Memo to Dems and SCCC: Don’t Give In To Terrorists

We know all about the Sussex County GOP Chairman who mistakenly re-tweeted some Twitter “trains” that contained controversial language regarding some anti-Semitic members of Congress and Islam.  The Sussex County GOP took away his Twitter account and the Chairman took responsibility and apologized.

That should have been an end to it.  Especially as, in trying to make their complaint against the GOP Chairman, Sussex County Democrats managed to attack Disabled American Veterans, Judeo-Christian theology, and the American Bill of Rights.

But it didn’t end there.  The New Jersey chapter of CAIR got involved.  CAIR, which is short for Council on American-Islamic Relations, put out a statement that labeled the re-tweets “anti-Muslim” and “Islamophobic, racist, and xenophobic” and called for the GOP Chairman’s resignation as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sussex County Community College (SCCC).

Unfortunately for CAIR. Its Democrat Party allies, and for some faculty and staff at the SCCC – the GOP Chairman broke no laws or SCCC rules.  There is no legal basis to remove him or to force his resignation. 

America is a Republic.  We are a nation of laws.  We have due process.  We have the Bill of Rights.  We do not succumb to the emotional howls of lynch mobs.  We do not honor vendettas or fatwas.  We don’t give in to terrorists.  We don’t let them have their way.  We are Americans. 

It is a pity that people need to be reminded of this.  It is a pity that a college board needs to be reminded of this.  That Freedom of Speech, to be worthy of the name, requires us to protect even that speech which we despise.  Otherwise, there is no freedom at all.

What the Board of Trustees can do is to create a new rule that proscribes the behavior of faculty, staff, and trustees – going forward.   A new rule applicable to all, to which all would be responsible. 

We hope the Board does not take the cheap way out, the extra-legal way.  To attempt to satiate the lynch mob’s bloodlust with a head, so that the Board can go back to exactly what they were doing – with no rules in place, only the fear of the mob.  This would constitute not just a cave to the mob… but to a designated “terrorist organization” as well.   

If you Google CAIR and go on the home page of CAIR’s website, you will find this headline:  CAIR Wins Landmark First Amendment Victory Striking Down Texas Anti-BDS Law.

CAIR is in direct opposition to the bi-partisan efforts by Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-Sussex) and Chris Smith (R-Mercer) to oppose the BDS movement:

Two New Jersey congressmen today celebrated the passage of a resolution denouncing the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement that targets Israel.

“The BDS movement demonizes Israel and Jews and applies a double standard whereby Israel is always wrong, and the “oppressed” Palestinians are always in the right – regardless of whether groups such as Hamas are engaging in terrorist acts upon Israeli citizens,” said Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), the co-chair of a Bipartisan Task Force on Combatting Anti-Semitism.   “The overwhelming vote in favor of the House resolution to reject the BDS movement and its efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel, underscores America’s strong support for Israel as a key ally and our commitment to Israel’s right to exist.”

The resolution, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last night by a 398-17 vote, opposes economic apparatuses aimed at punishing companies that do business with Israel.

“There are few clearer examples of bias and double standards than BDS movement. But BDS is also fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution. It seeks to punish only Israel and it rejects direct negotiations in favor of a unilateral strategy,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff).  “That is why it is so important that Congress is on record opposing BDS and other harmful efforts to single out and delegitimize Israel.”

The only New Jersey House member to vote against the measure was Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).

Wikipedia explains that CAIR is “a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. It is headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., with regional offices nationwide.”  Wikipedia goes on to note:

Critics of CAIR have accused it of pursuing an Islamist agenda[5][6][7] and have claimed that the group is connected to Hamas[8] and the Muslim Brotherhood,[9][7] claims which CAIR has rejected and described as an Islamophobic smear campaign.[10] Due to apparent ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the government of the United Arab Emirates has designated CAIR as a terrorist organization.[11]

A “terrorist organization”?  That is a very serious matter.  And it is a matter that remains unexplained in the media or by the Board of Trustees of the Sussex County Community College

CAIR’s demands have been repeatedly referenced by the Board of Trustees of the Sussex County Community College.  CAIR’s demands have been repeatedly highlighted in statewide newspapers, media, websites, and blogs.  The media has not been honest in identifying who and what CAIR is. 

The media has been afraid to even discuss CAIR’s designation as a “terrorist organization” by one of America’s best Islamic allies in the Middle East.  Why?

Pardon us for noticing, but we can’t help but think a designation as a “terrorist organization” (by one of America’s Islamic allies) is worthy of at least as much attention as a re-tweet of a Twitter “train”, a mistake, for which responsibility was accepted and apology given.  Or has everyone forgotten September 11th and the wars against radical Islam and all those subsequent acts of Jihadist terror?  Does the media, the Democrats, and the SCCC trustees wish to erase the sacrifice of all those dead and wounded and disabled soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines

Besides which, CAIR has a greater duty in this matter.  That is the duty a believer has to God. 

"…They should rather pardon and overlook.  Would you not love Allah to forgive you?  Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Qur'an, 24:22) 

Sussex Democrat Chair co-hosted show called “F**k Science”

If you want to know the Sussex Democrats’ world view, get a load of this…

 https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/robb-carlson/sleepyhead-podcast/e/38313075?autoplay=true

The same Sussex Democrats who compared traditional Judeo-Christian belief with Nazism have joined with CAIR, which is short for Council on American-Islamic Relations, and called for the “removal” of the Sussex County Republican Chairman.   

CAIR… we invite you to Google it.  When you do, you will find this on the home page of CAIR’s website:  CAIR Wins Landmark First Amendment Victory Striking Down Texas Anti-BDS Law.

This is interesting in light of the bi-partisan efforts by Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-Sussex) and Chris Smith (R-Mercer) against the BDS movement, which CAIR obviously supports:

Two New Jersey congressmen today celebrated the passage of a resolution denouncing the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement that targets Israel.

“The BDS movement demonizes Israel and Jews and applies a double standard whereby Israel is always wrong, and the “oppressed” Palestinians are always in the right – regardless of whether groups such as Hamas are engaging in terrorist acts upon Israeli citizens,” said Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), the co-chair of a Bipartisan Task Force on Combatting Anti-Semitism.   “The overwhelming vote in favor of the House resolution to reject the BDS movement and its efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel, underscores America’s strong support for Israel as a key ally and our commitment to Israel’s right to exist.”

The resolution, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last night by a 398-17 vote, opposes economic apparatuses aimed at punishing companies that do business with Israel.

“There are few clearer examples of bias and double standards than BDS movement. But BDS is also fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution. It seeks to punish only Israel and it rejects direct negotiations in favor of a unilateral strategy,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff).  “That is why it is so important that Congress is on record opposing BDS and other harmful efforts to single out and delegitimize Israel.”

The only New Jersey House member to vote against the measure was Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).

Wikipedia explains that CAIR is “a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. It is headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., with regional offices nationwide.”  Wikipedia goes on to note:

Critics of CAIR have accused it of pursuing an Islamist agenda[5][6][7] and have claimed that the group is connected to Hamas[8] and the Muslim Brotherhood,[9][7] claims which CAIR has rejected and described as an Islamophobic smear campaign.[10] Due to apparent ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the government of the United Arab Emirates has designated CAIR as a terrorist organization.[11]

A “terrorist organization”?  That is a very serious matter.

The “Muslim Brotherhood”?  Quite a few nations have designated that a   “terrorist organization” as well, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia… these are all Islamic nations and all strong American allies. 

So why are the Sussex County Democrats standing with a group that one of America’s strongest Islamic allies has designated a “terrorist organization”?

It looks like the Sussex County Democrats have some explaining to do.

Has Senator Gordon lost his mind? Or is it just fashion?

There was this silly headline run in the Star-Ledger (NJ.com) last week.  It read:  To N.J. congressmen: If you're not battling travel ban, you're backing bigotry. 

Accompanying the silly headline were the faces of two Republican Congressmen who, if the author had taken just 5 minutes to study them, would understand that they are as far removed from bigotry as human beings can be.  Congressman Chris Smith and Congressman Tom MacArthur... bigots???  Then you know not a thing about them, their families, or their good works.

The opinion column underneath that headline was written by a young "progressive" political consultant.  A nice enough young man, recently married, who is starting on his journey in life.  We don't know his character or if it will ever match that of the men he has so casually maligned.  

Of course, "progressive" these days is defined as establishmentarian, globalist, corporate, and politically somewhere between Hillary Clinton and Tony Blair.  This is what the Democratic Party's incumbent class is made of and to it must bend the knees of people like our young writer.

If this headline had been written by a member of the Tea Party -- about a couple of Democrats -- it would have read something like this:  To NJ congressmen:  If you're not backing travel ban, you're backing terrorism.

The hysteria of it.  Both headlines.  We can already see the campaigns that will be run -- the terrorists vs. the bigots!

And it will be all such bullshit and so unedifying.  But that is how we communicate to each other now -- via twitter or Facebook or even face-to-face.  Whether snarky or roaring, nowadays we speak "asshole" to each other. 

We speak "asshole" to each other because our knowledge is limited and our emotions unchecked.  We are scared shitless of something, so shitless and so lost for solutions that we act like so many cats stuffed into a sack, suffocating, clawing at each other in our darkness.  And so we get headlines like the ones above.

And talk about limited knowledge.  The nations engaged in the so-called War on Terror can't even agree on what a terrorist organization is.  The military wing of Hezbollah is a terrorist organization according to the European Union and the United Kingdom but not the United States.  The Muslim Brotherhood is recognized as an Islamic terrorist group in such Islamic countries as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates -- but not in the United States. 

Our Department of Homeland Security understands so little that they processed the visa of a woman using the name of a male jihadist, with a false address, and a plethora of red flags concerning her social media.  She ended up participating in the 2015 massacre of 14 people (22 others were seriously wounded) in San Bernardino, California.  And this happened a decade and a half after student visa-holder Hani Hasan Hanjour flew American Airlines flight 77 into the Pentagon, killing 184 people, including everyone on the flight.

Our knowledge is flawed, our process faulty, but the deaths and injuries are very real.  If we don't want more and possibly a lot worse, we need to accept that we don't know, place the emotion and name-calling to one side, stop speaking in "asshole" and start communicating to each other so that we can -- together -- work the problem.

Fritz Kuhn, that old Nazi who led the German American Bund back in the 1930's clothed his organization in the red, white, and blue too.  Kuhn used accusations of "bigotry" towards those who attempted to close down his organization.  The ACLU defended him too.  A Democrat State Senator even spoke at one of his rallies, held at a Nazi camp in Andover Township, Sussex County. 

Now Senator Bob Gordon and others are attempting to interfere in the federal government's work to keep us safe from terrorist attack.  Legislation Gordon is sponsoring, S-3006, would prohibit personnel of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from providing "any aid, resources, assistance, or support to any federal employee or representative in enforcing the provisions of a United States Executive Order issued on January 27, 2017 regarding Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, nor may any resources or facilities of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey be used for such purpose."

Wow, imagine if the State Legislature in Alabama had passed such a law affecting the Alabama National Guard in 1963.  Remember your history and remember well that it was the federalized Alabama Guard led by General Henry Graham that affected the end to Governor George Wallace's "schoolhouse door" blockade of African-American students attempting to register for classes at the University of Alabama. 

Senator Gordon should be careful of the precedent he is setting, for he might just be taking a major step in turning our federal Republic into something akin to the Wild West.  Has the Senator thought this through, or is he simply caught up in the "be-in" surrounding the opposition to all things Trump?  Is this helping or is it merely a fashion statement?

Last year, Gordon supported legislation that directed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to take extra-measures, above and beyond those of the federal government, to prevent hunting trophies from coming through the transportation facilities (airports, etc.) controlled by the Port Authority.  This too was a reaction to something that had gone viral on Facebook.   

The language of last year's legislation couldn't be more direct:  "Any Port Authority agent or Port Authority police officer shall have authority to enforce the prohibition in subsection b. of this section and, where necessary, to apply for and execute any warrant to search for and seize..."

It is a question of language and of priorities.  Representing counties in a state that suffered so much death and misery at the hands of terrorists, why is there no similar language regarding the vigilance against terrorism in S-3006?  Where is the insistence that no more innocent victims suffer death or maiming?

It's not there, because it's not "trending" on Facebook.  Not at the moment, anyway.  But legislators like Senator Gordon must be keeping their fingers crossed.