I think you can see with this Forest Preserve how dangerous these laws can be. There is probably no underlying crime and even if there is it is a minor ticket. It gets bumped up to a felony because the guy said mean things.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Piggybacking off a discussion from earlier, these laws were passed by the legislative branch. It would take an activist judge to shut them down.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Dick Just kidding. They could be shut down by the same legislative branch changing their mind and rescinding.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

I do not know what forest preserve crime you are referring to but I think hate crimes are a bad idea in general. I never really got the point except for calling attention to the issue or saying someone did commit a crime and we are really really mad about it.

Is taking someone's life any more final due to a level of hate? I am sure some will differ but there are likely better ways to address a goal than having a duplicitous criminal system based on emotion.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

They could but this is why we give power to the courts too and why we shouldn't expect the courts to defer to the legislative branch.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

So the legislature should pass "laws" that judges choose to support on a case by case basis? That's called anarchy or dictatorship. Bad law is still law.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

Yes. Judges should judge laws on a case by case basis. That's how it works.

The courts are designed as a checks and balance.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yes, but the purpose of a court is not to impose its personal opinion regarding the law. If the legislature passes a law making what happened there a "hate crime" (they haven't but I can certainly see a future where they have), it's not up to a judge to use his/her position on the bench to nullify the law based upon his/her personal feelings.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

They are very clearly after free speech.

There is no question. But some will continue to say it's just a vocal minority... that is, until they are not even allowed to speak at all.

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Obviously the drunk has the right to say what he said. If he doesn't then all the people that yell at conservative speakers on campus don't either.

Rick is trying to take on a strawman. It doesn't require judicial activism to dismiss this case.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

The problem here was the totally ineffective officer. If he had calmly walked up to the man and got him away from the situation, this would have been nothing more than a social media video that nobody would care about after three or four days.

Forest Preserve cops suck.

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What happened?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Some drunk yelled at a woman wearing a Puerto Rico shirt and she filmed it. The next thing you know the goof is up on assault charges with a hate crime kicker.

What really should have happened was the big dude that was with the woman should have told the Forest Preserve cops that if you don't make this guy get out of here I'm going to punch his face in.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

I wouldn't characterize it as personal opinion. It's about interpretation. I'd say it is pretty clear that the Constitution intends for this type of law to be unconstitutional even if it doesn't specifically state it. That's why you can't just "read the words exactly" because you need to apply logic and reasoning to them.

It is designed to be a system of checks and balances. The founders didn't want Congress to have unilateral power.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It should have not gotten to that point. Any cop who actually has some common sense would have walked in between then, told the guy to shut up, told the woman get her phone back in her pocket and walk away, then escorted the guy away from her. This is your typical 2.0 GPA cop who would have busted heads if this was 16 year old kids smoking cigarettes.

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It's not a strawman. The judicial branch exists to help check the power of the judicial branch. When a bad law like this is on the books then they have limited power to invalidate it.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Do you believe a judge should be able to strike down a law because they personally disagree with it?

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No faith in America to hold its ground and retain it's core principles. Sad!

This is pretty fucked up.

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What should happen to the old man? Fine him?

With the question asked like that the answer is no.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Agree with OP.

Hate leash.

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It has happened in England and Canada.

I do feel better now that Trump has been able to nominate two justices, though. Hopefully he gets a couple more. No offense, Ginsburg!

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That's what I'm here for.

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Not even that.

Just post the video and publicly scorn the fool.

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Just like a Nazi at a Robert E Lee statue rally, why are you judging his free speech?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

If I read the story correctly, he got a misdemeanor ticket for disorderly conduct (probably drunk or something). It should have ended there.

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Mods, please move this thread to the Politics section. KTHXBAI

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I think a citation and fine of a couple hundred dollars would be ok. Regardless of race, it was harassment.