Judge Rules MTA Must Run ‘Killing Jews Is Worship’ Ad on Buses, Subways

[Surya Gayatri]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by DonViejo (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Mediaite.com

A New York judge ruled today that the Metropolitan Transit Authority — a.k.a. NYC’s public transit — must run a pro-Israel group’s controversial ads, widely considered to be anti-Jihad, that could allegedly incite violence against Jewish people.

According to the New York Times, Judge John G. Koeltl said that the ad, commissioned by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, was protected speech and could therefore run on MTA property (as long as the MTA does not appeal). “While the court is sensitive to the M.T.A.’s security concerns, the defendants have not presented any objective evidence that the ‘Killing Jews advertisement’ would be likely to incite imminent violence,” he wrote.



“The defendants underestimate the tolerant quality of New Yorkers, and overestimate the potential impact of these fleeting advertisements,” he added.

Ah, right. The ads in question, which will be displayed on buses and in subway stops, will look like this:



Ad saying 'Killing Jews is worship' will not be banned from New York buses: http://t.co/o7rVOxcuOc pic.twitter.com/GJ067FZBls

— Christian Today (@ChristianToday) April 22, 2015

Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/online/judge-rules-mta-must-run-killing-jews-is-worship-ad-on-buses-subways/

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First Amendment absurdity. Such incendiary language would NEVER be allowed in French public spaces.

[jberryhill]

1. The absurdity is not the First Amendment

The absurdity is debasing these public resources for selling advertising space in the first place.

If the government is going to say "pay us to put your message here", then the government cannot make choices between what messages they will or will not put there.

So, what happens, as with lotteries and other government funding gimmicks, is that the public transit system takes in revenue for running ads, and then their subsidy is cut by as much as they take in.

The simple solution is to stop running advertisements on public property. Otherwise, there is no way around this sort of thing.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. Or, give equal billing to ISIS...recruiting for Jihad, for example.

'The simple solution is to stop running advertisements on public property.'

They need the revenue.

[jberryhill]

7. "They need the revenue"

No they do not "need the revenue". That is bullshit. They want the revenue, and the people of New York lack the political will to adequately subsidize public transportation. The "need" is entirely artificial.

In the city of New York, small condominiums go for millions of dollars, and yet there is no money to be found there? Nonsense.

You do not seem to understand what I said about how these things work. It is the same thing that happens with lotteries. They are sold to the states as "free money" and earmarked for things like "education" or "senior services". Then, the general appropriations for those things are cut by the amount of revenue generated by the lottery, at which point they can say "Oh, but we 'need' the revenue."

Solicitation for criminal acts - your examples, are themselves illegal acts.

So, kindly provide the list of things the government should allow people to say and not say, so that we might keep a handy list of them for the "MTA Office Of What People Are Allowed To Say."

[Telcontar]

3. Which is what makes America superior to France

[Surya Gayatri]

4. Well, aren't we feeling our patriotic oats today?

'Murca!!!!!!!!! Fuck, yeah.......

[Surya Gayatri]

6. Creating an even more charged and tense public square.

[DonViejo]

8. Locking...

Duplicate of this post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141073643

Please join the conversation in that thread