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Another win for Musk's free speech absolutism! Extremely hardcore!

> the fact that any mainstream persona intentionally did a «Nazi» thing

Here's video of him doing it intentionally. Twice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smQNNo2a9xc

> It's wild how "Elon did a Nazi salute" is now taken as an unquestioned truth.

He did it deliberately, he did it with gusto, and he did it twice just to make sure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smQNNo2a9xc

These guys loved it: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-mus...

And so does this guy: https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/1i68puj/have_we_l...

They bought into the lie that their car would be an "appreciating asset":

https://www.businessinsider.com/musks-claim-teslas-appreciat...

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-claim-that-tesla-c...

> How can Tesla advertise a “more accurate” number if they are required by regulation to use EPA estimate?

By also providing the worst case scenario numbers in addition to the EPA numbers. Tesla could simply do a highway range test at 70mph, ideally in Winter:

https://insideevs.com/reviews/443791/ev-range-test-results/

They could also show towing range:

https://insideevs.com/news/713690/tesla-cybertruck-range-dro...

There's nothing stopping Tesla showing these things.

The one time Tesla did a towing demonstration those numbers turned out to be lies. Tesla never ran the quarter mile that they claimed to. When even your engineers lack basic honesty you've got a sick company culture:

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/tesla-cybertruck-beast-vs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J3H8--CQRE

https://x.com/wmorrill3/status/1746266437088645551

Sure. Musk is cool: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy87vg38dnpo

He's very stable: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/03/08/elon-mus...

You should probably read the article I linked to in which threats are made to civil servants.

Certainly dang believes Hacker News is a "swamp of amnesia".

dang is wrong.

Many "peace deals" have been signed and Russia has broken them all.

Russia doesn't need to sign anything. Russia can simply do the right thing and get out of Ukraine.

Then Russia gets to pay reparations and hand over war criminals for trial.

> I only see war mongers commenting here

There's a fast way to end the war. The war can end tomorrow. All Russia needs to do is get out of Ukraine. All of it.

Easy to do, simple to achieve. No more Russians need to die.

Sure. "Stable": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Group_rebellion

Doesn't seem to be. SpaceX is issuing direct threats to civil servants:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/faa-worker...

It's grubby.

> There's nothing to be gained by allowing one corrupt regime to battle another corrupt regime

This is the least ambiguous war you're ever likely to see. There is clear right and there is clear wrong.

Ukraine is clearly in the right. Russia is clearly in the wrong.

Submission to the aggression of an authoritarian regime that has invaded your nation is the dumbest, most nihilistic, most futureless choice available.

It's not rational to choose it.

> Why do you suggest a side that is undoubtedly winning forget about their hundreds of thousands dead and simply withdraw?

Why do you suggest that a side that has valiantly resisted the invader forget about their hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded and simply submit?

Putin thinks Ukraine is not a real country. Putin thinks Ukrainians are not a real people. Putin thought he could flip Ukraine in three days.

Ukraine has spent three years explaining to him that he is wrong.

Russian apathy and nihilism won't ever change that.

> "Whatever the cost" could not be more clear.

There's a simple solution to that. The war can end tomorrow. All Russia needs to do is get out of Ukraine. All of it.

Simple to do, easy to achieve. No more Russians need to die.

What cost is there to Russia to get out of Ukraine but the bruising of Putin's ego? That is a small price to pay.

It is the Putinization of America: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/02/pu...

And that's sure working for Putin: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/putin-russ...

Who do you think is setting foreign policy? How sure are you that "Trump is going to be a President only for a few years"? Even if elections proceed as normal, how sure are you that JD Vance, for example, won't win the next term? You don't think JD Vance's foreign policy would be different, do you?

This is precisely this thread.

> you are talking about domestic politics.

It turns out it matters who runs the country and how they run it.

A straightforward solution is it to pay for it.

> And Trump is going to be a President only for a few years.

Except people are going silent, cowed into submission by threats of violence: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-democra...

They're "scared shitless": https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-congress-politic...

And this has been going on for a while: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/mitt-ro...

Trump's already tried to overthrow one election and he's already talking about trying to get a third term.

He may even try to confect an excuse to stop midterm elections. I wouldn't put it past him.

Like what? What's an example?

They'll also need to get control of the software stacks of any American weapons systems and fighter jets they have.

What does that mean?

It's been going on for a while. Congressmen and senators have allowed threats of violence to control how they vote:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/mitt-ro...

To quote the article, "Some of the reluctance to hold Trump accountable was a function of the same old perverse political incentives—elected Republicans feared a political backlash from their base. But after January 6, a new, more existential brand of cowardice had emerged. One Republican congressman confided to Romney that he wanted to vote for Trump’s second impeachment, but chose not to out of fear for his family’s safety. The congressman reasoned that Trump would be impeached by House Democrats with or without him—why put his wife and children at risk if it wouldn’t change the outcome? Later, during the Senate trial, Romney heard the same calculation while talking with a small group of Republican colleagues. When one senator, a member of leadership, said he was leaning toward voting to convict, the others urged him to reconsider. You can’t do that, Romney recalled someone saying. Think of your personal safety, said another. Think of your children. The senator eventually decided they were right."

That is not a well functioning democracy.

> Why is this news?

Because Tesla used to claim that they would own one fifth of global passenger car sales by 2030:

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-likely-20-mi...

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-20-million-c...

This just keeps getting grubbier.

The US is indeed now a Russian ally.

Taiwan similarly can't trust Starlink. Putin, on behalf of China, asked Musk to not activate Starlink over Taiwan:

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-putin-secret-conversat...

Taiwan's space agency is developing a domestic system:

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2025/02/27/...

You can get extended security updates for Windows 10 for another 3 years:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended...

And then they will say, "You see? Government doesn't work. We must privatize this service."

And they will hand that contract to their friends.

Kleptocracy 101. Reduce government capacity and make sure government spending is funneled to the companies of me and my friends.

The problem with making government profitable for oligarchs is that they never want to relinquish control of it. The last thing they want are pesky elections that ruin everything.