California Forever
'Solano Gap': California Forever scrambles to create a need
It's looking very, very bad for the tech billionaires' plan to impose a "utopia" city on Solano County. Can the project be saved?
Latest
California Forever
Miracle in Solano: California Forever unites Democrats and Republicans
The point: The California Forever project appears headed for a massive defeat in November. But the billionaires behind the proposed "tech utopia" have managed to pull off a true political miracle in 2024: uniting Democrats and Republicans – against their project. I got a sneak peak at more detailed
Fascism
San Francisco tech VC applauds fascist Pinochet's helicopter 'death rides'
The point: Local tech venture capitalist Lee Edwards – a vocal ally of Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan – publicly celebrated a fascist dictator's habit of throwing murdered political opponents from helicopters. It's the latest escalation of violent imagery and rhetoric from San Francisco's anti-progressive tech
network state
Balaji depicts California Forever as a Network State project
The Point: During a tech podcast last September, Network State leader Balaji Srinivasan appeared to confirm that the California Forever project in Solano County is, indeed, part of the cultish Network State movement. This could further complicate things for the project's developers, who already face strong opposition from
network state
Cool Gray City of Tech Authoritarians: Balaji's dark vision for San Francisco
Maybe you can literally have like the sovereign city of San Francisco and secede effectively ... if you have total control of the city ... maybe it's possible. – B.S. The Point: Like some mustache-twirling cartoon villain, the main tech figure behind the Network State cult lays out a "
garry tan
Psst, New York Times. The Network State cult hates you
What if [A.G.] Sulzberger is more like Keyser Söze? What if his employees are highly self-interested professional prevaricators? What if they've always been like that? – Balaji Srinivasan, "The Network State." The point: The New York Times profiled Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, but failed to
Résumé puffing scandal sparks tech war on S.F. press
The Point: A candidate for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors got caught puffing up his résumé and – in a highly-anticipated escalation – billionaire-funded tech "mods" declared MAGA-like war on the San Francisco press. There may be a method to their madness. The Background: The story is simple and
doom loop
Fake deaths rock San Francisco politics
The Point: The line between truth and lies – and even life and death – gets blurry in San Francisco politics. Avoid hasty conclusions. The Backstory: It is a season of questionable obituaries in San Francisco. First there was Richard Parina, the elderly pro-police law-and-order activist whose sudden death sent SF'
san francisco
Macy’s, AI and the Anatomy of San Francisco's ‘Doom Loop’ game
AI ended San Francisco's Doom Loop. Then Macy's brought it back
London Breed is Falling Down (Don’t tell Tech Bros)
The point: Yet another major poll reveals catastrophic numbers for San Francisco Mayor London Breed. With multiple surveys showing Breed's political career in a doom loop, her politically amateur Tech Bro supporters face a simple electoral IQ test: Stick by a failing and flailing incumbent, or to start
garry tan
‘Absolute piece of sh-t.’ Is this why Garry Tan blocked you on Twitter?
Is this why Garry Tan blocked you on Twitter?
Cat Fight: The problem of 'parallel' journalism
The point: We may be seeing the emergence of a new strategy in which certain kinds of "journalists" go on the attack against other journalists who report on billionaires. Expect this trend to continue as billionaires continue to fund new forms of "parallel media," wholly dependent