Thursday, January 14, 2016

Christie's "Flunkey," Ray Kelly, Attacks Commissioner Bratton, Then Retreats.

February 12, 2016 at 2:14 P.M. A package containing 87 pages of materials, including the essay that appears below, was sent via overnight mail to John Brennan, Director of the CIA, Office of the Inspector General, CIA, Washington, D.C. 20505 with the tracking number EL 007754031 for delivery not later than 12:00 Noon, next business day, Tuesday, February 16, 2016. 

February 3, 2016 at 1:51 P.M. If I am required to travel to Florida -- briefly and involuntarily -- I expect to remain (mostly) silent about all matters pertaining to these blogs and the issues that I have discussed. 

I will not have private conversations of any kind with any official or "friends" of local officials in Florida. 

If I should experience an "unfortunate accident" -- or if the plane on which I travel has a "mishap" -- my positions and opinions will not change nor (I am sure) will there be any change for U.S. law enforcement in these matters. ("American Hypocrisy and Luis Posada-Carriles.")

What follows is a detailed discussion of an exchange between Ray Kelly (Republican and former Police Commissioner in New York) and William Bratton (Democrat and current Police Commissioner) that is only the latest episode in a distressing pattern of politicized reactions to events by officials and cops in New York, I believe, at the behest of New Jersey forces and national electoral campaigns.

It is unwise to politicize police services in New York. 

I suspect that, although Mr. Kelly and Mr. Bratton are not the best of friends, this recent public "debate" was generated by GOP "bosses" -- especially Governor Christie! -- for the purpose of embarrassing Mayor De Blasio's administration.

The mayor's name has appeared in the media with (and without) a capitalized "d." I will opt for capitalization in this essay.

New Jersey's Chris Christie may have called in favors to get Ray Kelly to criticize De Blasio/Bratton on crime rates that are in decline in New York in order to distract voters (or change the subject) from Christie's failures in New Jersey where there has been a dramatic RISE in homicides together with unmatched levels of corruption and ineptitude among judges, prosecutors, police, and politicians to say nothing of an insolvent pension system and other disappearing funds. ("New Jersey's Filth, Failures, and Flaws.") 

Allegations of fraud in the accumulation and interpretation of New York's crime statistics are absurd.

I have not received a response from Mr. Bratton to my message regarding crimes committed against me. 

It is possible that a side benefit for Mr. Christie is to seek to intimidate New York's Police Commissioner in order to prevent any investigation of matters that I have brought to Mr. Bratton's attention by implying that further media criticism of New York's police methods (and of Commissioner Bratton) will follow if my "situation" becomes public. 

Intimidation efforts on New Jersey's part should also be directed against the U.S. Attorney in New York. 

I doubt that Mr. Bratton will be intimidated by the possible attacks in the media by means of GOP "intermediaries" and flunkeys. 

I do not believe that Ray Kelly is (or wants to be) a "flunkey" for anybody. 

I will be sending the final version of the essay that appears below with one hundred sources attached to the main text to John Brennan, Director of the CIA, since there appears to be an international component to my humble story at this time.

The overnight mail receipt number for this letter with attachments will be posted at this blog to allow readers to track the package sent to Mr. Brennan. ("Menendez and Samson Face New Troubles.")

Something called "Legal Eagle" has been created by a person (or persons) unknown -- probably from New Jersey -- that may contain insulting allegations against me. I have not and will not read anything at the site. 

I suggest that readers turn to "Whatever" which answers all questions concerning my history. 

I have never been charged with (or convicted of) a crime anywhere. There are no judgments against me that I am aware of, or concerned about.  

J. David Goodman, "Bratton Battles His Predecessor On Crime Tally," The New York Times, December 30, 2015, p. A1. (Who or what was behind Mr. Kelly's inaccurate accusation?)

J. David Goodman, "Shedding Light On How a City Counts Crimes," The New York Times, December 31, 2015, p. A1. (Is Mr. Christie changing the subject?)

Stephen Rex Brown, "Flop Over Emails: Kelly Email Scandal -- Messages 'Inadvertedly Deleted,' Police Reform Advocates Are Outraged," The Daily News, January 1, 2016, p. 5. ("The city says in federal court filings that former commissioner Raymond Kelly's emails were deleted 'by accident,' despite an order that they be saved for a class action suit over alleged NYPD summons quotas." Mr. Kelly may face a contempt hearing.)

Dan Ivers, "Deadly Trend: Homicides Rise," The Star-Ledger, January 1, 2016, p. 1. (Mr. Christie's New Jersey has seen a dramatic rise in crime and, notably, homicides have exploded, but Mr. Christie, mysteriously, is only concerned -- through associates -- to criticize New York's crime rate. Crime has declined in New York while homicides have been reduced substantially under this mayor as well as Mr. Bloomberg. Should Mr. Christie not worry more about New Jersey than New York?) 

N.R. Kleinfeld & J. David Goodman, "Top Lawman East of the Hudson? A Lengthy Quarrel Goes Public," The New York Times, January 2, 2016, p. A1. (Police work is not politics.)

Adam Liptak, "Supreme Court, in Recusal Case, May Have to Look Inward," The New York Times, January 5, 2016, p. A13. (Should Ms. Poritz, Mr. Rabner, Ms. LaVecchia and "others" have recused themselves in matters concerning me? Did the New Jersey Supreme Court and OAE attempt to or actually falsify, alter, lie about and/or destroy records, or other items, pertaining to me? Obstruction of justice? Ethics? Do you presume to judge my ethics, "ladies and gentlemen" of the N.J. Bar Association?  "Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?") 

Charles Stile, "Goal For Christie is to Stay On the Attack: Grab the Headline, Deal With the Fallout Later," The Record, January 6, 2016, p. A-1. (Mr. Christie hopes to avoid attention to his failures or the catastrophe that is New Jersey government and courts by attacking the opposition. The tactic is being used against Hillary Clinton by the GOP -- "What about Benghazi?" -- without the slightest concern about the factual accuracy, or merits, of the so-called "accusations." Ideally, the victim of such attacks will spend his or her time reacting to, and defending against, false charges and will be unable to move forward with a positive agenda. Increased murders in New Jersey may be countered with accusations about how New York counts crimes to "explain" or dismiss a liberal mayor's success in reducing murders and a Republican governor's failures to do so.)

Dustin Racioppi, "Past Catches Up to Present On Christie Campaign Trail: He's Forced to Clarify Views On Gun Laws, Planned Parenthood, Maine Governor," The Record, January 11, 2016, p. A-1. (When caught "flip-flopping" -- or lying -- on issues, Mr. Christie has changed the subject by criticizing New York's mayor. New Jersey's governor has responded to accusations that his administration is racist by defending the governor of Maine against similar charges. Distraction?)

"Police commissioner William J. Bratton and his predecessor Raymond W. Kelly, opened a war of words on Tuesday, engaging in a raw and apparently spontaneous dispute over the veracity of the New York Police Department's official tally of shootings and murders." (Times, 12-30-15, p. A1.)

Police services should and must be beyond politics in this city.

Mr. Kelly's comments were clearly politically motivated and part of the continuing and absurd GOP effort to claim that Republicans alone can keep the city and nation safe, secure, and prosperous. 

Republicans have made the city less safe by ignoring viable threats and crimes such as those that I have brought to the attention of the authorities more than once. Innocent persons may be at serious risk because of this failure to respond. ("An Open Letter to Cyrus Vance, Jr., Esq.")

Mr. De Blasio's administration has settled contentious and divisive law suits, defused tensions within the minority communities -- as well as, specifically, among African-Americans and police -- ended a racist "stop-and-frisk" policy, and yet achieved comparable (or higher!) levels of crime control than the previous administration.

Mr. Kelly and his "co-religionists" (to use William F. Buckley, Jr.'s phrase) on the far-Right of the political spectrum are humiliated and infuriated by De Blasio's and Bratton's success. 

Republicans are desperately hoping for a crime wave or terrorist incident to explode in Manhattan. If Republicans do not discover a public safety crisis of some kind they may feel a need to create one in order to persuade Americans that we need GOP officials to remain "secure": 

"Mr. Bratton challenged Mr. Kelly to substantiate his claim last week that the department was manipulating the statistics to make it appear that New York is safer than it actually is. ..." (Times, 12-30-15, p. A1.)

There were some marginal comments by Mr. Kelly concerning what counts as an injury resulting from a shooting and/or whether a particular incident is appropriately -- or only conveniently -- classified as a "violent" as opposed to "non-violent" crime. 

These reservations by Mr. Kelly were rendered trivial (or laughable) by the admission that the method of counting and classifying crimes was essentially identical under Ray Kelly's administration of the department. 

Mr. Kelly is now accused of "deleting and altering" email records, illegally, in a federal proceeding that may cost the city millions of dollars:

"Stephen Davis, the [NYPD] spokesperson, disputed each of the assertions that Mr. Kelly made on Tuesday. 'He's making claims that are not accurate or that, in many cases, are not any different from how they were measured in his administration.' [emphasis added!]" (Times, 12-30-15, p. A19.)

This comical and sad exchange between Mr. Kelly (who must now feel humiliated) and Mr. Bratton is typical of the Republican criticisms of Democrat officials. 

This bizarre tendentiousness is especially true of the increasingly surreal attacks on President Obama, whose recent dissolution of a potential crisis with Iran achieved the safe return of Americans caught spying on that nation, but was CRITICIZED by the likes of Marco Rubio as not "tough enough."

Presumably, Mr. Rubio (as U.S. President) would have created a hostage crisis with Iran and/or war lasting years and costing trillions of dollars resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties and wounded soldiers for this nation. 

The latest Iran incident was swiftly resolved by President Obama with no casualties or major costs to this country (or Iran) and to the applause of the world community. 

Mr. De Blasio and Mr. Bratton  have kept New York safer than the so-called "tough guys" who preceded them in office, Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Kelly. 

"Machismo" is not a very attractive administrative policy in running a sophisticated nation or police department in 2016.   

Worse than the unsubstantiated criticisms, however, is Mr. Kelly's playing politics with the lives of New York residents by deciding that some of us -- persons like me or innocent "others" -- are not worthy of police protection, probably at the instruction of fellow Republicans from a neighboring state, like the delightful Chris Christie. ("Is Christopher Christie 'Mentally Deranged' and a 'Liar'?")

Mr. Kelly, I am sure, was well aware of my situation for years and chose to ignore the danger to all of us.

The motivation for Mr. Kelly's criticism was not simply to assist Republican Chris Christie in covering-up an increase in homicides in New Jersey on his watch, allegedly, but also to distract from the disgusting spectacle of failed, corrupt judges and protected child molestation in a "Soprano State" that has become a symbol of the disease afflicting America. Mr. Kelly may have tried to achieve this GOP "objective" with bogus criticisms of crime statistics in New York.

"Most of former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly's emails on his desktop computer were deleted at the end of his tenure despite an order [that] they be preserved for a high-stakes class-action suit alleging a summons quota system within the department." (Daily News, 1-1-16, p. 5.)

Were any of the deleted emails from Mr. Kelly sent to Mr. Christie or the N.J. governor's assistants? If so, were any such emails concerned with matters pertaining to me? Were any of Mr. Kelly's emails sent to Bob Menendez and/or to Cyrus Vance? Did any such emails sent to Mr. Menendez and Mr. Vance concern me? Were any of Mr. Kelly's emails "political" in nature? Is the NYPD Commissioner's position "apolitical"? Should police officers in uniform be politically partisan in a democracy?

Attorneys for the city and plaintiffs were equally upset by this development: 

"The city has still not provided a coherent story as to why it has not produced a single email from Ray Kelly's file." (Daily News.)

There is no reason why these emails cannot be recovered from the hard drive on the original computer or from the recipients of these emails. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "John McGill, Esq., the OAE, and New Jersey Corruption.")

To suggest that such a deliberate deletion of emails by Mr. Kelly is anything but a cover-up is implausible. 

Mr. Kelly's action borders on obstruction of justice and he may face a contempt of court proceeding.

Is this latest episode of public controversy Mr. Kelly's first move in a campaign for mayor of New York? 

Sources:

Jonathan D. Salant, "Supreme Court Will Weigh Cop's Demotion," The Star-Ledger, January 19, 2016, p. 1. (The U.S. Supreme Court will ponder the legality of terminating a police officer's employment because he supported an opponent of the mayor in a political campaign. This sounds like Mr. Menendez's efforts to come after me because I supported a candidate against him. Opposition to Mr. Menendez is something that I do not regret. Behind-the-back attacks against attorneys and police officers who refuse to obey corrupt political bosses are a feature of life in New Jersey that must end. I am confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree with me on this matter. "Albert Florence and New Jersey's Racism" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")

Claude Brodesser-Akner, "Christie Acknowledges N.J. Win 'Unlikely' for Him," The Star-Ledger, January 18, 2016, p. 3. (Chris Christie admitted that, in his words, "if I'm the nominee, it is unlikely that I'll win N.J." in the 2016 election. New Jersey has seen through Christie's charade. It is also unlikely that Mr. Christie will be the Republican nominee.)

"Is Christie Done With the Bridgegate Scandal? Not by a Long Shot," (Editorial) The Star-Ledger, January 18, 2016, p. 6. ("Gov. Christie has been trying to convince voters in New Hampshire that Bridgegate is over, that 'the federal investigation has gone as far as its going to go,' and he's been 'totally cleared of wrongdoing.' List that as one of [Christie's] LIES." Are lying members of the New Jersey Bar Association "ethical," Mr. Rabner?)

Mike McIntyre, "Cruz Neglected to Report Loan From '12 Race," The New York Times, January 14, 2016, p. A1. (Money from Goldman, Sachs that Mr. Cruz "borrowed" -- Goldman is his wife's employer and a company that played such a wonderful role in the financial crisis -- was not reported even though, as a senator, Mr. Cruz was, and is, expected to regulate the financial industry. Mr. Cruz loves Wall Street, but hates "New York values." Despite $5 BILLION in criminal fines no one at Goldman, Sachs is going to prison. Allegedly, Mr. Cruz has not repaid the money he "borrowed." Please see: "Occupy Wall Street.")

David E. Sanger, Eric Schmidt & Helene Cooper, "'Sailor' Release Staves Off Crisis for U.S. and Iran -- Kerry Hails Diplomacy," The New York Times, January 14, 2016, p. A1. (Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Kerry were attacked for resolving a dispute that ended a crisis saving American lives and resources.)

"Gov. Christie Leaves Gun Control Behind," The New York Times, January 14, 2016, p. A26. (Mr. Christie's previously expressed concern about handguns is dismissed as a lie since he has been "reached" by the gun lobby to modify his more sensible earlier position favoring gun controls.)

Peter Baker, "Obama Urges U.S. to Embrace Change: A Nation's Political Split Screen," The New York Times, January 13, 2016, p. A1. (Obama's statement of reality contrasts with Republican rhetoric and surreal fear-mongering. While it is claimed that only Republicans can keep us "safe," Americans wonder who will keep us safe from Republican violations of our civil liberties? "C.I.A. Lies and Torture" and "N.S.A. Spying is Illegal.")

Alexander Burns, "Christie, in Legislative Speech, Pledges He Won't Fade Away," The New York Times, January 13, 2016, p. A12. (Christie is attacking Democrats for voting to put a Constitutional amendment on the state ballot guaranteeing state public pension payments from what is now an insolvent account. This will require either tax increases for Christie's rich friends or drastic cuts in pension payments to many poor retirees. Knowing Mr. Christie, as we do, it is likely that poor people on fixed incomes will be hurt long before rich Republicans feel any pain. "Rich Republicans" may be redundant in New Jersey.) 

AP, "Ex-Hunterton Sheriff's Lawsuit Tossed," The Record, January 13, 2016, p. A-3. (Allegations that a prosecution was dropped, for political reasons, because it involved an ally of Governor Christie. More allegations of politically motivated behind-the-back efforts to injure opponents of New Jersey bosses and protect their friends: "New Jersey's Politically-Connected Lawyers On the Tit" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.") 

Paul Berger, "Baroni's Lawyer Fights to Publicize Co-Conspirator List," The Record, January 13, 2016, p. A-3. (N.J. prosecutors disseminate "secret lists" of names of people "suspected" but not charged in an, allegedly, politically motivated conspiracy to close access to the GWB. Kim Guardagno, sounds like your tactics in reverse?) 

Peter J. Sampson, "Police Accused of Rights Abuses: Mom, 2 Sons Sue Ridgefield, 7 Cops," The Record, January 13, 2016, p. L-1. (An African-American family claimed civil rights abuses against Right-wing Ridgefield, N.J., including an unprovoked physical attack and false arrest. Ridgefield is Kim Guardagno's home turf as a Bergen County "gal." Ms. Guardagno has been accused of racism despite her alleged lesbianism. "Driving While Black in New Jersey" and "Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest!")

Marissa Iati, "School Board Member Says Domestic Violence Charge Was 'Political,'" The Star-Ledger, January 13, 2016, p. 13. (A school board member is another official, lawyer, cop, to allege that he/she was arrested based on false police reports for political reasons. "Crooked Cop Lies to Convict People" and "Crooked Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics.") 

Mary Ann Spoto, "Ex-Gallery Owner Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Possession," The Star-Ledger, January 13, 2016, p. 20. (Peter Tumalty, 58, of the Port Monmouth, New Jersey art scene and a prominent citizen was arrested and pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a minor for possession of child pornography. "Neil M. Cohen, Esq. and Conduct Unbecoming to the Legislature in New Jersey" and "New Jersey Rabbi Charged With Child Molestation" then "Menendez Consorts With Underage Prostitutes" and "Menendez Blames Castro For His Prostitution Habit.") 

"Man With HIV Charged in 5-Year Sex Assault," The Star-Ledger, January 13, 2016, p. 20. ("A 42-year-old Dover man who is said to have HIV" -- and/or the AIDS virus -- "faces charges including aggravated sexual assault on a child after allegedly committing sex acts on a teenage girl over a five-year period." These incidents were known to the authorities, but no arrest took place. "An Open Letter to Cyrus Vance, Jr., Esq.")

Linda Stasi, "You Can't Bull New Yorkers!," The Daily News, January 17, 2016, p. 19. ("So from New York to Texas Ted: Screw you and the horse you rode in on. ... " I say much the same to Mr. Christie and Mr. Menendez as well as Mr. Rabner. "New Jersey's Ethical Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" then "New Jersey's Political and Supreme Court Whores" and "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?")

"Justice Scalia Sharply Condemned for Race Comments," Beacon, December 23, 2015, p. 3. 

No byline was listed for this foregoing article because of probable fears of reprisals against any author of the text or other journalists at this publication: 

"African-American leaders in Congress, civil rights lawyers and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sharply condemned Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Thursday for his remarks questioning the intelligence level of black students."

Presumably, Justice Scalia's comments would apply to Mr. Obama, who attended Harvard Law School -- as did Justice Scalia -- but did much better, academically, than Justice Scalia, even serving as President of the Harvard Law Review. 

Curiously, I did much better academically than Mr. Menendez, the senator was a law student at Rutgers, allegedly, and I also did better than Mr. Christie at our shared alma mater Seton Hall University School of Law which was ranked higher than Rutgers when I attended classes there.

"Little Debbie" Poritz allegedly agrees with Justice Scalia about the intellectual inferiority of non-whites and male heterosexuals. ("N.J.'s Anna Stubblefield, Psychobabble, and Molestation.") 

Claude Brodesser-Akner, "Panel Calls for Easing Confused Concealed Carry Law," The Star-Ledger, December 22, 2015, p. 1. (Gov. Christie makes it easier for GOP members to "pack heat," as it were, by endorsing this law. After all, obese Republicans will always be able to get their revolvers up even if others parts of them fail.)

Adam Clark, "Wall Street Downgrades Another N.J. College," The Star-Ledger, December 22, 2015, p. 3. (N.J. colleges continue to lose credibility hurting students and alumni. With the exception of Princeton University, N.J. has become a sad joke in America and the world. New Jersey is governed by nice people, sometimes, but they are often in over their heads.)

Tim Darragh, "Ex-Watershed Director Faces 23 Years in Jail: Linda Watkins-Brashear Pleads Guilty to Soliciting Nearly $1 Million in Kickbacks," The Star-Ledger, December 22, 2015, p. 13. (The former director of the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. pleaded guilty Monday to soliciting nearly $1 million in bribes from businesses in exchange for inflated and no-work contracts.) 

Salvador Rizzo, "N.J. Justices Take On Trendy Custody Case: Court Forced Indigent Mom to Give Up Child," The Record, December 22, 2015, p. A-1. (An indigent mother impoverished by the current governor's failed policies, experiencing unemployment, facing higher crime rates in her neighborhood with less police presence or concern, was deprived of her 2-year-old daughter in New Jersey to the delight of judges who placed the child with a "financially advantaged" family -- white people? -- for the child's "own good." Perhaps Mr. Rabner believes that poor and/or brown people should not have or keep children? "Stuart Rabner's Selective Sense of Justice" and "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")  

Maddie Hanna, "Christie Slams Michelle Obama's School Lunch Standards," The Record, January 19, 2016, p. A-5. ("COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- Siding with a boy who bemoaned the absence of 'square pizza' and other favorite lunch foods since Michelle Obama became first lady, Governor Christie said at an Iowa pancake house Monday" -- What was Mr. Christie doing there? -- "that if he becomes president students will 'eat whatever you want.' ..." Mr. Christie seems unconcerned, for some reason, about the costs of morbid obesity for America's economy and his own state. There are so many persons willing to comment on the weight of others who rarely take a good look at themselves. Right, Estela De La Cruz? Diana Lisa Riccioli? Maria Martinez? Alexandra Ramirez? "Marilyn Straus Was Right!" and "Diana's Friend Goes to Prison!") 

Malcolm Ritter, "Study of Falling IQ Suggests That Pot is a Symptom, Not Cause: At-Risk Teens May Have Underlying Woes," The Record, January 19, 2016, p. A-10. (Higher education and IQ levels in America continue to decline. New Jersey is among the jurisdictions where the decline is sharpest over the past ten years. "America's Nursery School Campus" and "Whatever.") 

Jean Rimbach, "GOP Chief Demands Sheriff Give Back Funds," The Record, January 19, 2016, p. L-1. (Bob Yudin, spouse of Sybil R. Moses, accused Sheriff Michael Saudino, who left the Republican party in Bergen County -- allegedly, because the party is "corrupt" -- of "treason" suggesting misappropriation of funds by the former Bergen County Sheriff. This is only one of several police and/or sheriff's officers accused of theft in New Jersey. Politics? "Sybil R. Moses and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.") 

Tom Hays, "Feds Bust Entrepreneur Who Jacked Up [sic.] Drug Prices," The Star-Ledger, December 18, 2015, p. 1. ("A boyish-looking entrepreneur who became a new face of corporate greed when he jacked up the price of a lifesaving drug fiftyfold was led away in handcuffs by the FBI on unrelated fraud charges Thursday in a scene that left more than a few Americans gleeful." Jaynee? "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.")

Mary Ann Spoto, "Rabbis Get Prison Time in Divorce-Coercion Plot," The Star-Ledger, December 18, 2016, p. 8. ("Two rabbis who participated in the kidnapping and beatings of Orthodox Jewish men under the guise of a religious service in order to extract divorce agreements from them have been sentenced to federal prison." Is it true, Mr. Rabner and Ms. Poritz, that "Jews do not commit crimes"? "New Jersey Rabbi Charged With Child Molesting" and "Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" then "Driving While Black in New Jersey.") 

Myles Ma, "Lawsuit Says Firings Are Based on Politics," The Star-Ledger, December 18, 2015, p. 15. (ALL Bergen County employee-litigants in this suit claim "politically motivated hiring and firing." This sounds more like "Big Nicky" Sacco's and Boss Bob Menendez's Hudson County. "Bribery in Union City, New Jersey" and "North Bergen, New Jersey is the Home of La Cosa Nostra.")

Sallie Graziano, "Muslim Teacher's Suit Claims Discrimination at School From Start," The Star-Ledger, December 18, 2015, p. 21. (Serrim Hashem says she was fired from Hutcheson Central High over race and her religion. There are several similar law suits throughout New Jersey's legal system alleging discrimination on the basis of religious faith. This is O.K. with Mr. Yudin when Muslims are victims, allegedly, but not when Jews are discriminated against by gentiles.)

Sue Epstein, "Ex-Official Admits Providing False Water Purity Data," The Star-Ledger, December 18, 2015, p. 23. (Edwin O'Rourke, 60, of Brick Township, New Jersey provided false water purity information. This may have endangered the health of residents of his community, especially children, and there may be more false information provided to state and federal government agencies by multiple municipal officials throughout the state. Is this New Jersey's legal ethics, Mr. Rabner? "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")

Ben Horowitz, "Man Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Assault Charges," The Star-Ledger, December 18, 2015, p. 22. (Troy R. Leonard, 31, a Special Ed Consultant is charged with having sex with at least 5 impaired children. This is only one more child abuse case in N.J. public schools. Other similar accusations are being -- and have been -- made against teachers, police officers, lawyers and judges in America's worst child abuse state, New Jersey. "New Jersey Welcomes Child Molesters!" and "Menendez Blames Castro For His Prostitution Habit.")

Paul Berger, "State Lawmakers Weigh Action On GWB Report," The Record, December 18, 2015, p. A-6. (Will the Legislature, or OAE, take action against Randi Mastro, Esq.'s law firm for bilking the state of about $8 MILLION to write Christie's "Whitewash" report? Ethics? Lies? "New Jersey's Politically-Connected Lawyers On the Tit" and "New Jersey Lawyers' Ethics Farce" then "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics" and "Menendez Consorts With Underage Prostitutes" then "Wedding Bells Ring For Menendez!")  

Sam Jones, "Putin Sent Top Spy to Syria on Doomed Mission to Persuade Assad to Quit," FT Weekend, (US Ed.) January 25, 2016, p. 1. ("Russian President Vladimir Putin sent one of his most senior spy chiefs on a secret mission to Syria late last year in a failed attempt to persuade Bashir al-Assad to step down from office." The person who carried this message from Mr. Putin, allegedly, "died of natural causes" shortly after his return to Moscow. Perhaps the natural cause of death was the victim being shot by an unknown person. Next time, I believe, Mr. Putin will not ask "politely" for this gesture by Mr. Assad. Curiously, President Putin's "request" was made to Mr. Assad after allegations of "complicity" by Syrian intelligence operatives in the Paris terrorist incident and, worse, in the downing of a Russian passenger plane.) 

Ben McLanahan, "Goldman Shrugs Off $5 BILLION Fine to Get Back in Control," FT Weekend, (US Ed.) January 25, 2016, p. 9. (Estimates of earnings of $150 BILLION makes all U.S. criminal penalties laughable: "The bank hardened its main profit target, saying it aimed to hit a 9 to 11 percent return on equity by the end of next year, rather than '10 percent over the median term.' ..." New opportunities in Russia and Europe, through subsidiaries, to participate in pipeline construction and financing for the proposed China, Russia, and Iran oil supply ventures are merely tentative.)

Alexander Burns, "A New Jersey Vanishing Act: The Governor and His Ambitions," The New York Times, January 23, 2016, p. A1. (Governor Christie is absent or late, distracted and unconcerned about New Jersey as he pursues a fantasy of becoming President of the United States of America. Do your current job before worrying about the presidency, Mr. Christie. Is Mr. Christie lost on the Turnpike?)

Benjamin Wieser, "Silver's Defense Seeks Acquittal or New Trial," The New York Times, January 23, 2016, p. A17. (Mr. Silver's efforts to rewrite his trial's verdict and all of his questionable appeals will fail. If Silver lives long enough, it is likely that he will join Mr. Menendez in a federal prison. You only get one bite at the apple, Sheldon.)

Danny Hakim, "VW Admits Cheating in U.S., but Says Its Practices Were Legal in Europe," The New York Times, January 22, 2016, p. B1. ("About 500,000 affected diesel cars were sold in America." This number translates into lethal cancers and respiratory ailments for Americans that are predictable a priori on a mathematical basis. No one at VW will go to prison regardless of the number of Americans who die from such illnesses.) 

Liz Mayer, "JP Morgan's CEO [Jamie Dimon] Got a 30% Raise in 2015, to $27 MILLION," The New York Times, January 22, 2016, p. B2. (Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at JP Morgan was paid 35% more in 2015 than the previous year despite the criminal fines assessed against the bank. See you at the MET Opera, Jamie, with your lovely companion(s). Along with HSBC and other prominent financial institutions, JP Morgan has been sullied by accusations of money laundering for international cartels. What do you say to that Mr. Dimon?) 

Charles Stile, "Shadows Loom in Christie's Highlight Reel," The Record, December 15, 2015, p. A-1. ("When Gov. Christie vowed in Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate to shoot down Russian warplanes if they violated a non-fly zone over Syria, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky mocked his saber rattling. 'If you're in favor of World War, III, you have your candidate.' ...") 

Susan K. Livio, "N.J. Workers Collected $2.7 Million For No-Duty Jobs," The Star-Ledger, December 16, 2015, p. 1. ("800 to 850 direct-care workers stayed on payroll even as the state phased out [the] Woodbridge facility." A number of "workers" who remain on the payroll today at non-existent N.J. government-related jobs happen to be deceased, but this does not allow them to miss a day of work or prevent them for voting for Trenton's incumbents. Mr. Christie will bring the same fiscal responsibility and vigilance to the White House if elected to the presidency. "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.") 

Jonathan Salant & Matt Arco, "Christie: 'I'll Keep America Safe[!],'" The Star-Ledger, December 16, 2015, p. 1. (Mr. Christie touted his experience as a federal prosecutor to claim that he would keep America safe. Unfortunately, for Mr. Christie, crime -- especially murders -- together with theft from the public treasury have increased on his watch in New Jersey. Much of the money from bogus salaries seems to wind up in Republican accounts. Are Mr. Christie's rich friends "welfare queens"?)  

Ted Sherman, "Di Vincenzo Case Headed for Appeals Court," The Star-Ledger, December 16, 2015, p. 7. ("Di Vincenzo, a powerful Essex Democrat and a major Christie supporter, is accused of spending thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal expenses, including gym membership fees, tickets to sporting events and trips to Puerto Rico." The costs of a "female escort" are explained as a "fact-finding effort," allegedly, no doubt shared with Senator Menendez. Mr. Di Vincenzo "misused" -- or STOLE -- $16,000 in campaign funds and "failed to disclose," or tucked away, $72,000 in "spending." IRS? Mr. Di Vincenzo is a loyal member of the New Jersey Bar Association's Ethics Committee. Is this your so-called "legal ethics," Mr. Rabner? "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" then "Joey D Knows How to Eat!" and "New Jersey Lawyers' Ethics Farce" as well as "New Jersey's Politically Connected Lawyers On the Tit" and "Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics.")   

Rudminie Callimachi, "ISIS Video Appears to Show Paris Assailants Earlier in Syria and Iraq," The New York Times, January 25, 2016, p. A4. (Increasing evidence of "professional" controllers and assistance for the Paris terrorists and a well-planned attack. Was Bashir al-Assad behind these attacks which have generated global hostility to ISIS?)

Thomas Erdbrink, "China Moves to Deepen Its Footprint in Iran as Sanctions End," The New York Times, January 25, 2016, p. A4. (China and Russia are already in Iran to "assist" the country in emerging from economic isolation. I wonder whether President Xi's visit to Iran has anything to do with the notorious "pipeline" plans, or the $600 BILLION new two-year trade deal with Mr. Putin's Russia?)

"The City's Promising Step on Criminal Justice," (Editorial) The New York Times, January 25, 2016, p. A20. (Removal of petty disorderly persons offenses from the criminal justice system will liberate resources for more serious matters where resources are desperately needed. Something to think about in New Jersey.)

David Buchwald, "Convicted, but Still With a Pension," (Op-Ed) The New York Times, January 25, 2016, p. A21. (Should Silver and Skelos, Ferreiro -- and, if convicted, Menendez -- continue to get money from taxpayers for "multiple" pensions? "Multiple" pensions are likely in New Jersey.)

Matt Arco, "'Disaster Gov.' Chris Christie Spins Storm to Voters," The Star-Ledger, January 25, 2016, p. 1. (Gov. Chris Christie is the true "disaster" for New Jersey, but will Mr. Christie become America's "disastrous" president? I hope Americans will be "stronger than the storm" of publicity and money for Mr. Christie and vote for whomever the Democrats nominate for the presidency.)

Mary Ann Spoto, "Rabbi Sentenced to 10 Years for Arranging Public Kidnappings," The Star-Ledger, December 18, 2015, p. 18. (Rabbi Mendel Epstein, 70, sentenced to 10 years for kidnapping, claimed to know "Little Debbie" Poritz and Stuart Rabner. How about Solomon Dwek? "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")

Vernal Coleman, "Embattled Firefighter Files Discrimination Lawsuit," The Star-Ledger, December 15, 2015, p. 4. (Newark Fire Dept. Captain Anthony Graves filed a federal lawsuit accusing top officials and judges in New Jersey of racial discrimination and politically motivated retribution. Politics never affects such decisions in New Jersey, according to Mr. Rabner.)

Tim Darragh, "Rabbi Sent to Jail in Extortion Case," The Star-Ledger, December 15, 2015, p. 4. ("U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson on Monday sentenced Martin Wolmark, 56, to serve two years of supervised release and pay a $50,000 fine." I wonder if this defendant is related to Workers Compensation Judge Wolmark? No jail time?)

"DNA Bill Will Help Prove the Guilty and the Innocent," (Editorial) The Star-Ledger, December 14, 2015, p. 11. (No privacy concerns with collecting DNA from people in New Jersey accused of minor offenses that will be left in the hands of officials who may plant that DNA anywhere they like in a "Mafia-controlled" or "Soprano State"? It is "utterly safe," allegedly, to trust New Jersey officials -- like "Big Nicky" Sacco -- with DNA materials? "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "More Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics.")

Samantha Marcus, "Judge Approves Controversial $225 MILLION Exxon Settlement," The Star-Ledger, August 26, 2015, p. 11. (In January, 2016 it appears that a new challenge to a tainted settlement with Exxon may be going to federal court. Allegations of cash -- or other rewards -- under the table for Judge Michael Hogan, if valid, would not surprise me. "New Jersey's Judges Disgrace America" and "New Jersey's Failed Judiciary.")    

Brent Johnson, "City Closer to Default on Debt Services, Report Says," The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2016, p. 1. (The financial disaster in Atlantic City, a town on the verge of bankruptcy, is mirrored in economic crises affecting every urban area in New Jersey. Mr. Christie is "out to lunch" -- at the Pancake House perhaps -- and oblivious to the fiscal woes afflicting many of his fellow residents of the "Garden State.")

Brian Amaral, "Dem Chairman Sued by the Party's Own Attorney," The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2016, p. 3. ("The Edison Democratic Chairman is being sued, but it's unclear whom he'll turn to for advice, because the plaintiff is his legal adviser." The tension between pro- and anti-Menendez factions of the Democrat "Machine" in New Jersey is getting interesting. Barbara Buono may still support "Boss Bob" -- despite his alleged fondness for teen prostitutes -- even if there is a political price to pay. Perhaps this is because the "alleged underworld figures" have yet to dump Bob? "Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?")

Jonathan D. Salant, "Christie's Campaign is Seen as Sagging," The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2016, p. 4. (Mr. Christie is in danger of further embarrassing himself and destroying any future political viability in a senate run. Excellent.)

Jonathan D. Salant, "Christie Drops to 5th in New Hampshire Poll," The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2016, p. 5. (Mr. Christie is falling below Jeb Bush now since only about 7% to 5% of those polled "approve" or may vote from the man from Trenton. New Jersey continues to humiliate Christie; Christie also continues to humiliate New Jersey. This sounds like a match made in heaven.)

"Feeling Buried Under Christie's Latest Snow Job," (Editorial) The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2016, p. 14. ("Perhaps it's the stress of the presidential campaign, but the governor seems to be losing his mind. [emphasis added] He acts as if reality does not matter any more." Lying? "There was no flooding," Mr. Christie is alleged to have insisted.)

Ted Sherman, "Ex-Labor Leader Gets 4 Years for Funneling Money to Girlfriend," The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2016, p. 15. ("Richard 'Buzzy' Dressel, whose embezzlement conviction was reinstated by an appellate court last year after the judge in the case threw out the jury's verdict, was sentenced Monday by the same [trial] judge to 4 months in prison." It should have been a 2-to-4 year sentence, since 4 months confinement precludes state time and will be served in a county jail, if at all, which is absurd for a felony conviction involving public or trust funds.)

S.P. Sullivan, "Man Admits Staging 2012 Car Accident," The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2016, p. 16. (Most lawyers and chiropractors in N.J. "stage" accidents then "kickback" to corrupt judges to get settlements. Edgar Navarete? Jose Ginarte? I refused to do such things. No wonder New Jersey thinks that I am unethical. I think New Jersey is unethical. You decide. "Jerry Previlon" -- a Bob Menendez supporter! -- "pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree insurance fraud." Bass & Bass, Esqs., in Newark, represent this man in a fall-down case, no doubt, and love to steal comp files from their colleagues. "New Jersey Lawyers' Ethics Farce.")

Peter J. Sampson, "4-Month Term for Ex-Union Leader: Embezzled Funds for Girlfriend's Raises," The Record, January 26, 2016, p. L-1. (Was Buzzy's girlfriend an ex-exotic dancer who was giving him a "rise," as it were, in order to get her "raise"? Diana Lisa Riccioli, what were you doing for "Little Debbie" Poritz? "Diana's Friend Goes to Prison.") 

Salvador Rizzo, "Names Sought on Scandal-Related Legal Bills," The Record, January 26, 2016, p. 1. (30 or more state employees have billed taxpayers for their legal costs in testifying about the GWB crisis. The total cost to N.J. taxpayers is more than $800,000. The names of these public employees should be disclosed if this money for lawyers' fees is to be paid by the people. That is a lot of money for someone to sit next to a person at a deposition. I am requesting, again, the real names of ALL the persons acting against me from behind my back since 1988 -- at least -- in New Jersey, including "Terry Tuchin" and/or "Arthur Goldberg" and/or "David Cohen, Schwartz, Levy.") 

"Unsettled Pensions," (Editorial) The Record, January 30, 2016, p. A-9. (The public have a right to know about so-called "investment strategies" -- like theft? -- in connection with their N.J. pension funds which are in the red. The lies and cover-ups of the past are not to be perpetuated. New Jersey's pension funds are said to be MORE than $50 BILLION in the hole.)  

Kibret Marcos, "Teacher Pleads Not Guilty in Sex Case," The Record, January 30, 2016, p. L-1. (Edward Clark, 36, pleaded not guilty to molesting a 5th grade student and was released on bail. The plague of child molestation in New Jersey among lawyers, cops, judges, and teachers continues to spread as only part of the filth that defines America's "Soprano State.") 

S.P. Sullivan, "Giving Sex Traffickers Harsher Sentences," The Star-Ledger, February 1, 2016, p. 1:

"The five accused sex traffickers from Bergen and Passaic Counties advertised their victims on backpage.com, keeping them at motels across the state and forcing them to have sex with older men." ("Menendez Consorts With Underage Prostitutes.")

This is depressingly familiar to me:

" ... The four men from Hudson County allegedly sold off girls as young as 13, using violence and threats to control them. One girl was held at gun point." ("Marilyn Straus Was Right!" and "Protecting Sex Workers" then "Is Union City, New Jersey Meyer Lansky's Whore House?" and "14-Year-Old Girl Goes for $500 in Union City, New Jersey.")

These Union City men and women (also persons from "elsewhere" in Hudson County) were advertising online, some had self-professed "connections" to local politicians and police officers, like Mr. Garcia's friends in the West New York Police Department. Mr. Oriente may shed some light on these people. ("Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest!")

Peter J. Sampson, "Court Delays Ruling on Ex-Democratic Chief: Bail Hearing On Ferreiro Pushed Back 2 Weeks," The Record, January 30, 2016, p. L-3. ("Joseph A. Ferreiro, 58, the former leader of the Bergen County Democratic organization has been given 2 more weeks of freedom as a judge considers whether to grant him bail pending appeal of his racketeering conviction." The amount of deference given to alleged mafia figures in New Jersey is obscene. "Joe Ferreiro Indicted Again" and "Ferreiro Convicted; Menendez Indicted.")

Laura Herzog, "Body of Missing Man Found in the Hudson," The Star-Ledger, January 22, 2016, p. 15. (The body of Mathew Genovese, 24, was found in  the Hudson river after the young man was deemed to be "missing" in Hoboken. "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics." Is Mr. Romano also "Jim Holt"? Is this the journalistic ethics of the Times? "What is it like to be plagiarized?")

"Gov., We Don't Need You to Do Any Mopping. Just Do Your Job, Please," (Editorial) The Star-Ledger, January 27, 2016, p. A-10. (Christie, allegedly, regrets calling a south Jersey mayor "crazy" and saying that "there was no flooding." More than 20 persons in New Jersey have died as a result of the recent snow storm and shore area flooding. Is Mr. Christie lying when he denies the flooding? "Is Christopher Christie 'Mentally Deranged' and a 'Liar'?")

Peter J. Mancuso, "Glen Rock Man Faces New Fraud Claims: Feds Say Guilty Plea Deal Didn't Stop Real Estate Scam," The Record, January 27, 2016, p. L-3. (Paul Mancuso, 49, bilked more than $3 million from victims with the assistance of several prominent Essex County attorneys, allegedly, "connected" to the Calvacante crime family. "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")

Kibret Marcos, "Sewer Official's Retrial Upheld: State Would Have to Prove PVSC Misconduct Again," The Record, January 6, 2016, p. L-1. (Anthony Ardis, former supervisor of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority convicted of misconduct was granted a new trial proving that New Jersey is the true "sewer" of legal corruption that has become famous worldwide. "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "Jaynee LaVecchia and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")

Stephanie Dazio, "Woman Accused of Shoplifting Bras: 'Victoria's Secret' Says She's Part of a Theft Gang," The Record, January 6, 2016, p. L-3. (Allegedly, Kay Li Causi and Alicia Mucci were in on this scam, but this cannot be confirmed. Cynthia Mary Roman -- any relation to Jay Romano? -- stole $2,500 worth of bras. I wonder what business she is in with her "friends"? "Wedding Bells Ring For Menendez!" and "Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks.")

Adam Liptak, "A Thomas Milestone Likely to Pass Quietly," The New York Times, February 2, 2016, p. A20. (Justice Thomas has not asked a single question during oral argument in more than a year. Perhaps this is just as well.)

John C. Ensslin & Todd South, "Bergen Lawmakers Under Fire for Trip to Cuba," The Record, February 2, 2016, p. A-1. (Attacks from Menendez and N.J. cops against Bergen County officials visiting Cuba to contemplate business transactions that would benefit their constituencies, New Jersey residents of all races, continue to arise. Perhaps these "attacks" are financed by the Cuban American National Foundation.)

Kibret Marcos, "Man Held in Killing, Sex Abuse of Girl, 3: Child's Mother Also Facing Charges," The Record, February 2, 2016, p. L-2. (Man and woman arrested in the sexual violation and murder of the woman's 3-year-old child. "That's Jersey style!" To quote Mr. Christie's charming description of N.J. "brashness.")

Alex Napoliello, "Menendez Questions N.J. Legislators' Trip to Cuba," The Star-Ledger, February 1, 2016, p. 3. (Mr. Menendez is aware that persons in his native city, including some who must be known to him, engaged in sex slavery and trafficked young women for prostitution from Mexico and the Dominican Republic -- like Dr. Melgen perhaps! -- but he is worried about businesspersons and politicians "visiting" Cuba. "Menendez Croney's Office Raided" and "Menendez Charged With Selling His Office.") 

Brian Amaral, "Council Seeks to Double its Own Paycheck, Hike Other Official's Salaries," The Star-Ledger, February 1, 2016, p. 5. (N.J. public officials should reward themselves for the catastrophe that is New Jersey's government and courts with a substantial pay increase to supplement falling income from bribes as well as declining kickbacks from mob-controlled construction companies.)

"Closing New Jersey's $200 MILLION Corporate Tax Loophole is Only Fair," (Editorial) The Star-Ledger, February 1, 2016, p. 6. (Mr. Christie will do nothing about the grotesque unfairness of this N.J. tax code.) 

"Christie Left 3 Thousand People Facing Homelessness. Can Sweeney Help?," (Editorial) The Star-Ledger, February 1, 2016, p. 6. (Christie cut off rental assistance to some of the most powerless residents of the state after recent flooding that the governor claimed had not taken place. The N.J. governor was working on his "State of the Union" speech as your next president. Clearly, Mr. Christie is experiencing difficulties distinguishing fantasy from reality. Happily, none of the victims of this latest Christie blunder are among the wealthiest 1% of the population. Hence, the N.J. governor does not care about their sufferings.) 

Josh Boak, "Banks to Pay $154 MILLION to End 'Dark Pool' Probes: Left Clients Vulnerable to Fraud, SEC Says," The Record, February 1, 2016, p. A-8. (Credit Suisse and Barclays are paying $154 million to "settle" CRIMINAL investigations in the U.S. How much they are paying under the table to regulators -- or the likes of Bob Menendez -- to avoid anyone actually going to prison for these scams is anyone's guess. "So Black and So Blue in Prison.") 

Chad Bray, "Jury in London Clears 5 Ex-Brokers In Libor Trial," The New York Times, January 28, 2016, p. B1. ("Finding that Sarge and Lord Libor committed no crime." Irony? The financial crisis and mortgage scams were only an "illusion"?) 

Stanley Reed, "An Oil War of Attrition," The New York Times, January 28, 2016, p. B1. (It's OPEC all over again.) 

Adam Liptak, "Court Skeptical of Weighing Race in College Entry," The New York Times, December 10, 2015, p. A1. ("I don't think it stands to reason that it's a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible," Justice Scalia said. Justice Thomas asked no questions. Why should "blacks" attend college classes to study -- "arcane subjects, like philosophy" -- when they could easily become "welders," eh, Mr. Rubio?)

Anemona Hartocolis, "Fresh Fuel in Affirmative Action Case: With Remarks in Affirmative Action Case, Scalia Steps Into 'Mismatch Debate,'" The New York Times, December 11, 2015, p. A22. (Justice Scalia wondered whether African-Americans would be better off going to "slower track" schools. Perhaps fewer African-Americans are needed on the federal bench. Justice Thomas has no questions and may write a concurring opinion in this matter.)  

Rebecca Rosenberg, "Hooker A Whistle Blower [!] -- 'NYPD Cops and a Judge' Among Johns," New York Post, February 4, 2016, p. 9. ("Cops, lawyers and judges have paid to have sex with a curvy, raven-haired prostitute in Manhattan hotels, she told jurors on Wednesday." Evidently, the lady's activities included not only sexual intercourse, but "blowing many whistles," as it were, on state corruption and hypocrisy in connection with the sex for sale industry. In New Jersey, of course, such sexual activity is usually charged to the taxpayers by the likes of Joey Di Vincenzo and Bob Menendez. "Protecting Sex Workers.")

Dustin Racioppi, "Christie Keeps Up [sic.] His Rubio Offensive," The Record, February 4, 2016, p. A-3. (Christie demonstrated only what has been obvious for some time: Senator Rubio is a front-man for unsavory South Florida interests who is helpless when taken out of his prepared script. "Marco Rubio Lies About His Past!")

Kibret Marcos, "Paterson Pair Not Guilty in Girl's Sex Assault, Death," The Record, February 4, 2016, p. L-1. (N.J.'s epidemic of child sexual abuse continues unabated. "New Jersey is America's Child Porn Capitol.")

Stephanie Dazio, "Ex-N.Y.C. Cop Ran a Prostitution Ring, Police Say: Used Motels in Secaucus, Fort Lee," The Record, February 4, 2016, p. L-2. (A former N.Y. cop who moved to New Jersey -- obviously the right state for him -- operated a prostitution ring, state-wide, that catered to Garden State lawyers, judges, prosecutors and cops. Senator Bob? Minors?)

Stephanie Dazio, "$2.4 Million Heroin Haul in Secaucus: Cops Call it Among Biggest Ever in New Jersey," The Record, February 4, 2016, p. L-3. ("Authorities say they seized nearly 70 pounds of wholesale heroin -- with a street value of up to $15.5 MILLION, considered one of the largest seizures in the city's and the state's history -- and $14,000 in cash from four members of a Mexican drug cartel on Monday." It was probably $20,000 in cash, some of which has disappeared by now. Nevertheless, this was a nice catch for one day in a town famous for the Lincoln Tunnel into New York. Other members of this crew have been caught in Fort Lee right by the GWB. It is not difficult to tell where this heroin was headed. The seizure represents well under 1% of the illegal drugs coming into New York from New Jersey on a daily basis.) 

Todd South, "A New Wrinkle in Zisa Drama: Defense Says Prosecutor Tried to Force Mistrial," The Record, February 5, 2016, p. A-1. (Allegations by Defense counsel of deliberate forcing of a mistrial to cover-up a "screw-up" on the part of prosecutors in New Jersey suggests unethical and, even, criminal misconduct by Bergen County prosecutors. If these allegations are accurate ALL of the prosecutors engaging in this conduct should face ethics charges at the very least. Defense lawyers have been sanctioned or disbarred for much less and, sometimes, such things are done to defense lawyers for political reasons or as a result of bribery. It is time to apply ethics standards evenly to all attorneys in New Jersey, including "Little Debbie" Poritz and Stuart Rabner. "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "John McGill, Esq., the OAE, and New Jersey Corruption" then "Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?") 

Marcey Gordon, "Ex-Drug CEO Takes Fifth at Hearing: Assails House Questioners as 'Imbeciles,'" The Record, February 5, 2016, p. A-13. (Martin Skreli was excoriated Thursday by Congresspersons for his huge price increases for a drug sold by a company he acquired that was essential to save lives. The issue of conspiracies to fix prices on life-saving drugs was "unexplored." The accusations against the drug industry are amazingly similar to charges against bankers in the loan crisis of 2008, but persons are dying from inability to afford medications as a result of price gouging. Capitalism at its best?)

Joe Malinconico, "Paterson's $1.2 Million Haul: Developer Buys Liens on 62 of 71 Parcels at Auction," The Record, February 5, 2016, p. L-1. (It is amazing to see Mayor Joey Torres "making out" with Developer Charles Florio who has acquired substantial property for below market value in territory that may become even more valuable if state development plans pan out. Coincidence? Is Joey Torres the next Bob Menendez? "Bribery in Union City, New Jersey.")

Mohamed Alaa Ghanem, "Help Assad's Officers Defect," (Op-Ed) The New York Times, February 3, 2016, p. A23. (Without the military Mr. Assad is not long for this world. Many Syrian soldiers are seeking another option.) 

Barry Miller, "Lawyers Suing GM Now Fight Each Other," The New York Times, February 6, 2016, p. B1. (As usual MONEY is used to divide plaintiffs from their lawyers as well as lawyers from one another thereby delaying any actual settlement and/or payout for years as greed chips away at a resolution that is needed now by many injured persons or their family members.)   

Leonard Greene, "Sheld & Wife: C'Mon, Join the Club in Albany," The Daily News, February 8, 2016, p. 5. (Mr. Silver is seeking to control -- or determine -- his successor in Albany before he goes to prison. Perhaps his goal is to govern through this "successor." Influence and power are not easily surrendered by anyone. Right, Mr. Menendez. "Menendez Says He's 'Not Going Anywhere!'")

Paul Mulshine, "Christie's Wrecking Ball to Rubio and What it Means to GOP," The Star-Ledger, February 8, 2016, p. 1. (Mr. Christie demonstrated what many of us have recognized for a long time. Senator Rubio is a "front" for South Florida "interests" looking to govern the nation by proxy.)

"Still One More Reason For AG to Probe Edison PD," (Editorial) The Star-Ledger, February 8, 2016, p. 6. (Police spying on one another and upon local politicians, doing favors for underworld figures, sheltering corrupt officials and judges, NEED federal supervision. Trenton officials will be tainted by the same corruption.)

Jeremy Peters & Jonathan Martin, "Rubio is Tested As Rivals Sense Vulnerabilities: Assessing Readiness After Rocky Debate," The New York Times, February 8, 2016, p. A1. (Who is writing Mr. Rubio's scripts? Dr. Melgen's "friends" perhaps? Someone should take the time to explain the big words to Marco.)

Ashley Parker & Jonathan Martin, "Ego, Envy or Airtime? A Shocked Morningshow Host's Unusual Spat With Rubio," The New York Times, February 8, 2016, p. A12. ("I've been criticized for saying Marco Rubio looks too robotic, too prepackaged, and too young." This was the observation of Joe Scarborough prior to the recent debate: "But everything I've said alone for months is now being repeated by everyone else in the political world. My critiques weren't personal: they were right." I hate to say it, but I concur with Mr. Scarborough on Marco Rubio and have also said as much for years.)

Michael Winerip, "Rikers Officer Accused of Sex With Inmate," The New York Times, February 8, 2016, p. A22. (Nicole Bartly, 30, had sex repeatedly with an inmate and was apprehended bringing marijuana into the prison for that inmate. It is not unusual for groups of guards to bring in such materials in exchange for a fee paid by "organizations" concerned to keep some inmates happy. A guard bringing in things for free would spoil her colleagues' party.) 

Barry Miller, "One Lawyer for Plaintiffs Suing GM Steps Up Criticisms of Another," [sic.] The New York Times, February 8, 2016, p. B4. ("A lead lawyer for test cases is accused of putting his own interests first." It is strange that such so-called "lawyers" serve on legal ethics committees and become judges. "'Michael Clayton': A Movie Review" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" then "John McGill, Esq., the OAE, and New Jersey Corruption" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.") 

Nelson D. Schwartz, "Jobless Rate Is Under 5% and Wages Are Rising," The New York Times, February 6, 2016, p. B1. (Mr. Rubio said that what the "president is doing is no accident." This is what the president is doing and, yes, it is no accident: Unemployment is below 5% when it was 8.9% under our most recent Republican president, G.W.; peace with security and an end to the nuclear threat from Iran was achieved by Mr. Obama and Secretary Kerry without loss of American lives or treasure; ISIS is being contained and kept out of the United States of America without a military invasion of Syria; and the president is reaching out, properly, to previously excluded groups, including U.S. Muslims. Mr. Obama's global ratings are 60% "favorable" and he is at 55% "approval" ratings, or in "popularity," within this country.) 

Mike McIntyre, "Cruz Failed to Disclose SECOND Loan From 2012," The New York Times, January 16, 2016, p. A13. (Along with Goldman, Sacks it now appears that Citybank provided a line of credit for at least $500,000 without collateral or co-signers. It is likely in February, 2016 that there were more such "loans" which have not been repaid made by institutions that the senator is "entrusted" with regulating on behalf of the American people. None of these so-called "loans" have been repaid. "Bribery in Union City, New Jersey" and "Menendez Charged With Selling His Office.")

  














Saturday, January 02, 2016

"Irrational Man": A Movie Review.

January 4, 2016 at 1:56 P.M. No response has yet been received (by me) from any American public officials to the communications and evidence forwarded to them by me (and others) concerning computer crime, censorship, and much worse crimes committed against me and other innocent persons.

Efforts to intimidate Mr. Bratton through public criticisms based on false facts on the part of Mr. Kelly (possibly at the request of Mr. Christie and other GOP figures) will not succeed (I hope) in brushing Mr. Bratton "back from the plate."

The OAE is expected to post fake photos of me online along with the usual insults or scurrilous accusations of me that are meant to distract from the evidence and information previously posted at these blogs and already in the possession of U.S. authorities. (Please see the introduction to "Menendez Charged With Selling His Office.")

I leave it for readers to decide whether I am an ethical person and what conclusions to draw with regard to New Jersey's ethics and legality. ("New Jersey's Filth, Failures, and Flaws.")

It is likely that a number of persons have also received "no response" to their efforts and/or communications aimed at obtaining the truth from officials in these matters.

The next item posted at these blogs dealing with New Jersey issues will be sent to John Brennan, Director of the CIA, as a kind of "exploding cigar." 

No doubt the CIA can get to the bottom of these mysteries. ("An Open Letter to Cyrus Vance, Jr., Esq.") 

It is always possible that I will be prevented from writing further at this blog. I will do my best to continue writing on-line for as long as possible at some location.     

"Irrational Man": WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Woody Allen; DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Darius Khandji; EDITED BY: Alisa Lepselter; PRODUCTION DESIGN BY: Santo Loquasto; PRODUCED BY: Letty Aronson. RELEASED, US: July, 2015.

STARRING: Jackie Blakely (Roy), Joaquin Phoenix (Abe), Emma Stone (Jill), Betsy Aidem (Jill's Mother), and Ethan Phillips (Jill's Father). 

Alternative Review:

Manohla Dargis, "From a Senseless Crime, A Sudden New Lease On Life," The New York Times, July 17, 2015, p. C8. (The usual review by "Manohla Dargis.") (''The Reader': A Movie Review.") 

Primary Sources:

Woody Allen, "My Philosophy," in Getting Even (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972), pp. 27-32.

Woody Allen, "Death (A Play)," in Without Feathers (New York: Ballantine, 1983), pp. 43-107. 

Secondary Sources:

William Barrett, Irrational Man (New York: Doubleday, 1990), pp. 149-177, pp. 177-206. ("Kierkegaard, Nietzsche.")

Don Ihde, Hermeneutic Phenomenology: The Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (Evanston: Northwestern U. Press, 1971), pp. 59-81 ("Phenomenology Within Limits: Fallible Man") and see also pp. 95-135 ("Phenomenological Hermeneutics: The Symbolism of Evil").

Iris Murdoch, "The Existentialist Hero," in Peter Conradi, ed., Existentialists and Mystics: Writings On Philosophy and Literature (London: Penguin, 1997), pp. 108-115, also p. 352 ("On God and Good").

Scholarship On Woody Allen as Philosopher and Artist:

Marc T. Conrad & Alan J. Soble, eds., Woody Allen and Philosophy (Chicago: Open Court, 2004), pp. 5-68.

Graham McCann, Woody Allen (London: Polity, 1990), pp. 81-129 ("Love and Death").

Classics Thematically Related to This Film:

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2007), (1st Ed. 1886).

Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: A Phenomenological Essay On Ontology (New York: Washington Square Press, 1956), pp. 340-401, "The Look."

Please contact the 92nd Street Y for a Lecture: Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at 12:00 P.M. "On Woody" with David Evanier. (212) 415-5500. (A retrospective discussion of Woody Allen's films and ideas.)  

12 Woody Allen Movies You Must See:

1. Take the Money and Run (Co-written with Mickey Rose), (1969).
2. Bananas (Co-written with Mickey Rose), (1971).
3. Play It Again, Sam (Directed by Herbert Ross), (1972). (The funniest romantic comedy I have ever seen.)
4. Sleeper (Co-written with Marshall Brickman), (1973).
5. Love and Death (1975). (Leo Tolstoy meets S.J. Perlman.)
6. The Front (Not written by Woody, but he takes over this dark satire of McCarthy's blacklisting era that was directed by Martin Ritt and written by Walter Bernstein.) (1976).
7. Annie Hall (Co-written with Marshall Brickman), (1977). (The classic romantic comedy with a stellar performance from Diane Keaton.)
8. Manhattan (Co-written with Marshall Brickman), (1979). (The beauty of the black-and-white photography alone is worth the cost of this DVD. The film is a love-letter to New York, classic movie romances of the forties and fifties, as well as the eroticism of "Manhattan" in the pre-AIDS-era.)
9. A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy (1982). (Woody meets Shakespeare with an unsuspected performance by Jose Ferrer, a "serious" dramatic actor and now long-gone friend of Woody Allen's, playing an over-the-top academic.) 
10. Hannah and Her Sisters (1985). (Mastery of the ensemble piece. Woody's French film set in New York. Michael Caine delivers a performance for which he received a long-overdue Oscar.)
11. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). (Masterpiece of twentieth century cinema worthy of Igmar Bergman and/or any of the finest directors of the century dealing with ultimate issues of goodness and justice as well as the frailty of human nature plus there are a million laughs for all members of the family.)
12. Everyone Says I love You (1996). (Utter charm, with dancing by Woody that puts Gene Kelly to shame. Who knew? Drew Barrymore and Goldie Hawn are so shockingly beautiful that your popcorn melts. ) 

The Critique of Pure Dread: "Eternal nothingness is O.K., if you're dressed for it." -- Woody Allen. 

"Woody Allen" (born Allen Konigsberg) is one of the few geniuses of cinema in the world today.

Mr. Allen's body of work combines piercing wit with a powerful existential dread of death as well as the sense of absurdity and meaninglessness in the face of lost religious faith and in light of the inevitable confrontation with a powerful force of evil in the world that seems to have won everywhere. 

Woody hates cruelty and stupidity, violence and greed that he sees as defining the vast majority of people on most occasions. Beyond this modest reservation he has a cheerful view of human nature: 

Carl Jung said that "every good man must wrestle with the devil."

Woody Allen prefers to play checkers with the devil. However, Allen remains an opponent of the evil around us -- and he would never cheat in any competition -- not even against the devil. ("The Sleeping Prince" and "Drawing Room Comedy: A Philosophical Essay in the Form of a Film Script.")

Woody Allen was born in 1935 in Brooklyn, New York. The "Koningsberg" in his family name, if accurate, suggests his family may come from Immanuel Kant's home town. 

Ironically, the two greatest philosophers in the modern world -- Immanuel Kant and Woody Allen -- may come from the same territory in Eastern Europe. 

It may be symbolic that Auschwitz is also in the same region of the world. The Holocaust as well as the Cold War's nuclear confrontation between the great powers, Richard Nixon's "Watergate," and the Vietnam War, together with the impact of the Kennedy and King assassinations serve as the backdrop  to Woody's early life. 

It is difficult for a sensitive young man not to be scarred by the message that such a historical context (or experience) delivers about the prevalence of evil and consequences of nihilism, ignorance, and the seemingly irrepressible human tendency towards self-destruction postulated by both Freud and Jung. 

The twentieth century will not make for many optimists and starry-eyed idealists about human nature. 

Woody Allen deserves to be thought of as a philosopher and also a "serious" (important) cinematic artist, despite his humor and frequent association with "show business," along with some personal romantic scandals which have made him lasting enemies in the "politically correct" media world -- enemies who may seek to limit the success of his films. 

Many "skinny-dressed-in-black" media persons who dislike Woody Allen's movies are Nazis, often lesbian Nazis. ("Skinny People Dressed in Black.") 

Woody's lack of political correctness (I happen to agree with him concerning America's hypocritical p.c. nonsense!), has made it difficult for some of his later films -- such as Irrational Man -- even to receive a fair assessment from reviewers. 

These days they seem to prefer movies about computer-generated Martians at The New York Times. ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!")

Woody's struggle (like your struggle) is to find a way to remain free and authentic, good and creative, alive and self-giving, dignified and just in a world determined to destroy him -- or any of us -- in the fullness of time. ("Shakespeare's Black Prince.")

Woody finds himself placed amid social forces committed to his enslavement and oppression (thanks to ISIS, maybe even determined to kill him!) for his presumption in being (in no particular order) a Jew, artist, non-scientist, humanist, philosopher, genius, but (mostly) for insisting on living in accordance with the strictures of his conscience and by his personal values as a free American. 

Woody's "sin" is to cherish laughter while remaining skeptical about the claims of all powerful politicians, seeking solace only with a few like-minded individuals, through love and friendship, as well as the madness of art. 

Recent events in Paris have underscored the insanity that we live with that has generated equal madness in response. 

Woody Allen wishes to remain a civilized human being doing something other than hurting fellow human beings with his fragile and fleeting lifetime. This effort on his part to remain free and civilized infuriates some people for reasons that are too bizarre for me to understand. 

I love Woody Allen's works. I am not neutral about his achievement as an American artist in the twentieth century and beyond. 

Allen is a thinker as well as a cinematic artist. Cinema as well as literature (for Woody) is the most profound language of philosophical expression (among other things). 

Allen needs to make movies and write stories in order to come to terms not only with his own life-conditions, but with the human tragedy today, along with his ever-more uncertain place in the world. 

Woody Allen deserves the medal of freedom for his achievement. 

Although Irrational Man is not one of his best films, it is a very good movie, a work of ideas, much more artistic and profound than most other movies these days while managing to entertain and amuse audiences as did his early "light" comedies. 

Woody's recent comedies are not, usually, about fart jokes and pratfalls, but much more a kind of "high comedy" of manners influenced by traditional Jewish humor, of course, but also by the aristocratic social comedies of Britain and America that thrived in an earlier era.

Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward are relevant sources for Woody together with Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis to say nothing of the Marx Brothers. Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw seem to lurk in the background to many of Woody's excellent scripts. ("Richard and I" and "The Sleeping Prince" then "Faust in Manhattan.") 

Not included among the top-12 hits I provided are the globally-celebrated Matchpoint and Midnight in Paris. There are also postmodernist classics credited to Woody Allen that are much-loved in the American academy: For example, Celebrity and Zelig, also Deconstructing Harry. ("Jacques Derrida's Philosophy as Jazz" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Author.")

All of these later films have generated scholarly attention in Europe, Latin America, and within the US. In these mature works an effort is made to engage with issues surrounding quantum physics leading to new understandings of time and space ("Matchpoint") as well as the link between these ideas and developments in aesthetics, especially cinema, in relation to what we laughingly call "reality." ("'Interstellar': A Movie Review" and "'Inception': A Movie Review" then "'Ex Machina': A Movie Review.") 

Irrational Man dramatizes on film the tragic dilemma of Dostoevsky's "Raskolnikov" in Crime and Punishment: In modern society's condition of alienation and anomie, when so much of our lives have become routine and banal, when we feel alienated from the institutions that ensnare us, the one way of asserting our value and power and continuing importance, we are told, is through what Andre Gide called L'Acte Gratuite. (Blessedly, no accents are necessary in democratic America.)

This refers to the "gratuitous act" of self-assertive and Nietzschean violence, the primal murder that tears to the shreds the fabric of normality by establishing human will as supreme in an inert environment. In fear or violence, through passionate hatred (and/or by loving intensely), we are most fully alive and free:

"Life is like a concentration camp. You're stuck here and there's no way out. You can only rage impotently against your persecutors ..." (McCann, p. 35, quoting Woody Allen.) ("'The Stepford Wives': A Movie Review" and "'Invasion': A Movie Review" then "Drawing Room Comedy: A Philosophical Essay in the Form of a Film Script.") 

Through "struggle" (Jihad) you can take matters into your own hands by killing the "other" who threatens you while demonstrating one's "dreadful freedom." 

Many of the young men driven to join terrorist organizations interviewed recently on the BBC's news service expressed ideas (usually unknowingly) that are reflective of twisted versions of the existential-postmodernist issues central to Continental thought that are, often, derived from American movies by these same young men in the Middle East, and elsewhere, who nevertheless claim to "hate" America. ("'The Matrix': A Movie Review.") 

The Leap Into the Abyss: "It is impossible to experience one's own death and still carry a tune." -- Woody Allen.

Joaquin Phoenix delivers a bizarre, on-again-off-again performance as "Abe Lucas," a philosophy professor who is newly-arrived at an elite East Coast campus of what appears to be a liberal arts university.

In fairness to Mr. Phoenix the sense of dislocation, drift, or confusion attached to his characters's actions may be perfect for this drama (in his own estimation), but his performance fails to establish the "presence" of this central character which is a serious weakness in the drama.

The movie seems to combine Brown University with Amherst to provide a visual feast adding to the myth of ideal splendor in Fall colors with lots of pretty young people walking into and out of shots in expensive sweaters with sparkling white smiles that are a tribute to American dentistry. 

Abe is a distinguished thinker, tending towards alcoholism and depression, having established an important reputation in youth based on scholarly writings in philosophy that he now disowns without providing more recent work of comparable value. 

Abe is struggling for a sense of meaning and renewed purpose in his life and work, against the overwhelming sense of banality and futility in contemporary life. Abe is condemned to teach philosophy to undergraduates. There are worse fates in this world. Many audience members may find it difficult to identify with Abe's complaints which may be Allen's point.

Emma Stone is "Jill," dazzled by Abe's riffs on Continental theorizing, she finds her utterly safe and predictable boyfriend "Roy" (played by Jamie Blakely) dull by comparison with her new professor, Abe. 

"Rita" (Parker Posey) is a sexed-up faculty colleague offering alternative romance for Abe. Ms. Posey is clever, alluring, and underused in this part. 

Posing a traditional existentialist challenge to audience members' predictable scientism and analytical proclivities Woody Allen -- through Abe -- explains that, unlike analytical philosophers, Continental theorists wonder not what a philosopher "means," but much more: "What does a philosopher mean for me." ("Is clarity enough?") 

To affirm the elan vital (Henri Bergson) or "life-force" is to be "reborn" through confronting the life-or-death choice described as a "leap into the abyss" by Kierkegaard. 

Rationality must be doubted when it counters life. Passion as selfhood is affirmed in murder or love-making. 

The best discussion of these issues is found in William Barrett's classic study of existentialism that is invoked in the title to this work. Woody is making the vital connections easy for reviewers who missed them anyway. (Again: ''The Reader': A Movie Review.") 

To risk greatly -- for example in a shared moral effort to fight Franco or the Nazis for an earlier generation -- is to FEEL oneself alive rather than merely "existing." One cannot "think life," Nietzsche warns readers, one must "live dangerously," or risk not living at all. ("Friedrich Nietzsche On Self-Realization.") 

Like Woody Allen, I prefer to live cautiously. 

The greatest existentialists would disapprove of both of Allen and me, I am afraid, insisting that we face the existential crisis that defines us as free men bravely facing death to say nothing of boredom. 

To judge others by deciding who gets to live or die is to affirm a "dreadful freedom" that we usually ignore in our pursuit of safety and comfort as well as money. 

I especially like money as well as safety and comfort. Woody Allen tends to agree with me on this issue. 

At every second we have the power to recreate the reality we inhabit with a single dreadful action, or monstrous crime. Much of the motive for terrorists may be found in these metaphysical dilemmas with a theological component in all of the world's great religions. 

After all, we may also "save" (or re-invent) the world through a single great act of love or self-sacrifice, according to Simone Weil and Edith Stein, or Iris Murdoch. ("The Soldier and the Ballerina" and "Magician's Choice.")

Jill is seduced by Abe's mind. This is far better than being seduced by someone's bank account or anything merely physical. 

On the other hand, as Woody Allen points out, "there is a lot to be said for the merely physical and, as meaningless acts go, wild sex with a beautiful woman has a lot going for it."

Unfortunately, Jill has chosen the wrong "mind" -- or misinterpreted the mind of the man she thought she loved -- as she will discover when Abe's crime is revealed. (I will not disclose a crucial plot twist.) 

The insane presumption in even suggesting a "primal murder" of a "deserving" victim/culprit -- a man who judges others, falsely -- in order to set the world a little closer to justice is a matter of absurd arrogance on anyone's part. 

We have no right to tell others how to live nor should we judge our neighbors. The murder at the center of this drama is close to Raskolnikov's crime and leads to the identical doubts and self-recriminations concerning the inadequacies of all human justice. One murder will lead Abe to attempt to commit others in the failed effort to, as Jean-Paul Sartre suggests, "become God." 

Jill's awakening from a trance-like state with the discovery of Abe's guilt is intended to underline that the proper existential choice lifts the agent into (and not out of!) the moral condition that is our true humanity. 

Woody has provided more than a clue to his deepest intentions with this final realization by Jill:

"Despite the intensely personal sources of his theme, Nietzsche was dealing in his work with a problem that had clearly become central in German culture." 

William Barrett explains Woody's message delivered through his characters in this movie much better than I can:

"Schiller and Goethe had dealt with it -- Schiller as early as 1795 in his remarkable Letters On the Aesthetic Education of Man, and Goethe in his Faust. Schiller has given an extraordinarily clear statement of the problem, which was for him identical in all its salient features with the problem later posed by Nietzsche. For man, says Schiller, the problem is one of forming individuals. Modern life has departmentalized, specialized, and thereby fragmented the being of man. We now face the problem of putting the fragments together into a whole. In the course of his exposition, Schiller even referred back, as did Nietzsche, to the example of the Greeks, who produced real individuals and not mere learned abstract men like those of the modern age. [Abe?] Goethe was even closer to Nietzsche: Faust [Love] and Zarathustra [Power] are in fact brothers among books. Both attempt to elaborate in symbols the process by which the 'superior individual' -- whole, intact, and healthy -- is to be formed; and both are identically 'moral' in their content, if morality is measured in its usual conventional terms." (Barrett, pp. 189-190.)

Woody reveals the options available to audience members. While tempted to ponder the punishments that should be meted out to racists and Fascists (Mr. Trump?), Woody chooses love and artistic creativity as the only proper means of self-becoming. Me too. 

The Works of Love: "By love, of course, I refer to romantic love -- the love between man and woman, rather than between mother and child, or a boy and his dog, or two headwaiters." -- Woody Allen.

In his later films Woody Allen has been ambiguous about the possibilities of transcendence for humanity.

Irrational Man remains confident about the human impulse towards goodness and justice. The "culprit" gets his just deserts at the hands of his previously "blind" admirer. 

Betrayal at the hands of former acolytes is a theme that appeals to Woody, for some reason, along with "blindness" (as metaphor) for the good person who refuses to see evil in others or in world history.

There is something fundamentally unsatisfying (for me) about art-works that abandon all morality for a fashionable nihilism. It seems to me that one of the great responsibilities of art -- the primary reason for the need to create and enjoy art according to Aristotle's theory of catharsis -- is the yearning for ethical satisfaction as well as the inevitability of tragedy in life. ("Nihilists in Disneyworld" and "John Finnis and Ethical Cognitivism" then "The Wanderer and His Shadow.")

These aesthetic insights have become controversial in Woody's natural habitat, that is, in trendy corners of Manhattan and among Hollywood glitterati everywhere. These philosophical theories certainly apply to cinema -- especially for an artist obsessed with ideas -- and may contribute to the persistent disdain for Woody's genius among the makers of t.v. commercials and newspaper reviewers. (Again: "Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!")

The fragile consolation offered by Woody links with the options that have concluded all of his recent films: beauty in art to ease our moral suffering and the pains of solitude; laughter that is shared with loved-ones, especially children; but most of all love for one another in our broken condition and amidst colossal suffering.

These are Kierkegaard's (Christian) and Simone Weil's (Jewish) solutions to the universal existential dilemma in contemporary life. 

Iris Murdoch's inheritance of the Western philosophical tradition dealing with these very issues -- transformed into explorations of identical themes in her novels and philosophical works -- may provide useful examples of ways to answer Woody Allen's great questions in literary narrative and/or sources for future films:

"It is true that human beings cannot bear much reality; and a consideration of what the effort to face reality is like; and what are its techniques, may serve both to illuminate the necessity or certainty which seems to attach to 'the Good'; and also to lead on to a reinterpretation of 'will' and 'freedom' in relation to the concept of love. [emphasis added] Here again it seems to me that art is the clue. Art presents the most comprehensive examples of the almost irresistible human tendency to seek consolation in fantasy and also the effort to resist this and the vision of a reality which comes with success ..."

The dialectic between fantasy and realism defines Woody Allen's cinema:

" ... A great artist" -- this includes Mr. Allen for me -- "is, in respect of his works, a good man, and in the true sense, a free man."

Iris Murdoch, "On Good and Good," in Existentialists and Mystics, p. 352.