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Raisi dismisses Biden 'free Iran' pledge after protest surge
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
4 19:11 swksvolFF [8] 
8 14:39 Secret Master [10] 
32 22:43 trailing wife [7] 
15 14:52 trailing wife [12] 
9 11:29 swksvolFF [10] 
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
America WILL still demand proof of Covid vaccination to enter the country in 2023 – making it the only country in the West
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • The TSA has extended the rule until at least January 8 2023 for all travelers

  • The US is one of the last countries to hold on to the rule, alongside China

  • It directly contradicts CDC docs treating unvaccinated and vaccinated the same

  • CDC's Dr Rochelle Walensky has admitted that vaccines can't prevent spread
The countries still requiring Covid vaccination to enter are: China, Angola, Libya, Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia, Yemen, Indonesia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Posted by: Gromble Dribble4342 || 11/05/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  USSA
Posted by: Wholet Spesh3665 || 11/05/2022 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Unless you walk in.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 11/05/2022 6:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Libya and Yemen... they really spoil any holiday fun.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 7:17 Comments || Top||

#4  I flew back earlier this week and nobody asked me anything. No declaration on check in or upon arrival at LAX.

Maybe United had my record from a previous overseas flight?? If so - kinda scary that the airlines keep that info.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 11/05/2022 8:04 Comments || Top||

#5  The 'Big PX' welcomes you Billy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 8:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Non-US citizens only.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 8:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Non-US citizens only.

Science!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 10:11 Comments || Top||

#8  It's really hard to admit you were wrong.
Posted by: Angstrom || 11/05/2022 10:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Unless, of course, you're a Guatemalan coming in at Eagle Pass. Then all that's required is a water jug and running shoes.
Posted by: ed in texas || 11/05/2022 10:58 Comments || Top||

#10  Oh, shucks, I just submitted the same article...sorry for my oversight...didn't mean to double-tap.

This does not apply to US citizens and "Green Card" holders. They dumped the antigen/PCR test requirement months ago (for ALL air travellers from overseas). In any case, it's embarrassing and pathetic that the US still requires this.

Meanwhile, the USSA is in great company:

The countries still requiring Covid vaccination to enter are: China, Angola, Libya, Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia, Yemen, Indonesia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 11/05/2022 11:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Duplicate deleted, DooDahMan. But the image you attached is perfect, so I moved it here. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/05/2022 11:49 Comments || Top||

#12  Did Rochelle Rochelle admit the Covid “vac” was complete shit before or after her supposedly double vaxed-triple boosted contracted the virus. TWICE.
Posted by: Lowspark || 11/05/2022 11:51 Comments || Top||

#13  Thumbs up, TW!
Posted by: DooDahMan || 11/05/2022 12:02 Comments || Top||

#14  Re#4 A friend of mines wife and daughter flew in From England a few weeks ago and they aren't vaxxed. Evidently they didn't have a problem either.
Posted by: Chris || 11/05/2022 12:39 Comments || Top||

#15  The difference between “may” and “shall”, then.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/05/2022 14:52 Comments || Top||


Government Corruption
Bombshell congressional report says FBI 'turned a blind eye' to Hunter Biden paying thousands 'to individuals involved in human trafficking and organized prostitution' and his dodgy foreign deals revealed on laptop in weeks before 2020 election
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee claim the FBI 'downplayed' Hunter Biden's foreign business deals in the weeks before the 2020 election

  • The allegations are detailed in the committee's 1,050-page report released Friday on the politicization and misconduct in the FBI

  • The report noted scandalous details revealed from Hunter's abandoned laptop, including thousands he paid 'to individuals involved in prostitution'

  • Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted his company censored stories about Joe Biden's involvement in Hunter's business dealings

  • Zuckerberg said it came after the FBI warned them to be on 'on high alert' for 'Russian propaganda'

  • The committee is demanding answers from the FBI on why they labeled Hunter's laptop 'Russian disinformation'


House Republicans release 1,000-page report alleging politicization in the FBI, DOJ

[FoxNews] House Republicans released a new report on Friday detailing whistleblower allegations of FBI misconduct and politicization at the highest levels of the Department of Justice.

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the stewardship of Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, is broken," the GOP report states. "The problem lies not with the majority of front-line agents who serve our country, but with the FBI's politicized bureaucracy."

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee say this report is "the first comprehensive accounting of the FBI's problems to date, which undermine the FBI's fundamental law-enforcement mission."

The report features testimony from whistleblowers who describe FBI leadership in Washington, D.C., as "rotted at its core." They allege a "systemic culture of unaccountability" and say the bureau is beset by "rampant corruption, manipulation, and abuse."

The FBI responded to the report in a statement Friday night.

"The FBI has testified to Congress and responded to letters from legislators on numerous occasions to provide an accurate accounting of how we do our work. The men and women of the FBI devote themselves to protecting the American people from terrorism, violent crime, cyber threats and other dangers. Put quite simply: we follow the facts without regard for politics. While outside opinions and criticism often come with the job, we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, do things by the book, and speak through our work," the statement read.

Broadly, the report alleges systemic political bias against conservatives.

Some allegations were previously disclosed, such as accusations that the FBI is artificially inflating statistics about domestic violent extremism to fit the White House narrative on supposed dangers to democracy, or that counterterrorism authorities were instructed to investigate parents who spoke out at school board meetings.

Other allegations suggest that the FBI is actively seeking to "purge" employees with conservative views and those who dissent from "woke" diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Unexpectedly.
Additionally, whistleblowers say "political meddling" by the FBI "is dragging the criminal side [of the Bureau] down" as resources are "pulled away" from investigating crimes. One whistleblower alleged he was "told that child sexual abuse material investigations were no longer an FBI priority and should be referred to local law enforcement agencies."

House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has spoken about several of these allegations for months. He and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have sent letters to the Justice Department and FBI leadership demanding answers on the whistleblower allegations they have received, and those letters are contained within the report.

"Americans deserve to have confidence that the enormous power and reach of federal law enforcement will be used fairly and free of any indication of politicization.The FBI has the power, quite literally, to ruin a person’s life — to invade their residence, to take their property, and even to deprive them of their liberty," the report says.

"The potential abuse of this power, or even the appearance of abuse, erodes the fundamental principle of equality under the law and confidence in the rule of law. The FBI’s tremendous power is precisely why the people’s elected representatives in Congress must conduct vigorous oversight, particularly in light of allegations of abuse and misconduct made to date."
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/05/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FBI 'turned a blind eye'

I'd be more inclined to believe they aided and abetted or facilitated. "Blind eye" might describe the potential actions of the IRS and FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network).

You want to see an IRS or FinCEN agent disconnect from casual discussion and move to the hordevores table or excuse himself to the head, bring up anything to do with Hunter or China.


Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 6:58 Comments || Top||

#2  OK. When you get into power next January 3, CUT THEIR BUDGETS!!!
Posted by: Tom || 11/05/2022 8:48 Comments || Top||

#3  OK. When you get into power next January 3, CUT THEIR BUDGETS!!!

And if Joe wants to play the "government shutdown" game, let him. But be sure that the bureaucrats don't get back pay for an extended vacation.

It's two years to the next election, and everyone will have forgotten about the blame game by then.
Posted by: Tom || 11/05/2022 8:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Sorry for the duplicate post. I thought I was just editing the first one.
Posted by: Tom || 11/05/2022 8:50 Comments || Top||

#5  This all makes more sense if you reject the predicate that the FBI is engaged in law enforcement.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/05/2022 10:18 Comments || Top||

#6  A more lucrative source than Palosi stock trading.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 10:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Tell me this dude has NOT been compromised by every major foreign intelligence service.

Remember, he’s lost not one but two laptops, the second one to Russian mafiya pimps.
Posted by: Billy B || 11/05/2022 11:16 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ two laptops that we know about.

And his Chinese partner, the PLA military-intelligence beard, is in US federal prison for money laundering and bribery.

Hunter’s been compromised, count on it
Posted by: Billy B || 11/05/2022 11:18 Comments || Top||

#9  He's a bag man; being compromised is a sort of notary in this case, assuring the client that the full weight of power brokers are behind the transaction.

Consider the length of time in his vocation and lifestyle, and how little evidence and witnesses are public. The art sale was so on the nose it could only be considered a public face vote of business confidence, and it came in the $millions.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 11:29 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
'Brandon - GM was committed to going 'all electric by.......3035'
[Red State] It’s been a rough few weeks on the campaign trail for Joe Biden. Not too many Democrats are interested in him coming to support them. Those that have been are in deep trouble in their races, like John Fetterman, Charlie Crist, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

At this point, Biden seems totally spent. I’m not even sure why they even have him out for anyone anymore — the speeches he gives don’t give much more than a couple of sentence nod to the candidates he’s supposed to be talking about, it’s mostly just a rehash of the same old speech full of lies that he’s been telling in each place.

However, Biden had some things that would make you sit up and say, "What the heck," mixed in amongst the regular delusion and lies on Friday.

Biden has told stories of his many made-up experiences, it’s hard to keep up with them all. He seemed to exaggerate another one during his remarks on the Chips and Science Act at the Viasat Corporate Headquarters in Carlsbad, California. He talked about his helicopter "went down." Such a description generally means the helicopter crashed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 12:58 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  BRANDON-FETTERMAN 2024
Posted by: Zenobia Black9747 || 11/05/2022 14:15 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 15:33 Comments || Top||

#3  General Motors, L’Oreal, Volkswagen, Pfizer, Audi and General Mills, all of whom have publicly declared that they will no longer advertise on Twitter - cite.

May they all die in the market. Should never have bailed out the first one.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/05/2022 16:05 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 19:11 Comments || Top||


'Biden says ‘my shotgun' ready to ward off recession, calls Afghanistan ‘God-forsaken place'
[NY Post] So much for message discipline.

President Biden repeatedly disparaged Afghanistan as a "God-forsaken place" Friday and jokingly threatened to use "my shotgun" to protect the US economy against a recession during a rambling speech in San Diego.

The president, who turns 80 later this month, also mused about his late father returning as a ghost to "strangle me" and confused Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett with General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

"A lot of you have been to Afghanistan. I’ve been to every part of it. It’s a God-forsaken place — it’s a God-forsaken place," Biden said, after using the term one other time while recounting being part of a 2008 congressional trip that got stranded in the snow.

Referring to entire countries in negative terms can cause offense. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, for example, sparked weeks of outrage by allegedly referring in private to economically undeveloped nations as "s-thole" countries.

Biden went on to tout data released Friday showing the US economy added 261,000 jobs in October.

"The New York Times ... called the report the Goldilocks report. I have my shotgun waiting for the wolf," he joked — despite the fact that his chief spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Thursday that the White House was so confident in the economy it is holding "no meetings" to prepare for a potential downturn.

Much of Biden’s speech appeared to deviate from his prepared remarks, which were supposed to focus on the passage this year’s $280 billion bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act.
"Oh Gawd, he's off the teleprompter!"
The president also repeated a claim that he spoke with one of the scientists who discovered insulin about his decision to oppose it being patented — despite the fact that doing so would have been chronologically impossible — while describing his efforts to cap consumer costs.

"I spoke to the guy who invented the insulin. He said he didn’t patent it because he wanted available for everybody," Biden said Friday, repeating a claim he made on Tuesday.

Dr. Frederick Banting and professor John James Richard Macleod won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1923 for their discovery of insulin two years prior. While both men did refuse to put their names on the insulin patent because they felt it was unethical to restrict its use, Banting died in 1941 and Macleod in 1935.

Biden was born in 1942.

Two other doctors were involved in the discovery of insulin, but both are named on the patent, contrary to Biden’s claim. James Collip died in 1965, the year Biden entered law school, and Charles Best died in 1979. Collip and Best transferred the patent rights to the University of Toronto for $1.

The president also pledged Friday to have a "come to the Lord talk with oil companies pretty soon" about lowering gas prices and vowed to forge forward with the development of renewable energy sources.

"We’re gonna be shutting these [coal] plants down all across America, and having wind and solar," he said.

Before departing for a flight to Chicago, Biden also told his audience that there were "bright spots" in the news, including low unemployment — despite inflation remaining highly elevated at 8.2% in September, the most recent month for which data is available.

"As president I will not accept the argument that says that our problem is that too many Americans are finding good jobs," Biden said. "My father would come down from heaven and strangle me."
wishful thinking
The California stop continued the president’s trend of campaigning for the 2022 midterm elections in reliably Democratic states. Later Friday, Biden was due to address a reception in deep-blue Chicago before campaigning in Yonkers on behalf of embattled New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday.

In between, the president will return to his birth state of Pennsylvania to rally for Democrats with his onetime boss, former President Barack Obama.
Posted by: Frank G || 11/05/2022 06:05 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  We’re gonna be shutting these [coal] plants down all across America, and having wind and solar," he said.

Notice the future tense. He has had two full years--what has he actually done (stop laughing)?

Historial note: Solar power has been around for a long time. We first had solar panels installed on our house in Phoenix in 1983. So if it is so good, why is it not the dominant soure of energy in 2022? Why has it not taken off in 40 years? And how long is it going to take?
Posted by: Tom || 11/05/2022 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Double barrel shotgun?

Because that's what people use to hunt wolves.

This guy.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 10:15 Comments || Top||

#3  He’s a recession denier.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/05/2022 10:21 Comments || Top||

#4  I guess his handlers don't read Rantburg. If they did they would have seen my suggestion that this guy needs one of those electric dog collars to keep him from wandering off script. Too bad. Now they have a loose cannon on their hands.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/05/2022 11:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Cost of energy is driving inflation
Nothing the Fed is doing with the prime rate directly addresses energy because it is not part of core inflation
They cannot say a word about what is really driving inflation which is this hopelessly wrongheaded and I’ll conceived energy policy.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 11/05/2022 12:24 Comments || Top||

#6  "Nobody needs a high capacity shotgun to ward inflation! If you do, you just aren't good at economying."

Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 12:31 Comments || Top||

#7  There are lots of cartoons of Bernanke tossing money out of a helicopter and firing a money bazooka.

Shotgun is weak tea next to that.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/05/2022 12:51 Comments || Top||

#8  I would like to envoke the red flag law please.
Posted by: Secret Master || 11/05/2022 14:39 Comments || Top||


Joe Biden Sounds Alarm About Elon Musk: Twitter ‘Spews Lies All Across the World'
[Breitbart] President Joe Biden on Friday signaled his frustration that billionaire Elon Musk had purchased Twitter.

"Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that spews lies all across the world," he said.

The president commented on Musk’s purchase of the social media platform during a fundraiser in Chicago.

"There’s no editors anymore in America," he added, revisiting a theme he has complained about during this election cycle.

In October, Biden lamented the decline of the mainstream media’s ability to control the political narrative.

"The ability of newspapers to have much impact is de minimis," he said at a fundraiser with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, using a Latin phrase that means "lacking significance or importance."

"They’ve been overtaken by the Internet," he said lamenting the rise of new media.

"Look what’s happened now. Everything is changing because technology has changed," he said. "There are no editors anymore. There are no editors anymore."

At the event, Biden signaled his frustration that Americans would not be able to distinguish the truth if there were no editors to steer them in the right direction.

"How do people know the truth?" he asked. "What do they — how do they make — make a distinction between fact and fiction? There’s so much — so much going on. And we’re in the middle of this."
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 02:43 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sick man in West Wing sez "Musk and Twitter now evil", possibly even MAGA.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 2:46 Comments || Top||

#2  So, you are either all-in, or out, out, out.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/05/2022 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  I was going to write something completely different. Then I found this lovely video.

Now I don't understand why Elon would "force" people to work here instead from home.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  That video was the basis for my satire post yesterday.

And just like that, every Blue Check has been othered. Great work Joe, go grab a pizza.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 10:23 Comments || Top||

#5  He's salty because he used to be able to lie with impunity. Now his lies are being fact-checked by Twitter.

Look for a drone strike on Musk soon. Either that or he gets epsteined.
Posted by: Spike the Hairy6811 || 11/05/2022 11:18 Comments || Top||

#6  "There’s no editors anymore in America," he added, revisiting a theme he has complained about during this election cycle.

Yeah, well, there was Christopher Wray but Elon just canned his ass.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/05/2022 11:32 Comments || Top||

#7  I took a look at Twitter's annual reports (2021). Why Elon bought Twitter is a complete mystery to me. 44 bn is just batshit crazy.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 12:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Twitter and FB are Deep State social network monitoring and disinformation tools. Musk will flush out the top level Deep State agents and collaborators. He'll monetize Twitter and make big bucks. It's what he does.

Until Musk gets it cleaned up, use them at your own risk.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 12:29 Comments || Top||

#9  My company isn't on Twitter or FB.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 12:32 Comments || Top||

#10  Owning a media outlet is a fine and proven tradition for people/organizations with money, even if the dividends are a bit abstract and not necessarily cash money.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 13:09 Comments || Top||

#11  Why Elon bought Twitter is a complete mystery to me.

He wanted to break their stranglehold on the discourse — whether by taking it over or destroying it does not seem to have mattered to him. Donald Trump on the same mission caused a competing platform to be built.

I agree that businesses in general should not be on social media — too much opportunity to annoy current and potential customers by saying something that turns out to push unexpected buttons. For the same reason businesses should stay out of politics beyond lobbying.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/05/2022 13:10 Comments || Top||

#12  Social media may be a lot of things but not social. Twitter even less.

That said, you can't run a platform without competent people, and I don't see how he could have evaluated 7500 people in 7 days.

Even Rantburg needs moderators, and while you are usually very lenient, you do ask stupid people to leave the internet.

To lay off half of your staff within a week is not a wise move. Sure, some might really be redundant, but a company that apparently is worth 44 bn is not losing money because of 7500 people.

Imagine running a company worth 44 million with 7 people.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 13:23 Comments || Top||

#13  My company isn't on Twitter or FB.

Well, then your company is doing something right.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/05/2022 13:26 Comments || Top||

#14  I mean, you wouldn't want to leave yourself at the mercy of Jack Dorsey or Christopher Wray.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/05/2022 13:26 Comments || Top||

#15  Of course not. We manage everything within our own company website. Since we keep a low profile and only have larger corporate clients, "social media shitstorms" aren't much of a concern here.
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 13:29 Comments || Top||

#16  As tech companies go, TWTR is a joke. It’s just a big version of Wordpress. Do they even have an SSP? Even TikTok and Snap are more advanced than TWTR.

Musk could and should get rid of 90% of the non-engineering staff. You could run that company profitably with a few hundred people and as little as 5% of the subs paying $96 per year.
Posted by: Billy B || 11/05/2022 14:35 Comments || Top||

#17  /\ As tech companies go, TWTR is a joke'

You mean like the USPS, Department of Agriculture, or FBI ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 14:40 Comments || Top||

#18  @12 Imagine running a company worth 44 million with 7 people.

Wrong metric. What counts is revenue per head count, not a nebulous market capitalization.

Musk isn't doing individual evaluations, except perhaps at the VP level. He's eliminating functional organizations, focusing on those that aren't delivering value from his POV, and those that scale based on head count, not technology. Remember, this is the 'best part is no part' guy, and if he doesn't see a need for some group, kaboom!

I'll also add this is fairly normal proceeding for a post-taker tech acquisition Silicon Valley style. The core engineering groups get conserved, the marketing and overhead take it in the shorts. It's just that this time it's happening under the glare of politicized media attention. (And the fraction of engineering that's essential to value there may be lower than usual, per the comments above about the TWTR platform, with which I agree to the extent it's publicly visible.)
Posted by: Nero || 11/05/2022 14:49 Comments || Top||

#19  ^^ post-taker s/b post-takeover
Posted by: Nero || 11/05/2022 14:51 Comments || Top||

#20  There's an enormous crash in internet advertising coming, courtesy of Joeflation. Companies that actually make stuff and rely on doing so at a profit will cut ad spending if a really hard recession hits. Gurgle and FarceBork will be paring back too in the face of that.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/05/2022 14:58 Comments || Top||

#21  "There’s no editors operatives anymore in America," he added, revisiting a theme he has complained about during this election cycle."

FIFY there, Brandon.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 11/05/2022 15:23 Comments || Top||

#22  Why Elon bought Twitter is a complete mystery to me.

If you look at the acquisition as a pure business play, it is crazy, but as TW pointed out around #11, Twitter may have started from a vision of a digital town square, but it has been weaponized to support one political party. This is not good for America.
Either getting back to that original vision or removing it from the board are noble goals.

you can't run a platform without competent people, and I don't see how he could have evaluated 7500 people in 7 days.

Musk has been analyzing the company for a while now, certainly longer than 7 days. He has commented publicly on the overhead of too many managers. But as to the question of how many people do you need, let's look at the problem top down:

IT staff to keep the servers up and running. Critical people, but probably the smallest group. Keep them.

Developers to fix bugs and add features. Did I mention bugs? There are always bugs. Those new features? They have bugs we have not yet begun to find. Another critical group. Also comparatively small. Some of these people will be providing support for the content filtering groups. Bye!

Thought Police - someone has to keep wrong-think from spreading, inject the appropriate messaging and wrangle the vast herd of bots that exist on the platform. I suspect this is the largest cohort and the easiest one to fire en masse. I saw some gal complaining that her entire Climate Change department got the axe. Why does a digital town square need a Climate Change department?

Sales and Marketing - as a programmer it pains me to say it, but these guys probably have some corporate use, even though it escapes me at the moment. Keep at least a few of them. Especially the secretary that arranges parties and catering.

Posted by: SteveS || 11/05/2022 15:30 Comments || Top||

#23  Musk should move away from brand advertising and focus on clickable performance ads.

Not Audi and Pfizer but performance-driven, bottom of the funnel big spenders like GEICO, BestBuy etc.

Makes billions for Amazon and eBay. Super-scalable, and nearly all the operations and infrastructure can be outsourced.

Huge profit margins and none of the brand-image headaches or political posturing
Posted by: Billy B || 11/05/2022 15:35 Comments || Top||

#24  My guess is he knows exactly what he's doing, unlike the feckless SOB's that are running this country.

If they've never signed the FRONT of a paycheck, they need to STFU.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2022 15:39 Comments || Top||

#25  I don't see how he could have evaluated 7500 people in 7 days.

EC is clueless. E-staff set OKRs at the SBU level. They don’t evaluate individual contributors or anyone below an L3.

Musk is advised by his fellow PayPal Mafia crew— Peter Thiel, David Sacks et al. These guys have been running tech companies and investing and evaluating hundreds such companies for nearly 25 years. They know what they’re doing.

TWTR is a gold mine if run by competent tech-savvy management.
Posted by: Billy B || 11/05/2022 15:48 Comments || Top||

#26  /\/\/\ THIS!
Posted by: Solomon Grundy2686 || 11/05/2022 16:18 Comments || Top||

#27  Ah yes, those now oh so popular OKRs.

The larger companies are, the more interdependencies there are between units and the more requests individual units should take into account in their planning. In the best case, such dependencies are already identified in the planning phase and discussed between the units. However, because OKRs specify goals and not the path, dependencies on other units are sometimes discovered only during implementation, after the intended solution has been designed. As a result, individual units that actually want to plan and implement their own OKRs are suddenly overloaded with countless competing requests, all of which are also important. On the one hand, this ruins the ability to plan, and on the other, such a unit quickly finds itself in the prioritization dilemma from which OKRs were supposed to be the way out.

YMMV
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/05/2022 16:52 Comments || Top||

#28  There's an enormous crash in internet advertising coming, courtesy of Joeflation. Companies that actually make stuff and rely on doing so at a profit will cut ad spending if a really hard recession hits. Gurgle and FarceBork will be paring back too in the face of that.

I disagree.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/05/2022 19:00 Comments || Top||

#29  A billionaire bought a big picture
At cost beyond human conjecture.
"By washing it clean,
He conceals the machine,"
Explained expert, in boring Met lecture.

Posted by: Snaigum Ebberetch6009 || 11/05/2022 19:36 Comments || Top||

#30  …explains tedious unfunny asshole who wouldn’t know how to find the arse end of his P/L (if he had one)
Posted by: Theamble Lover of the Geats2174 || 11/05/2022 19:58 Comments || Top||

#31  Musk and his brain trust are choosing to wipe out the bullshit “functions” that had fuck-all to do with building & selling product. Examples:

The human rights team has been laid off, according to a now former employee, Shannon Raj Singh, who said the team worked to protect those at risk in global conflicts, including in Ukraine.

The ML (machine learning) Ethics, Transparency and Accountability team is gone, according to a tweet of a laid-off manager.

The “internet technology team”, which helps keep the site running, has been cut to “a skeleton crew”, two sources told the Times.
An accessibility experience engineering team—ie people who try to make the site accessible to the blind and other disabled people— has been cut, according to a laid-off engineering manager.

The curation team, responsible for the Moments feature on Twitter — does anyone know WTF this is it what it does?—has also been cut, former employees reported.

Twitter’s communications department is almost entirely gone, according to the Verge.

Other areas that have been heavily impacted, the Verge reported, include product trust and safety, policy, research and social good.

😂
Posted by: Theamble Lover of the Geats2174 || 11/05/2022 20:19 Comments || Top||

#32  That sounds like a lot more than 50% of staff cut by Monday...
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/05/2022 22:43 Comments || Top||



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