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The Minarian Legends

The Minarian Legends represent the collected stories about the many great kingdoms and celebrated heroes of Minaria, a continent of epic adventure. In these pages are presented the histories of the many kingdoms, heroes, and tribes that comprise a fantasy world full of merciless war, powerful magic, and intrepid adventure, the world of the classic 1979 TSR wargame, Divine Right.

The ancient tomes of the Minarian past have been mined to provide readers with the backstory of many kingdoms and heroes of the world of Divine Right. Among the latter are royalty, thieves, warriors, priests, adventurers, treasure hunters, werewolves, dragons, assassins, conquerors, wizards, rogues, barbarians, and pirates.

This comprehensive edition of Minarian legends offers the largest and most expanded collection of Minarian tales ever told, many of which are presented here for the first time by author Glenn Rahman, the designer of Divine Right.

Now available from Castalia House at Castalia Direct and Barnes and Noble, among other places.

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How Lawyers Lie

First, read this post on ProFootballTalk concerning a claim made by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores and the response by the team’s lawyers.

The Dolphins have responded to a claim made by former head coach Brian Flores during an interview with Bryant Gumbel of Real Sports. In the interview Gumbel asked Flores if it was true “that you were asked to sign an NDA, a non-disparagement agreement” when the Dolphins fired him earlier this year. Flores said he was and left “a lot” of money on the table because it would have “silenced” him.

Flores said Dolphins owner Steve Ross presented him with the NDA and talked about it with him. The Dolphins called that “categorically false” in a statement released on Tuesday evening.

“This latest assertion by Brian Flores that Steve Ross mentioned an NDA to him is categorically false,” the statement said. “This just did not happen and we simply cannot understand why Brian continues this pattern of making unfounded statements that he knows are untrue. We are fully cooperating with the NFL investigation and look forward to all of the facts coming out which we are confident will prove that his claims are false and defamatory.”

Sounds convincing, right? Where is this guy coming from? The Dolphins simply cannot understand this pattern of unfounded, untrue statements! Of course, Florio of PFT is a lawyer, so unlike his readers – read the comments if you want to see the customary cluelessness of the average non-lawyer – he saw through the team’s statement immediately, as he next posted this:

Flores told Bryant Gumbel that the three-year head coach left a “lot” of money on the table by declining to sign a document that would have “silenced” him. The Dolphins issued a statement specifically denying that team owner Stephen Ross presented Flores with a non-disclosure agreement and spoke to Flores about it.

In response, the lawyers representing Flores posted the documents that Flores opted not to sign. The materials show that Flores specifically waived his buyout by not signing the documents that would have required him to forfeit any legal claims…. Thus, even if Ross wasn’t specifically involved in the communications regarding what Flores could and couldn’t say or do (oligarchy, after all, has its privileges), someone apparently was.

In other words, all the histrionic rhetoric about untrue and unfounded statements that are false and defamatory rely upon the team’s claim that it wasn’t Stephen Ross himself that offered him millions of dollars to sign an NDA, it was Stephen Ross’s representatives doing so on his behalf.

Keep this in mind any time you see a lawyer making a big deal about something being entirely and absolutely false. In most cases, the statement is 99 percent true, but there is some minor and irrelevant detail that isn’t correct. What is particularly dishonest is that they will a) use the detail as an excuse to deny the whole, then b) make an expanded statement that doesn’t refer to the errant detail at all and is completely false.

In the Miami case, the team lawyers actually came out and expanded “This latest assertion by Brian Flores that Steve Ross mentioned an NDA to him is categorically false” to “we did not ask Brian Flores to sign an NDA” even though the documentary evidence clearly proves that they did the latter.

Never forget that lawyers have absolutely no hesitation about lying to the media, the other party, and the judge in any and all circumstances. But they generally do so in a manner that the average individual is unlikely to easily see or understand.

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A Lesson in Leverage

The former Russian president explains the difference between meaningless sanctions and massive leverage to the feckless European lapdogs of the Imperial USA.

Europeans will soon have to pay €2,000 ($2,200) per thousand cubic meters of natural gas, former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev tweeted on Tuesday. The warning comes after Germany ordered a halt to Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline certification.

“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered to stop the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Well, welcome to the new world, in which Europeans will soon pay €2,000 per thousand cubic meters of gas!” Medvedev wrote in a half-ironic Twitter post.

Earlier on Tuesday, Chancellor Scholz said that the German government was stopping the months-long certification process of the Russia-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline project in light of the current standoff between Russia and Ukraine over the Donbass regions.

Late on Monday, Russia officially recognized the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics of the breakaway region, sparking criticism from Western countries and claims that Russia is attempting to unlawfully invade Ukraine.

Chancellor Scholz said he had asked the German economy ministry to make sure the pipeline’s certification could not take place at the moment. “That sounds technical, but it is the necessary administrative step so there can be no certification of the pipeline and without this certification, Nord Stream 2 cannot begin operating,” the Chancellor stated.

The 12-billion-dollar pipeline, which is majority-owned by Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom is capable of transporting 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Russia to Germany. The pipeline could have been the answer to Europe’s current energy crisis and help refill the continent’s gas storage facilities, which had less than 5% of gas left in them last week.

However, while having been completed in August last year, the pipeline has since hit the wall of European bureaucracy, and has not delivered a single cubic meter yet pending certification. The US and Ukraine, as well as several other Eastern European states, have been voicing protests against the pipeline’s launch, arguing that it would allow Moscow to exert political leverage over Europe.

Nordstream 2 is not the leverage. The supply-demand equation is the leverage. The fact that US and European decision makers do not understand the difference is why there is very little chance they will come out on top in the current conflict with Russia.

The Great Negotiator gets it.

If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all. I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump Administration what he is doing now, no way! Russia has become very very rich during the Biden Administration, with oil prices doubling and soon to be tripling and quadrupling. The weak sanctions are insignificant relative to taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land. Now it has begun, oil prices are going higher and higher, and Putin is not only getting what he always wanted, but getting, because of the oil and gas surge, richer and richer. The U.S. was energy independent under the Trump Administration, an independence that we had never obtained before, and oil prices would have remained low.

President Donald Trump, 22 February 2022

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The Strategic Virtues of Racism

A detailed 254-page study of Chinese racism, entitled THE STRATEGIC CONSEQUENCES OF CHINESE RACISM: A Strategic Asymmetry for the United States (PDF), leads to the inescapable conclusion that China will surpass the imperial USA as a global power in the 21st Century due to its unity as a homogeneous nation even if the USA does not collapse as a political entity in the anticipated 2033 timeframe.

Chinese racism helps to make the Chinese a formidable adversary. There are three critical consequences that result from this. The first is the sense of unity the Chinese possess. Second, it allows the Chinese to have a strong sense of identity, which in turn permits them to weather adversity, and to be focused and secure confidence that the rest of the nation is with them. Third, China is not plagued by self-doubt or guilt about its past.

The Chinese are never going to go through a civil rights movement like the United States. This is because, first, they have no freedom of the press, freedom to petition their government, freedom to assemble, all of which are necessary to support a civil rights movement. Second, there is no political drive or consciousness for equality in Chinese thought. Equality is associated with Maoism and rejected in today’s China, where inequality is accepted and celebrated. In addition, there is no notion of civil rights in Chinese political thought or, practically, in jurisprudence…

United States defense decision-makers must recognize that racism is a cohesive force for the Chinese. Racism does benefit the Chinese in four major ways. First, the Han Chinese possess a strong in-group identity with a polarized and tightly defined out-group. This allows the Chinese government to expect sacrifice as well as support from a considerable majority of the Chinese people.

Second, based in this identity, the government has the ability to focus with great willpower on the demands of the state. All governments make patriotic appeals, but the Chinese government is able to do so effectively because any entreaty is based on patriotism as well as nationalism. When we reflect on the tools the Chinese government has to extract support and resources from the population, only one conclusion is possible, they are formidable.

Third, they have strong societal unity and purpose, which supports Chinese power. The Chinese do not have a culture that is self-critical or one that ponders its fundamental faults. Fourth, China’s racism and ethnocentrism serves China’s teleological worldview. History, in the Hegelian sense, is moving in China’s direction and the future belongs to it, China’s political beliefs, civilizational culture, and economic might triumphed over the West.

The truth always forces its way through the lies and deceit that cloak it over time. All of the lies that Americans have been told by their immigrant invaders, from “the proposition nation” to the “huddled masses”, the “melting pot”, “we are the world”, and “diversity is our strength” are going to be disproven in a conclusive, and possibly cataclysmic manner by the geopolitical rivalry with a unified and confident nation.

Both Russia and China have learned from their histories of subjugation as well as the massive series of unnecessary mistakes that led to the subjugation of the American nation.

Racism is nothing more, and nothing less, than the defense of one’s own people. It has nothing to do with skin color, hate, or any of the other globalist lies. To be anti-racist, to smugly declare that “you don’t see color”, is to literally and materially accede to the conquest and destruction of your self, your family, and your nation.

The Chinese have seen through the lies. The Russians have seen through the lies. Far too few Americans have, and that is why America is a broken, demoralized nation that literally doesn’t even know who or what it is. A nation can no more be an idea, or a piece of paper, or a claimed opinion, than a bird or a herd of cows can be. And both history and the observation of current events makes it perfectly clear that the nation that rejects racism and/or embraces equality and inclusivity will not survive.

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Russia Recognizes Donbass Republics

Vladimir Putin expertly puts the ball – and any subsequent blame for future violence – in the Imperial USA’s court.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Moscow has recognized the two self-declared breakaway Donbass republics in Ukraine’s east as sovereign nations, as a military standoff across the contact line continues to escalate.

Speaking as part of a televised address to the nation on Monday evening, Putin signed the decree, saying that “I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago to immediately recognize the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics.” Lawmakers will now be asked to consider statements of friendship and support with the two regions.

Putin clearly understands the significance of 4GW. By planting a rhetorical flag directly in the Evil Empire’s language of freedom, democracy, and self-determination, and recognizing both republics on those grounds rather than simply annexing them, Putin has ensured that Russia will hold the moral high ground in the event war breaks out in the region.

Russia has the military means to quickly and easily defeat Ukraine, but as I have pointed out since 2015, the Russians really do not want to deal with the hassle of occupation and empire. And it isn’t only Russia that will be protecting the two new sovereign nations, as I doubt it will be long before China officially recognizes them as well.

Unless the USA and the EU do likewise, their utter hypocrisy and lack of adherence to their own proclaimed principles will glow like a Fed at a patriot rally.

UPDATE: The Russian military will secure the peace in the newly independent nations. Hearts and minds.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to “secure the peace” in the newly recognized Donetsk and Lugansk republics, which were formerly considered to be part of Ukraine.

Moscow officially recognized the independence of the two breakaway regions on Monday.

Putin has instructed the Defense Ministry to send peacekeepers into the Donbass, while telling the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish diplomatic relations with the states.

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The Jester’s Privilege

The Big Bear has become too self-aware to be permitted to spoil Satan’s punchlines by his little minions. This is a transcript from a recent UATV video; I’ve been experimenting with some of the auto-transcription software with the idea that preserving some of the more interesting information being presented in video form in a more permanent and accessible medium might be worthwhile.

I was thinking about this recently, there’s something called the Jester’s Privilege. Jester’s Privilege is the ability and right of a jester to talk and mock freely without being punished for it, for nothing he says seems to matter. I think I lost this Jester’s Privilege when what I said started mattering. It’s super interesting to think about: if the Jester can affect the economy and politics with his jokes to people stop giving him a pass. Or is it when the jester realises his power that he loses his invisibility?

Oh, the jokester has become self aware. Yeah, it might be my self-awareness that made it so I no longer got the Jester’s Privilege. You never lost that privilege. You claimed it more fully when you chose a new king, based on the truth that the king you chose is beyond this world. Good choice. That’s very profound. You went from Jester to King because the chair was vacated, and slaves despise all the speak-rule-of-law slaves like empty chairs because it because it allows for secret kings. That’s mind blowing.

Gammas love empty chairs because it allows them to envision that they’re in the chair. That’s why we don’t have actual rulers. The Jester’s Privilege is an interesting concept in the Age of Hilarious. Your downfall is people taking your job seriously. It has been a harbinger of great success today. People look up to you as a leader and a truthsayer. They banned you because you’re too many steps ahead.

Yeah, I think that when you’re really ahead of the curve, it’s almost like when advanced technology appears to be magic. It’s similar to when you’re early adapter or you’re a trendsetter. People think you’re insane until everyone starts doing it. There were tons of people in 2018 that already knew this shit. But it wasn’t as mainstream to get chickens and gardens and shit. The wise fool teaches this.

Learning about jesters is really interesting. The art of the jester is to skillfully play on the boundary so the king has no choice but to laugh along with his subjects. Many a jester had his head lopped off for not being skilled enough to recognise the line, that’s true. I think when I took a stand against the child hormone thing is when I lost my privilege, that’s why Norm McDonald’s so great. Norm McDonald’s never done that. We can’t find a clip of Norm McDonald actually getting mad, and I know he gets mad. I know a lot of people who know him personally and Norm battled a temper.

I’m not judging. I battled that myself. But he never showed it. As a jester, he would always make it a joke. And I think that’s why, up until his death, he always had the Jester’s Privilege. I think that what I did was that I wanted to be a real boy. And so it was my choice at the end of the day. A true jester edges the line further and further erodes the power of the king and empowers the people. A bad jester insults the king and brings tyranny for all who would bring tyranny to himself. When you insult the king, the king will lash out at you but in doing so, it weakens the king if the king kills the jester. The common folk don’t respect the king because he can’t take a joke.

So maybe it’s not the humor that changes things, but the insecurity of those being mocked. There are no true jesters allowed in court anymore. Their humorous scripts are prewritten, impotent, and grovelling. And if you are spoiling Satan’s punch line, there will be none of that.

Owen Benjamin, Unauthorized, 20 February 2020

The software actually works pretty well, as relatively little post-transcription cleanup and editing was required. And the application of the concept of the historical Jester’s Privilege to the relentless policing of comedy and entertainment today is both informative and thought-provoking. Keep in mind that this is the sort of thing that you’re missing on a daily basis if you’re not subscribed to UATV.

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