President Trump’s saber-rattling creates new risks for Apple

214 Comments

“As if Apple didn’t have enough to worry about with its upcoming iPhone launch next month. For the past year or more (probably more), the Mac maker has been trying its darnedest to balance all of the moving parts within its supply chain with its dream of shipping a 10th-generation iPhone that includes both an OLED display and 3D sensing capabilities. The latter entails important implications for the future of biometrics and augmented reality,” Evan Niu writes for The Motley Fool. “Over the course of the past week, a new risk factor has emerged: President Trump’s saber rattling.”

“North Korea has been a delicate geopolitical situation for decades, with numerous U.S. presidents struggling with how to approach foreign policy with the Hermit Kingdom,” Niu writes. “Yet this last week has seen tensions escalate to new highs, following North Korea’s successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in July and subsequent reports that the country has been able to miniaturize a nuclear warhead to affix atop said ICBMs.”

MacDailyNews Take: The real headline should be: “A nuclear North Korea creates real risks for everyone on the planet.”

Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, frequently "inspects" food processing plants. Very frequently.
Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea and Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, frequently “inspects” food processing plants. Very frequently.
“It goes without saying that the stock market, in general, does not like war. War creates incredible uncertainty that drives investors away, seeking safety and capital preservation in fearful times,” Niu writes. “If you look at Apple’s supplier list for 2016, you’ll find 29 addresses for supplier facilities located in South Korea, owned or operated by companies like 3M, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, and ON Semiconductor, among others. If you expand to China, which would inevitably be entangled as well, there are another 354 addresses listed. Any conflict on the Korean peninsula could threaten Apple’s entire supply chain, which could potentially cripple sales.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: A nuked-up Kim Jong-un nutjob with the means to deliver them to distant targets is obviously a very worrying situation for everyone on earth, one that easily eclipses Apple’s business worries.

214 Comments

    2. The US had a strong, coherent approach to the problem, developed by coordination between the White House, State Department, and Defense Department: apply pressure to China to get them to support and enforce sanctions against the DPRK. China does not want a refugee crisis, a ROK presence immediately across their border, or least of all, fallout. So, they voted to support the sanctions and looked ready to enforce them, which would have forced the DPRK to the table sooner rather than later.

      Enter the Wild Card: an egotist trying to outbluff another egotist. Not only did he make threats that cannot be interpreted other than as a nuclear first strike—an option that the US has always consistently rejected. He also sent out his Hungarian Fascist staffer Gorka (member of the Admiral Horthy Order) to insist that this is a purely military issue where the State Department has no role.

      So we are facing the worst nuclear crisis since 1962, entirely driven by a couple of juvenile egotists.

      Reply

      1. well, then hop your happy ass over to Guam, Mr. Brave…and join the 3,000 American military and 100,000 American civilians defending your goddamned sorry treasonous ass.

        Reply

        5. Charming comments from botvinnik, who works at MacDailyNews.

          botvinnik: Your disgusting invective lowers the tone and credibility of this whole website.

          Far better if you refrained completely…

        15. Yep… true to form….

          Hey bottwipe…. I kinda noticed you didn’t do much here on weekends. I guess since your nazi friends feel emboldened enough to perform a nazi style rally and intimidate members of a church, you are feeling kind of emboldened and want to spread some hate. Solidarity and all.

          blood and soil.

          does that work for you?

          I see your manchild, the idiot sexual predator pretend king gave a feckless response and even managed to pat himself on the back for the MARVELOUS job he is doing. All unicorns and rainbows.

        19. Hey bottwipe. You know what the outcome of today will be. No rallies with weapons. It is an individual right, by the way. Maybe even the banning of the nazis. You won’t be able to get off the plane and say seig heil and give a nazi salute. Like you want.

        21. Still can’t deal with the facts. tRump, his followers and human centipedes committed a terrorist act on American soil in the name of the nazi party.

          You and your ilk are the scum of the earth.

        30. You are incapable of fair minded judgement! The star voting is FAKED AND TOTALLY RIGGED to silence conservative voices. About the same believable level as horoscopes and palm readings …

        32. CitizenX June 23, 2017 at 2:45 AM

          tell you what. don’t respond to my post and I won’t respond to you. Sounds simple enough,

          The POTTY MOUTH has ZERO credibility … oh yeah, LOL!!!

        33. shut up you simple minded punk. the only reason you bully act works is that you are just an anonymous coward cleaning up after bottwipes piles of crap. The thing is it DOES.NOT.WORK.

          I could’t think of a more pathetic role than to be bottwipes wetwipe and write denigrating crap when people do what is right, and rip off his head and crap down his neck. I’ll try and not be offensive and say shit.

          Whether I respond to your sorry ass is my choice. If nothing else, I will enjoy watching your whiny, snively, pathetic ass try to be relevant.

        34. CitizenX June 23, 2017 at 2:45 AM

          tell you what. don’t respond to my post and I won’t respond to you. Sounds simple enough,

          The POTTY MOUTH has ZERO credibility … oh yeah, LOL!!!

        35. yeah. I just called your fuquin ass out and that is all you have to say. Such a weak position you couldn’t even respond with an insult or two.

          All you have done is latch onto bottwipes ass and try to defend his crap. All I am doing is taunting your pathetic ass and by extension bottwipes pathetic ass and lets got to that fuquin 1014bc idiot.

          Enjoy tRumps impeachment and arrest. well, maybe not arrest as he can pardon a whole lot of folks. Enjoy the end of the white supremacist and nazi movement.

          otherwise… shut up. try to think. try to understand that America is not ameriKKKa

        36. CitizenX June 23, 2017 at 2:45 AM

          tell you what. don’t respond to my post and I won’t respond to you. Sounds simple enough,

          The POTTY MOUTH has ZERO credibility … oh yeah, LOL!!!

        38. CitizenX June 23, 2017 at 2:45 AM

          tell you what. don’t respond to my post and I won’t respond to you. Sounds simple enough,

          The POTTY MOUTH has ZERO credibility … oh yeah, LOL!!!

        39. You don’t know me.

          I’ve huddled with Black Panthers in the cell block at Soledad. The same ones that learned from and taught the George Jackson Brigade. I’ve been on public access TV with the Arizona Militia in Tucson calling for the arrest and conviction of Bill Clinton for toasting all those children.

          There is a lot more. You could just as well put me into a militia box as a “liberal” box or whatever.

          The thing is.. .you do not know me. If you want to tell me why hate, misogyny, racism, masturbating money on the 1% is a good thing and why taking away health care for millions of people is a good thing then do it.

          Do not be bottwipes wetwipe and sit there and snipe at people.

        40. CitizenX June 23, 2017 at 2:45 AM

          tell you what. don’t respond to my post and I won’t respond to you. Sounds simple enough,

          The POTTY MOUTH has ZERO credibility … oh yeah, LOL!!!

        46. @ GoeB:
          Doesn’t take much work or effort.
          The last time I posted about botvinnik winning a Darwin award, he wrote a response that clearly showed he had no idea what that meant. Soon afterwards, his post was deleted, leaving my response “orphaned”.

          You know of course that MDN has no facility for even editing one’s own posts, let alone deleting them. I’d take that as proof that botvinnik is an insider.

          Why don’t we let him deny it…?

        50. So it’s the Dumb and Dumber dog n’ bone MDN show then? “I have to remind you All points of view are welcome” sounds like boilerplate site owner rhetoric to me.
          The Botty/GoeB cowardly mutual_arse_licking duopoly is one of the internet’s best jokes, as they fall over trying to outpost each other, schizophrenically fighting fear with fire and self-loathing.
          Hey numbnut….if ‘ALL’ points of view are welcome, why the “Get off my lawn!’ comments?
          Totally own3d
          #cowards
          #ironydesert
          #kakistocracy

        52. Of course he works(?) at MDN. Every time I post that Botty’s ass just got own3d, mainly due to his being stupidly reactionary like the defensive asshole he is, the thread disappears. Who else would be able to do that?
          There’s one thing you can rely on with feckless cowards – they hide behind deceit and lies while doing the dissembling ‘never answer a question’ dance, firing off juvenile insults instead. Trash talks trash. Who knew?
          #trumpycoward
          #ironydesert
          #kakistocracy

        56. My grandfather was at Guam and at Wake Island in WWII.. I still cherish his oil painting, “war souvenirs.” I wanted to carry on the family tradition by enlisting in the US Army but he persuaded me to follow my more intellectual instincts, syaing “yes you are ferocious Jane but what we need more than soldiers are scientists, planners, coders — they can help us stop the next war, and that’s far better than winning it.” I nver forgot that.

        57. Cool story.

          In the early 90’s I worked with an illustrator and helped move her from manual publishing to Mac based publishing. She is still in business today as a self published book house.

          We would lay out the projects on my Mac in the garage as I taught her. One of them was a south seas island native that was heroic during WWII. She was commissioned to do a stamp and accompanying booklet for the series about his heroism.

          My copies are in storage.

        60. And your point. I am sure you understand the simple concept that some people don’t have a lick of sense. He doesn’t have his finger on the nuclear button.

          Good deflection though. It’s all you have regarding your sexual predator in chief.

          Did you make tot he Nazi rally bottwipe?

        61. Give him HELL Botty!!!

          The self described “straight white male conservative” is a TOTAL FRAUD.

          His posts consistently show up to denigrate President Trump, Republicans and ANYTHING conservative.

          He is a POS traitor …

        64. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona just published a book, “The Conscience of a Conservative,” in which he basically expresses all the same reservations about the President that I have. Is he a fake Conservative and fake Republican, too?

          Before you answer, consider: Senator Flake holds Barry Goldwater’s old seat and worked with Goldwater for a number of years. Flake has a 93 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, 95 percent from FreedomWorks, 100 percent from National Right to Life and an “A” from the National Rifle Association. The idea that he’d change parties is laughable to any serious person – and all 99 of Flake’s Senate colleagues, most of whom regard him as well to the right even within his own party.

          Trump is a limousine liberal from Manhattan who is pretending to be a conservative Republican because he sees that as his route to power. On achieving office by deceit, he has surrounded himself with other recent Democrats and Wall Street swamp dwellers who have no ties to the Republican Party or to any respectable member of the conservative establishment.

          If you want a traitor to conservative principles, guys, look in a mirror.

        66. Because you can’t. You and botvinnik are constitutionally unable to answer any question except with an insult. If I’m a fake conservative because I think Trump is a danger to our constitutional system of government, then so is Jeff Flake. Since he clearly isn’t a fake conservative, then neither am I. Q.E.D.

        67. Q.E.D. stands for Question Every Dogma. It used to be a Latin phrase that concluded every logical proof, but Latin, logic and proof are endangered these days, so keep questioning until they run out of bullet points.

        69. Jeff Flake is no conservative and neither are you. Flake will be primaried out by Kelli Ward in 2018. Unfortunately, the Constitution has made no provisions to get rid of you.

        70. Clearly argumentative since all historical data including his close association with Barry Goldwater definitively shows that Flake is a classic conservative. He’s my guy since I live in AZ and I will be voting for him.

        71. Buttvinnik,
          Why don’t we send all your white supremacist friends over to defend Guam. In that way nobody would give a shit if they lost, except for Donald and you.
          Why do you think North Korea is doing what they are doing. Because Donald is a turd with no diplomatic experience and the world resents that his childish diatribes will affect the way the world works. I can see why you are his butt buddy. You both are immature kids.

        72. Your attempt to conflate white supremacists to Trump supporters will fail just like your attempt to conflate Trump with Russian collusion. The Democrat Party, from Antifa to BLM to The Muslim Usurper is based on lies.

        73. Buttvinnik,
          I see you did not pass your reading comprehension tests at your grade school. Trump supporters do not equal white supremacists, white supremacists, however, do equal Trump supporters. I can use smaller words if it would help you.

      2. “The US had a strong, coherent approach to the problem, developed by coordination between the White House, State Department, and Defense Department…”

        Susan Rice, one of the architects of your “coherent approach” yesterday said: “You can call it a failure,” Rice told CNN. “I accept that characterization of the efforts of the United States over the last two decades.”

        Reply

      4. Strong and coherent – appease the little shit, give him,everything he needs to make bombs, and kick the problem down the road. Right.

        Well I’m sick of “strong and coherent.” It’s time to end this shit once and for all. Bullies need,their asses lit up.

        Reply

        1. That started with President Clinton NK appeasement policy in the 1990s. He bribed them with billions, happy TV talk, turned his back and kicked the can down the road.

          I just love how the Democratic presidents are all empty talk and appeasement when it comes dealing with dictators. How many billions did President Obama send to Iran, same tactic as Clinton?

          Did anything change for the greater good for all time? We all know the answer.

          President Trump has been dumped on by two Democratic former presidents that did not solve the NK and Iran problems with bribe payouts. He will do better and they will not get one taxpayer dollar …

      5. A lot of this is just hot air on both sides. We haven’t seen any reports of US naval vessels moving toward the Korean peninsula or military families being evacuated.

        I don’t see the US using nuclear weapons even if N Korea does. The focus would be taking out the artillery aimed at Seoul.

        While we should not initiate a first strike we ought to make it clear to the Dear Leader that release of any weapon on American soil will be a regime ending move with the US military going ‘all in.’

        Reply

        6. “The Seoul Capital Area houses about half of the country’s population of 51.44 million people with 678,102 international residents.”

          …that’s over 25 million innocent people, you fscking idiot, just in case you cannot divide by two either.

      6. You mean there is also a nuked-up chump nutjob with the means to deliver them to distant targets is obviously a very worrying situation for everyone on earth, one that easily eclipses Apple’s business worries.

        Reply

      7. The Obama approach was as effective as Jimmy Carter. If it were up to Mr Carter, we would still be locked in the cold war. TxUser alleges that the US had a strong coherent approach. Really? Obama’s “strong coherent approach” abandoned Crimea without even a whimper. Under Obama ISIS grew WAAAY faster than our economy. Now, with Trump we have “Help Wanted” signs. I am no Trump fanboy: I don’t like bloviation or the hairdo. But Trump is successfully pressuring China to control their client state. Trump is telling Mr Kim that North Korea’s militant approach will not get him the power or attention that he seeks. More likely he will become a memory like Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Muhamar Khaddafi. Nor will we reward his Nuclear threats by giving him money and oil. (Seriously, that’s the “Strong Coherent Approach” to which TX User is referring.) We have military professionals who are ready for Mr. Kim’s agression. Mr. Kim’s infantile seeking-of-attention does not even require our President to leave the golf course. That is exactly the right message to send Mr Kim. One thing that Our President should do (but has not yet) is to Tweet an invitation to Mr. Kim: “If you will act like a peaceful, civil adult, we could share some Kimchee and a hamburger and talk about how North Korea can join the civilized world.” Waiting for your reply, Mr Kim.

        Reply

    3. Dear oh dear, call it what it is…of course it’s saber rattling! Both sides are doing the same thing.
      The question is,…is it wise to do so with an unstable opponent.
      I’m sure Kim Jong-un is thinking pretty much the same.

      Reply

  5. True – North Korea is problem.

    Saber rattling is also a problem.

    For the first time in history a US president threatened vast military action if north Korea simply MADE ANY MORE THREATS. Thats what he said. look at his quotes.

    So what did north korea do? It immediately made more threats, (Guam, and several more )

    So what’s a good option now? Do you think it will help the planet for Trump to start a war now?

    Trump essentially dared him to make more threats and he did. Very cool. Isn’t trump great

    Reply

    1. well, he could be like Clinton then, huh…the security of the United States is at risk and pukes like you are STILL defending treasonous behavior of Trump’s predecessors.

      fu.

      Reply

      1. He didn’t defend anybody’s behavior—he criticized the Donald J. Trump. It may have escaped your attention, but that man is President of the United States, the guy whose desk almost certainly doesn’t have a “The Buck Stops Here” sign on it. Harry Truman understood that a President has to take responsibility for what goes on during his watch. Trump’s first reaction, and that of his supporters, is to blame somebody else.

        Ex-President Obama has been on an extended vacation for the last six months, so you can’t blame the current situation on him. There hasn’t been a Clinton in the White House for over sixteen years (or one in the Cabinet for 4.5 years), so you can’t blame them, either. The Democrats can’t be to blame, because they have a minority of Representatives, Senators, and Supreme Court Justices. The situation today is entirely Trump’s to handle.

        The behavior of bygone regimes is entirely irrelevant to how we should judge the performance of the current one and only President. The fact is, that he HAD a policy of tightening the sanctions regime and getting China to help enforce it. It was a policy that the generals and most of his Administration fully endorsed. There was considerable progress on that front, including a 15-0 Security Council vote. It looked like the best prospect among a number of pretty bad choices, and the President himself initially agreed with that assessment.

        Then he chose to undercut his own policy. He has clearly indicated that he now sees North Korea as a military problem with a military solution (even if his advisers with military experience disagree). Clearly, botvirnnik, you agree with him on that.

        So, what do you think he should do? Be specific. What course of action do you think the US can pursue that will avoid at least tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of millions of deaths?

        Prediction: you aren’t going to answer my question, but will just post yet another insult.

        Reply

    4. somehow, all kinds of relevant concepts keep getting ignored by the fans of “nuke ’em now”

      first rather than getting all worked up about n.k having nukes, just relax a bit. there is a simple time tested solution called containment and mutually assured destruction. it worked quite well with russia and china for over a half century.

      and even in this we hold the upper hand, as we have way more nukes than n.k. can ever dream of. that fact and a stern warning of “don’t do anything stupid or you are toast”. should cool n.k’s jets.

      some say kim jong un is irrational, well maybe but he is rational enough to realize he is in charge of his country, gets all the best food and drink and privileges and yes, pussy, – he doesn’t want to lose all that.

      secondly, assuming some sort of war, lets say conventional, starts up, south korea, and seoul in particular will get creamed. guess who will get the moral and practical obligation to bear the costs of clean up and rebuilding – the good old usa. – kiss your american infrastructure funding good bye.

      thirdly assuming a nuclear exchange happens, whether we throw the first nuke or not we will likely get the blame, not to mention plenty much of the radioactive fallout that will be carried across the pacific to our shores, impacting american meat and crops and health. not even counting what ends up in the pacific ocean where we get lots of our fish.

      not to mention the same and worse impacts of fall out on our allies south korea and japan. oh yeah, almost forgot, china will get a big dose – they will be certain to like that.

      nuclear war, no matter how limited is a losing proposition for everyone. and if you think otherwise you are seriously deluded.

      that little korean dick has his nukes, let him keep them, just let him know what happens if he ever uses them. besides they are basically a deterrent, in his mind to keep us from invading and overthrowing him. he isn’t worth the trouble.

      Reply

        2. So, I’ll repeat the question I asked botvinnik above:

          What do you think President Trump should do? Be specific. What course of action do you think the US can pursue that will avoid at least tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of millions of deaths?

          Prediction: you aren’t going to answer my question, but will just post yet another insult, like your friend did.

  7. I think the only thing that will convince libtards of this danger is a NK ICBM landing in the middle of the new Apple Spaceship HQ.

    …nah, they’d blame that on Trump too.

    Reply

    1. washingtonexaminer.com reports: Obama national security adviser Susan Rice said Thursday that the U.S. has consistently failed to curtail North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, even during the Obama era.

      “You can call it a failure,” Rice told CNN. “I accept that characterization of the efforts of the United States over the last two decades.”

      duh, you stupid bïtch.

      Reply

      1. So obviously diplomacy is hard and republican and Democratic administrations have failed to resolve the issue.

        But hey. You aren’t interested in the truth or reality. You are feeling empowered knowing nazi fucks are rallying.

        SAD.

        Reply

        6. come on bottwipe. I know you can be more insulting and mean spirited than that.

          I do see you have been empowered by the nazi rally. Why don’t you use the n word like you did last week. That ought to help that festering thing you call a soul calm down.

        13. FYI: I have boycotted and totally ignore ALL CitizenXcon posts. Childish, nothing enlightening, obsessed with turds and ass licking potty mouth. In my view, does not deserve the DIGNITY of a response …

        15. I’m sure his world is crumbling around him for that!…not!
          You two butt buddies really are a couple of reality free fsck wits with verbal diarrhea.
          #DumbandDumber
          #ironyfreezone
          #kakistocracy

  8. There certainly is a mad man with a finger near the nuclear codes with access to more than a thousand nukes and ICBMs and planes to deliver them. He currently has an address in the only country that has ever used nukes, and that has a bunch of Generals chomping at the bit to use them again.

    Reply

    2. All the evidence indicates that the Generals are NOT on the same page. They know what a war worse than Operation Iraqi Freedom would look like. General Mattis was arguing for the diplomatic option just this afternoon until his Commander in Chief undercut him yet again.

      Reply

    3. Of course, Trumps is a fake president, but he’s full on going into busyness: Nothing but a war to get his friends making lots of money selling weapons.
      Is this the “great America” American wanted? Really?

      Reply

  9. China needs to be more proactive in reining back North Korea. They have the leverage to stop this dangerous sabre rattling.
    I’m amazed that the missile test have been allowed to go on for so long.

    Reply

      2. You are a FAKE CONSERVATIVE and pathetic POS!

        Day in and day out you spew your hatred for all things Republican. At the same time you remain TOTALLY SILENT on the FAILED North Korea policies of Presidents Clinton and Obama.

        What, no tedious exhaustive carefully worded criticism for those who kicked the can down the road? Of course not, Democrat PLANT. We get it, you don’t.

        Get off my lawn!

        Reply

        1. I see GoeB has thrown aside his lackey training wheels and gone full on foaming_at_the_mouth monster raving lunatic fringe toady for Botty.

          #buttbuddies
          #ironyfail
          #kakistocracy

        4. LOL!

          Yeah, the race baiter is always on, maybe he lost his job and is constantly needy. I suspect he is gaming the system and behind the lion share of FAKE DOWNVOTES.

          Not that you and I are an atomic particle concerned. I suspect he did not get enough love and attention when he was a child, so sorry. And then he broke the law, tsk, tsk.

          With nothing constructive to say, CitizenXcon is a complete WASTE of my time.

          That said, I enjoy your back and forth witty retorts …

        5. I think you may be right, he’s just needy…sittin’ alone in that apartment, a yellowed poster of Huey Newton peeling off the wall next to his 1958 Kenmore avocado stove, Tuesday’s bacon grease coagulating in the skillet (the very skillet he stole from his mom)…doddering about, mumbling, “Da’ Man, down wid’ da Man, muh-fuh’s!…where’s muh’ bong, dat’ crack ho’ bitch done took muh’ muthafückin’ bong. Alright! Almost time for Wheel Of Fortune.”

          A Day In The Life Of The Mr. Needy, oh boy.

        13. so this is where you pathetic worms masturbate each other. Really. That is your gay ( I apologize to Gay people ahead of time but I can’t pass this up) back and forth trying to pretend that I don’t exist? this is how you occupy our time. Not gonna admit that you backed an incompetent clown and that the nazis are demanding their due.

          you un American prick. Go ahead and masturbate your buttwipe and he will masturbate you. The baby Jesus this back and forth dialogue is pathetic and sad.

        14. The “perfect little Nazis in their Hitler haircuts” so nobly photographed Friday night and distributed ad infinitum through the msm are actors. This entire charade is a mere psyop to associate Trump supporters as Nazis…this will fail also.

        16. really, idiot….you’re as malleable as wet Play-Doh. Trace who ordered the police to stand-down (as confirmed by the Virginia ACLU from police radio recordings) and you’ve found the conduit to the upstream designers and perpetrators of this obvious psyop.

        20. being directed by the lizard overlords living underground? Now I know where you get your news and information.

          SAD!

          actually they are nozis expecting their due from their leader, tRump.

          You are really reaching to excuse white supremacist and nazis.

          Wow.

        23. Sorry bottwipe. It was pathetic wanna be nazis emboldened by the unhinged (insert descriptive adjectives here) little handed russian troll occupying the white house. The nazis are expecting their reward.

          Never Again.

        25. In my humble opinion, those guys aren’t hateful, not exactly. Instead, they are exercising a healthy form of freedom of expression, one well known to psychoanalysts. “True feelings” get bottled up and can fester for years in an antagonistic environment, one in which social norms ruthlessly dictate a respectful tone of discourse despite a maverick tendency to disagree. That happens for example in Catholic school where you get rapped by the Nun overlords for speaking out of turn, or daring to smoke behind the rectory, or mocking a Biblical precept. The result of such oppression of one’s natural expression is an aversion to authority of any kind. The notion of Freedom thus becomes a narcotic that permits any sort of behaviour whatsoever, once you have escaped the reach of the dreaded Nuns. Their ethical ideas never really registered in the first place, because they were forced down your throat, and you only gave them lip service because you had to, — until Donald Trump was elected. After that, the national mantra became “screw ’em if they can’t take a joke.”

        28. Of course you should judge. That is the main thing that separates us from “lower” animals. “Lower” animals aren’t social justice warriors, just out for themselves. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, unless you consider yourself just an animal.

        32. ding! ding! DUNG! MDN’s supreme joker clown nonsense poster nonsense, more nonsense, insults, nonsense, insults on and on the fool does not know he is the biggest clown there is a remedy the second you read citizen nothing replied: you don’t have to read, simply delete, delete, delete

        34. So explain that. There must be a reason you say that. Did he pay a virtual army to show up to look like military or police units armed to the teeth? Did he pay marchers to carry torches at night, reminiscent of nazi germany to within hearing distance of a church holding some kind of function?

          enlighten me.

        36. haha… in my best ronald raygun voice… There you go again bottwipe. you don’t have a clue. All you have is your hate based in your failure in life. there are no more coal mine jobs. donald, sexual predator, tRump is a danger to this country and your pathetic and undying irrational support shows how clueless and petty your are. And you know why. Racism and now outright stupidity. That shit show clown car presidency that has you transfixed is a danger to this country. Never again.

        37. hey brainless: no one on earth has the power to enlighten a foul mouth, asswipe fixated, dried turd loving moron like yourself trump is also a great president and guess what, your approval in not required ever

        39. the point proven is that you are a brainless, whiny, foul mouth, ass wiping, nonsense moron. the point proven is you are too stupid to realize it. the point proven is you believe your own BS. the point proven is you are incapable of intelligent debate. The point proven is you are just another ex-con scum

          POINT PROVEN

        40. awwwww did I hurt the human hemorrhoid attached to bottwipes ass. You do know your whole persona is affixed to loving bottwipe?

          Just another anonymous coward unable to even be something not attached to bottwipes anal canal.

          Did I hurt the buttwipes feelings? Still trying to be relevant.

        48. “Enlightenment” is a tricky concept.
          Many extremists and believers of all kind are walking all around this world with the strong faith to be absolutely right.
          But they’re often pretty dangerous people… Some of them even become presidents!

  10. Why does everything that happens in the world always have to affect only Apple? One would think unrest in that region would affect dozens of tech companies relying upon components made in that part of the world. Tim Cook should tell POTUS to start a war after the iPhone 8 has sold in the tens of millions of units. Put the war off until mid-2018.

    Reply

    1. Where’s the sarcasm tag? Don’t tempt the devil by joking about annihilation. How old are you? Did you have to endure the air raid drills, the fallout shelter instructions during the cold war? What use are your AAPL shares when your city is radioactive? If war happens, the stock market blows up, didn’t you know? Oh, never mind. You’re hopeless, just another poor soul that needs to vent his frustrations into empty, uncaring, and soon, radioactive, air. We’re all going to die. Count on it.

      Reply

  11. Short of regime change there is no way that North Korea is going to give up its nuclear arsenal. And the only ones that can effect a regime change is China and they’re extremely reluctant to go down that path. And what people fail to understand is that Un executed his uncle (with anti-aircraft guns no less) because the latter was seen as being too close to China

    Un quite rightly sees the possession of nuclear weapons as an insurance policy against a military led regime change (i.e. an invasion). It is estimated that the country possesses about 60 nuclear weapons.

    As for the threats against Guam, the regime is talking about landing missiles off the coast of the island. However that just too much for any U.S. administration.

    However, as we’ve seen in the past the President shouts out a policy or statement only to have members of his administration pull back somewhat which is then followed by Mr Trump going even further. This only serves to reduce America’s options.

    So what are the alternatives?

    Getting into a shouting match with North Korea just won’t work. Attacking the country (and I live in Australia where we shudder at that outcome) isn’t an option either.

    Sanctions alone won’t work either.

    What we are dealing with is an cold war state so let’s go for a cold war outcome. Sit down with the regime and:

    1. Recognise them for what they are…a nuclear armed state.

    2. Tell them face to face that there are certain lines that they cannot cross and tell them what will happen if they cross those lines and stick to them.

    3. Cut a deal with China and tell them of the alternatives if they don’t stick by it. And the one thing I can say with total certainty is that Xi will stick to a deal if there’s a little bit of give and take from both sides. (Australia and China have a very good relationship working relationship).

    The problem now is that if the North Korean regime does carry out its threat to send missiles (to land off the coast) off Guam then there will be a military response from America and North Korea will respond as well. A tit for tat response will mean a lot of people dying (most of them in South Korea) and North Korea will still have its nuclear weapons.

    This will be bad for the international economy and for South East Asia. Negotiations however unpalatable are the only options and eventually this is where we’ll end up.

    Reply

  13. Like it or not: with Donald Trump USA is out. Totally missing the point and excluded of any coherence. Now China rules!
    Have a open look to it. China is asking D. Biff Trump and Kim Hill Sunk to stop acting so childish when war is concerned.
    Any crazy wild bombing will cause enormous destructions also to all allies around!
    But, yes… quite few Americans don’t even give a damn to whatever is not America…

    Reply

      1. and without you the entry on this thread would be a lot thinner.

        congrats botty, as of now you singlehandedly account for 37% of the 100 comments on this thread.

        how proud you must be.

        how over amped you truly are.

        Reply

        1. botvinnik’s politics are less important than his talent for provoking comment, which expands the sphere of discourse, always valuable in a democracy. It should be noted that he is not a rigid ideologue, but a gadfly. He is fully engaged, hence your 37%. — Overclocked engagement may be an index of fanaticism, but it doesn’t apply here. For one thing, fanatics lack a sense of humour. For another, their intelligence is overruled by their righteousness. Unlike them, botvinnik sees almost everything as comical, including the feeble responses of liberals to his gibes; he often quotes W.C. Fields, Mark Twain, Henny Youngman and other dark humourists. He can be corrected on factual points and can modify his position during a dyadic interchange, just as a chess player reassesses his opponent based on the current move. He plays games with people, rather than allowing himself to be gamed by them.

          There is Quality in such an adversary. Without real talk, people and ideas go their merry ways, and may destroy everything, regardless of their soothing assurances. The most dangerous demon is the one with the sweetest tongue.

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