It is always nice to know about new music, especially when it is a band I like.
It is the "official video," and as usual I find that they distract from the music, but that is why you can have multiple tabs open at once.
This song is "Fight To Survive" by Epica from their album Aspiral, which was released on April 11th. This video was released to YouTube on the 11th as well.
What would you do if you walked up on a carjacking? Chicago shooting: Concealed-carry license holder wounded in Pilsen shootout on Cullerton with would-be car thieves - ABC7 Chicago
A concealed-carry license holder was wounded in a shootout with two suspects in Pilsen Tuesday morning, Chicago police said.
Pisen, originally name for Plzeň, the fourth largest city in what is today the Czech Republic, is a neighborhood in Chicago. Just west of Chinatown, it is about a 4 mile drive south and west of the Loop. (Though it could take some time to drive that depending on traffic.) It is about 2 or 3 miles due west of McCormick Place. In the 1960s and '70s it was very heavily Hispanic. It was subject to some gentrification in the 1980s, being close to downtown. I have no idea what it is like today.
David Villalobos didn't set out to confront anyone. He was minding his own business.
He was walking his dog, when he spotted the suspects.
By the time he realized that something was wrong, he was shot in the leg, and in a firefight.
David Villalobos said the suspects were trying to steal a car. He said he's fortunate to be alive, let alone home from the hospital already.
He was walking his dog, when he spotted the suspects.
"It was a superficial wound. But it went in and out, and I thank God for that," Villalobos said.
Just like that, Mr. Villalobos is fighting for his life against armed thugs, who clearly have no regard for the value of his life
"He drew his weapon, and he shot. And I moved as fast as I could. I returned fire," Villalobos said. "I'm thinking about going home, see my wife, my grandkids. You know, that's what I'm thinking. I'm not thinking about shooting the guy. I was very hesitant to do so."
There is apparently cellphone video from a neighbor, but it isn't included in the linked article above.
After he returned fire, the bad guys piled into a car and took off.
Did having a gun save his life? Seems clear they weren't worried about shooting him, since they did that with no warning. I'm sure the anti gun folks will see it differently.
Microsoft knows best. Microsoft Copilot shows up even when it's not wanted: Just us or is AI increasingly appearing like an unwanted party guest?
Just imagine. An AI (from that bastion of infallible software, Microsoft) spying on everything you do, and reporting it somewhere. Passwords. Intellectual Property. What's that you say? They promise, cross their heart, to not send the data anywhere. Sure they won't. Not even to One Drive?
You can't even turn the damn thing off, when they promised that you would be able to, so what else are they wrong/lying about?
Microsoft customers are claiming the Windows giant's Copilot AI service sometimes ignores commands to disable the thing, and thus turns itself back on like a zombie risen from the dead.
A bug report to the corporation's Visual Studio Code, aka VS Code, Copilot repository from crypto developer rektbuildr claims Github Copilot enabled itself within various VS Code workspaces on its own.
There was a brief period this week, when I considered going back to Windows. It comes preloaded on the computers I am looking at purchasing. But that would be a mistake.
Uninstalling Windows Copilot now requires using PowerShell and then preventing reinstallation via AppLocker, according to Microsoft documentation.
In other words, not something that is going to be easy for the average user to do.
It isn't just Microsoft who is sure that you REALLY do want AI in your life. Apple is doing the same stuff.
Avoiding AI has become something of a challenge with other vendors, too. With the arrival of iOS 18.3.2 in March, Apple customers found that the update re-enabled Apple Intelligence, the iBiz's AI suite, for those who had previously tried to snuff it out.
Linux Mint is so much nicer. Or it would be if my ancient PC was not in the process of giving up the ghost. Fan bearings on their way out can be annoying. (Or that's what I think it is.)
Would you like to live near a facility with the possibility of dumping huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the environment? Me neither.
Grid-scale battery storage facilities are a potential source of toxic fumes, in the event of a fire, and heavy metals after the fire.
This is MGUY Australia's video The growing BACKLASH against BATTERIES. The video is 12 and half minutes.
People don't like to maintain infrastructure. Build a bridge, or whatever, and politicians will line up to have a dedication and say, "See what good things I am doing for the community!"
But every bridge, dam, or road, ever built needs to be maintained, and will eventually need to be replaced. That is too often ignored, until there is a disaster. And funds are almost never put aside for that replacement, even when they do fund the maintenance.
On 19 May 2020, shortly before dark the Edenville Dam in Michigan failed. Shortly after that, the dam downstream from Edenville, the Sanford Dam also 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.
This video from Jordan Mowbray was posted on the 6th of April. Sanford Dam Progress! - High Water Flowing Through Dam! - Earthen Embankment - Drone -Dam Collapse. It shows the current state of the dam rebuild, and the associated park that was built. It is a 14 minute video, but I found most of the interesting bit was in the first half.
If you look at Jordan Mowbray's channel you will see that there is no progress on the rebuild of the Edenville dam. That is because about halfway through the reconstruction, a lawsuit was filed. That was resolved in March. Judge throws out Michigan home owners' lawsuits against Four Lakes Task Force. As soon as that ruling was handed down, The Four Lakes Task Force, the organization that has become responsible for the dams and the reconstruction effort, filed (or refiled) all of their paperwork with the state, and got approvals from all the regulators to restart construction of the dam.
There are some interesting videos at the YT channel above about what was done prior to the lawsuit, but I will only reference one. This video shows how the earthen embankment was reinforced with a Cement/Bentonite Cutoff wall. GIANT TRENCHER! Edenville Dam Earthen Embankment Soil Cement Bentonite Cutoff - Drone - Dam Collapse. It is a 5 minute video. Bentonite, in its various forms, is used in different waterproofing applications, such as sealing the outside of below-grade walls.
The Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff's Office has a real problem with concealed carry license holders. Marine veteran plans to sue Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after officer shoots her dog
This is not the first time in recent memory that the JSO has had a "problem" with legal concealed carry. In December of last year, there was the incident where a JSO deputy decided that she need to take a legal firearm from a citizen who was legally carrying a concealed weapon. That deputy decided that legal concealed carry is unsafe, so she decided to take his weapon from him. While he complied, she was the one who was unsafe. She shot him in the leg with his own firearm.
This is a little different, though not much.
Action News Jax’s Shanila Kabir spoke to the owner, Jaimie Phillips, who said she and the dog are both ex-military. Phillips claims her dog is a registered service animal that she got after she left the Marine Corps. Phillips strongly believes JSO did not give her enough time to calm the dog down before it attacked the officer.
“I truly believe those bullets were meant for me that day, and my dog took them because the whole time he approached, he said ‘I’m going to shoot you, I’m going to shoot you.’ Why are you going to shoot me when I called you for help?” Phillips said.
The cops investigated themselves and determined that the cops had done nothing wrong. Color me shocked. Click thru for the whole story.
Hat tip to AmmoLand Shooting Sports News: Licensed Gun Owner & Marine Veteran’s Service Dog Shot by Police: Who’s Really at Fault Here? ~ VIDEO
We’ve seen this before—lawful gun owners being treated like threats simply for being armed. Add a barking dog to the mix, and suddenly, the civilian becomes the enemy. If JSO had followed de-escalation protocols or simply accepted Phillips’ offer to secure the weapon and the dog, this might have ended peacefully.Even the officer admitted, in hindsight, it could have been handled differently.
University. From The Post Millennial: EXCLUSIVE: Washington State instructor arrested for assaulting student wearing MAGA hat
Universities value all kinds of diversity except for diversity of opinion.
A Communist faculty member of Washington State University was arrested after allegedly assaulting a student for wearing a MAGA hat. In February, WSU junior Jay Sani was getting takeout in Pullman, Washington’s historic College Hill district when he was allegedly ambushed and assaulted by Patrick Mahoney and Gerald Hoff.
The level of "crime" was deemed to be low. Misdemeanor. So I doubt this "instructor" will suffer any consequences, despite the fact that it was all caught on video.
Not surprising that the University can't handle open exchange of ideas.
The university is now preparing for a TPUSA event featuring conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on April 17. There is already chatter from violent militant groups like Antifa and other left-leaning students promising to disrupt the event.
I'm old enough to remember when Free Speech was valued by university communities.
From Small Dead Animals Wow, What Incredible Power Donald Trump Has!
Turns out, if you ever see any overweight black women, please know it’s not their fault, it’s Trump’s fault. That’s not me saying this, it’s this woman. Even the obesity of black women is Trump’s fault!
Because nothing is your fault. Unless you're conservative, and then everythign is your fault.
Disney has really forgotten how to make movies. From That Park Place: Marvel’s Fantastic Four Trailer Sparks Backlash—Female Silver Surfer Roundly Mocked for Terrible CGI and Design
Now, to be fair, the 2005 Fantastic Four film, and the 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer were both produced by 20th Century Fox, before that studio was purchased by Disney, for a stupidly large amount of money. No one thought that they were good films at the time. The first did make enough money to earn a sequel, but compared to the schlock coming out of Disney-Marvel the past few years, it is amazing.
Marvel’s latest Fantastic Four trailer dropped and sparked a wave of online mockery. Fans quickly turned their attention to the visuals and casting choices, particularly the debut of Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer.
While the gender swap of the Silver Surfer has been known for months—with Marvel confirming Garner as Shalla-Bal, a female version of the cosmic herald—this trailer marks the first time the character has appeared on screen. The reaction? Not what Marvel likely expected. Garner’s chrome-plated, CGI-heavy appearance sparked comparisons to early 2000s video game graphics. One fan quipped, “This isn’t the Silver Surfer, it’s the Aluminum Paddleboarder.” Another sarcastically remarked, “Marvel’s CGI looks like it was done on a PS3 dev kit.”
The article from That Park Place contains a link to a video from Jeremy at Geeks and Gamers. That is where I got the image above. I don't remember if he says where that comparison comes from, I suppose I could build my own from the 2 trailers. But the important thing is that a special-effects-heavy movie from 18 years ago looks so much better than what Disney can produce today.
And that is before we even get to the part where Disney says, "Let's ignore the cannonical character of The Silver Surfer, who has graced the comics for decades, that fans love, and replace him with a woman who was in the comics for four (?) issues, before proving to be so unpopular that the writers of Marvel comics killed her off." Yeah, because it is hard to work a message about gender politics into your summer, blockbuster, popcorn movie if we just give the fans what they want.
You would think that they would have learned the lesson taught by 2015's Fant-4-Stick disaster. But then I don't think Disney is capable of learning any lesson.
This movie might make enough money at the box office to justify its existence. According to what I've seen, it hasn't been subject to the endless rounds of reshoots that have plagued other movies, though there were apparently some. This means that the budget may have some relation to reality.
Wombat-socho is up first with In The Mailbox: 04.16.25 (Afternoon Edition)
CDR Salamander: The SECNAV Received His Direction & Guidance
Dana Loesch: RFK Jr. & Autism,
Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News
Yes, this is also belaboring the obvious.
If this isn’t the understatement of the year, it will do until a better one comes along.
The Right Way - Top of the News
DOING THE WORK- ACCORDING TO HOYT - Born Free
Cartoon Round Up - Theo Spark
EBL - NY AG Letitia James accused of mortgage fraud?
Instapundit: Feds refer Letitia James for criminal prosecution of mortgage fraud
Sky News: NY AG Letitia James gets criminal referral
Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.16.25 (Evening Edition)
Vox Popoli: The Billionaires are Scared, Gangstalking is Real and Federally-Funded, IF YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE, The Empire Never Ended, and NATO’s Failed War on Russia
The Bugscuffle Gazette: Chickens defending KFC
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 17 April 2025: Cardamom And Lavender Edition
China's restrictions on rare earth element exports are a problem. (The Register)
Of course everyone has known for years that China was going to do this, because they've already done it, but nobody did anything about it.
Glibertarians - Thursday Morning Links
“Lock her up! Lock her up!” Because, in her own words, “nobody is above the law.”
Looks l.ike Ted Cruz is safe. I knew he had a strong alibi.
Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 04.17.25 (Afternoon Edition)
Baldilocks: You Might Not Believe In Principalities & Powers, also, Life of Baldilocks
CDR Salamander: So Does China’s Shipbuilding Capacity Concern You?
Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For April 18, 2025
Illegal aliens block highways to protest ICE deportations. ICE deportations ensue.
Remember the Global Engagement Center, the leftwing government project to create a worldwide censorship regime? Well, they tried to secretly recreate it under another name
A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Boasberg Threatens Contempt Over Wife-Beating Illegal Alien
Gunther Eagleman™ @GuntherEagleman "After landing in El Salvador, officials just told Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen ‘you’ll have to arrange the meeting through the Trump administration’ Go home."
Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism – The Economist Disrespecting The Church Edition!
America’s Gen Z has got religion
Another disappointingly too short article – aside form a good chart showing differences between generations’ religious fervor, little explanation.
Gates of Vienna - News Feed 4/17/2025
Americans Ages 18 to 21 Overwhelmingly Support GOP: Yale Youth Poll
Young voters aged 18 to 21 are leaning more heavily toward the Republican Party than their slightly older peers, according to a new Yale Youth Poll released this week.
Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.17.25 (Evening Edition)
Chicago Boyz: Woe, Canada, Diverse Problems, and “Service Industries”
Dana Loesch: The FSU Shooting – What We Know,
3. This is very important. The Americans did an amazing thing after the Civil War. They did not seek to humiliate or deracinate the losers. They accepted that the war settled the issues, and that the United States was now again, the United States of America.
Small Dead Animals - Thursday On Turtle Island
Woke America: Victor Davis Hanson – Harvard’s radicalization. The TDS patient zero. Fear.
Great Leader Kim Sung Carney’s Canada: Gaza’s CBC. A Liberal lie.
Once again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.18.25
Chicago Boyz: Kilmar Abrego Floyd, also, Past Forgetting
Da Tech Guy: I’m Old Enough to Remember When People Didn’t Get Rich Off of Murder
Maggie's Farm - Thursday morning links
Tax Day Truth Bomb: Where Your Climate Dollars Really Went
Trying To Figure Out How Much Of The Government Grants Goes To Left-Wing Causes And Propaganda
J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 4/ 17 /25
A state-level bill will make de facto government schools out of every private, religious, and home education environment.
Ready for Your Home to Become a Government School?
Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: When Judges Become Prosecutors: The Curious Case of Judge Boasberg
• China Is In Much Deeper Trouble Than Most Realize - David Strom
• Trump says China has reached out on tariffs, TikTok deal may wait - Al Reuters
I leave you with Your mid-week memes from Wirecutter, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #2505 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Libturd Thursday Is Here At Last ~ AM from Woodsterman, and MEMES… from GatorDoug.
The would-be bad guys keep not getting that message. Homeowner shoots & kills intruder, police searching for second suspect: SPPD | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
How would you respond to uninvited people in your home at 2 AM?
A suspect is dead and another is on the run after a homeowner opened fire early Wednesday during an apparent home invasion, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.
One was shot and died at a local hospital. One ran like a rabbit.
SPPD says the home invasion appears to have been targeted and there is no threat to the public.
And this didn't happen in New Jersey or the Northeast, so it is unlikely that the homeowner will be charged, though the investigation is ongoing.
Specifically the media's reaction to the tariff kerfuffle.
Andew Klavan's humor is probably not for everyone. It is definitely not for folks on the Left.
This is Andrew Klavan's video Panel Gets Tense When Republican Visibly Offends Them
I haven't featured a song by Yello in a while, and since they came up in conversation recently I thought I would correct that.
Yello is a Swiss duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They have been making music for decades. You would probably only know "Oh, Yeah" from the soundtrack to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, unless you read this blog, or you were a part of the West Berlin club scene, back when there was West Berlin and East Berlin. (It was supposed to be a crazy time in the '80s.)
This song Is "Nervous" by Yello from their 2003 album The Eye.
From History we get the story of the shot heard round the world. American Revolution begins at Battle of Lexington
April 19, 1775: At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation, the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, a shot was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green.
Things didn't go well for the Americans. When the British got to Concord, there was a different outcome.
When the British troops reached Concord at about 7 a.m., they found themselves encircled by hundreds of armed Patriots. They managed to destroy the military supplies the Americans had collected but were soon advanced against by a gang of minutemen, who inflicted numerous casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, the overall commander of the British force, ordered his men to return to Boston without directly engaging the Americans.
On the 16 mile march back to Boston, the British were beset by marksmen shooting at them from behind cover.
By the time the British finally reached the safety of Boston, nearly 300 British soldiers had been killed, wounded or were missing in action. The Patriots suffered fewer than 100 casualties.
These were the opening shots of the American Revolution.
The Post Millennial starts us off with a story of Chinese influence in American politics. Chinese intel agency official helped raise over $300,000 for Dem Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's campaign: report
A man who helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Boston Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu has been revealed to be listed by a Chinese intelligence agency as an official.
The Other McCain - Crazy People Are Dangerous: Pennsylvania Arsonist Edition
He’s not MAGA. He’s not Antifa. He’s not a Nazi or a “free Palestine” type, he’s just crazy, and Crazy People Are Dangerous.
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 16 April 2025: Blue Gremlin Edition
OpenAI is now building its own social network. (The Verge) (archive site)
Prediction: This will work out just like Bluesky, only with even more deranged screeching.
Might be a cool gig for the developers, as long as you have another job lined up for when the whole thing burns down, falls over, and sinks into the swamp.
Clayton Cramer - I See Trump Is Pushing to Defund PBS and NPR
Not soon enough. While PBS often provides interesting stuff on Nova and American Experience, so much of the rest is leftist propaganda.
Wombat-socho - And that's it for this year
I finished over 100 returns, which is not as much as I'd hoped, but considering I wasn't in an office and the Fulfilment Network didn't have shit in it for most of the season, is better than nothing.
Again from The Other McCain - Cody Balmer Update: Crazy, Yes, But Also Ranting About ‘the Palestinian People’
After Tuesday’s victory lap — in which I congratulated myself for deducing that Cody Balmer was mentally ill — it is now time for me to eat some crow for dessert, as it turns out that the arsonist who lit up the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion also had a political agenda
Power Line - Harvard, Meet Bob Jones
I am sure Harvard never imagined that it would fall under the same condemnation that befell Bob Jones University. But why shouldn’t it? Hasn’t the Supreme Court already found, in Students For Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, that Harvard engages in illegal race discrimination? Yes.
Clayton Cramer - I Wonder How Much AID Funding Loss Influences This
Revolver News reports that David Hogg's gun ban group is colapsing:
"What started as a media-fueled movement is now just another fading left-wing activist project that’s gasping for air."
Seems to be happening a lot. Also, Florida homeowners are heavily armed. St. Petersburg homeowner fatally shoots home invasion suspect, police say
How would you respond to two home invaders at two o'clock in the morning?
Two men entered a home in the 3400 block of 40th Street North in the Disston Heights neighborhood about 2 a.m., according to the St. Petersburg Police Department. The homeowner fired shots, hitting one of the men.
The guy who got shot died at a local hospital. The other guy ran like a rabbit.
Detectives were investigating and no other information was available for release, police said.
Self-defense is a human-right.
You could also call this the air travel edition. US man shot dead after hijacking small passenger plane in Belize | Belize | The Guardian
A US man has been shot dead after hijacking a small passenger plane and injuring two passengers in the Caribbean nation of Belize.
Fourteen passengers were onboard the aircraft when the hijacker, identified as Akinyela Sawa Taylor, took control of the flight at knifepoint. Two passengers were injured, including one who was stabbed in the back.
Taylor ordered the pilot to take him out of the country, but was then shot in the chest by another passenger, Belize’s commissioner of police, Chester Williams, told local journalists.
That is some serious "Right to Bear Arms" right there.
Belize is a country in Central America, on the Caribbean Sea. It shares a border with Mexico and Guatemala.
It turns out that Akinyela Sawa Taylor was in the country of Belize illegally. Who knew, that other countries take borders seriously. Actually I knew that about Belize.
To quote Will Smith, from The Men In Black, "Don't start nothing, won't be nothing."
From Judicial Watch: Judicial Watch: DC Police Department Wants over $1.5 Million for January 6 Police Bodycam Footage
Judicial Watch announced today the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department wants to charge the non-profit over $1,570,500 for local police bodycam footage of the January 6 protests.
Judicial Watch filed June 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Metropolitan Police Department denied an August 2021 FOIA request
For a short video explaining the situation, see this link.
It's springtime, and aside from my allergies trying to kill me, that means that alligators are on the move. We have a few stories today.
I don't usually think of South Carolina as Alligator Country. South Carolina: 911 audio released of alligator attack
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, the man was in his backyard spreading mulch when the gator came from behind and bit him. In the 911 call, his wife said, "he had his arm in his mouth and I poked the alligator in the eye." She continued, "he's got a horrible, horrible leg wound."
There is mention of a 12-foot-gator, but it isn't 100% clear that is what attacked this guy.
But I guess it must be gator country, because here is a story from North Carolina. Officers at NC coast wrangle alligator as it climbs fence, heads toward busy road
Officers at the North Carolina coast were called last week to deal with an alligator climbing a fence and was headed toward a busy road, police said.
The animal was captured and relocated away from the road.
And a reminder to keep pets away from the water. Florida woman pries 6-foot alligator’s jaws open to save pet dog
A woman in Florida risked her life to save her beloved dog, Kona, after a 6-and-a-half-foot alligator grabbed the pet’s head in its mouth during an evening walk.
SiGraybeard has the rules of living with lizards... from 2019: A Florida Lizard ... Wait...
It's a list 5 rules.
1. The alligator has the right of way
Rule 3 is about pets.
From the Post Millennial - 'Registered socialist,' BLM supporter Cody Balmer charged with arson of PA governor's mansion
The man whom authorities have said set fire to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's home while he and his family were sleeping at 2 am has said he is a registered socialist and has shared support from the Black Lives Matter movement.
Cody Balmer, 38, has been arrested and charged with terrorism, attempted murder, and aggravated arson after Shapiro's home was torched while his family slept over the weekend, per the Associated Press. Shapiro and his family were able to escape without injuries. The fire was extinguished by first responders after the family escaped the burning home.
And the damage is more extensive than I thought from the original news photos I saw. From Cookedgooseinflorida 🐊 📟 on X. Click that link for a series of photos from inside the mansion.
For the record, this is NOT an acceptable form of dissent.
This is the governor’s mansion in PA… the arsonist has been arrested. This is extremely troubling.
I'm going to miss living in a civilized society.
Jay isn't alone of course; everyone is roasting this BS.
This is Snarky Jay's video UNQUALIFIED RICH WOMEN in SPACE: Thanks, Blue Origin.
And even in Florida, cops (apparently) hate that. Charges dropped against man who fatally shot another in Miramar Walgreens
It was a stunning event, a gunfight inside a Miramar Walgreens store in the middle of the day, and now, another stunning turn of events: the man charged with murder in that February shooting has been freed.
Jamie Taylor went from jail to hugging his mom in a lawyer’s office.
“All charges, including homicide, manslaughter and accompanying charges, have been dismissed,” said Taylor’s lawyer, Andy Rier.
It's not clear why the cops were so hot to prosecute this guy. I'm sure that race didn't come into it, because cops are never prejudiced.
Miramar, Florida is about halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Broward County. On the east it shares a border with Hollywood, Florida, and on the west it backs up to the Everglades.
His attorney says the security camera video from inside the store corroborates Taylor’s version of events.
That video has not been released to the media.
He had a concealed carry permit. He had NO criminal record
Cops arrested him anyway, and he spent from Februrary to April in jail. Long enough to screw up his life.
Legal precedence. From Power Line: Harvard, Meet Bob Jones
Why do universities have tax-exempt status?
When I first saw President Trump’s suggestion that Harvard might lose its tax-exempt status, in addition to federal funding, I considered it mere Trumpian bombast. But Randy Barnett’s comment puts it in a different light:
It had been a long time since I had thought about the Bob Jones case, decided in 1983, so I looked it up. You can read the Supreme Court’s decision here. Bob Jones was a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and it had a policy that prohibited interracial dating or marriage. Because of that policy, the IRS revoked Bob Jones’s tax-exempt status. The case reached the Supreme Court, which upheld the IRS’s action on an 8-1 vote. The Court’s holding was unambiguous.
Discriminating on the basis of race was deemed to be "not in the public interest." That is the basis for universities receiving their tax exemption.
I am sure Harvard never imagined that it would fall under the same condemnation that befell Bob Jones University. But why shouldn’t it? Hasn’t the Supreme Court already found, in Students For Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, that Harvard engages in illegal race discrimination? Yes. That is the holding in the case.
Somehow I doubt Harvard will face Justice. Too much clout.
Or the lack thereof. Pennsylvania judge accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend as he slept is convicted of attempted homicide - CBS News
The shooting occurred on February 10, 2024 at the home of her ex-boyfriend, Michael McCoy, CBS affiliate WHP-TV reported. McKnight had lived there, but McCoy repeatedly asked her to leave when their relationship ended, authorities said.
McCoy testified that the last thing he heard McKnight say to him before the shooting was, "oh, so you're serious," in regards to his pleas for McKnight to move out, WHP-TV reported.
When judges don't respect the law, where exactly are we as a society?
Of course Magistrate Court Judges in Pennsylvania are elected, so I'm not shocked that a politician doesn't think the law applies to her.
She was suspended from the bench in 2023.
McKnight, an elected judge in Dauphin County since 2016, was suspended without pay in mid-November 2023 by the Court of Judicial Discipline, which handles misconduct allegations against judges. The Judicial Conduct Board, which investigates and charges misconduct cases against Pennsylvania judges, alleged in a September filing that McKnight violated judicial probation from a previous misconduct case centered on her actions regarding a 2020 traffic stop involving her son. She was acquitted of criminal charges in that matter.
The system investigated a judge and determined that the judge didn't do anything wrong. I'm sure that was a completely unbiased investigation.
William Teach at Pirate's Cove is up first with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup
Victory Girls Blog has Sunday morning cafe cocktails linkage.
Vlad Tepes has interesting stories.
EBL - Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf hires Bud Light Ad Campaign Manager Alissa Heinerscheid
Who at LIV decided to hire Alissa Heinerscheid?
This seems like a very odd choice. Maybe LIV Golf is too fratty.
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 13 April 2025:Bibbbidy Bobbidy Booba Edition
Google's Chrome team is planning to fix a bug that's been around for 23 years. (The Register)
By feeding your browser a list of links, and then checking what colour each one is, a web site can figure out which other sites you have previously visited.
Small Dead Animals - Sunday On Turtle Island
Woke America: Leftist judges support illegal aliens in churches. Your morning meme.
Stories You Won’t Find At The CBC: Why I left Islam. The spirit of Socrates. This week in jihad.
The Glibertarians - Sunday Morning Family Friendly Links
The sense of entitlement is incredible.
Basically, every building in Gaza is a hospital or a school.
Even Yemen is sick of their shit.
Gates of Vienna - News Feed 4/13/2025
Florida Advances Bill Mandating Encryption Backdoors
Florida legislators are once again attempting to undermine digital privacy, this time through a proposal that would erode secure communication
Don Surber - Highlights of the week
ITEM 15: Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Secretary of Labor, told the Cabinet that 25,000 people over 115 years old are collecting unemployment, as are 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5, and 10,000 people not yet born.
A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Penn Govs Mansion Firebombed
She's back, DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican "Over the last few months, we've come to a realization that should have landed much harder: NGOs weren't just adjacent to government, they were the parallel government.
Political Hat - News of the Week (April 6th, 2025)
Global Bankers: The Paris Climate Accord is Dead
One positive, this alarmist banker vision of a 3C warmer world implies there will still be a functioning economy.
Again from Small Dead Animals - Tuesday On Turtle Island
Woke America: Fighting the oligarchy. Lefties freak out.
Stories You Won’t Find At The CBC: Defending our society. Is civil war coming to Europe? Ancient child sacrifices. Paul Joseph Watson – We were right.
Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links
U.K. Educators Rewrite History to Include Gender Ideology Nonsense
America Poured Billions into DEI Initiatives. Who Benefited?
J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 4/ 14 /25
What decades of indoctrinating our youth will get you.
Pushing Communism in American High Schools
Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: China Would Lose a ‘Trade War’ With the US—’Gradually, then Suddenly’
• Why Singapore Thrives While the UK is in Constant Decline Tilak Doshi and Peter Coclanis
• France cautious as EU freezes tariff response Claire Lemaire
Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 04/13/2025
ICE arrests illegal migrant with over 20 child sex crimes.
DHS to revoke protected status for thousands of Afghan and Cameroonian migrants. The new order is expected to impact approximately 14,600 Afghans in May, and 7,900 Cameroonians in June.
I leave you with Sunday Funnies For 04-13-25 from Stately McDaniel Manor, Sunday funnies from Bluebird of Bitterness, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #2499 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Fucking Mondays gifdump from Wirecutter.
DAs Hate that. ‘You going home now, baby.’ Saginaw man acquitted of murder on grounds of self-defense
Eric M. Wills II, 24, has been in jail awaiting trial since he was arresting in July of last year.
Jurors began deliberating about 11:20 a.m. Friday. Had the jury convicted Wills of first-degree murder, he would have faced life imprisonment without the chance of parole. A second-degree murder conviction also carries a life sentence, though parole is possible.
The not guilty verdict was handed down at 2:30 p.m.
“It’s the right decision,” Crawford said of the jury’s findings. “We knew all along it was a valid case of self-defense. There was no clearer scenario. It shouldn’t have been charged, and I stand by that. The jury saw this and were able to come to a quick conclusion.”
DAs hate self-defense, and they love to win. And they thought they could win, even though it sounds like the case wasn't that good. (From 11:30 to 2:30 including time for lunch, is not a lot of deliberating.)
Mr. Wills has other legal problems, but he was released on bond after the not guilty finding.
They won't admit it was the EV, even though people said there were explosions coming from the garage, where the car was charging. A Current Affair: Young family forced to start from scratch after battery explosion guts home
Queensland paramedic Shani was working a run of the night shift as on Monday morning when she got a call that would scare any parent.
Her northern Gold Coast home had burst into flames while her husband Jard and young daughters Bonnie, Isobel and Piper were sleeping.
The description was horrifying.
It sounded like bombs were dropping from the sky, and then another explosion would go off, and it was just like it nearly was knocking us over when we're running out the house.
The whole house was engulfed in flame in a minute.
It spread throughout the house, burning almost all of their belongings, along with precious family heirlooms, including from Jared's late father.
The paramedics who work with the wife have set up a crowdfunding campaign to help the family out.
And while I shouldn't have to write this, I know how geographically challenged people are. Queesnland is the Australian state that is in the northeast corner of the country. The only city whose name you would (probably) recognize is Brisbane
Hat tip to MGUY Australia and his video Queensland: Kia EV DESTROYS family home
He wonders if Kia, the manufacturer of the electric vehicle in question, will be held accountable for the fire. That's a rhetorical question; the answer is no. Or maybe, "Hell no!"
Another song by way of WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback. They were flashing back to 1995 early in the February.
This song is "My Friends" by Red Hot Chili Peppers from their 1995 album One Hot Minute. It is the official video.
The PR stunt of the year. So far at least. What’s more vacuous than an endless vacuum? It’s Lauren Sánchez and Katy Perry’s party in space
The all-female Blue Origin flight on Monday broke boundaries and set records in the spouting of girlboss gibberish
One of the comments I saw noted how little time some of the "participants" spent looking out the window. They went to space and spent the time doing stuff for social media.
Well, I watched every second of the buildup, flight and aftermath of the first Blue Origin all-female space trip. You’ve heard of one small step for man? This was one giant leap backwards for womankind. I’m kidding, I’m kidding! What could be more empowering or something than watching Lauren Sánchez make going to space sound like brunch with the girrrrrls. Sally Ride could never.
Click thru at least for the photo. I can't decide what the uniforms look like. The Rockettes Go To Space, and an upcoming series of Star Trek.
And if you don't get the reference to the title to this post, see this link.
Wombat-socho starts things off with FMJRA 2.0: An Almost Perfect Week
Meanwhile, it’s been mysteriously slow in the tax mines so far this weekend, so much so that I’m taking a few hours off this afternoon.
Irons in the Fire - This is promising
The administration’s announcement also noted that the Biden-era regulatory policies on “engaged in the business” and pistol stabilizing braces would be reconsidered. Both of which were viewed – rightly – as regulatory overreach by the agency on issues that should have been addressed legislatively by Congress.
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 12 April 2025: Qnapped Edition
Never get involved in a land war in Asia: Adobe tried to promote its services to artists on Bluesky. They promptly deleted their posts after realising that everyone on Bluesky is insane. (PetaPixel)
I could have told you that, Adobe.
Also, you suck. Just... Less than Bluesky. Like you're diptheria and they're anthrax.
The Other McCain - ‘Clearly a Fanatic of Some Type’
We could speculate on the cosmic implications of all this, but in the end we are certain of only one thing: Crazy People Are Dangerous.
Konstantin Kisin - Update from Uzbekistan - Normal Service Will Resume Shortly
Turns out Internet access in rural Uzbekistan is not quite as reliable as one might have hoped…
Doug Ross - Capitalism vs. Socialism?
A pointed series of questions by Mark Levin inspired this graphic from B. Spackle.
William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Washington Post Seems Surprised About What Trump Wants From The World
And, maybe the American news media could support America winning economically even though Orange Man Bad is in office.
Tam at View From The Porch - Persistent...
Just delete the account, already, y'all! You're as weird and needy as UberEats!
Meep at STUMP - The Week in Meep: Holy Week 2025
Each month, I go to a local nursing home in our geographical parish area to deliver the Eucharist on the 2nd Sunday. There was a little “extra” this month, as the 2nd Sunday was Palm Sunday.
Pixy Misa again with a post about F*c*book lying. Daily News Stuff 14 April 2025: Snake Eggs Edition
Facebook recently announced its new Llama 4 AI platform, with industry-leading scores. They lied. (Neowin)
The test results were from an unreleased experimental version. The actual scores put Llama 4 in 32nd place.
From the NY Post (by way of X) Illegal migrant with 9 prior busts sneaks into NYC high school, randomly gropes female student, 16: sources
An illegal migrant with nine prior busts snuck into a Brooklyn high school this week and randomly groped a 16-year-old girl before a teacher gave him the boot, cops and law enforcement sources said.
José Duran Enrique, 45, originally from Nicaragua, entered the High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology on 67th Street near Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge around 8 a.m. Tuesday and grabbed the buttocks of the teen student, a stranger to him, police said.
A teacher "asked him to leave," because calling the cops, or school security - though there doesn't seem to be too much in the way of security - would be mean. Or something.
During his Wednesday arraignment, prosecutors requested that Duran Enrique be held on $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond, but a judge ultimately ordered him held on $1,000 bail or $5,000 bond, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
He will get out, and do more bad things. Justice, as depicted above, has a sword, but in the Blue Cities, she seems to have left that sword at home in the closet.
Nickel mining in Indonesia is one of the ways that the push for Electric Vehicles is destroying the environment, killing people, and with the financial backing of the Chinese, is killing the ability to produce nickel cleanly in places like Australia.
You can add this cost to the environmental impacts of lithium mining in South America, and the children mining cobalt in Africa.
This is the 7 News Spotlight documentary (out of Australia) China’s EV shame: the deadly reality behind the ‘clean, green’ electric vehicle
This is the MGUY Australia video Electric Viking" makes CLOWN of himself on NATIONAL TV
Why do Europeans hate freedom? Tariffs for Truth: Why the U.S. Must Use Economic Power to Confront EU Censorship
Censorship is no longer the domain of dictatorships. In the modern West, it's been repackaged as “content moderation,” buried in bureaucratic language, and enforced by regulatory regimes with transnational reach. Nowhere is this more evident than in the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA)—a sprawling regulatory framework that forces platforms to suppress lawful speech under the pretext of safety and misinformation control.
The DSA is more than a European problem. Through the “Brussels Effect,” it extends its reach into American cyberspace by coercing U.S. firms—Meta, Google, X, Amazon, and others—into enforcing European censorship standards globally. What Brussels can’t accomplish through persuasion, it is attempting through economic coercion: obey or be fined into submission.
Hat tip to The EU Declared War on Free Speech. Trump Has the Nukes (Tariffs) - Flopping Aces
I had thought that I had featured this song back during the days of the Archive, but I haven't. So let's correct that.
I'm not sure when people started talking about the song's relationship to the Fibonacci sequence, but I don't think it was when the album and song had been newly released. I may be wrong about that. But there is no doubt that the changing time signatures are one of the primary features of this composition.
This song is "Lateralus" by Tool from the album Lateralus, which came out in 2001. The song was also released as a single in 2002.
I'm sure that people are baffled by "What is the Fibonacci Sequence?" Here's a link. The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio. What is the Fibonacci Sequence? What is the Golden Mean? Their relationship. The Sequence in nature. The Fibonacci Spiral (images included.) Click thru.
Instead of just complaining about Hollywood producing crap, Snarky Jay decided to delve a bit deeper and see what they could do differently. Because the girl-boss
There is only one female character that Hollywood (and the gaming studios) can right today. She is perfect. She is only held back by the her own doubts, or the patriarchy, or something, and she will achieve her true perfection when she overcomes the patriarchy, or realizes that she was always a great person or whatever.
In other words, this Strong Female Character™ is one-dimensional, and not interesting. There are no character arcs, because she has no flaws. There is no growth; they start and end as perfect. From Rei in the Star Wars franchise, to Captain Marvel in the M-She-U, to the interpretation of Snow White we got from Rachel Z, the girl-boss character in Hollywood is not working.
It is beyond "not working." It is destroying Hollywood, and the gaming industry, which is also based on storytelling.
This is Snarky Jay's video Hollywood’s MARY SUE Obsession Is RUINING Good FEMALE LEADS!
First we get the news story from the NY Post. Florida dad fatally shoots neighbor who tried to run him over, followed son home in road rage incident.
Marcus Blicker, 47, was accused of following the shooter’s 16-year-old son and the teen’s friend when the pair drove past his home in Port Orange – a suburb of Daytona Beach — on Oct. 26, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Blicker quickly left his home, started following the kids and was “erratically swerving” at the two vehicles they were driving, police said.
The two vehicles were a pickup truck towing a boat-trailer (complete with boat).
The situation is complicated. The guy was getting evicted. Several people had called 911 on him during the day, but the cops were not able to do anything. In the end, he tried to run over a kid with his pickup truck.
The best thing to do is to watch the ASP video below. The two hosts talk about what the defender did right, what they did wrong, what is legal in Florida, but probably isn't legal where you are, and what to tell your kids.
In the end, the Florida Man who was issuing verbal threats, and drove his vehicle at a kid standing on a lawn, was shot and killed.
This is the Active Self Protection video Florida Dad Protects His Son From Crazy Neighbor
In addition to the NY Post story linked above, there is a TV news story from WOGX Fox 51: Video shows fatal altercation between neighbors. That includes an interview with the shooter a few days after the incident.
And of course, relatives of dead people don't like self-defense. "He would never," is not a good way to start a defense of a family member when there is video evidence of him doing bad things.
Sparky cars gonna go up in flames. This story was originally from Manchester Evening News. Gatwick fire: Dramatic moment car erupts into flames as 'people left screaming'
A car dramatically erupted into flames at a major UK airport on Sunday afternoon (April 13). Video footage captured the car smoking as it waited at an exit barrier - before quickly catching fire.
Explosions could be heard as the tyres burst, with the car soon becoming completely destroyed at Gatwick Airport. A witness to the incident said the car - which appears to be a dark-coloured Volkswagen - pulled up to the exit barrier in Car Park 6 and 'started smoking'.
This video is 2 minutes. It is from The Sun: Shock moment car bursts into ball of flames at Gatwick airport.
The hat tip goes to MGUY Australia: Volkswagen Hybrid EXPLODES at Gatwick Airport
His information indicates that the car was a Volkvagaren Tiguan Match TSI PHEV, plug-in hybrid with a 1.5 L engine, that also has a 19.7 kWh battery.
Or maybe that is "still racist." This is from someone planing how we should teach math in schools. Or not, as the case may be. Math Is Racist? Curriculum Writer Says It Upholds White Supremacy - Liberty Affair
Michael Lolkus— who holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University — made a number of concerning claims in his recent paper, which he published in the last issue of the Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, the same journal I was assigned to read when I studied at Barnard College.
In his essay, Lolkus begins by arguing that “educational spaces, particularly those centered on mathematics, uphold and promote whiteness,” and that efforts to fix this are still marred by “white liberal ideas” of what mathematics should be.
Mathematics doesn't care what "you think it should be." You are free to say that 2+2=5, or that there are no right answers, if you're an artist or a dreamer or a politician, but if you don't get the math right when you are building bridges, they will fall down.
Here's an example from 2018, from the National Transportation Safety Board on the collapse of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge in Miama. Pedestrian Bridge Collapse Over SW 8th Street, Miami, Florida
We determined that the probable cause of the Florida International University (FIU) pedestrian bridge collapse was the load and capacity calculation errors made by FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc., (FIGG) in its design of the main span truss member 11/12 nodal region and connection to the bridge deck. Contributing to the collapse was the inadequate peer review performed by Louis Berger, which failed to detect the calculation errors in the bridge design. [my emphasis. Z-Deb]
Six people were killed and ten were injured when the FIU bridge collapsed, and it collapsed because the math was wrong. And yes, the engineering firm in question was hired because they were "diverse." FIGG was removed from several projects, and at least one bridge under construction had to be redesigned for similar issues.
The law of gravity, and the rules of engineering for bridges (like Müller-Breslau) don't care about who you're attracted to, your pronouns, or anything else about YOU. Get the math right, or you will kill people. There are plenty of examples.
13 people died, 145 were injured. This was a combination of design issues, construction issues, and a maintenance crew parking a load 4 times the designed load on the bridge before resurfacing the roadway. (Staging the equipment and the material on LAND would have been "inconvenient.") There was probably also an opportunity to fix one of the problems from the construction issue, but that would mean spending money on a bridge that "looked fine" and had stood for 50 years.
This was caused, in part, because the conditions changed, and no one revisited the load calculations under those new conditions. 46 people died. There were also some issues with the design, and probably with maintenance.
That doesn't include the bridges that have killed people because politicians don't want to spend money on maintenance, even in the face of impending collapse. There are even more examples that fall into that category.
A song I had not heard in a very long time. Sunday Repose
Miguel usually has a calming song on Sundays.
Click thru for Kate Bush and "Hello Earth" from her 1985 album Hounds of Love.
For all that I love Kate Bush, I have never owned this album. I think one of my friends must have, because I do remember it.
Disney (and Hollywood in general) Hates Money. At this point that is the ONLY explanation that makes sense.
We have two more takes on this insanity.
Hey Hollywood. If you want to adapt a book, comic book, whatever, that you paid good money to get the rights to, then adapt that piece of intellectual property. If you don't like that IP, then don't adapt it. Find another book, or write something new. Because if you screw it up, you are going to piss off the fans, who would have been your built in audience, and paid your bills. Don't update it for a modern audience. Don't ship people that you think would be cute together. Adapt the IP or go home.
And when you piss off what should be your built-in audience, and ignore what they want, you will end up with The Marvels, or Captain America: Brave New World, or The Flash, or Indiana Jones and the Insufferable Feminist or Snow White. There are many examples of this from Disney-Marvel, from DC, from Lucasfilm, from Pixar, from Amazon, from movies, and from TV.
What follows is an excerpt from Friday Night Tights from 11 April.
This is the Nerdrotic Daily video RED FLAGS! 'Fantastic Four' Cast Admits It's Built for the “Modern Audience”.
What follows is the video from Midnight's Edge with Andre's take on the upcoming movie.
This is the Midnight's Edge video Marvel’s Fantastic Four is going to destroy the MCU even more!.
This is an incident I covered last week. See 357 Magnum: Face Tattoos Are a Bad Look.
A guy, not a good guy, with "scary-looking" face tattoos was trying to get into homes. A woman screamed. A man grabbed a shotgun.
And as Mr. Colion Noir points out in his video, this was a scary dude, who had been recently charged with several felonies, though not in Florida.
See the link above for my intital take, and see the video below for commentary by Colion Noir.
This is Colion Noir's video Caught on Camera: Armed Florida Home Owner Uses Shotgun Against Burglar
How did these people get so much work in the gaming industry? Sweet Baby Inc Game South of Midnight Flops Hard—Another SBI Project Crashes on Launch
It’s another brutal blow for Sweet Baby Inc and its embattled CEO Kim Belair. The company’s latest narrative endeavor, South of Midnight, has officially launched—and the results are nothing short of disastrous.
Now it's an X-Box game, so the numbers of people playing on that platform will never be released to the public, but it also launched on Steam, and those numbers are public.
On Steam—still one of the most reliable barometers of public interest—South of Midnight has barely cracked 1,000 concurrent players on launch day. SmashJT, one of the most vocal independent gaming critics, noted that even a paltry 2,500 players would have been embarrassing. This game didn’t even come close.
OK, so it released on a Tuesday, but if there was any real interest, the numbers would be higher. Late Wednesday afternoon there were 1099 players with and all time high of 1411 players overnight (Tuesday night to Wednesday morning).
Az AKA Heel vs Babyface is playing the game. Here is what he had to say.
South of Midnight is a horrendously written game where the black female protagonist gets her powers from *checks notes* picking cotton!! But they can't call it cotton because of [optics?] so they call it "FLOOFY"!!!
It also has "blight" assets from Dragon Age: The Veilguard in it too (not that Bioware need them any more)!!
The main character is an entitled brat that cares only for herself.
Sweet Baby Inc do it AGAIN!!
Smash JT also had something to say. South of Midnight BUST May FINALLY Be The End of Sweet Baby Inc...
It doesn’t help that Sweet Baby Inc is credited on this game, because gamers are already pushing back hard.
Their reputation continues to nosedive as more and more people connect the dots between underwhelming, identity-driven narratives and SBI's direct involvement. A now-viral video by @HubBandar on X flat-out said it:
“#SouthofMidnight's writer. No wonder the characters and story are trash.”
So how much can you lose, and still keep getting work?
I can't find any information on how long the game was in development, or what was spent on it.
