BRONX TIMES REPORTER, N 50 OVEMBER 15-21, 2019 BTR
Action
Association
BY MARY JANE MUSANO
Our next meeting will be
on Tuesday, November 26 at
7:30 p.m. at the First Lutheran
Church. John Cerini, the
Bronx Tax Man, will be our
guest speaker. We will also
have some surprises for some
community members, so it
will be an interesting and inspiring
meeting. We will be
celebrating Thanksgiving
with some great giveaways for
our wonderful members, so
please be sure to attend. Put it
on your calendar today so that
you will remember to join us.
Veteran’s Day Parade
I hope you attended our
community Veterans Day Parade.
It was especially spectacular
this year and I am
happy to say that it was also
very well attended. My goal is
to see our parade route lined
with people from beginning to
end. We must always remember
and celebrate our service
men and woman.
Sad Times
Our community united and
came out in force to oppose the
road diet for Tremont Avenue.
They did it anyway. Morris
Park opposed the road diet for
their community with many
hundreds of signatures on a
petition. They got their road
diet anyway. Our community
opposed such a large addition
to P.S. 14. We got it anyway.
We joined Westchester Square
Civic Association, Community
Board 10 and Community
Board 11 in their opposition
to Blondell Commons. They
passed it anyway.
Councilman Gjonaj asked
our community if they wanted
to see Rikers close in a survey
that overwhelmingly said
they did not. They are closing
it anyway and he joined them.
Mott Haven opposed a new
jail for their community and
the borough president agreed
but they are planning a very
tall building as a jail for their
area. For years and years and
years our community has opposed
over development for
our low density community.
For years and years and years
they continue to overdevelop
our community with absolutely
no regard for infrastructure,
schools, hospitals and
everything else that needs to
be done before we continue
building. Our community has
requested more police, especially
since we are down approximately
14 offi cers at the
45th Precinct. We are still understaffed.
Are you seeing the picture?
Our government is not listening.
We must unite and with a
collective voice we must speak
out loud and clear. We must
vote out those politicians that
do not listen and strongly support
those that do listen. We
must attend civic association
meetings and become involved
because there is strength in
numbers and in unity. We
must never give up and always
believe that we can win when
DINOWITZ HOSTS HALLOWEEN PARTY
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz held a Halloween event at his community
offi ce on 3107 Kingsbridge Avenue last week, where he was
greeted by children and their families dressed in their Halloween
costumes.
(Above) Assemblyman Dinowitz with children in their costumes,
just outside his community offi ce.
Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’ offi ce
we join together and unite for
the cause. So, I look forward to
seeing you at our November
meeting. Please bring a neighbor
with you.
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
To Americans, engaging
in free speech is as basic a
concept as breathing. That
is why the immediate, dire
and unprecedented threats to
the First Amendment are not
taken with any signifi cant
level of seriousness.
The concepts enshrined in
the U.S. Bill of Rights are under
profound attack, by politicians,
academics, and the left.
In 2012, Sen. Charles Schumer
(D-NY) urged “there ought to
be limits” on First Amendment
rights. At a Senate Rules Committee
hearing, Schumer the
senior senator from New York,
issued the stunning statement
that ”The First Amendment is
sacred, but the First Amendment
is not absolute.”
The assaults fi rst became
prominent during the Obama
Administration’s tenure in offi
ce:
His commissioners on the
Federal Communications
Commission sought to place
federal monitors in newsrooms.
His attorney general
openly considered criminal
prosecution of anyone disagreeing
with his views on
climate change. He moved to
place the internet under international
control (which would
permit censorship.) The Internal
Revenue Service was used
a bludgeon against groups
opposing White House policies.
The Justice Department
seized telephone records of
Fox news reporters.
The political left did not
end their anti-free speech activities
after losing the White
House, but moved into different
spheres of infl uence. Ari
Lieberman, writing for Frontpage
correctly noted that “The
Left’s assault on free speech
is an alarming trend that
represents a grave danger to
democratic values and principles.
They employ code words
like ‘safe spaces’ and ‘First
Amendment opportunism’ to
hide behind the fact that they
are tearing apart the very fabric
of the United States Constitution.”
In that quest, they have
gained notable successes. A
recent Campaign for Free
Speech (CFS) survey found
startling results:
51% of Americans think the
First Amendment is outdated
and should be rewritten. The
First Amendment protects
your right to free speech, free
assembly, and freedom of religion,
among other things.
48% believe ‘hate speech’
should be illegal. (Hate speech
is not defi ned—we left it up to
the individual participant.)
Of those, about half think the
punishment for hate speech
should include possible jail
time, while the rest think it
should just be a ticket and a
fi ne.
80% don’t actually know
what the First Amendment really
protects. Those polled believed
this statement is true:
“The First Amendment allows
anyone to say their opinion
no matter what, and they
are protected by law from any
consequences of saying those
thoughts or opinions.”
It’s actually not true. The
First Amendment prevents
the government from punishing
you for your speech (with
exceptions such as yelling
“fi re” in a crowded area to induce
panic).
But more broadly, freedom
of speech does not mean
you are protected from social
consequences for your speech.
You may have the right to say
something extreme or hateful
and not get thrown in jail,
but others in society have the
right to shun you.
CFS provided an explanation
for the results:
“… there are at least two
factors at play. One is the obvious
polarization of politics and
the media…Second, we hear
much about “hate speech.” …
If the government is in charge
of determining what is hate
speech, then it inevitably becomes
political—a weapon
that can be used to punish
people on the other side of an
issue.”
Donald Trump, Jr., in a
Hill opinion piece, notes that
there is a distinctly partisan
fl avor to the censorship imposed
by social media giants.
“As Big Tech’s censorship of
conservatives becomes ever
more fl agrant and overt… Our
right to freely engage in public
discourse through speech
is under sustained attack……
we now know that Mark Zuckerberg’s
social media giant
developed algorithms to ‘deboost’
certain content, limiting
its distribution and appearance
in news feeds. As
you probably guessed, this
stealth censorship was specifi -
cally aimed at conservatives.”
Examples throughout Academia
are rampant. Breitbart
recently reported that Students
at the University of New
Hampshire were caught on
video tearing down conservative
oriented “Turning Point
USA” posters. A leftist student
said “I hate you and I hope you
die” to one of the members of
the school’s TPUSA group after
being approached about
tearing down the displays.
A Newseum white paper
authored by the organization’s
CEO Jeffrey Herbst found that
“the real problem of free expression
on college campuses
is much deeper than episodic
moments of censorship: With
little comment, an alternate
understanding of the First
Amendment has emerged
among young people that can
be called ‘the right to non-offensive
speech’…The crisis is
not one of the very occasional
speaker thrown off campus,
however regrettable that is;
rather, it is a generation that
increasingly censors itself
and others, largely silently
but sometimes through active
protest…”
The Foundation for Individual
Rights in Education
maintains that “A culture
of censorship has taken root
and permeated universities,
in part due to some students’
unfamiliarity or disinterest
in their rights. A likely culprit,
in my opinion, is defi cient
civic education in secondary
schools across the nation. In
the absence of engaging civics
instruction and classroom
debate, some students fail to
grasp the content or signifi -
cance of their First Amendment
freedoms, allowing those
rights to fall victim to restrictions
on campus…”
The James G. Martin Center
for Academic Renewal reports
that “Student intolerance
and opposition to free
speech have been gaining
momentum. What began as
isolated incidents at the University
of Missouri and Yale
University in fall 2015 quickly
spread to other universities,
leading to individuals being
targeted for simply expressing
their opinions…”