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glenglish's avatar

The robber barons; the Second Gilded Age; the wholesale ripping off of the United States

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Dorothea is a Democrat's avatar

Wow, he does look like Beldar. This is one of our new overlords. Christ.

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Megan Macomber's avatar

All these Bro$ sound alike to me. The only reason they issue public rants like these is to tell us, the littles, that they own the power now, and we have to stop saying mean things (translation: the truth) about them. Or else.

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Vic's avatar

". . . you give the money away. Through that, you absolve yourself of all of your sins

Don't worry, Marc. People who actually work for a living will pay the income taxes you are avoiding. Or, under Republicans, the US will just run a deficit. Don't feel bad about your immoral choices and cock-eyed self-justifications.

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mzf's avatar

If you look up Marc Andreessen (almost as many repeat letters as Mississippi) in the Google you find that he really does look like one of the CONEHEADS (using cap letters to try and defeat spell and grammar check.)

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Miles vel Day's avatar

“As you and I both know, what that has become is basically a medicalized mental illness.”

Medicalized… illness?

The way you know billionaires are too powerful is not a single person who comes into contact with them is willing to tell them they’re a fucking idiot.

I doubt Andreesen was always a total idiot. (I mean, I’m sure he always had terrible social skills.) But being a vindictive billionaire will always turn you into one.

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Vic's avatar
Jan 20Edited

Oh, Douglas Rushkoff has. As a consultant to broligarchs planning their "escapes," Ruskhoff had to point out their stupidity. "I felt like I they paid me to be their intellectual dominitrix," he said on NPR.

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Regret's avatar

Thanks Gary, more of this type of anger please.

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OrdinaryJoe's avatar

Meet the posterboy for an 80% income tax bracket.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

Oh the rich should be universally beloved?

The Rochchilds would like a word. And their ancestors. The ones who lived.

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Vic's avatar

Read about the heinousness of J.P. Morgan, while he worked for Andrew Carnegie.

These men are evil misanthropes. Money poisons their minds and hearts.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

The idea that we should love rich people is fucking bizarre.

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Ward From Cali's avatar

Wow, I haven't thought much about Netscape in decades. Ya know, because it FAILED. Microsoft implemented their own version of all its good features and then AOL bought the husk of what was left when AOL was well along on its own voyage to humiliating failure.

If it weren't for the ground truth that in Tech there is ALWAYS someone even dumber than you who has access to billions and is willing to spend them all driving once-promising companies into the ground, Andreesen would be living under an overpass somewhere.

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Mary Hall's avatar

I remember those incessant AOL discs that were e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

On another topic, now that TikTok is shut down and Shitler has promised to rescue it when he is GodKing once again, isn't it odd that no other company will touch the platform other than the Eloon? And SCOTUS voted 9-0 to kill it! When was the last time they voted like that on anything? I loved TT but maybe they really are bad actors. Most of my favorite creators have migrated to YouTube and BlueSky. I thank Goddess for Yr Wonkette every day.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

Yes, Tiktok really is a bad actor. They suck down every single thing off your phone. They make Facebook look like nuns. They used Titktok to attack the election and support Trump. They use it to weaken alliances.

The prevalence of Tiktok and idiots who suck down that feed means that, for example, it is not possible for the US to move if Taiwan were invaded.

The people that are downloading the Little Red Book/Red Note literally do not get what might be not good about The Little Red Book. (Hint, google cultural revolution)

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Vic's avatar

Trump decided he likes it, now that it helped him distribute disinformation in his quest to compensate for a lifetime of being unloved.

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"M"'s avatar

He wouldn't have been unloved had he not been such a consistent sh*thead

Then of course - his father was a KKKlansman

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Ward From Cali's avatar

The government never submitted any evidence regarding TikTok’s alleged bad behavior, they did not want to disclose that information to the plaintiff's lawyers. This was decided purely on Constitutional grounds: Congress and the President have every right and power to decide when, if and how foreign entities are allowed to do business in the United States.

Look, you don't think Billionaires decide to become American citizens because they actually love this country, do you? It gives them the right to do business here.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

Zuck and Musk are shits but to compare them to the CCP which is literally actually committing genuine genocide is surreal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Uyghurs_in_China

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Ward From Cali's avatar

I'm trying hard to remember where I even mentioned Musk or Zuckerberg, let alone compared them to the CCP. I have to try hard because I didn't say anything of the kind.

All I did was point out that a 9-0 ruling by the Court against Tik Tok implies nothing about any allegations or evidence against them, classified or otherwise, because the Court did not hear any. This was solely a constitutional question over whether the Legislative and Executive branches have the power to ban a foreign corporation from doing business in the U.S. They do. It's a 9-0 slam dunk, not even a close call. But any evidence about Tik Tok's behavior or intelligence about its possible misuse was never before the Court. You can't infer anything about the factual basis for this ban on the decision.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

Don't be that way. You know this was Musk:

"Look, you don't think Billionaires decide to become American citizens because they actually love this country, do you? "

It would be necessary to read the technical discussions about TikTok data exfiltration, listen to the national security briefings, and generally do the reading. (Also watch the loons who would all get exercised about exactly the same photo at the same moment like a hive mind of insects.)

And the people comparing it to other platforms who are all like "omg they are the same" are almost as bad as the uniparty people. I am not saying you did that but it is extremely frustrating.

I would like to find some hope in that the Supreme Court recognized a legitimate state interest in privacy. But they are all such lawless fuckers I do not trust that hope.

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Ward From Cali's avatar

Sure, that description fits Elon Musk. A lot of others, too. Long before Musk was a rightwing propagandist you had Rupert Murdoch. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one is worse.

And frankly, I am not convinced that Tik Tok is “worse” than any other social media mega-corp, save that they are under the control of a potential enemy of the U.S. Facebook does it's best to profile every person on the planet, regardless of whether you use it. The propaganda bias at Twitter is blatant, and they financially support fascists far out of proportion to their actual engagement. Apps like Telegram enable actual terrorism. But none of these has gotten the kind of scrutiny that Tik Tok has, let alone anything like legal sanction. Of course, besides being owned by a Chinese corporation, Tik Tok is unique among these by being dominated by young people with liberal values. Progressive values, not to put too fine a point in it. And if you're not outraged by the Democratic establishment’s willingness to ally with fascists against progressives, then you’re part of the problem.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

"I am not convinced that Tik Tok is “worse” than any other social media mega-corp,"

So you think actual fucking genocide is fine, LGBT being illegal is fine, gulags are fine, because Facebook is bad.

"Of course, besides being owned by a Chinese corporation, Tik Tok is unique among these by being dominated by young people with liberal values. Progressive values, not to put too fine a point in it."

Who they convinced not to vote. And you think this is awesome.

"And if you're not outraged by the Democratic establishment’s willingness to ally with fascists against progressives,"

No I am outraged at progressives who are so incredibly busy shitting on Dems that they absolutely forget to oppose fascism.

And of course you are sucking down TikTok because that is who told you to be SOOO MAD AT DEMS and not to even fucking bother to fight the fascists.

You are a dangerous idiot.

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Ward From Cali's avatar

And you are sounding exactly like one of those “moderates” who think that the real enemies are young progressives, who are apparently subhuman monsters because they couldn't get excited about supporting a corrupt gerontocracy that seems to be more interested in desperately clinging to whatever remains of their power than stopping a Nazi takeover.

Mark Zuckerberg has decided that it's in his best interest to assist the Nazis. But yeah, let's all have a prolonged irrational freak-out about fucking China. Those yellow bastards are so dastardly and inscrutable, amirite?

As I type this, the top post here at Wonkette is about primarying collaborationist “Democrats,” many of whom voted for the TikTok ban because Zuck is an important donor who is intelligent enough to see the fucking obvious: TikTok is a powerful competitor and very bad for his bottom line. Too bad that there are Democrats who can't — or just WON'T — see what’s right on front of them.

And I strongly advise you to stop calling people pro-Genocide. It's a real asshole move.

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Goonemeritus's avatar

Start paying as large a percentage of your income in taxes as the average American and shut the fuck up you giant cock-waffle.

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Dee Whitman's avatar

If a so-called genius isn't smart enough to understand that being great in Field1 doesn't mean he'll be equally great in Field2, Field63, or any other field, then he ain't all that smart.

Taylor Swift and Beyonce, for ex., are creative innovators. Like Andreeson, they're great at what they do, and as a result they're also very rich. But I don't want them leading the government or opining on how govt should be run -- and unlike these arrogant tech boors (note that they're always bros/boors), Beyonce and Taylor are smart enough to know that they're not qualified to run a nation or opine on how to do so.

It sure would be great if these so-called smartest guys in the world would grasp that governance is ... >>whimper whimper<< ... HARD. Finding ways to address the competing needs of 330 million varied people who live on a vast landmass that in itself presents highly varied challenges is HARD. For ex., building more homes in an area with a dire shortage of them .... that also lacks sufficient water for the *existing* residents is a knotty problem. Specialist knowledge required!

Fkkkk these guys and the immeasurable harm they're doing to all of us.

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Liminal's avatar

“Expensive elite education turns everyone into newts! Uh, except me. I got better!”

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Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, Gary, and thanks to whomever decided the Coneheads were more appropriate than an actual photo of Andreessen. Dearest husbands Meccalopolis and I are about to head into the snowy wilds of farther upstate, where our tailor lives. She's going to alter his suit trousers for the wedding we're attending the first week of February, and fix the zipper on my down coat so I can wear it hiking. There will be no A Jet Age Sound on wioxradio.org tonight; we don't know whether or not someone will fill in or if it's just going to be a playlist. Remember, beloved Wonketteers, to be kind, especially to yourself, and please stay safe.

Slava Ukraini. 🌻🇺🇦💙💛

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Major Is My Spirit Animal's avatar

If at the next Davos Economic Forum there was a giant meteoric impact I'd mourn the loss of Davos but not give one shit that all the smug billionaire bastards got vaporized.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

Let us prayer for the medium-sized meteor.

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Chuck Dickens's avatar

I’m gonna run for president on the platform that once a year, we’ll determine who the richest man in America is, execute him on live television, and redistribute his assets to the bottom 50 percent.

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Goonemeritus's avatar

I figure I'm pretty safe for a while.

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Major Is My Spirit Animal's avatar

I'm going down to the County Election Board and vote for you tomorrow!

Oh yeah, Federal holiday - make that Tuesday.

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