Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

White supremacy is terrorism.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Corporations Were Never Our Friends

Corporations Were Never Our Friends

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Corporations Were Never Our Friends
Google Maps this morning.

Google’s rush to comply with Trump is further evidence that any corporate DEI or even reasonableness about who they hire or how they treat minorities was just like claims made in ads:  either exaggerations or outright lies:

Some Google Calendar users are angrily calling the company out after noticing that certain events like Pride month are no longer highlighted by default. Black History Month, Indigenous People Month, Jewish Heritage, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Hispanic Heritage have also been removed, according to a Google product expert.

Google just rolled out the change to make the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America in Google Maps, and they’re claiming it’s part of a “longstanding practice”.  Their excuse for removing those “woke” holidays was that it wasn’t “sustainable” to keep track of them.  I’m sure there’s some intern somewhere in the bowels of Google who is relieved that they don’t have the trivial task of, well, googling for those holidays.

FWIW, Apple and Bing maps still call it the Gulf of Mexico.  I’ll note again that Bill Gates and Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) were the only big tech moguls who did not attend the inauguration.  Sundar Pichai (Google) and Tim Cook (Apple) attended.  It will be interesting to see what Microsoft and Apple put on their maps.

Just another one to put in the grudge bucket if Democrats ever get back into power.  Treating Google and the others the way the EU does would be a huge boon to consumers and the right consequence for their craven behavior.

Reader Interactions

80Comments

  3. 3.

    TBone

    An important legal mattter regarding transparency (Right to Know and FOIA) originated at my former high school (which we called “Piecrust”).  The ACLU got involved, and the organization that published this article deserves support too.

    Bigots GTFOH

    https://www.rcfp.org/briefs-comments/penncrest-sd-v-cagle/

    We don’t yet know how this ends, unless I missed it.  I believe the Courts still have it in play.

  5. 5.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    @Baud: I think what happened is they removed them at some point from the 2025 calendar and people are just starting to notice.

  6. 6.

    Citizen Dave

    Going to need a new version Mr. Mellencamp (actually knowing his politics no way in hell):

    (Pink Houses verse)

    Well, there’s people and more people
    What do they know, know, know?
    Go to work in some high-rise
    And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico, ooh, yeah

    And there’s winners and there’s losers
    But they ain’t no big deal
    ‘Cause the simple man, baby, pays for the thrills, the bills
    The pills that kill

  8. 8.

    suzanne

    they’re claiming it’s part of a “longstanding practice”

    This is such a slippery slope. I mean, pooping into a chamber pot and tossing it out in the street was a longstanding practice.

    Profiles in courage, they are not.

  11. 11.

    Steve Crickmore

    Transportation Secretary  Duffy has said the FAA will resume using the term “Notice to Airmen” instead of “Notice to Air Missions.” Also, pilot charts will now reference the Gulf of America and Mt. McKinley.’ So good to know that Duffy after four air crashes in the last two weeks, seems to be fixing the problem.

  12. 12.

    Starfish (she/her)

    Corporate DEI was a sales pitch for when the tech companies were trying to steal talent from each other. These efforts made the companies more attractive to candidates but unfortunately did very little to change the make up of people in tech. We were still navigating racist and sexist jerks doing racist and sexist things. Bill Gates was allegedly having an affair with a Microsoft engineer so he is no DEI hero.

    Someone was encouraging owners of Apple stock to vote on their shareholder ballots to keep the DEI stuff.

    I did not see the needle being moved by DEI efforts. The percentage of women and people of color may have moved a tiny bit, but the women and people of color were generally in junior roles. I do know some more senior women and people of color; but that is because I know a lot of people in tech. They are still extremely rare folks.

  13. 13.

    Ten Bears

    I long ago noticed that in the scheduling posts feature in WordPress someone changed the calendar to reflect Sunday as the seventh day and … well, nineteen years, fifteen thousand posts, I can’t even imagine trying to transition to another platform. I remember the recovery nightmare here (which was handled quite well, by-the-by), and have learned to at best accept and even better ignore these little annoyances as little annoyances

    Jeez, I sound like an old man …

  17. 17.

    Ohio Mom

    @Old School: I guess we should not be surprised that people (Republicans) who don’t honor consent in personal relationships won’t honor consent in geopolitical matters. How many times does Greenland have to say No?

  20. 20.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @TBone:

    I read the article. Apart from the legal issues, the case presents a practical issue that we teachers often face. Specifically, the school board member’s belief that kids “aren’t at school to be brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is okay” is one that is widely shared by parents, mostly but not always on religious grounds.

  21. 21.

    West of the Rockies

    Okay, stomp on me if you (y’all) want… I’m just offering an opinion.  I kind of now avoid mix’s posts because they’re (in my observation) relentlessly bleak.

    I know things are dark and dreary.  I’m not urging a Pollyanna approach, but, sheesh, could you include a hint of optimism or good old here’s how we’re punching back?

    If you are doing so, and I’m missing it, I earnestly apologize.

    Adam includes in what are extremely bleak posts pics of rescued cats or Russian tanks exploding.   IMO, they’re kind of essential to consuming the rest of the posts.

    Rant over.

  22. 22.

    Old School

    @Steve Crickmore:

    So good to know that Duffy after four air crashes in the last two weeks, seems to be fixing the problem.

    Duffy announced that crashes are “not standard.”  What more do you want him to do?

  24. 24.

    Old Man Shadow

    Treating Google and the others the way the EU does would be a huge boon to consumers and the right consequence for their craven behavior.

    They won’t do that.

    I fully expect some “let’s adhere to norms and just forget about all that fraud, crime, and Nazi shit” assuming that Republicans will allow Democrats to take over the government just because of a little thing like winning more votes.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @Baud:

    Doing my own research

    For over a decade we’ve worked with timeanddate.com to show public holidays and national observances in Google Calendar. Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable. So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments.

  29. 29.

    Soprano2

    @Old School: These people have lost their minds. This is the behavior of cultists toward their cult leader, not the behavior of an elected member of Congress.

  30. 30.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Soprano2:

    Slavish devotion to the cult’s leader has given them control of the federal government. So much so that they apparently believe they no longer need to follow laws. They will never go against him till it costs them elections.

  31. 31.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Baud: Since Black History Month is officially recognized by Presidential proclamation- yes, even this year by this so-called president- I have a bit of trouble with that line of bullshit.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Steve LaBonne:

    To be honest, given the type of things Trump will proclaim, I don’t mind Google leaving presidential proclamations off their calendar (assuming they’ll be consistent).

  34. 34.

    Quinerly

    Another insane press conference with Trump. I feel really sorry for the King of Jordan having to sit there with Trump.

    Trump, “we will have Gaza. We don’t have to buy it. There is nothing there.”

    “I have had a great career in real estate.”

    “I won the Arab population of Michigan.”

    I tuned in when Trump was rattling on that being a bully is a sign of weakness.

  36. 36.

    Batgirl71

    @TBone: In Illinois, it is clear that emails, texts, social media posts made on your private devices that are work related are FOIA-able. As a director of a public library, it is part of new trustee orientation and training.

  38. 38.

    TBone

    @Melancholy Jaques: I’m surprised, though, that this issue erupted in my formerly pretty liberal-type School District (the case caption is a misnomer – it’s Rose Tree Media School District, where my mother taught remedial reading for decades).  Always 1 or 2 apples trying to spoil the barrell!  On top of that, the legal excuses being made are so horrendous IMO as to be ridiculous.  We have the Right To Know laws for a reason, championed by a former employer of mine (attorney, then State Senator, now Judge)!  I highly respect this man, worked for his father, also an attorney, who built the office building the family firm used, and have been to the home of the family patriarch in DelCo.  See PA Senate section for his efforts & success in passing our transparency laws.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_F._Pileggi

    It’s personal!!!

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    @Old School: I heard that a certain loud and obnoxious Congresswoman from northwest Georgia has introduced a bill that would rename that territory “Greeneland”!

  41. 41.

    TBone

    @TBone: R-e-s-p-e-c-t!

    One of his first acts as floor leader was to introduce a set of new rules for the Senate which increased the public’s ability to review Senate actions. The new rules, embodied in Senate Resolution 5,[12] require amendments to be posted online before a vote is taken, require all roll call votes from the Senate floor to be posted online within 24 hours, require committee votes to be posted online within 48 hours, require the Senate to wait at least six hours before voting on an amended bill, require the Senate’s Legislative Journal to be posted online within 45 days, and limit session times to between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m.[13] Pileggi said the new rules “will enable people to more easily track our actions and to determine how their Senator is representing them.”[14]

    Pennsylvania’s Open Records Law: In the 2007-08 legislative session, Pileggi was the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 1, which rewrote Pennsylvania’s Open Records Law for the first time in more than 50 years. SB 1 was signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell on February 14, 2008, and is now known as Act 3 of 2008.[15]

  42. 42.

    No Nym

    In all the years I lived in Chicago, I never heard anyone call the Sears Tower the Willis Tower in conversation.

  43. 43.

    TheOtherHank

    I went and viewed the Gulf of Mexico on maps.google.com and saw the new, wrong name. If you click on the name you can give it a rating. I rated Gulf of America 1 star and added the review “Change the label back to Gulf of Mexico, you stupid bootlickers.” I would have used some profanity, but I wasn’t sure if that would make it not show up

  48. 48.

    Searcher

    So re: “long-standing policy”, this is actually internally putting the US in a category with a handful of other countries like China or Saudi Arabia, which is, countries that get really pissy with Google over petty shit that no one actually cares about, and who are willing to take that pettiness out on random Google employees.

    Like, most people up and down the chain would prefer to tell China to go fuck themselves when they get their panties in a twist over organic search results in China returning things they’d rather not have returned, but China also, discretely, obliquely, makes it known that Google has a lot of employees living in China, from China, visiting China, and wouldn’t it be a shame– so Google says fuck it, this isn’t the hill we’re sacrificing out employees on, and adds a China-only hack.

    Now, maybe Google capitulated prematurely here, maybe they’re going full Meta, but I’m also not sure they’re wrong to treat the current administration like any other authoritarian dictatorship with no respect for human rights.

  49. 49.

    Jane2

    Canadian Google calls it “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” because it knows we’re not MAGA-stupid.

  52. 52.

    Rabbit Rabbit

    Just checked my iPhone. After a substantial amount of mental editing, I sent them “saying it doesn’t make it true”

  53. 53.

    RaflW

    In the world of tiny acts of resistance, I sent feedback to Google via the Maps App late last night. I tried not to sound too angry, but I was clear that it didn’t seem like international bodies of water can just unilaterally be renamed by our president. And, no, IDGAF if it’s only for USofA’ers consumption and the map says “Gulf of Mexico” if one us using the app outside our borders.

  54. 54.

    scav

    To be scrupulously fair, Rand McNally had to build a large database just to manage international place names for printing atlases internationally.  Beyond the whole different language issues, certain governments do get very very fussy about what names they see on maps, to the point of not allowing them to be sold I think.  (Israel was tough cookie I vaguely recall.).  Luckily not my area, I dabbled with domestic names.  Thing is, there’s a process for it, with committees and procedures, Domestic Names Committee, Board on Geographic Names, bulletins, proposals, checking with local involved parties including Indian tribes, all the palaver.  (It was taking years to get rid of squaw and some other very obvious pejoratives.) There’s no doubt equivalents for what the US calls foreign names, I just didn’t deal with them.  There are norms, there are rules for this shit. It’s not just King Bozo wielding his magic fucking sharpie overnight making Dinali go poof.

  55. 55.

    RaflW

    In anti-DEI news that I found more distressing “In a memo to employees, PBS President Paula Kerger wrote that ‘to ensure that we are complying with the president’s executive order we have closed our DEI office, and Cecilia Loving and Gina Leow are leaving PBS.'”

    I wrote an email last night to my local PBS’s affiliate that may have been a bit rash, but FFS appeasing Trump a) doesn’t work, b) the GOP will almost certainly take an axe to PBS funding anyway so that c) alienating a wide swath of PBS donors in a vain and likely unsuccessful effort to “save” PBS is how we all go down in flames.

    It’s why trans rights are non-negotiable. You give in on that, then it’s just microtome slices of humanity for a while, but then the butcher’s bill comes due.

  56. 56.

    Avalune

    I will not call it that and you cannot make me. I have steadfastly refused to kick Pluto out of being a planet, no matter what Neil says about it and he’s a much smarter man.

  57. 57.

    Bill_K

    So if I want to quit Google maps because of this, my only other choices are Apple and Bing?  Merde, I’m gonna have to just start carrying an atlas around.

  59. 59.

    Kelly

    They’re gonna bring the ubiquitous slur to indigenous women sq** back to place names all over the west.

  60. 60.

    Searcher

    @Bill_K: I’m really curious whether Apple and Bing will do anything over the next N months.

    Bing does the whole East Sea/Sea of Japan Sea of Japan/East Sea thing, but doesn’t bother with the “Gulf of Arabia”, just showing the Persian Gulf.

    Apple labels the Persian Gulf, but just … doesn’t put any label on the Sea of Japan.

  63. 63.

    TBone

    @Batgirl71: I’m glad I checked here for response again.  That’s really good to know and I expect our PA jurists will put an end to this malarkey thusly!  The defense is correct! (*Marissa Tomei voice): IT’S A FACT!

    Pileggi’s Senate Bill 1 flipped the presumption of government records in Pennsylvania, so that all records are presumed to be available for public inspection and a government agency which wants to prevent access must prove that they are legally permitted to do so. In the past, records were presumed to be closed, and citizens had to prove that they were legally permitted to access them. The new law also created an Office of Open Records, allowing disputes to be resolved without going to court. After the bill was passed, Pennsylvania Newspaper Association President Tim Williams said, “PNA specifically recognizes the leadership of Sen. Pileggi on Senate Bill 1 and praises his commitment to fairness and government accountability.”[16]

  67. 67.

    The Other Bob

    I reported an error to Google Maps…

    The Gulf of Mexico has been mislabeled as “Gulf of America”. Please correct.

  69. 69.

    TBone

    I just found a cool video about my hometown and I’m almost crying with homesick AND I can’t believe I had to miss DelCo The Movie premier at the Media Theater in January.  Sigh, I need some sleep and I will dream I am back here:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zXF_Q_Ni3RA

    The DelCo accent alone is music to my ears.

  70. 70.

    Searcher

    @Citizen Alan: Down on the bottom right corner, next to the map scale, there’s a “Send Product Feedback” button.

    That goes somewhere, but not anywhere with people who have the authority to override this change.

    For that you need to create a PR fire where reporters and politicians are reaching out to Google for comments.  Ideally there should be lawsuits and judges involved; alas, the lawyers, judges and politicians are likely to be on the other side.

  71. 71.

    BarcaChicago

    Yeah, I switched from Google to Apple Maps because the stupid Gulf of America thing just pissed me off. These oligarchs are so damn happy to join with the white Christian nationalists, aren’t they? These white men can show their true nature, and it’s just what we thought it was.

  74. 74.

    Fester Addams

    Apple Maps is showing me “Gulf of America” now too. I filled out the correction form w/ comment “Bootlicking destroys trust.”

  76. 76.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Corporations would tend to accommodate themselves w/ whoever is in power, even if those in power are Fascists. Even if the corporate officers demur, the shareholders will demand obeisance to power to protect & maximize their interests.

    We can only hope that the MNCs that are invested in global trade/investment, global supply chains, & the international stability that help make them possible, helps us prevent WW III.

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:

    Maybe they have to go to a less delightful answer than just no.

    Like maybe “Fuck Off shitforbrains”

    Not sure that they would send that one but it’s possible (and likely?) that is the correct answer.

    shitforbrains use to be one person but now with another shitforbrains trying to run OUR government (and right into the ground) I may have to come up with a better term.

    I am sure that if I do it will have to involve swear words.

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @Bill_K:

    Google was the best of a bad bunch.

    Was of course being the operative word.

    If they are trying to appease echuck and shitforbrains (figure it out…) then screw them.

  79. 79.

    Bill Hicks

    Probably a waste of time this far down in the comments, but Google is not kowtowing to Trump. As was pointed out above, the holiday changes were implemented before Trump was elected. The name change of the Gulf is also a previously established practice and it makes sense. Apparently, Google applies names based on your location/country, which is a great idea. I don’t know all the rules, but the names used by the duly elected government of a country take precedence within that country, also a great idea. If you want to play around with your browser, you can get google to use the names for Canadian residents. Personally, I think the renaming of Denali is the greater tragedy, but I don’t blame google for printing what a country wants.

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