Don't cross the D.C. swampers

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

Up until about a year ago, Elon Musk was the darling of the Left. He built these cool electric cars desired by all the people in the know.
     
Then, he bought Twitter and freed it from censorship.
    
What happened? Much of the corporate advertising went away, forcing drastic – but likely healthy – cuts in the overhead.
    
The Security and Exchange Commission is still pursuing Mr. Musk over his purchase of Twitter, now a year ago. This looks like what a rather impoverished (as compared to Mr. Musk) former President Trump says about all the investigations into his (Trump's) affairs, which he labels as witch hunts.
    
Then, Mr. Musk is allegedly using Tesla company funds to build a new house in Texas. This is a matter for the Tesla Board of Directors, not the federal government. Only the IRS should be involved to determine if this is taxable compensation to Elon Musk. The FTC wants to investigate the Twitter takeover, too.  
    
Then, there are the allegations that changes to the Twitter location in San Francisco violated building codes.
    
On Sept. 28, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Tesla for racial harassment and retaliation. They say, "[Tesla] violated federal law by tolerating widespread and ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees and by subjecting some of these workers to retaliation for opposing the harassment."  
    
This will all be sorted out in a court of law. But the message is loud and clear. The swamp rats don¹t like it when you promote free speech and a union-free environment, especially in the automotive sector.  
    
Now if your cool new phone is made by slave labor in a foreign country, hidden from delicate eyes, that is another story. We won't worry about that.
    
Today, there is no place to hide. Our columns here in The Highland County Press are picked up on national data bases as soon as they are on the website.  
    
It is an honor to be published in a newspaper that is this bold. These are not the days when our ink is kept close to home, as it was in times gone by.
     
Thanks to The Highland County Press and its stand on free speech.

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• I can't close out this week without mentioning the atrocities being perpetrated in Israel by the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah.  
    
I believe in living in peace, but sometimes there are groups which must be resisted with force. Iran and its surrogates – such as Hamas and Hezbollah – must be resisted fiercely.  
    
It was so foolish of our government to pay a bribe of $6 billion to Iran, just a few weeks ago. Maybe this is my downfall to see it this way, but the resistance to Israel has been going on ceaselessly my entire life.

It is time for the perpetrators to be silenced.  
    
Israel has a right to exist. God promised them the "Land of Milk and Honey" millennia ago. Very foolish idea to stand in the way of the will of God.
    
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.