The Morning Briefing - December 7, 2015
SOMEWHERE - The Christie Administration is taking part in community service events today across the state as part of the governor's "Season of Service." The acting health commissioner is helping rebuild homes in Union Beach and senior staff in the state health department are stocking shelves at a Neptune food bank, etc. And the governor? Somewhere, as if it matters anymore.
ROSELLE PARK - We don't know Councilwoman Charlene Storey, but we gotta question her priorities. It's unbelievable she quit the council when her colleagues voted to add the word "Christmas" to the name of the town's tree-lighting ceremony Thursday night. She doesn't think Roselle Park should be cutting "non-Christians out of the loop." OK...But actually quit? NJ.com reports she has since rescinded her resignation, following the mayor's intervention, and is now going to be leading a municipal committee on diversity. That won't be until spring, of course, when she flips out over the "Easter" egg hunt.
STATEWIDE - In other holiday cheer, most rabbis poo-poo Hanukkah as a serious holiday; some even dismiss the "Festival of Lights" as a great story cooked up by Judah Maccabee and his top-notch PR team. Yet, according to a study cited by a Rowan University religion professor, it was found that 72 percent of American Jews eagerly celebrate the holiday, a much higher number than those who mark the big deal stuff, like Yom Kippur. The reasons are obvious: As modern-day marketers continue to whip the "holiday season" into a delirious, non-stop shopping bonanza, Hanukkah will get more popular than ever. Yet another victory for the Maccabees.
STATEWIDE - New Jersey is known for plenty of backwards and outdated laws. But what's the most glaring is the fact that you can't buy booze in most supermarkets. Liquor store owners argue they are the best ones to ensure a shopper is at least 21, and that mom-and-pops would be destroyed by any extra competition. That argument had as much fizz as a day-old Coors Light, following a report released from the Food Marketing Initiative. It revealed that Massachusetts generated $16.9 million and 150 jobs when it moved into the 21 century and allowed more supermarkets to sell spirits. Will New Jersey follow?
STATEWIDE - This fall, Verizon has been doing a road show around the state, showing how the "Internet of Things" is revamping how we live our lives. Self-driving cars, "smart" cement on bridges and many other gizmos show how the Internet is rapidly impacting all facets of our lives. But what has really gotten the crowds cheering is 5G technology, in which your smartphones, laptops and tablets will be able to download 30 to 50 times quicker. Just imagine the ability to download a two-hour feature movie in 15 seconds. And 5G is coming, Verizon says, perhaps as soon as next year.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
ST. LOUIS -Local cops are investigating a 19-year-old trespasser at the Budweiser brewery whose name happens to be "Bud Weisser." Apparently, Bud was wandering around a secured area of the brewery Thursday night for some reason. Guards told him to leave, he refused and there was a scuffle. Cops then needed to put Bud on ice.
LYNCHBURG, Va. - If every student, staff and faculty member at a college was armed with a gun, apparently the school would be safer. That's the reasoning of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., who's telling everyone to run off and get a permit for a concealed weapon. "Let's teach them a lesson if they ever show up here," Falwell told an estimated 10,000 members of the campus community at convocation Friday in Lynchburg. Interested to see how many parents would "feel safe" if their kids were handed a gun and then sent to a school where even the lunch lady is packing heat.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
On this day, you can't write about anything else: It was 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, when a Japanese dive bomber appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. That surprise attack in 1941 struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.
WORD OF THE DAY
Lethologica: (lee-tho-LO-gi-ca) - noun
Definition: The inability to remember the right word
Example: I'm trying to give you an example of a word to use in a sentence. It's on the tip of my tongue. Damn.