Blogs and Ends: Hump Day Dump
Tucker Carlson rumors
Normally I wouldn’t go with these but at the moment nobody is talking so everything is on the table.
As for the motives for his firing, I’m not certain we’ll ever know for certain. I think it was a lot of pressure on Fox from both the Deep State and major leftwing VC firms. Black Rock was forced to report that they now had 15.1% ownership of Fox. That is enough for Black Rock to put significant pressure on the Murdochs who own the largest minority holding at 40% but that ain’t 51%. If there was already enough internal stockholder dissension Black Rock could put it over the edge. Which is the only reason I can think of that they would take what they knew would be a staggering ratings hit. And absolutely crush their streaming numbers.
I think the silliest one for Carlson’s continued silence is that Fox has a secret blackmail dossier on him. Yeah, bullshit. Look, I know you guys love conspiracies but that one presumes that any damage Carlson can do to Fox by opening his mouth about something outweighs the damage that could be done to the entire corporation and Murdoch family if it became known that they used extortion as a standard business practice. Their entire fortune could be RICOed away overnight and they would be facing charges for securites fraud. So, no it isn’t blackmail.
However, there is a rumor from Megyn Kelley that I have more confidence in. Fox is trying to force Carlson to quit.
But isn’t he fired you ask?
Allegedly, technically no. Fox is simply refusing to put him on the air. They are claiming that because of the exclusivity clause in his contract, he can not work for anyone else including himself while he is still accepting pay from them, he will still be under contract to Fox for the next two years. They also allegedly claimed that he HAS to still accept pay from them during this period. This would mean that Tucker Carlson would spend the next two years completely radio silent which would end any real relevance he has.
What this really means is that they are claiming they have not violated their contract with him and therefore are not required to pay off the fairly substantial penalty clause that is undoubtedly in it. And if he quits, well then they are in the clear. They also know that if he is going to get to work burying Fox in the ratings he needs to do it soon. In other words, it’s a delaying tactic that forces him to quit.
I haven’t looked at the contracts and I’m no lawyer so I can’t say if any of this is true or not but it smells right to me.
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SJW Pixiedusters are piddling all over themselves in delight because Disney is suing Ron DeSantis because he disbanded Reedy Creek. The problem with this is that they are retarded because if what they are saying was true then Disney losses the case automatically while also admitting to securities fraud in court-filed documents and I’m pretty sure Disney didn’t do that.
Pretty sure anyway, admittedly after Iger’s performance at the annual investors meeting I’m not willing to take that one entirely off the table.
I’ll look into it when I have time. The one thing you can be damn sure about is that Left Wing Twitter is talking out of its ass.
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Speaking of Disney Parks. They just had a more spectacular end to the Fantasmic show at Disneyland then they usually do when the Malifiencet animatronic burned down at the climax of the show. From That Park Place:
It was a sight to behold as an apparent fuel leak in the Fantasmic show Saturday night created a situation in which one of Disney’s greatest animatronics was lit ablaze and utterly destroyed. It could have been worse. Located on Tom Sawyer island, where getting fire and rescue is more difficult, Disneyland was relatively lucky that a stray stream of fire did not shoot into foliage or a nearby building. And so, as the company looks to determine how this horrible accident occurred, they’re shutting down all effects using a similar system across all of their parks.
With better than 4,000 Disney employees suddenly on the unemployment line I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that maintenance on something vital was skimped on, or blow off entirely. This isn’t a disaster for Disney since no one was injured. But that said, giant robot performing dragons ain’t cheap either and this one is clearly unsalvagable.
The real problem is that it’s a black eye for Disney when least they needed one.
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More good news for Disney.
Disney World for the first time in its 50 years of existence will be undergoing safety inspections by the state of Florida. While this undoubtedly infuriates Disney’s Hermit Kingdom mentality (probably why the lawsuit got launched), it won’t be anything more than an inconvenience. Which Disney will declare to be an intolerable humiliation.
HOWEVER, something that could be a disastrous problem for Disney is if the Monorail fails a safety inspection. Which it might.
The reason it would be a disaster goes back to Walt Disney himself. When Disneyland was built. Walt was famously disgusted by the miles of seedy, cheap, gaudy hucksters that lined the road to his park. He wanted his new magic Kingdom in Florida to be forever physically isolated. Yeah, I know they own all the land leading up to the Disney World Magic Kingdom but this was designed when the real EPCOT was on the drawing boards and the City of Bay Lake was going to be a thriving metropolis on the Magic Kingdom’s doorstep.
Therefore there would be no doorstep.
There would be a moat.
You will note to the south on this map there is a hilariously small amount of cars in the parking lot. But that is where the vast amount of Disney Magic Kingdom car lots are actually located. To the north, you will see the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. What you will not see is a way to get there on foot unless you are a guest at the $ 750-a-night Disney Contemporary Resort.
You have to either take the paddlewheel ferry. Or… Yep, you guessed it, the monorail.
If Florida shuts that down, they are effectively shutting down the Magic Kingdom. And the truth is those monorails have a bad safety record. Nobody killed yet that I know of but I have my doubts as to how well they will stand up to an outside inspection. There have been several incidents with the monorails over the years and they have been increasing since 2015.
Okay, I’m done here.
