Quick Takes – Anti-1st Amendment States: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: Shut up, Unamerican Americans explained.

     First, a little mood music:

     Carrying on…

Once upon a time the term “Banned in Boston” was a call by the Left against socially conservative censorship, is now used by the Left as a badge of Social Justice, with the push to fine people for doubleplusungood speech.

“A bill to criminalize the B-word — the term for a female dog that is commonly used to slander women — is up for a hearing Tuesday on Beacon Hill in what one critic calls ‘patently unconstitutional’ and the latest political correctness push from the ‘word police.’

“The legislation submitted by state Rep. Daniel Hunt, titled ‘An Act regarding the use of offensive words,’ states: ‘A person who uses the word “bitch” directed at another person to accost, annoy, degrade or demean the other person shall be considered to be a disorderly person.’ Penalties for a disorderly conduct conviction include a $150 fine for a first offense and $200 or 6 months in prison for subsequent offenses.”

     Apparently Connecticut lost the note that the right to free speech exists…

“Connecticut General Statutes § 53-37 (which, oddly enough, is listed in some Connecticut government documents under the ‘affirmative action’ category, as in this Affirmative Action Policy Statement and this Affirmative Action—Laws List) provides:

“‘Any person who, by his advertisement, ridicules or holds up to contempt any person or class of persons, on account of the creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality or race of such person or class of persons, shall be fined not more than fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days or both.’

“And, as best we can tell, prosecutors have averaged a bit over one conviction per year under the statute from 2000 to 2016, and in 2017 they had four prosecutions—two that were dropped, and two that were still pending as of the end of 2017. “

     New York City, under hardcore Leftist Bill de Blasio, thinks that a quarter of a million dollar fine for saying or using the term “illegal alien” is spiffy.

“It’s now against the law in New York City to threaten someone with a call to immigration authorities or refer to them as an “illegal alien” when motivated by hate.

“The restrictions — violations of which are punishable by fines of up to $250,000 per offense — are outlined in a 29-page directive released by City Hall’s Commission on Human Rights.”

     TTFN.

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