Recently updated on October 5th, 2024 at 07:42 am
Marjorie Taylor Greene has made it her mission to attack Democrats (and migrants, and people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community) online and IRL. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for her, she lacks impulse control so she doesn’t take the time to verify the information she’s posting.
Or maybe she does and just doesn’t care.
Editor’s Note: Because she is such a terrible, hateful human being, I will suspend my usual respect in reporting and tell it like it is—sharing exactly how I feel about it.
That being said, let’s take a look at a recent FALSE Tweet from Marjorie Taylor Greene (I refuse to use “X” for Twitter or anything else for “Tweet”). She recently shared a video of police body cam footage that showed a surfer being arrested on Belmar Beach after he didn’t have a “beach badge.”
Beach Badges
Greene claimed that the law requiring beach badges was put in place by those “Commie” Democrats. While the county where this incident occurred does have a Democratic mayor, its mayor was previously Republican before being unseated by the current mayor in 2022.
Not only that, but the beach badge law has been in place since the 1930’s! There are dozens of counties run by Republicans that have the beach badge law in place, with one of those Republican Mayors increasing the cost of a season pass for local residents.
Those Commie Democrats
In 2019, the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, signed a law codifying the state’s so-called public trust doctrine, a legal theory that says that waterways including the ocean, bays and rivers are common property held by the state for the use of all people.
Guess what? He is a Democrat. So, it looks like, in this particular scenario, the Republicans are the “Commies” and the Democrats are the ones fighting for public access on the side of liberty and freedom.
Recently, the late Republican mayor of Surf City, Leonard T. Connors, claimed credit for bringing beach badges to the Garden State’s Long Beach Island summer colony, increasing the price to $130 for the season, as reported by the Press of Atlantic City in 2009.
In Ocean County, 14 governments with Republican mayors and GOP-controlled councils require beach badges.
In New Jersey, Beach badges are required from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.
In 2024, season beach badges cost $80 plus a $2 processing fee.
The most expensive is issued by the borough of Point Pleasant Beach, which has an all-Republican government and charges $130 for a season pass.
Democrats Fighting For Freedom of Access to the Beach
Democratic New Jersey governor, Jon Corzine, enacted a regulation requiring public access points every quarter-mile along the shoreline — but it was overturned in court, as reported by the Associated Press.
New Jersey doesn’t require beach badges for every beach.
In fact, it has 12 free public beaches, mostly in South Jersey, that don’t require beach tags; Corson’s Inlet State Park, Leonardo + Ideal Beaches, Bay Front, Beesley’s Point, Cape May State Point Park, Keansburg Beach, and Jennifer Lane Bay Beach.
Truth About the Surfer’s Arrest on Belmar Beach
The Belmar mayor and Council members released a statement in an effort to clarify the details of the surfer’s arrest and to counteract the information being spread on social media—including in a post by a Representative in the U.S. Congress.
From StarNewsGroup.com
An Aug. 22 press release and body camera footage, issued by Chief Tina Scott on the Belmar Police Department Facebook page, came two days after the arrest and circulation of the observer’s Facebook video.
“To be clear, Mr. Mahoney was not arrested for not having a beach badge,” the release stated. “He was arrested because he obstructed the officer’s investigation by refusing to give his identification or pedigree information. Mr. Mahoney was also advised he was not free to leave and continued to walk away during this encounter.”
The statement from the borough council states, “We would like to thank Chief Tina Scott, who worked quickly to provide the public with transparency in the face of fast-moving disinformation from social media.”
Belmar council and police issued official statements on the incident, but other borough officials were mum.
My Advice For MTG
Marjorie Taylor Greene, you are guilty of spreading so much misinformation, disinformation—and don’t forget the conspiracy theories. Might I suggest that you start learning the facts about something before you spread things that are untrue?
Maybe you intentionally spread disinformation. In that case, I’d like to respectfully suggest that you STFU and STFD.
