Author Archives: Raizen

TWAT News: Child Spends Over $16,000 on Sonic the Hedgehog Cell Phone App

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I don’t know how a person could justify spending over $10,000 on a cell phone app. At the least, I’d prefer something as awesome as summoning a team of scantily-clad ninja maids into my home.

A Connecticut kid knows what he’d want, and that’s a bunch of imaginary rings in a Sonic the Hedgehog game. To this end, he racked up over $16,000 in charges to his parent’s credit card. By the time his parents had figured out what was going on, Apple would refuse their refund request by reason of the amount of time that had passed since the purchases were made.

As I see it, there should have been some kind of flag that would be triggered if a person attempts to spend that kind of money on something so vapid, which would prompt contacting by a real-life agent who would determine whether the purchase was being made from a sound state of mind in an effort to protect the would-be purchaser from himself.

“Are you aware, sir, that the kind of money you could be using to buy a car you are instead attempting to spend on rings in a Sonic app?” -some underpaid CS rep

“yeah i wanna get rings” -some kid with bubble gum in his shoe laces

Of course, the parents have some responsibility. They gave a kid a tablet without monitoring his activities, and apparently, the parental settings weren’t activated while the kid had access to the parents’ credit card information. It’s likely the kid wasn’t aware that real-life money was being spent.

In a sense, gamers themselves have played a part in getting gaming to the point of predatory micro-transactions. For decades, we’ve been playing pirated video games on emulators for free, and many of us have developed the idea that video games should be free. Game makers attempted the free-to-play model in an effort to stay competitive, but explored alternative revenue models, leading to games with advertisements and pay-to-win competitive elements.

As I see it, micro-transactions are a legitimate way for game-makers to make money, provided the practice is done ethically. That’s a bit of a grey area, but as I see it, it’s valid to purchase something of purely entertainment value, even if it means not ending up with something of physical substance. The same reasoning is used to attend movies and sporting events.

Having said that, I think there’s a point in which it’s difficult to justify making a purchase. I know of a restaurant that once offered a million-dollar dessert called Strawberries Arnaud. Even considering the diamond engagement ring included with the dessert, what’s the justification for spending $1,000,000 on it?

I suppose that’s a question for those with the means to afford it.

A kid who was left alone with a tablet racked up thousands of dollars in debt over a Sonic game. What a time to be alive.

A man in his twenties drew this.

Killing Psycho Mantis

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In the hit video game Metal Gear Solid, there was a character who captured the imaginations of gamers everywhere. This character was named, Psycho Mantis.

The character made the claim of being able to read your mind. When confronted, he would use his ability. The jaws of gamers all over the world collectively dropped as he uttered these famous words:

“You like Castlevania, don’t you?”

This trick was achieved by reading the player’s memory card, and if any save data from other Konami games was present, this would be used to determine his dialogue.

This wasn’t his only trick. He also made the claim of being able to use telekinesis. He would demonstrate this when players set their force-feedback controllers down on a hard surface. This was simply accomplished by activating the controller’s vibration.

When players attempt to fight Psycho Mantis, it was likely a one-sided affair. He could avoid the player’s attacks with ease. It was an instance of the game cheating by reading the player’s controller inputs. After many, many attempts, frustrated players wondered just what it was they were supposed to do.

Suppose that an enemy similar to Psycho Mantis actually exists. Suppose that, rather than one person, something like Psycho Mantis is actually a system. Is the public at large up against an enemy like this? Do we have clues that this may be the case?

Suppose you’re at the supermarket one day, walking down the frozen section. The frozen burritos catch your eye. You think about them for a moment, then decide against them, moving on.

Within the next few days, when using an app on your phone, an ad pops up for frozen burritos. That seems oddly specific. You may have already known about targeted ads, but that seems tailored directly to you, and it’s especially concerning considering you haven’t been looking up burritos on your tech, and you weren’t even using your phone when you were considering those frozen burritos. Yet, the algorithms knew your recent considerations well enough to serve you an ad based on them.

How is that even possible?

The technology available today is capable of feats that would have appeared magical just a couple decades ago, and that’s just what the general population is aware of. Whether you know it or not, the technology being used by millions of people is building psychological profiles on them based on seemingly insignificant things such as how they type or text, their search engine history, the sites they visit, how long their browser tabs are open, what they purchase, and who they connect with on social media.

If a person uses a dating site and then starts seeing ads for diamond engagement rings, they’re seeing the ad algorithms at work!

It’s getting to the point that the targeted advertisements are starting to resemble the results of mind-reading. It’s troublesome, and one might wonder what it is people are supposed to do about these real-life mental predators.

Perhaps our hint is in Metal Gear Solid.

In Metal Gear Solid, Psycho Mantis seemed unbeatable. However, his “connection” to the player’s “mind” (actually the player’s controller) is through controller slot one. If the player physically disconnected the controller from slot one then inserted it into slot two, the player could still move Solid Snake (the main character), but Psycho Mantis would no longer be able to predict his movements. From there, Psycho Mantis is very beatable.

It might be time for us to consider using alternative devices and social media platforms, seeing that the tech oligarchs aren’t strongly considerate of the general population’s notions of ethics and privacy.

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

Edward Bernays, Propaganda

TWAT News: AOC Offers $58 “Tax the Rich” Sweatshirt

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For all the bluster we hear out of the hard left, they don’t know much about how to run a society. While they can be vexing, we sometimes get a kick out of how gutsy they can be.

Such as when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) includes among her merch a sweatshirt with the phrase “Tax the Rich”, and then charged $58 for it.

The irony of the fact that you’d have to be rich to spend that kind of money on a sweatshirt isn’t lost on the connected world, who is subjecting this sloppy offering to the fiery lampooning it so richly merits.

Who exactly is this shirt for, if it’s target demographic couldn’t afford it? If you are where I was ten years ago, it would take you two weeks to afford this thing, and that’s if you didn’t eat anything.

It’s not new that those who most insist on running society today are clueless when it comes to the basics of kitchen-table economics. More recently, they have shown us that they have no idea how to manage funds when they run low other than to extract more from the people who actually work for a living.

It would seem that today’s politicians have discovered a new, creative way to extract money: with their own merchandise. It may even be a more effective way to fundraise, as it would enable yet more cash flow from those underemployed twenty-somethings whose main source of income is hitting up mom and dad.

What a clever way to benefit off of capitalism while sticking it to capitalism, AOC. Your integrity is evident.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

TWAT News: Prince Harry Implies Beer-Virus a Punishment From Mother Nature

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If the idea of a human-led monarchy didn’t have its flaws, there wouldn’t have been much call for todays constitutional governments. For example, if an absolute monarch was completely out of touch with reality, there would be little expectation of a prosperous society.

So, when royalty such as Prince Harry suggests that the novel coronavirus is a punishment from a nature deity, that really makes one grateful for the Magna Carta, and its enduring legacy.

That’s just what happened; Prince Harry suggested that COVID-19 was Mother Nature’s way of punishing people for being so mean to the environment.

That’s really interesting, because I had the idea that the virus originated in China, either from a filthy wet-market, or from incompetence in a bio-research lab, and the Chinese Communist Party isn’t being open about it because they’re famously unreliable when it comes to anything that can make them look bad (also, they don’t understand how to run a society, which makes the CCP like every communist ever).

Harry then went on to make the case that people should do more to benefit the environment, complete with inane analogies and obtuse non-sequitors. Among these was comparing people to raindrops.

I don’t know, and I don’t care to try to interpret just what he was attempting to say. What I do know is that Prince Harry has a political ideology that goes after ordinary members of the population to recycle every last plastic bottle, in spite of the fact that households produce only about 1% of recyclable waste. But that did nothing to stop him from purchasing a sprawling estate, like other environmentalists such as Barack Obama and Bob Dole, enjoying having as many as 16 bathrooms in these estates. Of course, the fact that these people buy private jets doesn’t mean they’re not opinionated about you driving a car and eating real beef.

You know, the ol’ rules for thee, but not for me.

Nature worshippers, including those who treat “Mother Nature” as a literal personal entity, are living a collective delusion. A person can learn a lot about nature just by reading a guide on how to identify edible plants. In so doing, a person would learn that a day in the woods is not like a trip to the supermarket. The fact is, nature doesn’t give a care about us, not nearly enough to make it easy to tell the difference between a plant that lets us live another day or poisons a person dead.

It’s because of this that the human relationship with nature is one of mistrust, and as soon as we developed the capability to subdue it, we were right to do so.

There is something about neo-environmentalism that’s unsettling, and that’s the creepy undertone that views humans as the bad guy, or that the growth of the human population is something to respond to with tighter top-down controls, with deference to the will of wealthy coastal technocrats, moral authoritarians, and the other unsavory forms of scientism. While they have no problem with telling the rest of us how to live our lives, one simple question makes them disintegrate like vampires in daylight:

If you think this is such a good idea, why aren’t you doing it?

Odds are it’s because the political elites don’t want to live in one-bedroom apartments, subsisting on cheap pasta and taking mass-transit to work a minimum-wage job. Political elites like Prince Harry, Barack Obama, and Bob Dole consume immensely more than the average ordinary human being living today, and they prefer to keep it that way.

I wonder whether Greta Thunberg is aware that this is the case? Maybe that girl should be more careful about who she plays with.

So, how about it, hyper-rich environmentalists? Why not be the change you want to see, if it means anyone will take you seriously? What’s stopping you? It’s obvious what the answer is, and that’s that you still want more than the average person.

So, here’s an idea: let’s reward a person proportionately based on their contributions to society. That way, a person would have more if they earn it, based on what they do. If this were the system that were in place, then how would you justify having more than someone else?

Hard question? I’ll go first. I produce circuit boards that have defense and aerospace applications. What I do is difficult to become qualified to do, with about two-thirds of those who attempt the degree failing or dropping out. What I do, without question, makes the world a better place. I want a house, a couple cars, and the means to support a family well in excess of the replacement rate. I’ve earned it.

So, what does the typical hyper-rich environmentalist do? It’s not so much a question of whether they work for a living as it is whether they’ve worked at all. In fact, if people stopped paying taxes, they wouldn’t have any income. Outside of foreign energy investments, just ask Hunter Biden.

The coronavirus epidemic has been played for political purposes, and a nature deity had been brought into it. That Was Actually The News.

Supreme Court Upholds Religious Protections in Face of COVID Lockdowns

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In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court of the United States blocked the state of New York’s restrictions on in-person attendance for religious gatherings. This was among the first major rulings which involved the newly-appointed Amy Coney Barrett, who sided with the Constitution on this matter in what is now a 6 to 3 conservative-majority Supreme Court.

The ruling seemed an obvious consequence of interpreting the first amendment of the Constitution, the first of a list of Bill of Rights that collectively act as the superordinate principles that govern the relationship between the U.S. government, state governments, and individual members of the population.

While it’s no surprise that the three “liberal” judges ruled as they did, it’s disappointing that a conservative judge, Chief Justice John Roberts, sided against the Constitution in this regard. Considering the value of the Constitution in American society, none of the judges should side against the Constitution in any case.

The text of the first amendment reads as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The law specifically precludes the U.S. government or the states from favoring one religious organization over another, and protects the right of the people to assemble peaceably. This is especially relevant to the Orthodox Jews who complained of the restrictions, and also claimed that they were specifically targeted. Recent restrictions on the number of people allowed in religious gatherings in light of the coronavirus epidemic limited religious gatherings to 25 attendees, or more recently, to ten.

As a personal observation, as I read the language of the first amendment, and see the common themes of the activities and parties mentioned, I get the idea that the government is not to be involved in ideological influencing of any kind towards the population. Protections for religious groups and the press carries a strong implication of this. If this is the case, this would mean that psy-ops historically conducted on U.S. citizens should be strictly illegal. Though, to be fair, private organizations go much further in this regard than institutions of the U.S. government. Anyone who cares to name some examples are free to do so in the comments below.

The Supreme Court pointed out that “even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten. The restrictions at issue here… strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty.”

As the BBC pointed out, the ruling won’t have an immediate impact, as the parties that filed the complaint are no longer under the restrictions that they contested.

Disturbingly, as the coronavirus lockdowns demonstrated, it is possible for state governors to enact orders that are in direct violation of the constitution, and for the unlawful orders to be carried out over the course of months, in which time the courts debate the legality of the orders. Yet, even once state governors are determined to have broken the law, the damage has already been done, including to the assets and enterprises of the people, and these governors face little to no personal consequence for their illegal orders, with the possible exception of Gretchen Whitmer, who may face impeachment for her defiance of a court order.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus restrictions, U.S. citizens have found out that state governors have the ability to cause substantial damage to their livelihoods, and face little consequence for their misuse of power, which in some cases is illegal.

The United States is widely regarded as a country of rebels. There is a reason for that, which has much to do with the fact that our founding fathers figured something out about government: that what makes a leader is a following, and that no one can govern an individual without the individual’s consent. Our proclamation of religious liberty was a direct challenge to a king who claimed that his position of authority was a matter of divine mandate. Today, the religious people of America are being challenged by a different sort of tyrant, the kind who possesses less power, authority, and consequence than a king. Our indignation towards them is unquestionably appropriate, as many of our state governors are loathsome individuals with no respect for the religions or faiths of the founders.

If you’re among the many Americans who, on this Thanksgiving day, are gathering together with family and friends in defiance of the will of certain debased governors, you are doing so with the true heart of an American. If these so-called governors have the hearts to understand it, maybe they’ll eventually figure it out.

But if someone doesn’t have the capacity to understand why a person would want to gather with family and friends, they’re truly unfit to lead.

More New Evidence of Widespread Voter Irregularity

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Earlier today, new evidence was presented of widespread voter irregularity. The information was gleaned from Republicans who were polled and were phoned concerning their absentee ballots. The poll was of a sample of populations, it’s still an indication that something seems amiss, and therefore, an investigation is merited.

The following is a short video presented by Tim Pool, who explains what’s happening very well.

Over the course of this election, I’ve noticed a few trends that seem odd. Any one of them by itself might not seem too troubling, but as they add up, they collectively seem more suspicious.

Among these are:

  • A strong insistence on mail-in ballots, in spite of the fact that several European countries have banned them because they are rife with fraud,
  • The mistaken idea that the Associated Press decides the winner of the election,
  • An unawareness that the election is still ongoing, as votes are still being tallied, and electors still haven’t cast their votes,
  • The presumption on the part of the corporate media that Joe Biden is president elect, in spite of the previous point,
  • A hesitance to recount votes, in spite of the fact that it would hurt literally nothing, and lay concerns to rest,
  • That Republicans observers were barred from observing, and windows were obstructed when an assembled crowd attempted to observe for themselves,
  • Corporate media outlets are repeatedly insisting that the election went just fine, after years of going on about a baseless claim about Russian interference,
  • Repeated denial of evidence of irregularities or fraud in spite of the fact that this evidence is available to the public, and we can plainly see it,
  • The chairman of the Federal Election Commission said that fraud is taking place,
  • Software developed to monitor the election found that votes were flipped.

There’s a lot more, but that seems more than sufficient to get people thinking.

If anything, leftists should be eager to do a recount at the request of right-wingers, if they are so confident that they actually won. That way, if it turns out to be the case, they could say, “That proves it, you happy?” The only reason I can think of that they’d be afraid of a recount is if it turns out that they didn’t win, either because they didn’t muster up enough votes, or there was enough improper or nefarious activity to sway the election.

Why is it that it’s the left-wingers who seem so afraid of the truth?

TWAT News: Hair Dye Banter Keeps Morons Busy While Grown-ups Are Talking

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Hair gel, in one of the many forms recognizable by those who maintain their appearance.

It used to be that you’d have to go to the trouble of fishing out the keys, jingle them, then you let the kids play with them. This distraction buys a surprising amount of time to accomplish something that the kids have no idea is significant, like signing a lease or paying for the food that they end up eating.

Today, you don’t have to do anything, because they are easier to amuse than they’ve ever been.

This is the inescapable conclusion that millions of adults have come to after an RNC press conference in which Rudy Giuliani’s “hair dye” came dripping down, at which point their 17-year-old Minecraft savants took to Twitter to shoot inanities into a digital abyss.

For adults, it’s a sobering moment, as they realize that once these Fortnite legends grow up, they’ll be in a position to change society, and evidently, there’s almost every chance they’ll screw it up. For parents, it’s even worse, as it’s becoming increasingly difficult to deny that these half-wits came from their own genetic material.

On the bright side, they got to do something fun with their genitals nearly two decades ago.

TWAT News: PA Governor Wants You To Wear Masks In Homes

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It used to be that if something was too stupid to be true, it probably was. But this is the year 2020.

In a move that would have had him declared eugenically unfit a century ago, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has laid out new coronavirus rules, including for wearing a mask in your house.

Pennsylvanians, you voted in someone you should never have.

In addition, they are asking that those entering the state be tested within 72 hours, or self-quarantine for two weeks. However, there’s no plan to enforce this measure, which means it may as well not exist.

For those who may be curious, Pennsylvania pretty much despises Tom Wolf. So much so, that someone put up a billboard along the turnpike that says something like, “Don’t blame me, I voted for (someone else).” To understand the spite behind this, consider the fact that the PA governor chair won’t be on the ballot for another couple years, and Wolf is on his last consecutive term.

Someone bought a billboard just to say that Wolf is doing a terrible job.

Governors such as Tom Wolf are becoming more invasive in their demands. It used to be that calling a Democrat an authoritarian was a snarl word, but they are now literally living up to it.

On the bright side, defying Tom Wolf has never been more simple.

That Was Actually The news.

Panic-Buying Round 2 is Underway

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This photo was taken earlier this year.

Just a few days ago, I warned my readers that they have an opportunity to prepare for a possible new round of lockdowns. It would appear that I’m not the only one with my ear to the ground, as people have started prepping for a next round of lockdowns, which seems to be turning into another bout of panic-buying.

While Biden’s guys are flip-flopping on whether to institute a nationwide lockdown (which federal judges in Michigan and Pennsylvania have already found unconstitutional), Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, has decided that she just couldn’t wait and decided to institute a three-week lockdown (ignoring those federal judges). Leftists are itching to lock everything down, and they can hardly contain themselves.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has already opposed lockdowns, citing the economic damage that they do, worsening the problems of poverty and child starvation.

Not that left-wing governors care.

With them, it’s about power. And the lockdowns are yet another way they can express their power over you. Want to physically attend college so you can build career connections? Governors have their own aspirations. Want the income you need to buy that house? Governors care about their own income. Have family plans? Governors have their own plans for the future, and they don’t care about you.

While mass-hysteria fueled by corporate-media sensationalism was the main driving factor of early 2020 panic-buying, the panic-buying of late 2020 is being driven by sheer distrust of left-wing governors, at least one of which is ignoring a court ruling and the law of the land just to do as they please, and more chilling still, they’ve been able to avoid accountability for it until now. That may soon change with the possible impeachment of Gretchen Whitmer, but I’m not counting on it.

Just days ago, a handful of Northeast governors have met up in an emergency meeting to conspire against us discuss further coronavirus restrictions in light of an increase in the number of new cases. Among the points discussing involved more limitations on the number of people who can gather together in one place, which just so happens to be something a Pennsylvania federal judge directly ruled against.

Wow, I had no idea that a federal judge could be simply ignored. Life hack!

Michigan Governor Faces Impeachment Over Lockdown

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(I would have put an image of Gretchen Whitmer here, but my readership probably doesn’t want to look at her.)

Michigan representative Matt Maddock announced on Twitter that he is one of several Michigan lawmakers that will be pursuing the impeachment of Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The impeachment motions would be coming in light of Gretchen’s announcement of new coronavirus restrictions, which she intends to last three weeks. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that Gretchen’s previous coronavirus lockdowns were unconstitutional, similar to another ruling in Pennsylvania.

Not only is Gretchen’s lockdown unconstitutional, it is in direct violation of a court order. What’s more, as Matt explains, she ignored due process and “Weaponized [contact] tracing databases to aid democrat campaigns”.

Of course, it’s also relevant that Gretchen is a dangerous, irresponsible fanatic, for reasons Matt gives in his Twitter post.

Personally, I applaud Michigan lawmakers’ pursuit of the impeachment of Gretchen Whitmer, as I believe that there should be consequences when leadership damages the livelihoods of ordinary citizens in violation of the law of the land. Considering the extent of the damage Gretchen has caused, impeachment is not enough. She needs to be held financially responsible for the damage she caused, as determined by a class-action lawsuit, out of her own pockets.

It would seem as though Gretchen was one of many children who believed that being governor meant that you could do whatever you want, but didn’t at some point learn that the U.S. of A. is a very rule of law kinda place.

Because Gretchen Whitmer thinks it’s okay to ignore the ruling of a federal judge, perhaps Michiganders should ignore her.