Who is Elon Musk really?

[facthunter]

er.. What?  Nev

[red750]

The fact that the names were still on file doesn't mean they were active or receiving benefits. It all depends on how they wrote the search criteria. Did they include Date of Death in their query?

[old man emu]

The story is that the original database/spreadsheet was created using the computer language COBOL. Musk's 21st Century whizz kids have never learned COBOL, so they could not work with the data.

 

Also, as well as the usual recipient details data which could be easily accessed, the records also showed the date the last benefit cheque was issued to the recipient. If that date was well before the present date, it would be a fair indication that the recipient was deceased. In most databases holding this type of record, it is not usual for ancient data to be deleted. After all, each entry is likely to use only a few kilobytes of storage. It is not worth the effort to cull unnecessary entries.

 

What is a most likely explanation, given what we know of the way the Trump administration, including Musk, treat information, is that it would not be too far wrong to say that they only published information which bolstered their "getting rid of waste" agenda.

[Jerry_Atrick]

13 hours ago, facthunter said:

er.. What?  Nev

Was typing in a hurry, other others' subsequent posts expounded the idea.

 

7 hours ago, old man emu said:

The story is that the original database/spreadsheet was created using the computer language COBOL. Musk's 21st Century whizz kids have never learned COBOL, so they could not work with the data.

Apart from the bit that they never learned COBOL, I find it hard to believe they couldn't work with the data. If the programming language was  COBOL, chances are the data would be stored in a relational database, which, if on IBM, would likely be DB2;  if on Unix/Linux, most likely be Oracle, and if on MS Windows Server, could be either Oracle or MS SQL Server. Although if on IBM, it could be Oracle, or ADABAS as well. There may be others.. has been a while since I have written COBOL. Each of these relational databases  use a standard language, SQL (Structured Query Language), to access the data. It could be that they are on some Big Data repository, but again, there would be some standard interface, including butchered versions of SQL.

 

I very much doubt they would store such data using as simple or binary files accessed directly from the language and that goes for any language - C, C++, Java, Python, C#, just to name a few of the more modern languages. The overhead of writing ones own routines to efficiently store and access the data, as well as maintained data integrity, scalability, security, guaranteed recovery, and, well general ACIDity of the data (https://www.databricks.com/glossary/acid-transactions) as well as transaction management is huge, and when you consider the data will have to be distributed and concurrently accessed by hundreds, if not thousands of users.

 

But even if they decided to use native files and implement all of the above, learning COBOL quickly enough to run programs, get and understand the data is not hard for a seasoned programmer. In fact, once you're a tech whizz, reading any language is pretty well easy because regardless of what language you are using, they all have pretty well much the same computer science constructs (well COBOL is limited in some areas compared with the languages I mentioned above, but if you have learned any of those other languages, COBOL would be a doddle to read). Its a bit like some people who can understand some spoken languages enough, but not speak the language.

 

And in any case, any file written by one language can be read by any other language on that platform.

 

So, I tend to agree with this:

7 hours ago, old man emu said:

hat is a most likely explanation, given what we know of the way the Trump administration, including Musk, treat information, is that it would not be too far wrong to say that they only published information which bolstered their "getting rid of waste" agenda.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 27 by Jerry_Atrick

[old man emu]

I knew that you would help us with the technical side of the story.

[red750]

Musk is distancing himself from Trump's tariff madness.

 

The president's special adviser told a political rally he hopes to see a 'zero tariff situation' between the US and Europe to create a free trade zone.

 

On Wednesday, Trump introduced a controversial 20 percent tariff for Europe along with even higher tariffs for other global trading partners as what he dubbed 'Liberation Day'.

 

But while the president has been pushing US isolationism, Musk espoused a more collaborative approach.

 

'I hope that the United States and Europe can establish a very close partnership,' the Tesla CEO said during the virtual rally of Italy's Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini.

 

'I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally in my view to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,' the SpaceX founder continued.

 

Earlier Saturday, Trump appeared to distance himself even further from the tariffs plan as he ripped a top Trump trade advisor in an extraordinary outburst on X.

 

Musk's dissent comes just days after it was announced he would be stepping down from the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

 

Edit: Copy and paste. I think 2nd last para should read "Earlier Saturday, Musk appeared to distance himself...."

 

 

 

[facthunter]

How about making Trump PAY for the Cost of his Golfing Episodes? nev

[Marty_d]

How about Trump pay for the effects on the world's economies?

To mangle Winston Churchill's quote...

"Never in the history of mankind has so much been owed, to so many, by one dickhead".

[rgmwa]

Musk’s days are numbered now given his disloyal comments about Trump’s tariffs. 

[facthunter]

It's OK as only the WEAK will suffer. Nev

[nomadpete]

51 minutes ago, facthunter said:

It's OK as only the WEAK will suffer. Nev

That's just how Darwinian evolution works

[nomadpete]

But according to another theory of economics......

 

The meek shall inherit the universe.... (if that's OK with the rest ou you).

[facthunter]

I think it was the  Earth.   A calm temper of mind Not easily Provoked is the biblical definition, Sounds OK to ME, Nev

[onetrack]

I find it interesting that Elon is going to suffer some serious financial losses from his best buddies rampant, random and excessive tariffs. That must strain the friendship a bit. I wouldn't be in the least surprised to see Elon turn on his best buddy with a 180° about face, and start to denigrate him.

[facthunter]

There's no bond but a common aim of doing weird untried stupid things by a group of misfits bent on personal power. There will always be "Pecking Order problems" and Blaming issues. Unstable is it's nature. That's what spooks out the Market Indices as well as the Crazy Logic of all this. Nev

[red750]

The bromance looks like it's over. Musk labelled trade adviser Peter Navarro "dumber than a sack of bricks" as tensions over tariffs escalate. Musk wants free trade.

[rgmwa]

That should probably be in the `Celebrating Positives' thread.

[red750]

[facthunter]

 Like Pocket money to him. Nev

[red750]

[red750]

Post by Feminist News

 

   · 
I was on my morning walk when the notifications chirped in my pocket, interrupting the beautiful songs of nearby birds, "Elon Musk to step back from DOGE"; another headline read, "Musk to scale back political donations"; two more from Politico, "Why has Elon Musk disappeared from the spotlight?" and "Musk fades into the background"

Nonsense. Bullshit. Hogwash. 

Elon Musk and DOGE are more actively involved in the government than ever and he's also still benefiting from his government connections. Musk's presence during Trump's Middle East trip was intended to serve mostly as a kickback for his gargantuan donation to Trump's 2024 campaign. And as we'll see, Elon cleaned up with the Saudi and Qatari royalty. 

It's important to acknowledge that Elon and his DOGE accomplices have already caused immense, likely permanent, damage to the underpinnings of our government and society—the most essential federal workers who staff the institutions and services we depend on, from water quality, food inspection, cancer researchers, air traffic controllers, Park Rangers, teachers and IEP instructors, the people at the IRS who audit corporate tax cheats. 

It's essential to recognize that DOGE's destruction is not diminishing—it is accelerating. DOGE is expected to double its headcount in the coming weeks and hire 100 more of Elon's twenty-something-year-old associates drawn from his various private companies. 

I don't have space here to review all the damage DOGE has done, but one recently reported story shows how DOGE disabled the Social Security phone system, claiming there was 40% fraud. When an independent analysis concluded the real number was closer to .0002%, the DOGE boys moved along and retreated from their efforts. 
In another incident, Elon's former employees hacked into the U.S. Department of Labor and transferred a trove of documents onto private servers. Elon's personnel didn't have the legal right to access, much less steal, the troves of data concerning Labor Department violations and disputes of Elon's own companies. What you have in this case alone is outright felonious hacking of the US government, and any Democrat worth their spittle will put prosecuting Elon Musk at the top of their agenda. That House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries and Senate leader Chuck Schumer haven't began legal proceedings against Musk is yet another indication of their totally failed and tepid leadership and refusal to confront the fascist moment.

We see clearly Elon is more involved than ever. He just no longer wants credit. He's no longer dancing around with a fake chainsaw. It's the same exact operation as before, just a different brand.

Further proof that Elon is more involved in the Trump White House was demonstrated on his recent trip to the Middle East, where Musk was treated more as the leader of the free world than Trump. Photo after photo confirms this. 

You can see the Saudi sheiks bowing to Elon and ushering him around, lavishing billions upon him every time he sat down in front of an audience or reporters. To be sure, Trump and his dopey sons got some meaty crypto crumbs, but they were side portions compared to Elon's haul. 

Let us review the slurry of payola kickbacks: Musk's company SpaceX secured approval to provide its Starlink satellite internet to Saudi Arabia; In Abu Dhabi, Musk’s other company Neuralink announced a deal; SpaceX is closing a deal to provide internet service to Emirates Airlines; Musk's other enterprise, The Boring Company, inked an agreement with Dubai’s transit authority; SpaceX inked a deal with South Africa ahead of Trump's upcoming trip; In arguably the biggest prize, Musk's xAI secured undisclosed sums worth an estimated tens of billions, with the Middle Eastern investors promising more in the near future. 

Following in the footsteps of his partner in crime, Elon even secured the bag for his whole family. His mother Maye, recently accompanied her son to a conference in Dubai. Elon's brother Kimball announced agreements with Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Elon's father, Errol, with whom he has a fractured and fraught relationship, is busy inking deals with the Emirates from Gulf States for an institute dedicated to 'time travel' and $200 million for his own crypto coin. 

We've barely scratched the surface but one thing that should be clear is that Elon Musk is still deeply involved in the Trump administration. He is still pillaging our government and he's still extracting as much as he can from his connections before he leaves the carcass depleted and blanched. 

With Trump by his side, Elon is signing tens of billions in deals with corrupt oil dictatorships looking to buy their way into the inner sanctum of our democracy. Trump and Elon are only too happy to sell them the keys. The gullible American press are too happy to play along and help them sell their PR.

Make no mistake, Elon Musk is still in charge. The billionaires coup is accelerating— the only thing that's changed is the spin.

[red750]

[Marty_d]

What about the $170b "Golden Dome" missile defence system Trumpy has just announced? Wonder whose rockets will be used for those satellites?

It'll turn out to be a shower of shit. "Golden Shower" for short.