Montana Skeptic
@montanaskeptic
Unloved by Elon (who once tried to get me fired), disgusted at "conservatives" who turned out to be Trump cultists, hoping Democrats will get healthier, and wishing Congress would do its damned job. I write at montanaskeptic.substack.com
1/ Here's my evening debrief from KingCambo. Just can't believe this Substack is free.
1/ @robinwigglesworth.ft.com's favorite comment to an @alphaville.ft.com post:
2/ A comment from @jaberwock22.bsky.social to my most recent Substack post spelled this out, with some extra detail:
1/ Yes, Adam Jonas actually wrote this in the Morgan Stanley analysis with a mid-case $300 price target:
1/ Kicking myself for failing to mention what @keubiko.bsky.social remembered about how Tesla secured its inclusion in the S&P 500 (I've edited the Substack Post to include the comment in the text):
Visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park today. Several of the entry cards for sale featured a photo of... well, you know who. No other sitting president would ever had so little respect for this country to have done such a thing. What a needy, insecure, narcissistic jackass.
1/ It took too damn long for @wsj to stop trying to pretend Donald Trump might find a better self somewhere, but it's finally happened:
1/ I won't say it's 100% impossible, but it is 99.44% impossible that SpaceX will succeed in its Artemis III (never mind IV) obligations.
You're tired of hearing it from me, but the SpaceX IPO is all about gathering cash for Musk's (doomed) AI ambitions, spurred by his detestation of Altman. Tesla is helping out with cash, but it doesn't have nearly enough, so index fund investors must be raped as well. This, from the S-1, is telling:
1/ In its very first Risk Factor, SpaceX outlines the dangers to Starlink if it falls behind in launch capabilities or cadence, but fails to mention how such failure will completely undermine its Artemis obligations.
Iran has shown us (once again) the real use case for crypto: criminals & rogue states. (No wonder Trump also embraces it...) cc: @cascoinfoundation.org @bft.wtf
Per @theinformation.com, this guy has now said adios to Elon. The xAI turnover is just ferocious. It's impossible for a competent person with integrity to work for a narcissist egomaniac like Musk.
1/ Try not to act shocked when we tell you this, but $TSLA's expansion of robotaxis to Houston & Dallas is tiny in scale, still in beta, and deeply flawed. #TeslaTakedown
Reminder: many of the largest, most prestigious financial institutions are lining up to help this guy engineer the greatest wealth transfer in history (the SpaceX IPO):
1/ Peggy Noonan hits the right notes in discussing the greatness of Ted Turner. These paragraphs begin with a reference to Obama's much-maligned "You didn't build that" claim:
1/ Yeah, @fredlambert.bsky.social took forever to wake up, but boy is he bringing it:
1/ Jason Zweig, the wise elder of financial advice @wsj.com, with a powerful message about how corruption in the Age of Trump & Musk (he mentions neither of their names, but doesn't need to) poses an enormous risk to our social & financial fabric:
1/ Over @thedispatchmedia.bsky.social, Nick Catoggio sees the writing on the wall for Secretary of Defense (oh, excuse me, Secretary of War) Pete Hegseth. Among other reasons: Kid Rock helicopter antics, Vance's relationship with Dan Driscoll, gross incompetence:
1/ So, here’s what I think happened. When I was Yale Law, being a member of TFS mad you an alien among a hostile people. Our mission was to invite debate and promote originalism as a way of interpreting the Constitution.
Trump has attacked @wsj.com for opining that his declaration of victory was premature. WSJ is having none of it. www.wsj.com/opinion/iran...
1/ Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 is the greatest protection investors have for securities fraud in an IPO. @alphaville.ft.com has a superb piece on how SpaceX hopes to strip this protection from retail investors.
1/ Kevin D. Williamson, brilliant on so many things, opens his essay in praise of SCOTUS with characteristic insight (btw, I see plenty of the "legitimacy watch" nonsense from my "friends on the left" at this site):
Gary Kasparov has the right read on this over at that other place. @jessicabriedl.bsky.social, too: "f you rely on the Twitter accounts below for politics or news, it is overwhelmingly likely that you just come away more misinformed, angry, conspiratorial, and, well, stupid."
1/ Easy to forget Cuba, but @davidkotok.bsky.social, who has visited several times & encountered its leaders, has it in mind. From his latest piece (and, fwiw, my strong guess is that he dislikes Trump):