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

[wildcat09 29355]

10 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Yeah, when the Twitter deal was first announced my theory was he was trying to figure out some way to cash out a ton of Tesla shares (without tanking Tesla’s value by saying, “This shit is way overvalued and I want to sell high”).   So he came up with, “I need it for this unrelated Twitter deal, which by the way is about altruism and saving free speech, not really a business call that I’d rather have my money there instead of Tesla”, blah blah blah.

I think I was probably giving him too much credit, though.  He’s way too manic, volatile, and subject to outright stupidity fueled by his narcissism for this to all be a coldly rational Machiavellian deception.  And, oh yeah, nothing about that plot to cash out some Tesla shares would require he sign the Twitter deal with no due diligence, make an ass out of himself trying to back out of the Twitter deal, grossly mismanage Twitter after he buys it, and end up setting tens of billions of his dollars on fire tied up in an illiquid money losing company.

So, maybe he’s just a lucky rich asshole prone to dumb decisions?

They all are.

[Bateshorn 9928]

19 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Yeah, when the Twitter deal was first announced my theory was he was trying to figure out some way to cash out a ton of Tesla shares (without tanking Tesla’s value by saying, “This shit is way overvalued and I want to sell high”).   So he came up with, “I need it for this unrelated Twitter deal, which by the way is about altruism and saving free speech, not really a business call that I’d rather have my money there instead of Tesla”, blah blah blah.

I think I was probably giving him too much credit, though.  He’s way too manic, volatile, and subject to outright stupidity fueled by his narcissism for this to all be a coldly rational Machiavellian deception.  And, oh yeah, nothing about that plot to cash out some Tesla shares would require he sign the Twitter deal with no due diligence, make an ass out of himself trying to back out of the Twitter deal, grossly mismanage Twitter after he buys it, and end up setting tens of billions of his dollars on fire tied up in an illiquid money losing company.

So, maybe he’s just a lucky rich asshole prone to dumb decisions?

Eve Williams, one of the Twitter founders, after Dorsey returned and pushed him out, sort of faded into the background of the company, despite being a major, if not the largest shareholder at one point.  Once Twitter went public, he announced his intention to steadily sell his shares, and did it reliably, month after month, quarter over quarter, every year since.  You can turn your illiquid assets into liquid assets without spooking the market, you just need to let everyone know ahead of time and not vary from your plan. I assume WIlliams was made completely by Musk's buyout, if he had shares remaining.  

But Elon is too smart to do the smart thing. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Bateshorn

[NoName 16354]

7 minutes ago, Bateshorn said:

Eve Williams, one of the Twitter founders, after Dorsey returned and pushed him out, sort of faded into the background of the company, despite being a major, if not the largest shareholder at one point.  Once Twitter went public, he announced his intention to steadily sell his shares, and did it reliably, month after month, quarter over quarter, every year since.  You can turn your illiquid assets into liquid assets without spooking the market, you just need to let everyone know ahead of time and not vary from your plan. I assume WIlliams was made completely by Musk's buyout, if he had shares remaining.  

But Elon is too smart to do the smart thing. 

Ev is off the board as of 2019, last thing i am seeing is that he was at around 1.5% in 2019 when he stopped selling the way he had been? evidently if he held on through the end that would have netted him around $160 million in additional money?

[Bateshorn 9928]

1 hour ago, NoName said:

Ev is off the board as of 2019, last thing i am seeing is that he was at around 1.5% in 2019 when he stopped selling the way he had been? evidently if he held on through the end that would have netted him around $160 million in additional money?

That was my understanding as well. 

[Chopper 17238]

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Elon has the emotional IQ of a toddler, and top-level narcissism.  That is a recipe for believing that because 10% of the population worships you with cultish fanaticism, then everyone else MUST love you as well.

Motivations for purchasing a Tesla, prior to June 2022

1. Values statement - "I'm green and progressive and I want to show it."

2. Status - can be very expensive for a car but buyers received elite treatment and often positive attention for their car

3. Speed - "my car goes 0 to 60 so damn quick!"

The Elron cult doesn't fit neatly into either of these categories.

edit - Just an observation. In fact, there may be other motivations that aren't coming to mind.

 

2 hours ago, Goredho said:

This is an interesting thread for those who think it's possible Elon isn't completely nuts, and that he has some hidden motivations that we simply aren't able to see.

 

The problem I have with this hypo is that he's intentionally pissing off many, if not most, of the people who were at one time willing to go out of their way to purchase a tesla - the values-oriented purchaser; largely progressive people concerned about global warming and air pollution, or at least wanting to signal that they care. I have a difficult time believing any businessperson would conjure a plan that intentionally offends a large portion of their customer base in order to distract others from the shitty sales of their company. Taking actions (embracing the extreme right wing, embracing qnuts, embracing antivaxxers, appearing unstable in so many ways, appearing to not value other humans, even your employees) to lower your brand's attractiveness beginning in June or arguably April, in order to hide the fact that in December your sales are going to look awful, is so illogical I don't think it even meets the threshold definition of a plan.

 

1 hour ago, Bateshorn said:

You can turn your illiquid assets into liquid assets without spooking the market, you just need to let everyone know ahead of time and not vary from your plan.

Yes. You're referring to scheduled sales plans that get filed with the SEC so that investors know a company insider is going to be selling relatively large quantities of shares so that the sales don't spook the market and drive down price per share. Elron doesn't want anyone to know when he's going to sell. Just like he wants to hide the location of his jet(s) or when he's jerking off into a jar to impregnate his next victim. Those are the things he's most secretive about. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Chopper

[Captainant 27680]

53 minutes ago, Chopper said:

Yes. You're referring to scheduled sales plans that get filed with the SEC so that investors know a company insider is going to be selling relatively large quantities of shares so that the sales don't spook the market and drive down price per share. Elron doesn't want anyone to know when he's going to sell. Just like he wants to hide the location of his jet(s) or when he's jerking off into a jar to impregnate his next victim. Those are the things he's most secretive about. 

He also discreetly purchased a 9.2% share of twitter in April and almost got investigated by the SEC for it until he made the move to buy twitter outright to moot the issue. His breaking the law on stock purchase reporting saved him a cool $156,000,000.

I'm betting that Elmo didn't mean to buy twitter and just sort of "oops"d into it, resulting in the clown fiesta we see today

[Brisketexan 105155]

2 minutes ago, Captainant said:

He also discreetly purchased a 9.2% share of twitter in April and almost got investigated by the SEC for it until he made the move to buy twitter outright to moot the issue. His breaking the law on stock purchase reporting saved him a cool $156,000,000.

I'm betting that Elmo didn't mean to buy twitter and just sort of "oops"d into it, resulting in the clown fiesta we see today

I think that's a winning bet.  He absolutely oopsed into buying Twitter.  It wasn't just one move, it was a series of idiotic miscalculations and posturing and posing.  But ultimately, Elon ended up being a guy who shit himself, then slipped in the runny shit that dripped off his leg, falling on his ass.....who is now sitting there, covered in shit, insisting "I meant to do that!"

And a chunk of our population looks at him and says "see!  He's a GENIUS!"

[atomheartbevo 89730]

3 hours ago, Goredho said:

This is an interesting thread for those who think it's possible Elon isn't completely nuts, and that he has some hidden motivations that we simply aren't able to see.

2 hours ago, royiv said:

I don't think any of that is a new hot take. A lot of people have said the same thing and there are a lot of data points that support Tesla having some really big challenges on the horizon. Big investments in a locked-down China, decreasing demand, more competition, pricing pressures, quality problems and an aging product line-up doesn't exactly scream big growth on the horizon. Add this to the continued stock sales as the share price slides and a distracted CEO and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Don't forget the carbon credits - @elfenix mentioned it elsewhere, and keep in mind this article was from a year ago.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/tesla-electric-vehicle-regulatory-credits-explained.html

Quote

In a push to reduce carbon emissions, governments around the world have introduced incentives for automakers to develop electric vehicles in return for credits. As Tesla only sells electric cars, it receives these credits for free and can sell them at a huge profit to other automakers who can’t meet regulatory requirements.

But investor Michael Burry said Tesla’s reliance on regulatory credits to generate profits is a red flag. He took a $534 million short position against the electric carmaker, betting that Tesla shares will fall.

Quote

Tesla raked in $518 million in revenue from sales of regulatory credits in the first quarter of the year, helping the U.S. electric vehicle maker post another quarter of profit. In a push to reduce carbon emissions, governments around the world have introduced incentives for automakers to develop electric vehicles or very low-carbon emitting cars. Credits are given to carmakers that build and sell environmentally friendly vehicles.

In the U.S., California and at least 13 other states have rules surrounding regulatory credits. They require auto manufacturers to produce a certain number of so-called zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) based on the total number of cars sold in that particular state.

Quote

Automakers that produce such cars will get a certain amount of credits based on factors like the range of the vehicle — longer range ZEVs get more credits. These carmakers are required to have a certain amount of regulatory credits each year. If they can’t meet the target, they can buy them from other companies that have excess credits.

Because Tesla only sells electric cars which come under the ZEV category, the company always has excess regulatory credits and can effectively sell them at a 100% profit.

Now that pretty much all American automakers are putting out (or will be shortly) large numbers of EVs based on their current lineups, Tesla won't be able to sell those credits, or at least not at the price they have been.

Like SpaceX, Tesla appears to be a company that relies on the government (in the form of regulations forcing other automakers to buy credits from Tesla) to do well.

[atomheartbevo 89730]

3 hours ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

there is no plausible reason for what he is doing with twitter outside of 'the dude is insane'

You're saying it's insane to spend tens of billions of dollars to read the DMs of your ex?  

Shit, back in the 90s, I had people offer tens of dollars to read the private messages of their ex's on one of my BBSes.

[Chopper 17238]

[G650 14263]

2 hours ago, Chopper said:

often positive attention for their car

Really?

[NoName 16354]

it's 11 miles (20+ min) from the closest airport, the two that show as airports (huntington and santa fe on the map above) are both heliports

my big takeaway? fucking OSINT is incredibly good. i love bellingcat for this kind of stuff.

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by NoName

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

5 hours ago, elguapo said:

Hopefully someone is reposting all of these on Twitter 

His tail number and how to open source follow his flights are now all over twitter. aggy level backfire. 

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

1 minute ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

His tail number and how to open source follow his flights are now all over twitter. aggy level backfire. 

Someone should have mentioned this to him.  Then again, no certainity he would have listened.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

 

 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

4 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

If Elon is smart he has begun the transition of Tesla to an electricity supply/storage company 

Which auto manufacturer scoops up the Austin Tesla plant?

[Chopper 17238]

29 minutes ago, G650 said:

Really?

Whatever model it was 7ish years ago (the new S? The x?) at $100k was pretty sharp, in appearance anyway. No? I'm certainly no gearhead. A friend was showing hers off to me when it was new around that time. But anyway the point is mostly that current owners who are ready to trade in, and others who would be inclined to jump into the ev market, have been given a lot of reasons to look towards some of the new and forthcoming makes and models. Also it used to have the cool factor of being a rare high-end ev. But no more with BMW and Mercedes and others entering the market. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Chopper

[royiv 9325]

1 minute ago, Chopper said:

Whatever model it was 7ish years ago (the new S? The x?) at $100k was pretty sharp, in appearance anyway. No? I'm certainly no gearhead. A friend was showing hers off to me when it was new around that time. But anyway the point is mostly that current owners who are ready to trade in, and others who would be inclined to jump into the ev market, have been given a lot of reasons to look towards some of the new and forthcoming makes and models.

What motivation does any current Tesla owner have to trade their current Tesla in when they haven't made any cosmetic updates to their line-up? They all look like they did when they first rolled off the assembly line.

[G650 14263]

7 minutes ago, Chopper said:

Whatever model it was 7ish years ago (the new S? The x?) at $100k was pretty sharp, in appearance anyway. No? I'm certainly no gearhead. A friend was showing hers off to me when it was new around that time. But anyway the point is mostly that current owners who are ready to trade in, and others who would be inclined to jump into the ev market, have been given a lot of reasons to look towards some of the new and forthcoming makes and models. Also it used to have the cool factor of being a rare high-end ev. But no more with BMW and Mercedes and others entering the market. 

No. They are heinous pieces of shit driven by douchebags. That has been my position since the first time I saw one

[dcbc 14487]

6 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

it's like Jerry Garcia said about Deadheads -- "They're like people who love licorice.  Not that many people love licorice, but those who do.....REALLY love licorice."

One of my favorite Garcia quotes, and there are many.

[NoName 16354]

this hacker news comment made me chuckle

Quote

Musk went from self appointed free speech supporter to precog cop real fast.

 

[cactusflinthead 27601]

 

[Homercles 10206]

17 minutes ago, G650 said:

No. They are heinous pieces of shit driven by douchebags. That has been my position since the first time I saw one

Well in my neighborhood they’re 90% Indian dudes, I am sure they’re not pieces of shit…but I wouldn’t really know either, because if grandma/grandpa live with them then they won’t even wave back at me let alone chat.  The rest talk my ear off and are cool as shit.

I asked my best friend (Indian dude) about that once and he said “if the grandparents are living there then it’s a whole different world inside” which makes sense, having spent a few months there working and half my career managing predominantly-Indian vendors, caste is no joke.

The moms all drive gray Odysseys at 15mph, so I guess a Tesla is the Indian tech dude status symbol.  

For me they remind me of early Android phones, where everyone had a task manager app to kill rogue processes…works great 95% of the time but that 5% leads to weird issues. I’m not really in the mood to treat my car like my work PC, with odd IT-ware installs and regular updates/reboots.  Plus a giant iPad as the only interface and unpredictable fit/finish is why I bought a gently used G80 Sport and will get a Mach E or other electric car next go around.  

To each their own, just not for me right now.  And they all look the same…I had a Prelude when Celicas were the rage, a CTS-V instead of a 335i and the Genesis over the GS/E-class/5-series/A6 because I hate to see myself coming/going.  

[G650 14263]

2 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Well in my neighborhood they’re 90% Indian dudes, I am sure they’re not pieces of shit…but I wouldn’t really know either, because if grandma/grandpa live with them then they won’t even wave back at me let alone chat.  The rest talk my ear off and are cool as shit.

I asked my best friend (Indian dude) about that once and he said “if the grandparents are living there then it’s a whole different world inside” which makes sense, having spent a few months there working and half my career managing predominantly-Indian vendors, caste is no joke.

The moms all drive gray Odysseys at 15mph, so I guess a Tesla is the Indian tech dude status symbol.  

For me they remind me of early Android phones, where everyone had a task manager app to kill rogue processes…works great 95% of the time but that 5% leads to weird issues. I’m not really in the mood to treat my car like my work PC, with odd IT-ware installs and regular updates/reboots.  Plus a giant iPad as the only interface and unpredictable fit/finish is why I bought a gently used G80 Sport and will get a Mach E or other electric car next go around.  

To each their own, just not for me right now.  And they all look the same…I had a Prelude when Celicas were the rage, a CTS-V instead of a 335i and the Genesis over the GS/E-class/5-series/A6 because I hate to see myself coming/going.  

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

This seems like solid, reasonable action for Twitter to take.  There's no possible downside to this at all.

 

 

 

 

[HenryJames 66124]

 

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

1 minute ago, HenryJames said:

 

 

But free speech.  

[atomheartbevo 89730]

47 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

This seems like solid, reasonable action for Twitter to take.  There's no possible downside to this at all.

Getting Qanon inside the tent, a brilliant plan to help win back or keep advertisers around.

How long until https://twitter.com/Wayfair gets banned?  Or Oprah Winfrey's or Tom Hanks's accounts?

 

[G650 14263]

4 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

 

Well, the downslope is accelerating it seems

[Celery Man 20968]

They’re going to start trafficking children on twitter

Edited December 16, 2022 by Celery Man

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

2 minutes ago, G650 said:

Well, the downslope is accelerating it seems

 

Add more:

 

 

 

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

Apparently, any reporter who reported on Mastodon being suspended from Twitter is getting suspended as well.  In other words, suppression of news is now a thing...which is kinda what those stupid fucking "Twitter Files" was all about, right?

 

 

 

[cactusflinthead 27601]

2 hours ago, Homercles said:

the grandparents are living there then it’s a whole different world inside

We have a couple of HOAs that have a lot of Indian folks. The grandad sit and talk area is something I have noticed. Spot on concerning the Odyssey. Lexus is an alternative for the more upscale. 

[HenryJames 66124]

 

[G650 14263]

So apparently Ryan Mac had a burner lol

 

 

[G650 14263]

And now Olbermann is suspended 

[atomheartbevo 89730]

33 minutes ago, G650 said:

Well, the downslope is accelerating it seems

I gotta admit, I didn't think Musk would be this blatant about trying to silence his critics.  

I fucking hate that he's going to destroy Twitter now, but I love that the whole world gets to see him do it in such a public fashion.

[Brisketexan 105155]

I gotta admit, I didn't think Musk would be this blatant about trying to silence his critics.  
I fucking hate that he's going to destroy Twitter now, but I love that the whole world gets to see him do it in such a public fashion.

Yep. This is the part where he goes completely off the rails. Buckle up and watch.

[atomheartbevo 89730]

I have been getting a lot of text spam on my main phone, and across my Google Voice accounts, and some of those Voice accounts are only used for...you guessed it...Frank Stallone twitter stuff.  I chalked it up to campaign shit since I've had the same phone # for the last 23 years and my number is on a lot of lists to text/call for electioneering shit.

But it's hitting my Google #'s as well with the same stuff.  

 

[atomheartbevo 89730]

8 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

If Elon is smart he has begun the transition of Tesla to an electricity supply/storage company 

 

[atomheartbevo 89730]

Glad to see he's digging up two-week old Caitlyn Jenner tweets.  This fucking timeline.

 

[Sawbonz 27578]

 

[Neonmoon 38129]

He’s already banning anyone that is critical? Damn, he literally spent 44 Billion to read Grimes DMs. 

[atomheartbevo 89730]

Ron Filipkowski is not long for twitter I'm guessing.  And it's getting a lot of coverage, and Musk isn't saying anything. 

Twitter also made it so that you couldn't link to certain external links.

Quote

The accounts of Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster had all been suspended as of Thursday evening.

The Twitter account for Mastodon, a platform billed as an alternative, was also suspended early Thursday evening.

Quote

As of Thursday evening, Twitter accounts operated by NBC News journalists were unable to tweet a link to the Mastodon account of @ElonJet.

Quote

Lee said in a text message that before the suspension he had attempted to tweet out a link to the Mastodon account that tracked Musk’s jet but was unable to and instead tweeted a screenshot.

Rupar wrote on Substack that his account was permanently suspended but that he had no other information.

 

[tchookem 3900]

 

You know what normal people don't do?

They don't tweet about their critics. Normal people don't have critics. Movie stars, artists, musicians... they have critics that judge their work, but they don't necessarily have critics that comment on them personally.

You know who does have critics?
Losers.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

New theory: Elmo is a cyborg created by other billionaires to make themselves look a lot less shitty.

[Post Oak 20246]

1 hour ago, G650 said:

And now Olbermann is suspended 

[babysdaddy 2725]

Lighting $44B on fire. Fuckin crazy. No twitter will ultimately be a bet positive for society though

[Captainant 27680]

Musk is executing a textbook facist playbook pretty well:

• Evokes a fear of losing civility with his “woke mind virus” spiel 
• Promotes a loss of faith in democracy and supporting institutions with his “Twitter Files” series
• Endless stream of forcefully repeated lies
• Erasure of norms (banning individuals who would dare criticize him, declaring that publicly available information is “doxxing”)

All of this is of course in service of convincing people that a tyrant like him can be their saviour. 

[pacman 7359]

Are we done here? Question seems answered.

 

Fraud.

[Aqua Buddha 14598]