Fuck unreconstructed Afrikaner Space Nazi Elmo Muck all to hell. This news really makes me want to take that fake Aspergian and stuff him in one of his tinny toys and then stick it on one of his toy rockets and fire the worthless motherfucker into the sun.
From Alternet:
Elon Musk — who has $260 billion — will be charging Helene victims $400 for internet service
Billionaire Elon Musk – the richest man in the world — recently announced Hurricane Helene victims would get free internet service through his company Starlink. But there's one major catch: Come November, they'll have to pay.
Tech publication the Register reported Tuesday that Starlink's offer of free satellite-powered internet service to areas impacted by Helene has a hefty price tag. While the normal residential subscription of $120/month has been waived for the first 30 days of service, anyone in the affected area hoping to use Starlink to get online and connect with resources will still have to pay for the hardware to actually set up an internet connection. When taking into account the cost of shipping along with taxes, hurricane victims can expect to pay roughly $400.
"Read further into the details on Starlink's help page for Hurricane Helene, and one might think it's a ploy to bag new customers in far-flung places," the Register's Brandon Vigliarolo wrote.
The site posted a YouTube video showing what the Starlink sign-up page looks like for residents in the areas Musk singled out for "free" internet service. While there is a second "Helene relief" subscription option for $0 next to the $120/month "Residential" subscription, the final total comes out to $393.91 when factoring in the $349 hardware, the $20 shipping and handling fee and a tax of $24.91.
Boone, North Carolina resident Kinney Baughman — described by the Register as a local philosophy professor and IT pro — wrote in a Facebook group that Musk's offer of a 30-day free Starlink trial is "a crafty, bait and switch wolf in sheep's clothing scam meant to take advantage of people instead of helping them." He wryly noted that "once our [internet] service is restored, Starlink will be irrelevant, the device becoming a $400 door-stop."
Baughman told the Register that the offer of free Starlink service is even less appealing when considering that the hardware takes two to three weeks to deliver, and that delivery assumes roads will be clear. He also pointed out that the device is still useless if residents still don't have electricity.
"Assuming someone can get over the one or two, if not more, bridges that are down and physically get their hands on the device, you still need electricity to run the thing," Baughman said. "Thousands of people are out of power still and hundreds if not thousands of those don't have a generator."
A North Carolina resident coping with the devastation of Hurricane Helene paying roughly $400 to set up internet service is likely too large of a cost for many victims, who have lost their homes, businesses, vehicles and livelihoods in the wake of the storm. Musk's apparent refusal to provide the hardware free of charge is even more noteworthy given his massive net worth of $260 billion, according to Forbes.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO may not be providing free internet to Helene victims, but he is freely donating tens of millions of dollars to far-right politicians and causes. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Musk has given massive amounts of money to organizations like America First Legal, which is led by former President Donald Trump's top immigration, advisor Stephen Miller (who is also an outed white nationalist).
Why is it the only available assassins are fuckwitted morons who are bad shots?
Tell me again how buying one of his crappy tinny toys will help save the planet.
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He’s a piece of shit. I called him Space nazi when I was on the phone with a friend yesterday and she’d never heard the moniker before - and then adopted it immediately. 😁
All jokes aside, Elon is doing some nefarious shit this election cycle. From his fake voter registration website to now paying voters $47, he walks right up to the line of illegality and dances on it and will do so until he’s stopped or fuck, idk what… how do you stop him from destroying our country? There was a piece about him earlier this year wherein there were interviews with people at DOD who readily admitted that he had too much power and they could do fuck all to curtail it. And we’ve got astronauts stuck on the ISS because Boeing is inept and the only option to get them home is Elon or the Russians. Seriously? It makes me want to scream. And speaking of screaming, you should probably read this too. https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/elon-musk-buying-2024-election-20241010.html
Great article, thanks Tom.
Eisenhower warned of exactly this in his farewell address 17 Jan 1961.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
"Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite."
Sounds like what's happening to me.