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This is naked corruption. It's way worse than just stealing the contract, it essentially means Starlink will get a free antenna on every airplane in the country
by verzali 2y ago
This is naked corruption. It's way worse than just stealing the contract, it essentially means Starlink will get a free antenna on every airplane in the country (at taxpayer expense?) and will then have the airlines as captive customers. Musk is going to make way more than $2bn out of this.
- gruez 2y ago[flagged]
- jjulius 2y ago>He also claimed... You'll forgive a significantly large body of people for not being willing to trust a man who has "also claimed" a ton of things that have turned out to not be true.
- loanedempathy 2y agoAh hell, that predicate applies to every congressperson anybody here has voted for. Let's not pretend like we as a nation suddenly give a shit about integrity, capability, or neutrality.
- hn_acker 2y agoLet's not pretend like every president and congressperson has the same track record for corruption and hypocrisy. I don't need to "suddenly give a shit about integrity, capability, or neutrality" to wonder why a particular president lets a billionare give unhired people access to treasury data, lie about "read-only access", redirect earmarked contracts to the billionaire's companies, and pretend that Elon Musk does not have anything to do with DOGE or firing decisions, or to question why certain legislators are telling citizens that "nobody should bellyache" about the unconstitutional actions committed by DOGE and Elon Musk with Trump's permission.
- inemesitaffia 2y agoThe terminals can be provided free, then you pay for service. It's not unusual for providers to own the CPE.
- taylodl 2y agoThe US government put itself up for sale. Musk bought it. Now he's reaping the rewards of his investment.
- jpster 2y agoStarting to feel like Russia’s fire sale to oligarchs after the fall of the USSR.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- theshrike79 2y agoHe paid $270M or something to be the de-facto President. An excellent deal.
- _t9ow 2y agoDon't forget the 44 billion USD he paid to control one of the world's largest vehicles for dissemination of information, transforming it into a superspreader of disinformation and propaganda.
- theshrike79 2y ago"He". There are Russians and Saudis behind the funding (to no-one's surprise), the same countries that have bankrolled Trump for decades.
- disqard 2y agoDoes it strike anyone else as sadly funny that the country which has meddled in other countries for so long, has finally had a foreign puppet + stooge installed in itself?
- inemesitaffia 2y agoThere's no Russian money, and no new Saudi money there.
- BurningFrog 2y agoWhat does "free antenna" mean here?
- doublerabbit 2y agoObligation to have a starlink terminal on the plane to enable communication with the radio tower. This comes with the added bonus of enabling Elon to sell Starlink internet in-flight. Prescribed users will get access to net and non-users will get forked as per-usual. But with an Elon branded fork instead. I also expect he's eager to make it proprietary. That way it would then force all other airlines that route through the USA to have a Starlink terminals too.
- schmookeeg 2y agoI use a mini in-flight. I welcome anything to bring the price down (currently $250/mo for 50 GB) However, this "fix" not being put out for bid is ridiculous. That's not how competition and the market works. This feels like African-style "whatchu gonna do about it" big man corruption.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- inemesitaffia 2y agoThe story is misleading and the commenter adds extra nonsense.
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- teeray 2y agoNot to mention Starlink is further cemented as critical infrastructure and less liable to be sanctioned by future administrations.
- rasz 2y agoStarlink is also one low earth orbit detonation from ceasing to exist.
- nickthegreek 2y agoIs the only hope to resolve this Verizon fighting this out in court?
- doublerabbit 2y agoYeah, which they won't. They'll settle for half the price and walk away from. Just another asset they don't have to manage. It's not like they're short of money.
- gormandizer 2y agoYeah, unfortunately the list of federal judges skews heavily towards team Trump.
- jaybrendansmith 2y agoI'm gonna say this every time this comes up: These people should be in PRISON. They are criminals. If we care about law and order, we must remove them immediately from office. End of story. I am sick and tired of apologists for these people, if you believe they are conducting themselves legally, you do not believe in our Republic, you are complicit, you are a traitor to our country and to the American project. We will find you with our pitchforks, it is only a matter of time.
- inemesitaffia 2y agoUnfortunately the article (and you additionally) are being misleading about the details. The antenna on every plane is provided by Iridium/Inmarsat and is a totally different thing from this. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43206833 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43206833 Here's this FAA video about the matter. Keyword relevant to Starlink is RTIR https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ang/offices/tc/library/storyboard/detailedwebpages/fens.html https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/an...