Musk Buying Twitter Part II

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Zeno Marx

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 10, 2022
238
1,264
One flaw in this philosophy of "everyone has an agenda" is it implies all agenda is created equal, or are equal. That's lazy. Or that an agenda is inherently bad,unethical, immoral, or something. Also lazy thinking.

As for Gates, there's no way possible for such huge outreach and massive goals to succeed, or even operate, without conflicts and problems. It's absurd to think otherwise. Now, whether you agree with those goals and thesis is quite another thing and for its own conversation. What little I know about Gates I don't have a problem with, but I understand that there is a slew of conspiracy theories about his foundation's activities. People love them a conspiracy. Makes them feel smarter and superior to those not in on the joke.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,832
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Gates turned into the biggest and arguably greatest philanthropist in living memory. The things the B&M Gates Foundation do for development of the third world, public health, sanitation, energy are spectacular. I remember hearing in an interview, the concept not who was on it, could’ve been Gates, that after WW2 the US leaders realised there is much to be had for having strong and rich Japan and Germany as allies, for both the US’s and the rest of the world’s benefit, hence the massive help given towards rebuilding. I feel Gates’s foundation is aiming to do the same but for African countries.
For me Gates is on another level compared with other super-rich.
Gates has always been a controversial figure, firstly as a ruthless businessman who built a very successful empire, now as a philanthropist. He's become one of the more popular dog whistles of propagandists, who fabricate stories, most of which don't hold up on investigation, a few do, but mostly it's baloney that gets preached and accepted uncritically as holy writ. Like so many "titans of industry" before him, Gates will be a controversial figure who's done both bad and good. In the meantime, the dog whistles are blowing. And the faithful dogs are running to them.
On other news, Elon Musk has announced that he will look for someone to replace him to run Twitter. Good luck with that. Any qualified candidate isn't going to accept what will be an essentially powerless position, fronting for Musk, unless it comes with an unconditional golden parachute. Then let the revolving door spin.
 
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georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
Regarding Gates, I had an extended conversation with a guy who was a high level Microsoft exec virtually from the start, and for many years.

Whenever Bill took an interest in some project-or-other and ordered the people connected to it to report to his office, the standard procedure was to put those people through a psychologist-staffed interactive demo & role-playing workshop to prepare them for the encounter.

Gates is on The Spectrum (as its known these days), you see, but since he was also the world's richest man and his name was the company, he could do whatever he damn well pleased. And did.

He was outrageously childish and abusive, and at the end of the "exchange" the call-ins would usually end up being fired. When they were, he would order whoever had hired them be fired as well.

The packaged-for-the-public version of Gates is just that. A PR team's product.

It's an old story. The inventors/creators of massive wealth are protected, coddled, and dealt with however they must be by those who share in the riches. Whatever it takes to keep the golden goose happy and laying golden eggs.

Based on how he treats people in actual, on-the-ground, face-to-face situations, I wouldn't trust the the man wash my car without stealing the windshield wipers or deliberately scratch the paint out of spite.

Run vast, secretive global enterprises and assume they were for anyone's good but his own? rotf
 

Zeno Marx

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 10, 2022
238
1,264
I'd like to add a little information to my post about farmland ownership.

1) the person I mentioned on US Farm Report who has weekly analysis/customer support segments is a farm owner from Illinois with a degree in engineering. He's an actual farmer, not some commodities businesshead from Chicago. I tried to go back and edit that post, but I was too late.

2) I couldn't find a link to the video of his land analysis, but 3% is accurate from what I've read elsewhere. Canada is at the top of that 3%, followed by The Netherlands (almost all forest land). Luxembourg is now buying more farmland than any other country. The Netherlands buying forest land is to guarantee supply for their economy, not to gain some controlling interest in US affairs. And while China is definitely buying more land, it too is for food security reasons more than gaining an interest in US affairs. It will certainly be a byproduct, but with drought and rising populations, China is hurting for grain. I believe China is our #1 importer of US corn and maybe even wheat too.

I'm no China apologist. I like to see information and data based on rationale, not unfounded opinions based on emotions. We can look to ourselves for a lot of the blame. Playing the victim doesn't serve us well.

3) if you google "country with most land ownership in the USA" you'll get a bunch of articles and more detailed information.
 
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sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,832
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Regarding Gates, I had an extended conversation with a guy who was a high level Microsoft exec virtually from the start, and for many years.

Whenever Bill took an interest in some project-or-other and ordered the people connected to it to report to his office, the standard procedure was to put those people through a psychologist-staffed interactive demo & role-playing workshop to prepare them for the encounter.

Gates is on The Spectrum (as its known these days), you see, but since he was also the world's richest man and his name was the company, he could do whatever he damn well pleased. And did.

He was outrageously childish and abusive, and at the end of the "exchange" the call-ins would usually end up being fired. When they were, he would order whoever had hired them be fired as well.

The packaged-for-the-public version of Gates is just that. A PR team's product.

It's an old story. The inventors/creators of massive wealth are protected, coddled, and dealt with however they must be by those who share in the riches. Whatever it takes to keep the golden goose happy and laying golden eggs.

Based on how he treats people in actual, on-the-ground, face-to-face situations, I wouldn't trust the the man wash my car without stealing the windshield wipers or deliberately scratch the paint out of spite.

Run vast, secretive global enterprises and assume they were for anyone's good but his own? rotf
Gates has been the Asperger's poster child for decades. What that partly means is that the ability to read and develop normal social cues is limited, sometimes severely so. If one hasn't actually worked with people who have this condition they don't have a clue. Expecting the same sense of recognition of social norms from someone on the spectrum is clueless.

On the other hand, not being bound by such considerations allows some of these folks to achieve amazing things.

Working for any driven personality can be a horror story. I've worked for some monsters in my time. But it isn't always the case. Some of those monsters treated me very well, while ripping others to little bloody bits. Generally those others just weren't particularly good at whay they were hired to do.

My niece got recruited by Microsoft right out of graduate school, became one of their top enterprise programmers, then one of their top project supervisors, and eventually was made an equity partner. In other words, she's an owner of the business. Very, very few people have gotten that offer. Strangely, she didn't have to go through any sort of "psychological" preparation. It was just, "hello Bill".

Stories abound.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,759
13,782
Humansville Missouri
I enjoy good conspiracy research...no need for theorizing...there is plenty of solid documentation.
Conspiracy theories fascinate me, because so many otherwise reasonable people profess their faith in the unseen, unproven, and undocumented.

Yesterday, the most elderly member of our Wednesday night skeet shooting crowd announced he had Covid, on a group text.

Several members offered thoughts and prayers, which can’t ever hurt.

One, who has survived three bouts of Covid, advised Irvermectin.

Only one brave soul, advised he see a doctor for Paxlovid, what he’d taken when he was sick with it, which the sufferer replied he’d taken already and it seemed to be working.

I decided it was an unpolitically correct time to advise getting the full series of five shots, and avoiding getting sick, and it was too damned cold to shoot skeet, anyhow, so I wished everyone a Merry Christmas, and we’d try shooting next Wednesday.

Every last one of us is fully vaccinated against polio, but just me against Covid.

The odds are I’ve had Covid too, but didn’t know it.

But maybe it’s because I’m the only pipe smoker.



High levels of Vitamin N seems preferable to taking horse wormer, to me.:)
 

canucklehead

Lifer
Aug 1, 2018
2,863
15,323
Alberta
horse wormer:)
Please read this (especially the section about off label and experimental uses, specifically anti-asthma, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral ones), educate yourself, and stop regurgitating the same nonsense over and over.


 

canucklehead

Lifer
Aug 1, 2018
2,863
15,323
Alberta
Conspiracy theories fascinate me, because so many otherwise reasonable people profess their faith in the unseen, unproven, and undocumented.

Yesterday, the most elderly member of our Wednesday night skeet shooting crowd announced he had Covid, on a group text.

Several members offered thoughts and prayers, which can’t ever hurt.

One, who has survived three bouts of Covid, advised Irvermectin.

Only one brave soul, advised he see a doctor for Paxlovid, what he’d taken when he was sick with it, which the sufferer replied he’d taken already and it seemed to be working.

I decided it was an unpolitically correct time to advise getting the full series of five shots, and avoiding getting sick, and it was too damned cold to shoot skeet, anyhow, so I wished everyone a Merry Christmas, and we’d try shooting next Wednesday.

Every last one of us is fully vaccinated against polio, but just me against Covid.

The odds are I’ve had Covid too, but didn’t know it.

But maybe it’s because I’m the only pipe smoker.



High levels of Vitamin N seems preferable to taking horse wormer, to me.:)
 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
Some general purpose thought food about the recent dramatic increase in Western countries regarding the perceived importance of a person accepting the Latest Thing.

Meaning ideas and opinions about what is considered true. (What constitutes a woman being a good example)

It's especially relevant given the recent Twitter situation.



Screen Shot 2022-12-22 at 6.56.26 PM.png
 

avail

Can't Leave
Oct 13, 2015
351
2,915
Michigan
Some general purpose thought food about the recent dramatic increase in Western countries regarding the perceived importance of a person accepting the Latest Thing.

Meaning ideas and opinions about what is considered true. (What constitutes a woman being a good example)

It's especially relevant given the recent Twitter situation.



View attachment 189096
I like that very much. I saw a recent interview, that I circulated to a few friends, of Jordan Peterson and Pierce Morgan. Albeit with a bit more detail, Peterson said the same thing.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,602
14,666
Some general purpose thought food about the recent dramatic increase in Western countries regarding the perceived importance of a person accepting the Latest Thing.

Meaning ideas and opinions about what is considered true. (What constitutes a woman being a good example)

It's especially relevant given the recent Twitter situation.



View attachment 189096
Yes that gets to the heart of the matter. But other terms would work just as well as "communist"...it could be fascist or globalist, or whatever....it's all the same thing which is authoritarianism.

The Dalrymple quote is exactly what Orwell was depicting in 1984: "To assent to obvious lies...etc" ......2+2=5.....you must not just acknowledge it....you must believe it.

It's all just about obedience.....that's all authoritarians are after.......truth and reality mean nothing.