Elon Musk is a weirdo POS

[USUC]

No. It's like you don't read my posts.

I'm sorry both sides are not exactly the same. And at this current time, the GOP is more problematic. I think Soros wasn't side by side with some candidate like Musk was Trump. He didn't move into the White House and travel with Obama everywhere and appear in family photos. He didn't wield a social media network and massive defense industry/tech IP. He didn't fund extreme parties order them about.

And I'm not y'all and I don't have a "Soros." We all have a Musk, unfortunately. Whether that is terrible idea or a benign/good one I think that it remains to be seen. It's not looking good though.

You are entitled to your opinion and I'm open to scrutinize Musk's actions and beliefs. But of course you will see Musk as a bigger threat than Soros because you align more politically with Soros. Like most partisans, you believe your philosophy to be correct and the intentions of your side righteous as compared to the faulty beliefs and malicious intentions of your political foes. And vice-versa.

[frank ryan]

You are entitled to your opinion and I'm open to scrutinize Musk's actions and beliefs. But of course you will see Musk as a bigger threat than Soros because you align more politically with Soros. Like most partisans, you believe your philosophy to be correct and the intentions of your side righteous as compared to the faulty beliefs and malicious intentions of your political foes. And vice-versa.

Again I don't think you are understanding my point. Musk and Soros aren't doing the same things or having the same impact. Their actions, not just their philosophies, are different. So is the extent of their potential influence.

[Moliere]

Western Europe thrives with progressive taxes and they tend to rate their quality of life much higher than we do ours.

I'll push back on this. Europe isn't exactly thriving. They are pretty much a dead man walking at this point, or at least most of it is. Case in point is the attached article about Germany's big economic issues:

Germany’s Economic Model Is Broken, and No One Has a Plan B - WSJ

[wally]

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Ryan Long is pretty funny.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I'll push back on this. Europe isn't exactly thriving. They are pretty much a dead man walking at this point, or at least most of it is. Case in point is the attached article about Germany's big economic issues:

Germany’s Economic Model Is Broken, and No One Has a Plan B - WSJ

Ha. Yeah, Europe is a mess.

[wally]

Again I don't think you are understanding my point. Musk and Soros aren't doing the same things or having the same impact. Their actions, not just their philosophies, are different. So is the extent of their potential influence.

I kind of at least like the fact that Elon is very public with his meddling in politics. Like, even if you disagree, at least he is pretty loud and out there for scrutiny. I have heard about Soros a bunch, but I have never taken the time to vet any of the criticisms because it seems like its a sort of a quasi-secret influence he has.

[USUC]

Again I don't think you are understanding my point. Musk and Soros aren't doing the same things or having the same impact. Their actions, not just their philosophies, are different. So is the extent of their potential influence.

What am I not understanding? Are you implying anything other than you don't think the left wing advocacy or philosophy of Soros is malicious in intent and consequence so that's different to Musk who is clearly malicious in intent and consequence?

I'm not making the argument here that one is worse or better than the other. That is a different conversation. Soros is the boogie man of the right, Musk is of the left.

[YOhio]

I kind of at least like the fact that Elon is very public with his meddling in politics. Like, even if you disagree, at least he is pretty loud and out there for scrutiny. I have heard about Soros a bunch, but I have never taken the time to vet any of the criticisms because it seems like its a sort of a quasi-secret influence he has.

Totally agree.

[frank ryan]

What am I not understanding? Are you implying anything other than you don't think the left wing advocacy or philosophy of Soros is malicious in intent and consequence so that's different to Musk who is clearly malicious in intent and consequence?

I'm not making the argument here that one is worse or better than the other. That is a different conversation. Soros is the boogie man of the right, Musk is of the left.

. I indicated a difference in their actions. They did not and are not doing the same things

[frank ryan]

I kind of at least like the fact that Elon is very public with his meddling in politics. Like, even if you disagree, at least he is pretty loud and out there for scrutiny. I have heard about Soros a bunch, but I have never taken the time to vet any of the criticisms because it seems like it's a sort of a quasi-secret influence he has.

It might be worth doing, and doing so beyond like the right wing influencer world.

[frank ryan]

This is a pretty interesting article on Musk, in particular but also his other techie friends who sit at this nexus extreme economic libertarianism and authoritarianism.

Musk has fascism and far right politics in his roots. It doesn't mean he has adopted them but he is the opposite of unfamiliar.

I remember South Africa had a crisis in the early days of ww2. Some of their Afrikaans leaderships tried to push the country into aligning with Hitler. I didn't realize the political leader who led that charge was head of state for the RSA when Musk was born.

He is not dumb and has had more exposure into right-wing extreme politics than any of us have had.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...d-south-africa


In recent months Musk’s promotion of far-right conspiracy theories has grown, from a deepening hostility to democratic institutions to the recent endorsement of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). He has taken an unhealthy interest in genetics while backing claims of a looming “white genocide” in his South African homeland and endorsing posts promoting the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. Increasingly, his language and tone have come to echo the old South Africa.

He is not alone. Musk is part of the “PayPal mafia” of libertarian billionaires with roots in South Africa under white rule now hugely influential in the US tech industry and politics.

They include Peter Thiel, the German-born billionaire venture capitalist and PayPal cofounder, who was educated in a southern African city in the 1970s where Hitler was still openly venerated. Thiel, a major donor to Trump’s campaign, has been critical of welfare programs and women being permitted to vote as undermining capitalism. A 2021 biography of Thiel, called The Contrarian, alleged that as a student at Stanford he defended apartheid as “economically sound”.

...


The South Africa into which Musk was born in 1971, and to which Thiel moved as a child from Germany, was led by a prime minister, John Vorster, who had been a general in a fascist militia three decades earlier that allied itself with Hitler.

The Ossewabrandwag (OB) was founded shortly before the second world war. It opposed South Africa entering the war as an ally of Britain and plotted with German military intelligence to assassinate the prime minster, Jan Smuts, as a prelude to an armed uprising in support of Hitler.

Vorster made no secret of his sympathy for Nazi, or National Socialist, ideology which he compared to the Afrikaner political philosophy of Christian nationalism.

“We stand for Christian nationalism which is an ally of National Socialism,” he said in 1942. “You can call this anti-democratic principle dictatorship if you wish. In Italy it is called ‘Fascism’, in Germany ‘German National Socialism’ and in South Africa ‘Christian nationalism’.”

[Shaka]

You are quite the South Africa expert.

[dabrockster]

Totally agree.

Same. And let’s be truthful, Soros funds many community action groups, local, state and federal politicians to ensure his vision is inserted into America. He does it behind closed doors and strategically where his footprint is not seen unless you dig a little deeper. But it is just as powerful in his desire to place politicians that align with him across the political spectrum of America.

Musk and these billionaires under Trump are just open and not hiding. Both sides still have an objective to accomplish.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Healthcare and food aren’t basic human rights because that would implicitly give you a right to someone else’s labor, undermining individual autonomy for the producer. Human rights can't force affirmative obligations on others, rather they exist to protect freedom and agency.

Health care as a human right came up in the hearings today. I guess RFK isn't completely crazy.

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[tooblue]

Health care as a human right came up in the hearings today. I guess RFK isn't completely crazy.

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You are seriously referring to RFK in support for your argument? OK, let's do this. How can the answer be "flawless" when it is a fallacy—a red herring fallacy.

So, because one person could choose to smoke, healthcare is not a basic human right?


In case you are struggling to understand why it is a fallacy ... because one person has a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol, healthcare is not a basic human right? We could keep going ...

Heart disease
Cancer
Asthma