Gary Roberts

Comments and requests to DOFANTASY.COM artists and art staff. Send your ideas, fantasies, stories, whatever you want to see in a coming DOFANTASY.COM comic.
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arrakur
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by arrakur »

No need to apologize, Nuria. Your "spangliesh" is still far superior to my non-existant spanish.
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Sarenaph
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by Sarenaph »

Quite right! My post was one of seeking clarity rather than criticism!
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ROBERTS
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by ROBERTS »

OK, beat me up. I get it. I deserve that. Life has gotten way too crazy and I find it impossible to keep my promises. There's no explanation. So Arrakur, what are you owed? $600 US? Write me with where to send it. I want to be done with this.

And now I get to copy this entire thread for legal consultation, because issues of commercial defamation and restraint of trade are now in play. I draw this material for a living. I own a corporation. This makes publishing of negative and defamatory allegations instantly a legal issue. In the time in question, I have lost an 80 acre ranch, a $50,000 car, moved twice, gone through a divorce. Now I'm moving to Europe to get out of the way of the rapidly approaching Fascist Police State here in America. But I apologize, I will make restitution. For posting and publishing the preceeding conversation..we shall see. You have a good day.
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ROBERTS
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Re: Gary Roberts

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Now...as for the other subjects..
It is increasingly difficult to publish this material online. The restrictions placed on web merchants by the banks who process the credit cards, well, it's just become insane and almost impossible. I recently got the newest regulations from a billing bank here in the US and now the rules have been broadened to say that Aliens are a forbidden subject, as are Devils, Demons, Werewolves, or ANY thing not entirely human. Forbidden. We try to create within the very narrow rules, but they are quite strict and threaten the very existance of your business if violated.
This has been the source of great depression to me. Very great. I have been tempted on many a dark night in the past few years to simply quit doing this altogether. There are places I want to go, things I want to see, subjects I want to do, and I can't do it within the restricted structure of a pay website or online content bought through credit cards. It's horribly depressing, and is partially to blame for my poor rate of production, my irresponsibility, and my lack of general caring about it all. For anyone who still has the delusion that America is a "free" country, remember that pornography will still get you hard prison time in a Federal concrete box in this country, a fact pointed out by an aquaintance of mine who just got out of prison after doing a couple of years for making a dirty video. It is impossible to create and have a free mind to create when you can expect to be raided by goons on body armor carrying machine guns for creating the wrong thing. That's where America is now.
Brenda and I have bought a house in a nice village in Czech Republic, and we will be leaving the US, probably forever, Next month. The Czech government has no care whatsoever what kind of pictures I draw, and they don't want to care. I will have no worries about some armored tank pulling up at 3am and spilling black stormtroopers through my door..this happens in America now 1000 times EACH DAY. So I'm leaving.
You should value DoFantasy for as long as you can my friends, because America is on a global rampage of conquest, and control over the Internet is a big priority. Many people and powerful forces HATE what we do here. and I mean HATE. Like Kill you Dead hate. Be kind to your favorite artist, and to Nuria, because it is hard to do this with so many forces working against us.
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Marlene38EE
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by Marlene38EE »

ROBERTS wrote:Now...as for the other subjects..
It is increasingly difficult to publish this material online. The restrictions placed on web merchants by the banks who process the credit cards, well, it's just become insane and almost impossible. I recently got the newest regulations from a billing bank here in the US and now the rules have been broadened to say that Aliens are a forbidden subject, as are Devils, Demons, Werewolves, or ANY thing not entirely human. Forbidden. We try to create within the very narrow rules, but they are quite strict and threaten the very existance of your business if violated.
This has been the source of great depression to me. Very great. I have been tempted on many a dark night in the past few years to simply quit doing this altogether. There are places I want to go, things I want to see, subjects I want to do, and I can't do it within the restricted structure of a pay website or online content bought through credit cards. It's horribly depressing, and is partially to blame for my poor rate of production, my irresponsibility, and my lack of general caring about it all. For anyone who still has the delusion that America is a "free" country, remember that pornography will still get you hard prison time in a Federal concrete box in this country, a fact pointed out by an aquaintance of mine who just got out of prison after doing a couple of years for making a dirty video. It is impossible to create and have a free mind to create when you can expect to be raided by goons on body armor carrying machine guns for creating the wrong thing. That's where America is now.
Brenda and I have bought a house in a nice village in Czech Republic, and we will be leaving the US, probably forever, Next month. The Czech government has no care whatsoever what kind of pictures I draw, and they don't want to care. I will have no worries about some armored tank pulling up at 3am and spilling black stormtroopers through my door..this happens in America now 1000 times EACH DAY. So I'm leaving.
You should value DoFantasy for as long as you can my friends, because America is on a global rampage of conquest, and control over the Internet is a big priority. Many people and powerful forces HATE what we do here. and I mean HATE. Like Kill you Dead hate. Be kind to your favorite artist, and to Nuria, because it is hard to do this with so many forces working against us.
Unfortunately, all I and hubby can do is agree with you.
Part of what I do as Husband's Research Assistant is watch, observe and make note of things like what you refer to above--but not merely the USA, also Canada, Britain, etc..
The Pattern is very distinctive and very disturbing, and part of the reason why our formerly happy little city has now become rather grim and making all manner of preparations for the coming storms.
This has happened before, and I don't mean just WW2, but throughout history.
We're going to try to save Canada, but even that might be a lost cause considering how deeply in bed Canadian politicos are with USA politicos, case in point the new 'snoop' bill here in Canada that allows the US Homeland security full jurisdiction and operational authority in Canadian territory.
They claim it doesn't say that--I've read it, and so has our Lawyer, and it does very much give such authority to DHS.

We just recently had a very close friend pass away from long-standing health problems, and I'll never forget that in some of the last things he said before death came was that he felt so sorry and so scared--for US, those he was leaving behind on this increasingly nightmarish world.

...depending on how things go, we might very well be moving to The Republic ourselves as we will not have our children (when we have them) raised in this kind of environment.

All our best and brightest wishes and hopes for you in your move and our warmest of such for your houewarming!! :22

~Marlene~
~Marlene~
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ROBERTS
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by ROBERTS »

Thank you. Good Luck to us ALL.
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Marlene38EE
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by Marlene38EE »

ROBERTS wrote:Thank you. Good Luck to us ALL.
You're very welcome!! :)
...and on the second point, we'll second it all around.

People think Canada's 'safe' from the kind of creeping facism, but less and less every day. Ottawa is doing a major push right now regarding drones in Canadian skies. Our own and American.
DHS now has full operational jurisdiction on Canadian soil, and we're seeing more and more cases of Police Brutality here in Canada as well, and like in the USA it's been steadily getting worse since the early 90's.
Is it just me, or does it seem like the whole planet has a bad case of 'Stalinism' ??
As for banks, and the problems you and we imagine other Artists have to suffer with, we've looked into Banks for our own reasons relating to the company we want to establish and will be establishing our own. It saves us a lot of trouble in the future for planning and in-company financial aspects...and with our model 'bulletproofs' our company finances against economic turmoil.
We're also discussing how to be able to provide merchant services to you and Artists like you and Dofantasy suffering from Bank-level censorship.
The only lines we'd have as 'unpermissible' would be anything involving children.

For anyone who's interested, this is what we're working with, and is merely the tip of the iceberg.

http://blackwinterenergy.blogspot.ca/

So, Artist Roberts, our business itself may take us to The Republic in helping them with energy supply--and we might just move there, as I've mentioned.
Again, to you and all else.
Our best and brightest wishes and regards in the face of what the world is becoming. :22
~Marlene~
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ROBERTS
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by ROBERTS »

I have had extensive conversations with bankers on the issue, as one might imagine considering the scope and enormous implications. The reality is far worse than anyone will speak of openly, and it has taken me a long time and a lot of conversations with various bank employees and officers to get some truth to this issue.
First off, anyone who wants to get into merchant services online and go against this illegal restraint of trade and censorship by proxy is instantly my friend. Make it happen and set up a working system, and we'll do business. Guaranteed.
As to the actual "rules"...after lengthy discourse with a very nice bank officer and merchant billing agent for one large US bank, I managed to get the Visa/MasterCard rule book for merchant accounts. This was very enlightening, though a long and tedious read. The short of it is: Visa and MasterCard have set NO RULES WHATSOEVER against specific content. NONE. So knowing this, what is happening?
The Merchant Banks, those who ISSUE merchant accounts and do the actual card billing, are LYING. When asked why they won't do billing for certain content, they fall back on a blanket statement of "It's Visa rules"..well that's a bare faced lie of the first order. It is NOT Visa rules at all. It is POLICY set by the INDIVIDUAL BANKs. The BANK does this, NOT Visa. Why?
They have ALL been informed that doing online billing for certain content that the US/UK Government does not LIKE is considered giving material aid to TERRORISM. And any bank doing so makes itself subject to prosecution under the USA Patriot Act for aiding terrorists. These threats are NOT delivered in writing to my knowledge..at least I don't know that YET..but it is known that "National Security Letters" are sent warning banks of such problems in their future should they continue billing for such content.
At present it seems to be a self-imposed censorship and policy on the part of the billing merchant banks because of all the threats delivered in the past and on advice of their own legal departments. It is worthy of note: All merch banks have a dedicated "compliance department" tasked with examining website content..I don't think banks dedicate resources and people for no good cause. This thing is very real.
I'm excited to hear what you are working on...We'll be in Czech from Sept. 17th on..and of course nothing will change here on DoFantasy, except possibly MORE comics from me..Please do keep me up on the progress.
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Marlene38EE
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by Marlene38EE »

ROBERTS wrote:I have had extensive conversations with bankers on the issue, as one might imagine considering the scope and enormous implications. The reality is far worse than anyone will speak of openly, and it has taken me a long time and a lot of conversations with various bank employees and officers to get some truth to this issue.
First off, anyone who wants to get into merchant services online and go against this illegal restraint of trade and censorship by proxy is instantly my friend. Make it happen and set up a working system, and we'll do business. Guaranteed.
As to the actual "rules"...after lengthy discourse with a very nice bank officer and merchant billing agent for one large US bank, I managed to get the Visa/MasterCard rule book for merchant accounts. This was very enlightening, though a long and tedious read. The short of it is: Visa and MasterCard have set NO RULES WHATSOEVER against specific content. NONE. So knowing this, what is happening?
The Merchant Banks, those who ISSUE merchant accounts and do the actual card billing, are LYING. When asked why they won't do billing for certain content, they fall back on a blanket statement of "It's Visa rules"..well that's a bare faced lie of the first order. It is NOT Visa rules at all. It is POLICY set by the INDIVIDUAL BANKs. The BANK does this, NOT Visa. Why?
They have ALL been informed that doing online billing for certain content that the US/UK Government does not LIKE is considered giving material aid to TERRORISM. And any bank doing so makes itself subject to prosecution under the USA Patriot Act for aiding terrorists. These threats are NOT delivered in writing to my knowledge..at least I don't know that YET..but it is known that "National Security Letters" are sent warning banks of such problems in their future should they continue billing for such content.
At present it seems to be a self-imposed censorship and policy on the part of the billing merchant banks because of all the threats delivered in the past and on advice of their own legal departments. It is worthy of note: All merch banks have a dedicated "compliance department" tasked with examining website content..I don't think banks dedicate resources and people for no good cause. This thing is very real.
I'm excited to hear what you are working on...We'll be in Czech from Sept. 17th on..and of course nothing will change here on DoFantasy, except possibly MORE comics from me..Please do keep me up on the progress.
You've given us valuable info with regards to what we need for planning a workaround on the banking issues.
Thank-You!! Being able to have a look at the 'wiring' is invaluable!!
Again, all the best and brightest for your move, and the packing--that's never fun. Looking fwd to seeing more work once you're free of the problematic merchant service aspects!! :22

Back on topic...
Case in point, opening a department within it that will operate as a Merchant Bank and issue Merchant Accounts via internet, phone, etc..
The current ones don't work and will not change, therefore something new must be made.
The problem seems to stem from a whack-job somewhere in the mix of government that feels Art such as that done by you and others is something they find 'offensive' and thus bring to bear the rubberstamp of 'terrorism'...which is getting so overused.

US/UK Banks are vulnerable to such terror-tactics and intimidation, we're Canadian and will be structuring things using the law so that we essentially have a totally new Bank model.
Yes, they'll attempt harrassment, and we'll have a legal division set up to handle that specifically--shields, as it were.
Our version of a 'compliance department'.
We're Canadian, and US Agencies can stay the hell OUT of Canada, and we're under NO obligation to follow USA laws, or even to give the time of day to a US agency...nor will we.

Our in-house 'Anti-Terrorist' dept. will review websites for anti-western sentiment like Radical Islam and such, because NObody wants them getting $$, and we're as on-board with that as anyone else with a sense of logic.

But a list of pre-approved sites with Adult content will be ready to run, Dofantasy as example.

The Canadian Privacy Laws also protect us, too. Those laws here are impossible to get around without a Supreme Court writ/warrant/etc.. And the Supreme Court is NOT known for cooperating with US agencies.
As we're also going to be heavy into financing the Energy Infrastructure here in Canada, that assures protection also.
...and we won't have the slightest problem in calling them out to provide Burden of Proof in Public. Drag things like that into the media with pointed questions and the badge-bullies lose their 'authoritah' hardons really quick.
All conversations and emails/physical mails of such a threatening nature as 'National Security letters' would immediately be made Public also.
It's rule-by-fear, this 'self-imposed censorship' and is the same trash as the nazis and Stalin did. It can and must be fought, with proper planning and foresight.
We're not kidding ourselves, it's going to take a LOT of planning, research and preparation to take on and hold at bay these 'people' who insist on this kind of strong-arm crap and trying to use 'terrorism' as a blanket-cover for Censorship.
People are so afraid to try to stand against this tyrannical-mindedness in government these days.
No one can live in fear, Husband and I flat-out refuse to, and it might not work, but that's no reason not to make the effort.

But it CAN be fought and overcome, what's the alternative??
LET these power-hungry monsters rule via intimidation and nazi-style facism under the blanket justification of 'security', or 'terrorism', or 'for the common good'??
Yeah...there's a world we all wanna live in, right??

My Grandmother served in France in WW2, working with the Resistance from the British Gov't, and she wasn't bringing coffee to the boys, there's a lot of nazis never saw the end of the war due to her. ;)
The same type of nazi-istic stuff is now here, in our home nations, and this is NOT what is Right, Just, Proper or Allowable in the nations our ancestors fought for in their historical inception or in the wars fought to keep this kind of stuff out of our societies.

As for the energy systems, sooner or later we'll find someone or some company that can overlook the fact that we've Open-Sourced it and see the oceans of $$ to be made from operating powerplants using this tech.
Ya think a 500 megawatt plant using Coal/Gas makes a lot of $$??
Eliminate the fuel and waste-handling costs...
Profitable, inexpensive, sustainable power.
While we're looking, or waiting to be 'found'...Husband continually works to refine it for better and better performance.
Thank-You for the interest and we will keep you in the loop about it!!
:)
~Marlene~
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ROBERTS
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Re: Gary Roberts

Post by ROBERTS »

If you have created some super efficient powerplant which promises to change the status quo radically in favor of the public, and possibly take billions in excessive profit away from the established energy moguls, let's examine what you can expect the reaction of Government and Industry to be:

1). Ignore you and hope you'll go away with no investors furthering your cause.

2). Approach you with a handsome offer-with transfer of all patents and full rights of course to some massive corporation.

3). Deliver an ultimatum.

4). Make you go away. Forever.
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