Tag: corporations

Michelle Obama Urges People to Be ‘Mindful’ of Buying’ White Owned Clothes Brands

Former First Lady Michelle Obama has urged people to be “mindful” when buying from white-owned clothing brands.

During a recent interview clip circulating on social media, Obama says she actively tries to buy clothes from people of “color” in order to “make it a point.”

“If I hear of someone whose fashion that I like, and I know that they’re a person of color, I try to make it a point, but the clothes have to be available.”

“You know, I think we can all do some work to think about that balance in our wardrobes, you know.”

“What does our closet look like and who’s in it? Who are we supporting in it? You know, and I think if you have the money to buy Chanel, then you have the money to buy everybody.”

“And so let us be mindful, I think would be my advice.”

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Companies see boost from Trump admin after adding Don Jr. to their board

Two companies which added Donald Trump Jr. to their board or advisory board subsequently received benefits from his father’s administration, and a third company that added him to their board may stand to benefit from a new Trump healthcare program. These three companies–Unusual Machines, Credova and BlinkRx–each added Trump’s eldest son to their boards after the 2024 presidential election, part of a flurry of new positions for the president’s eldest sons.

Don Jr. and Eric Trump have joined a total of ten companies’ boards since the 2024 election. The sudden burst of business opportunities is conspicuous, given that, prior to their father’s victory, there was no evidence that they had been such highly sought-after business leaders, outside the constellation of Trump family companies. Those positions, and the appearance they give the companies of an edge with the Trump administration, represent potential conflicts of interest that risk corrupting important functions of the executive branch, in favor of further enriching the Trump family. 

Just weeks after the 2024 election, drone maker Unusual Machines announced that Don Jr. joined its newly-created advisory board, immediately causing shares to soar. As compensation for his role on the advisory board, Don Jr. was given 200,000 shares of Unusual Machines stock. 

Don Jr.’s advisory agreement appears to have expired automatically after one year, but not before the company established itself as a supplier for the U.S. Army. In October 2025, Unusual Machines announced an order from the Army for 3,500 drone motors and other components, reportedly the company’s largest government order to date. The announcement also stated that the Army has plans to order 20,000 more components from Unusual Machines in 2026. 

In describing Don Jr.’s role with Unusual Machines, CEO Allan Evans said, “[j]ust lending some of that association has created more credibility to rise above the noise. It’d almost be like Oprah joining the WeightWatchers board, right? What does Oprah need to do? Not a lot.”

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P&G agrees to stop deceptive marketing of Crest toothpaste to kids

Procter & Gamble (P&G) agreed to change how it markets Crest fluoride toothpaste to young children following an agreement with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Under the agreement, P&G’s advertising aimed at children under age 6 must reflect age-appropriate amounts of toothpaste. The changes took effect this month.

Health authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Dental Association (ADA), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), recommend that children under age 3 use no more than a “smear” of fluoride toothpaste, and that children ages 3 to 6 use only a “pea-sized” amount.

Paxton said Crest’s marketing materials often showed toothbrushes covered with a full strip of toothpaste, implying that amount was appropriate for children.

Research cited in the case shows such images prompt parents to use excessive amounts of toothpaste. A 2024 study published in Nature found parents routinely overloaded toothbrushes by six to seven times the recommended amount.

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The L.A. Sheriff’s Office Is Mad at Starbucks—Over a Pig Doodle

Over the weekend, a sheriff’s deputy reported receiving rude treatment at a chain restaurant. Not only did he complain to management, but his own boss called and threatened the restaurant’s corporate management on the deputy’s behalf.

In a statement posted to social media over the weekend, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) said it was “deeply concerned” about an incident that took place at a “local coffee shop in the city of Norwalk.” (The department has since confirmed it was a Starbucks.)

On January 9, the statement said, a LASD deputy “was deliberately served a cup bearing a hand-drawn image of a pig, which is commonly used to demean law enforcement. This action was extremely offensive, inappropriate, and unacceptable. The deputy quickly reported the incident to the store manager, who advised that the matter would be investigated.”

“It felt discouraging and disrespectful, especially after a long day of serving the community,” the deputy wrote on Instagram. “All I wanted was caffeine, but instead I left feeling uneasy.”

Assuming the deputy was correct, it’s certainly unprofessional to draw disparaging doodles on a customer’s cup. But the matter didn’t stop there.

“Upon learning about this incident from the employee,” the statement continued, LASD Sheriff Robert Luna “immediately escalated the matter and contacted an individual in the coffee company’s corporate security division to formally raise concerns and to ensure accountability. In addition, the Sheriff spoke directly with the deputy to check on his well-being, convey his full support, and make it clear that disrespectful actions will not be tolerated against our personnel.”

This detail is galling. If a server is rude, you have the right to complain to their boss; you’re also free to eat at a different restaurant, or to just forget about it and move on. What you can’t do is call the police because a member of the wait staff was mean to you.

And yet an officer was so offended that he not only told the manager, but his boss—the top law enforcement official in the largest sheriff’s department in the country—felt compelled to get involved in something that is in no way within the police’s purview.

Because no matter how uneasy or disrespected the deputy felt, the First Amendment protects our right to insult or disparage the police. Numerous court cases have made clear that this includes giving the finger and calling them discourteous names—yes, including pig.

Telling Starbucks corporate security that disrespectful sketches “would not be tolerated” is an egregious misuse of Luna’s authority.

Besides, it’s not even clear whether the barista intended to disparage the deputy.

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Autistic “Barbie” Doll Celebrates Neuropsychiatric Illness Among Children

“Normalization” is a process where something that is not normal is fashioned and presented in a way in which over time the public accepts it as usual and more conducive to business activities. This is exactly what’s happening with autism spectrum disorder. Alter AI is on the assist with this story.

Mattel’s “Autistic Barbie” and the Normalization of Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Mattel has launched its first autistic Barbie doll, part of its ongoing Fashionistas line that promotes “diversity and inclusion.” The doll, unveiled in January 2026, was designed in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and aims to reflect how autistic individuals experience and process the world. USA Today reports the collaboration lasted over 18 months, involving consultations with self-advocates and researchers to imbue the doll with “authentic” autistic traits rather than caricatures.

The doll’s design elements mirror common sensory experiences among people on the autism spectrum. These include jointed wrists and elbows to allow for stimming (repetitive movements or gestures used to self-regulate), a sidelong gaze to represent aversion to direct eye contact, noise-canceling headphones, a fidget spinner, and a tablet displaying Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) apps used by those with speech or sensory-processing challenges. The outfit—a flowy pinstripe A-line dress—minimizes fabric contact irritation, and flat shoes are meant to promote balance and comfort.

Mattel positions the doll as a celebration of autonomy and inclusion for autistic children, arguing that it allows “young autistic people to see authentic, joyful representations of themselves.” To amplify that message, the company enlisted several social‑media personalities and public figures diagnosed with autism. The rollout echoes previous Barbie releases featuring dolls with Down syndrome, prosthetics, vitiligo, and diabetes—each intended to “mirror the world kids see.”

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Banning Wall Street From Buying Houses Is Great, But Trump Needs To Do More

While walking through a very Midwest USA mid-tier neighborhood in an outer suburb last summer, a young couple passing by with two young children told me they were admiring all the “beautiful houses.” The father was a union worker and did jobs on the side to earn more. The mother stayed with the small children. They lived in an apartment. 

There are many young American families like this — doing everything right, but still, unless given money from parents for a down payment, priced out of home ownership. Home prices relative to incomes have soared since the market bottomed in 2012, especially since the 2020 Covid panic. From 2022-2023, even as home prices relative to incomes continued to climb higher, mortgage rates doubled and remain at this higher level today. Obviously, mortgage rates have been much higher in the past. But the toxic combination is the high price of homes relative to incomes, paired with these higher mortgage rates. 

That’s why it’s encouraging that President Trump is moving to make homes more affordable. Last week, Trump announced he is “taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes.” Trump specifically mentioned young Americans struggling with housing affordability and said the administration would launch more proposals in the next several weeks to make housing more affordable. The White House’s proposals need to be hard-hitting and not tinker around the edges of a major problem.

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Greenland mining firm hires Trump-tied lobbyists amid US invasion threats

The company suing Greenland for the right to mine rare earth minerals has hired a lobbying firm deeply connected to the Trump administration, increasing the threat of US action against the territory.

This article was originally published by ¡Do Not Panic!

Energy Transition Minerals announced yesterday that it hired Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm run by Brian Ballard, a major donor and fundraiser for Trump, to assert what it says are its claims on the territory. Attorney General Pam Bondi, along with Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, were both hired by Trump straight out of Ballard Partners.

The news comes as the White House steps up its rhetoric over Greenland, saying this week that it was exploring all options to take control of the territory, including a military invasion.

Energy Transition Minerals, an Australian mining company, was given a license nearly twenty years ago to explore the Kvanefjeld deposit, which contains over 11 million metric tons of rare earth minerals, including large quantities of uranium. The size of Kvanefjeld makes it the largest thorium deposit, the second-largest uranium deposit and overall the third-largest rare earths deposit in the world.

In a world hungry for new energy sources, Kvanefjeld’s significance can’t be overstated.

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Oil Companies Are Key Partners in Trump’s Imperial Plans for Latin America

For months, U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed that his pressure campaign against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, backed by dozens of illegal killings through drone strikes, was about fighting drugs and cartels. But at his press conference after the U.S. abduction of Maduro, Trump couldn’t stop talking about oil.

“We’re gonna take back the oil,” Trump brazenly said. “Very large United States oil companies” will “go in” and “spend billions of dollars,” he promised. “We’re gonna be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.”

All told, Trump uttered the word “oil” at least 20 times during the press conference. Oil company stocks — ExxonMobil, Halliburton, ConocoPhillips, Valero, Phillips 66 — surged the following day, with Chevron, the only major U.S. oil corporation with a current foothold in Venezuela, seeing its share value jump more than 5 percent.

Further demonstrating the administration’s drug accusations to be mere propaganda, the Justice Department recently dropped its longstanding claim that Maduro was the head of “Cartel de los Soles,” implicitly conceding that it is indeed not a drug cartel but a slang term referring to political officials who have become corrupted by drug money.

The Trump administration’s barefaced imperial grab for Venezuela’s oil is fraught with challenges, and it’s far too early to predict what will happen. But its abduction of Maduro and effort to gain control over Venezuela’s oil industry aligns with the administration’s openly stated vision of reasserting undisputed political and economic hegemony across the Americas and the Caribbean, including control over natural resources and trade routes, through gunboat diplomacy backed by military threats. In doing so, Trump is looking to corporate allies like Chevron, which could stand to benefit handsomely from his administration’s action — though this is far from guaranteed.

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Trump Admin’s New Nutrition Guidelines Aim To End Corporate Profiteering On Americans’ Poor Health

he Trump administration announced new dietary guidelines aimed at ending “corporate-driven” preferences for ultra-processed foods, added sugar, and refined carbohydrates on Wednesday.

The Make America Healthy Again-oriented changes to the food pyramid, nutrition education, and government programs’ methods for procurement and approval of food represent the “most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a White House press briefing.

“For decades, Americans have grown sicker while health care costs have soared. The reason is clear: The hard truth is that our government has been lying to us to protect corporate profit-taking, telling us that these food-like substances were beneficial to public health,” Kennedy said. “Federal policy promoted and subsidized highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates, and turned a blind eye to the disastrous consequences. Today, the lies stop.”

“My message is clear: Eat real food,” he added.

Federal dietary guidelines shape many federal programs, as well as the groceries eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), school lunches, the food procured by government agencies, including the Pentagon, Veterans Affairs hospitals, and more. They also guide how Americans are educated about food and nutrition.

“Common purchases” for the 42 million Americans on SNAP are products that include added sugars and chips, Kennedy said, noting that 78 percent of those on SNAP are also enrolled in Medicaid.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said her department is working to finalize a “rule that will mandate” that all 250,000 retailers that accept SNAP benefits in the United States “double the type of staple foods” they provide to SNAP recipients.

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Hilton Hotels: Hotel Behind DHS Room Cancellations Has ‘Apologized’

Hilton Hotels used a late afternoon X post on Monday to announce the hotel accused of denying rooms to DHS officers is independently owned and has “apologized for the actions of their team.”

In a follow-up post they added, “[The hotel has] taken immediate action to resolve this matter. Hilton’s position is clear: Our properties are open to everyone and we do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”

On Monday morning, Breitbart News reported DHS’s allegations that Hilton Hotels were denying rooms to Department of Homeland Security officers in the Minneapolis area. Hilton Hotels responded to the DHS by saying the hotel in question was independently owned.

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