Murphy wants to make CAIR’s Chair a Judge. What did the ADL say about CAIR?

By Rubashov

When it writes about “white nationalism” or “white supremacists” the establishment media, the Murphy administration, and prominent Democrat politicians all rely on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for “expert testimony” – with the ADL providing statistics and background information on various groups and their leaders. For example, Andrew Campi of Governor Phil Murphy’s Department of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) recently joined Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ05) in hosting a virtual forum on battling "extremism, hate, and homegrown lone-wolf terrorism."

A press release put out by Congressman Gottheimer’s office noted: “Gottheimer has helped lead several key initiatives to combat homegrown lone-wolf terrorism, QAnon, extremism, Foreign Terrorist Organizations online, and to maintain election security.”

On Monday, Governor Murphy nominated a number of individuals to become judges on New Jersey’s Superior Court. New Jersey Globe, covered the story and highlighted one of the Superior Court Judges-to-be:

“Nadia Kahf practices immigration law in Haledon and would sit in Passaic County. She is the chairwoman of CAIR-NJ board, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, and has served on the board since 2003. She is the legal advisor to Wafa House, a Passaic County-based non-profit domestic violence agency.”

We wondered if anyone at the Murphy administration has read what the ADL has to say about CAIR. So, we looked and found a rather thorough article on the ADL website, complete with 68 footnotes detailing the sources that went into writing it. Below are the highlights, as they relate to the appointment of CAIR-NJ Board Chairwoman Kahf, as well as a link to the article itself (and the footnotes), so that anyone might read it and form their own conclusions:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a Washington D.C.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with 28 independent chapters around the country. Since its founding in 1994, CAIR has sought to position itself as the leading American Muslim civil rights organization. In recent years, much of its activity has centered on responding to the proliferation of anti-Muslim incidents and sentiment expressed nationwide.

Some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas. Hamas is designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the United States and is also viewed by the EU as a global terrorist organization.[1]

In addition, some of CAIR’s leadership have used inflammatory anti-Zionist rhetoric that on a number of occasions has veered into antisemitic tropes related to Jewish influence over the media or political affairs, or has descended into the vilification of Zionists, which includes the majority of American Jews, who view a connection with Israel as a component of their Jewish identity.[2] ADL defines Zionism[3] as the movement for statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.

…Although its main organizational mission is upholding the rights of Muslims in the United States, CAIR also comments on international issues, with a particular focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Key CAIR leaders have frequently expressed vociferous opposition to Israel and Zionism, claiming at times that Zionism and Zionists are fundamentally racist.

Antipathy towards Israel has been a CAIR staple since the group was founded in 1994 by several leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a now defunct organization that was once described by the U.S. government as part of “Hamas’ propaganda apparatus.” Nihad Awad, who was IAP’s Public Relations Director, became CAIR’s first Executive Director, a position he retains today.[4] IAP was active in the U.S. from 1981 until about 2004, and categorically rejected a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, writing in a December 1989 communique: “The only way to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine, is the path of Jihad…Hamas is the conscience of the Palestinian Mujahid people.”[5] In 1987, immediately following the establishment of Hamas, IAP began to print and distribute Hamas literature, including Hamas communiqués and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

One of the founding board members of CAIR’s Dallas office, Ghassan Elashi, was linked to the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a Texas-based charity that, according to the U.S. government, became the chief fundraising arm for the Palestine Committee in the U.S. The Palestine Committee was created by Hamas’s parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, to support Hamas. Both HLF and CAIR were members of the Palestine Committee. In 2008, HLF’s five founding officers were convicted on more than 100 criminal counts and sentenced in May 2009 to between 15 and 65 years in federal prison for financing terrorism by funneling more than $12 million to Hamas.[6] According to news reports, evidence presented at the Holy Land Foundation trial demonstrated that other CAIR leaders were also linked to HLF and Hamas activity in the U.S.[7] As noted above and according to the trial testimony, the Palestine Committee was a U.S. wing of Hamas’ parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood. The Palestine Committee was headed by Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook,[8] who since 1995 had been designated by the U.S. government as a Specially Designated Terrorist.[9]

Throughout the HLF trial, CAIR organized support for the defendants and joined several other organizations, including the Muslim American Society, to form the “Hungry for Justice” coalition to support HLF.[10] Two CAIR leaders acted as media contacts, while Khalil Meek of CAIR’s Dallas chapter served as the coalition’s primary spokesperson. He described an earlier, related case in the prosecution of HLF as an “Israeli trial tried on American soil.”[11]

CAIR was included on a 2007 Department of Justice list of nearly 250 “unindicted co-conspirators” in the HLF case. A federal appeals court subsequently ruled that the government had been wrong to publicly identify CAIR and others on that list and that the list should be sealed.[12] CAIR’s name remains on the list.

In response to CAIR’s involvement with the Holy Land Foundation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation distanced itself from the organization. In the past, the FBI had interacted with CAIR representatives regarding community outreach activities, civil rights complaints and criminal investigations. However, in 2008, the FBI issued an instruction to its field offices that they should sharply curtail “non-investigative interactions” with CAIR.[13] This instruction was elucidated in an April 2009 letter to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, in which the FBI explained that it would cease to liaise with CAIR “until [they] resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas.”[14] To our knowledge as of this writing, the FBI has not retracted this protocol.

CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad’s repeated statements in support of Hamas also loom over the organization. Awad is quoted as saying during a March 1994 panel discussion at Barry University in Florida (prior to his involvement with CAIR) that “after I researched the situation inside Palestine and outside, I am in support of the Hamas movement more than the PLO.”[15] In its defense, CAIR notes that Awad’s statement was made “before CAIR was formed,” and that “Hamas did not commit its first suicide bombing until October 1994.”[16] In 2000, when he was asked about Hamas during an Al-Jazeera interview, Awad refused to condemn what had clearly become a terrorist organization. “We do not condemn, and we will not condemn any liberation movement inside Palestine or inside Lebanon,” Awad said.[17] CAIR has countered by noting that in 2006 Awad stated that he “[does] not support Hamas today.”

Awad also appeared at a rally convened in April 2002 next to antisemitic Imam Abdul Alim Musa, the founder of the extremist group Sabiqun. Among other virulently antisemitic statements, Musa has claimed that the Jews ran the slave trade; that, compared to the what had been done to Native Americans and African Americans the Holocaust was “small potatoes;” that Jews are the enemy of humanity; that Jews control America and that Jews have manipulated Arab leaders into being drunk, broke and engaged in internecine warfare.[18] In the photo below, Nihad Awad is shown next to Musa, delivering a speech under a Hezbollah flag.

More recently, CAIR has supported and advocated for Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted by an Israeli court in 1970 for her role in a 1969 bombing of a supermarket that killed two Israeli students, and who was later released as part of a prisoner exchange. As a member of the Rasmea Defense Committee, both of CAIR’s Midwest chapters (Chicago and Michigan) support the idea that Odeh “is a leading member of Chicago’s Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities,” and that she “is a community icon who overcame vicious torture by Israeli authorities…and an example for the millions of Palestinians who have not given up organizing for their rights of liberation, equality, and return.”[19] The Rasmea Defense Committee was active up until September 2017, when Odeh was deported to Jordan.

Although CAIR does not appear to endorse the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as an official policy, CAIR frequently tweets in support of BDS campaigns[20] including academic and cultural boycotts of Israel. In April 2020, they joined American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) in calling for a boycott of Israeli dates. CAIR has a close relationship with other pro-BDS, anti-Zionist and anti-Israel groups like JVP and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Moreover, some of CAIR’s leadership, including Zahra Billoo, Hussam Ayloush and Imraan Siddiqi, have been particularly outspoken in support of BDS.

CAIR’s Executive Director Nihad Awad has made numerous anti-Israel comments, some of which have played into conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the media or U.S. government. During a May 2021 CAIR webinar, Awad stated that “the mainstream media had monopoly over the talking points – [parroted from] the pro-Israel organizations.”[21] In 2014, he claimed that Israel “is the biggest threat to world peace and security.”[22]

At an August 2014 anti-Israel rally in Washington D.C., Awad endorsed a view he attributed to Latin American countries, that Israel is a “terrorist state” because allegedly its official policy is to target innocent civilians and has also said that AIPAC did not promote American values but was a foreign lobby that controls the U.S. Congress. He told the audience “Do not accept Israeli talking points. AIPAC should have its hand off the United States Congress. They have corrupted our foreign policy; they have corrupted our political leaders.”[23] In July 2014, Awad had similarly tweeted: “Israel lobby has corrupted American politicians by skewing US foreign policy to support killing of civilian population in #Gaza…”[24] Also that month, he alleged U.S. policy toward the Palestinians was “driven by the Israel lobby.”[25]

(N.B.: The following is noteworthy, because it concerns the Executive Director of CAIR-NJ who works under the direction of CAIR-NJ Chairwoman Nadia Kahf…)

Salaedin Maksut, Executive Director of CAIR-NJ, has demonized Zionism and Zionists on several occasions. In an October 31, 2021, post on Facebook, Maksut referred to Zionism and “other racist and oppressive ideologies.”[51] On May 10, 2021, he tweeted: “Israel is a state based on a racist doctrine. Zionism is racism, pure and simple.”[52]

At an anti-Israel rally on May 11, 2021, Maksut played into antisemitic themes about Jewish power and culpability for racism in the United States, remarking to attendees: [53]

“We have to realize that the same foot and the same knee that is choking the Palestinian people is the same foot and the same knee that is choking the Black and Brown people in this country. The powers that are funding the oppression of the Palestinian people are the same powers that are funding the oppression of minority groups in this country. It is the same money. They are cutting the same checks. They are the same people. They are sitting in the same offices of government.”

He concluded with the chant: “Zionism is racism.” Whatever his intent, altogether such rhetoric can be interpreted as suggesting that pro-Israel and Zionist Americans, and by extension the mainstream Jewish community, is the primary cause of racist oppression and brutality in the United States.

Maksut made similar remarks at a rally in July 2020. [54] Faced with criticism, he doubled down in a tweet: “I stand by what I said. ‘In order to defeat this evil that is Zionism, we must realize that the foot on the necks of the Black and Brown people of this nation is the same foot and the same knee that is choking the Palestinian people....’” [55]

…CAIR is closely connected to American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the leading organization providing anti-Zionist training and education to students and Muslim community organizations around the country. AMP promotes extreme anti-Israel views and at times has provided a platform for antisemitism under the guise of educating Americans about “the just cause of Palestine and the rights of self-determination.”[62] In 2017, Nihad Awad spoke at AMP’s 10th annual conference.

In October 2021, CAIR-Minnesota hosted AMP Chairman, Students for Justice in Palestine co-founder and UC Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian for their annual “Challenging Islamophobia” conference.[63] In October 2018, CAIR hosted Bazian at its National Leadership and Policy Conference.[64] On several occasions, Bazian’s claims about Israel have straddled the line between antisemitism and anti-Israel activism. In July 2017, Bazian retweeted an antisemitic post that included an image of man dressed in distinctive Orthodox garments, reading: “MOM LOOK! I IS CHOSEN! I CAN NOW KILL, RAPE, SMUGGLE ORGANS & STEAL THE LAND OF PALESTINIANS *YAY* #ASHKE-NAZI.”[65] The UC Berkeley administration criticized him for cartoons that “crossed the line” into antisemitism.

Although Bazian subsequently apologized, claiming the image “is offensive and does not represent [his] views,”[66] he has continued to occasionally engage in similar rhetoric, which calls the sincerity of his apology into question. In August 2021, he re-tweeted an antisemitic cartoon depicting an Israeli soldier organ harvesting the heart of a deceased Palestinian man.[67] In May 2021, he tweeted: “Zionist Jews are so over taken[sic] and blinded by power, might and control over Palestine that they don't have the capacity to look in the mirror and ask the question of what role they are playing and how they became a powerful instrument in Western imperialism.”[68]

The ADL’s full article (with source footnotes) can be accessed here:

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/the-council-on-american-islamic-relations-cair

CAIR and BLM rally against the Jewish State.

If media players and politicians wish to use the ADL as an “expert” source for defining what is or isn’t an “extremist” group, shouldn’t they at least acknowledge the ADL’s commentary on groups like CAIR?

We hope that all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will do their duty and question CAIR-NJ Chairwoman Nadia Kahf appropriately. We trust the Republicans on the Committee will do so regardless of the conformist mentality which holds that the ADL matters mightily when looking to condemn someone we disagree with – and not at all when commenting on a fellow-traveler.

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

George Orwell

If Twitter was around then, would Murphy have supported it blocking anti-opioid campaigners?

By Rubashov

Twitter was launched in July 2006. But if Twitter had been around a decade before, when the medical establishment was pushing millions of opioid doses on unsuspecting patients and Big Pharma was insisting “all is well” and that “the science” backed them up – would Twitter have blocked Senator Declan O’Scanlon for suggesting caution? The evidence suggests that they would have and, as a result, would have been culpable in a million deaths.

Now go back to late 2002, early 2003, when the Weapons of Mass Destruction debate was going on. If Senator O’Scanlon – or anybody else for that matter – had suggested caution or that the official position of the American security state was mistaken or that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 had got it wrong – would Twitter have blocked them? We are sorry to have to say that the evidence suggests Twitter would have… and so cheered on the start of the Second Gulf War and with it the millions of lives destroyed and trillions of dollars misspent.

As it was, there were very few voices back then arguing that prescription opioids would lead to an epidemic of abuse that is the most lethal drug epidemic in American history. There were only a scattering of voices raised in opposition to the Second Gulf War. But eventually, they got through. Opioids were eventually identified as a problem. The war was revealed to have been predicated on a lie.

It would be so much more difficult today to get through. That’s because guys like Governor Phil Murphy would be siding with Twitter, with statements (and this is a quote from Monday) like: “If they are speaking or allowing information which is absolutely false and at odds with the facts … they are putting people’s lives at risk. There is no other way to put that.”

That’s right. In 1996, Phil Murphy would have been on the side of the medical Establishment and Big Pharma, telling Twitter to shut down those people questioning the wisdom of prescribing millions of pills because it’s “at odds with the facts” as put out by the medical Establishment and Big Pharma and that questioning prescribing opioids might dissuade people from using them and end up “putting people’s lives at risk… there is no other way to put that.”

Yep. And in 2003, Phil Murphy would be telling Twitter to lock down all those anti-war nutjobs who kept falsely claiming there were no weapons of mass destruction when it was obvious there were, because the CIA, NSA, and Colin Powell had said so. Murphy would have screamed at Twitter to “stop allowing information which is absolutely false and at odds with the facts … they are putting people’s lives at risk. There is no other way to put that.”

Murphy told New Jersey Globe that he wants Twitter to be the gatekeeper of the First Amendment or, as he puts it, he wants Big Tech to “calls balls and strikes equally.” This is the same Big Tech that pocketed $9.53 billion in spending on digital advertising by the healthcare and pharma industry in 2020 (expected to grow by 18% this year). If platforms like Twitter are profiting from the medical Establishment and Big Pharma, how can they be expected to “call balls and strikes equally”?

Without the First Amendment, would the whistleblower who disclosed the opioid scam have ever been heard from? If platforms like Twitter – profiting off the medical Establishment and Big Pharma – had been allowed to, would they have blocked this whistleblower too? Ask yourself these questions while watching this shocking report from 60 Minutes...

The First Amendment SAVES LIVES. Phil Murphy favors putting Big Tech in charge of deciding what you hear about their Big Pharma advertising clients.

By any measure, New Jersey’s Governor is the most powerful State Executive in America. In other states, judges and prosecutors are elected. Not in New Jersey, they are all appointed by the Governor. Other states have an elected Attorney General, an elected State Treasurer, an elected Auditor General or Comptroller, and an elected Secretary of State. In New Jersey, all these jobs are appointed by the Governor.

Other states elect an Insurance Commissioner, Railroad Commissioner, Land Commissioner, Agriculture Commissioner, Industries Commissioner, Utilities Commissioner… Massachusetts even has an elected eight-member Governor’s Council to provide advice and consent as an additional check on the power of the Governor. Not in New Jersey. In New Jersey, even the Lt. Governor isn’t chosen directly by the people, but rather selected by the nominee and then locked into an all or nothing ticket with the nominee.

New Jersey is the least democratic state in America.

That’s probably why it is a bad thing to have both the Legislature and Executive controlled by the same party in New Jersey. It cements too much power with one man – and any American worthy of the name knows that spells trouble.

And that’s why it is so important to elect a Governor with the kind of humility that holds back a little, that respects traditions – and things like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Because in New Jersey, with its absence of robust checks and balances, it is easiest for a Governor to abuse his power. Easier than anywhere else in America.
 

“If you want to understand why something is happening in America just follow the money.”
Krystal Ball

Congressman Gottheimer tries to cancel journalist Matt Taibbi.

By Rubashov

Josh Gottheimer is equal parts bully and crybaby. Quick to apply labels, tropes, and nasty sobriquets but emotionally vulnerable to the same when applied to him – excruciatingly so.

His own employees accused Congressman Gottheimer of workplace bullying. In a Ryan Grim column – titled, “REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER IS A REALLY, REALLY TERRIBLE BOSS, FORMER STAFFERS SAY” – published in The Intercept (May 22, 2019), former aides to Gottheimer “painted a portrait of a man who pits staffers against each other, screams easily, and throws pens with abandon.”

As for tropes, this is the guy who was slammed just last year on allegations that his campaign darkened the skin coloring of his Italian-American opponent in order to make him look like a Sicilian mobster, while using language like “Fraudster Frank” on direct mail hit pieces. Josh Gottheimer can certainly dish it out.

But he can’t stand for long on the receiving end before crying foul – and looking for a referee of some kind to wipe his nose and smother him in a protective hug.

This happened again on Friday of last week, when one of the best investigative journalists on earth – Matt Taibbi – wrote a column titled, “Congressional Democrats heroic fight to save the rich”, which was published in the National Post on April 28th. Taibbi made the argument that the campaign by Gottheimer and other members of Congress to repeal the SALT cap is for the benefit of wealthier taxpayers rather than poorer ones.

Matt Taibbi is an intellectually curious man of the Left. He had the gig at Rolling Stone magazine once occupied by the great Hunter S. Thompson. Taibbi’s writing can be just as good but is more balanced, always fairer, with an always clear perspective. There is no bullshit about Matt Taibbi. It falls as it falls.

Josh Gottheimer appears to hate journalists like Matt Taibbi. So, when Taibbi re-messaged Gottheimer’s star issue, the powerful Congressman went to destroy him by accusing Taibbi of anti-Semitism. Gottheimer focused on this paragraph from Taibbi’s column:

“Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey, made an inspired plea recently. The Harvard man and Alpha Epsilon Pi brother is a member of the so-called ‘SALT caucus,’ a group of congressfolk threatening to hold up Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill if it doesn’t include a full repeal of a Donald Trump-imposed $10,000 cap on deductions of state and local taxes.

‘It is high time that Congress reinstates the state and local tax deduction, so we can get more dollars back into the pockets of so many struggling families,’ intoned Gottheimer, one of 32 members of the SALT caucus, which includes 8 Republicans.”

Ah yes, did we mention that bipartisanship was another of Josh Gottheimer’s star talking points? Bipartisan this, bipartisan that – in reality just a bunch of establishment insiders, regardless of party, scratching each other’s ass in the furtherance of permanent incumbency.

To smear Taibbi, Gottheimer turned to a group that profits off hate – the ADL or Anti-Defamation League. If there was no “hate” to piss and moan about, there would be no cause by which the ADL could pocket the $80 plus million they take in each year. Hate is a commodity. Hate sells. And there can never stop being hate. If that happened, it would need to be re-invented. It is worth billions to some people.

On top of that, it is partisan political. The ADL is so political, in fact, that other Jewish organizations have labeled it a “Democratic Party auxiliary”.

And so, the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted: “Mentioning a member of Congress was in a Jewish fraternity in college in an article about tax policy is wholly irrelevant and plays into classic anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money. The National Post should edit this article ASAP.”

To which Matt Friedman, who writes for Politico and covers the New Jersey political scene, replied: “As someone of partial Semitic heritage, I had no idea that was a Jewish fraternity.”

So, Gottheimer turned to his old friend David Wildstein of the blog, New Jersey Globe. Yes, the same David Wildstein who was at the center of the scandal that ended the presidential ambitions of Governor Chris Christie – the self-styled “Mastermind of Bridgegate”. Wildstein obligingly wrote a hit piece on Friday, with the title: “Anti-Defamation League demands newspaper pull reference to Gottheimer’s Jewish fraternity. ADL leader says reference to congressman’s college fraternity ‘plays into classic anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money’”.

Wildstein’s column notes: “Jason M. Shames, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, echoed the ADL’s criticism.

‘Say what you want about the SALT cap or tax policy, but Taibbi’s unnecessary mention of Gottheimer’s membership in this article for the National Post only serves to perpetuate anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money,’ Shames said.”

Warming to his hit job, Wildstein continued:

“Incidents of anti-Semitism are at a historic high nationally, with 295 recorded incidents in New Jersey last year, according to Alana Burman, the associate regional director of the ADL.

Burman said that New Jersey was the second highest in the nation in 2020.

The Rutgers University chapter of Gottheimer’s fraternity was vandalized earlier this month during a 24-hour Holocaust Remembrance Day reading.”

That headline alone accuses Matt Taibbi of the sin of anti-Semitism. But only if you discount the “classic anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money” that David Wildstein has served up over the years. Beginning in 2018, David Wildstein has called Josh Gottheimer “the human fundraising machine”. Wait… a Jewish congressman being referred to as a “human fundraising machine”? You can’t get more tropey than that!

Of course, there is a difference. Josh Gottheimer likes that “classic anti-Semitic trope about Jews and money”. He doesn’t cry about that. Doesn’t mind it at all.

Of course, the real question is this: Did Matt Taibbi use the mention of a college fraternity to make a point about Josh Gottheimer’s religious affiliation, or did he do so to make a point about Gottheimer’s economic class affiliation?

Well, according to the United States Census Bureau, only 35 percent of Americans attend college. Pew has put together some interesting research on which religious groups have the greatest access to higher education. Here’s a hint – it isn’t Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists. Those thinking about playing the role of the oppressed should check it out.

Those who belong to fraternities are an even more select group. Just 2 percent of Americans have belonged to a fraternity or sorority. Journalist Cleo Chang wrote:

“Each year, 2 million university students prepare to enter the most prestigious enclave of what is already an exclusive set of American institutions. Think less along the lines of Harvard or Yale and more about the Greek letters that come to define them.

Selective colleges are merely the starting point for concentrated success. One only needs to browse the Greek life section of Cornell’s official website and see the slogan ‘The Power of 2%’ to recognize the perks that come with Ivy League admittance and Greek acceptance, especially when it comes to men.

As Cornell’s official website states, while only 2 percent of America’s population is involved in fraternities, 80 percent of Fortune 500 executives, 76 percent of U.S. senators and congressmen, 85 percent of Supreme Court justices, and all but two presidents since 1825 have been fraternity men, according to Cornell.”

So maybe, just maybe, Matt Taibbi wasn’t trying to make a point about Congressman Josh Gottheimer’s religion and all this pissing and moaning has just been an attempt to smear a good journalist for reporting the truth and messing with crybaby Josh’s message. In which case, the lot of you should be ashamed of yourselves.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
Hunter S. Thompson

NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt: 20 reasons to Vote Republican on Tuesday

Over on the New Jersey Globe website, editor David Wildstein assures us that New Jersey is still a two-party state, with the caveat that the GOP might not be one of those two parties. Wildstein’s words must be taken seriously, for whatever his faults, he has a laudable record as a campaign manager and operative. He even managed to get elected himself.

Under Governor Chris Christie, the New Jersey Republican Party functioned as a kind of cult of personality. If you were around for earlier GOP administrations, you would have recognized the difference. So far as legislative seats are concerned, this didn’t work all that well even while Christie was Governor.

Post-Christie, New Jersey Republicans have suffered from a crisis of identity. This has been exacerbated by two things. The first, of course, is Donald Trump – the face of the national Republican Party. Many New Jersey Republicans don’t know how to explain him or fit even the positive aspects of his hegemony into a local narrative. They got out of the habit of having big vision ideas or policies – so that they can’t even effectively change the subject.

This brings us to the second… the rise of South Jersey Democrats as a kind of opposition party to the Democrats of Governor Phil Murphy. As they did with the so-called “Clean Elections” gambit, they pose as “reformers” who are “pro-business” and “pro-taxpayer” – with watchwords like “efficiency”. In reality, they are an old-world political machine, fueled by crony capitalism and soft corruption (at the very least). Their model is the one-party state, with a relationship between political power and business that resembles something out of Red China… or National Socialist Germany.

But at least they have ideas and policies, many of which are attractive to business, so they occupy an alternative ground to the Murphy Democrats’ collectivist and confiscatory impulses. On social issues they are equally disreputable. Their refusal to post the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act for a vote shows that they monetize anything to please a supplicant corporate interest. Just keep the money flowing… and suffer the children.

Which brings us to a post over the weekend on Matt Rooney’s Save Jersey website. In it, NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt provides an outline of why voters should choose Republican candidates over Democrats this coming Tuesday.

It really is a good list, and Matt did a great service publishing it. With due acknowledgement to Matt and to Chairman Steinhardt, we are re-publishing it below:

State Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt

#20: New Jersey Has The Worst Foreclosure Rate In The U.S.
Phil Murphy and Democrats have had full control of the state house for 2 years now. Their liberal agenda has produced the highest foreclosure rate in the country. New Jersey is too expensive, and Phil Murphy, who said “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state,” is too aloof, for hard working families to afford their homes. This is the danger of one-party rule in Trenton.

#19: Governor Murphy Tried To Steal Money From Firefighter Burial Fund
The NJGOP is proud to fight alongside New Jersey’s first responders, especially after their Governor tried to pay for his laundry list of liberal handouts by stealing $33 million from the Firemen’s Association burial fund. And even though his screwball scheme failed, Phil Murphy’s last second retreat can’t erase his blatant disregard for the hard working men and women who risk their lives to protect our lives. New Jersey voters should be shocked and appalled, but then, hey, this is the same Governor who, last week, said, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.” You shouldn’t be our Governor either, and your Party’s policies are killing our State.

#18: New Jersey Has The Lowest Mainland US GDP Growth
Governor Murphy’s job-killing regulations and ever-expanding tax burden is leaving New Jersey’s economy hobbled and lagging behind the rest of mainland America. While the US economy is booming, New Jersey is failing. Trenton needs business-minded conservatives to bring a common sense check to Governor Murphy’s unbalanced budget.

#17: Phil Murphy Blew The Amazon Bid
Just weeks after New Jersey Democrats passed Phil Murphy’s billion plus dollar tax hikes, Amazon passed on New Jersey and put its HQ2 in New York and Virginia. Governor Murphy’s liberal lunacy cost thousands of well-paying jobs and a chance to revitalize our state’s biggest city. But this is the same Governor who maintains, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.”

#16: Phil Murphy’s Online Sales Tax
Phil Murphy calls New Jersey a high tax for high value state, but Democrats are squeezing out what little value is left. If it walks, talks, ships, shoots, rides, drives, eats or roots, New Jersey’s daft Democrats devise a devilish way to tax it. Under the Murphy Administration, New Jersey residents now pay an internet sales tax. But, this is the same Governor who says, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.”

#15: NJ Transit Fail
If a good executive keeps the trains running on time, Phil Murphy isn’t – good. New Jersey Transit is rated among the least reliable nationally. And even though Governor Murphy has the power to change it, he can’t. That’s because he’s more interested in liberal headlines than commuter wait times. People spend more time commuting than they do with their families. The system is so bad that even Democrats are investigating Murphy’s abject failure.

#14: Hiring Corrupt Officials
We should be throwing corruption out of government, not welcoming it back in. When Governor Murphy hired into his administration a former public official convicted of taking bribes, he called it the new normal. Never! The bar should never be so low. At a time when we should be building the public’s trust in government, Phil Murphy is tearing it down.

#13: Sky Blue Soccer Scandal
Governor Murphy preaches public equality, but fails miserably to practice it privately. As the owner of a women’s soccer team, Phil Murphy oversaw a team that was so badly treated that the Star Ledger equated the player’s conditions to a sweatshop. These professional women were housed in impoverished conditions, played without simple resources, like locker-room showers, and refused payment on their medical bills. That’s not stronger and fairer, that’s weaker and poorer.

#12: Legal Aid For Illegal Immigrants
The NJGOP will not ignore Governor Murphy while he scoffs at federal immigration laws for the sake of his personal political agenda. He has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars into state sponsored legal aid for illegal immigrants while hardworking, middle-class New Jersey residents miss another opportunity for tax relief. But this is the same Governor who says, “If … tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.

#11: So-Called Free College
Phil Murphy’s promise of free college tuition is the classic political bait and switch. He dangles the feels-good carrot of “free education”, then beats New Jersey’s already battered taxpayers with his tax hike stick. Two years of free tuition for a lifetime of tax increases isn’t a bargain. It’s another bad deal that New Jersey can’t afford. Then again, all this is from a Governor who said, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your State.” That’s not leadership Governor. It’s what millionaires say to the middle class.

#10: Sanctuary State
Phil Murphy can’t pay for his progressive platitudes with the health, safety and welfare of New Jersey families. The Governor and the Attorney General should encourage cooperation between law enforcement agencies at all levels. Instead, they weaponize the Attorney General’s office and are taking aim at our County Sheriffs. Millions of innocent New Jerseyans depend on law enforcement to keep them safe from predators, drug dealers and violent criminals, but Phil Murphy will ignore them for a progressive headline.

#9: Worst Employment Rate In The Region
America’s economy is booming and our neighboring states are thriving, but New Jersey lags behind. Evidence continues to mount that New Jersey is teetering on the edge of an economic meltdown, but Governor Phil Murphy is stuck in a tax and spend trance. He is oblivious to, or simply ignores, the State’s affordability crisis and the crippling effect it’s having on New Jersey families. That was on full display at Rowan College in October, when the Governor let slip, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your State.” If you want more blind, political indifference, elect more Democrats this November, but if you want honest answers to the State’s real problems, vote Republican.

#8: Largest out migration of retirees, businesses and residents
Governor Murphy’s radical, liberal policies aren’t just emptying wallets, they’re emptying nests. More jobs and people are leaving New Jersey than any other State in America. Millionaire Phil Murphy is so disconnected from New Jersey’s working and middle classes that he let slip that, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your State.” Trenton’s Democrats share Phil Murphy’s callous indifference, so if you want honest answers to the State’s real problems, elect Republicans.

#7: Highest property and income tax rates in the US
Phil Murphy inherited a state with high taxes, but he campaigned on a promise for a stronger and fairer New Jersey. In reality, his radical tax hikes and progressive platitudes make us weaker and poorer. His solution is to tell working and middle class families, who can’t afford his high tax agenda, to move. But why move when we can vote? We need leaders in Trenton who will have the courage to reduce the size of state government and create real tax relief. On November 5, vote Republican.

#6: Ride Share Tax
Ride sharing has revolutionized urban and suburban transportation. Innovative new companies like Uber and Lyft provide safe rides home, affordable transportation for people who don’t own a car, and help stop drunk driving. So, how does Governor Murphy reward successful new businesses providing valuable services? He taxes them! That’s Phil Murphy’s New Jersey. If you don’t like it or can’t afford it, he says you’re welcome to leave. Don’t like the choices? Vote Republican instead. We can do better.

#5: Second Amendment Attacks
Governor Murphy’s political obsession with appeasing the radical, anti-gun lobby can’t come at the expense, or from the pockets, of New Jersey’s law abiding citizens for simply exercising their Second Amendment right to own a firearm. In his haste to punish legal gun owners, he’s proven unwilling and unable to deal with the scourge of gun crime, opting instead to criminalize lawful gun ownership. Taxes, fees and laws must have a rational nexus to a legitimate government purpose, and not just be a back channel to pay for feel-good, liberal giveaways. No Governor is empowered to choose which constitutional rights matter and which don’t and where Phil Murphy will trample long standing rights in his quest to replace them, the NJGOP will fight alongside grassroots Republicans to defend those rights.

#4: Shore Rental Tax
This year, among Governor Phil Murphy’s multitude of new taxes, he signed a tax on Jersey Shore vacation rentals. The NJGOP called on the Governor to refund to the moms and pops who were forced to pay it, the money he was so quick to take. In response, he ignored us, and them. It seems this was just another Democrat money grab that hit hardest in communities still recovering from Superstorm Sandy.

#3: Second Most Miserable State
The most miserable state in the Union is California. Governor Murphy has said he wants New Jersey to be the California of the east. So, it’s no surprise we’re number two. Under Phil Murphy, New Jersey is the second most miserable state in America. People in New Jersey are struggling with affordability. We have the highest foreclosure rate, and one in four families goes hungry. So, when our Governor says that, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state,” it hurts. New Jerseyans need hope for a better tomorrow, but they won’t find it in our state’s Democrat Party. This year, vote for the party that still has New Jersey pride and honest answers to our state’s real problems. Vote Republican.

#2: Corporate Business Tax
New Jersey has the worst business climate in America. We lead the nation, not just in the outmigration of residents, but in the outmigration of jobs. We’ve suffered the exodus of leading corporations, like Honeywell and Gerber, who uproot and run for low cost states like North Carolina and Virginia. We even lost the bid for Amazon’s HQ2. When Governor Murphy hikes the corporate business tax by over $1 billion it signals to business owners that they can’t count on New Jersey for stability, predictability or affordability. But then this is the Governor who said, “If tax rate is your issue … whether you’re a business or an individual … we’re probably not your state.

#1: Rain Tax
A rainy day fund used to be what responsible government collected for emergencies. Not anymore. Not in New Jersey. And not under Governor Murphy. Today, it’s just another Democratic property tax and Trenton money grab. Instead of feeding your families, Phil Murphy’s rain tax scheme drains money from your pockets and pours it into Trenton’s coffers, to feed Murphy’s liberal agenda. None of that should come as a surprise, since the Governor let slip that, “If tax rate is your issue … we’re probably not your state.”

Please visit the Save Jersey website here: https://savejersey.com/2019/11/vote-republican-new-jersey-assembly-election-results-november-5th-doug-steinhardt/

What happens after Tuesday will determine whether this is a first step on the road to an actual party platform… or if it was a one-off, albeit a very strong and persuasive one. Stay tuned…

There are four Leftist candidates in LD21 Assembly race

It has now emerged that there are FOUR Leftist candidates in the District 21 Assembly race. Two are straight-forward members of the far-Left. They came from the ranks of Action Together New Jersey, a far-Left group that supports the socialist Green New Deal of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

If you are looking for a future of meat-free diets (soylent green, anyone?), the end of air travel (unless you are a member of whatever Politburo equivalent they adopt), the American Bill of Rights (“thought crime is a form of violence,” don’t you know?), and restrictive prohibitions on reproduction (think of Red China’s “One Child” policy on steroids)… then the Green New Deal embraced by Democrats Lisa Mandelblatt and Stacey Gunderman is for you!

The Democrat Party is embracing the death cult of Anti-Natalism. Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the top Democrats in the 2020 presidential race, recently argued against human procreation on the basis of its impact on the environment. At a CNN townhall earlier this month, Sanders said he would support making population control part of his climate-change agenda. It was extensively reported in the Washington Post, New York Times, and other national media. So what is Anti-Natalism? Well, we know that traditional conservatives don’t agree with it, so let’s look at it from the left-of-center point of view of an anti-tradition humanist…

Yep, even most anti-traditionalists can’t quite wrap their minds around this new cult that embraces human extermination (even as it makes an argument for the short-term extermination of certain strains of DNA… like Americans). But this is who the Democrats are. And now for their fellow-travelers…

Harry Pappas, the former party boss of the Union County Democrat machine, is running for Assembly in District 21 as a third-party candidate. Pappas claims to be a “conservative independent” but it is very clear what party he’s from. True to his roots, Pappas is a “Democrat”, plain and simple.

Martin Marks, the former Mayor of Scotch Plains, is a different matter. Marks recruited Pappas to run, which says a lot. Last week, New Jersey Globe ran a story that explained their motives and provided a background to their effort and why they have chosen to run as third-party candidates…

It’s possible that former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and former Springfield Township Committeeman Harry P. Pappas could serve as spoilers in a highly competitive race where Democrats think they can flip two Assembly seats. That might be their objective.

Semi-surreptitiously, Marks and Pappas say their goal is to force Bramnick, the Assembly Minority Leader, to cuddle a conservative agenda – like embracing his 100% NRA rating rather than run away from it.

But privately, the two (so-called) “conservatives” (note: our quotation marks) really want to take responsibility for Bramnick’s defeat.

The New Jersey Globe has learned that the (so-called) “conservatives” could spent more than $20,000 on their race, although that number won’t be verifiable for several weeks.

The independent campaign is targeting high-propensity Republican voters with a conservative bent in a low-turnout election through digital ads and direct mail…

Marks and Pappas are taking votes only from the incumbents. None of their support is likely to come at the expense of Democrats Lisa Mandelblatt and Stacey Gunderman.

The question will be – and there is no rocket science in this – just how many voters in the off-off-year midterm elections will actually come out and vote for two independent candidates who stand no real chance of winning?

That’s right. Pappas and Marks are fellow-travelers of the far-Left.

Fellow-traveler is defined as… a person who is not a member of a particular group or political party (especially the Communist Party), but who sympathizes with the group's aims and policies.

You can’t be a conservative anything and run a campaign to ensure the election of two far-Leftists who are members of an organization that is on record as embracing the Green New Deal. You can’t claim to be Pro-Life but then plot to elect two Democrats who are on record as being members of a group that endorsed the Green New Deal and the Anti-Natalism death cult it represents.

That isn’t Pro-Life. That is Pro-Death Cult. That is Anti-Natalism.

The New Jersey Globe has done a great service for conservatives in exposing the lie behind the candidacy of Pappas and Marks. That lie is clear: Their campaign is not about electing conservatives, it is about ensuring the election of the most virulent kind of left-wing extremists imaginable. Any conservatives who buy into it are not worthy of the name.

Gottheimer attacked leader of “Jihad Squad”.

They have been satirically called the “Jihad Squad”…

You remember satire, don’t you?  Yes, it had something to do with comedy… but all that was banned after the rise of the Neo-Cromwellians…

Satire (noun) the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Apparently, satire – like everything else these days – is now a form of “racism”.

This so-called “Jihad Squad” is composed of the following members of Congress: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.  A couple of them are rather anti-Semitic and none of them much like the Jewish state.  One member of Congress – Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (D-Minnesota) – actually mocks Jewish people by calling them “Benjamins”.  Another, Rashida Harbi Tlaib (D-Michigan), holds rallies under the banners of the PLO – a terrorist group.

Maybe that is why Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) called out the group’s leader, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, after she threatened him and other Democrats with placement on a kind of political extermination list.  Gottheimer asked: “Since when is it okay to put you on a Nixonian list?  We need to have a big tent in our party, or we won’t keep the House or win the White House.”  The New Jersey Globe did a nice job covering Gottheimer’s response to the “Jihad Squad” leader’s attacks.  You can read the full story here…

https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/gottheimer-takes-on-ocasio-cortez/

Rashida Harbi Tlaib doesn’t much care for Josh Gottheimer either (hey, at least she doesn’t call him a “Benjamin”).  The Democrat from Michigan called the Democrat from New Jersey a “bully”.  Gottheimer had simply raised the issue of anti-Semitism amongst members of what has been jokingly referred to as the “Jihad Squad”.  According to media reports, Gottheimer noted… “anti-Semitic comments on dual loyalty and other anti-Semitic tropes that the Congressman and many other members of Congress found deeply disturbing."  The Intercept, run by that hero of transparency Glenn Greenwald, reported on this in May. 

All the members of the so-called “Jihad Squad” are supporters of Linda Sarsour, a co-founder of the famous (or, depending on one’s perspective, infamous) Women’s March.  Sarsour has, in fact, used the term “Jihad” in her speeches and, to our knowledge, not one of the “Jihad Squad” has attempted to distance themselves either from her or her use of the word.

In July 2017, Linda Sarsour called for a "Jihad" against the American government. 

Here's what she said:

"During a speech to the Islamic Society of North America convention in Chicago last weekend, Sarsour, a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention who is an anti-Israel and pro-Sharia activist, made the startling call and also urged against 'assimilation.' 

'I hope that we when we stand up to those who oppress our communities that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad,' she said. 'That we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or in the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.'

'Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community, it is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority,' she said.

'Our obligation is to our young people, is to our women, to make sure our women are protected in our community. Our top priority and even higher than all those other priorities is to please Allah and only Allah,' she said."

Sarsour started off her call for "Jihad" by praising the work of Siraj Wahaj, who she described as her "favorite person in the room."  Wahaj is a controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of American law enforcement for years.  Federal prosecutors included him on a 3½-page list of people they said "may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged, the Associated Press reported.

That same month, July 2017, Linda Sarsour’s organization "honored" cop-killer Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur). 

Then there is the extensive media coverage of Sarsour’s supportive statements towards the virulently anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan.  And her statements about wanting to remove another Muslim woman’s vagina…

In an August 1, 2017 New York Times column – When Progressives Embrace Hate – Editor Bari Weiss wrote:

"The leaders of the Women’s March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.

Start with Ms. Sarsour, by far the most visible of the quartet of organizers. It turns out that this 'homegirl in a hijab,' as one of many articles about her put it, has a history of disturbing views, as advertised by . . . Linda Sarsour.

There are comments on her Twitter feed of the anti-Zionist sort: 'Nothing is creepier than Zionism,' she wrote in 2012. And, oddly, given her status as a major feminist organizer, there are more than a few that seem to make common cause with anti-feminists, like this from 2015: 'You’ll know when you’re living under Shariah law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest-free. Sound nice, doesn’t it?'  She has dismissed the anti-Islamist feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the most crude and cruel terms, insisting she is 'not a real woman' and confessing that she wishes she could take away Ms. Ali’s vagina — this about a woman who suffered genital mutilation as a girl in Somalia." 

Hey, maybe the reason why some Democrats don’t get satire is that, in this case, they don’t think it is satire.  Maybe they think it is reality and they just want to suppress it?

Could be.

Candidate brags to local media about NBC “hit job” on Sheriff

By: Sussex County Watchdog

Since its founding in 2012, the contributors here at Watchdog have generally been just ordinary citizens, not professional journalists.  Nevertheless, we have got the ball rolling on a number of big stories in Sussex County – including the illegal negotiations to sell the county solid waste facility (caught in time and prevented), the solar program that ended up going bust (which ultimately cost taxpayers $26 million), the corruption at the county college (leading to the resignation of several trustees), and environmental issues impacting the health of county workers (CWA members) in Newton (which was addressed after our report).  Whether via tips or submitted columns, we publish stories that address the bad behavior of the government and corporate establishment.  

Generally we work with for-profit corporate media, which is advertising based. As we do not run ads, we do not have a need for click-bait, as they do.  Nevertheless, we respect them for the work that they do.  So we were shocked when a local media person had a story concerning a media organization outside the county – in New York City, in fact – that was using Sussex County to attract viewers.  

Apparently, a candidate for Sheriff in the upcoming GOP primary – Andy Boden – bragged to local media that he had arranged for a “hit job” on his opponent, Sussex County Sheriff Mike Strada.  It seems that Boden said the “hit job” would be about how Strada has suspended him for running, and that now he must work construction and that his wife had to take a job.  Boden claimed that the “hit job” was being done on his behalf by a friend of a friend who has a show on NBC out of New York City.  

Andy Boden is a rather sad case.  Earlier this year, a police psychologist found him “unfit for duty” and he was placed on leave.  Boden went to Sheriff Strada and asked him to restore him to duty – which meant giving him back his power over people, a firearm, handcuffs, and badge.  The Sheriff’s office told Boden that he needed to get well first and re-evaluated by a mental health professional, before he could be re-instated. 

Boden’s case mirrors the current national debate concerning mental health and gun laws.  Should employers act when they observe traumatic stress in employees (in this case, confirmed by a mental health professional) or should they wait until after something actually happens?  It is a complex issue.

Boden’s case has been further complicated by his candidacy, which was not his idea, but rather that of a local union fighting to preserve the jobs of corrections officers at the Sussex County jail (the Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility).  The jobs of many who work at the jail were put in jeopardy by the passage of Bail Reform, a bi-partisan bill aimed at reducing the number of people incarcerated while waiting for trial.  Before bail reform, many innocent people were locked up for weeks or months simply because they couldn’t afford the cost of bail.  They often lost jobs, homes, and relationships while they were locked up – only later to be found “not guilty” or have the case against them dismissed.

After bail reform became law in New Jersey, jail populations began to diminish drastically and elected officials started to consider shared services agreements that would allow them to close or scale-down some facilities and save money for taxpayers.  The August 2014 “needs assessment” on the Sussex jail (Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility), conducted by Pulitzer/Bogard Associates LLC, clearly outlined the devastating impact keeping the jail open would have on county taxpayers.  Making the jail compliant with basic standards would cost $11 million in short term and $64 million in long term expenditures. 

At the insistence of county Freeholders, Sheriff Strada has been working to scale-down the jail and enter into shared services agreements with Morris County. An agreement to house Sussex County’s female inmate population has recently been reached (and the quality of life for female inmates markedly improved, according to media reports).  

A working group that includes county bureaucrats, elected officials, and union leaders has been working to place every corrections officer likely to be displaced by the plans for the jail.  It is our understanding that County Administrator Greg Poff will shortly announce that positions have been found for every officer likely to be displaced.  Unfortunately, some union people have continued to oppose any changes to the jail.  They’ve complained about the length of the commutes to other facilities and such.  And it is this group who recruited Andy Boden as their candidate and spokesperson.  

They have been using their media contacts to shop around “dirt” on Sheriff Strada and even used a fake Facebook account to distribute a fake video of an “incident” between the Sheriff and a female firefighter, which was later found to have been doctored by the media (including the Star-Ledger/ NJ.com and the New Jersey Herald).  After the media spoke with the female firefighter, who confirmed that the incident never happened, Andy Boden claimed to have had no knowledge of it – despite the fact that Boden’s campaign managers had met with the local party chairman and threatened him with the release of the video some 48 hours before it was released.  This according to a legal statement given by the party chairman.

Boden’s managers went to a well-known statehouse blog in Trenton with their “dirt” – but after the reporter reviewed the transcript of the public hearing Boden asked for regarding his “unfit for duty” status – the story that was written was not to Boden’s liking:  

Incumbent Sheriff Mike Strada faces a challenge from corrections officer Andy Boden, who suspended earlier this year after a police psychologist ruled he was unfit for duty.

Following his suspension, Boden has mounted an offensive against the three-term sheriff, accusing him of endangering his deputies and misusing public funds.

“My decision to run is to end the culture of harassment and mental abuse that Strada has created and fostered. His actions, along with his posse’s, will come out in the upcoming weeks,” Boden said. 

Boden has been suspended since early March. The New Jersey Herald first reported his suspension.

In testimony provided to the New Jersey Globe by Strada’s campaign, a police psychologist said he or she could not rule out the possibility of Boden harming someone if he was allowed to continue working while receiving therapy.

The psychologist recommended the corrections officer receive additional treatment to restore fitness for duty.

“Lt. Boden was to engage in individual treatment outside of the treatment that he had already been receiving with his wife with the sole purpose on managing his stress level, identifying coping mechanisms that work for him so that he could return to his position,” the psychologist said.

For further reading, visit New Jersey Globe at…

https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/sussex/mud-flies-in-sussex-sheriffs-race/

Watchdog is attempting to find out just who the NBC person is who Andy Boden was speaking about when he told local media that a “hit job” was being done on Sheriff Strada.  Stay tuned…

Hugin should think before hurting the GOP any further

Bob Hugin’s campaign for the United States Senate was a disaster.  Everyone associated with it should be embarrassed, should wear the scarlet letter “L” as an external sign of their shame and contrition.

But there will be no contrition because these are people too proud to admit that their “vision” was flawed, that they outspent an extraordinarily flawed incumbent three to one and still lost badly.  Hugin lost to Bob Menendez, a Democrat incumbent so flawed that one in three Democrat primary voters rejected him.

What’s worse is that the Hugin campaign was deliberately designed to suppress traditional Republican turnout while enormous amounts were spent to create a surge amongst “soft” Democrats and Democrat leaners who had soured on Menendez.  The result of this strategy is best summed up when veterans of the Hugin campaign brag that they “won six Congressional districts.” Too bad that in five of those six districts, the Republican candidate for Congress lost, including two incumbents.  

As recently as 2016, all six of those districts had been represented by a Republican.  Now, just one remains.

Writing in the New Jersey Globe today, David Wildstein notes the re-emergence of Bob Hugin, addressing a meeting of Mercer County Republicans, placing his stamp of approval on the state’s first transgender candidate for the Legislature.  Here we go again. Let’s not learn the lesson that $40 million wasn’t enough to convince voters that Republicans are more reliable social liberals than Democrats, instead… try, try again.

The candidate Hugin spoke on behalf of is Jennifer Williams.  She is running for Assembly in the 15th Legislative District, a district that Republicans have almost no chance of picking up in 2019.  But because Jennifer Williams is the first transgendered candidate of either party to run for the Legislature, she will become a focal point of the 2019 campaign cycle.  Williams worked on Hugin’s campaign, so perhaps Hugin will provide her with the resources to make her campaign even more of a focal point.

The trouble is, 2019 will be a low turnout election, and Republicans are not fighting a statewide campaign but instead, are fighting to hold on to a few remaining Republican enclaves.  Is this the time to be highlighting “a different kind of Republican” or is it time to drag everyone who is likely to vote Republican to the polls? And as for non-traditional Republican voters, are these more likely to be LGBTQ voters or poor working class Roman Catholics?  Yes, there are choices to be made and making one choice often negates the other. So which is the surer bet?

Unfortunately, from all the hype, all we know about Jennifer Williams is that she is what some call a “transwoman”.  That is likely to be of little use in motivating traditional Republican turnout and – in the era of Donald Trump – unlikely to motivate enough LGBTQ voters to make up for what you lose.  The hoopla resulting from this “first” will most certainly bleed beyond the borders of the 15th District, turning off and giving up as it goes.  So that Republicans could neither gain the 15th or the boost necessary to save endangered seats.

For the good of her party, Jennifer Williams should play down the significance of her “gender” and instead focus on a message that aggressively defines the Trenton Democrats as what they are.  But can Williams even use the term, “Trenton Democrats”, as a negative in Legislative District 15? Williams claims to be a “conservative”, well this would be the time for her to craft a message that illustrates what that means.

Candidate Williams has secured the endorsement of the GOP establishment in Mercer and Hunterdon Counties.  We suspect that there will not be much competition for such a thankless task. We wish her well but hope that she does not become the “face” of this year’s Republican legislative campaign in New Jersey, and we hope Bob Hugin doesn’t make it his mission to make it so.

Will FBI investigation of Dover First concern Bhimani?

Democrat Assembly candidate Lisa Bhimani is Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill’s best friend.  Bhimani is also a big fan of the work of a group called Dover First. The following story was reported in the New Jersey Globe recently:

FBI questions Dover officials about undocumented immigrants voting, sources say

Federal agents interviewing local political leaders today about ’18 Democratic primary

March 13 2019

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are interviewing Dover Democratic leaders and volunteers today about local politics, including questions about undocumented immigrants voting in the 2018 primary election, two sources confirmed.

FBI agents appeared at the homes and workplaces of several local officials this morning, the sources said.

Among those questioned were supporters of Dover First, an insurgent group that won control of the local Democratic party last June and ousted three incumbent aldermen.

You can read the full article at New Jersey Globe:  

https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/fbi-questions-dover-officials-about-undocumented-immigrants-voting-sources-say/

GOP Chair Scanlan slams Democrats on Murphy ties

Late this afternoon, New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein covered an exchange between Sussex County Chairs Jerry Scanlan and Leslie Huhn of the Republican and Democrat county committees, respectively.  Responding to Huhn’s earlier announcement that Trenton lawyer-lobbyist Deana Lykins and ethically challenged attorney Dan Smith had been recruited by Governor Murphy to target Sussex County natives Parker Space and Hal Wirths, the GOP’s Scanlan delivered with both barrels:

Sussex County Republican chairman Jerry Scanlan wonders why his Democratic counterpart, Leslie Huhn, isn’t taking on Gov. Phil Murphy and the issues involving his former aide, Al Alvarez.

“As a woman, Chair Huhn should question why has it has become unsafe for women to volunteer on Democrat campaigns – and why, when they do come forward, a cover-up ensues and victims are treated so poorly,” Scanlan said.

Scanlan says that if Democrats want to do something about “job creation, transportation issues, high property taxes and the opioid epidemic,” they should put those questions to Gov. Phil Murphy.

Scanlan’s comments came after Sussex Democratic chair Leslie Hahn announced her slate of Assembly candidates opposing incumbents Parker Space (R-Wantage) and Hal Wirths (R-Wantage).

Hahn’s candidates in the 24th district are former Senate Democratic staffer Deana Lykins and former municipal court judge Dan Smith. 

“They need to ask Governor Murphy and the Trenton Democrats why they slashed school funding in LD24, placing pressure on local school boards to raise property taxes,” said Scanlan.

“They need to ask Governor Murphy and the Trenton Democrats why they added almost $2 billion in new state taxes – part of which to cover the cost for their Sanctuary State scam and more benefits for illegals.  Now they are looking to raise taxes again and have even passed a bill placing a tax on rain water.”

“Until she has answers to these questions, Chair Huhn should agree with us that there is a need for more Republican legislators, not less,” said Scanlan.  “Nobody wants to see Murphy’s one-party state become even more unbalanced.”

Huhn issued her endorsement “on behalf of the Sussex, Warren, and Morris County Democratic Organizations”.  Word has it that local Republicans could not be more delighted.

Pushing for a $15 minimum wage, the Star-Ledger pays its drivers $10 an hour (are any undocumented?)

The Star-Ledger doesn’t report the news.  As Editor Tom Moran wrote (November 1, 2018):  “Our core mission is helping voters decide which lever to pull.” 

That’s right, the Star-Ledger is a advocacy organization.  First and foremost, you can always depend on the Star-Ledger to lobby for its own bottom line. 

For years, the newspaper was a strident supporter of the New Jersey State Supreme Court’s Abbott Decision – which forces working class families in suburban and rural New Jersey to subsidize the property taxes of wealthy corporations and professionals in urban areas.  Among those wealthy corporations was the parent corporation that owns the Star-Ledger, whose property holdings were so extensive in Newark that the city named a street… no, make that a plaza, after the Star-Ledger. 

Now comes this new hypocrisy.

A few days before Christmas, the New Jersey Globe reported that while editorializing for a $15 minimum wage, the Star-Ledger  was paying workers at $10 an hours, with no benefits.  The corporation that owns the Star-Ledger is itself owned by one of the richest families in America. 

Here’s an excerpt from the New Jersey Globe:

The state’s largest daily newspaper ran an advertisement in Wednesday’s print edition seeking drivers for newspaper deliveries willing to work 2-3 hours daily, “starting around 3 AM,” with a typical bi-weekly compensation that starts at $400.   That could mean less than $10-per-hour.

To get a job like that, applicants must have their own cars. Star-Ledger drivers – they call them Delivery Service Providers — receive no benefits; they “are independently contacted, meaning they are self-employed” and receive 1099s.   Minimum wage laws do not apply.

There is no paid vacation time, no workers compensation, and since drivers do not handle collections, there are no gratuities involved.

“The job, once the bastion of neighborhood kids looking to make a few extra bucks on their bikes, has evolved into a grueling nocturnal marathon for low-income workers who toil almost invisibly on the edge of the economy,” wrote Associated Press reporter Michael Levenson in 2016.

Today the Star-Ledger once again editorialized for drivers’ licenses for resident undocumented immigrants illegally in the United States.  Is this another self-serving position for the owners to take?  Will this help drive down the cost of newspaper distribution?  We wonder if there are any internal memos on this?

While the Star-Ledger and its owners are up on all the latest virtue-signaling, paying just enough lip-service to reassure the cocktail set that they are good and worthy people, their actions seek to drive down the wages of American workers, while creating an immigrant class of toiling wage slaves.  Raising the minimum wage is a farce until you can control the gray economy that doesn’t abide by such rules.  Normalizing the gray economy (by things like drivers licenses) will only solidify its position as an alternative workforce.

And while the Democrats talk about the minimum wage, Governor Murphy is doing his utmost to flood the state with illegal labor that every economist tells us will drive down wages.  When there is more of something, you pay less, we all know that.  Either the Democrats are well-meaning but stupid, or they are engaging in the very same hypocrisy that the Star-Ledger is engaging in.

Here is the original New Jersey Globe story:

https://newjerseyglobe.com/media/star-ledger-editorializes-in-support-of-15-hour-wage-but-pays-drivers-much-less/

The illusion of LGBT’s power to help Republicans…

Yes, we know it’s about the parties.  Who wouldn’t want to be invited?  The music is cool, the drinks well poured, the energy is just… better.  But none of this is about politics.

Once again we must, sadly, point out that Republicans do not benefit by currying favor with Garden State Equality and the state’s LGBT political bosses.  To have GSE high priest Chris Fuscarino’s benediction means nothing in a General Election and even less in a Republican primary.

Two incumbent Republican congressman came to an understanding with GSE that meant keeping social conservatives at arm’s length.  In return for dissing their base, their Democrat opponents lost Fuscarino’s blessing – but won (or appear to have won) their elections anyway. 

As with the case of Bob “I am a different kind of Republican” Hugin, wrapping oneself in a rainbow flag meant not a jot on the profit side – but very much depressed the base on the debit side.  Conversely, the one unabashedly social conservative Republican in the congressional delegation – the one specifically targeted for defeat by Garden State Equality – won re-election without much difficulty.  It appears he will now be New Jersey’s only Republican member of Congress. 

We suspect this is why the ever watchful David Wildstein placed GSE’s Chris Fuscarino in the losers column on Friday, over at NewJerseyGlobe.com.  Wildstein noted that the portly Fuscarino “missed the boat” by failing to endorse the Democrat challengers to the two GOP incumbents and instead “making his top target the only Republican congressman who won.”

Sigh… When will Republicans learn that the only sure way to earn the support of people who vote like LGBT is their top priority is by executing a change of registration form and running in the Democrat primary.  It’s all about the shoes, and red is just so out of fashion. 

2019: There are millions in conservative money in NJ

When it comes to picking through the detritus and finding the gems nobody does it better than David Wildstein.  Yep, before he was Wally Edge he was a political consultant, campaign manager, opposition researcher, and successful candidate for public office.  You can’t take that away from him.  He’s been in battles up close and personal.  He’s had to punch and claw.  And that’s what makes him different from a guy like Max Pizarro.  David Wildstein remembers what it was like to be in the muck of the trenches.  Max Pizarro has only known clean sheets and maid service.

Given the excruciatingly poor results Republicans have had raising the necessary levels of funding for legislative races in New Jersey, a recent post by Wildstein on his latest venture – NewJerseyGlobe.com – noted that the very conservative United States Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, has raised more money in New Jersey than his very woke, very hip, wildly popular with the Left opponent – Congressman Beto O’Rourke.  Cruz has raised $139,783 in New Jersey to fund his re-election effort in Texas.  Media darling Beto managed just $52,349.  

But here’s the clincher.  Wildstein notes that in his failed 2016 run for President, the plain-as-day, no-doubt-about-it, right-winger raised $903,417 in New Jersey. 

How is that possible?  We are endlessly told that there aren’t any conservatives in New Jersey – let alone nearly a million bucks worth (and that’s not counting what the other wingers raised in New Jersey, like Rand Paul, and Donald Trump himself!).  A million bucks would be a BIG part of the budget of a committee like ARV, wouldn’t it be?

Reminder to those concerned:  In preparation for next year, get a message that doesn’t ignore the acres of diamonds out there.

Murphy wants to raise taxes. Pity there's not enough GOP legislators to stop him.

And whose fault is that?

The NJGOP Establishment's second blog (both appeared during the Christie Project, the New Jersey Globe being the latest incarnation of the project's first one) decided to prate a bit over Governor Phil Murphy's threat to undo part of the compromise reached in 2016 and raise the state sales tax to 7 percent.  The NJGOP Establishment's blog thinks this an "I told you so" moment when, as anyone with even a little gray matter should know, Governor Murphy was not part of the 2016 compromise, as he did not take office until January of 2018.

In fact, the compromise is working very well for New Jersey.  The state's infrastructure is being repaired, restored, and improved upon.  Out-of-state drivers who use our roads have assumed more of the responsibility for paying for them.  More infrastructure funding is flowing to counties and municipalities, with the result that property taxes are being held in check or -- in some cases -- actually reduced.  And revenues from state taxes -- in particular, the state income tax -- are increasing above projections.  Now the Democrats who control the Legislature (some of whom participated in the 2016 compromise) might wish to jeopardize this in order to fulfill the election promises made by candidate Murphy, or they might not.  Time will tell.

The Establishment blog makes an argument against legislative compromise, calling it "unadulterated BS."  Of course, the writer cannot be so stupid as to fail to see that the Founders of our Republic fashioned a system to ensure such compromise.  Indeed, compromise has been the working necessity of every representative democracy since the beginning of Western history. 

Now compromise is quite different than surrender.  Compromise is when you give something and get something back in return.  Like re-funding the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) through an increase in the gas tax for doing away with the Estate Tax, plus four other taxes, while doubling the flow of money to counties and municipalities for property tax relief. 

This is different from what the NJGOP normally does.  Because what the NJGOP normally does is to provide votes for far-left Democrat legislation for free -- for NOTHING in return.  Yes, they just give it away.  Like they did on legislation to end the death penalty, impose the Highlands Act, fund Planned Parenthood, give tax money to illegal immigrants, pass the original sales tax increase, and gut the Second Amendment.  Heck, the other day, legislators in the NJGOP leadership cast their votes to allow people to re-write their own birth certificates and pretend that they were born one way, when they (as a matter of genetic science) were born another.  It seems science only matters when we're talking climate change. 

They gave away all this for free... and got back NOTHING in return.  And our Establishment blog criticized it not a word.

The Establishment blog complains bitterly about the lack of leadership from the NJGOP.  We agree.  The Establishment blog claims that the "gas tax increase" could have been "weaponized" for the 2017 elections.  It could have been, but that would have meant NJGOP leadership -- up front.  Instead, the GOP Senate Leader gave encouragement to both Pro and Anti compromise leaders, never actually choosing a side until it didn't matter.  In the Assembly, it was no different, waiting for word from the Governor.  As for the state party, well only a fool would have looked to them for leadership.

You cannot blame people for not following, when you will not lead!

Having no principles or platform beyond that which bellowed from a single man (apart from those placed into his head by a small coterie of handlers) the NJGOP was NEVER going to "weaponize" the gas tax or indeed anything else.  Ha!  The NJGOP failed to "weaponize" the twenty-point election landslide of a sitting Republican Governor!!!

As for Kim Guadagno.  She did a dance all right.  She literally danced with the LGBT Left and the Pro-Aborts until realizing too late that they already had a perfectly fine candidate to vote for in Phil Murphy (and he's a DEMOCRAT too!)  When Guadagno's campaign team finally decided it was time to motivate the base, it was just weeks before Election Day and way too late.  The 2017 Guadagno campaign team (the same moes who managed to lose an incumbent Republican Congressman in 2016) have been rewarded by getting to run Bob Hugin's campaign for U.S. Senate this year.  Hey, it's the NJGOP, and nothing gets you promoted quicker than a crushing defeat -- the more, the better.

And that's the heart of the matter, isn't it?  The NJGOP are losers.  They are content to lose.  After eight years of having all resources directed at one entity and everyone else being told they had to lose rather than disrespect some scumbag deal with some disreputable Democrat, the NJGOP has adjusted to losing.  That's why so many of its "leaders" are "lobbyists" -- eels feeding off the bloated carcass that once held a majority in both Chambers and the Governor's office.  The NJGOP's leaders are literally in business with the Democrats.

Don't expect any of this to change any time soon.  There are still crumbs to be gathered, still bits of the carcass to eat off.  Only yesterday, the "mastermind" of Christie project visited a legislative caucus to bask in the praise of NJGOP leaders (reminiscent of the video below).  Under this "mastermind" the NJGOP lost ground in EVERY election cycle, even as "love" for the entity grew.  Christie was elected with legislative control a very real prospect... and left with a hollowed out party and legislative numbers so low that you have to go back to the period just after Watergate.

For his next act... the "mastermind" wants to de-conservative the NJGOP.  Get rid of all those folks who persist in having principles or who continue thinking in terms of the RNC platform.  They gotta go.  What needs to replace them are Republican candidates with the principles of... LOBBYISTS. 

Before the NJGOP Establishment thinks about providing us with another lecture, it should put these few things in place first:

(1) Get Republican leaders who aren't conflicted by having business dealings with Democrats.  Make sure they support the RNC platform.  Otherwise, it's like having a Roman Catholic leader who doesn't believe in Transubstantiation. 

(2) Sell Republican principles, ideas, solutions.  Lead.  Recruit candidates accordingly.  Build the party up by recruiting and sustaining believers. 

(3) Hire people who win elections.  Don't expect someone who has never tasted victory to find it.  That's like asking the wrong dog to sniff out a hamburger stand.  What you'll end up at is a truck stop shithouse.