Chief Twit

Botch

I'd read that he's promised the trump campaign $45 million, per month, until the election.  

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

I'd read that he's promised the trump campaign $45 million, per month, until the election.  

Seems like an odd position to take for the CEO of the largest EV manufacturer.  

Botch

JohnInCarolina said:

Botch said:

I'd read that he's promised the trump campaign $45 million, per month, until the election.  

Seems like an odd position to take for the CEO of the largest EV manufacturer.  

I was going to agree with you; then while catching up on Bill Maher, Pete B answered the question:
 
https://youtu.be/7XuIEg_Y4fM?si=g3XmLDUCgVZdiQvH
 
Exact same thing could apply to elon.  

Gulfcoastguy

JohnInCarolina said:

Botch said:

I'd read that he's promised the trump campaign $45 million, per month, until the election.  

Seems like an odd position to take for the CEO of the largest EV manufacturer.  

He's made Tesla profitable without federal tax credits. The other companies are not there with US manufacturing yet, not even with Mexican manufacturing. If they have to reduce their prices by $7500 he's strangled the competition while it's a baby in the crib. Admittedly that competition has made some bone headed decisions but do you really want an EV monopoly? Tesla rode the coattails of various government subsidies from the initial tax credit to collecting billions in carbon tax credits. 

I don't believe in all of the federal EV incentives in the two bills that were taxed. For instance the original bill limited federal tax credits to a certain number per manufacturer before phase out in order to pay for the original tooling and research. Chevrolet and Nissan produced a couple of cheapie commuter cars and never improved them much  or introduced new models before their original allotment of credits was used up. Stellantis and Ford never really tried. Tesla started with a sports car to generate high profits but then invested them into the Model 3 which is what the Nissan Leaf should have evolved into.

The new tax credit bill was reinterpreted by federal bureaucrats to allow federal tax credits for leased vehicles that were not even produced in North America. I believe that to be a direct violation of both the language and intent of new legislation. If the other EV incentives are left intact the Federal tax credits for EVs could probably go away. The incentives to open battery and EV factories in the US should remain or we would justify a reputation for jerking the rug out from under companies investing billions into the country. Especially vital is the NEVI charging network project. That is the most essential of all of the incentives. It by itself would led to future EV success and Elon has done his best to kneecap it.

Yet EVs are not the only item to ponder before casting your vote.

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Botch said:

I'd read that he's promised the trump campaign $45 million, per month, until the election.  

Seems like an odd position to take for the CEO of the largest EV manufacturer.  

I was going to agree with you; then while catching up on Bill Maher, Pete B answered the question:
 
https://youtu.be/7XuIEg_Y4fM?si=g3XmLDUCgVZdiQvH
 
Exact same thing could apply to elon.  

Certainly could be that simple, I don’t know.  I’m routinely asking myself just how many billions one person really needs.  

lousubcap

It is all about power.  When in power, stay in power.  
And "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely is an observation Lord Actonmade in a letter to Bishop Creighton on April 5, 1887. This letter was published in 1907 as part of a collection of Lord Acton's work, Historical Essays and Studies." 

JohnInCarolina

On the other hand, maybe Musk just knows a mark when he sees one:

JohnInCarolina

In case you had any doubts about Musk being an ahole:

DoubleEgger

JohnInCarolina said:

In case you had any doubts about Musk being an ahole:

One of the richest men in the world is a deadbeat father who refuses to pay child support. 

That’s messed up. 

YukonRon

that 45 mil, just got pulled by Musk. I told My Beautiful Wife, the day he made the announcement to provide 45 million to trumps campaign, he (trump) would never see a dime of it. Elon is as big a liar as the former president.

Botch

Rupert Murdoch:  "I shall establish a propaganda organization, but call it Faux News, to get the easily-swayable to vote against their own interests."
Elon Musk:  "Hold my beer..."
https://petapixel.com/2024/07/29/elon-musk-shared-misleading-ai-video-of-kamala-harris-on-x-twitter-deepfake-election-presidential-usa/

Botch

From Reich's email today.  I wasn't aware musk was spreading misinformation on other nations' elections.  
 

In yesterday’s Office Hours, I said I’ve started to imagine we can relegate Trump to the dustbin of history along with some of the other horrible people in American public life today. 
I asked you to vote on the second-worst person. I nominated JD Vance, Clarence Thomas, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk. 
Over 4,800 of you participated in the poll (as of midnight ET). 
JD Vance garnered just 3 percent of your votes. Tucker Carlson, 4 percent. Clarence Thomas got 32 percent. 
But the winner by far, with 57 percent, is Elon Musk. 
Several of you explained that although Thomas is powerful and unaccountable, he’s just one of nine powerful and unaccountable justices. But Musk is rapidly transforming his enormous wealth — he’s the richest person in the world — into a huge source of unaccountable political power that’s now backing Trump and other authoritarians around the world. 
Musk owns X. He recently released an AI chatbot that told hundreds of millions that “the ballot deadline has passed” in several states, including the battlegrounds of Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, among others. 
Secretaries of state in five states have urged Musk to “immediately implement changes” to his chatbot, but Musk hasn’t done so. 
In the last few days, Musk has also reposted a faked version of Kamala Harris’s first campaign video with an altered voice track sounding like Harris and saying she doesn’t “know the first thing about running the country” and is the “ultimate diversity hire.” Musk tagged the video “amazing.” It’s got 135 million views, so far. It’s still up. 
The website of Musk’s America PAC is tricking people into sharing personal data. Although the site promises to help them register to vote, it asks users in battleground states to give their names and phone numbers without directing them to a voter registration site. That personal information is being used to send them anti-Harris and pro-Trump ads. 
Musk has also promised $45 million of cash per month to pro-Trump PACs.
Meanwhile, in the UK, far right thugs are burning, looting and terrorizing minority communities because Musks’s X has been spreading lies about an immigrant being responsible for a deadly attack on school girls. Musk has not only allowed instigators of this hate spread these lies, but he’s re-tweeting and supporting them. 
What to do about Musk? In the past, I’ve suggested a boycott of Tesla. 
I’ve also urged advertisers to boycott X. 
But now that a coalition of major advertisers has organized such a boycott, Musk is suing them under antitrust law. “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” he wrote on X earlier this week, referring to advertisers who criticize him and X. 
What’s the next step? Regulators around the world must stand up to the rise in hate speech and disinformation on X, and put Musk out of business.

dbCooper

Perhaps Elon has forgotten he is a immigrant that became a naturalized citizen and needs to revisit the oath he took at that time.

Botch

From Robert Reich's newsletter today:
 

Lies on Elon Musk’s X have instigated some of the worst racial riots in Britain’s history. Musk recently posted a comment to his hundreds of millions of followers claiming “Civil war is inevitable” in the U.K., and asserted that the British criminal justice system treats Muslims more leniently than far-right activists.

European Union commissioner Thierry Breton sent Musk an open letter reminding him of EU laws against amplifying harmful content “that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation” and warning that the EU “will be extremely vigilant” about protecting “EU citizens from serious harm.” 

Musk’s response was a meme that said: “TAKE A BIG STEP BACK AND LITERALLY, F*CK YOUR OWN FACE!” 

As I noted last week, Americans, too, are being subject to lies and bigotry on Musk’s X — and not just because Musk fired the entire staff that had been keeping such filth off the platform; Musk is also reposting and encouraging some of it. 

Musk recently released an AI chatbot that falsely told tens of millions of Americans that “the ballot deadline has passed” in several swing states, including the battlegrounds of Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, among others.

Secretaries of state in five states urged Musk to “immediately implement changes” to his chatbot, but Musk hasn’t done so.

Evidence is mounting that Russia and other foreign agents are using X to disrupt this year’s presidential race, presumably in favor of Trump. Musk refuses to take any action. 

What to do about Musk? I’ve suggested that advertisers boycott X. Now Musk is suing advertisers for doing this, arguing that they’re violating antitrust laws. 

It’s time to get tough with Musk. Here are some suggestions. 

First, the Federal Trade Commission should demand that Musk take down lies that are likely to endanger individuals or threaten our democracy, and if he does not, sue him under Section 5 of the FTC Act.

Musk’s free-speech rights under the First Amendment don’t take precedence over the public interest. Seven weeks ago, the Supreme Court said federal agencies may pressure social media platforms to take down misinformation — a technical win for the public good (technical because the court based its ruling on the plaintiff’s lack of standing to sue). 

The U.S. government — and we taxpayers — have additional power over Musk, if we’re willing to use it: The U.S. should terminate its contracts with him, starting with Musk’s SpaceX. 

In 2021, the United States entered into a $1.8 billion classified contract with SpaceX that includes blasting off classified and military satellites, according to The Wall Street Journal. The funds are now an important part of SpaceX’s revenue. 

The Pentagon has also contracted with SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service to pay for internet links, despite Musk’s refusal in September 2022 to allow Ukraine to use Starlink to launch an attack on Russian forces in Crimea.

Last August, the Pentagon gave SpaceX’s Starshield unit $70 million to provide communications services to dozens of Pentagon partners. 

Meanwhile, SpaceX is cornering the rocket launch market. Its rockets were responsible for two-thirds of flights from American launch sites in 2022 and handled 88 percent in the first six months of this year. SpaceX is also the only entity ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. 

In deciding upon which private-sector entities to contract with, the U.S. government considers the contractor’s reliability. Musk’s mercurial, impulsive temperament makes him and the companies he heads unreliable. The government also considers whether it is contributing to a monopoly. Musk’s SpaceX is fast becoming one. 

Why is the U.S. government allowing Musk’s satellites and rocket launchers to become crucial to the nation’s security when he’s shown utter disregard for the public interest? Why give Musk more economic power when he repeatedly abuses it and demonstrates contempt for the public good?

There is no good reason. American taxpayers should stop subsidizing Elon Musk. Stop. Him. Now.

JohnInCarolina

DoubleEgger

JohnInCarolina said:

In retrospect, telling all of the advertisers to “Go Fvck Yourself” wasn’t the best business move. 

Botch

Long but important read from Robert Reich, 3 Sept (posted in two parts):
 

Friends,

Today I want to tell you the dangers posed by an out-of-control Elon Musk (in part I), and six ways to rein him in (in part II). I also provide some personal evidence of how bonkers he is (in my P.S. at the end of today’s letter).

I. Elon Musk is Out of Control

Elon Musk is rapidly transforming his enormous wealth — he’s the richest person in the world — into a huge source of unaccountable political power that’s now backing Trump and other global authoritarians.

Musk owns X, formerly known as Twitter. He has publicly endorsed Donald Trump. He is spending as much as $180 million on transforming the Republican Party’s field organizing program to help Trump — to which he has brought in new leadership, including a new personal aide to help him make political decisions. 

Trump and Musk have both floated the idea of governing together if Trump wins a second term. “I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission,” Musk said in an August 11 conversation with Trump, streamed on X. “And I’d be happy to help out on such a commission.”

In that same conversation, Trump congratulated Musk for his willingness to fire workers seeking higher wages and better working conditions. “You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump said. “I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike — I won’t mention the name of the company — but they go on strike. And you say: ‘That’s okay, you're all gone.’”

As the interview concluded, Musk told Trump, “I think we’re at a fork in the road of destiny, of civilization, and I think we need to take the right path, and I think you’re the right path.”

Weeks later, Musk reposted a faked version of Kamala Harris’s first campaign video with an altered voice track sounding like Harris and saying she doesn’t “know the first thing about running the country” and is the “ultimate diversity hire.” Musk tagged the video “amazing.” It’s gotten hundreds of millions of views, so far.

The Michigan secretary of state has accused the Musk-supported America PAC of tricking people into sharing personal data. Although the PAC’s website promises to help users register to vote, it allegedly asks users in battleground states to give their names and phone numbers without directing them to a voter registration site — and then uses that information to send them anti-Harris and pro-Trump ads.

According to a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Musk himself has so far this year posted 50 false election claims on X to his nearly 200 million followers. They’ve got a total of 1.2 billion views. None of them had a “community note” from X’s supposed fact-checking system.

Evidence is mounting that Russia and other foreign agents are using X to disrupt this year’s presidential race, presumably in favor of Trump. Musk has done little to stop them.

Meanwhile, Musk is supporting right-wing causes around the world.

In the UK, far-right thugs burned, looted, and terrorized minority communities after Musk’s X spread misinformation about a deadly attack on schoolgirls. Musk not only allowed instigators of this hate to spread these lies, but he retweeted and supported them.

At least eight times in the past 10 months, Musk has predicted a future civil war related to immigration. When anti-immigration street riots occurred across Britain, he wrote: “civil war is inevitable.”

The European Union commissioner Thierry Breton sent Musk an open letter reminding him of EU laws against amplifying harmful content “that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation” and warning that the EU “will be extremely vigilant” about protecting “EU citizens from serious harm.”

Musk’s response was a meme that said: “TAKE A BIG STEP BACK AND LITERALLY, F*CK YOUR OWN FACE!”

Elon Musk calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” but he has accepted over 80 percent of censorship requests from authoritarian governments. Two days before the Turkish elections, he blocked accounts critical of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

Musk says he’ll follow the law wherever it operates, but he’s fighting a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who ordered Brazil’s telecom agency to block access to X because X has “allowed the massive spread of disinformation, hate speech and attacks on the democratic rule of law, violating the free choice of the electorate, by keeping voters away from real and accurate information.”

Musk’s friendly relations with authoritarians often coincide with beneficial treatment of his businesses. Shortly after Musk suggested handing Taiwan over to the Chinese government, Tesla got a tax break from the Chinese government. Musk has backed Argentina’s Javier Milei, who then provided Musk access to his country’s lithium — crucial to Tesla’s batteries. Musk has backed India’s Narendra Modi and secured lower import tariffs for Tesla’s vehicles in India

Botch

II. How to Rein Musk In 

He may be the richest man in the world. He may own one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. He may lash out at anyone who dares criticize him. (After The Guardian published an earlier version of this post, Musk went on a Trump-like rant to his nearly 200 million followers, launching ad hominem attacks on me without disputing what I said. More details in the P.S. at the end of this letter.)

But that doesn’t mean we’re powerless to stop him.

Here are six ways to rein in Musk:

1. Boycott Tesla.

Consumers shouldn’t be making him even richer and able to do even more harm. A Tesla boycott may have already begun; a recent poll found that one-third of Britons are less likely to buy a Tesla because of Musk’s recent behavior.

2. Advertisers should boycott X.

A coalition of major advertisers has organized such a boycott. Musk is suing them under antitrust law. “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” he wrote on X, referring to advertisers who criticize him and X.

3. Regulators around the world should stop Musk from disseminating lies and hate on X.

On August 24, French authorities arrested Pavel Durov, founder of the online communications tool Telegram, which French authorities have found complicit in hate crimes and disinformation. Like Musk, Durov has styled himself as a free speech absolutist. I’m not arguing that Musk or any other disseminator of lies and hate must necessarily be charged with crimes, but they should be held legally responsible for what they publish.

4. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission should demand that Musk take down lies that are likely to endanger individuals — and if he does not, sue him under Section 5 of the FTC Act.

Musk’s free-speech rights under the First Amendment don’t take precedence over the public interest. Two months ago, the Supreme Court said federal agencies may pressure social media platforms to take down misinformation — a technical win for the public good (technical because the court based its ruling on the plaintiff’s lack of standing to sue).

5. The U.S. government — and we taxpayers — have additional power over Musk, if we’re willing to use it. The U.S. should terminate its contracts with him, starting with Musk’s SpaceX. 

In 2021, the United States entered into a $1.8 billion classified contract with SpaceX that includes blasting off classified and military satellites, according to The Wall Street Journal. The funds are now an important part of SpaceX’s revenue.

The Pentagon has also contracted with SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service to pay for internet links, despite Musk’s refusal in September 2022 to allow Ukraine to use Starlink to launch an attack on Russian forces in Crimea.

Last August, the Pentagon gave SpaceX’s Starshield unit $70 million to provide communications services to dozens of Pentagon partners.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is cornering the rocket launch market. Its rockets were responsible for two-thirds of flights from U.S. launch sites in 2022 and handled 88 percent in the first six months of this year.

In deciding upon which private-sector entities to contract with, the U.S. government is supposed to consider the contractor’s reliability. Musk’s mercurial, impulsive, childish temperament makes him and the companies he heads unreliable. The government is also supposed to consider whether it is contributing to a monopoly. Musk’s SpaceX is fast becoming one.

Why is the U.S. government allowing Musk’s satellites and rocket launchers to become crucial to the nation’s security when he’s shown utter disregard for the public interest? Why give Musk more economic power when he repeatedly abuses it and demonstrates contempt for the public good?

There is no good reason. American taxpayers should stop subsidizing Musk.

6. Make sure Musk’s favorite candidate for president is not elected.

***

PS: After The Guardian published an earlier version of this post, Musk went on a tirade — agreeing with a tweet calling me “a traitor to the American people;” then calling me “Robert Reichtard;” then saying “To be totally honest, I don’t want Reich arrested, as I wouldn’t want to inflict having listen to him upon his jailers. A fate worse than death!;” then identifying me as “a miniature wanker” (see below); then giving a thumbs-up emoji to a post saying I’m “so dumb as to think socialism is a good thing.”

Gulfcoastguy

And yet ULA's broke Starliner is still attached to the International Space Station stranding the astronauts for another 6 months in zero gravity. Space X will have to be the ones to rescue them. I guess they could wait for ULA to get it's act together.

Gulfcoastguy

https://www.gadgets360.com/science/news/boeings-starliner-returns-uncrewed-after-iss-mission-landing-set-for-sept-6-6453127 

Since everyone will demand links rather than google it themselves.

Legume

Do you have a reference for everyone demanding links?

Gulfcoastguy

Mainly a certain Dook prof.

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

Mainly a certain Dook prof.

I only ask for links when someone asserts something kind of ridiculous as fact, such as Harris being the “unanimous” worst VP ever.  

Gulfcoastguy

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Mainly a certain Dook prof.

I only ask for links when someone asserts something kind of ridiculous as fact, such as Harris being the “unanimous” worst VP ever.  

Considering Dan Quayle that is a high bar to pass. Top 4 maybe.

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

Mainly a certain Dook prof.

I only ask for links when someone asserts something kind of ridiculous as fact, such as Harris being the “unanimous” worst VP ever.  

Considering Dan Quayle that is a high bar to pass. Top 4 maybe.

I understand that conservatives have been sold this bill of goods, but she was never really viewed all that unfavorably on the left. 

fishlessman

I agree, that's the lefts view, explains things 😆

JohnInCarolina

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy

Early days for any conclusions yet. But it is said that he had an AK and was 300 to 500 yards away. That’s outside of the effective range of an AK in 7.62x39 mm. Is he is a Republican it seems that he is from the Never Trump branch judging by his donations. As I said it’s a bit too early for any definite answers.

Legume

I'm seeing a lot of info that seems to be fairly consistent. 

Obsessed with Ukraine war

Trump>Tulsi >Haley/Vivek+never Trumper

A little too interested in guns and Rambo tactical cosplay

Internet-diagnosed mental illness of some kind

I guess it's good he went after someone with secret service protection (good guys with guns) and not a school.