So many corporations and individuals are making bank from ignoring the Trump regime's obvious abuse of human rights. It's getting difficult to keep up with the list of those who have forsaken human decency, but we must keep exposing those that are complicit, More importantly, we must not forget who they are, if and when the political tide turns in America. Our collective spending choices can make a difference.
“While Alex Pretti lay on a cold slab in a Minnesota morgue, Tim Cook, the billionaire CEO of Apple, came to the White House alongside Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins, as well as General Electric CEO Larry Culp to watch the “Melania” documentary. It is the most corrupt film in the history of cinema, an open-air bribe paid to a soulless, unaccomplished, Slovenian “model” who disgraces the United States with each breath she takes. Like her husband, she is a moral abomination and utterly, unfathomably corrupt.
Yet, Tim Cook and the other CEOs in attendance were undeterred.”
CEOs are more afraid of retribution by Trump than they are of consumers. Why? Because it takes a whole lot of boycott to take away more revenue than the loss of one multibillion dollar Pentagon contract. This needs to change. And when a new administration takes over it needs to pull a Trump and cancel contracts with the companies complicit in Trump's ICE reign of terror.
I am horrified by the murders in Minneapolis and the lies told by high ranking government to protect and enable ICE goons. Taxpayers funding ICE is like the condemned being forced to dig their own graves. There aren't enough metaphors to describe the regime's evil and corruption.
While I am a big fan of metaphors, Judd doesn't use them and with reason. There are no metaphors in reality. And this reality? It is about as stark and and terrifying as it gets: that hot breath in your ear? The steel toed boot on your neck? That grasping hand in your clothing? That searing bullet in your gut? No metaphors, they are real.
You're right, Katy. Your description did a far better job of describing the reality than my metaphor. And I appreciate that Judd sticks to reality and eschews literary devices. I look to him for facts and insights, nothing more.
What about Hilton International? Aren't they housing ICE in Minnesota? We certainly read about the local Hilton franchise which was "dropped" by Hilton after it refused to accept ICE as lodgers.
I don’t know if they were dropped by Hilton but after their refusal the feds dropped them from the approved list for government workers.
(To be reimbursed or have your lodging paid by the Feds you have to stay in pre-approved hotels that have agreed upon rates for federal employees or sponsored events.)
Well, I did quit AT&T and move to Verizon but I'm sure someone can come up with a way Verizon is also complicit in human rights abuses. It's not easy to do business in today's world without having some contact with bad companies. I don't like it, but that seems to be the way it is.
This, in a nutshell, is the real problem. With mergers and consolidation there are few choices. It won’t be until PI and The Lever and other excellent investigative journalists pull back the covers that we will find out that all these huge companies are in bed prostituting themselves for the almighty dollar. The solution is at the ballot box. We need to rebuild a government based in integrity and trust that will break these issues down to the foundational blocks to solve these problems. That’s a very long row to hoe.
Remember our nineteenth century predecessors' used this old chestnut:
"There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge (or ammo). Please use in that order."
We must stay on our soap boxes until we can use the ballot box. After that, with clarity and strength, the judicial system, not used as a weapon but rather as a tool, should be used in all its permutations.
I agree, but the soap box of not shopping at Amazon when most of its revenue comes from AWS is pointless. Having said that, I have a two foot square of pavement with my name practically monogrammed on it in front of our county courthouse. Have signs, will travel.
Do not underestimate the power of boycotting all Amazon services, including web sales. Seems folks feel too embedded in all they have to offer and just can't pass up the "deals". Until we stop giving away our power, supporting those who are parasitizing us, we are as someone said earlier - digging our own graves. Too many Inconvienient Truths.
I found it super easy to quit Amazon. I spent $1k a month there, easily. The manufacturers sell their products direct to us, sometimes cheaper. I bought a lot of vitamins. I found them all at iHerb, and have them at subscriptions there. I never used Prime for movies, because I never thought of them. I don't miss them. AT&T doesn't work around here, only Verizon does. We have a Bank of America card, and I don't have a clue how to cancel the damn thing. There's nothing on the statement telling me how. It's not used. If anyone knows how to cancel it, please let me know!
FWIW, I had been with T-Mobile for years (due to their support of the Big Ugly Bill) but changed to Consumer Cellular. My information is that their hands are cleaner, so far. Ethical businesses (and non ethical ones) here: Five unethical companies | Ethical Consumer https://share.google/EnzBNVh9ZtVn8HYJn
I'm wondering if it's not meant to counter negative information in the Epstein Files, and I'd love to see an honest review. Now that the East Wing is torn down, she need not worry about her official duties.
As I become more conscious, I feel the weight of these corporations, but especially Amazon, in determining choices I make in my life. I feel how insidious the tentacles of that company reach into my brain, into my daily activities. And don't get me started with Google and my reliance on that bloated omnipresent machine surrounding my daily decisions. Like cigarettes, the path to quitting begins with awareness, then acceptance that I am a slave. When I get to the point where I feel trapped, then I can really see a way out. I am so close to ending my relationship with Amazon and Prime and you are helping, Judd, just like your investigations into Facebook helped me sever that connections and with it, the only social network I was ever "involved" with. Evil patriarchal overlords determining how I live? Breaking free!
Obviously, you don't live in a remote area where it has been a boon. However, the delivery I most worry about is the USPS, which is under attack by the regime.
My apologies, but have you found any source for things that you need that require a long drive? The only store in the community where I live is a gas station with snacks and pizza.
What did folks do before Amazon was a source for everything? Plan an occasional shopping trip and order directly from mail-order companies. I know, Amazon is very convenient, but it's not essential.
Well, there was a pandemic, and many, many people were homebound—customers and clerks—for a long time. Many businesses closed. Even the Dollar Store in the county seat has products on pallets in the aisles because they don't hire enough people to stock the shelves. And mom and pop stores are often short of inventory or even closed. Amazon profited from all this.
I buy directly from the manufacturer. I'm very rural. I can't buy much, even if I wanted to which I don't, from Walmart. So I go directly to the manufacturer website. I buy the same exact vitamins and supplements I had on subscriptions at Amazon from iHerb. So many ways around. Every Jan, I always bought an Ansel Adams calendar from Amazon. Like clockwork. Barnes & Noble has the same calendar. I also bought a Nook, and have purchased ebooks through them, instead of Amazon Kindle. Where there's a will, there's a way.
No problem. I was speaking out against prime more than amazon generally. Amazon is a wonderful option for people needing medical and home care supplies.
I do try to find local providers for food. Do you know local folks who grow food, or process their own meat? Can you join with neighbors to purchase from a near by town? Or join a CSA? Can churches get involved?
It will vary of course on where you live. And your physical mobility. As I grow older and become a bit less mobile, my definitions of convenience have changed.
I am retired now, but have worked with rural communities who establish volunteer run grocery cooperatives. In another town, the meat locker expanded its business to include deli and grocery. Food deserts exist in urban and rural areas, but access challenges differ.
That might work in your village. It won’t work with Amazon. Target listened for a minute when people got all up in their feelings, but Target, like every other huge corporation, works for the shareholders, not for what you think. When enough shareholders start selling off, that’s when they really listen. So when you swear off shopping at target and Walmart and Amazon and Dollar General (who pays minimum wage and staffs an entire store with TWO employees at most, speaking of human rights violations), after they have shut out all of the local merchants, where are you going to shop? The problem goes not to a single corporation, it goes to our legislative and executive branches. There lies the problem, with relaxed antimonopoly regulations, corrupt mergers, destruction of consumer protections, and the like. So “target” your complaints where they’ll actually make a difference and elect people who care more about average people than stuffing their own pockets.
If ICE is using that Palantir database, it must be full of crap because ICE seems to keep messing up who they are targeting. Or Palantir is filling the database with the results ICE wants. Time to start suing Palantir as a criminal accessory to ICE's illegal activities, including murder. $100 billion sounds about right.
So many corporations and individuals are making bank from ignoring the Trump regime's obvious abuse of human rights. It's getting difficult to keep up with the list of those who have forsaken human decency, but we must keep exposing those that are complicit, More importantly, we must not forget who they are, if and when the political tide turns in America. Our collective spending choices can make a difference.
“While Alex Pretti lay on a cold slab in a Minnesota morgue, Tim Cook, the billionaire CEO of Apple, came to the White House alongside Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins, as well as General Electric CEO Larry Culp to watch the “Melania” documentary. It is the most corrupt film in the history of cinema, an open-air bribe paid to a soulless, unaccomplished, Slovenian “model” who disgraces the United States with each breath she takes. Like her husband, she is a moral abomination and utterly, unfathomably corrupt.
Yet, Tim Cook and the other CEOs in attendance were undeterred.”
From Steve Schmidt
They are all complicit
They are all enablers
They are all techno-oligarchs
America needs a complete reset, from the ground up.
So in other words, they went to watch a porn. Some men do get off on woman on woman.
Keeping a list is important. Time tends to erase the memory, and we can never let that happen.
The GOODS UNITE US app is one tool that helps show which companies back Trump and Republicans.
Only one tool though because it shows Amazon donating more to Democratic candidates so ignores the other grifts and indirect monies.
Boycott these companies. There are other options.
These are companies you do not want to support for many reasons. Predators who support predators.
Buy used instead of new whenever possible.
I agree, and wrote my comment without reading yours, Diane.
CEOs are more afraid of retribution by Trump than they are of consumers. Why? Because it takes a whole lot of boycott to take away more revenue than the loss of one multibillion dollar Pentagon contract. This needs to change. And when a new administration takes over it needs to pull a Trump and cancel contracts with the companies complicit in Trump's ICE reign of terror.
I am horrified by the murders in Minneapolis and the lies told by high ranking government to protect and enable ICE goons. Taxpayers funding ICE is like the condemned being forced to dig their own graves. There aren't enough metaphors to describe the regime's evil and corruption.
While I am a big fan of metaphors, Judd doesn't use them and with reason. There are no metaphors in reality. And this reality? It is about as stark and and terrifying as it gets: that hot breath in your ear? The steel toed boot on your neck? That grasping hand in your clothing? That searing bullet in your gut? No metaphors, they are real.
You're right, Katy. Your description did a far better job of describing the reality than my metaphor. And I appreciate that Judd sticks to reality and eschews literary devices. I look to him for facts and insights, nothing more.
What about Hilton International? Aren't they housing ICE in Minnesota? We certainly read about the local Hilton franchise which was "dropped" by Hilton after it refused to accept ICE as lodgers.
Drop all who are complicit.
I don’t know if they were dropped by Hilton but after their refusal the feds dropped them from the approved list for government workers.
(To be reimbursed or have your lodging paid by the Feds you have to stay in pre-approved hotels that have agreed upon rates for federal employees or sponsored events.)
Disgusting. Yet another reason to avoid Amazon. By coincidence I don't do anything with the other two.
Thank you PI!
Well, I did quit AT&T and move to Verizon but I'm sure someone can come up with a way Verizon is also complicit in human rights abuses. It's not easy to do business in today's world without having some contact with bad companies. I don't like it, but that seems to be the way it is.
This, in a nutshell, is the real problem. With mergers and consolidation there are few choices. It won’t be until PI and The Lever and other excellent investigative journalists pull back the covers that we will find out that all these huge companies are in bed prostituting themselves for the almighty dollar. The solution is at the ballot box. We need to rebuild a government based in integrity and trust that will break these issues down to the foundational blocks to solve these problems. That’s a very long row to hoe.
Remember our nineteenth century predecessors' used this old chestnut:
"There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge (or ammo). Please use in that order."
We must stay on our soap boxes until we can use the ballot box. After that, with clarity and strength, the judicial system, not used as a weapon but rather as a tool, should be used in all its permutations.
I agree, but the soap box of not shopping at Amazon when most of its revenue comes from AWS is pointless. Having said that, I have a two foot square of pavement with my name practically monogrammed on it in front of our county courthouse. Have signs, will travel.
Do not underestimate the power of boycotting all Amazon services, including web sales. Seems folks feel too embedded in all they have to offer and just can't pass up the "deals". Until we stop giving away our power, supporting those who are parasitizing us, we are as someone said earlier - digging our own graves. Too many Inconvienient Truths.
I just ordered a big art book as a gift through Thrift Books. They have a large inventory of many kinds of books, and I use them regularly.
Thanks! progwoman. Also World of Books, Better World books, and others. Great selections, great deals.
Lets start utilizing alternative choices and economies.
Also bookshop.org. Each sales results in a donation to a local bookstore of your choosing.
I found it super easy to quit Amazon. I spent $1k a month there, easily. The manufacturers sell their products direct to us, sometimes cheaper. I bought a lot of vitamins. I found them all at iHerb, and have them at subscriptions there. I never used Prime for movies, because I never thought of them. I don't miss them. AT&T doesn't work around here, only Verizon does. We have a Bank of America card, and I don't have a clue how to cancel the damn thing. There's nothing on the statement telling me how. It's not used. If anyone knows how to cancel it, please let me know!
Call the number on the back.
FWIW, I had been with T-Mobile for years (due to their support of the Big Ugly Bill) but changed to Consumer Cellular. My information is that their hands are cleaner, so far. Ethical businesses (and non ethical ones) here: Five unethical companies | Ethical Consumer https://share.google/EnzBNVh9ZtVn8HYJn
That link didn't work, but you can Google "Ethical Consumer" and do your own research. It's an organization.
Yes, I use Consumer Cellular as well, largely because their service is superb in a rural area of the Southwest.
Not the central point of this post, but the thought of a documentary about Melania Trump makes me want to throw up in my own mouth.
I'm wondering if it's not meant to counter negative information in the Epstein Files, and I'd love to see an honest review. Now that the East Wing is torn down, she need not worry about her official duties.
As I become more conscious, I feel the weight of these corporations, but especially Amazon, in determining choices I make in my life. I feel how insidious the tentacles of that company reach into my brain, into my daily activities. And don't get me started with Google and my reliance on that bloated omnipresent machine surrounding my daily decisions. Like cigarettes, the path to quitting begins with awareness, then acceptance that I am a slave. When I get to the point where I feel trapped, then I can really see a way out. I am so close to ending my relationship with Amazon and Prime and you are helping, Judd, just like your investigations into Facebook helped me sever that connections and with it, the only social network I was ever "involved" with. Evil patriarchal overlords determining how I live? Breaking free!
Why does anyone need prime?
Obviously, you don't live in a remote area where it has been a boon. However, the delivery I most worry about is the USPS, which is under attack by the regime.
Obviously you are wrong about where I live.
My apologies, but have you found any source for things that you need that require a long drive? The only store in the community where I live is a gas station with snacks and pizza.
What did folks do before Amazon was a source for everything? Plan an occasional shopping trip and order directly from mail-order companies. I know, Amazon is very convenient, but it's not essential.
Well, there was a pandemic, and many, many people were homebound—customers and clerks—for a long time. Many businesses closed. Even the Dollar Store in the county seat has products on pallets in the aisles because they don't hire enough people to stock the shelves. And mom and pop stores are often short of inventory or even closed. Amazon profited from all this.
I buy directly from the manufacturer. I'm very rural. I can't buy much, even if I wanted to which I don't, from Walmart. So I go directly to the manufacturer website. I buy the same exact vitamins and supplements I had on subscriptions at Amazon from iHerb. So many ways around. Every Jan, I always bought an Ansel Adams calendar from Amazon. Like clockwork. Barnes & Noble has the same calendar. I also bought a Nook, and have purchased ebooks through them, instead of Amazon Kindle. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Brava!
No problem. I was speaking out against prime more than amazon generally. Amazon is a wonderful option for people needing medical and home care supplies.
I do try to find local providers for food. Do you know local folks who grow food, or process their own meat? Can you join with neighbors to purchase from a near by town? Or join a CSA? Can churches get involved?
It will vary of course on where you live. And your physical mobility. As I grow older and become a bit less mobile, my definitions of convenience have changed.
I am retired now, but have worked with rural communities who establish volunteer run grocery cooperatives. In another town, the meat locker expanded its business to include deli and grocery. Food deserts exist in urban and rural areas, but access challenges differ.
Exactly.
These billionaire collaborators need to be hunted down, just like the rest of the Nazis.
We the People must find ways to punish corporate America for its support of fascism. We must boycott, strike, picket, innovate.
Thank you for this information. I know what companies to NOT do business with.
Citizens must find alternative ways to obtain the services these rogue companies provide. Boycott them. Cost them money.
That might work in your village. It won’t work with Amazon. Target listened for a minute when people got all up in their feelings, but Target, like every other huge corporation, works for the shareholders, not for what you think. When enough shareholders start selling off, that’s when they really listen. So when you swear off shopping at target and Walmart and Amazon and Dollar General (who pays minimum wage and staffs an entire store with TWO employees at most, speaking of human rights violations), after they have shut out all of the local merchants, where are you going to shop? The problem goes not to a single corporation, it goes to our legislative and executive branches. There lies the problem, with relaxed antimonopoly regulations, corrupt mergers, destruction of consumer protections, and the like. So “target” your complaints where they’ll actually make a difference and elect people who care more about average people than stuffing their own pockets.
We need to work from many angles.
OT: Do you have any plans to cover Nvidia at Davos? The interview with Huang was the must see event, but was overshadowed by tfg and Carney.
It was revealing and a bit terrifying.
These people should be publicly interviewed along with their politicians who they paid for
If ICE is using that Palantir database, it must be full of crap because ICE seems to keep messing up who they are targeting. Or Palantir is filling the database with the results ICE wants. Time to start suing Palantir as a criminal accessory to ICE's illegal activities, including murder. $100 billion sounds about right.