The Jaffe Briefing - June 25, 2021

NEWARK – A week after a bronze statue of George Floyd was proudly unveiled near City Hall, someone has defaced the 700-pound sculpture. Early yesterday, a police sergeant noticed that a nutjob had scrawled graffiti. The face of the statue was also painted black, and in white paint on the torso of the statue were the words: “LIFE…LIBERTY VICTORY PATRIOTFRONT.US.” TAPInto Newark says the cops are investigating, while city workers scrub off all the paint. The news site also explains that Patriot Front is “an image-obsessed organization that rehabilitated the explicitly fascist agenda of Vanguard America with garish patriotism.” Cops say the same crime occurred in Brooklyn, as apparently America’s white supremacists are now on their summer road trip.

STATEWIDE – An ongoing story never gets enough attention – gun violence in New Jersey. WYNC gives the issue the latest look, focusing on the fact that the first five months in 2021 showed a 45% increase in shooting victims in New Jersey compared to the same period in 2018.  Just look at Trenton, where there was a record-setting 40 homicides last year. So, besides the same tired quotes expressing outrage, what is being done? Not much, WNYC reports. Gov. Phil Murphy has said all the right things, even pushing for eight new gun control measures in April. And how many of these measures have so far passed the Democratic-controlled legislature? None. If the Legislature can zip a record-setting $46.4 billion budget to the governor’s desk within a few days, perhaps these gun bills (and others) can get back on the front burner.

WESTFIELD – We hoped we’d heard the last of “The Watcher” house once that 115-year-old Dutch colonial at 657 Boulevard got sold (again) in 2019. But it’s back in the news. Netflix won a network bidding war for rights to the spine-chilling tale a full year before the Broaddus family unloaded the home at a $400,000 loss. Now Netflix announced it signed lovely Oscar nominee Naomi Watts and Jersey-born actor Bobby Cannavale to play Maria and Derek Broaddus in an upcoming horror flick. We finally get to see how they and their three kids (although they never moved in) were terrorized by menacing letters from a faceless stalker called “The Watcher.” Air dates are still under wraps – and, yes, this case is still open. Got any new leads?

BRIEFING BREATHER

In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's nuclear weapons combined.

WOODBRIDGE – Hey kids, before your fancy Spotify, Pandora, MP3s or CDs, vinyl discs were how folks enjoyed music. Places to still find 33⅓ LPs and 45s are rare and another is sadly departing. Vintage Vinyl – a classic record store off Route 1 – will close July 31 after 42 years. Owner Rob Roth tells NJ.com the iconic store he opened in 1979 had “a great run (that) let me live my dream.” Roth, now 65, adds, “but everything comes to end.” In recent years, the Garden State also lost vinyl venues in Asbury Park and Jersey City, making flea markets one of the last places to unload your dusty Doobie Brothers albums.

IN THE MEDIA

SECAUCUS – Will New Jersey’s “news station” ever cover New Jersey? That remains the lofty goal of Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, as well as Rep. Bill Pascrell, all of whom are rightfully ticked off that WWOR-TV flatly refuses to cover the state, yet has the FCC broadcast license to do so. This is not new. For years, our federal lawmakers have been complaining about the downright pitiful, half-assed way in which WWOR slightly mentions New Jersey in its alleged news coverage. Heck, we’ve probably mentioned “New Jersey” more in the past four sentences than WWOR has all year. “WWOR has failed at every turn to deliver for New Jerseyans and… ensuring a well-informed citizenry is a prerequisite for any healthy democracy,” Menendez said. Lawmakers are pushing a bill – the “Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act” – that gives the FCC some teeth to go after stations, like WWOR, force them to live up to their obligations, and hold them accountable to the people and communities they are licensed to serve. The bill would require that WWOR broadcast much more localized programming during primetime hours, file with the FCC a quarterly disclosure of all local programming and actually talk to real New Jerseyans about what they want to see on “their” news station.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

WASHINGTON DC – It may be a big day for tinfoil hat-wearing UFO believers. The Pentagon is poised to hand Congress a thick report today about what it calls "unidentified aerial phenomena." Thanks to former Senate Intelligence committee chairman Marco Rubio, former President Trump ordered our military and intelligence agencies to finally release key info about their closely guarded UFO sightings. Officials are less concerned about extraterrestrial visitors and more worried the many unexplained sightings are of the advanced spy technologies the Russians, Chinese or our own military are keeping hushed. Rubio says his “biggest concern is, frankly, it’s another country… our adversaries made some technological leap that’ll catch us by surprise.” If that’s the case, UFO enthusiasts are in for a big letdown. Unless, of course, it is a secret cover-up, stirred by those hot-headed Republicans sweating it out on Venus.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Rich people donating to rich people? That was the plan on this day in 2006 when Warren Buffet handed $30 million to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

WORD OF THE DAY

Progeny – [PRAH-juh-nee] – noun

Definition: Descendants, children

Example: Will my progeny ever load the dishwasher?

WIT OF THE DAY

“A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.”

-Winston Churchill

BIDEN BLURB

“As a matter of fact, I didn't make a political speech outside of my state for 20 years.”

-Joe Biden 

WEATHER IN A WORD

Enjoy