Senator Markey threatens Musk for disrespecting him publicly

[Politesse]

If fascism consists of threatening to continue investigating companies that create unsafe products I am okay with that. In that you are simply describing the normal and necessary functions of government as "fascism".

A better example of fascism would be DeSantis' war on The Mouse.

A better example of fascism as defined by the OP - ie. the fusion of corporate and state power in the same office- is having a national president who is also the head of several corporations that he refuses to give up upon assuming office, despite this being a breach of Constitutional law that no one dares to challenge because he is too politically powerful to challenge in that way. Then openly and transparently using his office to make money for his companies and his companies to press his political advantage. Senator Markey is not and has no possibility of becoming the presumptive head of Twitter. But Trump is absolutely in charge of his family holdings, non-secretly. And the window to prosecute him for these legal and moral breaches, if there was a window, passed when he declared his candidacy for 2024. He's now absolutely untouchable until 2025. If the question is "from whence does the most serious threat of fascism arise in our time", that worries me a lot more than some nonsense with Twitter. And I don't think "Right" or "Left" truly have anything to do with what Trump does or says. No one holds the reins of his political/corporate juggernaut but himself, and to some extent the fickle but passionate love of a very committed minority within the voting population. Which is, as it happens, another common feature of naascent fascist governments on the rise. My fear that Edward John Markey of all people is setting himself up to be a dictator/business owner of that kind sits somewhere between 0.0 and 0.2 on a scale of 1 to 10. In fact, if he were to put in a bid for the White House, he'd have my vote in two shakes of a Massachussetts witch's tit. He's as good of a guy as you can find in Washington, and as this very case demonstrates, both strongly dedicated to the law and unafraid to look "powerful men" in the eye without blinking. Corrupt, of course, but no more so than any other senator.

 

[TomC]

bother with basing opinions on facts, when it is so much easier to use ignorance, bias, and outright stupidity?

My post was based on facts.
Just not that utterly unimportant fact.

Nader shaped this country. My opinion is that it was much for the worse. From the auto industry continuing to build and market ridiculous vehicles to the Bush wars in the Middle East.

To me, Nader is a cautionary tale about the dangers of unintended side effects of well intentioned efforts.
Tom

ETA ~Had I been a TeaParty Republican in the oil business, at the time, I'd have donated tons of money to Nader. ~

 

[laughing dog]

bother with basing opinions on facts, when it is so much easier to use ignorance, bias, and outright stupidity?

My post was based on facts.
Just not that utterly unimportant fact.

Getting facts right enhances an opinion or position. It shows one knows what one is talking about.

 

[TomC]

Getting facts right enhances an opinion or position. It shows one knows what one is talking about.

In what way is Nader's date of death important to the U.S. government or auto industry?
Tom

 

[laughing dog]

Getting facts right enhances an opinion or position. It shows one knows what one is talking about.

In what way is Nader's date of death important to the U.S. government or auto industry?
Tom

You’re the one who injected that topic, not me. But is as relevant to the auto industry as the auto industry is to this thread.

 

[TomC]

Getting facts right enhances an opinion or position. It shows one knows what one is talking about.

In what way is Nader's date of death important to the U.S. government or auto industry?
Tom

You’re the one who injected that topic, not me. But is as relevant to the auto industry as the auto industry is to this thread.

Nonsense.

I didn't inject the topic. I'm the one who talked about what Nader did, and the aftereffects. His personal life had nothing to do with anything I was talking about concerning the legacy he left. His legacy is billions of extra barrels of petroleum burned and the Iraq invasion, among other things.
Tom

 

[TomC]

You’re the one who injected that topic, not me.

Here's another fact.
The first mention of Nader's death in this thread was:

Mr. Nader is not dead.

Tom

ETA ~Said I hoped he was dead. But it wasn't important enough to me to find out. It's what he did I find important. Only that. ~

 

[Patooka]

I'd never heard of Jimmy Dore but watched a bit. Wow! The fact that RVonse can stomach that tells us much about him.

Jimmy Dore is a hack who used to work for The Young Turks. RVonse loves people like that. "I used to be a leftist but then I turned away", sort of crap. Dave Rubin would be another example of this. People who demand a raise and then grift for "the other team" because they didn't get what they want. I wouldn't be surprised if RVonse thinks Tim Pool or Dennis Prager are intelligent.

 

[laughing dog]

You’re the one who injected that topic, not me.

Here's another fact.
The first mention of Nader's death in this thread was:

Mr. Nader is not dead.

Tom

You are mistaken. If you had bothered to read the entire post, you’d see I was responding to a previous post (#10) that posited “ if he is dead”.

While I was wrong about who injected Mr Nader’s death, it was not me.

 

[TomC]

You are mistaken. If you had bothered to read the entire post, you’d see I was responding to a previous post (#10) that posited “ if he is dead”.

While I was wrong about who injected Mr Nader’s death, it was not me.

You are mistaken.
I'm the one posted about the damage Nader did to my country. I ended with "I hope he's dead", because then he couldn't continue damaging my country and the human race like he did.

I didn't even know if Nader were still living or not, nor did I care.

You posted that Nader is in fact dead. That was the first mention of his death. Apparently, Metaphor didn't know either. He did say "if he's dead".
You are the first poster to mention Nader's status, dead or alive. Nobody else had noticed or asked.
Tom

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I drove a Corvair from Delray Beach to Washington DC and back. Had a tire blow out on the Fl turnpike at about 70 mph.
I had read that that was a routinely catastrophic event, so I thought I was gonna die for a few moments. But the car acted “normally” and I was able to ease it to the shoulder without mishap. Loved that car. Right up there with the Karmann Ghia and Volvo P1800.

Blowouts on the freeway can be catastrophic if you're driving something high like a truck. I've had multiple blowouts in subcompacts that have all been complete non-incidents. The first time it happened I didn't even realize it for a little bit--I had crossed a state line and the road in the new state had been resurfaced. I had seen the lip at the border and thus expected a bit of a jolt at that point. I was wondering what in the world they had done with the road to make it so loud and rough, then the blown tire started shedding parts and I realized what had happened. Put the spare on, continue the journey. All in all I have owned 12 Firestone tires, all original equipment on cars I purchased, none of which were still in use by 36,000 miles. Blowouts, one snapped tire cord (stuck out through the tire) and some replaced when their opposite number was replaced. None wore out. I have never had a blowout with anything but a Firestone.

 

[laughing dog]

You are mistaken. If you had bothered to read the entire post, you’d see I was responding to a previous post (#10) that posited “ if he is dead”.

While I was wrong about who injected Mr Nader’s death, it was not me.

You are mistaken.
I'm the one posted about the damage Nader did to my country. I ended with "I hope he's dead", because then he couldn't continue damaging my country and the human race like he did.

I didn't even know if Nader were still living or not, nor did I care.

You posted that Nader is in fact dead. That was the first mention of his death. Apparently, Metaphor didn't know either. He did say "if he's dead".
You are the first poster to mention Nader's status, dead or alive. Nobody else had noticed or asked.
Tom

Nope. Even according to your pedantic standard in this exchange, Metaphor mentioned is conditional status. I pointed out Mr. Nader was dead to end the speculation about his death.

This is exchange simply adds more evidence to your problems of reading within context.

 

[blastula]

Markey has a right to make a stupid complaint like he did as any other user, but he should stfu as a Senator threatening federal action.

Same goes for Tom Cotton.

To remove a widely used social media app from Apple's App Store simply because he has a political disagreement with Elon Musk and the direction he's taking Twitter would simply be inviting aggressive legislative and regulatory actions.

 

[Toni]

Markey has a right to make a stupid complaint like he did as any other user, but he should stfu as a Senator threatening federal action.

Same goes for Tom Cotton.

To remove a widely used social media app from Apple's App Store simply because he has a political disagreement with Elon Musk and the direction he's taking Twitter would simply be inviting aggressive legislative and regulatory actions.

LD explained Markey’s remarks quite well. They were factual and on point. Cotton is simply attempting to make political hay.