“Bad Optics”

He’s pioneering an age of autocracy

As we approach the anniversary of Donald Trump’s second presidential victory, now is a good time to reflect on the world’s richest and most powerful man. No, not the President of the United States — but Elon Musk. After buying Twitter three years ago, the billionaire effectively reshaped elite discourse overnight, before then going on to bankroll Trump’s third presidential campaign to the tune of $280 million. And if that represents the largest series of individual political donations in global history, that pales compared to what comes next. Earlier this month, Tesla announced a new compensation package potentially earning Musk $1 trillion, assuming he helps his firm reach a series of lofty performance milestones.

Regardless of whether Musk does secure his full payout, when someone finally becomes the world’s first trillionaire, odds are it’ll be him. When that happens, his wealth would rival or exceed the GDPs of Portugal, Greece, New Zealand, and Hungary combined. As he’s already shown, Musk has the means to influence any political campaign in his adoptive country. But his immense wealth also allows him to astroturf political movements on virtually any global issue. Witness, if nothing else, his apparent support of Tommy Robinson in Britain, echoed by similar enthusiasms from Paris to Berlin.

EDMONTON — Ren Alva is no stranger to leaving a good tip.

The Edmonton university student believes in tipping service workers for a job well done, even leaving more during the holidays and after special events.

But the 22-year-old from Bahrain was taken aback during a recent visit to a U-pick berry farm, where he and his friends were asked to leave a tip at checkout.

“We did the picking ourselves,” said Alva. “They didn’t have to do anything.

The mask is finally coming off

At a moment when the world’s most revered humanitarian faces growing public scrutiny and a fading public profile, what does he do? Try to change the narrative. Over the past year, we’ve seen Bill Gates embark on a powerful PR tour. In addition to his podcast, his blog, and endless speeches and op-eds, he pushed out a five-part self-aggrandising Netflix series last year. And now he’s got a new memoir.

A single volume would not be sufficient for Gates, however, and he has announced that he needs three to tell his life story. The first, Source Code, focuses on his early life, and the initial years of Microsoft, the company that made him a billionaire. As one of the most interviewed and talked about people in history, much of Gates’s personal story has already been told. So what could he tell us at this point that we haven’t heard before?

HOLY SMOKES: Ana Kasparian absolutely ERUPTS on the Democratic Party and exposes them as thieves of taxpayer dollars.

We need more of this from fed-up liberals.

“When I look at my life right now and ask myself, which political party has made my life worse? It’s not the… pic.twitter.com/SBhnanbwv0

— The Vigilant Fox (@VigilantFox) December 7, 2024

Another Canadian progressive politician is in celebration mode as Canada collapses in a cloud of economic hardship and social degeneracy.

Video has surfaced of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, 67, allegedly taking a shot of alcohol while on stage at a recent public event.

People are leaving Toronto by the tens of thousands. Crime has skyrocketed, partly due to thousands of poorly-vetted asylum seekers flooding the city. Prices for food and rent are persistently high. Average homes are well over $1 million.

Once in a while, a company decides to rebrand itself. Sometimes those rebranding efforts work; other times they don’t (I see you, new Coke).

One company that has recently undergone a rebranding effort is Jaguar. With a history spanning just over a century, the luxury car manufacturer was famous for its sporty cars that were sleek, stylish, and quintessentially British.

I would be examining short seller activity. This fiasco could not have been planned better for someone hoping to gain by Jaguar’s stock collapse.

I’ve often had occasion to smirk to myself on hearing that a friend plans to ‘travel’. Usually what they really mean is they’re about to go on an all-inclusive holiday to a resort in southern Europe and sit on their bum by a swimming pool for a week. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – it’s definitely my favourite thing to do in hot countries. But why won’t they admit that they’re ‘tourists’, instead of pretending that they’re ‘travellers’?

Politico nailed it: “The G7 summit in the southern Italian coastal resort of Borgo Egnazia features arguably the weakest gathering of leaders the group has mustered for years.”

Among the many unanswered questions about what actually transpired during the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021, is that of where all of the security video went. There are a few sensational snippets showing some of the worst moments that show up regularly and Tucker Carlson released more of it somehow earlier this year. But we were assured that there were thousands of hours more that never seemed to be released.

The hilarious Remy sang last year that we’re living in a clown world, where up is down, down is up, absurd situations are treated as if they’re normal, everything dumb is permitted, and everything that would be helpful or common sense is restricted or made absurdly difficult by idiotic government rules and regulations.

Did James O’Keefe jump or get pushed out of Project Veritas, the gonzo journalism outfit he founded in 2010? Either way, the people who picked a fight with O’Keefe are obviously feeling the heat from angry supporters. On Thursday, they tried to patch things up with friends and supporters.