Robert Malone makes Stripe back off
Plus: Ukie gets head blown off by NATO RPG; Magnificent take down of Madonna; 8X video of the ship smashing into the bridge; Julius Caesar, immigration, and housing; Handheld Xbox coming?; Plus more!
Welcome to this week’s issue of Morgthorak’s Goody Bag. This post is a smorgasbord of the content I’ve read this week, and that I liked enough to share with you here. 😎
Before I get into this week’s goody bag, I have good news: Paid subs are back on, and you can buy one for 35% off right now. Read on to find out why I turned them back on, and thank you in advance for supporting my writing. 👍🏻
The power of lawyers: Robert Malone beats Stripe
Good news on the Robert Malone situation. Stripe has backed off trying to monitor his bank account:
I am pleased to be able to report that this prompt coordinated action has resulted in an abrupt shift in the Stripe requirements imposed on this account, and substitution of the requirement that the following form should be completed and submitted on a short timeline, in lieu of the prior requirement for full access to bank account records.
I am now understanding that a similar change in requirement has been communicated to at least one other Substack author who had been subjected to this arbitrary and capricious business interference by Stripe, but that others have now had their accounts placed on hold by Stripe.
While I am very glad that this turned out okay for Malone, I am still concerned that Stripe might go after some of the smaller fish like me. They know we cannot afford a high-priced lawyer to fight them, so I believe it is likely that they will continue persecuting those who cannot afford to fight them financially by hiring a lawyer.
I asked one of the Substack guys about adding ACH as an alternative to Stripe:
I doubt I will get an answer from on this, though, as the Substack guy didn’t answer my first inquiry about ACH. So I do not know what will happen long term with Substack and Stripe. 🤔
Ukranian arms instructor gets head blown off
This is a gross video, so don’t watch it if you are easily freaked out. Apparently, NATO grenade launchers get jammed frequently, and that is what seems to have happened. What a way to go! 😳
Josh Slocum’s magnificent take down of Madonna
Madonna has been a train wreck for years, but it has never been more apparent that she is NOT aging well, and I’m not just talking about how she looks. Josh Slocum attended a recent Madonna concert and wasn’t impressed with what he saw there. It’s tough to see a pop idol slowly careening down the shitter:
I wish it were different just the same. Madonna has always been mentally disturbed, but (whether you like her or not) she has also been driven, creative, and productive. Her warped frame of mind has taken over in her twilight, pushing aside what was left of her as a performance artist.
People with Cluster B personality disorders often get much worse with time and age, and it’s sadly evident in her. She is decompensating. Narcissism comes from fear of not being good enough, not being loved enough, not being worth sticking around for through thick and thin. If we can gauge Madonna Ciccone’s level of fear and self-loathing by her increasingly deranged refusal to be a 65-year-old-human, then she’s very bad off indeed.
It wasn’t until 41 that I started to change my mind about politics and culture. Having spent most of my adult life as a progressive liberal gay, you couldn’t have convinced me that I’d be writing this way about my teenaged idol. But I’m a small-c conservative now, and I think the values I carried for the past few decades were immature, wrong-headed, and unhealthy.
She never grew up, and now it’s time to say goodbye.
Ouch. Well, I have to say that I didn’t know about Madonna’s family background until I read Josh’s article. But it definitely explains a lot about her and why she has behaved the way she has over the years. Perhaps a good therapist might have been able to help her earlier in life, but we’ll never know now.
It’s too bad. If she’d been able to get past it, she might have aged well and become a grande dame of pop instead of trying to desperately hang on to the pop tart she was 40 years ago. That was a missed opportunity on her part, and it’s sad to see what she has turned into since the 80s.
Prince, George Michael, and Michael Jackson have all been dead for years, but it is Madonna who might have the cruelest fate of all: Lingering on, year after year, while her body decays and her artistic abilities slowly fade away. Someday she will look in the mirror and see an old woman, no matter how much plastic surgery she has to try to convince herself otherwise.
Sad.
8X video of the ship smashing into the bridge in Baltimore
This video makes it look like the ship was deliberately turned into the bridge. I’ll let you watch it and make up your own mind. The whole thing is quite suspicious, if you ask me. There are many unanswered questions.
Julius Caesar, immigration, and housing
Excellent thread on X about Caesar, immigration, and housing. Everything old is new again, and you can see similarities to the situation in America right now as the corrupt, depraved elites of today do the same crap as the Roman elites back then. Ultimately, things didn’t end well for the elites of Rome, and they won’t end well for those of America either.
Is a handheld Xbox on the way?
I’m a huge fan of the Nintendo Switch, but now it seems that the Switch might have some competition besides just the Steamdeck. Microsoft might release a handheld Xbox game console. As much as I love Nintendo, this could be great for gamers, as the more competition, the better.
If recent rumours are to be believed, however, it seems like Microsoft might be wanting to get in on the action with its very own dedicated Xbox handheld. As covered by the lovely lovelies over at Pure Xbox, Windows Central's Jez Corden has stated that Microsoft actually has handheld prototypes at this very moment during an episode of the Xbox Two Podcast.
Corden then went on to clarify that the protypes in use may not go to market, but nevertheless seemed convinced that Microsoft is actively pursuing the handheld space. Indeed, Xbox's own Phil Spencer recently spoke to Polygon and confirmed that the company is investigating "different hardware form factors" with a specific view to finding new players.
He went on to express his frustration that third-party handheld devices simply don't offer up a pure enough Xbox experience, stating "I want to be able to boot into the Xbox app in a full screen, but in a compact mode. And all of my social [experience] is there. Like I want it to feel like the dash of my Xbox when I turn on the television. [Except I want it] on those devices.
We’ll have to wait and see if Microsoft is serious, but if they are, then Nintendo is going to get some real competition in the handheld gaming space.
Arnold’s open heart surgeries
Arnold, a pusher of the not-vaccines and the asshole who said “screw your freedom,” has had three open-heart surgeries and now has a pacemaker. The not-vaccines aside, I wonder how much damage he did to his heart with all the steroids, etc. back in the 80s.Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior died years ago because of what they did to their hearts in the 80s.
If you read my post called “Twilight of the 80s action gods” then you know I despise Arnold, and I have no sympathy for him after his bullshit during the fake pandemic. He’s a fake, a phony, and a fraud, and always has been. I could never sit through one of his shitty action movies from the 80s again.
A hunting dog that forgot how to hunt
The owner of his dog needs to do some additional training or something, or maybe just get him a girl dog for this sort of thing. 😂
Memes of the week
Winner:
Runners up:
Morgthorak the Undead week in review
If you missed some of my content this week, here are the links so you can get caught up:
Friday fun thread: Which breed of dog is the most dangerous?
White males: Listen to "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Curse #2 and the death of a friend
Did the not-vaccines poison the royal family?
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Great thread on Rome and Caesar, it didn't help that the elites were to lose all that they gained thanks to Augustus. Caesar was to win enormous gains in his conflict against the aristocracy, but the trouble was that in time he began to compromise and otherwise neglect the people, it was Augustus who was to uphold every promise.
Those like Tacitus partly hated Augustus for ruining things for the elites, when he deprived them of their lands and gave it to the poor, who were to re-establish farming communities throughout Italy. But also in Gaul & Hyspania. In time they integrated with the locals of those regions, and interestingly enough they were to meld with the local Celts of Gaul to form the 'Romano-Celtic elites' that the Francs were to later hunger for the support of. Regarded as wealthy and cultivated, and very, very learned they were what Clovis & his sons hungered for more than anything else (save women). That said, in later centuries the learning and culture of this mixed Roman-Celtique people were to become hugely important to Charlemagne, and then later to his descendents the Capets line of Kings.
So the Roman 'peasants' or 'plebs' who left Italy in Augustus's time to colonize the lands of those who were colonising them were to have a massive impact wherever they went. Those who left for Africa, wind up influencing Rome for nigh on 500 years, with many such as St-Augustine being influenced by them, the likes of St-Paul making contact with many of their communities elsewhere. They also spread to Greece, and were to establish important centres there.
Those 'lazy, Roman plebs' were to become the backbone and most important part of Augustus's Empire. And the fact that he and his wife Livia, and best mate Agrippa relied on them, trusted them and favoured them above all others is why they were revered and why Rome prospered.
About the Baltimore bridge strike, a former ships engineer gives his take on what might have happened. A YouTuber called retroonhisbikes in a video called Expert Ships Engineer reacts to Baltimore Bridge Crash. It might be interesting to listen to.