Out of Toilet Paper? This Local Newspaper Can Help!
The four constitutional amendments needed to save America, and what happens when the local newspaper (again) fails to do its job. (And yes, there is a possible toilet paper shortage coming.
You guys want to see something hilarious?
Pictured Above: Y’all. The New York Post is “left-wing” now.
This is how stupid the MAGA Nazis are. They will tell you their own Conservative publications are “left-wing” if it challenges their narrative. Please do not engage with the MAGA Nazis. If you see me doing it, remember: I think it’s fun. I’m like a Pig in Shit with these people.
But I don’t recommend you do what I do. The MAGA Nazis will either find their way out of the cult’s bottle or they won’t. They can’t be argued with. They can’t be reasoned with. The fever will not break. There’s nothing you can do for them.
You just have to work around them. That’s the secret to beating them. When the MAGA Nazis talk about NPCs (non-playable characters), they’re telling you what they are. So listen to them.
And if the MAGA Nazis do show up to your non-violent protest and get aggressive? You film them. You take pictures. You identify them to your group. You ensure others know who that person is, and you identify them as a specific threat to your health and safety. If you bring your smartphones to a protest, first make sure they’re charged. Second, make sure you’re ready to record.
“Your honor, this man came to provoke a confrontation at our non-violent protest. Here is evidence that he attempted to instigate violence through his behavior. I feared for my safety, so I recorded this video/took this picture to warn my friends and neighbors of the threat he posed.”
What is he — and it’s almost always going to be a he — going to do about that? Sue you? On what grounds? That he didn’t say or threaten you with the things they said and threatened you with in your recording? Good luck telling that to a judge!
My friends, listen closely: Absolute truth is a defense against libel and slander. Remember that. Write it down somewhere. It will probably be important to you as this national emergency intensifies. Because as these protests increase, the MAGA Nazis are going to get aggressive. Film them.
And, yes. There is a potential toilet paper shortage. Trump’s tariffs created the situation. It’s not a joke. Just ask the people from that very “left-wing” Bloomberg publication.
If you’re pissed off, and want to do something about all this, there’s a place for you to be locally on May 17th at 1 pm. Over at the corner of 17M and Lake Street in the Village of Monroe. Rain or shine.
And if you don’t live in this area? I got good news. Because on June 14th, there will be another nationwide mass mobilization against the Trump regime. (Details on the location of that event in Southern Orange County are still to come. Also: Trump is going to be in our area at the end of May, but I do not advise being where he is. That’s a big mistake. He wants there to be trouble wherever he goes. It’s part of the Conservative Ecosystem’s Gotcha narrative I told you about here. “Look at those radical left lunatics!” Nope. Don’t play that game.
You do NOT NEED to confront him head-on to win. All you need to do is hold an event with a larger crowd size nearby. Because we all know how much crowd size matters to him.
The June 14th national event, as well as the May 17th local event in Monroe, are non-partisan, pro-democracy, and welcoming to Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike. These are not radical groups. These are your friends and neighbors who have had enough of both the MAGA Nazis and the Schumer Democrats.
Both are a problem. Repeat after me: Both are a problem. Because when you mention these protests, there’s always someone who says “But the Democrats suck!” They’re right. The Democrats do suck. Here’s the latest example.
But. The MAGA Nazis are an immediate existential threat. The Democrats are the threat to making the changes we need to ensure this never happens again. When you fight a fire, you put out the flames first. Then you prosecute the arsonists. There’s an order of operations here that we can’t lose sight of.
MAGA does not represent all Republicans. MAGA is a traitorous, un-American movement that needs to be eradicated. We will only accomplish that goal together, through frequent, non-violent mass actions culminating in a general strike. Sooner, rather than later. But one thing at a time. We have a lot of work to do to get to that general strike and make it successful.
The only way to end the threat to our Democracy — which has grown and mutated in various forms throughout American history dating back to the 1850s — is through four Constitutional Amendments.
28th Amendment, aka the We the People Amendment: The overturning of Citizens United. This means no more corporate money in elections. Good news, this one has been introduced to Congress. You can, and should, demand that your congressional representative co-sponsor it. In our region, Congressman Pat Ryan (a Democrat) and Congressman Mike Lawler (a Republican) are not yet co-sponsors. So we have work to do locally.
29th Amendment, aka the No Kings Amendment: The overturning of Trump V. Anderson and Trump v. United States. This guarantees that a president CAN be prosecuted for their “official acts” and that you are automatically disqualified from ever running for office if you commit insurrection. In Trump V. Anderson, the Supreme Court ruled that this disqualification is up to Congress, which is how we got into the mess we’re in now with Trump. Trump V. United States prevents President Trump from being prosecuted for numerous, ongoing crimes. For example, ignoring a 9-0 Supreme Court decision to return someone with legal permission to be here, from the first Trump administration, from a taxpayer-funded Concentration Camp. And yes, CECOT meets the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s definition of Concentration Camp. If you don’t like that, feel free to take it up with the Holocaust Museum. I’m sure they’ll love to hear how you think your Nazi shit is different from that Nazi shit.
30th Amendment, which has no fancy name because I’m the only schmuck suggesting it: The creation of term limits for Congress, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. This amendment would also outlaw gerrymandering and guarantee the right to all American citizens to a ballot in state and federal elections by mail. Because remember kids, there’s no such thing as a Red State. There are States where people can vote (mostly) without issue, and States where they can’t. For example, Houston is soon to be America’s third-largest city. Yet Texas is Ground Zero for some of the craziest MAGA Shit. Gerrymandering and Voter Suppression are the reasons why.
31st Amendment: This is an adaptation of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights, proposed in 1944 during his State of the Union Address. MAGA hates FDR because he defeated their favorite sports team: The Nazi party. This amendment would guarantee the right to adequate medical care and an adequate income to all Americans, both of which were proposed by FDR in 1944. How? By providing all citizens the right to opt into Medicare, the expansion of Medicaid coverage to all children under eighteen years of age, and the expansion of Social Security payments to every American over 18 years of age. How do you pay for it? This amendment would include a constitutional mandate to fully fund and staff the federal government and agencies like the IRS. Remember again, friends, $1T (that’s Trillion with a T) goes uncollected by wealthy deadbeats and corporations each year. Why? Because the IRS is not appropriately staffed or funded to go after them. So the IRS goes after you instead because it takes less time and money for them to do so. If you hate the IRS, remember that’s by design. They want you to hate it. Here’s proof: The government could send you a postcard with how much you owe, and ask you how you want to pay it. In fact, we had a program that would do just that. But wouldn’t you know it, Intuit gave Trump a $1M as part of his inauguration event, and Trump killed that program. This way, TurboTax can continue taking your money every year to do something that was free.
That all sounds hard, right? And it is. But. Constitutional amendments happened way faster than you think. Change is not impossible. MAGA Nazis and the Schumer Democrats only want you to believe that it is. Imagining a better future, and demanding the things you want, brings us one step closer to making this happen.
If we all get off the Internet and out in the street to protest? You can make this happen. Way faster than you think.
When nearly ten million people are consistently out in the street, and we saw that many people out last month for the Hands Off event, you won’t believe how fast we can get shit done.
Who Needs Toilet Paper When You Have The Photo-News?
Above: Another misleading banger from Straus News. We’ll break down the problems with this article below. But here we’ll highlight that last part, where The Photo-News downplayed very real concerns about medication shortages. Instead of saying, “Sotiropoulos claiming that tariffs imposed by Trump will impact supplies,” the reporter, Gail B. Hoffer-Loibl, could have elaborated on Sotiropoulos’s claim with less than five minutes using Google. Then Gail could have said, “This claim by Sotiropoulos is echoed by industry experts, according to CNBC.” Mrs. Sotiropoulos isn’t making the claim. She is echoing the claim reported by national media outlets.
You’ll also notice The Photo-News didn’t run any pictures from the Monroe Indivisible Event on May 3rd. Instead again saying, “Sotiropoulos claimed.” This is a worrying trend across the national media, where the corporate media is downplaying these events.
Dear Gail, I know from personal experience that you are paid less than $50 to write articles for Jean Straus’s newspaper. I understand the pressure to produce content as quickly as possible to make ends meet. I’ve been there. But I also believe there’s a moment here, and we all need to rise to meet it. That didn’t happen with this article.
Now, listen. I already wrote a story about how bad Straus News is with their local newspapers this month. And here we are only ten days into May with another example.
Unfortunately, since The Monroe Gazette started, we’ve had to issue fact checks on Jean Straus’s The Photo-News regularly. The reason is simple: The Photo-News is the only print publication distributed to the homes of many community members. Since Southern Orange County has an elderly population, a lot of residents depend on The Photo-News and its sister publications, like The Chronicle, for their information.
So when Straus News fucks up, and it does a lot, we feel publisher Jean Straus and Photo-News Editor Lisa Reider do irreparable harm to the community. This is a national emergency. The absolute minimum isn’t good enough from any media organization, especially when asking people for a $150+ non-tax-deductible gift like Straus News does.
So. The least your friends at The Monroe Gazette can do is correct the record. You may not like what we have to say. You may not like how we say it (see: The two Boomers mad at me for referencing “Clerks” in this story), but we’ll always tell you the truth.
And the truth is, if and when this toilet paper shortage happens, you can at least count on The Photo-News to deliver an alternative right to your house.
How To (Actually) Report A Story
I hear stuff all the time that I don’t publish. Let me give you an example. Recently, you were all introduced to Alex “Nice Toes” Rivera. After we published our story, a few Monroe Village residents got in touch. They claimed Mr. Rivera was the reason an informal arrangement between the Village of Monroe and residents living around Mombasha Lake ended. We’ve previously covered how residents around the Lake were abusing a water source that 20,000 people depended on for drinking water. Long story short, the Village of Monroe gets its drinking water from the Lake and, correctly, doesn’t want anyone fucking with their water supply. Something in short supply in our area.
However, according to these residents, there was an informal agreement for decades. Basically, if the Village of Monroe didn’t know about it, and you lived on Lake Mombasha? You could do whatever you wanted.
According to the residents we spoke with, that arrangement ended after an incident involving Mr. Alex Rivera. They claimed Mr. Rivera was wakeboarding on Lake Mombasha at the same time the Village was treating the water with chemicals, putting Mr. Rivera’s health and safety at risk. Whether or not Mr. Rivera thought the chemicals would give him superpowers is unknown. Like his friend Convicted Felon Timothy Mitts, Alex Rivera blocked us on Facebook. So, we are unable to reach him for comment on this story.
So, I did what any reporter is supposed to do. I spoke to the residents. I called the Mayor of the Village of Monroe, Neil Dwyer, and I attempted to reach Mr. Rivera. Since I could not get a comment from the Mayor on this specific issue, and I could not reach Mr Rivera for his side of the story, I decided I didn’t have enough for publication.
(Although I will say, I did get a quote from a source with direct knowledge on this specific situation involving Mr. Rivera, which is why I’m comfortable sharing this story with you.)
So, I moved on to the next thing. That’s how this is supposed to work. You talk to all the people involved when you can. If you’re good at your job as a journalist, it takes less than half an hour of your time. You gather your information, you make your phone calls, and then you make a decision. Is there enough here for a story?
Do you need to talk to all of the people involved? No. Should you? Yes.
Another example, this one involves the above Photo-News story.
At this week’s Monroe Town Board meeting, Councilwoman Dorey Houle delayed providing authorization to New York State Assemblyman Karl Brabenec to introduce legislation on behalf of the Town. That legislation would introduce a Hotel/Motel/AirBnB tax that would help the Town get out of the financial mess Dorey Houle and Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone put it in.
So, here’s what we emailed the Assemblyman:
Assemblyman Brabenec,
At the 5/5/25 Town of Monroe Board meeting, a resolution authorizing you to introduce legislation concerning the Town's Hotel/Motel tax was delayed for unknown reasons.
Concern was expressed that delaying this authorization may delay or otherwise hamper your ability to introduce this legislation because of the Assembly getting backed up with other work.
The Town, despite this concern, went ahead and delayed the authorization until May 19th.
I am writing to request comment as to whether or not you believe this delay by the Town of Monroe Board will hamper your ability to introduce this legislation in the Assembly?
Assemblyman Karl Brabenec wrote us back, fairly quickly might we add, and said:
We cannot introduce a local bill until that request has been authorized by a majority of the members of the town board by resolution. Once that resolution has passed, we are authorized to introduce a bill and receive a bill number. The town board would then have to pass another resolution authorizing the supervisor and town clerk to sign home rule paperwork that indicates the bill numbers for both the Assembly and the Senate. The last day of session is scheduled for the middle of June. As time progresses, it gets extremely difficult to get these bills through committee and onto the floor for a vote. The sooner we get the paperwork the better.
Note that in the above Photo-News story, nobody bothered to speak to the Assemblyman.
After The Monroe Gazette did so, I then emailed Councilwoman Dorey Houle and Councilman Sal Scancerello, who both voted to delay providing this authorization, potentially jeopardizing a source of badly needed revenue for the Town:
Mrs. Houle and Mr. Scancarello,
I've been in touch with Assemblyman Brabenec, who reiterated Councilwoman Richardson's concerns about delaying the authorization for the Hotel/Motel tax legislation.
There does not seem to be a good explanation here for your delay at this week's meeting beyond you both and/or Mr. Cardone simply don't want to provide the authorization to the Assemblyman.
Either because you're afraid it'll cost you votes, or you want to deprive the Town of additional revenue to alleviate a fiscal crisis you and Mr. Cardone caused.
I am writing to request clarification on why exactly you and Mr. Scancarello decided to vote against approving this authorization.
Neither replied.
But do you see how different The Photo-News story would have been had anyone bothered to contact the Assemblyman?
But that wasn’t the only problem with this story ...
One Last Thing …
One thing we do know for sure is that neither the reporter, Gail B. Hoffer-Loibl, and Editor, Lisa Reider, contacted Councilwoman Maureen Richardson about either the Assembly authorization or the situation involving Convicted Felon Timothy Mitts. Had either bothered to do so, they would have learned — like we did – that the statement read by Councilwoman Richardson at the meeting was, according to the Councilwoman, provided to her by the Town Attorney, Brian Nugent.
Here’s why this is a big deal.
If you’re new, or one of those people who just don’t read everything we write — ouch, by the way — this is the story: Convicted Felon Mitts is suing the Town of Monroe. Every day that this lawsuit continues, it costs town residents money. Mitts served the Town of Monroe back in July of 2023, nearly six months before Councilwoman Richardson was sworn in as a member of the Town Board.
Mitts, a convicted felon charged by the federal government for using deceptive accounting practices — among other charges — is running for Town Supervisor. Mitts wants voters to put him in charge of the Town’s multimillion-dollar budget. If you think that’s a great idea, you just might be a MAGA Nazi. Since those are the people who tend to like Mitt’s content on Facebook. Seriously. Look at the people in the Monroe and Woodbury Facebook groups who respond to anti-Trump posts with laughing emojis—a MAGA Nazi tactic. Then look at the people who like Tim Mitts’s posts. You’ll see the overlap for yourself.
Although! We did find one interesting exception. Town of Monroe Vice Chair of the Democratic Committee, Peggy Kazdan, liked one of these deranged Mittsiverse posts too. That, to us, lends credence to our hypothesis that Mitts is attacking Richardson on behalf of David Rabbitts. Richardson’s Primary opponent in June for the Democratic ballot line, whom we’ve been told, Kazdan supports.
Pictured Above: Convicted Felon Timothy Mitts again, falsely, claims that the Councilwoman is avoiding his subpoenas. Town of Monroe Vice Chair of the Democratic Committee, Peggy Kazdan, liked this post for reasons we can only speculate on. Until we speak to Mrs. Kazdan herself. (Mrs. Kazdan was contacted for comment prior to the publication of this story. We will update this post if she would like to provide us with a comment.)
Now, we’ve well established that Jean Straus will shape editorial coverage of the Town of Monroe to Tony Cardone’s whim. So the fact that Supervisor Cardone was quoted in an article about a meeting he did not attend, and was allowed to take a swipe at his likely political opponent this Fall — without notation that Cardone would likely face Richardson in Novemebr— did not shock us. (We also found it funny that Cardone was missing at the same Town meeting where a rabies vaccine clinic was announced. That can’t be a coincidence, can it?)
But here’s what did shock us. The Cardone quote says, “anything she [Richardson] says should be met with skepticism.” I could tell you Cardone is a compulsive liar. You can hear an example of that here. You can read this example here. And here’s another. I mean, The Monroe Gazette back catalog is filled with fact-based reporting to demonstrate this claim. We can say before any judge that Tony Cardone is a compulsive liar. That’s not shocking. That’s what MAGA and their people do. They tell you what they’re doing by accusing their opponent of that behavior.
But what was shocking was that, as crazy as Tim Mitts is, the odds are good Supervisor Tony Cardone did something to merit the lawsuit against the Town in the first place. Cardone is going to testify soon in court. So, let’s say Councilwoman Richardson is correct here. That Town Attorney Brian Nugent gave her a statement to read at the Town Board meeting. Why would Supervisor Cardone cast doubt on a statement, provided by the Town Attorney, involving this lawsuit? One would think the Supervisor would want to put the best interests of Town taxpayers ahead of scoring political points against his rivals, right?
Don’t you think that’s something The Photo-News could have asked? Had they taken the time to speak to the Town attorney about a lawsuit against the Town, which Richardson was commenting on. Or with Councilwoman Richardson, about the statement that she made? I mean that’s Journalism 101. Town in lawsuit. Councilperson comments on lawsuit. Let’s talk to the Councilperson and the attorney for comment.
Neither thing happened.
Why? Well, this is just speculation since neither Mrs. Straus and Mr. Cardone respond to requests for comment by The Monroe Gazette: Jean Straus wanted to do Tony Cardone another favor. Giving this man an opportunity to attack a political opponent. And in the process, harming the Town’s chances at winning a lawsuit against a convicted felon which Town residents will need to pay for. We’ll put in a FOIL request and see what comes up.
If that’s true, and we hope it’s not, let’s repeat what I said at the top: The Photo-News would make an acceptable substitute should that toilet paper shortage happen.