|
Oxxidation posted:To be fair, this is New Jersey. Our last governor "lost" billions of dollars and walked away without so much as a subpoena. The governor before him was farming out high-level positions to his secret gay lover. At one point, I'm pretty sure the Senate was running a Zionist organ-harvesting cabal on the side, and no, there is no joke in this sentence. So at what point does NJ overtake IL as the go-to for political corruption attack analogies?
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2014 18:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 18:08 |
|
|
Oxxidation posted:To be fair, this is New Jersey. Our last governor "lost" billions of dollars and walked away without so much as a subpoena. It's pretty clear in that case that Corzine was brought in to be a rain maker and didn't have a clue what was going on. Not to excuse his myriad of other sins. Generally speaking, I have found that professionally, upper management being clueless as to the day to day operations of their businesses tends to be the rule and not the exception.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2014 18:11
|
|
|
joeburz posted:So at what point does NJ overtake IL as the go-to for political corruption attack analogies? Not until IL stops being majority democratic.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2014 18:12
|
|
|
ReV VAdAUL posted:Given this article leads with a picture of Rabbis getting arrested I'd say it is a strong possibility: So...so where's Batman? There's Batman now right I know there wasn't yesterday but today there's a Batman and he'll...he'll beat the bad guys up and...it's...I can't. I just can't deal. I'm finding a bottle and climbing inside it for ever. Organ harvesting rabbis jesus loving christ
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2014 18:24
|
|
|
frest posted:That was something I was very willing to consider. That all of circus, all this meant was that some SVP at a financial was stuck on the bridge for 4 hours, and goddamnit if they don't lobby too hard to put up with this poo poo. I think this is also the reason Bernie Madoff was ever punished. Significant repercussions are almost always the result of a wealthy person being negatively affected.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2014 22:20
|
|
|
Nothing is funnier than when Jim McGreevey resigned because he was gay and not because he was an awful, corrupt piece of poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2014 23:10
|
|
|
BottledBodhisvata posted:So...so where's Batman? There's Batman now right I know there wasn't yesterday but today there's a Batman and he'll...he'll beat the bad guys up and...it's...I can't.  I thought we all knew. Though it was Batgirl who was in Congress.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2014 23:51
|
|
|
joeburz posted:So at what point does NJ overtake IL as the go-to for political corruption attack analogies? The problem with Illinois is that the infighting leads to actual arrests, instead of "investigations" that go nowhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2014 07:36
|
|
|
Warcabbit posted:
Yep another neoliberal democrat in bed with Wall Street I guess that fits Bruce Wayne pretty well
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2014 18:03
|
|
|
Does anyone have any figures on how many Americans were injured or killed in car accidents because of the week-long traffic problem? I'd like to see that number put up in some saucy image macro juxtaposed with the 4 that died in buttghazi for some delicious neocon facebook trolling.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2014 20:48
|
|
|
Robot Pride posted:Does anyone have any figures on how many Americans were injured or killed in car accidents because of the week-long traffic problem? I'd like to see that number put up in some saucy image macro juxtaposed with the 4 that died in buttghazi for some delicious neocon facebook trolling. Don't politicize Bengahzi. Seriously, you can make this point without crawling over the dead and saying, "See, see they do it too! "
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2014 22:25
|
|
|
Robot Pride posted:Does anyone have any figures on how many Americans were injured or killed in car accidents because of the week-long traffic problem? I'd like to see that number put up in some saucy image macro juxtaposed with the 4 that died in buttghazi for some delicious neocon facebook trolling.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2014 22:58
|
|
|
The sad thing is, unless if investigations bring up even more fresh damning allegations, I can easily imagine this blowing over. Pre-scandal, when I surveyed my Facebook newsfeed, I got two conflicting narratives: 1. Same sex marriage is great and people opposed to it are huge assholes. (People are tired of hearing about bad teachers have it and environmental issues, etc. But the issue of gay rights continue to stick in the social media moral high horse hive mind.) 2. Chris Christie is a cool guy and one of the very few "good republicans" in politics now. (I even had one friend who voted for John Edwards for president endorse Christie for reelection.) This is often coming from the same people. And this is despite how Christie opposed and vetoed same sex marriage in NJ. Post scandal, I see people are more comfortable sharing anti-Christie stories, whether they're bridge related or not. I tried to let people know that one of Christie's first official actions as governor following the scandal breaking was vetoing transgender rights, but it seems like we're long way to go before the "T" part of LGBT rights becomes a sexy cause worth jumping on the bandwagon. Christie still has a monopoly of support from the "rich white rear end in a top hat" wing on the Republican party, and I doubt think they're ready to support another Republican. I enjoyed finally feeling validated for opposing Christie all along, but I feel the best days of that are already over. Just wondering, have there been any good articles written about Chris Christie's relationship with Rutgers University?
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2014 23:31
|
|
|
The only thing that can save Christie is that the rest of the GOP is unbelievably unelectable. Newt loving Gingrich was competitive in the 2012 Primary. Newt Gingrich.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2014 00:51
|
|
|
Yeah that's a good point. Romney was not a great candidate but every time someone listed off a raft of reasons he couldn't be the nominee it sounded pretty hollow for that reason. Latest that has already come up in other threads is that Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer says NJ Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and an official in Christie’s cabinet both tied Sandy money to her supporting a real estate project. Guadagno denies it. Also (not "new" but new-to-me) Carl Lewis was threatened to not run for state senate but was iffy on the residency requirement anyway (Christie was protecting the incumbent, presumably).
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2014 16:51
|
|
|
So is Wikipedia trolling Christie or... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page 
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2014 17:14
|
|
|
Oh my god I forgot about the organ harvesting Rabbis. That was kind of weird. Living in New York I guess begins to warp your view on things.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2014 17:57
|
|
|
So it looks like when Bridget Kelley was fired, she lawyered up with a Christie appointed attorney, Walter Timpone. He dropped her yesterday, citing conflict of interest but why didn't that come up when she first contacted him? He had to know who she was. http://www.northjersey.com/news/GWB_scandal_Lawyer-for-ex-Christie_aid_Bridget_Anne_Kelly_steps_down_citing_conflict.html One theory put out there is that the conflict of interest actually arises because she may be planning on spilling the beans instead of pleading no contest. Since Timone and Christie have a history, there's no way he could represent her if she planned on implicating him.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2014 22:02
|
|
|
Spun Dog posted:So it looks like when Bridget Kelley was fired, she lawyered up with a Christie appointed attorney, Walter Timpone. He dropped her yesterday, citing conflict of interest but why didn't that come up when she first contacted him? He had to know who she was. It'd also be a conflict of interest if the lawyer thought the best thing for her to do is spill the beans and sell Christie up the river. If you can't give your best defense, you need to get out of there.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 13:46
|
|
|
FBI getting involved in one of the separate Christie scandals. From a different article, supposedly the witnesses backed up the Mayor's claim:quote:FBI agents have begun questioning aides to the mayor of Hoboken, N.J. about allegations that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) administration threatened to withhold Hurricane Sandy relief funds from the city, NBC News reported Thursday. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fbi_questioning_aides_to_hoboken_mayor_dawn_zimmer
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 17:51
|
|
|
Holy poo poo Christie, you dumb fat gently caress edit: Let's not overlook the fact that despite Christie trying run New Jersey like a mob boss, Dawn Zimmer is playing the game like an absolute pro. Wait until Christie is at his weakest and then exact your revenge. This Sandy Funds thing wouldn't have gotten nearly the attention it deserves if she let it fly earlier, and Christie would have been in a much better position to resist and seek retribution. Grand Theft Autobot fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Jan 24, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2014 23:28
|
|
|
Grand Theft Autobot posted:Holy poo poo Christie, you dumb fat gently caress Yeah he could do no wrong in the media's eyes during Sandy. If she had said that poo poo it'd probably had gotten more traction from people like Drudge.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 02:50
|
|
|
I am from the UK so I have little understanding on how this all works.. But is this really a case of a "ruler" of a city decided to try and torpedo another persons chance at office by ordering a bridge to have its lanes closed for no reason. Then some workers actually closed the roads for no reason and did no work without questions? How would that cause someone elses chances in politics to be hampered? Why does anyone have a useless power to close a road without some kind of work order that gets signed off by multiple people, how is that even a thing? I feel that surely im missing something major in all this.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 18:37
|
|
|
farcry posted:I am from the UK so I have little understanding on how this all works.. But is this really a case of a "ruler" of a city decided to try and torpedo another persons chance at office by ordering a bridge to have its lanes closed for no reason. Then some workers actually closed the roads for no reason and did no work without questions? I'm not from the UK but I assume if you have a job and your boss tells you to do something you will do it even if it sounds dumb because you don't want to get fired for insubordination.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 18:57
|
|
|
My guess is it was supposed "send a message" to the mayor of Fort Lee, not actually torpedo whatever political ambitions he had. (I doubt they were counting on constituents blaming the mayor.) My guess is the plan seems to be to just gently caress with the traffic for a week and hope people will forget a few weeks later and not ask too many questions. It was the Port Authority (more specifically the Christie's folks at the P.A.) that shut the lanes down. People in the P.A., which is administered by both NJ and New York, were among the first to realize that there was no actual traffic study. Before the emails broke out, I did have my doubt just because the idea of closing traffic with petty motives just sounds like something a rational, self-serving politician would not do. Though it entirely conforms to what the Christie would do if he could get away with it. edit beaten Echo Chamber fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jan 24, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 19:02
|
|
|
farcry posted:I am from the UK so I have little understanding on how this all works.. But is this really a case of a "ruler" of a city decided to try and torpedo another persons chance at office by ordering a bridge to have its lanes closed for no reason. Then some workers actually closed the roads for no reason and did no work without questions? So far, the actual reasons behind the bridge closure have been pretty murky. The only thing we know for sure is that the order came from Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff, and several other staffers in his office were complicit, along with a few of his state appointees. The political retribution angle is something I never quite bought, but yes, people actually went ahead and carried this out. For about a week. On the busiest bridge in the world. The theory behind how it would hurt that mayor's political career has to do with a billion dollar development project right at the foot of the bridge on the Jersey side. Mayor Sokolich has been working on it for years and wants it to be his legacy. You can imagine what kind of effect a weeks worth of gridlock would have on construction, deadlines etc. I think the recent FBI attention to his distribution of relief funds for Hurricane Sandy is going to be more damaging for him legally, but without the stupidity of the bridge closure, we probably would have never known about that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 19:02
|
|
|
0SubponticatePoster posted:Christie is the governor of New Jersey, the highest State office one can hold. He's the equivalent of the President, just on a smaller scale. It wasn't done to hamper someone's chances at office, it was done as a childish act of retribution (the exact target still up for some speculation). Thanks I just cant get my head around why someone so high up would even have the power to say close off this portion of this road instead of it being oh hey mr higher up we could do with this road being restricted due to reasons can you sign off on it instead. Surely a better way for him to do this and cover his back entierly would have been to just been him ordering the road closed for some kind of bullshit improvement that was not needed like repainting lines that are fine. Its like he purposely set himself up here when he could have easily avoided anyone being the wiser.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 19:12
|
|
|
farcry posted:0 The man at the Port Authority who ordered the closures is a political appointee named by the Governor, there was a bullshit justification given, a traffic study. Christie did not officially order anything like that up, he denied his office had anything to do with it (until it was proved otherwise) and still denies he has anything to do with the order himself. FuriousxGeorge fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Jan 24, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 19:17
|
|
|
FuriousxGeorge posted:The man at the Port Authority who ordered the closures is a political appointee named by the Governor, there was a bullshit justification given, a traffic study. Christie did not officially order anything like that up, he denied his office had anything to do with it (until it was proved otherwise) and still denies he has anything to do with the order himself. Pretty sure the actual reason for the closures will come down to some variation of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c3bhh8fqYs
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2014 19:28
|
|
|
FuriousxGeorge posted:The man at the Port Authority who ordered the closures is a political appointee named by the Governor, there was a bullshit justification given, a traffic study. Christie did not officially order anything like that up, he denied his office had anything to do with it (until it was proved otherwise) and still denies he has anything to do with the order himself. This right here. This is why I find political scandals interesting. This is the guy that federal investigators will put in the hot seat. Gunna be interesting to see what develops from this in a year or so.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 09:18
|
|
|
farcry posted:Surely a better way for him to do this and cover his back entierly would have been to just been him ordering the road closed for some kind of bullshit improvement that was not needed like repainting lines that are fine. The thing about Christie is that he doesn't cover his back as much as he strong arms in ways that would normally prevent people from speaking out against him, assuming he can't just replace them with cronies. That works fine for him on a state level, but with the bridge lane closures he opened himself up to the federal government for messing with interstate commerce. He just gave anyone with an (R) or a (D) by their names ammunition to completely smash his national aspirations, regardless if the federal probe actually turns into something.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 10:20
|
|
|
http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2014/01/bridgegate_elizabeth_mayor_bollwage_says_gov_christie_targeted_him_for_retribution_years_ago.html Knives are out. Stabbings begin.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 13:03
|
|
|
Does closing the dmv make Christie an rear end in a top hat for making lines longer everywhere else, our a hero for putting those assholes out of work?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 01:38
|
|
|
Warcabbit posted:http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2014/01/bridgegate_elizabeth_mayor_bollwage_says_gov_christie_targeted_him_for_retribution_years_ago.html
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 03:15
|
|
|
Warcabbit posted:http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2014/01/bridgegate_elizabeth_mayor_bollwage_says_gov_christie_targeted_him_for_retribution_years_ago.html Wow, I didn't know there was a place in NJ called Elizabeth, so I thought that person had a very strange middle name and was surprised to find out it was a guy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 04:01
|
|
|
Surprising nobody in this time of crisis,  was quick to try and ensure everybody knew they were totally fair and balanced about all this. Apparently nobody at fox knows how math works, nor how if they're going to fudge the numbers, they really should do it so its not quite that obvious. http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/01/24/fox-news-math-fail-christie-137-percent/
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 06:16
|
|
|
E-Tank posted:Surprising nobody in this time of crisis, The saddest part of that image is that's kind of what Rasmussen actually said: rasmussenreports.com posted:A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 54% of Likely New Jersey Voters believe it’s at least somewhat likely that Christie was aware that traffic lanes onto the George Washington Bridge were being closed as retaliation for the mayor of Fort Lee’s refusal to support the governor’s reelection. Thirty-six percent (36%) think it’s unlikely Christie was aware beforehand. This includes 30% who say it’s Very Likely he was aware and 17% who say it’s Not At All Likely. Fox News is still the worst at broadcasting actual facts.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 06:43
|
|
|
Torlo Hans posted:The saddest part of that image is that's kind of what Rasmussen actually said: So take away the 30% overlap between somewhat and very likely. That still leaves 107 percentage points in the survey. What gives?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 06:54
|
|
|
Grundulum posted:So take away the 30% overlap between somewhat and very likely. That still leaves 107 percentage points in the survey. What gives? 56% of the population believe Christie at least somewhat likely knew about the closures as retaliation. 34% of the population believe Christie was unlikely to have known about the closure. The remaining 10% presumably have no opinion or lack the information to make the judgment. This really isn't hard.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 07:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 18:08 |
|
|
Grundulum posted:So take away the 30% overlap between somewhat and very likely. That still leaves 107 percentage points in the survey. What gives? They did the same thing at the other end of the scale and the 17% is counted twice too, the remaining 10 percent is probably "don't know/no opinion". The summary paragraph of the article didn't include that cohort so the poor intern who had to put this together didn't think to include it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 07:17
|
|
