Emrys
Emrys's JournalA year or so ago, I posted a report about a programmer Musk consulted informally about some coding
It ended up Musk didn't even have a clue how to run a Python script (supposedly his "favourite" programming language, according to Google).He may have started out as a bit of a reputed self-taught whiz at a few now-archaic computer languages, but his empire wasn't built on that, it was built on timely opportunistic investments and a weird impulsive irresponsible and haphazard business management style that his companies over the years have spent a lot of resources protecting themselves against, sometimes to the extent of ousting him.
A while back, a Twitter programmer challenged him on an open forum to describe Twitter's stack and what precisely was wrong with it, as Musk had said the whole thing needed to be torn down and completely rewritten from scratch, and he shamelessly waffled.
So, although he's rumoured to have written a few OpenAI libraries, I'm not clear how deep Musk's understanding of AI is, and especially its limits in the real world.
I'm sure he can sound authoritative enough to be a convincing bluffer and blind Trump with science - which would be like taking candy from a not very bright and physically uncoordinated baby - but beyond that, I have my doubts. I mean, the Chinese have undercut him at his own game and joined in the plundering of knowledge to build cheaper and competitive AI systems - probably capable of hacking anything Musk might install, given time.
Meanwhile, Musk can't even get Twitter videos to stream reliably without stuttering.
On top of that, as you touched on, modelling organs and systems of government would require a degree of understanding of them (possibly why Musk wants to "simplify" them by cancelling any programme or department or even crucial regulation he doesn't see the point of) - and Musk has shown no interest in or sign of that, preferring to believe the hallucinations of his followers and himself.
How Elon Musk boosted false USAID conspiracy theories to shut down global aid
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Most of Musks more than 160 posts about USAID have been responses to a handful of small but influential verified accounts, many of them using pseudonyms. The most popular including posts from Wall Street Apes, Kanekoa the Great, Chief Nerd and Autism Capital have been viewed hundreds of millions of times, amplified by Musk and his 216 million followers, according to X metrics. As the theories spread, they are repackaged, and in many cases added upon, to further the claims.
A review of the accounts profiles reveals how a lengthy crusade to paint USAID as a malevolent force built up in recent years in relatively fringe internet circles, only to be suddenly elevated and acted upon by Musk. The pattern is similar to one that played out with the so-called Twitter Files in 2022, when selectively framed narratives and out-of-context internal documents were weaponized to fuel allegations of a grand government censorship conspiracy. And it is one likely to continue under Trump and Musk, who have histories of trafficking in falsehoods.
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In recent days, Musk has promoted the anonymous account DataRepublican and a corresponding searchable website of government grants and charities. X users have taken to plugging in the names of politicians and media figures who have spoken against the shuttering of USAID and charting organizations they are connected to, misrepresenting their opposition.
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A key voice behind both the Twitter Files and the USAID conspiracy theories is Mike Benz, a former Trump administration official-turned-conservative researcher whom Musk has promoted and interacted with on X more than 40 times in the past week.
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Benz runs the same playbook every time, said Renee DiResta, an associate research professor at Georgetown University and author of a book about how fringe creators, including Benz, increasingly influence public opinion. He picks a villain, pretends it has ties to the CIA or some 'deep state' and acts as if he has inside knowledge when hes really just decontextualizing public content. The remarkable thing is that the masters of the universe seem to repeatedly fall for it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/elon-musk-boosted-false-usaid-conspiracy-theories-global-aid-rcna190646
This NBC article fleshes out some of the background and actors in the ongoing vendetta against USAID, a few examples of which were covered in my earlier GD post: The White House Keeps Pointing Out 'Insane' USAID Spending That Isn't USAID - https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219996591
There's sure to be more to come. Let's hope it's up to the standard of journalism in this article.
There certainly is!
The supposed millions to Politico should be included in that.
No, Politico Did Not Receive Substantial Funds from USAID
Various government agencies have purchased subscriptions to its publications since 2016.
The Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance as it looks to curb unnecessary federal spending across the government. At the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)the primary U.S. agency responsible for providing humanitarian assistance abroadhundreds of staff have been placed on administrative leave as the White House considers shuttering the agencys operations entirely. With USAID in the national headlines, a viral post is now claiming that Politico LLC, the company that publishes Politico and several other publications, received substantial funds from the agency. Fun Fact: @Politico received USAID funds. Everything makes sense now, Kyle Becker, a former Fox News producer, wrote on X.
The post, which had been viewed more than 2 million times as of midday Wednesday, includes a screenshot showing that Politico LLC received $8.1 million from the agency. In a follow-up post, Becker linked USAID funding freezes to a payroll issue at the company earlier this week. The technical error was reportedly resolved, Becker wrote, referencing an email sent to Politico employees explaining that the issue had been caused by a system glitch. The error of sending U.S. taxpayer money to a biased, partisan, establishment publication, however, is being fixed.
The claim was picked up by right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson, who called the news the biggest scandal in news media history in an X post with more than 3 million views. No employee at Politico got paid yesterday. First time ever the company missed a pay period. This is a crisis, Johnson wrote. Now we learn Politico a news company which spent the last 10 years trying to destroy the MAGA Movement was being massively funded by USAID.
Becker and Johnsons claims are false. The only payments received by Politico LLC from USAID were for two subscriptions to E&Ean energy and environment publication it producestotaling $44,000 over two years.
https://thedispatch.com/article/fact-check-politico-usaid-funding/
The White House Keeps Pointing Out 'Insane' USAID Spending That Isn't USAID
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In fact, at least three of the White Houses examples are not USAID: $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week.
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But in reality, USAID hasnt been spending money on any of those examples. According to federal spending records, its the State Department which President Donald Trump recently put in control of USAID that is funding these line items.
As the White House claimed, there was a live musical event to promote the U.S. and Irish shared values of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, according to spending records. The event did use $71,000 of U.S. taxpayer dollars, but it wasnt funded through USAID. The Department of State bankrolled the event, routing the money through the U.S. embassy in Dublin.
The so-called transgender comic book in Peru also has a shred of truth to it. The Department of State, via the U.S. embassy in Lima, awarded a $32,000 grant in 2022 to produce a tailored-made comic, featuring an LGBTQ+ hero to address social and mental health issues. But, again, that wasnt USAID money.
And the transgender opera in Colombia was, once again, State Department money. The project was related to a $25,000 public diplomacy grant to stage the opera As One in Bogotá. The rest of the funds Leavitt referred to from that project were not funded by the federal government, as NOTUS first reported on Wednesday.
https://www.notus.org/foreign-policy/white-house-keeps-insane-usaid-spending-not-usaid
No medical evidence to support Lucy Letby's conviction, expert panel says
Lucy Letby is the victim of one of the major injustices of modern times, it has been claimed, after an international panel of experts found no evidence she had murdered or harmed any of the babies she was accused of attacking.
The panel concluded that the 17 newborns whom Letby was charged with harming had suffered a catalogue of bad medical care or deteriorated as a result of natural causes at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England.
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The senior Conservative MP David Davis described the case as one of the major injustices of modern times as the findings of 14 leading experts, including a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, were laid bare at a press conference in Westminster.
Dr Shoo Lee, a retired Canadian neonatologist who chaired the panel, said they had found so many problems with the medical care of many of the babies and nothing to support the claim they had been attacked.
A 31-page summary report gave alternative causes of death for four of the seven babies Letby was convicted of murdering, alleging that poor care contributed to each death. In summary, ladies and gentlemen, we did not find any murders, he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/04/no-medical-evidence-to-support-lucy-letby-conviction-expert-panel-finds
This follows up an earlier story I posted here last October:
Lucy Letby: police and CPS handling of case raises new concerns about convictions - https://www.democraticunderground.com/108823271
Historical quote going around: "Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies; they are our allies."
"We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friendsweakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free worldall while cynically waving the American flag."
President Ronald Reagan, Radio Address to the Nation on the Canadian Elections and Free Trade, November 26, 1988
Full text:
This week, as we prepared for Thanksgiving, Canada held an important election, and I'm pleased to again send my congratulations to Prime Minister Mulroney. One of the important issues in the Canadian election was trade. And like our own citizens earlier this month, our neighbors have sent a strong message, rejecting protectionism and reaffirming that more trade, not less, is the wave of the future.
Here in America, as we reflect on the many things we have to be grateful for, we should take a moment to recognize that one of the key factors behind our nation's great prosperity is the open trade policy that allows the American people to freely exchange goods and services with free people around the world. The freedom to trade is not a new issue for America. In 1776 our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, charging the British with a number of offenses, among them, and I quote, "cutting off our trade with all parts of the world,'' end quote.
And that same year, a Scottish economist named Adam Smith launched another revolution with a book entitled ``The Wealth of Nations,'' which exposed for all time the folly of protectionism. Over the past 200 years, not only has the argument against tariffs and trade barriers won nearly universal agreement among economists but it has also proven itself in the real world, where we have seen free-trading nations prosper while protectionist countries fall behind.
America's most recent experiment with protectionism was a disaster for the working men and women of this country. When Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930, we were told that it would protect America from foreign competition and save jobs in this country -- the same line we hear today. The actual result was the Great Depression, the worst economic catastrophe in our history; one out of four Americans were thrown out of work. Two years later, when I cast my first ballot for President, I voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who opposed protectionism and called for the repeal of that disastrous tariff.
Ever since that time, the American people have stayed true to our heritage by rejecting the siren song of protectionism. In recent years, the trade deficit led some misguided politicians to call for protectionism, warning that otherwise we would lose jobs. But they were wrong again. In fact, the United States not only didn't lose jobs, we created more jobs than all the countries of Western Europe, Canada, and Japan combined. The record is clear that when America's total trade has increased, American jobs have also increased. And when our total trade has declined, so have the number of jobs.
Part of the difficulty in accepting the good news about trade is in our words. We too often talk about trade while using the vocabulary of war. In war, for one side to win, the other must lose. But commerce is not warfare. Trade is an economic alliance that benefits both countries. There are no losers, only winners. And trade helps strengthen the free world.
Yet today protectionism is being used by some American politicians as a cheap form of nationalism, a fig leaf for those unwilling to maintain America's military strength and who lack the resolve to stand up to real enemies -- countries that would use violence against us or our allies. Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies; they are our allies. We should beware of the demagogs who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends -- weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world -- all while cynically waving the American flag. The expansion of the international economy is not a foreign invasion; it is an American triumph, one we worked hard to achieve, and something central to our vision of a peaceful and prosperous world of freedom.
After the Second World War, America led the way to dismantle trade barriers and create a world trading system that set the stage for decades of unparalleled economic growth. And in one week, when important multilateral trade talks are held in Montreal, we will be in the forefront of efforts to improve this system. We want to open more markets for our products, to see to it that all nations play by the rules, and to seek improvement in such areas as dispute resolution and agriculture. We also want to bring the benefits of free trade to new areas, including services, investment, and the protection of intellectual property. Our negotiators will be working hard for all of us.
Yes, back in 1776, our Founding Fathers believed that free trade was worth fighting for. And we can celebrate their victory because today trade is at the core of the alliance that secure the peace and guarantee our freedom; it is the source of our prosperity and the path to an even brighter future for America.
Until next week, thanks for listening, and God bless you.
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/radio-address-nation-canadian-elections-and-free-trade
You're very welcome. He has his own YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@MrMichaelSpicerHe's also on BlueSky and Twitter (where he initially made his name).
He's had his own show in BBC Radio 4 and toured the country, and also featured on The Late Late Show with James Corden. He hadn't released a "Room Next Door" for quite a while as he said he finally found doing them too dispiriting - cataloguing the Boris Johnson years, then Liz Truss, nearly broke him.
Unusually, the comments on his YouTube videos are often worth checking out. Like this one today:
And yes, if like me you missed it among the endless volleys of bullshit, apparently he did say that:

And then there's this reply to Spicer from Twitter:

Comedian Michael Spicer: The Room Next Door - Donald Trump Plane Crash Fact Check
If you've not heard of Michael Spicer before, he's a British comedian, and one of his most popular regular routines is playing a spindoctor in "the room next door" on a earpiece link trying (unsuccessfully) to keep politicians from going off the rails. Here's his topical latest:
Similar stories have appeared in other outlets
Here's a selection:
Elon Musk email to X staff: were barely breaking even - https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/24/24351317/elon-musk-x-twitter-bank-debt-stagnant-growth
Elon Musk Tells Employees X Is 'Barely Breaking Even' - https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-musk-says-x-is-barely-breaking-even-in-letter-to-employees
The Cheat Sheet on Trumps First Week - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/business/dealbook/trump-first-week.html
Musk disputes reports that he is dissatisfied with business of X - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musk-disputes-reports-dissatisfied-business-141424343.html
Meanwhile, on Twitter Musk categorically denied sending the email:
@xDaily
NEWS: The WSJ has leaked an email Elon sent to X staff this month:
"Our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and were barely breaking even", Elon wrote.
Despite the downbeat tone, this appears to confirm that as a business X is no longer losing money, a consistent worry in the first two years post-acquisition.
Elon added in the email: "Over the last few months, weve witnessed the power of X in shaping national conversations and outcomes" and We are also seeing other platforms begin to adopt our commitment to free speech and unbiased truth,
This comes as Wall Street banks are preparing to sell billions of dollars in debt holdings in X.

Elon Musk
@elonmusk
This report is false. I sent no such email.
WSJ is lying.
I guess a number of Twitter employees will now know whether Musk or the WSJ is the bigger liar. If the story provess to be untrue, it'll be ironic given Musk's track record, which includes allegations of market manipulation and insider trading in relation to Twitter and Tesla, sometimes involving strategic loose talk on social media.
In Leaked Email, Elon Musk Admits Defeat on Twitter
Cutting Losses
Banks that loaned multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk an appreciable $13 billion for his ill-advised $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in late 2022 are getting ready to offload billions of debt they accrued as a result, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The hope is to minimize the hurt as they sell off the debt, a massive scar haunting the mercurial CEO's disastrous social media platform shopping spree.
After a chaotic couple of years, and Musk seemingly doing his best to wipe out what was left of the platform's largely ad-dependant revenue with increasingly erratic behavior, X-formerly-Twitter's finances have yet to recover. The company is still drowning in accumulated debt while loaners are struggling with massive payments.
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Now that Musk has catapulted himself onto the political world stage by throwing himself at Trump's feet, banks are seemingly seeing the moment as an opportunity to sell their debt without incurring huge losses.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/leaked-email-elon-musk-defeat-twitter
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