IgniusApr 13, 2023
Mike Masnick ✅

So for over a week now Elon Musk's circle of friends have been going on and on insisting that Bob Lee's killer was obviously an unhoused individual and blaming the city for not jailing more people.

Now, it turns out that the guy who killed him was another tech exec who knew him, and they were originally in a car together.

https://missionlocal.org/2023/04/bob-lee-killing-arrest-made-san-francisco/

Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee — tech exec’s alleged killer also worked in tech

Mission Local is told that San Francisco police this morning arrested a suspect, Nima Momeni, in the April 4 killing of tech exec Bob Lee.

Mission Local
Apr 13, 2023 at 3:19pmWeb
Show threadTomApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick I don’t know who I’m more annoyed at: Musk and his jagoff circle, or a media who *yet again* uncritically amplify crime stories only when they affect rich white guys and reinforce a convenient narrative.
Show threadMattApr 13, 2023
@thatguy @mmasnick this is a very good point.
Show threadOsma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦Apr 13, 2023

@mmasnick
Is this the same Elon who owns a social network where there is no hate speech or misinformation(*)?

* that he can see

Show threadOsma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦Apr 13, 2023
@mmasnick honestly though, that BBC interviewer came with zero preparation. Omg it was painful to watch.
Show threadDeadly HeadshotApr 14, 2023
@osma @mmasnick They took the word of a compulsive liar as gospel, it was insane...
Show threadFreediverXApr 13, 2023
@osma @mmasnick
Or censorship. You forgot he eliminated all censorship.
Show threadagile_otterApr 13, 2023
@osma @mmasnick “that he doesn’t approve”
Show threadˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊Apr 14, 2023
@mmasnick @osma or that he cares about lol
Show threadCogito Ergo DisputoApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick so I guess the problem is that the city is not jailing enough tech execs
Show threadBrian Edwards-TiekertApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick In about 60 seconds my brain went from "I wonder how many people will retract their SF crime takes in light of this news" to "I wonder how many people will keep citing this killing as evidence of dystopic street violence, facts be damned"
Show threadPeter ButlerApr 13, 2023

@bedwardstiek @mmasnick Indeed. After the loss of life, that might be the saddest part of all of this. The facts don’t matter anymore

(Glad to find you on here! I used to follow you on Twitter and appreciate your work on KPFA)

Show threadNeilApr 14, 2023
@bedwardstiek @mmasnick first comment under the article bears this out
Show threadJustin SchuhApr 13, 2023

@mmasnick I think we all know this needs an aggressive police response to the threat of violent tech crime: employ strict curfews, stop and frisk, and probably a tech focused police task force.

This has to be full on broken windows policing. If you see a group of tech execs congregating anywhere they could potentially commit a crime—street corners, bars, convention centers, conference rooms—then you need to call the cops to come and break that up. We need to take this seriously, lest our cities be taken over by a wave of tech on tech crime.

Show threadE. C. BigribsApr 13, 2023
@jschuh @mmasnick I bet the cops could set up a honey trap—something like two women in a coffee shop talking about SQL—and round up HUNDREDS of potentially criminal tech bros within minutes.
Show threadouinneApr 13, 2023
@eedly @jschuh @mmasnick just whispering “what is blockchain?” in a basement at midnight would lure in the entire species for safe containment and relocation to a suitable environment, like the surface of the sun.
Show threadKevin RussellApr 13, 2023

@ouinne @eedly @jschuh @mmasnick

...burn it ... burn it burn it in the dark

Show threadNatanael ⚠️Apr 13, 2023
@kevinrns @ouinne @eedly @jschuh @mmasnick this is starting to sound like an SCP article
Show threadExtinction (our fate)Apr 13, 2023
@ouinne @eedly @jschuh @mmasnick
What is blockchain, after all?
A grift
28.6%
Graft
0%
Gritty
14.3%
Gruff the Crime Dog
57.1%
Poll ended at .
Show threadExtinction (our fate)Apr 14, 2023
@ouinne @eedly @jschuh @mmasnick Thanks for your votes in my silly poll everybody!
Show threadDarby LinesApr 13, 2023
@jschuh @mmasnick I mean, the odds that any given congeregation of tech bros are engaging in a criminal enterprise ain’t low.
Show threadPhilVApr 13, 2023
@jschuh @mmasnick @adam Patagonia vest profiling: stop-and-frisk anyone walking SF sidewalks wearing one?
Show threadOhioCherylApr 14, 2023
@PhilV @jschuh @mmasnick @adam
Why pick on Patagonia? Aren't they becoming employee owned?
Show threadPhilVApr 14, 2023
@CRSG @jschuh @mmasnick @adam nothing against Patagonia as a company—more the symbol of wearing their vest with your tech company logo. https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911475/patagonia-vest-san-francisco-tech
Despite Ridicule, the Patagonia Vest Endures in San Francisco Tech | KQED

Flyers around San Francisco are urging tech workers to give up the quintessential Silicon Valley uniform.

KQED
Show threadLady GeeApr 14, 2023
@jschuh @mmasnick and if they have fleece vests with dress shirts and cowboy boots you just KNOW they’re up to no good!!
Show threadDoctor BiobrainApr 13, 2023

@mmasnick Speculation about news stories is a mental disorder that needs to be stopped.

It’s one thing to speculate about wormholes or if King Arthur was real. It’s something else to take unknowns in every breaking news story and fill in your preferred enemy as the culprit and act like it’s proven. Even if you’re right, you don’t score points for guesses. If you don’t know something you don’t know it.

Show threadNatanael ⚠️Apr 13, 2023
@biobrain @mmasnick I got the same approach to this as to people obsessed with unsolved mystery stories. The facts aren't available, the end, what's there to discuss?
Show threadAmadi LovelaceApr 15, 2023

@biobrain @mmasnick it’s not a mental disorder, It does a disservice to people who have mental disorders to have willful bad behavior attributed to something that people cannot control.

Speculation about crimes is a centuries old human pastime that is amplified in the mass and social media era but it only feels worse because the people whose speculations get the most amplification are the people saying the most dangerous things.

Show threadMike VincentApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick I’m calling for a total and complete shutdown of tech executives roaming free in San Francisco until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKApr 13, 2023

@mikevincent @mmasnick

its not even that uncommon, RIM/Blackberry had a corporate funded music event in London a decade or so ago it resulted in two "entrepreneurs" (including an RIM employee) fighting and the RIM employee was killed with a broken bottle, the attacker was found guilty and got a very long stetch inside...

Show threadpaprikapinkApr 13, 2023
@mikevincent @mmasnick A reasonable precaution
Show threadEdwin YoungApr 14, 2023
@mikevincent @mmasnick Maybe some sweeps of Sand Hill Road, it's clearly a nexus of criminal activity
Show threadBenbladesApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick oooops gues the fan boys got it wrong again
Show threadDarwinApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick Thanks for sharing this. I, too, wrongly assumed it was a random attack indicative of SF’s current problems. As someone planning to move back to the Bay Area soon, I’m glad to hear this wasn’t the case.
Show threadmathewApr 13, 2023

@darwinrz @mmasnick Murders are predominantly committed by someone known to the victim. I found some example stats here:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/195327/murder-in-the-us-by-relationship-of-victim-to-offender/

5,885 known to the victim, vs 1,509 strangers.

Then there are the people murdered by police, but it doesn't get counted as such because of qualified immunity. Homicide risk for Black males is around 37 fatalities per 100,000 people, for men and boys the risk of being killed by police is about 52 per 100,000.

https://crim.sas.upenn.edu/fact-check/what-are-chances-becoming-homicide-victim

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1821204116

So statistically you should be worried about police, then people you know. Strangers are a distant third.

Murder - number of felonies by relationship of victim to offender 2022 | Statista

In 2022 in the United States, 13 people were murdered by their employer.

Statista
Show threadAJDApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick nothing around elon musk and friends is accurate or objective. We all should doubt who's his real father at this point.
Show threadobscurestarApr 13, 2023
@albertojavier @mmasnick You think maybe he's one of the Boys from Brazil?
Show threadRyan SingelApr 13, 2023

@mmasnick
From the start, this felt to me like there was likely more to it, and I stayed out of the fray.

In an age of social media, the old journalism adage, write what you know, is wise for everyone to follow.

Mission Local's Joe Eskenazi, who also wrote the arrest writeup that you shared, did that from the start.

https://missionlocal.org/2023/04/bob-lee-crazy-bob-mobilecoin-san-francisco-homicide/

Eskenazi is a local treasure. And Mission Local is on here at @MLNow

Bob Lee deserved better than to be killed — and then co-opted in death

Robert Harold “Crazy Bob” Lee died on the pavement in the wee hours last Tuesday after being stabbed while he walked through an abandoned downtown street. Bob "Crazy Bob" Lee deserved better to be knifed while walking alone at 2:30 a.m. in downtown San Francisco — and then co-opted, in death, to push a bogus narrative about the city.

Mission Local
Show threadRoberto BaldwinApr 13, 2023
@ryansingel @mmasnick mission local and joe are indeed local treasures with smart reporting that digs deeper than the lazy SF narrative that’s become commonplace in media.
Show threadQuinn NortonApr 13, 2023
@ryansingel @mmasnick I still try to kick them a few bucks even through I live in France now, that's how much I ❤️ Mission Local
Show threadkira :3Apr 13, 2023
@mmasnick i guess I'm adding "will not murder any executives" after "will not conspire with the saudi arabian government" and "will not tell the press your chatbot is alive" on my resume
Show threadleemeadeApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick a dozen murders this year, while unfortunate and terrible, pales in comparison to the murder rates in other cities.
Show threadGrover T. BicknellApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick White collar crime! Rates are rising!
Show threadDavid Hull 胡大衛Apr 13, 2023
@mmasnick Clearly we need to jail more tech execs.
Show threadleading cackle influencerApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick just 8 other whole foods locations?! SF is truly going to the dogs
Show threadAnne OminousApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick mang they LOVE this high crime narrative. and wasnt their 'tough on everything' DA supposed to stop the violence? lmao. sorry to see this guy's murder being used this way.
Show threadBrian Gluckman 🏳️‍🌈Apr 13, 2023
@mmasnick It took less than 15 minutes, but I'm already seeing tons of comments along the lines of, "oh, must have been a lover's spat" because, you know, San Francisco.
Show threadNoel FrenchApr 13, 2023

@mmasnick Probably should be more techbros in jail though, tbh.

Edit: I see I was like the fourth person to make this comment. Kudos to everyone who beat me to it.

Show threadJosh LevinsonApr 13, 2023

@mmasnick Of course. It's the same exact thing as the Paul Pelosi story.

These morons repeat any ideas they hear on twitter yet deny the truth of actual journalists who do real research

Morons, every single one of them, just failing up and pretending it makes them special

Show threadNathan KalmoeApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick Sounds like they want their circle of tech bros to be jailed...the group is too dangerous to remain free on the streets.
Show threadJoeApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick So many data bros in SV who don’t look at data.
Show threadnadin brzezinskiApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick @monatemchin ok, why am I not surprised?
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 13, 2023
@mmasnick I hope Elon's paranoia turns to his circle of parasites now
Show threadConcerned CitizenApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick Is Musky acknowledging this? Or his he just moving on to the next childish conspiracy theory?
Show threadPatty KimuraApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick They can't believe a rich tech guy like them would commit direct, personal, non-financial crimes. They practice their bloody violence through white fascist intermediaries, influenced with smug glee, then they claim shock & surprise, as they blame anyone, not of them.
Show threadTaylor MarshallApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick now we get to the stage where they ignore this and pretend they weren't completely full of shit
Show threaddebsApr 13, 2023

@mmasnick

More to uncover here - I’m guessing maybe premeditated? why the hell did the guy have a knife?

Show of hands - who keeps a real knife with them or in their cars.

Sad either way - who give a toot what musk and his bris think

Show threadDoctor MemoryApr 13, 2023
@debs @mmasnick "bris" was the most hilarious possible typo here 🤣
Show threaddebsApr 14, 2023

@mmasnick @memory

Hahah - that is the best! I missed it! And I did have a new nephew a few weeks ago ;)

Show threadJohn ColagioiaApr 13, 2023
@mmasnick We need to crack down on tech-on-tech crime. Maybe clear out some neighborhoods so some friendly immigrants can gentrify the place as a buffer...