Elon Musk cashes in $6.9 billion of Tesla stock, just in case

Musk has now sold $15.4 billion worth of TSLA shares since agreeing to buy Twitter.

Read the whole story

 

[Uragan]

WRT Trump, it would be amusing if he were re-elected only to discover that the President can only pardon people for federal crimes, not state ones.

I can wholeheartedly assure you that Trump being re-elected would not be worth any amount of amusement people might get out of him trying to pardon people for state crimes.

 

[Eg07k]

Musk is taking that second route, arguing that Twitter is so plagued by spam bots that his finance people cannot possibly accurately evaluate Twitter's business prospects.

That sounds like something he should have thought about before waiving due diligence.

Yep. Musk isn't the first to show buyer's remorse from impulse buying. Suck it up.

 

[Litazia]

$6.9 billion

*sigh* Fine, you need me to say it?

Nice.

There. Happy, Elon?

I didn’t even pick up on this. Freaking hell, Musk.

 

[Eg07k]

ELON MUSK for President 2024!

Yeah, I can just see it... make offer to buy Greenland! No due diligence.


/s

 

[JohnDeL]

WRT Trump, it would be amusing if he were re-elected only to discover that the President can only pardon people for federal crimes, not state ones.

I can wholeheartedly assure you that Trump being re-elected would not be worth any amount of amusement people might get out of him trying to pardon people for state crimes.

The fun will come when he causes a Constitutional crisis by attempting to pardon himself (as he has threatened to do in the past). As his actions continually prove, other people don't count, just him.

 

[Maxipad]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

The question will be if the senate starts interfering. I can't believe some of the republicans are openly making threats, when they win the midterms (I really hope not)

I don't think even Nixon stooped to such lows during his presidency.

Any regular person downloads any classified doc to their laptop & they get into trouble.
These clowns took them off-site & flushed them down a toilet.

For the sake of the country, it would be good to bar him from ever running for any office again.

The senate doesn't control the DOJ; the executive (Biden) does and he's in power until at least Jan. 6, 2025.

 

[ranthog]

WRT Trump, it would be amusing if he were re-elected only to discover that the President can only pardon people for federal crimes, not state ones.

I can wholeheartedly assure you that Trump being re-elected would not be worth any amount of amusement people might get out of him trying to pardon people for state crimes.

What do you mean? I find standing in the middle of a house fire, trapped and choking to death very amusing. A+ activity.

 

[Mardaneus]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

That 7 million is/was the popular vote difference and most come from populous states that are so solidly democrat that you could let Trump win the popular vote (and still losing in enough states) by just simulating that those state have a low(er) democratic voter turnout. On second thought lets not there would still be litigation ongoing about Trump being president if he'd won the popular but lost the college.
The difference in the number of votes between Biden winning and a 50:50 split of the electoral college was 60k (and recounts in 3 states). The difference between Biden winning and Trump winning around 110k (and recounts in 3 states).

So take a guess why the Republicans do not want to get rid of this way of electing a president.

 

[JerryLove]

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

By that logic, he lost 2016 by 2.9 million votes.

Winning or losing is not determined by popular vote.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

There is nothing in the constitution that disqualifies a felon from being president.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

I think he also wants revenge on his enemies list, a banana republic all his own, and basic immunity from prosecution.

 

[Belisarius]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

Everyone thought it was a sure Hillary win in 2016.
Trump came within 60k votes of winning in 2020.
He's competing against democrats, the pre-eminent losers of winnable elections.
Dems will be running either someone new, or a not-particularly-charismatic 82-year-old who has been presiding over mostly bad news for 2 years so far.

Trump will hopefully be old news (or R's with ambition will beat him in primaries), but it could happen. Or you might get DeSantis, who is Trump but with the actual capabilities of running government.

"mostly bad news"? In the past two weeks of Biden's presidency:

- inflation going down
- job numbers going up
- death of Ayman al-Zawahri
- passage of inflation reduction act (deficit reduction, green tax credits, 15% min tax on corporations, cheap drugs for seniors)
- passage of CHIPs act (American IC factories)
- veteran's health bill

Historians are now saying that Biden is the most productive president in his first two years in office since Clinton and Reagan.

Yeah I've never gotten all the doom and gloom about Biden. He's only been president for a year and a half. The administration has handled the Ukraine situation as well as anyone could, IMO. His speech on guns after Uvalde was quite moving. Yeah the fed was a little slow on inflation but at the same time, inflation was an anticipated outcome of the pandemic stimulus started (rightly) under Trump. Now they are trying to land the plane on price stability, without causing a recession, while maintaining record workforce participation, and at the moment it seems to be working - it's a big ship to steer. Yeah, he's old. So what?

Of course a lot of anti-Biden sentiment is just coming from butthurt fascists, morons, and other deplorables (too soon?). ETA: You also hear it from some progressives who will gladly make the perfect the enemy of the good.

I think that a large number of people made up their minds about Biden before he ever even took the oath of office, and have more-or-less ignored what he's actually done in favor of that narrative.

 

[weilawei]

Of course a lot of anti-Biden sentiment is just coming from butthurt fascists, morons, and other deplorables (too soon?). ETA: You also hear it from some progressives who will gladly make the perfect the enemy of the good.

I'm definitely in the latter camp. I very much don't like Biden, and I absolutely don't agree with him on gun control and cops, but on virtually every other issue, I agree with the Democrats.

The dead ghost of the armed left is spinning in its grave. Marx was adamant that the working class never allow themselves to be disarmed.

I'll vote for him and be very grumbly about it. -__-

 

[JerryLove]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

The question will be if the senate starts interfering. I can't believe some of the republicans are openly making threats, when they win the midterms (I really hope not)

I don't think even Nixon stooped to such lows during his presidency.

Any regular person downloads any classified doc to their laptop & they get into trouble.
These clowns took them off-site & flushed them down a toilet.

For the sake of the country, it would be good to bar him from ever running for any office again.

The senate doesn't control the DOJ; the executive (Biden) does and he's in power until at least Jan. 6, 2025.

Neither is true. The DoJ is run by the Attorney General, who is nominated by the president and approved by the senate (like a SCotUS judge is).

 

[Fnordgasm5]

I assume he has to pay tax on that, right?

Right?

 

[JerryLove]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Which is why the raid at Mar-a-lago is so important. A guilty verdict can ban him from holding office

Does it? I see nothing in the constitution that would prevent it.

 

[Uragan]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Lyndon LaRouche, if he were still alive, would like to have a word with you.

 

[zaghahzag]

What stage of grief are we on now?

Is there a pitchfork stage? I guess that goes into the gardening phase.

 

[Belisarius]

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

The question will be if the senate starts interfering. I can't believe some of the republicans are openly making threats, when they win the midterms (I really hope not)

I don't think even Nixon stooped to such lows during his presidency.

Any regular person downloads any classified doc to their laptop & they get into trouble.
These clowns took them off-site & flushed them down a toilet.

For the sake of the country, it would be good to bar him from ever running for any office again.

The senate doesn't control the DOJ; the executive (Biden) does and he's in power until at least Jan. 6, 2025.

Neither is true. The DoJ is run by the Attorney General, who is nominated by the president and approved by the senate (like a SCotUS judge is).

That's kind of splitting hairs – the DoJ is absolutely part of the Executive Branch and as such is under the oversight of the POTUS. The AG can be fired at the President's pleasure and reports directly to her/him.

The fact that the Senate has to approve a nominee for AG is hardly noteworthy – they have to approve all Cabinet positions, but no one would argue that the Department of Transportation isn't under the jurisdiction of the Executive.

 

[HobbitsHaveThePower]

Excellent interview over at Gizmondo that's starting to gain traction, including this lesser know admission of what Elon has really been up too with "Hyperloop";

I think it also goes back to what I was saying earlier in terms of the distraction that Elon Musk has achieved really effectively. To try to distract from real solutions to the problems that the automobile has created and things that would require less car dependence and to actually offer people alternatives to the car and to instead kind of intervene and say, no, actually, I have these ideas that are going to be even better than that, and we should pursue those instead to try to sap energy from alternatives. So the Hyperloop, for example, he admitted to his biographer that the reason the Hyperloop was announced—even though he had no intention of pursuing it—was to try to disrupt the California high-speed rail project and to get in the way of that actually succeeding.

I would say the Boring Company just kind of slides in there as a way to distract from efforts to improve public transit and have a greater focus on transit as a means of solving these problems with the automobile. Instead of, say, building subway systems he could say, look we’re going to build these really cheap tunnels, you’ll be able to take your car into it. And later he said, why also make it so people who don’t have cars can use it, too. And that promise doesn’t exist any longer either. And that’s really good for him as an automaker.

If the mask hasn't come off yet for the Musk fans, that he's an idiot-savant, obsessed with being the popular kid he never was via second hand meme-lordery, if you can't see that he's a rapacious capitalist, of exactly the world destroying type that his stans claimed he was supposed to save us from... what will it take, folks? The world is already burning; how much do you want to destroy everything you say you value just so you can live vicariously through this pathetic man-child?

Come clean, and wash off the musk.

 

[Maxipad]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

Everyone thought it was a sure Hillary win in 2016.
Trump came within 60k votes of winning in 2020.
He's competing against democrats, the pre-eminent losers of winnable elections.
Dems will be running either someone new, or a not-particularly-charismatic 82-year-old who has been presiding over mostly bad news for 2 years so far.

Trump will hopefully be old news (or R's with ambition will beat him in primaries), but it could happen. Or you might get DeSantis, who is Trump but with the actual capabilities of running government.

"mostly bad news"? In the past two weeks of Biden's presidency:

- inflation going down
- job numbers going up
- death of Ayman al-Zawahri
- passage of inflation reduction act (deficit reduction, green tax credits, 15% min tax on corporations, cheap drugs for seniors)
- passage of CHIPs act (American IC factories)
- veteran's health bill

Historians are now saying that Biden is the most productive president in his first two years in office since Clinton and Reagan.

Yeah I've never gotten all the doom and gloom about Biden. He's only been president for a year and a half. The administration has handled the Ukraine situation as well as anyone could, IMO. His speech on guns after Uvalde was quite moving. Yeah the fed was a little slow on inflation but at the same time, inflation was an anticipated outcome of the pandemic stimulus started (rightly) under Trump. Now they are trying to land the plane on price stability, without causing a recession, while maintaining record workforce participation, and at the moment it seems to be working - it's a big ship to steer. Yeah, he's old. So what?

Of course a lot of anti-Biden sentiment is just coming from butthurt fascists, morons, and other deplorables (too soon?). ETA: You also hear it from some progressives who will gladly make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Well said. You're lucky you got him at the time you did. Things would be sliding hard downhill if Trump had won.

I personally think his maturity and experience are big advantages. A younger politician might've been slower and less decisive and resolute regarding situations like Putin/Ukraine or China/Taiwan.

Plus he's in way better shape than The Former Guy and probably even Elon, judging from the latest Elon in a bathing-suit pics I've seen.

 

[Bongle]

Of course a lot of anti-Biden sentiment is just coming from butthurt fascists, morons, and other deplorables (too soon?). ETA: You also hear it from some progressives who will gladly make the perfect the enemy of the good.

A lot of the unsure-about-Biden sentiment for me is coming from him being less popular than literally any other president at the same point in their 1st term. I'm totally fine with "good", if "good" means keeping DeSantis or Trump out of the presidency in 2024. But he's literally polling worse than Trump did.

Fingers crossed a lot of that is progressives who were pissed off about BBB getting bungled. And might now be happier with the Inflation Reduction Act looking like it'll make it and make a real difference.

 

[Snark218]

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

I think he also wants revenge on his enemies list, a banana republic all his own, and basic immunity from prosecution.

Actually, that's a proposal I'd consider. Can we set him up at the Dictator-and-Generalissimo-for-Life of, like, some godforsaken guano island or something, move Mar a Lago there brick by brick, set him up with unlimited air drops of McDonald's, and forget about him? We could even let Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert and Jim Jordan join him there. And then just blockade the entire island by sea and air forever, and keep a megaton-class strategic nuke aimed there as a fail-safe.

 

[terrydactyl]

Musk is taking that second route, arguing that Twitter is so plagued by spam bots that his finance people cannot possibly accurately evaluate Twitter's business prospects.

That sounds like something he should have thought about before waiving due diligence.

Yep. Musk isn't the first to show buyer's remorse from impulse buying. Suck it up.

I keep think of the trope about a guy, after a three day bender, wakes up in a Las Vegas motel and find himself married to a street walker.

Which may be an insult to street walkers.

 

[Maxipad]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Which is why the raid at Mar-a-lago is so important. A guilty verdict can ban him from holding office

Does it? I see nothing in the constitution that would prevent it.

See several above comments. The kind of crimes Trump has been involved in would, if convicted, bar him from ever holding office. Very likely including the Classified documents fiasco that Garland is clearly going after him for.

You are aware of the search warrant executed by the FBI at Mara Lago yesterday, right? That would require a Criminal Investigation to get a warrant to search for evidence, signed by a judge, indicating a criminal investigation has been underway for some time into this.

 

[OrvGull]

Of course a lot of anti-Biden sentiment is just coming from butthurt fascists, morons, and other deplorables (too soon?). ETA: You also hear it from some progressives who will gladly make the perfect the enemy of the good.

A lot of the unsure-about-Biden sentiment for me is coming from him being less popular than literally any other president at the same point in their 1st term. I'm totally fine with "good", if "good" means keeping DeSantis or Trump out of the presidency in 2024. But he's literally polling worse than Trump did.

Fingers crossed a lot of that is progressives who were pissed off about BBB getting bungled. And might now be happier with the Inflation Reduction Act looking like it'll make it and make a real difference.

Biden's low popularity isn't a mystery. It collapsed the moment the pullout from Afghanistan started. The lesson here is even if people *say* they want you to end a war, they don't really want it. Under no circumstances should a President withdraw from a conflict.

 

[ReaderBot]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

Everyone thought it was a sure Hillary win in 2016.
Trump came within 60k votes of winning in 2020.
He's competing against democrats, the pre-eminent losers of winnable elections.
Dems will be running either someone new, or a not-particularly-charismatic 82-year-old who has been presiding over mostly bad news for 2 years so far.

Trump will hopefully be old news (or R's with ambition will beat him in primaries), but it could happen. Or you might get DeSantis, who is Trump but with the actual capabilities of running government.

All of that is true, but it’s also possible that Dems will pick up a few seats in the Senate and retain the House, making it possible to pass the election reforms that have been rotting on Mcturtle’s desk for 6 years. If that happens, even the GQP has admitted they’ll never win another election.

 

[Maxipad]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Lyndon LaRouche, if he were still alive, would like to have a word with you.

It would definitely bar him from serving. See the above comments regarding the Exclusion Clause.

 

[IncorrigibleTroll]

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Lyndon LaRouche, if he were still alive, would like to have a word with you.

Let's never again mention the notion of ol' Lyndy being alive again, eh? The world has quite enough problems as it is.

Although I guess the larouchies no longer seem as crazy as they used to. They'd probably be moderates by today's standards.

 

[JerryLove]

The senate doesn't control the DOJ; the executive (Biden) does and he's in power until at least Jan. 6, 2025.

Neither is true. The DoJ is run by the Attorney General, who is nominated by the president and approved by the senate (like a SCotUS judge is).

That's kind of splitting hairs – the DoJ is absolutely part of the Executive Branch and as such is under the oversight of the POTUS. The AG can be fired at the President's pleasure and reports directly to her/him.

The fact that the Senate has to approve a nominee for AG is hardly noteworthy – they have to approve all Cabinet positions, but no one would argue that the Department of Transportation isn't under the jurisdiction of the Executive.

Can you show me where I said that the DOJ wasn't part of the executive branch? I don't recall saying that. I said that the DoJ was not run by congress nor the president, but rather the AG.

Yes, the President can fire the AG. Congress and impeach and remove from office a president or SCotUS member. If "is run by" is defined by "can fire the person running", then congress runs both the executive and judicial branches.

As an example proving my point: Do you recall the Muller investigation undertaken by the DoJ against then-president Trump? Do you believe Trump ordered it started or didn't order it ended "because he didn't want to"?

He did, in fact, fire that AG; but the DoJ did its own thing because the president doesn't run the DoJ.

 

[ranthog]

Of course a lot of anti-Biden sentiment is just coming from butthurt fascists, morons, and other deplorables (too soon?). ETA: You also hear it from some progressives who will gladly make the perfect the enemy of the good.

A lot of the unsure-about-Biden sentiment for me is coming from him being less popular than literally any other president at the same point in their 1st term. I'm totally fine with "good", if "good" means keeping DeSantis or Trump out of the presidency in 2024. But he's literally polling worse than Trump did.

Fingers crossed a lot of that is progressives who were pissed off about BBB getting bungled. And might now be happier with the Inflation Reduction Act looking like it'll make it and make a real difference.

Biden's low popularity isn't a mystery. It collapsed the moment the pullout from Afghanistan started. The lesson here is even if people *say* they want you to end a war, they don't really want it. Under no circumstances should a President withdraw from a conflict.

The mess around that would explain a very short term dip.

The real thing is that republicans hate him irrationally. Then you have democrats blaming him for the fact that we don't have enough democrats in congress to pass his agenda. A lot of people are frustrated with this and are unfairly blaming Biden.

Getting at least some action in on climate change and such should help him.

 

[OrvGull]

Although I guess the larouchies no longer seem as crazy as they used to. They'd probably be moderates by today's standards.

Nah, even today you're supposed to cloak antisemitism more carefully than they did.

 

[thekaj]

Was there more than one filing? The linked Form 4 only shows him selling 19,775 shares. If he sold $6.9 billion, that's more like around 8 million shares. I'm assuming that he sold them over multiple days, which would mean multiple Form 4s. Average volume of Tesla shares traded each day is about 30 million. So a dump of 8 million all at once would have been noticed.

Also, this doesn't necessarily indicate he's getting ready to buy Twitter. He could just as easily be liquidating to pay for a settlement where he walks away.

He said it's in case he has to buy Twitter and to prevent a fire sale that would drive the stock price down. Check the Guardian report on it, IIRC.

Ah, I didn't know he was actually quoted on his motivations. Still, he's under no legal requirement to be forced to tell the truth about that to the Guardian. If he's still in settlement negotiations, flat out saying he's cashing out in the event he needs to settle might tick up that price tag a bit.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

Let's hope so!

 

[ReaderBot]

It does make me wonder what Musk would do with near $16B in liquid assets if he doesn't have to buy Twitter. His money has done a lot for the electric car market, space travel, and satellite Internet, and he doesn't seem to be the type to sit idle.

He's already said he'll buy Tesla stock if he doesn't have to buy Twitter. He has options to buy loads of Tesla stock at bargain prices as part of his compensation package.

He also said he wouldn’t sell any more stock. What kind of idiot trusts what Elon Musk says?

 

[Panj0]

Can Ars please post an article about the Trump FBI raid so this discussion can be had there (which is a fun one!).

But... Three pages of comments and barely any Musk related schadenfreude to be consumed!

 

[weilawei]

It does make me wonder what Musk would do with near $16B in liquid assets if he doesn't have to buy Twitter. His money has done a lot for the electric car market, space travel, and satellite Internet, and he doesn't seem to be the type to sit idle.

He's already said he'll buy Tesla stock if he doesn't have to buy Twitter. He has options to buy loads of Tesla stock at bargain prices as part of his compensation package.

He also said he wouldn’t sell any more stock. What kind of idiot trusts what Elon Musk says?

Is this like where Fox News finally admitted to being an entertainment channel, and who would take them seriously anyway?

 

[Maxipad]

The senate doesn't control the DOJ; the executive (Biden) does and he's in power until at least Jan. 6, 2025.

Neither is true. The DoJ is run by the Attorney General, who is nominated by the president and approved by the senate (like a SCotUS judge is).

That's kind of splitting hairs – the DoJ is absolutely part of the Executive Branch and as such is under the oversight of the POTUS. The AG can be fired at the President's pleasure and reports directly to her/him.

The fact that the Senate has to approve a nominee for AG is hardly noteworthy – they have to approve all Cabinet positions, but no one would argue that the Department of Transportation isn't under the jurisdiction of the Executive.

Can you show me where I said that the DOJ wasn't part of the executive branch? I don't recall saying that. I said that the DoJ was not run by congress nor the president, but rather the AG.

Yes, the President can fire the AG. Congress and impeach and remove from office a president or SCotUS member. If "is run by" is defined by "can fire the person running", then congress runs both the executive and judicial branches.

As an example proving my point: Do you recall the Muller investigation undertaken by the DoJ against then-president Trump? Do you believe Trump ordered it started or didn't order it ended "because he didn't want to"?

He did, in fact, fire that AG; but the DoJ did its own thing because the president doesn't run the DoJ.

You're just trolling now.

Move on. Elon sold over $6 billion in Tesla stock. He's waking up to the reality that he's going to get hosed in court. Yay!

 

[thekaj]

Excellent interview over at Gizmondo that's starting to gain traction, including this lesser know admission of what Elon has really been up too with "Hyperloop";

Remember in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the scheme was for the auto companies to buy out the street car companies and then shut them down, so that people would be forced to buy cars?

THAT scheme seems like it was a more efficient way to kill off mass transit in favor of single occupant cars than Musk's Hyperloop and Boring Co. schemes. And it was dreamed up by a cartoon in a Christopher Lloyd mask.

 

[ReaderBot]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Let's hope like hell that yesterday's news of the FBI search portends criminal prosecution as soon as possible.

There are not many things one can receive the federal death penalty for in America. It's pretty well limited to treason (levying actual war is the standard), espionage (depends on the documents, this could be damning if he took foreign money and passed anything they can prove), and a handful of other cases like murdering a court officer or a witness (ordinary murder doesn't even rise to the level of the federal death penalty that I'm aware of).

If he's executed as a foreign agent, he can't run for President.

I know this is just a run-of-the-mill Arshole murder-fanasy, but arresting and executing political opponents is generally viewed poorly in the US (as well as the rest of the civilized world). It probably won't have the positive effect that you're dreaming of.

Despite what Fox News tells you, prosecuting nakedly criminal behavior isn’t “political” just because the accused is a “politician”.

 

[RiptideLA]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

Everyone thought it was a sure Hillary win in 2016.
Trump came within 60k votes of winning in 2020.
He's competing against democrats, the pre-eminent losers of winnable elections.
Dems will be running either someone new, or a not-particularly-charismatic 82-year-old who has been presiding over mostly bad news for 2 years so far.

Trump will hopefully be old news (or R's with ambition will beat him in primaries), but it could happen. Or you might get DeSantis, who is Trump but with the actual capabilities of running government.

Maybe you're not aware of how the Electoral College gives the R's a huge advantage over D's, who routinely pull far more of the popular vote.

Right now there is a 50/50 split in the Senate, but the D's represent about 41.5 million more people.

So when you say "pre-eminent losers of winnable elections" I can only conclude you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[JohnDeL]

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

Though a majority of Republicans may not want him as the candidate, if he does become the candidate they will unite behind him just as they did in 2016 (when he wasn't supposed to be the candidate, either).