Very little drama, skip to the bottom two links for the actual drama But this subreddit's janny is pretty hands off and the last slap fight got a reply 15 minutes ago so it might pick up.

Cook's Illustrated is a magazine featuring extremely well tested but labor intensive recipes for upper middle class while America's Tesk Kitchen is the PBS show featuring their recipes. Cook's Country is a spin off that features regional American recipes that are slightly simpler in both a magazine and PBS TV show. The entire company was started by an extremely WASPy nerd, Chris Kimball, who got pushed out in favor of more diverse individuals after selling to a private equity firm (mid 2010s).

He then recreated the whole enterprise as a new competing company called Milk Street (which is another drama).

After the induced moral panic of 2020, the company replaced the editor of Cooks' Country with a for both the magazine and TV show (the previous editor never appeared on the TV show as far as I can recall).

In the newer seasons, Toni Tipton-Martin opens the show with a monologue about the featured recipes' hisotry and explains how these recipes (as well as ALL other recipes) were created by Black women. She then awkwardly supervises while the actual cooks make the recipes.

Unfortunately some uppity dared to notice this

Is this a safe space to talk about Toni's on screen presence?? She is SO stiff and it seems like everyone else is on edge or less comfortable when they're cooking with her. I didn't mind her reading her piece about different dishes but this new season is way too much Toni and the vibes are off. Am I way off base?

The uppity mayos are a little too comfortable and start agreeing:

I dont like her. At all. She's fake af.

She's ruining cooks country. I miss Bridget and Julia spearheading that show. Toni is boring, monotone, and seems atrocious to be around let alone work under. They need to get her off screen fast. We fast forward through any segment with her. She really doesn't add anything to the show.

Where did she come from anyway? She just appeared one season like some sort of expert.

Luckily a ally lets the mayos know "this is ain't it, chief" :

I just want to say maybe take a sec.and think about these comments. A little bit of self reflection. I enjoy the show, she is an academic and is likely evolving her camera presence.

Finally fully puts the and in their place:

Wow, some of these comments are….not it.

I've always assumed she leaned more towards the academia side of things. Being a bit stiff until one can relax in a hosting- type role is not unexpected. Not everyone is going give the same vibe on camera. Perhaps she's getting her sea legs when it comes to the cooking segments v the history bits she does.

But yeah, calling her fake, scary (?), etc. Harsh af.

She's not white. Hence the criticism.

exactly

I'm sure she's a nice person but she doesn't fit in with the show. I always fast forward her reading segments and now I don't even want to watch the cooking segments she's on.

She doesn't fit in because she's not white.

That's not it. Lan isn't white. She's enjoyable to watch. Elle isn't white and she's charismatic. It's not her race. It's her demeanor.

Agree - non white woman here and I'm not a fan of Toni. Way too little energy and sometimes she comes across like she's new to a kitchen

non white woman here

So you're not black. POC solidarity doesn't exist.

Um okay - that is an interesting take on my comment

You're not a fan of the only black person on the show along with Elle. Tap dancer.

These Zoomer girls who make a big performative deal out of having IBS disgust me. It's very unladylike for women to speak of pooping themselves. If we want to hear crass talk we can turn to the male population for that.

Octavian always knew he was going to have to deal with Antony. https://t.co/AbGqbfQ3Ie

— Jim Pacific (@pacificjimmy) January 20, 2025

Let me start this by saying no one was hurt and the bullet was recovered inside the residence.

Like most stories on this sub, I grew up with and around firearms my entire life. I've known the 4 rules since i was a child and the only difference between me now and then is complacency it seems.

Last night I was laying in bed with my partner getting ready to wind down for the night. I am essentially peepeeing around with my handgun, a Glock 19 clone.

I drop the magazine, clear the chamber, and re-insert the magazine for the weight. I aim at the wall, click. Out of habit, I absentmindedly racked the slide fully to reset the trigger and chambered a round. I aim at the wall, BAM

First thing I did was check my partner and myself, and from there I follow the bullet trajectory through two sheets of drywall and into the corner of the living room where it hit two 2x4s and bounced onto my partner's desk.

I feel like such a fricking idiot. I am a fricking idiot. Someone could have died or been injured, the cops could have come, so much could have gone far worse.

TLDR: I was an idiot with a gun, now I am an idiot with a drywall putty knife. Picture is of recovered 124gr Hornady Critical Duty +p

There's nothing wrong with dryfire practice but it's absolute basic safety to eject the magazine, put it in another room (especially if it's loaded), check at least three times that the chamber is indeed clear, and then do your dryfire drills. This absolute brainlet r-slur REINSERTS THE FULL MAGAZINE ("for the weight") before dryfiring and unsurprisingly puts one in the wall.

Also he's married.

!firearms

!khive !nonchuds

Top Drama

Relative Drama (takes into account the size of the subreddit)

autodrama: returning jobs to dramneurodivergents. Ping HeyMoon if there are any problems or you have a suggestion

BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as Director of National Intelligence. pic.twitter.com/vVP5hjsOY0

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 12, 2025

Democracy in America is being destroyed by judicial coup.

An activist judge is not a real judge. https://t.co/zRb398NyA0

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2025

Nowhere in our Constitution is a single federal judge given absolute power over the President or the people of the United States.

— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) February 11, 2025

India: The world’s largest floating solar power plant is left in complete ruins after just a single spell of bad weather. 🤦‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/LkQWx4MOiK

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) February 9, 2025

stol from https://instagram.com/p/DF68vLTR5_l/

The most important objective of any modern musician/composer, due to the globalisation and ease of access to endless amounts of music through streaming, is to catch the listeners interest as quickly as you can. Regardless of genre the general audience demands a reason to listen to what you make; and with an oversaturated market like music production, there is little they won't have heard already.

How do you avoid being uninteresting, but not pretentious?

Using cush chords, simply put is the method of retaining the tonic (first) chord whilst shifting the other chords in your progression to another modal set of chords, in a new key.

For example, let's begin in C major. The 2 5 4 1 pattern would consist of:

Dm / Gmaj / Fmaj / Cmaj

This sounds fantastic by itself, but listeners have heard this progression 1000 times without knowing it. So how do we engage them?

Let's say we use cush chords, and shift everything EXCEPT the tonic C major to the key of Eb major, a minor third above. You use the respective chords from this key aside from the tonic C.

Fm / Bb7sus / Abm / Cmaj

(Instructive video by openstudiojazz for visual explanations)

And here is a transcribed example of these sorts of chordal changes and methods used:

Now your progression sounds vastly more open, more engaging more interesting. This isn't limited to just shifting a minor third above and you can do it as many times as you want in a composition. Implementing something simple like this gives your composing the edge above standard methods used by the majority of others in your position.

Happy composing! let me know if composition effortposts are something wanted or not

!nooticers !antibharatiya

New data show how TCS makes heavy use of employment visas reserved for managers. Ex-staffers say it was to get around H-1B rules.

The first time Donald Trump took over the White House, Anil Kini alleges that executives at India's biggest outsourcing firm ordered him to take part in what he describes as a coverup.

Kini, who was an IT manager working in Denver for Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, or TCS, says his superiors ordered him to falsify internal organizational charts — to make them appear more top-heavy with managers than they really were.

The goal, Kini later alleged in a federal lawsuit and in interviews with Bloomberg News, was to prepare for any heightened scrutiny of the way TCS was using employment visas. It was 2017, and Trump had campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, but his focus wasn't confined to undocumented immigrants. He'd also assailed a widely used skilled-worker visa program, called H-1B, saying it provided "cheap labor" that hurt US workers. He said US-based companies should instead prioritize hiring Americans.

Kini and two other former TCS employees who filed similar lawsuits say the company repeatedly made improper use of special manager-level visas to hire front-line workers who had no management responsibilities. All three cases, which were filed under the federal False Claims Act, were dismissed before the allegations of visa fraud were examined in court; Kini's is on appeal. The manager visas, known as L-1As, are easier for employers to obtain and have fewer guardrails; for example, they lack even the minimal pay requirements that Congress has imposed for H-1B holders.

Kini told Bloomberg that as Trump took office eight years ago executives at TCS, an arm of the Indian conglomerate the Tata Group, were trying to make their organizational charts match their visa applications, before any federal inspectors showed up on their doorstep.

While officials in Trump's first administration continued to criticize employment visas, the anticipated crackdown failed to materialize. Now, with Elon Musk and other tech executives defending the H-1B program, Trump has changed his rhetoric. "I've always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas," he told the New York Post in December. That flip-flop has triggered pushback from his MAGA base, pitting his nativist supporters against his newer backers from the tech industry. Although studies have shown immigration has been a net positive for the US economy and for government budgets, Kini's story along with allegations in the other lawsuits, internal company documents, emails and federal data obtained by Bloomberg, suggest TCS has used L-1A manager visas in ways that echo Trump's earlier concerns about undercutting American workers. The data, which is previously unreported, shows that the number of L-1A approvals the company has received far exceeds the number of managers it disclosed employing in mandatory federal reports to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It also shows that TCS, which works with some of the largest US tech companies, has obtained far more manager visas than any other employer in recent years.

In response to detailed questions about the allegations and Bloomberg's data analysis, a company spokesperson sent a statement denying any wrongdoing: "TCS does not comment on ongoing litigation, however we strongly refute these inaccurate allegations by certain ex-employees, which have previously been dismissed by multiple courts and tribunals. TCS rigorously adheres to all U.S. laws." The company declined to provide further details.

It's unclear how many manager visas TCS may have obtained for workers who, as Kini and others allege, weren't really managers. Kini and others say they knew personally of dozens of cases. Legal experts say it's common for employers to game the L-1A program, and over the past decade, federal officials uncovered nearly 200 cases involving L-1A recipients who weren't actually managers, according to federal data obtained by Bloomberg.

outsourcing firms have overwhelmed the annual lottery that decides which applicants can get new H-1Bs. L-1As, meanwhile, aren't capped and carry no pay requirements. TCS has used the management visas on a scale unmatched by any other US employer, according to exclusive data from the Department of Homeland Security. Bloomberg News obtained the data after filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The company declined to answer detailed questions about Bloomberg's data analysis. The data show that the USCIS approved more than 90,000 L-1A visas from October 2019 through September 2023. IT outsourcing firms — which contract with US employers to handle information-technology tasks — were the program's heaviest users, but TCS far outpaced its rivals. The firm received upwards of 6,500 approvals, more than the next seven largest L-1A recipients combined. (The US State Department can also issue L-1As under a blanket approval process, but the agency does not release information on how many it authorizes; experts say the department has issued comparatively few since 2008.)

Compared to its competitors, TCS reported far fewer managers relative to its total US-based workforce. The company declined to respond to detailed questions about the numbers it submitted to the EEOC. It's possible that some high-level employees who do not supervise others could qualify as "functional managers" under L-1A rules. But experts say such cases are rare.

Immigration attorneys say fabricating job titles to obtain L-1As for non-managers would be a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act and that gaps in federal enforcement authority have allowed employers to abuse the system. Shilpa Malik, a managing attorney at VisaNation Law Group PLLC, said she has encountered instances when companies manufactured evidence in applications for L-1A visas. "The L-1A is often found to be a substitute for the H-1B. Are they all legitimate managers? No, they're not."

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has had only limited authority to investigate allegations of visa abuse, including any gaming of L-1A visas. Some employers have argued that the agency lacked the legal authority to conduct site visits, and in the past, companies have refused to allow USCIS officials to visit their offices or interview employees alone.

Nevertheless, during the past decade, USCIS has uncovered about 1,800 instances of fraud related to L visas, including nearly 200 cases in which the agency found L-1A recipients were not actually managers, according to USCIS enforcement data obtained by Bloomberg. The agency redacted the names of employers that were the subject of enforcement actions, and it did not respond to questions for this story.

Site visits "do help circumvent fraud," said Erin Green, an employment visa expert and former head of US immigration at Infosys Ltd., one of TCS's competitors. But in many instances USCIS officers simply ask for information by phone or email, "instead of visiting the actual client site," he said. Like many Indian outsourcers, most of TCS's staff members are in India, where it provides back-office IT services for its customers. But the company also needs client-facing workers in the US, and it employs thousands of Americans. Outsourcers often operate on what's known as the 80-20 model: About 80% of their staffers work from India or another low-cost location near their clients, while 20% are in clients' home countries, such as the US, said Peter Bendor-Samuel, founder of Everest Group, a Dallas-based company that advises global firms on outsourcing.

submitting two inaccurate organizational charts. One said he had managed five people in India, and the other said he would have five direct reports in the US.

But he "never managed these individuals, never had a conversation with these individuals, and never met any of these individuals," the complaint said. Govindharajan named 11 other TCS staff members whom he said received L-1A visas using false organizational charts, part of what he called TCS's strategy to save some $2.4 million annually in visa fees. He said in the complaint that TCS's business model depends on paying Indian workers less than Americans. The US government declined to pursue the case, and it was dismissed in 2023 "without prejudice," which means Govindharajan could refile it.

In a separate False Claims Act lawsuit, filed in 2016 in Pennsylvania, another Indian TCS worker on an L-1A visa alleged that the company frequently submitted applications containing "made-up organizational charts to demonstrate a make-believe hierarchy." The worker, Bedatanu Banerjee, said in filings that internal guidelines suggest ways staff should inappropriately bolster their resumes to correspond with visa requirements. TCS used L-1A visas "to 'creatively' get around" H-1B restrictions, Banerjee alleged in his complaint. The DOJ declined to join in the case and a judge dismissed it without prejudice. Banerjee couldn't be reached for comment.

Whistleblower Alleges Coverup Anil Kini spent nearly a decade building a career in IT management before joining TCS in India in 2006. The 49-year-old was born in India's southern Karnataka state and grew up in the financial center of Mumbai. He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Mumbai before studying programming and working in a series of progressively senior IT positions.

After six years at TCS, he was offered an opportunity to migrate to the US on an L-1A visa to run TCS's project providing IT services to Western Union Co., a financial services company based in Denver. Kini supervised 37 employees. All but two of his team were from India, and they had replaced Western Union's previous staff, according to Kini. A representative for Western Union declined to comment.

Kini says higher-ups repeatedly asked him to sign off on visa applications certifying that front-line IT staffers were managers — using the L-1A program to circumvent H-1B caps, he alleges. He says he did not comply with those requests.

On Jan. 19, 2017, the day before Trump's inauguration, Kini was called into an urgent meeting with a TCS senior manager, who gave him a spreadsheet of employees, according to Kini and internal company documents and emails submitted as part of his lawsuit. His job would be to quickly change the internal organization chart to hide the obvious discrepancies for three of his direct reports, who had no management responsibilities, the records show. In all, Kini said that of the 22 L-1A visa employees on the Western Union account, only eight performed managerial roles.

After the January 2017 meeting, Kini said he began complaining. "If there is any site visit, USCIS will easily know the real reporting structure," he wrote in one 2017 email to his supervisor, which was submitted as part of his lawsuit.

Kini said he was emboldened to speak out at the time because the US government had just approved his green card, which meant his employer no-longer controlled his ability to live and work in the US. Otherwise, with only a visa, "TCS could send me back to India with an hour's notice," he said. Soon after, he says, the company began to retaliate against him, cutting him out of meetings and removing his responsibilities before firing him in August 2018.

Nearly a year before he was fired, Kini sued TCS, alleging the company had violated federal visa rules and retaliated against him as a whistleblower. A federal judge dismissed the case last February, ruling that Kini failed to meet legal standards under the False Claims Act.

After being ousted from TCS, Kini says he found himself ostracized from the tight-knit Indian IT community he had belonged to for more than 20 years. Former colleagues blocked his phone number and family friends avoided eye contact when he saw them at Indian grocery stores.

"Definitely it was a loss," Kini said, "when you're not part of those events and get togethers and birthday parties. We used to go out for movies, we used to go out trekking, and suddenly they're not available."

These days, Kini has found a new career — running a tutoring franchise in Lone Tree, Colorado, just south of Denver. His calls to seek jobs at other IT outsourcing firms went unanswered, he said, despite his decades of experience. Kini said that while the upheaval has been difficult for him and his family, he believes he did the right thing in blowing the whistle. "I have no regrets."

Govindharajan, meanwhile, said that after returning to India he struggled to find work with another IT firm and fears his legal battle with TCS has damaged his prospects.

"It all makes me so angry," he said. "I'm still really angry at TCS."

Seven authors have pulled out of the competition, citing free speech concerns.

Cancel culture—the practice of ruining someone's career for not sufficiently adhering to Leftist principles—appears to be dying after decades of victimizing innocent people. In what seems to be the first attempted cancelation of the new Trump administration, Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) announced on Wednesday that it was removing author Devon Eriksen's book from consideration for an award. The SPSFC said that it made the decision because Eriksen violated the competition's code of conduct—which had been published to X the day before this announcement.

SPSFC Twitter "We apologize for the extended delay and radio silence. Devon Eriksen has been removed from the SPSFC effective immediately for violation of our code of conduct," the SPSFC posted on X.

We apologize for the extended delay and radio silence. Devon Eriksen has been removed from the SPSFC effective immediately for violation of our code of conduct.

— The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (@theSPSFC) February 4, 2025

Eriksen is the author of "Theft of Fire: Orbital Space #1," a popular self-published book that has received glowing reviews, including one from the creator of Doom. He didn't even enter the book into the competition; his wife did, thinking she might surprise him if he won. After seeing that he had been booted from the competition, he published a fictional account of learning that he had been entered into a competition without his knowledge and had somehow violated that competition's code of conduct, which he never agreed to.

Read the whole thing

I was walking down the sidewalk the other day, relishing how warm weather comes early in Tennessee, when a weird little goblin with big eyes and floppy green ears jumped out of the bushes in front of me.

"You're banned from the competition!" he proclaimed, with a self-satisfied… https://t.co/lRyhWclpXh pic.twitter.com/sgya1ote7I

— Devon Eriksen (@Devon_Eriksen_) February 4, 2025

Well, this morning the goblins came back.

I was frying up some bacon and eggs when the doorbell rang, and there he was again, sitting on shoulders of another goblin, who was standing on a rickety wooden crate, which, judging by the state of their clothing, they perhaps had… https://t.co/84be2wLD2s pic.twitter.com/QPz4N5zGJh

— Devon Eriksen (@Devon_Eriksen_) February 5, 2025

That code of conduct stated that contestants could not harass judges or other authors, which Devon didn't do—and couldn't do—since he didn't even know he was entered. But one of the judges posted on Bluesky, in a message provided to The Daily Wire, that even though Eriksen "didn't directly contact judges or other authors," his posts were "driving away judges, authors, and prospective contestants/members in huge numbers."

The SPSFC competition has been around for a few years and is currently in its fourth iteration. Nearly 200 books from independent authors are submitted and divided among various reviewers, each reviewing around 30 books. Each group then selects around four books as quarterfinalists, reads those four books, and selects two semi-finalists. Eventually, the list is narrowed down, and a winner is selected. There is no cash prize, but it allows the authors to collect reviews and publicity.

According to Christine, Eriksen's book had been selected as a quarterfinalist and was the only author to receive a "strong yes" in his batch. After dozens of authors had been cut, at least one began complaining about Eriksen's inclusion in the competition based on his numerous blog posts and tweets, which contain comments about immigration and transgenderism that frequently offend the Left. Dozens of people on Bluesky and the SPSFC groomercord started calling Eriksen a "nazi" for his posts and published some screenshots of them on Reddit along with a summary of the situation at the SPSFC. Following the prolonged outcry, the SPSFC put together a code of conduct and then used it to boot Eriksen from the competition.

But the code of conduct claims that its "goal is not to eradicate these 'bad' opinions" and that they are "not here to police people's opinions," they do just that after claiming Eriksen's posts amount to "hate speech" and "backwards attitudes."

Eriksen was not the only author targeted. E.J. Fisch, author of "Dakiti: Ziva Payvan Book 1," who wasn't even part of the SPSFC competition, spoke out against the handling of Eriksen and quickly saw her book dropped out of a promotion that is reportedly being run by one of the authors involved in the mob against Eriksen.

lol welp pic.twitter.com/2FBwiZgQFP

— EJ Fisch (@EJFisch) February 6, 2025

The announcement that Eriksen was booted from the competition was met with immediate backlash, with many other authors pulling their books from the competition. Moe Lane, whose book "Ghosts of an Alien Wind" was in the competition, asked the organizers to remove his book from consideration, though his reasoning is unclear. His announcement was posted on the Groomercord for the competition and was shared with The Daily Wire.

Other authors were more explicit about why they asked for their books to be removed from the competition. Gregory Michael, author of "Chloe's Kingdom," asked for his book to be removed because "free speech is crucial."

Removal of @Devon_Eriksen_ over politics is upsetting. Theft of Fire was likely the best book in the competition … I don’t agree with everything Devon tweets, but free speech is crucial. Please remove Chloe’s Kingdom @theSPSFC

Heist novels need to stick together 🚀💰 https://t.co/kVnKpMeJ6R

— Gregory Michael (@_GregoryMichael) February 4, 2025

G.S. Jennsen, author of "The Thief," posted a lengthy letter on X outlining why she wanted her book removed from the competition as well.

In light of recent events, I am withdrawing THE THIEF, which is currently a Quarterfinalist in @theSPSFC , from further consideration in the competition. More below.#SPSFC https://t.co/Hm1NEXTwPl pic.twitter.com/qMtYUjgHwq

— G. S. Jennsen (@GSJennsen) February 5, 2025

C.R. Walton, author of "Wilderness Five," also noted that Eriksen's removal had nothing to do with his actions relating to the competition, writing that the decision to drop him was "very clearly just caving to a hateful mob that hates the guy."

As some other authors, I'm distancing myself from @theSPSFC for its aggressive termination of @Devon_Eriksen_ for thoughts expressed on his own media channels completely unrelated to the competition.

No specifics of the violation are even given. It is very clearly just caving… https://t.co/XZkeHlzzup

— C. R. Walton (Scientist & Author) (@lithologuy) February 5, 2025

Zachary Forbes requested his book, "Slipspace: Terra Nullius" be removed from the competition as well, also writing a lengthy X post about how the SPSFC's recently introduced code of conduct "was done hastily and sloppily, left intentionally vague, for the sole purpose of banning one particular contestant."

Personal announcement in regards to SPSFC

The left image below is an objective analysis of the their new ‘code of conduct’, written 2 (two) days ago…

It’s clear from any lens that this was done hastily and sloppily, left intentionally vague, for the sole purpose of banning one… https://t.co/pF7NVucixb pic.twitter.com/vnnbY3hDfV

— Zach Forbes (@ZachForbesBro) February 5, 2025

Steve Gavin also requested his book "Cosmic Strife Assault" be removed from competition, writing a short post on X calling the situation involving Eriksen a "mess."

Thank you to the @theSPSFC judges and reviewers. I have watched the mess from afar and the disqual of @Devon_Eriksen_ and the CoC. This is not a political statement. Please remove my book from consideration in this contest. I wish everyone else the best of luck. pic.twitter.com/Bcf6zj8T6j

— Steve Gavin (@stevegavin09) February 5, 2025

Grace Walker publicly distanced herself from the SPSFC, seeking to have her book, "ASH (Rogues: Legends Book 1)," removed from the competition as well.

https://x.com/gwalkerauthor/status/1622877587983173632

Danielle Ste. Just also cut ties with the SPSFC, although her book, "The Disk Mirror Solution (Galaxia Mortem Book 1)," had already been cut from the competition.

Watching the #SPSFC controversy over the past couple days has been disheartening.

As a science fiction author, I want to concentrate on writing science fiction people will fall in love with, not on passing a purity test whose requirements are only known to the gatekeepers.
1/4

— Danielle Ste. Just (@DanielleSteJust) February 6, 2025

Haldane B. Doyle, author of "Our Vitreous Womb," announced he was also withdrawing from the competition, thanking the volunteer judges but saying he only wants "to participate in indie sci fi competitions that judge the books and not the authors, regardless of the criteria applied."

I am officially withdrawing "Our Vitreous Womb" from the #SPSFC competition. I'm deeply appreciative of the volunteer judges @theSPSFC , but I only want to participate in indie sci fi competitions that judge the books and not the authors, regardless of the criteria applied.

— zeroinputagriculture (@zeroinputag) February 6, 2025

Even one of the competition's judging teams decided to pull out of the competition—not because they agreed with what Eriksen had said—but because of how SPSFC handled the situation. The eight authors—other than Ste. Just—who have so far withdrawn from the competition were quarterfinalists, meaning they had already advanced over about 30 other competitors in each of their respective judging groups.

Eric Kay, author of "Above Dark Waters," wrote on X that his book had already been cut, but questioned why the people behind the competition couldn't just cut Eriksen and write a nice review for his book, as they had done for Kay's book.

I was in the competition and was already cut. Why couldn't they simply cut Devon at the Quarterfinals and write a nice review like below?

Because they wanted to make an example and keep purity and 'do something' above sense. pic.twitter.com/Nl1XjTathb

— Eric Kay (Hard Sci-Fi) (@Eric_K_PNW) February 7, 2025

The idea that fellow competitors would drop out of a competition in solidarity with one of their own is almost unheard of when it comes to these types of cancelations and shows the ideology of "cancel culture" may no longer be tolerated. Christine Eriksen wrote on X that "cancelations are canceled" and pointed out that her husband's book has had one of its best sales days to date.

Cancelations are ✨C A N C E L E D✨

A big thank you to everyone who's shown support for @Devon_Eriksen_'s unfair treatment in this. I was excited to submit Theft of Fire to a fun little competition, but when they created a CoC explicity to appease a mob and kick him out? 😭 https://t.co/jp57ZK5lMw pic.twitter.com/QIg4uANEXD

— Christine Eriksen (@AnEriksenWife) February 5, 2025

Other authors who dropped out of the competition said they had seen an increase in sales. Michael, who was the first to withdraw from the competition, noted that "Chloe's Kingdom" was now #1 on Amazon, "not from winning a competition – but for standing up for free speech. Doing the right thing feels good."

CHLOE'S KINGDOM is #1 on Amazon! 🚀 Not from winning a competition—but for standing up for free speech. Doing the right thing feels good.

To my new readers, I can't wait for your thoughts & reviews! Oh, and did I mention there’s a raccoon? 🦝 pic.twitter.com/SPS0YGhdjw

— Gregory Michael (@_GregoryMichael) February 6, 2025

In a post shared with The Daily Wire, John A. Douglas, author of "The Black Crown," commented that the SPSFC doesn't "fully understand the schism kicking Devon out has caused in the indie author spaces." "DevonGate is a seismic shift in the indie landscape," Douglas added. "And he didn't even DO anything!"

02 Feb 2025 pic.twitter.com/MIbymLQ9L5

— actual heathcliff comics (@RealHeathcliffs) February 2, 2025

I'm not saying I'm not GoodGuy, but I'm not saying I am, either.

“We Need Better Training In The Airforce”.- Nigeria Airforce Personnel Posts On TikTok. pic.twitter.com/P04ZaqGTD6

— Somto Okonkwo (@General_Somto) February 16, 2025

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43072790

Was on hinge (mistake #1) talking to a guy who was a massive Ariana Grande stan (mistake #2). He mentioned her and how much he loved her music, and I mentioned something about liking her music (lie) but I'm worried about how she looks right now. Immediately this man went off about (exact words) how "problematic" it is for me, "as a man", to "gossip about women's bodies". I'm not trying to gossip, I'm genuinely concerned. She's bone. It's horrifying to see, especially in the face of younger girls/gay men [lets be real] who may end up thinking there isn't a thing wrong with being that skinny, and any comment of genuine concern is "gossip". Even worse, this didn't seem like the opinion of some one off arianapilled r-slur, but a pretty popular opinion online to just ...not mention how she looks in any context. I'm genuinely worried. She looks incredibly sick.

https://old.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/1itnjqz/ariana_grande_looks_like_absolute_shit_and/

Hurricane was a true American hero.

The most decorated K-9 in U.S. history, he bravely defended the White House and spent retirement helping other working dogs through @Hurricane_K9. His legacy of courage and loyalty will live on.

Rest easy, Hurricane. 🇺🇸🐾 pic.twitter.com/st5VxcOiAd

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 19, 2025