Friday Links - 30 September

Daisy at Chicks on the Right is up first with Yet Another Gaffe By Our Idiot-In-Chief… Biden asks, "Where's Jackie?"

Jackie Walorski was an Indiana congresswoman from 2013 until this year, when she died in a car accident on August 3rd. She was awesome – a truly remarkable woman. ...

Biden should never be given a microphone ever again:

The Other McCain is up next with a report from a not-quite-war-zone: Surviving the Hurricane, So Far

The power went out early Wednesday morning when a transformer blew out in their neighborhood, and about half the city is now without electricity. Downtown was totally flooded Wednesday, but my daughter’s house east of the city is still above water, although they’ve kept a close eye on the canal behind their house. They’ve got a three-day food supply, so they’re in pretty good shape. Watching national TV on Wednesday, you might have gotten the idea that the folks trapped in Naples and Fort Myers were guilty of ignoring warnings or had disobeyed evacuation orders, which is grossly misleading. Rather, the fault is with the shifting projections of the storm’s track.

The LawDog Files - Nordstream. Maintenance and the lack thereof...

They officially shut it down in July of 2020 for maintenance, and had cornbread hell getting it back on-line, and “issues” with maintaining flow throughout the next year; shut it down again in July of 2021, with bigger “issues” — we say “issues” because the Russians won’t explain what these issues were — and even more problems, including unexplained, major disruptions in gas flow in Dec21/Jan22; Feb 22; and April 22.

Yeah, there’s problems with those lines. And these are the same folks that PMCS’d [Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services] Chernobyl.

Juvat at Chant du Départ - Family and friends

Mrs. J's 6 month campaign to get the Juvat Clan and friends together for an overseas cruise has finally arrived at the execution phase. All the covid stupidity has been complied with. Shot Cards are enclosed with the passports. Airline Tickets are in hand. Rendezvous with MBD, SIL and MG is complete and drop-off at the airport completed. In-processing is complete and airport security is next.

Toni Williams at Victory Girls - Bonhomme Richard Fire Trial Emblematic Of Larger Issues

Every. Single. Action. In this situation is emblematic of the larger problems that afflict the Navy and our military as a whole. If this is not rectified yesterday, our military won’t be any good against the Rhode Island League of Women Voters, let alone the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

Vodka Pundit - Meet the New GOP: Younger, More Female, More Hispanic (and More Attractive, if You'll Pardon Me)

I had a little birdie whisper in my ear last night that Virginia’s 7th Congressional District is one of those races to watch on election night. There, Republican Yesli Vega is taking on two-term Democrat incumbent Abigail Spanberger.

Vega is the daughter of refugees from El Salvador’s civil war. She and her husband, Army vet Rene, have two children. Vega got her start in Virginia law enforcement, working as a patrol officer, field training officer, hostage negotiator, and crisis intervention team member.

The Right Scoop - CNN’s Don Lemon tries to get NOAA scientist to blame Hurricane Ian on climate change, but he won’t do it…

But Lemon persists and pushes Rohme on the question again. That’s when Rohme says you can’t link climate change to one weather event and cautioned against Lemon trying to do so.

Again from The Other McCain - Worst. President. Ever.

Ace goes on an extended rant about this: “Confiscate the kulaks’ farms and kill them, and then blame the dead traitors for the poor yields. It’s been part of the authoritarians’ playbook since the 1930s.

Bookworm Room - FBI’s descent into evil shows pensions corrupt government workers

These people know that they are [now] working in a hopelessly corrupt institution and that, by continuing there, they are besmirching their own morals and souls. And yet they remain because — damn it! — they’ve earned chunks of that pension already and don’t want to walk away.

Oklahoma Is a Bad Place for Bad Guys

They don't seem to have gotten that memo. Homeowner shoots, kills alleged burglary suspect, Tulsa police say

Police say a burglary suspect entered into a residence near East 14th Street and South Florence Place.

An elderly homeowner heard the man and and shot him inside the home.

After he got shot, he beat a hasty retreat but didn't get too far. Police found his dead body in the front yard of the home.

Oklahoma has one of the original Castle Doctrine laws so I don't think this homeowner will have any trouble with authorities. The thought there might be issues doesn't even occur to the reporter in this case.

Self-defense is a human-right.

Keeping Violent Offenders in Jail is Unfair

Less than 24 hours after a convicted sex offender was released on his own recognizance, he was arrested again. Convicted sex offender being questioned in West Loop kidnapping attempt was released on a felony recognizance bond less than 24 hours earlier - CWB Chicago

He was in bond on Sunday for a misdemeanor battery warrant, and a felony for failing to register as a sex-offender.

The judge set him free on his own recognizance.

Less than 24 hours later, a man driving a stolen minivan grabbed and apparently tried to kidnap a woman in the 200 block of South Sangamon in the West Loop. A few minutes later, a man driving a similar minivan grabbed a woman as she walked in the 100 block of West Roosevelt in the South Loop, according to a CPD report.

Both women fought their way free, and the maroon minivan, which was stolen, crashed moments after the South Loop attack. The driver fled the scene.

About 15 minutes after the crash, CTA cameras captured images of the West Loop attacker at the Jackson Red Line station.

CWB Chicago didn't name him in the story, because he had not been charged. That's changed.

BREAKING: Charges filed.

Quavon Ewing, 32

Kidnapping x1
Agg. battery x2

I wonder if the new law in Illinois - outlawing most cash bail - would even allow him to be held.

And they wonder why crime is up.

EMS Lieutenant Killed While on Duty in NYC

Alison Russo-Eling died 29 September, 2022. Astoria EMS Lieutenant Randomly Stabbed To Death On The Job: Police | Astoria, NY Patch

Alison Russo-Eling, 61, a 24-year department veteran who had served as a first responder in the Sept. 11 attacks, was attacked while on duty shortly after 2 p.m., police said. She had just left EMS Station 49 to get food, wearing clothing that clearly identified her as a paramedic, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters during a news conference.

At the corner of 20th Avenue and 41st Street, a half-block from the EMS station, a 34-year-old man brandishing a knife "viciously attacked" Russo-Eling, stabbing her numerous times across her body, Essig said.

She died at a nearby hospital.

The guy was known to some people on the street, they chased him to an apartment where he barricaded himself. A hostage negotiator, backed up by NYPD's Emergency Service Unit eventually took him into custody.

Do we believe that the non-prosecuting attorneys of New York will actually ensure that he is held accountable? I don't believe that.

So what kind of monster decides to randomly end a person's life for no reason, or only because he didn't like EMS personnel, or whatever?

What has happened to our large cities? Civilization was nice while it lasted.

Everything Wrong With Hollywood in One Interview

I miss the days when entertainment was supposed to be entertaining. From The Other McCain: ‘The Hard-Hitting Social Commentary We’re Trying to Get Across’

Olivia Wilde has a new movie. It isn't supposed to be entertaining. It is supposed to convey how much she hates Jordan Peterson. Of course since she hasn't read any of his work, or probably seen any of his videos, what she actually hates is "an ignorant stereotype of Peterson." Because she was told to hate him by her feminist mistresses. And she won't question those marching orders.

If the only tool you’ve got is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. And if the only ideology you have is feminism, every problem looks like misogyny. Because of the unipolar dynamic of feminist ideology, everything they consider problematic is lumped together as part of an oppressive system, and therefore Professor Peterson gets dumped into the same “basket of deplorables” as Donald Trump and “incels.”

Such is the “hard-hitting social commentary” Olivia Wilde wedged into her new movie, and really, Harry Styles needs to dump that bitch.

There is more on the insanity. Click thru.

I haven't given much money to Hollywood in a long time, and none in the past 2 or 3 years. I used to go to a movie at least once a month. There was a time, shortly after I retired when you could see a matinee for a few bucks. While living in Florida, I would grab lunch at my favorite deli, catch a first-run movie at about 2 PM or so, and miss the heat of the day, which in July or August in the Tampa Bay area was worth missing. But there was usually some movie that promised entertainment. Not anymore, it is all virtue signalling, and no entertainment.

DAs HATE Self-defense

But despite that, it seems to be legal. Jury acquits Penn Borough man of attempted murder in roommate's shooting

He was in a home that was not his. He was asked to leave. He held his hand behind his back. He got shot.

The DA says, "He was unarmed," but the homeowner doesn't have x-ray vision. He knew the dead guy. That is not an issue. (You are more likely to be threatened by someone you know that a complete stranger.)

The DA knows all of that, but was hoping that the jury would convict, because Justice is not the issue. Winning is the issue. Well that, and they really, really hate self-defense. You must rely on the state for everything, even those things it cannot provide.

A Westmoreland County jury acquitted a Penn Borough man of attempted murder and aggravated assault for the 2021 shooting of his girlfriend’s adult son.

And in usual DA form, they threw a bunch of charges into the air, hoping one would stick.

Self-defense is a human-right, and it might be your legal right in Pennsylvania, though not if the District Attorneys have their way.

Schrödinger’s Cat Food

Stocks are a bet on the future. Bonds are a promise; a promise that's apparently been broken. This Is the Way the World Ends - LewRockwell

I speak of the magic moment when the necromancers of finance discover that the proverbial can they’ve been kicking is filled with Schrödinger’s cat food… and the road they’ve been kicking it down actually comes to a dead end up their own highly-credentialed wazoos. Economics will never be the same hereafter.

The bond market has gone south, and that spells The End for the great game of financialization. The bond market is Moby Dick compared to the little blowfish that is the stock market. The global money system is based on bonds, which are… what? That’s right: loans… promises to pay you X at some future moment. So, what happens when a daisy-chain of promises-to-pay gets broken? Or, perhaps more precisely, when all those promises lose their last shred of plausible reality? Why, the money that these broken promises are denominated in loses its essential cred. Trick question: how much is worthless money worth? (Answer: not enough to pay for a can of Schrödinger’s cat food.)

And the political landscape is starting to change as a result.

The people of, first, Sweden and now Italy are voting in “right wing” nationalist governments — the horror — sending their equivalent of our Party of Chaos to the showers. This has irked the President of the European Union, one Ursula von der Leyen, no end. She has threatened to send Italy to its room without supper for the effrontry.

This is against a backdrop of Russia and Ukraine, election shenanigans, and the energy implosion in Germany.

Civilization was nice while it lasted.

He Tried to Carjack a Woman at Chik-fil-A

It didn't turn out the way he planned. Florida Chick-fil-A employee stops man who allegedly tried to carjack woman with baby

Fort Walton Beach, Florida is a coastal town on Florida's panhandle, approximately 35 miles east of Pensacola, Florida and about 60 miles west of Panama City, Florida.

Dramatic video shows a Chick-fil-A employee tackling a man who allegedly tried to carjack a woman with a baby. The suspect, identified as William Branch, was arrested by authorities in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. [SNIP]

The Chick-fil-A employee, identified by the restaurant as Mykel Gordon, intervened after hearing the woman screaming. Part of the video of the encounter shows Gordon wrestling Branch to the ground and pinning him until more people show up to help.

None of this "just call 911" and "don't get involved" attitude that you see all too often in 2022. He stepped up, and stopped the crime, and held the guy until cops arrived.

And while he didn't use a weapon, he did come to the defense of others.

Wednesday Link Roundup - 28 September

Pixy Misa at Ace of Spades HQ is up first with Daily Tech News 27 September 2022

If the iPhone app you developed is working fine and doesn't need to be updated, Apple will delete it from the App Store. (Simulated Annealing)
Because fuck you, that's why.

Pirate's Cove - Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

1. Powerline discusses criminalized Conservatism
2. Sultan Knish says they’re redistributing money, not fighting inflation

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkage

The Intrepid Reporter - UGH
Watts Up With That? - America Is Successfully Pursuing ESG = Extreme Shortages Guaranteed

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain - In The Mailbox: 09.26.22

Cafe Hayek: “None of Them”, Access to Amazon’s Site Enhances Third-Party Merchants’ Competitiveness, and LOL!
CDR Salamander: AUKUS at 1-year, with Alessio Patalano

EBL - Conservative Giorgia Meloni wins in Italy

Instapundit: Right Wing Coalition Wins In Italy, American media loses its mind...
She is really well spoken, check out the video

Political Hat - News of the Week (September 25th, 2022)

Up Next: Green Starvation
As has often been noted, environmentalism is, for many, a religion. It now appears that it is a religion that demands human sacrifice.

Proof-Positive - Best of the Web*

IRS Sent $1.3 Billion In Stimulus Checks To Locked Up Criminals, Including Murderers
School Attacks: When Things Fall Apart

Don Surber - Highlights of the News

ITEM 5: Life News reported, "Joe Biden’s FBI has raided the home of a well-known pro-life advocate and arrested him in front of his crying children on a bogus charge that had already been thrown out of court. Biden’s administration is coming under fire for weaponizing the FBI.

A View from the Beach - Some DIY Politics

Why the Democrats Must Be Punished – PJ Media
There's pressure for GOP to impeach Biden if they win the House, according to S.C. Rep. Nancy Mace | Just The News

Vlad Tepes - Geopolitics and corruption: Links 2, September 27, 2022

1. Venezuelan Illegal Migrants Reportedly Organizing Paramilitary Cells In The U.S.
(This makes sense. Vz is a communist country and one of the worst, and in league with Iran against the US. How would all those Venezuelans get to the border ... ?)

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 09.27.22

Victory Girls: NASA Plays Armageddon And It’s So Cool, also, Putin Has a Potemkin Army
Volokh Conspiracy: The First Lawsuit Challenging Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 9/26/2022

FBI Whistleblower’s Wife Suspended From Facebook After Sending a Private Message
President of Empower Oversight Whistleblowers and Research, Jason Foster, discusses the mistreatment of whistleblowers and their families when they come forward.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

David Henderson shares one of his favorite passages from Atlas Shrugged.
Ron Bailey wonders why environmental ‘activists’ are “trying to stop research into a promising backup plan to handle climate change?”

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 9/26/22

"It’s going after the conservative Eagle Forum of Alabama because the group supported a state law to prohibit gender-altering medical treatment for minors."
Biden Department of Justice? Hardly

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: 'The most outrageous intimidation effort in history': Mark Levin's electoral deep dive

• Truthteller Kari Lake Says She Will Not Back Down, The Stakes are Too High - CTH
• Cover-Up Artists for Undercover Operatives - Julie Kelly

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 09/27/2022

Pennsylvania county sues Dominion Voting Systems for ‘unauthorized Python script’ & ‘foreign IP address’ – The report says, “This python script can exploit and create any number of vulnerabilities including, external access to the system

I leave you with Sunday Funnies For 09-25-22 from Stately McDaniel Manor, Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #677 from 90 Miles From Tyranny, and Fucking Mondays gifdump from Wirecutter.

Self-defense Is Legal in St, Louis

And the DA hates that. St. Louis jury acquits man who claimed self-defense in fatal gas station shooting

When Humphrey [76-yrs old] left the store, Stewart [33-yrs old] was outside, and the two started to fight. Stewart punched Humphrey at least 12 times and kicked him after he fell on the ground, defense attorneys said.

When Humphrey got back on his feet he shot and killed Stewart, who died, and his father, who survived.

Prosecutors charged Humphrey in January 2020 with first-degree murder, assault and armed criminal action roughly two months later, arguing he had plenty of opportunities to leave without firing his gun.

The DA didn't like self-defense, tried to prove self-defense, and failed.

Because self-defense is a human-right.

HeyJackass! and the Start of Fall in Chicago

HeyJackass! has the stats on the past weekend in the Windy City. Mostly Peaceful Weekend

With the official arrival of fall, we’ll likely see one the last somewhat summer-ish weekend of the 2022 campaign and post somewhat summer-ish numbers.

The totals were 10 killed, and 33 shot and wounded. (As HeyJackass! tracks the weekend it runs from noon on Friday to 6 AM on Monday.)

Those totals are less than both 2020 and 2021, so the powers-that-be will be happy. Pay no attention to prior years.

2019 weekend tally: 2 killed, 18 wounded
2018 weekend tally: 7 killed, 14 wounded

Though the totals are influenced by the weather more than you might expect.

The "In" Crowd

Ramsey Lewis was a Jazz pianist from Chicago. He passed away September 12th, at the age of 87; I thought it would be fitting to listen to a piece of his music.

He was artistic director of Jazz at the Ravinia Festival, a music/concert venue north of Chicago. He hosted a PBS miniseries on Jazz. He had a radio show on the Chicago smooth jazz station, which became nationally syndicated for a while, before the station in question switched from Jazz to a Spanish-language format. And he made some great music.

This song is "The 'In' Crowd" by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. It was recorded in 1965 at the Bohemian Caverns nightclub in Washington, D.C. It would go on to be his biggest hit, making it to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

First She Got Shot, Then She Got Arrested

I'm sure she didn't expect her day to end that way. Teen charged in Mississippi mall shooting

That headline should be, "Mississippi Teen Shot by Store Owner After She Draws Gun." The original is a better headline than most I see.

Ridgeland Police Chief Brian Myers said the shooting happened around 5:20 p.m. when Za'Lill D'Chelle Patterson, 16, of Jackson, tried to shoplift from a popcorn store inside the mall. She allegedly pulled a gun on the store owner, who Myers said shot Patterson in the leg in self defense.

According to Myers, Patterson was taken to a local hospital before she was booked into the Madison County Detention Center on a charge of aggravated assault with a weapon. She will be charged as an adult.

The hat tip goes to Ruined Leon, who has an 8 minute video on the story: 16 Year Old Pulls Out A Gun Because She Got Caught Stealing. Well, he covers more than just this story. He covers the whole attitude behind the act, and a case of the looting of a black business. Like I said it is 8 minutes, or so. Grab a coffee. Leon is usually worth the time, and this video does not disappoint.

Tuesday Links - 27 September

The Gateway Pundit starts us off with Democrats DON’T CARE: “Single Largest Fentanyl Seizure In Phoenix Police History” – OVER ONE MILLION Fentanyl Pills Seized From Arizona Home

The deadly drug is pouring into Arizona through the wide-open southern border, and it is Joe Biden’s fault.

Massive amounts of the killer chemical are being found across the United States. The Gateway Pundit recently reported that a Florida police department seized enough fentanyl to kill 1.5 million people during a recent drug bust.

Granite Grok - Herr Biden Unleashes The FBI On The Pro-Life Movement

It would be wrong to say that America is becoming a police state. America … under the Biden regime… is already a police state. The DOJ/FBI is routinely used to intimidate, silence, and even arrest Americans who oppose Herr Biden’s agenda.

Red State - Right-Wing Coalition Wins in Italy, American Press Loses Its Mind. Will the Left celebrate a woman elected PM of Italy? Not unless she's Progressive.

Exit polls show that the right-wing alliance will win a sizable majority, with a government being formed behind Giorgia Meloni as Prime Minister.

Meloni will be the first woman in the country’s history to hold the position.

The Post Millennial - LGBTQ community TRIGGERED by accurate label on Jeffrey Dahmer show identifying as him as gay

Netflix's new series "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" premiered on September 21 and faced immediate backlash for tagging the show as part of the streaming network's LGBTQ content, despite the fact that the cannibal was a gay man.

Kevin D. Williamson at The Dispatch - The Impossibility of the Ham Sandwich: A lesson about comparative advantage. Thought provoking...

Other people have run similar experiments, and, illuminating as they are, they understate the case: Those Dutch locavores may have ground the wheat they grew into flour, but they didn’t build the mill, and they didn’t mine the iron and refine it into steel to make the tools they needed to harvest that wheat or butcher those pigs. It takes some infrastructure to create cheese. In truth, without the benefits provided by the division of labor in accord with comparative advantage, a ham sandwich wouldn’t be something that cost fifty grand—it would be something that is impossible to create at any price.

Liana Hutton by way of Professor David Yamane at Gun Curious - “I Absolutely Loved It!” (Fall 2022 Student Range Visit Reflection #6)

When I first showed up at the range, my friend and I were a little anxious. We heard the loud shots of the previous group shooting and immediately went back to the car. Both of our families are very liberal, so it was in our nature to hear that and leave the source it was originating from. When we finally got inside the fence, I was very nervous and didn’t know if I wanted to through with shooting any of the guns.

Adaptive Curmudgeon - Camp And Sail Part 4: Neither Boats Nor Curmudgeons Are Made To Stay In The Harbor

I was nervous as hell. I’m always nervous when I sail. I’m not sure why but it’s a true thing. My sailboat has no motor. Once you put it on the water, it has a vote in all that happens afterwards. Just as a motorcycle is not a horse, a motorboat is not a sailboat. There’s a difference between flowing with the wind and using gas power to simply force a thing to happen. I was about to head out on a lake solo. I would have not the slightest hint of backup. (Not that I ever do.) There’s just so many things that can go wrong.

Tam at View From The Porch - Truth in Advertising... Click thru for the eye-searing photo.

Here's an Aston Martin Vantage in...hand to God, this is the actual name of the color...Kermit Green.

How's That Bail Reform Working Out?

The people in charge of the Criminal Justice System in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, still maintain that their bail reforms haven't caused any problems, or that they have seen no bad situations. They even passed a law in the State of Illinois to impose their progressive views on all jurisdictions. The actual situation is a bit more complicated. (This list of crimes is just from the weekend, basically.)

CWB Chicago is keeping track of the really bad results, which are murder, attempted murder and just shooting someone (assault with a deadly weapon?) while on bail for a felony. #41: Felon engaged in ‘gunfight at the OK Corral’ while on electronic monitoring, officials say

A convicted felon engaged in “a gunfight at the OK Corral” on a bustling Chicago street while he was on electronic monitoring for a felony case, authorities said Wednesday.

Kevin Cousins, 21, is the 41st person accused of killing or shooting—or attempting to kill or shoot—someone in Chicago while awaiting trial for a felony this year. The alleged crimes involved at least 78 victims, 18 of whom died.

The judge in that case called it essentially the OK Corral. You should click thru for the details.

That isn't the only example. #42: Man nearly killed beloved chef during a violent carjacking and robbery in Chinatown—while on felony bail, prosecutors say

The man who brutally beat and carjacked beloved chef Jin Lew in Chinatown this spring, leaving the 61-year-old with injuries so severe that he will need 24-hour care for the rest of his life, was on bail for a pending stolen motor vehicle case at the time of the attack, prosecutors said Saturday.

Less serious crimes are reported on, but not tracked to that detail. That would be a Herculean task in Chicago.

• Man is caught driving a stolen car while on bail for a gun case, a robbery case, and another stolen auto case, prosecutors say

  Prosecutors say a man who is on bail for robbery, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possessing a stolen motor vehicle was caught driving another stolen car this week in Chicago.

• 3-time convicted burglar, on bail for 2 burglaries, burglarized 3 more Lakeview homes this week, prosecutors say

  A three-time convicted burglars on bail for two burglary cases, burglarized three more Lakeview homes on Wednesday evening, prosecutors say. Chicago police allegedly found property belonging to all of the latest victims in his backpack.

• Man with two pending robbery cases is charged with mugging teenager on the Red Line

  Prosecutors say a man with an extensive juvenile record, including two pending robbery cases, robbed a 15-year-old who was riding home from school on the Red Line earlier this month.

For more info on the man nearly killed in the Chinatown carjacking see the following from the Chicago Journal: 18-year-old charged in the brutal beating of Chef in Chinatown. Be aware that the photo of victim is fairly disturbing.

Prosecutors told the court Saturday that Patterson, currently a high school student, was on bond for possessing a stolen vehicle at the time of this incident. He and his co-offenders allegedly pulled Mr. Lew from his vehicle and beat him with their hands and feet.

CWB Chicago and Chicago Journal are the two media outlets in Chicago doing real journalism on crime, and the policies of City Hall, and the State's Attorney's office. Every other "news organization" is afraid to piss off the powers-that-be. If you can help CWB Chicago or Chicago Journal out with a subscription or even a few bucks, please do so. (I have no connection to either of these organizations, except that I love their news coverage.)

Energy Prices Are Killing German Industry

But that is what the proponents of Green Energy want. Germany’s “Tenfold Increase In Gas And Electricity Prices” Is Driving Out Industry

What leaves once, will not come again. While energy prices in Europe are going through the roof, they remain moderate in the USA. This will have serious consequences for energy-intensive industries.

The world's largest steel producer, Arcelor-Mittal, shut down one of its blast furnaces, and started buying sponge iron from the US.

And the increase in costs are being passed on. So cars, appliances, and everything else down to scissors and paperclips will cost more.

Hat tip to Watts Up With That.

Crazy People Are Dangerous

In this case, a woman killed her nephew. 3-year-old who was thrown off of Navy Pier has died, records show - CWB Chicago

The 3-year-old boy who spent nearly 30 minutes at the bottom of Lake Michigan after his aunt allegedly tossed him off of Navy Pier and watched him drown has died, according to records from the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He spent 30 minutes on the bottom of Lake Michigan.

You can click thru for the details of what she did leading up to the crime, which was captured on security cameras at Navy Pier.

“Not once,” [prosecutor Lorraine] Scaduto alleged, “did the defendant scream for help, call for help, ask for help, or try herself to help.”

The defendant is on various medications for mental health conditions. But keeping her confined for her own safety and the safety of others is not done, not fair, or something. It is certainly not fair to the family of the dead kid

Driving In Style

I don't know much about the band Thundermother. I found a reference to them on the Waken Open Air^‡ website. The lineup for 2022 is being finalized (or maybe it is finalized), and they will be playing in this year's festival.

Although by today's definitions, they are technically a Heavy Metal band, the sound is definitely Hard Rock from the 1980s. The band was started in 2010 by Filippa Nässil out of Sweden. The original members, except Filippa, all quit, so what we have here is a new line up as of 2017. I sort of like it. I have not heard enough of their music to say if it will become a regular part of my listening.

Here's a link to the lyrics. They are singing in English, but you may need them.

This is "Driving in Style" by Thundermother from their 2020 album Heat Wave.

‡ Waken Open Air is sort of the Lollapalooza of Heavy Metal. It is a huge Heavy Metal festival that takes place in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It was canceled in both 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. The 2022 festival was sold out almost as soon as tickets became available.

Italy Elects a Conservative Woman PM

Leftist screeching arrived right on schedule. Don Surber: Italy elects first woman PM. Misogynist media hates her

This is a short read, but worth the time. I will highlight one bit, because the WoPo is completely unhinged about a woman, who is also a conservative, being elected in Europe.

The Washington Post managed to get both facts in its lead paragraph, saying, "Italy is poised on Sunday for a norm-breaking election that’s expected to give the country its first-ever female prime minister — and its farthest-right government since the fall of Mussolini."

But when Germans elected Merkel, WaPo didn't say she was the first-ever female chancellor and the country's biggest socialist leader since Hitler.

But then the Left always ignores 2 facts: Hitler left the German Workers' Party (the communists) to join the National Socialist Party.

Anyway, CNN and the New York Times are also in the mix, as are UPI and the Wall Street Journal.

It isn't completely one sided.

The Daily Mail broke ranks. It reported, "Giorgia Meloni is nothing if not a patriot."

As I said, click thru.

Rings of Prime: Not Worth Stealing

Heh. "House of the Dragon" Crushes "The Rings of Power" on Pirate Sites * TorrentFreak

"House of the Dragon" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" are two completely different TV series. However, their near-simultaneous premieres have tempted people to draw comparisons. While we can't say which series is better, the download numbers show that torrenting pirates clearly favor the Game of Thrones prequel.

Hat tip to Pixy Misa, who notes: People can't even be bothered to steal Amazon's Rings of Power series.

Good Guys 5, Bad Guys 0

A home-invasion robbery leads to Felony Murder charges. This is probably not what they expected to have happen. Four people arrested after homicide investigation in Levy County

Cedar Key, Florida is on the Gulf Coast about due west of Ocala, and SW of Gainesville, where you find the University of Florida. It is not quite in the center of The Big Bend. (The extent of The Big Bend tends to change depending on who is doing the defining.)

At least 5 people staged a home-invasion robbery in Cedar Key, Florida on August 14th of this year. The homeowner shot one of them, Anthony Brown, who died of a gunshot wound at a local emergency center.

Four people have been arrested and are in jail charged with homicide. Their actions - the home invasion - lead directly to the death of their accomplice, Anthony Brown. In Florida, this is not an unheard of outcome, with the level of armed citizens in that state.

When someone is charged with murder because a death that occurred when they were committing a felony, such as home invasion, most of us laymen call that Felony Murder. The lawyers in different parts of the country call it by different names.

The case is not closed, as police are searching for more (or at least one more) suspects.

Deputies say that the homeowner is not being charged.

That is because Self-defense is a Human-right, and in Florida, it seems to be your legal right.

Civilization Was Nice While It Lasted

He was executed for walking down the street in Philadelphia. Everett Beauregard shooting: Philly police release surveillance video that shows 'unprovoked' killing of recent Temple grad | PhillyVoice

The shooting occurred as [Everett] Beauregard was walking home from a SEPTA station after a night out with friends. The suspect approached Beauregard from the opposite direction on the 400 block of North 35th Street and fired several shots, police said. One of them struck the Beauregard in the neck, severing his spinal cord.

As they pass each other, the gunman turns and fires several shots into Everett's back. As he runs from the scene he fires one more shot as Everett Beauregard is already lying on the sidewalk.

The video shows what happened, but it is so grainy as to be worthless for an identification. The gunman is wearing a generic dark hooded sweatshirt, dark slacks or jeans, and a face mask, which won't help.

"Not a word was spoken between the two prior to the offender shooting Mr. Beauregard in the back," Philadelphia Police Captain Jason Smith said.

The hat tip goes to The Other McCain and A Death in ‘Killadelphia’.

Guarantee you that if they catch this perp, he’ll have a lengthy criminal record, having been turned loose by Philadelphia’s Soros-backed DA Larry Krasner. Because “social justice.”

The Democrats Broke California and U-Haul

Greatest salesman for U-Haul in recorded History. U-Haul Literally Ran Out of Trucks Leaving California | National Review

California, however, bled outbound citizens so badly, it broke U-Haul’s ability to measure — because the company ran out of trucks to rent:

Heh.

California was followed closely by Illinois as the 2nd place state in the race to repel taxpayers. The politically correct term is "out migration."

While it is fun to laugh at California, it has real world implications. Canary In The Tax-Mine? California Sees 11% Drop In Revenue.

Compounding the situation is an 11% drop in personal income tax revenue than California expected this year, in what may be the new normal as we enter what may be a global recession. And let's not forget - the great migration out of California by residents and companies alike. A net 280,000 people left the state in 2021 for various reasons, which may be setting the state economy up for disaster.

Bet's on whether or not California gets a bailout from the rest of us?

Hat tip to Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog for both stories

Kathy Hochul OK With Pay-to-play

I'm sure she's fine with it as long it is from HER donors. NY Gov. Kathy Hochul on $637M alleged pay-to-play scheme

Gov. Kathy Hochul tried to avoid blame Friday for a spiraling “pay-to-play” scandal in which one of her top political donors scored no-bid contracts that overcharged taxpayers for $637 million in COVID-19 test kits.

And she also brushed off the notion anyone in her administration should pay the price for it, telling The Post dismissively, “They did what they did.”

She just wanted as many COVID-19 tests as possible. It is pure coincidence that the guy who got the no-bid contract at an inflated price contributed (along with members of his family) $330,000 to her campaign. Nothing to see here. Move along.

New York might have saved as much as $286 million on the tests had the Hochul administration gotten a better price from the company, which the Times Union recently reported charged the state twice as much as other vendors selling the same test.

Well, those campaign contributions aren't going to make themselves.

She will be reelected because soft-on-crime, corrupt politicians are what the good people of New York want.

The Long Kiss Goodnight

Another movie you probably haven't seen.

The Long Kiss Goodnight came up on social media recently. It is a movie that came out in 1996 which stars Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson. Davis wasn't the guarantee movie execs had been counting on (Cuthroat Island anyone?) so the movie didn't get the budget it deserved.

I always liked this movie, but I guess it is a movie most people haven't seen. Geena Davis as the hero of an action movie is a bit surprising. But her character, Charly, reminds me a bit of Ripley in the Alien series, and a bit of John McClane in the original Die-Hard.

I think the subject came up for Critical Drinker, because the YouTube, social media, and what passes for entertainment news today is awash with female heroes and discussion of the same. The criticism leveled, when you have issues with the whining of She-Hulk or whatever, usually revolve around something like, "You don't like women heroes." Which isn't true. For me, or Drinker. People don't like bad writing, and that seems to be most of what is coming out of Hollywood the past few years.

Davis's character manages to be a tough, action hero, without having to pretend to be a substitute man. (Guy-ladriel from Rings of Power Prime anyone?) And she does take a beating when fighting men who are bigger and stronger than she is. She wins by being smarter, and with a bit of luck, and some help. And in the end by being unwilling to give up.

As Drinker notes, the movie didn't have a budget comparable to Die Hard or Alien, and they stretched a bit on some of the effects. But overall I thought this was a good movie. I haven't seen it in a very long time, but I may have to find a copy. I'm sure my local library can provide one.

This is the video from Critical Drinker: Drinker's Extra Shots - The Long Kiss Goodnight

If people don't like women heroes, explain the following. Alien, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, or Wonder Woman (2017 version not the abomination of sequel). Sure, people hated Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, and Black Widow. The first was badly written, and it was a bad time to white-wash a bit of Asian IP. The second was about a character who had already died in the current timeline of the MCU. And it was poorly written. In video games I can reference several.

One Hit Wonders from the 1980s

This is a fun music video that covers a lot of ground. If you were listening to the radio in the 1980s, you can probably sing the chorus to each of these songs. And you will recognize them, even if there are a few you don't like that much. Some of them are quite good, and they always make me wonder what happened to the bands/artists in question. And besides, I haven't linked to a Rick Beato video in a while.

This is Rick Beato's list for the TOP 20 ONE HIT WONDERS OF THE ‘80s. It is just a bit under 15 minutes, so grab a coffee and enjoy.

After 5 Years in Jail, Jury Finds Him Not Guilty

So much for the right to a speedy trial. SF Public Defender Again Recounts SF Superior Court Failure – Man Jailed for 5 Years without Trial Finally Wins Freedom after Jury Acquittal

And self-defense might be legal in San Francisco, but I wouldn't bet on it.

DAs in Blue Cities really don't like self-defense.

“Mr. Ortiz, who is now 26, was jailed for nearly five years before he got to defend his innocence at trial. His defense team worked skillfully and compassionately to show that the prosecution was using fear rather than facts to try to prove their case,” Raju added.

Click thru for the somewhat underhanded tactics used by the prosecution, because they hate self-defense.

He should have had his trial more than a year ago, but a little thing like constitutional rights can't stand in the way of social control due to a pandemic. Social distancing, masks and whatever else they had dreamed up couldn't work in the courthouse. But apparently worked fine in the jail. Or something.

“Our client, Thomas Ortiz, was acquitted because it was an act of self-defense. Mr. Ortiz had never been arrested before. He fired one shot in self-defense after another individual pulled out a weapon and after someone else threw a bottle at Mr. Ortiz’s face,” said Deputy Public Defender Yali Corea-Levy.

But of course he fired that shot in self-defense in a the Bluest of Blue Cities, San Francisco. They can't abide individual responsibility. You must rely on the state, even for those things the state cannot provide. (Like your safety when bad things start happening.)

Self-defense is a human-right, but if the prosecutors in San Francisco have their way, it won't be your legal right.

History, Ignorance, Rinse, Repeat

No one has apparently ever heard of the Mariel boatlift. Venezuela Empties Prisons, Sends Violent Criminals to U.S. Border, Says DHS Report

A recent Department of Homeland Security intelligence report received by the Border Patrol instructs agents to look for Venezuelan inmates released from entering the U.S., according to a source within CBP. The report, reviewed by Breitbart Texas, indicates the Venezuelan government, under the leadership of Nicolás Maduro Moros, is purposely freeing inmates — including some convicted of murder, rape, and extortion.

Because why wouldn't they dump criminals on the US?

There was one US Representative, Tony Nehls, that mentioned this. Nehls is from Texas, of course. Aside from that no one in the US seems to think this is newsworthy.

This won't get anyone to change any policies. The folks in Martha's Vineyard will still insist that Texas and Florida and Arizona and all of those other states accept everyone, and they will continue to freak out if any of those refugees show up on their private island.

In other words, the limousine liberals will continue to live blissful lives of hypocrisy.

He Advertised 10% Biweekly Return with Zero Risk

That's not how markets work. Investors seek to recoup around $35 million from Canadian "Crypto King" in his early 20s

"But it's CRYPTO! And crypto isn't like anything that came before," said no-one who understands how cryptocurrency actually works.

File this under "You can't lose money in [the investment scheme of the day]."

Pleterski had promised investors that he would invest on their behalf, taking 30% of any capital gains, with a goal of achieving 10–20% gains biweekly. He also promised that any loss on the initial investment would be paid back in full. Pleterski had made some money in crypto as a teenager, but according to him, he lost most of the money he was given to invest in late 2021 and early 2022 "in a series of margin calls and bad trades."

But like a lot of people before him, he didn't come clean, and instead he kept the party going.

And keeping records of clients and trades and debts is such a 20th Century kind of idea!

So far, the court and investors alike have struggled to untangle Pleterski's mess—according to him, he was unorganized and didn't track his finances or debts.

You can find more at this link: Luxury cars seized from 23-year-old 'Crypto King' as investors try to recoup millions

The loses on crypto as I type this, as tracked by Web3 Is Going Great is 10.888 billion dollars.

When did Americans start to expect something for nothing? Was it in the 1990s with the dot-com bubble. This was different than anything that came before. It didn't matter that Pets-dot-com had the revenue of your average dry cleaner in the 1980s, its valuation at or above GM (or whatever it was at its peak) didn't matter. Then it was real estate in the 2004 to 2007 era. Of course the banks went along with that insanity with all the various "loan products" they offered. "You can't lose money in Real Estate," said no one with a historical perspective on real estate ever said. During that insanity people would start a sentence with, "Historically in real estate" and then proceed to talk about real estate since Jimmy Carter was in office. (Credit default swaps, which were the prime trigger for 2008s collapse, have tanked the economy at least 7 times since the end of the Civil War, though they have had different names during those different eras, because "you can't lose money in real estate.)

No, it probably goes back farther than that.

And now, people who can't figure out why it might be a good idea to use a password manager (it's too complicated) or why they might want to turn on two factor authentication for their banks, credit cards, Amazon, whatever, are holding forth on the virtues and "risk free" nature of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. They can't explain the mechanism for using public key cryptography, let alone describe what eliptic curve cryptography is, or what cryptographically secure random number generator does, or what Diffie-Hellman key exchange is, but they love crypto-whatever. It's the latest thing.

The future is stupid.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 24 September

Wombat-socho at The Other McCain is up first with In The Mailbox: 09.22.22

Shark Tank: Rick Scott & Others Call Out FDA For Ignoring Baby Formula Applications
Shot In The Dark: The DFL’s No Good, Very Bad Day Part I: Polled

The Right Way - Top of the News

Just when you think the Left cannot get any nuttier - The Daley Gator
Soros Backed District Attorney Has Been Found Guilty of Over a Hundred Counts - IOTW Report

EBL - The Persecution of FBI Whistleblower Steve Friend

FBI Agent Steve Friend, attacked for telling the truth..
NY Post: FBI Hero persecuted for protecting Americans
AoSHQ: FBI Hero punished for speaking out over singling out conservatives

The Daley Gator - Weekend Links News/Commentary

Bearing Arms- The lawsuit that might sink New York Gun Laws
Blazing Cat Fur has the latest Outrageous Outrage

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 09.23.22 (Afternoon Edition)

American Thinker: Are Democrats Deliberately Choosing Impaired Candidates?, also, Can the GOP Accommodate Two Rock Stars?
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Reparations News

Pixy Misa at Ace of Spades HQ - Daily Tech News 21 September 2022

Decentralised finance platform Wintermute, which I have never heard of, just lost $160 million. (Tech Crunch)
And unlike Star Citizen they don't even have cool exploding spaceships to show for it.

Battleswarm Blog - LinkSwarm for September 23, 2022

Remember how the State of Texas came in with record revenues and a $27 billion surplus? Well, the flip side is California, which just saw 11% personal income tax revenue drop. Funny how chasing away productive taxpayers through punitive taxation and insane over-regulation ...

A View from the Beach - Democrats Fooling Themselves? Liz Cheney Backstabs Party

VodkaPundit has The Saddest, Most Senescent Joe Biden Video Yet. It's becoming painfully obvious that the guy nominally in charge is senile, and you have to worry about it. But he's always been a lying son of a b*itch, and this post makes that clear.

Vlad Tepes - YouTube doctor dances around excess European mortality, 2% of parents inject kids with clot shots, Ukraine: Links 2 for September 22, 2022

2. mRNA Covid shots for kids are dead
Only 325,000 of the 19 million children under 5 are fully vaccinated, not even 2 percent. Cue the excuses from vaccine fanatics

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 09.23.22 (Evening Edition)

Cafe Hayek: Don’t Trust Antitrust
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Da Tech Guy: Odd Ime Udoka Thoughts Under the Fedora

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 9/21/2022

Rand Paul Blasts Biden as ‘Not in Charge of White House or His Own Wits’
GOP Senator Rand Paul noted Tuesday that Joe Biden’s own officials are directly contradicting him after Biden declared the COVID pandemic to be over.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Those persons who are convinced that Beijing’s industrial policy has China’s economy on track to overtake America’s economy (whatever such an overtaking is taken to mean) might revise their opinion after reading this short piece by Derek Scissors.

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

MSNBC, CNN Guest Roasted After Calling Evangelical Prayer-Hands 'Nazi Salute'
The RC Church over the Abyss

Don Surber - Highlights of the News

ITEM 13: Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee voted to have non-citizens vote in federal election.
States run election. Any such change should require a constitutional amendment.

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 9/22/22

Raymond Ibrahim: "And the same West that is ready to sacrifice everything for Ukraine yawns."
The Jihad on Armenia Erupts Again

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 09/22/2022

Biden to announce $2.9 billion at UN to address food insecurity.
Joe Biden was deeply involved with selling U.S. natural gas to the ChiComs, new docs and whistleblowers reveal.

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Key congressman: Hunter Biden was 'operative for foreign influence,' belongs in jail

• Rep. Trent Kelly Explains Threat China Poses to America - Virginia Allen
• Russia's Ukraunian referenda: Vote yes, or we'll shoot you - Ed Morrissey

I leave you with Wednesday gifdump from Wirecutter, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #666 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Libturds On A Thursday Morning from Woodsterman.

Self-defense Is Legal in Nebraska

But then I thought it was. Also, don't bring a knife to a gunfight. Authorities: North Platte man acted in self-defense in shooting

This story highlights two things:

1. Alcohol can be dangerous to your health, and
2. People you know can be a threat.

Two men had dinner and were drinking. The younger man began to drink heavily, so the older man asked him to leave. The younger man pulled a knife, and the old guy shot him.

The investigation continues, but investigators report the older man acted in self-defense.

No charges are being filed.

The gun-hating Progressives love to go on at length about how if you own a gun you are more likely to shoot someone you know than a complete stranger. There is a reason for that. Also don't get so blind drunk that you pull a knife on your friends.

Self-defense is a human-right.

FBI Whistleblower Facing the Wrath of the Swamp

This appears to be textbook case of retaliations against a whistleblower. FBI hero paying the price for exposing unjust 'persecution' of conservative Americans

The FBI is morphing, before our eyes, into the Stazi as controlled by the Communists in the Democratic Party.

Bombshell allegations by FBI Special Agent Steve Friend contained in a whistleblower complaint filed late Wednesday with the Department of Justice inspector general reveal a politicized Washington, DC, FBI field office cooking the books to exaggerate the threat of domestic terrorism, and ­using an “overzealous” January 6 ­investigation to harass conservative Americans and violate their constitutional rights.

Friend, 37, a respected 12-year veteran of the FBI and a SWAT team member, was suspended Monday, stripped of his gun and badge, and escorted out of the FBI field office in Daytona Beach, Fla., after complaining to his supervisors about the violations.

He refused to take part in a raid that he believed was in violation of the FBI's mandate.

Click thru for all the details, and how the FBI is turning any dissent against Dems into crimes that will see a SWAT team at your home.

I wish him all the best, but I lost faith in the FBI a long time ago.

Dead to Me (Acoustic)

Lacrimas Profundere is a band that fascinates me. They’re German, named themselves in Latin, and sing in English. (Though they can be hard to understand at times.) They’ve published a fair amount of acoustic material. While they started as Death-Doom Metal, a lot of their work is more Gothic Metal, at least during Rob Vitacca's time with the band, but he left the band in 2018, and they have reportedly moved back to Death-Doom.

Anyway, in 2013 they came out with an album Antiadore. Then in 2014 they released several acoustic versions of songs from the album. I occasionally use the songs to convince my friends that they don't have a clue what modern Heavy Metal is about. It is amazing how many people still think that only Thrash is Heavy Metal.

This is "Dead to Me (Acoustic version)" by Lacrimas Profundere from their 2014 EP Acousticadore.

Wrongthink Will Be Punished

Wrongthink will get your access to the financial system revoked. From The Other McCain: Simple Question: Who Complained?

British journalist Toby Young reports that PayPal shut down the accounts of his Daily Sceptic site, as well as the Free Speech Union, a non-profit he created.

Things will be SO much better when the powers-that-be institute digital currency, and doublepluss ungood actions (or ideas) can be punished instantly.

Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.

Friday Links - 23 September

The Other McCain starts things off with another installment of Crazy People Are Dangerous.

Say hello to 51-year-old Missouri resident Jeremy Garnier, who in March 2020 decided it would be a good idea to dress up as comic-book villain The Joker and record a livestream threatening to kill a thousand people.

The Daily Sceptic is up next with the latest on Big Tech censorship: PayPal Demonetises the Daily Sceptic

Dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy in any of those areas is no longer permitted.

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - This Is Your City On Chinese Construction Standards

Shoddy construction practices extend to buildings, roads, bridges, flood walls and other infrastructure. It’s hard to do quality work when cutting corners seems to be your national ethos…

Again from The Other McCain - Ukraine Forces Cross Oskil River, Advancing Toward Svatove, Kreminna

Getting accurate and timely information about the war in Ukraine remains difficult, and it may be a few days before the tactical picture becomes clear, but (a) Ukraine now claims to control the east bank of the Oskril River across from Kupiansk.

The Gateway Pundit - What’s Going On? Ohio BP Explosion Kills Two, Fourth Gas Plant Explosion Since June

The refinery has been operating for over 100 years on a parcel of land that covers 585 acres and processes approximately 160, 000 barrels of crude oil a day.

This is the fourth fossil fuel disruption/explosion since June in our nation.

Manhattan Contrarian - A New Low For New York Attorney General Letitia James

Nothing about that is nearly as serious a matter as the ethical violation of New York’s chief law enforcement officer in misusing the office to select a target on the basis of politics without any reason to suspect particular wrongdoing. Such conduct should get the AG disqualified from running for office and even disbarred. But in the real world that we live in, she will almost certainly get re-elected in a few weeks.

Adaptive Curmudgeon - Camp And Sail Part 1: Don’t Quit

Absolutely everything went wrong. Cascading stupid shit hounded me for several weeks. I was (almost comically) derailed at every juncture. I soldiered on. Eventually, it all worked out.

Is there no better summation of life?

Chicks on the Right - California Strangely “Delays Public Release” Of Educational Test Score Results

California says they’re delaying the release so the data can be released with other data regarding suspensions and absences, but there is no release timeline. But I bet they’ll wait two months. That would put the release right around the middle of November. WOW! Just after the election! How convenient.

Another Failure of the Victim-selection Process

This is not too surprising. Resident shoots, kills man allegedly breaking into Kansas home

The Leavenworth Police Department said the man living at the home called 911 to report he shot someone trying to break into his house.

Officers arrived and found a man’s body. Investigators said the man suffered several gunshots before his death.

Cops have not released any names, and the investigation "is underway." DAs make decisions about charges, not cops, but it seems pretty straightforward.

Self-defense is a human-right.

Does the Manhattan DA Even Believe Rape is a Crime?

It doesn't seem that prosecutors in NYC actually bother to prosecute crimes. Sex fiend gets ‘sweet’ deal from Manhattan DA Bragg on teen rape charge — then attacks 5 others: sources

A man accused of raping his teenage relative secured a sweetheart plea deal from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — and then went on to allegedly sexually terrorize five people in the Bronx just a month later, The Post has learned.

Justin Washington, 25, was promised a plum 30-day jail sentence, along with five years of probation, after he agreed in August to plead down to a charge of coercion in his Manhattan rape case.

Rape a teenager in Manhattan, and get sentenced to 30 days? The DA should be run out of town.

But just a week before he was set to be sentenced Wednesday, Washington allegedly went on a sex-crime spree, attacking four women and a man near the homeless shelter where he was living in the Bronx.

So due to the bad press, they have decided to "revisit" the plea deal, "which some cops said should never have been offered in the first place."

“How does a man who rapes an innocent teenage girl walk the streets to sexually attack [five] more innocent [people], including a homeless woman?” one Manhattan cop fumed.

That 30 days in jail should have been up to 25 years, if the DA could be bothered to prosecute criminals, which Alvin Bragg won't do.

Why in God's name is anyone still living in NYC not trying to get out of the city? What is sad is that they will continue to elect the people responsible for these Progressive policies, and things will get worse before they get better.

Does Anyone Find It Strange that the FBI Stopped Reporting on Crime in 2020?

The last data released are for 2019. A preliminary report was released and then a final report in the fall of 2020. There was no data released in 2021 for 2020 - just as things were going crazy - and there has been no preliminary data for 2021 released.

They have a reason, of course. (They're bureaucrats - they cover their bases.) Estimates Will Help Fill in Crime Statistics Gap: Transition to NIBRS crime statistics ongoing.

The reason for the change is that not every law enforcement agency in the U.S. has successfully moved to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for reporting their crime data to the FBI. With support from the FBI, some agencies have been reporting crime statistics via NIBRS for more than 20 years. After the CJIS Advisory Policy Board adopted the recommendation in 2015 to retire the traditional Summary Reporting System and transition to the more comprehensive NIBRS by January 2021, more agencies made the switch to NIBRS reporting. Every state is now NIBRS compliant and can accept NIBRS data. A few major cities, however, are still working on the transition.

So a "few of the major cities," where crime is no doubt running rampant, have not been able to make a transition to a new reporting system over the past 20 years, while a lot of, or most, of the small jurisdictions have navigated that migration. Sure. I believe that. I mean it isn't like the large organizations have dedicated IT staff that the small organizations have, or the budget for stuff like managing IT systems for reporting crime.

I mean it couldn't be that some of those "major cities" have been sandbagging the effort for 20 years because they don't want to report actual crime figures to the FBI, could it? Organizations like Chicago PD or NYPD wouldn't "cook the books" to make themselves (and their political masters) look good, would they?

So we should get some "estimates" later in the fall. I'm sure those will be good-faith representations of the real world, and not a coordinated effort to make the Blue Cities look better than they really are. That would never happen.

If a crime happens in Manhattan, and Alvin Bragg doesn't prosecute, is there any Justice in the city?