18 drop boxes for vote-by-mail ballots will be stationed around Bergen County

Bergen County ballot drop box

HACKENSACK – By order of Gov. Phil Murphy’s, the November general election will be carried out by mail-in ballot only, and each New Jersey county must have secure ballot drop boxes. The Bergen County Board of Elections will have 18 drop boxes located throughout the county and your vote-by-mail ballots can be deposited in them.

The drop boxes will be outside the following locations:

  • Bergenfield                             198 North Washington Ave (Borough Hall in Rear)
  • Demarest                                 118 Serpentine Road (Borough Hall)
  • Englewood                              2-10 North Van Brunt Street (City Hall)
  • Fair Lawn                               8-01 Fair Lawn Avenue (behind Borough Hall)
  • Fort Lee                                  1355 Inwood Terrace/Anderson Avenue Circular Drive (Fort Lee Community Center)
  • Hackensack                             One Bergen County Plaza (County Administration Building)
  • Hasbrouck Heights                 320 Boulevard (behind Borough Hall)
  • Hillsdale                                  380 Hillsdale Avenue (Borough Hall parking lot)
  • North Arlington                      214 Ridge Road (Borough Hall)
  • Oakland                                  One Municipal Plaza (Borough Hall, across from Library)
  • Old Tappan                             227 Old Tappan Road (Borough Hall)
  • Paramus                                   1 Jockish Square (Borough Hall, outside main entrance)
  • Ramsey                                   30 Wyckoff Avenue (Rear of Library)
  • Ridgefield                               725 Slocum Avenue (Ridgefield Community Center)
  • Ridgewood                             131 North Maple Avenue (Village Hall)
  • Rutherford                              176 Park Avenue (Borough Hall)
  • Teaneck                                   818 Teaneck Road (Municipal Building, North Entrance)
  • Wyckoff                                  340 Franklin Avenue (Municipal Building)

Drop boxes provide a secure and speedy alternative to sending vote-by-mail ballots through the USPS, which has been experiencing delivery delays. The drop boxes were paid for by the State of New Jersey. read more

How by abandoning their vows to serve the public, American politicians precipitated the pandemic meltdown

Sanders looking up

In a brilliant New Yorker article, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor lays out the steps by which the abandonment of middle and poor Americans by both US political parties led to society’s present collapse. Although the coronavirus was the immediate trigger, the erosion of society’s wellbeing began way back in 1969. Collapse was an occurrence primed to happen at some point, and now just happened to be the time.

For 50 years, since 1979, national leaders increasingly backed away from their obligation to care for vulnerable and working class Americans. As they did, financial instability increased and the chance to acquire wealth became much more limited. Those were the perfect conditions for the meltdown known as American life in the days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Millions were driven into a state of deprivation that made happy lives impossible. And over time, the country destabilized economically. Students were still paying back college loans into their golden years. Aspiring homeowners could not afford mortgages. Urban residents live with air quality so poor that one in four has asthma and health concerns affect all areas of family’s lives. Poor health affects the’ ability to earn adequate incomes and keep up with the demands of digital life.

For years, the United States has gotten away with persistently chipping away at its weak welfare state by hiding or demonizing the populations most dependent on it. The poor are relegated as socially dysfunctional and inept, unable to cash in on the riches of American society ... The debate over the role of government in addressing income inequality, housing insecurity, debt accumulation, and health care continues, now against the grim backdrop of the raging coronavirus. It is difficult to articulate the speed with which the U.S. and, indeed, the world, has descended into an existential crisis.  read more

AOC stars in a movie about her 2018 election win

Netflix releases Knock Down the House

Netflix announces: “529 women ran for congress in 2018 — meet four of them in @knockdownmovie.” And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shares on Twitter: “Before my primary, three women & I agreed to film our journey of trying to run for office without big money. Now, #KnockDownTheHouse hits Netflix & select theaters next week, May 1st.”

Visit knockdownthehouse.com to find a screening or learn how to host one. Discussion materials available.

Know your voter rights – and where to get help if your vote is challenged

Several states are holding local elections today. It’s important to know what your voter rights are and where to seek help if you feel that anyone has blocked you from exercising your Constitutional right to vote.

A good place to turn for information about your rights is the League of Women Voters. If you have questions about voting issues call their voting rights hotline website Vote411.org. Visit the website or

Call one of these national hotlines:
1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español)
1-888-API-VOTE (Asian multilingual assistance)
1-844-418-1682 (Arabic)

Here’s some specific information they shared about New Jersey voter rights:

  • 1st time voters who register in person may be asked to show ID.
  • 1st time voters who register by mail can satisfy the ID requirement by filling in their Social Security Number or NJ Driver’s License number on the registration form
  • At the polls, voters who have already not satisfied the ID requirement can be asked to show proof of address. That proof can be a piece of mail addressed to the voter.
  • If you cannot satisfy the ID requirement, you can ask for a provisional ballot. Lack of ID cannot stop you from voting.
  • read more

    Bernie Sanders will hold Town Hall on inequality with Elizabeth Warren & Michael Moore

    inequality town hall 180319
    Photo: PBS

    Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Thursday that on March 19 he will host Inequality in America: A National Town Hall on Facebook Live focused on inequality in the United States in partnership with The Guardian, NowThis, The Young Turks and Act.tv.

    Sanders, along with filmmaker Michel Moore, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, economist Darrick Hamilton and other experts, will discuss poverty in America, the 40-year decline of the middle class, the growing power of corporate interests and how we an economy that works for all Americans.

    “The issue of oligarchy and wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time and it is the great political issue of our time, yet it gets very little coverage from the corporate media,” Sanders said. “I am excited to build on the success of our Medicare for All town hall and go outside the traditional media to talk about who owns America, why the middle class is declining, extreme poverty and how we create an economy that works for everybody, not just the 1 percent.”

    The event, titled “Inequality in America: The Rise of Oligarchy and Collapse of the Middle Class,” will be held in front of a live audience at the Capitol Visitor Center’s Congressional Auditorium in Washington from 7:00 to 8:20 p.m. and live streamed across the partners’ social media channels.

    “The political establishment has completely turned away from the middle class and abandoned the American blue collar workers in favor of the wealthy elite,” said TYT host Ana Kasparian. “Tax cuts are only helping the top one percent and have become corporations’ best and most loyal friend . Our government needs to create opportunity for all people and it’s imperative that our elected officials make sure wages increase with the productivity of this country. I applaud Sen. Sanders’ work in making this the issue of our time. I look forward to working with Michael Moore, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Darrick Hamilton and the many other esteemed guests to advance the conversation and create change.”

    John Mulholland, Guardian US editor said: “The Guardian strives to illuminate the most pressing and underreported issues facing America today. Widening levels of inequality are of huge concern to our American readers. We’re pleased to be involved in this event, helping to amplify one of the most endemic injustices in our society.”

    “We need a government that works for all of us, not only the 1 percent. Likewise we are proud to partner in this town hall and amplify such a vital issue. Another world is possible, but we need a better media to make it,” said Harry Waisbren, co-founder of Act.tv.

    Guests interested in attending in person can find more information here.

    PANELIST BIOS

    Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts
    Elizabeth Warren has made her life’s work the fight for middle class families. She is recognized as one of the nation’s top experts on bankruptcy and the financial pressures facing middle class families, and the Boston Globe has called her “the plainspoken voice of people getting crushed by so many predatory lenders and under regulated banks.”

    Michael Moore, filmmaker and author
    Michael Moore is an Academy-Award winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and author. Among many issues his work has examined globalization, gun ownership, health care, and domestic and foreign policy.

    Darrick Hamilton, Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, The New School, New York City
    Professor Darrick Hamilton teaches economic and urban policy at the New School in New York. Both his academic work and activism is aimed at promoting greater economic, political, and social inclusion. His work examines inequality and identity, racism, and socioeconomic outcomes.

    Catherine Coleman, Flowers, founder, Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise
    Ms. Catherine Coleman Flowers is the founder of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise Community Development Corporation. Ms. Flowers has called attention to the lack of environmental and climate justice in poor rural communities, including exposing how some communities live surrounded by raw open sewage. Last year she invited the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty to Alabama, and he characterized what he saw as “uncommon in the first world.”

    Cindy Estrada, Vice President of the United Auto Workers Union
    Cindy Estrada is a longtime union organizer and social activist. She was first elected as vice president in 2010 and is the first Latina elected to serve as an International officer. Cindy developed a passion for the labor movement while listening to her grandparents and other family members talk about their experiences working on farms and inside the factories of Detroit. Their stories were the first of many that have guided Estrada in her dedication to empower workers and show them they deserve a seat at the table to raise and resolve workplace problems and improve their working conditions.

    Professor Gordon Lafer, Political Scientist, University of Oregon
    Dr. Gordon Lafer, a political economist, is a Professor at the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center and a Research Associate with the Economic Policy Institute. He has spent many years working as a union organizer and has seen how people have been mistreated or ripped off by their employers. His most recent book is The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time (Cornell University Press, 2017).

    Julián Castro en Passaic Oct 28 para apoyar a Phil Murphy

    Foto Julian Castro
    Julian Castro Source: Julian Castro

    El sábado 28 de octubre el líder demócrata Julián Castro viene a Passaic, New Jersey para unirse a la campaña del candidato a gobernador Phil Murphy.

    Castro se desempeñó como Secretario de Vivienda de los Estados Unidos durante el mandato del Presidente Obama. La manifestación se efectuará:

    El sábado 28 2017 a las 6pm
    Mt. Carmel Hall
    10 St. Francis Way
    Passaic NJ

    Castro ganó su bachillerato de la Universidad de Stanford y su doctorado de Harvard Law School en el 2000. En 2001 a la edad de 26 años Castro se convirtió en el concejal más joven en la historia de San Antonio, Tejas. Cuando lo elijieron alcalde en el año 2009 los líderes del partido Demócrata le consideraron a Castro como uno de los más prominentes líderes del partido. En 2014 se unió al gabinete del Pres. Obama.

    El alcalde Héctor Lora y los líderes Demócratas del Condado de Passaic recibirán a Castro. El ingreso al evento es libre.

    Kim Guadagno is an immigrant hate machine echoing 45’s rhetoric

    Immigrants
    Steve Rhodes via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

    Gubernatorial candidate Kim Guadagno released a TV ad on October 12 reiterating her statement from the first gubernatorial debate referring to undocumented immigrants as “murderers and rapists”, using disparaging language like that of Donald Trump.

    “Phil Murphy was very clear in the debate that he condemns murderous acts committed by anyone and that the people who commit those crimes should be prosecuted,” said Chris Estevez, President of the Latino Action Network. “Guadagno’s Trump-like approach paints all immigrants and Latinos as murderers and rapists.” LAN has condemned Guadagno’s statement.

    According to Rudy Rodas, another LAN official, “Programs that deputize local police to carry out federal immigration enforcement, like that instituted by Kim Guadagno when she served as Sherriff of Monmouth County, make communities less safe since law abiding immigrants are less likely to report crimes or cooperate with police investigations when they fear that they will also be detained.”

    “We have faith that New Jersey voters are intelligent people who won’t fall for Kim Guadagno’s Donald Trump impersonation and her hateful and divisive speech toward immigrants,” concluded Estevez.

    Photo source: Steve Rhodes via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license

    San Juan mayor responds to 45’s genocidal tweets: without help we will die

    Mayor Cruz

    The Nation reported on October 12, “San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz woke up to Trump’s vindictive tweets on Thursday, and she texted a long message to Representative Luis Gutierrez of Chicago, who shared it with reporters.”

    Follow Mayor Cruz on Twitter

    Here’s the body of the Mayor’s message:

    Puerto Ricans have suffered greatly in the past month. Two hurricanes devastated our homes and our electrical infrastructure leaving us without the essentials to survive: drinkable water, food and medicine. But perhaps more frustrating has been the devastating actions, time after time, by a President whose tweets, comments and actions seem to be taken out of a book on “how to add insult to injury” rather than a book on “how to help during a humanitarian crisis”. He is simply incapable of understanding the contributions, the sacrifices and the commitment to democratic values that Puerto Ricans have shown over decades. His actions are unbecoming of a leader of the free world.

    Mr President, you seem to want to disregard the moral imperative that your administration has been unable to fulfill. Your replacement of the FEMA Coordinator in Puerto Rico is an admission that things are not going the way they should. Your tweets and comments just show desperation and underscore the inadequacy of your government’s response to this humanitarian crisis. It is not that you do not get it, it is that you are incapable of empathy and frankly simply cannot get the job done.

    Ever since this ordeal began, San Juan has had over 300 sustained volunteers from the United States. Good, hard working people from New York, Florida, California, Texas and many others who embody the fundamental values of compassion, ingenuity and hard work that you are certainly unable to express. These men and women, most of them union workers, have literally taken care of our bodies and souls. They did not come for a photo op or to throw paper towels and insults at us. They came to help, something you seem to be unable to grasp. These volunteers have seen the horror that you continue to want to dismiss. They embody the true spirit of the American values that you dismiss with every inappropriate and derogatory action and comment.

    Tweet away your hate to mask your administration’s mishandling of this humanitarian crisis. While you are amusing yourself throwing paper towels at us, your compatriots and the world are sending love and help our way. Condemn us to a slow death of non drinkable water, lack of food, lack of medicine while you keep others eager to help from reaching us since they face the impediment of the Jones Act.

    I ask every American that has love, and not hate in their hearts, to stand with Puerto Rico and let this President know we WILL NOT BE LEFT TO DIE. I ask the United Nations, UNICEF and the world to stand with the people of Puerto Rico and stop the genocide that will result from the lack of appropriate action of a President that just does not get it because he has been incapable of looking in our eyes and seeing the pride that burns fiercely in our hearts and souls.

    No one needs an invitation to help, to feed the hungry, to cure the sick, to give a helping hand to those in need. Simply put: HELP US. WITHOUT ROBUST and CONSISTENT HELP, WE WILL DIE.

    Mr. President fulfill your moral imperative towards the people of Puerto Rico.

    Carmen Yulin Cruz
    Mayor of San Juan read more