Wednesday Link Roundup - 15 July

William Teach at Pirate's Cove starts us off with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

Bustednuckles has mouth causing trouble.
Don Surber has highlights of the week.

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.14.26 (Afternoon Edition)

Baldilocks: Right Place
CDR Salamander: Midrats Mid-July Melee, also, Navy’s Perfectly Named

EBL - Stephen Fry on the Illiad and Odyssey

Great commentary by Stephen Fry
AoSHQ: Morning Report 07.13.26

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 14 July 2026: The Origin Of Croissants Edition

55% of Americans have stopped regular use of social media. (PC Magazine)
Because they're tired of dealing with communists.

Small Dead Animals - Sunday On Turtle Island

The Democratic Party’s America: Victor Davis Hanson – Graham Platner. Tiny minority.
Stories You Won’t Find At Carney’s CBC: We rest on thee. Legacy of free speech. A trans complaint.

Political Hat - News of the Week (July 12th, 2026)

California Wants a Watcher Inside Every 3D Printer
California decided your printer should treat you like a suspect.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Sen. Lindsey Graham Dead at 71

John Sexton at Hat Hair hears Russia Closes the Kerch Strait After 76 Ships Hit With Drones. At Space.com, The US wants to build offshore rocket launch sites.

Don Surber - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

ITEM 11: Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed legislation permanently eliminating the state’s requirement that high school students demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, and math to earn a diploma.

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkange

The Midwest Chick Saturday Meme Drop………….
Pirates Cove Leftards Wonder Why Platner Dropped Out, Because He Could Have Won Or Something

Vlad Tepes - China’s IP theft from Canadian scientists, the forcing of sharia norms in Canada, UK and USA: Links 1 for July 13, 2026

1. CSIS Warned About Him for Two Decades. Then a Clean Energy Scientist Allegedly Copied Thousands of Files for Beijing on the Eve of Retirement
One wonders if anyone in the Canadian Gov’t does not work for the CCP.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 7/11/2026

Bettering yourself financially or at least giving your children the opportunity for a more prosperous future has driven people to emigrate to the United States for generations. But is the next generation still better off in this day and age?

The Glibertarians - Sunday Morning Orientation Links

Put your hands on your wallet, here go prices again!
This can’t be true because Canada has LAWS! Maybe the guns came from Indiana.

Maggie's Farm - Monday morning links

The genetics of the colors of warblers
Wealthy Americans Prefer This Grocery Chain Over Any Other, Survey Finds: Costco

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades of HQ - The Morning Report — 7/ 13 /26

The Democrats rely on this technique to move the political needle, but there are simple ways to counter it.
Manufactured Moral Outrage

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Jim Banks introduces bill to end birthright citizenship by following Kavanaugh roadmap

• Climate Change Is the Omnicause - David Strom
• Amid Democrat Attacks On SCOTUS, Analysis Shows Jackson Is Most Partisan Justice By Far - Skye Graham

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 07/14/2026

President Donald Trump will give a ?national address on Thursday night about newly declassified intelligence on investigations into U.S. elections and what the White House says are voting machine vulnerabilities

I leave you with Sunday’s When the Weekend is almost over Meme Drop 7-12-26 from Midwest Chick's Place, Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, and Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3921 from 90 Miles from Tyranny.

Self-Defense Is Legal in Michigan

And for once the prosecutors seem on board with that. 2 involved in Fairlane mall shooting acted in self-defense: prosecutors

Fairlane Town Center mall is in Dearborn, a city in Wayne County, Michigan, which is located about 7 miles west of downtown Detroit.

Three people were shot, two fatally, at 1:25 p.m. Friday, July 3, inside the shopping center on Michigan Avenue. Cameron Watkins and Keonte Seaborn, both 19 and of Detroit, were killed.

The person is charged, if I'm reading this correctly, with unlawful carry of a concealed firearm. So the prosecutors had to go for something.

And then there is this:

Dearborn police Detective Benjamin Harless said the shooting was "most likely a gang-related incident."

Color me shocked.

Remembering Kevin Mitnick

Kevin Mitnick passed away 16 July 2023 at the age of 59 from Cancer. The Wiki lists him as a "computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker."

From The Drive we get a story about hacking. This Man Was Gifted His Dream Car by the Notorious Hacker He Put in Prison

It’ll help if you know the name Kevin Mitnick. He was a hacker-turned-security consultant who, later in life, helped shape the modern white-hat. Just how prototypical was Mitnick? He put himself on the proverbial map in 1979 by dialing into a software company’s server and copying its forthcoming operating system release in its entirety. Imagine convincing a Microsoft server to cough over an early copy of Windows 12 using little more than a phone number.

Click thru for the details of how Mitnick got caught trying to hack/social engineer his way into Novell in the 1990s.

In the end, Shawn Nunley caught him. Mitnick was convicted and sent to prison.

When he got out, Mitnick contacted Nunley to apologize. Their bury-the-hatchet moment was even immortalized by Wired, and they went on to become good friends.

Mitnick went on to found a couple of White Hat hacking/consulting firms. He became quite successful.

When Mitnick passed from pancreatic cancer in 2023, he left Nunley a gift—enough to buy his dream car, a 911 Carrera 4 GTS.

An interesting story.

Come Together

So based in part on a YouTube channel that I follow sporadically, I have been revisiting the Beatles. Some of their early music I despise. Some of the later work I love.

This song is "Come Together" by The Beatles from their album Abbey Road, which came out in 1969. It wasn't the last album released, but it was the last album recorded before they disbanded.

Film Threat Reaction to The Odyssey

Alan Ng and Chris Gore had the opportunity to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Alan hated it. Chris said it was mixed.

This is the Film Threat Reactions video THE ODYSSEY OUT OF THE THEATER SOCIAL MEDIA REACTION

“I can’t wait to not see this movie again."
    — Alan Ng

Tuesday Links - 14 July

Andy Ngo at Ngo Comment is first with ACLU Releases Guide on Hiding Digital Evidence at Direct Actions

The ACLU recently released a guide on how “protesters” can hide or destroy digital evidence of their involvement in street direct actions after a North Texas Antifa cell was convicted.

Patrick Dent at Chicago Contrarian - Death in Deering: What’s the cause of death? It’s a five-letter word that begins with G

Only deep into the article do we finally encounter references to long-standing conflicts between gangs such as the Latin Saints and La Raza. We learn that gang slogans were allegedly shouted during one killing.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Maine AWFLs Upset Nazi Platner Dropped Out

The Nazi tattoo should have been disqualifying, and Platner knew it was a Nazi tattoo from the get-go. But, you know, Democrats

Ben Kew at The Gateway Pundit - Ex-Obama Press Secretary Turned Minneapolis Comms Chief Accused of Stealing Co-Workers’ Credit Cards to Fund Kratom Habit

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, [Adam] Fetcher is accused of taking cash and credit cards from the desks and purses of at least three City Hall employees before making hundreds of dollars in unauthorized purchases at local tobacco stores.

Impro Guns - Gambler’s Special

A version of the sheet metal derringer no.2 seized by police in Brazil. I’m honestly more impressed by the accompanying hand stitch holster which is a nice touch.

The Silicon Graybeard - Small Space News Story Roundup 83

SpaceX Pulls in Starship Flight Test 13 to Next Thursday

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Slowly I Turn

We’ve started the unofficial phase of the draft in Pete’s league for the 1975 season, which is to say there’s no time limit, teams just pick in order. So we might actually have most of the draft done before the official timed part of the draft starts in August. We still have four teams open, if you’re interested.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - New Cult Talking Point: Earth May Possibly Be Hotter Than In The Last 540 Million Years (or something)

Oh, wait, so, the article doesn’t actually support the unhinged, doomy headline? Color me shocked.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 13 July 2026: Seven Ate Nine Edition

Apple's upcoming M7 processor, destined for a full rollout with Pro, Max, and Ultra models, is expected to support as much as 1.5TB of RAM for local AI and other massively intensive workloads. (WCCFTech)

Which will cost $37,500. For the RAM. The rest of the computer will be... Actually relatively inexpensive.

Again from Wombat-socho - Rule 5 Sunday: Melon Season

Picked a bad day to accidentally delete the picture folder off my phone, not that there are any good days to do that.

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - “A Culture of Courage”: A German Celebrates American Freedom

Here’s a heart-warming video about a German who moved to America to get married, only to discover most of what he thought he knew was wrong.

357 Magnum versus 45 ACP

These are the kinds of questions the spark religious wars. 357 Magnum vs. 45 ACP: Is One Truly Better Than the Other?

The 357 Magnum vs. 45 ACP argument is a great way to send firearm forums and gun shops into an uproar. I've fired both cartridges for many years and certainly have my preference, though I'll set it aside for the sake of objectivity. As you continue reading this article, you will gain the knowledge to determine which cartridge is better for self-defense, target shooting, hunting, and your overall shooting experience.

This is a pretty good comparison of the ballistics of the 2 cartridges. While I do like 357 magnum, I also like 45 ACP.

That's not the only difference, though. The two cartridges have different bullet and case dimensions, resulting in different ballistic performance. The 45 ACP is typically loaded with a heavier bullet, but the 357 Mag has a longer case and higher maximum pressure.

Various bits of ballistic data is included. Click thru.

Xbox Player Wins Lawsuit Against Microsoft

It isn't a lot, but they couldn't just brush him off. Xbox player wins lawsuit against Microsoft to get his account back plus $400 - Dexerto

His Microsoft account was hacked. When he contacted support, they said, "Yep, hacked." Then they

The account belonged to a Reddit user called Ordo_Liberal, who spent three months documenting the ordeal online. His Microsoft account was compromised despite two-factor authentication being active, and when he contacted support, the company confirmed that “unauthorized access occurred” before informing him that “we are unable to modify or restore the security settings once they’ve been updated.”

The suspended his account. They told him, he would have to purchase every game, movie, whatever he had purchased associated with that account again. Too bad, so sad.

He sued and won in a Brazilian court.

For any Minecraft purchases tied to the account, the email went further still: “the game cannot be recovered. A new purchase will be required on a newly created account.” That response, apparently, was the wrong thing to say to someone living in Brazil, a country with strong consumer protection law.

Click thru for the details, or see Mutahar's video linked below.

Hat tip to the Mutahar at SomeOrdinaryGamers and his video Huge Win Against Microslop...

NATO Leaders Are Afraid of Guns, and Each Other Apparently

From The Guardian: Nato leaders surprised by Turkish president’s gift of guns after summit

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented engraved revolvers – with bullets – to his guests in Ankara, causing security concerns

If you're concerned that the leaders of NATO are going to pick up gift revolvers and open fire on each other, then Trump's concerns about the organization don't begin to scratch the surface.

What does a world leader do with a gun and six bullets? That was the conundrum Nato leaders faced after the Turkish president offered them each a revolver after the Ankara summit.

Several of the leaders of NATO had to leave the firearms behind, because transporting them was "not straightforward."

Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit: WHAT WUSSES.

Gifts of firearms were a traditional thing between leaders until the feminization of the West. You can bet Teddy Roosevelt wouldn’t have panicked. Or LBJ. Or even GWB.

They are freaking beautiful. Each was engraved with the recipient’s name, and what I take to be the symbol from the Turkish flag. Click thru for the photo of one firearm.

There was no definitive answer for what guns they were, but CNN, of all places, had a guess.

Images shared by the office of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda showed what appeared to be the Gumusay .357 Magnum, a rare six-shooter produced by Turkish arms maker MKE in the 1990s.

Which would make sense.

Though I think this still applies:

We Rock

Another song by way of social media. Social media isn't too bad if you can avoid the insanity. It can be hard to avoid most days.

This song is "We Rock" by Dio. It is the title song to his compilation video album. It was part of the 1984 version of this album. If I'm reading things correctly (and I'm not sure about that) a shorter version of the album was released in 1983.

The Weekend In the Windy City

HeyJackass! has the stats for the weekend in Chicago. Wrong Place, Wrong Time Weekend

The July 4th weekend in Chicago was surprisingly peaceful. Well, it was peaceful by Chicago standards, though Mother Nature did lend a hand. There is less crime in Chicago during the winter cold, and during thunderstorms.

With the July 4th weekend behind us, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

So are these numbers good, or bad?

Final Demonized Tally: 4 killed, 19 wounded
2025 weekend tally: 4 killed, 25 wounded
2024 weekend tally: 11 killed, 29 wounded

It used to be a wonderful city.

Kentucky Permits 18- to 20-year-olds to Carry Concealed Starting Tomorrow

Why do you restrict rights from legal adults? Kentucky law allows 18- to 20-year-olds to carry concealed weapons starting Tuesday

A new Kentucky law takes effect Tuesday allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to apply for a provisional concealed carry license for the first time.

House Bill 312 expands concealed carry permits to that age group, but with restrictions. The provisional license is valid only in Kentucky and expires when the holder turns 21. Applicants must also complete required training before receiving the permit.

Click thru for details.

The H-1B Visa Program Needs to End

They got approval for a massive number of H-1B visa workers, and laid off Americans. Microsoft approves thousands of H-1B visas while Xbox cuts 1,600 jobs | Fox News

They were approved to hire 2200 H-1B visa workers. And then they did this.

A popular U.S.-based gaming brand owned by Microsoft is facing fury after mass employee layoffs occurred in the wake of the company being approved for thousands of foreign worker visas.

Click thru for the details. (Hat tip to Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit).

Nolan to Fans of The Odyssey: STFU

The following quote/meme/whatever has been running through my head since I started reading/watching Christopher Nolan's replies/reactions to his trailer going down in flames. "Just consume product, and then get excited for next product."

Director Christopher Nolan isn't used to being on the receiving end of backlash over one of his projects. At least not before the project is released. He has made some bad movies. Not very many people like 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. Some people like Inception, and others don't. But they were all, mostly, highly anticipated before release. Not this time.

Race swaps. Updating for the mythical modern audience. And all the rest. That much is clear from the trailers. And I am almost as sick of Zendaya as I am of Pedro Pascal. (I said almost.)

As I type this, the last trailer for The Odyssey, which was released on the first of July, has 79,000 likes, and 746,000 dislikes. The dislikes are not an exact number, even if I could see more than 3 significant digits, because YouTube removed the exact count to protect people like Nolan. But the internet usually finds a way, and the count returned if you add an extension to your browser.

That ratio, is the reason that Nolan had to speak up, and attempt some damage control. He didn't go about it correctly.

This video is from Andre at Midnight's Edge. Chis Nolan just made ‘The Odyssey’ Backlash Even Worse by Dismissing It

Nolan is tarnishing one of the foundational works of the entirety of Western civilization.

The video is about 14 minutes long.

Liulan Reservoir Dam Failure in China

China apparently has quite a few dams that were built during the 1950s, that are not up to modern standards. Watch: Typhoon Maysak breaks dam wall in China, kills 2 and forces thousands to evacuate

Tropical Storm Maysak, initially brought days of extreme rainfall across the country's southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region. But now, the typhoon has triggered a massive flood that claimed two lives, affecting about 55,000 people in Nanning and forcing around 48,000 of the city's residents to evacuate

The dam was breached on 6 July.

Maysak has triggered multiple reservoir emergencies, increased river levels above warning levels and flooded several villages across Guangxi.

Some info on the dam. Liulan Reservoir: A medium-sized reservoir located in Hengzhou City, Nanning.

The construction of the Liulan Reservoir hub project began in August 1958 and was largely completed by 1960. A hydropower station was added at the dam's toe in 1974. In August 2024, the Nanning Municipal Government Service Bureau issued an approval regarding the implementation plan for the standardized management creation of Liulan Reservoir in Hengzhou City . In 2025, the Liulan Reservoir Irrigation District Continuation and Modernization Renovation Project was also accelerating its progress, with a total estimated investment of 382.53 million yuan for the project.

Translation: They realized that the dam need improvements, and began work. That work was scheduled to be complete in 2027, but they didn't make it.

I can't find the reference now, but I read somewhere that China has a large number of infrastructure projects done in the early days of communist regieme, that were not really engineered. That process continued for a long time. They are now dealing with infrastructure, in some parts of the country, that are not what we would consider safe.

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region is in the south of China, with a coast on the Beibu Gulf (off the South China Sea). It shares a border with Vietnam

NOW: A devastating situation is unfolding as Liulan Reservoir collapses following heavy rainfall from Typhoon Maysak in Hengzhou, Nanning, Guangxi, China. pic.twitter.com/vyuQn5nuyl

— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) July 6, 2026

12 July 1979 - The Disco Demolition

Quite a day in Chicago History. Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park - Chicago History Museum

OK, so the story is from a couple of years ago.

July 2024 marks 45 years since the infamous “Disco Demolition Night” promotional event at a July 12, 1979, Chicago White Sox twilight doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers that erupted into chaos. To encourage attendance, the White Sox hosted WLUP 97.9 rock DJ Steve Dahl, who was known for mocking disco and had been fired from a previous radio job when the station switched from rock to disco. They asked fans to bring a disco record to the ballpark in exchange for 98-cent admission, and those LPs were to be gathered and then blown up in a controlled explosion between games.

It was a great success and a great failure.

The stadium was full of people who didn't care about baseball. When Dahl blew up the records it damaged the field. The WLUP fans invaded the field. The White Sox ended up forfeiting the 2nd game of double header.

Disco, which was already declining in popularity by 1979, went on to influence house music, EDM, Europop, new wave, dance-punk, and hip-hop and has seen revivals in the 21st century.

Hat tip to EBL: Disco Inferno. Click thru for a musical interlude, and a brief video of the night in question.

Four Decades for Justice

Justice seems to move slowly in the UK. Evil brothers jailed for killing civil servant in 1984 'for fun' - Yorkshire Live

The court heard how Michael Stewart, 57, and Anthony Stewart, 60, were just 15 and 18 when they indulged on a spree of violent robberies, targeting gay men.

No guns or knives required, only blunt instruments. I suppose the UK will move to outlaw blunt instruments, including rocks, pipes, and bats.

On May 1, 1984, their attacks took an even darker turn when they set upon Anthony Littler, who they bludgeoned to death as he walked home in East Finchley, north London.

Click thru for details, including how they were brought to justice.

Fort Worth Police Versus the First Amendment

Libs of TikTok has the story. Fort Worth Police EXPOSED for Violating 1st Amendment

Americans should be able to trust that Law enforcement agencies will uphold the Constitution.

Three cops are featured in the post. They threatened to ticket and/or arrest preachers for preaching at an event on public property. The threats are clearly against the 1st Amendment.

[Fort Worth PD] then announced that they will provide “refresher training” to their officers on First Amendment protections.

As soon as they did that, they blocked Libs Of TikTok on social media.

Click thru for the details.

F-150 Lightning Fire at Ford Dealer Service Center

This is the StacheD Training video EV Fire in Service Bay: Speedway Ford

Nobody grabbed an extinguisher. I did not see any evidence that anyone tried. And while that might sound counterintuitive, that's exactly what you want to do when you see it's an EV incident.

Once a lithium ion battery is in thermal runaway, you're not putting it out with a handheld extinguisher. And trying to put it out, it's just going to get you injured.

The video is less than 5 minutes, and has some decent coverage of the fire and the aftermath. Plus the StacheD Training commentary.