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Arkhaven backers

Check your email. Please follow the directions, do NOT ask any questions here and do NOT email any questions to me. All the relevant questions will be addressed in detail at the proper time later this month.

UPDATE: I will be sending out an email Thursday night to the hundreds of respondents. The entire team is blown away by the strength of your response. Thank you all.

UPDATE: There are now 50 40 10 5 0 slots left. Thanks to everyone who is participating. Please follow the emailed instructions to get registered and approved ASAP.

Uber settles arbitration claims

This settlement of a series of arbitrations might prove educational for some readers here:

Uber Settles ‘Majority’ of Arbitrations for at Least $146M

Total settlements are between $146 million and $170 million A “large majority” of the more than 60,000 Uber Inc. drivers filing arbitration claims for employment misclassification will receive settlement payments as part of agreements reached by the company, Uber said in a regulatory filing May 9.

12,501 arbitration claims filed out of a potential 60,000. The filing fees alone could have cost Uber $75 million. Since the arbitrators can get paid as much as $9k a day, well, it's not exactly hard to figure out why Uber quickly decided to settle for 2x the amount of the filing fees.

Interestingly enough, Uber initially tried to avoid paying the filing fees for the very process they contractually required. Check out this article from December 2018.

Uber fought as hard as any company in America in the past few years to assure the enforceability of its contractual arbitration provisions. When drivers who had signed contracts with Uber attempted to sue the company for wage and hour violations, Uber and its lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher won key rulings from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that effectively ended the drivers’ quest to litigate their claims in court – or even to arbitrate their claims as a class. For Uber drivers, the only way to go after the company for alleged state and federal employment law violations was to file an independent arbitration claim.

Amazingly, thousands of Uber drivers did just that. Between August and November of this year, about 12,500 drivers, many of whom had been class members in cases in which Uber successfully moved to compel arbitration, served individual arbitration demands on Uber, claiming the company failed to pay them the federally-mandated minimum wage and failed to pay overtime wages. These thousands of drivers filed their arbitration demands at JAMS, as mandated in Uber’s contracts.

But nothing has happened in almost all of the drivers’ cases. Of the 12,500 arbitration demands filed by Uber drivers, the company has paid the requisite JAMS initial filing fee in just 296 cases, according to a newly filed petition by drivers seeking to compel Uber to pay the fees JAMS requires to launch arbitration. So far, arbitrators have been appointed in only 47 of the cases drivers have brought against Uber – and Uber has paid the arbitrator’s nonrefundable $1,500 retainer fee in a mere six cases.

In other words, Uber caved after paying out $67,750, then doing the relevant math and realizing that they were already on the hook for an absolute minimum $34,375,000, which would almost certainly have exploded into at least $318 million even if every single arbitration was kept to three days or less... not including legal fees.

More interesting information, courtesy of an exhibit that quotes the JAMS general counsel and explicitly points out that corporations can't avoid playing by the rules they impose on their employees and users.

In a Jan. 23 notice to Uber and the drivers, JAMS general counsel and national arbitration committee cochair Sheri Eisner noted Uber’s request that JAMS review the role of the drivers’ firm Keller Lenkner in a consolidated proceeding, before Uber is required to pay initiation fees in all of the cases.

Eisner said that’s not how JAMS procedures work. “While it is not our preference to force the parties to litigate these issues seriatim, our policies and procedures, absent party agreement otherwise, require that we collect a filing fee in each case to be pursued,” she wrote. “Further, the parties’ arbitration agreement appears to clearly prohibit collective determination of any issue absent party agreement … Therefore, absent party agreement otherwise, JAMS must proceed in the normal course, following receipt of filing fees by commencing and appointing an arbitrator to each case.”

As Eisner said in the notice, JAMS had put a hold on arbitration demands for about 8,500 drivers in California while a single arbitration weighed Uber’s opposition to the post hoc vice admission of Keller Lenkner in 40 cases in which Uber has already paid initiation fees. The hearing officer, according to the JAMS notice, has determined that his decision on the pro hac vice application will apply only in the 40 cases before him, not across all of the 8,500 arbitration demands. The JAMS GC said that the hold on thousands of other California arbitrations is now lifted.

Eisner’s notice ended with language that’s extremely important for the future of mass arbitration. “JAMS is mindful of the significant resources (both in time and expense) expended by all parties and counsel in determining the best path forward to resolve these matters in multiple jurisdictions,” she wrote. “JAMS strongly encourages the parties to consider engaging a third party (whether a mediator, arbitrator or administrative representative) to assist the parties in addressing the variety of process issues presented by numerous cases proceeding in multiple jurisdictions.”

JAMS, in other words, isn’t going to help Uber out of the jam it’s facing as a result of imposing mandatory individual arbitration agreements on its drivers. Based on Eisner’s notice, Uber can’t rely on a consolidated JAMS proceeding to decide even recurring threshold issues, such as whether the drivers can rely on the law firm that filed their arbitration demands. For Uber – and any future mass arbitration defendant - hoping to cut the cost of litigating thousands of individual arbitrations by resolving across-the-board concerns in one proceeding, the JAMS letter makes it clear that the arbitration service isn’t going to bend its rules and overlook contract language to allow that.

The lesson, as always, is this: even if you write the contract and stack everything in your favor, you'd better not break it with thousands of people or you're going to pay a lot of money for the privilege.

Always read the fine print

Wordpress, which recently deplatformed Chateau Heartiste, really needs to hire better lawyers. Consider the two following sections of its Terms of Use.

15. Jurisdiction and Applicable Law.
Except to the extent any applicable law provides otherwise, the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be governed by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions. The proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California.

16. Arbitration Agreement
Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond), any dispute arising under the Agreement shall be finally settled in accordance with the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc. (“JAMS”) by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with such Rules. The arbitration shall take place in San Francisco, California, in the English language and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce the Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees.

So, Wordpress requires arbitration through the JAMS system, and they require the arbitration to take place in California. Not only that, but they declare that whoever wins can claim costs and attorneys's fees. This, of course, is meant to dissuade people like Heartiste from taking them to arbitration.

But not so fast. JAMS enforces the following standards, which are based on California law.

Consumer Arbitration Minimum Standards

JAMS will administer arbitrations pursuant to mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses between companies and consumers only if the contract arbitration clause and specified applicable rules comply with the following minimum standards of fairness.

The consumer must have a right to an in-person hearing in his or her hometown area.

With respect to the cost of the arbitration, when a consumer initiates arbitration against the company, the only fee required to be paid by the consumer is $250, which is approximately equivalent to current Court filing fees. All other costs must be borne by the company, including any remaining JAMS Case Management Fee and all professional fees for the arbitrator's services. When the company is the claiming party initiating an arbitration against the consumer, the company will be required to pay all costs associated with the arbitration.

In California, the arbitration provision may not require the consumer to pay the fees and costs incurred by the opposing party if the consumer does not prevail.

In other words, Chateau (or any of his readers) can bring an arbitration against Wordpress for $250, can do it in his hometown area rather than on Wordpress's turf, and cannot be forced to pay costs or legal fees even if he loses.

Always read the fine print.

Ben Shapiro humiliates himself on the BBC

Ben Shapiro has mega TANTRUM on the BBC

Ben Shapiro is the famous, fast-talking pundit who regularly ‘owns’ aggressive campus students with his quick wit and rapid repartee. Alas, Shapiro isn’t so ‘crazy smart’ when he comes up against difficult questions from a real interviewer. Yesterday he just couldn’t cope with an interrogation from the BBC’s Andrew Neil. He decided that Neil must be a typical BBC leftist and had an epic tantrum. Oh dear — should have done your research Ben. The idea that Andrew Neil, who just so happens to also be chairman of The Spectator, is some sort of rabid leftist is hilarious to anybody who has a clue about British media. As Cockburn knows, he is often attacked for being too unacceptably un-left for the BBC. He was just doing what interviewers should do: challenging his guest to justify his views.

What a nasty little creature. It's hilarious to see how badly the Littlest Chickenhawk humiliated himself. And it should be obvious why he wants absolutely no part of debating either Milo or me. He's never, ever, going to be ready for prime time.

Barcelona Life, Episode 5

The fifth episode of Barcelona Life is now available on UnauthorizedTV. Farley and Elizabeth go in search of a Michelin-starred restaurant in an extremely unlikely location. Disclaimer: several bottles of wine were harmed in the making of this program.

The end of women's sports

It's hard to feel bad for the feminists:

When two high school athletes who were born male but identify as female took first and second place at Connecticut’s girls indoor track championship this year, it wasn’t just a local news story.

To some, it was a story of triumph and courage. The winner, a junior from Bloomfield High School, set a girls state indoor record of 6.95 seconds in the 55-meter dash, and went on to win the New England titles in both the 55-meter dash and the 300-meter dash.

To others, it was a story of shock and disappointment: Is this the end of women’s sports?

To Selina Soule, a 16-year-old runner from Glastonbury, it was personal.

A junior, Selina missed qualifying for the 55-meter in the New England regionals by two spots. Two spots, she said, that were taken by biological boys.

Had the boys who identify as girls not been allowed to compete, Selina would have placed sixth, qualifying to run the 55 in front of college coaches at the New England regionals.

Instead, she placed eighth, watching the 55 from the sidelines after qualifying in only the long jump, an event in which the transgender athletes didn’t compete.

It's more than a bit amusing to see feminists getting shut down for daring to contradict the SJW narrative.

The End of the Boomer Age

The time of the Boomers is drawing to a close. The question now is how long any of the nations they inhabited survive them.

The Boomer Age is drawing to its close.  When one speaks of this group, it tends to mostly focus on white Boomers (not that others are outside the group, but to such a great extent, it really does mean those of mostly European background, if for no other reason than they have been the largest demographic group).  When that age does end, we will see an ever-dwindling European demographic majority in many Western nations (Canada and the USA are almost certainly the first, soon followed by a variety of European nations).  That significant point of majority will be fading, as the numbers precipitously drop until below 50%.  The question looming then is, what is next?  Will it be the glorious Brave New World of harmonious multiculturalism or an uneasy balkanization that trends ever more to tribalism and violence?  Based on existing evidence and studies, I believe that it will be closer to the latter.

A major demographic shift is impacting most Western nations, some more than others.  This shift will lead to a far more multicultural/ethnic scenario, with those of European background as the minority within the next few decades.  At first blush, many will say this is not a problem, holding out the wonders of civic nationalism and existing relative stability and prosperity with an already highly mixed demographic.  The problem here is that this position doesn't really hold water in the long term, as can be demonstrated by existing nations who have not been able to sustain a similar state of peaceful existence and by studies that point in the same direction.

While one can't blame the Boomers for the mass invasions that began in the 60s, one can certainly blame them for aiding, abetting, and celebrating them. And when they smugly point out that the shattered demographics of the West will not be their problem, all we can say is that at least they won't be around to interfere with their successors who have taken on the task of solving it.

A tale of two blasphemies

It is now abundantly clear that the self-appointed champions of "free speech" never actually believed a word they were saying. They merely wanted to replace the blasphemy laws of Christian society with the hate speech laws of anti-Christian society. But the Christian societies of Eastern Europe aren't falling for the free speech lie that has trapped most of the West:

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of offending religious sentiment, after posters bearing an image of the Virgin Mary with her halo painted in the colours of the rainbow flag appeared in the city of Płock in central Poland.

The Polish interior minister, Joachim Brudziński, announced on Twitter on Monday that a person had been arrested for “carrying out a profanation of the Virgin Mary of Częstochowa”.

A Płock police spokeswoman confirmed a 51-year-old woman had been arrested over the alleged offence. The woman had been abroad, but upon her return, the police entered and searched her home, where they found several dozen images of the Virgin Mary with the rainbow-coloured halo.

Offending religious feeling is a crime under the Polish penal code. If convicted, the woman could face a prison sentence of up to two years.

Brudziński, who described the posters as “cultural barbarism” when they appeared overnight in April, said: “Telling stories about freedom and ‘tolerance’ doesn’t give anyone the right to offend the feelings of believers.”

Poland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS) has sought to mobilise its core electorate in the run-up to the European elections by raising the spectre of the country being overwhelmed by western liberal social values.

“We are dealing with a direct attack on the family and children – the sexualization of children, that entire LBGT movement, gender,” said the PiS leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, speaking to supporters last month. “This is imported, but they today actually threaten our identity, our nation, its continuation and therefore the Polish state.”

Make the blasphemy laws great again. After all, many of them are still on the books.

That's great

Bounding Into Comics is restored on Facebook:

Facebook restored the 250k+ strong Bounding Into Comics fan page late at night.

The page was restored around 10:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 8th. However, while the page was restored, we still have not received any communication from Facebook indicating why the page was taken down in the first place.

Upon a brief look at the page, no content appears to have actually been removed. In fact, the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer article is currently the last post on the page.

We are still reaching out to Facebook to try to get an explanation of why the page was actually removed.

That's great. Now, get off Facebook!

Break up Facebook

Even one of Facebook's founders is now calling for the breakup of Facebook:

The government must hold Mark accountable. For too long, lawmakers have marveled at Facebook’s explosive growth and overlooked their responsibility to ensure that Americans are protected and markets are competitive. Any day now, the Federal Trade Commission is expected to impose a $5 billion fine on the company, but that is not enough; nor is Facebook’s offer to appoint some kind of privacy czar. After Mark’s congressional testimony last year, there should have been calls for him to truly reckon with his mistakes. Instead the legislators who questioned him were derided as too old and out of touch to understand how tech works. That’s the impression Mark wanted Americans to have, because it means little will change.

We are a nation with a tradition of reining in monopolies, no matter how well intentioned the leaders of these companies may be. Mark’s power is unprecedented and un-American.

It is time to break up Facebook.

The easiest way to check the power of the corpocracy is simply to punish juridical persons as the actual persons under law that they legally are. If the corporation commits a crime, the corporation goes to jail. No natural person is permitted to engage in normal business operations when in jail, neither should juridical persons be allowed to do so.

But in the absence of this eminently sensible system, breaking up Facebook would be a reasonable thing for the Trump administration to do.

The myth of al-Andalus

A review of a book on Spanish history by Dario Fernandez-Morera that I, too, found to be extremely useful in better understanding the real history of Muslim-occupied Spain:

I have just finished reading a volume that should be a required text for anyone enthusing about how enlightened and tolerant Spain was under Islamic rule in medieval times, The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise by Dario Fernandez-Morera.

The enthusiasm for the glories of tolerant Islam is suffused throughout modern scholarship, to the point of embarrassment. It is difficult not to conclude, after one looks at the actual historical facts that the scholars ignore and suppress, that their enthusiasm for Islam finds its roots in their distaste for Christianity. It is certainly not rooted in the historical evidence itself.

In this vision of Islamic Spain (renamed by the Muslim conquerors as “al-Andalus”), all three monotheistic faiths got along famously and all three enjoyed cultural flowering and prosperity under the watchful eye of a tolerant Islam.

In this version of history, the Christians of Spain were a benighted, primitive, and ignorant lot, who fortunately for them, ended up under Islam, which then offered them previously undreamt of opportunities to learn tolerance and culture. In this paradise Jews, Christians, and Muslims coexisted in a happy sunlit land, enjoying the benefits of convivencia—at least until the horrible Christians spoiled it all at the Spanish Reconquista, which recovered the land for Christendom and brought again the blight of intolerance and darkness to their land.

Ah, al-Andalus, now gone with the wind: those happy dhimmis, contented and protected under their gallant masters! How sad that such gallantry is no more than a dream remembered! How sad that it is now gone with the wind!

Or…maybe not.

My two previous blog posts relating to the book:

• Diversity + Proximity = Radicalization
• The myth of classical knowledge diffusion

In fact, I thought so highly of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise after reading it in 2017 that I put it on list of recommended History books available from Castalia Direct, where you can pick up the hardcover at a discount. It's well worth reading.

Facebook deplatforms BIC

The independent comic industry news and review site Bounding Into Comics has been deplatformed:

Facebook has censored Bounding Into Comics and completely removed our 250k+ strong Facebook page.

Facebook did not provide any warnings and didn’t really explain why the page was removed.

The page was removed on Monday around 10:20 a.m. ET shortly after we published the new Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer. I was logged out of my personal Facebook account, which I use to manage the Bounding Into Comics Facebook page. Upon logging back in, I received a number of alerts from Facebook indicating they had removed ‘Content’ which ultimately meant they had removed not just content posts but all traces of the Bounding Into Comics Facebook page.

The first alert indicated Bounding Into Comics was being removed because it violated “the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.” The next alert read, “Our policies prohibit posting content that infringes or violates someone else’s rights or otherwise violates the law.”

The alerts continued, “If you continue to post content that infringes or violates other’s rights or otherwise violates the law, you could be temporarily blocked from posting content on Facebook, or even have your account permanently banned.”

The next alert then directed us to review Facebook’s Intellectual Property Policies. It read, “If you have questions regarding the removal of content please visit the Help Center. To help keep your account in good standing, remove any other content you’ve posted to Facebook that may infringe or otherwise violate another’s rights. To learn more about intellectual property, visit the Help Center.”

Two of the messages then repeated. The next alert read, “Our policies prohibit posting content that infringes or violates someone else’s rights or otherwise violates the law.”

The final message read, “If you continue to post content that infringes or violates others’ rights or otherwise violates the law, you could be temporarily blocked from posting content on Facebook, or even have your account permanently disabled.”

Facebook did not provide us with any actual concrete examples of the alleged violation. In fact, the reason why we are writing this article today, instead of yesterday, is because we attempted to reach out to Facebook believing the removal of the page was inadvertent. However, Facebook has not responded to any of our Help Center inquiries. They stopped responding in an email thread with a Publisher & Media Support team representative once the page was identified.

This is why it is absolutely vital to stop relying upon these enemy platforms. What is the point of building anything that relies upon them as a foundation when they can pull it out from under you like Lucy yanking the football away from Charlie Brown at any time?

MIDDLE RAGES by Milo

Medieval Studies is the critical study of Europe’s self-identity. No understanding of Western civilization is possible without it. Inevitably, Left-wing academics want to introduce gender studies and race theory to the field—and punish those who refuse to conform. When one University of Chicago professor dared to publicly celebrate the Christian identity of the Middle Ages, she was branded a ‘violent fascist’ and ‘white supremacist’ by her colleagues. 

Now Medieval Studies scholars are tearing their own discipline apart with witch-hunts, name-calling, boycotts and intimidation. The damage done to academia could be incalculable. In this influential essay, originally published to widespread online acclaim, New York Times-bestselling author and award-winning journalist Milo Yiannopoulos explains why we should all care about the newest front in the cultural war, the academic battle for the Middle Ages.

Foreword by Professor Mark Bauerlein of Emory University.

MIDDLE RAGES: Why the Battle for Medieval Studies Matters to America is the latest short from Milo Yiannopoulos. It underlines, very clearly, how the culture war against Christianity, Western civilization, and America permeates every single aspect of society, from academia to video games, and how there is no escape from it. MIDDLE RAGES is available in Kindle format from Amazon and in EPUB and Kindle format at Arkhaven Comics.

Another Atheist Democrat shooting

It's really time to get serious about Atheist Democrat control:

One of the two students who opened fire on a school in Denver has been identified as 18-year-old Devon Erickson.  An 18-year-old boy was killed and seven other students were injured when gunfire erupted at STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday afternoon at 1.53pm local time....

The teen's social media pages indicate that he is an avid guitar player, youth theater actor and registered Democrat who has on occasion expressed disdain for Christians, criticized President Donald Trump and praised former President Barack Obama.

In a post from 2014, Erickson wrote: 'You know what I hate? All these Christians who hate gays, yet in the bible, it says in Deuteronomy 17:12-13, if someone doesn’t do what their priest tells them to do, they are supposed to die. It has plenty of crazy stuff like that. But all they get out of it is "ewwwwww gays".'

In 2015 he shared a Facebook post by Occupy Democrats praising Obama, and in 2016 shared a video of TV host Seth Meyers criticizing Trump.

It's very clear that the most effective way to stop school shootings is ban everyone who is both a) a Democrat and b) an atheist.

What else did you expect?

Alexa has been playing Stasi since her inception:

Would you let a stranger eavesdrop in your home and keep the recordings? For most people, the answer is, "Are you crazy?"

Yet that's essentially what Amazon has been doing to millions of us with its assistant Alexa in microphone-equipped Echo speakers. And it's hardly alone: Bugging our homes is Silicon Valley's next frontier.

Many smart-speaker owners don't realize it, but Amazon keeps a copy of everything Alexa records after it hears its name. Apple's Siri, and until recently Google's Assistant, by default also keep recordings to help train their artificial intelligences.

So come with me on an unwelcome walk down memory lane. I listened to four years of my Alexa archive and found thousands of fragments of my life: spaghetti-timer requests, joking houseguests and random snippets of "Downton Abbey." There were even sensitive conversations that somehow triggered Alexa's "wake word" to start recording, including my family discussing medication and a friend conducting a business deal.

But don't worry. They totally mean well and would NEVER deplatform you simply because they have you on record committing crimethink.

Dragon Awards discussion

I've been too busy to pay too much attention to the SF world in the last year. Share your thoughts concerning the 2019 Dragon Awards, particularly as they relate to Best Comic and Best Graphic Novel.

I personally think that the Best Graphic Novel we've published is either Rebel Dead Revenge or Right Ho, Jeeves. As for Best Comic, I'm inclined towards Alt-Hero #4: The War in Paris.

The sickness in science fiction

The evil that Moira Greyland describes in The Last Closet is neither unique nor is it anathema in the science fiction world. From a recent comment at the Castalia House blog.

My brother is a lesser known science fiction author and I can confirm all of this is true. Pedophilia is a serious problem in the community and no one is doing anything to stop it!

Sadly, I had to cut off ties with my brother because not only does he condone relationships with young boys, but he has had several young lovers in his time on the Sc i-Fi Con circuit. His ex-wife will not even allow him to see his own daughter. His behavior – which once again – IS CELEBRATED in the sci fi community has destroyed countless lives and families. Including mine.

The fact that we're not paying attention to this does not mean that it is not happening anymore. To the contrary, the evil is now spreading slowly to a mainstream that is being gradually permeated with it.

Fake baby finally arrives

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are officially parents.

Just weeks ahead of their first wedding anniversary, the couple has welcomed their first child, a baby boy. The couple confirmed the news on social media, noting that the new arrival weighs 7 lbs., 3 oz.

“The Duchess and baby are both healthy and well, and the couple thank members of the public for their shared excitement and support during this very special time in their lives,” the birth announcement said. “More details will be shared in the forthcoming days.”

Officially. Not in reality, of course. But officially....

Perversion in the public schools

Forget the issue of prayer in the public schools. Conservatives can't even keep perverts, Planned Parenthood, and pedos out of them:

On Tuesday, April 23, 2019, Minnesota House Democrats voted in favor of including pornography and sexual perversions as part of the Minnesota House Education Omnibus Bill, HF2400.

The Minnesota Child Protection League (CPL) tried to warn parents and stakeholders to call their legislators to urge them to remove Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) from the 258-page House Education Omnibus bill HF2400 before it was debated on last Tuesday. Of course, the bill was debated two days after Easter Sunday, when parents were distracted and just getting the kiddos back to school after the holiday.

Planned Parenthood will provide the CSE curriculum for Minnesota public schools and has lobbied hard for this legislation. The Guttmacher Institute, which was started in 1968 as a part of Planned Parenthood, is expected to be developing the state model policy, according to StopCSE.org, a website to educate parents on the harmful effects of CSE.

At the center of the CSE curriculum debate is a book called, “It’s Perfectly Normal” which is endorsed by Planned Parenthood and boasts of “more than one million copies in print”. The book contains explicit drawings of the male and female anatomy and covers such topics as vaginal, oral and anal sex, homosexuality and abortion which will be taught to elementary students as part of CSE. “It’s Perfectly Normal” was written in 1995 by Robie Harris, who was a member of Planned Parenthood’s National Board of Advocates. A new edition of the book states it is “updated for the 21st century” on the cover.

Notice the inevitable equalitarian propaganda in the "educational" pictures. The lesson, as always, is this: homeschool or die.

A foul is a foul

I don't see why there is any controversy at all concerning the Kentucky Derby and Maximum Security being disqualified:

The announcement seemed to come from the heavens, and then all hell broke loose.

“Hold all tickets.”

Country House was declared the winner of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs after the second disqualification in the race’s 145-year history. Maximum Security crossed the finish line first in 2:03.93 but was moved to 17th place after a lengthy review.

Many in the rain-soaked crowd of 150,729 booed the result. Connections of Maximum Security celebrated in the winner’s circle but were quickly escorted out, replaced by Country House’s connections.

As the race stewards reviewed the video, Country House trainer Bill Mott stood in the middle of the sloppy Churchill track, surrounded by reporters.

“They don’t take many horses down in the Kentucky Derby,” Mott said before the disqualification was announced. “If it was a maiden $10,000 on a Thursday, it would be a no-brainer. They don’t want the controversy, I’m sure, but you’re supposed to keep a straight line.”

I'm no horse racing expert, but we watch the Grand National and the Triple Crown every year, and that sudden lurch to the right by Maximum Security as he rounded the last bend was entirely obvious live. I didn't realize it was actually illegal, but I even happened to comment on what a massive mistake it was by the jockey at the time, because it opened up an easy inside lane for Code of Honor, although the eventual second-place finisher was unable to take advantage of it.

Given that sort of cross-lane lurch is grounds for disqualification, there is absolutely no question that disqualifying the horse was the right decision. It was as obvious as the pass interference that wasn't called in the NFC championship game between the Rams and the Saints.

The battle for medieval studies

I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely shocked that the New York Times didn't see fit to mention any of my medievalesque fiction in its recent hit piece on Rachel Fulton Brown:

The idea of medieval studies as a haven for white nationalist ideas gained ground when Rachel Fulton Brown, an associate professor of medieval history at the University of Chicago, began feuding with Dorothy Kim, an assistant professor of medieval English literature at Brandeis, after Dr. Kim, writing on Facebook, highlighted an old blog post of Dr. Fulton Brown’s titled “Three Cheers for White Men,” calling it an example of “medievalists upholding white supremacy.”

Many scholars were outraged when Dr. Fulton Brown, in a riposte to Dr. Kim written a few weeks after Charlottesville, tagged the right-wing writer Milo Yiannopoulos, whose website then ran an article about the dispute. Last July Mr. Yiannopoulos followed up with a 16,000-word attack on the field, which assailed Dr. Kim and others as “an angry social justice mob.”

The article caused a furor, as scholars accused colleagues of providing screenshots of private Facebook conversations and surreptitious recordings of conference sessions to Mr. Yiannopoulos.

Since then, Dr. Fulton Brown has become more isolated, as some who initially supported her have distanced themselves after she began citing the far-right writer Vox Day and even, in a recent blog post, entertained the idea that the Christchurch shooting might have been a “false flag operation.” (Dr. Fulton Brown, in an interview, said the depiction of her as a white supremacist or a member of the alt-right is “a misnomer” that “depends on a fantasy about me.”)

But the climate of intense suspicion and division the feud helped foster, particularly on social media, remains.

I am, however, genuinely disappointed they didn't mention my run-ins with English historical fantasist Mary Beard, much less run any of my well-known memes on the matter.

I did take the liberty of pointing out to Ms Schuessler that with regards to any guilt by association created by citing me, everyone from Nature to The New York Times is similarly guilty, as it is not uncommon for science journals and newspapers to cite my "Religion does not cause war" argument, although they usually attribute it incorrectly to my primary source, The Encyclopedia of Wars.

But the numbers and percentages reported are always the dead giveaway because they only appeared in The Irrational Atheist.