Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) has proposed a solution to the use of chemical weapons in Syria that does not involve the United States bombing the country — the investigation and prosecution of those crimes against humanity.
Smith, New Jersey’s longest serving congressman and a well regarded champion of human rights, introduced a Concurrent Resolution last week that, if passed by both the House and Senate, would direct President Obama to work with the United Nations to set up a tribunal to investigate war crimes war crimes committed by the Syrian government and the rebel groups waging a civil war in the county.
In a interview with The Washington Post’sBrad Plumer, Smith, who has previously worked on war crimes tribunals involving Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda, criticizes the Obama targeting “20 year-olds who might be on an air force base” rather the actual perpetrators of use of sarin gas against the Syria people, be it the Assad regime or the rebels.
A tribunal would be a non-lethal alternative to a bombing campaign — which no one knows how long it will last. During the House hearing [on Wednesday], I asked Secretary Kerry: How do you define “limited”? How do you define “short duration”? And he didn’t answer. There’s no sense that bombing will end this war. No one is even remotely suggesting that. And I’m equally concerned about a strike where there are consequences that have or haven’t been anticipated that could occur.
Smith said the tribunal should convene immediately and that there in no need to wait for the end of the Syrian civil war.
Smith said that he asked Secretary of State John Kerry at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee if the Obama administration had proof that the chemical weapons were deployed by the Assad regime. Kerry wouldn’t answer.
Smith said that he anticipated that Russia, China and the rest of the world community would support an investigative prosecutorial tribunal.
GOP U.S. Senate nominee Steve Lonegan said this afternoon that his Democratic opponent, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is afraid to admit his support of President Barack Obama’s desire to attack Syria.
“Mayor Booker claims he cannot say whether he will support or oppose President Obama’s proposed military attack on Syria allegedly because he has no access to classified information,” Lonegan said, calling that argument “as fake as T-Bone.”
“The American people have figured out very quickly that President Obama has not made the case that American interests are at stake in Syria,” Lonegan said. “Americans are sick of being the world’s policeman and sick of getting involved in domestic civil wars where there is no evidence that America’s national security is threatened.”
“Cory Booker is afraid to admit he supports the President’s proposed war in Syria,” Lonegan said, “so instead he attempts to hide behind the smokescreen of not having enough information. But people are on to the Mayor’s act now, and his refusal to speak out against the President’s war can only be interpreted as assent.”
T-Bone is a character in a parable that Booker used early in his political career, until the Star Ledger raised questions about the authenticity of talent. Booker claimed that T-Bone was a Newark drug dealer who once threatened his life and then a few year later pled with the mayor, in tears, to help him avoid prison. In published reports Booker has claimed that the character is both “1000% a real person” and “an archetype.”
Regarding Syria, Booker initially said he would not support a strike, then equivocated. Now he says he does not have enough information to say whether or not he would vote to authorize a military strike.
The US House Republican leader told his caucus Friday to expect a vote on authorization of the use of force in Syria within the next two weeks. In an internal memo to fellow Republican members, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor laid out a busy schedule…
D’Jais, the popular Belmar bar suspected of being ground zero for a Monmouth County mumps outbreak, is closing voluntarily for the weekend to clean and sanitize what might be left on the virus, according to a statement by the Monmouth County Health Department.
With the exception of one pre-school aged child, all of the individuals are adults. The median age of the individuals under investigation is 27. Most of the individuals have either been patrons or employees of D’Jais Bar and Grill in Belmar.
“The staff and management and ownership of D’Jais have all been very cooperative and most helpful in advancing this investigation,” said Monmouth County Administrator Teri O’Connor. “Additionally, the Borough of Belmar continues to assist as we work our way through this public health issue.”
D’Jais has voluntarily closed its doors to patrons for the coming weekend. D’Jais has received and carried out cleaning and sanitizing recommendations from the Health Department.
The Health Department has confirmed one case of mumps. 26 other cases of patients with mumps-like symptoms are under investigation.
The Health Department asks that anyone with symptoms of the swelling of salivary glands along with fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite to seek medical attention and call the Health Department at 732-431-7456.
The Monmouth County Health Department is investigating 22 cases probable cases of mumps in the county, 15 of which have come forward since yesterday, according to a statement issued by County Public Health Coordinator Michael Meddis.
“Since yesterday, an additional 15 individuals with mumps-like symptoms have come forward,” County public health coordinator Michael Meddis said. “The medical professionals advised these individuals to be on bed rest, increase their fluid intake and take steps to reduce their fever.”
Twenty-one of the individuals are adults and most of them have been either a patron at or an employee of D’Jais in Belmar in the last several weeks. The one youth is of pre-school age.
Individuals in Monmouth County are from Asbury Park, Belmar, Farmingdale, Howell (4), Keyport, Long Branch (3), Neptune City, Tinton Falls and Wall. Individuals who reported hometowns from outside the county are from the New Jersey towns of Woodbridge, Saddle Brook, Ogdensburg, Emerson, Lawrenceville, Point Pleasant (2) and Port Saint Lucie, Florida.
The Monmouth County Health Department asks that if you are experiencing the swelling of salivary glands along with fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite you should seek medical attention and call the Health Department at 732-431-7456.
Meddis added that the investigation is continuing as new cases are presented and to determine the source of transmission and identify close personal contacts.
I know some Christie supporters and MMM readers who will give serious thought to attending Barbara Buono’s rally at Montclair State on Sunday.
Kerry Washington, aka Olivia Pope, aka LG Candidate Milly Whatshername’s cousin, will be talking about why Buono and Milly are the best gubernatorial choice for public sector workers and union leaders.
The event is at the Montclair State University Conference Center, Seventh Floor, 22 East Normal Ave, Montclair. It starts at 3PM. Doors open at 2PM.
I wonder if the Buono campaign is paying a market rate rental for the conference center. What is the market rate rental for a government owned conference center?
Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande announced yesterday that she will introduce legislation that will protect the sender of a text message from civil liability if the receiver of the text is involved in a car accident while reading the message.
Thank goodness, and let’s hope that legislation get fast tracked
In what can only be considered a gift to the overpopulated legal community, the Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court last week ruled that senders of text messages could be liable for accidents that occur while the receivers are reading them “when a texter knows or has special reason to know that the intended recipient is driving and is likely to read the text message while driving, the texter has a duty to users of the public roads to refrain from sending the driver a text at that time.”
What is a “special reason to know?” That is new legal distinction that will have to be defined in another expensive court decision, unless Casagrande’s common sense legislation is passed and signed into law before the next ambulance chaser gets his law school buddy on the bench to define it.
Imagine the cases, and legal fees, this new legal liability will create. Imagine the increases in insurance premiums, auto, homeowner’s, and business liability, this will cause.
If a spouse texts “pick milk” to his or her significant other during rush hour, and the receiving spouse gets into a car accident, the couple’s homeowner’s insurance company will get dragged into the law suit filed by the ambulance chaser.
Imagine the deposition questions asked at $250+ per hour per attorney:
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, New Jersey’s most vocal advocate for the elimination of red light cameras, has taken to social media to rally public support for his quest to remove the devices that he has proven increase traffic accidents and are designed to rip off motorists from New Jersey intersections.
O’Scanlon has created an online petition at change.org that demands the New Jersey Department of Transportation end the red-light camera program in the State. The petition can be found by clicking here.
On August 19, O’Scanlon provided video evidence to the press that red light camera operators shorten the required yellow light times at the intersections where the devices are installed in order to entrap motorists into running red lights and incurring fines that boost municipal revenue by upwards of $50 million dollars per year and put millions of dollars in the pockets of the companies that sell and service the red light cameras.
Backed up by Barnet Fagel, a traffic expert with the National Motorists Association and Attorney Joseph Santoli who discovered in a New York case that RLC companies were shaving yellow light times in order to entrap drivers into being caught on camera running a red, O’Scanlon said that shortened yellow lights cause more accidents and that “safety is being sacrificed” for municipal and RCL companies’ revenue.
Yellow lights are required to have either 3 or 4 second intervals, depending on the level of traffic and speed at the intersections. Fagel conducted a study this weekend of 12 of the approximately 80 New Jersey RLC intersections. All but “one or two” were found to have yellow lights that were between 1/10 and almost 3/10 of a second too short. Fagel presented the video evidence of his finding.
The most egregious of Fagel’s findings was in Jersey City at the intersection of Rt.1-9 and Sip Ave, a 4 second yellow light location. Fagel’s video showed that the yellow light lasted only 3.753 seconds.
New Jersey’s Red Light Camera Program is a five year experiment that will expire in December of 2014 unless the legislature extends it. O’Scanlon says there is already more than enough evidence to demonstrate that the program is a failure. RCL’s do not increase public safety. On the contrary, they put lives at risk and serve no purpose other than to raise ill-gotten revenue for municipal governments and their unscrupulous vendors.
O’Scanlon has forwarded his findings to NJ DOT and hopes to enlist the support of at least 10,000 petition signers to pressure the DOT bureaucrats to end the program immediately.
Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande announced yesterday that she will introduce legislation that will protect the sender of a text message from civil liability if the receiver of the text is involved in a car accident while reading the message.
On August 19, 