,

CGSF Board Member

This is part 2 of a 3 part series.

The Social Security Board of Trustees is reporting through its Annual Report that the trust funds for both the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) was little changed from the previous report in 2017, but that “annual balances are slightly worse in the short term and slightly better in the long term.”

The conclusion is that in 2032 the DI Trust Fund will be completely depleted, which is “four years later than projected in last year's report, and ten years later than projected at the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015”.

The OASI Trust Fund, on the other hand, will be able to pay full benefits “until 2034”, which is one year earlier than in the 2017 Annual Report, but there are still problems in the future.

The reason for the problems is that the amount that Social Security must pay out annually is larger than what it receives each year.

Social Security receives roughly $800 billion a year in taxes, in 2015 $795 billion (85 percent) of total OASI and DI income came from payroll taxes, while it also generates about another $100 billion from interest earnings on the trust fund to pay current Social Security beneficiaries.

The payout is, unfortunately, much higher as the benefits that the 63 million enrolled beneficiaries received in 2017 totaled close to $965 billion.

At this time, the Social Security Board of Trustees estimates that Social Security has a $13.2 trillion-dollar unfunded liability over the next 75 years. These are the benefits they expect to pay minus the revenue they expect to receive.

Even with this shortfall, there is still a possibility that Social Security will be able to continue as provisions have been created to help minimize what Social Security will have to pay out in the future.

With federal regulations pertaining to retirement, for a person to receive their Social Security benefit they must also accept Medicare when eligible.

Meaning, that when a person is no longer covered by credible health insurance through an employer health plan or a spouse’s employer health plan and they are 65-years old or older, they must accept Medicare or forfeit all of their Social Security benefits.

The other added regulation: the bulk of their Medicare premiums, by regulations, are automatically deducted from Social Security benefits.

You may begin to see what has happened and will, unfortunately, happen in the future; Medicare premiums will inflate at a higher rate than what your Social Security benefit will increase at through Social Security’s cost of living adjustment (COLA)

To further complicate matters, in 2003 Congress, through the Medicare Modernization Act, granted the power to the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to implement a surcharge on top of the standard Medicare premiums for those retirees who are earning too much income.

Below are the current 2018 Income-Related Monthly Adjusted Amounts (IRMAA) for Part B and Part D of Medicare (Table 1.)

Thus, those who happen to have not planned accordingly for health coverage costs through Medicare will be subject to not only higher premiums, but they will also realize a much lower Social Security benefit throughout retirement.

Because of these provisions, Social Security is afforded the luxury of not having to pay out the total amount that is due to retirees as their Medicare premiums will work to reduce that benefit.

For those who are not subject to Medicare’s IRMAA, their income is lower throughout retirement; thankfully, there is the Hold Harmless Act.

The Hold Harmless Act of 1984 stipulates that no retiree who is enrolled in Medicare and Social Security can see their Social Security benefits decrease due to Medicare increases.

The result is that those who experience a higher Medicare premium while also seeing their Social Security benefit not increase will be afforded the luxury of having their Medicare premium remain constant while their Social Security benefit will remain the same in that given year as well.

Again, with federal regulations working with both Social Security and Medicare the total amount that is paid out from Social Security will never be as high as previously projected.

Regulations even further the possible viability of Social Security since the Hold Harmless Act was ratified by Congress in 2009 to disqualify those who reach any Medicare IRMAA bracket.

Essentially, only the Standard Premium of $134 per person is going toward the Medicare Trust Fund because the Hold Harmless Act was a subsidy for those at the Standard Premium of Medicare and as such that subsidy is being paid back to the general account via the Medicare IRMAA Surcharges.

Dan McGrath, Co-Founder of Jester Financial Technologies and author of the bestselling retirement planning book “What You Don’t Know About Retirement Will Hurt You” believes “that the main solution to this problem is obvious, and it’s not pretty.”

Mr. McGrath believes that there is not just one solution, but a multiple number of steps that CMS and Social Security can take to ensure that both these programs will remain viable in the future.

For Medicare, Mr. McGrath believes that the first step is to “lower the expenditures paid to healthcare professionals in order to have Medicare being able to control its budget.”

For Social Security, he is under the impression that the federal government will increase the tax on payrolls for those who are still working to generate even more revenue to cover benefits.

The last action Mr. McGrath believes may happen is that the government will take the Medicare IRMAA brackets and adjust them lower so even more retirees will be impacted by it in the future.

Ultimately, with a higher and higher percentage of an individual and couple’s Social Security checks being allocated toward Medicare-related expenditures the ability for Social Security to remain solvent in the future can be achieved.

The issue though is that for many people who will rely on their Social Security benefit to help pay for their expenses in retirement may find themselves having to work longer or changing their lifestyles even more.

As for those in the higher income tiers they may see a day when they are writing checks to the US Treasury to pay for their Medicare.

As their Medicare premiums increase with surcharges from IRMAA and the possibility of their Social Security never increasing and quite possibly decreasing, the bulk of their Social Security benefit will be consumed in its entirety.

The added insult to injury, they will also be taxed on the very same Social Security benefits that they never received.

Is this possible, is Mr. McGrath correct in his assumptions?

Well, according to the Medicare Board of Trustees, in 2026, it may just happen as the proposed Income Related Adjusted Amounts (IRMAA) surcharges are expected to be adjusted due to federal regulations.

With the passing of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 and 2018 not only will the IRMAA brackets change, but they will not be adjusted for inflation until 2028.

At that time the brackets will be adjusted to the CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers) on an annual basis to keep Medicare solvent. (Table 2).

Table 2. Proposed 2026 Income-Related Monthly Adjusted Amounts (IRMAA)

These changes are being proposed in conjunction with the expected depletion of the Social Security and Medicare Trust funds as well as containing the future unfunded liabilities.

Dr. Murray Sabrin, Professor of Finance at Ramapo College, states the following situation with regards to the data above “as what I call trickle-down economics, namely well-intentioned but structurally flawed federal programs cannot meet the needs of retirees in a cost-effective manner. Thus, we need to have a national conversation— and action--on how to address the financial tsunami that seniors will be facing for the next couple of decades. In addition, with that said there needs to be a focus on solutions that will properly address these costs not only on the individual level but on the level of National and State pensions.”

Regardless of the unfunded liabilities as it pertains to both Social Security and Medicare, it is important that individuals and couples start planning now for higher healthcare costs in retirement. It is essential to seek out an advisor who is trained in healthcare regulations, the associated inflation rates as it pertains to Medicare and the planning strategies that need to be utilized to restore the purchasing power of retirement assets and Social Security throughout retirement.

Theresa J. Yarosh, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® is the Founder and President of Macro Wealth Management, LLC. She has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years. She has worked closely with Dan McGrath over the last three years as it pertains to understanding the Impact of Healthcare Costs in Retirement. She is considered to be on the leading edge of financial planning as it pertains to the impact of healthcare costs in retirement. This specialization has given her the focus to identify what financial products in a retirement plan result in higher healthcare costs versus what financial products do not. This allows for a plan that seeks to contain and reduce ongoing healthcare costs to restore the purchasing power of retirement assets.

She is also the Founder and President of Main Street Medigap, LLC. Main Street Medigap, LLC provides Medicare Supplement Insurance policies to seniors ages 65 and over. Also, Main Street Medigap, LLC also consults Attorneys. Banks, CPAs and other Financial Advisors on Medicare and its related cost structure. She can be reached at tyarosh@macrowealthmanagement.com.

Representatives are registered through, and Securities are sold through Nationwide Planning Associates, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC, located at 115 West Century Road, Suite 360, Paramus, NJ 07652. Investment Advisory Services are offered through NPA Asset Management, LLC. Nationwide Planning Associates, Inc. and Macro Wealth Management, LLC are non-affiliated entities.

Did You Know You Have A Mandatory Government Expense In Retirement?

By Theresa J. Yarosh,

Board member CGSF 

The first in a series of three articles.

When asked what I do for a living the response I give is that I help people plan for their only government mandatory expense in retirement. 

This is followed up by me with the question of “has anyone discussed this with you?”

The harsh reality is that most people do not realize they have a federally mandated expense in retirement which happens to be Medicare.

In fact, according to SunLife, in its Flying Blind Survey, not only do many people not realize that they have a mandatory expense in retirement, but that less than 10% of those polled have even planned for health costs in any financial plan.

According to federal regulations, anyone who wishes to receive their Social Security benefit must also accept Medicare when eligible. Eligibility is defined as the time when a person is 65 years-old or older and is no longer covered by creditable health insurance through an employer or spouse’s employer.

Failure to accept Medicare at this time will result in an immediate forfeiture of all current, future and even any already accepted Social Security benefits.

This, unfortunately, is not the only regulation that the federal government has implemented when it comes to health costs in retirement as there are three other regulations that you should be aware of.

On top of Medicare being mandatory to receive your Social Security benefit, this exact same expense is also means tested as well.

With the passing of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 and the Affordable Care Act of 2010, Medicare was authorized to create its Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) brackets.

Ultimately, if you happened to earn too much income in any given year then Medicare will assess a surcharge on top of your current Medicare Part B and Part D premium through IRMAA.

Income is defined as your “adjusted gross income plus any tax-exempt interest you have or everything on lines 37 and 8b of the IRS Form 1040.”

Some examples of income are: Wages, Social Security benefits, capital gains, all dividends and interest (including tax-exempt interest and dividends), and withdrawals from any qualified tax-deferred investment (i.e. a traditional 401(k) or IRA).

The final federal regulation that is not being discussed is the bulk of your Medicare premiums are deducted automatically from any Social Security benefit you will receive.

By law, any Part B premium, possible late fee and any surcharges due to Medicare’s IRMAA will be taken directly from your Social Security benefit.

Therefore, we are starting to see the emergence of a new understanding of retirement planning because the rules are changing due to Medicare. They will affect many of those who are not only in retirement but are also heading towards it.

It is important that we start with a basic overview of what these expenses for those who are aging into Medicare will potentially be. The source for this information is Medicare.gov.  

It should be noted that these are based on national averages and does not reflect a Medicare beneficiary’s state specific carriers for a Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plan and a Part D Prescription Drug Plan premium as well as associated out of pocket costs. In addition, the Part B amount of $134.00 per month is based on the 2018 income levels of $85,000 or less for a single individual and $170,000 or less for a married couple. It should be noted that Medicare is means tested and this means testing is determined by something called the Income Related Adjusted Amounts (IRMAA). Below are the 2018 IRMAA Brackets and their associated means tested amounts.  

When an individual ages into Medicare the 1040 Federal Income Tax return from two years prior is used to determine the IRMAA Bracket and the associated means tested amount or surcharge. Therefore, an individual currently aging into Medicare in 2018 will have the income used from their 2016 Federal Income Tax return to determine their Medicare costs. This income is determined by line 37 and line 8b of your 1040. In addition, we need to understand what is considered income as it pertains to this calculation as is reflected on line 37 plus 8b of the 1040. Below is an overview of what is income. 

It should be noted that if an individual has not yet started taking their Social Security, Medicare will bill them quarterly for their Medicare premiums. Once a Medicare beneficiary begins collecting Social Security the Part B premiums as well as the associated surcharge amounts for Part B and Part D will be deducted from their Social Security check. 

In addition, it is important to understand the impact that increasing Medicare premiums because of inflation will have on an individual’s Social Security check. According to the Social Security Board of Trustees Report, the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security will be 2.6% for the “foreseeable future.” In 2017 the Cost of Living Adjustment was 2.0% and in 2016 the Cost of Living Adjustment was 0% (Hold Harmless Act). The Hold Harmless Act of 1984 stipulates that no retiree who is enrolled in Medicare and Social Security can see their Social Security benefit decreased due to Medicare increases. This was updated in 2009, making the Hold Harmless Provision only for those who are under Medicare’s IRMAA limits. Those who are subject to means testing (IRMAA) are not protected under the Hold Harmless Provision. According to the 2015 Medicare Board of Trustees Report, the average inflation rate of Medicare is 7.73% and the projected rate of inflation for 2019 through 2026 is 5.89%. For those who are not protected under the Hold Harmless Act will continue to see their Social Security checks decrease as Medicare costs continue to increase. Therefore, it is imperative that higher income individuals and couples explore planning options which will reduce the impact of Medicare costs over-time by utilizing financial strategies that do not trigger Medicare means testing. Below is a list of items which are not considered income for the purposes of Medicare means testing. 

Based on the current projected inflation rate of Medicare, a 50-year-old couple, retiring at age 66, the projected costs, with the inflation rate remaining constant through age 85, would be expected to pay the following based on the current IRMAA Brackets. 

In addition, the Medicare Board of Trustees has added additional income brackets for the year 2026 and beyond. Also, starting in 2028 the associated Medicare Part B and related Part D surcharge amounts will be adjusted to the CPI-U (Consumer AAPrice Index for all Urban Consumers) each year. Once an individual is enrolled in Medicare their cost is determined by the tax return filed two years prior. Therefore, it is important to understand how these costs impact your ongoing Social Security check and the associated purchasing power of that check. Below is the proposed IRMAA Brackets for 2026.  

According to the AARP, almost four in ten workers age 50 and over (38%) are not saving for healthcare costs and many (44%) do not have any plans to do so in the future. It is imperative that individuals and couples consult with a financial professional who understands and specializes in the regulations of health care costs in retirement. For those who are younger than 65 and are beginning the planning process for their future retirement it is critical to review strategies which will reduce the overall impact of these costs in their retirement. In a more broader sense, action must be taken to protect every U.S. citizen as the nation’s economic health in the future depends on it.

Theresa J. Yarosh, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and she specializes in the impact of healthcare costs on retirement plans. She is the founder and president of Macro Wealth Management, LLC as well as the founder and president of Main Street Medigap, LLC. 

Main Street Medigap, LLC offers Medicare Supplemental Insurance plans and Part D Prescription Plans to consumers. In addition, Theresa advises Attorneys, Banks, CPAs and other Financial Advisors as it pertains to Medicare and the impact of those costs on retirement plans. She can be reached at tyarosh@macrowealthmanagement.com or theresa@mainstreetmedigap.com.

Pastor Brad Winship: Socialism Part #3

The third installment of Pastor Winship’s study of Socialism and the people who preach it.  The Pastor explains how the arguments against Socialism can be divided into three categories: (1) Historical, (2) Pragmatic, (3) Ethical/Moral.

Scripture References: Matthew 6:19-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:8-12; Proverbs 16:26; Leviticus 23:33; Deuteronomy 14;28-29; Matthew 21:33; Acts 2:44; 2 Corinthians 8:14; 1 Timothy 5:8 

YouTube Program #46 – Socialism Part 3 

Pastor Winship can be heard at the following times:

  Bridge Christian Radio - Sunday 9 pm 
        89.7 FM - Monmouth / Ocean Counties, NJ 
        91.9 FM - Middlesex/ Monmouth Counties, NJ 
        95.1 FM - NYC
        103.1 FM - Metro New Jersey & NYC 
        99.7 FM - Sullivan County, NY 
        106.9 FM - Poughkeepsie, NY

WTTP-LP - Lima, Ohio  101.1. FM  - wttpfm.com - Saturday 12:30 am; Sunday at 3:30 pm 

KKMC in Monterey County, CA - Saturday 9 AM and 7 PM 

Listen anytime at http://godandcountryradio.org/   * Click on Program (Left click - The audio should begin playing) (Right click - To save to your computer or device) 

Join Pastor Winship's online at www.facebook.com/groups/godandcountryradio/

On Citizens United, Cory Booker is a Fake Reformer

Okay, here are two videos.

One is from Cory Booker, a politician who has more makeovers than Donatella Versace… Ouch.

The other is from a real citizens reform organization.  Not a group funded by one set of Establishment insiders looking to screw over another set of Establishment insiders… yeah, like the group Cory Booker is shilling for.

So here is Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey, doing his best impersonation of a teenaged drama queen trying out for the lead in a high school play… 

https://www.facebook.com/NowThisOpinions/videos/2230000037031474/

This from a guy who said he’d stop taking corporate money from his law firm but then kept on taking it.  Personal money… that went right into his own wallet.

Okay, enough of Cory Booker, he’s already taken millions from corporate PACs, lobbyists, and officers… Notice he doesn’t mention those last two?  Yep, this is all for show – and Booker already has a work-around for that corporate PAC money too.  It’s called SuperPACs!  So this is just another case of a good-looking spoiled rich kid having his usual way with the cake while eating it too.

Now… do you want to hear from some real reformers???  Okay, pay attention because this is what real reform is about…

Now wasn’t this straight talk refreshing after that bullshit P.C. earnestness that poured out of Cory Booker’s jaws? 

Sign the petition to stop Murphy’s Sanctuary State plan.

Our porous borders will only get worse…

The importation of illegal narcotics and opioids…

And illegal firearms…

The modern slavery of human trafficking…

And the sexual exploitation of women and children…

Will only get worse.  Unless you do something about it. 

Some people think securing our border is just about protecting American jobs.   

But a secure border is about more than just jobs.  Secure borders help prevent human trafficking and the exploitation of children.  Secure borders fight modern day slavery.

The United Nations has issued reports showing human trafficking is the fastest growing organized criminal activity on earth.  A porous border not only facilitates the trafficking of illegal narcotics, opioids, and illegal firearms – it is a boon to modern day slavery – the trafficking and sale of human beings, especially children.

Some have adopted dangerously naïve views about border security.  In their hatred for President Trump, they have embraced calls to abolish ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) – even though it was funded and operated under the administrations of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama.  The abolition of ICE would open the doors to a nightmarish wild west scenario.  Without ICE, who will be around to prevent the living horror of modern slavery? 

The statements made by Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, and congressional candidates Andy Kim, Tom Malinowski, Mikie Sherrill, and Jeff Van Drew have been shocking.  We’re not condemning a party here, or its members, but only those who have taken leave of their senses in a mindless quest for votes. 

Many are following the worst path when it comes to border security.  In an effort to elevate the plight of the undocumented immigrant here illegally, their irrational demands for change will open the floodgates to all manner of terrible consequences – to lawlessness, violence, and slavery.

What Booker and Menendez, Andy Kim, Tom Malinowski, Mikie Sherrill, and Jeff Van Drew are advocating for will make our borders more porous – allowing thousands more victims (mainly women and children) to be shipped and sold like cattle, welcoming more dangerous illegal drugs into our communities, and providing illegal firearms for organized criminal gangs.

There have been many responsible voices from both parties, but they have been drowned out by the media’s attention on emotional and irrational ideas like that of Governor Phil Murphy, who has made it his mission to turn New Jersey into a Sanctuary State and to instruct state and local law enforcement not to cooperate with federal agencies.  Whatever good intentions Murphy has in this are undone by the consequences of weakening border security in the midst of an illegal narcotic and opioid crisis and a growing problem with human trafficking and child exploitation (as his own Attorney General has said).

We need to clearly instruct our county and local law enforcement to work with federal agencies to strengthen border security and the interdiction of illegal narcotics, opioids, illegal firearms, and human trafficking networks that exploit women and children sexually. 

Our law enforcement community does not like the idea of being strong-armed by the Governor into violating federal law.  They are standing up to those who foolishly want to sever cooperation between local law enforcement and federal agencies.  We need to stand with them.

Alongside law enforcement, we will fight Governor Murphy and his administration on this.  We will fight the Trenton bureaucrats and the professional lobbyists on this.

How?

A petition drive is being launched – county by county – asking the Freeholders of each county to place a public question on the ballot in their county.  These ballot questions will ask voters to instruct their Sheriff or local law enforcement in fully cooperating with federal agencies and ignore all orders from the Murphy administration to the contrary.   

American law is our law.  Governor Murphy can no more ignore American law than Governor Wallace of Alabama once tried to do.  We are one country, one people, not a multi-state league of nations.

We are also working to pass the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act, which despite having strong bi-partisan support, is being prevented from moving forward by the singular efforts of the staff of the Democrat Majority Leader in the Senate – Senator Loretta Weinberg.  That is correct.  Her staff is anti-woman and anti-child.  While she attempts to associate herself with the #MeToo movement, her staff is blocking legislation that would break the infrastructure through which young women and children are lured, raped, and sold into prostitution and the illegal porn trade.

So now it is up to YOU…

Now it is up to YOU…

Will you help?   

Or will you sit on your hands, complain, and do nothing?

Click here to start a petition in your county. 

Click here to start a group to circulate a petition in your county. 

Click here to sign a petition for your county.

To find out more about the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act, click here.

To find out what you can do to combat the scourge of modern slavery, human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women and children, click here.

Pastor Brad Winship: More on Socialism

The program begins by explaining the main biblical argument against Socialism: “Thou shalt not steal” – God-given property rights.   I then explain some of the motivations behind socialism,  (1) animosity toward God’s ownership – Matthew 21:33 , (2) job security for the ruling bureaucratic class,  (3) public greed for entitlements, (4) public deception by Socialism’s claim to charity, and (5) irresponsibility – 1 Samuel 8 .  This is a deeper spiritual issue revealing itself in social economic policy. 
  
Scripture References:  Matthew 21:33 , 20:15 ; Micah 2:2 ; 1 Timothy 6:10 ; Revelation 13:16 ; Genesi 11:6; I Samuel 8 

YouTube Program #45 – Socialism – Biblical or Unbiblical -  Pt 2 

Pastor Winship can be heard at the following times:

  Bridge Christian Radio - Sunday 9 pm 
        89.7 FM - Monmouth / Ocean Counties, NJ 
        91.9 FM - Middlesex/ Monmouth Counties, NJ 
        95.1 FM - NYC
        103.1 FM - Metro New Jersey & NYC 
        99.7 FM - Sullivan County, NY 
        106.9 FM - Poughkeepsie, NY

WTTP-LP - Lima, Ohio  101.1. FM  - wttpfm.com - Saturday 12:30 am; Sunday at 3:30 pm 

KKMC in Monterey County, CA - Saturday 9 AM and 7 PM

Listen anytime at http://godandcountryradio.org/   * Click on Program (Left click - The audio should begin playing) (Right click - To save to your computer or device) 

Join Pastor Winship's online at www.facebook.com/groups/godandcountryradio/

Don’t they teach about the Scottsboro Boys case?

Is Jeff Van Drew a racist?  Does he not understand that every lynching in America involving a white woman started with an unquestioning belief in the accuser or, if he prefers, the “survivor”.   There was a lot of “solidarity” going around then.

Are these two young women so much different from the two who, in 1931, accused nine Black men of raping them?  They too were absolutely certain.

The case was investigated and brought to trial.  Based simply on the testimony of the women, all but one of the accused was convicted of rape and sentenced to death.  The last was spared simply because of his age (he was 12).  Medical evidence suggested that the nine had not raped the women, but that was dismissed in light of their testimony, which was considered very credible.

The case was appealed to the state Supreme Court, which affirmed seven of the eight convictions (in the eighth case, granting a 13 year-old a new trial).  The dissenting judge questioned the impartiality of the process.  The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which ordered a new trial and led to a landmark decision on the conduct of trials.

The case was returned for trial to a lower court, with a change of venue.  During the retrials, one of the alleged victims (who would today be called a “survivor”) admitted to fabricating the rape story and testified that none of the accused touched either woman.  The other woman continued to claim that she was 100% absolutely certain that she had been raped by the men. 

At the new trial, the jury found that second woman to be a compelling witness and adopting the motto “believe women” they found the Black men guilty of rape once again.  Fortunately, the trial judge set aside that verdict and ordered yet another trial.  After a public outcry, that judge was replaced by another judge who tended to be more favorable to the prosecution.  For a third time, the jury believed the now lone “survivor” – adopting the iron-clad assertion to “believe women” – and returned a guilty verdict against the Black men.

The case was sent back to the United States Supreme Court on appeal and the Court again ordered retrials.  The state finally dropped charges against four of the nine accused.  Sentences for those remaining ranged from 75 years imprisonment to death.  All but two served prison sentences.  One was shot while being escorted to prison by a Sheriff’s deputy.  Two escaped, were captured, and then sent back to prison.  Clarence Norris, the oldest of the accused (and the only one sentenced to death in the final trial) jumped parole in 1946 and went into hiding.  He was found in 1976 and given a pardon by the Governor.  At that point the case had been thoroughly examined and shown to be a farce.

The last of those accused died in 1989.  On November 21, 2013, after an exhaustive review process, the state parole board formally cleared their names.  They were innocent, but had spent their lives under the shadow of a gross accusation.

What this sad lesson in our history should teach us is that an unproven accusation should not be treated as “fact” and that an accusation alone should not be the basis of a criminal conviction.  It should also teach us that blanket assertions about truth or guilt based upon gender or race (or anything else), are the beginnings of a lynch mob and should be avoided.

Do you get that, Senator Van Drew?  Or are you down with a fashionable lynch mob?

Is this the “Spartacus” Cory Booker is channeling?

The poor petulant dear!  Now in panic mode, Senator Cory Booker has shut down and is refusing to participate.  Maybe somebody should get him to sing the committee a song?