Chris Eagan

Technogeek

[Roland Constantijn 🇳🇱 @rolancon]

Since Amazon MGM Studios won't even read an email from a dedicated Stargate fan ('unsolicited submission materials'), which must be bad for business, here's the full content of the email (subject is the axing of Stargate):

Dear Amazon Studios Leadership,
I am writing as a longtime Stargate fan to express my deep disappointment at the cancellation of Martin Gero’s new Stargate series and to ask that you reconsider.

Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe ran for seventeen seasons and built one of the most loyal fanbases in science fiction television. I have been part of that audience for years. I buy Prime Video subscriptions. I watch Amazon originals. I am exactly the viewer you are trying to reach.

The reported reason for the cancellation — that the show was too focused on existing fans — misunderstands how franchise revivals work. You do not build a new audience by abandoning the existing one. You build it by honoring the existing audience first and using their enthusiasm to bring new viewers in alongside them. That is precisely what Martin Gero, Brad Wright, and Joe Mallozzi were doing.

Please restore the Gero Stargate project, or at minimum commit to a revival that respects the franchise’s seventeen seasons of canon and brings back the creative team that built it.

The gate is ready to open again. Please let it.
Thank you for your time. @AmazonMGMStudio @BaronDestructo @MichaelShanks @GateWorld @dial_the_gate @fandompulse @disparutoo

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

I discovered Stargate SG-1 in the early 2000s and was instantly hooked. The show combined believable science fiction, politics, human interest, wonder, exploration, humor, and serious questions into one series with something for everyone. I binge-watched the DVDs for a month straight to catch up and eagerly consumed anything new. Stargate Atlantis continued the story, and the new Amazon series was looking very promising. The existing episodes are something I look forward to sharing with my kids, and this new series was going to be the catalyst to get them into the show too. @AmazonMGMStudio, do the right thing and put this back on track. The series must stay true to its roots.

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

Save the New Stargate Series: Let Martin Gero Build the Future of the Franchise! - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/2wBxTstaGY via @Change

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

Save Stargate: Open the iris Amazon MGM, or let another team dial the address. - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/nf51JyONbX via @Change

[Nina Infinity @Nina7Infinity]

Well the situation is a tad surprising yes. Because this is an executive decision by a new hire Blair Fetter - that came from Netflix. And he's axing the IP because he's not a fan of scifi/Stargate.

The person who hired him is who bought the IP for $8.5 B. They market it that they were bringing it back for the fans and that was the plan until this dude decide to kill it.

So now, they want to make that Rings of Power style show you're speaking about. But it wasn't going to be like that with the OGs involved.

And so yes the fans are surprised and angry and they have every right to be. Including @MichaelShanks

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

Revive the Stargate Franchise - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/6Dhr7NCmg9 via @Change

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

We were so close to having more Stargate to watch and inspire the next generation, but @amazon thinks we aren’t smart enough to handle it. I disagree. Speak up and tell your friends! We want to watch this, so please make it happen!

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

Wow. @AmazonMGMStudio really messed this one up. Stargate deserves better.

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@BaronDestructo It’s because @JeffBezos rocket blew up, isn’t it?

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

We want the Cybertruck in Forza Horizon 6! Please work it out @elonmusk @WeArePlayground @Tesla @XBOX

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@XFreeze Real question: Is it developing itself?

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@TheCinesthetic Rubber. https://t.co/MIUAnnRA7c

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@BaronDestructo Yes, I’d try that for sure!

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@greg16676935420 If they charge that much, they can afford new signs.

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@jeremyjudkins_ What if you get stuck in the smuggler’s bay?

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

Tesla Feature Request: Road Trip Sync / Convoy Mode 🚗⚡

Let fellow Tesla owners temporarily pair vehicles for trips:

- Synced navigation + charging stops (optimized for both batteries)

- See your friend’s car live on the map with ETA & SoC

- Highway Convoy Assist: cars automatically stay together in traffic using FSD

Perfect for group drives to Starbase!

@Tesla @elonmusk #Tesla #FSD

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@WxFanaticCC @TxStormChasers Get a @cybertruck

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

I feel so bad for the @WeArePlayground @ForzaHorizon 6 team. Years of hard work, the excitement of sharing the fruits of their labor with the world, only to have a small mistake take the wind out of the sails. 😢

Don’t download pirated games. Don’t buy used games. Support the development teams that make these games possible.

[Chris Eagan @ceagan]

@greg16676935420 @VP The headlines write themselves!

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I have two stacks on my desk. The left stack is financial disclosure forms from members of Congress. The right stack is waivers for members who filed their financial disclosures late.

The right stack is always taller.

On Wednesday morning, I watched a soldier get arrested on CNN.

I am a Disclosure Analyst for the House Ethics Committee. I have held this position for eleven years. My job is to receive the forms, verify their completeness, and file them. I do not investigate. I do not flag. I do not refer. I file. I have a lanyard. The lanyard says ETHICS.

The soldier's name is Gannon Ken Van Dyke. He is thirty-eight years old. He was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was Special Forces. In December, he created an account on a prediction market called Polymarket. On January 2nd, he bet $32,500 that the president of Venezuela would be removed from power. On January 3rd, he helped remove the president of Venezuela from power. He collected $409,881.

He has been charged with five federal crimes. Commodities fraud. Wire fraud. Unlawful use of confidential government information. Theft of nonpublic government information. Unlawful monetary transaction. The Department of Justice called it "the first-ever insider trading prosecution on event contracts."

I watched this on the television in our break room. Then I walked back to my desk and processed a late financial disclosure from a member of the House Financial Services Committee who purchased $250,000 in bank stocks eleven days before his subcommittee held a closed-door hearing on proposed capital reserve changes.

The filing was forty-seven days late. The STOCK Act requires disclosure within forty-five days. The penalty for late filing is $200.

I waived it.

I waive most of them. In 2021, fifty-four members of Congress and senior staff violated the reporting rules. The fines were minimal. Most were waived. I have a form for the waiver. The form has a box that says "Reason." I write "administrative delay." In ethics, "administrative delay" means the member's office forgot and then remembered when a reporter called. My approval rate is one hundred percent. In any other field, that number would trigger an audit. In mine, it is called thoroughness.

Let me show you what I processed this year.

January. A senator on the Armed Services Committee sold defense contractor shares worth $1.2 million. Three days later, his committee received a classified briefing that the Iran campaign had exceeded its projected cost by 340%. The stock dropped 8%. He filed the disclosure sixty-one days late. I calculated the fine. $200. His chief of staff asked if it could be waived. He did not ask what the senator traded on. Nobody asks that. The form does not have a field for it. I waived the fine. The senator's portfolio returned 23.4% in 2025. The S&P 500 returned 16.8%.

February. A representative on the Energy and Commerce Committee bought pharmaceutical stocks worth $400,000. Two weeks later, her committee advanced a bill that would extend patent exclusivity for the exact drug class she purchased. The stocks rose 14%. She filed on time. There was no fine. There was no investigation. There was nothing to investigate because buying stocks in companies regulated by your own committee is not illegal. It is legal. The STOCK Act made it legal by making it disclosed. In Congress, disclosed means legal. In my office, legal means filed.

March. A member whose spouse manages a portfolio worth $9.2 million reported forty-three separate transactions in a single quarter. Twelve of them were in sectors directly affected by legislation the member co-sponsored. The timing on eight of those twelve was within a two-week window of committee action. I logged all forty-three. None were flagged. We do not flag. We file.

I asked my supervisor once what would happen if I flagged a filing. She said we do not have a form for that. I never asked again.

In 2020, I processed 847 disclosures. In 2023, 1,211. In 2025, 1,614. The number of enforcement actions in each of those years was zero. The numerator changes. The denominator does not.

I want to tell you about the soldier again.

He made $409,881. He tried to delete his Polymarket account by calling customer service and saying he lost access to his email. He moved his profits into a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then into a new brokerage account. He used his real identity. He placed thirteen bets. Every single one was connected to an operation he personally participated in.

In my eleven years, I have processed disclosures from members of Congress who traded on:

Pending FDA approvals they learned about in committee.
Defense appropriations they voted on.
Trade policy they negotiated.
Pandemic response measures they drafted.
Interest rate decisions they were briefed on before the public.

None of them have been charged. None of them have been investigated by the Department of Justice. None of them have been referred to the SEC. The STOCK Act has produced zero prosecutions since it was signed on April 4th, 2012.

Fourteen years. Five hundred and thirty-five members. $635 million in trades last year alone. Zero cases.

My daughter asked me once what happens when someone breaks the rules. I told her we write it down. She asked what happens after that. I said it depends. She was nine. She is twenty now. It does not depend. Nothing happens after that.

The soldier made $409,881 and faces decades in prison. Nancy Pelosi entered Congress in 1987 with a portfolio worth approximately $785,000. It is now worth $133.7 million. That is a return of 16,930%. The Dow Jones returned 2,300% over the same period. Professional fund managers who beat the market for three consecutive years are considered exceptional. She has beaten it for thirty-seven. If a hedge fund produced those returns, the SEC would subpoena the records on a Thursday. She produced them from a building with a chapel and a gift shop.

She announced her retirement last year. No investigation was opened. No disclosure was flagged. Her filings were on time. In my office, on time means compliant. Compliant means closed.

I want to tell you about the fine.

$200. That is the maximum penalty for violating the STOCK Act's disclosure requirements. $200 for a member of Congress whose portfolio gained $4.7 million in a single quarter. I calculated what $200 represents as a percentage of $4.7 million. It is 0.004%. I could not find a comparison that made it meaningful. It is less than the price of the parking pass in the Rayburn garage. It is less than lunch at the members' dining room if you order the crab cakes, which I am told are excellent though I eat at my desk.

Since 2012, thirty-one bills have been introduced to restrict congressional trading. I keep a list. The list is longer than the STOCK Act itself.

On March 5th, 2026, a representative from Michigan introduced the thirty-second. He called it the "No Getting Rich in Congress Act." The bill would prohibit the President, Vice President, members of Congress, and their spouses from trading individual stocks, cryptocurrency, futures, and commodities while in office.

The bill was referred to committee. The committee has not scheduled a hearing. The committee is chaired by a member whose spouse executed $2.1 million in trades last year.

The bill will be reviewed. In my office, reviewed means read. Read means acknowledged. Acknowledged means a status has been assigned. A status is the absence of an action that has been given a name so it looks like one.

The soldier used classified information to make $409,881 on a prediction market. He has been charged with five federal crimes. The Department of Justice announced the case on the same day I processed three disclosures from members who traded on committee knowledge worth a combined $3.8 million.

The difference between the soldier and the members is not what they did. It is the building they did it in. He did it from Fort Bragg. They did it from the Capitol. He used a prediction market. They used the New York Stock Exchange. He bet on a military operation. They bet on the legislation they write.

He did not write the law. They did. They wrote the STOCK Act. Then they funded its enforcement at zero dollars. Then they set its maximum penalty at $200. Then they gave my office the authority to waive it. Then they traded $635 million.

The soldier flew to Caracas. He breached a compound. He put his body between a mission and a bullet. The people who ordered the operation were in a building with a credenza and sparkling water. They did not go to Caracas. They went to their brokerage accounts. The soldier made $409,881 and is now in federal custody. The people who knew what he was going to do before he did it made more and filed less. His prosecution is not a failure of the system. It is the system. One conviction per decade, at the lowest level, so the briefing slides can say enforcement exists. The $409,881 is not the crime. It is the cost of making $635 million look supervised.

In my field, we call this self-regulation.

The soldier's Polymarket account has been frozen. His military career is over. He will spend years in federal prison. My office will process every congressional disclosure filed this year. Every trade logged. Every $200 fine calculated and waived. The system is immaculate.

Fourteen years. Zero prosecutions. $635 million a year. A 16,930% return.

I have not leaked a document. I have not filed a complaint. I have not deviated from the process one single time. The process was written by the people whose forms I process.

As long as the disclosures go up and the cases don't, my performance review says I am meeting expectations.

My lanyard still says ETHICS. In eleven years, nobody has asked me to define the word.