Elon Musk: Smartest Guy in The World or Complete Clown?

[skaredshtles]

Why does Elon hate the free market?!?

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

I have a feeling that the FBI is going to be doing a massive search and seizure in California and Texas pretty soon.

[TahoeJ]

Good Ol boy in a robe

Here's the thing... in this fight Elon is *not* the big swinging dick. Those companies involved are behemoths that can crush the shit out of him and behind the scenes have significantly more influence, especially in the good ol' boy club. Mars is one of the largest private corporations in the country and do like 50 billion annually. Also, them being private and not public is important... they can do whatever the fuck they want and do not have shareholder responsibility like a publicly held company. That right there makes Elon's cute little lawsuit irrelevant.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Here's the thing... in this fight Elon is *not* the big swinging dick. Those companies involved are behemoths that can crush the shit out of him and behind the scenes have significantly more influence, especially in the good ol' boy club. Mars is one of the largest private corporations in the country and do like 50 billion annually. Also, them being private and not public is important... they can do whatever the fuck they want and do not have shareholder responsibility like a publicly held company. That right there makes Elon's cute little lawsuit irrelevant.

That may all be true, but there’s every reason to expect this particular judge to put his thumb on the scales to favor the desired Republican Party outcome:

A few weeks ago House Republicans released a 40-page report blasting GARM and its parent, the WFA, for illegal collusion and restraint of trade. The report—

Wait. Who is GARM? I'm glad you asked. GARM is the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, an initiative of the World Federation of Advertisers. The Republican report is here.

Second question: should you care? The answer is pretty definitively no. I read the report when it came out—most of it, anyway, until I couldn't take any more—and there's nothing there. Oh, there are lots and lots of words, but when you try to boil them down into actual allegations of misconduct, almost nothing is left. A member once asked a question at a meeting. GARM's head once made an equivocal statement about something. A company once asked for guidance about advertising on Twitter.

Hold on. Twitter, you say? Yes indeed. You might wonder why House Republicans care about GARM in the first place, and the answer is that Elon Musk is mad at them because lots of companies belonging to GARM have stopped advertising on Twitter. So Republicans did Elon a solid by using their congressional subpoena authority to dig up some dirt.

In other words, it's not a coincidence that today, four weeks after the report was released, Twitter has sued GARM for harming their business via an allegedly coordinated advertising boycott. Republicans had already done the oppo research for him.

And you'll never guess where Twitter filed its lawsuit. Are you ready? The Northern District of Texas! Specifically, Fort Worth, where it will be heard by Republican favorite Reed O'Connor. O'Connor has ruled in the past against gay marriage, Obamacare, COVID vaccines for Navy SEALS, religious nondiscrimination, and, notably, is already the judge in Elon Musk's lawsuit against Media Matters: …

https://jabberwocking.com/heres-a-bi...t-musk-v-garm/

[TahoeJ]

You’re acting like Elon is a grand chess master. He’s not. Just like how he recently announced they were closing the SF office of X to escape the California mind virus. Well, he’s a dumbass who didn’t realize that not enough of his employees would agree to leave the state and now they’ll be opening their new office 45 minutes south in San Jose.

Also, one judge can wave his partisan dick around all that he wants- it never holds up to appeal.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Also, one judge can wave his partisan dick around all that he wants- it never holds up to appeal.

That’s what I said right at the start.

I don’t think Elon is a chess master, I just think his lawyers filed the case so it would be heard in front of a partisan hack, so it may not fail initially.

[Meadow Skipper]

Are we done bagging on cybertruck owners? Cause this is…well..

[TahoeJ]

That’s what I said right at the start.

I don’t think Elon is a chess master, I just think his lawyers filed the case so it would be heard in front of a partisan hack, so it may not fail initially.

It’s gonna be funny, I’ll say that much. Exhibit A from the defense: video of Elon telling his advertisers they can fuck off. So they did.

[skaredshtles]

Are we done bagging on cybertruck owners? Cause this is…well..

Let me guess - you asked ChatGPT to generate the epitome of a Wankpanzer? 'Cause that's what you've got there.

[skaredshtles]

It’s gonna be funny, I’ll say that much. Exhibit A from the defense: video of Elon telling his advertisers they can fuck off. So they did.

"Shall we?"

"I think we shall."

"Fucking off now, Elon. Have a good day!"

[Meadow Skipper]

Let me guess - you asked ChatGPT to generate the epitome of a Wankpanzer? 'Cause that's what you've got there.

LOL. Found it on Facebook. But yeah, it could be some great AI.

[bennymac]

Worth the repost - just to see exhibit A.

Classic case of tell your advertisers to fuck off - and find out.

[californiagrown]

So i dont use twitter, and never did. Since elon laid off most of the workforce, has twitter been back to functioning decently well? Was he forced to hire back a ton of people to get it back functioning well, or was he in some ways right about the bloat? Or has the user experience fallen off a cliff and stayed at the bottom of said cliff?

[bobz]

You’re acting like Elon is a grand chess master. He’s not. Just like how he recently announced they were closing the SF office of X to escape the California mind virus. Well, he’s a dumbass who didn’t realize that not enough of his employees would agree to leave the state and now they’ll be opening their new office 45 minutes south in San Jose.

Corporate HQs are overrated. Oracle moved its headquarters to Austin a few years ago (and they're about to move the HQ again from Austin to Nashville), and last I saw, its six towers in Redwood Shores are still occupied; there's a large biotech office complex (500k sqft) about to be built a couple blocks away, so it's not like it's a ghost town in the area with Oracle's bean counters now in Texas (and soon Tennessee).

I read, somewhat recently, that the widely known brand Kelly Moore Paint was moving its headquarters out of the Bay Area (to Irving Texas). The closing HQ was in San Carlos, close enough to where I live that I was curious to look it up. And guess what, it's a non-descript two-story office building on a corner across the street from a Trader Joes (and smaller than the Trader Joes); I'd unknowingly parked right in front of it plenty of times not even knowing that it was a paint company's corporate headquarters.

[MultiVerse]

So i dont use twitter, and never did. Since elon laid off most of the workforce, has twitter been back to functioning decently well? Was he forced to hire back a ton of people to get it back functioning well, or was he in some ways right about the bloat? Or has the user experience fallen off a cliff and stayed at the bottom of said cliff?

It's a complete shitshow botfarm and degen gathering. The site works fine, tho. Better in fact. There's now longform posts and video. In terms of influence, twitter, regardless of audience size etc, is still the most important network. Everything else whether FB, NYT, WaPo, or whatever happens downstream of twitter.

[TahoeJ]

Just a little refresher on this gem. Now Mr big swinging dick is crying about it? https://www.threads.net/@firerock31/...LauluWpd1TsOVw

[TahoeJ]

Corporate HQs are overrated. Oracle moved its headquarters to Austin a few years ago (and they're about to move the HQ again from Austin to Nashville), and last I saw, its six towers in Redwood Shores are still occupied; there's a large biotech office complex (500k sqft) about to be built a couple blocks away, so it's not like it's a ghost town in the area with Oracle's bean counters now in Texas (and soon Tennessee).

I read, somewhat recently, that the widely known brand Kelly Moore Paint was moving its headquarters out of the Bay Area (to Irving Texas). The closing HQ was in San Carlos, close enough to where I live that I was curious to look it up. And guess what, it's a non-descript two-story office building on a corner across the street from a Trader Joes (and smaller than the Trader Joes); I'd unknowingly parked right in front of it plenty of times not even knowing that it was a paint company's corporate headquarters.

I agree corporate HQ’s are overrated but that’s not really the point here.

[mcski]

And I thought Kelly Moore was out of business. They closed all their stores in SF


I’m looking fwd to more Elmo beat downs by his kid’s commentary

[riser4]

Musk bullied GARM out of existence. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/tech/...uit/index.html

[Meadow Skipper]

Musk bullied GARM out of existence. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/tech/...uit/index.html

That’s what you’d call bad optics.

[dan_pdx]

That’s what you’d call bad optics.

Pretty sure Elon will see/talk this up as a huge win, but ad sales will unaccountably continue to tank

[Mazderati]

“No small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized. This is an important acknowledgement and a necessary step in the right direction. I am hopeful that it means ecosystem-wide reform is coming,” Yaccarino posted on X Thursday.

Lobbying is totally different, of course. Same with 45MM monthly commitments to political campaigns. Totally different. Such bad faith jockeying it wouldn't be taken seriously if it weren't for their own bajillions buying favor.

[Trackhead]

Worth the repost - just to see exhibit A.

Classic case of tell your advertisers to fuck off - and find out.

Makes me like the guy even more. He doesn’t give a fuck and has every right to not give a fuck.

He can self destruct per his own desires.

[TahoeJ]

Pretty sure Elon will see/talk this up as a huge win, but ad sales will unaccountably continue to tank

Exactly. Oh and then everyone involved can just create a new group that’s nearly identical under a new name. Only the Elon dick suckers can’t see this.

(I was in digital advertising for over 20 years and I know someone who was on that board)

Also: I’m pretty sure filing a crybaby lawsuit is the definition of giving a fuck.

[Trackhead]

Also: I’m pretty sure filing a crybaby lawsuit is the definition of giving a fuck.

I don’t have a Twitter account, don’t plan on buying a Tesla, and don’t plan on a space voyage any time soon.

200+ pages hating on the guy is interesting. He just doesn’t have any meaningful influence over most people. I don’t understand the obsession.