SCCC Trustee Burrell (D) running for Mayor of Vernon

So now we know what tonight’s circus is in aid of…

Politics.  Real scumbag politics.  The kind that masquerades as self-righteousness when it is really only about self-dealing.

It turns out that for some time now, SCCC Trustee Howard Burrell has been discussing and planning a comeback political career.  Trustee Burrell was a Democrat Freeholder until he was defeated for re-election in 2002 by 4,000 votes.  Sussex County Democrat Committee Chairwoman Katie Rotondi and Murphy county coordinator Leslie Huhn are both Burrell backers.  

We understood why Democrats like Dan Perez and Lorraine Parker wanted to hold an anti-Trump rally disguised as a special public meeting of the SCCC trustees, but we couldn’t figure out why SCCC Board Chairman Bill Curcio went along with it.  Now we know. 

SCCC Trustee Howard Burrell managed Democrat Dan Perez’ 2017 Freeholder race against Republican Freeholder Director Herb Yardley.  Perez lost by 7,000 votes.  Now Perez is returning the favor and supporting Burrell.

The SCCC Board of Trustees dumped a Sussex County firm as its attorney and hired the Union County Democrat machine firm of former State Senator Ray Lesniak.  So it is official.  The facts surrounding this appointment are shocking and will be dealt with in length but suffice to say that Ray Lesniak was a big defender of the corrupt practice of pay-to-play.

So now we know why some players on the SCCC Board of Trustees have dragged their colleague of seven years through the dirt for something he’s apologized for again and again…

Politics.  Dirtbag politics.  The kind of politics that sacrifices human decency, forgiveness, and pity for self-advancement. 

Sussex County Community College isn’t supposed to be about politics.  The SCCC Board of Trustees aren’t supposed to create venues by which to hang one trustee so that another can launch his political comeback campaign.

In fact, using SCCC facilities for partisan political purposes is explicitly against the rules of the Internal Revenue Service.  The process by which an executive session of the Board was called (a trustee is not “personnel” and no lawsuit has been filed by any party) and a public meeting held could pose legal hurdles for the SCCC.

Curiously, Howard Burrell launched his original political career 30 years ago in the midst of the same rhetoric being used by some Democrats today… accusing anyone they don’t like of “racism” and “bigotry” while they push legislation that even most Democrats say is anti-Semitic.  It seems some Democrats have learned nothing in 30 years.

Also worth noting are the assurances made by Trustee Burrell to the Freeholder Board at the time of his appointment just last year.  Burrell’s appointment had been held up by an earlier Freeholder Board over concerns that he would use his position on the SCCC Board of Trustees as a springboard to political office.  The current Freeholder Board appointed him after being assured that politics would not be part of it.  This has obviously turned out not to be the case and Trustee Burrell will have some explaining to do.

It looks like former Freeholder Carl Lazzaro was right about Howard Burrell and Watchdog was wrong to have advocated for Burrell’s appointment to the SCCC Board of Trustees.  We admit our mistake.

Bill Hayden: On 2nd Amendment, Lesniak is “laughable”.

By Bill Hayden

Former State Senator Ray Lesniak believes the AR15 is an assault weapon, only owned by white supremacists....laughable.

There are several things wrong with his assumptions.

First, he is already assuming a certain class of people own a product, hence profiling.  A form of racism from the Left?

Secondly, and AR15 assaults nothing, only a person can assault. My rifle can sit peacefully in the corner and not bother anyone for days. The Left’s assumption that you can legislate evil away is insane.

Think of this, the new craze is red flag laws. They come because they believe you have a defect that would prohibit you from owning a weapon. Yet, once gone with your guns, they leave you with the most dangerous weapon known to man, your car.

But let's get to the core of the Second Amendment, freedom. Because at the time of its writing, Americans had just won a revolution against tyranny, using the same exact weapon the tyrants had. Take a look at Venezuela for instance, a country that had all private guns taken away in 2012, and you see that an unarmed citizenry loses its voice, and freedom slips away. The Second is all that keeps the Leftists from really screwing life here in America up. It's the great equalizer.

The Senator also forgets that more people are killed every year with a hammer, than all rifles combined (FBI data), and I haven’t seen a hammer buyback yet.

Maybe the good Senator should read several Supreme Court cases that codify the AR15, as a protected weapon as it is in common use. Heller, and Miller come to mind.

Ray Lesniak should pick a battle he has some level of knowledge on.

Bill Hayden is President of the Skylands Tea Party in Sussex County.  Bill is a leader in the petition drive to Recall Governor Murphy.  On Saturday, May 11th, at 11am, there will be a rally to Recall Murphy on the Newton Green, Newton, Sussex County.

Malinowski’s dilemma: One school shooter a Democrat. The other is Transgendered.

The couple involved in the Colorado school shooting are a modern Bonnie & Clyde… well, sort of.

It is reported that “she” is Maya Elizabeth McKinney – except that her public defender said on Wednesday that his client uses male pronouns and goes by the name Alec.

And our modern day “Clyde” is a fellow (still, as of this printing) reportedly called Devon Erickson, described as an “actor and musician.”  According to published reports, Mr. Erickson “shared two posts about politics – one criticizing President Donald Trump and one praising Barack Obama. Erickson is a registered Democrat.”

Ray Lesniak will be glad to know that Mr. Erickson lists paintball (along with videogames and skateboard) as an activity.  So maybe that deadly paintball assault weapon that Lesniak warned us about is germane after all.  No word yet on whether or not he used it in the school shooting.

Both suspects are “white” – so maybe Tom Malinowski will be emboldened to continue arguing that the biggest terrorists on earth are White Americans.  But somehow we don’t think these two were what he had in mind. 

This is what happens when you conflate juvenile attention seekers and the mentally deficient with genuine terrorists.  As our erstwhile “Bonnie” wrote in a social media post… “I probably sucked more today than anyone in the history of kung fu. In the history of China. In the history of sucking.”

These are not the words of a terrorist group, taking credit for an act of terror. 

Tom Malinowski should take note and remember the difference.

Video: Democrats try to criminalize “White Americans”

An orchestrated effort is going on by Socialists within the Democrat Party.  Leftist “new” Democrats like Tom Malinowski, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Abdullahi Omar say we need to “worry” about “White Americans”.  They claim that white Americans are the real terrorists.  On Saturday, Congressman Malinowski published an opinion column claiming that white Americans are the biggest terrorist threat. 

As if on cue, an organization using the name of corrupt former State Senator Ray “pay to play” Lesniak sent out an email claiming that the AR-15 is the “weapon of choice of white supremacists.”  This email was stupid for a number of reasons.

First, every terrorism expert knows that the “weapon of choice” for 90 percent of the terrorists around the world is the AK-47, a fully automatic Soviet-model weapon. Of course, an old wanker like Ray Lesniak would never blame a weapon made by his old Communist comrades, so he blames an American-made weapon instead.

Second, the email claims that the AR-15 is the modern day equivalent of the M-16.  That is a lie.  The AR-15 is not a military grade weapon and Ray “the hand” Lesniak should know that.  For a start, the AR-15 isn’t an automatic weapon, while the M-16 was the U.S. Army’s standard issue automatic rifle for decades.  No military would send its troops into combat with the AR-15.

In fact, the AR-15 is something that would have been useful had Ray Ray decided to put up a fight when a couple of young rough boys broke into his house a few years back.  But then, why would he?

Third, the idiots who put out Lesniak’s email used a photo of a very scary paint ball gun to show just what an “assault weapon” used by a “white supremacist” looks like.  That’s right all you paint ball enthusiasts – now the Democrats are accusing you all of being “white supremacists” (even if you are Black, Hispanic, or Asian).  Yeah, you can’t make this b.s. up. 

This madness knows no borders.  A Pennsylvania state legislator also got the Malinowski memo.  He decided to use it to harass an old “white lady” and several “white” teenaged girls.  The legislator called them racial names – calling them out for being “white”. 

It looks like Tom Malinowski’s dirtbaggery is becoming the fashion statement of the moment.  Stay tuned…

SPJ: There is a better way of ranking journalists.

For those of you who think investigative journalism is dead… well, you haven’t been following a blog called Real Jersey City, where blogger-in-chief Michael Shurin has actually made a difference getting the bad guys removed from office and those in danger of going bad to straighten up and fly right.  Ideologically, Michael is a cross between Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul, so he doesn’t let ideology get in the way of ferreting out corruption and holding those responsible to account.  Check out his latest coverage of an important corruption trial that you won’t find anywhere else… https://www.realjerseycity.com/

Now you won’t find Real Jersey City or Michael Shurin on the pages of the recent InsiderNJ take on who’s who in New Jersey’s media.  No, you won’t find Michael sandwiched in between all those pricey advertisements from lobbyists, lawyer-lobby firms, vendors, greasers, and assorted politicians.  Yep, they paid for it.  And the firm paying for the whole thing – Fairview Insurance Agency – is so wrapped up in the Jersey City political establishment that they might as well use the Board of Education’s collective ass as its forwarding address.

You also won’t find the County Watchers blog – which keeps an eye on the critters who run Union County.  Yep, that’s everyone from his Lordship, the former Senator, Ray “Lord of Ass” Lesniak, to those magnificent Devanneys all bellied up to trough with both trotters stuck in.  Such nuggets as this are observed, investigated, and reported on by these citizen journalists…

With all the bombast over shared services we still have this in Union County:

2018-872: Authorizing the County Manager to award the proposed contract obtained through advertised public bidding in accordance with the Local Public Contracts Law, NJSA 40A:11-1 et seq: Engineering, Public Works & Facilities Management, Division of Facilities Management: T. Farese & Sons's, Newark, NJ, for the purpose of providing Waste Disposal Services at various locations throughout the County. The contract period shall be for twenty-four (24) consecutive months with the provision for one (1) twenty-four (24) month optional extension commencing upon contract extension. The contract will commence on November 1, 2018 through October 31, 2020, with a total contract amount not to exceed $424,728.91.

The amount was substantially higher than the last contract.
So why can't the municipalities pick up the county garbage at a little extra cost instead of having the county bill their taxpayers for this special pickup?

https://countywatchers.wordpress.com/2018/10/11/uccf-10-11-18-waste-in-union-county/

Of course, the folks who own InsiderNJ are themselves vendors working the grease machine of campaign contributions and contracts… so they have no interest in promoting at all those pesky citizen journalists who, unlike the paid-professional corporate types, are not forced to keep one eye on the want ads (and the government relations or public relations jobs, in particular).  You can’t blame someone for needing to feed a family (nevertheless it is sad when good people fall under the power of vendors, lobbyists, and political machines).

Now the old Editor of the once mighty PoliticsNJ – where the likes of Friedman and Kornacki and Moe of Moe got their training – is proposing to do his own “best of” series.  Will the media really take this? 

So here’s our proposal for rating the journalists who cover New Jersey politics and government.  Enter their names into one of the many awards given out each year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).  Instead of highlighting the banal droolings of an Alan Steinberg… propose someone real for an honor that is reviewed and provided by other JOURNALISTS – not one handed out by the mouthpiece of some scumbag vendor.  Then, if they make it, or get runner up, or an honorable mention, it will mean something besides the lawyer-lobbyist-vendor-political machine Establishment imaginings about how they would like them to lick their arses. 

Here are some awards – real honors—to consider:

The Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award, made annually, honors a collegiate journalism educator and recognizes outstanding teaching ability, contributions to journalism, journalism education and contributions toward maintaining the highest standards of the profession.  Deadline for nominations: March 18, 2019

The Ethics in Journalism Award honors journalists or news organizations that perform in an outstanding ethical manner demonstrating the ideals of the SPJ Code of Ethics. It also honors especially notable efforts to educate the public on principles embodied in the code or hold journalists ethically accountable for their behavior. The Society may present one Ethics in Journalism Award in any given year unless there are no worthy candidates. Nominations are open. Self-nomination is permitted.  Deadline for nominations: March 18, 2019.

The Sunshine Award recognizes individuals and groups for making important contributions in the area of open government.  The SPJ board of directors selects honorees for the Sunshine Award based on recommendations from the national SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. There is no predetermined number of honorees for selection. Deadline for nominations: March 18, 2019.

The Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award to honor a person or persons who have fought to protect and preserve one or more of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.   Mr. Pulliam, who died in January 1999, was publisher of The Indianapolis Star and The Indianapolis News until his death and was well-known for consistently supporting activities which educated the public about First Amendment rights and values. The Foundation has established this annual award to honor those committed to the same goals and as a tribute to the professional contributions that he made to journalism.  Deadline for entries: June 21, 2019.

The Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship was established to enable a mid-career editorial writer or columnist to have time away from daily responsibilities for study and research. The cash award allows Pulliam Editorial Fellows to: Take courses, pursue independent study, travel, pursue other endeavors that enrich their knowledge of a public interest issue. Deadline for entries: June 21, 2019.

Real Journalists critiquing the “best” journalism New Jersey has to offer… what a novel idea!

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...

Spadea dumps on Beck-Doherty vote on Open Space

On Friday, the SaveJersey blog featured a story by NJ 101.5's Bill Spadea.  Bill has been trying to justify his position against funding the TTF for weeks now.  Aside from the ratings boost he's received, he is having an understandably tough time wrapping his intellect around the indefensible position that a user's tax is poor economic policy.

The Sussex County Watchdog put out a concise explanation of the way the user's tax that funds the TTF works:

The tax on gasoline is the principal way New Jersey funds road and bridge maintenance and repair.   It is a user tax charged to those who actually use the state's roads and bridges -- 30 percent of whom live outside New Jersey. 

The user tax on gasoline that New Jersey charges drivers who use the state's roads and bridges hasn't been raised since 1988.  That means that the price charged drivers in New Jersey hasn't even kept up with inflation.  If it was adjusted for inflation, the 14 1/2 cents still charged today would be 29 cents.

This represents a huge windfall for out-of-state drivers -- who in effect are being subsidized by New Jersey taxpayers. 

Instead of raising its tax on gasoline in line with the inflation over the last 28 years, New Jersey put its road and bridge maintenance and repairs on a credit card -- using massive debt to fund its transportation infrastructure, while states like Pennsylvania raised their user tax on gasoline to 50 cents or more.  Because New Jersey used so much debt, the first 10 1/2 cents of any gasoline tax increase will be needed just to pay the interest on that debt.

... If the TTF is broke and the current 14 1/2 cents insufficient to even pay the interest on the debt (it would take a tax of 25 cents a gallon just to do that), then how will road and bridge maintenance and repair be paid for? 

Bill Spadea is looking for a way show that the transportation infrastructure can still be funded while justifying his opposition to the user's tax on gasoline.  So he's come up with a list of things to cut and he published the list on SaveJersey, and the blog distributed it to its email list.

Spadea's SaveJersey column begins with an emotional tribute to "a few brave souls left in Trenton on both sides of the aisle."  Now nobody is going to disagree with him about Senator Mike Doherty being a good conservative and a brave soul, but Democrat Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak?  The king of pay to play (and play to play)?  Really? Spadea couldn't find anyone braver than his lordship? 

Then Spadea really goes head over heels effusive with Senator Jennifer Beck, quote, unquote, "the newest champion of the taxpayer." 

Well, we have some bad news for him.  Over $100 million of the cuts Spadea plans to use to fund the TTF will come from killing off open space and farmland preservation in New Jersey.  Spadea even wants to kill the property tax relief that rural towns get, the open space funds in lieu of taxes, that help keep property taxes down. 

The problem for Spadea is that his "brave souls" and his "newest champion" all voted for these open space funds just a few weeks ago.  That's right -- on June 27, 2016 -- Senators Doherty, Lesniak, and Beck all voted yes on S-2456.  They blew a $100 million hole in his TTF funding plan. 

Don't get us wrong.  We're not complaining.  New Jersey is the most densely populated state in America and open space and farms are a good thing and something people consistently support.  Apparently, the corporate management at NJ 101.5 doesn't think so, but most voters do.  But this incident does illustrate the problems inherent with the "drive-by-budgeting" practiced by talk radio hosts like Bill Spadea.  Economic policy isn't something to be crammed between five minute blocks of salesmen selling vinyl siding, used cars, and suppositories.

Lesniak fails to take on real human rights abuses

What a bone head!  Senator Ray Lesniak's response to our call for responsible government was something a teenager would come up with:  "Well a rock star is doing it so we should too."

Really?  What does a rock star have to do with the average person in New Jersey?  If you are lucky enough to have a job and a roof over your head, your average household income is $53,482.  Your home is worth $175,700 -- and you pay the highest property taxes in America.

That rock star Ray Lesniak is intent on having us follow has trousered nearly $76 million so far this year.  That's for January through April and that's just for the American leg of his concert tour.  Now he's off to Europe and... well, Europe.  Ray Lesniak's hero only does white people.

Lesniak's rock star has a house in California worth $60 million.  Heck, that's house enough for more than 340 New Jersey families.  But wait, that's not Ray's buddy's only house.  He has another house and properties valued in excess of $200 million.  That doesn't sound like the average guy to us.

What is Ray Lesniak saying to us when he points to a rich celebrity and tells us to do what he tells us to do?  Money makes right? 

Well here's what George Carlin has to say to Senator Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak:

If Ray Lesniak was half the man of the Left he claims to be, he'd author a bill to seize his rock star buddy's extra home and turn it into a homeless shelter for those who can't find work because of the lousy job Ray has done as a legislator since 1978.  Yes, this creature has been around since 1978, and his long tenure in politics perfectly encompasses the destruction of the working class in New Jersey and the United States of America.  No, we're not saying that Ray did it all, but he did do his part.

Back in 1978, when Ray was a newborn legislative weasel going from trouser pocket to trouser pocket, getting his snout caught were it didn't belong, a student who worked a minimum-wage summer job could afford to pay a year's full tuition at the 4-year public university of his or her choice.

Thanks to legislators like Ray Lesniak, that doesn't happen anymore.

Since 1978 -- while Ray has grown richer and richer (though not as rich as his rich celebrity friends he wants us to obey) -- average working people have grown poorer and poorer.  The average worker today is over $20,000 poorer than he or she would have been if legislators like Ray Lesniak hadn't got their hands on power in the 1970's. 

And while Senator Ray Lesniak and his rich celebrity friends are fighting to allow people with penises into the girls' toilets in states like North Carolina, there are some battles that Ray is too pussy to fight.  Like the human trafficking and modern day slavery that goes on in Qatar.

On Thursday, when Ray Lesniak leads the members of the New Jersey Senate in taking the "momentous" step of banning travel to places within the United States of America, here is what the cowards won't be doing.  The Senate won't be banning travel to Qatar.  Why should New Jersey take a stand on Qatar?  Because Qatar is using slave labor to build projects related to the World Cup.

Don't believe us?  This is a headline from the Guardian(U.K.):  "Modern Day Slavery in Focus in Qatar" (March 30, 2016).  From Mother Jones:  "Qatar is treating its World Cup workers like slaves" (May 26, 2015).  From Reuters:  "Qatar complicit in modern slavery" (October 28, 2015).  Here is what Amnesty International had to say about Qatar: 

The authorities arbitrarily restricted the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. A prisoner of conscience was serving a lengthy sentence for writing and reciting poems.

Amnesty just issued a report (March 31, 2016) titled, "Qatar World Cup of Shame."  Here are a few excerpts:

Migrant workers building Khalifa International Stadium in Doha for the 2022 World Cup have suffered systematic abuses, in some cases forced labour... “The abuse of migrant workers is a stain on the conscience of world football. For players and fans, a World Cup stadium is a place of dreams. For some of the workers who spoke to us, it can feel like a living nightmare,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty.

“Despite five years of promises, FIFA has failed almost completely to stop the World Cup being built on human rights abuses.”

...Amnesty International uncovered evidence that the staff of one labour supply company used the threat of penalties to exact work from some migrants such as withholding pay, handing workers over to the police or stopping them from leaving Qatar. This amounts to forced labour under international law.

“Indebted, living in squalid camps in the desert, paid a pittance, the lot of migrant workers contrasts sharply to that of the top-flight footballers who will play in the stadium. All workers want are their rights: to be paid on time, leave the country if need be and be treated with dignity and respect,” said Salil Shetty...

Qatar’s kafala sponsorship system, under which migrant workers cannot change jobs or leave the country without their employer’s (or “sponsor’s”) permission, is at the heart of the threats to make people work... Some of the Nepali workers told Amnesty International they were not even allowed to visit their loved ones after the 2015 April earthquake that devastated their country leaving thousands dead and millions displaced.

My life here is like a prison... a metal worker from India who worked on the Khalifa stadium refurbishment, complained when he was not paid for several months but only received threats from his employer:  “He just shouted abuse at me and said that if I complained again I’d never leave the country. Ever since I have been careful not to complain about my salary or anything else. Of course, if I could I would change jobs or leave Qatar.”

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/03/qatar-world-cup-of-shame/

But Senator Ray Lesniak is not going to peep about Qatar.  You see, it is easy to pick on Americans living in North Carolina, but not so easy to stand up to the powerful people in New Jersey who represent the State of Qatar. 

We happen to have a copy of the signed contact between the Embassy of the State of Qatar and a powerful firm whose lobbyists include the former chiefs of staff for both Senators Menendez and Booker -- signed last December -- courtesy of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (enforced by the United States Justice Department).  Ray Lesniak's political allies pocket a retainer of $100,000 a month just for making sure the State of Qatar isn't embarrassed by anything like a resolution calling them out for their human rights abuses.  Last year, the firm pocketed as much as $155,000 a month just in consulting fees. 

So go ahead, Ray.  Tuck up your balls and make your fashion statement.  Punish your fellow Americans for wanting to keep sexual predators out of girls' toilets, while you and the New Jersey Senate kiss the tail of the State of Qatar and endorse its slavery and abuse of human rights by your silence.  We pity you.