Author: VD

A brother’s lies

A body language analyst on the interview with Paddock’s brother.

She concludes that Paddock’s attack was likely political in nature rather than religious, and was more likely connected with Antifa than with ISIS.

90 percent for independence

To absolutely no one’s surprise, the Spanish attempts to stop the Catalan independence referendum completely backfired:

Catalan officials claimed 90{c6770088f688fedd109195fb76ded7bc5c58269bd213a4319575b4bd99e8e8ff} of 2.2 million voters had called for independence in an ‘illegal’ referendum blighted by violent scenes which left at least 888 people injured. World leaders condemned the brutal scenes after officials revealed that hundreds of protesters have been injured so far. Officers were seen kicking and stamping on protesters as they stormed buildings and seized ballot boxes.

Footage captured in the village of Sarria de Ter in the province of Girona showed authorities using an axe to smash down the doors of a polling station where Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was due to cast his vote.  He said the region had won the right to become an independent state with the referendum results due in a few days. And in Barcelona, the region’s capital, officers fired rubber bullets at thousands of protesters demonstrating against their votes being denied.

Now, I am as dubious as anyone else about the accuracy of the reported vote. But seriously, who on Earth is advising the Spanish government? One would think they actually wanted Catalonia to successfully succeed, given how inept and counterproductive their crackdown was.

20+ dead in Vegas shootings

Automatic fire at a country music festival near Mandalay Bay Hotel. Multiple shooters reported and five hotels on lockdown. Attack happened while Jason Aldean was playing. Video of the first two minutes of the attack.

Confirmed reports of 50+ dead, 200+ injured. The clattering sounded like AK-47s on full auto.

No reports yet on whether it is Muslims, Black Lives Matter, or someone else. But it looks like Religion of Peace. ISIS featured the Las Vegas Strip in a video four months ago.

UPDATE: Las Vegas sheriff confirms 20+ dead.

UPDATE: Some of the witnesses are saying the shooters were Mexicans, not Muslim Arabs, and they threatened the crowd before the shooting. The competence and body count is in line with that suggestion.

UPDATE: Possible suspect: Geary Danley from Fayetteville, Arkansas​. He is married to Marilou Danley. Geary is a fan of the The Rachel Maddow Show​ and liked several pages on Facebook​ including Thank You Obama, Anti-Trump Army, Progressive Day, Organizing for Action, Not My President, Proud to Be A Democrat, Fight Trump, Boycott All Things Trump, and Impeach Trump.

UPDATE: The Las Vegas Police Department said the suspected gunman, who was believed to be a local resident, was on 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay hotel. Police responded to the scene, engaged him and he is now dead. Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock.

She mad

To discover why Dynamique is extremely unhappy, visit the Alt★Hero Freestarter page and scroll down to read the fourth page of her encounter with Captain Europa and the Global Justice Initiative.

We’re now less than three thousand away from reaching Stretch Goal 3, which triggers the production of Volume VI. This means that all three initial stories will be receiving a sequel. It also means that everyone who is signed up at the Digital Edition level will be receiving 288 pages of novel graphic entertainment for $15. That’s an exceptional bargain, even if you’re not particularly interested in comics.

We also have some very exciting news to report, which is that a longtime veteran of Marvel and DC Comics has joined the team and will be working with the existing artists to help improve our art and production game.

I already have an example of one such collaboration, and I have to say, it is impressive. We’ll won’t be showing it off for a few days, for reasons that will then become clear, but I am quite confident that you will be as pleased with the results as I am.

Thanks again for all of your strong support!

The players crumble

The NFL players are beginning to grasp that it is futile to fight the God-Emperor on rhetorical grounds:

Only 11 NFL players did not stand during the national anthem during the first set of games Sunday. That is a stark contrast from the 180 who kneeled last week, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell.

This is why it is always a good idea to stop and think before reacting. Especially when you’re dealing with an opponent who is very, very good at anticipating the other side’s probable reaction.

It will be amusing to see how the owners who supported the protests will now try to climb back after leaping to take the side of the players.

NFL Week 4

Prognosis: Red.

Week 3

-14{c6770088f688fedd109195fb76ded7bc5c58269bd213a4319575b4bd99e8e8ff} NBC OAK-WSH
-17{c6770088f688fedd109195fb76ded7bc5c58269bd213a4319575b4bd99e8e8ff} FOX NYG-PHI
-03{c6770088f688fedd109195fb76ded7bc5c58269bd213a4319575b4bd99e8e8ff} CBS CIN-GB

Week 4

-06{c6770088f688fedd109195fb76ded7bc5c58269bd213a4319575b4bd99e8e8ff} CBS CHI-GB

A reader with connections at Anheiser Busch reports that the phone calls and emails there are “at least 3 to 1 against NFL, and against Goodell in particular.”

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” is off 7 percent this year, ESPN’s Monday night down 5 percent, Fox down 11 percent, CBS 19 percent.

Starve the SJW beast. But to be honest, I can’t watch any football today anyhow. I’ve simply got too much to do.

Voxiversity update

First, I would like to thank all 213 Voxiversity backers. While most of the attention has been focused on Alt★Hero the last few days, you can rest assured that neither the producer nor I have forgotten about the project. If you are one of the 108 backers who provided an email, you will have already received the promised copy of SJWAL plus a bonus ebook this morning.

I suspect there has been some reluctance to provide Freestartr with a “public email”, so I will talk to them today about how we can handle it so that the creators are provided access to the emails but the public is not. I will send out the rest of the SJWAL copies as well as the promised Collected Columns after talking to Freestartr today, assuming I’m able to get access to the 105 missing emails.

Second, the initial microphone test has proved successful and I will test it in proper recording mode tonight. I have the necessary light, now I am waiting on the light stand to begin filming. I have already begun work on the first lecture, IMMIGRATION AND WAR, and we expect to release the first video before the end of the month. We will, of course, pick up the pace of video releases as we proceed.

If you would like to support Voxiversity, you can do so here.

What losing the moral level looks like

Spain is losing the moral level of war in Catalonia. Badly. The Spanish can cry “the vote is illegal” all they like, but the Spanish government can no longer pretend to have democratic legitimacy in Catalonia or to be anything but an imperialist state governing an unwilling people by force. The vote is no longer even necessary at this point; world opinion is actively turning against Spain. Had Spain encouraged the vote and offered incentives for a No vote, it might well have won. But by fighting against it and resorting to violence – even well-restrained violence of the sort it has utilized thus far – it has significantly increased the likelihood that Catalans will vote for independence.

AP BREAKING: Catalonia referendum: Spanish police fire rubber projectiles at protesters outside Barcelona voting center.

The Catalan regional government may well be a collection of economically ignorant fools. Democracy and rule by the will of the people may well be an illusion. But people have the right to be fools and billions of people believe in the idea that the reason their governments are legitimate is due to their foundation of democracy. A government punctures that illusion at its own risk. Remember, “the law” does not actually exist in any material sense. It is merely a collective agreement, which ceases to exist when a sufficient number of people unilaterally withdraw from it.

The NBA stands

ProFootballTalk is desperately hoping for the spread of the #TakeAKnee protest:

As the NFL is embroiled in controversy over players kneeling during the anthem, the league has steadfastly insisted that players have the right not to stand and will not be disciplined if they choose to exercise that right.

The NBA, meanwhile, has reiterated that players must stand for the anthem. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league’s longstanding rule requiring players to stand for the anthem isn’t going anywhere.

“On the anthem specifically, we have a rule that requires our players to stand for the anthem. It’s been a rule as long as I’ve been involved with the league, and my expectation is that our players will continue to stand for the anthem,” Silver said.

What’s unclear is what the NBA would do if a player chooses to violate that rule. In 1996 the NBA suspended Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf for refusing to stand for the anthem. Abdul-Rauf quickly relented and stood for the anthem while saying a silent prayer. After President Trump’s comments kicked off the latest anthem controversy last week, however, two of the NBA’s biggest stars, Steph Curry and LeBron James, offered comments critical of Trump. If those two stars were to kneel in protest, it’s highly unlikely that Silver would suspend them.

So far, the NBA has managed to avoid controversy. All it takes is one player to defy Silver’s orders, and the controversy will spread to basketball.

Silver is smarter than Goodell. He’s a student of David Stern, and he’s not about to let the players take over his league.