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It makes you exploitable for foreign intelligence, a la Hunter Biden. If Elon even denies it (because lets be honest, everything in this story has multiple ver

by NN88 3y ago

It makes you exploitable for foreign intelligence, a la Hunter Biden. If Elon even denies it (because lets be honest, everything in this story has multiple verification, is repeated from different sources and is consistent with Musk’s own behavior), it creates opportunity for blackmail or worse.

Kirby64 3y ago
How exactly do you blackmail the one of richest men in the world for drug usage? Isn’t frequent and somewhat cavalier drug usage basically a staple of Silicon Valley culture? Not sure how this is blackmail worthy. His behavior is separate, although they may be related.
- NN88 3y ago
  This, literally, happens all the time. Did we forget what Epstein was doing? People are VERY easy to blackmail. Again, if you deny or lie about it, you essentially self-blackmail. Read the article: >"Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program...In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.” Elon is taking federal contractor funds, a very serious deal, and doing cocaine and more with it. He’s a literal national security threat.
  - Kirby64 3y ago
    Drug usage and whatever Epstein was up to are not the same thing. Also, I read the article. Illegal drug usage is a violation of federal law, too, but that doesn’t mean anyone is truly at risk, especially someone like Musk.
    - NN88 3y ago
      Again, if you do something that I know you did, AND YOU LIE ABOUT IT, I can blackmail you over it. People get security clearances pulled over this.
  - defrost 3y ago
    Blackmail's a little tricky when the world is already aware of Musk's drug habits. He doesn't exactly hide this. The greater issue is he's flaky, whimsical, and readily takes cues from rando's trending on twitter. Not the reliable rock steady rational actor one images national security should rest upon.
    - NN88 3y ago
      Elon denied various non-weed drugs before. That itself is a problem. again, ANYONE else doesn’t pass security clearances over this.
      - defrost 3y ago
        I'm not from the US and I'm largely Elon indifferent, that said this is pretty much a US three letter agency problem, especially the DoD. They've entered in contracts with him, they've had the chance to fully read all that is public about Elon in advance, and now they've got the tiger by the tail. I doubt a third party (Russia?) threatening to tell on Elon to the DoD about his cocaine | LSD | mushroom | et al. habits would do squat as far as blackmail goes, they very probably already know, if not they're kind of incompetent. He's delivering private launch facilities and Elon having loose lips is a greater threat than Elon being threatened with being outed about drugs unless he discloses DoD "need to know" secrets he has access to. Ultimately he has value to DoD and they have bank problem; if you owe $100 to the bank, you have a problem, if you owe one billion to a bank, the bank has a problem He's not ANYONE else. ( again, not a fan, not a devoted Elon hater - this is just the pragmatic assessment )
      - rockemsockem 3y ago
        The US government doesn't give a shit about stuff like this when it comes to high profile enough people. As long as you are useful and not a real threat to national security, then they will do what is required.
        NN88 3y ago
        WRONG. The moment Elon denies doing cocaine, he is then subject to blackmail. Everyone on the board knows he does hard drugs, so now he can be exploited. It’s that simple. If I know you’re lying, I can manipulate you.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - Nextgrid 3y ago
    What ultimately matters is the competitiveness of Elon's offering and my understanding is that it's competitive enough that Uncle Sam can't afford to stick to their bullshit ideals and has to compromise.
- simpl09 3y ago
  Government agents and insiders out for his head can lobby to take away his welfare. Also he aligned with the Saudis over the Twitter deal. They seem to be able to kill who they want with zero repercussions. He has a lot of kids. Main Street logic and norms do not apply to the super rich.
- throw310822 3y ago
  > How exactly do you blackmail the one of richest men in the world for drug usage? Exactly like this: > "Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program... In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.” That's basically saying- "you have nice companies here... it would be a pity if they were taken from you or went bankrupt". Elon Musk's drug behaviour (whatever it is) will not change. But people can stop talking about it, if people are happy with what Elon does for them.

by NN88 3y ago

Kirby64 3y ago

How exactly do you blackmail the one of richest men in the world for drug usage? Isn’t frequent and somewhat cavalier drug usage basically a staple of Silicon Valley culture? Not sure how this is blackmail worthy. His behavior is separate, although they may be related.

NN88 3y ago
This, literally, happens all the time. Did we forget what Epstein was doing? People are VERY easy to blackmail. Again, if you deny or lie about it, you essentially self-blackmail. Read the article: >"Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program...In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.” Elon is taking federal contractor funds, a very serious deal, and doing cocaine and more with it. He’s a literal national security threat.
- Kirby64 3y ago
  Drug usage and whatever Epstein was up to are not the same thing. Also, I read the article. Illegal drug usage is a violation of federal law, too, but that doesn’t mean anyone is truly at risk, especially someone like Musk.
  - NN88 3y ago
    Again, if you do something that I know you did, AND YOU LIE ABOUT IT, I can blackmail you over it. People get security clearances pulled over this.
- defrost 3y ago
  Blackmail's a little tricky when the world is already aware of Musk's drug habits. He doesn't exactly hide this. The greater issue is he's flaky, whimsical, and readily takes cues from rando's trending on twitter. Not the reliable rock steady rational actor one images national security should rest upon.
  - NN88 3y ago
    Elon denied various non-weed drugs before. That itself is a problem. again, ANYONE else doesn’t pass security clearances over this.
    - defrost 3y ago
      I'm not from the US and I'm largely Elon indifferent, that said this is pretty much a US three letter agency problem, especially the DoD. They've entered in contracts with him, they've had the chance to fully read all that is public about Elon in advance, and now they've got the tiger by the tail. I doubt a third party (Russia?) threatening to tell on Elon to the DoD about his cocaine | LSD | mushroom | et al. habits would do squat as far as blackmail goes, they very probably already know, if not they're kind of incompetent. He's delivering private launch facilities and Elon having loose lips is a greater threat than Elon being threatened with being outed about drugs unless he discloses DoD "need to know" secrets he has access to. Ultimately he has value to DoD and they have bank problem; if you owe $100 to the bank, you have a problem, if you owe one billion to a bank, the bank has a problem He's not ANYONE else. ( again, not a fan, not a devoted Elon hater - this is just the pragmatic assessment )
    - rockemsockem 3y ago
      The US government doesn't give a shit about stuff like this when it comes to high profile enough people. As long as you are useful and not a real threat to national security, then they will do what is required.
      - NN88 3y ago
        WRONG. The moment Elon denies doing cocaine, he is then subject to blackmail. Everyone on the board knows he does hard drugs, so now he can be exploited. It’s that simple. If I know you’re lying, I can manipulate you.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Nextgrid 3y ago
  What ultimately matters is the competitiveness of Elon's offering and my understanding is that it's competitive enough that Uncle Sam can't afford to stick to their bullshit ideals and has to compromise.
simpl09 3y ago
Government agents and insiders out for his head can lobby to take away his welfare. Also he aligned with the Saudis over the Twitter deal. They seem to be able to kill who they want with zero repercussions. He has a lot of kids. Main Street logic and norms do not apply to the super rich.
throw310822 3y ago
> How exactly do you blackmail the one of richest men in the world for drug usage? Exactly like this: > "Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program... In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.” That's basically saying- "you have nice companies here... it would be a pity if they were taken from you or went bankrupt". Elon Musk's drug behaviour (whatever it is) will not change. But people can stop talking about it, if people are happy with what Elon does for them.