To quote Elon Musk posting on his X social media platform “Mark Cuban is proof that morons can become billionaires.”
Well said, as usual, Elon.
I first became aware of Pittsburgh native Cuban in the 1990s, when media types in that city looked to the newly minted tech billionaire as a guy who could buy the Pirates and keep them in the city.
Even back then, it seemed to me that Cuban, when traveling, would need to book an extra room for his inflated, often misguided, ego. Nothing has happened since to make me change this initial take.
Cuban’s exploits as owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks include a fine for “conduct unbecoming of an owner” in his words, as reported on the web site CNBC.com in April of this year.
Cuban has been a staple of a show on that CNBC business channel, in which rich types listen to pitches from entrepreneurs and cherry-pick the best ideas by contributing a bit of money for a large slice of potential profits.
Cuban comes off as a bit snarky and entitled in the admittedly small slices of that program I’ve watched – usually waiting for something that follows.
It was during a CNBC interview Thursday morning that Cuban made the remarks that set off Musk,
Specifically, Cuban is an avid Chameleon Kamala supporter who insists – wait for it – that lamestream media leans hard right and so doesn’t give the Chameleon a fair shake.
This prompted a raft of critical social media commentary, as relayed on zerohedge.com, including Musk’s.
Cuban – his parents would have named him Fidel if they had an ironic sense of humor – seems to have an advanced case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Facts? He don’t need no stinkin’ facts.
But just in case Cuban is open to same, let him consider reality.
First, here is some personal experience of mine. From 1994 through my retirement in early 2009, I worked for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which was owned by billionaire Richard Scaife. Scaife had made his money the old-fashioned way, inheriting it as an heir to the Mellon Bank fortune.
Scaife was right-wing politically, and was a large funder of what Hillary Clinton referred to as the “vast right-wing conspiracy” to out her and husband, Bill, in the media for their misdeeds ranging from Whitewater to Monica Lewinsky.
In a touch of irony one cannot make up, Bill Clinton spoke at Scaife’s private memorial service in 2014. Considering the Clintons’ penchant for income enhancement, it’s possible it was a paid speech.
Regardless, during my time at Scaife’s newspaper, I was amazed that the vast majority of my fellow newsroom employees leaned left, many of them hard left, politically.
I saw this with my own two eyes.
But, ignore my anecdotal evidence. After the ridiculous ABC presidential debate, I read that one media watchdog group had, prior to the event, judged ABC’s coverage of Kamala Chameleon 100 percent positive and its Trump coverage, about 95 percent negative.
Survey after survey shows media types are mostly Democrats. In the 2016 presidential election between Trump and Shrillary, media donations were roughly 96 percent Shrillary.
Supposedly “right-leaning” types such as one MSNBC propagandist, defended Kamala Chameleon’s non-answers to the death on one program of late and was rewarded with a sitdown interview, at a contrived work scene, in which softball economic questions were lobbed at the Chameleon.
Alas, Kamala Chameleon still struck out, prompting the interviewer to admit afterward she had gotten no answers. But, she was quick to add, that’s OK.
Against this backdrop, Cuban thinking that large media leans right, and being willing to assert as much publicly, suggests he’s having some of what Clueless Joe Biden has been drinking.
Sam Ross Jr's site 