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Donald Trump Calls For Boycott Of Apple, Continues To Tweet From His iPhone

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GOP Frontrunner Literally Has No Idea What He’s Talking About, Admits He ‘Just Thought of It’

Donald Trump today announced that he wants America to boycott Apple in the wake of the multi-billion dollar corporation’s refusal to unlock an iPhone that had been used by Syed Farook, the San Bernardino shooter responsible for the deaths of 14 people. The FBI has now ordered Apple to not only unlock the phone, but dismantle the automatic security system that erases all data after ten unsuccessful attempts to unlock it. Apple, saying what the FBI wants would create “a dangerous precedent,” also says the FBI is demanding they “build a backdoor to the iPhone,” and create a new and separate operating system, all of which it is refusing to do.

But to Donald Trump, it’s just a simple matter of handing over a number – which is incorrect. There are also extensive civil liberty arguments to consider, which all Americans should e concerned about.

“What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number,” Trump told a South Carolina audience Friday afternoon.

“How do you like that? I just thought of that. Boycott Apple.”

He then accused Apple CEO Tim Cook of “looking to do a big number, probably to show how liberal he is.” Later, Trump claimed, the “phone is owned by the government.”

Of course, Trump’s rhetoric is easy and comes at no personal inconvenience. He was still tweeting from his own iPhone as late as this afternoon. The Washington Post reports Trump “is still tweeting from his iPhone, despite having called on the public to abandon Apple amid its ongoing fight with the Justice Department.”

In fact, that’s true. Here’s a screenshot of a tweet Trump posted at 4 PM EST today, well after his call for a boycott:

1_Screen_Shot_2016-02-19_at_4.55.33_PM.jpg

Apple says “the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”

Mashable explains exactly what the FBI really wants:

As for his hypocritical call for a boycott of Apple while then continuing to use Apple, Trump of course has that covered, sort of…

Edward Snowden weighed in:

Voters should consider that Trump has essentially zero understanding of what the federal government is demanding from Apple, or that other companies like Google and Twitter support Apple’s position. He has zero understanding of the civil rights and civil liberties surrounding the demand, or their implications. And he then “just thinks” of the boycott and shouts it out, with zero consideration for its ramifications.

Do Americans really want a person like this with the nuclear launch codes?

 

Image: Screenshot via CNBC/Twitter

 

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‘Insulting’: Fox News Panel Implodes as Host Clashes With Liberal Guest Over Voter ID

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A Fox News segment exploring voter identification requirements imploded on Monday.

As the hosts and a guest talked over each other, Martha MacCallum said it was “insulting” to women and minorities to say they can’t obtain an ID.

“There are already laws on the books, but let’s also look at what has also been determined,” urged liberal radio host and commentator Leslie Marshall.

“In 24 years, there have been 77 illegals who have registered to vote, how many of those 77 have voted? One,” she said.

“So when we look at — if you’re talking about voter fraud — here’s the other thing. If, in fact, we do have voter ID, but not packaged this —” she said.

READ MORE: Judge Cites Orwell in Scathing Rebuke of Trump Administration

MacCallum interrupted her to discuss the “integrity of elections,” despite Marshall having just said that only one undocumented immigrant had voted.

The Republicans’ SAVE Act, a Trump-supported bill that critics warn could make it difficult for millions of Americans to vote, “takes power from the states and puts the federal government in play with the elections,” Marshall said. “One. Two, if you want to have an ID, make it free, make it easily accessible. Especially to veterans, the homeless, the elderly…”

“It is insulting to people,” MacCallum said. “It’s insulting to women. They’re saying women aren’t capable of getting an ID. They’re saying this man, a Black man who was, you know, just referenced said it is insulting to him to suggest that he can’t get a legitimate ID.”

The segment unraveled as the discussion descended into crosstalk.

Marshall suggested that women who marry and have a different name than on passports and birth certificates may not be able to vote.

READ MORE: Trump Mocked for ‘Unhinged Tantrum’ as ‘Trump Station’ Story Shifts Again

 

Image via Shutterstock

 

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Judge Cites Orwell in Scathing Rebuke of Trump Administration

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A U.S. District judge invoked anti-totalitarian author George Orwell to deliver a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration’s removal of items honoring the history of slavery in the United States from a Philadelphia exhibit.

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not,” declared U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe.

The lawsuit by the City of Philadelphia against U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum concerned the removal of slavery exhibits at The President’s House, which is part of Independence National Historical Park.

Judge Rufe wrote that, “in its argument, the government claims it alone has the power to erase, alter, remove and hide historical accounts on taxpayer and local government-funded monuments within its control. Its claims in this regard echo Big Brother’s domain in Orwell’s 1984.”

READ MORE: Trump Mocked for ‘Unhinged Tantrum’ as ‘Trump Station’ Story Shifts Again

She also quoted from the iconic novel. A portion of that quote reads:

“The largest section of the [government’s] Records Department . . . consisted simply of persons whose duty it was to track down and collect all copies of books, newspapers, and other documents which had been superseded and were due for destruction. A number of the Times [a newspaper] which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophesies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it.”

Rufe wrote that the U.S. government “asserts truth is no longer self-evident, but rather the property of the elected chief magistrate and his appointees and delegees, at his whim to be scraped clean, hidden, or overwritten. And why? Solely because, as Defendants state, it has the power.”

She also blasted the government’s actions, which “impede the separation of powers instituted by the Constitution.”

“Defendants acted in excess of their authority as agencies authorized by Congress within the executive branch,” she added.

In her 40-page memorandum, posted by Politico’s Kyle Cheney, Judge Rufe found that removal of historical panels and other items would constitute irreparable harm, and ordered that “Defendants reinstall all panels, displays, and video exhibits that were previously in place..”

READ MORE: ‘This Is Authoritarianism’: Experts Warn on US Midterm Elections

 

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Trump Mocked for ‘Unhinged Tantrum’ as ‘Trump Station’ Story Shifts Again

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President Donald Trump’s latest rant contradicts the White House’s version of events surrounding his continued focus on renaming New York’s Penn Station “Trump Station” — as the president also continues to appear to tie funding for the already-approved New York-New Jersey Gateway Tunnel project to a potential name change.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt last week specifically stated that President Trump “floated” renaming Penn Station (and Washington-Dulles Airport) with Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as TIME reported.

Trump had claimed that it was Leader Schumer who made the suggestion.

Now, Trump is claiming that multiple politicians suggested the name change, as did various union leaders.

“Also, the naming of PENN Station (I LOVE Pennsylvania, but it is a direct competitor to New York, and ‘eating New York’s lunch!’) to TRUMP STATION, was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me – IT IS JUST MORE FAKE NEWS!”

READ MORE: ‘This Is Authoritarianism’: Experts Warn on US Midterm Elections

New York’s Pennsylvania Station was named for the Pennsylvania Railroad — which built the original terminal over a century ago — not the state of Pennsylvania.

The president also attacked the Gateway Tunnel project, calling it a “future boondoggle” that will “cost many BILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than projected or anticipated” and be “financially catastrophic for the region.”

Some mocked the president’s remarks.

“A completely unhinged tantrum from someone who didn’t get their way,” commented U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ). “

I don’t know one person in NJ, Republican or Democrat, who doesn’t see the power and value of the Gateway Tunnel Project.”

The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg asked, “Does he think Penn Station was named after the Commonwealth?”

READ MORE: Far Right Extremist Leader Puts Trump on Notice Over Epstein Files

 

Image via Reuters 

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