Not that we needed more proof Elon Musk’s delusions of grandeur have him believing HE is “Master Of The Universe” but he’s decided to show his a$$ yet again. Now he’s claiming in court The Onion which purchased Alex Jones’ Inforwars in the bankruptcy auction doesn’t own it. Musk goes further and says it’s not for sale even. This will take some unpacking so let me remind you what’s been going on with this matter.
Infowars founder Alex Jones abused the hell out of the families of the victims killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting. Then he abused the hell out of the court system. Rich people can get away with that and do all the time. But the Sandy Hook parents turned out to be tougher than Jones ever imagined. They refused to give up and forced him into bankruptcy. Jones of course has continued with his legal games and hiding of assets to prevent paying the huge settlement he owes. However one good thing that happened is Jones couldn’t stop the court from putting his beloved Infowars up for sale to the highest bidder. (Infowars has been Jones ‘flagship’) With some help from none other than the Sandy Hook families The Onion, a gem for those who enjoy satire was able to put up the winning bid! They intend of course to turn it into pure satire and Jones is quite unhappy about it. So he filed a court motion saying the bidding process was sketchy.
With me so far? Jones is beside himself over HIS ‘baby’ he’d used to attack people he was sure couldn’t fight back into a platform that will make fun of HIM, and people and causes he has supported in his vile, despicable life. From what I read he was going to lose at the hearing next month and come January we’d have some pretty cool stuff being put out by The Onion – using Jones’ old platform! Just imagine how many former fans will go there and be stunned at the new content. That should bring a smile to the face of folks reading this.
However now, as this article from Latin Times tells us Elon Musk has decided no, The Onion didn’t win any auction. That Infowars was never for sale because Jones didn’t actually own it. HE (Musk) did because Jones included content from Musk’s twitter/X. Or something along those lines:
In an auction earlier this month, The Onion became a top bidder, aiming to repurpose Infowars into a satirical platform. However, X (formerly Twitter) contested the inclusion of Infowars’ X accounts in the deal, claiming that its terms of service grant only non-transferable usage rights, not ownership.
As I already mentioned Jones hasn’t given up and got himself a court hearing and the matter is under ‘judicial review’ but it looked like the sale process was solid so there wasn’t much to worry about. Now Musk has jumped in with his own legal twist as noted above. The linked article also fleshes out Musk’s argument some:
X’s legal filing challenges the transfer of Infowars’ accounts, including @infowars and @BANNEDdotVIDEO, arguing they are the sole property of the company. The bankruptcy court will hold a hearing next month to resolve disputes about the auction process and X’s ownership rights.
This is a new story and with everything going on with the transition maybe will get lost in all the DC hoopla. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on. What I find breathtaking is Musk apparently saying if a site uses posts made on twitter/X since said posts belong to twitter/X then by god HE owns those sites he shares content with! WTF? Talk about an out of control ego! Musk has accumulated so much money that even with all he’s lost (and twitter isn’t the only mess he’s created – he’s cost Tesla stockholders plenty at times) he seems to feel he doesn’t even need to bother with putting up any money for something anymore. Just find some connections and say ‘It’s mine!’
When one considers his government contracts and how easily he could cripple both military communications (civilian too and not just American’s) and our space program just for starters we should damn well be worried. We have so often worried about Putin controlling Trump but we could be on the verge of an epic Trump vs. Musk “Steel Cage” match. Musk can single-handedly cripple Trump and the United States. He could be the rich kid who shows up at the playground with a basketball and gets a game started. Then loses, or gets fouled too hard or something and takes his ball and goes home.
Musk has places he could retire to and live out life in luxury we can’t even dream of. We have talked plenty about Trump’s mental state. Maybe we should be looking a lot harder at Musk’s and how it’s changed over the last ten years or so. Because a petulant Elon Musk could, if he doesn’t get his way and/or the worship he craves (no wonder he and Trump bonded in the first place) can do two things anytime he wants. Cripple not just our military but everyone’s communications by shutting down Starlink. And then shuttering Space-X. Just shut it down, fire everyone and refuse to sell it. Oh, there would be court fights but the damage from those two things alone would be catastrophic.
Which brings me back to why he suddenly cares about what happens to Infowars. Is he afraid of the mockery they can make of him and that it will take hold in the public’s mind? Think about it.
Elon Musk and Donald tRump’s “bromance” cannot last. They are both narcissistic a-holes and there isn’t room for both of them in either of their worlds. I’m surprised tRump hasn’t started saying he never knew Elon, he was just the coffee boy, or some such nonsense. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Don Boy to ditch Elon, which could be like getting something squishy that smells really bad off the bottom of your shoe. Wait…isn’t that one of the ways commentators on this blog have described tRump himself???
Darn, Denis, you bear me to the punch! I was going to do an Elon,Vivek/dimbfucks column and you best me too it! Nevertheless, a well written column that I enjoyed. and you had lots of questions with no real answers to think about. Well done sir, as always!!!!!
I read somewhere that muskrat will be writing programs for the government. Why does that terrify me so? He claimed an “app” told him they had all the votes they needed. Tyrant thought he’d use muskrat to get elected and then let him do his cost cutting damage to the social programs we all rely on (not to mention paid in to all of our working lives). Tyrant is too stupid to outsmart him so now he is stuck with him. But he did buy the election so he got his get out of jail free card that he wanted.
musk is right about the x accounts but if he’s really claiming he owns infowars because of that then he’s nuts.
The Onion doesn’t need to use those old accounts, just make new ones, or shove X in thr trash entirely and go with BlueSky or Mastodon or both.