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USAID was investigating its public-private partnership between Starlink-Ukraine
- inverted_flag 2y ago> Our objectives are to determine how (1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and (2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals. That's not really an investigation of Starlink but of the use of Starlink terminals.
- basementcat 2y agoPerhaps if USAID had purchased more Starlinks and/or had a contract with Palantir, then maybe the President's Malaria Initiative might be saved.
- rasz 2y agoThere are over 40K officially donated (excludes soldier/individual purchases) terminals in Ukraine, Poland bought >12K units, USAID ~5K. Poland covers subscription on _all of them_.
- hnburnsy 2y ago>That's not really an investigation of Starlink but of the use of Starlink terminals. That won't matter, just like the falsehood that Musk deleted the IRS Direct File program.
- iNic 2y agoThis is an interesting comment, because it won't matter to who? I can't tell if you are pro or anti Musk. Are you saying that Musk misinterpreted the investigation and so shut down Starlink, or that anti-Musk people will misinterpret this news. Also, when you reference the "falsehood that Musk deleted the IRS Direct File program", it is also unclear who's falsehood it is. Musk was the one who claimed he "deleted" it. Then various people freaked out. But I think it then caught on more on the anti-Musk side. And, then seemingly nothing happened. We live in weird times.
- whimsicalism 2y agoi have been surprised at the degree to which the government recently appears to use its discretion to punish political opponents. i am no Musk fan, but I do not think the prior govt was justified in putting their thumbs on the political scales in the way they did. perhaps this is nothing new, Trump does it all the time and Bush did as well (scooter libby case)... but still seems worth calling out. similar to how california is proposing an ev credit that would explicitly exclude tesla, they have some parallel-invented justification for it but it is clear what the real reasons are
- toomuchtodo 2y agoMusk has shown himself to be a manipulative, vindictive, controlling, untrustworthy human. All options available to governing systems should be used to keep him in check, even if destruction of his wealth is required (California EV credit Tesla exclusion, etc). There is nothing to win by playing "fair" or "by the rules" with a bully who doesn't care about the rules.
- whimsicalism 2y agoI do not think the government should target specific people for their political beliefs, otherwise how can people fairly determine their own beliefs and vote for them
- toomuchtodo 2y agoIllegal acts and a robust, documented history of lies are not political beliefs. They are facts. You are conflating persecution with accountability. His politics are his beliefs, his actions are what he does, what the facts are, and what the consequences are based on for said actions and facts. For sure, for someone who is never held accountable, accountability is tyranny.
- whimsicalism 2y agoIn what way is an exclusion from an EV credit the result of some neutral proceeding of law or prosecution? frankly, i am not interested in a government that punishes 'lies' in this way. the government should not be in the business of making people "accountable" for their bad politics. accountability for illegal actions proceeds through the courts. we are not a banana republic, although i increasingly worry
- nico 2y agoMaybe this is one of the reasons he said he would go to jail if Trump didn’t win? (As well as all the elections shenanigans)