Elon Musk

[Dogstar]

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-p ... mod=RSSMSN

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.

…

At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request.

…
At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national-security concerns among some in the current administration, given Putin’s role as one of America’s chief adversaries.

Musk has forged deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique visibility into some of America’s most sensitive space programs. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA. Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information.

It goes on and on, especially with Russia’s influence on Musk. I’m not sure what the answer is, because I don’t think our legal/governmental/societal systems are built to manage the out-sized influence Musk wields, but we better ducking start somewhere quick. Losing his security clearance should just be the beginning.

[Smoove_B]

When the U.S. Attorney General sends you a letter regarding your election "lottery" and you follow up with:

NEW: Elon Musk's pro-Trump super PAC just awarded $1 million to registered voters in Michigan & Wisconsin. This comes one day after news broke that DOJ warned the PAC that its sweepstakes may be illegal. They mysteriously did not name a winner yesterday, but they named 2 today.

It would suggest to me that you think you're untouchable. I guess we'll see - just like the Musk/Putin news.

[stessier]

FWIW, it's not clear cut either way.



The fun part of that video is the precedent that the "winners" of the rewards also end up getting prosecuted because it's not only the paying but the receiving that is illegal (assuming that is where the eventual decision comes down).

[Unagi]

and when each of the winners makes it clear that their Vote was never part of the Xchange of money - then it all goes nowhere. Not sure what people think they are going to catch Elon on here really.

[LawBeefaroni]

and when each of the winners makes it clear that their Vote was never part of the Xchange of money - then it all goes nowhere. Not sure what people think they are going to catch Elon on here really.

It probably runs afoul of gambling/lottery regulations. I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't doing the taxes correctly either.

[Smoove_B]

and when each of the winners makes it clear that their Vote was never part of the Xchange of money - then it all goes nowhere. Not sure what people think they are going to catch Elon on here really.

That's true. As the Supreme Court has ruled (and demonstrated) appearances don't matter. As long as we can't definitively say evil is happening, it doesn't matter how it looks.

[Blackhawk]

Any action taken against Musk in this will come after the election. If his gamble pays off and Trump wins, those actions won't happen. If it fails, he'll pay a pocket-change fine and move on.

[GreenGoo]

and when each of the winners makes it clear that their Vote was never part of the Xchange of money - then it all goes nowhere. Not sure what people think they are going to catch Elon on here really.

Watching the video, it's clear that there is a lot of discretion as to determining motives. Claiming that you took the money but never made any decisions based on it is not the get out of jail free card you think it is.

The video discusses running afoul of lottery laws as well as buying votes laws. All have the possibility of jail time. Obviously rich people need not apply for the jail time penalty, but it's interesting that it exists, and is not small (imo). Especially if it hits his "winners".

[Alefroth]

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-p ... mod=RSSMSN

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.

…

At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request.

…
At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national-security concerns among some in the current administration, given Putin’s role as one of America’s chief adversaries.

Musk has forged deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique visibility into some of America’s most sensitive space programs. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA. Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information.

It goes on and on, especially with Russia’s influence on Musk. I’m not sure what the answer is, because I don’t think our legal/governmental/societal systems are built to manage the out-sized influence Musk wields, but we better ducking start somewhere quick. Losing his security clearance should just be the beginning.

What would it take to revoke his security clearance?

[Smoove_B]

What would it take to revoke his security clearance?

Hopefully it happens .34 seconds after the election results are official and that's the reason it hasn't happened yet (don't want it to seem political or be used as inspiration).

Again, this is the goddamn worst timeline.

[Pyperkub]

Hopefully he's on the section 702 FISA Warrantless wiretapping list, and has been for some time... Ditto Trump and his cronies.

[raydude]

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-p ... mod=RSSMSN

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.

…

At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request.

…
At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national-security concerns among some in the current administration, given Putin’s role as one of America’s chief adversaries.

Musk has forged deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique visibility into some of America’s most sensitive space programs. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA. Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information.

It goes on and on, especially with Russia’s influence on Musk. I’m not sure what the answer is, because I don’t think our legal/governmental/societal systems are built to manage the out-sized influence Musk wields, but we better ducking start somewhere quick. Losing his security clearance should just be the beginning.

What would it take to revoke his security clearance?

So, periodic training on internal security threats tends to highlight the role employees can have on reporting suspicious behavior and their responsibility for reporting things such as changes in behavior, sudden changes in financial means, buying stuff they normally wouldn't be able to afford, and so on. If SpaceX has a security office one would hope it would accept anonymous reports from employees on the suspicious behavior of anyone, including their CEO

[Holman]

If the CIA doesn't have a whole floor in Langley dedicated to people communicating with Putin, what are we paying them for?

[Zarathud]

5 reasons for Elon to be all in on Trump:
1. SpaceX environmental issues
2. Tesla unsafe design
3. Twitter being sued
4. Too close to Putin
5. Apartheid upbringing

[LawBeefaroni]

So now he's creating a compound in Texas filled with his sister wives and a bunch of kids. What could go wrong?

https://pagesix.com/2024/10/29/lifestyl ... rs-report/

Elon Musk reportedly bought a $35 million compound with enough room for his blended family — which includes three exes and at least 11 children — to live together with him in Austin, Texas.
...
Musk has reportedly shared with people close to him that he wants two of his children’s mothers to live in “adjoining properties” to make it easier for him to “schedule time” among his youngest kids. He also wants the little ones to “be a part of one another’s lives.”

He was presumably speaking about his two most recent exes, Neuralink employee Shivon Zilis and singer Grimes, moving in, as that is with whom he shares younger children.

[hepcat]

His harem is proof you can buy love...or at least the semblance of it.

[LordMortis]

Ask David Koresch?

[hepcat]

I doubt any of his "wives" would give their lives for him. The first time feds showed up at the compound, they'd bail. They don't believe in Elon, they believe in his bank account. If that's gone, they're gone.

[LawBeefaroni]

I doubt any of his "wives" would give their lives for him. The first time feds showed up at the compound, they'd bail. They don't believe in Elon, they believe in his bank account. If that's gone, they're gone.

They just going to leave their kids there?

[hepcat]

My first guess?

Yes.

I know I sound misogynistic in many ways, but years of seeing shitty people like Melania who enable other shitty people through their silence, and all for the sake of rich men, has made me somewhat bitter towards these kind of people.

[raydude]

So now he's creating a compound in Texas filled with his sister wives and a bunch of kids. What could go wrong?

https://pagesix.com/2024/10/29/lifestyl ... rs-report/

Elon Musk reportedly bought a $35 million compound with enough room for his blended family — which includes three exes and at least 11 children — to live together with him in Austin, Texas.
...
Musk has reportedly shared with people close to him that he wants two of his children’s mothers to live in “adjoining properties” to make it easier for him to “schedule time” among his youngest kids. He also wants the little ones to “be a part of one another’s lives.”

He was presumably speaking about his two most recent exes, Neuralink employee Shivon Zilis and singer Grimes, moving in, as that is with whom he shares younger children.

My guess? It's so he can keep tabs on the kids and make sure no one is leaning toward changing their gender. He'll be damned if he makes that mistake again.

[GreenGoo]

I vaguely remember someone else who had their own compound.

Doctor Evil, in case you were wondering.

[waitingtoconnect]

His harem is proof you can buy love...or at least the semblance of it.

The super rich just like to have their ego stroked and be in control. For musk he went full nuts when one of his kids decided to transition and he couldn’t stop it! He could buy Twitter to shut people up about him but he couldn’t buy agency over his child’s. A lot of what has happened since has pretty much been because his ego can’t handle being wrong.

I had a colleague who used to work for AWS- he was telling me about how they had this big event Bezos ran where the Rock was headlining it. The Rock was completely star struck by Bezos and was eating out of his hand. bezos was lapping it up that this huge guy was basically worshipping him.

It’s all becoming very much like the book Altered Carbon where the superrich have swallowed their own propaganda and believe they are kings or worse gods.

[hepcat]

That's just silly. Everyone knows I'M the only God there is.

[LawBeefaroni]

The Musk PAC successfully argued that the $1M giveaways aren't lottery winnings but salary for paid spokespeople. Going to guess that all those spokesperson contracts were hastily drafted up right before the court date.

AP

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes that Elon Musk ‘s political action committee is hosting in swing states can continue through Tuesday’s presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.

Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta — ruling after Musk’s lawyers said the winners are paid spokespeople and not chosen by chance — did not immediately explain his reasoning.

District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, had called the process a scam “designed to actually influence a national election” and asked that it be shut down.

Musk lawyer Chris Gober said the final two recipients before Tuesday’s presidential election will be in Arizona on Monday and Michigan on Tuesday.

“The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance,” Gober said Monday. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”

[Isgrimnur]

So ... fraud?

[Smoove_B]

The important lesson here is that anything involving elections and lots of money will work out just fine - especially in a court of law.

[Holman]

A judge in PA has ruled that Musk's little game may go forward. Of course there's only one day left in the campaign.

I have to ask, what was the point? Now that we know it was only for picking likely spokesMAGAs, what were those people actually supposed to do? As far as I can tell, none of them featured in later ads or rallies or other media.

Was it just to create a vague aura that going with Trump could possibly make you rich? Most people believe that they *could* win a lottery. Is that all this was--the association of Trump with (extraordinarily improbably) striking it rich?

[LawBeefaroni]

I have to ask, what was the point? Now that we know it was only for picking likely spokesMAGAs, what were those people actually supposed to do? As far as I can tell, none of them featured in later ads or rallies or other media.

Was it just to create a vague aura that going with Trump could possibly make you rich? Most people believe that they *could* win a lottery. Is that all this was--the association of Trump with (extraordinarily improbably) striking it rich?

It was a lottery intended to get people to sign a "values pledge" that would drive them to vote for Trump. It was probably also a way to get demographic info.

The spokesperson bullshit is just ex post facto lawering to avoid lottery laws.

[Zaxxon]

At least it’s not a VW, I guess…

[LordMortis]

I don't get it. One would think you would have to do some serious overriding to get a car to take software update when it is not prepared to sit for six hours with everything forced as turned off.

I have to ask, what was the point? Now that we know it was only for picking likely spokesMAGAs, what were those people actually supposed to do? As far as I can tell, none of them featured in later ads or rallies or other media.

Was it just to create a vague aura that going with Trump could possibly make you rich? Most people believe that they *could* win a lottery. Is that all this was--the association of Trump with (extraordinarily improbably) striking it rich?

It was a lottery intended to get people to sign a "values pledge" that would drive them to vote for Trump. It was probably also a way to get demographic info.

The spokesperson bullshit is just ex post facto lawering to avoid lottery laws.

Yeah, a few million dollars in addition the software it was written for PR, cognitive affirmation, and to scrape more information. Seems like no cost for the world's richest attention starved power hungry man seeking more political influence.

[LawBeefaroni]

Musk was on Rogan today last-minute stumping for Trump, trying to yet the young white male voters out.

Musk said he was in the top 20 Diablo 4 players worldwide and of course his incel army is showering him with praise for superhuman multitasking. Rather than realizing he almost certainly outsources it all to bots and/or farmers.

[Zarathud]

Almost certainly Musk is getting help with his accounts. He’s shown himself willing to throw his money around to boost his ego.

[Zaxxon]

It's also #20 on a small (relative to total DIV player base) list of folks who have submitted video evidence of their runs.

[LawBeefaroni]

Spoiler:

Elon Musk

@elonmusk
The cavalry has arrived.

Men are voting in record numbers.

They now realize everything is at stake.
11:09 AM · Nov 5, 2024
·
20.7M
Views

God of the Incels.

[gilraen]

And it doesn't even occur to him that not all these record numbers of men are voting the way he thinks they are voting...

[Holman]

Musk has been straight-up lying all day.

Earlier he announced that Tony Hawk and Michael Jordon have endorsed Trump. Neither claim is true.

(I recently heard Tony Hawk as a guest on a very liberal podcast.)

[Isgrimnur]

He did appear with Tony Hinchcliffe. Bonus points for famed Halloween costume star, Josie Marcellino.

(NSFW)