I am tired, depressed, demoralized, angry, upset, and off kilter. Everything feels unmoored and supposed allies are all screaming at each other when there is an obvious big bad that needs to be dealt with. And I have a sinus headache. It’s not even 8 pm and I am going to bed.
Does anyone know how the blackout worked today? Any anecdotal evidence?
War for Ukraine Day 1,100: Trump’s Tantrum
Jackie
I’m with you. Minus the sinus headache. Mine is from freaking out stress.
Lobo
To add to this happy camper post: 25% tariffs to be laid on Mexico and Canada. 20% on China on Monday.
Melancholy Jaques
Right there with you John Cole.
As for the boycott, I know I didn’t buy anything from anybody.
Wapiti
I walked to a local coffee shop with my sister, who is off to Europe this weekend. We paid cash. Asked the barista if business was off and she said that she had seen only one customer in the first half hour.
(I think shop local blackouts would be better; that liberal college kid in a liberal city is eating the loss.)
different-church-lady
I did not have the formation of a Trump-Putin-Netanyahu Axis on my 2025 Bingo… oh wait, here it is right in the center square.
different-church-lady
@Wapiti: On the other hand, the local indie coffee house I was at late this morning was full up. Ancidata is just that.
So I spent $3.21 cash today. I guess I’m part of the problem…
SpaceUnit
I didn’t spend any money today. But I’m not entirely sure what the blackout is hoping to accomplish.
Grover Gardner
@different-church-lady
Not at all, I think that was part of the point! We bought stuff for dinner at our locally-owned co-op. Good that your local indie coffee house was full, rather than Starbucks!
Jay
@SpaceUnit:
It’s a Consumer Strike.
Kelly
I’m going to take our puppy out for a spin. Literally. One of her favorite games these days to cling to her tug while I help her spin as fast as she can until she falls down dizzy. Only want to spin anticlockwise. we also play ball.
Jay
@different-church-lady:
The goal was to hit the Corps, hit the economy, and if you had to buy something buy local, buy indie,
So you done good.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
My mother failed the test today. She had to get my 89 year old grandmother a new blanket from Wally World (Wal-Mart), plus a few bags of junk food.
“Half of the people probably didn’t even hear about it (the Economic Blackout)!” was her excuse.
Honestly, I could forgive the blanket, but not the junk food.
I made sure I didn’t spend any money anywhere, at least. Pretty easy, considering it was my day off from work
hrprogressive
I spent $0. It’s all over reddit and it dis apparently get some mainstream news coverage but I can’t speak to whether it had a huge impact or not.
It’s a good idea but it’s gotta be sustained a lot longer than a day to get the billionaires to back down.
SpaceUnit
What people didn’t buy today they’ll just buy tomorrow.
And the billionaire class ain’t exactly living from hand to mouth.
Melancholy Jaques
@SpaceUnit:
I get that, I think. Whenever I hear “boycott” I think of Buggin’ Out yelling “Boycott Sal’s” in Do the Right Thing.
But this is another thing that right-wingers do that works for them that our disorganized & often fractured coalition can never do anything as one.
All these consumer corporations are gleefully saying fuck you & your DEI because they know that people will continue to line up to buy their shit. See, e.g., the FTFNYT.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Only thing I and T bought today, was some beer and a bottle of wine, local indy.
Grover Gardner
@SpaceUnit
So we’re utterly helpless. No way to express our displeasure. Hmmm.
Jay
@SpaceUnit:
@Melancholy Jaques:
The thing is, it hurts. They staffed for the day and many did not make sales. It will show as a blip on the radar, as far as revenues go, but where the real impact will be is it “fucks up the algorythm”.
Most retail chains staff on the basis of past sales on that date, so they will understaff next year, based on sales on this date and have pissed off customers.
The ground floor of our apartment tower has a Safeway, (Loblaws sub of the infamous bread price fixing scam). 100 metres away, Shiraz Farm Market, an independent Halal market. If Shiraz has it, we buy it, and it’s better quality, (even though Safeway is known for it’s quality) and a better price.
Jay
@Grover Gardner:
There are always “people” who advocate surrender to the Dalecks.
NickM
I think a boycott is good practice for mass action. It might not be effective now but we’ve got to develop the muscle.
BSChief
Had to go to my local Shaw’s (Albertson’s or Safeway for you non-New Englanders) for prescriptions today. Did not purchase anything else. The store in Worcester seemed pretty normally busy, so can’t really claim visual evidence there of a blackout effect. In light of today’s adventures in White House international diplomacy, I’m inclined to keep not spending at big businesses for the foreseeable future.
Almost Retired
I’ve been offline for a few days on a trip to hike several National Parks in Utah – while we still have National Parks and not National Oil Reserves.
The interagency visitor’s center at Escalante is closed (Park Service, BLM and – I think – Forest Service are the agencies that share responsibility).
A local told me that six of the eight employees at the visitor’s center were fired.
Junior Ranger program and guided ranger tours? Cancelled.
The local I spoke with said her son was also just fired from the Forest Service. She was not MAGA. This has to be economical devastating in such a small town. And it’s being replicated everywhere.
cintibud
Improved my mood by watching the ending of “V for Vendetta”
ETA: And neither my wife or I spent a dime today
Eric S.
I bought a few groceries today and I’m at my local wine bar for a few glasses and dinner. I guess I failed the boycott but I’m with people in that I don’t see a one day purpose. I guess in theory I understand but I don’t see and end game.
SpaceUnit
@Grover Gardner:
@Jay:
Just suggesting we might need more effective means of protest. And no, I don’t really know what those would look like.
Eric S.
@SpaceUnit: This is my thought. Go on a protracted boycott of the offenders that get your goat. A one day boycott seems mostly pointless to me.
JaySinWA
After working with my wife to freeze her credit on all three agencies, she asked to get dinner at Ivar’s. At least we spent locally.
BTW Everyone should freeze their credit given the numerous security breaches and the massive US Government one. https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze tells you how. The webpage still works for now and just directs you to the credit reporting companies. It’s free, don’t get conned into paying for credit monitoring.
ETA Look up the credit-freeze info on the credit reporting web page if you don’t see an option to set up a free account.
cintibud
@Eric S.: I think it’s more about getting people involved and united than the effect on the markets. Get people to agree to the small task and work to larger tasks. Like donning a Guy Fawkes mask one received in the mail (see comment #22)
Ella in New Mexico
Well, I adhered to the boycott which meant drinking a 16oz can of Michelob Ultra and spiking it with a shot of Glenlivet scotch to be able to put this damn stressful week to bed. It was pretty ucky.
Eric S.
@cintibud: I can accept that logic.
RevRick
My hunch is that today’s economic blackout was more performative than meaningful. Being an old fart, I don’t purchase much stuff. I buy services, and today I bought the service of my dermatologist for my one year checkup… and she found a suspicious spot on my back which led to an instant biopsy sample. And every day I buy the service from my cable tv/internet service and my cellphone service, and I buy electricity and natural gas. I go weeks without buying stuff besides food or gas for my vehicle.
No, what’s more meaningful is the plunge in home buying last month and the sharp decline in consumer confidence. What’s more meaningful is the layoffs of federal employees by a Trump administration that is under the delusion that subtraction is addition.
SpaceUnit
@Melancholy Jaques:
Right wing pressure works on corporations because those corporations are already hardwired with Republican sensibilities.
Look into their boardrooms and all you’ll see are a bunch of wealthy, older, privileged white dudes. Right wing pressure just gives them permission to do what they already want to do (cave in to Republican wishes).
WaterGirl
@NickM: If you can get someone to do even a little thing, then getting them to do another thing at a later date is much easier.
Jay
@WaterGirl:
Yup, it’s a variation of “but you are protesting wrong” acceptance of helplessness.
SpaceUnit
We’re in new territory. This is going to require something like nation-wide worker strikes.
A one-day boycott of McDonalds isn’t going to accomplish anything.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@RevRick:
One could make the argument that the purpose of the Blackout, as others have said, was to get people to get used to the idea of mass action
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SpaceUnit:
It’s a start
SpaceUnit
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Okay, Goku. Maybe you’re right.
I’ve always appreciated your perspectives.
Grover Gardner
I look at it as a dress rehearsal for larger things. I really do think we’re going to have to institute some larger-scale, but quiet, boycotts of the economy. It’s a way to protest without endangering yourself as an individual–which is a very real possibility here. I don’t think Trump/Musk give whit about the economy, per se, but if things get bad enough there’s going to be some serious pushback. Of course there’s Russia, Venezuela, etc.–in that the leaders don’t give a crap how bad things are. But you have to try. As our larger institutions–universities, the media, corporations–cave to Trump, all we have left is silent protest.
narya
I bought nothing, my friend bought nothing, and I convinced my mom and nephew that their purchases is milk and beer could wait.
frosty
@SpaceUnit: See WaterGirl at #33 and quitcherbitchin.
scav
Will it fix things at a blow? Course not. But if it sends a signal (not a death blow or big bruise) the general consumer ain’t happy, it might slow down the corps enthusiastic dumping of DEI policies etc. Even maybe better than a poll of confidence or the foot traffic going up at CostCo while declining elsewhere signal. Because, even more than politicians, corporations usually want to lead the biggest parade. Especially corps that ultimatlpely rely more on us than the federal teat.
Fair Economist
@Jay:
That depends on how the economy is doing. With the Federal Reserve nowcast having already dropped to -2% annualized growth, renewed tariff threats, massive ongoing federal firings and the consequent damage to vital services, massive planned cuts to Medicaid and food programs, and a planned tax *increase* for those making less than $300,000 (yes, you read that right) –
I suspect decreased retail employment will be just the ticket this time next year (and yes that brings another round of economic losses. Hello, multipliers!)
NotMax
Tired and off kilter can be dealt with fairly readily.
Depressed and demoralized are exactly what the other side wants us to be. I for one refuse to give them that satisfaction.
Angry and upset are understandable but also are corrosive when spread layer upon layer on the entire foundation of one’s existence without being given the opportunity to dissipate in the fresh air between applications.
Nukular Biskits
Absolutely fucking pissed does not even begin to describe my mood.
WRT to Trump’s fuckery of this country and fouling the Oval Office:
And that doesn’t even being to address the argument I had with Douchebag Gov. Tate Reeves’ spokesperson (?) about English being a fucking requirement to be an American.
My inner redneck so wants to come out …
WTFGhost
It’s been an unusually stressful day. Dumping on social security, dumping on the weather service, and we saw a disgrace to the oval office.
SpaceUnit
@frosty:
I ain’t bitching, Skippy. Just trying to figure things out and find a way forward.
Darkrose
We had an appointment to get our taxes done today. I did try to reschedule, but our preparer is completely booked through April. We’d been expecting the rest of the EV credit, but it turns out that for personal use, the credit doesn’t carry over. Instead, since I got a raise that bumped us into a higher bracket, we have a big bill from the IRS.
I might be less annoyed if it weren’t for fucking Elon, and the fact that my student loan payment doubles in August. OTOH, if we don’t have the Department of Ed, who even knows where my money’s going. I’m figuring that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is going to get nuked, so I may just try to figure out how to pay as much of it off as possible.
RevRick
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Haphazard, individual protests seldom accomplish anything. Sam Daley-Harris has developed a model for legislative action that is both intentional, sustained and team-based, which came out of his work for Bread for the World. The only effective economic boycott I know of that was effective was against Nestle around their pushing infant formula in Third World countries.
It was targeted and sustained by churches.
My other problem with the whole concept is that it shoulds on people, relying to some degree upon guilt.
NotMax
Called step-nephew with birthday greetings. He was born on Leap Day but in off years celebrates on the 28th. Wife and friends took him out to dinner; by the time I rang up he was in a wine bar in the West Village in Manhattan.
Can’t really excoriate birthday spending.
;)
Jay
Socolofi
I’m hoping donating to Ukraine doesn’t violate the blackout cuz I did. Also all FPers should link to the Razom for Ukraine link – thanks @Watergirl for showing it!
BSChief
@RevRick: Another Old Fart here. Agree that initial blackout effort will have limited effect, so we have to look further. Not sure what that looks like, but boycotting promoters of Trump (Tesla), and enablers of Trump (Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, etc) ought to be the next step. There are many others in those categories. Keep not spending!
NotMax
@Nukular Biskits
Have encountered folks from your and its adjacent states for whom English is more of a suggestion than a language.
//
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@RevRick:
It apparently did for Bud Light. They and their parent company InBev was measurably hurt by the boycott, a fact I was deeply disturbed by since prior to that conservative boycotts were usually sad temper tantrums with dipshits destroying their own property.
Anyway, I don’t see why those sustained, more organized boycotts you mentioned couldn’t be built up
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SpaceUnit:
Thanks, that means a lot to me. Yours too.
I think there will be a lot of experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t
NotMax
@bSChief
Meatless Tuesdays were embraced as a thing during WW2.
Perhaps Spendless [insert a dedicated date here] will catch on.
frosty
@SpaceUnit: Sorry’bout that,I misread your comment. We’re all trying to find our footing.
sxjames
I ‘sorta’ participated. No big purchases, but this afternoon I walked over to the local bakery (owned by a really sweet lady who is starting her own business) for coffee and pastry. I payed cash. Unfortunately, I also had to drop off paperwork to my tax preparer who is across town, and to do so I had to purchase gas for the car :(. Anyways, I’m in agreement with those that say that the purpose of the blackout is to get us in practice for larger, more sustained action.
Peale
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): yep. And if it didn’t work, they’d have tried again. Most of the boycotts fail, and we’re out of the habit of boycotting at this point because most of ours have failed to. They had a product that was a single product that lets face it, we weren’t going to buy a lot of to spite them. We just need to figure one out.
SpaceUnit
@frosty:
Yeah, we’re all kinda lost right now. Sorry for being salty.
Ohio Mom
I had already cut back my spending, I’m getting psyched for the inevitable recession (or worse) headed our way. I didn’t buy anything today, like most days this week.
There have been some hiccups with Ohio Son these past two weeks, nothing unusual, just things to be expected when you are the square autistic peg in the round hole of the world. All of Trump’s doings make or worse because he will always need financial and social supports and Ohio Dad and I aren’t going to live forever and now for the first time I’m worried about Social Security.
So add me to the “ tired, depressed, demoralized, angry, upset, and off kilter” list. I don’t have anything going on with my sinuses though because if I did, I would have gone to Suzanne’s specialist already and had surgery to correct whatever is the root cause.
Tim C
@SpaceUnit: Look, we all have those moments. Hope isn’t a strategy, but the world as a whole has been in worse shape in the past. I’m encouraged that the Europeans seem to be holding together for now. The Republicans and Trump aren’t invincible, he won’t live forever, and survival is sometimes the best people can do. If you have good Senators/Congress Members, call them and thank them. If you have bad ones, call them and let them know. Be kind to those people you can impact, and if you can throw some sand in the gears of the fascist machine, even a little, do it.
Jay
@Fair Economist:
Mothers Day 2021, at the Orange, 3 staff, shitshow as the Honey Do list went from squeaking hinge to Need a New Kitchen.
Mothers Day, 2022, 9 staff, one rental.
SpaceUnit
@Tim C:
That’s some pretty good council.
NotMax
Just a thought.
Frequent sinus aches can manifest as a sign of dental troubles.
Bupalos
I don’t even understand what the economic blackout is supposed to do. Feels like a “let’s show our power” thing that has no actual point.
Power isn’t for showing.
Not to harsh anyone who is feeling that, but what would the endpoint be if there was some measurable economic effect? Seems like it would probably mostly be people saying “I’ll let the tank go down to 1/8 instead of my usual 1/6.” What’s the difference if people buy their murder juice on Saturday instead of Friday?
Socolofi
Just as I’m still up, and enjoying some (relatively) local wine…
targetted boycots of a firm for some policy they control can work, and sometimes a list of companies (see: anti-apartheid for South Africa). But they require lots of energy and a defined outcome on what they can do (such as stop doing business in Country X). A general buy-nothing day – even if it’s enough for a blip (and a Friday in Q1… that’s already a low tide retail day) – just means people will buy what they were going to buy tomorrow.
My own take… Trump only ever cares about two things: Good headlines on Fox, and the stock market. Tariffs will fuck the market, which is why lots of people view things like 25% on Canada as bravado and not real. I’m not sure if I agree that this rule works on Trump 2.0, but I’m hopeful. Trying to kill the market is more of a Canada shuts down oil exports kinda of thing… so it’s more about calling him out on Fox News and his bubble there.
Now all this being said, my wife got the honor of cancelling Amazon Prime. It isn’t clear to me that the CEOs of Netflix, MAX, and Disney are any better, but it did feel good.
Bupalos
I could see that cutting both ways. I’m not sure it’s something you get to practice… how is anyone supposed to distinguish the real thing from the fire drill? Isn’t it more likely that people just tune the next thing out as “oh another performative stunt with no outcome?”
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax:
True. Sinus problems can make your teeth hurt.
mvr
I bought a coffee at a local shop and sold the rest of the Amazon stock in my retirement account. I got rid of all of it in three chunks in the past month or so. Probably not going to hurt Bezos yet but maybe if enough people do it it will. Guy’s a tool.
TS
I was so pleased to see this – almost stopped my tears
From the Australian Prime Minister
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-01/albanese-reiterates-support-for-ukraine-without-mentioning-trump/104998818
sab
@Bupalos: It’s late at night and I shouldn’t be awake but I am.
I value you as a commenter, but sometimes I just have to say “What?”
This has been one of those days.
no body no name
Something very odd happened today. I did not shop. I did pay in cash at a local mom and pops that only takes cash. I have prime and I pay by the year and have gated purchases on the platform. Nobody else can later my accounts views by using it. Everything is now Bible stories from companies I do not know. It’s all upfront. My last watches were Nosferatu and Wicked. Why am I seeing this? I work in IT so I know how they could scrape data but there is no way it would produce this result. I don’t even google biblical stuff. If they scraped me it would be Sci-fi. Toggled the VPN same stuff.
Paranoid perhaps but there is no way on earth my feed would get this. I don’t share the accounts. I don’t google this stuff. But it’s all really fringe and it all popped up today.
Pete Downunder
@TS: Albo as he is known here although nominally center left is completely spineless and in the thrall of corporate money most noticeably extraction and gambling industries. Good on him here but he is still selling arms to Israel.
hitchhiker
@Socolofi:
Our financial advisor mentioned on Thursday that the thug sees the stock market as his report card. He won’t like being responsible for a decline, but that’s the direction we’re currently headed. She also said we’re probably looking at a recession.
I think there’s actually a possibility that he bails. Like, if everything goes belly up with the economy in such a way that he can’t hide from it, I wouldn’t put it past him to claim victory and get the hell out. He’d just say he’s given enough of his life to making America great, and that he’s leaving us in Vance’s capable hands. He’s 80 yrs old, blah blah blah.
The thug likes to be admired more than anything. If the bubble really does burst, the fun goes away.
A girl can dream.
sab
@hitchhiker: He is looking at prison if he bails. JD Vance will not save him. He knows next to nothing about anything but he does know that.
NotMax
@hitchhiker
Stock market decline?
Well, he did promise to lower prices….
//
Lily
At NOAA, hurricane modelers.
NotMax
@Lily
Revised hurricane names list for 2025 (random order this year).
Barack
Hakeem
Biden
Hillary
Gavin
Obama
Sheinbaum
Letitia
Hunter
Woke
Fani
Stephanopoulos
Trudeau
\\
Matt McIrvin
@sab: The Supreme Court already gave him immunity for everything he’s doing now, didn’t they? Elon Musk could be prosecuted for it but I doubt Trump could be.
Martin
@Bupalos: Nah, a lot of these things are people doing something new and deciding ‘hey, that wasn’t so hard, and it felt good’ and so each time you peel off a bunch of people who sustain it and a bunch of people who will come to the idea more easily next time.
This is how cultures develop – you see other people do a thing and decide it’s fun/good/etc. and it becomes a thing. So many times people would see me at the grocery store with my e-bike, ask me about it, we’d chat a bit, and a few months later I run into them on their e-bike. They just needed to see someone else. They don’t want to be the weird outlier. Cultural changes require some degree of shared action.
scav
@Lily: Well, I suppose it works out as a net financial plus. If the unexpected event just kills more people outright, there are fewer whiney whiners afterwards expecting free (!) paper towels to be thrown at them.
Mai Naem mobil
@Almost Retired: the NPS stuff is such penny wise pound foolish stuff. The NPS pay is around $10/hr. We are not talking big money here. And these people help with forest fires not just tourist stuff..but then the tourist stuff and in red areas. All those mom and pop restaurants, convenience stores, gift stores, trip guides, camping stores etc are going to die without the parks being open. Edolph and his tech buddies think they’re so smart. They don’t their history at all. Their knowledge of history probably only goes back to the 1980s. Stupid stupid people.
NotMax
@Martin
Presumably any even halfway decent grocery store is nearer than 15 miles from where you nromally hang your hat.
;)
NotMax
@Mai Naem mobil
Not to mention staff whose jobs entail such basic tasks as mopping and cleaning the rest rooms and emptying trash bins.
NotMax
Can’t argue with the Beeb on this one.
“J.D. Vance is a piece of shit.”
TBone
I used to read about nonviolent communication when I was a pacifist, and received an email newsletter invitation to a seminar.
In Hungary.
My unsubscribe note contained a non-non-violent communication method.
TBone
I used to read about nonviolent communication when I was a pacifist, and received an email newsletter invitation to a seminar.
In Hungary.
My unsubscribe note contained a non-non-violent communication method.
TBone
I used to read about nonviolent communication when I was a pacifist, and received an email newsletter invitation to a seminar.
In Hungary.
My unsubscribe note contained a non-non-violent communication method.
TBone
I used to read about nonviolent communication when I was a pacifist, and received an email newsletter invitation to a seminar.
In Hungary.
My unsubscribe note contained a non-non-violent communication method.
TBone
I used to read about nonviolent communication when I was a pacifist, and received an email newsletter invitation to a seminar.
In Hungary.
My unsubscribe note contained a non-non-violent communication method.
TBone
I used to read about nonviolent communication when I was a pacifist, and received an email newsletter invitation to a seminar.
In Hungary.
My unsubscribe note contained a non-non-violent communication method.
TBone
I used to read about nonviolent communication when I was a pacifist, and received an email newsletter invitation to a seminar.
In Hungary.
My unsubscribe note contained a non-non-violent communication method.
TBone
WTF GLITCHED
It is not 2AM is it?
🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9k_ZRyws8Uc
NotMax
@TBone
“It’s déjà vu all over again.”
– Yogi Berra
;)
TBone
@NotMax: thank you, hahahaha!
TBone
Lyrical accompaniment for non-nonviolent communication
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k-bpuCbU6MY
Evolution in progress
TBone
@SpaceUnit: the Blackout was a Luigi notice to the oligarchs. I hope, because I am still a sweet, summer child. Sometimes.
Furthermore, I am looking forward to further future rolling boycotts for emphasis.
David_C
I didn’t shop yesterday, but I took the day off and attended Day 1 of a local Climate Summit, where I talked to our mayor (whose daughter works for the EPA), the keynote speaker, and the head of the organization, whose late mother was a friend of mine from church. Hung out with someone who reported to me 25 years ago. For different reasons, we were going through challenging times back then.
Took a slot at the table of our local interfaith climate stewardship organization. Watched Severance. Woke up to Son of “What I Did Last Week” email, so leadership will be scrambling and I’ll have to wait until the end of Monday to get guidance. Amateur hour. Being targeted, but not giving up without a fight.
lowtechcyclist
@Jay:
Nope. That date will be a different day of the week next year, and that’s a big factor all by itself. They and their algorithms know that. They also know about weather, so they won’t just let sales on the day 364 days earlier (same day of the week) determine staffing. Otherwise stores would be understaffing on the 52-week anniversary of a big snowstorm. Does that happen? I don’t think so.
lowtechcyclist
@NickM:
This. We’ve got to develop a habit of action, and we’ve got to start somewhere.
Besides, if you don’t try things, you’ll never find out what works and what doesn’t.
AM in NC
@NickM: Yep, my group of women friends all got our husbands to participate. The ones who ONLY vote and that’s it, politically. We are building their activism muscles one 50-something white dude at a time. They just do not see the same threat we do and moving them to action is shockingly difficult. They do not want to believe things are as bad as they are. But maybe they are starting to.
TBone
@AM in NC: normie hubby was cheap and easy. I wish you nothing but success as well as to all others in this important endeavor.
different-church-lady
@hrprogressive: For real, I did not have reddit as the last rampart of sanity on my 2025 bingo card.
mvr
And Almost Retired.
One of the Elon’s youngsters is from town and the son of a faculty member. He did some interesting manuscript decoding work while at the University, won an award and then Peter Thiel paid him a shitload of money to drop out of college. He’s likely not stupid, but he’s obviouslly undeducated, unwise and unaware of his limitations. In some sense those are the qualities for which he was chosen.
Yeah, a knowledge of history makes people smarter.
Gvg
@Eric S.: yes but…
II don’t think it will have an impact on the corporations. Even if they notice, they will pretend it didn’t. I always thought the boycott sounded silly, but my mom finds things like that appealing and so do many other voters, so I went along. People need to be encouraged.
It got me to thinking about who really is supporting this coup. We need to find the numbers and hash out what they mean. We know that many corporations make some modest public donations to both parties every election with maybe a little more going to the one they think will win. Those need to be separated from the significant donations to extreme candidates only, and it also matters who the leadership made personal donations to in large amounts. And then there is the dark money and superpac donations that are probably more important but harder to track. And propaganda support. Let’s consider Fox and Twitter to be direct support.
So after we make a list, we need to consider how they can be hurt. Not just boycotts, but if it’s boycotts, they need to be long term and really coordinated which means plans before publicity. Some of them may require us to really work on alternatives or stocking up. I have been wondering if I needed to buy a used freezer and where I could put it, etc. I have other expenses coming up too. So the boycott made me think, and I hope some others did too.
LAC
@SpaceUnit: well, I will say that Target has been impacted negatively by its cowardly pullback from DEI programs. A point can be made over time as well. One of the lessons we learned about the montgomery bus strikes back in the day. You know, because it is not only about protesting in the streets but with your wallets too.
Ella in New Mexico
Well, just to say how well the Blackout worked in my neck of the woods, I did NOT stop at Total Wine on the way home after a hellacious long week and instead kluged together some leftover ginger liquour , lime juice and my last two cans of Ex Novo IPA.
No One You Know
@Bupalos: That we’re doing it together, finding a temporary but real common identity without the exposure of self as a target. It’s why fish school: confuse the predator with too many lookalike targets to focus on any one of them. And no real deterrence or damage to the whole effect even if one of them is taken out.
Planetjanet
@Bupalos: What could it hurt?