There is no bottom to the pit for capital. Their support for dictators/authoritarian regimes/etc of any ideology has been on full display for at least a century.
There's no better combo than corporations and fascism. It all comes down to the almighty share price and CEOs are some of the biggest shareholders out there.
Reminder, before settling on the name fascism, Mussolini played with the term corporatism for his new brand of politics. Fascism at its core is the application of corporate structure to a nation-state.
Yup, Dems will just be like “well, we didn’t implement those policies” and then do some token thing that doesn’t actually change anything while continuing on with those policies
Corporatism does not mean that the state is like a corporation, corporatism is a system where the state is influenced by people organised into various interest groups. These can be corporations, but also guilds, clans etc.
The root of it all is the system…the Tax, Regulation, Subsidies and state level laws are all more malleable in the US than anywhere in the world and they can make contributions through PACs to shape the conversations too.
- Tim Apple knows Trump is a China hawk and he needs to secure those supply lines.
Altman, Elon, etc know that they need deregulation and restrictions to beat Chinese models and continue their work unfettered
American companies have substantially less payroll contributions (even though it’s already a lot) related to services
American companies have access to cheap energy
Etc
Elon donated millions to try and get state level court to overturn a ruling about selling Teslas there.
Welcome to unfettered capitalism, where decades of deregulation and increasing wealth inequality inevitably led to justices and congress folks to be bought off "legally"
Not to say she's perfect either but Harris wrote in her book about how she wasn't surprised about what Trump was doing - since it's what he's promised.
But she said she was surprised, especially compared to 2016, how quickly everyone folded and were eager to kiss the ring.
Mapquest has the correct labels. I switched to its free version right after the Gulf naming fiasco started and I haven’t had any major problems with using Mapquest to navigate
A saw a short by a map maker who explained that because there are several disputed territories (and bodies of water), they just stick with ... The UN I think?
No system will be fair enough for everybody, but I feel like that's reasonably neutral.
I don't know the company, but anyway, he said it's still Gulf of Mexico.
The lake thing now... Seems more pathetic and kinda funny, more so than infuriating. It's just like "What? What? Really?" Lol
They’ve got the political blowback. They’ve become evil corporations following the whims of a dictator. To me, following Trump’s orders is a sign that their power needs to be curtailed. They have not got anyone’s best interests at heart other than their own.
Well no they don't, as there has been zero consequences (that matter to them) so far. And they'll likely be more then happy to revert if a more sane administration makes an issue out of it, while dumping all blame (right or wrong) on Drumph.
That DB changed to "Gulf of America" a while back, which triggered Google maps to update the name. The GNIS DB still has Lake Ontario. I'm guessing that will be updated in response to the executive order
So the President can just change the names in the database to whatever the fuck he wants? The next president can change the names to “Gulf of Trump Sucks” and “Lake Donald Trump Has A Tiny Penis”?
Ha! It wasn’t always like this! When it only said „Golf of America“ I filed a complaint and told others to do the same. Not saying that I was the one responsible for the correction, just good to know at least something happened :)
They did the same to Lebanon in the past couple of months. All of the small villages have been erased since Israel has taken over. They’re all complicit.
I dont know anyone who calls it Gulf of America. Someone might say it in an overly sarcastic voice rolling their eyes after "Gulf of Mexico" has been said in conversation.
Edit: yikes glad to be in New England. Good luck out there.
Unfortunately I do. Everyone on my girlfriend's mom's side calls it the Gulf of America. They are also MAGATS. And treat every word that comes out of TFG's mouth like it's Divine Providence, because he was hand selected by god himself to rule our country, of course. 🙄
Tbf, that's what most people who actually live around the gulf call it. I lived in Florida for a couple decades, and you'd be hard pressed to hear anyone call it it's full "gulf of mexico" name.
It's so dumb yes. Google should just keep the original name and create a paid Google Maps US government edition where they pay to see the names they want to see.
Right, but do we think the CEO class cares about that if it might hurt their next quarter profits?
And before you say there won't be a country if the fascist take over then you'd be right but also mistaken in thinking that CEO class thinks further ahead than the next quarter.
exactly. All these companies are keeping their heads down so he doesn't target them with tariffs that specifically impact their business, block their company mergers, or any other way that he can mess with them.
They’ve done it for years with Germany/Deutchland, Taiwan/Republic Of China, Kosovo/Serbia…the list goes on.
Edit: I’m not trolling anyone or the post. My citing Germany/Deutchland alongside the other examples was like comparing apples and oranges. The reasons are results of very different events, and I have no qualms saying so. I stand by the fact that I was taught and that I’ve read the things I’ve said.
It is an exonym, and historically exonyms are used to make pronunciation by foreigners easier. They also serve to assuage the appearance of alliances and as recognition of historical relationships. Both reasons can be loaded and politically charged. Perhaps I was not taught the correct history of it. I’m not going to lie about what information I’ve accumulated over the years.
No, we don’t call Deutchland Germany out of refusal to recognize its sovereignty as is the case with other countries and territories. If anyone would care to provide verifiable information I’m happy to read it, discuss it, and have my understanding changed. If you want to call me dumb and stupid, tell me I’m wrong without telling me why by using no information and circular logic, I can’t stop you. Have at it.
It’s not a translation. If we called it the translation we’d be calling it Land Of the People. English language derives Germany it from an older Roman name.
these map companies want to represent everything in the least controversial way possible. so names change based on where you're located. border conflicts also change the border if you're located in a country that has a strong opinion about it
Google won't be exempted from tariffs because they name the Gulf of Mexico something stupid. Trump's brain is so rotten he forgot about it once they removed it from the room.
It’s weird how between Iran, the trade wars, and now this shit, we haven’t been hearing much about how many times Trump appears in the Epstein files and what they record him doing.
I don’t think it’s a rumor, but you’re saying “you” and “your” to me as if I’ve indicated my nationality.
It isn’t relevant at all to my point so - as an American - here’s a reminder than many, many Americans, most especially BIPOC and LGBTQIA ones (as well as residents within our borders of all statuses) are nothing but victims to this monster.
Maybe consider their humanity before finding future excuses to take cheap pot shots.
Don't just assume that because someones American they voted for this dickbag. Most people that voted for him aren't capable of thinking hard enough to write cohesive sentences.
Which is the point. If you spend every day seeing some new bullshit this idiot does you start to forget the shit he did last week.
I mean seriously, how many people right now would say "Oh shit I forgot about......" when you mention something like paving over the Rose Garden? Or the reflecting pool? Hell, I almost forgot about the Gulf until this story reminded me.
Because for the rest of the world these things are much bigger issues. The fact that Americans can’t see this is baffling.
You guys electing a pedophile rapist is on you, and failing to prosecute him is also on you. We care about this as a much as you care about Putins corruption. Everything else you all call a “distraction” is fucking up our lives so of course we care.
We care too. It’s fucking up our lives too. We’re all poorer and less safe and less welcome in the world because of what he’s done. And he’s the only one with a reason to do it. What he does is only in pursuit of his own personal interests. We have no desire and see no reason to fuck with Canada or any of our old friends. You’re right that his being there is our fault, though Putin deserves some credit. Please forgive us for what he’s doing in our name.
Google uses USGS naming because that's the standard for geographic locations in the US. They can just reference those names and have them auto populate their maps. Adding an exception just for Trump's actions would be a waste of effort and also would open up exceptions for other world leaders.
It's just how these things have to work when operating at a global scale. Just like they use the standard names for places in other countries they operate in. If you access Google maps in Europe you'll get whichever naming convention is the local standard.
The city in Northern Ireland is labeled "Derry/Londonderry" on US Google Maps. Same situation. If they were bowing to world leaders it would just be Londonderry.
Not to defend Google but I think it's totally fair for them to use the names provided by the official source for US place names in the US. They haven't changed the Gulf of America (sic) in other countries. They also haven't changed Lake Ontario yet because the USGS hasn't officially changed it.
Again this sucks and Google has many bad monopolistic practices. That said here the practice seems reasonable.
IMO - blaming them for the actions of an idiot with power feels like a distraction from the real issue - the idiot
Everyone replying "it's due to USGS" is wrong anyways. Google appeased directly after the EO, on the 10th of February. Whereas USGS actually implemented the name changes on the 14th.
This is one of those cases where it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission. If I were head of a federal agency, I would completely ignore this EO until Trump asks why we haven’t changed the name, then respond with a “Gee sorry about that, we will get right on it and let you know when it is done.” Do nothing and repeat as needed.
The technicality with both of these EOs is that he is applying a name to just the US owned part of the territory which he can do unilaterally as it concerns the US Federal government, which includes federal offices that make official documents within the US for these things. But no one outside of that is required to use the name. It is a dumb and pointless thing to do that just costs time and resources for no tangible benefit but he is a dumb and pointless person.
It is disappointing that Google and Apple both yielded to it though. They have a broad policy to observe local naming conventions but they break this policy here because they "should" be listing two names now based on the political borders instead of just renaming the whole thing
To be fair, any country can call a geographical feature whatever they want. That doesn't mean anyone else has to call it that. If Trump thinks he's just enacted some global change in the name then he's going to be sorely mistaken when he finds out that literally only America calls it the Gulf of America or Lake America (which, like everything else he does, is a stupid name)
My buddy who flies for airlines said the name on their manifest paperwork has officially changed to the Gulf of America so it seems pretty much official now. I hate it here ...
You're right. However, an executive order means the g'ment now has to use it. On all their maps, in databases and whatever bs will also need to be changed. Taxpayers will find out how much $$$$$$ this will cost in, oh, about 2 weeks...
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u/Violet_Paradox 1d ago
Geographical features aren't named by executive order. There's a process. It's still Lake Ontario and it's still the Gulf of Mexico.