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zero p. burn's avatar

For a fine to be meaningful, it needs to be the greater of a flat amount or a percentage of the person's net worth.

Musk was in the 45-54 age bracket when the crime was committed, with a median net worth (among American households) of about $250k. Suppose the fine for felony election interference is $50k. That's 20% of the median household's net worth, therefore the fine will be 20% of his net worth or several hundred billion dollars. He'll have to sell off quite a bit of stock to make the payment, which will actually hurt, which is the entire point of a fine.

fair_n_hite_451's avatar

Let's see. What punishment can we hope Musk gets that will hurt him where it counts:

1 - 100 billion dollar fine.

2 - That fine going specifically towards health care for everyone in America

3 - Forced to drive a Tesla Wankmobile around at all times, windows removed, tape desk (and roof mounted loud speaker like those annoying ad vehicles looping on repeat "I am Elon Musk. I am an illegal immigrant. Please deport me. Please don't shoot me Mr. Scary ICE Agent."

4 - Barred from fathering any more children, on pain of ... is castration banned by the Geneva Convention? ... OK, just a "snip" then.

5 - tarred, feathered, and drafted to serve as Grand Marshall of the next San Francisco Pride Parade

6 - Full Page ads in every newspaper in America apologizing for DOGE.

7 - Personally paying the salary of every government employee DOGE touched with it's gross, cheeto-covered fingers. Including all of the ones hired back.

8 - Tax Audits every year both as far back as is allowed, and every year going forward. Tax investigators receive bonuses (paid by Musk himself ... in that he has to hold a press conference to hand out those oversized cheques to the investigators) tied to how much they increase his tax burden.

9 - Funding a "DeadBeat Dads" Super PAC that directs money to campaign for social justice causes.

DisappointedScientist's avatar

punishable only by fine == legal for a price

Herr Snackmeier's avatar

One might say his project exploded on liftoff.

Fifth Dentist's avatar

It would be a shame if fElon got all depressed and pulled a Matthew Perry with the ketamine.

Old Man Yells at Cloud's avatar

The fight between his mom, his baby mamas and all the kids who come out of the woodwork for the stock will be epic.

The Covfefes ASAP!'s avatar

Go home Elmo. You've done enough.

motmelere's avatar

Now there is a criminal that needs deportation.

mzf's avatar

Musk entered the US illegally from Canada. FACT!

Vesper's avatar

There is a cybertruck that I see on occasion being driven about and I would repeat this mantra to myself: Don't look, don't laugh, if you look you're going to laugh so don't look and don't laugh.

I did sneak a slantendicular glance at it and damn, the whole thing was covered in a layer of electrostatic summer dust. It is such a hideous vehicle that it makes the Persephone look like a show pony.

I am rethinking my mantra and maybe I need to start doing the Simpsons' Nelson laugh: Ha HA!

( I do a good Nelson laugh it is one of my stupid human tricks)

On a more serious note: When all this is said and done we really need a better constitution and better laws. Just now rendering a decision?! That our courts meander along at a snail's pace is being weaponized by the rich so that only they benefit. We all knew it was illegal (and unethical but apparently the law doesn't concern itself with ethics) on day one of that bullshit.

Majordomo Billy Bojangles's avatar

One showed up at a bar I frequent. County plates, in one of the most liberal parts of Atlanta. So liberal that the one out Trump supporter in our neighborhood is surrounded with "Peace Lives Here" and the like signs on all adjacent properties.

I walked into the taproom and announced that there was an actual Cybertruck in the parking lot, and the bar emptied outside.

There were maybe twenty people who stood silent for a moment and then broke into howls of laughter.

Owning a Cybertruck tells me your political leanings took your common sense about auto ownership and bashed its brains out.

The bar bought everyone a drink to mark the occasion, and ten minutes later when I walked outside again, it was gone.

I never saw it again. I like to think the owner learned something, but maybe not. The internet says there are 75 or so of them for sale in the Atlanta aftermarket, most of them selling at a loss.

mzf's avatar

If you've never seen a CyberThing, you should know that they are dangerous just parked. It has very sharp corners at the front so that if you are crossing in front of a parked one or a stopped one at a light, don't be tempted to lean on it because the the corners are sharp ... and if t's sunny, that thing is HOT!

Majordomo Billy Bojangles's avatar

I will say that they're even uglier than their pictures, and that's saying something.

Engine, drivetrain, and electrical issues aside, Musk had enough money to hire a top design firm to do the body.

Instead, he pulled out a pen and drew a funny box.

Anzu's avatar

Whenever I see one, I say out loud, "Oh look it's another Cyber dumpster" and I don't care who hears me say it. Including the driver, if they are around.

Most people laugh.

innocentbystander's avatar

THE COURT: "You can put your checkbook away, Mr Musk. I've made an extended-stay reservation for you right here in Madison. The deputy will show you to your room."

MR MUSK: Huh...?

Howlin Wolfe's avatar

The irony results from the unrestrained and unstoppable projection emanating from the moth-eaten brains of MAGAts, especially Elon. They would readily bribe so they think that’s what we do. They try to rig elections so they think we do, somehow so secretly that professional investigators can’t uncover any evidence of it. They think we want to force abortions on women because they want to force women not to. What a small, chaotic, claustrophobic ideological space they inhabit, the interior of which looks remarkably like their own recta.

Joe Schmoe, Troublemaker's avatar

It's a confirmation apocalypse on Capital Hill. Todd Glug Glug Daddy's Butt was interesting and telling.

However, I've just got to point out the tailoring faux pas with this stupid idiot's look before Congress. The fuck is up with those 10 inch exposed sleeves out of your jacket, ya simple fool?

Kudos to Sen Ossoff for bringing up Ruskie Gabby's bad laundry and the fool ain't know how to lie and pretend to know things at the same time. Fucking Master Class in governance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riXJEhp84hM

Jay Clayton scolded during hearing for lack of preparation on Gabbard role in Georgia election probe

Les Bontemps's avatar

"Don't you find it humiliating to have to indulge the president in his delusions?" Good start. Follow up with "If you can't simply state a fact that literally everyone knows because it contradicts a false political narrative, how can we have any confidence at all you would be honest and forthright with facts implicating national security? Don't you think a DNI has an obligation to tell the truth about what may be sensitive issues?"

pskbh's avatar

Ossoff cooked him. Well done!

Bagels of Doom's avatar

Please let the penalty be something really humiliating.

Maelen Moonsinger's avatar

Fines should be on a sliding scale keyed to income. That's how some rich drivers get five-figure USD fines for driving too fast in school zones in Scandinavia.

S Cerevisiae's avatar

Hopefully involving a pig shit lagoon.

Kid 'n Nipple-Play's avatar

He has to continue being Elon Musk?

Bagels of Doom's avatar

Picking up trash in a neighborhood downstream from one of those data centers where people are having brown sludge instead of clean water coming out of their taps while wearing a shirt pointing out that he is, in fact, Elno the Muskrat.

And make that two million hours of community service.

Bagels of Doom's avatar

Did he ask Dinesh D'Souza on how to be stupid about this type of stuff?

Edith Prickly's avatar

Me looking at the header pic: "don't punch the monitor, don't punch the monitor..."

TootsStansbury 🇺🇦's avatar

I wish he was actually receiving the high voltage jolt he appears to be receiving in that photo.

Bagels of Doom's avatar

Huh! Who would have thought that this was slightly fishy?

rawrtigerlily's avatar

I am well beyond thinking at some point your many crimes should stop being "civil" offenses and qualify you for criminal referral as a repeat offender.

So fucking tired of rich white guys getting infinite 2nd chances.