NJ.com strains its sphincter with Independence Day editorial

Someone should tell brother Tom Moran that babies don’t come out that end. 

The day before yesterday the editorial board of what used to be the Newark Star Ledger gathered in the staff convenience to have a collective dump.  Yesterday they published their incitement to (riot?/ do someone bodily harm?) and titled it:  “On this Independence Day, striving for a new birth of freedom.”  

No, this isn’t the second coming of Thomas Paine.  What they offered up was a collection of selective complaints, some of which they have loudly supported when applied to those they don’t approve of.  For instance, the editorial board cheers on a global corporation like Facebook when it refuses service to those it disapproves of… but let some small-time baker do it and it becomes something to start a civil war over.  There’s no logic or balance to these guys. 

For Tom Moran and his bunch, “freedom” is a subjective construct limited to people who they like.  If they don’t think you are a “good” person, as they define it, then they sincerely believe that you shouldn’t have “freedom”.  Heck, they don’t even believe you should have the right to speak or earn a living to sustain yourself. 

They cry about ICE sending parents who break the law to one detention center and juveniles to another but ignore the fact that everyjurisdiction in America does the same thing every day.  An ACLU study from 2017 shows that of the 219,000 women incarcerated in the United States – 80 percent are mothers.  And here is something even more shocking:  60 percent of the women behind bars in America have not been convicted of any crime but are simply awaiting trial. 

Where is the outcry about separating them from their children?  Where are the rallies?  

The reason for their incarceration is the biggest threat to Freedom in America today:  Money.  Those women don’t have any or enough to count for anything in our judicial process… and so they rot in jail… separated from their children. 

The NJ.com editorial board – part of a corporation owned by two of the richest billionaires in the world – conveniently left out how the accumulation of wealth and power serves to undermine and destroy democracy.  Sure, they quoted President Ronald Reagan (who they hated, by the way).  It was Reagan who reminded us that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Well, a recent Princeton University study concluded that America has already passed from being a democracy and is now in the ranks of oligarchy.  What?  You didn’t read about it in the Star-Ledger or any other of the organs owned by the oligarchs who the NJ.com editorial board work for?  There is only one battle worth fighting but Moran and his buddies dare not speak its name...

If you want to resist something… resist this! 

Of course, it has nothing to do with President Trump or any of the issues being pushed on us by NJ.com.  We’ve been on this trajectory for 40 years.  The oligarchs who own NJ.com want us to ignore what they’re up to.  They want to keep us fighting each other.

Their campaign of illusion and distraction – to pit working Americans against each other – is designed to keep their wealth and power secure.  Now they want to abolish ICE!  Isn’t it time we abolish the power they use to shout down democracy?

President Reagan reminded us that we don’t pass freedom down to our children through our bloodstream.  “It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”  The oligarchs who own NJ.com, the power they represent, and their ability to pervert democracy is an existential threat to freedom in America today.  We should reject the attempts to distract and divide us put forward by the amanuenses who do their bidding.

At debate, Orr and Atwood flunk their history lesson

Last evening, the Republican candidates for Assembly held a debate hosted by the New Jersey Herald.  About 40 or so people showed up to the Sussex County Community College to hear Nathan Orr and David Atwood explain why they should be there in the first place. 

Orr, aged 25, has run for office before but has never held office.  He has tried to argue that his experience in student government has prepared him for the rigors of battling and negotiating with the majority Democrats in Trenton. 

Atwood, who used a different name (Wygonski) to vote with as late as November of last year, has never voted in a Republican primary before.  He is an Illinois native whose only other participation in the political process was showing up to vote in the 2012 presidential election.  He couldn't be bothered to vote for his buddy Orr when he was on the ballot in 2015.

Orr flunked his history lesson by comparing himself to Donald Trump.  Orr, like a growing number of egoists with more arrogance than gray matter, said that because Trump won, he can win.  Orr apparently forgets that Donald Trump is worth $3.5 billion -- that's billion, with a "B".  Orr also forgets that at age 25 (the age Orr is now), Donald Trump formally took control of his father's real estate development company, Elizabeth Trump & Son, which he would rename the Trump Organization.

Nope Nathan... you're no Donald.

Atwood flunked his history lesson too.  In trying to compare himself to Ronald Reagan, his mistake was in not understanding how Ronald Reagan got to be President Reagan.  Atwood is apparently under the impression that Reagan did not hold political office before entering the White House.  In fact, Ronald Reagan was a twice-elected Governor of the California, the most populous state in America.  Reagan was elected Governor in 1966 and again in 1970.  Reagan was the top politician in the nation's most populated state from 1967 to 1975.  Reagan was heavily involved as a speaker in the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater, before running for President himself in 1968 and 1976.  Reagan was successful in the 1980 presidential contest and won re-election in 1984.

Sorry Atwood... you're no Reagan.

AFP opposes President Trump on illegal immigration

Last month Time magazine reported that the "powerful policy and politics network organized by the billionaire Koch brothers made official what many had expected: an opposition to President Trump’s ban on visitors from seven countries with Muslim majorities.  In a statement provided to reporters covering the Kochs’ twice-a-year retreat, top official Brian Hooks said Sunday that the groups under his umbrella would not support Trump’s move."

On February 21, 2017, the Washington Times reported on the attack by Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) on President Trump's attempt to build a wall between Mexico and the United States.  AFP called  Trump's efforts a "tax increase" on business . 

State AFP affiliates have threatened to give pro-Trump Republican members of Congress an "F" rating if they support construction of a border wall.

The Koch Political Network is a special interest lobby group funded by the brothers' extensive holdings in the petroleum industry.  According to figures provided by Koch Industries, they spend between $300 million and $400 million on political activity every election cycle.

The Koch network, officially known as Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, operates groups such as the grassroots focused Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the data-centered i360 and Latino-eyeing Libre Initiative.  Together, they spent roughly $250 million on last year’s elections—while sitting out the White House race.  Over the next two years, they plan to spend as much as $400 million.  

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is run by David H. Koch, a New York City billionaire ($43.3 billion and counting) who is an owner at Koch Industries and whose core business is the refining and distribution of petroleum. 

The Chairman of AFP -- yes, the same David H. Koch -- is a social liberal.  But don't take our word for it.  Here is what Wikipedia had to say about him:

(David) Koch considers himself a social liberal,^[22] supporting women's right to choose,^[23] gay rights, same-sex marriage and stem-cell research.^[3][24] He opposes the war on drugs.

Ronald Reagan was a social as well as an economic conservative.  He believed in an America built on Judeo-Christian values and the Western tradition of free speech and free markets.  David Koch is no Reaganite.  In fact, he opposed Ronald Reagan in 1980 -- as the Libertarian Party's candidate for Vice President -- running on a platform  that included the following planks:

"We therefore call for the elimination of all restriction on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for those people who have entered the country illegally."

" We support an end to all subsidies for child-bearing built into our present laws, including all welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children. We further support the repeal of all laws restricting voluntary birth control or the right of the woman to make a personal moral choice regarding the termination of pregnancy."

"We defend the rights of individuals to engage in (or abstain from) any religious activities which do not violate the rights of others. In order to defend religious freedom, we advocate a strict separation of church and state."

"The repeal of all laws regarding consensual sexual relations, including prostitution and solicitation, and the cessation of state oppression and harassment of homosexual men and women, that they, at least, be accorded their full rights as individuals".

"We believe that 'children' are human beings and, as such, have the same rights as any other human beings. Any reference in the Platform to the rights of human beings includes children."

"The repeal of all laws prohibiting the production, sale, possession, or use of drugs, and of all medical prescription requirements for the purchase of vitamins, drugs and similar substances".

"The repeal of all laws interfering with the right to commit suicide as infringements of the ultimate right of an individual to his or her own life".

"We support recognition of the right to political secession. Exercise of this right, like the exercise of all other rights, does not remove legal and moral obligations not to violate the rights of others."

"We call for the withdrawal of all American troops from bases abroad. In particular, we call for the removal of the U.S. Air Force as well as ground troupes from the Korean peninsula."

"We favor immediate independence for all colonial dependencies, such as Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico".

"Government interference in transportation is characterized by monopolistic restriction, corruption, and gross inefficiency. We therefore call for the dissolution of all government agencies concerned with transportation, including the Department of Transportation, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Civil Aeronautics Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, Conrail and Amtrak. We demand the return of America's railroad system to private ownership. We call for the privatization of the public roads and national highway system."

And that, as they say, is how David H. Koch rolls...

Happy Birthday President Reagan

Today is the 106th birthday of Ronald Reagan.  Enjoy...

More dirtball Tea Party posts on Facebook

What is it about some Tea Partiers that they have to immediately go down the dirt path?  Skylands Tea Party member and self-proclaimed candidate for the New Jersey Legislature Kevin Mazzoti was once again writing about his favorite subjects:

"Suck a big fat one"

(November 2, 2016, 9:27PM)

"You are already sucking XXXXX off.  We know you are."

(November 2, 2016, 9:29PM)

"Pussy.  Yes, guess what I just said, pussy."

(November 2, 2016, 9:36PM)

"Tea Party patriots are not violent people.  We just tell it like it is."

(November 2, 2016, 9:38PM)

Now there is a walking, talking argument for therapy.  The strange thing is that people who one would think are relatively sane, people who claim to have religious values even, cheer on this imbecile and his pornographic, juvenile language. 

Meanwhile, another Tea Partier sent out an email blast opposing Question 2 on the November 8th ballot.  According to this man, Question 2 is really a conspiracy aimed at "people like him" and not -- as those of us on Planet Earth understand it -- simply a means to ensure that all the revenue from the gas tax is used for transportation projects. 

We got to thinking about the phrase, "people like him", so we looked him up and found this newspaper report concerning his wedding, where according to the Star-Ledger, the couple "consecrating the marriage by drinking wine which contained drops of their own blood in it."  Yes, they are into the whole vampire scene.  It just goes to show you that the mainstream media has it wrong when they describe Tea Partiers as "conservative" or "Christian."  All you have to be is angry.  And apparently the vampire community is well represented.

There is a small core of social media warriors who have been working as a team to stalk and harass legislators who supported the tax restructuring plan.  They work in the same manner that similar teams on the Left do.  Are they in the employ of NJ101.5 or its agent?

Finally, we noticed these charming posts by a prominent Tea Party leader, discussing the death, from cancer, of an elected Republican official:

"I'm praying hard you suffer even more than he does. You deserve it."

"Like me, she is eagerly anticipating your painful demise, Die ...and please, oh pretty please...do it painfully."

"And do keep us apprised of the gory details...we so LOVE those."

So when they try to tell you that it is about principle, don't believe them.  This is raw hate. 

Of course, not every Tea Party group behaves like this.  On the website of a Tea Party organization in a neighboring county, we found this admonishment to members:

Remember the quote attributed to Ronald Reagan “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.” 

If only they all could be so balanced and rational.