Author: VD

How China is Ending Divorce

The recent memes about the changes to Chinese divorce law are more than a month out of date and a little exaggerated. But the changes show that the Chinese government is serious about winning the 21st century as the West continues to spiral downward into dyscivilization:

China has made significant changes to its divorce laws, aimed at making marriage registration simpler and divorce harder. A new 30-day cooling-off period has been introduced, requiring couples to wait before finalizing their divorce. This period gives couples a chance to reconsider their decision, potentially preventing hasty decisions, but it also raises concerns about women who may feel trapped in abusive or unhappy relationships.

The law overhauls property division, shifting from equal distribution to ownership based on who paid for the property. This means that if one spouse paid for the property, they retain ownership even if the other spouse’s name is on the title. Property gifts from family members to one spouse are also exempt from being shared. Additionally, the law grants equal custody of children to both parents, meaning both parents retain their rights to the children unless there are extenuating circumstances. This aims to reduce custody battles, making the process smoother and ensuring that both parents have a say in raising their children after separation.

The West is going to have to follow suit sooner or later, because the current female-favoring divorce laws are not only destroying far too many existing marriages, but are preventing men from pursuing marriage, or even relationships, in the first place.

Simply refraining from distributing men’s property to women and preventing women from being able to use access to children as a post-marital weapon would significantly remove some of the current disincentives to marriage.

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Last Day for Cathedra

\This is just a note to remind those who are interested in the Castalia Cathedra subscription that this is the final day to subscribe and get a copy of Book #1: THE EVERLASTING MAN by GK Chesterton.

Book #2 in the subscription will be announced tomorrow. I’m also pleased to be able to say that the initial print run will be in the 400 to 500 range, although we cannot calculate a precise number until the initial six-month period comes to an end. I can also say that we will be making use of the higher-quality pigskin leather for the Cathedra line.

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The Fifth Generation of War

After all the various debates about what would comprise the next generation of warfare, the recent conflicts between Armenia and Azherbaijan, Russia and Ukraine, and Iran and Israel have made it abundantly clear that it is drone warfare that is the Fifth Generation of War:

Last night, Russia also launched one of the largest strikes of the war, when you count total assets used. The missile count was relatively low, but the drones numbered nearly 500 Shaheds and other decoys in total, which is likely a record for single day usage. Counting missiles, it was well over 500+ units launched in one night. The attacks wreaked havoc on various sites, from Ukrainian airports, to energy infrastructure in Poltava, the Drohobich refinery in Lvov, and Kremenchug oil refinery as well.

But most eye-opening was the new statement from top Ukrainian radio-electronics expert Serhiy ‘Flash’ Beskrestnov. He is rarely alarmist, so the urgent tone raised quite a few eyebrows in Ukraine What he’s referring to are the predictions that Russian production capabilities for Shahed drones would soon reach levels allowing Russia to launch upwards of 500-700 of these drones per night, as they did last night.

Not only that, but both Ukrainian and Russian sources indicate that most casualties are inflicted by drones, and two-thirds of those casualties are in the logistical zone outside of the traditional battlefield.

UKRAINE: FPVs represent 49%, artillery only 13.6%, with Russian Kab/Fab bombs only 3.7%. More specifically, they distinguish that 35% of FPV hits are on troops in positions, such as trenches and foxholes, while 65% are hits on roads, i.e. vehicles or troops in transit. For the record, the full list in the left column is: FPV, artillery, infantry, drone-dropped mines, mortars, Kab/Fab, and Lancets.

RUSSIA: The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the combat contact line are only 35%, and 65% are in logistics in the 20-kilometer zone form the contact line. Russian units are knocking out most of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ manpower during rotation with the help of drones.

This extension of the zone of lethality has significantly expanded the effective size of the battlefield. Unlike many previously suggested concepts, this expansion is truly indicative of a fundamental transformation of the way in which war is now waged and therefore worthy of the designation as Fifth Generation War.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps once said: “Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics.” But with the recent expansion of the combat zone, tactics and logistics tactics are now being fused into a single concept that will have to be addressed by new military doctrines and mastered by a new breed of military officers.

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Yes, I Do Read Screencaps

Given the sad loss of great sports-related weekly columnists from the recent past, like Peter King, Dr. Z, and even Bill Simmons, who, though still alive and well, is more a media mogul than a writer now, the best column currently running is Screencaps on Outkick, which is amusingly eclectic and keeps regular tabs on everything from bikinis to books. I responded to Joe’s recent call for library pictures, which will look familiar to most Darkstream viewers, and he featured it along with one of Castalia Library’s upcoming books.

You just never know who’s reading Screencaps

— Vox writes: 

If it doesn’t have leather books, is it even a proper library?

The non-leather books include complete sets of The Cambridge Medieval History series, 1911 edition, and The Cambridge Ancient History series 1928 edition. There is also a set of the original Dispatches and Letters of Lord Nelson, published in 1845, and one of the 300 original copies of The Bibliography of Military Books up to 1612 published in 1900.

I run one of the world’s only leather book binderies, so we buy a lot of rare books in order to make perfect high-end reproductions of them, like the first edition of Pride and Prejudice and the first complete English
translation of The Tale of Genji. We do high-end books in cowhide and pigskin, and even higher-end ones in goatskin with real gold. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll send you one. I’ve also included a
picture of the book we’re currently binding, part of a two-volume set for Cambridge University Press.

Speaking of the bindery, we hope to have some excellent news for everyone very soon, although unfortunately, it appears that we have become even more exclusive than we were last week when that note was sent, as the world’s number of leather book binderies just shrank by one with the closure of Maltby’s Bookbinders and the Green Street Bindery, an Oxford-based bindery originally established in 1834.

Tomorrow we’ll be announcing the new books for Library, History, and Cathedra. It also appears as many as FIVE books will be bound this month, but we’ll provide more details on that when I have confirmation.

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Iran’s Deep Bench

Given the proclivity of both the USA and Israel to wage war through assassination and regime change, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that their enemies are now anticipating decapitation strikes, which was the section of this interview with a former Iranian general that caught my attention.

There’s the issue of the leadership vacuum the Zionist entity sought to create by assassinating leaders of the Revolutionary Guard, followed by subsequent operations. But what we witnessed instead was the strength of our armed forces: leadership positions were filled within just three to four hours, and the command structure was swiftly and efficiently reorganized. What did the people witness afterward? How do you assess the Zionist entity’s belief that creating a leadership vacuum would weaken you?

Mohsen Rezaei: I believe Israel made a grave military miscalculation. They assumed Iran was similar to Hezbollah, even though they themselves have failed to dismantle Hezbollah. They should have learned from that experience. Look at the leadership figures that have emerged within our armed forces. Major General Pakpour, for example, is an exceptionally strong field commander—courageous, with a remarkable operational vision.

Amir Hatami, who joined from the regular army, is a brave and seasoned officer. The same goes for Mr. Mousavi in the aerospace sector. And also for Mr. Mousavi who succeeded the martyred General Bagheri in the General Staff—he is a dedicated man, aligned with the resistance movement.

Though they come from the regular army, there is full coordination between them and the Revolutionary Guards. What the enemy did failed to create any structural void within the armed forces. In fact, it could be said that certain aspects have grown more effective, as recent events have shown. That’s one point.

Secondly, we now have no fewer than ten additional layers of trained commanders and officers—some from the generation that fought in the war, and others who gained valuable field experience in later years, particularly in the fight against ISIS. Many of our forces who fought in Iraq and Syria against ISIS have, through those field experiences, become akin to senior war commanders like Hussein Kharrazi and Ahmad Kazemi—young, capable leaders fully prepared to command the armed forces.

It was a profound error on the part of the Israeli military not to recognize the deep hierarchical structure and the robust bench of ready leadership within our ranks. This internal architecture and the organizational evolution of the armed forces entirely compensated for any potential gaps. In my view, this challenge has already been overcome. And in the near future, our dear people will see that those who have stepped into the shoes of our fallen leaders will ensure that no imbalance or vacuum arises in the management of the armed forces.

The high command—led by His Eminence, the Commander—is fully acquainted with each of these leaders. They have been selected with care and discernment. I am absolutely confident that there will be no void in leadership.

A very common mistake often seen throughout military history is projection, or analyzing the enemy as if it were a mirror image of one’s own forces. Both Israel and the USA have very thin strategic and command benches, which is why they assume that taking out the top layer or two of enemy leadership will lead to complete confusion and disarray.

Which, to be fair, would likely happen in the case of either country suffering the loss of its leadership. But it’s clear that Iran and China are both very well prepared in an institutional sense for rapid leadership transitions that will avoid the confusion and military paralysis that are the primary objective of decapitation strikes. Russia, perhaps not so much, which may account for the monomaniacal focus on President Putin’s well-being, although my suspicion is that his successor will be less patient with the West and more hardline.

Regime change works when you’ve got your candidate all ready and in position to assume command and negotiate a surrender. But it can’t when you don’t have a candidate, and worse, the enemy is already set up to make a series of orderly transitions if necessary.

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Legend

DWFC manager Marc White gets a six-game ban for a podcast joke:

Dorking Wanderers manager Marc White has received a six-game touchline ban for a sexist comment made on a podcast.

When discussing his disciplinary record on the Under The Cosh podcast, White said: ‘More women refs now, so you have to pay a bit more respect, do you know what I mean? You have to pay a bit more respect, like help them park.’

In May, White, who also owns Dorking, was charged by the FA with using insulting or abusive words.

The FA stated that White’s comments were an aggravated breach of the rules because of the reference made to gender.

If the FA is already this converged, it’s a wonder the English national team is even capable of fielding an actual football squad.

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SIDS = Vaccines

How Japan managed to eradicate Sudden Infant Death Syndrome:

A leading American physician has issued an alarming wake-up call to Western nations by warning that Japan’s sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) crisis “disappeared” as soon as the government ended the country’s mandatory “vaccine” schedule. According to Dr. Pierre Kory, “neonatal mortality decreased” when the government stopped mandating “vaccines” for children under two.

Dr. Kory is the former Chief of the Critical Care Service and Medical Director of the Trauma and Life Support Center at the University of Wisconsin. Kory, a specialist in medicine and pulmonary and critical care, is also the president and chief medical officer of the Front Line Critical Care Alliance.

During an interview with CHD, Kory linked the practice of vaccinating babies in Western countries to surging SIDS cases.

“This actually happened in Japan,” Kory began. “I think this is really interesting because you look at how these two countries behave toward vaccines and vaccine safety, and Japan has done, really, some actions which are not followed by a lot of other Western, advanced health economies. But when they noticed this rash of deaths in the 70s, they saw – what they did is they raised the age of vaccination to two years old.

“Guess what happened when they did that?” Kory asked. “Infant deaths disappeared.”

Imagine how much better children’s health would be if they eliminated all mandatory childhood vaccines. And no, we wouldn’t see a widespread return of diseases that were virtually eliminated in the USA and elsewhere by improved sewage systems, because 98 percent of the decline in those diseases took place prior to the invention of the various vaccines, let alone their compulsory administration to children.

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The Dismemberment of Disney

The Dark Herald offers a prediction concerning the future of the Walt Disney Company:

The Future of the Walt Disney Company

Not bankruptcy.

Dismemberment.

Given the absurd amounts of debt Bob Iger accumulated the only real way forward for the company is load up as much of its debt as possible on those sections of the company that have no future and spin it off.

Those would be the ones closest to Iger’s heart. Linear broadcasting and cable TV. Especially ESPN. There’s no way that Disney can outbid Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV for sports broadcast rights.

Although, once that happens stockholders will want Parks and Experiences spun off from entertainment. It’s been mismanaged for 20 years.

I don’t know about the IPs, but it’s possible. Roll Marvel and Lucasfilm together and then dump them with as much debt as possible.

Debt allows individuals and corporations to live well beyond their means for a time. And it looks like genuine success, as long as it lasts. But sooner or later, the debt ogres will appear and demand their interest-laden pounds of flesh.

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The Smartest Conclusion

If you’re relying on an appeal to intelligence, it’s just not looking very good for atheists or satanists these days.

I had severe depression and anxiety disorder. I even tried to end my life. But when I met Jesus, everything changed. He healed me and set me free. I’m living proof that Jesus is God. He is the only way. Heaven is the only rational conclusion because only in Heaven can the human mind find eternal meaning, and perfect justice be fulfilled. And it is Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, who guarantees both.

I’m just a humble 3SD myself, but I note that although YoungHoon Kim came at it from a different direction, his reasoning and his conclusion is essentially the same as Greg Boyd’s.

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Confessions of an ex-Christian Zionist

The Rev. Matt, a former Christian Zionist, explains why many misguided American Christians were calling for war with Iran and endorsing the Gazacaust of the Palestinian people, among other obviously evil things:

Christian Zionists believe it is their God-given duty to preserve the Jewish people until they are raptured and it is out of their hands. This is why nothing can shake their devotion to the godless nation of Israel. They simply see it as God’s call on their lives to bless these people by supporting them. They see all of your criticisms of Israel as at best unfair, as maybe, in fact probably, suspicious and motivated by antisemitism, and ultimately as an extension of the devil’s hatred for God’s special chosen nation. Some even believe that the Church should subject itself to Israel’s wishes, so as not to risk breaking the 11th commandment, “Thou shalt bless Israel.”

Now, we know the New Testament does not teach any of this. In fact it explicitly says not to show partiality amongst the church (James 2:1-12), and it says the Church is God’s chosen people (1 Peter 2:9-10). But the Christian Zionist believes that these ideas were snuck into the Church by the Church fathers who basically sidelined the Jews after the Gentiles became a majority. There is absolutely nothing in the historical text to substantiate this, in fact that the early Church Fathers anathematised Marcion for having basically this idea, but many Dispensationalists and Christians Zionists believe that almost all of Church leaders in Church history were led astray on this issue, and the creators of Dispensationalism brought back the proper focus on Israel’s uniqueness. Any reference to the Church fathers to rebuke this is simply seen as more evidence of their position being the correct one.

Dispensationalists also kind of see the uniqueness of Israel as helping unlock the “code” of how to understand the Bible and history. Everything bad that has ever happened to the Jewish people in history is simply viewed through the lens of the devil having a unique desire to destroy them, and their survival is seen as the most powerful proof of God’s existence and preservation of them as his special people. Never mind the fact that terrifying and bad things have happened to many peoples and that many other peoples have survived throughout history as well, this is how the Dispensationalist sees the issue. The continued existence of many other people’s in dispersed lands (Roma, Rohingya, Kurds, etc, etc) is simply a coincidence, or not even acknowledged or known. History is one long conflict between the devil and God for the soul of the Jewish people. And in their worldview it will culminate in the redemption of Israelis on a national scale. A revival of the whole country.

I was raised in Christian Zionism, although even the Christianity didn’t take root until I was in my late 20s. The constant state of hysteria shown by the Dispensationalists, which I figured out was little more than Boomers incapable of imagining a world continuing without them, was too offensive to my natural preference for philosophical equanimity to hold much appeal.

But it wasn’t until I observed that a) the god of Judaism was not God the Father, but the god of this world, and b) the historical Zionists were atheists anyhow, that I grasped how fundamentally deceived the Christian Zionists are. After that, learning about the Scofield Bible, the true identity of the Wailing Wall, and various and sundry other telling details, most of which involved blatant historical lies, were not even remotely surprising.

IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, prompting the military prosecution to call for a review into possible war crimes.

As always, the more epicycles and rationalizations that are required to maintain a specific viewpoint, the more likely it is to be fundamentally false. When your interpretation of the Bible leads you to oppose the Good, the Beautiful, and the True, and to repeatedly defend lies, falsehoods, and subversions, that should be a strong signal that your interpretation is incorrect.

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