New York’s suburban Nassau County has passed a bill to ban the wearing of masks after an incident in the state in which anti-Israel protesters wearing masks to hide their identity threatened Zionists on the subway.
The mask ban would cover any sort of public protest, but politicians in the Republican-controlled county say the bill aims to prevent protesters who engage in alleged violence and antisemitism from hiding their identity and avoiding accountability. Civil rights advocates saw the step as an infringement on free speech rights.
The bill was approved late on Monday, with all 12 Republicans in the county legislature voting in favor while the seven Democrats
...every time you hear the phrase
white people,
white supremacy,
whiteanything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word
(Thomas) Nastyto the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
abstained. It makes wearing a facial covering to hide identity in public a misdemeanor that can be punished with up to one year in prison and a $1,000 penalty. The bill has exemptions for medical reasons and for "religious and cultural purposes."
"Unless someone has a medical condition or a religious imperative, people should not be allowed to cover their face in a manner that hides their identity when in public," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, said about the bill that he is expected to sign.
The New York Civil Liberties Union said the bill was an attack on free speech.
"Masks protect people who express political opinions that are unpopular. Making anonymous protest illegal chills political action and is ripe for selective enforcement," Susan Gottehrer, the Nassau County regional director of NYCLU, said.
A mask ban proposal gained traction in June after masked protesters in a subway car chanted "Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist." That same evening protesters, many of them masked, demonstrated outside an exhibit commemorating the Nova music festival massacre in a rally widely condemned as antisemitic.
The proposal earned the endorsement of New York City Mayor Eric Adams
...Hizonner da Mare of Noo Yawk. As a Manchurian candidate, Hizonner was all in favor of law and order and that kind of stuff. Once in office, a bunch of his friends found cushy jobs with the city, the windows kept getting broken, and Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg remained right where he was. Most people comfort themselves with the thought that he's not Bill di Blasio but that's pretty small comfort with kids who actually go to school getting bumped off while standing in front of them. But he's a Dem, so the rubes will vote for him next election too, so he's what they deserve...and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, both Democrats. It also gained the support of the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP New York State Conference.
At a joint presser with the antisemitism watchdog on June 29, Hazel Dukes the president of the Black advocacy group NAACP’s New York State Conference, cited the white hoods of the racist Ku Klux Klan in her endorsement of a mask ban.
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