I love the social media platform Bluesky because it has a combination of the chatty early days of X-Twitter without the over-chattiness and commercial vibes of Facebook, but mainly because it’s filled with like-minded liberal resistance people. Confirmation bias? Obviously, but better there than Twitter with its Russian Retrumplicans circle-jerking each other to the tunes of Maestro Muskrat and his band of democracy destroyers.
Since Propaganda Barbie the Press Secretary says nothing worth listening to and much of mainstream media are skittish to go too hard against Trump, it’s on Bluesky where I see the protests that have been happening all over the country daily, and learning of the boycotts.
After the recent economic blackout on February 28, Similarweb analyzed traffic at the top 100 e-commerce sites and found that overall traffic was down six percent on Feb. 28 when compared to a year ago. Target in-store foot traffic was down 10.7 percent on Feb. 28 compared to the average of the previous five Fridays. They called the Feb. 28 action a "mild impact."
Losing over 10 percent in a day was significant enough of a hit enough for new calls of boycotts and protests as the country sinks into economic despair resulting from inflation and the Trump Tariffs.
The President mentioned rising fears of an economic slowdown this weekend and didn’t rule out a recession—or the potential growing pains involved in achieving his economic agenda. “There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big,” said the President. “We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing.”
The unemployment rate rose to 4.1 percent in February, boosted by firings in the public sector. And consumer confidence fell by the most in any given month since August 2021. The confusion over tariff levies and delays has sent markets scrambling. The S&P 500 fell by more than three percent on the week. Now we’re amidst the “economy blackout movement” to “send a message and shake up the system.”
I find it annoying Target can’t get it together so I can go in there and shop for some damn Reese’s eggs and cute Easter shit. I love Target. I’m not a perfect queer, I have retail needs. Was I pissed that they chose homophobic right-wing bully customers over Pride? I was, and I don’t shop there as much I used to since that happened. But just like I will pull up to Chick-fil-A once occasionally for that Peppermint Mocha milkshake and some Jesus chicken, I’ll go into Target maybe once each holiday season because she might be on the wrong side of politics, but she’s a sexy little bitch of a store.
Now I have what a friend and I call liberal shame (we refer to Hobby Lobby Liberal Shame Headquarters and as craftswomen try to go as infrequently as possible for needed supplies). I’d feel guilty walking into a Target during the current boycott, which is in place for the entirety of Lent in an effort to send a message to the retailer for reversing their stance on DEI practices after formerly being a more progressive company.
Giving up anything for Lent reminds me of my “recovering Catholic” school days—that casual religious abuse the Vatican is happy to rule over with an iron fist. Here you are, a six-year-old kid, and you have generally terrifying omnipresent nuns saying you can’t have gum for the foreseeable future because you’re an evil sinner and need to make sacrifices and repent. Cool.
I remember the ever-chill Sister Nancy coming in with a clutch cheat code: don’t make a big deal out of it, but since Sunday is a day of rest, you can cheat on what you gave up for Lent. What! The Lord’s loophole; I would hoard gum or chocolate or whatever overly-sacrificial thing I’d chosen instead of broccoli.
Could I put on sunglasses and a baseball hat and sneak in to pick out some Easter basket fillers for the kids on a Sunday? I guess so, but I also love the idea of being a tiny part of dinging their bottom line since they’re so casual about dinging human rights.
