A group of people does not lose its free speech rights by forming the group. Full stop.

Nor do they gain additional rights, which is the current situation under Citizens United.

I understand that you weren't trying to make a serious point, but no, the government is not a person, either. The government has no constitutional rights.

Yeah, you're probably right. I hadn't thought of it that way.

Those employees and shareholders already have their individual rights. Do you believe that the corporation should confer upon them additional rights? So that people who own stock have rights to certain speech that others do not? Because that's exactly the current situation.

Nossir. Corporate personhood was a legal shorthand that has gone out of control. It will be looked upon by history with embarrassment.

I know, but.. Sony, North Korea and the FBI. Not exactly a triumvirate of trust.

Instead of "The Interview", a theater in Texas has decided to show "Team America" instead....

Except in Texas they think Team America World Police is a documentary.

I don't know what to believe. On one hand, we have Sony. On the other, North Korea. Finally, the FBI.

Shit, they're probably all lying their asses off.

It also increases interest in the movie. If it hadn't been for this threat, I doubt many of us would even be aware of "The Interview".

The Aurora shooting lawsuits are still working their way through the courts.

Those cars didn't receive specific threats. The theaters did.

Groups of people have the same speech rights as individuals.

For-profit corporations are not groups of people, they are aggregated capital.

The nature of the group (corporation, labor union, activist group, etc) does not matter.

See above.

Media corporations (i.e. traditional news) have no special rights with respect to speech, all corporations have the same speech rights.

They don't deserve ANY rights at all. They are just aggregated capital allowed to exist for the purpose of deferring liability. Why should money have rights?

If somebody damages your car, would you want your insurance company to pay to fix it?

That means they can set prices based on risk. And risk in this case means "perceived risk". It's not brave or not brave. It's just corporate behavior. This is why corporations are not considered people except by reactionaries and the far Right.

Yes, because it is very hard to find a barber here in Austin at a reasonable time

I've been to Austin, and judging from the looks of the locals, it did not appear that the barbers had been very busy.

Yes, I'd go to the mall. I have a better chance of being killed in an accident driving to the mall.

I will bet your chances of being killed in a mall go way up if there are specific threats against that mall.

I would bet that the decision to not show this movie was made entirely by whoever provides insurance to the theater chain. It must be killing the theater owners not to show a movie that has gotten this much publicity at opening. But if your insurance provider says "No", you do what they say.

Actually, the main crop that is quite profitable but requires vast amounts of water is not rice, but nuts, specifically Almonds.

I like almonds, but they kind of bind me up, you know? We make almond milk and add some flax oil and then use the almond pulp to make delicious cakes. It's better that way. If you put some ground flax seed in with the almond pulp, it makes you shit like a goose so it all works out.

I think the fact that I know these things is a sign I'm getting old. Oh well.