X revokes paid blue check from United Auto Workers after strike called

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 1389 points –
Musk’s X revokes paid blue check from United Auto Workers after strike called
arstechnica.com

X revokes paid blue check from United Auto Workers after strike called::After a report called out Musk's union-busting, UAW's blue check got reinstated.

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So much for free speech

At this point we just need a large compiled list of every instance of it. There's so much that I can't think of an example right away.

Still not what free speech means.

But baby trust fund dipshit is begging to get sued again.

It’s not what free speech means, but they’re using his own words against him. Of course we clearly can’t expect any consistency from conservatives, “free speech for me” etc.

I wonder why the guy who bought Tesla might not want the UAW represented on the platform he bought? I can't think of why that might be

In completely unrelated related news:

One of the things their talking about is an increase for workers who deal with electric batteries...

Ah, the "free speech absolutist" doing completely free speech stuff.

Just as much of a Musk hater as the rest of them, but this was posted elsewhere. UAW changed their profile photo at the same time they announced the strike, which triggered the flag on the account. Apparently this is standard with all verified accounts until the photo can be reviewed.

Anywho, fuck Elon Musk!

From the original Intercept article:

This article was updated to include information about a Twitter policy to temporarily remove checkmarks from verified accounts that change their profile pictures. Twitter offered only an auto-response to The Intercept’s request for comment ahead of publication. The article was previously updated to note that Twitter restored UAW’s Twitter verification after publication.

So, a non-article by somebody who didn't do their research and has already resolved itself. Got it!

Twitter refused to comment prior to the article, Twitter changes their policies like most of us change our underwear, and Twitter is will known to making capricious and spiteful decisions (see also delaying links to domains they don’t like).

Yes, how could anyone be so rude to jump to such conclusions /s

It might be fairer to say the journalists jumped conclusions. But the not doing research part may be accurate.

I mean, the headline is factually correct - maybe there's an explanation for it (which still raises questions of their reliability for real-time organization moving forward), but it also is extremely suspect seeing as Musk initially was going to buy Twitter to "save democracy" by shaping public discourse, and he's very anti-union (auto workers in particular)

Better than even odds this was added thoughtlessly during the impersonator checkmark fiasco (which would still be news), but I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt until I hear from some engineers no longer with Twitter

Twitter offered only an auto-response to The Intercept’s request for comment ahead of publication.

By this, they mean that any media questions to Twitter get auto-responded to with the poop emoji. Because Musk is a child.

Elon is a big bag of dicks, but it looks like Twitter is no longer replying with poop emojis. From the linked article:

To a request for comment, X only sent Ars an auto-response, saying, "Busy now, please check back later."

That's literally no different except he got pranked to many times with people going "thoughts on tesla build quality" "💩"

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Elon Musk is an incompetent sociopathic scammer who got very lucky.

He is not a great engineer, he's a dumbass who got fired from his own company for being incompetent. When the company was bought he raked in the cash from the shares he had, that's all. All his "great ideas" are face palmingly stupid.

He's petty and vengeful. When rescuers were risking their lives getting kids out of a cave denied his stupid idea, he called them a pedophile just because fuck you. That is musk in a nutshell.

He doesn't give a shit about anything or anybody but himself. He forces people to work in near slave like conditions. Do it or get fired and lose your house, or maybe deported. Unions? Fuck your unions, here is a chain lulz.

He. Lies. About. Everything. Probably the only person worse than Trump when it comes to continuous lying. Every promise he made is bullshit. Tesla will.... nope.

He was the bright light behind the decision not to use flame diverters (standard tech from the 60's) when his next SpaceX toy was launched, because it would take too much time to build and it would not be needed... a decision which utterly obliterated the launch platform, pelted even cars on a parking lot 5 kilometers away and polluted the entire surroundings. All because he needs to show the world how big his dick is. Then when the rocket blew up over Mexican territory (nice self destruct that didn't even work) everyone cheered because rockets.. should.... Blow up? Oh yeah, that was by design. WTF?

And as always, he just laughs it off and his fans laugh with him because "it's Elon man, he's cool! He walked in to Twitter with a kitchen sink!" And then proceeded to run the company he paid twice too much for into the ground, it now being worth, what? 30% from what he paid? So like 15% from what it was actually worth? From the second he started he just did the stupid. Firing so many people without even checking if they were needed, causing people to be locked in the buildings, the blue check mark scandal... twitter (not X) is a shit show and will be bankrupt very soon as muskie won't be able to afford to pay back the billions he had to borrow for his little toy.

Fuck everything about this guy, may he step on a Lego every day he gets out of bed.

Right with ya, but I'm not seeing any of his fans online. Nada. I'm pretty sure they're all but gone or deep in hiding.

I think you wouldn't find them on Lemmy, it's kind of an echo chamber here. I have a bunch of family that has Teslas and plans to get more Teslas because they're "cool" and they either don't care that Elon is behind it, or think he's some kind of hero.

What do you mean by “… twitter (not x) is a shit show …”?

In April, Twitter merged into X Corp. and Twitter, Inc. ceased to exist. So I’m not sure if there’s some legal point you’re trying to make.

Fuck that x bullshit.

It's not a legal pointe, it's me refusing to dance to his bullshit fiddle. It's why I dropped twitter ,(not x) completely

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Somewhere an Elon fanboy is explaining why this is peak free speech

Excellent decision sir, human rights are overrated anyway

  • probably some blue check person

I mean technically it's the free speech of Elon to do whatever with his company, right? Like how the Colorado photographer didn't have to provide services to gays and how Amazon is no longer allowing BLM.

When the savior of humanity declared he was a "free speech absolutist" people misinterpreted his meaning.

He meant that he should have absolute authority over who should have free speech.

I mean technically it’s the free speech

Legally, yes. Ethically, definitely no.

How most of society uses that term is not in the legal way, but in the ethical way, which is a topic all on its own; a weird disconnect.

No ethics or morals in a corporate world. Only the law and weighing the fines.

No ethics ir morals in a corporate world.

Society is not just a corporation.

Tell that to, I dunno, everyone else.

They certainly think so.

I've been wary of corporations since I first read Neuromancer.

Don't believe the shill/fiction. Regular people know what the score is.

And you get these smooth-brain takes like "Only the government can take away your free speech" because people think that "freedom of speech" and "the First Amendment" are one and the same.

Private platform. That was the argument before Elon took over, so I guess same works (or doesn't) here.

As an ex Elon fanboy let me literally honestly try the best I can here...

The best I can come up with is, "Hi. Elon here. Revoking UAW's blue check was just a joke. Get it? Humour! I can humourise with the best of them. Ha. Ha. Ha."

Somewhere an Elon fanboy is explaining why this is peak free speech

This gives off such a movie "It's a Wonderful Life" vibe.

It is free speech as I would define it. The UAW had decided foolishly to communicate on a platform run by and for right wing reactionaries. Those asshats are free to moderate however they like, it’s their platform.

Stop using twitter you idiots! Using twitter gives legitimacy to the platform. The platform’s spreads nazi hate speech. What possible excuse does the UAW have for giving legitimacy to a nazi platform???

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If you are still on X, then you deserve the world you are struggling in.

Who is struggling because UAW lost their blue check mark? I’m an X user. I’ve found my usage of the product generally uninterrupted and am confused by statements like this.

So you are ok supporting a platform that is actively taking the power away from organization helping people because it is a good experience? I mean you are on Lemmy, so you must have some sense to the issues surrounding centralized anything, especially media?

For me it’s a lot like paying taxes. No I’m not ok with it, but it’s required of me so I just coast along because revolting would not be worth it.

As you say, I have no problem revolting against a platform over injustice (15y Redditor here, left when they did dirty).

They removed a blue check mark. It’s petty. It’s stupid. It’s not revolution worthy imo.

Who is struggling because UAW lost their blue check mark?

A: UAW

I’m an X user. I’ve found my usage of the product generally uninterrupted and am confused by statements like this.

A: Martin Niemöller

This is actually a win for UAW. They want to unionize Tesla's workers, so any anti-union activity on Elon's part just gives them more ammunition with the NLRB, which has strict rules regarding what ownership is allowed to say publicly. It plays directly into their hands.

Also worth saying that the Biden NLRB is the most pro-union and labor-friendly in history.

I didn’t realize that the blue check did anything meaningful that would make it so horrible.

They didn’t put the UAW in a prison camp. Ffs I’m sorry but it’s a leap from blue check to prison camp.

I’ve since discovered that this is a red vs blue powered issue, which makes this discussion moot. Throwing rocks for any reason at the other color isn’t useful. I vote third party and stay out of red vs blue.

I always find it interesting, people assume the Nazis started with killing the Jews, the Gays, the Socialists, the "Degenerate" etc... as soon as they existed, but no, they didn't, they had to work their way up to that. and some of the first things they did was work to delegitimize their opposition and keep them from speaking out.

As for "I vote third party" good for you, you could just not go to vote, even if a 3ed party gains traction it will only serve as a spoiler to whoever that third party is closer aligned to.

And for the "other color" bullshit, you need to have quite a bit of privilege to say this, after all, LGBTQ rights, woman's rights, POC Rights, are all just a "blue vs. red" issue in America, but these issues decide on the rights of millions of people.

It's time to put some of these billionaires in their place. Nationalize his shit, seize his assets, and revoke his passport and citizenship. Fuck Musk, sick of his childish attention seeking bullshit.

Nationalize SpaceX for sure. Let him keep Twitter though, at this point it's such a dumpster fire that it's more of an albatross around his neck than an asset, we don't need the tax payers carrying that shit.

For Ukraine sure but

That seems like a bit of overkill for this

This instance on its own, yeah.

But it has been a pattern again and again.

Trump is going to get hit harder the fifth time a jury finds him liable for defaming E. Jean Carroll than they did the first time.

The socialist advocates for violence after reading one headline.

Is lemmy /pol/ for leftoids?

If nationalization is scandalous violence for you, let me say I want him to get the french treatment.

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Hey the auto workers are striking now... can we just like... do a general strike already?

Sadly, it's going to need to get a lot worse (it's already worse) for most Americans to feel enough of the squeeze to care. Until then, the beatings will continue until moral improves...

This dude is such a pussy. I wish he wasn’t terrified to fight Zuckerberg so we could all watch him get his ass kicked.

Whatever happened with that anyways? The last update I ever remember reading was Musk saying he'd show up at Zuckerberg's front door "tomorrow" demanding to fight.

I mean, I can guess what ended up happening (or not happening) - but was that it? No show, no reason, no follow-up? Is he even keeping up the pretense of being serious anymore?

Please don't even talk about it. If it actually happened, it would make so much money for them. Let's not make those withering schmucks the biggest ticket ever.

Getting your ass kicked is not even a big deal in combat sports with rules. You’ll mostly be fine, you can spin the story. I bet Zuck gets beat all the time in training. I rather see Musk call out fights and back out. That is such a pussy move.

not even a big deal in combat sports with rules. You’ll mostly be fine

LOL you know the UFC's rules?

lol does he not realize that he has delegitimized any credibility his platform once held?

I'm sure they do not care.

No, this is a straight up win for UAW. They are trying to unionize Tesla's workers, so any anti-union activity on Elon's part only plays into their hands at the NLRB level.

It's not that he doesn't care. It's the goal. Killing the credibility of social media is a top priority for authoritarians. They can't have people talking to each other outside of the shaped narratives delivered by their media companies. That's why companies spend so much on bot farms, shills and influencers. In order to shape public narratives when they can't control the media.

"Oh no! My blue check!!" It's not real and it's not a display of power like he thinks.

It’s infuriating that people are beholden to this fucking loser.

I was not aware anyone was being required to use the twat platform.

It's the network effect. People still use it because other people are there.

Yeah. I'm not famous at all, but I could imagine it would be troublesome trying to migrate a popular account with thousands of followers to another service.

Even if you were successful, you'd probably only retain a quarter of your followers because most people can't be ballsed to dl/sign up for another app.

Half your followers on Twitter are probably bots or inactive anyhow, so take that as you will.

I'm not on twitter and never was, but I'm not silly enough to think billionaires don't shape my world in a million fucking ways with their unilateral decisions. Elon here has a HUGE one recently in deciding to disable starlink during a Ukraine offensive.

Trying to assist his rich buddies with fucking with the union is a lower tier crime but still its fuckery that affects a lot of people.

Then we've got other rich asshats selling state secrets for money.

Billionaires are a liability and everyone needs to realize it.

The "I don't use Twitter so that's a you problem" is a thought terminating cliche.

This is a win for UAW though. They are trying to unionize Tesla's workers and this behavior gives them an edge on the already labor-friendly NLRB by showing that Elon is actively anti-union.

If anyone thinks for a moment that union organizers don't actively plan this kind of thing out, I can assure that they do. It's part of their job description. My union is a lot smaller than UAW and our organizers get up to all kinds of subterfuge and shenanigans, so I can only imagine what the UAW people are doing.

The biggest losers are the people who cannot read for more than 10 seconds at a time.

This article was updated to include information about a Twitter policy to temporarily remove checkmarks from verified accounts that change their profile pictures.

"First they came for the trade unionists...."

Yes removing a blue checkmark is exactly the same as being kidnapped off the street and sent to a work camp.

before the Nazi party came to power, they would show up to rallys, protests and town squares to silence political opponents through intimidation and physical violence.
A lot of people would consider Twitter a modern day digital "Town square". i would say it's eerily similar, the main difference is that there's no physical violence just the silence.

I don't know if you know this, but there's a big difference between how people act with anonymity and how they act in real life.

There are definitely real Nazis. They are definitely bad guys. Removing a blue checkmark is not anywhere close to the same as people being deported to concentration camps in the literal Holocaust.

Do you understand how ridiculous this sounds?

Nothing is going to happen to any striking workers. No one is "coming" for the actual trade unionists.

The thing with comparing things to the Nazis, or to similar groups, is that they did not start with the camps and warfare. It took time for them to reach the point of being powerful enough to do that and actually going through with it, so it is still possible to make comparisons to them when things aren't at that extreme, if one is comparing something to how they (or other fascists for that matter) acted before getting to that point.

Elon and the Twitter company are not anonymous? They're using their position to actively bury opinions they dislike. by removing a blue check it means less people will see union organizing efforts and messaging.

The Nazi started deporting after they came into power and again they came into power and held their power by silencing their opposition. Stop being a Corpo fasist apologist.

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As if they're not openly making plans to do precisely that to to visibly queer people. Guess we don't need to worry about the Nazis because they're doing things in a slightly different order this time around, right?

This is a thread about Twitter blue check marks.

It's a thread about a far-right asshole going after unions with whatever he has at this disposal.

That’s a pretty bold allegation. Any proof or are you just slippery sloping the shit out of a blue check mark?

How about the history of the state of Florida over the last five years

We aren’t talking about Florida. This is about X.

Or who did you mean by “they”

this was answered already, but since you don't seem to get it the first 5 times, "they" refers to far right actors, such as Musk.

I was genuinely confused but now I’ve realized that I stumbled into some polarized red vs blue nonsense that I have no intention of continuing. I don’t make it a habit to group reds and blues together and collectively pin everything on the group.

Politics is a sham and arguing red vs blue is actually the problem.

Oh great, a radical centrist. Someone who thinks good is just as bad as evil, and lies are just as good as facts.

Read about Project 2025. The far is right is announcing its intentions to anyone who will listen.

Wait, we jumped from X removing a blue check mark to the far right spouting nonsense? That’s a huge leap

Have you heard the things Elon says, or seen the people he signal boosts, or heard of the people and groups he associates with? It's about as big of a leap as me getting out of bed in the morning, specifically back when I lived in a treehouse and slept on the floor.

No I haven’t. But I definitely know that no one is throwing visibly queer people in work camps in the USA.

I’ve since discovered that this is a red vs blue powered issue, which makes this discussion moot. Throwing rocks for any reason at the other color isn’t useful. I vote third party and stay out of red vs blue.

Well, if you had heard the things Elon says, seen the people he signal boosts, or heard of the people and groups he associates with, then you would understand why people are accusing him of spouting far right nonsense. It's because the things he says are frequently far right nonsense, the people he signal boosts are frequently people who spout far right nonsense, and the people and groups he associates with are frequently significant sources of far right nonsense. And I'm not a Democrat in any sense other than thinking they're not as bad for the world as Republicans are, but I can think of at least one good reason to throw rocks at "the other color," that being when they're propagating harmful far-right nonsense. I'd have thought this logic would be bulletproof, but I find myself cowed by the counterargument that "I have no idea what you're talking about but you seem mean."

Paying attention to the world around you is a great way to avoid making yourself look silly, if you're interested in stopping it from happening again.

it's not really a huge leap. Musk is literally part of the group, trying to pull it off.

Elon Musk is trying to send visibly queer people to concentration camps? Is there proof of this or is this just some red vs blue nonsense?

one could take what Elon did "for" the queer people on Twitter, or one could take his comments about his child, or one could take the things his trans child said about him.

once again, this shit doesn't start with the concentration camps, that is where it ends.

and the dehumanizing, delegitimizing, vilifying, and smearing is the point we are at now.

As I told someone else already, it didn't start with concentrations camps, nor genocides, it started with efforts to delegitimize, to communally ostracize. and the man who organized it all? he didn't hate the Jews, the Sinti, the Roma, the Socialists, the "degenerates", etc... no Eichmann just didn't care, one of the greatest systematic destruction of human lives was organized by someone who just didn't care. to him, it was just a question of "this is what the current (brown) side wants"

As if they're not openly making plans to do precisely that to to visibly queer people.

Who is "they"?

The far right, of which Musk is a member.

What does it mean to be right wing to you?

Far right isn't the same as right wing. Right wing could be a liberal. Far right is where you start sorting people by their "worth" instead of letting people discover that for themselves.

Far right implies further to the right? How is liberalism which relies on a basic notion of individualism in the same category as ethnonationalism which relies on a basic notion of collectivism?

Far right doesn't mean more "liberalism", it means to the right of liberalism. right wing and left wing describe a spectrum within liberalism. Far right and far left are when you step outside the boundaries of liberalism. Whether that takes the form of collectivism or individualism isn't really material to whether it's outside the liberal spectrum. What is material is the belief in the democratic process and capitalism.

So the more centrist the more individualist, and the closer to the extremities the more collectivist? That's not a perspective I've heard before. But I guess what I question again is then what makes something right wing? Leftwing is usually described as vaguely Marxist- but how is a monarchist and a fascist in the same category?

The usual thing it means to people who follow politics. I'm not gonna explain basic vocabulary to you.

Which is what? Monarchist? Liberal? Fascist? Those three things are described as right-wing sometimes but are all contradictory.

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Elon hates that auto workers have gone on strike? I'm shocked...

I was saving for a Tesla. Not anymore.

Ahemmm just pure "they be crafty".... Like did UAW keep their twitter X account just so they thought "Will Elon be stupid enough to revoke us". Since it is clear sign of anti-union behavior by CEO of a car company by concrete act and well car company CEO can't exactly do that with atleast potentially getting in trouble. It won't suffice alone, but combine it with other actions by Tesla and UAW can argue "Tesla as company all the way to the CEO shows a consistent pattern of anti-union activity of actively hindering our union drives. That is supposed to be illegal".

Atleast I think UAW doesn't mind at all the publicity, this will cause for them "Automaker CEO revoked us, since all business is too conglomerized to too few hands and control way too much of the business"

The reason he's upset is that the UAW is bringing unions to battery manufacturing.

Oh no, unions wanting to expand the sectors industry they cover? How suprising. 😃

Makes sense, electric vehicles have far fewer component assemblies and battery systems will be the most expensive part for ages, UAW wants in on those production lines.

Heck it is say for example straight up the plan in Europe. Since say for example there is no getting away from IG Metal for all German makers. Since IG metal literally covers pretty much whole industrial manufacturing and so on.

So they just immediately went "IG Metal, workers of the company, now don't go doing anything rash.... we have retraining program planned".

Remember this was what Herbet Diess of VW got in trouble in part. Saying to Wolfsburg of "large fraction of you should be just unceremoniously fired, we need more cost efficiency". Though his main fall was the mismanagement of Cariad and software delay resulting. Which caused the cardinal sin of any big legacy car CEO.... Announced launch and delivery dates were not kept. Out he goes unceremoniously.

I found it funny how some were going "The CEO is talking truth to power, the need to cut workers, don't you understand". You don't do that in place like Germany. You can't get away from IG Metall. They can make CEO's life living hell, if "employee-employer" relations are not at least on tolerable stance. Even the comments were from union side of caliber CEO seems to be dumb and doesn't understand how things are done here in Germany.

Work force is the main asset. Meaning retrain. Combustion engine labs will be soon instead studying most efficient heat pump setups, most efficient electric motor windings and most importantly Battery pack and cell optimization. The casting plant, that cast and machined engine blocks. Congratulations you are still casting "engine blocks", only now these new engine blocks are called "electric drive unit housings". Assembly people are moved from assembled double clutch gearboxes and engine valve trains to assembling electric drive units and battery packs. So on and so on. The gear cutters who cut transmissions, well we still need reduction gearings and say differentials and so on.

well put.

I would also add... the part count hasn't actually dropped overall maybe as much as people might think. Since... seats are parts, head rests are parts, doors are parts, windows are part, body panels are parts, suspension springs are parts. The mechanical drive train part count sure has gone down. There was many many valves and springs in engine and so on. However mostly the overall assembly line is still the same. The final assembly line doesn't care "are we putting in fuel tank or battery pack", "is the motor here electric or combustion one", "oh these fuel lines are electric instead of fluid, well still pretty thick and stiff lines to run, wrangle in there you dastardly high voltage wire as thick as my thumb".

People often forget most of the car... is the car, not it's drivetrain. Drivetrain is there to move around the car, the cabin. Lot of effort and parts go in the cabin and it is often what sells the car, not the drivetrain. Many a car sale is decided on "hey honey, try these seats, these are really comfortable". Instead on "is the 0-60 7.2 seconds or 5.3 seconds". Can you fit the baby stroller in the back boot and so on sells cars. None of that changes, even though the mechanical drive train is completely different.

All the upholstery and final assembly department is still exactly same. Except the fuel tank and engine reverse weight. The electric motor weights less than the engine block, but that electric fuel tank sure has gained weight over the empty liquid one.

well - the engine and drivetrain. the number of parts in an ICE engine and the drivetrain to transmit that power to the wheels is significant.

Capitalist does captitalist things.

Free speech absolutist censors free speech.

Speech is free, as long as it is positive or neutral irt his assets.

This article was updated to include information about a Twitter policy to temporarily remove checkmarks from verified accounts that change their profile pictures.

Oh dear. Now that you're wrong, will you update your views or double-down like a knob?

What's interesting is I can't find that text anywhere on the page. Where are you reading that?

Is elon turning into alex jones? That picture is not flattering

To be fair, the lighting is unflattering. However I'm guessing he's going to age like crap. He went bald 10 years ago, but can afford the best wizardry to reverse that (take a look at old pictures of him). Chances are he's doing other things to stave off the appearance of old age. That shit only works for so long and then it all comes crashing down

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Fascism at its best

lol, literally schizo posting.

This article was updated to include information about a Twitter policy to temporarily remove checkmarks from verified accounts that change their profile pictures.

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I don't think that's what fascism is

Yeah it's some business owner shutting down a union

Like, unironically. Fascists are extremely anti-union.

There's obviously a lot more to it, and this is a relatively minor example even after Elon made paid accounts have more visibility, but this is very much one of their things.

The Nazis and Soviets did the same thing about unions. Picked unions that had a lot of their backers in them and backed those, then once elected they created state ran unions and banned all others.

for the fascist please refer to my previous comment, for the Communists, the Bolsheviks didn't have much to do with the small and numerous Russian unions (Russia had a very beurocratically decentralized industry at that point in time) and later fought against them as they mostly joined the white Russian faction (the bolsheviks being backed by the Entente), and ironically the term Tankie comes from an event where the soviet unions crushed mainly union uprisings against the soviets in Hungary, with tanks, because the soviets also couldn't stand unions (like ever fascist ever)

please stop repeating American Cold War era misinformation.

the Bolsheviks didn't have much to do with the small and numerous Russian unions (Russia had a very beurocratically decentralized industry at that point in time) and later fought against them as they mostly joined the white Russian faction

Source for this? Everything I find contradicts that, but most of those are Marxist sources.

the bolsheviks being backed by the Entente

You mean central powers

and ironically the term Tankie comes from an event where the soviet unions crushed mainly union uprisings against the soviets in Hungary

I clearly stated they opposed unions not reporting to the state. Also the Hungarian revolution was a bit more than a strike. Both the Nazis and the Soviets constructed unions that were organs of the state.

That's the union's gonna tear the fascists down, down, down.

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Xitter ! love it, now lexicon

Usage: Can’t wait to watch Xitter (pronounced Zit - ter) pop after Musk wrecks the train.

My very limited exposure to Chinese makes me read it as shitter

IIRC the letter X in Portuguese is also pronounced as "schiss". So Xitter makes a lot of sense to me.

My exposure to English gives xylophone, xenon, xerox, xenograft. Sounds like Z at the start of a word.

I get you like it to be shit, which takes ages to decompose. I'd rather it pop like a zit and be gone, and with the current trajetory, that would not surprise.

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I'm excited for his alcoholism to catch up.

Eh, that's super random. My great grandfather died in his 40s from alcoholism related, and my grandfather in like his 80s from alcohol related causes. If my great grandfather drank more than my grandfather on the other side I can't even imagine how he even survived his 20s or 30s... people used to drink a lot and call it normal

(Also, random side note. Elon is bizarre to ketamine. He microdoses daily, and takes "regular doses" to be "more social at parties" that doesn't sound super healthy, but I am not a doctor...)

Trust me, the problem is not enough drugs for that man. Not too much. Also, Face Off.

I recommend switching to MDMA, getting the UAW to take some too, then hug it out like Men. Side hug only.

It is actually fucking shocking how effective MDMA is at conflict resolution.

True but some people may get wet brain for example early in life.

This whole incident probably took place from automation. As others have stated they changed the profile photo and the system needs verification. The software probably has a hash value for the photo and when they changed the photo the hash value changed triggering the chain of events. You guys are really hung up on hating him but he probably had nothing to do with it other than the initial design verification.

Hash value? Twitter hosts their account, they literally have to ask Twitter to change the pic.

There's several ways this could be tracked, but if they claimed somewhere they were hashing values and that triggered it, something very fishy is going on.

Like the only way that could happen is if they changed the file hosted at a certain exact URL (weird, especially for an auto workers union), and despite hosting the pics themselves, Twitter added a periodic check for this edge case. But also flagged that as more suspicious than updating it normally

And instead of keeping the cached version until the new one is reviewed, they changed it but flagged the account. Seeing as they basically pioneered sharding, I find this whole situation pretty coincidental

Usually I'd assume incompetence introduced during the imposter checkmark fiasco after they lost all their best engineers, but Musk has shown himself very willing to put his fingers on the scale...

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"To a request for comment, X only sent Ars an auto-response, saying, "Busy now, please check back later." (To be fair, in this case "check back later" is a good summary of what happened.)" 😂

Couldn't this be breach of contract for services not rendered?

Elon heard something called Unify or Utigy was taking all the bad press and he had to fix that.

Why should anyone care? I thought the blue mark doesn't have meaning anymore?

Well, I think this might, but probably not, technically qualify as an anti-union action in violation of state and federal laws. Basically, if you do things to silence or discredit the union and advocates then you've broken the law. That said, companies get away with a lot worse, so something as minor as the blue check disappearing is not likely to have any real backlash.

Definitely shows where he stands on these issues if it ever wasn't clear. Musk is unfortunately a person with a lot of influence on business and politics.

Who fucking cares. Stop talking about musk and he will likely go away

Hell no. Musk is, extremely publicly, disproving every myth about billionaires. He's telling you what he is, he's showing you what he is. And this is "best businessman, super genius, futurist poster boy for billionaires Musk"

You don't have to like the situation or the coverage, and you certainly don't have to like him.

But you need to watch. We all need to watch. We need to sear this in, so next time someone buys the legend crafted by a billionaire.

When people praise Musk or talk about trickle down economics, you need to be honestly shocked. You need to be able to rattle off the stupid and evil decisions that describe his life, and be able to explain how he's never built a company or designed anything, how the only useful contribution he's made to anything is hyping things so far he's being sued for outright fraud

Give him the attention - a lot of programmers have long known he's a poser, but most of us didn't make a big deal about it because he was getting people excited for important technology. It was for the common good.

And now, watching him is the common good - let him bask in infamy all he likes, this protracted midlife crisis is possibly the most philanthropic thing he's ever done

Yeah this is why I disagree with "you're just giving him free clicks and making him more popular". He's constantly disproving every positive association with billionaires.

Did you not read my post?

Let him have his infamy, he's using it to disprove every positive association with billionaires.

Give him all the clicks, all the views, pay attention - he's the real time greatest argument there will ever be for not having another Elon Musk. Pay attention, break it down for your dad, spread the word to your friends - it's very important that as a species, we learn this lesson ASAP. Next time, this lesson will cost a great many lives

Yeah, he gets what he wants, but I have literally, never for a moment, cared what some elongated muskrat wants

You might've misread, I'm in complete agreement with you. It's the people who think that it's just helping Musk that I disagree with.

Ah... you're right, rereading that I totally got that jumbled up in my head, sorry

I might be a little touchy on the topic...I have family members who are smart and educated, but even now think Musk is some kind of genius, maybe with a personality disorder excused by his genius. Telling them about him doesn't help, but letting him show them his true colors surely will (eventually)

Hey ASstechnica: what about your own shit like this cookie consent popup? Even nsa.gov would be an amateur