Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX says it can no longer pay for critical Starlink satellite services in Ukraine, asks Pentagon to pick up the tab https://t.co/RgX7ykI852
— Alex Marquardt (@MarquardtA) October 13, 2022
Maybe it’s all an honest misunderstanding! After all, Elon’s had a lot of extraordinary expenses, recently…
I also got a letter Ukraine's commanding general, Valerii Zaluzhniy, sent Musk directly in July asking for 7,700 more Starlink terminals. SpaceX told Zaluzhniy to re-direct the request to DoD. This news comes amid Starlink outages reported along Ukraine's front line.
— Alex Marquardt (@MarquardtA) October 13, 2022
One senior US defense official told me the request has rankled top brass at the Pentagon while SpaceX has "the gall to look like heroes." The SpaceX figures show how much of an int'l collaboration is has been. https://t.co/gPZBgVEGME
— Alex Marquardt (@MarquardtA) October 13, 2022
Wants $100m this year and $400m next to not turn the starlinks off https://t.co/5CqsrKx8iu
— Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) October 14, 2022
Who amongst us hasn't asked for single-digit % of the entire US military budget for a high-intensity war by pricing $60/pm services at $4,500 a month? But in fairness, there *are* no alternatives to it, so long as you don't google and discover there are actually many alternatives
— Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) October 14, 2022
The government paying for it. That’s the difference.
— Kevin M. (@KevinDM) October 14, 2022
Quite possible but the cynic could also argue that this is all a ploy by Musk to completely end Starlink support for Ukraine without actually being the one to do it ("we'd have kept providing the service if the government paid for it").
— John Score (@JScoreForever) October 14, 2022
War for Ukraine Day 232: A Brief Update
Chetan Murthy
Looks like our boy Elon’s runnin’ short on the “readies”.
sab
Last I heard US government was paying for Skylink links to Ukraine so Elon Musk is out of pocket for nothing.
We really should reevaluate his citizenship. One thing to be a bad actor. Another thing to milk our government.
NotMax
“Look what you made me do.”
//
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
I bought an EV about a year ago, I was looking at a Tesla, but the paint was starting to come off of Elon’s reputation. Plus, I really didn’t like how the intermittent wiper was on the screen and not on a stalk on the steering wheel. Man I’m glad that I bought a Bolt instead.
P.S. NotMax! I’m back on island permanent! it would be nice to meet up if you are up for it. I give Watergirl full permissions for her to pass on my e-mail (you know, web scraper bots….)
Cameron
Just one more immigrant seizing the opportunities offered by the Land of Liberty; or, conversely, just one more bullshit artist looking to get paid.
NotMax
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
Welcome back! Sure, a schmooze sounds good. Now that have a vehicle for which I don’t have to cross my fingers and toes as to whether or not it will make any trip my options for driving places are much more varied (except definitely NOT the new Chik-Fil-A).
Did you ship your Bolt from the mainland?
HumboldtBlue
I don’t recall who mentioned Extraordinary Attorney Woo last night, but I just finished the first episode, and what a brilliant character.
NotMax
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
Place has undergone some changes since you left, huh?
Aside from an order of magnitude increase in traffic, can’t quite grasp that it’s mid-October and temperatures have been stuck in the low to mid nineties.
Ken_L
Standard marketing strategy. Hook the customer with a generous special introductory offer, then tell them they can only continue with a full subscription.
The Pentagon will probably have to call a 1800 number to cancel the deal, only to find they can never get through.
BruceFromOhio
“The first hit is free!”
A good dealer knows how to snare repeat business.
Shalimar
If there are alternatives, Ukraine needs to find them. Musk is not on their side and not dependable or trustworthy.
SiubhanDuinne
MagdaInBlack
Kind of makes you wonder just what Putin threatened him with, in that conversation the Muskrat claims didn’t happen.
Chief Oshkosh
Simple solution: Nationalize Starlink, strip Musk of his US citizenship, and dump his ass in District 9. They’ll know what he deserves and what to do to him.
ETA: Sab beat me to it.
brantl
We really ought to chuck that weasel-relation, he’s giving muskrats a bad name.
lowtechcyclist
@Chief Oshkosh:
I have no idea what District 9 is, and I expect stripping someone of their citizenship requires something much more wantonly treasonous than this.
But I’d be all for the U.S. government exercising its powers of eminent domain to take control of Starlink at a valuation set by some impartial board rather than by Muskrat. (ETA: my apologies to muskrats. They aren’t so bad.)
AnonPhenom
Tired: “Government shouldn’t be picking winners and losers”
Wired: “Oligarchs can determine the outcomes of wars based on how profitable they need it to be”
Baud
Maybe Adam should charge the US government $100 million for his daily Ukraine thread.
SFAW
@lowtechcyclist:
I’m guessing it relates to this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_9
lowtechcyclist
@SiubhanDuinne: That change in the poll numbers gives us a fix on how many antiabortion people actually believe it’s murder. Just a few percent, huh? Precious few.
Or maybe they’re so deranged that they believe even a murderer in the Senate is preferable to a Democrat, as long as he votes their way. That would hardly surprise me.
Chief Oshkosh
@lowtechcyclist:
Eh, the D9 ref was to highlight the fantastical nature of the rant. Lost on you real-world realist heathens! ;)
topclimber
@SiubhanDuinne: The one and only WvsW debate is today. Even though Walker insisted on getting the questions in advance, I don’t expect him to convince any undecideds that he is a better choice than Warnock.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Exactly. Can you imagine a candidate saying “I murdered babies in the past but I’ve since reformed” and not losing a ton of votes?
Almost all of them know that abortion is different.
Geminidh
Greece has been steadily bringing renewable energy generation on line. Solar, wind and hydro accounted for 46% of electrical generation the first eight months of this year, up from 41% the same period in 2021.
One day last week must have been very sunny and windy, because Greece’s renewables accounted for 100% of electrical consumption, over at least 5 hours. A waypoint on the path to a carbon neutral economy.
Geminid
@topclimber: The debate will be a good occasion for Warnock to sell himself. He is a very good communicator with decades of public speaking experienece.
I expect that for Walker and his team, this will be an exercise in damage limitation. Walker is still close enough that he could beat Warnock, but he can’t afford to lose more ground.
grumbles
Allow me to repeat my message to the vital Dr. Musk:
Go Galt Already!
Please, I humbly, grovelingly beg of you, withhold your brilliance and wisdom and white-collar-welfare takings from us proles. Show us how we will have to live without your unique gifts. Teach us a lesson.
I’m good with now. Is that good for you?
kindness
Elon is brilliant in his own mind. Where have we seen this before? Oh yea, we’ve seen it in almost every case of narcissistic oligarchs. Now why the business press always take’s the narcissist’s take on matters isn’t too difficult to figure. $$$ rules.
My thinking is Elon could have been an outstanding presence, but instead of sharing the glories of his businesses he made it all about himself. All just to glorify his ego. That doesn’t speak well about his frame of mind or his capabilities. I say he can’t be trusted.
Shalimar
So the US government paid 3-4 times the list cost for the 85% of the terminals they paid for, and now Musk wants them to pay 9 times the per month charge for the service to those terminals. Everything I ever learn about Musk makes me think he’s a horrible human being.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: Is Walker even capable of memorizing answers to, say, 10 different questions?
Surely there will be follow-up questions he can’t have in advance, right?
Can Walker possibly respond to any issues raised by Warnock?
I hope this debate is the dumpster fire for Walker that I hope it will be. There will be a post for the debate.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@NotMax: Yes, I did ship it from the mainland. I’m very happy with it. I even drove it as a Lyft driver over the summer successfully.
Daoud bin Daoud
@lowtechcyclist: I’ve been calling him Muskox, which is unfair to oxen, I know.
El Cruzado
One thing to note is that the $60/month consumer price is, in all likelihood, making Starlink loose gobsmacking amounts of money.
This thing was always going to be a money pit (like Iridium was in its time, even if the costs have gotten cheaper) and the blackmail attempt is likely to also —not exclusively— be a thinkly veiled attempt to keep it afloat for a little while longer.