Pompeo Says Trump's Executive Orders Are 'Broader' Than Just TikTok and WeChat, Hinting at More Action (cnbc.com) 173
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Donald Trump's executive orders against TikTok and WeChat could be "broader" than just those two apps. From a report: Pompeo did not elaborate, but his comments could be hinting at action against other Chinese apps or even TikTok's parent company ByteDance, or WeChat owner Tencent. "So when President Trump made his announcement about not only TikTok, but about WeChat -- and if you read it, it's broader even still than that -- is that we're going to make sure that American data not end up in the hands of an adversary like the Chinese Communist Party, for whom we have seen data uses in Western China that rival the greatest human rights violations in the history of mankind," Pompeo said in a speech in Prague, Czech Republic.
The orders name both Tencent and ByteDance. One of the executive orders prohibits âoeany transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. ... Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, in which any such company has any interest" as identified by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Another executive order prohibits "any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. ... Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity."
The orders name both Tencent and ByteDance. One of the executive orders prohibits âoeany transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. ... Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, in which any such company has any interest" as identified by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Another executive order prohibits "any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. ... Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity."
Translation (Score:5, Funny)
C'mon, Twitter! How much else do I have to do so we're friends again? Gimme back my favorite toy!
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
This guy is textbook narcissist, who only cares about himself. Not America, Not God, No one. He will tolerate and often reward people who suck up to him, But he doesn't care about anything but himself.
Being that millennials and post-millennials don't like him. He is going to take away their favorite toys as punishment for them as a general group not liking him. Being that they are not American Companies, it gave him the power to do so.
This isn't normal, this isn't partisan politics, this is just bad actions from a cruel person who has been granted more power than he really deserves for his mental state.
I have come across people like Trump before. They are Narcissist there are three things you can do with them.
1. Actively Fight them: This gives them a clear enemy to fight against, and pumps up their Ego as they are so important that they have enemies.
2. Inflate their Egos: If you play this game right, you are able to convince them to push your agenda, because all you need to do is make it seem like they are being great by doing such.
3. Ignore/Discredit them: this is what hurts them the most. This is what I really wished America has done during his presidency. Let him sit in his office, don't bother media coverage, and just ignore any order. While the Legislative and Judicial branch basicly handles managing the US. However too many Republicans decided to try to go to option 2. and too many democrats went with option 1.
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
3. Ignore/Discredit them: this is what hurts them the most. This is what I really wished America has done during his presidency. Let him sit in his office, don't bother media coverage, and just ignore any order.
Not an option while the senate is controlled by Republicans.
Re: (Score:2)
> Not an option while the senate is controlled by Republicans.
And if the Senate were not controlled by Republicans, the head of the Senate would be Chuck Schumer. Schumer is, of course, the guy who started this action against Tik Tok.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/1... [nytimes.com]
So ... Senate has majority Republicans - they allow Trump to, at Schumer's request, force the Chinese to sell back Tik Tok.
Senate has majority Democrats - Schumer just forces the Chinese to sell back Tik Tok, without needing any help
Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
the Media cannot help themselves nor can Trump. Trump baits them and they bite. They invent stuff about Trump, and he bites.
What did the media invent about Trump?
But neither can control themselves, both are emotionally invested and MUST respond to the provocations (perceived or real) of the other.
Both are economically invested. As long as people respond to stories about Trump, the media will keep reporting on Trump. And Trump needs to make money to appease his Russian overlords. No other banks will do business with him any more, since the truth about his defrauding deutsche bank came out.
Re:Translation (Score:5, Informative)
They kept the "Russian Collusion" hoax ...
Maybe there was not collusion. Maybe. But there are enough facts, evidence, and stink surrounding it that you can't fault anyone that insists there was. His camp was talking to the Russians before he took Office. That was crime. Nixon was a blessed saint compared to Trump. A million Oval Office blowjobs do not compare to what Trump has done even in the last month. My God, the denial is strong in this one.
In case no one has pointed this out before, you are paranoid and delusional, in that you think anyone is out to get you for your politics, and you definitely believe things that are provably false. Wow. Do your family and friends a favor and get psychologically evaluated. Don't just assume... know for certain that you are mentally healthy. That can't be done without an evaluation.
Re:Translation (Score:4, Interesting)
Lovely straw man, but you completely missed my point. To characterize the collusion as a "hoax" is fundamentally daft. No leftist group invented that. Trump and his camp intentionally stepped in dogshit, and it smells like dogshit. One must not only avoid evil, but also the appearance of evil. Trump is smothering himself with the appearance of evil. IT LOOKS LIKE COLLUSION. Whether Mueller found any is beside the point. Trump stinks of impropriety. He is dishonest, no, he is a hopeless liar. Whether the major crime was actually committed is another issue, but only blind idiots would think it doesn't appear as something rotten. It appears that way. This raises the question why he would do it? Why is he choosing to appear evil, if he is not evil? I don't know if he is evil. But if he is good, then he is incompetent, that much is clear.
You don't have to suffer like this. Get help.
Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
Mueller looked, turned over every rock and didn't find enough evidence to concluded it happened.
If that's what you think the report said, either you didn't read it, or you didn't understand it.
Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
How you where voted +5 Informative is beyond me.
Keep at it, you'll get it.
There is no evidence of collusion at all, and you remain in the "MAYBE" there "wasnt" collusion camp?
Am I somehow typing gibberish? Don't label me one way or the other, I don't fucking know. What I do know, and what many others who are honest with themselves know, is that it looks really bad. If a Democratic President had done this, he would have resigned. That is the ordinary thing to do when things almost appear almost terrible. Maybe it was nothing at all. But there are so many smoking guns, someone must have been murdered, right? Maybe not. Maybe it is just incompetence, because no competent President would have allowed all the crazy bullshit to occur. Trump dove right in it, and arrogantly sticks around doing more of the same, stinking, but not actually quite being feces.
Prove the accusation our get out of the building. There is no stink.
This is unbelievable. You really think Trump looks better because he covered himself with shit, because he is not the actual shit himself? I am trying to communicate here, that I don't know that he is shit. But I am not blind, and it looks like he covered himself in shit, and if he is not shit and did that intentionally, then he is politically incompetent. The whole point of being a politician is to make yourself appear better than the average joe. But the average joe runs circles around Trump.
What has Trump gotten right? Where are his victories? His entire Presidency is one stink bomb after the next, one giant shitsmear since before he took Office... so many shitbombs is difficult to keep track. But you're focused on whether he actually did the deed. I don't care if he did it or not, that is beside the point. He looks like shit, and it is clear he will go down in history as the worst President ever, by far. He is not a leader. He is a narcissist. He does not care about you. I can kick you in the ass also, does that mean you will love me? Trumpers make no fucking sense, nor so 99% of Republicans. Nothing is more important than money, but Republicans expect the poor to support the rich. It is absurd, and if everyone always voted in their personal economic interests, we'd never see another Republican elected to any office.
Re: (Score:3)
That's what they hope to accomplish with gaslighting. They want you to doubt your own sanity. You're not insane, you're just living in a bullshit factory.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
They are. Witness the manchild sulk his way from behind the microphone when he was called out for lying [businessinsider.com]. From a woman no less!
There are other instances when the press challenges him and all he does is whine about "unfair" questions and "OBAMA!!"
Re: (Score:2)
Pragmatically I don't care, the simple fact is the Chinese state is very in bed with the IT infrastructure, they ARE enslaving a race of people.
The less cooperation with a country that does 'social credit' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] ) the better. Although actually the US is doing the same thing with it's draconian no-fly list.( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] )
And if the US does this and then behaves badly with data on citizens of other countries well then they won't have a leg to stand on if the
You're aware Chuck Schumer started the Tik Tok pro (Score:2, Troll)
You are aware it's Chuck Schumer, the leading DEMOCRAT in the Senate, who started the Tik Tok probe, right?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/1... [nytimes.com]
> This guy is textbook narcissist, who only cares about himself. Not America, Not God, No one. He will tolerate and often reward people who suck up to him, But he doesn't care about anything but himself.
> Being that millennials and post-millennials don't like him. He is going to take away their favorite toys as punishment
I won't disagree with you there. Chuck is
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
Trump as president really isn't all that bad and he DOES care about the USA ("America First") if you look at his actions.
1000+ Americans are dying every day, the national debt has grown by several trillion dollars over the last six months, unemployment is up to near-Great-Depression levels, America's enemies are emboldened to ignore us, America's allies no longer trust us, and American passports are worthless because nobody wants to allow disease-ridden Americans into their country anymore.
Trump's "actions" were to play down the threat from coronavirus, mislead Americans into thinking it was a "hoax", that it would go away by itself, that masks were unnecessary, that hydroxychloroquine would fix it, and so on.
So, judging by Trump's actions, he's done everything possible to damage America and America's standing in the world. I'm not saying Trump is a Putin-planted saboteur, but if he were, he could hardly have done a better job of it.
Re: Translation (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That would amount to 14,5 million deaths a year. Where do you get those numbers from, the sources I have (CIA and CDC) would rather suggest we're dealing with 2.6 to 2.9 million deaths a year.
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Trump NEVER called the virus a hoax - He called the Democrats claims that he wasn't reacting to the virus a hoax, which it was. They kept saying he wasn't doing anything, in fact they KEEP saying this, but it's not true. Trump has done a LOT of stuff in reaction to the virus, democrats claiming otherwise is a lie.
I'm not claiming Trump did everything right on this... But he never called it a hoax and never ignored it but reacted in pretty stark and immediate ways which were unprecedented ways. He even drew
Re: (Score:3)
The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus One of my people came up to me and said “Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia, that didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax that was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since you got in And this is their new hoax.”
Trump on the coronavirus at a rally in South Carolina February 28.
Re: (Score:2)
The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus One of my people came up to me and said “Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia, that didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax that was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since you got in And this is their new hoax.”
Trump on the coronavirus at a rally in South Carolina February 28.
Ah, the carefully edited soundbites abound with you guys. Take the WHOLE context, not just the bite you hear on CNN OK? I know you don't like hearing him talk, but if you are going to critique him for saying something you really need to know what he really said... I think you will be surprised how often he says stuff that gets edited, spliced in order to misquote his intent. Get the facts..
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-charleston-south-carolina-rally-transcript-february-28-2020
In
Re:Translation (Score:4, Informative)
The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!
- Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2020
And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.
- Trump on US coronavirus, February 26, 2020
With approximately 100,000 CoronaVirus cases worldwide, and 3,280 deaths, the United States, because of quick action on closing our borders, has, as of now, only 129 cases (40 Americans brought in) and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!
- Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020
Re: Isolate China (Score:5, Interesting)
So the way to fight communism is by closing the market. Such amusing hypocracy. Why not simply admit that capitalism is just as idealistic and contradictory as communism?
Re: Isolate China (Score:5, Informative)
The largest error (it is soooooo easy to make an "error" when trillions are at stake;) of the western world was believing that richer China will democratize. In fact the opposite is happening. The net results so far is that the West enriched (and armed) the largest fascist state in the world.
Another (huge) lie of the Chinese is that hey do not invade and have no imperial ambitions. The truth is the moment they can, they do (look at their history). Fortunately for the world "5000 years of civilization" amounted to oxen being the main mode of transportation until the 80-ties of the 20th century. That's the "benefit" of authoritarian societies (just see the dismal performance of Russia in comparison to their potential).
And also, capitalism and communism are not comparable ideologies. Fascism and communism are (largely the same).
Russia, China and the US, when it comes right down to it all three are just three different flavours of oligarchy.
Re:Isolate China (Score:4, Funny)
But how will I get the latest shiny iPhone? ;_;
By paying a few dollars more.. Halting trade with China would be disruptive, but we would survive while dealing them a significant economic blow...
But.... Let's be honest.. China will survive anything we can dish out economically. Eventually, unless they change their minds about what kind of neighbors they are going to be, there will be direct conflict with them. All we can do is delay...
Re: (Score:2)
> By paying a few dollars more..
will my salary go up a few dollars more? No. Because the cost of doing business will increase. I'm not ready to become even poorer just because you have some sort of stupid ideological grudge.
Re: (Score:3)
> By paying a few dollars more..
will my salary go up a few dollars more? No. Because the cost of doing business will increase. I'm not ready to become even poorer just because you have some sort of stupid ideological grudge.
Hmmm.. And what would that "ideological grudge" be I wonder?
Yea, no need to bother yourself about human rights and freedom, or be at all concerned that China doesn't seem to be willing to live their way and let us live our way (See Hong Kong for what I mean). Just keep buying your cheep stuff, living on the backs of the cheep, oppressed labor in China, you are not in anyway responsible for that. Don't bother yourself to worry about the Chinese coming here to impose their system of governance on you, it c
Re: (Score:2)
Picture Donald (Score:2)
in the shower singing
"I rule the world..."
{no need for the word 'when'}
Scary isn't it.
Re:Picture Donald (Score:4, Insightful)
Go look into what China does with data. They are piloting a social credit system as in Black Mirror, except the government runs it, and when you are uppity, they lower it. Too much and you can't get loans, open accounts, rent, or even get on a bus.
Now talk to me again about scary.
Oh, and they are exporting it to help the Venezuelan dictatorship maintain power.
Re: Picture Donald (Score:2)
What's that got to do with data from the US?... and how different is it to the credit systems elsewhere? I mean, with actual evidence for the differences, not just hand waving?
Re: (Score:2)
The Social Credit system is essentially government enforced Cancel Culture.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
When fascism came to America, it came wrapped in the flag, waving the cross, and preaching the free market.
There I fixed your sig for you.
Re: (Score:3)
What's that got to do with data from the US?... and how different is it to the credit systems elsewhere? I mean, with actual evidence for the differences, not just hand waving?
Since when does Trumpkin logic have to make sense? ... and since when have their claims had to be backed up with 'data'?? They just string together an incoherent sequence of completely unrelated claims, season the concoction with conspiracy theories and then get angry about it.
Re:Picture Donald (Score:5, Insightful)
So China is going to black list me as an American for not being a good chinese citizen?
I am more scared about what the American Government has on me, compared to what China has on me.
The American Government while may not be able to arrest me for my views, can do other things to make my life miserable. Eg. Have the IRS Audit you. Get the FBI to question your neighbors (They normally will do this, if you are getting a job that requires security clearance, but your neighbors will often distance yourself from you after that, at least until you explain (if you can) why they did it). Leak information to the press or to the likes of Fox News so I can be slandered.
I am not happy with China's Social Credit System. But the United States, isn't the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave anymore. As the people in charge (I don't care the party) are afraid (Not Brave) of loosing their power, so they find ways to restrict descent as much as they can (Not Free)
Re:Picture Donald (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
You don't think that collected data ever makes it way back?
Re: (Score:2)
I am more scared about what the American Government has on me, compared to what China has on me.
That is fine for you, maybe. However is not fine for our intelligence assets, key strategic industry players, government officials etc.
This statement displays an unimaginably profound ignorance or is indicative of someone who really does not care about the future of our nation's independence at all. Hint no matter how many problems America has in terms of social justice, equality, whatever else bothers you it NOT as bad as vicious crimes against humanity China commits constantly. The world will not be bet
It's not about data privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not about the privacy-- or mostly not that! It bugs me that they are selling it like that "Booooo! asians have your data. What will they do to your family! hide!"
What it is about are two things that do matter
1. Reciprocity. If Facebook or Google or Paypal or Amazon is shut out of china then sorry, no WeChat or AliExpress or TikTok in the US.
2. It's not who has your data that matters but what laws they need to follow. COmpanies either based in the US, or Irish companies like Google and Apple, that have large US dependent incomes, have to follow the laws about data handling for that country. (Microsoft's claim they offshore the data and thus have no such responsibility is antithetical to this goal. But the response to that is easy, you do it like the EU does it. Obey our laws or get out or pay a fine.).
It's appropriate too that this is being implemented as a regulatory process squeeze play forcing Tencent to sell their US operations to a US contractor against their will. This is because this is a method china has abused this to death in forcing US manufacturers to turn over IP to china and set up chinese partners in order to access markets.
SO once china opens up, removes the firewall, and stops these regualtory agency protection rackets, I'm happy to see them be treated with reciprocity.
But as for what evil thing they might do with your data... oh please. There seems to be some evidence that google reads your e-mail when you are applying for jobs, matches your enclosed resume to their hire.google customers then tells those people about this job opportunity. We have lots of spooky agencies buying what they can. Internet traffic that passes through nodes controlled by 5 eyes is scooped and seived. What could the chinese really be doing with my tiktok viewing habits that is any more likely to impact me? I'm sure it is valuable to them for all sorts of good and bad purposes but that's not scaring me more than google does.
Donald Trump had guys in cammo (Score:3)
Meanwhile Trump is undermining the Post Office in clear defiance of the US Constitution to prevent Americans from voting against him.
And let's not forget he sought and was impeached for soliciting a foreign power for opposition research for his
It's just a matter of time... (Score:2)
...the fella will be out of a job in a few months....
A more friendly administration is just waiting in the wings [cnn.com] at least according to some professor as quoted by *cough* *cough* fake news CNN.
Re: (Score:2)
Who/what is this supposed to benefit ? (Score:2)
The USA (eg security, economic, human rights ideals, ...) or Trump's electoral prospects ?
Re: (Score:2)
Considering that Trump's central platform is "America first", aren't those two synonymous by definition?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Considering that Trump's central platform is "America first", aren't those two synonymous by definition?
Trump's central platform is "Trump first".
Re: (Score:2)
Nope.
It is 'Trump Family and Empire First. The rest don't matter one bit'.
Re: (Score:2)
Nope. It is 'Trump Family and Empire First. The rest don't matter one bit'.
Funny, if this truly is his intent, he's pretty ineffectual and stupid because he's not improved his business interests at all, quite the opposite. He holds the most powerful position in the free world and you are saying he is trying to make it pay, but have no significant examples of this actually happening? Shoot man, Obama made millions while in office, tens of millions, what has Trump cleared? Nothing approaching that kind of money.
Re: (Score:2)
Considering that Trump's central platform is "America first", aren't those two synonymous by definition?
Trump's central platform is "Trump first".
LOL.. Is it? I think that narrative is starting to lose it's appeal to the middle.
I don't pretend I could argue with YOU and change your mind, but come on, at least be honest about WHY people believe what they do. Trump has done a great number of things that show his commitment to putting "America First" to go with his campaign slogans... Now I suppose all this could be an act, but I don't see how this whole presidential gig has accrued to Trump's personal benefit, but quite the opposite.
Trump didn't ge
Re: Who/what is this supposed to benefit ? (Score:2)
Re:Who/what is this supposed to benefit ? (Score:5, Insightful)
His reputation did not take a hit, and on top of the bumping his brand way back into relevance and potential for boosting the Trump businesses as president, running for president absolutely helped that.
However, his core desire isn't really about his business succeeding, it is about being big and having his name and his face be out there. His business is a means to the end of feeding his megalomania.
To the extent his reputation changed, he had fans and he had critics and a whole lot of people who just didn't care because he wasn't relevant enough to their lives to matter. Of those who cared, a *lot* of people were already pretty critical. Upon running, he did impose himself upon a lot of people who suddenly had reason to go from neutral to dislike, but he also stirred up plenty of rabid fans. Those fans are enough to create rallies and even if the wider picture is generally more negative, the rallies will feel more real to him and he didn't have those live crowds before running for president.
Re: (Score:2)
>His reputation did not take a hit
I have no idea how warped of a world you must be living in where having something like 90% negative media coverage domestically and close to 100% globally 24/7 is not a massive reputational hit.
Re: (Score:2)
Because his news media coverage was already pretty negative. There just wasn't much of it at all because no one cared. To the extent news media ever cared about Donald Trump, it has always been on the negative side, for decades.
To the extend you did see Trump coverage in the news media over the past several decades, it isn't flattering. Of course non-news media did give him a venue for more favorable view, and that has gone down as news relevance has gone up, but he has Fox news defending him to the death t
Re: (Score:2)
>Because his news media coverage was already pretty negative. There just wasn't much of it at all because no one cared. To the extent news media ever cared about Donald Trump, it has always been on the negative side, for decades.
And this is a good example of both reputational hit he took and TDS in action. You completely reimagined history after his reputational hit from his presidential run massively shifted narrative about him.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
That's what TDS is. Trump cultists who think everyone else is nuts.
Re: (Score:2)
As soon as I hear somebody use the term "TDS", I immediately think, "That person is a Trump cultist. They're an idiot."
Fine, but let's face it, Trump's fortunes have NOT been improved by his foray into national politics. Now a lot of folks actively hate him with an irrational intensity, and that will never change.
Re: (Score:2)
The post didn't mean that Trump followers have TDS, just that Trump followers frequently jump to 'TDS' to blindly wave off discussion and criticism and dismiss the opposing viewpoint as mental illness rather than something to actually respond to.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
LOL.. That's it? That's all you got? Maybe $10 million? $20M?
Trump hasn't "made a fortune" on this stuff, he already has a fortune. A couple of Mara Lago memberships and a few condos? Oh, and helping his daughter in China? (Have you discussed Biden's son's "business deals" in China lately? No? Then what Ivanka does in China is important how?)
Look, Trump is reported to be worth about 2.1 billion. It is ridiculous to think that a couple of million in condos, or maybe 2 million in membership fees are
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Whoosh.. You missed the point and bring up trivialities which are of no use to the discussion.
Trump (according to Forbs) was worth around 4 Billion when it took office, he's worth about 2.1 billion now according to the same source. You can argue about the actual dollar amount if you want, but it's clear he's lost money since he took office.
MY POINT is that even at 2.1 Billion personal worth, the idea that it is somehow likely that he'd be out looking to score 10 Million in some corrupt deals and face leg
Re: (Score:2)
The moment he announced his run, before the primaries even had a chance to get going, a lot of us had immediately found the prospect ridiculous because we already saw him as more on the level of 'used car salesmen' stereotype rather than 'great business leader'. The coverage from that time and during the primary run is still out there for review and particularly comedy material laughed it off as wacky as Marianne Williamson. Then as the primaries continued the joke became "holy cow, how is he actually seemi
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry his name will be forever remembered. Getting impeached, figuratively tearing up the constitution, and being the only president never to crack a 50% approval rating will put him forever in history books.
Oh he didn't actually build the one thing he said he was going to build, didn't achieve de-nuclearisation of North Korea, didn't get Mexico to pay for anything, didn't stop China, yep the name Trump will be forever remembered not for being the only moron who can't make money running a Casino, but
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, because his reputation was something to admire before he ran...
The kool-aid must be spiked where you are.
Re:Who/what is this supposed to benefit ? (Score:4, Insightful)
The man was wildly popular before his presidential run. People paid a lot of money just to use his family name on their buildings and corporations, and there's a reason why almost everyone in entertainment and political elite who's old enough have taken smiling pictures with him.
It's funny how many people have managed to scour these out of their memory because of their hatred of Trump after success of his presidential run.
Re: (Score:2)
One moment that sticks out for me in 2016 was after one of the debates. It was the Al Smith dinner [youtube.com]. It is supposed to be light hearted dinner where both sides come together for a good laugh at each others expense for a charity. His opening about of how these people were his friends until he ran for president as a Republican is almost poignant.
It's not that we're scouring it from memory (Score:5, Informative)
The cult of personality he has blindsided us. It doesn't make sense. His game show was to us just like Professional Wrestling. It was all fake but everybody pretended it wasn't for the sake of Kayfabe.
It never occurred to us that there were people out there that though it was all real, let alone 60 million of them. We still have a hard time believing it.
Worse, Trump keeps mismanaging the pandemic & economy with real world consequences and we keep expecting the Kayfabe spell to break. And it doesn't. I'm not sure we know how to respond. Bad things keep happening, we keep pointing out why, and still his supporters respond with "fake news" and "nuh-uh".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
>"Let me isolate a few examples of benefits, and ignore the massive negative to justify my narrative. Also, if you don't think he's the devil, you must love him".
Yes, this sort of narrative weaving would be a good example of just how bad of a reputational hit he took.
Re: (Score:2)
Considering how much of a reputational hit he took to his business empire to run, that is unequivocally false.
BWHAHA HAHAHA!! HAAHAAHAA!! Every time he goes golfing at one of his courses, which happens a lot, he is literally using federal funds to pay his golf course, that he still runs, because that whole having Eric or whoever the fuck it was, "run" his company just never happened. Why do you think everyone made a stink about the emoluments clause thing?
Dude is fucking making bank off the public's tax dollar. This job has funneled him more money than you can imagine and we haven't even gotten to the point whe
Re: (Score:2)
Alain Williams:
The USA (eg security, economic, human rights ideals, ...) or Trump's electoral prospects ?
Luckyo:
Considering that Trump's central platform is "America first", aren't those two synonymous by definition?
People who equate the success of a nation with the success of one man scare me.
Re: (Score:2)
>People who equate the success of a nation with the success of one man scare me.
I agree with this. Which is why I equated success of a man with success of a nation rather than the opposite.
Re: (Score:2)
Equality is commutative.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
The US needs to do a lot more than just banning Chinese apps. We need to ban all transportation from China - just look at the stories about mystery seeds being sent at random to people in both the US and other countries - and reimagine manufacturing and production of everything we currently just buy from China.
Right now, China is acting exactly like Nazi Germany did in the run up to WWII - and they have territorial claims on all their neighbors. No, we don't have to go to war against them, but we can do
Re: (Score:3)
And India is backing it up the right way. Actually, ever since the China virus hit, India has been quietly driving a 'self reliance' program to get as much manufacturing into India and not have to import anything from China. The Galwan Valley skirmish only brought this to the forefront: now Indians are actively boycotting China, and Chinese companies are afraid to operate in India.
As Gordon Chang advocates, we need to do that as well: not just ban their apps, but also cut off all economic ties, b'cos ma
Context (Score:4, Interesting)
Tencent is a massive investor in entertainment worldwide. Everything from music to games.
If they actually go all out for Tencent's holdings outside China, there's going to be a lot of disruptions down the line. I doubt that even the most hardline anti-China zealots are ready for something that big.
My guess is that this is a "big ask" preamble before they start talking to Tencent affiliated companies outside China on topic of "you need to get yourself separated from Tencent using less extreme measures, so we don't have to mandate more extreme ones". Maybe even have Tencent spin off its foreign investment program to the point where Chinese control over it lessens to a significant degree without actually needing to do anything on US Admin side. Some companies like Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group would likely not have too much problems doing this with small stake that Tencent has in them, whereas gaming market would likely be severely impacted with giants like Riot Games being fully owned by Tencent and Epic having something around 40% Tencent ownership. Those are not the kinds of numbers you divest easily.
I'm not aware of any major ByteDance investments that would be on anything of the scale of Tencent's, so I can't comment there.
Re: (Score:3)
Banning WeChat is also to cost American companies dearly. Apple will probably be the worst hit with their devices becoming next to worthless in China without WeChat.
A lot of luxury brands sell/advertise through WeChat too. The Chinese market is huge for them. Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Dior, Fendi, Rebecca Minkoff, Macyâ(TM)s, American Eagle and Lacoste, to name but a selection.
Car companies as well. You see a fair few GMs and Caddies over there.
If banned from using WeChat and other Tencent services t
Re: (Score:2)
>Apple will probably be the worst hit with their devices becoming next to worthless in China without WeChat.
Apple's China's operations are already segregated from US operations. It's unlikely that they'll take a hit there. The hit will come outside China among the large Chinese diaspora. Though that's going to be a lot smaller than internal Chinese operations.
Baloney (Score:2)
Facebook, google, amazon etc already can't do bussiness in China. Any other company that wants to do bussiness in china has to hand over IP to Chinese partner companies. CHina can't do anything to hurt anyone because they already have maxed out their leverage. Retaliate against apple. Then Apple pulls manufacturing out of china.
Re: (Score:3)
Walmart, Microsoft and Apple already do business in China.
Which reminds me, Walmart is screwed because it's shops in China presumably won't be able to take the most common form of payment: WeChat.
Re: (Score:2)
sure they will. the walmart china doesn't report to walmart USA, they are merely owned in stocks by them. so they can take WeChat in china where they operate.
Re: (Score:2)
"If they actually go all out for Tencent's holdings outside China, there's going to be a lot of disruptions down the line. I doubt that even the most hardline anti-China zealots are ready for something that big."
In 4 months Trump and his goons will be in prison anyway.
Pompeo & Human Rights (Score:4, Insightful)
Broader? (Score:2)
Small wonder, he's a broad man.
twitter and facebook should go really bold... (Score:3)
And just ban all politicians of all stripes worldwide. That way there is no bias.
I'm sick of the US trying to police the world (Score:5, Interesting)
Why do they have troops everywhere in the world? Why can they sanction any country and by doing that make the life of people in a third country worse? I'm surprised the Czech did not impale him onto a lamp post.
Re:I'm sick of the US trying to police the world (Score:4, Insightful)
The US likes to think that their domestic laws apply to planet earth. Look at the Bullshit they are pulling with Assange.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You are right - might is right. Physical force ultimately determines who holds what land, which dictators (or even democratically elected leaders) get ousted or not, and who's collecting taxing at 'toll booths' like the Suez canal. No doubt this will continue to hold everywhere and anywhere and if/when extraterrestrial bodies like the moon or Mars are colonized. But...
The question you should be asking yourself is this; "Under which sphere of influence do I wish to remain under". To think you have absolute freedom from any influence are thoughts only children have.
There's a (Chinese?) saying: "Heaven is high and the emperor is far away". If you don't know what it means, look it up. In short
Re: (Score:3)
The US has troops in about 150 countries worldwide. I partly agree w/ you that we should prioritize, and leave a whole bunch of them. Given that our #1 threat is China, we should pick 2 regions - the Americas and the Indo-Pacific region (all Asian countries from India to Japan, and potentially Russia as well)
While we shouldn't have troops all over the world, we can't let China conquer countries nilly willy: sooner or later, they'll be trying to conquer the US as well. One major aspect of the Chicoms: u
There are security issues (Score:5, Interesting)
This makes it very easy to track the organizations that the soldiers are attached to.
It doesn't belong to you! (Score:3)
Re:It doesn't belong to you! (Score:5, Insightful)
as someone who is not in the US or an US Citizen, I'd LOVE if I could stop US corporations from compiling data on me....
An Inconvenient Internet (Score:4, Insightful)
The populace should not have access to information that contradicts the narrative or provides evidence of the true behaviour of governments and corporations.
This is about controlling platforms that could be used to disseminate information - nothing more, nothing less.
Re: (Score:2)
Speak for yourself. But what is your definition of a 'commie'? Reds under the bed really does not cut it any longer.
Re: (Score:2)
Speak for yourself. But what is your definition of a 'commie'? Reds under the bed really does not cut it any longer.
I don't know what you mean.. The Russian Collusion hoax lasted more than 3 years without having a single American involved. Having one under the bed would be better evidence...
Re: (Score:2)
so from the base - because everyone does it everyone should?
I'm of the opposite opinion - the sooner we take back our data and store it on our own devices the better.
Re: (Score:2)
Insofar as Apple can control the use of iOS services and API calls, sure, but where an app is using, say, https to communicate with the mothership, it becomes a lot harder to police activity
Re: (Score:2)
Considering that so many Americans are already indifferent to their infringed rights, it does not seem unacceptable for Chinese apps to continue to corrupt Americans.
Dude, when it comes to corruption, Americans do not need the slightest bit of help from Chinese apps.