Last Friday's CrowdStrike instigated outage is an example of what happens when you adopt a single point of failure for your infrastructure. One single problem takes down a whole lot of your infrastructure.
Given that Microsoft is about to force ads on us AS PART OF the operating system, and steal all of our data for Artificial Intelligence, I'm in the process of getting out from under Windows. I already use LibreOffice, for my office software. There is literally almost nothing I really need Windows for.
Last Wednesday, I reported (“Exit Strategy? Biden Tests Positive for COVID, Retreats to Delaware”) about the official reason given when Joe Biden abruptly canceled an event in Las Vegas. He was seen boarding Air Force One and hasn’t been seen in public since then. What happened instead was that on Sunday afternoon, the Biden campaign issued a statement from Biden stating that he was ending his reelection campaign and endorsing Kamala Harris.
I might be getting too old for that. Well that and standing for three straight hours. (I mean seriously, who sits down at a rock concert. Not this geezer.)
A bunch of photos from the concert, kind of in order, does that really matter?
This is the movie adaptation of H.G.Wells' novel. Considering it was made in 1936, the special effects are pretty amazing. The city of the future is what the most optimistic futurists could imagine.
It’s difficult for me to describe what’s on MSNBC except to say that there is zero skepticism being expressed toward the idea that Kamala Harris is eminently qualified — nay, perhaps uniquely qualified — to be President of the United States.
Mike Rowe and Gavin de Becker delve into the realities of excess mortality in America on this episode of The Way I Heard It. They explore critical issues surrounding unexpected deaths and examine the factors contributing to this concerning trend.
Son of Silvercon II was a lot of fun, even if we didn’t get the attendance we hoped for. Going to do a longer writeup on the Friends of Fission-chan blog later and link it up.
So now Iger and his board of yes-men cronies -- and his huge leftwing backers at BlackRock and Vanguard -- have Disney all to themselves, and don't have to fear any hostile takeovers and do not have to accede to any demand to put directors on the board who will actually stand up for the shareholders.
Was the Secret Service Agent-In Charge at the Trump rally where the Shot was Heard Around the World? What is their name and work hisotry? We should ahve heard by now…..
Meanwhile in security failure news after causing billions of dollars in damage worldwide, CrowdStrike has sent out $10 Uber Eats gift cards to its affected partners. (Tech Crunch)
No, there aren't any digits missing there. Yes, that will just about cover a medium fries from McDonalds.
The Virgin Islands is the most beautiful place I have ever been. Like being inside a picture postcard. I have never been to St. Croix, but I doubt is is less beautiful.
For the geographically challenged, The Virgin Islands is a group of Islands in the Carribean Sea just east, and a bit south, of Puerto Rico. The islands are divided between the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and the Spanish Virgin Islands. The USVI is a territory. (See the map, below.)
A preliminary investigation indicated that Ventura was in an argument with another man, and Ventura “made multiple threats to the male individual and his family,” according to the statement from police.
“While the male individual was in his vehicle with his family Mr. Ventura approached the vehicle on the passenger side window extending his arm into the vehicle with his other arm reaching for something at the rear of his waist. The male individual then shot Mr. Ventura in his upper chest,” according to police.
I'm not familiar with what the concealed carry laws are in the US Virgin Islands, but the police seem to be treating this as self-defense. The final determination will be made by the Attorney General's Office.
Dylan Browne, an Unreal Engine Supervisor and Feature Film VFX at the ModelFarm visual effects studio, posted on X that his company is experiencing a 50% failure rate for systems powered by Intel's Core i9-13900K and 14900K processors. As a result, the company is deploying AMD's as-yet-unreleased Zen 5 Ryzen 9 9950X processors in place of Intel-powered solutions.
There is apparently a TicTok video on the signs on one such beach.
The video is only the latest example of ongoing fights between owners of Malibu’s multimillion-dollar beachfront homes and beach visitors in the upscale coastal community of Los Angeles. Confrontations like these have become part of a broader pattern in California of wealthy homeowners living near California’s popular hikes, beaches and other natural attractions taking matters into their own hands to limit visitors. Last year, the California Coastal Commission penalized homeowners in Malibu who had spent the better part of four decades obscuring access to Escondido Beach. And in a separate incident posted to TikTok this week, a woman can be seen angrily roping off an area of Laguna Beach in front of her home and yelling at beachgoers to leave.
And as usual there is a homeowners association in the mix, and as we all know, homeowners associations are inherently evil.
“All beaches in California are public under the California Coastal Act. The line between public and private is the mean high tide line,” Matt Myerhoff, a spokesperson for the city of Malibu, wrote in an email to SFGATE. Guidelines posted to the city’s social media accounts this summer note that in addition to fully accessible beaches that have parking lots, bathrooms and staffed lifeguard towers, there are also “numerous public access paths to beaches that are between homes, where there are no bathrooms, trash containers, or lifeguards.”
The wealthy homeowners who bought property near those public access points don't like it. The city of Malibu cut down and confiscated signs posted by the state because "the state didn't get permits." It wasn't all because they hate the proles who dare take advantage of the public access.
Life is good when the rules get applied to everyone. Otherwise you don't live in a free society.
Border Czar? She was never the Border Czar. You made that up.
Since Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday, as Matt Vespa says, there has been “a gaslighting operation, unlike anything we’ve seen, where the establishment media is re-writing history,” including the attempt to deny that Harris was ever appointed as Biden’s “border czar.” In fact, Harris “was tapped by President Biden to handle the migrant crisis” in March 2021 and while “border czar” was not her official title, it was widely used in media reports at the time.
Also Second City Cop notes that More Migrant Buses are headed for Chicago.
Just in time for the convention.
Interesting times? As Robert Stacy McCain points out...
Whatever the origins of the phrase may be, certainly we are now living in interesting times, although as Sarah Hoyt notes, bizarre and weird are suitable synonyms for “interesting.”
Trigg County, Kentucky is a somewhat rural county on the Kentucky/Tennessee state line. It is about an 80 mile drive northwest of Nashville, Tennessee.
Kentucky State Police say during the investigation they have found that the man killed in the shooting was armed with a weapon and had forced his way into a room before he was shot and killed by the homeowner.
Cops say everyone involved is in custody. That says to me that there was a driver or an accomplice. But that is all they are saying at this time.
Self-defense is a human right, and it seems to be your legal right in Kentucky.
There were two incidents of vandalism of cars, and then he assaulted an 80-year-old man, for the horrible crime of putting up Trump signs in his own yard.
In all three cases, victims displayed political yard signs for former president Donald Trump and law enforcement appreciation flags and stickers.
Someone called to confess, and asked police to “send someone to pick me up.”
Hancock police and deputies with the Houghton County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the residence to find the man dead in an apparent suicide.
Deputies searched the home and retrieved electronic devices and found the ATV used in the incident as well as the clothing the suspect wore during the incident.
I'm guessing that he didn't think prison would agree with him, or that he would get caught. One article said that the cops had identified a suspect, but I don't know if that was before or after he called the police.
EBL: There is no real explanation other than they wanted Trump dead..., SECRET SERVICE FAIL and Director Kim Cheatle (Resign or be Fired), Why did the Secret Service fail so badly?
Baldilocks: Short Take, Never Let Them Get Away With It, The List, and Painting
CDR Salamander: Assassination Attempts, Spin, Accountability, & A Culture Of Untruth
Exit question: There’s a hidden message in Biden’s humiliating withdrawal letter that should terrify every American. And the shaming question: Who on earth is running the country?
Being a social media clout goblin is a fraught choice for a career path.
Home vet tips for the prepper cat owner.
94 year-old man finds and restores his dad's car.
CNN’s Van Jones broke into tears on Sunday as he delivered an emotional reaction to the news that President Joe Biden was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
The senior political commentator said he was heartbroken over the decision
2. The Biden resignation looks kinda like that video of the woman in Brazil who wheeled a corpse into the bank and tried to withdraw all his money.
Eugyppius. Joe Biden Out in Apparent Palace Coup
Transterrestrial Musings: The New Girl Disorder, The Democrat Party, The Weirdest Generation, Challenger, Commercial Space Conundrum, That’s A Shame, and Peace In Palestine
Victory Girls: Cheatle Resigns The Day After Her Brutal Committee Testimony
Southwest Airlines escaped the CrowdStrike debacle because they are still running Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. (Tom's Hardware)
One small problem with this story: It's complete bullshit. (Twitter)
ITEM 7: Sean Davis tweeted, “Secret Service director says the decision to leave the roof unguarded was deliberate, because it was unsafe to have snipers on a sloped roof.”
Stupid OSHA.
Dementia Joe’s America: Trump as Hitler. Democracy dying in darkness. – Victor Davis Hanson
Woke Britain: Senior Fellow in Mutilating Women. The fires of Leeds. And Paul Joseph Watson.
My intrepid Mercatus Center colleague, Veronique de Rugy, with an assist from Ryan Bourne, reminds us of Kamala Harris’s economic-policy ideas.
George Will counsels Democrats to hold an open convention.
After the call, one group that had promoted it in advance apologized to its members for having done so.
It Looks Like Kamala’s Call with Democrat Donors Was a Disaster
• Kamala Harris’ record on Israel to the left of President Biden Insider
• France’s Far-Right National Rally Has Lost the Battle, Not the War The UnPopulist
A collection of self-defense gun uses as collected by CPRC. Here's the first one they covered.
Deland, Florida, April 1, 2024 (WFTV.com)
Deputies responded to Dixie’s Gentlemen’s Club along US-17 near DeLand shortly before 2 a.m…
Detectives said Collins pulled a gun on another man outside the nightclub, and believe that man fired a shot at Collins’ vehicle in self-defense.
These are useful links to have access to, because the Left claims, with no data, that defensive gun use is a myth, even though there is plenty of data to show that it isn't. If you end up in one of those "discussions" you can supply this data, at which point the people on the Left will stop discussing and start in on the personal attacks.
A teacher is in critical condition after being stabbed in the neck by two Syrian migrants. The crime took place in the northern town of Wedel at the community’s Volkshochschule – an adult education center that also offers integration and professional language courses for refugees.
The attack occurred on July 19, sending a shockwave through the small community. As a 67-year-old lecturer was walking in the parking lot of the school, he was attacked by two Syrian brothers – both in their early 20s.
Police in Germany never relase much in the way in information, but it doesn't appear that they stabbed the math teacher. They just stabbed some random teacher because Math is Hard.
A guy on an ATV ran over a 80-year-old man in his own yard putting out Trump signs. First the guy on the ATV pulled the signs out of the ground. When the homeowner went to put them back in the ground, the guy on the ATV ran him down.
Police in Hancock, Michigan, have identified a person suspected of committing three different crimes targeting former President Donald Trump supporters, including running over an elderly man with an all-terrain vehicle.
Just before 6 p.m. Sunday, the suspect reportedly drove an ATV onto the yard of an 80-year-old man who was posting a political sign in his yard. According to a Facebook post by the Hancock Police Department, the ATV driver intended to do harm.
It seems strange whenever WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback is covering a year from the 21st century, but they were revisiting 2003 on Saturday. It has been more than 20 years, after all.
Dido's first 2 albums did very well in the UK, and I remember today's song (from the second album) being on the radio. She has collaborated with Eminem, and had a song nominated for an Academy Award. She has done well in the UK since those first two albums, but not so much in the US. I may have to see what is on those newer albums, because her music is so much better than the stuff being pushed by the American music industry.
This song is "White Flag" by Dido from her 2nd album, Life for Rent, which came out in 2003. It did well on the charts, and since radio was still very much a thing in 2003 we all heard quite a bit of it.
Now you will be asked to forget anything bad happened. The person "responsible" has resigned. What else do you want?
Cheatle, a 28-year veteran of the agency, faced mounting pressure to step down in recent days but insisted all along she would remain on the job. She announced her resignation in a letter to agency staffers on Tuesday morning.
There is a recap of everything that went wrong. But this comment was perhaps worst:
Among her baffling remarks was an admission to ABC News that the reason Secret Service agents weren’t posted on the roof from which Thomas Matthew Crooks fired on the rally crowd was because it was too “sloped,” creating an unacceptable “safety factor” for the agents.
Baffling because the roof in question had a slope of about 1 inch rise for every 12 inches of run. In other words you would be hard pressed to find a "sloped" roof closer to flat than the roof were Crook took his shot.
The first clue that something might be amiss inside my friend’s lake house came in the form of a large pile of bear crap on the stone steps leading down to the front door. I’ve had some experience with bear crap over the years, (feces from every species, in fact,) and immediately recognized this particular pile of scat as coming from a member of the Ursidae family.
Having written thousands of words on this subject — there’s a whole chapter in Donkey Cons about the damage that Democrats have inflicted on urban America — perhaps I mistakenly take it for granted that other people understand this problem as well as I do. But then I look at current trends and realize that white liberals continue to vote for Democrats who pursue the same path of destruction that made Coleman Young infamous.
The sheer level of lying drivel being spewed at us by our agitprop press and beloved rulers has reached dropped-on-head-as-infant levels of Soviet imbecility. Have you ever seen anything like it, here in the West. I haven't, this is a whole new stage of weirdness.
A robotic scout dog that cops can use to knock the various "Internet of Things" devices in your house offline in preparation for a SWAT raid sounds like something out of a Terminator sequel, but here we are.
At 9:44 AM, when Mission Control sent their wake up call to Collins, someone in Mission Control noted,"Not since Adam has any human known such solitude as Mike Collins is experiencing during this 47 minutes of each lunar revolution when he's behind the Moon with no one to talk to except his tape recorder aboard Columbia."
Several law enforcement officers on duty that day were informed over the radio that the president was dealing with an unspecified medical emergency. Far from a case of the sniffles, this was sent out on encrypted police airwaves as if something akin to a five-alarm fire had broken out.
Our sources estimate that it was “easily” hundreds of Las Vegas Metropolitan officers and employees who heard the broadcasts live, so a curious media shouldn’t have a problem reporting any follow-ups to this story.
Two guys broke into a home in San Fernando Valley. Police believe a 3rd guy stayed in the car.
A shooting investigation was underway in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Valley Village after a homeowner reportedly shot an intruder Monday and police were searching for two additional burglary suspects, authorities confirmed to KTLA.
One of the two home invaders was shot by the resident of the home. The other guy, and the driver, took off. The guy who got shot was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.
The homeowner was also injured, but authorities have not said how, only that he was stable.
They dress as construction workers, or something that will let them blend in. They use WiFi jamming technology to disable security cameras.
Many residents are blaming local lawmakers for the increase in crime, citing a lack of serious consequences.
“It’s not really the fault of the police officers,” Godinez said. “’It’s the fault of the politicians. They are to blame.”
“It’s because the wrong people are in control of making laws that allow these people to break into homes and not suffer consequences,” another neighbor said.
Well, who elected those "wrong people?" And if you don't like the soft-on-crime policies from the city, county, and state, what are you doing to get those policies, and laws, changed?
Anti-gunners love to argue that no one needs more than 10 rounds. Well, tell that to the homeowner facing multiple attackers. Criminals don't play by the rules; they don't care about magazine limits. In a home invasion, Every, Single, Second, Counts, and the ability to defend yourself effectively shouldn't be restricted by some random number made up by a politician who has private security.
Some people she doesn't like are fans of The Lord of the Rings, so that franchise, the books, the movies, everything, must be Evil, with a capital "E." I wonder how the Leftists at Amazon who are currently destroying LotR feels about that.
While the MSNBC host appeared to try to draw a parallel between Narya, the venture capital firm, and “Aryan,” an archaic term that has been associated with far-right racial ideology, Narya is named after one of the rings of power in “The Lord of the Rings” lore, specifically the ring of fire bestowed to elven kings.
Next up, Maddow will claim that Narnia, the mythical realm from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is also evil. (It makes as much sense as anything else she is saying.)
Haken is an interesting Progressive Rock/Progressive Metal band out of England. I first became aware of them with the release of their 2020 Virus. They are often compared to Tool, but the two bands are quite different. Haken is not a copy of Tool, though both bands do not feel ties to playing everything in 4/4 time. I can't always decided if I like their music or not.
There have been many videos made, and articles written, about Kathleen Kennedy, Leslye Headland (former personal assistant to Harvey Weinstein) and their destruction of the Star Wars franchise. The one I've chosen to highlight notes one fact. As long as people have been telling stories, first around campfires, then in plays and novels, we have told stories about people, sometimes fantastic people, who stood up to adversity and became better than themselves. Stories meant to inspire us to be better.
In movies we had characters that we also looked up to. From Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) in The Maltese Falcon, to Zorro (the 1940 version is best) and Robin Hood and Geoffrey Thorpe from The Sea Hawk‡, right down to Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, or Wonder Woman. But today, all of the heroes have been destroyed.
Our heroes have been turned into bitter old men, who were never all that heroic in the first place. This isn't the anti-hero of the 1970s. Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Paul Kersey (of the Death Wish movies) had some heroic characteristics. This is the erasure of heroism.
The Girl Boss has destroyed female example of excellence in another way. "You are perfect, just the way you are," is not really a life lesson, no matter how much the narcissists in Hollywood try to force it to be one. Characters like Rose Sayer in The African Queen, or Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter, and Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond (all played by Katherine Hepburn) showed us how to face adversity and keep striving to be better. Even Bunny Watson in Desk Set, a fairly dated comedy, had lessons to teach about what it important.
‡ The Sea Hawk is one of my favorite Errol Flynn movies. If you haven't seen it, I can recommend it highly. Also Captain Blood isn't bad. Both are swashbuckling adventures on the high seas, with a bit of romance added to the The Sea Hawk.
According to investigators, the injured man and another man were attempting to burglarize a residence in the 8700 block of West 21st Street. While attempting to burglarize the residence, the homeowner shot one of the suspects. The other suspect involved in the attempted burglary was taken into custody by police. The homeowner and a witness are cooperating with investigators.
One of two home invaders was shot, and is in critical condition. The other guy was arrested by members of Indanapolis Metropolitan Police Department
You IT folks and your request for Testing resources. What's the Worst That Could Happen?
A faulty software update from cybersecurity vendor Crowdstrike crippled countless Microsoft Windows computers across the globe today, disrupting everything from airline travel and financial institutions to hospitals and businesses online. Crowdstrike said a fix has been deployed, but experts say the recovery from this outage could take some time, as Crowdstrike’s solution needs to be applied manually on a per-machine basis.
Everything from medical providers to airports and airline schedules 911 emergency services were impacted. Because someone didn't do enough (any?) testing on a software changed released on a Friday.
Matt Burgess at Wired writes that within health care and emergency services, various medical providers around the world have reported issues with their Windows-linked systems, sharing news on social media or their own websites.
“The US Emergency Alert System, which issues hurricane warnings, said that there had been various 911 outages in a number of states,” Burgess wrote. “Germany’s University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein said it was canceling some nonurgent surgeries at two locations. In Israel, more than a dozen hospitals have been impacted, as well as pharmacies, with reports saying ambulances have been rerouted to nonimpacted medical organizations.”
In the United Kingdom, NHS England has confirmed that appointment and patient record systems have been impacted by the outages.
No one does proper systems design. (How does 911 grind to a halt over a Windows PC issue that the IT department didn't specifically install?) Also, how is it possible to implement a change that you can't undo as quickly? (Bad design, that's how!) And does no one do software testing? Apparently CloudStrike doesn't do software testing, or not enough anyway.
I imagine that the dust will be settling for a few days.
If you want to get a little bit (but only a little bit) into the weeds, Dave Plummer, of Dave's Garage has the following video: CrowdStrike IT Outage Explained by a Windows Developer. Dave Plummer is a retired Microsoft developer.
Secret Service whistleblowers have called on Congress to investigate the incompetence. And then some. The petition lists:
inadequate training
a double standard in disciplinary actions
a vulnerability "to potential insider threats"
And yes, that last item does imply that they will let people they don't like get shot.
The petition calls for an investigation by the House Oversight Committee and the removal of Kimberly Cheatle as the Secret Service director. It raises issues about DEI hiring superseding training and creating security issues. Whistleblowers are calling for the same type of investigation into the Secret Service that the House Judiciary just started into the FBI.
Far be it from me to rule out the possibility that an 81-year-old man could not die of natural causes in the next few weeks. I’m just saying that, if it did happen, nobody would believe it, any more so than we believe that the “mistakes” made by the Secret Service last weekend were actually mistakes. “Arkancide is a word for a reason,” as Derek Hunter has said, and we cannot rule out the possibility that, sometime in the near future, Joe Biden will die peacefully in his sleep. With a pillow over his face.
Denzel Washington has made some truly great movies. I think Man on Fire (2004) might be one of those really great movies. It comes close, anyway.
This movie didn't do too well at the box office. Despite only having a $60 million production budget, when you factor in a marketing budget, and the fact that studios only get about half of the box office reciepts, this moive likely lost money at the box office. It did make it's money back when you factor in DVD sales and rentals, which reached $123 million, according to the info I could find.
Critics didn't like this movie. The public did. That is reflected in the Rotten Tomatoes scores, where critics gave it a 39% and audiences gave it an 89%. The movie stars Denzel Washington, as John Creasy, and was directed by Tony Scott. Most of the complaints (a lot of them anyway) focus on the fact that the movie is two and a half hours long. If they made it today, it would be over three hours, and that may be a valid complaint. (Action movies need to go back to 90 minutes or so.)
Yes, some of this movie is very predictable, but it has more heart than most action movies can muster. I enjoyed it. Though I didn't sit down and give it my undivided attention. I don't do that much anymore. I had it on while I was doing other things... surfing the web, answering emails, etc.
And given the state of the drek coming out of Hollywood these days, older movies are looking better and better.
This is a small scene from the movie that I particularly like. Christopher Walken is wonderful as Creasy's friend telling the police about his friend; Creasy's art is death.
OK, so it was CloudStrike, not Microsoft at the root of the issue. More on that in a later post.
An IT outage is causing global chaos, with reports that 911 services are down across several US states.
The Alaska State Troopers confirmed that 911 services are down due to a "nationwide" outage.
Emergency services in New Hampshire and Ohio posted on social media reports of similar issues.
Calling 911 is a fine thing to do. They can send all kinds of help your way. But what happens if you can't call 911, or the system does not answer? Do you have a Plan B? Maybe you should.
Major airlines, banks, and retailers are experiencing widespread disruptions after Microsoft reported problems with its online services, linked to an issue at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
A single point of failure. Gee, did no one do a systems analysis?
A blade from an off-shore wind turbine run by Vineyard Wind broke up and has dumped fiberglass and foam in the water. Nantucket closed its beaches.
“The water is closed to swimming on all south shore beaches, due to large floating debris and sharp fiberglass shards,” Nantucket Harbormaster Sheila Lucey said. “You can walk on the beaches, however we strongly recommend you wear footwear due to sharp, fiberglass shards and debris on the beaches.”
The article linked in the quote has a bunch of photos of the debris dumped on the beaches.
The mention several times that the debris is not toxic, but glass fibers can cause nasty cuts when fiberglass breaks.(Ask me how I know.)
The blade debris will probably end up in landfills, even if some of it is analyzed by the manufacturer (GE) to determine what caused the failure.
That's right. A $350 pair of Nike shoes, that came with an app. They are from 2019. The app is being discontinued and removed from the Android and Apple environments. You are SOL for the app.
You can still make the shoes tie themselves, you just can't do it by way of your phone.
Why did Nike discontinue the app? Because they can. And because they have your $350 bucks, and the side of the box said they could screw you over whenever they want to, and you agreed to that when you opened the box.
In an announcement recently spotted by The Verge, Nike's brief explanation for discontinuing the app is that Nike "is no longer creating new versions of Adapt shoes.” The company started informing owners about the app's retirement about four months ago.
Those who already bought the shoes can still use the app after August 6, but it's expected that iOS or Android updates will eventually make the app unusable. Also, those who get a new device won't be able to download Adapt after August 6.
Why did BMW try to make access to the heated seats in your car a subscription? At least they got beat down on that, but they were trying to extort a monthly or yearly payment from people who bought their cars to have continued access to the heated seats they purchased. Or did they really purchase heated seats? If BMW can take them away from you at any time, do you own it?
Samsung bricked a refrigerator, because they didn't want to support the app. The refrigerator in that case STOPPED keeping stuff cold - it wasn't just that the app features were no longer available. The refrigerator was turned into a boat anchor.
Fisker's web-connected sunroof is another example. Though it isn't clear if the bankruptcy will kill that immediately or not. It will die eventually. There are more examples.
Stop buying stuff that connects to your phone for no valid reason. Stop buying into the idea that everything needs to connect to the cloud. The companies will either abandon you, or extort money from you in the future.
Breitbart: Team Biden Defiant, but Dems say Joe Goes This Weekend
Instapundit: Team Joe Defiant and Biden Push Back
Treacher: Biden is definitely running
This has happened before but it’s hard to say someone should have connected it to what transpired. Other issues were not so problematic.
Crooks was spotted at least 50 minutes before the shooting.
First, in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt against Trump, Musk endorsed Trump for President.
Musk also revealed that the EU offered him a secret deal to censor Twitter/X.
1. This crime requires some imagination to figure out. Guesses or actual knowledge on this welcomed.
2. So when there is a news story it is good to ask an expert on the subject before the reality of it gets fully liquified by people either maliciously, for gain.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office on Wednesday subpoenaed a St. Louis nonprofit tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a notice exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Global Warming Scam News: Fake environmentalism. The media is upset about a movie. Green physician toolkit.
Dementia Joe’s America: The most insane reactions. The mother of big lies.
Biden's biggest stop in Nevada was to the keynote address at this year's NAACP convention in Las Vegas, where he gave a little pep talk about [checks notes] how racist his home state of Delaware is.
HARD TO WATCH: Biden Suffers Multiple Glitches in Nevada Campaign Swing
• Mayorkas Is Blocking Secret Service Director From Testifying Katie Pavlich
• Secret Service’s Explanations for Security Failures Ahead of Trump Shooting Aren’t Adding Up Katelynn Richardson
Secret Service identified Thomas Crooks as a ‘threat’ 10 minutes before Trump took stage, but let him go on anyway.
Would-be Trump assassin ID’d as ‘suspicious’ over an hour before shooting: source.
Let me begin this by saying I am against road-rage violence. As someone who frequently finds myself shouting obscenities about the idiocy of fellow motorists — do you people even know what “merge” means? — I understand that it is wrong to engage in retaliation. Brake-checking or cutting someone off in response to another driver’s misconduct is unnecessary, and once you start escalating such a situation, there’s no telling if it might get completely out of control.
And in this case it escalated. A guy approaches a white Chevy pickup truck with a gun in his hand. It is clearly visible in the video. (See below.) The guy in the pickup truck is also armed and shoots the armed guy at his driver's side window. The guy who got shot, Gavin Dasaur, died at the scene.
Click the link above for more details, including what the widow had to say about the situation, and what The Other McCain had to say about her statement.
With the exception of pointless sequels and remakes, there is nothing that Hollywood loves more than GUNS. Whether it is set in the Old West or the distant future, whether it is action or comedy, there is always a good chance that guns will play some roll in the plot.
But Hollywood gets a lot of things wrong about guns.
This video covers some of those things that Hollywood gets wrong.
Exploding barrels of gas
Sparks everywhere
Everything about snipers
Flying backwards after being shot
Unlimited ammo
Silencers
Everything is bullet proof
The video is just under 15 minutes, so grab a coffee.
This has been stuck in my drafts for a while, so I'm not sure why it came to my attention again. It might have come across a playlist somewhere, or it may have been featured on WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback a while back. It might have even come up on social media. I've dumped it back into social media a few times recently.
This is "Those Shoes" by the Eagles from their 1979 album The Long Run, though this is the remastered version from 2013.
Perhaps the phrase “corrupt Democrat” is redundant:
DaleyGator is struggling with medial expenses (and other stuff) while taking care of a sick parent. UPDATED FUND RAISER INFO
I moved my mom here from Texas at the very end of 2019. She is unable to be left alone, per doctor’s orders. She has diabetes, gets dialysis, and is suffering from memory and confusion issues. I am her caregiver, and it is, as you might expect, a challenge.
This is Module 3 (of 7 total) of a free public webinar I offered in spring 2024 on “Ten Essential Observations on Guns in America” (a.k.a. the Sociology of Guns). In this third session, I explore a significant part of Gun Culture 2.0 - The Concealed Carry Revolution.
Oh, dear God! Really? The feds think it’s a good idea to warn law enforcement about (hint, hint) “extremists” plotting “retaliation”? And then leak their memo to Politico? Yeah, that’s really going to soothe Republican fears about the “deep state.” Great thinking, guys!
Talk about a contrast: While Donald Trump is dodging bullets like an action-movie hero, the elderly resident of the White House contracts the virus that most of us long ago stopped worrying about.
People were trying to steal his car at about a quarter to 5 in the morning.
Several suspects were attempting to steal a car parked in front of a house when a resident stepped outside and encountered them, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.
The suspects shot at the homeowner several times but missed, the authorities said.
Note that while that longer explanation used the word "encountered," early in the article it is noted that he confronted the would-be thieves.
It was luck that he wasn't shot. He could easily have been shot, or killed. No word on whether or not his house or car were damaged by gunfire.
To reimburse you if your car is stolen, or damaged by robbers, is why you have insurance, after all. What did this guy accomplish, aside from risking his life?
While stopping robbery is a moral good, there are questions to ask. How many bad guys are there? How many guns? How willing are they to kill you? How proficient are they with those guns? What is the worst that could happen?
In both the case from a month ago, and the case in the article linked at the top, the worst that could happen is the owner of the car is killed, and they steal the car anyway.
In both cases, no mention is made of the homeowner/car-owner being armed. In both cases they were going to speak harshly to the bad guys. Yeah, that is really gonna work in 2024.
I was going to title this post "A Fool and His Money - OR - The Sure Thing Investment." It might still be a better title.
Quantum computing is the next blockchain. (How are those NFTs doing?) Both the popular media and the investment media are full of articles on how great quantum computing is, and what companies are slated to be the Next Big Thing™, and how you are missing out if you're not dumping your life savings into NFTs quantum stocks.
Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist. She understands quantum theory, and most - not all - of the stuff around quantum computing is still theoretical.
I won't give you advice on what stocks to buy, but I would advise you to be Very, Very careful with news about Quantum Computing; they're 95% bullshit.
People chasing the Next Big Thing™ is not new. From the Dot Com implosion of the 1990s, to the Real Estate Collapse of 2008, to Blockchain and NFTs, and now quantum computing. The quest for the Sure Thing Investment goes back at least as far the Tulip Mania of 1636, and probably farther than that.
That isn't to say that some people didn't make money on all of those things. Amazon was certainly part of the Dot Com craze in the '90s, and they didn't evaporate like so many companies. Some people made money in real estate in the early 2000s, and held on to that money after the market collapsed. I'm sure some people made a lot of money on NFTs, before the bottom fell out of the market for things like Bored Apes. And some people will certainly make money on quantum computing, but not those who chase the bullshit.
Let’s be clear: South Korea is an ally, not an enemy. But acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, while pretending to be “an independent foreign policy expert”? That’s a felony, and Max Boot’s wife has been doing it for 10 years — “allegedly,” I hasten to add.
In case you didn't know, or have forgotten, Max Boot is/was a fixture on CNN (Clown News Network? Maybe not) screaming "Russia, Russia, Russia" during the heyday of the Steele dossier, and more recently shitting on Republicans, and anyone who has a problem with the positions of the Left.
The sheriff says the robbery victim then pulled out another gun and a shootout ensued -- ending with the robber being shot and killed.
"And then he did leave the scene, but then he called us up, told us where he was, told us where the gun was, told us how it happened," Sheriff Simmons said. "Told us that he was robbed and he felt like he was defending himself. We got the video and it seems to corroborate his saying. ...We are classifying it, at this point, as an act of self-defense."
They don't say why he left the scene. One reason that cops accept that (in some jurisdictions anyway) is that he may have felt there were more threats in the area.
In any event, the shooter is cooperating with police, and they are satisfied at this point that it was self-defense.
The rifle used by Crooks, who shot and tried to assassinate President Trump, had been bought by his father back in 2013, that means gun control legislation would have done nothing about it even assuming that was a desired outcome, but why should a minor detail like that stop the New York Times.
Congress pushing for "Do something!" gun control in the absence of facts, isn't the case the NY Slimes thinks it is, and bringing up the 2017 shooting at a Republican softball practice in Virginia, without mentioning that the shooter in that case was a Bernie Sanders supporter with a hit list of Republicans he wanted to kill, is a lie of omission. But they're the NY Times. Telling the truth is not in their nature.
