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RandySF

(57,592 posts)
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 03:30 PM Mar 2016

Now Coca-Cola may be threatening to leave Goergia.

Even a pillar of the Atlanta business community may pick up and leave.

Georgia's generous tax incentives have provided a warm welcome to filmmakers. But now, some studios say the state's southern hospitality is being tested by a proposed law they believe discriminates against the LGBT community.

Backers of the so-called "religious liberty" bill say the measure would protect faith-based groups that refuse to serve or hire someone for religious reasons. But major companies, like Walt Disney, are threatening to pull their business.

Disney issued a statement saying, "...we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law."

Similar sentiments have been voiced by AMC Networks, which films "The Walking Dead" in Georgia, as well a list of other corporations. Viacom, Delta, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Intel and representatives for two of Georgia's sports teams -- The Falcons and The Braves.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-religious-liberty-bill-proposal-companies-warn-of-boycott-for-lgbt-discrimination/
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Now Coca-Cola may be threatening to leave Goergia. (Original Post) RandySF Mar 2016 OP
Hmm. You have illustrated the existential conflict between the crazy right wing base and PatrickforO Mar 2016 #1
You'd be surprised how far zealotry can take you. RandySF Mar 2016 #3
Wow. PatrickforO Mar 2016 #4
to pressure even the stupidest, most moronic state legislature, AlbertCat Mar 2016 #17
Well...maybe not NC... PatrickforO Mar 2016 #19
defunding film industry, not expanding Medicaid, and latest bill are AWFUL for business zazen Mar 2016 #34
It's a damn shame the racist bigots in Georgia legislature -- and the yahoos that elected them -- Hoyt Mar 2016 #2
Why do you think Georgia votes Repuglican? mdbl Mar 2016 #10
That whole Bible Belt is a study in mass stupidity. forest444 Mar 2016 #47
Technically they have zero room to stand on PatrynXX Mar 2016 #5
But he DID! In a round-about way phazed0 Mar 2016 #41
laws of moses PatrynXX Mar 2016 #44
Choosing between hate and profits is the ultimate Republican conundrum. nt TeamPooka Mar 2016 #6
They'll just have to do the calculations, I guess. n/t bvf Mar 2016 #7
Good for Coke and all the other companies standing up against hate! nt LostOne4Ever Mar 2016 #8
I'm glad all those companies are drawing a line in the sand! Bubzer Mar 2016 #9
This will get their attention! LuckyLib Mar 2016 #11
Great! Omaha Steve Mar 2016 #12
For a minute, I thought someone drank a Pepsi WhiteTara Mar 2016 #13
Corporations and Businesses pulling out of Republican controlled states will be the only method to rladdi Mar 2016 #14
Coke is Atlanta. Atlanta is Coke. matt819 Mar 2016 #15
Yep. Coke is hugely important to atlanta Liberal_in_LA Mar 2016 #16
Coke is hugely important to atlanta AlbertCat Mar 2016 #18
The deal is that the rest of the country can.. Duppers Mar 2016 #21
Without Atlanta... ThoughtCriminal Mar 2016 #22
Yep, that's so true nt MrScorpio Mar 2016 #37
Growing up in the Atlanta area, Thespian2 Mar 2016 #20
I am loving this Skittles Mar 2016 #23
Interesting to see DU cheering on corporate interests seeking to overturn the will of voters Recursion Mar 2016 #24
When corporate interests reject hate, it actually AllyCat Mar 2016 #26
There were no voters involved in this SoCalNative Mar 2016 #27
Other than the voters who voted for the legislators (nt) Recursion Mar 2016 #28
I think we pretty much all know SoCalNative Mar 2016 #30
Yeah but I'm pretty confident this law represents the majority will of Georgians Recursion Mar 2016 #31
If discrimination is the will of Georgia voters SoCalNative Mar 2016 #32
Agreed Recursion Mar 2016 #33
Listen, it's SO rare that we get to cheer for big corporations... beerandjesus Mar 2016 #39
I really hope they hold good on this threat. AllyCat Mar 2016 #25
Georgia is such a creepy place. I know truckers that won't even stop in Georgia. RKP5637 Mar 2016 #29
Governor Deal will veto it. Funtatlaguy Mar 2016 #35
And he just did. EL34x4 Mar 2016 #42
I Guess I'm Missing RobinA Mar 2016 #36
Except the employees would be subject to discrimination Not At Work IdaBriggs Mar 2016 #38
You know things are serious when a Pro-Diabetes group like Coke threatens to leave. jalan48 Mar 2016 #40
Breaking - Deal will veto the bill. BumRushDaShow Mar 2016 #43
So money is more impotant to them than their sincerely held religious beliefs? Iggo Mar 2016 #45
Aw, who needs Coca Cola and The Walking Dead when you can have miles and miles of megachurches? nt valerief Mar 2016 #46
Take that poison shit and libodem Mar 2016 #48
WOW--good for Coke. I'll bet a lot of people are sitting up and taking notice, they are a YUUUUUGE MADem Mar 2016 #49
BREAKING: Nathan Deal vetoes Georgia’s ‘religious liberty’ bill aikoaiko Mar 2016 #50

PatrickforO

(14,514 posts)
1. Hmm. You have illustrated the existential conflict between the crazy right wing base and
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 03:33 PM
Mar 2016

the Republican (neoliberal 'free market' capitalist) establishment quite well.

Betcha business wins cause they have more money to pressure even the stupidest, most moronic state legislature, and I'm SURE GA has a BUNCH of those.

RandySF

(57,592 posts)
3. You'd be surprised how far zealotry can take you.
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 03:38 PM
Mar 2016

I remember, quite a few years ago, a story about a high tech company that planned to move to Texas. The city manager negotiated an incentive package that would have reaped a pretty nice windfall for the city. But the city council voted it down because the company offered full benefits to same-sex couples.

PatrickforO

(14,514 posts)
4. Wow.
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 03:46 PM
Mar 2016

I'm glad I wasn't part of the economic development team that negotiated THAT deal! Geez.

I wonder how that turned out when those council members came up for election again? I'll bet the Chambers and ED organizations in that little city in TX put out the word when they were up for subsequent terms and they lost their asses and got replaced by more reasonable people. I mean, when it comes to good jobs moving in and stimulating the local economy we've all got to be sane!

In my city an idiot 'local elected' would do that ONCE and then be cast out on his (probably older white male) behind in the next election, because here, the Chambers and ED groups have some serious clout. On edit: And these groups, while primarily Republican, will roll up their sleeves and work with Dems around infrastructure, housing, wage and other quality of life issues, like environmental cleanliness.

zazen

(2,978 posts)
34. defunding film industry, not expanding Medicaid, and latest bill are AWFUL for business
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 08:18 AM
Mar 2016

Our maniacs don't give a shit about small government or helping the economy if it gets in the way of harming poor people or scoring vendettas against "liberals."

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
2. It's a damn shame the racist bigots in Georgia legislature -- and the yahoos that elected them --
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 03:34 PM
Mar 2016

have put the state in this situation. Everyone of those white wing pigs out to be tarred-and-feathered and run out of the state.

forest444

(5,902 posts)
47. That whole Bible Belt is a study in mass stupidity.
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 02:02 PM
Mar 2016

While there are many brave Southern white progressives (very much along the lines of Elizabeth Warren, Bill Moyers, and Jim Hightower), it's no secret most Republicans in the Deep South long for a Confederate revival.

I lived in the Deep South for several years. Many of these types seem to think they'll all be given their own Tara plantation, complete with hundreds of slaves (the very people they now grudgingly have to stand behind in grocery store lines).

The best part is that, during the Antebellum/Confederate era itself, the forebears of most Southern whites were dirt poor - often living worse than the saves themselves who, at least, were property and thus had to be minimally cared for.

Qué será.

PatrynXX

(5,668 posts)
5. Technically they have zero room to stand on
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 04:17 PM
Mar 2016

has nothing to do with faith. as literally Jesus never said a word about it. and anyone who is a Red Letter follower would know he didn't. I suppose if your Orthodox Jewish you might have something but I don't think thats who this law is originally intended to protect

 

phazed0

(745 posts)
41. But he DID! In a round-about way
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 09:41 AM
Mar 2016

Now I'm a Freethinker, so I don't think he said *anything* but:

Jesus DID say in Matthew 5:17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose."

Which keeps in good standing, the rules of prior:

Leviticus 2-:13-15: If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.


Among other references to not having sex in many other types of ways with anyone other than your sig. other.


Still no leg to stand on for a US law... the whole religious separation thing is really the problem, not that Jesus "didn't say it".

PatrynXX

(5,668 posts)
44. laws of moses
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 10:30 AM
Mar 2016

generally applies to the ten commandments and thats not in there.. and I'm not going on my info on my own, bue several Reverends who say Jesus never said a thing about it.

Bubzer

(4,211 posts)
9. I'm glad all those companies are drawing a line in the sand!
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 04:48 PM
Mar 2016

This kind of crap is despicable to say the least.

#N0H8

rladdi

(581 posts)
14. Corporations and Businesses pulling out of Republican controlled states will be the only method to
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 05:16 PM
Mar 2016

make GOP they cannot press their will on its citizens. This should have started years ago against the GOP. The Republicans continue to show America it cannot attract businesses to their states.

matt819

(10,749 posts)
15. Coke is Atlanta. Atlanta is Coke.
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 05:27 PM
Mar 2016

This could be tremendous, though my guess is that it's only a threat, and that even if GA doesn't come around, Coke will do nothing.

Now, if they announced specific plans, e.g., moving x number of jobs; if expanding, will expand elsewhere; will cut philanthropic funding; and the like, then maybe I'd put more stock in their statements.

Of course, the overall problem is that they would have to move out of the south, because other southern states are as bad in terms of discrimination.

Same response applies to the other corporate statements.

Duppers

(28,094 posts)
21. The deal is that the rest of the country can..
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 07:05 PM
Mar 2016

and should boycott their products. That would get their attention, no?

Thespian2

(2,741 posts)
20. Growing up in the Atlanta area,
Sun Mar 27, 2016, 06:16 PM
Mar 2016

we were very segregated...Brown v. Board of Education didn't change much then...and, I believe, right-wing nut-jobs still think segregation is the best social doctrine ever...the religious BS is another manifestation of the need for some to feel superior..."we" must rule over "them"....

Skittles

(152,964 posts)
23. I am loving this
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 01:30 AM
Mar 2016

they need to be taught that thinking people do not support their backwards bullshit

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
24. Interesting to see DU cheering on corporate interests seeking to overturn the will of voters
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 02:43 AM
Mar 2016

Guess that isn't as much of a guiding principle as people like to think it is...

SoCalNative

(4,613 posts)
30. I think we pretty much all know
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 08:00 AM
Mar 2016

that many times the elected officials do not represent the views of the people who put them there. They act on their own, for their own interests only.

SoCalNative

(4,613 posts)
32. If discrimination is the will of Georgia voters
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 08:16 AM
Mar 2016

then by all means their will should be usurped. Period.

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
33. Agreed
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 08:17 AM
Mar 2016

And that's one thing I like about corporations being able to pressure governments. Most of the board doesn't like that idea though.

beerandjesus

(1,301 posts)
39. Listen, it's SO rare that we get to cheer for big corporations...
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 09:29 AM
Mar 2016

...please don't piss in our Cheerios!

After all, how long before they do some new evil thing, 10 minutes maybe?

You're totally right, but hey, I'll take it!

AllyCat

(16,032 posts)
25. I really hope they hold good on this threat.
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 07:52 AM
Mar 2016

We will not spend a dime in NC. Wouldn't be tough to avoid GA too.

RKP5637

(67,030 posts)
29. Georgia is such a creepy place. I know truckers that won't even stop in Georgia.
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 07:58 AM
Mar 2016

They fuel up and eat/sleep outside of Georgia. Georgia is just a drive through. A very creepy place outside of Atlanta.


Funtatlaguy

(10,855 posts)
35. Governor Deal will veto it.
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 08:25 AM
Mar 2016

Deal is a business repug, not a religious one.
Arthur Blank will tell Deal to veto it and he will.

RobinA

(9,874 posts)
36. I Guess I'm Missing
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 08:31 AM
Mar 2016

something. Wouldn't the best move be to stay and carry on in a nondiscriminatory fashion? The solution to Neanderthal thinking is not for the non-Neanderthals to leave.

 

IdaBriggs

(10,559 posts)
38. Except the employees would be subject to discrimination Not At Work
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 08:52 AM
Mar 2016

And also their children. Best to pick up and leave - or threaten to, anyway. It's a game of chicken.

BumRushDaShow

(127,270 posts)
43. Breaking - Deal will veto the bill.
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 10:27 AM
Mar 2016

I think the boycott threats (and all the $$$$$$ about to go bye bye) made the difference.

Iggo

(47,486 posts)
45. So money is more impotant to them than their sincerely held religious beliefs?
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 10:41 AM
Mar 2016

How very unsurprising.

libodem

(19,288 posts)
48. Take that poison shit and
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 02:19 PM
Mar 2016

Get, the Hell, out, then. Bigger contributer to type two diabeties and belly fat, than bacon.

Hurry up!

MADem

(135,425 posts)
49. WOW--good for Coke. I'll bet a lot of people are sitting up and taking notice, they are a YUUUUUGE
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 03:19 PM
Mar 2016

employer in the region.

aikoaiko

(34,127 posts)
50. BREAKING: Nathan Deal vetoes Georgia’s ‘religious liberty’ bill
Mon Mar 28, 2016, 03:27 PM
Mar 2016


http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/03/28/breaking-nathan-deal-will-veto-georgias-religious-liberty-bill/

Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday vetoed the “religious liberty” bill that triggered a wave of criticism from gay rights groups and business leaders and presented him with one of the most consequential challenges he’s faced since his election to Georgia’s top office.

In a press conference at the state Capitol, Deal said House Bill 757 doesn’t reflect Georgia’s welcoming image as a state full of “warm, friendly and loving people” – and warned critics that he doesn’t respond well to threats of payback for rejecting the measure.

“Our people work side by side without regard to the color of our skin, or the religion we adhere to. We are working to make life better for our families and our communities. That is the character of Georgia. I intend to do my part to keep it that way,” he said. “For that reason, I will veto HB 757.”
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