Category: Uncategorized

Another gut punch for McRapey

It’s really remarkable to learn how many sexual predators John Scalzi is associated with, and apparently, even bankrolls:

This news story hit me like a punch to the gut. It features of accusations of sexual assault and domestic violence against Alan Beatts, the owner of Borderland Books. Borderlands is one of my favorite bookstores in the world; Alan is literally one of the first people I met in the science fiction and fantasy community, and a friend. He’s been a huge supporter of me and my work, and conversely I’ve been a supporter of him and Borderlands. It’s the store I’ve held all my San Francisco events at, basically for as long as I’ve been doing events at all. I’ve supported Borderlands annually as a patron, and I lent the store money to purchase a new building, which it’s currently in the process of moving to.

It actually and genuinely hurt to read these accusations, which I believe. I wrote yesterday on Twitter that I was in shock about it, and I still am. This one stirs up emotions for me in a way I’m not prepared to publicly quantify or express. Suffice to say it hits close to home on a number of levels.

So, about the money I gave to Borderlands for its new store. It’s a loan, and as a loan the store’s LLC pays me back a little each year. I’ve gotten a couple of payments on that loan to date.

At this point, one has to look a little askance at anyone with whom Scalzi associates. My top two suspects for future revelations of this type are Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Jim “McCreepy” Hines.

But seriously, how many confirmed sexual predators do you know? Whereas this guy is apparently surrounded by them. The thing is, pretty much the entire SF community is godless, immoral, and relentlessly depraved. That’s why, despite being an author who occasionally writes science fiction, I never wanted anything to do with them after attending my first and only science fiction convention, at which I was one of the featured guests.

The simple truth

I was informed some of Big Bear’s gamma haters were theorizing that I simply invented The Daily Beast interview with Owen Benjamin because they couldn’t find it there or anywhere else. They clearly don’t understand the way the media works, which is to bury an article or an interview if it doesn’t happen to support the narrative they were seeking to push by publishing the piece.

These forwarded emails should suffice to demonstrate that the interview actually took place. And yes, I absolutely advise never talking to the media. The thing is, big bears aren’t VFM and they don’t obey me, they do whatever they want to do. Furthermore, Owen wasn’t the only person The Daily Beast reporter, William Sommer, contacted in connection with the piece.

As to why Mr. Sommer never ran the interview or sent questions to Messrs. Mann and Randazza, you would have to ask him. Perhaps he only published it for his newsletter, although why he would have a deadline for his own newsletter, I do not know.

Subject: Media request – Owen Benjamin / Patreon lawsuit
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 20:10:43 +0000
From: William Sommer

Hi Phil, 

My name’s Will Sommer, I”m a reporter with The Daily Beast. I’m writing an item for my newsletter on how Owen Benjamin’s fight with Patreon appears to have backfired on his fans, who, as I’m sure you know, are now being sued themselves by Patreon. 

Wanted to reach out in case you, Owen, or the other lawyer on the case are interested in commenting. Looking at an end of day Thursday deadline. 

Thanks for your time

Will Sommer
Reporter, The Daily Beast 

william.sommer@thedailybeast.com

@willsommer

From: William Sommer
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2020 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: Hi it’s Owen Benjamin.

Thanks Owen, will write me up and send them over.

From: William Sommer
Date: Wed, Jun 24, 2020 at 8:30 PM
Subject: Re: Hi it’s Owen Benjamin.

Hi Owen, 

Thanks for getting back to me. Forgive the late email but I wanted to get this over once I had it ready– like I said, my deadline isn’t until Thursday, June 24, close of business, so no rush on this. 

In terms of the lawsuit: 

-Patreon says you urged your fans to file claims against Patreon to punish the site, through arbitration costs, for ending your account? Do you think that’s a fair account of what happened? 

-Did your fans realize, when they filed the arbitration complaints, that they could potentially get sued? It strikes me that some of these people might not have realized their names and locations would be outed. In that way, do you think this plan backfired? 

-Do you have plans to cover your fans’ legal fees or expenses? 

In terms of your background: 

-You’ve been described as “alt right” and engaging in “Holocaust denial” in articles, including Bethany Mandel’s in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Do you think those are accurate descriptions? 

Feel free to add anything else on the case you’d like to share. 

Thanks!

Will Sommer
Reporter, The Daily Beast 

william.sommer@thedailybeast.com

@willsommer

An observation

If you hear your lawyer saying either of these two phrases, you’d do well to fire him on the spot. And also recognize that you’re headed for defeat.

  • Your Honor, we still feel that we have a very strong case….
  • It could be argued….
In both cases, you’re dealing with a lawyer who already knows he is beaten, but isn’t prepared to tell the client yet for fear that the checks will stop arriving. No one is more doughty in defeat than a lawyer.

Of course, there is a third phrase that is even worse.

  • We can absolutely appeal this!

I won’t comment on the 72 Bears lawsuit, except to say that I feel good, and I’m not scared at all. I just feel kind of… kind of invincible. Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?

A harder line

The media cheers the politicization and weaponization of the social media companies:

The nation’s technology industry has begun taking a harder line against hate speech, misinformation and posts that potentially incite violence when made by President Donald Trump and some of his most extreme supporters after years of treating such issues gingerly amid fear of triggering the wrath of the nation’s most powerful politician.

The moves, such as labeling false posts by Trump and banishing forums devoted to supporting him after years of policy violations, have taken place across the industry in recent weeks, with actions by Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube and the live-streaming platform Twitch.

Even Facebook, which long has given wide latitude in allowing problematic posts by Trump and his followers, on Wednesday closed down a network of more than 100 accounts and pages affiliated with Trump confidante and convicted felon Roger Stone. The action came years after his use of social media first came under the scrutiny of federal investigators and involved issues dating back to 2015 that the company said it had unearthed only recently.

Of course they’re “taking a harder line”. They’re desperate to prevent President Trump’s reelection. It’s long past time for conservatives to wake up and start treating the enemy as the enemies they are.

The decision was correct

It’s fascinating to see “rule of law” conservatives decrying the Supreme Court decision to honor an 1833 Indian treaty that was never abrogated and is still in force:

The Supreme Court’s recognition of half of Oklahoma as Native land appears to right centuries of historic injustice. It could also make the state a chaotic mess of overlapping jurisdictions where hardened criminals walk free.

In a stunning 5-4 ruling on Thursday, the court found that a massive swath of eastern Oklahoma should be recognized as a Native American reservation. The state’s largest city, Tulsa, sits on this land, along with 1.8 million people, of whom only 15 percent are Native Americans.

It doesn’t right any injustices. It doesn’t actually even change anything. It simply respects the actual language of the still-extant treaty. The fact that the US government broke its treaties with casual disregard for the legalities doesn’t justify the consequences or seal them in stone. Every signed treaty should be honored to the letter.

And the appeal to “hardened criminals” walking free is a complete joke in a country that already has tens of millions of criminal invaders due to its failure to stop immigration.

Could be legit

Or it could be the Hellmouth’s attempt to control the narrative, either way, it is a good sign that more and more people are beginning to recognize the youth-devouring evil emanating from Hollywood:

While fame and fortune are an ever-enticing dream, few things seem less appealing than being a child star, and HBO’s Showbiz Kids certainly reinforces that feeling. Awash in anecdotes about the ways in which the industry—and the attendant hunger for the spotlight that consumes both children and parents—warps, alienates and exploits kids, it’s a documentary which illustrates that, sometimes, being nobody is far healthier, and more fulfilling, than being well-known.

Sexual misconduct is the dark cloud hovering over Showbiz Kids, and it comes to the fore when former Diff’rent Strokes star Todd Bridges recalls being molested as a child—a disclosure that, according to Evan Rachel Wood, isn’t unique, as she claims, “In my experience, I know a lot of kids that grew up in the industry. And what surprised me when I got older was finding out that pretty much all of the young men were abused in some way, sexually.” She then relays that, at a recent Golden Globes gala, she watched a pedophile (whom she doesn’t name) win an award, and had to walk out because she was so disgusted by the praise being lavished upon this monster. As she departed, she thought to herself, “I don’t know if I can do this anymore. I can’t keep watching this happen. I don’t know how to handle this. This has to stop.”

Those moments are definitely the ugliest, and most eye-opening, in Showbiz Kids. Written and directed by Alex Winter, whose big breaks came in Joel Schumacher’s 1987 Brat Pack vampire thriller The Lost Boys and 1988’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the film knows whereof it speaks.

I tend to expect it does, given that the late Schumacher, along with Spielberg, has been repeatedly been rumored to be among the most predatory of the Hellmouth’s more influential denizens.

Mailvox: cutting out the cancer

A CEO’s son writes of an encouraging response to Corporate Cancer:

My father is CEO of a [REDACTED] firm. I gave him my copy of Corporate Cancer after I read it. He read it, immediately sent it to his head of HR and made it mandatory reading for all employees. I’m told his HR manager is close friends with the EVP of HR at [a big bank], who has also now read and is sharing your book. The truth moves silent, but nevertheless moves.

I have a copy to my boss, which was less warmly received… que cera.

I’ve been told by several businessmen that CC is the most important book they’ve ever read, which is encouraging in one sense, and extraordinarily depressing in another. Then again, it probably is more useful in a practical sense than anything Tom Peters, Peter Drucker, or Lee Iacocca ever wrote.

Mailvox: making a difference

Sometimes people are just looking for someone to take a stand:

We belong to a small 400-500 member startup church that I thought was Biblically-based. Several weeks ago, our pastor preached a message on Social Justice.  After several days of consideration, I sent a two-page rebuttal to the sermon.  We fully expected to be asked to leave the church.  Today, the pastor asked me to take one of three eldership positions.

Don’t be afraid to leave. But also, don’t be afraid to lead.

Supreme Court rules against President again

The Supreme Court says the President must turn over his taxes:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a New York prosecutor can obtain President Donald Trump’s financial records but prevented – at least for now – Democratic-led House of Representatives committees from getting similar documents.

Both 7-2 rulings were authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts. One ruling means that the subpoena issued to Trump’s long-term accounting firm, Mazars LLP, for various financial records to be turned over to a grand jury as part of a criminal investigation can be enforced.

But the court sidestepped a major ruling on whether three House committees could also obtain Trump financial documents under subpoena, giving Trump at least a short-term win. Litigation will now continue in lower courts.

In both rulings, Roberts was joined by the court’s four liberals as well as Trump’s two conservative appointees to the court, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

I have no position on this, but things are rapidly getting to the point that one finds oneself beginning to wish Trump would stop arguing and tweeting and start ordering drone strikes.