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Title: Anti-ISIS Halloween decorations on N.J. house rile some neighbors
Source:
nj.com
URL Source: http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/ ... cart_2box_nj-homepage-featured
Published: Oct 9, 2015
Author: Justin Zaremba
Post Date: 2015-10-10 07:51:57 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 324
Comments: 2
Some homeowners on Cleary Avenue are finding their neighbor's Halloween display more garish than ghostly. The decorations include a mannequin dressed as a tortured captive of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a hanged mannequin dressed as a murdered soldier and a machete-wielding mannequin wearing a mask of President Barack Obama. The homeowner who erected the display told NJ Advance Media he didn't believe his decorations were anti-American and that his critics were trying "to stifle his freedom of speech." "We in this house do not like ISIS," said the homeowner, who asked that he only be identified as Matt. "What greater scary man is there than the real threat among us?" AlexJo Natale, who lives across the street in a home bearing two POW/MIA flags, said she knows that her neighbor "really likes Halloween" but that his "tasteless" decorations aren't something she enjoys seeing the first thing in the morning. "I think it's tasteless and un-American," Natale said. "Like it or not, Halloween is now viewed as a kids' holiday. That's not (a house) I would think a lot of parents would want their kids trick or treating at." But, she added, "it's his property, he can do what he wants. It's just not something I would really like to see." Matt said he had admittedly politicized the decorations by installing them on Sept. 11 but that he didn't do this "to make the neighbors happy." Regarding the flag desecration on the hanged mannequin, Matt said he could see how that would upset some but that they should be more offended by the acts committed by ISIS. Since media reports about his home began Thursday night, Matt said, his hanged soldier decoration has already been vandalized, but he plans to put it up again and "kick it up a notch." He also said the vandalism had prompted him to set up security cameras to monitor his decorations and his property. Matt said he took down the Obama mask and doesn't plan to put it back up because he likes the ski mask better. His friend, who asked to be identified as Bill Ecks, said most of the criticism received wasn't from people who live in the cul de sac but from "social justice warriors with hurt feelings." "I think people are making more of this than it is," he said. Besides Natale, other neighbors' reactions ranged from indifference over the decorations, saying they "paid it no mind," to confusion. "I don't get whether it's pro-war or anti-war," said neighbor Jess Zimmerman. "I just don't get it and maybe that's why I don't care." 
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
And idiots like Zimmerman get to vote, no wonder this country is so messed up.
If he cares enough to and he's registered, he can if he wants to. Most people aren't registered and most people don't vote, though. That's Øbama's constituency, you know. After his latest coronation, he claimed to have heard the voices (in his head, no doubt) of the majority of people who did not vote and he would work for them. There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
"I don't get whether it's pro-war or anti-war," said neighbor Jess Zimmerman. "I just don't get it and maybe that's why I don't care."
#2. To: BobCeleste (#1)
And idiots like Zimmerman get to vote
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