#Arkhaven INFOGALACTIC #Castalia House
I understand why the announcers are encouraged to refer to the yardage point that will give a first down as “the line to gain” since it is a line and not a “first down” in itself. But it’s awkward and doesn’t sound like a football term.
Which is why I suggest “line to go” to represent the first down line, since it’s in keeping with “first and goal-to-go” and so forth. So, if you’re a producer or an announcer reading this, try it. I suspect it will catch on in a way that “line to gain” won’t.
I very much doubt the recent federal appeals court ruling striking down President Trump’s emergency tariffs is going to survive Supreme Court review:
A federal appeals court on Friday struck down President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers granted by Congress to impose tariffs, opening the door for the administration to potentially have to repay billions worth of duties.
The 7-4 ruling raises doubt about deals Trump has struck with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other major trading partners to reduce the “reciprocal” tariff rates on their imports, from the levels the administration originally set in April.
“We conclude Congress … did not give the president wide-ranging authority to impose tariffs” of the kind Trump imposed in his sweeping executive orders, the majority wrote.
The ruling also invalidates the tariffs that Trump has imposed on China, Canada and Mexico to pressure those countries to do more to stop shipments of fentanyl and precursor chemicals from entering the United States.
The decision, however, will not take effect until Oct. 14, giving the Trump administration time to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
The fact is that Congress already delegated the necessary power to the Executive Branch more than 50 years ago. This is why President Trump declared his tariffs to be necessary due to national security concerns, which are considerably more valid than the average “national security concern” that is utilized to justify so many federal government actions.
Historically, Congress set tariffs and maintained tight control over this power. However, over time, particularly after the Great Depression, there was a shift towards delegating some authority to the executive branch. This began with the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, allowing the President to negotiate trade agreements without separate congressional approval each time. Later acts, such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the Trade Act of 1974, further evolved this delegated authority. These allowed the President to act on national security concerns through tariffs or respond to unfair foreign trade practices.
And anyhow, all President Trump has to do is declare an “emanation” or a “penumbra” and he’ll be good to go. September promises to be an interesting month in more ways than one.
The IDF was just forced to retreat from a supposedly nonexistent battalion:
There is an ironic article in Haaretz today — ironic because of breaking news as I write this at 10 pm eastern time — with the title, Inside Gaza City’s Zeitoun, IDF Insists Its Seventh Incursion Will Finally Defeat Hamas. Here are a few salient points from the article:
Throughout the Gaza war, the IDF said the Zeitoun battalion was defeated, but now admits it may have spoken too soon. The mission: erase the neighborhood above and below ground. ‘I assume we’ll meet again,’ said a commander, ‘maybe for the eighth time in Zeitoun.’. . .
But what could the Israel Defense Forces achieve this time that it didn’t manage to achieve the previous six times, in which the 36th, 99th, 252nd, 126th and 98th divisions fought here? Indeed, it seems every unit serving in Gaza over the past two years has taken part in “defeating” Hamas’ Zeitoun Battalion. . . .
Throughout the war, senior defense and government officials have told journalists that the Zeitoun Battalion had been defeated and had ceased to function as a military unit. But now, they say they could have been too quick to make that assertion. Currently, the army says, the battalion is in combat-ready and has around 400 fighters, but it is displaying “exaggerated self-confidence” about the upcoming fight with the IDF.
Well, guess what? According to the Middle East Spectator, the IOF today (Friday) received an ass-whipping at the hands of the Zeitoun Battalion:
The IDF is withdrawing from Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, after the rescue forces were ambushed by Hamas fighters, leading to 1 death and 11 wounded.
BREAKING: No contact has been made with the four missing Israeli soldiers in Ayn Al-Zaytoun in the Gaza Strip — there is now increasing speculation that all of them may have been captured by Hamas.
Hebrew media now reporting that the IDF search and rescue has ‘given up’ on the 4 missing soldiers, and the Israeli government is preparing a major press release.
Martin van Creveld wept.
The Israeli government and the IDF have been completely ignoring the strategic advice of their greatest military historian. It should not come as a surprise that their results have not only turned pretty much the entire world that isn’t owned by AIPAC against them, but have also failed to pacify the Palestinian resistance.
It’s also obviously counterproductive to slaughter tens of thousands of civilians using the nominal excuse of “rescuing the hostages” in a manner that literally creates more hostages. And I wonder how longer it will be before at least one other military comes to the defense of the Palestinians and starts doing to Israel what the IDF has been doing to Gaza.
It’s perfectly understandable that Netanyahu wants to establish as much of Greater Israel as he can before the neocons lose all power in the USA and the US military loses its ability to project force into the Middle East. The Syrian operation was brilliant in this regard, the attacks on Lebanon rather less so. But staging the October 7th green flag and then using it to justify the genocide of the Gazacaust is the sort of thing that will not only live on in historical infamy, but isn’t likely to work.
UPDATE: Turkey’s recent action may be a harbinger of Israel’s increasing isolation. Or it may just be a sign of the inevitable hostilities growing now that the two countries essentially share a border inside what used to be Syria.
Türkiye has severed all commercial and economic ties with Israel, as well as closing its airspace to some Israeli flights, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has announced. The two countries have been at odds for months over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, with Türkiye accusing the country of committing genocide.
In June, Fandom Pulse reported on the collapse of Unbound Publishing. We even discussed this a little on last night’s Arkhaven Nights, as the left-wing comic book book industry activist who was mentioned in the piece has transformed herself into an anti-AI activist.
Unbound Publishing is the latest of a string of publishers to go bankrupt and not pay their authors, and now author and left-wing comic book industry activist Alex De Campi put the publisher on blast for not paying her royalties.
The publishing industry has been in a lot of turmoil over the last several years, and it seems like a lot have run into financial troubles that keep compounding because of dated business practices in today’s marketplace.
Unbound Publishing is one of those, a UK crowdfunding publisher who tried to get in on the Kickstarter craze to act as an alternative to regular publishing, getting itself into hot water with nearly 9 million pounds in debt and 2.4 million owed to creditors as of its collapse.
Boundless Publishing is a new imprint taking up the mantle and trying to resurrect what Unbound had in its contracts, purchasing the company for a mere 50,000 pounds.
That was the shot. Here is the chaser. This morning, I was checking out Printweek in search of potential used machinery for the bindery, and I was surprised to be informed that Boundless didn’t even last three months from that Fandom Pulse piece.
Reprised publisher Boundless has ceased trading after less than six months in business.
Boundless Publishing Group acquired the assets of crowd-funded publisher United Authors Publishing, which traded as Unbound, in March. Unsecured creditors of Unbound were owed £2.4m and included more than 200 authors and agents, and nearly 8,000 website customers. Boundless CEO Archna Sharma had hoped to repay the historic royalties owed by Unbound, but payments were delayed until the newco could become “cash stable”.
These plans have ended in tatters. Boundless ceased trading with immediate effect on 1 August, ahead of the business being placed into voluntary liquidation.
If you ever wonder why Castalia is so conservative compared to everyone else, and why we take so few chances and are reliably late on many things, this is precisely why. We’ve been around for 11 years and we plan on being around for centuries. Everything will get done, everyone will get paid what they’re owed, and everyone will get their books. But probably not on a timetable that everyone would prefer. We’ve seen enough new publishers come and go to confirm that doing things slowly, properly, and in a low-risk manner that guarantees long-term survival is always paramount.
The long-awaited Printapocalypse that was expected to take place after the rise of ebooks does appear to be upon us. A lot of companies that barely survived the Covid economy courtesy of government grants and bank loans are now going under; three of the top six stories in Printweek concern printers or publishers going out of business.
But we expected this and we prepared for this. And, despite all the setbacks and delays, we’re in a stronger position than ever before. By the end of the decade, we’ll almost certainly be bigger than Baen Books or Tor Books were at their respective peaks. But neither growth nor market share are the priority, survival in a difficult economy, followed very closely by quality, is.
An excerpt from my forthcoming novel, now available as a Signed First Edition from Castalia Library. For more details, visit the substack:
The Wall Street Journal
BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY
In an exclusive interview, CEO Elliott Grahame reveals that his biotech startup plans to extend human lifespan by up to 25 years—and how 20,000 people will receive the treatment within the next 12 months
By David Porter
SAN FRANCISCO—The conference room on the top floor of HemaTech’s gleaming South San Francisco headquarters offers a panoramic view of the Bay Area’s biotech corridor, a fitting backdrop for what is almost certainly the most significant medical announcement of the 21st century. Elliott Grahame, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of HemaTech, sits across from me, looking remarkably composed for someone about to reveal that his company has cracked one of humanity’s oldest challenges: extending the human lifespan.
“We’re not talking about marginal improvements,” Grahame says, his voice carrying the careful precision of someone who understands the weight of his words. “We’re talking about adding 20 to 25 healthy, productive years to the average human life.”
It’s a claim that would sound like pure science fiction if it weren’t backed by years of rigorous research, a panoply of successful human and animal trials, and the backing of some of Europe’s most prestigious investment firms. HemaTech, which just six months ago withdrew from a highly anticipated IPO, has been operating in relative secrecy while perfecting what Grahame calls “the most significant advancement in human biology since the discovery of antibiotics.”
The Science of Longevity
The technology behind HemaTech’s breakthrough centers on what the company terms “Selective Cellular Regeneration Therapy” or SCRT. Without diving too deeply into the proprietary details, Grahame explains that the treatment involves a combination of modified mRNA sequences that reprogram certain cells to maintain their younger characteristics for extended periods of time.
“Think of it like this,” Grahame explains, leaning forward with the infectious enthusiasm that has characterized his career since his days at Stanford’s bioengineering program. “Every cell in your body has a built-in timer—telomeres that shorten with each division, accumulated damage from oxidative stress, genetic mutations that build up over time. Our therapy doesn’t just slow these processes; it reverses some of them and prevents others from occurring in the first place.”
The science builds on decades of longevity research, from the discovery of telomerase to recent breakthroughs in cellular reprogramming. But where others have achieved incremental success in laboratory settings, HemaTech claims to have developed a scalable, safe, and effective treatment suitable for human application.
Dr. Elodie Mitchell, a leading geneticist at Johns Hopkins who is not affiliated with HemaTech but has reviewed their published data, calls the achievement “paradigm-shifting.” She notes, “If their clinical data holds up under broader application, we’re looking at the biggest revolution in human health since the discovery of penicillin. The implications are staggering.”
A Grandiose Vision
As our interview concludes, I ask Grahame about HemaTech’s ultimate vision. Where does this all lead?
“In the immediate term, we’re focused on our 20,000-patient rollout and gathering the necessary data to support our campaign for broader regulatory approval,” he says. “Medium-term, we want to drive costs down and access up—our goal is to make this affordable and available to anyone who wants it within 30 years.”
“And long-term?” I press.
Grahame looks out at the Bay Area sprawl, seeming to see something beyond the immediate landscape. “Long-term, we’re talking about a fundamental redefinition of human existence. When death becomes a choice rather than an inevitability, everything changes—our relationships, our ambitions, our entire social structure. We’re not just extending life; we’re transforming what it means to be human.”
It’s a grandiose vision, but sitting in HemaTech’s offices, surrounded by the evidence of their achievement, it doesn’t seem impossible. The company has already done what many thought couldn’t be done—developed a practical, effective means of significantly extending human life. The question now isn’t whether life extension is possible, but how quickly it will reshape our world.
David Porter is a senior technology and business correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. He has covered the biotech industry for fifteen years. HemaTech expects to begin its expanded treatment program in January. For more information about their technology and treatment protocols, visit www.hematech.com.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS can be purchased in the two usual locations.
Also, if you’re a Libraria subscriber, please check your email and respond.
Jon Del Arroz’s new book, Churchianity: How Modern American Churches Corrupted Generations of Christians, is now the #1 bestseller in Religious Philosophy. The Foreword was written by a certain dark lord of your acquaintance and this is the second half of it.
Jesus Christ told us we would know them by their fruits, and the fruits of Churchianity are bitter indeed. Churches that embrace this heresy invariably experience the same progression: first comes the theological compromise, then the demographic decline, and finally the institutional death. The pattern is as predictable as it is pathetic.
Initially, the leadership declares that Christianity must evolve in order to remain relevant. Traditional doctrines are either quietly abandoned or radically reinterpreted. Sexual morality is usually the first casualty—after all, nothing says “love” like affirming sexual deviants in their sin. The authority of Scripture is undermined through appeals to sympathy, cultural contexts and societal progress. The exclusivity of the salvation offered by Jesus Christ is downplayed in favor of a lukewarm universalism intended to avoid any risk of offending sinners and nonbelievers.
Next comes the exodus of believers who recognize apostasy when they see it, even if they are unwilling to openly call it out. Families that have attended the same church for generations quietly slip away. The youth, offered nothing but the same social justice they get at school, see no reason to wake up early on Sunday morning for a sixth dose of the weekly propaganda. The pews empty, the offering plates remain unfilled, and the Churchian leadership inevitably responds by doubling down on their failed strategy.
Finally comes the death rattle. The beautiful historic building is sold to developers who convert it into restaurants, mosques, and even night clubs. The congregation, now consisting of a few dozen elderly regulars, merges with another dying church to forestall the inevitable for a few more years. And the denomination’s bureaucracy soldiers on, issuing increasingly irrelevant statements about racism and refugees to an audience that consists primarily of other bureaucrats.
This is not speculation or hyperbole. This is the documented history of virtually every church body that has embraced Churchianity. The Episcopal Church in America has lost more than half its membership since embracing social justice theology. The United Church of Christ has declined by two-thirds. The Presbyterian Church continues its death spiral, closing churches at a rate that would constitute a crisis if anyone still cared enough to notice. Even the once-staunch Southern Baptist Convention is in decline, having lost 21 percent of its membership since 2001.
Churchianity is not just a weakened or compromised form of Christianity. It is actively anti-Christian. It does not merely fail to proclaim the Gospel; it proclaims an anti-Gospel of inverted Christianity. Where Christianity offers salvation from sin, Churchianity offers affirmation of sin. Where Christianity demands transformation, Churchianity demands tolerance. Where Christianity proclaims objective truth, Churchianity preaches subjective experience.
This anti-Christian essence reveals itself most clearly in Churchianity’s relationship with actual Bible-believing Christians. Orthodox believers who maintain traditional positions on marriage, sexuality, and the exclusivity of Christ are not met with disagreement and debate, they are demonized. They are called bigots, haters, and racists. They are excluded from fellowship, driven from denominations, and subjected to ecclesiastical trials that would make the Spanish Inquisition blush. The one unforgivable sin in Churchianity is believing what Christians have always believed.
At the same time, those who actively oppose Christianity are welcomed with open arms. Islamic prayers are offered in ostensibly Christian churches. Atheist activists are invited to lecture congregations about their moral failings. Pagan practices are incorporated into worship services in the name of “inclusivity.” The Church that once conquered the Roman Empire through martyrdom now conquers itself through suicide.
Churchianity represents the greatest threat to Christianity since the rise of Islam. It is far more dangerous to the Church than external persecution because it corrupts from within. It is more deadly than direct intellectual assault because it operates through insidious rhetoric and emotional manipulation. And it is more effective than most previous heresies because it speaks the language of the Church while inverting and subverting the actual teachings of Christ.
But truth remains truth regardless of how many deny it. The Gospel remains the Gospel regardless of how many pervert it. Jesus Christ remains the Lord and Savior of Mankind no matter how many betray Him. And the gates of Hell, whether they take the form of Roman persecution, Islamic invasion, or Churchian subversion, shall never prevail.
The question for every reader of this book is straighforward: Where do you stand? Do you stand with the apostles and the martyrs, the reformers and the revivalists, and with the faithful remnant throughout history who have refused to bow the knee to false gods? Or will you worship a fake social justice Jesus in a false church with those who have sold their souls for fame, fortune, and worldly approval?
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first…
— 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-3
This is downright comical. Especially considering that several of the people on their list are openly left-wing socialists. However, it is an apt illustration of the illiteracy of the younger generation, as Dinesh, Milo, and Jared are the only three who can be taken seriously as intellectuals, while Tucker and Alex are the two that I consider to be legitimate TV/video journalists.
And while I like my fellow GamerGater Sargon aka Carl, and approve of his newfound nationalist sentiments, I don’t think anyone would mistake him for an opinion leader. I like Jesse Lee too, but… come on.
Education is not, and has never been, the answer to anything except how to reduce the human fertility rate.
Fresh from conclusively proving that Thomas North is the true author of William Shakespeare’s most celebrated plays, Dennis McCarthy is now tackling the authorship of the Sonnets.
Over the last two centuries, and especially in recent decades, we have made astonishing progress in biology, physics, chemistry, medicine, technology–in all fields of intellectual inquiry—except for Shakespeare studies. And while, yes, most of you reading this do know the origin of the plays, the First Folio, Ben Jonson’s Ode, etc., have now been answered. But there’s still another origin story that I have avoided till now: the Sonnets.
First, consider how strange it is we know so little about them. Shakespeare is the most well researched figure in literary history, and he has written the most oft-analyzed sequence of poems. Yet out of his 154 sonnets, we still have not discovered the addressee of a single one. New books appear every few years raising swords before new candidates. Some have declared them inscrutable; others have dismissed them as mere literary exercises. To put this in perspective: while we have solved the origin of life, cured bacterial infections, invented computers, detected gravitational waves, imaged black holes, landed robots on Mars, unraveled the genetic code for life, and are at the dawn of AGI, we still have no idea whom the world’s most famous poet was comparing “to a summer’s day.” We still don’t know whose eyes were “nothing like the sun.”
But shouldn’t all our new information-tech be able to help here? Can’t our new inventions finally illuminate the identities of the subjects of the world’s most famous poems? Of course, they can, and they have. The dates and the purpose of the sonnets, as well as the identities of the Dark Lady, the Fair Youth, and the Rival Poet have now finally been solved—as have the identities of other subjects of the poems that no one suspected.
I have no opinion on the sonnets, except to say that I have always doubted that all of them were authored by the author of the plays. They simply never struck me as written by the same individual. But I would characterize that as more of an impression than an opinion, it’s certainly never been something I’ve been inclined to suggest, let alone defend.
Remember, the Official Story is always, ALWAYS, wrong in at least one or more substantive details. So, it should come as no surprise that the British media is not only attempting to falsely spin the story of the young British girl who defended her sister from an alleged attack by a migrant sex pest, but appears to have gotten a number of basic details wrong as well.
Here is the Daily Mail’s attempt to whitewash the story in favor of the migrant and alleged attacker.
Now we can reveal the man being threatened is a family man who has been living in the UK for four years – and who was accompanied by his wife on the way to the shops when the incident occurred. Far from being fresh off a cross-channel small inflatable, as implied by Robinson and Musk, Fatos Ali Dumana, 21, says he came to Britain legally from Bulgaria and he and his wife have an eight-month-old baby.
The self-styled ‘digital creator’ took the chance to have his own say on the bust-up which launched a thousand memes – and which also led to the girl being charged by police. Speaking from his home in Dundee, Mr Dumana insisted he did nothing wrong and is in the country legitimately.
He said: ‘I have seen the social media and it’s blown up. In the video she’s saying, “Don’t touch my sister, she’s only 12. I never touched her. I didn’t hit her, I swear on my life, I have a baby now. I would never hurt someone. If she’s only 12 why was she messing with me and having weapons? I was going to the shop and she was stopping me going on my way. If I did hurt the girl, why didn’t the police arrest me? They have done nothing to me. ‘They saw from the CCTV cameras from Farmfoods that she was stopping me go on my way to the shop. There was one more person also who told them (the police) she was attacking me and calling me a f* migrant. ‘I am not an illegal migrant. I have not done anything. I did not hit them, I am a human not an animal.’
So, there are several obvious red flags in the Daily Mail’s version:
Now the real story from the mother of the THIRD girl who was there, who was an eyewitness to what she claimed was an attack by two migrants, and who called the police.
I spoke with the mom of one of the girls and got the entire story that the media is covering up and lying about. So first of all, the reporting got the names of the girls mixed up. There were 3 girls who were there who were accosted and attacked by the migrants. Lola – Lola is the hero from the video. She’s the one with the axe defending her sister from the migrant attackers Ruby – Lola’s older sister who was attacked and hospitalized, Mayah – Ruby’s best friend who was with them and went to call the police after Ruby was attacked by the migrants
Here’s the summary of what happened from Mayah’s mother:
“Yes. So what happened was the girls where out just walking and the man in the picture made comments to lola (the younger girl) calling her sexy and other sexual remarks then the girls started to tell this man to leave them alone and stop following them and making sexual remarks to them. After that the man’s sister (also in the picture) came around the corner and physically attacked ruby (the older sister) she grabbed her hair dragged her to the floor started to punch her then both the man and woman where kicking her in head while she was on the floor. At this point my daughter (mayah) called the police so my daughters account after that is all a bit blurry. But that is when lola had the weapons she pulled them out to protect ruby. After that the man came back at lola recording her making sure she showed the weapons to the camera and antagonising her. Ruby was hospitalised after the attack with a severe concussion a tennis ball sized lump to the back of her head as well as lots of bruises.”
Never, ever, take anything the mainstream media says at face value. It’s always a spin and it’s always in the same direction. The fact that the story has already gone viral and spawned a series of effective means is why they’re attempting to get out ahead of it and spin their usual false narrative about how foreign invaders never did nothing to nobody and if you think they did, well, you’re just a racist.
UPDATE: The BBC inadvertently demonstrates why British police reports cannot be trusted while trying to establish the Narrative.
BBC News understands that officers have found no evidence to substantiate claims being made online the youths were at risk of sexual assault. The force had initially said she was 14, before issuing a correction.
First, notice the focus on the claim of being “at risk of sexual assault” as opposed to the actual claim of “were physically assaulted by migrants”. Second, note that they didn’t get the age of the girl or the number of girls correct. And third, in the aftermath of Jimmy Savile and Rotherham, why would anyone take anything that the British police say seriously? They’re confirmed liars.
UPDATE: Curiouser and curiouser. If this is the couple that attacked and filmed the girls, then the Bulgarian migrant being portrayed as the innocent victim by the Daily Mail wasn’t even involved at all and is probably just a crisis actor. It’s obviously not the same man; among other things, there is no cross tattoo on the neck.