A while back, HuffPo published an article on PublicSquare, a MAGA-friendly business directory site and how liberals are using it to find out which businesses to avoid. Here’s an excerpt:
As a consumer, PublicSquare’s website is easy to use. You just enter your ZIP code and it pulls up businesses near you that want to be publicly associated with Trump and his values. The company, which launched in 2022, has direct connections to Trump, too: Its board of directors includes Donald Trump Jr., who also is an investor…
(Reddit user) Jeff’s posts about PublicSquare, or offshoots of them, have popped up on Reddit in cities and towns in Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Maine, North Carolina and in general Reddit forums. The idea of using PublicSquare for boycotts has gained attention in local news stories. Last month, a TikTok user with 19,000 followers filmed himself describing PublicSquare and directing people to its website to find MAGA-friendly businesses to cut off. His video has gotten more than 348,000 “likes.”…
“It is a website that conservatives will register their business on to show they are anti-woke, pro-conservative and especially pro-life,” he says.
How handy! Using an incognito tab and entering my ZIP code (I’m not letting those right-wing fuckers track my location!), I looked up my region and found several local businesses to avoid.
If you live in a deep red area like I do, it’s difficult to avoid MAGA businesses altogether. My approach is kind of slapdash.
I don’t patronize a nearby thrift shop that flies MAGA banners, even though it looks like exactly the type of dump I would otherwise ransack for vintage ale mugs and what-not. To me, the banner is a sign that they don’t want my business.
On the other hand, there are a few MAGA-owned pubs I visit occasionally because they aren’t particularly “in your face” about it, and there are no liberal alternatives that I know about. I’m not gonna just stop going to pubs!
Anyhoo, the PublicSquare listees took the proactive step of associating their businesses with the Trumps. So fuck them.
***
Also, I saw this cool Red-Shouldered Hawk earlier and posted a short vid of it on Bluesky a while ago.
Red-Shouldered Hawk surveying the riverbank. 🪶
— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) May 3, 2025 at 8:31 AM
That tree is very near my house (but not TOO close, unlike John’s willow!), so I figured it would fly off when I opened the door, but it didn’t. A cooperative bird, for once!
Open thread.
Australia Election Results (LIVE)
WaterGirl
I went to that site, which sounds awesome, but I could not find where to enter my zip code. Do you have a direct link to that page?
Or maybe I’m blind! If so, I would appreciate pointers as to what is right in front of me but I am not seeing. :-)
Jerry
Too bad there isn’t a mirrored site that we could visit instead.
Ramalama
At first I thought you referred to your home area as Deep Dish Red Area …
I was in Chicagoland for Christmas without my wife. For one of her gifts, I went local to a coin shop selling all kinds of numismatic stuff along with memorabilia accoutrements. Rather than going online to Amazorn. And just as I was about to walk out with sleeves for her to put all of her yes they are super valuable you don’t know anything coins, I saw two display cases filled top to bottom with Trump’s face on dollar bills, and other mAgA shit.
I sucked it up, got my sleeves, and left.
I guess I’m a cafeteria liberal. Progressive. Radical. I am a cafeteria whatnot.
Jeffg166
@WaterGirl:
I can’t figure it out either.
Trivia Man
@WaterGirl: Same problem. It defaulted to Dallas so i just slid the map around and zoomed in when i got to my area. I think it was 2 fingers to drag unpinch to zoom.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: It’s in the upper right. It asks if it can know your location.
Ramalama
@WaterGirl: You go to their /marketplace from their url.
Locator pin is at the top right. Click it and don’t allow it to see your location but then at the top just above a map you can type in a zip code.
zhena gogolia
Nice bird!
My husband is at a conference. I can’t believe how early I got up, or how bored I am. I have to finish Anna Karenina today, but it’s going at a snail’s pace.
zhena gogolia
I’m rewatching A Simple Favor in preparation for watching the sequel Another Simple Favor on Prime. The first movie is so, so good.
I had never seen Blake Lively in anything — she is fantastic.
Betty Cracker
Here’s the pic of what you’ll see on that site if you decline to share your location. Red arrow points to where you enter in your ZIP.
The Audacity of Krope
My search turned up no results, not even the local Trump merch store.
God bless Massachusetts.
oldgold
This is slightly off the mark, but close.
What do you do when you are in a public space, like a waiting room in a hospital or something similar, and Fox
Newspropaganda is playing on the television? Is it appropriate to change the channel or just turn it off?Baud
@oldgold:
This is America. You can shoot the TV.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Wife was watching CNN (Erin Burnett’s hour) last night and they did a piece on something similar happening in France. Enter a product name and it’ll tell you if the parent company is ‘Murkin.
We’ve talked about Tesla’s plummeting sales but apparently a lot of ‘Murkin brands are taking hits in Yurp.
The Audacity of Krope
@The Audacity of Krope: Scratch that. Tried to put it in the wrong place. Still didn’t see anything I’d even normally use.
Lawyers and realtors mostly. There was a magician and a “hippie medicine” shop.
ETA: The Trump.merch shop still didn’t show up. So I suppose the list isn’t comprehensive, more self-identified.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Good answer.
Miss Bianca
Yeah, I’ve already heard from my super-seekrit liberal ladies’ FB group that my favorite coffee shop/roastery is on that list. Le sigh. But it’s not like, in a town with a population of 1500 or so, I’m going to have a lot of choice. I know the liberal ladies are talking about not hosting their Monday get-togethers there anymore. Not going to argue with that.
I just don’t fucking understand why *anyone* would willingly alienate a potential part of their customer base like that, but then, conservatives do a lot of things I don’t understand.
Betty Cracker
@oldgold: I used my phone to change the channel on a waiting room TV once a while back, but it almost never happens anymore. Usually the channel is set on something innocuous like cooking or home reno. Maybe because enough people complained?
Betty Cracker
@The Audacity of Krope: The impression I got from the HuffPo article is that businesses have to ask to be on the list.
narya
@Miss Bianca: I get my coffee from Colectivo; they’re expensive, but do mail order. I don’t know all of their politics, but they always have Pride cookies in June and they focus on fair trade and organic coffee, so I’m assuming they’re not R..
sentient ai from the future
@Ramalama: you’d be hard pressed to find a coin/stamp/precious-metals dealer who doesnt, as a matter of course, cater to that demographic.
because that’s a lot of their business. goldbugs, rubes, and (to a lesser extent these days, i think, because cryptocurrency) criminals who need to cross borders with large amounts of stored-value.
all of these groups are prone to fascist fandom
The Audacity of Krope
Evangelizing seems important to MAGA. Even the ones who aren’t evangelicals. In my retail experience, I learned it is extremely common for right wingers of various stripes to come and preach to their captive audience. Far less so for anyone else.
sentient ai from the future
@oldgold: you may want to take a look at tvbgone.com/
mitch altman, the inventor, is also something of a patron saint of the maker community.
The Audacity of Krope
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, that’s right. I saw the link to add one’s own business while I was navigating the site. The design was honestly a little confusing, therefore I saw a lot of it that didn’t comport with my goal of searching local businesses.
no body no name
If we are talking shopping we ditched apple. Of the big three apple bent the knee hardest to MAGA. Then google. Microsoft not so much. Not only that apple cut deals to dodge tariffs. Microsoft not only fired their law firm for giving Trump pro bono work they hired a law firm that is suing Trump! The complete opposite of apple and kudos to them for that. I don’t need a new GPU but if one gives up the ghost I’m going with AMD. Nvidia’s CEO in an attempt to get out of tariffs and keep his AI business alive is showing up in press conferences and cutting all sorts of deals and making a fool of himself.
It’s sad as we prefer iPhones and iPads and nvidia GPUs but those companies are far out on the wrong side of this while other companies are staying out or actively taking a stand. Microsoft taking the most moral stand out of all the tech giants was not something I saw coming.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Have you seen the pic of Trump dressed up like the pope? Someone on Blue Sky says, “So close with the white pointy hat.” LOL
Harrison Wesley
@The Audacity of Krope: Maybe the Trump shop isn’t licensed to sell that shit.
The Audacity of Krope
That would be very Trumpian of them, though it would displease dear leader.
zhena gogolia
@Miss Bianca: Like name their dogs after odious Trump administration members.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: Yes, so glad that the colonoscopy place is into home renovation. Root canal place too.
zhena gogolia
@sentient ai from the future: Yeah, in this case I’d say it doesn’t necessarily mean the owner is MAGA, they’re just stocking what the customers want.
The Audacity of Krope
Maybe if I had pet lemmings…
Harrison Wesley
@The Audacity of Krope: I’d go with scarab beetles. Creatures that feast on carrion and dung.
Ramalama
@sentient ai from the future: I didn’t think about that.
Similar vibes to the world of crypto in that you want to bypass government?
Lethe
@oldgold: Tv Be Gone still works on most public area TVs. Easy to build, or order one. One user put the contacts at the sides of his coat zipper. Just zipped up facing the TV to be shut down.
doesn’t always work, but Oh! so satisfying when it does…
sentient ai from the future beat me to it – :)
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
“It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping.”
Baud
@no body no name:
The blue screen of democracy!
bluefoot
Raptors FTW!
I checked last week in my area (Greater Boston) and so far it’s mostly realtors which tracks with my recent experience in apartment hunting. I wonder how businesses hear about it and then get on the site.
There’s a document shredding company in the area that is great but out-and-proud pro-Trump. Or was last I was there a couple of years ago. Too bad since it provided the best service of all the places I’ve tried for bulk document and media destruction. They’re not listed on PublicSquare yet.
Another Scott
Thanks for the vid, BC. Pretty bridie.
Clicking over to see it on bsky, I see a reply there from what appears to be some sort of spammer bot about some sort of gambling thing or other. :-/ I guess it means you’re getting well deserved attention!
And that bsky is heading down the well-worn path of other big online sites…
Enjoy the weekend!
Best wishes,
Scott.
narya
@Baud: One of the disadvantages of being Old is that, when I say that anywhere other than here, I have to explain WTF I’m talking about.
Ramalama
@zhena gogolia: I couldn’t tell if they were Trump supporters. Had they been vocal about it, I’d like to think I’d have left.
They were helpful to me since I was supposed to get coin books, but I didn’t know all the years of the coins wifey had, so they suggested something else that wifey loved.
Baud
@narya:
I think some memes live on even when the original context is forgotten by society. Not sure if that is one of them though.
bluefoot
@no body no name: it’s a bad sign when Microsoft is the most ethical option. 😁
Ohio Mom
My periodontist ditched the TV a while back — the only time I ever saw The View was there, while having my teeth cleaned and gums examined. That one exposure was all I needed to that silly and annoying show.
I didn’t notice a TV this time around at my colonoscopy; the Post Office in my suburb also took down their TV a while back.
So, small signs of progress, I guess.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The official White House xitter account posted that! I assume most MAGAs won’t give a shit about the blasphemy angle because lib ownage is their true religion. But I wonder how it’ll land with sincere religious fanatics, which might include people like Amy Coney Barrett.
bluefoot
@Baud: All kinds of phrases that become part of the vernacular. They become common enough that people forget where they come from. Like saying something goes up to eleven. I’ve heard my young niece use the term “drinking the kool aid” but she’s never heard of Jim Jones.
Another Scott
@Ramalama: I’ve been looking at RedBubble to maybe get a “No Kings” or similar sticker for my car. They’ve got lots of MAGA stuff, and lots of flaming liberal stuff. I think they will basically sell almost any type of political sticker, etc.
I was in to (mostly) stamp and (a little) coin collecting when I was a youngster. My impression is that stores like that would basically sell anything in that form factor (maybe not the “racy” nekkid ladies stuff). It’s a tough business and every sale matters.
But, yeah, it’s hard to willingly give money to people who (in however potentially small a way) are supporting the monsters.
I still haven’t found anything good on RedBubble yet. Maybe something more subtle but kinda applicable from Saint Javelin…
Thanks. Hang in there.
Best wishes,
Scott.
twbrandt
DAMMIT! I just found out that my favorite barber shop is on that site.
O. Felix Culpa
Speaking of trash, I have a (very) old external hard drive and several old laptops that need wiping/destroying. I’m not up for hammering the drives to death this time around. Any suggesting for TRUSTWORTHY ways of doing this? BestBuy says it does, but I’m not sure I trust them.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@no body no name: Yeah at this point I wish Microsoft had a viable cell phone platform. I’d ditch my less than a year old Goigle Pixel 8a tomorrow for a Microsoft device if they did.
My orders with Amazon are way down since Bezos bent the knee.
Scamp Dog
I searched my area on that site. Aside from a dental office (not mine, fortunately), I didn’t see any business I even knew about. Metro Denver is fairly blue, I guess, but my congressional district elected the odious Gabe Evans, so we do have MAGAts than we deserve.
JMG
The eye doctor’s clinic I visit (it’s a big office, one of many in a huge practice) has swapped out HGTV in its waiting rooms for an in-house closed circuit effort that offers only Eye Facts. Eye issue symptoms, eye care tips, etc. Kinda weird, to be honest.
Miss Bianca
@The Audacity of Krope: Of course, one could say that that spice emporium, Penzey, does the same sort of thing in reverse.
schrodingers_cat
I checked. Not a MAGA business in sight! Glad to live in the cradle of the American Revolution. We don’t like despots here.
lowtechcyclist
@oldgold:
I’d just go up to the desk and tell them something like “I see that Fox News is playing on the TV in the waiting room. You have to be aware that the purpose of their programming is to get their viewers angry and upset about stuff. I don’t want to be angry and upset already when the doctor/nurse/mechanic/whoever comes out to talk to me. Can we change the channel to something more relaxing, like HGTV or the Discovery Channel?”
ETA: I’ve only encountered this problem once in the past decade, so I’m not really in the market for a TV-B-Gone device, even at $30 for the gizmo and the charger. But this approach worked in that one encounter: in the breakfast room of a hotel that we’d stayed at a number of times, and that usually had neutral local news on the TV in the mornings. I started off the same way, and said I really didn’t want to get angry and upset over breakfast, and could we change back to the usual channel.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@O. Felix Culpa: I’d trust them as much as anyone. I have a couple old ones too and it’s pretty easy to do IF the screen still works and you can get the thing to boot up properly. I have one chrome laptop that the screen doesn’t work and I don’t have the right cord to attach it to an external monitor. Then one Windows device I can’t get part the BIOS page. One of these days I’m taking them to Best Buy.
bluefoot
@O. Felix Culpa: I am sure someone will chime in but I know there is software that will reliably scrub your drives. I don’t know the names of any of them, however. Then you could safely take them to BestBuy. (I don’t trust BestBuy either.) Or try a combination of software and a big honking welding magnet to scramble anything that’s left? I wonder if that would work instead of hammering.
Another Scott
@O. Felix Culpa: My father took apart a hard drive once, to use the platters as mirrors. Kinda labor intensive, but very nice mirrors (very, very flat) (with a big hole in the middle).
There are free tools to wipe disks, maybe even built into Winders and macos these days. But that’s time consuming.
I’ve got a stack of old hard drives that are in a similar boat. I’m thinking about just sticking them in a USB dock and doing a quick format, then taking a drill to the exposed circuit board or a pair of pliers to the connectors. And then taking them to the county electronics recycling place. If someone really wants to try to get things off them after all that, well, they’ve got far, far too much time on their hands.
Good luck!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gin & Tonic
@no body no name: MSoft is the old guard now, in some ways like IBM used to be when MS ate their lunch. But they do very valuable work in studying russian and Chinese disinformation efforts – head and shoulders above any other tech-related company. They actually provide information to the likes of NSA and GCHQ.
zhena gogolia
@twbrandt: So like me, you’ll be getting your hair cut by MAGA.
They must keep their mouths shut or you would have known.
zhena gogolia
@JMG: Yeah, I’d rather have Joanna Gaines.
Jeffg166
@Betty Cracker:
I am being told the location has been disabled.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@twbrandt: that sucks, it’s sometimes difficult to find a hair cutting place that does what you want, the way you want. It probably sounds dumb but when I moved to a new state recently, it was one of the first things I looked for after finding an apartment.
Planetjanet
@lowtechcyclist: Hey, I may be in your territory this morning. My cycling club is doing the Three Notches trail in St. Mary’s.
BlueGuitarist
@zhena gogolia:
Engaged readers are all alike, every bored reader is bored in their own way?
Do you have a preferred translation of AK? Of War and Peace?
O. Felix Culpa
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
@bluefoot:
@Another Scott:
Thanks, all! Between all your suggestions, I’ll work something out. Depending on the outcome of the Beast’s suit before the Supreme Court to give DOGE access to all our data, fretting over personal data security may be moot anyway. A less than comforting thought. 😁
Librettist
@Betty Cracker:
It will land like a wet turd in the Vatican.
BlueGuitarist
Hah!
Like a protest sign at recent demonstrations:
“Same shit, different hat” with pictures of
Confederate, klan, Nazi, and MAGA lids
Salty Sam
Spouse visited our old hometown last weekend, ate at a diner we used to frequent. We always complained about Fox being on every TV in the place. She reports that now they have subscribed to a private service called “The Puppy Channel”, with nothing but puppies, kittens, and other small animals frolicking.
noncarborundum
@The Audacity of Krope: I’m also in Mass, and the only thing listed in my area is an HVAC contractor. I happen to know that a gas station near me is also Trumpy (they flew “Trump 2024” flags after the election), but it doesn’t show up in PublicSquare.
Nukular Biskits
@BettyC:
I have a feeling you’d have had a lot in common with my Momma and my Aunt Ginger. Too bad you don’t live closer … I’d invite you to rummage through the literal tons of knick-knacks, thingies, odd collectables and “WTF WERE THEY THINKING WHEN THEY GOT THIS?!?!?!?!?” us three kids keep finding in the house and out-buildings.
Oh, and to everyone: Good mornin’, y’all!
Librettist
They’ll be on to their next thing soon enough.
Poker or whatever.
The discomfort is in dealing with contracted work when you don’t really understand what they are on about.
Just don’t hire the guy at the end of the road. I seen the roofing job he did on his own house. Yikes.
Salty Sam
I suppose she’s better than Jesse Watters or Hannity, but not by much.
Nukular Biskits
@oldgold:
Me? I ask them to please turn the channel.
zhena gogolia
@BlueGuitarist: For War and Peace I like the Maude translation edited by Amy Mandelker (Oxford). For AK I use the Maude translation published by Norton, but it’s full of typos that haven’t been corrected in at least 30 years. But it has good supplementary materials at the back — Tolstoy letters, his wife’s diary, etc. I like the Maudes for the way they capture a certain style. But they have to be edited by a modern editor who’s careful (as with the War and Peace).
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Reminded me of this:
THE SIMPSONS – Homer Buys a Gun & Uses It Carelessly” – 1997
zhena gogolia
@Salty Sam: My orthopedist has that! It’s the best.
Miss Bianca
@Salty Sam:
PROGRESS! :)
no body no name
@bluefoot:
That’s been the case for a while now. Apple and google despite their reputation and PR bullshit have always been the scumbags of the lot. Hands down the worst. Amazon was bad from the get go and never bothered trying to hide their reputation. Microsoft actually gave a shit and now their products are better than all their competitors and they are the safe AI choice.
@Gin & Tonic:
There’s that as well. MS are the good guys now. They are firmly in the intel community they aren’t happy about all this.
Baud
@Salty Sam:
Dems need to rebrand as the Puppy Party.
Miss Bianca
@noncarborundum:
One interesting thing I’ve noted about businesses along the highway that have been proudly flying Trump flags since before 2020 (and which I have subsequently been avoiding), in some cases have allowed them to get so tattered and worn that they are nothing but a slip of a rag.
So…not taking them *down*, but also…not replacing? Not sure where that falls along the Continuum of Ick.
Geminid
@Nukular Biskits: I once worked with a country guy who told me his wife loved “Wet-Knocks” I figured that was a mashup of “What-Nots” and “Knick-Knacks.”
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This Conclave will be the third foreign election Trump loses in three weeks.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: And lose the cat lady coalition? As if!
The Audacity of Krope
@Betty Cracker: I already see a schism forming…
Lily
If DJr is an investor-board member, the business owners who list themselves on the Square are prob now and forever on the tithing-to-Tr-family weekly call list. Bleeding them dry. Kinda like the Goodfellas concept except better since you can also get the meme coin and the red combat knife.
Lily
@Geminid: Sad !
The Audacity of Krope
Too glamorous, more like the Goodfeathers.
Wanderer
@oldgold: changed my provider. Never looked back. Not possible for everyone. Ask the office manager to consider a neutral station like animal planet, the real estate buying channel or just a music station (no country please).
Baud
@Geminid:
Hahaha.
The Audacity of Krope
I’m learning, to exactly no surprise, real estate is pretty MAGA.
Ramalama
@O. Felix Culpa: You might try this:
killdisk.com/killdisk-freeware.htm
Comes recommended by WorldComputerExchange.org, a non-profit that handles donated computers and tech.
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
Car dealerships too. But most people need cars.
dnfree
@oldgold: Almost anywhere I go that has a waiting area these days (car dealership, medical facility), has the TV tuned to a home decorating or remodeling program. You could ask them at the desk to do something like that. It makes sense.
Wanderer
@The Audacity of Krope: I am thinking of some show that takes people through 3 houses and then at the end they announce which one they want. Can’t recall name of show or where it aired. I haven’t watched cable in maybe 10 years.
dnfree
@bluefoot: I hate the casual use of “drinking the kool-aid” because many of those people were forced to drink the kool-aid, or they were shot. It was a tragedy I don’t like to see minimized.
Similarly, whenone of my daughters was in a sorority, their sorority house had a side door that people frequently blocked open for easier coming and going without being seen. My daughter casually referred to it as the “Speck door”. That term came from well before her time but it sent a chill up my spine, remembering how Richard Speck murdered student nurses by getting in a door like that.
BlueGuitaristey,
Tired and way behind on every work and home task, but hoping to motivate myself to another protest today.
Noticed at Thursday’s demonstration
Folks chanting
“the people united will never be…”
about equally divided between
“…defeated” and
”…divided” (?!) who seemed sincere, not mocking.
Told myself:
1 turn off the voice that says this feels silly
2 it’s a good sign, indicating many new participants;
3 chants usefully communicate themes to nonparticipants
4 chants build community among participants
5 either think of something better and get that chant going or join the other chants
Please let me know good chants you’ve heard or made up!
Eta dk how I fat fingered messing up my nym
p.a
BlueGuitarist
@zhena gogolia:
thanks!
The Audacity of Krope
I used to need a car. I am doing everything in my power to make sure that is never the case again.
Kayla Rudbek
There are three yarn companies on Public Square who are going to be at Maryland Sheep and Wool. So I know who to avoid spending my money with this weekend.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: No, don’t do that, MAGAts will start kicking puppies to pwn the libs.
zhena gogolia
@The Audacity of Krope: Okay, I know a liberal gay realtor. Unfortunately I’m not doing any transactions at the moment.
Kayla Rudbek
@Miss Bianca: and the thing is, who has more money to spend freely, childless people or the quiverfull people who have to support all those kids on one salary?
zhena gogolia
@dnfree: Ugh, I never heard that. That story traumatized me as a child.
BlueGuitarist
@Geminid:
Lol!
Harrison Wesley
I’ve been going to the same place for haircuts since I moved to Florida. It’s owned and operated by Hispanic women; I suppose they could be MAGA, but I doubt it.
Professor Bigfoot
I started cutting my own hair during the height of the Plague.
I went back to my barber for a few weeks and decided actually I liked my own cut better.
Of course, the kind of barber shop I’d frequent will most certainly not be on Public Square, so there’s that, too.
Timill
@Wanderer: House Hunters, and spinoffs.
schrodingers_cat
@Professor Bigfoot: Thankfully neither is the hairsalon I go to. I live in the ultramarine portion of an indigo state
Although even here there enough MAGAs on NextDoor. Its a third of our voters, so not an insignificant minority. And they are loud.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Are you teaching it? You probably have read it before. And are you reading in Russian?
Another Scott
@Wanderer: House Hunters, I think.
There’s an “international” version as well.
This family of 8 is going to Tokyo for his job and needs an apartment with 5 bedrooms and a kosher kitchen for $1500 a month…
🤪
Best wishes,
Scott.
The Audacity of Krope
@zhena gogolia: I don’t even believe in land ownership, but apparently it’s illegal to just go live in the woods.
no body no name
@Kayla Rudbek:
Those types tend to be higher income living in low cost of living and low tax areas. They are also usually in debt up to their eyeballs.
no body no name
@The Audacity of Krope: Get Thoreau on speed dial.
Betty Cracker
@Harrison Wesley: IIRC, Florida is the only state where Trump won an outright majority of the Hispanic vote. Don’t recall how it breaks down by gender, but I assume there’s a gap as there is in all demographics.
schrodingers_cat
@no body no name: Wasn’t he just living on his parents property with his mom and sister bringing him food and doing his laundry?
Sounds like an early version of the basement dwelling keyboard warrior.
schrodingers_cat
OT I am trying to assemble a plein air kit and it is hard because I am not a minimalist. For me more is more!
The Audacity of Krope
@Professor Bigfoot: Not a lot of English spoken at my barbershop, so if they’re MAGA I wouldn’t know. I’m stretching my limits just to communicate how I’d like my hair.
The Audacity of Krope
@no body no name: I had forgotten about him. Thanks for adding to my reading list.
@schrodingers_cat: Don’t worry. I am quite capable of cooking and cleaning on my own.
Eyeroller
@bluefoot: And it was actually Flavor-Aid at Jonestown, a much less well-known competitor, but Kool-aid had already become a generic term by then. Grape flavor specifically.
And as already mentioned, anybody who tried to escape was shot.
The publicsquare site seems to have been redesigned so I had some trouble getting a text box for a zip code (and I was in a private window). I found only one business I might have thought to patronize, a fairly new coffee shop near me, but I had already looked at their Website and it was pretty obvious they were MAGA fanatics. I was a bit disappointed since I don’t drive far and the only other option is Starbucks. I am not a Starbucks hater but I had hoped to try something different.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: Ralph Waldo Emerson owned the land.
Best wishes,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: I’m teaching it, for the 1000th time. But I try to reread it every time. I have the translation in my lap on top of the Russian (because I want to read what they read), and I keep spot-checking it. A little tedious. Hence my frequent forays into BJ.
trollhattan
That’s pretty interesting. The density of listings for my city is pleasingly slender, with chiropractors and realtors and car detailers and small construction over-represented.
ONE restaurant that I can find. I wish you a short life, Tablevine.
no body no name
@Eyeroller:
At summer camp it was all bug juice. Because when you make a giant thing of it there will be bugs everywhere. Especially in the juice.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: That was really helpful!
But now that I’m in with my zip code, it’s showing me every city in Illinois, and this isn’t a small state. There doesn’t seem to be a distance you can set by number of miles away.
What am I missing?
Nukular Biskits
@Geminid:
I know I’ve posted about this in the past, but the cleanup at Momma’s is a Sisyphean task if there ever was one.
Most of the house (which is in need of demolition) has been cleared out. And I thought we’d already went through the out-buildings. Nope.
Last week I went up and we spent about 6 hours dragging stuff out, most of which had been ruined because of leaks in the roof. I bet I hauled out 400 lbs of NatGeo and other magazines, FSM-knows how many Mason jars, etc.
And then we found an upright piano sitting at the back.
While they weren’t on the same level as the folks you’d see on the Hoarders reality show, almost four years after she left us, I still find myself muttering, “What the hell, Momma?” 😂
The Audacity of Krope
@WaterGirl: You can zoom in and out by pinching and spreading your fingers on the map. When I put mine in, it was zoomed in so far there was nothing there. I had to zoom out quite a bit even to see the street closest to the center of my zip code.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Are you in the For Shoppers or For Businesses page? Far upper left.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca:
Penzey’s spices makes their politics plain as day, and i think that’s a good thing.
Librettist
Trump had the American taxpayers buy yet another used 747 to try and retcon into Air Force One.
The least cost option is to pay for a paint job and maintenence on his plane, and let him lease it back to the U.S. government. If he gets his beak wet he’ll stop buying aluminum scrap piles.
trollhattan
Cheaters gotta stick together.
schrodingers_cat
@Another Scott: Thanks for the correction. But it was not exactly wilderness and he had help so not exactly living a hermit’s life either, just cosplaying it.
trollhattan
@Librettist: He’s stymied naming it Golden One because that’s a California credit union.
Nelle
I just got an update on my nephew who is Congolese and was picked up by ICE about a month ago. He’s been held in a private prison which, he told his sister, hasn’t been all bad. They had a ticket for his deportation to either Mali or Rwanda. It is unclear if he will be released or imprisoned upon arrival. We know very little.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Ah got it! My Russian friend says that a lot is lost in translation.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
I’m pleased to hear we’re competitive with Tolstoy.
WaterGirl
I must have woken up stupid today because even with my zip code entered, I can’t see a way to find a list of all the businesses. I picked banks and it said there were none. I picked something else, and it showed me dozens of businesses from all over Illinois
I don’t want to have to browse through all the various categories. What am I doing wrong?
WaterGirl
@Nelle: Why is he being deported? Surely he doesn’t want to leave?
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: Sure. But he was able to do some thinking and writing there that inspired a lot of people. There are worse things that one can do with their time. ;-)
(My J grew up near there and would go swimming in Walden Pond in the summer.)
Best wishes,
Scott.
Eyeroller
@The Audacity of Krope: The location started in California for me and I’m on the opposite side of the country. I’m at a desktop, not a mobile device, so it may look different for me. The homepage showed a bunch of tiles for categories, many of which seemed innocuous but some of which were pretty obviously related to MAGA obsessions. (“Bulletproof tee shirt”? Beef tallow? as examples of featured products.)
I had to zoom way out to get to the other coast and then I found the zip-code box. The default was “share your location” which nobody here wants to do, and for me would be the data center miles away where my provider’s servers are located anyway. But entering the zip code just caused it to populate data over a pretty large radius, so zooming was still required.
Another Scott
@Nelle: Thanks for the update. Fingers crossed that his ordeal ends, and ends in the best possible way, soon.
Hang in there.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: I’ve reread some Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky over the years, and it never ceases to amaze me what a difference the translation makes. Im no scholar, but that seems especially true of Russian novels. Great translators can make that prose sing! They deserve far more credit than they get.
PS: I admire your diligence in rereading for your students. You must be a wonderful teacher!
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@O. Felix Culpa: Yeah I’m a federal worker. The Russian hackers probably have all the info on me they could ever want anyway thanks to Elmo and his DOGE shits.
I get regular email reminders that our annual cyber security awareness and insider threat awareness trainings are due by August 31. I guess I’m doing them ironically this year. But waiting until August because if if I get RIFed before then it’s moot.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: I was on a laptop and used the + and – functions on the map. Hopefully others can help — I’m useless at tech, as you know all too well! ;-)
Geminid
Ankara-based Clash Report posted an interesting report about Mike Waltz:
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iranian Foreign Secretary three successive weekends last month, but a fourth meeting scheduled for today was postponed. The Omani government, which has been facilitating the talks on Iran’s nuclear program, said this was for “logistical reasons,”
Right now Marco Rubio is holding down Waltz’s national security advisor job as well as the post of Secretary of State. I wonder if Trump will replace Rubio at State with someone like Steve Witkoff, and keep Rubio as National Security Advisor– for a while.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I didn’t have either one selected. If I select business, it look like I could add my business. (hell no!)
If I select shopper, what I am seeing makes no sense to me. It lists businesses that aren’t local, and it shows only 4 businesses no matter what I select.
This is the least intuitive website I have maybe ever seen.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I’m pretty good with tech, and this site just makes no sense to me at all. Maybe I really did just wake up stupid this morning?
schrodingers_cat
@WaterGirl: Don’t blame yourself it is a badly designed website with shitty navigation.
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: Maybe it makes sense if a person has MAGA brain?
BlueGuitarist
@schrodingers_cat:
huzzah!
The Audacity of Krope
Ah, silly me. My preferred zoom method on desktops is to hold the mouse pointer over the element I want to zoom and hold control (command on Apple) and slide the knob on the mouse up and down to zoom in and out. Very responsive and precise.
If that’s not an option, control with (+ or -) also work. That works with the active element, effectively whatever you clicked most recently. I don’t prefer this because clicking on things has a way of activating things and tanning through elements can be tedious.
And of course, best to put your zip code in before exploring the map. It was hard to find the map page, the site is not lain out very well; but if you have the map, you have the zip code search available.
BlueGuitarist
@Geminid:
axios and NY post are saying Santa Monica Goebbels is a leading contender for National Security Adviser, Steve Miller of eponymous band might be a little relieved that SM Goebbels uses his full first name
Eyeroller
@The Audacity of Krope: I just used the big + and – buttons. I don’t like gestures or hotkeys for the most part and when using the desktop (as opposed to the laptops) I have a big monitor. But the navigation did seem very non-intuitive and really, really wanted the user to do “my location.” Hell no, even though as I mentioned, my “location” is always 100 miles or so off when I’m using wifi.
Nukular Biskits
@The Audacity of Krope:
Yeah, the user interface leaves a lot to be desired.
I’m glad BettyC brought this back up. It was originally brought to my attention by a Bluesky post several weeks ago but I had forgotten about it.
There are several businesses here on the MS Coast that apparently are MAGA. Knowing that, I can now avoid them.
bluefoot
@dnfree: I agree w you about the casual use of the phrase. It makes me wince internally. I’ve read a lot about The People’s Temple and what happened at Jonestown.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@trollhattan:
Pete Rose also had a sexual relationship with a 14-15 year old when he was in his mid-30s, so also a rapist pedophile. That alone should keep him from being reinstated
robtrim
I live in DC. There are no Trump stores here.
Nelle
@WaterGirl: He has violated terms of his immigration status numerous times. He has been dealt with rather leniently. We’re not surprised by the outcome. We’re actually surprised that he has been given so many chances when those who deserve a fair chance have not received what he has had and thrown away. I’m sorry to have to say that, because I do like him. But he has failed himself, despite many trying to help him. He is winsome and charming and that has carried him through difficulties, but, in this case, I think it is justice that he is deported. I just hope he doesn’t end up imprisoned. He has extended family in the DRC, and I hope he can get back to them. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I just heard that some of the Afghan people here on Temporary Protected Status are seriously considering suicide rather than submit to deportation. My sympathies for my nephew dwindle in face of that.
Librettist
@BlueGuitarist:
Clearly the greatest ass kisser in the entire sorry lot.
I wonder if Rubio has caught on to the awful ethnic jokes they make behind his back…. or in his presence.
Cec65
Well, I searched my area. In my town (suburbs of Los Angeles), most of the sites were lawyers, doctors, CPAs catering to the old money town (this suburb was once a John Birch Society Hotbed). But zooming out, and looking at other nearby communities, it surpised me that a whiter nearby community had a lot more, and looking at the next town, yes, my first chiropractor office is listed. I stopped going when it became an assembly line and I had an injury they refused to address. I remember the waiting room with the christian and antii-vax literature at the time GWB was president. Not surprised.
Nelle
@zhena gogolia: I’m doing the Simon Haisell’s slow read of War and Peace that he is doing on his site, Footnotes and Tangents. (I’m also slow reading the Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall trilogy. I’m actually rereading all of them, except The Mirror and the Light.) I read War and Peace decades ago so this slow read, of a chapter a day, is fascinating for what I forgot or didn’t notice back when I read it all at a gallop for plot. I don’t know how many around the world are in on this, but it is fun to peruse the comments. For Mantell, there is a lot in the footnotes and tangents, too.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Very!
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: Thanks — yes, translations are important. The problem is that none of them are perfect, so whichever one you choose, you always see problems.
I’ve never felt I’m that great a teacher in the “wow them with a fabulous lecture” way. But I spend a lot of time and care on my students, so in that sense I try to be conscientious!
Librettist
I’m shocked to learn Kash Patel is ghost payrolling his new job.
zhena gogolia
@Nelle: Wow, wish I had time for that. Reading War and Peace slowly must be a treat.
I’m VERY SLOWLY (bedtime as I fall asleep) reading The Mirror and the Light. I have to say it’s much harder to follow than the first two books. We have watched up to the last episode of the series, but I’m dreading seeing Rylance executed. I don’t even know what his method of execution is (don’t tell me!), but I’m afraid of what it might be since he has “no birth or breeding.”
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
A good design, it ain’t.
I had to select “near me” to the right of the map window, then accept cookies, and only then did it render the map for my area.
And now I have MAGA cookie cooties.
Soderbee
I checked the site. My little purple town only listed one hair salon I don’t go to and lots of nurseries and ranches in the outlying areas – none of which I go to.
But the good, surprising news is that we have a protest rally scheduled here today at 1:00 PDT. Will be interesting to see the turnout. If you don’t hear from me again it will probably mean I was shot. I want my granddaughter to know I showed up.
I can’t find out our boycott status on Target. We need new underwear but I know not to buy Hanes brand (made in El Salvador). Not many shopping opportunities near me so we have to drive into the bigger city to shop so that I don’t have to order from Amazon.
Kelly
Baby Steller’s Jay on our back porch!!!!
bsky.app/profile/northsantiam.bsky.social/post/3lobqxeuzzk2h
WTFGhost
Okay, okay, lemme ‘splain a bit. Trees don’t actually fly off when you open the door – they tend to remain rooted to the spot. So, if the birds *LEAVE* the trees, the trees will STILL BE THERE. So, no, the bird didn’t cooperate in keeping the TREE from flying away, the bird itself… didn’t fly… um…
Oh, you meant the bird didn’t fly away from the tree. Not that the tree didn’t fly away when you opened the door. Never mind.
Cliosfanboy
Here in deep, deep blue northern VA, it’s mostly realtors and law firms. Also an IT place, a few remodeling/roofing firms and some RW lobby groups as well. No surprises.
Cliosfanboy
@robtrim:
The souvenir shops have trump stuff. But also other things as well.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: Nah, the site sucks ass. Unsurprising since it’s a Trump-backed venture!
@Kelly: Love those Steller’s Jays!
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Sic DOGE on them!
The Audacity of Krope
@Baud: I hear that for Trump’s birthday, he plans to put on a modest display celebrating government efficiency.
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
That money could have been wasted saving lives.
Ruckus
@bluefoot:
Paper shredders are not that expensive.
I have one and have had one for at least a couple decades – I’m on my second one now. Anything with my name or address that I don’t need gets shredded. Even if I want something inside the envelope I still shred what I don’t need to keep. It does take a while to fill it enough to even bother to empty the shredded material, it shreds pretty small.
Ruckus
@Baud:
You do know that it’s not in his best interest to keep everyone alive, don’t you? I mean how else is he going to be able to get reelected? Because some people in deeeeep red states are going to want him in office (again!) destroying democracy for them.
twbrandt
@zhena gogolia: there was nothing that clued me in. It’s a multi-chair shop, and I have no idea if my preferred barber is MAGA or not. The owner must be, but I don’t get my hair cut by her.
O. Felix Culpa
@Ramalama: Thank you!
The Audacity of Krope
@Baud: 😭
Another Scott
Meanwhile, yet another example that everything is connected on this big round rock we call home.
Phys.org – Why whale urine is so important to life in the sea:
And this makes sense. Life expands to take advantage of available food, etc., so if big animals are moving around they must be affecting other parts of the web of life. And if they’re not around…
Worth a click.
Best wishes,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@Planetjanet:
Cool! Hope you have (or by this point maybe *had*) a good ride!
lowtechcyclist
@BlueGuitarist:
I love it!
If I could draw worth a damn, that would be my next poster!
WTFGhost
@Miss Bianca: One of the points of being a “conservative” in today’s world is to be proud of things no one else should be proud of, and to show off your pride.
I don’t think it would work without a corresponding hate for the other side, even if it’s the sort of hate that never gets all that hot. Like, you know your neighbors might be lefties, but they aren’t *those kinds* of lefties.
(The sneering “those kinds” doesn’t always mean “people of color,” in this context; here, it means “the kinds who I keep hearing about, who don’t actually exist, not even enough to help the poor Oz Scarecrow who wants to get on the down low with another straw man, and thought this was his break. )
WTFGhost
@BlueGuitarist: I still love my favorite, from the Swiss. (It’s a finger, with the nail reflecting Trump’s mien. I’m not sure if it’s provably a middle finger, but it was around multiple such raised fingers that context strongly suggested it was.
It’s not just art talent, though – that’s some primo airbrushing (or, as we used to say in Philly, “spray painting” – now, I suppose it’s called “tagging”).
Odie Hugh Manatee
Four MAGA businesses in the Brookings area, only one of them (Dot’s Yarn Shop) is one that we’ve used. My wife will be going elsewhere for her local supplies. The sire is handy for those who don’t want to contribute to the profitability of Trump supporting businesses.
Why get business from us when they can get “the business” from Trump…lol!
The Lodger
@BlueGuitarist: Steve Miller _ Fly Like an Eagle
Stephen Miller _ Eagle Like a Fly
Gloria DryGarden
@lowtechcyclist: I love this, it’s brilliant!