Republicans don't have the spine to run at risk of death, and elections only happen every two years meaning until then DNC would have the first real supermajority since 1979.
Tax them into the dirt, then there will never be more billionaires.
I don't use apple for the same reason I don't use fisher price as an adult. You are free to use your technology made for babies that's beside the point. The point is that the article in discussion is about Tim Cook and Apple providing a recent bribe to Trump.
Your comment is providing no value. You are attempting whataboutism and really shows the type of person you are more than anything.
To be clear, if googl was caught bribing and someone said "buh buh buh Apple!" Id be saying the same thing. Stop sucking dick like they owe you something to take a side.
When Google bribes Trump with a 24k gold gift let's discuss Google then ok?
With the degree of information, and capacity to profile individuals at scale and model complex systems, Google likely knew Trump would be in the white house long before anyone else. They fired up the bribery train early on.
I'm typing this on a Lenovo laptop keyboard (V14 series, the plastic casing is just a catastrophe near the lid hinges, though I've seen the same with the magnesium casing, it has plastic parts inside).
I've also pirated some Apple TV attempt at Foundation episodes, but honestly felt like The Arc. Sci-Fi with some right initial ideas, but ultimately thoroughly idiotic.
In case of Apple TV's Foundation, I couldn't help thinking that they were trying to make it "look expensive" and "feel elitarian" similarly to their products, first priority, make it feel "diverse" and in social interactions representing a certain prestigious set of political ideas, second priority, make it feel nuanced and intelligent more than be nuanced and intelligent, third priority.
Honestly even with 90s Apple stuff virtualized I feel something bad, like nausea, I wouldn't be able to use it probably. Too much visual design flexing.
OK let me play devil's advocate for a moment: it's the only language he speaks. You must stroke his ego, and give him an opportunity to look down on you.
I don't get why people are NOW saying he's trying to appease trump. He's been doing it for years. He was front row at his inauguration right next to other billionaires.
This is my own conjecture, but I'm willing to bet that playing nicely with Pres. Trump somehow saves Apple billions more in lost revenue to tariffs and legislation because Trump rewards those who are on his good side. I'm also willing to bet Tim / Apple is pressured to do this and has a very different attitude behind closed doors. Not that this excuses anybody for their actions, but it's clear they're trying to game the system the best they can in the name of "business".
That’s not how companies are measured against each other though. How are you even quantifying the cultural impact? You could have said many companies are bigger than Apple because they have a bigger physical footprint, bigger customer base, larger number of staff, bigger area of operation, larger mass of product or many other things but the fact is when we compare the “size” of companies, we are referring to their market cap.
That doesn't change my opinion, though, that everyone at Apple can go suck-start their own asshole, and they'll never receive another cent of my money for as long as I live.
I already wasn't buying their shit but this has signed and sealed that for the rest of eternity.
I don't know, I mean if any corporation can eat the loss, it's apple with their insanely high margins.
I'm more inclined to believe there's some form of quid pro quo going on behind the scenes.
Besides, I simply cannot picture Tim Apple as any kind of a hero in this picture. No way he got bullied. He's getting something out of it. You scratch my back. I'll scratch yours.
Honestly I am pretty sure this is a bribe to exempt Apple from tariffs. Billionaires care more about their profit than children being harm. It’s the sad truth.
It's all public spectacles. These people are there not for the money - they are there to make a point, that being that their ideas of authority are what we all must obey.
Preventive obedience, lack of mandate borders, authority not requiring justification, a demand for justification being itself disobedience, implicit trust to authority, and so on.
These are all people who'd be not very respected or listened to in any normal kind of group. They dreamed of getting to a position where they will be, due to hierarchy. And that's an abuse of any system, so they are hostile to any immunity mechanisms detecting and fixing such an abuse.
So the whole point is in them taking power and showing us all that it's their rule and their time and it works like some thief feudalism with spectacles of loyalty, spectacles of cruelty, spectacles of stealing and getting away with it and demonstrative abuse of any legal principle.
I respect Cato institute people very much, they somehow manage to say this same thing without my emotion in their various materials.
No, I mean brass: "figurative. Taken as a type of insensibility to shame: hence, Effrontery, impudence, unblushingness." (DEFINED)
Brash would not have been appropriate (defined as "self-assertive in a rude, noisy, or overbearing way"). Tim was not rude, noisy or overbearing, but he was absolutely shameless!
Apple stock did, and unfortunately it even makes sense why. Considering how self-centered Trump is, and how easily swayed he can be by a literal shiny rock being given to him, this was probably a legitimately good trade for Apple.
They spend some money on a gold brick with some laser-cut glass, and the president of the entire country either gives them preferential treatment, or simply doesn't take any more extreme actions he was planning to take against them.
“The move comes after Trump threatened to place a 25% tariff on Apple’s iPhones made overseas and in the face of a potential 100% tariff on semiconductors.”
To be completely honest, I had forgotten. His sexuality really makes no difference to me. It's just sad to see so many folks sucking up to Trump.
And no I wouldn't be surprised, while true Epstein didn't traffick boys, I would be surprised if he didn't have some connections to that.
Again nothing on Tim's preference for male or female or whatever he likes...but god it seems rich folks can't help but be into horrible things.
In other countries this would be a criminal offense. For example in Austria: if the value of the gift is above 50000€ , it's 6 months - 5 years; if over 300k€ it's 1-10 years of prison.
A gold bar gifted to an institution would still count as corruption in most sane jurisdictions. Sure those loopholes exist, but we tend to disguise them as investments or charity.
Not sure if you know this but I find it fun to know so I’m going to share.
In English when deciding whether to use a or an you should look at the start of the following word and if it starts with a vowel sound then use an else use a.
Examples:
An apple
An hour (note doesn’t start with a vowel but sounds like a vowel)
Note, this can differ by region. For example, "an historic ..." is common in the UK, whereas it would be "a historic ..." in the US due to accent differences.
In other countries this would be a criminal offense.
Dialing 911 and telling my local constabulary that the President is doing crimes. But then they just laugh at me and say "We're all doing crimes! It's the innocent people who get thrown in jail."
This is why when the whole media world rushed to protect him when he came out of the closet as gay was total and utter bullshit. He wasn't brave and he doesn't give one hot damn about the gay community clearly.
Linux phones will eventually get to a point that I can ditch the big two entirely. I hope. But yeah if I didn't need the apps for my job, I'd go back to a Nokia T9 in a heart beat. I was a live long before smartphones were, I don't need one.
When you're rich and powerful as fuck but still bend the knee to a felon rapist pedophile.
All of America's most "powerful" people are little fucking bitches. Little bitches are calling the shots and representing us to the world. Jesus Christ how pathetic is this country going to get?
See, I disagree with this sentiment. Coming from a Canadian we're seeing products in grocery stores and other places we've simply never seen before because all the american product is rotting on the shelves. For instance, I've seen legit Canadian brands of laundry detergent whereas my whole life all I've ever really seen is tide, bounce the usual corp crap.
This is slowly but surely propping up alternatives in a way that simply wasn't possible before and directly contributing to what is currently small manufacturers, farmers and other retailers into becoming viable alternatives to the usual suspects.
There's nothing cool about Apple and never was. They're just really good at advertising to people who don't understand technology. You have always been able to get the same grade of technology for way cheaper by purchasing from elsewhere.
I've been an IT professional (as a job) for over 2 decades. I have had numerous jobs and worked with a lot of tech people. I have had exactly one fellow employee that liked Apple and that dude was straight out of high school and we hired him on as an intern at first and he knew basically nothing.
Apple is good at advertising and robbing people blind. That's it.
I recently switched from Motorola to a Pixel 9 and I'm very happy! Absolutely hated the 5 minutes that the Pixel was running stock Android tho (they remapped the Off button to an AI button and I couldn't figure out how to power down the phone), but once that crap was gone and GrapheneOS was installed I stayed 100% content. I'm not even a particularly security focused person, but Graphene's dedication to keeping bloatware and unnecessary dumb shit off the OS has been very appreciated
Imagine if the CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the world didnt bend over and spread cheeks for a cock so small Donald has to... employ the services of paedos like Jeffery Epstein...?
Donald is suspected of being a paedophile. Yet people still bend the knee like this. I tell you, when it finally comes out, I hope everyone remembers who was happy to continue kissing his ass. Fuck you, Tim.
You know how those Trump supporters thought we were supposed to be really offended at "Fuck Biden" but no one gave a shit because even most Democrats were never really cheerleaders for Biden?
Even people who hate Apple know that Google is a piece of shit too. We aren't (generally) Google cheerleaders. You don't need to whatabout all the anti-Apple comments.
Oh yes, let me protest this thing that just happened by throwing my Android-OS phone that I bought years ago away. That'll show 'em.
You're just as disingenuous and stupid as the morons on the right who smashed their Keurigs.
FYI, my next phone will probably be a Linux phone anyway and I hardly use YouTube at all these days, and when I do it's with AdBlockers on, and I never gave a cent to them for premium, so I cost them money to use their platform if anything. If PeerTube or some other non-Google video hosting service could go mainstream, I'd use that in a heartbeat. I've de-Googled my life as much as I could reasonably be expected to, and this was before their CEO kissed the ring. So fuck off with your judgemental attitude.
Goddammit Tim Apple, it doesn't even look like anything remotely interesting.
For a split second after he stepped aside to reveal it, I actually thought it was a cool dragon figure. Must've been my mind desperately seeking any meaning in this nonsense because I was looking at the phones.
"ewww, that would be bribery. This is not a bribe, it's a ... gift? Yes, it's a gift. Definitely a gift. And we expect nothing in return ;-);-) just a little gift. And this is definitely not a distraction from the orange buffoon being a child rapist and being mentioned many times on the Epstein list!!!"
This is a bit like mark rutte calling Trump “daddy”. It’s completely inconsequential in actual reality but still feels so entirely wrong. And I don’t even know who should be most embarrassed, the bootlickers or Trump for being transparently narcissistic that everyone realizes bootlicking works
Look at this move from a purely business perspective:
Give the toddler a shiny toy, toddler plays nicely.
And oh my fuck it's such a cheap gift from the war chest of Apple's bajillions. The real story is the Trump is too stupid to be insulted!
Been screaming for years, "PLAY this narcissistic fool!" Just wish world media and politicians and celebrities would get in the game. He's a CHILD! PLAY HIM! Instead we got world leaders rolling over. Heysus.
Nah, not hating on Cook for making an hilariously logical move.
Nah, it would have been way better (especially for literally everyone else) if they didn’t play at all.
Instead all the greediest people are realizing they can do this and they get all the things they want (so does Trump, along with more power) and it’s only at the expense of the entire American population (and the rest of the world too).
Fuck Cook.
It isn’t clever. It’s literally greed. It’s not even that other people haven’t thought to do this, it’s that you have to be a total piece of shit to do this.
Gay man gives gift to anti-lgbtq president.
Just proves that you can be gay and still be an absolute parasite billionaire. Fuck your pride apple watch bands.
Peter thiel, the architect behind Vance and trump and bilderberg and palantir, is also gay.
So gay, he had his former lover killed.
https://www.jezebel.com/death-of-gop-billionaire-peter-thiels-kept-man-is-being-1850259839
https://www.advocate.com/peter-thiel/peter-thiel-model-jeff-thomas
https://theintercept.com/2023/03/23/peter-thiel-jeff-thomas/
vance who is also mostly closeted too. peter thiel defenestrated his model bf.
It must be nice to be so rich that you can fit an entire living room set in your walk-in closet.
Well fuck, Clarence is basically a black white supremacist.
his sugar daddy is a nazi, harlan crow.
It’s pretty clear by now that the character Stinkmeaner is based wholly on Clarence Thomas
Thiel showed the way.
Class is the only identity that matters to them
No war, but the class war.
we're gonna need more luigis.
I understood this reference! Probably because I, too, am a dinosaur.
i loved that show. ended so dark
Worst part was we all knew the ending but didn’t see it coming
I've only seen a fraction. Did it end with a global environmental catastrophe? That was ignored because of profit?
giant meteor
Ready player 2!
Whoa whoa there, slow down. You're talking crazy. Let's be reasonable.
The only way to get any sort of reliable data is to let BOTH camps go nuts and see which one gets more attention and results.
Wasting effort and resources on either will bring less results.
Because the CEOs will biy the new people. Better to off both.
Republicans don't have the spine to run at risk of death, and elections only happen every two years meaning until then DNC would have the first real supermajority since 1979.
Tax them into the dirt, then there will never be more billionaires.
Do you think neoliberals would do that?
Do you think liberal is an insult? Oh, I'm so sorry that promoting human rights inconveniences you.
You're misunderstanding. I said neoliberal for a reason. I wouldn't call either party liberal, and the issue I have is labeling them as such.
Right okay, the parties fighting for liberty, fairness, and true democracy aren't liberals they're "neoliberal". Whatever that means.
You do know that they will buy more? Legislators are a dime a dozen for oligarchs.
Tim Cook, and Apple, is supporting a pedophile. Remember that when you walk into an Apple Store, if you can afford to.
“Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the election, and Google donated $1 million to the inauguration fund”
So is Google and every major company
You're right it's both now can we fuck off with the "buh buh buh the other company!" bullshit?
Article is about Apple not Google.
On nerdy sites like Lemmy people tend to fawn over Google and they can do no wrong
And every slight Apple does is The Worst Ever
If Google does the same thing, out come the excuses. 😀
[Citation Needed]
Uhhhh... What. My experience has been the literal opposite. People here hate Google
And still rock an Android phone proudly
I don't know about "proudly." Preferred to Apple? Sure.
Simping the worlds largest ad company is weird to me
But that’s just me 🤷🏻♂️
That may have been true a few years ago but not anymore. Google gets lots of hate on Lemmy, Reddit, and various other tech sites.
https://vger.to/lemmy.ml/c/degoogle
https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/
I buy pixel phones, because out of the sea of bullshit, it's at least capable of being rooted/flash to a new os. The PinePhone sadly isn't ready.
I don't use apple for the same reason I don't use fisher price as an adult. You are free to use your technology made for babies that's beside the point. The point is that the article in discussion is about Tim Cook and Apple providing a recent bribe to Trump.
Your comment is providing no value. You are attempting whataboutism and really shows the type of person you are more than anything.
To be clear, if googl was caught bribing and someone said "buh buh buh Apple!" Id be saying the same thing. Stop sucking dick like they owe you something to take a side.
When Google bribes Trump with a 24k gold gift let's discuss Google then ok?
So if it’s only an 18k carat gift it’s just fine? Because Google are the good guys
Is the article about Google or Apple? Really easy question for you.
real big yet you participate in society energy
I bet most of the people here replying in the comments are typing on what helped pay for that gold plated ass kissing device.
Is this a "you criticize society yet you participate in it" thing?
Ayy yo we got Ben Shapiro on Lemmy? 🤣
Great reply, from your iPhone.
I have an android. I hate them both but at least I can install any application I want.
I bet you're using electricity from the power grid!
Ya but I am pretty sure Google has done a lot to help Trump. Any big tech company wants to be on the good side of Trump.
Exactly, they all are sucking that orange teet now.
With the degree of information, and capacity to profile individuals at scale and model complex systems, Google likely knew Trump would be in the white house long before anyone else. They fired up the bribery train early on.
Nope.
I am typing on a slab of the biggest AI alop search machine with a capital G
I'm typing this on a Lenovo laptop keyboard (V14 series, the plastic casing is just a catastrophe near the lid hinges, though I've seen the same with the magnesium casing, it has plastic parts inside).
I've also pirated some Apple TV attempt at Foundation episodes, but honestly felt like The Arc. Sci-Fi with some right initial ideas, but ultimately thoroughly idiotic.
In case of Apple TV's Foundation, I couldn't help thinking that they were trying to make it "look expensive" and "feel elitarian" similarly to their products, first priority, make it feel "diverse" and in social interactions representing a certain prestigious set of political ideas, second priority, make it feel nuanced and intelligent more than be nuanced and intelligent, third priority.
Honestly even with 90s Apple stuff virtualized I feel something bad, like nausea, I wouldn't be able to use it probably. Too much visual design flexing.
Maybe if we were on reddit, here I really don't think that's true.
Don't forget the $200k gold bar bribe attached to it
that's maybe $200k if it's covered in gold, but if that's an actual gold bar, then it's worth a couple million or so.
Gift? You mean bribe.
Yes this is a bribe. Period.
Is it a bribe or ransom? Trump is extracting favors by threat.
More bribe. Ransom is "Do X or I do Y". Bribe is "If I do X, you will do Y".
OK let me play devil's advocate for a moment: it's the only language he speaks. You must stroke his ego, and give him an opportunity to look down on you.
Of course it's still corporate cronyism.
Yeah the real story here should be hey everyone, look how transparently easy it is to manipulate the President of the United States
Cost of doing business in a country ruled by a dictator who LOVES shiny shit
It is a gift. The same gift that the Noble gave to their King, so they would not get replaced or lose power. It is a Hail to the King move.
Uhh acktchually its sparkling lobbying
Release the Epstein files
Surely they will throw him in prison!
Giving him a literal gold bar (though disguised as a stand) is stereotypical buying El Presidente in a Banana Republic bullshit.
I had to look it up: 24 karat is the purest form of gold. So yeah it's a gold bar 100% lmfao
Cook isn't handling it like solid gold though (it looks too light). I bet it's 24 karat gold plated zinc.
You might be right. Looks light indeed for true gold.
Sounds like the US' chickens coming home to roost. After creating those conditions with their CIA elsewhere for decades.
I don't get why people are NOW saying he's trying to appease trump. He's been doing it for years. He was front row at his inauguration right next to other billionaires.
This is my own conjecture, but I'm willing to bet that playing nicely with Pres. Trump somehow saves Apple billions more in lost revenue to tariffs and legislation because Trump rewards those who are on his good side. I'm also willing to bet Tim / Apple is pressured to do this and has a very different attitude behind closed doors. Not that this excuses anybody for their actions, but it's clear they're trying to game the system the best they can in the name of "business".
Keeping our morals behind closed doors is what's wrong with the world.
Almost like it's a completely bullshit excuse, like "just following orders".
Crime isn't suddenly okay because it's profitable, no matter how much capitalism wants you to believe it.
It’s like nuclear weapons
Unless everyone gets rid of them nobody will
Being the only one not to “bend the knee” will just hurt you if everyone else kisses his ass
This is apple we're talking about. Not some random company.
There are bigger random companies who are bending the knee like Meta, Amazon and Google
All 3 of those are smaller than Apple. The only 2 companies with bigger market caps than Apple are Nvidia and Microsoft.
Market cap isn’t everything.
Meta by itself has a bigger cultural impact globally
That’s not how companies are measured against each other though. How are you even quantifying the cultural impact? You could have said many companies are bigger than Apple because they have a bigger physical footprint, bigger customer base, larger number of staff, bigger area of operation, larger mass of product or many other things but the fact is when we compare the “size” of companies, we are referring to their market cap.
Nobody should get rid of their nukes. In fact, more countries should have nuclear arms.
Such is life on planet earth.
You're probably right.
That doesn't change my opinion, though, that everyone at Apple can go suck-start their own asshole, and they'll never receive another cent of my money for as long as I live.
I already wasn't buying their shit but this has signed and sealed that for the rest of eternity.
I don't know, I mean if any corporation can eat the loss, it's apple with their insanely high margins.
I'm more inclined to believe there's some form of quid pro quo going on behind the scenes.
Besides, I simply cannot picture Tim Apple as any kind of a hero in this picture. No way he got bullied. He's getting something out of it. You scratch my back. I'll scratch yours.
Such a disgusting display. Most normal people don't want anything to do with rapists and child molesters, yet here's Tim.
Honestly I am pretty sure this is a bribe to exempt Apple from tariffs. Billionaires care more about their profit than children being harm. It’s the sad truth.
It's a bribe in disguise. It's a tribute and a public spectacle of loyalty. And the top voted comment thinks Tim is playing 4d chess with Trump...
Nothing will improve until these people are eliminated from their positions of power. Stop giving Apple your money.
It's all public spectacles. These people are there not for the money - they are there to make a point, that being that their ideas of authority are what we all must obey.
Preventive obedience, lack of mandate borders, authority not requiring justification, a demand for justification being itself disobedience, implicit trust to authority, and so on.
These are all people who'd be not very respected or listened to in any normal kind of group. They dreamed of getting to a position where they will be, due to hierarchy. And that's an abuse of any system, so they are hostile to any immunity mechanisms detecting and fixing such an abuse.
So the whole point is in them taking power and showing us all that it's their rule and their time and it works like some thief feudalism with spectacles of loyalty, spectacles of cruelty, spectacles of stealing and getting away with it and demonstrative abuse of any legal principle.
I respect Cato institute people very much, they somehow manage to say this same thing without my emotion in their various materials.
Not really much of a disguise
All in plain sight. Brass and shameful. Why has this been normalize? 😡
Brash
Trump's ego.
No, I mean brass: "figurative. Taken as a type of insensibility to shame: hence, Effrontery, impudence, unblushingness." (DEFINED)
Brash would not have been appropriate (defined as "self-assertive in a rude, noisy, or overbearing way"). Tim was not rude, noisy or overbearing, but he was absolutely shameless!
Huh, TIL. That's a very uncommon usage in my area.
At this point it seems like half of them became billionaires just to be the ones harming the children.
Jesus short memories.
Apple phones have been built in by Chinese kids in buildings with suicide nets on them since the beginning.
When the fuck did Apple EVER give a shit about anything other than its value?
Maybe in the early days when the Apple II was hot on the market but idk even then. Capitalist are going to do their capitalism.
Trump has no idea what he is doing he just want free gifts like the stupid used airplane
But Apple cares about children. They were the first to run CSAM scans on their cloud storage and devices.
/s
He pretty much says it, right? 'here's a 24k gold bar... to hold the plaque we engraved your name on
“Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the election, and Google donated $1 million to the inauguration fund”
Apple's Tim Cook donated $1 million personally to Trump. Not Apple Inc, Tim Cook. And now he's donating this as well. These are not the same.
https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/apple-ceo-tim-cook-donates-1-million-trump-inauguration-1236265079/
And I can't even accept a gift voucher due to anti-bribery rules? Fuck off.
Do stocks go up from such a cringe-move?
Apple stock did, and unfortunately it even makes sense why. Considering how self-centered Trump is, and how easily swayed he can be by a literal shiny rock being given to him, this was probably a legitimately good trade for Apple.
They spend some money on a gold brick with some laser-cut glass, and the president of the entire country either gives them preferential treatment, or simply doesn't take any more extreme actions he was planning to take against them.
trump loves guady gold plated pieces, he thinks its the epitome of fine furniture or wealth.
The shareholders should be ashamed.. That's not good business, that's evil.
But it's good for bussines, isn't it?
Only when it's accepted by the people. If law dismantled the company then it's very bad for business.
Can you imagine Apple break down in foreseeable future? Because I can not.
EU have slapped their shit a few times but I suppose it's their game to lose.
Those fines are always pocket money for these companies. Until it's % of revenue based, it's destined to be a joke.
They sure did!
Bribery is now not just legal, but mandatory
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-is-back-on-trumps-good-side-the-cost-600-billion-113413035.html
“The move comes after Trump threatened to place a 25% tariff on Apple’s iPhones made overseas and in the face of a potential 100% tariff on semiconductors.”
Pussies
I think it's that and also more and all of it is wrong and disgusting.
What if he's on the list and doesn't want his name coming out.
Tim Apple is gay... I'm not aware of any reports of Epstein trafficking boys, but it would not be at all surprising.
To be completely honest, I had forgotten. His sexuality really makes no difference to me. It's just sad to see so many folks sucking up to Trump.
And no I wouldn't be surprised, while true Epstein didn't traffick boys, I would be surprised if he didn't have some connections to that. Again nothing on Tim's preference for male or female or whatever he likes...but god it seems rich folks can't help but be into horrible things.
His sexuality doesn't mean anything to me either, I was just pointing out the incongruity.
I figured. Sorry if I came off rude, my bad.
Yeah that is not how dictatorship works. He is vending a knee
I hate when I try to buy the knee, and it gets stuck in the machine...
That’s exactly it.
Promise things that you’re doing anyway, use big numbers - hundreds of billions
Give him some shiny crap, he loves it
Praise him
Then he’ll let you go on as usual
In other countries this would be a criminal offense. For example in Austria: if the value of the gift is above 50000€ , it's 6 months - 5 years; if over 300k€ it's 1-10 years of prison.
Oh, this is 100% a criminal offense for any government employee that isn't Donald Trump (or someone that he has decided to shield).
Low level government workers can't even accept someone paying for their lunch.
The same loophole exists almost anywhere: "its a gift to white house or trumps library"
A gold bar gifted to an institution would still count as corruption in most sane jurisdictions. Sure those loopholes exist, but we tend to disguise them as investments or charity.
But it's not a gold bar but a "gold base" which would be technically legal almost everywhere. It shouldn't be but thats how loopholes are.
It's criminal here too. But laws don't matter anymore because the "party of law and order" decided to elevate a felon rapist pedophile.
Not sure if you know this but I find it fun to know so I’m going to share.
In English when deciding whether to use a or an you should look at the start of the following word and if it starts with a vowel sound then use an else use a.
Examples:
Note, this can differ by region. For example, "an historic ..." is common in the UK, whereas it would be "a historic ..." in the US due to accent differences.
That's because the h is silent at the beginning of a word in the UK.
An 'istoric
A Historic makes sense if you pronounce the hard H
Yup, it's just not so obvious when reading text if you're not familiar w/ the accent.
Streuth (struth? 'struth? No idea how to actually write that expression)
"He is an halibut." --Monty Python 😁
aaah i know this and normally don't make this mistake, thank you very much tho, i will fix it right away 🫡
Dialing 911 and telling my local constabulary that the President is doing crimes. But then they just laugh at me and say "We're all doing crimes! It's the innocent people who get thrown in jail."
Bribe. The word you're looking for
I fucking hate corporatism
https://paulstreet.substack.com/p/fascism-is-corporatism-the-merger
Capitalism's natural end stage
This is why when the whole media world rushed to protect him when he came out of the closet as gay was total and utter bullshit. He wasn't brave and he doesn't give one hot damn about the gay community clearly.
Oh hey, another reason Apple fucking sucks. Look at that.
Another reason billionaires fucking suck. They'll always end up looking out for each other
Class consciousness
Yep the fact that this goes automatically to hating on Apple instead of the rich tells you all you need to know
It’s Apple or Google pretty much here for us Americans. Who do you think we should support? Or do you think we should go back to t9 Nokias?
You’re on Lemmy and haven’t heard the word of our lord and saviour Linus Torvaldes?
Sadly real linux (not android) is not a good mobile option yet, though is progressing rapidly.
We’ll fuck, I forgot about Dre!
I kid, but Linux is the third option. I’ve been getting to know it lately and am just about ready to switch my main machine.
I want WebOS back.
Or a clean, normal, non-Android phone version of Linux.
Sailfish exists: https://sailfishos.org/
European alternative: https://sailfishos.org/
Linux phones will eventually get to a point that I can ditch the big two entirely. I hope. But yeah if I didn't need the apps for my job, I'd go back to a Nokia T9 in a heart beat. I was a live long before smartphones were, I don't need one.
When you're rich and powerful as fuck but still bend the knee to a felon rapist pedophile.
All of America's most "powerful" people are little fucking bitches. Little bitches are calling the shots and representing us to the world. Jesus Christ how pathetic is this country going to get?
Conservatives: Hold my beer.
Emperor Cheesar accepting gold tribute from his feudal vassal
Time to boycott Apple just like everybody decided to boycott Target and Amazon for bending over.
I mean at this point you'll have to boycott everyone. Boycotting isn't gonna cut it anymore.
See, I disagree with this sentiment. Coming from a Canadian we're seeing products in grocery stores and other places we've simply never seen before because all the american product is rotting on the shelves. For instance, I've seen legit Canadian brands of laundry detergent whereas my whole life all I've ever really seen is tide, bounce the usual corp crap.
This is slowly but surely propping up alternatives in a way that simply wasn't possible before and directly contributing to what is currently small manufacturers, farmers and other retailers into becoming viable alternatives to the usual suspects.
You're not wrong—and yet, nobody decides to do anything. Still.
Google gave $1M to him
Will you boycott Google products too?
Shouldn't we?
enthusiastic dick sucking noises
Like in the grapefruit technique video.
Now that's pathetic. Whatever happened to apple? What was even the latest cool thing they did? Seems almost irrelevant now
There's nothing cool about Apple and never was. They're just really good at advertising to people who don't understand technology. You have always been able to get the same grade of technology for way cheaper by purchasing from elsewhere.
I've been an IT professional (as a job) for over 2 decades. I have had numerous jobs and worked with a lot of tech people. I have had exactly one fellow employee that liked Apple and that dude was straight out of high school and we hired him on as an intern at first and he knew basically nothing.
Apple is good at advertising and robbing people blind. That's it.
Funny, I've been an IT professional for over 2 decades and most of my coworkers have used Macs for development and system administration.
Didn’t you watch the video? They turned a gold bar into a “stand.” Truly revolutionary, Tim apple.
Wait for the price tag on the upcoming golden monitor stand.
I’m not buying any more iPhones. I got used to them and just continued buying them. But no more.
You going to get the Trump phone, right!?
Of course he has his own phone. Let me guess, it randomly charges your account and you can’t cancel the plan?
Lol, thanks for the chuckle.
Lmao actually this is accurate. If I can find the article again I'll share it
With the mid range Pixels you get a very polished and high quality Android I'd say.
I recently switched from Motorola to a Pixel 9 and I'm very happy! Absolutely hated the 5 minutes that the Pixel was running stock Android tho (they remapped the Off button to an AI button and I couldn't figure out how to power down the phone), but once that crap was gone and GrapheneOS was installed I stayed 100% content. I'm not even a particularly security focused person, but Graphene's dedication to keeping bloatware and unnecessary dumb shit off the OS has been very appreciated
What do you mean by "don't work well for long"?
I've been using my Sony Xperia phones for many years, without significant issues.
His name really is Tim Apple now.
I'm sure this has been pointed out before, but it's very appropriate that the video for "This is America" was shot in an abandoned factory building.
Smells like an opportunity to cause Apple brand damage.
So, where are y'all going to hang your mandatory Trump portraits?
So, where are y'all going to hang
your mandatoryTrump?portraitsYup.
Knife up the butt is a good look for Trump.
Wikipedia for context
At the far end of my firing range.
And start practicing goose stepping for the invasion force parades.
So now that apple bent the knee can people finally stop buying apple shit?
Google hasn’t “bent the knee”? 😏
How about we make all tech ceos work in the cobalt mines instead of children
Let’s go. Start from the richest one down.
How about the Rust mines instead?
I'm sure it has, but I don't recall them publicly giving the Cheetos a gold trinket
Dumb people buy Apple products, so they'll probably keep buying them, because they're dumb.
An apple shaped hole in a CD? He just presented Trump with an A-Hole award.
Fuck you Tim Cook
I’ll bet those boots taste disgusting.
Since this isn't Tim Apple's first roll in the hay with Trump, I doubt he minds the taste.
Just like $100 dollar bills, if you're lucky, you might even get a little cocaine with it.
so Trump excluded Apple from his tarriffs, right?
Ding ding ding!
Trump could do the funniest thing... And not exempt Apple.
Just suck him off already, you fucks. Come on commit!
Imagine if the CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the world didnt bend over and spread cheeks for a cock so small Donald has to... employ the services of paedos like Jeffery Epstein...?
Donald is suspected of being a paedophile. Yet people still bend the knee like this. I tell you, when it finally comes out, I hope everyone remembers who was happy to continue kissing his ass. Fuck you, Tim.
Keep bending down and kiss the ring, Tim. You're not low enough, keep going...
Jesus, just pull his fly down and give him a blow job already.
Probably got bored of that
A set of shiny keys dangled in his face so he forgets about demanding a US-made Iphone.
Tim Apple has turned into such a disappointing bootlicker.
bootlicker
edit: apple polisher is more appropriate and punny
Don’t understand how this isn’t criminal in America.
And Trump is just going to screw him over anyway, bribe or no bribe.
Lmao I hope it's fake or thinly plated gold on a lead base
I guess Trump didn't like the rimjob from Tim the first time.
I have always hated Apple, this is just further proof that they are greedy fucks with no morals.
Back door to Apple customer data maybe?
They already get that from the PRISM act.
“Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the election, and Google donated $1 million to the inauguration fund”
Cost of doing business
You know how those Trump supporters thought we were supposed to be really offended at "Fuck Biden" but no one gave a shit because even most Democrats were never really cheerleaders for Biden?
Even people who hate Apple know that Google is a piece of shit too. We aren't (generally) Google cheerleaders. You don't need to whatabout all the anti-Apple comments.
Dude. We know.
Would Steve Jobs done the same?
This almost makes me wish I still used Apple products so that I could boycott them.
Ive been Apple free for 20 years though.
Cook speaks Trump. Fluently.
I bet Apple has a Trump Mitigation Team
Scorched earth.
Let's see if apple enjoys the Tesla treatment.
I already hate Apple products, so I can't not buy them to make a statement about not supporting fascist loving corpo scum.
“Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the election, and Google donated $1 million to the inauguration fund”
Will you stop using Google products, including Android and YouTube or are you just a hypocrite?
Oh yes, let me protest this thing that just happened by throwing my Android-OS phone that I bought years ago away. That'll show 'em.
You're just as disingenuous and stupid as the morons on the right who smashed their Keurigs.
FYI, my next phone will probably be a Linux phone anyway and I hardly use YouTube at all these days, and when I do it's with AdBlockers on, and I never gave a cent to them for premium, so I cost them money to use their platform if anything. If PeerTube or some other non-Google video hosting service could go mainstream, I'd use that in a heartbeat. I've de-Googled my life as much as I could reasonably be expected to, and this was before their CEO kissed the ring. So fuck off with your judgemental attitude.
Tim Cuck
The real Tim Apple
Seems like someone is worried about tariffs on iPhones. Sadly, this will probably work too.
US oligarchs are friends with regime?
Just a normal day in Trumplandia. You have to suck the King’s dick to stay alive!
I can't wait for all these fuckwits to get what's coming to them.
Goddammit Tim Apple, it doesn't even look like anything remotely interesting.
For a split second after he stepped aside to reveal it, I actually thought it was a cool dragon figure. Must've been my mind desperately seeking any meaning in this nonsense because I was looking at the phones.
You know cook loves money more than his principles.
What a stupid fucking dildo. Sucking pp like that.
I can't watch, the cringe is overpowering.
What a fucking tool.
Yes he is, but that’s who you voted to lead 🤷🏻♂️
'you'
Imagine America loving it.
Ba da da da da.
Not a "gift". It was a BRIBE !!
What is engraved on it? What is he saying?
So Trump didn’t want his usual bribe of a BJ and $10M??
Ick
All the people that surely criticized Musk at the time, would surely not criticize cook this time, because Apple fans... They have it in their hands
Why don't they just transfer $200k directly to Trump?
"ewww, that would be bribery. This is not a bribe, it's a ... gift? Yes, it's a gift. Definitely a gift. And we expect nothing in return ;-);-) just a little gift. And this is definitely not a distraction from the orange buffoon being a child rapist and being mentioned many times on the Epstein list!!!"
“Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the election, and Google donated $1 million to the inauguration fund”
Not a big enough bribe at this scale
Assuming that’s a 5lb paper weight base, is that ~250k$ worth??
Had a hard time hearing what he said... What was it? A gold base for a piece of glass?
thats exactly, its probably just gold plated, and not solid gold.
This is a bit like mark rutte calling Trump “daddy”. It’s completely inconsequential in actual reality but still feels so entirely wrong. And I don’t even know who should be most embarrassed, the bootlickers or Trump for being transparently narcissistic that everyone realizes bootlicking works
This is not inconsequential at all, it's literally a bribe
He is kissing his as so gently.
Is the 24 karat on Aluminum?
More likely zinc or brass.
I hate how this community has become mostly politics lately. Its understandable since technology and politics are connected but still.
i wonder what trump will ise that for
Is this another reference to piss play like last time?
I salute Tim on his dick sucking skills
Such precision at such small scale.
Render unto Caesar..
Maybe he just has a fetish for tiny pee pees?
I doubt many here would refuse to do this for massive bag.
Surely 18k gold would be close enough, right?
18? We all know that he prefers 15 or so...
Tim is smart. This is exactly how to survive your shit president, America. Bend him over and kiss his ass, and you’ll survive.
Look at this move from a purely business perspective:
Give the toddler a shiny toy, toddler plays nicely.
And oh my fuck it's such a cheap gift from the war chest of Apple's bajillions. The real story is the Trump is too stupid to be insulted!
Been screaming for years, "PLAY this narcissistic fool!" Just wish world media and politicians and celebrities would get in the game. He's a CHILD! PLAY HIM! Instead we got world leaders rolling over. Heysus.
Nah, not hating on Cook for making an hilariously logical move.
Nah, it would have been way better (especially for literally everyone else) if they didn’t play at all.
Instead all the greediest people are realizing they can do this and they get all the things they want (so does Trump, along with more power) and it’s only at the expense of the entire American population (and the rest of the world too).
Fuck Cook. It isn’t clever. It’s literally greed. It’s not even that other people haven’t thought to do this, it’s that you have to be a total piece of shit to do this.
trump loves anything that has gold on it, also its not solid gold because it would be too heavy for him to handle.
It's not solid gold because anything solid would be out of character for Apple. Note also the surface texture.