[ April 19, 2024 ]
Good piece by Ben Weiser over at The New York Times.
"M.T.A. Violated Rights of Group," Judge Says By Benjamin Weiser, New York Times, July 20, 2012
Story continues below advertisementA federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Friday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority violated the First Amendment rights of a pro-Israel group when it rejected an advertisement the group wanted to place on city buses on grounds that they contained demeaning language.
An ad from the American Freedom Defense Initiative that was rejected by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, had proposed an ad that said, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.”
Then, between two Stars of David, the ad said: “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”
The transportation authority said the ad violated its prohibition on ads that demeaned individuals or groups on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin and five other specific categories. The group was given the opportunity to revise the ad, but it refused, and claimed in a lawsuit that the agency’s “no demeaning” language restriction was unconstitutional.
The judge, Paul A. Engelmayer of Federal District Court, ruled that the rejected ad was “not only protected speech — it is core political speech,” expressing a “pro-Israel perspective on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict” and implicitly calling “for a pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy with regard to that conflict.”
As such, the judge held, the ad “is afforded the highest level of protection under the First Amendment.”
Pamela Geller, executive director of the group that sought to place the ad, called the decision “a victory for freedom-loving people.”
Ms. Geller is an outspoken blogger and critic of Islam whose group ran ads on city buses in 2010 that opposed construction of an Islamic center near ground zero.
Judge Engelmayer said he would delay the effect of his order for 30 days, to allow the transportation authority to consider its appellate options and alternatives to the current rule.
Aaron Donovan, a transportation spokesman, said on Friday that the authority was reviewing the decision, and that it was also “evaluating its existing advertising standards in light of the court’s ruling.”
A statement by the authority also cited portions of the opinion, including one in which the judge said that “the court does not impugn in the slightest” the agency’s motives in devising its “no-demeaning” standard or applying it to the proposed ad.
“Quite the contrary,” Judge Engelmayer wrote, noting that testimony and evidence in the case showed that the authority “has aspired to hold ads on public buses to a standard of civility.
“Its goal of preventing ads on city bus exteriors from being used as a medium for abuse and division in this diverse metropolis is entirely laudable,” the judge wrote. “It appears likely that M.T.A. drafted the standard in question with an eye toward the groups it felt most likely to be targeted by demeaning ads, without adequately considering the First Amendment implications.”
The judge said the authority had “reasonably read” the ad as referring to Muslims as “savages.”
But, he added, it was “well settled that, where a violation of the First Amendment is concerned, the government’s benign, even noble, intentions are no cure.”
The judge noted that the authority’s rule barred only ads that contained language that demeaned on the basis of the nine listed categories, which included ancestry, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation. Outside that list, the judge noted, the rule would permit demeaning ads.
He even offered examples, like “Southerners are bigots,” “Upper West Siders are elitist snobs,” “Fat people are slobs,” “Blondes are bimbos” and “Lawyers are sleazebags.”
Under the standard, he wrote, an ad could even accuse a private citizen of being a child abuser or running a Ponzi scheme.
“Whatever weight might be assigned to the governmental interest in banning demeaning speech on the exterior of New York City buses on an evenhanded basis,” Judge Engelmayer said, “there is no good reason for protecting some individuals and groups, but not others, from such abuse.”
The “no-demeaning” standard, he said, was, “therefore, inconsistent with the First Amendment.”
The group whose pro-Israel ad was rejected had sought to run it on about 318 city buses for four weeks, at a cost of about $25,000, the judge noted.
The ruling came two days after the transportation authority announced that it would sell advertising space on the front of MetroCards. Mr. Donovan said on Friday that the authority “does not intend to open MetroCards to noncommercial advertisements,” a decision that was reached, he said, before Friday’s ruling.
The authority has said in court papers that it received $116.4 million in revenue in 2011 from advertising sold throughout its subway, commuter rail and bus systems; of that, it received $4.65 million from noncommercial advertising, which included political ads.
“M.T.A. is cash-strapped,” the judge wrote. “It regards the money it receives from such ads as an important source of revenue.”
UPDATE: Wall to wall coverage. Free speech has become a novel idea. That is the real story here so infused is our media and culture with the blasphemy laws under the shariua.
8 Judge says MTA refusal to run bus ad calling Israel foes 'savages … New York Daily News – 4 hours ago
all 228 news articles »
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11 Comments
11 years ago
“Judge Engelmayer said he would delay the effect of his order for 30 days, to allow the transportation authority to consider its appellate options and alternatives to the current rule.”
WHY DELAY?
Why NOT order MTA to start installing the Ads TODAY??
WHY INVITE them to appeal?
IF they appeal,it’s THEIR choice and shouldn’t be ENCOURAGED by the Judge?
WHY give some time to make “new rules” to find a way to still NOT run the Ads?
THIS is a VICTORY and MUST BE IMPLEMENTED WITHOUT DELAY!
11 years ago
More pig flying moments. In addition to Rifqa Barry not being turned over to her muderous parents or Sri Lanka and the Ground Zero triumpah mosque not being built, Pam got al Reuters and NYT to report the news honestly, without their usual Liberal bias. She is quite the miracle worker.
11 years ago
Your ad certainly got quite a lot of exposure already thanks to you and your legal team. Nice job, Atlas and the American Freedom Law Center!
11 years ago
Miracle worker indeed. Congrats, Pamela.
The 30 day delay is a bit of a worry though.
A poster above is spot on: WHY give some time to make “new rules” to find a way to still NOT run the Ads?
Why indeed.
11 years ago
It’s so sad. What will become of our children’s minds when islam takes over. islam stunts the mind and intellectually mohamm-mad was the shortest man of all time.
To be a muslim you have to be an intelectual retard. islam is evil. and muslims are brain-washed into thinking it’s good. Mohammad was the world’s top evil dude who hated women and beauty and actually if you go to see islam is the largest gay cult of men .
Till there are even 2 muslims on our planet there will be murder and pedophilia and rape and slavery because islam is based on murder and and pedophilia and rape and slavery. Understood…….islam and holy are two exact opposites. Actually everything holy in islam is actually very evil. Just by calling black white black does not become white. It remains a lie. Islam is actually a lie. The biggest lie on our planet today ? What are we gonna do ?
Islam is not the answer. Islam is the wrong answer.
THIS IS IMPORTANT We have to start showing the black muslims what is waiting for
them in the koran and the had-its. Put it in their faces and then watch the fun
as they single mindedly go after islam for duping them, Let’s show the blacks
what the muslims don’t tell them. It’s so cool. WE HAVE TO START SHOWING BLACK MUSLIMS THEIR STATUS IN ISLAM. IN THEIR FACES.
islam has no answer for what to do if mecca and medina are
totally destroyed. islam will dissolve in disbelief. mecca and medina will have
to be destroyed then muslims themselves will destroy all the mosques and
themselves kill all the mullahs. Watch. islam will dissolve in it’s own c r a p
p y puddle. But first we have to smash the headquarters of global madness in the desert .
What can muslims really do ? Mad things are written in the koran and the had-its. What can muslims really do ? Mad things are written in the koran and the had-its. The koran is the word of some allah but mad things are written in the Koran and the had-its. What to do ??? Was allah mad when he wrote the koran? Can allah be mad? Must be because mad things are written in the Koran and the had-its. Mad things are written in the Koran and the had-its. Just read it. Check out main guys Puremad and his sidekick allah’s insanity. A must read and burn type.
Soon islam will take over the planet and the collider itself will be smashed to smithereens by muslims….those smashed particles will be called the allahblahblahblah particles and will be embedded in mosque steps for muslims to walk over. All this current research is useless…..islam is coming and the latest to vanish from the planet will be the pyramids of egypt. Islam is coming and we did not see it creeping onto us as we were too busy peering into our microscopes to catch the glints of evil off islam’s sword. It’s already too late. Like i said…..islam is coming.
Islam is no religious faith at all, but rather is a criminal ideology, invented and maintained by bad men, and as a utility for bad men and…..behind the Muslim Brotherhood there is a Muslim Sisterhood just as sinister. Where is the Worldwide Not-islam Brotherhood ??
We the planet as a whole are dealing with a cult …a Blood Cult, unlike any religion, This BloodCult mandates its followers to violently conquer the world. As of today not even one religion commands its followers to do murder. Even in a country like India where natives have faced the barbarism of this Blood Cult’s persecution for centuries very few in the present generation understand the actual “objectives” of this Blood Cult. Denying and ignoring the facts will only lead to more and more needless bloodshed in the future. This BloodCult hates everything we stand for and will never coexist with us, unless we submit ourselves and our sons and daughters and sweet grand-children to this dirty cult . If we don’t do something super drastic as a final solution now …our grand-children will not be grand….they’ll be PureMads.
I personally don’t want any of my future family to come in contact with this BloodCult started by some deranged and totally unhinged nut in a cave 1400 years back in the super-heat and dust of some idiotic desert who hallucinated pure rubbish . PureMad.
In Bangladesh they cannot have a law against paedophilia because 1400 years ago supreme Cult Leader married a child of 7 and sexually did her at 9 . So if Cult Leader did anything vile or evil it has to be right and if human law comes into force Cult Leader will be proved wrong which is blasphemy because Cult Leader did not do any any any wrong ever and Cult Leader is the model man to be emulated and copied …just imagine…. . to be exactly like PureMad in regressive thinking and lack of morals and hygiene and clothing and dirty beards and all the c r a p that comes with being PureMad.
There are nearly 2 billion PureMads around…. who will do what for the ultimate peace prize though deafening violence?
Has to happen! Will !!
BLACK MAN Obama should do it . He’s black and well read. He MUST
know that this cult and it’s main book
which cannot be questioned ever has in store as slavery and rape for future little black girls and
boys like his darling black children today….. Let’s see.
BLOODCULT HAS NO PLACE ON THIS EARTH.
BLOODCULT HAS NO RIGHT TO EXIST.
BloodCult Is slavery and it’s happening right under our noses. We have to smash it . Muhammad Ali’s grandson “became a bar mitzvah” (converted to Judaism?) and blood-cultee father and boxer Muhammad Ali was seen in a synagogue attending the ceremony.
Salman Rushdie has no balls….islam is a sham and Salman knows it firsthand….islam cannot look itself in the mirror because it’s truly horrible and to say that fact is an invitation to death. Salman Rushdie has no balls to call out the mullahs…. All he has to do is read the koran out loud and ask islam if it’s really written there? If the answer he gets is a yes islam’s game is up…..Salman Rushdie can actually become the prophet of muslims if he only cut out all the crap from the super idiotic koran and rephrased and reinvented islam from the sane side. It’ll still be a work of fiction but what the hell it won’t be evil anymore. Salman rushdie should write New-islam. He has the gift of the gab and the pen. He must use it. He must. Before he is killed by a muslim that knows no better . Salman Rushdie must start new islam. He has to publish it. They’ll ban it but they’ll read it and then the real islamic spring will start. Salman rushdie has to plant the seed for new-islam. All he has to say to the mullahs is allhblahblahblah made him do it . The mullahs will kneel at his feet. Presto … people we have a winner here.
islam is crap and the mozzys know it …. but they’re stuck. Puremad’s laughing at his own people’s misery and still they have to call him sane. islam is insanity and easy evil. it’s a cult. pure and simple and evil to it’s core. But what can muslims do ? it’s written in the koran. they’re really mad people. Puremad should be given a noble prize for inventing a way of life that makes people mad. 2 billion nearly now. The project was a success… let’s end this now!! bye bye mecca and medina the planet’s bulldozers are waiting to tear down the mosques all over the globe. islam will not be missed ruefully. Tough luck !!
“To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle” – Zarathustra
To reach Blood Cultic goals Sharia entrusts Blood-cultees to use practically any means; lying, exaggeration, slander, convincing and if that does not work, then outright violence and terror is encouraged under the name of jihad if it is for the benefit of Blood Cult. Everyone and his dog now knows BloodCult is the problem. Those that participate in BloodCult will pay a price beyond this physical world…
Karma’s a bitch! A true revolution in the Blood-cultee world that would bring true freedom and democracy should be a revolution against BloodCult itself and removing Sharia from the Egyptian constitution, an act that will not happen in the present or the near future in Egypt or any Blood-cultee country. Sharia and freedom cannot co-exist, period.
11 years ago
@Cool Music –
Great free associated writing. Man! You nailed it (them). No better explanation than “Blood Cult” Interesting you used the words “Blood Cult.” I posted this yesterday about these low-lifes:
“This is the United States of America!! We are Americans!! We have the right to be critical of anything we like. We live by OUR First Amendment and free speech! If you don’t like it – LEAVE!!! But I KNOW you satanically wilfull bastards won’t leave. YOU VANPIRE-LIKE PARASITES NEED TO LIVE OFF THE BLOOD OF INNOCENT VICTIMS WHEREVER YOU GO.”
In any event, I do share your ominous prognosis… I pray and hope that God for the sake of our loved ones, children and grandchildren will not allow THEM to conquer Western Civilization. But… I must admit – it doesn’t look good. It appears at this point that no human intervention can stop the progression of this Blood Cult. I think only an actual Old Testament-like intervention from God (similar to parting of the Red Sea) can save the world at this point.
In the end… I think what you wrote next says it all in a nutshell.
“Karma’s a bitch! A true revolution in the Blood-cultee world that would bring true freedom and democracy should be a revolution against BloodCult itself and removing Sharia from the Egyptian constitution, an act that will not happen in the present or the near future in Egypt or any Blood-cultee country. SHARIA AND FREEDOM CANNOT CO-EXIST, PERIOD!”
11 years ago
Cool Music – WOW that’s what you call a COMMENT! You are completely right in what you say though.Keep listening to the music!!
11 years ago
@Cool Music – This clip of Dracula (Bela Lagosi) will blow you away. It is an encryptic video of all we have been saying… must see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVPxAgy7lBA
11 years ago
The ruling came two days after the transportation authority announced that it would sell advertising space on the front of MetroCards. Mr. Donovan said on Friday that the authority “does not intend to open MetroCards to noncommercial advertisements,” a decision that was reached, he said, before Friday’s ruling.
If AFDI offers to sell posters of the bus ads and displays an image of the bus ad poster on the metro card then it is a commercial advertisement. Another place to get the message out.
11 years ago
Thanks Pam, but I fear this is not over. I would be willing to wager the ad never runs. We are facing true evil. Read ‘The Coming: A True Story Of Horror’ @ Amazon.com Johnm Daniels is the first to offer undeniable proof that Islam is the BEAST!
11 years ago
Salman Rushdie has no balls….islam is a sham and Salman knows it firsthand….islam cannot look itself in the mirror because it’s truly horrible and to say that fact is an invitation to death. Salman Rushdie has no balls to call out the mullahs…. All he has to do is read the koran out loud and ask islam if it’s really written there? If the answer he gets is a yes islam’s game is up…..Salman Rushdie can actually become the prophet of muslims if he only cut out all the crap from the super idiotic koran and rephrased and reinvented islam from the sane side. It’ll still be a work of fiction but what the hell it won’t be evil anymore. Salman rushdie should write New-islam. He has the gift of the gab and the pen. He must use it. He must. Before he is killed by a muslim that knows no better . Salman Rushdie must start new islam. He has to publish it. They’ll ban it but they’ll read it and then the real islamic spring will start. Salman rushdie has to plant the seed for new-islam. All he has to say to the mullahs is allhblahblahblah made him do it . The mullahs will kneel at his feet. Presto … people we have a winner here.
islam is crap and the mozzys know it …. but they’re stuck. Puremad’s laughing at his own people’s misery and still they have to call him sane. islam is insanity and easy evil. it’s a cult. pure and simple and evil to it’s core. But what can muslims do ? it’s written in the koran. they’re really mad people. Puremad should be given a noble prize for inventing a way of life that makes people mad. 2 billion nearly now. The project was a success… let’s end this now!! bye bye mecca and medina the planet’s bulldozers are waiting to tear down the mosques all over the globe. islam will not be missed ruefully. Tough luck !!
“To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle” – Zarathustra
To reach Blood Cultic goals Sharia entrusts Blood-cultees to use practically any means; lying, exaggeration, slander, convincing and if that does not work, then outright violence and terror is encouraged under the name of jihad if it is for the benefit of Blood Cult. Everyone and his dog now knows Islam is the problem. Those that participate in Islam will pay a price beyond this physical world…
Karma’s a bitch! A true revolution in the Blood-cultee world that would bring true freedom and democracy should be a revolution against Islam itself and removing Sharia from the Egyptian constitution, an act that will not happen in the present or the near future in Egypt or any Blood-cultee country. Sharia and freedom cannot co-exist, period.
