Nothing picks up the doldrums than a political scandal. If you don't live in the New York City tri-State area, we have a situation here that rose to the surface this week. Higher ups in Governor Christie's administration in New Jersey have been exposed to have manipulated the traffic pattern to basically shut down the George Washington Bridge. There were four days of unbearable gridlock in September. Shutdown the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Emergency vehicles were slowed. Children were late for school. Commuters suffered for hours idling in their cars. Why did this happen? Well, lo and behold, emails surfaced. My favorite combination of words. Emails surfaced. Chris Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff had ordered/discussed that it was time for payback to the Mayor of Fort Lee. Mayor Sokolich, a Democrat, wasn't backing Chris Christie in his re-election, so retribution. Ka-pow! The people in and around Fort Lee paid dearly for the Christie administration's revenge. Bam!
Now, at the time, no one seemed to question the shutdown. It was shocking, aggravating, and painful, but everyone believed the Jersey Port Authority's pronouncement that there were dangerous conditions on the bridge that needed repair. It was an emergency. Trust. Now, the trust has been broken. The one thing that Governor Christie had that other politicians didn't was integrity. He crossed party lines, but what we didn't know is that line has an albatross around it. He stood up in front of reporters for two hours apologizing and saying he knew nothing, he saw nothing, people lied to him, he fired his Deputy Chief of Staff, what more could he do? Well, Governor Christie, what it shows is, yet again, things aren't as they seem. Whether we find out if he knew or not, the shine is off the big guy. How could he hire people that would be so "evil" to their own constituents. After a record landslide re-election, what else will we find out? This story has legs. There are thousands of pages still to be combed through. Here's the thing, if the administration was green lighting retribution to politicians that didn't support the Christie re-election, what did the administration give to those that did support their efforts? There's no way that there aren't more stories to be told, more facts to be found, more depositions to be taken.
A Republican pundit yesterday said that the liberal media won't let this story die. The liberal media will be all over this like a dog to a bone. Seriously? As if the right-wing media wouldn't have glommed onto this story until there was nothing left to chew....Hypocrisy, again. Speaking of clay feet....There are reports all over that Mayor DiBlasio is banning the horse and carriage rides as his first big policy change. As I've made clear, I hate that decision and does seem absurd that he chose this as priority. Lo and behold, again, it isn't as it seems ever. There is always another side to this. A big campaign contributor is a real estate mogul and really wants the 68,000 square foot stable land that houses the horses. Ah-ha. So, everyone has an angle. The left and right media would do the people a favor if they would discuss both sides of every issue. There are facts. It's not just opinions. I hope I am wrong about DiBlasio, but he seems smarmy and fake to me. I really hope I am wrong, but this doesn't help.
So, here we are again, politicians being less than we want or expect. Money is ruining our politics and government. Did you read that some ridiculous percentage, like 75%, of former government workers (politicians) crossover into the private sector to become stinking rich. Disgraceful. If that's the case, they don't need all their lifelong benefits that they so richly don't deserve. Okay, okay, enough. But Governor Christie, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love this story. I love this scandal.
Sidebars: Oh, my. As I have bemoaned before, Sunday nights have become the hotbed for television shows. There are too many things on that mean that there aren't enough DVR's to cover it all. First and foremost, this Sunday my absolute person favorite...The Golden Globes. Without doubt, the best Awards show of all!! Movie stars, television stars and booze! Great combination. They are relaxed, not uptight, and you never know what may happen. Downton Abbey episode two Sunday night. The Good Wife, The Mentalist, Revenge, new show: True Detectives on HBO, and so much more. That's just what I know from my memory. There's a famine on other nights. Don't know why they pile on on Sunday Nights. Saw the Wolf of Wall Street. I give it a thumbs up, but I would have to warn anyone about all the degrading, misogynistic portrayals of women. They are all sex objects except maybe one minor role. The amount of sex and drugs is repetitive, but it is still worth the 3 hours. Just be prepared and if your teenage/young adults see it, maybe have a conversation about it. I wouldn't see it with them, personally. We are out of the polar vortex. Who would've thought we'd be cheering at 25 degrees? It's the weekend. Take a moment for yourself. TGIF.
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@DianaPodolsky
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