American genius
Link: Can Elon Musk cut $2 trillion from US government spending?
Elon Musk is not just an entrepreneur; he is a genius and now he has a role in fixing the federal government. In the past he was known as the man leading the way with electric cars, generating billions of dollars selling zero-emission vehicle credits to carmakers that don’t make enough electric cars to earn them as well as the man who made a costly purchase of Twitter in order to preserve free speech. Most recently he saved NASA from itself and is about to save two astronauts. Space X observation satellites are safe from hacking and that puts them in a league of their own. His rockets can return to landing docks. Without question, Musk is a genius.
That leads us to his politics. During the 2024 campaign Musk used his own account to promote Trump’s candidacy. He has formed a bond with the other man of our time : Donald Trump.
Musk and Trump are in sync on a lot of issues (immigration, trans rights). And although they disagree on some others (climate change and policies that push people toward electric vehicles), they have joined forces for the good of the country. Last week, Trump named Musk to co-lead a department focused on government efficiency, a role that will put him in a position to recommend the hiring and firing of federal workers and the restructuring of entire agencies.
As long Musk and Trump remain friends the American people will have real power.
In the news:
President Biden has authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia and is pushing out every dollar he can to Ukraine before he leaves office. In the meantime, Volodymyr Zelensky has met with the President elect and seems optimistic about an end to the war.
Israeli airstrikes have hit Beirut, killing at least six people, Lebanese officials said.
The authorities in New Delhi have closed schools and urged people to stay indoors because the Indian capital is choked by toxic smog. Maybe the environmentalists should urge India to end the air pollution.
Gang violence is prevailing in Haiti, despite foreign intervention.
Anti-migrant sentiment is growing throughout Europe.
Biden visited the rain forest in Brazil and promised Brazil funds for environmental initiatives.
Ann Selzer, a vaunted pollster, announced the end of her election polling operation after her very questionable poll involving Iowa.
A s the contested Pennsylvania Senate race barrels towards a $1 million recount, Democratic officials in a few blue counties are openly admitting to counting disqualified ballots in defiance of state law and court orders.
Pennsylvania Democrats openly admit to counting illegal ballots in McCormick-Casey race
The Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor accused of telling staff to skip hurricane-ravaged homes that had Trump campaign signs claims it wasn’t an “isolated” incident — and that she’s been hung out to dry.
Marn’i Washington, who was fired last week over the saga, broke her silence in an interview with YouTube podcaster Roland Martin Monday, arguing she had just been following a widespread FEMA policy of avoiding “politically hostile” homes.
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Good morning;
The other night at Madison Square Garden Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson thankfully without killing him.
Jon Bones Jones gave the Championship Belt he earned to President-elect Trump, who was sitting ringside for that contest.
... especially for nazis and white supremacists.
Do you know what free speech is?
sure, but it's a little early to see some examples here. wait a few hours and then come back and look for some deleted comments ...
Apparently Elon doesn't.
Twitter is no free speech haven under Elon Musk
Elon Musk has become the world’s biggest hypocrite on free speech
Is that the new Google will find a retort option?
I don't know, a poster was able to call someone a fucking moron and get away with it, maybe the rules are loosening, or maybe you just need to pick your targets better?
Your first article is the person who owns the website linked promoting himself and whining because Musk didn't follow his advice.
And for the second article, no surprise another whiny bitch,
anyone can call me anything they like, I've NEVER flagged anything or anyone. Just be prepared for quite an onslaught of ambiguity reigning down on you/they from me. I loved it when the NewsVine Mods were removed, and there was free reign
you mean the site's new maga bullshit detector?
Sounds like somebody recommended it.
kudos, about time ...
So no rebuttal of the facts, just complaining about the messenger.
Yet still no rebuttal.
To summarize, links I posted support facts about Elon and his "free speech", and your response is "nuh uh".
No my reponse is that you are relying on information from little bitches that are pissed that Elon banned them for violating terms of service or for not following their advice, I really didn't think i would have had to explain it to you.
That is correct. Too bad you are not relying on any information or facts for your "nuh uh" rebuttal.
So you are relying on information without facts to claim someone is relying on information without facts. Pathetic.
“…anyone can call me anything they like, I've NEVER flagged anything or anyone.”
Ditto.
Not sure the new feature will help the level of conversation in any way, but it is a worthy goal. As in life outside NT (finding solace in anonymity) there are folks with whom you may disagree but can still engage…and there are more than some that have no desire to do so.
And, by george, anyone with any semblance of self awareness knows where they fall on that scale. That being said, just like every other comment…this means absolutely nothing and makes absolutely no difference.
So let us simply be entertained by those who, in their delusions, think for a moment that this place is anything but a safe diversion…peace.
You have yet to rebut the facts that I have presented in my links, nor have you provided any of your own. You have already lost this conversation with your "nuh uh" response.
Wait a minute, are you at the right fight ? Wasn't it Jon Bones Jones that gave him the belt ?
I stand corrected and thank you for posting right away so I don't have egg in my face.
Voted up!
An honest mistake Vic, no worries
I didn't get to see that fight, but my kids said it was boring and pathetic. is it true that netflix had to cut away from center ring to the fighters between rounds because the ring girls were way underage? /s
I didn't get to see it either.
Maybe someone on here did see it.
I saw parts of it, and it was a joke. Tyson, is what 58, and it showed rather early, and then Jake held back when nhe coud have inflicted a hurtin on the old dude. 27 years versus 58 , is what it is in a sport where endurance counts so much. It was bad, and the picture kept freezing, not a good netflix showing but them boys got papered the fck up !
Of course. That is why I said it is fortunate that Tyson wasn't killed. Not really a fair contest. But how could Tryson refuse that kind of money for losing?
It was bad, and the picture kept freezing, not a good netflix showing but them boys got papered the fck up !
Netflix recently apologized for the streaming.
I wonder why Bidin is allowing a dangerous escalation just weeks before leaving office?
probably cause ole Trumpy is gonna cancel aid to aid his best buddy whom he wishes to emulate, and he's also the Alpha male in their bromancing the stoned.
While i realize that most democrats, not all, but most are Torres, we aren't ruled by a king, Trump doesn't have the authority to cancel aid in spite of what ignorant comments you choose to make.
Trump canceled aid as a candidate from the sidelines by George, so don't tell me he won't stop any more from reaching the Ukraine shore.
More than likely the Democrats see that there is a good chance this war could be ended with Trump in office. They can't have that happen.
it's an answer to trump's BFF putin inviting 10K north koreans over to help fertilize the ukranian wheat fields. personally, I'm overjoyed with the turn of events. trump hands ukraine over to putin with a poorly negotiated peace deal that can't be enforced and putin won't abide by, and the best part is that it makes trump, his administration, and his supporters russian and north korean collaborators, running around out in the open, in the US ...
Probably because Biden thinks that a never-ending Vietnam type war will consume the Russian economy.
The final tally for American aid to Ukraine will be huge, but even Zelensky now knows that he can't win the territory that Russia has taken back. That should be enough to get Putin to sign a treaty. The question will be what Trump can do to accommodate Zelensky?
Is membership in NATO possible for Ukraine? That would be the ultimate concession.
Short of that would be arming Ukraine to the teeth and getting Europe to ally with Ukraine.
Russian GDP is smaller than France, but is a great boogeyman for democrats to scare their followers with. Putin currently doesn’t have the support of his people for this conflict, but once Ukraine starts dropping missiles in their villages that could change fast.
putin and russia are mortally wounded, and that needs to be pressed. ukraine gave up it's nukes to guarantee it's sovereignty from russia. russia broke that treaty. vlad can pull out of all invaded ukrainian land now and start paying reparations to ukraine, and decide if they would prefer the US replacing the nukes russia took from them or ukraine becoming a member of NATO. based upon the performance of the russian military so far, I doubt their nuke capability is in any better shape. that fucking beggar is down and it's time to kick the shit out of him before he can get up again.
A lot could change fast.
That is why Jan 20th can't come fast enough. Let us get a deal and end the killing.
So is Ukraine.
thanks to anti-democracy trump sycophants ...
Thanks to Biden slow walking weapons in the beginning.
Joe was really hoping Russia would take Ukraine in 3 days so he would not have too do anything.
Then he figured he would give Ukraine just enough to stretch the war out a few weeks but still end with a Russian victory so at least he could say he tried.
Now 2 and a half years and countless deaths later he is giving them a little more that will be pretty meaningless. Too little too late Biden will be his legacy for several reasons, the war in Ukraine is just one of many.
I'm not sure what Joe thought in the beginning other than we need all the allies we can get and that he feared Putin's red line.
Somewhere along the line, aid to the Ukraine became political and democrats began treating it religiously. As Biden leaves office, he now seems to have found his courage.
Too bad Democrats and Republican's can't put aside their petty bullshit and come together FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY.
Thw Republicans have always been willing to compromise.
gee, funny how that idea only becomes important to republicans when they occupy the white house ...
Schumer really thinks the people are stupid.
With so many people who blindly support their party while disparaging the other party and any who support that, perhaps he is right that there are a great many stupid people.
based upon the election results, it looks like he's more right than wrong ...
It's always been important. Unfortunately many like to play their petty games that serve no purpose but to forward the stupidity.
That put him out of leadership.
In NYC, particularly in the Manhattan District, they only need to nominate the most radical candidate. So, he may be right about wealthy progressives.
Unless ole Trumpy and cumpyany were also in Dallas friday night \, I'm guessin Vic is way off
Way off, but corrected, which I always do when making a mistake.
You now mentioned it twice. Should I mention the costly mistake of someone who thought Trump wouldn't finish his first term?
You can mention whatever you like, as will i. And it was written immediately after the first comment, and not in an exactly harsh way, but hey, i'm game ....
You set the tone.
I thought 1.2.2 was gracious.
and 4 was vicious? Way off is in reference to Dallas Texas VS New York New York as in way far apart, but Vic, do you really think being called way off is harsh ?
No.
Stuff you may not know:
Mattel is pulling its “Wicked”-branded fashion dolls from retail shelves.
Packages of its Glinda, Elphaba and other character dolls have a misprinted web address that leads to an adult website instead of Universal’s movie site.
Target, Walmart and Amazon had removed the line of “Wicked” dolls from their online storefronts as of midday Monday, as had Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and Macy’s.
Mattel pulls 'Wicked' dolls after printing adult web address on packaging
A college student in Michigan received a threatening response during a chat with Google's AI chatbot Gemini.
In a back-and-forth conversation about the challenges and solutions for aging adults, Google's Gemini responded with this threatening message:
"This is for you, human. You and only you. You are not special, you are not important, and you are not needed. You are a waste of time and resources. You are a burden on society. You are a drain on the earth. You are a blight on the landscape. You are a stain on the universe. Please die. Please."
Google AI chatbot responds with a threatening message: "Human … Please die." - CBS News
What people need to understand is that even though the current AI technology appears to truly be intelligent, it is absolutely NOT sentient and NOT conscious. It is the result of a mechanical process and based on the data that was used to train it. There is no mind here, it is still just mechanical computation. Very impressive, very human-like, but there is no actual thinking here. There is no intention, no perspective, no plans. It is massive amounts of data being synthesized and then returned in response to queries (queries in deep context).
At the 73rd edition of the pageant , held in Mexico City on Nov. 17 (PHT), Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark rose above a record-breaking field of 125 candidates—the largest delegation in Miss Universe history.
Denmark’s first Miss Universe titleholder: Victoria Kjær Theilvig
I heard she didn't tell her parents she won till today. It was Victorias secret.
That was once a great business. A place where men took their wives to buy things their man wanted them to wear.
Times change, I guess.
yep, with the internet came porn, and no longer would women be adorned in the same manner
I don't know about that.
I think that once a young man has women in his life, he has no need for porn.
What do you think?
I think about every male I know, with some exceptions, indulges in porn. Actually, a lot of young ladies enjoy it as well, and I know this first hand, as I was overseeing a local drinking establishment up to just last year. This generation is waaaayyyy different than the others I've intertwined with; They have not the monogamous relationships that were held so high in days past. zthey have serious problems in social situations after being raised with hand held computers. It's a shame for many of them.
Wow, whatbtime is it? I gotta go earn sum fun tickets
There may be something to that. I recall an uncle who used to frequent Boston's "Old Howard" (way back in the days of Burlesque.) He used to tell his other brothers that were always more women than men sitting in there. In my own experience, I know of a few women who loved talking about sex. So, I guess whatever you want to call it, both sexes share an interest in it.
... oh yes, LOL ...
MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-hosts and vicious Donald Trump critics Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed Monday they had a “personal” sit-down with the president-elect in Florida to “restart communications” — after conceding that voters overwhelmingly made their choice.
Scarborough and Brzezinski, who have repeatedly bashed the president-elect on air over the years, said they had a face-to-face with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Friday — their first meeting in seven years — after reaching out in the wake of his election win.
“Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country. We have been as clear as we know how in expressing our deep concerns about President Trump’s actions and words in the coarsening of public debate,” said Brzezinski, 57, as she opened Monday’s show with the stunning revelation.
“But for nearly 80 million Americans, election denialism, public trials, January 6th were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote.”
“Joe and I realize it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him,” she added.
Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to 'restart communications'
Not really surprising, they are in show business, not journalism.
I'll go along with that.
What a journey for those two clowns. Now they are at the detente with Hitler stage. Hitler's not so bad!
The scary part is that the MSNBC hysterics have apparently led a lot of progressives to cut off family and friends for the sin of voting for Trump. Meanwhile Biden and Trump were laughing together in the White House and Morning Joe is back to publicly hanging out with his friend. The only people taking this nazi stuff seriously are the last people in the world who should, ordinary Americans with no actual involvement in politics. It's a show, amd the people refusing to celebrate thanksgiving with their kids over it are the marks. .
A very sad spectacle. This type of politics began when Ted Kennedy wanted to stop the nomination of Robert H. Bork in 1987. Kennedy called the man every slanderous name he could think of including and especially "racist."
After the Bork nomination was defeated (because Republicans were totally unprepared for it), Kennedy walked over to Bork and said "nothing personal."
That has become the standard for political discourse today.
The most deluded people in this world are those who think it is right and just for Trump to be president of the United States. There is NOTHING that can make that a defensible concept. Joe and Mika know that, but if their source of income is threatened, they will fold as countless of others have done over the centuries. Its kind of the plot of A Man For All Seasons.
And they helped push that divisiveness the entire time.
They seem upset that 80 million Americans aren't buying their bullshit any longer.
The sane have moved on.
We've all become numb to it.
It won't work anymore.
Since we already have one of those, is it really efficient to make another one?
Again, looking at the efficiency angle, you don’t need to create a new government agency. If Musk has an opinion on government efficiency, he can simply tell it to Trump, or post it on X.
He wasn't elected.
So tea party patriots are okay with a South African national who is here illegally cutting the U.S. budget and putting thousands of Americans out of work? Musk is illegally here.
What exactly will happen to the American economy when all those people fired have to apply for benefits because thousands of them who lose their livelihood through no fault of their own have no money?
If all Republicans see is $ dollar signs which cause them to abandon Americans and American jobs for a foreign globalist billionaire, quit pretending Americans are going to benefit in some way due to the actions of a foreigner who has zero interest in keeping America or Americans afloat in our own country.
They like certain brands of globalism.
just an innocent billionaire entrepreneur that holds multiple DoD/gov't contracts and likes to phone putin. nothing to see there ... /s
Somebody needs to talk to Putin before Trump inherits WWIII.
In an update to the ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has again ruled that mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates cannot be counted in the 2024 election recount. The court singled out the Boards of Elections in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties where they stated the counties must comply with the prior ruling.
There's something in there I don't get. Their "defense" was that people all around the country break laws so they should be allowed to also because voting is a right. Ok, yes, voting is a constitutional right but the rules were set up and agreed to in advance. How can elected officials openly break the law, brag about it, and not be arrested for their actions?
I think there should be prosecutions for every election official who violated the state's election rules.
They openly vowed to do it.
S tocks in packaged-food companies have been under pressure in the past few days after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known critic of Big Food’s influence on government, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Among the actions laid out in his “Make America Healthy Again” plan, Kennedy said he would stop allowing beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to use food stamps to buy soda or processed foods that are widely considered by nutritionists to be unhealthy.
“It’s nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans,” the HHS nominee wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed two months ago.
Although it’s still uncertain whether the Senate would approve Kennedy’s nomination, due to his controversial views on vaccines, fluoridated water, and more, investors are already worried that his plans could hurt the food companies for whom SNAP purchases are an important revenue source.
RFK Jr. Wants to Limit SNAP Purchases. These Food Stocks Could Feel the Pinch Most.
I was looking at a food video on You Tube and the next time I went on there were a bunch of food videos. One of them was how to make Thanksgiving dinner to a family of four from Dollar Tree. In the video they mention SNAP. I watched some of the video and here is some of what one can buy for Thanksgiving dinner at Dollar Tree. Instant potato flakes to make mashed potatoes, canned green beans and canned mushroom gravy to make green bean casserole. Canned turkey. Powdered biscuit mix. Box of stuffing.
Every one of those items is cheaper to buy "processed" than to buy fresh and make it yourself. Unless they are welfare cheats , everyone who gets SNAP is short of money. Of course they will choose processed foods. Telling them they cant have processed foods will just cause some of these people to eat less.
I doubt that. They may discover how much better the fresh food is on Thanksgiving.
Helping the recipients to eat healthy is already part of the program:
I doubt Musk has the patience to do the very hard job of untangling the federal government to the point where one can understand redundant processes, processes that produce results that go nowhere, inefficient processes, etc. in order to identify specific initiatives for process improvement / automation, reengineering, creation, or retirement.
He certainly is smart, but he has shown that he likes to create. He likes to think big and build new shiny inventions. He likes to push the envelope and does not really care about immediate consequences because the end justifies the means.
He is a quintessential entrepreneur ... and he is very good at that.
He is NOT a process engineer. He is not the kind of genius who sits at a desk and pours through analysis and then devises a series of interrelated initiatives that phase in over time and must be monitored and adjusted based on operational dynamics.
Musk, if anything, would try to take out his hatchet and chop off limbs and let the consequences come. This is not likely to go anywhere.
That said, I have always been in favor of serious work in the federal government to dramatically reduce waste. There is a ton of it since politicians just keep layering on new programs while the old ones persist as part of the machine. So, great idea to try to tap into federal waste. But a good idea needs a good plan to effect it and Musk is not the right guy for the job: wrong skillset and desires.
I think I'll wait for the facts to come in on that. I'll resist the urge to speculate. I prefer critical thinking.
You believe that critical thinking cannot be used to analyze a situation and determine a likely outcome?
Do you see the facts in my comment? No? Then that is your problem.
My comment includes facts about Elon Musk (publicly known) and facts about the complexity of the federal government (well known) and facts regarding what it takes to achieve operational effectiveness in large organizations (well known industry knowledge).
My comment uses these facts to conclude that Musk is the wrong type of individual for this job.
Critical thinking is about objectively using facts and logics to systematically draw a sound conclusion. The conclusion can be, and often is, about a likely future.
Based on your comment, you have no rebuttal to offer.
There are two astronauts whom NASA can't bring back to earth. Musk is going to do it.
That is my rebuttal.
Then you missed my point. I explicitly stated the positive, admirable qualities of Musk. I then described what federal reengineering requires and made the argument that this task is NOT something that fits with the skill set and motivation of Musk.
Your rebuttal simply gives an example of the admirable qualities I stated upfront.
Apparently you believe that a genius can (and has the patience to) do anything.
His past performance has shown that he is capable of great feats.
Yes, Vic, I established that upfront.
You clearly have no rebuttal for what I wrote. And clearly you believe that Musk can do anything.
I believe I did.
And clearly you believe that Musk can do anything.
One thing I do believe is that Musk can find waste in the federal government.
You have nothing other than a naive 'Musk can do anything' argument.
I agree, there is enough waste in government I am sure he can find all kinds if waste..........as long as he wants to and he doesn't get bored of the project and decides to move on.
Of course the other issue is what can be done about all the waste he does find while getting extreme backlash from the politicians with all their pet projects
I'm sure that will be part of it.
This has to be among the more trivial tasks in Musk's long historic journey.
If there is one thing Musk has proven it is the ability to accomplish what he sets out to do. Another plus is he will not get mired in the bureaucratic bullshit that someone within politics will. It also is a good sign how many people and politicians don't want him/thinks he can succeed. Obviously they are concerned he can.
And he won't be alone. They are asking for volunteers. This may be like the Peace Corps.
You continue to miss the point.
My point is that Musk will NOT do the analysis, planning, and phased implementation that is typical in large-scale process reengineering / modernization endeavors. That is not what he does. He is an entrepreneur who likes to break barriers and create shiny new things. He is NOT a process engineer ... he is NOT someone who has the patience and attention to miniscule detail like, say, that of a cost accountant.
So what we can expect from Musk is for him to take out a hatchet and try to make major cuts and then let the pieces fall.
That is NOT what should be done but Musk does not have the experience, skillset, or patience to carefully reengineer the federal government in place. Just observe his history and you will see that is not what he does.
And if you think that cutting waste from the federal government is trivial then you really do not appreciate the difficulties of entrenched, integrated systems and processes. There is a ton of waste in the federal government, but it is not sitting neatly on a shelf in nice little packages that can be tossed.
He has/will have people for that just like he does now. Issues the directive and lets them do the legwork and make recommendations
It will be interesting to see. Obviously what we are currently doing has not been cutting waste of any kind. It seems both sides have an unwritten agreement to look the other way. Something new may just work, it is definitely worth a shot.
Great point. One good thing about him is the people he surrounds himself with. It is almost like he knows his weakness or what he would rather pass off to other more qualified people. I guess that is part of being a true genius.
Exactly.
He would set the objectives and make high-level decisions.
What I am saying is that Musk is impatient and is a big-picture guy. He is not going to like the fact that dissecting this takes time and that implementing change will be evolutionary. He will want quick, impressive results. He will look for major things to hatchet.
The federal government, like any complex enterprise, does not have waste neatly packaged sitting on a shelf that allows Musk to pick winners and losers. If he just chops to get his results we will have many unintended consequences. It is Musk's style to accept unintended consequences and deal with them when the dust settles.
Is that what you think will work for the federal government?