Hostage crisis ends in New Jersey

A lot of liberal folks like to laugh at the Republican candidates (not to mention closet Republican Andrew Cuomo) who respond to questions about climate change by blurting out. "I'm not a scientist!" But New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just proved that he not only is he not a scientist -- for a whole weekend he ignored the advice of the best medical experts on the planet -- but he's certainly not a rocket scientist, politically speaking.

Christie's bizarre imprisonment of the nurse and caretaker Kaci Hickox -- who arrived from taking care of Ebola patients in Africa at Newark International Airport and was confined to this tent (pictured above) despite testing free of the virus -- was one of the most bone-headed. tone-deaf and cowardly moves that I've seen recently by any politician...and that's saying a lot. Today, after a well-deserved public backlash, Hickox was allowed to return home to Maine.

Christie and his underlings have a knack for hindering the free movement of citizens -- have you already forgotten about the George Washington Bridge? -- and a knack for making dumb, arbitrary, authoritarian decisions. And Christie seems still hellbent on running for president in 2016? Can you imagine someone in the Oval Office making such rash, imperial decisions on a scale 50X larger? Me neither.

But I should also note that people like Hickox who are trying to stop the spread of Ebola in Africa not only should not be unnecessarily detained, but when this is all over they should get a ticker tape parade. They are American heroes.