Apple and Amazon Holding Out Against
the Anti Gun Zealots Ping!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Posted on 03/01/2018 8:18:07 AM PST by Swordmaker
Gun-control activists are demanding that Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos do something he has carefully avoided: pick a side in a hot-button political debate,” Spencer Soper and Selina Wang report for Bloomberg. “The online retailer, along with Apple Inc., Roku Inc. and other video streaming services, is facing pressure from customers protesting any corporate relationship with the National Rifle Association in the aftermath of a Florida school shooting that killed 17 people. Even though it doesn’t sell guns or ammunition, Amazon is taking much of the heat. Angry consumers started using the hashtag #StopNRAmazon on Twitter, which surfaced last week with customers threatening to cancel their $99-a-year Prime subscriptions.”
“At issue is NRA TV, a free online channel focused on pro-gun content, which many technology companies offer through their streaming services and devices,” Soper and Wang report. “Recent episodes criticized Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for what NRA TV said was a failure to act on warning signs about the shooter. In one segment, NRA TV host Grant Stinchfield shouts at the camera: ‘There was no act of heroism when these deputies were sitting outside taking cover behind a cruiser as kids were getting shot.'”
“When it’s content or free speech at issue, the stakes become even higher,” Soper and Wang report. “The protest over carrying the channel puts these services in the uncomfortable position of deciding what kind of information is appropriate based on what some people find objectionable — a challenge since the devices and services try to appeal to a range of different tastes and political leanings. ‘While the vast majority of all streaming on our platform is mainstream entertainment, voices on all sides of an issue or cause are free to operate a channel,’ said streaming-device maker Roku. ‘We do not curate or censor based on viewpoint,’ Roku said, adding that NRA TV doesn’t violate any of its policies. Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. — John Stuart Mill
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. ― Benjamin Franklin
If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. ― George Washington
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. ― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
SEE ALSO:
Petitions call on Apple, Amazon to cut ties with National Rifle Association – February 27, 2018
Apple CEO Cook prays for victims, families, and loved ones of mass murder in Parkland, Florida – February 15, 2018
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Going after the NRA because of gun violence is akin to going after AAA because of automobile deaths. Or boycotting the Airline Pilots Association because of 9/11.
What struggle? The NRA has no role in this so why should anyone struggle with whatever. Oh, never mind.
Bezos pays almost no taxes while politicking to make you pay more.
Sorry ‘bout that, but this past two weeks is anything BUT a “debate”.
It is a cold attempt to cancel the Constitution, or at least (for now) the First and the Second Amendments.
Petitions call on Apple, Amazon to cut ties with National Rifle AssociationMacDailyNews—February 27, 2018
Multiple online petitions are calling on Apple, Amazon and other streaming services to cut ties with the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) television channel,” Julia Manchester reports for The Hill. “‘NRATV is home to the NRA’s most dangerous and violence-inciting propaganda,’ Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts said in a statement to accompany the petition, according to HuffPost.”
“‘It’s time for tech leaders to acknowledge their role in helping the NRA spread this dangerous content and cut it out,’ she continued,” Manchester reports. “The friend of a father of one of the shooting survivors also launched a separate petition on change.org calling for Amazon to no longer offer the channel. ‘The NRA has long ignored its role in promoting gun violence and betrayed the names of good and responsible gun owners,’ Brad Chase said on the petition’s webpage.”
“Delta, United Airlines, First National Bank and Hertz are just some of the companies that have cut ties with the organization since the Parkland shooting. The NRA said in a statement the companies have ‘decided to punish NRA membership in a shameful display of political and civic cowardice,'” Manchester reports. “‘In time, these brands will be replaced by others who recognize that patriotism and determined commitment to Constitutional freedoms are characteristics of a marketplace they very much want to serve,’ the NRA said. ‘Let it be absolutely clear. The loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single NRA member from our mission to stand and defend the individual freedoms that have always made America the greatest nation in the world.'”
Read more in the full article here.
“Streaming service Roku has rejected calls to pull the plug on a channel operated by the National Rifle Association, after antigun activists, outraged over the Feb. 14 massacre at Parkland High School in South Florida that left 17 people dead, pushed the company to sever its ties with the NRA,” Jonathan Berr reports for CBS. “Roku, a closely held company, says NRA TV is complying with its content policies. Roku says it doesn’t censor or curate channels based on their content if they are operating lawfully otherwise.”
“NRA TV, which describes itself as a ‘comprehensive’ news source on Second Amendment issues, is free to Roku users and doesn’t carry any ads,” Berr reports. “Activists have also targeted Apple, Alphabet’s YouTube and Amazon, which also operate streaming services. Several Twitter users said they would drop their Apple TV and Amazon Prime Streaming services if the companies don’t meet their demands.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple TV does not offer a “streaming service” (yet).
“On Monday, FedEx said it plans to keep offering discounts to NRA members, though it said it disagrees with the organization about gun policy,” Berr reports. “FedEx said it would ‘not deny service or discriminate against any legal entity regardless of their policy positions or political views.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Focusing on the identification and subsequent care of those suffering from mental illness is the surest, most direct way to prevent such instances of mass murder from occurring in the future.
Also, having law enforcement, from the local level to the FBI, not totally drop the ball, would be another productive avenue to explore.
Along with praying for the victims, families, and friends, we most fervently pray that a system will be devised wherein the severely mentally ill will be identified early and helped before they degenerate to the point where such calamitous tragedies befall innocents. — MacDailyNews, February 15, 2018
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Cook prays for victims, families, and loved ones of mass murder in Parkland, Florida – February 15, 2018
Should be no struggle. Unless you are stupid.
The reality is all of these entities are under a bot attack that’s designed to look like a grassroots affair and it’s really astroturf: FAKE - FAKE - FAKE
NRA start manufacturing and selling guns ??
Planned Parenthood sells more “arms” than the NRA.
Thanks Swordmaker! And now, from the Plausible Deniability Desk:
YouTube Goes On Rampage Against Conservative Accounts; Blames “Newer Members” Of Mod Team
Blac Listed News | 3-1-2018
Posted on 03/01/2018 8:52:41 AM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3636355/posts
Gun-control activists need to kick their arguments and activism to a higher level.
Since the NRA is a defender of 2nd Amendment, they are acting within the law. That 2nd Amendment is supported and defended by the federal government. So, if those activists want to elevate their argument to the highest level possible, they should be calling for a boycott of the federal government, by refusing to support that government via refusal to pay taxes. The federal government, after all, is their ultimate enemy with gun laws (2nd Amendment) that permits ownership of guns.
(I’m pretty sure the anti-gun activists will thank me for my suggestion).
I have bought a lot of gun accessories and holsters off of amazon. They would be fools to open their mouths on 2A stuff.
CC
Amazon won’t take an ethical stand. They sell and let you decide.
Amazon essentially makes very little profit and what it does make gets deferred or tax credited away. . . Bezos is considered the richest man in the world due to his inflated Amazon stock holdings. He pays income taxes on his income as CEO and on the value of the stock he receives, when he converts it to cash.
Bezos creates new loss making startups to cover the massive cash profits previous startups begin to generate.
Amazon is a horizontally integrated perpetual tax avoidance scheme.
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