Makes sense. Elon is deeply in bed with China and the goal was always to get it into the hands of a right wing billionaire.

His goal would be to use the data to help build on his AI. That is sure to make people happy.

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It would also be a massive political tool to boost stuff he likes and block stuff he doesn't. He would have immense power.

Variety is reporting Bytedance denies the Bloomberg story as "fiction." Of course the Bloomberg story said it was the Chinese government, not Bytedance that were in discussions, and that wasn't clear Bytedance was even notified.

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Ewwww just ban it then.

It would be another hilarious self-own for the Democrats to force the only left leaning social media app left to sell to Elon Musk and make those people heroes to millions of young people and small businesses.

WaPo wouldn't endorse for President, but now they are endorsing Trump cabinet nominees.

I saw the Bloomberg headline (but behind a paywall) and was wondering if China was conceding that TikTok/Bytedance was really controlled by China after all? The CEO sat in front of Congress saying otherwise so was surprised by the report.

Performers at Trump's inauguration ...

https://www.euronews.com/culture/202...uration-events

Kid Rock - check
Carrie Underwood - check
Lee Greenwood - check
Christopher Macchio - who? (opera singer)

But the cherry on top is ...

No. They do have an ownership stake, and that ownership stake is the crux of the ban. Their decision would be to give up that stake, and selling it to Elon Musk would be the easiest way to get that approved.

Take it FWIW, but according to TikTok's own page below, there is very little China government connection ... and certainly not to the extent that China can propose selling off US TikTok to Elon.

https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-au/th...h-about-tiktok


I have believed, regardless of public denials, there was likely more Chinese government control/influence than disclosed. I do think if not TikTok, there'll be something to turn our brains to mush. But good that China's ability to influence will be less (in the short term)

Your misunderstanding. China owns a portion, not controlling interest, in the company and that portion is what is being discussed. This is the Chinese government discussing selling their portion of Tik Tok US (not global) to Musk, not the whole ownership stake.

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What brave and noble people!

From a Financial Times article about corporate America going MAGA:

It is such a burden not to say offensive things all the time!

God forbid we find a middle ground, where people can acknowledge that even if we didn't know a word was offensive, it did offend someone, and we learn from that, but no one needs to make a huge deal about it, but also people can decide not to use words they completely know to be offensive, just because they feel like it. No, it's either woke doctrine, or retard and pussy.

Not that it matters, but do you think anyone knows whether these dudes are actually the Village People?

1. If there is a real Village People at this point, I bet none of them were in the original group.
2. Whether there is a current real Village People or not, you could probably just grab any set of guys, put these costumes on them, and just call them the Village People.

What's lost in that is the simple right to not give a fuck IF the word conveyed the meaning that was intended.

I'm not talking about looking for a word to intentionally offend, I'm talking about ... well let's go with a real world example.

If I call someone a half-witted mouthbreathing motherfucker, that's generally going to be an intentional choice specifically to convey my contempt for their intellect and general usefulness on the planet. It shouldn't be a federal case, it's a clear expression of an opinion.

The current Village People includes one original member, Victor Willis. He was one of the founding members and won the legal battles to own the name and rights to perform.

OK if you are talking about outside the workplace, but inside the workplace absolutely unacceptable.

Hegseth unwilling to say the USA will abide by the Geneva Convention.

Since we can't get canceled, that banker seems like a retarded pussy for refusing to put his name on that quote.

It sounds like he was too much of a pussy to actually put his name on that quote, unless his name is A. Top Banker.

He's completely unqualified. My current boss is an Army Major and he calls it the most useless rank in the Army. No experience managing anything of note.
Based on what's publicly available, he wouldn't get a security clearance. But he checks the Fox and Friends box and that's what really matters.

If we rename it the US Patriot Convention, he'd do it.

It is really funny that the best path to a high ranking position in government is to appear on Fox and Friends.

There's a small chance RFK Jr. doesn't get confirmed, but my guess is everybody sails through. The GOP Senate is too terrified of Trump and/or supportive of the nonsense.

Within a few years, Donald is going to enable Americans to say the N word freely!

Trump is the best at naming things. No one knows more about naming things than Trump. Today he announced he's creating the EXTERNAL revenue service.

GOP deciding to ignore the CBO score and say their massive bill doesn't add to the deficit so that it can pass through reconciliation.

Looks like Bitcoin users will get their welfare checks on day 1 maybe.


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/t...stockpile.html

The funny thing is, the logic they're using is that since these tax cuts already exist and they're merely extending them that it's a cost already calculated. One GOP congressman compared it to deciding to keep your netflix subscription.

DOLA

Republicans are mad and complaining that Michele Obama is skipping the inauguration.

I'm sure if she was a former president and skipped the inauguration because her failed attempt to overthrow the government failed they'd be ok with her skipping out.

There's RedNote now.

Fair odds that Xi will restrict RedNote to US before US does it.

Sometimes you gotta swallow your pride and do what you gotta do to save your bacon.

Just a moment...

Soooo.... the guy who wrote that weird NYT op-ed a few months ago calling for the dismissal of charges against Trump, in part by stating/rationalizing, "[a] central pillar of American democracy is that no man is above the law. But Mr. Trump isn’t an ordinary man," just got indicted for tax evasion.

This from a noted Supreme Court practitioner, Harvard law school professor, and Al Gore attorney. Seemed odd at the time. Now it seems this "ordinary man" might have seen his indictment coming and decided to get on Trump's good side like so many other people for whom Trump can, and has, pulled some strings once they prove their loyalty.

Interesting, ain't it?

Guess lil Donny won't have to worry about the crowds at his inauguration being historically small... like his hands and dick... again....

Donald Trump moves inauguration indoors due to severely cold weather | Donald Trump inauguration | The Guardian

A frozen chill across DC on inauguration day.

Absolutely no irony here.

Forecast says high of 23 on Monday in DC. That ain't warm but laughable to call that "severely cold.'"

Guess it’s all relative but 23F is pretty darn cold. Article also said 8F with wind chill.

And 9 degrees that night.
And snow the night before is expected apparently

Yeah, my weather app has 8 as the high "feels like" for that day where I am, and that's in the morning, going down from there. I wouldn't be keen on being outside.

We don't want another William Henry Harrison here.

Well....

Let's explore this deeper.

we don't not want it either...

Trump got pneumonia and died because he stayed outside counting the number of people in the crowd and kept having to start over once he hit 9.

Trump selling his own crypto with disbursements over the next three years is probably the single most corrupt thing any President has ever done.

And nothing will come of it.

Perfect timing for Yellen. It's that feeling I always got when I rolled off a project ... it's now someone else's problem.

US to hit debt ceiling Tuesday, starting Congress’ countdown clock | CNN Business

Looks like the deadline is Mar 14 with the "extraordinary measures"


Looking forward to the fight and the compromise. Hope it stops the bleeding ... but doubt it, best is probably slows it down.

Maybe we can learn something from Argentina.

I get US has more levers to pull, time, and we don't want to go as draconian as Milei, but good to see a politician doing this. From what I've read in the reddit, still a lot of pain & suffering happening so not out of the woods yet. Fascinating experiment going on there.

reuters.com

Well I wouldn't want to model the US on Argentina yet. The inflation rate is still over 100% and the poverty rate is over 50%.

Of course not. They elected an even bigger headcase than Trump.

But how are the wealthy doing? I mean, in an oligarchy that's all that matter right?

I'm willing to give him some time and I generally think a free economy is better than the Peronism they've done previously, but I don't care about a budget surplus if half the country is living in poverty.

dola

Trump's meme coin now accounts for 90% of his net worth.

Clear securities fraud when a coin launches and 80% of the coins are owned by the creator and other insiders. This is an example of why people don't take crypto seriously and why the SEC has been trying to crack down on it. Unfortunately, the creator of the coin will soon have control over the SEC and is immune from prosecution.

If Trump can use an executive order to overturn a law passed by Congress and signed by the previous president, what stops him from doing that whenever he wants?

The law itself specifically provided for the President to suspend enforcement for 90 days. It's literally baked in.

(parsing whether the conditions to invoke that provision is a different discussion IMO)

My understanding, from Tom Cotten among others, is that the 90 extension had to happen before the law went into effect and required specific benchmarks.

Trump's coin crashed over 40%...

And Melania dropped her own coin.

They're going to steal everything they can from their supporters.

The meme coins are so beyond egregious they beget some new word for their audacity. And more scary than fleecing their sheep (which has been going on for a decade and was always going to continue) is that this is clearly a vehicle for even more quid pro quo. Those sheep don't have 56 billion to prop this piece of shit up so quickly, and yeah of course a bunch of that money is also crypto degens getting in on the pump but I'm sure another good chunk is just payment for future favors from bad actors world wide.


So, so gross.

Will be interesting to see what happens when Trump tries to end birthright citizenship with an executive order. The Constitution is completely clear on this but I expect at least three SCOTUS votes to support an EO.

Tech CEOs on the dais with Trump while governors are sent to overflow room. Everything is for sale with Trump, including and first America and democracy.

The person on a meme coin should be P.T. Barnum…

Don't care.

But can you please send a team of investigative reporters into Area 51 and give them total access!

Can you imagine the Q storm if a Dem took the oath without touching the Bible?

Can't have burst in flames on the first day.

This is how government has been for some time now. To Trump's credit, he doesn't pretend it's anything otherwise. I prefer it being out in the open like this than pretending they aren't all bought and paid for.

Um, did Elon really Sieg Heil during the inauguration? I just saw a clip and it looks bad. There has to be another context.

Eh, it's nothing. Just a tech bro salute. You're taking it completely out of context, surely.

He's even awkward as a nazi.

No way @elonmusk hit the Seig Heil on national TV in 4K. Welcome to 2025. pic.twitter.com/zxxuDlSN7N

— 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 ॐ 𝐃𝐔𝐃𝐄 (@MlSTERDUDE) January 20, 2025

Least racist apartheid South African

3 lawsuits filed questioning the legality of DOGE during the inauguration.

No. And you'd be extremely disappointed with the results if they did.

Department of Government Efficiency. With 2 bosses, not one. Because that's efficient.

Vivek gets canned 3 hours into the trump admin. It’s amazing how none of them have learned he will always turn on you at some point.

New money and old money don't mix.

Now Area 52 on the other hand ...

Looks like I picked the wrong day to want to watch the local news.

Me too, Kysrup. I'm wanted to see latest on the snow coming in. Could care less about this stuff.

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That's like 0.1 Scaramucci's. I think that's a Trump administration record.

Conservative spin has been to either edit around it so they're not showing it or claim that it's a Roman salute, which is what Mussolini claimed it was when Italy started using it, so that doesn't make it any better.

Pre-Trump he'd already have been on a plane back to South Africa because he's so toxic. Now he gets a defacto promotion by firing the brown person he was sharing responsibilities with.

Like 10 minutes of news, but make sure Wheel of Fortune starts on time!

Yes, the Roman Salute was nicknamed the Fascist Salute in the 20th century, I thought.

In a vacuum maybe you could believe the spin, but given his platforming of Nazis, his support of German neo-Nazis, his repeated attacks on people of color, etc...

Yeah, the guy spends 10 hours a day boosting actually Nazis and his family was part of a Nazi adjacent party back in the day. Maybe he got overly excited in the moment but he knew exactly what he was doing.

WHat the fuck is up with this political commercial from Trump during the game?

Lots of busy lawyers & courts for the foreseeable future.

Something about don't tickle pheasants

Even the Anti-Defamation League is bowing down. "Awkward gesture" my ass.

Back in the 80's and 90' the ADL ran a spy ring on American activists who were protesting apartheid South Africa. They paid police officers and shared the information with various countries and sent veiled threats to protestors. So them running cover for an over Nazi salute is more on brand with what they've become. They haven't been a civil rights organization since like the 60's.

The winners get to write the history books. So I guess that means Nazis, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were the good guys after all? They were the true heroes of J6, and Elon's Nazi salute shows us exactly what they're all about.

It's going to be a long 4 years.

I mean ... TBF, I would have looked too. This meme is going to be out there forever

Mark, you little motorboatin' sonuvabitch

I find some slight joy in the fact that nearly all of our employees that had part time telework agreements that Trump just killed voted for him.

I think a lot of people with an "he won't do that to ME" attitude are in for a rude awakening.

This won't last long because Trump doesn't have that level of authority over union members. Until this gets straightened out, though, they can't telework is the directive we were given this morning.

A friend of mine just told me about this. She told me that her supervision has already told them that they do not currently have room to house all of the teleworkers at their employment location in St Pete at the moment. Also, the 20-30 folks who need to come in from Orlando to St Pete are not at all pleased by this development. I suggest my fellow vets get those disability claims in sooner rather than later just in case the average wait time goes beyond the current 155 days.

Anyone got some commercial real estate for rent/sale for the federal government to use?

Nazi salutes, pardoning criminals who attacked the US Capitol, firing a member of a government department that you had tapped to lead.

All within 24 hours.

We are SO back America! 4 more years to make the world jealous of what we've got.

Where are you getting 4 more years from? I do not think he will ever leave office and nor do i believe democrats will ever get back in power unless we have some sort of collapse people blame on the right or Trump