The Count to Zero

An honest review of childhood vaccinations will reduce the US vaccination schedule to zero. But the count to zero has to begin somewhere, and less is observably better than more, so this presidential order is a positive step forward:

In January 2025, the United States recommended vaccinating all children for 18 diseases, including COVID-19, making our country a high outlier in the number of vaccinations recommended for all children. Peer, developed countries recommend fewer childhood vaccinations — Denmark recommends vaccinations for just 10 diseases with serious morbidity or mortality risks; Japan recommends vaccinations for 14 diseases; and Germany recommends vaccinations for 15 diseases. Other current United States childhood vaccine recommendations also depart from policies in the majority of developed countries. Study is warranted to ensure that Americans are receiving the best, scientifically-supported medical advice in the world.

I hereby direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review best practices from peer, developed countries for core childhood vaccination recommendations — vaccines recommended for all children — and the scientific evidence that informs those best practices, and, if they determine that those best practices are superior to current domestic recommendations, update the United States core childhood vaccine schedule to align with such scientific evidence and best practices from peer, developed countries while preserving access to vaccines currently available to Americans.

The corrupt scientists who are the shock troops of the pharmaceutical industry will fight this tooth and nail, of course. But they will lose, sooner or later, because every single person my age has personally witnessed the increasing amount of harm that the ever-growing number of vaccines given to children have unnecessarily wreaked upon the generations that followed us.

Vaccines are flat-out evil. They are definitely the root cause of “crib death”, SIDS, and autism. I strongly suspect they are also the cause of all the food allergies, gluten problems, and intestinal disorders that have been on the increase over the last few decades. They’re not even remotely necessary and they kill far more children than they save. All of the stories about how they “combat disease” are completely false and have been conclusively proven to be false. They are far more harmful than the diseases they are supposed to prevent.

The optimal way to protect Western societies from infectious disease is to a) invest in sewage and waste disposal systems, b) protect the clean water supply, c) end mass immigration and d) restrict travel from countries that don’t do (a) and (b). That will actually work, because that’s what worked in the early 20th century.

DISCUSS ON SG

Fixing College Football Conference Championships

The conference championship games were always stupid and should obviously be abolished in light of the way they now generate less revenue than the playoff games and create unnecessary complications for the College Football Playoff. Here is the correct way to determine a college football conference championship in these days of large conferences where all the teams can’t play each other every season.

  1. Conference championships are determined by the conference records.
  2. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record, the team with the better overall record shall prevail.
  3. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record and overall record, the head-to-head winner shall prevail.
  4. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record and overall record and they did not play that season, or the result of the head-to-head game was a tie, the team that has gone longer since last winning the conference championship shall be declared the conference champion.
  5. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record and overall record and they did not play that season, or the result of the head-to-head game was a tie, and one of the teams joined the conference from a different conference since 2020, the “last conference championship” calculation shall be based on its most recent championship in its previous conference.

In other words, if Minnesota and Washington were to finish in a tie for the Big 10 conference championship next year, Minnesota would be crowned the conference champion since its last conference championship was in 1960, while Washington’s last conference championship was in 2023.

That’s fair, reasonable, and most importantly, respectful of tradition and good for the sport. Look at how the entire country is excited about seeing Indiana being in the Big 10 mix for a change instead of Michigan. And look at how much everyone enjoys seeing new teams in the mix instead of the same six teams taking turns winning the national championship.

This will also permit the CFB to guarantee more spots to conference champions, which is desirable. I’d prefer to see 8 being reserved for conference champions, with 8 at-large invites. March Madness proves that everyone likes to see a dark horse or two included.

DISCUSS ON SG

    Alabama Should Be Out

    I’m not militant about the College Football Playoff one way or another, and I’d prefer to see the so-called “conference championship games” dropped from the schedules. But I do have one opinion, and that is Alabama absolutely does not deserve to be in the playoff.

    To lose so comprehensively and finish with -3 rushing yards means you are not a viable contender.

    UPDATE: I did NOT expect Indiana to beat Ohio State after being forced to settle for three FG attempts, and missing one, on their first three trips into scoring territory. And I think that if Ryan Day had coached like the Duke head coach did to upset Virginia for the ACC title, Ohio State would have won. The risk-averse NFL approach is correct on average, but in a big game, you have to coach to win, not to avoid losing.

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    It’s the BECAUSE That Gets You

    Stop explaining yourself.

    I can’t stress this enough. If you don’t want to look like a moron on a regular basis, if you don’t want to force others to have to conclude you are stupid, for the love of all that is Good and Beautiful and True, stop explaining yourself, your reasons, your decisions, and your actions.

    Seriously, just stop. Consider the word “because” a period. Stop right there. When you hear yourself saying it, let it be your signal to end the sentence right there.

    First, nobody cares. If they want to know your reasons, they will ask you for them. And be aware that if they are asking for them, there is a very good chance they are looking to argue with you, dispute your position, or at least convince you to change your mind.

    Second, you’re probably wrong, either in your logic or in your assumptions. Perhaps in a small way, perhaps in a big way, or perhaps you’re not even wrong but there is enough ambiguous room for a pedantic person to intentionally object.

    Third, you have a right to your opinion, whatever it might be. You don’t have the right to tell people to accept incorrect facts, incorrect logic, or general incoherency.

    Fourth, when you offer an explanation, you are essentially inviting an argument whether you realize it or not.

    So just speak your mind. Don’t justify your opinion, because if you’re like most people, you can’t do so in a competent manner capable of surviving an intelligent critique. You have your right to your opinion, however insane or stupid or justified it might be, so simply rest content with that.

    Here’s how people know that you’re part of the greater retardery in which we are engulfed. When you explain yourself, and then your explanation is conclusively demonstrated to be substantively false in some way, you do not change your position. This informs your interlocutor that there is nothing inside and there is no point in attempting to engage with you on the dialectical level.

    DISCUSS ON SG

    On the Genji Translations

    The people have spoken. The poll is closed. The decision has been made. But there are certain things that might surprise some of you, so you might want to check out the lengthy post on the Library stack.

    The translations were as follows:

    Translation 1 = Arthur Waley 1933

    Translation 2 = Castalia House 2025

    Translation 3 = Edwin Seidensticker 1973

    Translation 4 = Royall Tyler 2009

    Translation 5 = Dennis Washburn 1999

    Since it would not be professional for me to address some of the comments there, I hope you will indulge me in doing so here. But as I do, I hope you will understand that I very much appreciate both the opinions and the passion of those who disagree with me on these matters, as even in opposition, the mere fact that you care about these things means that we have far more in common than we do with the vast majority of the planet that couldn’t care less either way.

    So by all means, take my contemptuous dismissals as a sign of praise and your own merit.

    I really dislike 2. It feels too modern and maybe not the author’s true voice for the time period. It feels more like her voice in translation 1.

    It is more than modern, it is up-to-date in a myriad of ways. But here’s the thing. None of the translations are representational of the author’s true voice. That voice from the first translation you feel is actually the century-old voice of an Anglo-Jewish man who never spoke Japanese, never visited Japan, and expresses an “Edwardian register” more than 1,300 years removed from the author.

    I strongly suspect that of all these translations, #1 is the most faithful to the original. Vox’s background puts him in in a far better position to judge – and if that is so, I would disregard “vox populi, vox dei” and turn to Translation #1 for Castalia.

    Actually, #1 is by far the least faithful to the original. The liberties that I have taken in the interest of literary quality and psychological fidelity for #2 are far more justifiable than the ex nihilo inventions of Arthur Waley. He even omitted an entire chapter because he didn’t feel it was sufficiently important to the narrative.

    I agree that 2 seems very “modern” and missing something of a soul behind it. By “modern” I mean watered down.

    This is a reasonable response because while the modernity is there in the brief 19 lines compared, none of the psychological elements so important to the novel are. I doubt the commenter would feel that way after reading a comparison of an entire chapter.

    Conventional Gamma posturing and doubling-down.

    See Sigma Game.

    I’m curious to hear which translation you think best preserves the flavor of the original.

    The best literal translation is #4, the Royall Tyler translation. There is no question about that. But being a multilingual individual, I very much disagree with the idea that the literal translation is always the optimal translation. I am optimistic that our translation will best preserve the original flavor in literary, emotional, and psychological terms, but that is a verdict that others will have to render down the road.

    For authentic narration and a closer match in tone to the time period, I would really like to have translation 1. For ease of reading, 2 is an obvious choice but I think the loss of the courtly, observational voice takes too much away from what I imagine the author’s style was. I think this particular tome requires a more traditional translation, given what it is. To go with the easier to read option 2, is a disservice.

    Again, there is nothing authentic about the Waley translation. It is a masterpiece, but the courtly observational tone is his, not the author’s. One of the reasons we are doing the new translation is precisely because the emotional distance, almost diffidence, that Waley portrays is absolutely apposite to the emotional sensitivity of the protagonist, whose sleeves are always wet with the dew of his tears.

    1 sounds like it was written by a woman and has a nice poetic rhythm to it. 5 is similar in that it has a poetic rhythm and sounds like it was written by a woman. This sounds like an odd argument, but the Tales of the Genji was written by a woman, and there are certain stylistic qualities that we all share. 

    Both translations 1 and 5 were written by men. 2, on the other hand, is heavily influenced by the modern Japanese translation written by a woman.

    In any event, I very much appreciate everyone who took part in the poll and expressed their opinion. To be honest, I’m just very pleased that our translation was able to hold its own with the excellent translations of Messrs. Seidensticker, Royall, and Washburn, I did not expect that it would actually be preferred to the traditional masterpiece of Arthur Waley, which was our original selection and only other viable option.

    DISCUSS ON SG

    Civilizational Erasure

    The White House warns the European politicians that their long-term course is suicidal on a grand scale:

    Europe is facing potential “civilizational erasure” as the continent’s policymakers encourage censorship, crack down on political opponents, and turn a blind eye to mass immigration, the new National Security Strategy released by the administration of US President Donald Trump warns.

    The landmark and strongly worded document released on Friday says that while the EU is showing worrying signs of economic decline, its cultural and political unraveling poses an even greater threat.

    The strategy cites EU-backed immigration policies, suppression of political opposition, curbs on speech, collapsing birthrates, and “loss of national identities and self-confidence,” warning that Europe could become “unrecognizable in 20 years or less.”

    One of Washington’s key goals is “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations,” the paper adds.

    Trump’s strategy notes that the rise of “patriotic European parties” offers “cause for great optimism,” in a reference to growing bloc-wide support for right-wing Euroskeptic parties calling for strict immigration limits.

    It’s not exactly a mystery what’s happening when on the one hand, they’re encouraging assisted suicide and sexual self-mutilation and sterilization in the public schools and mass immigration on the other. The only thing that is remarkable is how many people are too stupid and short-sighted to admit what has been happening right in front of them for years, if not decades.

    But they’ll fail, sooner or later. They always do. It’s only a question of just how messy the whole thing is going to get before stability is restored. China went through it. Russia went through it. Now it’s the turn of the West to do the same.

    The tragedy is that so many people take civilization for granted despite having no concept on what is necessary to maintain it.

    DISCUSS ON SG

    THE CHRISTMAS THEY HID FROM YOU

    My kids and I were looking through a box of my grandpa’s stuff, and we found a book of Christmas hymns called “Well-Beloved Christmas Hymns”. And the only one of all 25 or so hymns I had even heard before was Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella, and that one I’m only familiar with because one of my friends made a mashup of it, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. That’s a song I’ve never heard on popular radio, and it is a fantastic song. The hymns in that book were all lovely, some better than others, obviously, but all about Christ Our Savior. This is what they took from us.

    The best way to fight the subversion is to ignore it and replace it.

    I’m not really a Christmas carol guy, as my preferred holiday music is Handel’s THE MESSIAH, but I have produced a new remix of THIS VERY NIGHT which is on UATV, and those who are not UATV subscribers can hear at Sigma Game.

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    A Tale of 5 Translations

    As you know if you are a Library or Libraria subscriber, the two volumes of THE TALE OF GENJI by Lady Murasaki Shikibu are the subscription books for October 2025 through March 2026. Written some 1400 years ago, GENJI MONOGATARI is the world’s first true novel, and one of the great classics of Man’s literature. And so, naturally, we want the Castalia Library edition to be something truly special.

    There are seven English translations produced between 1882 and 2015, although only four of them are complete. So, we’re asking Library subscribers, literary readers, and linguistic enthusiasts to help us choose the translation for the two-volume edition on which we’re working now.

    You can read the selections, vote in the poll, and leave any comments or rankings you might have right there on the Library stack. If you have any interest in this sort of thing at all, or you want to help Castalia, please take five minutes, read the five translations – which are, on average, only five paragraphs apiece – and share your opinion. This is important data for us, so the more people who can weigh in with their opinions, the better.

    DISCUSS ON SG

    Ukraine Fraud, EU Fraud

    One of the reasons the unelected EU leaders are so desperate to prevent Kiev from surrendering is that their own financial corruption is going to be exposed. Which process, apparently, has already begun:

    Ursula von der Leyen is facing the starkest challenge to the EU’s accountability in a generation ― with a fraud probe ensnaring two of the biggest names in Brussels and threatening to explode into a full-scale crisis.

    Exactly a year into her second term as Commission president, von der Leyen, already plagued by questions over her commitment to transparency and amid simmering tension with the bloc’s foreign policy wing, must now find a way to avoid being embroiled in a scandal that dates back to her first years in office.

    An announcement by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office that the EU’s former foreign affairs chief and a senior diplomat currently working in von der Leyen’s Commission had been detained on Tuesday was seized on by her critics, with renewed calls that she face a fourth vote of no confidence.

    “The credibility of our institutions is at stake,” said Manon Aubry, co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament.

    If proven, the allegations would set in motion the biggest scandal to engulf Brussels since the mass resignation of the Jacques Santer Commission in 1999 over allegations of financial mismanagement.

    Police detained former Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini, a center-left Italian politician who headed the EU’s foreign policy wing, the European External Action Service, from 2014-2019, and Stefano Sannino, an Italian civil servant who was the EEAS secretary-general from 2021 until he was replaced earlier this year.

    The European Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had “strong suspicions” that a 2021-2022 tendering process to set up a diplomatic academy attached to the College of Europe, where Mogherini is rector, hadn’t been fair and that the facts, if proven, “could constitute procurement fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and violation of professional secrecy.”

    The EU is nothing but a supranational criminal enterprise. Which shouldn’t exactly be a surprise, of course, when you’ve got a group of second-tier satanists in charge. If you give satanists the chance, they will always lie, cheat, and steal, because those are among their inverted virtues. It was never going to be successful; every transnational “union” falls apart and usually sooner rather than later. But the sheer shambolic nature of the EU makes it clear that the member-states never should have given them the ability to produce currency. These current arrests for fraud and corruption aren’t even scratching the surface yet.

    As usual, the fraud itself is not the news. The news is that the fraud is now being permitted to be reported.

    UPDATE: It’s worth noting that both of the arrested EU bureaucrats were involved in the 2014 coup that brought the current Kiev puppet regime to power.

    Belgium police aided by the FBI raided the European Union Diplomatic Corp in a sweeping corruption probe arresting former European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini and former Secretary-General of the European Union diplomatic service Stefano Sannino—both of whom were masterminds in overthrowing the legitimately elected Ukrainian government in 2014.

    UPDATE: Keep this in mind whenever you contemplate the concept of “success” and “achievement” in Clown World. It’s the exact opposite of a meritocracy.

    After serving as a European Commission vice president and head of the EEAS, Mogherini was appointed rector of the College of Europe in 2020, amid criticism she wasn’t qualified for the post, didn’t meet the criteria, and had entered the race months after the deadline.

    DISCUSS ON SG

    Vol. 4: A Roland for an Oliver

    My favorite story from JUNIOR CLASSICS VOL. 4: HEROES OF CHIVALRY

    Guerin de Montglave held the lordship of Vienne, subject to Charlemagne. He had quarrelled with his sovereign, and Charles laid siege to his city, having ravaged the neighboring country. Guerin was an aged warrior, but relied for his defence upon his four sons and two grandsons, who were among the bravest knights of the age. After the siege had continued two months, Charlemagne received tidings that Marsilius, King of Spain, had invaded France and, finding himself unopposed, was advancing rapidly in the Southern provinces. At this intelligence, Charles listened to the counsel of his peers, and consented to put the quarrel with Guerin to the decision of Heaven, by single combat between two knights, one of each party, selected by lot. The proposal was acceptable to Guerin and his sons. The names of the four, together with Guerin’s own, who would not be excused, and of the two grandsons, who claimed their lot, being put into a helmet, Oliver’s was drawn forth, and to him, the youngest of the grandsons, was assigned the honor and the peril of the combat. He accepted the award with delight, exulting in being thought worthy to maintain the cause of his family. On Charlemagne’s side Roland was the designated champion, and neither he nor Oliver knew who his antagonist was to be.

    They met on an island in the river Rhone, and the warriors of both camps were ranged on either shore, spectators of the battle. At the first encounter both lances were shivered, but both riders kept their seats, immovable. They dismounted, and drew their swords. Then ensued a combat which seemed so equal, that the spectators could not form an opinion as to the probable result. Two hours and more the knights continued to strike and parry, to thrust and ward, neither showing any sign of weariness, nor ever being taken at unawares. At length Roland struck furiously upon Oliver’s shield, burying Durendal in its edge so deeply that he could not draw it back, and Oliver, almost at the same moment, thrust so vigorously upon Roland’s breastplate that his sword snapped off at the handle. Thus were the two warriors left weaponless.

    Scarcely pausing a moment, they rushed upon one another, each striving to throw his adversary to the ground, and failing in that, each snatched at the other’s helmet to tear it away. Both succeeded, and at the same moment they stood bareheaded face to face, and Roland recognized Oliver, and Oliver, Roland. For a moment they stood still, and the next, with open arms, rushed into one another’s embrace.

    “I am conquered,” said Roland.

    “I yield me,” said Oliver.

    The people on the shore knew not what to make of all this. Presently they saw the two late antagonists standing hand in hand, and it was evident the battle was at an end. The knights crowded round them, and with one voice hailed them as equals in glory. If there were any who felt disposed to murmur that the battle was left undecided, they were silenced by the voice of Ogier the Dane, who proclaimed aloud that all had been done that honor required, and declared that he would maintain that award against all gainsayers.

    The quarrel with Guerin and his sons being left undecided, a truce was made for four days, and in that time, by the efforts of Duke Namo on the one side, and of Oliver on the other, a reconciliation was effected. Charlemagne, accompanied by Guerin and his valiant family, marched to meet Marsilius, who hastened to retreat across the frontier.

    DISCUSS ON SG