984 It's Only Newark

984 It’s Only Newark

Newark is not a joke, though some other New Yorkers may dispute that.  After all, with guys like Sharpe James and Tony Imperiale as its poster men, there have been times it was hard to take the place seriously.    Some say it has long been deprived of its full city-hood because of its proximity to New York.  Others say it would never have developed at all were it not for its proximity to New York.

Now, the twain have met over the NYPD’s “want(ing an informant) in every mosque within a 250 mile radius” as Deputy Commissioner David Cohen, the intelligence chief directed.  Gotta keep an eye on those Islamics...  you know... the guys who drive taxis and teach in the public schools and universities, and have MD after their name, drive garbage trucks, wait tables, have babies (oh my!  making still more of these Enemies of the People) filling cavities in your teeth and then strapping on the C-4 and blowing themselves to smithereens and taking the neighborhood down with them.

Dave “Baby” Cohen was CIA.  He may still think he is.  Come to think of it, he may still be if you believe one never really leaves the agency... the underworld... or the Associated Press.  But that’s beside the point.  The point is Newark has borders.  As do New Haven, Nassau County, Westchester and many other lesser places in the metro area.

So invading Newark is not part of the NYPD’s deal, or shouldn’t be.  The mayor, Cory Booker,  said he wasn’t aware of the operation to unearth Muslim terrorists in his midst.  The NYPD didn’t even offer the usual courtesy of informing the locals when they operate outside the five boroughs.

Some of the money for all this, reports the Associated Press, came from the White House.  The current and the previous administrations had what’s called the HIDTA or High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.  (Don’t try to pronounce Hidta.)  About $135 million went to New York and New Jersey to fight drug traffic.  But some of the bucks (we don’t know how much) found its way into the Secret Police, where, apparently, it was used to buy stuff like cars for the spies.   So the war against drug traffickers and the war against ordinary Muslims have kind of merged this point.

Did the Newark police know about this?  Evidently not.  But -- just coincidentally, of course-- the top Newark cop from about the time this started, Garry McCarthy, now heads the police department in... Chicago, President Obama’s hometown and where the mayor is Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.  Wonder if the pay there is better than in Jersey.

You can diss Newark all you want.  But it is an actual place.  And you don’t go bigfooting all over someone else’s front yard on some goose chase without letting the wheels there know what you’re doing.  Even though it’s only Newark.


Shrapnel:

--The local pronunciation is “Newerk,” as opposed to the like-named place in Delaware that is pronounced New Ark.  The Delaware people get all in a twist when people mis-pronounce the name of their town.  We are saying this in an effort to be fair and balanced.

--The definition of “riot” has been diluted big time in some areas of the country where any pipsqueak demonstration with more than three people and some property damage now qualifies.  If you want to know what a real riot looks like, put “Newark 1967” into your search engine.  Even better, take a look at  Newark 1967  on You Tube.

--But “Newark” is still a joke to some people, or at least something about which they get defensive or embarrassed.   For example, the owners took the name of the city out of the name of the newspaper.  It once was the Newark Star-Ledger, but now it’s just the “Star Ledger.”


I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
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