O/T:- Trump Presidency 2.0 [hic sunt dracones]

[Old_pie]

When I heard about the gesture, I just assumed it was the media clutching at straws, but having seen it, it's impossible to defend. He knew what he was doing, and I honestly think he just likes ruffling feathers and getting people all worked up so he can then post how they're having a meltdown on X. It's all a big game.

The more controversy he can create the more clicks he gets and the richer he becomes. Lacking a moral compass is beneficial to him in this regard.

[BigFatPie]

Comforting I'm sure. Especially for the Jewish contingent.

There must have been quite a few people in 1945 Germany exclaiming I didnt know they actually meant it!

[slack_pie]

Comforting I'm sure. Especially for the Jewish contingent.

What's comforting?

[slack_pie]

Yeah exactly the same here. When I saw the headline I thought it would be a somewhat ambiguous gesture and the outrage machine was doing the rest. Then I clicked on the video and thought oh my word.

To be honest I think he's a troubled man who was bullied and maybe disrespected for a lot of his childhood and adolescence and has now found an army of adoring fans on the right / far right. Every time he wants a dopamine hit he can throw them some red meat by doing something like this and chalk it off as trolling the libs.

Funnily enough his justification of some people being too eager to call others Nazis or fascists is actually true in a lot of cases, but clearly doesn't apply if you stand there sieg-heiling in front of an adoring crowd for the whole world to see. He's supposed to be the actual genius helping the very stable genius, but I am not too confident in his judgement. I'm certainly not comfortable with him speaking to foreign dictators and potentially deciding the outcome of wars, deciding the future of US government departments, deciding elections in other countries and so on.

Even if you take for granted that he has the wisdom take the right decisions in those areas, which is far from a given, then how do we know he's doing it for the right reasons and not for the likes?

I agree. He seems very insecure and a bit damaged. He definitely has an axe to grind and enjoys upsetting the establishment, but often just for the sake of it - because he can - rather than in any meaningful way. Everything's a joke, a potential meme. He's like the unpopular kid living in his parents' basement and trolling people online, but with all the power and visibility in the world.

I wish he'd just focus on the innovation side of things as he's made truly remarkable achievements there. In recent years, he's undermined all that good stuff by turning into a bizarre cartoon character of a slightly deranged and vengeful autistic guy.

[Mapperleypie]

What's comforting?

It's not. It's sinister.

Musk has shown time and again he is at best a white-supremacist. For anyone defending the gesture as if it is something different I have some magic beans to sell you.

[Elite_Pie]

It's not. It's sinister.

Musk has shown time and again he is at best a white-supremacist. For anyone defending the gesture as if it is something different I have some magic beans to sell you.

Unsurprisingly, Lullapie thinks it's all perfectly innocent and just made up by the left wing media.

As he says "They walk amongst us......", but he doesn't realise he's one of them!

[slack_pie]

It's not. It's sinister.

Musk has shown time and again he is at best a white-supremacist. For anyone defending the gesture as if it is something different I have some magic beans to sell you.

I'm not defending the gesture at all. It's ridiculous. But from what I've seen of Musk, I think it's more likely a calculated way to stir up rage on the left and get a reaction for his own amusement than a signal of murderous intent.

I agree that it's objectively sinister, but I don't think Musk is actually trying to tell the world he's a Nazi. Musk clearly likes to push buttons. He likes controversial jokes that rock the boat. That's why he's so into Dogecoin - not because it has a real use case or potential, but because he finds it funny. And part of the reason he finds it funny is because other people don't find it funny at all. At least that's how it looks to me.

[Jampie]

The future has to be nuclear power whose only drawback is the disposal of the radioactive waste, not a problem if it's shot out into the cosmic void, a one -way trip to Jupiter? Or Australia? It's not beyond the possibility of future science finding a way to make it useful or at least neutral, not that it would matter if it was Australia, or the USA.

There's no pollution, it's cleaner, a lower cost of production and safer than any alternative. We could have led the world if we had started it in the early 199o's when Maggie shut the pits.

If nuclear really was cheaper I'd be all for it. But it isn't, it's actually the most expensive kind of power generation to build and it isn't cheap to operate either. It can't compete with solar and wind, not even close.

[SwalePie]

If nuclear really was cheaper I'd be all for it. But it isn't, it's actually the most expensive kind of power generation to build and it isn't cheap to operate either. It can't compete with solar and wind, not even close.

Agreed, but nuclear does provide the reliable and powerful base load capability for when it isn't windy or sunny, which is also critically important at this stage.

[Old_pie]

If nuclear really was cheaper I'd be all for it. But it isn't, it's actually the most expensive kind of power generation to build and it isn't cheap to operate either. It can't compete with solar and wind, not even close.

What's the cost of solar and wind when it isn't generating? What's the cost of running out of power which we have been fairly close to on more than one occasion in the last couple of years? Where is the cost of all the backup required for the lack of solar and the loss of wind? Lots of equipment sitting there waiting to be turned on, still having to be purchased and maintained. I'll bet that that and subsidies are not factored in to many of the equations.

A major factor in nuclear costs is the fear factor. But we're happy to ruin the landscape, shred birds, damage agriculture all in the attempt to be green. And don't get me on about Li-on battery banks otherwise my blood pressure really will go up.