Soothsayers, fortunetellers, etc. should possibly be required to have such a sign prominently displayed announcing that the activity is solely for enternainment and should not be considered sound advice for future conduct.

Besides, if the fortunteller’s advice is so vague as to be exempt from fraud laws it should also be too vague for his clients to determine a course of action from it.

Face the reality: the ban on fortunetelling is a racist measure targeted at a powerless minority, the Romani.

If the Jews and Muslims of Montgomery County slash healthy tissue from the sensitive genitals of baby boys without their consent, oh THAT is just their religious freedom, covenant with G-d, FAITH is so WONDERFUL, they HONOR GOD’S HAWLY WEHRD, ain’t it BEAUTIFUL, blah blah, you mustn’t criticize FAITH, it would be antiSemitic and RACIST, blah, blah blah.

The Romani and THEIR superstitions are singled out for attack because they are a miniscule and relatively defenseless group.

Roman Catholics can teach that the consecrated bread really, really became the Body of Christ and the wine became his blood – oh wow what a MIRACLE – and oh no, we must not interfere in THAT scam. But let the Romani of Montgomery County claim supernatural insights and it’s CRUCIFY THEM, CRUCIFY THEM, they are sinners, heretics, criminals.

Then L. Ron Hubbard can take all your money in return for convincing you that the evil XEMU created Earth ninety million years ago – and get away with it. Scientology takes your twenty thousand dollars, the fortune teller takes one hundred dollars – so let’s go after the Romani!?!? How much sense does that make?

The Holocaust was a dreadful historical event – yet mnay Jews survived. How may Romani walked out of Auschwitz alive? Lay off them. Go after the scammers whose superstitions actually damage people’s lives without their consent.

There is a huge market for vultures ready to prey on human suffering and weaknesses in our society. I’m not in favor of anything that supports preying on the most vulnerable in our society.

So, say I pay him 25 bucks and lose 25 bucks on a bad bet (backed by his fortune-telling). I go to court, say, “This guy promised me such-and-such would happen, and it didn’t, and as a result I lost $50.” One of three things will happen:

1. The judge will find that the prediction didn’t say what I thought, and I just assumed (wrongly) that it meant such-and-such. My bad, I deserve to lose my money for being an idiot.

2. The judge will find that the fortune-teller doesn’t actually advertise that his predictions are correct (say his ad says, “These predictions are for entertainment only, etc.”). Again, my bad, I’ll be smarter next time.

3. The judge finds that he promised his predictions were true, he predicted something, and it didn’t happen. In that case he will almost certainly lose the case based on existing fraud laws. I get my money, I’m happy.

All of the above outcomes are just and fair; none of them have anything to do with a law against fortune-telling; and best of all, none of them take any position on whether fortune-telling works or not. So what’s the point of the law, except to say “fortune-tellers and their clients are superstitious idiots,” which everybody already knows?