Games Workshop tries to claim ownership of a concept that existed long before the company itself:
Games Workshop, the company that owns Warhammer, is attempting to shut down Jon Del Arroz’s Space Marine comic claiming he is infringing on the company’s trademark. In a post to X, Del Arroz, the co-owner and founder of Fandom Pulse, shared an email sent to crowdfunding website FundMyComic demanding Del Arroz’s The Emerald Array comic be removed from its website.
Fund My Comic’s Founder and operator Luke Stone informed Del Arroz via email that he has no plans to remove the comic or graphic novel from the site. He told Del Arroz, “At this time, the campaign will remain active on our platform. Our preliminary evaluation indicates that while the campaign may contain derivative works, it does not appear to infringe on any trademarks owned by the requesting party.”
It’s an absurd attempt to expand an already-questionable trademark. In fact, the trademark is so questionable that I suspect if Games Workshop were to take anyone to court, even someone infringing upon the protected space of “video computer games, computer software for playing games” it would find itself at risk of losing a trademark it probably should never have been awarded in the first place, just as the Arthur Conan Doyle estate lost its Sherlock Holmes trademark following a misguided attempt to prevent an author from “violating” it.
There are eight hours left in the campaign, so you can still back it if you haven’t already. And while it’s not an Arkhaven crowdfund, Arkhaven Comics will be publishing the retail editions.
It’s not just Diversity Inclusion Equality. The Second Incarnation of President Trump is going after affirmative action as well. He’s releasing so many executive orders that even the official White House site can’t keep up.
Trump targets OFCCP in new anti-DEI executive order. Eliminates 1965 order that laid out agency’s work. President Donald Trump revoked the executive order underpinning the Labor Department office responsible for ensuring government contractors comply with anti-discrimination law and maintain affirmative action programs. In a late Tuesday executive order, Trump said the OFCCP must immediately stop promoting diversity and affirmative action, and cease “allowing or encouraging” contractors and subcontractors to engage in “workforce balancing” based on race, sex, color, religion, national origin…
President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Tuesday night challenging diversity, equity, and inclusion programming at colleges and universities in the U.S. in the latest blow to Harvard’s administration. Trump’s order, which comes one day after his inauguration, requires all executive agencies and federally funded educational institutions — including Harvard — to terminate any race or gender-based diversity programs that could be in violation of federal civil rights laws. “Institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion,’” Trump wrote in the order.
“Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content,” the order states. Any State Department employee who violates the new policy will “face disciplinary action, including termination of employment or contract, or reassignment to their home agency.” The only other flags that will be permitted to fly are the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) emblem and the Wrongful Detainees Flag.
No more satanic rainbow flags or Negro supremacy flags. And the America First order is clear and unambiguous.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. From this day forward, the foreign policy of the United States shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first.
Sec. 2. Policy. As soon as practicable, the Secretary of State shall issue guidance bringing the Department of State’s policies, programs, personnel, and operations in line with an America First foreign policy, which puts America and its interests first.
No nonsense about any foreign country, any foreign tribe, or even the United States per se. The American nation comes first, and its core interests. AIPAC and civic nationalists hardest hit.
The more one looks at the details, the more there is to like.
The NCAA transfer portal was just rendered irrelevant, all but eliminating the last vestige of that corrupt organization’s attempt to exert control over college football:
Thanks to decades of blatant antitrust violations that limited players to an education that didn’t begin to match the value they brought to their school, the model has collapsed in recent years — thanks to a stream of slam-dunk lawsuits attacking the habit of independent businesses coming together under the umbrella of the NCAA to rig, and to cap, labor expenses.
The latest chunk of chaos comes from the apparent collapse of the transfer portal. After Wisconsin refused to allow cornerback Xavier Lucas to enter the portal, he left the school and transferred to Miami. The NCAA, which apparently has learned the lessons of multiple failed antitrust cases, has thrown the door open for transfers beyond the parameters of the portal.
“NCAA rules do not prevent a student-athlete from unenrolling from an institution, enrolling at a new institution and competing immediately,” the NCAA said in a statement to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo.com.
That’s another way of saying the transfer portal doesn’t mean a thing. That players have the same freedom that students have to switch schools, whenever they want. Taken to its extreme, could an Ohio State player transfer to Notre Dame before Monday night’s championship game, and vice-versa? If “immediately” means immediately, maybe so.
Whether you think the recent changes in college football are positive or not – and despite the loss of some conferences and traditional rivalries to the expanded conferences and the playoff system, it’s very hard to argue that the game isn’t in better shape than it was before – the transformation of the once-regimented NCAA system into full professional free agency for the players is a complete unknown.
While the combination of the NIL payments and transfer portal have expanded the number of competitive teams, I’m not confident that this apparent move to full free agency will be good for the sport. It’s a lesson in the danger of administrative overreach; the NCAA should have been pursuing the players’ interests rather than those of the institutions. If it had, it might not have lost both its control over them as well as any influence with them.
New York Magazine publishes a cover article going into copious detail on Neil Gaiman’s alleged sex crimes. There is only one new accuser, and the article abruptly shies away from the obvious question about his current relationship to Scientology and how that has benefited his career, but the details of the existing accusations are worse than even those of us with longtime suspicious about the man had imagined. Note that the quoted section below is about as innocuous as it gets, be warned that Gaiman’s described behavior isn’t merely immoral, illegal, and offensive, but very literally disgusting.
Around four in the afternoon on February 4, Pavlovich took the ferry from Auckland to Waiheke, then sat on a bus and walked through the woods until she arrived at Gaiman’s house, an asymmetrical A-frame of dark burnished wood with picture windows overlooking the sea. Palmer had arranged a playdate for the child, so not long after Pavlovich arrived, she found herself alone in the house with the author. For a little while, Gaiman worked in his office while she read on the couch. Then he emerged and offered her a tour of the grounds. A striking figure at 61, his wild black curls threaded with strands of silver, the author picked a fig — her favorite fruit — and handed it to her. Around 8 p.m., they sat down for pizza. Gaiman poured Pavlovich a glass of rosé and then another. He drank only water. They made awkward conversation about New Zealand, about COVID. Pavlovich had never read any of his work, but she was anxious to make a good impression. After she’d cleaned up their plates, Gaiman noted that there was still time before they would have to pick up his son from the playdate. “‘I’ve had a thought,’” she recalls him saying. “‘Why don’t you have a bath in the beautiful claw bathtub in the garden? It’s absolutely enchanting.’” Pavlovich told Gaiman that she was fine as she was but ultimately agreed. He needed to make a work call, he said, and didn’t want Pavlovich to be bored.
Gaiman led Pavlovich down a stone path into the garden to an old-fashioned tub with a roll top and walked away. She got undressed and sank into the bath, looking up at the furry magenta blossoms of the pohutukawa tree overhead. A few minutes later, she was surprised to hear Gaiman’s footsteps on the stones in the dark. She tried to cover her breasts with her arms. When he arrived at the bath, she saw that he was naked. Gaiman put out a couple of citronella candles, lit them, and got into the bath. He stretched out, facing her, and, for a few minutes, made small talk. He bitched about Palmer’s schedule. He talked about his kid’s school. Then he told her to stretch her legs out and “get comfortable.”
“I said ‘no.’ I said, ‘I’m not confident with my body,’” Pavlovich recalls. “He said, ‘It’s okay — it’s only me. Just relax. Just have a chat.’” She didn’t move. He looked at her again and said, “Don’t ruin the moment.” She did as instructed, and he began to stroke her feet. At that point, she recalls, she felt “a subtle terror.”
Now that a mainstream magazine is willing to directly address the issue, and now that it’s apparent from the details provided that this guy is not merely bumping up against the borders of consent, but is a full-fledged predator and rapist, it’s going to be a lot harder for publishers like Harper Collins, Folio Society, Easton Press, and Penguin Random House to blithely continue publishing his work while simultaneously asserting their dedication to social justice.
In fact, I was reliably informed that the Folio Society didn’t want to have anything to do with me because their executives believe I am a Very Bad Man, and yet they continue to market and sell Neil Gaiman’s books despite the fact that they know perfectly well multiple women have been publicly accusing Gaiman of raping them for more than six months.
I suggest that Folio Society executives like Lauren Juster and Joanna Reynolds take the time to read today’s New York Magazine article which details, at great length, their publishing partner’s crimes against women. And there is absolutely no way that there isn’t more, and quite possibly worse, forthcoming.
That picture is both apt and hysterical, especially after decades of media images seeking to present him as some sort of dweeby neo-rock star. How the foul are fallen! But the physiognomy was warning us all along. And even though there isn’t much in the way of new accusations, the sheer volume of detail is apparently proving enough to convince some of Gaiman’s most stubborn defenders, such as this disappointed fan.
Neil Gaiman has been one of my favorite creators since I first picked up The Sandman with issue #7. His work has been a constant in my life since, and I treasured everything the man has written. He seemed like a truly decent human being. I even got to interact with him once on Tumblr, that felt like a really great moment in my life. Since the allegations of SA surfaced last year, I have been quietly hoping against hope, that my impression of his decency would survive. Now that I’ve taken the plunge, reading this article, and diving into this rabbit hole with other sources, I have to admit to myself that Gaiman is likely guilty of what he’s accused of. And while it’s disappointing to learn the awful truth about an artist you respected (adored), my deeper sorrow lies with these women he most likely assaulted and abused. And I feel more than a touch of shame for burying my head in the sand because I didn’t want to be dissapointed in yet another person.
It’s also remarkable to see the pictures of his accusers and observe how all the women upon whom he allegedly preyed look so much alike. If you were a Gaiman fan who was young, plain, insecure, brown-haired, and weren’t overweight, you were in trouble.
UPDATE: /pol/ has taken notice. If the weaponized autists get rolling on the subject, a lot of things will be learned that the investigative journalists haven’t uncovered yet.
UPDATE: Fandom Pulse is on it as well. Please note that they were a little less delicate with regards to the quotes from the article regarding Gaiman’s alleged violent perversions.
UPDATE: JK Rowling calls out the SJWs who are normally so quick to denounce people, but have been uncharacteristically reticent to call for Gaiman’s cancellation and deplatforming.
The literary crowd that had a hell of a lot to say about Harvey Weinstein before he was convicted has been strangely muted in its responses to multiple accusations against Neil Gaiman from young women who’d never met, yet – as with Weinstein – tell remarkably similar stories.
Women’s athletes and the Texas Attorney General are waging a war against baphometism and Clown World institutions like the NCAA:
San Jose State women’s volleyball star Brooke Slusser warned the NCAA after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the organization over transgender inclusion in women’s sports. Paxton filed the lawsuit on Sunday, accusing the organization of deceptive marketing practices for allowing transgender women to compete against biological females. Paxton said in a news release the NCAA violated the Texas Trade Practices Act “which exists to protect consumers from businesses attempting to mislead or trick them into purchasing goods or services that are not as advertised.”
Slusser, who was a part of a lawsuit against her own school and the NCAA for allowing a transgender woman on the Spartans’ roster this season, posted about Paxton’s suit.
“Hey NCAA, just in case you haven’t realized yet this fight will just keep getting harder for you until you make a change!” Slusser wrote on X.
Paxton accused the NCAA of “engaging in false, deceptive, and misleading practices by marketing sporting events as ‘women’s’ competitions only to then provide consumers with mixed sex competitions where biological males compete against biological females.”
“The NCAA is intentionally and knowingly jeopardizing the safety and well-being of women by deceptively changing women’s competitions into co-ed competitions,” Paxton said in a statement. “When people watch a women’s volleyball game, for example, they expect to see women playing against other women – not biological males pretending to be something they are not. Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports.”
Paxton said he was seeking a court to grant a permanent injunction to prohibit the NCAA from allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports in Texas or “involving Texas teams, or alternatively requiring the NCAA to stop marketing events as ‘women’s’ when in fact they are mixed sex competitions,” the news release said.
The false marketing angle against men who compete in women’s sports is a much better and more legally powerful angle than the “fairness” angle that was borrowed from feminism. Because a man is not a woman, it is easy to demonstrate that a man is not a woman, and it is obviously false marketing to claim that coed sports are “women’s sports”.
Lawfare is a side that cuts both ways, but it needs to be intelligently applied, and it must be kept in mind that the rhetoric for one side is seldom as effective for the other.
“The United Kingdom indefinitely banned puberty blockers for children after warnings about an “unacceptable safety risk” on Wednesday. Wes Streeting, the U.K.’s secretary of state for Health and Social Care, announced the ban would affect everyone younger than 18.“We need to act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people, and follow the expert advice,” Streeting said.
The declaration from the British government comes after the Commission on Human Medicines found there is “an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children.”
With the commission’s report revealing that puberty blockers were prescribed to minors who filled out only one online questionnaire and completed a single Zoom call, Streeting said Wednesday that there was “particular concern” about whether the “children and their families were provided with enough time and information to give their full and informed consent.”
Now the prosecutions of the doctors who prescribed these puberty blockers to children should begin. This was only and ever child abuse, and it is about time that this practice was banned.
I remember when I was a kid you would hear teachers at school often talk about how evil China was for allowing the practice of foot binding. This was the practice of binding little girls’ feet to stop them fully growing. I remember thinking how cruel and evil it was. I am not sure what sort of support this practice has in modern China, but blocking the natural development of children through puberty is just as, if not more, cruel than binding little girls feet.
The comparison to historical Chinese foot binding is both apt and illustrative. There can be absolutely no doubt that the historians of the future will look back at this time as a period of insanity. As awful as foot-binding is, it’s nowhere nearly as cruel and evil as blocking a child’s natural development under the guise of “changing” their sex.
Romania’s Constitutional Court has annulled the results of the first round of the national presidential election after independent candidate Calin Georgescu clinched a surprise win last month. The decision comes amid accusations that Russia had allegedly assisted Georgescu’s campaign, claims Moscow has dismissed as “absolutely groundless.”
Georgescu, a religious nationalist, is critical of both NATO and the EU, and has criticized Romania’s role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He has also promised to end all military and political assistance to Kiev if elected into office.
During the first round of voting in November, Georgescu secured 22.94% of the ballots, beating out the liberal leftist candidate Elena Lasconi, who received 19.18%. The two were scheduled for a runoff on Sunday. However, on Friday, the country’s constitutional court issued a ruling annulling “the entire electoral process regarding the election of the President of Romania” and announced that the whole process will be resumed in its entirety at a later date.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the only thing worse than mob rule is rule by constitutional courts. The separation of powers doctrine is just the latest Enlightenment concept to prove a complete failure, in this case due to the combination of legislative cowardice, executive corruption, and judicial tyranny.
Mike Benz explains the development of the insidious surveillance and censorship regime inside the United States that has resulted from the wicked alliance of federal government, private corporations, and non-profit organizations coming together to exert control over the American people:
1. Government and Tech Collaboration: Benz described how the U.S. government has increasingly leaned on tech companies like Google and Twitter to censor content deemed as misinformation or disinformation. He traced the origins of this collaboration back to when tech companies were part of national security strategies, especially post-2016 election combined with the Russian Collusion hoax. to “combat foreign interference”, which has since morphed into broader domestic censorship efforts.
2. Military-Industrial Complex Influence: The military-industrial complex has mechanisms used for foreign influence operations; these have turned inward to control domestic narratives. This has included funding and influence from defense-related entities to shape information environments, both abroad and at home.
3. NGOs as Government Proxies: Numerous NGOs act as government proxies in executing censorship policies. These organizations, often funded by the government or large foundations, help shape the narrative by influencing social media platforms to censor content under the guise of combating disinformation. Examples include the Atlantic Council and the Aspen Institute, which have been implicated in influencing digital content moderation.
4. Universities and Academic Institutions: Dozens of U.S. universities have established taxpayer-funded centers focused on disinformation studies, which he claims are essentially censorship hubs. These include major universities where departments like sociology, communications, or even applied physics are involved in developing AI and other tools for censorship. This academic involvement is seen as part of a broader civil society effort to legitimize and carry out censorship initiatives.
5. Media’s Role: The media plays a significant role in this complex by often promoting narratives that align with government interests or by directly participating in the censorship by flagging content or influencing public opinion against certain discourses. Media outlets work in tandem with government agencies to push for the censorship of certain viewpoints.
6. The Role of the Intelligence Community: Benz detailed how intelligence agencies have covertly influenced online narratives. He cited instances where the NSA and other intelligence bodies have allegedly collaborated with media to target political opponents or narratives not favorable to the establishment’s views, using leaks and other clandestine methods.
7. Election Integrity and Censorship: He argued that the censorship apparatus was significantly ramped up around elections, with the intention of controlling political discourse. Events like Russiagate were used as justifications to expand these operations, which Benz claims are aimed at suppressing populist movements that threaten the status quo of the foreign policy establishment.
8. EU’s Influence on Censorship: Benz also touched on how European Union policies, particularly the Digital Services Act, have implications for global internet freedom. He suggested these laws are designed to curb the rise of populist parties by controlling what can be said online, which indirectly pressures U.S. platforms due to their international operations.
9. The Whole of Society Approach: Benz explained the concept of a “whole of society” approach to disinformation, where the government funds and coordinates with various societal sectors to enforce censorship. This includes not just tech companies but also think tanks, university programs, and media outlets, creating a seemingly democratic push for censorship that’s actually orchestrated from the top.
10. Legal and Policy Frameworks: He critiqued how laws and policies have been shaped to justify this censorship under the guise of protecting democracy or national security. Benz suggested that this framing inverts democratic principles by allowing government control over speech to preserve the power of certain institutions, like legacy media, which he claims are seen as assets to be protected through censorship.
This complex is an essential tool of what some describe as the Deep State, as well as the neo-satanic construct that, for lack of any better term, we call Clown World. If President Trump is serious about fulfilling his duty to the American people, he will have to begin dismantling it as soon as he takes office rather than trying to work with it.
There are two reasons China’s global primacy is inevitable. First, China remains China, not a subverted, invaded, demoralized shell of a nation. Second, the government refuses to let the financial sector run amok and pillage the rest of its economy:
The former head of a top Chinese bank has received a suspended death sentence for corruption, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. The verdict comes as part of a widespread anti-corruption crackdown by the authorities in Beijing.
Liu Liange, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes worth an equivalent of nearly $17 million and illegally issuing loans, according to Xinhua. Liu served as chairman of the Bank of China for four years until his resignation in March 2023, several weeks before the authorities revealed that he was facing corruption charges. He was arrested in October of last year. According to Tuesday’s ruling, all of Liu’s personal property will be confiscated, and all his illegal gains must be recovered and turned over to the state treasury.
The two-year reprieve, awarded because the accused had cooperated with authorities and shown remorse, means that the sentence will only be carried out if Liu commits further crimes during the period, Reuters has reported. If reprieved, the 63-year-old will serve a life sentence.
Liu is the latest high-profile figure to be sentenced to death as part of widespread anti-corruption efforts ordered by President Xi Jinping targeting the country’s $60 trillion financial sector. Former deputy central bank governor Fan Yifei was sentenced to death for bribery in October, also with a two-year reprieve. In May, Bai Tianhui, a former executive at one of the country’s largest state-controlled asset management firms, was sentenced to death for accepting bribes worth nearly $152 million.
Can you imagine comparable anti-corruption efforts being carried out in the USA? This is the equivalent of Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke being arrested and sentenced to death. But the problem in the USA is so out of hand that it would probably be far more efficient to ask the Russians to drop a few Oreshnik’s on Wall Street.
No doubt all the groups in the USA and Europe that are always nattering on about how one thing or another is necessary and supersedes national sovereignty because of international law will do their part and demand Benjamin Netanyahu turn himself in to face justice for his alleged crimes against international law, right?
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced on Thursday that it has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the Gaza conflict. Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif has also been named in a warrant for similar charges.
The court accuses Netanyahu and Gallant of using starvation as a method of warfare, alleging they deliberately deprived Gaza’s civilian population of essential supplies, including food, water, and medicine. Prosecutors claim there was “no obvious military necessity” for such actions, which amount to violations of international law.
Both Israeli politicians could face arrest if they travel to any of the 123 countries that are signatories to the ICC’s Rome Statute.
International law is, of course, a nullity. It’s pseudo-dialectic at best; one might as reasonably appeal to the intersolar law of the Federated Planets. Even so, it’s long past time for Israel’s leaders to recognize that neither the Holocaust nor the October 7th attacks are some sort of historical get-out-of-jail-free card. Especially when they’re actively engaged in what very much looks like ethnic cleansing.
