454 Comments

I could feel my blood boil as I was reading this. It’s frightening that there are no safeguards for lies told by people without a conscience.

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founding

Me too! Are there no ultra wealthy people who are willing to stand up to people like Musk who use their wealth for good? What does Musk hope to gain by tearing down our democracy? He evidently must enjoy using his wealth and power to destroy our democracy and our lives just because he can. I can’t admire someone who abuses his power and wealth like that! In the past other very wealthy people have founded Universities, Libraries, Medical Schools etc doing good. He seems to regard doing good a joke! Ruining people’s lives means nothing to him or Trump. Ignore him, he doesn’t deserve attention which he so obviously craves.

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I wish everyone that still has an account on X would just delete it. I quit using TWITter years ago and I really don't understand why people continue to put money is this guy's pocket.

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I got suspended on Twitter supposedly for violating their rules against violence. I haven't tried to go back.

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“ Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”

We need to be aware of what is happening in social media so we are prepared for what is coming. Some of us really do need to monitor it.

I am really trying to not view my fellow citizens as enemies. That is what THEY want- this division. I will try to be a “joyful warrior” and invite those I can in this monumental effort to be more inclusive

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I’ve never faltered in defending my country from any foreign or domestic aggression. A lifetime member of the ANTIFA resistance.

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I only keep it because of some of the folks I follow. I don’t have a blue check so I don’t think I can even make a post.

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We can't ignore him. This is what "Who's Minding Musk?" is about. We need to stand up to him. However, I do get your sentiment. Thank you.

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Musk has Absolute power to gain by tearing down democracy.

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I’ll bet I could get more money if I asked for Rubles

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Having helped build that platform grown up and older on what was Twitter. The sheriff and posse were the real American patriotic users. If you found a bot, troll or bad actor you would report them and if they were found to be violating the TOS. They were removed. I know because I helped drive that purge off of then Twitter. Now you can see them on all platforms even here. With more subscribers than I ever had.

SOS

Send Over Subscribers

Please and Thank you for any assistance.

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Hey Dan, out of all these people I seem to be the only one that has reported this Mark account?

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This is exactly what is happening all over the world. Dark money is being used to support and create plus promote fascist and racist propaganda. I would never give up my Twitter account, but I would also never play for my X account.

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“lies told by people without a conscience.”

You mean like the lies told about Donald Trump and his supporters by Democrat operatives posing as journalists on CNN and MSNBC ?

Or maybe we could talk about the documented censorship of conservatives by various social media sites at the behest of the Biden/Harris controlled FBI ?

I was not originally a Trump supporter. In fact, I couldn’t believe that someone would utter the things that he was reported as saying in his speeches.

So I actually took the time to go back and read transcripts of what the man actually said and found that he was regularly misquoted or taken out of context by most mainstream news outlets.

Those purposely misleading “quotes” are called lies, “lies told by people without a conscience.”

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Spoken like a chatbot. Take an aspirin, get some rest, call the doctor if you are not feeling better on the morning, dear

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Block and report!!

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Have you done either of those things?

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Yes. And?

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Do they work on this platform?

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For what reason? Just because you don’t like my opinion? It’s still a free country and I’m entitled to my opinions…… until people like you get their way.

You sound like, and I suspect really are at heart, a fascist.

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I’m feeling just fine, thanks.

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Nice try, Comrade.

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Last I heard, “comrade” was a communist title/honorific, about as far from a U.S. political conservative (me) as is possible….

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And then we all saw the recent NABJ interview and were sharply reminded that, nah, by and large Trump really does say those things and he's not being taken out of context . Just because you personally are okay with the bile he regularly spills from his mouth doesn't make it any less poisonous.

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And add to the mix he lied about why the interview didn't start on time. The truth was that he did not want them to fact check him while he was speaking. Yes there was a small audio problem, but the biggest problem was IQ45 not wanting to be fact checked. The truth does eventually come out. I can't wait to hear what Ellis is going to provide the prosecutors in the AZ case.

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Trump speaks in tongues. Nonsense from start to finish. I want someone who is smart, well spoken and fair. None of these describe DJT.

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It doesn't take a transcript to realize the Donald ain't a deep thinker.

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Maybe not, but he’s deep thinking enough to have become a billionaire and the President of the United States of America….

I don’t see anyone here accomplishing half that much.

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👍👍👍😄

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Oh Marky, you need attention. You will get some here. You must be youngin. You are making a case for something you don’t understand. But I get it. It’s great therapy to blab away. So blab away.

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Honestly, You’re right about some of it. I’m actually enjoying myself.

But I do know exactly what I’m talking about, I mean what I say, and I’m not especially young.

I’m just sick of watching these people, mostly left wing Democrats (and especially this administration), wrecking the country.

And instead of just singing along with the choir on other sites, I decided to bring my voice over here.

My first impression is that there is so much that hasn’t been reported by the mainstream news media, that many here have no idea about what’s happening…about several things. I’ve seen comments repeating things about Trump that were disproved years ago. I could go on and on about the bs I’ve seen in the replies, and a lot of them are pretty insulting.

It’s amazing how many stories haven’t been told…..or been told with so much bias that they’re just propaganda.

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Huh? The guy is a convicted felon and a fraud and has stiffed his sub contractors for years and denied people of color to rent in his buildings, hence my disdain for him....

The guy has said, this is the last time you need to vote, his words... sleep on that, if he wins, we're headed for Dictatorship..... Just like Venezuela

Is that what you want?

Go back and read about him more closely, not hand picked transcripts

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He’s a only a convicted felon due to the collusion between the Biden “Justice “ Department, a locally elected Democrat prosecutor who swore to get him (while campaigning for office), and a Democrat acting judge who’s daughter has extensive financial links to the Democratic Party, and the case decided by a (vast) majority Democrat jury. Everyone who has paid attention knows that this trial (along with the others) is a political hit job designed to sabotage the Trump campaign…. And it’s widely believed that the conviction will be overturned on appeal.

It was an obvious political prosecution by Biden/Harris/ Democrat leadership to eliminate their Republican presidential opponent.

BTW, on the subject of dictatorship, if you watch the video, it’s obvious that Trump misspoke, he was talking about election fraud and was trying to tell the audience that if he is elected then they would not have to worry about fraudulent election results ever again. He was talking about passing laws to eliminate fraud, not about establishing a dictatorship.

He was already President once, and except for covid, he did a very good job….. far better than the corrupt liar who is currently running the country (into the ground).

Biden, Harris and Congressional democrats have frequently subverted the Constitution and the rule of law throughout their administration.

They are the real threat to our constitutional republic, breaking law after law after law….all while prattling on about saving “our democracy “.

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Aug 6·edited Aug 6

Annnnnnd the ill informed conspiracy theorist inadvertently outs himself at last.

Not that I think you're going to actually take heed to the facts I'm dropping here Marky Mark and the Denial Bunch, but the DOJ and Biden had absolutely nothing to do with the Apricot Idiot being convicted. Twelve American citizens from a range of backgrounds comprising a Grand Jury were presented arguments and evidence by both the prosecution and defense and voted to find him guilty on all 34 counts. That's how jurisprudence works. He had a fair trial and a jury of his peers found him guilty. Conversation over. Whatever weird fiction you've latched onto regarding the outcome is just that: Fiction.

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Nice try, but how do you explain the FACTS that I mentioned earlier? That was the furthest thing from a fair trial that I’ve ever seen (and I come from a family of lawyers). In addition to the points I mentioned above, why did the number three lawyer in the “Justice“ Department step down from his position to run a the prosecution if there was no collusion?

Everyone, even Democrat pundits on CNN and MSNBC, have admitted that the trials are politically motivated…but you think that this was fair? I don’t believe it. You’re just pleased with the result.

The only purpose of that trial was to force Donald Trump out of the race.

And despite the banana republic tactics used by the government, it didn’t work.

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See, the problem with you, is that you use this word "facts". To paraphrase Princess Bride, I don't think that word means what you think it means. Everything you wrote about the New York trial was utter BS, dude. In America, you commit a crime (election fraud, obstruction of justice), you do the time. Just because you cream your jeans every time you look at Trump doesn't mean that the rules don't apply to him.

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did a good job?

Mr. "if we have nukes why can't I use them?"

We SURVIVED probably b/c there were actual patriots on his staff that mitigated his tirades and ignorance. That won't happen this time.

IF I have to go back to waking every day wondering if someone didn't say something nice about him and he decides to get revenge with nukes.

It was NOT a good presidency, even if the ONLY THING about it was the chaos and uncertainty he creates (to keep all eyes on him).

We are designed for leadership that SERVES the people and the nation and even YOU must be aware that trump doesn't do that, or even think in those terms.

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You’re just regurgitating what you’ve absorbed from the negative press coverage.

Joe Scarborough (not exactly known for his veracity, loyalty or integrity) reported that little pile of BS without naming his source.

Try again…

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founding

I think you are a clone! You are probably a Trump worker of some sort. You aren’t going to convert anyone here so go back to Trump headquarters bye!

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God..you've drank deeply of the trumpian koolaid..haven't you "Mark?" Either case, bot or human, you've been reported; no doubt to reappear in another form & be dealt with again. Nyet?

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Keep dreaming

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Attempting to bring some sense to this indiviual is as useless as attempting to teach a pig to sing: It's a waste of your time and it annoys the pig.

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And Marky needs to go online and read Project 2025. If that doesn't change his mind then he is in favor of an authoritarian dictator who wants to destroy our constitution.

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"I was not originally a Trump supporter."

Oh yes you were and still are, or why would you have gone to all the work of wading through his word salads to try to make sense of the texts?

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You’re wrong. I didn’t like Trump at first, and I couldn’t believe that a presidential candidate would say the things that he was reported to have said. After a while I decided to check it out and found that he was being regularly misquoted.

I don’t like being lied to and decided to give him a chance….. and I was very disappointed in the other Republican candidates.

His policies were exactly the same as what the Republican Party had been promising (and failing to deliver on) for years.

Of course I’m a Trump supporter. Biden/Democrat leftist policies have run the country into the ground and there’s no other option, because they plan to continue on the same path.

Our Constitutional Republic (as opposed to “our democracy “) will not survive four more years of Democratic rule. They won’t let it.

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Oh ho, you're like JD Vance who didn't like him before you were for him, and just a hint; it hasn't been the Democratic administration that's done its level best to run the country into the ground. Someone who recommended horse wormers and bleach did that.

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Wow, talk about delusional. Your hero has had 3+ years to “fix” things, and all he’s done is make them much, much worse.

And that’s exactly why they forced him out. The Democrats were unable to spin his failed presidency and knew that they would lose, so they dumped him.

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I'll let somebody else defend this comment. It won't be me. BTW, a different opinion isn't a delusion, it's just a different opinion.

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It would be a real wake up call if you’d actually watch just about any video made of trump speaking and you’ll see he’s the one who lies like a person without a conscious. Here’s one. I never said lock her up…there are so many videos of him saying exactly that over and over. Imagine the lies he told each wife while he was dating the next wife…or the big whoppers he had to have been telling Melania when he was having an extramarital fling with Stormy Daniels. On second thought if I was Melania I’d have been sending Stormy a thank you note.

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You are fake.

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They say AI hallucinates. This appears to be evidence.

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Sorry, not AI.

But it is fun to watch you people wet yourselves when you read the truth.

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You say this censorship is documented. Documented where?

"Democrat operatives posting as journalists on CNN and MSNBC" - This sounds like a characterization of Fox News flipped around to the Democratic side.

Can you give examples of Trump being misquoted? I think every quote posted by Dan on this website is a direct quote.

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FUCK OFF AI!!!

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Why thank you for the compliment. They say that AI is smarter than most humans….

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Go back under your rock, you Russian bot!

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Sorry, neither a Russian nor a bot.

Just a guy sitting back with a smile on his face, watching the crazies freak out when confronted by the truth.

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founding

What a pity, sucked in by Trump!

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There is a difference between reading transcripts and watching the live speeches or full recordings. Facial expressions, inflection and context matter as does the accuracy of the transcription.

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We are already there in the traditional media. Musk and AI are about to put this mess on steroids.

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Money talks, doesn’t it? And in Elon’s hands, it spews lies. Thanks for trying to counteract them. It’s a never ending job.

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Thank you for calling out Musk. He is too powerful in too many ways. X aka Twitter is the most obvious. However, his control of SpaceX and worldwide satellites, such as needed by Ukraine, puts too much power in his hands. I wish every legitimate business would just stop using X (Twitter) including NPR and its affiliates, and all respectable newspapers, magazines and other media outlets.

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I quit x for the same reason I do not have a Truth Social account. I have a threads account.

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Yes, after Elon bought X I stayed for about a month, but it became such a cesspool I left and have never been back. Never did Truth Social and barely use Face Book. I do however use Instagram.

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What is threds?

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Threads is another social media app like twitter. Nicer people are there.

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Yes, our government pays Musk for his satellite and support his Space X endeavors. Makes me shiver because he is a fascist and a denier of letting transpeople be.

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founding

Ugh just what we need an Uber wealthy Fascist !

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I agree 100%

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founding

Me too, he abuses his power! Having so much money and power brings Responsibilities! Not selfishness!

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You're right: one scary dude with no conscience, hardly any humanity, and a little box with potential power over everyone and everything.

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Musk should be jailed. If he is so blatantly lying to the world through his media, why isn't he charged, tried and jailed? It shouldn't be difficult to prove fraud by way of falsehood in media that blithely spreads lies published as truth. Am I hopelessly naive? Am I missing something?

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Feeling exactly like you! I feel like I’m in TWILIGHT ZONE.

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Ah, “but the FIRST AMENDMENT gives you the RIGHT to LIE and DECEIVE because WHO CAN SAY what the truth is?” “I don’t want the government telling me what is true, I prefer Russian trolls!” That’s been the standard retort I get whenever I say that intentionally damaging lies destroy society, and no sane person would say the authors of the first amendment meant it to protect that kind of speech.

What do you think?

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But is it a "person," one with first amendment rights, or a machine?

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No, not human, it is a machine and preprogrammed software responses. No, it cannot claim free speech rights

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Individuals don't have the right to say anything they want, libel is an offense.

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Obviously, though, there are limits to the First Amendment, and not just those related to yelling, "Fire!" in a theater. Otherwise, how could there be slander and libel laws, and defamation suits? You know, like the one wherein Cheeto Benito was judged to have defamed E. Jean Carroll.

I think there would be a case for Harris to claim she's been libeled, as Musk's lies come out in written form.

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One said “the government can’t restrict any speech, but individuals who believe they have been injured can sue.” The flaw in that argument: individuals don’t have unlimited resources, and wealthy liars can harass with impunity knowing their victim can’t effectively respond because the rich can tie them up indefinitely and very very expensively by lawyer. The system that enables this is execrable.

Am I wrong?

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First Amendment in US Constitution guaranteeing free speech with certain exceptions allows human talk to say lots of things.

Don't know how AI is defined, just a big tape recorder that is preprogrammed by humans but isn't human...so I see lawsuit openings there.

Mr South African White Supremacist with weird morals is pushing the envelope. His masters, Putin and Bin Salmen, are the puppet masters here.

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There you have it.

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What, the naïveté ? : - )

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Not at all. I totally agree with your statement

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No, Fran, you are missing nothing…. We have allowed the $ sign to be more powerful than our own planet.

The great sadness about this is that having more never makes one smarter or kinder, or braver, or anything. You are just still you and $ doesn’t do make overs. Poor old boring you…. must be lonely , eating, sleeping, breathing $$$$$$$$$$. But, for all those other, regular folks, the question that should surface is why are you listening to this empty, boring, tiny tot???

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Free speech 🤷‍♂️

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I feel like this “voter registration” scam is being treated way more generously than it should be. He’s not just scooping up people’s information; he’s lying to them about whether they’ve actually registered to vote. How many of them are going to think they’ve signed up, go to the polls, be turned away and used as examples of attempted voter fraud? And how many such cases do Trump and Musk need to scream about it all winter?

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Musk himself has committed the fraud here. He has persuaded people to turn over to him something of monetary value (their personally identifying information) in exchange for a broken promise.

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One would probably be enough for them. It never ceases to amaze me that persons who have been successful in our democratic system want to destroy it. Weird is too tame a word. How about creepy, ghastly, horrific, grotesque, preternatural.

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Great article. Giving us the awareness to be vigilant and do our homework.

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So sad when Elon Musk could do so much good. He makes emotional rather than logical decisions.

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I think perhaps it's not emotional decisions as much as selfish ones.

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Another rich white man who lies his way as an oligarch of the Trump Republican Party.

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You may be right. He seems to have childish emotions though because he’s still sore Biden didn’t invite him to a meeting about EV’s.

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Agree

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Exactly

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I think he's messed up in the head.

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He is mentally ill and doesn’t take his meds.

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He's on the spectrum.

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Which one???🤣

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I told Musk to X off and quit Twitter when he stole it. I’ve been a much happier camper ever since. You can too!

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I did not join his X. I was on Twitter before he took over.

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I was never into Twitter. Too much negativity and insults. Disgusting.

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I only cross post Substack and Medium there.

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Same here.

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For having stolen X (Twitter, at the time) he sure paid a lot for it.

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Saudi Prince bin Salmen of Khashoggi fame was the major investor.

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Send this POS back to South Africa and boycott Teslas and everything he sells.

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That is a big AMEN!

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"For all intents and purposes, social media has become our town square — but unlike most communities, it has no sheriff." Exactly! Thank you, Dan.

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Just imagine how lucky Musk (South Africa) and Murdoch (Australia) have been to have been in the USA for the last 20 years. They've become billionaires. I so wish they had grown an inner morality commensurate with the growth in their net worths. If their useful fool becomes president in January, I think the odds are not certain that all will be well in billionaire land. Sometimes you reap what you sow.

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We can only hope.

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But better for us all if they'd think about what is best for America's great middle class, not just what is best for the top 1%. Which I think is all they care about .

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So true and Rupert has one foot in the grave. Thank goodness!

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Where’s Merrick Garland? Being apolitical and asleep? We need an AG who’s not afraid to enforce the law

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Merrick Garland has been M.I.A since he's been in office, he needs to be replaced, ASAP

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Unlike many, I remain on Xitter, though I am a bit player and I confine myself to a bubble that rarely attracts the slime of maggots. Still, I see tweets from some within my comfortable bubble reporting on what is fouling the air outside. Musk is contemptible as is the orange one. Though the two control different levers of control, together they present the ugliest face this country could possibly present to the world.

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Then why contribute to them in any way?

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In modern-day America money = power. Nobody should have a billion dollars let alone the money and power he possesses. We got along just fine without billionaires during the Eisenhower years. We can do so again. No More Billionaires!

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Except, relatively speaking, we had billionaires during the Gilded Age. THAT didn't end well....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-world-s-first-billionaire-what-happened-to-his-fortune/ss-BB1quWKi

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That was why marginal income tax rates were raised to the 90% level during FDR's tenure. The super wealthy never think they have enough. It is a disease and it ruins society.

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You're so right, Stephen! We normies can't get our heads around it, but the obsession with money that the 1% has is undeniable. I did a calculation yesterday, concerning Musk's compensation package, currently at $46bn. That's, "billion," no typo. That amount of money would fund 306,000 good jobs paying $150,000 a year. Obscene.

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founding

AI makes it possible to lie and misrepresent continuously. Couple that with a person like Musk who has no ethics or values and you have a machine made to obfuscate. Perfect pairing for Trump and incredible sad for those in the U.S. who believe them.

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Wasn't the word "grok" invented by author Robert Heinlein for his book Stranger In A Strange Land? I read it when I was young and it was a great SciFi read. Weird; and kind of scary.

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You are correct. It's almost a synonym for the verb 'to understand' though it implied a little more than that.

an admitted Heinlein reader.

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Yes, I read that book in high school. I find it very sad and infuriating that "grok" has been hijacked by Musk for his nefarious purposes.

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A personal favorite of mine--I was in HS in the early 70s and was hooked. Dad would get aggravated because I'd read his Fantasy and Science Fiction magazines before he got to them. Ah, youth!

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