Wednesday Link Roundup - 31 January

Pirate's Cove is first with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

Victory Girls Blog has Sunday morning cafe cocktails linkage.
Vlad Tepes has links.

The DaleyGator - Sunday Linkage

Bunkerville does not do hassles. He does Passels
Bacon Time LINKAGE
Mike McDaniel has Funny stuff

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 01.30.24 (Morning Edition)

Stoic Observations: Arthashastra
Upstream Reviews: Book vs. Movie – Jurassic Park
L’Ombre de L’Olivier: Running The Numbers On Rape & Pregnancy

EBL - anti MAGA Lawfare ☀️😬🍊

TOM: The ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Plot Line and the Wicked Travesty of ‘Justice’ in New York
Instapundit: Trump found liable for alleged acts 25 years ago

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 7: Hollywood nominated Ken but not Barbie for an Oscar.
Barbie fans have not been this disappointed since they discovered the Ken doll came unequipped.

Small Dead Animals - Saturday On Turtle Island

Fighting Colonialism News: Captain Cook statue vandalized. Globalism News: What the elites are planning next.
Dementia Joe’s America: The funniest one yet. Biden suspends aid to UNRWA.

A View fromt the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - A Trashy Tuesday

At the Volohk Conspiracy, Jon Adler explains No, Texas Has Not "Defied" The Supreme Court. Am Great's Chris Roach calls it Fort Sumter on the Border. "A more robust federalism that empowers states to act ...

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 28 January 2024: Forty Mules To The Galleon Edition

Looking to connect your Raspberry Pi to a WiFi 6E or 7 network? Hope you don't need to stay connected for more than 11 hours. (Rachel by the Bay)
Because you won't, and nobody knows why.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 01.30.24 (Evening Edition)

American Thinker: The Death of Citizenship, also, Denationizing the United States
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Fifth Column News

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 1/29/2024

Bill Pushing Digital IDs Advances in Florida
A bill that paves the way for mandatory digital IDs is advancing in Florida’s state legislature.

Bacon Time - Sunday Linkage

The Air Vent - More Mail-In Charges in Democrat Elections
Watts Up With That? - Watch the Ongoing Mann-Steyn Trial Live

Vlad Tepes - War with Iran, Media tactics on global warming, German Green resigns for DWI Hitler salute: Links 2 for January 30 2024

1. NCCM stands for national Council of Canadian Muslims. They used to be called, CAIR-Canada but rebranded when CAIR was briefly exposed in the media for what it is. But NCCM is still CAIR. CAIR is Hamas. Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood.

Small Dead Animals - Tuesday On Turtle Island

Dementia Joe’s America: Why DEI must die. Old Joe believes in Indigenous knowledge. The Somalian.
China Virus News: This could apply to Canada and the U.S.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

The airline-pilot brother of a former student of mine writes wisely about the beauty of markets.
“When well-intentioned environmentalism backfires.”

Maggie's Farm - Monday morning links

Reasons to eat lots of meat
Vegan women run higher risk of developing pregnancy complications: study

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 1/30/24

Raymond Ibrahim: "The Danes copy a play from the Islamic gamebook."
Rule of Thuggery Prevails in Denmark

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Trump Has Reason to Rage — But Needs to Stay Calm and Get Even Rather than Mad

• Biden’s LNG pause: a deadly fraud - Alex Epstein • UNRWA staff took part in Be’eri massacre, kidnapping - Joshua Marks

I leave you with Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Sunday Funnies For 01-28-24 from Stately McDaniel Manor, and Mondays..... gifdump from Wirecutter.

Self-Defense in Philadelphia Seems to Be Catching On

From Philadelphia and WCAU NBC10: Armed passenger shot by other driver in Philly road rage. Police say it was justified.

A teenager was hospitalized after being shot several times -- including in the head -- in what Philadelphia police said was a self-defense shooting that stemmed from a road rage incident.

The occupants of a Honda Accord and of a Ford Explorer got into an "argument." A passenger got out of the Honda and pointed a gun at the driver of the Ford.

The Ford driver used his driver-side door to shield himself as "he exited his vehicle and fired his weapon several times at the suspect," police said.

The guy got back into the Honda and the driver sped off, police said. The Ford driver -- who has a license to carry a firearm -- remained on the scene for police officers to arrive.

With general levels of law and order breaking down in Philadelphia, people are beginning to see a need to provide for their own security. I doubt that the bad guys will get the memo that being a bad guy is now dangerous.

While police were investigating, a 19-year-old with gunshot wounds showed up at a local hospital. Police are holding both him and the car.

Police believe the Ford driver acted in self-defense. They did apparently take both his firearm and his vehicle as evidence. (The process is the punishment.)

I'm Shocked That People Hawking "Net Zero" Would Lie About the Cost

OK, so I'm not that shocked. I am shocked that they haven't been continually called on their lies. Energy Bills Set to Soar as Report Finds Almost All Major Studies on Net Zero Grossly Underestimate Cost

This is a report from the place where Great Britain used to be, but it applies more generally.

The report, which presents a new model of the 2050 electricity system that corrects these errors, shows that official studies have suppressed the apparent cost of Net Zero still further by using extreme speculations about the costs and efficiencies of all the equipment required in the 2050 grid.

The assumption is that costs will be cut in half, and efficiencies of all the tech will soar. Based on what? Wishful thinking. If you use known costs and efficiencies, you get a very different picture.

The report warns that with current technology, the cost of a Net Zero grid would approach £8,000 per household per year.

£8,000 is just over $10,000 for energy every year. Per household, every year.

Sin Nombre

Michaela Rae was a guitarist with a lot of promise. She produced an album when she was 16 and promptly disappeared from public life. It is too bad really.

This is "Sin Nombre" by Michaela Rae from her 2009 album Blues With A Backbone.

Civilization versus Sports Fans - UK Edition

The Brits really get worked up about what they call football. Port Vale fan runs referee off field at English soccer match

South American stadiums have the field surrounded by a moat, to protect the refs from the crowd. I'm wondering if the UK needs to adopt something like that.

A soccer referee literally ran for his life Saturday in a League One match in England.

It happened in the 89th minute of a clash between Port Vale and Portsmouth in what is the third-tier of English soccer.

Colby Bishop had scored a penalty one minute earlier to give Portsmouth a 1-0 lead.

That’s when a Port Vale fan took things into his own hands.

We complain about refs, we accuse the leagues of setting things up in advance to maximize ad revenue, but we don't usually chase the refs off the field.

Football hooligans. Doesn't seem to cover it. Third tier? This is like the minor leagues, and they are threatening peoples' lives. Civilization was nice while it lasted.

Tuesday Links - 30 January

The Gateway Pundit has some news to get us started. EXCLUSIVE: NYC Court Drops Latest Epstein Documents – Includes Ghislaine Maxwell’s Testimony

In a recent development in the case between Virginia L. Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, a transcript of a videotaped deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell taken in New York in 2016 was released on Friday.

The deposition, held at the law offices of Boies Schiller & Flexner, contains confidential information and has brought crucial details regarding the allegations and legal proceedings surrounding the case to the forefront.

The Other McCain - The ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Plot Line and the Wicked Travesty of ‘Justice’ in New York

I watch CNN (so you don’t have to) and they were practically peeing their pants in excitement Friday over the jury’s verdict in the ridiculous defamation suit against Trump. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I was enraged by this, and perhaps for personal reasons, considering my own experience with bogus lawsuits (“Sue Me Again, You Evil Liar”).

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 26 January 2024: Australia Dayn't Edition

Apple will allow full versions of Firefox and Chrome browsers to run on the iPhone, instead of just hastily-drawn skins on top of Safari. (The Verge)

But only in the EU.

Again from The Other McCain - Thank You for the Orgasmic Pleasure

As I have previously noted (“Why Is KiwiFarms.net ‘Harassment,’ But What Taylor Lorenz Does Is ‘Journalism’?”), Ms. Lorenz’s professional specialty is doxxing people whose politics she doesn’t agree with.

Tam at View from the Porch - The Moment

Once upon a time, the cover of Sports Illustrated was the showcase for some of the best sports photography in the world.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Kick ’em When They’re Down (Be sure to click on the link for Song of the Day - SOTD)

SOTD
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

Clayton Cramer - How Accurate Are Murder Rates Published by FBI?

During the New Jersey assault weapons ban suit, the state's murder expert Randy Roth, challenged my use of FBI murder rates by state, claiming that rural states greatly underreport murders. That there is underreporting is without question: reporting to the FBI by police departments is voluntary.

Cooperating With Criminals Doesn't Stop Assault

The Left loves to say, if you just cooperate with criminals you won't face violent consequences. They never want to discuss rape in this context, but we will ignore that today. Because in this case, it is clearly not the case that cooperation resulted in safety.

Here is a news article about the incident. 'They were laughing': Woman viciously beaten at Seattle-area gas station over cash, cigs and candy

A cashier who was viciously beaten during a robbery at a Seattle-area gas station said the young male suspects laughed during the attack.

"They were laughing. They had no [regard] for anything," Leah Johnston told FOX13.

Laughing while beating her. That is the state of civilization in Seattle.

As for cooperation...

"I told him, ‘You can stop hitting me. I’m not fighting you,'" Johnston said. "It didn't slow him down though."

The guy in question wasn't beating her because she was resisting, or he needed her to do something, he was beating her because he wanted to. He thought it was funny. Because he is a monster. Watch the video and then we can argue about that.

I came to all of this by way of Active Self Protection. This is the Active Self Protection video Clerk Faces Life-and-Death Assault in Armed Robbery. I would embed the video, but it is age restricted, because it does include security video of the assault.

The Hugo Awards Bends the Knee to Chinese Censorship

Because of course they did. Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors | Hugo awards | The Guardian

Why would you hold a literary awards ceremony in a bastion of censorship?

A prestigious literary award for science fiction, which was hosted in China for the first time, has come under fire for excluding several authors from the 2023 awards, raising concerns about interference or censorship in the awards process.

The New York Times bestseller Babel by RF Kuang, an episode of the Netflix drama The Sandman and the author Xiran Jay Zhao were among the works and authors excluded from the 2023 Hugo awards, which were administered by the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Chengdu in October.

You can read the whole thing, but you know what they did. They exculded authors and stories that the Chinese government didn't like.

“I can only guess to why I was excluded, but it probably has something to do with my critical comments about the Chinese government in the past,” said Zhao. “You would think that as a big, powerful country, China would be graceful about criticisms, but they in fact take it very personally, and doubly so when it’s from Chinese diaspora.”

Hat tip to Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony. Daily News Stuff 26 January 2024: Australia Dayn't Edition

The head of the awards jury, Dave McCarty issued a particularly blatant non-denial:

There was no communication between the Hugo administration team and the Chinese government in any official manner.

But unofficially...

"After reviewing the constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible." He declined to elaborate on what the rules were.

The rules that let us get out of the country with our kneecaps.

Growing Alaskan Region Asks Residents to Be Armed

A refreshing change. Mat-Su assembly resolution urges residents to arm themselves - Anchorage Daily News

Whereas residents of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough can provide for the emergency management of the borough, and provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the borough … every eligible resident residing in the borough is encouraged to maintain a firearm, and ammunition thereof,

Matanuska-Susitna, or Mat-Su, is in south-central Alaska, just north of Anchorage. While Anchorage has been losing population, Mat-Su has been growing.

The resolution, which also asks firearm owners to learn about safe weapon use and maintenance, does not define who is an eligible resident. It does not create any enforceable laws.

Bernier, whose district covers Susitna Valley communities including Willow and Trapper Creek, said he sponsored the language as a way to encourage residents to protect themselves.

The resolution passed the Borough board unanimously. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms)

Athena

Plush is a band that I tripped over recently because they are touring this year, opening for Falling In Reverse, who is opening for Disturbed.

Plush is composed of singer, songwriter and guitarist Moriah Formica, lead guitarist Bella Perron, bassist Ashley Suppa and drummer Faith Powell. From their website, they say that they are on a mission to restore Rock & Roll to its rightful place, instead of the drek that passes for Pop Music today. I wish them luck.

I haven't really heard enough of their work to know what I really think, but I think they might have a decent future ahead of them.

This is "Athena" by Plush. Albums are a 20th Century idea, though I imagine one will be created eventually.

Facts

OK this is completely insane. Just thinking about Ben Shapiro on a Rap song hurts my brain, but it works.

I don't care if I offend you.

This is "Facts" by Tom MacDonald featuring vocals by Ben Shapiro. This was apparently released on Friday.

Hat tip to The Comments Section with Brett Cooper.

It Seems that Self-defense Is Legal in Ohio

You can never be sure about a Blue City like Columbus. Ohio Teen Acquitted of 2021 Murder of Another Teenager | Inside Edition

Click thru for the details of the dispute. Actually there are enough details to put the whole thing in doubt, but in the end the jury decided that it was self-defense.

The jury deliberated for more than seven hours across Monday and Tuesday before returning its verdict, the Dispatch reported. The jury did find Thomas guilty of tampering with evidence. She will be sentenced on that charge in juvenile court, according to the court document.

The only thing missing from this article is a statement from the DA saying how they disagree with, but respect, the jury's verdict.

Self-defense is a human-right.

A Terror Attack in Canada That Isn't of Interest to the Media

Could be it doesn't fit with the narrative that someone wants to push. A jihad-like terror attack in Canada that no one seems to know about | Toronto Sun

It’s not every day there is a jihadist-inspired terror attack in Canada related to Israel’s war in Gaza that few seem to know about.

But it did happen and the country is just fortunate no one was murdered in the process. The potential was definitely there.

This was a full on terror attack at Edmonton’s City Hall on Tuesday, with guns and home-made bombs. So far, Justin Trudeau hasn't bothered to mention it. And the media is ignoring it as well.

This was a terrifying incident. Security video shows a man entering Edmonton’s City Hall wearing a Commissionaires Security jacket and carrying a long gun and appearing to shoot it. Police say he was “heavily” armed.

But no one seems to be talking about it much.

Gee, why would the media ignore a terror attack?

It is odd really because there is video. Security video from the attack, and video that the attacker left behind. Just the kind of thing that you would think would make the news cycle.

Here is an update from Sunday: Rebel News, apparently the only real news organization left in Canada asks why the crickets. Legacy media ignores Islamic terrorist attack at Edmonton City Hall. The video is 11 minutes or so.

Harvard - It Isn't Just for Plagiarism Anymore

I'm shocked to find more academic fraud going on at Harvard. Top Harvard cancer researchers accused of scientific fraud; 37 studies affected | Ars Technica

I mean it isn't like the whole institution was run by an academic fraud or something. Oh, wait a minute...

Seriously, it seems to be the case that leaders of an organization do set the tone.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is seeking to retract six scientific studies and correct 31 others that were published by the institute’s top researchers, including its CEO. The researchers are accused of manipulating data images with simple methods, primarily with copy-and-paste in image editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop.

These guys were not going out of their way to cover their tracks if they were only using Photoshop.

And what was that about leadership?

The allegations are against: DFCI President and CEO Laurie Glimcher, Executive Vice President and COO William Hahn, Senior Vice President for Experimental Medicine Irene Ghobrial, and Harvard Medical School professor Kenneth Anderson.

The Wall Street Journal noted that [DFCI Research Integrity Officer Barrett] Rollins, the integrity officer, is also a co-author on two of the studies. He told the outlet he is recused from decisions involving those studies.

If your integrity officer is accused of academic fraud, you may have a problem. And his statement is classic. Basically that it is all an honest mistake, and the discovery of falsified images doesn't really mean that there is anything wrong. Sure it doesn't

The accusations come from data sleuth Sholto David and colleagues on PubPeer, an online forum for researchers to discuss publications that has frequently served to spot dubious research and potential fraud.

Apparently using Photoshop to rotate and change image parameters, like brightness or contrast, is such a common method of data falsification, that there are tools which can be used to find it.

This article doesn't say, but my guess is that there are some very big grants involved with this Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Schadenfreude is a Dish Best Served Cold

From The Other McCain - What Part of ‘Learn to Code’ Do We Need to Explain to Laid-Off Journalists?

The journalists (so-called) of the LA Times expect us to feel sorry for them because they've been laid off. Do we?

Does she look particularly Hispanic to you? I say this as someone with a Hispanic son-in-law and daughter-in-law, both of whom are wonderful people from families that are at least as affluent as my own. The notion that every person of Hispanic ancestry is a victim of racist oppression — mired in poverty, “living in the shadows” as “undocumented,” etc. — is contradicted by may own direct observations. Gobbling down grilled steak at poolside with the Argentine in-laws, you don’t really get much of a sense of la lucha continúa radicalism. Just sayin’ . . .

So here is Jean Guerrero, who certainly doesn’t look even like some kind of peasant mestizo, bemoaning her recent layoff:

Click thru for the moaning. Oh whoa is me, no one wanted to read my Leftist screeds and now I'm out of a job. I would feel bad for her, I really would, if I didn't hate journalists. (I have been laid off. Sometimes it was expected - after 9/11 - and sometimes it came out of the blue. It isn't' fun, but it is part of life.)

We don’t hate her for being Latina. We hate her for being a journalist. Hating journalists is a tradition that can unite all Americans.

And that is coming from Robert Stacy McCain, who made a living for decades as a journalist, before he recovered.

Kyoto Animation Studio Arsonist Sentenced to Death

Kyoto anime studio fire: Japanese man sentenced to death for arson attack that killed 36

Kyoto Animation, better known as KyoAni, is an anime studio that has had some success. The guy convicted of the arson attack had been convinced that KyoAni had stolen some of his ideas, and sought revenge.

Shinji Aoba, now 45, broke into the firm’s building in Kyoto, doused the entrance area with petrol and set it alight. He then shouted “drop dead”, according to accounts by survivors of Japan’s deadliest crime in decades. Many of the victims were young people.

Yes Japan still has the death penalty. It is usually reserved for people found guilty of multiple murders, while they aren't Texas, or Oklahoma, they do occasionally execute someone.

Japan carried out its last execution, by hanging, in 2022. As of December, 107 people were on death row.

The article notes that the majority of the Japanese population supports capital punishment, but they have to get in a dig about the EU and "human rights" organizations being against it.

He Suffered a Failure of the Victim-Selection Process

Don't try to force your way into homes; it can be hazardous to the health. Man shot by homeowner while trying to force his way into Phoenix home: PD

A man who tried to force entry into a Phoenix home had to be taken to the hospital following a shooting, according to Phoenix police officials.

After he got shot he ran from the scene, but cops found him shortly afterward. The gunshot wound is not considered to be life-threatening.

While the investigation continues, Arizona has not yet morphed into a copy of New Jersey, and in Arizona self-defense is usually recognized as a legal right. Self-defense is, as always, a human right.

New Jersey Bans Plastic Grocery Bags, Plastic Consumption Triples

The Law of Unintended Consequences is still in effect. Law banning plastic bags in blue state backfires as plastic consumption skyrockets - Washington Examiner

Do we ever think that politicians will stop being stupid about the laws they enact? I don't.

New Jersey’s single-use plastic bag ban has proved unsuccessful in curbing plastic consumption, with a new study showing that plastic use has tripled.

Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) signed a bill that set the bag ban into motion in May 2022 in an effort to address plastic pollution, and he said it “will help mitigate climate change.” The ban, which was the strictest of its kind at the time, restricted retail and grocery stores from providing customers with single-use plastic bags and prohibited grocery stores larger than 2,500 square feet from giving customers single-use paper bags.

Since they could no longer give away free, single-use bags, they started selling multiple use bags, which contain more plastic.

However, this surge in reusable bags has created its own sort of environmental problem. For example, to have an alternative grocery bag that has a positive effect on the environment, a cotton bag should be used 7,100 times, according to a report on the lifecycle of reusable bags.

And people were not using cotton bags, but woven and nonwoven polypropylene plastic bags. And they were not reusing them very much.

Grocery stores are happy, because the bags have become a solid income stream.

“Most of these alternative bags are made with nonwoven polypropylene, which is not widely recycled in the United States and does not typically contain any post-consumer recycled materials. This shift in material also resulted in a notable environmental impact, with the increased consumption of polypropylene bags contributing to a 500% increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to nonwoven polypropylene bag production in 2015,” the study reported.

So will they admit defeat and repeal the law? Of course not.

The Culture of Hate on College Campuses

It is what they have been producing for decades. Colleges See 1,753% Spike in Antisemitism Since Hamas Attack.

A report released Monday by the Combat Antisemitism Movement in partnership with the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University in Israel found that antisemitism has exploded in U.S. higher education.

The numbers are shocking, but not surprising.

The world - on college campuses - is divided, as cultural Marxism dictates, in to the oppressed and the oppressor. One is revered, and the other must be exterminated. Rampant narcissism doesn't make the world better, either. The two together have given us everything from the Reign of Terror, to the Holocaust, to the Cultural Revolution, and the Killing Fields of Cambodia. "These people are evil and must be destroyed" is not a new idea in the world. Scapegoats have ever been the way for the masses to explain away their situation. And a way for others to grab power.

It’s why when acts of terrorism are perpetrated against Israelis, many on the Left actually blame Israel. This is about structural forces and fighting oppressors. Hamas terrorists can’t really be held culpable for their acts of evil, you see.

There is more. Click thru.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 27 January

The Right Way starts things rolling with Top of the News.

Life's Great Mysteries: CNN Can't Figure Out Why People Don't Like VP Harris - Bongino Report
Is Nikki Haley Going Climate Cult? - The Pirates Cove

Tam at View from the Porch - A Jog Around the Blogs...

Tailfins and Dagmars
Match safes
Your house... and property ...is not a free-fire zone.

EBL - Michael E. Mann v. Mark Steyn: The Trial of the Century Continues 🏒

Watts Up With That: Watch the Mann v. Steyn Trial Live
Instapundit: The Process is the Punishment

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 01.26.24 (Afternoon Abbreviated Punditry Edition)

Upstream Reviews: After Moses, Honor At Stake, and Cloak & Stola
Draw & Talk: Which Is Better – Making $100 vs. $7000?,
Postcards From Barsoom: There’s A Crown Lying In The Gutter

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 25 January 2024: Redo From Start Edition

Top Harvard cancer researchers have been accused of scientific fraud across 57 research papers. (Ars Technica)
The Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is retracting six papers and ...

Battleswarm Blog - LinkSwarm For January 26, 2024

Journalist who criticized tennis players Novak Djokovic for not getting the jab dies of suddenly.
B-21 Raider officially enters production.

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News

It’s a goddamn invasion, is what it is.
Texas to Biden(‘s handlers) Administration: Go fuck yourselves.
Elvis has left the building!

Flopping Aces - What We’ve Learned from the Israel / Hamas Conflict – Quick Roundup (1/3)

Democrats Are Showing You Who They Are
Biden State Department Won’t Fire Notorious Anti-Semitic Foreign Service Officer

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump Take New Hampshire Handily

Sundance outraged Positively Stunning – Nikki Haley Campaign Manager Sends Letter Saying the Haley Plan Is to Use “Open Primaries” and Democrats. Well, you have to play the game with the tools available.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 01.26.24 (Evening Edition)

Transterrestrial Musings: Gay Science, Goodbye To Davos, and The LA Times
Victory Girls: Liquid Natural Gas Now In Biden’s Climate Change Crosshairs

Vlad Tepes - More Maoist narrative attacks, pics from convoy and the Piano man is growing out of all proportion to importance: Links 1 for January 25, 2024

2. One of our favorite journalists left on Earth identifies the Chinese people in the weird piano man series over this past week. (Also see item 4)
3. “Growing your own vegetables is bad for the planet”

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 1/25/2024

Top Genomics Expert Testifies: COVID Shots Cause Cancer
A renowned genomics expert has just given explosive testimony before the Massachusetts Legislature to warn about the devastating cancer-causing “red flag” that he’s discovered.

Small Dead Animals - Thursday On Turtle Island

Blackie’s Canada: Unions for Islamic terrorism. Everything in Canada must have an Indian name (CBC). And the renaming continues.
Dementia Joe’s America: The terrorists of tomorrow. Is it hopeless?

Cafe Hayek - Some links

J.D. Tuccille reports on the Canadian court ruling that Canadians’ rights were violated by the government’s crackdown on the Freedom Convoy.

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 1/25/24

"And guess who the media blames."
Muslim Violence All Over India as Ram Temple is Inaugurated

Maggie's Farm - Thursday morning links

The Harvard DEI complex is stronger than ever
Public Education's Alarming New 4th 'R': Reversal of Learning

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Defy Them

• 1,200 Pizza Hut Drivers Among First Victims of California’s $20 Minimum Wage Folly (Thanks, #GhettoGavin) - Rachel Greszler
• Politics and the Future - Ben Horowitz

I leave you with Wednesday's gifs from Wirecutter, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1573 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Cartoon Round Up.... from Theo Spark.

A Mother Defends Her Children

What should she have done? Mississippi mother shoots burglar to protect 3 children

A mother heroically protected her three children from a man who broke into her home wielding a knife.

Monday, Carroll County deputies received a call for help from the mother’s husband, who was at work in Greenwood.

He told deputies that a knife-wielding man was attempting to enter his home in the Gravel Hill area of the county while his wife and three children were hiding in a closet.

When the bad guy, still with the knife, opened the closet, the wife shot him in the arm. At that point he decided to leave.

Other deputies responding to the scene found a vehicle matching the description given by the husband.

A press release says they attempted a felony traffic stop in the parking lot of Acy’s Store. However, Goss ran into the business.

Cops arrested him, took him for treatment for the gunshot wound, and then booked him into the county lockup.

He was then booked into Carroll Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility on four counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Goss was already out on felony bond for possession of a weapon by a felon, a press release says.

So maybe we can chalk this up to bail reform as well.

Self-defense is a human-right, and Mississippi has not morphed into New Jersey. Click thru for a statement from the Sheriff. (Hat tip to Concealed Nation.)

FBI Doesn't Believe that It Has to Follow the Law

From PJ Media - FBI Defies Legal Ruling, Refuses to Hand Over Seth Rich Laptop

Remember Seth Rich, the DNC staffer who perished under highly questionable circumstances several years ago, whom many have speculated may have been the Wikileaks source for the DNC email hack of 2016?

So a DNC leaker who was shot twice in the back. I was shocked then, but I'm not now.

Apparently, in the state of anarcho-tyranny that we find ourselves in, the FBI can lie to the American people, defy duly appointed judges’ orders, and generally run amok with impunity. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Meanwhile, lying to the FBI as a lowly citizen is a criminal offense punishable by prison.

The have Seth Rich's laptop, and some other records, but they don't believe that they are subject to FOIA requests, even though a judge has ordered them to be turned over. I am also not shocked about this.

At this point I think we can say that the FBI is little more than the not-so-secret police of the Democratic party.

Living in a democratic republic was nice while it lasted.

Clouds That Never Rain

Pattern-Seeking Animals is another band that is new-to-me served up by the algorithm of the Tidal music streaming service. I found them by way of their Progressive Now: Best New Prog Rock playlist. I have to say that the curated playlists, or the ones created via their algorithm, are much superior to some of the other streaming services.

This is "Clouds That Never Rain" by Pattern-Seeking Animals from their October, 2023 album Spooky Action at a Distance.

Ratted Out By Their Own Flesh and Blood

From The Other McCain we get a story from Philadelphia. ‘Don’t Ever Take Sides With Anyone Against the Family Again. Ever.’

For once it doesn't focus on the violent crime running rampant in that city.

A brilliant scam, ruined because their own flesh and blood betrayed them to the feds! What part of omerta do I have to explain to these kids?

A Scene Comparison - Echo versus Atomic Blonde

Or, why Girl Bosses are incredibly boring.

The Message doesn't replace good story telling. Hollywood has forgotten that. Just like they forgot that special effects don't replace story telling. A lesson they learned in the 1990s, and then forgot in after 2015.

Failure is not an option for a Mary Sue.

Characters that can never fail, face no crisis. There are no stakes, when nothing is at stake. Plot armor is not a substitute for plot. Mary Sue is a boring character. And all of them are dying at the box office.

This is the Jedi Brooks video Why Disney Cant Write WOMEN - A Scene Comparison

Friday Links - 26 January

Chicago Contrarian starts us off with CTU’s Warpath to Eliminate All Choices for Chicago Families

Failing to educate kids is morally bankrupt enough, but the latest CPS Inspector General report should make all Chicagoans outraged.

Forgotten Weapons brings us a history lesson from the 1990s. Vila Velabita: Croatian Submachine Gun Made in a Shed

At the beginning of Croatia's Homeland War, a severe need for small arms led to a whole plethora of simple submachine gun designs. Some were made in proper factories with professional tooling, and some were made by a couple blokes in a shed - and the Vila Velabita we are looking at today definitely falls into the "blokes in a shed" category.

The Other McCain - The New Hype-Shire Primary

OK, that was unfair. Nobody hates syphilis as much as voters hate Joe Biden. Joe’s approval ratings are a toxic dumpster fire, and yet there are people who think Biden could somehow beat Trump in a rematch. Why do they think that? Maybe they’re watching CNN.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 24 January 2023: Could We Not Edition

Google Chrome is to gain AI features including a writing helper, a theme creator, a tab organiser, a baby shower planner, and that one annoying relative who simply can't take a hint. (Tech Crunch)

Professor David Yamane and his Light Over Heat YouTube channel - Opportunities to Engage with Two Recent Books On Guns - Yes, One is Mine!

One is joining a Virtual Book Club I am organizing on Andrew McKevitt’s book, GUN COUNTRY: GUN CAPITALISM, CULTURE & CONTROL IN COLD WAR AMERICA. The 12 active slots are already taken, but you can still sign up to view the discussion. Registration is required and full details are available on the Google Form linked below.

Professor David Yamane at Gun Culture 2.0 - Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground (Still) Do Not Allow You To Murder People

At the time, I wrote an opinion for The Hill in which I argued that “Stand Your Ground laws do not allow you to ‘shoot first and ask questions later.’” (I also noted that the cases of Kaylin Gillis and Ralph Yarl do not even fall under “stand your ground” since they did not take place in public spaces.)

Mike Rowe - Scarcity Brain with Michael Easter

I’ve always thought there must be something more than boredom or greed or laziness, to attract so many to sit like zombies before these electronic temptations for hours on end. And sure enough, there is. A lot more.

Red State - OUTRAGE: NYU Professor Preaches Oct 7th Atrocity Denial to Students

Amin Husain is a "Palestinian-American" activist whose stock in trade is badmouthing America and Israel. He also was, until recently, an adjunct professor at New York University (NYU.) In his latest outrage, he appeared on video denying the Hama-inflicted atrocities in Israel on Oct 7th, 2023.

Self-defense Is Legal in Oregon

It can be hard to be sure in a Blue State. Shady Cove homeowner 'justified' in shooting burglar, new report says | CrimeWatch | KDRV

The guy who got shot broke into the home. This put him in violation of a court order. A temporary order had been obtained in September of last year, and it was made permanent in October of last year. The shooting was the 21st of November.

"Mr. Blough reported that he heard glass breaking, he saw the glass by the front door was shattered so he obtained his handgun before going to see what was happening," the release said. "Mr. Blough confronted Mr. Wilson who was inside the kitchen of the residence. Mr. Blough said Mr. Wilson said something to the effect of 'you better do it or you better pull the trigger' and then Mr. Wilson charged toward him."

He fired until Wilson fell to the floor. He had been shot 8 times.

There are more details, including about what lead to the imposition of a court order, the drugs found in his system by the autopsy's drug screen, and more.

Taking from the end of November until the end of January to make such a determination, isn't bad considering that getting bureaucracies to do anything over the holidays is next to impossible. There is no mention of a grand jury, so I have to assume that the DA made this determination. Given the rural nature of Shady Cove, this is not too surprising an outcome.

Shady Cove, Oregon is about 40 miles north of the California state line. It is about 100 miles south of Eugene, or 150 miles from Eugene by car.

Self-defense is a human-right, and even in a blue state it may be your legal right.

Social Justice Warriors Want to Destroy Engineering

I would say "scam artists" not scholars. Scholars call for ‘social justice’ in civil engineering courses

Civil engineering courses should not just focus on how to construct sewers, build roads, or design bridges — they should also include “social justice” and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice,” according to a recent academic paper.

Click thru for all the BS, and some rebuttal.

Hat tip Irons in the Fire: Something tells me the 'scholars' are either full of crap, or.

somehow plan to make a buttload of money on this bullshit. Probably both.

The FBI and FinCEN versus Your Constitutional Rights

How dare you disagree with the people in Washington DC! Feds, Banks Colluded to Snoop on Religious, Armed Americans

FinCEN is a branch of the Treasury Department that tries to stop money laundering. Or that is what they are supposed to do. They must have the drug trade stopped dead cold, because they are focusing on people with opinions they don't like.

This is not a new story, but there are new details. New to me at least. And this is certainly a complete summary of the targeting of Americans who dare to purchase "religious texts," support Donald Trump in his reelection bid, or exercise their 2nd Amendment rights. Do any of those things, and FinCEN considers you a violent extremist.

The U.S. Supreme Court also was labeled “extremist” by the Biden administration’s congressional allies after its June 2022 decision to overturn its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade and return abortion policy to the hands of the people’s elected representatives. By this standard, any book or media that affirms the innate value of every human life would be classified as extreme—and that includes the Bible.

“If you’re looking for someone who bought religious text, or [something that] is related in some way to a ‘MAGA Republican’ or ‘Trump,’ is that not profiling?” asked Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Oh and if you disagreed with their Leftist leaning and owned guns, you were probably/definitely/maybe a terrorist. They couldn't seem to decide. In any event it meant you shouldn't have anything resembling privacy. Search Warrants? Probable Cause? Don't make me laugh! They're the FBI! They don't' need no stinkin' search warrants!

There is more, including some details from the 17th. Click thru.

The Culture War Sinks to New Lows

Twitchy - Amazon Prime's 'Hazbin Hotel' Makes Satan the Victim and Protagonist

And people say that Hollywood being a den of iniquity, run by a bevy of Satanists, is a conspiracy theory.

We get it. People like to be edgy and hate Christianity. Fine, they will learn that lesson someday and it will not be pretty but even the most depraved among us would not try to paint SATAN AS A PROTAGONIST and not just the good guy but a victim as well.

I have read, Paradise Lost, but that was not aimed at kids. It was also assumed that would not really be your introduction to the story of Lucifer being cast out of Heaven. But civilization has fallen a long way since Milton wrote his epic poem. And so we have Amazon, and the Satanists, and the kids' program.

Happy Anniversary to HeyJackass!

HeyJackass! is the only site with trustworthy statistics about crime in Chicago. There are a few reasons for that. 11 Years of Chicago Values

On January 25th, 2013, we launched a questionably named site with the simple idea of illustrating “Chicago values”. To this day, we still have no idea what Chicago values are or what they are supposed to represent. No matter its representation or meaning, it made for a fantastic tagline.

In the past 11 years, we’ve recorded over 7,000 homicides, over 30,000 shot and wounded, hundreds of “death investigations”, thousands of carjackings, and over a billion dollars in CPD overtime all of which have resulted in nearly a million manually entered, stupidity-related data points.

There is more, plus a link to the Substack with even more, including the "Chicago Values" origin.

Back in 2012, Rahm [Emanuel] was only in the second year of his eight-year run and decided to get involved in a local zoning matter regarding well-known beef-o-phobes, Chick-fil-A. During the controversy in which the alderman didn’t like CFA’s CEO’s politics, Rahm declared the now-immortalized Chicago values line:

“Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago values. And if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.”

    - 9.5, July 25th, 2012

No one has defined what those values are, but lots of people die there every year due to lack of certain values.

First She Shot Him, Then He Was Charged

Why is it that people try to hurt their partners? South Carolina: Woman shoots boyfriend in self-defense

Investigators said Sanders and his girlfriend got into a fight and the woman shot Sanders in self-defense.

Sanders left the scene, after damaging the home, and was later found nearby, where he was arrested.

He was taken to a local hospital for his injuries. He was then charged. Charges include Domestic Violence.

I would say that he should learn how to chill.

Self-defense is a human-right.

UK Bows to China on Free Speech

In that place where Great Britain used to be...

It is a bit surprising, though not completely unexpected. Piano donated by Elton John 'guarded by security' after China tourists harass UK musician

A couple of days ago, British YouTuber Brendan Kavanagh was making a video/live-streaming playing the piano in St Pancras station. That piano was donated to the station by Sir Elton John specifically for the public to make music. While playing the piano, Kavanagh was approached by a group from China who DEMANDED that he stop filming. Police were eventually called. The entire video can be found at this link, though I have it mostly queued up to the appropriate part.

It has today emerged the instrument donated to the station by British music royalty has been cordoned off with pictures obtained exclusively by Express.co.uk showing it being guarded by security. A spokesperson for St Pancras station said the piano had been taped off "due to maintenance work taking place on the lift".

But speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk Mr Kavanagh said he was worried access had been restricted because of his row with the tourists from China.

The Express has reached out to Elton John's PR team to get a response.

The bureaucrats are saying that no, they haven't fenced off the piano for political reasons, it is because of work being done on an escalator. If that were true they would have moved the piano to a safe place until the work was completed.

The a bunch of Chinese tourists, waving communist flags, get to dictate free speech to the people of the United Kingdom. Is anyone really surprised?

Dominion Voting Machine Hacked Using Only a Pen

Jim Hoft at The Gateway Pundit - BREAKING: Professor and Election Expert J. Halderman Hacks into Dominion Voting Machine in Court on Friday in Georgia in front of Judge Totenberg USING ONLY A PEN TO CHANGE VOTE TOTALS

Who exactly thinks voting machines are a good idea? Oh, yeah, the Swamp, that's who.

Update: After speaking with election integrity expert Garland Favorito we discovered the courtroom display was much more serious than we originally reported. J. Alex Halderman demonstrated in court how Dominion machines are hacked and their tabulations were altered.

Just go read the whole thing. It isn't very long.

Wednesday Link Roundup - 24 January

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

9. Powerline covers importing drunks and murderers
10. Sultan Knish discusses Biden’s Taiwan betrayal

EBL - MAGA DeSantis: Suspends Campaign Endorses Trump ☀️

Instapundit: PJ Media: DeSantis ends campaign endorses Trump
RedState: DeSantis Out and Biden Sucks

Political Hat - News of the Week (January 21st, 2024)

The Democrats’ 2024 Plan Is Still Working to Perfection
Don’t be distracted by Biden’s weakness; Trump is still the candidate he wants to run against.

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 4: Ward Clark reported, “Federal Government to Spend $700,000 Reminding Girls Who Identify as Boys That They Can Still Get Pregnant.”
Its slogan should be, “You’re Still A Girl, Sir.”

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 21 January 2024: Pal Is As Pal Does Edition

The same pathetic losers who tried to organise a boycott against the Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy are at it again with Palworld. (GGRecon)
With similar results.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam in the Wake of DeSantis' Departure

At Ace, An NGO to Fly Illegal Aliens Into America Is Founded By Former "American" Presidents Clinton, Obama, and George W. Bush "Fuck the Uniparty." Kaelan Deese at WaEx, Supreme Court allows Biden administration to cut Texas border wire.

Vlad Tepes - Tucker, Trump, WEF wants your coffee and more: Links 1 for January 23rd, 2024

2. WEF wants a penalty for the carbon created when growing coffee. There is no credit for the oxygen they make or the CO2 they absorb for some reason. Anyone who still falls for this stuff is learning disabled.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 1/22/2024

Exclusive — Burgum: Biden’s Energy Policies Are ‘Destabilizing the Grid’
Gov. Doug Burgum sees Biden’s energy policies as “destabilizing the grid,” “raising the costs,” and benefiting foreign adversaries.

Small Dead Animals - Tuesday On Turtle Island

The re-education of Jordan Peterson. Justin’s CBC is excited about a new Islamophobia app. A Liberal/NDP coalition cover up. Canada is being demographically transformed.
Dementia Joe’s America: Three former presidents work together to bring in illegal aliens.

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkage

The Air Vent - Electric Vehicles are Not About Efficiency
Watts Up With That? - A Federal Power Grid Would be Everyone’s Worst Nightmare

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

My intrepid Mercatus Center colleague, Veronique de Rugy, continues her valiant crusade against the U.S. government’s addiction to indebtedness.

Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links

Infamous ‘Zuckbucks’ Group Tries To Election-Meddle Again — This Time With Federal Tax Dollars
Heritage Foundation President Dishes Truth to Davos Elites

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 1/23/24

"I've been pushing for fundamental change on the border for a long time — a long time."
Biden Says There is No Crisis at the Border

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: 2024—America’s Year of Living Dangerously

• Islamic Terrorists Create Famines to Profit From Foreign Aid - Daniel Greenfield
• Another Desperate Move to Rig the Democrat Primary Is Now Under Investigation - RS

I leave you with Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Meme+ Dump... Stay Defiant... from The Feral Irishman, Sunday Funnies For 01-21-24 from Stately McDaniel Manor, and Tuesday's gifs from Wirecutter.

Concealed Carry in Chicago Is Catching On

And most of us could stand to spend more time at the range. Concealed carry holder shoots at armed robber at taco stand: Chicago police - CWB Chicago

The robber was not hit by any bullets.

The well-known troublemaker pulled a gun on the staff at Taco Burrito King, 5413 West Belmont, around 9:35 p.m. and demanded cash from the register. Things went smoothly at first, with the cashier handing over money as instructed.

But then a “male victim” inside the restaurant who is a licensed concealed carry holder confronted the teen, Chicago police said in a media statement. The man pulled out his firearm and started shooting.

It was originally reported that the would-be bad-guy suffered an injury to his arm, but if so, it was from flying glass and not a bullet.

He ran for the exit, jumped in a black SUV, and sped away. But he didn’t get far. Police say he quickly crashed and then fled on foot. Cops caught him and recovered a firearm from inside his Honda CRV.

He will not spend much, or any, time in jail, because that would be unfair. Or something.

But at least concealed carry is becoming more of a thing in Chicago.

The Collapse of the Downtown Office Model

One thing COVID did was prove that a lot of people don't need to work in the same location, to work together. Zoom, and the competing products have made remote work a possibility for a lot of people. That is destroying the market for the downtown office building. Rampant crime and homelessness isn't helping, either. Downtown Chicago Office Building Heads to Auction, $1M Opening Bid

The building highlighted in the article is at 216 West Jackson Boulevard. For those of you not familiar with Chicago, that is pretty much in the heart of The Loop. It is about half a block from Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, and a few blocks from the Federal Courthouse. It would be a long walk to City Hall in this weather, but not too bad in the spring or early summer.

The vintage 10-story office building at 216 West Jackson Boulevard will be up for grabs starting Feb. 20, with an opening bid of $1 million, Crain’s reported. Farbman Group brokers Bill Bubniak and Todd Szymczak are marketing the property, and Ten-X will handle the auction.

The opening bid equates to a little over $5 per square foot.

The building sold in 2013 for $120 per square foot, or just north of $22 million.

The hat tip goes to Second City Cop: The Quiet Collapse. SCC highlights a couple of other articles, but they are behind a paywall at Crain's Chicago Business. They are about other properties downtown, with similar declines in value.

Sure looks like downtown is hurting what with the looting, continually boarded up building fronts, restaurants going out of business and retail shops fleeing.

While SCC is focused on Chicago, this is not a Chicago only phenomenon. Batten down the hatches, a financial hurricane is on the way. (This is also via the SCC post.)

In the US, vast swathes of office space are empty. The landlords have some brutal decisions to make as $117billion is due in financial payments this year for commercial property. If the landlords cannot re-negotiate their loans, they go bankrupt, dumping property on the banks, which in turn will have to face their loan portfolios going delinquent. Which could of course cause them bankruptcy.

The article linked at the top, Second City Cop's posting, and the article above, from The Conservative Woman, are all worth a look. They won't make you happy.

Classical Gas

"Classical Gas" is a song originally by Mason Williams. First recorded in 1968, he recorded it numerous times, including one time with the group Mannheim Steamroller. The version with which I am most familiar was recorded by Hugo Montenegro and his orchestra in 1970.

The version we have to is by Australian Tommy Emmanuel. Since most people don't know who he is, I will only say that he is a wonderful acoustic guitar player. Chet Atkins called his playing "fearless," and Chet would know, being a great guitar player himself.

This song is "Classical Gas" as performed by Tommy Emmanuel. I'm not sure when this was recorded, but it was uploaded to YouTube in 2011. Tommy Emmanuel has included this song in his live performances for a long time.

There is an interview with Rick Beato in which Tommy Emmanuel explains how to take a song like "Classical Gas," which has been recorded and interpreted many times, and make it your own.

Tuesday Links - 23 January

Tam at View from the Porch starts us off with a cautionary look at predictions for the future from April, 2001. Be Wary of Predictions...

If a butterfly flaps its wings just a bit harder or softer, the downstream effects are nigh unpredictable.

Dana Pico at First Street Journal - Homeless People Are Dangerous

Really, don’t you have to be a bit nuts to pull out a knife and start stabbing someone else?

The Truth About Guns - What Does a Gender Studies Degree From the University of IL Get You? Probation After Being Held At Gunpoint by CCW Holder During Hot Burglary

Meet Tyler Hamlin. He graduated from the University of Illinois (my alma mater) with a Gender Studies degree. Where has that degree taken him? Well, the homeless (first clue) and unemployed (clue #2) Tyler Hamlin, 31, was confronted by a CCW homeowner while burglarizing the guy’s garage in Chicago a while back.

The Other McCain - Democrats: ‘Our Voters Are Too Stupid to Understand How Awesome Joe Biden Is’

If I were to accuse black people of being this stupid, it would be racist. But it’s not me that’s saying this, it’s Democrats saying it.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 20 January 2024: World Of Pals Edition

Palworld, an independent game that can be best described as Pokemon with guns allowed a handful of vtubers a preview the past few days.

Seems to have paid off because they sold a million copies in eight hours and reached half a million concurrent players in the first 24 hours - and it's still in pre-release. (Kotaku)

In case you're wondering, yes, those sheep have Browning M2s.

Again from The Other McCain - No More Statues of White Men?

Wait a minute — in order to renovate a park in downtown Philadelphia, the feds are required by law to consult tribes that live in Oklahoma? What the actual fuck is going on here? Personally, I have no grievance with the Shawnees, but can somebody explain to me why they should be given a de facto veto over these park plans?

Tom Knighton at Bearing Arms - Anti-Gunners Freaking Out Over NRA Essay Contest

Everything raises alarms for gun control advocates. They’re the most easily alarmed people on the planet, particularly if the NRA does literally anything.

It’s funny, too, because they routinely bemoan the NRA stepping away from its supposed roots in educating people and engaging in lobbying efforts, but when they do education, they freak out even more.

Meep at Stump - Academia - Credentialism vs. Education

I talk about the distinction between education and credentials, and my preference for separating the two.

The Other McCain again - Democratic Socialists of America Now Planning Layoffs Amid Financial ‘Crisis’

What? You’re telling me that socialists are not good at managing finances and budgets? I’m shocked — shocked! — by this revelation.

Don't Bring a Chainsaw to a Gunfight

Strangely enough, that is not the first time I've used that title for a post about self-defense. Beale Street homeowner shoots, kills man wielding chainsaw, court docs say

Through investigation with witnesses, including neighbors, it was established that the homeowner and his wife were getting ready to enter their house when they received an alarm from their security system.

Court documents say that the homeowner asked his wife to remain in their car when he approached the rear gate of their property. That’s when Davis is said to have moved toward the homeowner while holding a chainsaw above his shoulders. The homeowner advised that when Davis approached him, he feared he would be seriously injured or die.

The homeowner shot chainsaw-guy one time. He died at a local hospital.

The St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office says that because it cannot disprove that the shooting of Mr. Davis constituted as a justifiable homicide, no such criminal charges will be filed in connection to his death.

St. Joesph County, Indiana is in the northern part of the state, on the Michigan state line. It is home to South Bend, and the University of Notre Dame. I've had a couple of posts on self-defense in that county, and the wording from the Prosecutor' office is always the same. I always think it sounds like, "We can't win in court, as much as we would like to make self-defense illegal." Maybe I am reading too much into the statment. (Hat tip to The Blaze.)