Category: Uncategorized

The war for free association

Is eventually going to have to go to either a) Congress or b) the Supreme Court, given the wide range of contradictory court decisions.

A Kentucky appellate court on Friday ruled that the Christian owner of a printing shop in Lexington had the right to refuse to make T-shirts promoting a local gay pride festival. The dispute represents the latest court fight testing the limits of antidiscrimination protections for gays and lesbians following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 landmark ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide. The cases have led to a number of state court rulings against Christian-owned businesses that refused to bake cakes, design floral arrangements or take portrait photographs for same-sex weddings.

This would be an easy win for the God-Emperor. An executive order protecting free association for business owners would be extremely popular with every Christian who doesn’t want to bake a gay cake, every Jew who doesn’t want to print a Nazi t-shirt, and every black who doesn’t want to arrange flowers for the KK.

The fact is that everyone has the intrinsic human right to refuse to provide their services to anyone for any reason whatsoever. The only question is whether governments and laws respect that right or illegitimately infringe upon it.

Discrimination is both a logical necessity and an intrinsic human right.

Thanks, NSA

Who would have ever thought that a government bureaucracy would fail to adequately take safeguards against its tech-weaponry proliferating?

More than 100 countries across the world have been affected by the ‘unprecedented’ cyber attack using a computer virus ‘superweapon’ dubbed the ‘atom bomb of malware’. It is believed more than 130,000 IT systems are affected around the world, including hospitals in the UK, telecoms and gas firms in Spain, schools in China, railways in Germany and the FedEx delivery company.

The European Union’s police agency, Europol, says it is working with countries hit by the ransomware scam to rein in the threat, help victims and track down the criminals. In a statement, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, known as EC3, said the attack ‘is at an unprecedented level and will require a complex international investigation to identify the culprits.’

Security experts say the malicious software behind the onslaught appeared to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows that was identified by the US National Security Agency for its own intelligence-gathering purposes.

The NSA documents were stolen and then released to the world last month by a mysterious group known as the Shadow Brokers. The hackers, who have not come forward to claim responsibility, likely made it a ‘worm’, or self spread malware, by exploiting a piece of NSA code known as Eternal Blue, according to several security experts.

The idea that a government can adequately safeguard anything should have been exploded when the USA was unable to preserve its monopoly on nuclear weapons. If they can’t keep something as uniquely advantageous and powerful as that to themselves, what can they protect? Area 51?

A fascinating historical revision

The idea that the “Arab Conquests” might have actually been Persian may explain, in part, why Iran believes it should be the center of the Islamic world:

The two greatest powers in the Middle East at the beginning of the seventh century were Byzantium and Sassanian Persia. In 602 the Persian king Chosroes (Khosrau) II went to war against the Byzantine usurper Phocas, who had earlier murdered Chosroes’ friend and father-in-law the Emperor Maurice. The war did not end with the death of Phocas (610), but continued into the reign of Heraclius, and was to prove ruinous to the Byzantines. Jerusalem was taken by the Persians in 614, a disaster which was quickly followed by the loss of most of Asia Minor between 616 and 618 and Egypt in 619/20. Chosroes II now equalled the achievements of his Persian predecessors in the sixth century BC, with his forces marching across North Africa to annex the Libyan province of Cyrenaea in 621. The story told by the Byzantines of how Heraclius, in the face of this overwhelming calamity, rallied his armies and reconquered all the lost territories – only to lose the same territories again to the Arabs from 632 onwards – has a ring of fantasy about it, and historians have long viewed it with scepticism. Certainly there is no doubting the power and influence of the Persians in this epoch.

The earliest Islam, as revealed by archaeology, is in fact profoundly Persian; and indeed the first trace of Islam recovered in excavation are coins of Sassanian Persian design bearing the image either of Chosroes II (d. 628) or of his grandson Yazdegerd III (d. 651). On one side we find the portrait of the king, on the reverse the picture of a Zoroastrian Fire Temple. The only thing that marks these out as Islamic is the legend besm Allah (in the name of God), written in the Syriac script, beside the Fire Temple. (The Arabic script did not then exist). According to the Encyclopdaedia Iranica:

“These coins usually have a portrait of a Sasanian emperor with an honorific inscription and various ornaments. To the right of the portrait is a ruler’s or governor’s name written in Pahlavi script. On the reverse there is a Zoroastrian fire altar with attendants on either side. At the far left is the year of issue expressed in words, and at the right is the place of minting. In all these features, the Arab-Sasanian coinages are similar to Sasanian silver drahms. The major difference between the two series is the presence of some additional Arabic inscription on most coins issued under Muslim authority, but some coins with no Arabic can still be attributed to the Islamic period. The Arab-Sasanian coinages are not imitations, since they were surely designed and manufactured by the same people as the late Sasanian issues, illustrating the continuity of administration and economic life in the early years of Muslim rule in Iran.” (“Arab-Sasanian Coins,” Encyclopdaedia Iranica, at www.iranica.com/articles/arab-sasanian-coins)

Note the remark: “The Arab-Sasanian coinages are not imitations,” but were “designed and manufactured by the same people as the late Sasanian issues.” We note also that the date provided on these artefacts is written in Persian script, and it would appear that those who minted the coins, native Persians, did not understand Arabic.

It would also explain the seeming, and relatively sudden, vanishing of what had been for more than 1500 years one of the great world powers, if it was not a vanishing, but a mere transformation.

No gods, only reviews

If you like action SF/F but haven’t checked out Kai Wai Cheah’s NO GODS, ONLY DAIMONS yet, you really should. This is why:

  • Great book, that took a surprising twist on the usual mixing of Urban Fantasy and Military cloak and dagger genre, plus a bit of alternate history. I”ll need to re-read it because there is a lot under the surface of this hard to put down well written book. The author is from Singapore and if I had not read the author notes, I would have had no idea. The action is fast paced and it reminded me of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter series that is just a fun read, but with a much more sophisticated, serious world view.
  • It was a fun book, I enjoyed reading it. The action scenes were exciting, fun to follow and the book quickly moved from point to point without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.
  • Mr. Cheah wrote a very good military spy/thriller, of the type that pulls you into intense action. The key difference is that he wrote the book for an alternate Earth where sufficiently advanced technology and sufficiently subtle magic become impossible to distinguish from each other. Following World War III, the Atlantic Alliance (Hesperia and its partners) face Persia and Musafiria. Both sides are armed with advanced weapons and alchemical elements aetherium and nythium. But the Persians also use ifriti and djinni like machine guns and cannon, and they seek stronger weapons from other realities. Think of Clancy and Thor novels wrapped into a supernatural setting.
  • I would compare this favorably with Larry Correia’s “Monster Hunter” series – action oriented, lots of weapons, but with supernatural elements. If you liked his books, you will like this book. I am definitely looking forward to the sequels from this exciting new author!
  • Here’s the Cliff’s Notes: it’s a magical universe Splinter Cell meets From Paris With Love, starring Harry Dresden if Harry had joined the Army instead of moping around Chicago letting policewomen punch him in the face. The plot is ripped from next Tuesday’s headlines, not that that’s a bad thing.
It’s available at the Castalia House bookstore as well as on Amazon.
EXCERPT:

“The three Musafireen are moving out,” I said. “The one in the middle with the suitcase is likely Selim.”
“Do we follow him?” Eve asked.
“Stand by.”
Moments later, the other two Musafireen threw money down on the table and left.
“Brick, the other two guys are following Selim. They are exiting now. Target has a four-man PSD.”
“Roger,” Pete replied. “I have eyes on them. They are turning left—your left—and are heading down the street.”
“Got it. Eve, let’s go. Get to the car.”
Eve and I packed up and headed out the door. The wait staff couldn’t stop us; we’d already paid. Eve had parked her car down the road on the other side of the street. As we power-walked to her sedan, Pete maintained a running commentary. The Musafireen turned left at a street junction. I got into the shotgun seat, Eve took the wheel, and she slid out from between a pair of cars.
“I don’t like these odds,” Eve said. “What’s the plan?”
“We hit them in transit,” I said.
“This is a public area. There will be witnesses.”
“If we let them return to their safe house, they can hole up in there, possibly access better firepower. This is the best of our bad options.”
“Fisher, they’re splitting up,” Brick reported. “Selim and two guys are going into a red BMW. Selim in the rear seats, PSD in front. The other two are entering a green coupe. Looks like they are forming a two-car convoy, with the coupe in the lead. Can’t make out license plates from this angle.”
“Sonofabitch,” I muttered under my breath. With two vehicles in play, it would become exponentially harder to set up an ambush—and much easier for them to spot and lose us. “Eve, speed up. Brick, we have to take them now. Circle around the block and set up for a side-on intercept. Hit the BMW. Say again, BMW.”
“Fisher, copy that. I’ll have to drive past them and set up ahead of the targets.”
“Acknowledged. Eve, get on them now.”
We took the left turn. The target convoy was dead ahead. Pete drove past them and turned right at the junction down the road.
So, of course, the cars turned left.
“Brick, the convoy turned left,” I said. “You’re going to have to circle around again.”
“Roger.”
Eve kept three car lengths away from the convoy. Cars and bikes slipped in to fill the gap between us. The convoy passed a couple of streets, steadily overtaking vehicles ahead of them. I continued radioing the targets’ movements, silently urging Pete forward.
“Fisher, Brick. I’m parallel to their track.”
“Roger that. They are coming up to another crossroads. Lights are turning yellow. Set up now.”
The cars ahead slowed to a stop. The BMW and the coupe slid out the lane, slipping into the gap between cars, and sped for the lights. It was a standard countersurveillance tactic: anybody who followed them was guaranteed to be a threat.
“Brick! They’re gonna run the lights!” I warned. “You ready?”
“Hell yeah!”
The convoy ran the lights. The coupe passed the intersection. Seconds later, Pete’s van shot in, striking the BMW’s trunk. The car spun uncontrollably and skidded to a halt. Pete hit the brakes, easing into a tight J-turn.
Eve didn’t dally. She broke out of the lane and rammed her way through. The car jolted and shuddered. Side view mirrors broke off and flew past the window. Breaking free, she jammed the brakes, bringing us to a sudden, skidding, stop.
“Go! Go! Go!” I called, opening the door.
“KTISTES NIKA!” Eve screamed unexpectedly.
What was that?
I drew my pistol in one hand, flashlight in the other, then raised the light high and clicked it on. A man staggered out from the driver’s seat of the BMW. Not Selim. I pumped four rounds into his upper torso and face. Eve fired a burst too. He dropped.
A second threat jumped out the front passenger side. Pete lit him up, first with his light and then with his pistol. Four shots later, he went down.
We sprinted towards the BMW. I swept the car with my light and gun. Selim was in the rear, curled up into his seat. I closed in on him. Eve was to my left. I yanked the door open, and we put our guns in his face.

Mercury is mercury

And none of it is good for you, regardless of how it is ingested or administered:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) once again advised pregnant women to curb consumption of fish in order to limit fetal exposures to neurotoxic mercury. This warning raises the baffling query: How can the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) justify its recommendations that pregnant women get flu shots which are laden with far more mercury than what’s found in a can of tuna?

The CDC has long answered that nettlesome question with the controversial claim that ethylmercury in vaccines is not toxic to humans. Now, two CDC scientists have published research decisively debunking that assertion. As it turns out, there is no “good mercury” and “bad mercury.” Both forms are equally poisonous to the brain.

The CDC study, Alkyl Mercury-Induced Toxicity: Multiple Mechanisms of Action, appeared last month in the journal, Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. The 45-page meta-review of relevant science examines the various ways that mercury harms the human body. Its authors, John F. Risher, PhD, and Pamela Tucker, MD, are researchers in the CDC’s Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

“This scientific paper is the one of most important pieces of research to come out of the CDC in a decade,” Paul Thomas, M.D., a Dartmouth-trained pediatrician who has been practicing medicine for 30 years, said. “It confirms what so many already suspected: that public health officials have been making a terrible mistake in recommending that we expose babies and pregnant women to this neurotoxin.

One would have thought that simply the term “neurotoxin” would be sufficient to dissuade scientists and doctors from recommending ingestion, but apparently not. Look, they can produce all the “metastudies” they like to claim that injecting any amount of poison into very small children is absolutely harmless, but the concept simply defies logic on multiple levels.

And one doesn’t have to be “anti-vaccine” to question the medical community’s mantra that all vaccines are equally efficacious, safe, and necessary. Or to be aware of the reality of corporate profit motives, their historical indifference to consumer health, and regulatory capture.

“Barbaric terrorist acts”

A tale of two historical vandalisms:

The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned what it described as the latest “barbaric terrorist acts” in Iraq by Islamic State militants, including the destruction of priceless religious and cultural artifacts.

A video published by the ultra-radical Islamist militant group Islamic State on Thursday showed men attacking ancient Assyrian statues and sculptures, some of them identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC, with sledgehammers and drills, saying they were symbols of idolatry.

“The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the ongoing barbaric terrorist acts in Iraq by ISIL (Islamic State)” the council said in a statement. It also reiterated that the group “must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence, and hatred it espouses must be stamped out.”

Meanwhile, in Louisiana:

“Today we continue the mission,” Landrieu said in a statement on the Davis statue. “These monuments have stood not as historical or educational markers of our legacy and segregation, but in celebration of it.”

Landrieu, the first white mayor of mostly black New Orleans since his father Moon held the job in the 1970s, called for removal of the monuments amid the lingering emotional aftermath of the 2015 massacre of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church. The killer, Dylann Roof, was an avowed racist who brandished Confederate battle flags in photos. The slayings re-charged the debate over whether Confederate emblems represent racism or an honorable heritage.

Davis’ statue was the second of four monuments to the Confederate era that the City Council, at Landrieu’s behest, voted 6-1 to take down. After legal battles delayed the work, the first – a granite obelisk honoring whites who rebelled against a biracial Reconstruction government – came down late last month.

What, precisely, is the difference? There is no difference. It’s just vandalizing history of which one does not approve.

Fear of an Alternative Media

Media Matters is attempting to scare its readers again.

Then again, perhaps they are right to be scared. The chart below only includes YouTube, a medium which most of us evil Alt-Media types don’t even use. I mean, Media Matters doesn’t even mention Andrew Torba and Gab, despite it now being the most significant Alt-Media organization besides InfoWars. Nor do they mention Infogalactic, despite the rapid growth of Infogalactic News and Infogalactic Tech. Then again, I suppose their idea is to send an exciting little frisson of fear up the spine of their readers, not make them wet themselves.

What is a bit ironic is the fact that we learned the importance of this “incestuous” relationships from them. Specifically, from the Left’s portrayal of the New Atheists, aka The Four Horsemen of Atheism, who were never anywhere nearly as closely connected as the media made them appear, or as the Alt-Media actually is. I found it amusing that they don’t have me tied, even indirectly, either Mike or Milo, even though Milo wrote the Foreword to SJWAL, Mike wrote the Foreword to Cuckservative, and Castalia publishes one of Mike’s books. But then, as their YouTube chart tends to indicate, Media Matters is not the sort of organization filled with people who actually read books.

Corrupt Hillary Clinton

Someone was a very naughty girl while playing Secretary of State Barbie:

While secretary of state, Hillary Clinton made a personal call to pressure Bangladesh’s prime minister to aid a donor to her husband’s charitable foundation despite federal ethics laws that require government officials to recuse themselves from matters that could impact their spouse’s business.

The Office of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina confirmed to Circa that Mrs. Clinton called her office in March 2011 to demand that Dr. Muhammed Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace prize winner, be restored to his role as chairman of the country’s most famous microcredit bank, Grameen Bank. The bank’s nonprofit Grameen America, which Yunus chairs, has given between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative.  Grameen Research, which is chaired by Yunus, has donated between $25,000 and $50,000, according to the Clinton Foundation website.

As the God-Emperor said, she’ll be in jail.

Vox Day, Supreme Dark Lord

After yesterday’s discussion, Crypto.Fashion decided that there was no reason not to let people decide for themselves which label they preferred. SUPREME DARK LORD comes in Asphalt, Cardinal, Heather Olive, and Hot Pink (V-neck). VOX DAY comes in Cardinal, Forest, and Heather Navy. In case you’re curious about the picture, it is the one that will appear on the cover of The Collected Columns, Book Two.

MMA vs Tai Chi

This is hilarious. As a former mixed martial arts man myself, I’ve always been mystified by the idea that tai chi can even be described as a martial art. It’s about as “martial” as yoga or haiku.

For weeks, the mixed martial arts fighter Xu Xiaodong had been taunting masters of the traditional Chinese martial arts, dismissing them as overly commercialized frauds, and challenging them to put up or shut up. After one of them — Wei Lei, a practitioner of the “thunder style” of tai chi — accepted the challenge, Mr. Xu flattened him in about 10 seconds. Mr. Xu may have proved his point, but he was unprepared for the ensuing outrage.

When video of the drubbing went viral, many Chinese were deeply offended by what they saw as an insult to a cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture. The state-run Chinese Wushu Association posted a statement on its website saying the fight “violates the morals of martial arts.” The Chinese Boxing Association issued similar criticism.

The video is both short and informative. Tai chi simply doesn’t have anything to do with fighting. The tai chi master had quite clearly never sparred at speed before. And that guard… ye cats! I’m only surprised the MMA guy didn’t open with a sidekick given such an invitation.