Dirk S @BulStem

This is still one of the best responses ever on social media! 😂

Unrealized gains tax for Gen-Z: You buy a Pokémon card for $50. Someone offers you $500 for it. You say no. You love that card. You're keeping it. The government says: "Cool, but that card is worth $500 now. You owe us $100 in taxes." You: "…I didn't sell it." Government: "Don't care. Pay up." You don't have $100 lying around. So you're forced to sell the card you love just to pay a tax on money you never received. Next month? That card drops back to $50. Your card is gone. Your money is gone. And the government shrugs. That's a wealth tax on unrealized gains. They don't pay you back the tax... Now picture this. Your mom calls you crying. She has to sell the house she raised you in. Not because she can't afford it. She's lived there 30 years. It's paid off. But some website says it's worth more now and the government says she owes $15,000 she doesn't have. So she sells your childhood home. The kitchen where she made you breakfast. The doorframe where she marked your height every birthday. Gone. To pay a tax on money that was never real. Now picture the opposite. Your dad put everything into his small business. For 20 years he built it from nothing. One year the business is "valued" at $2 million on paper. He owes a massive tax bill. He empties his savings. Sells his truck. Borrows money. Pays it. Next year the market crashes. His business is worth $200,000. He lost everything to pay a tax on a number that doesn't exist anymore. Does the government give him his money back? No. Does the government give him his truck back? No. Does the government care? No. They sold this idea as "taxing billionaires." But billionaires have armies of lawyers, offshore accounts, and trusts. They'll be fine. You know who won't be fine? Your mom. Your dad. Your neighbor with a small business. The farmer down the road who's had the same land for four generations and now has to sell it because dirt got expensive. You're not taxing wealth. You're taxing people for owning things. It's like getting a parking ticket for a car you might drive somewhere someday. They want you to own nothing and be happy. To fund the fraud, waste and abuse of the welfare state they created. There is enough money. More tax isn't needed. It's all a lie. But you've been gaslit into believing this is a rich vs poor debate. I hope you understand what's at stake.

Bobby Jones, who was a hero of mine, said that “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life; you get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots - but you have to play the ball where it lies.” The next shot is all that matters whether your last shot was good or bad. GP #PXGTroops

@niccruzpatane I would find a way to buy it 😎

Many say the Roadster would be their dream Tesla, but THIS would be mine. Tesla Semi RV with FSD, Starlink, and solar. One can dream.

I’m not sure if I’m MAGA or not. I only get called MAGA by people on the Internet who hate me. I don’t have a hat. It’s not in my bio. I don’t consider myself a republican. I’ve had the same values since I was six years old. I wasn’t born in this country. Trump wasn’t president when I learned what I believe. My values didn’t change because social media told me to change. Here’s what I believe in: God exists and He is not optional. Christian is the first word in my bio for a reason. He means everything and it is who I am. Life begins at conception, abortion is not empowerment. Strong borders are not hateful, they are basic governance. Merit matters, outcomes are earned. Work hard, don’t whine, don’t ask the government to rescue you. Crime should be punished, not reframed as a lived experience. Parents raise children, not schools, activists, or bureaucrats. Men are men, women are women, reality is not negotiable. America is exceptional, worth defending, and nothing to apologize for. Be proud. Free speech exists for speech you don’t like. Law enforcement is necessary, not oppressive. Capitalism works, and everyone complaining is still using it. Hard work builds character, dependency destroys it. National sovereignty matters more than global feelings. Personal responsibility beats victimhood every time. If that makes me MAGA, fine. If it doesn’t, also fine. I didn’t borrow these beliefs from a movement. I learned them from my parents. I love them and trust them more than I will ever trust a political party. They actually care about my well-being. I don’t know what that makes me and frankly, I don’t care.

why not just raise income tax rates? because your real intent is not to just “provide healthcare”. you’re masking that you are proposing the creation of, for the first time in the 250 years of this American republic, an organized government seizure of private property from citizens. you’re calling it a “wealth tax” or a “billionaires tax” or “millionaires tax” or whatever nom du jour polls well. but at the end of the day, it’s the seizure of private property from citizens by the government. citizens that earned money, paid their fair taxes on those earnings (53% if they live in California) and are now being told they need to hand over after-tax assets because the government has failed to provide promised services with the revenue it’s collected, and are now re-casting their own failure to be a socio-economic inequity that must be justly resolved... a slippery slope that has never gone anywhere good (see economic effects in USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, France and Norway wealth tax etc.) the American founders fled tyranny in Europe and this amazing nation was populated by immigrants (myself and your parents) from around the world not just looking for a “better life” but for a place where they could have freedom from tyrannical governments that can take what they want from private citizens. a great nation borne of property rights, the rule of law, and endowed freedoms to believe, speak, or act. these principles led to the greatest run of innovations, successes, and widespread increase in prosperity, for all citizens, ever seen. the citizens, the individuals, not the institutions, delivered this progress. those who invented, who toiled, who bled, who sacrificed, who took risk and persevered, who led, and who changed the world, are not charlatans, kleptocrats, or oligarchs. they’re what made us all better off. prosperity is a measure of america’s success, not its failure. it is your principle that is so offensive, as evidenced by the broad disdain for your flippant flirtation with the darkest of human fantasy - socialism. you and other neo-socialists have led so many of us to reflect on America’s history and what it is becoming. that now leads so many to consider, so unnecessarily, leaving their homes for a place where everyone stands up to shout down the principle you suggest. because if your ideas are now considered moderate, it’s clear this titanic is sinking. that a “simple tax” of taking assets that have been earned, through toil and tribulation, rightly taxed, and preserved, should now be unjustly seized, is your solution to a problem of obvious government mismanagement and outright fraud, tells us that your true motivation lies not in giving people healthcare but in cutting down success and deleting the system of prosperity and opportunity for all. i don’t care, and neither should anyone else, what the sum total market value of a private citizens private assets might be. it is none of my business and should be none of yours. because, again, once you open that pandora’s box, we might as well study Lord of the Flies … there is literally nothing stopping 51% of citizens demanding that their government go out and seize 100% of the private property of the 49%. want to give healthcare to people in need? do your job and fix healthcare. make it affordable. want to be lazy about it? then do your job lazily and raise income taxes. want to take private property from private citizens who have paid their fair share of taxes and legally earned their property, then honestly declare that it is envy, not inequity, that you strive to resolve…

This is how things should be, taking the Christmas spirit and making it a whole year thing!

Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07

7 months ago

"They found the coats on Thursday morning. Fifteen winter coats. Good ones, not garbage. Hanging on the chain-link fence outside Lincoln Elementary. No note. No explanation. Just coats, zipped up like ghosts waiting for bodies. Principal Morris freaked out. Called the police.

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People who are only motivated by money see everything is motivated by money. People who are only pursuing fame see every initiative is for the fame. They cannot grasp the concepts of higher purpose other than money and fame.

Phil nails the structural traps (dealers, unions, ICE architecture lock-in), but that is not what will ultimately kill legacy auto. What ultimately does them in is the smartphone in your hand right now. 🤔 Structurally, legacy OEMs never stood a chance against a truly innovative competitor, but they believed their moat was unassailable because nobody had been able to start a new car company AND get over the hurdle of profitable volume production. Their hubris was on full display prior to 2020, bashing Tesla at every opportunity, with Ford exec's being among the worst. That tune changed at the end of 2019 once Tesla cleared the volume-profit hurdle. From there, the economics flipped: lower BOM costs at scale, recurring software revenue, and energy-ecosystem upside. Legacy auto was forced to play catch-up on batteries, software, and manufacturing efficiency while defending trillion dollar ICE franchises. Legacy auto became a dead man walking purely on fundamentals...but that's not the kill shot, the kill shot is how the smartphone redefined luxury. Because of the invention of the smartphone, an entire segment of the population now lives in a world I call 'connected luxury.' In the past, car companies lagged years behind consumer technology, and buyers accepted it. Features from computers eventually trickled into cars, but no one minded; a car was just transport from point A to point B. Smartphones changed the expectation, life is now intertwined with these pocket computers, their convenience and handiness redefined necessity and in turn, changed the meaning of luxury. Luxury is no longer the interior of a Rolls Royce, that interior beautiful but detached. In other words, it's merely a space one occupies. True luxury is having constant access to 'my stuff,' the ability to share life in real time, to stay connected. Connection is luxury. Technology enables connection. Luxury and necessity are no longer mutually exclusive. In other words, the smartphone redefined luxury as seamless, always-on integration with one's digital world. Apps, messages, music, photos, navigation, and payments are instantly accessible and personalized. Cars were once isolated fortresses of leather and wood. Now, especially for younger buyers raised on smartphones, a vehicle must extend the pocket computer. Tesla nailed this from day one: massive central touchscreen, OTA updates that add features overnight, FSD capability, premium streaming, phone-as-key, real-time app integration. Tesla extended connected luxury into the car. Today, a car is no longer mere transport, it is part of your digital ecosystem, always improving, always with you. The last 'car race' that truly mattered has already taken place, and if you read this far, you know who the winner is. Legacy OEMs did not have a chance against Tesla, this will be obvious in hindsight.

Add to this the other 2 human traits NOT found in FSD: distraction and fatigue. Then consider the fact that FSD has a 360 degree view of the world around it... FSD is 🔥 @elonmusk @teslaownersSV @wholemars @DillonLoomis

Whole Mars Catalog @wholemars

8 months ago

Tesla’s pure vision self-driving model can react to obstacles in less than a tenth of a second.

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16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM FOR NO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN. #ratasocialservices #16Days #rataheadoffice

TESLA: Tesla competitors had over a decade: but still can’t match Tesla’s over-the-air updates ability - even when Tesla open-sourced its patents. It strains credibility to think these same manufacturers that can’t master OTAs will have FSD within 2-3 years of Tesla. They don’t even have the modern EV to put the FSD tech on. Let alone the ability to profitably manufacture a Robotaxi at scale. Or a 70,000 + GPU AI data center.

뮤 @rar2028

8 months ago

21년 테슬라 처음 투자할 때 전문가라고 하는 사람들이 테슬라 OTA 다들 별거 아니라고 했다. 준비하면 다되는거라고... 2,3년 이면 다 할 수있다고... 5년이 지나가고 있는 지금 재대로된 OTA 하는 기업이 없는게 현실...업데이트 해봐야 네비,이이콘 테메 바꾸는 정도가 끝임... 곧 2026년이

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There is currently just one EV charging network on the whole planet that covers our little Earth like this

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM FOR NO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN. #ratasocialservices #16Days #rataheidelberg

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM FOR NO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN. #ratasocialservices #16days

It's funny how European regulators are terrified of Tesla FSD supervised, claiming it's dangerous because "drivers won't pay attention to the road anymore," while in reality, if you look left and right on any road right now, half the drivers are staring at their phones, scrolling TikTok or texting at 130 km/h on the highway. That’s an *actual* deadly distraction happening millions of times a day, with zero monitoring. FSD Supervised + interior camera fixes that instantly: the second you look away too long or pick up your phone, it yells at you, slows down, or even pulls over. Try doing that while doom-scrolling today in a normal car… good luck. Same thing with falling asleep at the wheel. Yes, theoretically someone could “fall asleep on FSD” and party in the back seat, but the interior camera detects drowsiness in seconds and blasts alerts, vibrates the seat, and eventually stops the car safely if you don’t respond. Fall asleep in manual mode? You’re drifting into a truck at 100 km/h, game over. And I’m not even mentioning medical emergencies yet: heart attack, stroke, seizure… the driver suddenly becomes a 80 kg unconscious bag of meat on the seat. In a normal car today → crash, multiple deaths. With FSD Supervised + interior camera → the system detects no response, no hands on wheel, eyes closed, pulls over safely on the shoulder and calls emergency services. It literally turns a 100 % fatal situation into a 0 % fatal one for passengers and everyone else on the road. So regulators are blocking a technology that would catch phone zombies, micro-sleepers, and medical emergencies in real time… because they’re afraid people *might* misuse it. Meanwhile, the current system already lets people misuse the car 24/7 with zero supervision and we just accept thousands of deaths a year. The irony is off the charts.

We’re excited to announce the Plesion 25/25/25 – Run for a Child! 🏃‍♂💛 12 runners will tackle 250 km in 25 hours around the beautiful Buffelspoort Dam to raise R250 000 . 📅 17 Nov, 15:00 → 18 Nov, 16:00 Join us, support us, cheer for us—help us shine LIGHT FOR A CHILD ✨

Nicely written, well done! We need to keep explaining this to folks out there stuck in the "...ionair bad" bubble

Context: I'm South African and speak English and Afrikaans. I opened and had Grok translate (from German) quoted messages for validation 🙄. I believe this will prevent similar situations and overall improve the X user experience once @grok starts reading all posts on X

Dirk S @BulStem

9 months ago

Given how good @grok is at translating posts, I want to suggest the ability to choose "Translate all posts to [display language] " as a Languages setting. I viewed a few posts in German and now my feed has become pretty useless with 60-80% German language posts. @elonmusk

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