Elon Musk pukes over pork-filled budget bill with Tesla subsidies on the line Elon Musk has publicly broken with Donald Trump over the latter's budget reconciliation bill, calling it a "pork-filled … abomination" that would undermine the work his DOGE cost-cutting unit has done. But the bill also hits close to Tesla tycoon's pocketbook, and at least one expert thinks it spells terrible news for the US …
He wants deeper cuts to medicaid and elsewhere. Funny how I haven't heard him calling for going back to pre-Trump tax rates for millionaires and billionaires. Those rates worked fine from the early 90s to late 10s.
These idiots aren't going to learn how the economy really works until their stupidity causes it to stop working. They'll see what happens when they keep lumping bigger bills on consumers in the form of higher cost for healthcare (or taking away their coverage and leaving the hospitals to cover it when they can't pay) higher prices all around thanks to Trump's idiotic tariff war, and even garnishing of social security checks to pay delinquent student loans (I think that was removed before the house passed their version of the big bill but that doesn't mean it won't come back)
"and even garnishing of social security checks to pay delinquent student loans "
This sounds like a more systemic issue with the loan programs. How does one carry student loan debt into retirement at this point? Are the loan issuers giving piles of money to 50-somethings to go back for a graduate degree? Since student loans aren't dischargable in bankruptcy and come with a menu of fines and fees, it's made entities giving them out be less than diligent. Fill out the forms correctly and you can get a doctorate in Art History with almost zero prospect of gainful employment. It being something that has been the path by third and fourth children of wealthy parents to keep them out of trouble and doing something respectable if not entirely useful. (sorry, I do believe that some people do those sorts of endeavors and add to humankind's understanding). Certainly not with a salary that can be considered a "living wage" even without a massive amount of student loans to pay back. If the loan companies might have to eat some of their poor decisions, they might take a closer look at the degree track and what sorts of salaries those might bring in. It would be a no-brainer to loan somebody money to go to a trade school to learn how to install ,maintain and repair EV charging systems. Plumbers make good money and if they will work nights, doubly so.
Other than maybe a few people who took out loans in middle age for a second career I think almost all of it is parents co-signing loans for their kids who haven't paid. That's a shitty deal on both sides, the kids can't pay so their parents who never expected to be on the hook for this debt after they retired have to live with it too.
I always said the Biden's student loan debt cancellation was the wrong policy. That was guaranteed to piss people off - both those who never went to college, or those who did but either paid their way or took out loans and repaid them. What they should have done is stop charging interest on their loans. Its the interest that's killing people, especially the third party loans that were charging rates of >10% even a few years ago when the fed funds rate was 0.25%! Yes the government would have had to acquire those loans from the third parties but they could have acquired the delinquent loans at a discount and the borrowers would still have to pay them back but at least they would see some progress since they'd only have to pay the current principle.
The biggest fix the program needs is a change in the law that discharges debt if they declare bankruptcy more than 10 years after the loan was made. Making it impossible to discharge makes companies willing to loan almost any amount because they know the only way the people can get out from it is to die or leave the country. They figure they "can't lose" so why not make the loans even for someone to study something with poor job prospects or won't make much money in their career? Its just as dumb as when pre bubble mortgage companies were approving "liar loans" from people who didn't have to provide any proof of income. They also thought they "can't lose" because they have the house as collateral and houses always go up in value, right?
"What they should have done is stop charging interest on their loans. Its the interest that's killing people, "
It's a loan, the interest was disclosed right up front and "welcome to the real world". It's a lot of responsibility right out of school, but it's not necessary. My degrees took me much more than 4 years, but I started chipping away at them when I was 15-16 by taking classes at the local community college to tick off the pesky general ed requirements. By the time I enrolled in Uni, I had transferable credits for everything outside of my major. One can learn the calculus from any school. There's no need to pay a premium at a university for the same education.
Wow. IANAE but you evidently haven't seen much information about student loans. Students get in way too deep, or have in the past, by taking the option to defer payments, or pay only token amounts while they are in school. So, in addition to adding each year's expenses to the existing debt hole, their accumulated overdue interest compounds their troubles. They graduate with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, and if they're lucky, they become baristas.
I have read stories about parents whose student debt accumulation is still so large that their kids can't qualify for loans - I may have the details all screwed up, but the gist is that one generation's student debt can remain large enough to affect their children's options.
Also, just for fun, this particular loan debt is something you pass on to your children when you die - other forms of debt expire when you do, but not student loan debt. Nice, huh?
Also, just for fun, this particular loan debt is something you pass on to your children when you die
They can collect from your estate, yes, but that's true of all loans taken out in your name when you die. They can't collect from your children after the estate is settled.
> Now he is looking for sympathy! Empathy works both ways mate - but then he wouldnt know about that.
Elon would be really insulted if anyone tried to say he had empathy for anyone/anything: “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy"
Individuals with ASPD often manipulate others for personal gain, lack empathy, and seldom feel remorse for their actions. They struggle to develop stable interpersonal relationships and experience significant impairments in social and occupational functioning throughout their lifetime. Legal issues frequently arise from their repeated failure to learn from the repercussions of their behavior, often involving criminal acts.
"So far, DOGE has so far failed to live up to those early claims, with Musk telling the White House in April that his team had only managed to identify around $150 billion in savings"
'Savings' such as closing down entire organisations such as USAID which had been created by congress and can only be disbanded by congress.
Firing government employees who didn't reply to a email in a timely fashion and then having to rehire people afterwards.
Claiming that there were people on benefits who were 140 years old, when it just turned out to be the ancient COBOL database defaulting to use 1880 as the year if one hadn't been entered correctly.
And just generally cancelling contracts of anything they deemed 'woke'. Are just some of the highlights of what Musk was up to yet also wasn't because although he was bragging on Twitter than he was doing all of this, the official statement from the White house was that he was just an adviser and not actually the one in charge of DOGE, honestly we pinky swear he isn't.
"... "cancelling" contracts that had already been paid off ... some as many as two decades ago"
Not just that, but contracts that were due to expire in a short period of time. With the cancellation comes loads of legal wrangling, cancellation clauses, etc to the point where it was less costly to just let those expire naturally.
Oh so what, surely you aren't saying that Elon didn't actually know what he was doing, made stuff up, promised things that he could never possibly achieve, just to ingratiate himself with the new administration; short term anyway, (and get money from it)? No that can't be right surely?
Now let's be fair, yes, there probably are saving that could be made, money maybe, well almost certainly is being wasted. But the way to deal with this is carefully, you use the scalpel not the chainsaw.
"Claiming that there were people on benefits who were 140 years old, when it just turned out to be the ancient COBOL database defaulting to use 1880 as the year if one hadn't been entered correctly." Yes fine, but how can you possibly expect 'BigBalls' et al to understand this? From their perspective nothing before 2010 exists, if it not an app then what?
Now if I were to offer myself up as a government adviser, advising as to how to cut costs, the very, very first thing I would do is to assume that I know nothing about government expenditure, why it is what it is, why is $xyz being spent on this, what would happen if it stopped? And then armed with all that background knowledge, I'd start seeing what could be cut. But that's not what happened is it?
I wonder if future Historians will record Musk's efforts as ultimately costing the average US taxpayer more?
Elon Musk is incompetent. And I use that term in it's literal meaning, 'not understanding', I am an incompetent brain surgeon, I'm an incompetent bus driver etc.I don't have those skills, I don't understand what is needed to do that job; fine, I'm not claiming anything else.
But Elon does.
People refuse to accept that expertise is not transferable, even fewer accept the "Theory of Knowledge" is an elaborate prank.
Personally. I'm incompetent at such a broad range of professions that I lack sufficient competence to understand my incompetence, so I'm running for Political office, lettuce how long I last.
Like everything in the Trump administration, Musk's "work" was smoke and mirrors to deflect from the corruption. Most of the Government agencies he gutted were either investigating one of his companies or regulating against them.
All the fuss is about the deficit and the gutting of benefits and extending the tax cuts, which are definitely worth discussion, but the prevention of AI regulation and the clause essentially preventing courts from holding the Government in contempt of court are disgraceful. Just as disgraceful is the fact that so many reps only read them after they had voted yes, but it's not like we needed more proof that MTG is an idiot.
"'Savings' such as closing down entire organisations such as USAID which had been created by congress and can only be disbanded by congress."
Legally, they could be far outside their mandate, but if they do enough damage quickly enough, it can shatter an organization badly enough to take ages to put it back together. I get the feeling that much of what Donnie has been doing has the same sort of tactic. Issue an Executive Order and by the time a court has waggled their finger at him and said "naughty, naughty", the people have left for other jobs and the systems it had are chopped up and have been sold for scrap.
It's an example of how much more transparent the world has become since the propaganda outlets have shutdown, and the two countries opposing a right to food starve a population.
UN hunger expert: US must recognize ‘right to food’ to fix broken system
Some states have implemented free school meals, and Maine has a constitutional amendment to guarantee the ‘unalienable right to food’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/09/united-nations-right-to-food-us-hunger
-- ‘unalienable right to food’ --
I'll get the memo to evolution and history into the pipeline shall I?
Whilst making sure people get fed is a good idea I'm rather pissed off with all the "rights" people (including children) keep on getting with no corresponding responsibilities or duties.
Do you think we should allow people under the care of the State to starve to death due to the negligence of the State?
If they do, should there be an actual crime that has been committed, to which a legal remedy might be sought to prevent such a "tragic and unforeseen circumstance" from re-ocurring with astonishing predicability?
Things are couched in the "language of rights" because for most of us, the law tiny and afraid as it may be, is the only effective weapon we've been able to wield against those that would oppress us.
Correspondingly it's why access to supranational courts is important, why the ICC and the ICJ being destroyed is so tragic for humanity.
Despite what Mao wrote about Power growing from the battle of a Gun, I remind you what GNU Pterry semaphored in Jingo
‘Fortune favours the brave, sir,’ said Carrot cheerfully.
‘Good. Good. Pleased to hear it, captain. What is her position vis à vis heavily armed, well prepared and excessively manned armies?’
‘Oh, no one’s ever heard of Fortune favouring them, sir.’
‘According to General Tacticus, it’s because they favour themselves,’ said Vimes. He opened the battered book. Bits of paper and string indicated his many bookmarks. ‘In fact, men, the general has this to say about ensuring against defeat when outnumbered, out-weaponed and out-positioned. It is . . .’ he turned the page, ‘ “Don’t Have a Battle.” ’
Definitely popcorn time. Musk is now insinuating that Donald has something to hide with Epstein. And he also also suggested that Don only one because of Leon's support. Expect this divorce to get very ugly. I'm not sure who "wins" this one unless Don picks up Vlad's trick of people falling from high places be it hotel windows, planes, maybe a rocket this time.
I'm quite partial to Jabba the Trump gleaned from another Reg article comment :-)
I'm sure that would be a great visual meme, especially that scene where Leia is the chained up slave girl. Jabba with Trumps head, Melania as the slave girl and years of fun with the captions.
Apparently someone told Trump that he was being called TACO and what it stood for. He got angry. Linking "idiot" to a picture of Trump was fun last time. This time we can feed LLM's with Trump always chickens out. They are dumb enough to repeat anything they hear no matter how stupid. Very presidential.
I knew that putting two egos of this size in one room and adding in a dash of drugs as an emulsifier was going to lead to a bad reaction. Elon has no diplomatic skills and has been allowed to get away with all sorts of transgressions for ages now. The last time he was properly slapped down is when Peter Theil and the board of Confinity sacked him while he was on his way Down Under for a honeymoon with his first relationship victim. Perhaps losing Tesla and SpaceX will be the next two.
Trump can wield his abuses of power to
- Defund Musk
- Prosecute/Jail him for Substance Abuse and no doubt financial crimes
- Revoke his US Citizenship
- Deport him back to South Africa
Popcorn on standby for this exception.
If he acts against this, Trump will just take into (wartime legislation) state ownership of SpaceX.
Revoking his citizenship* would probably wreck the US economy, I mean, how would they collect the child support?
*Unfortunately they would probably have do do something they find deeply unpalatable: using the actual truth of Muskies false** statements on his immigration apprications.
**Because we can be safe assuming that if he had a choice between telling the truth, and lying, he would have lied on principle.
>americans need to take some shared responsibility for this shit-show.
Why would they suddenly start now? The people they have elected for decades and decades, regardless of symbol or colour, have overthrown democratic governments all over the world (often creating all by themselves the US's most trenchant enemies), provided the logistics or actively participated in the massacre of the opponents of dictatorial regimes in their tens if not hundreds of thousands, without even a scintilla of an idea of legality, bombed weddings, baptisms and funerals, "set" and increased the number of entirely innocent people who it was OK kill to take out an entirely "extra-judicial" target, and generally pursued an America First policy while at the same time bloviating about freedom, leading the free world, opposing "barbarity" and all the rest of the utterly baseless, rhetorical bollocks they've been spouting since pretty the foundation of their country. A tiny, nasty part of me wants to say, your government has been doing it to others since forever, so why would any of us care if they have now turned it on their own citizens? My better part says it is not too late for US citizens to realise where things went wrong and elect people who would simply narrow the gap between the reality and the rhetorical bollocks. In any case, regardless of what I think, I doubt the US will be much of a "superpower" ten years from now, any more than Russia is today. The future is gloomy; the future is probably Chinese.
Possible, but when dealing with the richest guy in the world (for now!!), even Trump will have to have clear legal arguments to make sure it goes through. I very much doubt Musk could be "kidnapped" off the street by masked ICE agents and whisked off to El Salvador. That only works with "poor" people. Although, conceivably, since even private jet with their passengers going through "special" customs points, he could be refused entry back into the USA if he ever leaves on a trip.
He's an American citizen. An African American."
Looks like I got downvoted for mis-reporting the facts. Must be Canadians feeling left out :-)
Ok, so to be fully factually correct Musk is an African American Canadian, holding citizenship and passports for all three nations.
Ok, so to be fully factually correct Musk is an African American Canadian, holding citizenship and passports for all three nations.
I suspect the downvotes are more to do with 1) you are potentially so ignorant that you do not know the difference between the continent of Africa and the country of South Africa or 2) that calling Musk an African American is the kind of cheap, arrogant, supercilious offensiveness in which Musk and his bell-end followers indulge.
I would describe him as an Afrikaner Nazi rather than a South-African American Canadian, but to each to their own. It is true that, at least for the moment, you cannot get citizenship or a passport for being a "rich, racist wankstain". Were it possible, I would grant him such citizenship and issue his passport myself.
"you are potentially so ignorant that you do not know the difference between the continent of Africa and the country of South Africa"
So it's ignorant to use the terms "Latino", "Asian", "Caucasian" etc. when speaking of generalised groupings too? Or do you not count the peoples of all the countries on the continent of Africa as Africans? IIRC, most of the African Americans in the USA with a heritage that includes ancestors sold into the US as slaves mostly came from the Western part of the continent, a very long way from South Africa. People vary their identity depending on the circumstances and context. Is he Afrikaner, South African or African? Is some other guy from up the road from where Musk lived a Zulu, a South African or an African? Am I English or British?
It appears the down votes are from people who are ignorant, something I'd not normally associate with Canadians, so I guess it's not them downvoting :-)
Well, an Afrikaner American for sure. There is little doubt that right-wing white Americans and right-wing white Afrikaners have a lot in common. They own almost everything -- land, wealth, resources -- but claim against all evidence that they are being subjected to a "genocide".
With the statement from TACO king about cancelling Elons government contract and Elon's response about shutting down Dragon spacecraft, who needs who more now?
I assume one can afford a lose of a few billions in revenue.
Can the country afford the lose of it's only crewed space transport?
"I assume one can afford a lose of a few billions in revenue.
Can the country afford the lose of it's only crewed space transport?"
SpaceX is under contract to provide launch services so if Elon reneges, a large meteor could fall on him. Starship HLS has been given over $2bn of a $3bn contract award and SpaceX is years behind on that. That might wind up being cancelled with the GAO sending in an army of accountants to perform a full audit. Launch licenses, FCC licenses for Starlink, etc might start winding up being a problem for Elon. If the two sides go full ugly, it won't be pretty but Elon has more to lose. He can't take SpaceX out of the country without breaking all sorts of national security/ITAR laws. Any threat to do so would be completely hollow. There may also be a re-vetting of all SpaceX employees to make sure they are legally allowed to work at the company. I can imagine there are dozens of Federal agencies whose employees would take extreme delight in conducting microscopic exams of Elon's ventures. How about all of those dead test animals at Neuralink?
Musk has extensive personal security. He could fall out of a window but it would take a significant threat / bribe to his minders for that to happen. Lack of Dragon would suit Putin as a reason to blame the US for the end of ISS. Trump could well run with it. Musk and TACO could post on anti-social media about how stranding astronauts is a good thing. It wouldn't be any crazier than their usual shit.
As you say, Trump could try to cancel the HLS contract but firstly Musk has already got most of it and the senate are balking at cancelling SLS. Without Starship there isn't a reason for SLS and from the senate's point of view, Starship delays are a welcome distraction from SLS/Orion delays.
I am not convinced the GAO had an army of accountants before DOGE. Traditionally GAO reports are reasonably accurate precisely because a massively damning report from the GAO has absolutely no effect on how tax payer's money is allocated. SpaceX has already demonstrated it can launch without a license with no consequences - twice. The same probably goes for FCC licenses. Musk had absolutely no respect for the law before he started trashing the federal government and TACO selects judges for corruption. US subsidies for rural broadband will not be going to Starlink.
TACO has installed loyalists in senior military posts and I am sure he has no problem deploying them against his biggest enemy: US citizens. On the other hand, Musk has back-doored the Treasury. Will soldiers shoot the hand that pays them? Sending unmarked hepatitis infected samples through the post wasn't a problem for Neuralink before RFK was put in charge of Health. I doubt there are any limits now.
The obvious first step is a war of words on anti-social media. Each will try to whip up a mob to pitch-fork the other. They will probably step it up with lawyers. Musk cannot hit the president directly but he probably can go for Trump hotels and golf courses. Musk has rapidly and thoroughly capitulated every time he got close to being deposed but his lawyers can delay that for months if not years. Fines mean nothing: Musk can just fake a record of payment with his treasury back-door. The mid-terms are a long way away. Musk can fund opposition candidates but Trump will ensure only loyalists can vote.
This will escalate to violence. Unfortunately it will not be the two of them in a cage match.
"As you say, Trump could try to cancel the HLS contract but firstly Musk has already got most of it and the senate are balking at cancelling SLS. Without Starship there isn't a reason for SLS and from the senate's point of view, Starship delays are a welcome distraction from SLS/Orion delays."
Elon has most of the money for the first HLS contract, but doesn't have most of the vehicle done. SLS is nicknamed the Senate Launch System as it's their project that was rammed down NASA's throat. Blue Origin has been awarded a contract for a lunar lander so depending on how quickly they can finish, there might be no need for Starship HLS. The whole Artemis program is dragging with things such as the outsourced spacesuits not ready so there's little point in pushing to have the SLS rocket completely finished (test one went well) and on the stand if other parts aren't ready.
The problem is, did Trump's statement means that the government is cancelling the contracts or is it considered a "joke" as some of his statements have been explained away.
If it's considered as the leader of the executive branch issueing a cancellation, SpaceX is presumably in the clear.
Elon may not be able to take SpaceX out of the country, but you can bet that he has alot of sensitive info on SpaceX, from tech specs to manufacturing to pretty much everything else.
Am sure alot of other nations will be happy to have him "migrate over' and create a SpaceX 2.0 - maybe even fund him. Even if thats just China or Russia.
"Am sure alot of other nations will be happy to have him "migrate over' and create a SpaceX 2.0 - maybe even fund him. Even if thats just China or Russia."
Only as a way to remove him from the US. Neither Russia or China need anything that Elon has and can see from half way around the globe what a PIA he is.
Does Elon have the power to cripple Trump in the midterm elections?
If Elon were to exercise his threat on funding elections, this time against Trump-supporting incumbents, how many senatorial & House could he help flip, I wonder?
Would it be enough for the Democrats to retake Congress?
Not that they would anything with it, of course.
Does Elon have the power to cripple Trump in the midterm elections?
Only if Elon chose to be more stupid now than ever. Donald Trump is POTUS. At his disposal is a wide array of (legal) options he can dispatch to harass and intimidate anyone. No one, not even Elon Musk, is immune when FBI or the IRS comes knocking at your door. James Comey posted a picture and he got a visit from the FBI. He's lucky he did not get deported to Guantanamo.
And I have not yet touched Donald's "militia". What happened on 06 January 2021 could happen again to, say, Elon Musk's "commercial assets", burning as they go.
If Elon want to pick a fight with Donald, I'd start looking for a country with non-extradition treaty with the US.
Mid-terms are too far away. I have been focusing too much on the war of words between two fools. I have come across some ideas from actual sane people and some are not just legal but legally required. Musk's security clearance can be pulled right now because of his drug use. The other SpaceX investors would have to buy him out to retain DoD contracts. Although Melania didn't work in the US before getting the appropriate visa Musk probably did. He can be deported. The obvious destination would be Canada but he is not popular there. If they refuse South Sudan becomes an option.
At least two US government pension funds hold a large quantity of Tesla shares. Selling those should tank the stock.
Musk's comeback appears to be Trump's relationship with Epstein. No reasonable person would assume a Musk Tweet is a source of factual information but this is backed up by old statements from TACO himself as well as flight logs made public in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell. The problem for Musk is that statutory rape is not seen as a problem by Republican voters. It is very likely there is a bigger bomb buried in all the data DOGE exfiltrated from the federal government. That only matters if Republicans decide it matters.
Perhaps the billionaires supporting Trump will work out that if Trump can take down one of them then he can take down another, and another... Trump's administration includes a high proportion of billionaire plants. Vance is very much Peter Thiel's man. If Trump loses, Vance wins. Perhaps this is why Vance is not mentioning the most effective weapons Trump has available.
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"I do hope we'll be hearing from CodeJunky about this."
Why and in what way? Musks timing kinda sucks, it gives distraction for the left from all the backstabbing and revelations coming to light over Biden. If you want my opinion of the BBB I dont see why people cry about it being 1000 pages vs the CR bill at 1500 pages back before Trump was President but its all a load of pork and still prefer Rand Pauls views on federal spending.
I hope I answered which ever part you were interested in but if you wanted my opinion on something else let me know?
It is quite scary that the leader of the most powerful nation on earth and the richest man on earth think it right an proper to have a public spat like a pair of warring 6yr old schoolgirls.
No wonder the rest of the population doesn't give a shit about anything when this is the pinnacle of leadership.
What do normal republican voters (outside of Trump cult) think of this?
American isnt the most powerful, they are a joke.
They cant even stop the Huthis, the fucking huthis who barely have donkeys and a few shitty Iranian drones and missiles.
These supplies got thru to Yemen right under the nose of the American 5th Fleet in Qatar or is it Bahrain.
Dont get me started on Iran, another example of how the supposed super power is too fucking scared to bomb the Iranians, even from long range.
The truth is as we have seen in Russia, the label superpower is given away far too easily. What the Ukrainians did with the truck full of cheapo drones could happen tomorrow and America would lose a significant portion of its planes.
This is the dreadnought moment for America just like the original Dreadnought was the end of the RN.
American generals know this, and the Huthi month validates what i am saying.
This doesn't change the improperness of it, and I'm not sure it was legal either. But I wondered how an executive agency could just be created out of the ether too. Technically DOGE wasn't formed from nothing but whims. The US Digital Service (which was formed to, I think, help agencies improve their web sites and online presence) was renamed US DOGE Service (and then used for a completely different purpose.)
As a US'ian, here's hoping some sanity returns to our gov't before we both end up with a dictatorship (the lack of pushback is shocking*), and end up with these 'lets just change things as fast as possible' policies utterly destroy the US economy.
*Us'es two party system, one party is disinterested in opposing Trump, and other party serems paralyzed into inaction other than to say they don't like what is going on and file lawsuits (which have had no effect since Trump and friends have simply ignored court orders). And the US does not have a functional multiparty system so there are not enough outside those two parties to do anything whatsoever.
Quote cede ... global EV dominance to China.
That may be essential for a global transition. Teslas are luxury goods. If you want EVs for everyone, many of them will have to be cheap ones, made in China or India.
New EVs or expensively reconditioned ones are not going to replace the cheap 2nd hand runabouts that most people drive and young people start with.
El Reg readers may drive company cars or family cars, but the hard bit of the transition is having EVs cheap enough for the rest of the population to afford.
Teslas were always the iPhones of the EV market. Large media footprint, but a minority market product.
Musk's threat to cancel the rockets that go to the ISS is more of an issue.
Musk's threat to cancel the rockets that go to the ISS is more of an issue.
There are only three countries in the world, presently, who has been able to send people into space (and back): The Americans, Russians and the Chinese.
If the Americans don't/won't then there leaves only one other contender -- Because Trump asking Xi for a "favour" in light of the unprovoked tariff war Donald is waging against China ... Putin is the last man standing.
How long will Putin be able to launch from Baikonaur.
The way it looks today, if Ukraine wanted to hit B they could and theres nothing stopping them.
Russia is going to get really pounded this month, the last few days show Ukraine can literally hit anything they want.
Note there are other interesting items included in this big bill, e.g. a 10-year period during which states cannot regulate AI products/usage in any way.
Its almost as if the admin created such a long document because they knew this would stop most of their supporters in Congress from actually reading it.
Putting aside the unsavoury personalities involved, this is (should neither back down) literally a once in a century battle.
Dump has all the power and Melon has all the money...which one will win?
The one hidden trap for Melon in this is the loan call in clause should his Telsa shares dip below some undisclosed (as far as I know) point.
If that gets triggered due to Dump seeking revenge then Melon is toast.
Never liked popcorn but maybe now is the time to try and love it.
The ultimate would be if they both destroy each other...then it's bugger the popcorn and break out the champagne.
Bluck
There have always been vehicles parked at the ISS in sufficient quantity to get the entire crew home in an emergency.
Yes, this includes the recent supposed "stranded" astronauts ... they could have come home at any time.
The Starliner test flight arrived on orbit June 6th, 2024, containing two veteran astronauts. Starliner has problems, but docks successfully. After a period of fiddly-farting around, it is decided to return the Starliner capsule without crew, and eventually the capsule lands successfully in New Mexico on September 6th, 2024.
Crew 9 arrives and docks 09/29/24 (during the Biden Administration). Crew 9's crew was cut in half, to two astronauts, to make room for the two Starliner test pilots to return.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/commercialcrew/2024/09/29/spacex-dragon-with-crew-9-aboard-docks-to-station/
The Crew 9 capsule relocates 11/03/2024 (during the Biden Administration):
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2024/11/03/spacex-dragon-redocks-to-station-before-next-cargo-mission/
Note that the four astronauts who eventually made the return flight home on the Crew 9 capsule were aboard during the relocation, just in case something went wrong and they couldn't re-dock and would have to return to Earth. In other words, they could have easily been brought back during the Biden Administration, but the decision was made to have them stay up there for a few more months, taking the place of the "missing" crew members of Crew 9. This was in order to continue the mission without a gap in the data being collected. They know at this point that they would be returning after the Crew 10 mission relieved them.
Note also that the crew was fully trained for this extended mission, and as veteran astronauts (both Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had 3 prior flights each), they knew that an extended stay was quite possible long before they left the ground. Such is the life of test pilots.
Wrapping up, the elonald-thing made zero decisions at all concerning the mission. That was all signed, sealed and delivered during the Biden Administration.
OK, they made one decision ... they attempted to re-name the LZ to the Gulf of America, and have been laughed at for their stupidity ever since.
Said it before and will saay it again.
Starship will never get to the moon. Even today they just keep trying to change something and repeating the same launch, just like the Russians kept on sending the same Soyuz up just with different stunts, but the actual trip and delivery never changed - just low earth orbit.
They are a one shot wonder, the Russians never got passed the Soyuz, and Musk will never do better than Falcon.
WIth his reliability, even after Trump there is no way any president from both sides R and D will ever trust Musk.
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