Category Archives: Fatwas

I Told You, West Orange, You Fucking Fools

Posted on by under Electoral Ethics and Politics, Fatwas, West Orange

About a month ago, I invited the candidates up for election in West Orange to denounce the bigotry of one of their colleagues, Justin Goldsman (see here and here). Not one of them did. A few months before that, I had a conversation with West Orange Councilman Joe Krakoviak about the Mt Laurel inclusionary housing doctrine. The conversation touched on the prevalence of racism in the housing market. Krakoviak told me with great confidence that racism was a thing of the past.

Now, West Orange is in the midst of a sordid but utterly predictable scandal: both of the African American candidates in the election have been on the receiving end of racist comments designed to drive them, by intimidation, from the electoral field. Now, everybody is convinced that racism is a problem. And of course now everybody is doing their best to out-do their rivals in voicing their supposed abhorrence for racism, and their abhorrence of the failure to take a stand against it. But where were they a month ago?

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ICE Out of the Bronx

Posted on by under activism, anarchism, cancel culture, Fatwas, migrant defense

The Bronx has a lot to be proud of tonight. Unfortunately, I seem to be having some trouble directly embedding the Facebook video I want, but this link takes you to it (the video is taken by Christina Alvarado of the Bronx, whose other videos are worth watching as well). Forget the Mayor’s statement and all of the furrowed-brow commentary out there in the mainstream media, and watch the people of the Bronx acting true to type in their native element.

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“Now Boarding Active Service Military Personnel…”

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, Human Shields, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement

Every system of mass transportation I use—trains, buses, airlines—gives a discount to active service military personnel. Some go beyond this, giving them special lounges and priority in boarding. Isn’t this a form of complicity, however ostensibly minor, in the wars they fight? And hasn’t the time come to put an end to it?

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Justin Goldsman Has Got to Go

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, Neutrality and Complicity, West Orange

How is that after Justin Goldsman was fired by Gary Schaer in 2025 precisely over the comments to which I’ve recently drawn attention, West Orange is now in the position of wondering whether he should be elected to Town Council? What exactly is there to wonder about?

I don’t think of Gary Schaer as someone who has sky-high principles on this issue. How can it be that Gary Schaer saw fit to fire Goldsman, but the electorate has re-opened the issue and furrowed its collective brow over the same painfully-litigated issues? I guess Justin Goldsman wasn’t good enough to stay on Schaer’s staff, but is good enough for consideration for West Orange Council. In some ways, that fits. At some level, the Council deserves him. The problem is, we don’t.

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Time to Cancel Justin Goldsman

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, Electoral Ethics and Politics, Fatwas, West Orange

And Some Advice for the West Orange Election
My friend Matt Dragon has an excellent, timely piece on his blog about Justin Goldsman, a candidate for Town Council in West Orange and Favorite Son in local West Orange politics. Wherever Justin goes, adulation follows: he walks into every Council meeting to broad smiles and big hugs and “great to see you’s,” everybody’s little hometown hero. The scandal here is an open secret in West Orange, something that almost everyone, and surely everyone within the Council, knows. Justin has a decades-long history of plain, open, unapologetic social media bigotry, from the n-word to casual Islamophobia, to “I am going to kill this girl or castrate myself, whichever gets her off my dick sooner.” But work through it yourself via the bolded link above, if you have the patience. It’s an eye-opener, even if it’s all par for the course in West Orange.

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The Neo-Nazis and the Permit Raj

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, Fatwas, migrant defense, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine, princeton, War with Iran

Princeton Patch has now confirmed that a white supremacist rally did in fact take place in Princeton this past Saturday afternoon, August 29th. Don’t miss the neo-Nazi video embedded in the article, “Youth in Revolt.” Apparently, the spirit of Leni Riefenstahl never quite died.

Unfortunately, the rally is (like so many things) increasingly being seen as a law enforcement matter, and the police, fixated by definition on matters of law enforcement, are now pursuing the thought that the people participating in the rally lacked a permit to march down the street or through Monument Park, and should have had one. Law enforcement’s idea of a solution to the rise of neo-Nazism in Princeton is to set up a Permit Raj: demand that activists get permits to exercise the privilege of assembling, marching, chanting, or holding signs. And make sure to demote those activities to the status of privileges in the process.

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Circling Back to Roundabouts

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, princeton, slices of life

I’m grateful for the many off-line responses to my roundabouts post, particularly those from decision-makers at Princeton Municipal Council. I thought I’d re-visit the issue to respond to some of what was said.

One set of comments suggested that I over-complicated a simple issue: roundabouts are safer than right-angle intersections, so that’s that. But it’s not that simple. “Safer” is equivocal as between safer at the intersection and safer all things considered, and it’s not clear that roundabouts are safer all things considered.

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Unfortunate Sons

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, Human Shields, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, War with Iran

What’s remarkable here is the total lack of self-awareness with which these people will hold a graduation ceremony for soldiers (officers) in a public park, then rationalize the bombing of schools, hospitals, bridges, power plants, and crowds of starving civilians by claiming that the presumptive presence of n “terrorists” or “militants” at those locations makes it all OK. Wouldn’t the same logic rationalize blowing up everyone in the park pictured here, including all of the complacent but supportive civilians? What complaint could they offer if someone did here what was done at Old Dominion University?

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The Delaney Hall Scandal Revisited

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, Health Care Series, migrant defense, Neutrality and Complicity

Expert Insights and Journalistic Failures
Readers of this blog are no doubt familiar with, and possibly sick of, my fixation over the sanitary condition of Delaney Hall. I’ve written four posts on the subject.

On June 24, I challenged New Jersey State Senator Holly Schepisi’s whitewash of the state health department’s report on Delaney Hall. On June 25, I took issue with Politico’s misreporting on the subject. On June 27, I took issue with NJ.com’s misreporting on the subject. And on July 2, I responded to Holly Schepisi’s incredibly stupid attempt to “respond” to my earlier challenge. Since then, I’ve demanded that all three of them–Schepisi, Politico, and NJ.com–retract or correct the false claims they’ve made on the subject. Schepisi has served up evasive bullshit; Politico and NJ.com have simply stonewalled and gone silent.

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Getting Delaney Hall Wrong

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, Health Care Series, migrant defense, Neutrality and Complicity

Re-visiting the May 28 NJDOH Health Inspection (x3)

The mainstream press is systematically misreporting the New Jersey Department of Health’s May 28 inspection of Delaney Hall. This is from an article in today’s NJ.com, “Federal judge demands answers after N.J is again blocked at Delaney Hall detention center“:

In a limited inspection last month, state Department of Health inspectors did not find any serious violations in Delaney Hall’s kitchen.

Yes, they did. The author links to an earlier article of his that quotes from more of the report and makes this same determination, but both articles fail to mention the Department of Health’s overall evaluation of the facility, and both fail to cite the statutory definition of this evaluation (both also fail to link to the report itself).

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