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In reply to the discussion: Some very serious stuff from Seth Abramson [View all]ancianita
(36,566 posts)13. It is a hell of a thread. Thank you for posting this. Oligarchs tell you what to think of them.
Oligarchs think they know what's best for more than one the country.
But if he's giving aid and comfort to a self proclaimed hostile enemy, and the military puts up with this (and what the f'n hell does that say about our military?!) he must be investigated by the civilian DOJ just like any other American.
Here's The New Yorker's eye opening article on Musk -- "Elon Musk's Shadow Rule" by Ronan Farrow
"
We are living off his good graces, a Pentagon official said of Musks role in the war in Ukraine. That sucks.
... Musks influence is more brazen and expansive. There is little precedent for a civilians becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the U.S. now has on Musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space. SpaceX is currently the sole means by which nasa transports crew from U.S. soil into space, a situation that will persist for at least another year. The governments plan to move the auto industry toward electric cars requires increasing access to charging stations along Americas highways. But this rests on the actions of another Musk enterprise, Tesla. The automaker has seeded so much of the country with its proprietary charging stations that the Biden Administration relaxed an early push for a universal charging standard disliked by Musk. His stations are eligible for billions of dollars in subsidies, so long as Tesla makes them compatible with the other charging standard.
In the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, Musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades of privatization, the state has receded. The government is now reliant on him, but struggles to respond to his risk-taking, brinkmanship, and caprice. Current and former officials from nasa, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told me that Musks influence had become inescapable in their work, and several of them said that they now treat him like a sort of unelected official. One Pentagon spokesman said that he was keeping Musk apprised of my inquiries about his role in Ukraine and would grant an interview with an official about the matter only with Musks permission. Well talk to you if Elon wants us to, he told me. In a podcast interview last year, Musk was asked whether he has more influence than the American government. He replied immediately, In some ways. Reid Hoffman told me that Musks attitude is like Louis XIV: Létat, cest moi.
Musks power continues to grow. His takeover of Twitter, which he has rebranded X, gives him a critical forum for political discourse ahead of the next Presidential election. He recently launched an artificial-intelligence company, a move that follows years of involvement in the technology. Musk has become a hyper-exposed pop-culture figure, and his sharp turns from altruistic to vainglorious, strategic to impulsive, have been the subject of innumerable articles and at least seven major books, including a forthcoming biography by Walter Isaacson. But the nature and the scope of his power are less widely understood.
More than thirty of Musks current and former colleagues in various industries and a dozen individuals in his personal life spoke to me about their experiences with him. Sam Altman, the C.E.O. of OpenAI, with whom Musk has both worked and sparred, told me, Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.
The terms of the Starlink deal have not been made public. Ukrainian officials say that they have not faced further service interruptions. But Musk has continued to express ambivalence about how the technology is being used, and where it can be deployed. In February, he tweeted, We will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3. He said, as he had told Kahl, that he was sincerely attempting to navigate the moral dilemmas of his role: Were trying hard to do the right thing, where the right thing is an extremely difficult moral question.
In the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, Musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades of privatization, the state has receded. The government is now reliant on him, but struggles to respond to his risk-taking, brinkmanship, and caprice. Current and former officials from nasa, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told me that Musks influence had become inescapable in their work, and several of them said that they now treat him like a sort of unelected official. One Pentagon spokesman said that he was keeping Musk apprised of my inquiries about his role in Ukraine and would grant an interview with an official about the matter only with Musks permission. Well talk to you if Elon wants us to, he told me. In a podcast interview last year, Musk was asked whether he has more influence than the American government. He replied immediately, In some ways. Reid Hoffman told me that Musks attitude is like Louis XIV: Létat, cest moi.
Musks power continues to grow. His takeover of Twitter, which he has rebranded X, gives him a critical forum for political discourse ahead of the next Presidential election. He recently launched an artificial-intelligence company, a move that follows years of involvement in the technology. Musk has become a hyper-exposed pop-culture figure, and his sharp turns from altruistic to vainglorious, strategic to impulsive, have been the subject of innumerable articles and at least seven major books, including a forthcoming biography by Walter Isaacson. But the nature and the scope of his power are less widely understood.
More than thirty of Musks current and former colleagues in various industries and a dozen individuals in his personal life spoke to me about their experiences with him. Sam Altman, the C.E.O. of OpenAI, with whom Musk has both worked and sparred, told me, Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.
The terms of the Starlink deal have not been made public. Ukrainian officials say that they have not faced further service interruptions. But Musk has continued to express ambivalence about how the technology is being used, and where it can be deployed. In February, he tweeted, We will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3. He said, as he had told Kahl, that he was sincerely attempting to navigate the moral dilemmas of his role: Were trying hard to do the right thing, where the right thing is an extremely difficult moral question.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/28/elon-musks-shadow-rule
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The U.S. Constitution makes no mention of a declared war in defining treason.
Hermit-The-Prog
Sep 2023
#55
Musk will have to pull out all the stops to ensure GOP victories in the upcoming election. n/t
FSogol
Sep 2023
#6
Good points. Where does the right to free speech and to sell your companies products to whomever you
Martin68
Sep 2023
#8
I don't think there is evidence that Musk is an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
Martin68
Sep 2023
#31
It is a hell of a thread. Thank you for posting this. Oligarchs tell you what to think of them.
ancianita
Sep 2023
#13
No war declaration, so technically not treason, but absolutely a Logan Act violation
tinrobot
Sep 2023
#18
I did more than wonder about Musk. I wrote a letter expressing concern over this to the White
PatrickforB
Sep 2023
#20
Since Elon has the keys to the encryption of the internet data on the datalinks,
LiberalArkie
Sep 2023
#26
the super rich get away with a ton of shady and treasonous shit and it's sickening
LymphocyteLover
Sep 2023
#32