Not that anyone here will be surprised, but it looks as if the GOP establishment has given up on Jeb!
Marco Rubio, moving to capitalize on a wave of momentum in the Republican primary, will host a Capitol Hill fundraiser on Monday that will draw an influx of new supporters.
Around 70 of Rubio’s financial backers are listed on the event invitation — over half of whom, organizers say, signed on with the senator after last month’s Boulder debate. The fundraiser, which will draw lobbyists, bundlers, and several members of Congress, is expected to net around $200,000.
Monday’s fundraiser was initially going to be held at a Washington, D.C. townhouse, but organizers moved it to the Capitol Hill Club — where a large room has been rented out — after the RSVP list began to swell.
Among the names listed on the invitation, who are relatively new to Rubio’s fold, are Peter Davidson, a Verizon lobbyist; Christopher Chapel, a NextEra Energy lobbyist; Russ Thomasson, a former top staffer to Texas Sen. John Cornyn; and Mathew Lapinski, a lobbyist at Crossroads Strategies.
The GOP elite must be freaking out now that the Paris attacks have driven up Donald Trump’s support to 42 percent. They’re moving to Plan B faster than I had anticipated prior to the attacks.
Whether you like Donald Trump or not, whether you believe him or not, you have to admit that his response to the Paris attacks was easily the strongest and most forthright of any of the candidates in either party.
This is your weekly NFL Open thread. Big game in the NFC North today. Skol Vikings!
UPDATE: All Day does it again! 30-14 over the Vikings West (seriously, Del Rio, Tice, and Musgrave?), and AD ties OJ’s record for the most 200-yard games with six.
Today should also definitively settle the Manning-Brady question. Brady is better. Great finish in New York.
It’s amazing that any Muslim still thinks that the West is collectively dumb enough to fall for this line:
Saladin Ahmed @saladinahmed Hey racist assholes exploiting an atrocity: Refugees from Syria, etc. are looking to *escape* this sort of violence, not to spread it.
Vox Day @voxday Give up on the taqiyya, Saladin the Liar. Refugees from Syria committed the atrocity in Paris.
Leandro Novaes @leahn_novash 3.609 retweets of his lie. It’s worrisome the amount of support the enemies of civilization can muster.
Vox Day @voxday No, Saladin the Liar is one of the SFWA’s affirmative action pets, so he gets inordinate attention.
All of SJW virtue-signaling and “I’m so sorry you had to experience that” condolences from the SFWA hugbox should be amusing. It’s also fascinating how the only place those poor refugees “from Syria” could *escape* that sort of violence was in the West, instead of any of in any of the many countries belonging to their co-religionists.
In addition to implicitly trying to pass off Islam as a race, Ahmed himself belies his own argument. Look at the books featured on his Twitter header. Are they written about Native American culture? Are they written about Norman Rockwell American culture? About any Western culture? Of course not. Californian immigrants californicate. Islamic immigrants islamify. That’s how mass migration works. That’s how it has always worked.
Take it from a Native American whose brothers are literally on the reservation today.
Paris attacks terrorist suspect Ahmed Almuhamed ‘was rescued near Greece after his refugee boat sunk’. According to Serbian media, a Syrian passport belonging to Ahmed Almuhamed was found at the scene of the attack at the Stade de France. Now a Greek newspaper claims to have discovered the 25-year-old and a family member, called Mohammed Almuhmed, were rescued from a wrecked migrant boat that had sunk on the journey from Syria.
This is an interesting article on Zerohedge which argues that the can-kickers of the US financial elite, which has been observably taking place since 1987, are finding it harder and harder to kick an increasingly heavy can:
Since policy is not a zero-sum game, i.e., one participant’s loss does not necessarily entail a gain for another, this paradox has a logical explanation. A crisis erupts within any system when there is a discrepancy between its internal structure and the sum total of available resources (that is, those resources will eventually prove inadequate for the system to function normally and in the usual way).
There are at least three basic options for addressing this situation:
Through reform, in which the system’s internal structure evolves in such a way as to better correspond to the available resources.
Through the system’s collapse, in which the same result is achieved via revolution.
Through preservation, in which the inputs threatening the system are eliminated by force, and the relationships within the system are carefully preserved on an inequitable relationship basis (whether between classes, social strata, castes, or nations).
The preservation method was attempted by the Ming and Qing dynasties in China, as well as the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan. It was utilized successfully (in the 19th century) prior to the era of capitalist globalization. But neither of those Eastern civilizations (although fairly robust internally) survived their collision with the technologically more advanced (and hence more militarily and politically powerful) European civilization. Japan found its answer on the path of modernization (reform) back in the second half of the 19th century, China spent a century immersed in the quagmire of semi-colonial dependence and bloody civil wars, until the new leadership of Deng Xiaoping was able to articulate its own vision of modernizing reforms.
This point leads us to the conclusion that a system can be preserved only if it is safeguarded from any unwanted external influences, i.e., if it controls the globalized world.
The contradiction between the concept of escaping the crisis, which has been adopted the US elite, and the alternative concept – proposed by Russia and backed by China, then by the BRICS nations and now a large part of the world – lay in the fact that the politicians in Washington were working from the premise that they are able to fully control the globalized world and guide its development in the direction they wish. Therefore, faced with dwindling resources to sustain the mechanisms that perpetuate their global hegemony, they tried to resolve the problem by forcefully suppressing potential opponents in order to reallocate global resources in their favor.
Having already finance-raped the US middle class, they simply can’t find enough external wealth to keep the pyramid scheme going. Hence the finance-rape of Ukraine and the failed finance-rapes of Syria and Iran. If the author is correct, about the only places left for them to find any remaining wealth are Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Singapore. Russia has already been looted, China is off-limits, and the EU is as tapped-out as the USA.
Up until 2015, America’s elite (or at least the ones who determine US policy) had been assured that they possessed sufficient financial, economic, military, and political strength to cripple the rest of the world, while still preserving Washington’s hegemony by depriving everyone, including (at the final stage) even the American people of any real political sovereignty or economic rights. European bureaucrats were important allies for that elite – i.e., the cosmopolitan, comprador-bourgeoisie sector of the EU elite, whose welfare hinged on the further integration of transatlantic (i.e., under US control) EU entities (in which the premise of Atlantic solidarity has become geopolitical dogma) and NATO, although this is in conflict with the interests of the EU member states.
However, the crisis in Ukraine, which has dragged on much longer than originally planned, Russia’s impressive surge of military and political energy as it moved to resolve the Syrian crisis (something for which the US did not have an appropriate response) and, most important, the progressive creation of alternative financial and economic entities that call into question the dollar’s position as the de facto world currency, have forced a sector of America’s elite that is amenable to compromise to rouse itself (over the last 15 years that elite has been effectively excluded from participation in any strategic decisions).
Already the European peoples are starting to develop more trust and confidence in Russia than in the USA. The new nationalist governments will not be friendly to the USA due to the way in which the US government is at least partially responsible for the migrant invasion. It is the coming break between the 70-year unequal alliance between the USA and Western Europe that will end the Pax Americana, although in light of how many countries have been invaded by American troops in the interim, Rex Americana would probably be a more accurate term.
Holm easily won Round 1, bloodying Rousey’s face with stiff left hands and oblique leg-kicks that slashed through her opponent’s fearsome, furious frontal attacks. Rousey got in one takedown — her signature move that has won her several fights within the first minute — and Holm promptly wriggled out, then caught Rousey with a stinging punch to the face and a left elbow across the right cheekbone.
But it was the beginning of Round 2 that was to be the end of Rousey’s perfect 12-0 record. Still woozy and bloodied from the first-round beat-down, Rousey endured a number of stiff punches and kicks — most, again, to the face — as she tried to chase Holm around the ring, hoping to suck the taller fighter into one of her devastating submission holds.
That’s when Holm’s swinging left leg strike caught Rousey in the neck and sent her teetering to the mat: Holm fell with Rousey to deliver a flurry of finishing hammer punches to the face, but by then she was beating on an already unconscious Rousey.
The kick that ended Ronda Rousey’s perfect 12-0 record.
To paraphrase Rousey herself, I wonder how Ronda feels being beat by a woman for once? Tell us again how you’d beat Floyd Mayweather, Ronda…. I told you the woman was nothing but corporate feminist hype; now even those without any experience fighting know that she’s a fraud.
I had no respect for Rousey whatsoever because she is a liar, a charlatan, and utterly sans class. She showed no respect for her sport, no respect for far superior fighters, and no respect for her fellow female fighters either. Few athletes who have been so completely humiliated have merited it more.
On a technical note, these all-offense, no-defense fighters who rely on quickly overwhelming their opponents often surprise everyone with how completely they lose because their offensive dominance usually masks an inability to defend themselves. Once they meet a fighter they can’t simply overwhelm, they don’t tend to have a B option. Counterfighters tend to be the more complete fighters. I’ve bolded the relevant notes below, with my observations in italics.
Round 1: Holm offered up a touch of the gloves and Rousey didn’t take her eyes off her, refusing the gesture. Holm standing right in the pocket ready to engage, but it’s Rousey who gets off the first shot. Holm lands with a combo that stops Rousey for a brief moment in her tracks. No full-on blitz by Rousey yet, as she has done lately. [She was afraid of walking into a defensive jab from a superior boxer.] Another stiff left from the challenger finds a home, as does the oblique kick. Rousey with a right that stuns Holm and they clinch. To the fence and Rousey fires off several knees. Holm pushes back and Rousey unloads, but so does Holm. It’s likely Holm has hit Rousey more times through two minutes than she’s been hit in over a year. Rousey takes her down and is working for an armbar, but Holm defends and survives the first ground exchange. [This is likely where Holm won the fight. The grappler was counting on getting the striker to the ground quickly.] Back to the kick goes Holm and she circles away. Another kick finds a home and a straight left by Holm lands. Rousey’s face is starting to turn red from the straight shots, as she’s not moving at all. She’s just eating these shots. [She can’t close and she couldn’t finish when she did. No Plan B.] Holm loses her mouthpiece and we have a break. Holm with the clinch and she takes Rousey down, quickly getting back to her feet. Rousey looks desperate, chasing after her and she’s breathing heavily. Exchange of knees from the two, but Holm is all over her. [By this point, Holm knew she was in control of the fight. She’d figured out that Rousey had no defenses.]
FightLine scores the round 10-9 for Holm
Round 2: Rousey eats a shot right off the bat and a combo, as Holm is dominating this fight. Rousey completely whiffs on a strike and falls to her knees. She hurts her with a left and delivers a kick to the face and Rousey is out cold. Rousey was out cold and asking Herb Dean what happened.
Watch the video. It wasn’t even close. After a flailing attack ends up with her on her knees, Rousey exhibits a total lack of basic defense, as she failed to get clear before getting up and turning around. She blindly turned right into the kick, which is why she was KO’d on her feet.
After watching this, I would not only expect Holm to beat Rousey in a rematch, but I wonder if Rousey will even ask for one. That wasn’t an upset, that was a better fighter cleaning the clock of a tactically limited one.
Remember this when the SJWs and other pro-invaders start throwing out their sob stories about poor little immigrants and children “jes’ wanting to start a better life in their new home”:
Two of the suicide bombers who caused carnage in the Paris massacre are thought to have sneaked into France by posing as refugees from Syria.The disclosure, which came amid claims of French intelligence failures, inevitably raised new security concerns about Europe’s borders.
Police said the two men, who arrived in Greece last month, were among seven attackers, one as young as 15.
Even Marine Le Pen isn’t taking it far enough yet. Most people don’t realize yet that it’s the moderates who are the heretics. Not the radicals. But even so, at least she appears to be moving in the right direction.
“Urgent action is needed. Islamist fundamentalism must be annihilated, France must ban Islamist organizations, close radical mosques and expel foreigners who preach hatred in our country as well as illegal migrants who have nothing to do here.”
It looks as if Reconquista 2.0 will begin soon. But not soon enough for the people of Paris.
The dream of a “borderless Europe” has taken a body blow. Now all courses run ill. The momentum of the migrant tide is already too great to simultaneously pacify public opinion and avert a human tragedy. A million people are on the road, strung out all over the place. Reuters reports that migrants are now making their way through the Arctic route, coming in through Norway via Russia clad in pitifully thin coats. “Ali left Syria to avoid the army draft and paid $2,500 all-inclusive for the trip to the border, which included flying to the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk via Moscow and Beirut. Like others reaching Norway, he cycled the final stretch, as Russian authorities do not allow travelers to proceed on foot.”
Ali may not be as welcome any more. You can’t let them freeze and Paris can’t let them in. Like Syria itself, there are no easy choices left to the Europeans. EU efforts to bribe African countries into repatriating their citizens were met by a blank refusal.
The European Union has been forced to drop controversial plans to deport failed asylum seekers who do not have passports after African countries blocked the move.
European leaders offered more than £1billion aid in a bid to persuade their African counterparts to take back tens of thousands of illegal migrants.
But a migration summit in Valletta, Malta, descended into farce after the Africans rejected the EU plan to expel those who do not qualify for asylum using special papers.
The dilemma the West now faces is that it cannot survive on the basis of the platform which its elites have carefully constructed since WW2. They are being beaten to death with their own lofty statements. They must either continue to uphold the vision of open borders, multiculturalism, declining birthrates, unilateral disarmament and a growing state sector at all costs — in other words continue on the road to suicide — or retreat. As recent events at American campuses have shown, when faced with the choice of saving the Left and saving the actual world, the odds are that “the world” goes over the side first.
If the elites will not save the world, then the world must be saved from the feckless elites.
UPDATE: Paris Attacker Was Syrian “Refugee” Who Arrived in Greece Last Month
So, we’ve got something big to announce on Monday. And by big, I mean something that is going to enable Castalia House to take the next serious step forward as a publishing house.
While we have had a number of successes, from blowing up the Hugo Awards to Amazon bestsellers, the one area where we have been absolutely abysmal is in informing the media of anything we’re doing; despite being covered in every media publication from the Wall Street Journal to the New Zealand Herald, we have not sent out a single press release to anyone. So, while others are talking about us, we haven’t been publicizing our side of the story.
That’s going to change. But here’s where I need your help. I have a great list of media contacts in the game industry that dates back to 1988 and consists of literally hundreds of names and email addresses. My list in the publishing industry presently consists of 17 names and email addresses. That is genuinely pathetic.
So, if you’re interested in helping Castalia, what I would appreciate is if each of you would find ONE name of a journalist or blogger who regularly covers books or writes book reviews, and then email the following information to me:
NAME PUBLICATION/SITE EMAIL ADDRESS
Once you’ve done that, post the name and publication here so that others can see they’re checked off the list. And yes, it would be very funny indeed to send me John Scalzi’s email, but I’ve already got it, so you needn’t bother with that.
One useful trick, if you’re looking for the more esoteric publications such as military journals, is to see who has written about an author, or a similar author, before. For example, that list of 17 consists solely of journalists who have written about Martin van Creveld. If you happen to find a journalist that way, please mention the reference author and/or work as well.Thanks very much. I do appreciate it.
Also, Brainstorm Annual members, don’t forget that tonight’s event will feature Mike Cernovich talking about his latest book, Danger and Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity. The event will begin at 5 PM Eastern.
