Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4975]

16 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Gotta say I'm jealous. My mom and her brother sold their parents place outside of Brownwood when my grandma died back in the 1990s. It wasn't some big sprawling ranch, but it was a nice little 200-acre hay farm and ranch with a couple hundred head of cattle. West and north of the house were some woods, to the south was the main pasture, to the east was the hay field and just behind that was a wooded creek that my cousins, sister, and I swam around in (when it was full) in our summertime visits. I really didn't think much about that loss until having my own kid and knowing she was going to miss out on that growing up.

Glad that you appreciate your fortune and are sharing it with your kids.

Sucks when family land is sold off without any real thought about how it might affect other folks in the family. More land can be bought, but it isn't the same. It's hard to explain the feeling you get to those who didn't grow up with land in the family when you are pulling up to land that has been in your family for generations.

[BabaYaga 15288]

39 minutes ago, midtown said:

Has nothing to do with performance.  Any car with electric motors will have the same advantage.  I just said they are boring and ugly.  

I'm with you.  Nothing beats the sound and feel of a naturally aspirated engine.

[midtown 3345]

For comparisons:   

Dallas Toyota:  160,000 a month

Austin Tesla:  16,000 month

Advantage Dallas

[Jkwellborn 6688]

I'm with you.  Nothing beats the sound and feel of a naturally aspirated engine.

Gotta love the sound of a .600+ solid lift cam in a big block with headers.

[Guest Lobo]

Our trucks brought some equipment to a Mercedes-Benz EQE trial about a year ago for some electric cars decked out by AMG.  The sound (or lack of) left a little to be desired, but the look of the sedans, and the way they drove were absolutely fucking jaw-dropping.  I'm sure the retail version of the EQE sedan will be much more tamped down, but it was the most exhilarating sedan I've driven and we've been working with them for 20 years. /csb

So Tesla has topped out at 70,000 employees.  Over/Under on how many eventually come here by end of 2022?  Price Is Right rules apply.????????????????

[BabaYaga 15288]

25 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

Gotta love the sound of a .600+ solid lift cam in a big block with headers.

 

Buddy of mine up in N. Dallas has a bitchin' Cobra replica.  Ran 700+ HP on the dyno.  JFC it's like a Harley on steroids it's so loud and so light.  He has a nice souvenir on his calf from the side pipes that get so hot.  

[bolverk 29653]

35 minutes ago, midtown said:

For comparisons:   

Dallas Toyota:  160,000 __?__ a month

Austin Tesla:  16,000 month

Advantage Dallas

Need some context here. What are those numbers referencing?

[Jkwellborn 6688]

 
Buddy of mine up in N. Dallas has a bitchin' Cobra replica.  Ran 700+ HP on the dyno.  JFC it's like a Harley on steroids it's so loud and so light.  He has a nice souvenir on his calf from the side pipes that get so hot.  

I always joked about putting them on my camaro. I actually hate the way they look, but getting burnt is why I’d never have them regardless.

[scottsins 1966]

Our trucks brought some equipment to a Mercedes-Benz EQE trial about a year ago for some electric cars decked out by AMG.  The sound (or lack of) left a little to be desired, but the look of the sedans, and the way they drove were absolutely fucking jaw-dropping.  I'm sure the retail version of the EQE sedan will be much more tamped down, but it was the most exhilarating sedan I've driven and we've been working with them for 20 years. /csb
So Tesla has topped out at 70,000 employees.  Over/Under on how many eventually come here by end of 2022?  Price Is Right rules apply.????????????????

350, obviously.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MoJames 8244]

Did we determine if he was a visionary or fraud?

[Guest Lobo]

A fraudulent visionary.  

Or a progressive capitalist.  Or a hydrocarbon electric baron.  Or a monopolistic champion of inclusiveness.  Or a disruptive profiteer.  

Admiral Inman calls this move the biggest thing to happen to Austin since MCC.  I think it's the biggest thing since Las Manitas closed.  

Edited October 8, 2021 by Lobo

[Jkwellborn 6688]

What does fitlump think?

[midtown 3345]

1 hour ago, bolverk said:

Need some context here. What are those numbers referencing?

i just grabbed some quick numbers off of the googles.   I think Toyota was 2019 May and Tesla was 2019 April.  It's just in jest.  I'm not submitting these numbers for an audit. 

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Jkwellborn said:

What does fitlump think?

Facetiousness aside, there's no way she doesn't try to latch onto this announcement in some form or fashion.  I'm very curious as to what her play will be on this.  

 

 

[Newdoc 3439]

1 minute ago, Lobo said:

I'm very curious as to what her play will be on this.  

A Facebook photo op with Musk of course, take credit for something in which 99% has nothing to do with the COA, then profit.

[DonkeyCigars 144]

9 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Facetiousness aside, there's no way she doesn't try to latch onto this announcement in some form or fashion.  I'm very curious as to what her play will be on this.  

 

 

Over/under to when Fitlump is the new Grimes.

A lot of you will burn when fitlumpkhaleesi is a half-a-billionaire and remembers how some of you people treated her!

Continue to underestimate her at your peril: 

Edited October 8, 2021 by DonkeyCigars

[GhostOfTomJoad 9323]

What does fitlump think?

She's gonna be giving extra blow jobs to the old guys bank rolling her so she can buy a used Tesla & use it in the photos she'll tweet to Musk.

[CooterBrown 18003]

being a Texan is about more than just where you were born.

It’s a birthright. You can only earn it by dying for Texas. Hank was a carpetbagger.

[F250 28764]

22 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

1 hour ago, Jkwellborn said:

What does fitlump think?

She's gonna be giving extra blow jobs to the old guys bank rolling her so she can buy a used Tesla & use it in the photos she'll tweet to Musk.

She will leak information that she gave Musk a blow job like she did with Lance.

[Guest Lobo]

3 minutes ago, F250 said:

She will leak information that she gave Musk a blow job like she did with Lance.

Will it be like that scene with Otter and Fawn's roommate in "Animal House"???

"I used to blow Lance Armstrong like this."

"I know."

"You do?"

"Yeah, he told me (presses head towards balls)." 

[Johnny Sack 8397]

4 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Brownwood is amazing and F anyone that shits on Underwoods.  We're near Coleman.  

I love the area around Coleman.  From what I've heard, some billionaire has poured a decent amount of money into Coleman.  And it has some nice businesses downtown now.

[Captainant 27630]

I think musk's biggest advancement in his businesses is simply returning to "first principles" engineering, rather than using decades-old processes for determining requirements and evaluating decisions. I honestly don't follow Tesla that closely, but his work with SpaceX has been revolutionary "building the machine that builds the machines". It occasionally bites them, but by and large, has been the secret to their meteoric rise.

They can easily make significant design and process changes without significantly impacting production velocity. SpaceX 3D prints their fucking rocket engine bells and fuel tanks! They are on the cutting edge of industrial design and processes, and they have a good track record of making the right long-term decision

[DonkeyCigars 144]

5 minutes ago, Captainant said:

I think musk's biggest advancement in his businesses is simply returning to "first principles" engineering, rather than using decades-old processes for determining requirements and evaluating decisions. I honestly don't follow Tesla that closely, but his work with SpaceX has been revolutionary "building the machine that builds the machines". It occasionally bites them, but by and large, has been the secret to their meteoric rise.

They can easily make significant design and process changes without significantly impacting production velocity. SpaceX 3D prints their fucking rocket engine bells and fuel tanks! They are on the cutting edge of industrial design and processes, and they have a good track record of making the right long-term decision

I watched a video today that said one of the biggest impacts Elon has had is that he came around to the idea that patents are landmines which actually stifle growth and innovation and creativity for moon/loonshots. People like @TwiceHorn probably hate to hear that, but that's the idea.

In 2014 he decided electric vehicles are a great way to help the environment and nobody had the abilities or technologies, and that he can help by essentially making it open source and so he opened up his patents to be used by all knowing that the huge announcements and gains (and valuation and market caps!) we've seen of Ford, Stellantis and GM of 2021 would not have been the same because they didn't have the resources (people, technologists, etc. in 2014) for their programs and would not have made the heavy investments.

Back in 2014 when he did this less than 1% of the market was electric vehicles compared to today. That's pretty visionary IMO.

Edited October 8, 2021 by DonkeyCigars

[BabaYaga 15288]

26 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

I love the area around Coleman.  From what I've heard, some billionaire has poured a decent amount of money into Coleman.  And it has some nice businesses downtown now.

Goree family out of Midland.  Not billionaires, but generational wealth from O&G.  Their MASSIVE ranch is the 'T-Bone".  Pass it every time.  Herds of bison, exotics, etc.  Front gate looks like something out of Jurassic Park.

Took my daughter to eat their last weekend downtown.  Had a big festival for opening weekend.

The restaurant family downtown is from Dallas, but friends with the Goree's.  Used to work at the Texas Monthly I think?.  They have an amazing B&B outside of town (Rancho Loma)

Rancho Loma

Texas Monthly write up:

Texas Monthly article

It's adjacent to their vineyard - Rancho Loma Vineyards that has a tasting room downtown.

Their Pizza place and adjacent steak house (Black Cur) rival anything in Dallas and would be at home in downtown Austin or Dallas

Pizzeria

Black Cur steaks

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by BabaYaga

[BabaYaga 15288]

Last weekend’s fare.  Back in the day you “went into town” to get Sonic or DQ

veal meatballs

buratta and mozzarella cheese with truffle oil

wood fired pizza and a glass of their house cab

All enjoyed dressed in camo pants and a hoody next to people dressed up on dates   It’s pretty cool  

 

 

[StruggleBus 3922]

Elon is a bad ass. California sucks shit through a straw. 

[TwiceHorn 31438]

54 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

I watched a video today that said one of the biggest impacts Elon has had is that he came around to the idea that patents are landmines which actually stifle growth and innovation and creativity for moon/loonshots. People like @TwiceHorn probably hate to hear that, but that's the idea.

In 2014 he decided electric vehicles are a great way to help the environment and nobody had the abilities or technologies, and that he can help by essentially making it open source and so he opened up his patents to be used by all knowing that the huge announcements and gains (and valuation and market caps!) we've seen of Ford, Stellantis and GM of 2021 would not have been the same because they didn't have the resources (people, technologists, etc. in 2014) for their programs and would not have made the heavy investments.

Back in 2014 when he did this less than 1% of the market was electric vehicles compared to today. That's pretty visionary IMO.

Yeah, I don't like hearing that.

It's no surprise because Musk comes from software world, Google in particular, which has done more damage to the US patent system than any entity in our history.

There are some peculiarities about software and that whole environment that make software geeks disrespectful of patents and other traditional business norms.  I could go on about this for pages, but I won't.  Suffice it to say that it's not because software is the bellwether of some new economy with new rules, but more that it's an immature industry that hasn't been confined by more traditional business norms.  Soon enough, it will play by the rules most others do, and the industry will regret its anti-IP stance.

I also disagree that the Big 3 lacked any technology.  They just lacked the will to lose the money associated with evehicles when they can sell the shit out of trucks and trucklets.

[Hefeweizen 5310]

5 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Brownwood is amazing and F anyone that shits on Underwoods.  We're near Coleman.  

Underwoods is dogshit.  Sorry but true.  And I have family still in that area, but after my grand dad died I pretty much stopped visiting because it isn’t the same.  It is a nice area back toward Comanche and around blanket.

[DonkeyCigars 144]

11 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, I don't like hearing that.

It's no surprise because Musk comes from software world, Google in particular, which has done more damage to the US patent system than any entity in our history.

There are some peculiarities about software and that whole environment that make software geeks disrespectful of patents and other traditional business norms.  I could go on about this for pages, but I won't.  Suffice it to say that it's not because software is the bellwether of some new economy with new rules, but more that it's an immature industry that hasn't been confined by more traditional business norms.  Soon enough, it will play by the rules most others do, and the industry will regret its anti-IP stance.

I also disagree that the Big 3 lacked any technology.  They just lacked the will to lose the money associated with evehicles when they can sell the shit out of trucks and trucklets.

Read it for yourself. This is a pretty dang visionary statement to make in 2014. Heck, it would still make you look smart and forward-thinking in 2021:

All Our Patent Are Belong To You

Elon Musk, CEO June 12, 2014

Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.

Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

When I started out with my first company, Zip2, I thought patents were a good thing and worked hard to obtain them. And maybe they were good long ago, but too often these days they serve merely to stifle progress, entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession, rather than the actual inventors. After Zip2, when I realized that receiving a patent really just meant that you bought a lottery ticket to a lawsuit, I avoided them whenever possible.

At Tesla, however, we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla. We couldn’t have been more wrong. The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn’t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales.

At best, the large automakers are producing electric cars with limited range in limited volume. Some produce no zero emission cars at all.

Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis. By the same token, it means the market is enormous. Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day.

We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform. 

Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers. We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla’s position in this regard.

[TwiceHorn 31438]

2 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

Read it for yourself. This is a pretty dang visionary statement to make in 2014. Heck, it would still make you look smart and forward-thinking in 2021:

All Our Patent Are Belong To You

Elon Musk, CEO June 12, 2014

Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.

Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

When I started out with my first company, Zip2, I thought patents were a good thing and worked hard to obtain them. And maybe they were good long ago, but too often these days they serve merely to stifle progress, entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession, rather than the actual inventors. After Zip2, when I realized that receiving a patent really just meant that you bought a lottery ticket to a lawsuit, I avoided them whenever possible.

At Tesla, however, we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla. We couldn’t have been more wrong. The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn’t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales.

At best, the large automakers are producing electric cars with limited range in limited volume. Some produce no zero emission cars at all.

Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis. By the same token, it means the market is enormous. Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day.

We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform. 

Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers. We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla’s position in this regard.

Yeah, just a variant on open source.

Not as uncommon as you think, either.  Major (and minor) corporations in essence abandon patent rights every day when they choose not to pay the maintenance fees.  And, private companies have waived or dedicated to the public entire portfolios fairly routinely.  IBM used to do it a lot.

[Captainant 27630]

18 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, just a variant on open source.

Not as uncommon as you think, either.  Major (and minor) corporations in essence abandon patent rights every day when they choose not to pay the maintenance fees.  And, private companies have waived or dedicated to the public entire portfolios fairly routinely.  IBM used to do it a lot.

shit, the entire internet runs on opensource software. Ain't nothing working without the linux kernel

[BabaYaga 15288]

1 hour ago, Hefeweizen said:

Underwoods is dogshit.  Sorry but true.  And I have family still in that area, but after my grand dad died I pretty much stopped visiting because it isn’t the same.  It is a nice area back toward Comanche and around blanket.

It's good the way Allsups burritos are good.  Great is their nostalgic awfulness.  Bygone time of my youth and the endless times I've eaten there.  

I'll always love it!

[BabaYaga 15288]

57 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, just a variant on open source.

Not as uncommon as you think, either.  Major (and minor) corporations in essence abandon patent rights every day when they choose not to pay the maintenance fees.  And, private companies have waived or dedicated to the public entire portfolios fairly routinely.  IBM used to do it a lot.

I'm still waiting for the next, big thing anyway....

[MillerEP 30447]

Had an appointment at the VA clinic this morning, out by the airport. I took 130 down and drove past the giant gigafactory they're building. I was amazed at how huge it was and how fast they put it up. It looks like it's only a couple of months from opening. Which is crazy since it's so big and was just started AFTER covid.

Edited October 8, 2021 by MillerEP

[Hefeweizen 5310]

31 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

Had an appointment at the VA clinic this morning, out by the airport. I took 130 down and drove past the giant gigafactory they're building. I was amazed at how huge it was and how fast they put it up. It looks like it's only a couple of months from opening. Which is crazy since it's so big and was just started AFTER covid.

It's the reason fly ash has been in such short supply for concrete all summer.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4975]

6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, just a variant on open source.

Not as uncommon as you think, either.  Major (and minor) corporations in essence abandon patent rights every day when they choose not to pay the maintenance fees.  And, private companies have waived or dedicated to the public entire portfolios fairly routinely.  IBM used to do it a lot.

I'm curious as to your reasoning for being against open source stuff. Or is it more an annoyance that they are making a big deal about something that shouldn't be seen as a big deal?

[workswithseed 2088]

12 hours ago, StruggleBus said:

California sucks shit through a straw. 

[workswithseed 2088]

4 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

I'm curious as to your reasoning for being against open source stuff. Or is it more an annoyance that they are making a big deal about something that shouldn't be seen as a big deal?

I'm glad for open source gun parts.

[DonkeyCigars 144]

8 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

I'm curious as to your reasoning for being against open source stuff. Or is it more an annoyance that they are making a big deal about something that shouldn't be seen as a big deal?

He’s one of those lawyers enriched by IP law that Elon references, so you have to understand that as context too…

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4975]

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure he is Vulcan, so there has to be some sort of other logical reason behind it.

[52-80 19147]

15 hours ago, MillerEP said:

Had an appointment at the VA clinic this morning, out by the airport. I took 130 down and drove past the giant gigafactory they're building. I was amazed at how huge it was and how fast they put it up. It looks like it's only a couple of months from opening. Which is crazy since it's so big and was just started AFTER covid.

It's insane how fast they go from deciding to open a plant to pumping out productions (and returning all the capital).  I think the Chinese factory took 12 months from laying the foundation to pushing out a finished car.

[AeroHorn 749]

On 10/8/2021 at 12:11 PM, StruggleBus said:

Elon is a bad ass. California sucks shit through a straw. 

Why do you think so? Specifically regarding Elon, he made his money in California and all his endeavors started and thrived in California. Both the state of California in the form of tougher emissions standards and EV credits and Californians by buying majority of Teslas for the first however many years supported the sustainability/environmentalism/EV dream and made Elon what he is now. I understand Elon moving to save billions on his personal state taxes but not sure what he gains by moving headquarters. I think (don't have evidence) it is to help his personal move to Texas.

But for Texans to say California sucks shit in relation to Elon/Tesla/EVs is rich irony indeed.

Even in general, isn't California the leader in pushing progress and setting standards, while being home to a bunch of the top revenue/value companies? I don't get this regressive thinking that following good practices is bad and businesses should be given a free hand. The fact that California has and continues to develop and host lot of very successful companies through innovation and entrepreneurship indicates that California must not be sucking.

[Biff Tannen 45665]

58 minutes ago, AeroHorn said:

Why do you think so? Specifically regarding Elon, he made his money in California and all his endeavors started and thrived in California. Both the state of California in the form of tougher emissions standards and EV credits and Californians by buying majority of Teslas for the first however many years supported the sustainability/environmentalism/EV dream and made Elon what he is now. I understand Elon moving to save billions on his personal state taxes but not sure what he gains by moving headquarters. I think (don't have evidence) it is to help his personal move to Texas.

But for Texans to say California sucks shit in relation to Elon/Tesla/EVs is rich irony indeed.

Even in general, isn't California the leader in pushing progress and setting standards, while being home to a bunch of the top revenue/value companies? I don't get this regressive thinking that following good practices is bad and businesses should be given a free hand. The fact that California has and continues to develop and host lot of very successful companies through innovation and entrepreneurship indicates that California must not be sucking.

The “California sucks” trope is tired, but any amount of logic you try and bring to it will be met with dumbshittery. Good effort though. 

[Guest Lobo]

California the state is beautiful and good for business in some ways.  There is rich diversity of thought, wonderful education, nice eye candy, geographic splendor, and people of all political persuasions.  Also, there's Fresno.  

But I think why "California Sucks" gets bandied about so frequently is because a fair amount of California's state leadership in all three branches tend to cater to and crater to their lowest 20%.  Their most insane and idiotic base of the base.  That's from where all the crazy headlines and sublime politics result.  

Boy, I can't imagine what that must be like.  To have a once mighty and glorious state veered moronically off course to make sure your state's dumbest fucking idealists were given the keys for the weekend.  Every generation or two, we have to let the stupid people feel involved lest they riot on their way back to the alternative learning annex.  We're watching that play out in real time on all sides of the political spectrum, in a number of states that used to be great.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Lobo

[Brisketexan 105061]

10 minutes ago, Lobo said:

California the state is beautiful and good for business in some ways.  There is rich diversity of thought, wonderful education, nice eye candy, geographic splendor, and people of all political persuasions.  Also, there's Fresno.  

But I think why "California Sucks" gets bandied about so frequently is because a fair amount of California's state leadership in all three branches tend to cater to and crater to their lowest 20%.  Their most insane and idiotic base of the base.  That's from where all the crazy headlines and sublime politics result.  

Boy, I can't imagine what that must be like.  To have a once mighty and glorious state veered moronically off course to make sure your state's dumbest fucking idealists were given the keys for the weekend.  Every generation or two, we have to let the stupid people feel involved lest they riot on their way back to the alternative learning annex.  We're watching that play out in real time on all sides of the political spectrum, in a number of states that used to be great.

WHAT???  Handing over the keys to incredibly large and complex systems to the wingnut extreme is NOT a great idea?  Well shit, whoda thunk it?!

[MillerEP 30447]

Ok, after this tweet, I'm positive he's in the "Visionary" category. TITS is just what the State needs:

Edited October 29, 2021 by MillerEP

[tbone_ 14109]

I’m down

[workswithseed 2088]

Been quiet since he posted this.

[gmr548 16576]

California the state is beautiful and good for business in some ways.  There is rich diversity of thought, wonderful education, nice eye candy, geographic splendor, and people of all political persuasions.  Also, there's Fresno.  
But I think why "California Sucks" gets bandied about so frequently is because a fair amount of California's state leadership in all three branches tend to cater to and crater to their lowest 20%.  Their most insane and idiotic base of the base.  That's from where all the crazy headlines and sublime politics result.  
Boy, I can't imagine what that must be like.  To have a once mighty and glorious state veered moronically off course to make sure your state's dumbest fucking idealists were given the keys for the weekend.  Every generation or two, we have to let the stupid people feel involved lest they riot on their way back to the alternative learning annex.  We're watching that play out in real time on all sides of the political spectrum, in a number of states that used to be great.

California is definitely the *can’t say political party* analogue to what *can’t say political party* are doing in Texas. Two sides of the same coin.

[gmr548 16576]

Been quiet since he posted this.

Probably because he’s just making noise and there isn’t much to say about it.