The article has a quote about how Musk is a great asset to the US: “He’s a Thomas Edison. He doesn’t care about wealth.” Musk fired about 20% of his workforce earlier this year and took a 46 billion-dollar bonus that was so large it was blocked by a judge (as far as I know he got it anyways when the shareholders voted again). What a selfless hero showing he cares more about people than money.
this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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I’d say the comparison between Edison and Musk is pretty spot-on. Both were men who were better at taking credit and monetizing an idea than at improving things for the common people.
https://www.grunge.com/250292/the-shady-side-of-thomas-edison/
Besides Edison’s famous rivalry with Tesla, he also made a LOT of money as a patent troll. He’d buy patents for cheap from starving inventors and then sue anyone who made anything remotely similar. He’s even the one responsible for the precursor to the MPAA - the Motion Picture Patent Company.
Like Musk, Edison wasn’t stupid, and had some business sense. He knew how to take advantage of others, and had no reservations for doing so if it got him further ahead. He wasn’t above ruining someone’s reputation if he couldn’t beat them at technology or business.
He’s even the one responsible for the precursor to the MPAA - the Motion Picture Patent Company
And he was such a litigious patent troll that filmmakers left the east coast for California, which means that Edison was indirectly the creator of Hollywood.
Yeah, like the Edison comparison isn't a positive one.
I'm not sure Elon's business sense is all that great. He's running Xitter in the ground.
This is extremely funny given that he just resigned from Congress effective immediately.
He resigned from Congress because the ethics investigation was about to finish. This might have all been a ploy to manufacture a reason for Gaetz to leave early, and then the report gets squashed.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/11/13/politics/house-ethics-committee-report-gaetz-investigation
Then, if the Senate does not confirm the nomination, it gives Trump more grievances to air.
Or they have some kind of quid pro quo. Or someone has dirt on someone. Or they both explicitly know that each are very willing to do crimes for each other
No source, sorry, but I heard a clip of a senator stating they should subpoena the report as relevant to the confirmation process.
Edit:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/us/lawmakers-demand-ethics-report-gaetz.html
So Trump gave Gaetz an AG nomination in order to give him a reason to resign from Congress abruptly and immediately. And by sheer coincidence, he does so right beofre a scathing report was about to come out that would have taken a giant shit on his head. But Golly Gee Darn, ethics rules say that since Gaetz quit the report remains sealed and out of public view, sparing Gaetz from a life on the sex offender registry.
I'm not worried, though. I'm sure all of this is on the up-and-up and has nothing to do with Trump helping Gaetz make his own charges go away in exchange for future loyalty. I'm sure that a future AG Gaetz would absolutely avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest and recuse himself from investigations into himself and Trump, and Trump is in no way just trying to install a puppet who will follow his commands without question.
Wait there was something that was going to come out today about him?
Tomorrow. There had been a House Ethics Committee investigation into his antics, which was just wrapping up. But that committee can only investigate House members, so now that he isn't anymore they may not be able to release that report.
He is in the unique position that his political career may actually improve after resigning a House seat but getting his nomination torpedoed by the Senate. He can make a living off listing off his grievances on Conservative talk shows, biding his time for the 2028 Presidential Nomination.
but getting his nomination torpedoed by the Senate
He will not get his nomination torpedoed by the Senate. By doing this, Trump has ensured that he has an AG that will do his bidding without question, since Trump will be able to hang this investigation over his head to keep him in line.
This is why Trump was demanding recess appointments a few days ago. This is why Tuberville is threatening to torpedo careers of Senators who don't fall in line. This is a test for Republicans to get back in Trump's good graces until he demands another loyalty pledge. He will either remain as "acting" AG and stay that way for Trump's whole term, he'll be appointed in a recess appointment, or dissenting senators will fall in line to save their political careers (and possibly their safety, as many of them have already confessed to being threatened).
And this won't even be to "own the libs". Heck, he doesn't give half a shit about Gaetz outside of his usefulness as an AG puppet. If not Gaetz, there was always Cannon. Or Jim Jordan. Tuberville. Plenty of suck-ups to choose from. It's just that Gaetz just happens to be the suck-up that's also the easiest to blackmail if push were to come to shove.
This will be Trump's way of making sure that republicans know who's calling the shots. This is Trump's way of telling republicans that the train isn't stopping. This is Trump's first loyalty test for them. This will tell Trump who needs to be purged and who can be trusted in the party. Trump just put his dick out on the table, and told Republicans that if you want careers, you had better get in line to pet it.
Mark my words, one way or the other, they'll all line up.
Wait when did he resign???
Sometime last night. He allegedly quit abruptly and immediately in preparation for the AG role he was nominated by Trump for, because abruptly quitting in the middle of the night without warning is what all nominees do, don't you know.....
In completely unrelated news, the house Ethics committee was about to release a report about his involvement in underage sex trafficking, among other criminal activity. And wouldn't you know it? Committee rules prohibit the release of that report since he's no longer a member of Congress. Complete coincidence, I'm sure.
Committee rules prohibit the release of that report since he’s no longer a member of Congress.
That has to be the dumbest shit I've ever heard in my life. Why in the hell would that be a rule? They could have all kinds of damning evidence and he walks because he quit in time?
WTAF.
In completely unrelated news,
Okay, I nearly did an actual spittake when reading that. Nicely done. 🤣
Maybe block the Fox News host from becoming the secretary of defense while you're at it.
And the ani-vaxxxer guy with brain worms from running Health and Human Services. Or the convicted felon from becoming President.
My theory: Gaetz’ nomination was suggested by Trump’s GRU handler as a smokescreen for ensuring GRU asset Gabbard’s nomination glides through unchallenged.
I hope they fail, not because accelerationism, but because Republicans lack empathy. They only get it when it happens to them, and I want the "moderate" and "traditional" Republicans to feel exactly like the girls Ge aetz creeps on: powerless and alone.
Maybe then they'll understand what the sane half of the country has been yelling about.
No, they will cave. Pussies and grifters.
Don't besmirch pussies. They're a bunch of feckless cowards as well as grifters.
Yeah, how often do the Republicans actually manage to come together to stop Trump?
https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture/overview.htm
"The Senate adopted new precedents in the 2010s to allow a simple majority to end debate on nominations"
With a 53-47 split, and no filibuster on nominations, there's no way to block it.
The only way to stop the nomination is for a Republican sentator on the relevant committee to vote no, or for 4 Republican Senators to vote no if it leaves committee. What are the odds of that?
Very likely. This guy does not have the support and multiple Republican senators have said they won’t confirm him.
Same as the odds of someone playing a Change of Heart card on Trump
Well I'm certain Susan Collins will do her dog-and-pony show of pretending to care about women again, and Murkowski will probably also object. It would be amusing, given the bad blood between them, if McCarthy had any allies in the Senate who would knife Gaetz.
Some Senate Republicans are signaling that they won't vote for him, and it wouldn't surprise me all that much if 4 Rs defect to block his confirmation.
Of course, Trump can and will still force him through as a recess appointment (fitting, giving Gaetz' track record on consent) which will secure him as AG at least until the midterms when the balance of power in the Senate will inevitably shift again.
My understanding is that there hasn't been a technical Senate recess in a long time. I think there b has to be a 5 day gap or something, so one senator stays in DC, calls the Senate to order, then adjourns it. Something like that.
That's true, but Trump's team is already lobbying the incoming majority leader to call an intentional recess so he can ram through all the appointments he wants without any Senate oversight.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but I wouldn't bet money on the new majority leader standing up to Trump on day one, right after he was elected with a significant mandate and handed full control of the legislative branch to Republicans. More likely, Thune will fold to whatever Trump demands until the the political winds begin to shift and Republicans need to start playing defense for the midterms. At that point we might start to see the Senate push back on Trump's agenda if his approval ratings have gotten are low enough and the Dems have gotten their act together enough to run some decent congressional campaigns.
Yeah, I just saw news about that last night. If he can make recess appointments it's all over.
McConnell already blocked Trump's ally from becoming the leader of the house. They voted yesterday, and the next senate majority leader is John Thune, who has criticized Trump for Jan 6 and for claiming the 2020 election was stolen. He was also against Trump's tarrifs 6 years ago. Thankfully the senate doesn't seem to be ending up under Trump's control, and the checks and balances in our government might actually be working.
Uh huh.
Good. Because of of all the stupid appointments he's ever made, that one's the must stupid be an order of magnitude.
Dont issue that challenge to the universe
I think appointing a political commentator to lead the world's most powerful military might be worse.
I don't know about that. There is a lot of stupid in the running here. Gabbard? Not sure where Brainworms is at right now. Same with Elon's role in "efficiency"....I mean the guy with actual brainworms, in charge of health and food safety? Elon, the guy who is running Xitter into the ground, in charge of "efficiency"?
FFS.
Kevin who?
Well that's just adorable.