Hacker News Reader

Comment by moosedman | Hacker News Reader

Treason season started early.

Under US law, "treason" means either 1) trying to overthrow the government or 2) providing "aid and comfort" to enemies in war. The last time I checked, the US has not declared war with Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_laws_in_the_United_Sta...

I think the Logan act is probably more apt? It came up a year ago when this was originally reported https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-21/musk-told...

War or not, he is aiding and comforting hostile nations.

Allegedly.

Are you actually unaware he is getting contracts from DOD?

Has anyone litigated whether a war needs to be declared to be a war? Not treating war as a technicality is one reason judges exist.

It’s irrational to demand that. Treason can obviously preclude war. In practice, seditious conspiracy charges are far more common. There was a slave revolt in the 1800s after which charges of treason didn’t stick because resisting slavery is not war against the nation.

Many treason cases do not depend on Congress declaring war:

Slave rebellions

Puerto-Rican separatists

American citizens implicated in terrorism

The Congress has never even come close to declaring war in any of these circumstances.

We're well on our way towards war, but also I did add the word early.

No one said anything about US law specifically (which wouldn't apply to Musk anyway in this regard), or any kind of law.

One can also read it as: "moral treason", betrayal, etc. Not for talking with the guy, per se. But at the moment, if anyone is talking with Putin, it should be for one purpose only: to end the war -- and with that explicit framework in mind. Not business as usual of any kind.

And we shouldn't be expected to believe that they talked about “space as well as current and future technologies" in any case.

There is a reason treason is both prominent is US law: it's in the constitution, and it is hard to convict because the definition is very narrow and requires specific evidence. The men at the center of our revolution were labelled traitors by the British.

Though Elon is the kind of overachiever to possibly surmount a high bar, FARA might be a better bet.

On the contrary, in this very comment section posters have already called for Musk to be put on trial and possibly executed for treason. That doesn't sound very metaphorical...

I see one such comment, but either way: I meant of course "no one" not posting the type of comment you'd be likely to ignore anyway.

Musk is speaking to people who facilitated attacks on U.S. warships. He should not have a security clearance if this is true. If that means him giving up control at SpaceX, so be it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com