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President Donald Trump's poll numbers are the lowest of any newly inaugurated Commander in Chief. And in the aftermath of his Muslim travel ban, the hits keep on coming.

The latest developments show just how deeply the Trump administration has wounded the national psyche. Last week two icons of American corporate culture, Disney and Amazon, took important steps to define themselves in opposition to President Trump's transparently bigoted executive order.

Many other American companies have taken up the role of change agents to oppose the Muslim ban and other Trump policies. But the Disney-Amazon duo is a particularly significant one-two punch in terms of corporate social responsibility because the two companies took two very different paths to arrive at the same place.

Mickey Mouse pokes President Trump

In what is becoming a predictable pattern, Trump set himself up for last week's Disney debacle by insisting on scheduling highly-publicized, much-anticipated meetings with the top executives of leading U.S. companies.

One such meeting happened last Friday, consisting of leading companies that signed onto Trump's newly formed Strategy and Policy Forum group.

Publicity surrounding the event made the absence of Disney CEO Bob Iger all the more conspicuous.

Disney said Iger was absent due to a previously scheduled board meeting, and so far Iger has not officially pulled out of the group.

Nevertheless, the decision to go to one meeting instead of the other has created the appearance of a deliberate A-list snub. After all, who skips a sit-down with the president of the United States for a routine board meeting?

Regardless of the explanation, some industry observers are hailing the decision as step in the right direction for Disney.

Corporate social responsibility collides with the Muslim ban

The animation industry news organization Cartoon Brew was among the first to break the story of Iger's absence. Cartoon Brew editor Amid Amidi had been sharply critical of Disney's participation in the group, and he applauded the decision with this observation:

"... There’s a key difference between Disney and the other corporations participating in Trump’s forum, and that’s that Disney is a cultural brand. It stands not just for products, but ideas, and over the last decade, the company has made a concerted effort to show that its ideas are socially progressive."

Amidi hammered home the point:

"This forward-looking stance by Disney cannot be reconciled with an American president whose every word and action goes against the company’s core values."

The Muslim ban issue is a particularly fraught one for the Disney brand because visionary founder Walt Disney was plagued by rumors of anti-Semitism during his lifetime.

Disney biographer Neal Gabler make the case that the available records don't indicate Disney expressed bigotry as part of his personality. However, Gabler says the evidence is clear (cited here in the Independent) that "he willingly allied himself with people who were antisemitic, and that reputation stuck."

The enduring impact of affiliating with bigotry probably sent up red flags among company employees and observers even before Trump issued his executive order restricting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. The so-called Muslim ban certainly opened the floodgates, with Variety reporting that Disney's membership in the Strategy and Policy Forum was "kicking up a storm" of protest last week.

In this context it's also worth noting that Trump group member and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick initially mishandled his company's response to the Muslim ban. The backlash from both employees and customers was swift and strong, but as of last Wednesday Kalanick was still planning to attend Friday's meeting.

However, following a reportedly "disastrous" phone call with Trump on Thursday, Kalanick declined to attend the Friday meeting and dropped out of the group altogether.

Trump added to fuel to the fire last Saturday by sharply disparaging the federal judge who ruled against the Muslim ban on Friday night. The "so-called" jurist (Trump's words) happens to be a Republican appointee who is widely regarded as a mainstream conservative.

Last weekend Trump also touched off an entirely new firestorm. In a taped Fox News interview released on Saturday, Trump equated Russian President Vladimir Putin's reputation for ordering political assassinations with practices of the U.S. government.

Between the Muslim ban, the jab at a Republican-appointed judge and the explosive swipe at the Republican Party's "American exceptionalism" attack line, more defections from the Strategy and Policy group are likely.

According to the Trump transition website GreatAgain.gov, the remaining corporate members include General Motors, Walmart, Boeing, the Elon Musk companies SpaceX and Tesla, PepsiCo, IBM, and General Electric, among others.

Amazon: A "stealth" hero vs. the Muslim ban

Like Disney, Amazon has been feeling the heat over its continued affiliation with the Trump brand.

However, it looks like Amazon can take at least partial credit for Friday night's bombshell ruling, which effectively restored travel back to pre-ban regulations.

Early last week, the company joined with Expedia in support of a lawsuit against the Muslim ban filed by the state of Washington. The federal judge hearing that case decided against the Trump administration and granted a temporary restraining order that applies nationwide. (That's what prompted the now notorious "so-called judge" tweet from Trump on Saturday.)

The Justice Department appealed the ruling over the weekend, but the appeal was tossed out and the Friday decision stands.

The participation of Expedia and Amazon was critical to the favorable ruling, because lawyers for the Trump administration rested their case partly on whether or not the state of Washington had standing to sue.

In support of the state's case, Amazon identified at least 49 individual employees affected by Trump's executive order. Cited in Forbes, Amazon filed a statement that included this declaration:

"From the very beginning, Amazon has been committed to equal rights, tolerance, and diversity -- and we always will be. As we've grown the company, we've worked hard to attract talented people from all over the world, and we believe this is one of the things that makes America great -- a diverse workforce helps us build better products for customers."

The common thread in all this is something that TriplePundit contributor Reed Bundy described as the "birth of a new era of corporate social responsibility," in which business leaders become change agents who challenge government to act in the best interests of all citizens.

Bob Iger and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos are taking steps in that direction, along with hundreds of others.

It could be only a matter of time before other high-profile corporate luminaries, such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla's Elon Musk, get off the couch.

So far Zuckerberg has issued a somewhat lukewarm response to the Muslim ban. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has yet to comment, though last week during a public appearance she dropped some hints that indicate she will take a stronger position in the future.

As of last week, Musk promised to "raise objections" to the Muslim ban in advance of Friday's meeting. That may not be enough to satisfy Tesla fans, who are beginning to cancel their orders for Tesla cars to express dissatisfaction with Musk's tepid response.

Don't hold your breath for Silicon Valley superstar investor Peter Thiel to act. Last week Thiel asserted, through a spokesperson, that the Muslim ban was not a religious test.

Thiel is unlikely to back down from that position, considering his affiliations. Following the 2016 presidential campaign, the billionaire tech investor and Facebook board member has transitioned from prominent Trump for President supporter to key President Trump advisor.

Image credit: Mickey Mouse toy by JeffChristiansen via flickr.com, creative commons license.

The potential closure of the largest coal plant in the American West is another sign that dirty coal is on its way out of our energy mix -- and there's nothing that Donald Trump can to do save this industry.

As Grist reported last weekend, the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona has come to the conclusion that it might have to close due to the financial challenges of generating electricity from coal. In this case, at least, the reasons are purely economic.

“Nobody in this country is building new coal plants because they’re too expensive,” Jeremy Richardson, an energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Grist. “As you look into the future, it’s cheaper to either shift to an existing natural gas plant where the capacity is available or even, in some cases, switch to renewable energy.”

While Bobby Magill of Grist focuses on cheap natural gas as the main reason coal can't compete, other analyses show that clean energy and efficiency played as much of, if not a larger, role in the move away from coal.

This plant's closure can't come fast enough for those living near its massive footprint. In fact, local activists have been fighting for the plant's closure for years.

The plant is located right alongside America's largest Native American Reservation, the Navajo Nation. And it is the Navajo who feel the greatest brunt of the health and environmental impacts from this massive plant.

In a case of blatant environment injustice, the plant actually operates with an exception from pollution controls, leaving locals highly vulnerable.

“Smokestack pollution from [the Navajo Generating Station] sickens our skies and land and children and elders just as coal smokestack pollution does anywhere, so why is the Navajo community afforded less protection?” Nicole Horseherder, a resident of nearby Black Mesa and a founding member of the community organization To’ Nizhoni Ani, asked rhetorically in a press statement this past November.

If the owners decide to close the plant, it will come as a breath of relief for Navajo Nation, and another sign that coal is an energy of the past. Clean energy is getting cheaper by the month, and new technologies such as battery storage and better, more efficient solar photovoltaics are making coal obsolete.

Moreover, a possible closure of the Navajo Generating Station shows just how weak of a state the coal industry is in. When a large power plant with waivers from pollution controls can't compete with natural gas and clean energy, it's a sign that no matter what Trump and his climate-denying cronies cook up in D.C., it won't make a difference. Coal is dying.

Image credit: Myra Bella via Wikimedia Commons

Want some good news? In Maryland, the state assembly just overturned Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's veto of a clean energy jobs act -- showing once again that the march toward clean energy will continue, despite what's happening in Washington D.C.

The bill in question is the Clean Energy Jobs Act of 2016, a bill with bipartisan support in the state. It would create new incentives for renewable energy to expand in Maryland, including increasing the state's renewable energy portfolio standards to 25 percent by 2020.

Gov. Hogan vetoed the bill last year. But it received an astounding 88 votes in favor (versus just 51 in opposition) in the state House, with representatives voting as their constituents desired. The Senate followed days later.

This is a major victory for the environment and clean energy in Maryland, and will help the state continue to be a leader despite who some call a backward-thinking governor.

“Gov. Hogan should take notice: Marylanders want progress, not ideological obstruction,” Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said in a press statement.

“They want science, not denial. They want action, not grandstanding – and jobs, not rhetoric.”

The bill will have wide-ranging positive impacts for Maryland. Besides expanding clean energy, it is estimated it will reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions by over 2.7 metric tons a year. Proponents say it will also create an estimated 1,000 well-paying jobs while preventing 25 to 50 premature deaths a year.

As mentioned, the bill received bipartisan support in the House and enjoys broad public support as well, with 63 percent of Marylanders expressing support for the legislation in public opinion surveys.

And that is something that is not unique to Maryland – all across the country, people strongly support clean, renewable energy and climate action. Even a majority of Republicans want to see us act on climate. With this data in mind, it seems the deniers in charge in D.C. don't represent Americans, but a tiny minority of fringe activists and the few companies (such as ExxonMobil) that refuse to accept reality.

That's why for many this was a message not only to Gov. Hogan, but also to the president whose climate-denying policies Hogan supports.

“The Maryland House of Delegates voted to reject the anti-environmental agendas of both Larry Hogan and Donald Trump today,” Tidwell said. “This is one of the first state legislative votes nationwide to show that states WILL fight back when leaders like Hogan and the climate deniers in Washington attempt to thwart progress on clean-energy jobs and global warming pollution.”

Environmental activists and supportive business leaders across the country are preparing to fight the new administration's policies, while also promoting strong, decisive action at the state level is a crucial tool for progress. Maryland just set an example of how we can act on clean energy, even with Republican leadership -- and potentially leverage such policies to drive bipartisan collaboration. It's time for the rest of the America to follow.

Image credit: Thisisbossi via Wikimedia Commons

Bangladesh may have delivered its climate action plan well before the 2015 COP21 climate talks in Paris, but the country’s leaders are sending mixed messages with their determination to build a $1.7 billion coal-fired power plant. The problem with the 1.3-gigawatt project, however, goes beyond worsening the country’s struggles with air pollution -- which, according to the World Bank, contributes to 230 million cases of respiratory disease annually.

The Rampal project would be located near the world’s largest mangrove forest, which is home to endangered species such as the Bengal tiger and Indian python. And as a result, some of the world’s most influential environmental NGOs are fuming.

And a new campaign aiming to pressure international financial lenders such as JPMorgan and Crédit Agricole to turn their backs on the project has so far attracted more than 1 million signatures.

The Sundarbans, which cover over 540 square miles (140,000 hectares), has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for almost 20 years. The sprawling coastal forest is renowned for its rich collection of wildlife, including at least 260 species of birds that thrive amongst the meandering waterways and mudflats.

But these mangroves cratered in size by at least 50 percent over the past 150 years. And along with its decline came the extinction of many species.

Due to the Sundarbans’ fragile ecosystem, UNESCO has called for Bangladeshi authorities to relocate the power plant to avoid threats ranging from acid rain to a further reduction in freshwater flows. UNESCO also insisted that the plant’s backers have not completed any assessment on how its operations could impact on the Sundarbans, its wildlife or the citizens living within the mangroves.

Other critics pointed out that the economics of the Rampal plant do not make sense. The NGO Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), which advocates for more sustainable development worldwide, described the project as little more than a financial boondoggle.

In a report issued last summer, IEEFA analysts described the plant as overly subsidized to the tune of at least $3 billion. Yet despite the government’s financial support, IEEFA claims that electricity rates in Bangladesh could spike as high as 32 percent. The lack of any plan on how the coal will be sourced, whether it is imported from India or as far as Australia, further puts the project at risk.

Finally, even if the plant operated at near or full capacity, Rampal would be situated in a notorious “wind risk zone” that would subject it to sudden storm surges – in a country that is constantly beset by flooding.

In a more recent IEEFA study, an analyst described the project as so over-leveraged that it could put its creditors at “significant” risk.

In sum, for a low-lying country threatened by sea-level rise and volatile weather, IEEFA described a project that will only increase costs to Bangladesh’s electricity customers. And considering the falling costs of solar and wind power, rooftop and utility-scale solar would make far more sense than a project that would drive capital out of the country and increase its dependence on energy imports.

If there were any case for making Bangladesh the recipient of a massive aid package in order to transition the country to a low-carbon carbon economy, the Rampal project heightens the sense of urgency. In the meantime, UNESCO is reportedly considering adding the Sundarbans to its list of world heritage sites in “danger.” Such a designation would focus even more global attention on the controversy – and could convince Rampal’s backers to scrap the project.

Image credit: Mmkhan.mmk/Wiki Commons

Creative destruction defines future tech. Think Amazon versus Sears. The business model of retail employees serving customers in shopping malls is being displaced by smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) devices like Amazon’s Alexa. Amazon ends up hiring thousands of new work associates while traditional retailers like Macy’s close stores. Amazon's stock price has grown 400 percent over the last five years while Macy's is considering selling the business.

This creative destruction process defines our economic future. But it raises this question: How can companies survive, or even thrive, in a future tech economy of simultaneous value destruction and value creation?

Future tech's lower costs are killing off Industrial Age companies and jobs

Future tech’s ability to win on cost is ending the Industrial Age. AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), solar, and batteries are combining to win a price war against coal, gasoline and natural gas. Human manual labor is being displaced by lower-cost smart machines.

For example, companies like Dupont and GM earn hundreds of millions of dollars annually from zero-waste manufacturing facilities. California is pioneering Zero Net Energy buildings that use a combination of AI, IoT, LED lights, mesh connectivity, solar, and batteries to slash or eliminate electric bills.

In five years autonomous vehicles will be a reality seen on our streets and highways. The reason will be lower cost. And an autonomous riding-sharing car service will cost about a tenth of a service that depends on drivers, according to some estimates.

Autonomous trucking will lower these costs by:

1. Reducing labor costs. The average long-haul trucker earns $40,000 per year. Fewer truckers will be needed. It will also reduce the historical truck driver shortages.


2. Reducing accidents from driver distraction or fatigue. Ninety percent of truck accidents are caused by human error. Also smart trucks will “talk” to one another to avoid collisions.


3. Increasing continuous hours of vehicle service


4. Increasing vehicle productivity

AI, mesh connectivity and autonomous vehicles will enable curb-to-curb mobility. Similar to how cloud services have displaced buying software, vehicle ownership will become a costly luxury compared to buying mobility as a service.

Most urban autonomous vehicles will be electric because EVs cost less to fuel and operate. The global growth in electric vehicle use, lead by China, is projected to reduce oil demand by 2 million barrels per day by 2020. The last time this happened, the price of oil dropped from $100 per barrel to $25 per barrel. This sent oil company stock prices falling while six of America's eight largest oil-producing states remain in an economic recession from this price drop.

Future tech will make recharging an electric car cheaper than filling up a gas tank. And utility-scale solar power plants now generate electricity for 3 cents per kilowatt-hour. That is less than the generating cost of coal and natural gas power plants. This holds the potential of pushing the electric utility industry over a financial cliff if their coal and natural gas plants become worthless because they cannot compete on price.

Meanwhile, virtual reality (VR) tech continues to emerge. It will massively change how people work together. VR removes the need for humans to physically meet. It replaces the conference room with a digital, three-dimensional environment. Think that sounds like years away? Ford is already designing cars and holding meetings using VR tech. This helped slash Ford's product development time while reducing transpiration costs.

Uniting America around future tech

This is the economic reality that every American (and American company) must come to accept: Future tech will win on price and productivity.

But future tech’s economic victory will be costly. Jobs will be lost. Families and communities threatened. Future tech has the potential to divide America between those who benefit and those left behind.

To avoid this dystopian future, America should take action immediately to ensure future tech leadership while so making future tech work for all Americans:

1. Teach machine learning from first grade through college. Learning to work with smart machines is what learning English was during the Industrial Age. It is core to future work. It must become a core educational curriculum.


2. Massively fund future tech job training. Training Americans to work in future tech is the only path for preserving jobs and human dignity. It will ensure America’s global tech leadership. This should be America’s top funded economic growth program.


3. Align government policy and taxes with future tech. Future tech is not just an American issue. China and Germany are also pursuing future tech leadership. Who wins future tech leadership will determine military and economic leadership. Government policies (federal, state and local) that enable future tech innovations is required to maintain America’s economic and military super power status.

Will your company outlast the future tech revolution? Will your employees? With the right tactics, they can not only survive but thrive. But it will take intention.

Image credit: Flickr/Duncan Hill

By Sarah Billig

No successful company gets very far in the world by squandering its assets. This idea seems obvious enough, but considering the fact that a World Bank projection estimates the world will produce nearly 11 million tons of trash daily in less than a century, it’s clear that not everyone has received that simple message.

In my line of work, producing redwood lumber, we get daily reminders of this wisdom. It’s an operating philosophy that marries old sensibilities with newly-gained wisdom of our relationship to the world around us. It’s also knowledge that all companies can benefit from.

No success by accident

Success in any business is hard-won, and involves a well-thought-out strategy. That may mean investing in research on a breakthrough product to validate an educated hunch, or balancing the correct investment in employees to motivate them and encourage loyalty.

Our company was formed with the idea that it is possible to manage commercial forestland with high standards of environmental stewardship and at the same time, operate a successful business. For a redwood company, success hinges on the healthiest growing environment for our trees that are planted exclusively for harvesting and milling.

That means long-term planning to manage our industrial forestlands in an environmentally responsible, socially acceptable, and economically viable fashion. We categorize the habitats and features across our lands, and identify sites and areas of high conservation value.

It is a layered approach, with operating conservation plans for each species found on our lands. For example, a comprehensive road and hillslope conservation plan is designed to reduce sediment inputs into streams to protect fish habitat.

A necessary element of planning is reporting, so we monitor forest and stream conditions to ensure that the conservation measures implemented are accomplishing the desired outcomes. It’s hard work, but the results make each effort worthwhile.

A new view of manufacturing processes

When it comes to product quality, the entire process must function as projected to deliver that promise.

At Humboldt Redwood Co., we use a single mill to process each log we harvest, and two distribution centers positioned to help us quickly and efficiently supply our customers with products they need. Those facilities only represent the final stages of a process that is planted in our 327 square miles of coast redwood forestland – land that spans across 60 Northern California coastal watersheds, some 305 miles of fish-bearing streams, and nearly 1,100 miles of streams supporting non-fish aquatic life.

Not every manufacturer requires the same exact operating conditions to ensure product quality. But after a pause and consideration, they will find similar connections back to maintaining certain natural habitats and how they affect their finished products’ quality promises.

Boost sustainability – and your bottom line

Healthy forests represent more about the health of global businesses than many realize.

In other words, if we don’t take care of those resources critical to our businesses, we won’t be in business in the very near future.

Working in a forest helped me develop a new appreciation for the careful balance that can be accomplished between nurturing our planet’s and our business’s health. We rely on the earth to provide the perfect incubator that literally grows our product to a consistently high quality that consumers have come to expect. It only makes sense, then, that we treat our forestlands with a sense of responsibility for the next generation of business owners.

Any company that manufactures and sells goods knows how important it is to responsibly source the materials needed. There are valuable lessons to be learned from putting sustainability ahead of profit and growth, and how doing so supports your success as a company.

Images courtesy of Humboldt Redwood Co. 

Sarah Billig is Director, Stewardship at Humboldt Redwood Company. HRC is working to cultivate a lasting legacy of environmentally responsible forestry and sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution of top-quality redwood lumber products.

There's no shame in watching the Super Bowl for the ads or the halftime show or just because Donald Trump bet on the Patriots and you became a fair-weather Falcons fan.

But this year -- amidst political turmoil, daily protests and corporate boycotts -- those ads took on a whole new meaning, and more than a few corporations made an effort to share an inspiring message through their multimillion-dollar ad spend.

The political undertones this year included things like inclusion, equal pay and the American Dream. In any other year, these topics would be near-universally celebrated. But in our politically divisive environment, anything construed to be in favor of either side of the aisle was bound to elicit partisan feedback and derision on social media.

These ads prove that it's now up to corporations more than ever to take a stand for the things they believe are ethical and right.

Airbnb

The home-sharing company touted the message of acceptance in a spot that immediately went viral. The text of the ad read: “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful the more you accept.”

https://youtu.be/yetFk7QoSck

Audi

An ad advocating for equal pay for women should not be considered subversive in this day and age. But in Trump's America, it apparently is. In the ad, a dad is watching his daughter participate in a soap box derby, wondering whether she will be unfairly judged in the race, and in life, because she is a girl.

"What do I tell my daughter?" the dad ponders. "Do I tell her that her grandpa is worth more than her grandma? That her dad is worth more than her mom? That despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets? Or maybe I'll be able to tell her something different."

Audi's executive team explained that it's possible to enlighten and entertain at the same time:

"You can entertain by doing one of two things to speak to all America but still do something that you can be proud of as a luxury brand," Loren Angelo, vice president of marketing for Audi of America, told Forbes.

https://youtu.be/G6u10YPk_34

Coca-Cola

What should have been a celebration of American diversity triggered a knee-jerk reaction from some of the very worst Internet trolls and a viral #BoycottCoke campaign which appeared seconds after the ad aired. In the ad, the lyrics to "America the Beautiful' are sung in English, Spanish, Keres, Tagalog, Hindi, Senegalese, French and Hebrew.

The ad was actually a repeat from a 2014 ad that has been replayed numerous times with much less controversy.

https://youtu.be/LhP5sDUnF6c

Budweiser

Budweiser faced a boycott leading up to the Super Bowl for its seemingly pro-immigration advertisement -- despite the fact that the company released a statement claiming the ad was produced prior to President Donald Trump's controversial immigrant ban.

The ad depicts Budweiser’s German founder Adolphus Busch traveling to the United States with the dream of brewing beer. Along the way,  Busch is treated poorly because he doesn’t “look like he’s from around here.” The ultimate message is that “nothing stops your dream.”

https://youtu.be/7ZmlRtpzwos

84 Lumber

The company's site crashed with viewers eager to watch the full story of a mother and child attempting to cross the American border on their path toward immigration and citizenship.

https://youtu.be/J0Uk6ctu7nI

Image credit: Flickr/Texas.713

On Super Bowl Sunday, it's a TriplePundit tradition to look at the messages various corporations try to communicate via their (very expensive) advertising. Tonight we were impressed by Coca-Cola's diversity and Budweiser's pro-immigration stance and appalled by Kia's trivialization of critical environmental topics.

However, nothing in a long time has compared to the ad from 84 Lumber which told the story of a Mexican mother and daughter on their way to the United States to meet the woman's husband, employed by a construction company building -- you guessed it -- a border wall.  You can watch the whole advertisement below.

Needless to say, the woman and her daughter are initially discouraged by the concrete wall but eventually discover a wooden door (from 84 lumber?), which they open and happily use to enter the United States.

It's a hell of an ad, and by far the most direct reference to the declarations of the current presidential administration. It was apparently deemed too controversial to show in its entirety but concludes with the thought-provoking message that "the will to succeed is always welcome here."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPo2B-vjZ28

It's bold, certainly, but why make such a statement in such divided times? Something that's bound to enrage as many as it inspired?

Admittedly, I'd never heard of 84 Lumber before tonight. That alone suggests the ad was successful. It turns out they're a lumber company (in case you were wondering), a sort of bare-bones Home Depot based south of Pittsburgh and catering primarily to professional contractors. A cynic could easily conclude that the company might simply be gambling with the old tenet "any news is good news," and that the inevitable controversy the ad will provoke will raise awareness beyond any downside.

A conversation earlier this week with Business Insider suggests that notoriety might have indeed been the company's main motivation. The fact is, in much of the country, professional contractors and builders are dominated by Mexican immigrants (legal and otherwise). This means a huge chunk of the company's clientele are very likely to be sympathetic to issues of immigration. The general public isn't likely a customer, so upsetting a chunk of America may be of little consequence. In fact the ad might have the effect of building solidarity with the company's core base -- a big win.

More than likely the wall in the advertisement is merely capitalizing on the politics of the day. Given the gainful employment the woman's husband is receiving building it and the fact that the woman's perseverance pays off when the doors open, the could be interpreted as much pro-wall as anti. Time will tell.

Either way, it's quite a statement. We can continue to debate the nuances of exactly how immigration should be regulated -- especially whether a literal wall will accomplish anything. But celebrating the fact that immigration, mainly by those driven to succeed and thrive in a new land, is an integral part of what makes the United States great should hardly be considered controversial.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons

One independent bookstore in San Francisco is helping inspire intellectual resistance against Donald Trump with a little help from a mysterious benefactor.

Earlier this week 50 copies of George Orwell’s 1984 were purchased from Booksmith, a beloved indie book seller on Haight Street, and then given back to the store to distribute for free to interested readers.

Copies were quickly snatched up. According to the store, just as those books disappeared, a second individual bought the store’s entire stock of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts for giveaways. The store gave the books prominent table space beneath a sign reading: Read Up! Fight Back! A Mysterious Benefactor Has Bought These Books for You If You Need One.

1984, Orwell’s dystopian treatise on a fictional totalitarian government, shot to number one on USA Today’s bestseller list this week. It had reached number one on Amazon after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The Handmaid’s Tale is a terrifying satire, written by Atwood in the eighties, that seems all too real in today’s world where women’s rights feel as though they could be systematically dismantled by a small cabal of wealthy, straight white men. It is being adapted into a Hulu miniseries which will be released later this year and previewed in a teaser trailer during the Superbowl on Sunday.  Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts tells the true story of America’s first Ambassador to Nazi Germany. 

The store’s Instagram encouraged more benefactors to continue their altruistic purchases, writing:

“If anyone wants to purchase more copies of 1984 for giveaway, we have 100 coming in Monday/Tuesday, we're happy to continue distributing.”

Booksmith's Camden Avery told us more:

"Our first benefactor was actually sent to us by way of a gracious introduction from Green Apple's excellent Emily Ballaine; they had got the same sort of arrangement going on over there, and wanted to spread the love. The first ten copies of 1984 were gone in a day, but once people started hearing about what was going on others decided to jump in—and then yesterday someone else walked in and cleaned us out of The Handmaid's Tale and In The Garden Of Beasts to donate them from our front counter. We were so pleased we ordered 100 extra copies of 1984 from the publisher yesterday, in case anyone else wants to jump in and take up the effort."

"Like any other institution that traffics in ideas, bookstores are naturally suited to being places of community and activism—this is true historically, of course, as well as right now. Reading is disruptive, information is threatening; and bookstores are a place of safety for thoughts and voices and people disenfranchised from other corners of the world."

More and more companies are facing boycotts and criticism for their perceived support of Donald Trump—among them Bay Area based Uber and See’s Candies. In the face of authoritarianism and anti-intellectual leadership, however, some small businesses like Booksmith have been taking a stand against the administration and the current climate of alternative facts and hate speech.

Image c/o Booksmith Instagram

Jo Piazza is the author of How to Be Married, scheduled for release in April, 2017