Show some respect

The NFL finally does what it should have done more than a year ago:

NFL owners agreed Wednesday to a new policy governing player’s behavior during the pre-game national anthem ceremony. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the owners voted to fine teams if their players are on the field or sideline during the national anthem but refuse to stand. Players will be allowed to remain in the locker room if they so choose. “This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem,” Goodell said in a statement. “Personnel who choose not to stand for the anthem may stay in the locker room until after the anthem has been performed.”

See, conservatives, that’s what actually putting your money where your mouth is can accomplish! Now how about you stop handing over your money to Disney and other Hollywood Values companies?


The anti-SJW front in comics

Arkhaven and Dark Legion are not alone:

Jawbreakers made history with one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns ever. The industry professionals who worked so hard to create a left-wing echo chamber, however, would not let this stand.

A Harassment Campaign Against Meyer

Once the project funded, Mark Waid opened fire on Meyer again, posting several rambling Facebook messages. “I have a call in to Antarctic Press,” Waid said. “Curious as to how they feel about publishing creators whose marketing strategy is to allegedly (*koff*) encourage their fans to threaten the employees of stores, and/or harass and one-star-review-bomb stores, that don’t offer their product.” There is nothing written on Meyer’s public social media profiles that come anywhere near the accusations Waid made. Waid did, however, encourage the industry to attack Meyer.

“Gee, I can’t imagine why publishers wouldn’t want to affiliate with this audience,” tweeted Gail Simone, a feminist icon in the industry.

“Is that the thing where those twits started bullying female Marvel editors after Flo’s memorial? Yup, that was creepy,” said Neil Gaiman, speaking of #ComicsGate and citing left wing op-eds as his source for his alleged facts.

“The game plan of targeting, attacking, labeling, threatening, and harassing people followed by ‘if you don’t buy MY book I’m going to attack, label, threaten and harass YOU!’ Seems a problematic one,” commented Erik Larsen, founder of Image Comics, who published a book by Michelle Perez, earlier in 2018, mocked Richard Meyer’s prior military service and publicly wished he had been killed in combat.

These creators inspired retailers to make tweets about refusing to carry Jawbreakers. Left-wing activists then became involved, sending a flurry of hatred against Meyer and his team. “Hate speech is not free speech & fascists like [Meyer] have no place in this diverse, inclusive industry,” posted one woman, who claims in her Facebook profile that she works for Planned Parenthood.

Conservative Creators Speak Out

The industry stood firm against conservative creators because they are outspoken against the extreme politics in comics, and as the left is wont to do, mischaracterized them in an effort to delegitimize their product. It worked to some extent, as Antarctic Press was pressured into backing out of publishing their book for comic store distribution.

I’m very pleased that Jawbreakers II got such strong support; it sends a clear message to the industry that the success of Alt★Hero was not a unique one-off and that there is a real market for non-SJW comics. However, I do wish they had decided to bring it to Dark Legion rather than trying to set up yet another new independent publishing company, because after spending the last three years building up a team and distribution channel, I am well aware of how much work is in store for them. For the record, I’m not simply saying this out of self-interest; I told Team Milo the exact same thing when they elected to try setting up their own publishing company on the basis of Simon & Schuster’s success with Dangerous. Even starting with a #1 bestselling hit is no guarantee of short-term survival, let alone lasting success.

But this is one of the ongoing challenges that will be faced by the Right as our options for working with SJW-converged institutions continue to disappear. Everyone who is successful tends to want to do their own thing and maximize their short-term interests, which is why we tend to have so much trouble successfully building strong, stable, alternative institutions. I don’t blame creators who prefer to go their own way, indeed, I freely admit that it is often to their short-term interest to do so right now. But I won’t shed any tears when they eventually discover why institutions are important either.

It is, however, a little frustrating to see one creator after another soar, Icarus-like, sunward on a solo flight, only to crash into the sea before long. Especially when I think about where Castalia might be right now if I had been able to convince some of them that they would have been better off in the long-term by working with us rather than going it alone.


Larry Correia banned from Origins

This is almost unbelievable. SJWs are running completely amok.

It just goes to show that they will come for you eventually, no matter how minor your offenses against the Narrative may be.

Larry Correia responds:

So I’m no longer the writer guest of honor at origins. My invitation has been revoked. It was the usual nonsense. Right after I was announced as a guest some people started throwing a temper tantrum about my alleged racist/sexist/homophobic/whatever (of course, with zero proof or actual examples), and the guy in charge (John Ward) immediately folded. He didn’t even talk to me first. He just accepted the slander and gave me the boot in an email that talked about how “inclusive” they are. I actually heard about it on facebook before I even saw the email.

Oh well.

They did this to John Ringo at ConCarolinas a little while ago, and took a lesson from it. This is just another new way for bullies to target people who disagree with them. Throw a fit, make up some accusations, and cry about how you feel unsafe. Now that they know it works, it is just another tool in their tool box.

For the record, I’m not any of the things they accuse me of. Despite writing a whole bunch of books, and a ton of political articles, and all of my many personal interactions with fans (I’ve done up to 15 cons and events in one year), none of these people can ever find any actual examples of me being sexist, racist, or homophobic (and the Guardian looked hard and still came up with nothing).

That’s because in reality, I’m a libertarian who does not give a shit who you are, or what you do, and it is none of my business, as long as you stay off my lawn. ?

This time they kept calling me a “rape apologist”. They dug up that classic that John Scalzi created about me several years ago. It’s total nonsense. I spent many years teaching self defense to women, and I’m all in favor of every rape attempt ending with the rapist receiving a couple hollow points to the chest. But that just goes to show the power of lies, rumor, and narrative.

So years later, complete strangers come out of the woodwork to talk about how evil I am. Yeah… That does get tiresome. It is wearying.

I’m really sorry for any fans who were planning on seeing me at Origins. Hopefully I’ll get to meet you at some other event.

For me personally, meh. I go to enough events. I’ll just do something else fun that weekend.

The saddest person in all of this is my son, who was my plus one. He was looking forward to playing a bunch of games, and then we were going to go to the zoo on Sunday. (they have manatees there!).

One gets the impression that Larry is simply too worn out with the Culture War to feel like fighting the SJWs anymore. And, let’s face it, like John Ringo, he is too independently successful for their antics to do him any real harm. For now, anyhow.


SJW shenanigans at Marvel

A Marvel insider reports that Mark Waid has gone off the deep end again:

I work at Marvel; some information for you guys

Waid was ordered to delete fucking everything social media-wise by Cebulski. Cebulski got some VERY angry emails from Antarctica Press. Lawsuit threatening letters in terms of Waid explicitly using Marvel’s name when he threatened them to dropping “Jawbreakers”. Along with threats of physical violence being committed against people at Antartica Press, if they did not do what Waid ordered.

Cebulski called Waid and basically demanded he kill all of his social media profiles and basically go off the grid. Basically, he’s in an internet time out which he has zero choice but to honor, lest he get blackballed from ever working at Marvel again.

As it stands, Waid’s career at Marvel is pretty much dead now. Not even Waid’s chief protector (Brevoort) can save him, since Cebulski is beyond the pale angry. Cebulski gave Waid one final chance when he took over. Don’t expect Waid to be writing any more comics from Marvel at least as long as Cebulski is in charge.

It did seem bizarre that Avalanche dropped Jawbreakers when they had already published Magademia and Barack Panther. But this simply goes to show that even the most SJW-converged company will eventually find itself having to eject its most extreme SJWs or risk imploding.

Of course, the fact that Marvel didn’t simply fire Waid for this behavior illustrates that its management is still in denial and is afraid to address the fact that it has the corporate version of cancer.


Marvel’s vision of the future

So, Wolverine is a woman. The President of the United States is a woman. And a superhero. And a Muslim. It just keeps getting better… check out who is the President in the ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #33. Needless to say, the Comics-SJWs just love it.

As to what we’re doing to take advantage of this nonsense, I’m pleased to be able to say that the first TWO issues of Alt★Hero are now illustrated, the first issue is colored, and we are rapidly approaching the print layout stage. So, here’s the question: do we maximize the potential audience by using the smaller format and selling the single issues for $2.99 or do we go out with the larger format at $3.99?

If you’re an Alt★Hero backer or if you’re intending to buy the single issues, please share your opinion. I go back and forth on this one. Keep in mind that the graphic novels will be in the larger format regardless. And backers will receive the digital editions for free, of course.

We will have another print release on Monday. Possibly two, as a matter of fact.


No travel for SJWs

China unveils the next step in Big Social:

China said it will begin applying its so-called social credit system to flights and trains and stop people who have committed misdeeds from taking such transport for up to a year.

People who would be put on the restricted lists included those found to have committed acts like spreading false information about terrorism and causing trouble on flights, as well as those who used expired tickets or smoked on trains, according to two statements issued on the National Development and Reform Commission’s website on Friday.

Those found to have committed financial wrongdoings, such as employers who failed to pay social insurance or people who have failed to pay fines, would also face these restrictions, said the statements which were dated 2 March.

The move is in line with President’s Xi Jinping’s plan to construct a social credit system based on the principle of “once untrustworthy, always restricted,” said one of the notices which was signed by eight ministries, including the country’s aviation regulator and the Supreme People’s Court.

China has flagged plans to roll out a system that will allow government bodies to share information on its citizens’ trustworthiness and issue penalties based on a so-called social credit score.

This is a brilliant application of what Big Social is doing, only instead of allowing the hand-picked SJWs of the Twitter Trust and Safety Council or the Facebook-endorsed SPLC to do the restricting, the Chinese government will do it. And why not? The basic principle has been established and broadly accepted, from Twitter to the Her Majesty’s Government. As Q said, “why are trips allowed?”

Imagine if the God-Emperor and his Grand Inquisitor were to launch a similar program in the United States. After all, who has proven themselves more untrustworthy than Facebook? How could the SJWs legitimately complain if Mark Zuckerberg and his executives found themselves placed under permanent restriction? This principle of “once untrustworthy, always restricted” is merely an adaptation of Facebook’s own approach to banning thoughtcrime and legally controlling the public discourse, and it represents a welcome return to pre-Enlightenment philosophy on the part of a people who were always rightly dubious about it being genuine. There can be no “freedom of speech” in any non-Western, non-Christian, non-American society, because the concept doesn’t even make sense in any other context.

If you wanted to keep what passed for free speech in America, then you shouldn’t have permitted entry to Catholics and Jews, followed by wave after wave of various peoples whose beliefs and cultural traditions are entirely antithetical to the concept. And given those waves of immigration, you can’t be surprised that it’s no longer even possible to publicly state that a man is not a woman without negative legal and social and employment and financial consequences.

The devil, of course, is in the definitions. But the devil is out. Let’s not shed too many tears for the SJWs once they discover the difference between “influence” and “power”, for as another Chinese leader once said, “power comes from the barrel of a gun”.  It does not come from control of a momentarily popular software application.


The clue may be in the name

The Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance is alarmed over a recent mass deletion of Amazon book reviews:

Amazon frightened many conservative authors this week in a mass deletion of reviews. Some authors lost almost 100 reviews on their published works. Others lost all the reviews they had ever written on Amazon. Some lost both. Information about the purge began to trickle out in the closed Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance (CLFA) Facebook group. Member after member began reporting the losses at the same time. Marina Fontaine, whose credits include the dystopian Chasing Freedom, the pro-Trump fiction anthology MAGA 2020, and moderating the CLFA page reported many members experiencing losses. A coordinated effort was launched to contact Amazon for explanation. Jon Del Arroz, a science fiction author who was banned from Worldcon earlier this year, contacted Amazon directly asking for his reviews to be reinstated. Amazon responded:

At this time, we’ve reviewed your feedback and ensured that appropriate action is taken.  There may be times that reviews must be removed from the site.  Unfortunately, we won’t be able to discuss the specifics about why the reviews were removed as we’ll only be able to discuss that with the individuals who posted the reviews.  They’re welcome to contact us if they’d like additional information.

Del Arroz’s reviews were reinstated but the corporate response is less than satisfying to conservatives who know their freedom of speech is under constant attack from SJWs in a big tech industry that rules the socials and platforms writers need to connect with their audience.

Of course, the mere fact that there is a closed alliance of authors with personal relationships who pay very close attention to reviews may explain at least a reasonable percentage of these deletions, given the terms of service. I checked out my reviews and it looks like ten or fewer reviews were deleted across all my various book listings. Not only that, but several of the reviews were one-star fake reviews, so two of my average ratings actually increased. This made me suspect that the deleted reviews were likely in open violation of Amazon’s terms of service, which Amanda Green’s investigation appears to have generally confirmed.

Checking reviews is part of my monthly “business” I take care of along with paying bills, etc. That’s why seeing so many folks up in arms on Facebook and elsewhere about it brought me up short. It also had me thinking about who the people were, what their relationships with one another might be and then it sent me scurrying to the Amazon TOS for authors and for reviews.

In this case, all my questions were answered in the “Customer Reviews Guidelines Frequently Asked Questions from Authors“. If you haven’t read these FAQs recently, I recommend you do so. Amazon makes it clear what their rules are. Below are a few of the most important ones.

2. Are authors allowed to review other authors’ books?
Yes. Authors are welcome to submit Customer Reviews, unless the reviewing author has a personal relationship with the author of the book being reviewed, or was involved in the book’s creation process (i.e. as a co-author, editor, illustrator, etc.). If so, that author isn’t eligible to write a Customer Review for that book. 

3. Can I ask my family to write a Customer Review for my book?
We don’t allow individuals who share a household with the author or close friends to write Customer Reviews for that author’s book. Customer Reviews provide unbiased product feedback from fellow shoppers and aren’t to be used as a promotional tool.

However, the fact that Jon Del Arroz’s reviews were restored upon review by an Amazon manager, as were some of the reviews of Declan Finn’s books, indicates that there was probably more going on than just legitimate TOS policing. My guess is that a rogue Amazon employee took it upon himself to take advantage of the opening being given to him by TOS-violating reviewers, but got carried away and ended up deleting a number of reviews that were not in violation of the terms of service as well.

This leads me to two conclusions. First, reviews are considered very important by SJWs. Therefore, culture warriors should be diligent about posting Amazon reviews of books that they read. Even if it’s only a short, one-paragraph review that only takes a minute to post, it will help build up the total number of reviews as well as bolster the book’s average rating against fake reviews meant to lower it.

Second, when you are dealing with an SJW-amenable authority, or even just an authority that happens to employ an SJW, you must keep your nose clean. Don’t push the envelope with regards to the posted rules and regulations. Don’t give them an excuse to crack down, because when they do, they may not stop with your infractions, but cross the line themselves.


They think you will forget

A short-term perspective is why corporations believe they are free to take political action against the beliefs, interests, and values of their customers.

Within hours of announcing its decision to end a credit card relationship with the National Rifle Association, the First National Bank of Omaha found itself thrust into the center of the resurgent national gun debate.

Its Twitter and Facebook pages were flooded with comments. Some customers applauded the 160-year-old bank’s decision. Others said they would take their business elsewhere.

In the aftermath of the deadly school shooting in Florida last week, businesses were making the same financial and moral calculus, quickly discovering that there is no neutral ground. As pressure mounted across various social media platforms on Friday, a number of corporations, including several car-rental companies, MetLife insurance, Symantec security software and the car pricing and information site TrueCar, abruptly announced plans to cut ties with the organization.

The actions continued on Saturday. Delta and United Airlines both issued statements saying they were ending discount programs with the N.R.A. and would ask the association to remove their information from its website.

Over the last couple of years, social media has become the preferred vehicle for the rise of consumer activism, turning the everyday purchase of dresses or shoes or, now, renting a car or buying insurance, into a form of protest or demonstration of ideology.

Marketing experts say it’s difficult to determine whether calls for boycotts can truly have an impact on a company’s business. Rather, they say, once-angry customers either forget or move on to the next event or debate.

“Memories fade. The intensity of the feelings that people have on this subject right now will feel different one month or five months from now,” said Maurice Schweitzer, a professor of operations, information and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

This is why it is a tremendous mistake to make unprincipled exceptions because you really like Disney movies or find a cheaper flight on Delta or have a hankering for Kentucky Fried Chicken. That is precisely the mindset that converged corporations are counting on you to have in order to permit them to continue converging the wider society and culture.

Those of you who went and saw Black Panther or The Last Jedi in the theater helped make it successful, even if you made snarky critical remarks about it later. By doing so, you increased the ability of Disney and Marvel to continue making more movies like that. By supporting the convergence, you ensure that there will be more of it.

Actions have consequences. Don’t support those who are trying to destroy your culture, your faith, and your nation.


Come see the violence

Inherent in the insane, shamelessly hypocritical world of SJW comics:

Comics creators really hate criticism. Every time “Diversity and Comics” creator Richard Meyer reviews a comic book he doesn’t like, industry professionals lose their minds and wish violence on him. The last time it happened he was threatened by a Marvel professional and told to stay away from Comicon. This time, Image Comics’ transgender writer Michelle Perez tweeted that he wishes Meyer had died in an IED attack.

Michelle Perez@rubblewoman
richard c meyer, aka the diversity and comix guy. he did a 30 minute video about a comic book circular that featured an article of mine. hes a multiple divorcee piece of shit. hes a war veteran so of course he’s a cryptofascist. unfortunately an IED didnt blow him up

Michelle Perez@rubblewoman
my unvarnished opinion: man it sure sucks that this guy didnt get blown up by an IED

Twitter has not removed the posts for violating community standards.

Meyer is an Afghanistan combat veteran who survived multiple IED attacks and served his country honorably. He has now carved out a popular niche for himself reviewing comic books and has a huge following on YouTube. He has been at the forefront in bringing attention to the far-left ideologues who have taken over the comics industry and he isn’t shy about reporting their terrible behavior and penchant for always running to violent ideation any time they are offended….

Bounding Into Comics reported that Erik Larson, Image Comics co-founder and board member, responded to the uproar.

Larsen’s initial reaction was to explain Perez’s wish for Meyer to be killed is part of freedom of speech, “I can’t control what other people say or do anymore than they can control what I say or do. It’s just words, man. Nobody was hurt. That’s the freedom of speech in action. None of us have to like it.”

But comics artist and veteran Will Caligan lost his job at Short Fuse Media for expressing his opinion that men can’t change their DNA by wishful thinking. His First Amendment rights meant nothing to the mob. His innocuous truth about the impossibility of DNA morphing by the power of wishes took food off his table, but Perez can wish to see a veteran blown up in an IED attack and suddenly #FreeSpeechMatters.

We’re not fooled. The double standard for conservative voices in comics is deafening—and #Comicsgate is about to boil over.

It is increasingly evident that the entire “free speech” movement of the so-called Enlightenment was never about anything but getting Christians to relax their blasphemy laws. Obviously that was a tremendous mistake. Again and again, we have seen that tolerating evil merely leads to the rule of intolerant evil.

The sad truth is that Image and the other independents are actually more converged than Marvel and DC. At least the Big Two have to pretend to acknowledge the mass market, even when they make major mistakes like trying to claim this bare-faced Western whore is a Muslim. The indies are free to let their freak flags fly, and they make the average Lovecraft cultist look sane and reserved by comparison.

No worries. Alt★Hero is coming. And speaking of comics, don’t forget that Rebel Dead Revenge #2: Satan’s Army is now available and the #1 comic in four categories. I’m also pleased to report that our distributor has successfully addressed the technical issue and the first two Arkhaven print editions should be available on Amazon soon. But you don’t need to wait if you want to acquire both #1 issues.


Captain Black America

Bleeding Cool reports that the USA’s foremost black intellectual, Ta-Nehisi Coates, will be writing Captain America for Marvel:

Last July, Bleeding Cool heard the word that Ta-Nehisi Coates would be the new writer on the Captain America ongoing comic book. Same with Nick Spencer on Amazing Spider-Man. Though we only learnt that Ryan Ottley would be joining him as an artist in January.

None of these stories have been confirmed. None of them were in the Marvel May solicits. And none were mentioned by Marvel at ComicsPRO today.

However, I get the nod that we might be hearing more about Coates writing Captain America next week…. An American author, journalist, comic book writer, and educator, Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, where he writes about cultural, social and political issues, particularly regarding African Americans. It is likely this aspect that will inform much of the coverage when the news goes official.

For Coates, it might be just one more notch. He’s written for The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, and Time. He has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Washington Monthly, O, and other publications. In 2008 he published a memoir, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and Unlikely Road to Manhood. His second book, Between the World and Me, was released in July 2015. It won the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction, and was a nominee for the Phi Beta Kappa 2016 Book Awards. He was the recipient of a “Genius Grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2015. And he has been the writer of the Black Panther series for Marvel Comics drawn by Brian Stelfreeze for two years now.

But the man who wrote The Case for Reparations writing Captain America could make for a very interesting comic book indeed.

Very interesting is one way of putting it. Very converged is another. I, for one, very much look forward to learning more about Captain America’s self-flagellating voyage into the discovery of his own internalized racism and his eventual retirement in favor of a black man who, completely coincidentally, looks very much like an idealized Ta-Nehisi Coates.

I love the smell of my competitor’s convergence in the morning!