RONAN’S RECORD HASN’T EXACTLY SPARKLED: This Ronan Farrow story about Elon Musk isn’t great. “The gist of the story is that Musk is really rich and, because of the success of his companies, has a lot of say when it comes to the use of his technology.”

OMG, that’s really awful. Plus: “Musk’s demand that the defense department pay him for the ongoing use of the satellites doesn’t strike me as an outrage. If the US government wanted to send planes built by Boeing to Ukraine to bolster the war effort it wouldn’t expect Boeing to send them for free. They are a real company that can’t afford to simply donate its very expensive products wherever the Pentagon feels they are needed. Starlink is the same.”

Also: “Elon is a very clever nerd who doesn’t have a lot of patience for moving at the speed of government regulation. This may make him difficult and even somewhat reckless at times but it also means he gets things done while everyone else seems to be moving in slow motion trying to catch up. His brand of initiative and boldness is something we used to value in America but it feels like now we have a lot more critics whose contribution is to scold anyone who takes an actual risk that hasn’t been approved by a government committee.”

We used to call those people “losers.” Now we call them journalists. Which, to be fair, is a harsher insult in 2023.