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Orthodox Jewish town of Lakewood, NJ demands free busing for private schools, but vote down tax increase to pay for it. So, board of ed votes to cut 68 teachers from the public schools, three guidance counselors, sports/athletics, and the number of students per class will go up to approximately 40.
Misleading Title
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I live near Rockland County New York and we've been having an ongoing battle with the Orthodox community here, as well.
The stories I have heard about how fucked over the schools are getting due to orthodox communities basically running all of the public offices is pretty incredible. They've been closing down public schools, and then selling them off to private orthodox school groups at like 25% of the value of the property. Craziness.
How is this possible?
How can other citizens get kicked off their property by their municipalities using eminent domain and the Orthodox (or any religion for that matter) Jews can pull this kind of obvious manipulation of the law without a single word of condemnation from the government?
WTF Orthodox Jews???
I grew up in Lakewood.
What many folks don't realize is that the Hasidim not only vote as a bloc, but if the Rabbi tells the congregation to donate money to a politician, they all donate. There is no condemnation from the government because they bought the government. They don't make a big deal about it, and it's never reported on, but they weald a great deal of influence in Trenton.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of anti-Semitic "the Jews control everything" conspiracy theorists. But I watched them destroy the town I grew up in. It wasn't that They Control Everything, it was that they are very good at looking out for their own interests, and no-one else in the town was as organized or prepared to try to stop them.
They're basically praying on very low income schools by cutting their budgets by extreme amounts and then claiming they cannot stay open because how underfunded they are. Then they close them down and sell them to private interests. This all comes about through their voting tactics. They have complete control of the governing municipalities and the school board.
Well if you were to intervene you'd be persecuting them and no one wants that...
I can understand persecution if governments are singling out a single type or group of people.
But if "a group of people" are abusing the laws in order to gain for themselves and cause loss to the community, then it's no longer persecution but just good governance.
"Neither the citizens nor the government should take advantage or abuse the system."
My comment was only a joke. You're right, it's complete bullshit. Imagine if the church of Satan tried this same style of fraud/theft.
Sure, but where are you going to find a good lawyer to fight it in court?
True, no one wants to be labeled an anti-semite. Any criticism earns you that label - even if, as an atheist, you despise their religion in an equal measure to every other.
You're right so the only alternative is to not care about labels meant to distract. Call me an anti-semite, racist, whatever; the religion is still an exploitative pile of horse shit from the stone age.
Wait till Muslims start doing it, then you'll see people get up in arms.
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Holy matrimony is different than legal marriage. People forget that they are two separate entities.
You can be wed in holy matrimony, but not married.
You can be legally married, but not wed in holy matrimony.
Legally vs. theologically. They are basically taking advantage of the system.
No moreso than any other unwed couple.
And no moreso than my spouse and I - who lived together happily for several years, decided to have a child, then a year later decided to get married (sans any religious component whatsoever) primarily for the tax benefits.
Hm, good points. I stand corrected.
It's horrendous there. You got the problems up by Monroe(Woodbury Commons) and also down in ramapo as well. Everyone who complains about it is supposedly a nazi...
This is the kicker. If you aren't overwhelmingly supportive of their cause you're instantly anti-Semitic.
The corruption going on in Monroe and Kiryas Joel is almost cartoonish, but don't you dare point it out.
yeah I have no idea why but every time this shit comes up you hear about lakewood and ramapo, but no one actually talks about Kiras joel which is probably just as bad in terms of leaching public funds. They have the lowest income per capita in the whole country.
Think I was visiting up around there last summer. Wouldn't have believed this was a thing if I hadn't seen it. I heard they basically take over local governments in a few places.
This American Life did a good show in the problem.
Here it is
This was such an unexpectedly great episode, and is the one that I always use as an example for how eclectic and good TAL can be.
I heard Christians "basically take over local governments" in a lot of counties they live in across the USA too.
And Mormons.
And it's just as wrong when they misappropriate public funds or violate the separation of church and state.
Oh no doubt.
But not believing in it till you go to the jewish area is silly.
Just another cult
The problem is a majority religious community voting to defund public schools, denying educational opportunity to anyone outside that religious group. There's a really good episode of This American Life about a case of this in upstate New York. The Hasidic controlled school board gutted the public school system to cut taxes and diverted millions to hire a Manhattan law firm to defend their destruction of the local secular school system. If Christians tried to avoid paying taxes for public schools so that the only choices were private Christian schools, I'd oppose that as well.
I live in a small town in the Midwest on the cusp of the Bible belt. Don't get me started about the officials around here. It's a joke.
That shit killed my small southern home town. Baptist or harassment take your pick. No point trying to work in town so everyone not churched up left. It destroyed the place.
They built a school for 1200 in the mid 90s when they had about 1100 students. Now it's like 200 and falling.
The difference is that these are tiny groups of people, dozens or hundreds, screwing everyone else. At least with Christians and Mormons they're usually the overwhelming majority.
The thing is, the reason why the Hasid's get voted in is because they are the majority in places like Lakewood, where the rest is either undocumented immigrants, or lower class blue collar. The Latter being fucked over most because they pay for everything.
Not necessarily a majority. But once they get close, they can take over because they get together and ALL vote for the Hasidic candidate, while the rest of the population is still split over the non Hasidic candidates. This is happening all over Rockland County (NY).
Monroe, NY, just over the border, has Kiryas Joel...what a nightmare!
I was born and raised in rockland. Can comfirm
David's bagels holla
They need to learn how to communicate quickly with others different than their own kind. I literally would not help orthodox or hasidic families if I saw their communities being harmed and that's not right. But to live in an area that is as heavily exploited and extorted via their tactics and no one really cares to talk seriously about it, I don't give a fuck. They ruin the lives of every other kind of person that lives around them and it's accepted at the state and federal level.....
What's terrible in regards to this issue is they all vote, are very organised, and are close-knit They dominate the elections. Then it snowballs. By the time people realize it's very likely too late. I've yet to hear a solution that isn't "vote against them".
This is why I'm apprehensive in saying the democratic process can fix things, not if the intent of the fucking populace is evil and malicicious......... I hate to say it and it might just be youthful nature talking, but I think there is fighting ahead. A lot of it. Between people extorting each other and refusing to take responsibility when caught, population blooms, and climate refugees, the future is not pretty in any regard if you think seriously about it.
Cheating is the dominant strategy when cooperation is power.
Modify RLUIPA. It is the cornerstone law that enables this.
It's becoming ridiculous at this point. They're a fucking cult who seems to think that they deserver to have everything handed to them. They screwed Lakewood, and now they're trying to do the same. Towns that surround Lakewood have been fiercely fighting, and stopping the Hasid's in there place, Except for Howell, who's mayor is welcoming these people in open arm, fighting to allow them to build, and even giving them MORE tax breaks. There is a kid around Howell who asked the Mayor "Who pockets we're being lined" a question more and more are asking because it seems that way. They're disgusting people who dont give a single fuck about anyone else unless they belong to the Hasid community. They crash into peoples car and drive away, They dont bathe, countless reports on sexual abuse of children. STD's run rampant among both Men and women because the men visit Bath houses where they fuck each others, then go home and fuck their wives. Luckily, the FBI has been going into communities lately and arresting people on fraud, and shit like that, however more needs to be done from them fucking everyone over, and turning everything they touch into a Ghetto.
Bath houses where they fuck each other? What the hell are you talking about?
Serious. They go to gay bath houses.
It's much worse....they rape little boys in bath houses. Here is an article about a rabbi that has made it a mission to help these children. The Hasidic community hates him. http://www.vice.com/read/the-child-rape-assembly-line-0000141-v20n11 Forewarning, this article is depressing as hell.
Fuck Monsey and fuck their Kosher castle.
'Lakewood' sounds so nice! A lake by the woods, but no, it's a shithole.
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Find a nice town immediately outside a military base and you can have 100 shrutebucks
Major cities that would exist without a military base don't count (I'm looking at you San Diego).
Literally my first thought.
Lakewood, CA, was once considered one of the most boring cities in the US.
Most people drive into it, not realizing they're not still in Long Beach.
Source: I live in Lakewood, CA.
Are you implying it is no longer one of the most boring cities in the US?
It's not that bad. There's a lot of cool stuff along Bridgeport at least.
Lakewood Colorado, suburb of Denver is pretty nice. But they have no lakes and no woods.
There's Bear Creek lake and Kendrick lake in Lakewood.
It used to be nice. Until they knocked down all the woods to build their shitty homes. I am sure they are scheming for a way to drain the lake too.
That's not what they did to make it shitty. Most towns in NJ used to be woods, and got developed.
No, what the assholes in Lakewood did was elect themselves to the school board and then voted to cut all funding to the schools (so they don't have to pay property taxes) and then send their kids to private Yeshivas. This isn't new, they did it years ago.
My gf is from Jackson and they are constantly having to fight with the Orthodox Jews over real estate. Apparently they go into neighborhoods and buy a couple houses then pressure surrounding neighbors to move. Once the non-Jewish family moves another Orthodox Jewish family moves in. It's becoming a big problem apparently.
That's why I got the fuck out of Jackson. I felt bad for my neighbors, but I'm not holding on to my house out of spite and risking losing value on my home. I sold my house for way more than it was worth and moved to East Windsor.
I thought my wife was crazy and was disgusted at the seemingly anti-semitic rhetoric that was coming out of her mouth. Until they moved in next door and I saw it was all completely true. We put a sign out front to sell and we were out within 3 months. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever witnessed.
Oh East Windsor! I'm from West Windsor. Yea I think there's some "no-knock" rule to help alleviate the aggressive Realtors.
It wasn't so much they were aggressive as we recognized what was the smart decision for us to make. They pay a premium for the first few houses and then once they gain a foothold in the neighborhood, the sellers lose all their power because nobody wants to buy except other Hasidim and they wind up having to sell their houses at a loss.
Two houses on our block sold and there were 4 more for sale the next street over. We saw the writing on the wall and got out while the getting was good. I was pissed about being chased from my home, but making enough to put 20% down on a house in a nicer area in the country definitely soothed that pain real quick.
I live in one of those neighborhoods and they are walking door to door with check in hand to buy your house. Meanwhile the houses they have already bought they are renting out to lower class families who treat the houses and property like shit to try and drive away the people that have been living there for 20+ years or to also lower the values of the houses themselves.
This is 100% accurate. It's not only sad, but IMO a form of discrimination.
In their opinion, they are "God's Chosen People".
He chose them to suffer. Why do we question their almighty?
Not all of NJ blows :(
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this happens across the country though. I build homes and have had several clients move into really nice gated communities with their own 1.5 mil home and a year or less later they want to move because they cant stand their neighbors constant asinine complaints. they get cops called on them for talking in the backyard with friends. zoning complaints because they have an RV on the side yard. which it accepted by the HOA and CCRs, but people can still complain and get you to remove your property from your own property. its not just religious people who do this, its assholes with nothing better to do that complain about their neighbors.
do they go as far as to blocking some groups from viewing open houses? because thats what the Hasidim communities do, fair housing laws be damned.
the HOA does, with its gates and rules. no entrance without appt. I understand the religious aspect of it. strengthening the stupid to a level of 10 and deliberately taking opportunities away from other people. I'm just saying people do this all over the county just because they are the majority.
I grew up a town over from Lakewood. It's crazy how it's changed over the years.
Frickin Zangarmarsh Naga
It actually began as a part of the Pinelands and had iron bog furnaces until it was turned into a Winter Resort (Grover Cleveland even stayed there). There's a field guide that goes quite into detail the history.
...its been quite the transformative area.
As a resident of the town over, I can confirm this along with them knocking on our doors asking to buy our homes
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I thought it was dangerous to drive there because people cross the road without looking. All. The. Time.
It's not a trip to Lakewood if I didn't almost run over at least three people that decided that with my car barreling down at them at 45mph was the perfect time to step off the curb. Not even at a crosswalk.
My friend moved to Lakewood after he got married. Made it a year and moved back to Manchester because he couldn't stand living there. He has a bunch of horror stories.
I grew up in Howell and I wouldn't even think of driving through Lakewood at night. They wear all black and never look before crossing.
I drive through Lakewood occasionally and can confirm. They just fucking wander out into the street in their all black get up. It's honestly like they're trying to get hit. I've had to slam my brakes on several occasions. I honestly feel bad for the non Orthodox Jews who live in that area. I don't bash people's religions usually but those people typically have no respect for anyone other than people like them. It's a shame.
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I don't blame him. Lakewood is terrible now.
It's nice to see a post here that captures the situation accurately and from a seemingly unbiased opinion. Lakewood has essentially seen a massive immigration of Jews from the New York area (Brooklyn, Queens etc) because they literally have nowhere to expand to in those areas, and where do you go if you move away from New York? Lakewood of course! It's basically Brooklyn 2.0, but cheaper (although I'm not sure it will be that way much longer). The mentality of the expansion of Lakewood has been "move as many people as possible and figure out what to do with all of them later".
My wife and I lived there for a few months when we were first married and I absolutely hated it, and I'm a Jew, albeit not a hassidic one. The concern of transportation was the largest one. Every day it seemed I was inches away from an accident. The people there drive like maniacs with their only concern being getting to their destination as quickly as possible. It doesn't help that the roads simply don't lend themselves to such a population size. There are many issues in Lakewood, too many for me to begin to touch on.
My heart goes out to all those folks who lived in the area before all of this craziness. You, nor the ones you know and love, deserve to be treated as an obstacle that needs to be overcome to provide more space for the exponential growth of the religious Jewish population of Lakewood. At some point the leaders of the community who clearly have a lot of say in how things are run need to put an end to what's going on. These people are making Jews as a whole look far worse than bad.
Once again, on behalf of the Jews that do care, I'm very sorry about what these people are doing to your communities.
Toms River has adopted similar practices with the no knock realtors. Shitty situation all around, in my line of work I deal with many clients in the lakewood area. The fact that I am in my mid 20s and unmarried/no kids really makes them look down on me even harder.
How do they aggressively do door to door stuff? Like just showing up every day saying "sell me your house" and berating you?
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"I'm only renting"
Fellow Jacksonite here.. And you're 100% correct. It's a shame because you can look at lakewoods history and see that it was a once beautiful town... Now it's just a dump and threatening the surrounding areas. It's a shame what they did to all the woods near Blue Claws stadium.. And even the route 70 fleamarket is in danger of being shut down for them.
relevant article Not every day Ocean County makes international headlines!
I've never heard that one before. People in Lakewood are just bad drivers in general, namely due to the fact that the roads were not built to hold the capacity. Last time I was there some guy jumped a stop sign and nearly ran into me. I was fully expecting a black hat behind the wheel and was (pleasantly?) surprised to see a scowling Latino.
Many of the more right-wing Hassidic sects don't allow the women to drive at all. There aren't too many of those in Lakewood, they mostly keep to NY, specifically, Monsey, Monroe, and Brooklyn. I don't think it's a regular thing for Hassidic women to drive without a license, they're probably just constantly in a rush to get from baby sitter to work or whatever.
That's ironically wrong. Among the more religious, (not necessarily Hassidic, a common misconception. Most of Lakewood is actually what is called "Yeshivish") the husband is expected to spend at least the first few years of marriage in a Yeshiva Kollel while the wife is expected to get a job. This leads to a much higher ratio of college educated wives to husbands. Another thing is that men are considered more susceptible to "outside influences" so many are discouraged from seeking degrees.
Maybe it's time for them to create 'settlements' and just take more land. Kinda like homeland Israel.
Lots of folks will scream about the dangers of sharia law but remain completely oblivious to these types of shenanigans, which provably and negatively impact members outside of these Hasidic communities.
To be fair, it also provably and negatively impacts members within the community as their children grow up barely literate if at all in in English and without a lot basic education skills outside of religious scholarship.
What the hell happened to the yeshivas of yesteryear? Hebrew, Yiddish, and English - they turned out students fluent in all three.
Eh - saying that the schools "taught" them Yiddish is like saying that Hispanic communities teach its kids Spanglish - it's taught by family/community interaction.
I edited my post to make it clearer.
I complain about anyone and everyone when they are abusive. Here they are seemingly throwing everyone else and their money "under the bus" to promote their community. It hurts when "my" community is called out too. But facts are facts. If my culture cannot be criticized then it becomes dangerous for me too as it creates bad "neighbor" relations with other communities. I think that's what I meant to say.
Then I went on a tangent about being labelled "neo nazi" if someone complains about the price increase to get Kosher approval. So I will leave it there anyway since the can's been opened:
I've seen news stories about some of the companies I buy food from regularly and they said they just paid 30k a year to have their trucks "blessed". The companies themselves interviewed saw it as some sort of extortion as they could not get into most groceries without this symbol.
I do regularly, as in for years and every week, buy Jewish food products that are excellent. And if those companies choose to be approved, so be it. I am only complaining about being charged extra on everything for a feature I don't want AND the fact companies are strong armed into it. I buy most of my food from small producers. They can't just forget about getting the approval, if they do, some major grocers will simply not carry their products. I think it's unfair as it is not "optional" at all. They have to pay for the approval and then pass that expense along into the retail price.
Kosher is definitely a racket, there's no way around it. It just happens to be a religiously backed racket so people are afraid to criticize it.
This is true. Rabbis endorse the use of certain Hekshires as if there are different levels of Kosher. I was in the Lakewood kosher supermarket just yesterday. 8.50 for a gallon of ice cream as opposed to the Shop rite I went to later that day where it was 1.99. They also blast Yiddish music on the intercom there. Its quite literally Fairy Jew Land.
Oh yes it is. Happily, it is just finally starting to lose power. I'll share with everyone a funny story since we're on this topic.
Long story short, one of these Kosher certification companies, the O-K, found out Kraft was producing Philadelphia cream cheese with bacon in the same facility as the other spreads. Kraft practices strict production methods to ensure equipment is clean and has no cross contamination between products. That allows their other flavors made in that factory to still be Kosher. But Kosher agencies have nothing better to do than to just pray over the food. So when they get to be "Kosher cops" it's an ego booster. They forbade Kraft from proclaiming their non bacon products to be Kosher. When Kraft asked what should be done, the OK felt they should outsource ONE flavor to another facility and be isolated for production. Kraft told them to fuck off, and that they didn't care if their products were no longer Kosher.
Well, I guess money is greater than religious pride. Because the O-K returned to Kraft and gave their Kosher certifications back, and allowed them to produce this bacon cream cheese in the same facility.
It's really funny, because for as much talk as these guys bring to the food industry about Kosher, money (or lack of it) made them rethink their religious teachings.
It's a house of cards and they didn't want to push over that first card.
I came here to point out that if this was a Muslim community and private Muslim schools, the right-wing would lose their fucking shit.
Because if you say anything negative about anyone Jewish, even these Hasidic parasite people, you're an anti-Semite.
The ADL or Bnai Brith will come down on your ass like the hammer of God.
My family has had a summer home cabin in a private community in the Catskills area since around 1900. Starting around the 1920s, the surrounding area became the summer retreat area for all the Hasidic Jews who live in NYC/tri-state area, and holy shit are they awful. They pack several large families into their bungalows that are all owned by their church, so no taxes are paid. The men like to eye-fuck the shit out of any girl I've ever had the unfortunate need to walk around Walmart with. They suck ass.
Fuck that shit. They're private schools and they're demanding the state pays all the costs of bussing their privileged little brats to and from them?
Not only would I have told them to fuck off, I would have doubled the prices just for the hell of it.
Don't move to NYC, you will be so mad at the things that happen here.
women getting kicked off city buses because they're segregated and the women should have known better
parks built with city money, forced segregation based on sex that is enforced by the local Hasidic community
kids not even being taught English or math in their schools
etc etc etc all day long
It's such a mind fuck to move here and see the ridiculous shenanigans these people are allowed to get away with.
Edit typo
How do they force segregation in parks? I would fight against this if true.
Thankfully its been resolved, but basically most the me in the community don't work, so they just hang around the park and harass people for letting their kids play in the park.
http://gothamist.com/2014/03/31/an_allegedly_gender-segregated_park.php
If I was harassed for taking my kid to the park I'd tell them to go chew on some foreskin.
That's a different park.
I would go there just to fight. That sounds like fun, I'd like to be on the right side for a change.
So we're worried about Sharia law taking over?
gotta call bullshit on those first two. I live in crown heights literally on the same block as a hascidic community, and have lived in NYC my whole life. No buses or parks are being segregated lol.
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/20/141559320/controversy-erupts-over-sex-segregated-brooklyn-bus
Google things before insisting they're bullshit, yeah?
I heard about the bus in Brooklyn thing when I first moved here, the park thing didn't happen in NYC. I'm surprised people didn't hear about the park thing though. It was all over local news (WNYC and the gothamist).
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/nyregion/bus-segregation-of-jewish-women-prompts-review.html?referer=&_r=0
Lol what? I've lived in New York City (forest hills queens) all my life and I've never heard of any of that happening and it's a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.
It's only certain orthodox sects.
Hasids
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The wall just got ten feet higher.
I am not Jewish and/or Atheist but I live in the town right next to these people. They are, without a doubt, the most annoying and disrespecting people I've ever had a run in.
There was a This American Life episode about what is happening in this town in late 2014. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/534/a-not-so-simple-majority.
That article is for East Ramapo, NY. But they have a very similar situation.
Maybe if you didn't have nearly every adult man work as a Rabbi you would be able to afford to have private buses.
I think if we can "tax the churches" this would definitely change.
*Synagogues but point taken haha
Same shit right? Both empty with an imaginary friend. :)
One imaginary friend as opposed to "three imaginary friends who are also all the same imaginary friend?"
True, thou it doesn't matter since they are all imaginary right?
Orthodox Jews are very Republican and this is a good example of an America during a Trump presidency.
Probably because it's all they're qualified for when they have no real education that can be utilized in the real world.
If that's the case, how do they make a living?
I hear the woman work and men go on welfare.
There's a This American Life episode about this http://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/534/a-not-so-simple-majority
That was an excellent episode, if not pretty infuriating.
I previously lived in Howell and Jackson (bordering towns) and now live in Toms River. Not only have they done this in Lakewood, they're increasingly trying to spread into these neighboring towns to pull the same stunt.
Its insane.
Let's say the average teacher/counselor makes 35K a year. 71 X 35 = 2,485,000. Why in the fuck would it cost 2.5 million dollars to shuttle kids to their PRIVATE school? I'm Jewish and this shit pisses me the fuck off. If you've got the cash to put your kid in a private school, you've got the cash to find away for them to get to school.
That's really the heart of the matter. Private school is private. If you choose to pay for it, transport is part of the bill.
Where I grew up, the kids from a local Catholic school and high end private school rode the public school buses from their neighborhood to the public school. At the public school, the private schools picked the kids up with small buses they owned and operated. I always thought this was a reasonable compromise.
By all means, keep reducing education. Solid plan.
Holey Moley.
The state of New Jersey requires the busing, and the local school board insists that buses be segregated by gender and religion. So a single bus route may have 4 buses: male-Jews, female-Jews, male-non-Jews, and female-non-Jews.
almost. the non jews ride together, only the jews need to be gender segregated.
Sounds like unconstitutional discrimination based on gender and religion to me. Wonder if anyone's brought a court challenge.
thank goodness its only 3 fucking routes instead of 4
Obviously the jewish ones are incapable of policing themselves. /s
You think this is bad? Look up Orthodox participation in the FCC’s e-rate program.
These schools have been charging the universal service fund for millions of dollars a year by charging for "distance learning," "toll reselling," and fiber optic installations for funding to schools that oppose all forms of modern technology.
Think I'm exaggerating?
Let's use "Daas Media" in Howell, NJ as an example.
They have received over $200,000 in the last three years from the universal service fund for fiber optic installations to Orthodox schools in Brooklyn, Monroe, and Lakewood and only to Orthodox schools in Brooklyn, Monroe, and Lakewood.
The only problem? Try to find them. Seriously. Go to Google right now and try to find an actual record of Daas Media in Howell, NJ.
You can look up their FCC registration forms--Their address goes to an auto body shop in New Jersey.
Well, maybe they've moved addresses, so try to find their website--It's a high bandwidth internet service provider, they should have a net presence, right?
Seriously, go and look.
Boxes stacked upon boxes that lead directly to “work performed” only in the Orthodox community of New Jersey and Brooklyn.
You can look up New Jersey's erate participation and it's crazy--tons of invisible corporations funnelling public funds meant for poor communities to provide internet access and telephone service to children into the pockets of Luddite zealots.
Just try to find any of these corporations.
There were FBI raids over this just recently. People are finally going to prison over it.
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actually they win by going out and voting in mass...you know like people are supposed to do.
Man, Orthodox Jews are a bunch of assholes. You literally never hear anything good about them. (This is anti-strict religious interpretation, not anti-jewish. I've known many normal Jewish people and they're all lovely, or at least the exact shade of asshole as everyone else.)
My ex girlfriend was Jewish and even she said she couldn't stand the Orthodox and Hasidim. Most people find them incredibly obnoxious, because they ARE incredibly obnoxious. For their insular nature they have a strange tendency of insisting that everyone accommodate their needs.
Makes me sad to read this :(. But I guess despite all the facts about "Chillul Hashem" (a sin to misbehave, reflecting badly on all Jews) drilled into us since childhood didn't get to the 5% that are the loudest.
I just read the article. Was quite confusing but I got the idea that the bussing thing was one of many cuts as they appear to have a budgeting issue. This title seems a little misleading.
The article seems to say the state cut the busing and everything else. It's not the Hasidim on the school board (if any) doing it.
Yeah, some additional context would have been very helpful. Most of the post title didn't seem to actually be included in the article.
Fuck them. They either pay higher taxes, throw in for their own bus service or don't get the service.
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Unfortunately, that is 100% true, but if you dared tell them that to their face you would be the anti-semite
Can we talk about that website for a second? Because I think there was about 7 pixels somewhere where they didn't put a banner ad.
Well the trade-off is that they create a self-fulfilling stereotype of being shady, cheap and manipulative. They disgrace the integrity of regular Jewish people and help chisel away at American good-will towards Israel.
Seriously, can they be more stereotypical?
From my very limited experience, Orthodox Jews seem to be where all jewish stereotypes are embraced whole heartedly.
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I guess if you're going to do something, do it all the way.
Live near Lakewood, seriously fuck the Orthodox and Hasidic communities here.
Maybe if they paid some taxes they'd have to right to request for that but ...
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
I work in Lakewood and the lengths that they go to please the jews is ridiculous. This was a major issue last year and the jews decision since they didnt get there way was for everyone to drive their own car with their kids to school. So the mom would drive one kid and the dad would drive the other kids. Their idea was to have as many cars on the road to inconvenience all the other people who had to drive through the town.
Wow, that's some fucking horseshit.
Right? If they paid taxes I could understand them having a right to request that.
But do they even pay taxes?
From Ocean County and can confirm, this is only a small example. They are now "annexing" parts of neighboring Toms River and Jackson. Members of the Orthodox community that are realtors pounce on properties and only sell to other Jewish people. Lakewood is the center of crime in the county. It is impoverished, gang ridden, and the epicenter of the drug problem in Ocean and Monmouth Counties. The town is going broke due to the Orthodox not paying any taxes. Everything they own is exempt. So no money coming in to help its self, forcing the crime and the Orthodox out to the surrounding area. Its a vicious circle started by the right to not pay taxes because of their believe in a two millennia old fairy tale. Sickening
As a Jew, sometimes I really hate Jews.
Hasidic communities are the worst.
Orthodox Jews give Judaism a bad name.
Every time I see one of these stories I feel the need to point out that it is bullshit that these people are choosing to be part of a community and are taking away from that community. Yes they pay taxes into the public education system, however, this does not mean they deserve to get any of that funding. You don't get to pick and choose what parts of the community you support, you are either a part of it, or you are not.
The reverse is of course also true, anyone who lives in these Hasidim communities should be serving the entire public as well, but public funds should not be going to private schools, the Hasidim population in Lakewood and in Ramapos is intentionally hijacking and separating itself, taking public funds and violating the principle of a separated state and church. Public funds need to serve the public, not just the controlling majority.
To be perfectly honest, in a decades time this community will be strictly Hasidim, and will suffer the consequences of not trying to help their public instead of themselves. Their lack of real education will be their eventual downfall, and I feel bad for their community because they're too blind to see what's headed their way.
I don't deserve access to funds I put into welfare, just like they don't deserve funds that go into public education.
I clicked the link and thought I was on r/crappydesign. That site is too painful to look at.
I think I heard a story about this place on NPR a couple years ago. Basically, Jewish religious fundamentalists had managed to take over the school board, but since they oppose public education, and their own kids all go to private school, the public school system there is being methodically fucked.
Ahh, yes, here it is: A Not-So-Simple Majority
Just goes to show how religion has no business in government, and religious fundamentalists are dicks no matter what the religion.
Had them try to buy my parents house with the aggressive door knocking. My parents didn't want to make any deals they weren't ready to move or sell. Anyway not long after their repeated attempts to convince them someone vandalized their property. They went on the front yard one evening and someone took the birdbath and threw it against the house. I still lived there at the time and it happened literally seconds before I got home from work. I wish I saw them do it, I would have probably rear ended the assholes to make them pay. It would have been a bad choice of course and its fortunate I didn't see it happen, but it might have been worth wrecking their car and having them arrested (I know I would have probably been arrested too and probably be in more trouble) but at the time I might not have cared since my father was dying from cancer and suffering from all the pain. I was so angry... I don't know if it was Jews who did it, merely a suspicion, but if it wasn't one of them it was quite the coincidence.
You know why they get to do this in the first place? These people were smart enough to just got out and vote. They actually understood the system they live in, and then worked within it to achieve their desired outcome. They didn't break any laws, they didn't "seize power and demand free stuff", and they didn't try to shout down or suppress any opposition. They just voted, and now they can do as they please in their community because they voted.
Seriously though, if the other residents don't like it, they should have voted to stop it.
I have to disagree. Democracy shouldn't be a winner-takes-all system. If this community makes up a majority of voters, they still shouldn't make life worse for the minority groups in their community. Yes, we have majority rule, but that doesn't mean we lack compassion, neighborliness, community, and a sense of the greater good being served by voters and public officials. If everyone worked this way, this whole country would suck.
I've often heard Democracy described as "representing the majority, while protecting the minority". This is why certain things are put to a vote, other things only come in front a judge, and even some things are out of the question entirely. For example, we made pot legal in Colorado by simply voting for it. But, we would never vote to resolve a trial, or vote to remove constitutional rights.
Like it or not, but society has decided that the way our school system works is something we vote on. And these people did vote, and so they got what they wanted.
More like their rabbi told them how to vote and they did it.
Being the monolithic group helps, but you could see how it can alienate other people.
Chris St. Lawrence practically buses them out himself to vote when he's up for re-election. Everyone non-religious in the area hates him.
that's not the point he was making. The point is, going out and VOTING is what did this. If >50% of the population doesn't want this to happen, then go vote it out.
What if the religious group in the community makes up more than 52%? Does that mean they get to vote to defund the secular schools that other kids still need?
Well, a lot of people don't care about schools since they don't have children or children are old enough, so they don't vote on this issue or don't care enough.
Voting in a group on issues gives you a lot of power - it will be much harder to get the same support through democratic process, you would need to rally the cause a lot.
Ahh....yeah they do. Fraud is against the law. ignoring housing & zoning laws is against the law.
They're definitely smart...but don't for a second paint them simply as people who "just figured out the system."
And it's not just Lakewood or attacks on the school system.
Now, non Jews are getting pressured to sell their homes by guess who?
And the anti-semitism card has been played again.
Americans should feel secure in their homes. I think that's a big deal in the Constitution, actually.
Edit: Vanquished a wildly incorrect statement
I'd say it's ethnic or religious harassment, but in no way is it terrorism
No. We don't call pressure terrorism. Terrorism is a word with a specific meaning; when we start using it to label anything we don't particularly like, we're edging into a very bad place.
Pressuring people to sell their homes is slimy, and we should oppose it, but it's not terrorism and we shouldn't say that it is.
I gotta say, I don't understand exactly how this is religion-related. Can someone help me out?
Its a long, horrible story. > http://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/534/a-not-so-simple-majority
tldr - cult religion takes over a township politics and screws everyone else.
orthodox jews are fucking cancer
Demand free buses is not how you privatise.
Lakewood was the worst, this is just one example. I literally could not stand these people. It always made me smile when they would drive their beat down cars to neighbouring cites and watch them get pulled over and cited for their unsafe vehicles.
The Jews hate grass, they always have.
As a religious Jew, fuck dat shit
They only care about themselves...
These Orthodox clusters make any town they live in a shit hole.