New York: Nassau County Bans Face Masks

I thought face masks were our values in a democracy?

NBC New York:

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed a controversial new bill into law Wednesday, one that bans face masks in public places except in cases of religious, health or cultural necessity.

The ban, the first of its kind in the United States, takes effect immediately, with the goal of increasing public safety. The bill was approved earlier this month by the Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature on Long Island. Supporters say it will prevent violent protesters from hiding their identity.

Ohhhhh.

It’s about fighting antisemitism.

Okay.

Yeah, antisemitism is an even worse virus than COVID-19, if you can believe it.

Legislator Howard Kopel said the measure was introduced in response to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Oct. 7 start of the latest Israel-Hamas war.


Bruce Blakeman, Jew. Jews are almost 20% of Nassau County’s population.

All 12 Republicans in the legislature voted in favor of the measure, while the body’s seven Democrats abstained.

The county lawmakers acted after New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said in June that she was considering a ban on face masks in the New York City subway system. No specific plan has been announced to enact such a ban, which like the Nassau measure was floated in response to the rise in mask-wearing protesters.

The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the Nassau mask ban as an infringement on free speech rights.

“Masks protect people who express political opinions that are controversial,” the group’s Nassau County regional director Susan Gottehrer said in a statement. “Officials should be supporting New Yorkers’ right to voice their views, not fueling widespread doxxing and threatening arrests.”

“Masks also protect people’s health, especially at a time of rising COVID rates, and make it possible for people with elevated risk to participate in public life,” she continued. “We should be helping people make the right choice for themselves and their loved ones — not letting the government exile vulnerable people from society.”

The Nassau bill makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for anyone to wear a facial covering to hide their identity in public.

There are still a bunch of women wearing masks because they are afraid of viruses.

It will be funny when the police attack them and beat them with clubs for being pro-Hamas and denying Israel’s right to defend itself.

This video is from 4 years ago