Elon Musk

[qldfrog]

@Garpal Gumnut Just been a bit about POTUS Musk.
He is calling for retired air traffic controllers to apply or their old jobs.
A bit weird when the minimum age for controllers is 31 and the maximum is 56.
Has the panic started to set in now that he has cleaned out thousands of jobs in the name of cost savings???

Following your last few comments:
You really need to starve yourself of ABC and News ltd newsfeed garbage:
next you will vote ALP because they " care for the people" or because we need to see if RE works?
Wake up, you should know much better Monsieur, you are from the land where BS does not work and we share that.

 

[farmerge]

Following your last few comments:
You really need to starve yourself of ABC and News ltd newsfeed garbage:
next you will vote ALP because they " care for the people" or because we need to see if RE works?
Wake up, you should know much better Monsieur, you are from the land where BS does not work and we share that.

We are not ABC listeners or followers Mr Frog.
Just me thinking out loud because
I can see trouble by the truck load with this pair of POTUS's in control.
Who will outsmart who first.

 

[farmerge]

Off to feed the bovines now that the necessary dope has been taken and starting work.
bbl

 

[mullokintyre]

@Garpal Gumnut Just been a bit about POTUS Musk.
He is calling for retired air traffic controllers to apply or their old jobs.
A bit weird when the minimum age for controllers is 31 and the maximum is 56.
Has the panic started to set in now that he has cleaned out thousands of jobs in the name of cost savings???

Perhaps he is calling for retired air traffic controllers to apply for their jobs because the current crop were hired on the basis of something other than their ability to the job well.
There has been a worldwide shortage of ATC's since the pandemic.
As aviation shut down, there was far less need for ATC, so there was no continued recruitment, some who refused the VAX were fired, some who who got laid off went into other careers or just retired.
Australia has a similar problem.
From ABC News
After being confined to their homes during lockdowns, Australians desperate to travel have found themselves confined to the ground waiting for take-off.

A shortage of air traffic control staff is one of the reasons travellers are experiencing flight delays as Australia's airline industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It'd surprise many passengers to learn that perhaps the reason for the delay or the cancellation is actually because of air traffic control not being able to staff those control towers," James Goodwin, CEO of the Australian Airport Association, told 7.30.
Mick

 

[Craton]

FWIW and TL;DR however a quick perusal of this Guardian article and one gets an inkling into the world's so called, richest man and his far right leanings.

Was surprised to learn of his PayPal cronies influence in the US of A.

Reads in part and apologies if this has already been posted here in ASF.

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

When Elon Musk’s arm shot out in a stiff arm salute at Donald Trump’s inaugural celebrations, startled viewers mostly drew the obvious comparison.

But in the fired-up debate about Musk’s intent that followed, as the world’s richest man insisted he wasn’t trying to be a Nazi, speculation inevitably focused on whether his roots in apartheid-era South Africa offered an insight.

In recent months Musk’s promotion of far-right conspiracy theories has grown, from a deepening hostility to democratic institutions to the recent endorsement of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). He has taken an unhealthy interest in genetics while backing claims of a looming “white genocide” in his South African homeland and endorsing posts promoting the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. Increasingly, his language and tone have come to echo the old South Africa.

He is not alone. Musk is part of the “PayPal mafia” of libertarian billionaires with roots in South Africa under white rule now hugely influential in the US tech industry and politics.

They include Peter Thiel, the German-born billionaire venture capitalist and PayPal cofounder, who was educated in a southern African city in the 1970s where Hitler was still openly venerated. Thiel, a major donor to Trump’s campaign, has been critical of welfare programs and women being permitted to vote as undermining capitalism. A 2021 biography of Thiel, called The Contrarian, alleged that as a student at Stanford he defended apartheid as “economically sound”.

David Sacks, formerly PayPal’s chief operating officer and now a leading fundraiser for Trump, was born in Cape Town and grew up within the South African diaspora after his family moved to the US when he was young. A fourth member of the mafia, Roelof Botha, the grandson of the apartheid regime’s last foreign minister, Pik Botha, and former PayPal CFO, has kept a lower political profile but remains close to Musk.

Lots of little surprises including harking back to his grandad's political party being banned in Canada in the WW2 era.

Musk’s maternal grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, moved from Canada to South Africa in 1950 because he liked the newly elected apartheid government.

In the 1930s, Haldeman was the Canadian leader of a fringe political movement originating in the US, Technocracy Incorporated, that advocated abolishing democracy in favor of government by elite technicians but which took on overtones of fascism with its uniforms and salutes.

The Canadian government banned Technocracy Incorporated during the second world war as a threat to the country’s security in part for its opposition to fighting Hitler. Haldeman was charged with publishing documents opposing the war and sent to prison for two months.

After the war, Haldeman led a separate political party that among other things promoted the antisemitic forgery the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. When that went nowhere, he moved to South Africa because he said he liked the core National party philosophy of Christian nationalism that Vorster likened to Nazism.

 

[qldfrog]

FWIW and TL;DR however a quick perusal of this Guardian article and one gets an inkling into the world's so called, richest man and his far right leanings.

Was surprised to learn of his PayPal cronies influence in the US of A.

Reads in part and apologies if this has already been posted here in ASF.



Lots of little surprises including harking back to his grandad's political party being banned in Canada in the WW2 era.

Lucky i am not like my grandfather who has been a card wearing communist party all his life.
That surely why i am duch a socialist....
But what can we expect from the Guardian...

 

[divs4ever]

Government is not a business!

There is no transparency with Musks actions

Musk has no regard for social responsibility his destruction of X’s value case in point

There is no structure or oversight of Musk’s actions again government is not a business it belongs to the people not Trump not Musk.

Regan and Clinton both ran similar reductions of government both were measured and transparent

but Musk is only running an investigative team ( s ) he still needs official approval to access non-public information ( and a LOT of what he is uncovering IS public information that is buried or hidden )

he is basically leading a bunch of REAL journalists ( and accountants )

AND it will happen eventually now or after the US collapses completely ( from the crazy monetary mess it is in )

of course the proven way out for this .. is a major global war where a few industrialist and bankers grow richer , and millions die or are permanently mutilated

now IF you want to talk about 'loss of freedom' a different administration hired 87,000 IRS agents and was training them to use lethal force ( and providing them with modern weapons )

would you prefer Musk keep THEM ( IRS ) on and have them investigate a few tax-dodgers ( all the plebs , without foundations, charities or trusts ) , because the US is broke , and will be broker soon whether they raise the debt ceiling or not

 

[divs4ever]

I'm calling this right now:

Elon runs for president in 2028.

not without a constitution change , otherwise Arnie ( the Governator ) would have been President years back

the President SO FAR , has to be born a US citizen ( and both Obama and Harris blurred that like quite a bit )

i am not saying it can't happen , but the constitution forbids that currently ( almost everyone knows Elon was born in South Africa , no fuzziness there )

 

[Craton]

but Musk is only running an investigative team ( s ) he still needs official approval to access non-public information ( and a LOT of what he is uncovering IS public information that is buried or hidden )

he is basically leading a bunch of REAL journalists ( and accountants )

AND it will happen eventually now or after the US collapses completely ( from the crazy monetary mess it is in )

of course the proven way out for this .. is a major global war where a few industrialist and bankers grow richer , and millions die or are permanently mutilated

now IF you want to talk about 'loss of freedom' a different administration hired 87,000 IRS agents and was training them to use lethal force ( and providing them with modern weapons )

would you prefer Musk keep THEM ( IRS ) on and have them investigate a few tax-dodgers ( all the plebs , without foundations, charities or trusts ) , because the US is broke , and will be broker soon whether they raise the debt ceiling or not

Dunno if I'd prefer him as I find it hard to listen, let alone believe in his "schtick".

From Forbes and disspells a lot of what DOGE has supposedly uncovered. Reads in part:

Here Are The Biggest DOGE Hoaxes And Inaccuracies—As $8 Million Canceled ICE Contract Listed At $8 Billion​

As billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency scours federal agencies for cost savings, Musk and his team have repeatedly made baseless or false claims about government spending—or exaggerated the level of fraud and waste uncovered at some agencies.

NewsNation however posts claims without any proof and that's the sticking point with me.

Elon Musk’s underground digital detective reveals all to NewsNation​

• Digital detective speaks for the first time on her connection to DOGE
• Claims she has uncovered government corruption
• Believes waste and fraud totals more than $100 billion

Salient word above is "Believes".

Anyways, wouldn't be dead for quids. What with the ah, amusement from the White House and our own looming election oh, and a certain foreign navy sailing past our shores, life's a hoot.

 

[Craton]

not without a constitution change , otherwise Arnie ( the Governator ) would have been President years back

the President SO FAR , has to be born a US citizen ( and both Obama and Harris blurred that like quite a bit )

i am not saying it can't happen , but the constitution forbids that currently ( almost everyone knows Elon was born in South Africa , no fuzziness there )

If the constitution is changed, Arnie would be a shoo-in surely!

 

[mullokintyre]

If the constitution is changed, Arnie would be a shoo-in surely!

Actually Arnie in his present state would be shoe in for the Democrats.
A shuffling old man who is the shadow of his former self who could easily be manipulated.
Mick

 

[TimeISmoney]

Dunno if I'd prefer him as I find it hard to listen, let alone believe in his "schtick".

From Forbes and disspells a lot of what DOGE has supposedly uncovered. Reads in part:


NewsNation however posts claims without any proof and that's the sticking point with me.


Salient word above is "Believes".

Anyways, wouldn't be dead for quids. What with the ah, amusement from the White House and our own looming election oh, and a certain foreign navy sailing past our shores, life's a hoot.

That's like when Trump said on national TV that all these companies are coming to the US to set up manufacturing, but he couldn't give an actual figure of the amount.

 

[Sdajii]

If the constitution is changed, Arnie would be a shoo-in surely!

Would have been a few cycles back, and he may have a chance, but while he'd be very popular in most blue states, there has now been a big red wave and people are experiencing the devastation the Democrats have brought to the country, and Arnie very much embodies the Democrat values of the last couple of decades. If Trump's current term is a disaster and the masses see it as 'well, the Democrats destroyed things but the Republicans weren't any better', then maybe. But with things being as bad as they are, if Trump's term is anything less than hideous, the Democrats won't be getting back in for a while and to do so they'll need someone with a fresh image.

He starred in some great 80s and 90s movies (many of which he'd be cancelled over if he wasn't a raving lefty) but is terrible at anything else, though with today's culture a lot of idiots think he's a great person.

 

[divs4ever]

Dunno if I'd prefer him as I find it hard to listen, let alone believe in his "schtick".

From Forbes and disspells a lot of what DOGE has supposedly uncovered. Reads in part:


NewsNation however posts claims without any proof and that's the sticking point with me.


Salient word above is "Believes".

Anyways, wouldn't be dead for quids. What with the ah, amusement from the White House and our own looming election oh, and a certain foreign navy sailing past our shores, life's a hoot.

given some of the 'earmarks ' previously tagged onto Congress spending bills , chances are Musk has just smeared the crud on top of the paint ( not even scratched the paint itself

IF Musk gets serious he will embarrass both parties as they have waved through this garbage for decades .. it would be much the same in Australia ( just billions instead of trillions )

why would we worry about a foreign navy we sail far from home as well ( often hiding behind US carriers )

 

[Craton]

Actually Arnie in his present state would be shoe in for the Democrats.
A shuffling old man who is the shadow of his former self who could easily be manipulated.
Mick

You mean like the orange man

 

[divs4ever]

Would have been a few cycles back, and he may have a chance, but while he'd be very popular in most blue states, there has now been a big red wave and people are experiencing the devastation the Democrats have brought to the country, and Arnie very much embodies the Democrat values of the last couple of decades. If Trump's current term is a disaster and the masses see it as 'well, the Democrats destroyed things but the Republicans weren't any better', then maybe. But with things being as bad as they are, if Trump's term is anything less than hideous, the Democrats won't be getting back in for a while and to do so they'll need someone with a fresh image.

He starred in some great 80s and 90s movies (many of which he'd be cancelled over if he wasn't a raving lefty) but is terrible at anything else, though with today's culture a lot of idiots think he's a great person.

more likely a Populist wave or maybe a truly independent if Trump breaks the 'uni-party ' system completely

look for a maverick that is on the political fringes , but still talks some sense ( and less theatrics )

 

[divs4ever]

You mean like the orange man

remember his links to the entertainment industry ( WWE and a reality show , not to mention he is famous for casinos not boring old hotels )

which reminds me , whatever happened to the Hilton girl , she handled political attacks with class and humor against McCain

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and his side hustle

Neuralink to implant its first Blindsight vision chip in a human by the end of this year. The information was confirmed by Neuralink owner Elon Musk, who said the implant will allow even people born blind to see.
“Neuralink’s Blindsight device will enable vision even for those who’ve lost both eyes and their optic nerves,” Musk wrote. He clarified that the implant will work as long as the brain’s visual cortex remains intact. In the future, the device could “surpass” natural human vision. Users of the implant may be able to see in infrared, ultraviolet, and even radar (radio frequency) ranges.

 

[Value Collector]

which reminds me , whatever happened to the Hilton girl , she handled political attacks with class and humor against McCain

97% of the Hilton Hotel fortune went to charity, and 3% was split among the 24 family members. Paris Hilton did well in her own businesses though, trading off her fame and family name.

Now Hilton Hotels is publically owned on the share market, and uses a capital light model where buildings are mostly leased from outside owners and managed by third parties who pay to use the Hilton name and booking system.