Don't You Go Wearing Your Muslim Hats, St. Louis Cabbies!
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Taxi driver Nabeel Langrial was talking to another cabbie near the Lumière Place casino last summer when an enforcement agent for the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission stopped to tell him his hat did not conform to the driver dress code.
Langrial, a 23-year-old Muslim, told the officer the reddish-brown cap — called a kufi — had religious meaning. […]
Even though the ticket for wearing his Muslim cap ultimately was downgraded to a warning, he still served a one-day suspension earlier this year for not having his cab reinspected after an officer took it out of service that day. […]
Under regulations of the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission, drivers are required to wear black pants, black closed-toe shoes and socks and white shirts. Baseball hats are allowed, as long as there is no writing other than that of the taxi certificate holder. […]
"The concept of why the uniform was put into effect way before the commission was started … was to make the general public recognize that person as being a cabdriver who is licensed by the city," said [Taxicab Commission Director Ron] Klein
Langrial still wears his Muslim-hat on the job, in brazen defiance of these important regulations. Kufi-tip to Mark Sletten for the link.
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I think this is a great idea and should be extended to teachers, lawmakers, construction workers, and plain-clothes police officers.
(Or, I think he should add a burlap sack to his defiance. Yeah, that, or a “Fuck Off, Slaver.” t-shirt.)
From my understanding of the rule as quoted, he could write “Fuck off, Slaver” on a ballcap and wear it within the regs.
” Baseball hats are allowed, as long as there is no writing other than that of the taxi certificate holder.”
And he could wear that on-top-of his kufi I guess. The kufi stays ON.
I’m in the mood for some naughty fun. Let’s come up with a uniform for taxicab-commission directors.
Man, that’s quite the beard. Hey dude: You don’t actually make the pizzas, do you?
Every day I am amazed at the level of micromanagement the government engages in. Taxi drivers have a uniform mandated by the .gov? Srsly? There’s nothing better to worry about than what some cabbie is wearing?
Control is useless if it isn’t exercised, dude. Power over others is only truly realized at the pettiest level.
‘zactly…just ask any cop.
*tzzzz‘zactly
Take your sunglasses off. SLOWLY! Keep your hands out of your pockets. Stand there. See how “in control” I am?
In the interest of officer safety, they should shoot everyone they see while on patrol just in case they are planning on attacking.
Just shoot them a little bit though, because this is still a free country after all.
The dead and dying are much easier to keep under control. Most of the time.
Oh come on, be reasonable. Officers shouldn’t be able to shoot someone unless they are looking at them (which means they are obviously trying to threaten and intimidate the cop), or if their back is turned or eyes averted (signifying disrespect for authority and hiding their intentions). In all other cases cops should respect the constitution.
*just shaking head and pursing lips, speechless*
Is someone forcing him to drive that cab?
Is there some Muslim law that says “if you are in the land of the Infidels, you must cart them around in a yellow cab while wearing your cap.”?
F-
It would have been a D-, except for your handle.
I’ve been posting in that stupid thread for two days (as Quantitative_Easing) and can’t seem to make a dent in the idiocy.
So, wait, I’m paying to have some dude check to make sure taxi drivers are wearing appropriate outfits? I’m all for a taxi company requiring a certain dress code, but what does that have to do with the government? Just another way to waste our tax dollars.
+10
Dude, they are looking out for us consumers and our safety. How else will you know its a REAL cabbie and not someone who just painted and festooned their crown vic to look like a taxi, pretending to be a cabbie?
It’s paid by the medallion monopoly fee, which is paid by the taxi company (with suitable bribe^Wmarkup), which is paid by the taxi driver (with suitable ditto), which is paid by the passengers. So no taxes involved, and it’s all, ahem, kosher.
Why do we need taxicab commissions again?
For the children. Obviously.
To make sure no renegade company charges too little.
They did that in Kansas City some years back. Set the fees at the highest level.
For the same reason you need a grocery store commission, a clothing store commission, a bagel shop commission…
Do you know what country whose name begins with S doesn’t have taxicab commissions?
Drink!
Sealand?
Not-best Korea?
In the process of moving to Oklahoma for my new job…car broke down a few weeks ago and the tow bill was far larger than I expected.
Was talking to the Tow Truck operator and he stated flatly that he had to charge the state-government mandated rate. He explained it was to keep operators from “overcharging”.
So the whole industry in the state charges the same outrageous rate, can’t offer cheaper rates, all because someone in the legislature didn’t feel like an open competitive market would provide the best prices.
This should help establish a pattern of behavior. Next, he will be found to have attended some gathering where somebody else talked about jihad, and then (ala. Rand Paul’s suggestions) we will have established that he needs to be deported or jailed.
Neu
Don’t you know he was quoted out of context? And by that I mean he came out later and said something different.
But he didn’t say something different later. He just elaborated. It didn’t contradict his earlier comment. My comment is premised on his “clarification.”
“The concept of why the uniform was put into effect way before the commission was started … was to make the general public recognize that person as being a cabdriver who is licensed by the city,” said [Taxicab Commission Director Ron] Klein
I thought that’s what the taxi license tags on the cab were for. It would seem harder to fake those than fake the “uniform”.
Note to self: If in St. Louis, be sure to ask anyone wearing a white shirt, black pants, and black shoes for a ride.
If you carry out that plan you are so fucked.
WTF is a “Metropolitan Taxicab Commission?” Is it a government agency? And if so why would it be enforcing an occupational dress code?
Oh good Lord, this is their mission statement:
The mission of the Metropolitan St. Louis Taxicab Commission is to ensure safe, reliable, high-quality transportation to the citizens and visitors of the St. Louis area. The Commission is dedicated to providing fair and equitable authority over the provision of licensing, regulation, and enforcement of vehicle for hire services that will contribute to the growth and image of the St. Louis Region.
So it is a government agency that not only guards the safety of those in St. Louis but the “public image” of the city. I guess that is not unheard of (i.e., zoning laws and such) but it sure sounds creepy.
When I think of St. Louis, I think of beer. So the cabbies should wear those hats that you can put beers in, with tubes that allow riders to consume mass quantities. New tubes for each passenger, of course.
I still think of the football team now in Arizona, so they should have to wear those jerseys.
The happiest day of my sports-related life is when those sad sacks went to Phoenix.
If OSHA can mandate steel-toed boots…
Yea, but safety concerns don’t seem to be at issue here, it’s this “image” concern. You can criticize safety regulations as being paternalistic, but image regulations, what’s the justification there? None for the person targeted by them.
Well, they are doing something for the image of the city. Just not what they think they are.
Well it’s obvious he’s going to blow something up – can’t you just tell? That beard and those little beady eyes.
insert sarcasm tag here
I didn’t know Steve Smith drove a cab.
I was thinking more like Cornelius.
Get that Kufi off, you damn dirty ape!
^^ Funny!
From Geert Wilders speech in Tennessee.
“In the capital of my own country, Amsterdam, a tram driver was forced to remove his crucifix from sight, while his Muslim colleagues are allowed to wear the veil.”
“”In the Netherlands, the city authorities in Amsterdam register polygamous marriages. The authorities in Rotterdam serve only halal meals in municipal cafeterias. Theaters provide separate seats for women who are not allowed to sit next to men. Municipal swimming pools have separate swimming hours for men and women, Muslim lawyers do not have to stand when the judges enter court rooms.”
Sorry Muslim cabbies, but I do not feel sorry for you. By the way, ever heard the expression “when in Rome do as the Romans do.” Well Muslims, you are in Rome aka “America.” In Rome we shave our beard unless we join the Hells Angels. In Rome we don’t wear funny hats unless we’re just plain weird. So as a lover of freedom, I may have to tolerate your disgusting backwards habits, but take my advice, ADAPT OR DIE!
GEERT WILDERS SPEECH IN TN.
http://libertarians4freedom.bl…..ch-on.html
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel a lot of love in this room.
In other news, Anheuser-Busch is urging their employees to grow beards in the interest of water conservation. It’s their “Grow one. Save a million” campaign.
No, this is not an Onion story, and I am not making it up…
http://www.bizjournals.com/stl…..water.html
I’m boycotting Anheuser-Busch, call me prejudiced but Americans like to shave. In fact, if you join the army you have to shave unless you’re a Sikh, it’s a clean look what they like.
‘libertarians 4 freedom’
I do not think those words (and number) means what you think they mean.
he leaves off the rest of the title; in full, it’s actually “libertarians 4 freedom from holding any libertarian values”
People get confused because they have two understandings of freedom, let me illustrate.
Freedom (PC): I let you do whatever you want and don’t criticize you.
Freedom (non-PC): I like you do whatever you want and criticize you heavily.
See? That way I can let that monkey of a man keep his horrid beard and horrid hat while reminding him that he’s in my country and I would prefer if he tried to fit in.
Now, can one be a libertarian and politically incorrect? I think one can.
“Freedom (non-PC): I like you do whatever you want and criticize you heavily”
“So as a lover of freedom, I may have to tolerate your disgusting backwards habits, but take my advice, ADAPT OR DIE!”
So, “ADAPT OR DIE” is toleration. . . ?
Well, I do use hyperbole in my posts, something anyone on the right would understand. Libertarians on the other hand seem to be as uber-sensitive as liberals. “Adapt or die” is what I would like to yell to that monkey of a man if I saw him.
No, I agree with you 100%. You should be allowed to be an ignorant, authoritarian, conformist bigot, and we should be allowed to point it out to you.
Nice!
he must be a hoot in the synagogue.
Comparing America to Rome is as close as this idiot has ever gotten to saying something right.
Aw, too bad I can’t feed you to the lions.
Wouldn’t do you any good. As we all know from our study of the History of the World (Part I), Lions only eat Christians.
i do give him points for correctly identifying america as a kind of sclerotic, rotting rome, though. even though it was likely by accident.
anyway, “tried to fit in”? “ADAPT OR DIE”?
to be fair we’ve seen what beards have done to the long lost amish; the now-extinct greek orthodox; and the rarely heard from 11 piece post-rock acts from brooklyn. americans lost their beards climbing up from the primordial soup; lesser beings would get caught in trees and bushes or be forced to hand out greenpeace fliers until they died from starvation.
libertarians4darwin.com
Wilders brings up a valid concern about equality before the law. Considering the Pete Eyre case, this might be a problem in America too. However, the solution is to give freedom to all, not to force Muslims to adapt American cultural norms on trival things like fashion.
Freedom cannot coexist with multiculturalism because then inferior cultures are elevated while the majority culture becomes degraded and treated like its shameful.
Besides, are cab drivers allowed to smoke? Are they allow to wear swastika t-shirts? If you’re not making exceptions for the others why make exceptions for Muslims?
For example, if I want to run a Hooters and a Muslim woman doesn’t want to show her boobs, guess what? She ain’t working for me. Call it “discrimination” but my right to operate my business as I wish is superior to the privilege of an individual working for me.
What happened at Disney World, where a Muslim worker sued to keep the veil and eventually got her wish (Disney gave up and settled) is a tragedy. If we don’t stand up for our culture, Islam is going to stand on it and destroy it.
have you ever met an analogy you didn’t beat with an ashtray and leave for dead in the woods?
I believe that private companies have the right to discriminate and that we should change the laws to allow this. I might protest a private company that discriminates, but it depends on the details.
First, they wear the hat, then they wear the dynamite vest.
In Rome we don’t wear funny hats unless we’re just plain weird.
Or Texan.
Yes, no Americans have beards unless they are suspicious Muslims or in biker gangs. And no one ever wears funny hats. Ass.
It’s called having standards. You turn on the TV and they’re telling fat people to lose weight. If it’s ok to tell fat people to lose weight, it should be ok for the Taxi Commission to tell their drivers what to wear.
Of course, the other argument is why does a Taxi commission must exist in the first place and how much better it would be if anyone could become a taxi driver without buying a medallion and putting up with all that red tape cab mafia nonsense. But, we live in the real world.
In related news, Pete Eyre was arrested and still faces charges for wearing a hat in court (http://www.freepete.org). Hats should be legal everywhere regardless of religious beliefs of the wearer or the lack there of.
Does an Arab cabbie really need a uniform? I mean if you see an Arab man driving around in a yellow car, or any car that vaguely resembles a cab, 99.9% of the time you’re going to correctly assume he’s a cabbie. I think the same probably holds true for NoAfricans as well. The biggest giveaway is probably the big illuminated fucking sign that says TAXI on the roof though.
the big illuminated fucking sign that says TAXI on the roof though.
IT’S A TRAP!
For a wonderfully wacky, yet somehow chilling view of the colossal attack of stupid many Americans suffer any time the word “Muslim” is mentioned you should take a moment and peruse the comments posted on this story at the STL Post-Dispatch website (link in story above).
I can’t wait until one of the morons who thinks a kufi cap is offensive comes to Toronto and gets a Sikh cabbie. Complete with turban and kirpan.
This sure makes me proud of my home town. Why can’t the taxi companies make their own dress codes again?
Wait.
Mostly I know he’s a cab driver ’cause he looks all foreign, right? So what’s the problem with the funny hat?
Good for him.
Yeah, and his fares still seem to be getting to their destinations in complete safety. Good for them as well.
I guarantee you if this cabbie were Jewish and he was told to remove his kippah there would be so much public outcry…….But since this guy is just a dirty raghead whom we’re supposed to be at war with nobody in the mainstream media gives a rat’s ass.
Well, it WAS reported in a major city newspaper…
I find offense at you calling the driver a “dirty raghead”.
I can tell you from experience that in New York City, most people tolerate both Jews and Muslims, but the few anti-Jewish bigots out there outnumber the few anti-Muslim bigots out there.
You see, I have a beard most of the time. When it rains, I wear my black hat. People assume I’m Jewish and greet me in Hebrew. When it’s sunny, I don’t wear my hat. People assume I’m Muslim and greet me in Arabic. So, I get treated as a Jew or a Muslim depending on the weather. On sunny days, the anti-Muslim bigots confront me, and on rainy days the anti-Jewish bigots confront me.
You should try an umbrella, then people will treat you like a WASP.
Geert Wilders is trying to tell you something. He points to incremental Islamicisation and says, ‘This is how it happens’, and ‘Here are the results’. And it all happened with good intentions, with the freedom of the immigrants, the minorities in mind. But when they get enough of a demographic hold we find that they’re not as giving as the people that welcomed them. That they want things banned and forbidden in accordance with the laws set forth in their skydaddy’s book.
As you all sit and state–correctly–that he(the cabbie) should have X or Y freedom, understand that when the tables are turned and you are asking for M or N freedom, he is not likely to waste a moment of his time arguing on your behalf.
But. like so many before you, you will shake your heads and think me racist, warmonger or bigot for thinking such things. Even the few who suspect that it might be true will believe that things will be different here and there is no need to heed these warnings.
Allahu Akbar
TLDNR