Town council clownery

Good morning!

The Cranford man who thinks he can stop global government abuse by breakdancing during town council meetings is at it again.

Rebecca Heath at NJ Advance Media reports Will Thilly, who was arrested in Cranford earlier this month after refusing to yield the floor during a council meeting, appeared at a Jackson council meeting this week in his effort to go viral again bring attention to local governance.

“The reason I'm here is to, in general, to bring more attention to what's happening here so the whole state is aware,” he said in Jackson Tuesday. “This needs to be known by all the media in New York, blah blah blah, because that's going to inspire all the towns in New Jersey to realize, oh, same thing's happening here, we can do what Jackson's doing in our town. And that's when the everything takes over and you hit that critical mass,” he said.

Oh, OK, sure. And then he started singing and breakdancing.

Thilly is suing Cranford officials in federal court alleging they are violating his freedom of speech by interrupting his clownery at their public meetings.

Crime: In yet more evidence that local government has become indistinguishable from how it is parodied on “Parks and Recreation,” the Dunellen Police Department this week bragged that it caught dozens of distracted motorists after they dressed up one of their officers as some kind of leaf-covered monster and hid him behind a tree so drivers on their cellphones wouldn’t see him.

Truly some wild sh*t going on in New Jersey this week. Is everyone OK???

Trenton: Switching gears to something more approaching actual news, Gov. Mikie Sherrill yesterday signed a proclamation declaring every July 30 Brian Sicknick Day. Sicknick is the South River native who was a U.S. Capitol police officer at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when a group of maniacs stormed the building in an effort to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. Sicknick died the next day after suffering two strokes. “Brian Sicknick was the very best of New Jersey,” said Sherrill, who was also at the Capitol that day as a member of the House. “I will never forget being evacuated from the House chamber, preparing our gas masks, unsure whether we would encounter the violent mob Trump sent to the Capitol on January 6. Brian and his fellow Capitol Police officers held the line, fighting for our democracy and allowing us to return that night to carry out our Constitutional duty and certify the election. More than five years later, we have a responsibility to remember the truth of what happened and ensure that Brian’s service and sacrifice are never forgotten.”

Courts: A group of women are suing their former OB-GYN alleging he sexually abused them during exams stretched back to 2012. The doctor named in the complaint, Bruce Pierce, had his license suspended by the state medical board in 2024 after the board heard similar allegations. “Defendant Pierce’s conduct went far beyond the bounds of decency and would be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society. Pierce intentionally targeted Plaintiffs at times when they were vulnerable, unclothed, or in private medical settings, exploiting their trust in Delaware Valley and its providers,” the lawsuit says.

D.C.: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not planning an aggressive campaign at voting sites during the upcoming midterm elections, a spokesman told Amelia Twyman in our D.C. bureau in response to questions about a U.S. Senate Dem letter voicing concerns about armed federal agents at polling places.