Tag: Elon Musk

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One of the mysteries of modern media is how much time is consumed on absolute bull shit. The other day, Elon Musk’s Nazi salute made the headlines and, as far as I can tell, is still creating a bit of a hullabaloo. Some believe he made a Nazi salute; others believe it was just an accidental incline of the man’s arm. Musk denies it. This, as far as I can tell, should be the end of it. But no this tempest is still whipping around the teacup.

The fact is Musk is astute enough to deny it. What are his critics expecting him to say. “You caught me. I am a secret Nazi. I just got so excited that my arm just naturally went into a Nazi salute.” Since he didn’t fall into that trap, the matter should be closed. But it simmers on to what effect. Talking about it any longer is a waste of time and is taking up precious headline space on speculation over a trivial matter.

Distractions seems to be the game Donald Trump is playing. Take, for example, flying the flag at half staff for Trump’s inauguration. This is no big deal to anyone except Donald Trump and maybe Jimmy Carter’s family. If anyone remembers this in a weeks time, it would amaze me. Trump could have been gracious about it because it really is meaningless bull shit. Seeing the flags at half staff would go unnoticed by most and, by those who did, they would wonder who died, thinking that Jimmy Carter died years ago. But Trump knows how to grab headlines and attention. The media promptly fell into line reporting it and we have a controversy.

Now apparently the Trump administration is suspending Black and Women’s history months at the Department of Justice. I disagree with this but, in the scheme of things, this is small potatoes. I am not sure what occurs at the Department of Justice during these months and this is very much the problem. It doesn’t matter to most anyone in the country. But lets, by all means, have a little tiff about the Department of Justice display cases going empty during Black and Women’s History month.

What worries me is that Trump is the master of making controversial statements about meaningless bullshit that consumes the press for days on ends talking about his bullshit and then are immediately forgotten. There needs to be focus on the things that matter as opposed to the things that are nice to have. If I had to choose between Trump’s attack on the 14th Amendment which declares there is no birthright citizenship and the Department of Justice’s Black and Women’s History month. I know what I am going to focus on. Let’s choose our battles wisely because having a conniption fit about everything is pointless and time consuming which is exactly what Trump wants.

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Elon Musk is supposed to have raised his arm in what looks like a Nazi salute. I linked to said crime because given the context of what he was saying and how he raised his arm, I am inclined to agree with Musk. This is nothing to get our panties in a twist.

Before I delve into this further, I want to be clear I am no fan of Elon Musk (see here, here, here). As far as I can tell he is an overpaid idiot with authoritarian instincts. I don’t like the man.

On the other hand, it is ridiculous to believe that he, in a widely seen speech, would break out in a Sieg Heil at Trump’s inauguration. It is a complete waste of time to be talking about it. He says he was thanking his audience for voting for Trump. His critics say his raised arm suspiciously resembles the Nazi salute. a

As there is no way to know what is in a person’s mind, I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think he is that dumb, particularly after denying any Fascist inclinations for years, to suddenly give the Nazi salute because he so imbued with Nazi theology that his arm raises unconsciously a la Dr. Strangelove.

Then there is the matter that calling Trump and his gang Fascists has failed to dissuade millions from supporting him. Trump, Musk and gang have been repeatedly called Fascist to an indifferent audience. People either don’t understand Fascism or don’t care that they are Fascists but continuing to call them Fascists has had little effect on people voting for him. People have heard it a million times and have made their peace with it. Now it doesn’t mean he isn’t a Fascist, but it does mean that calling him one is pointless. Other than giving Trump opponents a strange sense of satisfaction for calling Trump out for what he is, it is screaming into the void. It is time to reach into the election handbook for a new and, hopefully, more effective trope to use against him.

Even if he was intentionally Sieg Heilling, it is hardly the best stone to throw at him. He has plausible deniability as so many people end up giving the Nazi salute that it makes the criticism uniquely irrelevant. See Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez found giving the Nazi salute. Here is Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, giving the Nazi salute. If you search long enough you can find most prominent speech givers caught in this pose. It means nothing. Let’s get him on actual policies and not the accidental position of his arm.

The bottom line here is that Musk appears to be innocent of Sieg Heilling. The media are making a big deal out of nothing. This would be OK if the press were held in high esteem but they aren’t. It amplifies an already widely held sentiment that the press will make mountains out of molehills. More importantly it isn’t changing any ones mind and this is what needs to be done. But, by all means, carry on with the same tired strategy and see where that will take us.

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I personally think Musk is not that bright. He has twice, within a short time, fired whole departments and then, after realizing he still needs these people, hiring them back. I question the expertise he might bring to a government office devoted to efficiency. Once is a forgivable mistake but twice would suggest an inability to learn from his mistakes and a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later.

It isn’t as if he couldn’t get help from Human Resources experts. I mean if there is one thing that the corporate world does well is laying people off. That he went ahead with an emotional decision based on his anger at this employees without having a plan for replacing people to do their work is concerning. He is disrupting his employee’s lives and the operation of his company.

Besides being unqualified for the job, he also has the wrong personality for dealing with someone like Trump. Trump needs ass kissers and a really adept ass kisser at that. Trump has a big ego which clashes with Musk who also has a big ego. There isn’t enough room for these two men to be together without one or the other stepping on some toes.

Musk has many many faults but I never got a sycophantic vibe from him. I would hate to be in the room when this breaks down. Wait, I take that back, I would like to be in the room as a spectator only because it is going to be epic. I just will have to remember to duck when objects go flying.

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Elon Musk, ever the gentleman, has offered to impregnate Taylor Swift and defend her cats after she coyly endorsed Kamala Harris for president with a single cat lady joke. Musk thinks he is being humorous and this one almost rises to the level of a smirk but it also draws attention to his own rather bizarre family life.

Musk has 12 kids from three different mothers, only two of whom he has managed to take down the aisle. His approach is simple. He inseminates the women, gives them the money to raise his children and off he goes to the next woman to impregnate. His idea of being a good father is providing his children with DNA and money. He certainly isn’t living with all them or doing simple fatherly tasks like taking them to school, having dinner, and tucking them into bed.

How he fits into being a good father is none of my business until he bangs on about the need for more children in this world. Most men don’t have the billions he has to hire other people to do his fatherly chores. They have to do them all themselves. It would be wise for people who are so concerned about the depopulation of the earth to show how busy men can both be productive individuals while still being a hands-on father. to a brood of 12 children.

Until then, he might shut is gob, even if he is joking, about bringing another child with a distant father into the world.

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Elon Musk linked to a post where the sender (some organization called Autism Capital) states that women and Beta men shouldn’t be active participants in democracy. They are unable to determine if new data is true. Because of this failing, only Alpha men are competent to participate in democracy. Musk finds this post an “interesting observation.”

This would be disturbing if Autism Capital provided any data to show what he was saying is true. He provides nothing but his personal prejudices so I am unable to assess whether what he was saying it true. Which is an interesting oversight for a man who values hard data. Any ordinary mortal would immediately dismiss this as nonsense without absolutely no value whatsoever.

Elon Musk is no ordinary mortal however. Why Elon Musk passed on this pile of bull shit is a mystery. I can only come up with he is desperate for a headline, any headline. Lately, the only way he can get there is stirring shit which is what he is doing here. His cryptic “interesting observation” is a cowardly bit of equivocation especially for such an Alpha man. If he receives any blowback, he can always claim that all I said was that it was interesting. What a big strong man Musk is, right? I can just feel the testosterone oozing from his pores.

The men who subscribe to this idea all seem to think of themselves as Alpha men — based only in their own humble assessment of their Alphaness. I can’t say I am terribly impressed by these Alpha men though. I thought Alpha men had these strong personalities that commanded respect and deference. Yet these smart intelligent men are being outwitted by a bunch malleable people incapable of determining what the truth is. I mean if they can’t outsmart a bunch of women and Beta men, how Alpha can they be? Not very.

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Every gay person’s coming out worry is the reaction of their parent’s. Will they be supportive or will they go bat shit crazy? I was terrified even though I was fairly confident that my parents would be fine and they were. It still scared me and I was in my 30″s. What if they reject me? What would I do? What would I say?

Elon Musk telling the world his child is dead to him because she underwent puberty blockers and transitioned into being a woman is disturbing. He could have kept his mouth shut or say he doesn’t talk about his family publicly. Sadly, he is done with her — she is dead to him.

It sounds very much like the daughter gives as good as she gets which might explain some of Musk’s animosity towards her. The difference is he is in the public eye. When Elon Musk speaks, people listen. Because of this, he has a certain responsibility to speak decently and thoughtfully where she does not. What kind of message is he sending to the world when a parent publicly behaves in such a horrible way towards his own child? How many children had their worst fears confirmed about how their own parents might act because of how Musk acted in disowning his daughter?

Nothing is forcing a person to say unkind things in public. Saying nothing at all delivers a message. It shows people his family is off limits for public consumption and he isn’t going to play that game just to get headlines. He is going to protect his family from the limelight especially when he has trouble with his child’s decision. People in the public eye don’t have to feed the media monster.Giving them what they want only encourages them to get even more. Musk would have done the world a great favor by modeling decent behavior.

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Elon Musk announced his intentions to give $45 million a month to a pro-Trump Super Pac. If he is true to his word, he will, at least, contribute $180 million to the Trump campaign before the election.

Think about it. He has an extra $180 million free dollars to contribute to an election campaign. This is a fairly large sum of money in anyone’s books. Unlike most people, his donation will not be missed in the least bit. He has billions so it doesn’t matter to him if he loses $180 million dollars.

If Trump wins, there is no way that Trump could pay off Musk other than through favors. Even the best person would have difficultly saying no to a man who gave you $180 million and Trump is far from being the best person. To be fair to Trump, in his crooked understanding of wealth, he probably thinks there is nothing wrong with billionaires draining the public trough any way but this makes it ridiculously easy for him to say yes.

More importantly, if Musk has this amount of money, why not divide it among his own employees instead of investing in a political campaign. $180 million divided among the employees of Tesla and Instagram would bring real benefits to his own employees, encourage other rich people to do the same and it spreads the wealth around a bit to people who can then make campaign contributions of their own.

Musk is free to use this money in any way he wanted yet he choose to use this money to support a political action committee. With all his billions, he would rather gamble with a political candidate that may lose than giving more money to his own employees. Spreading the wealth this way would also give some political power to his employees. Now, because he is such a generous leader, these employees might follow his lead and contribute to the pro-Trump Pac or they may choose to give to the Democrats but it wouldn’t be one man using this money to gain more political leverage.

But Musk would much rather spin the wheel with Trump. To get what exactly? More billions? This disproves this oft repeated notion that billionaires will do the right thing with their money if only left alone. Musk would much rather keep the money which also keeps the political power this money can provide strictly within his hands.

If the government took only half of the $180 million, Musk would still have $90 million to contribute to Trump. Wouldn’t it be good for Musk to help pay off the national debt the Republicans are so worried about and it wouldn’t be a bit of a problem for Musk because he wasn’t planning to put the money back into his business and creating in the first place. Win Win, I say.

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In the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing more of Tesla’s Cybertruck. Every time I see it, I have exactly the same response. This has got to be ugliest automobile I have ever seen. My jaw goes slack and I find myself staring it is so damn ugly. There must be good points about the car but I just can’t get past the ugliness.

Thinking I must be missing some modern aesthetic standard, I googled “world’s ugliest car” and sure enough the Cybertruck appeared with discussions on how damn ugly it was. It is reassuring that I have maintained my high standards of beauty but it reopens my concern about the mental state of Elon Musk. What is he thinking and can he be stopped?

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In a serendipitous bit of news, given the growing worry about humans not having enough children, good lord we can’t even have wars any more without a bunch of sniveling parents getting upset about their only child being sent to the front, along comes Elon Musk announcing the birth of his twelfth child. Does Elon Musk have to do everything? I mean the man is running Tesla and X (the company formally known as Instagram) and now he has taking on the burden of repopulating the earth. Is there anything that man can’t do?

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After hearing unpleasant information from one of his executives, Elon Musk makes a snap decision to fire her and all 500 members of her staff. He now is trying to rehire some of them back as they are necessary for his business. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it is because Musk made a similar decision when he acquired Twitter. Which leads to the question, how smart can the man be if he keeps making the same mistake over and over again. Has he learned nothing from his dubious acquisition of Twitter? Apparently not.

This notion that we owe the rich some kind of deference because they are better at making decisions is a myth. The big difference between regular people and Musk is that Musk can afford to make mistakes while the rest of us can not. In this case, how many millions of dollars were lost trying to retrieve people who shouldn’t have been fired in the first place? Well, continue on Elon, your brilliance continues to be disputable.