The Jaffe Briefing - February 15, 2022
PISCATAWAY – Tomorrow night, the Rutgers men’s basketball team will take on Illinois at the RAC, and the glorious chance to knock off a ranked team for the fourth consecutive game. But the Record is likely unaware, buried under spreadsheets and financial disclosures to build its latest report, further showing the university’s athletic budget is bloated and bleeding. In fact, the newspaper reports, RU was the only public school in the Big 10 that increased spending in the last fiscal year, through the pandemic, as other schools cut back. And, let’s also throw in that Rutgers has the athletic leagues’ largest deficit, at $73 million. The rampant spending is not new; it’s been going on for years. But, boy, this basketball streak is certainly something.
MAYS LANDING – New Jerseyans remain in the news, like the guy who stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s microphones from her lectern on Jan. 6. The 52-year-old protester pleaded guilty to swiping government property and is to be sentenced March 25, NJ.com reports. He is looking at a fine and up to six months in prison, and will likely walk away with a hand-slap. Stealing government property seems akin to walking off with extra stamps from the post office. Swiping the House Speaker’s two microphones during an out-of-control invasion on the U.S. Capitol to block the certification of a presidential election seems, well, worthy of a more severe charge. For those keeping count at home, to date, five of the nearly 30 Jersey suspects from Jan. 6 have pleaded guilty.
TRENTON – Justice, sometimes, is swift. Just days after an appellate court ruled the state’s PBA could not block Gov. Phil Murphy’s mandate that jail guards must be vaccinated and boosted, the police union appealed, again, to the state Supreme Court. And – Boom! – the request was denied yesterday. That means state and county corrections officers must finally, finally, finally get the first dose of the Covid vaccine by tomorrow, or could be fired. Kudos to the courts for helping to save lives, as it remains illogical as to why any corrections officer, anywhere, would not be first on line to be vaccinated.
BRIEFING BREATHER
Pheromones in celery not only cause arousal in men, they also make men more attractive to women.
TRENTON – There might be an odd little break in the state’s legislative calendar, when Democrats and Republicans have little to squawk about. That assumption is based on the fact that an “issue” has been unearthed - focusing on when, exactly, Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his annual budget message. Typically, who cares? Regardless, the Democrats granted the governor a two-week extension, until March 8, so he could make his remarks in front of a live audience at the Statehouse, right after the mask mandate is lifted. Ok, makes sense; it is a PR event. Of course the Republicans have a problem with it, voting against the request, saying the move will shorten the budget process, as the spending plan needs to be adopted by June 30. The public, it is argued, is losing two precious weeks in which to analyze the governor’s spending plan. But, as everyone knows the real budget-making is done within days and hours of the deadline, there’s no real issue here in chilly February. But, hey, why not lob some bombs anyway?
STATEWIDE – Got a kitchen drawer hopelessly filled with take-out condiment packages? Admit it; of course you do. If you are willing to take the time to squeeze out all the ketchup, duck sauce and spicy mustard, there’s a place you can bring all this plastic waste: Taco Bell. The fast-food giant is working with a recycling company, TerraCycle, which will melt all those sauce packages into reusable plastic, likely to become a picnic table to be donated to a park in Mercer County. Pretty amazing; curious what other valuable stuff you have in your junk drawer. Click here for participating locations through Earth Day.
STATEWIDE – There was life before streaming services. It was called cable TV, with real cables. And, before that? Analog TV. Blow your kids away with this simulator of a test pattern, back when you physically got up to change the channel and the rabbit ears had to be positioned just so. Yes, we really lived this way in the early 1980s. And we survived to share our harrowing story with you this morning.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
BOSTON — A Massachusetts contestant on “The Price Is Right” had big dreams of a glamorous trip to Bora Bora or maybe Tahiti. And, by correctly guessing the value of the prize was $7,696, where is the Boston woman headed? Tell her, Drew! (Drum roll….) New Hampshire! The contestant tells WBZ-TV that she has only visited New Hampshire about “a million times” and had big dreams of an all-expense-paid cruise around the world, courtesy of a game show. But yet another visit to the “Live Free or Die” state is ok too, sorta. Um… Yippee?
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1985 that the price of postage went from 20 cents to 22 cents; grandmas are outraged.
WORD OF THE DAY
Limn – [LIM] – verb
Definition: To outline in clear, sharp detail
Example: This newsletter often limns how some corrupt politicians – so different in background and experience – can get thrown in jail for the same crimes.
WIT OF THE DAY
“There are as many opinions as there are experts.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
BIDEN BLURB
“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.’"
- Joe Biden
WEATHER IN A WORD
Clear