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Scabby the giant inflatable protest rat may be banned from picket lines
- SamReidHughes 7y agoThat seems... like first amendment protected activity to me. Let’s suppose scabby is outlawed by the NLRB. What’s to stop me, a third party libertarian whackadoodle, from bringing my own rat to other peoples’ strike? Speaking of which, is this how Scabbers, in Harry Potter, got its name?
- qtplatypus 7y agoThe claim that it is menacing or intimidating and so isn’t covered by the first amendment seems nonsensical to me. No rational person expects that the ballon to attack them.
- dymk 7y agoThe claim is that the people holding the rat will attack them, and having the rat is to advertise a threat.
- qtplatypus 7y agoBy that logic then any picket line could be banned.
- dymk 7y agoOnes that threaten violence against scabs should be.
- jmpman 7y agoDo we then get into a constitutional battle over what feature of a inflatable rat makes it unacceptably menacing? You can’t have three of the following items, sharp claws, red eyes, bleeding cuts, ulcers.
- nkkollaw 7y ago"Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries.". Really!?
- inflatableDodo 7y agoI like that they immediately follow that statement with something that is (especially given the time involved since they first started saying it) an obvious lie. "We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism." Oh, are you now? Got a bridge to sell me next? Really makes me feel a sense of trust in a publication's journalistic integrity when they censor themselves abroad and lie about their intentions.
- thih9 7y agoSurprisingly, their google amp version doesn’t show that screen.
- dymk 7y agoYou just got GDPR’d!
- rolal 7y agoFor us europeans: https://outline.com/L97Nu4 https://outline.com/L97Nu4
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- BuckRogers 7y agoBanning this is extremism and proves the balloons work. I live in Chicago and see the rats. They get important conversations started for everyone about what's going on, wage suppression and class consciousness. If you're not fighting in class warfare, you're losing it, because as we see here the investment class doesn't stop. The labor movement made life better for all of us, so I always support these working class heroes. You know we're losing when we can't even have a balloon because business doesn't like it.