The Swamp

First shots this year fired by $tarbucks?

That "(f)ormer pastor Joshua Feuerstein" guy is pretty effing awful.

These fucking people need to face real adversity in life.

mister d wrote:These fucking people need to face real adversity in life.

Like having to travel 3 FUCKING MILES to a McDonalds.

BSF21 wrote:

mister d wrote:These fucking people need to face real adversity in life.

Like having to travel 3 FUCKING MILES to a McDonalds.

Neglected to mention that you can buy this right by the register


I sort of hope Starbucks goes the other direction and full on Hanukkah. Blue cups, star of davids, dreidels, etc.

rass wrote:First shots this year fired by $tarbucks?

That "(f)ormer pastor Joshua Feuerstein" guy is pretty effing awful.

"Joshua Feuerstein"? A pastor?

I'm thinking with a name like that he's got more than a few games of Driedel under his belt.

DaveInSeattle wrote:

rass wrote:First shots this year fired by $tarbucks?

That "(f)ormer pastor Joshua Feuerstein" guy is pretty effing awful.

"Joshua Feuerstein"? A pastor?

I'm thinking with a name like that he's got more than a few games of Driedel under his belt.

My late mother-in-law's maiden name was Feuerstein, and they were a very devout Catholic family.

rass wrote:First shots this year fired by $tarbucks?

That "(f)ormer pastor Joshua Feuerstein" guy is pretty effing awful.

I admit I'm not the most well read person when it comes to the New Testament, but is there any mention of snowflakes or snowmen in there I might have missed? It's not like they came out with cups that said "fuck Jesus" or "Happy Holidays" or something. They even kept the cups in traditional Christmas colors. I'd like to think this turns off a couple of Christmas Warriors, making them think this one goes too far, but a lack of reasoning abilities is necessary to buy into the War on Xmas to begin with.

It's the most wonderful time of the year! And Google image search is outstanding.

I'm coming at this from a different point of view. I like that North America celebrates Christmas and am sad to see it lessen. It's a holiday that makes it special here.

If you went to China you'd get Chinese New Year's firecrackers up your ass whether you like it or not.

The Sybian wrote:

rass wrote:First shots this year fired by $tarbucks?

That "(f)ormer pastor Joshua Feuerstein" guy is pretty effing awful.

I admit I'm not the most well read person when it comes to the New Testament, but is there any mention of snowflakes or snowmen in there I might have missed? It's not like they came out with cups that said "fuck Jesus" or "Happy Holidays" or something. They even kept the cups in traditional Christmas colors. I'd like to think this turns off a couple of Christmas Warriors, making them think this one goes too far, but a lack of reasoning abilities is necessary to buy into the War on Xmas to begin with.

Exactly. Since snowflakes and snowmen have nothing to do with Jesus, I thought using those symbols would be even more of an attack on the True Spirit of Christmas.

What is really stupid is that if Starbucks didn't use Christmas cups at all, no one would bat an eye.

degenerasian wrote:I'm coming at this from a different point of view. I like that North America celebrates Christmas and am sad to see it lessen. It's a holiday that makes it special here.

If you went to China you'd get Chinese New Year's firecrackers up your ass whether you like it or not.

That's the thing though; it hasn't diminished at all. I like Christmas too but the people who are saying "Hey guys, lets just make sure this doesn't turn into a free 2 months where the government gets to promote and endorse your religion for you while pissing all over the constitution," are right. This should not be hard.

To clarify, it's not like the previous cups were decked out in crosses and mangers. It’s unclear why a drawing of a winking snowman or a dog sledding, for instance, is more “Christian” than a plain red and green (you know, Christmas colors) cup.

People suck.

I bet if a person is super-"Christian", color-blind, and disbelieves climate change, they're REALLY pissed at Starbucks.

It's too bad that as Americans they don't have a way of showing their displeasure with a company whose policies they don't agree with.

Under a Carson administration, outrages such as this won't be allowed to happen.

degenerasian wrote:I'm coming at this from a different point of view. I like that North America celebrates Christmas and am sad to see it lessen. It's a holiday that makes it special here.

If you went to China you'd get Chinese New Year's firecrackers up your ass whether you like it or not.

Maybe Calgary is different, but in NJ Christmas decorations, aisles full of Christmas crap and Christmas advertising started before Halloween. I went to the Supermarket the week of Halloween to by an extra bag of candy in case we ran out, and the Halloween crap was already gone, replaced with Christmas. Last year we went shopping on November 1, and my then 5 year old asked why the store was putting Xmas crap up when Thanksgiving was the next holiday (she hates our veterans). Xmas crap used to start after Thanksgiving, now it's been pushed up another month. And I am living in a relatively secular part of the country in an area with a lot of religious diversity,and we still have 2 months of Xmas buildup. Not to mention my town has a big XMas tree lighting festivity complete with Santa on a firetruck and Christmas carols. They put up a token menorah, so all religions are included.

I wouldn't even care, but some militant War on Xmas bitches took to the community FB page. The Town officially collects donations to pay for the Xmas even, which is organized by Town Council members and led by the mayor. People were pissed that the Anti-Christian Atheists were jealous and wouldn't let tax money go towards the event. Donation go directly to a Council member, check made out to the Town. Not even a separate earmark or account, mixed with the town's tax funds. If the donations came up short, who'd know if they dipped into tax funds? Again, I really didn't care until some bitch,completely out of nowhere, ranted something like "let the Atheists try to stop us!" I almost invited JLo into the group to let him respond, but my name would be tied to his for inviting him.

Long story short, Christmas has not been diminished one iota in the US. It's all a ploy to keep gullible Christians voting Republican. Because Jesus cares more about coffee cups and tax cuts for the wealthy than feeding the homeless or providing a social safety net.

I went looking for pumpkins to carve the day before Halloween and it was nothing but christmas decorations. Made me angry.

But not angry enough to say "crap" four times in one paragraph like Syb.

I left that Facebook group the day we sold. Missus D read it for another couple weeks before I convinced her to just get rid of it. Worst of the worst there.

Perhaps we holding back because of rememberence day. Well see in the coming weeks

mister d wrote:But not angry enough to say "crap" four times in one paragraph like Syb.

I left that Facebook group the day we sold. Missus D read it for another couple weeks before I convinced her to just get rid of it. Worst of the worst there.

Heh, that was a crap post. That FB group can be useful, but the 4 or 5 people constantly commenting are out of their friggin minds.

When Santa is not Christmas-y enough

In New Jersey, criticism of the Rockaway Townsquare display took on anti-Muslim charge when a bus driver for the Parsippany school district took issue with those he blamed for the display, Jefferson Patch reported.

"This mall used to be so great...And now they go politically correct and refuse to have Christmas decorations up so as to not offend the towel heads," Frank Atkins said in a Facebook post recounted by the website. "WHAT ABOUT OFFENDING US THE CHRISTIANS! My kid will never visit Santa there and I work for the Parsippany school district. I am sending the word out to all our schools and all the others to boycott your mall!"

As soon as someone notified Frank that "towel heads" was a potentially offensive term, he deleted his post:

(from the comments) wrote:This is Frank Atkins. I want to say that I meant no disrespect to whoever I offended with my ignorant words. I was mad at the mall and acted impulsively stupid. I am a divorced single dad with a little girl. I make only $20,000 a year. Give a guy a break. I want to say that I am sincerely sorry and I hope you all can forgive me.

I want to say that as soon as it was brought to my attention that it was offensive I took it down.

...

I truly meant no harm. I was just frustrated. I love my job and obviously make no money. After my divorce I lost everything and was forced to live with my father. I am trying my best to raise my little girl without much help.

...

There is a lot of electric stuff. Not traditional Christmas. No snow. Elves. They finally put the tree. That's all

...

No you are right. I was a complete moron. But the mall doesn't have any type of Christmas feeling. It has an electric feeling.

rass wrote:First shots this year fired by $tarbucks?

TRUMP

His speech came across like a bad late night talk show opening monologue.

Who even drinks from a Starbucks cup without a sleeve that covers up all that? These people should be complaining about their blistering hands, not whatever message SBUX is trying to send.

And if they could stop the under the lid leaks I wouldn't care if the cups had "FUCK ALL DAVES" written on the side.

mister d wrote:And if they could stop the under the lid leaks I wouldn't care if the cups had "FUCK ALL DAVES" written on the side.

Hey now....lets not get carried away here...

And why would anyone drink Starbucks in the first place? First off, its bad...second its overpriced...and thirdly, and most importantly....FUCK HOWARD SCHULTZ!!!!!

Calling Starbucks "bad" is overcorrecting. Dunkin Donuts is legitimately bad coffee. Starbucks is fine.



(Speaking of ... is Peet's buying up Intelligentsia and Stumptown an attempt to unseat Starbucks with the darling brands or just eating up competition and trying to own that market like the macro beer companies are doing? I imagine it'll be the suckiest of all options.)

DaveInSeattle wrote:And why would anyone drink Starbucks in the first place?

For most of America, there are no better options.

mister d wrote:Calling Starbucks "bad" is overcorrecting. Dunkin Donuts is legitimately bad coffee. Starbucks is fine.



(Speaking of ... is Peet's buying up Intelligentsia and Stumptown an attempt to unseat Starbucks with the darling brands or just eating up competition and trying to own that market like the macro beer companies are doing? I imagine it'll be the suckiest of all options.)

There are perhaps some people who will be upset that their favorite Good Coffee Company is now just another Good Coffee Brand, revealing once again the insignificance of their person and the futility of their Brand Devotion when it is set against forces vastly larger than themselves, like capitalism, but they should take solace in the fact that even if the Good Coffee Brand becomes less Good as it becomes ever larger—which, FWIW, Blue Bottle has only gotten better as it has gotten bigger—it was never even Great to begin with. It was just coffee.

P.D.X. wrote:

DaveInSeattle wrote:And why would anyone drink Starbucks in the first place?

For most of America, there are no better options.

This. Look, I know there are better coffees...Louisville has a great local chain that beats the shit out of Starbucks. I don't live in louisville (though I usually stop in for some Heine Brothers when I am in Lousiville). And in Lexington, there are no places I consider far superior to Starbucks.

But I just get black coffee anyway, and have had my share of Coal Mine coffee, so I am not the best judge of truly good coffee, I suppose.

rass wrote:

rass wrote:First shots this year fired by $tarbucks?

TRUMP

His speech came across like a bad late night talk show opening monologue.

Guh. I have to believe the majority of Republicans think this Starbucks thing is stupid. And you damned well know Trump doesn't give a fuck, especially since Trump Tower houses the greatest, most successful Starbucks in the world. For him to blatantly pander on this issue, it has to turn off more potential voters than it gains, right? How stupid does an "anti-Christian" incident have to be before these Christian oppressionists decide not to jump on board? That would be a fun sociology experiment, too bad I don't have a large social media presence among the Evangelicals.

With all of the idiots boycotting Starbucks and saying they are going to DD or other chains, did these other chains ever have Christmas cups to begin with? The best part of Trumps pandering, he said when he is President, everyone will be saying Merry Christmas. So..., the people raging against political correctness, government regulations on business and too much government in their lives cheers the idea of government mandated speech? Fuck.

It goes back to the start of Trump's ascendancy, but man, his campaign is like a long-running performance art piece. Pat Paulsen without a sense of humour.

mister d wrote:(Speaking of ... is Peet's buying up Intelligentsia and Stumptown an attempt to unseat Starbucks with the darling brands or just eating up competition and trying to own that market like the macro beer companies are doing? I imagine it'll be the suckiest of all options.)

Peet's is big around here, and I think it is really good. I also like them because, awhile ago I was speaking to a trucking terminal manager who told me that Peet's was one of his biggest accounts. In addition to deliveries, he has a regular standing order from Peet's to pick up any beans from retail establishments that don't sell out quickly, by a certain date. So, you can be confident you are always buying fresh beans.

Fixed?

Now this is going too far...

Hipster cat knows Christmas...

I love Eugene Mirman so goddamn much.

I'll declare a ceasefire - and wish all of you guys a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.

And fuck Ben Carson with an artificial tree.

The Sikh Society in Saskatchewan wishes you a merry christmas

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