Italian journalists oppose privacy law


'The gagging law denies citizens the right to be informed’ says the above front page from an Italian newspaper -- which is rubbish. It prevents willy-nilly bugging of people, that is all

Having "exclusive" sources is the Holy Grail for journalists and too bad if it needs an invasion of privacy to achieve that

"There will be no news in Italy today; or, at least, hardly any. That is not a prediction, but fact: none of the main newspapers are appearing because their reporters and editors are on a 24-hour strike. Today they are due to be joined by radio, TV and some internet journalists.

The action is over a parliamentary bill proposing a law that Silvio Berlusconi’s government claims safeguards privacy. Most of Italy’s editors, judges and prosecutors say it is intended to shield politicians, and particularly the prime minister, whose career has been ridden with financial and sexual scandals.

The so-called ‘gagging law’ would curb the ability of police and prosecutors to record phone conversations and plant listening devices. It would also stop journalists publishing the resulting transcripts.

Investigators seeking to listen in on a suspect would need permission from three judges. Regardless of circumstances, eavesdropping warrants would expire after 75 days, after which they must be renewed every three days.”

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Facebook Allows Hate Speech Against Fat People

This one has always rather puzzled me. "Obesity" is highly hereditary. Only with great difficulty can fat people help themselves. Yet there is no end to public condemnation of them.

Yet homosexuality is also largely inborn and also for them it is only with great difficulty that they can help themselves. So why is homosexuality zealously protected but "obesity" is not? Why is discrimination against one group just fine while discrimination against another group is the darkest of sins?

Clearly there is no principle involved. Discrimination is good or bad simply according to the politics of the day.

"Facebook protects many groups from hate speech. Here's one they don't offer protection to: Fat People. Check out these Facebook groups:

• beautiful girls, all over the world, except you. fat bitch.
• If sex is such good exercise, why are there fat sluts?
• You're not "thick", you're a fat-ass in denial
• I don't hate you 'cause your fat, you're fat because i hate you.
• "Do you ride Elephants in India?"..."No, do you ride fat people in America?"
• i hate fat/ugly people that try to act bitchy. like no, your fat.
• Friends don't let friends bang fat bitches
• I would carry you to the moon and back...LOL jk, your fat and i'd die
• Being Fat and Ugly
• we all know a fat slag who thinks their fit
• You're wearing a tight clothes and you're fat....that's not good.

Terrible grammar and lack of creativity aside, this cannot stand. When a user starts a Facebook group, they're notified that:

"groups that attack a specific person or group of people (e.g. racist, sexist, or other hate groups) will not be tolerated. Creating such a group will result in the immediate termination of your Facebook account."

The entire purpose of the above groups is to propagate hate speech against fat people, specifically women. Can you imagine similar slurs being cast on any other group? Yes, you can. That's why Facebook is so rigorous in removing groups that attack federally protected minorities.

That's fantastic--except lots of minority groups that aren't federally protected under the EEO laws, including gay or transgendered people, and Facebook appears to have silenced hate-groups against them.

And it's not because there isn't a single person on Facebook who hates gay or transgender people enough to take two minutes to start a group. It's more likely that every time a group of that nature pops up, it's very rightfully flagged and removed.

Well, the fat-hate groups listed above have been flagged numerous times, and yet they remain. What's worse, multiple women have had their pictures used without their permission in Facebook fat hate groups. Bloggers such as Fat Nurse, Definatalie, and Pretty in Plus all write of experiences with this.

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In case anybody thinks my comments about obesity are motivated by self interest, see below a picture of me taken in my early 20s

Left-influenced Christians putting on a display of righteousness



They don't seem to have read Matthew 6: 1-6 or Matthew 23:23. "Apologies" seem to be big among Leftists. Leftists are good at empty words. Comments below by David Yeagley, ancestrally a Comanche

"What’s wrong with this picture?

Members of the Texas Apostolic Prayer Network (TXAPAN) kneel before Comanche Nation chairman Michael Burgess and two other Comanches, and “apologize” for a “battle” at Palo Duro Canyon in 1874.

This story was told on the front page of the Comanche Nation News, June edition, 2010. The dramatic prayer incident took place this past April 23 and 24. To my knowledge, this event was not advertised among the Comanche people, nor was there any general invitation given. The June edition in the Comanche paper is the first I knew of it. I know I’m not the only Comanche that was unaware of it.

This event is ironic, the history dubious, and, in my opinion, the incident somewhat egregious. With all due respect for my beloved Comanche people and our leaders, I beg to differ with the idea that anyone owes Comanches an apology, or that Comanches need to offer forgiveness to anyone. Indeed, if Comanches accept apologies from anyone, then Comanches need to go and offer their apologies to the Apache, the Spanish, and the Texans.

After all, Comanches were the aggressor -–first toward other Indians, then toward the Spanish and Mexican population, in Mexico and in Texas. That the white Texans should finally out-gun and out-number the Comanche is no reason for the Texans to apologize. And Comanches certainly owe the Texans no apology. The Comanches were themselves invaders of the territory occupied by others. Then Comanches became victims of invasion.

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This must be some of the worst bullsh*t I have ever heard

And you thought NASA was about exploring outer space! Not in Obamaland.

"In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation’s space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to “re-inspire children” to study science and math, to “expand our international relationships,” and to “reach out to the Muslim world.”

Of those three goals, Bolden said in a recent interview with al-Jazeera, the mission to reach out to Muslims is “perhaps foremost,” because it will help Islamic nations “feel good” about their scientific accomplishments.

In the same interview, Bolden also said the United States, which first sent men to the moon in 1969, is no longer capable of reaching beyond low earth orbit without help from other nations.

“NASA is not only a space exploration agency,” Bolden concluded, “but also an earth improvement agency.”

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Must not advocate use of Rhino horn -- even in jest



Use of Rhino horn as an aphrodisiac is superstitious nonsense but there is unfortunately a lot of superstition in the Far East and it does lead to the illicit slaughter of Rhinos for their horns.

Belief in the Holy Trinity is pretty nonsensical too so Westerners cannot afford to be too critical.

"Elle Macpherson says she regrets any distress she may caused by jokingly advocating the use of powdered rhino horn, a traditional Chinese medicine that is banned worldwide.

During a recent interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, the Australian model said that she had tasted rhino horn and that it had "done the job".

Her comments were condemned by animal rights activists, more so because Macpherson had publicly boycotted a posh London restaurant for serving bluefin tuna, an animal that is as endangered as the white rhino.

However, the model told news.com.au today that she had "never knowingly consumed or encouraged the use or consumption of any products which contain material derived from endangered species".

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There is a bit of sleight of hand above. It is true that the white (more properly "weit") Rhino is endangered but other Rhinos are not.

America to emulate China in internet censorship?

We read:

"Under Senator Joe Lieberman’s 197-page Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, the United States would formally mimic China’s “great firewall” of web censorship.

When Lieberman himself attempted to debunk claims that the bill provides Obama, and any following President for that matter, with a figurative ‘kill switch’ to disable certain parts of the Internet, he explained that the government was merely seeking to emulate powers over the Internet already enjoyed by the Communist Chinese.

Firstly, despite Lieberman’s spin, the text of the bill clearly gives Obama the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without Congressional oversight.

Secondly, and even more alarmingly, Lieberman’s acknowledgement that the United States is seeking to emulate China’s policies on Internet control confirm that the entire cybersecurity agenda is primarily concerned with silencing political opposition to the state, since this factor completely dominates the Chinese model which Lieberman openly invokes as the ultimate goal of cybersecurity.

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Academe + Canada = BIG censorship

We read:

"After going home for Christmas to visit with friends and family, I found myself confronting my second semester of journalism school. This semester, we were expected to participate in a blogging assignment. Two posts a week on a specific topic. I was excited that I finally had a chance to stop pretending to be objective and start writing what was really on my mind.

My first post was on the war in Gaza and the problems I had with students and pundits who claimed that Israel was using a disproportionate amount of force. "If Israel sent in missiles without aiming, would that be proportional? If Israel deliberately fired upon civilian, rather than military targets, would that be proportional? Because that is exactly how Hamas has been terrorizing the innocent people living in Southern Israel.… Of course, I would not expect information such as how Israeli hospitals are treating injured Palestinians, while Palestinian hospitals are allowing Hamas agents to shoot injured prisoners in their hospital beds, to be disseminated in a lefty institution like a Canadian university," I wrote.

Before I was able to publish the piece, I was pulled into my professor's office and told that my writing was unacceptable; that I was unqualified to write on the war in Gaza because I am not a international relations expert and I've never served with the Israeli army. He also said that the piece was too opinionated and that I would have to provide proof of everything I said, including my assertion that Hamas is a terrorist organization, even though it is listed as such by both the American and Canadian governments.

I initially gave my professor the benefit of the doubt and switched my topic. After receiving feedback on my next post, I asked for examples of best practises and was sent to a blog post written by one of my classmates. She also wrote about the war in Gaza, but she was on the opposite side of the issue, claiming that Israel was using disproportionate force and that the Canadian government was wrong not to condemn it. It quickly became apparent to me that my previous post had been censored, not for any of the reasons I was given, but because my political opinions conflicted with those of my professor.

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One gutsy guy

The Only Muslim Zionist in Bangladesh:

"Shoaib Choudhury is not your average newspaper publisher, author, movie director, peace activist and lyricist. He’s also a Muslim Zionist who lives in Bangladesh, the world’s third largest Muslim nation.

Last week Choudhury, the editor of the Bangladeshi weekly tabloid Weekly Blitz which he describes as the “only anti-jihadist newspaper in the Muslim world,” spoke to Yishai Fleisher of Israel National Radio.

He told Fleisher about his view that “political Islam and hate speech are our biggest enemies.”

He recounted the ordeal he lived through in 2003 when he started the newspaper and was later subjected to solitary confinement for 17 months when he tried to visit Israel.

“At the time, the Hebrew Writers Association in Tel Aviv invited me to take part in a symposium,” he said. “On my way to Israel, I was stopped and arrested at the international airport in Dhaka. They labeled me a Zionist and an Israeli spy, interrogated me and tortured me for 10 days, and then imprisoned me for 17 months in solitary confinement, until 2005.”

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The latest TSA abomination: Now it blocks websites with “Controversial Opinions”

Will other Federal agencies follow suit?

"The Transportation Security Administration will block all websites that contain “controversial opinion” from its federal computers in the latest example of how Internet censorship is expanding in both the private and public sector as the federal government prepares to push through a power grab that will empower President Obama to shut down the world wide web with an emergency decree.

“The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is blocking certain websites from the federal agency’s computers, including halting access by staffers to any Internet pages that contain a “controversial opinion,” according to an internal email obtained by CBS News.”

The new rules came into force on July 1, and prevent TSA employees from accessing such content, though what is deemed “controversial opinion” is not explained. Undoubtedly, the ban list will include websites which specialize in criticism of the government and federal agencies.

Internet censorship is expanding by stealth across numerous private and public network hubs. We routinely receive emails from visitors alarmed at the fact that their local library, university or transport center has blocked Alex Jones’ websites under the justification that they contain “hate speech”. Hate speech is being cited as an excuse to bar access to material critical of the state.

Indeed, at London’s St. Pancras station, one of the busiest international transport hubs in the world, Prison Planet.com, Infowars.com, and even mildly political websites are all censored on the facility’s free wi-fi network. In Communist China, where the state blocks most political websites, Alex Jones’ content is still accessible. In this instance, the Internet censorship policies of so-called free western nations are more draconian than those employed by the Chinese.

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Bible Teachings on Homosexuality Deemed "Hate Speech" by European Rights Agency

But anti-Christian hate is fine

"When a European Christian pro-family group applied to join the Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) of the EU’s Human Rights Agency, they did not expect to be denounced as promoters of “hate.”

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) objected to a statement by the Alliance of Romania’s Families (ARF) calling same-sex “marriage” an example of “human degeneration,” and denied their request for membership.

The ARF, a group lobbying to retain Romania’s traditional Christian social and legal underpinnings, had written on their website that, “So-called alternatives such as ‘families’ consisting of same-sex, are nothing but expressions of human degeneration.”

In a letter to the ARF’s president, Peter Costea, the agency called this “a fundamental rights perception that is incompatible with the participation in the FRP.” The agency also explained that their position was based upon the belief that ARF's views amount to "hate speech." ...

While turning down the ARF, the Fundamental Rights Agency accepted the application of the British Humanist Association (BHA), one of Britain's most outspokenly anti-Christian lobby groups that works for the removal of all signs of Christianity from public life in Britain.

The BHA features a who’s who list of Britain’s most hostile anti-Christians, including atheist Richard Dawkins and its current president, radical feminist journalist Polly Toynbee. The group is best known recently for its “atheist bus” campaigns and its political work to disestablish the Church of England, to abolish daily worship in schools and to “reform” religious education to exclude religious belief.

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What the Romanian Christians said is actually mild compared with what Leviticus 20:13 says

Must not defend homosexuals in the Middle East

Homosexuals are only oppressed in the Wicked West, apparently

"A pro-Israel group was booted from the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit after it had scheduled a workshop for today on gay rights in the Middle East.

Stand With Us, which has a chapter in Detroit, had registered to run a workshop set for this afternoon that was part of a forum attracting activists to Detroit from across North America. Their workshop was called “LGBTQI Liberation in the Middle East.” It planned to look at how gays and lesbians are oppressed in the Arab world, say organizers, while Israel in contrast gives them freedom.

The workshop was initially approved and was on the program. But on Wednesday, the group was kicked out of the forum and not allowed to do the workshop. Supporters of the group said the decision is related to the fact they are pro-Israel at a conference that has a number of workshops critical of Israel and Zionism.

Stand With Us members criticized the U.S. Social Forum for their decision. “I’m pretty disgusted because it seems like free speech at the forum doesn’t exist for voices that may have something good to say about Israel,” said Brett Cohen, director of the Midwest region of Stand With Us.

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We all know how sacred homosexuals are but Arabs are apparently more sacred

What they don't want to hear: "Let us remind the executive as to where gays in the Middle East are tortured and murdered for daring to express their sexual preference. The reality is that in the Middle East, Israel is to be admired for its gay rights and equality, amidst being surrounded by countries which condone violent and murderous homophobia"

Being bigoted yourself is an odd way to oppose bigotry

It's not racist if we do it

That seems to be the Leftist view. Rand Paul, the libertarian son of Ron Paul, was viciously criticized by the Left as "racist" because he said that he opposed racism but he thought that legislation barring discrimination by private businesses was a breach of private property rights. But barring people from private businesses because of their group identity is OK if Leftists do it apparently

"I was visiting some friends in Portland, Oregon, and I was told about an incident at the local Red and Black Cafe, in which a police officer was asked to leave because their customers (sorry, "collective members") do not feel safe around police.

Said the co-owner (which I assume, as this IWW closed shop is "worker-owned" and "collectively managed," is simply one of the baristas) said, "If there's a police officer there, I wouldn't feel safe in that situation. I would feel worried that the officer might Tase the person or potentially shoot them for having a mental health issue."

I suggest they add "wearing a law enforcement uniform non-ironically" to their list of prohibited behaviors ... as long as "fostering inane and irrational paranoia" is still protected.

Regardless, what's clear is that they agree with Rand Paul that the right of private discrimination, while often an abomination, is protected by our Constitution. And because that view is "inherently racist," well ... I regret to report that these lovely people in Portland are racists.

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(See the original for links)

Russian lady outwits film star

I am sure that abusive language such as Gibson's is pretty common in domestic disputes but not all the women concerned are wearing a wire at the time.

I actually suspect that Gibson was set up right from the beginning. There have been quite a few attractive Eastern European ladies who marry rich men but who split shortly after bearing the guy a child.

Once a child is involved, the divorce courts are always very "generous" and the lady is set up for life. She might even go on then to marry for love.

"Mel Gibson's baby mama has 30 minutes of audio tapes featuring the actor ranting and spewing hate speech directed at her, according to a new report.

A day after RadarOnline reported that Gibson's meltdown included profanity-laced phrases at ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva that included calling her a “f----ing pig in heat” and “psycho c---,” the site reported today that she has lot's more where that came from.

Gibson, 54, and Grigorieva, 40, are locked in a bitter battle over child support. Gibson's affair with the Russian musician led to the end of his 29-year marriage.

RadarOnline didn't post the actual recording but claimed to have heard Gibson's angry words.

While Gibson's rep did not deny that he made the outbursts, the actor has not commented or apologized for the remarks.

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Popular California Flag Mural Deemed Graffiti, Painted Over

The Leftists who run California talk big about "respect" -- but only for minorities. There's no respect for mainstream Americans at all

"California residents are up in arms that a flag mural — paying homage to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — was painted over after the state ruled it was graffiti.

State transportation workers on Thursday turned the 35-foot hillside mural on Interstate 680 in Silicon Valley back into a gray slab of concrete, KTVU-TV reported. The explanation? It simply had been put on a list for graffiti remove, one official said...

The flag muralists vow to repaint the mural in time for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. But the state says they will have to go through an application process for permission to create "transportation art."

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Update on censorship of conservative newspaper ("The Rutherford Reader") by Kroger

Previously mentioned on this blog on June 13th.

"A small Tennessee-based newspaper has become the center of a free speech firestorm after it was banned from a grocery store chain and a KFC for allegedly publishing "hate" speech....

Protesters gathered outside at least one Kroger store Saturday with picket signs sporting messages like "1st Amendment Trashed by Kroger and Distributech."

And a manager at the KFC that banned the Reader says the company has received dozens of complaints since the paper was taken off the shelves, including her own.

"I've made my opinion known," Smyrna KFC Manager Sandy Stahr told FoxNews.com. "I just feel it's wrong that out of all the people that enjoyed reading it when they came in to eat by themselves, and because one person complained they're going to take it out."

For Kroger's part, Ead says the supermarket received several complaints, not just Mijares'.

Doughtie says his increased circulation numbers show the Reader's supporters in this dispute far outweigh its critics. "We've had a heck of a lot more new subscribers. We have 14 new distribution points where businesses have called us and said they want our paper in their store," he said. "We've even had to increase our printing."

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Looks like Kroger's censorship did the paper a favor. It would still be nice, however, if Kroger sees a fall-off in their business as conservatives shop elsewhere.

Kroger could learn from Rupert Murdoch: Giving conservatives a voice is good for business. Lots of mainstream media companies are in financial difficulties these days but Murdoch properties (Wall St Journal, NY Post, Fox news) are all doing fine.

Black anti-racist caught out being racist in Britain



Another instance of how blacks tend to hate Chinese and Indians because of their superior achievements. In British usage, "Asian" (as below) usually means Indian.

At least the Brits took the offender to court. In America it seems that blacks can be as racist as they like without any significant comeback at all. They can say "N*gger" a thousand times a day with no problem -- but woe betide a white who uses that word.

"Calling someone a "coconut" might sound harmless but it has landed one woman with a criminal conviction.

Councillor Shirley Brown [above] has been at the heart of Bristol's multi-cultural community for 15 years, but in February 2009 she found herself at the centre of an unintended controversy.

While taking part in a debate in the city council she called a female Asian councillor, Jay Jethwa, a "coconut". The word is used to describe someone who is brown on the outside, but "white" on the inside. In other words, someone who is said to have disregarded their cultural roots.

Brown used the word in a debate about the funding of black and ethnic groups in the city, and was upset that Ms Jethwa was advocating cuts.

Although she apologised a few days after the comment, and on several occasions, the matter went to a local and then a national standards hearing.

Brown was reprimanded, briefly suspended from the council and then reinstated. But months later the case escalated when she was charged under the Public Order Act with using "threatening, abusive or insulting words, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress". It's a serious charge which comes with the threat of a criminal record...

On Monday Brown was convicted, given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs.

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As a white person I am offended that it is regarded as an insult to say that someone is white in some way.

In the boy's yarns that I read back in the '50s, the expression, "That's very white of you" was high praise. I guess that shows what evil racists our grandparents were. The fact that those same grandparents destroyed Nazism doesn't count, of course.

Semi-backdown over pledge at Massachusetts School

We read:

"Student Sean Harrington appears to have won his fight to bring the Pledge of Allegiance back into his Massachusetts high school -- except the principal's proposed solution leaves the daily honor to the nation's flag literally hanging in the hall.

Charles Skidmore, principal of Arlington High School in Arlington, Mass., has offered to allow students to recite the pledge before school begins -- but in the school's foyer and not in the classrooms, as 17-year-old Harrington had hoped.

Kathleen Bodie, Arlington superintendent of schools, told Fox News
Radio that “The principal wanted to be very respectful about the pledge and be sensitive to the Supreme Court ruling that students are not forced to say the pledge. He wanted to be sensitive to the diverse group of students we have.” [But being sensitive to patriotic Americans is not on his radar, of course]

It is unclear whether Harrington, who led the fight to bring the pledge back to the school, will be satisfied with the compromise of having it recited in the foyer, and not in class.

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British politician apologises to dwarves following insult aimed at speaker of the house, John Bercow

It was indeed an insult to dwarves. I would have called Bercow a slimy little worm, myself. He is the British equivalent of a RINO, only worse.

He once pretended to be a far-Right conservative but the kneejerk Leftism that is characteristic of most Jews eventually came out in him and he got his present job on the basis of Labour Party votes

"Simon Burns, the health minister, has apologised to dwarves after insulting John Bercow. The health minister, who called the Speaker a “stupid, sanctimonious dwarf”, has apologised – but only to short people in general.

Simon Burns, who delivered the muttered insult to John Bercow after being reprimanded in the Commons for facing the wrong way, said he was sorry if he caused offence to “any group of people”.

He issued the statement after a group that represents people with rare types of Primordial Dwarfism called his comments “derogatory and deeply offensive”.

His comment was not heard by Mr Bercow himself but another MP complained about the minister’s “disrespectful” conduct and the Speaker declared that all sides must “respect” the Chairman of Commons debates.

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School Officials in Mass. Town Won't Let Students Recite Pledge of Allegiance

How Leftists hate America!

"When Sean Harrington entered his freshman year at Arlington High School, he noticed something peculiar: There were no American flags in the classrooms, and no one recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

So Harrington enlisted the aid of his fellow students, and now, three years later, they have succeeded in getting flags installed in the classrooms. But the pledge still will not be recited.

The Arlington, Mass., school committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because some educators are concerned that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite it, according to a report in the Arlington Patch.

Harrington said the recitation would have been strictly voluntary. "If we can't find one teacher who is willing to say the pledge, then the system we have is cracked," he told FOX News Radio, noting that a number of teachers signed his petition.

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Must not advertise apartments to let?

That seems to be the plan in corrupt NYC. The New York state legislature has apparently been "got at" by big hotel owners who don't like competition and appears set to ban short-term subletting of their apartments by private owners in NYC. Details here.

I doubt that the ban would stand a 1st Amendment challenge but the corrupt Albany politicians will feel quite free to flout the constitution in the knowledge that no little guy could afford to take the matter to court.