SpaceX just pulled off one of its wildest Starship tests yet — launching the biggest and most powerful version of the rocket ever built before intentionally slamming it into the Indian Ocean in a fiery ending straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Elon Musk’s company launched the 12th Starship test flight Friday using the brand-new Super Heavy V3 booster, a towering 407-foot rocket built to eventually carry humans back to the Moon and, one day, all the way to Mars.
The upgraded Starship blasted off from a brand-new launch pad in South Texas carrying roughly 45 tons of payload simulators, making it one of the biggest payload launches the world has seen in decades.
Of course, this being SpaceX, things got a little chaotic.
One of Starship’s engines failed during ascent, but the giant spacecraft somehow kept powering forward anyway and still completed its primary mission objectives.
The rocket successfully deployed 20 mock Starlink satellites before continuing its planned path halfway around the world. SpaceX also used modified camera-equipped Starlink satellites to capture footage of Starship flying through space.
Then came the jaw-dropping ending.
After nearly an hour in flight, Starship slammed into the Indian Ocean in a massive fireball that looked more like the finale of a Hollywood disaster movie than a routine aerospace test.
But unlike previous Starship explosions, this one was completely intentional. SpaceX planned for the spacecraft to burn up at the end of the mission while engineers gathered critical flight data for future launches.
“Congratulations @SpaceX team on an epic first Starship V3 launch and landing!” Musk posted on X. “You scored a goal for humanity.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="BREAKING: Starship Flight 12 Launches Successfully — SpaceX&#039;s Most Powerful Rocket Heads To Space" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cC1mP1llT0o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also celebrated the launch, writing: “Congrats @SpaceX team and @elonmusk on a hell of a V3 Starship launch. One step closer to the Moon… one step closer to Mars.”
This is the same giant rocket NASA is now betting on to help land astronauts back on the Moon as part of the Artemis program before Musk ultimately tries pushing humanity toward Mars.
SpaceX is also attempting to make Starship fully reusable, with future plans involving giant mechanical arms literally catching rocket stages out of the sky during landing.
The launch comes just days after Musk announced plans to take SpaceX public in what could become the biggest IPO in history.
The company is reportedly seeking a staggering $1.75 trillion valuation and could raise between $40 billion and $80 billion.
SpaceX currently owns both Starlink and Musk’s AI company xAI.

US-SPACE-AEROSPACE-SPACEX-STARSHIP

WATCH: SpaceX Just Pulled Off Its Wildest Starship Launch Yet

Elon Musk

SpaceX

A California federal jury nixed billionaire Elon Musk&#8217;s lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Monday, concluding that Musk filed his claims after the statute of limitations had expired.
The jury <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/05/18/nx-s1-5822366/musk-altman-openai-jury-verdict-claims-dismissed">returned its verdict</a> after deliberating for just 90 minutes following a three-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the case, said that she agreed with the jury&#8217;s unanimous decision.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve always said I would accept the jury&#8217;s verdict. I think there&#8217;s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury&#8217;s finding,&#8221; Gonzalez Rogers said.
Legal experts said the jury likely focused on whether Musk waited too long to file suit under California law.
Vincent Joralemon, a senior fellow at UC Berkeley law school, told <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/18/business/elon-musk-loses-lawsuit-against-openai-in-unanimous-verdict/">The New York Pos</a>t that California imposes a three-year statute of limitations for breach of charitable trust claims and a two-year limit for unjust enrichment claims.
&#8220;I’m guessing the jurors got into their room and said, ‘Does it seem like Musk knew about this in 2019?’ and everyone said ‘yes’ and then they go, ‘we’re done,'&#8221; he said.
Musk brought the case in 2024, accusing Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman of betraying the organization&#8217;s original nonprofit mission by changing OpenAI to a profit-driven enterprise.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit focused on developing artificial intelligence in a manner that would benefit humanity. Musk, who helped launch the organization and donated roughly $38 million before ultimately leaving the board in 2018, said OpenAI&#8217;s leadership abandoned that principle for financial gain.
The SpaceX founder asked for $150 billion in damages — and promised to appeal when the jury decided against him.
&#8220;Regarding the OpenAI case, the judge &amp; jury never actually ruled on the merits of the case, just on a calendar technicality,&#8221; Musk said in an X post on Monday.
&#8220;There is no question to anyone following the case in detail that Altman &amp; Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity,&#8221; he added. &#8220;The only question is WHEN they did it! I will be filing an appeal with the Ninth Circuit, because creating a precedent to loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America.&#8221;
Musk&#8217;s attorney Marc Toberoff also vowed to appeal the decision: &#8220;I have a one-word reaction: Appeal. This war is not over.&#8221;
Toberoff argued that OpenAI improperly raised money as a publicly subsidized nonprofit before later restructuring into a for-profit operation &#8220;where the officers and directors of the charity enrich themselves to the tune of billions.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Elon Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, on today’s verdict in the OpenAI case:
“I have a one-word reaction: Appeal. This war is not over. We firmly believe what happened with OpenAI was wrong on a very basic level that you can&#8217;t raise millions of dollars in a publicly subsidized… <a href="https://t.co/D6x1Ja43mB">pic.twitter.com/D6x1Ja43mB</a>
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) <a href="https://twitter.com/SawyerMerritt/status/2056477364134044055?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Elon Musk and OpenAI

Jury Nixes Elon Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit In Under Two Hours

Jury Nixes Elon Musk's OpenAI Lawsuit In Under Two Hours

Artificial Intelligence

California

Charity

Courts

OpenAI

Sam altman

On Monday, Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk praised Israel for its incredible record of innovation.
Musk was asked at the 9th Annual Samson International Smart Mobility Summit, “Do you have a message to the Israeli innovators in the crowd?”
“I’m a huge admirer of the innovation coming out of Israel; honestly, I think objectively true that Israel punches far above its weight for a population,” Musk answered. “I think probably number one in the world. My hat is off to Israel for just how much incredible innovation — I say innovation per capita, Israel must be number one by far in the world.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> speaking live: “I’m a huge admirer of the innovation coming out of Israel, it is objectively true that Israel punches high above its weight — I think honestly number one in the world… innovation per capita, Israel is by far number one in the world.” <a href="https://t.co/PdICcVepsP">pic.twitter.com/PdICcVepsP</a>
&mdash; Michael Granoff (@mikejgr) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikejgr/status/2056275785443319917?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Indeed, the list of inventions and techniques Israel has created borders on staggering, considering the tiny size of the country.
Israel has pioneered numerous groundbreaking medical technologies, devices, and pharmaceuticals. In oncology, adoptive immunotherapy — using genetically modified T-cells equipped with chimeric antigen receptors — has achieved remarkable remission rates in blood cancer clinical trials.
In diagnostics, the NaNose breathalyzer can detect 17 different diseases, while Applied Spectral Imaging revolutionized cytogenetics using color-coded chromosome sorting. Israel is also famous for the PillCam, a swallowable capsule endoscopy camera that captures thousands of non-invasive images of the digestive tract.
In cardiology and emergency medicine, Israeli innovations include flexible cardiac stents (Medinol and InStent), the combat-proven Emergency Bandage featuring a built-in pressure bar to halt hemorrhaging, and the Bone Injection Gun for intraosseous fluid delivery. In patient care and rehabilitation, the ReWalk robotic exoskeleton enables paraplegics to stand and walk, while EarlySense offers contactless under-the-mattress patient monitoring. Notable pharmaceutical developments include Copaxone, a widely prescribed immunomodulator for multiple sclerosis, and Pluristem Therapeutics&#8217; placenta-based anti-radiation therapy.
Israeli scientists have significantly advanced the fields of chemistry, computer science, and mathematics, yielding multiple Nobel Prizes. Key breakthroughs include the mapping of ribosome structures by Ada Yonath, the discovery of the ubiquitin protein pathway for protein degradation by Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover, and the discovery of quasicrystals by Dan Shechtman.
In computer science, Israeli researchers co-developed the LZ77 and LZ78 data compression algorithms, which serve as the foundation for modern ZIP, GIF, and PNG formats. The country has also heavily influenced the development of temporal logic, automata theory, and zero-knowledge proof systems. In economics, the collaborative work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky established prospect theory and the foundational tenets of behavioral economics.
Driven by necessity, Israel has developed a multi-layered missile defense architecture, most notably the Iron Dome for short-range rockets, alongside David&#8217;s Sling and the Arrow systems for ballistic missiles. In armored defense, the Trophy Active Protection System destroys incoming anti-tank missiles before impact.
Small arms include the iconic Uzi submachine gun, the Galil, and the Tavor rifle, alongside tactical innovations like CornerShot, which allows soldiers to shoot around corners via a hinged camera system. Israel was also a pioneer in modern drone warfare, engineering early real-time surveillance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and advanced loitering munitions. The military also birthed Krav Maga, an internationally adopted, hand-to-hand tactical self-defense system.
In computing and cybersecurity, Israel created the USB flash drive (DiskOnKey) and Check Point&#8217;s Stateful Inspection Firewall, which laid the blueprint for modern network security. Key Intel processor designs (8088 and Centrino) were developed in Israel, alongside Waze (crowdsourced navigation), ICQ (the first global instant messaging service), and Mobileye (vision-based driver assistance).
In agriculture and water, Israel revolutionized farming in arid zones through modern drip irrigation (Netafim), large-scale seawater reverse osmosis desalination, and wastewater recycling, reclaiming nearly 90% of its wastewater. Israeli scientists also genetically optimized commercial cherry tomatoes for long shelf-lives.
Food products like Bamba, a peanut snack credited with reducing pediatric peanut allergies, and Ptitim (Israeli couscous) are globally recognized. Finally, Israel pioneered energy sustainability by mandating highly efficient rooftop solar water heaters (Dud Shemesh).

Billionaire Elon Musk at the Samson International Smart Mobility Summit

Elon Musk Reveals What Makes Israel Different From The Rest Of The World

'Huge Admirer ... My Hat Is Off To Israel': Musk Hails Israel's Incredible History Of Innovation

Innovation

Israel

Tesla is rolling out its robotaxis in Dallas and Houston, the electric vehicle maker said on Saturday, marking further expansion of its nascent service in the United States since its Austin, Texas, launch last year.
Tesla&#8217;s official robotaxi account on X announced the launch and posted two videos showing its best-selling Model Y SUVs running in the two cities with no human driver or monitor in the front seats.
It posted two map images outlining service boundaries, but did not disclose further details such as fleet size or pricing.
&#8220;Try Tesla Robotaxi in Dallas &amp; Houston!&#8221; CEO Elon Musk said reposting the X post.
Tesla&#8217;s move comes as the robotaxi business has regained momentum with Alphabet&#8217;s Waymo and Amazon&#8217;s Zoox speeding up expansion.
Expanding the robotaxi service and wider adoption of its full self-driving software, a version of which underpins the technology, is key to Tesla&#8217;s growth strategy as Musk has pivoted the company&#8217;s focus to artificial intelligence and robotics from EVs.
Much of the company&#8217;s $1.3 trillion valuation hinges on that bet.
Tesla first deployed a small group of self-driving taxis in an area of Austin with human safety monitors and other restrictions. The company has since widened the service area and started removing the monitors.
Last year, Tesla also started a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Musk has promised to expand the robotaxi service rapidly in the U.S., but missed earlier predictions of its robotaxis operating widely in multiple U.S. metro areas by the end of 2025.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco Editing by Nick Zieminski, Rod Nickel)

Tesla Robotaxi

No Driver? No Problem! Tesla Launches Robotaxis In Two Major Cities

Dallas

Economy

Houston

Tesla

Texas

U.S.

Escalating his legal battle just weeks before a high-stakes federal trial, Elon Musk has <a href="https://betanews.com/article/musk-openai-lawsuit-damages-to-nonprofit/#:~:text=The%20lawsuit%20originally%20sought%20damages,go%20to%20OpenAI's%20nonprofit%20foundation.">amended his lawsuit</a> against OpenAI, demanding the immediate removal of CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman.
The revised filing, submitted this week, also seeks to force the artificial intelligence giant to abandon its for-profit structure and return to its nonprofit roots.
The case is <a href="https://medium.com/@fahey_james/elon-musks-bold-strike-against-openai-seeking-to-oust-sam-altman-and-greg-brockman-in-a-134-1f586f8f6005">scheduled</a> to go before a jury on April 27, 2026, in Oakland, California. The outcome could derail OpenAI’s planned initial public offering (IPO) and set a major precedent for how transformative technologies are governed.
In a strategic shift likely intended to neutralize claims that the lawsuit is fueled by personal greed, Musk’s amended complaint clarifies that he is not seeking to personally collect damages, estimated between $134 billion and $150 billion. Instead, Musk has requested that any recovered funds be directed to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm.
“He is asking the court to return everything that was taken from a public charity,” said Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff. Musk reinforced this stance publicly on X, suggesting his sole intent is to restore the organization&#8217;s founding mission.
Musk has <a href="https://www.peoplematters.in/news/business/elon-musk-moves-to-oust-openai-ceo-sam-altman-as-legal-fight-escalates-49152">alleged</a> that Altman and Brockman &#8220;manipulated and misled&#8221; him into providing roughly $38 million in seed funding between 2015 and 2018, based on assurances that OpenAI would remain a non-profit dedicated to open-source artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity.
Instead, Musk argues, the leadership engaged in a &#8220;wealth machine&#8221; scheme, effectively turning OpenAI into a &#8220;closed-source de facto subsidiary&#8221; of Microsoft. The filing accuses the executives of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and racketeering, claiming they leveraged the reputational and tax benefits of a nonprofit to build a private entity now valued at more than $800 billion.
OpenAI has fired back, describing the lawsuit as a &#8220;frivolous&#8221; campaign driven by &#8220;ego, jealousy, and a desire to slow down a competitor.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today, at the eleventh hour, Elon lodged a court filing pretending to change his tune about attacking the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation.
The truth is that this case has always been about Elon generating more power and more money for what he wants. Having increasingly realized that…
&mdash; OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) <a href="https://twitter.com/OpenAINewsroom/status/2041648263078801765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
The company recently petitioned the attorneys general of California and Delaware to investigate Musk for alleged &#8220;anti-competitive behavior,&#8221; noting that Musk now operates his own rival AI firm, xAI.
OpenAI’s legal team argues that the pivot to a &#8220;capped-profit&#8221; model was a matter of survival, citing the astronomical costs of developing advanced AI systems, which it says could reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars. The company has also pointed to internal emails from 2017  suggesting Musk himself once supported a for-profit shift, provided he maintained majority control.
The case gained significant momentum in early 2026 following the discovery of the so-called &#8220;Brockman Diaries.&#8221; A handwritten 2017 journal entry by Brockman reportedly characterized the nonprofit structure as &#8220;a lie,&#8221; a piece of evidence U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers cited as critical for the upcoming trial.
The court has already confirmed that high-profile figures, including Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, are expected to testify.
The conflict is rooted in OpenAI&#8217;s 2015 founding. Initially a pure research lab, the organization began shifting its structure shortly after Musk’s departure in 2018:
<ul>
<li data-path-to-node="18,0,0">2015: Founded as a nonprofit; Musk provides initial funding.</li>
<li data-path-to-node="18,1,0">2019: Creates a &#8220;capped-profit&#8221; subsidiary to attract investment, leading to a multi-billion dollar partnership with Microsoft.</li>
<li data-path-to-node="18,2,0">2025: Completes a restructuring into a for-profit public benefit corporation.</li>
<li data-path-to-node="18,3,0">Present: Prepares for a potential late-2026 IPO at a valuation exceeding $850 billion.</li>
</ul>
Legal experts suggest the trial&#8217;s implications reach far beyond a personal feud. A victory for Musk could force OpenAI to restructure and raise new questions about nonprofit governance and donor intent. A win for Open AI could affirm the ability of a nonprofit to evolve into profit-generating enterprises despite donor objections.

Musk Says The AI Shaping Your Life Pulled A $800B Bait-And-Switch

Lawsuit

Open AI

Poised to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) of all time, SpaceX’s IPO is expected to break with tradition through a reworked roadshow and an outsized allocation to retail investors. If the company does go public, it is expected to raise between $40 and $80 billion. China’s Alibaba holds the current record for the largest IPO with $22 billion raised in 2014. 
Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-02/spacex-is-said-to-target-more-than-2-trillion-valuation-in-ipo?srnd=homepage-americas">reports</a> that the company is seeking a $1.75 trillion valuation with a listing in June. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs are the banks leading the offering, which are projected to receive <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musks-go-to-banker-is-back-in-action-for-the-spacex-ipo-1dac530a">$400 million</a> from fees.
But in 2020, Elon Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1310672832783884290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1310672832783884290%7Ctwgr%5E5a935ef8b4d0a3cbb4a7e2977788ea09d4cd261a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2020%2F09%2F28%2Felon-musk-spacex-will-probably-ipo-starlink-in-several-years.html">promised</a> not to leave out the retail investor. “We will probably IPO Starlink, but only several years in the future when revenue growth is smooth &amp; predictable. Public market does *not* like erratic cash flow haha. I’m a huge fan of small retail investors. Will make sure they get top priority. You can hold me to it,&#8221; Musk said. Starlink is a division of SpaceX. 
Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2039046398566625501">posted</a> “stand by me” Tuesday on X, the day before reports emerged that SpaceX had filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). CNBC reports that the billionaire is considering reserving as much as 30% of SpaceX’s IPO for individual investors. Typically, retail investors are allocated about 5 to 10% of shares. Musk also appears to be breaking from the competitive IPO bank selection process by turning to trusted relationships.
Chairman of Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, Michael Grimes, is expected to lead the IPO. He’s worked with Musk before, helping him take Tesla public in 2010 and Twitter private in 2022. Reporting says that Musk submitted a confidential filing, which allows the company to submit its financials to the SEC for regulatory review before the public and prospective investors are able to view. At least fifteen days before the IPO roadshow, SpaceX will have to release a public filing, where investors will be able to review the company&#8217;s financials, business model, and key risks.
The Wall Street Journal reports Musk will do something nontraditional with the roadshow. Normally, executives hit the road to meet investors, but Musk wants investors to travel to SpaceX, where they can view its manufacturing facilities and potentially witness rocket launches.
Musk’s primary goal for SpaceX is to make human consciousness multi-planetary. He hopes to eventually establish a colony on Mars.
SpaceX owns Starlink, and as of February 2, xAI. SpaceX is planning to construct data centers in space using SpaceX rockets to build out the structure. The power generated from these orbital data centers could help satisfy the enormous energy demands of xAI, depending on whether the technology operates as Musk predicts. Musk has previously stated, &#8220;If we harness even a billionth of the Sun’s power for AI/robotics, it will be a 1000X return.”

Musk Eyes Record-Breaking Listing With Retail Investors At The Center

Business

Starlink

Stock Market

Wall Street

Artemis II

The Media Does Not Want To Talk About This Historic NASA Launch. Here’s Why.

Legacy Media

Matt Walsh

Medicare

Moon

NASA

Opinion

Space

PALM BEACH — President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday to move Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents &#8220;to the airports&#8221; unless Democrats quickly come to an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
The president spoke up in a Truth Social post Saturday in Palm Beach, where he spent the morning golfing. His threat comes as more than 300 TSA officers have quit their jobs, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tsa-absences-double-shutdown-300-quit-airport-security-lines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a>, and while TSA officers have begun calling out at increasing rates, causing long security lines across the nation.
&#8220;The Radical Left Democrats have hurt so many people with their vicious and uncaring ways. What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace. If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!&#8221; the president <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116268396341038197">began</a>, later adding, &#8220;I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, &#8216;GET READY.'&#8221;
&#8220;If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,&#8221; vowed Trump in an earlier Truth Social post.
ICE&#8217;s work would include, according to the president, &#8220;the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia, who have totally destroyed, with the approval of a corrupt Governor, Attorney General, and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, the once Great State of Minnesota.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1063659" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-threatens-to-deploy-ice-to-airports-if-democrats-wont-fund-dhs/unpaid-tsa-officers-cause-lengthy-security-lines-at-newark-airport" rel="attachment wp-att-1063659"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1063659" class="wp-image-1063659 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2267244797.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2267244797.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2267244797-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2267244797-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2267244797-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>Travelers wait in long security lines at Newark Liberty International Airport as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers work without pay during a busy travel weekend on March 21, 2026. (Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,&#8221; the president concluded.
Early Saturday morning, billionaire Elon Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-offers-to-pay-tsa-salaries-as-dhs-shutdown-drags-on?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Elon+Musk+Offers+To+Pay+TSA+Salaries+As+DHS+Shutdown+Drags+On">offered</a> to personally cover the salaries of the TSA agents who are working without pay due to the shutdown.
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk said Saturday.
The White House didn&#8217;t immediately respond to a request for comment on the topic.
As the shutdown continues, officers are reporting that they are struggling to cover basic expenses, including rent and childcare, according to the Department of Homeland Security. One TSA officer faces eviction after missing his first full paycheck, and another, who is a cancer patient, is unable to keep up with insurance copays.
Some TSA officers are even sleeping in their cars at the airport, The Daily Wire has learned, in order to save on gas money and other costs while they continue to work without pay.
The surge in unscheduled absences is due in part to TSA officers taking second jobs to make ends meet, DHS shared. Many workers had not yet recovered from the last two shutdowns, since this is the third shutdown they have faced during the past 15 months.

President Trump Spends Weekend At Mar-a-Lago In Palm Beach

Trump Threatens To Deploy ICE To Airports If Democrats Won’t Fund DHS

Department of Homeland Security

Donald Trump

Executive

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Politics

Elon Musk recently offered to personally cover the salaries of TSA agents as a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown stretches into its second month, leaving tens of thousands of federal workers without pay.
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk wrote Saturday on <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2035306094281855336">X</a>.
The proposal comes as Congress remains deadlocked over funding for DHS, which oversees the TSA. While most of the federal government has been funded, DHS has been left out of a broader agreement, triggering a prolonged lapse that is now rippling across the country’s airports.
The shutdown has left TSA officers, who are classified as essential employees, working without pay, a situation that has translated into staffing shortages and mounting delays.
At major hubs including Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, security wait times have reportedly stretched beyond three hours. Footage out of Philadelphia showed hundreds of passengers backed up through escalators and checkpoints in the early morning hours.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
JUST IN🚨: Major disruption at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) this morning 😳 Several TSA checkpoints (including A-West, C, and F) are temporarily closed due to staffing issues from the ongoing partial gov shutdown. Lines shifting—arrive early! <a href="https://t.co/j0zYpyBLPG">pic.twitter.com/j0zYpyBLPG</a>
— Officer Lew (@officer_Lew) <a href="https://twitter.com/officer_Lew/status/2034572310724686061?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Similar footage has been shared from Atlanta&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/Ella__Dorsey/status/2034953731322638680">Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport</a>, <a href="https://x.com/Breaking911/status/2035026818034495759">George Bush Intercontinental Airport</a> in Houston, and others. According to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/airport-tsa-wait-time-live-updates-vis">CNN&#8217;s</a> TSA wait times dashboard, the average wait times in Houston are the longest at 120 minutes, followed by Atlanta at 70 minutes, and New York&#8217;s LaGuardia at 46 minutes.
The strain is expected to worsen. A leading TSA union official <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/tsa-union-leader-warns-airport-security-risks-get-worse-major-travel-events-loom">warned this week</a> that security risks tied to the shutdown are likely to “get worse,” particularly as the agency had already been operating under a hiring freeze.
Behind the delays is a growing financial crisis among TSA officers. Roughly 50,000 workers are now approaching a second missed paycheck, many still recovering from a previous 43-day shutdown just months ago. <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/tsa-union-leaders-demand-end-dhs-shutdown">According to union officials</a>, some officers are taking on gig work, delivering packages or driving for rideshare apps, while others are turning to food banks or applying for public assistance.
Union representatives say officers have been sleeping in their cars, facing eviction, or selling plasma to cover basic expenses. Airports across the country have responded with emergency measures: food drives, free meals, gas cards, and even on-site pantries.
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, officials are distributing meal vouchers for each shift. Other hubs, including Seattle-Tacoma and Dallas-Fort Worth, have begun directly supplying food to screening checkpoints.
Despite the hardships, officers are still required to report to work or face disciplinary action.
In Washington, Republicans have pushed for funding of individual branches of DHS, while Democrats have refused to go along with funding branches like TSA until immigration reform is promised. The dispute has left the agency in limbo, even as ICE and CBP continue normal operations, having been funded by the &#8220;One Big Beautiful Bill.&#8221;
Lawmakers say negotiations are ongoing, but no clear resolution has emerged. In the meantime, the consequences are becoming increasingly visible, not only in airport delays, but in workforce attrition. Hundreds of TSA officers <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/airports-rush-feed-unpaid-tsa-workers-belts-tighten-2026-03-21/">have already quit</a> since the shutdown began, raising concerns that staffing shortages could persist even after funding is restored.
Musk’s offer, while attention-grabbing, raises significant legal and logistical questions. It remains unclear whether a private individual could directly pay federal employees, or how such an arrangement would be structured within existing labor and appropriations laws. Federal pay is tightly controlled by Congress, and outside compensation could present conflicts with ethics rules and federal employment statutes.
Even still, the shutdown drags on and the strain only intensifies. TSA officers working without pay, airports buckling under delays, security concerns quietly mounting in the background, and no deal in sight. The episode is becoming a stark illustration of a deeper question: how long a system can function when the government falters, and whether figures like Elon Musk are willing, or able, to fill the gap.

Elon Musk Offers To Pay TSA Salaries As DHS Shutdown Drags On

Air Travel

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X announced Friday that it is challenging a $140 million fine imposed by the European Commission under what critics call the bloc&#8217;s digital “censorship” law. 
The social media company was hit with a fine in December 2025 for alleged non-compliance with the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping speech-regulation law that allows authorities to penalize companies for failing to remove so-called misinformation or other content deemed illegal. X filed an appeal on Monday in the E.U.&#8217;s General Court, arguing it was denied due process and faced a biased enforcement process. 
“This EU Decision resulted from an incomplete and superficial investigation, grave procedural errors, a tortured interpretation of the obligations under the DSA, and systematic breaches of rights of defence and basic due process requirements suggesting prosecutorial bias,” X’s Global Government Affairs team <a href="https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/2024803983093629298">said</a>. “X remains committed to user safety and transparency while defending our users&#8217; access to the only global town square.”
X&#8217;s move marks the first legal challenge to the Digital Services Act, which critics say enables political censorship and punishment of disfavored viewpoints. The law allows the European Commission to impose significant financial penalties on tech companies it claims are not doing enough to combat so-called disinformation.
The act relies on non-governmental organizations that advise regulators on whether online content may be deemed illegal for violating E.U. standards. It places significant reporting and compliance burdens on tech companies. In certain cases, American tech companies may be fined up to 6% of their global revenue if they violate specific conditions. 
The legal challenge is being supported by Alliance Defending Freedom International, which has spoken out extensively against the Digital Services Act. 
“X is where millions of people go to freely express their views. This is a crackdown on X by authorities who view a free speech platform as a serious threat to their total control of online narratives,” said Adina Portaru, a senior European counsel for ADF International. “By targeting X, they are targeting the free speech of individuals across the world who simply want to share ideas online free from censorship.”
Portaru said the legal challenge confronts what she described as the enormous power the European Commission wields to define the content moderation rules, launch investigations, and levy fines.
“If the Commission’s concentration of power goes unchallenged, it will further cement a highly problematic standard for speech control across the EU and beyond,” she said. 
In October, ADF International led a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/for-thursday-exclusive-free-speech-advocates-challenge-eu-over-pan-european-censorship-regime">letter</a> signed by more than 100 free speech advocates urging the European Commission to reconsider the law. In a November review, the commission claimed that the act was content-neutral. 
X owner Elon Musk called the fine against his company “bullsh*t” and, one day after it was issued, <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1997279325876367719">said</a> the European Union should be &#8220;abolished.&#8221;
Both the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have voiced opposition to the law.
“Look, Europe has to be very careful,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/europe-has-to-be-very-careful-trump-issues-stern-warning-after-eu-fines-elon-musks-x">said</a> while commenting on the fine back in December. “They’re doing a lot of things. … Europe is going in some bad directions. It’s very bad for the people.”
Last week, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-would-give-american-victims-of-foreign-censorship-power-to-sue?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Bill+Would+Give+American+Victims+Of+Foreign+Censorship+Power+To+Sue">said</a> lawmakers are exploring legislation to protect American companies from penalties under foreign laws that regulate speech. The committee has released documents it says show the European Union pressured tech companies to create guidelines defining acceptable speech on topics ranging from mass migration to men competing in women’s sports.

SWITZERLAND-POLITICS-ECONOMY-DIPLOMACY

Elon Musk Escalates Fight With Europe Over ‘Speech Controls’

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World

What does European censorship look like, and why should Americans care? I answered that question before the <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/europes-threat-american-speech-and-innovation-part-ii">U.S. House Judiciary Committee</a> this week.
The last time I <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/europes-threat-american-speech-and-innovation">testified</a> before the Committee in September, I highlighted the censorship potential of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which at the time still seemed theoretical. My message then was that this EU law controlling online speech was poised to censor lawful expression beyond Europe, including in the United States.
Many were not convinced.
But now we have moved from theory to practice. There can be no doubt now that the DSA is the tip of a massive censorship industrial complex with global implications.
I testified yesterday before the Committee that the enormous fines recently levied on X by the European Commission prove beyond all doubt that the EU means to strangle free speech by a systematic assault on US companies. This is corroborated by the Committee’s incendiary new <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/new-report-exposes-european-commission-decade-long-campaign-censor-american" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, which shows that American companies are already having to adopt EU content moderation policies.
The EU has a multi-pronged strategy to open a slew of investigations, to add more and more regulations, to impose crippling fines, and, ultimately, to either break up or ban companies such as X, which are pro-free-speech.
Free speech is such a threat to European elites that they intend to either cripple X with fines and investigations or force them to bend the knee at the altar of censorship. I hope X stands strong because we need free speech in Europe more than ever.
But it goes deeper; this censorship campaign is not just aimed at destroying free speech in Europe, it’s about imposing European Union speech laws globally.
Make no mistake, Europe’s draconian speech laws are being imposed across the world via global content moderation rules.
The EU’s obsession with eliminating free speech means that they are deploying a global campaign to ensure that all speech online bans “illegal content” and “prevents systemic risk” to the “discourse”.
And the costs are borne by real people, like my client Päivi Räsänen, a longtime Finnish parliamentarian, who has spent more than six years criminally prosecuted for peacefully expressing her Christian beliefs in a 2019 Bible verse tweet. Räsänen also testified alongside me before the Committee on her ordeal, as she awaits a verdict from Finland’s Supreme Court for “hate speech” charges under the national law for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”. Of course, “hate speech” has no meaning except speech that European elites hate.
This is what European censorship looks like in practice: the process itself becomes the punishment, designed to chill speech, exhaust dissenters, and warn others to stay silent. And if this is what happens to a sitting parliamentarian in a Western democracy, Americans should have no illusion that either American companies or their citizens will be spared if these censorship regimes are allowed to normalize globally.
* * *
Lorcán Price is an Irish barrister and legal counsel for ADF International.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Uncle Sam

How Europe Plans To Strangle American Free Speech

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

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When Elon Musk announced that SpaceX would acquire his xAI company, most news outlets framed the merger as a corporate reshuffling, with some even describing the deal as a financial lifeline for the AI company. Musk’s own words, however, suggest something far more ambitious than a rescue mission. With the acquisition taking place on February 2, the early architecture of a system that ties energy, computing, space infrastructure, and artificial intelligence into one vertically integrated machine has begun to come into focus.
In December, Musk stated, “Space-based industries will vastly exceed the value of all of Earth, given that you could harness roughly 100,000 times more energy than Earth and still be using less than a millionth of the Sun’s energy.” The billionaire argued that Earth is the bottleneck and space is the throughput.
Just ten days before the merger announcement, Musk hinted at the scale of his vision: “If we harness even a billionth of the Sun’s power for AI/robotics, it will be a 1000X return. Money won’t mean much at that point.”
AI is rapidly becoming one of the most energy-hungry technologies ever built. Goldman Sachs <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/ai-to-drive-165-increase-in-data-center-power-demand-by-2030">projects</a> that power demand from data centers will increase by 50% by 2027 and over 165% by 2030. Training advanced AI models requires enormous clusters of GPUs, and keeping them from overheating is an engineering challenge of its own. Nvidia&#8217;s latest chip was engineered to be better optimized to cool down the hardware, highlighting that advances in AI are as much about optimizing energy as increasing computational power.
Musk is taking a different approach to energy, looking to use SpaceX to create power grids in orbit.
Two days before the merger, SpaceX filed a request with the federal government, asking permission to launch a massive orbital data center in space. If the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grants the request, SpaceX will be able to launch its reusable rockets to build a massive constellation of satellites powered by solar energy.
The power generated from these orbital data centers could help satisfy the enormous energy demands of xAI, depending on whether the technology operates as described.
According to SpaceX, orbital data centers operate with little maintenance cost and never have to deal with a cloudy day, as it is “always sunny in space.” With its vast new energy source, Musk predicts that xAI will, in turn, be able to solve bigger problems and manage larger computations.
Not all are as optimistic as Musk. &#8220;Talk of launching data centers into space, sounds somewhere between optimistic to delusional. The same could be said of the value public markets have ascribed to the billionaire’s corporate efforts to date,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/commentary/breakingviews/spacexs-125-trln-deal-risks-burn-up-re-entry-2026-02-03/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">wrote</a> Robert Cyran for Reuters. He compared SpaceX and xAI&#8217;s merger to bankrupt companies in the dot-com bubble. He added, “Musk’s self-referential merger universe, if anything, revolves around even more outlandish hopes.”
The combined company is now valued at an estimated $1.25 trillion, making it the largest private tech enterprise in history, and the Financial Times reports that SpaceX is still aiming for an initial public offering in June. The IPO of the now combined company is expected to raise up to $50 billion, which would stand as largest IPO of all time.

Elon Musk’s Wild Space Gamble Could Decide Who Controls AI’s Future

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