Elon Musk has caused outrage in Berlin after appearing to endorse the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland.
Musk, who has been named by Donald Trump to co-lead a commission aimed at reducing the size of the US federal government, wrote on his social media platform X: “Only the AfD can save Germany
.”
The ID group, which includes France’s far-right National Rally, Italy’s Lega, Austria’s Freedom party, Geert Wilders’ Dutch Freedom party and Vlaams Belang in Belgium, said it “no longer want[ed] to be associated” with such incidents.
So, the AfD is too far-right for many in the European far-right. But not for Musk, it would seem.
This particular boosting of the AfD is part of a broader pattern (as noted by USAT):
Musk had already voiced support for the AfD last year, when he attacked the German government’s handling of illegal migration
.
Last month, Musk called
for the sacking of Italian judges who had questioned the legality of government measures to prevent irregular immigration.
And this week Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party and friend of Trump, posted a photo of himself and Reform’s treasurer meeting Musk at Trump’s Florida residence, and said he was in talks with Musk about financial support.
There is, of course, the profound irony that Musk is not from the US, Germany, Italy, or the UK and yet seems more than willing to opine on their internal politics. Granted he does have US citizenship even if he was once but a humble immigrant to the United States who almost certainly over-stayed his student visa to work illegally in the US for a time.
*
But, you know, if you are rich and white, it’s all cool.
*I say “almost certainy” beacuse Musk disputes this account, but I also know enough about the wat student visas work to state that based on what was reported he entered legally, but if he did not enroll in classes like he was supposed to, but instead started working, his status would have changed. Whatever nether space between his J-1 and HB-1 was a time that he was surely over-staying a visa, which would have made him an “illegal immigrant.” But, rules for thee and not for me, and all that.
Interior designer Sean Michael Waters created a Christmas tree display that is going viral online and causing traffic in real life near his home in Connecticut as people stop to look.
Parents believe San Francisco police lack ability to conduct thorough investigation into multifaceted case
Poornima Ramarao greeted everyone with a smile as they offered condolences for the death of her son Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower who was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on 26 November.
“I am not grieving,” she told a small group of friends at a vigil held for Balaji in Milpitas, California, a city about 50 miles (80km) south-east of San Francisco. “I have become numb.”
A woman whose daughter was murdered in 1997 lashed out at President Joe Biden this week after he commuted the death sentence of her killer.
On Monday, Biden
announced he would commute
the death sentences of 37 of the 40 total federal prisoners on death row. The White House said
of the decision:
President Biden has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system. He believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder – which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases.
One of those 37 men, 71-year-old Marvin Gabrion, was convicted of the slaying of 19-year-old Rachel Timmerman on federal property in Michigan. Gabrion killed Timmerman and is believed to have also killed her 11-month-old daughter Shannon.
While speaking to The Detroit News on Thursday about Biden sparing Gabrion from execution, Timmerman’s mother Velda Robinson said it made her feel as though she was a “lesser person.”
“Those that don’t believe in the death penalty I believe, honestly, that they have never been traumatized by somebody so vile, that they couldn’t comprehend where I’m coming from,” Robinson, whose 11-month-old granddaughter was also believed to have been murdered by Gabrion.
On capital punishment, she told
The Detroit News, “They really shouldn’t judge me for wanting it.” She added:
People need to know that when you do something so heinous, you ain’t going to get away with it …How does Biden justify whose crime is worse than the others? …[jurors] made this decision and he just slapped the whole judicial system down.
Gabrion was convicted of killing Timmerman – who told relatives he had previously raped her – and sentenced to death in 2002.
Three men who also went missing around the time of Timmerman and her infant daughter are believed to have been killed by Gabrion.
Only Timmerman’s body was discovered and it is believed she was tied up and thrown into a river while she was still breathing.
Tim Timmerman, Rachel’s father, told
the Grand Rapids TV station WOOD that he did not disagree with Biden’s decision to commute Gabrion’s sentence.
But he added of the Christmas week announcement, “We thought the timing was despicable.”
