Gilead
Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[1] fair use.
I have said that Elon Musk thinks he’s the smartest person in whatever room he’s in. The only one he thinks he or anyone has to listen to is himself.
Justin Brookman, a former [Federal Trade Commission] official and now the director of technology policy for the advocacy group Consumer Reports, said [Elon] Musk would be risking Twitter’s finances if it is found to be violating the terms of the consent decree. And the cost will likely be a lot more than the $150 million fine imposed this past spring on the social media giant by federal regulators over accusations of deceptive practices.
“We’re off the map here, and all eyes are on him,” Brookman said of Musk.
He added that it would be a “serious violation” of the consent decree if Musk is found to have been stripping certain privacy or security practices or launching new products without proper security checks. In addition, the new paid check mark program under the Twitter Blue subscription service is going to raise red flags with the FTC because it has already led to the impersonation of celebrities and brands in a potentially harmful way, Brookman said.[2]
We are seeing in spades that he is an imbecile and a jackass. And he is certainly not the one who can pull Twitter out of the full-throttle nosedive to doom he has put the company into.
Josh Eidelson, “Twitter Sued for Mass Layoffs by Musk Without Enough Notice,” Bloomberg, November 4, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-04/twitter-sued-for-mass-layoffs-by-musk-without-enough-notice
Drew Harwell, Cat Zakrzewski, and Isaac Stanley-Becker, “Twitter layoffs gutted election information teams days before midterms,” Washington Post, November 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/05/twitter-layoffs-election-impact/
Sarah E. Needleman and Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Says Twitter Has Had Massive Revenue Drop as Layoffs Begin,” Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-says-twitter-has-had-massive-revenue-drop-11667573127
Sanjay Patnaik, Robert E. Litan, and James Kunhardt, “The national security grounds for investigating Musk’s Twitter acquisition,” Brookings, November 4, 2022, https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-biden-would-be-justified-in-blocking-or-modifying-musks-twitter-acquisition-on-national-security-grounds/
Faiz Siddiqui, Naomi Nix, and Will Oremus, “Advertisers fleeing, workers in fear: Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Washington Post, November 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/04/twitter-layoffs-musk/
Shanti Das, “‘Elon Musk doesn’t know what he’s doing’, says former Twitter executive,” Guardian, November 5, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/05/elon-musk-doesnt-know-what-hes-doing-says-former-twitter-executive
Tim Higgins, “Twitter Rolls Out Blue Check Marks for Paying Customers,” Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-rolls-out-blue-check-marks-for-paying-customers-11667681496
Kevin V. Nguyen, “How Musk’s Twitter Layoffs Went Down—And What’s Next,” San Francisco Standard, November 5, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/how-musks-twitter-layoffs-went-down-and-whats-next/
Natalie Ching Mun Choy, “Twitter to Ban Impersonation If Not Labeled Parody, Musk Says,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-07/twitter-to-ban-impersonation-if-not-labeled-parody-musk-says
Probably too late, but
1) Hire a proper CEO with relevant experience
2) Stop insulting the users
3) Stop threatening the advertisers
4) Stop amplifying and empowering crazy people
5) Delete the owner's account and communicate through PR professionals.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 7, 2022
David Frum, “Probably too late, but . . .” Twitter, November 7, 2022, https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1589469860655923205
Kurt Wagner, “Twitter Delays Change to Check-Mark Badges Until After Midterms,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-06/twitter-to-delay-changes-to-check-mark-badges-nyt-says
Kurt Wagner and Edward Ludlow, “Twitter Now Asks Some Fired Workers to Please Come Back,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-06/twitter-now-asks-some-fired-workers-to-please-come-back
Stephen Wilmot, “Twitter’s Free Speech Problem Is Tesla’s, Too,” Wall Street Journal, November 7, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-free-speech-problem-is-teslas-too-11667818396
Rebecca Elliott, “Elon Musk Sells Almost $4 Billion of Tesla Stock After Twitter Takeover,” Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-sells-almost-4-billion-of-tesla-stock-after-completing-twitter-takeover-11667957983
Joseph De Avila, “Twitter Ditches Gray ‘Official’ Label Hours After Launching It,” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-launches-gray-official-label-to-verify-certain-accounts-11668008210
Johana Bhuiyan, “Exodus continues at Twitter as Elon Musk hints at possible bankruptcy,” Guardian, November 10, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/10/exodus-twitter-elon-musk-possible-bankruptcy
Joseph Menn et al., “Twitter’s content moderation head quits as departures alarm the FTC,” Washington Post, November 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/10/twitter-security-resignations/
Once more. Musk is doing us an incredible favor by demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no meritocracy and that wealth and power do not, in any way, denote talent or competence.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) November 10, 2022
Jared Yates Sexton, “Once more. Musk is doing us an incredible favor by demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no meritocracy and that wealth and power do not, in any way, denote talent or competence,” Twitter, November 10, 2022, https://twitter.com/JYSexton/status/1590831348511834112
Alyssa Lukpat, “Twitter Stops Giving Out Blue Check Marks After Impersonators Take to the Platform,” Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-real-and-what-isnt-on-twitter-under-elon-musk-it-is-really-unclear-11668184148
Lora Kolodny and Erik Ortiz, “Twitter pulls paid verification after impersonators flourish,” NBC News, November 11, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/crypto/twitters-subscription-service-not-available-impersonators-flourish-rcna56730
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 2. Department of Justice photograph of seized materials, reportedly partially redacted, via the Washington Post, August 31, 2022,[3] public domain.
Natalie Andrews, Siobhan Hughes, and Lindsay Wise, “Frustrated Republicans Try to Explain Lack of Midterm ‘Red Wave,’” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/frustrated-republicans-try-to-explain-lack-of-midterm-red-wave-11668036382
Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey, “One likely 2024 GOP contender triumphed on election night. It wasn’t Donald Trump,” Washington Post, November 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/09/desantis-trump-2024-presidential-election/
Dan Balz, “The vaunted red wave never hit the shore in midterm elections,” Washington Post, November 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/08/midterms-dissatisfied-voters-render-judgments-biden-republicans/
Jonathan Freedland, “The winner of the midterms is not yet clear – but the loser is Donald Trump,” Guardian, November 9, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/09/the-winner-of-the-midterms-is-not-yet-clear-but-the-loser-is-donald-trump
David Lauter, “The midterm’s big loser: Trump suffers multiple defeats,” Los Angeles Times, November 9, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2022-11-09/the-midterms-big-loser-trump-suffers-multiple-defeats-essential-politics
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Group explains polling place security teams that led to response by Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies,” November 9, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/election2022/2022/11/09/election-day-allegheny-county-polling-place-commission-security/stories/202211090101
Brian Slodysko, “Election takeaways: No sweep for the Republicans after all,” Associated Press, November 9, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-takeaways-9381d3aaff26d19da95506e045fcd6e1
Jonathan Tamari and William Bender, “‘It’s time for him to retire’: Some Pa. Republicans want to push Trump aside after their election losses,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 10, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pa-republicans-blame-trump-2022-losses-20221110.html
Adam Taylor, “Is the world ready for President DeSantis and a Floridian foreign policy?” Washington Post, November 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2022/11/10/desanntis-foreign-policy-florida/
Chris Walker, “Trump Is Blaming Everyone But Himself for Midterm Losses — Including His Wife,” Truthout, November 10, 2022, https://truthout.org/articles/trump-is-blaming-everyone-but-himself-for-midterm-losses-including-his-wife/
Katelyn Polantz, Sara Murray, and Gabby Orr, “Trump sues January 6 committee seeking to block subpoena for his testimony and documents,” CNN, November 11, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/11/politics/trump-january-6-committee-subpoena-lawsuit/index.html
Melanie Mason, “Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly fends off GOP challenger Blake Masters,” Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-11-11/mark-kelly-blake-masters-arizona-senate-results
Greg Sargent, “Republicans want Trump to take the blame. Good luck with that,” Washington Post, November 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/11/trump-midterm-elections-gop-abortion-rights-2024/
- [1]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
- [2]Lora Kolodny and Erik Ortiz, “Twitter pulls paid verification after impersonators flourish,” NBC News, November 11, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/crypto/twitters-subscription-service-not-available-impersonators-flourish-rcna56730↩
- [3]Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. says Trump team may have hidden, moved classified papers,” Washington Post, August 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-documents-removed-storage-room/↩