From Side Hustle to Wide Hustle: SpaceX IPO

WSJ wrote about Elon Musk's doling out access to SpaceX stock to friends in April 2025.  Space Exploration Technologies (dba SpaceX) has a scheduled IPO launch for June 12, 2026.   

An expert in corporate governance gave a warning on CNBC.  The guest noted lease agreements between SpaceX and Valor Equity Partners as Valor founder & CEO Antonio Gracias is on SpaceX's board of directors.

Rules and norms do not apply to TechGods.  These super-humans can hold multiple full time jobs. Just a dash of their time is incalculable in terms of value.  That power extends beyond the C-suite to the ballot box.

Shareholders normally get a vote.  One share, one vote.  The S-1 indicates SpaceX has several classes of stock, Class A, Class B and Class C.  Musk owns 93% of Class B shares with each share having ten votes.  Class A has one vote per share while Class C has no voting rights.  

Class B shareholders (i.e. Elon Musk) select 51% of the board, while Class A together with Class B select the other 49% (once again Elon Musk).  

The filing states:

...we will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas corporate governance standards. Under the listing rules of Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power with respect to director elections is held by another person or group of persons acting together is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas corporate governance requirements

This harkens back to when The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU) went public, but the three founders controlled the board makeup with their outsized share holdings.

Two SpaceX shareholders got special mention in their Investor Rights Amendment (filed in 2020). 

Antonio Gracias may be familiar to close watchers of DOGE.  He "helped" Elon Musk with Social Security from March to July of 2025.  

CEO Antonio Gracias had resigned from his position working 80 hours a week for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. A Valor spokesperson stated that Gracias was no longer freelancing for the U.S. government.

Gracias also sits on the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago.  The Chicago Maroon reported on his DOGE involvement:

In meetings with senior staff, SSA Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has referred to Gracias and other DOGE staffers as “outsiders who are unfamiliar with nuances of SSA programs,” per a March 6 Washington Post article. 

Despite DOGE staffers’ lack of experience, “I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions,” Dudek told senior SSA staff.

Gracias spoke alongside Musk at a Social Security Townhall in March.  Their claims did not hold up under scrutiny.  Vanity Fair excoriated the effort:

....didn’t just use untruths to justify their work at the Social Security Administration. They also used their own inability to analyze data, as well as massive hubris...

The second SpaceX shareholder receiving special mention is Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

It's not clear how much Elon Musk, Peter Thiel or Antonio Gracias will make in the SpaceX IPO, but one thing is for sure.  TechGods remain firmly in control.  

Power of the TechGods

Trump II's alignment with the TechGods began with his selection of J.D. Vance as his Vice President.  Vance is a junior TechGod having been christened from his tutelage under Peter Thiel.  

Thiel lectures on the anti-Christ, i.e. any person or collection of governments that would limit AI or any of his thousands of tech solutions to a major societal problem (Thiel's not having enough power and money).

Palantir's AI targeting is rumored to be behind the deaths of Iranian school girls early in Trump II's disastrous war of choice on Iran.  It may have targeted Ukraine's recent bombing of a Russian college.  Thiel founded Palantir alongside Alex Karp and the company cut its teeth protecting the global elite.  It now may be erroneously killing children and young adults.

U.S. companies are scurrying to deploy AI which costs far more than employing real people.  TechGods recently joined with private equity underwriters (PEU) to profit off the spread of AI throughout their owned companies.  AI will be the latest excessive PEU charge to affiliates atop interest expenses and management fees.  

AI has become the subject of graduate jeers at college commencements.  TechGod speakers have been shocked that students, the primary users of AI, don't want their "garbage in-garbage out" models taking entry level positions.

TechGods have been insulated from their staff and protected from outside scrutiny by non-disclosure agreements.  Trump II wants to foist those on federal workers.  

Unaccountable politicians serve unaccountable billionaires with the sorry lot wanting to be trillionaires.  It's a thicker crap sandwich for the common person.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

Update: An X post noted:

Step 1: Scrape the entire internet. Every book, every article, every conversation, every piece of art, every forum post. Do it without asking. Do it without paying. 

Step 2: Train a model on all of it. Call it "artificial intelligence." Step 3: Go to BlackRock's Infrastructure Summit and announce: "We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter." 

Step 3 is where you sell people's own knowledge back to them. On a meter. They took the collective output of human thought, compressed it into a model, and now they want to charge you by the token to access a version of what you and everyone you know already created. 

One Reddit user put it perfectly: "They stole all this data from us, the people, our life's work, creativity, art, by devouring the internet and blowing through all copyright laws. Now they want to sell it back to us in the form of a utility."

General's Global PEU Odor

Responsible Statecraft reported on May 14th (ten days ago):

Known as “one of Israel’s staunchest allies in the American defense establishment,” Ret. Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who just retired from his post as head of U.S. Central Command last summer, will feel right at home presenting the keynote at the Israeli-American Council's "Strength in Unity" gala tonight. 

According to Jewish Insider's morning newsletter, others speaking at the event will include pro-Israel megadonor Miriam Adelson and former Mossad Deputy Director Henrike Weissberg.

 General Kurilla was appointed Senior Advisor for Lazard last fall.

Lazard CEO Peter Orszag recently wrote a piece on State directed Capitalism which seems uniquely directed at AI, space, rare earths, defense, intelligence and energy.  

The Pentagon targeted private equity collaboration after several key leadership appointees came from that sector.  Lazard was already a major player in the PEU world but they added more capability with Campbell Lutyens.

Retired Generals and Admirals hold significant positions within major private equity underwriters (PEU).  They also often work for TechGods, which more recently prioritized doing business with Uncle Sam (long a PEU practice).

Kurilla is my latest find, but I'm sure there are many more.  Turn over a rock in Washington, D.C. and you may find a PEU, an elected official, a retired four star or a newly officed TechGod.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.    

Behind the Admiral's Mask: TechGods & PEUs

TV Insider reported:

An interview that aired on Fox News on Tuesday (May 19) has baffled viewers as it appeared that a guest was wearing a realistic rubber mask of their own face. 

Retired United States Navy SEAL Robert Harward appeared on America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino on Tuesday, where he discussed President Trump’s ongoing war with Iran. While Harward explained his thoughts on the conflict, viewers became distracted by his neck, which many believed looked like the seam of a mask.

It was nice of Fox News to make it so clear that the parade of retired generals and admirals have something to hide.  It is rare for any news outlet in the U.S. to declare their guests actual line of work or their conflicts of interest.  

Admiral James Stavridis is a regular on CNN and they rarely share his full time job, Vice Chair of The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).

Harward has numerous positions, some with PEU attachments.  Primarily he works for a TechGod, ShieldAI.  Bob is also on the Board of Directors of Metatek, Mistril Technologies and CoTec.  He serves on Academy Securities Advisory Board.  He also serves on The Iran Policy Project for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

Chances are this is a cheesy makeup mask (not full face) or some poorly preforming image background.  But it is fortuitous that the flapping neck fold was picked up by so many.

It is a symbol of false front shared by so many "experts" on the news.  Behind the curtain one finds politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

PEU Focused AI Company Joins AI PEU Joint Venture

Fractional AI markets its services to private equity underwriters (PEU).  It is being bought out by a new Anthropic/PEU joint venture backed by numerous players (seen on the right side of the image below).  OpenAI has its own AI-PEU venture.

For workers in most PEU affiliates this will be at least the second time their sponsors have made major changes in operations.  The first required lopping off headcount and other operating expenses in order to pay new annual management fees, much higher interest expense, fund special dividends/distributions, enrich executives and achieve the sponsor's hurdle rate.  

PEUs had affiliates buy from one another even if it wasn't the cheapest or the best quality.  Now that they've joined with TechGods in their circular financial masturbation, employees can make billionaires into trillionaires.  They just need to replace less expensive workers with higher cost AI.

TechGods already have a strong "workplace crapification" strategy underway, so they come to the table ably equipped to assist their new joint venture sponsors.

Don't look for any help or support from elected officials.  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and most care not about the little people.

Donflicts of Sinterest: Swirling Haboob

The ethical landscape is disturbing in its flatness and lack of color.  A mass of foul hot air circles, usurping all that is in its path.  It grows in size and stench with each accumulation.  A giant beast can be seen in the middle of the swirling winds.  It has multiple nipples across its abdomen.  Clown dressed figures cling to each nipple.  Powerful listening devices determine the clown figures ceaselessly complimenting the beast as they struggle to hang on to their perch.  Several have fallen off and are running ahead with hopes of reattaching.

Scientists studying the phenomena have named it the "Donflicts of Sinterest."  

Checks and balances have been replaced by checks, the bankable kind.  Influence is based on who you know and how much you can pay.  There are no foundational or underlying principles.  Those have been grossly distorted to "support" the horrific descent from virtue, abandonment of honesty and scuttling of open deals based on fairness to all.  

It's an insiders game and the players are cruel, greedy and devious.  That is a very bad combination especially when paired with the Lords of Capital (private equity underwriters - PEU) and TechGods/CryptoBros.  

TechGods and PEUs finance and maximize the production of the beast's nipples but also partake heavily in the monetary flow.  Everyone in the power chain takes a cut but the largest portion is returned to the beast.

It's "Daddy Capitalism."  The next nipple should be rotating soon.  Who will it be?  There's an addiction site where you can bet on that.  The Beast's new betting site should be starting up soon.  How much will that new nipple produce?

Politicians Red are trying to corner the market for PEU/TechGod money and loyalty.  Their beast's desire for more everything is insatiable.  For that the common people suffer.

Update:  Jesse wrote:

I have seen some very ugly and awful things in my life. I was a child of the 50's and 60's after all, But the current level of open corruption and hypocrisy in Washington is a disgraceful stain on the country. 

Those who fail to uphold their oaths to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic bear a heavy responsibility. 

History will not be kind. And it ought not to be. There is no excuse for this. 

People of faith must bear witness to the terrible sins against the Spirit being committed by those who cloak themselves in a gospel soaked in money and blood. They will be reaping the wages of sin.

Update 5-22-26:  Not all the Reds are going along with the scheme. 

Malpractice - $1.776 Billion Fund Amount & Forever IRS Waiver

Trump II's "Just Us" Department announced a $1.776 billion settlement of the President's case against the IRS for a contractor's releasing of his tax returns, as well as various and sundry other suits by Trump I against the government.  

The amount is grievous for the U.S., especially during out 250th birthday year.  Any number other than 1776 would be better.  January 6th was characterized as "our 1776" by MAGA political leaders and the refrain is a call by the radical right for violent uprising.

The fund formation process is riddled with conflicts.  Trump is both the aggrieved and the decision maker.  I find it odd that only the criminal cases the government had against him were dropped.  His cases against the government were not ceased or put in abeyance.  They remained fresh for him to adjudicate from the inside.

Trump II pardoned all manner of financial fraudsters and Capital rioting violent thugs who also urinated and smeared feces when not attacking Capital police officers.  

Those compensated by his "Just Us" department do not have to pay restitution to their victims.  They can use it for a new burner phone, to pay their legal fees or for a weapon (the beauty of a federal pardon).

An Anti-Weaponization Fund from the government could be used by formerly convicted criminals to buy weapons or target their next fraud victims.

The fund will need to be managed.  Might Trump associated Dominari or Yorkville get the nod?  Will it be held in dollars or World Liberty stablecoins?  

Surely, they wish to grow the corpus.  Might Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners invest some of the funds?  I bet Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are a hard sell for Jared at the moment.  Kushner may need to replace some recently withdrawn money (in retaliation for Trump II's disastrous war on Iran).

The Guardian reported on the fund itself:

“Once the ($1.776 billion in taxpayer) funds are deposited into the Designated Account, the United States has no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse of the funds,” according to a memo from Todd Blanche, the acting US attorney general.

That statement is darkly comedic given a Trump pardoned fraudster could fraudulently apply for, and possibly fraudulently receive, funds from the $1.776 billion fund.  I see no audits in this fund's future.  It is fully independent with all the rights and freedoms granted money by the Supreme Court.  It can vote.  It can freely travel offshore.  It can prey on underage girls.

Thank heaven Trump II settled with Trump I in an arm-arm-arm-arm's totaling agreement.  Ethically, it's a four arm fire.  But what do you expect from Trump?  The guy defecates on everything, endlessly. 

But 1776 during our 250th Anniversary?  What kind of doofus does that?  One who has a compliant "Just Us" Department.  It's The White House and a Blanched "Just Us" Department who gave us:

the IRS is "forever barred and precluded" from prosecuting or pursuing any and all claims related to the plaintiff or affiliated individuals.

Just when AI should be unleashed on the Trump tax returns, they are given a free pass.  Harkens back to Eric Holder saying he would not investigate financial malfeasance that brought us the 2008 financial crisis.

America, first world for our royal families, private equity underwriters and TechGods.  Third world for everyone else.  And the first world has no shame.  None at all.

Update 5-21-26:  Trump's Jan. 6th Middle Aged Wilding supporters, election deniers and remaining Q-ANUTS are thrilled with the restitution fund.  They get the symbolism of the settlement amount.  It's their America to celebrate according to Trump II and his "Just Us" Department.  For that the common person suffers.