Okay, I can't describe how confused I am with this scandal. This is what apparently happened: The toll lanes from Fort Lee, NJ to the George Washington Bridge on September 9 — which is incidentally the first day of school — were reduced from three to one without any notice to the community, generating havoc, congestion, and major delays. No warning was given to the government of Fort Lee or its citizens. Everyone literally woke up one day and discovered this had happened. The orders for this incident came from David Wildstein, the director of Interstate Capital Projects of the Port Authority, who said it for was "traffic studies." That reasoning doesn't make any sense because you do studies before you close lanes like that. The closing of the lanes comes after the studies.

Now here's what it gets weird. Wildstein is a childhood friend of the New Jersey governor Chris Christie and attained his post through Christie's influence. Because everyone concluded "traffic studies" is just dumb, immediately there was speculation. It seems like Christie wanted the mayor of Fort Lee to endorse him during his 2013 re-election campaign, but the mayor refused. So as a form of revenge, Wildstein had those lanes closed. Since then there's been some hearings and not only did Wildstein resign but also Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of PA and another Christie appointee.

Of course Christie denied all of this, but today emails and texts were leaked: his deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly basically discussing the entire plot with Wildstein, Baroni, and even the chairman of the Port Authority, David Samson, another Christie appointee. It's almost cartoonishly diabolical at times. To paraphrase an exchange, Wildstein felt bad for all the children who were delayed, but Kelly interjected to say they're the children of Democratic voters (Christie is a Republican). When the Fort Lee mayor called the Port Authority office to try to find out what the fuck was going on, they purposefully didn't respond. And when the New York side of Port Authority fixed the problem, Wildstein and Kelly tried to reverse their solution.

I seriously can't believe this is happening. Before today when there were rumors flying around, I kinda didn't want to believe them. Because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Okay, the Fort Lee guy didn't endorse you. It's extremely juvenile to punish him for that, but in politics shit like that happens. Except you usually get back at people in more surreptitious ways. Like, don't let the mayor's projects be approved in Trenton. This is one of the most obvious methods of revenge you could've picked. One, you're not fucking with the mayor. You're fucking literally with the entire town of Fort Lee and people. They had fucking nothing to do with this. And you purposefully picked a day that would adversely affect little children. Two, how the hell did you think you'd get away with this? Everyone and their mother is going to ask what the hell happened. And you think "traffic studies" is going to be enough of an excuse? Are you fucking shitting me? That's why until today I wasn't certain whether the rumors were true or not. Because it's such a fucking stupid move to make that there's no way they actually did it.

None of the emails said whether Christie was directly involved or had any knowledge of this. But either way, he's fucked. Because if he did, he's implicated in one of the best examples of political corruption for... what? Getting back at one individual? And if he's not, these people are high members of his staff. That proves he has no fucking idea how to pick people to work for him. His most trusted allies are essentially idiots.

I can't be the only person who thinks the level of pettiness is absolutely insane, right? Their plan was puerile on a level that anyone could've pointed out, right?

The Barnes & Noble on 18th has shuttered its doors. I can't describe how sad I am about this. I fucking loved just browsing the books, looking for anything interesting. That was its fucking flagship store!