Bring it, Democrats

The strategery is astonishing in its subtle read of the electorate:

Several incoming House Democrats plan to introduce gun control measures when their party regains the majority next year. Gun control proponents are buoyed by the takeover of the House. Democrats ousted at least 15 House Republicans who had an “A” rating with the National Rifle Association with candidates who received an “F” rating, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., told the Journal on Friday that he plans to introduce legislation that will mandate universal background checks. Thompson is chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.

Clearly they only won due to their support for gun control. The American people LOVE gun control.  Run, Democrats, run!

How do you spell 2020? T-R-U-M-P-S-L-I-D-E.

Darkstream: 2VS betrays ComicsGate

This Darkstream is already demonstrating the accuracy of the "2VS" appellation on the meta level. It seems Ethan van Sciver can't even maintain a consistent position for 48 hours.

Unranked Chevron: Apparently he's taken the hashtag back up.

Vox Day: And they wonder why we call him Two-Face....

crazy chameleon: Does he multiple personality disorder?  This is too absurd to believe.

Another comment by Unranked Chevron tends to indicate that despite my repeated explanations, some ComicsGaters still don't entirely grasp what was going on with the entire affair or why it happened. So, I will again attempt to clarify the matter.

Unranked Chevron: It's not too much of an assumption to say that someone who makes a logo called 'comicsgate comics' wants to take over comicsgate. Everybody in the industry was going to know that 'comicsgate comics' was owned by Vox Day, and that was likely going to limit their future prospects. Just calling it Dark Legion or something from the start and being very sly what it was actually used for would have avoided that whole fiasco.

Vox Day: I don't think you understood the sequence of events. Our imprint for other creators was called Dark Legion from the start. Our imprint is Arkhaven. We had already published 5 comics under the Dark Legion imprint: Chicago Typewriter and the Rebel Dead Revenge series.We continue to publish comics under that imprint.

The whole point of creating a ComicsGate imprint, complete with logo, was to permit ComicsGate creators to use our publishing infrastructure without forcing them to publicly accept our brand. It was about THEM publishing comics with the ComicsGate brand, not us doing so. Now, if you want to use our infrastructure, you will either accept our brand or you won't get access to it.

All anyone ever had to do to know my intentions was ask me. "Vox, do you want to take over ComicsGate?" To which my answer has always been: "No, I neither want it nor need it."

Instead, many ComicsGaters chose to believe 2VS's lies, sperged out, and torched their chance to have a public brand that many of them are now saying would be desirable.

By the end of the year, Arkhaven will have at least begun addressing every aspect of the modern comics business, from a crowdfunding engine to film and television production to merchandise to a comics-focused blog and forums to retail sales of our own comics and others. And, of course, game development. As I pointed out last night, we already have the ability to deliver comics readers in the USA all of the graphics novels from Marvel, DC, Image, and anyone else they want, and we will provide the same to readers in Europe, the UK, and Australia next year. Just tell us which ones you want to be able to buy at discounts that range from 15-25 percent.

ComicsGate can work with and support Arkhaven, they can ignore us, or they can follow the SJW-lite lead of 2VS and continue to publicly attack us. While I would prefer for ComicsGate and other independents to work with us, to utilize the infrastructure we are building, and to support our efforts, it really makes very little difference to me or to the long-term success of our plans. Because, as it presently stands, we are already well ahead of the rosiest scenario I had ever envisioned at the start. Arkhaven is already selling tens of thousands of comics - unit sales, not dollars - and that is not counting our record-setting crowdfunding campaigns. And we have published more comics, and more pages of comics, than all of ComicsGate and ex-ComicsGate combined.

Now, I will admit that ComicsGate never asked for my assistance in any way. That was my mistake. That was my error. And I have learned my lesson. In the future I will refrain from offering unrequested support for anyone in the comics industry, and even if requested I will not call upon the Arkhaven community or allow the Arkhaven infrastructure to be utilized to support anyone who is not already a part of the Arkhaven team. We have more than enough to do without getting entangled in the affairs of others. As for those who believe that working with me is "likely going to limit their future prospects," perhaps they should consider the possibility that they have it entirely backwards.


UPDATE: On the subject of Arkhaven comics, Bounding Into Comics has a preview of some of the pretty art from Right Ho, Jeeves #6.

Chuck Dixon and Gary Kwapisz’s Right Ho, Jeeves comic book adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s novel will be wrapping up with Right Ho, Jeeves #6.... Following the release of the digital edition of Right Ho, Jeeves #6 there will be a 10×7 omnibus edition that will collect all six issues of the series.

The John Scalzi of Metal

Or is Scalzi the Jered Threatin of Science Fiction?

Talking up your own band a little bit to make it appear that you’re more popular than you are is a rite of passage for young acts. We’ve heard of plenty of bands that’ve exaggerated sales or live show numbers to land a gig or two, or talked themselves up to national media for some press attention. It comes with the territory, and it’s usually harmless.

But the Los Angeles band Threatin have taken that idea to a level previously thought unimaginable: the band was able to book an entire tour of Europe despite having no fanbase whatsoever, and it’s all in the process of crashing down around them.

To do it, the band’s frontman and leader, Jered Threatin, posed as a nonexistent booking agent / promoter to land the gigs, used faked live footage of allegedly packed shows in L.A., bought Facebook likes, event RSVPs and YouTube views and lied about ticket sales numbers to swindle venue owners and talent buyers into taking on the shows.

He of the "more than two million monthly page views" pulled off his con considerably more successfully than the musician, but then Threatin didn't have a real record company helping him do it the way Scalzi had Tor Books.

There’s more to John Scalzi and his writing than meets the eye. For one thing, his blog gets an extraordinary amount of traffic for a writer’s website–Scalzi himself quotes it at over 45,000 unique visitors daily and more than two million page views monthly.
- The New York Times

It just never gets old, even as Scalzi's blog fades into oblivion. Will 2018 be the year he finally stops reporting his blog statistics? Will he even reach two million pageviews for the entire year? By comparison, it looks like this year will be relatively flat at VP, with between 32-33 million pageviews.

Bestselling graphic novels

For those of you who are not new to comics, but might like an inexpensive place to buy the bestselling graphic novels of the month and perhaps pick up an Arkhaven comic or two, you may wish to note that we now have the ability to sell them, and to do so at less than full retail price.

Batman: White Knight from DC is currently the bestselling graphic novel out there, and with the amount you save from the $19.99 list price, you can pick up a copy of the latest Alt★Hero or Right Ho, Jeeves.

Those of you who are serious collectors or regular buyers should let us know what issues you would like us to carry. While we can't carry floppies, we do have access to pretty much all the graphic novels.

Celebrity crackdown in China

This policy limiting celebrity compensation is very far from the worst idea I have ever heard, particularly in an increasingly post-scarcity environment.

Chinese broadcasters and online entertainment sites should curb the amount of screen time given to celebrities, the country's television regulator announced.

The new directive aims to crack down on celebrity hype, fake audience and click-through rates for a healthy growth of the industry, according to a statement issued by the National Radio and Television Administration on Friday. The statement by the radio and television watchdog also restated a commitment made by television and film companies that the salaries of all performers must not exceed 40 per cent of the total production cost while leading actors will have their pay capped at 70 per cent of total wages for the entire cast.

One of the reasons the shadowy evils of Hollywood are so powerful is their ability to gatekeep the money and fame they dole out to the desperate. Measures such as these being enacted by China will not eliminate the problem, but it will reduce some of its effects. And they're pretty tame considering that a headline star can still be paid more than a quarter of the total budget.

It's going to be interesting to see how China's growing influence in the film industry modifies its practices.

RIP Stan Lee

Stan Lee (1922-2018)

We're told an ambulance rushed to Lee's Hollywood Hills home early Monday morning and he was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. We're told that's where he died.

Who cares?

I'm just wondering, why on Earth should anyone give a fragment of a quantum of a damn for the fact that the poor moderate media whores are now being treated in public the way that many of us have been treated online for the last five years?

Kat Timpf@KatTimpf
 I was just ran out of an establishment because of where I work. Chewed out, abused. But I guess that’s the norm now.

And let’s be honest, Kat Timpf is really pretty moderate in the grand scheme of things so to attack her of all people at Fox? That’s just someone who doesn’t really pay attention. At this point, we are not sure where Kat was but we’re hoping she’ll post it soon so we can share …

Because those who are really pretty moderate don't deserve to be attacked, unlike those awful right-wing extremists, right? These people now looking for our sympathy and support are the very people who didn't lift a finger when hundreds of people, up to and including Alex Jones, were driven off Facebook, Twitter, GoDaddy, IndieGoGo, Paypal, and other platforms for their badthink, who didn't bother to denounce the culprits, let alone stop utilizing their services.

Now they're being driven out of restaurants. So my response is, sowhat? Especially given the fact that the likes of Kat Timpf are still far too moderate to so much as name the place where they were victimized, for fear that someone will actually do something besides cringe and cower.

So much for those lofty principles

It took just over one year for Andrew Torba to climb down from his untenable high horse of "free speech uber alles":

Andrew Torba @a
This is unacceptable and we have taken action against this account. Targeting individuals with threatening language and behavior behind an anonymous account is cowardly and foolish. Users that do this will face accountability from Gab. 

Whatever happened to "suck it up, crybaby?" What a hypocritical moron. This is why Gab is doomed to failure. You simply can't expect an organization to succeed, let alone a startup, when it is run by someone as immature, hot-headed, and totally unable to anticipate the obvious as Torba.

Andrew Torba @a
I don’t want to hear it from the people who want to play semantic games about what is actually a threat and what isn’t. The intent here is very clear and aimed at a specific individual user. It’s malicious and designed to terrorize someone into silence. The person who recieved these (and many more,) did feel threatened and did contact us about it.

Of course he doesn't want to hear from everyone who is capable of remembering his oft-expressed previous position from all of six months ago. Gab is a train wreck in a dumpster fire and it will never be capable of becoming a genuine alternative to Twitter. My only regret is that I didn't continue to ignore Torba when he was lobbying Spacebunny to get me to pay attention to his emails.

Thanks to Oneway's brilliant ongoing developments, Infogalactic will soon be offering a Twitter alternative that will actually work in the not-very-distant future. And no, we will not be promising free speech to social rejects and retards, to the contrary, we promise to clamp down relentlessly and remorselessly on all social media jackassery, trollery, and bantz because we are more than happy to leave that time-wasting, mind-numbing gamma nonsense to Gab and whatever other sites wish to cater to the unpleasant and the unproductive.

This is why you just ignore them

I don't bother arguing with women and gammas anymore, mostly because I have noticed that the participation of a second party is really not required for them to engage in a lengthy debate. All that is necessary is for them to notice something that triggers their emotions. This is the hilarious, but very informative response of one woman to the recent Voxiversity video.

FSP: I'm at the 12:54 mark and I have to kind of laugh (I mean I don't mean to be mean & all) but YOU (I think you're a man) but you're talking about what a woman wants?  (oh, this is rich... I'm going to keep watching).  "Write her poems"?  Did you just say that?   It's not that a man hasn't written me a poem, but that's what... this would take too long to explain to you. LOL

Now... would an "Omga" also produce a podcast (like this one)?  I'M JUST ASKING...  Now, you also said "do not put an attractive woman with an Alpha man" as of course, she can't control herself she's just gonna have to jump his bones!?   HA HA HA HA... shhhh okay I'll be quiet & listen some more.  

You have put men in only 5 social standings.  They don't grow or change, life situations don't kind of play a part in changes in his life?  So, to you, a man that has 2 or more of these qualities is... either non-existent or what... an oddball?

Do you want my take on this?  You really don't know people very deeply do you?  And, you don't like people very much do you?  Just guessing.

VD:  "Do you want my take on this?" Not even a little bit.

DAVE: Ha-ha-ha, Vox so cruel. But I think this is a woman, right? Only another woman knows what a woman wants, right? Shouldn't we ask for pics to verify her familiarity with Alpha men? I'm not really seeing any other evidence that leads me to believe she has any experience here.

FSP: Dear Dave, you think Voxster is "cruel"?  "Are you serious?  His response comes nowhere NEAR "cruel".   It was a matter of fact for him (and totally predictable).  As for my experience with your so-called "Alpha" men.  You want a resume?  I think it would blow you away.  Pretty gets me in the door, but (as my sister calls me) tenaciousness can bring you to your knees.

No, I don't use it much unless I have to.  Which is very seldom.  An "alpha" man as you like to believe in needs a good spanking from time to time.  AND those are the ones I do not like.  You see this guy Vox?  He'd LOVE a good spanking.  That's how much of an "alpha" he is LOL, but you'd have to know men, as well as I do to understand that at all.  They talk a good game but honey... well, let's just say their bark is worse than their bite.

My husband and my son are true "Alphas" however, they know when to use it and when it is very unwise to use it, especially in business and dealing with others.  Oh, and my daughter, well let's just say she's as sweet as pie until she's not.  Yes, dear, we taught them early.

FSP: Of COURSE, you don't want anyone's "take" on anything. You're terrified of any actual input that would correct your obvious errors.  I could be so cruel here, I feel like being cruel actually because I detest bullies and philistines such as yourself.

Your smug arrogance gave you away long ago.  Only lowbrow people of suspect character act the way you do.  Your "holier than thou" attitude smacks of lack of true character or empathy for your fellow man.  Your distaste for women is palpable, only overdone by your thinly veiled euphemisms towards men.

I bet children and puppies recoil at any wayward glance you would dully turn their way.  You want so desperately to be respected as some kind of know it all.  Instead, you are an aging bald man sitting in an old chair recovered in the cheapest of red velvet, surrounded by books you either haven't read or God forbid speak of the darker side of mankind.

So, you would ask me (I'm so sure of your limited thought process)... why then do you bother to write or listen?  Reason 1: I like to listen to people I disagree with because we can learn from them.  Reason 2: Because sometimes people just have to tell an ass hat, when they ARE an ass hat.  You, sir, are an ass hat.

and no, I won't be listening anymore you're what is commonly called a total waste of time.

What I found chiefly noteworthy was the way the woman's response is eerily similar to the way that an angry gamma responds when triggered, right down to the false avowal of disengagement. Whoever described the gamma as a female mindset in a male body definitely had it right.

I do wonder, however, what it was that happened to trigger her so.

Cruel fate, coincidence, or conspiracy?

Well, what ARE the odds?

In a cruel twist of fate, dozens of people who survived the Las Vegas shooting were inside the Borderline bar when Long opened fire.

'It's the second time in about a year and a month that this has happened,' Nick Champion told OnSceneTV. 'I was in the Las Vegas Route 91 mass shooting, as well as probably 50 or 60 others who were in the building at the same time as me tonight.'

Champion and his friends were inside country music bar Borderline Bar and Grill for student night Wednesday, when ex-marine Ian Long, 29, stormed in, shooting dead 11 before turning the gun on himself. He and other Las Vegas survivors considered Borderline a 'place of healing' and gathered at the same bar for a memorial on a student night earlier this year.

It could just be a coincidence. Of course, both Q and Fox Mulder have repeatedly informed us that there are no coincidences. Perhaps this is a matter for the Winchester brothers and there is a country-music hating demon haunting the music venues of the West.

2VS is lying. Again.

So Ethan van Sciver is now swearing up and down that he's totally not at all connected to me or to ComicsGate, in any way, as he is desperately attempting to convince the SJWs at IndieGoGo not to shut down his account there.

Which, you will note, they already claim the right to do at any time, for any reason, no matter what, in their terms of use. They don't even need a justification. So, what they should probably know is that old Two-Face is blatantly lying to them as well. By way of example, here is one of his invitations to me, which I had assumed was going to be a debate between us.

Vox:

No, no, it’s just a conversation.  Google Hang Outs.  And it’s going to focus entirely on comic books and your relationship with them.  So I’ll ask you about when you discovered comics, maybe as a boy, if they were important to you and why, how superheroes influenced you to be who you are, maybe.  And then we’ll go into your current plans and ideas.  Talk about upcoming projects.

My audience will want you to prove to them that you respect and love comics.  That’s what they want to hear.  You can, of course, say anything you want and take the conversation wherever you’d like.  But I’ll be there with the goal of getting you to come off great to the crowd, and help you sell comic books to them.

After that there will be a Q and A from the viewers.

EVS

He was even a fan of the Darkstreams.

You’re bang on in your YouTube stuff.  I’m enjoying your Peterson insight.

Hope you’re well

E

Not only that, but Ethan occasionally forwarded me emails from his enemies in the industry, such as Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool, and not at my request either. Ironically, for all that he obviously disagrees with me and dislikes me, Rich Johnston has treated me more politely and considerably more honestly than Ethan has, which is why I will respect his confidence here.

Vox, here’s Bleeding Cool’s hit piece.  They sent me it in advance.  Probably hit tomorrow. What say you?

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rich Johnston REDACTED

Date: February 1, 2018 at 11:47:23 AM EST

To: ComicArtistPro Secrets REDACTED

Subject: Re: Draft of Bleeding Cool article.

And lest you don't believe me when I told you that it was Ethan's idea that we should work together:

I’ll tell him but he likely won’t.  At this moment I do believe we should combine forces and resources/talents, tho.

Sent from my iPad

> On May 12, 2018, at 6:23 AM, Vox wrote:
>
> Hey Ethan,
>
> Tell Richard to get in touch if he needs a publisher. 

So, as you can plainly see, all of 2VS's current posturing and repositioning and public disavowing is simply more two-faced false talk meant to spin his self-serving and increasingly unconvincing narrative. And he is STILL actively lying about me.

"He thinks he owns ComicsGate."
- Ethan van Sciver, November 9, 2018

No, I don't and I never have. This should more than suffice to make it clear who has been lying all along and who has not. As for the claim that I con people, about comics or anything else, that is nothing but textbook emotional projection on Ethan's part.

Civilization as cargo cult

They are not "reclaiming" America, they are replacing it with Not-America:

The idea is to recast Norman Rockwell paintings with Diversity. It’s a pathetically lame idea, but who cares about artistic taste anymore? What matters now is Representation. We need more pictures of the Good People and fewer pictures of the Bad People.

Even the idiot civic nationalists should be able to figure out by now that the end result of this ongoing transformation of the United States is not going to be something that has anything in common with the America that Norman Rockwell depicted; in the end they probably won't even keep the name.

Portrait of a leader

2VS abandons ComicsGate and leaves it to fend for itself:

I think that at this point I no longer can call myself ComicsGate. I think that has just struck me like a lightning bolt; that's not who I am, you know? I'm All-Caps Comics. I'm Ethan Van Sciver. I am somebody who promotes and sells comic books. I'm somebody who listens, who listens to the audience. I'm somebody who finds out what a need is and I fill that need.

It is not my place, and it never really has been my place, to criticize what other people are doing. That is not what I want to do, that's not my purpose, it's not my purpose to yell at other professionals, it's not my purpose to yell at anyone. Really, it's not my purpose to just say hey what Marvel's doing, what DC is doing here, and there isn't right, you know, it indicates that there's a conspiracy, a leftist conspiracy. I believe in all that and I think that that is true but that's not what I'm about, that's not what I'm doing, and I think that's where the conflict comes in, and I think that's where the confusion comes in.

I'm not ComicsGate. I am simply Ethan Van Sciver from Comic Artist Pro Secrets and now All-Caps Comics. That is my comic book company, that is the label that I'm going to publish under. And what does this mean? This means that I am done with ComicsGate. I'm no longer considering myself a part of ComicsGate.

Let me see if I can translate this from 2VSpeak: "IndieGoGo was going to kick me off their platform if I didn't do something drastic to sever my connection to ComicsGate, so I'm quitting in order to try to preserve my access." 

I told them he was going to stab them in the back. But it happened even sooner than I thought it would. And yes, I am amused.

Mailvox: cowardice vs Christianity

A German reader describes why men cannot stand fake and hyperfeminized churchianity in lieu of genuine Christianity:

In one of your recent videos - I think it was one of the videos on Jordan Peterson - you mentioned that men really trying to improve on their lives tend to go the the gym and to read the new testament. This statement I can fully confirm from my personal experience. Being a gamma most of my life I slowly but steadily work myself out of the gamma's self-absorption in recent years and going to the gym and practicing my refound Christian faith are two important pillars in that respect.

The motivation to go the gym I got already years ago and independently of your blog and videos. It's another story with my refound Christian  faith. I was raised and educated in a Christian family and - as you also write in a blog post from May 2nd, 2018 - I think it was that very Christian education that contributed to me developing gamma habits in the first place. For example I remember my mother stressing that Jesus was a superior man for not defending himself and being a victim. Combine that with a weak father with strong gamma traits and you won't be surprised that I developed the typical passive-aggressiveness of a gamma. Just to name another example: I remember attending a bible lecture as a child where the (male) member of the church community who served there as a teacher told us that women were somehow stronger than men. I don't remember the context, I only remember my astonishment ("don't have men naturally more strength than women?") but somehow accepting his statement in the end.

When I discovered men's movements and the manosphere some years ago I tended to regain an interest in God as the strong father I would have wished for my childhood days. At the same time I rejected the Christian faith and even resented it because I blamed it for turning me into a full-blown gamma. Especially verses like "turning the other cheek" brought about my general rejection. My relationship with God remainded being more of a superficial interest than a deep-rooted faith at this time.

The beginning of the breakthrough back to my Christian faith came roughly half a year ago with watching your video "Hate is a Christian Virtue". This was the starting point for my growing understanding that Christianity isn't about cowardly backing down and being submissive to evil and harmful people. I began to understand the Christian faith from a new and masculine point of view. I began to understand that it's also about being strong and clear in one's stand against attackers. Now I'm reading bible verses daily again and listen to sermons regularly (if you don't now it already I highly recommend John MacArthur's series on Social Justice and the Gospel). I even found a group of Christian men practicing the Christian faith and supporting each other in their manhood.

So first and foremost I want to thank you for your helpful work on the socio-sexual hierarchy and Christianity. Moreover I'd really appreciate it - if your time and interests allow it at this point - if you would further elaborate on the topic of Christianity and why it involves masculine strength rather than being opposed to it. In particular I'd really like to know your interpretation of verses like "turning the other cheek".

The key to understanding the concept of turning the other cheek is to grasp that motivations matter. God knows your thoughts! You are not going to fool Him. If you are refraining from striking down the man who violently humiliates you out of cowardice, then you are not turning the other cheek. You are not seeking to be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect. You're just being a coward and there is less than zero spiritual benefit to you from your failure to respond. Better that you hit your attacker back, and do so harder than he hit you.

Turning the other cheek is only for the man who is strong enough to demonstrate his forbearance as an example of God's mercy and impregnability, just as carrying the legionary's equipment for an extra mile can only apply to the individual who is able to carry it for the first mile. One cannot strive to be a perfect man when one is not even truly a man.

That's merely my opinion, of course. I am a political philosopher, not a theologian.

How totally surprising

Democrats are going to run on gun control in 2020. Can you spell TRUMPSLIDE?

Newly ascendant Democrats are promising congressional action on gun control amid a rash of mass shootings, including a late-night assault at a California bar that killed 12 people. Measures including expanded background checks and a ban on assault-style weapons are likely to reach the House floor when Democrats retake control after eight years of Republican rule.

“The American people deserve real action to end the daily epidemic of gun violence that is stealing the lives of our children on campuses, in places of worship and on our streets,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader who is running for a second stint as House speaker.

Pelosi vowed to push for a range of actions to stem gun violence, including restrictions on high-capacity magazines and a measure allowing temporary removal of guns from people deemed an imminent risk to themselves or others.

They never, ever, learn. They never will learn. Because NPCs lack the capability.

Voxiversity Episode 009

The production team and I are pleased to announce Voxiversity Episode 009: THE SOCIO-SEXUAL HIERARCHY

The bestselling author of THE IRRATIONAL ATHEIST and ON THE EXISTENCE OF GODS explains the socio-sexual hierarchy and the five primary ranks into which it is divided.

• Bitchute
• Youtube

Thanks very much to all the Voxiversity and Darkstream backers who are making these videos possible. A pertinent comment from YouTube on that note: To all those responsible for the continued existence of Voxiversity: Thank you for the knowledge-rich content.

Darkstream: The Sociopathic SJW Media

From the transcript of the Darkstream:

We need to stop thinking that, oh, well, we just need to reason with them! Don't they understand what this is leading to? Well, if we can only convince them what this is leading to, then maybe they'll change! No, that's not going to happen, that's not going to work. If you haven't read it yet, it's a very quick read, but take a look at 4D Warfare by Jack Posobiec. Whether you like Jack or not, whether you think that he is spot-on or not, he does make a very good comparison of what is developing with Antifa in the United States and the Red Guards in China. It's also very similar to what happened with the Reds, the Republicans in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

The Spanish Civil War was incredibly,  incredibly ugly and so this same framework is what is shaping up in the United States right now. And it's happening, to a great extent, because conservatives have absolutely failed to accept the fact that these people are the enemy. You've got all these good conservatives who are still more concerned about shaking their finger about identity politics and people who would divide the nation when when we should be trying to unite it. It's absolutely ludicrous, it's absolutely a non-starter. The conservative movement has failed utterly because the conservative movement was co-opted by cuckservatives and neocons.

Their whole game was to drive the right away from Christianity and away from nationalism, but the only thing that will save the country, that will save the remnants of the country, is Christian nationalism. That's what we're seeing rising in Europe and that's where you're going to need to turn to find the spiritual, mental, and cultural confidence to stand against Antifa. And that's something that you need to come around to because I understand a lot of you don't want to believe that. I understand that you want to cling to your Enlightenment values,  you want to cling to your tolerance, you want to cling to your hedonism, if you're a woman maybe you want to cling to your feminism.

You can't do it. You can't do it and stand against the evil because it weakens you. The way that you weaken yourself is you compromise yourself, and when you are compromised then you are unable to stand against the evil of others. You just don't have the ability. It's like trying to become a bodybuilder but saying, you know, I'm not going to work my chest muscles. I'll make my legs real strong and I'll make my biceps real strong, but I'm just not gonna do any bench because I don't believe in that. I don't believe in working my pectorals. You know, you're not going to become an effective bodybuilder.

If you have a military operation and you just decide  that we have to do this operation, we want to take this objective, we've got all these forces, but you know, I just fundamentally don't believe in artillery. I think that artillery is just wrong and I don't believe it's effective,  and so we'll send in the infantry, and we'll send in the armor, and and maybe we'll fly some planes too, but no artillery, because artillery is is just wrong. Well, how effective is your military going to be? Maybe it's going to be effective enough,  but it's not going to be as effective as it could and should be.

Magic Dirt Fail in Australia

A Somali-Australian expressed his appreciation for his new home in Melbourne:

Police are treating an attack in Melbourne’s Bourke Street mall in which one person was fatally stabbed and two others were injured as an incident of terrorism. The attacker was shot by police as the terrifying scene unfolded in Melbourne’s city district on Friday. He died later that night in hospital.

Witnesses said they heard a loud explosion and saw a car bust into flames outside Target on Bourke Street, between Swanston and Russell Streets, about 4.20pm.

Chief commissioner Graham Ashton said the attacker was known to police and federal intelligence agencies. “What we know so far about the individual ... from what we know we are treating this as a terrorism incident,” he said. “We believe we have confirmation on the identity [and] there are ongoing investigations being conducted by counter-terrorism. I am not at liberty to disclose the identity of this person. He is known to police, mainly in respect to relatives that he has that are persons of interest to us. He is someone who is accordingly known to Victoria Police and the federal intelligence authorities.”

The man had a minor offending history of drug, theft and driving offences, lived in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne, and came to Australia from Somalia in the 1990s, he said.

Perhaps it was his anger over Australian meddling in the Middle East. Either way, if we have learned one thing over the last 17 years, explosions are just part and parcel of living in any big city that is home to the Religion of Peace.

#BelieveHer

VFM at Google are reporting "a major concession" has been made by management after a big meeting concerning sexual harassment. Accused male Googlers are henceforth to be deemed guilty until they can prove otherwise.

It is good to see that Google is finally putting its corporate policies in line with its publicly expressed values.

Right Ho, Jeeves #3 now in print

BERTIE AT BAY is the third issue in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series, which tells of the travails of the inimitable Bertie Wooster, summoned from the comforts of #3A Berkley Mansions, London to Brinkley Manor by his imperious Aunt Dahlia. Love is in the air and Wodehousian shenanigans are afoot, as Wooster's well-meaning attempts to help out his friends sort out their romantic difficulties only leads to one hilarious disaster after another.

Adapted from the classic Wodehouse novel by comics legend Chuck Dixon and drawn by SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN illustrator Gary Kwapisz, BERTIE AT BAY is issue #3 of 6 in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series.

RIGHT HO, JEEVES #3: Bertie at Bay is available in a gold logo edition from Arkhaven Direct for $2.99.

In other Arkhaven-related news, Rorshach of Swindon has reviewed Alt-Hero #4: The War in Paris.

Exercise your rights

I tend to doubt even Antifa are dumb enough to try this sort of home invasion in any Castle Doctrine jurisdiction:

A group of protesters congregated outside what they claimed was Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s home in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night to chant threatening messages.

Smash Racism D.C., a self-described “anti-fascist” group, posted a video of their members screaming obscenities at Carlson’s house and blaming his “policies” for the deaths of thousands of people.

“Tucker Carlson, we will fight!” the protesters chanted. “We know where you sleep at night!”

In the first video posted to Twitter, one protester can be seen ringing Carlson’s doorbell before running away.

“Racist scumbag, leave town!”

Every night you spread fear into our homes—fear of the other, fear of us, and fear of them. Each night you tell us we are not safe. Tonight you’re reminded that we have a voice. Tonight, we remind you that you are not safe either.
#KnockKnockTucker

Someone affiliated with DC Antifa told The Gateway Pundit that the protest at Carlson’s home was “just the beginning.”

If they start it, we'll end it. In the very unlikely event you haven't already, it's time to gun up. The expected civil unpleasantries have already begun. And while Tucker Carlson's wife might not put three rounds of .357 in a home invader's chest "because she feared for her life and the lives of her children" you can be damned sure that mine would not hesitate to do so.

Assuming, of course, that the Ridgebacks didn't eat them first.

I highly recommend anyone right of center in the public eye to have at least two large security dogs. Then, if Antifa is dumb enough to set foot on your property, just open the door. Trust me, about the only thing more intimidating than a well-muscled adult Rhodesian Ridgeback unleashing its big bass "I WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL" bark from Hell at you is two of them doing it at the same time.

I've seen a grown man dive into the hatchback of his cars and slam it shut on himself rather than face a Ridgeback, and she was just wagging her tail and giving her friendly "HEY! HEY! HEY! NEW FRIEND! DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?" bark.

Bono is evil

The Big Bear takes on the unsuspected evil that is Bono.

After several comments told me I was way off on Bono, given my personality, I had no other choice than to do a bunch of research on him and dedicate an entire episode to further prove my point that he is vile. Enjoy! The pope, harvey weinstein, bill clinton, ONE charity, tax evasion, hypocrisy, theft, fake environmentalism, weird album covers, and much much more! 

It's pretty bad. Bono is considerably weirder and more hypocritical than even those who instinctively dislike him tend to suspect. The fact that his charity ONE has given less than two percent of the money it has raised to anyone in need is merely the tip of what appears to be a deeply troubling iceberg of the usual evil. I even contributed in a very modest way to this video, as I sent the Big Bear my observations concerning some lyrics from the U2 song "One" that he noticed seemed a little strange in a previous video.

Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law

Love is a temple = Ordo Templi Orientis, an occult order to which Aleister Crowley belonged. From Infogalactic: After spending time in Algeria, in 1912 Crowley was initiated into another esoteric order, the German-based Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), rising to become the leader of its British branch, which he reformulated in accordance with his Thelemite beliefs.

Love the higher law = The Book of the Law, the sacred text of Thelema, a pagan cult religion. From Infogalactic: The central sacred text of Thelema, written down from dictation mostly by Aleister Crowley. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will." The law of Thelema was developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley, an English writer and ceremonial magician.

Shut them down

Given that they are the enemy of the American people, CNN is fortunate that the God-Emperor has merely denied the media a press pass or two rather than ordering drone strikes:

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta accused the Trump administration Wednesday evening of trying to shut down critical press coverage by revoking his credentials.

In an interview with CNN colleague Anderson Cooper, Mr. Acosta denied assaulting a White House intern earlier in the day — the stated reason — saying he was merely “trying to hang onto the microphone” after President Trump had instructed the young woman to take the microphone to give it to another reporter.

“It’s unfortunate that the White House is saying this,” Mr. Acosta said, going on to accuse the White House of trying to intimidate the rest of the press corps.

“I do think this is a test for all of us,” he said after Mr. Cooper had shown several supportive tweets from other White House reporters.

“I think they’re trying to shut us down … send a message to our colleagues,” Mr. Acosta said.

When their coverage is 98 percent critical, why give them any access at all? What is the benefit to either the Trump administration or the American people in doing so?

EXCERPT: Pop Kult Warlord

An excerpt from POP KULT WARLORD, the second book in the Soda Pop Soldier series, by one of the best-selling authors in science fiction, Nick Cole!

The phone rings. It’s Irving Wong. My new e-sports agent. We met during the Razer party. He also represents the new Batman actor. So he must be big-time, sorta.

“Hey, PQ!” he says in his cigar-smoke-ravaged voice. I see his name in the caller ID.

“Mr. Wong.” My parents raised me to be polite. I’ve been thinking about them a lot as surreality has become a new reality. Like they’re some anchor I must hold on to, or otherwise go spinning off over the cliffs of insanity.

“PQ! Rock star! Baby!” Irv erupts at just after dawn, Havana time, as the multi-colored city surrenders to the full glare of an unrelenting tropical morning. I can see people in the streets below from the wide window of my top-floor suite. Still dancing. But many are streaming away to wherever it is they’re staying. It’s expected after almost twenty-four straight hours of nonstop Super Bowl partying.

“Call me Irv, PQ.”

I agree to.

Again. Politeness. I’m tired so I kick off my loafers and lay the suit jacket I had made in Rome across the emperor-sized bed. Maybe it’s time to go back. Have another one made. I liked Rome a lot.

“Okay, cutting to the chase, kid,” Irv begins. “I already got something for you. Something very hot. A booking that starts now-ish. You game?”

“Now-ish?” The thought of throwing myself into another e-sports combat game seems impossible at this moment. As in… triathlon impossible the day after you’ve quit your habit of smoking and eating three cheeseburgers a day.

I exhale, involuntarily. I’m not just suffering from game fatigue, or binge tiredness… I’ve got a serious case of game hangover. It’s been six months of straight matches every weekend, and we’ve been winning pretty consistently. You’d think winning makes it easier, but it doesn’t. It makes things much, much harder. Every match… every engagement… every bullet… develops some massive psychic weight of importance that must be constantly accounted for and dealt with. Gaming isn’t just fun at this level… it’s become a business.

And I’m beat tired.

I sit on the bed and feel its whispering invitation to sweet oblivion. Darkness. Just sweet silent no-monitor-or-flashing-smartphone-lights darkness. I could seriously do that.

“Ever heard of a game called Civ Craft?” barks Irv over the faraway phone in my hand.
I have. It looks pretty awesome. But it’s team-based. And I already play for a team in WarWorld.
“Well you know it’s got national teams, right?” asks Irv.

“Sure,” I mumble distantly. Giant bed is calling to me. Singing a song really. A lullaby just like the kind mermaids were supposed to lure sailors to their deaths with.

“Okay, so, follow me here, kid. You know that a lot of national entities field teams to compete within this Civ Craft world, right? They all work together to build living-world civilizations from the ground up. People actually go on virtual vacations in the top-tier one. That’s cray-cray,” says the old man using his old man lingo.

I’ve vaguely heard stuff like this. Again, I don’t really know much about the game. WarWorld and its military team combat are more my thing. Infantry operations especially.

“Sure.”

“Okay, well one of these entities is interested in recruiting you for their national team. And there’s some big money involved. Rich country, lots of oil reserves. They’re going to pay you, and me my fifteen percent of course, in gold to come down and fight for them. They’ve got a big thing going down and they want pro gamers who are willing to merc for cash. Except the cash is gold which is way better. So, they called about an hour ago and they really want the MVP of the Super Bowl to come help them out. Interested?”

I’m really too tired to go anywhere in the near future. I’m pretty sure a week in this bed turning back into a human being is all I’m capable of.

“It’s a one-month contract with an option for another. Five million in gold per month.”

I’m wide awake.

“Kid…” growls Irv low and conspiratorially like we’re spies, or mobsters. “This is…”

“I’m in,” I shout, hearing my voice bounce off the walls of the suite.

“Ha-cha!” erupts Irv triumphantly. Like he’s just won a hand of pinochle or got the high score on a Super Mario Bros. upright he found in the back of a liquor store that still takes vintage quarters when you can find ’em. Some old guy thing only old guys ever get excited about. “Knew you would be. Okay. Car’s waiting downstairs in front of the hotel to get you to Havana International directly. Private jet will take you over to LAX, and then I’ll deliver you to the client myself.”

No bed?

Nah, I think to myself. Five million in gold. I’ll get some coffee. Who needs bed?

I stand and feel vaguely drunk. And washed out. And dehydrated. And papery and thin. And I need a shave. I slip on my loafers and jacket and grab my Samurai Leather messenger bag containing my laptop.

I take one last look at Giant Bed.

It would’ve been real nice.

“Where am I going, Irv?”

“Calistan, kid. The Gold Coast of Calistan. Used to be called Southern California… before the Meltdown.”

It was Snoozy all along

The question of Stealth Sessions vs Snoozy Sessions has, apparently, been settled:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned under pressure Wednesday after more than a year of public criticism from his boss, President Donald Trump.

Trump’s press secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House received a resignation letter from Sessions, 71, earlier Wednesday and Trump accepted it.

Sessions, a former senator from Alabama, departs after the president repeatedly hammered him about his decision last year to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Sessions's public performance as Trump's AG has been disappointing, especially given his early championing of the God-Emperor. Time will tell if there was anything to his performance out of the public eye or not, but his resignation now tends to indicate that there wasn't much there.

This also casts some doubt on the veracity of Q. Trust Sessions... to do what? Resign?

Darkstream: 2018 midterms live

Last night's extended Darkstream on the 2018 midterms, complete with my failed call about the Republicans successfully holding the House. Everyone enjoyed the livestream at the time, although there is apparently an amount of subsequent irritation about my having been proved incorrect. All I can say is that I legitimately did think at that time that Republicans had done what they needed to do in the early key races, and that their success in the East would carry over to the Midwest and the West. Obviously that did not happen. 

Lucius Cincinnatus asks why won't Republicans go after the white vote? Because there are way too many civic nationalists in the Republican Party. They pride themselves on considering themselves color-blind, it's integral to how they see themselves, and so it's very, very difficult for them to separate the macro from the micro. It's very difficult for them to think about the long-term implications of their position. Essentially you're trying to force people to think about the future of their children rather than how they feel about themselves.

It's very, very difficult for a civic nationalist to accept the reality of identity politics, especially when they have been taught for generations that such things are bad, and so you have to be very patient with civic nationalists and understand that it's usually not coming from a place of hypocrisy, it's not
usually coming from a place of malice or anything, it's coming from their good intentions and their
preference for thinking highly of themselves for assuming the best of others.

People have a problem differentiating between individuals and groups? Well, some people do. The Chinese do not have that problem. The Jews do not have that problem. Most people don't have that problem. Europeans have that problem because they tend to be the most individualistic people on the planet, and that was a big benefit 200 or 300 years ago, but now that travel is so much easier it is no longer a benefit of any kind. That's where you see the the problem that Europeans have in competing with other peoples. You see this on the Right as well. Look at all the people on the Right who simply refuse to cooperate.

Look who came on the Darkstream the day that IndieGoGo cancelled Alt-Hero. You know who suddenly showed up, and was suddenly, "hey, we all have to stick together." It was 2VS, old Two-Face Van Sciver, but look at what happened the moment that he called IndieGoGo and talked to them, and they reassured him that they weren't going to treat him the way that they treated us. Now,  I personally wouldn't put any faith in people who behaved like that, but he's dumb enough to do so. So people only join forces, you know individualistic people only join forces so long as they feel an  active and imminent sense of threat.

Until most people of European descent feel that way, they will not change their behavior.

A wealth of wargaming knowledge

Scott Cole conducts a fascinating interview with wargaming historian George Nafziger at Castalia House for Wargaming Wednesday:

SC: David Hamilton-Williams’ Waterloo New Perspectives argues that one of the main influences for the modern understanding of the Battle of Waterloo is Captain William Siborne and his research conducted while building a topographical model of the battle field, all heavily influenced by interviews with British veterans while neglecting the role of minor Allies and, of course, the Prussians.

GN: One thing about published authors – Just because you find it in print doesn’t mean it’s correct. I found a book on Leipzig where the author gave an OB for Leipzig that had the 1st & 2nd Westphalian Hussars present at Leipzig, but both had deserted the French army in late August or early September 1813. This author simply assumed. He also listed Vandamme’s I Corps as still existing, but it was destroyed after the battle of Dresden at Teblitze

When I said that I found English literature on the Napoleonic wars unsatisfying, it was because English speakers are notoriously monoglots – reading only English and only repeat the mantra of “The English won the Napoleonic Wars because they were wonderful.” Let me ask you a rhetorical question: “How many English works go into any detail on Austrian, Russian, or Prussian actions on the battlefield?” I knew of very few.

Anyway, I’ve digressed. English-reading authors cite only English sources and you get the same stuff over and over again. When I buy a book on the Napoleonic era I look at the bibliography. If 50 percent or more is English, I figure the non-English citations are purely filler to flesh out the bibliography and it is purely a rehash of the same old Anglo-myopic stuff.

As for Siborne, he was an Englishman whose natural pro-English biases were accentuated by his desire to get subscriptions for his model, so he amplified the actions of those rich nobles he was soliciting for money. That said, he provides valuable information concerning the British (which must be evaluated for overstatement) and scanty details on the French. As for the Allies, they weren’t making donations to his model project, so they got left out.

 SC: Do you have examples of common misconceptions amongst the English reading public?

GN: Yes, the idea that Wellington invented the two rank line. In fact, in the Dundas infantry regulation you will find it mandated WHEN the battalion did not have sufficient men to fill out the three rank formation. I did an analysis, which can be found in Imperial Bayonets, where the British Army in the peninsula was so under strength that it had no choice, but to be in two ranks as prescribed by the Dundas regulation.

SC: You were a professional wargamer playing OPFOR at the Battle Command Training Center in Fort Leavenworth. Could you describe the similarities and the differences between the war games employed in the Battle Command Training Program (BTCP) and any commercial wargames you have played?

GN: Dissimilarity – the Army actually knew something about war, where I have often found that wargamers frequently have no practical or personal experience in it. Though I was never in the Army, 25 years commissioned service in the Navy counts for something. In addition, I have experience in naval gunfire support off the coast of Vietnam. I also wear the combat action ribbon, for having been in combat, i.e. exchanging fire with the enemy.

Similarities – the generals frequently have ideas, and facts can be an annoyance to those fixed ideas. By this I do not intend to sound like I’m a know-it-all, and some of what I know is classified so I cannot discuss it, but let me relate one story. After the invasion of Iraq, I was writing scenarios for brigade-level exercises. I wrote one where I had the terrorists seize a water works and release the chlorine gas. The generals threw my scenario out saying that the terrorists would never do that. Within a year the terrorists were putting cylinders of chlorine with their IEDs. I rest my case.

There is one major difference between the BCTP games and any type of hobbyist wargame, and that is that the BCTP game had no “eye candy.” Visually it was very sterile. Commercial games have a necessity to make their games visually appealing.

I don't often post links to them here, but rest assured that I never miss reading a Wargaming Wednesday post. They are reliably an excellent and informative read.

Wait, what?

So, I called the House for the Republicans at 8:43 PM Eastern time. CNN was nearly in tears, Nate Silver had lowered the odds of Republicans holding the House from 1 in 15 to 1 in 2, and there had been an eight-point turnaround from the pre-election polls favoring the Democratic candidate for Florida governor. Of the two key early House races involving vulnerable Republican incumbents, the one in Virginia went Democrat, the one in Kentucky held.

Game over. Right? It looked like my scenario of the Republicans losing a few seats, but not their House majority had proven correct. So, I called it and turned in.

Then I wake up this morning to reports of +34 Democrats in the House, +3 Republicans in the Senate.

WHAT. THE. HELL?

Now, I don't mind being wrong, which I obviously was, but I do like to know why. And this combination of being correct about a few things while getting the larger element wrong is puzzling. How could most of the early metrics I'd chosen as indicators favor the Republicans and still produce end results like this? My first stab at explaining the dichotomy:

1. Trump turned the most dangerous areas with his campaigning. Where did he campaign the most heavily? Indiana and Florida. Where did Republicans seriously outperform the polls from the day before, by as much as eight percent in the case of the Florida governer's race? Indiana and Florida. I should have known to discount the Trump effect elsewhere.
2. The non-incumbency factor. 40 Republican incumbents retired and Democrats took 34 seats. Due to the nature of American politics, it's always easier for an incumbent to hold his seat than for a newcomer to claim it, even in a favorable district. The numbers don't match up perfectly, as some of the flipped seats were weakly held where new incumbents swept in on Trump's 2016 coattails, but I doubt that synchronicity is entirely coincidental.

The strangest thing is the way that Republicans gained three seats in the Senate, which of course demonstrates that although the Democrats took the House, there was no Blue Wave of the sort long predicted by the media. And as a bonus, let me observe that the primary lesson of the election appears to be that identity trumps even economic self-interest for the diverse tribes of not-America.

Blacks voted 89.9 percent Democrat. The "natural conservatives" voted 72 percent Democrat.

For once, Bill Kristol is correct.

I've always disliked the phrase "demography is destiny," as it seems to minimize the capacity for deliberation and self-government, for reflection and choice. But looking at tonight's results in detail, one has to say that today, in America, demography sure seems to be destiny.

It is becoming increasingly evident that there is no such thing as a non-white America any more than there is a Jewish Palestine. Whatever it is, whatever its benefits may be, whatever it may become, it simply will not be "America" as Americans have known it for 200 years.

UPDATE: The Senate is looking even better now at 55-45.