The Jaffe Briefing - September 17, 2021

STATEWIDE – It’s never too young to learn about greed in sports, as the potential for financial windfall has gotten a bit more important than how fast a kid can throw a slider. So, now, after college students are permitted to profit off their name, image and likeness, the same deal may be offered to high schoolers. NJ.com reports on a questionable proposal before the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association that would allow stellar high school athletes to also make some moolah, while they are also supposed to be learning the game, sportsmanship and teamwork. Perhaps those lessons will now be learned in middle school – until you start seeing the younger prospects scooting around on diamond-encrusted, sponsor-slapped skateboards.

STATEWIDE – Should we invade Pennsylvania? Drop bombs on Delaware? Perhaps, says GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli, who says it is about time to “declare economic war” on our neighboring states and apparent former friends. Politico reports that Ciattarelli wants New Jersey to become the “envy of the other 49 states” for its business climate if he is elected governor. Sounds good to us. “I've gone as far as to say we need to be regionally competitive, but we're also going a step further and say that we need to declare economic war on our neighbors.” Using a Trump strategy of 'Us v. Them,' the GOP candidate says: “Delaware, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Texas, are eating our lunch.” Ciattarelli, who has made improving the state’s business climate a cornerstone of his campaign, claims Murphy is “insensitive” to the struggles employers face. Could be; there are many more “employee” votes than “employer” votes.

STATEWIDE – Democratic headline: “New Jersey has gloriously recovered 60% of jobs lost since March 2020.” Republican headline: “New Jersey has hopelessly lost 40% of jobs lost since March 2020.” The news, at the moment, really depends on your political leanings, so feel free to argue the stats that really don’t say anything. Meanwhile, there are about 500,000 unemployed people in the state receiving benefits, New Jersey Monitor reports, despite the fact that we find “Help Wanted” signs everywhere and are on a six-week wait list to order a burger deluxe at the local diner. Hold the onions, eventually.

BRIEFING BREATHER

There's a company that turns dead bodies into an ocean reef.

TRENTON – There continues to be plenty of mixed messages from the governor’s office. Gov. Phil Murphy is giving $17 million to 19 school districts to expand universal prekindergarten (UPK), yet at the same time pledging support for the state’s struggling private childcare centers. Follow the logic here: Funding more and more UPK programs siphons more and more young children out of the childcare programs that have been decimated throughout the pandemic. And another big question: why are taxpayers funding UPK for families who can easily afford private childcare? Shouldn’t state support be given to those who actually need it? Lots of questions continue to surround the steady expansion of UPK, nearing $1 billion in state investment, to date.

EAST RUTHERFORD – We’ve all spent years, if not decades, questioning the construction of the mega, mega-mall in the Meadowlands, while chronicling the bankruptcies, delays, ugly design and other stumbles. So, let’s celebrate a good moment. Today, the mega-mall opens its luxury wing to take on such stalwarts as the Mall at Short Hills. It is called “The Avenue,” and features a Saks Fifth Avenue to lure all those Manhattanites away from such high-end shopping meccas as, say, the real Fifth Avenue. A big differentiator: climate control.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

ABIDJAN – The Guinness World Records book is out with its 2022 edition, a treasure trove of wacky stories that fuels this blurb throughout the year. And, after some thumbing through, the clear top of the wacky list is Laetitia Ky, from Abidjan in Ivory Coast, who holds the record for the most skips over her own hair in 30 seconds. To earn a space in this year’s book, Ky, 25, achieved 60 skips by braiding her natural hair and adding extensions to sculpt her skipping “rope.” Other big winners: the Ohio guy who can walk 20 meters on two hands in just 4.78 seconds and the man from India, the world’s shortest competitive bodybuilder at just 3 feet, 4 inches tall.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 2013 that middle-class preteens got another chance to act like misogynistic racists, as “Grand Theft Auto V” is released, netting $800 million on its very first day.

WORD OF THE DAY

Regnant – [REG-nunt] – adjective

Definition: Reigning or dominant

Example: Like most people, I have an  ornately carved office chair, crafted according to the regnant style of Greco-Roman antiquity.

WIT OF THE DAY

“It is necessary for us to learn from others’ mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself.” 

– Admiral Hyman G. Rickover

BIDEN BLURB

“If I had said, `We're gonna stay,’ then we'd better prepare to put a whole hell of a lot more troops in."

-Joe Biden

WEATHER IN A WORD

Clearing