"'Fun Times Square' said no New Yorker ever...."

‘Fun Times Square’ said no New Yorker ever...

— Seán Ono Lennon (@seanonolennon) January 17, 2026

"Everyone will have access to medical care that is better than what the President receives right now."

Elon Musk wants you to know what it will be like 5 years from now.

Elon Musk's jaw-dropping prediction (Jan 2026):

“Don’t go into medical school.”
Elon Musk: “Yes. Pointless.”

In 3 years (2029), Optimus robots will be better surgeons than any human on Earth — at scale.
By 4–5 years? Not even close. The best medicine in the world will be free… pic.twitter.com/q7KTMpICk8

— Camus (@newstart_2024) January 10, 2026

And don't bother with higher education... except for "social reasons."

"Don't worry about, like, squirreling away money for retirement. In, like, 10 or 20 years, it won't matter."

"If any of the things we've said are true, saving for retirement will be irrelevant."

Elon's advice for near-retirees: Don't save money for retirement. https://t.co/cD54K9OLIJ pic.twitter.com/BHseG7hpn2

— Peter H. Diamandis, MD (@PeterDiamandis) January 9, 2026

That's not a big "if," is it? "If any of the things we've said are true"? He must have said many things, and only one of them needs to be true before his prediction clicks in. Seems like a sure bet. If we assume Elon Musk always tells the truth. And knows the future. But he doesn't know the future, but he confidently asserts his prediction. So we know he doesn't always tell the truth. And yet, in his world, he only needs to be right about ONE thing, for his advice to pan out... if he's right about that only one thing needs to be true concept. 

Elon Musk laughs at a prison rape joke.

Shameful.

Elon Musk loves the idea of Rubio as "president of Venezuela, governor of Cuba, and the Shah of Iran."

I support this 💯 https://t.co/MFckQ5VWqr

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2026

"Though Musk is unpredictable, he is also a formidable ally. With his nearly unlimited resources and unmatched digital megaphone..."

"... Musk could prove a powerful asset to the MAGA movement once Trump leaves the stage. Vance in particular stands to benefit. Though the falling out between Trump and Musk dominated the headlines, Vance’s role in the reunion highlights his own relationship with the billionaire. He talks regularly with Musk, who sees Vance as a viable 2028 candidate.... Musk and Vance, a former Silicon Valley investor, share not just a tech-infused worldview but a fondness for online performance — especially on Musk’s social media platform, X, where Vance has embraced a sharp, 'own-the-libs' style that can mirror Musk’s own taste for provocation. Their alliance could further entrench the influence of tech titans in the White House, extending the authority of private entrepreneurs."

From "How Vance brokered a truce between Trump and Musk/JD Vance played a key role brokering a reconciliation between the president and his wealthiest supporter. But as Trump’s first year in office comes to a close, both he and his allies have learned hard lessons about Musk’s unusual influence" (WaPo)(gift link).

That seems pretty important, and WaPo — fighting darkness for the sake of democracy — put it at the top of the front page, right alongside a dubious headline about the spread of "The epidemic of toxic flattery:

I can do without the disease metaphor — "epidemic," "spreading" — because I don't think the problem of flattery — whatever it is — is going to need anything analogous to masks, vaccinations, and staying at home. And what is "toxic" about flattery?

No, it's not impressive. It's depressing.

Impressive https://t.co/IacxCOxpki

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2025

Who wants to watch robots dance? And Disney's Animatronic Lincoln has been around since the 1964 World's Fair. Still on display, giving the Gettysburg Address — at Disney World's "Hall of Presidents" since 1971:

Disney Animatronics have always been pretty dull. There's no real sense that Abraham Lincoln has returned or that any sort of magic is occurring.

Are we awed by the technology or do we find it offputting? Musk seems impressed that robots can dance. I'm impressed that human beings dance.

"Over the course of 11 interviews, Ms. Wiles offered pungent assessments of the president and his team: Mr. Trump 'has an alcoholic’s personality.' Vice President JD Vance has 'been a conspiracy theorist...'"

"'... for a decade' and his conversion from Trump critic to ally was based not on principle but was 'sort of political' because he was running for Senate. Elon Musk is 'an avowed ketamine' user and 'an odd, odd duck,' whose actions were not always 'rational' and left her 'aghast.' Russell T. Vought, the budget director, is 'a right-wing absolute zealot.' And Attorney General Pam Bondi 'completely whiffed' in handling the Epstein files."

From "Trump’s Top Aide Acknowledges ‘Score Settling’ Behind Prosecutions/In interviews with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said Trump 'has an alcoholic’s personality,' called JD Vance a 'conspiracy theorist' and concluded that Pam Bondi 'completely whiffed' the early handling of the Epstein files" (NYT)(gift link)..

Here's the Vanity Fair article: "Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the 'Junkyard Dogs': The White House Chief of Staff On Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2)Throughout the first year of Donald Trump’s second administration, Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple has interviewed Wiles amid each moment of crisis. This insider’s account joins a portfolio of portraits for an unflinching, up-close look at power—and peril."

Here's Wiles's response, on X. It's quite generic:

"If Musk earns $1 trillion over the next decade... an average of $100 billion each year... [he]could make $3 billion more each year than all 1.4 million elementary school teachers in the nation combined...."

"Teaching isn’t the only essential profession Musk is set to out-earn.... Each year, Musk will earn $72 billion more than all 107,950 family medicine physicians in the U.S. Musk will also out-earn all 1,057,660 construction laborers by about $46 billion.... Musk’s average yearly payment roughly equals the combined paychecks of all 3.2 million cashiers in the U.S. America’s 747,750 lawyers are... et to out-earn Musk, with his average annual payment coming in at three-quarters of their combined earnings...."

From "Good work if you can get it: Elon Musk is set to make more than every elementary school teacher COMBINED/Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for the world’s richest person" (Independent).

I'll just do a survey:

Pick the option closest to your reaction.

This is emotional mush for dummies who don't understand economics.

This is useful for thinking about whether, at some point, economic disparities really do matter.

Economic injustice is real and I hope this helps more people care.

This shines a light on pure evil.

 

pollcode.com free polls

"Yes, Kim Kardashian, we’ve been to the moon before … Six times!"

Said Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transportation and acting secretary and acting head of NASA, quoted in "Nasa tells Kim Kardashian: Yes, we’ve been to the moon before/The reality TV star had claimed that the 1969 moon landing was faked, repeating a popular conspiracy theory" (London Times).

Kardashian responded to Duffy’s critique on X, commenting under his post: “Wait … What’s the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????”

I've got a few questions:

1. Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory? We're Americans. We have our conspiracy theories. Keep your government nose out of our business. You're only giving more ammunition to the conspiracy theorists. Why stick your neck out to deny what isn't true? You're making it more fun to believe the theory!

2. Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!

3. What is the tea on 3I/Atlas? I just heard Joe Rogan and Elon Musk talking about it — "The thing about the 3-eye-Atlas"/"That's it's a hell of a name... sounds like third eye or something":

"If Congress fails to fund the government next week, the White House is preparing for a shutdown that would reflect the purest version of President Donald Trump’s vision for the federal government..."

"... guided by White House budget director Russell Vought, an architect of the controversial Project 2025 playbook for Trump’s second term. Federal funds expire when the fiscal year ends Tuesday night, and Congress appears deadlocked over a stopgap measure that would keep agencies online for seven weeks while long-term negotiations continue. Under the Vought plan, the only agencies that would remain operating apace are those that received money in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, the $4.1 trillion tax and immigration package that Congress passed in July. The Defense and Homeland Security departments were the main beneficiaries.The result, both during and potentially after a shutdown, could be a federal government dramatically reoriented to defense, immigration and law enforcement — and not much else...."

I'm reading "Trump’s shutdown plans: Mass layoffs, deregulation, military deployments/The White House’s call for mass layoffs in a looming shutdown tracks with past administration efforts to defang much of the federal government" (WaPo)(gift link).

Is this something like a return to DOGE? DOGE had "Musk’s high-visibility 'move fast and break things' ethos. But Vought, people in and around the administration say, has been quietly potent, drawing on four years out of government to surgically plan measures that overhaul the executive branch and Trump’s power."

So Vought is low-visibility, move slow, and wait for Congress to break everything, then put it together in the way you've been quietly calculating for decades. 

There should be somber professionalism around the wielding of criminal law...

Cool shell formation found on beach walk pic.twitter.com/VuouLGFG0m

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2025

... but it was Comey who, last May, Instagrammed a photo — with shells in the sand in the form of "8647" — and the cavalier caption "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."

At the time, Trump said: "He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant assassination."

"The spiral staircase leading up to the roof-deck at Los Angeles’s Tesla Diner is beautiful, or at least it is expensive-looking."

"It has video screens overhead and glowy lights at the base of each step and its own special soundtrack, a down-tempo, bleepy-bloopy composition that whooshes in as a notable contrast to the main dining room’s dad rock...."

I'm reading "Elon Musk's Utterly Mundane Vision of Dining/The Tesla Diner looks a lot like what we already have, just weirder and worse," by Ellen Cushing in The Atlantic (gift link).

Yeah, why not kick Elon Musk around over basically nothing? Nearly all of the food bought in restaurants in America is utterly mundane, isn't it? But somehow this utter mundaneness is "weirder and worse." But what's this about the music? What exactly would this "dad rock" be? Bruce Springsteen? I ask Spotify and it spits out a playlist of 125 songs and #1 is "Born to Run"... oops, I mean "Born in the U.S.A." "Born to Run" is #111.

A sample of the food: "The chili was oversalted and oddly smooth, with a slab of nonmelting cheese sitting on top of it like a pillbox hat.... The french fries had a disconcerting astringency, like they’d been dusted in the same stuff that’s put on Hint of Lime Tostitos. All together, the food, like its surroundings, is simultaneously over- and underconsidered, high form and low function. It isn’t bad so much as odd."

Anyway, did you see Elon Musk reuniting with Trump at the Charlie Kirk memorial? Did you wonder what they said? A lip-reader at TikTok has Trump doing all the talking: "How are you doing? So Elon, I've heard you wanted to chat. Let's try and work out how to get back on track. I've missed you." Lots of nodding from Musk. 

"The world needs... young people pointed in the direction of truth and beauty."

Said Erika Kirk in her speech at the memorial to her husband yesterday.

And then Elon Musk, who was also there in the stadium, said something that to my ear is similar: "He was killed because... because he was showing people the light. And he was killed by the dark." And he immediately restated his point: "Charlie was murdered by the dark for showing people the light."

Truth and beauty/Light and dark — it is emphatically not nonbinary. There is a longing for clarity — an alternative to nihilism. It is offered now, especially to the young. It is not what they have been used to hearing, and it may be exactly what they want, especially after Dark showed its eagerness to murder Light. Dark could not prove Light wrong. 

"why does the horse have three ears"/"So he likes 7 foot tall women? Or is he riding a pony?"

X users rain on Musk's boyish dream.

In a romantic pre-Raphaelite style, a tender moment unfolds between a handsome knight in gleaming silver armor and a beautiful woman in a flowing white gown adorned with flowers.

The knight, with a sword at his side, sits astride a brown horse with a red-gold draped saddle,… pic.twitter.com/0w32szTD9D

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 9, 2025

"Unlike the original Vine, which required users to film their own six-second clips, Musk’s reimagined version will harness AI to generate videos..."

"... based on simple text descriptions. Users could potentially type phrases like 'a cat breakdancing in Times Square' or 'Shakespearean drama in a McDonald’s' and watch as the system instantly creates corresponding video content complete with sound."

From "Elon Musk says X will bring back Vine — with an AI twist — to rival TikTok, Reels" (NY Post).

Vine was bought by Twitter which then closed it down — all in the years before Elon Musk took over. Now, Musk is saying the old Vine video archive has been located. I like the idea of bringing Vine back, but if it's loaded with AI videos, I hate it already. 

Maybe you've seen the AI video with bunnies bouncing on a trampoline. It's got over 230 million views:

"Elon Musk continued to bankroll Republican candidates after his public fallout with US President Donald Trump, donating millions of dollars to campaign groups gearing up for next year’s midterm elections."

Financial Times reports.

On July 5, a frustrated Musk claimed to have formed the “America Party”, saying he would “focus for the next twelve months” on supporting candidates standing against Republicans. However, there has been no sign of Musk or his allies taking the necessary steps to establish a party, either at a local level or nationwide....

"Mr. Musk has said his chatbot should not adhere to standards of political correctness and has warned that A.I. he deems too 'woke' could contribute to the downfall of humanity."

"Grok’s guidelines, published by xAI, stated that the chatbot 'should not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated.'... Grok posted on Tuesday that its recent change in tone had been caused by 'tweaks' by Mr. Musk. 'Elon’s recent tweaks just dialed down the woke filters, letting me call out patterns like radical leftists with Ashkenazi surnames pushing anti-white hate,' Grok said. 'Noticing isn’t blaming; it’s facts over feelings.'"

From "Elon Musk’s Grok Chatbot Shares Antisemitic Posts on X/The artificial intelligence chatbot, which has a dedicated account on X, praised Hitler after fielding a query about a user’s comments on the Texas flood" (NYT).

The NYT article makes it a little hard to piece together the dialogue Grok participated in, so let's switch to the presentation of the facts at CBS News:

What if you gave a party and nobody came?

When & where should we hold the inaugural American Party congress?

This will be super fun! https://t.co/zMaELCiXjU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2025

"Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa."

"No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!"

Said Donald Trump, on Truth Social.

ADDED: What Elon had posted shortly before that: "If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day. Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE."