SPOILER ALERT: Did anyone ever see Kingsman: The Secret Service? You know, the one where Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) either kidnaps world leaders and stashes them in a mountain or plans to use global cellular signals to make people go berserk?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Mar-A-Lago had a Neuralink lab in the basement. Guests come to dine with Donald, and Elon slips a nice little chip into their brains to ensure compliance.
So, either Tim got one of the “Made in America” models, managed to have his removed, or… I don’t even want to consider the third option.
Either way, I admire Tim for not jumping every time Trump Needs Props for his all his shows.
SPOILER ALERT: Did anyone ever see Kingsman: The Secret Service? You know, the one where Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) either kidnaps world leaders and stashes them in a mountain or plans to use global cellular signals to make people go berserk?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Mar-A-Lago had a Neuralink lab in the basement. Guests come to dine with Donald, and Elon slips a nice little chip into their brains to ensure compliance.
So, either Tim got one of the “Made in America” models, managed to have his removed, or… I don’t even want to consider the third option.
Either way, I admire Tim for not jumping every time Trump Needs Props for his all his shows.
That would require actual intelligence and planning. This is just good ol' fear mongering so you can grift people by making the ignorant general populace think you're going to hurt their particular boogeyman.
The biggest surprise to me in all of this is that they'll willing to ignore how much they're being hurt and yet still willing to defend the con even while they see themselves losing out. The second biggest surprise for me is that the 3 branches of gov't mean nothing if you can just ignore any and all laws and court decisions. I wonder if Madison would be shocked to know that it only took around 230 years for the weaknesses in the system to breakdown this completely or would be surprised that it took this long?
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judicia in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self–appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny” (James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788).
My guess is that he would said the latter because of the political parties we have, especially know with the MAGA fascists that are Republican in name only (RINO). I say this because Madison said, "a well-constructed Union [should be] its tendency to break and control the violence of faction," which isn't happening. Even after all the very clear evidence of wrongdoing the promise of hurting someone boogeyman was so powerful that MAGA has grown.
The Founding Fathers were smarter than we are today at the highest levels. For example, Alexander Hamilton stated that political parties are "the most fatal disease” of popular gov't.
George Washington in his Farewell Address stated, "However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."
Willard Sterne Randall wrote that “[Washington] had stayed on for a second term only to keep these two parties from warring with each other [because Washington] was afraid of what he called ‘disunion.’" Maybe that's telling if the Union was already starting to fall to the weakness of corrupt men out of the gate.
All of this turmoil seems to be attributed to one man. But don’t forget that there are 535 + 9 other people who collectively have the power to reign in this guy. I can’t imagine there are even half that number of people who are willing to sell out their country, their constituents, their children and grandchildren, and their soul just to stay in the good graces of a psychopath. No job is worth the price that they and the future generations of Americans and the world are going to pay for their current selfishness.
At some point someone with a spine is going to have to stand up to this man and potentially suffer the consequences of demonstrating that at least one person with the ability to do something positive can think beyond their own personal concerns and lust for power and wealth.
Just yesterday we honored the ultimate sacrifices that hundreds of thousands of Americans were willing to pay to preserve American democracy, freedom, and self determination. Every one of them took the same exact solemn oath that every congressperson, senator, executive, cabinet member, justice, and military member takes when taking on service to their country.
There is nothing in that oath that guarantees personal wealth, prestige, power, or honor. Honor is earned by those who serve their country honorably, live up to their oath, which includes protecting the constitution, even if doing so comes with great personal sacrifice. There is nothing in the oath of service that mentions anything about protecting one’s own self interests and enriching one’s own personal wealth or status while serving the country. On that point alone the current president and those who are complicit in aiding him are doing a great disservice to the country and serving dishonorably.
Tim Cook and other corporate leaders are just like the rest of us, doing what’s best for the health and financial stability of their stakeholders while being good citizens. Nobody should be looking at Tim Cook or Apple by asking them to sacrifice or suffer the consequences of the personal whims of one man, especially when those whims are driven by personal greed, resentment, retribution, self interest, and uncontrollable lust for power.
Tim Cook is a great citizen and a great American. He’s doing everything within his power to protect his stakeholders, which includes most of us here. But he didn’t take the same oath that the president and his administration took. Their oath is intended to allow Tim Cook, Apple, and all corporate entities in America to operate under the umbrella of security and protection needed to allow them to even exist.
All of this turmoil seems to be attributed to one man. But don’t forget that there are 535 + 9 other people who collectively have the power to reign in this guy. I can’t imagine there are even half that number of people who are willing to sell out their country, their constituents, their children and grandchildren, and their soul just to stay in the good graces of a psychopath. No job is worth the price that they and the future generations of Americans and the world are going to pay for their current selfishness.
At some point someone with a spine is going to have to stand up to this man and potentially suffer the consequences of demonstrating that at least one person with the ability to do something positive can think beyond their own personal concerns and lust for power and wealth.
Just yesterday we honored the ultimate sacrifices that hundreds of thousands of Americans were willing to pay to preserve American democracy, freedom, and self determination. Every one of them took the same exact solemn oath that every congressperson, senator, executive, cabinet member, justice, and military member takes when taking on service to their country.
There is nothing in that oath that guarantees personal wealth, prestige, power, or honor. Honor is earned by those who serve their country honorably, live up to their oath, which includes protecting the constitution, even if doing so comes with great personal sacrifice. There is nothing in the oath of service that mentions anything about protecting one’s own self interests and enriching one’s own personal wealth or status while serving the country. On that point alone the current president and those who are complicit in aiding him are doing a great disservice to the country and serving dishonorably.
Tim Cook and other corporate leaders are just like the rest of us, doing what’s best for the health and financial stability of their stakeholders while being good citizens. Nobody should be looking at Tim Cook or Apple by asking them to sacrifice or suffer the consequences of the personal whims of one man, especially when those whims are driven by personal greed, resentment, retribution, self interest, and uncontrollable lust for power.
Tim Cook is a great citizen and a great American. He’s doing everything within his power to protect his stakeholders, which includes most of us here. But he didn’t take the same oath that the president and his administration took. Their oath is intended to allow Tim Cook, Apple, and all corporate entities in America to operate under the umbrella of security and protection needed to allow them to even exist.
1) Unless there is blackmail and extortion involved I'd say this is no different than how other predators are allowed to reign. For example, people like R. Kelly, Jefferey Epstein, or the excessive number of Catholic priests that have been called out after decades of horrific abuse when there are people around that are either happy with the atrocities being committed or willing to turn a blind eye and protect the monster for money and/or power.
2) I wonder if Mitch McConnell regrets his partisan maneuvering to keep Obama from appointing Supreme Court justices after seeing that it cost him control of his entire party. Personally, I blame him for that imbalance of the judicial branch and I blame McConnell and a lot of shortsighted people in power for Citizens United. A handful of wealthy donors that hold nearly all of the nation's wealth and mega corporations should not be able to dictate what should happen to the majority of the people. Citizens United is when I first realized that this country took a very bad turn.
Nothing about this administration makes sense. You could make a case that NVidia guy for going on that trip, given the announcement of a bazillion dollar AI complex that will send loads of business to NVidia, but nothing about this trip was relevant for Apple. Why should the head of a consumer products company waste the better part of a week on a political boondoggle?
If there isn't a massive "blue wave" in next November, all hope is lost.
I would also consider 2 extra bits of related information:
- Apple's CEO is one of the few CEOs that is vocal and in favor of both the LGBT community and the inclusivity theme, while the current POTUS is openly opposing both;
- one of the key guests in this POTUS trip was Elon Musk and I seem to remember about an alleged 2016-2017 clash between Elon and Tim around Apple's acquisition of Tesla, with alleged exchanges like "I want to be the new Apple's CEO if the deal goes through" and a "f*** **f" answer, a story reported in 2021 by The Los Angeles Times and included in the book "Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century" by Tim Higgins.
These two things might have been 2 key ingredients to produce the outcome described in the article, that can also be read as an action to directly hurt Apple's CEO professional profile in order to oust him.
You lot voted him to be President and so you can’t complain about your poor choices.
Which lot is that? All Americans?
Well by the time you add those who voted for him and those who choose not to voter against him that is a way bigger majority than has ever been used to claim a “mandate”
You lot voted him to be President and so you can’t complain about your poor choices.
Which lot is that? All Americans?
Well by the time you add those who voted for him and those who choose not to voter against him that is a way bigger majority than has ever been used to claim a “mandate”
so yes “all of you”
155 million cast ballots. 77 million voted for Trump. So you're blaming the 75 million that voted for Harris?
Additionally, 155 million Americans voted out of 340 million people. Of those, a google search says that around 244–245 million Americans are eligible to vote. That's nearly 100 million people who are at the whims of the people that can vote. One example are the over 3 million are Puerto Ricans who have taxation without representation. Then you have all the people who are under the age of 18, which is by far the largest group. Explain to me how it's all of their fault that Trump was elected?
But you're choosing to double down on Hedware's comment that not a single American can not like that Trump won by a small margin in what seems like a free and fair election regardless if they didn't vote for him or weren't able to vote at all? Did I get that right?
Could we just stop with these useless articles — everyone will be better off not constantly seeing articles about a mercurial individual whose only goal in life is to twist everyone’s undies in a bundle for his own ego gratification.
No, we can't and ought not stop reporting on the madness of the king. Ignoring it isn't going to make anything better and the public need to know why things are more expensive — for example, iPhones may be more expensive because Trump was in a bad mood one day — so that they can come to their senses and get this party out of power before the US (and global) economy and democracy is permanently destroyed. We may be stuck with a mad king till 2029, but in 2026 there's an opportunity to wrest power away from him and stop further damage. People need to be reminded every single day of why things are and will be getting worse.
Tim Apple, this is the life you choose. Did you really think your “donation” would be a one time thing? Oh, you sweet summer child. It was never enough then, it is never enough now, and it will never be enough in the future.
If Trump tells you to “Jump”, you need to reply (with tears in your eyes) “How high, sir?”.
Ask Jensen Huang for some advice. Jensen knows how the strongman-authoritarian game is played. He knows how to play the game in China. And he knows how to play the game in 2025’s America. You won’t see Jensen making such rookie mistakes. Jensen showed up with Trump on the trip and heaped tons of praise on Trump. He knows what’s up.
Just say “Siri, call Jensen”. And after Siri replies with “I found some web results…”, go into your Contacts app and call him that way.
Apple does no business of any significance with Nvidia so Tim Cook and Apple won’t be looking for any advice from them, and by the way, the Apple Silicon M series seems to be advancing very well through iteration every year Apple is, one to three generations at most of surpassing the thousand watt barn-burning gaming GPUs that Nvidia is so famous for I can’t wait and neither can the PC World, because in anticipation many are already crying in the public forums. Each time Apple Silicon comes closer they cry must be the low wattage and performance…..
If that's true the tariff won't stand up in Court. You can't tariff people you don't like. The Constitution has a thing about Equal treatment.
If one thing has been proven is that the US has very weak filters in place to keep a democracy, a democracy. I fear at some point a civil war may be the only option for true and lasting change. God forbid that ever happens.
A civil war is unnecessary the Republicans, who reject the southern initiative and all that it stands for (the takeover of the Republican party after 1968) just need to move on and I don’t mean leave the Republican Party just get rid of those who stand for the mindless southern initiative, nothing wrong with being a fiscal conservative Republican like many in the upper Northeastern USA are. Note: attacking the schools in the Ivy League may hasten that break up.
Comments
The biggest surprise to me in all of this is that they'll willing to ignore how much they're being hurt and yet still willing to defend the con even while they see themselves losing out. The second biggest surprise for me is that the 3 branches of gov't mean nothing if you can just ignore any and all laws and court decisions. I wonder if Madison would be shocked to know that it only took around 230 years for the weaknesses in the system to breakdown this completely or would be surprised that it took this long?
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judicia in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self–appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny” (James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788).
My guess is that he would said the latter because of the political parties we have, especially know with the MAGA fascists that are Republican in name only (RINO). I say this because Madison said, "a well-constructed Union [should be] its tendency to break and control the violence of faction," which isn't happening. Even after all the very clear evidence of wrongdoing the promise of hurting someone boogeyman was so powerful that MAGA has grown.
The Founding Fathers were smarter than we are today at the highest levels. For example, Alexander Hamilton stated that political parties are "the most fatal disease” of popular gov't.
George Washington in his Farewell Address stated, "However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."
Willard Sterne Randall wrote that “[Washington] had stayed on for a second term only to keep these two parties from warring with each other [because Washington] was afraid of what he called ‘disunion.’" Maybe that's telling if the Union was already starting to fall to the weakness of corrupt men out of the gate.
2) I wonder if Mitch McConnell regrets his partisan maneuvering to keep Obama from appointing Supreme Court justices after seeing that it cost him control of his entire party. Personally, I blame him for that imbalance of the judicial branch and I blame McConnell and a lot of shortsighted people in power for Citizens United. A handful of wealthy donors that hold nearly all of the nation's wealth and mega corporations should not be able to dictate what should happen to the majority of the people. Citizens United is when I first realized that this country took a very bad turn.
If there isn't a massive "blue wave" in next November, all hope is lost.
- Apple's CEO is one of the few CEOs that is vocal and in favor of both the LGBT community and the inclusivity theme, while the current POTUS is openly opposing both;
Never Wrestle with a Pig. You Both Get Dirty and the Pig Likes It
so yes “all of you”
Additionally, 155 million Americans voted out of 340 million people. Of those, a google search says that around 244–245 million Americans are eligible to vote. That's nearly 100 million people who are at the whims of the people that can vote. One example are the over 3 million are Puerto Ricans who have taxation without representation. Then you have all the people who are under the age of 18, which is by far the largest group. Explain to me how it's all of their fault that Trump was elected?
But you're choosing to double down on Hedware's comment that not a single American can not like that Trump won by a small margin in what seems like a free and fair election regardless if they didn't vote for him or weren't able to vote at all? Did I get that right?
A civil war is unnecessary the Republicans, who reject the southern initiative and all that it stands for (the takeover of the Republican party after 1968) just need to move on and I don’t mean leave the Republican Party just get rid of those who stand for the mindless southern initiative, nothing wrong with being a fiscal conservative Republican like many in the upper Northeastern USA are. Note: attacking the schools in the Ivy League may hasten that break up.