Star Ledger editorials reinforce its anti-worker bias

We have all learned to expect Facebook-level writing from the Star-Ledger's editorial writers.  The snarky style, the gross exaggeration, the stereotyping, have driven away many readers, while reinforcing the worst prejudices of others.  Two recent editorials are especially noteworthy.

First, we have an editorial written by a climate change true-believer.  There is nothing wrong in this, there is much scientific evidence in favor of this theory, but it rings kind of hollow when the people demanding that we "pay attention to science" turn around and ignore the science of genetics.  The role of X and Y chromosomes in determining gender is much more established than is "climate change" and yet the same folks who say that we must believe in the science behind climate change theory decry genetic science as "bigotry." 

Is some science more politically correct and therefore more supported and promoted than other science?  Apparently so, at least as far as the Star-Ledger is concerned.

But the hypocrisy of the Ledger's editorial board is only part of the problem.  The Star-Ledger follows the editorial direction of its owners -- the Newhouse brothers -- two of the richest billionaires in America.  How rich?  They made a documentary about their kids called Born Rich.  These two are up there with the Koch brothers and they hate unions and working people just as much. 

One would think that with having so many billions you could pay the people who print your newspapers, the warehouse workers, and the distribution drivers a decent livable wage.  But no, they screwed all those union brothers and sisters in order to add to their profits.  It's like George Carlin said:  "They want more for themselves and less for everyone else."  They even screwed the hard news writers, turning them into little more than stringers.  The only group saved were the Newhouse brothers' hit men -- the editorial writers who spew the billionaires' line as directed.

On climate change the line is simple:  Get America to sign international agreements to combat climate change because it will accelerate the movement of American jobs overseas and that will increase corporate profits for big investors like... the Newhouse brothers.  And that is why the Star-Ledger's editorial writer dutifully trashed congressional candidate Steve Lonegan.  Lonegan doesn't want to lose a million American jobs to overseas sweatshops and outright slavery.  The Newhouse brothers' mouthpiece thinks less opportunities for Americans is good for their bottom line.

George Carlin was right when he said that people like this "...they don't care about you, at all, at all, at all."  The Star-Ledger's editorial writers are just facilitators to what Carlin called "these rich c*cksuckers."

Over the weekend, another attack on the working class appeared.  This one on a country rock and roll singer named Hank Williams Jr.  His band, which is thoroughly integrated by-the-way, issued a banner that incorporates the rebel flag, the singer's face, and the lyrics from one of his songs.  A local legislator and his wife, while attending a tailgate party in advance of the concert, had their picture taken in front of the banner, which they posted to Facebook -- along with what they thought was an artful comment.

Of course, this got the American flag-burners up in arms.  That's a "treasonous flag" they said in mock seriousness (to go with their mock patriotism).  The editorial writer noted that a majority of African-Americans found the Confederate flag (though not the Hank Williams Jr. band banner) offensive, ignoring the fact that in the face of consistent majorities of Americans opposing the burning of the American flag, the Star-Ledger and its cohorts have used their editorial pages to argue that it is a protected right to burn the flag, wipe your feet on it, and so on.

The Star-Ledger even defended the likes Annie Sprinkle who not only put the American flag to some rather "exotic" uses but wanted the American taxpayer to pay for her to perform her fetishes on stage.  Shucks, the legislator and his wife just wanted to have a beer before a Hank Williams Jr. concert.  They didn't ask anyone to pay for it.

If we may quote from the Star-Ledger's own editorial on desecrating the American flag:  "In a democratic society, the rights of free expression and political dissent have a fundamental constitutional primacy; they should not be diminished, even in such regrettable instances where extreme protests are patently offensive to most Americans."  Evidently this doesn't apply to country music, because the editorial writer went so far as to call Hank Williams Jr. a "racist" for criticizing Barack Obama.  Evidently, it is okay for the Star-Ledger to call President Trump a "Hitler" but not for Hank Williams Jr. to say the same of President Obama. 

And as for Confederate flags, where was the outrage when the Obama campaign issued Confederate flag pins with his name on them -- or when Hillary Clinton did or the Clinton-Gore ticket?  Oh, they were corporate globalist Democrats and the Newhouse boys are down with that.  Got it.

Back to George Carlin:  "They own all the big media companies, so they control all the news and information you get to hear.  They got you by the balls... they beat you over the head all day long, when they tell you what to believe, all day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think, and what to buy."

Now what can we expect from an editorial writer who services the owners of such elitist snob titles as Conde Nast, Bon Appetit, Golf Digest, Architectural Digest, Golf World, Conde Nast Traveler, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, The World of Interiors, Style.com, TheScene.com, and Epicurious.com?  Of course she thinks that all listeners to country music are racist working class scum.  In her world, all listeners to rap music are sexists.  She loathes the working class in the manner that her billionaire bosses prescribe.  They can't wait to have us all replaced by robots.  Our flaws will be their pretext for killing us.

Thinking of those editorial writers, a friend of ours has a real easy way to separate working Americans from those inhabitants of the elitists' "bubble world."  Ask them how they take their coffee.  Working Americans will ask for it in a mug -- doesn't matter the race of the drinker or the color of the coffee, it will be a mug.  That's not the way with people in bubble world.  In their neck-of-the-woods they're into something called coffee enemas -- so theirs isn't going into a mug, its heading on down a tube.  And that is about as good an indicator as there is.

AFP admits its score card was a screw job

Instead of transparency, the New Jersey affiliate of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has tried to cover-up their "process" by shoveling more shit over it. 

Instead of telling us who came up with the scheme to do away with the rating process AFP used when Steve Lonegan was in charge and which Trenton staffers AFP conspired with, they have tried to defend what is simply indefensible and inexcusable corruption.  This will be made abundantly clear to them when they have to explain themselves to the Internal Revenue Service.  After all, AFP is a tax exempt organization and their scorecard is meant to be educational -- not a thumb on the scale created for the purposes of party political communications in the form of direct mail, broadcast and cable advertisements, and Internet ads. 

Something is clearly wrong with an organization that puts out a press release taking credit for a vote that -- in AFP's own words -- "saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which saved taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies" -- and then uses that same vote to give every Republican Senator who voted for it an "F" grade.

AFP is either psychotic or sadomasochistic.

AFP actually bragged that the passage of A-12 last October was one of its biggest "accomplishments of 2016" -- before turning around and screwing everyone who voted for AFP's biggest accomplishment of 2016!

Here is the actual email AFP sent around in advance of its 2016 "screwcard":

Americans for Prosperity-New Jersey had some big accomplishments in 2016, and it's all thanks to you and activists like you who dedicated your time to fight for freedom in the Garden State.

As we ramp up our efforts for this year's battles, I wanted to highlight last year's victories to remind you how much we can accomplish.'

What AFP-New Jersey Accomplished in 2016

• Winter : Saved state taxpayers $60 million by fighting against corporate welfare and film production incentives.

• Spring : Saved Morris County taxpayers $1.5 million by fighting against a union mandate initiative for big public works projects.

• Summer : Saved state taxpayers $4-5 billion by fighting against a constitutional amendment that would have frozen current pension benefits as-is and prevented meaningful reforms to the system.

• Fall : Saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which save taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies.

• Playing defense: Blocked numerous legislative efforts to increase red tape in New Jersey, and defeated every attempt at increasing occupational licensing requirements that AFP-NJ engaged on.

You can see that AFP-NJ had a great 2016. It took a lot of hard work and dedication from all of our volunteers, and I sincerely thank you for your efforts to hold our government accountable and protect taxpayers.

There's no time to rest on our laurels-we must continue the fight to bring true affordability and good government back to New Jersey. Be sure to  Like us on Facebook and  follow on Twitter . AFP-NJ posts daily updates about developments in Trenton, Washington, D.C., and your local government.

I look forward to working with you this year to add even more to our list of accomplishments.

In Liberty,

Erica L. Jedynak
New Jersey State Director
Americans for Prosperity

This email was sent to: 
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Americans For Prosperity 1310 N. Courthouse Road, Suite 700 Arlington, VA 22201
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Here are just ten of the nearly 100 detailed questions regarding their screwcard that we have for the psychos/ sadomasochists at AFP:

(1) If the "Gas Tax" was the point of the exercise -- as has been suggested by bloggers, media types, Senate staffers, and AFP insiders -- then how did Republican Senator Sam Thompson get a "B" for proposing that the "gas tax" be increased without any tax cuts or tax reform at all?

(2) While handing Thompson a "B" for his gas tax increase only legislation, AFP cranked it up the buttholes of five Republican Senators who voted for that big "AFP accomplishment" of $1.4 billion in tax cuts (including the elimination of the Estate Tax) because the legislation also contained a gas tax increase.  Why did Thompson get a "B" and those five GOP Senators get an "F"? 

(Of course, we know why.  AFP was asked to help out with Thompson's primary by members of the GOP Senate staff and AFP complied.  Politics as usual.)

(3) AFP actively campaigned for the passage of Public Question 2 at the November 8th General Election last year.  The debate over Question 2 was directly related to the gas tax/tax reform discussion.  Somehow AFP forgot this or didn't think it important enough to include.  Most probably because it would have helped the scores of those it was meant to screw.  

(4) Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-13), a candidate for the Senate received an "A+" for his vote on the so-called "gas tax" (actually, the Tax Reform package that included 5 tax cuts as well as the gas tax increase), while Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-13) got an "F" for taking the exact same vote on the "gas tax."

(5) Legislation to get rid of the Estate Tax in five years that went nowhere, is marked as a positive.  The legislation that actually did get rid of the Estate Tax in less than two years, is marked as a negative. 

(6) Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) gets credit for sponsoring legislation (A-1059), while running-mate Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce gets no credit for co-sponsoring the same legislation.

(7) A bill (ACR-213) proposed by far-left Democrat John Wisniewski (D-19) which would allow voters to over-turn all of Governor Chris Christie's vetoes of anti-Second Amendment legislation passed by the Legislature was rated as a POSITIVE by AFP.  Does that make AFP anti-gun?  It certainly seems so.  On top of this, they assigned credit or blame incorrectly.  For instance, AFP credited Senator Michael Doherty even though he hadn't sponsored a Senate version (none exists).

(8) Legislation to spend millions to fund Planned Parenthood, legislation to oppose ObamaCare, legislation regarding Paid Sick Leave, and legislation to provide Welfare to Drug Dealers -- none of this was important enough to include in AFP's screwcard.  On the other hand, legislation regarding interior designers, hair-braiding, music therapy, and drama therapy all were more important, according to AFP.  Really?  Did someone take a dump in their brain and forget to flush it?

(9) AFP is apparently hostile to legislation proposed by Senator Steve Oroho, called the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act.  It appears to fly in the face of what AFP national chair David Koch calls "free trade." However, the scores of some legislators, such as Senator Tom Kean Jr., improved dramatically.  Kean, who just a session ago was in the high 50 percentile range, suddenly got an "A"!

(10) Of all the hundreds of votes taken in the Legislature, AFP "counted" just nine Assembly votes and six in the Senate -- and one of those they got wrong because they cherry-picked it from a previous session.  In other words, either the ass-monkey can't read a date correctly or somebody really wanted to screw someone.

Now we come to Jersey Conservative's weekly corrective to the AFP screwcard.  Yes, AFP sucks large and somebody has to step in and make it right.  We didn't look for this duty, but as Ronald Reagan once said:  "If not us, who?  If not now, when?"

One of the good things that came out of the Tax Reform package was the increase in TTF money going to fund local road and bridge maintenance.  That's real property tax relief at a time when many local governments are setting their budgets and property tax rates.

A bill (S-3076) to send $400 million to county and municipal governments was passed in the Senate on March 13th.  Only one Senator voted against it -- Democrat Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak (lifetime ACU rating ZERO).  Thirty-six other Senators, from Mike Doherty to Jennifer Beck, from Steve Sweeney to Dick Codey, all voted "Yes". 

Yesterday, it was voted on in the Assembly.  Three voted against it.  Democrat John Wisniewski (lifetime ACU rating ZERO), Erik Peterson (R-23), and Jay Webber (R-26) voted "No", while 67 voted "Yes". 

We found it strange... and worth mentioning.

Stay tuned...

Measuring voting records for 2017

2016 was a very strange year, in that you had Tea Party people running around calling Senator Jennifer Beck a "conservative."  That's funny, because not even Senator Beck calls herself "conservative."  In fact, it's a label she actively runs away from.

There are those who called Seth Grossman, an activist and former Atlantic County elected official,  a "conservative" -- even as he pushed a radical left social agenda that many liberals think goes too far.  His plan to repudiate the state's debt is a solution only if your town and county and state want to pay cash for everything -- up front -- from now on.  Try building a bridge without financing and see what that does to your property taxes.  It is the Argentina model.  Hardly what you would call "conservative."     

Then there are the raters -- groups like the American Conservative Union (ACU) take their cues from GOP legislative leaders who are not especially "conservative" when they choose the handful of votes by which they rate a legislator.  And so they miss big ones like welfare for drug dealers and liberal legislators suddenly become more "conservative" without changing their voting habits at all.

The truth is that what it means to be a "conservative" has changed a lot since Ronald Reagan ran for President in 1980.  That year, one of the Koch brothers who have come to so dominate modern conservative politics ran against Reagan on a libertarian ticket with a platform that made many liberals blush.

Instead of swallowing a special interest group rating hook, line, and sinker -- we need to examine who is doing the rating, what is their history, their agenda as it pertains to the votes they selected, and what did they leave out.  Knowing these things will give the reader a better idea of who the rater is.

No one rating system is going to satisfy everyone calling themselves "conservative," so for 2017 Jersey Conservative is going to put together ratings based on a  broader range of conservative identities.   In this way, individuals can decide which legislator or candidate comes nearest to their selected "identity."

There are Reagan conservatives with issue interests different from libertarians, Tea Party conservatives, Evangelical conservatives, the Pro-Life movement, the Second Amendment movement, Trump conservatives, Chamber of Commerce Republicans, and "It's My Party Too" Republicans.  We also have the platform of the Republican National Committee as a benchmark. 

If you are a traditional Reagan conservative, it would be helpful to know not only how a legislator or candidate rates based on a "Reagan" issues grid, but on a "Trump" one as well, a "Koch" one, or a "Whitman" one.  It will broaden the perspective and provide more information than the simple "conservative" label does currently.  

This is going to be a collaborative effort, so we will be looking for your input on both issues and votes.  Write to us with your ideas.

Which one do you identify with?

AFP support illegals taking Americans' jobs

The reason that BOTH wings of the corporate establishment party -- the Hillary Clinton Democrats and the Mitch McConnell Republicans -- have done nothing to secure our borders or to attempt to monitor those who come into this country legally and then overstay their visas, is because their corporate masters depend on illegal labor to suppress American wages.  For the past forty years, the American worker has lost ground and passing minimum wage laws mean nothing when there are millions of wage slaves in the gray economy to exploit.

The Koch brothers know this and that is why they have done their best to undercut the presidential campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump.  The Kochs hate Trump the way the Roman Senate hated Caesar.  Trump threatens to take away the illegal gray-economy labor force, the way Caesar threatened to take away slave labor in favor of citizen wage-earners.  The Kochs want more for them at the expense of everyone else.

The Kochs' lobbying wing, the so-called Americans for Prosperity (AFP), dutifully follow their masters' lead.  Earlier today, the New Jersey outpost of AFP issued an attack on legislation designed to protect skilled American workers from illegals looking to take their jobs. 

The bill under attack is Senate Bill 2173.  This is EXACTLY how the bill description reads:

This bill requires every contract subject to State prevailing wage requirements to require each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship, unless the contractor or subcontractor certifies that the worker is paid not less than the journeyworker wage rate.

Under the bill, a “registered apprenticeship program” is an apprenticeship program which is registered with and approved by the United States Department of Labor and which provides each trainee with combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade and meets the program performance standards of enrollment and graduation under 29 C.F.R. Part 29, section 29.6.

This is the LIE being promoted by AFP:

At the heart of the legislation is a requirement that " each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship" program. Since apprenticeship programs are offered primarily by labor unions, this bill would all but shut out competition from non-union shops and drive up project costs at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers.

The truth is this:  There are 676 active apprentice programs in New Jersey, only 15 of which are affiliated with a construction union.

Illegals cannot gain access to apprenticeship programs because they are in the United States illegally.  As it is now, unethical contractors hire a qualified worker (per the law) and then place a dozen or dozens of unqualified illegals under him (or her), pay them less, and increase profits.  Why should taxpayers pay for unqualified illegal labor?

SB 2173 makes sure that the workers hired are qualified workers or worker trainees in an approved apprenticeship program, who have a legal right to be in the United States. 

And contrary to what AFP is telling you, if there is no apprenticeship program covering a particular job-description, a worker may be hired provided that the contractor sign a statement that he is legally permitted to work in America.  Now why would ANY group calling itself CONSERVATIVE oppose that!

What's up with AFP NJ?

Back when Steve Lonegan ran AFP in New Jersey, there was a level of competence that seems lacking now.  Lonegan communicated with other conservative and used AFP to support the conservative movement as a whole -- even when it went against the corporate interests of the Koch brothers. 

In contrast to the Koch brothers and the current regime running AFP NJ, Lonegan was solidly Pro-Life, he opposed same-sex marriage, opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, and supported American cultural values.  The current leadership are culture warriors for the Left.  No less than conservative Senator Mike Doherty was stiffed by them when he asked the financial backers of AFP NJ for help. 

Whether due to incompetence or by design, AFP NJ has once again exhibited that they don't understand the legislation they are opposing.  Conveniently ignoring the purpose of the legislation to push the Koch agenda isn't helping the conservative movement in New Jersey.  Next time, pick up a telephone and talk to a fellow conservative before going off half-Koched.

DONALD TRUMP WON’T BE GETTING KOCH BROTHERS MONEY

BY REUTERS ON 8/2/16 AT 1:35 PM

Germany introduces women-only trains

Billionaires like Samuel Irving Newhouse (estimated net worth:  $9.5 billion) and Donald Edward Newhouse (estimated net worth: $10.5 billion) live in a bubble. They wouldn't know what real life was if it jumped up and bit them on the arse (which we suspect to be their fondest dream).  Like the Koch brothers, the Newhouse boys like to throw their money around to remake the world the way they want it.  That's what all that money does to you.  It makes you a crazy megalomaniac with god delusions.  

The Newark Star-Ledger is owned by the Newhouse boys.  In fact, Donald is the 2nd richest resident of New Jersey and the 56th richest person in the United States.  That makes him real nuts -- off the charts god delusional.  Recently he had his newspaper editorialize about opening up women's toilets to men, with penises, who fantasize about being women.  Only in bubble-world does this make sense.

In the real world, responsible people are trying to make the world safer for women and girls.  So while the Newhouse boys and their organ, the Star-Ledger, advocate making New Jersey women and girls less safe, in Germany they are advancing international efforts to make women and girls more safe.  Here is a story that appeared yesterday in a European newspaper, the Daily Mirror:

German train operator introduces women-only carriages amid fears over 'migrant sex attacks'

A German train operator has announced it is introducing women and children-only train carriages amid fears over sex attacks in the country.

The Regiobahn line between Leipzig and Chemnitz will introduce the carriages to increase security for women.

The carriages will be next to the train conductor in a bid to make women feel more safe.  

A spokesman for the railway said: “The local proximity to the customer service representative is chosen deliberately.”

Germany is still reeling from a string of sex attacks in Cologne on New Year's Eve, allegedly carried out by dozens of migrants.

In total more than 800 complaints were made to police and the incidents have sparked criticism over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to refuse to limit the number of refugees allowed into the country.

But the railway has said the measure is not a direct reaction to the Cologne incidents but is about increasing security generally.

The idea of gender segregated carriages was suggested by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last year as a measure to reduce sexual harassment on public transport.

He said: “Some women have raised with me that a solution to the rise in assault and harassment on public transport could be to introduce women-only carriages. 

“I would consult with women and open it up to hear their views on whether women-only carriages would be welcome – and if piloting this at times and on modes of transport where harassment is reported most frequently would be of interest.”

The measure is also currently in place in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Egypt.