The Democrat’s have been attacking Tesla cars because DOGE has exposed the corruption game they have been playing for over 12 years. Now they are trying by reaching outside the country to cause trouble. The media/lefties want DOGE to be fired because it is finding all of the under-hand dealing they have been guilty of in the U.S. AI has left them shaking in their boots.
The Democrats/leftie media have lost their way, don’t have a leader, and now all they can do is criticize President Trump over and over, day in and day out while DOGE is conducting its HEAVY LIFTING finding the left’s corruption and hidden money stores. It takes time to sort out all of this corruption.
People have to be patient with DOGE and cleaning up the mess that the Democrats left in their 12 years of stealing/looting of the government.
When will the voters learn – that Democrats are air heads. They do not know the first thing about economics and it shows. With every bill they passed during Biden’s time and prior administrations – each bill passed by the Democrats represents a money tree. All of these money trees have died and turned into inflation.
by Liz Peek, Opinion Contributor – 07/15/21 8:00 AM ET
The Hill Illustration
President Biden promised to “transform” the nation. He is fulfilling that promise. Instead of a country enjoying a strong recovery with stable prices and sustainable deficits, we now have rampant inflation, falling real wages and spiraling federal debt.
What’s more: It could get worse.
Democrats have giddily announced their plan to spend $3.5 trillion on “infrastructure,” notwithstanding fresh reports showing inflation heating up to the highest level since the 1990s.
Even as Democrats plot to rack up bigger budget deficits to build their power base, the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides yet more evidence that inflation is taking hold. The producer price index for June jumped 7.3 percent from a year ago, beating forecasts that have constantly been, like the Federal Reserve, behind the curve.
It’s simple: between the Federal Reserve spewing out more than $4 trillion in cheap money over the past year, and Congress signing off on “relief” packages totaling an unprecedented $3 trillion, there is too much money chasing too few goods.
If Democrats get their way and shove another $3.5 trillion into the mix, inflation will get much, much worse. Already, the out-of-control spending is slamming workers’ paychecks.
Because of rising prices, real wages are falling, even as the job market is tight as a drum. As reported by Bloomberg, “Wage growth rose steadily through the second quarter, but higher consumer prices are taking a toll. Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings fell 1.7% in June after slumping 2.9% a month earlier…”
Inflation will only get hotter if Biden and congressional Democrats press ahead with even more grandiose spending, attempting to insert the federal government into every nook and cranny of Americans’ lives. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), head of the Senate Budget Committee, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is effectively running the show; he wants to give Americans free college, free health care, free childcare, free senior care, free housing and who knows what else.
Sanders does not seem to care where the money will come from or who it hurts; he has a vision.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have a vision, too — to send hundreds of billions of dollars to the teacher unions, the SEIU and other special interest groups.
Biden has a somewhat weaker vision. He has promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. But rising prices on everyday goods is the worst kind of taxation, hurting low-income earners and seniors on fixed incomes.
Price increases no longer look “transitory,” which has been the ready answer from economists singing in unison with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Rather, inflation appears to be gaining speed and taking hold. A growing number of analysts are now describing the price hikes as entrenched, and likely to endure.
Former Obama administration economist Larry Summers has been one of the more vocal critics of Democrats’ spending spree, warning for months that it could spur higher prices. In response to the new data, Summers is adamant, saying recent reports raise “my degree of concern about an economic overheating scenario. There are huge uncertainties in the outlook, but I do believe the focus of concern right now should be on overheating.”
The latest consumer price report, which like the PPI came in substantially higher than expected, shows prices paid for everyday goods rose 0.9 percent month-to-month in June; economists were expecting 0.5 percent. That’s a big miss, showing the so-called experts remain behind the curve, including the Federal Reserve. Year-over-year, prices were up 5.4 percent, the most since 2008. Core inflation, excluding energy and food prices, rose 4.5 percent from June 2020, the biggest jump since November 1991.
Numerous categories of goods showed robust price hikes. New and used cars, for instance, were up the most ever recorded, while the cost of food advanced 0.8 percent, twice the May increase. Gasoline prices were up 45 percent compared to a year earlier, while rents advanced 3.6 percent.
The Federal Reserve and their compliant chorus have until recently dismissed concerns about inflation, noting that supply bottlenecks and other leftover effects from the shutdown of the government would be resolved shortly, and that inflation would recede towards their 2 percent target over the next year or so.
Many are beginning to reject that happy talk. The price of houses, for instance, is soaring, and inevitably has begun to translate into higher rents. In June, rental prices were up 3.6 percent year-to-year; that category comprises some 40 percent of the CPI. How could the Fed not have foreseen the increase? It’s an increase that will not abate any time soon as we cannot quickly build enough houses to stem rising prices and rents.
June’s CPI report is not the only warning sign that price hikes are accelerating and moving through the economy. Companies are reporting that they are facing wide-spread cost increases and that they are raising prices to maintain margins. Companies from JM Smucker to Chipotle to Black and Decker have announced cost pressures that have led to price hikes. Disney just raised the price of ESPN+ by 17 percent; that has nothing to do with supply chains.
Common sense consumers are way ahead of the Federal Reserve. They see the price of gasoline, houses and pork going up, and are now anticipating inflation of 4.8 percent over the coming year; they will begin to act accordingly.
They are not alone. Almost half of small business managers recently reported to the National Federation of Independent Businesses that they are raising prices. According to the NFIB, “The net percent of owners raising average selling prices increased seven points to a net 47% (seasonally adjusted), the highest reading since January 1981.”
President Biden frequently boasts that his economic plan is working. If skyrocketing inflation and lower real wages are part of that plan, he might want to come up with an alternative.
****
So here we are.
Please, all of you voters. In the mid-term elections – VOTE ALL THESE SPEND THRIFTS out of office.
We have to use the tariffs to bring back our country.
Meta is on trial in the United States in a legal battle that could see the social media giant being forced to sell off its companies Instagram and WhatsApp.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stand this week to argue that Meta’s purchase of the two platforms did not break competition rules.
Mark Zuckerberg is best known for founding Facebook, now known as Meta, but he’s had his hand in many well-known businesses over the years. Most recently, he debuted Threads, a new social networking platform closely associated with Instagram.
Zuckerberg once said, “By giving people the power to share, we’re making the world more transparent.” He continues to back this theory, as many of his businesses connect people worldwide.
As an emblem of entrepreneurship, Zuckerberg owns many companies, many of which were acquired by Facebook/Meta. This is the complete list.
1. Meta
Meta is the overarching company of many of Zuckerberg’s current ventures. Facebook officially changed its name to Meta in 2021 to better represent its venture into the metaverse.
Some people believe Zuckerberg is “the father of the metaverse,” as Meta was one of the first large-scale shifts to a new iteration of the internet. According to Zuckerberg, the metaverse isn’t something a company can just build; it’s “the next chapter of the internet overall.”
As the world’s largest social media platform, Meta is currently worth $800 billion. Zuckerberg owns 12% of the company’s stock.
Companies Owned by Meta
These are all of the companies owned by Meta.
2. Facebook
While attending Harvard University, Zuckerberg and three of his classmates built the social media site that was eventually coined Facebook. Founded in 2004, Facebook was an instant hit. The early days of Facebook’s creation are represented in the hit movie The Social Network.
Facebook is the most profitable company under Meta and has nearly three billion monthly active users.
The newest venture under Meta is Threads, an app launched on July 5, 2023, and built by the Instagram team for sharing text. According to a Meta press release, the company wants Threads to expand on what Instagram does best but with text to create a positive space for people to express their ideas.
To join Threads, users have to have an Instagram account. In the future, the company plans to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, a social networking protocol created by the World Wide Web Consortium to make Threads interoperable with other apps, which is something many other social networking sites don’t offer.
The app drew 10 million users just seven hours after launch. Zuckerberg said he thinks it could be bigger than Twitter. There are currently around 23 million active users on the platform.
To support its metaverse developing efforts, Meta purchased AI.Reverie in late 2021. The New York-based company developed a pattern for the creation of synthetic training datasets that can be used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Synthetic data has trended over the last few years as companies embrace digital transformation. According to a 2021 survey, 89% of technology executives said synthetic data is essential for remaining competitive.
Before being acquired by Meta, the platform was used in the agriculture, retail, and industrial sector. The financial details of the purchase weren’t disclosed.
5. Novi
Just one year after the 2021 launch of Novi, its crypto payment wallet, Meta announced it was pulling the plug. According to a press release, Novi was “a new way to send money, and [its] new visual identity and design represent the fluid movement of digital currencies.”
According to a CoinDesk article, Meta revealed last year it has other plans for the digital wallet technology, specifically related to the metaverse. Details have yet to emerge.
Meta and Facebook’s Most-Talked-About Companies
Facebook owns many companies, but these are the most talked about.
6. Instagram
While Zuckerberg isn’t the founder of Instagram, Facebook acquired it just two years after its inception in 2012, making Meta the current owner. It was a smart move, as the company paid just $1 billion for the photo- and video-sharing platform that now has more than 2.3 billion active users and is worth around $102 billion.
According to the company’s website, the platform aims to “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.”
The founders of Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, initially stayed on as CEO and head of engineering, respectively, but have since gone on to other ventures.
WhatsApp is used by billions of people worldwide as a reliable messaging service. Founded in 2009 and acquired by Facebook in 2014, it was one of the largest tech purchases in history. Facebook paid more than $21 billion for the messaging app, which hugely surpassed some of the other big purchases at the time, including Google’s $3 billion purchase of Nest Labs.
It remains one of the most popular messaging apps in 2023, with 2.2 billion users.
8. CTRL-Labs
In 2019, Facebook acquired CTRL-Labs for between $500 million and $1 billion. The neural interface startup created a wristband capable of transmitting electrical signals from the brain into a computer.
The purpose of the CTRL-Labs wristband is to improve the ways humans interact with machines so that they may no longer need to use physical controllers such as a mouse and keyboard. This acquisition marked a substantial hardware investment by Facebook, which is using the technology in its augmented and virtual reality projects.
9. Onavo
Founded in 2010, the mobile web analytics platform Onavo was acquired by Facebook in 2013 to monitor competitors. The platform influenced a number of business decisions, including its acquisition of WhatsApp.
However, after pressure from Apple, Facebook pulled Onavo from the iOS Apple Store in 2018 because it had violated privacy laws by collecting data from other apps on users’ devices. In 2019, Facebook completely sunset the analytics platform.
10. Beluga
In 2011, Facebook launched its messaging platform, Facebook Messenger. It was thanks to its acquisition of Beluga, a messaging app service founded in 2010 and acquired in 2011, that Messenger was so successful.
Facebook used Beluga’s technology to create Messenger as a tool for easy group communication that’s private and instant. Facebook acquired both the service and the team — all ex-Google employees — for between $10 billion and $15 billion.
11. Oculus VR
In 2014, Facebook bought Oculus VR, a virtual reality (VR) company specializing in VR headsets. After a decade-long pursuit of its virtual reality universe, Facebook paid $2 billion for the company.
When Meta announced in 2021 that it was retiring the Oculus name and changing it to Meta Quest, some consumers were confused because during a conference about the company’s name change from Facebook to Meta, Zuckerberg said that its apps and brands weren’t going to change. Despite the change in name, the two headsets — Oculus Quest and Meta Quest — are the same.
12. LiveRail
When Facebook acquired LiveRail for $400 million to $500 million in 2014, the social networking site said it would “help [them] make video advertising much better for everyone.”
Founded in 2007, LiveRail was a video supply-side platform. The platform was used by publishers like A+E Networks and Dailymotion to connect with advertisers using an automated bidding process.
Two years after acquiring it, Facebook shuttered the service, saying it wanted to “focus on finding better ways for publishers to sell their ad space directly to advertisers.”
13. Mapillary
In 2020, Facebook announced it was acquiring Sweden-based Mapillary, a big-time player in the mapping world and one of the highest-profile geospatial startups of its time. Launched in 2013, Mapillary’s mission was to solve an expensive problem in mapping: keeping maps up to date on street-level data in a way that rivaled Google Street View.
Jan Erik Solem, the CEO of Mapillary, said Facebook would use the company’s technology to power Facebook Marketplace, break into augmented reality, and optimize virtual reality headsets. The financial details of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.
14. tbh
In 2017, tbh, an anonymous social media app targeted toward high school students, was ranked #1 in the U.S. Apple App Store. That same year, Facebook acquired the company for $100 million. The purchase happened just 73 days after launch due to the product’s breakthrough success.
However, just one year later, in 2018, Facebook announced it was shutting down the company due to low usage. In 2022, tbh was relaunched by one of the original creators, renamed Gas, and acquired by Discord earlier this year.
15. Vidpresso
In a bid to keep up with popular video platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Snapchat, Facebook acquired Vidpresso’s technology and team in 2018 for an undisclosed amount. Vidpresso launched in 2016 with the goal of making it simple for broadcasters, podcasters, and event producers to use social media in their live productions.
While Facebook didn’t acquire the full company, it did purchase its innovative technology and seven-person team to optimize its Facebook Live feature and make it more interactive. The technology behind Vidpresso allows Facebook Live to display social media polls and comments on the screen.
16. Atlas Solutions
In 2013, Facebook acquired Microsoft’s Atlas Advertiser Suite to help advertisers “close the loop” and “understand how their spend earns them money.” Microsoft originally purchased Atlas for $6.2 billion from aQuantive, but Facebook paid between $50 million to $100 million for it from Microsoft.
The platform was built for advertisers to plan campaigns, buy ads on sites across the World Wide Web, and track engagement. According to an executive from Facebook, the purchase came after hearing advertiser complaints: “We heard loud and clear from advertisers that they want to understand multi-touch attribution instead of just looking at the last click.”
Not only did Facebook gain clients through the deal, but advertisers who worked with the social network gained a more expansive view of their marketing campaigns. The company was also able to track how often offsite ads lead to purchases.
To deliver internet access to unconnected parts of the world, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would acquire the engineering team behind the U.K.-based solar-powered drone maker Ascenta for $20 million. Zuckerberg posted on his personal Facebook, saying the purchase comes as Facebook has been “working on ways to beam internet to people from the sky.”
Using the company’s technology, Facebook pioneered Connectivity Lab, part of its Internet.org project, in partnership with telecom industry giants like Nokia. The purchase gave Facebook the means to use air and space-born methods to bring the internet to more than five billion people. It was also built to compete with Google’s Project Loon.
While Facebook tested its internet drone project coined Project Aquila in 2016 with success, it halted the project in 2018 and gave up on building internet drones internally.
18. Little Eye Labs
Indian startup Little Eye Labs, a software tool for analyzing the performance of Android apps, was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for between $10 million and $15 million. The CEO of the company said it wanted to build a product that focused on “solving problems for a new generation of mobile app developers.”
The purchase was powered by Facebook’s strong ambitions to keep up with competitor Twitter in terms of mobile development and device access.
19. ProtoGeo
In 2014, Facebook also acquired Finland-based ProtoGeo, the company behind a smart activity-tracking app. Moves tracks a user’s daily activity via the phone’s accelerometer. It works in the background to track a user’s phone use and movement.
With the purchase, ProtoGeo remained a standalone application, but key members of the Moves team joined Facebook. However, the company was discontinued in 2018.
A Philanthropic Venture by Zuckerberg
20. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
One of Zuckerberg’s most philanthropic ventures is the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Zuckerberg founded the initiative in 2015 with his wife, Priscilla Chan, to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. According to the company’s website, the company’s mission is to build an inclusive and healthy future for everyone.
The initiative primarily focuses on three segments: science, education, and community. In science, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative fosters collaboration between scientists and engineers to develop new technologies and further scientific research. In education, the venture works to ensure that every student has access to an education and that teachers have the tools they need. The initiative also works with local communities in California to combat housing affordability and homelessness.
The couple has invested 99% of their Facebook shares over their lifetime.
More Facebook Companies
Parakeya was acquired in 2007 and has since shuttered
ConnectU was acquired in 2008 and shuttered in 2008
FriendFeed was acquired in 2009 and shuttered in 2015
Octazen was acquired in 2010 and has since shuttered
Divvyshot was acquired in 2010 and has since shuttered
Friendster was acquired in 2010 and shuttered in 2015
ShareGrove was acquired in 2010 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Nextstop was acquired in 2010 and shuttered in 2010
Chai Labs was acquired in 2010 and has since shuttered
Hot Potato was acquired in 2010 and shuttered in 2010
Drop.io was acquired in 2010 and shuttered in 2011
Rel8tion was acquired in 2011 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Snaptu was acquired in 2011 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
RecRec was acquired in 2011 and there is no information on its current status
DayTum was acquired in 2011 and there is no information on its current status
Sofa was acquired in 2011 and shuttered in 2011
MailRank was acquired in 2011 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Push Pop Press was acquired in 2011 and has since shuttered
Friend.ly was acquired in 2011 and shuttered in 2011
Strobe was acquired in 2011 and there is no information on its current status
Gowalla was acquired in 2011 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Tagtile was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Glancee was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered but the technology is still active through Facebook
Lightbox.com was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered
Karma was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered
Face.com was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered but the technology is still active through Facebook
Spool was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Acrylic Software was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Threadsy was acquired in 2012 and has since shuttered
Osmeta was acquired in 2013 and has since shuttered
Hot Studio was acquired in 2013 and is still active
Spaceport was acquired in 2013 and has since shuttered
Parse was acquired in 2013 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Monoidics was acquired in 2013 and has since shuttered
Jibbigo was acquired in 2013 and has since shuttered
SportStream was acquired in 2013 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Branch was acquired in 2014 and has since shuttered
Pryte was acquired in 2014 and has since shuttered
PrivateCore was acquired in 2014 and has since shuttered
WaveGroup Sound was acquired in 2014 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Wit.ai was acquired in 2015 and is still active as an open-source platform via Facebook
Quickfire was acquired in 2015 and has since shuttered
TheFind was acquired in 2015 and shuttered in 2015
Surreal Vision was acquired in 2015 and is still active via Facebook’s Oculus
Pebbles was acquired in 2015 and is still active via Facebook’s Oculus
Masquerade was acquired in 2016 and shuttered in 2020
Two Big Ears was acquired in 2016 and has since shuttered
Nascent Objects was acquired in 2016 and was part of Facebook’s Building 8 lab but has since shuttered
InfiniLED was acquired in 2016 and is still active via Facebook’s Oculus
CrowdTangle was acquired in 2016 and shuttered in 2022
Faciometrics was acquired in 2016 and has since shuttered
Ozlo was acquired in 2017 and is still active
Fayteq was acquired in 2017 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
confirm.io was acquired in 2018 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active through Facebook
Bloomsbury AI was acquired in 2018 and has since shuttered but continues to offer an open-source platform
RedKix was acquired in 2018 and has since shuttered
Chainspace was acquired in 2019 and has since shuttered
GROKSTYLE was acquired in 2019 and has since shuttered, but the technology is still active via Facebook Marketplace
Sonics was acquired in 2019 and has since shuttered
Servicefriend was acquired in 2019 and has since shuttered alongside Facebook’s Novi
Packagd was acquired in 2019 and was shuttered in 2022
Beat Games was acquired in 2019 and is still active
PlayGiga was acquired in 2019 and has since shuttered
Sanzaru Games was acquired in 2019 and is still active via Facebook’s Oculus
Scape Technologies was acquired in 2020 and is still active
Ready at Dawn was acquired in 2020 and is still active
Lemnis Technologies was acquired in 2020 and is still active
Kustomer was acquired in 2020 and is still active
Downpour Interactive was acquired in 2021 and is still active
Unit 2 Games was acquired in 2021 and is still active
BigBox VR was acquired in 2021 and is still active
Twisted Pixel Games was acquired in 2022 and is still active via Facebook’s Oculus
Armature Studios was acquired in 2022 and is still active via Facebook’s Oculus
Camouflaj was acquired in 2022 and is still active via Facebook’s Oculus
The Biden administration’s border crisis created problems that could last for generations.
Now Americans are finding out just how deep the corruption goes.
And Elon Musk sent Democrats into a panic when he exposed this shocking discovery about voting.
Musk’s DOGE team uncovers disturbing connection between illegal aliens and voter rolls
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been digging into government waste since President Trump appointed him to the position.
What they found at the Social Security Administration has Democrats scrambling to shut down the investigation.
Antonio Gracias, one of Musk’s top lieutenants working within the Social Security Administration, dropped a bombshell during an appearance on Fox and Friends earlier this month.
Gracias revealed that “5-plus million” noncitizens who “came to the country as illegals” were given Social Security numbers “through an automatic system” and then managed to “get into our benefit systems.”
But the real shock came next.
“Out of curiosity, we checked if they were on the voter rolls. In a few cooperative states, we discovered thousands of them on the voter rolls, many of whom had voted,” Gracias stated.
This explosive finding confirms what conservatives have been warning about for years – illegal aliens are not just draining our resources, they’re potentially influencing our elections.
Democrats panicking over Musk’s investigation
The Left is frantically trying to shut down Musk’s investigation, claiming DOGE staff violated a court order by accessing sensitive SSA systems.
At a town hall in Wisconsin last month, Musk, alongside Gracias, presented a bar graph showing an alarming rise in noncitizens obtaining Social Security numbers.
“This is a mind-blowing chart,” declared Musk, as attendees captured the moment with their phones.
Gracias added: “This literally blew us away.”
The Left claims it’s standard procedure for immigrants authorized to work in the U.S. to receive Social Security numbers, citing the Social Security Act.
But the stunning scope of these numbers raises serious questions about the integrity of our immigration system under Biden and Harris.
The Left’s hypocrisy exposed
Left-wing activists have suddenly become concerned about privacy, sounding the alarm over DOGE accessing Social Security numbers.
Yet these same voices were completely silent when Deep State agencies conducted warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans’ personal communications and data.
It seems their concern for privacy only appears when investigations might reveal Democrat voter fraud schemes.
Gracias even suggested that federal workers who provided this information took a “risk” by sharing it, indicating a culture of fear among those who want to expose the truth.
Voter fraud is not a myth
Despite Democrats constantly claiming voter fraud doesn’t exist, state audits of voter records have found instances of noncitizens voting – a serious federal offense that can lead to imprisonment and deportation.
The discovery by Musk’s team threatens to blow the lid off one of the biggest scandals in American electoral history.
If illegal aliens with fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers are voting in our elections, then the entire democratic process is at risk.
The same party that spent years pushing the Russia collusion hoax now wants Americans to believe there’s nothing to see here.
But Musk and his DOGE team aren’t backing down. They’re doing the work Americans have been demanding for years – following the money and exposing corruption wherever they find it.
And what they’ve found at the Social Security Administration might just be the tip of the iceberg.
As more states cooperate with the investigation, how many more illegal voters will be uncovered?
kommonsentsjane 