Rolling Back Clown World

No more parades celebrating wickedness and psychological disorders in Hungary:

The Hungarian parliament has passed a law that effectively bans LGBTQ pride events nationwide. Opposition members attempted to derail the vote on Tuesday by setting off smoke bombs within the chamber.

Passed in a 136-27 vote, the law broadens an existing ban on exposing minors to LGBTQ-themed content to encompass public assemblies. It also grants police the authority to film attendees for identification. Participants of outlawed gatherings face potential fines exceeding $500 under the new regulations.

The legislation was fast-tracked through an expedited process just a day after its introduction. Support came primarily from the ruling Fidesz party and its minority coalition partner, the Christian Democrats.

It’s rather remarkable that Clown World succeeded, even briefly, in openly celebrating sin in this regard. Although I suppose both the Sloth and Gluttony parades were always going to be a bit challenging, while the Autism parade simply never got out of the very, very detailed planning stages. In any event, it’s good to see Clown World being methodically pushed back on every side.

DISCUSS ON SG


Relegation in the USA

This should be fun to watch:

Promotion and relegation is coming to American professional soccer for the first time, according to a report from The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio. The United Soccer Leagues (USL), representing American professional soccer’s second and third tiers, voted to add promotion-relegation to their system. Currently, it is set up with the USL Championship featuring 24 teams and the third-tier USL League One featuring 14 teams. 

Many teams are in non-MLS markets, allowing cities a cheaper point of entry for owners and a separate set-up to the 30-team top division. In February, the USL also applied to U.S. Soccer for first-division status, aiming to establish USL Premier, which would be classified as a first division alongside MLS. 

If the USL Premier becomes a reality, it will likely have promotion and relegation through three divisions in the USL Championship and USL League 1. At the same time, MLS remains a separate single-entity structure.

The European soccer leagues have a lot – and I mean a LOT – to learn from the NFL. But the one thing they do right is promotion and relegation, which adds serious spice to the lower leagues and drives interest in them.

It wouldn’t hurt to apply it to the House and Senate, while we’re at it.

DISCUSS ON SG


JFK Records Released

March 18, 2025 Release

In accordance with President Donald Trump’s directive of March 17, 2025, all records previously withheld for classification that are part of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection are released.

The National Archives has partnered with agencies across the federal government to comply with the President’s directive in support of Executive Order 14176.

As of March 18, 2025, the records are available to access either online at this page or in person, via hard copy or on analog media formats, at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland. As the records continue to be digitized, they will be posted to this page.

DISCUSS ON SG


Never Trust the Money

My post today on White Bull offers yet another reason to not sell out:

I was speaking to a man who has some incredible new technology that has the potential to disrupt and perhaps even revolutionize his industry. Some big VC names have taken meetings with him, and they were encouraging him to do two things that he found more than a little puzzling. First, they wanted him to ask for considerably more investment than he believes he needs in order to accomplish his objectives. Second, they wanted him to completely change course from offering what is naturally a professional service to what would be a consumer product.

I’d also recommend watching the interview with the White Bull himself on reinvention. No business plan ever survives contact with the market for long. Just look at Castalia, or Infogalactic for that matter. For me, the byword has always been Coleco. As in COnnecticut LEather COmpany.

When you understand how a leather company ended up briefly becoming the number three player in the video game industry, you will grasp the vital importance of reinvention.

DISCUSS ON SG


Demographics Not Digital

It’s true that average human intelligence is falling across the West. But it’s not because of smartphones:

Human intellectual abilities such as reasoning and problem-solving are diminishing, possibly due to increased exposure to visual media, the Financial Times has reported.

Human intelligence appeared to peak in the early 2010s and has been in decline since, the FT added, citing PISA, an international benchmarking test for 15-year-olds that includes reading, mathematics and science, and adult cognitive evaluations. The reported trend comes amid a rise in artificial intelligence (AI) which, by some estimates, may surpass human IQ in a matter of years.

The recorded spike in the share of high school students who reported difficulties in PISA tests coincides with a broad change in people’s relationship with information, such as the transition away from reading and towards visual content, the publication explained.

I suspect they’d find that accounting for demographic changes will suffice to explain the entire decline in human intellectual abilities. I pointed that the average US IQ is on track to fall considerably back in 2015, a decline entirely due to the changes in US population demographics.

If you import millions of third-worlders, you’re not going to see the average IQ rise. The dirt is not magic. All you’re doing is gradually transitioning into a third-world country.

DISCUSS ON SG




The Fantasy Divide

Archon helpfully explains the difference between the male and female approaches to heroic fantasy:

Imagine a fantasy novel that features an army marching to battle. The battle is hard fought, but the heroic side wins. Afterwards, the main hero celebrates the victory by consorting with a paramour. That’s the plot.

Now, let’s assess male and female-oriented versions of this story. In the male-oriented version…

  • We’ll begin with an in-universe prologue written in third person omniscient High Tolkienesque style. Thereafter, the book will be written in the close third person point of view of a character who has almost no emotions or inner monologue.
  • There’ll be detailed descriptions of the mustering and march of the army with orders of battle that prover the author is the world’s leading expert in 13th century Genovese military history.
  • We’ll see several angry war councils in which angry men anger each other angrily because everyone else is either reckless or cowardly.
  • The battle will begin with a tragic skirmish that costs the life of a beloved side character.
  • The battle itself will cover 3-4 chapters, in which the main hero will lose his armor, break his weapon, be covered in gore, and accomplish some battle-winning feat. Real-world military tactics will be used.
  • A B plot point of view will illustrate what it’s like for the band of delta brothers on the front lines, in which they will express that while war is hell, it’s better than working the fantasy equivalent of a desk job at Ikea. Many will die bravely without regret, except for the married one, who will get a poignant death scene.
  • Afterwards, the main hero will find his paramour and there’ll be a sly suggestion of intimacy to finish: “Conandude eyed the beauty. ‘Aye, lass, now it’s time to come to my tent.’ ” In any case, no actual sex will take place, ever, and it is possible that this will be true of the author in real life as well.
  • The End.

In the female-oriented version…

  • We’ll begin in close third-person or first person with emotional descriptions of the nervous fear of soldiers mustering for battle, with commentary that the fear is making the main hero horny.
  • The orders of battle will be vaguely described to the hero, probably by a low-tier gamma male who she ignores, while the main hero fixates on whether her paramour will survive the battle because he’s not the chosen one like her, though he is a billionaire vampire dragon knight.
  • The lead-up to the battle will take 60-70% of the book, during which time we will learn about the main hero’s childhood struggle to master her inner demons and her need to maintain her independence from the amazing billionaire vampire dragon knight that threatens to overwhelm her with his raw sex appeal.
  • During the battle, the main hero will save everyone by unleashing special powers that only she has. Her annoying bitchy rival will die unredeemed. No real-world military tactics will be used, or if they are, it will be by the losing side, to its humiliation. The whole battle will only take 1 chapter.
  • Afterwards there will be a chapter describing the psychological horror of having had to fight a war. The main hero may wander the battlefield distraught until she finds comfort in the arms of the billionaire vampire dragon knight, who will finally open up to her emotionally.
  • The next 2-3 chapters will describe in intimate detail her consortium with her paramour with details on what it’s like as he shapeshifts into dragon form. Male readers will stop at this point in horror at what cannot be unlearned.
  • Finally, the book will end with the main hero, billionaire vampire dragon knight at her side, giving a speech commemorating the battle and pledging to end all war forever.
  • The End.

That pretty well sums it up. Both, of course, are distinguished from the new Romantasy novels that now pass for female-authored fantasy, in which the heroine spends the entire war agonizing over her choice between the billionaire vampire dragon knight and the magic werewolf demon king. Not gonna lie, it’s a tough call. They’re both pretty hot.

DISCUSS ON SG


Spring Break Extended

  • The two bonus tracks promised to Gold Skull and White Leather Skull backers have been sent out. Both A MERCILESS NIGHT and IF YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE were professionally mastered by the same professional engineer who mastered the 10 album tracks. They’ll go up on UATV after the rest of the album is uploaded there. They may be released as singles or b-sides later. We’re now working on the organic bonus track, which is an entirely new song that is arguably the best yet.
  • Vibe Patrol released the Spring Break Extended mix of A DRINK WITH A COCONUT today. It’s on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. You can always keep up with new releases by using the links on the left sidebar.

DISCUSS ON SG


You and Him Fight Won’t Fly

But Macron and Starmer are probably going to get a lot of young French and British soldiers killed trying to draw the US military into the war in Ukraine:

  • U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that European defense and military leaders will meet in London on Thursday, as planning for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine enter an “operational phase” with over a dozen countries having agreed to participate in such a mission.
  • European countries that agree to send a military contingent to Ukraine, allegedly for an observation mission, can do so without Russia’s consent, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with Le Parisien. “Ukraine is a sovereign country. If it asks for allied troops to be present on its territory, it is not up to Russia to decide whether to agree or not,” he said. According to the newspaper, the Franco-British plan to send so-called peacekeepers to Ukraine is in the final stages of being agreed upon.

It’s the same old classic “fake it til you make it” act: they are merely trying to turn the ‘prophecy’ into a self-fulfilling one by treating it as if it were real. But there is no real consensus, and their plan has little chance of conjuring it from thin air, particularly given that the US has already counted itself out of any troop involvement.

Both the French and British know how politically risky the move is—if their troops begin coming home in body bags from Russian strikes, and there’s no Mommy US to back them up, their fragile political regimes would crumble from public outrage, especially since they’re already hanging on by a tenuous thread.

The West has a Sunk Cost problem: they’ve invested everything not only into the Ukraine war itself, but now into the image of their own strength and ability to manifest peace at will. In other words, they told the world Russia was weak, and that they had the global clout to bring Putin to the table anytime they saw fit.

Instead, the rampaging bear has not slowed, and Western puppet leaders are panickedly fighting the narrative current, pushing inertia for its own sake to signal faux-strength and leadership on global issues.

First, you don’t get to send in “peacekeepers” when you are one of the belligerent parties, which both France and Great Britain absolutely are. Second, it’s not 1940 anymore. Not only do most Americans not care about Europe, a substantial minority of US citizens aren’t even European and never had any historical connection to, or affection for, the European countries. They have absolutely no interest in “saving Europe” again, especially not a European Union that was quite literally created in order to harm American business interests and create an economic counterweight to the US market.

And third, the God-Emperor 2.0 has already made it very clear that the US will not send troops to fight Russia, not even if the French and the British are dumb enough to stick their collective heads in the jaws of the Russian bear.

DISCUSS ON SG