Elon Musk is demonstrating live online how to make small fortune owning a social media company – start with a HUGE one.  Making the rookie mistake of believing you can cut your way to success, Musk has wrought havoc at Twitter since acquiring it, firing half of the staff, making unreasonable demands of remaining employees, and slashing costs, even the ones that keep the platform running.  In addition to these mistakes, he’s run off billions of advertising dollars with TFG-like behavior and erratic decision making.  His full on MAGA management style and allowing white supremacists and hate merchants back on the platform has driven millions of normal people away.  Add that to banning any journalist who dares publicly criticize him, Twitter has become the North Korean photonegative of the the company he spent $44 billion to buy.

His most recent accomplishments are stopping paying the rent in some offices, closing data centers, and even firing janitorial staff, forcing employees to bring their own toilet paper to work.  He’s demanding that employees sleep at the office, and continues to run the company by online polls where millions of bots infest his platform, obviously voting in favor of his worst ideas, like allowing TFG back on.

Like others, I kept thinking that Musk is some kind of evil genius with a long-term plan to remake Twitter into a new payment platform.  It’s become apparent that this was either a pipe dream or a myth – he’s now facing a serious turnaround situation with no apparent skills to actually lead a turnaround.  Add his sociopathic behavior to this situation and he’s only making matters worse, not better.  To fund all this, he’s been dumping his Tesla stock which has contributed to its price plummeting 70% in 2022.  To be fair, blue chip and tech stocks have been pounded this year, but Musk’s goofy behavior and selling has greatly displeased investors.

All this is to say that behavior of companies’ senior management matters and the being wealthy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart.  This multi-billion dollar soap opera is far from over, and it remains to be seen if Musk is going to be one of the surviving members of the cast.

Re: Badass

I’ve had a remarkable exchange with an acquaintance over Valerie Plame’s campaign ad that I posted yesterday.  He was MOST offended by the ad, first complaining about her “careless driving” (while demonstrating CIA driver skills training) and then saying he could never vote for her because she was “wasting fossil fuels” and “making climate change worse” by driving a Camaro backwards.  No shit, that’s what he actually said.  He’s a Warren/Buttigieg aficionado, so that tells you something about the mind set.  Then, he actually suggested that she should have been driving a Tesla in the ad.  I spit my sweet tea all over my keyboard when I burst out laughing at that, but then came to the conclusion that we’re f*cked if this is the mindset of liberal Dems.

Can you imagine the derision if Plame had been driving a Tesla while showing that she’s a skilled, trained CIA operative?  It would be just like the memes of Obama riding a bike:

Or Michael Dukakis in a tank:

There are dozens of examples of GOP derision of Dems as latte sipping pantywaists.  No, it’s not fair, and it’s not honest, but politics ain’t beanbag.  Liberal Dems need to understand that Democratic candidates in red states don’t need THEIR votes, they need the votes of people who usually vote Republican and who are unaffiliated.  You’re not going to get those votes riding a bike in Mom jeans and a bike helmet or driving a Tesla to be “environmentally responsible”.  You get those votes by being tough, not dancing around tough issues and parsing your words.  Plame understands that.  Warren and other Dem candidates don’t.

Normal unaffiliated people are attracted to strength.  Plame gets that.  Dukakis (or his campaign chair) didn’t.  Fortunately, Obama’s speaking skills and intellect overpowered his nerdiness.  Warren polls well among like kind because she speaks their language.  She doesn’t speak to Joe Six Pack, and doesn’t have a prayer in the swing states.  “Having a plan for that” is not enough.  Candidates have to inspire.  Obama got that.  Biden gets that. Plame gets that.  Jon Tester of Montana gets that.

Are issues like climate change important?  Goddam right they’re important.  But we’re going to make zero progress by running a candidate who can’t beat the Russians and Cheeto Jesus in the rust belt.

If you missed the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy today, put down your baked potato and nice red wine and watch this.  Trust me.

The launch today was from launchpad 39A at Cape Kennedy, made famous over 40 years ago when it was the setting of the Apollo missions to the Moon.  During those days, as a much younger El Jefe, I sat for untold hours watching on that crappy little 13 inch black and white television our effort to reach the stars.  At the height of the war in Vietnam, in which I fully expected to perish, our country was reaching beyond our atmosphere and gravity to touch another body in the heavens, the Moon.  The Moon missions transported me from the death and destruction on nightly television; indescribable even today, the emotion I felt during these missions carried me away from those dark days all the way through young adulthood.  I survived those times from two gigantic influences – out-of-control-ear-splitting rock-and-roll, and those thrilling missions to reach the moon.  I told you it was indescribable.

All of those memories came flooding back today when Falcon Heavy launched from the precise center of my youthful imagination.  Today, though, rather than carrying precious human lives of the past Apollo missions, atop that roaring machine was an icon almost more important – a symbol of modern society’s sense of adventure, technological development, and just a little bit of fun.  The payload for this ride was Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster, complete with a mannequin, wearing SpaceX prototype spacesuit in the driver’s seat..  The passenger, dubbed Starman, will ride in the Tesla in an orbit around the Earth and Mars for all time.  And the great thing?  You can watch it live.  On YouTube.

Welcome to the New World.  Enjoy.  I am.