The Jaffe Briefing - March 3, 2020
STATEWIDE – Happy “Super Tuesday!” It’s the biggest day on the primary calendar, and the results could very well determine if New Jersey will have any relevancy, at all, in deciding who will be the Democratic candidate to take on Trump. Voters in 14 states go to the polls today, including such biggies as Texas and California, comprising one-third of the delegates for the Democratic convention in July. The big question: Mike Bloomberg just blew a half-billion dollars; is it enough to move the needle? Or is today’s election just clearing the path for a Joe Biden victory? Whatever the case, if there are bumps in this road, New Jersey’s primary election on June 2 could actually mean something. We’ll find out tonight.
STATEWIDE – Unless your formal attire includes a hunting cap, a dangling Pall Mall and a flannel coat, let's assume you have very little problem with Gov. Phil Murphy’s plan to jack up more than a dozen fees for gun owners. Every proposal makes more sense than the last. Check this out: a $2 gun application will increase to $50 and a firearm ID card will balloon from $5 to $100. If that’s not enough, there would also be a 2.5% tax on firearms and a 10% tax on ammunition, under the governor’s proposal. This windfall of cash will apparently be given to the State Police to help fund background checks on prospective gun buyers. Got a problem with all this rootin-tootin, tax hikin’? Then don’t own a gun in one of the most congested places on the planet.
TRENTON – What’s a fine and what’s a tax? One attorney representing a gaggle of ticked-off motorists claims that those $50 fines for blowing through E-ZPass tolls is not a fine. Rather, he argues, it is good ol’ taxation without representation. His rational, according to NJ 101.5: Each $50 fine is allegedly not designed to generate more revenue for the Turnpike Authority. Rather, it is supposed to recoup the cost of collecting the fine, yet charges way more than the actual cost. The Turnpike Authority has shot back that this fine, which was doubled nine years ago, is needed to fund rising violation processing costs. The case goes to a state judge this spring, who must decide if this federal class action suit should continue. It seems the real winners are those who just pay the tolls, forgoing any fines.
PISCATAWAY - A hard-throwing pitcher is affectionately known to be "throwing gas," but actually throwing gas on equipment is not part of baseball etiquette. Just ask the Rutgers baseball team. Some of the Scarlet Knights' equipment was ruined when jet fuel spilled on their bags at an airport in Utah late Sunday night, TAPInto New Brunswick reports. The athletics department announced Tuesday's game with Saint Joseph's (Pa.) has been cancelled. No word if Delta is going to come in from the bullpen and clean up this mess.
BRIEFING BREATHER: There is no work that perfectly rhymes with "month." No, don't even thing of "fonth."
ON THE RIVER – There’s a stretch of the Delaware River where folks are doing exactly what they should be: swimming, tubing, water skiing, paddle boarding, etc. Unfortunately, this 26-mile section is the last remaining portion of the river zoned for “secondary contact’’ recreational use by the Delaware River Basin Commission. Strip away the doubletalk, and it means it’s OK to fish and boat, as long as you don’t swallow much water. Now, environmentalists dream of this area being rezoned as “primary contact,” with nice, pristine water. NJSpotlight reports there’s more than just juggling words going on here; rezoning also tightens up the restrictions on stormwater runoff and sewage discharge. What it won’t do is magically make the Delaware good enough to drink.
NEW BRUNSWICK – Sure, it’s just a chocolate chip cookie. But this particular cookie has magic powers – so strong that it can end some of the hunger in the city. The treat is made at Elijah’s Soup Kitchen and then sold to patrons at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center during intermission, TAPInto New Brunswick reports. Each cookie purchased goes a long way to paying for a full meal at the soup kitchen. So far, over the past four months, 300 cookies have been sold, wrapped in a message that reads “Taste Good, Do Good.” Want to make some real money? Throw in a carton of milk.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
ON THE AUCTION BLOCK - It was a notoriously awful toy, with a projectile rocket that could do some serious damage to your typical toddler. And now the Rocket-Firing Boba Fett is coming back, at least for an auction that kicks off tomorrow. It looks like this one rare toy is could be worth more than $80,000, Forbes reports, as absentee bids have already hit $62,500 before the auction officially kicks off. As everyone obviously knows, this Rocket-Firing Boba Fett is unpainted and made of blue plastic, a prototype that used an L-Slot design named after the shape of the backpack mechanism to allow the rocket to fire. It never went into production – likely because of its outrageous danger – but was used by toymaker Kenner to promote the The Empire Strikes Back. And now it can be yours. Or you can use all your extra cash to buy chocolate chip cookies.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1972 that it was announced interest rates could spike dramatically. For some, it could have meant 372% interest on a $10 loan. Seemed more than fair.
WORD OF THE DAY
WIT OF THE DAY
TODAY'S TRUMPISM
WEATHER IN A WORD: Soaker
THE NEW 60
A Jaffe Briefing Exclusive
by Andy Landorf & John Colquhoun
