Kane says as he signs away control of the media empire, "Well I always choked on that silver spoon." Yeah, I'll bet.
Reminder that the encomiums regarding Orrin Hatch last week mostly skipped over the time and effort he spent trying to make Arnold Schwarzenegger President.
At the time a Schwarzenegger presidency seemed like an impossible farce. Compared to what the Republicans are running now, it looks positively statesman-like.
Arnold ran on how he was so much smarter and would not have a problem getting California's deficits under control without raising taxes. To his credit, once he took office and learned how things actually worked, he changed his tune. He actually engaged in the hard work and drudgery of being a governor and fixing problems.
I haven't checked recently, but I would not be surprised to find out he's no longer calling himself a Republican.
Schwarzenegger, who should be praying for forgiveness for his part in destroying our politics, is instead cleverly exploiting the fact that what came after him is so much worse.
Try as he has, he can’t make up for being an awful POTUS.
Iran, Afghanistan, deregulation — three huge disasters in just three years. And those are just the ones that come to mind. Oh, add birthing Islamic terrorism.
Here I thought I was the only one who remembered Hatch's efforts to amend the Constitution to eliminate Article 2 just so Arnold could be president. Hatch worked hard on that, and was a true believer . . . until Obama appeared on the scene. Then it became an inviolable part of the Foundation of America, and it had to be interpreted so narrowly that Obama would be disqualified for being born in Hawaii (not a state at the time) and only having one American parent.
Of course, it couldn't be interpreted sooo narrowly that John McCain--born in Panama--would be excluded.
You see, Ed, it's totally different because Musk will put the gas in the [gas]light[ing].”
I was holding out hope that the birbs would weather the storm, but I've been off there for two years now. It's a scum hole, it's a time-suck -- & my blood pressure & anxiety are much improved as a result.
We'll just wait for Musky to set his Deep One eyeballs on TikTok.
I left the Twitter hellhole a few years ago because the algorithm was just feeding me rage-bait, leading to high blood pressure and hours wasted doomscrolling. I miss about a dozen or so people from that platform, but the rest was absolute garbage. And now Elon is here to make the garbage “better”!
I was banned for saying that the the world would be a vastly better place if anti-vaxxer or the anti-mandate type I was arguing with would win his ultimate freedom and die from an easily mitigated virus. If millions of their fellow freedom fetishists did by their own inaction, we could actually get things done.
Once the annoyance of my ban wore off, I realize the gift I was given.
Sorry, I had to step away for a moment to deactivate my Twitter account and delete the app. Now what we’re you saying about psychopaths and free speech? Oh, yeah, if an oral cavity can modify the sonic vibrations generated by a human’s vocal cords, that (and big piles of money) counts as free speech - facts, logic and morality be damned.
In case anyone's interested, Citizen Kane is available on HBO Max. Or at least it was a few months ago when I watched it again. I managed to make it through the whole thing!
Citizen Kane is of course awesome, but I think it should be shown on a double bill with Out of the Past, as a metaphor for how America can’t escape its doom (e.g., racism, fascists perpetually trying to overthrow the government, almond milk—you know, all the bad stuff).
Has anyone here ever been to San Simeon? I went a couple of years ago and the whole time felt I was viewing a split screen: full color on one side, black and white on the other.
Apr 26, 2022·edited Apr 26, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
Alternative explanation: the way Twitter was working was something that stuck in his craw, for entirely stupid reasons which seemed like brilliant insights to Elon Dunning Kruegerand Musk, so he took some money out of his petty cash fund to dislodge it.
Just doing some math here, Musk spending $45 billion out of his estimated $270 billion net worth on Twitter is the equivalent of me buying a twenty year old Miata because it's Spring.
I’m agnostic on your “Musk wants to be President” pitch -- but only because I believe his ultimate goal is power and attention without too much scrutiny, and he may believe he can gain that without the presumed accountability inherent in the Oval Office. Sure, Trump wasn’t accountable, but he WAS scrutinized. Musk is at bottom a fuck up: his respirators are C-PAPs, his fancy cars crash, his “offer” to end world hunger fizzled when presented with an actual plan. Don’t get me started on Space X. So I would imagine he knows real, intense scrutiny is his kryptonite. His ego is certainly big enough – the man seems to believe he actually invented the concept of “tunnels” – but I think that may be trumped (pardon the expression) by his casual, ambient laziness. Which makes sense since he hasn’t really worked a day in his life.
None of this means you’re wrong, and in lots of ways he fits the profile of the kind of substance-free clown -- always convinced he knows what’s best, and that might makes right – GOP voters swoon over. They’ve never met an arrogant asshole they didn’t love.
I'm with Roy on this. POTUS is another notch on the narcissist's bedpost. He's as entitled and lazy as Trump, and no doubt feels that because he's a REAL billionaire he can get around the scrutiny thing better than Trump did.
What America needs is an elected King, which would be a purely ceremonial position that would draw in the rich narcissists and spare the presidency from all their nonsense.
They're really very much alike, and I don't have any faith that Musk is smart enough to spot all the ways that a presidency is a bad idea, just as Trump never did. And yes, this is me saying I think he's so sold on his own exceptionalism that he will obliviously wander into traps Trump already sprung in full view of the entire globe. I don't think he's stupider than Trump, I just think he thinks he's smarter. And we're gonna keep seeing this, as rich people mistake luck for success.
I suppose Trump made the presidency more attractive to billionaires, because he made it clear(er) that you don't have to actually do the job. You can, just like a car dealer who buys himself an ambassadorial appointment, let the staff do all the work.
Elon Musk deserves to be President because he's more American than you Americans who have forgotten our cherished principle of free speech, which can be summed up thusly: Nazis -- let's hear them out.
You may be right about his presidential aspirations. As a business decision, it looks like Musk's expensive acquisition sucks -- it's no wonder Twitter shareholders jumped at it. Besides, Twitter doesn't seem all that difficult to replicate by somebody competent.
In a world where, still hard to believe, Donald fucking Trump was President of the United States for four years and might be again, predictions about politics or anything else are moot. I don't doubt Musk wants to be President of the World and, who knows, maybe one day a Tesla will ram Air Force One*, but the only way I see the MAGAts falling for him is if he shoots a few billion into Trump's lap for his imprimatur. We'll see if we live so long. Lucky us.
I do appreciate that you called him "Musk" throughout this piece. I'm reading stuff even by non-techbros who should know better that refer to him as "Elon", like we're all best buds or something. Must be a product of our age. I somehow doubt the rags of the time wrote Tesla puff pieces about "Nicky".
There's an advantage to having a name that hardly anybody else has. But I fear there's a flood of little Elons working their way towards us from preschool (teachers see first-hand how names pass through our population in waves, when you get a class with four Kayleighs.)
The way Collinsworth and McGuire refer to all the star QBs by their first names, like they hang out as best buds, while referring to all other players by their last names, journalistic style.
Apr 26, 2022·edited Apr 26, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
I laughed out loud at" Jewhunter7274 and HelicopterRidesLOL" started to feel bad but then I figured fuck it- funny is funny.
I'm sure you're right about Musk. Whenever you start thinking " this guy would make a terrible president" these days I can just about bet the asshole is going to turn up on the ballot somewhere.
You would think with the proliferation of Criterion, all the streaming services and the websites devoted to classic film that maybe everyone's knowledge of film , and consequently the society's knowledge of film would have significantly increased. Evidently not . Mostly it's the same foundational set of knowledge and ideas we've been working with since shortly after each of the films were released plus a million and one halfwit bullshit poser hot takes.
Maybe it's too easy see and read about and discuss classic films. I had to spend years reading through my local libraries admittedly very good film section two books at a time (that's all they would let anybody take)The first time I watched the Yojimbo was on a 12 inch black and white set with a coat hanger for rabbit ears. (It seemed to be snowing in Japan .) When I was a junior in high school I drove from my house to the OSU campus, trip of about 60 miles, to go to a showing of " The Rules of the Game." It snowed pretty heavily on the trip over and while I was in the movie it turned to freezing rain that covered everything with an inch of ice.
I was the only one in the theater except for two drunk couples they completely ignored the film and talked and laughed all the way through it . I sat right down the front to get away from their noise . Thank God for subtitles.
It took me almost two and a half hours to drive home. I was driving my mom's Pinto station wagon I managed to spin around completely two different times on the interstate. I got off the interstate and took these narrow country roads, driving 25 the whole way.I figured I was going to be in deep shit when I got home. Fortunately everyone was in bed and nobody knew I came home after midnight .
Funny, I didn't like the film the first time through. I re-watched it 20 years later after I knew some shit and now it's one of my favorite films.
Once I got to WSU in Dayton, the Little Art in YSO was the go to for those kind of movies. Everything from Yojimbo to Red River, which now that I think of it weren't so far apart as they seemed at the time.
Ah yes, the Pinto station wagon. The non-exploding Pinto as I recall.
Apr 26, 2022·edited Apr 26, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
I saw Alphaville and all the b&w Bergman films at The Little Art. Marx Brother's double features. Early Fassbinder films. Battle of the Algiers and Burn as a double feature.
One night I drank my dinner at the Olde Trail , went to se Papillon with some friends. I passed out and woke up, alone, several hours later in the dark closed theatre. I went out the emergency exit. Then I wandered around downtown for half an hour looking for my car.
My husband had one of those when I married him because he needed the room for geology field work. In its last years I had to roll down the window in order to close the driver's door, use my left hand to lift the door frame while my right pulled the door closed.
Now that's devotion! I don't know if our having to work harder to see great movies counts for very much in the long run, but it is interesting that with all the services available kids still don't give a shit about anything in black and white.
Eh, you put more thought into Musk buying twitter than Musk did, Roy. He’ll try to monetize it, destroy it in the process, and end up selling it for peanuts. His only talent is shooting shit into space (would that he do it to himself), everything else he touches turns to dust.
I agree, mostly because Musky (yeah stolen get in the appropriate line to sue me) knows better than to waste his precious time farting around with the actual doing of presidential stuff. So the Twit is more a plaything than a ploy.
I've read a few Musk (or Zuck, or whoever) will save the presidency from itself articles that obviously fall short on the believability index. And the Clause is a genuine barrier if only because of the paranoia that changing the doc at all in any way will break the nation.
Can you see an actual Musk campaign? What a shitshow that would be. Trump was able to get away with it, because unlike Musk, he had 15 seasons of being a TV store and convincing a large swath of idiots that he actually was a successful businessman, and not just playing one on TV. I doubt that Twitter really had much to do with him winning the election, other than the Russian accounts that boosted him and trashed his rivals, because the people who believe that TV "reality" shows are real are a different group from the people who believe that Twitter is real life.
It might be possible, I think the trick would be to expose people to as little Elon Musk as possible.
But more generally, people who claim that "Trump proved that any asshole can be President" haven't done a thorough enough study of assholes, which come in all shapes and sizes, some of which are more electable than others.
Apr 26, 2022·edited Apr 26, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
I expect no significant change from Musk ownership, if it in fact happens.
Such censorship or cancelling or whatever Twitter exercises is mostly a cowardly, proven incompetent management fearful of liability from seeming to okay or endorse toxic stuff that would never happen. Even without 230 but as a practical matter, that toxic shit the PTB are concerned about pretty much limited to those actively looking for it or follow feeds that would spew that garbage. But by and by, it’s not fed to a user any way like it’s forced on people as Facebook does.
And while the deal is a safe bet of going through, that the board apparently didn’t push for a higher price and hasn’t seemed to look for an alternative buyer opens things up to possible litigation -- again, that’s possible, not likely. So we don’t have quite a done deal exactly. Yet. (I know; the media are mostly ignoring it; doesn’t make me wrong, just means it’ll be at least a couple of days before I’m proven wrong.
As for Article II, well, snicker that. Who would do anything about it and if anyone world, the highest court in the land has the precedent of Bush v Gore to appoint Musk. I suppose that silly case holding it illegal to shout fire in a crowded theater is also as go as obsoleted.
Flash bulletin! As I was typing this, a notification popped on the screen that Jack Dorsey said that Musk buying Twitter is the “singular solution I trust”. Note that that’s the opinion of someone who’s running of the company can correctly be characterized as incompetent including but not limited to setting up an equally if not more incompetent and unfit board of directors. That said, sure, I guess going private is better than being a public company for now but dunno that Musk is the right private owner. God help me for ever referencing such motherfuckers but I think a private equity firm interested in turning the company around -- that is, turn it into a profitable company -- is the best solution. Or second best; best of course turning it into a public utility after the socialist revolution that is never going to happen.
But over all, this is just a meh story. Interesting enough but meh.
"Flash bulletin! As I was typing this, a notification popped on the screen that Jack Dorsey said that Musk buying Twitter is the “singular solution I trust”."
1)Dorsey's lickspittling is the downdate (can't bring myself to call it "up"). 2)Your overall argument countered mine somewhere up above, in a semi-convincing way.
My record of failed political predictions (basically, after whatever happens, my usual response is "Surprised, but not shocked"...or was that "Shocked, but not surprised"...) should be a warning to any and all: What I say, believe otherwise til proved I was accidentally correct.
It's a stupid requirement, and I'd get behind repealing it myself if attempts to do so weren't always attached to such loathsome people. Anyway, when the constitutional amendment gets written and passed around the states, I wouldn't be surprised to see some progressive support for it, whatever people think of Musk.
The provision was passed and incorporated long ago. But if tested anytime in the next couple of decades, it’s likely to be ignored, that is, won’t be controlling as long as the person at issue is a Republican.
If by "the provision," we mean the Natural-Born Citizen clause, it was "passed and incorporated" back in 1789, as part of the original text of the Constitution. The "who could enforce it" question is real -- the case law is pretty clear that ordinary citizens can't being suit in federal-court to kick putative presidential candidates off the ballot; they're held to lack standing. But that still leaves federal-court suits filed by other candidates (including other Repub candidates), and suits in state court. The fact of Bush v Gore can lead people to throw their hands up and say "constitutional law never matters if you're a Republican," but that's way oversimplified -- as was demonstrated in Dec 2020 by the Supreme Court's unanimously rejecting the attempt to reinstate Trump via the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit. In this instance, Musk's biggest problem wouldn't even be the US Supreme Court; it would be lawsuits filed in every contestable state seeking to kick him off the ballot in that state, and at least some of those lawsuits would succeed. Unlike Cruz et al., it's not as if he has even a colorable argument on the merits.
The Robert’s court is rich with disregard for precedents, the rule of law, etc. So referencing an exception to the rule makes my case, not yours.
And I’m not sure about all those predicted lawsuits to keep him off ballots actually happening. And then all he has to do is appeal one up to SCOTUS and who knows. They’d probably first determine if he’s too popular to block regardless of the law.
Understanding the Supreme Court (and understanding the rules governing the sorts of cases we’re discussing) is a big part of my day job. The Supreme Court has played fast and loose with precedent in a bunch of ways, but in the areas we’re discussing it has, in fact, rejected Republican claims that are too hard to square with ruling law. If you look at that law, you’ll see good reason to think [1] the Court will not entertain a suit in federal court by an ordinary citizen trying to throw Musk off the ballot; [2] the Court will probably entertain a case in federal court by a competing candidate, but there’s some chance that it wouldn’t; [3] the Court would almost certainly not overturn a state or state-court decision not to allow Musk on the ballot in that state. I understand that this won’t convince you if you won’t budge from “the Court does whatever it feels like,” but stuff’s actually more complicated.
Not sure that he would be bumped off a primary ballot and now that I think about, Ted Cruz faced no such suit. And yeah, maybe if Musk got the nomination he could be sued off the ballot. Maybe. And maybe SCOTUS can’t be trusted to decide correctly no matter how clear the law is.
After Bush v Gore and Shelby County to name just two decisions, I don’t expect the Roberts court to ever do the right thing because the law requires it.
What does "singular solution" mean? Unless now that Dorsey is unemployed, he got a gig as a Cingular cell phone service spokesman and autocorrect once again proves who really rules the Internet... I got nothin.
If a CEO’s job is to manage for profit and assemble a board of directors of any value, Dorsey is one of the great failures in tech. So his word is worth ~💩
As I said, god help, the best thing would be private equity and an LBO.
I'm inclined to figure "singular solution" is meant as dog whistle to everyone who walks around thinking pro-"final solution" thoughts. Woohoo, the Nazis are coming back to the public square! Finally we can hash out whether their ideas are the best or not!
And sorry to be pedantic, but any mathematician will tell you that "singular solutions" are exactly what you DON'T want, because a singularity usually means you're dividing by zero (translate that back into Musk's situation however you want.) There's a rather large part of quantum physics (which I don't understand AT ALL) which is solely dedicated to REMOVING singular solutions (translate that back into Musk's situation however you want.)
Gotta get the rest of that quote in, as it so perfectly sums up Dorsey's bullshit, pseudo-metaphysical, thechbro-airgy-fairy frame of reference: "I trust (Musk's) mission to extend the light of consciousness."
Love it. Reminds me of Carlos Santana's answer when Clive Davis asked him why he wanted to come to Arista and make an album: "I want to expand the molecules of light".
Actually, the full quote has a small underlying point: that Twitter needs to be privately owned. For Dorsey, Musk is the best choice for that. Me, I think Musk makes any private equity operation look better than he.
On the chance that changes to the business model — i.e. to become regularly profitable in order to stay in business — without Wall Street interference.
I have no explanation to offer, but I hope: 1) people flee Twitter in large numbers (f&*k if I'll use it after Musk takes over); 2) Musk loses money hand over fist on this deal (he heavily borrowed to buy Twitter); and 3) he ends up sleeping under a bridge panhandling. I know the last is highly unlikely, but I really hate Musk's guts.
"not actual, competent tech workers but surly youngish males who know nothing except tech (and that mainly through User Experiences), think NFTs and crypto are the dawning of the Age of Aquarius..."
Surely you meant to say "Age of Virgo" (which will have to stand in for Incel here)
"he was born to real estate agents in Sandusky, Ohio, as sort of a reverse birther thing"
Yeah, that would cause me to crawl back up the birth canal too.
Love this, but the Art. II problem really does seem intractable. It'll take (among other things) affirmative votes from the legislatures of 38 states to enable him to run. That's not happening by 2024, and even by 2028 which of {California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, NY, Oregon, RI, Washington} do we figure is going to go for it?
The argument you'll hear is that prohibiting immigrants from holding public office is racist, and repealing the restriction is the progressive thing to do. The question is whether enough liberals and progressives are willing to overlook their dislike of Musk (and do they all dislike Musk? I don't know) to vote their principles.
Musk has made sure that they all do, and that they'll vote against a measure designed to help him become President. (Once he lets Trump back in, they'll hate him even more.) There's no greater self-harm in the history of branding than Musk's having made liberals despise an electric car company.
Yeah, that's probably why this "native born" thing has survived as long as it has, efforts to repeal never come up without being attached to some specific person, who half the country inevitably hates.
They haven't bothered with arguments so far, why start on this? They'll just keep yelling that blocking Musk from running is un-American until Justice Boof says I don't see a problem here, let The People decide. There's far more Americans who see The Presidency as a reality show than vote their principles.
Kane says as he signs away control of the media empire, "Well I always choked on that silver spoon." Yeah, I'll bet.
Reminder that the encomiums regarding Orrin Hatch last week mostly skipped over the time and effort he spent trying to make Arnold Schwarzenegger President.
At the time a Schwarzenegger presidency seemed like an impossible farce. Compared to what the Republicans are running now, it looks positively statesman-like.
Arnold ran on how he was so much smarter and would not have a problem getting California's deficits under control without raising taxes. To his credit, once he took office and learned how things actually worked, he changed his tune. He actually engaged in the hard work and drudgery of being a governor and fixing problems.
I haven't checked recently, but I would not be surprised to find out he's no longer calling himself a Republican.
Schwarzenegger, who should be praying for forgiveness for his part in destroying our politics, is instead cleverly exploiting the fact that what came after him is so much worse.
Hearting as a crusty old (temporarily displaced) Californian...
He's kind of like the Jimmy Carter of Governors, in that his ex-governorship is so much easier to watch than his actual governorship.
Gotta say, I kinda liked his smoking tent. Was a Big Tent, for smoking...
Jimmy Carter, so far as I know, has never been accused of sexual harassment.
except in his heart, sort of ... according to his Playboy interview
Try as he has, he can’t make up for being an awful POTUS.
Iran, Afghanistan, deregulation — three huge disasters in just three years. And those are just the ones that come to mind. Oh, add birthing Islamic terrorism.
Here I thought I was the only one who remembered Hatch's efforts to amend the Constitution to eliminate Article 2 just so Arnold could be president. Hatch worked hard on that, and was a true believer . . . until Obama appeared on the scene. Then it became an inviolable part of the Foundation of America, and it had to be interpreted so narrowly that Obama would be disqualified for being born in Hawaii (not a state at the time) and only having one American parent.
Of course, it couldn't be interpreted sooo narrowly that John McCain--born in Panama--would be excluded.
If Elon gets around Article 2, at least there will be an admittedly small and ultimately useless shot of glee that he beat Ted Cruz to it.
Gosh, Constutishimal Law sure is complicated when the only possible outcome is the one desired by the Republican party.
I'da think that is the One True Uncomplicated Way. Just drain the swamp, and VIOLA!
The spoon that the infant Musk was fed with was made of the purest Rhodium.
Rhodesium
You see, Ed, it's totally different because Musk will put the gas in the [gas]light[ing].”
I was holding out hope that the birbs would weather the storm, but I've been off there for two years now. It's a scum hole, it's a time-suck -- & my blood pressure & anxiety are much improved as a result.
We'll just wait for Musky to set his Deep One eyeballs on TikTok.
I left the Twitter hellhole a few years ago because the algorithm was just feeding me rage-bait, leading to high blood pressure and hours wasted doomscrolling. I miss about a dozen or so people from that platform, but the rest was absolute garbage. And now Elon is here to make the garbage “better”!
I was banned for saying that the the world would be a vastly better place if anti-vaxxer or the anti-mandate type I was arguing with would win his ultimate freedom and die from an easily mitigated virus. If millions of their fellow freedom fetishists did by their own inaction, we could actually get things done.
Once the annoyance of my ban wore off, I realize the gift I was given.
Well, it's a good thing there's no uncontrolled global pandemic and we can all go freely socialize outside at will.
Fuck Bill Gates, I'm gonna start blaming the techbros for this.
I too got spanked for using the d word.
Sorry, I had to step away for a moment to deactivate my Twitter account and delete the app. Now what we’re you saying about psychopaths and free speech? Oh, yeah, if an oral cavity can modify the sonic vibrations generated by a human’s vocal cords, that (and big piles of money) counts as free speech - facts, logic and morality be damned.
In case anyone's interested, Citizen Kane is available on HBO Max. Or at least it was a few months ago when I watched it again. I managed to make it through the whole thing!
Citizen Kane is of course awesome, but I think it should be shown on a double bill with Out of the Past, as a metaphor for how America can’t escape its doom (e.g., racism, fascists perpetually trying to overthrow the government, almond milk—you know, all the bad stuff).
Has anyone here ever been to San Simeon? I went a couple of years ago and the whole time felt I was viewing a split screen: full color on one side, black and white on the other.
We went there once. Simultaneously beautiful, tacky, and supremely weird.
Did you go at night? That was all the above and MORE!
Ditto.
Alternative explanation: the way Twitter was working was something that stuck in his craw, for entirely stupid reasons which seemed like brilliant insights to Elon Dunning Kruegerand Musk, so he took some money out of his petty cash fund to dislodge it.
"Dunning Kruegerand" I'm going to pretend I didn't read that so I can steal it , eventually without shame.
So much of living a successful life these days depends on one's ability to lie to one's self.
"Dunning Kruegerand" -- Me too!
"Dunning Krugerrand" Literally true in his case, what with those Family Blood Emeralds.
It's not like that hasn't been around for several years, so I would say use to your hearts content
Like billcinsd said, unfortunately not mine.
Everybody's expected to be a salesperson now, and the prime attribute of sales is the absolute belief in your own BS.
Just doing some math here, Musk spending $45 billion out of his estimated $270 billion net worth on Twitter is the equivalent of me buying a twenty year old Miata because it's Spring.
Right! And when you run for president, you've got my vote (s) (!)
I read that as manifestation of a weird fetish for Miata springs...
That amounts to 1/6th of his net worth. The Miata is worth $6000 to $9000, which makes your net worth in the $35,000 to $55,000 range
Yeah, sounds about right. Sigh.
Sorry, my husband beat y'all to the Dunning Kruegerrand punch a few years ago.
I’m agnostic on your “Musk wants to be President” pitch -- but only because I believe his ultimate goal is power and attention without too much scrutiny, and he may believe he can gain that without the presumed accountability inherent in the Oval Office. Sure, Trump wasn’t accountable, but he WAS scrutinized. Musk is at bottom a fuck up: his respirators are C-PAPs, his fancy cars crash, his “offer” to end world hunger fizzled when presented with an actual plan. Don’t get me started on Space X. So I would imagine he knows real, intense scrutiny is his kryptonite. His ego is certainly big enough – the man seems to believe he actually invented the concept of “tunnels” – but I think that may be trumped (pardon the expression) by his casual, ambient laziness. Which makes sense since he hasn’t really worked a day in his life.
None of this means you’re wrong, and in lots of ways he fits the profile of the kind of substance-free clown -- always convinced he knows what’s best, and that might makes right – GOP voters swoon over. They’ve never met an arrogant asshole they didn’t love.
I'm with Roy on this. POTUS is another notch on the narcissist's bedpost. He's as entitled and lazy as Trump, and no doubt feels that because he's a REAL billionaire he can get around the scrutiny thing better than Trump did.
What America needs is an elected King, which would be a purely ceremonial position that would draw in the rich narcissists and spare the presidency from all their nonsense.
Also handy because we get a list of the first guys to guillotine after the revolution.
I agree with you. Too much scrutiny, too much work, not enough ability (yet) to jail reporters who annoy him and state AGs who go after him.
They're really very much alike, and I don't have any faith that Musk is smart enough to spot all the ways that a presidency is a bad idea, just as Trump never did. And yes, this is me saying I think he's so sold on his own exceptionalism that he will obliviously wander into traps Trump already sprung in full view of the entire globe. I don't think he's stupider than Trump, I just think he thinks he's smarter. And we're gonna keep seeing this, as rich people mistake luck for success.
I think you’re right. And given the model of Trump, who needs a tedious career in public service?
I suppose Trump made the presidency more attractive to billionaires, because he made it clear(er) that you don't have to actually do the job. You can, just like a car dealer who buys himself an ambassadorial appointment, let the staff do all the work.
Elon Musk deserves to be President because he's more American than you Americans who have forgotten our cherished principle of free speech, which can be summed up thusly: Nazis -- let's hear them out.
You may be right about his presidential aspirations. As a business decision, it looks like Musk's expensive acquisition sucks -- it's no wonder Twitter shareholders jumped at it. Besides, Twitter doesn't seem all that difficult to replicate by somebody competent.
https://fortune.com/2022/04/25/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-purchase-business-challenges/
In a world where, still hard to believe, Donald fucking Trump was President of the United States for four years and might be again, predictions about politics or anything else are moot. I don't doubt Musk wants to be President of the World and, who knows, maybe one day a Tesla will ram Air Force One*, but the only way I see the MAGAts falling for him is if he shoots a few billion into Trump's lap for his imprimatur. We'll see if we live so long. Lucky us.
I do appreciate that you called him "Musk" throughout this piece. I'm reading stuff even by non-techbros who should know better that refer to him as "Elon", like we're all best buds or something. Must be a product of our age. I somehow doubt the rags of the time wrote Tesla puff pieces about "Nicky".
*https://twitter.com/Phylan/status/1517507755162148864
I’ve seen him referred to as “Feline Musk.”
Or it's all sport, and they call him "Elon" the way fans would refer to "Kareem," "Magic," "Steph," etc.
There's an advantage to having a name that hardly anybody else has. But I fear there's a flood of little Elons working their way towards us from preschool (teachers see first-hand how names pass through our population in waves, when you get a class with four Kayleighs.)
The way Collinsworth and McGuire refer to all the star QBs by their first names, like they hang out as best buds, while referring to all other players by their last names, journalistic style.
I laughed out loud at" Jewhunter7274 and HelicopterRidesLOL" started to feel bad but then I figured fuck it- funny is funny.
I'm sure you're right about Musk. Whenever you start thinking " this guy would make a terrible president" these days I can just about bet the asshole is going to turn up on the ballot somewhere.
You would think with the proliferation of Criterion, all the streaming services and the websites devoted to classic film that maybe everyone's knowledge of film , and consequently the society's knowledge of film would have significantly increased. Evidently not . Mostly it's the same foundational set of knowledge and ideas we've been working with since shortly after each of the films were released plus a million and one halfwit bullshit poser hot takes.
Maybe it's too easy see and read about and discuss classic films. I had to spend years reading through my local libraries admittedly very good film section two books at a time (that's all they would let anybody take)The first time I watched the Yojimbo was on a 12 inch black and white set with a coat hanger for rabbit ears. (It seemed to be snowing in Japan .) When I was a junior in high school I drove from my house to the OSU campus, trip of about 60 miles, to go to a showing of " The Rules of the Game." It snowed pretty heavily on the trip over and while I was in the movie it turned to freezing rain that covered everything with an inch of ice.
I was the only one in the theater except for two drunk couples they completely ignored the film and talked and laughed all the way through it . I sat right down the front to get away from their noise . Thank God for subtitles.
It took me almost two and a half hours to drive home. I was driving my mom's Pinto station wagon I managed to spin around completely two different times on the interstate. I got off the interstate and took these narrow country roads, driving 25 the whole way.I figured I was going to be in deep shit when I got home. Fortunately everyone was in bed and nobody knew I came home after midnight .
Funny, I didn't like the film the first time through. I re-watched it 20 years later after I knew some shit and now it's one of my favorite films.
Once I got to WSU in Dayton, the Little Art in YSO was the go to for those kind of movies. Everything from Yojimbo to Red River, which now that I think of it weren't so far apart as they seemed at the time.
Ah yes, the Pinto station wagon. The non-exploding Pinto as I recall.
I saw Alphaville and all the b&w Bergman films at The Little Art. Marx Brother's double features. Early Fassbinder films. Battle of the Algiers and Burn as a double feature.
One night I drank my dinner at the Olde Trail , went to se Papillon with some friends. I passed out and woke up, alone, several hours later in the dark closed theatre. I went out the emergency exit. Then I wandered around downtown for half an hour looking for my car.
Those were the days my friend.
My husband had one of those when I married him because he needed the room for geology field work. In its last years I had to roll down the window in order to close the driver's door, use my left hand to lift the door frame while my right pulled the door closed.
Now that's devotion! I don't know if our having to work harder to see great movies counts for very much in the long run, but it is interesting that with all the services available kids still don't give a shit about anything in black and white.
It's me! I'm the kids!
Sorry, it's like e-readers. My brain just doesn't work like that, and I'm afraid to break the few ways it still does work by pushing.
You hate kids, so I doubt you're the kids
Jewhunter should be 8845 not 7274
Or JewHunter1488
consequently the society's knowledge of film would have significantly increased.
well, except that the internet has destroyed most people's ability to form long term memories
Eh, you put more thought into Musk buying twitter than Musk did, Roy. He’ll try to monetize it, destroy it in the process, and end up selling it for peanuts. His only talent is shooting shit into space (would that he do it to himself), everything else he touches turns to dust.
I agree, mostly because Musky (yeah stolen get in the appropriate line to sue me) knows better than to waste his precious time farting around with the actual doing of presidential stuff. So the Twit is more a plaything than a ploy.
I've read a few Musk (or Zuck, or whoever) will save the presidency from itself articles that obviously fall short on the believability index. And the Clause is a genuine barrier if only because of the paranoia that changing the doc at all in any way will break the nation.
Can you see an actual Musk campaign? What a shitshow that would be. Trump was able to get away with it, because unlike Musk, he had 15 seasons of being a TV store and convincing a large swath of idiots that he actually was a successful businessman, and not just playing one on TV. I doubt that Twitter really had much to do with him winning the election, other than the Russian accounts that boosted him and trashed his rivals, because the people who believe that TV "reality" shows are real are a different group from the people who believe that Twitter is real life.
It might be possible, I think the trick would be to expose people to as little Elon Musk as possible.
But more generally, people who claim that "Trump proved that any asshole can be President" haven't done a thorough enough study of assholes, which come in all shapes and sizes, some of which are more electable than others.
I expect no significant change from Musk ownership, if it in fact happens.
Such censorship or cancelling or whatever Twitter exercises is mostly a cowardly, proven incompetent management fearful of liability from seeming to okay or endorse toxic stuff that would never happen. Even without 230 but as a practical matter, that toxic shit the PTB are concerned about pretty much limited to those actively looking for it or follow feeds that would spew that garbage. But by and by, it’s not fed to a user any way like it’s forced on people as Facebook does.
And while the deal is a safe bet of going through, that the board apparently didn’t push for a higher price and hasn’t seemed to look for an alternative buyer opens things up to possible litigation -- again, that’s possible, not likely. So we don’t have quite a done deal exactly. Yet. (I know; the media are mostly ignoring it; doesn’t make me wrong, just means it’ll be at least a couple of days before I’m proven wrong.
As for Article II, well, snicker that. Who would do anything about it and if anyone world, the highest court in the land has the precedent of Bush v Gore to appoint Musk. I suppose that silly case holding it illegal to shout fire in a crowded theater is also as go as obsoleted.
Flash bulletin! As I was typing this, a notification popped on the screen that Jack Dorsey said that Musk buying Twitter is the “singular solution I trust”. Note that that’s the opinion of someone who’s running of the company can correctly be characterized as incompetent including but not limited to setting up an equally if not more incompetent and unfit board of directors. That said, sure, I guess going private is better than being a public company for now but dunno that Musk is the right private owner. God help me for ever referencing such motherfuckers but I think a private equity firm interested in turning the company around -- that is, turn it into a profitable company -- is the best solution. Or second best; best of course turning it into a public utility after the socialist revolution that is never going to happen.
But over all, this is just a meh story. Interesting enough but meh.
This is pretty convincing!
Thanks for the downdate. I might reassess my profundity.
Huh?
Gotta be clear and spell it out for us dotards.
"Flash bulletin! As I was typing this, a notification popped on the screen that Jack Dorsey said that Musk buying Twitter is the “singular solution I trust”."
1)Dorsey's lickspittling is the downdate (can't bring myself to call it "up"). 2)Your overall argument countered mine somewhere up above, in a semi-convincing way.
My record of failed political predictions (basically, after whatever happens, my usual response is "Surprised, but not shocked"...or was that "Shocked, but not surprised"...) should be a warning to any and all: What I say, believe otherwise til proved I was accidentally correct.
It's a stupid requirement, and I'd get behind repealing it myself if attempts to do so weren't always attached to such loathsome people. Anyway, when the constitutional amendment gets written and passed around the states, I wouldn't be surprised to see some progressive support for it, whatever people think of Musk.
The provision was passed and incorporated long ago. But if tested anytime in the next couple of decades, it’s likely to be ignored, that is, won’t be controlling as long as the person at issue is a Republican.
If by "the provision," we mean the Natural-Born Citizen clause, it was "passed and incorporated" back in 1789, as part of the original text of the Constitution. The "who could enforce it" question is real -- the case law is pretty clear that ordinary citizens can't being suit in federal-court to kick putative presidential candidates off the ballot; they're held to lack standing. But that still leaves federal-court suits filed by other candidates (including other Repub candidates), and suits in state court. The fact of Bush v Gore can lead people to throw their hands up and say "constitutional law never matters if you're a Republican," but that's way oversimplified -- as was demonstrated in Dec 2020 by the Supreme Court's unanimously rejecting the attempt to reinstate Trump via the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit. In this instance, Musk's biggest problem wouldn't even be the US Supreme Court; it would be lawsuits filed in every contestable state seeking to kick him off the ballot in that state, and at least some of those lawsuits would succeed. Unlike Cruz et al., it's not as if he has even a colorable argument on the merits.
The Robert’s court is rich with disregard for precedents, the rule of law, etc. So referencing an exception to the rule makes my case, not yours.
And I’m not sure about all those predicted lawsuits to keep him off ballots actually happening. And then all he has to do is appeal one up to SCOTUS and who knows. They’d probably first determine if he’s too popular to block regardless of the law.
Understanding the Supreme Court (and understanding the rules governing the sorts of cases we’re discussing) is a big part of my day job. The Supreme Court has played fast and loose with precedent in a bunch of ways, but in the areas we’re discussing it has, in fact, rejected Republican claims that are too hard to square with ruling law. If you look at that law, you’ll see good reason to think [1] the Court will not entertain a suit in federal court by an ordinary citizen trying to throw Musk off the ballot; [2] the Court will probably entertain a case in federal court by a competing candidate, but there’s some chance that it wouldn’t; [3] the Court would almost certainly not overturn a state or state-court decision not to allow Musk on the ballot in that state. I understand that this won’t convince you if you won’t budge from “the Court does whatever it feels like,” but stuff’s actually more complicated.
I HATE complicated stuff.
COMPLEXITY, OTOH, gimme summa that!
Not sure that he would be bumped off a primary ballot and now that I think about, Ted Cruz faced no such suit. And yeah, maybe if Musk got the nomination he could be sued off the ballot. Maybe. And maybe SCOTUS can’t be trusted to decide correctly no matter how clear the law is.
Actually, I know all that, was just simplifying.
After Bush v Gore and Shelby County to name just two decisions, I don’t expect the Roberts court to ever do the right thing because the law requires it.
What does "singular solution" mean? Unless now that Dorsey is unemployed, he got a gig as a Cingular cell phone service spokesman and autocorrect once again proves who really rules the Internet... I got nothin.
If a CEO’s job is to manage for profit and assemble a board of directors of any value, Dorsey is one of the great failures in tech. So his word is worth ~💩
As I said, god help, the best thing would be private equity and an LBO.
Now I've got that lyric from "A Chorus Line" running through my brain:
One, singular sensation, every little step she takes...
SAME.
Make it STOP!
I'm inclined to figure "singular solution" is meant as dog whistle to everyone who walks around thinking pro-"final solution" thoughts. Woohoo, the Nazis are coming back to the public square! Finally we can hash out whether their ideas are the best or not!
And sorry to be pedantic, but any mathematician will tell you that "singular solutions" are exactly what you DON'T want, because a singularity usually means you're dividing by zero (translate that back into Musk's situation however you want.) There's a rather large part of quantum physics (which I don't understand AT ALL) which is solely dedicated to REMOVING singular solutions (translate that back into Musk's situation however you want.)
Gotta get the rest of that quote in, as it so perfectly sums up Dorsey's bullshit, pseudo-metaphysical, thechbro-airgy-fairy frame of reference: "I trust (Musk's) mission to extend the light of consciousness."
Love it. Reminds me of Carlos Santana's answer when Clive Davis asked him why he wanted to come to Arista and make an album: "I want to expand the molecules of light".
Dammit, rich people get all the best drugs.
Actually, the full quote has a small underlying point: that Twitter needs to be privately owned. For Dorsey, Musk is the best choice for that. Me, I think Musk makes any private equity operation look better than he.
Why does Twitter need to be privately owned?
On the chance that changes to the business model — i.e. to become regularly profitable in order to stay in business — without Wall Street interference.
What does God want with a starship?
I have no explanation to offer, but I hope: 1) people flee Twitter in large numbers (f&*k if I'll use it after Musk takes over); 2) Musk loses money hand over fist on this deal (he heavily borrowed to buy Twitter); and 3) he ends up sleeping under a bridge panhandling. I know the last is highly unlikely, but I really hate Musk's guts.
"not actual, competent tech workers but surly youngish males who know nothing except tech (and that mainly through User Experiences), think NFTs and crypto are the dawning of the Age of Aquarius..."
Surely you meant to say "Age of Virgo" (which will have to stand in for Incel here)
"he was born to real estate agents in Sandusky, Ohio, as sort of a reverse birther thing"
Yeah, that would cause me to crawl back up the birth canal too.
I've never heard him give an actual speech. Has anyone else? Is that still a requirement for Presidential campaigns?
Well, speeches is free, so that would appeal to him...
Love this, but the Art. II problem really does seem intractable. It'll take (among other things) affirmative votes from the legislatures of 38 states to enable him to run. That's not happening by 2024, and even by 2028 which of {California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, NY, Oregon, RI, Washington} do we figure is going to go for it?
The argument you'll hear is that prohibiting immigrants from holding public office is racist, and repealing the restriction is the progressive thing to do. The question is whether enough liberals and progressives are willing to overlook their dislike of Musk (and do they all dislike Musk? I don't know) to vote their principles.
Musk has made sure that they all do, and that they'll vote against a measure designed to help him become President. (Once he lets Trump back in, they'll hate him even more.) There's no greater self-harm in the history of branding than Musk's having made liberals despise an electric car company.
Yeah, that's probably why this "native born" thing has survived as long as it has, efforts to repeal never come up without being attached to some specific person, who half the country inevitably hates.
They haven't bothered with arguments so far, why start on this? They'll just keep yelling that blocking Musk from running is un-American until Justice Boof says I don't see a problem here, let The People decide. There's far more Americans who see The Presidency as a reality show than vote their principles.