Today’s SpaceX IPO and the immediate attacks by leftists on @elonmusk should make one thing crystal clear to everyone watching:Leftism is the enemy of humanity. It’s an extinctionist movement that hates excellence and, when carried to its inevitable conclusion, would kill off our species. Watch the ragtag socialist/commie crew of AOC, Bernie Sanders, Platner, Mamdani, Elizabeth Warren, etc. long enough and you’ll see it clearly. They resent excellence. They’re suspicious of ambition. They demonize our best builders and capital allocators. If you’re somehow on the fence because you’ve been led to believe that it’s immoral for someone to have a trillion dollars, consider this: They create precisely nothing of value themselves. They’re the professional version of the worthless critic we all know in our own lives. No innovations. No companies. No major breakthroughs. No employees, aside from staff we’re forced to fund with our tax dollars. On the other hand, Elon has created over 150,000 high-paying jobs at his companies. That doesn’t count contractors, suppliers or their employees. When you add those in, you’re likely talking about millions of jobs affected by him. He’s created tens of thousands of millionaires. His companies changed the car game forever, revolutionized internet access, gave us true free speech online again, helped the blind see, gave autonomy back to disabled people, changed the financial world and will make humanity a spacefaring civilization, which could ultimately save humanity if Earth faces an extinction-level event.
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Saturday, 13 June 2026
"Leftism is the enemy of humanity". Contemplating the Left's reaction to the SpaceX IPO | Robby Starvbuck
Today’s SpaceX IPO and the immediate attacks by leftists on @elonmusk should make one thing crystal clear to everyone watching:Leftism is the enemy of humanity. It’s an extinctionist movement that hates excellence and, when carried to its inevitable conclusion, would kill off our species. Watch the ragtag socialist/commie crew of AOC, Bernie Sanders, Platner, Mamdani, Elizabeth Warren, etc. long enough and you’ll see it clearly. They resent excellence. They’re suspicious of ambition. They demonize our best builders and capital allocators. If you’re somehow on the fence because you’ve been led to believe that it’s immoral for someone to have a trillion dollars, consider this: They create precisely nothing of value themselves. They’re the professional version of the worthless critic we all know in our own lives. No innovations. No companies. No major breakthroughs. No employees, aside from staff we’re forced to fund with our tax dollars. On the other hand, Elon has created over 150,000 high-paying jobs at his companies. That doesn’t count contractors, suppliers or their employees. When you add those in, you’re likely talking about millions of jobs affected by him. He’s created tens of thousands of millionaires. His companies changed the car game forever, revolutionized internet access, gave us true free speech online again, helped the blind see, gave autonomy back to disabled people, changed the financial world and will make humanity a spacefaring civilization, which could ultimately save humanity if Earth faces an extinction-level event.
World largest company flotation! SpaceX
World Cup Tourists Discover the Real America! | Bridget Phetasy
Friday, 12 June 2026
SpaceX IPO Day. Yay!
Just to note that today is the launch of SpaceX as a public company, in the United States, via its Initial Public Offering (IPO), fixed at $US 135 per share.
This is set to be the largest IPO in world history.
Still, Demand is through the roof. Or up in space.
I've been long Elon for a long time. Long Tesla. Plan to be long SpaceX, though might wait for a time, till things settle. No particular rush. This is a Buy 'er and Keeper.
I've posted often about SpaceX, with the posts that come up by putting "SpaceX" in the search box, listed here.
To Infinity.... And Beyond!...
Record Tesla sales here in Hong Kong
AMayzing.
Artificial Intelligence Civil Wars
I’ve noted before how often different AI Large Language Models like Claude, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Grok, can give very different answers to the same question. You’ve got to be super careful and double-check everything.
Case in point:
Famous Car guy Sandy Munro says he has sold his company Munro & Associates. Revealed in a recent vid on Tesla Jigsaw YouTube channel, at a gathering of Tesla fans in Austria.
Seemed a genuine statement to me. I wanted to know when the sale had happened and how much Sandy had sold it for. I asked Google’s Gemini AI, and this is its answer:
His statement about selling was a playful comment or misinterpretation. He recently appeared in an unfiltered interview at the Tesla Takeover event in Austria on the Tesla Jigsaw X feed, where he dropped a surprise "I sold my company" line at the end. [1]Because it was part of an unfiltered, informal chat—and as he often teases retirement—this was widely understood within the community as a lighthearted quip rather than a literal business acquisition announcement. As such, no company sale date or financial figure exists for a formal buyout. Munro remains at the helm of his engineering and manufacturing consulting firm. [1, 2]
Hmmm…
Let’s ask Grok. Where I gave Grok the link to the video and Gemini’s response that it’s all a joke. Fact check please. Here’s Grok’s comment:
Sandy Munro did say he sold his company (Munro & Associates) in the recent interview video you linked (from June 10, 2026, at the Tesla Takeover event in Austria). It does not appear to be a joke based on the context and delivery.
Key Details from the Video and Context
• In the interview with Tesla Jigsaw (around the 27:15 timestamp in the full video), Sandy states: “All right. So, um, I sold my company.” He frames it positively as an opportunity for “something more rewarding,” mentioning “divine intervention” and stepping back from day-to-day decisions/ownership responsibilities while still being involved in a less operational role (e.g., not doing “GM-type thinking”).
• The interviewer and video title/description treat it as a genuine “bombshell” about selling Munro & Associates, his long-running engineering consulting firm known for Lean Design, teardowns, and benchmarking (especially Tesla-related work).
• No indications in the clip or related discussion that it’s sarcasm or kidding—Sandy’s tone aligns with his straightforward, opinionated style on other topics in the same interview (e.g., legacy auto, Elon Musk, EVs).
Supporting Evidence (or Lack Thereof)
• Company status: The official Munro & Associates site (leandesign.com) remains fully active, promoting services, team work, and Sandy’s legacy. No announcements of a sale, rebranding, or shutdown.
• Public reaction: Recent X posts and shares of the video treat the statement as factual news from the interview, with no widespread claims it’s a joke. Older references to Sandy and the company don’t contradict this.
• No independent confirmations yet of a buyer, deal details, or ownership change in news sources (as of now—it’s a very recent video). This is common for private company transactions; they often aren’t publicized immediately with full details.
Bottom Line
It looks legitimate: Sandy has likely sold (majority) ownership of Munro & Associates, allowing him more freedom to speak candidly, travel, and pursue other interests (consistent with his age and long career since founding the firm in 1988/1989). He may still consult or be affiliated in some capacity, which explains why the company website and branding continue unchanged.
No red flags for it being a prank or exaggeration. If more details emerge (e.g., via Munro Live channel or official statements), they should clarify further. The video is worth watching in full for the broader context of his comments.
Well, I dunno. Grok’s answer strikes me as more well thought out than Gemini’s. By the way I did tell Gemini about the video. Which you see from above it simply dismissed as a “playful comment”. Maybe Sandy has the best poker face of all time. But it didn’t seem like kidding to me. Would one kid about selling a super well known company?
Time will tell. My money’s on the Grok analysis.
But, yet again, this tells us how much we need to be wary of AI answers and analyses.
Thursday, 11 June 2026
Something’s Wrong in the State of California
The Zombie Apocalypse: Communism Redux (or.. What Paul Krugman DIDN'T say)
I recall an Oxford Union talk, in 2020, with the guest American Nobel laureate in Economics, professor Paul Krugman. He of a weekly New York Times column. He, a beloved man of the liberal-progressive Left. Oft-quoted in the uber-liberal academic blog "Crooked Timber".
Krugman talks of "Zombie ideas". Which, he claims, are very severe on the Right, in the Republican party. But not in the Democratic Party: "...all important Zombies are on the Right because that's where the money is."
The Zombie idea on the Right that most got on his goat is "the trickle down theory", described in his talk as "cutting taxes for the wealthy". Which Krugman claimed had been debunked over and over, yet kept reappearing, he said, like a shambling Zombie.
The trickle down theory, aka "tax cuts for the rich", and whether or not it's a "Zombie idea" is for another time. But no "important" Zombie ideas on the Left?
Well, I thought. Paul K may not recognise any "Zombie ideas" on the Left, but I sure do. What about the idea of Socialism for a start?
Socialism, no matter what form ("nice" Democratic-Socialism, or not-so-nice Authoritarian-Communism), has been tried again and again. Again and again it's failed. Yet again and again it rises. How it this not seen as the monster "Zombie idea" of the Left? The OG of Zombie ideas. Answer: because it's actually believed. The Left genuinely believes -- at least I believe they believe -- that Socialism holds the promise of equality and justice for all.
And for that reason will do "Whatever it takes" to bring it about.
The fact that it's not succeeded a anywhere it's been tried? The Left's answer: it's never been tried properly. (!)
The Soviet Union, China, East Germany, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Venezuela, Cuba, dozens of African countries... all these don't count as "trying properly"?? Well, I'd call BS on that. But if you still don't accept that, and you still say "it's not been tried properly" there's no falsifying your view. It is inarguable.
In which case, the Zombies have won. At least on the Left. The Zombie idea of Socialism has won.
What then of an idea that's a bad idea, that's been killed off but rises from the dead, like the Zombies, yet still captures the attention of all of academia and swathes of the political Left? What of that?
Well... we might have to admit that the Zombies have won!
And what is it when the Zombies have won? I asked AI and the answer is: Zombie Apocalypse. That's what the Zombies winning is called.
We've now a Zombie Apocalypse in the west.
An old idea. A horrid idea. An idea that impoverishes humankind. Has nonetheless won.
Well done, Left! You've won.
The saddest thing, for me is: I've no longer any hope that in winning "the Left will find out". That the Left will see failure and impoverishment. That they will learn from that. No. The Left has learned nothing of the many previous failures. There's no reason to believe that they'll learn from yet another failure.
Yet now, this Zombie idea, this Zombie Apocalypse, infects not a poor, agrarian post-Tsarist Russia, not a poor agrerian post-imperial China, but the United States. The Anglosphere. The West. The inheritors of the Enlightenment. The vanguard of modernity.
If I'm right that socialism is a very bad idea, that it impoverishes countries it infects, then this Zombie Apocalypse is very bad news indeed.
Yet Paul Krugman, guest at Oxford University, did not talk about this major Zombie idea of the Left. Nor did Oxford Union ask him.
Gloom.
ADDED: re-watching the Krugman talk at Oxford U, I notice in particular that what he does, well enough to fool his audience, is to create one Straw Man after another. And then to rebut the Straw Men. I'll leave that here for now, just to note: see if you can spot the Straw Men!
Below is an article by Brivael Le Pogam, from the French, describing how Marxism was re-purposed by the French and German Schools, and injected into western academia, for ingestion by society. Which is where we are today. It's a good article. Spot on, as far as I know the facts.
Which are handily summarised in Christopher Rufo's book "America's Cultural Revolution".
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Why claims of Israeli genocide in Gaza are legally false
John Spencer, Chair of War Studies, Madison Policy Forum
Why claims of Israeli genocide in Gaza are legally false
Kata Beach, Phuket Thailand, Kings Cup 2011, Xena Crew
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| From Phuket 101 |
SpaceX: a “civilisational leap”.
Pretty much what I’ve been saying for years. Tesla is not “just” a car company. And SpaceX is not “just” a rocket company.
See also my post about Baron Capital fund founder Ron Baron on the SpaceX IPO.
According to Ron, SpaceX will be the world’s largest and most profitable company. In ten years. Or so. He sees 10x and up to 30x growth in that time. By the way, and for comparison, Tesla did even more. It’s 350x today vs its split-adjusted IPO price.
SpaceX is the one to buy-to-keep for yourself if you’re young. Buy-to-keep for your kids and grandkids if you’re a bit older, like Ron and me….
ADDED: I’m Bullish Tesla and SpaceX and have been for a long time. We’re long Tesla and plan the same for SpaceX. Long, long… as in, *Never Sell*.
But there are plenty of Bears out there. A list of some at: “Tesla Bulls and Bears”.
And.. "Why SpaceX is worth $2 Trillion".
Meantime:
Brivael Le Pogam, translated from the French:
Ten years ago, I was listening to podcasts from a guy who wasn't half bad analyzing Tesla's growth.
His conclusion came up every time: it's insane, it doesn't hold up, you're paying fifty years of profits in advance for a car manufacturer.
His mistake wasn't in the numbers. It was in the word. He was analyzing "a car manufacturer." Tesla has never been a car manufacturer.
Today they're releasing Optimus, and the same kind of analyst will surely explain to you that it's absurd to price a humanoid robot manufacturer at that level.
We're replaying exactly the same movie with SpaceX.
The chart that's circulating right now stacks up the entire aerospace industry (GE Aerospace, RTX, Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed, Northrop, Honeywell, Safran, Rolls-Royce) to barely reach the level of a single valuation, that of SpaceX, $1,750 billion. And everyone screams bubble.
Some analysts value it at half that, with jabs like "67 times revenue" and "it would need to grow 600 times in ten years."
It's exactly the same methodological error as with Tesla. We take the current state of space, align the multiples of the present, and project onto it. We never price what's going to be built on top.
You don't price infrastructure based on its present. You price it based on the entire economies it unlocks, that no one can see when it arrives.
The railroad didn't just transport people; it gave birth to cities. The container didn't just move crates; it created globalization and trillions of dollars in value that not a single 1956 analyst had managed to plug into his model. The internet didn't just connect computers.
Access to orbit at near-zero cost is that level of disruption. And behind it, there's everything that no analyst spends a single second putting into his spreadsheet:
- Asteroid mining and lunar resource exploitation.
- Orbital data centers, cooled for free by the void and powered by constant solar energy.
- Data centers on the Moon.
- Orbital and lunar hotels.
- Amusement parks on the Moon.
- Mass space tourism.
- Trips to Mars.
- Preparation for the terraforming of Mars.
And above all, the dozens of industries that don't exist yet and whose names we don't even know, exactly like no one knew the name "e-commerce logistics" in 1960.
That's what's not in the price.
That's what no one dares to price.
With every civilizational leap, the same profiles roll out the same rule, measure the present, and declare the future too expensive.
Every time they get it wrong, in the same direction, for the same reason.
Stop repeating the mistakes of the past.
Monday, 8 June 2026
Islamist Iran
Too bigoted?… Pig faces to mock islam? How dare we!?
Well, the pig-face on the other side for a change. Usually it’s used to taunt Jews.
TBF we could add more piglets to the cartoon. Piglets like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Palestinian Authority. The PLO. The Houthis. Syria. Iraq. The Muslim Brotherhood and its jungle of offshoots.
Iran: “An Islamic terrorist theocracy that worships death” | Lisa Rosen
Iran’s Supreme Leader Khomeini proudly states that never-ending bloodshed and mass executions are divine Islamic worship, the very essence of “the teaching of Islam.”
This is the open glorification of human sacrifice.
This is why the Ayatollah regime publicly executes opponents, protesters, journalists, rape victims, and gay people with medieval brutality.
This is also exactly why Iran arms and funds Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.
The regime is not interested in “resistance.” It is building a barbaric Islamist empire that spreads its savage Sharia laws by fire and sword across the region and beyond.
The world must stop pretending Iran’s Islamic Republic is a normal country.
It is an Islamic terrorist theocracy that worships death. It must be confronted, isolated, and ultimately defeated.
To Africa! And Beyond…!
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| My finger paint of our route in the 2011 Cape to Cairo Classic Car trip |
Sunday, 7 June 2026
"SpaceX will be the largest and most profitable company in the world" | Ron Baron
SpaceX and Tesla merger!
Saturday, 6 June 2026
“The Long March through the institutions”
The slogan was coined by German socialist student leader Rudi Dutschke in the 1960s. It deliberately referenced Mao Tse-tung’s Long March of 1934–35 and called on the radical left to abandon immediate revolution; instead, they should infiltrate and subvert the key institutions of Western society from within - government, media, schools, universities, courts and corporations - while outwardly working inside them.
Herbert Marcuse, the left’s intellectual superstar of the mid-20th century, enthusiastically endorsed this approach. He described it as “the only effective way” to bring about radical social change in advanced capitalist societies.
Indeed, the strategy worked with remarkable success – and nowhere was it more effective than in the universities. The social sciences and humanities were gradually captured by radical academics who replaced the pursuit of truth with ideological activism. Over decades, this long march transformed those institutions into ideological training grounds for successive generations of activists, journalists, teachers and civil servants.
Today the result is obvious: many of our most important cultural and educational institutions no longer serve the public; they serve a political project. The “long march” quietly replaced liberal education with ideological indoctrination and open inquiry with enforced orthodoxy. The consequences of that conquest are still unfolding today.
A book to read on all of this: Christopher Rufo “America’s Cultural Revolution”. Aka “Cultural Marxism”. It’s been going on for decades. Hugely accounts for today’s anti-Israel hysteria. Which goes as far as anti-America. Anti the west.
Friday, 5 June 2026
“Here we go!” : SpaceX IPO
“If you think SpaceX is a rocket company with an internet business you’re basically valuing Amazon as a book company in 2005”.
Peter Diamandis.
Thursday, 4 June 2026
No compromise Arabs
In 1917, the Balfour Declaration was written. The Arabs rejected it because they wanted all the land. They refused to accept any Jewish sovereignty on the land.
In 1920, the League of Nations gave Britain the official Mandate for the land that had belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The entire area was set aside as the Jewish homeland. This included what is today Israel (with Gaza, Samaria and Judea) and the whole of Jordan.
The Arabs rejected this too.
They wanted all the land and refused to accept any Jewish sovereignty.
In 1922, the Saudi Hashemite royals and other Arabs made a secret deal with Britain behind the Jews’ backs, and without the approval of the League of Nations.
Britain then carved out Transjordan and gave the entire area to the Arabs. This was 77% of the total land that had been promised as the Jewish homeland.
The Arabs happily accepted and took Transjordan, but they still rejected the remaining 23% for the Jews. They refused to accept any Jewish sovereignty on the land.
Now ask yourself this question:
If the Arabs were already given 77% of the land that was meant for the Jewish state, why are we still talking about carving up the last 23% and giving them even more?
When you see the truth, you understand who the real problem is, and why we will fight to keep the little land we have left.
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Gabrielle. Nim Shue Wan beach. Discovery Bay. Hong Kong. 15 August 2014
| I built this boat in our backyard, Hong Kong. Blogged here The masts in background are the replica The Bounty |
Refugee crises since 1900
I asked Grok for a list of world refugee crises since 1900.
It came up with 54 countries that have suffered refugee crises since the first one, in Armenia, in 1915.
All but one are resolved. The one not resolved is highlighted below: Palestine. Just one. Out of 54. The Palestinians.
The Palestinian refugee crisis remains unresolved because we let it. It was we, the west and the United Nations, that allowed this. The Arabs in the Levant (i.e.”Palestinians”) made maximalist demands, with maximum denial of compromise. And we accommodated them. We went along with it.
We, the United Nations, allowed:
1. UNWRA: the only U.N. refugee body specifically for one people, the Palestinians. All the rest are handled by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
2. We allowed 1948 refugees to pass on their refugee status to their descendants. No other group of refugees, not a single one of the other 53, is allowed to do this. Thus the number of Palestinian refugees has increased from 700,000 to well over 2 million today. All looked after by UNWRA.
3. We allowed the surrounding Arab states, those surrounding Israel, to refuse to accept or give citizenship to fellow Arab refugees from the 1948 Israel-Palestine war.
4. We allowed UNWRA to become a creature of Hamas. It runs Hamas schools that are violently anti-Jew. It helps and covers for Hamas theft of food and foreign aid. So much that Hamas leaders are billionaires living in Qatar. UNWRA even had staff taking part in the October 7th killings, rapes,looting and kidnapping.
An alternative history is this: the Palestinian refugees handled in the same way as all the others refugee groups in the last century. We should jabs said “NO” to the maximalist Arab demands. No, to all of the above accommodations.
We would not now be facing the calls to “globalise the intifada”, to “kill all Jews”, to “destroy Israel”
In this alternative history, everyone would be better off. Economically and politically. Also mentally. This region could be a hub of innovation and growth. With peace. And a logical, realistic, handling of the “Palestinian Refugee Question”.
Grok:
Here is the list of 54, sorted alphabetically, with the earliest major refugee crisis for each group (focusing on well-documented, large-scale events):
• Afghans: 1979–1980 (Soviet invasion)
• Albanians: 1990s (post-communism/Kosovo conflicts)
• Armenians: 1915 (Armenian Genocide)
• Azerbaijanis: 1988–1990s (Nagorno-Karabakh conflict)
• Bangladeshis: 1971 (Bangladesh Liberation War)
• Bosniaks: 1992 (Bosnian War)
• Burmese (Myanmar): 1962–1980s (military coups/ethnic conflicts)
• Burmese Chin/Karen: 1980s–1990s (ethnic insurgencies)
• Cambodians: 1975 (Khmer Rouge takeover)
• Central Africans: 1990s–2000s (civil wars)
• Chechens: 1994 (First Chechen War)
• Chinese: 1949 (Chinese Communist Revolution) / earlier waves in 1930s–40s
• Colombians: 1980s–1990s (drug war/insurgencies)
• Congolese (DRC): 1960s (post-independence conflicts) / major in 1990s
• Cubans: 1959–1960 (Cuban Revolution)
• Czechs/Slovaks: 1938–1939 or 1968 (Prague Spring)
• Eritreans: 1961 (war for independence from Ethiopia)
• Ethiopians: 1970s (Red Terror / Ogaden War)
• Georgians: 1990s (post-Soviet conflicts)
• Germans (post-WWII): 1944–1947 (expulsions from Eastern Europe)
• Guatemalans: 1960s–1980s (civil war)
• Haitians: 1950s–1960s (Duvalier dictatorship) / major in 1990s
• Hungarians: 1956 (Hungarian Revolution)
• Indians: 1947 (Partition of India)
• Iraqis: 1980s (Iran-Iraq War / Anfal campaign) or 1991
• Kazakhs: 1920s–1930s (Soviet collectivization/famine)
• Kosovars: 1998–1999 (Kosovo War)
• Libyans: 2011 (Libyan Civil War)
• Malians: 2012 (Tuareg rebellion / Islamist insurgency)
• Nicaraguans: 1970s–1980s (Sandinista Revolution / Contra War)
• Nigerians (Boko Haram affected): 2009–2010s
• North Koreans: 1950–1953 (Korean War)
• Pakistanis: 1947 (Partition of India)
• Palestinians: 1948 (Arab-Israeli War)
• Poles: 1939 (WWII invasion) or earlier partitions
• Romanians: 1940s–1950s or 1989
• Rohingya (Myanmar): 1978 or 1990s (major 2017)
• Russians: 1917–1922 (Russian Revolution & Civil War)
• Rwandans (historical): 1959–1961 or 1994 (Genocide)
• Salvadorans: 1970s–1980s (Salvadoran Civil War)
• Serbs/Croats (Yugoslav wars): 1991–1995
• Somalis: 1970s–1980s or 1991 (civil war)
• South Sudanese: 1955 or 1983 (civil wars) / 2013
• Sri Lankan Tamils: 1983 (start of civil war)
• Sri Lankans (beyond Tamils): 1980s
• Sudanese: 1955 or 1983 (civil wars)
• Syrians: 2011 (Syrian Civil War)
• Tibetans: 1959 (Chinese annexation / uprising)
• Ukrainians: 1930s (Holodomor) or 1940s / 2022
• Uyghurs: 1930s or 1950s / major 2010s
• Venezuelans: 2014–2015 (economic/political collapse)
• Vietnamese (boat people): 1975 (Fall of Saigon)
• Yemenis: 1960s or 2014–2015 (civil war)







