I Don’t Understand the Wayfair Walkout

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Somebody help me out here. This is a genuine question, not snark.

Wayfair, the online furniture giant, has apparently been selling beds to the government for use in immigrant detention centers. Its employees are unhappy about this and they want Wayfair to stop sales to ICE or CBP or any other agency involved with keeping kids in cages. Wayfair’s management has not agreed to this, so today its employees staged a walkout.

But isn’t our whole complaint that these kids are being treated badly? Shouldn’t we want companies to sell the government toothpaste and soap and beds and so forth? What am I missing here?

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DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

With only days left until December 31, we've raised about half of our $400,000 goal—but we need a huge surge in reader support to close the remaining gap. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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