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Tweet of The Day: Apple CEO Tim Cook On Anti-Gay ‘Religious Freedom’ Laws

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Apple CEO Tim Cook, who rarely speaks about political issues, came out today to blast anti-gay laws, including one just signed in Indiana.

With CEOs of some major tech companies becoming very vocal in their opposition to an anti-gay “religious freedom” bill just signed into law in Indiana yesterday, it was just a matter of time before Apple spoke up as well.

CEO Tim Cook, who rarely enters the national political discussion despite (or because he is) running the largest publicly traded corporation in the world and the most-respected, took a moment today to offer his opinion on both Indiana’s new law, and a similar Religious Freedom Restoration Act the Arkansas Senate just passed this afternoon. 

Apple joins a growing list of corporations and celebrities who are voicing concern and outrage at Indiana’s discriminatory anti-gay law.

Earlier today, the White House offered strong criticism, and last night Broadway’s Audra McDonald launched a rant on Twitter against Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for signing the legislation.

Other expressing upset, anger, and concern include $4 billion software firm Salesforce, $50 million annual gaming convention Gen Con, Fortune 500 member Cummins, Eskenazi Health, Eli Lilly and Co., Yelp, Hillary Clinton, George Takei, Pat McAfee, Jason Collins, the mayor of Indianapolis, and the State of Indiana’s own tourism board, among many others.

The afternoon, HRC publicized Cook’s tweets, and noted that “lawmakers have introduced more than 85 anti-LGBT bills in 28 state legislatures. HRC Arkansas condemns the senate’s passage of the bill and thanks Cook for his advocacy and dedication to equal rights for all.”

 

Related:

Apple Unplugs From Anti-Gay ‘Conservative Christian’ Alabama Lobbyist

Lawmaker Calls For Russia To Ban Apple CEO: ‘What Could He Bring Us? Ebola, AIDS, Gonorrhea?’

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz Says Tim Cook Being Gay Is His ‘Personal Choice’

 

Image of Tim Cook by Mike Deerkoski via Flickr and a CC license

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‘United States of Extortion’: New Trump Ukraine ‘Shakedown’ Called ‘Cheap Mafia’ Move

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Just weeks into his second term, President Donald Trump’s administration is not only grappling with a growing colossus of self-inflicted crises, but is now igniting international tensions as well. The administration is pressuring Ukraine to relinquish rights to half of its valuable precious metals—just as Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to begin negotiations to end Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine.

“Multiple lawmakers here in Munich told me the U.S. Congressional delegation presented Zelensky with a piece of paper they wanted him to sign which would grant the U.S. rights to 50% of Ukraine’s future mineral reserves,” Washington Post foreign policy and national security columnist Josh Rogin reported Friday afternoon from the Munich Security Conference.

“Zelensky politely declined to sign it,” he added.

Trump has made it clear he expects Ukraine to hand over the rights to its rare earth minerals, which are extremely valuable.

READ MORE: ‘Disgust’: Vance’s ‘Disturbing’ Speech Alarms Europe, Sparks Foreign Policy Fears

“Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, missile systems, and other electronics. There are no viable substitutes,” Reuters reported. The news outlet also noted that Trump “said on Monday he wants Ukraine to supply the United States with rare earth minerals as a form of payment for financially supporting the country’s war efforts against Russia.”

“We’re telling Ukraine they have very valuable rare earths,” Trump said. “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things.”

Trump’s expected haul: “close to $300 billion,” or more.

“We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth,” Trump said Monday, CBS News reported. “They have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”

The New York Times on Wednesday suggested Kyiv may be willing to play ball with the billionaire businessman.

“President Trump says he wants to make a deal for minerals from Ukraine in exchange for aid. That followed a long effort by Ukrainian officials to appeal to Mr. Trump’s transactional nature.”

Earlier this week Bloomberg reported on Trump’s call with Putin, saying, “European leaders, who were broadly aligned with Washington under Biden, were stunned to learn of the call and some said it appeared to signal that Trump was selling out Ukraine.”

“Trump is skeptical of providing more aid,” Bloomberg continued, “and if he does then he wants the US to be compensated – perhaps in the form of access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was in Kyiv today to work on that part of the deal.”

READ MORE: ‘Brazen Criminality’: Allegations of ‘Quid Pro Quo’ Fly After Border Czar’s Admission

Garry Kasparov, the internationally famous Russian chess grandmaster and now vice president of the World Liberty Congress, likened Trump’s demand to that of a Mafia don.

“Trump wants to give Russia something for nothing and expects Ukraine to give America something for nothing. Cheap mafia behavior,” he charged.

Olga Lautman, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and researcher of organized crime and intelligence operations in Russia and Ukraine, deemed the move “extortion.”

“This extortion by the [Trump] regime is outrageous. Europe needs to step up asap and help Ukraine,” she urged.

Professor Roland Paris, director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, doubly mocked the administration: “The United States of Extortion. (Can Google update its maps with this new name?)”

The Atlantic’s David Frum, a Bush 43 speechwriter, declared it, “Gangsterism.”

Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor for the right wing National Review, blasted the administration:

“The United States ought to back Ukraine because it is the right thing to do, morally, and, above all, because it is in the hard U.S. interest to do so. To shake down a country that is struggling for its very existence is, to my sense, repulsive.”

The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser called it simply, “A shakedown.”

READ MORE: Trump Admin Orders Immediate Mass Firing of Some Federal Workers — 200,000 Possibly at Risk

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Disgust’: Vance’s ‘Disturbing’ Speech Alarms Europe, Sparks Foreign Policy Fears

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JD Vance’s speech on Friday at the Munich Security Conference deeply offended European leaders, drawing widespread criticism and fueling serious concerns about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

“Hard to convey the level of disgust with and rejection of Vance remarks,” explained veteran foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen, “which included lecturing Europe to be more open to Musk promoting the German far right party and which ignored Russia.”

Vance’s speech, Rozen continued, “was not about Europe doing more to protect European security. It was telling them how to be internally—more open to right wing/ hate speech/techno oligarchd/Russian election interference.”

“Truly disturbing,” she concluded.

READ MORE: ‘Brazen Criminality’: Allegations of ‘Quid Pro Quo’ Fly After Border Czar’s Admission

The New York Times did not hold back. Its headline reads: “Vance Tells Europeans to Stop Shunning Parties Deemed Extreme.”

A member of France’s armed services committee “could not believe [Vance] did not mention Ukraine/Russia,” Rozen noted, while adding that “the German defense minister was the most forceful in expressing his rejection.”

Indeed, Tom Nutall, the Berlin Bureau Chief for The Economist wrote: Blistering response by Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defence minister, to JD Vance’s speech.”

Nutall quoted the minister as saying: “Democracy does not mean that a vociferous minority can decide what truth is…democracy must be able to defend itself against extremists.” 

Pistorius continued, describing himself as “a staunch believer in the Transatlantic Alliance,” and “a staunch ally and friend of America,” Real Clear Politics reported.

“The American dream is something that has always fascinated me and influenced me, and this is why I cannot just ignore what we heard before, I cannot not comment on the speech we heard by the U.S. Vice President.”

“This democracy … was just called into question by the U.S. vice president. And not just the German democracy, but Europe as a whole, he spoke of the annulment of democracy and if I understood him correctly, he compares the condition of Europe with the condition that prevails in some authoritarian regimes.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is not acceptable. That’s it. This is not acceptable,” Pistorius declared.

Damian Boeselager, a member of the European Parliament, wrote: “JD Vance speech at the MSC was a disgrace. Telling Europe how to run a democracy and free speech while centralizing all power in the hands of a couple of power hungry people is a horrible cynicism.”

READ MORE: Trump Admin Orders Immediate Mass Firing of Some Federal Workers — 200,000 Possibly at Risk

The Guardian reported that the European Union’s “foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, reacting to US vice president JD Vance’s speech, said it felt like Washington was ‘trying to pick a fight’ with Europe.”

Other experts also agreed with Rozen’s remarks.

“This is definitely how most foreign policy elites in Europe interpreted US Vice President Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference,” wrote Dr. Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at the London-based think tank Chatham House, and a professor of international relations at the University of London.

“Exactly this. Another disturbing glimpse into MAGA thinking,” added David Hartwell, a former UK Ministry of Defense intelligence analyst.

“Shocking hypocrisy from Vance – lecturing Europe on democracy when he serves as vice president to a man who attempted a coup in the US,” wrote Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times.

“It does not appear,” noted former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, who has a Master of Arts in international and global security studies from Johns Hopkins University, “that Vance, Hegseth or Trump on the same page when it comes to Europe, Ukraine, Russia. No coherent message. The world has no idea what American foreign policy is right now. I don’t think [the Trump] team knows either.”

Watch a portion of Vance’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Corruption’ Claims Fly Over Musk’s Modi Meeting as Trump Shrugs: ‘I Don’t Know’

Image via Reuters

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‘Brazen Criminality’: Allegations of ‘Quid Pro Quo’ Fly After Border Czar’s Admission

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President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, appeared on Fox News with Eric Adams on Friday morning in a lighthearted yet pointed exchange. As the pair and the hosts laughed, Homan made it clear that the deal struck with the New York City mayor comes with specific obligations for Adams. After Homan’s remarks aired, some critics argued that his comments suggest an explicit — and potentially unlawful — quid pro quo.

“If he doesn’t come through,” Homan chortled — but in what some viewed as a clear on-camera warning — “I’ll be back in New York City. And we won’t just be sitting on the couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, demanding, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we made?’”

Many across the nation were stunned this week when a senior U.S. Department of Justice official ordered the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, to drop all federal corruption charges against Mayor Adams. The shock continued when an eight-page letter that Sassoon — a Trump appointee — had written, was released. It explained in detail what appears to be a rock-solid case against Adams, how it would be a violation of her oath not to continue the prosecution, and that the government “does not have a valid basis to seek dismissal.” It  also exposed a possibly unlawful deal the feds made with the mayor.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Orders Immediate Mass Firing of Some Federal Workers — 200,000 Possibly at Risk

Sassoon alleged a “quid pro quo” in her letter, addressed to newly sworn-in Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Rather than be rewarded, Adams’s advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case. Although Mr. Bove disclaimed any intention to exchange leniency in this case for Adams’s assistance in enforcing federal law, that is the nature of the bargain laid bare in Mr. Bove’s memo. That is especially so given Mr. Bove’s comparison to the Bout prisoner exchange, which was quite expressly a quid pro quo, but one carried out by the White House, and not the prosecutors in charge of Bout’s case.

Sassoon resigned rather than drop the charges, CNN reported, and five other top officials quickly followed her, resigning in protest.

Some have called it the “Thursday Night Massacre,” a reference to the Watergate-era when, in 1973, President Richard Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. In what was called the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Richardson resigned rather than fire Cox. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. He also refused, and resigned.

But in this “Thursday Night Massacre,” three times as many top officials resigned, exposing the deep distaste for what some deem corruption.

READ MORE: ‘Corruption’ Claims Fly Over Musk’s Modi Meeting as Trump Shrugs: ‘I Don’t Know’

Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove “directed prosecutors to drop the case ‘as soon as is practicable’ in a two-page memo Monday,” CNN reported. “His memo cited the fact that the prosecution ‘unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime’ – making clear the political motivations behind the decision.”

Homan’s and Adams’ appearance on Fox News’ usually upbeat “Fox & Friends” show Friday morning did not appear to help the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice, Homan, or Adams.

“This is just sheer brazen criminality by DOJ,” declared former federal and state prosecutor Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch News. “Adams gets federal corruption charges dropped not because there isn’t overwhelming evidence, but because he agrees to help Homan round up migrants. And Homan says the charges will be refiled if Adams doesn’t ‘come through.'”

Politico’s Emily Ngo, who posted video of the exchange between Homan and Adams (below,) wrote, “Thinly veiled Homan warning to Adams.” Veteran journalist John Harwood responded, “not veiled at all.”

“Nice of Trump’s border czar to confirm on TV the quid-pro-quo that Trump’s DOJ said this week did not exist,” noted HuffPost reporter Arthur Delaney.

“This is insane,” declared journalist Séamus Malekafzali. “They’re just out in the open saying this was a quid pro quo where the Mayor of New York has to do everything Trump says on immigration or he is going to jail.”

“Nothing like a quasi-hostage video on live television,” noted politics reporter Jake Lahut, a contributor to Wired and The Columbia Journalism Review.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Palpable Harm’: Hegseth Slammed for ‘Screwup’ of ‘Biggest Foreign Policy Issue’

 

 

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