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Tim Cook, Tech CEOs and Top Republicans Attend Secretive Meeting About Donald Trump
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Actually, if Trump got elected it might unite the parties against a common enemy, lol. And either every stupid/dangerous thing he wants to do gets blocked or they work together to impeach him the first time he steps out of line or shows any sign of incompetence.
Well, who exactly are "the people"? The various states each have their own rules how the will of "the people" gets measured.
Some have caucuses, where the party faithful get together and somehow debate until they come up with a winner. These states are somehow difficult to predict.
Other states have primaries, which can be open to all voters, or closed to only party members. Closed primaries don't have to be really closed. In some states with "closed" primaries all you have to do is say you're a Republican. But you can make that declaration at the time of the primary and it doesn't hold any weight.
Some states are "Winner takes All" states. In Florida, Trump could get 36% of the vote vs Rubio's 35%, and Trump could walk away with 100% of the delegates. Or reverse the numbers and Rubio would get all the delegates. Is it fair to the 35% of Florida Republican Primary voters to have their votes count for nothing?
You can argue that the candidates know the rules going into Florida and every other state, so it's fair to them to have some of their supporters' votes count for nothing. But that leads us to the contested convention. That's just as much part of the rules as leaving the "loser's" Florida primary votes on the floor.
If Rubio wins Florida and Cruz wins some other states and Kasich wins one or two and they all keep Trump from getting enough pledged delegates to win the nomination on the first vote at the convention, then Trump LOSES the first vote (they all lose, of course). There is no winner. Rules were followed, and on the second and subsequent votes none of the delegates are required to support the person they were pledged to. Perfectly fair, and all according to the rules, which all the candidates knew going in.
Trump can become the nominee without ever getting 50% in any vote, but he's not guaranteed, or even deserving of being called "the winner" by those rules.
I'm fairly certain Tim was there to discuss encryption and back doors - Apple's business, and a matter he's been encouraging congress to take up. Seems a good choice of forums with a poorly-timed confluence of events.
Errr, too much ignorance.... The potentially regressive nature of sales taxes are easily avoided by not taxing (or not taxing as much) things like basic food items, clothes and other necessities to survive. So, the higher the percentage of your spending goes to just basic needs the lower your tax burden is.
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Its not JUST a flat tax. Its a flat tax with one large standard deduction that depends on the size of the house hold and local cost of living (or it least it should with that last part). Think about it, say a 30% flat tax, but for a family of four you might have a deduction of say $60K. So if your family of four makes $100K, your actual tax burden is 12%.
Trump has certainly made this an interesting election cycle so far. Much of his support has come from the very large percentage of Americans who are tired of "business as usual" politicians. For many of these gov folks, it seems to be about power and $ coupled with a party first, country second approach.
The GOP seems more enamored with the topic of Stop, rather than the concept of building a winning strategy.
The GOP seems more enamored with the topic of Stop, rather than the concept of building a winning strategy.
Tim Cook attended American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum this past weekend in Georgia alongside Google CEO Larry Page, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and other tech leaders, according to a new report from The Huffington Post. Top Republican officials, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConell, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton also attended, with the main topic of conversation revolving around Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.
Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and political commentator, wrote in an emailed report that much of the conference was haunted by "the specter of Donald Trump," with many attendees unhappy about his emergence and discussing how he gained his support.
Some sources familiar with the meetings told The Huffington Post that the meeting centered more around how and why Trump has attracted support rather than how to stop him. The meeting included a presentation by Republican political consultant Karl Rove about focus group findings on Trump.
While Trump took up much of the conversation, the discussion eventually turned to encryption. Cook and Cotton "fiercely debated" cell phone encryption, and one source tells The Huffington Post that "Cotton was pretty harsh on Cook." Cotton's aggressiveness was reportedly hostile enough to make other attendees uncomfortable.
Since Apple and the FBI began their duel over encryption, Trump has criticized the company for its decision to oppose a court order to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. The Presidential candidate has said that Apple should unlock the phone and called for a boycott on Apple products until the company complies, despite using an iPhone to tweet.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Article Link: Tim Cook, Tech CEOs and Top Republicans Attend Secretive Meeting About Donald Trump
"Secretive" = Apple BS, spin and all out lying. This is why Apple is becoming material for stand-up comedians.
You can't "do" something about Trump as easily as you resolved to "do" something about inert Confederate flags that are historical, however disagreeable, in a free America. NBC and Univision's reflexive attacks to damage Trump over a few words of free speech notwithstanding probably have the most to fear.
Oh, please Tim, be careful with hanging out with the beltway neocon zionist scumbags.
Tom Cotton - Senator who spearheaded letter to Iran got $1 million from Kristol’s ‘Emergency C’tee for Israel’
Tom Cotton - Senator who spearheaded letter to Iran got $1 million from Kristol’s ‘Emergency C’tee for Israel’
Oh, please Tim, be careful with hanging out with the beltway neocon zionist scumbags.
What wrong with being a Zionist ?
And what's wrong with being a conservative ?
You need to be careful with your language
You also need to think about the $150bn the Iranians have just got and who they are paying
Actually it was his first election that was contested in the supreme court. The second time around he won fair and square.
Actually no, he only had a plurality in a parliamentary system in 33, which was the last election.
itguy06 said:
Flat 10% tax on everything? Sounds like a Goods and Services tax to me. I guarantee that if that was implemented, financial inequality in America would get WORSE.
The fact is that poor people have to spend much of their money to stay alive. Rich people don't, and can invest it instead, avoiding such taxes. If you're really worried about low and middle class income earners, you should be advocating increasing the top income tax bracket rates, and lowering the bottom rates, or even implementing a tax-free threshold.
Yeah, totally. But hey, who's this Karl Marx guy they referenced? Maybe he's got some cool ideas or something?
Why.... Trump winning will effect apple
He's called for a boycott of apple (from an apple device), and he's said he's going to force them to manufacture in the US.
On top of that he's not afraid to lie blatantly and flip-flop on any subjects in a matter of a few minutes, and generally acts as a playground bully, not exactly the kind of person you want at the head of the world's largest economy and military force.
Nope. Before the White Man stole the moniker the Illini were a group of Indian tribes in upper midwest. In fact it's who the state, founded well before WW I, is named after. I guess they only teach white washed history at Illinois. Or maybe you only believe what fits your own comfortable narrative.
Oh and since you aren't going to believe me, here is it direct from the Illinois State Museum: http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/il.html
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I agree w/ you there. But strong possibility his "China cheats, Mexico undercuts, let's start a trade war" rhetoric attracts blue collar Ds w/ employment viability concerns if he is the nominee -- hopefully not. We'll find out. It might end up a real anomaly of an election w/ non-college blue collars crossing over for Trump but then canceled out by college educated Rs either not voting, pinching their nose and going Hillary, or writing-in just to settle their conscience that they "voted."
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Every published story recently gets more clicks by adding the controversy of Trumpf into the mix.
It's like, trolling's gone pro now.
One thing's for certain though, if America is dumb enough (as Carl Sagan predicted in 1995) to now elect a demagogue, then Tim Cook better lift his new spaceship HQ and relocate to Ireland. He's offshoring $200B in profits there anyhow.
Apple could even bail out the EU in a "trade deal" for taxes. European laws will protect iPhone's privacy and the special version made for the totalitarian regime across the pond will not. There,FBI, problem solved.
Now, repeat: "Heil Trump!"
It's not regressive. That's what they want you to think. You seem to forget the immediate 20-40% pay bump people would see by having 0 taxes taken out of their paycheck!
I'm poor and I spend $100 a week on groceries. 10% is $10.
I'm rich and I spend $300 a week on groceries. 10% is $30.
I'm poor and I take the bus for $30/week. 10% is $3
I'm rich and drive my Bentley and spend $200/week in gas. 10% is $20
And before you start the "nobody will buy anything" nonsense. People still need to eat. People still need to get to work, people still want "stuff".
And then the offshore nonsense. That happens today.
And instead of hating on the rich why not figure out how to get there and do it? BTW: Not rich here but I don't believe in the BS of class warfare or taking from someone to give to someone else.
Uh ... great suggestion except the convoluted US tax system already has a tax-free threshold. In fact, the lowest earners make money on taxes when they pay little to nothing and then receive thousands back on things like the earned-income tax credit. On the other hand, I always find it amazing about the evil rich people who invest their money and dare to profit on that. Again, in America, invested money has already been taxed once. If you are lucky enough to profit from it, it is handsomely taxed again disproportionately to the risk. Driving up that rate because it is "safe" for the poorest does not seem to be the best plan.
However, I truly do enjoy hearing how everyone else would fix the inequalities they perceive in the US tax code. I'm sure you'd be just as interested to hear Americans draft fixes for yours ....
That's what I was thinking. When everyone votes for the guy the powers that be want in power they are cool with it. When people decide they want someone else, they don't like it.
I'm not a Trump fan, I'm a democracy fan.
You miss the point. Take away the 10-40% of everyone's payroll taxes and replace that with the GST. You instantly get a 10-40% raise but need to pay out when you buy stuff.
Point is at some point all money gets spent. Rich buy expensive stuff. Middle buy middle stuff. Poor buy cheap stuff. Get everyone some skin in the game.