Zorro
Zorro's JournalIs the world's richest person the world's worst boss? What it's like working for Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s track record as a boss is an endless scroll of impulse firings, retribution, tone-deafness on race — and the impregnation of a subordinate.In the last two weeks, thousands of Twitter employees have gotten a small taste of what it‘s like to work for Elon Musk: the out-of-nowhere firings, the threats and the bluster, the pubescent jocularity, the day-to-day uncertainty and the urgent demands to work through the night.
If there’s such a thing as a warm and cuddly boss, Musk has long been the opposite to his employees, who now number more than 100,000. He burns through executives with the heat of a battery fire. He takes criticism personally, even when it’s a matter of worker or customer safety. He’s been known to fire people on a whim. Since buying Twitter, his public image is shifting fast, from self-described techno-king to unpredictable court jester and human tornado.
Because Musk makes new employees sign tough nondisclosure agreements, and because he’s developed a reputation for exacting retribution on those who cross him, we’ll never know all the stories.
But there’s plenty in the public record. Personal attacks. Union busting. A casual attitude toward factory floor injuries and other health concerns. A dismissive approach to workplace racism. And an allegation involving a horse and sexual favors.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-11-14/elon-musk-toxic-boss-timeline
Crypto Confidence Soars After CEO Defrauds Customers Just Like Real Bank
NEW YORK—In light of FTX Trading Limited’s announcement of bankruptcy amidst accusations of mishandling funds, crypto confidence reportedly soared Friday after investors realized that CEO Sam Bankman-Fried defrauded customers just like a real bank.
“I actually feel a lot more comfortable investing my hard-earned money knowing that this company has no reservations about recklessly gambling with it, just like a traditional banking institution would,” said 36-year-old crypto investor Daniel Palmederas, explaining that he was previously hesitant to invest in the decentralized and unregulated currency before learning that their exchange companies were happy to fuck over customers just like banks such as Wells Fargo.“
I mean, people are going to be losing their houses over this, so you know it’s the real deal. Once I heard that the CEO of the major crypto exchange company helped the FTC write the regulations for his own industry, I thought, ‘Well now, that’s a bank, straight up!’ I wasn’t completely sold on this before, but this is going to ruin tons of people and drive some to suicide, so I’m all in!”
At press time, sources confirmed that Adam McKay was furiously typing away at a script about the ordeal.
https://www.theonion.com/crypto-confidence-soars-after-ceo-defrauds-customers-ju-1849773647
4 U of Idaho students found dead in home outside campus in what police are calling a homicide
Source: CNN
A homicide investigation is underway after four University of Idaho students were found dead Sunday at a home just outside the campus, police and the university’s president said.
Officers responding before noon to a call of an unconscious person discovered the fatalities, the Moscow Police Department said in a news release.
“It is with deep sadness that I share with you that the university was notified today of the death of four University of Idaho students living off-campus believed to be victims of homicide,” university president Scott Green said in a statement to the campus community.
Police have not released the causes of death or identities of the victims. Police have indicated “there is no ongoing threat,” the university tweeted Sunday without elaborating.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/us/university-idaho-moscow-homicide-investigation/index.html
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
Her podcast series strikes an eerily similar parallel to today's political environment and pre-war events of some 80 years ago.
Apparently the past is really never really the past; listen and you'll understand what I mean.
And as expected, it is up to her usual excellent reporting standards. Highly recommended.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra
Electric Vehicles Start to Enter the Car-Buying Mainstream
While sales are still skewed toward affluent buyers, more people are choosing electric vehicles to save money.The first wave of people who bought electric cars tended to be affluent, environmentally aware technology enthusiasts who lived in California. The second wave may be people like Russell Grooms, a librarian in Virginia.
Mr. Grooms last year bought a battery-powered Nissan Leaf, spending about $20,000 after government incentives, as a way to save money on gasoline.
“I don’t have the disposable income to throw $50,000 or $60,000 at a car just to help the environment,” said Mr. Grooms, a resident of Manassas, who works at a community college. “It really came down to numbers.”
Mr. Grooms, who is married and has a 5-year-old daughter, figures he is saving about $1,200 a year on gasoline, and he has so far spent nothing on repairs or maintenance. (Electric vehicles don’t need oil changes.) “It keeps our expenses much more predictable,” he said.
https://tinyurl.com/t7pkjpfz
Smiling Fetterman Asks Oz If He'd Mind Slowly Repeating Concession For 5th Time
PITTSBURGH–Speaking to the Republican candidate over the phone early Wednesday morning, a smiling John Fetterman reportedly asked Mehmet Oz if he would mind slowly repeating his concession for the fifth time.
“I don’t know if you knew this, but I’ve been experiencing some auditory processing difficulties–would you mind repeating yourself again?” said Fetterman, who settled into an armchair as the phone call with his defeated opponent passed the 45-minute mark.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get that. A little slower please. You said something about losing? I just want to be absolutely certain I’m hearing this right.”
At press time, Fetterman suggested that perhaps he could accept the concession in person if he were ever in New Jersey.
https://www.theonion.com/smiling-fetterman-asks-oz-if-he-d-mind-slowly-repeating-1849763117
Elon Musk Accidentally Includes Himself in Latest Round of Mass Layoffs
SAN FRANCISCO (The Borowitz Report)—Elon Musk’s decision to slash Twitter’s workforce had an unintended consequence, as the billionaire found himself accidentally included among the thousands laid off.
Musk got a sense that something was amiss on Monday morning, when he attempted to log on to the company’s Slack and found that he had been locked out.
Panicking, he jumped into his Tesla and raced to Twitter headquarters, only to discover that his key card no longer functioned.
Musk attempted to tweet a call for assistance, but found that his Twitter password had been changed and his blue check removed.
Estimates of the company’s profitability soared after the news that Musk had been laid off, and thousands of Twitter employees who had chosen to work remotely said that they would now come into the office.
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/elon-musk-accidentally-includes-himself-in-latest-round-of-mass-layoffs
Officials: Saudis tell US that Iran may attack the kingdom
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three U.S. officials said Tuesday.
The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Saudi Arabia as the Biden administration is criticizing Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones — as well as technical support — to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.
“We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,” the National Security Council said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region.”
Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did Iran's mission to the United Nations.
One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack “soon or within 48 hours.” No U.S. embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/officials-saudis-tell-us-iran-222623174.html
So....Saudi Arabia reduces oil production as a big fuck you to Biden, and now two weeks later it sounds like they're looking to the US to help protect them from a potential Iranian attack.
Could be an opportunity to squeeze some concessions from those assholes.
Bertrand Russell: The Triumph of Stupidity
What has been happening in Germany is a matter of the gravest portent for the whole civilised world. Throughout the last hundred and fifty years, individual Germans have done more to further civilisation than the individuals of any other country; during the latter half of this period, Germans, collectively, have been equally effective in degrading civilisation. At the present day the most distinguished names in the world of learning are still German; the most degraded and brutal government is also German. Of the individual Germans whose work has caused Germany to be respected, some are in exile, some in hiding, and some have disappeared, their fate unknown. Given a few years of Nazi rule, Germany will sink to the level of a horde of Goths.
What has happened? What has happened is quite simple. Those elements of the population which are both brutal and stupid (and these two qualities usually go together) have combined against the rest. By murder, by torture, by imprisonment, by the terrorism of armed forces, they have subjected the intelligent and humane parts of the nation and seized power with the view of furthering the glory of the Fatherland.
What has happened in Germany may well happen elsewhere. The British Fascists are not as yet a large party, but they are growing rapidly, and if at any future time there should be danger of a Labour Government that meant business, they would win the support of most of the governing classes. Meanwhile, the British government of India is a form of Fascism, all the worse for being alien. The British in India, like the Hitlerites in Germany, can only govern by putting the best people in prison.
Brute force plays a much larger part in the government of the world than it did before 1914, and what is especially alarming, force tends increasingly to fall into the hands of those who are enemies of civilisation. The danger is profound and terrible; it cannot be waved aside with easy optimism.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. Even those of the intelligent who believe that they have a nostrum are too individualistic to combine with other intelligent men from whom they differ on minor points. This was not always the case. A hundred years ago the philosophical radicals formed a school of intelligent men who were just as sure of themselves as the Hitlerites are; the result was that they dominated politics and that the world advanced rapidly both in intelligence and in material well-being.
It is quite true that the intelligence of the philosophical radicals was very limited. It is, I think, undeniable that the best men of the present day have a wider and truer outlook, but the best men of that day had influence, while the best men of this are impotent spectators. Perhaps we shall have to realise that scepticism and intellectual individualism are luxuries which in our tragic age must be forgone, and if intelligence is to be effective, it will have to be combined with a moral fervour which it usually possessed in the past but now usually lacks.
In this gloomy state of affairs, the brightest spot is America. In America democracy still appears well established, and the men in power deal with what is amiss by constructive measures, not by pogroms and wholesale imprisonment. After the defeat of the French Revolution, democracy; discredited by the reign of terror, reconquered the world from America. Perhaps America is destined once more to save Europe from the consequences of its excesses. (10 May 1933)
https://russell-j.com/0583TS.HTM
Marco Rubio at Tampa rally: Democrats 'will destroy this country'
TAMPA — Sen. Marco Rubio came to Tampa Tuesday with a closing message for his U.S. Senate reelection campaign: Democrats have ruined the country. Republicans will fix it.
Speaking at Grand Cathedral Cigars — “It smells like the front porch of my home when I was growing up,” Rubio, who’s of Cuban descent, quipped early in his remarks — the senator assailed Democratic leaders for what he described as a failing economy, open borders and rampant crime.
“The Democratic Party has brought this country nothing but chaos and disorder,” Rubio told the midmorning crowd of about 60. “If we don’t stop them, they will destroy the country.”
Rubio is running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a former Orlando police chief who has outraised Rubio $73.3 million to $39.4 million, federal campaign records show.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2022/11/01/rubio-demings-senate-midterms-tampa-inflation/
I certainly hope this useless pipsqueak gets shitcanned next week.
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