Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Friday afternoon that the company is creating a new &#8220;hardcore litigation department&#8221; that will directly execute lawsuits against opponents.
The statement from Musk comes after the company was removed from S&amp;P 500 ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Index because &#8220;because of issues including claims of racial discrimination and crashes linked to its autopilot vehicles,&#8221; Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/tesla-removed-sp-500-esg-index-autopilot-discrimination-concerns-2022-05-18/">reported</a>. &#8220;Factors contributing to its departure from the index included Tesla&#8217;s lack of published details related to its low carbon strategy or business conduct codes, said Margaret Dorn, S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices&#8217; head of ESG indices for North America.&#8221;
&#8220;Tesla is building a hardcore litigation department where we directly initiate &amp; execute lawsuits,&#8221; Musk tweeted. &#8220;The team will report directly to me.&#8221;
Musk said that he commits to never seek victory in a just case against Tesla, even if the company is likely to win, and that he will never surrender a case against the company that is unjust, even if the company is likely to lose.
&#8220;Looking for hardcore streetfighters, not white-shoe lawyers like Perkins or Cooley who thrive on corruption,&#8221; Musk continued. &#8220;There will be blood.&#8221;
Musk was in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-responds-to-sexual-misconduct-allegations-from-flight-attendant-issues-a-challenge-to-her">news</a> this week after a story broke yesterday about an incident that allegedly happened at one of his other companies, SpaceX, where a female flight attendant accused him of sexual misconduct.
Business Insider <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/spacex-flight-attendant-said-elon-221749528.html">reported</a> that a flight attendant who worked as a contractor for SpaceX’s corporate jet fleet accused Musk of exposing himself to her several years ago, touching her, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
“For the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,” Musk said on Twitter. “But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me ‘exposed’ – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened.”
Musk said that the “friend” in the story who reportedly gave details of the alleged incident to Business Insider “is a far left activist/actress in LA with a major political axe to grind.”
The report said that the company settled the claim for $250,000.
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro responded to the story by writing: “That amount of money for a settlement of this sort is absolutely de minimis, and everyone who understands corporate law knows this.”
“In other words, when you sue one of the most valuable people on earth and get a settlement of $250,000, that’s nearly always just the guy getting rid of something he considers a nuisance, not an admission of guilt,” Shapiro added.
Musk has warned repeatedly on Twitter in recent days that “political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming months” in response to him buying Twitter. “Watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold,” Musk added.
This is a developing news story; refresh the page for updates.

Elon Musk Visits Germany

Elon Musk Announces New ‘Hardcore Litigation’ Team Made Up Of ‘Streetfighters’: ‘There Will Be Blood’

Elon Musk Announces New ‘Hardcore Litigation’ Team To Execute Lawsuits Against Opponents

Big Tech

Elon Musk

Tesla

Twitter

Freedom of speech is so important to us as Americans our founders made it one of our most foundational liberties. 
According to the First Amendment, 
<blockquote>“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press&#8230;”</blockquote>
But should all speech be permitted? Is that the American way?
What if someone spreads defamatory lies about you, claiming that you were responsible for the spread of COVID in your community, giving out your home address, posting pictures of your children, calling for violence against you and your family, and instructing people how to burn down your house? Should that speech be permitted in the public square?
What kind of speech should be allowed on social media? All speech of all kinds?
The hysterical reaction of many on the left to Elon Musk’s pending purchase of Twitter reveals the degree to which free speech is a one-way street for them. To paraphrase their words, We can speak freely, since we are enlightened truth-tellers. But ignorant haters like you must be silenced! 
As I <a href="https://askdrbrown.org/library/university-campuses-it-free-speech-me-not-thee">wrote</a> recently with reference to the campuses of America, it is free speech for me but not for thee.
Yet as far as ensuring that social media platforms are free and fair to all, an <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/editorials/ct-editorial-elon-musk-twitter-facebook-barack-obama-hillary-clinton-20220502-gan5wamrsvcjde226e23kqvpr4-story.html">editorial</a> in the Chicago Tribune was correct in stating that when it comes to Elon Musk heralding free speech on Twitter, “He’ll find the devil is in the details.”
That has proven to be absolutely true, but not in a way that is unique to Musk or Twitter at all. Instead, these are the perennial legal questions that are constantly addressed by the courts.
For example, the Freedom Forum Institute <a href="https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/about/faq/which-types-of-speech-are-not-protected-by-the-first-amendment/">asks</a> the question, “Which types of speech are not protected by the First Amendment?”
Their answer is that, “Although different scholars view unprotected speech in different ways, there are basically nine categories.”
These nine categories are: Obscenity; Fighting words; Defamation (including libel and slander); Child pornography; Perjury; Blackmail; Incitement to imminent lawless action; True threats; Solicitations to commit crimes.” (For further details, see <a href="https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-type-of-speech-is-not-protected-by-the-first-amendment-34258">here</a> and <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does">here</a>.)
Obviously, each of these categories requires further definition and description. But the simple point is this: freedom of speech does not mean that all speech of all kinds is protected under the First Amendment. Very few of us are advocating for that.
But we do believe that the vast majority of speech should be permitted and, more importantly, that the playing field should be level and the rules be the same for everyone. 
That is what matters most, and that is where Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms have failed the most miserably. The playing field has been anything but equal and everyone has not been allowed to play by the same rules. (For detailed documentation, see my book <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Silencing-Lambs-Ominous-Culture-Overcome/dp/1629999849/ref=pd_ybh_a_sccl_2/138-7824061-8776029?pd_rd_w=2LI1h&amp;pf_rd_p=48b4f440-2099-4e34-afeb-210417d3bf51&amp;pf_rd_r=H88PFYZNB4RKZ81D3HWC&amp;pd_rd_r=ee5c6eda-ebb1-4b4a-a77e-afba37a73594&amp;pd_rd_wg=v9Nlb&amp;pd_rd_i=1629999849&amp;psc=1">The Silencing of the Lambs</a>.)
Seriously now, when you can get <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/599051-twitter-suspends-babylon-bee-for-misgendering-rachel-levine/">banned from Twitter</a> for stating a biological fact (such as, “Richard ‘Rachel’ Levine is a biological male”), something is terribly amiss. 
Or when, as a professional psychologist, you permanently lose your YouTube channel for sharing peer-reviewed documentation about homosexual men whose same-sex attractions were lessened through trauma therapy, something is very wrong. (For the record, the respected psychologist in question, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, Jr., was <a href="https://www.reintegrativetherapy.com/youtube-cancels-psychological-science-calls-it-hate-speech">banned for hate speech</a>.)
And it is here that, as far as I can tell, Elon Musk has this correct. He wants neutrality and he wants fairness under the law, as he tweeted on April 26:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. 
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. 
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519036983137509376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So, should Holocaust deniers and inciters to violence be allowed on Twitter? If their speech is protected under the First Amendment, yes. If not, no.
If it is considered legal by the courts, meaning, these people could circulate their views in newspapers or books or pamphlets, then they should be able to circulate those same views online. If their speech is illegal, then it should not be allowed on online platforms.
Of course, there will always be gray areas, and it will be impossible for perfect neutrality to be maintained, given human nature. And decisions will be made to err in one direction or another (too much freedom or too little freedom). And any individual platform should be able to dictate what it chooses to ban. (For example, my ministry chooses to ban profanity on all our social media platforms.)
But when it comes to social media platforms claiming neutrality and presenting equal guidelines for all, things have gotten drastically out of whack.
In that light, it shouldn’t be hard to reverse Twitter’s steady, at times radical, shift towards the left. And, as Musk is navigating these muddy waters himself, his simple dictum has lots of truth: “Is someone you don’t like allowed to say something you don’t like? If that is the case, then we have free speech.”
Let the real debates begin.
Dr. Michael Brown (<a href="http://www.askdrbrown.org/">www.askdrbrown.org</a>) is the host of the nationally syndicated <a href="http://www.lineoffireradio.com/">Line of Fire</a> radio program. He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries and is the author of 40 books. Connect with him on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AskDrBrown">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/DrMichaelLBrown">Twitter</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbINn3x-intLp88Zrf8acpg">YouTube</a>.

Brown – We Welcome Holocaust Deniers and Inciters to Violence to Social Media Platforms in the Name of Free Speech_

Should We Welcome Holocaust Deniers And Inciters To Violence To Social Media Platforms In The Name Of Free Speech?

Free Speech

Holocaust

Readers Pass

Elon Musk responded late on Thursday to a report claiming that his aerospace company, SpaceX, settled a sexual misconduct claim that was made against him by a female flight attendant by saying that the accusations that the woman made were &#8220;untrue.&#8221;
Business Insider <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/spacex-flight-attendant-said-elon-221749528.html">reported</a> that a flight attendant who worked as a contractor for SpaceX’s corporate jet fleet accused Musk of exposing himself to her several years ago, touching her, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
&#8220;For the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,&#8221; Musk said on Twitter. &#8220;But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me &#8216;exposed&#8217; – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened.&#8221;
Musk said that the &#8220;friend&#8221; in the story who reportedly gave details of the alleged incident to Business Insider &#8220;is a far left activist/actress in LA with a major political axe to grind.&#8221;
The report said that the company settled the claim for $250,000.
The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ben Shapiro responded to the story by writing: &#8220;That amount of money for a settlement of this sort is absolutely de minimis, and everyone who understands corporate law knows this.&#8221;
&#8220;In other words, when you sue one of the most valuable people on earth and get a settlement of $250,000, that&#8217;s nearly always just the guy getting rid of something he considers a nuisance, not an admission of guilt,&#8221; Shapiro added.
Musk has warned repeatedly on Twitter in recent days that “political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming months” in response to him buying Twitter. “Watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold,” Musk added.
The flight attendant told her friend that Musk, who is the wealthiest man in the world, asked her to come to his room during the flight “for a full body massage” and that when she arrived, he was naked and that he propositioned her during the massage and offered to buy her a horse.
The flight attendant reportedly did not engage in any sexual acts and claims that work began to dry up after the alleged incident.
The flight attendant told her friend that she felt she was being “pushed out and punished for refusing to prostitute herself.”
The report said that SpaceX has in-house massage therapists as a perk for executives, and that the flight attendant was encouraged by superiors to get professional training.
“They encouraged her to get licensed as a masseuse, but on her own time, on her own dime,” the friend said. “They implied that she would get to fly more often if she were to do this because she’d be able to give Elon proper massages. I thought that was kind of strange because — you weren’t hired to be a masseuse. You were hired to be a flight attendant. And if Elon likes massages, then he should be paying for you to go to masseuse school. But she was just so happy and eager to have the job and be able to travel.”
Musk is reported to have personally attended a session with a mediator to resolve the issue with the flight attendant, and the parties entered into “a severance agreement granting the attendant a $250,000 payment in exchange for a promise not to sue over the claims.”
The agreement also reportedly “included restrictive non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses that bar the attendant from ever discussing the severance payment or disclosing any information of any kind about Musk and his businesses, including SpaceX and Tesla.”

The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” – Arrivals

Elon Musk Responds To Sexual Misconduct Allegations From Flight Attendant, Issues A ‘Challenge’ To Her

Sexual Misconduct

SpaceX

The media thinks Twitter finally has Elon Musk over a barrel. After agreeing to buy the social media giant, he’s now holding up the deal while trying to discover what percentage of Twitter users are really robots. The media reports that  Twitter might <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/twitter-says-committed-enforcing-elon-034301886.html"> force Musk to go ahead with the deal</a>, and if he doesn’t, he could pay<a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/17/elon-musk-wants-sec-to-probe-twitters-daily-user-numbers/">  over a billion dollars in penalties</a>.
But the media has it backwards. It’s Elon Musk who’s doing the right thing and has all the power. He has Twitter between a bot and a hard place – not the other way around.
I say this as a tech CEO who’s negotiated hundreds of business deals over the past decade. The only good deals are based on full honesty and transparency. Yet the more we learn about Twitter, the more it looks like the company could be holding back the truth. Musk, and the rest of America, are rightly wondering: What percentage of Twitter is totally fake?
If you listen to the company, the answer is essentially: there is nothing to see here. In legally binding federal filings, Twitter has said that<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/17/elon-musk-twitter-deal-proof-bots/"> only 5% of its users are bots</a>. Yet at times, it<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/17/elon-musk-twitter-deal-proof-bots/"> also says the number</a> “could be higher.” That’s the sort of statement that demands to be unpacked, yet to date, Twitter has failed to do so. What’s worse, this week it<a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/twitter-fake-accounts-bots-parag-agarwal-elon-musk/2528301/"> refused to make public how it reached that 5% claim</a>.
This is totally unacceptable, especially for someone who wants to buy the company at the<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/twitter-says-committed-enforcing-elon-034301886.html"> enormous cost of $44 billion</a>. Twitter might be deliberately lying, completely incompetent, or maybe both. No wonder Musk is seeking answers.
He&#8217;s asking the right question. Basically anyone who’s ever used Twitter already knows that huge numbers of users are bots, and based on my own experience on the platform, I’d say the real number is well over 5%. Everyone I’ve ever talked to says the same thing. Sure enough, independent research has found that<a href="https://sparktoro.com/blog/sparktoro-followerwonk-joint-twitter-analysis-19-42-of-active-accounts-are-fake-or-spam/"> about 20% of active Twitter users</a> are either fake accounts or spam.
The real total may be even higher. Musk himself has drawn attention to an audit finding that<a href="https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/social-media-news/elon-musk-reacts-to-report-claiming-half-of-joe-bidens-22-mn-twitter-followers-are-fake-articleshow.html"> half of President Biden’s 22 million followers are fake</a>. A similar process found that<a href="https://sparktoro.com/blog/sparktoro-followerwonk-joint-twitter-analysis-19-42-of-active-accounts-are-fake-or-spam/"> about 70% of Musk’s followers</a> may not be “authentic, active” Twitter users. How can that be, if Twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1526237583058952192"> deletes half a million fake accounts every day</a> as it claims it does?
The media thinks Musk’s fake followers are hypocritical, but that’s not his fault. It only proves his point that Twitter needs to come clean. If it can’t figure out who’s following the leader of the free world, to say nothing of its future owner, there&#8217;s a low chance Twitter knows what’s happening on the rest of the platform. 
Elon Musk has every right to demand the truth. If it turns out that Twitter has more fake users than it admits, he also has every right to demand a lower price before buying the company.
Here’s my suggestion: For every 1% of Twitter users beyond 5% that are fake, Musk should pay 1% less. So if he’s right that 20% of accounts are bots, then he should pay 15% less. (Personally, I’d demand an even steeper discount, given Twitter’s track record of censorship. Violating free speech doesn’t deserve full price.) 
One thing’s for sure: Twitter needs Elon Musk more than Elon Musk needs Twitter. The total lack of clarity around bots is just the latest proof that the social media giant is poorly run. It desperately needs a real visionary and true entrepreneur at the helm. Only then will it reach its true potential. And Elon Musk has the drive and desire to make Twitter what it should have been all along: A place for people and free speech, not bots and Big Tech censorship.
Peter Rex is founder and CEO of Rex, which builds and invests in tech companies.

Readers Pass – Rex – Elon (TBD)16×9

Twitter Is Between A Bot And A Hard Place

Elon Musk&#8217;s SpaceX, an aerospace company that he created, reportedly paid a woman $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against him stemming from an alleged incident several years ago.
Business Insider <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/spacex-flight-attendant-said-elon-221749528.html">reported</a> that a flight attendant who worked as a contractor for SpaceX&#8217;s corporate jet fleet accused Musk of exposing himself to her, touching her, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
Musk said that there was &#8220;a lot more to this story&#8221; and that if he &#8220;were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light.&#8221;
Musk said that the story was a &#8220;politically motivated hit piece.&#8221;
Musk has warned repeatedly on Twitter in recent days that &#8220;political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming months&#8221; in response to him buying Twitter. &#8220;Watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold,&#8221; Musk added.
The flight attendant told her friend that Musk, who is the wealthiest man in the world, asked her to come to his room during the flight &#8220;for a full body massage&#8221; and that when she arrived, he was naked and that he propositioned her during the massage and offered to buy her a horse.
The flight attendant reportedly did not engage in any sexual acts and claims that work began to dry up after the alleged incident.
The flight attendant told her friend that she felt she was being &#8220;pushed out and punished for refusing to prostitute herself.&#8221;
The report said that SpaceX has in-house massage therapists as a perk for executives, and that the flight attendant was encouraged by superiors to get professional training.
&#8220;They encouraged her to get licensed as a masseuse, but on her own time, on her own dime,&#8221; the friend said. &#8220;They implied that she would get to fly more often if she were to do this because she&#8217;d be able to give Elon proper massages. I thought that was kind of strange because — you weren&#8217;t hired to be a masseuse. You were hired to be a flight attendant. And if Elon likes massages, then he should be paying for you to go to masseuse school. But she was just so happy and eager to have the job and be able to travel.&#8221;
Musk is reported to have personally attended a session with a mediator to resolve the issue with the flight attendant and the parties entered into &#8220;a severance agreement granting the attendant a $250,000 payment in exchange for a promise not to sue over the claims.&#8221;
The agreement also reportedly &#8220;included restrictive non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses that bar the attendant from ever discussing the severance payment or disclosing any information of any kind about Musk and his businesses, including SpaceX and Tesla.&#8221;

Woman Makes Sexual Misconduct Claim Against Elon Musk

Woman Who Made Sexual Misconduct Claim Against Elon Musk Given $250,000 In Severance Agreement

Elon Musk followed up Wednesday to remarks that he made earlier in the week about voting Republican in the upcoming election, saying that he could no longer vote for the Democratic Party because it had become consumed with hate.
&#8220;I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically – overwhelmingly,&#8221; Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-announces-hes-switching-to-vote-republican">said</a> on Tuesday. &#8220;Like, I&#8217;m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election, I will.&#8221;
Musk said Democrats were controlled by unions, which he said was &#8220;just another form of monopoly,&#8221; and class-action lawyers.
Musk explained on Wednesday why he voted for Democrats in previous elections and why he can no longer support them moving forward.
&#8220;In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party,&#8221; Musk tweeted. &#8220;But they have become the party of division &amp; hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
But they have become the party of division &amp; hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.
Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold … 🍿
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526997132858822658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk weighed in on the 2024 presidential election last week, taking shots at both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“Even though I think a less divisive candidate would be better in 2024, I still think Trump should be restored to Twitter,” Musk wrote on Twitter, later adding: “Biden’s mistake is that he thinks he was elected to transform the country, but actually everyone just wanted less drama.”
Musk has dominated the news cycle over the past several weeks after his offer to purchase Twitter for $44 billion was unanimously approved by Twitter&#8217;s Board of Directors. However, Musk recently said that the deal had been put &#8220;on hold&#8221; until he got more information about what percentage of accounts on the platform are spam accounts.
Musk has repeatedly gone after the political Left in recent years for a variety of issues ranging from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/seven-times-elon-musk-slammed-democrats-left-wing-policies-this-year">policy</a> to wokeness.
“[Wokeness] is a prevalent mind virus, and arguably one of the biggest threats to modern civilization,” Musk said late last year. “At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people a reason, it gives them a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue.”

Elon Musk Reveals Why He Will No Longer Vote For Democrats And Will Vote Republican

Elon Musk: Democrats ‘Have Become The Party Of Division And Hate,’ I Cannot Support Them And Will Vote Republican

2022 Election

2022 Midterms

Democratic Party

Republican Party

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>&#8216;s cars don&#8217;t fume, but he sure does.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tesla">Tesla</a> chief blasted Wall Street&#8217;s &#8220;phony social justice warriors&#8221; Wednesday after his electric car company was kicked off a stock index for companies deemed environmentally and socially conscious.
The S&amp;P 500 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/esg-the-invisible-fist-of-the-economy">ESG</a> index is part of the &#8220;environmental, social, and governance&#8221; movement among global investors. It dropped Tesla just as Musk, increasingly at odds with leftists, declared he intends to vote Republican going forward.
&#8220;ESG is a scam,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526958110023245829?s=20&amp;t=fBLYW69QQxx2-Cb3FJ26wg">Musk tweeted</a>. &#8220;It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Exxon is rated top ten best in world for environment, social &amp; governance (ESG) by S&amp;P 500, while Tesla didn’t make the list!
ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526958110023245829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk noted that oil giant Exxon is lauded by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/esg-woke-capitalism">ESG crowd</a>, while his own company claims to be reducing the world&#8217;s dependence on fossil fuels.
&#8220;Exxon is rated top ten best in world for environment, social &amp; governance (ESG) by S&amp;P 500, while Tesla didn’t make the list!&#8221; Musk added.
The S&amp;P wrote in a <a href="https://www.indexologyblog.com/2022/05/17/the-rebalancing-act-of-the-sp-500-esg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a> the move was made because of complaints about working conditions at Tesla’s California factory and the company&#8217;s inadequate response to an investigation relating to crashes linked to its autopilot feature.
“While Tesla may be playing its part in taking fuel-powered cars off the road, it has fallen behind its peers when examined through a wider ESG lens,” S&amp;P Down Jones ESG chief Margaret Dorn wrote.
Also axed from the list were Warren Buffett&#8217;s Berkshire Hathaway, pharmaceutical company Johnson &amp; Johnson and Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook.
Musk might have expected the demotion, after writing earlier this month that ESG grades are unfair.
“Stop the outrageous false ESG assessments, where Tesla gets a bad grade, but an oil company can get a good grade,” Musk tweeted. “Total gaming of the system!”
ESG, championed by investment giant BlackRock&#8217;s CEO Larry Fink, seeks to impose woke social and environmental values on the global market by scoring companies based on how compliant they are.
“You have to force behaviors, and at BlackRock, we’re forcing behaviors,” Fink said in 2017.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;ESG is just a hate factory. It’s a factory for naming enemies, and we should not be allowing them to do that. When you think ESG, you should be thinking Chinese Communist Party.&quot;&#8211;Peter Thiel
&mdash; Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) <a href="https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1512213405511286784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Dorn offered hope to Musk that his company could get back into the good graces of the social justice index.
&#8220;So, while Tesla and others may not have been included in the index this year, the beauty of the annual rebalance is that they will once again have an opportunity to be reviewed for inclusion in years to come,&#8221; she wrote.

Elon Musk Fumes As Tesla Booted From S&P Social-Enviro Index That Lauds Exxon

One Twitter executive should be polishing his resume today, after incoming boss <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> caught Project Veritas&#8217;s latest undercover video, which shows the purported employee ridiculing the billionaire for having Asperger&#8217;s and believing in free speech.
The employee, identified by Project Veritas as Lead Client Partner Alex Martinez, mocks the billionaire, admits the social media platform censors users, and in an ironic twist, says he knows the undercover journalism organization is out to record Twitter employees and is being extra cautious.
&#8220;He has Asperger&#8217;s,&#8221; Martinez says on the recording, which appears to have been made at a bar or restaurant. &#8220;So he&#8217;s &#8216;special.'&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m like, &#8216;You&#8217;re &#8230; special needs. You&#8217;re literally special needs,&#8221; Martinez said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Twitter executive calling Elon Musk mentally handicapped, &quot;special&quot; and saying he has &quot;aspergers.&quot;
This Twitter exec goes on to say that Twitter is &quot;not here to give people free speech&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> is going to want to see this one too…<a href="https://t.co/dQZamaLiC8">pic.twitter.com/dQZamaLiC8</a>
&mdash; Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1526720931581894656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk, who revealed he has Asperger&#8217;s in an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57045770#:~:text=Tech%20entrepreneur%20Elon%20Musk%20has%20revealed%20he%20has,programme%20-%20to%20loud%20cheers%20from%20the%20audience.">appearance on &#8220;Saturday Night Live</a>&#8221; last year, responded on Twitter, and did not seem pleased.
&#8220;Twitter exec trashing free speech &amp; mocking people with Asperger’s,&#8221; he wrote, with a frown emoji.
Musk, whose $44 billion bid for Twitter is on hold as he demands an audit to determine how many of the platform&#8217;s active daily users are actually bots or spam accounts, has said he wants to take Twitter private to ensure that it functions as a &#8220;town square&#8221; for free speech. Nothing Martinez says on the undercover video is likely to convince Musk Twitter is not silencing people over their beliefs.
&#8220;The rest of us who have been here believe in something that&#8217;s good for the planet and not just to give people free speech,&#8221; Martinez says. &#8220;It&#8217;s gonna be hard for him to be like, &#8216;Uh, because people should be able to make their own decisions. It&#8217;s like people don&#8217;t know how to make a rational decision if you don&#8217;t put out correct things that are supposed to be out in the public.&#8221;
Martinez goes on to say Twitter must censor people to be fair.
&#8220;As an advertiser, as my business what I do every day and why I go out is like, we want [Twitter] to be as fair and transparent and accurate as possible and if that means there&#8217;s a level of censorship to make it correct, quote unquote. Again, and what does correct mean? I guess like, it just kind of goes into the idea of, like, what is correct?&#8221; he rambles.
The undercover reporter then reads to him from a company warning, pretending to be unfamiliar with his own organization.
&#8220;It says &#8216;groups like &#8220;Project Ve-ree-tas&#8217; are active right now,'&#8221; he says. &#8220;What the f*** is that?&#8221;
Martinez knows who Project Veritas is.
&#8220;It&#8217;s like some group that is trying to just out the employees,&#8221; Martinez replies. &#8220;Like, they&#8217;re trying to go out on dates with them, like this. And record them and then go sell it to The New York Times and say, &#8216;This is what the Twitter employee just said.'&#8221;
&#8220;You&#8217;re lucky you just met me organically, because otherwise, I would be questioning everything about you,&#8221; he adds.
The newest video followed one <a tabindex="0" href="https://twitter.com/pnjaban/status/1526343370146480128" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}">a day earlier</a> showing Twitter senior engineer identified as Siru Murugesan saying Twitter &#8220;does not believe in free speech.&#8221;
&#8220;Ideologically, it does not make sense, like, because we&#8217;re actually censoring the right and not the Left,&#8221; Murugesan tells an undercover Project Veritas journalist. &#8220;So everyone on the right will be like, ‘Bro, it’s okay to say it, just gotta tolerate it.&#8217; The left will be like, ‘No, I’m not gonna tolerate it. I need it censored or else I&#8217;m not gonna be on the platform.'&#8221;

Twitter Exec Mocks ‘Aspergers’ Musk In Secret Project Veritas Video: Report

Twitter Exec Mocks 'Aspergers' Musk In Secret Project Veritas Video: Report

Project Veritas

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk issued a warning on Monday about the rising economic power of China — and how the United States can remain competitive.
During an interview with the “All In” podcast, the world’s richest man said that Americans must “stop the infighting” amid the growing hegemony of China.
&#8220;What we’re going to see with China, for the first time that anyone can remember who is alive, is an economy that is twice the size of the U.S., possibly three times the size of the U.S., and it’s going to be very weird living in that world,&#8221; Musk explained, as reported by <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/elon-musk-tesla-warns-us-stop-punching-ourselves-face-compete-china">Fox Business</a>. &#8220;So, we better stop the infighting in the U.S. and stop punching ourselves in the face. There’s way too much of America punching itself in the damn face, it’s just dumb, and think about, hey, &#8216;We gotta be competitive here.’”
With $23 trillion in economic output last year, the United States presently <a href="https://www.bea.gov/news/2022/gross-domestic-product-fourth-quarter-and-year-2021-second-estimate#:~:text=Current%2Ddollar%20GDP%20increased%2010.1,(tables%201%20and%203).">boasts</a> the world’s largest economy. However, China — which <a href="https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-2021-gdp-performance-a-look-at-major-provinces-and-cities/">boasts</a> a $17.7 trillion economy and has <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview#1">averaged</a> 10% annual GDP growth since 1978 — continues to expand its consumer sector and draw attention from businesses in the Western world.
&#8220;There’s a new kid on the block that’s going to be two to three times our size,” Musk warned. “We better step up our game and stop infighting.&#8221;
Amid the rise of China, Musk urged American businesses to stand down from political controversies. &#8220;The point of a company is to produce useful products and services for your fellow human beings,&#8221; Musk said. &#8220;It is not some political gathering place.&#8221;
Indeed, Musk has formerly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-condemns-rising-woke-trend-in-corporate-america">condemned</a> American companies’ efforts to make businesses more “socially conscious” — including Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), an investment and management philosophy that seeks to promote progressive causes in addition to maximizing shareholder returns.
Earlier this year, when software entrepreneur Marc Andreessen criticized ESG funds’ willingness to “make the weapons required to fight wars with hostile regimes we buy energy from” and simultaneous refusal to invest in energy companies, Musk pointed out that “ESG rules have been twisted into insanity.”
Musk, an independent voter, also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-announces-hes-switching-to-vote-republican">revealed</a> that he will begin to branch out and support Republican candidates. “I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically,” Musk acknowledged. “Like I’m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election I will.”
The billionaire has also been highly critical of President Joe Biden. After the commander-in-chief’s State of the Union address in March, for instance, Musk called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-hits-joe-biden-hard-after-state-of-the-union">attention</a> to Biden’s decision to ignore Tesla in favor of Ford and GM’s new electric vehicle ventures.
“Ford is investing $11B to build electric vehicles — creating 11,000 jobs across the country,” read a post from Biden’s Twitter account as the State of the Union speech concluded. “GM is making the largest investment in its history — $7B to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan.”
“Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles &amp; is investing more than double GM + Ford combined,” the billionaire entrepreneur responded as an “fyi to person controlling this twitter.”

‘We Gotta Be Competitive Here’: Elon Musk Issues Dire Warning About The Rise Of China, Pushes Back Against Corporate Wokeness

Elon Musk Warns About China's Rise: 'There's A New Kid On The Block'

China

Communist China

Economics

Economy

United States

Last month, Elon Musk shocked the world by suddenly becoming Twitter’s largest shareholder — then announcing that he had reached a $44 billion deal to purchase the social media platform in its entirety.
Musk — who also serves as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX — has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-elon-musk-becomes-twitters-largest-shareholder-after-shakeup-tease">promised</a> to “make significant improvements to Twitter” and has polled his followers on whether Twitter “rigorously adheres” to the principles of free speech. 
In interviews with The Daily Wire, several free speech experts and leaders of free speech advocacy groups suggested how Musk can maximize the new Twitter’s ability to protect users’ First Amendment rights.
‘A Major Shift’
Experts agreed that Musk’s purchase of Twitter changes the dynamic around government and corporate censorship of free speech.
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/staff/kara-frederick">Kara Frederick</a> — the director of the Tech Policy Center at <a href="https://www.heritage.org/">the Heritage Foundation </a>— told The Daily Wire that she is “hopeful” Musk’s public pronouncements in favor of free expression bode well for Twitter’s future.
“It shows he at least understands the fundamentals of the problem,” she noted. “The fact that the Twitter board had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this conclusion says all you need to know about the state of free speech on digital platforms.”
Frederick, who formerly led Facebook’s Global Security Counterterrorism Analysis Program and spent six years as a counterterrorism analyst at the Department of Defense, pointed out that governments are by no means the only actors able to encroach upon Americans’ liberties.
“Private, monopolistic corporations should be held accountable if they violate these liberties to the degree that Big Tech has violated them just during the past year,” she argued. “Recommended remedies should acknowledge this truth and reflect the imperative to protect Americans’ natural rights against abuses flowing from the consolidation of power—whether by the government, private corporations, or a combination of the two.”
“Fundamental to this imperative is an understanding that our rights are God-given, enshrined in our founding documents such as the Bill of Rights… and that our government exists to preserve them for its citizens, too,” Frederick added. “Second, when private companies actively work with the government to censor the speech of American citizens, they become quasi-state actors and should be treated as such.”
<a href="https://www.thefire.org/resources/fire-staff-speakers/greg-lukianoff/">Greg Lukianoff</a> — the president and CEO of the <a href="http://thefire.org/">Foundation for Individual Rights in Education</a> — called Musk’s takeover “a major shift.”
“It marks the first time the public really got to see how successful the multi-decade-long campaign to taint the term ‘free speech’ has been,” he explained. “For most of my life freedom to express your opinion was considered an unalloyed good, particularly on the Left. But free speech has been framed by many as ‘problematic’ on campus for 40 years now.”
Lukianoff — who authored New York Times bestseller “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Coddling-American-Mind-Intentions-Generation/dp/0735224897/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1522089709&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=coddling+of+the+american+mind&amp;dpID=41jvv-dr21L&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=thefireguides-20&amp;linkId=cde66e36be7e4a35786ad034775d771d">The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure</a>” — added that some progressive academics began opposing First Amendment rights in the decades after the modern free speech movement launched at Berkeley in 1964.
“Nominally it was in the name of going after hateful, racist, or sexist speech, but it proved to be an excuse to justify the new speech codes that, despite constantly being defeated in court, restrict the free exchange of ideas on campus,” he said. “Now, true believers of ‘enlightened censorship’ have moved on to positions of influence in the culture, and they believe that freedom of speech is part of the problem, not a necessary component for progress.”
Lukianoff observed that many opponents of Musk’s takeover are mimicking the tactics of campus leftists by expressing “unattributed concerns about how this will allow ‘hate speech’ on Twitter.”
Meanwhile, <a href="https://dc.hillsdale.edu/Profiles/Cherise-Trump/">Cherise Trump</a> — the executive director of <a href="https://speechfirst.org/">Speech First</a>, which works to protect students’ First Amendment rights on college campuses — noted that “free speech is once again at the forefront of political debate.”
“My concern is that the actual concept of free speech is now being characterized as undesirable,” she said. “Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is a threat to the increasingly dogmatic view that ‘free speech’ is bad. The severely negative response in some corners to Musk’s aspirations for open discourse evidences that one of the most fundamental and basic concepts we built this country on is now a political football.”
“It’s no secret at this point that Twitter’s algorithms targeted certain ideas and commentary and placed limitations on the exposure they got. This type of censorship leads down a dark path.”
‘The Left’s Meltdown’
In explaining leftists’ <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-clinton-official-elon-musks-vision-for-the-internet-is-dangerous-nonsense">negative reaction</a> to Musk’s takeover, Frederick noted that the outrage has revealed “exactly what they think about free speech.”
“Musk’s fight to take down Twitter’s censorship regime has exposed the platform’s leaders as anti-free speech ideologues more interested in silencing opponents and preserving their power than free expression or fiduciary responsibility,” she explained. “The Left’s meltdown has made clear that this fight is about free speech and whether a select few control the flow of information for millions.”
Lukianoff characterized the Left’s opposition to free speech as a “slow motion train wreck” that began on college campuses decades ago.
“Freedom of speech was the friend of activists in the ‘60s and was triumphant in the ‘70s. However, as the activists went from protesters to those in positions of power, they began to see freedom of speech as a burden and a nuisance, and as the older free speech stalwarts on the Left retired or were replaced, the newer generation of free speech skeptics took control,” he said. “The professoriate leans heavily to the Left — administrators even more so — but with often less appreciation for freedom of speech and academic freedom.”
These officials have accordingly “taught younger people that free speech is the argument of the bully, bigot, and robber baron,” Lukianoff added. 
‘Make Twitter Show Their Work’
How can Musk improve Twitter? According to Frederick and Lukianoff, Musk and other company leaders ought to be transparent and even-handed in their approach to the platform’s rules.
“Musk should commit Twitter to radical transparency. His announcement he will let President Trump back on Twitter is a signal that times are changing at the company,” Frederick said. “Make Twitter show their work when it comes to content moderation — past, present, and future. We can&#8217;t count on billionaires as free speech white knights in other cases, so platforms need both technical solutions and policy options.”
Lukianoff said that Twitter must refrain from engaging in viewpoint discrimination.
“Rules governing content should be clearly defined and consistently applied. And when it comes to restricting harassment or incitement, Twitter should make use of the actual definitions of these terms that exist in American case law,” he offered. “Something Twitter should police more are true threats. People can grow skeptical about free speech promises when doxxing and threats of violence aren&#8217;t punished.”
“But Twitter also needs to reframe the way people think about free speech,” he continued. “There&#8217;s an idea that the goal of free speech is to come to a platonic, objective understanding of truth, when, in reality, a huge advantage of free speech is simply knowing what people really think.”
‘It Is Orwellian’
Days after Musk announced his attempt to purchase Twitter, the Biden Administration’s Department of Homeland Security unveiled its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trying-to-intentionally-tank-for-the-number-one-pick-in-the-draft-conservatives-rip-bidens-disinformation-governance-board">Disinformation Governance Board</a>. Although the experts were hesitant to draw a direct line between the two events, they found the timing — and the administration’s overall approach toward wielding governmental power — to be disturbing.
“This follows a pattern of the Biden administration’s willingness to turn the national security apparatus inward on dissenting Americans,” Frederick said in reference to the Department of Justice’s willingness to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-whistleblowers-accuse-bureau-of-probing-parents-as-terrorist-say-gop-lawmakers">target parents of public school students</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-doj-to-establish-specialized-domestic-terrorism-unit">create a domestic terror unit focused on anti-government ideologies</a>. She also pointed toward a Department of Homeland Security bulletin calling the spreading of “mis- dis- and mal-information” on social media a <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-february-07-2022">“terrorist threat</a>.”
Lukianoff similarly remarked that the timing of the announcement was “uncomfortable.” 
“Mark Zuckerberg made an announcement a couple of years back that Facebook should not be the ‘arbiter of truth.’ There were a lot of people who unjustifiably gave Facebook incredible flack for that,” he commented. “The thing that stands in the way of perfectly policing disinformation is that none of us are omniscient — but an awful lot of us think we are. An open-ended mandate to police disinformation grants those in power an expansive ability to police speech and opinion. I will definitely be keeping a close eye on how that develops.”
Trump commented that Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board “depends on a disinterested public that wants to only hear ideas they agree with.”
“The administration is hoping the conservative invocations of Orwellian cliches fall on deaf ears,” she said in reference to conservatives <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-vows-to-challenge-biden-administrations-ministry-of-truth">branding the entity as the Ministry of Truth</a>, in reference to George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.”
“But it is Orwellian, and we must remember that George Orwell’s stories were based on the world around him.”
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Elon

‘Make Twitter Show Their Work’: How Elon Musk Can Ensure Twitter Protects Free Speech

Elon Musk, admitting he had voted &#8220;overwhelmingly&#8221; for Democrats in the past, has changed his mind.
Musk is registered as an independent voter; he announced the switch over video link at a tech summit in Miami, Florida, hosted by the All-In podcast.
&#8220;I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically,” Musk acknowledged. “Like I&#8217;m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election I will,” <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-vote-republican-election-twitter-1707224?utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1652776218-1">Newsweek</a> reported.
Musk&#8217;s metamorphosis from voting Democrat to voting Republican could have been documented by actions over the last two years.
In July 2020, Musk issued two tweets tweaking the Left. The first likely confounded members of the Left confident that their support for attacks on America, whether physical (riots, looting) or philosophical (the 1619 project) was shared by everyone in the so-called center of the political spectrum. Musk tweeted, “The left is losing the middle.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The left is losing the middle
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1287818109651431427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk followed 25 minutes later with another tweet attacking the father of communism, Karl Marx, writing succinctly, “Das Kapital in a nutshell,” followed by a picture of Marx with the statement in quasi-German, “Gib me dat for free.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Das Kapital in a nutshell <a href="https://t.co/mG44mMkitx">pic.twitter.com/mG44mMkitx</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1287824348460593154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In May 2020, Musk famously tweeted, “Take the red pill.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Take the red pill 🌹
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1262076474565242880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the film “The Matrix,” the hero, Neo, is offered a choice between a red pill and a blue pill; the red pill would free him from a dream-world imposed on humanity and let him see reality. Some conservatives aver that taking the “red pill” means for a former liberal or leftist to embrace the conservative philosophy. As an <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/liberals-sick-of-the-alt-left-are-taking-the-red-pill">opinion piece</a> in Fox News explained in 2017:
<blockquote>The mainstream media failed to see the rise of Donald Trump in 2016. Now it’s overlooking another grassroots movement that may soon be of equal significance— the growing number of liberals “taking the red pill.” People of all ages and ethnicities are posting YouTube videos describing “red pill moments”—personal awakenings that have caused them to reject leftist narratives imbibed since childhood from friends, teachers, and the news and entertainment media.</blockquote>
In April, Musk expressed his repugnance for those who would address war by using catch-phrases or words rather than action, reacting to a nightclub in Berlin that posted the word “PEACE” in giant letters while the war between Ukraine and Russia raged on. Musk tweeted, “They wrote PEACE on the wall at Berghain! I refused enter.”
He continued, “Peace. Peace? I hate the word. Those who do care about peace (myself aspirationally included) don’t need to hear it. And those who don’t care about peace? Well …”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Peace. Peace? I hate the word. Those who do care about peace (myself aspirationally included) don’t need to hear it. And those who don’t care about peace? Well …
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1510502229219938306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Tesla Gigafactory – Elon Musk

Elon Musk Announces He’s Switching To Vote Republican

Elon Musk Announces He's Switching To Voting Republican After 'Overwhelmingly' Voting Democrat In The Past

conservative

Republican

Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) spent nearly 20 years in Congress before leaving to become the CEO of former President Donald Trump’s media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, which launched the Truth Social platform earlier this year.
In an interview with The Daily Wire, Nunes reflected on his new role with Truth Social and what Elon Musk’s potential purchase of Twitter means for the platform
“We’re all for it,” Nunes said of Musk’s potential acquisition, adding that Truth Social’s purpose is “to give the American people their voice back and open the Internet back up to the world.”
“Having somebody like Elon Musk step up to the plate and taken on these tech tyrants is what we’re encouraging,” the former congressman added.
He went on to say that Truth Social is intended to be a true social networking platform, more like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, rather than Twitter, which he called “a global press release wire over the internet.”
“That’s not what we’re trying to be,” he said.
Nunes also called out numerous “fake news” stories surrounding Truth Social, including what was considered a rocky rollout that was actually a soft launch akin to beta testing. The waitlist that hundreds of thousands saw after signing up for the platform was intended to ensure the platform could handle everyone who wanted to sign up. The determination that it could handle that many users was made in late April, when the platform officially went live and the waitlist disappeared. Trump made an announcement about the platform opening fully during his April 23 rally in Ohio.
As for leaving Congress, Nunes noted how numerous media outlets speculated that he faced a tough re-election campaign when he announced his retirement from Congress in December 2021. CNN, for example, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/politics/devin-nunes-retiring/index.html">reported</a> at the time that Nunes “faced the threat of a more-Democratic district through redistricting ahead of next year&#8217;s midterms,” insinuating the congressman may be leaving before he loses his re-election.
Nunes also called this “fake news,” explaining that he jokes that he had “the best job on the planet [leading the House Intelligence Committee] before Donald Trump was elected.”
“Hardly ever were we out in the public. You would only hear from us when there was a terrorist attack or some international emergency,” Nunes told The Daily Wire. “And I went from that to the worst job when the entire committee was politicized for political purposes by the Left.”
Nunes was referring to the high-profile nature of the committee as Democrats investigated whether Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
But Nunes said he really decided to leave Congress because of Big Tech censorship, which he wrote about in his 2020 book, “Countdown to Socialism,” and spent the next year promoting around the country.
“If we don&#8217;t have basic communications in this country, we&#8217;re going to hit a very dark place,” Nunes said. “So when Donald Trump called me to take this job, I mean, I can&#8217;t run around and say this is the most important issue at the highest level, to not have a communications architecture for the American people, and then get the opportunity to go out and do it and not do it.”
Finally, Nunes spoke about special counsel John Durham, who is investigating those behind the Russia-collusion narrative. Nunes praised Durham for having a reputation as “a serious investigator bringing real changes,” noting that he had confidence in Durham early on specifically because there were no leaks, unlike special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which saw regular leaks to various news agencies that ended up being untrue and served only to harm the Trump administration.
“The question is, can the dirty cops, the [Hillary] Clinton campaign, people at the [Democratic National Committee], can they escape like rats off of a ship?” Nunes asked. “And [are] these other characters going to be indicted, or are they willing to spend time in jail to cover up for others? We’ll see.”

Menu