The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Ridgewood NJ, the Taliban-led Afghan government has officially enacted stringent new laws that further suppress the rights of women, banning their voices and bare faces in public. This move is rooted in a 2022 decree by the country’s spiritual leader and signals a significant escalation in the enforcement of the Taliban’s notorious “vice and virtue” morality laws.
Continue reading Taliban Implements Harsh New Laws Silencing Women in Afghanistan
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Ridgewood NJ, Adam Compain grew up in Ridgewood and I’m a former Maroon soccer player (from 1991 – 2004). His father Daniel Compain and he started www.SENDcharity.org
Continue reading Sending Thousands of Articles of Pre-owned Equipment from Ridgewood Residents to kids in Need Around the World
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Washington DC, the revelation this week by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that thousands of U.S. green card holders have been left behind in Afghanistan has voters worried that these Americans will become Taliban hostages, and most agree it is a “national humiliation.”
Continue reading Voters Agree, Leaving Americans Behind in Afghanistan Is a ‘National Humiliation’
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Ridgewood NJ, The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was so badly handled that President Joe Biden should resign because of it, according to a majority of voters. However, most don’t think Vice President Kamala Harris is qualified to replace Biden if he leaves office.
Continue reading 52% of Voters Think Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan Withdrawal
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Ramsey NJ, 2022 U.S. Republican House Candidate Frank Pallotta (NJ-05), today issued the following statement in response to recent events in Afghanistan including the tragic and avoidable deaths and injuries of US military men and women in a synchronized series of suicide attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan.
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Kabul, Afghanistan, Twelve Americans were killed on Thursday in two suicide bombings around the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have been working to evacuate thousands of U.S. and Afghan civilians.
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Ridgewood NJ, with the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, a majority of voters now believe America is less safe than it was before the 9/11 attacks two decades ago.
Continue reading Most Voters Say America Is Not Safer Than It Was Before 9/11
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Afghanistan, across the United States and around the world, we have watched the events in Afghanistan unfold as Americans and Afghans who assisted the United States seek to leave the country.
photo NJ Congressman Van Drew
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Washington DC, NJ Congressman Van Drew issued the following statement on the current situation in Afghanistan, “President Biden’s decision to simply hand Afghanistan back to the Taliban after almost twenty years to the day since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, will go down as one of the most shocking and embarrassing failures of leadership in American history,” said Congressman Van Drew. “It is a slap in the face to not only our NATO allies and the Afghan people who stood shoulder to shoulder with us in the fight for Freedom, but to the thousands of Americans and coalition forces who sacrificed their lives and limbs to defeat the Taliban and liberate Afghanistan in the first place. Whether it is China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran – friend and foe alike are taking notice of the Biden Administration’s weakness and will only be emboldened in the days, weeks, and months to come.”
Continue reading Congress poised to Grill Biden officials Over Afghanistan Implosion
photo courtesy of Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi
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Twp of Washington NJ, a 33-year-old American soldier from Bergen County was killed in combat Monday in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said. The Taliban claimed they were behind a fatal roadside bombing in northern Kunduz province.
In a statement Monday night, the Pentagon identified the casualty as Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Goble of Washington Township. Goble was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi said on Facebook
“Today I found out Westwood and Washington Township lost another son, brother, father while fighting for the US military in Afghanistan. While most of us are sitting down to Christmas dinner trying not to argue about trivial things with relatives we haven’t seen in a while, Michael Goble’s family will be meeting his body on the tarmac as he returns 3 weeks early from his fourth and final tour of duty. Michael was a 2004 Westwood High School graduate who grew up in Township. A member of special ops, this was his fourth and last tour of duty in Afghanistan. Please say a prayer for him and his family during this incredibly sad time and thank him for making the ultimate sacrifice for us all.”
“Kevin Yali proved that service is a lifetime calling. Having honorably served four deployments in the United States Navy, he knew he had more to give. Sadly we have now learned that he gave his life while protecting U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan. We are all moved by the words of his family and friends, which tell of his kind and selfless nature. We should all be equally moved to exemplify them.
“Tammy and I send our condolences to the Yali family, Kevin’s many friends, and the communities of Midland Park and Paterson.
Disheartened N.J. veterans, families wonder if the sacrifice in Iraq, Afghanistan was worth it
JUNE 12, 2014, 6:30 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2014, 11:45 PM
BY MATTHEW MCGRATH, JIM NORMAN AND ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD
Discouragement. Sadness. Renewed heartache for lives lost. Resignation: that feeling of having known from the start how it would end.
And all of it profoundly felt.
The full-blown Islamist offensive in Iraq is sparking those feelings, and more, in North Jersey veterans and families who sacrificed time and blood to a sense of patriotic duty in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are keeping close watch on the situation — and are wholly disappointed with the failure of American-trained and -equipped government forces.
Related: Obama: US will send fresh help to beleaguered Iraq
“This is a prime example of what failing to complete a mission looks like, and this is what Afghanistan will look like in the future,” said Matt Bombace, a former Marine infantry sergeant who fought in Iraq in 2005 and at 27 is the youngest man to serve as commander of the Washington Elm VFW Post 192 in Ridgewood.
But more to the emotional point for many was the reaction of John Walter Wroblewski of Jefferson, who has visited the spot in Iraq where his Marine son, John Thomas, was fatally shot in 2004.
“Did our sons die in vain?” Wroblewski, the longtime athletic director at Palisades Park High School, wondered. “I am extremely proud of my son. I am proud of what he did. All the blood that was spilled just in taking Ramadi, and here we are giving it back. It’s just disheartening.”
Related: Iraq Sunni militant group vows to march on Baghdad
Dozens of North Jersey men died between the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the U.S. departure in 2011. Thousands of New Jerseyans in active duty, reserve and National Guard units fought there, in Afghanistan or both. The largest combat deployment of the state’s National Guard since World War II — 2,900 from the “Jersey Blues” 50th Infantry Brigade Combat team — was in Iraq in 2008.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/disheartened-n-j-veterans-families-wonder-if-the-sacrifice-in-iraq-afghani
