Andrew Cuomo had it in for the wandering dago food truck and people that wish to bet horses while andrew cuom prays.
what do you make of ny pml sec 109 ? and ny const art 1 sec 3
Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
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Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Wandering Dago, Inc. v. Destito, No. 16-622 (2d Cir. 2018)
Annotate this Case
Justia Opinion Summary
WD filed suit against OGS, alleging that defendants violated its rights under the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the New York State Constitution by denying WD's applications to participate as a food truck vendor in the Lunch Program based on its ethnic-slur branding. The Second Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendant, holding that defendants' action violated WD's equal protection rights and its rights under the New York State Constitution. In this case, it was undisputed that defendants denied WD's applications solely because of its ethnic-slur branding. In Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017), the Supreme Court clarified that this action amounted to viewpoint discrimination and, if not government speech or otherwise protected, was prohibited by the First Amendment. The court rejected defendants' argument that their actions were unobjectionable because they were either part of OGS's government speech or permissible regulation of a government contractor's speech.
Before Jailing a Young Woman, a Judge Puts Her Mother’s Racist Views on the Stand
By Adeel Hassan
A group of 10 white teenagers in Mississippi went to Jackson, the state capital, from a neighboring county in June 2011 on a drunken mission to terrorize black residents.
James Craig Anderson, who worked at a local Nissan plant, became their target. He was standing near his car in the parking lot of a motel just off a highway when the teenagers, both male and female, pounced.
“White power!” they yelled as some of them pummeled Mr. Anderson, who was 47, and stole his cellphone, his wallet and a ring. One of the teenagers in the group, who was behind the wheel of a Ford pickup truck, fatally struck Mr. Anderson with the vehicle.
The prosecutions that followed were the first uses of the federal Hate Crimes Act in the Deep South, and all 10 teenagers were charged under the act. Judge Henry T. Wingate presided over one of the resulting trials, the subject of the recent hourlong TV documentary called “Love & Hate Crime: A Murder in Mississippi.”
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One of the four defendants in that trial was Sarah Graves, who was riding in the pickup truck when Mr. Anderson was struck and killed; she pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the federal hate crime law and received a maximum sentence of five years.
Her mother, Mary Miles Harvey, wrote to the court asking for leniency, saying that she did not raise her daughter to be a racist. During Sarah’s sentencing, Judge Wingate, who is black, called Ms. Harvey to the stand for questioning.
We asked Judge Wingate, 71, about his memory of the trial and his interest in the Graves family. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This case is considered by some to be about a modern-day lynching. You’re a native of Jackson. While much has changed over the years, can you tell us about what hasn’t?
When I was picking a jury in the James Ford Seale case — the resurrected cold case of a white member of the Ku Klux Klan who had kidnapped and savagely murdered two black youths in the 1960s — I was appalled at the number of young white jurors who proved unfit for the final juror selection because of their racist views. The number of white youths who are skinheads or admirers of the American Nazi Party and Ku Klux Klan is disturbing. This tells me that the misguided racial education of these youths has not been meaningfully addressed in their homes or schools.
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What was your initial reaction to the James Craig Anderson case?
James Craig Anderson should not have died. Unfortunately, he simply was the victim of a society which as yet has not healed itself. He had a family, and by all accounts was an employed, law-abiding citizen. His flaw: Being an African-American, being an innocent victim enveloped in the clutches of robotic, mechanical racial hatred, the seeds of which were planted and nurtured by racist literature, demagoguery, and ignorance.
In the documentary, you say, “I could have been out there walking.” What did you mean by that?
I was trying to make a point. Racism, which is blind, is immune to positions of wealth, learning, intelligence, or even Christian principles. When I take off my robe and walk the streets, to unfamiliar observers I am simply an African-American, naked and unclothed with the armor of my office. Over my years on the bench here in Mississippi, I have presided over numerous matters involving race. I have recognized race hatred, by both African-Americans and whites. The race of the perpetrator does not matter.
[For more coverage of race, sign up here to have our Race/Related newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox.]
After the trial, some relatives of the defendants and one of their lawyers accused you of “reverse racism.” What did you think of this accusation?
This notion of “reverse discrimination” is one that has plagued racial progress. The term usually signifies apathy for the rights bestowed upon African-Americans, rights already enjoyed by most whites. But I said “usually signifies.” In situations where reverse discrimination actually does exist, it should not be tolerated. We should not tolerate reverse discrimination anymore than we should tolerate racism.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, you called Sarah Graves’s mother to the stand. And after the trial, you sat down with her and asked her to reflect on her prejudices. Why?
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After Sarah Graves entered a guilty plea, she decided to write me a letter. She wanted me to know that she was sorry for her involvement in Mr. Anderson’s death. She also wanted me to know that if she had formed her racist views during her childhood, she had been motivated by her own mother, who frequently used racial and hateful language at home. I figured Sarah’s mother was unaware of this letter, because she had submitted her own in which she asked for mercy for her daughter. She claimed that Sarah merely had been at the wrong place at the wrong time and that she had raised her child better than that. I could not ignore this. So, I questioned her on it during sentencing.
And what happened when you met with Sarah’s mother after the trial was over?
I sat down with her and her four-year-old granddaughter and husband. She admitted she had used the racial terms her daughter had outlined in her letter. She apologized for lying and for the miseducation of her daughter. She stated that her racial views had been planted by her family during her formative years. She vowed to do better and, as proof, she directed her little granddaughter to eventually spend time with me in my capacity as a judge. Over the years, I have been humbled by the number of black and white parents who have asked me to mentor to their children and accepted my guidance.
Follow Adeel Hassan on Twitter @adeelnyt.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: At Hate-Crime Trial, A Mother’s Influence Is Put on the Stand. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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