BoycottPro

joined 1 week ago
[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 25 points 16 hours ago (9 children)

Just make voting mandatory and give people time off to vote. Read about Australia's voting system. It's really awesome and I wish we could have something like that here.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There are companies which offer training and support to FOSS. Companies could also pay those companies.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago

Instead of some greasy podcast hack I'd much rather hear from professional military analysts and foreign policy experts. Bannon's opinion doesn't matter in the same way my opinion on how to perform open heart surgery doesn't matter because I don't know anything about open heart surgery.

Also what's disgusting is Spotify recently allowed Bannon's podcast back on. That's why I'm again calling for people to contact Spotify and complain about bringing War Room back, about Joe Rogan's disinformation and Andrew Tate's hate. Or consider canceling your subscription and when you cancel fill out the reason why you canceled, mention it's because of Bannon, Rogan and Tate.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 19 points 1 day ago

This is proof right here that Musk has not stepped away. More pressure against Musk! Boycott Twitter, boycott Tesla, boycott Starlink, buy stocks in SpaceX's competitors. Keep boycotting until he's bankrupt.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 4 points 2 days ago

I see, it was my first time encountering that person. I guess my vision of explaining that fascism has a specific scholarly definition and that fascism would not appeal to someone who likes "freedom" because they take away your rights wouldn't have panned out the way I imagined.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 37 points 2 days ago (8 children)

I sometimes wonder what if everyone who spends money on licensing fees instead takes the same amount of money and puts it into FOSS. Imagine what we could achieve? Likely the money would be used more efficiently because they could donate it to non-profit companies which don't need to pay tax.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 21 points 2 days ago

You did something today: you helped remind me of him, with so much chaos he slipped my mind.

If you're feeling frustrated by lack of power to do anything what you can do to help is chip away Trump's pillars of support. Have you ever played Jenga? If you pull out enough blocks the tower will eventually fall. The biggest blocks holding up Trump are the billionaire wealthy donors and the right-wing propaganda machine.

Twitter is an example of both right-wing propaganda machine and owned by the biggest political donor to the GOP and one that we all can easily make a difference in by personally stop using it if you have an account and urging your friends and family to also stop using Twitter. Then try contacting organizations with an account and ask them to switch to Bluesky. And of course boycott Tesla and boycott Starlink too. If you like buying stocks maybe invest in SpaceX's competitors.

For billionaire donors you can boycott their companies for example Uline is another big donor. We can make a difference. I see them as a good boycott target due to their reputation of being overpriced. Whenever you buy something online look at the box and labels. Do you see the words Uline on it? If so contact the vendor and tell them that Uline is overpriced and unethical, they can save money by switching to another supplier. This post shows someone about cut their costs in half by switching away from Uline: https://bsky.app/profile/geneha.com/post/3low65f4zac2d and https://refuseuline.com/ has a long list of alternatives.

Another big donor is the fossil fuel industry. I recently made a post about what you can do about that.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

What is your opinion on fascism (just in general)? Do you support it or are you opposed to it? What do you think fascism is?

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 3 points 2 days ago

If you know anyone who lives on South Korea try talking to them and telling them that it's important to vote and don't let Yoon win.

 

The book "48 Laws of Power" contains the exact answer for how you deal with fascists. It's rule 15:

Some people can be considered to be a “Dangerous Enemy”, and that if you do not vanquish the enemy totally that it will regroup, strong and better, and continue to attack you. Do not assume that everyone thinks, acts or behaves as you do. There are many kinds of people “out there” and some are very, very dangerous. Take no chances.

Crush your enemy totally. Don’t go halfway with them or give them any options whatsoever. If you leave even one ember smoldering, it will eventually ignite. You can’t afford to be lenient.

Kill or be killed. It’s the law of the jungle.

Fascism starts out as a fringe movement like as rule 15 says an ember smoldering, the flames spread and they grow until one day you wake up to a forest fire that has engulfed your country and left it in ruin.

That's why I'm calling on you to a fire extinguisher for fascists. Put them out with everything you got. The earlier you do it, the easier it will be.

I'll admit I don't have all the answers on what you can do about fascism and far-right extremists but I have a few suggestions:

  1. Call it out and don't tolerate it. Don't put up with fascist friends. I highly recommend reading the Nazi bar story.

  2. Ensure your dollars don't fund fascism. Boycott companies that enable or contribute to far-right extremists political parties. In particular I'd strongly recommend boycotting Twitter and Tesla and urging as many people to do likewise. Also try to reduce your fossil fuel usage however way you can.

  3. Get to the root cause of why people turn to fascism and work to fix the societal and political causes for people turning to fascism. For example people feel left behind and the extremely wealthy are accumulating more power while some are barely getting by despite working hard everyday. The extremely wealthy realize what's happening and realize soon people will call for change so they create a scapegoat so people won't realize it's them who are really the cause of their problems. The solution is to ensure that people have their needs met, things like good healthcare, access to affordable nutritious food, good paying jobs.

  4. Advocate for better education, teach people how to stop fascism and why it's bad, give people good media literacy, emotional resilience and intelligence, and classes designed to teach people how to recognize manipulation.

  5. Advocate for laws banning fascism, ban things like overt hate speech, discrimination and far-right political parties that threaten your country. If laws are already on the books but are not being enforced demand enforcement of existing laws. I'd highly recommend reading about the Lapua Movement. The key reasons it was stopped was because people united against it and because judges banned it and imposed harsh penalties on those who were involved. This is why MAGA is trying to undermine our judicial system right now.

 

It's for sure a little bit of a longer read than news articles that typically get posted here but I feel it's still accessible and really can get people thinking about problems that cause democratic backsliding.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 20 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

This time we need aggressive offense. Relentlessly and accurately blame the Republicans for every single failure they caused.

[–] BoycottPro@lemm.ee 45 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The irony is when we get over this we'll likely end up replacing our American-born doctors with immigrants to replace all the people lost.

 

stabby_cicada made an interesting comment on how personal choice and leading by example can be combined with politics to effectively address climate change. This is a good article that combines the two approaches, it shows you some changes you can make along with reminding people the importance of voting, and being involved politically. The article mentioned the biggest user of fossil fuels in homes may be a gas fired furnace so if it's time to replace your furnace you may want to consider an electric heat pump.

One thing not mentioned in the article is if you have any incandescent light bulbs that receive regular use consider replacing them with LED. The payback period can be pretty fast for example if you replace a 60w light with a 10w LED assuming you use it for an average of two hours a day and you pay $0.20 kw/h you'll save $7.3 per year. This was calculated as follows:

(60 energy usage of old bulb - 10 energy usage of new bulb) * 2 hours per day average usage * 365 days in a year / 1000 to convert from watts to kilowatts * 0.2 cost per kwh = $7.3.

Over a 10 year period that's $73 in savings.

If the light bulb cost $2.5 to buy you'd break even in only 125 days (a little over 4 months) if we use the same usage assumptions.

Payback period can be calculated like this:

$2.5 cost of light bulb/(50 our energy savings*2 hours of average use)*(1000kw /0.2 price per kwh)

 

The article says:

Ken Griffin says Trump’s tariff strategy is eroding America’s global standing and investor trust in U.S. financial stability.

We already knew this was going to happen. On June 26, 2024 Reuters released an article with the headline "16 Nobel Prize-winning economists say Trump policies will fuel inflation". Trump campaigned on tariffs.

In my view this really undermines the creditably of Ken Griffin because an investor should be able to accurately asses information and determine its credibility to make proper investing decisions. Someone who falls for Fox "News" drivel wouldn't be a good investor. This is why Warren Buffet is outperforming other investors now, he properly prepared himself for Trump's tariffs.

Source for donation amount: https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors

 

You can see how much individuals associated with British American Tobacco contributed to campaigns. In 2024 it was over $26 million a vast majority of that going to Republicans. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/british-american-tobacco/summary?id=D000067317 they also spent over $5 million in lobbying in 2024.

Some other notable quotes from the article:

In February 2021, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (OCCRP) published an investigation according to which trafficking of BAT cigarettes had helped finance jihadist and separatist groups in northern Mali using, among other mechanisms, a system of oversupplying the country with tobacco. This has allowed billions of cigarettes to be smuggled out of the country.

In November 2012, the Zimbabwean government arrested several people for spying on factories owned by local tobacco companies, including Pacific Cigarette Company (PCC). BAT's involvement was suspected but not proven.[76][77][78] Later that month, President Robert Mugabe accused BAT of spying and hijacking PCC trucks to "kill competition".[79][80][81] In September 2021, a BBC Panorama investigation found evidence that BAT had enlisted Forensic Security Services, a South African Security firm, to sabotage and surveil factories owned by competitors, including PCC. After the spies were arrested, BAT negotiated a bribe so that the government would release them from jail.[82][83]

 

This is why I say politics matters more than individual action.

Yes, changing the lightbulbs in your house from incandescent to LED is great but it's just a drop in the bucket. Politicians can mandate energy efficient bulbs for everyone as an example, at scale this makes a huge difference.

We all have 24 hours in a day and a lot less of that is free-time, use it to contact your politicians and urge other people to do that.

I really hope after reading this post that you'll consider sending an email, calling or faxing at-least one politician. Your message can be really simple.

For example this could be your message:

Dear (politician),

I'm really worried about the effects on climate change. I believe it's hurting the economy much more than the cost of transitioning to renewable energy such as solar and wind. I'm calling for ending subsidies for fossil fuel companies and a faster transition to renewable energy.

Thank you so much for your consideration,
(Your name)

See that wasn't so hard was it? Sending an email could take just minutes a day and you're message could have a huge impact.

 

Basically take care of your mental health, don't get caught up in a cycle of despair. Focus on what you can do to make a difference and not worry too much about the things you cannot control.

 

The Wikipedia article is well worth a read! It looks likes the owner of Dubai-based Legatum Group made his fortunes in part with Russian gas money. The Legatum Institute which it seems is now called the "Prosperity Institute"* is registered in Bermuda and controlled by a company in the Cayman Islands.

* usually at-least speaking about things in the U.S. when a non-profit or a think tank has the words prosperity in it, it usually means that they advocate for a far-right viewpoint that screws over you and helps the billionaires become richer.

 

I personally feel it's best for most people to just focus on a few companies. Having a lot of people focused on boycotting Tesla, Twitter, Uline and the fossil fuel industry would likely have the most success fighting against the far-right extremists and the Republican party.

However what if you want to take things up a notch and take action against all the other funders of the extremist Republican party? OpenSecrets has a list of the top donors to the Democrats and Republicans.

When you look at the list you'll notice the seven biggest political donors are all going to the Republican Party and Trump (Republicans labeled in red). If that money were to be taken away it would really make a big difference in saving our country.

Here's what I suggest doing:

  1. Click on the last column (To Republicans) and sort by descending order to see the highest donors to the GOP. Quickly skim the list and see if there are any companies on the list you can take action. For example if you work for a company that orders from Uline tell your boss that the company could save money by switching to an alternative.

  2. Contact a few of the companies at random and tell that you're disappointed in their political contribution. If the company is a company that you can boycott mention that you'll boycott them if they keep donating Republican.

  3. Take advantage of the fact that these are often harmful companies or companies that are not the best choice in terms of value and switch away from them.

As an example of a harmful company is British American Tobacco who donated over $26 million to Republicans. If you buy their products consider quitting smoking. You'll reduce your chances of getting lung cancer and you'll help defund the Republican party.

As an example of a company who's products are not a good value Uline is overpriced when compared against its competitors, so you'll both be saving money and defunding the Republican party.

Also it can make a huge impact if you enter local politicians into the search box and demand local boycotts for their top donors.

 

I truly believe Fox News and the likes are one of the greatest evils in America. Think about how much hurt they've caused, how much they've torn families apart and how much they're destroyed our country.

The reason I feel this way has nothing to do with the fact they have a different opinion than I have. It's because they spread hate, division and lies.

We have the power to fight back against Fox News and other propaganda media with the following actions:

  1. Contact their advertisers and demand they stop advertising on Fox. Say you'll boycott them if they continue advertising on Fox.

  2. If you see Fox "News" on a TV in public take action! Depending on the situation you have the following options:

  • Contact the location and demand they change the channel.
  • Ask the receptionist to change the station.
  • Change the channel yourself with a device capable of acting as a universal remote such as your smartphone (use a USB-C or 3.5mm headphone jack IR blaster if your phone doesn't have a built in IR light), certain graphing calculators like the HP 48 series have IR, almost all old PDAs have IR, an actual universal remote if you have one of those (you can even buy some keychain sized ones), or a Flipper Zero. It might even be possible to remove Fox from the channel listing if you're comfortable doing that.
  1. If you have satellite or cable say you don't like the fact that your bill is subsidizing Fox News through carrier fees and that you'd like a way to not have Fox be part of your TV package. Or maybe it's time to cancel your TV subscription with prices being so high nowadays. If you cancel tell them that Fox News was part of the reason you canceled.

  2. Try educating current Fox Views. Consider using the method mentioned in the article or just convince them to stop watching political news all together until they heal from the fear cycle mentioned in the article (process can take a year or two but if can work).

 

I found this article while researching how much sway fossil fuel companies have in Canada. What I found is many are foreign and just like in the U.S. fossil fuel companies spend lots of money to influence politics.

I wrote a post explaining how Europeans can help fight off the far-right by boycotting fossil fuels and switching to renewable energy. Canadians can do the same.

Contact your representatives and demand a faster transition away from fossil fuels. Fossil fuel money fuels the far-right. Boycott them today!

 

I feel this is a really important article. If you get hit with a paywall you can use try this link here: https://archive.ph/YVWxP

Donald Trump and his allies are attacking the court systems by doing things that they know are illegal and they know will get shut down by the courts but the things he's trying to do sound popular among his supporters. The goal is to erode support for an independent and fair judicial system. Andrew O'Donohue, the author of the article calls this authoritarian playbook "court-baiting".

The so-called "big beautiful bill" contains a hidden provision to significantly undermine the court system. That's why it's important you contact your senators and demand it's removed. You can consider using 5calls which includes a helpful script or finding their contact information on their senate website.

Please note that the 5calls script is only suitable for contacting Democrat senators in my opinion since it mentions Trump.

Here's a modified script that I suggest using especially for Republican senators but could be used for anyone.

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, ZIP].

I'm calling to urge [REP/SEN NAME] to oppose H.R. 1, the House budget reconciliation bill, especially the provision that limits the enforcement of contempt of court charges. This measure weakens our judicial system—the same independent courts our Founding Fathers envisioned as a critical check on governmental power. By diminishing the courts' authority, we risk undermining the constitutional framework that guarantees American liberty. Supporting this provision would be unpatriotic and contrary to the values we hold dear. I trust [REP/SEN NAME] to protect the rule of law and preserve the constitutional balance that has long safeguarded our freedoms.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

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