PacificaWatch

. . . the federal judge for the M21Oct WBAI v. Pacifica hearing, someone with form: in 2012 he ruled as lawful this advert on buses of NY’s MTA . . .

The judge at today’s hearing is Paul Adam Engelmayer. On 20July2012 he ruled against the NY Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA), after they had refused to carry on their buses an ad, shown above, that they saw violated their no-demeaning policy.

No prob for Paul, because the MTA’s no-demeaning policy was discriminatory, allowing the demeaning of those people not specifically denoted by the policy, &, anyway, this was a matter of core political speech, protected under the First Amendment.

So there you are. The group bringing the case got permission to carry out their plan, putting the ad on over 300 buses for four weeks. Free speech in action. A Pacifica value, yes?

And the group? The American Freedom Defense Initiative, obvious patriots. Not just that, but also defenders of the flag of liberty – libertarians, just like IEW Vernile, as evidenced by the radio interview I linked to on Su6Oct: https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2019/10/06/john-vernile-prince-harry-and-charlotte-church-qm-and-quincy-mccoy-qm/.

AFDI is probably better known as SIOA, Stop Islamization of America. Again, a cutting-edge topic – as witnessed by urgent preemptory legislation carried in various state chambers west of the Appalachians. Keeping the citizenry safe.

SIOA came to prominence in 2010 when it protested a Muslim group planning to build a cultural & inter-faith centre a few blocks from the Twin Towers site. It gave plenty of free publicity to the two creators of SIOA, Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer.

But AFDI/SIOA do bring people together, perhaps unique in earning the condemnation of both the Southern Poverty Law Center & the Anti-Defamation League. No easy feat. But for judge Paul, the law’s the law.

We’ll see how Paul interprets the law today, be it in favour of the defenders of WBAI, or in favour of dictatorial wrecking by the Interim Executive Wrecker.

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/03/style/weddings-e-f-mandelstam-paul-engelmayer.html (nuptials; “[h]is mother retired as a remedial reading specialist with the New York City Public Schools. His father is a lawyer in New York”; his parents-in-law, one a lawyer, the other “retired as the managing director of Ascap, the music licensing organization in New York”)