Incredible These Things Used to Be Illegal in America

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Sorry, occupational hazard: This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney-client relationship. Also, some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. But if you click, it really helps me make more of these videos! All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

Special thanks:
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[maurerd]

12:00 When I was about 17 a local Psychic closed down, and had a sign out front, that read "Closed due to unforeseen circumstances". I laughed every time I drove by the shop.

[rayceeya]

Oregon famously has very strong first amendment rights and you can literally dance if you want to. You can leave your friends behind. 'Cause your friends don't dance And if they don't dance Well, they're no friends of mine

[TheRaySkye]

I spent most of my childhood in a town called Comanche, Tx. They refused to let a travelling roller-rink (skating) set up shop inside the city limit for even a day. Their logic: Skating involves music, Music leads to Dancing, Dancing leads to Sin and Sin leads to Hell. The rink had to set up just outside of the city limits but was chased away after just one weekend of sending young people straight to hell.

[Colopty]

Fun fact about the pinball ban: At a 1976 hearing in New York, a man named Roger Sharpe was a key part in lifting the ban through a demonstration of it being a game of skill by declaring that he'd pull the plunger back just right to send the ball through the middle lane, and then went on to do just that, leading to an unanimous vote in favour of lifting it.
He later admitted that the shot was in fact pure luck on his part. He liked the game, but was in no way skilled enough to intentionally send the ball through a lane of his choice.

[johnsterling]

Psychic "Are you here for your psychic reading?"
"I don't know you tell me you're the psychic."

[dalton]

I was born and raised in Wise County, Virginia, and I love to see that my county is getting some recognition! I'm also glad that someone other than a local enjoys the "Pound Town" ( 3:45 ) joke.

[feliciasjoberg]

It is legal to DANCE at restaurants now in Sweden! In 2023, restaurants or bars don't need dance permits. For 67 YEARS this law meant that the owners would get fines or prison if they didn't interrupt spontaneous dancing!

[godwinwong]

Imagine being so scared of dancing you destroy your own town infrastructure

[timdelaney]

I was a teenager in a small Oklahoma town where dancing was illegal, except for "Teen Town", open 2 nights a week. It was a dance hall, but there was a white stripe placed down the middle. Girls on one side, boys on the other. You could dance near each other, across the line. Of note, it was a dry county where I had my first drink (moonshine) at age 15. And it seemed like half the girls were pregnant by senior year in high school. Fun fact: I moved to Utah where, a few years later, Footloose was filmed.

[Splucked]

Colonial troops throwing a raging kegger sounds like a perfect Monty Python skit.
In the 60s/70s it was illegal to dance here on Sundays. (Stones throw from Boston.) It was still on the books in '79 when I got married. Never enforced in my lifetime, that I know of, but I got married on a Saturday just in case.

[brianmclaughlan]

True Footloose story here. I went to a fairly small Arkansas high school (about 150 students in my graduating class) where dancing was banned due to a local church that held a pretty strong sway over the town. The students begged the school board to let them have a dance (can't remember if it was homecoming or prom). They finally agreed, but added that they'd "be watching us" and would take away the priviledge if they saw *any* funny business. This was in the mid-80's, so the movie was a big inspiration. I don't think anybody's kids died on a bridge after dancing or anything, so much less drama for us.

[gus.smedstad]

14:22 - I initially read that poster as "Bourbon for President." McKinley isn't in small print, but it's still smaller than Bourbon in the poster.

[derekjohnson]

My biggest takeaway from this is not the fact that pinball machines didn't catch a break until the invention of the flipper, but that there was a period of time where pinball machines didn't even have them!

Back in the day, did you just pull the plunger and hope for the best?

[NeutralDrow]

"Pinball machines used to not have flippers"

...I'm sorry, WHAT?

[danieldicesare]

I grew up with a pinball machine in our basement. My dad loved pinball, and since he'd grown up in a time when the law wouldn't allow him to go out and play a coin-op machine, he bought his own machine to enjoy at home.

[Efreeti]

They were really concerned about their high moral fiber in Pound Town.

[TheBreadthatcausedLesMis]

With all the stuff coming out and the recent statement, I'm kind of interested in seeing LegalEagle end up tackling the whole mess that is the Nijisanji/Doki situation.

[gm]

"We're going to Pound Town where there is no rhythm."

An unexpected statement of truth.

[PsychoSavager]

"America is the freest country in the world, just ask anyone who has never been outside the country."

Or anyone who has never looked at where the US ranks on the Human Freedom Index.

[foogod]

12:44 Wow, I think I'm becoming psychic! I'm starting to see Legal Eagle's jokes coming!