Totally Normal Human Answers to Questions From Around Southern Orange County

What's the Environmental Protection Agency doing in South Blooming Grove? The FBI? Can we just bulldoze un-permitted and unapproved structures? All this and more questions from local readers answered.

Above: Absolute A+ acting from two candidates for the Woodbury Village Board of Trustees this Fall: Tyler Etzel Jr. and John U. Keleman.

---

Before answering more reader questions, I wanted to share this video making the rounds on Facebook. Go ahead and watch that first.

Nothing weird about a couple of old, rich, white dudes shaking hands, pretending to have done some manual labor, and telling people about where they stand politically, right?

You know, Totally Normal Human Shit. ;-)

One of the Mr. Potter’s in the above video is Syrup Proprietor and candidate for the Woodbury Village Board of Trustees, Tyler Etzel Jr.

(By the way, I heard that at least one Woodbury resident was seen at Village Hall demanding answers about “The Syrup Man.” And I just want to say that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while. Bless you, anonymous Woodbury Hero. I salute you and hope you got the answers you were looking for.)

The other man in the video is John U. Keleman, a lifelong Republican turned Democrat. A political opportunist looking to ride the wave of Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum’s plan to take over the Woodbury Village Board. (Between Keleman, Fabbro, Freiband, and Etzel Jr., your Woodbury Village Board will, like the Town Board, no longer be a representative democratic government.)

When Keleman previously ran for Mayor of Woodbury in 2023, he was asked the following question from The Photo-News:

How do you plan to involve residents in the decision-making process?

Keleman: Residents are our ultimate natural resource. As mayor, I would arrange for regular formal and informal opportunities for residents to share their needs and concerns. I would then make sure their ideas and solutions are fully considered.

You know what those are called, right?

Meetings.

Keleman’s big proposal to get Woodbury residents involved is… meetings, which already happen twice a month at Village Hall.

That man must be just brimming with ideas.

But I’ll tell you one thing, if Etzel Jr. and Keleman win this Fall?

Well, you should call your neighbors in South Blooming Grove and ask them how they’re doing.

Bad air.

No clean drinking water.

A total lack of respect from their elected officials (both locally and on the State level).

No plan to preserve open space to help curb greenhouse gas emissions.

No planning for little things like flooding during a national climate emergency.

And then there are the fees, and the fees, and the fees, and the fees …

I could go on, but you get my point. It’s some scary shit, and it’s enough to not make anyone want to move to Southern Orange County, Haredi and non-Haredi alike.

And spare a thought, if you will, for my Haredi brothers and sisters, looking to get out of Brooklyn like many of us did — my Mom included — and enjoy some trees and wildlife. Only to move into the exact sort of structure they just escaped from, built and designed by the same sketchy landlord they just escaped from.

God won’t provide on this one, but Hanhallah will when it comes to keeping the wealthy and the well-connected in the Satmar community both wealthy and well-connected.

That doesn’t sound fair, or in compliance with both the Torah and the Talmud, now does it?

As bleak as this sounds — and it is bleak — this is the current state of things in Southern Orange County.

You want to change it? You gotta get off your ass and get to a meeting.

Here’s one meeting you can attend:

The Village of South Blooming Grove Board will meet on Monday, August 26th, at 8 p.m. at Village Hall (811 Route 208).

These South Blooming Grove Village Board meetings are essential because they are rare opportunities to confront Isaac Ekstein and Joel Stern directly.

Neither man answers emails or calls placed to them.

When people do reach Mr. Ekstein — such as one reader did concerning a noise complaint — Mr. Ekstein flat out lies to them.

Mr. Stern, as we’ve pointed out repeatedly since March, also has a tendency for deceit and blaming everyone but himself.

He has, for one example, blamed the Independence Fire Company’s “shortcomings” to make his own fire department.

For another, he has blamed the Town of Blooming Grove Police Department recently for the same “shortcomings.”

Any time Joel Stern releases information concerning the ongoing water emergency in South Blooming Grove, he blames “the failures of past administrations” to Yiddish-speaking residents, while saying nothing to the English speaking residents. This is despite the fact that Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein have been running things in South Blooming Grove for nearly four years now.

So, it’s never Mr. Stern’s fault, in other words.

That must be why, when South Blooming Grove Deputy Mayor Abraham M. Weiss spoke to me after a meeting, he said Joel Stern was a “great man.” Well, sure, when it’s never your fault, anyone can be a great person. (Also, Mr. Weiss is a founding member of Mr. Joel Stern’s United Jewish Community organization, aka the local hate group.)

So.

If you are a resident of South Blooming Grove, if you’re a resident of Cornwall, if you’re a resident of Washingtonville, if you’re a resident of the Town of Blooming Grove, if you want answers?

Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein will attend this meeting, and they can’t run from you.

Stern’s employer is the second largest investor in Clovewood. So Cornwall residents who have questions about that situation and the development’s effects on Satterly Creek can grill Mr. Stern there.

If you’re a resident of Washingtonville and want to know why the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove has attempted to bankrupt both the school district and the village, Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein, the plaintiffs in the Washingtonveille Central School District case. They are the founder and president, respectively, of the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove.

The same organization to which Moche Halpern is a member. You know, the guy suing Washingtonille and claiming everyone’s an antisemite who lives there? He’s a founding member of Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein’s hate group.

If you’re a resident of the Town of Blooming Grove and you have concerns that your Town representative, Simon Schwartz, is a member of a hate group operated by Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein, they’ll be there.

And if you’re a resident of South Blooming Grove and you just want to know when those open EPA violations are going to be resolved, and when you’re going to get clean drinking water, and an answer to the question: Is our municipal water infrastructure currently in compliance with the Orange County Department of Health?

They’ll be there.

Of course. They’re not dumb. So they could read this and skip the meeting.

In which case, South Blooming Grove Mayor George Kalaj will also be there, but as I’ve pointed out before, he serves no real purpose other than to consume oxygen and glower.

You’re encouraged to bring your water bottles to show off the current status of your drinking water, and remind them both “Pikuach Nefesh.”

According to Rabbi Simon Glustrom, “When life is involved, all Sabbath laws may be suspended to safeguard the health of the individual, the principle being pikkuah nefesh doheh Shabbat–[rescuing a] life in danger takes precedence over the Sabbath.”

Mr. Stern, Mr. Ekstein, and the Village Board of Trustees — all members of the Satmar community except Mayor Kalaj — have a Talmudic obligation to stop what they are doing and to help the people of South Blooming Grove in their time of need.

So let’s see just how seriously these guys take the Torah and the Talmud, shall we?

Q. What is the return policy on this vape? It is no longer heating correctly…

Shit. Sorry. That was a question I needed to ask someone. This Airvape Legacy Pro stopped heating properly and …

Let’s try that again.

3 Questions From Woodbury

Q. Back in June, Woodbury Village Board Trustee James Freiband objected to the purchase of two fire department vehicles. He proposed that the vehicles be purchased in the form of a bond instead because, he reasoned, this would be more fiscally responsible. Is that true, or is he just an idiot that should be removed from office?

A. The answer to anything involving Village Trustee Freiband is that everything out of his mouth is a verifiable lie, which is or has been corrected by numerous parties already.

Despite these corrections, Freiband ignores the accurate information and continues spouting misinformation like some kind of bullshit sprinkler.

According to Woodbury Village Treasurer Desiree Potvin:

The Fire Department is purchasing two new vehicles for two Fire Chiefs.  The total estimated cost to purchase and equip the vehicles is $85,000 per vehicle which totals $170,000.  It would not be possible to get a bond for that small amount, but a BAN could be secured (which you can only get for one year but can renewed for multiple years depending on its purpose, per the NYS OSC rules). 

In April, the village renewed a $455,000 BAN and received three bids of interest rates ranging from 3.99% to 4.75%.   Borrowing less money would result in a higher interest rate.  The Village purchasing/equipping the two vehicles using existing/current tax funds saves whatever annual interest would have been levied against the BAN and each renewal, as well as the bond attorney/financial advisor fees to prepare the BAN resolution (about $3000 per BAN), bidding out the BAN to banking institutions (about $1500 per BAN) and the cost to publish public notices (about $100 per BAN). 

I know I said it yesterday, but it’s incumbent for Woodbury residents to demand the Village Board, Village Attorney, and Village Board of Ethics act to remove Trustee Freiband from office before his willful spread of disinformation does irreparable harm to the community.

Q. Trustee James Freiband is a Democract. You’re a Democract. Aren’t you supposed to be on the same team?

A. Nope!

Convincing people that Politics is a Team Support is one of the biggest scams of the 21st Century.

Because once you think you’re on the team, you get trapped into thinking you have to support your team, even if the players you have suck.

There is no use arguing with people who think this way. I wind up just blocking them on Facebook. The second I hear, “Well, you think X because you’re a DEMOCRAT,” I’m out, you know? Blocked.

In the words of at least one famous philosopher, people who get brainwashed into thinking political parties are teams they’re supposed to root for are like flies trapped in a bottle. The fly doesn’t know it’s in a bottle, and only the fly itself can escape from the bottle.

All you can do is provide facts—or, in this example, remove the lid from the bottle—and provide a welcoming spot for the fly to land on if it chooses to leave the bottle.

Think for yourself. Follow the facts. Leave the bottle.

But don’t waste time arguing with people brainwashed into voting against their own self-interest.

Q: What happens to a structure that gets put up without Planning Board approval?

A: This is a great question. If it were up to me, the Village of Woodbury would rent out bulldozers and use the money from the rentals for environmental conservation. Anyone renting a bulldozer would be allowed to knock down an unpermitted structure.

Assuming, of course, it’s unoccupied, the original inhabitants are safe elsewhere, and it’s legally appropriate to do so.

We’re not Israel, you know.

But … It’s not up to me. Nor should it be.

So let’s go to Village of Woodbury Attorney, Kelly Naughton, to explain the actual process:

“The Planning Board will review the application as if no structure has been constructed because what was erected was not in compliance with the approved plans.”

So I followed-up and asked Kelly, “Can you help me clarify for readers why someone who ignores the Planning Board would be able to then go to the Planning Board for their project?”

“To answer your second question, there is no disqualification mechanism.  The Building Department will review/inspect the construction, determine if it is in compliance with approved plans, and if not, issue a stop work order.  Work is to cease unless and until “new” approval is received, or the defects are cured.”

I had one more question for Kelly on this, which was: “Are there any mechanisms in place that the Village of Woodbury can use to make sure that green space can remain forever greenspace?”

I asked this question because Southern Orange County has a long history of Satmar residents getting permission to do one thing and then doing the exact opposite. In fact, there is now 50+ years of history to demonstrate this factually, so it’s not hyperbole or ridiculous to ask this question in 2024.

This is a verifiable thing that happens, has happened, and will continue to happen until both Rebbes (Aaron and Zalman Teitelbaum) say to knock that shit off and follow the advice provided by their uncle, Joel Teitelbaum, to all their followers: The law of the land is the law (Dina d'malkhuta dina). That law includes zoning regulations.

Both Rebbes, Zalman and Aaron, insist on telling their followers that they are not living in America, and thus the rules and law of America do not apply.

Readers are encouraged to get a copy of American Shtetl for more on this history.

That way, the next time someone, like say Moche Halpern, doesn’t get what he wants and decides to sue an entire village, you can point to 50+ years of history to demonstrate a factual pattern of behavior that disregards the rule of law of non-Satmar communities once the Satmar arrive to them.

The days of crying anti-semitism or anti-Chassidism are over man. Facts are facts.

If a half-century of evidence isn’t enough to dispel that shit in court, then nothing will.

Here’s how Woodbury’s Village Attorney answered my question about preserving green space and making sure it stays that way:

“I will be working with the Village to draft a conservation easement to preserve the property that is involved with (name removed)’s proposed development as open space in perpetuity.  

 I cannot predict what the future might hold or bring — and there are definitely ways for easements and agreements and such to be overturned (as I am sure you are aware) — but rest assured that both I and the Village will do our best to make such an easement watertight, and preserve the property.

3 Questions From South Blooming Grove + And a Bonus One

Here’s your Bonus Question first:

Q: How long can Governor Kathy Hochul not respond to your FOIL request about her veto of Blooming Grove’s land preservation bill?

Here’s what I asked New York State’s Committee on Open Government: “I have three FOIL requests pending with Governor Kathy Hochul. One has been pending for 120 days, and the other two for 89 days.

Is there a maximum amount of time allowed for any government agency, including the Governor's office, to provide requested information to NYS residents?”

Forever, according to the New York State Committee on Open Government:

As to your question relating to your FOIL requests to the Executive Chamber, FOIL does not set a maximum timeframe for an agency’s response to requests for records.

Rather, POL § 89(3)(a) requires that “if circumstances prevent disclosure to the person requesting the record or records within twenty business days from the date of the acknowledgement of the receipt of the request, the agency shall state, in writing, both the reason for the inability to grant the request within twenty business days and a date certain within a reasonable period, depending on the circumstances, when the request will be granted in whole or in part.”

If you have not received a date certain by which your FOIL requests to the Executive Chamber will be determined, or you believe that the timeframe is unreasonable given the circumstances, you may consider the request to be constructively denied and file an appeal with the appropriate Appeals Officer. The contact information for the Appeals Officer for the Executive Chamber is as follows:

Bella Satra
FOIL Appeals Officer
Executive Chamber
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
E-mail: records.access@exec.ny.gov

So, right now, Hochul’s office says it won’t have the information for me until the end of September. If I don't have those FOILs responded to properly at the end of September, I’ll be filing an appeal.

Q: What is going on with the EPA in South Blooming Grove?

So, this is the big one, right?

The Woodbury stuff is really important because next year, the City of Kiryas Joel will submit some large annexation requests, such as ACE Farms.

Do you really think it’s a coincidence that the guy who sold ACE Farms to the Rebbe many years ago is now running for the Village Board?

Mr. Etzel Jr’s term would correspond with the Village’s decision on whether or not to approve such an annexation.

But there’s probably nothing more important right now than ensuring South Blooming Grove residents have clean air and safe drinking water.

Right now, they don’t have either.

Q: Wait a minute. Stop. What do you mean by “Clean Air?” I thought we at least had that.

Oh, right. So, I came across something really interesting that all South Blooming Grove residents should be paying attention to:

After watching that video, I started to do some research on PM2.5.

According to information from the Centers for Disease Control, this small particulate can damage the blood-brain barrier and is particularly dangerous to elderly people. And wouldn’t you know it, but Southern Orange County has a large population of people over 65.

Do you know what a massive source of PM2.5 particles getting released into the air is?

Construction.

See where this is going?

South Blooming Grove has rampant, unpermitted, 24/7 construction happening, especially during the digging and excavation stages, when the likelihood is highest for these PM2.5 particles to be released.

So, not only do residents of South Blooming Grove not have clean drinking water, but if you’re 65 and older, the air from all the construction is terrible for you, too.

The Environmental Protection Agency, in addition to being in charge of the waterways of the United States (which gives them jurisdiction over the Satterly Creek since it’s a Hudson River Estuary), also has jurisdiction over the air through the Clean Air Act, and over your drinking water through the SWA - The Safe Drinking Water Act.

As of March of 2024, there are a number of EPA violations that have been logged into the EPA’s system concerning South Blooming Grove’s drinking water.

Residents don’t know this because the Village only communicates to Satmar residents — with a few exceptions here and there to keep up appearances that it’s not a theocracy — and those communications have all stated that everything is fine with the water.

It’s not.

That’s what we know for sure where the EPA is involved.

Here’s what we don’t know:

We don’t know if the ongoing EPA investigation is just focused on the drinking water—which is verifiably the case—or if they’re also looking into the issues with the Satterly Creek that have been reported to them concerning Clovewood or the PM2.5 Emissions from all of the ongoing construction.

I spoke with an EPA representative. They can confirm there is an ongoing investigation in South Blooming Grove, but they cannot provide any additional information at this time.

What I can tell you, however, is to keep up the pressure. Clearly, and finally, someone appears to be listening.

If you want to keep up the pressure, you can file a complaint with the EPA here.

What do you tell the EPA?

South Blooming Grove residents who depend on the municipal water supply do not have access to clean drinking water. In fact, in both 2022 and 2023, the Village was told by the Orange County Department of Health that there was not enough water to supply the current residents, and that the municipal water infrastructure was failing. Despite this, the Village of South Blooming Grove continued to approve construction and allow additional, unpermitted construction to continue. They also took no action to fix the current situation, only recently getting a grant approved to address the issue. The earliest date that South Blooming Grove will have a new operational well, at the earliest, is October of 2027. This is a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

South Blooming Grove residents, who include a large elderly population, are constantly exposed to PM2.5 particles from constant construction, which the Village has done nothing to corral or manage. This includes repeated failures by Al Fusco Jr., the Village’s Code Enforcement Officer, to take action. The release of PM2.5 is a known health hazard for the elderly, and under the Clean Air Act, the EPA has the legal authority to take action.

South Blooming Grove’s rampant and unpermitted construction, as well as the approved construction, is verifiably polluting Satterly Creek, which Cornwall residents depend on for clean drinking water and recreational activity. As a Hudson River Estuary, the EPA can take action against bad actors polluting the creek under the Clean Water Act.

Question: What about the FBI? Can you confirm their investigation?

Additional question: What happened with that PR stunt that Congressman Pat Ryan described as a hate crime? (You know, the same Congressman whose office won’t call people back or provide any assistance in the form of EPA and FBI action against the people responsible for what’s going on in South Blooming Grove, starting with Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein?)

Let’s do these in reverse order:

Yes. The Congressman was in Kiryas Joel last month.

No, he did not stop by South Blooming Grove to speak to the residents who called his office and told him that they do not have clean drinking water or clean air in the community.

The Congressman has only been to South Blooming Grove once, and that was to pose for photos with Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein.

According to the New York State Police Troop F Public Information Officer, Steven V. Nevel, there is no progress to report on Mr. Stern’s PR stunt involving the dirt bike-riding Nazis.

No arrests have been made.

Mr. Stern himself has been very quiet about the incident, but given its timing—it occurred just under two weeks after Joel Stern said the Town of Blooming Grove police department couldn’t meet the demands of protecting the community, which resulted in a hilarious smackdown by the Town of Blooming Grove police department—we can’t rule out that Mr. Stern orchestrated the event.

Think about it: He was called out at the meeting for lying about the police’s “shortcomings” (by me.)

Then the Chief of Police in Blooming Grove, unlike certain other local police chiefs, stood up for residents and called out Mr. Stern’s BS.

THEN, after he was thoroughly embarrassed, this incident with the dirt bike-riding Nazis happened.

Coincidences happen. Of course. Not everything is a conspiracy. But …

If you think this sort of stunt would be unusual in the Haredi community, it is not.

This sort of fake PR campaign, spreading fear within their own community to further benefit Hanhallah, is something that happens regularly, including in nearby Ramapo, involving what was, until such a PR campaign, a taxi industry dominated by mostly Latino drivers.

And remember: Stern got what he needed from this alleged incident.

He now has a Congressman saying it was a hate crime, even though the investigation is ongoing and the case has not been solved.

That’s more than enough to win a PR campaign. I should know. I was a PR and Marketing guy for the last 20 years.

If you can get a quote from a Congressman, you can guarantee media hits that push your narrative at the expense of the truth.

That’s because most journalists are too lazy to do any fact-checking (on one end of the spectrum) or too busy trying to meet unrealistic publishing quotas to do any real leg work (on the other end of the spectrum.)

The journalism industry is a disaster, y’all.

Quick Tangent About Mr. Stern’s Unlicensed Fire Fighters

You may recall that Joel Stern tried to pull a similar stunt, claiming the South Blooming Grove Fire Department (Independence Fire Co) was inadequate, and he claimed antisemitic. (Mr. Stern presented no evidence to support the latter claim.)

Can I give you a quick update on that?

This claim resulted in creating a new Fire Department within the Village. But here’s a fun fact — and probably another reason you should download that IRS whistleblower form right here and send it in concerning Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein’s United Jewish Community organization …

I had an interesting conversation with New York State’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

That conversation began with an email to Richard Penney, a Fire Protection Specialist. It went like this:

“I am a reporter with The Monroe Gazette. I am in receipt of a FOIL'ed email from you sent last month on June 28th.

In it you discuss your January 31st, 2024 meeting with Isaac Ekstein and Joel Stern (representing Fire District 1) and others.

In the email you said, "At the end of the meeting, it was discussed that the South Blooming Grove Fire Company #1 could have upwards of 20 plus members ready to join right away. It was discussed that that a Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations course could be offered with their members having priority enrollment where the course units could be offered local to them when applicable. OFPC and Orange County have offered similar courses to other new fire companies as they are formed as a way to expedite the fire company’s ability to begin responding. It was made clear that no movement on scheduling this course would happen until proper Personal Protective Equipment and Course Materials were secured for each member looking to attend the course. As of June 28th 2024, this course has not been scheduled."

I'd like to ask if not completing this course would prohibit SBGF1 from responding to calls until completed?”

I didn’t get a direct answer on this.

But it should be noted that, despite not completing the required courses, Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein have both made requests to the Village to purchase vehicles and other equipment for the fire company.

Why they would want to do that when they don’t have anyone who can appropriately respond to emergencies and have not completed the required courses to do so is something Village of South Blooming Grove residents should ask at Monday’s meeting.

A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Security referred me to the New York State Department of Labor, who would only add:

“While we cannot comment on this specific situation, it is imperative that an employer assess hazards and provide the proper training and personal protective equipment required to protect employees prior to exposure to hazards. For firefighters, this includes providing the appropriate training and personal protective equipment prior to their exposure to the extreme hazards of the job.”

Back to the FBI …

I can tell you that at least one FBI agent in the Poughkeepsie office is well aware of all the stuff happening in South Blooming Grove. I can't say whether he’s doing anything about it.

The FBI will not comment on the record about any ongoing investigations in South Blooming Grove, but they did offer the following comment to The Monroe Gazette:

“Speaking generally, if members of the public have information about suspected criminal activity, we advise them to contact local police or their closest FBI field office. They can also call the FBI tip line at 1800-call-FBI.”

When I asked them whether or not they felt the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove (Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein’s group) should be labeled as a hate group, they would only say:

“The FBI focuses on individuals who commit or intend to commit violence and criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security. We can never open an investigation based solely on protected First Amendment activity. However, we investigate when someone crosses the line from expressing beliefs to violating federal law. The FBI does not investigate or designate domestic groups and we have no comment on particular groups.” (Emphasis added.)

Q: I heard someone discriminated against in Landau’s Grocery Store. Is that legal?

So, this story just broke as I was about to hit publish last night. That’s why it’s all the way at the bottom here, but that doesn’t make it any less important.

Here’s what happened:

South Blooming Grove resident Jazmine Maldonado needed to pick up some groceries. Instead of driving out of the Village to get them, she decided to stop at Landau’s, which is closer to home.

And yes, this is the same store where Congressman Pat Ryan was in the village to do his photo-op, pictured below.

As a reminder, Mr. Joel Stern is the one with the scissors. Mr. Yitzchok “Isaac” Ekstein is on Mr. Stern’s right, and Mr. Simon Schwartz is on the Congressman’s left. All three are members of the local hate group.

Upon checking out at Landau’s, Mrs. Maldonado was thanked for shopping at the store, and was then told, according to Mrs. Maldonado, “I appreciate you shopping at OUR supermarket but if you want to come back again please respect our religious values next time you come in."

According to Mrs. Maldonado, the man pointed to a sign on the door that lists what not to wear and what to wear when entering Landau’s.

If this story sounds familiar, it’s because it happened a bunch in Brooklyn.

In fact, in an incident incredibly similar to what Mrs. Maldonado experienced, the New York City Commission on Human Rights sued Shalom Cooper, manager of Glauber's Cuisine in Brooklyn, over the same kind of sign.

The lawsuit was later dropped after Mr. Cooper agreed that compliance with the dress code was voluntary and that someone should not be required to follow its directions while shopping inside his store.

I spoke briefly to Mrs. Maldonado and asked her to file a complaint with the New York State Attorney General’s Office’s Division of Human Rights.

If anyone has experienced a similar hate crime — because according to NYS’s laws, that’s what it is when you discriminate against someone based on your religious beliefs — I encourage you to report it immediately.

You can call 1-844-NO-2-HATE to report such incidents.

While Landau’s has a right to suggest that people respect the Satmar’s religious beliefs, people are not legally required to comply with them.

So, staff can’t tell people how to dress the next time they stop in, if they do so at all.

You know who does that shit? Especially when it comes to telling women how to dress in public? The Taliban. In fact, as I was working on this story, over in Afghanistan, the Taliban codified into law rules that govern how women are allowed to dress.

Nearly 2,500 American soldiers died in Afghanistan, fighting against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda’s religious extremism. Religious extremism that was a direct cause for the attacks on September 11th, 2001.

The least we can do to honor those soldiers and the more than 70,000 civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan who died as a result of that war in Afghanistan is not to allow the same religious extremism to take root in this country.

Whether it be resisting the efforts of Religious Extremists to overthrow our Democracy via Project 2025 or governing how women can dress when they just need a few groceries to make dinner for their family.

And I’ll remind you that you don’t need to go to Afghanistan to see how much suffering religious extremism can cause. Right here in America, over 318,000 people died preventable deaths by refusing to get vaccinated during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Many of them died refusing to get vaccinated, either because of disinformation from the Trump administration and Conservative media or through their own religious beliefs.

This country was founded on the principle of not favoring one religion over another and that everyone should be treated equally under the law. If we’re going to survive and thrive throughout the remainder of the 21st Century and into the 22nd, there need to be rules everyone can follow. One such rule includes not allowing religious extremism to dictate how we live, think, act, and, yes, even dress while we shop.

Maybe someone should tell Congressman Pat Ryan that an actual hate crime has occurred in South Blooming Grove, but it’s not the one he thinks.

---

I hope you enjoyed the long post today.

If you did, be a friend and consider becoming a paid monthly subscriber to support our publication.

And if you can’t do that right now, that’s ok too. Just let someone know we exist. Most people don’t get any local news, and when they do, it’s often from advertising-centric, corporate media outlets that do stuff like this: