Location Seed: Amacaron County, New Jersey.

Amacaron County, New Jersey – Google Docs

Amacaron County, New Jersey

Don’t bother; it’s not on the map.  It’s not on any of the maps, or at least the ones that are publicly available.  Turns out, somebody in the late 1930s went through the records under the guise of a Civil Works Administration program, and amended, altered, defaced, and in a couple of places outright replaced the relevant entries. And they did a thorough job; the only documents and maps left to the public that still mention the existence of Amacaron County between 1684 and 1785 escaped notice only because they had been misfiled previously.

What’s left is tantalizing.  The remaining records only vaguely describe Amacaron County, but it seems to have been somewhere near the border of present-day Burlington and Atlantic Counties in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens.  Most of the old county is now part of the Wharton State Forest, and it was never heavily populated; the county ‘seat’ of Ungstead was barely a hamlet, and the population was mostly the descendants of displaced Swedish and Finnish colonists from the former New Sweden colony to the west.  There is a suggestion in the records that the latter, at least, were heavily encouraged to settle in the middle of the Pine Barrens — whether they wanted to, or not.

Continue reading Location Seed: Amacaron County, New Jersey.

Quote of the Day, Pork Roll edition.

I don’t know if this quote is true, and I choose not to find out. It sounds like something Sinatra might say, and that’s good enough for me. Hoboken, like the rest of New Jersey, puts its hooks in a man.

“What’s pork roll?”
“May god have mercy on your poor soul.”
-Frank Sinatra—Hoboken, N.J.

Moe Lane

PS: It’s just not the same when you make it yourself, somehow.

Oof: MAJOR child porn arrests in New Jersey today.

Forty people, thirty-seven towns, every county in New Jersey. Thank God but I didn’t know any of them; I can imagine that seeing a name you know on one of these lists would be alarming. As is usual in these cases, the defendants allegedly didn’t understand that anonymity on the Internet is a myth: Continue reading Oof: MAJOR child porn arrests in New Jersey today.

(New Jersey-SEN Primary) Are you ready for… Bob Torricelli?

Because they’re talking about it! “Former Sen. Bob Torricelli downplayed rumors Sunday that he might mount a Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who is fighting federal corruption charges.” And why are there such rumors? Because Senator Menendez is in a fascinatingly complex situation vis-a-vis this administration. On the one hand, Menendez is indeed fighting federal corruption charges. On the other hand, Sen. Menendez is apparently legitimately appalled at this administration’s Middle Eastern policy, particularly with regard to Iran. And on the gripping hand… that’s how bad the bench is for New Jersey Democrats, huh? The only worse choice would former governor Jon Corzine, and he’s probably thinking about running, too. I mean, Bob Torricelli’s thinking about it, right?

Before you grin too much: name a good New Jersey Republican challenger. For that matter, Bob Menendez isn’t even up for election again until 2018. Which is why this post isn’t on RedState: right now this is beyond speculation.  But still. I’d love to cover that primary.

Sen. Cory Booker’s unprofessional, and maybe even homophobic, campaign staff on display.

This is not appropriate language for a Senator’s office.

Cory Booker

Jeff Bell happens to be the Republican nominee for US Senate in New Jersey: and Ms. Nichole Sessego’s ‘wholly inappropriate language’ (I am quoting the Cory Booker campaign) resulted in the staffer personally apologizing to Mr. Bell.  No word yet if Ms. Sessego has also apologized to the LGBT community for insinuating on her Senator’s behalf that there is something wrong with being gay, mostly because it’s understood that progressives, liberals, and/or Democrats can use whatever offensive language they like when they’re talking about Republicans.  Just one of those things, man: the insane speech codes the Left lives under has to have a pressure valve somewhere, and hate speech towards the Right is just something that our opposite numbers needs to keep from breaking under the strain like a rotten twig. Continue reading Sen. Cory Booker’s unprofessional, and maybe even homophobic, campaign staff on display.

#Obamacare kills 1,800 New Jersey kids’ healthcare policies.

Why? Oh, the usual reason: the federal government swooped in and slapped a bunch of extra requirements on an existing state-run program, thus automatically invalidating the current policies. As is typical in these cases, the parties involved were not able to work out how to get around the problem – kids don’t give money to Democrats, so there was of course no Obamacare exemption given in return – and so 1,800 kids have lost their coverage and the parents now have to scramble to keep their children insured.  Oh, and a special wrinkle: this program was for people who made too much money for Medicaid, but were still having trouble buying policies on their own.  That means that there’s going to be no subsidies for them, in this brave new healthcare world that has been inflicted upon us by the Democratic party.

But hey, remember: no child of a federal Democratic official was harmed by this policy – and New Jersey will probably not vote for the Republican candidate in 2016 – so from Barack Obama’s point of view there’s actually no problem. Guess those parents shouldn’t have deluded themselves into thinking that they were real, huh? Continue reading #Obamacare kills 1,800 New Jersey kids’ healthcare policies.

Rob Andrews (D, New Jersey-01) cuts and runs. While still under an House Ethics investigation.

Gee.  I wonder why.

Rep. Robert E. Andrews, D-N.J., will resign from Congress this month to take a job with a Philadelphia Law Firm, according to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Andrews, a Pelosi ally, is scheduled to host an 11:30 a.m. press conference in his southern New Jersey district, the newspaper also reported.

The 12-term Democrat is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which was reportedly questioning whether the congressman used funds from his re-election campaign to pay for a trip to Scotland for his family.

More on that: Continue reading Rob Andrews (D, New Jersey-01) cuts and runs. While still under an House Ethics investigation.

If you can vote in the Princeton, NJ Council election, vote for @Fausta.

Every election is important:

Democrat incumbents Jenny Crumiller and Patrick Simon face Republican challenger Fausta Rodriguez Wertz next week in a contest for two three-year-term seats on the Princeton Council.

Fausta is a woman and blogger of excellent character and intelligence, long known to me; and she would make an excellent addition to the Princeton Council. If you can vote in that election, I urge you to vote for her.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

New, believable video claims Cory Booker doesn’t actually maintain a Newark residence.

Oh, Cory. You don’t even live in Newark?

Moe Lane

PS: …Steve Lonegan for Senate.

PPS: I know that people find this bizarre, but: I do miss many things about New Jersey. Especially the way people talk up there. You just can’t get good sarcasm down here; it’s like the pizza.

#DOOM in the New Jersey Governor’s race.

I don’t like calling DOOM before I’m absolutely, positively sure, but: the New Jersey governor’s race is over.

Yeah, I know that you knew that already, but Barbara Buono’s response should start making Democratic state legislators up for re-election nervous. That’s the response of somebody who thinks (accurately) that she was hung out to dry by her own party establishment and who has decided that she doesn’t care whether people expect her to take one for the team anyway.  Which means that it’s the response of somebody who doesn’t care if her own party wins the downticket races on Election Night.

Fine by me.  The more seats we gain in the state legislature, the more future candidates we can cultivate. Buono wants to help us with that out of spite, well, that’s not my problem.