To Trump or Not to Trump, That is NOT the Question

To say that the 2016 presidential race is interesting would be a gross understatement. The muck raking, insults, and rhetoric have been more than I’ve seen in a presidential campaign in my lifetime. Xenophobia?? I had to look that one up. And that’s just on the Republican side. It’s like watching children arguing in a sandbox.

On the Democrat side it’s the same thing only much more subdued. Bernie says that Hillary is backed by big business and that she is unqualified to be president, but, if she gets the nod he’ll back her. Huh????

All of that is neither here nor there. These people are all trying to do one thing, get the votes of “We the People,” or as the rich and political elite like to refer to us as “The Unwashed Masses,” among other things. After all the United States of America is a free and democratic society run by the people, right! Maybe, maybe not.

In the first Republican debate a question was posed to all the candidates. They were asked for a show of hands from anyone who refused to pledge not to run as an independent against the eventual Republican nominee. Trump was the only one to raise his hand. He was criticized by the other debaters and booed by some in the audience. That’s when they thought he was just a sideshow. Now that the “Powers That Be” see that “We the People” might actually vote for him the shoe seems to be on the other foot. They won’t run as an independent, they just won’t give him the nomination.

The same is true on the other side. Hillary was seen as a “Shoo In”, but now that Bernie is gaining momentum there is talk of a brokered Democratic convention.

A brokered convention, what the heck is that??? To me it means that WE, the unwashed masses, do not have a say as to who runs OUR country and have been duped into believing that we do.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle seem to serve themselves and the big businesses that keep them in power more than they do the people they supposedly represent. If Trump or Sanders get in it will definitely upset their apple cart.

Now, to be fair, politicians are human beings too. Imagine this; you run for, and get elected to, a political office. You are full of ambition and eager to represent the people who elected you. Then you’re sitting in your office waiting for the letters, phone calls, and emails to come pouring from your constituents giving you their opinions on some issues that you need to make a decision on. And what do you get, “stugats”, nothing. Nobody calls, nobody cares. So you tell one of your senior colleagues about it. He or she tells you; “you’ll get used to it, by the way we need your support on this bill we’re trying to pass, come to dinner tonight and I’ll introduce you to some people.”  And thus the vicious cycle continues.

It seems as though “We the People” are more interested in voting for American Idol or some other nonsense than voting for people who will run our lives.

I remember voting in this last senatorial election. I usually vote early in the morning but that day I didn’t make it till around 7:30 PM. I was amazed to see that, from my district, I was number 10. NUMBER TEN, how pathetic is that?

I truly believe that politicians count on our apathy to maintain the status quo. The brokered convention thing is kept in place in case “We the People” ever awake out our stupor.

We as Americans are supposed to have the power to control our destinies with the vote. The most important right we have. The rich and powerful hate that because the person who drives a fancy car and lives in a big house has the same amount of votes as the ditch digger, one. Yet most don’t seem to care enough to take the time out of their busy lives to exercise this important right. In some nations voting is required by law. I think that is definitely something to consider in this country.

All I can say is that the people of this country had better wake up and smell the coffee before it’s too late. And be sure to watch this election very carefully.

– Joe Bayona

Seeking Quality of Life from Our Council

Thanks to the organizers of the Dominican festival it has grown and has become very successful. The problem is that it has grown to unmanageable numbers where for three days the people who live in the waterfront must live as prisoners. For three days our quality of life is gone, we must endure loud music past 11 p.m., we have to deal with no parking where if we leave our house after certain hour we can’t return home till past midnight. We have suffered massive traffic jams that has put our safety and health at risk. We have had to witness how our properties are tramples upon, garbage thrown on our gardens, curbs, streets and people urinating in them. We have had people jumping on top of the hoods of our cars. We have had our alley which leads to our garages blocked as well as driveways and when we call the police there is no response. We have had altercations with people who live in the neighborhoods and concert attendees sue to their lack of respect for us and our neighborhoods.

I know that the organizers are good people who care for the city and they are trying to do something good for the city but, they need to understand that what once was a small festival now it is too big for this area and today they need to take into account how their festival is affecting the wellbeing, safety and quality of life of all the residents of the waterfront.

We need to re-think if the waterfront is the place for this festival and after these past 3 festivals I can assure you it is not. I have attended many festivals down the shore in NJ, NYC and other states and one thing that I have notice is that where the festivals are held all the streets that lead to it are blocked by a police car and only residents are allow to drive through by showing their drivers licenses. These cities control the traffic by sending all to a specific area where the attendees can park and then they supplied shuttles to the festival or you can walk to it. We do not have enough police force to deal with something like this neither we have the money to pay for shuttles.

I am asking the council to do what they were elected to do which is to protect, provide safety and quality of life for the residents of Perth Amboy. Yes, you can argue that the organizers have the right to have their festival but, their rights can’t trample over ours neither and they aren’t guarantee that they can choose whatever place they want in the city to held the festival, the council decides that.

In conclusion we are not saying that they shouldn’t be allowed to have the festival we are saying that the festival should be moved to a better location. We do have other festivals in the waterfront like the Greek festival, family and the arts festival yet, none of these festivals creates the noise, garbage, safety and quality of life concerns that the Dominican festival has created and the reason is obvious this festival has overgrown this area and we can’t handle it anymore.

– Maria Garcia