terrence flynn

I'm here bc I was annoying my FB friends with my politics. But I just can't accept what's happening right now. Mpls,MN. He/him

[terrence flynn @tjflynn2002]

@AshleyRParker Our nation's democracy is hanging by a thread, and this is the hill you want us to die on? Bc you weren't invited to a wedding?

[terrence flynn @tjflynn2002]

@antoniogm Or maybe he's just bipolar and having a severe manic episode. An ordinary person in this situation might go on a wild spending spree and lose their house or their kid's college fund. Someone with obscene wealth OTH, has the power to destroy things that affect the entire planet.

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

So let’s walk through the evidence on his degrees carefully: 1) evidence from lawsuits (subpoenas and depositions), 2) Elon’s coursework, 3) statements from Penn, 4) false statements to his biographer. 19/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Why the lie? A Physics degree isn’t even that useful for Elon’s career. Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, founders of Tesla Motors, have what you’d actually want: CS and Electrical Engineering. But “Physics” does that to some people. It’s a kind of status worship. 18/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

PART C - DEGREES. Again, we care about Elon’s degrees because HE cares - a lot. He’s made Physics part of his identity. He talks about it so much there’s a highlight reel. The 27-year lie is his persona. 17/
https://t.co/JXshu4jKzJ

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Elon didn’t have the $1M in non-US money he’d need for an EB-5 “immigrant investor” visa. Mohr Davidow could quietly stake him some, but that’s not legal. Of course, hiring an undocumented worker isn’t legal either. So dodgy things happened in 1996. By 1997, a path was found. 16/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Elon mentions the H1-B “specialty occupations” visa many times. Those were easier to get in the 1990s than now, but still had a hard criterion: you need an undergrad degree. And Elon didn’t have one. He couldn’t even apply til he somehow managed to get a diploma. 15/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Nowadays a 1-year overstay means you’d be deported, could be barred for 3 years. In the 1990s, there might be workarounds. But what were Mohr Davidow’s options? Elon wouldn’t qualify for an EB-1 “genius” visa: 8 months of “hairball” code doesn’t prove “extraordinary ability” 14/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

PART B - THE VISA. Mohr Davidow now had a problem: Elon was undocumented. This is indisputable. If he’d finished a degree, he could have gone on OPT - starting a business counts as “practical training”. But as a dropout, there’s no legal path to stay. 13/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

In the go-go 1990s, the internet was new & investors moved fast. In 1996 Mohr Davidow Ventures offered $3M for Global Link. On Aug 15, just 8 months after its startup, the change was official: Rich Sorkin was named CEO, and Elon became Secretary. They renamed it Zip2.
12/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

After 3 years at Penn, Elon left for CA with brother Kimbal, tried to catch the internet wave. They rented a Palo Alto office, slept in it when not coding. By Nov 3, 1995, Elon filed to incorporate “Global Link Information Network Inc.”, a kind of online business directory. 11/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

His bio describes Elon’s college years. Queens: “went to the least number of classes possible.” Penn: ”video game binges that went on for days.” He lived in a party house with glow-in-the-dark decor, 500-person ragers. But “it's difficult to find..students who remember him” 10/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Outline
A. Review: from college to Zip2 (9-12)
B. No visa (13-16)
C. No Physics degree (17-30)
D. No PhD acceptance (31-44)
E. Quitting Twitter’s board (45-48)
F. Why it matters: national security (49-52)
G. Things to do (53-60)
H. Thoughts (61-67)
8/
https://t.co/oY8RYMnXig

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

@twittersafety (if anyone’s left): this thread describes public evidence about a public figure; it’s not a violation. It’s citizen journalism. Also remember the “Streisand Effect”: suspending this account would make the story go bigger. I would go public. It would be news. 7/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

So Elon matters, & people around him are not America’s friends. Someone has to call out the secrets. Many people know - Elon’s been sued over the fake degree - but even as Twitter tanks, no one has the guts to talk. Silicon Valley’s the last place to lecture us on free speech. 6/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

To be clear: no one cares about the degree; the immigration violation is history. What matters is Elon’s Big Lie, pretending to be what he isn’t. The academic “stolen valor” subverts judgment (“but he’s a genius!”). And it opens him to influence. It makes him a security risk. 4/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Catching Elon in a lie isn’t hard. In 2013: “I had to [stay in school]..otherwise I’d get kicked out of the country.” (This is correct.) Then “since I already had my undergrad, I could..get an H1-B visa” (That’s a lie). In 1995 he had no degree, so no visa. He was illegal. 3/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

This thread will be long. Finding the key contradictions took just a few hours, back in May, but it’s important to be complete. So I’ll go through it all, and why it’s dangerous for the US.

Please retweet. Sunshine disinfects. All sources are at https://t.co/Kzd72l4eng
2/

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Someone has to say it: Elon Musk has lied for 27 years about his credentials. He does not have a BS in Physics, or any technical field. Did not get into a PhD program. Dropped out in 1995 & was illegal. Later, investors quietly arranged a diploma - but not in science. 🧵1/

[terrence flynn @tjflynn2002]

@BruiserK @Jhenya_Belitsky @NRO @BillKristol I missed him on the list, but that makes sense. He was a terrible film critic but he never struck me as a lunatic.