Let's talk about Elon Musk

[Pete]

I did not expect us to be going after South Africa but I guess it makes sense

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886321811937189902

This one does appear to be a naked favor to old classmates of Elon Musk. Maybe I am missing some other negotiation tactic or advantage we are trying to get from South Africa?  I certainly don’t know, but I’d say (given my very low level understanding of the issues here) that this looks like something we should completely stay out of.

I think it's related to Starlink (in addition to the historical racist traditions of white south Africans)

https://www.itweb.co.za/article/sa-urged-not-to-compromise-transformation-agenda-for-starlink/P3gQ2qGAdNR7nRD1

Yep, I bet the SA government demanding that 30% equity be allocated to black owners did not please Starlink and Musk.

Tebogo Khaas, chairman of Public Interest SA, notes Starlink’s delayed launch in South Africa stems largely from its unwillingness to meet the regulatory stipulation that major players, including multinationals, allocate at least 30% equity to black ownership.

[michigancat]

I did not expect us to be going after South Africa but I guess it makes sense

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886321811937189902

This one does appear to be a naked favor to old classmates of Elon Musk. Maybe I am missing some other negotiation tactic or advantage we are trying to get from South Africa?  I certainly don’t know, but I’d say (given my very low level understanding of the issues here) that this looks like something we should completely stay out of.

I think it's related to Starlink (in addition to the historical racist traditions of white south Africans)

https://www.itweb.co.za/article/sa-urged-not-to-compromise-transformation-agenda-for-starlink/P3gQ2qGAdNR7nRD1

Yep, I bet the SA government demanding that 30% equity be allocated to black owners did not please Starlink and Musk.

Tebogo Khaas, chairman of Public Interest SA, notes Starlink’s delayed launch in South Africa stems largely from its unwillingness to meet the regulatory stipulation that major players, including multinationals, allocate at least 30% equity to black ownership.

I did a little research and there are ways around it without explicitly giving up 30% of ownership. The system honestly sounds a lot like an ESG scorecard (RIP ESG).

but yeah it's cool we are potentially withholding aid over something like this.

[Pete]

I did not expect us to be going after South Africa but I guess it makes sense

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886321811937189902

This one does appear to be a naked favor to old classmates of Elon Musk. Maybe I am missing some other negotiation tactic or advantage we are trying to get from South Africa?  I certainly don’t know, but I’d say (given my very low level understanding of the issues here) that this looks like something we should completely stay out of.

I think it's related to Starlink (in addition to the historical racist traditions of white south Africans)

https://www.itweb.co.za/article/sa-urged-not-to-compromise-transformation-agenda-for-starlink/P3gQ2qGAdNR7nRD1

Yep, I bet the SA government demanding that 30% equity be allocated to black owners did not please Starlink and Musk.

Tebogo Khaas, chairman of Public Interest SA, notes Starlink’s delayed launch in South Africa stems largely from its unwillingness to meet the regulatory stipulation that major players, including multinationals, allocate at least 30% equity to black ownership.

I did a little research and there are ways around it without explicitly giving up 30% of ownership. The system honestly sounds a lot like an ESG scorecard (RIP ESG).

but yeah it's cool we are potentially withholding aid over something like this.

I agree we shouldn’t be involved. Luckily, it’s so minor that I don’t really give a eff though

[star seed 7]

The texag nazis are constantly talking about the genocide of white people in south africa, I'd assume this is another nod to them.

[Pete]

The texag nazis are constantly talking about the genocide of white people in south africa, I'd assume this is another nod to them.

I’ve been to South Africa four times, each for an extended period of time. My conclusion is that it is a very mumped up place..

[chum1]

Sounds very reasonable and responsible

[Justwin]

Bit of good news that tariffs on Mexico are paused for a month.

[Pete]

Sounds very reasonable and responsible

My guess is that there is a lot more to this story about foreign aid than merely Elon being from South Africa and USA providing benefits to Black people in South Africa.

I think it will probably take weeks and months for the full story to come out. I do not expect it to come out immediately or in the next few days. 

[chum1]

Sounds very reasonable and responsible

My guess is that there is a lot more to this story about foreign aid than merely Elon being from South Africa and USA providing benefits to Black people in South Africa.

I think it will probably take weeks and months for the full story to come out. I do not expect it to come out immediately or in the next few days.

That's perfectly consistent with all of the other apologist cope you've been doing lately. We already know that Musk is white supremacist friendly. I think this is a straightforward case of if the shoe fits, wear it.

[Pete]

Sounds very reasonable and responsible

My guess is that there is a lot more to this story about foreign aid than merely Elon being from South Africa and USA providing benefits to Black people in South Africa.

I think it will probably take weeks and months for the full story to come out. I do not expect it to come out immediately or in the next few days.

That's perfectly consistent with all of the other apologist cope you've been doing lately. We already know that Musk is white supremacist friendly. I think this is a straightforward case of if the shoe fits, wear it.

That’s an awfully personal attack. I choose to be able to pick and choose what I agree about, and will not uniformly dismiss ideas or programs because I do not like where they come from or the motive of the person who suggested it. If this means that we can no longer be friends, then that displeases me but I accept it.

[CNS]

The fact they haven't explained anything yet is huge, imo.  ppl that do that are taking. If it's legal and on the up and up, explain the plan. 

Elon's plan is radical change without a reasonable path back. 

To argue that is to give him benefit he doesn't deserve.

[Pete]

The only thing that we know for sure is that no one on this rough ridin' blog knows Jack crap about what’s going on.

[michigancat]

The only thing that we know for sure is that no one on this rough ridin' blog knows Jack crap about what’s going on.

agreed and the logical thing to in this situation do would be to blindly put our trust in the unelected racist oligarch

[Pete]

The only thing that we know for sure is that no one on this rough ridin' blog knows Jack crap about what’s going on.

agreed and the logical thing to in this situation do would be to blindly put our trust in the unelected racist oligarch

Neither your opinion, nor my opinion, makes any rough ridin' difference here. Whatever I say about it has absolutely no consequence on what happens. You could run outside right now, in one of the most populated cities in the world and shout your head off about it not a rough ridin' thing is gonna change

[bucket]

The only thing that we know for sure is that no one on this rough ridin' blog knows Jack crap about what’s going on.

agreed and the logical thing to in this situation do would be to blindly put our trust in the unelected racist oligarch

Illegally accessing government databases

[star seed 7]

The only thing that we know for sure is that no one on this rough ridin' blog knows Jack crap about what’s going on.

agreed and the logical thing to in this situation do would be to blindly put our trust in the unelected racist oligarch

Lol

[CNS]

The only thing that we know for sure is that no one on this rough ridin' blog knows Jack crap about what’s going on.

agreed and the logical thing to in this situation do would be to blindly put our trust in the unelected racist oligarch

Illegally accessing government databases

This seems to be exactly it. It was said elsewhere, but if Kamala won and George Soros was inside our departments, physically and digitally taking over, tweeting about the crap Elon is tweeting about, imagine how the country would be reacting.

Elon is great with marketing rockets. That doesn’t give him any right to do what he is doing. These departments are ours. Trump should be explaining what he is doing or there should be legal consequences. There is zero in between. 

[sonofdaxjones]

Lot of raging out as the money laundering operations(s) are being brought to light.

A con artist paradise . . .

[bucket]

Lot of raging out as the money laundering operations(s) are being brought to light.

A con artist paradise . . .

You'll have to expand on what these "money laundering operation(s)" are.

[sonofdaxjones]

The incredible thing is . . . NED and USAID were up to things that before the #blueanon sell out to THE MAN.  They'd be losing their mind about it.

[Pete]

Has any legal authority weighed in on the legality of Musk’s involvement, or any charges pressed, court dates set
, investigations opened?  I honestly don’t know, I’m genuinely asking.  I have googled it and asked Perplexity AI (a good one that provides quality citations for the answers) and have found nothing. It seems like those answers would be more valuable to reference than the various “Elon makes me mad” iterations being presented in this thread.

[sonofdaxjones]

Lot of raging out as the money laundering operations(s) are being brought to light.

A con artist paradise . . .

You'll have to expand on what these "money laundering operation(s)" are.

I've already discussed that in another thread.

You guys were pumping money to Bill Kristol (from war crimes to a #blueanon favorite son  ) via the Rockefeller Foundation (one of dozens of examples)

[chum1]

That’s an awfully personal attack.

Didn't mean it that way at all, friend. Did want to add my voice to those who've noticed that you've been a bit different on this stuff lately.

[BIG APPLE CAT]

Lot of raging out as the money laundering operations(s) are being brought to light.

A con artist paradise . . .

you should have called us out on this years ago instead of being so lazer focused on hunter bidens meat rocket

[chum1]

Has any legal authority weighed in on the legality of Musk’s involvement, or any charges pressed, court dates set
, investigations opened?

Lots of lawyers a saying basically all of the Elon stuff is illegal.

In the case of USAID, it was established by Congress long ago. Which means that no president can unilaterally remove it.