遠征

Spacebunny heard Babymetal was going to be in Switzerland, a reasonable drive by American Midwestern standards, so she arranged to acquire some tickets as an early Father’s Day present. We prepared accordingly for the drive north… and yes, the bones do actually glow in the dark.

I was not the only one in costume. The various metalheads and headbangers greeted our outfits with distinct approval, as did the natives; cars were honking at us, and more than a few drivers waved and gave us thumbs-ups.

The venue was small and held about 1,000 people, with a stage that wasn’t much bigger than that of 7th Street Entry. The Kami band was great, Yui and Moa were ridiculously cute and hopped around like little Japanese Energizer bunnies, and Su-metal’s voice was surprisingly strong in the live environment. Ironically, the one downside of Babymetal is that the Kami band can be a little too focused on demonstrating their technical chops; they often sacrifice the song structure in order to show they can play as hard and as fast as anyone.

That’s why the audience was a little slow to totally get into it until they played Karate, which is more conventionally structured and has an anthemic quality to it as well as a big pop chorus. When they followed it up with Megitsune, the whole place blew up. There wasn’t enough space to do all the Road of Resistance theatrics properly, but the girls did bring out the black flags and got the crowd into singing along. I was a little disappointed they didn’t do Onedari Daisuken, but they did do Gimme Chocolate from the first album.

My favorite part was when the girls took a break, the two guitarists and the bassist mounted the pillars on which the girls had been standing at the front of the stage, and took turns doing some impressive solos. The two guitarists were very, very good, but the bassist played an Eddie Van Halen-style guitar solo on the bass, which is something I’d never actually seen before. It was a really fun show, and we all had a blast.

Trump as tribal leader

Rod Dreher notes with alarm and chagrin the rise of a white tribal identity:

Yes, Trump’s rise, and his rise as a white identity candidate, is frightening. But he didn’t come from nowhere, nor is he solely the creation of conservatism (indeed, he’s barely a conservative at all). I expect Hillary Clinton to use a lot of unity rhetoric this fall. But here’s the thing: if she wins, I fully expect her to govern as someone who treats my own tribe — conservative Christians — as the enemy. That does not mean I will vote for Trump, or will vote at all. I know conservative Christians who fear and loathe Trump so much that they’re going to vote for Hillary, a candidate they believe despises their kind, for the sake of the common good. I know Christians who despise Trump but who are voting for him, or withholding their vote, because they cannot cast a ballot for a candidate (Hillary) they are certain will name Supreme Court justices who will roll back religious liberty.

The point is that the nation is fractured and fracturing. Both political parties have benefited from the ideological divide they have created, and that historical circumstances have created. What’s new about Trump is that for the first time, many whites are seeing themselves the way Democrats and the liberal media have encouraged blacks, Hispanics, and gays to see themselves: as a tribe.

This is significant, because it means the cuckservatives are beginning to figure out that their position is not merely a losing one, it is entirely untenable. We’ll know that full-blown tribal politics have become the new normal once even white SJWs like John Scalzi suddenly begin claiming that they were white nationalists all along.

Many of them already are, of course, there is a reason why Scalzi chooses to live in a lily-white Ohio town rather than among the various ethnics he professes to love so much. But for now, they still realize some value from pretending otherwise.

This is a very positive development for America, because America is, and always has been, a white Anglo nation. The fact that the political entity has been invaded and that political citizenship has been granted to anyone and everyone with a pulse merely means that the nation has submitted and been oppressed, it doesn’t mean that the nation has been changed in any material manner. Playing word games with definitions is the hallmark of those who stand irretrievably opposed to history, science, and reality, and they always wind up losing in the end.

Those who decry “Trumpism” have it entirely backwards. Trump is merely riding the wave of the rise of the birth of a generic white American identity, which like all such identities, is the result of external pressure rather than internal conviction. And that is why it does not matter what he says or does, because unlike so many of his predecessors on both sides of the political aisle, Donald Trump has aligned himself with the white American tribe.

It is long past time for white Americans to follow the lead of the blacks, the Jews, and the Asians, and allow themselves to be guided solely by the principle: is it good for the whites? Serve the nation, not the empire.

As for those who cry for the empire and fear it will be destroyed, yes, that is exactly what will happen. It is not longer fit for purpose. But it is a little late for tears, as its fate was settled in 1965.

Book of the Week

I am very pleased to announce that Equality: The Impossible Quest, by Martin van Creveld, is now available in case bound hardcover for $24.99 on Amazon. Along with his friend William S. Lind, Martin is Castalia’s most important non-fiction author and he is one of the foremost military minds living today. Jerry Pournelle himself has observed that van Creveld is a necessary addendum to Clausewitz; one simply cannot hope to begin understanding modern war without becoming familiar with his distinction between trinitarian and nontrinitarian warfare.

Equality is Martin’s attempt to examine and understand the ill-defined and nebulous idea that has somehow become the ruling political metric of our times. From the reviews:

  • A work of amazing breadth, Martin van Creveld also explores the depth of the history of equality, while striking a healthy tone between conversational and scholarly. Reading through the book ends up being rather easy, as the writing is engaging, yet a plethora of footnotes intersperse the text for those who wish to either fact-check or read further. 
  • I’ve not read van Creveld’s work
    before, though I am familiar with his reputation and his theories in a
    secondhand way, but this book has definitely sold me on reading the rest
    of his work.
  • A must-have for every student of Western philosophy. 
  • If there was more justice in the
    world, this would be assigned to young students as a primer — or
    rather, as an inoculation against — this seductive political idea which
    has become so debased over the last 200 years. 

This is a hardcover for which I have personally been eagerly awaiting. Castalia will be releasing more print books, in paperback and hardcover, in the near future. The next three will be 4GW Handbook (paperback), Cuckservative, (paperback), and Brings the Lightning, (hardcover, paperback).

And speaking of Martin van Creveld, if you haven’t been periodically checking out his blog, you really should. He doesn’t post often, nor does he usually post original work, but he always selects very interesting and informative guest articles. (I have myself once had the honor of having one of my posts selected for a guest article, a distinction I would not trade for a dozen Hugos.) The latest, “Sarejevo on the Baltic?” by Karsten Riise, merits a read simply on the off-chance that it might correctly read the possibility that Russia’s unexpectedly successful Syrian adventure was a practice run for Ukraine and the Baltics.

Baltic Membership in NATO is Destabilizing

When both sides have good reason to feel insecure, the relationship between them becomes unstable and something dramatic may well happen. This is currently the case in the Baltic where Russia may feel an understandable need to take action to remove the future military threat from the three Baltic countries before proceeding to liquidate its unfinished business in the Ukraine.

Any Russian operation in the Baltic will have to take place before NATO’s growing presence there makes it too dangerous. By NATO Treaty, such an operation will be considered an attack on all NATO countries, the US included. But honestly: In such a case, will the US and Europe risk a nuclear war? Probably not. Thus Russia may bet on a limited conventional war; one which would lead to the end of NATO.

On 17 May 2016 one of Denmark’s largest newspapers, Berlingske Tidende, published an article by a retired NATO brigadier general. The article was written with some typical NATO rhetoric. But under the rhetoric the Danish brigadier general seemed to be genuinely scared. He fears that something violent may take place in connection with NATO’s maneuver, BALTOPS 2016, schedules to take place in the Baltic Sea from 3- to 19 June, as Russia’s window for action in that region may become smaller in the future. As I just explained, his worries are in line with own my analysis.

Russian Interest in (Temporary) Stabilization in Syria

The Russian operations in Syria bear strong similarities to those of the German “Legion Condor” during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. They enabled the Kremlin to test and train its most advanced weapons—and watch them working perfectly well. The lesson to NATO? Beware!

For a conflict in the Baltic, Russia will prefer to have all of its air force back after its success in Syria. Land operations in the Ukraine are better undertaken in the summer time, and a Baltic operation will have to take place before NATO builds up too many forces in the Baltic. Therefore Russia has an interest in reaching a settlement (at least temporary) with the West on Syria; one that may allow it to bring the rest of its military aircraft home. As NATO’s build up in the Baltic accelerates, Russia may only have short time left to act

On the book front

Peter Grant discusses Brings the Lightning and the challenges of publishing a Western at Sarah’s place:

The third element in my interest in the Western genre was moving to the USA in the 1990’s, and being able to see many of the places mentioned in the books for the first time. Frontier towns such as Dodge City and Abilene were no longer just names, but places I could actually visit. Exotic-sounding locales like Tucumcari (used to good effect by Sergio Leone in his ‘spaghetti Western’ movies) and Taos (infamous for its eponymous bootleg alcohol) were no longer all that exotic, but every bit as dusty and beat-down as the histories described them. I renewed my acquaintance with Westerns from the benefit of that new perspective, and enjoyed them all the more.

The big question for a writer (and, in the case of my new book, the small press that’s published it) is: how does one reach readers in a genre where one hasn’t previously written? I note from initial sales that the book is popular with readers of my blog, and the shared Mad Genius Club writers’ blog, and other books from my publisher. However, despite using categories and keywords typical of the genre, it doesn’t seem to be attracting much attention – yet – from ‘regular’ Western aficionados. That’s not surprising, given that most of them don’t know it exists yet; but what channels should be used to inform them? The genre’s been moribund for so long that it’s hard to think of a commercial outlet that will reach them.

Rawle Nyanze reviews God, Robot, and finds it to be unexpectedly interesting:

I did not expect a book about Bible-believing robots to be this good.

The premise of God, Robot seems very silly at first: a corporation builds robots that worship the Christian God. However, what lies within is a story of how these artificial beings come to understand their place in God’s order as they grapple with their own programming, with human society, and with whether or not they have souls. The result is a wide-ranging tale of great depth that anyone could read and enjoy, whether or not they believe in God.

The book opens with an interstellar criminal named Locke, who is cornered in a monastery by a policeman. Before the policeman arrests him, though, he tells stories about theological robots, or “theobots” to explain why he did what he did. The stories cover the entire range of theobot history, from their creation in 21st-century California to their journey into deep space, along with all the ways they, and human society, changed throughout the centuries. Each story is written by a different author, but they all move the larger history forward and keep the theme unified.

 And finally, Marina reviewed On the Existence of Gods:

It is true that the impasse between those of us who believe in Higher Power of some kind and those commonly identified as non-believers will not be resolved through conversation and argument. Anyone who doubts me is welcome to pick a current hot-topic political issue and try to bring an opponent over to their side. (Don’t do it now. I want you to keep reading, not to start a flame war on social media or  tick off family members. But if you haven’t tried it yet and are up for a challenge, just see how it goes for you.)

However, just because we can’t talk each other into or out of faith, does not mean that one of the central questions of human existence cannot be examined in a proper manner. Dominic Saltarelli, an atheist, and Vox Day, a Christian, took up the challenge (originally presented by PZ Meyers, who declared it impossible to present a rational argument for the existence of gods, refusing Vox Day’s offer of debate back in 2008). Considering the current state of discourse in this country, you will be well advised to read Dominic’s Introduction chapter of OTEOG where he describes his decision process in taking his place opposite Vox in the debate. Suffice it to say that Dominic behaved as a proper intellectual in the matter and even called out those nominally on his side for often refusing to do so. Vox, in his own Introduction, similarly points out that many believers are just as guilty of repeating tired, flawed arguments without applying the proper intellectual rigor to the process.

Affirmative action in action

This sort of affirmative-action-related meltdown happens far more often at the better schools than anyone would credit:

Throughout elementary, middle and high school, Kidd’s talent for science showed. She was accepted into the highly competitive Thacher School, a private boarding high school in California where she promptly earned the nickname “The Science Girl.”

The teachers loved her and lavished her with praise, Kidd wrote, using her homework as an example for other students. When she was a sophomore, her chemistry teachers announced before 240 classmates that Kidd had garnered the highest score in a national chemistry competition.

These accolades only fueled Kidd’s drive to succeed, and it culminated in her acceptance to an Ivy League university.

“The ultimate climax was when I got into Columbia,” Kidd wrote. “Because it’s such a prestigious school, it made me feel like I had proven to myself, and everyone around me, that I made it.”

When she got on campus, she decided, naturally, that she would study science. But things didn’t go smoothly.

The day she moved in was her birthday. “I felt really alienated and alone and didn’t find the Columbia students very welcoming,” Kidd wrote. “During my freshman year, I quickly went from star student to slacker.”

In contrast to the tight-knit community at Thacher, Kidd said, “at Columbia I was lucky if a teacher talked to me.” The lack of close connections with her teachers discouraged her from engaging with her schoolwork.

“Even though I was wired to be a good student,” Kidd said, “I didn’t feel inspired. I got through the year, getting B’s and C’s, but I didn’t care. I was just happy the summer arrived.”

Upon her return to classes in September, Kidd signed up for computer-science classes and “hated every minute of it.”

One morning in April, she woke up and realized she needed to make a change and “started plotting [her] escape.”

She probably would have been a star at a second-tier school. But it’s not only unreasonable, it is cruel to be throwing kids like this into situations where mediocrity is the best possible outcome and failure is the most probable one.

Anyhow, she’s better off doing what she actually wants to do than what everyone else expects of her. It’s neither right nor fair to put the weight of a race on one young kid who happens to be an outlier.

The fires rise

Immigration arson comes to Austria:

Arsonists were most likely behind a huge blaze which burnt down a newly-built but still empty refugee centre in northern Austria, police said on Wednesday. Police are now offering a €5,000 reward for information that leads to the seizure of those responsible.

The huge fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in the village of Altenfelden and left only charred remains of the building.

No one was harmed in the blaze, which was battled by up to 200 firemen.

“We found two sources along the building’s outer walls… where unknown suspects are thought to have started the fire,” police said in a statement, adding that investigations were ongoing.

The alleged attack happened two weeks before 48 asylum-seekers were due to move in.

Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka condemned “all forms of violence against refugee centres” while Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said in a tweet that he was “deeply affected” by the blaze.

The sad thing instead of taking this as the warning it is meant to be, the government is doubling down and the charity Caritas has announced that it will rebuild the refugee center.

Which means that we’re going to see arsonists burning down refugee centers with refugees in them. The “migrant crisis” is now transforming itself into a war of governments and globalists against the nations.

Hate is a human right

As usual, the cuckservatives and Churchians are blithely falling in line with the globalists and Babelists, as they rush to endorse Big Brother’s war on hate speech. It’s amazing how they fall for the lies every single time.

The fact is that hate is not intrinsically bad. God Himself hates. There are six things He hates – actually, seven that he detests. There are specific individuals He has hated. There is a time to love, and there is a time to hate.The Christian is instructed to hate as well as to love, indeed, we are told that if one does not hate, one does not fear the Lord.

And that, of course, is the root of the pagan campaign against hate. They wish to arrogate to themselves the decision what you will, and what you will be not, permitted to hate. They want you to love Big Brother, and therefore you will not be permitted to hate him.

But hate is our birthright. Hate is part of what makes us human. Hate is an aspect of our free will. And if hate is outlawed, or worse, eliminated, there will be no moral basis for love.

Hate is a human right. The war on hate speech is a war on our humanity. #IStandWithHateSpeech

The call of the cuck

David French preaches a secular version of the standard Churchian “Only Real Man in the Room” sermon:

In Trump, feminists have a true cultural bogeyman, and he is actually dangerous. Trump is commandeering the debate over masculinity and providing the cultural Left with a lifetime’s worth of dissertations, think pieces, and television tropes on the evils of “manhood.” And Trump will have helped define their terms.

He has brought out of the woodwork a bloc of people who apparently believe that the answer to political correctness isn’t truth and virtue but rather becoming what the other side most hates. If the other side polices language, then the answer is vulgarity. If the other side embraces diversity, then the answer is flirtation with white nationalism and white-identity politics. If the other side tries to cast men as dangerous, sex-obsessed bullies, well then hoist the middle finger, glory in Trump’s apparent sexual and financial success, and relish the whining of feminists and “betas” everywhere.

Trump’s masculinity is a cheap counterfeit of the masculinity that’s truly threatening to the cultural Left: man not as predator but as protector, the “sheepdog” of American Sniper fame. This is the brave man, the selfless man who channels his aggression and sense of adventure into building a nation, an economy, and — yes — a family. This is the man who kicks down doors in Fallujah or gathers a makeshift militia to rush hijackers in the skies above Pennsylvania. Or, to choose a more mundane — though no less important — example: This is the man who packs up the household to take a chance on a new job, models strength for his family when life turns hard, teaches his son to stand against bullies on the playground, and lives at all times with dignity and honor.

The masculinity that threatens the Left is the masculinity that embraces the manly virtues while minimizing the traditional manly vices.

It’s more than a little amusing to read this in light of the knowledge that David French is a virtue-signaling cuckservative with the standard African accessory. He has read Heartiste, but he has not understood the first thing about Game; this is little more than an evangelical-flavored BETA whining about an ALPHA and attempting to redefine what winning “really” is.

There is no such thing as “counterfeit” masculinity, there are only the different socio-sexual expressions of it. Trump’s masculinity is Alpha and confrontational. He is a leader. He fights. French, on the other hand is a Delta, and so, unsurprisingly, he values service and selflessness and being a team player. And he is absolutely and utterly wrong about what threatens the Left; the Left will use Deltas, chew them up, and spit them out, as Deltas are naturally inclined to obey anyone with a mantle of authority, even a stolen or false one, who gives them orders.

Just as conservatism has conserved nothing, French’s Delta protectionism has protected nothing; even his own family has been invaded by outsiders. He is a chihuahua that believes it is a sheepdog and thinks the real sheepdog is a wolf.

What genuinely threatens the Left are male leaders who are confrontational, who will never submit to them, and who have the ability to inspire other men to stand up to them as well. In other words, they fear Alphas who publicly stand against them. That is why the Left is having conniptions over Donald Trump and could not care less about anything David French thinks, says, or does.

Deltas always want to redefine leadership, winning, and Alpha as reliability. French’s little sermon reminds me of the Delta who wondered if there was such a thing as a “Stealth Alpha”, the IT guy to whom everyone turns when their computer doesn’t work. But the fact that people need you, rely upon you, and use you does not mean that they follow you, obey you, or even respect you… nor does it cause women to find you attractive.

More SJWs for the SJW list

Jonathan Weisman of the Washington Post went running to the ADL because mean people tweeted memes at him.:

Jonathan Weisman Verified account ‏@jonathanweisman
Anti-Defamation League assembles high-powered team to look at racist, anti-Semitic harassment of journalists

 The high-powered team:

  • Danielle Citron, Lois K. Macht Research Professor & Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and expert on online harassment
  • Steve Coll, Dean of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
  • Todd Gitlin, Professor and Chair, Ph.D. Program, Columbia Journalism School
  • Brad Hamm, Dean of the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
  • Shawn Henry, retired Executive Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • Julia Ioffe, GQ Contributor and freelance writer
  • Bethany Mandel, New York Post and Jewish Daily Forward contributor
  • Leon Wieseltier, Contributing Editor at The Atlantic and Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture and Policy at The Brookings Institution

They’re going to make a list and check it twice. Of course, we make lists too. They should probably be given their own category as the ADL’s Journalist Police.

I almost pity them. Almost. How long do you give it before all of them shut down their social media accounts?

Europe cannot become an Arab country

Thus spake His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

The Dalai Lama says Europe risks losing its identity by taking in too many migrants and warned: ‘Germany cannot become an Arab country.’

Tibet’s spiritual leader says refugees should only stay temporarily and return home to rebuild their countries when the conflicts have ended.

The Dalai Lama, who has himself lived in exile for over half a century, said: ‘When we look into the face of every single refugee, especially the children and women, we can feel their suffering.

‘A human being who is a bit more fortunate has the duty to help them. On the other hand, there are too many now.’

In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said: ‘Europe, for example Germany, cannot become an Arab country. Germany is Germany.

‘There are so many that in practice it becomes difficult.’

He said ‘from a moral point of view too, I think the refugees should only be admitted temporarily’.

‘The goal should be that they return and help rebuild their countries.’

It’s very sad when the Dalai Lama is a more staunch defender of Christendom than the Pope.