Elon Musk

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The first major break between Musk and MAGA has taken place on X. The disagreement was over the H-1B immigration rule which allowed Musk himself to come to the US. He called MAGA "contemptible fools" and told them to "Go fuck yourself in the face".   He also promised to make war on them - the likes of which they can't possibly imagine.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-...rcna185656

It sounds like Trump himself is siding with Elon.

I look forward to more of these spats.

It’ll be interesting to see if Musk alienating the MAGAts and Trump supporting Musk will translate to the MAGAts becoming disaffected with Trump.

It’d be nice, but I’m not hopeful.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

Whatever it is, it'll be the libs fault. I think they're more likely to decide Elmo was a deep state lib all along than the donald - at least as long as the donald is still alive.

[Deesse23]

Continuing his efforts to shape an environment that will allow the transfer of more wealth to the rich:

Tech billionaire Elon Musk penned an op-ed further expressing support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD). In response, the paper’s commentary editor resigned in protest.

Musk, a close ally of President-elect Trump, wrote a guest opinion piece in the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Axel Springer media group’s flagship news outlet, that was released on Saturday. In it, the tech mogul touched on a variety of issues that, in his view, Germany needs to address as it near an “economic and cultural collapse.”

The Tesla CEO said he has the “right” to address the country’s political climate as he has “made significant investments” in Germany’s technological and industrial sectors.

Musk’s op-ed in the German newspaper comes just over a week ago after the SpaceX executive endorsed the far-right party, saying “Only the AfD can save Germany.” He received pushback from some current and former Congressional lawmakers, with some labeling the group as a neo-Nazi party.

“The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Musk wrote in his opinion piece, mentioning Weidel, a co-chair of the party.

In the op-ed, Musk argued that Germany’s economy is handicapped by regulatory overreach and bureaucracy.

“The AfD has understood that economic freedom is not just desirable, but necessary. Its approach of reducing government over-regulation, cutting taxes and deregulating the market reflects the principles that made Tesla and SpaceX successful,” Musk wrote, according to a rough translation.

https://thehill.com/policy/international...dorsement/

South African endorses fascists ... I'm shocked.

And he is, rightly so, catching a load of flak for this over here, from everybody. Everybody but the AfD of course, some of whom got caught AGAIN in a secret meeting (in Switzerland) with neo-Nazis, talking about privatisation of deportation and deportation based on DNA tests and speech analysis (i kid you not).

[Mister Agenda]

Musk is a lot of things, but "stupid" isn't one of them. We underestimated Trump in 2016 and look where we are now. If you wish to make the same mistake with Musk, go ahead. I'm a  "once bitten, twice shy" kinda dude.

I don't think it was Trump we underestimated, I think it was the American public we overestimated.

[Fake Messiah]

Tesla replaced laid off US workers with foreign workers using H-1B visas that Musk want to increase

Tesla has replaced some of its US employees who were let go as part of a big wave of layoffs earlier this year with foreign workers using H-1B visas, which CEO Elon Musk is now campaigning to increase.

We reported that roughly US 15,000 employees were let go at Tesla around April 2024. Every department was affected, but the layoffs were concentrated in Texas and California, where Tesla has more workers than anywhere else.

Current and former Tesla employees said that many of the laid-off US workers were replaced by foreign workers using H-1B visas.

These claims are backed by US Department of Labor data, which show that Tesla requested over 2,000 H-1B visas during the time it was laying off US workers

Tesla workers said that many employees let go were more senior engineers with higher compensation and they have been replaced with junior engineers from foreign countries at a lower pay.

To be clear, I’m not taking a stance on H-1B here. It seems like there should be good uses for this visa, but it certainly can be abused.

Elon is famously hard on workers, and he doesn’t like the traditional 40-hour workweek. He often pushes Tesla employees to work 60 to 80 hours per week.

https://electrek.co/2024/12/30/tesla-rep...-increase/

[AFTT47]

Tesla replaced laid off US workers with foreign workers using H-1B visas that Musk want to increase
To be clear, I’m not taking a stance on H-1B here. It seems like there should be good uses for this visa, but it certainly can be abused.

Musk probably makes some legitimate use of H1-B but he definitely abuses it. It's a tyrant's dream to have employees who know they will be deported if they are fired. He's got them by the balls.

I don't know where Trump stands on this. He has admitted to using H1-B himself. MAGAts definitely oppose it because as Musk points out, they are contemptible, racist fools. Trump and Musk are simply contemptable racists. They'll happily employ brown people when it benefits them and then dispose of them when they are finished with them.

[Nanny]

Leon is a product of his own ego. He is spacebrain. He is technokaren. He can solve all because rockets and mars and fancy electric cars! He deserves to be the Big Bwainz of the Planetses. Starve the poor, milk the working class, appease the top 5%, fund the top 1%. Suck the working folk dry to fund Musktopia!

ETA - The parallels with Russian oligarchy are obvious. A boys club of billionaires carving up the coffers. Vladimir Trump.

USA
China
Russia
Iran
Israel

The five families.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Musk is a lot of things, but "stupid" isn't one of them. We underestimated Trump in 2016 and look where we are now. If you wish to make the same mistake with Musk, go ahead. I'm a  "once bitten, twice shy" kinda dude.

I don't think it was Trump we underestimated, I think it was the American public we overestimated.

A fair point if I understand your gist. When I wrote "we" in the above-quoted post I meant that I and many others simply didn't think he could corral the electoral college or sway enough voters to do so. But yes, too many of us trusted the American electorate to actually think.

They didn't then and they haven't, in my opinion, now. I pull my hair out wondering when people will think for themselves rather than biting at sound-baits.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Elon is famously hard on workers, and he doesn’t like the traditional 40-hour workweek. He often pushes Tesla employees to work 60 to 80 hours per week.

Perfect slots for immigrants. Complain? Visa is pulled.

[Fake Messiah]

I don't know where Trump stands on this. He has admitted to using H1-B himself.

His stance is well documented. Like this 2019 article

But, in private, Trump’s company relied on the same kind of undocumented workers he was denouncing, according to the accounts of 48 current and former Trump workers interviewed by The Washington Post this year.

For years — including during Trump’s presidency — the Trump Organization employed undocumented workers as housekeepers, waiters, groundskeepers and stonemasons.

Using them brought a double advantage: Trump could reap the financial benefit of undocumented labor — the ability to pay his employees lower wages and fewer benefits — and the political benefit of attacking it.

In some cases, those workers’ jobs brought them very close to Trump and his family: They served Trump’s meals, cleaned his homes, set out his makeup and ironed his boxer shorts. On Wednesday, The Post told the story of Sandra Diaz and Victorina Morales, two former Trump Organization housekeepers who went public late last year.

After the women came forward, the Trump Organization fired at least 20 undocumented workers and adopted the federal E-Verify system companywide to screen new hires.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...story.html