Friday Links - 12 December

The Other McCain starts us off with They’ve Forgotten How Bad It Could Be

Why did people vote for Zohran Mamdani? It’s as if the people of Gotham City elected the Joker as mayor — a nihilistic appetite for destruction as the motivation of a political movement.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Bummer: Climate (scam) Grifters See Layoffs As Bill Gates Money Dries Up

Funny how most of these groups cannot survive without huge amounts of Other People’s money, be it from super rich folks or government

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 10 December 2025: Fascism R Us Edition

Australia is joining a wave of fascist dictatorships around the globe in regulating how kids spend their time online. (The Verge) (archive site)

I may have changed a word or two there.

Professor Yamane at Light Over Heat - Back to Work on My Gun Culture 2.0 Book: The more scholarly companion to Gun Curious

With Gun Curious behind me, I’m ready to write the scholarly book on Gun Culture 2.0 that I’ve been preparing for all along—one informed by years of research, participant observation, and public engagement.

Impro Guns - Electro-Lord Bullingdon

Improvised firearms confiscated from Londoner accused of plotting to reenact a Shinzo Abe style atrocity at his school.

John R. Lott Jr. at The Federalist - DOJ Lawsuits Against Gun Control Policies Especially Protect The Weak

Gun control laws disproportionately harm minorities, women, and the poor — the people who benefit most from being able to protect themselves.

Andy Ngo at Ngo Comment - Andy Ngo Discusses the First Antifa Terror Convictions

On Dec. 6, I went on Newsmax, while very sick, to discuss my latest reporting on the additional two defendants in the North Texas Antifa terror case who have pleaded guilty in federal court.

Meep at STUMP - Public Pension Asset Shenanigans: New York City on ESG Issues, Maryland Audit on Fees, and CalPERS on Total Portfolio Approach

A look at some top-level public pension investing concerns

Again from Impro Guns - The Men with the Golden Gun (Click thru for photos!)

Two men were caught rocking a Saddam Edition FGC-9 while hauling 68 bricks (approx 70kg) of cocaine through the Brazilian state of Acre yesterday.

Concealed Carry Is Catching on in Chicago

The people of Chicago are learning that they can protect themselves, since the police are increasingly unable to. Chicago PD is underfunded, and not supported by city leadership. Concealed carry permit holder shoots teen after car break-in on Chicago's South Side - CBS Chicago

People were breaking into his car.

The man said one of the people in his car took out a gun. At that point, the man, who had a valid Firearm Owners Identification Card and Concealed Carry License, took out his own gun and fired shots, police said.

A 17-year-old was shot in the arm and the knee. Another person ran to a gray minivan and fled the scene.

The progressive Left in Chicago, by attacking and undermining police, by enabling criminals, are going to find themselves facing a population who no longer believes they owe anything to The Machine, certainly not their votes.

Self-defense is a human right, and it seems to be gaining ground in the People's Republic of Illinois.

The Bombing Crisis in Sweden

What happens when you import the third world into your country? You get third world problems. Children are now BOMBING Sweden - by Peter Imanuelsen

There has been over 170 bombing attacks in Sweden so far in 2025. And there has been a whopping 448 bombing attacks since 2023.

A significant number of those attacks have been carried out by kids under the age of 15.

Click thru for details.

So things are pretty bad in Sweden and the mainstream media is working hard to cover it up.

I'm shocked that they would cover it up.

When a Terror Threat Doesn't Fit the Media Narrative

You won't hear anything about it from the media. Delaware Undergrad Had Machine Gun and Manifesto Targeting Cops | Frontpage Mag

At the University of Delaware, a routine traffic stop turned into something much more significant, and potentially deadly, when a 25-year-old undergraduate student was discovered to have with him a machine gun, over 100 rounds of ammo, an “armored ballistic plate,” and a notebook with details about how he was planning a violent attack on campus police.

And why won't this be trumpeted in the media?

Yet you’re unlikely to hear much about this incident from the establishment media, for the perpetrator was not, to the inconsolable disappointment of leftist “journalists” and policymakers everywhere, one of those “right-wing extremists” that the Biden regime couldn’t stop warning us about. Instead, his name is Luqmaan Khan, and he appears to be intent on proving President Donald Trump correct when he said: “Our country’s at a tipping point. We could go bad. We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

Click thru for the details. (Hat tip to J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ: The Morning Report — 12/9/25)

Democrats and Your Electricity Bill

What happens when politicians pretend they understand the engineering and physical constraints behind power generation? Nothing good. From The Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: Democrats Are Behind Your Crippling Electricity Bills, Report Confirms

State policies are a monumental factor in electricity costs, and Democrat-led states have driven prices upward through pushing aggressive mandates and choking reliable power supply, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Research (IER).

The new report, first provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation, found that blue states generally have higher electricity costs than red states. Titled “Blue States, High Rates. Electricity Prices: Elections Have Consequences,” IER’s report notes that all but one of the top 10 most expensive states for energy — measured by cost per kilowatt hour — are governed by Democrats.

The article almost touches on reliability, but doesn't quite. When you get enough solar and wind in the mix, keeping the grid stable becomes a nightmare, and then, if you keep adding "renewables" it becomes impossible.

When politicians pretend they understand engineering and physics, or just ignore the engineering and physics, bad things happen. (Hat tip to Stephen Green at Instapundit.)

An Open Door Is Not an Invitation

He was homeless, so of course he was looking for open doors. Man shot in the leg after entering Pueblo home, police say

[Pueblo Police Dept.] said detectives interviewed the homeowner, who reported that he arrived home and noticed that his front door was open and an unknown man was inside. The homeowner reportedly said that he then grabbed his .22 revolver from his bedroom and confirmed that his sister, who also lives at the home, did not know the man either.

Officers said the homeowner reported that he confronted the man, who had a knife in his hand. They said the homeowner reported that he shot the man in the leg and asked his sister to call 911 to report the incident.

Pueblo, Colorado is about 100 miles south of Denver.

The guy who got shot was taken to a local hospital, and then to the local jail where he was booked on a charge of second-degree burglary.

This guy is lucky he got shot in the leg with a .22 and not in the head with 9mm. That fact will be lost on him.

Self-defense is a human right, and the police in Pueblo, Colorado seem to be treating this like a legal right. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

And the Prize for Idiot of the Decade Goes To...

From Bearing Arms, we get a story of monumental insanity. Florida College Student Arrested for Being Dumbest Gun Owner Possible

In the words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon."

If you live in New Jersey but go to college in Florida, I can understand someone wanting to take advantage of the much better gun laws in the Sunshine State. You still have to jump through New Jersey state laws, regardless of where you buy it, but it's a little easier to own any firearm and to enjoy shooting it in the Deep South.

Unless, of course, you're an absolute idiot.

While Florida has some pretty good gun laws, and it probably looks like Nirvana when compared to a freedom-hating state like New Jersey, they still have gun laws. One of those gun laws is, you can't have firearms on college campuses.

He got caught because he ordered 1500 rounds of ammo and had them delivered to his dorm room, which led authorities to find the AR-15 he had hidden under his bed.

I routinely buy ammo in 1000 round lots. It is much cheaper to buy ammo in those quantities, it will last my lifetime, properly stored. Buying boxes of 50 are usually much more expensive per round. It's called economic order quantity.

And you want to be careful when you pick of a box of that much ammo, lest it throw out your back. The weight is mostly in the lead, after all.

And yes, he was, in fact, stupid. Not only did he break the law, but he kept an AR-15 seemingly unsecured under the bed in his dorm room, where just about any moron could find it and do something either stupid or evil with it. Even if it had a gun lock on it, that's a trivial obstacle, and that's what makes him a real idiot.

I think adults should be able to have firearms on college campuses, but I don't make the laws in Florida.

Now maybe this would be the time to challenge that law in the courts. I doubt very much that there was a founding-era law about banning guns from universities.

Polk County, Florida Is NOT Like a Blue City

They still punish criminals in Polk County. Philly youth football players face felonies for stealing sports merch in Florida

A group of eight Philly teenagers who were in Polk County, Florida, to play a youth football championship game were arrested for stealing more than $2,000 worth of merchandise from a Dick's Sporting Goods, law enforcement said on Monday.

According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the eight teenagers, who were all between the ages of 14 and 15 and played for Philly's United Thoroughbreds, entered a Dick's Sporting Goods at Posner Plaza in Davenport at around 10:55 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025.

I guess Philadelphia is one of the many Blue Cities where looting/stealing is no longer a crime. They apparently thought that was the case everywhere.

It isn't.

All eight teenagers were taken to a juvenile detention center in Florida and face two felony charges: retail theft over $750 and conspiracy to commit retail theft, according to the Sheriff's office.

The hat tip for all of this goes to Louder with Crowder: Philly teens attempt to loot a Florida sporting goods store, discover the hard way that Florida actually enforces the law

"Attempted" is the keyword here, because Polk County isn't Philadelphia. Laws are enforced, stealing is frowned upon, and committing crime lands you in jail. The bonus of committing crime in Polk County is having Sheriff Grady Judd roast you [publicly] for it.

Click that 2nd link for a video of Sheriff Grady Judd roasting the kids from Philly.

We here at the Louder with Crowder Dot Com website appreciate any excuse we have to write about America's Sheriff, if for no other reason than it's an excuse to drop this

The 2nd video at that link is a rap about Grady getting his man every time.

If you're interested in the entire press conference held by Sheriff Grady Judd, see this link.

I'm Old Enough to Remember When Meeting Strangers from the Internet Was a Bad Idea

But then I'm older than dirt. Armed rapist luring women to Woodlawn via dating apps: Chicago police - CWB Chicago

Investigators said the man arranged meetings through the app, led each woman into an apartment, produced a handgun, assaulted them, took their belongings, and used their phones to transfer money from their bank accounts before fleeing.

I don't like to blame victims, but "stupid is as stupid does." Or something.

Wednesday Link Roundup - 10 December

William Teach at Pirate's Cove starts things off with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

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

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.08.25

Elizabeth Nickson: Absurdistan Is Resting
First Street Journal: “No one is above the law.” — Joe Biden

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 8 December 2025: Do Not Edition

Why meetings can harm employee well-being. (Phys.org)
Well, they're meeting. That's what they're for.

EBL - "JAP LANGUAGE USEFUL PHRASES" USMC Training Film

Instapundit: Never Forget and Eleven Remain
EBL: Pearl Harbor Tribute, Remember Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor Women

Small Dead Animals - Sunday On Turtle Island

The Democratic Party’s America: The liberal media. A University of Delaware student.
Mohammad Carney’s Canada: Hamas in Toronto. Avi Lewis’s Green New Deal.

Political Hat - News of the Week (December 7th, 2025)

Black Friday Gun Sales Dip Compared to 2024
Black Friday is the biggest sales day of the year, even now in the era of internet shopping. That’s especially true for gun sales because, well, you can’t buy them on Amazon.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Congress Demands Video of Drug Runner Double Tap

Ace reads the NYT: Zelensky's Government "Sabotaged Oversight, Allowing Corruption to Fester." "Sounds like Zelensky learned from Tim Walz and Ilhan "Omar" nur." Sundance notes Zelenskyy Met with Starmer, Merz and Macron – Now Heading to Brussels.

Vlad Tepes - Russia seems to be about the same as the UK in terms of freedom of speech and communism, the Global Warming dialectic attack, and competing contradictory narrative attack: Links 1 for December 9, 2025

1. So Russia is getting to be pretty disappointing for those who thought they were not doing exactly what the West is doing.
Please read the analysis at RAIR Foundation.

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkange

Pirates Cove Oh Noes: Democrats Asked Who Comes First, US Citizens Or Foreign Drug Runners
Freedom Is Just Another Word.. .Saturday Memes…

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 6: Ezra Levant tweeted, “Canadian taxpayers gave Stellantis $15 billion.
“On Wednesday their CEO proudly told Donald Trump they’re putting almost that exact amount into new factories in the USA. Mark Carney is a master negotiator!”

The Glibertarians - Tuesday Morning Links

President Trump Announces $12B in Farm Subsidies
Trump calls for nationwide AI standards, plans executive order

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.09.25

Victory Girls: Jennifer Welch: A Chardonnay Democrat Is The True Definition Of Grift
Watts Up With That: Australia’s Electricity Future,

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 12/9/2025

Bill Maher and Ana Kasparian went head-to-head in a fiery clash after he asked the outspoken liberal which Middle Eastern city would tolerate her wearing western clothes.

Maggie's Farm - Monday morning links

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: “I Have Inherited a White-Supremacist System”
Everyone in the city will suffer from Mamdani’s foolish decision to end homeless camp sweeps

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/9/25

For Catholics who like their Christianity with a strong dose of Marxism.
Woke Priest Uses His Church’s Nativity Scene to Mock and Defy ICE

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Trump’s Best Hope to Likely Avoid Impeachment Runs Through Indiana

• Democrats finally shout FJB - Don Surber
• Homan: 62,000 Migrant Kids Rescued Under Trump Admin - Mary Chastain

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 12/09/2025

Candace alleged France was planning to assassinate her, and there was Foreign Legion involvement in Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and now people have found a guy right near Charlie at the moment of the shooting, and he is wearing a hat that originated just miles from a key Foreign Legion training facility in France.

I leave you with Monday's memes from Wirecutter, Monday Memes from Granite Grok, Tuesday Memes … from MaddMedic, Consequences & Mini$omalia ..............from Rico from Theo Spark, and Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3203 from 90 Miles from Tyranny.

Don't Bring a Snow Shovel to a Gunfight

Don't assume your intended victim is unarmed in 2025. Michigan man who shot shovel-wielding man acted in self-defense, police say - CBS Detroit

A 60-year-old Michigan man who shot another man who attacked him with a shovel acted in self-defense, authorities said.

Reasonable fear of imminent death, or grave bodily injury goes without saying, if your assailant is armed with a shovel.

The 49-year-old told the 60-year-old to leave, and then he shoved him, and hit him with the shovel. The 60-year-old shot him twice, and called police.

The man who was shot was taken to an area hospital, where he is in stable condition, police said.

There is even video evidence from somewhere, but they do not elaborate.

Kalamazoo, Michigan is about a 140 mile drive west of Detroit. It is about 35 miles east of Lake Michigan.

Self-defense is a human right, and it has been gaining traction as a legal right in Michigan the past several years.

All he wanted to do was return a borrowed stepladder. And he gets attacked. (Hat tip to KABA)

The Carbon Dioxide Involved in Creating Electric Vehicles

If you ignore most of the CO₂ involved in the creation of electric vehicles then they can look better than internal combustion cars. But you're lying to yourself and everyone, just to virtue signal.

Truth about EV vs Gas ⛽️ Engines

I expect MAJOR suppression on this post.. pic.twitter.com/NR3AAX7Avp

— JayGen 𝕏 er🇨🇦 (@JayGenXer) December 7, 2025

Hat tip to Small Dead Animals: We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Sleeper

Continuing my jazz series, only because one thing leads to another...

This is "Sleeper" by Snarky Puppy from the live-in-studio album We Like It Here, which was recorded in 2014.

Tuesday Links - 9 December

William Teach at Pirate's Cove is up first with Climate Cult Super Excited To Force Internet Platforms To Catch “Misinformation”

Funny, they call us Authoritarians and Fascism, but, they’re the ones doing all they can to shut down opposing Free Speech

Florian Sohnke at Chicago Contrarian - Chicago One Year Under Eileen O’Neill Burke

Five ways the new State’s Attorney has righted the Cook County prosecutor’s office

Eric Salzman at Racket News - Time to Pump the Brakes on Artificial Intelligence Finance?

Big Tech needs trillions to fund their AI dream, much of it from insurance companies and pension funds. What could possibly go wrong?

Alice Jones Webb at Take It Outside - Thou Shalt Not Slam the Truck Door: Ten commandments for deer hunters

In the beginning, there was deer season. And thus was created the deer hunter, who walked in peace among the pines. And lo, the woods delivered these commandments to the buddies at deer camp so that the hunt might be fruitful and the truck door remain un-slammed.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 5 December 2025: Please Not Edition

A critical flaw in React and Next.js lets hackers execute code on your servers if you're a fucking idiot. (Bleeping Computer)

The problem with making JavaScript run on servers is that then JavaScript programmers will run code on servers.

The result is exactly what everyone predicted.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Another Winning Week

It was a good week to be a Senators fan.

Larry Correia at Monster Hunter Nation - New Shooting Drill

I’m working on a new shooting drill. It’s called the Internet Bad Ass.

Again from Larry Correia - Good Firearm Instruction

You may have noticed over the last week I’ve gotten into a bunch of gun related arguments with a horde of ridiculous Dunning-Krugerands with self-esteem issues.

Divemedic at Area Ocho - Smoke and Mirrors

The left loves to claim that Clinton ran a budget surplus when he was President. That is false. The national debt actually went up every single year that he was President. The reason that they can claim this, is the money was moved from one account to the other.

Again from William Teach at Pirate's Cove - “Experts Say” Bristol, UK Soon Doom From Frightening Sea Rise

Having actual data on how much the sea is rising would be rather important, would it not, to understand any potential doom? The average height of Bristol above sea level is 36 feet, though, you can see from the topographic map where it is low lying with connections to the Bristol Channel, but, really, not much danger at all.

And last but not least, Second City Cop looks at the cost of food and fuel in and around Chicago. Don't Look Now....

We've been doing a bit of driving lately:

• gas prices in suburban Costco were $2.92 the other day
• in Indiana, under $2.75 a gallon
• in Wisconsin, $2.54 

He Had a Problem With His Neighbor

So he broke into his neighbor's home and attacked him. It didn't work out too well. One dead, one hospitalized after self-defense shooting in Greeley

Upon arrival, deputies found the reporting party, the victim of the break in, who said he had been in “a long-standing feud” with his neighbor, according to the post. During the incident, the man told police, the neighbor had kicked his door in and come into the home with an object in his hand.

During a struggle, the victim shot his attacker. That attacker was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The victim was also taken to the hospital and remains in critical condition.

While the investigation is just beginning, it doesn't seem that this is anything but self-defense based on what they describe in the article.

Weld County, Colorado is just north of Denver, with the county line being about 15 miles are so north of downtown Denver.

Self-defense is a human right, but I'm not sure how it is viewed in Colorado. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

Because The Feds Don't Count Gas Prices in Inflation...

This won't be reflected in the official numbers. They don't count food or fuel. These are two of the things I buy every week. The other being electricity. (I'm actually not sure if they count that either.) And of course they changed the algorithm back in the 1980s or '90s so they didn't look so bad.

Power the Future. Gas Prices Fall Below $3 for the First Time in Years

For the first time in over four years, the national average for gasoline has fallen below $3 a gallon. According to AAA, prices now stand at $2.998, a milestone that will impact millions. It’s no coincidence that this positive news comes just as the United States has set a new record for oil production, surpassing 13.8 million barrels per day in September.

Considering that California has stupidly high gas prices, due to some insane policies, this is a bit amazing. (While the price peaked for the Thanksgiving holiday, the price in my area has mostly been below $3.00 this year.

You can check the current average price at AAA Fuel Prices. I took a screenshot of the price on 7 December. The interesting bit is the maximum price from 2022. Over $5 per gallon. (See below)

Hat tip to Hot Air

Ride Public Transit They Said

Maybe if they can make it safe. Man on pretrial release tried to kill CTA passenger by pushing him onto the tracks: prosecutors - CWB Chicago

Tommie O. Carter, 39, has been ignoring a judge’s orders to check in with court officers since being charged in October with trespassing at a Loop building and spitting toward a Chicago police officer who took him into custody, according to court records.

He is now charged with attempted first-degree murder for a violent attack on Monday morning at the Harlem Blue Line station in Forest Park.

He pestered the 59-year-old victim for money. When the guy said he didn't have any cash, this guy knocked him down, and eventually pushed him onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train.

Carter closed the distance between them, pointed in the man’s face, and backed him down the ramp, the filing said. Carter then pushed the victim to the ground, but he was able to get up and move toward the platform. Carter followed him, struck him in the head, and then shoved him in the back with enough force to knock him off the platform and onto the Blue Line tracks, coming dangerously close to the electrified third rail, according to the detention document.

He suffered multiple fractures to one knee, and one fracture to the other.

CTA workers and a bystander went to his aid, and another CTA employee was able to cut power to the 3rd rail.

There have been at least 2 fatalities in 2025 from people coming into contact with the 3rd rail of the Chicago Transit Authority system.

It is no surprise that this guy is a frequent flyer with the Criminal Justice system in Chicago. Click thru for the details, and there are a lot of arrests.

And now attempted murder, and it is only by chance that the victim didn't fall on the 3rd rail.

Take public transit? I have not ridden on an El train in decades, and I have no plan to start now.

I miss living is a civilized society.

The Blog Was Locked and Unlocked Today

Blogger locked my Blog, and denied me all access to my content, apparently in response to a complaint.

I assume this was someone who objects to my politics. The Left in general, and Gay/Lesbian community in particular feels it is their duty to destroy anything (and anyone) who steps outside the bounds they declare as appropriate. A lesbian who supports the Second Amendment must be silenced.

And so I was silenced for about 4 and a half hours today.

I have been putting off doing the self-hosting thing, mostly because I'm cheap, and this is supposed to be a hobby. I suppose I will have to decide on a way going forward, and not rely on Blogger or WordPress or whoever. Wherever I go, the same libtards are going to complain, even if they have to lie to come up with a complaint.

IF this blog really does get nuked in the future, I will try to have some folks publish where it ends up, and I will probably also put something up at the Archives. (See the link in the sidebar.)

The infuriating thing, is the Blogger/Blogspot/Google/Alphabet's process seems to revolve around "guilty, until we decide to investigate the charges." That is not a procedure. That is believing all the name-calling

UPDATE: If anyone has some suggestions, or "don't use this service" stories, please add them to the comments.

If You Break Into Homes ...

You will eventually find an armed homeowner. East Avenue J shooting: Two hospitalized after attempted home invasion | FOX 26 Houston

According to Lt. Horelica, the homeowner was inside when two men allegedly tried to get inside the residence. At some point, a gunfight broke out between a suspect and the homeowner.

This serves as a reminder that being armed in your own defense is not a magic shield. Bad things can still happen.

The homeowner was shot at least once, but managed to make his way to Houston Fire Department station 23 nearby where he was found by police.

One of the would-be, bad guys took off in their vehicle, leaving his injured buddy behind. I guess, "No honor among thieves" is still true. Cops caught up with the injured guy while he was knocking on a neighbors door, seeking help.

Police showed up and noticed he was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken into custody, officials report.

Both the injured bad guy, and the homeowner are in stable condition.

Self-defense is a human right, and this too place in Texas.

How Is That Criminal Justice Reform Working Out?

Not well if you count the victims. Old Town knife attack suspect cycled through multiple arrests and electronic monitoring before latest rampage, records show - CWB Chicago

I'm shocked that no one died, and that they are, for the time being, keeping him locked up.

Prosecutors this week charged a 43-year-old man with attacking or trying to attack three strangers with a knife during a rampage in Old Town two months ago.

But what happened in the months and weeks leading up to that incident is an increasingly familiar Chicago story: Repeated arrests. Repeated violations. Repeated warnings. And repeated releases by judges who kept putting him back on the street.

The number of people he attacked, including an EMT, is astounding. Attacking an EMT is a felony, but not one that can be used in Illinois, because of the insanely-named SAFE-T Act, to deny pretrial release.

On October 13th, he attacked 3 people with a knife in the space of a few minutes. He attacked one guy on the street, he then ducked into a public library, and attacked a patron, and then attacked a 3rd guy when he exited the library.

Officers arrested Stampley nearby. All three victims identified him. Stampley denied carrying a knife.

At first he was only charged with misdemeanors for the last 3 attacks. (There were many more before that last day.)

Prosecutors dropped all six Old Town misdemeanor charges on October 28 and refiled the case this week as five felony aggravated battery counts. During a detention hearing on Tuesday, Judge Rivanda Doss Beal reiterated a detention order for Stampley, citing what she called his “criminal versatility.”

I would not be surprised if he is released to go onto electronic monitoring at a future hearing. He has been on electronic monitoring several times, but it has not had the desired impact on his behavior.

This Doesn't Seem Like Justice

It seems like preferential treatment. Retired judge gets probation for stealing nearly $250,000 from elderly Tuskegee Airman - CWB Chicago

A former Cook County judge who stole large sums of money from an elderly friend who served as a Tuskegee Airman received a probationary sentence on Friday.

Patricia Martin, 66, received four years of probation after pleading guilty to theft of $100,000 to $500,000, according to court records. The judge also ordered her to pay $122,763.73 in restitution and comply with standard probation conditions that include random drug testing.

So if she stole "nearly" 250,000 dollars, why did she only have to return about half? It also seems like that is a large enough amount of money to steal from a war hero that some jail time would have been appropriate.

But then the legal system takes care of its own.

Because Martin previously served as a Cook County judge, her case was assigned to McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis. Wilkerson died in 2023, one day before his 97th birthday. Martin was disbarred the same year.

Chicago and Cook County courts: Putting the Criminal in "Criminal Justcice System" for decades now.

If you aren't familiar with the Tuskegee Airmen, I can recommend a TV Movie by that name. The trailer is at this link. An interesting story from WWII. There was also a Hollywood movie on the same subject, but I never saw it.

A Funeral for Star Trek - 17 December

Personally, I have thought Star Trek has been dead since they rebooted the original series for those latest movies. Some people thought the first one was good; I thought it proved that they didn't understand Trek, and had no new ideas, anyway. Most people thought STD (Star Trek: Discovery) was bad, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was a joke. (Who thought Singing Klingon Warriors were a good idea?)

The latest promotion for the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a disaster. Even more of a disaster. Space 90210 is not Star Trek. But then I expect Hollywood to kill everything today. Name 3 franchise IPs that have not been killed, and I will point you to a studio with creative oversight exercised in Japan.

Film Threat, and Chris Gore, are holding a Funeral for a Franchise on Wednesday the 17th. FUNERAL FOR A FRANCHISE: STAR TREK - A SPECIAL GLOBAL EVENT | Film Threat Live. The live stream is scheduled to begin at 3PM Eastern Time. It should run a long time, based on the number of people participating. While I won't be able to watch all of it, I will tune in for some of it.

This new series is Star Trek, so called, written by people who have never watched any of the shows or seen the movies, who have nothing but contempt for the genre, who don't know the lore, and who are not smart enough to tackle the philosophical questions raised in some of the better episodes. So we get Young Adult fiction, focused on relationships, feelings, and people talking in hallways, and they call it Star Trek. There will be no resemblance to anything like military discipline, despite the fact that Starfleet is a military force.

While a rose by any other name, may smell as sweet, calling this Star Trek won't make it stink any less that it is going to stink.

OLD AND BUSTED: “To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

The New Hotness? To Boldly Go Where Beverly Hills 90210 Has Gone Before:

If you click the "Old and Busted" link in the quote above, you will find both the trailer for this show, and Critical Drinker's After Hours video Drinker's Chasers - The Absolute State Of Star Trek. I can recommend the Critical Drinker video. At 7 and a half minutes, it is just long enough for a cup of coffee or a cigarette.

Here is the Film Threat announcement:

He's dead, Jim. Be a part of the biggest funeral in the Universe! Share your eulogy using the hashtags #StarTrekFuneral #StarTrekisDead and join us on December 17th as we say goodbye to the Star Trek franchise. https://t.co/HgiJ9WlIHs pic.twitter.com/YgYoeIg4ut

— Chris Gore (@ThatChrisGore) December 5, 2025

First He Got Shot

Then he was charged with a crime. Charges filed against man shot by manager during Murray jewelry store robbery | KSL

On Nov. 25, two men walked into Sierra-West Jewelers, 6190 S. State. One man "was wearing a long black wig, and the other had a scruffy brown wig, fake mustache and beard," according to charging documents. Both were wearing dark jackets and matching black and red plaid pants.

As the assistant manager asked if he could help, Villegas "pulled a gun," the charges state. The manager attempted to press the silent alarm, but Villegas pulled him to the middle of the floor.

In the struggle that ensued, the assistant manager was able to pull his concealed weapon, and several shots were fired. (Click thru for the details; they are complicated.)

Not long after the men drove away, a man with a gunshot wound to his abdomen was dropped off at an urgent care center in Sandy. Employees at the clinic called the police. Villegas was transferred to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray for further treatment. He was released over the weekend and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.

The other guy has not been indentified.

Oh, and it turns out he is a "citizen of Venezuela" and has an immigration detainer.

Self-defense is a human right. (Hat tip to Concealed Nation: VIDEO: Jewelry Store Robbery Attempt in Murray Ends with Manager Firing Back)

Pentagon Reporters versus Truth

From Don Surber we get some insight into media insanity. Pentagon reporters self-deported. America won.

A bunch of reporters, including AP and Disney's ABC, dropped out of the Pentagon media pool, because they didn't want to agree to the new rules.

ABC was complaining that because they didn't hold onto their credentials, they didn't get invited to press briefings.

Only in Paragraph 4 did the Disney channel admit that it voluntarily surrendered its press credentials.

They were claiming how they got all kinds of inside info that didn't match the "official narrative" on a bunch of stories.

These are the eagle-eyed journalists who never noticed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in the hospital for a month.

These are the people, and their secret sources, who claimed that the Iranian nuclear program was not impacted by the US Air Force attacks on their facilities.

The story [AP] is based on the 47th Rule of What Passes for Journalism These Days: Never believe Trump.

Two days later, BBC reported, “Iranian foreign minister admits serious damage to nuclear sites.”

And last month, AP was forced to admit, “Iran’s foreign minister says there is no uranium enrichment at any nuclear facility in the country.”

Skepticism is one thing. Flat-out lying is another.

Then they claimed that Trump was planning a military parade on his birthday, when it was a parade for the 250th anniversary of founding of the US Army, and planning had begun when Joe Biden was in the White House.

Click thru for more examples and all the details.

I'm Shocked - Shocked! - to Discover Fraud in Health Care

OK, so I'm not shocked in the least. Eastern District of California | CEO of Fresno-based Health Care Company Arrested at San Francisco Airport for an Alleged $7 Million Scheme to Defraud the Department of Veterans Affairs | United States Department of Justice

The CEO of a Fresno-based home health care company was arrested at San Francisco International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Nigeria. He is charged in a criminal complaint alleging that he fraudulently obtained more than $7 million in payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs for services that were never actually rendered, including care purportedly rendered to veterans weeks after they had died, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, between December 2019 and July 2024, Cashmir Chinedu Luke, believed to be 66, of Antioch, operated Four Corners Health LLC. That entity provided unskilled in-home nursing and day-to-day care for elderly VA beneficiaries under the Veterans Community Care Program. Four Corners provided services in Fresno, Tulare, Merced, Mariposa, Madera, San Francisco, and Contra Costa Counties. Luke engaged in a five-year scheme to bill the VA for hours of care that were not actually rendered to veterans.

Hat tip to Clayton Cramer: The Princes Are Not All in Nigeria

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 6 December

Animal Magnetism starts things rolling with Animal’s Hump Day News

This is known as belaboring the obvious.
We can hope.

The Right Way - Top of the News

The Republican wins in the Tennessee special election - The New Neo
Media-on-media catfight - Viking Pundit

EBL - Umnok Aleutian Cattle

Umnak Island the land of feral cows and bulls
AoSHQ: Morning Report 12.03.25

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.03.25

Transterrestrial Musings: Welfare Fraud
Victory Girls: Fake Christian Church Defames Christmas Story

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 4 December 2025: Deplatformed and Backported Edition

An AI tool for lawyers produced by a billion dollar company had no security. (Alex Schapiro)
As in, literally none. Anyone could access any document.
We're all going to die, aren't we?

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

Stories You Won’t Find At Carney’s CBC: Paul Joseph Watson – He let slip more than intended. Post Woke Art. Baby Jesus gets beheaded. Climate change doom monger.

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, 12/05/2025 – Back to The Economist!

Welcome to Anything Goes America
The Economist suggests our country is no longer run under any rules – didn’t realize The Economist ignored America during the Biden* years!

Vlad Tepes - Hate speech laws set to crush all counter-narrative expression, Jan 6 pipe bomber arrested, Trump says what we all think out loud, ALL Biden’s exec. orders null and void including PARDONS: Links 1 for December 4th, 2025

4. I disagree with Matt Alexander on one small point. it isn’t that religious freedom is gone. It’s that freedom of opinion where it is counter-narrative is gone. This man was arrested for protesting a “drag queen story hour” for children.

The Glibertarians - Thursday Morning Links

I’m sure she knew a lot. And I’m sure she helped facilitate all of it she could.
Why, exactly, is it “worrying?” Corrections happen and bubbles burst all the time.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.05.25 (Afternoon Edition)

Vox Popoli: The War on Happy Holidays, Economic Ugliness, and What Democracies?
Cedar Sanderson: Rage Against The Darkness

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - FBI Nabs J6 Bombing Suspect, Supes Buy Texas Gerrymander

Susie Moore at RedState reports Supreme Court Allows Texas Redistricting Plan to Stand. John Sexton, Supreme Court: Texas Can Use New Congressional Maps. Althouse, "The court’s brief, five-paragraph order indicated that 'Texas is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim.

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm for December 5, 2025

“Texas’ Redistricting Map Left Intact by U.S. Supreme Court, Permanently Halting Lower Court Ruling.”
“Billions Spent By One-Party-Rule Maryland Democrats With Little Oversight.”

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Illegal But Not Gone: Race Based Scholarships At Central Arkansas; Affirmative Action At New Mexico; Race Based Scholarships At UCLA

Despite Affirmative Action being, de jure illegal in the state of California since 1996, UCLA is still hell bent on racial discrimination.

Gates of Vienna -News Feed 12/4/2025

Meta Platforms Inc. has quietly walked away from future growth plans in Bellevue’s Spring District, surrendering its rights to five development sites in the mixed-use neighborhood, just as Washington Democrats press ahead with a major new payroll tax

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 12.05.25 (Evening Edition)

Matt Taibbi: Time To Pump The Brakes On AI Finance? also, Europe Fires A Speech Warning
Nebraska Energy Observer: Corporatism Destroying Communities

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

David Henderson is thankful for freedom and the economic growth that it alone makes possible.

Maggie's Farm - Thursday morning links

The Ordeals of the Egyptian Copts
Should You Ask Guests to Remove Their Shoes? Here’s What Science Has to Say

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/4/25

And a MacArthur 'genius grant' is funding it. (A Philanthropath strikes again - jjs)
After ‘Defund the Police’ Comes ‘Legalize Child Abuse’

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) Calls for a Military Coup Against Trump

• Jan. 6 Defendant Sues Federal Government Over Alleged Abuses In Custody - ZH
• The $148 billion failure: Watchdog's final report excoriates America’s attempt to rebuild Afghanistan - Thomas Novelly

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 12/05/2025

Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced legislation on Friday to recover savings from former President Joe Biden’s rural broadband initiative. They assigned $42 billion to the bill, and it never did a single project.

I leave you with MidWeek Memes from Granite Grok, Wednesday's memes from Wirecutter, Thursday Meme Drop from Midwest Chick's Place, and Don’t know much about history from Bluebird of Bitterness.

Floridians Are Heavily Armed

Also, the phrase, "It's over!" needs to be understood by more people. Intruder shot after forcing his way into DeLand home, police say | FOX 35 Orlando

Doorbell cameras are cheap, especially if you have a stalker making your life difficult.

A woman inside the home opened the door, thinking it was a delivery, police said.

The man forced his way into the home while brandishing a gun, according to police.

She told police later, that he had been stalking her.

Another man inside the home, believed to be the woman’s husband, grabbed a gun and told the intruder multiple times to drop his weapon, police said. When the intruder refused, the homeowner shot the intruder in the chest, according to authorities.

Deland, Florida is about 20 miles southwest of Daytona Beach, or about a 40 mile drive north of Orlando.

Police believe that the guy who got shot is an ex-partner of the woman, though nothing in the article articulates why that is the case. He could just be your run-of-the-mill, nutcase stalker from what is presented in the article.

The guy-who-got-shot ran away. Cops found him in a nearby wooded area, and had him airlifted to a trauma center.

The homeowner was not arrested because this didn't happen in New Jersey, Canada, or the United Kingdom. Self-defense is a human right.

College Is (Mostly) An Expensive Scam

The Department of Education was supposed to ensure that anyone could get a college degree without being constrained by economics. It didn't really work out that way, because we have vast numbers of people drowning in student debt, with degrees in nothing. More Americans are realizing a four-year degree is an expensive scam | New York Post

A new NBC News poll finds that a full 63% of voters believe a four-year college degree now isn’t worth it, since many students graduate with “a large amount of debt” but no “specific job skills.”

That’s up markedly from 2013, when a majority took the opposite view, as 53% called a degree “worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime.”

That was the case for a long time. But college taught you how to analyze and write, aside from if you learned something like engineering, or qualified for medical school.

But that changed. No one today can write more than 160 characters on a topic. College students graduate with liberal arts degrees unable to read a book and do a book report. Everyone gets As because otherwise it would be unfair, and colleges have morphed into spas for adult children.

Tuition costs have skyrocketed, doubling over the last 20 years (a redoubling from two decades earlier), as universities jacked up prices to match increased “help” such as federal aid and ever-larger government-facilitated student loans.

But in return for 70 grand or more a year, students today too often don’t get prepared for a lucrative or even stable career.

There is more, on that grade inflation I mentioned, on the required DEI courses, and the fact that welders make more money, and have less debt than a lot of college grads. Click thru.

Hat tip to Stephen Green at Instapundit.

Bones

I found out about Dorothy, because the lead singer from the band, Dorothy Martin, performed on a Nita Strauss album. I liked her voice, so I went looking for the band. They seem to be Rock in the old school, more than Metal. Either way, I like the music they produce.

This is the acoustic version of "Bones" by Dorothy from the 2025 Deluxe Edition of her album The Way. It was released as a single on December 4th.

Friday Links - 5 December

Political Hat starts us off with a story from where Great Britain used to be. Abolition Of An Ancient Right In Britain

This has been preserved, for over eight centuries in the United States, and enshrined in our Constitution via the 6^th Amendment.

This had been preserved for over eight centuries in England… until now.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Good News: Hundreds Gather In Paris To Draft Climate Report

Um, didn’t something like 50,000 just take long, fossil fueled trips to Brazil for a climate conference? Couldn’t they have done this while there?

Professor Yamane at Light Over Heat - Firearms-Harm Researchers and the Firearms Community

I don’t have solid data to support this observation. Still, having attended this conference the past two years, I am beginning to think that not all the scholars are equally happy to have people from the firearms community in attendance.

George Shay at Chicago Contrarian - Congratulations, Mayor 6.6: Chicago Is Now an International Disgrace

Chicago is officially an international disgrace.

That designation did not come from the White House. It does not come from Fox News. It did not come from a MAGA rally. It did not come from some think tank with an axe to grind. It came from the international house organ of the global elite —The Economist — which has now decreed that Chicago is no longer merely a domestic embarrassment but a global cautionary tale.

Irons in the Fire - About that poor bastard in Britain arrested for a photo: of him holding a gun in the US

Freedoms interconnect. And their and our 'elites' hate them.

The Last Refuge - Democrat Senator Mark Warner Advocates for Military Coup against President Trump

While Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin advances the efforts of the Intelligence Community to undermine, isolate, ridicule and marginalize President Trump, ultimately a seditious coup, Virginia Senator Mark Warner now calls for the military to engage in supporting that coup.

Adaptive Curmudgeon - Rookie Mistake, No Harm No Foul

If you know the details of 3d printing, you’ll instantly know where this story is going. I present it here for the entertainment of people who don’t already know.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 4 December 2025: Deplatformed and Backported Edition

It was India. (AppleInsider)

Who rusted first, that is.

India insisted that Apple pre-install its state-sponsored spyware on all new iPhones sold in the country.

Apple said not just no, but fuck no.

India said yeah, okay.

The FBI Under Biden Couldn't Be Bothered to Arrest J6 Pipe Bomber

Well why would they want to arrest a guy, and upset the narrative? It was a good narrative for the Democrats. Evidence Leading to J6 Pipe Bomber Arrest 'Sitting at the FBI' 4 Years

Or maybe they were too busy with politics to care about law enforcement.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and others praised the herculean months-long work to arrest a suspect after years of inactivity during Joe Biden’s administration.

Brian Cole Jr. was arrested and charged with placing the pipe bombs at the RNC and the DNC on January 5, 2021. He was also charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and the attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, with more charges likely to result from the ongoing investigation.

You can click thru for the details, but I will quote Patel and Bongino on the situation.

Patel reiterated that the FBI “did not discover any new information,” adding that the FBI brought in a new team that “reexamined every piece of evidence, sifted through all the data, something that the prior administration refused and failed to do.”

Bongino suggested the prior regime deliberately deprioritized the pipe bomber investigation, even as Biden and Democrats across the county campaigned on their narrative of the pipe bomber.

Go read the whole thing. (Hat tip to Pirate's Cove and FBI Finally Arrests J6 Pipe Bomber, Now That Trump Is In Office)

And as for the media, in particular CNN and Jake Tapper, are still getting stuff wrong, there is the following story. (They don't want to give up the narrative!) Jake Tapper reports on "30-year-old WHITE man" J6 pipe bomb suspect. Yes, the "white" man in this thumbnail

Yes, in the eyes of CNN, every bad guy has to be white, even when they're not.

And I'll let Tapper deal with whoever let him go out there looking like a nincompoop. This isn't the first time CNN has rushed to accuse a non-white man who committed a heinous crime of being a white man. It's almost as if -- and again, we here at the Louder with Crowder Dot Com website would hate to jump to conclusions -- but it's almost as if there are people working for the journalisming-content company who want violent suspects to be white for ideological reasons.

Click thru for that as well. It is glorious, and almost like Crowder & Co. don't have much respect for CNN and their "journalistic integrity."

Self-Defense in Pennsylvania

It seems to becoming more of a thing in that state. Homeowner shoots suspected burglar during Dauphin County home invasion

A homeowner shot a burglar during a home invasion in Susquehanna Township Sunday night, according to police.

Susquehanna Township, in Dauphin County is a bit more than a 100 mile drive west of Philadelphia.

Cops found the guy who got shot, applied first aid, and had him transported to a local hospital.

He is currently charged with two felony county related to burglary and one misdemeanor count of loitering and prowling at nighttime.

The investigation is still proceeding, but they did not arrest the homeowner.

Self-defense is a human right, and it might be your legal right in Pennsylvania.

It Has Always Been Sportsball Season

How To Subvert Subversion with Yuri Bezmenov - How To Root for Pro Sportsball

The major American professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB) have become unwatchable spectacles of demoralization. NHL is not as big and has bent the knee to a DEI commissar, but that is another story for another day. Fans who devote massive amounts of time and money to pro sportsball should reevaluate their priorities. Vote with your wallets and stop giving money to people who hate you.

The people who devote a large protion of their lives to learning stats, and following teams, will tell you, with a straight face, that your fascination with comic books, movies, video games, whatever they are not interested in, is juvenile, while thier obsession with the NFL/MLB/NHL/NBA/Whatever is the highest form of activity on a Saturday or Sunday or whatever day.

Read the whole thing.

Water Bottle Spill Bricks Hyundai SUV - $12K Repair Bill

Don't spill anything in your electric vehicle. Or let sand get into the car. Water bottle spill blamed for $12,000 auto repair bill

File this under "No one does proper systems design anymore." Engineers at Hyundai apparently don't think that anyone will ever spill anything in one of their vehicles. I wonder how many cup holders are in a Hyundai SUV.

But his faith in the car started to dwindle last month when traffic on Interstate 4 suddenly slowed down and he had to hit the brakes. There was a 20-ounce bottle of water in the back seat.

“It flew forward. I felt it hit the driver’s seat, probably dropped out at that point, and I felt on my ankles a little bit of the water,” McCormick explained.

Within minutes, he said warning lights on his display started flashing. By the time he got home, he said the turn signals didn’t work and the car wouldn’t shut off.

Interstate 4 is the highway that connects Tampa and Orlando. Lakeland isn't quite halfway, being about a 35 mile drive from Tampa and about a 55 mile drive to Orlando.

A trip to the dealer, ensued, and they told him "a liquid spill was likely to blame and told him sand on the floorboards could have also contributed to the problem."

Not a warranty issue. "External factors" not a manufacturing problem. Apparently they don't cover design problems.

The insurance company also took a pass, since the problem was due to “corrosion building over time” not an accident.

The total estimated cost is $11,882.08.

And I would like to note that if you live in Florida, you are probably going to end up with sand in your vehicle at some point.

That bill was not unique. There are a number of people on Reddit and in other places who have had $10,000 repair bills due to similar issues with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 all-electric SUV.

I thought I was in a bad way when I had to have the transmission rebuilt (after only 230,000 miles) in my previous SUV. I really did like that vehicle. Didn't quite make it to 300K miles, which was the goal.

So, how does the average person with a car loan, pay for an $11K auto repair bill? The vehicle in question was "a couple of years" old. Take out another loan? I doubt this kind of thing is unique to the Hyundai Ioniq 5, but I certainly would not be buying that vehicle.

This is the MGUY Australia video ASTRONOMICAL EV repair bill for spilling a WATER BOTTLE!