tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post3565416862923415929..comments2024-03-28T08:17:14.194-04:00Comments on the daily howler: Sokolich, Foye seem to [HEART] Bill Baroni! <b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-57585755300306525562014-02-16T12:32:19.701-05:002014-02-16T12:32:19.701-05:00You sound an insane person who actually examined/e...You sound an insane person who actually examined/explained my comments in an illogical way. Are you one of the "we" that you wrote? Then it is highly likely that these investigations go too far! And you must be one of the criminals who helped kill the beloved Harrison Mayor!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-63194128178981876292014-02-16T11:52:01.189-05:002014-02-16T11:52:01.189-05:00"If the order came from Bridget, then Baroni ..."If the order came from Bridget, then Baroni could have had little authority about the whole incidence, including Wildstein."<br /><br />Excuse me. Bill Baroni takes orders from Bridget? How's that? Does her job description include authority over PA officials? <br />mmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-44740576552586710242014-02-16T11:49:11.741-05:002014-02-16T11:49:11.741-05:00"If the investigations go too far, then anybo..."If the investigations go too far, then anybody could exercise constitutional rights to refuse to comply with subpoenas."<br /><br />First of all, refusing to turn over work product is not a "constitutional right". Are you referring to the 5th amendment?<br /><br />**... nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself...**<br /><br />He has a right to refuse to testify. He doesn't have a right to without emails and other work product that he had already distributed to other people. And he will be held in contempt if he doesn't produce the documents.<br /><br />Also, who gets to decide that the investigation has gone too far? Oh, that's right, that would be the person being investigated. Ha! We're six months into it, and we still don't know the answers to the two fundamental questions. Why was this done and who approved it.<br />mmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-21686901999073301942014-02-16T10:48:39.661-05:002014-02-16T10:48:39.661-05:00If the investigations go too far, then anybody cou...If the investigations go too far, then anybody could exercise constitutional rights to refuse to comply with subpoenas. <br /><br />Nobody died or injured because of the lane closure, but NJ's dirty politics and some irresponsible people including a couple of you in this blog directly contributed to Harrison Mayor's death -- he was much bothered by the calls flooding in his office last month after the GW bridge controversy had taken place. It is a time for us to feel ashamed of being New Jerseyans!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-86353303447007414472014-02-16T10:35:29.789-05:002014-02-16T10:35:29.789-05:00In my view, he is a victim of this political drama...In my view, he is a victim of this political drama given that he didn't have any self-interest invested in the lane closure. If the order came from Bridget, then Baroni could have had little authority about the whole incidence, including Wildstein. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-69864896875047423512014-02-16T08:46:06.598-05:002014-02-16T08:46:06.598-05:00"For Bill Baroni, I am sure that he is wonder..."For Bill Baroni, I am sure that he is wondering the same question."<br /><br />That's highly doubtful since he is refusing to comply with the subpoenas. mmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-18281947590998921282014-02-16T01:01:24.346-05:002014-02-16T01:01:24.346-05:00Then Bill Baroni is the dumbest rube who ever fell...Then Bill Baroni is the dumbest rube who ever fell off the hay wagon.<br /><br />Six weeks after the lane closures, with plenty of time to ask Wildstein why he did it -- as if Baroni didn't know -- he came to the committee with a giant aerial photo, and spent hours talking about a real traffic study.<br /><br />And if Chris Christie four months later, still "doesn't know" he must have fallen off the same hay wagon.<br /><br />Or . . . they both think that the whole nation is full of hay wagon victims such as yourself, willing to believe what ever they are pitching.<br /><br />Somerby can't see that his own personal vendetta against MSNBC and the NY Times -- and particularly the females who work there -- is ruining his once bright blog. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-41164118859117684292014-02-15T21:13:13.249-05:002014-02-15T21:13:13.249-05:00Yes, it was the beginning of a traffic study, resu...Yes, it was the beginning of a traffic study, resulting in four-day's data. And there was nothing wrong if they thought it was necessary to include the variable of "fairness" in this study. <br /><br />Christie didn't say traffic study is a lie. What he said is the following: "I don’t know whether this was some type of rogue political operation that morphed into a traffic study or a traffic study that morphed into an additional rogue political — I don’t know.” For Bill Baroni, I am sure that he is wondering the same question. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-55420515702844589542014-02-15T19:39:35.325-05:002014-02-15T19:39:35.325-05:00Let us stick to the terms that came out of the Por...Let us stick to the terms that came out of the Port Authority, shall we?<br /><br />When the Road Warrior columnist of the Bergen County Record first inquired, while the traffic jams were piling up, he was told officially that it was a study of "traffic safety patterns."<br /><br />When Baroni, the deputy executive director of the Port Authority, appeared some six weeks later before the assembly committee, it turned into a "fairness" study to see if all those access lanes were necessary. (Turns out, they were.)<br /><br />This is not just semantics. A study of traffic safety patterns is very different and would require a different assembly of data from a study of "fairness."<br /><br />And both would require months of planning, as testified by Durando, Fulton and Foye, to make sure that data were being collected to answer the questions being asked.<br /><br />Beyond the few pages that our esteemed professor from California read (and didn't like very much), there has yet to be a final, definitive report answering either question, nor apparently is there one in the works.<br /><br />Now of course, the question before us is NOT whether this was a "traffic safety study" or a "traffic study". The question is whether it was any kind of "traffic study" at all.<br /><br />Even Chris Christie knows better than to continue to sell that lie, realizing that the only people left in the known universe who will buy that are Somerby and his fans.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-32985375000357241462014-02-15T16:56:49.951-05:002014-02-15T16:56:49.951-05:00AnonymousFebruary 15, 2014 at 4:30 PM:
You sound...AnonymousFebruary 15, 2014 at 4:30 PM: <br /><br />You sound very ignorant and rude! Call NJIT transportation department and see what they will say about the field trips in terms of seat belts counting. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-35251317108602577392014-02-15T16:49:58.282-05:002014-02-15T16:49:58.282-05:00There are quite a few areas of inaccuracy in your ...There are quite a few areas of inaccuracy in your comments. I would feel exhausted to correct your points one by one. Anyway, fact speaks for itself. But I think the following is more important: Whatever you call it: a traffic study or a traffic safety pattern study, the difference between the two only lies in the term that you pick. The difference is not big enough to be political. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-69402343361802117512014-02-15T16:30:35.879-05:002014-02-15T16:30:35.879-05:00"For example, they counted how many drivers p..."For example, they counted how many drivers passing at a certain time in a certain place wore their seat belts."<br /><br />Gotta call BS on this one. Try standing by a roadway sometime and see if you can tell if passing motorists are wearing their seat belts.<br /><br />I also question the value of the information about such drivers only "at a certain time in a certain place," but hey, if they can get grants to study that, more power to them.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-54865928916596597552014-02-15T16:24:43.366-05:002014-02-15T16:24:43.366-05:00Yes, the "friends who study transportation&qu...Yes, the "friends who study transportation" make a sudden and convenient appearance.<br /><br />You might ask these friends how they would go about studying "traffic safety patterns" that involve closing two of three access lanes to a very busy bridge. Then ask them if it would be any different if they were studying "fairness of lane allocation."<br /><br />Would they come up with an idea on Friday to move traffic cones on Monday? Or would there be just a wee bit more planning and preparation involved? As well as clarity of primary purpose to make certain that the right answers are obtained to the right questions.<br /><br />The planning and preparation for such real, legitimate studies were carefully explained by Durando and Fulton, who further explained the steps necessary before the Port Authority closes lanes.<br /><br />But Bob assures us that "Wildstein went through all the motions of conducting some sort of study, or test".<br /><br />And the AP found a professor in California who couldn't say it wasn't a study.<br /><br />That in your mind translates into all manners of unnamed "transportation experts and traffic professors" believing that this was a "legitimate study."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-17381050230823365482014-02-15T15:47:37.166-05:002014-02-15T15:47:37.166-05:00Please. Gov. Fat Man is working on his weight issu...Please. Gov. Fat Man is working on his weight issues. He has had some lanes closed or something.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-8033725143490238562014-02-15T15:44:47.601-05:002014-02-15T15:44:47.601-05:00Anon @ 3:03 You are new. BOB tried a whole post
...Anon @ 3:03 You are new. BOB tried a whole post<br />using that one quote from the AP article some time ago. It was destroyed in comments when he did.<br />You left out the part where the Cal Berkely professor says "It could well be a good-faith effort, if not the finest in the annals. I cannot say this is not a study"<br /><br />Based on what he was shown, he couldn't say it wasn't. Neither could he say it was. But it wasn't<br />a "traffic safety pattern study" which is what your friend "Bill" told PA staff to tell the press it was after the fact. And it wasn't the "fairness of lane allocation"<br />study around which the friend you call "Bill" centered his testimony. That data based on EZ pass addresses was not requested by Wildstein until a week after the study. <br /><br />You said earlier based on your readings of the documents we cited what we wrote was inaccurate.<br />What was inaccurate?<br /><br />KZ<br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-36455547654440466562014-02-15T15:03:54.682-05:002014-02-15T15:03:54.682-05:00My friends who study Transportation often go to fi...My friends who study Transportation often go to field trips to gather data, rather than sitting in front of computers to do simulation. For example, they counted how many drivers passing at a certain time in a certain place wore their seat belts. They must do field work of this kind to receive and retain grants for their study. And if anybody really knows what research/study means, he/she would definitely looks at data first. Without data, any study is just simply an opinion. Of course, the data you collected could either confirm or disapprove your hypotheses. I think what really matters here is not whether there was a traffic study, but the likelihood that Bill could also have believed there was a legitimate traffic study if transportation experts and traffic professors can believe so. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-30358749893212695962014-02-15T14:16:36.413-05:002014-02-15T14:16:36.413-05:00Uh huh. Just a coincidence.
Uh huh. Just a coincidence.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-29074632100912334322014-02-15T14:14:44.927-05:002014-02-15T14:14:44.927-05:00Unless of course, evidence continues to accumulate...Unless of course, evidence continues to accumulate on top of the mountain Maddow had at her disposal to show that Baroni actually did tell deliberate lies and concoct a cover story.<br /><br />If one were to listen to that evidence instead of to Bob disappearing key parts of it, one might conclude that Chris Christie himself had good reason to abandon the "traffic study" story.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-13192746247328290502014-02-15T11:30:08.972-05:002014-02-15T11:30:08.972-05:00If one were to apply Bob's Rules fully, one mi...If one were to apply Bob's Rules fully, one might suspect that Bernstein was speculating without proper evidence about the nature of Wildstein's Port Authority employment.<br /><br />One might ask why there was never anything resembling a job description in PA files for "director if interstate capital projects."<br /><br />One might also why, since this job was so critical, how extensively advertised this $150K per year position to attract candidates with expertise and experience in the critical oversight of "interstate capital improvements projects" before settling on the floormat heir and political blogger.<br /><br />And one might also wonder why this position is no more after being held by exactly one person.<br /><br />Perhaps the curious might delve into the Bergen Record and find out what they suspected a full 18 months before the "traffic problems in Fort Lee."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-6551988965572792342014-02-15T11:25:12.450-05:002014-02-15T11:25:12.450-05:00"You would care more about falsely accused pe..."You would care more about falsely accused people if it were you being accused on TV of doing something you didn't do."<br /><br />Who are these people that are being falsely accused? Be specific.<br />Bridget Kelly, who was thrown under the bus by Gov. Fat Man and repeatedly called a liar?<br />David Wildstein who was unceremoniously dismissed from his post by Gov. Fat Man?<br />Baroni, who was also relieved of his high paying position by Gov. Fat Man and is now refusing to cooperate with the investigation?<br /><br />Who please?mmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-87791496688131375752014-02-15T11:16:18.499-05:002014-02-15T11:16:18.499-05:00Yes indeed, and in Bob's World, it is only &qu...Yes indeed, and in Bob's World, it is only "bias" when those who disagree with us do it.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-30962704082092552302014-02-15T11:15:03.071-05:002014-02-15T11:15:03.071-05:00Again, I am far more fearful of a mindset that tur...Again, I am far more fearful of a mindset that turns the shooters of unarmed teens into victims of runaway prosecutors than I am by a cable TV news host exercising the First Amendment.<br /><br />After all, we should be able to shoot any teen we want for any reason then claim self-defense against loud music. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-55733147059327053932014-02-15T10:37:10.454-05:002014-02-15T10:37:10.454-05:00Odd construction on your part of a set of facts th...Odd construction on your part of a set of facts that could be described somewhat differently. But that is what bias produces.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78746729157443035372014-02-15T10:34:40.268-05:002014-02-15T10:34:40.268-05:00You would care more about falsely accused people i...You would care more about falsely accused people if it were you being accused on TV of doing something you didn't do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-79462338964141471582014-02-15T10:08:05.905-05:002014-02-15T10:08:05.905-05:00I am far more frightened by nuclear arms prolifera...I am far more frightened by nuclear arms proliferation, global climate change, and the fact that another jury in Florida has deliberated for 22 hours and counting about another guy who shot another unarmed teenager, this time over the crime of loud music.<br /><br />But you go ahead and be frightened by the mere existence of a cable TV news host exercising the First Amendment.<br /><br />How will the Republic ever survive?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com