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Rocknation

Rocknation's Journal
Rocknation's Journal
January 27, 2018

The Christie Crime Digest's Closing Chapter

...It looks like Crew Christie are determined not to go gently into that good night, but with a closing volley of their trademark political tone-deafness and vulgarianism.

By the power vested in me by the stewardship of New Jersey's new governor (Democrat) Phil Murphy, and by this thread's original poster DU-er Laxman, I now officially close the books on the Christie Crime Digest -- Chris Christie style.

As I said, I had every confidence that Christie's departure from office would only showcase his boorishness, and I'm delighted to report that he didn't let us down.

Business Insider: On the day New Jersey elect(ed) a new governor, current Gov. Chris Christie fell into an old habit that has come to define his governorship...

(To) a constituent who was upset that the governor hadn't attempted to merge the constituent's township...Christie said..."It's easier to sit here and complain. But you know what? That's the joy of public service. It's serving folks...like you that is really such a unique joy. It really is. You're fabulous."


NJ.com: Christie says he relishes some of the friendships he's made because he was governor: Bono texts him on his birthday and holidays. Jon Bon Jovi and his wife are close friends with Christie and Mary Pat. And there's King Abdullah, who hosted him and his family as a guest several years ago.


But as it turns out, those were only the opening acts.

Bloomberg: Christie...was blocked from a VIP entrance he had used for eight years, and directed to stand in Transportation Security Administration screening lines at Terminal B like anyone else, according to a person familiar with the incident...The order came from police for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport...

About two weeks after being laid off from a job I'd had for nine years, I had to make one last visit to the personnel office. I did so by doing what I'd done practically every day for each of those nine years: entering the office building, getting on and off the elevator, exchanging pleasantries with employees who were also passing through the reception area, and bypassing the reception desk. As I was completing my business with the personnel exec, security guards turned up.

Why? Because it never entered my mind that since I didn't work there anymore, I should have conducted myself as a mere visitor "like anyone else." I suppose I should have been embarrassed by my carelessness, or offended by being considered a "suspicious" character. But all I could do was laugh -- "Force of habit, guilty as charged!"

TalkingPointsMemo: The former governor...attempted to enter the airport through a special access area with his state police escort that he reportedly used when he was governor. A Port Authority officer stopped Christie from using that entrance and escorted him to the regular entrance...

But Christie denied the claims in...tweet(s)...saying he was led to one entrance by a Port Authority officer, but was then informed by the TSA that it was the wrong entrance and he was directed to a different gate. “Neither option was the way I entered the airport as Governor (wrong in the story) and PAPD officer never denied me entry at either place (also wrong in story),” he said...

If Christie was "led" to the first gate, it was most likely the result of his telling the PAPD officer that he wanted to use the gate for the New Jersey governor because he considered it a privilege that he still had: the same innocent mistake that I had made. But his response was classic: portraying himself as the victim -- then elevating himself to the hero -- by attacking "false" reports that he'd tried to "evade" both gates.

Nonetheless, I'm delighted that the Christie Crime Digest is ending on such a sour note. In addition to making it that much easier to say "Good riddance, Governor Soprano," it also makes me that much prouder of the time and effort that everyone invested in the Digest's creation and reading. So I won't say goodbye -- I'll just say, "Thanks, Laxman," and "Would you please take off your flip-flops before passing through the scanner, sir?"




rocktivity
December 14, 2017

Self-Snitching: It's Not Just For Hiphoppers Anymore

There are millions of intelligent people out there who also happen to be ***** fans, but the guy with the Nazi tattoos who was arrested...after his friend posted their ***** tickets on Facebook is not one of them...

(B)efore you feel too sorry for him and his ruined Saturday night, (he)...was arrested on charges of aggravated kidnapping...(O)ne of his friends posted a picture of his confirmation email for ***** tickets on Facebook, along with a seating chart marked with the exact spot where he and his +1 would be sitting...(S)heriff’s deputies showed up at the concert, and, well -- there they were...

Click here if you must know where this took place and who this genius went to see -- I have decided to withhold that information out of consideration for both the performers and their intelligent DU fans. Suffice it to say that he can look forward to some wasted years because he is now a prisoner, not a free man...


rocktivity
September 11, 2017

The 2017 9/11 Memorial Film Festival

Introductory remarks byJon Stewart.




An opening short subject by fellow DUer Symbolman:




And the feature presentation:




rocktivity
July 25, 2017

My web host also offers domain name registration; my domain name registrar also offers hosting

and my Internet service provider also offers both. I pay for each of mine separately -- and this kind of situation is precisely the reason why.

Handing off control of your ad placements is one thing, but if you don't control your files and hosting, you DON'T control your content and editorial. And I hope Snopes has the actual Snopes.com name registered independently.

The owner of an international message board I frequent threatened to sell it off because we wouldn't all buy subscriptions. The price included the board's Web hosting, but I pointed out that if the board couldn't be sold without it, it wasn't really his to sell. Only the board's physical files, databases of posts and user accounts, and (in most but not all cases) domain name were of value. The Web hosting, Internet service provider, and message board software could (and should) be supplied by the buyer, requiring a considerable reduction of his asking price. He changed his mind about selling.

When the company where I started my first blog was sold, and when I've needed Web hosting with better pricing or more advanced features, I have simply found a new Web host; uploaded the latest copies of my databases and physical files to its server (from my home computer -- cloud servers should be used ONLY for storage and backing up); and sent redirect instructions to my domain registrar: that's what you should be able to do when things get "acrimonious."

Let this be a lesson to all: A web service provider's job is to provide web SERVICES -- controlling YOUR web content is YOUR job.


rocktivity


July 17, 2017

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, by Chris "Quadriplegic Duck" Christie

Due to a bout with homelessness (for which I once again thank DU for helping me get out of), I didn't have much of a Christmas. And though I haven't forgotten that I have been bequeathed the stewardship of the Christie Crime Digest, nothing truly noteworthy has happened in Christie-stan since the sentencing of Kelly and Baroni. However, that changed drastically over Independence Day weekend when Christie shut down the government -- which allowed me to feel like I had awakened on Christmas morning to find a roomful of presents!

The Back Story (Thanks, DU-er No_hypocrisy): Both Assembly and Senate were and are ready to pass the Budget. However, the Governor has INSISTED that the Legislature ALSO AND SIMULTANEOUSLY pass a measure...(that) would raid a surplus garnered by NJ Horizon Blue Shield and Blue Cross...allowing the Governor to apply that entity's money...to the NJ deficit, caused by the Governor not demanding higher income residents pay higher taxes...

Christie knows that the measure by itself would not pass...Not only that, the Governor would "allow" an extra $350 million for schools, legal aid for the poor, and other programs to be included in the Budget if the Legislature agreed to vote...Unfortunately, that split democrats (who are in the majority in both houses)...(I)t's on the Governor, not the Legislature.




The ninety-three cents on the dollar Exxon settlement that Christie left on the table would sure come in handy right now -- wouldn't they have been a smarter company to raid?

The Guardian: Even for a US state governor with six months left in office and an approval rating of just 15%, it was an unusually bold move.

First, you order a government shutdown that closes all state parks and beaches on the eve of the 4 July holiday weekend. Then you...spend a good chunk of Sunday soaking up the rays with your family on a pristine stretch of sand that – thanks to your order – you have entirely to yourselves. Asked about reports that his family was staying at the state residence at Island Beach state park while it was closed to the public, Christie...(said) “I didn’t get any sun.”

Told of the existence of aerial pictures of the governor sitting on the beach with...family members, his spokesman, Brian Murray, conceded Christie was “on the beach briefly.” But Murray insisted: “He did not get any sun. He was wearing a baseball cap.”








NJ.com: Howard and Betty Height are not the governor, but they have a house on Island Beach State Park. So do five other families.

But while Gov. Chris Christie and his family tanned, the other families burned -- with anger. The other Island Beach residents were ordered out of the homes Friday night under the threat of arrest. They packed up and drove off, right past the governor's summer retreat, its lights ablaze with activity...


CNN: "That's just the way it goes," Christie said Saturday in response to a reporter's questions during a news conference. "Run for governor and you can have a residence."


Meanwhile, christie got special "Greetings from Asbury Park"...

Rawstory: (At a) 2011 press conference...during Hurricane Irene...(Christie) told people "sitting on the beach at Asbury Park” to “get the hell off the beach”...On Monday (7/3/17)...(a) crowd of beachgoers in Asbury Park...cheered...after a plane flew over the beach pulling a banner with... “Tell Chris Christie: get the hell off Island Beach State Park...”




...and a meme was born...










Mine:







NJ.com: Gov. Chris Christie announced he is ending the three-day state government shutdown...State-run recreation sites will reopen on the Fourth of July...

He'd offered to blunt his veto pen in exchange for two bills the Legislature also delivered: one pledging the state lottery as an asset to the public pension fund and another giving the state more control over the state's largest health insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. That proposal deeply divided Democratic lawmakers...Christie blamed the state Assembly leader for the budget impasse...

Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, who had refused to allow a vote to be put the lower chamber...and the state Senate health committee chairman tasked with tinkering with the bill emerged from a flurry of private meetings with state Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Horizon CEO Bob Marino...Within hours they had a new bill and a deal...which Christie promptly signed after making what he called "minor changes" to budget language...

...(T)he full restoration of government operations (on 7/5/17) will return about 30,000 furloughed state employees to work...


Did I call Christie a lame duck? Make that a quadriplegic duck! But seriously, folks, with six months left to his stewardship, we can only hope that's he'll allow us to "close the books" on the Christie Crime Digest gracefully. As for life after politics, I'm pretty sure that Exxon, if not Horizon, wouldn't hesitate to hire him!


rocktivity
July 17, 2017

Christie Crime Digest Volume V: The Epilogue

Welcome to the beginning of the end of the Chris Christie era.



As the sun sets on Chris Christie's political, professional, and personal credibility, I was more than happy to accept the keys to the Christie Crime Digest from thread starter DU-er Laxman. But I have to confess that between there being just six months left to the Governor Soprano Crime Family regime and the shutting of the Bridge(t)-Gate, I honestly didn't think that another volume would be necessary. No such luck: it looks like Crew Christie are determined not to go gently into that good night, but with a closing volley of their trademark political tone-deafness and social vulgarianism. So here we are...and here are the links to:



My first order of business will be to tie up the loose ends on Bridge(t)-Gate:

Chapters 352, 353: Cue the guy with with the Dragnet hammer - Baroni, Kelly and Wildstein sentenced



Chapter 354: HorizonGate-ShutdownGate-BeachGate: What Chris Christie Did On His Summer Vacation

Chapter 355: Meet one of David Wildstein's character references who wrote the judge who decided his fate.

Chapter 355a: A closer look at Wildstein's plea for leniency -- and self-made banishment from respectability -- plus a link to the complete statement.

Chapter 356: The count is 0 and 2: Christie strikes out as sportscaster, takes in baseball game as fans cry foul (ball).

Chapter 357: It turns out that Christie is qualified to nominate himself as New Jersey senator should a replacement be needed for the indicted Bob Menenedez before Christie's term ends. Too bad he's long since disqualified himself for the job.

Chapter 358: Beach-Gate post mortem: Christie plays the kid card -- even they noticed that perhaps he'd abused his power. And don't miss the video tribute.

Chapter 358a: The New Jersey Dem-pire locks the Beach-Gate shut.

Chapter 359: Why a six-month-old story about something that happened to Christie three years ago suddenly has news significance.

Chapter 359a: Why a seven-month-old story about something that happened to MRS. Christie suddenly has news significance.

THE FINAL CHAPTER: The beginning of the New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy era, for which we give "Eternal Thanks" to Laxman and all the Digest's contributors; "Eternal Gratitude" to the Digest's past, present, and future readers; and most important of all, "Eternal Good Riddance" to you-know-who...
July 10, 2017

UPDATE: An even better video from the Greater Miami Area Patch



Click here to fast forward to the six-minute mark. At 6:08, a white car pulls up and stops at the first intersection. Venus pulls up and stops behind it at 6:22, but the white car doesn't start moving until 6:30. No oncoming traffic prevents the car from proceeding, so why does it just sit there for least twenty seconds? Because its light was red, most likely.

At 6:33 (and presumably after the light has turned green) the white car completes a left turn, and Venus drives through the first intersection unimpeded. At 6:38, she stops at the second intersection and yields the right of way to a car going in the opposite direction of the Barson car -- strong evidence that Venus was truthful about her light being green. Why? Because of how unlikely it is that her light had turned red ONLY FIVE SECONDS after it had turned green!

While the car she yielded to clears the second intersection, two cars in the lanes next to Barson's pull up and stop at 6:41. Venus starts up again at 6:42 when Barson barrels past the two cars into the intersection, with impact at 6:43.

No way is Venus at fault. Mrs. Barson either failed to yield the right of way to Venus (like the drivers of the two cars that stopped when they got to intersection and let Venus go through), ran a red light, or both -- and she's definitely guilty of entering the intersection at an inappropriate speed. Instead of extorting money, Mrs. Barson's lawyers should be trying to persuade the D.A. that the loss of her husband is punishment enough.


rocktivity

June 29, 2017

Helpful hint for the day: Avoid social media if you're trying to avoid the cops

AV Club.com: There are millions of intelligent people out there who also happen to be ***** fans, but the guy with the Nazi tattoos who was arrested...after his friend posted their...tickets on Facebook is not one of them...

(B)efore you feel too sorry for him...(he)...was arrested on charges of aggravated kidnapping...(O)ne of his friends posted a picture of his confirmation email for ***** tickets on Facebook, along with a seating chart marked with the exact spot where he and his +1 would be sitting...(S)heriff’s deputies showed up at the concert, and -- well, there they were...

Click here if you must know where this took place and who this genius went to see -- I have decided to withhold that information out of consideration for both the performer(s) and his/her/their intelligent DU fans. Just suffice it to say that the guy is no longer running free, and can look forward to about twenty wasted years because he's now a prisoner, not a free man...


rocktivity

But wait...there's more...
June 5, 2017

Man Flashes Guns and Cash on Facebook Live, Gets Raided on Facebook Live

Candidate for the Self-Snitching Hall of Disdain:

22-year-old Breon Hollings, a Jacksonville, Fla. resident, was seen flaunting handfuls of cash during a Facebook Live stream ...while speaking to the camera, but becomes distracted when he sees lights outside of his window... (link)





rocktivity
December 28, 2016

Christie's "Glinda" Moment

NJ.com: At the core of Gov. Chris Christie's campaign to kill newspapers jobs is the claim that his bill will save money. He puts the number at $80 million...It's another lie. And I don't mean it's an innocent mistake. I mean it's a...whopper with a dark purpose behind it...

The last time this came up, the Legislature's own researchers found that locals might not save a dime, and that it could even cost them more to handle the job themselves online...(L)ocal governments (that) don't use newspapers...will have to establish secure web sites and hire someone to process...and track...these ads...

So where did Christie get the $80 million figure?..."Multiple state agencies sampled public notices in all daily newspapers in New Jersey over a consecutive 30-day period extrapolating the data over 12 months..." the press office said...(The) League of Municipalities...say this number did not come from them...A survey answered by 147 towns, which tended to be smaller towns, showed the average cost to be just over $7,000...

This is not about saving money. This is the governor's attempt to exact revenge on newspapers, and the reason is that we...point it out when he lies. What's depressing to me is that the Legislative leaders are joining hands with him. It's part of a deal, all struck in the back rooms, as usual. And it was bipartisan...


But like that scene in The Wizard of Oz, the N.J. Dems finally realized that Christie no longer had absolute power over them and dropped a house -- specifically, a house of representatives -- on him!



NJ.com: Finally, Democrats in Trenton are revolting against a craven backroom deal struck by their leaders, a sign of life in a party that seems to have lost its moral compass.

"I am so disgusted with my colleagues," says Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union). "There is no Democratic Party," says Sen. Loretta Weinberg. (D-Bergen). "Where are our core values?" asks Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex).

...(T)hey are (also) grumbling about the sweetheart book deal, too. Why waive an ethics law to allow the governor to profit from a book while he is in office? Hasn't he ignored his job enough? And the big question: What is the motive? What did Democratic leaders get in return for these big concessions to the most unpopular governor in the country? They got a raise for their staffs and judges, but is that all it takes? Is their price that low?

I asked. They won't say.

What is there to ask? Christie has lost his political leverage, that's all. He hasn't got the support of either the Democrat majority in the state legislature, President Trump, OR the voters. It is now "safe" to just say no to him -- especially when the public interest is hanging in the balance.


NJ.com: In a stunning defeat for Gov. Chris Christie, state lawmakers...blocked a pair of controversial bills (Christie) was pushing for, stalling a measure that would end a requirement for legal ads to be published in New Jersey's newspapers and killing legislation that would have allowed Christie to profit from a book deal while in office...

Democratic leaders of the Senate said they would not even discuss the bills until it was clear how the Assembly would vote...Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) announced he was postponing a vote on the newspaper bill and that the book measure would not be reconsidered.

...Christie...has often cut deals with Democratic leaders and party bosses to usher through legislation over the last seven years...


Negotiating is not legislating, and bullying is not bipartisanship. Ding, dong, the Christie deals are dead!


rocktivity

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