#BoycottMickey (Boycotts Work)

 

#BoycottMickey

by C.A. Matthews 

From Mickey Mouse (Disney) to MickeyD’s (McDonald’s), Palestine will be free!

I’m just back from a cold—but very effective—protest for Peace in Palestine. We marched several blocks along a heavily trafficked city street to an Interstate highway crossing where the most intrepid activists among us hung a large banner over the side of the bridge for a couple of hours. The remainder of us held our picket signs and chanted at that very busy (and noisy) intersection at the highway entrance. I was amazed at the positive response we received from the public. I was very heartened by the physical and spiritual toughness of my fellow protesters marching and chanting under such frigid and damp conditions, too.

Protesting is a big challenge for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere in the winter months. How do we continue to send the message to our elected officials that we demand a permanent ceasefire and that we want Israel out of Gaza now without doing peace demos and marches in below freezing temperatures? Activists are a creative lot, and we know there are other ways of making our voices heard that don’t involve standing around in the cold. One of the oldest and most effective protest methods is the boycott. This week’s guest blog, by our resident historian Coast Watcher, gives us a brief history of the boycott.

 So, what businesses should we as North Americans currently focus our boycott on to help the cause of the Palestinian people? The “big three” that are feeling the pain of Pro-Palestine consumers boycotting their products are McDonald’s, Starbucks, and the Disney Company. It’s not too hard for those of us standing on the side of Palestine to avoid giving them our business. Who really needs fast food, overpriced coffee and insipid entertainment?

“Misinformation” about McDonald’s support for Israel is having a “meaningful impact” on its sales in the Middle East, the fast food restaurant’s chief executive has said according to an article in the Telegraph. It’s not really “misinformation” that McDonald’s openly supplied food to the Israeli Defense Forces after they launched their genocidal campaign in Gaza. This action has angered many in mostly Muslim countries where their restaurants have been forced to shut down. Is it any wonder that a worldwide boycott of McDonald’s restaurants is hurting their bottom line? They’re learning the hard way that being pro-genocide isn’t good for business.

I was amazed that even trade publications have made note of the effectiveness of Pro-Palestinian/anti-genocide boycotts. From The Drum:

Gauging appetite for boycotts among the crowds at a pro-Palestine protest organized by If Not Now, Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles, and the Arab-American Civic Council, The Drum heard from 33-year-old Palestinian-American activist Zainab about why she is no longer buying pro-Israel brands. “I am a Palestinian; my grandparents were expelled in the 1948 Nakba, so I have grown up seeing the oppression. I not only stand for Palestinians; I stand for all humanity. I stand for Black Lives Matter, I stood against the wall suppressing Mexican rights, and I do not stand for the killing in Sudan or Congo. I am not going to stop protesting, whether it is monetarily against brands and companies or going out in the streets every weekend.”

--from  As activists boycott pro-Israel brands, what should marketers do next?  

Yeah, even marketers know that being linked to Israel is the kiss of death for capitalists. We must keep up the pressure by spreading the names of these pro-Israeli businesses to boycott in all our social media posts and through good old-fashioned word of mouth.

By December 2023, pro-Israeli Starbucks losses stood at $11 billion during the last quarter. Starbucks had already been under a lot of pressure financially due to its closing stores where unions were forming and employee strikes for better working conditions, so the further boycotting of their products will really send a message that when Starbucks hurts one of us—or one people such as the Palestinians—it will feel our pain in its CEO’s pocketbook. Besides, in blindfolded taste tests most coffee drinkers say they prefer other less expensive brands of coffee. So, do yourself and your wallet a favor—boycott Starbucks and learn how to brew your own coffee instead.

The Disney Company acts amazed as to why their donations to Israel along with their producing an upcoming Marvel movie featuring an apartheid-loving Israeli superhero would be upsetting to so many people worldwide. From their own publication, Inside the Magic:

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement leads the most prominent pro-Palestine boycotts. They recommend consumer boycotts of companies like Sodastream and HP but suggest “pressure” on bigger corporations that are harder to avoid– like Disney.

Still, many former fans feel boycotting...Walt Disney World Resort is the right thing to do. Former Disney cast member and TikTok creator Helen Jane (@helenjp1313) shifted her content because The Walt Disney Company donated to Israel. She recommends a Disney Parks boycott....Weeks ago, Disneyland Resort thousands protested at the theme park in support of Palestine.

I don’t know about you, but I can think of much better places to go on vacation besides the soulless, overly commercialized fakeness of Disney World. Visiting pristine mountains and beaches come to mind. And can we live without watching the latest Marvel motion picture? Yes, we can. Boycotting the Marvel movie, along with protesting any theaters that dare show it, will definitely get the message across that pro-genocide supporters' products aren’t wanted in decent society.

So, tell your friends today to avoid or keep avoiding these brands and the brands listed at BDSMovement.net. Why? Because boycotts work.

Boycotts Work

by Coast Watcher

Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan recently complained that sales figures for the coffee store giant had plummeted following the boycott of their products due to the chain’s support for Israeli genocide. For many who’ve always advocated the use of boycotts to punish businesses for their social infractions this is proof that the tactic works.

The origin of the term stems from Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, a retired British army officer. In 1873 he became manager for the County Mayo, Ireland, estates of absentee landlord the Earl of Erne. Absentee landlords were the bane of the rural Irish people. They reaped vast profits from their estates throughout Ireland, often without even setting foot there.

In 1879 bad harvests threatened another famine like that of 1845-49. A Land League formed to prevent it occurring. The League told Boycott to reduce rents by 25% to help the rural people weather the situation. In response Boycott attempted to serve eviction notices, which was historically a typical act of the landed class of the time. Previously there had been little that could be done to stop such measures, but late nineteenth century Ireland had learned a thing or two.

President of the Land League, Charles Stewart Parnell, urged tenants faced with Boycott’s and other landlords’ eviction demands to avoid any communication with those who refused to lower rents. Boycott himself was the primary target for the measure, and it worked. Scab laborers guarded by the military and even the soldiers themselves were employed to harvest crops. The situation led to questions in the British Parliament, leading to a Land Act of 1881 that instituted fair-rent tribunals.

Boycott remained agent for the Earl of Erne until 1886 when he took new employment in the county of Suffolk, England. Parnell of course went on to become a major player in Irish political affairs until his death in October 1891.

Ever since that time the tactic of boycotting has been used effectively by people who have few other resources of reprisal against authority. By showing their displeasure at their governments’ and businesses’ impositions, the ordinary public can hurt them where it really counts—their bottom line. So it is happening with Starbucks and other businesses that back or support the genocidal Zionist regime in any way, shape or form.

Boycotts work. 

Bio: Coast Watcher believes in putting your money where your morals are...Or at least not spending your money at businesses that support a country openly committing a genocide like Israel is doing. If a business is okay with murdering children, how can you trust them to not put cancer-causing chemicals in your coffee or Big Mac?

Related Articles and Interesting Links

Act Now Against These Companies Profiting from the Genocide of the Palestinian People https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide

Israel-Palestine News --from Diverse Sources
https://us11.forward-to-friend.com/forward/show?u=70b9fc567465118fa0b7b6e67&id=687f13dad7

A day in the life of a mother and child in Gaza https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-mother-and-child-in-gaza/


CNN And Washington Post Busted For Pro-Israel Propaganda Shenanigans  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/cnn-and-washington-post-busted-for

There’s Great Power in Grief. Will We Use It to Fuel Solidarity With Palestine? https://truthout.org/articles/theres-great-power-in-grief-will-we-use-it-to-fuel-solidarity-with-palestine/

We Are Entirely Too Close To Another Major War In The Middle East https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/we-are-entirely-too-close-to-another

US Drone Strike Kills Iraqi Militia Leader in Baghdad
https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/05/us-drone-strike-kills-iraqi-militia-leader-in-baghdad/

As US Backs Gaza Genocide, 'Grassroots Diplomats' Rally Support for South Africa Case  https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-genocide-south-africa

Turkey, Malaysia Back South Africa’s ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel  https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/04/turkey-malaysia-back-south-africas-icj-genocide-case-against-israel/

International Coalition Forms To Demand End To Genocide In Palestine https://popularresistance.org/international-coalition-forms-to-demand-end-to-genocide-in-palestine/

Blood Money: The Top Ten Politicians Taking the Most Israel Lobby Cash  https://www.mintpressnews.com/blood-money-top-ten-politicians-taking-most-israel-money-israel-lobby/286491/

Israel is Provoking the U.S. Into a Conflict With Iran — But the Media Ignores the Danger https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/israel-is-provoking-the-u-s-into-a-conflict-with-iran-but-the-media-ignores-the-danger/

South Africa is standing up to the world's apartheid state
https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/south-africa-is-standing-up-to-the

US Admonishes Israeli Officials For Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud About Ethnic Cleansing https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/us-admonishes-israeli-officials-for

They're Calling Ethnic Cleansing "Voluntary Migration" Now
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/theyre-calling-ethnic-cleansing-voluntary


I Don't Care What Religion The Genocidal Child Murderers Are
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/i-dont-care-what-religion-the-genocidal

‘I Cannot Be Quietly Complicit’: Biden Official Resigns Over Gaza Assault https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/04/i-cannot-be-quietly-complicit-biden-official-resigns-over-gaza-assault/


Biden Ukraine Statement Highlights Hypocrisy on Gaza
https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-gaza

Blinken Again Bypasses US Congress To Send Munitions To Israel https://popularresistance.org/blinken-again-bypasses-us-congress-to-send-munitions-to-israel/

US Congress: ‘We Stand With Genocide’ https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/01/us-congress-we-stand-with-genocide/

Ohio State University Suspends Student Group for Supporting Palestine  https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/05/ohio-state-university-suspends-student-group-for-supporting-palestine/

5 Largest Oil Giants Expect Shareholder Payouts to Exceed $100 Billion for 2023 https://truthout.org/articles/5-largest-oil-giants-expect-shareholder-payouts-to-exceed-100-billion-for-2023/

TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/torture-at-abu-ghraib

In the World’s Wealthiest Country, Housing Should Be a Human Right and a Community Builder https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/02/in-the-worlds-wealthiest-country-housing-should-be-a-human-right-and-a-community-builder/

From Prison, Assange Expresses Regret That WikiLeaks Can No Longer Expose War Crimes https://thedissenter.org/assange-regrets-wikileaks-can-no-longer-expose-war-crimes/

Ricky Gervais was right about the Satanic paedophile ring https://normalislandnews.substack.com/p/ricky-gervais-was-right-about-the

A Lab Test That Experts Liken to a Witch Trial Is Helping Send Women to Prison for Murder https://www.propublica.org/article/is-lung-float-test-reliable-stillbirth-medical-examiners-murder 

Seen on Twitter/X:

 

Folks, it is way past time that Israel is completely isolated from the civilized community of nations. A total boycott of Israel, sports events, economic trade, cultural exchanges - total!! Like the apartheid South African govt, they have forfeited all claims to legitimacy.

— Ajamu Baraka (@ajamubaraka) January 8, 2024

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The Business Model of Empire

 

If you've been following the news about Ukraine but still don't understand that it's the single most aggressively narrative managed and psyop-intensive war in human history, there is a 100 percent chance you believe false things about what's happening there.         --Caitlin Johnstone

The Business Model of Empire

by C.A. Matthews

The United States of America is an empire. It has imperialistic intentions. It seeks out resources, lands, and peoples to further its own purposes. You don't have to agree with its intentions to agree with the fact that it displays all the characteristics of an empire.

In order to build an empire, you must have a business plan of sorts. In my opinion, the US has a pretty simple business model when it comes to empire building. I call it "The Three Cs" or "Capitalism, Conflict, and Competition."

Capitalism is the "religion" or the belief system of US Empire. Capitalists are the billionaires (soon becoming trillionaires) who essentially own a controlling share of everything--and I mean everything.  They own politicians, who are essentially their paid-off servants who do everything to keep capitalists and fellow politicians from ever going to jail for the crimes they regularly commit. 

Capitalists own our mainstream media outlets--television, radio, cable and newspapers/periodicals--as well as our social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. They own our communication devices such as internet connections and cell towers. They own almost every morsel Americans put into their mouths through their massive agribusinesss, food processing plants and franchised restaurants. They own our military and profit well on the constant purchasing of armaments and related instruments of destruction.

Conflict is the means in which capitalism continues to exist. Capitalism needs endless resources--minerals, oil, foodstuffs, technology, plastic dollar store gadgets, etc. Capitalism demands profits, so paying too much for resources or the land or the people to produce these products they sell isn't seen as a good thing. And why pay for resources, lands, or workers at all when you can simply take them through Conflict? 

So, Conflicts--or the more accurately named "military actions," "interventions," "proxy wars," or simply "coups d'etat"--are started in order to feed the hungry monster that is Capitalism. The Capitalists aren't particularly bothered about the innocent lives forfeited in their grabs for resources. The natives are seen as so much "collateral damage."  That's what the capitalists' politician-puppets are for--to make a big noise to distract from all the needless deaths. Politicians pontificate and say things like, "The US has invaded such-and-such country in order to defend democracy," or "We are fighting to save the locals against Communism/Socialism/Any-ism that doesn't care much for Capitalism and building up the US Empire."

And, frankly, why would any country in the middle of a proxy war to cover for the US Empire's interests care about the growth of the US Empire or the success of Capitalism? The people there are seen by the US/Western powers as wage slaves or cannon fodder at best. Even George Orwell couldn't have foreseen the blatant disregard for human life.

Competition is a word that covers all sorts of manipulations that keep the world's populace off balance so that the US Empire/Capitalism can continue to grow. While conflict is necessary for the US Empire to make those land or resource grabs, how do you get the human element to cooperate with your plans? This is where competition comes into play. You seed competition among peoples by causing artificial scarcity of food and other necessary items such as medicines/vaccines worldwide. You seed competition by playing "The Race Card" and creating artificial divisions among human beings based on race, religion, gender identity, etc. at home.

Once the US Empire has seeded enough division among its own people (as well as other peoples) then it becomes fairly easy to swoop in and pick up the pieces from among the warring factions. Competition creates mini-conflicts that fuel the bigger Conflict needed for the success of Capitalism and so the billionaires can cash in and pocket all the profits they can possibly glean from a situation.

But what can one do with all the money taken in a world that has fallen apart through war (possibly nuclear war) and climate catastrophe? The US Empire builds a "Space Force" to protect the billionaires currently competing to get their spaceships into space. Once the Capitalists have traveled to other worlds they'll restart The Three Cs once more.

What a glorious future, huh?

If you still can't connect the dots between US Empire building and the current proxy war in Ukraine, don't be too hard on yourself. After all, the Capitalists who own all the mainstream media news outlets and social platforms are doing their best through the fourth "silent C" of Empire Building--Censorship. Censorship and "Cancellation Culture" keeps the public ill-informed. 

That's the way the US Empire Builders want it. It adds a fifth "C" to the equation of "Confusion" that keeps groups of people in Conflict, allowing for Competition that negates and persecutes truth-tellers such as Julian Assange and Chris Hedges. Networks and independent journalists that report on all sides of the story in Ukraine are being shut down by the Capitalists and ridiculed by their politician and media pundit-puppets, so it's difficult to learn what's really happening.

And Capitalism flourishes as the profits from the proxy war grow amid confusion and censorship. There were $800 million in arms sales to Ukraine last week alone. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin stock is soaring on Wall Street. Happy days are here again! (At least for those who own and control armament stocks.)

In order for you to see Clearly (a "C" that isn't in the Empire building business model) check out last week's blog piece on Critical Thinking Skills. That's the lucky seventh "C" for the people--Criticism or keeping a critical eye open. There's only one way for us to Continue life on this earth. We must Continually Critique Capitalism and US Empire Building or else it will kill everyone and everything in its insane quest for profits above all else.

To quote Redd Phlagg: "Remain skeptical. Read widely." And always be aware that you  and your happiness aren't a part of the US Empire's Business Model. It doesn't deserve your allegiance. It only deserves your disdain.

Some others' thoughts on the subject:

Analysts say the defense industry has spent billions of dollars lobbying Congress while quietly making much more in profit by manufacturing weapons that fuel deadly conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen and across the world under federal arms sales agreements that have little effective congressional oversight. 

There is a dangerous “feedback loop” between major weapons manufacturers in the United States that make billions in profits from arms sales, the countries that arm themselves with these weapons, and the U.S. government, which uses arms sales as “tools” to gain economic and diplomatic leverage, according to Dan Auble, a researcher at money-in-politics tracker OpenSecrets. 

“Unfortunately, it’s ultimately the human beings on the ground who suffer as a result of the prolonged wars that are fed from these arms sales abroad,” Auble told reporters on Thursday. Mike Ludwig, Ukraine and Yemen Wars Highlight US Role As Biggest Arms Dealer in the World

Capitalist enterprises seek, find, and develop foreign sources of food, raw materials, workers, and markets. As competition becomes global, competing capitalist enterprises seek help from their nations’ governments to expand. Politicians quickly learn that companies in their nations that lose in global competition will blame those politicians for insufficient support. Meanwhile, companies that win in the global competition will reward such politicians for their help. The social result of this is that capitalism entails national competition alongside enterprise competition. Wars often punctuate capitalism’s national competition. The winners in those competitions thereby often tended to build empires, historically. Richard Wolff, The Role of Capitalism in the War in Ukraine 

But what was “unprecedented” just six weeks ago has now become commonplace, even normalized. Any platform devoted to offering inconvenient-to-NATO news or alternative perspectives is guaranteed a very short lifespan. Less than two weeks after the EU's decree, Google announced that it was voluntarily banning all Russian-affiliated media worldwide, meaning Americans and all other non-Europeans were now blocked from viewing those channels on YouTube if they wished to. As so often happens with Big Tech censorship, much of the pressure on Google to more aggressively censor content about the war in Ukraine came from its own workforce: “Workers across Google had been urging YouTube to take additional punitive measures against Russian channels.”

So prolific and fast-moving is this censorship regime that it is virtually impossible to count how many platforms, agencies and individuals have been banished for the crime of expressing views deemed "pro-Russian.” On Tuesday, Twitter, with no explanation as usual, suddenly banned one of the most informative, reliable and careful dissident accounts, named “Russians With Attitude.” Created in late 2020 by two English-speaking Russians, the account exploded in popularity since the start of the war, from roughly 20,000 followers before the invasion to more than 125,000 followers at the time Twitter banned it. An accompanying podcast with the same name also exploded in popularity and, at least as of now, can still be heard on Patreon. -- Glenn Greenwald, Western Dissent from US/NATO Policy is Small, Yet the Censorship Campaign is Extreme 

Bridget Moix, general secretary of the Quaker organization Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), on Tuesday detailed various nonviolent steps the Biden administration and Congress "can take to help end the war in Ukraine and promote long-term peace." 

"While it may feel as though more weapons and punishing sanctions are the only options in Ukraine, in fact, U.S. leaders have many nonviolent policy options available to help save lives and advance peace," she wrote. 

"They need to understand that using diplomacy, working through multilateral institutions, supporting local peacebuilders, providing humanitarian aid, and protecting refugees are not 'weak' responses," Moix argued. "These are our best tools for bringing about a durable solution to the crisis."  Biden Answers Zelenskyy's Plea to Arm Ukraine with $800 Million in Weapons

The business model of Empire in one graphic.

The US has killed more than 20 million people since WW2 for “freedom and democracy”. pic.twitter.com/l9ZCNMGdib

— Mnar Adley (@MnarMuh) April 13, 2022

Related articles:

The Role of Capitalism in the War in Ukraine  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/14/the-role-of-capitalism-in-the-war-in-ukraine/ 

Ukraine and Yemen Wars Highlight US Role As Biggest Arms Dealer in the World https://truthout.org/articles/ukraine-and-yemen-wars-highlight-uss-role-as-biggest-arms-dealer-in-the-world/

The New Gold Rush: How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis   https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/18/the-new-gold-rush-how-pentagon-contractors-are-cashing-in-on-the-ukraine-crisis/ 

US-Backed Coup in Pakistan Overthrows PM Imran Khan https://popularresistance.org/us-backed-coup-in-pakistan-overthrows-pm-imran-khan-over-his-independent-foreign-policy/ 

The Venezuelan Coup, 20 Years Later https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/15/the-venezuelan-coup-20-years-later/  

How the US Does "Diplomacy" https://popularresistance.org/how-the-u-s-does-diplomacy/

Western Dissent from US/NATO Policy is Small, Yet the Censorship Campaign is Extreme  https://greenwald.substack.com/p/western-dissent-from-usnato-policy 

American Militarism, a  Persistent Malady https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/14/american-militarism-a-persistent-malady/

The Reasons For and Dangers Behind the War in Ukraine https://popularresistance.org/the-reasons-for-and-dangers-behind-the-war-in-ukraine/ 

Biden Answer Zelenskyy's Plea to Arm Ukraine Now With 800 Million in Weapons https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/14/biden-answers-zelenskyys-plea-to-arm-ukraine-now-with-800-million-in-weapons/

A Love Letter to All Draft Dodgers  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/a-love-letter-to-all-draft-dodgers?s=r 

How Much Are We Prepared to Sacrifice https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/how-much-are-we-prepared-to-sacrifice

Seen on Twitter:

Again: if this is not a proxy war, then there has never been a proxy war. https://t.co/1eodev8r5x

— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) April 11, 2022

The US empire maintains our control via 2 things - truly ridiculous military power (800 military ases around the world + a $1 Trillion a year budget), and secondly controlling much of the world’s central banking system.

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) April 16, 2022

Before the US helped fund + arm the destruction of Syria, they dropped the dollar. Before the US sent a drone bomb through one of Iran's top officials, they dropped the petrodollar.

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) April 16, 2022

Now Russia + China are creating a new version of the SWIFT system to get around US-controlled finance systems. In order to stop that (among other reasons), the US is willing to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) April 16, 2022

The USA has made enemies all over the globe. Our military and/or our weapon support has stolen the lives of millions and millions of people in a few decades.

If you live in the USA, this should terrify you.

— Jory Micah, M.A. Christian Doctrine & History (@jorymicah) April 16, 2022

In spite of our propaganda machine, Ukraine is not winning, our Gov't knows that they have no chance to win, but the longer they can keep this war going, they hope they can weaken Russia, sell more weapons, and use Ukrainian dead bodies as a talking point

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) April 17, 2022

 A very good thread (series) of tweets:

People often assume that capitalism is defined by "markets and trade". But markets and trade existed for thousands of years before capitalism. Capitalism is only 500 years old. So what is distinctive about this economic system? Three things (well, more, but three for now):

— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) April 18, 2022

#TrumpExit

#TrumpExit

by Cindy A. Matthews

The Pavlic family received assistance from the HOME Investment Partnerships Program to fix their deteriorating home in 2015. Mr. Pavlic can no longer work due to his advancing multiple sclerosis, and Mrs. Pavlic can't make enough money to keep the roof from leaking over their family members' heads. These Trump voters discovered this popular federal program--which helps folks like them, the working poor, the low income elderly and disabled--is to be cut so the defense budget can be expanded. They essentially voted away any help they could expect to receive in the future to keep their home safe and livable.

The Pavlics, by voting for the tangerine tyrant, may have planted the seeds of their own homelessness. Trump did the Pavlics and the millions of struggling American families like them no favors. They don't owe him blind loyalty at the cost of their families' health and safety. It's high time for them to #TrumpExit.

If domestic policy doesn't scare off these Trump supporters, consider the dangerous position the orange commander-in-chief has placed the U.S. by dropping a Massive Ordinance Air Blast or MOAB (better known as a "mother of all bombs") on Afghanistan.  Yeah, it could wipe out a scattering of ISIS fighters, but more than likely it was dropped to cover the CIA's tracks in that war torn part of the world. After all, we helped the mujahideen fighters in the 1980s build the very same tunnels where ISIS and other terrorists have been living for the last few years. ISIS fighters have been using our arms against us, too, as we're the number one supplier of armaments in the world. It's not a list where any so-called peace-loving people want to be number one, either. We're already number one in defense spending over all--we spend more than the rest of the top ten nations combined. Can you imagine all the good we could do with the taxpayers' dollars if we even halved or quartered our defense budget?

Trump and others invested in the Military Industrial Complex are growing wealthier by the second, all the while allowing (maybe even encouraging?) the "War on Terror" to grow and flourish and reap a P.R. bonanza for terrorist groups at our expense. We've become the most despised and feared nation on the planet, the big bully on the playground. Why shouldn't these groups fight back with any and all methods at their disposal? Even if they don't, the Pentagon propaganda machine will make its own videos to paint the picture they want low-info voters to have.

Starting a war isn't likely to bring back our country's reputation or our dead and wounded soldiers or our jobs, but who cares, right?  If you're heavily invested into arms manufacture, you know it's where the real profits are to be made. It's fun to watch people suffer, particularly if they're of a different race, creed or ethnicity, huh? (Read this piece on how Afghan villagers and farmers are dealing with the trauma of the bombing.)

 So, supporters of the spray-tanned man in the Oval Office, if the thought of profiting off the suffering of others makes you feel just a little bit queasy, it's time to for you to #TrumpExit. Get out now before you're labeled a racist war hawk by the decent folk you're trying to convince you're not before you convince yourself you are. 

It's easy to #TrumpExit. Read the article below about how Trump's "pro-business policies" will further hurt you and your loved ones. Then take down that faded Trump/Pence sign in your window and call up your friend or neighbor who posted the Bernie Sanders or Jill Stein sign in their front yard last year. You know the one. Ask them how you can join the political revolution and when is the next town hall or rally event you can attend.

Attend the event and find out more about grassroots democracy, or as we like to call it, "government of the people, by the people and for the people. After you've experienced democracy the way the founders envisioned it, you won't want to go back to the tyranny of the tiny-handed.  You'll realize all we need to do in order to make America truly great is to #TrumpExit and become informed and involved citizens. 

If you can't do it for yourself, then do it for the next generation. The world we leave behind is how our children will judge us. Let's leave it better than we found it. #TrumpExit today.

 ***

Will Trump’s Pro-Business Policies Hurt Consumers?

by Bridget Stack

Donald Trump has been a businessman for far longer than he has been a politician, so it’s no surprise that he sees government regulations as the enemy of business. One of his first acts of business since in office has been to “streamline” multiple United States Government Agencies.

“I will ask each and every federal agency to prepare a list of all of the regulations they impose on Americans which are not necessary, do not improve public safety, and which needlessly kill jobs. Those regulations will be eliminated.” — President Donald Trump. The areas that will be most affected are food safety, drug safety, legal rights, and environmental safety.

Food Safety

Every year, roughly 1 in 6 Americans get sick, over 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. There is no question that food safety regulations like testing and supply chain tracking encumber efficiency and profit margins for farmers and businesses, but it’s important to remember that they are in place to protect consumers. For example, in 2010, we saw a salmonella outbreak linked to peanuts that resulted in 9 deaths and caused over 700 people to get sick. Without the government’s regulatory shields, incidents like this could become commonplace. 

Drug Safety

Since Congress toughened the drug approval process in the wake of the worldwide crisis over thalidomide, the F.D.A. has come to be viewed as the world’s leading standard on food and drug safety. With President Trump vowing to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration, companies may not have to prove that their drugs work in clinical trials before selling them to consumers. This could have long-lasting impacts on patients’ health. The FDA recently published a study on 22 drugs that were promising in the early studies but failed the final, large-scale trials. Deep cuts in funding and staff at the F.D.A. could impair the department’s ability to evaluate these studies properly, and may result in ineffective or dangerous drugs making their way into consumers’ hands.

“When you have a drug, you can actually get it approved if it works, instead of waiting for many, many years,” Trump told pharmaceutical executives. “We’re going to be cutting regulations at a level that nobody’s ever seen before.”

Congress passed legislation in 1962 requiring companies to provide “substantial evidence” of a drug’s efficacy and safety before it can be sold. This law has forced drug manufacturers to rigorously test their products, run clinical trials, and submit them to the F.D.A. for approval. Ninety percent of drugs that enter the final stages of clinical development fail these trials, which means they are essential to protecting consumers.

Legal Rights

Budgets and regulations aren’t the only thing on Trump’s chopping block. He’s also taken aim at consumer rights. Government laws may seem burdensome to businesses, but they’re designed to protect consumers’ legal rights by allowing them to seek damages from companies and manufacturers that have put profits ahead of their customers’ safety. Fines don’t mean much to billion dollar companies, but a public lawsuit resulting in hundreds of millions in damages and loss of public opinion can be enough to force action.

The most powerful examples include litigation around asbestos, used in construction and even cigarette filters. Once touted as a miracle material for its insulating properties, asbestos is now the subject of lawsuits linking it to a deadly form of lung cancer called Mesothelioma. The current government has stated they will look into lawsuit reforms specifically around asbestos exposure claims—which will impact everyone from veterans to firefighters, and could send the wrong message to companies profiting from products that result in serious injuries.

If you look on the label of a pack of cigarettes, there are warnings of how smoking can lead to lung cancer. Even though the first studies suggesting a link between tobacco and lung cancer emerged in 1950, the tobacco industry refused to admit that smoking caused cancer. It took over 33 years for the first court victory, and another decade before any damages were awarded.

The threat of harmful materials in common products is once again making headlines with the possible connection between talcum powder and ovarian cancer. Though evidence has been around since the early 1970’s, the first guilty verdict was only handed out to Johnson and Johnson in 2013. After evidence surfaced that J&J knew about the risks, but decided not to warn consumers, three more women won talcum powder lawsuits against the company in 2016.

These cases are all tell the same tale. Companies cut corners and denied facts until there was enough proof to hold them accountable. The most powerful weapon consumers have to wield against corporations is litigation. So while it may be good for business to remove barriers to growth and profits, consumers will pay the price with their health and safety.

Environmental Rights

In one of the most stunning victories for protecting the environment, The Paris Agreement on climate change was agreed upon by 197 countries, including the United States under President Obama’s presidency. This agreement is the first international, voluntary deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions from both rich and poor countries. One of Donald Trump’s first acts in office was to back out of the Paris Agreement and appoint Scott Pruitt to the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt is a climate change denialist.

Trump campaigned on rolling back most, if not all, President Obama’s environmental protection acts. In late March, Trump signed his 19th executive order: “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth.” This order consisted of one terrifying sentence: a sentence directing Ryan Zinke, the Secretary of the Interior, to “review the rules which regulate oil and gas drilling in national parks and to repeal, suspend, or rescind them if they are found inconsistent with the president’s energy goals.” In other words, we could soon have oil rigs in Grand Teton National Park.

In his first few weeks in office, President Trump signed an executive order placing a hiring freeze on all national parks, directed the Army to issue the final permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline, and invited the company behind the Keystone XL to reapply for the permit denied under President Obama’s presidency. 

The formation of the EPA, FDA, and CDC were to protect environmental and consumer rights. Government regulations are a safety net to keep corporations in check, and they provide people with a means to force compliance when companies put profits before safety. Deregulation would result in a rise in illness and deaths from products. Even more than the danger of personal health deregulation promises, the greater risk would be removing consumers’ rights to sue when they are harmed

by products. The loss of legal rights against companies and products is a real threat under Trump’s administration.

BIO: Prior to joining ConsumerSafety.org Bridget worked in marketing, social media, and journalism. She previously worked for numerous national brands, and she now focuses her passion for research on protecting consumers.

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