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Lindsey Graham crusades in NYC to defend Chick-fil-A's right to close on Sundays [1]
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Date: 2023-12-23
Christmas in New York City is famous for the Rockefeller Center tree, the Rockettes, holiday department store windows, Broadway, the Miracle on 34th Street, and tourists coming to a sudden dead stop in a river of fast-walking pedestrians to gawk at the tall buildings. This Saturday, one of those tourists was Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). He joins other southern politicians, seemingly with not enough on their plate at home, who go politicking in the Big Apple.
He made that clear in a tweet:
"As if the insanity by the left couldn’t get any worse, Democrats in New York are trying to force @ChickfilA to open on Sundays… I showed up to their Manhattan location today while visiting NYC to send a clear message: Hands off OUR Chick-fil-A! Join me in this fight
https://teamgraham.us/pbxiha4z"
(Note: When I click on his link, the internet tells me the 'team graham' is not responding. How very Republican — promising, but not delivering)
More importantly, is this shvantz telling the truth? Are New York Democrats trying to legislate Chick-fil-A’s business hours? The answer is ‘sorta.’ However, the stunad is overstating his case.
First some background. The company is owned and run by brothers Dan and Bubba Cathy. They are the sons of S, Truett Cathy (1921–2014), who founded the company in 1946. He was a devout Southern Baptist. Honoring his commitment to Sunday Sabbatarianism, Chic-Fil-A restaurants are closed on Sundays.
It speaks well of the company that they leave a ton of cash on the table to honor their religious beliefs — no hypocritical sincerity there. Of course, they do not do so well with their hostility to same-sex marriage — although they reportedly have eased up on that. Others will have to tell me if that is true.
New York Democrats have proposed legislation requiring Chick-fil-A to open on Sundays — but the law would only affect the companies located on the New York Throughway rest stops. According to Fox News , “the company currently operates seven restaurants owned by New York's Thruway Authority, and the proposed legislation would impact all future contracts.”
These locations represent 13% of Chick-fil-A's 53 NY locations — 46 others could still open and close whenever they wanted. This flexibility would mean all the restaurants in NYC, including the one behind the strunz, can still open as much or as little as they want — or not at all.
The bill’s rationale is that once drivers are on a toll road, the only places to get refreshments are the highway rest stops , and they do not have a large selection at the best of times. Let us also note, the bill does not demand Chick-fil-A operate any restaurant whose hours they do not like. They could sell their contract to someone else.
I realize that Graham does not give a shit about Chick-fil-A — that he is only catering to the ever-ready-to-be-incensed MAGA base. But really? Fast food restaurants? Who knew this was a crisis? Especially in NY.
The state is not a hotbed of religion. The most popular denomination is Catholicism (31%) compared to 10% who identify as evangelical Christian. 40% of New Yorkers are not Christian, including 27% who have no religion.
Chick-fil-A consistently ranks #1, or near the top, in surveys of the best fast food chain. Perhaps they could compromise and staff the seven highway locations with non-Christians on Sundays. Those workers could be the fundamentalist Christian equivalent of the Shabbos goy , a non-Jew hired by orthodox Jews to perform tasks Jewish law forbids the observant to do on Shabbat — the Jewish Sabbath.
What I like the most is that the grinning Lindsey is standing in plain sight, and not one New Yorker is looking his way. (Except possibly the one on the far right who might be wondering why God made so many mamalukes)
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/23/2213496/-Lindsey-Graham-crusades-in-NYC-to-defend-Chick-fil-A-s-right-to-close-on-Sundays?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
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