In a phone interview with MMM this morning, Congressman Chris Smith, R-NJ 4, said that published reports by New Jersey Globe and SaveJersey claiming that he voted with Democrats to reopen the federal government without funding a wall for our southern border are incomplete and inaccurate.
“I am a strong supporter of securing our southern border, including the wall–I voted for $5.7 billion for the wall in December-– and have been throughout my career,” Smith said. “The bill I voted for yesterday, H J Res 1, would fund the only Department of Homeland Security and only until February 9.”
It’s very, very early. The polls are open until 8:00 p.m. tonight. Did I mention it’s early?
That being said, I’ve heard anecdotal but consistent turnout reports this morning that bode well for a strong Lonegan performance in today’s #njsen special election.
Example? More than one person has told me about voting lines wrapping out-the-door in Oakland, New Jersey. The Bergen County community of just under 13,000 is home to approximately 1,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats and voted 55.8% for John McCain in 2008.
We’ve received similar reports from some other Republican-leaning towns around the state such as the affluent bedroom community of Moorestown in Burlington County.
For the record, I don’t accept the contrived right wing argument that anyone and everyone has a constitutional right to purchase a kitchen appliance no-strings-attached. Sure, the Founding Fathers did significantly limit the government’s right to restrict private property ownership and commerce in the U.S. Constitution, but did the framers ever contemplate a microwave? Or automatic cake mixer? Or pressure cooker? It’s hard to argue that they intended to protect our right to own something so dangerous and technologically advanced that didn’t even exist in their own time!
Butter churners? Sure. And butter churning has the added benefit of combating childhood obesity and reducing the user’s carbon footprint
Non-conservatives sometimes get a little frustrated with conservatives for complaining about “media bias.” To be fair, I do think there’s something to be said for the fact that simply whining about how crappy the press can be isn’t an effective electoral strategy. Plenty of radio hosts make a living that way but it’s not helpful.
That doesn’t mean media bias isn’t a very real problem, and some instances of bias, however, are especially egregious. The complete mainstream media blackout surrounding the Dr. Kermit Gosnell trial across the Delaware River is one such instance, Save Jerseyans. The allegations in that trial — “43 criminal counts, including eight counts of murder” — are nightmarishly grizzly and reveal a completely non-sanitized account of abortion that many willfully-blind Americans need to see.
What Kirstin is apparently waking up to is the reality of a hyper-ideological press corps that lives by the doctrine of selective outrage. Reporting the news is a secondary objective for these people. Affecting their desired vision of “change” in society always takes primacy. In this case, abortion doesn’t offend them (most even see it as a sacred natural right). Private gun ownership does offend them (in case you hadn’t heard!). As a result, you can expect to see story after story lamenting isolated, statistically rare gun accidents but nothing in print about the alleged mass murder of infants.
Again, the media’s goal here isn’t to inform you. They’re trying to shape you.
As of this writing, Save Jerseyans, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is engaged in one of the most dramatic practices unique to American-style democracy: the Senate filibuster.
Typically, U.S. senators “filibuster” a nomination or legislation by refusing to provide a majority of the 60 votes required for cloture. Paul is using the much rarer one-man approach made popularly famous by Mr. Smith Goes to Washington whereby one Senator continues to speak on the floor until he decides to stop (or simply cannot carry on). The Senator’s aim? Holding up the nomination of John Brennan for CIA director; he hopes this gesture will raise awareness of a controversial new Justice Department policy that many believe would permit drone strikes on American citizens without any due process whatsoever.
In a phone interview with MMM this morning, Congressman Chris Smith, R-NJ 4, said that published reports by New Jersey Globe and SaveJersey claiming that he voted with Democrats to reopen the federal government without funding a wall for our southern border are incomplete and inaccurate.
