MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2025
Will anyone else ever ask? Based on BREAKING developments, we postpone our plan to school you about this news report in Saturday's New York Times:
Fort Liberty Renamed Fort Bragg, Fulfilling a Trump Campaign Promise
Congress had pushed past President Trump’s veto to rename Fort Bragg, named for a Confederate general, in the final days of his first term.
That was the dual headline. As you may have heard, Pete Hegseth has proceeded to Make Fort Bragg Fort Bragg Again, albeit with one minor hitch.
Anthropologically, it's a fascinating, multipart story about the limits of human functioning. That said, we postpone today's planned report due to BREAKING news.
Is something wrong with Elon Musk? Within the past month, we've asked this question at various times, hopefully without being unpleasant.
That said, will the time ever come when someone else asks that question? We base that inquiry on this report by Alex Griffing at Mediaite:
‘You Are a Traitor’: Elon Musk Launches Stunning Attack on Senator and Decorated Veteran for Supporting Ukraine
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) fired back at Elon Musk on Monday after the Tesla billionaire called him a “traitor’ for visiting Ukraine.
Kelly, a former astronaut and Navy captain, posted a lengthy thread on Sunday about his visit to Ukraine. He wrote, “Just left Ukraine. What I saw proved to me we can’t give up on the Ukrainian people. Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine’s security and can’t be a giveaway to Putin. Let me tell you about my trip and why it’s important we stand with Ukraine.”
Musk replied to Kelly’s post, “You are a traitor.”
You can read Griffing's full report simply by clicking that link. Here's the start of the corresponding report by ABC News, dual headline included:
Musk calls Sen. Kelly a 'traitor' over trip to Ukraine, Kelly hits back
This isn't the first feud between Musk and the Democratic senator.
Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly a "traitor" in a post on X after Kelly posted that he had visited Ukraine over the weekend.
Kelly, in a thread on X Sunday night, posted photos of his visit to Ukraine and wrote that "Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine's security and can't be a giveaway to Putin."
In a reply to the thread, Musk responded, "You are a traitor."
We wish there was some better face to place on this astounding behavior by Musk. We can't quite see that there is.
"The [old] order is rapidly fading?" We recalled that famous declaration in this morning's report.
In fact, deeply "old orders" can die very hard. As Kubrick outlined in Eyes Wide Shut, over time they may tend to come back.
For today, these are our final questions:
Is something "wrong" in this sad situation? In the course of these all-too-human affairs, will anyone else ever ask?
Tiedrich:
ReplyDelete"hey, remember ‘Joe Biden is old?’
for a while there, it was all the worthless scribblers of the corporate-controlled media could talk about. did you see how old Joe Biden was today? how can anyone be that old? so fucking old. how is he even still alive?
for the better part of last year, the press hounded Biden about his age and mental acuity. prove you’re not dead right now, Joe. they blew it up into the biggest story of the century. meanwhile, Donny Convict — the deteriorating demento who babbled incessantly about batteries and sharks and Hannibal Lecter wants to have you for dinner — got an eternal free pass.
Subscribed
Joe’s enjoying the shit out of his retirement now.
in his place sits Donny. in just seven weeks, he’s completely wrecked the joint — and he still can’t go five minutes without mouthfarting the world’s craziest batshit. and the press? crickets. they still can’t be bothered to care.
imagine that Sleepy Joe had confused federal for fetanyl."
Somerby was among those who couldn't stop talking about how old Biden was. Now, he pretends to be a legacy media watchdog, but Somerby piled right on with the Republicans and the oligarchs who own major newspapers, and yes, Nancy Pelosi, to push Biden off the ticket, so that he wouldn't accidentally beat Trump and ruin the plan to reinstate the master race and turn the working class into peasants.
When the media ignore something, it is for a reason. Somerby only wants to discuss Trump's insanity. He won't call it dementia. Have you ever wondered why not? Perhaps calling an elected politician crazy will always be discounted by his supporters. Whereas calling someone who is old "demented" might gain traction, even among Trump's followers. Trump is obviously old, as old as Biden and his gaffes and difficulties thinking and speaking are way worse than Biden's were. Dementia is much easier to prove than insanity (especially without a coherent definition, which Somerby has always lacked).
If Somerby were serious about saying there is something wrong with these guys, he would consider facts instead of just calling names.
Does Somerby seriously think that no one has called Trump in league with Putin? Trump and Musk are on the same page, and both are now supporting Putin instead of Ukraine. Musk is merely suggesting that someone who disagrees with the President must be a traitor, ignoring that fealty is to our Constitution and our nation, not to a public servant who serves the people (which is what a president has always been). That makes Musk a minion of an obvious autocrat. Note that Somerby wants others to notice and discuss this, but he won't come right out and state who and what he thinks Musk and Trump are. He hints and coyly references obscure parts of previously quoted essays (written long before Trump was on the scene) and will not ever call Trump a traitor in so many words. How then can he expect anyone else to do so?
ReplyDeleteAsking "is something wrong" is not anywhere close to stating "there is something wrong" much less telling his readers what he thinks may be wrong. The irony of this is obvious.
ReplyDeleteYes it is. Especially when it's done over and over, as Bob does. His meaning couldn't be more clear.
DeleteWhen someone is as hard to pin down as Somerby, it is possible for his readers to project any desired meaning onto his vague words. You appear to have done that.
DeleteTrump uses language just as incompetently, without a good faith desire to communicate. His followers project their desired meanings onto Trump's contradictory statements and feel just as sure that they know what he means, as you feel about Somerby.
That doesn't make Somerby's meaning clear.
Tiedrich has this right:
ReplyDelete"the Times is not wrong about the cultists being hoodwinked into believing what they want to believe — and kudos the worthless scribs for finally putting the words ‘outright lies’ in a subhead — but they make it sound like Donny’s incoherence is part of some cunning grand plan.
Donny doesn’t plan — he reacts. he’ll see something on Fox News — or Nosferatu McGoebbels will pop his head into the Oval Office and blurt something — and off goes Donny to the races, inventing a response then and there. doesn’t matter if it contradicts what Donny said twenty minutes ago. Donny can’t even remember what he said twenty minutes ago.
there is no cunning. there is no plan. there’s just that family of raccoons that live inside Donny’s big vacant head, indiscriminately chewing through the wires."
Donny is, of course, Donny Convict, our pretend President for Musk and Putin. How did we get to this place? Oh, year, "we had someone" to stop Trump, "but they didn't want that lady in office." So instead we get to be ruled by and for billionaires while our country goes to hell, but Somerby can't quite say what is wrong.
I think anyone who compares Musk to Kelly objectively knows how sick it is for Musk to make that remark.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you even need to make that comparison?
DeleteMusk went off the deep end a while back, somewhere around the first flailing pirouette on stage with Trump.
Will anyone say what is going on? Tiedrich does:
ReplyDelete"I’m not generally a conspiracy guy, but — suppose you were, say, the corrupt president of a country, and you wanted to make a killing in the stock market. here’s a way you could do it.
— announce a bunch of tariffs, and watch the stock market tank
— you and your cronies buy up a bunch of now-cheap stocks
— announce the tariffs are off, and watch the stock market rise
— you and your cronies sell off the stocks you bought cheaply and reap enormous profits"
Heather Cox Richardson has an excellent article today describing how Musk views NPGs (gamer terminology) and assigns that status to anyone who disagrees with him or is a political opponent or unsignificant person in his view (i.e., voters and working people in the US). She connect that to the attitude of Republicans toward everyday people who they considered to be mooching off the government.
ReplyDeletehttps://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-9-2025
Somerby used to complain about the way Democrats/liberals tend to otherize red voters, but I fail to see how this historical description of the way Republicans see the "little people" is any better or any different than what he claimed the left was doing.
Thom Hartmann also has an excellent article about how the Republicans have been creating an affordable housing crisis in the US:
ReplyDeletehttps://hartmannreport.com/p/trump-cant-hide-the-real-killers-337
Brother Musk? He isn't my brother. Why does Somerby help these cretins by giving them warm fuzzy appellations, like brother or commander?
ReplyDeleteWealthiest man in the world
ReplyDeleteFirst or second most powerful man in the world
Owns
SpaceX
X
xAI
Tesla
Starlink
Neuralink
Boring
In other words, dominates the seven most exciting industries on our planet.
Has his pick of beautiful women.
Impregnates women by looking at them.
Boomers and homosexuals are consumed with envy.
Musk pays women on his staff to have his children because he thinks his "genius" needs to be propagated. He has no interest in raising any kids. I estimate that about 60% of women would have nothing to do with him despite his money because he is both physically repulsive, immoral, demented, lives a drug lifestyle and is an arrogant pig. Some women will, because there are women who are transactional and motivated by money (e.g., Melania), but implying that all beautiful women care nothing about a man's character or whether he respects and treats women well, is a knock against women in general. Not all women can be bought, just as not all men are rapists and sex abusers (like Donny Convict).
Delete"Boomers and homosexuals are consumed with envy."
DeleteSounds like we should add you to that list.
Of course Musk doesn't just happen to own these companies. He made them successful through exceptional management skills. These are extraordinary accomplishments.
DeleteAll heterosexual men are attracted to beautiful women and all heterosexual women are attracted to obscenely wealthy men.
Delete"....(Musk's) extraordinary accomplishments."
DeleteHow would you rate his accomplishments as head of DOGE?
Yes, Musk is extraordinary in ways that translate to insane successes. Less risk-averse than most, more involved and aggressive, incredible vision, works well with people.
DeleteSounds like he bought 6:52 a horse. Was it good for you too?
DeleteWhat does Tracy Nelson's song Sad Situation have to do with Musk and current politics (about which the song was NOT written and has nothing to do). The next line is "cause I'm still loving you." None of us here love Musk or Trump. Is Somerby hinting that he does?
ReplyDeleteKelly is a traitor and dictator Zelenskyy sent Trump a pleading letter of apology yesterday. Won't help.
ReplyDeleteDa, Boris. Remember: don't stand too near window.
DeleteWhy must we endure this plague of annoying trolls who do nothing but repeat propaganda slogans? Will no one rid us of these meddlesome trolls? Somerby could moderate his blog, the way Kevin Drum always did. He apparently doesn't care enough about actual discourse to do that.
DeletePutin's hackers staged a raid on X today just to keep the chaos rolling.
DeleteDemocrats have a Temu version of Elon Musk, Mark Cuban who looks just like Rachel Maddow.
ReplyDelete7:03 You will buy into anything . On Rogan’s podcast Musk lied that and said when he bought into Tesla they hadn’t designed a car yet, when in fact they produced a prototype that year. He is a bullshit artist on the same level as Trump.
ReplyDelete