US Business

Elon Musk kicked Kanye West off Twitter on Friday “for incitement to violence,” after the rapper posted a picture that appeared to show a swastika interlaced with a Star of David. 

The post came hours after an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in which West sparked outrage by declaring his “love” of Nazis and admiration for Adolf Hitler.

West had also shared a picture of a shirtless Musk getting sprayed with water, captioned: “Let’s always remember this as my final tweet.” 

In response, Musk said: “Just clarifying that his account is being suspended for incitement to violence, not an unflattering pic of me.”

Musk, who previously called himself a “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly said he believes all content permitted by law should be allowed on Twitter, and sought to remake the social media organization after he took control in October. 

In an hours-long appearance on Infowars, the show fronted by Jones, West — now known as Ye — wore a black mask completely covering his face, as he ranted about sin, pornography and the devil.

“I like Hitler,” West said several times.

West hid his face completely under a mask that had neither eye nor mouth slits. 

However, Jones addressed him as West as they spoke, Infowars billed the interview as being with West, and at one point Jones took West’s cellphone and posted a tweet on his account that appeared in real-time.

West, who has hinted he is running for US president in 2024, has spoken openly about his struggles with mental illness, but his erratic behavior has continued to raise concerns.

The businessman has seen his commercial relationships crumble after a series of anti-Semitic comments, as the one-time titan of fashion and music appears to have entered a disturbing spiral.

– ‘I love Nazis’ –

On Infowars, West drew shocked laughter and even disagreement from far-right host Jones.

“I see good things about Hitler also,” he told Jones.

“This guy… invented highways, invented the very microphone that I used as a musician, you can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good, and I’m done with that.”

Hitler did not invent either of those things.

“I’m done with the classification, every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.

“I like Hitler.”

Jones, a serial provocateur who was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for claiming one of America’s deadliest school shootings was a “hoax,” interjected that “the Nazis were thugs and did really bad things.”

West did not back down.

“But they did good things too. We gotta stop dissing the Nazis all the time… I love Nazis,” West said.

Hours after the interview, social media platform Parler, a favorite of conservatives for its hands-off approach to moderation, said a deal for West to buy the outfit was off.

“Parlement Technologies would like to confirm that the company has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler,” the network said on Twitter. 

“This decision was made in the interest of both parties in mid-November.”

In October, German sportswear giant Adidas severed its lucrative tie-up with West after the star made anti-Semitic statements, including threatening to “go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” using a misspelled reference to US military readiness.

Paris fashion house Balenciaga and US clothing retailer Gap also ended ties with West, who appeared at a Paris fashion show wearing a shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter,” a rebuke to the Black Lives Matter racial equality movement.

– Fuentes –

West appeared on Infowars alongside Nick Fuentes, the same white supremacist with whom West had dinner last week at former president Donald Trump’s Florida estate, in a meeting that provoked outrage.

Thursday’s livestream sparked immediate condemnation from the Republican Jewish Coalition, which dubbed the three men “a disgusting triumvirate of conspiracy theorists, Holocaust deniers, and anti-Semites.”

“Given his praise of Hitler, it can’t be overstated that Kanye West is a vile, repellent bigot who has targeted the Jewish community with threats and Nazi-style defamation,” a statement from the group said.

“Conservatives who have mistakenly indulged Kanye West must make it clear that he is a pariah. Enough is enough.”

The US Air Force on Friday will unveil its new B-21 Raider, a high-tech stealth bomber that can carry nuclear and conventional weapons and is designed to be able to fly without a crew on board.

The B-21 — which is on track to cost nearly $700 million per plane and is the first new US bomber in decades — will gradually replace the B-1 and B-2 aircraft, which first flew during the Cold War.

“The B-21 will be the backbone of our future bomber force. It will possess the range, access and payload to penetrate the most highly-contested threat environments and hold any target around the globe at risk,” US Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek told AFP.

The first B-21 flight is expected to take place next year, and the Air Force plans to buy at least 100 of the aircraft, Stefanek said.

Manufacturer Northrop Grumman said six of the planes are currently in different stages of assembly and testing at its facility in Palmdale, California, where the unveiling will take place.

Many specifics of the aircraft are being kept under wraps, but the plane should offer significant advances over existing bombers in the US fleet.

Among the new capabilities offered by the B-21 is the potential for uncrewed flight. Stefanek said the aircraft is “provisioned for the possibility, but there has been no decision to fly without a crew.”

– ‘Designed to evolve’ –

The plane also features an “open architecture,” which is meant to allow easier and quicker upgrades.

Amy Nelson, a fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the B-21 is “designed to evolve.”

“The ‘open architecture’ allows for the future integration of improved software (including for autonomy) so the aircraft doesn’t become obsolete as quickly,” she said.

“The B-21 is much fancier than its predecessors — truly modern. Not only is it dual-capable (unlike the B-2), which means it can launch nuclear or conventionally armed missiles, it can launch long- and short-range missiles,” Nelson added.

Like the F-22 and F-35 warplanes, the B-21 will feature stealth technology, which minimizes an aircraft’s signature through both its shape and the materials it is constructed from, making it harder for adversaries to detect.

The technology has been around for decades, but Northrop said the plane will feature the “next generation of stealth” and that it is employing unspecified “new manufacturing techniques and materials” on the B-21.

The “Raider” portion of the aircraft’s name honors the 1942 US bomber raid on Tokyo led by lieutenant colonel James Doolittle — the first American strike on Japan’s homeland following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the previous year.

The US Supreme Court agreed Thursday to rule on the legality of President Joe Biden’s landmark effort to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in student debt.

The court will hear the case in February or March, according to a short statement it posted online. 

In the meantime, it declined to lift a lower court ruling that has put the policy on hold for now. 

The Democratic president, who has posed the measure as a boost for the middle class, announced in August that the federal government would forgive a huge portion of the often-crushing student debt held by Americans, erasing up to $20,000 per person. 

In total, some 45 million borrowers nationwide owe a collective $1.6 trillion, according to the White House.

The plan, which would cost an estimated $400 billion over the next decade, was immediately challenged in court by several conservative states, which called the move an abuse of power ahead of the midterm elections.

Last month, a federal appeals court blocked the measure, and current and former college and university students who had already begun to apply for the relief were told their claims were on hold pending legal action. 

The White House then asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, in hopes it would overturn the previous decision. 

At the same time, the administration once again extended until June a moratorium on student debt payments, which was originally implemented at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The White House welcomed the court’s decision to take up the case.

“This program is necessary to help over 40 million eligible Americans struggling under the burden of student loan debt recover from the pandemic and move forward with their lives,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“President Biden will keep fighting against efforts to rob middle-class families of the relief they need and deserve,” she said.

– An earlier version of this story misstated the cost estimate for the debt cancellation plan in paragraph six. It is $400 billion, not $400 million.

US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from White House talks Thursday pledging to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make peace.

Following lengthy Oval Office talks they also signaled they’d calmed the waters on a burgeoning US-EU trade dispute.

Addressing a joint press conference on the second day of Macron’s rare state visit to Washington, both leaders emphasized their desire to forge a powerful transatlantic alliance supporting democracy — and facing down Russia and China.

On Ukraine, Biden said, “We reaffirm that France and the United States together, with all our NATO allies and the European Union and the G7, stand as strong as ever against Russia’s brutal war.”

The US leader also said that he would be ready to meet with Putin but only “if he is looking for a way to end the war.”

It was Biden’s strongest suggestion so far that he would be prepared to sit down with Putin, but Macron said they both agreed “we will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise that will not be acceptable for them.”

– Trade dispute –

The state visit — the first such formal occasion since Biden took office in January 2021 — symbolized how Washington and Paris have buried last year’s bitter spat over the way Australia pulled out of a French submarine deal in favor of acquiring US nuclear subs instead.

At a lavish, late dinner under a glass pavilion on the White House South Lawn, Biden concluded his toast by saying, “Vive la France!” or “long live France.”

In his toast, Macron quoted from the US Constitution and said both countries had often fought together to protect democracy. Referring to election deniers trying to overturn polls in the United States, he said that it was time to stand “shoulder to shoulder” again.

The occasion had seemed to be at threat of being overshadowed by a dispute over US subsidies for the emerging green technology economy. However, both leaders signaled they had managed at least to defuse the row following one hour and 45 minute talks in the Oval Office in the morning.

“We agreed to discuss practical steps to coordinate and align our approaches so that we can strengthen and secure the supply chains, manufacturing and innovation on both sides of the Atlantic,” Biden told their joint news conference.

“We agreed to resynchronize our approaches,” echoed Macron.

The issue revolves around Biden’s signature policy, the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA, which is set to pour billions of dollars into environmentally friendly industries, with strong backing for US-based manufacturers.

European Union governments have been crying foul, threatening to launch a trade war by subsidizing their own green economy sector.

Biden stressed that there would be “tweaks” so that European companies were not unfairly treated. 

“We’re going to continue to create manufacturing jobs in America but not at the expense of Europe,” Biden said.

On China, another area where Europe and the United States have not always been entirely on the same page, the leaders said in a joint statement they “will continue to coordinate on our concerns regarding China’s challenge to the rules-based international order, including respect for human rights, and to work together with China on important global issues like climate change.”

– 21 gun salute –

The day began with a full military honor guard for Macron, including service members from the marines, army, air force and even a detachment of soldiers in 18th-century Revolutionary War garb. Artillery fired off a 21-gun salute, sending puffs of white smoke into the clear, chilly December sky.

Standing on a red-carpeted podium with Macron, Biden said “France is our oldest ally, our unwavering partner in freedom’s cause.”

Between the two leaders, the mutual appreciation was on ample display as they exchanged hugs, hand clasps and compliments throughout the day.

More than 12 hours later, the state visit climaxed with the kind of banquet that has not been seen in Washington since the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the US capital’s typically busy schmoozing scene.

Guests, who included comedian Stephen Colbert, singer John Legend and fashion guru Anna Wintour, were entertained by Grammy-award-winning US musician Jon Batiste.

Their menu kicked off with butter-poached Maine lobster, paired with caviar, delicata squash raviolo and tarragon sauce, then a main course of beef and triple-cooked butter potatoes. The feast rounded off with US cheeses, and finally orange chiffon cake, roasted pears with citrus sauce and creme fraiche ice cream.

Washing all that down were three different wines — all from US vineyards.

bur-sms/des

Kanye West declared his “love” of Nazis and admiration for Adolf Hitler on Thursday, sparking outrage as another commercial partner announced it was splitting from the troubled superstar.

In an extraordinary hours-long appearance on Infowars, the show fronted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, West — now known as Ye — wore a black mask completely covering his face, as he ranted about sin, pornography and the devil.

“I like Hitler,” West said several times.

Even though West hid his face — the mask had neither eye nor mouth slits — there seemed no doubt it was him. Jones addressed him as West as they spoke, Infowars billed the interview as being with West, and at one point Jones took West’s cellphone and posted a tweet on his account that appeared in real time.

West, who has hinted he is running for US president in 2024, has spoken openly about his struggles with mental illness, but his erratic behavior has continued to raise concerns.

The rapper-businessman has seen his commercial relationships crumble after a series of anti-Semitic comments, as the one-time titan of fashion and music appears to have entered a disturbing spiral.

In his lengthy appearance on the Infowars livestream, West opened the throttle, drawing shocked laughter and even disagreement from far-right host Jones.

“I see good things about Hitler also,” he told Jones.

“This guy… invented highways, invented the very microphone that I used as a musician, you can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good, and I’m done with that.”

Hitler did not invent either of those things.

“I’m done with the classification, every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.

“I like Hitler.”

– ‘I love Nazis’ –

Jones, a serial provocateur who has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for claiming one of America’s deadliest school shootings was a “hoax,” interjected that “the Nazis were thugs and did really bad things.”

West did not back down.

“But they did good things too. We gotta stop dissing the Nazis all the time… I love Nazis,” West said.

Hours after the astonishing performance, social media platform Parler, a favorite of conservatives for its hands-off approach to moderation, said a deal for West to buy the outfit was off.

“Parlement Technologies would like to confirm that the company has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler,” the network said on Twitter. 

“This decision was made in the interest of both parties in mid-November.”

In October, German sportswear giant Adidas severed its lucrative tie-up with West after the star made anti-Semitic statements, including threatening to “go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” using a misspelled reference to US military readiness.

Paris fashion house Balenciaga and US clothing retailer Gap have also ended ties with West, who appeared at a Paris fashion show wearing a shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter,” a rebuke to the Black Lives Matter racial equality movement.

– Fuentes –

West appeared on the Jones program with Nick Fuentes, the same white supremacist with whom West had dinner last week with Donald Trump at the former president’s Florida estate, in a meeting that provoked outrage.

Thursday’s livestream sparked immediate condemnation from the Republican Jewish Coalition, which dubbed the three men “a disgusting triumvirate of conspiracy theorists, Holocaust deniers, and anti-Semites.”

“Given his praise of Hitler, it can’t be overstated that Kanye West is a vile, repellent bigot who has targeted the Jewish community with threats and Nazi-style defamation,” a statement from the group said.

“Conservatives who have mistakenly indulged Kanye West must make it clear that he is a pariah. Enough is enough.”