> Google (and its defenders) initially tried to pretend that they were just helplessly and clinically adhering to US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) data. Something journalists later found out was a lie, because Google adopted the name change before the government could get its act together and implement it

This is interesting I must have missed it in the whole saga. GNIS was the HN consensus, now debunked.

> But then they'd have to stand for something.

Public companies stand for making (more) money, that's always been the case. In a democracy, the foundation of the power in a society is what people vote for and who they vote for. Companies adhere to what the administration decide, can't blame them to show no resistance to such a stupid thing. Out of all crazy things that orange grandpa does, this is really only minor.

And by the way, for most of the world the map looks different, even on Google maps. For me, it correctly shows "Lake Ontario" first and below it shows the crazy man's fantasy.

Hear, hear

Americans don’t like this, isn’t rubbing their face in the stupidity they elected the opposite of coddling fascism?

Noting that they actually do also coddle fascism, but in this case I’m not sure they’re doing Trump any favors.

If they wanted to do him a favor, they’d come up with a reason to wait until after the midterms to update.

Please don’t forget the American people voted (either actively or by default) for this.

the disingenuous paternalistic altruism of the intellectual and financial and political elite has a way of rapidly metastatizing into unabashed nihilistic egocentrism when their wealth and power surge far past their points of diminishing returns. eventually it's not enough to be the billionaire who smoked a joint on tv and marketed the electric car, you have to be the trillionaire who abolished human empathy and created a genetically-engineered aryan master race.