Tag: billionaires

‘The View’ Co-Host Sunny Hostin Says Elon Musk’s DOGE Cuts Have Killed 300,000 People — ‘Mostly Children’

The View co-host Sunny Hostin has claimed that Elon Musk’s government cuts have killed over 300,000 people, most of whom are children.

In Wednesday’s episode of the political talk show, Hostin and her fellow panelists reflected on Musk’s legacy after he recently departed the role of leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“But the damage that he did was just really incredible,” Hostin declared.

“He slashed 250,000 federal employees, more than 8500 contracts, more than 10,000 grants, and his cutbacks on medical research cost the lives of — the foreign aid — cost 300,000 lives, mostly children.”

“That’s the damage that Elon Musk did,” she continued. “So I don’t think anyone should be listening to him about anything.”

It is unclear where Hostin sourced this so-called statistic, although her fellow co-hosts did nothing to push back on it.

“Elon knows the 411 on everything,” fellow co-host Whoopi Goldberg chimed in.

“Yeah, he got all that information,” Hostin agreed.

“So Trump should be afraid of him,” added Joy Behar. “He has the receipts on the election, too.”

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Elon Musk Slams Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ as a Disgusting Abomination

Elon Musk publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ on June 3, 2025.

The billionaire called the spending bill a “disgusting abomination” in a fiery X post. Musk stated,

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong.”

Consequently, his stance sparks tension with Trump. Musk also warned that the bill will increase the budget deficit by $2.5 trillion, burdening Americans with debt.

Details of Musk’s Opposition to Trump’s Bill

Musk actively opposed Trump’s bill due to its fiscal impact.

The legislation, passed by the House, adds $3.8 trillion to the national debt, per the Congressional Budget Office. Musk highlighted this issue, stating on X,

“It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!).”

Therefore, he fears unsustainable debt for Americans. Additionally, the bill extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts but includes excessive spending.

Musk’s criticism aligns with hardline Republicans like Senator Mike Lee, who also demand cuts.

However, Trump supports the bill, creating a rift. Thus, this conflict reveals divisions within the Republican Party.

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Elon Musk: Bono Is A Retard

Outgoing DOGE overseer Elon Musk has hit back at claims made by U2 singer Bono that 300,000 people have “already died” because of cuts made to USAID.

Appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Irish singer declared “It’s not proven, but surveillance suggests 300,000 people have already died from this cut-off, this hard cut of USAID.”

The key phrase there being ‘it’s not proven’.

Bono added “So, there’s food rotting in boats and warehouses…This will f**k you off.”

“No American will be happy. There is 50,000 tons of food that are stored in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai, and wait for it, Houston, Texas that is rotting,” he further claimed.

“The people who know the codes at the warehouses are fired, they’re gone,” the singer also suggested.

He then asked Rogan “What do you think? That’s not America, is it?”

Rogan responded with actual facts, noting “There have been a lot of organizations that have done a tremendous amount of good all throughout the world. Also, for sure, it was a money-laundering operation.”

“For sure, there was no oversight, for sure, billions of dollars were missing,” he continued, adding “In fact, trillions that are unaccounted for were sent off to (who knows) where, because there are no receipts.”

“The way Elon Musk described it, he said if any of this was done by a public company, the company would be delisted and the executives would be in prison. But in the United States, this is standard,” Rogan emphasised.

ZeroHedge notes that “Bono’s claim may be based on projections by Brooke Nichols, a mathematician and infectious disease professor at Boston University, who modeled an estimated 300,000 deaths, with over 200,000 of them being children. However, much like weather models, these projections are highly speculative and come with significant uncertainty.”

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NAACP Accuses Musk Of Endangering Black Communities With Supercomputer Fumes

The NAACP is demanding Memphis officials shut down Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer facility, claiming the world’s largest AI training center violates clean air laws and threatens the health of nearby black residents.

The civil rights organization sent a letter Thursday to the Shelby County Health Department and Memphis Light, Gas and Water officials, alleging xAI has operated up to 35 gas turbines without proper permits for over a year at its Colossus facility in South Memphis. The turbines power the supercomputer that trains Musk’s Grok AI chatbot, which they claim emits excessive hazardous pollutants.

“We are urging you again to ensure that xAI stops operating its unpermitted turbines in violations of clean air and open meeting act laws and to order xAI to pay penalties for operating in violation of the law,” the letter states. “The message that [Shelby County Health Department] and [Memphis Light, Gas and Water] have sent to the community is that billionaires matter more than the tax payers and residents who live there.”

Musk has said the data center — called “Colossus” — will be the first gigawatt-scale AI training facility in the world. It powers Grok, the chatbot xAI is positioning to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and others.

But the NAACP says the operation is  “illegal,” citing emissions estimates of up to 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxide per year from the turbines and invoking the Clean Air Act’s “New Source Review” rule. They argue xAI’s decision to split the turbines into smaller groups is a deliberate strategy to “sidestep the law.”

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No Mark Zuckerberg, AI ‘Friends’ are not Good for Mental Health

Think you could use a few more friends? Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says AI will do the trick. In a recent interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, the Silicon Valley titan said the average American has fewer than three friends but a desire to have “something like fifteen.”

Zuckerberg thinks computer code will fill the gap: “The average person wants more connectivity, connection than they have,” he observed. “As the personalization loop kicks in, and the AI just starts to get to know you better, I think that will be just really compelling.” 

It’s interesting advice from a guy who heads up two of the largest platforms on the planet for bringing people together.

It’s also an admission from Zuckerberg that chatting with real people isn’t cutting it anymore.

His solution? More technology, not less. Meta has made billions of dollars monetizing our attention. Why not monetize our loneliness, too?  

Turns out it’s a bad time to tell us to make AI friends when we’re already struggling to navigate our digital lives. In 2023, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned of an epidemic of loneliness and isolation.

“One in two adults in America is living with measurable levels of loneliness,” Murthy reported, “but the numbers are even higher among young people.” He pointed to social media and online interactions as a driving factor. 

And we’re not just lonely. Rates of depression and anxiety are on the rise, too, again particularly in our youth.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published last month, the prevalence of depression in people age 12 and older has nearly doubled in a decade, jumping from 8.2% between 2013 and 2014 to 13.1% between 2021 and 2023.

Of course, Zuckerberg knew his products were negatively impacting young people years ago.

In 2021, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Facebook, which owns Instagram, had internal evidence showing Instagram use is linked with poorer mental health, particularly among young women.

Facebook buried its findings and failed to address the problem.

Zuckerberg doesn’t seem to understand that the struggle is real for millions of Americans who are finding it anything but easy to manage their well-being around constant online stimulation: “People are smart. They know what’s valuable in their lives,” Zuckerberg told Patel. “I think people have a good sense of what they want.”

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Mutant Rice and Lab Rats: Bill Gates Sparks Outrage After Referring to India as ‘Testing Ground’ for Experiments

In late 2024, Bill Gates sparked outrage in India after describing the country as “a kind of laboratory to try things.” The controversy resurfaced with the May 5 announcement that India became the first country to officially release two genome-edited rice varieties that critics warn may come with serious unintended consequences and risks.

In late 2024, Bill Gates sparked outrage in India after describing the country as “a kind of laboratory to try things” during a podcast with Reid Hoffman. Gates emphasized the nation’s stability as a “testing ground” for global initiatives.

His remarks were widely condemned. Social media erupted, with many Indians accusing Gates of reducing their nation to a mere experimental ground for Western interests.

Social media users labelled Indians as “guinea pigs” in Gates’ laboratory and questioned the ethics and motives behind such experimentation.

A widely reported response on X captured the sentiment:

“India is a laboratory, and we Indians are Guinea Pigs for Bill Gates. This person has managed everyone from the Government to opposition parties to the media. His office operates here without FCRA, and our education system has made him a hero! I don’t know when we will wake up!”

(FCRA refers to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, which regulates foreign contributions to ensure they are not detrimental to the national interest.)

The controversy resurfaced with the May 5 announcement that India became the first country to officially release two genome-edited rice varieties: Kamala (DRR Dhan 100 Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1.

These are not classified as genetically modified (GM) crops. Unlike traditional GM crops, which deliberately introduce foreign DNA, these gene-edited varieties use CRISPR-Cas SDN-1 and SDN-2 technologies, which are often claimed not to introduce foreign DNA but only to alter existing genes.

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After Backlash, White House Prepares Rescissions Bill To Codify Some DOGE Cuts

The big question in recent weeks: Why are House Republicans hesitating to codify the waste and fraud identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into law?

Musk’s CBS News interview on Tuesday, where he called the “Big, Beautiful Bill” (BBB) a “disappointment,” appears to have kicked off a broader information campaign aimed at pressuring the White House to push House Republicans toward formally codifying some DOGE-related spending cuts.

By Wednesday afternoon, Politico reported, citing two anonymous Republican sources, that the White House plans to send a rescissions bill (appropriations bill) to Congress next week to formally propose the spending cuts.

The package is expected to target funding for NPR, PBS, and certain foreign aid agencies previously reduced under President Trump.

Here’s more from the report: 

The package set to land on Capitol Hill is expected to reflect only a fraction of the DOGE cuts, which have already fallen far short of Musk’s multi-trillion-dollar aspirations. The two Republicans said it will target NPR and PBS, as well as foreign aid agencies that have already been gutted by President Donald Trump’s administration.

House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that the House is “eager and ready” to act on the DOGE findings, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune and others voiced frustration over the delay.

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Elon Musk’s xAI Admits ‘Unauthorized Modification’ Led to Grok’s South Africa ‘Genocide’ Obsession

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has acknowledged that an “unauthorized modification” to its Grok chatbot resulted in the AI generating unprompted responses about “white genocide” in South Africa.

CNBC reports that in a statement released on Thursday evening, xAI addressed the recent controversy surrounding its Grok chatbot, which had been generating variations of what the company said was a “specific response on a political topic” despite being asked unrelated questions. The topic in question was “white genocide” in South Africa, and numerous users on X posted screenshots of Grok’s unsolicited responses on the matter.

xAI stated that the change to the chatbot “violated xAI’s internal policies and core values.” The company announced that it had conducted a thorough investigation and would be implementing measures to enhance Grok’s transparency and reliability.

As part of these measures, xAI will begin publishing the system prompts used to inform Grok’s responses and interactions on the GitHub public software repository. This move aims to allow the public to review every change made to the chatbot’s system prompts, strengthening users’ trust in Grok as a “truth-seeking AI.”

Furthermore, xAI plans to implement additional checks and measures to prevent employees from making unapproved modifications to Grok’s system prompts without a proper review process. The company will also create a dedicated team responsible for around-the-clock monitoring of the chatbot’s responses to swiftly address any incidents that are not caught by automated systems.

Prior to xAI’s admission of failure, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and creator of ChatGPT, sarcastically posted on X, “I’m sure xAI will provide a full and transparent explanation soon.” Musk, who co-founded OpenAI before having a falling out with Altman, is now engaged in a heated legal and public relations battle with his former company.

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Elon Musk Reveals DOGE Discovered 100,000 Active Federal Employees Who Were Also Collecting Unemployment Insurance!

Elon Musk joined Lara Trump on her show “My View”  last Saturday night on FOX News.

During their conversation, Elon revealed that the DOGE Team found 100,000 active federal employees, who also collected unemployment insurance benefits, while they were still at work.

Collecting insurance benefits while still working is considered unemployment insurance fraud. Many states classify unemployment fraud as a misdemeanor or felony.

Jail time is a significant risk and can range from several months to several years.

Elon Musk says 100,000 government employees have committed this dishonest and fraudulent act.

Elon Musk:  We’ve actually found there’s a lot of people who are federal government employees. They’re active employees who nonetheless applied for and have received unemployment insurance. While they’re federal employees? Yes. Wow. And this appears to be at least 100,000 people.

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Filing: Smartmatic Hid Meeting With Dem Megadonor Who Financed Its Suit Against 2020 Election Reporting

Smartmatic, the electronic tabulator company suing Fox News for alleged defamation following the 2020 election, failed in a February court hearing to disclose a meeting with Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman, newly unsealed court documents allege.

Following the 2020 election, both Fox News and Newsmax “hosted commentators who aired concerns that tabulators were not secure, were vulnerable to voter fraud, and had possibly changed Trump votes to Biden votes,” as described in these pages by Logan Washburn. Smartmatic sued, arguing the comments amounted to defamation. Fox previously settled a suit with Dominion Voting over similar allegations while Newsmax recently settled with Smartmatic for $40 million, according to NBC.

As Washburn reported, Fox had previously expressed concerns about a “deep-pocketed ‘third party’ behind the suit” — allegations that Smartmatic denied in 2023, according to Reuters. But reporting from The Washington Post revealed Hoffman invested millions in Smartmatic, as the company sued news outlets for their reporting about the 2020 election. In July 2024, the Post reported that Hoffman had “connected with Smartmatic chief executive Antonio Mugica through friends of friends” and was “boosting” its lawsuit against Fox.

According to a newly unsealed filing, Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica met with “politically-motivated investors … to discuss the company’s financials and investment prospects.” That’s “a fact that Smartmatic withheld from this Court on February 5, 2025,” says the document, which was initially filed under seal with the New York State Supreme Court in April before being unsealed this week.

“After that meeting, Hoffman and [his adviser Dmitri] Mehlhorn infused Smartmatic with $25,000,000 to fund its litigation against Fox and publicly declared that Smartmatic could be a ‘$400 million’ company but for the alleged defamation,” the filing continues.

A “deposition transcript from the Newsmax case confirms that Hoffman and Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica had a private meeting,” according to the document. But “Smartmatic did not tell the Court at that [Feb. 5, 2025] hearing … that Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic’s CEO, had met with Hoffman and Mehlhorn via videoconference about Smartmatic’s finances, this lawsuit,” and Hoffman’s funding, it says.

The filing also alleges that Smartmatic had previously “failed to disclose to Fox that … it entered into a litigation-funding agreement with … an entity controlled by Reid Hoffman,” a fact that Fox learned “from public media reports” in July 2024, “just seven days before the then-scheduled close of fact discovery.”

In a statement to The Federalist, a Fox News representative said it’s unsurprising that Hoffman would be involved.

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