WHO REALLY IS PRESIDENT ELON MUSK?

I guess you must know that this is Presidents Day.  Congress in 1971 combined Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays into one holiday for all presidents.  Also a day for shopping.  In fact, did you know that Amazon has a Presidents Day 40% off sale?  If you scroll down, you will see items you don't need for more than 50% off.  Anyway, good time to focus on the current president and his 5150 president, Elon Musk.

The New York Times this morning indicated that President Donald Trump's bulldozing the federal bureaucracy makes Democrats almost envious, but of course brings up the matter of a Constitutional Crisis.

Democrats may not approve of Trump’s targets — foreign aid and consumer protection agencies — or the potential constitutional crisis he initiated when he tried to eliminate them. But some Democrats might envy the speed at which he cut through red tape. After all, liberal lawmakers have for years complained about bureaucracy that moved too slowly and rules that stifled their ambitions.

Also, keep on eye on what the Supreme Court does about the first test of constitutionality, for Trump used emergency powers to seek permission allowing him to proceed.  He was smart to use this particular example, for the odds are that he will be supported by the justices.

The first test of Trump’s power to fire officials has reached the Supreme Court. Lawyers for Trump asked the justices to let him fire a government lawyer who leads a watchdog agency.

TIME released an article entitled, Inside Elon Musk's War on Washington:

• Most don't remember this, but Elon Musk was TIME's Person of the Year in 2021.  How quick we forget.
• About his first confrontation:

T

he standoff at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue was not much of a spectacle. On the first day of February, a handful of men working for Elon Musk had come to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a few blocks from the White House, demanding full access to its headquarters. The agency’s staff refused. No guns were drawn. No punches thrown. Nobody involved the police. But in these early days of the Trump Administration, perhaps no other scene revealed more clearly the forces reshaping America’s government. 

On one side stood an institution with a 64-year history, a $35 billion budget, and a mission enshrined in federal law. On the other stood Musk’s political wrecking crew. They identified themselves as members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a collection of temporary staffers with no charter, no website, and no clear legal authority. Its power derives from Musk, the wealthiest person on the planet, who has been deputized to dismantle vast swaths of the federal bureaucracy—slashing budgets, gutting the civil service, and stripping independent agencies of the ability to impede the President’s objectives.

• My posting of 13November2024, a week after the presidential election, introduced THE NEW DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT  EFFICIENCY.  

Elon Musk was not born in the USA, so he cannot become president of the America.  He can, though, replace Trump as our next dictator.

In one of my postings a decade ago, I compared myself to him (to the right is how he looked then).  In 2015 he was only #100 on the Forbes billionaires list, with a worth only of $13.3 billion.  I also said:

He earned two degrees (physics and economics) from the University of Pennsylvania, and went on to spend a few days as a graduate student at Stanford.  I at least got my chemical engineering degree from that institution.  A point for me, for I also have a PhD, which he doesn't have.

I also wondered how our views could be so different on matters dealing with outer space and electric vehicles.  For example:

About his creation of SpaceX to colonize Mars, that is is so beyond the pale, that I'm totally mystified how an obviously talented mind can be so far into supreme fantasy.  His expectation is that in 2035 there will be thousands of rockets regularly taking a million individuals to Mars.  Amazingly enough, this is not exactly a wishful thought, for he might have as many as 5000 people employed and the company is valued at $12 billion.   Keep in mind that looking back in time a quarter century to the early nineties, nothing particularly monumental has happened in space during this period.  I suspect much of this has to do with the fact that the Soviet Union expired in 1991 and there is no reason anymore to bother with expensive space ventures.  Clearly, like many growing up with the Apollo Project, he has a romantic vision of that vast unknown.  So, someone close to him should mention that the relevance of space evaporated when the Cold War ended.

Further:

Yes, of course, Humanity will someday investigate our Galaxy and beyond.  But with all the priorities facing Planet Earth and Humanity today, any serious attempt at exploration must be at least a millennium away.  It takes light, traveling at 186 miles/second--that's 7.5 times around the world--100,000 years just to cross our Milky Way Galaxy. The modern form of us, Homo sapiens, only appeared 100,000 years ago.

Also:

Thus, Elon Musk is rich and famous.  People admire his success.  His efforts to develop cleaner transport and storage options are commendable, in fact, laudatory.  But I suggest that he could have chosen a more progressive path.  For one, a colony on Mars is way too premature.  He is too far ahead of his time on this adventure.  I can think blue sky because I am a professor.  But he is an entrepreneur.  The next economy frontier is not outer space, but the ocean around us.

I then intimated that he should instead consider a legacy in a more doable task, the Blue Revolution.  Stupid of me to say what I did if I wanted to gain his support, but this whole comparison was a tongue-in-cheek exercise, more for humor than anything else.  I've done this in the past with significantly notable celebrities, like Leonardo da Vinci.

So back to today, he is now the richhest person in the world, worth $428 billion, and expected to become the first trillionaire.

So who really is Elon Musk?

• Was born to an affluent South African family in 1971. 
• Father had many talents:  an engineer, politician, owner of emerald mines, etc., and was anti-apartheid, meaning wanted equality for all.
• Was a good but unexceptional student.

• 
  Became estranged with his father, and to avoid military service, like Trump, as his mother was from Canada, Musk moved to that country in 1989 at the age of 18.  Worked at odd jobs.
• Then went to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1995 from Wharton School, like Trump.

• 
  Was accepted to graduate school at Stanford University, but did not enroll.  Instead, he decided to join the internet boom.  With his brother Kimbal and friend, in Palo Alto they founded a web software company Zip2 in 1995.
• Sold out his shares to Compaq in 1999 for $22 millionaire.

• 
  In  1999 co-founded X.com, one of the first federally insured online banks.  Got 200,000 to join his service.
• Merged with a Peter Thiel (he is the one who bankrolled Veep JD Vance) company, focusing on PayPal in 2001, which was acquired by eBAY, for which Musk got $175.8 million.

• 
  In 2001 he became involved with the Mars Society, and made two unsuccessful trips to Moscow to purchase intercontinental ballistic missiles.  
• He thus decided to form a company to build affordable rockets, founding SpaceX in 2002.

• 
  In 2006 their Falcon rocket failed to reach orbit.
• After two more failures, Musk almost went bankrupt.
• But success in 2008, and SpaceX received a $1.6 BILLION NASA contract involving his Dragon spacecraft and the International Space Station (ISS).

• 
  In 2012, with the Space Shuttle now retired, his Dragon vehicle docked with the ISS, a first for a commercial spacecraft.
• In 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX a nearly billion dollar contract to deorbit the ISS at the end of its lifespan.

• 
  In 2015, SpaceX developed the Starlink constellation to provide satellite internet access, said to be worth $10 billion in 2020.
• In parallel, Tesla Motors was incorporated in 2003, with his $6.35 million involvement making him the majority shareholder, making him chairman of the board.

• 
  Tesla delivered the Roadster, an electric sports car, in 2008, the first to ouse lithium-ion batteries.
• Tesla entered the S&P 500 in 2010.
• Reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion in 2021.

• 
  Also in parallel, founded SolarCity in 2006, which in 2013 became the second largest provider of solar power systems in the U.S.  Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016 and into Tesla Energy.
• Musk co-founded Open AI at the end of 2015, a not for profit AI research company.
• Pledged $1 billion, but only provided $50 billion.
• Left the board in 2018.
• 
  In 2016 founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup, with an investment of $100 million.
• The company aims to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence.
• Also to develop devices to treat spinal cord injuries.
• Human trials began in 2023.
• 
  Most the work went into animal testing, and a video was released of a Macaque playing video game Pong via a Neurlink implant.  Monkeys died from this project which led to claims of animal cruelty.

• 
  Founded the Boring Company in 2017 to construct tunnels for high occupancy vehicles to travel at 150 miles/hour.
• Built a 30-foot diameter, 2 mile long tunnel in 2018, an another beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center in 2021.
• Proposed Hyperloop, a high-speed commuter and freight transport system at 750 MPH to take people from Los Angeles to San Francisco, a distance of 380 miles, in 30 minutes for $6 billion.  But the company went bankrupt in 2023.
• Focus seems now to be Las Vegas and Texas.  Watch this video.
• 
  Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and renamed it X.  Fired top Twitter executives, so he is experienced on this act.  I'm confused about X and what is happening.  Certainly, users have declined.

• 
  Launched xAI in 2023 to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
• About his politics, Musk supported Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.  

• 
  Switched to Donald Trump in 2024.
• Considers himself to be a political moderate, whose views switched to more right wing.
• Others say his is libertarian and far-right, receiving criticism from European leaders.

• 
  Has a history of promoting conspiracy theories.
• Critical of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip.
• Says he has close relationship with the Chinese government, and seems to support China absorbing Taiwan as the best solution to peace.
• Finally, his personal life.
• Became a U.S. citizen in 2002.
• Now lives in Starbase, Texas.
• Hosted Saturday Night Live in 2021, and stated that he has Asperger syndrome, the same autism ailment as Greta Thunberg.
• 
  Now and then takes depression pills.
• Takes LSD, cocaine and other drugs recreationally.
• Sings rap.  Hear his tribute to a gorilla.  He wrote and created Don't Doubt Your Vibe.

• 
  Has fathered at least 12 children, six with his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, who he married in 2000 and divorced in 2008.  One of his children with her is a trans woman.
• Married English actress Talulah Riley in 2010, but got divorced in 2012, remarrying her in 2013, but filed again for divorce in 2014, finalizing this second divorce in 2016.
• 
  Dated entertainer Grimes (real name Claire Elise Boucher, now 36) from 2018, and they now have three children.  The eldest is the one that seems to always accompany Musk.  Name?  X Æ A-Xii, known as X.

• 
  He also has three children with Shivon Zilis, director of operations at Neuralink.
• Has been pursuing Amber Heard since 2012.
• There is now a mysterious 13th child, a 26-year old MAGA influencer Ashley St Clair, just informed the media that she and Mr. Musk have a 5-month-old child, but she has had to sign NDAs and keep quiet.

I close with highlights of the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special from last night, plus a commercial parody segment.  As you might know, MsMojo has recently drawn together SNL parodies, and here are 30 from last year.  The first one is only 5 minutes long, while the second will run for more half an hour.

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