Toxic Politics Are Smothering America. Could David Hogg’s Progressive Pillows Be the Solution?
There’s a silver lining to partisan demagogues taking up peaceful entrepreneurship.

The creeping politicization of every aspect of American life is causing more than a few people to want to bury their faces in a pillow and scream out their frustrations. Soon enough, even that might not be an option for aspiring apoliticos.

On Thursday, gun control activist and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg announced that he would be starting his very own pillow company to combat the influence and reach of rabidly pro-Trump MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell.

Hogg’s plan is to launch his pillow company within six months and sell one million units within the first year of operation, according to Axios. The name of the company is being kept under wraps until all the necessary copyright issues are resolved, says Hogg.

The teen activist has said that he wants his pillow product to be sustainable, domestically manufactured, and union-made, although that last goal appears to be causing him some trouble.

Hogg’s pillow company need not be so toxic. Indeed, there’s every reason to think it won’t be. While certainly politicized, Hogg’s plan is to start a company that will, hopefully, sell people a product they enjoy at a price they can afford. Rather than pushing for zero-sum, liberty-crushing gun control policies—where Hogg’s success can only come at the expense of gun owners and those who disagree with him—he will instead be devoting his energies to making profitable, mutually beneficial exchanges.

Should he make a good enough product, he might even win over a few conservative customers who would never be reached by polarizing activism.

Even if Hogg fails in that, he has nevertheless stumbled upon a productive outlet for his political passions that forgoes the raw pursuit of power, and instead focuses on the creation of consumer convenience and brand loyalty.

So roll your eyes at Hogg’s pillow dreams if you must, but recognize that with that progressive padding comes the possibility of more peaceful politics.

That is some serious bullshit.

Here is why.

Loyal readers know I have been posting news about Hogg’s pillow company with astute economic and manufacturing assessments as to its future.

This company is not being created in the “usual” means.  There was no market research to determine if there is a need for pillows like these at that price, what the demand might be, and if the business is viable.

It was done to spite another business out of existence.  Hogg wins, not if he profits, but if My Pillow goes under.

They are being bankrolled on this principle, which sets a dangerous precedent.

Wealthy activists setting up companies that will lose money to drive others out of business for political reasons.

Imagine if you will, a local pizza restaurant gets targeted for cancellation over some menial bullshit.  Some rich celebrity decides what he is going to do is open up a competing Pizza restaurant next door.  It will sell pizza at a loss until the targeted restaurant folds.  The celebrity doesn’t care because his income is from some alternative source, he can throw money away on a pizza place to spite another business owner out of existence.

If you think “no, rich celebrities won’t do that, they like their money,” you didn’t pay attention to Hollywood during the GW Bush years.  How many movies did they make portraying the US military as either psycho killers or trailer trash losers?  Every single one of them lost money.  Middle America didn’t want to see them.  But they gladly lost money to insult the military knowing they would make it back on the next CGI popcorn fodder.

Fuck if Disney+ just threw hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars away in franchise value because they didn’t like one actresses’ tweets.

Wealthy, or in Hogg’s case being connected to wealthy people, starting businesses in bad faith, not to make money through competition but using monopolistic tactics to drive other people out of business is only going to increase toxic politics.

Damn the people at Reason went stupid.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and More Stars Urge Biden to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline

Dozens of Hollywood stars have sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline, which Donald Trump approved during his time in office.

The pipeline, which carries oil from North Dakota to Illinois, has been protested by environmentalists and indigenous tribes for years.

Among those calling on Biden to stop the pipeline’s operation include Leonardo DiCaprio, Joaquin Phoenix, Cher, Jane Fonda, Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Dave Matthews, Josh Gad, Orlando Bloom, Kerry Washington and Rooney Mara. Nearly all of “The Avengers” have also signed the letter, including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Don Cheadle.

Robert Downey Jr. had a salary of $20 million for Avengers: Endgame.  Chris Evans was at $15 million.

When you are making that sort of bank, $5 per gallon for gas doesn’t bother you.

These are all the same pieces of shit who filled up their pools during the California drought because they could afford the fines while working-class people had to wear their underwear twice between washings and shower every third day.

This is going to be the next four years, I guarantee it.  The Hollywood/Media/Tech/Democrat machine grinding every single working person in this country into miserable poverty.

I couldn’t care less about the MCU.  After reading this I want to watch Iron Man, Captain America, and all rest of the Avengers go toe to toe with a bunch of pissed off, out of work, oil workers, truckers, and people going broke on $5 without stunt doubles or bodyguards.  See how that works out for them.

Great video from @HHPHorg featuring @THEKINGDMC and more.

Let's fight fear with facts ? #VaccinateNY pic.twitter.com/o6A31AceY8

— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) February 11, 2021

Is Cuomo gonna get canceled?

Texas boy, 12, hangs himself after battling depression amid COVID-19 https://t.co/PYZgpbNkIA pic.twitter.com/6nPZlYH8xT

— New York Post (@nypost) February 11, 2021

J.Kb.’s Wholesale Killdozers and Woodchippers.

I’m not sure how many more stories about a child that committed suicide because of COVID isolation need to be published before society snaps, but it can’t be that many.

Reading this against a backdrop of Biden not having a plan to reopen the schools for months has me rooting for the Capitol stormers.

My son is six.  I have no idea what sort of long term emotional damage was done by this.  I can’t imagine losing him like this.  I’m not sure what I would do if I did but I suspect that at least part of my reaction would be a crater that you could see from space.

Hell, you go take a leak at my age and then coffee, you may miss the 124 grains altogether.

Seriously, the hunting for ammo is feral, no quarters given.

Hat Tip J. Kb.

AP-NORC poll: A third of US adults skeptical of COVID shots

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that while 67% of Americans plan to get vaccinated or have already done so, 15% are certain they won’t and 17% say probably not. Many expressed doubts about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.

The poll suggests that substantial skepticism persists more than a month and a half into a U.S. vaccination drive that has encountered few if any serious side effects. Resistance was found to run higher among younger people, people without college degrees, Black Americans and Republicans.

Of those who said they definitely will not get the vaccine, 65% cited worries about side effects, despite the shots’ safety record over the past months. About the same percentage said they don’t trust COVID-19 vaccines. And 38% said they don’t believe they need a vaccine, with a similar share saying that they don’t know if a COVID-19 vaccine will work and that they don’t trust the government.

Let’s recap the situation.

We’ve been told that the vaccine doesn’t stop you from catching or transmitting the virus.

We’ve been told that after you get the vaccine you still have to (double) mask and socially distance.

We’ve been told that despite mass vaccination, the lockdowns will continue and we’re still unable to return to normal.

We know the vaccine has been rushed to market faster than any other in history and that we cannot sue the pharmaceutical companies if we have bad reactions.

What’s the selling point of getting vaccinated.

I’m curious as to why more people are not skeptical.

I’m not an anti-vaxxer.  I’ve had all my shots.  So have my kids.  I get my flu shot every year.

But those have decades of clinical history.

We don’t know if a year from now one in ten people who got the vaccine will end up with cancer or uncontrollable burning rectal discharge.

That is where the reticence comes from.

Not to mention that the handling of the COVID has been so bad I can’t fault anyone who doesn’t trust the government.

“The governor who killed most of the old people in his city then defied a court order stopping him from hiding that fact, a Congressman who got trapped by a Chinese honeypot, and a President with signs of dementia and a millionaire crackhead son trading on daddy’s name say you have to get a vaccine, that doesn’t allow you to take off your mask and live a normal life.  And if the side effects cripple you, you get nothing.”

Wow, where do I sign up for that?