Author: VD

Still not past it

So, the season is at an end, and it felt as if it went by remarkably fast. We started with a bang, defeating the new team 7-1, but we ended it by not only losing to them 3-2, but also finishing in second place behind them.

This was actually a better result than it sounds, since after that first game, they brought in reinforcements consisting of not one, but two, former Serie A players. Now, if you’ve ever competed against a world class athlete, you know that they are not merely better than the good ones, they are as much better than the good ones as the really good players are better than the bad ones. I’ve run track against Olympians and played basketball with an NCAA D1 power forward who made the Elite Eight, and it is just as hopeless going up against professional European soccer players.

They literally scythe through defenders, and pretty good defenders at that. Their technical skill is incredible, and had us back on our heels and defending desperately right from the start.The rest of their team is strong too, with a number of former second and third league players, four or five of whom played with us at one point or another.

I started at right wing, but was moved over to the left to shore up the defense after we went down 2-0, and in the midst of one attack, I could have sworn that we had their attack thwarted with myself and the left defender marking their right wing, and one central defender plus our defensive midfielder tightly marking the attacker with the ball.

He was one of the retired pros; I happen to be friendly acquaintances with him since we played together on an ad hoc tournament team two years ago, and while I didn’t know he was a pro then, I knew he was really freaking good. He wanted to pass to the wing, but I’d closed that option off, so somehow, he managed to create just enough space outside the box to rip off a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar just inside the right post, then bounced down just inside the line. There was nothing the goalie could have done about it; there was nothing anyone could have done about it. The goalie and I just looked at each other and shrugged. Va bene cosi.

I am proud of our team, though. Even down 3-0, we fought back, with one beautiful 40-meter cross getting headed just over the post before we caught a break when their goalie failed to hold onto a shot and our center mid, following it, tapped in the rebound. The captain moved me up to attacker after that, and about two minutes later, the center mid put a through ball past the defense, I ran onto it, and sent it left as the goalie went right. 3-2.

We almost had a shot at tying it when a long ball went past their defense and I beat their defenders to the ball, except the ball bounced just a little too high and I just missed being able to head it over the onrushing goalie. I was furious with myself, because if I’d slowed down just a little, or trusted our other attacker, who is 6’3″, to beat the defenders, we probably would have scored the equalizer.

Even though I started nearly every game this season, I’m a utility player now, only good enough to fill whatever hole we might have that week, or to come in as a sub when one of the better players runs out of steam. I can only control my wing against perhaps one-third of the opposing wings these days now that many of them are 10 to 15 years younger, but the captain trusts me to have the sense to stay back and help out the defender on my side if I can’t. In 20 games, I don’t think they’ve scored more than three goals attacking up my side all season.

After the game, I was congratulating two of their players on winning the championship when the former pro came over. I told him what a great goal he’d scored, he laughed, agreed, then put his arm around my shoulders and pointed accusingly to one of the defenders, with whom I was also acquainted. “I TOLD you to keep an eye on this guy,” he said. As I am ancient by veteran soccer standards, it’s reassuring to know that I’m not done yet. After all, the mark of a really dangerous team is one where even the lesser players are capable of hurting you.

So, it’s good to know that I can still contribute to the team from time to time. Six goals plus a few assists isn’t a bad finish, although it’s a little disappointing after having scored five of them in the fall half. And second place in the league is a very satisfactory result, if you consider that we finished ahead of all four teams that have been our rivals for the title over the last five seasons. Even though it is not our third title in five years, it very nearly feels like it.

Diversity, discovered

White American left-liberals at the Washington Post belatedly discover that the Indians and the Chinese aren’t exactly fond of Africans, despite them all being “minorities”:

China and India have a huge problem with racism toward black people

Just minutes before his birthday, Masonda Ketanda Olivier was beaten to death. The Congolese national was confronted by a mob of men late at night last Friday in New Delhi and killed. Police said the incident was a dispute over the hiring of an autorickshaw; Olivier’s friend, an Ivorian national, said it was a clear hate crime, with racial epithets repeatedly invoked.

This week, irate African diplomats in the Indian capital pointed to Olivier’s murder as evidence of wider discrimination and bigotry against black people who visit and live in India. Olivier, who reports indicate was about to turn 24, was teaching French.

“The Indian government is strongly enjoined to take urgent steps to guarantee the safety of Africans in India including appropriate programmes of public awareness that will address the problem of racism and Afro-phobia in India,” Alem Tsehage, the Eritrean ambassador and the diplomat representing other African envoys in New Delhi, said in a statement. They also warned against new batches of African students enrolling in Indian universities.

On the same day, on the other side of the Himalayas, an ad for a Chinese laundry detergent went viral. It is shockingly racist: The video, which you can watch above, shows a fetching Chinese woman lure a paint-stained, lascivious African man toward her. She briefly toys with him before shoving a detergent capsule into his mouth and him into the machine. Out emerges a fresh-faced Chinese man, looking sparkling white and clean.

I’m looking forward to the American Left’s reaction when they finally discover that Hispanics in general, and Mexicans in particular, despise blacks more than the KKK ever did. White progressives really are that stupid, and that ignorant, about the minorities they love to champion.

When I lived in Japan, the Japanese openly referred to blacks as “monkeys” and made it clear that they were not even “gaijin”. And the Chinese superiority complex is considerably more entrenched than any of the European ones ever were; they still consider Europeans to be technologically advanced barbarians. Remember, both Japanese and Chinese cultures knowingly turned their backs on technological advancement in the name of societal stability, and there are certainly some increasingly strong arguments on that score.

In light of the observably deleterious consequences of the US and European wars on racism, I’d be very surprised if the Indians and Chinese didn’t come to the conclusions that even the most virulent racism is considerably better than having your nation invaded by Africans.

What society do you think functions better, a racist, ethnically homogeneous society with intact families or a diverse, ethnically heterogeneous society with the vast majority children being born illegitimate and raised without fathers? Which society do you prefer?

Those are the options presently on offer.

Book review: Cuckservative

The Essential Malady reviews Cuckservative: How “Conservatives” Betrayed America:

One of the most ferociously written (and critical) broadsides hits
what Day often calls “Churchianity”. It is well known by those who care
to find out that church groups have a huge hand in assisting mass
immigration – often absurdly of non-Christians that have no intention of
converting. This is facilitated by the state and as I understand it,
quite lucrative for all involved except the native population. This
chapter deals more with the perversion of Christianity towards earthly
ends than with this fraud though and the generally touchy, feely and
ultimately suicidal niceness of committed Christians especially of the
Evangelical persuasion. This has hopefully reached peak insanity with this couple but I’m not so sure. Christ wants us to bring other nations to him not other nations to us.

On a personal level, I can relate to the term and I would say that
for a long time I was myself a “cuckservative”. I knew deep down in my
gut that what I wanted to preserve as a conservative was white Christian
society but knew that openly stating such would get me called a racist
and worse. Part of the reason for this is I was cultured to think so and
the only mainstream voices available tripped over themselves often
embarrassingly to avoid being called racist. Yet, if they’re honest with
themselves, that’s where the conservative instinct should lead.

The racial equalitarians, particularly in the Christian churches, need to be called out and held accountable for their treason. If you’re going to claim “there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither American nor Chinese, in Jesus Christ” means that no one has any more right to live in the magic dirt of the United States than anyone else, that’s fine from a free speech perspective, but you should probably also be considered an open and avowed enemy of America and of the Christian church.

You’re also a liar. The Churchians who sell that line are perfectly happy to welcome the immigration of animists, Muslims, demon worshippers, Hindus, and every other form of religion under the guise of Christian equality. Like all deceivers, they rely on bait-and-switches, they hide behind rhetorical fogs, and they deny the obvious consequences of their actions.

If you are an elder in a Christian church, you must expel the churchians and cuckservatives from your midst whenever they reveal themselves. They are deceivers and destroyers, and they do not serve that which they claim to serve.

A true account of the Milo riot

Mike Cernovich was there for Milo’s speech at Depaul University:

We predicted that 2016 would be the year of the shutdown. But, even I didn’t see this coming. And I was at the Chicago Trump rally that got shut down a few months ago.

So, to show my support, I decided to attend my friend Milo Yiannopoulos’ speaking event in Chicago. What I saw happen there was incredible; and I want to share every detail with you now.

The event was announced about a week prior to when it was to be held. R.S.V.P. was available online in order to secure your seat.

The event also required you sign a waiver. (For those of you that don’t know, this consent form has to do with the ‘triggly puff’ video that appeared from one of his previous rallies.)

My friend Bernard got me signed up. He told me that they would have your name and check you off a sheet when you entered the venue. He also told me that there were some planned protests against the event, but that the protest page stated that it was not intended to shut down the event.

I told him there was no way they would shut it down. Milo was no Trump; he’s not big enough of a target to shut down.

Boy, was I wrong.

Read it all there. It is both informative and substantive, from an eyewitness perspective. It’s also troubling to observe how neither the campus police nor the hired security did anything to interfere with the protesters.

#ItsOver

“Mark Skelton – Art Director – has quit CIG.”

In case you didn’t know who that is, Mark Skelton was, until now, the Art Director for Star Citizen. I also understand that at least one top-level suit will be announcing a similar departure soon.

But don’t worry. There is always Elite Dangerous. To say nothing of what looks like the incredibly exciting Goats In Space.

Why Jonah hates Milo

It’s not the plot of a new gay teen drama on Nickelodeon, it’s merely Caleb Q. Washington explaining the intergenerational conflict within the Right:

Liberal Fascism attacked left-wing identity in its very title and cover. It was an attack that demanded rebuttal by the left. In effect, it benefited from the forces which people like Milo Yiannopoulos and, dare I say it, Donald Trump, have explicitly made use of for their advantage.

If The Tyranny of Cliches had been re-titled, and I’m just spit-balling here, “The Left’s Biggest Lies” with a cartoon of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama dressed as Pinocchio, it might have been more of a success.

Milo Yiannopoulos, on the other hand, has risen to prominence (eclipsing Goldberg’s Twitter follower count this spring) by harnessing these very same forces to his benefit. Milo first came to my attention when he dropped the first supportive piece on GamerGate from any well-known news outlet.

The political genius of this was entirely lost on the rest of the right. Becoming the champion of gamers against the worst elements of the left, he forced people on the left to defend their most despicable elements, stay silent, or join him. It forced the left to fight on its own turf.

He’s done the same thing with the zaniness on college campuses. With his speaking tour, Milo has repeatedly stirred controversy. This has led to forcing people on the left to distance itself from the worst of the craziness in a way no other conservative has done.

Milo has reaped huge dividends from this strategy, both as a proponent for the right, and personally.

So, why is there conflict?

The simple answer is that Jonah and Milo are avatars for each side of the generational schism on the right. While not an old man himself, Jonah is their representative. The old men on the right seek to hold the line in a conflict of attrition with the left over disputed ground. The young men seek to fight on what the left thought was safe turf.

This brings us to the specific conflict today.

There are two groups of people on the right Jonah, and the rest of the old men revile. The first are agitators who knowingly say extreme things aimed to upset the old men. They are getting trolled, and are looking bad as a result. The whole point of the activity is to make the old men angry, and in their anger for them to act in a way that turns people off from them. It’s a classical rhetorical move explained by Aristotle. They seek to inspire anger in their targets and succeed. The other group are simply people who take a more extreme right-wing view than is considered socially acceptable.

The old men and Jonah Goldberg hate these people more than they hate the left, as they seek a monopoly of right wing though, and Milo Yiannopoulos has no interest in condemning them. He even delivers apologia for them.

This also explains why I am on Milo’s side, despite being of an age with Jonah. Now, I actually like Jonah. I understand him, and I think his Liberal Fascism was a very good and important book. I even paid homage to it with the cover of SJWs Always Lie.

But being an editor at National Review, Jonah has always been allied with the Old Men of National Review, while I have always been Too Extreme for them despite being identified as the most talented right-wing columnist of my generation by Universal Press Syndicate and being signed as a prospective replacement for William F. Buckley by them.

And wow, did that ever fail!

I am middle-aged, but being a game designer, my heart is with the brash young gamers of #GamerGate, not the aging cuckservatives of National Review. I don’t pretend to be with it – I have no idea what the equivalent of early techno in the 1990s might be these days – and considering how long it took me to recover from an intra-club scrimmage with the prima squadra and having to defend 19-year-old wingers, I am VERY aware of my age these days.

But Jonah, Rod Lowry, Rod Dreher, and other 40-somethings need to realize that we are no longer the Young Turks of the Right, and it is time to either get with the #AltRight and support the up-and-coming new guys or wander off into the pastures of political irrelevance.

Pink SF will ban itself

MidAmericaCon II refuses to include a Hugo-nominated work in the Hugo Packet:

As the World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II has members from 35 countries. Safe Space as Rape Room quotes extensively from a written work containing explicit descriptions of children engaged in sexual activities. This material may be illegal in some home countries of  members. MidAmeriCon II does not wish to put any member at risk of inadvertently violating the law in their country of residence by downloading it in the packet without intent. As such, under legal advice, we are not  hosting or distributing this material directly. 

The “written work” referred to in the above is the novel Hogg, by the SFWA’s Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Samuel R. Delany.

The WorldCon convention has also issued at least two other “warning labels” to two other Hugo-nominated works in the packet, one a Best Related Work by Moira Greyland, the other a Best Short Story by Chuck Tingle.

Speaking of Pink SF, now that John Scalzi’s new book has been announced, it’s time to congratulate everyone who had “Isaac Asimov”. I’m sure we all look forward to reading the adventures of Eli Seldom and her psychic predictions of how the Galactic Empire would collapse as a result of interplanetary menstrual synchronization.

Book review: A Throne of Bones

Given that I’m plugging away at the sequel, it’s encouraging to see that people are still discovering, reading, and enjoying A Throne of Bones. A book review by the Witchfinder General:

‘A Throne of Bones’ is superior and intelligent fantasy. It is like a novelisation of ‘Julius Caesar’, with a serious tone and detailed exposition – then with the acid trip of high fantasy. Where it differs from the works of the bard to Vox’s detriment is that this is not tabloid entertainment. Shakespeare is remembered precisely because he was producing the tabloid mass market entertainment of his day. Being considered vulgar by the so-called great and good did not stop the masses flocking to his plays.

‘A Throne of Bones’ has the sophistication but not perhaps the populist appeal. Intelligent, educated people who enjoy fantasy may appreciate the detailed rendering of ancient pseudo-Rome and the classical references. That will certainly stand him in good stead in parts of the fantasy niche market but does not have the sales reach of Mills and Boon or Conan the Barbarian.

Even so the writing is clear and sharp. There is no problem here with quality, exposition or characterisation. A strength of Vox’s writing is to create a cast of believable characters each with their own strengths and flaws, goals, passions and fears.

Despite its intellectual depth Vox’s work certainly appeals more than the loathesome, deathly dull cookie-cutter work of his rivals in which historical accuracy and human nature are often cast aside to match the narrative. Many people would rather read ‘Summa Elvetica’ fifty times over than have to struggle through ‘The Subtle Knife’ by Philip Pullman.

Indeed, to some extent Vox appears to benefit from the relatively unique political and religious perspectives of his work. The historic depth and reach of fantasy unconstrained by the politics of identity is (as Vox himself has argued) a rarity amidst the modern staple of virtue signalling fantasy fiction.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the reaction to A Sea of Skulls will be later this year. I think I can safely say that the cultures are deeper, the action is more intense, and there is less coming-of-age and more philosophy. But then, the author is seldom a reliable judge of his own work.

What I can say is that there will be orc, elf, and dwarf perspective characters in addition to the human ones. And I will also note that I am very conscious of the problem George RR Martin created for himself by allowing his perspective characters to grow from 9 to 22.

Disavowing #NeverTrump

Ace of Spades wonders if #NeverTrump “conservatives” were always just Democrats all along:

Please explain to me the continuing hardcore commitment to #NeverTrump.

Is it…

1. Disliking the fact that the Upper Middle College Educated Class controlled the party for decades, and made a sport of ignoring the Working Class, but now the Working Class has reasserted itself and taken over and the members of the displaced Upper Middle College Educated Class just can’t stand not being in a poll position any longer?

2. Showing off to one’s liberal comrades that one isn’t One Of That Kind of Conservative? That is, Virtue Signalling?

3. Attempting to save one’s professional reputation? I get this one myself — someone asked me why I was so anti-Trump, and I said the man was so vulgar, stupid, and crass that he made it necessary to oppose him simply to preserve one’s professional standing.

So I get that idea. I get that idea an awful lot.

But we happen to be talking about the Republic at this point.

One of two people will be president in January — Hillary Rodham Clinton, a sociopath who was a corrupt politician even before she entered politics (remember Whitewater? Her $100,000 cattles future trading) or Donald Trump.

What is the fear, here? That Donald Trump might be nearly as bad as Hillary Clinton certainly will be?

Name one issue on which Hillary Clinton is superior to Trump. The most I ever here is “We don’t know what Trump will do, he could be just as bad as Hillary.”

Oh? He could be that bad?

Look, Drew asked a while ago: What makes obviously liberal-cultural-values Republicans actually Republicans, apart from habit?

Maybe it’s time for the great re-sorting to begin. It’s time for actual Democrats, who are most comfortable with Democrats, and feel the most affinity for Democrats, to make their party allegiance official and simply declare for Hillary Clinton and join the Democratic Party…. all around me I see people who are far too over-proud of their Upper Middle Class Background willing to elect Hillary Clinton just to prove they graduated (or at least attended) college.

No one who votes for Hillary Clinton – or who voted for Barack Obama – can reasonably call themselves “conservative”. What, precisely, do you think you are conserving?

1238

Donald Trump officially has enough delegates to become the Republican nominee:

It’s official – Trump reaches the magic number of Republican delegates to clinch nomination. Donald Trump now has 1,238 delegates in the latest Associated Press tally of primary results and the intentions of the other party delegates. Trump was put over the top in the Associated Press delegate count by a small number of the party’s unbound delegates who told the AP they would support him at the convention.