The First Class of Job Replaced By AI - Anime/Manga Translators

But then they needed to be replaced by something, if not AI, human translators that were not so woke. English Localizers Unhappy After ‘The Ancient Magus’ Bride’ Announces AI-Human Hybrid Simulpubs: “Such Disrespect For The Substance Of The Original Text Is Saddening”

The people who translate Manga and/or Anime from Japanese to English for the American audience are known as Localizers. You would think that would be a fairly straightforward job. Take the Japanese and translate it to English. Of course they can't do that. They feel it is their responsibility to update the material to put to their Leftist messages into the work. They have been warned for years about F-ing Around (with the translations) because when you F around, eventually you will get to the Find Out phase. This seems to be where we have arrived.

In seemingly realizing that they no longer have free reign to butcher original works in service of memes or tired sociopolitical screeds, a number of English-language localizers are unhappy with Japanese publisher Bushiroad Works’ recent turn to using a combination of AI technology and human editors to produce their own English-language simulpubs for Kore Yamazaki’s The Ancient Magus’ Bride.

The localizers would brag about changing things. This is not something that they were asked to do by the authors or the publishers, and it wasn't something that made the customers in America happy. But they did it anyway. There was some question as to why the worst of them were not blacklisted by the publishers, but they seem to have gotten there in the end.

In relation to a controversy that erupted in early 2023, Leonoudakis, one of the most despised localizers, bragged about not doing accurate translations, saying her translation was explicitly NOT for fans who wanted accuracy. And now that same person, who bragged about changing the source material and not being accurate in her translations, is one of the people complaining about how disrespectful it is to the language to be using AI.

Even people who are sympathetic to the "AI is stealing our jobs" position, are laughing at the Localizers. They spent years F-ing around, and now... (Hat tip to Vara Dark: Infamous Localizer FURIOUS Studios Are Using AI To Translate Instead Of Activists WHO BUTCHER Work.)

Do You Need a Clearer Sign That Civilization Is Coming to an End?

I'm not sure you could find a clearer sign. If you don't see it, it is because you are willfully NOT seeing it. Father of 3 killed in grocery store beating -- 3 teens arrested after 'laughing and enjoying themselves'

It wasn't a robbery, or revenge, it was a random act of violence. They wanted to kill someone, and they did.

The three young men allegedly engaged the victim, 53-year-old Donnie Smith, inside a Kroger grocery store, WSXY-TV reported.

The suspects were asked to leave by security after getting into an altercation with patrons inside the store, and then the fight continued outside, police said.

They were picking on anyone they could, and the settled on Mr. Smith.

Charging documents obtained by the local ABC station say Smith was “unconscious and bleeding from the head due to the beating” and that the group was “laughing and enjoying themselves” while assaulting him.

Smith died two weeks after the assault, the media outlet reported

Police arrested 18-year-old Dionta Hughes, 19-year-old Jamarion Evans-Bennett and 17-year-old Jayden Agee on charges of murder. (Hat tip to Breitbart.)

As these stories often do, these two stories have reminded me of the poem "The Second Coming," by William Butler Yeats. The entire text of the poem, it isn't long, can be found below (after the break). The part I always think of is...

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

Columbus is pretty much a Blue City. So Mr. Smith was apparently not armed for his own defense, and no one around him was armed either. Leftists hate the idea of self-defense. You are supposed to rely on the State for such things. Even though the State cannot provide them. Cops showed up eventually. Mr. Smith was taken to the hospital. It did not save his life.

I'm sure those Leftists are happy that no gun was used in this murder. Or I sure that they're happy about something.

Civilization was nice while it lasted.

Tesla Knew Parts Were Defective

They just didn't bother to tell anyone. Tesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective

Wheels falling off cars at speed. Suspensions collapsing on brand-new vehicles. Axles breaking under acceleration. Tens of thousands of customers told Tesla about a host of part failures on low-mileage cars. The automaker sought to blame drivers for vehicle ‘abuse,’ but Tesla documents show it had tracked the chronic ‘flaws’ and ‘failures’ for years.

Because if they admitted that the parts were defective, they would have been required to redesign and recall the cars, and that would cost money, probably a lot of money.

The records and interviews reveal for the first time that the automaker has long known far more about the frequency and extent of the defects than it has disclosed to consumers and safety regulators.

Oops. Not telling safety regulators might be a major problem, especially if accidents were involved.

Click thru for details on things like repair costs that Tesla refused to cover. We will cover one example that was highlighted by article. From Defector: You’re Supposed To Be Glad Your Tesla Is A Brittle Heap Of Junk

A guy with a relatively new Tesla Model 3 was charged $4,400 to replace the power steering and the related wiring harness because the car went through a car wash. He was shocked because he had never heard of a car damaged to that extent, and in that fashion, by a car wash.

Lundeen [the driver] said he was so shocked by the manager’s frank explanation of Tesla’s part failures that he wrote it down: “All I can tell you,” the Tesla manager said, “is we’re not a 100-year-old company like GM and Ford. We haven’t worked all the bugs out yet.”

    — Reuters

And then the Author at Defector, Albert Burneko, notes that the engineers at Ford, Toyota, wherever are NOT 100 years old. They didn't learn how to build a car that can take on a car wash from first hand experience. Then why is it that Tesla can't build a car-wash-proof car?

The reason those companies, and not Tesla, know how to build cars that (in general) can drive from here to there without dropping a wheel or bursting into flames is not that they are staffed by a bunch of centenarian Lore Wizards who learned the secrets of auto manufacture back in nineteen-aught-dickity and now hide this sacred knowledge in a walled mountaintop abbey. What those car companies know about building cars is collective industry knowledge. It is best practice. It is, that is to say, Out There. It can be had by any car company that wants it.

What keeps Tesla from having that knowledge, then, isn't that the company is too young to have acquired it, or that it simply cannot be had except by learning it from scratch. The knowledge can be had in the person of any number of far-less-than-100-years-old engineers Tesla could hire; moreover it can be had by reverse-engineering a frickin' Miata. The reason Tesla hasn't "worked all the bugs out yet" is that the company is run by people who hold established best practice in ideological contempt, and is defined by a tech-industry culture that fetishizes innovation and regards product quality as a third-order concern. There simply isn't as much investment money and credulous tech-media adulation to suck up in the promise of iterating on what already works. You must reinvent, almost literally in this case, the wheel—this time, apparently on the premise of "...and what if it sucked?"

Both articles are worth a look. (Hat tip to Earthbound Misfit.)

Federal Judge Blocks Illinois Law He Called Stupid

The state cannot chose one viewpoint over another. That is the very thing that the first amendment to the constitution forbids. Federal Judge Permanently Blocks Illinois Law Targeting Pro-Life Pregnancy Counseling | ZeroHedge

Pro-Life viewpoints were labeled "deceptive business practices."

On Aug. 4, Judge Johnston called SB1909, the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Businesses Practices Act, “both stupid and very likely unconstitutional,” when he signed a preliminary injunction halting its enforcement.

He now has permanently banned the law.

SB 1909 exempts abortion facilities and their speech, while exclusively regulating pro-life organizations and their speech, in flagrant violation of the First Amendment.

This law is just one of a number of illegal new laws enacted across the country that restrict pro-life speech. We hope this permanent injunction, with full attorney’s fees, serves as a warning to other states that would seek to follow Illinois and try to silence pro-life viewpoints. [Peter Breen, executive vice president of the Thomas More Society, which represented the plaintiffs.]

When did the West turn its back on freedom? Free Speech is the cornerstone of the Enlightenment, which is why it is called out in the first amendment.

Jimmy Buffett - 25 December 1946 to 1 September 2023

I was listening to the year-end music review on WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback, and they were covering some of the artists who passed away this year. I knew of most of them, but I don't remember hearing that Jimmy Buffett passed away.

He apparently died from a rare skin cancer at the age of 76.

I won't say that he was ever one of my favorite artists, but I do own a couple of his albums, and I know a lot of his songs. While "Maragitaville" from 1977 is probably his most famous song, it isnt' my favorite. Maybe I just got tired of it because it was on the radio so much.

This is "Cheesburger In Paradise" by Jimmy Buffett from his 1978 album Son of a Son of a Sailor.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 30 December

The Right Way is first with Top of the News

And, suddenly - The Daley Gator
Russia Parks Its Tactical Nukes in Belarus - IOTW Report

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News

Britain’s Net Zero fuck-up.
She should be fired immediately, which means, she probably won’t be.

EBL - Nikki Haley is dumb as a bag of rocks

AoSHQ: Morning Report 12.28.23 and Civil War Expert Nikki Haley
Instapundit: Nikki Haley on the Civil War

Battleswarm Blog - LinkSwarm For December 29, 2023

The Detroit Pistons tied a record for futility by losing 28 straight games. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
“Colorado Bans Trump From Running Over Concerns Usual Election Rigging System Could Fail.”

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 27 December 2023: Apple Of The I Edition

Windows 11 will soon let you reinstall the operating system without wiping your files. (XDA Developers)
The only problem is that after reinstalling, you'll still have Windows 11.

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, 12/29/2023

12/23 – Republicans In 3 States Look To Remove Biden From Ballot
12/24 – “No one wants to buy used EVs”
12/25 – MTG Swatted (Again) at Her Home on Christmas Day

The DaleyGator - Your Sarcastic, Smart Assed, Snarky Friday Post…..on Thursday

The Other McCain ponders Stupid people
The Lid OH! NO! SLOW! JOE!
The College Fix- HISTORY BAD…..

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

Woke Britain: Leadership in the UK. Blackie’s Canada: Justin’s new girlfriend. Tampons for Trudeau.
Dementia Joe’s America: More Democrat voters on the way. The opposite of majority rule.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Are GOP Congresscritters Being Blackmailed?

At Hat Hair, Ben Shapiro argues Barring Trump From Ballots Is a Recipe for Violence. "All of which means that 2024 is going to be the most insane and ugly presidential election in American history."

Vlad Tepes - The point is never the point, and the issue is never the issue: Links 1 for December 28th, 2023

4. With the left and Islam, the point is never the point. The issue is never the issue, The destruction of the West in every way is always the issue.

The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler - The News And Commentary for Thursday

Item 3: Russia, Iran Officially Ditch U.S. Dollar for Trade
Without really reading this story, I am guessing that they are getting around US sanctions this way.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 12/27/2023

Portland Sees Increase in Diseases Spread by Human Waste
Multnomah County is encouraging residents to watch their hygiene after a boost in shigella cases was observed in Old Town Portland.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

“The sputtering EV market shows what happens when companies heed planners instead of consumers.”
Arnold Kling ponders the changing mind.

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/27/23

"A highly disturbing investigation."
Ami on the Loose Video: Would College Students Donate to Support the Killing of Jews

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

Is Britain 'Erasing the Right to Protest?'
Britain's Net Zero Disaster & The Wind Power Scam

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Barack’s Lieutenant: The Racism, Revenge, and Ruin of Claudine Gay

• Jackboot Smith Aims to Silence Trump - David Strom
• Colorado GOP Appeals Supreme Court Ruling Ousting Trump From Ballot - DC
• Happy Kwanzaa! The Holiday Brought to You by the FBI - Unsafe

I leave you with Wednesday Memes … from MaddMedic, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1524 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Wednesday With The Skiparoo ~ AM from Woodsterman.

First He Got Shot, Then He Was Arrested

I'm guessing that isn't how he saw his day turning out. Victim fearing for life shot 'aggressive' man who is facing charges, PBSO says

A 35-year-old man, fearing for his life outside a bar, shot and wounded a 28-year-old man displaying aggressive behavior, who was ultimately arrested, according to Palm Beach Sheriff's Office detectives.

He is a tough guy. He was telling the shooter how tough he was, and acting like he was going to shoot the guy. So he got shot instead.

He was taken to a hospital for emergency medical care but released.

He was then charged with robbery, simple assault and criminal mischief.

This being Florida, the shooter was not arrested. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

Cops Can't Be Bothered About Domestic Violence - Fresno Edition

The anti-gun crowd says that the Police will protect you. Of course they will. Fresno Police Ignored Claims of Domestic Violence. Now, the City Will Pay $500,000.

Violations of restraining orders. Threats of violence. Actual violence. What do the cops - "they will protect you" - do? Nothing.

In one April 7th, 2014 incident Paul explicitly threatened to shoot Pamela if she didn't return to him by April 14th. However, when Pamela reported this threat to the police, the responding officer "seemed insensitive and rude to both Pamela and other witnesses who were present and available to give corroborating statements," according to the lawsuit. The officer "did not even exit his vehicle or turn his engine off when speaking to Pamela," and even "told Pamela that she should not be too worried because 'These guys only follow through 1 percent of the time.'" On April 12th, 2014, Paul shot Pamela in the face, paralyzing her, before shooting and killing himself.

Apathy. That is the word used to describe this, and the behavior of cops in the other incident involved the the suit.

I'm actually surpised that the city settled the lawsuit, since cops have no duty to protect you.

Expecting the system to protect you is what the anti-gun crowd what you to do. Not because they believe that the system can, or will even try, to protect you - they don't believe that - but because they don't want you to adopt a stance of self-protection. Rely on the state! Even for the things it cannot provide.

Carnival of Rust

Poets of the Fall are a Progressive Rock band out of Finland. Don't worry, they sing in English! I find their music reminds me of something, though I'm never sure what. Probably a band from the '70s I just can't recall.

I believe you can get the lyrics by clicking on Closed Captions, but in case that doesn't work, here is a link to the lyrics.

This is "Carnival of Rust" by Poets of the Fall. It is the title song to their 2006 album. It might have a bit too much energy for early in the morning, but it is not appropriate for Metal for Mondays. Maybe finish your first cup of coffee. As usual, I find the video distracting; most of them are.

Friday Links - December 29

Clayton Cramer starts us off with an observation about the Middle East. This Would Be an Act of War With an Adult in the White House

Obviously we do not want to invade Yemen and attempt nation-building; the raw materials are just not present in that part of the world. We can destroy the facilities prepared to launch stuff at ships in international waters. I would think this would be a trivial task, once the Navy figures out what pronouns to use.

EBL - Stabby Steven Hutcherson: Catch and Release Crazy

The real crazy part is how judges and prosecutors in New York City keep letting him out (he has been arrested dozens of times for various violent felonies and misdemeanors).

On Christmas, Hutcherson just stabbed two teenage girls in Grand Central Station. How long will he stay in prison now? He is a menance to the people of New York and himself if let out again.

The Post Millenial - Oregon mom prevented from being foster parent due to Christian beliefs

Christian mother Jessica Bates is being barred by the state of Oregon from adopting foster siblings due to her Christian beliefs about human sexuality, the Daily Citizen reports. Bates happens to believe that boys and girls are distinctly different; this is apparently a huge problem for the state of Oregon.

Pirate's Cove - Wisconsin Looks To Expand Climate Cult Indoctrination In Schools

Hey, the kids have trouble reading, writing, doing math and science, but, they’ll sure know how to protest, demand Other People pay, and suffer from all sorts of mental issues due to scaremongering

Ace at Ace of Spades HQ - DeSantis on Nikki Haley's Criticism, and Her Insistence That We Can Separate "Good Palestinians" From the Bad: She's Playing to Her Base, the Leftwing Media That Keeps Her Alive

Oh she'll totes screen them for terrorist sympathies. She'll make them sign a form that says "i Am ToTaLlY NoT a HaMaS sLeEpEr AgEnT" and everything!

The Other McCain - ‘Corporate Profit’ and the Political Ideas That Are Driving America’s Crime Wave

The anti-police rhetoric that flooded the TV airwaves during the summer of 2020, and the media coverage that excused the “fiery but most peaceful protests,” have helped foster a belief that resistance to law enforcement is some kind of heroic duty. So you drive the stolen car until it crashes, then you flee on foot and, if you happen to have a pistol handy, you get into a shootout with the cops, dying in the proverbial “hail of gunfire,” thus becoming a courageous martyr for social justice.

How Should an Elderly, Handicapped Person Deal With an Assault?

Without a firearm, that is. I really wish the anti-gun crowd would say. Maybe he should "run away." That is often what they say. Right before they tell you to count on the police to save you. Police: Bridgeport man shot by elderly handicapped person

Police say an elderly handicapped person shot and critically injured a Bridgeport man.

Police say Akiem Thomas, 33, was shot by the man in self-defense at a home on Hollister Avenue on [17 December].

Without the means of self-defense, the old and the infirm would be at the mercy of the young and the violent.

Police clearly view this as justified, and the courts are holding the guy who got shot on $750,000 bond. He was still in the hospital just before Christmas.

People Need to Learn to Accept that Relationships Sometimes End

First, from before Christmas a story from Tennessee. Fight turns into deadly shooting when couple returns home to find woman’s ex, cops say

A woman and her boyfriend, identified as Monger, arrived at her residence in Memphis shortly before 7 p.m. on Dec. 14 to find her ex there with their child, Memphis police said in an arrest affidavit.

A physical altercation resulted in the boyfriend being shot multiple times. The ex is now charged with murder.

Next a story from Mississippi. Man shoots estranged wife’s boyfriend in Christmas home invasion, Mississippi cops say

A man was arrested after Mississippi police said he broke into his estranged wife’s home and shot her boyfriend twice.

The home invasion happened shortly before 9 p.m. on Christmas.

In this case the guy who got shot was only injured, and is in stable condition. The guy doing the shooting, since they know who he is, was arrested. He was charged with several things including assault.

And a story from Hawaii that proves if you need a restraining order, then you need a plan for your personal safety. Influencer shot dead by husband two days after getting restraining order

An Instagram influencer in Hawaii was shot to death by her husband just two days after obtaining a restraining order against him, authorities say.

Theresa Cachuela, 33, was gunned down inside a parking garage near Pearlridge Center in Honolulu on Friday morning in front of her 11-year-old daughter, according to family members.

The husband denied the abuse, of course, but he shot her, and then killed himself.

I would say that she needed a gun, and a concealed carry permit, but Hawaii doesn't approve of the 2nd Amendment. The dead woman's mother says that the justice system failed her daughter, but I believe that is because she expects the police to protect you. They won't. In most cases they can't, and they have no duty to do so.

Evicted For Being the Victim of a Crime

This isn't right. Texas Mother Evicted After Fatally Shooting Teen Who Broke Into Her Home

This incident took place in earlier in the month. A mother, after suffering several break ins, got a gun, and shot a home invader. That home invader was 14, but still committing a felony. Now she is being evicted.

While the police have not pressed charges against Wallace and have referred the case to a grand jury, the incident raises important questions about self-defense and the rights of individuals to protect themselves and their families. The circumstances surrounding the shooting will be carefully examined to determine whether it falls within the bounds of self-defense laws. Wallace expressed her deep remorse and sorrow for the loss of a young life. The incident has undoubtedly left her traumatized and grappling with the consequences of her actions.

The apartment complex’s decision to evict her has sparked debate on social media as she has had previous incidents of individuals attempting to break into her home.

So you can be evicted for exercising your right to self-defense. I suppose that means you can also be evicted for exercising your right to free speech.

A crowd-funding campaign has been started to help with her moving expenses.

Here are the details that were available earlier in the month: The Anti-Self-Defense Crowd Will Only See a "Teen, Tragically Shot"

This is Ruined Leon's video SHE'S GETTING EVICTED FOR SHOOTING A TEENAGER IN SELF DEFENSE. I stumbled across Leon's video after this was scheduled, so no hat tip, but I do like Leon's take on these modern times in which we live.

Crazy People Are Dangerous - NYC Edition

From The Other McCain - NYC Maniac Turned Loose So He Could Stab Two Girls in Grand Central Station

Gosh, if only there were some simple phrase to briefly summarize the public safety threat posed by the mentally ill:

We eliminated institutions for dealing with mental illness because of a movie. I guess that sums up how America makes decisions.

It was clear this guy was a threat to society. It is sort of a miracle that he didn't kill anyone. He did stab 2 young girls in Grand Central Station Terminal.

Don't Attack Homeowners in Texas

It doesn't usually turn out well for bad guys. Houston Crime: Woman shot twice after attacking homeowner opening front door near Fort Bend

Police say a woman had approached a unidentified person and began banging on the door. The person opened the door and was attacked by the woman.

She was shot twice. Cops showed up and took her to the hospital.

Apple and Their Continued Reliance on Security Through Obscurity

If we have learned anything in the past 20 years, it is that security through obscurity does NOT work. Apple refuses to believe that. iPhone Triangulation attack abused undocumented hardware feature

Operation Triangulation is the name given to a spyware attack discovered in June by Kaspersky Labs.

The discovery and use of obscure hardware features likely reserved for debugging and factory testing to launch spyware attacks against iPhone users suggest that a sophisticated threat actor conducted the campaign.

Moreover, it constitutes an excellent example of why reliance on security through obscurity and the secrecy of hardware design or hardware testing implementation is a false premise.

The exploit is a zero-click attack that starts with sending a maliciously crafted iMessage to the target phone. That iMessage doesn't need to be opened and it leaves no trace.

It is fairly technical, but it relied on using undocumented hardware features to bypass Apple's hardware protection system. Leaving the unknown features in place was either a mistake or done to facilitate testing.

Apple in its continuing reliance on obscurity, didn't say much, they just issued an emergency patch in June.

What Happens When Medical Assistance In Dying Is Cheaper than Health Care?

Canada is finding out. Vaughn Palmer: Too many people are dying on B.C.'s cancer-care waiting lists

It costs a lot of money to treat cancer patients. In Canada there are not a lot of choices so there are long waiting lists. So long, that sometimes all hope for treatment is lost while waiting. Then they offer MAID, or Medical Assistance in Dying.

I can't wait until we have socialized medicine!

Those horror stories and others have been reported by a number of B.C. news outlets recently.

Katie DeRosa, who wrote up several cases for Postmedia, says that after each was published, she was contacted by others — patients, families, survivors — with similar stories to tell.

Together these stories amount to a shocking indictment of the state of cancer care in B.C. [British Columbia], one that the New Democrats are struggling to rationalize.

The bureaucrats are pulling out statistics that they hope will prove, "All is well." They aren't convincing everyone.

But it doesn’t take many stories about patients shelling out tens of thousands of dollars of their own money for care in the U.S. — or stories about people choosing death because they can’t endure the pain of waiting — to swamp the impact of all the graphs and charts in the minister’s technical briefings.

There is something drastically wrong with the state of cancer care in B.C., as Premier David Eby has pretty much conceded of late.

The article starts out by detailing several of these anecdotal stories.

It is certainly one way to save money, just not a way that the people of Canada are behind.

Gaston Glock - 19 July 1929 to 27 December 2023

There is no doubting that he had a major impact on personal protection. OBITUARY Gaston Glock, the man behind the gun, dies aged 94 - APA | Reuters

Gaston Glock, the reclusive engineer and tycoon who developed one of the world's best-selling handguns, died on Wednesday aged 94, Austrian news agency APA said.

The Austrian won loyal followings among police and military across the world with the weapons that bore his name. Forbes estimated his and his family's fortune at $1.1 billion in 2021.

Of course they have to present the bad things that happen, as if Ford is responsible for the actions of every drunk driver, somehow Glock is responsible for the actions of every bad guy.

They do mention the movie U.S. Marshals.

Soon the easily assembled weapon became a global hit. "Get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol," Tommy Lee Jones said in the 1998 movie "U.S. Marshals".

Wednesday Link Roundup - 27 December

Pirate's Cove is first with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

9. Gates Of Vienna says to beware of bare naked ladies
10. Geller Report covers rising Islamic violence in France

The DaleyGator - Some reading material for y’all

Daniel Greenfield reminds us that AL Gore is a fanatical Marxist
The notorious DTW has the Friday Open Road post up

EBL - What Christmas Is All About

Instapundit: A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's A Wonderful Life
AoSHQ: Morning Report 12.25.23

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Daily Get A Load Of This News

Now then: Get a load of these assholes.
On December 3, a radical group hosted a “teach-in” titled “From Minnesota to Palestine.” The panelists linked America and Israel as “settler colonialist” nations–the only ones...

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 26 December 2023: You Can't Compete With Free Edition

Things to fix when setting up a new Windows PC. (Tom's Hardware)
Step One: Remove fucking McAfee.

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 7: Semafor reported, “The high-profile Senate sex scandal that rocked Washington, D.C., this month, was, in fact, the second time in less than two years that sexually explicit videos filmed in the U.S. Capitol prompted an investigation.

The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler - Shit From Shinola and Other News and Commentary

Item 5: Children watch in horror as Russian Santa falls to his death in ‘monstrous’ stunt
Russians are fucking crazy.

Bacon Time - Sunday Linkage

The Air Vent - Love this Title
Watts Up With That? - Is Consumer Rejection of EVs behind the Lithium Crash?

Vlad Tepes - Some items on the Gaza issue as well as the ongoing search for justice on Covid measures: Links 2 for December 26th, 2023

3. War on Christmas. Remember, with the left, the point is never the point. The issue is never the issue. The revolution is always the issue. They may want different end results, but the main goal for the left and Islam, is the total destruction of all our values and cultural frames of reference.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 12/24/2023

Citizens Urged to Prepare as 2024 Election Riot Season Draws Near
As the 2024 election draws near, many are expecting corporate media outlets to be dominated by reports of widespread rioting in Democrat-led cities across the country.

Small Dead Animals - Christmas On Turtle Island

Today In Islam: Christmas in San Francisco. Ignoring the Islamist threat in Britain. Christmas in Australia. The moderate Muslim nation of Mauritania. Hamas supporters declare war on Christmas. And going to church in Europe.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam on Boxing Day

Dave Catron at Am Spec sees it as Colorado’s Christmas Gift to Trump, "The state’s Supreme Court ruling confirms Trump’s claim that Democrats are coming after his voters." At Breitbart, Trump: Biden ‘Illegally Using All of the Levers of Law Enforcement’ to Jail Me.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

I wonder if someone will tell Thomas Piketty et à ses cohortes socialistes.
Here’s John Cochrane on the Colorado Supreme Court’s finding that Trump is ineligible to appear on the ballot in Colorado.

Maggie's Farm - A few Sunday links

If Rumors About Who's Running the Show Are True, It'll Be a Very Houthi Christmas
Biden Might Lose, So Screw the Constitution

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Will Partisan Lawfare Destroy Trump?

• Leftist Idiocy Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving - Kurt Schlichter
• Report: Biden Administration Officials Tried to Hide Chinese Spy Balloon Incident - Amy Furr

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/26/23

Daniel Greenfield: "Those who define the oppressors and the oppressed get to perpetrate the genocide."
Decolonization is Colonialism

I leave you with Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Christmas Eve Memes … from MaddMedic, and Sunday (Tuesday) Funnies for 12-26-23 from Stately McDaniel Manor.

Seattle Sees Rash of Home Invasions Targeting Asians

OK, so it sounds like the Bad Guys are doing racial profiling. Seattle police concerned after 'recent uptick' in home invasions targeting Asian people | KOMO

It is apparently the case that people are being followed home from a local casino. The first incident a group of "males with guns" ambushed the guy as he was approaching his front door.

In the 2nd case three guys tried to break in the door, but failed. So they came back the next day with a sledgehammer, and an extra guy.

The homeowner said he was asleep when he heard the banging and once he woke up he armed himself with a rifle, the SPD said. When the suspects tried to enter the home, the man shot at them and they fired back as they retreated, eventually speeding off in a vehicle, the SPD added.

Someone in the comments noted that Washington State is a bastion of Social Justice, so that even if these guys are caught, they have little to fear from the Criminal Justice System, so-called.

No description of the robbers, even though the police must have one from the first incident. I can't imagine why this "News Organization" didn't publish that description. A complete mystery.

The only good news is that Washington State has a long history of recognizing the right to self-defense.

Don't Disrespect His Authority

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is suing. It is a suit the cop, and the state, deserve to lose. LAWSUIT: Vermont man sues after being arrested for flipping off police

Commit the name of Vermont State Trooper Jay Riggen to Hall of Shame.

Bombard was first pulled over when Riggen thought he saw Bombard give him the finger as they drove past each other. As it happened, Riggen was mistaken and Bombard had not made the gesture. But even if he had, it would have been unconstitutional for Riggen to stop a civilian for nothing more than an insult.

After the first stop, he did give the cop a middle-finger salute. The he was arrested and his car was towed.

An angry Riggen responded by immediately pulling over Bombard a second time and arresting him for “disorderly conduct.” Bombard was handcuffed, searched, thrown in the back of a police car, imprisoned in a station holding cell, and forced to have his fingerprints and mugshot taken, which were later distributed to Vermont media outlets. As a final indignity, Riggen told Bombard his car would be towed because Bombard had pulled over into a “no parking” zone, even though he did so because the trooper had ordered him to stop there.

In support of the bogus charge, Riggen dubiously claimed that “a hundred people” heard Bombard’s remark. The dashcam video clearly shows that the wintry street in St. Albans (population: 6,942) was practically deserted and that Bombard’s remark wasn’t even loud enough to be picked up by Riggen’s body mic.

So he lied on a police report. As far as I can tell, he wasn't held accountable for that. Isn't it a crime, or at least a violation of procedure? Not when your sticking it to a member of the public who did. Not. Bow. To. His. Authority.

The charges were dismissed and now there is a suit. The cop in question won't have to pay anything for this lawsuit, because the state will foot the bill. In fact I doubt he will pay any price at all. No reprimand for lying. No time off for being stupid. Nothing.

Hat tip to Gates of Vienna. This story was from a couple of years back, but FIRE, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, recently joined the lawsuit as cousel.

Boomerang Baby

Les Claypool is the bassist and principle songwriter for Primus. He has done a lot of other things, and this is something I hadn't known about before it was mentioned on Social Media a while back. It reminds me of some early Progressive Rock, or even Psychedelic Rock, something like early Pink Floyd.

The Claypool Lennon Delirium is the work of Les Claypool and guitarist/vocalist Sean Ono Lennon. It also includes João Nogueira on keyboards and vocals, and Paulo Baldi of Cake playing drums.

This is "Boomerang Baby" by The Claypool Lennon Delirium from their debut album Monolith of Phobos, which was released in 2016.

Merry Christmas, Chicago-style

Considering the temperatures in the Windy City this past weekend, things were not too bad. From HeyJackass! - X-Mass Shooting Weekend

Last year we had single digit temps on Christmas, this year we’re looking to be about 40° warmer meaning ample sEverRE iLLnESs and DEatH!… no wait… that was 2021. Regardless, have a relaxing and enjoyable Festivus-Christmas-Boxing Day weekend.

The final tally was 4 killed, with 19 who were shot and wounded, which is actually a great improvement over the past few years, where in 2019, for example, 9 people were killed, and 54 were wounded

Concealed Carry in Chicago Stops Armed Robbery

It is becoming more of a thing in the Windy City. 19-year-old shot and killed, possibly while trying to rob concealed carry holder in West Town

Officers at the scene said the shooter was a 68-year-old concealed carry holder who remained on the scene. He reportedly told them that he shot the man, who celebrated his 19th birthday last week, in self-defense during an armed robbery. Three other people who participated in the robbery ran from the scene, according to initial information.

That statement differed from the CPD "official" press release, but no one really believes that Chicago PD tells all the truth about crime.

Self-defense is a human-right. Hard to say how the liberal prosecutors (not that they prosecute much) in Cook County view self-defense. I wouldn't be surprised to see them prosecute a law-abiding citizen.

Tuesday Links - 26 December

The Other McCain is up first with Ex-NFL Player: ‘Average White Guys’ Shouldn’t Be Talking About Football

Rashard Mendenhall asserts that he is better than “ur goat,” G.O.A.T. being an acronym for Greatest of All Time, but this is self-evidently false. I’m guessing Mendenhall, as a former Pittsburgh Steeler, might be thinking of Rocky Bleier and I’m sorry, no, sir, you’re not better than him, at least in terms of pure courage. Whether or not Bleier was ever the “greatest” in terms of speed, the simple fact that he made it to the NFL — and won four Super Bowls with the Steelers — after being blasted by a hand grenade in Vietnam is ample testimony to his character.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 24 December 2023: Night Before Edition

After spending a month fighting with Apple to try to keep its Android iMessage application operational, Beeper is throwing in the towel. (Tech Crunch)

Or at least throwing it in Apple's face. The company has open-sourced the application, and Apple's repeated efforts to shut it down have attracted the attention of antitrust regulators.

A Holiday message from OldAFSarge at Chant du Départ. Remember Them ...

If you would, spare a thought for those serving far from home.

Also from Juvat at Chant du Départ - Family

Merry Christmas all Y'all! Hope you are having an enjoyable, peaceful celebration of Our Lord's Birth. You'll be happy to note that the various portions of the juvat clan arrived safely and are exchanging war stories left and right.

There is more at Chant du Départ. More messages from Sarge & Co, a guest post. Click thru and explore a bit.

Small Dead Animals - We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

A second IONIQ 5 owner in eastern Canada also has a battery protection cover scratched, the owner was also told the battery needed to be replace for more than the cost of a brand new Hyundai IONIQ 5.

Alaska Is a Bad Place for Bad Guys

Houston is a town in Alaska in this case. Suspected burglar shot and wounded by Mat-Su homeowner, troopers say

The Matanuska-Susitna Valley, or Mat-Su, is an area in south-central Alaska.

A 30-year-old man was shot Wednesday night while stealing items from a home in Houston, Alaska State Troopers said.

This is the second time within a week that a burglary escalated into a shooting in Mat-Su. A 22-year-old man died the morning of Dec. 17 when a woman in a home near Wasilla's airport shot him after he broke into the home and attacked her husband, troopers said.

When he was discovered rummaging in the garage, he was confronted by the homeowner, and tried to use a lamp as a blunt-force weapon. He was shot twice.

Troopers were called to the home around 7:30 p.m. and provided first aid to Johnson, who was transported to the hospital for injuries described as not life-threatening, they said.

Self-defense is a human-right.

Don't Trust the Experts on Food - They Are Being Paid

This is an interesting video, but the part in the middle, talking about Tuft's University publishing a "nutritional recommendation chart" that actually recommends you eat Fruit Loops, is actually funny.

Everyone is lying to you. If you remember that, you will be better off. And yes, everyone includes the scientists.

This is The Comments Section With Brett Cooper video TikTok “Dietitians” Are Paid By BIG FOOD?!

It Is the Wrong Time of the Year for Gator Stories

A reminder that they are everywhere in Florida. Massive gator caught near mall in Florida

On Thursday, a massive alligator was caught in the area of Coconut Point Mall, according to Lee County deputies.

Deputies said the gator is approximately 12 feet long, weighing about 600 pounds.

Click thru for a nice photo of gator in question. And remember, if you're in Florida, there are gators in fresh water.

Angels We Have Heard On High

Tarja is one of my favorite Symphonic Metal singers. She produced a Christmas album in 2017, which I liked a lot. She produced another Christmas album this year. I only found about it last week, so I haven't heard all of it, but some of it is quite good.

This is "Angels We Have Heard On High" by Tarja from her 2023 Christmas album Dark Christmas.

Metal musicians perform "O Holy Night"

Dan Vasc and Victor The Guitar Nerd are two Heavy Metal musicians that are on YouTube.

I know Dan Vasc because he did the intro music for Friday Night Tights over at the Nerdrotic YouTube channel. He has quite a few numbers on YouTube.

Similarly Victor The Guitar Nerd is also on YT, though I am less familiar with his work, he and Dan do collaborate from time to time.

This Dan Vasc and Victor The Guitar Nerd with the video Metal musicians perform "O Holy Night"

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Song appropriate to the day by one of my favorite Heavy Metal vocalists. Though there is nothing metal about this, really. A bit Goth perhaps...

This is "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" by Tarja from 2021 2017 album From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas).

Putin Takes a Page Out of the Democrats' Playbook and Bans Opponent from Election

Because all dictators are the same. Yekaterina Duntsova barred from running against Putin in election

Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova was barred on Saturday from running against President Vladimir Putin in an election next March because of alleged mistakes in her application to register as a candidate.

So mistakes in her application. And her actual ability to win the election also disqualified her.

The immediate torpedoing of her campaign will be seized on by Putin’s critics as evidence that no one with genuine opposition views will be allowed to stand against him in the first presidential election since he launched the war in Ukraine. They see it as a fake process with only one possible outcome.

The Colorado Supreme Court is pleased with this outcome. The California Democrats are climbing onto the same "We hate the very idea of democracy" bandwagon.

When is a Perpetual License Not a Perpetual License?

When a software company decides that they don't want to let you continue to use that software that you "purchased." Why the scare quotes? You only think you purchased the software. You didn't. You bought the rights to use the software for as long as they want to let you use the software. Which may not be as long as you want to use the software.

This is the same issue that came up recently with Sony Playstation and Discovery "removing" a lot of video content that users had "purchased."

Louis Rossmann covers Reason Studios removing access to software to which they had sold a 'perpetual' license. He also covers how if you buy 4K access from Netflix, they may not actually give you 4K video if you are not using Windows, running on Intel, using specific graphics modules, etc. Why? Because they said you have to use Windows, running on Intel, that's why. There is no technical reason for the constraint, except their personal prejudices against Linux, and AMD, and ...

This is Louis Rossmann's video Reason studios demonstrates why piracy is completely justified.

Film Threat on the Downfall of Disney - Part 1, Pixar

Film Threat had a video several weeks ago in which Alan Ng reviewed the Disney animated movie, Wish. Alan described it as being the worst Disney animation he has ever seen. Aside from problems of story, and CGI issues, it was just poorly designed animation. After that video, a bunch of people, both current and former Disney animators, as well as freelance artists who work for the company reached out. Film Threat got enough information for several more videos.

From Alan Ng at Film Threat - The D-Files Part 1: Disney and the Downfall of John Lasseter

How did we get here? As a Disney fan for over 50 years, I was a die-hard fanboy of the company, to the point that Film Threat readers referred to me as a Disney shill. I used to spend thousands of dollars each year throughout the parks, buying merch, and watching every film the Walt Disney Company produced. But something changed, and the so-called Disney magic began to fade. Today, thousands of dollars have turned into a scant tens of dollars. I haven’t visited a park since the “dark times,” and my excitement for anything Disney has turned to disdain…so again, what happened?

In the article he details some of what changed, particularly around the downfall of Pixar. The video embedded below covers some of the same ground.

Any Disney fan knows the impact of Lasseter’s creative influence on the company. Along with founder Steve Jobs, Lasseter’s groundbreaking work at Pixar gave birth to the computer-generated animated feature industry as we know it today. After the release of Toy Story, he was thrust into the public eye as the bright future of Disney. Through his guidance at Pixar, innovations in animation quickly eclipsed the legacy set by the initial Disney savior and CEO, Michael Eisner. Dare I say, John Lasseter was poised to become the next Walt Disney as the creative demigod and public face of the company.

This is the first Film Threat video in the D-Files series. The D-Files: The Downfall of Disney & John Lasseter.

This video is History Of Film Threat (Part 1) - Chris Gore from the YouTube channel Film Courage. It is an interview with Chris Gore about how he started Film Threat magazine in 1985. It is a 36 minute video, but the first 10 minutes give you a pretty good history of how Chris Gore got to where he is.

What Does It Take to Rebel in 2023?

Tradition is the new rebellion. ‘Oh, We’re Halfway There’

Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things, and Jake Bongiovi got engaged. She is 19, he is 20. This is apparently shocking, or a scandal or something.

If Millie Bobby Brown had declared herself to be transgender, gotten injected with testosterone and underwent a double mastectomy, she would have been applauded for her (or “his”) courageous choices. But getting engaged? To marry a man? Well, this is not just unfashionable, it’s practically unthinkable, at least in the minds of the “reformers.”

So what life decisions you are able to make depends completely on their acceptability to the Left. Check.

Here is the history lesson:

During the 1950s, the median age at first marriage for women in the United States was 20.3 years, which is to say that nearly half of weddings involved teenage brides. Such was life in the Golden Age of middle-class America, when Dwight Eisenhower was president. You would probably risk a United Nations human rights investigation if you advocated a return to the 1950s status quo ante, what with all the propaganda directed toward denouncing “child brides” (by which they mean any girl marrying before age 18). This is why Millie Bobby Brown’s engagement at 19 was “controversial,” as if she were a helpless child in a Third World village being bartered off by a tribal leader in some kind of primitive exchange where the father of the bride gets a herd of goats.

Oh, and click thru for a musical interlude from Jake's old man, Livin' on a Prayer.

Disney Lost $1 Billion In 2023 Just at the Box Office

Let's start with the article from That Park Place. Box Office Analyst Claims The Walt Disney Company Has Lost Over $1 Billion In Just 2023

Disney is also losing money on streaming, but I don't know how much. It was 100s of millions of dollars between the last quarter of calendar year 2022, through the 3rd quarter of 2023. (That is Disney's fiscal calendar year.)

In a recent video upload discussing this past weekend’s box office hauls for various films including Wonka, Godzilla Minus One, and The Boy and the Heron, OMB Reviews asserted, “Right now, I’m saying Disney has lost over a billion dollars this year in just their theatrical releases.”

He went on to assert that Disney’s losses are “close to $1.5 billion … just in the last year 2023 and just based off of theatrical with the numbers we currently have available.”

It is a long article, but then it is based on a long video from OMB Reviews, a YouTube channel that covers box office, actuals and projections.

It is somewhat difficult to add up the cost of movies, because studios in general, and Disney in particular, does NOT like to report those numbers. However they do like to take advantage of the film production tax credits in the United Kingdom, and to get those credits they do have to publicly report the budgets numbers. Not the marketing budgets, but the production budgets. But those numbers for a lot of the movies, particularly the most recent releases, have not yet been published in the UK.

That said, Odin, the guy who runs OMB Reviews, has done a credible job of figuring out what the losses likely are.

If you give Disney the biggest benefit of the doubt, you get losses in the $1 billion range.

“So again, if that is going to be the metric that you want to use and the metric that maybe you have an issue with me on, guess what? We’re talking now of losses between $850 million to $1.2 billion,” he shared.

If you make a series of assumptions that take into account what the actual production budgets of these movies are - when we get the numbers next year - you get a slightly different range.

“When you take this into account, you go all the way from $1.2 billion in losses to $1.4 billion,” he detailed. “And again, this is using the metric here of 55% domestic cut, 40% international cut, and a 25% China cut.

There are other assumptions you can make, which push the losses all the way to $1.8 billion.

The OMB Reviews video is Wonka Starts Fine as Disney Loses Over $1 Billion for the Year. It is a 34 minute video.

The section of the video that details with Disney starts at about 26 minutes in. In case you don't want to watch the entire 34 minutes.

Prosecutors Hate Self-defense Even When They Admit It is Legal

He is both happy that a citizen cared about the community, and dismayed that the citizen cared about the community enough to take action. Prosecutor explains decision to not press charges in shooting at South Bend gas station

This article is basically a discussion between a journalist, someone who doesn't understand why self-defense would ever be legal, and St. Joseph County Prosecutor Kenneth Cotter, someone who, by his statements about this case, clearly indicates that he doesn't like self-defense even when it is legal.

A citizen took action early Thursday morning when an armed gunman pointed his gun at a clerk in the Phillips 66 on W. Western Avenue. As the would-be armed robber and the clerk struggled, the citizen pulled his gun and shot 24-year-old Glen Brooks.

There is video evidence showing the clerk struggling for his life before the bystander stopped the armed robbery attempt. It is so conclusive that it took essentially 1 day for the prosecutor to say, "I can't win this one." Doesn't mean he is happy about self-defense.

One of many reasons Cotter believes we should nearly always leave the business of firing weapons to “John Law.”

John Law wasn't there. John Law is (almost) NEVER there when something like this begins. I did only a small bit of research, but I couldn't find average 911 response times in South Bend, Indiana. My guess is that it is more than 5 minutes to a situation like this, but that is only a guess.

Cops don't save the day, not usually. SWAT officers MAY save the day, and they may act the way they did in Uvalde, Texas. But in general, when seconds count, police are only minutes away. If this concerned citizen hadn't stepped up to do the legal, right thing, there is a good chance that the store clerk would have been shot, and possibly killed, while all of the "good witnesses" were on the phone with the 911 dispatch center.

In the end, the prosecutor came to the correct decision, or rather admitted that he wouldn't be able to convince a jury that shooter did anything wrong.

Someday Companies Will Take Security Seriously

But it is not this day. Xfinity waited 13 days to patch critical Citrix Bleed 0-day. Now it’s paying the price

Critical vulnerability. Patch released. Exploited in the wild. Comcast couldn't be bothered to apply the patch for 13 days. I suppose they had more important things to do than safeguard their customers' data.

Comcast waited 13 days to patch its network against a high-severity vulnerability, a lapse that allowed hackers to make off with password data and other sensitive information belonging to 36 million Xfinity customers.

The breach of Comcast's data happened AFTER they could have applied the patch, but couldn't be bothered to take the time. They're busy! They have important stuff to do.

Comcast is requiring Xfinity customers to reset their passwords to protect against the possibility that attackers can crack the stolen hashes. The company is also encouraging customers to enable two-factor authentication. The representative declined to say why company admins didn't patch sooner.

Why apply the patch? It won't impact them for years to come.

Comcast is still investigating precisely what data the attackers obtained. So far, Monday’s disclosure said, information known to have been taken includes usernames and hashed passwords, names, contact information, the last four digits of social security numbers, dates of birth, and/or secret questions and answers. Xfinity is Comcast’s cable television and Internet division.

Security is just not of interest to Comcast. Those IT folks are always wanting to spend money on something.

Locking Stuff Behind Plexiglass Didn't Stop This Thief

The politicians will cry about the eeeeevil capitalists when this store, and others like it, close. Dude shoplifts a Walgreens with a freakin' blowtorch - Louder With Crowder

As you may have noticed, there are parts of America where shoplifting and crime is on the rise. Not in real America, but in the progressive cities where voters keep voting for the same pro-crime progressive policies and wonder why there is so much crime in their progressive cities. Stores have been forced to put everything behind plexiglass, so shoplifter-Americans need to step up their game. For one dude at an NYC Walgreens, that means a blowtorch.

Wait... a blowtorch?!

They will cry about closing stores, but they won't do anything to stop crime. Apparently the politicians want more crime.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 23 December

Wombat-socho is up first with In The Mailbox: 12.20.23 (Afternoon Edition)

Don Surber: In praise of Congress
First Street Journal: “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.”

The Right Way - Top of the News

Why yes, there is a war on women - The Daley Gator
Kamala More Popular Than Joe Now - IOTW Report
Texas passes border law: will it stand?- The New Neo

EBL - California Turning Sewage into Drinking Water 💩☣️🥤😬🤮

Instapundit: California prepares to turn sewage into drinking water
What could go wrong?

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News

Nikki Haley is running for a Cabinet position.
It’s beginning to look that way.
How could he? The economy sucks.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.21.23 (Afternoon Edition)

Da Tech Guy: Gee I Wonder What Binding Common Social Norm Might Have Been Abandoned over the Last 40 Years in Canada
Don Surber: Musk is winning

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 22 December 2023: Parawhat Edition

Should California ban paraquat? (LA Times) (archive site)
I don't know. Maybe. The link to Parkinson's disease is unproven, but the stuff is toxic as hell, and is presently only made by a single company owned by the CCP.

Vlad Tepes - Hamas, Trudeau, The WHO and more: Links 1 for December 21, 2023

4. Of all the people who are writing on the nature of the dialectic enforcement by police etc. by far the closest one is this one by Ottawa’s John Robson.
John Robson: Canadian police enabling antisemitic hate

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 12/20/2023

Lincoln Memorial Steps Vandalized With Pro-Hamas Graffiti
The steps leading up to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. have been vandalized with red paint and pro-Hamas graffiti, authorities have revealed.

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 12.21.23 (Evening Edition)

American Conservative: The Mainstream Against Democracy
American Greatness: Will Partisan Lawfare Destroy Trump?

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Even WaPoo Give Colorado Court Thumbs Down

Hat Hair's John Sexton notices the Washington Post Editorial Board: The Supreme Court Should Toss the Colorado Decision. "As Justice Samour points out in his dissent, however, what’s missing from the majority’s analysis is due process of law.

The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler - All The News And Commentary You Can Stand for Friday

Item 1: Republican Says ‘Good Conservative’ Congressmen Are Being Blackmailed Just Because They Got Naked With Strangers in Motel Rooms
I love the “just because” part.

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, 12/22/2023

12/19 – Still Don’t Think This Is a Battle of Good and Evil, Eh?
12/20 – Netflix and the Erasure of History

Battleswarm Blog - LinkSwarm For December 22, 2023

“Oklahoma bans DEI requirements at public colleges and universities, requires cuts to ‘non-critical personnel.’ Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced the mandate Wednesday, citing a need to spend more money on preparing young Oklahomans for the workforce.

Small Dead Animals - Thursday On Turtle Island

Dementia Joe’s America: This time it’s not Russia, Russia, Russia. It’s Hitler, Hitler, Hitler. Hate is now inclusive.
Blackie’s Canada: Christmas in Canada. More on the Hamas Eaton Centre rally.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

David Henderson is rightly impressed with “the profound wisdom — and humanitarianism – of Adam Smith.”
Eric Boehm notes that the cost of toys has fallen over the past few decades.

Once again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.22.23

Vox Popoli: The Shadow Mocks
According To Hoyt: Better Late Than Never Post, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, and Blessed When The Masks Fell

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

40% of Student Loans Borrowers Miss That First Payment
Sanctuary cities are unhappy

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/21/23

"No more food for you. The Earth demands it."
The Globalist "Final Solution"

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Direct Line Between Obama’s Deep State And Trump Getting Removed From Colorado’s Ballot

• #GhettoGavin’s Lt. Governor Calls for Trump to Be Removed from State Ballot NRO
• MacArthur Foundation Providing 'Zuckerbucks' for Media Coverage David Strom

I leave you with Wednesday's gifs from Wirecutter, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1510 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Hump Day Memes from The DaleyGator, and Wednesday Memes … from MaddMedic.