Tag Archives: News

Biden will Nominate John Kerry, Janet Yellen, Avril Haines & Alejandro Mayorkas, more, to Cabinet

Biden transition team reveals multiple top position picks, NYT reveals

According to a New York Times article, Joe Biden’s transition office said that they plan to announce multiple new top national security picks on Tuesday.  The news will be accounted officially at an event in Washington.

 The picks are said to include Alejandro Mayorkas, who will be the first Latino to head the Department of Homeland Security. Additionally, Avril Haines is slated to be his director of national intelligence and will  become the first woman to head the intelligence community. 

John Kerry will be nominated to for climate czar. Kerry, who was formerly secretary of state, will also will be on the National security council, which, since it is not a cabinet position will not need to be confirmed by the Senate. 

Janet Yellen will be Treasury Secretary & Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan in cabinet positions

Janet Yellen, formerly chair of the Federal Reserve, from 2014 – 2018, is said to be on the list and expected to be nominated for head of the treasury depart. and would therefore be the first woman Treasury secretary of the United States

According to the transition team President-elect Biden also plans to nominate  Linda Thomas-Greenfield, an African-American woman to be ambassador to the United Nations and, as a result of his intention to restore the position to cabinet-level status, will thereby also give Ms. Thomas-Greenfield a National Security Council seat.

These picks follow the announcement that Antony J. Blinken will be nominated for secretary of state, Jake Sullivan is to be White House national security adviser, also reported through sources from the transition team.


Find books on PoliticsSustainable EnergyRacial Equality & Justice and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Live Now: Amazon Black Friday-Week DEALS – Electronics

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic / Amazon

Black Friday sales for 2020 have already started, with so many great deals popping up online, it can be hard to know where to turn to first. Luckily, Amazon in particular has put out huge savings on many electronics including Apple product headphones,  its Echo products, Fire TV,  cell phones and much for for the cyber event.   Below we’ve collected the best deals ready to buy in the Electronics category.

Best Deals for Headphones this Black Friday Week on Amazon

Best Deals on Amazon Devices

Best Deals on Smartphones this Black Friday on Amazon. 

Unfortunately it is not likely the new iPhone 12 will have any sales since the launch was pretty recent, however there are many other bargains on older models of smartphones that Amazon is providing this Black Friday.  Check out below. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler Covid-19 Positive and in quarantine after Mask-Free Rallies

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1329146770656555010/vid/1280x720/ViH2z5FZGUFLDRhL.mp4?tag=13

Above: Photo Collage showing the 4 Georgia Senate runoff election Candidates & Mike Pence

Critical Georgia Senate race seeing possible coronavirus impact early

After a campaign event for the upcoming Georgia run-off election that will decide which party controls the senate, and where Ms Loeffler was seen with primarily “unmasked” crowds, she tested positive on Friday. An initial, less reliable, test was “inconclusive” earlier in the day.

Read more: Giuliani’s Dripping Head and ‘My Cousin Vinny’ Dominate Fraud Presser

Though often seen wearing a mask in public, and wearing one during a post-rally series of meetings with a line of voters who had, lined up to greet her. 

According to the New York Times, After her initial “rapid test” came back negative, she was “cleared” to appear at event on Friday, including a Rally that also had Georgia Senator David Perdue and Mike Pence in attendance. The second test was a so-called P.C.R. test, considered more accurate, was positive.

Read more: Donald Trump Jr. Tests Positive for Coronavirus and is in Isolation after Infection

Ms Loeffler and Mr. Perdue are facing a runoff election in January against Democrats Dr. Raphael G Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively. The runoff is certain to attract intense national attention, due to the fact that, if Democrats are able to prevail in both cases the Senate will have a 50 – 50 split with VP-elect Kamala Harris as a tie-breaker, effectively putting the Democrats in a position to marginally control both the House and Senate.  

…No surprise, yet another of the Trump clan has covid-19

Asymptomatic but in quarantine, one more of the anti-mask Trump crew has been added to the list of those that have tested positive for the Covid 19 virus.  It’s unknown whether the public would have been informed by either Trump Jr. or the White House without the story from Bloomberg broken. 

“Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result, He’s been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines.”

Spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr.

Also On Friday, a White House aide who is also Rudy Giuliani’s son Andrew Giuliani, put out a tweet that was also positive. In addition, an aide to aides to VP Mike Pence, including, Hannah McInnis, was also positive surrounding to the Bloomberg article. Other aides of the VP were previously infected, such as his press secretary and chief of staff. Pence himself has not yet announced any positive diagnosis.

It’s unknown whether the public would have been informed by either Trump Jr. or the White House without the story from Bloomberg broken. This is a developing story and will be updated as news breaks.

As follows, a list of various other Republican establishment figures that have tested positive as well;

  • Melania Trump (First Lady)
  • Ronna McDaniel (Republican National Committee chairwoman)
  • Hope Hicks (White House communications aide)
  • Kellyanne Conway (Former White House counselor)
  • Bill Stepien (Trump campaign manager)
  • John Jenkins (University of Notre Dame president)
  • Chris Christie (Former New Jersey Gov.)
  • Nick Luna (Director of Oval Office operations)
  • Karoline Leavitt (White house assistant press secretary) 
  • Chad Gilmartin (White House press office staffer)
  • Kayleigh McEnany (White House press secretary)
  • Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
  • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Donald Trump Jr. Tests Positive for Coronavirus and is in Isolation after Infection

…No surprise, yet another of the Trump clan has covid-19

Asymptomatic but in quarantine, one more of the anti-mask Trump crew has been added to the list of those that have tested positive for the Covid 19 virus.  It’s unknown whether the public would have been informed by either Trump Jr. or the White House without the story from Bloomberg broken. 

“Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result, He’s been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines.”

Spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr.

Recent news that pentagon officials and other have tested positive after several other members of the Trump family including Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, were infected with the virus earlier this year. Trump Sr. was positive in October, first lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron had also tested positive for the disease and Guilfoyle was infected in August . 

Also On Friday, a White House aide who is also Rudy Giuliani’s son Andrew Giuliani, put out a tweet that was also positive. In addition, an aide to aides toVP Mike Pence, including, Hannah McInnis, was also positive surrounding to the Bloomberg article. Other aides of the VP were previously infected, such as his press secretary and chief of staff. Pence himself has not yet announced any positive diagnosis.

It’s unknown whether the public would have been informed by either Trump Jr. or the White House without the story from Bloomberg broken. This is a developing story and will be updated as news breaks.

As follows, a list of various other Republican establishment figures that have tested positive as well;

  • Melania Trump (First Lady)
  • Ronna McDaniel (Republican National Committee chairwoman)
  • Hope Hicks (White House communications aide)
  • Kellyanne Conway (Former White House counselor)
  • Bill Stepien (Trump campaign manager)
  • John Jenkins (University of Notre Dame president)
  • Chris Christie (Former New Jersey Gov.)
  • Nick Luna (Director of Oval Office operations)
  • Karoline Leavitt (White house assistant press secretary) 
  • Chad Gilmartin (White House press office staffer)
  • Kayleigh McEnany (White House press secretary)
  • Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
  • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Barack Obama invokes Navy Seals as way to remove Trump from WH in flashback to Bin Laden Take-down

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1329557828713938946/vid/1280x720/NlpIIPfkdig7KNOx.mp4?tag=13

The former POTUS gave a scathing, hilarious interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

In Barack Obama’s latest book “A Promised Land” he writes how the Navy Seal team was charged the take-down of Osama Bin Laden.  On the late night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!”. During an appearance to promote his book, the former President laughed with the host as to what steps might be needed to get Trump out of the White House come January.

Jimmy Kimmel asked the former POTUS if there was “a place somebody could hide in the White House if they knew they were going to be removed” — and Obama jokingly responded, “Well, I think we can send some navy seals in to dig him out,”.

Click to see ” A Promised Land
and help independent bookstores. 
Also available on Amazonand Walmart.

Jimmy also noted that Obama’s new book is 701 pages long, and asked if he had purposely made the book so long so Trump wouldn’t pick up it. Obama made reports that he planned, at least initially to write a 500 page memoir within a years time, then, he instead wrote a whopping 700 pages.  It will now be the first of an anticipated two set volume, as the book ends with the Bin Laden episode in May of 2011.  Watch the video clip above to hear Barak’s response that hilariously roasted the soon-to-be-booted current resident of 1400 Pennsylvania Ave. 

Obama’s book went on sale on Nov. 17, 2020;  the memoir sold 890,000 copies in the U.S. and Canada in the first 24 hours of release, setting a record for publisher Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House. “A Promised Land” continues to hold steady at #1 on Amazon and as one of the top leading non-fiction bestsellers since its release. 

To read more information Barak Obama’s book and help independent bookstores click the link for “Barak Obama’s book”, also available on Amazon and Walmart.

A Promised Land 

In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency–a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond.

We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.

This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on PoliticsSustainable EnergyRacial Equality & Justice and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Giuliani’s Dripping Head and ‘My Cousin Vinny’ Dominate Fraud Presser in Desperate Sweaty Stammering Mess

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1329496788668215302/pu/vid/1048x720/MDoIzyAEjgccDdss.mp4?tag=10

Above: Snippet Video of Rudy Giuliani Dripping / Press Conference Video

Though these clowns are a stale putrid joke, all citizens must, nevertheless, remain vigilant, no matter how hard it is to take them seriously

Rudy Giuliani’s dripping head took center stage at his self-congratulatory press conference where he continues the string of fantasies regarding alleged voter fraud that he and his team have been claiming.

Read More: Trump’s Freudian slips are Becoming Epidemic 

Speaking from the podium alongside the other Trump campaign lawyers, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, Rudy began with attempts to appear sane, only to have his planned “show” devolve into a caricature of his own twisted image. He not only burst into an out-of-body “My Cousin Vinny” moment but then was seeming to literally melt, with sweat and what appeared to be hair-dye-goo dripping profusely down his head and the sides of his face.

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1329475738580381696/pu/vid/1280x720/_0X8whOf_IqEkiNY.mp4?tag=10
Click to see ” A Promised Land
and help independent bookstores. 
Also available on Amazonand Walmart.

After all the court cases cut short and nearly laughed off the docket, the gang that cries crooked and tries to prove that their own manipulation was a mirage, while at the same time inventing fraud and malfeasance at every turn by anyone that did not vote for Trump. 

Although the vast majority of sane individuals in the country are seeing this as a clown show and distraction, more than any real threat, the seriousness that lies beneath is not insignificant. Every day that goes by is another day that Trump ad his cronies are able to twist and turn through various lies and false accusations hoping to find something that sticks, just enough, to get to the Supreme Court, where they believe the cronies they just appointed there, for this very purpose, will ultimately bail them out and start utter chaos. 

Highly unlikely, since, I mean, look at these guys, but Nixon and his henchmen got away with many, many crimes in plain sight, for years, before finally being brought down. Although we are all sick and tired of Trump and his infected, demented, corrupt band of idiots, it’s not advisable to stand-down just yet. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Find books on PoliticsSustainable EnergyRacial Equality & Justice and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

COVID Curfew Set to Kick in for 90% of California on Saturday, After 1/4 Million US Deaths, Newsom Says

Above: Walmart shopp stocks up for quarantine. Photo Lynxotic

Similar to the Curfew in place during the initial surge in March, the curfew requires most non-essential work, movement and gatherings to stop between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. This time around the 30 day oder will be in effect from Saturday, November 21st until Monday, December 21st. 

Clearly after more than 1.3 Million deaths and a rising tide of confirmed cases reaching towards 12 million since the pandemic started, there is concern that a laissez fare approach, such as that championed by the Trump administration, could result in an outcome that borders on unthinkable. 

“The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge. We are sounding the alarm. It is crucial that we act to decrease transmission and slow hospitalizations before the death count surges. We’ve done it before and we must do it again.

—California Governor Gavin Newsom in a press release today

Regardless of the various competing studies that tout or play-down the effectiveness of wearing masks, social distancing and just plain staying home, not to mention the hope for a speedy vaccine to become available and disseminated, the so called “lock-down” is one of the few things that have sown to be effective worldwide in at lease limiting the acceleration of the spread of the deadly affliction. 

While it is to be expected that various factions will create political backlash for Newsom and may even try to use this as a way to cast aspersions toward “democratic” cities, states and governments, ultimately most people do understand  that, as inconvenient it may be to wear a mask and stay home during an imposed curfew or time restriction, having a loved one dying of covid-19, or succumbing to it yourself,  is a far more inconvenient outcome. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

AppleTV+ tags PBS new Partner for Live Broadcast of ‘Peanuts’ Holiday Specials

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1329133535266037760/vid/720x720/wqs6l_6ifGp9g5aa.mp4?tag=13

Above: video for peanuts holiday special on appletv+ and pbs

AppleTV+ partners with PBS to give viewers some holiday cheer 

In October, Apple announced it was teaming up with Peanuts Worldwide and gained the exclusive rights for all “Peanuts” assets, including the beloved specials: “Its The Great Pumpkin, CharlieBrown”, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for AppleTV+ video streaming. 

After the acquisition, many Americans worried they might miss “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” as it was no longer available for broadcast television, which would have been the first time in several decades that this Holiday tradition would be unavailable to a wider audience. Rest assured, Peanuts fans, for the remaining holiday season, luckily, the Peanuts gang will be back on television, for either via broadcast on PBS or to stream on AppleTV+.  

Click to see “The Complete Peanuts Vol. 1: 1950-1952
and help independent bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

AppleTV+ will launch “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” on Nov 18 and it will be available to stream free from Nov 25-27. The Thanksgiving special will be aired on PBS on Nov 22 at 7:30 p.m.  In December, AppleTV+ will also premiere “ A Charlie Brown Christmas” on Dec 4, with the holiday special available to enjoy for free from Dec 11-13.  The holiday special will also air on PBS on Dec 13 at 7:30 p.m.  The specials will be ad-free. 

Apple established ties with Peanuts back in 2018, the agreement initially called for the company to help develop new series and specials featuring the iconic comic strip characters: Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and Peppermint Patty.  Apple has since produced brand new animated Apple originals like “Snoopy in Space”, which was nominated for a Daytime Emmy and will include a second second. As well as the upcoming brand new original AppleTV+ series “The Snoopy Show” set for release in Feb 2021. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Music, Movies & Entertainment and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Justice League releases brand new Black and White Trailer for upcoming HBO Max 2021 movie release

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1328726078379048960/vid/960x720/AjtjmV2o1BPm1-4l.mp4?tag=13
Official teaser trailer for snyder cut of justice league

Trailer hints at a major over-haul which led to the upcoming 4 x 1 hour Segments

Zack Snyder let loose a  new trailer on Vero and Twitter for the upcoming “Synder-Cut” of Justice League that will be released on HBO Max in 2021. The director purposely gave fans an opportunity to experience the trailer on the exact 3 year anniversary of the theatrical release of the Justice League, originally released on Nov. 17, 2017. 

Click to Preorder “Release The Snyder Cut
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also Available on Amazon .

The new, crazy Snyder-esque full version will run nearly 4 hours and be jammed-packed with never-before seen footage from the DC FanDome, and this time around, (surprise!), it will be in black and white. He culled the new content from previously-shot clips (of which he no doubt has a boat-load in his archive). Apparently, according to sources, in the release will be separated, and the marathon will get further cut into one hour sections, presumably, to remove the medical dangers that could arise from any binging into a four hour watch-a-thon without a break…

In an even more thrilling tidbit, for the obsessed, there will also be 4-5 minutes of brand new footage, including some featuring Jared Leto is his role as (the new) Joker.  The director shared the new trailer with the hashtag: #UsUnited, as a homage to the now-famous line Batman uttered at the end of the 2017 Justice League. 

https://twitter.com/ZackSnyder/status/1328727811595517953?s=20

An introduction for fans meant to build the buzz, in anticipation of the new longer, darker version to come

The world’s greatest super heroes, the Justice League, comprising of DC’s unprecedented team, including the likes of Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash, who are known to have  fought to restore faith, and recover the humanity in humanity.

“It will be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie.”

-Zack Synder interview / Hollywood Reporter 

The God of Evil himself, Darkseid, as played by Ray Porter, is said to be notably featured within the movie, giving the “Snyder-Cut”  a unique story-arc emphasizing a different and darker perspective, one that only Zack himself can produce. 

Justice League stars:

  • Ben Affleck as Batman
  • Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman
  • Henry Cavill as Superman
  • Amy Adams as Lois Lane
  • Jason Momoa as Aquaman
  • Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta
  • Ezra Miller as The Flash
  • Ray Fisher as Cyborg
  • Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth
  • Diane Lane as Martha Kent
  • Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf
  • Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor
  • J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon
  • Jared Leto as Joker
  • Ray Porter as Darkseid

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Music, Movies & Entertainment and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Trump’s Freudian slips are Becoming Epidemic

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Accepting defeat is obviously creating cognitive dissonance is this aberrant individual

For the second time in as many days, Trump spat-out a wannabe concession – first in a speech, correcting himself mid-sentence, and then in a tweet – or two tweets to be exact… This penchant for involuntary honesty is beginning to look like a symptom of pending mental collapse, indeed, many have called for activation of the 25th amendment to remove him from office due to mental incapacity. 

Read More: Heroes that flipped Georgia Blue are Legion and today We Salute You

Though in each case he “corrected” himself: on twitter, after first conceding by tweeting “He won”, clearly referring to President-elect Joe Biden and then deleting that tweet and adding “because the election was rigged”. 

While in his speech he implied that there would soon be a new administration in town, then proceeded with the usual rants about voter fraud and tampering and so on. This behavior is, as has been the case throughout the past four years, either calculated or insane or some combination of both. 

The speculation of his possible calculations would be amusing if not, once again, regarding a deadly serious subject and situation. He seems to be milking this bizarre refusal to concede by collecting donations, which are also being diverted to cover his campaign debts (with a disclaimer shown to donors indicating that anything under $8000 is fair game for him to divert) and also, as is his typical modus operandi,  hanging ever-so-desperately onto the spotlight and dominating the news cycle.

Crazy like a fox or just an A**hole?

Beyond this he appears to be consolidating the bizarre 70 million plus “fans” for his next run (from prison?) in 2024, when he will be 78, approximately the age of President-elect Biden currently. And, as if that were not enough, he appears to be auditioning for the much-speculated future media empire – Fox-news-on-steroids that he has been rumored to be wanting to launch from exile. 

All of that is, at least partially, true and yet there is very little sense to any of us paying attention, apart from the whole “he has the nuclear football thing”. 

His niece Mary Trump warned us that he would act out to an extreme degree based on his inability to mentally process any kind of failure or loss (even though he has failed and lost almost continuously throughout his life, just maintained a state of denial during the process), ad yet it is hard to believe that it has gone on and come so far already. 

Unless the idea of removing him using the 25th amendment is successful it appears that this will continue all the way to January 20th and will just get more and more insane along the way. Naturally anyone who is not equally delusional – potentially upwards of 100 million Biden voters and those that abstained from voting, is dreading this, the uncertainty and the disgusting show of contempt for our democracy and system of government. 

In the end we will all be glad to survive his egomaniacal melt-down intact and begin the process of moving on from the four years that are worse than wasted by this sick, sad, malignant clown of an individual. Survive and begin to repair the damage they wrought. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

How Apple Created the Tech Universe and it Finally Makes Sense

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

The Origin of Everything is Shrouded in Mystery – looking at Apple’s history yields many clues, however…

PART I of a 3 PART SERIES:

Given the sheer size, breadth and power of the various “Tech Giants” as they have become known, many, if not most would be skeptical if an assertion were put forth that all of them were a direct product or outgrowth of Apple.

Click to see “Steve Jobs
and help independent bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

Although there is almost constant complaining that Apple is not the innovator it once was, or that they sell overpriced and overrated products, with more marketing than substance, tracing back through the history of tech a very different story emerges. Further, all the way to the present a pattern holds true that traces all big tech back to Apple in a direct route from at least 1984 or earlier.

The whole story is long and somewhat hidden; and it diverges from the accepted notions of how the massive empires of tech came about. In the end it is almost impossible not to see the behemoths now known as Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others as little more than incidental occurrences, spawned the wake of Apple’s growth and innovation.

Apple is an entirely different company from what it seems from the point of view of the masses & the media. For example, just as now we have Biden vs. Trump we once had Jobs vs. Gates. You can decide which is which. Perhaps today it seems like a stretch, but up until around 1998 the two were considered opposites and as compatible as oil vs. water.

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1326262361900998657/pu/vid/1280x592/4NJDOGbF7eYtHJBu.mp4?tag=10

Above: vdieo Clip from the “One More Thing 2020 Event and Video Still Photo Collage / Lynxotic

There have always been a huge number of people who are offended by the high-price high-quality ethos that Steve Jobs created and that the company carries forward to this day. 

Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak with the Apple 1 prototype

Much like Tesla owners are heckled by Toyota, Ford and Chevy pick-up truck owners, Apple has always had an army of detractors. And while for many years it was Windows / PC users now it is Android and Samsung. But if you set aside the Apple-derangement Syndrome, sister affliction to the fabled “Reality Distortion Field” there are some fascinating theories that could be put forth showing that Apple and Steve Jobs are the ultimate source of all tech since the Garden of Eden, or at least the 70s.

[Readers note: there are many accepted truths and fabled stories that will be addressed in this article. These are, at times considered “fact” and at other times questioned openly. If it bothers you when either of those choices are made to suit the narrative, you may, of course, opt-out at any time. All attempts have been made to remain true to historical fact, but no claims or guarantees are made of perfection.]

In The Beginning there was… XEROX?

In the beginning there was Xerox Parc. From that private think-tank of a copy-machine company emerged two incredible discoveries; the Graphical-User-Interface (GUI) and the Mouse (mouse). In the fable Steve Jobs is invited to visit in late 1979, to gather knowledge from the computer scientists and R&D gurus and later decides to “steal” everything he sees. Xerox, on the other hand, continues to believe that copy machines are the real future.

Click to see “iWoz
and help independent bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

This fable / anecdote is often used to illustrate that Steve Jobs and Apple deserve no credit for the ultimate ubiquity of the software that emerged from the GUI concept and, the mouse that came about cause of the… mouse. It is also said, or at least implied, that Microsoft was fully justified in stealing anything and everything they could from Apple software innovations because “Steve did it first to Xerox”. These kinds of rationalizations are the reason why Apple is still, to this day, not recognized as the source for all tech in the universe. 

The more accurate take on this origin story is that Steve Jobs was the first to recognize the ultimate importance of the GUI and mouse combo (after all Xerox never made any real commercially viable attempt to make and market the discoveries from its own R&D) and that the future of the tech world would be built on the bedrock of these early innovations. 

“…In fact, turning expensive, hard-to-use, precision instruments into cheap, mass-producible, and reliable commercial products requires its own ingenuity and creativity. This marketplace intelligence is different from, but not inferior to, the intelligence of the laboratory; it just gets far less attention by journalists and historians. In the case of the relationship between the work at PARC and the development of the Macintosh, this blindness leads us to underestimate the originality of Apple’s own work, and the differences between the Alto and Macintosh. “

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of “Making the Macintosh

Further, at the time Bill Gates was madly in love with the wonders of MS-Dos and in particular the money he could bank in licensing it to IBM and all bidders… It was only years later in 1985 when he famously decided to steal the GUI_ Mouse based system software apple was using, in spite of his promises to refrain from stealing when he was shown the secrets during his fabled meeting with Steve Jobs to discuss word and excel, early versions of which were already on the Macintosh. Hence the echos of “Steve did it first to Xerox” became the rallying cry for all those that seemed to justify the direct theft of Macintosh OS to create the clunky-named system called “Windows”. 

This story carried on throughout the 80s and 90s and, all the while, a 1988 lawsuit was pending resolution, which has at its center the accusation, by Apple, that Windows 1, released in November 1985, was directly copied, a.k.a. inspired by the Macintosh OS. In the end, in another famous fabled incident, the suit was settled out of court in 1997, by then obscenely rich Bill Gates, for $150 million, thus rescuing Apple from almost certain Bankruptcy.

Moral of the story? Windows, PC’s and everything Microsoft ever became, can be directly traced back to Apple.  This is the most obvious of the various lines of creative attribution leading back to Apple and Steve Jobs.

The next saga: Google’s connection and the debt owed to Anti-trust and Apple, will be more subtle but all the more timely. Timely as in right now this minute. Stay tuned for Volume II of “How Apple Created the Entire Tech Universe and it Finally Makes Sense”


Check out all our Apple Coverage

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

New Exclusive Games for Just-Released Sony Playstation 5 (PS5)

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Sony scores big name exclusives – Below games available NOW

Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles have been released, after which, both Sony and Microsoft received major buzz, stirring up crazy controversy of consoles arriving DOA and others smoking.  Yet, for the majority of new game console owners, they have received fully functional units and are ready to gear up and start playing.  Below we have listed the available games that were released on Launch Day as well as a list of games in development and to be released later within the year or early 2021. 

The launch library from PS5 includes an eclectic mix of games.  Most people will inevitably be drawn, at least initially, to the games exclusive to Sony, as exclusives are one of the biggest selling points. Many games have free next-gen upgrades to PS5, which can actually make buying the PS4 version a better choice in some cases. 

Check out the latest Playstation 5. 
Available available on Amazon and Walmart

All PS5 consoles will come with a pre-install with the game Astro’s Playroom, meant to shows gamers the power of the DualSense wireless controllers and take advantage of the all new features including: haptic feedback, triggers, motion sensor, speakers, mic and touchpad. 

Along with the Playstation 5 games, the Dual Sense charging station, PULSE 3D wireless headset, Media remote and HD camera are available for purchase, click here to see all the available PS5 accessories, both available on Amazon and Walmart

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Click to see “Spider-Man
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also available on Amazon and Walmart.
  • Miles Morales discovers explosive powers that set him apart from his mentor, Peter Parker. Master his unique, bio-electric venom blast attacks and covert camouflage power alongside spectacular web-slinging acrobatics, gadgets and skills.
  • A war for control of Marvel’s New York has broken out between a devious energy corporation and a high-tech criminal army. With his new home at the heart of the battle, Miles must learn the cost of becoming a hero and decide what he must sacrifice for the greater good.
  • Traverse the snowy streets of his new, vibrant and bustling neighborhood as Miles searches for a sense of belonging. When the lines blur between his personal and crime-fighting lives, he discovers who he can trust, and what it feels like to truly be home.
  • Click to see “Spider-Man” and help Independent Bookstores. Also available on Amazon and Walmart.

Demon’s Soul

Click to see “Demon’s Soul“.
Available on Amazon and Walmart.
  • Discover where the journey began – Experience the original brutal challenge, completely remade from the ground up. All presented in stunning visual quality with enhanced performance, this is the world of Boletaria as you have never seen it before.
  • Become the Slayer of Demons – Venture to the northern kingdom of Boletaria – a once prosperous land of knights, now beset with unspeakable creatures and ravenous demons. Meet strange characters, unhinged and twisted by the world around them, and unravel the unsettling story of Demon’s Souls.
  • Face the world’s greatest warriors in ferocious PVP combat – With online* invasions adding to the danger of your quest. Or play cooperatively by summoning allies to aid in your fight against the demons.*Active PS Plus subscription required for online multiplayer.
  • Click to see “Demon’s Soul“. Available on Amazon and Walmart.

Slackboy: A Big Adventure 

Click to see “Slack Boy“.
Available on Amazon and Walmart.
  • Face thrilling, unpredictable challenges as you explore distinctive hand-crafted lands through deeply immersive and expressive controls.
  • PERILOUS PLATFORMING EXPERIENCE – Explore here, there and everywhere as you utilize Sackboy’s cool, diverse move-set to face a huge variety of thrilling challenges, fierce enemies and startling surprises.
  • RE-STUFFED. RE-STITCHED. RE-ZIPPED – Sackboy returns to the big time stuffed with fresh moves and game-changing gadgets in an awe-inspiring and downright fun 3D adventure in this new, but familiar world.
  • Click to see “Slack Boy“. Available on Amazon and Walmart.

PS5 – in Development, more updates to come

Other titles that will be out later this year, will be available for preorder, there are still many releases that the information has yet to be disclosed.  below is the current list of PS5 exclusives. We will continue to update as new information becomes available: 

  • Destruction AllStars
  • Gran Turismo 7
  • God of War: Ragnarok
  • Horizon Forbidden West
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • Returnal

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Heroes that flipped Georgia Blue are Legion and today We Salute You

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1325153162450202633/pu/vid/1098x616/uwkMdntmN8Kbucsf.mp4?tag=10

As twitter explodes with Memes and tributes to those that stepped up, the story is halfway: grand finale is yet to come

Georgia has flipped from Red to Blue. This, in case you were wondering, is big and unusual, and has not happened since 1992. Twenty-eight years ago, when Bill Clinton won the state, it was a different time and a different electorate. This year it was new voters, many under 35 that stepped up and shifted the count away from Trump and the Republicans. Black, Latina and Asian voters are on the rise and traditional white voters as a percentage are shrinking, currently just below 53%.

This is a snapshot of what the entire country is moving towards as the racial make up of the country becomes ever more diverse and inclusive. This shift was already well underway during the eight Obama years and will not stop just because Trump and his backward looking followers wish it was so.

Georgia’s heroism is set to be an ever more meaningful theme as it needs to flip again, or else the Biden administration will be severely hindered by another Republican majority, which would lead to a repeat of the problems Obama had during his tenure. 

The focus on Georgia is not going away anytime soon, of course…

The run-off election for the two, suddenly insanely valuable Senate seats is already about to ramp up into the fight of the century. In a sense the races are even more important for the Republicans to win, as control of the Senate is the last chance to wield power over the next four years. 

“Let me be clear, those who come to Georgia with the intention of voter fraud will be prosecuted,” said Secretary Raffensperger. “We thoroughly investigate every single allegation of voter fraud. Anyone is welcome to move to the state named the No. 1 place to do business. However, let me warn anyone attempting election mischief: If you illegally participate in our elections, you might be spending a lot more time in Georgia than you planned.”

— Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger

Don’t think for a second though that the importance is not clear to the Democrats across the country. Warnings from the Georgia Secretary of State that moving there temporarily to vote in the January Runoffs is illegal were deemed necessary; that’s how serious it is being taken across the country. 

Today, before all of that gets started – let’s salute the heroes of Georgia, led by Stacy Abrams, who will certainly run for Governor again, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the 50,000 that worked to collect and count the ballots and most of all the voters in the now-flipped-into-bright-Blue State. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Xbox Series X Launch results in Record-breaking Sales and “smoky” Buzz

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1323428012369436673/vid/1280x720/eoMTml0rkO9o_AcV.mp4?tag=13

Funny Bogus Attempt to revive the ‘ole “overheating” controversy  

Two of the world biggest players in the video gaming world have just released their next-gen consoles days apart from one another.  That’s big, and it’s time to evaluate.  

Many were able to preorder their consoles and others took their chance on launch day.  For those fans that are now opening and starting-up their new hardware – reports have surfaced of some, interesting issues… Even with the Series X only being 3 days old, already, it’s managed to start some major controversy. Videos have begun surfacing showing smoke coming from the top of the console, as if the Xbox was overheating so badly that it was smoking.  Next, Gamers took to social media to comment on the video posts questioning if these videos were legit or fake.  

One Twitter user even posted a video to recreate the smoky effect, and show that it was ultimately achieved by blowing vape smoke into the console, and, in fact was not due to any type of overheating malfunction of the unit. 

An official spokesperson for Microsoft felt the need to publicly comment and shared the following response on its Twitter account: 

Read More: PS5 vs. Xbox X – The next-gen consoles to go head to head this week

Where and when are units available: timing is key

 There has been pretty consistent news that the already limited stock has quickly disappeared, nonetheless, there are still some retailers including Amazon and Walmart where you can check the latest stock/re-stocking updates. You will have multiple chances to buy, as retailers are restocking products at multiple times during the day.  

Click to See: XBOX SERIES X AND S – Available on Amazon and Walmart

The Xbox launch which by now everyday already knows, took place on November 10th, with the Series X retailing at $499 and Series S for $299.  The newest console will deliver backward compatibility to the vast majority of Xbox One games, even some Xbox 360 titles.  Unlike the PS5 launch that announced that you could only purchase online, Microsoft made no such statement.  Therefore gamers can in addition to scouring online, check your local retail stores for inventory.   

So you’ve managed to purchase the next-gen console?  Now the fun part, playing new games!   One game we’ve had our eyes on is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.  The game follows a group of Vikings, in an open-world RPG, traveling outside Norway to new life in England. 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 

Click to See “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla” 
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also available on Amazon and Walmart.
  • Lead epic Viking raids against Saxon troops and fortresses.
  • Dual-wield powerful weapons and relive the visceral fighting style of the Vikings.
  • Challenge yourself with the most varied collection of deadly enemies ever found in Assassin’s Creed.
  • Shape the growth of your character and your clan’s settlement with every choice you make.
  • Explore a Dark Age open world, from the shores of Norway to the kingdoms of England.
  • Click here to see “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” and help Independent Bookstores.
  • Also available on Amazon and Walmart

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Starlink on the go: Spacex’s Satellite Broadband could reach customers at Sea, on Trains or at RV locations

Above: Photo SpaceX / Starlink

Musk expects users eventually will be able to maintain connections to satellite network no matter where they are

SpaceX’s Starlink program aims to cover the sky in a constellation of satellites and provide high speed Internet to people all across the globe. The project, which has already run successful private beta tests in rural Washington, and other areas, is just a few dozen satellites away from going public.

Read More: Launch of SpaceX’s Starlink and iPhone 12 5G highlights inferior US Broadband: will shake-up ISPs

When it does, it will hopefully bridge the digital divide in America by bringing online information and communication to even the country’s most remote regions.

However, Starlink’s utility does not end with people living on distant pastures or isolated mountaintops. The satellites also have potential to help people who are living mobile lives.

On Tuesday, November 3rd, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Tweeted that boats will have a “relatively easy” time connecting to Starlink, especially with so few people on open water. This means crews that spend weeks at a time at sea will be able to stay connected with their families and the world throughout.

The same logic applies to people who live in RVs or spend lots of time on the road. Whether they are near their home base or at temporary locations, they will likely be able to access the internet from multiple locations, sequentially.

Of course, these seemingly-straightforward answers require a bit of explanation. After all, even if Starlink operates primarily via satellites in space, an Internet connection still requires a return to some grounded station. Luckily, the constellation is set up for the satellites to bounce signals off of each other. Therefore, a ship in the Pacific can connect with one satellite above, which can then link up with another and another until it connects back with the ground. It may sound longwinded, but this hop-scotch-like maneuver should not jeopardize Starlink’s expected speed— 100 megabits+ per second downloads and 40 megabits per second uploads.

Starlink striving for full service to northern US and Canada by end of 2020 and near global coverage by 2021

Likewise, there are questions regarding locations and fees. Right now, Starlink’s beta price is set at $99 per month and the full price remains unknown. However, it would make most sense for SpaceX to charge differently based on location. To serve mobile users, there will likely be a roaming plan that allows them to access the satellites wherever they are.

These advancements only broaden the wide utility of Starlink. Not only will it help average people stay connected, but it will also be available to assist first-responders who might have to rescue people at sea or elsewhere off the beaten path.

Starlink is still being built, but SpaceX hopes to have the infrastructure for global coverage sometime next year. And as more and more satellites are launched (up to 12,000 ultimately) the cost could go down while the quality rises.


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Greta Thunberg is back in Hulu Documentary: rise of Acclaimed Young Climate Activist

An intimate look inside the life and rise of the remarkable Ms. Thunberg

At the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit, a young girl made headlines as she condemned world leaders on destroying the climate and leaving the younger generation to deal with the environmental repercussions. Her heartfelt speech received much attention from fellow activists, celebrities and leaders.  During the UN Climate Action Summit, she said “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic grow – How Dare You!”  

Read More: “Kiss The Ground” Documentary Offers Hopeful Remedy To Climate Change Focusing On Soil Regeneration

The, then 16 year old, soon became the inspired voice for the youth, a next generation’s leader, as she has continued her mission in raising awareness of the global climate emergency. Last year, Time Magazine named her ‘Person of the Year’ and she has also been nominated two years in a row for a Nobel Peace Prize.  Her name, if you already didn’t know, is Greta Thunberg.  

The upcoming “I am Greta” documentary which will stream on the Hulu platform November 13 follows the teenage climate activist during her rise to prominence and how she sparked a global impact with her school strikes and protests.   The doc gives viewers a deeper look and will include never-before-seen-footage, capturing meetings with government leaders, public appearances and global protests. 

The film will also show the young lady behind the scenes and how she lives her daily life, including scenes of being with her family, her process of writing speeches, how she deals with the stress of nonstop travel and her Asperger’s syndrome. The doc also features footage of Greta having to deal with the public scrutiny, from climate-deniers to hangers-on and the toll taken from being the “face of climate change”.   

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1304701344415129600/vid/1280x720/LWOEJ8Yt8M4wXdPf.mp4?tag=13

The documentary culminates with Greta’s extraordinary two-week journey on a wind-powered sailboat. Her voyage across the Atlantic Ocean starts as she leaves the UK  in order to reach the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City.  Thunberg took to the sea as she no longer flies to any events due to the high carbon emissions caused by air travel.

Nathan Grossman, a Swedish director, told press when asked what he hopes viewers will take away from the film, “Greta and other young people demand a safe future and that leaders listen to the science – instead they are met with empty words from politicians, and ridicule or even death threats from individuals. This is the source of so much of her frustration and I hope viewers will leave with a lot of that frustration as well.”

No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference

Click here to see “No One is Too Small
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also Available on Amazon.

The groundbreaking speeches of Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist who has become the voice of a generation, including her historic address to the United Nations 

In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day in order to protest the climate crisis. Her actions sparked a global movement, inspiring millions of students to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen, and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference brings you Greta in her own words, for the first time. Collecting her speeches that have made history across the globe, from the United Nations to Capitol Hill and mass street protests, her book is a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, no matter how powerless we feel. Our future depends upon it.


Find books on  Climate ScienceSustainable Energy and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Alibaba’s post-COVID Singles’ Day sales event tops $74 Billion

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Increased sales showcase China’s recovering economy post-pandemic 

Alibaba Group Holding Limited held its annual Singles’ Day sales event and shattered its 2019 sales.  The event, which is typically held on the 11th of November was extended an additional 3 days and contributed to the large number of sales.  

Read More: PS5 vs. Xbox X – The next-gen consoles to go head to head this week

This year, the shopping extravaganza yielded huge number with the company reporting $75.1 billion dollars (498.2 billion yuan). These numbers have already beaten the record haul that last years Singles’ Day event brought in at $40.5 billion (268.4 billion yuan). 

Although it’s often dubbed as China’s equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Singles’ Day is much bigger. This year,  Nov 1-3 kicked off the event, with the sales event ending midnight of 11/11.

Xiaofeng Wang, an analyst for Forrest Market Research commented on the consumer’s post-covid consumption habits, “China’s economy has seen a strong recovery and Chinese consumers’ purchase behaviors have already returned to pre-pandemic levels, if not higher”. 

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1326577603696709632/vid/1280x720/lLdvpq6ECV5ymEkp.mp4?tag=13
Recap of singles’ day 2020 / alibaba group twitter account

A modern China remake of Cyber Monday 

The origin of Singles’ Day comes from the event’s date, 11/11 or “double eleven,” which references the number one as it relates to being single and not in a relationship (one is the loneliest number after all). When it first occurred in 2009, it was a kind of an anti-Valentine’s Day when single people could splurge and purchase gifts for themselves.

 In its more recent years, Singles’ Day has welcomed all, regardless of their relationship status, and has turned into a major online shopping event where consumers across the globe can buy name brand items at discounted prices. 

Because of its worldwide popularity, this ‘single’-day sales event was eventually rebranded into the Global Shopping Festival in 2015 as it became more like a “holiday season celebrated by merchants and consumers worldwide.”

Although Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce site, nearly half a billion shoppers participate around the world as they bolster global reach through its multiple websites dedicated to handling sales between China and specific global regions, with Hong Kong, US, Australia, UK, and Japan accounting for some of the international buyers that take part. 

Last year, the event’s launch included a countdown celebration gala with big-name musical performances from Jackson Yee, G.E.M. and Taylor Swift.  Due to the stark difference from last year and China still recovering from the pandemic, Alibaba decided to scale back on live events and instead relied on live-streaming. For the 2020 event, pop star Katy Perry made an online appearance to perform one of her hit songs during the gala late Tuesday night. 

Alibaba has reported stronger than previous expected earning for its fiscal second quarter, undoubtedly following China’s ease of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Melania Trump maintains a Semi-Loyal Façade while Likely counting the Days…

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Goodbye to the Enigma with no Secrets

Melania Trump  has been  an unconventional and controversial first lady.  Melania, 50, born in Slovenia is the first foreign-born FLOTUS in nearly 200 years, also the first for whom English was not her first language, and the first to be a president’s third wife.  

Read More: A Look Back at the Strangest and Worst Administration Ever

Since her husband lost the election, social media, and Twitter in particular, has been abuzz with speculation and thoughts on her possible divorce and future, almost certainly, sans DJT. There were even tweets showing a moving van parked in Front of the White House with captions alluding to her wanting to leave the premises asap. 

With her stoic facial expressions and sometimes questionable fashion choices (the infamous “I Really Don’t Care Do U” jacket), the first lady has largely been out of view and is known for being aloof, preferring to avoid being in the public eye.

Click to See “Melania and Me” 
and help Lynxotic and Independent Bookstores. 
Also Available on Amazon.

Previously unknown personal information has recently been revealed about the soon to be ex-FLOTUS, with the September 2020 release of the tell-all book Melania and Me by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.  The former senior advisor to the first lady gave readers a first hand account of personal and quoted phone, email and text conversations between the two. 

There was said to be audio recordings, dubbed Melania Tapes that the author kept to ensure she could back up all details in her book 100%. The book included salacious and juicy details about her relationship (often tumultuous) with Trump’s daughter, detailing the “Operation Block Ivanka” plan to keep cameras out of frame from Ivanka during the inauguration. 

Wolkoff even alleges that the Trumps had separate bedrooms within the White House and was a “transactional marriage”.  Another former White House official, Omarosa Manigault told Daily Mail “Melania is counting every minute until he is out of office and she can divorce,” she continued “If Melania were to try to pull the ultimate humiliation and leave while he’s in office, he would find a way to punish her.”

Moving on, while hubby stares down potential prosecutions?

 With Joe Biden declared President-elect on Saturday, November 7th, Donald Trump, as he promised he would do, is not accepting that he lost the election and refuses to concede. He continues to toss-out allegations of “illegal votes” (even though there have been no indications or evidence of voter irregularities or fraud). 

Trump has begun his attempt to fight his election loss through legal battles and more than likely will drag out any and all legal actions until he will be forced to leave the White House at the end of his term.  A coup, though unlikely, is also being discussed in the media. 

Soon, Melania will also have to start the process of vacating the White House and look to what her future will be after January 20th, 2021. Whether she continues alongside Donald Trump or not, the American People (at least 2/3 of them) are more than ready to say… Bye Bye! 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on PoliticsSustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

A Green American Future? Joe Biden’s Plan to combat Climate Change

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic / Adobe Stock

Biden pledges immediate action and calls climate change the #1 issue facing humanity

Click here to see “The Future We Choose
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

President-Elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump disagreed on many points during their respective 2020 campaigns, but their most divisive opposition might have been on climate change. While Trump is an open climate denier who rolled back environmental regulations and posed no plan to combat the issue, Joe Biden vows to make it a central focus of his presidency.

Biden ambitiously promises to work towards 100% clean electricity in America by 2035. He also aims for carbon neutrality by 2050, which will keep global temperatures within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-Industrial averages.

Further, he has vowed to reenter the Paris Climate Accords, likely immediately following his inauguration. Getting back into Paris will rekindle America’s clean energy aspirations on the international scale, reopening conversations with other carbon emitting powerhouses like China and the European Union as we strive for a healthier planet.

On that same international note, Biden also plans to follow up on (and perhaps inflate) an Obama Administration pledge of $3 million to the Green Climate Fund— a U.N. project helping developing nations create clean energy infrastructure. The first billion was already paid while Obama was in office, but since Trump came to power in 2017, the U.S. has not contributed a single penny.

This demonstrates that many of Biden’s environmental plans are contingent upon political cooperation now and in the future. Surely, he can set the seeds for fifteen or thirty year plans, but in order for them to have longevity, he will need consensus with his colleagues and successors, many of whom reside across the aisle.   

Restoring environmental safeguards Trump abolished is Job 1 but may prove an uphill battle

Click to see “Humans” 
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

Similar to the Obama Administration, Biden will have to work with and through a Republican Senate to pass environmental laws. While the President-Elect can enter international agreements and revoke many of Trump’s deregulation policies from a solely Executive standpoint, his overall plan involves creating green jobs, decreasing dependency on fossil fuels, and investing in sustainable clean energy. The whole lot will cost $1.7 trillion and need approval from Congress.

Luckily, for all of its turmoil, the 2020 election taught America that climate change is no longer a superfluous issue in the minds of voters. According to the Sierra Club, tangible heat waves linked to global warming may have swayed Arizona to go blue this year.

Meanwhile, even capitalistic institutions are seeing the economic viability in green energy, as several automakers have backed California’s push for electric vehicles. Independents, Republicans, and Democrats alike are all starting to notice the unavoidable scientific evidence. For politicians to remain relevant, they can no longer ignore or deny such a bipartisan topic.

Of course, this is an optimistic viewpoint. After all, it was just four years ago when America elected Donald Trump. Since then, he’s managed to retract over a hundred environmental regulations.

He retained heavy support even as he left the Paris Accords, championed the fossil fuel industry, allowed for drilling and mining on public lands, lifted protections on endangered species, and left vulnerable communities around the world even more susceptible to ecological crises.

Evidently, Biden’s election does not mean that America immediately becomes a nation united in conservation efforts. However, it’s a clear step in the right direction. Unlike many other presidents before him, Biden has a plan for climate change, and his election suggests that prioritizing the environment will be a political priority for many campaigns to come.


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on PoliticsSustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Trump Defeated by Biden: Celebrations Ensue

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Trump Era Closes with Joy at its ending

Almost exactly four years ago to the day, on November 8th, 2016, Trump shocked America and the world by defeating Hillary Clinton. There was already a sense of foreboding among many, based on having witnessed Trump’s behavior during the campaign and throughout his public life before entering the political arena as a candidate. 

The full extent of the danger and menace he would come to embody and represent was something that unfolded, nonstop, during the years he clutched onto power like a rabid dog.  

Read More:Insanity Receding: How a Lack of Trump and his Neuroses is already Healing us All

Click here to see “The Truths We Hold” 
and help Independent Bookstores.  
Also available on Amazon.

Like traumatic witnesses to a heinous crime, many of us who have wished for the day he would be defeated are experiencing a mixture of relief, elation and post-traumatic-stress on the news that his (first) day of reckoning has finally arrived. 

On the announcement that Joe Biden had won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, and would be the 46th President of the United States, jubilant celebrations broke out across the country. 

Starting around noon on Saturday, November 7th, the various news outlets began to confirm that the threshold of 270 electoral votes required for victory had been surpassed by the Biden-Harris ticket. 

Unbridled joy almost instantly swept across the land, at least among the nearly 75 million that voted blue, and likely among many of those some 70+ million that did not take the time, or were unable, to mark a ballot. 

Unlike other political victory celebrations, this was not a “lesser of two evils” situation for any of those mentioned in the previous paragraph. Some of the internet memes, like the brilliant “America Endgame” video mash-up that mythologizes the election as an Avengers inspired clash between ultimate good and almost unspeakable evil

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1324750956777611264/pu/vid/1280x720/aCaxeoLHF2WTQUoo.mp4?tag=10

The clip, for many, was an emotional and inspirational confirmation of what they had been feeling for fourteen-hundred and fifty-nine days as a dark shadow of racist ignorance and hate cast a shadow across our lives.

Looking ahead: days to reflect, heal and rebuild

Next we must all begin to take the sudden feelings of empowerment and democratic vindication and apply that energy toward reclaiming and rebuilding all that the would-be tyrant had spend 4 years undermining and trying to destroy. 

No small task, no easy road, but, nevertheless, a chance to learn from this close encounter with a near-collapse of our system and what it has meant throughout the best moments of our history. 

The damage wrought by the 1,459 days of terror-tweets, and more dangerously, the behind-the-scenes dismantling of the skeleton that holds our system upright, can finally begin to be reconstructed and reclaimed. 

Symbolically, the ending of our participation in the Paris Climate Accords, which ended, literally, hours before Trump’s loss was announced, marks the end of an era of destruction, and the beginning of one pointing firmly toward a possible future of survival and repair. Biden has pledged to re-join the accords as his first act as President. 

And now for the 70 million + souls that, who, out of a susceptibility to propaganda and the spell of a fascist cult of personality, voted for Trump, the avalanche of lies will go silent (other than from the sycophants that remain in positions of power). Next, the country and media can, hopefully, allow real facts and information (remember those?) to flow again and reclaim at least some minds where possible. 

Sadly after more than 4 years of hard-line indoctrination, only individuals under a certain age or who were only partially damaged, will be receptive to any kind of a return to a more civil national discourse.  

These are all thoughts for a later date, but for now a well deserved moment of relief and celebration, and thank our stars for the 75 million of us that rose up and made it possible for the chance of a better future to emerge. 


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on PoliticsSustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Billie Eilish, Lil John, Johnny Depp, Jack Black and more Say “Hell No” to Trump Train

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Trump’s attempt to enlist entertainers for taxpayer funded propaganda program fails spectacularly

Lately, the Trump Administration has been looking for a celebrity to be the face of its new COVID-19 PSA campaign. Well, kind of. While the $265 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign is supposed to raise coronavirus awareness, the White House has unsubtly been twisting it into an explicit Trump promotion.

Read More: All Americans need to watch “Totally Under Control” – available to stream for free until Election day

According to U.S. Heath and Human Services Secretary Michael Caputo, the theoretically non-partisan campaign’s message is “Helping The President Will Help The Country.” Interestingly, this whole fiasco arrives just days before the 2020 Presidential Election, where Trump is behind in the polls.

Regardless of the hidden meaning behind the campaign—or perhaps directly because of it—the Administration has had trouble finding a suitable face for the ads. According to documents that Democratic lawmakers revealed to the Washington Post, the Administration went down a list of 247 celebs considered for the PSAs, but hardly any of them fit the bill.

Notes from the documents suggest a strict pro-Republican criteria for the job. Behavior that disqualified celebrities included if they had ever been critical of Trump, if they ever expressed support for Barak Obama, and if they ever supported gay marriage or LBGTQ+ rights. Unsurprisingly, these stipulations left options rather thin.

Names on the list included comedians Judd Apatow and George Lopez (both disqualified for expressing anti-Trump sentiments); singers Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and Justin Timberlake (all ruled out for endorsing Obama and championing gay rights); actress Jennifer Lopez (eliminated for her so-called radical Super Bowl halftime show); and actors Johnny Depp and Jack Black (both excluded for simply aligning with the American left).

The name on the list that met the most scathing response was probably singer/songwriter Billie Eilish. Notes on the eighteen-year old celebrity recount that she “Made a political statement on gun control in 2019; will be a first time voter in 2020; not a Trump supporter, stated he ‘is destroying our country and everything we care about.'”

Read More: I want my Apple Music TV— Apple launches twenty-four hour music video streaming channel in the U.S.

Of the 247 names initially listed, only ten survived the President’s elimination process— Dennis Quaid, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miranda Lambert, Garth Brooks, Dwyane Wade, Dr. Mehmet Oz, CeCe Winans, and Shulem Lemmer. 

There are also a number of celebrities listed as “pending” or “declined.” Among the latter are Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez, and Sandra Oh. 

Trump Train about to Derail or will Celebs like Lil Wayne & Kanye come to the Rescue

These slim pickings show that Trump does not garner the strongest support (or any) from American entertainers. In addition to all of the listed names considered and rejected for this campaign, there are many more celebrities who have publically denounced the POTUS, several of whom were formerly apolitical or even republicans (Clint Eastwood and Arnold Schwarzenegger) before the current term.

Not all celebrities are steadfastly anti-Trump, though. The President has actually found support in some unlikely places. Because of Trump’s recent Platinum Plan to assist black Americans, he has created seemingly positive relations with rappers such as Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, 50 Cent, and Lil Pump. It’s unclear if any of these recognizable names actually endorse Trump, but they’ve all shown degrees of support via social media. 

Trump doesn’t have all rappers on board, though. Kanye West retracted his longstanding support for the President when he decided to run for the office himself this year. Meanwhile, when rapper Lil John was solicited to support Trump on Twitter, he responded bluntly:

Evidently, while there are some exceptions, few recognizable entertainers fully support the President. Ironically, Donald Trump himself has a strong background in entertainment— perhaps boasting the most show business-savvy resume of any President since Reagan.

However, while Reagan was an accomplished actor and later President of the Screen Actor’s Guild, Trump was more of a crude businessman slapped before the camera for a reality TV paycheck. 

Entertainers carry a lot of influence. Unfortunately, Trump has struggled to win the hearts of such influencers. In fact, many of them are now using that very influence against him.


Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on PoliticsSustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Apple Search Plans & Potential are Casting a Massive Shadow on Google Anti-Trust Case

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Search Battle Lynxotic Predicted is about to Breakout Big time

In a year that has already offered AppleOne5G, and perpetual AirTag teases, Apple Inc might have yet another major project hidden up its sleeve. According to a report from the Financial Times, the tech company has recently partaken in research and development indicative of creating a new original search engine.

Read More: Apple iPhone 12 Pro Models are Here and There’s More

For years, Google has been the default search engine on Apple devices. This is part of an ongoing deal between the two companies where Google pays Apple a pretty penny to foreground their services. Now, however, Google is facing an antitrust suit from the Department of Justice. This case claims that Google has a monopoly over search and directly sites its relationship with Apple as evidence.

If the DOJ manages to win against Google, it could be the end of its search engine arriving pre-encrypted in all iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Thus, an in-house Apple search engine comes at an opportune time. Not only will it provide Apple with a new default search platform, but it will also muster some competition against Google— one of the things that the antitrust case desperately calls for.

Any Engine at All by Apple is Earth-shattering to the Status Quo of Big Tech

Nothing is set in concrete about this speculative Apple search engine yet. All we know for sure is that the latest version of iOS 14 shows signs of increased search technology. Under the upgraded operating system, iPhone users can type in questions directly on their devices’ home screens and arrive at Internet results without any middleman. This has also led to an uptick in Apple’s spidering tools, which comb and datafy the web for a smoother search experience. 

These changes in iOS 14 are subtle, but given the context, they could be laying the seeds for something much larger. Tellingly, former Google head of search John Geannandrea also oversees these recent Apple advancements. Geannandrea joined Apple three years ago, and while his main focus at the company has been Siri thus far, he obviously has the expertise and experience for helming a Google-like project.

Some believe that Siri is the base of Apple’s increased search interests. Perhaps the new technologies are simply working to refine the voice assistant rather than setting up a wholly alternative Google competitor. At the same time, though, with the proper expansion, Siri could very well evolve into a worthy Google rival, especially if it becomes the one-stop search engine on all Apple devices.For now, users will just have to wait while events unfold. Experts say that the antitrust case against Google will go on for years, and if Apple is indeed developing its own search engine alternative, it will likely take just as long.


Check out all our Apple Coverage

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Big TechSustainable EnergyEconomics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.