Compared to Maskachusetts or California, one of the remarkable features of life in our corner of Florida (Palm Beach County) is the lack of folks telling others how and what to think. In the Boston suburbs, I would be reminded every few minutes while driving or walking the dog to (1) have faith in leaky vaccines to end the global COVID-19 pandemic (highway electronic billboards), (2) stop hating Asians, (3) celebrate that Love is Love, (4) agree that Black Lives Matter, (5) welcome immigrants, (6) vote for Democrats, etc.
When we departed the Boston area (see Relocation to Florida for a family with school-age children), I said “I’ve paid for my last shopping bag at the supermarket, driven by my last BLM sign in an all-white neighborhood, and read my last governor’s order.” We have yet to see a BLM sign, a Trump bumper sticker or hat, or a Biden/Harris bumper sticker. We haven’t bothered to check what Ron DeSantis is up to in Tallahassee and learn whether a recent order might make one of our daily activities newly illegal. Over the weekend, however, we flew the Cirrus SR20 down to Key West. Some folks were displaying rainbow flags, which didn’t necessarily qualify as educating others regarding the path of righteousness. Unlike our old neighbors (boring cisgender white heteros), the folks in Key West flying rainbow flags might actually have been living an LGBTQIA+ lifestyle. However, we did encounter the following “love comes in all flavors” sign prominently displayed on the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream freezer:
This is consistent with Is LGBTQIA the most popular social justice cause because it does not require giving money? There were no signs in the shop regarding other social justice causes, e.g., poverty or homelessness. That might lead to questions regarding how a “single mom” (who forgot to have sex with a high-income defendant and therefore was reliant on what we no longer call “welfare”) with two kids could afford to pay $14 for two small ice creams. There were no signs reminding customers to boycott Israel. Ben & Jerry’s did not urge us to assist the tens of thousands of Haitians who’ve recently arrived, nor protest the fact that at least some are being deported in violation of international law.
(Separately, let me note for the record that I think Häagen-Dazs is much better ice cream, as long as we’re talking about mass-market. Here in Jupiter, we’ve managed to maintain a reasonable level of obesity, and therefore our coronavirus cross-section, at Matty’s Gelato Factory and Loxahatchee Ice Cream Company.)
Related:
- Wikipedia: Cohen has severe anosmia, a lack of a sense of smell, and so relies on mouthfeel and texture to provide variety in his diet. This led to the company’s trademark chunks being mixed in with their ice cream. [i.e., the co-founder had COVID-19 symptoms before COVID-19 symptoms were popular!]
How did you manage to still be allowed to eat pork in Greenspunchusetts? The lion kingdom can only afford Breyers, ever since Ben & Jerry’s hit $5 per pint in donations to the palestine liberation fund.
Talking about Ben & Jerry’s: https://nypost.com/2021/09/21/ben-jerrys-releases-anti-cop-flavor-with-rep-cori-bush/
America is quickly self-segregating into two countries: MYOB country (aka Red States) and JIYF* country (aka Blue States).
Let the Secession Games commence!
* Jackboot In Your Face
I think of Maskachusetts more like being stuck in a permanent loop of the Gillette Toxic Masculinity commercial. You might have wanted to learn about razors, but received an education on an unrelated topic.
JIYF requires incessant brainwashing to keep majority of population disoriented and docile. The ideal propaganda becomes self-propagating… all these lawn signs.
The small number of psychopathic thugs running the show cannot possibly do the jackboot thing to the large percentage of population (especially if there are organized groups resisting the thugs).
Which naturally leads to the divisive agitprop like totally racist “anti-racism” and the manufactured vaxxed vs unvaxxed division. It’s not about virus or race, it’s pretend-collectivist thugs trying to solidify their power. If they succeed, the actual physical jackboots to the dissenter faces will follow. There are certainly calls for that already, and don’t forget the mostly peaceful BLM pogroms.
Gillette: the best a non-binary can get.
Ben & Jerry’s is Unilever now (https://www.unilever.com/brands/). Naturally Unilever does business with LGBTQIA+ friendly countries like Saudi Arabia.
Häagen-Dazs is better, no question about that. Israelis living in the parts that are deprived of Ben & Jerry’s will have to stick to the superior alternative!
B&J’s has been part of Unilever for 21 years. They also sell Hellmann’s
That’s a scam: an Israeli entrepreneur has contract for b&j label for few more years and keeps selling it. Unilever and b&j do not want to break contract and pay the fine, even if it will be not very significant for their overall business. Unilever and b&j are united in their attack; it is pushed by b&j founders themselves and by b&j board; unilever just keeps it in acceptable for european governing bodies shape. Breyers and Good Humor ice-cream are too unilever brands by the way. Good Humor often pushed at state locations.
Better yet, buy Costco (Kirkland) vanilla ice cream. It is pretty much the same as Haagen-Dazs vanilla, and you can buy it by the gallon.
It is funny how Californians think that they are broad-minded and tolerant, when they are just the opposite.
Does that apply to all Californians? I’m curious because I’ve lived here for 66 years and can testify that we have all kinds of personalities, including the “broad-minded and tolerant”. In fact we’ve been highly criticized for being excessively “broad-minded and tolerant”.
Agree about the Kirkland ice cream…good stuff.
speaking of “broad-minded and tolerant”…. Kirkland brand vanilla ice cream is only sold at a private shopping club that is not open to the general public!
LOL EVERYONE who thinks they are broad-minded and tolerant, aren’t. If you point this out to them, they will quote the Paradox of Tolerance as if it’s some immutable law rather than a crackpot theory.
The real issue here that now, in 21st century United States and over a century after successful proletarian revolution , The Man still successfully keep Toucan Sam out of Costco.
I had to adopt comrade’s Stalin thesis that counter-revolutionary activity of the Enemy of The People increases as success of socialism grow.
Toucan Sam…Costco is not a “private” shopping club. It is open to the general public, but does require a membership fee.
Toucan Sam raises a good point. You’d think that, at least in California, Costco would offer free memberships to the BIPOC. The company offers some fine words, e.g., at
https://www.costco.com/ceo-message.html
and they have pulled Deplorable products from their shelves:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/costco-pulls-palmetto-cheese-founder-calls-black-lives-matter-terror-organization/
But does Costco live by these fine words? “all individuals and organizations can use this moment as a catalyst for change. We must re-examine how we deal with issues of racism and injustice everywhere in our society.” If a BIPOC resident of the U.S. has suffered from 400+ years of racism and injustice everywhere in our society, shouldn’t he/she/ze/they get to shop at Costco without paying a hefty annual fee? It makes sense that people brimming with white privilege should have to pay $60-120/year to be members. They get showered with cash just for showing up on Planet Earth with white skin. https://youtu.be/l_LeJfn_qW0
(Amazon doesn’t offer a discount based on skin color, but they do discount Prime membership 50 percent for “qualifying government assistance recipients”: https://www.amazon.com/58f8026f-0658-47d0-9752-f6fa2c69b2e2/qualify (can be SNAP/EBT (“food stamps”) or any of 8 additional programs))
Phil…you can conflate it any way you want, but the fact remains that Costco is not a “private shopping club”. Pay the fee and you’re in. You can easily recoup your $60.00 membership fee with a few beef jerky and roasted chicken purchases.
Jim, now that Costco joined The Party, its behavior does not match The Party Code of Conduct and thus they must changed their kkkapitalist behavior or risk to be declared as Right Slackers. I am saying this as a former Left Slacker. Thanks Philip to let me know that Costco joined The Party.
Their roasted chickens are really good, though ($4.99)…Hot dogs, too ($1.50 with a drink).
Yes, you can shop at Costco if you pay the membership fee. You can even live in a gated community if you buy a house there!
One practical effect of the fee is that the stores are not filled with stinky shoplifters, as some San Francisco stores are now. Shopping at Costco is quite pleasant, as long as you don’t need any sales help, and don’t need to try on clothes.
Roger, I see that this Costco is just an exclusion machine. And now it appears that they even check ids to exclude entry, this racist behavior will be brought up on the next Party plenum.
Unless they do not check id and shoplifter exhibit proletarian self-consciousness and do not pillage Party-affiliated establishments?
I happened to be on I-95/Rt.128 in Lexington, etc., this afternoon and I’ve seen all that stuff and a new one. One of those big yellow bulb signs on the side of the road: “BLASTING IN AREA” “PREPARE TO SLOW DOWN”
This was almost directly across the highway from the huge, sprawling Boston Dynamics building, so I guess they’re getting ready with the robot troopers to quell the riots.
Funny aside: About six weeks ago I drove by their building at around 8:50 in the morning and I thought: “I wonder if Boston Dynamics offers tours to the public?”
So I asked my phone for their number in Lexington and it connected me…and it rang…..and rang……and rang……..and rang. And nobody answered, there was no voice mail, nothing. I think it would still be ringing if I hadn’t terminated the call.
Apparently Boston Dynamics doesn’t have a spare robot to answer their direct phone line in Lexington!! I got a kick out of that. Their web site clarified for me: No Tours. And they don’t list a phone number on the website, either. This was given to me through Verizon, they read it back to me.
Whelp, at least the Department of Labor is going to use AI to administer unemployment insurance:
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/614522000
The job offering closes when they get 100 applicants. Now that’s a highly intelligent way to screen a stream of job applications. Should count as AI.
@AG: Don’t tell me Hillary Clinton isn’t going to be President in 2025. You heard it first here on Greenspun’s blog.
Learn it, know it, live it: HRC is going to bust out with all new looks and feels by late 2022 and is going to be the Mighty Steamroller of Finally We Return to Normal. She is just recharging her dilithium tanks. I don’t want to make anyone’s knees buckle, but it’s the FUTURE!
THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilithium
Not very in-depth level of comment on the subject, Ben & Jerry’s: As long as I’ve been eating ice cream and B&J was available, they’ve consistently been a darling of the “flavor of the day” social justice/progressive movement and I don’t think they have ever produced a single piece of advertising or signage that doesn’t underscore that fact. When they start making “B&J Brand Ice Cream” with a plain black and white label on it and guarantee that the money they saved on the color printing and so forth means they’re not kicking $$ back to their favorite progressive cause, I’ll buy some of their ice cream again. Also! How do you know Häagen-Dazs doesn’t just do it behind the scenes? They aren’t overt about it, but I’ve never seen any of their financial statements, and I’ll bet they would become a big Rainbow Flag Religion brand if they thought it was a good idea, with a little pressure.
On Twitter they openly affirm Party membership:
https://twitter.com/haagendazs_us/status/1268324252198924288?lang=de
The website appears normal. While the central picture of course features a Black person, there are an uncomfortable number of “white” people, too:
https://www.haagendazs.us/
It is unusual to see so many “white” people on web sites, this could be a racist website!
Anon, Häagen-Dazs started as the people ice-cream popular with rebellious students and other flower children of the Woodstock era. So it was not late to the Party.
It was started in Brooklyn, NY by a post-WWI Jewish immigrant from Poland whose relatives died in Holocaust. It is designed to sound Danish in honor of Danes saving Danish Jewish community in WWII.
As a Scandinavian, I would have guessed the inspiration was Dutch.
@Tom, “Mattus and his wife founded Häagen-Dazs. Hailing from Jewish origins, the couple knew they liked the Danish language, so they attempted to create a foreign-sounding name for their new brand. Reuben knew that to make it big on the premium market, their ice cream couldn’t compete on the level of mom-and-pop confectioneries. Their brand had to sound elegant and sell the justification for such a high-priced product.
What the couple didn’t know was that while their choice to follow the foreign-sounding trend would reward them tenfold, the Danish language doesn’t include umlauts. That’s those 2 dots above the first “a” in the name. German is widely known for using umlauts, but never the double “a” formulation. You might say the ice cream brand exists in a language of its own.”
https://www.rewindandcapture.com/why-is-haagen-dazs-called-haagen-dazs/
I don’t doubt they were vaguely thinking of Danish, btw.
But if ‘ä’ was intended to be ‘æ’, as one might guess, then you get the bizarre sound of ‘Hæagen’, which I do not think is found in the language.
I once hypothesized it was instead the US sort of umlaut, like you find in the New Yorker (“coördination”). But then it should be written ‘Haägen’, so probably not.
Finally, the ‘zs’ in ‘Dazs’ is, to my knowledge, rarely if ever seen.
Well, if nothing else it’s a very distinctive name.
What is the good place to land in Kay west ?
A22: There is only one airport in Key West, featuring a Bill Gates-owned Signature Flight Support (see https://www.airnav.com/airport/KEYW ). If you’re in a single-engine piston aircraft, the fuel price and fees are outrageous, but still laughably small compared to what you’d pay if you were unwise enough to show up in a jet. We bought 20 gallons of fuel and weren’t charged any fees. Signature discounts 50 cents/gallon on weekends, so it worked out to around $125.
Nice. Thank you. 20 gallons will do.
Coming so, Ben & Jerry’s will stop selling their ice-cream in China to boycott human right abuses by the Chines government to their Chinese citizen. But they chickened out and bowed down to the Chines government once their CFO showed them the impact on their bottom line.
Their political and anti-Israel posture is a scam to push their sugar to those who can not afford it, or they probably call it their power user base, who mix it with weed.
Häagen-Dazs is much better then Ben and Jerry scam. On more affordable side Turkey Hill natural ingredients ice-cream is quite good.
Visited a state park and unilever pushes their other, not ben and jerry, type 2 diabetes – inducing products at overpriced ice-cream boxes. Wonder for how long state will support them? Probably they oiled the wheels somewhere. Wonder for how long.