Book Club update! Plus: Is Elon Musk a national security risk?

I wanted to share a gift link to an important op-ed by Russel L. Honoré, a retired U.S. Army Lt. General, that ran in the New York Times today...but first:

FrameLab Book Club update

By popular demand, The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics will be the January selection of the FrameLab Book Club.

Over 447 FrameLab readers plan to participate in the book club, and 47% chose The Political Mind as the first read. In early January, we'll share some instructions for how the book club will work, given that it has so many members!

In the meantime, it's time to get the book and start reading! We highly encourage you to get the book at your local public library if that's an option.

If you plan to buy the book, we hope you'll consider supporting independent bookstores. FrameLab is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, and if you order the book from this link , you can support independent bookstores and FrameLab.

Here are some of our other favorite bookstores:

• East Bay Booksellers (Just reopening after a fire!)
• Powell's Books (Portland's "City of Books")
• Better World Books (Buy books, do good in the world)

(And, of course, the book is available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon)

If you plan to read the book in physical format, it may take time to ship. So please order now and start reading!

Also: We plan to make this an especially interactive and interesting experience for our paid subscribers. So if you haven't yet become a paid subscriber, now is a great time to do so! Our paid subscribers make FrameLab possible. Click here join 567 readers in becoming a paid subscriber today.

Retired General: Musk a 'security risk'

In the New York Times, a retired general asks an important question: "Is Elon Musk a national security risk?"

You can read the entire piece via this gift link: "Elon Musk is a National Security Risk."

Retired Lt. General Russel L. Honoré frames up the case against Elon Musk's role in our federal government.

It is now fair to ask the question: Is Elon Musk a national security risk?

According to numerous interviews and remarks, Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency co-leader, Vivek Ramaswamy, once appeared to believe he was. In May 2023, Mr. Ramaswamy went so far as to publicly state, “I have no reason to think Elon won’t jump like a circus monkey when Xi Jinping calls in the hour of need,” a reference to China’s leader. In a separate X post targeting Mr. Musk, he wrote, “the U.S. needs leaders who aren’t in China’s pocket.”

Mr. Ramaswamy has since walked back his numerous public criticisms of Mr. Musk, but he was right to raise concerns. According to news reports, Mr. Musk and his rocket company, SpaceX, face federal reviews from the Air Force, the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General and the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security for failing to provide details of Mr. Musk’s meetings with foreign leaders and other potential violations of national-security rules.

The "national security risk" framing is very important. It calls into question why Musk has been allowed to attain so much government money and power, and whether that poses a threat to the nation.

We hope you will read the entire piece and share it with everyone you know.