Hey, it worked for Wakanda

The US Army's officer class is more vibrant than ever:

Thirty-four black women are expected to graduate from West Point next week.

That will be the largest class of African-American women to graduate together in the military academy’s lengthy history, West Point spokesman Frank Demaro said.

“Last year’s graduating class had 27,” said Demaro. “And the expectation is next year’s class will be even larger than this year’s.”

Last year, the school appointed Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams as its first black superintendent. In 2017, the academy for the first time selected an African-American woman, Simone Askew, to serve at the top of the chain of command for cadets.

As Steve Sailer noted, "the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians must be quaking in their boots." Meanwhile, women are improving the U.S. Navy's submarine service:

Sailors aboard a US submarine created a “rape list,” ranking female crewmembers and detailing sexual acts they wanted to perform on them, a report says. The boat’s commander was sacked following a probe into the case.

Just two year after the USS Florida became the second navy submarine to integrate enlisted women, a “rape list” was shared among its crew, news outlet Military.com wrote, citing an investigation report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The probe is said to have discovered that “lewd and sexist comment and jokes were tolerated” on board, while trust among the crewmembers and senior officers “was nonexistent.”

Well, who needs that boat commander anyhow. If there is anything that is a dime-a-dozen and easily replaced, it is a nuclear-missile armed submarine captain. I cannot wait to see the US Navy put a black woman in command of one of its nuclear submarines. The only question is whether she will a) accidentally nuke a foreign country, b) sink the sub, or c) accidentally nuke a foreign country while the sub is sinking, before d) the crew mutinies.

Catholicism is not paganism

I have no idea who this "Red Pill Religion" moron is or what he is smoking with regards to my theological opinions:

Red Pill Religion
Vox Day, Rockin MrE, and others these days suggest Catholic Christianity is "Pagan." Or even that the Trinity is "pagan." Do those who make this suggestion know what they're saying, especially when they try to defend "Western Civilization?"

All we know at this point is that he is both a) an acquaintance of John C. Wright and b) a shameless liar who is observably bearing false witness against me. At no point have I ever stated, suggested, or even implied that either Catholic Christianity or the concept of the Trinity is pagan. To the contrary, note that even the link provided to my blog contains a quote from Isaac Newton which states that the concept of the Trinity dates back to Athanasius, a 4th-century Christian.

Now to be clear, the Trinity is NOT a theological concept that appears explicitly in either the Nicene Creed or the Bible. Like the Rapture and the Immaculate Conception, the Trinity is non-Scriptural theological dogma that is historical conjecture based on what appears to me to be incorrect logic applied to Scripture. And I have made my position on these extra-Biblical traditions very clear:

I have no religious regard whatsoever for the various extra-Biblical traditions of the various Christian churches, although I do respect them in the same manner I respect many of the non-religious traditions of Man. But I consider Churchian dogma such as the Trinity, the Rapture, infant baptism, transubstantiation, purgatory, female pastors, bans on alchohol and dancing, Papal infallibility, and Bishop Ussher's historical chronology to be no more theologically legitimate or Biblically supported than I do the sale of indulgences, Dante's geography of Hell, or Milton's history of Lucifer's Fall.

The fact that I believe these various traditions to be erroneous does not mean that I believe them to be pagan or even materially detrimental to the faith. After all, are we not told that every Christian, beginning with the Apostle Paul, sees the truth as though through a glass, darkly? Furthermore, as I have noted previously, what most people incorrectly believe to be the Nicene Creed is not the Nicene Creed at all, but rather, a later declaration more accurately known as the Niceno-Constanopolitan Creed, which was adopted 56 years later by a council that did not even meet in Nicaea.

In fact, it's even possible that the later Trinitarian creed is fictitious and was produced more than a century after the original Nicene Creed. "A local council of Constantinople in 382 and the third ecumenical council (Ephesus, 431) made no mention of it, with the latter affirming the 325 creed of Nicaea as a valid statement of the faith... No extant document gives its text or makes explicit mention of it earlier than the fourth ecumenical council at Chalcedon in 451."

Finally, anyone who is stupid enough to claim that my opinion has anything whatsoever to do with Arianism is either a liar or very, very stupid indeed, as the original Nicene Creed, the actual and only Nicene Creed, the Nicene Creed to which I subscribe, was adopted specifically in order to reject Arianism.

The Nicene Creed was adopted to resolve the Arian controversy, whose leader, Arius, a clergyman of Alexandria, "objected to Alexander's (the bishop of the time) apparent carelessness in blurring the distinction of nature between the Father and the Son by his emphasis on eternal generation". In reply, Alexander accused Arius of denying the divinity of the Son and also of being too "Jewish" and "Greek" in his thought. Alexander and his supporters created the Nicene Creed to clarify the key tenets of the Christian faith in response to the widespread adoption of Arius' doctrine, which was henceforth marked as heresy.

Whoever runs the Red Pill Religion channel may or may not be a Christian, but he is obviously both ignorant and untruthful. As for defending Western civilization, it should be obvious that I know considerably more about its history than he does.

The Legend on Bane

The Legend Chuck Dixon talks about the creation of Bane, the famous Batman villain, in the second episode of Chuck Dixon on Comics. For Unauthorized subscribers only. Sadly, rumor has it that Kellen Lutz will be playing Bane in the next round of DC films, in opposition to Robert Patterson's Batman.

Urban combat: the battle of Marawi

I remember hearing a little about this Islamic uprising in the Philippines two years ago, but I had no idea that the combat was so intense, or that it took place on such a large scale:

Marawi: a vicious urban siege

On 23 May 2017, security forces from the Philippines conducted a raid in the city of Marawi to capture an insurgent named Isnilon Hapilon—the former leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and self-proclaimed Emir of Islamic State in East Asia. The forces who conducted the raid reported much tougher resistance than expected. The insurgents were rapidly reinforced and quickly revealed extensive preparations throughout the city—well constructed defensive positions, concealed routes, hidden ammunition and arms caches, and an almost doctrinal urban defensive plan. The raid was repulsed, and by the end of the day the so-called Islamic State in the Philippines (IS-P) had triggered their long-laid plans to dominate the city.

Martial law was declared by President Rodrigo Duterte and a five month urban siege to regain the city commenced. The battle was pitched against a well-resourced, sophisticated enemy who had the ‘home ground advantage’. Extensive preparations had been conducted throughout the city and an intense, protracted and close-quarters battle – the likes of which has not been seen in the region in decades – became the only way to destroy the enemy and recapture the City. On 23 October, following 153 days of war, this gruelling mission was achieved.

The costs of the Battle of Marawi were high. Opinions on infrastructure damage vary but aerial imagery indicates that huge swathes of the city have been devastated by the fighting – the mass destruction flattening entire city blocks. The World Bank estimates it may take two decades to restore Marawi to its original condition. However, the true price of the battle is that paid by the people of Marawi and the lives of those fighting. 165 members of the AFoP were killed in action, with over 1,000 injured. Some reports indicate over 1,000 insurgents were killed in the siege, which also took the lives of 47 civilians. The fighting drove over 400, 000 people from their homes.

This article would make for a magnificent piece in the next volume of THERE WILL BE WAR, as it is a detailed review of the tactics utilized by the armed forces of the Philippines as well as the insurgents.

Not a man of the Right

The American Right is finally beginning to grasp that Ben Shapiro is not, and never was, one of them... and he is not helping them either.

Suffice to say, Ben Shapiro was long overdue for his opportunity to be the one who gets “destroyed” in a debate. And who would’ve guessed that the occasion for his destruction would be in an interview with the septuagenarian Andrew Neil of the BBC?

And here’s the real twist: It was not even Neil who destroyed Shapiro. Rather, Shapiro “destroyed” Shapiro. And that was quite a feat.

From his ridiculous suggestion that Neil—a longtime member of the Conservative Party—is on the Left, to his pompous declaration that he is somehow superior because he is “more popular” than Neil, there is enough in the arrogance he displayed to undo him.

But rather than belabor the question of Shapiro’s childish behavior and what it says about his temper, his inability to debate anyone who’s not a blue-haired college feminist, and his unjustly inflated ego, it would be more useful to to examine what Shapiro revealed about his actual ideas, such as they are.

For even in that brief interchange before Shapiro stormed off in a rage, quite a lot was revealed about his political ideas. These are ripe for more careful examination, and that examination will demonstrate the inconsistencies within his own beliefs. In this case, his arrogance—though difficult to miss—should not overshadow how objectively wrong he is on the substance. Nor should it obscure how—in more ways than the damage that comes from such petulant displays—he is not helping the American Right.

One by one, the charlatans are being exposed. And it's particularly interesting to observe that this well-deserved dismissal of Ben Shapiro is being delivered by one of the young college Republican men who are supposed to be his primary supporters.

It WAS treason

The President is not fooling around with the criminals in the FBI:

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
My Campaign for President was conclusively spied on. Nothing like this has ever happened in American Politics. A really bad situation. TREASON means long jail sentences, and this was TREASON!

Then again, treason can be a capital crime....

They will never stop coming for you

If the SJW antichrists are willing to destroy their entire programs and deplatform their biggest stars for failing to submit to their wickedness, what won't they do to you?

Israel Folau was today officially sacked from the Australia rugby union team for a homophobic Instagram post. The decision makes the devout Christian the first Australian athlete dismissed for expressing religious beliefs.

Folau, 30, has the right to appeal and have his case heard at a second code of conduct hearing by a new panel. But he will reportedly skip that process and head straight to court to argue that he is being persecuted for his religion.

In a press conference this afternoon, Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle said Folau was a 'great player' but that everyone has the right to be respected regardless of sexuality, race, gender or religion.

Ms Castle said Rugby Australia 'did not choose to be put in this position.'

'We want to stress that this outcome is a painful outcome for the game. Rugby Australia did not choose to be in this situation, but Rugby Australia's position remains that Israel, through his actions, left us with no choice but to pursue today's outcome,' she said.

'This has been an extremely challenging period for rugby. This issue has created an unwanted distraction in an important year for the sport and the Wallabies team. Our clear message today is that we need to stand by our values and the qualities of inclusion, passion, integrity, discipline, respect and teamwork.'

Ms Castle said she had told all rugby players in Australia that RA supports their rights to their own beliefs. 'But when we are talking about inclusiveness in our game, we are talking about respecting differences as well. When we say rugby is a game for all, we mean it. People need to feel safe and welcoming in the game, regardless of their race, background or sexuality. When players sign a contract with the Wallabies, they sign up to the values of the team and the sport.'

Bring back the Christian blasphemy laws. Because the alternative is not "free speech", but rather, Satanic blasphemy laws.

Darkstream 384: A social media Bill of Rights

You can comment on tonight's Darkstream here if you are so inclined.

Italy strikes back

George Papadopoulos@GeorgePapa19
The Italian prime minister has suddenly requested resignations from 6 deputy directors of Italian intelligence agencies: DIS, AISI and AISE. This was all after I outed Mifsud in Rome and the president called the Italian prime minister. Italy has flipped and are giving up Brennan.

Curiouser and curiouser. Nationalism rises. The interesting thing is that the news here is all-Salvini all the time now. Conte could arrest half the bureaucracy tomorrow and I'm not sure the media would even notice.

Striking down the thought police

This is potentially great news. It appears the God-Emperor is finally preparing to strike back against the converged companies that have been persecuting his supporters:

The Trump administration is asking victims of social media censorship to share their stories, promising to “fight for free speech online” and exciting conservatives who feel their plight has been ignored.

No matter your views, if you suspect political bias has caused you to be censored or silenced online, we want to hear about it! http://wh.gov/techbias 

Of the named platforms, only Twitter had anything to say about the administration’s call for stories, responding that it enforces its terms of service “impartially” without regard to “background or political affiliation.” President Donald Trump met with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey last month at the White House just hours after complaining (via Twitter) that the platform didn’t “treat [him] well as a Republican,” and Dorsey has admitted in the past that they’ve been “too aggressive” in banning right-wing users, but many complain that nothing has changed.

I suggest every AH:Q backer submit the story of how the AH:Q campaign was deplatformed by Indiegogo to the administration site.

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS should advance FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Yet too many Americans have seen their accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear “violations” of user policies. No matter your views, if you suspect political bias caused such an action to be taken against you, share your story with President Trump. 

Economic patriotism and winning the trade war

Pat Buchanan was correct all along:

If you choose not to purchase Chinese goods and instead buy comparable goods made in other nations or the USA, then you do not pay the tariff. China loses the sale. This is why Beijing, which runs $350 billion to $400 billion in annual trade surpluses at our expense is howling loudest. Should Donald Trump impose that 25% tariff on all $500 billion in Chinese exports to the USA, it would cripple China's economy. Factories seeking assured access to the U.S. market would flee in panic from the Middle Kingdom.

Tariffs were the taxes that made America great. They were the taxes relied upon by the first and greatest of our early statesmen, before the coming of the globalists Woodrow Wilson and FDR.

Tariffs, to protect manufacturers and jobs, were the Republican Party's path to power and prosperity in the 19th and 20th centuries, before the rise of the Rockefeller Eastern liberal establishment and its embrace of the British-bred heresy of unfettered free trade.

The Tariff Act of 1789 was enacted with the declared purpose, "the encouragement and protection of manufactures." It was the second act passed by the first Congress led by Speaker James Madison. It was crafted by Alexander Hamilton and signed by President Washington.

After the War of 1812, President Madison, backed by Henry Clay and John Calhoun and ex-Presidents Jefferson and Adams, enacted the Tariff of 1816 to price British textiles out of competition, so Americans would build the new factories and capture the booming U.S. market. It worked.

Tariffs financed Mr. Lincoln's War. The Tariff of 1890 bears the name of Ohio Congressman and future President William McKinley, who said that a foreign manufacturer "has no right or claim to equality with our own. ... He pays no taxes. He performs no civil duties."

That is economic patriotism, putting America and Americans first.

Anyone who claims that free trade is good for America is either a) lying, b) does not understand economics, or c) both. I pointed out when this US-China trade dispute began that any so-called trade war would be good for the US economy because imports (M) are an intrinsic statistical drag on the economy.

Do the math. Since GDP = C+I+G + (X-M), does GDP grow or contract when M gets smaller?

And on the logical side, if Chinese imports are so good for America and its workers, then why is China shrieking in outrage over mere prospect that it will not be able to export as much to the USA in the future?

Then there is the key question asked by Mr. Buchanan: What great nation did free traders ever build?

Darkstream 383: Jordanetics Rule 06

This is where you can discuss tonight's Darkstream if you wish, which addressed the sixth of Jordan Peterson's 12 rules for life.

The Legend on comics

The Legend Chuck Dixon joins Unauthorized.TV. This is for subscribers only, but the first episode, The Wrong Part of My Brain, is open to everyone. The Legend will be answering fan mail, If you haven't subscribed to Unauthorized yet but would like to support Mr. Dixon, you can do so via The Legend Subscription, which is monthly.

In other news, yesterday's update now permits variable-speed playback and full-screen playback. I tried the new streaming feature, but it did not appear to work, so we're looking into that now.

In related news, I have turned off the comments and the chat on the Darkstream channel on YouTube. I will open up the chat again once we hit 30k members and have the ability to hold member's-only chat. I don't plan to open up the comments on YouTube again, as we anticipate having Unauthorized comments for subscribers in the not-too-distant future.

Shutting down the slaughter

Alabama leads the charge against Roe v. Wade:

After several hours of contentious debate, the Alabama Senate on Tuesday night voted 25-6 to pass what many say will be the strictest abortion ban in the nation. The bill makes abortion a felony in Alabama. A similar measure already passed the Republican-controlled House but controversy erupted last week in the Senate after an attempt to add amendments that would allow exceptions for victims of rape or incest. Another attempt to add rape and incest exceptions on Tuesday also failed and led to a filibuster attempt. Proponents of the measure pushed for a “clean bill” without amendments in order to clear the way to a legal fight in the U.S. Supreme Court and a review of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion. The bill now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey, who will decide whether to sign it into law. 

Roll Tide.

UPDATE: It just keeps getting better:

If it's signed off, the new law will make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy - punishable by up to 99 years in jail.

They should probably make it a felony for ANYONE to perform an abortion at any stage, with a similar penalty attached.

So that's not suspicious at all

I'm only surprised Isaac Kappy wasn't found hanging from a red scarf:

'Thor' and 'Terminator: Salvation' actor Isaac Kappy has been confirmed as the man who jumped to his death from a bridge in Arizona on Monday, according to TMZ. Officials confirmed on Tuesday that Kappy, 42, was struck by a Ford pickup truck after hurling himself from the Transwestern Road bridge onto Interstate 40, where he died, according a statement from Bart Graves, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Public Safety....

Per his Twitter account, Kappy appeared to be on a crusade to take down people he believes are sexually abusing children. He wrote in his post on Sunday, 'While it's true I have spent many, many hours of research and disseminating information about bad actors, I have had SO LITTLE CARE for introspection about MY OWN actions.

'And while it's true I have outed many pedophiles that were former FRIENDS, I remained in their sphere for much longer than I should have, and attempted to gain from them AFTER I knew about their actions. And in my SHEER ARROGANCE I did not even reflect on this fact.'

His timeline is full of retweeted news stories about pedophiles and rants about high-profile people accused of sex crimes and some who aren't. He accused Green of being a pedophile in a video posted in July.

It is reported that "several bystanders tried physically restraining Kappy from jumping but failed to hold him". Perhaps they did. Or perhaps that is the Hollywood way to describe throwing someone off a bridge.

But regardless, it's hard not to notice that individuals who are known to have traveled in and around pedophile circles have a statistically improbable suicide rate.

Desecrating a corpse

Even long-dead series are no longer safe from SJW assault. This new Firefly graphic novel is the cultural equivalent of the Spanish Republicans digging up the corpses of dead Catholic priests:

BOOM! Studios and 20th Century Fox Consumer Products announced a brand new Firefly story in the form of Firefly: The Sting. The new graphic novel will be written by Delilah S. Dawson with artwork by Pius Bak and Rodrigo Lorenzo.

Here’s the official description for the graphic novel:

“Saffron — the enigmatic rogue who captured the hearts of Firefly fans worldwide, as well as the heart of Captain Malcolm Reynolds — returns to the Serenity. But this time, she’s got no time for Mal, as she’s there to recruit the women of the ship to join her on a heist that has personal stakes for all involved. The cunning grifter joins forces with Zoë, Inara, Kaylee, and River to pull off the greatest theft in all the ‘verse! What could possibly go wrong?”

Everything. Everything is wrong with this abomination of a desecration. And what are the odds that the plot isn't directly ripped off from the move The Sting.

Little servants of the lie

It's interesting to see how these gamma losers who hate Owen Benjamin think they can be more successful with their lies than their mainstream counterparts:

r/owenbenjamin
•Posted by u/TomaszLuniewski
2 days ago
Vox live now. Mob it up with owen uploading to vimeo questions!!

Now that their strategy - such as it is - of saying anything they can imagine might inspire a rift between Owen and me is clear, it will be even easier to deal with them. They don't seem to grasp that I've been successfully dealing with anklebiters, trolls, and mobs without any trouble since 2001. And I've had gammas trying to cause rifts between me and Joseph Farah, Milo, Mike Cernovich, Stefan Molyneux, Roosh, Roissy, Rollo Tomassi, and others for years.

OsoDeMaricon
People need to stay on Teddy’s ass and make him either defend or denounce Owen on every stream. Between the constant badgering on every stream and the extremely low traffic to unstreamable.tv, he eventually WILL get sick of Owen and give him some sort of ultimatum.

It's amazing how little they know me, that they think persistence will work against me when SJWs have been attacking me relentlessly for at least 14 years. Their newest line is that Unauthorized is a scam, which indicates that they have no idea what the investment opportunity I have mentioned is about. Which, I'm sure is more than a little amusing to all of the Arkhaven backers.

UPDATE: They're just ever so clever. No one could possibly see through them!

Vox the revenge of the cis guys are crazy you have to address this their relentlessly mocking you and trying slander you and discredit you. Only a gamma would allow them to do that to you I know your not a gamma but if you dont refute them it'll be harder to respect you 

Demonstrating, once more, that gammas simply don't understand sigmas at all. They don't understand alphas either, of course, but at least the misunderstandings aren't comically off base. It's downright funny to see how they imagine I want their respect when they don't even respect themselves enough to shower or stop cramming doughnuts into their porcine faces.

The deployments will continue

Until the occupations succeed. Neo-Palestinians are attempting to sucker President Trump into yet another useless foreign war, presumably on behalf of Israel:

Donald Trump has reportedly been presented with a plan to send as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter the so-called Iranian threat, the New York Times reported.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan disclosed the updated military plan at a meeting of Trump's top security aides on Thursday, the publication said, quoting anonymous sources inside the administration.

Several options to tackle Tehran in the region were outlined to the president during the briefing, while "the uppermost option called for deploying 120,000 troops, which would take weeks or months to complete," the Times said.

While the revisions "ordered" by "hard-liners" do not promulgate a land invasion of Iran, "the development reflects the influence of Mr. Bolton, one of the administration’s most virulent Iran hawks,” The Times reported. Bolton has been a long-time advocate of using military force against Tehran, even penning an op-ed in 2015 titled “Top Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran.”

The proposal to send additional reinforcements comes amid accusations from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Tehran has been engaging in “an escalating series of threatening actions and statements in recent weeks.” To counter the unspecified threat, the Pentagon has already deployed the USS ‘Abraham Lincoln’ carrier strike group and bomber task force, including B-52s, to the region.

If the United States is insane enough to start another war, this one with Iran, you can go ahead and move up that 2033 estimate for its collapse. Unnecessary attempts at expansion meeting with completely unexpected military defeat is probably the second-most-common way for empires to fall throughout recorded history.

I thought Iraq risked being the USA's Syracuse. But Iran would make for a much better candidate.

The thing is, we KNOW the US empire is going to fail catastrophically and lead to the eventual collapse of the state. We absolutely know this, what we don't know yet is when and why. But the picture does appear to be coming into focus.

Mostly stupid

It wasn't quite the relentless, multi-level stupidity of Avenger's Endgame, but the penultimate episode of A Game of Thrones left me with much the same impression as reading A Dance with Dragons did. Namely, that I can do better. And I was very far from the only viewer left unimpressed.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead:

10 big flaws with the penultimate episode of Game Of Thrones:

1. Daenerys

Some viewers complained that the way Dany abandoned her principles (everything she’d ever stood for) and descended into butchery was irrational or rash. In fact if anything it was too predictable – to Varys and us anyway, if not Jon and Tyrion.

‘They say every time a Targaryen is born the Gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath,’ the Spider told the dwarf. ‘We both know what she’s about to do.’

In a fable about power, and the hunger for absolute power corrupting absolutely, it was inevitable – much like Varys’ execution.

But the way she spared Tyrion, Jaime Lannister, and even her lover Jon surely made less sense. If anything their betrayals were much greater than his. It was not Tyrion’s first mistake either and her warning ‘next time you fail me is the last time you fail me’ didn’t sit with her ruthlessness towards Varys – or King’s Landing.

‘Sansa trusted you to spread secrets that could destroy your own queen,’ she hissed. ‘And you did not let her down...Varys knows the truth because you told him. You learned from Sansa and she learned from Jon, though I begged him not to tell her...He betrayed me.’

2. Varys

Probably the most under-rated, under-used Game Of Thrones’ character, Varys had known ‘more kings and queens than any man living’, as he pointed out to Jon, and survived them all. In fact he’d turned survival, seamlessly switching sides, into an artform. So it was unlikely that he’d have allowed Daenerys to come for him without conceiving some sort of escape, especially as he knew Tyrion disagreed with his view Jon would make a better ruler. Finally the way her dragon simply torched Varys was a disappointingly, uncharacteristically, coarse form of execution.

Rash: Some viewers complained that the way Dany abandoned her principles (everything she’d ever stood for) and descended into butchery was irrational or rash +10
Rash: Some viewers complained that the way Dany abandoned her principles (everything she’d ever stood for) and descended into butchery was irrational or rash

3. Tyrion

Tyrion’s sustained faith in Daenerys being a benevolent, moral, candidate to rule the Seven Kingdoms was never very convincing. Tyrion wasn’t ever idealistic let alone naïve and, given his acute intelligence, ignoring Varys’ judgement/counsel just didn’t add up either. He had already been suckered by Cersei and Jaime so shouldn’t have swallowed Dany’s promise to hold back after a surrender. Obviously, family is everything in GoT. Tyrion releasing his brother (returning the favour) made sense but urging Jaime to save Cersei (telling him to escape and ‘start a new life’) ?? Nope, just don’t see Tyrion doing that – especially as it was before Dany went on the rampage.

The biggest problem with all this fake drama, which I addressed briefly in last night's Darkstream, is that it was dependent upon highly intelligent characters to be something they were not. Both Varys and Tyrion saw Daenerys's descent into ruthless butchery coming, but neither of them, despite their long personal histories of taking matters into their own lethal hands, bothers to do anything conclusive about it. Given how much both men care about the people of King's Landing, their fecklessness in the situation is simply absurd, particularly in the case of Varys, since the treachery involved in his letting others know about Jon's claim on the throne guaranteed his execution in the event of detection anyhow.

I see this trainwreck of an episode as a classic example of letting the visuals drive the story, which is almost always a mistake. The writers have a certain image in mind, so they move the pieces around to ensure they can present it to the viewers with no respect for either the characters involved or its effect on the story. Or, for that matter, the viewers' intelligence.

It was even too stupid for The Verge:

Taken as a whole, all these idiot gestures look exactly the same. “The Bells” is full of characters being their dumbest, most ill-considered selves, solely in the pursuit of momentary conflicts and payoffs. Jaime’s death in Cersei’s arms seems like a fitting payoff for all his awful behavior with her in the early going of the series, but it completely ignores all his character development over eight seasons, including his most recent relationship. Euron’s attempt to murder the first person he sees after his ship is destroyed seems in character for an agent of chaos, but it still feels forced and random. Varys couldn’t go about his plan in a dumber way if he tried — it’s almost as though he’s anticipating and hoping for execution, to remind Jon that Dany is capable of killing even those closest to her.

Is the end of empire nigh?

Gunboat diplomacy doesn't work when the natives have anti-ship missiles:

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander warned on Sunday that the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf used to be a serious threat, but now represents a target, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.

The U.S. has sent forces, including an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers, to the Middle East in a move that officials said was to counter 'clear indications' of threats from Iran to American forces in the region.

The USS Abraham Lincoln is replacing another carrier rotated out of the Gulf last month.

'An aircraft carrier that has at least 40 to 50 planes on it and 6,000 forces gathered within it was a serious threat for us in the past but now it is a target and the threats have switched to opportunities,' said Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards' aerospace division.

Now, it's likely that Iran is just bluffing about its military capabilities, as Middle Eastern countries are wont to do. But it's not certain, which is why it could be a catastrophic mistake for the US Navy to be playing old school intimidation games with its most powerful and most symbolic warships.

The problem is that while the Iranians probably have not developed a missile capable of sinking a carrier, the Russians and the Chinese probably have, and what better way to puncture the notion of US invulnerability than arranging for the sinking of a US aircraft carrier with plausible deniability.

Resisting temptation

The servants of the lie don't care what you say, so long as you don't speak or stand by the truth:

Israel Folau has broken his silence about his tattered football career, saying he refused the 'temptation' to play rugby again and likened Rugby Australia's offer to that of the devil. The 30-year-old took to the stand of his congregation's service in Sydney's Kenthurst on Sunday morning, saying his latest controversy has 'been really challenging'. 

He told The Truth of Jesus Christ church service that there had been several opportunities to save his $4 million Wallabies contract, but he ultimately refused the 'temptation' to take down his homophobic social media post.

'The way Satan works is he offers you stuff that could look good to the eye and makes you feel comfortable, and if you follow that path all the worries and troubles will go away. (But) it is always the will of God that comes first.'

Folau referenced his refusal to accept Rugby Australia's recent compromise offer to save his career under the condition he deletes his homophobic Instagram post from April.

This is a true man of principle. May God reward his faith and steadfastness. We are all subject to these temptations to sell out and submit in return for worldly riches. May we all have the strength and the courage to resist them.

Locking down the chat

I'm interested in getting the opinion of those here who are Darkstream viewers now that we are going to have the option of streaming directly from Unauthorized as well as from YouTube with the new update scheduled for today.

The Unauthorized stream does not have a chat function available yet, much less a Superchat function, but the broadcast software I'm using will allow me to stream simultaneously to both and display either YouTube superchats or the entire YouTube chat. Given what appear to be the inevitable problems with the YouTube stream after the last three days of significant stream interruptions there, as well as the indisciplined way even non-trolls can't seem to stop filling up the chat there with obvious and redundant comments - how many times do they think I need to be "informed" that the stream was interrupted when I get a message right on my screen that frames are dropping? - I'm leaning towards just turning on the Superchat alerts so I don't miss any of them while ignoring the regular chatbox.

Once the Darkstream channel reaches 30k subscribers, it's possible to turn on the YouTube memberships, I might be able to turn on the regular chats, but at present, it just seems counterproductive to pay any attention to it. But that's just my perspective. The best option is to do everything through Unauthorized, of course, but that's not an option yet.

What do you think? Locking down the comments here appears to have worked very well, to the extent that even some of the old timers are surfacing to share their thoughts from time to time.

UPDATE: a Darkstream viewer shares his thoughts.

As a viewer only and because you asked, it would be marvelous to listen to you and learn without the distracting chat. You have a lot of knowledge and when you are focused on a subject its very absorbing. 

To put the situation into context for non-viewers, this is the sort of thing that consistently pops up in the Darkstream chat due to the sheer number of people attempting to discredit Owen Benjamin.

Instead of acting like children and calling those you disagree with rude names, why not address some of their important questions?  One thing I would like to know is why Vox would want to be a business associate with a someone who falsely accused an innocent person of attempting to poison his child?  Not only that, right after Owen admitted his cult members "might do some shit" in retaliation Owen actually read the man's real name on stream. This is okay with you, Vox? 

Doxxing critics and attackers is absolutely fine with me. I deal with the likes of the New York Times and Wikipedia going out of their way to doxx me - "real name, Theodore Beale" - almost every single time they write about me, so I have zero regard for the anonymity of people who attack public figures in any way. As the Dread Ilk know, I am a firm believer in making vigorous use of every single tactic that is ever used against me and mine.

Some things are just beyond the pale

I'll admit it, I did find this SJW's take on the limits of the acceptable to be amusing.

Boy oh boy! Today is a good day for some Chuck Dixon comics! Like his legendary Nightwing series.

I wish president Donald Trump the best.

Oh, never mind. I will read something else....

Truly unacceptable.

Mailvox: why is civic nationalism wrong?

DK wants to know why an unlimited number of people from different nations should not be permitted to immigrate even if they accept Western Civilization Values:

I am trying to understand how to take the leap intellectually from a Civic Nationalist to a Nationalist. My view thus far has been that as long as people from different nations immigrate, take on and accept Western Civilization Values that there is no reason that we should not accept them into the country. Do you have a particular blog or video posted that would give me more insight into why my view is incorrect.

Thank you for all the free information you have provided. I was a JBP and Ben Shapiro fan before you and you have open my eyes to how deceitful they actually are so thank you.

Go ahead. Demonstrate what you've learned here over the years. Seeing as I've already co-written a book on the subject, I'll leave this one to you all.

Diversity is beyond accountability

The 2nd Commandment of SJW: Thou shalt not hold the Diverse to account, for they are innocent of evil and devoid of all responsibility for their actions. Do not violate it, lest you be discredited, disemployed, disavowed, deplatformed, and depublished.

Jordanian-American journalist and writer Natasha Tynes faced Twitter wrath after she alerted the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to a black woman in a Metro uniform eating on a train presumably on her way to work. Tynes, who has since deleted her tweet, reportedly wrote: "I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train. This is unacceptable. Hope @wmata responds."

"When I asked the employee about this, her response was, 'worry about yourself,'" Tynes said.

It did not take long for WMATA to respond. The transit authority asked Tynes to provide the exact time and location of her encounter and thanked her for helping to "make sure all Metro employees are held accountable."

But that was only the beginning of the story, as Twitter erupted with outraged posts accusing Tynes of being a snitch. The backlash mostly focused on the race and gender of the employee, with many calling out Tynes for contributing to the oppression of women of color.

Shortly afterwards, Tynes locked her account – but the Twitter evisceration was not the end of the story for her. Rare Birds, the publishing house that was supposed to distribute Tynes' novel, said it considers the author's behavior "horrible" and has "no desire to be involved with anyone who thinks that it's acceptable to jeopardize a person's safety and employment in this way."

In a statement on Friday, her publisher, California Coldblood, said it was discussing "appropriate next steps" with their distributor. With the backlash showing no signs of waning on Saturday, the company announced that it was "halting all shipments from the warehouse, and postponing the book's publication date" while working on the "next steps to officially cancel the book's publication."

The 1st Commandment of SJW, of course is this: The Narrative is the truth and the reality. Thou shalt have no other truths before it.