Menino vs Chick-fil-a

LOL nice disclosure, Lrfox. Cinnabon is disgusting.

Of course all this sustained talk over a chicken joint I've never been to means I kinda want to try 'em out now. And if I do ever go then I suppose I'm validating that old saying that any publicity is good publicity.
 
Omg Cinnabon is just as delicious. It's a tragedy that there are none in the area or even region. Long ago, SSP used to have one (and I think Solomon Pond too), but it sadly didn't last. With the redeveloped and renovated mall doing better than ever, it would be awesome to get it back.

Anywho, a councilman of Philly has jumped on the angry letter bandwagon basically just saying "shame on you." It comes nowhere near the power that Mumble's letter has.

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Re: The New Retail Thread

Bettin now that there will be a Chicken in da pot in da mayah's sity afta all

Chick-Fil-A 1
Menino Nil

By the way -- da Don C. should take a cue from this and sign a deal to build the world's largest Chick-fil-A in the ground floor of his Aquarium Garage Tower -- then let the Mayah try to stop-it!
 
This is a complicated issue.

A restaurant cannot legally refuse to serve black people, but can they hang up a sign that reads "We are legally required to serve ********, but we would prefer they return to Africa"?

What if there is no sign, but the man behind the counter says the same? What if it's the president of the company making the statement? Does the state have any recourse? We cannot (and should not) throw these people in prison, as that would be a clear violation of the 1st amendment, but does a city have the right say, "No, we're not OK with that, you'll need to locate elsewhere"?
 
kz1000ps said:
LOL nice disclosure, Lrfox. Cinnabon is disgusting.

Of course all this sustained talk over a chicken joint I've never been to means I kinda want to try 'em out now. And if I do ever go then I suppose I'm validating that old saying that any publicity is good publicity.
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Cinnabon used to be like crack to me when I was younger. There used to be one in the Kennebunk rest area on the way to Maine and I forced my parents to stop all the time. Then a switch flipped and I found it to be awful almost overnight. I won't touch the stuff now.

You'll probably like Chick-Fil-A. I sat there and chewed through my sandwich with a frown on my face the whole time even though it was delicious. I was mad that it was good.
 
Re: The New Retail Thread

Whighlander, I have to say that I find your last sentence about building the world's largest Chick-Fil-A to be over the top, fucking offensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whether you agree or disagree with the Mayor's stand, Chick-Fil-A donates millions of dollars to anti-gay organizations for the specific purpose of stopping same-sex marriages and for you to stand there and write what you did, in my opinion, is just so damn offensive and a slap in the face to every member of the LBGT community on this forum!
 
Re: The New Retail Thread

atlantaden said:
Whighlander, I have to say that I find your last sentence about building the world's largest Chick-Fil-A to be over the top, fucking offensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whether you agree or disagree with the Mayor's stand, Chick-Fil-A donates millions of dollars to anti-gay organizations for the specific purpose of stopping same-sex marriages and for you to stand there and write what you did, in my opinion, is just so damn offensive and a slap in the face to every member of the LBGT community on this forum!
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Chill bro, he is clearly being facetious.
 
Re: The New Retail Thread

Anywho. I gave the mayor credit for his stance on intolerance... or his intolerance of intolerant people.

He was just an idiot to take a national stand to say you can't come here. That stuff only works in the local scenario buddy where you are king. You look like a fool on a national news outlet for trying to stop free consumerism and free market growth.
 
Menino maintains his opposition to Chick-fil-A but admits he can’t stop the chain from coming to Boston

Mayor Thomas M. Menino won’t back down from his stance against Chick-fil-A, but he acknowledged Thursday that he cannot do anything to prevent the restaurant chain from setting up shop in Boston.

“Originally, I said I would do everything I can to stop them. And that was mostly using the bully pulpit of being mayor of the city and getting public support,” Menino said in an interview at City Hall. “But I didn’t say I would not allow them to go for permits or anything like that. I just said we would do everything we can, bully-pulpit wise.” ...
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http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/201...ming-boston/UTOEtdlKRipuFIbCF44STM/story.html
 
Arlington said:
Face it. In this case the Mayor is being the sort of overbearing government that the 1st and 14th Amendments protect us from. He even admits in the letter he's acting from nothing more than "anger." Good politics in Boston, but bad civil rights. Chick-Fil-A is guilty of nothing worse (and nothing less legal) than "insulting" one of the Mayor's constituencies. Sorry, but being insulting is protected.
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Very well put. I am shocked, appalled and frightened by the mindless rush among so many acquaintances and friends to praise what is a thuggish, totalitarian and blatantly unconstitutional power play by Boss Menino.

Are we this ready to give up essential freedoms like the freedom to say politically unpopular things just because we think that gay marriage (now supported by 50%+ of the population so speaking in favor of it is not exactly a brave moral stance, particularly in 2012 Boston) is so freaking great?

By no means am I against gay marriage, but there is NO political issue that is so all-consumingly good that my desire to intimidate and ostracize those on the opposite side of the issue it is so great as to merit the sacrifice of core intellectual freedoms.
 
Thuggish how? What exactly did he did do that was even remotely totalitarian?

Wrote a sternly worded letter?

Goodness! My pearls!
 
Re: The New Retail Thread

atlantaden said:
Whighlander, I have to say that I find your last sentence about building the world's largest Chick-Fil-A to be over the top, fucking offensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whether you agree or disagree with the Mayor's stand, Chick-Fil-A donates millions of dollars to anti-gay organizations for the specific purpose of stopping same-sex marriages and for you to stand there and write what you did, in my opinion, is just so damn offensive and a slap in the face to every member of the LBGT community on this forum!
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Not to get into a huge debate but why can't a private business owner give their profits to whomever they want? I could understand the outrage if Chick-Fil-A discriminated against their employees or customers but I have read no allegations of that. Anyone is welcome there if they want.

I am Jewish. I would be disappointed if a business was vocally donating money to Anti-Israel causes and supporting them but that is their prerogative and if I don't like it, I simply won't be a patron of said business.
 
Re: The New Retail Thread

BosDevelop said:
Not to get into a huge debate but why can't a private business owner give their profits to whomever they want? I could understand the outrage if Chick-Fil-A discriminated against their employees or customers but I have read no allegations of that. Anyone is welcome there if they want.

I am Jewish. I would be disappointed if a business was vocally donating money to Anti-Israel causes and supporting them but that is their prerogative and if I don't like it, I simply won't be a patron of said business.
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FYI - There is an entire thread about the Chick-fil-A fiasco in the "General" section.
 
Justin7 said:
This is a complicated issue.

A restaurant cannot legally refuse to serve black people, but can they hang up a sign that reads "We are legally required to serve ********, but we would prefer they return to Africa"?

What if there is no sign, but the man behind the counter says the same? What if it's the president of the company making the statement?
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AFAIK, Chick-Fil-A has never directed its statements in an impermissibly-discriminatory way.

Chick-Fil-A, as a public accommodation cannot discriminate against its patrons. As an employer, its management cannot discriminate against the staff. In our hearts and political lives, all of us are free to believe and advocate as we like. The law is clear on that.

The main reason companies don't hangs signs like the one you hypothesize, is that it makes actual illegal discrimination (which are actions, not speech) more likely and harder to defend against.

Justin7 said:
Does the state have any recourse? ...but does a city have the right say, "No, we're not OK with that, you'll need to locate elsewhere"?
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Not complicated. The state has zero recourse. The city has no right to say

Which is why the Mayor is admitting it was all "bully pulpit" and why the Supreme Court has struck down all kinds of popular-but-abridging laws against flag burning and lying about military honors (flag burning and lying are protected).

No government in the USA has any power to act against any person or business if it runs afoul of "...shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech..."

This text, from the 1st Amendment, was extended to all levels of government by the 14th Amendment.
 
Is this so different from localities that have kept Wal-Mart out because they oppose that company's labor practices?
 
Ron Newman said:
Is this so different from localities that have kept Wal-Mart out because they oppose that company's labor practices?
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It is different. Government shall make no law abridging speech, but is very free to regulate wages, hours, benefits and land use. So government has gotten in the habit of making all kinds of stuff (permits, zoning, utilities) contingent on businesses' (Walmart's) choices in those non-1st-Amendment areas.

In fact, what you have really seen is a Mayor who is used to treating every business in the city this way (cajoling, threatening, proffering, horse-trading, trying "hats" on models of buildings) who, at least initially, couldn't tell the difference between what he does to employers and developers for their economic choices and what he wanted to do to Chick-Fil-A for its 1st Amendment choices.
 
Can some point out explicitly where Menino breeched the 1st or 14th Amendment?

I'm pretty sure bloviating is it's own form of protected speech.
 
statler said:
Can some point out explicitly where Menino breeched the 1st or 14th Amendment?

I'm pretty sure bloviating is it's own form of protected speech.
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The Mayor hasn't crossed the line yet, and in fact has probably (as quoted by datadyne007, above and repeated below) walked back his threats fast enough that he can restore the appearance of impartiality to the City's processes. And as the Supreme Court recently noted, even lying is protected free speech (if you can't show a victim). The legal danger to him was that he was going to give normal city processes the appearance of being impermissably biased (and Chick-Fil-A the appearance of being a victim).

Mayor Menino is now clear:
“Originally, I said I would do everything I can to stop them. And that was mostly using the bully pulpit of being mayor of the city and getting public support,” Menino said in an interview at City Hall. “But I didn’t say I would not allow them to go for permits or anything like that. I just said we would do everything we can, bully-pulpit wise.” ...
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However, just as Chick-Fil-A must be completely non-discriminatory as employer and public accommodation, so too the Mayor must behave himself when speaking as Mayor and can't take (and probably shouldn't threaten) "real" action on city letterhead.

He and Chick-Fil-A can do anything they want in the political arena, but must behave themselves at the office.
 
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Please realize that nobody here is criticizing the mayor for voicing his opinion on where he stands on the Gay Marriage issue. It's the possibility that he will keep the promise he made to use any means necessary to prevent a specific establishment from doing business in the city that is being criticize. Note that I said promise (which means that he will and intends to take action) that is being criticized.
 
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