EDITORIAL BY DHIREN SHAH
Hello Readers,
Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the mothers. The main local elections are over, so now we can concentrate on our lives.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka won re-election with his unopposed at-large team by a landslide. North Ward councilman Anibal Ramos Jr. won unopposed while Central Ward LaMonica McIver won comfortably. In the South Ward, Patrick Council and Terrance Bankston will have to contest in a runoff election, while Michael Silva and Anthony Campos will runoff in the East Ward, and Dupre Kelly and Chigozie Onyema will runoff in the West Ward.
In Orange, all incumbents running were re-elected easily. Tency Eason in the North Ward, Jamie B. Sommers-Johnson in the South Ward, and Kerry Coley in the East Ward. As expected, West Ward newcomer Quantavia Hilbert won easily against three opponents.
Also as expected, Irvington Mayor Tony Vauss won by a landslide, along with incumbents Renee Burgess, October Hudley, and Charnette Frederic.
The polling stations were changed according to the census of 2020, but election officials did not inform the voters. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka voiced his opinion against it and asked the election commission to resign. I agree with him. Under 12% voting is not unusual, but politically not informing voters about their polling stations is really bad. Many times, many politicians voice their opinion to spur on voting participation, but when the voters have not been informed about their polling stations, they cannot go and find out where to vote, especially since many are not technically knowledgeable with computers.
Congress approved another $40 billion in aid to Ukraine against the Russian invasion. When we are in the midst of our own economic problems, as 8.3% inflation has already scared some of the economists, more money spending to Ukraine will add more to it. The oil prices are skyrocketing,
When Biden took office, the crude oil price was $52.38, and now it is $105.17 which has doubled since he took office. Is this a political plan to help middle eastern countries (OPEC)? In California, the gas price is as high as $5.84 per gallon. At our New Jersey pumps, the average price is $4.10, but the majority of the pumps we see in our neighborhood are about $4.39 per gallon. The record has now been set in the state for the highest cost of gas.
It is hurting the majority of the working class. The government is ready to help only to the poor and non-working community. They have not helped the middle to poor working class in my observation, except in the pandemic. They overdid it in the pandemic, particularly for the unemployed, which took our labor force away from the market.
Now it is over, but still, the import situation is the worst. The politician’s excuse to allow illegal immigrants is that we need a labor force, but before 1990, we all were working; now we are dependent on illegal immigrants for labor support. The government is helping them with money as well as welfare and another sources. The government makes it harder for regular Americans to get it, but they are smart and united enough to get benefits from the government despite not having paperwork as being legally here. We must stop the leakage of our hard-earned tax money. Finally, by printing more money, the federal reserve bank is not doing good to America.
Have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you next week.
