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| Protesters demonstrate outside a Starbucks in Philadelphia on Sunday, several days after police arrested two black men who were waiting inside the Center City coffee shop. |
I hardly ever go to Starbucks — except for rarely-held meetings with clients, that is. So, the closing of Starbucks for one afternoon won't put me in danger of caffeine withdrawal. My special-brew mix for coffee is better than Starbucks brews, anyway! **smile**
Nonetheless, I find this beyond stupid: Starbucks to close all company-owned stores on the afternoon of May 29 for racial-bias education day.
A public relations ploy?
Political correctness on steroids?
White guilt?
Many a time, I've been prevented from using the restroom in a business establishment because I wasn't at the moment a customer of said establishment. Just sayin'.
Not having dependable internet on the homestead, I am frequently at my nearest Starbucks......but I buy a damn coffee for while I'm sitting there. I don't have a lot of other options, and I'm a coffee whore.
ReplyDeleteThere may have been more to the story, but from what we know, the Starbucks manager was justified in asking the men to leave or become paying customers....but Starbucks corporation is wildly overreacting...as seems to be the norm these days.
- CI
CI,
DeleteI buy a damn coffee for while I'm sitting there.
Same here -- although I prefer a chai latte. In my experience, Starbucks then lets me sit there as long as I wish.
I grow weary off these wild overreactions.
Frank Leigh said
DeleteJigaboos, druggies and street bums camping out in a public john or taking up table space for a long time is the pits.
Years ago the bums ruined Horn & Hardart this way. Finally ran H&H out of business. Normal people couldn't stand the sight or the smell.
Great... now the homeless can set up shop in every store they so choose, park there, turn the bathrooms into whatever and dangerous to boot.
ReplyDeleteOne more step for making civilized society uncivilized. Maybe the Progs will take it a step too far. I keep thinking so but alas it even more nuts.
There are few Libraries in Philadelphia that I would even consider hanging out in, let alone using the bathroom.
Bunkerville,
DeleteSometimes the homeless "hold themselves" too long so that when they enter the restroom, they don't sit down upon the toilet seat before they -- in most cases, inadvertently -- defecate and/or urinate on the floor. The establishments' employees have to clean up the mess.
Furthermore, many with mental illness -- and that includes a substantial portion of the homeless -- defecate onto the floor or in their own hands, and smear the feces all over the walls.
True story -- almost word for word from Mr. AOW's experience when he worked at a business in a rough section of D.C.
Cultural capitalism at its worst, IMO.
ReplyDeleteLaura Ingraham's ratings are now higher than before the controversy.
DeleteMuch of this boycott threat is astroturf. Ten people with the right technology can make themselves look like 10 million (why am I explaining this to you? ;-)
Companies need to grow a set and refuse to cave. Once a few do it and everybody sees there is no fallout, the Maoist screamers lose their power.
They're simply "following the Rules (for Radicals)"
DeleteRule 1: "Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have."
Rules 13: "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
Their negation, Rule 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."
I think we're finally getting to #7
I think they've also forgotten themselves a bit. Starbucks is one of the MOST PROGRESSIVE companies on the planet. Yet they're enforcing Rule 4 against them... "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
DeleteRules and laws are for the OTHER guy, not you. Just ask the top brass at DOJ/FBI.
What happened to "No shirt, no shoes, no service"? What's next, every for-profit corner newstand has to become a Library. No need to buy a book or magazine, just read it there and come back when you want to finish it.
DeleteShops have rents to pay. They're not public meeting rooms.
DeleteStarbucks is performing a theatrical public confession demanded by these Maoist times.
ReplyDeleteCheck this out:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/what-are-nyc-male-comedians-doing-differently-post-metoo-1100975
The left is eating itself alive... heh heh heh...
The revolutionaries always turn on one another after they take over.
From that link:
Delete[P]olitical correctness, already a growing concern in comedy — back in 2015, Jerry Seinfeld said he avoids college campus shows because students are overly PC — is being exacerbated by #MeToo.
Pathetic, huh?
Comedy has always been about pushing boundaries. Scientific studies reinforce the ideal that laughter comes from uncomfortable situations.
DeleteWe are entering a Maoist age of politically correct humor.
At some point, the entertainment industry will realize this is killing them and the pendulum will swing back.
Or maybe not, and it won't matter. Common culture is a thing of the past, thanks to technology and numerous artistic outlets.
Music has already fractured, the rise of indy movies over the past 20 years, and multiple outlets for "TV" programs have allowed people to gravitate to what they like and ignore what they don't.
There will be a market for PC/Woke/#Resist/#MeToo controlled by the Cultural Maoists, and there will be another market for those sick of all that.
The inversion with all its implications and relabeling is dizzying to comprehend.
Issues and dialog around gender, race, trans-gender and other controversial topics will only get worse.
ReplyDeleteLook at how the recent gun debate, led by teens, played out.
There is no goodwill or charity for the other tribes and that is required for dialog and advancement. We now take everything in bad faith, assume the worst of others and take everything they say in the worst possible way.
We have created a Bedlam and the looniest and most unhinged are controlling the narrative.
Thank God this playing out principally in the Infotainment Media arena and not at the community level.
People are self-sorting, and the worst offenders are paying a price: Louie CK and Harvey Weinstein are gone, but also, Mizzou--after all the negative publicity and letting the loonies run the asylum--has paid a heavy price: Enrollments are way down. No way sensible parents are sending their kids into that madhouse.
After University of Missouri protests in 2015 (remember the journalism prof shouting out "Hey we need some muscle over here!" to threaten the student journalists?) ...
ReplyDeleteFreshman enrollment at the Columbia campus, the system’s flagship, has fallen by more than 35 percent in the two years since.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/09/us/university-of-missouri-enrollment-protests-fallout.html
The problem with most comedy today (this has been going on for a while now) is that it isn’t comedic, lacks entertainment value, and in too many instances is simply disgusting.
ReplyDeleteAlso, too much of it involves one group of people pandering for laughs at the expense of a different group of people -- Made worse by the fact that if the groups were reversed, such "comedy' would be condemned and the practitioners exiled.
DeleteMore race card for the 2020 POTUS race?
ReplyDeleteEric Holder headed to New Hampshire for high-profile event
I hope so. From my biased point-of-view, the more loudly left the Democrat party goes, and the more they stir the pot, the more they scare off the normals.
DeleteThey don't need any more voters in loony lefty states like Washington, California, Massachusetts or New York.
They need the votes of those in the broad middle. They need the people who voted for Donald Trump.
My guess is that a black barista would have invited this guy to piss off.
ReplyDelete__________ DIAGNOSIS __________
ReplyDeleteStopping Racism today is now believed
No harm, but only good could ever do ––
Of Paramount Importance. –– We’ve deceived
Innumerable millions, brought them to
The point where kicking over all the traces
A counterfeit Altruism now prevails:
Zig zags must be viewed as straight, so races
Ill-informed may proudly fill their sails ––
Reject all hope of Mental Elevation ––
Enjoy, instead, White Perquisites unearned ––
Given –– by “The Rich,” whose education,
Goading them to see all Privilege spurned,
Informed them they should not be what they are.
Now, Prehistoric Depths loom not so far.
~ FreeThinke
I like your poetry!
DeleteEric Holder will be conducting the racial bias class and will instruct the Starbucks employees 187 ways from Sunday why black people are above the law and any rules meant for civilized people.
ReplyDeleteKid,
DeleteHolder may be short on time now that he's positioning himself for the 2020 Dem nomination for POTUS.
Glad they're not closing Dunko's.
ReplyDelete"When racism all but disappears, they will have to revive it to keep the franchise going."
Delete--
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI'll go to Starbucks when I'm on the road and there are absolutely no other choices - so maybe a few times a year. I just care for their brew.
ReplyDeleteB. A. SPONGE-JOYNER said
ReplyDeleteVIDEO: Black Man Demands Free Starbucks Coffee
As ‘Reparations’ — White Barista Immediately Complies
The American Mirror, by Olaf Ekberg
A white Starbucks barista probably violated company policy when she handed over a free coffee to a black man who demanded it in the name of race “reparations.” Bryan Sharpe, who goes by “Hotep Jesus” on Twitter, filmed himself going into a Starbucks store to demand a “free coffee” because they’re “racist.”“I heard ya’ll was racist, so I came to get my free coffee,” Sharpe says in the video to the white barista taking his order. “I saw that!” the girls responds. “I heard you guys don’t like black people, so I came to get my Starbucks reparations voucher,” Sharpe ...
Alfred McGuffin said
ReplyDeleteRevealed: Dream Democrat Agenda Includes Reparations
Washington Free Beacon, by Brent Scher and Joe Schoffstall
A wealthy Democratic donor club plotting the future of the liberal movement hopes to be fighting for reparations by 2022, according to a document obtained by the Washington Free Beacon from the Democracy Alliance´s fall conference this week in Atlanta. The desire was stated in the invitation for a Monday reception during the biannual conference, which was attended by top Democratic Party officials such as DNC chairman Tom Perez, former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, and Reps. Raul Grijalva (Ariz.) and Mark Pocan (Wis.). The reception, "Way to Win: 2022 Victory Party," was presented as a look forward at what´s possible
From Bloomberg, dated April 17, 2018:
ReplyDeleteStarbucks' Training Shutdown Could Cost It Just $16.7 Million
Starbucks Corp., scrambling to restore trust after the arrest of two black patrons at a cafe in Philadelphia, announced Tuesday that it’s going to close more than half its stores in the U.S. next month for an afternoon of bias training.
That could set back the company, which booked $22.4 billion in revenue last year, a mere $16.7 million in lost sales, according to Bloomberg calculations.
What is this nonsense about "mere"?
Another paragraph in the above article states as follows:
The (estimated) cost could well be worth it for the coffee behemoth, as it faces opprobrium in its home -- and biggest -- market after a manager summoned police after two men waited at a Starbucks table without ordering.
"Worth it"? Is Starbucks being held hostage?
The "Rainbow Coalition" on steroids, perhaps. Beyond this, a major US corporation over-reacting. I purchase coffee at Starbucks quite frequently and at multiple locations. I've never seen employees acting inappropriately toward customers. Sixteen million dollars to fix a problem that doesn't exist seems ludicrous to me.
DeleteSam,
DeleteIt IS ludicrous!
As is the entire concept of reparations.
Pretty damn cheap for fire insurance. Nex, they gotta push some ducats our way.
DeleteSheesh: Men Arrested at Starbucks Say They Were Afraid for Their Lives.
ReplyDeleteRashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, who call themselves entrepreneurs. Both are 23 years old.
I wonder what their entrepreneurship is!
According to the above article, Robinson has been a customer at that particular Starbucks since he was 15.
Also in the above article:
It was hardly their first encounter with police, a rite of passage that becomes a regular occurrence for many black men their age. But neither had been arrested before, setting them apart from many of their peers in the gritty southwest Philadelphia neighborhood where they grew up.
They'll do the talk show tv rounds, perhaps a book deal...
DeleteMaybe they could go on the road with Hogg, #MeToo and other special status tribes for a summer Progressive Lollapalooza tour of screaming at the sky, demonizing inkorrect free speech, and threatening everyone who disagrees with them.
There are several questions here:
Delete1. Does Starbucks have a loitering policy that is typically enforced. Despite what Silverfiddle will speculate, I don't patronize Starbuck's but I can say with surety that if Dunkin's has a policy it is NEVER enforced.
2. Do those who linger at Starbuck's ,probably diddling on their phones, loiter over a cup of coffee?
3. Has the manager stated that she followed Starbucks' loitering policy? I believe she has. Has she ever called the police before and wasn't denying them access to the rest room sufficient.
4. Was the shop crowded at the time.
This is probably a situation that didn't require the police. What was the reason for getting them involved and guaranteeing a lot of unnecessary attention.
Hey, I recognize latte leftists can get their metrosexual marxist mocha on somewhere other than Starbucks.
DeleteI picture you getting your cuppa at a shabby storefront for the local Workers Party, or maybe a Somali diner, to signal you're down with the struggle.
I don't patronize the joint, either, but I'm thinking of all the crap the unfortunate employees are going through.
No Somalis, Silverfiddle. Brazilian (good Brazilian bakery in Everett square) or Haitian.
DeleteI knew it had to be some place run by dark-skinned people. Virtue signaling relies upon good visuals with stark contrasts.
DeleteThe restroom had an electronic code, and the two black men were denied the code because they hadn't purchased anything in Starbucks.
ReplyDeleteHeadline:
ReplyDeleteSTARBUCKLE: Tall Frothy Apology for Following Company Policy
I'm proud to say I have NEVER purchased ANYTHING frim Starbucks, and never will. I've instinctively detested the place since it first opened.
ReplyDeleteI'm a natural-born trend BUCKER never a trend FLLOWER.
"Whatever is popular is wrong."
~ Oscar Wilde
See Iconic Picture:
ReplyDeleteCaption: "I'm gonna shout yo ass through this bullhorn, whitey! And you gonna stand there and TAKE it!
Black Lives Matter activist Asa Khalif standing in front of a staffer, identified on his apron as Zack.
Zack is not the employee who called the police last week. Khalif is yelling into a bullhorn despite being maybe three feet away from poor Zack,, who is standing with his hands folded, patiently absorbing abuse for something he had nothing to do with.
That photo, shared widely on social media, is the perfect American tableau for our demented political moment, when one guy feels entitled to yell through his bullhorn at another guy for an incident that didn’t involve either of them.
In 2018 America, it’s as if just about everyone is either Khalif, absurdly overreacting to the latest news, or Zack, getting dragged into somebody else’s political controversy.
Oskar de la Trattoria said
ReplyDeleteHah! YouTuber ‘Hotep Jesus’ Trolls Starbucks –
Gets FreeReparations Coffee (Video)
Gateway Pundit, by Jim Hoft
YouTuber Hotep Jesus trolled racist Starbucks demanding free coffee as reparations — And got it! Hotep posted the video online on how he finessed a free cup of coffee using white liberal guilt. "Hotep Jesus went on FOX News later today. He told FOX, “And I said, you know what? I bet if I go into Starbucks and I follow a liberal narrative I’ll make the news. And WALLAH!”
.R-LJ.
Bet his act was staged.
Delete@ Nostradumbass, Of course it was staged, duhhh.
DeleteHotep Jesus is a comedian, he was trolling Starbucks and making fun of their white, liberal guilt. Guess what, he's laughing at you!
Upset that the cops didn't use their tasers, Warren?
DeleteNo Dumpy, I'm laughing at you too!
DeleteI'm not going in a Starbuck$ anyway. I avoid places with the overwhelming ordure of Mercedes Socialists.
I'll have to admit the thought of the whole place being cleared out by an overzealous cop with a can of mace/pepper spray makes me chuckle.
Warren: LOL!
DeleteStarbucks stepped in a fresh stinky pile of their own shibboleths and its gonna take more than shutting down one day for Maoist Reeducation Camp
They will end up "donating" millions to some worthy cause, like Black Lives Matter.
SF, shibboleth, how fitting. Their own affectations bringing them to a figurative and chaotic rout.
DeleteBrilliant pun!
Isn't the tag team cute, folks.
DeleteWhich one is Lou Albano and which is Tony Altomare?
For the Duck:
DeleteApparently, it's right-wing to find the "Hotep Jesus" Starbucks reparations video hilarious.
With a link to the video @ Althouse.
It was a pretty weak troll, Warren.
DeleteThe barista should have been coached for a reshoot.
Still funny. Consider it a preview of when we become Zimbabwe.
DeleteTHIS WAS NOT STAGED! (See Iconic Picture):
DeleteCaption: "I'm gonna shout yo ass through this bullhorn, whitey! And you gonna stand there and TAKE it!
Black Lives Matter activist Asa Khalif standing in front of a staffer, identified on his apron as Zack.
Zack is not the employee who called the police last week. Khalif is yelling into a bullhorn despite being maybe three feet away from poor Zack,, who is standing with his hands folded, patiently absorbing abuse for something he had nothing to do with.
That photo, shared widely on social media, is the perfect American tableau for our demented political moment, when one guy feels entitled to yell through his bullhorn at another guy for an incident that didn’t involve either of them.
In 2018 America, it’s as if just about everyone is either Khalif, absurdly overreacting to the latest news, or Zack, getting dragged into somebody else’s political controversy.
What's the matter, Ducky?
DeleteDid the Dom Pérignon go bad or is that just your regular sour grapes?
Maybe the barista should have been coached for a reshoot. Being a Starbuck$ employee, I'm sure she was "down for the struggle". LMAO!
Political correction on steroids... Looney Left response from the left coast headquarters... sigh
ReplyDelete"We're sorry this happened but it's a shop rule which was conveyed 3 times to these gentlemen. This isn't about race, it's about good business. To sit for a while, or use the bathroom, we like to have someone at least order a cup of coffee, which they were told. This didn't happen because they're Black, this happened because they didn't cooperate. Sorry for that, but those are the rules."
ReplyDeletedone.
Agreed.
DeleteThe Washington Post had a pretty good article differing loitering regulations around Rittenhouse Square (location of the Starbucks in question). Some are pretty strict but none let you chill for free.
I agree that not enough is being written about their being able to stop it all by buying a cup of coffee.
Always! "AFRAID FOR THEIR LIVES?" I just saw your headline in a comment above!!!....didn't have the stomach to open the link. Did you SEE the arrests on TV? It was the calmest, least combative situation I've seen! But, their lawyer's involved now, so $$$$$
ReplyDeleteNotice that criticism of the police is gaining very little traction.
DeleteMy question is after denying the rest room why not let them sit for a bit if there wasn't a full house? Calling the police is likely to do more harm than good in this situation.
I agree that calling the police may have been an over-reaction, but none of us was present to see this for ourselves. If these young men are typical, then I imagine the barista may have felt intimidated by boisterous, threatening men. I also imagine that there are lessons here for everyone.
DeleteBoisterous and threatening? Not in evidence.
DeleteHowever, if they are forced to deal with that stereotype you might understand why they'd take a more militant stance.
DUcky, I agree...The Police Chief said the cops did exactly what they are supposed to do but I think it was extreme to arrest them. It's pretty clear on tape that they shouldn't have necessarily felt threatened or 'afraid for their lives'! Arresting them definitely did unnecessary harm. I also am not 100% sure that "no buy something, no restroom use" thing is decent, frankly. Tho I suppose that's to keep transients out. We don't know, as far as I've seen, how crowded it is...have you heard it wasn't busy? I also heard the barista yelled across the counter something like 'Get Out!', which I find rude and unkind. Ya, if they'd just bought one cup of coffee....
ReplyDeleteRudy Giuliani is a GREAT choice for the presidents legal team.
ReplyDeleteFroza Knout said
DeleteMethinks he is, indeed. Gettin' a little old though ain't he?
The homeless will soon be moving into their inner city living rooms, courtesy of Starbucks...
ReplyDeletebtw - the link is a hoax.
WHAT THE HELL IS A BARISTA?
ReplyDeleteA barista is a coffee bar attendant and server.
DeleteSheesh:
ReplyDeleteBaltimore police chief attends hip-hop show, apologizes for ‘200 years’ of abuse by cops.
... and the chief (a black man) still got boo'd.
DeleteWe're past apologies now. The militant left has moved on to sanctimonious lecturing, demands for reparations, and ultimately, revenge.
Well worth the read
DeleteThere are similar stories in every city. New Orleans PD was a virtual criminal gang, and that was just 15 years ago or so.
DeleteThe right thing to do is apologize for that incident, punish the guilty and compensate the direct victims.
Where's Frank Rizzo when you need him?
ReplyDeleteYou can take the tribalists out of the fourth world but you cannot take the fourth world out of the tribalists.
ReplyDeleteThey ruined their raw narratives of personal experiences with bigoted, grotesquely-outsize generalizations and pedantic over-intellectualizations.
ReplyDeleteDienda de Trayal
ReplyDeleteFree at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we is free at last.
Now we can get even.