I mean, really, if refuse is the problem (and I don't deny it is), they should also be banning picnic items and food altogether: the plastic straws, plastic bags, and styrofoam cups and other refuse are highly dangerous to ocean life.
This demonization of smoking is getting somewhat dangerous. I can't get this recent story out of my head; and I bet we'll see more of it. Hate crimes against smokers: it's ridiculous and sad.
A North Side business owner slapped a 79-year-old Cook County judge in the face, spit on her and called her “Rosa Parks” after becoming angry that she was smoking near him outside the Daley Center, authorities said.
Monday's attack outside the courthouse came as a shock to friends of Judge Arnette Hubbard, a silver-haired African-American jurist who was the first female president of the National Bar Association and Cook County Bar Association, both black lawyers’ groups.
“She’s an icon in our community,” said Delores Robinson, past president of the Cook County Bar Association, who noted that Hubbard, a former commissioner on the Cook County Board of Elections, had been an international election observer in Haiti and South Africa and had long been a voice on civil rights and women’s issues.
Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday that Hubbard was outside the Daley Center smoking a cigarette when she walked past David C. Nicosia, 55, who became angry that she was smoking near him.
The two argued and Nicosia, who is white, stepped near her face and said, “Rosa Parks, move,” and spit in her face, prosecutors said. As he walked away, the Law Division judge followed him and called out for assistance.
Nicosia then turned and allegedly slapped the judge on the left side of her face with an open hand, prosecutors said. He was then arrested by sheriff’s deputies and charged with four counts of aggravated battery and a hate crime.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-man-charged-for-slapping-spitting-on-judge-outside-daley-center-20140715,0,5771071.story
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