# 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:** 81
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1622 "2025-02-08T15:05:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Truth is it’s all three. And the fans see the latter two markets as vastly larger, faster growing, and easier for Tesla to stay the leader in. While the naysayers dismiss the second two and are steadfastly focused on car delivery volumes and margins. That’s the thing. Musk and many of the people propping up the stock value don’t see it as any of those things. They see it (or at least say they do) as primarily a “technology” company, of which EVs, batteries, charging stations, and self-driving technology are simply the products that have been marketed so far. If it was just the self-driving AI tech, the valuation is still too high - there are too many other companies involved in that, some actually ahead of Tesla in the self driving part. They’re definitely leading in charging stations but that is unexciting to everybody and doesn’t produce much profits. Batteries? The rest of the world, much less some domestic companies, are either ahead of or catching up. So, they have to hold out on this delusional notion that Tesla is actually some kind of general R&D technology company that happens to currently derive the vast majority of its revenue and profits from cars but doesn’t need them and is one day guaranteed to produce technological advances that are so world changing as to justify the high valuation. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1623 "2025-02-08T16:15:11Z")
And it’s all tied in to the perception of Elon as a genius - as a unique, irreplaceable genius. If he were to die today, his heirs would not inherit the $300 billion or so he’s worth; they’d inherit a quarter of that at most, because that’s all it would be worth without him. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1624 "2025-02-08T23:58:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > And it’s all tied in to the perception of Elon as a genius - as a unique, irreplaceable genius. If he were to die today, his heirs would not inherit the $300 billion or so he’s worth; they’d inherit a quarter of that at most, because that’s all it would be worth without him. . > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > …they have to hold out on this delusional notion that Tesla is actually some kind of general R&D technology company that happens to currently derive the vast majority of its revenue and profits from cars but doesn’t need them and is one day guaranteed to produce technological advances that are so world changing as to justify the high valuation. And these are both, in effect, religious beliefs. As in being unfalsifiable (among other qualities that fit the definition). > [@Mijin](#): > > I’m also going to throw out that I saw no issue with what you were saying about Canadians. People say things like “he’s nothing like any Canadians I’ve met”; it’s just putting across an impression of the culture and the person, not claiming omniscience. I agree. That was not an edifying passage in this thread. In more encouraging news, Elon is getting slammed all over. Here’s one of several responses to Elon’s politicking on X: [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7qqkq2zdwq4j5jingukgtuky/bafkreiatqmygosfulgeauk6hdhahvzf2dhxeroogm6xlfeuanay6t5roka@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7qqkq2zdwq4j5jingukgtuky/bafkreiatqmygosfulgeauk6hdhahvzf2dhxeroogm6xlfeuanay6t5roka@jpeg) And this is something I hadn’t heard about the probable reason for Elon’s passion to wreck the USAID: [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qi57spwbyv7bwlsszntpxejk/bafkreien6oxtelf3vwy2jxp3enf7whb2rz25t2wff7chqnzpjqnyllxrqa@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qi57spwbyv7bwlsszntpxejk/bafkreien6oxtelf3vwy2jxp3enf7whb2rz25t2wff7chqnzpjqnyllxrqa@jpeg) I can’t say if this is 100% evidence-supported, but it at least deserves more scrutiny. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1625 "2025-02-09T23:15:03Z")
I haven’t dug into this but I don’t know what investigative authority USAID has. It’s not a law enforcement or a regulatory agency. This doesn’t pass the smell test for me. USAID sends taxpayer dollars to brown people, so it had to be shut down. I don’t think there’s more to it than that. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1626 "2025-02-10T01:24:59Z")
USAID helped bring down apartheid. That’s another reason. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1627 "2025-02-10T01:31:29Z")
Aah. It’s on co-president musk’s personal shit list, not deputy-president trump’s. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1628 "2025-02-10T03:13:23Z")
“Foreign Aid” has been on the shit list of huge numbers of American voters, Democratic and Republican, left and right, for decades now. For some reason - I know not where this meme started - most Americans think that USAID takes up 25% of the U.S. budget, rather than the 1/10 of 1% that it actually consists of. In terms of building good will toward the U.S., this is probably the best bargain in the budget - but support for continuing foreign aid, much less increasing it from the current baseline, is slim to nonexistent. I don’t know if Project 2025 suggested that the foreign aid budget be the first target of cutting, but sending Elmo and his merry men there as their first target was a coup in a Niemoller-an kind of way. “First they came for USAID…” ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1629 "2025-02-10T04:23:28Z")
[![](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/v200/2b9c62db-cd25-49e0-8bfa-f3a00712f0f5) ](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/v200/2b9c62db-cd25-49e0-8bfa-f3a00712f0f5) ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1630 "2025-02-10T06:45:51Z")
Blackwater in a new guise is blocking Congress critters for federal offices!! The circles come from someone expanding the image to figure out that the insignia is from “Triple Canopy,” which merged with the firm formerly known as Blackwater. The new company, BTW, is called Constellis per Wikipedia. [![](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/v200/ac61ecd1-7716-48dd-82d1-852e177ba3a9) ](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/v200/ac61ecd1-7716-48dd-82d1-852e177ba3a9) ---
**Author:** ![Chelonaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Chelonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chelonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1631 "2025-02-10T09:36:21Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I haven’t dug into this but I don’t know what investigative authority USAID has. It’s not a law enforcement or a regulatory agency. This doesn’t pass the smell test for me. > > USAID sends taxpayer dollars to brown people, so it had to be shut down. I don’t think there’s more to it than that. USAID was one of the partners behind the delivery of Starlink to Ukraine. Sure they have reasons and authority to investigate/audit the other partner of the deal. > **[USAID Safeguards Internet Access in Ukraine through...](https://web.archive.org/web/20240720035807/https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/apr-05-2022-usaid-safeguards-internet-access-ukraine-through-public-private-partnership-spacex)** > > The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has delivered 5,000 Starlink Terminals to the Government of Ukraine through a public-private partnership with the American aerospace manufacturer, SpaceX. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1632 "2025-02-10T10:56:18Z")
A propos of nothing (and not knowing if the show was ever broadcast in the US) - am I the only one who thinks that Musk looks like the Tracy brother that nobody ever talks about? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/huPB3T0v_uQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Classic Thunderbirds Opening Credits - Thunderbirds") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huPB3T0v_uQ&t=35) j ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1633 "2025-02-10T20:41:01Z")
Aw, can’t be viewed in the US. But, yes, _The Thunderbirds_ was broadcast in the US a long, long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1634 "2025-02-10T21:12:43Z")
No idea which Tracy brother is being referenced. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1635 "2025-02-10T21:57:22Z")
Elmo offers to buy OpenAI for $97 billion, Sam Altman says no and counter-offers $9.7 bil for Twitter. > **[BNO News (@bnonews.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/bnonews.com/post/3lhu25bqyns2k)** > > NEW: Group of investors led by Elon Musk offers $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI - WSJ > **[BNO News (@bnonews.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/bnonews.com/post/3lhu2ue5f2k2x)** > > UPDATE: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rejects Elon Musk-led bid > > \[contains quote post or other embedded content\] [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:5hz3bnmwhjqjhcthik4wt6li/bafkreihawr5amcjidxxhl4uy6tx3hq6bcf5t7o76d67ybt7xpeicefwmfa@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:5hz3bnmwhjqjhcthik4wt6li/bafkreihawr5amcjidxxhl4uy6tx3hq6bcf5t7o76d67ybt7xpeicefwmfa@jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1636 "2025-02-10T22:33:21Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > No idea which Tracy brother is being referenced. The one locked away in the attic. The one we never see. j ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1637 "2025-02-10T22:51:04Z")
He lived on a space station by himself. For … reasons. And not just eye-watering BO. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1638 "2025-02-10T23:06:42Z")
> [@Chelonaut](#): > > USAID was one of the partners behind the delivery of Starlink to Ukraine. Sure they have reasons and authority to investigate/audit the other partner of the deal. Yes, this. And even absent a formal investigation, there must be people at USAID who could testify to words and actions, as well as Starlink performance (or lack thereof) that Musk would prefer not be made public. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1639 "2025-02-11T03:52:10Z")
Oooof, right in the yarbles. ---
**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:** [February 11, 2025, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1640 "2025-02-11T12:24:57Z")
Could not happen to a nicer guy. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/1641 "2025-02-11T23:23:22Z")
Today Elon held forth in the Oval Office while Donald just sat there, looking sour. For most of the event, Elon had his toddler son sitting on his shoulders. (Many noted that the son was an effective human shield for Elon, a la “Greg Stillson” in _The Dead Zone_. Someone (don’t know who) came up with the idea that the kid’s name is Kevlar…) > **[Elon Musk grilled about DOGE transparency, conflicts in Oval Office](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/elon-musk-faces-1st-questions-doges-transparency-joins/story?id=118705771)** > > Elon Musk had not faced reporters since taking the lead on Trump's mandate to dismantle much of the federal government. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=80) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=82)