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So, a very partial list of donors to Trump’s second inauguration includes:

• Apple’s Tim Cook.
• Ken Griffon of Citadel.
• Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
• Sam Altman of OpenAI.
• Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook.
• Dara Koroshawi of Uber.
• General Motors, Ford and Toyota.

Trump imposed a lot of sanctions on China in his first term but somehow Apple avoided most of them. Not coincidentally Tim Cook supposedly talked to Trump every week. I’m sure he spent that time being Trump’s good friend and toady.

I don’t blame him for it, it was his job. Apple sold a ton of phones in China and made most of their gear in China. Trump could have (and can) tear the heart of out of Apple.

The FTC is planning to take Meta to court over anti-trust violations this year. Want to bet they change their minds?

Amazon is nothing but a giant sucking anti-trust violation.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Trump is fighting tooth and nail to keep Jack Smith’s report from being released to the public and you have to wonder why. He beat them all. He’s not going to be prosecuted. But as Bill Kristol points out, there is a good reason for him to want to keep it out of the public record: Trump knows how crucial his rewriting of the history of January 6th was to his victory in November. If most Republicans had held to their original judgment of January 6th as a day of shame—if they had continued to believe that it was what Trump the very next day called a “heinous attack” that “defiled the seat of American democracy”—Trump would not have been the 2024 GOP nominee. If most Americans had thought January 6th not just an unfortunate event but a disqualifying disgrace, Trump wouldn’t have won the general election. The whitewashing of January 6th was key to Trump’s political comeback. And Trump has the sense—and I think he’s right about this—that he must make sure that January 6th stays whitewashed for the sake of his political success going forward.

Source - Patreon

That is the number one cable news network in America.

Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.

The post Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better. appeared first on The Intercept.

Plus, the secret documents Biden must release, new data on how much we subsidize factory farms, and how AI data centers could destroy your home

The Billionaires Compete for Dear Leader’s Favor Yep: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is making sweeping changes to the social internet, all in line with the desires of President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters. Out with the fact-checkers that conservatives deride. In with more permissive rules for posting conservative opinions. The recent elections “feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said in his announcement, justifying relaxed new content moderation rules on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. “Governments and legacy media have pushed to censor more and more,” Zuckerberg said, repeating a right-wing talking point used to undermine fact checking.

When Luigi Mangione was arrested for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson he had...

Do people doubt your driving abilities?
A. Yes, I’m still earning trust as a new mode of transportation.
B. Yes, I’m still up against long-held stereotypes and tired stand-up routines.

Do strangers ever gawk at you or comment on your appearance?
A. Yes, usually in response to my spinning parts and empty driver’s seat.
B. Yes, but I’m told I should feel flattered and that I’ll miss the attention when I’m older.

Does Google own you?
A. No, their parent company, Alphabet, owns me.
B. No, they just track my every move, know my innermost desires, and can manipulate my behavior with alarming precision to increase profits.

Are you trained to let others cut you off?
A. Yes, to avoid collisions.
B. Yes, in any conversation with a man.

Have you ever suspected a mechanic was trying to rip you off?
A. No, I receive routine maintenance from a certified team of experts.
B. Yes, when I was charged extra for “premium” tire air.

Just before Christmas, the Albanese Government released the findings of a report into how much funding the federal government contributes to those institutions around the country that research and report on the contemporary challenges facing Australian strategic policy. This is a significant report with important consequences for Australia’s global engagement. But it has not received Continue reading »

To be Jewish does not mean an automatic identification with the rogue state of Israel. Nor does it mean that Jews are automatically threatened by criticism of Israel, yet our media and Labor and Liberal politicians would have you believe this is the case. We are seeing a debate in Australia about the so-called rise Continue reading »

Ordinary humanity faces an emerging threat from the combined might of the Human Elites (billionaires and the military-political class) working with perhaps the greatest power the planet has ever seen: artificial intelligence. Their combined might has the potential to totally screw us. Happy New Year everyone.  2025 is set to be the ‘break-out year’ for Continue reading »

The world, thankfully, has come a long way from the time when animals as well as humans were put to death for unacceptable behaviour. Regrettably, Australia, a self-proclaimed abolitionist, is only really serious about capital punishment when the lives of its citizens are at stake. In 1662, in Connecticut, an otherwise respectable churchgoer named Potter Continue reading »

Indonesia’s new president, former disgraced general Prabowo Subianto, is making an awkward discovery:  gaining respect in the international community as head of a nation of 280 million civilians is not the same as ordering a special squad to intimidate. You can’t force the masses to grow more food, work smarter and change habits – then Continue reading »

Everyone has the odd “if only” thought from time to time. If only you had made a different career choice, if only you had not said the things you have said, or if only you had not done some of the things you have done. All those done and not done moments – those decisions Continue reading »

Our annual trip to Queenscliff is a quaint step back in time: ye olde shoppes and seaside fun from a simpler time. There is history aplenty: a museum for the brave and uniquely talented Port Phillip pilots and a coastal defence fortification which recalls fears of invasion by Russia and the United States. Turning to Continue reading »