I am back to my OG blog, here at Tralfaz, and I will use this to take some swipes at pols and douchebag techbros, as well as anything that strikes my fancy.
Today, we’re going to skewer Elon Musk for being a ginormous man-child. There are plenty of topics to slag against Musk, but there are two that I will bring out today, his temper tantrum declaration that he will move all of his businesses to Texas from California, and him throwing his full support behind Trump for president in 2024 in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Of course, there are ample opportunities to bag on Musk, but these two will be the driver of this post.
Musk Claims he will move X and SpaceX to Texas
Here’s the gifted link, so you can read this for yourself. But, the TL;DR is that because Newsom signed a law protecting the privacy rights of Transgender youth, that is “forcing” Musk to take his marbles and go to Texas because that state is more betterer than the ucky California…
Musk said SpaceX will move its headquarters from Hawthorne, Calif., to its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Tex. He also said X, which is based in San Francisco, will relocate to Austin — a shift that was anticipated as the company has begun to offload its office space in the Mid-Market neighborhood.
The CEO of both companies blamed a California law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that bans school districts from requiring that teachers notify parents if their children changes their gender identification. The law also bars educators from sharing information with parents about a child’s sexual orientation. Musk said he previously made it “clear” to Newsom that “laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.”
The new law “does not take away or undermine parents’ rights,” Newsom’s office said in a statement. “Parents have a crucial role in discussions about a student’s LGBTQ+ identity, and [this law] does not prevent families from having these conversations.”
Aw, can you show me on this doll where you were hurt by Trans?
Seriously, the man ought to marry JK Rowling, as their Transphobia is a perfect match.
Can you imagine, you work in Hawthorne California, with Southern California weather and amenities (and you may not like California, but the white sand beaches, the second largest sports market in the country, culture, arts, multiple world class universities and a lot more) for Boca Chica, which is pretty remote, and while the scale of SpaceX operations there has caused some build out, it is still remote, rural, and not a great place to raise a family.
At least the ball fondlers that remain at Twitter1 will get to move to Austin. But if you think you will escape high housing costs and heavy traffic commutes in Austin, you will quickly be disabused of that fantasy.
All because Gavin Newsom had the temerity to sign a bill that makes it OK for schools (ok, mandates) to not nark on children as they discover their identity.
Sidebar: There is credible evidence that the trigger for his desire to buy Twitter was one of his progeny coming out as a Trans Woman and blaming the “woke mind virus” on Twitter for her “conversion”.
So, you see, he had no choice but to buy it to prevent others from coming out as Trans because of trending on Twitter.
While there is a tech scene in Austin, it is nowhere near as vibrant and resilient as in the SF Bay Area. That means that it is much easier to land on your feet and find a new job with the cauldron of tech startups and majors headquartered in the Bay Area than anywhere else. Thus they might prefer to quit and go a’huntin’ where there are jobs2.
And in SoCal, there are tons of aerospace companies, who are all rubbing their grubby hands together to snatch up any SpaceX talent who might not want to be in the south-eastern-most part of Texas.
Nah, if the SpaceX team doesn’t want the Bataan death march to Boca Chica, where the best (only) private school was built exclusively for SpaceX staffer’s children, and you enjoy the beach or bistro scene, Dodger dogs and the like, there are options.
Oh, one also has to wonder if a move to Boca Chica comes with a pay cut, as the cost of living there is significantly less than LA3. Perhaps Musk will use this to squeeze labor and benefits expenses. Yay, ain’t capitalism great?
All because of a single piece of legislation to provide trans youth with a semblance of privacy and agency by preventing schools from being mandatory narks.
Totes normal way to respond.
Musk commits to spending $45M per month on Trump PAC
Within seconds after the assassination attempt on Saturday, Musk formally endorsed Trump, and he committed to spending an eye-popping $45M per month to help Trump be elected.
This is a stark reversal from the spring when Trump summoned Musk to Mar a Lago to beg for cash, and Musk was like “nah bro, I’m good, I am not gonna endorse any candidate this cycle.
Much of the media at the time took this as a rare moment of rationality by the Billionaire. I was certain that he was just doing his usually waffly thing.
And he clearly was.
I am positive that the assassination attempt is just a convenient frame for this commitment, and it was just an excuse.
But 4 months, that is $180M in total to the bloated yam, that is enough to swamp Democratic efforts. That is game changing.
Alas, one has to wonder why the fuck he is going all-in on electing the climate change denying, EV-phobe, anti-free trade troll? Someone who doubled down at his acceptance speech at the RNC this week on how he will do everything in his power to undo the transition to electrification of the auto fleet.
One would think that Musk who lives and thrives on government subsides and tax breaks to drive adoption of his shitty electric cars4. In non-bizarro land, the TSLA stock would collapse if their CEO did something this public and this detrimental to the material health of the business, but it rose. Clearly the Muskrat Tesla-Pumpers are all in on the Kool-aid.
No, this is going to make the campaign a lot easier for Trump.
This is why we should be terrified. And the Democratic circular firing squad is sadly not an uncommon phenomenon to any long-time member of the party. Our big tent coalition means that we are our own worst enemy.
May the Lord have pity on our souls.
