$54 a share, which is roughly a 50% premium to the price before the initial announcement of his share purchase.
(Note - apologies for the previous email about Thomas Lanza - that was an unfinished article I published accidentally in my haste to send this. I will follow up later today.)
They can have my pinecones. There’s a sustainable product if there ever was one; as long as they keep planting Longleaf pines we will never run out of pinecones.
And that's another thing! The other day, TV news had a video of some idiot teacher's TikTok post.
The idiot teacher had green hair and a nose ring.
How about a DRESS CODE for teachers? How about teachers dress in a professional manner to set an example for students. AND if the teachers don't look like freaks, perhaps more order and discipline would be restored to schools.
I'm sure the green haired teacher would say that once *all* teachers have colored hair and piercings, the look will no longer be considered freakish. These people believe themselves to be pioneers for future style. Let's hope not...
Hahaha - I’m sure he would loooove that…not😜. I’m just waiting for his next John Wells novel—might be waiting a long time. Grrr. Covid and all these world players have just sucked the life out of almost everything. I did go see Hamilton a couple of nights ago. Broadway touring company. No masks required. No vaccine passport which gratefully our state managed to mostly avoid except for the stupid major cities. But just to be able to go to live theatre again without any requirements except a ticket and some money for a glass of wine made me so darned happy. It’s what seemed like the little things that loom so large.
I agree, and we need to LAUGH watching this world circus... coming out of the Dark Ages, well, a good laugh is good for the soul, and we sure have the clowns to give us the laughs... just look at the lock-down rats who have already come out of the dark with the elections coming.... trying to distance themselves from their hypocritical elitist behavior as our children suffered, became even less educated (as we march toward complete inability to read, write and speak). To eliminate standards and rigorous study, home work, testing, and all "hard" classes from the public schools has done what ? Are the parents who fought long school days, homework and "difficult" required classes in math, foreign languages, chemistry, physics, etc. now satisfied ? Their argument was always, these "hard" things only make children HATE school and drop out. So, now that we've had a bit more than 15 years of downgrading and adding "fluffy" classes, where are we in the national drop out rate ? Now that we've done this have we moved UP from #2 to #1 in literacy for our population ? Or, are we about #37, #39 now ? What is the academic quality of undergrads now ? Can you find an undergrad on any campus who can tell you how many total members of congress ? Intelligently relate the Bill of Rights ? Can name, say, 30 states, or has any idea why the 4th of July is called a "holiday" ? Just saying, IF cutting out homework, stopping mandatory attendance laws, making dropping out easy, eliminating mandatory college prep classes for high school students planning on college, and at the same time, eliminating wood shop, metal shop, home economics, personal finance covering basics of mortgages, credit card borrowing, budgeting, etc. Go "figure" as they say !
Our county got an F from an independent company who was evaluating the coming years’ social studies curricula. That’s pretty sad. Not even a D - ouch. It’s because these textbook writers change history to suit the culture fad instead of the truth. Just a little detail. And they wonder why parents want to have voucher programs so that they can send their kids to private schools too. The elites don’t care. Their kids don’t have to go to public schools. They have the money.
Our state spent millions on literacy programs and solutions in 2019 and the rate of literacy has not changed for the better at all. Only 43.7% of third-grade students demonstrated reading proficiency, even after getting a second chance at a summer reading camp and that’s this past year. But the big concern of school boards and the department of education is teaching equity and if that doesn’t work, then straight-ip communism along with gender indoctrination of elementary aged children and training kids to hate the most amazing country that people are streaming across our southern border to live in. We are all a bunch of oppressors or the oppressed. Right?
And I found out the other day that the high school “history” classes in our county force the kids to watch 15-30 minutes of CNN EVERY DAY in their social studies class. That tells me that we have a serious problem with 1) lazy a__ teachers and administrators and 2) kids are being indoctrinated into a liberal worldview under the guise of world current events. It’s insidious and if we can flip the school board, it will become a thing of the past and not the future…hopefully.
'The left has finally found a way around the First Amendment: consolidate all “speech” and public expression onto a handful of private-sector platforms run by oligarchs and staffed by Wokerati; let them do whatever they want and when anyone complains, reply that “these are private companies that can run their business however they want; you don’t have to use their platforms and if you don’t like it, start your own.” The left knows it can count on the moronic, friendly-fire-spraying libertarians to sing that tune the loudest. Free speech as we have known it—as our founders insisted was the natural bedrock of political rights, without which self-government is impossible—will not survive coming leftist rule.'
What’s funny about this diatribe is that it is Musk (a Libertarian) who is seemingly actually trying to restore order in the public square. Where have the rich republicans been while Twitter’s woke staffers have been taking a sledgehammer to freedom of expression?
Great question! The stand by the 'businesses can do what they want' mantra, even while they pass all kinds of laws and regulations against what businesses want. Total BS.
There is a real difference between the GOPe/Democrat unit-party and America First conservatives. Know the difference.
How many have 43 billion to spend? Can somebody figure that out please? Which American oligarchs are out there who have that kind of dough? I’m not a fan of electric cars because the batteries create more toxic products than oil in the long run but they are really quiet. It’s kinda spooky. But Elon Musk - did he make that up - he believes in free speech. I heard him describe Twitter as a war zone and the implication was he liked it that way. He said that Trump was very good at Twitter. Lol. So I have great hopes for Twitter if he buys it. Too bad it will go private though because I would buy shares.
He might be able to pull that off if he can offload his shares before his bid is publicly denied or if there is a higher publicly disclosed buyout bid that backstops the market. If he can't offload before his offer is dead in the water, I don't know that he can get out of that trade in the black because his exit trades will get front ran. There's a pretty massive gap down from where the stock was the day before his stake was announced and where it was immediately after.
They could not care less as long as their campaign coffers are full. That means hefty contributions by the likes of Twitter and Pfizer. Republican swamp creatures must go.
It seems like the rich republicans have been quietly hiding in the shadows of the woke democrats. That would imply that they actually support (at least to some degree) what is going on with all the censorship.
A good lawyer might be able to find (or force some of these big tech companies to disclose) enough evidence to support a finding that they take their orders from, or collude with government officials and/or government agencies to support a certain narrative. In other words, they ARE the government. Were that to happen, any of them which are subsidized in any way by the government or employ former government personnel would be held accountable to the First Amendment rights of individuals posting on their platforms.
I hope the Berenson lawsuit gets to disclosure. A private platform becomes not so private if they are an arm of the government or acting as an agent. We need to know.
I was JUST thinking how interesting Berenson's lawsuit becomes as a subplot in all this. Twitter can't argue that it is a private business that can do whatever it wants in court and then reject Musk's offer under the assumption that it is too important as a public square to be operated by one man. Should be amazing to see this play out. Musk is the greatest troll on the face of the earth.
So happy to see Musk call them to task. He really has out a lot on the line and has become a major target. I picture him as a person of principle but we shall see.
How about they take a space ride on Jeff Bezos's penis rocket and that will give them a nice bird's-eye view to really clear their mind... maybe smoke a fat one while they are jettisoning into space 🚀🚀
Anyone else think it’s really weird it took the Babylon Bee getting banned to be the final straw for Muskie? Twitters been a festering hellsite for at least 5 years but this is what apparent spurred Elon into action?
That’s a delicious irony. The fact that you described it as hell site and the Bee writers profess to be followers of Christ... I think that possibly layered the reasons they were banned. Musk was interviewed by them in person. He may have thought “these are genuinely nice, smart guys...” and then they were banned for funny-but-true satire. I can see how that could’ve been a final straw.
An idiot on Newsweek said Musk couldn't pass the necessary background or drug tests required of board members. I doubt shareholder members get any checks aside from their wallet size. Elected board members are selected generally to advise a business not because they are squeaky clean citizens. The purpose of most in business is to make money for their owners. They are not known for charity or morals. Some might say they generally lack both.
He will NEED to FIRE 100% of them and start the whole show over to fix things - and that's if the govt does not pull the plug on Tesla and SpaceX to stop him!
Twitter has no real value or assets beyond it's influence... If anything is done to fix it, the algorithm should be made transparent-open source - that alone would make deep state and prog heads explode...
Seems the most likely outcome. I can’t even imagine the conversations that are taking place among the deep state, Twitter wokesters, left wing devotees and all the little mindless peasants who never seem to see how dangerous this wet dream of theirs has become. Crude of me. I’m classier than that…most of the time.
Probably most employees would be just fine with this. The rank and file do not have any interest in censorship, especially the engineers who keep the site up and running. Especially the most valuable ones, those with seniority and in-depth technical knowledge who joined when it was still a neutral platform, and when that was one of its draws. To contribute to a platform that’s free for all is what they signed up for in the first place! It’s only the highest level controllers who want censorship, and who have driven it that direction.
No I don’t know anyone at Twitter but I know “hacker” culture. Yes software engineers may lean liberal but they are true liberals in the sense that they believe in free speech. And their data scientists would probably would love to know what the entire population is really thinking. The employees are no more likely to desert the company now in the light of a Musk buyout than they were just a few years ago when retweeting @realDonaldTrump was the national pastime.
Start reading now after 2PM, RedState and Dailywire have posts…
My favorite quote, “we can’t have democracy without censorship!”…
And you morons and imbeciles want to continue to negotiate and be polite acquiescing and tolerant of these deviant disruptive destructive fucks, I hope they screw up your life so much that when you are ready to be destroyed, you will ask yourself at least internally, “what the fuck was I thinking!?“…
Hmmm ... I wonder what else I can use my South Asian Literature major for? Possibly join the mob and burn down a few court houses, that sounds productive.
I don't think they eat Popcorn 🍿 but what I can tell you for sure is they mixing Rattlesnake Venom and Frog 🐸 Venom cooking it to flakes and smoking 🚬 🚬 it big time. This is the people who run Twitter that is today 2022. Under Uncle Joey and David Frum his mortician.
Tying socialism & communism into a bid for working class ppl for wanting more say in the laws that get passed and where our tax money gets used is a false equivalency, nice try, rich person!
These idiots in charge of our parties thanks to their high cost propaganda are stealing our votes every election and ultimately doing nothing to give us what we actually ask for.
Those who want to take what others have instead of working for it have always villainized the successful. The politics of envy date back to the beginning.
This is a terrible idea. You can’t beat class warfare with more class warfare. What we need is more regular Joe’s getting elected to Congress and other seats. If people are willing to do it it works. Just look at NJ that truck driver or whatever unseated there senator with no $$ or backing. The governor was a few fake votes away from loosing to a nobody also. That is the path to sanity.
The problem is in many races you need lots of money to win. In one PA Congressional race the incumbent has $3,000 000 to use for ads, etc. They expect the PA senate race to cost more than that.
One thing nice about the Pandemic Scam, is how many more are home schooling. What has ruined the minds of the young has been the propaganda done in schools. Homeschooling eliminates much of this!
I think that is the America First party. At least that is my interpretation. I don't see a better possibility at this time. Also, why not be dogmatic about American principles?
Years ago, my mother-in-law had a certificate displayed (I think maybe during the Reagan years), that had her as an English First supporter. We thought it was funny…but right now, I’d love an American First certificate! Call me crazy.
The love is of political power. That way the money is easy.
This would be the same love you're espousing for your "working class" BS party. The wealthy work too. Statistically more and longer hours than your "working class" heroes.
Your ideas are not new or different than the people you claim to oppose. They are merely shifting the political power from one favored group to another, yours.
We have term limits, it’s called a re-election. People need to vote people out more instead of just keeping the status quo time after time for whatever dumb reason they justify it with.
I completely agree with you on principle and would add that states with open primaries might have more success. The sad reality is an incumbent historically has an advantage. This, coupled with the organizational and financial support of the party makes it difficult for a newcomer and almost impossible for someone without financial means to win an election.
It's hard not to be euphoric about this pros[ect. If Bazos can have his own Leftist mouthpiece (WP), and the DNC "own" all of MSM, no reason Musk cannot own a far more impactful free speech platform. There is hope!!
The DNC owns social media as well. It feels as if free speech has been totally lost. This move by Musk will hopefully be the first step in turning that around.
Yeah, like whoever works there has a special knowledge ... it's all SOFTWARE and I'm sure there are thousands and thousands better software engineers that are not crazy wokes and WAY better professionals.
As soon as I learned Musk is trying to take over I bought too ( we all should!!!! and let him vote with our shares). We are the majority and can do it
For sure. The State of California only wants terminally sick, medically compromised individuals who will do whatever they are told. You can't question what is in the Kool-Aid. Everyone else has moved or is moving to Texas, Florida & South Carolina.
Uh oh, if that transpires the regressed left would lose their on-line safe space to berate and demean those that have critical thought and reading comprehension above the 2nd grade level.
Whatever way Musk goes it's the end of the road for Agrawal. Control is 50.1 percent. At that point Musk could appoint the board; install his own CEO and take the company anyway he chooses. This is just the opening salvo. Actually, having to debate issues and make cogent arguments strikes fear and terror in every progressive activist.
Good. Maybe the triggered employees will all leave and Elon can hire some folks that just want to work rather than constantly whine and express their moral and intellectual superiority.
I wonder if Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk have been collaborating? Dorsey's departure as CEO was indicative of a disagreement in the direction of Twitter.
One thing for everyone to understand here. Musk isn't just fighting the woke Democrat machine, he is fighting Wall Street and the WEF globalists cabal. Musk has put on the biggest of the big boy pants. I hope he is ready for the onslaught against him.
Masterclass in trolling. If the Liberal Mafia don’t like it, they can always just “find their own platform,” I suppose. I’m sure Gab, GETTR and Truth Social will be quite welcoming to their ideologies. Oh wait…
Except the GLOBALISTS tyrants will never let it happen ... with a free speech having platform like twitter they have NO chance of implementing their evil plans
I don't think I'm qualified to elaborate beyond nothing is what the doers and sayers say it is any more. And like you said, if you aren't watching closely with your eyes wide open, you may miss the big picture.
I've already thought that "stars" in the line "a third of the stars" were satellites. Recently Musk has sent a bunch of starlink satellites to Ukraine. I'm just waiting for Putin to shoot those down and cause a big chain reaction that takes out everything in orbit.
I would be extremely surprised if he actually took Twaddle private. I’m more inclined to believe it will “fall through”. After, of course, he’s sold all his shares.
I saw a video which shows Musk; his mother and one of his former girlfriends, making satanic gestures. So I don't trust him- he's controlled opposition or even worse. Some believe StarLink (thousands of satelites) is a weapon.
Foreign to where? The USA which did not exist when the anti-Christ was imagined? Or foreign to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Judea? I guess South Africa is foreign to both. You almost had a point until geography got in the way.
take your pick. South Africa is foreign to everywhere but South Africa.
I'm not really trying to make a point beyond stepping back and looking at information from a big picture point of view. I just did a 30 second search on Musk's dad and this is from an interview he gave.
From "The List"
"He was such a terrible human being," Elon told Rolling Stone when he covered the magazine in 2017. "You have no idea ... My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil ... He will plan evil" (via Rolling Stone).
I don't care about Twitter personally. I just hope Elon is watching his back, or that he has a team doing so. We are now seeing a "battle of the elites". That's a harbinger of...things to come. And the other side is part of a corrupt cabal.
(Note - apologies for the previous email about Thomas Lanza - that was an unfinished article I published accidentally in my haste to send this. I will follow up later today.)
------
Pro tip: Leave the headline blank until you're ready to send so you can't accidentally publish before you're ready 🙂
I think your lawsuit is much more important to free speech than the reliance on a billionaire. We cannot have our constitution hang on the balance of a bidding war of the uber wealthy. I am hopeful for your lawsuit. When in spring of 2020 I kept seeing opinion pieces that social media platforms were absolutely not bound by the first amendment, I was shocked. Good legal analysis, even those in newspapers, should include arguments from the other side which you then dismantle - that is just integrity. When no counter pieces were published in the papers I subscribed to, I canceled them. I knew something was terribly wrong. Pruneyard v. Robbins establishes that if your business model is, by its nature, aimed at the public, then first amendment analysis applies. Add to this that SCOTUS recognized that California applies heightened first amendment protection, you end up with analysis that trends towards finding first amendment restrictions apply to social media platforms. Judge Thomas's assertion that first amendment restrictions apply, because the media is a mouthpiece for the government, had been too much for me at the time. Now I see he was absolutely right. I just didn't see it in the fog. It is very sad to see the trickery included in the briefs for Twitter. They must be teaching the ends justify the means in law school instead of the duty that you must acknowledge arguments on the other side and dismantle them by legal authority and logic.
Please no. We need to know if the government was involved in shaping Twitter. Getting to that may expose government involvement in other situations so that laws can be crafted to prohibit that behind the scenes influence. Likely not going to happen but we need our government to have some better rules. The interference and the people behind it need to get exposed.
I absolutely agree and for that reason I don't think Alex will take any settlement from Elon. We need to ensure this never happens again and the only way is for there to be court decisions or legislation. And even if SCOTUS rules against, one shouldn't lose hope. It took decades to overcome the horrific separate by equal case of Plessey v. Ferguson.
Tracking isn't of real concern. It does slow down page loading. I worry that the government asked the platforms to become a proxy for government propaganda.
No evidence that I've seen of direct influence. It is all behind the scenes. Alex has a shot in getting it opened via discovery. Without a direct reference, the information can't be FOIA.
Remember we the people, for example, Republican voters could buy up board seats, initiate hostile take overs, or take leftist companies private as well.
70M voters x $50 = $3.5B
Step 1 pull your money from blackrock and vanguard ETFs.
Step 2 put your money in something like the American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF)
Step 3 someone create a Republican Activist hedge fund, Republican voters fund it, it fixes leftist companies by “financial force”.
Sort of. Not necessarily immediately as there is separate paperwork and processes to go through to take a public company private. But in the case of an external individual purchaser I'd expect it to go quickly.
The offer is for buying all the shares, which is what "cashes out" the shareholders. the board could still exist - private companies do have them. Essentially to take a company private (warning: over-simplified) all the outstanding shares are purchased, company delists (dissolving the shares themselves basically), and saves millions by not having to deal with the SEC.
I wonder how many more shares (greater than his current 9+%) Musk could buy at this point, without actually buying all the shares? How many shares are actually available for purchase on any given day?
If the offer is accepted, then that basically "freezes" the price at a floor because nobody would sell for less. It complicated and I'm trying to avoid all the ugly details (really, it is u-g-l-y to try to go private in general).
Technically, IIRC and depending on the transaction structure, the company buys the shares back and Elon foots the bill. Once the transaction is declared complete, all shares are deregistered - meaning literally void and worthless. So you either accept the money or just lose out. If the board agrees to sell him the company, any shareholders have little to nothing to say about it.
By placing it at a clear and obvious premium, it functionally obligates the board to seriously consider it and there can be shareholder cases filed if they turn it down without accepting a higher priced offer. Honestly that will be a tough wait. You see, while they've seen some positive movement lately, they are down significantly over the last year - and down more than twice the S&P.
Analysts left and right (hehe) are downgrading the stock - valuing it less as a result. They seem to recognize that if it doesn't go through and Musk sells his shares the stock somewhat tanks. Basically I read their actions as thinking Twitter execs will say no, and the stock tanks.
Of course, at that point whether Musk snaps them up is an open question. Legally he's made a "fair offer" that on the face of it is in good faith, and clearly stated he'd have to sell his current stake as Twitter would be a and investment absent the changes he says he can make.
Some, however, think Musk will indeed win it in the end. They do raise fair points that while it may seem like certain companies could counter, the chance they could counter high enough and without putting their own status at risk - not to mention SEC investigation of possible violations in the process is lower than generally thought.
There is a lot of copium being consumed on lefty channels in trying to claim that the board has a duty to just say no. While I do not agree with the general claims of fiduciary duty to *shareholders* by the board, it generally comes down to wether the transaction be a financial benefit to the shareholder? Some even demanding a financial thing from him - while admitting that he can just right out do it. Oe can't even fathom that he would simply buy it rather than take out loans for it.
Just listening to Tom Sullivan's show, and someone mentioned that Musk could dump all his current shares, that would cause the stock price to go way down, then he could swoop back in and buy the shares and get 51% of the company that way. Interesting.
And that would draw huge attention by the SEC. Some 40% of twitter shares are in mutuals with Blackrock Vanguard holding together ~ 16%. Musk has an offer on the table so we shall see. The board itself can be fired for not delivering shareholder value. Musk has created a lot of issues for the company to resolve.
If Musk does ultimately want Twitter and this is a slow stalk-and-kill, he'd never do that because it would be disastrous.
The potential buyout has become so politicized in just one day that if Musk dumped, progressive groups would organize en masse to buy it at cost to make sure "this dangerous threat to global democracy never happens again," and pat themselves on the back as people's heroes for buying the dip.
Hey GOP, your free ride is coming to an end. Dem's, get ready to be bathed in the sunlight of transparency and truth. Let the bells of Liberty ring. Freedom can't be censored. Now I'll get in my American-made, Model S and take it for a spin... Musk is the new adjective for courage.
The left in general is having a meltdown about this, Twitter is their baby….they only tolerate some conservative thought enough to be civil in their minds!
EM is a billionaire thanks to government borrowing as much as taxation. Borrowing is financed by petrodollars and trade deficits, but this arrangement is disintegrating thanks to Bidenomics.
Notice that the Dept. of the Treasury is obstructing Russian debt payments to force an artificial default. This, too, will undermine dollar hegemony, which sustains the USA's warfare-welfare state and the Bipartisan Party. The breakdown of this system foreshadows a massive domestic convulsion, for the various factions of patasites will refuse to abandon their sense of entitlement to loot. When, one day, borrowing cannot cover budget deficits, taxation and other confiscation will be needed. And maybe the FRS turns completely inflationary with a final (but brief) orgy of of money creation. This would be the bustout phase of the USA's lifespan.
if he succeeds, the "reach" of Substack independent journalists will probably quadruple. Links to important stories that were never seen will be seen by many more people. Stories that didn't go viral might go viral. I'm pulling for him, but will be stunned if he succeeds in his stated goal to restore genuine free speech.
For the great majority of shareholders, who stood by and watched the woke losers take Twitter down the toilet, this is a no brainer. BTW: that is the exit, do not let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
I thought about that, too. He’s definitely not conservative-not that that’s a bad thing (see what I did there?)-but he does think for himself and always seems to have a well thought out reason for his actions.
What could be worse than the current Twitter? Really, what?
When you're the world's richest person, you probably do not fall conveniently into the liberal/conservative construct. "Elon" is his own ideology.
The one thing I can say is that he has both a sense of humor and strong opinions about free speech and free expression. Being the world's richest person provides opportunities that we working class heroes can only dream about.
This may be a troll of Elon-esque proportions. We can all sit back and watch as heads continue to explode. See gato's comment on Max Boot's recent tweet.
Pass the popcorn, please. Can't wait to hear what the employees think about this!
Ohhh the lamentations! The pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth!
You forgot the weeping part
And the clutching of pearls
Pearls? They don't wear PEARLS! Pearls aren't "sustainable."
If you had a stand up gig somewhere-I’d definitely go see it! Lol
They can have my pinecones. There’s a sustainable product if there ever was one; as long as they keep planting Longleaf pines we will never run out of pinecones.
Maybe they can use the pinecones as nose rings. (How's THAT for a 'visual?')
And the green hair and piercings.
And that's another thing! The other day, TV news had a video of some idiot teacher's TikTok post.
The idiot teacher had green hair and a nose ring.
How about a DRESS CODE for teachers? How about teachers dress in a professional manner to set an example for students. AND if the teachers don't look like freaks, perhaps more order and discipline would be restored to schools.
I want to know what kind of idiots HIRED that person as a teacher!
I'm sure the green haired teacher would say that once *all* teachers have colored hair and piercings, the look will no longer be considered freakish. These people believe themselves to be pioneers for future style. Let's hope not...
I saw that! Yikes!! That would have frightened the heck out of me if I saw her/him/that in the classroom.
Roll out the fainting couch! Bring hence the smelling salts!
Coloring books, crayons, and Play-Doh.
And teddy bears
Oh my gosh! You are sooo funny. This was the best laugh I’ve had in days!
OMG. Thanks for such nice comments.
I'm telling you: if I couldn't make smart-ass comments here, I'd lose my mind.
Just trying to break the tension--because we're all tense, stressed, upset, confounded by lunacy.
At the same time, I so enjoy other comments b/c that means I'm not alone! I love when others post links, sharing their knowledge & discoveries.
Sometimes, I think that if this nonsense ever ends, we need to get together in person, and have a picnic, just to meet each other.
Perhaps we can invade Alex Berenson's backyard.
Hahaha - I’m sure he would loooove that…not😜. I’m just waiting for his next John Wells novel—might be waiting a long time. Grrr. Covid and all these world players have just sucked the life out of almost everything. I did go see Hamilton a couple of nights ago. Broadway touring company. No masks required. No vaccine passport which gratefully our state managed to mostly avoid except for the stupid major cities. But just to be able to go to live theatre again without any requirements except a ticket and some money for a glass of wine made me so darned happy. It’s what seemed like the little things that loom so large.
I agree, and we need to LAUGH watching this world circus... coming out of the Dark Ages, well, a good laugh is good for the soul, and we sure have the clowns to give us the laughs... just look at the lock-down rats who have already come out of the dark with the elections coming.... trying to distance themselves from their hypocritical elitist behavior as our children suffered, became even less educated (as we march toward complete inability to read, write and speak). To eliminate standards and rigorous study, home work, testing, and all "hard" classes from the public schools has done what ? Are the parents who fought long school days, homework and "difficult" required classes in math, foreign languages, chemistry, physics, etc. now satisfied ? Their argument was always, these "hard" things only make children HATE school and drop out. So, now that we've had a bit more than 15 years of downgrading and adding "fluffy" classes, where are we in the national drop out rate ? Now that we've done this have we moved UP from #2 to #1 in literacy for our population ? Or, are we about #37, #39 now ? What is the academic quality of undergrads now ? Can you find an undergrad on any campus who can tell you how many total members of congress ? Intelligently relate the Bill of Rights ? Can name, say, 30 states, or has any idea why the 4th of July is called a "holiday" ? Just saying, IF cutting out homework, stopping mandatory attendance laws, making dropping out easy, eliminating mandatory college prep classes for high school students planning on college, and at the same time, eliminating wood shop, metal shop, home economics, personal finance covering basics of mortgages, credit card borrowing, budgeting, etc. Go "figure" as they say !
Our county got an F from an independent company who was evaluating the coming years’ social studies curricula. That’s pretty sad. Not even a D - ouch. It’s because these textbook writers change history to suit the culture fad instead of the truth. Just a little detail. And they wonder why parents want to have voucher programs so that they can send their kids to private schools too. The elites don’t care. Their kids don’t have to go to public schools. They have the money.
Our state spent millions on literacy programs and solutions in 2019 and the rate of literacy has not changed for the better at all. Only 43.7% of third-grade students demonstrated reading proficiency, even after getting a second chance at a summer reading camp and that’s this past year. But the big concern of school boards and the department of education is teaching equity and if that doesn’t work, then straight-ip communism along with gender indoctrination of elementary aged children and training kids to hate the most amazing country that people are streaming across our southern border to live in. We are all a bunch of oppressors or the oppressed. Right?
And I found out the other day that the high school “history” classes in our county force the kids to watch 15-30 minutes of CNN EVERY DAY in their social studies class. That tells me that we have a serious problem with 1) lazy a__ teachers and administrators and 2) kids are being indoctrinated into a liberal worldview under the guise of world current events. It’s insidious and if we can flip the school board, it will become a thing of the past and not the future…hopefully.
Hilarious!
ROTFL 🤣🎉🍷
You forgot the people who will be "triggered" by Elon's "violence"
Ahh no problem, they can just start their own company
'The left has finally found a way around the First Amendment: consolidate all “speech” and public expression onto a handful of private-sector platforms run by oligarchs and staffed by Wokerati; let them do whatever they want and when anyone complains, reply that “these are private companies that can run their business however they want; you don’t have to use their platforms and if you don’t like it, start your own.” The left knows it can count on the moronic, friendly-fire-spraying libertarians to sing that tune the loudest. Free speech as we have known it—as our founders insisted was the natural bedrock of political rights, without which self-government is impossible—will not survive coming leftist rule.'
What’s funny about this diatribe is that it is Musk (a Libertarian) who is seemingly actually trying to restore order in the public square. Where have the rich republicans been while Twitter’s woke staffers have been taking a sledgehammer to freedom of expression?
Great question! The stand by the 'businesses can do what they want' mantra, even while they pass all kinds of laws and regulations against what businesses want. Total BS.
There is a real difference between the GOPe/Democrat unit-party and America First conservatives. Know the difference.
"Where have the rich republicans been while Twitter’s woke staffers have been taking a sledgehammer to freedom of expression"
War mongering and wringing their hands about how mean Orange Man's tweets were.
They’ve been busy trying to appease the woke and apparently can’t be bothered with stuff like free speech. It’s too inconvenient.
Still taking campaign contributions from Silicon Valley.
Including Jim Jordan, the new Trey Gowdy with a bark bigger than his bite who accepts contributions from Google.
So next time you see old Jim on Fox attacking big tech just remember who he really serves.
Mike Lee also.
Some have begun building alternatives like Rumble. No one made the gargantuan effort however putting their money where they mouth is. Elon has.
How many have 43 billion to spend? Can somebody figure that out please? Which American oligarchs are out there who have that kind of dough? I’m not a fan of electric cars because the batteries create more toxic products than oil in the long run but they are really quiet. It’s kinda spooky. But Elon Musk - did he make that up - he believes in free speech. I heard him describe Twitter as a war zone and the implication was he liked it that way. He said that Trump was very good at Twitter. Lol. So I have great hopes for Twitter if he buys it. Too bad it will go private though because I would buy shares.
Don't forget Gab, MeWe, Telegram, and Gettr.
This is fair. Some did try to build a competitor. That has obviously not gone well for a variety of reasons.
In my unqualified opinion, they would do better if people would JUST GET OFF fakebook and tooter.
Parler was getting big until Amazon and Google forced it out by taking them off Amazon servers and eliminating the App from the Google App store.
To some extent, as Gab has shown best, a parallel economy has to be created. The left owns too many platform technologies.
Or he could just be boosting the price of the stock, getting others to buy in and then, dump it for a profit.
He might be able to pull that off if he can offload his shares before his bid is publicly denied or if there is a higher publicly disclosed buyout bid that backstops the market. If he can't offload before his offer is dead in the water, I don't know that he can get out of that trade in the black because his exit trades will get front ran. There's a pretty massive gap down from where the stock was the day before his stake was announced and where it was immediately after.
They could not care less as long as their campaign coffers are full. That means hefty contributions by the likes of Twitter and Pfizer. Republican swamp creatures must go.
Getting richer by being made to look the other way? No clue.
They have been fact-checked, banned and silenced.
It seems like the rich republicans have been quietly hiding in the shadows of the woke democrats. That would imply that they actually support (at least to some degree) what is going on with all the censorship.
Or are scared of what would happen if they spoke up.
Living the high life in their highly secure mansions as usual.
great, fantastic, question.
Just like during Covid huh?? They can run their private company’s!!
A good lawyer might be able to find (or force some of these big tech companies to disclose) enough evidence to support a finding that they take their orders from, or collude with government officials and/or government agencies to support a certain narrative. In other words, they ARE the government. Were that to happen, any of them which are subsidized in any way by the government or employ former government personnel would be held accountable to the First Amendment rights of individuals posting on their platforms.
I hope the Berenson lawsuit gets to disclosure. A private platform becomes not so private if they are an arm of the government or acting as an agent. We need to know.
I was JUST thinking how interesting Berenson's lawsuit becomes as a subplot in all this. Twitter can't argue that it is a private business that can do whatever it wants in court and then reject Musk's offer under the assumption that it is too important as a public square to be operated by one man. Should be amazing to see this play out. Musk is the greatest troll on the face of the earth.
Love that "troll" is used as a compliment here.
So happy to see Musk call them to task. He really has out a lot on the line and has become a major target. I picture him as a person of principle but we shall see.
Great comment. Certainly reflects my observations
That quotation is from his book The Stakes. This essay is a fantastic introduction: https://americanmind.org/salvo/thats-not-happening-and-its-good-that-it-is/
Welcome to new speak, double speak.
I wish it were my own. It's a quotation from Michael Anton.
Let the crying begin among the Twits @ Twitter.
Watch the "Twitter is a private business, it can do what it wants" crowd change their tune now.
Exactly! They are beaten at their own game but will cry like stuck pigs.
I think they've already had a safe space social emotional healing day when he bought the initial shares 🤦🤦🤦🤦
Poor babies 🤣🤣
🤪 today maybe they get the day off to cuddle with their emotional support animals and a blankey?
They'll need a week off for this.
For sure 🤣🤣
Or a paid vacation to a tropical island.
Devil's Island?
Alcatraz maybe?
Ooo, I like that.
How about they take a space ride on Jeff Bezos's penis rocket and that will give them a nice bird's-eye view to really clear their mind... maybe smoke a fat one while they are jettisoning into space 🚀🚀
🤣🤣🤣👏
Anyone else think it’s really weird it took the Babylon Bee getting banned to be the final straw for Muskie? Twitters been a festering hellsite for at least 5 years but this is what apparent spurred Elon into action?
That’s a delicious irony. The fact that you described it as hell site and the Bee writers profess to be followers of Christ... I think that possibly layered the reasons they were banned. Musk was interviewed by them in person. He may have thought “these are genuinely nice, smart guys...” and then they were banned for funny-but-true satire. I can see how that could’ve been a final straw.
How do you know it was the last straw? Did he mention that somewhere? (Genuine question, first I've heard of this.)
Thought I heard Twit refused to give him a chair on the board, so he decided to buy up the public shares...
Actually, they offered him a board seat to limit his ownership to under 15%. He just refused it so that he could purchase the entire company.
An idiot on Newsweek said Musk couldn't pass the necessary background or drug tests required of board members. I doubt shareholder members get any checks aside from their wallet size. Elected board members are selected generally to advise a business not because they are squeaky clean citizens. The purpose of most in business is to make money for their owners. They are not known for charity or morals. Some might say they generally lack both.
Time to pop on our water-wings...we're about to be beset by a river of leftist ejaculate
Now there is a graphic metaphor for you.
Shall we call it a "Toob'in"?
This is why Substack rocks!!!
He will NEED to FIRE 100% of them and start the whole show over to fix things - and that's if the govt does not pull the plug on Tesla and SpaceX to stop him!
Seven ways to Sunday? Twitter IS the gov’t now. I want nothing more than for Elon to be successful in this venture.
I would rather he terminate all employee jobs, sell off the assets, release every single company document to the public, and dissolve the beast.
Twitter has no real value or assets beyond it's influence... If anything is done to fix it, the algorithm should be made transparent-open source - that alone would make deep state and prog heads explode...
Yes, an autopsy so to speak.
That would be amazing.
Musk will know what it is like to be in Trumps shoes. In charge, everyone below you creating roadblocks while smiling.
Seems the most likely outcome. I can’t even imagine the conversations that are taking place among the deep state, Twitter wokesters, left wing devotees and all the little mindless peasants who never seem to see how dangerous this wet dream of theirs has become. Crude of me. I’m classier than that…most of the time.
He should burn it all down so he can build Twitter back better, lol. And first thing is to get rid of that moron at the top of the Twit pile.
Build Back Better…hilarious!
I imagine Twitter has a lot of software patents. Some of the key coders might not be woke there. PS. I searched, Twitter owns patents but I don't know how many. See https://www.engadget.com/2012-04-17-twitter-introduces-innovators-patent-agreement.html
It will take years of trauma support
Probably most employees would be just fine with this. The rank and file do not have any interest in censorship, especially the engineers who keep the site up and running. Especially the most valuable ones, those with seniority and in-depth technical knowledge who joined when it was still a neutral platform, and when that was one of its draws. To contribute to a platform that’s free for all is what they signed up for in the first place! It’s only the highest level controllers who want censorship, and who have driven it that direction.
No I don’t know anyone at Twitter but I know “hacker” culture. Yes software engineers may lean liberal but they are true liberals in the sense that they believe in free speech. And their data scientists would probably would love to know what the entire population is really thinking. The employees are no more likely to desert the company now in the light of a Musk buyout than they were just a few years ago when retweeting @realDonaldTrump was the national pastime.
Interesting, thanks for your post.
Those employees are former Obama and Clinton operatives
Start reading now after 2PM, RedState and Dailywire have posts…
My favorite quote, “we can’t have democracy without censorship!”…
And you morons and imbeciles want to continue to negotiate and be polite acquiescing and tolerant of these deviant disruptive destructive fucks, I hope they screw up your life so much that when you are ready to be destroyed, you will ask yourself at least internally, “what the fuck was I thinking!?“…
Hmmm ... I wonder what else I can use my South Asian Literature major for? Possibly join the mob and burn down a few court houses, that sounds productive.
Does it matter what they think?
No, it's just entertaining. And I imagine they own a lot of stock.
I don't think they eat Popcorn 🍿 but what I can tell you for sure is they mixing Rattlesnake Venom and Frog 🐸 Venom cooking it to flakes and smoking 🚬 🚬 it big time. This is the people who run Twitter that is today 2022. Under Uncle Joey and David Frum his mortician.
They are going to want days off of course to recover
When republicans are too fucking useless. Musk gonna Musk
Both sides love money and are available to the highest bidder.
We need a third party made up only of the working class and we should bar anyone from joining who is wealthy or accepts corporate/wealthy donations.
Yeah, Karl Marx already tried that.
Tying socialism & communism into a bid for working class ppl for wanting more say in the laws that get passed and where our tax money gets used is a false equivalency, nice try, rich person!
These idiots in charge of our parties thanks to their high cost propaganda are stealing our votes every election and ultimately doing nothing to give us what we actually ask for.
Class warfare is class warfare, no matter how you try to decorate it.
And the folks “in charge” of this “working class party” become the new elite.
Bingo.
Seems to me the class warfare has been ongoing. Or shall we pretend otherwise?
Those who want to take what others have instead of working for it have always villainized the successful. The politics of envy date back to the beginning.
Nope. Marx was not for the working class. He was for controlling the working class through propaganda. Many fell for it and paid a heavy price.
As will anyone who falls for any identity politics tactics.
Not "properly" though :P
Right? Smells faintly of Gulag archipelago.
This is a terrible idea. You can’t beat class warfare with more class warfare. What we need is more regular Joe’s getting elected to Congress and other seats. If people are willing to do it it works. Just look at NJ that truck driver or whatever unseated there senator with no $$ or backing. The governor was a few fake votes away from loosing to a nobody also. That is the path to sanity.
HEAR HEAR!! I couldn’t agree more with you. We don’t need lawyers representing blue-collar guys & gals.
We need more “Marjorie Taylor Greene’s”.
Everyone should do their homework on her background what her and her husband do for a living.
There is an old saying I learned a long time ago and I know it fits me because of my upper level management position in my beloved, Oil&Gas Industry.
“ I have a blue-color-heart and yet a white-collar-mind.”
The problem is in many races you need lots of money to win. In one PA Congressional race the incumbent has $3,000 000 to use for ads, etc. They expect the PA senate race to cost more than that.
It's not about a persons wealth, it about a persons principles. We need lots of rich people with America First principles.
In my unqualified opinion, we need truckers, farmers and factory workers to run. They won't need any ad money; the people will vote them in.
One thing nice about the Pandemic Scam, is how many more are home schooling. What has ruined the minds of the young has been the propaganda done in schools. Homeschooling eliminates much of this!
I think that is the America First party. At least that is my interpretation. I don't see a better possibility at this time. Also, why not be dogmatic about American principles?
Years ago, my mother-in-law had a certificate displayed (I think maybe during the Reagan years), that had her as an English First supporter. We thought it was funny…but right now, I’d love an American First certificate! Call me crazy.
There are principles that need to be ossified to the point of diamond hard. The most granular are Individual Liberty and Free Enterprise.
"We need a third party made up only of the working class"
Of course. It would be a party of sophisticated movers and shakers who understand how the world works.
I think Marx had a term for that party: The dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin absolutely adored being an active member of that party.
The love is of political power. That way the money is easy.
This would be the same love you're espousing for your "working class" BS party. The wealthy work too. Statistically more and longer hours than your "working class" heroes.
Your ideas are not new or different than the people you claim to oppose. They are merely shifting the political power from one favored group to another, yours.
GOP is on the take as much as the Marxist Demoncraps.
I couldn’t agree more. I only give money and support directly to candidates.
It's true :(
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/democrats-have-gone-crazy-but-freedom?s=w
Term Limits!
We have term limits, it’s called a re-election. People need to vote people out more instead of just keeping the status quo time after time for whatever dumb reason they justify it with.
I completely agree with you on principle and would add that states with open primaries might have more success. The sad reality is an incumbent historically has an advantage. This, coupled with the organizational and financial support of the party makes it difficult for a newcomer and almost impossible for someone without financial means to win an election.
No, term limits prevent people from turning an elected position into a lifetime career.
As we’ve seen, elections can be bought, bribed and stolen.
Usually works when there's little or no cheating.
https://kanekoa.substack.com/p/exposing-americas-ballot-trafficking?s=r
It's hard not to be euphoric about this pros[ect. If Bazos can have his own Leftist mouthpiece (WP), and the DNC "own" all of MSM, no reason Musk cannot own a far more impactful free speech platform. There is hope!!
The DNC owns social media as well. It feels as if free speech has been totally lost. This move by Musk will hopefully be the first step in turning that around.
and that's exactly why it'll never happen, alas.
Sounds like there are going to be significant job openings at Twitters empty headquarters.
You mean the new homeless shelter?
The smell might improve if they turned Twitter HQ into a homeless shelter
More than half don’t even go to work so there’s that
Yeah, like whoever works there has a special knowledge ... it's all SOFTWARE and I'm sure there are thousands and thousands better software engineers that are not crazy wokes and WAY better professionals.
As soon as I learned Musk is trying to take over I bought too ( we all should!!!! and let him vote with our shares). We are the majority and can do it
Will I have to be clot shotted to apply? Serious question.
For sure. The State of California only wants terminally sick, medically compromised individuals who will do whatever they are told. You can't question what is in the Kool-Aid. Everyone else has moved or is moving to Texas, Florida & South Carolina.
Lol nobody wants to be in that area of the city. Let’s just say it’s not picturesque.
It goes hand-in-hand with the intellectually & physically lazy band of parasites who have created it.
Uh oh, if that transpires the regressed left would lose their on-line safe space to berate and demean those that have critical thought and reading comprehension above the 2nd grade level.
Whatever way Musk goes it's the end of the road for Agrawal. Control is 50.1 percent. At that point Musk could appoint the board; install his own CEO and take the company anyway he chooses. This is just the opening salvo. Actually, having to debate issues and make cogent arguments strikes fear and terror in every progressive activist.
Plan B is the lefties put in a counter offer and keep Twitter socialist. Musk still makes a tidy profit on the shares he now owns. Long on popcorn...
As a Transformation specialist, I would work for free to help do this. #dreamjob #savetheworld #goElon ❤️
Don't forget the twenty cents. I'm guessing this is a reference to 4/20.
Hitler's Birthday - whenever you partake to celebrate you're giving a nod to Adolph ;)
No, he’s doing it because that’s MY birthday!
Lol this is critical info
5 420
What, Columbine??
weed .... but it's become a meme now, hence fifty 4.20 dollars
Noooooo. He'll infringe on free speech by limiting the establishment's ability to quiet dissenters!
BREAKING - Live feed from Twitter HQ
https://twitter.com/IAmericanMama/status/1514566255486939137?s=20&t=hoU8tXG_rV3RIZ3jtT_QKw
Hilarious!!
Lol
Thanks for finding that. Most useful tweet.
Good. Maybe the triggered employees will all leave and Elon can hire some folks that just want to work rather than constantly whine and express their moral and intellectual superiority.
Any employee who doesn't 100% support FREE SPEECH should be fired immediately. They can go work at Facebook if they want to censor free speech.
I wonder if Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk have been collaborating? Dorsey's departure as CEO was indicative of a disagreement in the direction of Twitter.
One thing for everyone to understand here. Musk isn't just fighting the woke Democrat machine, he is fighting Wall Street and the WEF globalists cabal. Musk has put on the biggest of the big boy pants. I hope he is ready for the onslaught against him.
Masterclass in trolling. If the Liberal Mafia don’t like it, they can always just “find their own platform,” I suppose. I’m sure Gab, GETTR and Truth Social will be quite welcoming to their ideologies. Oh wait…
Truth Social is that even up and running? I've been on a waiting list for weeks.
Let the crying begin among the Twits @ Twitter.
If the thought of Elon being on their board required a day off, surely this will get an entire week. And then on-site counselors.
There might be a few suicides, too. Too much to handle and all that.
I will only return to Twitter if I can tell a male he is a male without getting banned
TexBat… read about Palm Springs and the $900 bucks they are giving to trans to do what they wish for the next 2 years.
Thrilled😂😂👏👏please reinstate all those you (twitter) have permanently suspended for telling the truth!!!!! The best news we have had in two years.
Even that fringe traitor Alex Berenson?
WTF is a fringe traitor?
I’m kidding! Come on man! Should I delete it?
I agree! The truth always finds its way to the light!
Except the GLOBALISTS tyrants will never let it happen ... with a free speech having platform like twitter they have NO chance of implementing their evil plans
I hope it makes a difference to their plans, but Elon is on board with a bunch of weird stuff. Don't forget Neuralink.
As long as people have FREE SPEACH platform, nothing else matter .... we can debate Neuralink and anything else (not like now)
Dude does make a good fit for the anti-christ.... just sayin. Likable. powerful, foreign born...
Foreign born! Unlike Christ who was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Elaborate?? Haven’t even thought about this… comes in like a lamb and fools everyone that doesn’t have their eyes WIDE OPEN
I don't think I'm qualified to elaborate beyond nothing is what the doers and sayers say it is any more. And like you said, if you aren't watching closely with your eyes wide open, you may miss the big picture.
I've already thought that "stars" in the line "a third of the stars" were satellites. Recently Musk has sent a bunch of starlink satellites to Ukraine. I'm just waiting for Putin to shoot those down and cause a big chain reaction that takes out everything in orbit.
I would be extremely surprised if he actually took Twaddle private. I’m more inclined to believe it will “fall through”. After, of course, he’s sold all his shares.
I can see that. Wait til the stock hits 50 then dump his shares. Never made an offer on paper. He already agreed on paper not to buy more than~15%.
I saw a video which shows Musk; his mother and one of his former girlfriends, making satanic gestures. So I don't trust him- he's controlled opposition or even worse. Some believe StarLink (thousands of satelites) is a weapon.
Foreign to where? The USA which did not exist when the anti-Christ was imagined? Or foreign to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Judea? I guess South Africa is foreign to both. You almost had a point until geography got in the way.
take your pick. South Africa is foreign to everywhere but South Africa.
I'm not really trying to make a point beyond stepping back and looking at information from a big picture point of view. I just did a 30 second search on Musk's dad and this is from an interview he gave.
From "The List"
"He was such a terrible human being," Elon told Rolling Stone when he covered the magazine in 2017. "You have no idea ... My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil ... He will plan evil" (via Rolling Stone).
https://www.thelist.com/406823/what-we-know-about-elon-musks-father/
Just funny how stuff fits together, or doesn't depending on your point of view.
Foreign to where he chooses to live obviously
The Babylon Bee tried to Christpill him
so how would that affect your lawsuit, if it happened?
I don't care about Twitter personally. I just hope Elon is watching his back, or that he has a team doing so. We are now seeing a "battle of the elites". That's a harbinger of...things to come. And the other side is part of a corrupt cabal.
Ayn Rand would like this.
(Note - apologies for the previous email about Thomas Lanza - that was an unfinished article I published accidentally in my haste to send this. I will follow up later today.)
------
Pro tip: Leave the headline blank until you're ready to send so you can't accidentally publish before you're ready 🙂
I think your lawsuit is much more important to free speech than the reliance on a billionaire. We cannot have our constitution hang on the balance of a bidding war of the uber wealthy. I am hopeful for your lawsuit. When in spring of 2020 I kept seeing opinion pieces that social media platforms were absolutely not bound by the first amendment, I was shocked. Good legal analysis, even those in newspapers, should include arguments from the other side which you then dismantle - that is just integrity. When no counter pieces were published in the papers I subscribed to, I canceled them. I knew something was terribly wrong. Pruneyard v. Robbins establishes that if your business model is, by its nature, aimed at the public, then first amendment analysis applies. Add to this that SCOTUS recognized that California applies heightened first amendment protection, you end up with analysis that trends towards finding first amendment restrictions apply to social media platforms. Judge Thomas's assertion that first amendment restrictions apply, because the media is a mouthpiece for the government, had been too much for me at the time. Now I see he was absolutely right. I just didn't see it in the fog. It is very sad to see the trickery included in the briefs for Twitter. They must be teaching the ends justify the means in law school instead of the duty that you must acknowledge arguments on the other side and dismantle them by legal authority and logic.
One of the first things Elon will do is issue a press release that a number of lawsuits are settled. Chief among them will be Alex.
Please no. We need to know if the government was involved in shaping Twitter. Getting to that may expose government involvement in other situations so that laws can be crafted to prohibit that behind the scenes influence. Likely not going to happen but we need our government to have some better rules. The interference and the people behind it need to get exposed.
I absolutely agree and for that reason I don't think Alex will take any settlement from Elon. We need to ensure this never happens again and the only way is for there to be court decisions or legislation. And even if SCOTUS rules against, one shouldn't lose hope. It took decades to overcome the horrific separate by equal case of Plessey v. Ferguson.
Tracking isn't of real concern. It does slow down page loading. I worry that the government asked the platforms to become a proxy for government propaganda.
No evidence that I've seen of direct influence. It is all behind the scenes. Alex has a shot in getting it opened via discovery. Without a direct reference, the information can't be FOIA.
Interesting
Alex, pack your bags you will be heading back onto Twitter very soon.
Remember we the people, for example, Republican voters could buy up board seats, initiate hostile take overs, or take leftist companies private as well.
70M voters x $50 = $3.5B
Step 1 pull your money from blackrock and vanguard ETFs.
Step 2 put your money in something like the American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF)
Step 3 someone create a Republican Activist hedge fund, Republican voters fund it, it fixes leftist companies by “financial force”.
Not an expert, so: does "take private" mean that after the buyout, Twitter will no longer be publicly traded?
Sort of. Not necessarily immediately as there is separate paperwork and processes to go through to take a public company private. But in the case of an external individual purchaser I'd expect it to go quickly.
Ok, so my understanding was correct. What happens in in that instance with stock? Shareholders are cashed out and the board is dissolved?
The offer is for buying all the shares, which is what "cashes out" the shareholders. the board could still exist - private companies do have them. Essentially to take a company private (warning: over-simplified) all the outstanding shares are purchased, company delists (dissolving the shares themselves basically), and saves millions by not having to deal with the SEC.
I wonder how many more shares (greater than his current 9+%) Musk could buy at this point, without actually buying all the shares? How many shares are actually available for purchase on any given day?
Ok, so Musk buys all remaining shares at once, presumably that value freezes at some point?
If the offer is accepted, then that basically "freezes" the price at a floor because nobody would sell for less. It complicated and I'm trying to avoid all the ugly details (really, it is u-g-l-y to try to go private in general).
Technically, IIRC and depending on the transaction structure, the company buys the shares back and Elon foots the bill. Once the transaction is declared complete, all shares are deregistered - meaning literally void and worthless. So you either accept the money or just lose out. If the board agrees to sell him the company, any shareholders have little to nothing to say about it.
By placing it at a clear and obvious premium, it functionally obligates the board to seriously consider it and there can be shareholder cases filed if they turn it down without accepting a higher priced offer. Honestly that will be a tough wait. You see, while they've seen some positive movement lately, they are down significantly over the last year - and down more than twice the S&P.
Analysts left and right (hehe) are downgrading the stock - valuing it less as a result. They seem to recognize that if it doesn't go through and Musk sells his shares the stock somewhat tanks. Basically I read their actions as thinking Twitter execs will say no, and the stock tanks.
Of course, at that point whether Musk snaps them up is an open question. Legally he's made a "fair offer" that on the face of it is in good faith, and clearly stated he'd have to sell his current stake as Twitter would be a and investment absent the changes he says he can make.
Some, however, think Musk will indeed win it in the end. They do raise fair points that while it may seem like certain companies could counter, the chance they could counter high enough and without putting their own status at risk - not to mention SEC investigation of possible violations in the process is lower than generally thought.
There is a lot of copium being consumed on lefty channels in trying to claim that the board has a duty to just say no. While I do not agree with the general claims of fiduciary duty to *shareholders* by the board, it generally comes down to wether the transaction be a financial benefit to the shareholder? Some even demanding a financial thing from him - while admitting that he can just right out do it. Oe can't even fathom that he would simply buy it rather than take out loans for it.
This analysis kicked ass. Much obliged.
Just listening to Tom Sullivan's show, and someone mentioned that Musk could dump all his current shares, that would cause the stock price to go way down, then he could swoop back in and buy the shares and get 51% of the company that way. Interesting.
And that would draw huge attention by the SEC. Some 40% of twitter shares are in mutuals with Blackrock Vanguard holding together ~ 16%. Musk has an offer on the table so we shall see. The board itself can be fired for not delivering shareholder value. Musk has created a lot of issues for the company to resolve.
If Musk does ultimately want Twitter and this is a slow stalk-and-kill, he'd never do that because it would be disastrous.
The potential buyout has become so politicized in just one day that if Musk dumped, progressive groups would organize en masse to buy it at cost to make sure "this dangerous threat to global democracy never happens again," and pat themselves on the back as people's heroes for buying the dip.
As for Elon, he likes the stonk.
Jim Cramer thinks that Twitter allows free speech. We live in clown world.
Cramer is a total clown. Whatever he is pushing don't buy it.
Hey GOP, your free ride is coming to an end. Dem's, get ready to be bathed in the sunlight of transparency and truth. Let the bells of Liberty ring. Freedom can't be censored. Now I'll get in my American-made, Model S and take it for a spin... Musk is the new adjective for courage.
The left in general is having a meltdown about this, Twitter is their baby….they only tolerate some conservative thought enough to be civil in their minds!
Mitt Romney is not a conservative.
You all realize that this is taxpayer money right?
Elon Musk is a political entrepreneur, makes his living off of the people's taxes.
Get government out of picking-winners (so they can line their own pockets).
End the emergency. The HHS is paying MSM hush money, and promoting government propaganda.
Start the trials: CDC, FDA and HHS need to fill the jails.
EM is a billionaire thanks to government borrowing as much as taxation. Borrowing is financed by petrodollars and trade deficits, but this arrangement is disintegrating thanks to Bidenomics.
Notice that the Dept. of the Treasury is obstructing Russian debt payments to force an artificial default. This, too, will undermine dollar hegemony, which sustains the USA's warfare-welfare state and the Bipartisan Party. The breakdown of this system foreshadows a massive domestic convulsion, for the various factions of patasites will refuse to abandon their sense of entitlement to loot. When, one day, borrowing cannot cover budget deficits, taxation and other confiscation will be needed. And maybe the FRS turns completely inflationary with a final (but brief) orgy of of money creation. This would be the bustout phase of the USA's lifespan.
Well, Twitter put all kinds of restrictions on Musk if he were to join the board. Soooo they left him no alternative but to buy the darn thing.
Popping some fresh popcorn to sit back and watch the show!
I couldn't care less about leftist twitter. Or musk for that matter.
You cared so little that you made the effort to signal how little you care.
good news!
more trump less fags
if he succeeds, the "reach" of Substack independent journalists will probably quadruple. Links to important stories that were never seen will be seen by many more people. Stories that didn't go viral might go viral. I'm pulling for him, but will be stunned if he succeeds in his stated goal to restore genuine free speech.
Twitter is staring down the barrel
They can change the platform or sell
Either way, Twitter’s days of Stasi-like speech regulation and stifling oversight has reached its ‘ Thelma and Louise’ moment
The deep state dems, and pubs, are already figuring out how to make him disappear.
Elon's purchase would be "safe and effective."
For the great majority of shareholders, who stood by and watched the woke losers take Twitter down the toilet, this is a no brainer. BTW: that is the exit, do not let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
I wonder whether Twit employees are calling the move ...
Elongate
Or maybe Musk Rat Love
Wonder what Elon has planned??
I thought about that, too. He’s definitely not conservative-not that that’s a bad thing (see what I did there?)-but he does think for himself and always seems to have a well thought out reason for his actions.
What could be worse than the current Twitter? Really, what?
I agree completely.
When you're the world's richest person, you probably do not fall conveniently into the liberal/conservative construct. "Elon" is his own ideology.
The one thing I can say is that he has both a sense of humor and strong opinions about free speech and free expression. Being the world's richest person provides opportunities that we working class heroes can only dream about.
This may be a troll of Elon-esque proportions. We can all sit back and watch as heads continue to explode. See gato's comment on Max Boot's recent tweet.
Heads are exploding all over Silicon Valley….and NY, Washington DC!
So far all that has happened is that Musk has made money and the censorship has accelerated. I'll believe it when I see it.
It's priceless watching Dems especially Jim Cramer having a huge panic attack at 9 AM.
This is what we call “putting your money where your mouth is”.
Thank you to our favorite 1st amendment Musk eteer! All for 1 1 for All
Maybe Musk will load all the twitterheads on a one-way rocket to Mars..