April 2, 2018
If you thought that A-list CEO I keep talking about is on the level, see what he was up to this weekend. Hubris to the point of insanity. Hey, if laughing at the hangman while getting marched to the corporate gallows is your thing, go for it. I'm sure his investors weren't laughing.
Elon Musk
If you thought that A-list CEO I keep talking about is on the level, see what he was up to this weekend. Hubris to the point of insanity. Hey, if laughing at the hangman while getting marched to the corporate gallows is your thing, go for it. I'm sure his investors weren't laughing.
Elon Musk
How was this a blind again?
ReplyDeleteHello Hedge he pulled an April Fool's joke. If you decided to short his company after you saw that tweet and you got burned tough shit.
ReplyDeleteI like when you go full Saltybrook
DeleteHailed as a hero, yet everyone is just following someone with mental illness issues. Emperor has no clothes.
ReplyDeleteTearing down Obama-era corporate heroes is big the days. Musk, Zuckerberg.
ReplyDeleteAnd Trump is at work on Jeff Bezos, who frankly deserves it for what he's done to small retail, not to mention the car-crash that the Washington Post has become.
Shoot-em-ups at YouTube, and the idiot who runs Twitter endorsing an article calling for a civil war and a one-party left-wing state.
Bill Gates got out just in time.
I think these bicoastal elites will be shocked to find out what actually happens in a civil war. It ain’t exactly an Antifa rally.
Delete@Nutty
ReplyDeletei don't know why so many American oligarchs are committed to making America a 2 class system. When we just have the super rich and the poor, and no middle class (or possibly a trade class or merchants), America the experiment will fail. Talk about The Dark Ages. What would follow would be truly dark.
And 3...
ReplyDelete2...
1...
Rule by Silicon Valley technocrats is a truly terrifying prospect. There's no one worse than a spergy nerd for thinking he has all the answers, while being utterly clueless about (and uninterested in) human nature and how things actually work.
ReplyDelete@Cail
DeleteAgree! And like @Nutty, I also looked up "spergy" and it is a new favorite word.
@Cail But you’re okay with Wall St ogliarchs pulling strings from the shadows? That seems a little short sighted.
Delete@Cail, ok, you got me to look up "spergy." My new word for the day!
ReplyDelete@Sign, it's all a bit reminiscent of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" - the Alphas and the Betas served by the menial Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. The Gammas (I believe) get treated with electric shock every time they look at a flower so they won't develop a sense of beauty.
Anyway, for those who are not getting enough Civil War fun from recent events in Syria, here's the article that the Twitter CEO called a "great read":
The Great Lesson of California in America’s New Civil War
Why there’s no bipartisan way forward at this juncture in our history — one side must win
https://medium.com/s/state-of-the-future/the-great-lesson-of-california-in-americas-new-civil-war-e52e2861f30
+1 Cail
ReplyDelete"And Trump is at work on Jeff Bezos"
ReplyDeleteHe has no ammunition however. Amazon pays state taxes in 45 states. However the Trump stores only pay state taxes in 2 states. Wah-WAAAAAAH.
It sucks to be a small vendor, but no one is going back to small retail exclusively. The Fucking Mall killed small retail more than Amazon. Amazon, more than anything is killing the shopping malls, which I wholeheartedly support. If anything, customers are heading back to small retail now for products they can't buy on Amazon.
" the car-crash that the Washington Post has become."
So you aren't a fan of independent journalism?
The Post is going gangbusters at the moment, with huge numbers of new subscribers and some of the best reporting over the last 3 years.
Donny is attacking Amazon and Besos because he and the GOP want to kill the USPS. That has been one of the dreams of the GOP for a long assed time. They tried, by making legislation that forced the USPS to pay for 75 years of retirement savings in 5 years. Amazon brought the USPS out of the darkness with their delivery service (which is the backbone of UPS and Fedex deliveries as well.)
The GOP HATES Bezos right now. Yet there is nothing they can do.
Are you fucking nuts? The Post has been publishing blind items from single anonymous sources for more than 2 years now. You know what is? That’s gossip. Just like this exact fucking website we’re on right now.
DeleteYes, I'm one of the new WP subscribers, for professional reasons. But even the ultra-left Guardian can see the Post is off its nut when it comes to Trump.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Thomas Frank in yesterday's paper: "After watching CNN or reading the Washington Post’s op-ed page I sometimes want to like Trump too. That’s how their transparently unfair coverage affects me."
Source: "Trump's enemy is not your friend: why we shouldn't defend Amazon."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/07/amazon-donald-trump-america-jeff-bezos
@plot
ReplyDeleteI think you have some things backward. Amazon doesn't pay state taxes, they pay state sales taxes. They avoid billions in state and federal corporate taxes.
Additionally, the USPS is losing money because of Amazon/Fedex/DHL/UPS. When you order a 50lb bag of dog food, Amazon hands it off to USPS at bargain basement prices to deliver. If you order a book, they handle that themselves. If you live far away from any hub, Amazon has USPS take the package on that money-losing route, called a 'last mile delivery'.
In effect, the USPS, and taxpayers, are subsidizing delivery companies to the tune of billions. If Amazon were forced to handle these deliveries themselves, the whole prime shipping thing would be catastrophic for them. We have essentially paid Amazon to monopolize e-commerce. It's criminal. They owe taxpayers everything.
@Jimmy
DeleteThis is too funny. This article came up in my twitter feed:
https://uw.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/04/09/trump-is-right-amazon-is-a-master-of-tax-avoidance/33653439/
After rehabilitating chimpy mcjumpsuit, hillary fans are now fangirling jeff bezos, give me strength.
ReplyDeleteMusk has always had a massive ego, his ex wife has written about him & given interviews.
ReplyDeleteBezos is at a level that no one can take him down. Amazon already delivers their own stuff. tRump is insanely jelly of real self made real billionaires.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@Sign, those oligarchs have no contact with the middle and left of the bell curve anymore, and the tech types are the worst. Talk to any of them about borders and trade, and their answer to the worker who can't compete in their "global market" will basically be, "Get a STEM degree like I did, or die already. What do you mean, you can't grok algebra or Javascript? You must be lazy; work harder."
ReplyDelete@Cail
DeleteUnless the displaced worker is a journalist. I've noticed that they don't take the "go back to school for tech degree" answer well when the failing industry is mainstream media.
Funny that.
@Thursday - "Bezos is at a level where no one can take him down"-really?
ReplyDeleteLook up Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, 1911. They took down John D. Rockefeller, they can take down Bezos.
I'm sure Bezos bought the Washington Post to have his own conveniently-located lobbying organization. But he's not using it very artfully if both the left and the right are starting to despise him.
"In effect, the USPS, and taxpayers, are subsidizing delivery companies to the tune of billions."
ReplyDeleteNope
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/apr/02/donald-trump/trump-usps-postal-service-amazon-losing-fortune/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/amazon-bankrupting-united-states-postal-service/
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/04/599579232/fact-check-is-the-post-office-losing-money-by-delivering-packages-for-amazon
https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16830128/amazon-trump-twitter-postal-service-feud
Charts, figures and everything there for you!
@Normal
ReplyDelete"The Post has been publishing blind items from single anonymous sources"
Oh dear. The Post doesn't print blinds. If that is your template for news, I'm really sorry.
What single anonymous source?
So far, it seems like the Post follows strict journalistic procedure of multiple sources. Do you really believe that the Post only has one source for everything from the FBI to Congressional ethics to White House firings to the Pentagon? Really? You don't think that might be a little stupid?
"John D. Rockefeller"
ReplyDeleteWho was never brought down, as you say, though it seems a viral fantasy.
The Rockefellers remained a very wealthy family with control over many things.
"I'm sure Bezos bought the Washington Post to have his own conveniently-located lobbying organization."
It doesn't sound like you read the WP so how could you be so sure of that?
Has it been repeated often enough to you, by other news sources, that now you just Buh-LIEVE.?
"Also, if one side of a conflict is based in the Bay Area or Manhattan, it doesn't take brilliant military tactics to cut them off. Block bridges, block tunnels, turn off utilities = surrender in 24 hours or less."
ReplyDeleteWith what army?
God that is so funny and such a good example of Reich thinking. Who is going to agree to be in your little army there? All you great independent thinkers so well trained in maneuvers?
Why don't you try holding up a 7/11 as a coordinated unit first then invade Manhattan? :D))))))
It must suck to have to leap to the defense of any scumbag who happens to ally with your masters. That's not normal.
ReplyDeletePlot, quoting Vox, NPR and Poltifact all suggest a certain slanted take on the news. It's like some right-winger quoting Fox and Townhall.
ReplyDeleteThe Nation's on your side - why not read their piece "It's Time to Break Up Amazon"? https://www.thenation.com/article/amazon-doesnt-just-want-to-dominate-the-market-it-wants-to-become-the-market/
I do read the Post - and they frequently go with one-source stories, aka blind items. Their Russia reporting has been embarrassing.
@Nutty Politifact is pretty much the definition of neutral and fact-based. If you think they’re a left wing slant on the news, you might want to consider just how far to the right you may be standing.
Delete"Plot, quoting Vox, NPR and Poltifact all suggest a certain slanted take on the news"
ReplyDeleteSo everything they print, all the charts facts and figures are bullshit?
"The Nation's on your side"
I don't have sides.
""It's Time to Break Up Amazon"? "
This is a different proposition than saying Amazon is bankrupting the USPS, no?
Amazon may need to be broken up, but that was not your point.
"Their Russia reporting has been embarrassing."
Except everything they have reported over the last two years has turned out to be true.
"It must suck to have to leap to the defense of any scumbag who happens to ally with your masters."
ReplyDeleteWhat are these masters you speak of?
What's your fairytale here?
@plot I guess we all get to read the totally objective opinion you have.
ReplyDelete"Everything they have reported over the past two years has turned out to be true."
ReplyDeleteHere's a fun WaPo story in which they said that Russian hackers had penetrated the US power grid. Oops, updated by the WaPo to say Russians actually hadn't hacked the US power grid. Ooopsie.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-hackers-penetrated-us-electricity-grid-through-a-utility-in-vermont/
Here's another great piece where the WaPo backs down on a piece about Russian propaganda. "We can't vouce for the validity of our story."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/
Ooopsie-daisy!
One of the people involved with the second story called it “perhaps the shoddiest piece of feature writing since Rolling Stone published its blatantly false story about a campus rape at the University of Virginia.”
Only fools bought into it from the get go.
ReplyDeleteTo say that amazon destroyed retail is ludicrous. We the consumers responded to the convenience of buying online and amazon's got the best service, so we go to them. Local retail didn't die because amazon stole their business, WE shut down local businesses when we shopped online.
ReplyDeleteOur society is changing. I miss the small local stores, but I still prefer to shop online.
As far as deliveries go UPS and Fedex and the post office came up with a brilliant solution to keep costs down for everyone. The privates do most of the distance legwork, then drop off packages at your local post office. The post office, already set to do the local route completes the job. I think that's genius.
Also, a large percentage of amazon's products are sold by other companies or private citizen sellers. You can sell on amazon today. Amazon doesn't collect sales tax for these private sellers. Amazon's not paying income tax because they're always reinvesting in themselves. That's called smart business procedure.
@just sayin’
DeleteYour description of amazon and their delivery agreements is highly accurate.
@just saying' - ain't that the truth...
ReplyDeleteWe create the problems of our world - we just like to forget that. We also encourage the good services of our world - every dollar spent is a vote cast towards what you want to see more of.
@Han, Poltifact is generally acknowledged to have a pro-Democrat tilt. But it's not really a resource I use, so I don't really care.
ReplyDeleteI try to read a selection of left-leaning (WaPo, the Nation, the Guardian, THR) and non-racist right-leaning media on a regular basis - plus a selection of European and Asian media - to get an overall sense of what's going on.
It's impossible to rely on a single source, or even two or three sources, to get accurate information.
Trump tower and home base located in New York. Mar a lago located where..., hmm, florida again on the east coast. Bi coastal elites it is! Bi coastal elite son of a millionaire. Went plum bankrupt 4 or five times ( who's counting) and bailed out with tax payer money. I really think I understand Christ's frustration with hypocrisy in the bible. Jesus, I feel ya man. As a complete aside we're up to two women trump has cheated on mileana with saying he told them that they look like his daughter before bending them over and delivering the royal sausage. I'm sure mrs. Trump has a few thoughts about that. Must be why she doesn't even live with the guy anymore. Sigh if a megalomaniac with two ex wives who constantly cheats and harasses women ( up to 16 for anyone counting at home) can't find love who can?
ReplyDeleteClockwork....just like clockwork. One only has to hit the start button and the whole mechanism kicks in, moving in its determined and predictable pattern. 😂😂😂 dying over here!
ReplyDeleteSynchronized swim teams look sloppy compared to our friends.
"Take a bite of this apple
ReplyDeleteMr. corporate events
Take a walk through the jungle
Of cardboard shanties and tents
Some people drink Pepsi
Some people drink Coke
The wacky morning DJ
Says democracy's a joke"
@Brayson are these more Dandy Warhols lyrics? I feel a big, yawning, gaping hole in my musical cred. Dang it.
DeletePlot is furiously haranguing her minions at the DNC to provide her with oppositional research. Any post or opinion that is different from hers that shows up on this blog is like a bat signal for her. She is the epitome of a right fighter. Must be a real buzz kill at parties. It’s so predictable and, quite frankly, yawn inducing.
ReplyDeleteOh, damn, I forgot about auxiliary plot aka Halloweenie. Just as predictable. Just as boring. She is the little yappy dog you just want to shake because it never stops yapping. Oh yeah, don’t bother because...........I have a barren field of fuqs.
ReplyDeleteSome people on here are only used to living in their Fox News tinhat bubble and are not used to listening to or at least tolerating different opinions. It's a shock to them that not all Americans have drunk herr Trumps koolaid. They want to continue to exist with their regurgitated beliefs with no counter point of common sense. To live in their warm cocoon of sameness. At least realize that there are many Americans with opposing viewpoints and for now at least, we still have the ability to speak a different viewpoint. If some people in America had their way we would not be able to speak. They want to sell out the constitution for their own corporate and conservative ideals. Fine, great but not everyone has to bow down to king Trumpski and the republicans. And not everyone will.
ReplyDeletearf, arf, arf...right? (In my best HRC voice)
DeleteMy guess is Plot is a paid shill agitator and disinfo agent who knows very well the Washington Post was infiltrated by the CIA through Bezos.Its true, go research the CIA loan Bezos received right before he bought the Post. Now we have people like John Podesta and Blumenthal over there writing articles like they are the torch bearers, leading us uneducated sheep into the light smh. Give me a damn break. Pshhh. You lie, Plot. And I think you are here for nefarious reasons. Therefore your opinion is void. Nobody believes you. Truth out!
ReplyDelete@Sign, Cake, Comfort Eagle, pretty good video here
ReplyDeleteHe Is Calling You...Tyler Durden (Fight Club Music Video to Comfort Eagle by Cake)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p07Qdq2Jzv0
Oh man @Brayson that was great. CAKE are so clever.
DeleteNobody thinks Plot is actually a woman, do they? LOL. Not a woman.
ReplyDelete"Everything they [wapo] have reported over the past two years has turned out to be true."
ReplyDeleteJesus. They don't call plot a Dimocrat for nothin'.
Anyone who invested in Musk gets exactly what they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI have little sympathy for fools.
Amazon is a fad, like Facebook. People will come back to real-life stores. Most of my friends already have. Humans are social animals. They shop for many reasons, not just for the product.
ReplyDelete@Needtoknow
ReplyDelete"You lie, Plot"
About what? Go ahead, find a lie I've told. I might contradict your chosen Outrage! providers, but I don't lie.
@ just sayin'
+1!
@Nutty_Flavor
So, the WaPo ADMITTED and issued retractions to two overzealous stories. That is what good sources of journalism do, genius! Oh but nooooo, you prefer the news source that gives you absolutes and never retracts. For that matter, your news sources never do investigations or real news stories. You like those news sources that offer Outrage! and Attitude!
So what do your little finds prove there exactly? Not that the WaPo isn't a good source of news, that's for sure. If two stories, that were IMMEDIATELY RETRACTED are what causes you to turn your nose up, what about your Fox News then? You know, the news sources with the highest levels of outright lies and prevarications? As in -
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/tv/fox/
Lookee there, over 50% of Fox stories are completely false.
So, if truth is your thing, what's up there, bucky?
"Amazon is a fad"
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
"like Facebook."
I wish that were true. I think FB needs to disappear but it isn't going to, unfortunately.
Oh, plot.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch Fox News, or even visit the Fox website. Not everyone who disagrees with you does.
There's so much better quality information elsewhere.
This is why I so rarely bother to argue with you. You have so few crayons in your coloring box.
I see it’s much easier to dogpile @plot than it is to post convincing substance.
ReplyDeleteShe isn’t the only Democrat here. Just the one of us with the most energy to jump into the fray with receipts.
@Han, disliking Amazon and Bezos - or the oversize tech behemoths in general - isn't necessarily a Republican-only position.
ReplyDeleteThe European Union has been cracking down on these guys for years, particularly Google and Facebook, with massive fines and restrictions. (Uber is illegal in some European countries.)
It was a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, who was one of the greatest trust-busters of the 20th century. Breaking up the FANG companies seems like an obvious career-maker for some ambitious politician of either party.
Again, Mr. Plot-Twisted lies. Forbes did a great story on how long it took the Washington Post to amend their horribly irresponsible "Vermont nuke station got hacked by the evil Ruskies, OMG!" story.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/01/01/fake-news-and-how-the-washington-post-rewrote-its-story-on-russian-hacking-of-the-power-grid/
They are the CIA's mouthpiece. They cannot be trusted at all.
@nutty
ReplyDelete"There's so much better quality information elsewhere."
Then lay it out. Where do you get your news then?
"The European Union has been cracking down on these guys for years, particularly Google and Facebook, with massive fines and restrictions."
You mean those So...So...Socialist countries?????
If you want the regulation of Big Tch that they demand in EU countries then continuing to support the Reich might not be the best plan. Economic Fascism, laced with Theofascism, is where this country is headed. The GOP will NEVER back regulation or the taxes needed to build those regulations.
"It was a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt,"
You have to go back 100+ years to find a good'un? That's just sad.
@DDonna
ReplyDeleteWhere have I lied?
It's not just amazon that has this shipping deal between the big delivery cos. and the post office -- it's now standard practice. If you've returned an online purchase lately, you may have printed out a postage label with the instruction to drop the package off at UPS or the post office.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of the local main street filled with charming shops is lovely but the only shops that will do well in local settings are selling items you can't get online: groceries, fresh bakeries, butchers, farmers markets, bars, local crafts and souvenirs (in tourist towns). I live in such a small town and it was Walmart, not Amazon that closed down Main St.
People are social animals and they use social media to connected these days. Between work and family it's just too easy to shop online, stay in touch with friends, even local ones. For the most part people avoid stores to skip crowds, not seek them out.
@just sayin'
ReplyDeleteThank you so VERY much for explaining this new shopping paradigm and delivery services. I couldn't do it. I'm going to cut/paste your well written posts there.
Thanks Plot! (Can you tell I do a lot of online shopping, lol?)
ReplyDeleteOh so do I, unbelievable figures when we survey the yearly tally of how much we purchase online now.
ReplyDeleteNot go to the Mall, the parking, the crowds, the slogging around and endure the noise and people trying to spray you with odious scents constantly? Oh yeah, I'm all about online over that.
+1,000! Plus the variety -- no mall on earth has the choices you find on the internet.
ReplyDeleteSo a blind about Elon Musk has devolved into Plot and Alt just sayin celebrating the death of the mom and pop shop and exalting online shopping. You certainly aren't doing the democrats any favors if that is what you purport to be. When a consumer spends $100 at a local retail shop, $68 stays in the community.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I have a new name? I'm so proud!!! El Snowflake dear, no one said "Down with local stores!!!" If you follow my comments (and thank you so much for caring enough to do so), I hope that you've picked up on the fact that I like to distill the conversations down to their basic truths. My point here was that our lifestyles in the 21st century have made online shopping preferable to shopping locally, for many, but not all, items. And if you're gonna tell me that you never shop online, you made my day. Haha, good one!
ReplyDelete