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.
If there’s one company for [Elon Musk] not to pick a fight with in the world, it’s Apple, and he just poked the bear. It’s just another head-scratching battle that Musk has waged since his ownership of Twitter.[2]
But picking fights is just what Elon Musk does. Again and again and again. More often than not, utterly pointlessly.[3] Scratch your head because Musk has picked a fight, and you won’t have a scalp left.
That said, based on what I’m seeing in my feed, I’ve been thinking there wasn’t anybody left on Twitter and therefore nobody to advertise to, undermining Musk’s last bit of leverage. It turns out this was premature. I am seeing signs of life today. They’re feeble, but they’re there. Some people do remain but it remains my impression that many, many have left.
Reuters, “Twitter CEO Musk says user signups at all-time high, touts features of ‘everything app,’” November 27, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-ceo-musk-says-user-signups-all-time-high-touts-features-everything-app-2022-11-27/
Philip Bump, “Hey, Elon Musk? Twitter polls are not the ‘voice of the people,’” Washington Post, November 28, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/28/hey-elon-musk-twitter-polls-are-not-voice-people/
It’s apparently pro free speech when Elon Musk charges you $8 for access to his platform, but anti free speech if Apple charges him $2 for access to theirs. #Logic
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 28, 2022
David Frum, “It’s apparently pro free speech when Elon Musk charges you $8 for access to his platform, but anti free speech if Apple charges him $2 for access to theirs,” Twitter, November 28, 2022, https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1597332772687085569
Sarah E. Needleman and Tim Higgins, “Elon Musk Claims Apple Is Threatening to Remove Twitter From App Store,” Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-attacks-apple-tim-cook-over-advertising-and-censorship-11669662024
Sheila Dang and Katie Paul, “Twitter not safer under Elon Musk, says former head of trust and safety,” Reuters, November 29, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-not-safer-under-elon-musk-says-former-head-trust-safety-conference-2022-11-29/
Reuters, “Twitter rolls back COVID misinformation policy,” November 29, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-rolls-back-covid-misinformation-policy-2022-11-29/
Naomi Nix, “Twitter needs Apple more than Apple needs Twitter,” Washington Post, November 30, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/30/apple-musk-tim-cook/
White Christian nationalism (Trumpism)
Fig. 1. A Ku Klux Klan meeting in Gainesville, Florida, Dec. 31, 1922, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
There is a new blog post entitled, “What if, indeed, it comes to civil war?”
B. Duncan Moench, “How the Next Civil War Begins,” Tablet, November 29, 2022, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-next-civil-war-begins
Donald Trump
Finances
Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Katelyn Polantz, “House committee receives Donald Trump’s federal tax returns from IRS,” CNN, November 30, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/30/politics/house-ways-and-means-committee-now-has-donald-trumps-federal-tax-returns/index.html
So-called ‘ridesharing’
Drivers
Fig. 1. “Clarkdale Classic Gas Station, Clarkdale, Arizona,” Photograph by Alan Levine, October 28, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
.jpg){kind=link}
In case anyone’s wondering how my refusal of sub-$10 rides is going, the answer seems to be that my revenue is up slightly and my operating costs are down a bit more. So far, Uber has only threatened to take away my “Pro” rewards, which I don’t use anyway because the vendors whom they’ve enlisted to offer special deals are not vendors I trust.
- [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]Dan Ives, quoted in Naomi Nix, “Twitter needs Apple more than Apple needs Twitter,” Washington Post, November 30, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/30/apple-musk-tim-cook/↩
- [3]David Benfell, “Elon Musk, groan, again,” Not Housebroken, November 22, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/03/22/elon-musk-groan-again/↩