Does the NJ Herald want you to believe Sussex County is bad?

By Rubashov

Here’s a friendly tip for Democrat politicians like Kristy Lavin, Zoe Heath, and Katie Rotondi. If you are looking to condemn “hate”. Look in the mirror… and then simply condemn it.

What started out as an attempt by a failed candidate to legislate from the bleachers, has turned into an all-out jihad against Sussex County and what its detractors believe it stands for. Along the way, the people behind this jihad have used it as an attempt to distract media attention away from such community issues as…

(1) The economic insecurity that is the result of government reaction to the pandemic – including unemployment and underemployment, foreclosure and homelessness, and food insecurity.

(2) The increased property taxes that will result from Governor Murphy’s cuts to education funding for Sussex County’s children.

(3) The more than 8,000 people who died because of the Murphy administration’s decision to send COVID infected patients into the state’s nursing and veterans’ homes. Sussex County was one of the hardest hit communities.

The January 6th Capitol Riot is still under investigation. Nobody has been brought to trial yet. And media coverage – no matter how extensive – is not a judicial proceeding. You can have lynching by media – or you can have justice. You cannot have both.

So far, prosecutors have charged over 300 people with various federal crimes. The operative word here is “charged”. Statistically, about 10% of those charged will have the cases against them dismissed. Over 80% will have their charges reduced. Of those who opt for a bench trial – statistically, the best option – nearly 40% will be acquitted.

In America – for the moment, anyway – we still believe in the truth that anyone accused of a crime is INNOCENT until proven guilty in a COURT OF LAW. We not only believe this in America, this truth is one of the basics of INTERNATIONAL LAW.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.”

It is important to note that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and that it enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. It was signed in 1948 by those who had been in a life and death struggle against REAL, actual Nazis. It wasn’t a word they threw around in the casual way that it is today. They knew the enemy and he wasn’t Dr. Seuss.

Kristy Lavin, a Democrat candidate for Sussex County Freeholder in 2019, has been firmly rejected by the voters. She received less than 6 percent of the General Election vote.

From all appearances, Lavin is using the Capitol Riot in an attempt to “undo” the democratic election she lost. In the aftermath of the riot, Lavin proposed an “anti-Hate” resolution in which she linked “white supremacists”, “white nationalists”, and “neo-Nazis” to the Capitol Riot. But Lavin and her supporters didn’t stop there. They made the claim that their neighbors in Sussex County – large numbers of them – were conspiratorially involved in the riot.

Lavin did so despite statements by federal prosecutors that “the number of people arrested is large enough to defy generalization”. And while there have been arrests in 42 states and allegations by prosecutors and speculation in the media, none of this has been tested in a COURT of LAW. Ann Pompelio is a divorce lawyer and member of the New Jersey Bar. She understands that an attorney should not make public speculations on the guilt of someone in advance of trial. It is unethical.

Kristy Lavin has used the bi-monthly public meetings of the Sussex County Commissioners to expand her “anti-Hate” resolution into a broader condemnation of America, of Sussex County as a typically “American” place, of the people who live in Sussex County as typical “Americans”, and of their typical “American” children. And by “Americans” she means racists, white supremacists, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis.

Katie Rotondi is the one-time Chairwoman of the Sussex County Democrat Committee. Rotondi is notorious for making wild accusations against others, including sexual misconduct allegations against other Democrats. The objects of her accusations have not been charged with a crime, so we will not mention names here. Rotondi runs a political group with fellow Democrat activist Zoe Heath. Lavin, Rotondi, and Heath have used the Commissioners’ meetings to pursue highly vitriolic, personal agendas against county residents and people they dislike.

Their campaign is a highly organized attempt to hijack the people’s business and turn it into a forum to slander Sussex County, its people, and their children. There are now hours of taped public comments by the Democrats’ posse and the picture they try to paint of Sussex County and its residents is chilling. Their comments on children are particularly disturbing.

The New Jersey Herald has strongly favored the Democrats with their coverage, while studiously ignoring such local issues as:

• Fire code violations at the County building that endanger the lives of 500 CWA union workers;

• the PBA’s negotiations for a fair deal with the County;

• COVID safety violations that endanger CWA workers.

 
Why?  Is this a reaction to recent efforts by employees of The (Bergen) Record, Daily Record and New Jersey Herald seeking recognition for their union after almost 90% of eligible employees (a total of 66) signed on with the NewsGuild union of New York?

The New Jersey Herald is owned by a Virginia-based corporation that itself has been accused in federal court of having racist hiring practices. Will the media corporation’s efforts to go along with the Democrats’ BLM-themed assault on Sussex County residents and their children be entered into evidence at some future legal proceeding as a counter to evidence presented against them?

Or is it something personal?

Bruce Scruton is a Pennsylvania-based reporter for the New Jersey Herald. He has a problem with reporting facts. Like quotes. He consistently gets quotes wrong. These are quotes that it should be easy to get right because they are recorded on paper, audio, and video. They are facts. But still Scruton gets them wrong. We could do a whole column just on this.

Scruton also appears to have a problem with women. We sense a certain hostility towards women who possess a certain authority. We don’t know about his personal relationships with women, but from his writing, he appears to us trapped in those 1960s-era certainties of his youth. We will say no more about it and invite Bruce to use our pages here to dispute this or to simply tell us that we are full of crap.

In any case, the New Jersey Herald has devolved into the mouthpiece of a group of people who would like us to believe that America is racist. And that Sussex County is an especially racist place – even violently so. They want to do so despite the facts as compiled by successive administrations of both Democrats (Clinton, Obama, Biden) and Republicans (Bush, Bush, Trump) clearly showing that Sussex County is one of the safest, least violent communities in America – with a low rate of bias crimes of any kind. Those are the facts.

The Sussex County Board of Commissioners has attempted to address the concerns raised by this crowd and, just as they were attacked by the Democrats when the Board passed LGBTQ Pride and Black History Month proclamations, the Democrats are not going to be satisfied. What, you say? Yes, after passing the first LGBTQ Pride proclamation last June, the Board was attacked by the Democrats for not mandating the flying of rainbow flags over every county building. Along the same lines, the Board was attacked last month after passing the first Black History Month proclamation for not involving enough “Black” people in writing it. Hey, if it is always going to be something, why bother?

After taking testimony from residents (and readers of the New Jersey Herald) who suggested a more “positive” approach than that contained in Kristy Lavin’s ever-broadening “anti-Hate” resolution, the Commissioners have come up with a love-thy-neighbor, “Pro-Respect” resolution. Predictably, the “Hate” lobby has gone nuts and lost it, especially Zoe Heath…

Will historians one day look back at the January 6th Capitol Riot as America’s Reichstag Fire? Will American Democrats ban political opinions and then organizations, the way the REAL Nazis did? Will American Democrats formally condemn the children of “white” people as being tainted by an original sin, in the same way as was done to Jewish “white” people?

What will the Democrats call their Law for the Protection of People and State? An expanded PATRIOT Act? Pay close attention to what the REAL Nazis alleged in the aftermath of their Capitol Riot:

“The burning of the Reichstag was intended to be the signal for a bloody uprising and civil war. Large-scale pillaging in Berlin was planned for as early as four o'clock in the morning on Tuesday. It has been determined that starting today throughout Germany acts of terrorism were to begin against prominent individuals, against private property, against the lives and safety of the peaceful population, and general civil war was to be unleashed…”

And remember how they put it to use:

“Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice. It is therefore permissible to restrict the rights of personal freedom [habeas corpus], freedom of (opinion) expression, including the freedom of the press, the freedom to organize and assemble, the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications. Warrants for House searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.”

"Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense."

Article 11
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

N.B. We welcome a conversation on this and all topics raised on this website.  Jersey Conservative is entirely open to your ideas and opinions.  To submit a column for publication, please contact Marianna at Marianna@JerseyConservative.org.