Dimensionally Barrett

Every so often I get a response to something I’ve written that I would normally out out hand dismiss. This is from a person I follow on Bluesky (and who follows me) in response to my post about boycotting Starbucks until the strike is over. I don’t want to “out” them, so I’m leaving off identifiers, but I believe the post is well-intended, if not necessarily well-informed. Over decades, I’ve found many people find strikes, boycotts, and other public displays of holding power to account to be more painful or self-defeating, when they don’t sound merely inconvenienced.  Reply to my post on Bluesky about supporting Starbucks’ union strike In this case, I believe the goodwill of the respondent is obvious in citing how at the “rate [I’m] going, there will be no Starbucks & no jobs at all.” This is hyperbole, of course, but it shows misunderstanding of several points that I’m addressing here. The poster continues with a doomsday end of “starvation bc real when there are no jobs” and...

First, how about slave labor? Consider that your latte or even your regular drip is the result of the work of literal slaves:  https://www.freedomunited.org/news/starbucks-coffee-supply-chain-slavery/ Why are workers at 65 stores striking? Here:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/starbucks-workers-us-strike-union-9.6978532 To learn more,  https://sbworkersunited.org/our-strike/ . Look, I love the gang at the one Starbucks I go to. Some are still working two jobs and while no Houston store is unionized, Dallas’s are. The point is to show solidarity with workers getting the short end of the stick, particularly considering that the company’s CEO made 6,666 times what the rank and file employee earned as of 2024. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/starbucks-ceo-worker-pay-ratios_n_68a7446ee4b05d94cb3787bb Please join me in NOT buying ANYTHING from Starbucks until the strike is over. (Given the slave labor thing, my boycott’s going on longer); support a local cafe instead.

Remember these as the faces of the party that sold us out. A number of pundits have weighed in on the Roll Over Strategy of the Democrats. There’s quite literally nothing I can add to that except to call each of the dinks who thought caving to the Republicans was a stellar idea. Save special bile for Chuck Schumer and let them all know just how badly they have truly screwed us.  I don’t have words. I share Ezra Klein’s “incandescent rage”, though. To piggyback on his conversation with Jen Rubin, the demands of the Democrats were hugely popular with Dems and Independents, but also, a growing number of Republicans. The permanents extension of the ACA tax subsidies, the restoration of Medicaid funding, and no more “blank checks to the regime”: no rescissions, no impoundments, etc. They dropped the Medicaid piece, and the “no blank checks” demands, but they maintained support for the ACA tax subsidies. Even here, you see the erosion of the Democrats: the demand went from “permanent ext...

His head’s too big for Vader’s helmet? Source: unknown. There are plenty of victories to celebrate today. Propostion 50 passed in California that will help offset Texas’ gerrymandering to win seats for the Republican Party, Zohan Mamdani is now mayor of New York, Abigail Spanberger is now governor of Virginia, and Mickie Sherrill is now governor of New Jersey. Before I continue, I want to be clear that I am not necessarily dancing in joy that Dick Cheney is dead. His life meant something to the people close to him and certainly, it would be utter troll behavior of me to ignore that. Additionally, one of my teachers, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, cautioned against “negative rejoicing.” That said, we live in an era that is a direct result of Cheney’s actions and policies. We are faced with an unhinged authoritarian that could not have existed had not the behind the scenes machinations, lies, and misdeeds of the former Secretary of Defense and former Vice-President not been successful. Until people...

  Halloween is supposed to be spooky. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be dread-inducing. Of course, it can also be fun and this lends resilience against the tide of bleak reality. Granted, the day’s origins are in acknowledgement of the liminal space between the realms of waking reality and death; so perhaps, in substance, today is the perfect time for running memes that comment on the disaster unfolding around us. As well, there’s some snark and wisdom to be had. This is the fourth and final part of today’s entry. Hope you enjoyed it or found some chuckles, rueful or otherwise. I’m leading off with AOC’s quote because the current moment is about the principles we as a people choose to live from and abide by.  Trump is a symptom of a rot that’s been with us since the beginning. We are living in a time of reckoning and perhaps, sometime in the future, we will see a reinvention with a renewed commitment to democracy and a more equitable rule of law.  But we have much work ...