Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Thank Goodness Somebody's Willing To Say It!
DESANTIS:"Corporate press are more apt to characterize a parent who protests bad policies at a school board meeting as a 'domestic terrorist', than somebody who intentionally rams an SUV into a crowd of innocent people...if it doesn't fit the narrative" pic.twitter.com/mePohaoPrj
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 30, 2021
CNN Suspends Chris Cuomo 'Indefinitely'
CNN has issued the following statement:
The New York Attorney General’s office released transcripts and exhibits Monday that shed new light on Chris Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s defense. The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions. When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly. But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second. However, these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation.
A Killer: Democrats' Misplaced NJ Security!
As NJ Democrats in Trenton defend rigid COVID rules at the State House that could block some elected officials from participating in Thursday’s voting sessions, Senator Joe Pennacchio questioned why the same rigor wasn’t used to protect senior residents in nursing facilities from the virus.
As Democrats in Trenton defend rigid COVID rules at the State House that could block some elected officials from entering the building, Sen. Joe Pennacchio questioned why the same rigor wasn’t used to protect senior residents in nursing facilities from the virus. (Pixabay)
“The hypocrisy is obvious,” said Pennacchio (R-26). “The Democrats are so concerned about stopping COVID at the door of the capitol. Where was that same urgency when the Governor’s Administration was forcing the virus into nursing homes at great cost and loss of life?”
Nearly 10,000 vulnerable New Jersey seniors died in long-term care homes during the pandemic, and in May 2020, Pennacchio obtained a New Jersey Department of Health letter dated March 31 directing hospitals and nursing care facilities not to inhibit transfer of hospital patients with COVID-19 entering post-acute care settings such as long-term nursing and rehabilitations facilities, and specifically denying testing of patients entering nursing homes.
In the same month, Pennacchio introduced legislation calling for a legislative investigation into the State’s response to the COVID pandemic, seeking the formation of a Senate Select Committee with subpoena power.
“The Administration forced nursing homes to accept patients and prohibited them from testing for the virus. Rather than planning to stop legislators at the entrance to the State House, the Democrat majority should be supporting an inquiry into the ill-fated decisions that placed our most fragile residents in danger, resulting in thousands of deaths,” Pennacchio said. “They are playing political games. Politics has been compounding the pandemic’s impact all along.”
Yo, Mitch: Go Ahead, Use The Debt Limit!
- November 30, 2021 - |
Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America |
Old Crow Mitch McConnell, who is getting beaten on every front by the Radical Left Democrats since giving them a two-month delay which allowed them to “get their act together,” must be fully prepared to use the DEBT CEILING in order to totally kill the Democrat’s new Social Spending (Wasting!) Bill, which will change our Country forever. Mitch and the Republican Senators had them beaten, but didn’t know it, and we ended up with the Unfrastructure Bill, which is only 11% infrastructure. Worse, he allowed a splitting of the Bills (with 19 votes, including himself), which makes the Dems path for the even worse Bill a much easier one. Use the Debt Ceiling, Mitch, show strength and courage. Our Country is being destroyed. |
Monday, November 29, 2021
Will THIS Lead To Atlantic City's Demise?
It is time to dissolve the casino PILOT, not make it worse. The Casino PILOT bill is a form of corporate welfare. Casino gambling is authorized in our state constitution only in Atlantic City for the express purpose of revitalizing our local economy.
Online gambling needs to support the constitutional goal of redeveloping our city. The current effort to change the Casino PILOT is completely tone-deaf. This is a time to regulate online gambling to ensure more in-person visits to Atlantic City. This is not a time to cut taxes for online gambling, which would be an economic incentive for casinos to undermine the hospitality industry.
The current PILOT gives casinos a degree of property tax stability that regular residential and commercial taxpayers do not enjoy. The casino industry is making more money now than they ever have. This last quarter was a record quarter for the casino industry.
The initial Casino PILOT bill was created in the context of a casino market where multiple casino properties were closing and the property tax ratable base was in a freefall. It was a bad situation. Today’s casino gaming market is click here to read more.
Baldy Political AND A Pompous Hypocrite!
The absolute hubris of someone claiming THEY represent science. It’s astounding and alarming that a public health bureaucrat would even think to claim such a thing, especially one who has worked so hard to ignore the science of natural immunity. https://t.co/rcDezphVRR
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 28, 2021
"I'd have to laugh at that. I should be prosecuted? What happened on January 6th, Senator?" - Dr. Anthony Fauci on @TedCruz and GOP. He then says it's "unbelievably bad" to play politics in science. https://t.co/cFb036v8Dv @Mediaite pic.twitter.com/m2y4qjhqGL
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) November 28, 2021
The BEST Christmas Decoration Yet . . .
Don't be alarmed. The dangling guy is a straw dummy.
The whole thing cost the owner about $20.
Sunday, November 28, 2021
Sondheim: Ten Things You MUST Remember
As we move forward, keep the following in mind:
1) There will be no "new Sondheim". There is no successor. Not now, not ever. While others may follow The Master, they do not succeed him.
2) If you saw the original production of a Sondheim show on Broadway, you saw history. Doesn't matter which show it was. Any Sondheim show. Consider yourself privileged.
3) If you have a letter from the man (he wrote thousands and was vigilant about replying) let's hope you've held onto it and that you'll treasure it forever. It's invaluable!
4) Some Sondheim shows ran longer than others but all have been and will continue to be revived. There were no "flops". None!
5) If, through your own fault, you've never experienced a Sondheim show or are unfamiliar with his music you are culturally deprived and, arguably, culturally illiterate.
6) If Bob Dylan was worthy of the Nobel Prize for literature then so too is/was Sondheim.
7) Sondheim never grows old. You grow old and come to appreciate Sondheim in new, different, deeper ways. But Sondheim never grows old or tiresome. Never!
8) Sondheim was the last link -- the magic link, the missing piece -- that connected us to Broadway's dazzling Golden Age. He was the needle and the thread that pulled everything together.
9) Sondheim recreated the Broadway musical bringing it into the modern era and truly turning it into an art form. No one else was equipped to do this.
10) The man lives in his music. Everything you want or need to know about him is there in his music. He lives on there and, in so doing, he remains immortal.
And one more thing: Art is hard work. You don't create it by waving a magic wand or conjuring up some celestial spirit. It's work! What this man created was the product of hard work.
THIS Is Broadway: Sunday For Sondheim!
Today's tribute to Stephen Sondheim in the center of Times Square featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda and performers from every show currently appearing on Broadway.
THIS is the Broadway community: together, caring, remembering in tribute to the man who was the undisputed Master, now immortalized via the endless performances of his works all over the world forever!
They're Leading A Home-Grown NJ Revolution
It's significant. It's serious. And, more and more it appears to be downright seismic.
It started in New Jersey's first legislative district with the stunning 2019 victory of State Senator Mike Testa and his teammates, Assemblymen Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan (shown, left). This tenacious trio defeated three Democrat incumbent state legislators and carried out a vow to "flip the first". This was no small feat in a huge district that spans much of the bottom portion of the state, stretching from the Delaware Bay to the Atlantic Ocean and encompassing shore towns, rural communities and Vineland which is, geographically, the state's largest city,
In flipping the first, Testa and his team defied the odds and the pollsters and won by more than 30 points. That represented an astounding 60+ point shift in votes in the district from then-Democrat Jeff Van Drew's victory. The moderate Van Drew was later elected to Congress but shortly after this political earthquake he switched parties, became a Republican and was re-elected in 2020 even though Joe Biden was handily carrying New Jersey.
With the most recent re-election of Team Testa, the first legislative district now appears to be decidedly red. And, the vivid red tide is spreading north as Republican Ed Durr ("Ed the Trucker") and his running mates have flipped South Jersey's third legislative district, delivering a knockout blow to the state's second most powerful office holder, Senate President Steve Sweeney. Beyond that, in the eighth legislative district the GOP's Jean Stanfield has defeated incumbent State Senator Dawn Marie Addiego and Stanfield carried her Assembly running mates to victory with her.
It's clear: South Jersey seats are flipping from blue to red and that even includes county commissioner seats as recently occurred in Gloucester County. This is not a passing fad. The trend is obvious: South Jersey is fed up! North Jersey may still be mostly blue but South Jersey sees absolutely no reason to march in lockstep.
Why? Because South Jersey has always had a rugged independent streak. It's a different world, a different terrain in many ways. South Jerseyans have more room to roam and they don't like being pushed around. They also don't like being taken for granted or receiving short shrift from Trenton. They're not impressed with North Jersey hotshots and, though often underestimated, they're not easily deceived. In fact, you've gotta get up damned early in the morning to fool anybody from Vineland or Millville or Hammonton or Bridgeton.
And no one epitomizes all this more that Senator Mike Testa who's rapidly emerging as a new power in Trenton and the voice of this dramatic shift. Testa is smart without being slick, savvy without being smug, charismatic without being enigmatic. These characteristics are rare in a politician, especially one so relatively young. As an attorney Testa is no doubt analytical but he's also naturally instinctive and he isn't afraid to strategically act on his instincts. And this, too: he listens. Testa keenly focuses on what's on the minds of his constituents.
Testa's soon-to-be colleague Ed Durr claims that carefully listening to voters was key to his dramatic victory over Sweeney. Durr says when he went door-to-door on the campaign trail instead of automatically going into his pitch he listened first. That literally gave him a better sense of his ground game. It also told him that voters increasingly felt that Sweeney had lost his connection to the very people he was elected to serve.
One more thing: People like Testa and Durr understand that in the end it's guts and gusto not polls, metrics and fancy consultants that win elections.
What does all this mean for the rest of New Jersey and the New Jersey Republican Party?
To begin with it means that those who take South Jersey for granted (and those who are quick to stereotype the south) now do so at their own peril. They need to wake up to the very real issues that South Jersey voters are bringing to the table: taxes; budgetary control; education; government efficiency and government services. These go to bread-and-butter concerns such as finally getting tax relief; discovering what your kids are actually being taught in school, getting back real tangible services for the money you send to Trenton and not having to wait in line forever at the motor vehicle agency. On these fronts and more, South Jerseyans want results, not excuses.
And for the state GOP? Clearly the South Jersey revolution shows it's time for the cultivated country club clique to cede ground. Because people like Testa and Durr are too busy finding ways to win to worry about the sort of feigned civility that guarantees defeat.
Rare TV: Sondheim's Total Mastery Of Language
A rarely seen 1966 episode of the game show PASSWORD, featuring Stephen Sondheim and Lee Remick as players,. In the episode, which originally aired on Christmas in 1966, Sondheim plays special guest to his dear friend, Remick. Watch Sondheim absolutely dominating in this once "lost" episode, which hasn't been seen in more than 50 years
Saturday, November 27, 2021
They DON'T Want Biden; But They DO Want . . .
Less than a third of voters think it would be a good idea for President Joe Biden to run for reelection, and he would lose a rematch to former President Donald Trump by a double-digit margin.
A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that only 30% of Likely U.S. voters think it would be a good idea for Biden to run for reelection in 2024, while 56% say it would be a bad idea. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in Rasmussen polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,200 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on November 22-23, 2021 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Friday, November 26, 2021
Sondheim's Life: A Luminous, Enduring Gift To All!
The death of Stephen Sondheim, the great Master of the American musical stage is an incalculable loss to popular culture and to the art of musical theater.
It'a a loss for civilized theater that challenged you, that made you think and feel and enter a world that could only be created by a musical genius.
For Broadway, this is the loss of the last link to the Golden Age of musicals.
Our first encounter with Sondheim came in 1970 when we saw the groundbreaking musical Company. Yes, people called it the first "theme" musical but they weren't quite sure what to make of it. We were young and hardly seasoned in the ways of the world but we loved the show from the first moment to the last.
Why? Well, it just captured a moment, a young man's journey, a yearning -- yes, but also a sense of cool detachment that was indicative of the time. Yet the piece was also timeless as evidenced by the fact that it has been revived again and again and is running on Broadway right now.
After Company, we were hooked. And so we saw A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures (a personal favorite), Sweeney Todd (his masterwork), Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods, Passion and, most recently Road Show. Later, we caught up with revivals of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (the first show for which he wrote both music and lyrics), Anyone Can Whistle (written with Richard Rodgers), Do I Hear A Waltz?, Follies, Merrily We Roll Along and Assassins. Of course, who hasn't seen Gypsy and West Side Story for which Sondheim wrote the lyrics?
No two Sondheim shows were exactly alike but they all touched upon Big Themes: the complicated relationships between parents and children; the tortured minds of destructive souls; the nature of evil; the ravages of time; the fickleness and foolishness of youth; the true meaning of fairy tales; brotherly love -- and hate; the relentless drive of obsessive love; the meaning (or lack thereof) of marriage; history's distortions; lust, greed, guile, guts and gullibility -- and, almost always, the longings of the human heart. And all of this, all of this staggering output spanned nearly 70 years!
In fact, Sondheim was said to be working on a new musical at the time of his death at age 91. If he wasn't creating, he wasn't alive. This was hi9s elixir, his tonic.
Sondheim always had a twinkle in his eye, even to the end. Most recently we saw him just before the COVID outbreak when City Center presented a production of Road Show. Sondheim appeared after the curtain came down to talk about the show and its various iterations and voyage to its present form. He enjoyed interacting with the show's young director. He was sharp, lucid, funny, self-deprecating and, as always, delightfully at home on a New York stage -- in a town and at a place where he spent most of his life.
New York was his forever habitat and the stage was his natural milieu.
He often remarked that he wasn't in the business of writing hits because that's not the way he wrote songs. He wrote for a particular character at a particular moment in a particular scene in a particular show. But he did write Send In The Clowns, Not A Day Goes By, Broadway Baby, The Ladies Who Lunch, Comedy Tonight and Losing My Mind, among others. And, of course he wrote the lyrics for more hit tunes than could possibly be mentioned including the haunting There's A Place For Us and the rousing Everything's Coming Up Roses.
Sondheim was the essence of Broadway and he loved the main stem, the Great White Way. Nowhere was that love more evocatively expressed than in Follies with songs that assembled a pastiche of every type of melody that has graced the musical stage.
He took both his hits and his misses in stride. And that proved to be a wise and visionary attitude as some of his early also-rans turned out to be hits later down the road.
Our favorites? It's hard to even imagine where to begin but Follies, Sweeney Todd, Company and Pacific Overtures would have to be near the top.
If you probed Sondheim about his work he would often appear to be inscrutable. But he'd be the first to tell you there was no magic to it. It was hard work -- tedious work. And he worked very, very hard at it. It could be a tortuous, frustrating, even exasperating and very, very lonely business. All of that is best examined and revealed in Sunday In The Park With George.
For audiences, of course, there were moments in Sondheim shows that were nothing less than exhilarating. But there were poignant moments as well.
Many felt that Sondheim was enigmatic. But look at his life: the only child of divorced parents, he pretty much adopted Oscar Hammerstein's family as his own and Hammerstein became his caring and understanding mentor.
From an early age, Sondheim likely knew he was different -- set apart, blessed with a certain talent and destined for a solitary adventure into an imaginary world.
For the real of the story of Stephen Sondheim, explore his works. There, his life unfolds and is a luminous gift to all of us -- if you're willing to look, listen, savor and learn!
Joe's Patronage Hires Simply Don't Have A Clue!
Reporter: "How many barrels of oil does the U.S. consume per day?"
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 23, 2021
Biden's energy secretary: "I don't have that number in front of me" pic.twitter.com/Z0Zv7tHS2v
Thursday, November 25, 2021
1789: George Washington Proclaims Thanksgiving!
[New York, 3 October 1789]
By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
George Washington
This Thanksgiving: 21 Things To Be Thankful For!
Happy Thanksgiving, America!
Here are 21 reasons to be thankful this 2021 Thanksgiving holiday:1) This great nation of ours and all its people: One nation, under God with liberty and justice for all. Let us fight on to protect its values and its proud legacy.
2) The spirit of giving, of helping out to reach others. For example, American individuals, estates, foundations and corporations contribute more than $400 billion to U.S. charities each and every year.
3, 4, 5, 6) The four bountiful freedoms that we enjoy: Freedom of speech; freedom of worship; freedom from want; freedom from fear. These are our cornerstones and they are now imperiled. Never take them for granted. Guard and defend them fearlessly.
7) Family - the bulwark of our society and the foundation of social order. Again, we must bond together to protect that social order.
8) Our armed services -- all who serve, everywhere and all over the world.
9) The heroic example of those who gave their lives in service to our nation as we remember them anew this Thanksgiving.
10) All of our first responders and front line workers (especially now and especially our police officers) at every level and in every town and city as well as those who gave their lives in such service.
11) Children -- our investment in the future, the joy of our lives and the wonder of life itself. Ask God to protect our children from those who would corrupt their minds and threaten childhood itself.
12) Native Americans - the true Americans who shared the first Thanksgiving with the settlers. In that spirit, let us strive to work together!
13) The land itself -- from sea to shining sea and beyond; purple mountains' majesty and amber waves of grain. And farmers, too!
14) Our pioneering spirit and creative impulse -- from the discovered frontiers at home to the space age above; we wander onward. always seeking, always discovering, always achieving as we are enriched by the artists, writers, musicians and galaxy of creative minds in our midst.
15) Our Founders and the promise of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that they bequeathed to us. May our stewardship be faithful to their original freedoms, responsibilities, laws, limitations and aspirations.
16) All the great elected leaders who have defined America from Washington to Jefferson to Jackson and Lincoln and Roosevelt (Franklin and Teddy) and Reagan.
17) The unelected leaders who nonetheless inspired us and opened new doors from Franklin to King and everyone in between.
18) All the inventors and scientists and all who charted a path to a better, safer world with longer, healthier lives for all.
19) Friends: Those who stand by us and encourage us and listen and laugh and love.
20) The proud history and cherished legacy of our nation. We define our story with honor, fairness, balance and pride. Don't let them rob us of our history!
21) Above all, God, who has blessed us, watches over us and stands in final judgement of each one of us and all we do. God bless America!
21) Above all, God, who has blessed us, watches over us and stands in final judgement of each one of us and all we do. God bless America!
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Biden's Ron Burgundy Moment Goes Viral!
In yet another awkward flub, Biden appeared to read ‘end of quote’ from the teleprompter yesterday. The moment, reminiscent of fictional TV newsman Ron Burgundy reading everything he sees on the teleprompter in the Will Ferrell movie Anchorman, happened during remarks about the rising gas prices at the White House while explaining the state of the economy. Biden just can't help himself!
UhHuh: Even HE Wants To Be In Florida!
Murphy leaves N.J. to celebrate Thanksgiving with family in Florida https://t.co/IUSZrsr7O8 pic.twitter.com/jqWzeh9Ypx
— njdotcom (@njdotcom) November 23, 2021
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
We MUST Know The Cost Of Murphy's Energy Plan!
Governor Phil Murphy and his appointees to the Board of Public Utilities have yet to disclose the price tag on his far-reaching energy master plan announced nearly two years ago, and Senator Anthony M. Bucco today chided the front office for its lack of transparency with New Jersey families. At an NJBIA meeting in February 2020, administration officials shared the BPU was conducting a cost study that would likely be released the following month. Over a year and a half later, no cost analysis has been shared with the public, yet the Administration continues to move forward on its implementation.
Sen. Anthony M. Bucco criticized Gov. Murphy for withholding the financial impact of his Energy Master Plan will have on New Jersey families and businesses. The plan is expected to cost a family of four more than $210,000. (SenateNJ.com)
“J.P. Morgan is often quoted as saying ‘if you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it,’ and that is certainly the case with this sweeping energy plan that could upend the economy and devastate state residents,” said Bucco (R-25). “I’m calling on the legislature to do its job, begin oversight of the Administration’s plan and request the BPU finally disclose all outside experts cost analyses immediately. The election showed this Administration must stop placating the far-left wing of his party and instead focus on affordability for residents.”
Murphy released the final version of his plan in January 2020. The 290-page document spelled out a strategy to meet the goals of 50 percent clean energy by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.
“This plan is nothing more than a huge energy tax that will impoverish low- and middle-class families,” said Bucco. “Some estimates have found that the ‘plan’ will cost residents more than $210,000 for a family of four, that’s outrageous. Energy bills are already high – with 837,885 residents who were behind on their utility bills and owing over $600 million. Now is not the time to be increasing costs on residents.”
Bucco authored an op-ed published by NorthJersey.com only days after the master plan was released, blasting the administration for its failure “to include a cost analysis of its ‘Green New Deal’-inspired plan,” adding that “Board of Public Utilities President Joe Fiordaliso may have already let the cat out of the bag when he stated back in April (2019) that it’s ‘expensive, and we know it is expensive.’”
Upon her retirement, former NJ Rate Counsel Stefanie Brand added in August, “It is important for policymakers to not always take the easy route. The easy ones come with high price tags.” She added about Murphy’s Energy Plan, “I have not yet seen a study that quantifies that cost.”
Almost two years later, Murphy and his team remain close-mouthed about the fiscal impact on families and the region’s economy.
Among the plan’s goals is to eliminate natural gas use in New Jersey and require mass electric upgrades in homes, even though natural gas heats roughly 80% of homes and creates half of our electricity.
Why You'll LOVE The Horrors In This 'Little Shop'!
Lest you think Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd invented the grim combination of murder, mayhem and music, think again. Long before Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop there was another shop that dabbled in Broadway guts and gore and that was the Little Shop of Horrors. Of course, Little Shop of Horrors never made it to Broadway proper. A mere fraction of the size and scope of Sweeney, Little Shop opened off Broadway and there it stayed for a good long time.
Then, in 2015 City Center's acclaimed Encore series revived Little Shop with Jake Gyllenhaal in the starring role as Seymour, the endearing but ultimately menacing nebbish who works at Mushnik's troubled flower shop on skid row. While there, Seymour harbors a crush on Audrey, a coworker and also nourishes a strange plant with an insatiable appetite and a penchant for the macabre. We enjoyed the Encores production but it was difficult imaginng hunky Gyllenhaal as a spindly, bullied nerd. Also, City Center's vastness and huge stage overpowered this basically intimate show.
Now, Little Shop is back in the much smaller Westside Theatre just off Broadway where it's much more at home with a fine cast starring Broadway favorite Jeremy Jordan and featuring the always adept and multi-talented Christian Borle. Jordan actually looks the part of Seymour and Brole plays the heavy to the hilt along with a few other characters. With Tammy Blanchard as Audrey, the love interest and Tom Alan Robbins as shop-owner Mushnik and backed up by the irrepressible Urchin singers (Salome Smith, Aveena Sawyer and Joy Woods) this cast plays the whole show broadly and with such delight at being on stage and in front of a live audience again that they win you over right from the start.
Jordan is one of Broadway's most versatile actors and here, teamed with the bulgy-eyed Borle, he seems to be savoring every moment of Little Shop's journey into what becomes a blood-thirsty mess, albeit peppered with non-stop laughs. Borle and Jordan wring every bit of mugging physicality out of their roles in what is basically a grisly tale wrapped in a cartoon-style musical that can't hide its smirk.
Of course, a major nod must be given to the show's adept puppeteers who help Seymour's plant grow into a mammoth monster that overwhelms not just the story but nearly the entire stage. But since Little Shop never even tries to be a serious morality tale, the fright is all in fun.
And yet, in this era of COVID and biological warfare, well -- you may just see some pertinent warnings.
Prognosis: A delightful, perfectly-mounted hit. Don't miss it!
Monday, November 22, 2021
Murphy Piles Up Needless Debt: YOU Foot The Bill!
Murphy’s New Debt Will Cost NJ Taxpayers Unnecessary Interest Payments for Decades
New Jersey State Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) questioned a decision by Governor Phil Murphy to increase State debt by $400 million to fund projects at New Jersey’s colleges and universities when his administration is sitting on billions in cash that could fully fund the proposed capital program.
Sen. Declan O’Scanlon questioned a decision by Gov. Phil Murphy to increase State debt by $400 million to fund projects at New Jersey’s colleges and universities when his administration is sitting on billions in cash that could fully fund the proposed capital program. (Pixabay)
“State support for our institutions of higher education has long been lacking, but that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to cost when we decide to make an important investment,” said O’Scanlon, a member of the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee. “I don’t think it makes sense for Governor Murphy to propose increasing State debt when his administration is sitting on a windfall of billions upon billions in cash that remains untapped. His plan will stick taxpayers with unnecessary debt and interest payments for decades when he should be working to increase affordability.”
Last week, the Murphy administration announced a plan to make $400 million of capital facilities grant funding available to institutions of higher education through four revolving bond programs.
O’Scanlon pointed to existing State funds that could be utilized to fund the grants without bonding, including:
- 1.2 billion in the current State budget that’s intended to support pay-as-you-go capital improvements to avoid new debt issuances. Though appropriated in June, the Murphy administration has failed to present a single proposal for using the idle funds.
- Billions of the $6.24 billion of federal pandemic relief funds sent to New Jersey more than six months ago under the American Rescue Plan Act are unallocated and billions more remain unspent.
Further, the current State budget (FY 2022) adopted by Governor Murphy projected a 5.1% decline in State tax revenues from last year. The Treasury Department, however, is reporting a 25% increase in actual cash collections year-to-date, a trend which suggests the State’s budget surplus will increase by billions of dollars beyond what was expected.
“We have billions in the bank that can easily fund a capital program for our colleges and we’re likely to have billions more in surplus than we were expecting due to the Murphy administration’s inaccurate fiscal projections,” added O’Scanlon. “There is absolutely no doubt that we can afford to fund these important projects with the boatloads of unutilized cash collecting dust in the State bank account. Governor Murphy shouldn’t borrow a single penny.”
How NJ Republicans Can Win WITH Vote-By-Mail
by J. D. Bryden
How on earth could this have happened?
With 99% of the vote in on election night this year, New Jersey Republicans were winning all across the state, from Jack Ciattarelli on down… and then, not so much.
Somehow, in the middle of the night, hundreds of thousands of Democrat votes suddenly materialized, changing the course of the election.
So many of our victories were taken from us because we were not prepared to fight back and defeat the culprit: the overwhelming voter registration advantage the Democrats have when it comes to voting by mail (VBM).
Above, right: Here's a breakdown I put together based on publicly available data that shows the VBM disparity on the gubernatorial level for 18 of the 21 counties - three counties still didn't have the info readily available.
Those midnight vote increases? Those were caused by clerk websites updating with new counts of VBM tallies, which, by statute, have to wait until after machine votes have been counted to be tabulated.
This year, I had the honor of being the campaign manager for the Legislative District 16
Republican team of Mike Pappas for State Senate and Vinny Panico and Joe Lukac for State Assembly.
In our race, there were over three times as many Democrats registered to vote by mail than there were Republicans, 19,378 to 6,479. We all know that Republicans prefer to vote on election day, and vote they did - if we were just going off of machine ballots on Election Day, we’d have won the race.
Those are not the rules of the game, however, and we are not yet in a position to create a fairer, more transparent election law environment in New Jersey.
Until we ARE, we need to re-examine our VBM strategy or face more losses.
In LD16 alone, there are 20,418 low propensity Republican voters who do not come out to vote frequently, or, in some cases, at all.
In the context of a political campaign, it is very hard to invest the time and money required to reach these voters - there’s no real guarantee that they will ever show up to vote, and conventional wisdom says that you’re better off investing in trying to sway undecided voters who always vote.
But that’s only true for a political campaign of a finite length.
As we all should know by now, politics is no longer a single year endeavor. The Democrats have gotten to where they are by waging a battle of attrition, winning victories over decades and shaping the political environment to suit their needs. They’ve done this not just by passing radical election laws, but by getting their low propensity voters to sign up to vote by mail and making it priority number one to train them to get their ballots back in.
What might surprise you is that, generally speaking, Republicans who vote by mail return their ballots at a similar rate as the Democrats, roughly in the area of 60%.
If we could have gotten those 20,418 low propensity Republican voters I mentioned before and gotten 60% turnout out of them, we’d have won.
Maybe getting them to sign up to vote by mail is the solution. Maybe it’s encouraging them to vote early. Maybe it’s just a matter of communicating with them more consistently as a party year-round.
Whatever the recipe for turning these folks out is, it’s clear that there are still pathways to victory for Republicans in New Jersey - but we can’t afford to take the pressure off. We need to be out there contacting voters NOW and make sure that no matter how they do it, they come out to vote.
New Jersey’s future depends on it.
