# Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** elon-musk\ **Created:** [August 13, 2024, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634 "2024-08-13T00:48:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 174
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3482 "2026-07-23T00:42:32Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > This ignores a rather large part of history, which was the role of the federal government in giving the private railroad companies that oligopolistic power in the first place through land grants. The land grants solved the chicken and egg question. Why would you build a railroad where nobody is living yet but on the other hand why would you move to an area that has no way to get your goods to a market more than ten miles away? Then there’s the factor of the granted sections being checkerboarded with the sections the government retained, the latter being sold for higher prices, if at all, than they would be with no railroad. Finally, government passengers and freight were moved at discount rates until shortly after WWII ended. This can all be viewed as mutual back-scratching from the point of view of the farmers and shippers. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3483 "2026-07-23T22:04:38Z")
Elon actually starting to experience something called…regret? > **[Suddenly, as His Empire Crumbles, Elon Musk Admits He Made a Huge Mistake...](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/suddenly-empire-crumbles-elon-musk-184956273.html)** > > Musk lamented that he "got a little too involved in politics" and "got carried away, frankly," after helming DOGE last year. > [@](#): > > In the [Economist] interview, published Thursday, Musk lamented that he “got a little too involved in politics” and “got carried away, frankly,” by his efforts to systematically gut the government with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency during the early days of the second Trump administration. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3484 "2026-07-23T22:20:04Z")
Eh, he’s just pissed he couldn’t leverage that into controlling trump. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3485 "2026-07-23T22:28:52Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Elon actually starting to experience something called…regret? This is just a tiny subset of the general principle that “everything that Trump touches turns to shit”. Elmo has enough resources of his own that he’s still OK, except for his reputation being trashed, but otherwise Trump’s magic touch would have had him living under a bridge in a refrigerator carton. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3486 "2026-07-23T22:29:17Z")
Not only did he get involved in politics, he did a poor job of it; they cut the jobs of many people whose salary wasn’t even paid by the government, they didn’t reduce costs, etc. In short they did the opposite of government efficiency. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3487 "2026-07-23T22:45:58Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > …he did a poor job of it… …along with screwing with government data, foreign aid, science, social security administration. I’m sure I’m missing a couple accolades. The thing is, he’s still digging his heels in on stupidity like ‘poopyhead gov’t still thinks I’m racist…People just dont “get” some of Europe’s far-right leaders.’ Stay classy, Elmo. . ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3488 "2026-07-23T23:13:57Z")
Fuck that murderous piece of shit for describing his campaign of ignorance and hate as “getting carried away with politics.” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3489 "2026-07-23T23:32:11Z")
Elmo says store-bought tomatoes are better that home garden tomatoes. > Musk was asked how his companies would make money in this version of the future, and he insisted that “money won’t matter in 2036.” He claimed that everyone would have a high income from doing nothing and that people might still perform some kind of labor as a hobby, much in the same way that people might grow their own tomatoes in a home garden. Musk insisted backyard tomatoes weren’t as good as those you can buy from the store, but people still do it anyway. > **[Elon Musk Melts Down Over Perfectly Normal Questions in Wild New Interview](https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-economist-interview-2000790016)** > > "Maybe some people do loathe me. And that's probably true. I don't care," said Musk. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3490 "2026-07-23T23:55:54Z")
We-ell… I’d say that supermarket tomatoes achieve a very consistent standard of mediocrity. _Good_ garden tomatoes are very good indeed, while the ones that got buggy or moldy aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3491 "2026-07-23T23:58:47Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Musk was asked how his companies would make money in this version of the future, and he insisted that “money won’t matter in 2036.” > **[Alasdair Beckett-King (@misterabk.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/misterabk.bsky.social/post/3mrat6qzbfk2m)** > > You can dismiss any news that appears in the format "Elon Musk says \[blank\] will \[blank\] by the end of \[blank\]" > > \[contains quote post or other embedded content\] ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3492 "2026-07-24T02:43:46Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself quoting Gizmodo](#): > > He claimed that everyone would have a high income from doing nothing and that people might still perform some kind of labor as a hobby So… Universal Basic Income? That’s _socialist_ and will never fly in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3493 "2026-07-24T03:43:43Z")
I hate to be fair to Elon Musk but he’s been making noises in favor of some kind of UBI for some time now. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3494 "2026-07-24T03:49:11Z")
Elon says a lot of things. Sometimes he even believes them! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3495 "2026-07-24T12:46:01Z")
Isn’t something akin to UBI how the people on Mars operated in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red, Blue, Green Mars trilogy? Given musk’s obsession w Mars, he might hasve been using that story as his blueprint since he was a kid. Worth remembering that a major feature of that story was that, by and large, Earth was a despotic hellhole for 99% of the population much of the time Mars was being built out. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3496 "2026-07-24T13:37:49Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > We-ell… I’d say that supermarket tomatoes achieve a very consistent standard of mediocrity. _Good_ garden tomatoes are very good indeed, while the ones that got buggy or moldy aren’t. I personally prefer store bought tomatoes to home grown ones, but that is because I have a general [taste aversion to tomatoes](https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/cocktail-party-physics/tasters-choice-why-i-hate-raw-tomatoes-and-you-dont/), and so prefer the store bought ones that have little flavor as compared to the home grown ones which taste too tomatoey > [@Smapti](#): > > > You can dismiss any news that appears in the format “Elon Musk says [blank] will [blank] by the end of [blank]” I think this can be shortened to > You can dismiss any news that appears in the format “Elon Musk says [blank]” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3497 "2026-07-24T15:57:40Z")
Man, I love the taste of tomatoes. I have relatives in Ohio, and I can still remember the taste of the homegrown tomatoes we’d eat when were back there. Fresh with just a little dollop of mayonnaise and salt and pepper. Perfect on a summer day. There’s an Italian restaurant in Ojai that has a tomato salad in the summer that has huge slices of their homegrown tomatoes covering it – so good. Their strawberry shortcake is awesome, too. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3498 "2026-07-24T16:50:01Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > tomato salad in the summer that has huge slices of their homegrown tomatoes covering it – so good. Their strawberry shortcake is awesome, too. Something must be wrong with me, but this sentence made me think “tomato shortcake”. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3499 "2026-07-24T16:55:42Z")
Done right, that might be pretty darn good. You would want a very not-sweet shortcake, and those stupid scary-sweet sponge cake rounds with the dimple are right out. As I imagine it, you’d end up with something about like **[Bruschetta - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruschetta)**, but with the bread being a short biscuit, not typical Italian bread toasted. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3500 "2026-07-24T17:35:09Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Something must be wrong with me, but this sentence made me think “tomato shortcake” To be honest, that [doesn’t sound too bad.](https://whatshouldimakefor.com/tomato-shortcake-with-whipped-ricotta/). Possibly Elon’s Martian hydroponic tomatoes will do, in a pinch, once he gets civilisation 2.0 running… ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/3501 "2026-07-24T21:17:21Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I hate to be fair to Elon Musk but he’s been making noises in favor of some kind of UBI for some time now. Well, sure, but in the form of virtual indenture. In his case, he’s got Texas to let him basically set up a company town, complete with company owned housing and schools and so on. And not really checking if he’s doing things like following environmental regulations So, yeah, money won’t matter if everybody works for him (or somebody like him) and lives in one of his towns and has their needs met by him. And of course if they piss him off by doing something silly, like asking for basic human rights, they’re out of a job and they can go off somewhere he doesn’t own and die or whatever people do who have no means of their own. No money required [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=173) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=175)