{"id":2375363,"date":"2025-02-12T01:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T06:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/?p=2375363"},"modified":"2025-02-12T06:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T11:58:57","slug":"fine-ill-bake-your-stupid-cake-free-association-fuels-free-enterprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/2025\/02\/12\/fine-ill-bake-your-stupid-cake-free-association-fuels-free-enterprise\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fine, I\u2019ll Bake Your Stupid Cake\u2019 Free Association Fuels Free Enterprise"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Flower Mound, Texas, is about thirty miles northwest of Dallas. It straddles two counties: Denton, in which Trump won 56 percent of the vote, and Tarrant, which was evenly split between Trump and Harris in 2024. Folks are mostly friendly, and the area has been designated<\/a> a \u201ctop US suburb\u201d by some<\/a> of the organizations<\/a> that do that sort of designating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is also the location of Hive Bakery<\/a>, owned and operated by local resident Haley Popp. And Ms. Popp has become famous.<\/p>\n

Not because she is a renowned baker \u2014 though that\u2019s true; she even appeared on Food Network<\/a> \u2014 but because of something she didn\u2019t bake<\/em>. Ms. Popp became locally famous, even notorious, for refusing to bake a \u201cCongratulations, Donald Trump!\u201d cake for some customers.<\/p>\n

But perhaps we should start at the beginning.<\/p>\n

Ms. Popp is a \u201cprogressive\u201d (her word), and a minor celebrity in the food world. In October, to recognize the Vice Presidential debate, she created and advertised a \u201cTim Walz Cookie<\/a>,\u201d with the Democrat VP candidate\u2019s face surrounded by blue sugar icing atop each confection.\u00a0 (In fairness, there is a self-mocking vibe to the store, as in this \u201cFU Anti-Valentine\u2019s Cookie<\/a>\u201d, so it\u2019s hard to take very seriously.)<\/p>\n

Amazingly, but also unsurprisingly, Ms. Popp received protests, criticism, and some vague threats. <\/a>Ms. Popp, who for a Progressive understands capitalism well, responded<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Here\u2019s the thing. I don\u2019t give a f\u2013 if you don\u2019t want to buy a cake from me because I put out Tim Walz cookies. I couldn\u2019t care less what your opinion of me is, nor do I think twice about your unsolicited advice on how I should run my business. You don\u2019t like me? Don\u2019t come here. You don\u2019t like that I post political s\u2013t? Unfollow. You are irrelevant.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The lady makes cookies, cakes, bread. You want to buy some, do it. If not, don\u2019t. If she makes more, or less, profit because of what she offers for sale, that\u2019s on her. Nothing to see here, folks!<\/p>\n

Except\u2026there is something to see. Consider two events from the mid-2010s wokeness frenzy:<\/p>\n

Event 1: <\/a>A pizza restaurant in Indiana was threatened and boycotted<\/a> in March 2015 because an employee gave an honest answer to a question: would you sell pizza to cater a same-sex marriage? The answer was that the restaurant would sell pizza to anyone, but would prefer not to provide specialized, contracted catering services to that wedding. The implication was that heterosexual weddings were fine, but same-sex weddings were not, in terms of what the restaurant would cater.<\/p>\n

There was an amazingly strong response to an employee\u2019s answer to a hypothetical question. A sample of the Twitter response<\/a> (since deleted): \u201cWho\u2019s going to Walkerton with me to burn down Memories Pizza.\u201d This video response is typical of the sarcasm and anger<\/a> that was focused on the staff, despite no one actually asking the restaurant to cater weddings. The restaurant had to close, to protect its employees, and when it reopened it struggled, closing permanently in 2018.<\/p>\n

Event 2: Today\u2019s, a jewelry store and fabricator in Mount Pearl in Newfoundland, Canada, has a reputation for being able to make lovely custom rings to the customers\u2019 specifications. The store accepted an offer from a lesbian couple, Nicole White and Pam Renouf, to create their design for wedding rings, also in March 2015, exactly the same time that the Indiana pizza restaurant was being attacked for refusing<\/em> service.<\/p>\n

The couple paid a deposit, received the rings, and were delighted. They paid the remainder of the contracted cost, and prepared to get married the following year. They recommended Today\u2019s to friends. One of the friends, on visiting the store, saw a sign: \u201cThe sanctity of marriage is under attack. Let\u2019s keep marriage between a man and a woman.\u201d The friend took a photo, and shared it widely, including sending it to the couple who had made the original purchase.<\/p>\n

The couple, though happy with their rings and the service they had received, were outraged that the jeweler had hidden his views about same-sex marriage. <\/a>The owner, Esau Jordan, explained in an interview<\/a> that he posted various signs throughout the year, and it was only by accident that (apparently) this sign had been posted when White and Renouf\u2019s friend had visited the store. The couple demanded a refund, even though they had no complaint and the rings were in no way faulty or deficient. At first, owner Jordan refused, <\/a>but he was subjected to so many threats and so much personal abuse that he ultimately relented<\/a>, refunding the money and taking back the rings.<\/p>\n

Darned If You Do\u2026Anything<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Interestingly, there appeared to be uniform support in mainstream media \u2014 remember, both of these events happened in March, 2015 \u2014 for criticizing both Memories Pizza and Today\u2019s Jewelers.<\/p>\n