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RandySF's JournalNJ Lawmakers Asked For Info About The Promotion Of Port Authority Cop
As part of their investigation of the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal, a New Jersey legislative committee subpoenaed records about the promotion of a Port Authority Police Department official.
Documents released Friday by the Assembly's Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee indicate that the committee wanted to know the date when it was determined that a Port Authority Police Department official named Darcy Licorish would be promoted, and the date Licorish was actually promoted.
The subpoena, which was addressed to Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye, also requested the date and time Licorish was notified of former Port Authority executive David Wildstein's order to close the lanes.
The lane closures led to a massive, multi-day traffic jam in the town of Fort Lee, N.J. Democrats in the state have for months alleged that the lanes were closed as retaliation against Sokolich, a Democrat, who declined to endorse Christie's re-election bid last year. The released documents include communications tying the administration of Gov. Chris Christie (R) to the decision to close the lanes.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bridge-police-promotion
Sharon once acknowledged that he was thought of as someone who “eats Arabs for breakfast.”
When Sharon was remembered at all in recent years, it was for the five years he spent as prime minister. His signature actions in office – including the unilateral pull-out of Jewish settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip, and leaving behind the rightist Likud Party he founded to start the center-right Kadima – were seen as the bold strokes of a confident leader, a quality more associated with the country’s vanishing Founding generation than the media-genic politicians who followed.
“People are forgiving him for what happened in the past, and he is seen as a national icon today,” his longtime media adviser, Ra’anan Gisson told TIME last week, after doctors announced that the end was finally coming. “This is the reincarnation of Israel that people would like to see in the future.”
The following piece on Sharon, “The Lonely Warrior,” was written by Lisa Beyer and ran in TIME magazine on Jan. 9, 2006 after Sharon had slipped into a coma.
To his detractors, Ariel Sharon will always seem the fanatic. He convinced Menachem Begin that invading Lebanon in 1982 would be worth the costs, and in 2000 he insisted on visiting the Temple Mount, the Muslim-controlled holy site in Jerusalem—a walkabout that helped trigger the second intifadeh. As Israel’s Foreign Minister, he refused to shake Yasser Arafat’s hand at the Wye Plantation peace talks in 1998 and eventually made sure Arafat spent his last years barricaded in his offices in Ramallah, unable to jet around the world espousing the Palestinian cause. His planetary dimensions—at 5 ft. 7 in., he weighed as much as 312 lbs.—have long suggested a lack of discipline at the table that many think reflects a deeper wildness. At one point, American intelligence monitored Sharon’s weight in an effort to predict his actions—the theory being the more he consumed, the more adveanturously he would behave. Alluding to his politics, Sharon once acknowledged that he was thought of as someone who “eats Arabs for breakfast.”
http://world.time.com/2014/01/11/ariel-sharon-israels-soldier-and-strongman-1928-2014/#ixzz2q7mYuYR3
Incoming NJ Assembly speaker to renew the subpoena power of panel in GWB scandal
The incoming Assembly speaker says he'll call a special session next week to renew the subpoena power of the panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures.
The chairman of the committee leading that investigation said this morning that he can not issue any new subpoenas until his authority is renewed. It officially expires on Monday, the final day of the legislative session.
Hours later, Vincent Prieto, the Democratic assemblyman who takes over as speaker on Tuesday, issued a statement promising to renew the subpoena power in a special session on Thursday.
"The documents released this week related to the George Washington Bridge situation clearly show the need for a continued thorough investigation by the New Jersey General Assembly. Many questions remain unanswered about this threat to public safety and abuse of power," Prieto said.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Assembly_speaker_to_renew_the_subpoena_power_of_panel_in_GWB_scandal.html#sthash.lZWAitaP.dpuf
Utah gay marriages will be recognized by federal government, attorney general says
The federal government will recognize marriages performed in Utah after a judge struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban, Attorney General Holder said Friday, noting that the newly-wedded gay couples “should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their status” as the legal challenges unfold.
Holder’s announcement comes two days after Utah ordered its state offices not to do anything that would acknowledge the more than 1,000 same-sex marriages performed in the state over a nearly three-week period following a federal judge's decision to strike down the ban on Dec. 20.
The Supreme Court ordered a stay on those weddings on Monday while the state challenges the judge’s ruling.
"I am confirming today that, for purposes of federal law, these marriages will be recognized as lawful and considered eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages," Holder said. “These families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their status as the litigation unfolds.”
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/10/22255660-utah-gay-marriages-will-be-recognized-by-federal-government-attorney-general-says?lite
Port Authority Head Seethed Over Fort Lee Lane Closures: 'I Pray That No Life Has Been Lost'
WASHINGTON -- Emails released Friday by the New Jersey Assembly underscore the dangerous situation New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) aides created by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September, with the head of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey worrying that people may have died.
In an email to subordinates the morning of Sept. 13 -- several days into the lane closures -- Patrick Foye, Port Authority executive director, said he believed traffic congestion may have hindered first responders. "This hasty and ill-advised decision has resulted in delays to emergency vehicles," he wrote. "I pray that no life has been lost or trip of a hospital-or hospice-bound patient delayed."
The lane closings did delay emergency personnel from responding to four incidents, including a 91-year-old suffering cardiac arrest, who later died.
The closures were ordered by then-Port Authority official David Wildstein, an appointee of Christie's. The Port Authority, which operates the bridge, is run by both New York and New Jersey. Foye is an appointee of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). Neither Wildstein nor his boss, Bill Baroni, who has also since resigned, ever notified Foye that they would be closing two of the three bridge access lanes in Fort Lee on Sept. 9.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/10/port-authority-head-fort-lee-_n_4577516.html
Christie appointees personally watched bridge closure and were directly told about safety problems.
An appointee of Gov. Chris Christie personally showed up to observe the closure of lanes at the George Washington Bridge that triggered an epic traffic jam in New Jersey in September, according to documents made public Friday.
The appointee, David Wildstein, emailed the general manager of the bridge on the day before the lanes were closed to say, “Will be at bridge early Monday am to view new lane test,” the documents show. Other emails show that he arrived by 7 a.m. on Sept. 9, the first of four days of nightmare traffic in the city of Fort Lee.
The documents also show that Wildstein and Bill Baroni, another Christie appointee, were directly told on the first day that the backups were causing problems for police and paramedics. Lane closures at the bridge continued for four days, until the irate head of the Port Authority, which controls the bridge, ordered them reopened.
The matter exploded this week into the biggest scandal of Christie’s career after emails and texts appeared to show that Christie allies ordered the lanes closed as an act of political payback.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/10/22257330-christie-appointee-watched-bridge-closure-in-person-documents-show
LA Times: Chris Christie bridge scandal only underscores his bully image
The Web is awash in videos showing the glowering governor venting at teachers, reporters, the Navy SEAL — Christie later called him a jerk, refusing to apologize — and the Jersey Shore antagonist. The Democratic National Committee quickly spliced together a compendium, juxtaposing some of those moments with Christie's rebuke of his now-fired staff members. "Governor," it said in a freeze-frame, "the tone is set at the top."
Beyond such verbal sparring, Christie has retaliated against critics and others who crossed him in more substantive ways, stripping security from an ex-governor whom Christie deemed "combative and difficult" and ending state funding for programs run by a Rutgers University professor who angered him over redrawing the state's political boundaries.
At his Thursday news conference, Christie denied using the powers of his office for political retribution. "Will we fight sometimes and will things get sharp-elbowed? You bet," he said. "It goes both ways, but, you know, retribution as the word? No."
Christie's marathon question-and-answer session was his introduction to many outside New Jersey — his response to the bridge scandal was the top story on nightly news shows and generated headlines across the country — and his humble apology and forceful action could help him politically, assuming there are no more damaging revelations.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-christie-bully-20140111,0,3128420.story#ixzz2q3pJZXy2
Port Authority Police Blamed Mayor For Christie's Traffic Jam
Fort Lee, N.J. Mayor Mark Sokolich (D) wrote a letter to a top Port Authority official on Sept. 12 complaining that the agency's police officers were telling commuters it was the mayor's fault that lanes were closed on the George Washington Bridge, causing massive traffic jams.
Documents revealed this week made clear that Gov. Chris Christie's (R-N.J.) appointees were responsible for the closures, along with at least one member of the Governor's senior staff.
The state of New Jersey released hundreds more pages of documents Friday surrounding the "Bridgegate" scandal, including the Sokolich letter to Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni.
The release of these new documents comes two days after the revelation that top Christie aides were involved in the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. Christie held a press conference on Thursday apologizing for the scandal and said he didn't have any knowledge of or involvement in the decisions.
http://www.businessinsider.com/fort-lee-mayor-port-authority-blamed-me-for-the-traffic-jam-2014-1#ixzz2q3nJF0sD
Kelly was messaging about GWB lane closures on day she accompanied Christie to Seaside fire.
Bridget Anne Kelly, the aide Governor Christie fired for her role in manufacturing a Fort Lee traffic jam apparently as political retribution, was receiving messages about what to tell reporters before she accompanied him to the Seaside Heights boardwalk fire, newly released documents show.
On the fourth day of the traffic jam, the governor - accompanied by Kelly - rushed to the scene of the inferno raging in Ocean County. The pair arrived at the boardwalk on Sept. 12 at about 6:25 p.m. The fire was first reported at about 2:05 p.m.
Ocean County photographer, Phil Stinton, snapped photos of Christie and Kelly — a Ramsey resident with deep Bergen County political ties — at about 7 p.m. walking and talking with firefighters. In one photo, Christie is strutting, fist clenched, absent his suit jacket, sleeves rolled, tie and hair wind blown. Kelly, wearing a mauve blouse, black skirt and pearl necklace, stands alongside him. She is looking down at her smartphone.
About four hours earlier, at 3:18 p.m., Kelly received an email from Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive David Wildstein, who resigned after months of dogged questions about his order to close toll lanes leading from Fort Lee’s local streets to the George Washington Bridge. Michael Drewniak, the governor’s spokesman, was also sent a copy.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/CHRISTIE_KELLY_gwb_lane_closures_seaside_emails.html#sthash.vK0ONMfD.dpuf
IL Gov. Candidate Sorry For Call To Lower Minimum Wage
The Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate who said the state's minimum wage should be lowered is now backtracking.
A day after an interview surfaced in which equity investor Bruce Rauner, one of a handful of Republicans in the gubernatorial race, said that the minimum wage should be lowered by a dollar rather than raised, he backtracked.
"I made a mistake. I was flippant and I was quick," Rauner said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune. "I should have said, ‘Tie the Illinois minimum wage to the national wage and, in that context, with other changes in being pro-business, I support raising the national minimum wage.’ I’m OK with that."
Specifically, Rauner argued that Illinois' minimum wage should be lowered from $8.25 to $7.25. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. That proposal contrasts with calls by Gov. Pat Quinn (D), who Rauner is hoping to replace, to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour. President Barack Obama and national Democrats have also called on raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/il-gov-candidate-apologizes-for-call-to-lower-minimum-wage
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