Free Republic

NEW YORK — US actors and liberal intellectuals joined a list to be published Friday of nearly 2,000 people accusing President Barack Obama of allowing human rights violations and war crimes. "Crimes are crimes, no matter who does them," the statement reads over pictures of Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush due to appear in the New York Review of Books. The statement, published as a paid advertisement, accuses Obama, who was elected in 2008 with the enthusiastic support of US liberals, of continuing Bush's controversial approach to human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in domestic security. It...

Three Starbucks shops in New York could be the first in the massive US coffee chain to unionize, pending a worker vote set to start Wednesday. A total of around 100 employees at the upstate shops in Buffalo, Cheektowaga and Hamburg will have four weeks to cast their ballots for or against forming a union at the locations, Bloomberg reported. “It’s a much bigger deal than the number of [affected workers] would suggest. Winning is contagious, and it could spread like wildfire,” former National Labor Review Board Chair Wilma Liebman told the news outlet.

Less than a month after voting to form a union, employees at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, N.Y., have gone on strike over grievances about working conditions. Six employees on the schedule to work instead formed a picket line in front of the store. Three other employees reported to work as scheduled, but Starbucks closed the location for the day. The striking employees stated that the surge in coronavirus cases and illnesses among the staff had created “unsafe working conditions.” In recent days, Buffalo area Starbucks locations have been operating on a take-out-only basis. “Pressure to go to work is...

Starbucks is reportedly considering closing its Facebook page as a result of the 'hateful comments' in response to some of their posts. An internal memo, obtained by Buzzfeed, showed concern within Starbucks at the rhetoric on the site. Starbucks mainly posts information about their beverages on the page, which is followed by 35 million people - but they also respond to social issues, such as the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, and the wave of anti-Asian attacks.

Starbucks is closing 16 locations in cities around the nation after the coffee giant’s employees reported a string of “personal safety” incidents, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Translation: Crime is skyrocketing and our workers are too terrified to even show up at these locations.The company will shutter six stores in both Seattle and Los Angeles, two in Portland, and one each in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. by the end of July. What do all those locations have in common? They’re in deep-blue areas with soft-on-crime district attorneys and past support of the “defund the police” movement. How’d that work...

As Sunday night gave way to Monday morning (“National 7/11 Day”), a string of Los Angeles area 7-Elevens were robbed and two people — one customer and one clerk — were killed. Three others were wounded in the five armed robberies that occurred over the course of the late evening and early morning. “Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones. We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with local law enforcement,” said 7-Eleven in a statement. “Right now, our focus is on Franchisee, associate and customer safety. With that in mind, we encouraged stores...

Starbucks is closing 16 stores in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. The closures are due to "challenging incidents" that make stores unsafe for workers and customers, Starbucks says. The stores will close by the end of July. Starbucks is permanently closing 16 locations around the US by the end of July, The Wall Street Journal first reported. "After careful consideration, we are closing some stores in locations that have experienced a high volume of challenging incidents that make it unsafe to continue to operate, to open new locations with safer conditions," a Starbucks spokesperson told Insider. The...

Coffee chain said it is permanently closing 16 cafes after workers reported drug use by members of the public and crime concerns

Starbucks considers walking back its “all inclusive” bathroom policy, first instituted in 2018 following the arrest of two black men at a store in Philadelphia who were denied bathroom use until they made a purchase. The policy was an unmitigated disaster as Starbucks bathrooms in some areas of the country transformed into homeless shelters and a safe space for drug addicts to shoot up. CEO Howard Schultz appears to have found a possible out to reverse former CEO Kevin Johnson’s disastrous open bathroom policy. Speaking on Thursday at NYTimes‘ DealBook D.C. policy forum, Schultz said increasing threats to public safety...

Workers allege the action is retaliatory, but the chain says closures are "a regular part of our operations." With thousands of locations nationwide, a single Starbucks closing typically isn't national news. But at a time when the coffee chain is dealing with a major unionization push from employees — and being accused of potentially illegal anti-union behavior in the process — the announcement that Starbucks is shuttering a unionized store in Ithaca, New York, is grabbing a lot of attention. Starbucks Workers United, the national group behind Starbucks employees' unionization efforts, said they would once again be filing an Unfair...

The workers union at Starbucks is claiming the coffee chain is shutting down a recently unionized cafe in retaliation for its activist efforts. It’s the latest escalation between a rapidly growing national labor movement and the coffee giant. Workers United, the union that’s backing organizing efforts at Starbucks, said in a Friday filing with the National Labor Relations Board that Starbucks is violating federal labor law by permanently closing an Ithaca, New York, store. The group alleged it was in retaliation since employees at the location voted to unionize in April. The Ithica store employees say they originally went on...

Actor James Cromwell went to great lengths while joining PETA's protest against Starbucks on Tuesday. In a video shared by the animal rights organization, the Succession star, 82, superglued his hand to a counter in a New York City Starbucks to protest the coffee chain's "senseless" upcharge for Vegan milk. "There's no reason for it except greed," Cromwell says in part in a video shared by PETA on Facebook, later reading a letter and asking, "Will you stop charging more for vegan milk? When will you stop raking in huge profits while customers, animals, and the environment suffer? When you...

James Cromwell took a dramatic stand for PETA Tuesday morning by supergluing his hand to a Starbucks counter in protest of the coffee chain’s up-charge for vegan milks. Appearing on a Facebook livestream, the “Succession” star, 82, rattled off facts about the cons of producing dairy milk from cows as he remained stuck to the Midtown Manhattan shop’s counter alongside other PETA members. Despite advocating for inclusivity, Starbucks “still discriminates against those who can’t have dairy” by making customers “pay more” for vegan options such as almond milk and oat milk, Cromwell claimed. “My friends at PETA and I are...

Not promoting violence, voting against it. You will never see me raising a fist. I’m a pacifist. My words were taken out of context. I’m worried about the blood of the dissent, protesters, more children shot at school, people shot while praying, for who they love and who they are— James Cromwell 🐷 (@jamesocromwell) October 30, 2018 [cut] This walk back comes after the Jurassic World star said that Trump’s presidency could lead to a “revolution” with “blood in the streets.”

Actor James Cromwell told an audience Sunday night that a violent revolution is coming if Democrats don’t win the midterm elections. ~snip~ Speaking to Variety on the red carpet before the event, Mr. Cromwell said, “There will be blood in the streets” if President Trump stays in power. ~snip~ Mr. Cromwell, 78, is a longtime liberal activist who has been arrested multiple times for protesting environmental issues.

Before he was honored at the 4th annual Carney Awards Sunday evening, Actor James Cromwell warned that the United States will experience another a “revolution” with “blood in the streets” unless President Donald Trump’s agenda is thwarted. “This is nascent fascism. We always had a turnkey, totalitarian state — all we needed was an excuse, and all the institutions were in place to turn this into pure fascism,” James Cromwell said in an interview with Variety. “If we don’t stop [President Trump] now, then we will have a revolution for real. Then there will be blood in the streets.” During...

Before he was honored at the 4th annual Carney Awards Sunday evening, Actor James Cromwell warned that the United States will experience another a “revolution” with “blood in the streets” unless President Donald Trump’s agenda is thwarted. “This is nascent fascism. We always had a turnkey, totalitarian state — all we needed was an excuse, and all the institutions were in place to turn this into pure fascism,” James Cromwell said in an interview with Variety. “If we don’t stop [President Trump] now, then we will have a revolution for real. Then there will be blood in the streets.” During...

Though James Cromwell was honored at the fourth annual Carney Awards for his work as a character actor, the industry veteran has worked as a political activist his entire career. On the red carpet at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Calif., he candidly shared his thoughts about the current political climate. “This is nascent fascism. We always had a turnkey, totalitarian state — all we needed was an excuse, and all the institutions were in place to turn this into pure fascism,” Cromwell told Variety on Sunday night. “If we don’t stop [President Trump] now, then...

The second season of American Horror Story, entitled American Horror Story: Asylum premiers tonight on the FX channel at 10/9c. Several of the actors from last season will be returning, but in different roles. Go to the official website for more information.Wikipedia article

Activist though he may be, Cromwell isn’t above taking a part for the cash, which is how he ended up on 24, the television series with which he says he has 'real problems’. On the show, Cromwell plays Jack Bauer’s father, a corrupt industrialist who runs – gasp – a multinational corporation. 'I can’t handle living in the United States of America’ – you can tell someone’s getting soap-boxy when they call it that, and Cromwell’s indulging in a moment of heartfelt theatre now – 'when I know the last two elections were rigged, and that we were denied our...