Donald Norcross Understands Millennials?
Donald Norcross spent $24,570 from his office budget on Facebook ads during the first half of 2018, making him the top supporter of Mark Zuckerberg’s surveillance machine in Congress, at least according to this metric, ProPublica reports. Other Congresspersons may have spent more on FB through marketing agencies, but those stats are more opaque.
Should you wish, you can see Norcross’s ads here.
Marijuana and Justice
Pastor Charles Boyer of the Bethel AME Church in Woodbury has a guest column in the Star-Ledger calling for lawmakers to use marijuana legalization to do “reparative justice for communities of color, which have been devastated by the war on drugs” noting that marijuana convictions have made it difficult, even impossible “to secure employment, housing, student loans, or a driver’s license.”
He calls for automatic expungement and tax revenue for the courts to process expungements and says, “People who were vilified for being in the underground market must now be given preference in the legal market.” Controversial!
Read the comments if you want a fun morning and want to hear a lot of rants about how people who broke the law broke the law and shouldn’t be given any slack. Of course the point is lots of people were breaking the law and some people were squidleedoodled for it at 3x the rates of some other people, which may have been the point all along.
Liquor License Application
Stockton’s “food service provider” applied for a liquor license the other day, sending city bar-owners into a tizzy, for obvious reasons. For less obvious reasons, how did the word “provider” come to get used in the news all the d*amn time? I do not know, but I did read that PR people now outnumber journalists 6 to 1. That’s up from 5 to 1 two years ago. And the 5-to-1 figure was double what it was ten years ago.
Johnny X (of Ducktown Tavern and running for election to the City of Atlantic City Council) says, “They should seek out one of us locally to cater that event.”
For more feats of journalism…
After 9 Years, Haddonfield’s British Chip Shop to Close Dec. 23–The British colonial roots of Haddonfield are well-known and well-celebrated, from Revolutionary War re-enactments in the center of town to the preservation of properties that date to the 1600’s. www.njpen.com
Nearly-800 acre habitat in the N.J. Pinelands is a refuge for animals–Dr. Nedim Buyukmihci -- "Ned" to his friends -- has lived in California, Texas and New Mexico, and now resides in the English countryside with his British wife. www.nj.com
STATE ISSUES NEW RULES ON SALT WORKAROUND AND GIVES WARNING ABOUT IRS–Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration issued new regulations yesterday to help New Jersey residents avoid hefty tax hikes in the wake of the new federal tax policy that caps the longstanding SALT deduction for state and local taxes. www.njspotlight.com
Big N.J. cannabis industry event sold out, evidence of strong interest in legal weed–Shortly after the keynote speaker and other panelists were announced last week for a much-anticipated industry event, NJ Cannabis Insider Live! has sold out. www.nj.com