2014 - Page 96 of 98

Fort Lee Mayor Shows He’s a Crass Act

January 9, 2014 Buck Banks

David Wildstein deserves an ass-kicking. Sorry. There, I said it.

— Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (D), quoted by the Newark Star Ledger, on the Port Authority official responsible creating traffic by closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge.

Stewart: Christie Gives N.J. Corruption a Bad Name

January 9, 2014 Buck Banks

As a guy who grew up in New Jersey, I’m disappointed, ashamed of the state I grew up in. Political payback through traffic congestion? To see New Jersey sink to such a piss-poor, third-rate quality of corruption …. This is New Jersey! A state renowned for its piss-rich, first-rate corruption.

— Jon Stewart, not surprisingly, leading off the Daily Show last night with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).

Stand Down, Christie

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 Jon Ponder

Which of these governors’ reactions to scandal is not like the others: Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York, former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevy and current New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie?

It could have been worse. Had there been a man-made or natural disaster, the aides’ actions in deliberately gridlocking traffic in Fort Lee could have endangered the lives of thousands of New Jersey residents.

Both Govs. Spitzer and McGreevey resigned, of course. In both cases, they were embroiled in sex scandals — and both were Democrats. Spitzer resigned in 2008 after an investigation uncovered the fact that he had numerous encounters with high-priced prostitutes. McGreevey resigned in 2004 after it was revealed he was engaged in an improper relationship with an appointee and after he revealed that, as he put it, he was a “gay American.”

Gov. Christie is involved in a much more serious scandal, of course. At least one life may have been lost and tens of thousands of others were put in jeopardy because of a petty and capricious act ordered by members of his senior aides, if not by Christie himself. So far, he has avoided taking responsibility for these shameless acts by shifting blame to people he hired to fill the most senior positions on his staff.

[…]

Bridge Too Far

January 8, 2014 Buck Banks

Seems Chris Christie got too big for his gubernatorial britches,
When he choked off Fort Lee traffic from one of New York’s bridges.
The mayor did not endorse,
So the traffic got worse and worse,
Because New Jersey politicians are sons of bitches.

A Record High Percentage of Americans Identifies as Independents

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 Buck Banks

42%

Of Americans, on average, identified as political independents in 2013, the highest measured in 25 years, a new Gallup poll finds. Meanwhile, Republican identification fell to 25%, the lowest over that time span. At 31%, Democratic identification is unchanged from the last four years but down from 36% in 2008.

Maine Gov. LePage Wants to Put State’s Children to Work

January 8, 2014 Buck Banks

We don’t allow children to work until they’re 16, but two years later, when they’re 18, they can go to war and fight for us. That’s causing damage to our economy. I started working far earlier than that, and it didn’t hurt me at all. There is nothing wrong with being a paperboy at 12 years old, or at a store sorting bottles at 12 years old.

— Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), telling a trade show audience that 12-year-olds should be allowed to work in Maine, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Clinton Super-PAC Raised More Than $4 Million in 2013

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 Buck Banks

$4 Million

Amount Ready for Hillary, a “super PAC” that is urging Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, raised last year, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Gates Plumbs Depths of Thesaurus to Describe Congress

January 8, 2014January 9, 2014 Buck Banks

Congress is best viewed from a distance — the farther the better — because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country.

— Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his new book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.

Gates Tells All About Warning Not to Tell All In His Tell-All Memoir

January 8, 2014 Buck Banks

I was offended by his suspicion that any of us would ever write about such sensitive matters.

— Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his tell-all book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, about President Obama’s warning to “those of you writing your memoirs.”

Promised RNC Anti-Democrat Ad Blitz Fizzles

January 8, 2014 Buck Banks

$30

The cost of a single ad on a single radio station placed by the Republican National Committee in Anchorage, Alaska. The RNC had announced “a fresh round in an expected torrent of campaign ads targeting Sen. Mark Begich and other Democrats” over Obamacare but the ad blast “turned out to be more of a sprinkle,” the Anchorage Daily News reports.

David Wildstein deserves an ass-kicking. Sorry. There, I said it.

— Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (D), quoted by the Newark Star Ledger, on the Port Authority official responsible creating traffic by closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge.

As a guy who grew up in New Jersey, I’m disappointed, ashamed of the state I grew up in. Political payback through traffic congestion? To see New Jersey sink to such a piss-poor, third-rate quality of corruption …. This is New Jersey! A state renowned for its piss-rich, first-rate corruption.

— Jon Stewart, not surprisingly, leading off the Daily Show last night with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).

42%

— Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), telling a trade show audience that 12-year-olds should be allowed to work in Maine, the Portland Press Herald reports.

$4 Million

Amount Ready for Hillary, a “super PAC” that is urging Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, raised last year, the Chicago Tribune reports.

— Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his new book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.

I was offended by his suspicion that any of us would ever write about such sensitive matters.

— Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his tell-all book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, about President Obama’s warning to “those of you writing your memoirs.”

$30

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”

— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.

“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”

— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.

Numerati

1,000

10%

“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.

71%

$9.5 billion

“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.

470

Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.