New Jersey Gave Away $1.6 Million In Financial Aid Because Republicans Don’t know How To Fight

There has been a lot of talk and news coverage about New Jersey spending “$1.6 million to help send 513 undocumented immigrants to college during the fall 2018 semester.” According to NJ.com:

The college financial aid was handed out for the first time thanks to a new law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy that offers taxpayer-funded grants and scholarships to New Jersey "Dreamers" who are living in the country illegally.

Now, I could go on and on about how “Dreamers” are being rewarded for an illegal act performed by their parents, but why bother.

The real question is, how did we get here? And, the answer is, Republicans don’t know how to fight.

Nearly every story I’ve read on this issue uses the phrase “undocumented immigrants” or a couple of times I’ve seen “undocumented students.”

“Undocumented immigrant” is too nice a term, and Republicans just let it happen. The “Drop the I-Word “ campaign was launched in 2010 to advocate for the use of terms such as “undocumented immigrants” or “unauthorized immigrants” when referring to foreign nationals living in the United States illegally. Rather than pushback Republicans just let the liberals keep repeating the phrase “undocumented immigrant” until the Associated Press dropped “illegal immigrant” from its stylebook in 2013.

Rather than rolling over and playing dead Republicans should have just kept using the phrase “illegal alien.” And, every single time the liberal left pushed back Republicans could have simply reminded them “illegal alien” is a term used in many U.S. statutes, 2 USC 658, "8 USC 1252c, 8 USC 1330, 8 USC 1356, 8 USC 1365, and I could go on, but you get the idea.

And, let’s not forget that as recently as last summer the Justice Department “instructed US attorneys offices not to use the term "undocumented" immigrants and instead refer to someone illegally in the US as ‘an illegal alien.’” According to a CNN report:

The Justice Department has instructed US attorneys offices not to use the term "undocumented" immigrants and instead refer to someone illegally in the US as "an illegal alien," according to a copy of an agency-wide email obtained by CNN.

According to the email, the Justice Department uses terms in the US Code to describe an individual who is illegally in the US, and thus refers to them as "an illegal alien."

"The word 'undocumented' is not based in US code and should not be used to describe someone's illegal presence in the country," the email states.

Don’t be afraid to say “illegal alien.” It’s a term used in U.S. statutes, in other words, a term used in the law. “Undocumented” just sounds too nice, it paints an entirely different picture, it makes folks think the illegal alien one is referring to did nothing wrong, when they in fact did do something wrong.

Using the kind phrase “undocumented” and allowing others to use it is simply giving up before the argument even begins and gives the liberals running our state the opportunity to give away over $1 million to folks in the country illegally rather than help actual U.S. citizens.

Bottom line: Republicans better start fighting harder or we can all get prepared to give away millions more of our hard earned tax dollars.

PRESS RELEASE: NJGOP Launches Tool To Help NJ Voters Track Booker Out Of State Travel

Want to know what’s going on with U.S. Senator Cory Booker’s Presidential campaign travel? Well, the NJGOP has launched a tool to help New Jersey voters track Senator Cory Booker's out of state, Presidential campaign travel. Following is NJGOP’s press release on the matter:

Trenton, NJ - The NJGOP has launched a tool to help New Jersey voters track Senator Cory Booker's out of state, Presidential campaign travel.

Updates on the locations he has visited outside of his duties as New Jersey's representative in the United Senate can be found at https://www.njgop.org/where-in-the-world-is-cory-booker/ and on Twitter by following the handle @NJGOP.

NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt offered the following comment on this effort:

"New Jersey is consistently last among every other state in what we get back from Washington versus what we send in. While there was no shortage of public outcry over Governor Christie’s state absences to run for president, there’s a double standard when it comes to Cory Booker. Meanwhile, New Jersey is left behind. We need federal representatives who will dig in and fight for New Jersey to get its fair share. 

"These days, it seems Cory Booker is more interested in being Hollywood's Senator than New Jersey's Senator.  Instead of spending his time trying to dig New Jersey out of the financial basement, he’s chasing national attention for himself. How does he expect to get the Gateway Tunnel done from South Carolina or California?

"We’ve created a tool to help voters understand just how underrepresented they are while Cory Booker runs for President. Half of his February schedule is already taken up by fundraisers in Beverly Hills and meetings in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. While he’s busy touring them, the rest of New Jersey is back here trailing the other 49 United States.”

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More Soccer: Did Mrs. Murphy Learn Spin From Her Husband’s Staff?

Just yesterday The Bob & Steve Show and several others were writing and talking about the fact that Governor Phil Murphy’s soccer team sent out a Tweet in which Mrs. Murphy said she has “chosen to take an active role in club activities moving forward.”

I wrote about how Tammy Murphy, in the team’s Tweet, said she anticipates players “will enjoy their upscale apartments and new furnishings.” I was hopeful that it meant women would never again be forced to live with an elderly man who repeatedly makes inappropriate comments to the players.

Given that back on January 10th when the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) announced, “the Permitted Team Assistance Cap has nearly doubled from the previous season, allowing teams to spend additional amounts through providing players assistance in the areas of housing and automobiles,” that by Tweeting, “We are committed to improving the player experience and anticipate they will enjoy their upscale apartments and new furnishings,” all players would be provided housing.

Well…you know what they say about never assume anything. I was wrong to assume all players would be provided housing. Fortunately, Forbes magazine today asked a bunch of questions about the announcement. The first question and answer:

What is new and improved about the housing mentioned in Tammy Murphy's note?

Via the team, we have some specific news here.

“Thanks to an increased housing cap, we were able to secure apartments for 14 players and, thanks to an investment from ownership, we are providing brand new furnishings for those apartments. Like the rest of the league, Sky Blue FC is moving away from host families and will be less reliant on them this year than ever before.”

 Hopefully, this will mean an end to things detailed in the important reporting last summer at Equalizer Soccer, from repeated in-season moves to sleeping on couches.

Here’s the thing, under 2019 rules the “NWSL senior rosters will expand to a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 22 players.” The team is providing apartments for 14 players which means a minimum of 6 players will either have to find their own apartments or be forced to live with host families.

Given that Sky Blue FC obviously is not providing housing for all of its players I have to ask if when Tammy Murphy wrote that she anticipates players “will enjoy their upscale apartments and new furnishings,” if she was simply being a spin doctor?

Surely, Sky Blue FC will end up using host families for the 6 players that aren’t fortunate enough to get to live in one of the team provided “upscale apartments.”

To be fair, every team uses host families, but I have to wonder if the Murphy’s will be a host family. Or maybe the women who get placed with host families will get lucky like a pair of Houston Dash players did a couple of years ago when they landed at Jeff Van Gundy’s house.

But for now, I simply want to know where Mrs. Murphy leaned the art of spin, because it did appear that every player would enjoy an “upscale apartment” in the Tweet sent out by the team.