Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer meets angry American while visiting Apple store.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Spicer was reportedly shopping at the Apple branch in Georgetown when a woman filmed and bombarded him with question after question. The video speaks for itself, but here’s a sampler of the kinds of inquiries that the questioner decided to pursue: 

“How does it feel to work for a fascist?” 

“Have you helped with the Russia stuff?” 

“Do you feel good about lying to the American people?” 

“Are you a criminal as well?” 

The encounter was streamed on Periscope and posted on the Twitter account @Shreec. Twitchy also noticed that the same user participated in a protest last month where Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was blocked from entering a school in D.C.

Let me first just say that I do not condone this kind of confrontation. 

I would not do it myself, nor do I urge others to do it either.

However having said that I totally understand people's frustration with what is happening right now and I get why somebody might feel that our politicians and media are simply not doing enough to ferret out the truth about this administration.

Besides I think I secretly really enjoy watching Spicer squirm like that.

Did you think that Jeb Bush was all out of gaffes? Well you were dead wrong.

Photo courtesy of Business Insider.

Courtesy of Mediaite: 

“I think we should repeal Obamacare if given the opportunity,” Bush said, “and replace it with a consumer-directed model where people are engaged in making healthier decisions for themselves and where they are given the tools to do so.” 

He then pointed to his Apple Watch, the cheapest of which retails for $349, saying, “On this device, in five years, will be applications that will allow me to manage my healthcare in ways that, five years ago, were not even possible.” For example, the watch could alert him when he’s eaten more sugar than is safe for his diabetes. 

“Ultimately, we have to get to a health system, away from a disease system,” he added. But while that is well and good for those who are generally healthy, what about those who aren’t?

Yes we will no longer need health insurance, because our watches will take the place of doctors. 

I wonder if he saw a doctor for the head injury that he must have suffered to make him such a moron?

As it turns out DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz had the perfect reply:

.@jebbush I had cancer. There’s no app for that.

— D Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) May 15, 2015

And there you go.

The world's leading technology companies band together to demand changes in the US surveillance laws.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

The world's leading technology companies have united to demand sweeping changes to US surveillance laws, urging an international ban on bulk collection of data to help preserve the public's “trust in the internet”. 

In their most concerted response yet to disclosures by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and AOL have published an open letter to Barack Obama and Congress on Monday, throwing their weight behind radical reforms already proposed by Washington politicians. 

“The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favour of the state and away from the rights of the individual – rights that are enshrined in our constitution,” urges the letter signed by the eight US-based internet giants. “This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for change.” 

Several of the companies claim the revelations have shaken public faith in the internet and blamed spy agencies for the resulting threat to their business interests. “People won’t use technology they don’t trust,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. “Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need to help restore it.” 

The chief executive of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, said: “Recent revelations about government surveillance activities have shaken the trust of our users, and it is time for the United States government to act to restore the confidence of citizens around the world." 

Silicon Valley was initially sceptical of some allegations about NSA practices made by Snowden but as more documentary evidence has emerged in the Guardian and other newspapers detailing the extent of western surveillance capabilities, its eight leading players – collectively valued at $1.4tn – have been stung into action amid fears of commercial damage. 

“We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens,” they say in the letter. “But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide.” 

A separate list of five “reform principles” signed by the normally fiercely competitive group echoes measures to rein in the NSA contained in bipartisan legislation proposed by the Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee, Patrick Leahy, and the Republican author of the Patriot Act, Representative Jim Sensenbrenner.

I think that it is well past time for us to start demanding accountability for what the NSA has been doing, and to stand up for our privacy.

There are not a lot of policies that I find myself as conflicted on as this one, but the more we learn the more I come to realize that we simply cannot excuse the fact that essentially EVERY communication we send out is subject to scrutiny by our government. 

Part of me wants to demand greater transparency, though the other, more rational, part of me realizes that is a request that simply cannot be met by those seeking to gather intelligence on potentially dangerous individuals without alerting them to their efforts.

Still we need to do something to put the brakes on this whole thing, or at the very least get the government to narrow their field of surveillance.

I don't know about the rest of you but I simply have too much on my plate to be attempting to overthrow my government.

P.S. In other news the Guardian has voted Edward Snowden "Person of the Year for 2013."

I know, big surprise right?

Tennessee lawyer sues Apple for making a product that allowed him to watch porn and destroy his marriage. Okay, what did I just read?

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Apple pulls the so-called "Gay App" for the I-Phone.

Just found this in my e-mail.

Amazing! After more than 150,000 petition signatures from Change.org members and saturation media coverage, news outlets worldwide are reporting that Apple has pulled an iPhone application launched by Exodus International that claimed to help "cure" gay and lesbian people.

This is a huge, public victory against the dangerous myth that gay young people can and should be "turned straight" -- a falsehood that contributes to the plague of depression and suicide afflicting these kids and young adults. Our friends at Truth Wins Out, the organization that started the petition on Change.org, are absolutely thrilled.

Apple did the right thing because an incredible 151,125 Change.org members -- including you -- stood together to demand it. We spread the word on Facebook more than 55,000 times. And together we attracted the attention of media around the globe, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, and hundreds of newspapers and blogs.

It's simply amazing. Thank you for making this victory possible.

- Eden and the Change.org team

Thanks to everybody who voted.  It was a stupid, insensitive thing for anybody to do and thankfully Apple has seen the light, or else they simply realize the some of their best customers walk on the wild side.

You know what they need is a phone app that identifies people who still believe homosexuality is a disease and immediately rings the phone of the closest gay person to them, with a message to walk on over to educate their sorry homophobic  ass.

"Do you have ignorant, uneducated people in your life?  There's an app for that!"

Want to cure somebody of being gay? There's an app for that.

A controversy is erupting around a new application for the iPhone that claims gay people can be "cured," and that gay kids should be put through therapy to "fix" their sexual orientation.

Believe it or not, Apple is providing Exodus International -- an organization that promotes "conversion therapy" to try to brainwash gay people into turning straight -- a platform on iTunes for their homophobic iPhone app. This, despite the fact that Exodus believes that LGBT people should be confronted with "spiritual warfare," and that "freedom from homosexuality" should be a societal goal.

Worse, Apple has given the Exodus app a 4+ rating on iTunes, labeling the app "non-offensive," even though the group tells gay kids that their sexual orientation is "immoral," "satanic," and in need of a cure -- factors that contribute to teen suicide.

Apple has been a strong ally to the LGBT community for years, even donating $100,000 to defeat California’s Proposition 8, the state’s ban on marriage equality. Just a few months ago, Apple actually removed another app from iTunes that labeled same-sex couples "immoral sexual partnerships" following pressure from Change.org members and others.

Exodus International’s "ex-gay" app deserves to be pulled from iTunes as well. "Conversion therapy" has been universally condemned by every major medical and scientific organization around the world. The American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and American Counseling Association have all rejected "ex-gay" therapy, saying that it results in catastrophic damage to the mental health of its victims.

If you find this as offensive and small minded as I do you can click here and sign the petition to ask Apple to removed the "ex-gay" phone app.

Personally I am surprised that a company as progressive and cutting edge as Apple would allow this sort of thing to be promoted using their product.