Man, I’m torn on this one.

We have two grocery stores in our exurban area.

Kroger, as a corporation, contributes to politicians of both US parties in roughly equal measure. Less than ideal (zero contributions), but not too bad I guess. But, they do have an obnoxious customer loyalty card program. Boo!

Publix, on the other hand, doesn’t have a customer loyalty card program at all. Yay! But, the corporation and their leadership contribute HEAVILY to the new Trumpy GOP, Matt Gaetz in particular. So, fuck them.

I’m boycotting Publix. Lesser of two evils I guess.

I really wish we had a locally-owned mom ’n pop grocery. I’d pay a premium for that.

You can, on certain devices, install /e/os/ and deGoogle everything.

There’s a new market for preinstalled devices popping up, too: https://cybernews.com/gadgets/murena-degoogled-pixel-tablet-launch

It is the rural areas.

I’m in rural TN, and the Trump cult is embedded deep here.

I get to look out my bedroom window and see Trump flags every morning.

Venice.ai is great

Perplexity also has a DeepSeek option and voice

Good.

This is one thing Apple tends to get right, more or less. They offer two or three tiers for every product class, and that’s it. (Do you want “standard, pro, or max”?)

I have plenty of criticisms for them, but reducing decision fatigue isn’t one of them. They do a decent job in that regard. They make up the “lost” profit in other ways.

Y’all still using paper money and coins?

I haven’t used physical bills in twenty years.

Dear god, as an American, I really hope Europe does the right thing and tells the US, with Trump at the help, to fuck all the way off.

They have experience with Fascism. They should know better.

If Europe goes under, the West is done.

I always park strategically - not closest to the front door, but right next to a cart corral if possible.

This is triply important when you’re lugging kids around.

I’d rather my tax dollars be spent on these things, than more cyber trucks or whatever.

But Musk’s companies are getting more lucrative government contracts, paid for by the taxpayer, so that’s cool I guess.