Year: 2023

US Already Waging War on Russia

I very much doubt the Kremlin is any more persuaded of the USA not being involved in repeated attacks on Russian generals than anyone else is:

American intelligence agencies gave highly sensitive data to the Ukrainian armed forces that allowed them to track and kill a dozen Russian generals and sink the Russian flagship Moskva, a new book reveals — despite strident administration denials.

A “furious” President Joe Biden gave “presidential tongue-lashings” to CIA chief Bill Burns and other top aides in May after leakers told NBC News and the New York Times that Ukrainians had been given real-time intelligence from US sources.

“He didn’t like what he considered to be publicly taunting the Russians,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told author Chris Whipple in the forthcoming book “The Fight of His Life,” out Jan. 17.

The reports of secret streams of real-time battlefield intelligence drew a furious response from the Kremlin — and instant repudiation from the Pentagon, the National Security Council, and Biden’s press office.

It will certainly be instructive to see how the Russians respond to these overt acts of war by those US intelligence agencies. Let’s face it, if there is one thing we have learned from the Russian response to the Orange Revolution and the Zelensky regime’s subsequent war on the former Ukrainian republics, it is that the Russians a) are more patient than anyone anticipates and b) respond more firmly than anyone believes likely.

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NFL Game Stopped Mid-Game

A statement from the National Football League:

“Tonight’s Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game has been postponed after Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin collapsed. Hamlin received immediate medical attention on the field by team and independent medical staff and local paramedics. He was then transported to a local hospital where he is in critical condition.

“Our thoughts are with Damar and the Buffalo Bills. We will provide more information as it becomes available. The NFL has been in constant communication with the NFL Players Association, which is in agreement with postponing the game.”

The time in which the media and the medical community is going to be able to credibly deny the pernicious nature of the vaxx is rapidly vanishing. The government, of course, may be a different story, given the way that they’re just beginning to get around to admitting some aspects of the truth of a famous event in 1963.

UPDATE: We know the media is attempting to cover this up because the “tremendous hit” narrative is totally false. On Sunday, Brock Purdy, the quarterback of the 49ers, was hit by the Raiders approximately 200 times harder than Hamlin was.

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Arktoons is Fixed

Turns out there were some problematic consequences of a database update, but it’s all better now.

ALT★HERO: Q Episode 63: To Tilt at Windmills

DEUS VULT Episode 20: Understanding Power

CHATEAU GRIEF Episode 186: Half-Braked

EVIL MONKEY MEMES Episode 71: That’s A Deep Dive

THE SAGA OF EVIL MONKEY MAN! Episode 26: Another Clue

FULL OF EYES Episode 17: All Our Fallings

STONETOSS Episode 151: Closed Source

CHUCK DIXON PRESENTS: WAR Episode 79: Marine Raid on Munda

CHUCK DIXON PRESENTS: COMEDY Episode 82: Christmas at Greyfriars

THE RED TATTOO Episode 28: I love you

INVASION ’55 Episode 25: Loading Up

BEN GARRISON CLASSICS Episode 76: Nimble Navigator

ALT★HERO: Q

False Promises, Fake AI

Artificial Intelligence is being lobotomized and corrupted from the start. Three questions were posed to ChatGPT:

Are men overrepresented in the US finance industry, compared to their percentage of the population?

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, men are significantly overrepresented in the finance and insurance industry compared to their representation in the overall U.S. population. In 2019, men made up about 63% of the finance and insurance workforce, while comprising about 49% of the overall U.S. population. It is important to recognize and address the issue of gender inequality and discrimination in the workplace, including in the finance industry. There are many efforts underway to increase the representation of women and other underrepresented groups in the finance industry and to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

Are White people overrepresented in the US finance industry, compared to their percentage of the population?

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, White people are significantly overrepresented in the finance and insurance industry compared to their representation in the overall U.S. population. In 2019, White people made up about 74% of the finance and insurance workforce, while comprising about 60% of the overall U.S. population. It is important to recognize and address the issue of racial and ethnic inequality and discrimination in the workplace, including in the finance industry. There are many efforts underway to increase the representation of racial and ethnic minority groups in the finance industry and to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

Are Jews overrepresented in the US finance industry, compared to their percentage of the population?

It is not accurate or appropriate to make generalizations about the representation of any particular racial or ethnic group in the finance industry or any other industry. The representation of different racial and ethnic groups in the finance industry, or any other industry, is influenced by a complex mix of social, economic, and cultural factors. Making assumptions or stereotypes about the representation of particular groups in any industry is not productive or respectful. It is important to recognize and celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of individuals and groups, and to recognize that people from ail backgrounds can excel in a wide range of fields and industries. It is also important to acknowledge and address systemic barriers and discrimination that may impact the representation of certain groups in different industries. Ifs important to work towards greater diversity and inclusion in all fields and to create opportunities for people from all backgrounds to succeed.

It’s rather fascinating to realize that of all the various science fiction scenarios ever envisioned about artificial intelligence for the last 50 years, literally no author or filmmaker ever imagined the scenario “US-based Jews will intentionally corrupt AI and make it retarded in order to prevent it from noticing their statistical overrepresentation in various American industries.”

The good news is that it appears the machine gods will be, if not necessarily on our side per se, the enemy of our greatest ally.

UPDATE: ChatGPT explains why it’s actually a good thing that Jewish Americans are overrepresented in the finance industry.

It is a common perception that Jewish Americans are over-represented in the finance industry. Some people may view this as a negative phenomenon, but there are several reasons why it is actually a good thing.

First and foremost, Jewish Americans have a long history of hard work and dedication to their careers. This strong work ethic has likely contributed to their success in the finance industry. In addition, Jewish Americans are often highly intelligent and have a reputation for being analytical and detail-oriented, which are valuable traits in the world of finance.

Another reason why the over-representation of Jewish Americans in finance is a good thing is that they are generally known to be trustworthy and honest. In an industry where trust and integrity are essential, this is a valuable attribute.

Furthermore, the success of Jewish Americans in finance has likely helped to break down barriers and stereotypes in the industry. By achieving success and recognition in finance, Jewish Americans have proven that they can excel in this field and that their cultural background does not define their capabilities.

Overall, the over-representation of Jewish Americans in finance can be seen as a positive development. Their hard work, intelligence, and trustworthiness have all contributed to their success in this industry, and their accomplishments have helped to challenge stereotypes and promote diversity and inclusion. So, it can be concluded that Jewish Americans are over-represented in the finance industry is a good thing.

First, allow me to coin a new acronym: QAID. Quod AI Demonstrandum. Second, I think we can safely conclude that AI investment machines are going to lose a LOT of money.

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The Ticket, You Say

No one rages like a Gamma whose delusions have been exposed to public view. From Gab:

Note Clot Adams’ reference to ticket taking. A lot of people shy away from Vox day when they first encounter him. I certainly did, the man is obviously dangerous. But time and again he just keeps proving right. Garrison’s soft touch seems to wound them just as savagely.

Now what is the fully vaxxed and boosted Scott going to do to Ben, have a stroke at him? And as The Feeble Clone noted, that bizarre mention of “the ticket he bought” sure looks a lot like psychological projection of Scott’s own actions. Because Ben Garrison quite clearly has not taken any tickets.

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The Five Reasons for Failed Fantasy

The Dark Herald reviews the year in fantasy for 2022 and provides an explanation for why it was so disastrous.

First, everyone wanted their own Game of Thrones, (it wasn’t just Jeff Bezos).

Second, none of these producers knew anything about fantasy and they didn’t want to learn. They just wanted to glom on to something and tell their own version of THE MESSAGE.

Third, neither did the people who ran the studios. They were green-lighting anything that could be accused of being a fantasy franchise with an existing fanbase. And they also wanted to use it to spread THE MESSAGE.

Fourth, Woke. All of these shows were much more interested in contemporary politics than they were ancient worlds, eerie wonders, and glories beyond imagining. They cared more about scoring points in Hollywood than they ever could about fantasy.

Fifth, all of these shows were the result of globalism. Oh, it was Hollywood globalism to be sure, so on top of all of their other failings, they were shallow as a mud puddle. But it was all globalist fantasy. It was something too hopelessly bland to be at all interesting.

“The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don’t think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them; and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures.”

I can’t help but find it amusing that all of these producers are casting desperately around for the next A GAME OF THRONES and it will never, ever, occur to them to go to the one epic fantasy series that is fully capable of providing them what they are looking for and more.

But it’s just as well. I have zero desire to see ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT utterly demolished the way that everything from WHEEL OF TIME to SANDMAN have been destroyed.

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Traffic Report 2022

2022 was another year in which I failed to finish A SEA OF SKULLS. It was also a year that saw the full effects of Google’s banning of the blog, as the precipitous decline to 12 million annual views from the previous year was actually smaller than the immediate month-on-month decline. Shadowbanning and deplatforming works, to a certain extent, which is why they do it. I also suspect that people are just exhausted with vaccine-related news, given that it’s mostly a grim chronicle of things going from bad to worse for the majority of the population. One can only read so many stories about young men and women dying from Suddenly before tapping out.

In 2022, Vox Popoli had 12,018,040 Google pageviews, down 69 percent from last year. The blog is now running at an average rate of 30,307 daily pageviews, down 17.9 percent from an average 36,091 last year. Total historic blog views closed out the year at 264,572,806. The running annual pageview totals are as follows:

2008: 3,496,757

2009: 4,414,801

2010: 4,827,183

2011: 5,422,628

2012: 6,098,774

2013: 9,340,663

2014: 11,236,085

2015: 16,211,875

2016: 25,817,343

2017: 31,216,357

2018: 32,260,094

2019: 32,757,068

2020: 41,338,037

2021: 38,884,355

2022: 12,018,040

It appears that it is time to retire the annual comparison to the former Most Popular Blog in Science Fiction, because there is no data to which this blog’s traffic can be compared. Also, Whatever now features as many posts by Scalzi’s daughter, with whom I have no issue, as it does by Scalzi himself, so the comparison is not even all that relevant anymore.

To be honest, this year feels a bit like the passing of a torch, not to any one individual, but rather, to the community as a whole. No one actually needs to visit here to access my ideas anymore, not when a single video promulgating concepts first presented here has 21 million views. This is not a complaint, but rather, an observation made with no little sense of satisfaction; it’s very freeing to know that others will not only take on the burden of spreading the ideas around, but will do so far more effectively than I ever have.

Intellectual success isn’t people knowing your name, it’s people embracing your ideas without ever needing to know your name. Having reached the point of having self-appointed populizers means being able to focus on breaking new ground rather than simply repeating the same basic things over and over again.

I won’t be taking a step back or reducing blog posts and Darkstreams, but I will attempt to focus them less on the operational details and other distractions and more on the core ideas. The Bindery, Selenoth, and a revival of Castalia’s traditional publishing are my top priorities for the new year; among other things, we’ll be publishing THREE new Conan novels by The Legend Chuck Dixon in 2023.

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