EDITORIAL
BY DHIREN SHAH
Hello Readers,
The world is sinking with the wrong attraction to money and power. Human values are dying in people’s minds. Thinking about the well-being of one another is shrinking. Cellular phones and digital media are taking over. The next phase will be AI (Artificial Intelligence). Those days of enjoying the presence of family members and special occasions are becoming a distant memory. I am missing those good old days. I hope you might be missing them too.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill to gut the access to public records… BILL No. 1336-2024 OPRA (Open Public Records Act) bill. As the governor signed it, he did not think once about the people. He had a right to deny the bill and could have sent it back to the assembly for two-thirds signatures to get it approved. But all are intertwined. The governor is looking for politics over people. Assemblypersons were also looking for the same thing.
We the people of New Jersey elected these democrats who do not think about the people but try instead to hide their wrongdoings. By not allowing proper access to public records, they clear a path to wrongdoing, where people cannot discover it easily. Legal corruption is at a height unseen before, and what will happen in the future, we all might witness terrible misdeeds. I feel bad voting for Governor Murphy. I became a Democrat by reading about their party platform, not thinking about their politics. I will be changing my stance to become Independent instead of Democrat. That gives me an independent decision-making. I don’t say all democrats are bad. But I would say all democrats are controlled by higher-ranking democrats. The OPRA gutting bill will be challenged in the court of law.
On June 17, George Norcross, a high ranking kingpin of the Democratic Party in South Jersey, has been charged with racketeering along with some of his allies by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. This was a yearlong investigation by the AG.
This is an example of why we need OPRA at full strength. Demolishing the rights of the people will increase corruption. Newspapers must be exempt. They are the ones who work hard to find out the facts. Newspapers are the mirror; we are supposed to publish what comes to us and that goes out for the people to read.
Too many restrictions and one-sided control leads to the death of the democracy in my opinion. I request that all the media members unite and protect our rights and that of the people.
It will be interesting to watch the debate on June 27th between President Biden and former President Trump. Only one microphone will be one at a time, and the other person’s mic will be muted. Also, there will be no audience.
On the surface, all of this favors Biden, as Trump would usually draw energy off of a crowd. However, if Trump excels in the unfavorable environment, or if Biden has a mishap, it could be disastrous.
It will be very interesting to watch, as for the first time, we will have such an unusual presidential debate.
Have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you next week.
