The Dictatorship

Yet another reason not to buy gift cards as holiday presents

Published

2 years ago

December 24, 2024

Yet another reason not to buy gift cards as holiday presents

Think of each gift card you find on your desk, in your wallet or in your kitchen “junk” drawer as a ghost of a particular Christmas past. This one’s from my co-worker who rushed into the holiday party late carrying a plastic Walgreens bag! Oh, this one’s from Uncle Fred, who joked that I shouldn’t spend it all in the same place!

Such ghosts hover in the recesses of more homes and pockets than you might imagine.

According to a 2023 Christmas report, almost half the U.S. had at least one unspent voucher or gift card

According to a 2023 Christmas report from The Associated Press, almost half the U.S. (47% of us to be exact) had at least one unspent voucher or gift cardand the unspent money on those cards was believed to total $23 billion. That’s enough to buy each of the 334.9 million people in the U.S. a Secret Santa gift that costs $68.67.

Looking at the $75 in unspent gift cards I came across last week, including three cards that hadn’t been swiped at all, I figured that I’d likely be a few pounds heavier if I’d used the ones for Popeye’s and Dunkin’ Donuts, and maybe a pound or so lighter if there weren’t a remainder on the card for Academy Sports. Similarly, in the same way that gyms love people who buy memberships but don’t put a single second’s worth of wear and tear on the treadmills, retailers have got to love the friend who buys you a gift card you don’t use.

Take Starbucks. In 2019, according to a CNBC report, the coffee shop chain had $140 million in so-called breakage revenuethat is, the money on gift cards that went unspent. Last year, according to a 2024 report from MarketWatch, Starbucks had “breakage revenue of $196.1 million for company-operated stores, along with another $18.9 million in licensed-store revenue.” MarketWatch, quoting the chain’s third-quarter fiscal report, noted that Starbucks customers had $1.77 billion unspent on gift cards, a significant portion of which will never be spent.

In some states, some portion of unused gift card money goes to that state government’s unclaimed property pile. But the fact remains that the gift card you intend as a freebie for your friend may become a freebie for whatever company’s name graces the card.

And that’s before we even get to the Grinches whose thievery results in gift cards hanging on in-store displays that are as empty as Whoville’s looted shelves. There are ways to tamper with cards on display in the shopping aisles that allows them to be drained between the time the card is activated and the person with the card attempts to use it. Kathy Stokes, the director of fraud prevention programs at AARP, told HuffPost that when she buys a gift card from a store, she picks one that’s behind most of the others. A visible card is more at risk of being tampered with.

Unlike banks that must help you get your money back if someone wrongly uses your debit or credit card, Stokes said, gift cards “don’t have those protections.” And if you ask the place that sold the card to make you whole, you might just get a “Bah! Humbug!”

The gift card you intend as a freebie for your friend may become a freebie for whatever company’s name graces the card.

Despite the risks of and the likelihood that many will go unused, gift cards remain incredibly popular. The National Retail Federation said last month that 54% of consumers expect to give clothing or accessories this holiday season, and 44% expect to give gift cards. U.S. shoppers are expected to spend $28.6 billion on gift cards this seasonslightly down from the $29.3 billion spent last season.

Five years ago, Miss Manners described gift cards as “minimally more thoughtful than outright cash.” But if it’s for a specific store, restaurant or coffee shop, she wrote, “all you have done is to limit where the amount can be spent — and sometimes when, because those cards may have expiration dates.” This year, she advised a correspondent not to express their gratitude with a restaurant gift certificate that wouldn’t cover the cost of a meal. As she put it, a gift that “forces its recipient to spend extra on something that may not otherwise have been wanted” is ill-advised. It’s basically a coupon.

At the risk of sounding like Charlie Brown sighing and complaining to Linus, I fear the gift card has taken some of the joy out of Christmas. Yes, asking your loved ones for gift cards can help you avoid getting a present that you may have to pretend to like, but they also eliminate the potential of being surprised and the potential of the gift being memorable.

I can close my eyes and remember gifts my family gave me when I was a child — a cowboy hat from my Uncle Will who lives in Texas; a brown teddy bear from Muh, my maternal grandmother; a red 10-speed from my mom and dad that I posed with on Christmas morning in my pale, yellow pajamas; the gray zippered sweatshirt my mom gave me the last Christmas before she died.

Those memories are ghosts of Christmases past, too. They remind me of the gifts I received — and not of the ones I failed to redeem.

Jarvis DeBerry

Jarvis DeBerry is an opinion editor for BLN Daily.

The Dictatorship

FIFA faces global anger over plan to give Kushner brother a financial stake

Published

5 hours ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

FIFA faces global anger over plan to give Kushner brother a financial stake

Christmas. 29, 2026, 7:54 PM EDT

International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.

The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)

Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.

As The Athletic reported:

FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.

Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.

A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.

But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)

Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.

“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”

FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!

Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea

— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.

But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.

And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.

This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.

Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.

The Dictatorship

Wednesday’s Mini-Report, 7.29.26

Published

5 hours ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* In the Middle East: “Jordan’s air defenses intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early Wednesday, the country’s military said, hours after the U.S. military said it had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting.”

* At the Fed: “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday voted to hold its key interest rate steady but not without opposition from three officials who have expressed concern over inflation and wanted to hike. Despite increasing support among some officials for a rate increase, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-3 to leave the federal funds rate in a range between 3.5% and 3.75%.”

* All eyes on Cornyn: “Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has yet to decide whether he will vote to confirm acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to permanently head the Department of Justice after saying Wednesday he was ‘not prepared’ to lend his support to President Donald Trump’s nominee.”

* This request is intended to repay the National Park Service, whose funds Team Trump unjustly raided: “The Trump administration is asking Congress for an additional $10 million to cover costs related to Freedom 250 events recently held on the National Mall, including a prayer event, a fair and a fireworks show.”

* Will the Carroll case ever end? “The Supreme Court already denied the first of Donald Trump’s two petitions against E. Jean Carroll. But the second petition, filed Tuesday, stands a better chance of gaining the high court’s interest because it raises presidential immunity and is backed by the Justice Department.”

* I’m eager to hear why a private citizen can’t delete the contents of his own phone: “It sounds like something James Bond would use: a gadget that self-destructs if it falls into the wrong hands. But it’s actually an open-source operating system that can be downloaded onto Android phones. Federal prosecutors in Atlanta are bringing an obstruction charge against a U.S. citizen who gave customs officers what is known as a duress passcode, which activated software that erased the contents of his phone.”

* My advice: Read real books written entirely by real people: “A few years into the A.I. era, there is sobering evidence that a significant and growing portion of the novels being sold are written with or by chatbots, and that readers are buying them. A new study conducted by computer scientists using A.I. detection software to analyze thousands of self-published novels on Amazon, found that a substantial number of those novels contained chatbot-generated prose.”

See you tomorrow.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

The Dictatorship

Epstein survivors say meeting with Todd Blanche was ‘very condescending’

Published

5 hours ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Epstein survivors say meeting with Todd Blanche was ‘very condescending’

Christmas. 29, 2026, 5:29 PM EDT

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse said Wednesday that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was “very condescending” toward them in their meeting with him this month and told them to “get to the point.”

Ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on whether to move President Donald Trump’s nomination as attorney general to the full Senate for a vote, the survivors were on Capitol Hill urging Republican lawmakers to deny Blanche the position.

Survivor Dani Bensky told reporters that the meeting a couple of weeks ago with Blanche, who had declined to meet with them for months, was “very condescending” and that he would not answer their questions on why investigative leads and referrals in the case have not been followed.

“He actually said the words ‘Get to the point’ to us,” Benskey said. “We’re survivors who have been waiting to meet with him for nine months, eight months.”

Another survivor said Blanche told them he had not read the files.

Bensky, who was standing with other survivors outside the office of Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, voiced appreciation for the senator for his support of survivors. The said they had not met with Cornyn Wednesday but had spoken to Judiciary Committee staff members, and that the meeting was “productive” and the staff members “were very pleasant and very open.”

Cornyn said Wednesday that he is “not prepared to vote yes” on Blanche’s nomination. He also called off a meeting with Blanche, saying the nominee had failed to provide proof that President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund is officially dead.

Survivors have been campaigning for GOP holdouts to vote against Blanche’s confirmation. Bensky said her group had run into Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in the elevator earlier and that he said he would like to meet with them. Tillis has also suggested that he might oppose Blanche’s confirmation.

Bensky said it would have “a massive chilling effect to all survivors across the U.S.” if Blanche’s nomination is moved out of committee and to the full Senate.

Asked for the survivors’ final message to the lawmakers, Bensky said: “It’s not political. Just do the right thing. Just be on the right side of history.”

Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.