Elon Musk - news and discussion

[Dogsauce]

Well if you will pay $44 billion (not $44 million as the article mistakenly says) for something that really obviously isn't even worth close to that and then make decisions that really fuck it all up and cause major advertisers to leave in droves:

In Leaked Email, Elon Musk Admits Defeat on Twitter

Twitter's financials are still looking pretty dire — as owner Elon Musk himself admitted in a January email to staff reviewed by the WSJ.

futurism.com

Wall Street banks plan sale of X debt at a discount | TechCrunch

Bankers are reportedly gearing up to offload debt used to fund Elon Musk’s social network, for which he paid $44 million in 2022 including $13 billion in

techcrunch.com

It wasn’t all his money, he had investors backing him (Saudi money mostly)

It wasn’t a money-making venture, it was a political project. He’s got a return on his investment even if the platform itself is haemorrhaging cash. It’s pointless gloating about it’s financial failure as that’s irrelevant.

Musk is also tipped to buy TikTok. Even if he doesn’t it won’t be able to continue to operate in the US unless sold to one of Trump’s wealthy supporters. Trump openly stated this. Gangster fucking shit.

 

[CNT36]

I doubt he even thought those up himself.

There was a better version of the Himmler one on here in a post (Iirc) about Laurence Fox and the Pogues that I read only a few weeks ago.

 

[teqniq]

It wasn’t all his money, he had investors backing him (Saudi money mostly)

It wasn’t a money-making venture, it was a political project. He’s got a return on his investment even if the platform itself is haemorrhaging cash. It’s pointless gloating about it’s financial failure as that’s irrelevant.

Musk is also tipped to buy TikTok. Even if he doesn’t it won’t be able to continue to operate in the US unless sold to one of Trump’s wealthy supporters. Trump openly stated this. Gangster fucking shit.

I know it wasn't all his money and I am gloating over the banks selling the debt, it is still rather satisfying to see investors losing shitloads of money over this. I know it's a political project and wrt to Tik Tok there are already reports that the statement 'Free Palestine' has been banned from the service and there's also this:

 

[Petcha]

A South African born, American based fuckwit addressing a crowd of German Nazis in English about the evils of multiculturalism. Brilliant.

 

[Coffeecup]

It’s worse from the other angle.

It’s clear from that angle it wasn’t a mistake, it was intentional.

 

[klang]

A South African born, American based fuckwit addressing a crowd of German Nazis in English about the evils of multiculturalism. Brilliant.

Birth places don't come with baggage

 

[Dogsauce]

I know it's a political project and wrt to Tik Tok there are already reports that the statement 'Free Palestine' has been banned from the service

The reason it was banned in the US in the first place was because it was one of the few places giving US citizens unfiltered information on Palestine. Their fix is to demand that China hands it over to MAGA loons or else.

China should point out that the US is a small (and unjustifiably self-important) fraction of the world’s population and should go whistle. The US government would lose a lot of support banning it.

 

[gosub]

The job is to fire people and not replace them tbf .... Vivek Ramaswamy has already been fired! - dont know how big an office you need to do that.....yes the whole thing could fall apart in an afternoon but i expect the deregulation effort will come to some kind of fruition
theyve already started
View attachment 461162

I suspect Musk's idea of efficency is I've got an AI that can do that job...

 

[SpookyFrank]

The reason it was banned in the US in the first place was because it was one of the few places giving US citizens unfiltered information on Palestine. Their fix is to demand that China hands it over to MAGA loons or else.

China should point out that the US is a small (and unjustifiably self-important) fraction of the world’s population and should go whistle. The US government would lose a lot of support banning it.

The whole world needs to collectively tell Trump to go whistle.

The alternative is play nice and hope he doesn't make good on his endless threats of 100% tariffs, trade embargoes, invading Denmark or whatever stupid shit he's come up with this time. Which will ultimately be far more risky given how erratic he is and the fact he's got all the loyalty and integrity of a shithouse rat.

 

[Serene]

So after joining trumps far right party, and after doing nazi salutes world-wide in front of tv cameras, he does a speech at the german far right party world-wide and tells them not to feel guilty. Yet people say he isnt a nazi! Israel has said he is falsely slurred! what on earth???

 

[Serene]

from another angle

 

[spitfire]

This is illuminating.

tl:dr they're a bunch of wrong 'uns. Thiel, Musk, all of them.

How the roots of the ‘PayPal mafia’ extend to apartheid South Africa

Elon Musk grew up with the privileges of a stratified racial order and Peter Thiel lived in a city that venerated Hitler

www.theguardian.com

 

[Serene]

Campaign group Led By Donkeys pulls absolutely no punches with epic public takedown of Elon Musk​

Elon Musk’s Berlin-based Tesla gigafactory has been repurposed as a giant screen by British political campaign group Led By Donkeys in partnership with by Germany’s Centre for Political Beauty. The groups projected a five-minute protest video about the billionaire onto the factory’s exterior wall, showing how Elon Musk has continuously backed the far-right across Europe. The controversial tech entrepreneur has caused a storm that is yet to show any signs of abating after making gestures at an event marking Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday (20 January), which many people have likened to a Nazi salute. After telling voters “thank you for making it happen”, in reference to Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris, Musk placed one hand on his chest before thrusting the other towards the crowd, his fingers together and palm turned down. He then turned and performed the same salute to the American flag. Musk denied claims that the gesture was a “Nazi salute,” however Led By Donkeys and the Centre for Political Beauty disagreed, choosing to use the footage as an introduction to their video about far right extremism. “This is the Tesla gigafactory in Berlin,” the Led By Donkeys video begins. “It’s factories like this that have made (Musk) the world’s richest person,” the narrator says, before alleging that he is using that wealth to “promote European far-right parties.” The German health minister Karl Lauterbach said Musk’s comments were “undignified and highly problematic”. Lauterbach also accused Musk of election interference and called for authorities to “keep a close eye on the goings-on on X.”

 

[furluxor]

after making gestures at an event marking Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday (20 January), which many people have likened to a Nazi salute. After telling voters “thank you for making it happen”, in reference to Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris, Musk placed one hand on his chest before thrusting the other towards the crowd, his fingers together and palm turned down.

more shocking than the gesture itself is the global disinclination to call it a nazi salute. What will it take? Would a swastika arm band be an "item of of clothing featuring ancient pagan sun symbol that some observed has been used by the far right"?

 

[brogdale]

more shocking than the gesture itself is the global disinclination to call it a nazi salute. What will it take? Would a swastika arm band be an "item of of clothing featuring ancient pagan sun symbol that some observed has been used by the far right"?

Yes, the very least we might have expected from the UK 'government' would offer the sort of condemnation made by Amy Spitalnick explicitly focussing on the potential for Musk's behaviour to have real-world impacts of discrimination and violence.

 

[Serene]

more shocking than the gesture itself is the global disinclination to call it a nazi salute. What will it take? Would a swastika arm band be an "item of of clothing featuring ancient pagan sun symbol that some observed has been used by the far right"?

This is exactly what my thoughts have been throughout all this. I find it very strange.

 

[Serene]

Yes, the very least we might have expected from the UK 'government' would offer the sort of condemnation made by Amy Spitalnick explicitly focussing on the potential for Musk's behaviour to have real-world impacts of discrimination and violence.

View attachment 461390

This is a Jewish civil rights in New York. However, I am reading that Israel has said he is falsely named as a nazi and is a friend of Israel!! This to me beggars belief.

 

[two sheds]

Campaign group Led By Donkeys pulls absolutely no punches with epic public takedown of Elon Musk​

Elon Musk’s Berlin-based Tesla gigafactory has been repurposed as a giant screen by British political campaign group Led By Donkeys in partnership with by Germany’s Centre for Political Beauty. The groups projected a five-minute protest video about the billionaire onto the factory’s exterior wall, showing how Elon Musk has continuously backed the far-right across Europe. The controversial tech entrepreneur has caused a storm that is yet to show any signs of abating after making gestures at an event marking Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday (20 January), which many people have likened to a Nazi salute. After telling voters “thank you for making it happen”, in reference to Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris, Musk placed one hand on his chest before thrusting the other towards the crowd, his fingers together and palm turned down. He then turned and performed the same salute to the American flag. Musk denied claims that the gesture was a “Nazi salute,” however Led By Donkeys and the Centre for Political Beauty disagreed, choosing to use the footage as an introduction to their video about far right extremism. “This is the Tesla gigafactory in Berlin,” the Led By Donkeys video begins. “It’s factories like this that have made (Musk) the world’s richest person,” the narrator says, before alleging that he is using that wealth to “promote European far-right parties.” The German health minister Karl Lauterbach said Musk’s comments were “undignified and highly problematic”. Lauterbach also accused Musk of election interference and called for authorities to “keep a close eye on the goings-on on X.”
View attachment 461386

German government investigating it.

German Authorities Investigate Nazi Imagery Projected on Tesla Gigafactory - TechStory

Authorities in Germany are investigating a controversial image projected onto the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide, near Berlin.

techstory.in

Not clear whether they'll be aiming at LedByDonkeys yet, but even if they do:

Some have suggested that if the activists are charged under Germany’s anti-Nazi laws, it could serve as an acknowledgment that Musk’s gesture at Trump’s event was indeed a Nazi salute, despite his denials. This could add weight to the argument that the activist groups were justified in their actions.

Three-dimensional chess eh.

 

[Serene]

Techbro-fascism.

 

[BigMoaner]

.

 

[BigMoaner]

Techbro-fascism.

The reduction of the human to mere process and data.

 

[spring-peeper]

CNN
—
American tech billionaire Elon Musk made a surprise address at the campaign launch for Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as thousands of people gathered across the country to protest the rise of the far-right party.
Musk, who spoke to the crowd in a live video, was met with huge cheers by the roughly 4,500 AfD supporters gathered inside a hall in the eastern German city of Halle on Saturday.