Elon Musk Has Officially Been Named… America’s Food & Beverages Director?
It kills me to draw a parallel between a man I greatly respect and a man I deeply revile. But if it is the best way to illustrate my point, I have to bite the bullet and make the connection.
In Martin Scorsese’s cult-classic Casino, there is a scene where lead character Sam Rothstein, played by Robert De Niro, is discussing his vision for managing The Tangiers, a fantastically lucrative mob-owned Las Vegas Casino. De Niro is bemoaning the fact that the Nevada Gaming Commission is unlikely to approve his license application to manage the casino. His history of criminal charges for illegal book-making back home in New York, on top of his association with known organized crime figures, are functional non-starters for holding one of the most powerful non-elected positions in the state.
Andy Stone, played by the late great Alan King, a mobbed up union leader working with Sam on keeping the truckloads of money rolling from The Tangiers to mob bosses in Kansas City, Chicago and New York, laughs dismissively at Sam’s concerns.
“Sam, you don’t need a license to run the casino. We just change your title every year or so and submit a new application. Every time we change the title your file goes right to the bottom of the pile and the review starts all over. See? So we’ll just…
