Category: Uncategorized

Boys suffer more dating violence

This news about girls being more inclined to domestic violence than boys isn’t even remotely surprising. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve been struck by far more girls and women than by boys and men:

Who is more likely to be victimized by teen dating violence? If you’re quick to think it’s girls, new data shows you’re wrong. In a surprising twist, recently published research indicates boys are more likely to report being victims of dating violence committed by partners who hit, slap or push them.

Researchers with the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University conducted a longitudinal study of dating violence. While reports of physical abuse went down over time, they say there is a troubling gender-related trend.

Five percent of teens reported physical abuse from their dating partners in 2013, down from 6 percent in 2003. But in the last year, 5.8 percent of boys reported dating violence compared to 4.2 percent of girls.

Cue the “but she’s smaller and less likely to hurt him” excuse. Sure, but size does not rationalize a resort to violence. It’s not only wrong, it’s stupid.

Best President

The God-Emperor protects the children more than any president before him.

The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimated that including U.S. citizens and immigrants 57,700 people are victims of human trafficking, and the Justice Department estimates that roughly 15,000 children are trafficked into the country every year.

Despite the scale of the problem, and the sinister reality that it’s mainly children affected, the federal government has done little to crack down on the problem. After President Donald Trump took office and began enacting pro-law enforcement policies to “make America safe again,” arrests of human traffickers began to take off like a rocket.

Message received

VFM #67 asked: “Well Vox you created an indigogo to ask if we wanted Arkhaven to do Q and we have responded, loudly and with a bullhorn. I trust the message was received?”

$102,067 USD raised by 1436 backers
204{bae6047234841f4bc9ec21d646f3588165bd4034987c6b00f442c9a7fb48573f} of $50,000 fixed goal

Message received. Loud and clear. The Legend Chuck Dixon is already on the script, Arklight Studios is already on the next two pages, and Helix Haze has already begun drawing the next 142 pages and covers to which he is committed.

I spoke with the team last night and the entire team wishes to thank all 1,436 backers for the strength of your support. That support not only makes these things possible in the first place, but sends a very clear message to the entire industry that Arkhaven Comics is here, that Arkhaven has a strong foundation of support, and that Arkhaven is going to be a growing force in the comics industry.

We will not let you down.

Now, a question. Unlike Freestartr, Indiegogo has something called InDemand that I believe allows people to buy products from the campaign even though the campaign is over. Should we turn it on? We’ve got a hard limit of 2500 on the collector’s editions and 25 on the posters, which is the only reason I can imagine to leave it off, so that should not be an issue. Anyhow, if you’re a backer, please share your thoughts.

UPDATE: the consensus opinion was to turn it on. I’ve removed the variant-cover paperback from the rewards so that will only go to the original backers. Another possible idea: original hardcover backers could receive the variant cover while post-campaign hardcover backers receive the regular cover.

An interesting note from an AH:Q backer who is new to Arkhaven.

I’ve followed Comicsgate extensively for the past 2 years. The best thing Ethan has done for me during all this is remind me that you exist. I was active during GamerGate and remember you from back then, but I was a semi-blue pilled normie back then. I’ve evolved quite a bit since then, for the better. Its funny that the day I unsubbed from Ethan, I sent him a super-chat calling him out and he called me a “Vox Day minion”. Hilarious because I only became a subscriber of yours the day of the imprint fiasco. While the rest of CG sperged out in your chat, I actually listened to you and heard the wisdom in your words. Proud to have backed Alt Hero Q and recently bought several Arkhaven/Dark Legion titles from Amazon. I’m actually looking forward to your books more than the ComicsGate books (with the exception of Red Rooster, which I eagerly anticipate on par with Alt-Hero.) However I will reserve final judgement for both after I have read them. Keep fighting the good fight! 

As the Dread Ilk know, we neither want nor expect mindless support from our backers. We expect you to continue to push us to pursue excellence. We want you to keep us from getting lazy and complacent. After all, when we need mindless obedience and unrestrained mayhem, that’s exactly what the VFM are for.

AH:Q – the final stretch

There are only 10 8 6 hours left to back Alt★Hero: Q. Trust the Plan! We’re less than 8k away from six digits! Meanwhile, the plot thickens, as Roland Dane serves himself breakfast at the hotel buffet after a very busy night.

5 hours left and the campaign just passed $97k! Six digits is in sight….
UPDATE: Just did an hour-long Darkstream about Kavanagh and the AH:Q campaign.
UPDATE: And we’re done. $102,067 and 1436 backers. Thanks very much, everyone!

A new Kavanagh bombshell

This one is hard to believe, but the accuser is indubitably credible:

I’ve always thought, as most people do, that John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater on April 4, 1865.  But after spending six days talking with lawyers from the Democratic Party to help me refresh my memory, I’ve come to realize that it wasn’t John Wilkes Booth at all, but rather Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

I had no memory of this happening as recently as last week, but today, it is as clear as day.  I remember Kavanaugh coming up from behind the president of the United States and aiming a pistol at him.  Only I’m not sure it was at Ford’s Theater.  It might have been at Ford’s Theater, but it might also have been on the Mall, or in the White House, or on Capitol Hill.  I’m a little hazy on the day, too.  It might have been April 4, 1865, but it also could have been a few days before or after, maybe even as early as 1864.

The problem is that I had a few minor memory gaps.  I don’t remember what happened right before or right after the shooting.  I don’t remember exactly who was there and who wasn’t.  All I remember clearly is that Brett Kavanaugh did it.

Why hasn’t the Secret Service arrested Brett Kavanagh for the murder of Abraham Lincoln already? We need a Special Counsel to investigate the Trump administration’s actions concerning this potentially unlawful coverup!


UPDATE: If you want to comment on Ford’s appearance in front of the Senate, this would be the place.

Gang rapist and axe murderer

Can America really afford to have such a monster on the Supreme Court?

Attorney for Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti, earlier this week, claimed to have a client with a third allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He made the announcement, and tweeted lurid accusations, without offering the identity of the client or any evidence.

Today, Avenatti tweeted a name and photo of that client, along with a sworn statement from the alleged victim laying out her serious allegations.

In the statement, Julie Swetnick, a current government employee, alleges Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge attended a party where she was drugged and gang raped by a series of boys. While she does not accuse Kavanaugh of assaulting her, she claims she witnessed him participate in the gang rapes.

I understand that she also accused him of murdering her with an axe after her gang rape, until Avenatti convince her that level of detail might cause even Democratic Senators to find her testimony less than entirely credible.

At this point, I’m wondering what the Democrats are even hoping to accomplish.

Better smile harder, ComicsGateNaziHaters

SyFyWire isn’t quite sure what ComicsGate is, when it started, or why it started, but they know a) it is Very Bad, and b) Ethan van Sciver and Richard Meyer are ComicsGateNaziHater He-Men Women Harassers.

In the current climate of internet discourse, the latest story of online harassment is always just around the corner. That’s especially true in the comic book industry. If you’ve been following most comic creators during the end of August, then you’ve likely seen the latest developments in the ongoing saga of what’s become known as “Comicsgate.”

Comicsgate, for those not in the know, is the name of a group of comics readers who believe their beloved medium has been corrupted by political correctness. It is their stated belief that Social Justice Warriors (SJWs, or people with vested interest in women, POC, and members of the LGBTQ community) have infiltrated the comics industry and are simultaneously profiting off of it and destroying it from the inside. In order to combat this invasion, they have taken to their keyboards to harass, dox, and threaten any creator they believe to be a part of the problem.

The actual timeline of Comicsgate — tracking down where and when it started, who exactly started it, and what the inciting incident may have been — is complicated, to say the least. It may have begun as many as three or four years ago, coinciding with the rise of its mutated brethren Gamergate and the Sad Puppy take over of the Hugos. It may instead have begun when Chelsea Cain completed her run on Marvel’s Mockingbird, or when Heather Antos, formerly an editor at Marvel, posted a photo of herself and other staffers enjoying an evening of milkshakes. We did our best to track the start of this so-called “movement” earlier this year, but wherever you believe it started, Comicsgate has now entered a new chapter. Much to the chagrin of those involved, many of their heroes are now denouncing them altogether.

In the final week of August, countless comics pros began posting a copied and pasted message to their social media accounts. The message was one of solidarity with marginalized creators who had been experiencing extended harassment, many for more than a year. The message read, “I believe comics are for everyone. There is no excuse for harassment. There is no place for homophobia, transphobia, racism or misogyny in comics criticism.”

Whatever. The Evil Legion of Evil is not ComicsGate, we’re not on Twitter or Facebook, and all this back-and-forth online harassment is simply Not Our Problem. We have more important things to do. For one, publishing three of the top 50 bestselling superhero comics and graphic novels. That’s not Kindle either, that’s everything. It’s fascinating to see that some of the print editions are actually outselling the Kindle editions on Amazon, particularly when we know how well they are doing on Arkhaven Direct.

For two, we’re now entering the final stretch of the Alt-Hero: Q campaign. Trust the Plan. Join the Win. Get on Board. Crush the SJWs. If you’re still on the fence about this one, today is the time to jump. There are just 17 hours left.

ComicsGate is making the same mistake as the Sad Puppies and trying to make nice with the SJWs who hate them. But cowering, cringing, and smiling hopefully in an attempt to convey your harmlessness is not going to stop an SJW media swarming any more than wagging its tail will permit a puppy to fend off an attack by a school of ravenous flying piranha.

UPDATE: A rare Brightstream addressing the closing hours of the campaign. Also, I’ll be on with Alex Jones at 1 PM Central.

On wealth and “economic growth”

Apropos of nothing, really. Just writing down a momentary observation. Don’t ask me what it means. I don’t know yet.

  1. Wealth: (economic) all things that have a monetary or exchange value.
  2. Gross Domestic Product: a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period.
  3. Ergo, GDP is at most a subset of a state’s wealth.
US Total Credit Market Debt Outstanding / GDP, 1950-2017
1950: 461 / 320
1960: 764 / 543
1970: 1580 / 1051
1980: 4501 / 2790
1990: 13565 / 5873
2000: 29374 / 10003
2010: 53481 / 14721
2017: 68591 / 19832
US Debt/GDP ratio
1950: 1.441
1960: 1.406
1970: 1.504
1980: 1.613
1990: 2.309
2000: 2.933
2010: 3.633
2017: 3.459

The God-Emperor at the UN

Spacebunny sent me this useful and amusing summary of the God-Emperor’s speech, composed by someone on Facebook.

I guess it’s that time again. He always makes these speeches so long. Anyway, here’s a summary of each paragraph of Trump’s 2018 UN speech

1. Listen up, bitches
2. I pretty much already covered all this shit last year, but I guess it bears repeating
3. Check it out, I’ve been on a roll
4. My administration is better than all the other presidential administrations the US has ever had. I’ve made these last two years my bitch
5. Why’s everybody laughing at me?
6. Not to brag or anything but I basically saved the entire economy. Even minorities have jobs now.
7. Taxation is theft and we’re building The Wall
8. You thought our military was fucking hardcore before? Sheeet, wait until you see them now that we’re actually paying them
9. Thanks to me, AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!
10. America First
11. Globalism is shit
12. Cultures are distinct, so act your culture
13. America likes to declare independence. We’re gonna declare independence from the rest of you globalist sons of bitches
14. Do you, boo
15. Let us do us
16. So I just got back from a world tour and everybody who matters likes me
17. I even got the Norks to chill the fuck out
18. No shit, there I was: Staring Rocket Man in the face
19. It’s alright though, I smoothed it out
20. Dude’s getting rid of his nukes and giving us back our dead bodies we’ve been wanting back
21. Not too shabby, Li’l Kim. (Don’t fuck this up)
22. Everybody who helped out with that is cool in my book. It was pretty much the greatest peace talk ever talked. Just sayin’
23. Shout out to Real Korea, Japan, and China


24. Oh, and I’m fixing the Middle East, too
25. I put most of the countries there to work fucking over Iran and ISIS
26. They’re spending money to help with Syria and Yemen, too. Ya hear that Iran? We can outspend your fucking Obama money
27. But, I don’t really want to get involved
28. Except when I do, so I’ve been delegating to the less fucked-up sand countries
29. I FUCKING KILLED ISIS!
30. Syria’s a damn shitshow. But so help me, if I see one more chemical weapon attack…
31. Glad to see Jordan is taking in refugees from Syria. Better you than me, Abdullah
32. But seriously, it’s a lot better than flying them all the way over here. RIGHT, EUROPE?
33. Iran’s trying to get away with its involvement? YOU THOUGHT!
34. Fuck you, Iran! I know what you’ve been up to, you garbage-ass regime! All you do is ruin everything else for everyone else, you miserable sons of bitches!
35. Seriously, even your own citizens are sick of your shit, Iran! Where’d all that Obama money go, eh Iran? Terrorism? Yeah, I’m sure your people are just THRILLED about that! 0/10 all around, Iran
36. The Iran Deal was shit, and everybody knows it
37. We basically funded their military dictatorship, nuclear weapons programs, and terrorism. Thanks, Obama
38. -But then I came to tooown- and let Iran know who’s boss. DEAL’S OFF, BITCHES!
39. Like, seriously, who the fuck thought letting Iran have nukes was a good idea?
40. Everybody point and laugh at Iran’s government. Their people are cool, though. #IranProtests
41. Jerusalem? More like Jew-rusalem, amirite?
42. Let’s clear some shit up about the Israel conflict, alright? Israel has a right to exist.
43. Fuck what you used to do, we’re being pragmatic, here.
44. You ain’t gonna take advantage of the US anymore, you freeloaders.
45. I’m sick of all this “made in China” crap
46. We buy all their shit and they don’t buy all of our stuff and they do all that skeezy, nerdy, accountant stuff to take advantage of us
47. No more, I say!
48. So I made some great deals with Mexico and Real Korea. Expect yuge discounts on taco bowls and Samsung phones
49. The WTO is a fucking joke.
50. China took all our manufacturing jobs
51. THAT SHIT ENDS NOW, CHINA!
52. Would you like some tariffs with your rice?
53. America First
54. The UN Human Rights Council is a fucking joke, too
55. Y’all wouldn’t listen to Nikki Haley when she told you that
56. So deuces, we out
57. Same with your International Criminal Court. It’s all bullshit
58. You have no power, here, G̶a̶n̶d̶a̶l̶f̶ ICC
59. Everyone should leave the EU. Run your own damn countries
60. America’s killin’ it in the energy industry
61. We have so much energy to sell
62. Those other oil-producing countries will rip you off and that makes me angry
63. Seriously, it’s a scam. They’re like the Comcast of countries. Stop falling for it.
64. Poland is way smarter than Germany
65. Men of the West! Protect yourselves from foreign influence!
66. The Monroe Doctrine is back and better than ever!
67. Now about those Mexican immigrants, they’re being trafficked. Lame
68. It’s all the street gangs and cartels. Getting rid of them, and building The Wall, are the only ways to fix things
69. Your country, your immigration rules. Our country, our immigration rules. Fuck that “global citizen” malarkey
70. Make Your Countries Great Again
71. SOCIALISM. DOESN’T. WORK.
72. Venezuela used to be great, but then along came socialism. Now it sucks.
73. Socialism and Communism have never worked, never will work, and only ever result in tragedy. It’s the Goddamn worst
74. We’re making Venezuela great again by hitting Maduro and his entourage in the pocket books. We were able to identify their pocketbooks because they’re THE ONLY ONES IN THE COUNTRY WHO HAVE THEM
75. The UN tries, we’ll give you that
76. But the US is still better at charity. Seriously, we give and give and nobody ever returns the favor. So we’re gonna be a lot more stingy with our wallets until the entire world stops taking us for a ride
77. So we’re only going to give money to the cool kids. And we’re not going to protect you guys, either. Time for you to buy your own militaries
78. The UN could be cool if it just changed everything about it
79. And we’re only going to pay for the stuff we like, now, too
80. Start pulling your own weight, you damned freeloaders
81. The UN is good in concept, terrible in execution
82. Every country has something to contribute
83. India’s doing great
84. Saudi Arabia’s shaping up
85. Israel’s still here, bitch!
86. Poland’s had enough of your shit, EU
87. All cool things, if I do say so myself
88. Distinct borders and cultures make the world a better place
89. Things just work out better with cultural homogeneity
90. America’s gotta America
91. America, FUCK YEAH!
92. Love your country like Americans love America
93. Patriotism: It’s what’s for dinner
94. Shhhh. Don’t fight it. Just let it happen
95. In order to make it work though, YOU NEED A BORDER AND SOVEREIGNTY
96. You’ll do better, the world will do better. Everybody wins
97. MOTHAFUCKIN’ FREEDOOOOM!!
98. Well, time to hit the ol’ dusty trail
99. You’ve been a great crowd. Thank you