Free Republic

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, NJ — About 294 passengers and 14 crew aboard a flight from Russia found themselves stranded in New Jersey this week after a fuel leak was reportedly discovered in an airplane that was taking them to Cuba. The passengers and crew on the Wednesday flight told a translator they were shocked at how friendly Americans are, according to published reports. The Azur Azir plane made an emergency landing at Atlantic City International Airport to refuel early Wednesday morning, according to a report published by The Associated Press. When they landed, inspectors discovered the fuel leak in the...

The Justice Department moved on Wednesday to dismiss charges against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) after a federal judge tossed out several charges against the lawmaker last week. "In light of the Court’s January 24, 2018 Opinion and Order and pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a), the United States of America moves to dismiss the Superseding Indictment," Annalou Tirol, the acting head of the Justice Department's public integrity division, wrote in a motion to dismiss the indictment. U.S. District Judge William Walls moved last week to acquit Menendez and his co-defendant Salomon Melgen on seven of the 18 charges...

In a shocking turnaround, the U.S. Justice Department has dropped its case against Sen. Robert Menendez. In a court hearing today, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the corruption indictment against the New Jersey Democrat. Last week, a federal judge acquitted Menendez and his co-defendant, Salomon Melgen, of seven of the 18 counts against them after a deadlocked jury could not reach a verdict in the high-profile case in November.

Gov. Phil Murphy is two weeks into his new job as New Jersey’s chief executive, but he’s already on a considerably shorter leash with residents than his two predecessors, according to a new poll released Tuesday. The poll, by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind polling institute, found that 35 percent of adult residents approve of Murphy’s job performance so far, compared with 21 percent who disapprove and 40 percent who had no opinion or refused to answer. The Democrat’s approval rating was significantly higher than the 17 percent who approved of Chris Christie’s job performance before the Republican left office this...

The Republican tax overhaul may not do a great deal to boost overall economic growth — but it’s already having one stimulus effect. Call it the Full Employment Act for Tax Pundits.Ever since the contours of the plan made clear that residents of high-tax states would take the biggest hits, a cottage industry devoted to strategizing blue-state tax work-arounds has emerged. As a reminder, Americans for generations have been able to deduct the amounts paid for state and local income tax, as well as property tax, from their federally taxable income. But the new law caps that amount at $10,000,...

Long expected to be the frontrunner for U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s (R-11) seat in a vacuum, Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) refused in a statement today to tread on Frelinghuysen’s announcement with the revving of his own engines. That statement is here. But two sources with knowledge of the assemblyman’s thinking told InsiderNJ that the Assemblyman will take a hard look at a run this year. “Jay would be nuts not to strongly consider it,” a source said.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, both the most powerful and endangered member of the New Jersey congressional delegation, announced Monday that he would not seek re-election at the end of his 12th term in the House of Representatives. Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., gave no reason for retiring. He joins Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., as New Jersey lawmakers retiring at the end of the year. Both were elected in the Republican landslide of 1994.

If a young man wanted to dance with a woman who had caught his eye, it used to be the case that all he had to do was ask. But in this politically correct age, it seems that matters have become more complicated. It’s not enough for sensitive members of today’s ‘snowflake generation’ that someone has agreed to a dance in the first place. Instead they must repeatedly check that their partner is ‘still into this’ after the music has started, and offer to stop otherwise.

One reason Democrats seem so fixated on importing illegal immigrants and allowing their children to stay and become citizens may be the exodus from high-tax and traditionally Democratic states. Anecdotal evidence is usually not helpful in determining trends, but when stories begin to accumulate and sound the same attention must be paid. Two friends of mine, who are longtime California residents, recently decided to move from that highly taxed state to states with lower taxes. As much as they love California, they tell me, they can no longer afford to live there. United Van Lines' National Movers Study has for...

New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that a coalition of East Coast states will sue the federal government over the Trump-signed tax overhaul, in the latest bid to undermine the law that Republicans have cheered. The states -- New York, New Jersey and Connecticut -- appear to be taking aim at a provision that limits residents' state and local tax deduction (SALT) to $10,000. While the law contains sweeping tax rate cuts for businesses and individuals, taxpayers in high-tax states like those in the Northeast are expected to take a hit from the SALT change. Cuomo called it...

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit yesterday evening in the New Jersey District Court against several officials and teachers of the Chatham Middle School and the School District of the Chathams, located in New Jersey. The lawsuit, claiming several violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, was filed on behalf of Libby Hilsenrath and her minor son. Seventh-grade students at Chatham Middle School were forced to endure Islamic propaganda and an explicit call to convert to Islam through...

CHATHAM, NJ - Chatham Middle School mother, Libby Hilsenrath, is the plaintiff, along with her minor child, in a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday that names The School District of the Chathams, the Board of Education, the Chatham Middle School principal and teachers as defendants, claiming a violation of constitutional rights. Hilsenrath's issue with the school district first came up in public when she questioned the emphasis on the teaching of Islam in a "World Cultures and Geography Class" at the Feb. 6, 2017 Chatham Board of Education meeting. The suit was filed in New Jersey district court on behalf...

Gov. Phil Murphy rushed to a church Thursday that has provided sanctuary for immigrants, hours after two Indonesians were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Gunawan Liem, of Franklin Park, and Roby Sanger, of Metuchen, were detained as they dropped their kids off at school Thursday morning, said the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, of the Reformed Church of Highland Park. Murphy went to the church, which has been housing immigrants for years, on Thursday afternoon to hear the concerns from some of those immigrants, including one who avoided detention by not answering his door. "Everybody's terrified. We can't believe ICE...

For years, Harvey Weinstein’s and Donald Trump’s private audiences could be divided into two types of (often) men: his vocal supporters and his silent endorsers. The outspoken supporters — whether casual misogynists or white supremacists — are henchmen who helped take down women’s careers or allies in Congress who are themselves proponents of a white nationalist agenda. Most critics of both Weinstein and Trump consider this “base” group the real problem. For they are the fringe who have somehow become the norm. But the people who really sustain misogyny and white supremacy are the quiet endorsers. Because they have the...

An expansive amnesty plan for millions of illegal aliens, being led by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and his Democrat and Republican establishment allies, would annually give U.S. citizenship to 25,000 foreigners with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The Gang of Six amnesty plan is being pushed by Flake, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). The pro-open borders Senators want to see the amnesty slipped into a spending bill that would fund the federal government, threatening a shutdown if it is not included. Despite being told by...

NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt released the following statement regarding the future of the GOP brand in New Jersey: . “While I appreciate Assemblyman Bramnick’s desire to speak out about the direction of our State Party, I think it is important to make clear that he does so as an individual and not on behalf of the NJGOP. Our State Republican Organization is a diverse group of individuals and organizations, with multi-­faceted views on a variety of issues. Still, the core principles of the Republican State Committee are to fight for lower taxes and to reduce the intrusion of government into...

With former Gov. Chris Christie gone and Republicans holding slimmer minorities in the state legislature, Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick tried Thursday to rebrand the New Jersey GOP. “We’re the Republican Party, but we’re not crazy,” Bramnick said. “We are not crazy or extreme. We’re reasonable.” Bramnick (R-Union) was at times more critical of his own party’s president than the newly sworn-in Democratic governor during a news conference inside the state house with other Assembly Republican leaders. He went out of his way to denounce Trump’s tweets and divisive rhetoric but passed on opportunities to attack Gov. Phil Murphy or...

Drivers, turn off your engines. After more than half a century of burning rubber, Raceway Park will no longer hold drag races, officials said. With the rising cost of fuel, tires, insurance and other

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department notified a federal judge Friday that it will again put Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey on trial, after a jury deadlocked and ended an earlier prosecution in a mistrial. "The conduct alleged in the indictment is serious and warrants retrial before a jury of citizens in the District of New Jersey," the Justice Department said. "An early retrial date is in the best interests of the public," government lawyers told the judge. A spokesman for Menendez said prosecutors evidently "did not hear the overwhelming voices of the New Jerseyans" who served on the jury...

The Justice Department announced Friday that they intend to re-try Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on corruption charges after a deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial in November... Menendez is up for reelection in 2018. He is widely expected to seek another term in office, though he has not made a formal announcement about his plans.