Tuesday Links - Cinco de Mayo Edition

William Teach at Pirate's Cove is first with LOL: Illinois Commission Recommends Investigating Federal Immigration Officers

I wonder how much this investigation will cost, with most of the money disappearing into people’s pockets? Because absolutely nothing will come of it

The Gun Writer - Associated Press caught producing anti-gun advocacy

There will always be a market for factual and accurate journalism, but by publishing only one side of an important issue with layoffs looming, the Associated Press may get what it certainly deserves.

Clayton Cramer - The Voting Dead

Hence, why Blue states are resisting DOJ efforts to remove the dead from rolls. It is too tempting to cast mail in ballots for the dead.

Libs of TikTok - Muliple Leftists FIRED After Calling for Trump's Assassination

Like clockwork, left-wing radicals were angry that Trump survived another assassination attempt on his life.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 3 May 2026: Sorry Not Sorry Edition

Are big tech companies laying off waves of workers and replacing them with AI? (Yahoo)

Because if so, why are staffing levels still at the highwater mark set in 2022 during the pandemic?

The Other McCain - Justice Thomas Concurs

It is an insult to defend such a map by shouting “RAAAAACISM” at anyone who criticizes it, which is the essence of the Democrats’ reaction. One wonders whether they are (a) so ignorant they don’t understand the law and the Constitution, or (b) so dishonest they think they can frighten people with their feigned outrage and false claims.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Missed It By That Much

I’ve been seized by inspiration (or maybe madness, they’re hard to tell apart sometimes) and begun scribbling a baseball fantasy that I hope has more interesting story and not so much number crunching.

Clifton Duncan at State of the Arts - How I Became a Fascist.

But I’d forgotten that Social Justice has neither time nor use for happy, successful minorities. I should’ve been ashamed: by internalizing a positive view of the world, I’d become divorced from my Blackness. I was no longer a militant upstart at Williamstown, but a rising New York talent that had graduated to sharing stages with Broadway stars.

I’d fallen out of step with the aggressive identitarianism of the progressive creative class.

How Old Do You Need to Be to Defend Yourself?

This case also highlights that people you know can be a threat. Child fatally shoots family member in self defense at Benicia home on London Circle in domestic violence incident, police say - ABC7 San Francisco

There is very little information provided about this incident.

Once at the home, the fire crew and police officers found a man who had been shot once and who died despite efforts to keep him alive, according to police officials.

The initial 911 call indicated that the shooting was in self-defense during a domestic violence attack and involved multiple family members, including a juvenile

This sounds like a violent husband/father attacked the mother and/or the child. The child put an end to the attack. We don't know that is what happened. Because it is a domestic violence incident, and it involves a child, it is unlikely that any more information will be released.

The Left loves to say that children should not have any access to firearms. So are the saying that it would be better for this guy to continue beating his wife, and perhaps beat her to death? Also, how old do you need to be to defend yourself?

The Left also loves to go on about the statistic that if you own a gun, you are more likely to shoot someone you know than a perfect stranger. They want you to believe that every one of those shootings is a tragic accident. This shooting was not a tragic accident. People you know, can be a threat.

Benicia, California is about 18 miles north of Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area, though the drive from Oakland will be more like 30 miles.

In any event, self-defense is a human right. I don't think even a deep-blue city prosecutor, is going to go after a juvenile for defending his mother from a domestic assault, but it is California. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

A Student Dared to Have Conservative Opinions in Her Class

So she embarrassed him in front of the entire class. Gainesville Florida teacher to appear in court over 'dictator' award

"A teacher chose to designate a student as the “most likely to become a dictator.” A parent brought this issue to my attention. I immediately took action to investigate the issue," Kamoutsas wrote in an Aug. 21 X post. "I found probable cause and will take every necessary action to ensure this teacher never teaches again."

Because the school system is not about teaching. It is about indoctrination.

University Students Shocked They Live in the Real World™

Even in Oklahoma, they are pampered children. Stillwater shooting leaves one injured during busy weekend | KFOR Oklahoma City

There was a shooting near a stip of bars in the vicinity of OSU. Cops are searching for "person of interest." Click thu for those details.

Ashlyn Caldwell is apparently a student at OSU, getting notifications from the university. She was on the strip and disturbed to discover that there was a shooting.

“You hear about shootings every day, but you never think that you’re going to witness one or like be in the same proximity as one, and it’s weird to see the strip today, it’s completely normal,” said Caldwell. “It’s like nothing happened, but I was here just 12 hours ago or whatever, and there was a shooting here.”

As Tolkien said, you can fence yourself in, but you cannot fence the world out. OSU and environs are not Mayberry RFD, they are in fact part of the Real World were crime can, and often does, happen. You are not protected by your zip code.

I doubt this will change Ashlyn Caldwell's outlook on life, or the outlook of any other university student in 2026.

The Sad State of Star Wars

This is May the Fourth. Star Wars Day. And we are about 3 weeks out from the release of Star Wars movie, and interest in the franchise couldn't be lower.

This is the Nerdrotic Daily video THE CHUDS WERE RIGHT – Star Wars Was Beloved… Disney Made It DISPOSABLE #MayThe4thBeWithYou

The first 30 or 40 seconds of the video are definitely worth your time, even if you don't care about Star Wars. It is how they tell people who object to politics being forced into everything, to not read the books, watch the shows or movies, and then are shocked when people stay away.

The entire video is 23 minutes, which I enjoyed, but most of it you don't need to watch... just listen to. (Watch the first 40 seconds)

God Was Never on Your Side

A while back when had a tribute to Phil Campbell of Motörhead. I thought we would have another go at that band.

I didn't use this song, because while Campbell did have a songwriting credit on it, they brought in C.C. DeVille of Poison for the guitar solo. Campbell does play guitar throughout the song.

This song is "God Was Never on Your Side" by Motörhead, from the 2006 album Kiss of Death.

Self-Defense in Oklahoma City

Oklahoma is a bad place for bad guys. Metro homeowner shoots alleged intruder Friday night | KFOR Oklahoma City

Officials said it appeared to be a first-degree burglary, possibly turned self-defense.

Police said the suspect was shot in his upper torso; they didn’t have an update on his condition.

The homeowner was not injured.

Oklahoma has what's been called an extreme form of the Castle Doctrine, called Make My Day. That is how it was phrased when the law, overturning the judge-invented mandate for the "duty to retreat" in your own home. (Details at this link.)

I'm not a lawyer, but the Castle Doctrine is a long-standing tradition in the West, even if it has been abandoned by the UK and Europe. Click that 2nd link for an Oklahoma lawyer's explanation of self-defense laws.

Self-defense is a human right, and Oklahoma City is a long way from NYC.

On the judge-invented duty to retreat. No politician ever voted for a law that says you cannot defend your family in your own home. Prosecutors and judges, who hate self-defense (You must rely on the State, even for things it cannot provide) created that "duty" out of whole cloth.

I Have Tried to Avoid Writing Anything About Windows 11 Lately

I think people should leave windows. Most people are not using software that requires Windows, and Micrslop has turned a once good, if not great operating system, into a nightmare of issues, and broken systems. From Bleeping Computer: April KB5083769 Windows 11 update causes backup software failures

This issue sounds like it probably hit corporate users more than home users, though it does impact Windows 11 Home. But my stance on Windows holds. Most people are using web browsers, word processors, and spreadsheets, and you don't need to use Windows for that.

Multiple vendors have been impacted by this change. This tells me something fundamental was changed, and API or something similar, without thought, or advanced notice. But mostly without thought. Changes were made to Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which was introduced in 2003 to make sure that backups worked.

The list of software impacted by this known issue includes, but is not limited to, products from Acronis (Cyber Protect Cloud), Macrium (Reflect), NinjaOne Backup, and UrBackup Server.

Acronis has also published a support document confirming that the issue affects Windows 11 Pro and Home editions, causing backup operations to fail.

At least there is a fix, and you can click thru for that, and more technical details on the issue.

This kind of thing is becoming so common on Windows, it is hard to decide what, if any, quality control is being done. If they had done any testing around this feature, they would have discovered the impact to 3rd party software. Maybe they just don't care about quality anymore.

Evacuating Public Spaces When the Shooting Starts

Miguel Gonzalez has a reaction that I can get behind. I am actually baffled by the stupid.

There was a shooting incident at a Costco in Ohio. Click thru for some details on that. The real issue was that people were not getting out of Dodge.

If you hear gunfire, anywhere but at a shooting range, get out of the vicinity. Run, like your life depended on it. And another thing...

A public service announcement of sorts:

For the love of sweet Baby Jesus riding a winged camel, abandon the gorramed shopping cart and get the fuck out of the area!

At best toss it to a side where it won’t be blocking a escape route for others or incoming route for First Responders.

Do people not realize that you don't own the stuff in "your shopping cart" until after you've checked out? And even if you have checked out, $200 worth of stuff is not worth my life. Where do you draw the line on abandoning paper towels? (Nothing in that cart is an irreplaceable family heirloom.)

Miguel also has a Book recommendation: First 30 Seconds by Ed Monk. It covers a related topic, school shooters.

I don’t recall the last time I got so mad reading a book. And I am not mad at the author by any stretch of the imagination, but I am seething at bureaucrats and politicians that have blocked, impeded and belittled armed personnel in schools.

Ed Monk did an amazing job collecting the data on active shooters, what made them most of them “successful” and what made some a failure. And then he goes on to make us rethink in realistic terms about the number of casualties which will never be zero, but we can keep to a minimal number if real common sense is applied and not what passes a “common sense regulations” by politicians and activists who I believe are just stuck of what does not work to line their pockets with that sweet donations’ cash.

No Clankers at the Oscars

The AI Menace will not invade the Oscars. Not that anyone outside of Hollywood cares about the Oscars anymore. Oscars: No AI Actors, Screenplays; Acting, International Rule Changes. And Only some parts of movies will be clanker free, if I read this correctly. The people who "matter" will be protected. The working stiffs are SOL.

This just made me smile. Well, Pixy Misa's take (see below) made me smile.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in an announcement on Friday of updates to its rules and regulations, eliminated any gray area about its position on artificial intelligence: AI is not welcome at the Oscars.

This is mostly about AI actors, and AI written scripts.

I don't expect that this will stretch to work done for post-production, like digital/special effects, and I don't think it includes music.

If you care, you can click thru.

Hat tip to Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 2 May 2026: Very Bad Word Edition

The Oscars have also declared war on the clanker menace. (Hollywood Reporter)

If the skinsuit doesn't fit you might as well quit.

George Lucas predicted a lot.

Teton Dam Failure - Another Look

I usually don't cover an infrastructure failure more than once, but Grady, of Practical Engineering, has a new video review of the failure. It turns out that he worked on a similar dam after the failure.

Here is a reference from The US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation factsheet on the incident. Teton Dam History & Facts. (For more links, see below the embedded video.)

On June 5, 1976, Teton Dam in southeastern Idaho catastrophically failed during its first fill. Early that Saturday morning, bulldozer operators tried in vain to plug seepage holes on the downstream face of the dam. By 11 a.m., a torrent of water ripped through the dam, releasing more than 1 million cubic feet per second.

This is the Practical Engineering video The Wild Story of the Teton Dam Failure

For more from the Bureau of Reclamation, see this link. That collects a lot of info, including some interviews with people impacted by the failure, and there is a link to the final report on what went wrong from the independent panel assigned to investigate the failure.

My previous post on the Teton Dam failure is Teton Dam Failure and Legacy - Updated

Phoenix Cop Not Charged for Killing Homeowner

Not a surprise. No charges for Phoenix Police officer who mistakenly shot and killed homeowner | FOX 10 Phoenix

The backstory: The officer in question, Jason Valenzuela, was involved in a shooting that killed Christian Diaz on Jan. 26, 2026. Diaz had disarmed an intruder at his home near 75th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road.

He basically showed up, shouted, and opened fire in a handful of seconds.

Qualified Immunity is lovely, if you're a cop.

The Government Wouldn't Cover Up COVID-19 Data

Or would they? ‘Major scandal:’ Feds and Sen. Johnson allege government coverups of COVID origins, vaccine deaths

David Morens, who was senior advisor to former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, was indicted on April 16th.

The chickens have come home to roost for Morens, two years after congressional subpoenas exposed his avowed practice of circumventing the Freedom of Information Act to hide conversations about the origin of COVID-19 and suggesting he did so in cooperation with Fauci, whom Morens called "too smart" to get caught.

Click thru for the details.

Hat tip to Irons in the Fire - "What? More feds who lied about health and safety and where that virus came from?

And you're surprised?

New York Faces Energy Shortages This Summer

New York has painted itself into a corner with its Green Energy™ policy. Extended heat wave could cripple New York’s grid this summer: NYISO. NYISO, or ISO, is the New York Independent System Operator. They run the grid for NY State.

New York legisators have demanded that the state cut back on the evil fossil fuels, and now are looking at problems for the summer.

“This assessment reflects the challenges of the grid in transition — declining reliability margins, performance issues with aging generators, and an absence of new dispatchable resources,” [Aaron Markham, ISO vice president of operations] said.

Dispatchable resources have been gas-powered turbine generators. They can be fired up fairly quickly, as these things go, and added to the grid to deal with extreme temperatures, lack of wind/solar generation, etc. They've been forbidden by a green energy law in NY.

So what happens if things go bad for the grid?

The ISO can take emergency actions, including purchasing energy, calling for voluntary industrial curtailment and allowing a reduction in operating reserves

Shutting down your idustrial grid, or asking them to "voluntarily cut back," doesn't seem like the way to grow your economy. Is New York trying to attract any AI data centers?

Things are so bad that even the politicians are waking up to reality.

The state has fallen behind on its decarbonization goals, and Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering rewriting landmark 2019 climate legislation to provide a longer path towards a carbon-free electric grid.

"Landmark" is not the word I would use. I do love it when politicians pretend to be engineers.

I think we are likely to see another NYC blackout in the next few years, probably associated with an extreme summer heatwave. Maybe not this summer, but soon.

Hat tip to William Teach at Pirate's Cove: New York’s Over-Reliance On “Green” Energy Could Cause Blackouts

Well, when you get rid of reliable coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy generation you are left with unreliable, undependable, and more expensive energy, which cannot meet the demands of more and more consumers/businesses, even with all those people moving out of NY.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 2 May

Wombat-socho is up first with In The Mailbox: 04.29.26 (Afternoon Edition)

Defending The Wood Perilous: God Is Not A Respecter Of Story Size
Stoic Observations: Southwall Update

The Right Way - Top of the News

90 Miles Midnight News - 90 Miles From Tyranny
Breaking Down the Would-Be Assassin’s Manifesto - Blazingcatfur

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 29 April 2026: Five By Five Edition

A critical flaw in GitHub's infrastructure opened everything up to a carefully crafted Git push. (Wiz)
What do you mean, everything? | EVERYTHING!

EBL - MAGA SCOTUS Congressional Districts ☀️

Instapundit: RedState: Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana Congressional Map and Huge!
Meanwhile, Democrats may have jumped the gun in Virginia...

The Glibertarians - Friday Morning Links

US Economy Rebounds With 2 Percent Growth in 1st Quarter
Department of Justice Pushing Separate Comey Probe for Classified Leaks

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.29.26 (Evening Edition)

Don Surber: The B in EBT stands for Bentley
First Street Journal: No matter how much you hate the credentialed media, you do not hate them enough, also, You in a heap o’ trouble, girl!

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For May 1, 2026

The left is made up of horrible people. “Meet the teachers who decided to voice their displeasure that Trump wasn’t murdered over the weekend.”
The latest Trump assassination attempt and the left’s hate machine.

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

The Democratic Party’s America: Sixty minutes. Don’t trust the media. Utah Somalis. Violence.
China Carney’s Canada: Corrupt Liberals. Floor crossers. Spaceport scam.
Stories You Won’t Find At Carney’s CBC: Toxic teenage boys. Executed Iranians.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Comey Indicted Again, King Chuck Drop By for a Visit

Matt Margolis also reports a Top Fauci Aide Indicted for Concealing Records in COVID Origins Cover-Up. Hat Hair's Dave Strom is hoping for COVID Consequences Coming?

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 04.30.26

Chicago Boyz: Traveling’s Dark Companion
Da Tech Guy: Pintastic NE 2026 Videos of the Day The Last Day and Gabe

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 4/30/2026

French Economy Records Zero Growth in First Quarter
France’s economy recorded zero growth in the first quarter of this year due to “sluggish” domestic demand and a “strongly” negative contribution from foreign trade

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Academic Journal Madness: Childhood Sexuality; J.K. Rowling Is Voldemort; Feminist Praxis

Apparently, the real evil character from the Harry Potter series was the author herself.
It wouldn’t be woke academia without “praxis”.

Vlad Tepes - UK, Canada and an interpretation of events or two: Links 1 for May, 1, Commie Christmas, 2026

1. The architecture for a new Iron Curtain is being laid down in Europe right now. And, as we may recall, Mark Carney spefically said he wants Canada to join the EU. It was NOT for our prosperity. Which is something he made clear in his manifesto book, “Values”.

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, 05/01/2026 – Back to The Economist!

A radical idea for governing California
If you’re expecting the only correct answer, “Replace every Democrat with a Republican”, you’re going to be disappointed.

Once more from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 05.01.26

Victory Girls: May Day Has A History But Illiterates Can’t Read It
Watts Up With That: Sorry, Los Angeles Times, Climate Change Isn’t Driving Georgia’s Wildfires

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

How the Association of American Medical Colleges Lost Its Way
Finally, Some Covid Accountability?

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 4/29/26

Mehmet Oz is taking down California's health-care fraud network.
The fraud party is ending

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Won't Someone Think of the Journalists?

• Democrats will nominate a Nazi - Don Surber
• Oregon Forced to Clean Almost 20% of its Voters Off the Rolls Because They Are Ineligible - David Strom

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 05/01/2026

Sean Hannity says John Solomon has informed him that there are FOUR MORE Crossfire Hurricanes high-level revelations that will be breaking soon. Hannity is a bit of a meme though over his overselling upcoming revelations

I leave you with Midweek Memes from Granite Grok, Wednesday Memes … from MaddMedic, Some Randoms From The Inbox.... from The Feral Irishman, and Friday evening's gifs from Wirecutter.

Off-Duty State Trooper Shoots Carjacker

I'm surprised they didn't just call him a "teen" or "teenager." Armed 17-Year-Old Shot Trying To Carjack Off-Duty State Trooper At Gas Station: Police | Rivertowns, NY Patch

The Yonkers Police Department says that on Sunday, around 12:45 p.m., they received a call from an off-duty New York State trooper, assigned to New York City, requesting assistance at the Mobil gas station on Kimball Avenue.

Yonkers is about 10 miles north of NYC on the Hudson River.

He pulled a knife, and she shot him in the left arm. He did get away for a short distance in her car, but not far.

Cops found him at a nearby apartment building.

Medical aid was administered at the scene, and the suspect was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds and remains in stable condition.

Charges include first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery, third-degree robbery, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

The investigation is in early days.

Self-defense is a human right, even if you're an off-duty cop. This took place in New York, so whether it is a legal right, is anyone's guess.

Scott Jennings Laying Down Truth on CNN

I don't know how he has the patience, but I'm glad he does. From Matt Margolis at PJ Media: Scott Jennings Humiliates Former Daily Beast Editor Over Gerrymandering and Race

Click thru for the details on their discussion regarding the recent SCOTUS ruling. The part I loved is as follows.

Then Avlon, perhaps sensing the argument slipping away from him, reached for a historical data point. "We haven't had an African-American Republican governor since Reconstruction," he said, throwing it out like a trump card.

But Jennings was ready.

"Republicans tried to elect one in Virginia," he shot back.

Read the whole thing.

Hat tip to Ed Driscoll at Instapundit, who also brought us the following bit of irony.

Not a single person crying about how the Supreme Court has made it impossible for black people to get elected supported Winsom Sears over the affluent white lady.

Not one.

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) April 30, 2026

Girlfriend Is Better

Another song that comes to us by way of WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback. WXRT (Chicago's Finest Rock) was revisiting 1984 in early march.

Post Punk - what the suits insisted on calling New Wave - was a bit strange, even by the standards of the 1980s, and the 1980s were a strange time. The height of the Cold War impacted culture in many ways. Even though no one thought about it much, the fact that nuclear war was real possibility sort of hung over everything. Listening to this song takes me back to my (mostly) misspent youth.

This song is "Girlfriend Is Better" from Talking Heads from their 1984 album Speaking in Tongues.

The suits running the music business in the 1980s hated Punk, even when they were making money off of it. So when Post Punk evolved, they had to have another name for it.

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.