Author: VD

“certain forces”

The Iranians are not fooled by the “escalating crisis” either:

As Tehran and London trade accusations over the seized tankers, Iran’s ambassador in London warns that certain forces in the UK aim to use the crisis to boost tensions even further. Ramping up pressure would be dangerous and “unwise,” Hamid Hamid Baeidinejad warned in a tweet on his personal account on Sunday.

That’s why it’s key now for the UK government to “contain those domestic political forces who want to escalate existing tension between Iran and the UK well beyond the issue of ships.”

That said, Tehran is “firm and ready for different scenarios,” Baeidinejad said.

Translation: Iran knows it’s the neoclowns trying to draw the USA into war against Iran using the UK. President Trump knows it’s the neoclowns trying to draw him into war against Iran using the UK. The admirals and generals of the US military know it’s the neoclowns. And they all know this is now happening due to the neoclowns’ inability to start a war with Russia in the 2015-2018 period.

No one is fooled in the slightest. Send them back too, Mr. President.

As for the recent troops movements into Saudi Arabia, that probably has far more to do with the fact that the Saudis are losing their war with the Houthis in Yemen than anything to do with Iran.

The US military contemplates child soldiers

And here I thought utilizing child soldiers was a sign of an uncivilized society:

The best way to fix the U.S. armed forces’ recruiting challenges may involve dipping further into the nation’s high schools.

As the Army, Navy and other services contend with a thriving economy and a directive to expand their ranks, there is a growing debate over whether the military should consider lowering the minimum enlistment age from 17 to 16. More than a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, already have adopted the policy.

Critics say the idea is deeply flawed and presents a host of societal problems, but supporters argue that the Pentagon needs to think outside the box if it wants to continually overcome one of the toughest recruiting environments in decades.

One would have thought now that women are permitted to serve in combat roles, the doubling of the potential pool of recruits would prevent any personpower shortages. If, of course, one were a clueless equalitarian who doesn’t see sex or color.

Perhaps it would be more efficient to simply declare a warrior caste and require everyone born into those families to serve in the military.

Those diversity-loving millennials

Appear to be just as prone to white flight as their predecessors:

Millennials may not be the “Great Generation,” but they’re the largest group of Americans in the labor force, with the power to reshape industries. So where do they like to live?

They’re attracted to cities with high wages, high home prices and an overall high cost of living that are already popular with those in their age bracket, according to a new study of U.S. census data conducted by insurance agency Haven Life.

The Pacific Northwest, with its natural beauty and legal marijuana, pulled in the top two spots. Millennials account for about a fifth of both the greater Portland and Seattle metropolitan areas, Haven Life found. The region is home to the top four healthiest cities in the U.S., with Seattle and Portland coming in second and fourth, respectively, according to a recent WalletHub study.

Apparently “natural beauty and legal marijuana” are the new “good school district”. No matter how much equality they profess to believe, no matter how much diversity they claim to love, whites always prefer to live amongst those who look like them and live like them.

But the diversity never stops coming. And it never will, until it is prevented from doing so.

DC Comics going down

Now two former DC illustrators are predicting the near-term collapse of DC Comics, as Ethan van Sciver recently supported Rob Liefeld’s controversial contention that “DC Comics is going to drive off a cliff” on a recent CAPS stream:

I’m a 26-year veteran of this crumbling comic book industry. World’s most charming and disarming elegant and eloquent humble because occasionally I fumble man a great big star Wars fan, trusted member of the media, so you know, part of the commentary that I’ve been offering in on this channel for the past few months is that I fully expect at this point the comic book industry to collapse very soon. I mean you know in a matter of just a handful years it’ll be gone, and it’s gonna go with a whimper.

What will happen is that Warner Brothers initially will announce that they are shutting down their publishing arm of DC Comics. They will put everything on offer, they will offer all of their back catalogue, digitally they’ll be producing, kind of, I don’t know, you’ll be able to buy a ticket to read all this stuff digitally. I think they already kind of do that, but there will be no more new DC Comics, not really. And then shortly after that, Marvel will linger, but not for very much longer. The comic book stores will further erode, they will go under. Marvel Comics will experiment with other means of distribution, maybe Walmart and Target and all these other things, they’re gonna try to bring back the newsstand, but it’s not going to work.

Marvel Comics eventually will also fold and that’s it. Once DC Comics shutters its doors, that’s the end of the comic book industry, and it’s going to shut down with a whimper. Just like when Mad Magazine closed down, a few people will shed tears, but on a much bigger scale than Mad Magazine because a lot of people, a lot of creative people, are going to find themselves unemployed, and frankly,  unemployable. It’s really bad that people just don’t want to buy comics anymore, they don’t want the low-quality and high prices. And the fact that these idiots are insulting them on social media and in the pages of the books themselves – when you pick up a copy of Captain America and you have the Red Skull mouthing very sensible Republican talking points, you know that the comic book industry is no longer for you – and you also make up 50{739b910556a9cc9c1a54a816a1fda004c1b87c8f235f686ea012b71861344b41} at least 50 percent of the comic buying audience, it’s over. From there it’s just over.

I think both Liefeld and EVS are correct. The unit sales decline I’ve been tracking has continued apace even though total reported dollar sales remain relatively flat. When unit sales fall and dollar sales remain flat, that is a reliable sign of an industry on the verge of collapse, as it means the companies are increasing the prices on their products to try to compensate for their lower sales. It also means that production costs are being cut, which indicates that the quality is in decline as well.

That decline is precisely why we chose to keep Arkhaven and Dark Legion comics out of the Diamond distribution system and the comic book stores. We are actively working on improving the quality of our comics, as those who have received the new standard-size comics have noted how much better they are than the similarly-sized DC and Marvel floppies. When the Alt-Hero Vols. 1-6 omnibus ships to backers in a week or two, people will see some of the fruits of that effort. What’s interesting is that we haven’t even begun exploring the very channels that Marvel is using to keep itself afloat, such as library sales. And beginning with our first foray into film, we’re going to be contesting that area of the culture wars as well.

As I’ve mentioned, comics can be considered movie seeds. And since Disney and Warner a) already possess more seeds than they can possibly produce, b) recognize that the comics now being produced by Marvel and DC are markedly inferior to their predecessors, and, c) prefer to rewrite the stories and characters they are using in their films anyhow, neither conglomerate have much interest in subsidizing what from their perspective is an insignificant, shrinking, and unprofitable industry. The business logic therefore strongly suggests both Disney and Warner will shut down their new-comics-producing operations in the near future.

Speaking of comics, QUANTUM MORTIS: A Man Disrupted #4 is now available in a gold-logo print edition in our new standard size.

A tanker for a tanker

I don’t see what Great Britain has to complain about, considering that they quite literally started it.

TWO British oil tankers with dozens of crew on board were seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards less than an hour apart today in the Gulf.

The Government’s Cobra committee is holding an emergency meeting in Whitehall tonight after the Stena Impero and Mesdar were halted by troops in speedboats and helicopters and diverted to Iran.

The raids came exactly two weeks after Royal Marines boarded a supertanker off Gibraltar suspected of carrying Iranian crude oil to Syria – prompting Tehran to threaten “retaliation”.

British-flagged Stena Impero was sailing to the Saudi port of Jubail today but ship tracking data shows it veered off course with a sharp turn north at around 4.17pm UK time. Iran’s state news agency IRNA said it had been “impounded” and claimed the tanker had turned off its tracker, ignored warnings from the Revolutionary Guards and was sailing in the wrong direction in a shipping lane.

The Impero was surrounded by four vessels and a helicopter. State-controlled TV claimed the ship was seized because it was “violating international maritime rules”. Less than an hour later at around 5pm the Mesdar – Liberian-flagged but operated by the UK firm Norbulk Shipping UK – also turned sharply north towards Iran’s coast having been surrounded by ten speedboats after passing westward through the Strait on its way to Ras Tanura.

It looks like the neoclowns couldn’t get President Trump to bite, so they’ve got Theresa May doing their bidding in the hopes of enmeshing the US military that way. I suspect they’re desperate to start a war in the Gulf in the hopes of creating a distraction from the coming Epstein-related arrests. And I very much doubt that either the President or the U.S. Navy is going to fall for the neoclown antics.

One article on the Daily Mail finally gets around to admitting that the Iranian response was both provoked and measured by the initial British action.

Fears were raised that the Iranian authorities were trying to seize a UK ship in retaliation for the detention of the Grace 1 tanker. The Iranian ship was detained off the coast of Gibraltar on July 4 after it was suspected of violating EU sanctions by carrying a cargo of crude oil destined for Syria. The ship’s captain, chief officer and two second officers were arrested and bailed and an investigation is ongoing.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the tanker’s seizure an act of ‘piracy’ on Tuesday and warned the UK to expect a response.

Of course they knew Iran would do something like this. However, I expect they were looking for a more violent escalation. It’s a little hard to bang the war drums when the other side is obviously just responding in kind to your own actions.

Epstein – NXIVM – Mega

The Epstein connections range from the Clinton Foundation and the Deep State to the sex cults of NXIVM and FLDS to Hollywood to the world of international high finance, according to Neon Revolt:

“The megabucks call themselves ‘Mega group.’ This name appeared in the media a couple of years ago, as a name for the secret Israeli mole in the upper reaches of the U.S. establishment. It came up in an overheard phone conversation, later denied by the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. The newshounds and spook watchers got it wrong. ‘Mega’ was not an agent, Mega was the boss.”

With some bitterness, Shamir wrote, “Megabucks influence us, even more than they influence the U.S. Our politicians are as weak and corrupt as America’s and they are easier to swing. Even relative small-timers can cause eruption and bloodshed, like the California bingo-parlor owner [Irving] Moskowitz, who pushed our ex-prime minister Netanyahu to open the tunnel under the Haram al Sharif…. The Megabucks can buy Israel with their spare change. If they wish, we would have peace in Palestine today. But they are not interested in Israel per se…. Megabucks care for themselves, and they need Israel in order to keep the American Jews together, supporting them. That is why they do not mind bloodshed in Palestine, and even a bloody regional war does not scare them.”

Shamir concluded: “In my opinion, Megabucks, rather than forces of Caballa, move the events in the Middle East. It is not magic, just money—but a lot of money. They do not rule America or Israel, but they exercise a lot of influence. Fifty multibillionaires united in one framework present a very real force in the world.”

Steinberg concludes:

Of course, Shamir does not have the picture precisely right. The Bronfman-centered Mega Group is but one component of an insane and desperate element within the transatlantic financial establishment that is now pressing for a “Clash of Civilizations,” as a means of responding to the collapse of their global financial empire, and the threat of a new set of Eurasia-centered cooperative arrangements among nations supplanting their power. But, as far as the Mega puzzle is concerned, Shamir has solved the mystery.

No wonder Mossad boss Yatom scolded his Washington-based underling with the warning, “This is not something we use Mega for.”

And what are the odds that a group of Jewish billionaires with ties to Israeli intelligence would now all be caught up in sex abuse scandals?

We’re familiar with the scandals surrounding Wexner (and his protege, Epstein), Spielberg, and the Bronfmans (Edgar was involved alongside Charles, and it’s Edgar’s daughters who got involved with NXIVM), but what about Steinhardt?

Well, wouldn’t you know it, but Steinhardt just happens to be embroiled in a sex scandal of his own right now!

What a remarkable coincidence! All FOUR of these founding families have sexual scandal surrounding them, and they all seem attached to the Israeli deep state, in some way or another!

And remember all those unsealed indictments? R. Kelly’s was one of them….

China guards the US border

Yeah, so that’s working out about as well as you’d assume it would:

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection watch commander at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has admitted to running an illegal gun operation, authorities said. Wei Xu, 56, of Santa Fe Springs was arrested Feb. 5 after an investigation involving undercover officers to whom Xu sold three guns out of the trunk of his car, including an “off-roster” pistol not certified for sale in California, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

He has been on unpaid administrative leave since his arrest and will be fired, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

In court Wednesday, Xu pleaded guilty to illegally selling guns on the internet, some of which he obtained by using his power as a law enforcement official, and to creating a fake company to avoid paying taxes, prosecutors said. He also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing unregistered firearms and making false statements to a federal agency about his involvement with a Chinese company to get a secret-level security clearance.

You can warble on about human equality all you like, if you wish. But sooner or later, reality, history, and the observable patterns of human behavior are going to slap you in the face.

UNFORGETTABLE on Unauthorized

Unauthorized.TV is very pleased to announce its second documentary available for viewing on the channel, Unforgettable: The Korean War. This powerful and sobering documentary is comprised of veterans of the Korean War telling of their experiences fighting what has been described as “the forgotten war” on the Korean Peninsula. The documentary is available for all Unauthorized subscribers; non-subscribers can also purchase the documentary or viewing access to it there. If, after watching it, you would like to support the filmmakers as well as the channel, please note that all sales proceeds will be split between them and Unauthorized.

On a related note, subscribers may be interested to know that Unauthorized is filming its first original documentary this weekend. We anticipate releasing it in September.

Convergence is the corporate cancer

An Australian company intentionally devalues performance:

Atlassian says it will no longer tolerate “brilliant jerks” who deliver results for the company but make life hell for their co-workers as part of a complete overhaul of how the tech firm conducts performance reviews.

The $47 billion Australian software company, which was founded in Sydney in 2002 and floated on the US stock market in 2015, says two-thirds of every performance review will now have nothing to do with job skills.

Instead, equal weighting will be given to how each of its 3000 employees impacts others on their team, and to how they live the company values. Atlassian says the change will “more fairly measure people on how they bring their whole self to work”.

While it’s true that teamwork is an important element of success in any organization, establishing feelings as the basis for evaluating performance is assuring rule by the most sensitive. Which in this case means that gamma males and women will soon rule the company and the ability to actually get anything done will become irrelevant.

One need only to look at Apple in the post-Jobs era to see what difference the loss of just one “brilliant jerk” can make to even the most successful corporation. Then contemplate the consequences of eliminating all of them from an organization.

Not going anywhere

Sex trafficker to the stars Jeffrey Epstein is denied bail:

Multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was denied bail Thursday pending trial on child sex-trafficking charges.

“Starting with my conclusions, the government’s application for continued remand is hereby granted and the defense’s application for pretrial release is respectfully hereby denied,” Manhattan federal Judge Richard Berman said at the start of a hotly anticipated hearing.

“The government has established danger to others and to the community by clear and convincing evidence, and the government has established a risk of flight by a preponderance of evidence.”

It’s a sign that they might actually be serious. We won’t know, of course, until more arrests of the rich and famous start taking place. Which may be coming sooner than anyone thinks, if Vanity Fair has it right:

“There were other business associates of Mr. Epstein’s who engaged in improper sexual misconduct at one or more of his homes. We do know that,” said Brad Edwards, a lawyer for Courtney Wild, one of the Epstein accusers who gave emotional testimony at Epstein’s bail hearing. “In due time the names are going to start coming out.” (Attorneys for Epstein did not respond to a request for comment.)

Likely within days, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will release almost 2,000 pages of documents that could reveal sexual abuse by “numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders,” according to the three-judge panel’s ruling. The documents were filed during a civil defamation lawsuit brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a former Mar-a-Lago locker-room attendant, against Epstein’s former girlfriend and alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell. “Nobody who was around Epstein a lot is going to have an easy time now. It’s all going to come out,” said Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies. Another person involved with litigation against Epstein told me: “It’s going to be staggering, the amount of names. It’s going to be contagion numbers.”

Shine the light on them. All of them.