The Jaffe Briefing - July 29, 2020

STATEWIDE — Now, this is bound to work out well for New Jersey taxpayers. (Not!) Lawmakers have been cooking up a bill to allow local governments to borrow a bucket-load of moolah — up to 30% of their annual budgets, NJ Spotlight reports — to help offset what they’ve lost during the pandemic. Here’s the sting in the tail: They wouldn’t have to get the normal signoff from the Trenton-based Local Finance Board. So, no oversight. And yet another pile of taxpayer debt. That should work out well. GOP Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, who supported the measure before he was against it, said, “the Assembly screwed it up … I can’t back this version.” But onward it steamrolls. And guess who’s going to get flattened?

STATEWIDE – You may not get that excited by a volleyball game between, say, Rowan and Rutgers-Camden, but assume someone else is. And that person is likely devastated by the New Jersey Athletic Conference’s decision to cancel all fall sports. So, no, you won’t be able to see how Stockton does against William Paterson in cross country championships, or Montclair State trying to beat Kean in the final minute of a soccer game. The conference is hoping, somehow, “to pursue every avenue” within NCAA guidelines to hold these sports in the spring, while allowing the student-athletes to keep on practicing this fall. But, no, don’t expect any big TCNJ vs. New Jersey City University rivalry this year. Time for a new hobby.

STATEWIDE – As people continue to pack our beaches and throw huge, senseless house parties, the governor is now ringing some alarm bells. The state reported 565 news cases of Covid-19 yesterday, the highest daily total since early June. So, while we were shaking our collective heads at all these other lame states with escalating numbers of cases, we were also getting way to close to one another, with a false sense that New Jersey had this pandemic licked. A glaring fact: The virus is spreading faster than its being contained here. Mention that to the next slob who decides not to wear a mask.

TRENTON – It’s not over. Oh sure, Mercer County Democrats gave Janice Mironov another two-year term as party chairwoman. It seems she defeated challenger David Schroth, 261–115. But, technical troubles during Tuesday’s online voting made it really tough for committee members to cast their ballots. Schroth, an Ewing councilman, fears some Democrats got disenfranchised, telling the Trentonian the virtual voting was “an unmitigated disaster.” So, this contest may be heading back into court to seek a do-over. Two other county Democrats already sued to block the virtual vote, but a Superior Court judge ruled their reasons were legally insufficient. The judge also agreed to reconsider his decision if problems arose with the online election. It seems this election is now back on him.

BRIEFING BREATHER

There is a ghost town in Arizona called “Nothing.” It has one abandoned building and a couple of signs.

ATLANTIC CITY – So, is former Mayor Frank Gilliam going to jail, or what? For those still following news of the corrupt mayor, he was supposed to be headed to the slammer last year for defrauding a non-profit youth basketball program out of more than $87,000. Yet, as the Press of AC notes, his sentencing has now been postponed five times, to date, with the latest court date scheduled for September 9 in Camden. Yes, there have been delays because of the pandemic, but hizzoner pleaded guilty Oct. 3 and continues to wait to be escorted away in cuffs.

HILLSIDE – No longer will George Washington and Calvin Coolidge be honored on elementary school buildings in town, as the Board of Education unanimously figured these schools should be named after local people who have directly contributed to the schools, TAPInto reports. So, farewell to President Coolidge, and welcome to the “Deanna Taylor Academy,” named after a teacher at the school who died tragically. Washington’s name has also been retired in the Hillside schools, replaced by the “Ola Edwards Community School,” honoring a school cafeteria worker and custodian for 30 years. 

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

WEST ADDISON, Vt. – When you jump out of a plane and lose your fake leg in mid-air, you assume it’s a goner, right? A legless Vermont skydiver was shocked to learn that a farmer found his prosthetic in a soybean field on Saturday, luckily before it was mauled under a tractor. “I think my adrenaline was so high and I was just so excited, I didn’t realize I had lost it,” the skydiver told NBC. Once safely on the ground, the skydiver went to social media, asking if anyone around West Addison may have found a leg. The farmer spotted it. Beyond a few scratches, it was undamaged. The farmer tells NBC that “You’ve always got to keep an eye out,” comparing the find to a needle in his haystack. 

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 1988 that the Playboy Club in Lansing, MI closes, creating a group of angry, unemployed bunnies.

WORD OF THE DAY

Foofaraw – [fo͞ofəˌrô] – noun

Definition: A great deal of attention given to a minor matter.

Example: I could not believe the foofaraw from my wife when I brought home the “wrong” organic flaxseed. Apparently, some other brand offers much more effective lignans, and other phenolic compounds, and whatever.

WIT OF THE DAY

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”

-Napoléon Bonaparte

TODAY'S TRUMPISM

“If Sleepy Joe Biden, the puppet of the Left, ever won, markets would crash and cities would burn. Our Country would suffer like never before. We will beat the Virus, soon, and go on to the Golden Age - better than ever before!"

- Donald J. Trump

WEATHER IN A WORD

Better

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