Elon Fires Rocketmen!

This one is hilarious.  Apparently some employees at SpaceX were angered by Elon Musk’s un-PC comments and opinions, especially around the Twitter deal going on.  So they circulated an open letter berating Musk for embarrassing them.  Apparently they pressured other employees to sign the letter and some of these put-upon employees must have complained to management about being pressured.  Because the letter drafters have been fired.

Essentially they wanted people to sign onto a letter that said, “We don’t like working for Elon Musk at a company owned by Elon Musk.  Gee who would have thought that management would be unhappy with employees staging an insurrection against the boss.  Shocking!  I guess they figured that Elon would say, “You’re right.  I’m stepping down as owner and CEO and let you HR flunkies run the company.  I guess he didn’t get the memo.

 

 

 

 

The Basecamp Saga Continues – The Exodus

After announcing on Monday that employees of the tech company Basecamp would no longer be allowed to post social and political material on the company’s communication channels about a third of the company’s sixty employees have said that hey will accept buyouts and leave the company.

I read through the tweets and they mostly sounded proud that they had taken the stand.  But one of them sounded suspiciously like reality.

 

This whole strategy sounds remarkably like a very clever way to have the dead wood “choose” to go away.  My guess is that for the last year the social justice wing of the company has been horrifyingly unproductive and the owners realized that banning the problematic behavior would enrage the culprits so much that they would leave on their own.

In the current environment of woke ascendancy, telling SJW’s that they have to work instead of complain about the unfairness of life is like asking them not to breath.   And offering them a six month severance package was just too tempting.  So I think “bletchley punk” is definitely on to something.  It sounds like Basecamp’s owners are saying, “Don’t go away mad, just go away.”

Maybe this could become known as the Coin/base/camp gambit, tell employees that they have to work and then hold the doors open as they leave.  You can even hand out vegan muffins to them as they leave and tell them to have a nice day.

Of course it’s also possible that the owners didn’t anticipate this much attrition.  But I think not.  Stay tuned.

The Silicon Valley Monopolies Must be Splintered and Wrenched Away from the SJWs

Back in 1982 the United States federal government decreed that American Telephone and Telegraph Company was a destructive monopoly and for the good of the country needed to be dismembered.  Their sin was that they were so big and successful that no other company would ever be able to successfully compete against them.  Now AT&T was a heavily regulated company and was controlled by a network of government regulations about how they did business and how they had to treat the American public.  In many places phone service was treated as an entitlement that not even non-payment by the consumer justified AT&T disconnecting the service.  And in the hundred plus years of service AT&T never once asked what the consumer’s politics, ethics or even criminal activities were.  They just wanted you to pay the bill every month.

In 2019 Facebook, Twitter, Google and Amazon are the phone company.  We talk to each other and sell things to each other and organize with each other over their networks.  And they are more than the phone company.  They are now also the equivalent of the newspapers, television networks, radio stations, movie theaters and more.  Now Amazon has become Sears and Kmart and even the grocery store, the hardware store, the bookstore, the drug store, the music store, the electronics store, the shoe store, the clothes store and almost every other retail establishment that has ever existed.  Other than a few megastores like Walmart and Home Depot no one can compete with Amazon.  The shopping malls and retail streets of every city and town in America have been emptied and shuttered by this business behemoth.

These companies are the very definition of monopolies that the anti-trust laws were written to guard against.  They cry out for some kind of action.  And if they had no other agenda than to make money by the tera-buck they would need to be busted up.  But that’s actually the smaller problem.

The real problem is that they have taken sides in the culture war and have indeed formed an overarching conspiracy to crush anyone and everyone who disagrees with their radical progressive agenda.  And their monolithic control allows them to banish anyone they disagree with from access to the audience needed to communicate, organize and resist the progressive narrative.  And even that’s not the worst of it.

They have joined forces with corporate America to literally destroy the lives and livelihoods of those they dislike.  With the help of social justice warriors on-line they can get a man fired from his job, SWAT-ed by the local police, have his guns confiscated, ejected from his bank and deplatformed from his own web-business.  So far, they haven’t been able literally throw you into a gulag but I’m sure they’re working on it as we speak.

So, imagine if back in the day AT&T or the local electric company or gas company had sent you a letter that said that because they didn’t like your politics or things you said they were turning off your service.  How long would it be before the Feds put the screws to that utility company and fined them until they desisted from discriminating against American citizens?

The Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice works for William Barr.  Barr works for President Trump and he works for me because I voted for him.  I want President Trump to tell Barr to take Amazon and bust it into a thousand pieces.  I want him to cut off all federal funds to Facebook, Google and Twitter and then fine those lousy cretins into bancruptcy for discriminating against non-progressives of all stripes.  I want him to investigate Pay Pal, Stripe, Wells Fargo, Chase Manhattan and any other financial institution that deplatformed any non-progressive businessmen just because they don’t like their politics or religious beliefs.

Sure, there are plenty of other things that the President needs to do but these things will strengthen his supporters, weaken his enemies, take money away from the Leftists and besides everything else it’s easy to do because it’s exactly what the law tells him he should do.  It’s low hanging fruit and it’s a no-brainer.  And besides everything else it will be fun.

So, do it!

Finally Fox News Grows a Pair

Fox News has finally decided not to reflexively fold as soon as the Left bullies some advertisers into dropping a conservative opinion show.  Tucker Carlson has of late been outspoken on immigration and other right-wing priorities and consequently has been the focus of all the usual suspects (Moveon.org, Media Matters, Sleeping Giants, etc.)  hounding weak-kneed corporations to drop Right-Wing broadcasters.

Fox put out a statement saying they won’t cave.  Sounds good.  Let’s see if they stay the course or beg for mercy.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fox-news-defends-tucker-carlson-we-will-not-be-censored-by-intimidation-efforts

 

The Brave and the Bold: Book 3 of the Hidden Truth by Hans G. Schantz – A Science Fiction Book Review

Last year I reviewed the preceding volume in the series, “A Rambling Wreck,” and found it a good read.  This year the author graciously provided me with an advanced copy so I have been able to enjoy the present work before the general public.  Ah, behold the awesome power of the Press!

 

I will summarize the type of story it is and then give my opinion on the quality of the story.  The narrative has science fiction elements that include alternate time lines, secret societies, possibly alien creatures and advanced technologies.  It also has elements that would be found in a techno-thriller including conspiracy theories, secret government cabals and corrupt bureaucracies.  But much of the story could just as easily be found in the pages of daily news sites.  There are progressive organizations infiltrating government, university and industry hierarchies with the intent of implementing speech and thought codes and suppressing non-progressive ideas.

 

The story revolves around the ongoing attempt by the protagonists to infiltrate the Civic Circle, attack it and expose it for the evil cabal that it is.  The Civic Circle is the hidden hand behind all the progressive and globalist initiatives going on around the world.  They control enormous wealth and have members at the highest levels of government in the United States and elsewhere.  They have control of the FBI, powerful judges, captains of industry and press, education and entertainment leaders.  They also restrict research into areas that might threaten their stranglehold on advanced technology that is the basis for the “Hidden Truth” aspect of the series.  This hidden truth is the misunderstood nature of electromagnetic phenomena and how it interacts with quantum effects and the basis of reality and time-space.  This is how the alternate time-line aspect of the story relates to the techno-thriller elements.  The technology allows the Civic Circle to know where a crucial event will occur and use force to steer the future the way they desire.  That is why in this timeline there was a President Gore and the 9-11 attack destroyed the Capitol Building.  And President Gore is assassinated and leads to a President Lieberman.  Mixed in with all this is a subplot that is either some kind of occult activity or advanced technology masquerading as the occult.  The good guys include a college engineering student (the hero), a pick-up artist, Vatican ninjas, a Chinese tong group and a Georgia paramilitary group.  Without a doubt the sensibilities and allegiance of the good guys is right-wing.  The Left is always characterized as the corrupt and generally evil side of the population.  In general, the multi-culti progressive values and ideas are pounded on pretty relentlessly in the book.  But since the plot identifies the progressive agenda as the method being used by the Civic Circle to gain complete control over all aspects of western society this characterization aligns with the plot of the story.

 

So how well did the story do its job?  The plot is very intricate and the action moves back and forth as various characters and events influence it.  The main characters have matured since the last book and are involved in all the responsibilities and danger facing their clandestine group.  And in this book the outcome is much more substantial and critical to moving along the overall narrative.  In other words, big stuff is going on.  Being an installment in a series the pay-off is only partial and only some information is added to solving the mysteries of the “hidden truth.”  But there is a satisfying ending to the episode.

 

Who will like this book and who won’t?  First off, if you are big proponent of multi-culturalism or intersectionality you will consider this book an insult to your world view.  In general, if you dislike the right wing you might not be sympathetic to the main character’s point of view and this could ruin the story for you.  Those folks aside, this story will appeal to folks who like hard science fiction, techno-thrillers and anyone who really, really dislikes the Left.

 

I would say it would appeal to people who liked Heinlein’s story Revolt in 2100.  In both stories you have a young protagonist who is mentored by an older character while fighting for the overthrow of a corrupt and totalitarian regime.

 

And finally I liked the story myself.  This volume has definitely increased the interest by making the action much more significant and making the protagonist a more important actor in the drama.  At several points there is excellent suspense when the character is being interrogated by the spymasters of the Civic Circle.  Hans Schantz has crafted his story with loving details.  Everything from the IT needed to infiltrate the Civic Circle’s information network to the architectural details of the lair of the evil Civic Circle.  And for real science fans he goes on to tell us outside of the narrative that some of the Hidden Truth is actually scientific fact that he himself is documenting in peer reviewed papers.

 

I heartily recommend The Brave and the Bold.

Congratulations to Kevin J. Anderson and Sarah A. Hoyt for their Dragon Awards Win

Dragon Award for Best Alternate History Novel went to “Uncharted” by Kevin J. Anderson, KJA and Sarah A. Hoyt.

As one of the Sad Puppies, Sarah sacrificed a great deal of her status and probably a good chunk of her friends in science fiction circles along with some significant measure of her peace of mind by bucking the CHORFs of the science fiction SJWs.  Thanks to the Sad Puppies a goodly number of people were reintroduced to readable science fiction long after they believed it had all been reduced to boring unreadable marxist, intersectionalist, message fiction, drivel.  Thanks to the Puppies and especially Larry Correia the Dragon Awards were founded and have provided a sane alternative to the self-parody that the Hugo Awards have devolved into.  Requiescat in pace.

So good for them and if you are looking for good stuff to read check to see who was nominated for the Dragons   http://awards.dragoncon.org/2018-ballot/  .  But for pity’s sake don’t even glance at the list of Hugo nominees.  No man can hope to look into the gorgon’s face and survive!

Hugos Reacheth Terminal Self Parody Status – And on the Vox Day He Rested

How can you blame him for taking the victory lap and congratulating his minions on a job well done?

https://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/08/this-is-what-victory-looks-like.html

Maybe next year the winning book will be a time travel adventure where a brave trans-gendered woman goes back in time and warns Hillary not to set up the server in her bathroom and also stops John Podesta from using the password “password” on the DNC e-mail system.  And then she wins the Miss America pageant, marries George Clooney and cures breast cancer but not prostate cancer.  Grand Slam!

Vox Day Has a Good Link on the Star Wars Debacle

So, it seems Disney has realized that Kathleen Kennedy drove the Star Wars franchise into the ground by turning a boys’ adventure fantasy into a girl empowerment snoozefest.  And according to the source quoted nobody is willing to take over from her because the risk is too great.  http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/06/will-no-one-rid-disney-of-this.html .

Oh, this is too much!  Can schadenfreude cause a stroke?  I laughed so hard I think I burst an aneurysm in my brain.  When you add up the ESPN, Star Wars and the Roseanne debacles SJWs must have cost Disney at least several billion dollars in lost revenue.  Can you imagine the heat that Iger must be feeling?  Oh, it’s marvelous.  And with the ninth movie of the Star Wars saga in production already and J.J. Abrams refusing to take more than directorial control over that pile of risk I wouldn’t be surprised if the House of Disney doesn’t have a major shake-up on the horizon.  It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of progressives.

Read the whole thing including the info at the link and the comments at Vox Popoli, they’re hysterical.  It’s like a textbook case of feminism running a male based activity straight into the ditch.  Oh, my poor ribs, they ache.

Let’s review, Disney pays Lucas umpty-ump billions of dollars for a franchise that is basically a boomer/millennial male-bonding experience and they let a bitter feminist turn it into young Rosie O’Donnell with a light saber meets the First Wives’ Club.  With apologies to Count Rugen, I think that’s the worst thing I ever heard.  Is it possible that Disney is purposefully bankrupting itself to help tank the economy to spite Trump?  It seems plausible.  I mean no one could be this stupid right?

Full disclosure, I’m not the target audience for any of these movies.  I thought the first Star Wars movie was great fun when I saw it on the big screen back in the seventies.  But the second one was kind of disjointed and not as much fun.  The third one was a hot mess.  I mean, ewoks?  After that I was glad that it seemed to be over.  The newer editions are by most accounts terrible and I couldn’t imagine wasting time on them.  But I brought my grandsons to see the seventh one and I was amazed at how derivative it was from the first movie and how unpleasant it turned out.  Now, I’m far from disappointed that the series looks to be going down for the count.  What someone should do is start a new series based on an interesting and fun sci-fi or fantasy series that will draw kids and their parents in.  Hell, they could update the Lensman series and they’d get more mileage out of that than they’ve managed from Lucas’ anemic vision.  The same can be said for the Marvel and DC cinema series.  They’ve milked those characters and story arcs so strenuously that there’s nothing left but watery skim.

So, read the article and get a good laugh.  But honestly, we’re going to need to let these movie studios go broke.  They’re too stupid to live.

Larry Correia Describes His Disinvitation by Origins Game Fair

Vox had a couple of posts up about this but I figured it would be useful to have Larry’s first hand version.  It does highlight what Vox says about SJWs using any means possible to destroy those who resist their demands.  Larry truly is a moderate guy and the charges used to attack him are laughably untrue.  And he is successful enough that this is more of an insult than an injury but it shows how they can destroy less successful people working anywhere near  an SJW area of influence.  A cautionary tale.

Statement Concerning My Being Disinvited as the Guest of Honor for Origins Game Fair