Tuesday Links - 15 October

Tam at Cars Gone By starts things off with some photos. 1956 Chevrolet 210

Few cars are as iconic as the classic "Tri-Five" Chevies, the full-size models from Chevrolet in '55, '56, '57. While the Bel Air, especially in its 1957 coupe form, gets all the ink, the 150 and 210 were the most numerous.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 11 October 2024: Dank And Stary Night Edition

Maybe when the DOJ's antitrust team has finished beating up Google it could take a look at Adobe. Adobe no longer offers perpetual licenses for its low-end Elements products. (Notebook Check)

You can "buy" the 2025 editions right now, but the software will drop dead three years after it is installed.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Annual Admiral Of The Ocean Sea Appreciation Post

It’s two! Two!! TWO!!! awesome posts in one! Since it is the actual Columbus Day (as opposed to the fake & gay Federal Columbus Day on Monday) today we’ll not only celebrate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (and link to some excellent books on the topic, previously covered here) but also do the usual FMJRA stuff.

Matt Margolis at PJ Media - J.D. Vance Destroys ABC News Anchor for Downplaying Immigrant Gang Violence

Raddatz, clearly uncomfortable with Vance’s pointed critiques, attempted to steer the conversation back, stating that “the mayor did not seem [to think] they were invading the entire city.”

That’s when Vance landed the final blow, sarcastically quipping, “A few apartment complexes. No big deal.”

SiGraybeard - Wow... Just Wow... Again!

Starship Flight Test 5. This went beyond Wow, all the way to "Holy Crap!" It's beyond testing a couple of things, and as far as I can tell, it met every objective. I was here to watch this and watched the whole coverage that SpaceX linked to on X. Full screen, 1080p video for just about all of it.

Miguel Gonzalez - Ballistic Group Therapy and some rest

I was privileged to attend the 9th Annual East Tennessee Blogshoot ran by David Brena Bock and Michael Farnette. It was great to finally meet in the flesh people I have been interacting online for over a decade in a half such as the original “Masshole” (His appellative, not mine) Jay Grazio, Weer and Mal among many others.

Splendid Isolation - Failed Landmark

To call the Chrysler a “gem” is to do the building a great injustice. Alone among all the skyscrapers in New York, it’s a building worth saving because its beauty makes it truly a work of art rather than just another grubby office building.

The problem with a building — any building, no matter how well constructed or of what durable materials it was built — is that it needs constant care and refurbishment, which clearly has been neglected by this lovely structure’s various owners over the decades. And to be frank, all of them need to be whipped at the post.

Vox Populi - Not QUITE Nothing. On the situation in Aurora, Colorado.

In fairness, the government didn’t do nothing. It did call them liars and falsely declared that there were no Venezuelan gangs in Aurora, that if there were any gangs there, they hadn’t taken over any apartment complexes, and if they had taken over any apartment complexes, they had paid for them and were running them as legitimate landlords.

Granite Grok - Democrats are Pushing Abortion Extremism

Despite these modest protections, the Democrats continue to push reckless accusations that our law is extreme. The fact is, the majority of voters in New Hampshire, like voters across the country, favor some restrictions on the forcible termination of a preborn child’s life. In fact, more recent polls in the state show that number to be 60 to 70%.

OldAFSarge at Chant du Départ - John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – Sailors and Ships in the Age of Sail (Part 3 of 3)

So, at life’s end, if asked what he did with his life, I am sure Commander Turner would have proudly told anyone willing to listen:

I was a sailor, and you should have seen us on the Garthsnaid. And this is no shit¹. Coming out of Chile, bound for Mozambique in 1920. It was blowing Beaufort force 9 or 10, and we sent men aloft to gasket the fores’l. And, I like a damn fool, decided to take my new camera out to the tip of the bowsprit to take a photo. I got the photo, and luckily lived to tell about it. Here’s the proof:

Adaptive Curmudgeon - WYBDR: Pics Or It Didn’t Happen. That is Wyoming Backcountry Discovery Route.

Photos from my trip (in no particular order).

Use the Weapon You Have Available

That weapon won't always be a firearm. Suspect shot with crossbow during home invasion in Monroe County

Two guys decided it would be a good idea to break into a home of someone they knew, and had some kind of beef with. There was a "prior altercation" in official parlance.

So how would you deal with uninvited guests at 3:30 AM?

[Deputies] say two suspects broke into the home that had two residents inside.

Deputies say that one of the suspects had been shot with a crossbow by a resident of the home.

Frenchtown Township, in Monroe County, Michigan is about half way between Detroit, and Toledo, Ohio.

Deputies arrived, and took the guy with the crossbow bolt embedded in him into custody, and then he was taken to the hospital, for surgery. The guy who didn't get shot with a crossbow, was arrested.

Based on the terms used, "Home Invasion" being how this whole thing was described, it sounds like police are treating it like self-defense. That conclusion is also reinforced by who got arrested. Still, cops don't make those decisions. Charges are determined by prosecutors.

Still, Michigan as developed a fairly good record of respecting your legal right to self-defense.

Germany - Use Towels to Defend Against Machetes

This is sad. From Stephen Green at PJ Media: Oh, SNAP! Germany Has a New Way to Defend Yourself Against Machete-Wielding Migrants

Germany has a little problem with the totally grateful Muslim migrants that Berlin's elites have allowed into the country, where they show their gratitude by stabbing Germans. But don't worry because one German doctor has just the thing to deal with a knife attack, and no, it isn't stitches.

Before we get to that, the most recent case to make the news happened less than two weeks ago, when a Syrian "migrant" wounded 31 people, including two children, in an arson attack. He could also be seen carrying an impressive-looking machete.

And it isn't a joke. Use a "towel snapping technique" to defend against machete.

The towel-snapping technique is 100% guaranteed to almost work, provided your attacker is a frightened woman with a fake knife who doesn't really want to cut you. Also, you have to carry a towel with you everywhere.

Europe is finished. Click thru for more details.

Think Hiring Should Be Based on Merit? You Will Lose Your Job

This would be funny if it wasn't sad. And he hasn't lost his job, yet; he's on suspension. Pink-haired DEI trainer slams Oregon forestry bosses 'for hiring on basis of merit not gender or identity' | Daily Mail Online

God forbid you should hire someone who is qualified for the job. No, you have to discriminate.

Megan Donecker filed a complaint about her former boss Mike Shaw and moaned about him telling her that he sought the 'candidates most qualified for the job.'

DEI advocates like Donecker say hiring should be done through an 'intersectional lens' whereby applications from people of marginalized backgrounds are given greater weight.

Hat tip to Clayton Cramer: No, Not the Babylon Bee.

Obviously, the pink-haired, face tatooed DEI trainer was not hired on merit.

The future is stupid.

Cryin'

Aerosmith is a band that I am never sure if I like or not. Today's song was number 16 on the US Billboard Charts, so I heard it a lot. It is a power ballad, which I usually like, but power ballads from that era were usually a little calmer. But Aerosmith and "calm" don't belong in the same sentence.

Still, the lyrics and the songwriting are worlds better than what you find in 99% of Pop Music today. I leave it to you to decide...

This song is "Cryin'" by Aerosmith from their 1993 album Get a Grip.

Self-Defense in New York State

It remains to be seen if it is legal. Victim identified in Brinckerhoff shooting in Utica

For reasons I can't explain, this got stuck as a draft for a few of weeks. Still worth a look. (And no, there have been no updates that I could find.)

The 46-year-old man shot and killed ... in Utica on Saturday has been identified as Jeffrey Nash, according to the Utica Police Department. Investigators said Nash was shot while inside another person’s home.

No charges have been filed, and in Texas, or Oklahoma, the cops would be taking the homeowner out for a beer. In Florida, the sheriff of the county would be saying how good it is that people have the right to defend themselves and their families.

But this took place in New York.

District Attorney Todd Carville said there are several “legal issues” that need to be investigated regarding the circumstances of the shooting.

Sing the refrain: DAs HATE self-defense.

Self-defense IS a human right, but New York hates that.

Another 3D Printed Gun

As usual, this example is from Impro Guns. Not-A-Glock – A 100% DIY 3D Printed .22lr Pistol

The recently released ‘Not-a-Glock’ pistol is designed to be made in countries which restrict firearms ownership, particularly concealable pistols suitable for self-defense . Built and designed by a European, the build guide includes over 30 pages of detailed instructions on printing and assembly

Not really 100% 3D printed. You will need a few bits of metal from your local hardware store.

Click thru for the photo.

Marriott Hotel Data Breaches - A Distinct Lack of Punishment

This hardly seems like enough to encourage a change in behavior. Marriott settles with FTC, to pay $52 million over data breaches. Though the FTC is also trying to change behavior in other ways.

Marriott International and its subsidiary Starwood Hotels will pay $52 million and create a comprehensive information security program as part of settlements for data breaches that impacted over 344 million customers.

The settlement requires Marriott and Starwood to implement a comprehensive security program and allow their U.S. customers to request personal data deletions.

Additionally, the American hospitality giant has agreed to pay $52,000,000 to 49 states to resolve claims related to the data breaches.

$52 million divided by 344 million customers is about 15 cents per person.

And this wasn't really a single breach, there were 3 separate breaches covering a couple of divisions of the company. Some of the intrusions went undetected for YEARS.

The FTC accuses the two companies [Marriott and its subsidiary] of misleading consumers about their data security practices and outlined failures such as poor password controls, outdated software, and lack of appropriate monitoring of its IT environment.

The FTC also spells out some business practices that Marriott will need to adopt, around security the data of customers, including allowing customers to request deletion of their data. Click thru for the list.

For a company with gross profit in the trailing twelve months of $5 billion, $52 million as a fine for potentially screwing up the lives and credit of 344 million customers seems like less than a slap on the wrist.

As for the business procedures the FTC is mandating, these are not outlandish. The first item on the list is, "Establish a comprehensive information security program with third-party assessments every two years and annual compliance certification for 20 years." That is not out of the ordinary, and will cost money. But they should have been doing that in any event. (They clearly were not.)

I would like to think that in 2024 basic security practices would be covered under the board of directors "Duty of Care," and perhaps a breach of their fiduciary responsibilities, but I know that no one, aside from the grunts in the trenches, will be held accountable. The directors have an out, of course; they used "reasonable care." Which is to say that they don't know anything about security, have no intention to learn about security, and so it never occurred to them to even ask about security. And if they did ask, they probably would have gotten a "don't worry about it" answer. Until some executives, and maybe a handful of directors are held accountable this kind of thing will continue to happen.

Someday companies will take data security seriously. That day is probably not today, or any day soon.

DEI Gaming - Who Is Lying? (Not Endymion!)

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. (DEI) Environmental, Social, Governance. (ESG) These are the embodiment of indentity politics in corporate offices. It is destroying companies left and right, maybe especially in the gaming industry.

Endymion posted a video that was mostly about Ubisoft and implosion of their latest games, like Star Wars Outlaws, but which mentioned CD Projekt Red (CDPR). The CEO of that company immediately took to X/Twitter to call Endymion a liar. And since the Streisand Effect is still acting, here is the response by Endymion.

This video is Endymion bringing receipts, some of which are lifted directly from CDPR's own website, some from their official YouTube channel which show, yes, CDPR IS infected with DEI. I could list some of what Endymion lists, but just watch, or at least listen, to what he has to say.

This is Endymion's video Sweet Baby Agenda INFECTS CD PROJEKT RED as CEO Panics + EndymionTv SWARMED by Woke Freaks. It is a 26 minute video, but there are only a few places where you need to watch. (A clip of a Polish video with subtitles jumps to mind.)

If You Don't Like DEI-Infested Games, You're a Bad Person

Sweet Baby Inc. is a consulting company that "works" on video games to increase their DEI quotients. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, in video games, like it push into Hollywood, does not improve storytelling, or gameplay. It does provide employment for the "consultants." Several of the games that Sweet Baby Inc. has been associated with recently, have flopped spectacularly. Both the flops, and their involvement in the flops, and the reason the games were flops shined a light on the DEI consulting companies in the gaming arena. The CEO of Sweet Baby Inc., Kim Belair, is not happy in the spotlight these days.

And she is calling gamers who don't like these Woke games some vile names. See the articles linked below the video.

The most recent big-name game that has Sweet Baby Inc. fingerprints all over it is from Rocksteady Studios and Warner Brothers. It is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. It is technically part of the Batman Arkham series, but while those games were massively successful, Kill The Justice League can't be described in anyway, except as a failure. You can find their other games listed at the DEI-Detected website.

Derek Anderson is a YouTube creator who has a lot of energy. I like a lot of his takes on stuff. This video made me smile, on a day when I needed a smile.

This is Derek Anderson - The D.A. video PURE PANIC MODE!! Sweet Baby Inc SCRUBS Website! Kim Belair CRIES VICTIM! The Walls Are CLOSING IN!!

A couple of the stories that The D.A. covers in the video linked are below.

First from That Park Place: Sweet Baby Inc. Redesigns Its Website To Remove Client And Game List As Well As Hide Its Woke Agenda

Sweet Baby Inc. redesigned its website to remove its client and game list in an apparent attempt to hide its woke agenda to potential clients.

There was a page that listed all of their clients. Then they redesigned it to make it impossible to simply copy the text. Now they have removed all reference to what companies they have worked with and what games they have impacted.

Next from Bounding Into Comics we have Sweet Baby Inc. CEO Kim Belair Reflects On Company Backlash, Says Anti-DEI Critics Are Coming Together Under The “Rallying Cry Of Far-Right Supremacy”

In the opinion of company CEO Kim Belair, not only has the ongoing discourse surrounding the work of Sweet Baby Inc. amounted to nothing more than a “campaign of harassment”, but its critics’ opposition to the concept of corporate-styled ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ is an indicator of their “far-right” ideals.

Because like the folks in Hollywood can't admit that their TV shows and movies are horrible, the people from Sweet Baby Inc. and the rest of the DEI consulting firms can't admit that they are making horrible games. If you don't like a gender-swapped Han Solo in the latest Star Wars game, you are a sexist, at least according to DEI consultants. It goes on from there.

The one ray of sunshine from all of this, is that the name-calling is starting to elicit laughter. When game like Kill the Justice League, or Concord, or Dusborn gets hammered in the marketplace, calling your potential customers -ists and -phobes, over and over and over again, starts to sound like insanity. (Dustborn debuted to 83 concurrent users on Steam as an example.)

Politics are downstream of culture. For too long the Right has abandoned pop culture to the Progressive Left. "It's only comics. It's only video games. It's only movies and TV." It is only the culture. And now they are shocked to discover that the culture is screwed up, the politics are screwed up and more. Add in the Right's abandonment of education to the Left, turning state-run education into little more than communist indoctrination, and it is no wonder that this country is in bad shape. In the past 30 years, or more, if anyone on the Right even noticed what was going on in Pop Culture it was to denouce something. Even now, I don't think most people recognize where the rot begins.

Four Legged Threats

I don't know why people are shocked to discover that nature is "red, in tooth and claw." Duck hunter fends off wolves, kills one with shotgun in ‘self defense’

A 19-year old Sugar Camp man shot and killed a wolf while hunting waterfowl the morning of Sept. 21.

The wolf kill was confirmed by both the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the United States Fish & Wildlife Service who’s been handed the investigation into the events.

The DNR has issued a statement saying they feel the shooting was justified, and was done so in self defense.

Nature is not the way it was depicted in the Disney movies of the 1960s and 1970s. Wild animals are cuddly creatures. Carnivores are definitely not to be taken lightly. And as this story indicates, you are only an apex predator when you're armed.

One entity that reached out was Hunter Nation, a staunch advocate for the delisting of wolves from the Endangered Species list.

I haven't looked, but I'm pretty sure you will find someone, who thinks their local park is the deep forest, that has a problem with someone defending himself in this fashion.

I Miss Living in a Civilized Society

I miss law and order, and respect for our fellow human beings. Violent Mob Attacks 7-Eleven Clerk In Orange County

A store clerk was attacked by a group of about 50 members trying to rob a 7-Eleven store in Anaheim, police said.

Cops had been called to a mob taking over a street when the robbery call came in. They couldn't reach the store because of the traffic caused by the mob.

Delayed by the traffic from the street show, officers arrived at the store after suspects had fled the scene.

Several members, mostly men can be seen ransacking the store, climbing on counters, pushing shelves and throwing merchandise.

In other words, mayhem for the sake of mayhem, along with the stealing.

Some members were seen filming the assault-robbery and laughing at clerk with bloodied face.

No still shots from the video, no link to the video, no description of the suspects/perpetrators. I wonder why that is.

Seems time to include another link to Hobbes' Leviathan. We need law and order for civilization to thrive. The idea that security is required for civilization to endure is not new. Hobbes published Leviathan in 1651. In that book he describes the State of War that ensues when law and order break down.

Western Civilization is built on a foundation of law and order. Without law and order, you can't have nice things. You can't have anything really. Or as Hobbes stated it, when there is no force-of-law to keep people in check, things break down, and life become nasty, brutish, and short.

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Meet Random People Online, and Then Meet Them in Real Life

What could possibly go wrong? Armed robbers are using dating apps to lure women into traps, Chicago police say - CWB Chicago

Armed men are luring women into robbery traps after meeting them on dating apps, Chicago police say. Three women have been targeted so far when they arrived at rendezvous locations in Auburn Gresham and Chatham.

According to CPD, the first woman was robbed when she arrived for a meet-up in the 800 block of East 90th Street around 6:46 p.m. on September 15. Two men forced the woman into an abandoned building and robbed her at knifepoint

Am I just old, or does meeting people like this sound... ill advised?

The future is stupid.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 12 October

Animal Magnetism starts the ball rolling with Animal’s Hump Day News

Oh, they’re going to.
Scientific American has been missing a lot of marks lately.

EBL - Harris Walz Media Hurricane 🌀🤔😠

RedState: Blackhawk rotor-washes western NC relief center
Breitbart: Hurricane Milton Landfall

The Right Way - Top of the News

Netanyahu Blocks Israeli Defense Minister's US Trip - Newsmax
How exactly did FEMA acquire all the money it’s spent on illegals this year? - American Thinker

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 10.10.24

Glenn Reynolds: Debt Doom Is Coming
Protein Wisdom Reborn: Humpday Shrapnel

Tam at View From The Porch - Some Links...

Marko's writing update...
Bobbi's omelette tips...

Battleswarm Blog - LinkSwarm for October 11, 2024

Elon Musk thinks that the reason so many billionaires are dumping money on Kamala is that they’re terrified Trump will release Epstein’s client list.
Does internal polling show Harris in trouble?

Vlad Tepes - How bout that weather, Pierre Poilievre shines, Liberals lie about him and more: Links 1 for Oct. 10, 2024

1. A reader sent in another solid data point with reference to the article on what appears to be a biblically designed attack on our civilization. The photo below says a great deal actually, especially given that it is a major Embassy for the COMINTERN.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 10.11.24 (Morning Edition)

Dana Loesch: The Harris Campaign Tries Baiting Voters With WoW
Michele Catalano: you gotta have faith

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Another DIY Thursday

Biden Admin: Gee, Why Won't the Israelis Tell Us Their War Plans? – HotAir
JD Vance Rips Biden-Harris 'Incompetence' in Hurricane Helene Response - Newsmax.com

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism – The Economist Edition!

“You’re going to get a bounce kamala; you’re going to get a bounce!” “No you ain’t man, no you ain’t.”
Big American cars are killing machines

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 10/10/2024

Epstein Victim Virginia Giuffre Offers to Give Elon Musk the ‘Client List’
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s whistleblowing victims, has issued a public statement to X boss Elon Musk, offering to give him the names

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 10.11.24 (Evening Edition)

Volokh Conspiracy: The First Real Judicial Filibuster
Watts Up With That: Unraveling the Nuclear Fusion Confusion

Small Dead Animals - Thursday On Turtle Island

Blackie’s Canada: Comrade Chow doesn’t show up for a memorial.
Woke World: Gone fishing. Anzac lives matter. The thin loo line.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Here’s Adam Carrington on William B. Allen on Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws.
Charles Cooke’s opinion of Kamala Harris is not ambiguous:

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 10/11/24

Putting American hurricane victims behind illegal aliens.
The Biden Team’s Disastrous Performance on Disaster Relief

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: The End of 60 Minutes

• Try a Little Honesty About Israel - Victor Davis Hanson
• Americans Can Overlook Cowardice, But Not Stolen Valor - Amuse

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 10/11/2024

An illegal immigrant accused of forcibly raping a minor in Massachusetts was released back into the community by court officials, despite an active immigration detainer against him.

I leave you with Your humpday memes from Wirecutter, Thursday Memes .. from MaddMedic, and Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #2067 from 90 Miles from Tyranny.

Impro Guns Has a Scary Example

Impro Guns has some odd weapons, but today's example is not something I would shoot. UZI?

‘HECHO EN BRASIL 9 METRE UZI’

According to Google translate, that is not quite "Made in Brazil, 9mm Uzi." Though it looks more like the Professor Parabellum version of the MAC 10.

Click thru for the photo of the weapon in question.

He Stole From, and then Murdered His Father

I guess he missed the lesson about "Honor thy father..." New bodycam video shows police shoot, kill suspect in father's murder after chase from Plano ends in Aurora near Rt. 34, Eola Road - ABC7 Chicago

Also the lessons about "Thou shalt not steal," and "Thou shalt not murder" seem to have been skipped. But then these lessons seem to be sadly lacking from 21st Century America in general.

Aurora, Illinois is roughly a 40 mile drive due west of downtown Chicago. How long it takes to make that drive will depend on whether or not it is morning or evening rush hour.

A man had called 911 from Plano after he noticed some of his personal guns were missing from his home, audio released Friday shows. A few moments later, the homeowner could be heard shouting and there's a loud bang. That's when police said 70-year-old Russell Novak was shot dead.

A Plano police officer got to the home as someone was backing a vehicle out of the garage. Another officer spotted the suspect and started to follow the vehicle.

Cops chased the vehicle, and when the driver got out of the car, he pointed a gun at officers. He did not survive.

So he stole guns from his 70-year-old father, then shot and killed him when discovered, ran from the cops, and then eventually committed suicide by cop. That is how it seems to me. (Point a gun at cops, and things will not end well for you.)

Did I miss anything? Well, I miss living in a sane society.

Industrial Disease

Dire Straits was never really one of my favorite groups. They had a couple of songs that got a lot a radio play, such as "Sultans of Swing," and I mostly liked those songs, but I never searched out their music, and I never purchased any of their albums.

This song must have gotten at least some time on the radio, because I remember hearing it. Hearing it again recently on WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback. some of the lyrics caught my attention.

There's a protest singer, he's singing a protest song, he says
"They want to have a war to keep their factories
They want to have a war to keep us on our knees
They want to have a war to stop us buying Japanese
They want to have a war to stop Industrial Disease
They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
They want to sap your energy, incarcerate your mind

This song is "Industrial Disease" by Dire Straits from their 1982 album Love over Gold

Friday Links - 11 October

A somewhat abbreviated Links post. Insomnia usually means I have more time for the blog, but Real Life™ has also played a part.

Miguel Gonzalez has some thoughts on Preparing for deadly emergencies.

Now imagine if hurricanes were treated like school shooters. We would not have more effective building codes, or a mindset to survive the storm, or rebuild after the incident and apply any knowledge to lower any future risks to life.

SiGraybeard has more to say about NASA and Space Launch System. Someone else is dumping on SLS and NASA

The Other McCain - Democrats ‘Increasingly Worried About a Number of Issues Plaguing’ Kamala

Remember what I told you in mid-September? “Kamala Is Underperforming” was the headline, at a time when the newly-minted Democratic presidential nominee was still riding her post-convention “bounce.” A careful comparison of Harris’s poll numbers to Joe Biden’s numbers in 2020 and Hillary Clinton’s numbers in 2016 showed that she was weaker against Trump than either Joe or Hillary.

The View from North Central Idaho - AI Bias in Political Violence Reporting

There have been two attempted assassination attempts on former President Trump. There seems to always damage to local campaign offices of both parties. I decided to compare the numbers.

This conversation is with Microsoft’s Copilot. The “oversight” may be telling…

Adaptive Curmudgeon - WYBDR: All Hell Breaks Loose

The mystery and joy of “adventures” is that time becomes malleable. It was mid-afternoon and I’d already lived a year’s fun. I’d been through regret and uncertainty as my little bike struggled over a high altitude pass on smooth pavement. I’d been justly pleased with my choices as the rugged little bike climbed over a remote pass on its native habitat of dirt. And now I had settled into a deep feeling of contentment. All concerns of the outside world were irrelevant.

Deadspin to Face Defamation Suit From Young Chiefs Fan

They thought they could get away with defaming a young Kansas City Chiefs fan. Aside from the PR disaster, they have a continuing legal disaster. Deadspin loses bid to toss defamation suit over article accusing young Chiefs fan of racism

Holden Armenta, was 9 years old when he attended a Kansas City Chief's game where he and his family were defamed. (That is my 1st amendment-protected opinion, anyway.) Deadspin, a sports website, in the person of writer Carron Phillips, thought it would be a good idea to publish a photo of the child, and accuse that 9-year-old and his family of racism. First they showed the side of his face which was painted black, but not the side painted red. (Red and black are the colors of the Kansas City Chiefs.) Not content with that, they went after the child for wearing a Native American headdress. Then they learned he was of Native American decent.

How do lawyers spell, "Oops?" I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm guessing it rhymes with "motion to dismiss."

So they got called out for hiding the red paint covering one side of Holden Armenta's face, and assuming that they knew his racial background by looking at a photo (does that make Carron Phillips and the rest of the Deadspin staff racist?) they were understandably upset when the family of the 9-year-old sued for defamation. Maybe dismayed is a better word than upset.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg denied Deadspin’s motion to dismiss the Armentas’ lawsuit, rejecting arguments that the article was opinion and thus protected from liability for defamation.

“Deadspin published an image of a child displaying his passionate fandom as a backdrop for its critique of the NFL’s diversity efforts and, in its description of the child, crossed the fine line protecting its speech from defamation claims,” the judge wrote.

I hope that the Armentas get a boat load of cash, enough to pay for many trips to see the Kansas City Chiefs, to celebrate their Native American heritage, and a lot more. (In the past I would have said "the best college education," but really college is mostly worthless today unless you're studying something like engineering.)

And I hope that no one ever forgets the name of Carron Phillips for being an asshole to a 9-year-old child, and the name of Deadspin for being a horrible organization.

There has been justice, if only of the poetic kind, in the case, since one month after Deadspin published the article in question, G/O Media sold the website, and all of the staff, including Carron Phillips was, laid off.

Editor's note: I wanted to include a picture of the racist asshole, Carron Phillips, who started this whole thing, but he doesn't deserve the effort. The NY Post has a photo of him, if you're interested.