The Jaffe Briefing - January 14, 2019
ON THE RAILS - NJ Transit met the all-important end-of-year deadline for installing new safety equipment, called Positive Train Control. To make it happen required severely disrupting service on the Raritan Valley and Atlantic City lines. But all's forgiven because the disruptions were temporary, right? Not so fast, as they say at NJ Transit. NJ Spotlight reports that the "temporary" service changes will remain in effect while planners are busy "evaluating." Local officials from the mightily inconvenienced areas are getting antsy. So, there you have it - the first big mystery of 2019: How "temporary" is "temporary"? Read this cliffhanger in today's NJ Spotlight.
PRINCETON - Call it the rally that wasn't. Everyone was properly appalled last week with plans by the "New Jersey European Heritage Association" to protest at Palmer Square, apparently hoping to spread messages of white supremacy and other stupidity at high noon on Saturday. Hundreds were mobilized to counter the clowns, and police were ready with metal gates, barricades and plenty of manpower, Planet Princeton reports. But it looks like the racists had second thoughts, tweeting on Friday that Princeton had been "punked" and the march was a fake, designed to show how liberals are intolerant of "free speech." Meanwhile, this association continues to recruit, claiming non-whites want to destroy the country, as apparently immigrant families are more interested in creating violence and poverty than raising loved ones in safe communities. Meanwhile, counter-protestors still marched for about 90 minutes on Saturday, yelling for fascists to stay out of Princeton. Here's hoping they take heed.
ALPHA - Unlimited calling might be a good idea for officials in this small Warren County borough, after getting hit with a $1,446 bill for the mayor's cellphone. Mayor Craig Dunwell racked up those charges keeping in touch with Borough Hall last fall during his annual month-long trip to the Ukraine. The Easton Express-Times says the borough council finally approved payment last week after weeks of sharp criticism from residents. Dunwell told his critics: "I think I've saved the borough a lot more money than $1,200 in the two and a half (years) I've been here." Well, not this time. As a public service to the taxpayers of Alpha, here's information on Verizon's "international plan."
SECAUCUS - People here either love Jimmy Buffett or just like humming "Cheeseburger in Paradise" as they eat lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French-fried potatoes. Either way, this Plaza Drive restaurant is now the nation's last remaining location of Buffett's once-sizzling "Cheeseburger in Paradise" chain. All 18 restaurants were sold in 2012 to Fuddruckers' parent company. The CEO tells The Record that 17 of its "under-performing" sites frizzled out and got sold off. But, the Jersey joint won't be wasting away in Margaritaville anytime soon: "It's a very special place. It's long been a top performer."
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
GREAT NECK, N.Y. - Officials at one New York middle school are begging students to ditch the winter hats made by Italian apparel company Moncler because they may get lost at school, the New York Post reports. Frankly, they should be lost. Or intentionally thrown out. Or set ablaze. Because there is nothing that ticks off a teacher more than some spoiled kid who owns a $350 knit hat with fur pom-poms. School officials are sick and tired of looking for lost Montcler hats from weeping rich kids. If they lose them, great. If parents then think twice about blowing so much money on a wildly overpriced winter hat for a kid, even better.
STATEWIDE - It is January. It is freezing. It is a workday. And someone, for some reason, decreed that it should be "Organize Your Home" Day.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1998 that Dallas researchers reported an enzyme that slows the aging process and cell death, ensuring many of us will be taxpayers for at least 120 years.
WORD OF THE DAY
Cockalorum - (kok-ah-LOR-em) - noun
Definition: A little man with an unduly high opinion of himself.
Example: My God, how sports radio is filled with cockalorums!
WIT OF THE DAY
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"Look to the future, because that is where you'll spend the rest of your life."
- George Burns
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WEATHER IN A WORD
Nippy
THE NEW 60
A Jaffe Briefing exclusive
by Andy Landorf & John Colquhoun
