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Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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When they say the type of future they want, believe them Someone tweeting under the name of “Lyndon Baines Johnson”, a supporter of Kamala Harris, explains how he would like a Harris administration to deal with technological innovators:
Lyndon Baines Johnson
@lyndonbajohnson
If Harris wins, fairly high on the agenda should be finding new federal contractors so that SpaceX and Starlink are shown the door. -OS
8:05 PM · Nov 3, 2024
For all his grievous faults, the actual LBJ would have known how to describe that proposal in a few choice words. He wanted the Apollo program to succeed.
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If Elon Musk is shown the door in the US, any other (reasonably) free country should welcome him.
Should. Which is not to say that they would.
Only to add that, if anyone does something this stupid, Musk should respond by completely destroying all of the vehicles, all the installations, and all of the drawings, and sow the remains with salt.
It’s no secret that I consider most space adventures a more-or-less complete waste of money, and Musk’s stated target of colonizing Mars as nothing more than irrational foolishness – but I can’t get away from the fact that his organization has achieved more in two or three years than NASA (Never A Straight Answer 🙂) could do in 50.
llater,
llamas
I don’t think that would happen, TBH they need him too much. However, what they can do is greatly hinder his success — in fact the Biden admin has already been doing that. I think partly because of general bureaucratic incompetence and sclerosis. But also partly due to animus (perhaps especially so with decisions over starlink and the rural bandwidth initiative.)[*]
However, what I definitely think they will do is go after Twitter/X. Free speech is the deepest enemy of all politicians and government officials. They probably won’t have congress, so I fully expect lawsuits and executive orders, FBI investigations, private lawsuits and the constant attempts by Washington spooks to get some levarat. All to try to shut that thing down, much as they do in Turkmenistan, China and Ukraine. Musk has expressed some concern that the DoJ will come after him criminally, and he might not be wrong.
However, in case anyone is unclear, what we REALLY need to worry about is the Republicans rounding up their enemies and putting them in jail. We still haven’t heard from all the Hillary Clinton operatives from 2016 that Trump rounded up and put in a secret detention center.
[*] FWIW, when you think about what Starlink could do were it not so limited by the FCC — imagine all those thousands of satellites with GPS transmitters and real time video of the whole surface of the earth. This would hardly require any extra hardware on the satellites, and would be massively valuable.
“It’s no secret that I consider most space adventures a more-or-less complete waste of money,”
I would have agreed with this almost totally until Musk. It is not just the case that if Starship works as planned and hacks down the cost to LEO by an order of magnitude or two (or three?) it is proof of concept. Colombus might have been first* but that is not as important as him not being the last.
*Yeah, I know. Vinland and all that.
“If Harris wins, fairly high on the agenda should be finding new federal contractors so that SpaceX and Starlink are shown the door.”
What the statists most deplore is any attempt to get out into space that they don’t control. Because space is outside the national writ of course and belongs to no one.
Trying to picture, if it all goes to hell, if Musk could go out as a Hank Reardon, or as a Ragnar Danneskjold.
What the statists most deplore is any attempt to do anything they don’t control. Tutto Stato and all that.
Anyone else amused by where this ersatz LBJ chose to post his message?
Sure, but The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress…and Mars even more so.
I don’t think the analogy of Mars colonisation is Colombus in 1492, I suspect a better analogy is the Mayflower in 1620.
LBJ – President Johnson.
Endless wars overseas – but fought to NOT win, indeed “victory” was a forbidden word (and a forbidden concept).
And endless new Welfare State programs – of the sort devised by the husband and wife “Cloward and Piven” team.
Yes this is what K. Harris stands for – endless war without victory and endless Welfare State programs at home – for tens of millions of illegal immigrants.
And “the law” used to crush Freedom of Speech and imprison political opponents.
As many people have suggested to Elon Musk – if President Trump is declared the loser of the election then Mr Musk must leave the United States and go to somewhere without an extradition treaty with it, and Elon Musk must do this AT ONCE – he must not delay.
As the Orwellian named “Justice” Department will be coming for Elon Musk – he knows this. Mr Musk must not wait too long – he must not be caught as the founder of Telegram was caught by the institutionally corrupt regime in France.
If President Trump is declared the loser of the election then those of his supporters with the financial means to do so must leave the United States as quickly has possible, and President Trump and his family would do well to do the same (whilst they still can).
The regime may well be coming for them.