Road to the White House, 2016: Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio

By Alan J. Steinberg

I have had a rather poor prediction record in this year’s presidential primaries, as I vastly underrated Donald Trump’s appeal.  I remain intrepid, however, so the following is my initial Electoral College 2016 projection.

In order to be elected president, a candidate must win states giving him or her a total of at least 270 electoral votes.  I believe that Donald Trump will carry all the states won by Mitt Romney in 2012, giving him a base of 206 electoral votes.

I classify seven of the states won by Barack Obama in 2012 as swing states in 2016.  These states are the three double digit electoral vote states of Florida (29 electoral votes), Ohio (18), and Pennsylvania (20), and the four single digit electoral vote states of New Hampshire (4), Iowa (6), Colorado (9), and Nevada (6), for a total of 92 electoral votes.  Hillary Clinton is likely to carry all the other states won by Obama in 2012, giving her a base of 240 electoral votes.

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Blasting the myths and making the case for reasonable speed limits

By Declan O’Scanlon

The Asbury Park Press editorial board recently took a position AGAINST setting speed limits based on engineering criteria and FOR setting limits based on the hunches of unqualified elected officials and bureaucrats.  The position is so fundamentally flawed, so based on decades-old defunct myths, so devoid of any basis in actual fact, that it’s hard to decide where to begin.

My speed limit initiative is a simple one – set speed limits based on sound engineering criteria.  I would remove uninformed or profit-motivated elected officials and bureaucrats from the process. Traffic laws shouldn’t be based on the random hunches of any of us. Setting any law by hunch only diminishes the public’s confidence in ALL laws. That’s not a way to enhance safety anywhere. Why should the public take a 25 mph school speed limit seriously when we randomly post such speed limits all over – including stretches of roadway that should be posted at 40?  Don’t even get me started on the damage random limits have on the image of our police – who become the face of these arbitrary laws.

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America’s front row seat at the transgender freak show

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2016 – In 1897, journalist William Fitzgerald described America as a “land of real humor, of ingenuity, of resource. When some important political or other event agitates that great country, topical side shows spring up with amazing promptness.” P.T. Barnum with Tom Thumb. Fitzgerald was referring to the lusus naturrae (freaks of nature)… Read the rest of this entry »

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Bruce Springsteen, Will You Support Asbury Park Gays Against Bigotry and Refuse to Play There, Too?

By Tommy DeSeno

Greetings, Bruce!

I hail from the City of your choosing, Asbury Park New Jersey.  A fan since you named your first album after our fair city; I’m one of your loyal “kids huddled on the beach in the mist.”  We’ve met on those nights you thrill the locals with impromptu performances at the Stone Pony, which made that venue famous.

I’ve noticed your occasional forays into politics, including your concert cancellation in North Carolina to protest laws about who gets to use what bathroom, and who gets to sue for discrimination.

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The Wisconsin landslide propels Cruz in California – and New Jersey

By Alan Steinberg

Ted Cruz did not just prevail in Wisconsin Tuesday night – he won a landslide.  And that has major positive ramifications for him in the primary finale of the campaign in both New Jersey and California on Tuesday, June 7.

A bit of context is in order.  The California GOP primary is presidential winner take all three delegates in each of the 53 Congressional districts, plus 10 at-large delegates to the statewide winner plus three Republican National Committee delegates (state GOP chair plus national committee man and woman), a total of 172 delegates.  In New Jersey, all 51 delegates are bound to vote for the presidential primary winner on the first ballot.

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Bonnie Prince Donnie Wants to Thwart the Will of the Voters

By Tommy DeSeno

Call him Bonnie Prince Donnie.

In the 18th century, Bonnie Prince Charlie, aka Charles Edward Stuart, was the last Jacobite Pretender to the throne of England. The Bonnie Prince thought the English throne was his birthright, so he traveled the countryside picking fights with anyone who disagreed.

Donald Trump, our current Bonnie Prince, acts very much the same. His intemperance and penchant for vengeance is manifest in response to any challenge to him, with no crack too lowbrow, be it McCain’s heroics, Carly’s face or Megyn’s menstrual cycle. Only a Jacobean sense of entitlement could bring a Wharton grad into the gutter. Even Jeb knew the Presidency had to be earned, not inherited or claimed.

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Opinion: This is the speech Obama never gave and Trump never will.

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

This nation is in the midst of a crisis. I’m not talking about the economy, or foreign policy or even terrorism. I am talking about a crisis that is worse than even those three. Let’s call it the fourth horseman.

We have encountered crises in this nation before. Many times. There is not a crisis this nation has faced that it has not overcome and become stronger. I believe we can do that with the economy. i believe we can do that with foreign policy. I even believe we can do that with terrorism. For the fourth crisis, however, I need your help. Everyone’s help. Each and every citizen and resident of this nation, no matter where you came from, how you got here, what your race, religion or national origin is, what your political beliefs are.

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O’Scanlon: Princeton Professor Succeeds in Cheapening Future Legitimate Charges of Racism & Highlighting Deterioration of Society’s Opinion of Police

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

By Declan O’Scanlon

One tragic thing occurred and one tragic fact was laid bare as a result of the the Princeton professor’s arrest and subsequent saga that ended yesterday with her quietly paying her fines.  She both succeeded in cheapening future legitimate charges of racism, and highlighting the deterioration of societies opinion of our cops. Specifically she attempted to ameliorate her humiliation not through accountability but by blatantly fabricating mistreatment by police officers – while invoking the charge of racial motivation. Both the dishonest act itself, and the ease with which the charge might have been accepted as legitimate – had there not been incontrovertible evidence proving otherwise – are tragic.  Read the rest of this entry »

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A Pussy Riot in Asbury Park

By Tom DeSeno

A friend once told me that he snot-chuckles like a 14 year old boy whenever he hears the name of the Russian female protest collective Pussy Riot.   That’s culturally understandable.

Don’t mistake though the seriousness of these women and the issues that surround them.  They are making a fascinating imprint on modern politics, power and protest.

On February 24 the House of Independents, Asbury Park’s new venue that is giving that City the artistic aesthetic it always pretended to have, is presenting “A Conversation with Pussy Riot:  Hosted by John Cameron Mitchell.”

To get a proper perspective of Pussy Riot, you have to realign your point of view from American to Russian when dealing with political terms.  It also helps to look at what they aren’t as much as what they are.

They aren’t a band, at least not in the traditional sense.   There’s music, but it’s not their focus.  It’s not even good music, probably by their own intention.  The music is beside the point of their varied socio-political messages.

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Opinion: Hope and Optimism Killed Christie’s Chances

By Art Gallagher

Governor Chris Christie has been called, by friend and foes alike, the best political communicator since Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton. Yet, after abandoning his post in New Jersey for the better part of two years in his quest for the presidency, the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire were unmoved by his talent.

As pundits and strategists dissect Christie’s failure, so far none have pointed to the obvious: Christie’s entitlement reform plan. Christie promised a harder future.

Donald Trump’s campaign in a variation of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.  “Yes we can” has been replaced by “Make America Great Again.”
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