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[20200803_012617 UTC UTC Update 2:]
tl;dr version: Trump threatened to ban TikTok. Then Microsoft said it was in talks to buy TikTok. Then Microsoft said the talks were in doubt after Trump's threats. Now, Microsoft is "continuing discussions."
Microsoft to continue discussions on TikTok purchase after talking to Donald Trump:
After reports US President Donald Trump is considering an order to force Beijing-based tech company ByteDance to divest ownership of popular social-video app TikTok, Microsoft has announced it will be "continuing discussion" on a potential purchase of TikTok after a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the President.
"Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President's concerns," said Microsoft, in a statement. "It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.
[20200802_144217 UTC Update 1; added:]
Microsoft pauses talks on TikTok US deal - reports:
A possible sale of Chinese-owned TikTok's US operations to Microsoft is reportedly on hold after Donald Trump vowed to ban the video-sharing app.
A sale was thought close to agreement, but was put in doubt after the US president's warning on Friday.
The Wall Street Journal said Microsoft had now paused talks despite TikTok owner ByteDance making last ditch efforts to win White House support.
It comes amid criticism of Mr Trump's threat as an attack on free speech.
[...] Late on Friday, Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: "As far as TikTok is concerned we're banning them from the United States."
[Original story follows.--martyb]
TikTok: Trump says he will ban Chinese video app in the US
President Donald Trump has announced he is banning the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok in the US.
He told reporters he could sign an executive order as early as Saturday.
US security officials have expressed concern that the app, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, could be used to collect the personal data of Americans.
[...] Microsoft has reportedly been in talks to buy the app from ByteDance, but Mr Trump appeared to cast doubt that such a deal would be allowed to go through. If the deal went ahead reports say it would involve ByteDance shedding TikTok's US operations.
A TikTok-Microsoft Deal Might Solve Everything (archive)
On Friday, Bloomberg News reported Trump plans to order ByteDance Ltd. to divest its ownership of TikTok. Then later in the afternoon, several media outlets reported Microsoft Corp. is in talks to purchase TikTok's U.S. operations.
[...] There seem to be two active bidders for the app. One is Microsoft. As for the other, Reuters reported earlier this week that some of Bytedance's U.S investors have proposed a bid for a majority stake of TikTok, valuing the company's non-China operations at $50 billion. The offer would be about 50 times TikTok's forecast sales of $1 billion this year, Reuters reported.
Previously: Bytedance: The World's Most Valuable Startup
Lawmakers Ask US Intelligence to Assess If TikTok is a Security Threat
TikTok and 53 Other iOS Apps Still Snoop Your Sensitive Clipboard Data
India Bans TikTok, WeChat, and Other Chinese-Owned Apps
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @03:51PM (7 children)
By "protect our Christian heritage" you mean to impose your Christian religious beliefs on everyone, even though violence if necessary. A lot of Christians say they vote for Republicans because of the abortion issue, citing the hundreds of thousands of abortions each year in the US. The number of abortions is in the hundreds of thousands per year and the volume of abortions is cited as why the issue takes precedence over others.
But these same Christians are obsessed with repealing Obamacare, taking away healthcare coverage from millions of people who may die from treatable conditions because they can't afford the care. These same Christians are willing to parrot Trump's lies about COVID-19, a disease that has already killed 150,000+ Americans and will kill far more before slowing. Most of these deaths are preventable by implementing restrictions that reduce the spread of the virus, but these Christians line up to support Trump's repeated attempts to undermine those restrictions. So those hundreds of thousands of abortions are a travesty to those Christians but not the huge number of Americans who will needlessly die from diseases that could have been treated or prevented. You'd think these "patriotic Americans protecting [their] Christian heritage" would do a better job even of something simple like following the Ten Commandments, but they are happy to ignore those when it suits their purpose.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @04:03PM
Inept medical care (misuse of ventilators, sending infected into nursing homes, telling people to stay home rather than visit their GP, failure to correct vitamin deficiencies, etc) killed probably 100k, 25k or so died as in a bad flu season, then the other 25k died with covid from falling into the Mississippi and getting eaten by a catfish, police kneeling on their necks, etc.
The next stage is the immunity to all the usual circulating pathogens starts disappearing due to excess sanitation/distancing. Some of these also provide cross immunity to covid, so we should also see that illness get more severe in the young. After that they will give out the rushed vaccine to minorities after only testing it on healthy people, the vast majority of whom are young. This should result in the deaths of another couple hundred thousand elderly, obese, etc individuals.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/coronavirus-vaccine.html [nytimes.com]
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 02 2020, @05:50PM (5 children)
The eleventh commandment, "Thou shalt wear a mask if thy neighbor is offended."
The twelfth commandment, "Thou should wear a mask while robbing stagecoaches, trains, or banks."
*rolleyes*
Alternative für Deutschland
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday August 03 2020, @12:29AM (4 children)
1. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:39)
2. If thou not wearest a mask, thou hast increased the odds that thy neighbor will get sick with Covid-19. (nearly every doctor everywhere)
3. Getting someone sick with a disease with Covid-19 carries a substantial risk that they will be dead, or at the very least dealing with lifelong disability. (nearly every doctor everywhere)
4. Ergo, thou shalt wear a mask around thy neighbors.
The idea that following a doctor's recommendations was anti-Christian comes from those who are, in my estimation at least, breaking the First Commandment, choosing to follow false prophets that worship the idol of pieces of paper with the word "Dollar" on them.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 03 2020, @01:14AM (1 child)
Is this the same doctors who said not to wear masks in Feb/Mar and that we need to put everyone on ventilators right away without evidence for that treatment?
You need to hold bad decision makers responsible or they will keep hurting you and your family.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 03 2020, @05:10PM
That was about a mask shortage you dummy, they promoted wearing cloth masks. Also given Trump's Demon sperm doctor you can find all manner of educated idiots for a citation of stupidity. I never heard anyone say to put people on ventilators right away, that was for when their oxygen levels dropped dangerously low.
Sounds like you are listening to stupid talk shows who make a living off keeping you outraged, thus they spin minor things into grand conspiracies or scandals.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by tyler on Monday August 03 2020, @02:05PM (1 child)
The ten commandments were in the old testament. There is nothing in the 10 commandments about loving your neighbor. The only thing close is the last one that tells you not to envy your neighbor's stuff. There is actually more than one version of the ten commandments. In the book you cite, Jesus cursed a fruitless fig tree, which was out of season, because he was hangry. That book also has dialogue between Jesus and the devil. The book was allegedly written by a person who was not there to witness the dialogue. In Luke, Jesus told people to hate their family (Luke 14:26). I guess you are supposed to love your neighbor more than your family, but you can't envy them. According to the more commonly known set of 10 commandments, you are supposed to honor your parents. It must be hard to honor someone you are supposed to hate. I find the bible confusing.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday August 03 2020, @05:16PM
The 10 Commandments are specifically a section that Christians decided were the most important out of the 600+ commandments in the Torah. As for the "love thy neighbor" rhetoric, while there are certainly hints about that since you're not supposed to murder or rob or cuckold your neighbor, Jesus could also have picked that up from the Talmud, most famously Rabbi Hillel's summary of the Torah as "Love your neighbor, the rest is commentary."
As for that passage in Luke, I do have to wonder about the last part of that verse, where he says that Christians are supposed to hate their own life. I mean, that seems like the ultimate expression of conservative Christian thought which so often boils down to "My life sucks, so yours should too!"
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin