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The Independent reports
More than a dozen protesters who clambered into holes dug for a high pressure gas pipeline said they had been found not responsible by a judge after hearing them argue their actions to try and stop climate change were a legal "necessity".
Karenna Gore, the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, was among more than 198 people who were arrested because of their 2015 actions protesting the pipeline in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Thirteen people were to go on trial this week, though prosecutors downgraded their original criminal charges to one of civil infraction.
On [March 27], Judge Mary Ann Driscoll of West Roxbury District Court, found all 13 defendants not responsible, the equivalent of not guilty in a criminal case. She did so after each of the defendants addressed the judge and explained why they were driven to try and halt the pipeline's construction.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:05PM (4 children)
The thing is, if your work day is significantly longer that about 8 hours you won't be productive for very long. If people are disposable, this is not an issue. Sociopaths often rise to positions of power.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:19PM (3 children)
Productive people aren't afraid to work hard when necessary, and they aren't afraid to give their peers slack when necessary.
Americans don't need a government holding their hands.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:36PM
"Americans don't need a government holding their hands."
That is true for all values of $GOVERNMENT, but it is especially true of government that is incompetent and corrupt.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Friday March 30 2018, @09:00AM (1 child)
The trouble is people don't define "long" and so the length of time keeps creeping up. Yes, you can be productive working 9, 10, 11 and 12 hour days for a week or two and maybe even a month or two at a stretch but the human body is not designed to sustain this. Very often nowadays our workload keeps getting increased a bit at a time and we find ourselves routinely working a 10 hour (or longer) day for years at a time with frequent bursts of 12+ hours and weekends. I've been there (several times), got the t-shirts etc.
All you end up doing is making your staff sick and stressed, they leave or get fired and your institutional knowledge goes with them. All of a sudden you can't make your products any more. In the short term, though, it can double the share price.
And by "work" I don't mean being present on company property. I don't count the 1 hour lunch break and I don't count going for coffee or making small talk at the water cooler. I mean actually getting stuff done.
The sooner we are replaced by robots and get Universal Basic Income the better, as far as I'm concerned. The bread heads can keep their ill gotten gains.
Not all managers are sociopaths. I had one once who had a friend who died in a car crash on the way home from work due to tiredness from over work. He banned excessive overtime.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 30 2018, @05:38PM
Don't forget the hidden time sinks!!
Commuting is rarely a carefree relaxing endeavor and for many people a 1+ hr commute is pretty common. So a regular work day goes from 9 to 11 hours assuming you get an hour lunch break. Also, an hour lunch break is hardly enough to actually relax as time is wasted traveling from A to B or you take the lunch in the office which is dubious. So basically a 40 hour week is actually closer to 55 as far as stress on the human body.
A myriad other stresses from modern life creep in as well. A multitude of bills and steadily increasing knowledge requirements and influx of pressure from advertising and scammers.