Posts on social media have been calling for a mass boycott of major retailers on Friday. The event appears to be attributed to People's Union USA, whose mission is a bit vague.

A call to action to boycott major retailers and only shop locally for essentials this Friday has been gaining momentum over the past few weeks. According to Yahoo News, it's unclear who the official organizer of the event is, but Yahoo claims the mission behind the blackout is to put pressure on corporations who are abandoning DEI initiatives.

Some posts circling social media are attributing the boycott to People's Union USA, a nonpartisan group founded by John Schwarz, who goes by "J "or  "TheOneCalledJai," a businessman and drummer in the Midwest who was born in Queens. The group doesn't seem to have a very clear mission, except that citizens' collective resistance can be a powerful tool.

The People's Union is planning two other blackouts focused specifically on Amazon from March 7–14 and Nestle March 21–28.

From the People's Union USA website regarding Friday:

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in-store

No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy

Nowhere!

Do not spend money on:

Fast Food

Gas

Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

Image: Pierre (Rennes)/Flickr

As a response to Rose McGowan's brief suspension from Twitter yesterday for sharing the private phone number of a Hollywood executive's assistant, people have joined together to protest Twitter and the spotty enforcement of its terms of service using the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter.

Software engineer Kelly Ellis first proposed the hashtag and called for all women — plus the men who support them — to not use Twitter today, according to The Guardian's report on the boycott. As she wrote in her tweet, it's intended to be a gesture of solidarity with Rose McGowan, who, following a series of tweets regarding Harvey Weinstein's rampant sexual harassment of Hollywood stars, was suspended from Twitter for posting a screenshot of an e-mail that also happened to contain the phone number of a Hollywood executive's assistant.

At the time of the suspension, many were mystified by Twitter's decision to punish the outspoken actress, especially at a time when it was clear that she was calling out the sexism rampant amongst Hollywood stars. Later, Twitter explained that the suspension was because of the e-mail screenshot, not necessarily because of what she was posting, but by then, the damage to Twitter's reputation had been done.

Chief among the concerns voiced by critics is that Twitter has shown inconsistencies in how it chooses to enforce its terms of service. In McGowan's case, it was surprising to many that they moved so quickly to suspend her account when others have used the platform to maliciously "doxx" (i.e., share personal information like addresses, phone numbers, and the like) people with nary a glance from the Twitter safety team.

So, in response, many women are taking the day off of Twitter, in the hopes that the absence of their voices would then mean something to the company behind the platform. Plenty of other actresses have voiced their approval of the hashtag and the move, including Anna Paquin, Alyssa Milano, Kathy Griffin, Kerry Washington, and Christine Teigen.

Joining along in protest are a few male actors, including Mark Ruffalo and John Cusack.

Many people are pointing out that a Twitter without women on it, ironically, is exactly what many of the more misogynist trolls on the platform want. There's something backwards in suggesting that women should remain silent as a form of protest, especially on a platform full of people who are, more often than not, hostile to them.

Moreover, and perhaps most worryingly, many prominent women of color are asking where this support was when other stars of color were run off of Twitter thanks to similar doxxing and trolling. Salon points out that Academy Award-nominated director Ava DuVernay expressed her thoughts regarding the boycott in a tweet:

As an alternative to the boycott, many women of color are using another hashtag, #WOCAffirmation, to highlight and amplify the voices and work of other women of color, who are often drowned out in the noise that surrounds the network. That particular hashtag was started by April Reign, the activist behind the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag campaign that called out the Academy Awards their racist practices.

Though Twitter was quick to say that they are "proud to empower and support the voices on our platform" and that they "stand with the brave women and men who use Twitter to share their stories" after repealing McGowan's suspension, Twitter has yet to show any meaningful change regarding protecting the marginalized voices who use their platform. Last week, a few Democrats in Congress even went so far as to send them a letter urging them to do something about the racism prevalent on their platform or risk facing legislation that would regulate Twitter as a federal resource. And before that, Twitter made a fairly controversial decision in deciding to not delete Trump's tweet which spurred North Korea to say that the U.S. has declared war. The social network argued that the tweet was "newsworthy," and thus, should stay up for all to see.

Though there are a variety of ways to engage with the #WomenBoycottTwitter or #WOCAffirmation demonstrations, one would hope that it's painfully obvious to Twitter that things are going very, very wrong on their platform.

Related: Is Trump's 'Declaration Of War' Tweet About North Korea Grounds For Getting His Twitter Account Suspended?

L-Word actress and musician Leisha Hailey took to Twitter yesterday after Southwest Airlines booted her and her girlfriend from a flight for kissing. According to Hailey, "Flt. attendant said that it was a 'family' airline and kissing was not ok." She followed up with, "We were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue. @SouthwestAir endorses homophobic employees. No one made her accountable," going so far as to ask for a boycott, saying, "I know plenty of wonderful same sex families I would like to introduce them to. Boycott @SouthwestAir if you are gay. They don't like us."

Southwest Airlines, who "take pride in [their] outreach and commitment to the GLBT community," responded with the following (very vague) statement:

Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight. We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectations.

Granted PDA can be frustrating if excessive or if you're a bitter lonely queen. However, we were on a Southwest flight from John Wayne Airport to SFO this month where a woman sporting long pigtails well into her late 30s/early 40s sat on her boyfriend's lap in the terminal and during part of the flight, making out most of the time. No one said a word. A kerfuffle was never raised. (Also, she was wearing a "nerds have bigger hard drives" skank tank. Which, double ew.)

This most recent incident comes on the heels of Southwest barring noted director Kevin Smith from flying, claiming he was too fat, and grounding Billie Joe Armstrong, because his pants were too saggy.

Last night, 19 protesters were arrested during a sit-in on Seventh Street for immigration rights. Organized by the SF Bay Area Coalition for Immigration Reform, the majority of those arrested were clergymen.

Last night's rally "brought more than 100 people outside the San Francisco Federal Building at 90 7th St. to call on Congress to pass an immigration reform bill," notes KTVU. This prefaced a massive Arizona immigration protest underway today, wherein hundreds of Californians rolled into Arizona this morning "to protest the state's new immigration law, a day after a federal judge put its key measures on hold."

Rallies will be held in the Bary Area, starting at 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, and then later at 5:30 p.m. at the 24th and Mission BART station in San Francisco.

Oakland will join San Francisco in boycotting Arizona over anti-immigration/anti-illegal alien law SB 1070. Oakland Council President Jane Brunner, Vice Mayor Jean Quan and Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente will "join clergy members and other local residents on the steps of Oakland City Hall Thursday to announce the resolution." [via KTVU]

San Francisco’s City Attorney Dennis Herrera has called for a boycott of Arizona over the state's new (and frightening) immigration law (SB 1070) which was signed by Governor Jan Brewer on Friday. In a written statement, Herrera said:

Arizona has charted an ominous legal course that puts extremist politics before public safety, and betrays our most deeply-held American values. Just as it did two decades ago when it refused to observe Martin Luther king Jr. Day, Arizona has again chosen to isolate itself from the rest of the nation. Our most appropriate response is to assure that their isolation is tangible rather than merely symbolic. San Francisco should lead the way in adopting and aggressively pursuing a sweeping boycott of Arizona and Arizona-based businesses until this unjust law is repealed or invalidated. My office is fully committed to work with San Francisco city departments and commissions to identify all applicable contracts, and to pursue termination wherever possible.

Tomorrow the Board of Supervisors "plan to vote on an emergency measure to officially boycott Arizona," reports True/Slant. "I feel the city and county of San Francisco has to take a stand against what's happened in Arizona," Supe David Campos told SF Weekly. "The law they've enacted is really an affront to the basic principles of the constitution."

Los Angeles paper La Opinión has also called for an economic boycott.

Fed up with Muni's simultaneous fare hikes and cuts in service? A lot of folks are. This isn't new. But there's this march on Muni happening on Monday at 5 p.m. at Powell and Market.

March Against Muni will continue down Market to Van Ness and end at City Hall, lasting about an hour. The organizers have even provided some clever signs for you to print out and bring to the march.

However. This out-of-the-blue protest has already been covered by other sites (Muni Diaires, Caltics, Melissa Griffin) -- critically so. And with good reason: the organizers' demands are suspiciously broad; and the request to not purchase a March Fast Pass, while using Muni as little as possible throughout the month, could prove too difficult for those of us who rely on public transportation. It all seems a little...strange.

But if one must vent pent up Muni rage, a brisk stroll up Market Street on Monday might be just the thing.

The grand opening of San Francisco's fifth Whole Foods is happening right this very second over at 3950 24th Street in Noe Valley. Supervisor Bevan Dufty will be there to cut the tape. Protesters will also be there to make noise. As most of you know, a boycott is in place after WF CEO John Mackey's made (careless?) remarks about health care, much like your drivers license, being a privilege, not a right. Anyway, for those of you into snagging organic produce and carob-covered treats at relatively high prices, have at it. For those of you who refuse (or simply cannot afford) to shop at WF, Foods Co is a neighborhood away. (Really, you can get cheap staples there. Lots of other affordable stuff to be found there, too, folks.)

Did you know that San Francisco-based Michael Savage, God-fearing KNEW performance artist who was literally banned from entering Britain for being mean, founded Rockstar energy drink? It's true. He used to be an herbalist hippie back in the day, dropping acid while fending off the advances of Alan Ginsberg.

Anyway, some communists want you not to drink his uplifting beverage. Because Savage has the tendency to say things like this:

"You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? ... [G]o eat a sausage and choke on it." - to a gay caller on MSNBC before he was fired from MSNBC.

Or this:

"...children's minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia, that's my position. They're raping our children's minds." (Don't forget their tender little bottoms, Michael. We're raping those too.)

And this:

Please welcome SFist's newest feature: Boycott Blotter. This feature is designed to let you know about what you shouldn't be buying, doing, attending, watching, or thinking about in the name of justice -- or, in most cases, in the name of public intoxication while jogging with your dick hanging out.

BAY TO BREAKERS: Citizens for the Preservation of Bay 2 Breakers want you to boycott the annual jiggling boob fest. Why? Because B2B's new rules go against "San Francisco values." (An aside: You know what else goes against San Francisco values? Using the term "San Francisco values.") As of yesterday, "more than 15,000 citizens had signed a Web petition vowing to boycott race registration." (Oh no, not a petition!) Angry citizen Stuart Schuffman tells Associated Press, "It's kind of the flavor of San Francisco ... If you can't be naked running around the streets here, where can you?"

Touche, Schuffman. Touche.

FRENCH TOURISM: A small but growing touristic boycott of San Francisco is underway by the French. Allegedly. It has to do with the Hugues de la Plaza murder/suicide. (If you recall, SFPD closed the case, claiming the one-time Hayes Valley resident and French native repeatedly stabbed himself to death.)

SFist received a crazy rant yesterday from someone (who failed to give us their name), asking for "a critical mass appeal for a touristic boycott on SF." He or she goes on to say: