Tag: Elon Musk

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Organizers Urge County Officials Be Held Accountable for xAI Project

Photo: Black Voters Matter

While many residents have criticized Memphis Mayor Paul Young for the city’s role in Elon Musk’s xAI project, community organizers say Shelby County officials should not only be held responsible, they should intervene as well.

On Monday night, the group Black Voters Matter facilitated a virtual conversation called “Stop the xAI Shelby County Takeover” where KeShaun Pearson of Memphis Community Against Pollution said the Shelby County Health Department is responsible for regulating environmental concerns — which have been at the center of the xAI controversy.

To address this, Pearson met with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris last week about the presence of xAI’s gas turbines — which many did not know had been operating for about a year.

In June 2024, Harris released a statement commending the Greater Memphis Chamber for “leading” the xAI project into fruition and called it a “monumental opportunity for Memphis and Shelby County.”

While Pearson addressed the “atrocity” of the situation, he said Harris is in support of a resolution that is headed to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday before the Commission’s Hospitals and Health Committee.

The resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Britney Thornton, urges the Shelby County Health Department to host a public meeting “prior to the approval or denial of the permit submitted by CTC Property LLC, an affiliate of xAI for the long-term operations of 15 methane gas turbines in South Memphis.”

Pearson said this resolution would suspend the air-permitting process as the permit is not for the “current pollution” but “more pollution,” as xAI intends to bring more turbines in.

“The damage here on a human level in an ecosystem that is trying to flourish, that is so beautiful — it’s so dangerous,” Pearson said. “It’s incumbent, and it’s a responsibility of the people who have signed the paperwork to say they ‘will be employed here and work for the people’ to show up and do that.”

Amber Sherman, local political strategist, said it’s important for people to know “who the power players are” and how these processes work. Sherman’s comments come after MCAP hosted “A Fireside Chat with Mayor Paul Young” on Saturday, March 22nd.

Pearson said the conversation was “representative of what people are feeling,” noting that many people felt “left out of the entire process.” He said he was glad citizens were able to challenge Young on his “positive position” regarding xAI.

Sherman noted that several people wondered why Young “wasn’t doing anything” and felt like Young should have emphasized how “the power works.”

“You’re not throwing someone under the bus to make sure people know who’s responsible,” Sherman said. “Saying that the Shelby County Health Department is the one who issues permits doesn’t throw them under the bus — it just points out the direct target who we should be talking to, so everyone isn’t pissed off at you all the time.”

Pearson noted that while Young may not have all the authority citizens expect him to, he isn’t “absolved” from working on the city’s end.

“What we can’t allow is for people to scapegoat other organizations,” Pearson said. “It is a bit of standing in your power and really using the authority that has been given to you in ways that exist, and not to perform this kind of learned helplessness that ‘we can’t do anything’ [or] ‘I can only do so much.’ Do everything and then get innovative on how to do more.”

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At Large Opinion

Social Insecurity

Photo: Pojoslaw | Dreamstime.com

On the fourth Wednesday of each month, a four-figure amount from the U.S. government gets deposited into my bank account. I wouldn’t want to try to subsist solely on my Social Security check, but it’s an invaluable source of income for me in my semi-retirement, and it’s a fund I’ve contributed to since I was in high school, working as a pharmacy stock boy. 

President-Select Elon Musk said on Joe Rogan’s podcast recently that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and spouted several statistics that were quickly debunked. “We’ll make mistakes,” Musk said, when asked about it. That didn’t stop President Trump from repeating Musk’s statistical lies in his address to Congress last week. Trump added that Social Security suffered from “shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud.”

Let’s look at their claims: A Ponzi scheme is a system in which the con artist tricks a lot of people into investing in a scam. If investors want to withdraw their money, the scammer pays back the early investors with money he’s gotten from more recent investors.

In a broad sense, that is the case with Social Security; the people paying into it now are covering the checks of those who are retired or disabled. If, as is happening now, the birth-rate goes down and people are living longer, there can be a funding problem. But, as many economists have pointed out, the solution is simple: Americans contribute to Social Security up to an annual income of $176,000. Raising the top salary level for paying into Social Security to $200,000 would fix the issue for years to come. Another Social Security Administration (SSA) analysis says that an “increase in the combined payroll tax rate from 12.4 percent to 14.4 percent” would make the program sustainable for the next 75 years. That’s not a Ponzi scheme or a crisis. It’s an amendable budget line-item that Congress could address tomorrow.

Regarding Trump’s statements about incompetence and fraud? As hard as it is to believe, he’s lying. Trump told Congress and the American public that 16 million people over the age of 100 received Social Security payments, including 130,000 supposedly over 160 years old. As several media outlets reported after Musk first made these allegations, the SSA’s beneficiaries chart shows that just 89,106 people over age 99 are receiving retirement funds. That number (which includes my own dear mother) is a long way from 16 million. As for fraud, the SSA inspector general reported in 2024 that .84 percent of benefits paid between 2015 and 2022 were improper.

So why are the two most powerful men in the country spewing disinformation about the SSA? Simple. They are attempting to soften up the public for cuts in services. DOGE, Musk’s stealthy pseudo-government agency, is cutting 7,000 SSA workers for starters, and the number of regional SSA offices has been trimmed from 10 to four. Will that mean those of us who receive SS checks should worry? I’m going to go with “yes.”

Here’s what former SSA chief Michael O’Malley told CNN: “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. … I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.”

This is speculation, of course, and O’Malley is a Democrat, but here’s what Leland Dudek, the man Trump appointed to head SSA, said in a recent meeting, according to The Washington Post: “DOGE people are learning and they will make mistakes, but we have to let them see what is going on at SSA. I am relying on longtime career people to inform my work, but I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions.” Reassuring, eh? 

Here’s the bottom line on all this: The “DOGE people” have access to the personal and financial information of every American citizen — living or dead — who has paid into Social Security. What they will do with that private intel is anybody’s guess because they sure aren’t going to tell us. I do know this much: If DOGE screws up with the SSA as badly as they’ve screwed up with some of the other government agencies they’ve defenestrated, our social security benefits could very well be interrupted. If that happens, it will be torch-and-pitchfork time among the citizenry. And it won’t be pretty.  

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xAI Buys 1M SF Facility for Expansion in Whitehaven

Credit: Greater Memphis Chamber via X

Elon Musk’s xAI will further expand its Memphis operations with the purchase of a 1 million-square-foot facility in Whitehaven, the Greater Memphis Chamber announced on Friday.  

The acquisition builds on xAI’s December 2024 announcement regarding the expansion of its Colossus supercomputer facility and the attraction of major tech partners. The facility at the former Electrolux building in Southwest Memphis, which opened last year, powers “Grok,” the company’s artificial intelligence system.

“xAI’s acquisition of this property ensures we’ll remain at the forefront of AI innovation, right here in Memphis,” stated Brent Mayo from xAI. “We’re committed to expanding alongside this community and doing what’s best for the city. As we transform this property and enhance our facility, we’ll bring more employment opportunities and economic growth to the area.”

The expansion announcement follows news of an $80 million water recycling facility to be in Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park. The facility will process up to 13 million gallons of wastewater daily, eliminating the need to draw from the Memphis Sand Aquifer for industrial use. This facility is expected to save about 4.7 billion gallons of water in the aquifer annually, a 9 percent reduction in demand as it will serve other major industrial users in the region.

The new facility also features the world’s largest Tesla Megapack system, designed specifically for supercomputing and data center operations, ensuring the facility won’t draw from the grid during demand response periods, prioritizing the energy needs of Memphis residents and surrounding communities, according to the Chamber.

The price tag of the investment on the new facility was not given by the Chamber.  

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At Large Opinion

Big Boss Man

Elon Musk (Photo: Frédéric Legrand | Dreamstime.com)

I’ve been the editor of several publications in my career. I managed teams of writers and editors — and did my best to empower them, motivate them, and get them to work together to produce newspapers and magazines we could all be proud of. I was, to use the term loosely, a “boss.” I made my share of mistakes, but I always tried to treat my employees with respect and compassion.

I’ve also been an employee for most of my career, working for publishers in Missouri; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; and Memphis. Almost all of my bosses were great people, but I’ve had a couple of stinkers, and they had something in common: They had no idea what their employees did to create the product and didn’t really care to learn. They’d never written, edited, interviewed, researched, reported, or had to meet a printer’s immoveable deadline. They were bottom-line guys who treated their employees as though they were working in a widget factory. 

One of them (in a city that shall remain nameless) called a staff meeting in the conference room on his first day. (This, I should mention, was after we’d watched for a week as the publisher’s office underwent a massive redo: plush Oriental carpet, gleaming teak desk, sleek lamps, cushy couch and chairs.) Anyway, our new boss looked around at the 15 or so writers, art directors, and editors gathered in front of him and said: “You’re probably asking yourselves, ‘What does this dude know about magazines? He’s a real estate guy.’ Well, let me tell you, folks, I read lots of magazines and I know a good one when I see one. And we’re going to put out a great magazine and we’re going to add 25 percent to the bottom line. And if you’re not ready for some big changes, you should leave this room right now.”

Nobody left the room, but everybody knew one thing: We were now working for an asshole. His first directive was to have everyone write down what they did each week and how many hours it took. (If you think anyone’s response didn’t add up to 40 or more hours, you’re pretty naive.) A month later, he called me into his office and told me he was firing our popular food writer, the senior copy editor, and an associate art director. We didn’t need them, he said. The remaining staff could pick up the slack. He didn’t bother to ask how I thought we might be able to save some money on editorial costs; he just made an arbitrary decision.

Any of us who has had to deal with that kind of capricious overlord should be able to relate to what hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been going through recently, as Elon Musk, a man with little understanding of (or respect for) what any of them do, runs a chain saw through their agencies, eliminating people who inspect and direct our airplanes, protect our food from contamination, provide disaster relief, run our national parks, and administer Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid funds. 

Most horrifying of all, Musk has fired 6,700 people at IRS and is seeking access to the financial information of every taxpayer, business, and nonprofit in the country. Giving that kind of power to anyone, let alone an erratic South African billionaire with no official government title, is incredibly foolish. 

Speaking of which: On Saturday, Musk sent the following email to more than a million federal employees at the F.B.I., State Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Personnel Management, Food and Drug Administration, Veterans Affairs Department, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished this week and cc your manager.”

Sound familiar? This kind of directive is so utterly stupid. Who thinks any employee would be unable to come up with five things that they did at their job? And who’s going to review the hundreds of thousands of responses? It’s pointless busy work, meant only to intimidate and induce fear. It’s the tactic of a weak man, someone who thinks he’s running a widget factory, someone with no idea of how to be a real leader. Unfortunately, the Democratic party hasn’t found the courage to call out this reckless deconstruction of our public agencies in any organized or meaningful way. That window is rapidly closing, and it’s time to stand tall. Like a boss. 

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Public Concerns Grow as City Moves Forward With xAI Project

Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Members of the Memphis community have continuously voiced their opposition to Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer project, and the approval of a land deal along with recent news of the city’s investment into the Colossus Water Recycle Plant have amplified public dissent.

When the xAI deal was announced, community leaders and advocates openly opposed the project due to its negative environmental impact and disproportionate effect on minority communities.

Groups such as the Southern Environmental Law Center; Young, Gifted & Green; and Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP) have written letters openly opposing the project, and these concerns have only grown louder.

Today, Mayor Young posted on Facebook that city council approved land acquisition for the future Colossus Water Recycle Plant, an $80 million “investment in green infrastructure to protect our aquifer and safeguard our water for the long term.”

“This is a big win for our entire community,” Young said.

According to the group Protect Our Aquifer, the Colossus Water Recycle Plant will be used to “reduce aquifer usage” of the Colossus supercomputer and “other nearby industries.” The plant will be placed in Southwest Memphis at the former Electrolux facility.

The mayor went on to say that environmental concerns were a “top priority” from the beginning, and that when the electrical grid is experiencing high demand, xAI will move to “100 percent battery power.”

“We have an opportunity to position Memphis as a leader in AI and technology, but we have to do it responsibly,” Young said. “Together, we’re charting a path towards a sustainable future that protects our aquifer and ensures this investment benefits all Memphians for generations to come.”

While the mayor’s post seemed to address the looming environmental concerns, citizens are still not satisfied with the city’s decision.

“This is a very bad business decision,” a Facebook user by the name Richard Faulkner said. “This was blatant disrespect to all Black people in this city.”

Local drag performer and community activist Moth Moth Moth (aka Mothie) is encouraging people to write to Mayor Young regarding “urgent concerns” on the project through an email campaign. Mothie has provided an email prompt on their social media account.

“We stand at a critical apex of our city’s history, ” Mothie said.  “As the world changes all around us, let’s future-proof Memphis against authoritarianism and environmental ruin. The people of Memphis are bigger and more powerful than a lame computer will ever be. Invest instead with the incredible people of Memphis and you will see this city blossom.”

These comments come a week after the Memphis City Council approved an $820K land deal for the xAI facility, which is projected to use over 10 million gallons of wastewater a day.

Over the weekend, The Tennessee Holler posted a video of last Tuesday’s council meeting showing the discussion between xAI representative Brent Mayo, who was joined by Mayor Paul Young during the presentation.

The video shows Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton saying that she wanted more transparency for the citizens of the city.

“We want to do good business with people,” Cooper-Sutton said. “Your boss doesn’t do good business.”

Councilman JB Smiley Jr. immediately intervened, advising Cooper-Sutton to stop and saying he would mute her microphone — which he eventually did. He said his reasoning was because the council’s rules of decorum do not allow “personal attacks from members of [the] body.”

“We have a situation here,” Councilwoman Pearl Eva Walker said. “I say this kindly and respectfully, but there is a lot of pushback in the community. Nobody says to us as a body how we should address that or handle that.”

The video, which was reposted by Memphis social media account @unapollogeticallyMemphis, allowed space for more users to echo these sentiments in the comments.

“Memphians, DO NOT TRUST ELON MUSHHEAD,” a user by the name @Randy.booktravel commented. “I do not remember any public information provided for this project he all of a sudden decided to put here.”

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Mayor’s AMA: Musk, MATA, Feagins, Paving, Drive-Out Tags, Tax Incentives

Memphis Mayor Paul Young answers question on xAI, MATA, and more in an AMA. (Credit: City of Memphis)

Memphis Mayor Paul Young answered questions about wide-ranging topics in his AMA (Ask Me Anything) session in the Memphis subreddit Monday.

Memphis Redditors wanted to know his positions on Elon Musk and his xAI supercomputer, what’s happening at the Memphis Area Transit Authority, why the road from Memphis International Airport is so bad, what he thought of the Dr. Marie Feagins/Memphis Shelby-County Schools situation, drive-out tags, and more.

Young responded with (what appeared to be) pretty straight-forward answers.

On Elon Musk, for example: Young said he understood “why some people are wary of working with a billionaire who has a larger-than-life personality, but I separate the personality from the project.” He explained that city, county, and state taxes invested around $100 million in the Electrolux facility and it was sitting vacant. Now, with, xAI it’s drawn a $10 billion investment here that could mean “tens of millions of dollars annually in tax revenue.”

Below, we’ve pulled most of the answered questions from the AMA:

xAI and Musk:

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MATA:

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The airport road:

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On Feagins/school board:

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Drive-out tags:

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Beyond tax breaks:

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For the full conversation, head over to the Reddit thread here.

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Downtown Protest Condemns Trump, Musk, and Current Government

Patty Crawford holds sign during protest. Photo Credit: Kailynn Johnson

Protesters gathered in front of City Hall today to condemn President Donald Trump and his administration, Elon Musk, and the country’s political climate. The protest was organized by an activist group called “901 Memphis Area Indivisible.”

“We are protesting the loss of our democracy and are part of a national movement to stop the destruction by Trump and his gang of vandals,” Tony Cernosek, a member of the group, said in a statement. “This effort must and will succeed or millions of citizens will suffer terrible hardship — mostly the poor and marginalized.”.

Activists carried signs while chanting things such as, “Donald Trump’s a Nazi,” “This is what democracy looks like,” and “Deport Musk.”After circling around Memphis City Hall, protestors continued to march downtown.

Patty Crawford said as someone who has lived in the South for most of her life, she’s become used to “this mess,” but said “it’s never been this bad.”

“There’s really no issue Musk and Trump have not had their finger on in the last month,” Crawford said. “They are destroying funding for all kinds of social programs. The first thing they went after is U.S. aid, so people are dying overseas because there’s not enough food to eat.”

Crawford added that the current administration is against LGBTQ+ rights, and openly condemned Trump’s increased focus on deportations. Another participant, Bill Stegall, added that the administration is also working to eradicate important resources.

“They’re not carefully making sure these programs are working,” Stegall said. “They’re simply doing a word search, and anything that says poor, underserved, impoverished,  or African American, they’re just shutting that down. They’re  just shutting down help for people who need it.”

Stegall said he and others gathered today to get connected to commemorate the beginning of a “very large movement” that will “culminate in the next vote.”

“Your silence will not protect you at this point,” Crawford said. “You can stay at home and think you’re safe, but you’re not safe.”

Sue Lynn is a retired teacher who said she’s concerned about too many things to mention.

“I’m just totally upset, disgusted, and reviled by what’s going on in Washington and the people who are supposed to be leading us,” Lynn said.

Sue Lynn. Photo Credit: Kailynn Johnson

Lynn said she was there for her students — whom she referred to as “our saving grace.”

“I have only a limited amount of time left on this earth, but they’re going to take over and by golly they’re going to do it,” Lynn said.

Adults were not the only group of people protesting. Nine-year-old James Wofford and his mother Callie Bugg were there to show their opposition to what’s going on in America.

Wofford and Bugg hold signs at protest. Photo Credit: Kailynn Johnson

“We’re here to be heard [and] to be a part of the voice that says no,” Bugg said.

Bugg said she hopes the voices that say “no” are further amplified by today’s movement.

“I hope this is the start of a lot of people standing up.”

 Wofford added that he’s looking forward to his 13th birthday when “Trump is not our president.”

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State Dems Work to Hold Elon Musk Accountable in Tennessee

The Greater Memphis Chamber's tribute to the xAI decision to move to Memphis last year. (Credit: Greater Memphis Chamber via X)
Posted to X this week by Elon Musk

State Democrats are taking aim at Memphis businessman Elon Musk’s activities involving government benefits and sensitive government data at the federal level. 

House Democratic Leader Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis) asked Tennessee General Attorney Jonathan Skrmetti and the District Attorneys General Conference to investigate Musk’s “potential unauthorized access and misuse of sensitive federal data.”  

Meanwhile, state Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) and state Rep. Jason Powell (D-Nashville) filed a bill to “hold people accountable for unlawfully interfering with the distribution of government benefits that Tennessee families rely on.”

Last year, Musk’s company xAI chose Memphis as the site of his massive artificial intelligence facility. The site powers Grok, the AI program from X.  

Camper on sensitive data

Camper sent a formal letter to Skrmetti and the conference Tuesday to investigate press reports of Musk’s activities through his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Report say Musk and his office have wide-ranging access to federal payment systems and personnel files of government employees. Camper said these activities could cause data breaches of sensitive information affecting Tennesseans and Tennessee-based federal employees. 

Specifically, Camper wants the AG to review: 

• If any data on Tennesseans of Tennessee-based employees has been accessed or extracted in DOGE’s activities.

• Where is this data now stored and who has custody over it?

• What is the chain of custody for such data?

• Has any data been given to any agency prohibited from handling such information? 

“Additionally, considering Mr. Musk’s public statements regarding his desire to see the United States default on its debts and his history of data misuse for personal gain, it is imperative that he be deposed regarding his intent and purpose in accessing these systems,” Camper wrote in her letter. “The risk of a ‘shock default’ — where the U.S. could default without actionable warning to Congress — poses a serious national security and economic threat that must not be ignored.”

Also, Camper said if Musk was not authorized to access federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) systems, including disciplinary records, this could allow federal workers grounds to contest or block disciplinary actions. 

The STOP ELON Act

The Trump administration also caused a national shockwave of confusion last week as it paused federal funding to nearly every agency served by the federal government. This meant funds to any government contractor, like nonprofits or research groups, was halted, though they rely on that funding to continue work. 

This policy decision came from Musk’s DOGE. President Donald Trump reversed course on the matter after nationwide concerns on how business could get done. 

For this, Tennessee lawmakers Yarbro and Powell introduced the Shielding Tennesseans from Oligarchic Power & Eliminating Lawless Obstruction of Necessities Act  (The STOP ELON Act). 

The bill would create criminal penalties and a private right of civil action against any individual who obstructs or denies access to federal, state, or local government benefits, including Social Security payments, Medicare benefits, grants, and other financial distributions.

“If Elon Musk illegally hurts Tennesseans, he should go to jail regardless of being a trillionaire or whatever and regardless of whether he’s got a permission slip from the president,” Yarbro said in a statement. “Whether through malice or incompetence, if he unlawfully blocks our citizens from getting their Social Security checks or reimbursement from Medicaid or Medicare, his vast wealth should be on the table to compensate the people who get hurt.”

Rep. Powell emphasized the intent of the bill is to prevent abuses of power and ensure accountability, regardless of a person’s wealth or connections. 

The law would put fines and prison time on those who would obstruct lawful government payments. Obstructions of benefits valued at $1,000 or less would be a Class A misdemeanor. As the amount of benefits go up, so do the fines and penalties, up to $250,000 and prison time. Those harmed would be given a legal pathway to sue for damages in state courts.   

“Tennesseans who work hard and play by the rules should never have to worry about a billionaire meddling in their financial security,” said Powell in a statement. “People like Elon Musk need to understand that they are not invincible and the STOP ELON Act makes it crystal clear — no one is above the law. If you interfere with a person’s rightful benefits, you will be held accountable.”

It’s not yet known how state Republicans will respond to Camper’s request or the STOP ELON Act. However, House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) reposted this from Musk on X Tuesday.

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At Large Opinion

Keepers of the Flame

Photo: Evgeniya Leonova | Dreamstime.com

The presidential inauguration in the Capitol rotunda on Monday marked the return to power of the most controversial and scandal-plagued president in American history. It felt a little like when the second plane hit the tower on 9/11 — the moment when we knew it wasn’t an accident.

Monday was also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and here in Memphis — the city where Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 — the celebration of his life takes on a special significance. The NBA’s annual MLK Day celebration featured the Memphis Grizzlies hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the National Civil Rights Museum held a day of events called “Community Over Chaos,” which seemed a most fitting theme.

But before it fades into history, buried by the noisy deluge of Trump drama, I want to take note of former President Biden’s farewell address of last week. As might be expected, he cited the achievements of his administration — the record job-creation numbers, the long-desired ceasefire in the Middle East, the strengthening of NATO, and the ongoing resistance to the Russian invasion of Ukraine — but his real purpose in his speech seemed to be to deliver a warning, to address, as he said, “some things that give me great concern.”

Citing President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation, in which he warned the country about the dangers posed by the “military industrial complex,” Biden decried the rise of a new threat, one he called the “tech industrial complex.”

“Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power,” Biden warned. “The free press is crumbling. Errors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit.” No errors detected.

The tech industrial complex was on full display in the Rotunda on Monday, including Sundar Pichai (Google), Tim Cook (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon, The Washington Post), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, Facebook, Instagram, Threads), and Elon Musk (X, Tesla, Starlink, xAI).

Never have so few had so much unbridled power to influence public opinion and so much money to invest in doing so. And it doesn’t help that they’re supplicating themselves (and giving millions of dollars) to the new president to curry his favor. It’s called obeying in advance, and it’s worrisome stuff. Journalism is in danger of being put out of business by “content providers” that have no ethical qualms about ignoring the truth in favor of whatever makes a profit — or makes the president happy.

CNN, ABC, and even MSNBC have also made at least token moves to ameliorate relations with the new administration. CNN buried Trump critic Jim Acosta in a late-night slot. ABC settled a libel lawsuit with Trump that it easily would have won in court. Facebook eliminated fact-checkers. Companies are getting rid of diversity hiring programs. Macho (“masculine energy”) is all the rage among the tech bros. Women’s healthcare rights continue to be eroded in red states.

Biden called it “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people,” and cited the consequences “if their abuse of power is left unchecked.” What Biden was describing is an oligarchy. Merriam-Webster (remember dictionaries?) defines it as “a government in which a small group exercises control, especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.”

Can there be any doubt that an oligarchy of extreme wealth, power, and influence is moving into power in the United States, one that threatens our democracy and our basic rights and freedoms?

Democracy depends upon the will of the people, and if the people are misinformed, disinformed, or uninformed, they can be manipulated. As we well know, public opinion — and elections — can turn on well-funded, broadly circulated lies and propaganda.

Our social media platforms are already permeated by disinformation, mostly via bots that skillfully imitate real people and overwhelm legitimate content by their sheer numbers. Artificial intelligence is now upping that deception to previously unknown heights. Biden called AI “the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time.”

The former president concluded by saying to his fellow Americans, “It’s your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keepers of the flame.” That doesn’t feel like malarkey, folks. 

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At Large Opinion

L.A. Hot Takes

Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ashes. (Photo: MMPhoto21 | stock.adobe.com )

And the lights of L.A. County
They look like diamonds in the sky … 
— Lyle Lovett

As I write this, devastating wind-fed fires have killed at least 25 people and swept through 40,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area. If you’re looking for a size comparison, that’s equal to a fourth of the acreage of the city of Memphis burned to the ground — an area equal to Downtown, Uptown, and everything inside the beltway. Thousands of people have lost their homes. Hundreds of schools, churches, businesses, studios, and iconic architectural structures are gone. Entire neighborhoods are reduced to ashes.

Los Angeles County officials characterized the fires as a “perfect storm” event in which hurricane-force gusts of up to 100 miles per hour prevented them from deploying aircraft that could have dropped water and fire retardant on the drought-ravaged neighborhoods when the fires first broke out. The combination of the winds, unseasonably dry conditions, and multiple fires breaking out one after another led to the widespread destruction.

But as L.A. firefighters battled the flames, disinformation was spreading like, well, wildfire: One theory pushed by right-wing media was that the blazes were raging because fire-fighting personnel were led by a lesbian fire chief and the department utilized DEI hiring criteria. X account Libs of TikTok, known for spreading anti-LBGTQ rhetoric posted: “DEI will get people k*lled. DEI MUST DIE.” Donald Trump Jr. said that donations the Los Angeles Fire Department sent to Ukraine in 2022 were somehow related to its response to the current fires.

Not to be outdone, the president-elect himself posted a deluge of misinformation on Truth Social, including this: “Governor Gavin Newscum [sic] refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snowmelt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.” 

And what’s a good tragedy without a trash take from Alex Jones, who posted that President Biden had grounded firefighters and that the fires were being spread as part of a “globalist plot to wage economic warfare”? First Buddy Elon Musk responded to Jones’ tweet in a now-deleted post with one word: “True.” 

None of it was true. The level of diversity in L.A. Fire Department personnel is typical of most urban fire departments in the U.S. The Southern California reservoirs were full, above historic levels. Water intended for the city was not diverted to save a fish called the smelt. Some hydrants went dry because they were intended for use against urban fires — houses, buildings in a self-contained area for a limited time — not wild-blown wildfires spreading over many acres for many days. 

Janisse Quiñones, chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said, “We are fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is an unprecedented kind of event.” Quiñones added that experts have seen wildland fires move into urban areas only in the last 10 to 15 years and that they’re still figuring out how to address it.

“The way that firefighting has traditionally been, there are wildland firefighters and agencies, and then there are urban firefighters and agencies,” she said. “Are we having wildland firefighters fighting fires in urban areas or the reverse? Sometimes the approaches are really different.”

All this brings to mind an interview with Denzel Washington I saw last week. When asked about today’s media, he said: “If you don’t read the newspapers, you’re uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you’re misinformed.” 

He went on: “What is the long-term effect of too much information? One thing is the need to be first. … We live in a society where it’s just, get it out there, be first! It doesn’t matter if it’s true, who it hurts, who it destroys, just be first. So what a responsibility [the media] have — to tell the truth!” 

To which, I would add: What a responsibility you and I have — to seek out the truth, and to learn not to blindly swallow the first piece of information offered, no matter who offers it, no matter how it tickles your confirmation biases. A hot take is seldom the best take.