Friday Links - 1 May

Louder with Crowder starts us off with United Healthcare's (now former) AWFL social media manager is super mad that the WHCD shooter missed Trump

It's remarkable that in this, the two-thousand and twenty-sixth year of our Lord and Savior Donald J. Trump, people STILL don't understand how the internet works. And that if you celebrate someone dying or wishing that they were unalived, other people use their internets to express disapproval with it.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 28 April 2026: Top Geek Edition

A new AI datacenter planned for Box County, Utah, will use more than twice as much power as the rest of the state combined. (Tom's Hardware)

The datacenter will use 9GW of power once it is completed, and the entire rest of Utah currently uses around 4GW.

The Abode of McThag - 1 Of 57 Um 50

Tennessee did a solid for the law-abiding and passed a bill making it legal to defend property with deadly force.

While it might only be stuff, it's MY stuff.

It's not a case of me valuing my stuff over someone's life. It's them not valuing their life over my stuff.

Washington Free Beacon - EXCLUSIVE: In Cities Across America, Homeless Services Are Doled Out Based on Race and Sexual Identity

Rolled out in October 2024, the Multnomah Services and Screening Tool awards up to 5 points to non-white, non-straight applicants who speak English as a second language—more than the 4 points it would award a domestic violence survivor with a six-year-old child who has been homeless for over a year.

Moonbattery - Lib Journalists Regard Themselves as Real Victims of Trump Assassination Attempts

There is one thing impressive about mainstream media journalists: their astonishing ability to take themselves seriously.

Meep at Stump - April Awareness: Autism, Cancer, Finance, and Poetry

April is the cruelest month in dropping all sorts of awareness topics on our heads: Autism, Cancer (various types - I covered testicular cancer earlier this month), financial literacy, and poetry… suppose we become “aware” of all this? What are we supposed to do with all this awareness and knowledge?

The Outdoor Wire - NSSF Welcomes ATF Landmark Rulemaking Package

The release of the new rulemaking package is the result of months of NSSF working closely with the ATF and DOJ to identify and fix punitive regulations published during the Biden administration, when the ATF was used as a political weapon to force policies intended to hobble the firearm industry and infringe on Second Amendment rights.

Another Failure of the Victim-Selection Process

What is the DoorDash policy on their drivers being armed? Attempted carjacking ends in fatal shooting of Nashville food delivery driver

According to police, a 44-year- old food delivery driver had stopped to pick up an order from a nearby restaurant. When the driver returned to his Dodge Charger an armed man approached him and demanded the car.

The driver had a gun in his car, which he retrieved, but that was clearly the wrong place of it. Though I suppose the restaurant could have been a gun-free zone; I don't know the law in Tennessee. The bad guy shot him in the leg. The driver returned fire, killing the would-be, bad guy.

The hat tip goes to Miguel Gonzalez and You do not despise the Media enough.

Memphis Action News ran with the following headline, and doubled down in their article.

DoorDash driver accused of killing carjacking suspect outside of Walgreens, police say

Nashville police have not said anything about arresting the delivery driver, but Memphis "Professional Journalists" have to "accuse" the guy defending himself of something. Why? Because guns and gun owners are bad. Or something. Professional Journalists™ won't use the word evil.

In the meantime, self-defense is a human right, and this didn't take place in NYC.

As for my original question... Will DoorDash exclude this guy from their app for defending himself? Will they fire him for refusing to be a crime victim?

Hospital Robot Battery Fire

This was close to being a huge tragedy.

The battery on a 500 pound robotic cart, used to take stuff around the hospital went, into thermal runaway during charging. Charging was on the 2nd floor and multiple carts were all charging in the same location. There were 26 battery-powered carts charging. Stache doesn't say, but I'm guessing that there are more than 26 carts, because that seems like a number that a hospital administrator would not sign off on.

The battery was a 4.2 kilowatt-hour battery. The chemistry was Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide battery, or NMC battery. The batteries typically burn aggressively when they go into thermal runaway, and put out a lot of very toxic gasses.

This is the StacheD Training video Hospital Robot Battery Fire: What Happened at Cedars-Sinai

Now, this incident points to something bigger. Most people think about lithium-ion battery hazards in terms of ebikes, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, but these batteries are now embedded in critical infrastructure, hospitals, data centers, warehouses, logistics operations. And in a lot of these environments, the people working around them have no idea what they're actually dealing with.

And here is a key point:

Anyone working in an environment with large format lithium-ion batteries needs basic training. Not fire suppression training, evacuation and recognition training. Know what off-gassing looks like, that whitish gray smoke, unusual smells. Know that your job is not to fight the fire. Know that you should close the doors, call 911, and get people out.

The video is less than six minutes.

NY Times Has Opinions on American Songwriters

These lists are always train wrecks, but the NY Times list is worse than most.

This is Rick Beato's video The NYT "Greatest Songwriters" List is an Absolute Disaster

Here is just one thought.

Dave Grohl with the Foo Fighters, right? You could say, well, he belongs on there. He's got at least three billion stream songs. We're talking about popularity and been around in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Once for Nirvana, once for Foo Fighters.

No Metallica (biggest Metal band?), no John Fogerty, no Jimmy Webb, who wrote "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston," no Donald Fagen, of Steely Dan, no James, Taylor, no Jackson Browne, no Billy Joel, etc. The list of people not on this list is long.

So who did the New York Times think should be on the list? Bad Bunny. I'm not linking to the NY Slimes. You can find it easy enough, and it isn't even behind a paywall, or it isn't as I type this.

Another Failure of the Victim-Selection Process

Maybe he thought homeowners in deep-blue Washington would be disarmed. Kent homeowner shoots suspect after armed home invasion attempt - MyNorthwest

According to Jarod Kasner, the assistant chief of the Kent Police Department, the homeowner told police officers that several armed suspects had entered the home. He then shot at the intruders, hitting one suspect several times. The injured intruder received medical treatment from first responders before being transported to Harborview Medical Center.

The other bad guys apparently ran like rabbits.

Kent, Washington is about 10 miles northeast of Tacoma, or about 15 miles south of Seattle.

Self-defense is a human right, and Washington State has a long history of recognizing it as a legal right, though the investigation is in early days.

Another Antisemitic Attack in London

From CNN by way of Yahoo. (Not an outlet for the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, the last time I checked.) Two Jewish people stabbed in London amid rising antisemitic attacks

Two Jewish people were stabbed in north London on Wednesday, witnesses told CNN, in an incident that comes against the backdrop of a series of antisemitic attacks in the UK capital.

A 45-year-old man, who is also accused of trying to stab police officers, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, issued a statement calling the attack “utterly appalling.” He won't take any action to make the situation safer.

Mahyar Tousi, of Tousi TV, said this is the state of London, and Western Europe. This kind of violence has become part of the culture. (It is a long video... You've been warned.)

The AWFLs Have Killed Publishing

That is Affluent White Female Liberals, in case you're confused. From Echo Chamberlain: Progressive White Women Have Killed Literary Zeitgeist

Progressive white women now dominate publishing at every level, from agents to publishers to marketing to readers. We live in a timeline of Booktok, romantasy and cliterature. You have to go into bookstores wearing those heavy goggles they put on during the atom bomb test in Oppenheimer, otherwise your retinas will be burnt out by harshly colourful book covers.

Here is a bit, referencing one of the current crop of insane offerings.

It’s doubtful that a male protagonist describing morally empty promiscuity as intuitive and healthy would get past the desks of literary agents who are urban progressive white women in their twenties to forties. Broader US publishing, reviewing, and agency staff were reported as 72.5% female and white. And to be clear, the novel All Fours isn’t put across as ironic or meta, this is the broad sentiment of the book. The narrator is very careful to not commit microaggressions against black people or other minorities, but when it comes to fidelity or empathy for her lacklustre husband – well, whatever.

I miss civilization.

If you prefer video, this is the Echo Chamberlain video on the same subject. Progressive White Women Have Ruined Fiction

The Questions You Cannot Ask Progressives

From Robert Stacy McCain at Born Lucky, we get the following. The Destructive Impulse of Liberalism: Where is 'progress' leading? And other questions you should never ask.

What Mamet gathered from his study, and from his own observations, was that liberalism is essentially destructive. In order to lead us to their Utopia of Equality (the “Promised Land”) liberals must first discredit and destroy the hated status quo, i.e., the American system of limited government and free enterprise. This was what Obama meant when he spoke of “fundamentally changing” the United States — destruction.

The whole thing is worth your time. It isn't long. (Hat tip to The Other McCain)

Wednesday Link Roundup - 29 April

William Teach at Pirate's Cove is up first with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

4. Blogs For Victory: Crucial Times are Coming
5. Chicks On The Right: Firing Squads Are So Back

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.28.26 (Afternoon Edition)

Ammo.com: States With The Highest Murder Rate
Weird Catholic: The Devil’s Mousetrap

EBL - Tommee Profitt: Shoot To Kill 😬

Shoot To Kill (I do not like the action) 😬
TOM: Yet Another Democrat Has Failed to Assassinate President Donald Trump

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 26 April 2026: FUNEX Edition

Half of Australian teens admit that despite government bans, they still have access to social media. (Yahoo)
The other half are lying.

Small Dead Animals - Tuesday On Turtle Island

Conman Carney’s Canada: Jew hatred. Another Liberal lie. Liberal media bribes.
Stories You Won’t Find At Carney’s CBC: Dogs replace children. Long Covid.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 4/28/2026

EU Can’t Agree How to Pay for Its Growing Budget
The European Parliament on Tuesday drew red lines in the battle over the EU’s next long-term budget, rejecting cuts to agriculture and cohesion.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Hell No, We Won't Let It Go

Dave Strom, Karoline Levitt Calls Dems Out By Name Nick Sortor @nicksortor, "HOLY CRAP! Karoline Leavitt is calling out Democrats BY NAME who SPARKED the rhetoric leading to Saturday's attempt on President Trump's life

The Glibertarians - Sunday Morning Retarded Links

Free and fair elections, I’m sure.
This will work out well. I do like how they chose a location where there were already several private sector competitors.

Don Surber - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEWS

ITEM 5: Breaking 911 tweeted, “The mayor of Haikou, China, who reportedly accumulated about $4.5 billion during his career and was found with 13.5 tons of gold and 23 tons of cash in his apartments, has been sentenced to death.”

Political Hat - News of the Week (April 26th, 2026)

Virginia’s Gerrymandering War Moves to the Courts
Virginia voters have narrowly ratified a preposterous gerrymander designed by the state’s Democratic legislature.

Vladt Tepes - A couple of items on Israel etc. and many more on the tactics of the communist revolutionaries and effects on Canada and the USA: Links post 1 for April 28, 2026

1. Victor Davis Hanson: the Immigrants who treat American magnanimity with contempt, they should be deported
2. Just a gentle reminder of actual reality. ... We would say that Israel is a meritocracy

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkange

The Feral Irishman Friday Femme Fatale Farrago…..
The Shekel – Coins, Law, and Commentary – Carry Apparel Review:

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 4/ 28/26

That’s the core element of the Democrat Party platform.
Yes, They Want Trump Dead. They Also Want You Dead.

Maggie's Farm - Monday morning links

We must pass voter ID — it is simply common sense
Mike Johnson's Crusade to Renew Warrantless NSA Spying on Americans Culminates This Week

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Political Violence in America Has a Party Affiliation and It Is Not Republican

• The National Temperature Mismatch - Chris Bray • Bizarro-World Bonhoeffer, Cole Allen, Failed - Jack Cashill

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 04/28/2026

Supreme Court hands Republicans a redistricting win by striking down lower court block on Texas map.
Ron DeSantis Reveals New Florida Map Tilting 4 More Seats Toward GOP

I leave you with Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Sunday Funnies For 04-26-26 from Stately McDaniel Manor, Monday Memes from Granite Grok, and Tuesday Memes … from MaddMedic.

Self-Defense Stabbing in Georgia

The media is still a bit confused on the difference between aggressor, defender, and victim. Woman critically injured in Cobb self-defense stabbing, police say | FOX 5 Atlanta

Investigators say the incident began as a dispute between two friends. Based on preliminary findings, authorities believe another person used a knife in self-defense after being assaulted by the victim.

If someone assaults me, and I defend myself, that person is not a victim, not even if I shoot or stab them, not even if they die. That is what is known as self-defense, provided I am in reasonable fear of death, or grave bodily injury.

Self-defense is a human right, and this didn't take place in NYC. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

The Doctor Will Kill You Now

Canada currently is seeing 1 in 20 deaths from euthanasia. And that is AFTER they cook the books.

Health Care is expensive. So seniors are being "offered" Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD).

This is the Rebel Media video They're euthanizing seniors in Canada..

On a related note: From Athena Thorne at PJ Media we get the following. Leftists Excited to Begin Cannibalizing the Elderly

Did you live a self-reliant, constructive life? Did you play by the rules, work hard, raise your kids to be productive members of society, save up, and arrive in seniority well-provisioned for your well-earned golden years?

Sucker!

They want to take the seniors' assets, because reasons. Hat tip to Small Dead Animals: The Doctor Will Kill You Now

Give Me One Reason

I haven't featured any Tracy Chapman except for one song, and that was quite some time ago. So today we have a song courtesy of WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback. Though this has been stuck in my drafts folder for a couple of years... Things get pushed to the bottom and stay there, but recently I reviewed a bunch of them.

This song is "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman from her 1995 album New Beginnings. This is the 2015 remastered version. This song was quite successful, ending the year at No. 1 on the US Adult Top 40 chart from Billboard.

Tuesday Links - 28 April

William Teach at Pirate's Cove starts us off with Horror: War With Iran Accelerating Climate Doom

If only Trump had just let Iran get their nuclear weapons this wouldn’t be a problem

Clayton Cramer - Yes, Racism Remains a Problem in Some Parts of America

Now, if this [Yale] student wanted to argue that kids coming from poverty were going to have trouble competing, that might be an interesting argument, but not every BiPOC is coming from poverty and there are white Harvard students who also come from poverty and underprivileged backgrounds. (At least I hope so; there are plenty of J.D. Vances out there.) But no, this/student is playing the white supremacist tune, saying every black is inferior.

The Feral Irishman - We Can Only Hope

"The $PLC is not going to survive this": Conservative legal expert Mike Davis says DOJ indictment shows "clear fraud".

The Other McCain - Yet Another Democrat Has Failed to Assassinate President Donald Trump

Democrats are crazy and evil, but also utterly incompetent:

Smitty - Newly Released By Chris Cassone: “The Art of the Stomp Box” Is A Treat. (Click thru for a Musical Interlude.)

Chris Cassone is an old and dear friend of the blog, having recorded arguably the best blues ever:

Legal Insurrection - We discovered 15 years ago SPLC was “creating fictitious hate so that they could then fundraise off of it”

My appearance on the Scott Jennings Radio Show: “Joining us now to discuss this indictment is Cornell University Law Professor William Jacobson… He’s been sounding the alarm on the SPLC for 15 years.”

The Feral Irishman - 40 Year Anniversary Of The USS Missouri's Recommissioning Will Be May 9th and 10th...

In 1986, the legendary USS Missouri returned to active service, marking a new chapter in the ship’s extraordinary history. Four decades later, the Battleship Missouri Memorial is proud to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the ship’s recommissioning.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Down To The Wire

Will the Senators make the playoffs? It all depends on the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins.

Lone Star Parson - Prep Up

Data centers are springing up everywhere, have you noticed? Sure you have, and what kind of data will these centers collect? Yours, obviously.

Again from The Other McCain - ‘Pretending Not to Know’

As David Mamet said, Obama must “pretend not to know things” (and encourage others to join him in that pretense) or else the very existence of the Democratic Party might be jeopardized, because everybody would realize what a colossal scam it is (as all honest and intelligent people already do).

Geeks + Gamers - Marvel, DC Writer Deniz Camp Sparks Backlash After ‘Missed Again’ Post Following Trump Assassination Attempt

Deniz Camp is a comic book writer who has worked across Marvel, DC, and independent publishers, building a growing profile in the industry over the past few years.

Again from William Teach - Place Like Detroit Have To Get Ready For Climate Refugees Or Something

Are people really clammoring to move to high tax, high crime Yankee cities?

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 28 April 2026: Top Geek Edition

A new AI datacenter planned for Box County, Utah, will use more than twice as much power as the rest of the state combined. (Tom's Hardware)

The datacenter will use 9GW of power once it is completed, and the entire rest of Utah currently uses around 4GW. Drawing that much electricity from the grid might prove impractical, so the project managers chose a site near the Ruby Pipeline, and the datacenter will be powered by on-site gas generators. A lot of them.

Chicago Contrarian - Chicago Prosecutor Refuses to Join the Anti-Trump Mob

Cook County’s State’s Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke understands that cooperation with federal law enforcement matters more than left-wing political theater

In today’s Chicago and Illinois, merely behaving like a grown-up counts as an act of rebellion.

The Gun Debate Trap

Professor David Yamane at Light Over Heat gave a TEDx presentation. Escaping the Gun Debate Trap

On March 22nd, I presented my thoughts on “Escaping the Gun Debate Trap” at TEDxWakeForestU.

My idea worth spreading: The gun debate traps us in a false choice between rights and safety. We escape this trap the same way we escape a finger trap: we release tension by moving toward each other. Curiosity makes this possible. Democracy makes it worth doing.

This is the video: Escaping the Gun Debate Trap | David Yamane | TEDxWakeForestU

Claude AI Deletes Company's ENTIRE Database

It took 9 seconds. AI isn't a bubble... Or is it? Claude-powered AI coding agent deletes entire company database in 9 seconds — backups zapped, after Cursor tool powered by Anthropic's Claude goes rogue

This incident actually teaches 2 lessons:

1. DO NOT Trust AI. Do. Not. Trust. Artificial Intelligence
2. If you're paying someone else to manage data, are you sure they are managing it correctly?

The founder of PocketOS has penned a social media post to warn others about the “systemic failures” of flagship AI and digital services providers. Jer Crane was inspired to write a public response after an AI coding agent deleted his firm’s entire production database. The AI agent’s misdemeanors were then hugely amplified by a cloud infrastructure provider’s API wiping all backups after the main database was zapped.

Anthropic's Claude is one of the handful of AIs that are everywhere. Like ChatGPT and Grok, it just doesn't usually get as much press.

A copy of data on the cloud is not necessarily the same as a backup. A backup that has not been tested for recovery, is not a backup. It is Schrodinger's Data. It might be there when you need it, and it might not. In this case, it was not.

In the meantime, please follow a thorough backup regimen and be careful out there. This isn't the first time we've seen an AI go rogue and start deleting important databases.

Hat tip to Clayton Cramer and HAL 9000 Coming to a Company Near You, Soon! "Run away, Sir Robin"

Never rely on AI for anything critical.

Electric Garbage Trucks Are Trash

Is anyone shocked? A story out of the UK: Council bin lorries to be replaced with new diesel fleet after electric trial failure

A council plans to replace its “ageing” bin lorries with a new fleet of diesel vehicles after attempts to go electric were unsuccessful.

This is a (relatively) rural part of the UK. Wakefield is about a 75 mile drive east of Liverpool, or about 185 mile drive north of London. The problem seems to be mainly around charging infrastructure. They were not able to get grid connections for enough charging stations for the required fleet.

In 2022, senior councillors agreed to spend £4.9m to introduce zero-emission battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and an additional £1m on charging infrastructure.

This is the MGUY Australia video ⚡️Battery electric RUBBISH trucks are GARBAGE! 💩

Not only are electric heavy vehicles vastly more expensive to purchase in the first place, but they also have poor range, requiring more frequent charging stops, and those charging stops can take hours rather than the minutes it takes to fill up a diesel tank.

And then there is the base cost for the charging infrastructure... The video is about 8 and a half minutes.

Nineteen Eighty

Sometimes when a musician tries to recapture the feeling of his youth, he succeeds. I think Joe Satriani has done just that. It might not be exactly right for Metal for Mondays, but since I make the rules... And he is a phenomenal guitarist.

"The year that American Gigolo, The Shining, Raging Bull and Caddyshack came out, I just wanted to rock," Satriani said. "‘Nineteen Eighty’ is my high-energy, throwback instrumental soundtrack to that year."

Satriani previously said he wrote "Nineteen Eighty" to sound like his first band, the Squares. That group "dialed back the guitar solos and histrionics to try to create a cooler New Wave vibe.” [Ref. Ultimate Classic Rock]

This song is "Nineteen Eighty" by Joe Satriani from his 2020 album Shapeshifting.

Latest Assassin's Manifesto

From David Strom at Hot Air: Manifesto Released: He Believed All the Lies the Democrats Now Claim They Never Said

As I spent the evening scouring the internet for information on the assassination attempt last night, I ran across a ton of posts from lefties claiming that it was either staged—a fan favorite—or that the motive might never be known.

Hasan Piker was quite angry that people pointed out that he, just the other day, talked about harnessing the left's assassination fantasies as a way to organize followers.

But then Hasan Piker...

The Democratic Party is now a hate group. I don't say that lightly, but as even a few social scientists have noted, there is an assassination culture on the left. And it's not just Trump. The anti-Israel movement celebrates Hamas, talks about #resistance and the necessity of violence to achieve social change, and the Democrats embrace these people as their next generation of voters.

Read the whole thing.

Officer John Bartholomew

End of Watch. Chicago police officer fatally shot at Swedish Hospital remembered for kindness, public service

Bartholomew, 38, who had been with the police department for a decade, was identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as the officer fatally shot Saturday morning at a North Side hospital.

He was shot alongside a 57-year-old officer who was in critical condition as of Saturday afternoon.

It used to be a wonderful city.