HMM: Delaware judge rejects request to restore Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay.

A Delaware judge ruled on Monday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk still is not entitled to receive a $56 billion compensation package despite shareholders of the electric vehicle company voting to reinstate it.

The ruling by the judge, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery, follows her January decision that called the pay package excessive and rescinded it, surprising investors, and cast uncertainty over Musk’s future at the world’s most valuable carmaker.

Musk did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Tesla has said in court filings that the judge should recognize a subsequent June vote by its shareholders in favor of the pay package for Musk, the company’s driving force who is responsible for many of its advances, and reinstate his compensation.

McCormick also ordered Tesla to pay the attorneys who brought the case $345 million, well short of the $6 billion they initially requested.

Shareholders also flooded the court with thousands of letters arguing that the January ruling increased the possibility that Musk would leave Tesla or develop some products like artificial intelligence at ventures other than Tesla.

The point of the compensation package was to give Musk enough voting — enough control over the company — to do things exactly like those. So, yes, the shareholders are probably right to worry.

Delaware’s business-friendly reputation was built over decades, was a huge boon to the state’s finances, and may have been undone by a single judge.

UNDOING THE CRAZY: UMich regent: Board re-thinking DEI statements, programs after intense ‘scrutiny.’

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Just How Stupid Do They Think We Are?

AN ART EXHIBIT GIVING OBAMA SIMILAR TREATMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN TREATED DIFFERENTLY, I DARESAY: ETSU president resists Congressional pressure, maintains controversial art exhibit depicting Mike Johnson as a Nazi with new ‘waiver’ requirement for viewing. I don’t mind some lame-ass “art” calling a Republican a Nazi. But the double standard is obvious, and the absurd waiver treatment is too. Either man up and say “free speech” or shut up. But it’s hard to say “free speech” when academia has diverged from that for over a decade.

In the long run, it’s easier and safer to have principles.

CRISIS BY DESIGN: Nearly 180,000 noncitizens deliberately not detained, roaming free in US cities.

According to the latest data published by ICE, 179,937 illegal foreign nationals, who under current federal law are inadmissible and required to be removed, weren’t detained but were living freely in the U.S. through ICE’s “Alternatives to Detention” (ATD) program, as of June 2024.

Newly published data in ICE’s Enforcement Removal Operations dashboard covers fiscal year 2021 through the third quarter of fiscal year 2024. It includes arrests, detention, removals and enrollments in ICE’s ATD, created by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Congressional Republicans argue ATD is illegal and circumvents federal law, which requires inadmissible illegal foreign nationals to be detained and processed for removal.

Well, yeah — that was the point. Allow them in by whatever means and deny law enforcement any means of enforcing the law.

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY IS UP: Welcome to the Party, Pal (cont’d): Nate Silver discovers a problem with our expert class.

SOMETHING THAT CAN’T GO ON FOREVER, WON’T:

America is headed for de facto bankruptcy very fast https://t.co/gKYDnimg2V

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 3, 2024

SCOTT JENNINGS: Biden Has Drained Every Ounce Of Credibility From His Surrogates And Defenders.

Listen, you guys can spend all day long trying to spin this, that this is Donald Trump’s fault, that this is somehow caused by Donald Trump.

“Oh, he’s appointing the wrong people. Oh, he did it.” This is the worst possible thing a president could possibly do to his party and to the country. To sit for a year and say, “I will not do this. I will not do this. The rule of law is sacred. We have to respect the justice system, juries. We have to respect juries. We have to respect the guardrails and the norms of our democracy.” These people are liars.

“Inflation is transitory. Afghanistan is a success. The border is secure. Robert Hur is a liar. The videos are cheap fakes. Biden has a cold. He’ll never drop out. Oh, I’ll never pardon Hunter.” It’s all a lie. It is all a grift. Every American except the most partisan brain-rotted people are going to be outraged by this today.

He is going to leave office — you think 38-39% job approval is bad? Just you wait. Just you wait. He’s disgraced, disgraced today. Outrageous…

Joe Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre, how many minutes of tape do we have of both of these people telling the American people this will not happen? I mean, we could play it all morning.

It’s a lie, and it’s a lie to benefit his own family. And that’s all that it is. And everybody who went on TV and said, “Oh, look how he’s the modern George Washington.” He’s drained every ounce of credibility from every surrogate.

To be fair, that well ran dry long ago.

THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough back to attacking Trump.

AT AMAZON, Save up to 40% in Fitness. #CommissionEarned

TO BE FAIR, LYING FOR DEMOCRATS IS THEIR JOB: Seriously? The Liberal Media Is Actually Denying Biden Lied About Hunter’s Pardon.

THEY DESERVE THE HUMILIATION: Biden Humiliates Aides and Media Allies With Hunter Pardon.

IF YOU WANT PEACE, PREPARE FOR WAR: The U.S. Is Losing the Ability to Deter War With China.

This month, my colleagues and I led members of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party in a simulation of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The goal was to understand how the U.S. defense industrial base would perform in a protracted war with China and to assess the implications for deterrence. The results weren’t reassuring.

The simulation began with a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan in 2026. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the U.S. defense industrial base was severely stressed. The U.S. military spent its entire inventory of Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles by the end of the first week and ran out of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range missiles after a month. Taiwan used up its entire inventory of Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles after a week. It would be very difficult to sustain a fight without these weapons.

We also found that the U.S. faces significant supply-chain, workforce and contracting challenges. It has too few solid rocket motors, processor assemblies, castings, ball bearings and forgings. These shortages would drastically limit replacement of weapons systems used or destroyed in a conflict. The U.S. also relies on China for advanced battery parts and key raw materials, which could be cut off in a war.

A shortage of engineers, electricians, pipefitters, shipfitters and metalworkers at U.S. factories and shipyards would also cripple the country’s ability to win a protracted war. These challenges are already delaying the construction of frigates, submarines, destroyers and other ships.

Reversing these trends will take time.

Communist China has developed a bit of manufacturing expertise of its own and certainly has a good idea of how much time.

JOHN LUCAS: The Wall Street Journal Lets Its Anti-Kash Patel Bias Seep into Its News Coverage: Be vigilant for media bias as the debate unfolds.

HMM: Bitterness Over the ‘Forever War’ a Unifying factor in Trump’s Post-9/11 Veteran Cabinet Picks.

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

US intelligence services’ multi-decades curation of Biden family crimes requires major assessment of what programs and resources are compromised. This story is hardly ended with a pardon. https://t.co/xPGKioOn0R

— Lee Smith (@LeeSmithDC) December 2, 2024

SCOTT PINSKER: Deconstructing Liberal Mythology and Slaughtering Liberal Mermaids.

Right now, the Democrats are disoriented.

For years, they rocked themselves to sleep with the following fictions: Donald Trump is a Nazi racist, and only white supremacists support him! Joe Biden is as sharp as a tack! Liberals are in the majority! Kamala Harris is a fine, capable candidate! We’re morally superior to those crass, shallow Republicans because we believe in the rule of law: You don’t see Joe Biden pardoning his idiot kid Hunter, do you?

It’s been a strange six months.

First, Biden wasn’t “sharp as a tack.” He was sick and diminished. Next, Trump wasn’t a Nazi: He’s the president-elect of the United States with a majority mandate. Record numbers of blacks, Hispanics, and 65% of Native Americans supported him. Kamala Harris was a lousy candidate, wasted billions of dollars, and owes her #2 position to her ethnicity and gender. And finally, it’s now perfectly clear that Joe Biden was lying about never pardoning Hunter Biden.

That’s an awful lot of myths to collapse at once.

Thus the coming mental health crisis that Mark Halperin warned us about.

SINCE I INSIST ON DOING EXTRA STUFF WHILE DOING MY (HOPEFULLY FIRST AND LAST) WINTER FUNDRAISER, HERE’S A FREE READING MP3:  It Was the Buggiest of Readings.

ICYMI: THEY LIED. Report: Scientists at Center of ‘Lab Leak’ Concerns Misled Congress. “A sprawling final report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic provokes questions over whether some in the scientific community – including EcoHealth Alliance, the American nonprofit that collaborated on novel coronavirus discovery and engineering research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and its president Peter Daszak – could face criminal charges stemming from the COVID-19 tragedy.”

Trump’s FBI and DOJ will be busy.

IT IS WORTHWHILE – BUT GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO STOP ACTIVELY DEGRADING IT:  To solve the fertility crisis, make family life worthwhile.

THE LAST FOUR YEARS WERE ALL I NEEDED:  A book to destroy faith in doctors for ever.

WELL, I HOPE BOB IS RIGHT:  The real proof that the American political scene is about to experience a new revolution.

SHUT UP AND DIE, PROLE, AND REDUCE THE SURPLUS POPULATION:  This sneaky assisted-suicide Bill strikes against decency and genuine choice.

MORE PEOPLE NEED TO OBJECT TO BEING DISENFRANCHISED:  Citizens of Shasta County, California Declare State of Emergency and Demand Certifiable Election Results.

IF THERE ISN’T SOME REAL PUNISHMENT AFTER THIS…  The House COVID Committee has released its final report after a 2-year investigation.