Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 31 August

The Right Way starts things off with Top of the News

Israel-TELEGRAM-Durov - Theo Spark
Trump Should License This Oasis Song: Build The Wonderwall ️ - Evi. L Bloggerlady

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News

That’s the point – we don’t know.
Not happy, to say the least.
Let them eat cake!

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 08.28.24

CDR Salamander: The Red Sea Calculus Needs Tweaking
Chicago Boyz: Interior View

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 29 August 2024: Well I'll Be Edition

Second order effects of the replication crisis. (Nature)
In which researchers search for the papers that cite papers that have been retracted.
Recursively.

Theo Spark - Stuff going on.............aka News

“Germany is No Longer a Safe Country”
Kamala’s VP Pick Tim Walz Has Put a Ban on Christian Teachers in Minnesota

EBL - Kamala Chameleon 🦎

Instapundit: Kamala Chameleon flip flops on EV mandates
She will flip flop right to the election. If she wins, you will lose...a lot.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 08.30.24 (Afternoon Edition)

CDR Salamander: Diversity Thursday
Don Surber: DC suburbs now allow MAGA

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

Blackie’s Canada: They have found another fake genocide. Indians for Hamas. Ottawa’s Chickens for KFC. Our investment in Kenya.
Comrade Kamala’s America: The truth about the Democrats.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Kamala to Speak, with "Dad" Present to Keep Her Out of Trouble

Michael Shellenberger at substack, "Kamala Harris was not a DEI hire, was not the border czar, and supports fracking, say the media. But Biden had promised a black woman VP, the media called Harris "border czar," and she opposed fracking until a few days ago. ..."

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 8/28/2024

Free Speech Stakes: Bitchute Wagers $10K on No Shadow Bans
BitChute, a champion of free speech, has launched a pioneering initiative: a $10,000 no-shadow-banning guarantee, underscoring their commitment to not suppressing voices.

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 08.30.24 (Evening Edition)

Shark Tank: Third Circuit Shrinks Social Media Companies’ Legal Protections
Shot In The Dark: The DFL Dictionary – A New Entry

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For August 30, 2024

What’s Kamala Harris’ greatest accomplishment?” Harris voters: “Uhhhh….”
A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s lawsuit against leftwing pressure group Media Matters can go forward.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Emeritus University of Missouri at St. Louis economist David Rose is correct: America’s “entitlement collapse is worse than it looks.”
MIT Econ alum Arnold Kling offers what is, maybe, the MIT Economics canon.

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 8/28/24

An unpleasant and taboo truth comes out:
Arab-Americans Denounce Black Americans For Supporting Kamala

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

Spokesman Says Walz’s Lies Make Him Authentic
Why Democrats’ convention set them up to lose in November

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Kamala Harris's top economic adviser is a Communist, with expertise in seizing private assets

• Globalism: The UN "Summit of the Future" Robert W Malone
• This Report Exposes Influential DEI Author as a Plagiarist and a Fraud Jarrett Stepman

I leave you with Wednesday Memes .. from MaddMedic, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1977 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Wednesday's gifs from Wirecutter.

Another Failure of the Victim-Selection Process

Also, you should not break into homes, because eventually you will find an armed homeowner. Intruder shot in Pittston, police say

State police received a 911 call ... at 8:46 p.m., according to a news release.

“The homeowner reported his door was kicked in, and he had shot the intruder,” police stated in the release.

Pittston, Maine, is about 40 or 45 miles northeast of Portland.

The guy who got shot was taken to a hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds, and is expected to survive.

Self-defense is a human right. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

Zero Emissions Vehicle? Not Hardly

From Granite Grok - More Energy Transition Emissions

Rivian is an electric truck manufacturer. A bunch of their inventory caught fire.

EV Truck maker Rivian offers another cautionary tale. A bunch of units sitting on the lot outside their manufacturing facility demonstrate the thermal runaway potential of Lithium vehicle packs. Rivian was already struggling, so feel free to wonder whether this is an itty-bitty insurance fire.

This took place in Normal, Illinois, which is 115 miles southwest of Chicago, or about 130 miles from Chicago by car.

Never attribute to malice what can be explained by other means. Lithium ion batteries catch fire, and when they do, they are hard to extinguish. They also produce extraordinarily toxic fumes.

You can find video of the fire at this X post.

The King Will Come

This past weekend Miguel Gonzalez had a post, Sunday Repose, that reminded me of a band I have not thought about much in the past couple of decades. Wishbone Ash.

The song he included was from the German TV show (don't worry Wishbone Ash is British) Rockpalast. That is "Rock Palace" in English. It started in 1972, and is still going today. Through the mid-1980s they would occasionally run a "Rocknacht" or "Rock Night" that went all through the night. Everyone from The Afghan Whigs to ZZ Top have been on Rockpalast. I'm glad to know about it. I will have to search out more videos. But for today, I am shamelessly stealing this song from Miguel.

This is "The King Will Come (Live At Rockpalast 1976)" by Wishbone Ash from their 1972 album Argus. The version we have today was recorded live for Rockpalast on August 30th, 1972, shortly before the release of their album New England.

Friday Links - 30 August

The Other McCain is first with Do Taxpayers in Madison, Wisconsin, Want Schools to Celebrate a Killer?

How did this convicted killer gain heroic status? It can be traced to a 2015 article in The Advocate with the headline, “This Black Trans Man Is in Prison for Killing His Rapist,” which assumes as its core truth a controversial claim about a man who, of course, is not able to tell his side of the story — because Ky Peterson killed him. The article dramatizes Peterson’s version of what happened, even while it discloses (way down in the story, if you read carefully) some inconvenient facts about the case.

American Thinker - Evidence Mounts for Kamala Role in J6 Plot

For a criminal defense attorney, the scariest moment in any trial is when his client unwittingly opens the door to otherwise inadmissible evidence.

On Thursday, during her acceptance speech, Vice-President Kamala Harris opened that door.

Diogenes' Middle Finger - America’s Nuclear Deterrent Must Be Queered!!

Is Ms. Nair an improvement over the last brilliant nuclear official from the administration—the transvestite and kleptomaniac—whose specialty was stealing luggage with women’s designer clothes and then wearing the stolen merchandise in social media posts or at parties with his transvestite friends? Well, she’s arguably worse, if that’s possible. Where do they get these freaks???

The Gateway Pundit - Kamala’s Border Failure Strikes Again! — New Terrifying Video Shows ARMED Venezuelan Migrant Gangsters Taking Over Another Apartment Complex in Aurora, Colorado

The ongoing crisis at the U.S. southern border, exacerbated by border czar Kamala Harris’s failed leadership, has reached alarming new heights.

Flopping Aces - Chris Murphy says that victims of illegal alien rape and murder are a bullsh*t narrative

These people are dead because democrats don’t care. These people are dead because of democrat policies. The pain of their families is all too real.

Chris Murphy is a despicable and vile human being.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 28 August 2024: Stawbey Edition

Why AI can't spell "strawberry". (Tech Crunch)

I've said before that currently popular AI models - which is to say, Large Language Models or LLMs - don't understand anything at all except language. They're language models. That's what they do, and it's all they do.

Except that's not quite true, because they don't understand language in any real way either.

First Street Journal - IDF Discovers Bomb Making Lab In West Bank Mosque

The Israel haters always seem to slur Israel for raiding mosques, for attacking, them, for blowing them up, but, the Israel haters keep forgetting about there being an actual reason for when it happens

Again from The Other McCain - Why Would Kamala Harris Lie About Working at McDonald’s Circa 1983?

Whether she did or didn’t work at McDonald’s, this claim would help her seem as if she could relate to the plight of workers. But why not mention it in any of her previous campaigns, for California attorney general or U.S. Senate? Why wait until 2019?

Cop Shoots Unarmed Man, Has K-9 Attack Innocent Homeowner

Why? Because police often don't think the rules apply to them. ‘Please, God, Help!’: South Carolina Cop Fatally Shot Suspect He Chased Into House 5 Times, Ordered K-9 to Maul Innocent Homeowner, Faces Up to 50 Years In Prison

Former deputy Treyvon Jonathan Sellers faces charges of Voluntary Manslaughter, and "assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature." The Voluntary Manslaughter brings penalties of up to 30 years in prison, while the assault charge carries a maximum of 20 years. While the headline is factually correct, I doubt a judge would sentence him to consecutive sentences, though it does happen.

William Dwayne Rankin crashed his car into a tree and fled into a house.

Sellers exited his squad car and entered the home through the back door with his police dog, which was off-leash, and then failed to announce himself, state agents said.

He then ordered the K9 to attack without identifying who was inside. The dog attacked the homeowner, Johnny Cooper, who had nothing to do with the chase, authorities said.

Sellers shot Rakin multiple times. Rakin had been unarmed, and he had been sitting on a couch. Deputy Sellers let the K-9 maul Mr. Cooper for 87 seconds. Mr. Cooper suffered permanent damage to his left arm and shoulder as a result the attack. That forms the basis for the assault charge.

It took Sellers 7 minutes to call for medical help.

If there is a single thing that this guy got right, I can't think of it. You can click thru for the statement from the Sheriff, but I will leave you with this one statement from the investigation.

Sellers and the K-9 arrive at the backdoor of a mobile home, which Sellers opens and allows the dog to run inside the residence “with reckless disregard for the substantial and unjustifiable risk of great bodily injury to another person,” the state Law Enforcement Division stated in its report.

While on leave over this incident Deputy Sellers was arrested on an unrelated domestic violence incident, at which point he was fired.

Florence County, South Carolina, is about 95 miles southeast of Charlotte. Florence County, S.C. Sheriff TJ Joye seems to be taking the right actions, and saying the right things, but this doesn't look good for his department.

Is It Fair to Release Predators from Jail?

This guy had a life sentence, because he did bad things. Now the California government wants to release him because it isn't fair. Or something. From OANN - Pedophile Sentenced To 350 Years For Abducting And Molesting 5-Year-Old Girl May Be Freed Due To Woke Calif. Law

Charles William Mix was expected to die in prison behind bars for kidnapping his roommate’s daughter and smuggling her over state lines into Utah in 2003, KABC reported. ...

Mix could be freed under California’s progressive Elderly Parole program, which protects elderly convicts, even those responsible for such heinous crimes.

His victim is still traumatized. Her family is now being dragged back into it to try and keep this monster in jail. Click thru for the details.

When did holding people accountable for their crimes become a bad thing?

Professor Yamane's Virtual Book Club to Discuss "Why It's OK to Own a Gun"

Professor David Yamane is a sociologist who studies gun culture in America. He is fairly unique in that he is a college professor who does not hate guns or gun owners.

He is participating in an online book club this fall. Join Our Virtual Book Club on “Why It’s OK to Own a Gun” by Ryan Davis

It started this past spring, with 2 books on guns and gun ownership.

Things went so well that we decided to keep the ball rolling this fall. I’m pleased to announce that we will be reading a different sort of book than the first two: Why It’s OK to Own a Gun by Ryan W. Davis, a political science professor at Brigham Young University.

Chapters 1 through 4 will be covered on 11 September, chapters 5 through the conclusion of the book will be covered 25 September, and questions and answers with the author of the book will be on 9 October. Times are 6:00 to 7:00 PM Easter time.

This is Professor David Yamane's video from his Light Over Heat channel: Join Our Virtual Book Club on "Why It's OK to Own a Gun" by Ryan Davis (Light Over Heat #112). It is a 5 minute video in which he describes the virtual book club, and how, and to what extent, you can participate, with the appropriate links provided in the video description.

The End of Free Speech in France

Free speech. Freedom from government intrusion in your life, and the freedom to think thoughts that are not government approved. Pixy Misa has an important story out of France. Daily News Stuff 25 August 2024: Pour Encourager Les Autres Edition

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, has been arrested in Paris on charges of... Fuck charges, he's a libertarian and this is France. (Ars Technica)

Durov founded Russian social network VKontake before resigning because... We don't know exactly, but allegedly because the Russian government had assumed de facto control of the company, wanted him gone, and wasn't too fussy about how he left.

The reason? The French government is upset that Telegram makes it possible to communicate ideas not approved by the government. How do you spell "Fascism?"

If you need to read the Ars Technica article, you can find it at the following link. Shocker: French make surprise arrest of Telegram founder at Paris airport

Right wing and crypto influencers are likewise angry over the arrest, writing things like, "This is a serious attack on freedom. Today, they target an app that promotes liberty tomorrow, they will go after DeFi. If you claim to support crypto, you must show your support #FreeDurov it's time for digital resistance."

Freedom is under attack everywhere.

Sweet Baby Inc. Defender, Alyssa Mercante, Goes After Kiwi Farms

From Smash JT - Alyssa Mercante Sent Her Cease-and-Desist Letter...

Mercante is a senior editor for gaming journalism site Kotaku. As such she penned at least one defense of Sweet Baby Inc., the DEI game-development consulting firm that is principlly credited with the game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League being such a disaster.

But on to Smash JT and Kiwi Farms.

In attacking Kiwi Farms, Mercante's chosen a battle she simply cannot win. The platform has a long history of weathering legal threats, and this poorly constructed cease-and-desist letter isn't to change that. If anything, it’s going to invite even more ridicule and antagonization from the very people she’s trying to silence. Although knowing her - that's exactly the intent in all this. She's thrown gasoline on the ongoing dumpster fire.

Or you can watch the video. Alyssa Mercante sent a cease & desist letter… It is 17 minutes.

Justice for Roger Fortson? I Doubt It

This was one of the most screwed up things a cop has done in a while. And that is saying something. Authorities arrest ex-sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Black airman Roger Fortson at his home

The ex-deputy was sent to Fortson’s Fort Walton Beach apartment for a domestic disturbance report that was bogus.

After repeated knocking, Fortson opened the door while holding his handgun at his side, pointed down. Authorities say that Duran shot him multiple times; only then did he tell Fortson to drop the gun.

Fort Walton Beach, Florida is in the panhandle, roughly a 45 mile drive east of Pensacola. It is directly adjacent to Hurlburt Field, where Fortson was stationed.

So will this result in Justice? I doubt it. And who was it that sent cops to this guy's apartment in the first place, for a domestic violence call that was FALSE? Those people will never be held accountable for anything. (He's the black guy, the cops must be here for him.)

The sad truth is that the ex-deputy had a couple of documented incidents of not following the rules. That didn't stop him from being on the force. Here is one example:

Okaloosa personnel records show he was reprimanded in 2021 for not completing his assignment to confirm the addresses of three registered sex offenders by visiting their homes, telling a colleague he didn’t care about them.

It is only the law. That doesn't apply to cops. Or something.

And why didn't he care about some of the most heinous predators in his community? It couldn't be because he wasn't going to be allowed to shoot them while just verifying their addresses. Could it?

I honestly don't expect much to come of this, though things are changing with regard to cops who screw up this badly.

We Do a Fair Job With Infrastructure When We Don't Ignore It

The problem is, we ignore it. Building a bridge or a dam is often a big deal. Politicians talk about how great this project will make things. But maintenance is not so exciting, and we tend to ignore the fact that every bit of infrastructure we build will eventually need to be rebuilt, replaced, or demolished. We could, if we were smart, start saving for that expense the day the bridge/dam/whatever is completed. Politicians are not that smart, and so funds for completely foreseeable expenses are never available. Almost never.

On 19 May 2020, shortly before dark the Edenville Dam in Michigan failed. Shortly after that, the dam downstream from Edenville, the Sanford Dam failed. In the aftermath of the disaster two other dams were determined to be in serious need of repair. Actually, the need for repairs was well known even before the disaster. Suits and counter suits had started before the dams collapsed. The owner of the dams wanted to drain the lakes due to the risk. The state didn't want them to do so because of the impact on the environment. After the disaster more legal action was taken.

The Secord Dam, one of the 4 dams in the system that experienced 2 failures that day, was also in need of serious repair. After the Edenville disaster, the money was suddenly available for repairs to the dams in question. You can find the info on that dam repair at The Secord Dam page of the Four Lakes Taskforce site.

Or you could just watch the video below.

Of course that isn't the end of the story, since a new lawsuit has been filed forcing construction on the dams to be suspended. (Construction in the video will be suspended in October if something doesn't change, leaving 4 dams NOT COMPLETELY up to par. Great. Construction suspended on 4 mid-Michigan dams

The suspension is due to an ongoing legal battle that stopped work on the Edenville Dam back in June.

Now, work on the Smallwood Dam will be suspended in September. Work on the Secord Dam will be suspended in October, and work on the Sanford Dam will be suspended in January.

Homeowners in the area are objecting to the size of the assessments. Several properties, which are not buildable and have a market value of $5000, have each received an assessment of $33,000.

This is Jordan Mowbray's Secord Dam EMERGENCY SPILLWAY complete! Water Re-Directed - Drone - Dam Collapse #construction #dam

At least the engineers seem to have gotten things right.

Amazon's Rings of Prime Show Is Destroying Crown Estate Forest

Environmental impact? They don't have time to worry about environmental impact. They're creating art! You on the other hand should worry about your environmental impact every hour of every day. Locals complain Amazon's Lord of the Rings set is 'damaging' Crown Estate forest - Mirror Online

The Rings of [Prime] blockbuster – starring Morfydd Clark as Orc-slaying Galadriel – is being filmed in the 2,500 acre Swinley Forest in Berkshire.

With a rumoured budget of £800million, the fantasy series is the costliest ever.

But locals fear production is harming the wildlife. Drone pictures show a huge castle built on a muddy clearing.

Click thru for a look at the image of that castle.

The bureaucrats are spinning. They say this area is a commercial pine forest maintained by the Crown and was forested a few years back. It will be replanted after the show is done. If as much heavy equipment has been through that site as it appears, that may not be as simple as it sounds.

The sustainability team attached to the show has a somewhat different take, at least in their internal communications.

A memo from the Rings of Power sustainability team leaked to The Guardian said: “The environmental impact of this industry, and of this show, is enormous.”

I'm sure that the people responsible at Amazon, who is saying nothing, and the production, will be back to telling all of us how we have to reduce our environmental impact as soon as their private jets land.

For some reason this reminded me of a classic moment from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Patreon - Your Whole Life Belongs to Us

Patreon has decided that their terms of service controls everything you do in your whole life, even if it never makes a hint of an appearance on Patreon. Patreon: "We shall punish you for what you do outside our platform."

It seems that Patreon does not allow gun content in its platform, which is fine and you know it when you join, and [@Mrgunsngear] did not violate, but the final reason why he was canceled was because he does provide gun-related content outside Patreon and they can’t have that.

And so there is another platform I can no longer do business with. "Don't give money to people who hate you."

Wednesday Link Roundup

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

4. Moonbattery: Australian Court Abolishes Womanhood
5. Neo-neocon: The Democrats’ 2024 campaign: it’s lies all the way down

DaleyGator at If You are Left you ain't Right - Weekend Linky Love

Diogenes hates me, almost as much as MSNBS hates America
Daniel Greenfield, is just not a fan of Kamala

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 08.26.24

American Conservative: A Double Funeral
American Greatness: Harris, Walz, and a Peculiar Definition of ‘Freedom’

EBL - Diversity Is Out Strength: Solingen, Germany 🕋🔪🤔🫨😲

German mass stabbing suspect is a Syrian refugee who was inspired by ISIS
What Germany did to its own society is so self destructive.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - JFK Jr's Revenge

At Hat Hair, Pollsters Running the Numbers on RFK Jr Endorsement Finding Net Gain for Trump. Rich Baris The People's Pundit@Peoples_Pundit, "Fairly close to what we have and are still finding."

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 27 August 2024: Fine-ish Wine Edition

The FBI's secure data storage facility is just piles of hard drives lying around in a warehouse. (The Register)
Top men.

Vlad Tepes - Are we seeing the death rattle of freedom of speech in the West? Links 1 for August 25, 2024

1. VP Pick for the unelected Democrat presidential candidate for president, Walz explains why there is no free speech in the US where he doesn’t want any

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 08.27.24

Victory Girls: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerbucks and Censorship
Volokh Conspiracy: Participating in Black Lives Matter Protest Isn’t Protected by Federal Labor Law

Political Hat - News of the Week (August 25th, 2024)

Tanker Adrift After Multiple Attacks in Red Sea
A Greek-flagged tanker was adrift in the Red Sea on Wednesday after repeated attacks that started a fire on the vessel

Small Dead Animals - Sunday On Turtle Island

Blackie’s Canada: A judge engaged in residential school denialism? A letter to five Canadian churches.
Comrade Kamala’s America: Paul Joseph Watson – This could change everything.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 8/26/2024

Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on Monday endorsed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump during a National Guard conference in battleground Michigan in which she praised Trump for his foreign policy as president.

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 2: The New York Post reported, “FBI investigates how maggots got into DNC breakfast in Chicago.”
They had press credentials.

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkage

The Air Vent - Chicken Brains
Watts Up With That? - The Energy Transition Ain’t Happening: “Clean Fuels”

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Bryan Riley warns of the huge tax hike that will fall especially heavily on poor Americans, if Sherrod Brown and other protectionists get they way in this

Maggie's Farm - Monday afternoon links

The Strange Paradoxes Of The Cult Of Safety First!
Will we survive the sex war? The era of eros is coming to a close

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 8/27/24

Daniel Greenfield: Come to an elected official and offer his office $625,000 to change a policy and that's bribery.
A Foundation Has Been Bribing Cities to Free Criminals

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: The Left’s Swift Shift After RFK Jr.’s Trump Endorsement

• The Food on Your Table is Literally at Stake Don Wright
• D.C. Swamp-Dwellers Say It Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the Presidency, They’ll Do What They Want Robert Spencer

I leave you with Sunday Funnies For 08-25-24: The Mostly Kamala Edition from Stately McDaniel Manor, Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Your funny for today from Miguel Gonzalez, and Fucking Mondays..... gifdump from Wirecutter.

He Suffered a Breakdown of the Victim Selection Process

If you break into occupied homes, you will eventually find an armed homeowner. Local News: Scott City man dies after attempted home invasion (8/26/24) | Standard Democrat

“The resident was in his home, he heard his backdoor as it was forced open,” [Scott City Police Chief Chris] Griggs said. “He confronted the intruder and was forced to defend himself using a handgun.”

Scott City, Missouri, is about 120 mile drive south of Saint Louis, on the Mississippi. It is part of the area known as Cape Girardeau settled by the French in the 1700s.

The guy who got shot died at a hospital a short time later. Police are treating the shooting as a case of self-defense, but the investigation is not complete.

Self-defense is a human right.

Who Stabs a 4-Year-Old Girl in Her Backyard?

Cops are saying nothing about motives or suspects. Paterson 4-year-old stabbed multiple times, authorities say - CBS New York

Councilmember Luis Velez told CBS News New York's Lori Bordonaro the girl was stabbed in the backyard while her mother was inside the home with another child.

The child was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition.

I miss living in a civilized society.

Sa Ma Ga Pa

I found today's song because I was searching for music by Mohini Dey. She is an Indian bass player I stumbled across on YouTube. While her own music is Fusion. In the US that is a fusion of Rock and Jazz, in India there are apparently a few traditional elements thrown in as well.

Today's song is solidly Jazz, as it is a bit early in the day for fusion. It isn't as jarring as Metal, but I have to be at least on the 3rd cup of coffee.

This is "Sa Ma Ga Pa" by violinist Abhijith PS Nair and guitarist Sandeep Mohan, featuring Mohini Dey on bass and Simon Phillips on drums.

Mohini Dey came to my attention by way of a Rick Beato interview. The video at that link is about 9 minutes.

Sea-Tac Airport and Seattle Port - "Possible" Cyberattack

This was reported on the 25th, and when I first saw something on it, I assumed it had been mitigated. The Port of Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport say they’ve been hit by ‘possible cyberattack’

When I looked again, it turns out that on the afternoon of the 27th, the most anyone is saying is still that the situation is "indicating a possible cyberattack."

They have posted phone numbers, or in the case of recreational boaters, a VHF channel to hail, but no more info.

The Port of Seattle, which also operates the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said it was hit with a “possible cyberattack” that appeared to affect websites and phone systems.

The port first noted the outages via social media on Saturday morning, with the airport then posting that it had “experienced certain system outages indicating a possible cyberattack.”

The Twitter/X account for the Port of Sea-Tac is instructive, because it shows airlines writing out paper boarding passes, and luggage tags. I wonder how much luggage will get lost. (They are recommending carry-on luggage, but that doesn't always work for everyone.)

Forbes had an update (or a lack of an update) from the morning the the 27th. Seattle-Tacoma Airport Cyberattack Day 4: A User’s Guide For Travelers

When Sea-Tac’s systems will be restored is anybody’s guess. “We’re pretty much where we were previously on that situation,” [Perry Cooper, an airport spokesperson,] said. “There’s currently no estimated time of return.”

The situation is as follows.

The Wi-Fi and phone systems are still down. The departure and arrival boards are dark. The airport’s app is not updating. Baggage sorting is being done by hand. The airport’s lost-and-found tracking system isn’t working. The paid-parking system has also been impacted.

On the one hand, they did some things right.

“We saw some nefarious characters that may have been on our system early in the morning on Saturday, and as we would take precautions for that, we actually turned off our entire system to avoid anything further,” Perry Cooper, an airport spokesperson, told reporters Monday afternoon.

Given the length of time that has elapsed, they have either discovered something bad was happening, or they never bothered to test their recovery procedures, or both. That last is actually a fairly common situation. Testing recovery procedures is not a trivial task, and not free.

Hat tip to Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 26 August 2024: Damnazon Edition

The Port of Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport have been eaten alive by a cyberattack or maybe they're just incompetent. (Tech Crunch)

Late Saturday evening, the airport said it was still experiencing outages: "There is not an estimated time for return and Port teams continue to work to restore full service." It also encouraged travelers to use airline apps to get their boarding passes and bag tags, and to allow extra time to reach their gates.

Well, that's definitive.

Tuesday Links - 27 August

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony starts us off with an update on the global tech meltdown from from last month. Daily News Stuff 24 August 2024: Faster Please Edition

Microsoft has scheduled a security summit for September 10 to discuss what it plans to do about those idiots at Crowdstrike. (Ars Technica)

Well, that's not how they worded it, but it's what they mean.

Disclaimer: Dip 'em in barbecue sauce and bury 'em head-first in a fire ant nest.

Jihad Watch has a story about the end of Free Speech in that place were Great Britain used to be. UN Warns UK to crack down on ‘racist hate speech,’ including by politicians and public figures

The UN is where the world’s biggest human rights violators comfortably reside on the backs of big Western donors. It is now lecturing the UK about “racism.”

Miguel Gonzalez - The Cancel Wars

Some people are actually out of all social media. Good, that is their choice and if it works for them, twice the blessings. I choose to be in because I can stay in touch with liked-minded assholes like me, very amusing and lovely ladies and get a dose of funny stuff I sometime share with you guys in this place.

Also from Miguel Gonzalez It is no longer "Gang-Related"

“Targeted” is the new buzzword/substitution of gang shooting and I am quite sure you have seen it used a lot in your local video or paper rag. It is a nice deflection to make people feel horrified at the crime, yet not afraid that they could be next because they are not involved in bad stuff thus cannot be targeted.

The Other McCain - ‘Public Service Homicide’ in Killadelphia

While I would be perfectly happy to see the killers of “YBC Dul” also go to prison — a further reduction in the criminal street population is always beneficial — maybe solving this homicide is not a top priority for Philadelphia police, because the city became a safer place the moment “YBC Dul” died.

Lone Star Parson - Kebobs - Cooking With LSP

Cooking with LSP? you say in that credulity mixed with scorn voice. But not so fast, punters, it can be done. First up, buy some 80/20 ground beef, if you can afford such a thing. I know, not easy. Then, if you're rich, put it in the fridge and think yourself lucky that you were actually able to afford meat.

Twitchy - Thanks to Woke Nonsense, We'll Soon Be a Navy of One: Navy Sidelines 17 Ships Citing Lack of Manpower

There is no institution, no tradition, no intellectual property, and no policy the Left won't undermine/destroy if it stands in the way of their woke ideology.

Tam at View From The Porch - One of the globe's historically bad neighborhoods

It says something about how messed up that part of the world is that, not having read the story yet, I'm not 100% sure which direction the boat was going.

Wombat-socho - Rule 5 Sunday: Sydney Sweeney IS Black Cat!

The latest news from RUMINT: Sydney Sweeney is being considered for the role of Black Cat/Felicia Hardy, sometime girlfriend and sometime adversary of Spiderman.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds at Substack - Out: Soccer Moms and Security Moms. In: Health Moms.

What matters for the election is that RFK, Jr. is talking about that stuff — under the rubric of “Make America Healthy Again” — and the Health Moms are listening, and now he’s endorsed Trump.

The Other McCain - What Is a ‘Conspiracy Theory’?

Permit me to point out that socialism is itself based on a conspiracy theory, a paranoid fear of “capitalism.” This is especially true of Marxism. The whole appeal of Bernie Sanders is that he panders to the anti-corporate paranoia of his supporters, and if you’ve spent any time at all with “Bernie Bros,” you know how kooky they are.

If someone is firing warning shots in your direction ...

That is a hint that you should leave. He didn't leave. Rockingham homeowner shoots would-be intruder: Sheriff’s Office

Rockingham, North Carolina is about a 70 mile drive southeast of Charlotte.

On Thursday, August 22, deputies were called to a home on McDonald Church Road. A homeowner reportedly fired shots to try to scare off someone trying to get into his home.

Despite the previous shots, officials say the suspect kept trying to get into the home and the homeowner shot the man.

He had to be airlifted to a trauma center. Charges have not been announced. Sadly, felony stupidity is not against the law in North Carolina.

Self-defense is a human right.

COVID-19 - The Return

Here we go again. Biden administration will restart free at-home COVID-19 test program

The Biden administration next month will relaunch a program for every American to order free COVID-19 tests through the mail, officials said.

Administration officials said during a briefing Friday that households will be able to order four free tests through the Covidtests.gov website once it launches again in late September. The tests will be mailed directly to people’s homes.

Just in time for the election. Color me shocked.

$1.7 Trillion Student Loan Debt Constitutes a Crisis

And the destruction of the American University System.

Mike Rowe interviews Victor Davis Hanson about the state of the universities in America, and how DEI is destroying the value of the degree, while the cost of the degrees are skyrocketing.

There is a revolutionary movement in education to get rid of this toxic, "I have a bunch of letters after my name, therefore I'm educated, therefore I'm an expert." What the universities have done is almost criminal. [Victor Davis Hanson]

This is Mike Rowe's video The $1.7 Trillion Student Loan Crisis: Who's Really to Blame? | The Way I Heard It. This is a 13 minute excerpt from the interview. I'm guessing that the total interview is longer, but that is only a guess.

Beyond The Burning Skies

Battle Beast is a band I found a few years back. A lot of their music would have been at home on an '80s rock station, except very few Rock & Roll bands were fronted by women in 1980s or '90s. (Look up the trouble Evanescence had with their first album in 2003.)

This is "Beyond The Burning Skies" by Battle Beast from the 2017 album Bringer Of Pain.

Mississippi Homeowner Shoots at Suspect Running from Police

This guy is lucky he didn't get shot in the head. Jackson homeowner fires shot at suspect attempting to enter house: police

Cops executed a traffic stop on a car in Jackson, Mississippi. The passenger in the car had warrants, and ran from police.

Police said Harris attempted to enter a residence, and the homeowner discharged a weapon. Harris was arrested with no serious injury and charged with possession of a controlled substance by Capitol police.

You should probably expect homeowners to be armed in Mississippi, but then you should probably expect homeowners to armed in a lot of places.

"No serious injury" implies some injury.

Another case of a Good Guy, with a gun, stopping a Bad Guy. I thought the Left assured everyone that this never happens.

Self-defense is a human right, and it appears to be your legal right in Mississippi. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0. (Hat tip to The Blaze)

What's the Opposite of Diversity?

University. Campus Reform | U of Tampa RA training includes scenario of student feeling 'threatened' by conservative roommate with MAGA flag

University students running for the feinting couches at the thought of having to share a space with someone who has a different opinion.

There was a slide from a Resident Assistant training course dealing with the horrible situation of a conservative having, somehow, being admitted to University of Tampa.

On the YAF website, University of Tampa YAF Chair Nicole Gillis criticized the slide as the most recent example of colleges and universities attempting to indoctrinate their students.

“This is the unfortunate state of higher education in America right now,” she said. “Universities are indoctrinating students by painting conservatives as evil. This seemingly small example in an RA training at UT implies they think that conservatives are dangerous and that students should be afraid of people with conservative ideas.”

The Young America’s Foundation Chief Office Spencer Brown pointed out what he sees as the contrast between how school administrators treat conservative students versus how they treat liberal ones.

I'm not shocked by any of this. Click thru for additional details.

Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit:

Unless the training is to say “grow up and get used to getting along with people who have different ideas.” Not clear from this story.

Crime in Chicago for the DNC

HeyJackass! has a special edition on the antics that criminals got up to during the Democrats' visit to the Windy City. DNCircus Week

Final Mail-in Tally: 11 killed, 27 wounded

The most interesting item of note, to me, anyway...

Texas delegate, in town for Democratic convention, gets robbed at gunpoint in downtown Chicago

The success of Gun Free Zones, also known as defenseless victim zones.

Self-Defense in Pennsylvania

It appears to be your legal right. State police investigating robbery after suspect was shot by homeowner in Fayette County - CBS Pittsburgh

State Police were called to a burglar in progress at 11:30 PM, 17 August, in Henry Clay Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Police arrived at the home to find the suspect had been shot in the face twice by the homeowner.

"It's very strange," said Fayette County DA Mike Aubele. "Thank God the homeowner was armed; this could have been a lot worse."

Henry Clay Township is about 55 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, or about 75 miles by car.

The guy who got shot was airlifted to the trauma center at Ruby Memorial Hospital of the West Virginia University Health System, where he was listed in stable condition.

"He's very lucky. He's very lucky to have survived. Again, it's by the grace of God he's still here," Aubele said.

The DA went on to say:

Everyone deserves to feel safe in their home and take appropriate action to protect their house, protecting their castle.

Self-defense is a human right, and at least in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, it seems to be your legal right.

Fired for Being In Washington on January 6th

Not for being part of the "insurrection" but just for being in the city. From The College Fix: Teacher fired after alleged Jan. 6 involvement wins wrongful termination lawsuit.

His real crime, of course, is that he is conservative.

The suit was over first amendment rights.

For example, in response to a post which said “Don’t worry everyone, the Capitol is insured,” [Jason Moorehead, a 17-year veteran social studies instructor in the Allentown School District] wrote “This!” The remark is a reference to those who said the same thing about the most destructive riots in U.S. history following the killing of George Floyd.

But hey, the "mostly peaceful" protests after the Floyd incident were not done by conservatives, so completely OK, and justified. Or something.

At the trial, the district claimed it had “attempted” to reinstate Moorehead — as long as he took a “cultural sensitivity” course. Moorehead refused, alleging the district had “created an unsafe, hostile work environment.”

He then was terminated.

How do you spell "Marxist Struggle Session?"

Click thru for the details. How much he won, how much will come from the district, and how much will come from a couple of select board members.

[Moorehead’s lawyer AJ] Fleuhr added “There was never any justification for [the district’s] insidious and Orwellian course of action.”

56 Meter Yacht Sinks off Sicily - Seven Dead

It may have been caught in a waterspout. What caused the fatal sinking of the superyacht Bayesian?

One of the world’s largest sailing superyachts sank in high winds off Sicily on Monday, causing the death of UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and six other passengers and crew whose bodies were recovered from the wreck or from the sea.

The trip on the Lynch family’s yacht had been intended to celebrate his recent acquittal by a US jury, with 12 passengers on board, including his wife and 18-year-old daughter, and 10 crew members.

The Italian authorities are investigating. They MAY lay charges, but that is a long way in the future, considering that the boat is in 50 meters of water off the coast. It will be weeks before they have any idea what happened.

One of the YouTube videos I watched on this incident brought up the idea that guests, and even the owner of the yacht, may have never been through a drill for emergencies. Drills inconvenience people, and owners of superyachts don't want to be inconvenienced. I've had the displeasure of meeting two of them. Entitled would be an understatement.

Those drills are mandated by law for cruise ships, but not private yachts. Since watertight doors can close in an emergency, the internal landscape of the boat can change, sometimes drastically. Even if you are familiar with the general layout, that can change in an emergency.

Bayesian was a beautiful yacht. 56 meters long, 11.51 meters beam (width), and a maximum draft of 9.73 meters, with a top speed of 15.5 knots. That is warp speed for a monohull sailboat. The boat had a 75 mete aluminum mast, one of the tallest in the world, and limited where the boat could go. It was new in 2008, and refitted in 2020. I could only find one reference that said it cost just under $40 million dollars.

Bad things still happen, even if you have a lot of money.

Some people are speculating about salvage, and in 50 meters they could certainly raise the boat given enough time and money to do so. Italy may require it for environmental reasons, but it is all speculation at this point as far as I can tell.

Rust never sleeps. Water always wins.

Oh. And the boat was built and launched as Salute in 2008. It was renamed in 2014 to Bayesian. There are a whole raft of old superstitions - centuries old - about renaming boats. There are rituals to be performed, to rename. Do we think they were performed, or are we all too scientific to ask the sea gods for protection? (Or what do you think that bottle of champagne is for at a boat's Christening?

It is interesting to note that 1957 yacht, somewhat smaller, was anchored nearby, but didn't sink. The naval architect is blaming the crew ahead of the investigation, claiming the boat was "unsinkable." I think we've heard that before.

Stabbing Attack in Germany at "Festival of Diversity"

German authorities don't rule out terrorism after knife attack kills at least 3, injures 8 - CBS News

I'm calling this a terror attack, because that's exactly what looks like. (If it walks like a duck...) The German authorities never say that word, for fear of being called -ists and -phobes.

A massive search is underway for an unknown man who killed three people and wounded at least eight in a knife attack at a festival in Solingen, Germany.

Solingen is located roughly 18 miles from Düsseldorf and is home to about 160,000 people. On Friday, the city was marking its 650th anniversary with the "Festival of Diversity." It was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

The attack took place amid the crowd in front of one stage. Shortly after 9:30 p.m., people alerted police to the presence of an attacker who had wounded several people with a knife.

Hat tip to Mahyar Tousi and his video HUGE Stabbing Attack In Germany Leaves City In Shock

Mahyar Tousi also covers a case in which waving the British flag in Britain is deemed to be a crime in that 7 minute video.

Update: The attack is related to "Islamism." Islamic State claims responsibility for knife attack in Germany

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a knife attack in the German city of Solingen that killed three people and wounded eight others.

Police have detained a teenager who may be connected with a knife attack, but the perpetrator was still at large on Saturday.

Mahyar Tousi has a video on the update. BREAKING: One Man Arrested After Germany Islamist Attack

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 24 August

Wombat-socho starts us off with In The Mailbox: 08.21.24 (Morning Edition)

Don Surber: The war on children
STUMP: Chicago Is My Kind Of Town To Beat Up On – The Payoff Year!

The Right Way - Top of the News

How many charging stations are there in Chechnya? - IOTW Report
Those “experts” rate the presidents - The New Neo

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News

This is a gross understatement.
Because he’s a lying Blue Falcon sack-o-crap.
Stupidity. Lots and lots of stupidity.

EBL - Democrats: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap...

Instapundit: How the Democrats pushed Biden out and ruined RFK's campaign...
The Party of Choice™, chose to get rid of Biden and RFK, Jr.
This is astonishing: https://t.co/HWkGXsOAcp

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 08.22.24 (Early Morning Edition)

Don Surber: I reject their normal
Michelle Catalano: a small victory

Vlad Tepes - Canada and Islamic hate speech against Jews and puppies, BoltA on vetting failure of Gaza migrants and more: Links 1 for August 22, 2024

1. Please read the full analysis at RAIR connecting a number of blatant examples of breach of speech crimes acts, exceeding the standards of what is commonly attacked as “hate speech” and about which, nothing was done.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Kamala Speaks

Forget Kamala’s Speech – John Stossel Has Everything You Need To Know Right Here, Louder With Crowder: CNN panelist drops atomic truth bomb about the Obama-Kamala years that leaves everyone speechless

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For August 23, 2024

Democrats admit what Republicans have known all along: they want to amnesty all the illegal aliens they’ve let in the country.
“Congressional Democrats in tight reelection bids skip Harris, party’s nominating convention.”

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 08.22.24 (Evening Edition)

Victory Girls: Tim Walz At The DNC – The “Coach” And His Lies, also, It’s Totally Ok That Kamala’s Policies Are “Fuzzy”
Volokh Conspiracy: What Walz and Vance Get Wrong About Opportunity and Mobility

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 8/21/2024

An anti-semitic group reportedly calling itself “Court” sent a bomb threat via email early Wednesday morning to hundreds of synagogues, Jewish support centers and hospitals, warning of that all affected will be in “a pool of blood”

Small Dead Animals - Thursday On Turtle Island

Comrade Kamala’s America: The patron saint of child indoctrination. Class warfare at the DNC.
Blackie’s Canada: A railway stoppage. Stop hating Jews. Justin’s Muslims are upset with him (CBC).

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Ryan Bourne makes clear that “anti-price-gouging laws entrench shortages.”
Robert Sterling’s X-thread on the consequences of Harris’s proposed price-controls on groceries is scary yet quite believable.

Once again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 08.23.24

Vox Popoli: 30 and Counting, History Notes, The Battle of Kursk, Round 1, and LEAVE NEIL ALONE!
According To Hoyt: When The Psyops Breaks

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 8/22/24

The ratings crash suggests that Vice President Kamala Harris is far less popular than the media purported.
Nielsen: DNC Television Ratings Crash 22% from 2016

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Harris Calls For Mass Amnesty For Millions Of Illegals If Elected

• China’s manufacturers are going broke - The Economist • Biden Secretly Orders Preparations for Nuclear War - Jazz Shaw

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 08/22/2024

London Mayor Sadiq Khan fears for his safety if Trump is reelected, says Labour should openly back Kamala.
Anne Heche: Deep State cover up….or faked death?

I leave you with Hang in there, it's almost Friday memes from Wirecutter, Thursday Memes .. from MaddMedic, Memes and Musings from The Feral Irishman, and Skip To My Lou, My Darlin' ~ PM from Woodsterman.

Self-defense is Legal in Colorado

It took a long time for the DA to admit that. Stephan Long speaks publicly after DA drops all charges against him | Denver's 9news

The man who shot and killed two people on I-25 last year following a road rage incident spoke to the public for the first time since the Denver district attorney dropped all charges against him.

For 14 months, Stephan Long has claimed self-defense. The DA said the evidence matched what Long originally said and agreed it was self-defense. The office closed its case against Long.

14 months is a long time. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that DA HATES self-defense, or that Stephan Long is a young black man with dreadlocks. I'm sure the DA of Denver isn't racist. No. It was probably that the paperwork just got lost. Or something

Alexander Landau, founder and co-executive director of the Denver Justice Project said that's not enough.

"Because Beth [District Attorney Beth McCann], yes, you get the credit for finally dismissing this case but you also deserve the scrutiny for charging him in the first place. No new evidence was presented. Everything that led up to this dismissal was the exact same evidence you were looking at from day one," Landau said.

Click thru for Mr. Long's statement, and a statement from his mother. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

The Houthis Set Oil Tanker Ablaze on the Red Sea

I wanted to say that the Red Sea is on fire, but only one ship on the Red Sea is on fire. Fires break out on abandoned Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion that Yemen rebels attacked in Red Sea

The Houthis attacked the ship on Thursday, causing the crew to abandon. They then apparently boarded the ship and planted demolition charges. For video of that see the video linked below.

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported the fires in a note to mariners on Friday night.

“UKMTO have received a report that three fires have been observed on vessel,” the center said. “The vessel appears to be drifting.”

The crew of 25, Russians on Philipinos, abandoned ship on Thursday, were picked up a French destroyer, and taken to Djibouti.

The ship was carrying 150,000 tonnes of Iraqui crude oil heading for a refinery in Greece.

You can find a 4 and a half minute video from the YouTube channel What is Going on With Shipping? at the following link: Tanker MV Sounion Boarded by Houthi & Demolition Charges Set on Board in the Red Sea | No Casualties.

Since I know some people are geographically challenged... The Red Sea connects the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea to the Medditerranian Sea by way of the Suez Canal.

Woke Versus Gamers

I haven't played computer games in a couple of decades. Mostly because I was living on a boat starting in 2002, and while I had a decent laptop, it isn't what I would have called a gaming computer. But I do love the controversies that surround gaming, and music, and movies... What can be lumped under the heading Popular Culture. And I love watching the Woke Scolds lose.

Ryan Kinel is the quintessential angry white man. While some people think its an act, I think he's just angry. More to the point, he is authentic. And he usually has some interesting things to say about gaming, TV, and movies.

The Right likes to think that they are sober, serious people who don't have time for video games, and comic books, and movies, or whatever. The Right forgot that politics is downstream from culture, and pop culture, IS culture. Now they are shocked to discover that politics are screwed up. They abandoned everything to do with teaching, and are surprised that the Left turned it into indoctrination. I don't have much patience for that part of the Right.

The latest controversy is the game Black Myth Wukong out of China. It is based on a classical Chinese novel Journey to the West, and follows an anthropomorphic monkey based on the character of Sun Wukong from the novel. The Western Gaming press, who is becoming more irrelevant by the week, tried to sabotage the game, because it is not Woke. IGN, for example, took some quotes from the development team, and mistranslated those quotes, they then proceeded to take those mistranslated quotes of cultural idioms, and tried to attack the developers, even though the lies have been debunked by actual Chinese speakers. Yes the quotes are vulgar, but they are not sexist, and yes they are common in China. The lies told by IGN have been repeated all across the gaming press as if they were fact. This was clearly an effort to destroy a game outside the Woke agenda.

There was even a report that the development team turned down the "offer" to pay $7 million to a DEI consulting firm to smooth the waters. Most people, outside of the Gaming Media, called that $7 million of extortion. "Nice game you have there. Be a shame of the Woke police spoiled the launch."

Anyway, Black Myth: Wukong just released and became the most-played single-player game in the history of Steam, the gaming platform. It is the 2nd most-played game of all time on that platform. That isn't the only platform it released on, but Valve and Steam are pretty good about publishing usage numbers.

Are we shocked to learn that the gaming media is not as relevant as they think they are?

So the first video, which is embedded, is about Black Myth: Wukong. There are a couple more below the video, that cover other current stuff in pop culture.

This the RK Outpost video Black Myth: Wukong Haters SEETHE After MASSIVE Launch | Woke Gamers And Journalists Have A MELTDOWN. It is 7 minutes long, so grab a coffee.

• Woke Video Game Dustborn COMPLETELY Flops! | Identity Politics Game Is A TOTAL Failure At Launch
• Borderlands Movie DISASTER Just Got WORSE! | They GIVE UP After FLOP, Announce New Game

  A movie based on a video game. It is being pulled from theaters after just a couple of weeks.

• Woke Disney Star Wars Fans MELTDOWN After The Acolyte Gets CANCELLED | The Show Made For Them FAILED

One of the things I like about Ryan's videos is that they are short. It is rare for one of them, except for the live-streams, to be 10 minutes long. Most of them are more like 5 minutes.

Thank God For Fools

I've mentioned that if you can avoid the insanity on social media there is some fun to be had. This artist and this song I found via social media. A blues musician I didn't know about is always a good find, especially when the musician is this good.

This song is "Thank God For Fools" by Michael Burks from his 2001 album Make It Rain.

The Lies of Tim Walz

The Other McCain brings a story about a lying liar. Tim Walz Lies About Everything

Before we talk about Tim Walz’s latest “gaffe” (which is what the media call it when a Democrat gets caught lying) can we first talk about the underlying issue? Human reproduction is not complicated, and requires no medical assistance. Generations of our ancestors, stretching back to the dawn of history, successfully reproduced without any more help than could be obtained with a bottle of wine to set the mood. To this day, getting pregnant remains so simple that it is easily accomplished by 10th-graders in the backseat of a Dodge. So when you heard Democrats talk about “reproductive health,” you know that some kind of deception is being practiced.

The Other McCain is a father of six, so I'm guessing that he is familiar with "bottle of wine to set the mood" physics.

Anyway read the whole thing.

Friday Links - 23 August

A somewhat abrreviated Links post today, because of the intrusion of Real Life™ on blogging efforts. Nothing critical, just some problems with lawn equipment, but given the size of my lawn, that created a bit of a backlog. The good news is that things are back to what passes for normal in my life, in time for the weekend.

Pixy Misa is up first with the continuing insanity from Mircrosoft. Daily News Stuff 22 August 2024: Let's Not And Never Talk About It Again Edition

Microsoft is planning to try again with its obviously insane Windows "Total" Recall spyware system. (Ars Technica)

This is the feature - key to the so-called Copilot Plus platform - that takes screenshots of everything you do on your computer - passwords, bank account details, confidential emails - and puts them in a single conveniently labelled and indexed box for AI assistants and Russian/Chinese/North Korean/Iranian hackers to search for you.

Meep at Stump - Chicago is My Kind of Town to Beat Up On: No Chicago-Centric Posts in 2022

I haven’t forgotten about mortality trends, Ohio & Minnesota teachers’ pensions, and all the rest… I will be getting back to those.

But for now: let’s see why I didn’t beat up on Chicago in 2022

Gates of Vienna - Turkish Delight in Frankfurt

A Turkish culture-enricher caused some excitement the night before last at a railway station in Frankfurt when he approached a fellow Turk from behind and fired several shots at his head, killing him.