Armed and unprepared

 I don’t agree at all with this American Greatness article. The recent election demonstrated, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that democracy is dead and there is no political exit. It strikes me as yet another conservative finger-wagging “this is your LAST chance to vote your way to safety”. But the voting machines have been compromised, ergo no one’s votes matter in the slightest. There is no more Democrat vs Republican, there is only optimate vs populare.

Many traditional Americans are sleepwalking into a conflict they are not mentally prepared to handle. The ideals of blind justice and due process are now, for all intents and purposes, quaint relics, and relying on constitutional rights for protection is dangerously naïve. 

Like it or not, we live in a police state, controlled by an increasingly authoritarian regime with near-total electronic surveillance. The national security apparatus views conservatives and free-thinkers as domestic terrorists, and there are now more military deployed in our nation’s capital than in war zones overseas. If America were any other country, it would be considered a non-permissive environment—not a free country.

The pundit class recommends midterm elections and unifying the GOP as remedies, but they ignore the real elephant in the room—representative government is not representing us. While conservative and independent voices are censored and banned from the community square, their elected representatives cower behind their desks and make sweetheart deals with the new regime. 

We are facing a new post-justice, post-truth society. We won’t be able to debate our way out of it, vote our way out of it, or tweet our way out of it. No one is coming to save us. If traditional America wants to be free, it will have to stop living in the past, get up off the couch, and take action.

The good news is that there is nothing particularly difficult about the present situation. The only difference between the two parties described in the article and the two parties of Roman history is that in the USA, the optimates are mostly foreigners. Indeed, it is the situation in which the overwhelming majority of humanity found itself for the greater part of human history. The populares defeated the optimates in Rome, and they will defeat them again in America.

Antifa is international terror

And yet, somehow the politicians everywhere from Seattle to Schorndorf, Germany don’t hold them accountable for any crime.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate Stephan Schwarz was hospitalised after a brutal attack by Antifa militants in the town of Schorndorf over the weekend while campaigning for this year’s regional election.

Schwarz, along with several other AfD activists, manned an information booth in the centre of the town on Saturday when they were approached by a group of around 15 to 20 people carrying hard-left Antifa flags and banners, the city prosecutor said.

The extremists dragged 36-year-old Stephan Schwarz to the ground and beat him while he was down. As he attempted to call the police, one of the attackers stole his phone, newspaper Rems Zeitung reports. After the police arrived on the scene, Schwarz was taken to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion. The AfD information booth was also destroyed in the attack.

Then one day, for no reason at all, people all around the world began hunting down Antifa.

The convergence of Tolkien

Christopher Tolkien, the longtime guardian of his father’s literary works, is dead, alas:

We are now calling for papers for the Tolkien Society Summer Seminar, which will be held online on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th July 2021. The theme is Tolkien and Diversity.

Call for Papers

The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The online setting of the 2020 seminar saw an increased interest with over 400 attendees from 37 countries. We are delighted to be running another online seminar that will be free for all.

While interest in the topic of diversity has steadily grown within Tolkien research, it is now receiving more critical attention than ever before. Spurred by recent interpretations of Tolkien’s creations and the cast list of the upcoming Amazon show The Lord of the Rings, it is crucial we discuss the theme of diversity in relation to Tolkien. How do adaptations of Tolkien’s works (from film and art to music) open a discourse on diversity within Tolkien’s works and his place within modern society? Beyond his secondary-world, diversity further encompasses Tolkien’s readership and how his texts exist within the primary world. Who is reading Tolkien? How is he understood around the globe? How may these new readings enrich current perspectives on Tolkien?

Representation is now more important than ever and Tolkien’s efforts to represent (or ignore) particular characteristics requires further examination. Additionally, how a character’s identity shapes and influences its place within Tolkien’s secondary-world still requires greater attention. This seminar aims to explore the many possible applications of “diversity” within Tolkien’s works, his adaptations, and his readership.

Papers may consider, but are not limited to:

  • Representation in Tolkien’s works (race, gender, sexuality, disability, class, religion, age etc.)
  • Tolkien’s approach to colonialism and post-colonialism
  • Adaptations of Tolkien’s works
  • Diversity and representation in Tolkien academia and readership
  • Identity within Tolkien’s works
  • Alterity in Tolkien’s works

Meanwhile, Amazon is methodically going about destroying the popular image of The Lord of the Rings:

“This is going to be very different from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, which are on the road stories. Stories of companionship, stories that take place on journey, but this one is going to be set up like Game of Thrones. We are going to be following different characters in different locations who are going to converge on each other in the end.”

Buechler continues, “They aren’t going to have any Hobbits. There aren’t going to be any wizards. They are going to have, like they said, new characters and new lands. And that is where the big problem is. This is a giant blank canvas. This takes place over thousands of years and that giant blank canvas is going to be filled in with a couple of young, inexperienced showrunners. Does that sound a little bit familiar to you?”

“And those untested showrunners, who have admittedly an experienced writers room with writers from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, are going to have to fill a lot of time with drama and relationship stuff. Modern relationship stuff. And let’s not even get into the dialogue, which you won’t be able to adapt because there really isn’t any like there is in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.” Buechler states.

He then makes comparisons to Game of Thrones, “As you all know things were going great for Game of Thrones through Season 4 until Dan and Dave passed up the books and they couldn’t adapt George’s dialogue anymore. And they tried to interpret what George might have wanted. And George is alive. They could have asked him anything at any time and they still produced the biggest disaster in television history.”

Buechler then questions, “How do you think it’s going to go for [JD Payne] and [Patrick McKay] over there? Obviously, they don’t have J.R.R. Tolkien to talk to. They no longer have the greatest guardian of his father’s work and one of the greatest sons whose ever lived, Christopher Tolkien to talk to either.”

The YouTuber then points to a rumor, covered here on Bounding Into Comics, that there was a shift in the direction of the show following Christopher Tolkien’s death.

Buechler states, “Then, of course, there was the rumored big shift behind the scenes right after Christopher Tolkien’s death. He died in January 2020 and in March 2020 it was rumored from TheOneRing.net that a lot of the writers were fired and they rewrote Season 1 and they removed Tom Shippey, the Tolkien scholar.”

Next, Buechler warns, “And that brings us to the politicking. Are we going to get the nihilist, post-modern, intersectional Lord of the Rings. I think this is a good possibility considering everything we’ve seen from modern Hollywood. Then there’s the fact that we already have a nihilist, post-modern, Lord of the Rings, it was called Game of Thrones.”

Buechler then recaps many of his concerns about the show pointing to rumors of nudity, the hiring of an intimacy coordinator, the change in story structure, and the show being run by two former Bad Robot employees.

He then adds a report that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos mandated Amazon create their own version of Game of Thrones. That report came from Variety and they claimed, “The mandate from Jeff Bezos is clear: Bring me “Game of Thrones.” That’s the word that has the creative community buzzing this week about a major strategy shift underway for Amazon Studios’ original series efforts.” 

I should probably wrap up the extended second volume of Arts of Dark and Light, shouldn’t I…. 

The Music of Creation

The Forge of Tolkien Episode 21, THE MUSIC OF CREATION, is now on UATV.

In the beginning there was Eru, the One, who made the Holy Ones, the offspring of his thought, and propounded to them a great theme. But whose story was this, and how did it come to be written down? Who, other than the Father of All, could know the story of Creation to tell it? And how would such stories be known to Elves and to Men? In this episode, Professor Rachel Fulton Brown introduces Tolkien’s story of Creation as a puzzle both of framing and of purpose. Who speaks in the telling of the Music—and why should Creation happen through song? And what should a Christian think about the Ainur’s singing such a mighty theme?

The converse, which might well be described as the music of damnation, is now also on UATV in the form of Metal Mythos: Danzig, as well as Episode 9 of the Junior Classics podcast and several new Wranglerstar episodes. We’re rapidly reaching the point that as much as three hours of new content that does not include the regular commentary from Owen, Razor, and me are being added on a daily basis.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, you might as well. Because it’s only going to improve from here.

The con man’s escape

If you don’t understand how Rush Limbaugh was a gatekeeper and a deceiver rather than the fearless pursuer of truth that he publicly affected to be, consider this Clinton-era exchange from his radio program. Pay particular attention to the way he generates a way to extricate himself from the discussion in a manner designed to discredit the caller:

Larry: The point- well, I don’t know if he committed suicide or not, but I know we haven’t been told the truth, and you always say you’re in relentless pursuit of the truth, but not on the this issue you’re not. You ducked this issue. You do not pursue the truth here. That’s a fact. We’ve not been told the truth, and that’s the fact, too. You can read the Fiske report and see that it’s full of errors. Have you read the Fiske report?

Limbaugh: I- yeah- well, no, but I.

Larry: Well then, you’re not in pursuit of the truth.

Limbaugh: ..but, I-, I- so, what we have here, you are—

Larry: You’re not informed.

Limbaugh; …you are not, as- as Mr. Snerdley thought, a Clinton supporter.

Larry: Well, I think Clinton’s going to be re-elected.

Limbaugh: No, no, no. Did you tell him you were a Clinton supporter..

Larry Yes. I, yeah, I… (Limbaugh dumped his telephonic tormentor.)

Limbaugh: Well, so you lied, Larry. So, when you tell one lie, all of what you say is worthless. That’s the mantra, today. So sir, you’re not going to be rewarded by saying- you don’t have to lie to get on this program. If you are in the pursuit of Vince Foster being murdered, get your own show, and you go out and pursue it as best you- as best you can, but don’t lie to get on this program, to accuse me of malfeasance, or some- some sort of incompetence, as host.

If we are to judge Limbaugh by his own standard, everything he ever said was worthless. First, that’s a ridiculous standard. Second, how would Larry’s preference for Clinton or Dole make any difference whatsoever with regards to the subject being discussed? Limbaugh was merely casting about for an excuse to extricate himself from a position that was discrediting him, which is exactly what con men do. Notice how he suddenly becomes much more smooth and eloquent once he has established his rhetorical escape route.

Beware the man who always uses the word “because” to rationalize his words and deeds. An honest man is content to state his position. The dishonest man always has to sell you on whatever it happens to be at the moment.

Now, I don’t care about Rush Limbaugh and a perusal of the blog archives will demonstrate that I never have. But as Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson fans can confirm, one of the most effective ways to focus my baleful gaze on an individual or a concept about which I am otherwise indifferent is to dispute my casual comments on the subject. So, if you’re a big fan of Rush, I would recommend that you don’t try too hard to defend him here.

UPDATE: I am far too busy to even begin doing the research that would be necessary to write such a book. And Rush is no longer even potentially relevant, for obvious reasons. Therefore, I will happily leave the task to some other writer.

Mimicry is not protest

I don’t know who was taking the idea that CPAC was “protesting censorship and cancel culture” seriously in the first place, but it is amusing to see how they’re still following their own tradition of cancel culture:

The Conservative Political Action Conference has barred activist Young Pharaoh from speaking at its ‘America Uncanceled’ event, citing his “reprehensible” remarks on Judaism. The rapper denounced the move as “censorship.”

CPAC organizers took to Twitter on Monday to declare that the rapper and lecturer would no longer be welcome at this year’s conference, noting they had “just learned” of controversial comments he’d made in the past. While they did not offer any specifics on what he might have said, Young Pharaoh himself soon weighed in to fill in the blanks. 

“This is censorship at its best! All because I said ‘I do not believe in the validity of Judaism and am willing to place $50,000 on myself to debate the top Jewish rabbi.’ Now I’m no longer invited to CPAC,” he said in all-caps, appending the post with the hashtags “#racist” and “#dictatorship.”

Pharaoh was slated for a late Sunday time slot, typically a lull in the yearly CPAC event, though his appearance would have come just an hour before that of former President Donald Trump. 

While it is unclear exactly what prompted the decision, CPAC’s announcement followed a story in Media Matters chronicling some of Young Pharaoh’s more hot-button statements, including his description of Judaism a “complete lie,” arguing that “Israeli Jews” are responsible for “censorship and pedophilia on social media” as well as a number of conspiracy-minded claims about Covid-19 and vaccines. 

The activist continued to double down even after news of his canceled talk made the rounds, challenging the American Jewish Committee to “send me your best rabbi to debate” after the org accused him of spreading “horrific antisemitic lies.” 

Some of us haven’t forgotten how CPAC cancelled Milo. And imagine how CPAC would react if they heard what Jesus Christ had to say about Judaism and the Jews. I mean, it’s not as if Young Pharoah described them as “liars” and “the children of the Devil”.

Christians, don’t be fooled any longer. Conservatives are not on your side. They never have been.

If you want your fake elections

You can keep your fake elections:

The United States Supreme Court refused to review the Pennsylvania 2020 Election cases.

The court made the announcement on Monday morning.

Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas dissented from the denial.

Trump- nominated Justices Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett sided with the liberal justices.

So much for the importance of electing Republicans to appoint Supreme Court justices…. 

Going the way of the Whigs

Republicans are rapidly realizing that voting for Republicans isn’t going to provide them with the sort of government, or the sort of society, they prefer:

According to a new poll, nearly half of Republicans say they will leave the Republican Party to join a third-party created and led by former President Donald Trump. That doesn’t bode well for the Republican establishment. 

The new poll by Suffolk University-USA Today found a whopping 46 percent of Republicans are willing to leave the GOP in order to a join new party created by Donald Trump. Just 27 percent of Republicans said they would stick with the GOP, and the rest are undecided. 

“We feel like Republicans don’t fight enough for us, and we all see Donald Trump fighting for us as hard as he can, every single day,” said Brandon Keidl, a 27-year-old Republican and small-business owner from Milwaukee. “But then you have establishment Republicans who just agree with establishment Democrats and everything, and they don’t ever push back.”

The question, of course, is if the new America First party will actually put America and Americans first or not. Because there is no doubt that the Establishment will already be moving to subvert it before it even begins to take form.

Rush took the ticket

In light of this reported estate plan, there really aren’t too many questions about Rush Limbaugh having served as a gatekeeper for the Right once he reached the top:

A decade ago, the late Rush Limbaugh scoffed at the notion of leaving any of his money behind. We know this because he was reacting to us. Our coverage of Steve Jobs’ no-tax estate plan made a lot of waves. Rush felt the need to insert himself into the narrative by sharing his thoughts about legacy.

They were terse and tough. He didn’t want to leave anything behind. If he spent everything and died broke, he’d be happy, he said.

Now, a year after announcing he had terminal cancer, he’s gone. And as far as anyone can tell, he left a whole lot of money behind.

Some estimates put his net worth above $600 million. That’s probably just career earnings and not a real net figure, but it provides a sense of the amount of cash flowing into his operation over the years.

He was the biggest name in radio. It takes a vast amount of work to burn as much as $85 million a year and have absolutely nothing to show for it. We know that his “Southern Command” in Palm Beach alone can be worth up $50 million to his estate under the right conditions.

It’s unlikely that his widow will keep it around forever. She was decades younger than he was and has a lot of living left to do.

Either way, unless Rush made a whole lot more effort to look out for his posterity than anyone but the tabloids suggests, she’s the boss now.

There were no kids. She inherits it all.

Unlike most ticket-takers, however, I don’t think his initial success was the result of his ticket-taking. His success was unexpected, original, and almost certainly organic. It looks more as if his wife was the prize, and while his talent was returned to God, his massive accumulation of assets went to the Devil.

I always wondered how Rush could go so far and absolutely no farther no matter what information came to light, given his obvious intelligence and analytical skills. And I assumed that it had something to do with his desire to maintain his position in the media; his humiliation during the NFL debacle clearly clarified his thinking with regards to the difference between influence and power. But it appears he may have been even more compromised than I had assumed.

It is intriguing to observe that the more successful you are, the more fearful you appear to become if you do not fear God only. If your soul has a price, whatever it might be, sooner or later the Devil will find a way to make you an offer.

Corporate cancer kills

You may recall that I addressed the convergence of British department store John Lewis in Corporate Cancer.

John Lewis is the king of the Christmas commercial. Its famous 2010 Red Dress advert featured the life of one woman from birth to old age as she goes through all of the stages of life while wearing a red dress. It’s a touching little piece, a brilliant advertisement that is well worth seeing, and it boosted Christmas sales at John Lewis by 39.7 percent that year.

The 2017 ad, which featured an oversized Muppet called Moz and a little mixed-race boy was equally well-received, but only by the marketing experts. They were particularly excited by the diversity and the interracial aspects of the ad.

Hurray for seeing some diversity on such an epic advertising moment—my surprise at the mixed-race parents shows how rarely we see it in the advertising world.

—Zoe Harris, group marketing director and head of invention, Trinity Mirror

How rarely indeed! However, the 2017 Christmas season was marked by an unusual series of identical rarities. It wasn’t merely John Lewis, but also Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Sainsbury’s, who each independently decided to feature mixed-race couples celebrating Christmas together in their big holiday advertisement. Even more remarkably, every single one of them just happened to feature a black man with a white woman, which, given the present UK demographics, can only be described as extraordinarily improbable.

After all, there are more Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, and other Asians in the UK than there are blacks. Where were they?

Unlike the USA, the United Kingdom tracks ethnicity rather closely, so we can accurately determine exactly how statistically improbable these expensive Christmas advertisements were. As it turns out, there is only a one-in-327 chance that such a couple would be randomly selected. And the chance of all five commercials just happening to feature that particular pairing is one in 3,738,856,210,407.

That is one in 3.7 trillion, more or less. So, it wasn’t just a series of coincidences. It was evidence of convergence in the British advertising industry.

You will probably not be surprised to learn that these converged commercials did not prove to be very popular with the British public over the 2017 Christmas season. As a result, John Lewis was forced to cut its prices to prevent its year-on-year sales from falling and stated that its holiday sales “will negatively affect full-year financial results”.

Corporate Cancer was published in 2019. Two years later, the business news about the outlook for John Lewis will not surprise anyone who read the book.

John Lewis could close eight more of its remaining branches, with larger older shops most likely to close for good, it is claimed. The department store could shut a fifth of its 42 remaining stores, as negotiations with landlords continue and hundreds of jobs are put at risk, The Sunday Times reports. 

Any announcement of closures is expected to take place alongside the company’s annual results on March 11. John Lewis Partnership’s chairwoman Dame Sharon White has reportedly put forward eight shops for closure in an effort to further cut costs after the company suffered a £635m loss last September, The Sunday Times reports. 

The news follows the closure of eight John Lewis stores, including John Lewis’ flagship Birmingham store, and the loss of 1,300 jobs in July last year – which was followed by a further 1,500 jobs axed from head office in November.