Category Archives: Opinion

By James J. Devine On what would have been his 110th birthday, we are to remember First Sergeant Leonard Alfred Funk Jr.—paratrooper, Medal of Honor recipient, slayer of Nazis, and the original Antifa operative that every pearl-clutching conservative pretends never existed. Make no mistake: the United States Army in 1944 was the most formidable anti-fascist organization onContinue reading “Happy birthday, First Sergeant Leonard Alfred Funk Jr.”

By James J. Devine The Strategic Petroleum Reserve has plunged to levels not seen since the Carter administration began filling it up as the Trump administration’s disastrous conflict with Iran continues to drain the nation of blood, treasure, and its emergency energy reserves. Official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released Wednesday shows thatContinue reading “America is running on empty as Trump drains oil reserves down to 44-year low”

By James J Devine There is a war on. American sailors are in harm’s way. And the president of the United States — the commander in chief — is busy playing interior decorator with the world’s most expensive warships. Let that sink in. According to multiple reports, Donald Trump has demanded that the Navy redesignContinue reading “Trump’s fleet face-lift puts form over firepower for “The Aesthetic Admiral””

By James J. Devine The war launched against Iran is a strategic and political blunder of immense proportions. It is a war shaped more by bluster than by strategy—a conflict in which the president declared victory almost immediately, only to demonstrate that he had no clearly defined objective. The principal justification for the war, however,Continue reading “Iran could build a nuclear bomb, but religious zealots believe mass murder is wrong”

By James J. Devine The spectacle unfolding once again from the White House is a familiar one: a grainy rerun of a film we have all seen before. It is the spectacle of the world’s most powerful nation, frightened by shadows and tilting at windmills, with the American president and his Israeli counterpart at theContinue reading “The policy of a bully cloaked in the garb of a statesman reveals he is a liar & a fool”

By James J. Devine What would happen if we put a bunch of greedy, penny-pinching morons in charge of the world’s richest and most powerful country? They may devalue the dollar, alienate our allies, or perhaps start a war that causes the military to run out of ammunition… We appear to be at a momentContinue reading “The gang that couldn’t shoot straight seems to have run out of ammunition”

By James J. Devine Sixty-one years ago today, in the sweltering heat of a nation on the brink, a towering Texan with a face like a granite cliff and a voice like a chainsaw did something revolutionary: he gave a damn. On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson—a man who knew power, wielded itContinue reading “America chose life over profit: LBJ’s defiant stand against the bloodsuckers”

by Terrence T. McDonald, New Jersey Monitor Like an apparently dead victim at the end of a slasher film who rises once again for a final jump scare, Phil Murphy has reached out from his post-governorship life to kick New Jersey Democrats right where it hurts one last time. Murphy, who ended his two termsContinue reading “Phil Murphy gives NJ Democrats one more kick in the teeth”

By Donovan Martin Sr. | TDS News The passing of a long-serving politician usually triggers a rehearsed choreography of grief in Washington. The press releases roll out, flags drop to half-staff, and the airwaves fill with sanitized retrospectives about a life spent in public service. But as the tributes pour in for Senator Lindsey Graham,Continue reading “The death of a warmonger: Peeling away the false piety from Lindsey Graham’s legacy”

By James J. Devine On Jan. 2, 2021, President Donald Trump placed a phone call to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, and delivered a simple, direct request: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.” After losing to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, he tried to cheat andContinue reading “Lying, cheating Donald Trump has no credibility on elections or anything else”

By James J. Devine The defining failure of the Democratic establishment was not what it accomplished after the 2008 financial crisis, but what it declined to do when it possessed the political power to remake the American economy. Frustration among the party’s base became clear when many Democrats chose not to vote in the 2016Continue reading “Disappointing Democratic establishment declined to do what voters wanted — and then wondered why they lost”

By James J. Devine Quitters never win, and winners never quit. Yet whenever Republicans attack a Democratic candidate, too many Democrats instinctively reach for the white flag instead of the battle standard. The latest target is Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for a must-win US Senate seat in Maine, and the calls for him toContinue reading “Wounded Democrat Graham Platner must win the US Senate seat in Maine”

By Johanna Silver Delegates from across the original 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago on July 4, 1776 detailing the abuses of the King of England that led to their fight for sovereignty. Their condemnation feels all too familiar today. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed the country’s original 13 colonies separateContinue reading “The Declaration of Independence lists injuries similar to those Trump has inflicted”

By James J. Devine Let’s be brutally honest about what just happened: Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed “voice of the working class,” just executed one of the most audacious wealth transfers in American political history—and his most loyal followers paid the price. The numbers are staggering, almost beyond comprehension. While hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans—manyContinue reading “Trump’s crypto swindle: How the President pickpocketed his supporters”

By Catherine Simpson Bueker, Emmanuel College Twenty-five years ago, I attended a Fourth of July parade in Boston that has stuck with me. The head drummer of the colonial fife and drum band was a Black man in a Revolutionary War costume, his dreadlocks peeking from under a powdered wig. As the parade stopped toContinue reading “How public celebrations quietly remake what it means to be American”

By James J. Devine Woody Allen’s famous quote, “80% of success is showing up,” has been lost on a New Jersey congressman who has virtually had everything in life handed to him—without being physically present or earning deserved credit for achieving goals—but rumor has it that he will attend a campaign fundraising event tonight. InContinue reading “Absentee Tom Kean Jr. makes a mockery of the republic by not showing up”

By James J. Devine Cory Booker wants you to believe that love is what has carried him through his political journey. Love for the vulnerable. Love for the forgotten. Love that motivated a hunger strike, a mayoral campaign, and a Senate run. It is a beautiful story, but it is bullshit. It is a fictionContinue reading “All the Love that money can buy”

By James J. Devine Republicans have abandoned any pretense of representation, embraced cheating, and taken the United States far from the “republican form of government” guaranteed in Article IV of the Constitution. Gerrymandering—the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to gain political advantage—remains one of the most enduring challenges to representative government in the United States,Continue reading “Electoral district boundary lines that erase the people annihilate legitimacy”

By James J. Devine In the wake of a genuine tragedy—the murder of Daniel Anderl, son of federal judge Esther Salas—the state legislature constructed a legal edifice that protects the safest and most sheltered people in society, and dismisses with bureaucratic indifference the actual victims of America’s crime epidemic. The dangerous and bipartisan bill creatingContinue reading “Sanctuary for the powerful enhances New Jersey’s two-tiered system of justice”

As our nation celebrates 250 years of independence, we are proud to mark our own place in the American story. For more than two centuries, our newspaper has informed, challenged, and connected generations of readers. Founded on July 13, 1822, as The Bridgetown Museum and New Jersey Advocate, NJTODAY.NEWS has survived wars, economic crises, technologicalContinue reading “Serving New Jersey since 1822: Publisher’s reflect as USA marks 250 years”