Tag: Musk
David Milner has already labelled 2022 “annus stupidus”, but 2022 was also a turning point. From Scott Morrison to Christian Porter to Elon Musk, so much stupid was met with so much comeuppance. And for that, we should be thankful. Here are 2022’s top shit-heels getting exactly what they deserve.
For them, and for everyone who still regards them as heroes, there is no morality in business or economics. The winnings go to the most ruthless
Source: Trump, Bankman-Fried and Musk are the monsters of American capitalism | Robert Reich | The Guardian
Soundproofing the Twitter
I got suspended from Twitter yesterday. I’m one of at least eight journalists who were casualties of Elon Musk’s “Thursday Night Massacre,” after the billionaire went on a power-hungry suspension spree. Twitter didn’t explain what rules I allegedly broke — but that’s to be expected under the new management, whose transparency has mostly consisted of Musk personally replying to tweets explaining his decision-making. My suspension is likely temporary, or it could be permanent. Who knows?
Source: Elon Musk Is Taking Aim at Journalists. I’m One of Them.
The myth of Silicon Valley touts the grit and flair of its tech bro champions. But the chaos of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has revealed that there’s no genius or elaborate game of multidimensional chess behind the curtain: just garden-variety capitalists.
Source: Elon Musk Is Destroying the Myths of Silicon Valley in Front of Our Very Eyes
News Max declared the attack “staged” America is a mental minefield and Musk is happy to lay them
It couldn’t possibly be that DePape had been driven to extremes by a firehose diet of lies — all laid out on his personal blog, where he ranted against transgender people and Jewish people, and mucked around in conspiracies, including that an alien race of lizards has infiltrated society, albeit mostly Democrats.
It had to be something else, something the far-right finds abhorrent, even evil. Musk’s post was in response to Hillary Clinton, one of the far-right’s most hated figures. Clinton had tweeted Saturday, attaching a Times article about DePape’s online ravings: “The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow.”
Source: Column: Elon Musk takes Twitter into the sewer – Los Angeles Times
After The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that billionaire Elon Musk proposed to Twitter that he buy the company at his original offer of roughly $44 billion — following months of his attempts to back out of the deal, resulting in a recent lawsuit — many right-wing media personalities celebrated the news and expressed hope that banned users would be allowed back on the social media platform.
Trump will abandon his own failed site and it’s shareholders
Ads account for 90% of Twitter’s revenue, and now that advertisers know exactly what Twitter would look like under Elon Musk’s leadership — they should be terrified
Source: Elon Musk says he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Donald Trump. | Media Matters for America
Musk: The decision to ban Trump from Twitter “was a morally bad decision” and “I would reverse the perma-ban.”
Here comes Trump
With over 82 million followers, Musk has been a prolific Twitter user and a sharp critic of its use of content moderation, saying that he favors temporary suspensions over permanent bans. It remains unclear what changes, technical or philosophical, Musk’s stewardship will bring to the platform. In interviews, he’s floated a series of potential ideas, including installing an edit button, allowing for longer tweets, culling bots, and making Twitter’s algorithm open source.
Money over truth
Conservative commentators use Musk’s investment in Twitter to push for Trump’s return to the platform and rehash old false claims of right-wing censorship on social media
New data shows that Elon Musk’s fortune grew by 750% during the pandemic. It’s not because he worked 750% harder than the rest of us.
Source: US Billionaires Got 70% More Wealth Under COVID. They Didn’t Deserve Any of It.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos want to colonize outer space to save humanity, but they couldn’t care less about protecting the rights of workers here on earth. Musk’s SpaceX just won a $2.9 billion NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, beating out Bezos. The money isn’t a big deal for either of them. Musk is worth $179.7 billion. Bezos, $197.8 billion. Together, that’s almost as much as the bottom 40 percent of Americans combined. And the moon is only their stepping-stone. Musk says SpaceX will land humans on Mars by 2026 and wants to establish a colony by 2050. Its purpose, he says, will be to ensure the continued survival of our species. “If we make life multiplanetary, there may come a day when some plants and animals die out on Earth but are still alive on Mars,” he tweeted.
Source: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk: Uncaring Billionaires Lost in Space | The Smirking Chimp
.jpg)
The problem isn’t only that Elon Musk has a net worth of about $100 billion when tens of millions of Americans are barely getting by. It’s that he’s made this money while treating his workers so badly. His wealth quadrupled during the 4 months Tesla forced all workers to take a 10 percent pay cut.
Citizen Musk | The Smirking Chimp