Tuesday Links - 3 March

William Teach at Pirate's Cove kicks off the festivities with some video of the Great 2026 Blizzard, or something. Your Fault: Big Northeast Snowstorm Was From Climate Doom

Yeah, that’s all from globull warming. Right. Love the guy jogging. There’s always that one. Or, maybe his wife sent him on a Dunkin run.

Miguel Gonzalez - But wait, there is more Gun Control Necromancy: With a big dash of Lying sauce.

This one made me laugh a lot. Trayvon was a thug who met his demise by a mixture of stupid machismo and poor victim selection. The Zimmerman defense team never brought Stand Your Ground as legal strategy because it simply did not apply as it was straight self-defense.

Lone Star Parson - Report From North Front

It seems Pakistan's got itself into a border war with Afghanistan, and we have to wonder, is this some kind of type of future UK polity? Outcome undecided. Then there's Iran or Persia, an ancient civilization controlled by a savage barbarian moon cult. Will we strike or will we not?

The Other McCain - ‘Major Combat Operations’ in Iran

A couple of weeks ago, it was noticed that roughly one-third of the U.S. Navy was within striking range of Iran, at a time when Iran was “negotiating” over their nuclear program with the Trump administration. One must put “negotiating” in quotation marks, because Donald Trump clearly had in mind a specific outcome — the elimination of Iran’s nuclear threat — and the Iranians did not seem to understand the consequences of not giving Trump what he wanted.

Smitty at The Other McCain - Behind Enemy Lines In NOVA, The Fairfax County GOP Met Today

Finally, Lee cautioned against relying upon USPS to deliver anything. Put your ballot into a box or, better still, feed it into the ballot scanner on 21APR.

OldAFSarge at Chant du Départ - Ave Atque Vale

I knew his real name, Dave Mustar, here on the blog, we knew him as Dakota Viking. He's the #1 Nozzleman in the photo above. He's also here in the USS Carl Vinson's cruise book from 1989-1990.

Geller Report - Massive CELEBRATIONS Break Out Across Iran…. And Across the World

Please join the people of Iran in celebrating the downfall of the tyrant Khamenei, and the imminent fall of the rotten islamic regime.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 1 March 2026: Preying Mantis Edition

OpenAI has announced a deal with the Department of War with - apparently - the same limitations that Anthropic was demanding. (Tech Crunch)

Guess Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, really pissed someone off.

Sam Altman of OpenAI knows when to lie, and sometimes also who to lie to.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Maintaining the Balance

Confinement VII went well. Almost certainly coming back next year.
It was an okay week for the Senators fans too.

The Shekel - Coins, Law, and Commentary - The Motive May Never Be Known

I daresay Director Kash Patel needs to remove Agent Magoo and his fellow Biden-era agents that can't identify Islamic terrorism --when it is literally on the killer's shirt -- from the investigation.

A 3D Printed AR9

Impro Guns brings us a DIY AR9 (Brazil)

Quite a few of these have been showing up lately. It’s a fully DIY 3D printed steel tube reinforced AR9 type 9mm carbine.

Click thru for the photos. There are several.

This is why the blue states are trying to outlaw 3D printers. They know they are losing control, and they hate that.

The Media Will Ignore This Death

Kristinn Taylor at The Gateway Pundit has a story of another preventable tragedy. Northern Virginia Woman Stabbed to Death at Bus Stop by Illegal Alien With Over 30 Prior Arrests

An illegal alien from Sierra Leone with over thirty arrests was charged with murder this week in the fatal stabbing of a Northern Virginia woman at a bus stop on a busy highway in the Hybla Velley area of Fairfax County just south of Alexandria last Monday evening.

Police say Abdul Jalloh, 32, rode on the same bus as Stephanie Minter, 41, and was seen getting off the bus with her. Soon afterward police were called to the scene where Minter was found with multiple stab wounds to her upper body.

The Left never really keeps criminals contained until AFTER they kill someone.

Concealing Handguns By Size

Massad Ayoob has a nice video on CONCEALING LARGE HANDGUNS

A self-defense handgun should be reasonably powerful and shootable, features which favor the larger and heavier pistols and revolvers. Unfortunately, they’re tougher to conceal.

Careful holster choice, however, can make them more comfortable and more discreet in daily wear. For most of my adult life I’ve carried either a full -size service handgun (4” barrel revolver or 5” semi-auto) or a compact version of same (3” barrel revolver or 4” barrel auto).. Here’s a video I did about thirteen years ago on the topic, from Panteao Productions.

The video is just over 3 minutes, and worth a look.

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Don't You (Forget About Me) was written for the 1985 movie soundtrack for Breakfast Club. It was recorded by Simple Minds. That band originally turned it down, but eventually accepted. It became a breakout hit for that band. Today we have a cover of that song.

This is "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Black Stone Cherry, featuring Tyler Connolly, and Theory Of A Deadman. It was released in January as a single ahead of their March 2026 album, Celebrate.

Another Failure of the Victim-Selection Process

He apparently thought it was a good idea to break into an occupied home. “He Fired, I Fired”: A Springfield Homeowner’s Tale of a Fatal Self-Defense Shooting

How would you deal with an armed intruder at roughly half-past midnight?

According to the reports, a 28-year-old man named Anthony Walker Jr. was killed in the 1700 block of Maiden Lane. But this wasn’t just some random act of violence; it was a confrontation that proved exactly why so many of us choose to carry, even when we’re just relaxing at home.

Springfield, Ohio is roughly 30 miles northeast of Dayton.

When you’re staring down the barrel of a gun in your own living room, you don’t have the luxury of hesitation. The homeowner had his own firearm ready, returned fire, and neutralized the threat.

I don't know what the 911 response time is in Springfield, but I am sure it is measured in minutes, not seconds. Even if he could have dialed 911 - he could not, since he was faced with an armed intruder - that would have done him very little good in the moment.

The Springfield Police Division has been clear: this was self-defense. The shooter, who clearly had his wits about him, managed to defend himself against an armed assailant.

Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

Free Health Care Is Not Always Good

It's free and worth the price. 1 in 4 Canadians in long-term care were given anti-psychotic drugs without diagnosis, report finds - The Globe and Mail

One in four Canadians living in long-term care homes were prescribed anti-psychotic medication without a diagnosis of psychosis, according to a new report that highlights serious risks associated with using the powerful drugs.

Because people who are drugged out of their minds don't cause problems.

“Inappropriate use of antipsychotics can carry serious risks, including adverse reactions, cognitive decline, falls and even death,” the report cautioned.

And if you don't want to be drugged, Canada's doctors now kill more people than Canada's guns.

I can't wait until we have socialized medicine.

Hat tip to Clayton Cramer: What a Great Healthcare System!

What's the Opposite of Diversity?

University. Former UCSB student government president sues school alleging antisemitic harassment | The College Fix

UC Santa Barbara’s former student government president recently filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging she was the victim of antisemitic abuse and harassment while campus leaders did nothing to protect her.

The lawsuit alleges Tessa Veksler, who is Jewish, was the “victim of repeated and systematic assaults and other abuse by a horde of antisemitic instigators on campus.”

She begged for help from the powers-that-be, but UCSB administration did nothing.

Click thru for the details. Pretty standard antisemitic slurs dressed up as "just against Israel."

Choose Revolvers

I leave this here for no particular reason.

Moonshine Animations has a video that makes me smile. PISTOL ONLY

If It Looks Like a Duck ... It Probably Is Terrorism

The Other McCain asks a question. ISLAMIC TERRORISM IN TEXAS?

Please note the question mark in the headline, because officials are not saying that it definitely is terrorism, but it kind of looks like it.

Officials are never sure, unless those officials are in Europe, and then it is only terrorism one time out of 100.

Click thru for the details.

This is Why the Washington Post Laid Off "Journalists"

William Teach at Pirate's Cove notes that Washington Post Seems To Have A Sad That Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Is Dead

Remember when they referred to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar”? Glowing obituary. Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet. First, though, this is what you are seeing from Iranians

After we get a glimpse of the celebrations that Iranians everywhere are holding, we get back to the WaPo.

They can't be bothered to write about the dead guy with any bit of truth.

Nothing so far about him lording over a brutal, murderous regime, one which supported terrorism throughout the Middle East, trying to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews via proxies, killing Americans in Iraq, killing other Muslims/Arabs in the ME, having women stoned, gays hung, and so much more.

If Trump had something to do with his death, then the WaPo believes he must have been a good guy.

And the media is genuinely confused about why no one pays the least attention to them anymore.

Click thru and read the whole thing.

Self-Defense Seems To Be Legal in Pennsylvania

Which is always a bit of a shock. Man who fired shot that killed man, injured 2 others after bar fight in Allentown will not be charged, acted in self-defense, DA says | Allentown Area | WFMZ

The Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office says a man who fired shots at three people, killing one and injuring two others, at a bar in Allentown last year was justified in his use of force.

The man will not be charged, because he was acting in self-defense and the defense of others.

The incident in question took place on December 19th, so considering that very little happens over the holidays, I suppose this isn't a bad time frame for a DA in Pennsylvania.

The man who fired the shots at the three people during the fight reasonably believed that the use of deadly force was imminently necessary to protect the person from the risk of death or serious bodily injury, the DA’s office said.

Self-defense is a human right.

The Great BAFTAS Kerfuffle of 2026

If you have been living under a rock, you might not know that British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosted the BAFTAS Film Awards. While these things are usually just another pointless awards show, this year one of the films was I Swear, which was about the life of John Davidson. Mr. Davidson has an extreme form of Turrette Syndrome known as coprolalia, which causes him to have verbal uncontrolled outbursts. He shouted the N-word during the show. The internet has been melting down.

And in particular, Grace Randolph, "everyone's favorite bad take factory," decided to jump in, with no knowledge of Turrette Syndrome (she basically admitted that in a post on X) and has been roasted by absolutely everyone I like on YouTube.

I don't watch Grace Randolph except to see the clips. There were more previously, as one YouTube podcast even had a segment "What kind of dumb sh*t did Grace say this week." Drinker called her "the middle-aged liberal white woman who makes it her business to be offended on behalf of the rest of the world." She puts the AWFL in Affluent White Female Liberal. But then Grace Randolph was demanding he apologize for something that he could not control. (Spoiler alert, he did apologize, just not on Instagram/X/F*c*book/etc. He did it privately to the entertainers who were on stage.)

Marvin Montanaro at Geeks and Gamers has an article summarizing the entire thing. Grace Randolph Attacks Nerdrotic As Her X Meltdown Continues in Wake of BAFTA Tourette’s Incident

Marvin M. captures the basic problem. Even after she was told how she was wrong, she carried on.

Randolph did not walk back her position and continued posting about the incident.

At one point Randolph posted a survey asking how we should segregate the disabled, so as not to cause other people distress.

Pierry Chan, of Nerdrotic Daily, cut together 3 videos from various sources. I've listed two below, but you should be able to find the other if you are interested.

This is Critical Drinker's video The BAFTA's Showed Us Who People Really Are

You know, normally I'd greet the prospect of the BAFTAS, basically a low rent British version of the Golden Globes with a bunch of celebrities that nobody in America has ever heard of, with about as much enthusiasm as a 3-day corporate seminar about correct spreadsheet usage.

The video is about 8 minutes long.

Anyone and everyone who has anything to say about pop culture has been piling on. I mentioned on X that I don't think I've seen a dogpile like this in a couple of decades. Takes me back to the early days of the web, or even bulletin board systems.

The videos are all about 20 minutes, which is why I embedded Critical Drinker's 8 minute video above. I know, that is a lot of video, but it is fun to laugh at the woke left, and you don't have to watch, so much as listen.

• Sydney Watson - This "slur" situation has broken the Left...
• Pierry Chan: Nerdrotic Daily - MY CHANNEL IS UNDER ATTACK!!! Grace Randolph Declares WAR on Tourette’s and GOES OFF THE RAILS
• Pierry Chan - IT’S ALL BULLSH*T – Grace Randolph’s Virtue Signaling Goes MASSIVELY Wrong!
• Clownfish TV - They're Calling the Man with Tourette's a Racist Now...
• Ryan Kinel: RK Outpost - Grace Randolph DESTROYED After ATTACKING Man With Tourette's Over BAFTA N-Word | This Is INSANE

There are more, but I have not seen all of them. Clownfish TV, WDW Pro, Midnight's Edge, Derek Anderson - The D.A., Mr. H Reviews, and more have all chimed in. If there is someone you like in the pop culure arena, they probably have mentioned this, either on YouTube or on social media.

Here is the X post where Grace R. basically said that she had no idea how Turrette Syndrome worked before calling for John Davidson's head. (She now knows, becuase she has been community noted several times about the way Turrette Syndrome and coprolalia work.

Thank God the Affluent White Female Liberal (AWFL) is here to save the day.

No matter how Tourette's works, that the BAFTAs subjected Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo to that is outrageous and shameful.

This was handled SO poorly - footage is forever, and also this man Davidson will have to deal with the horrible fallout as well.

— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) February 23, 2026

Except of course Randolph's problem with the N-word is very context specific.

Grace Randolph loves the N-Word @DDayCobra @Nerdrotics pic.twitter.com/aCc5GHOAIx

— Pierry Chan (@pierrychan1984) February 25, 2026

It Turns Out Notre Dame Is a Catholic University

They seem to have forgotten that for a while. Pro-abortion professor backs out of Notre Dame leadership role amid protests | The College Fix

Professor Susan Ostermann will not accept a leadership role at the University of Notre Dame, administrators announced Thursday after the scholar’s pro-abortion beliefs attracted backlash from students, professors, and alumni at the Catholic institution.

The Observer, Notre Dame’s student newspaper, broke the news of Ostermann’s decision on Thursday, ahead of a scheduled protest opposing her as the new leader of the university’s Liu Institute.

The interesting part is the protests by students.

Maybe there is some hope for society.

Despite her decision to step down, the “March on the Dome” protest will continue as planned, sophomore Luke Woodyard told the student newspaper.

“This is great news, but although we won the battle, the war wages on. The fact that this pro abortion professor could ever be appointed signifies a much deeper Split between the students, deans, and administration,” Woodyard told The Observer.

The students at Notre Dame are more Catholic, and more conservative, than the people running Notre Dame.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 28 February

The Right Way is first with Top of the News

In The Mailbox: 02.24.26 - The Other McCain
How the U.S. Helped Bring Down Powerful CJNG Cartel Leader "El Mencho" - Fox News

EBL - Mr. Roboto : Volkswagen

26 February 1936 : Adolf Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche's "Volkswagen"
Volkswagen Commercials

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 02.27.26 (Morning Edition)

Cedar Sanderson: Invisible Horses
Defending The Wood Perilous: Hell is a Holodeck,
The Bugscuffle Gazette: After Action Report

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 27 February 2026: Flying Or Non-Flying Edition

Firefox has a new switch that lets you turn off all its AI features with one click. (Firefox)
And then turn on just the ones you want, if any.

Small Dead Animals - Thursday On Turtle Island

The Democrat Party’s America: Spanberger’s rebuttal. Why we go berserk.
Stories You Won’t Find At Carney’s CBC: The global vaccine racket. Paul Joseph Watson – This is mad.

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Dead Canadian Babies: Newborn Babies Euthanized; Disabled Babies Euthanized; Poor Babies Euthanized

Eugenics is back with euthanizing disabled babied. Yet again, Canada learned well from the Dutch.
Taking eugenics to the next level, apparently having poor parents is a euthanizable disease.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 02.27.26 (Evening Edition)

Transterrestrial Musings: Hiatus, A Good First Step, and Celebration
Victory Girls: Suddenly Tim Walz Has A Plan To Fix Fraud

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Hillary Testilies in Epstein Probe

The Beeb, World Economic Forum boss quits after review of Epstein links. Sundance, After Being Named in Epstein Files WEF President and CEO Borge Brende Resigns. Just gonna guess he's not MAGA. Ace, Another Harvard Professor Exposed as Friend of Epstein.

Vlad Tepes - Alex Berenson pleads for people to read 1984, an AMAZING bit of propaganda both for and against Islam, California makes your kids ‘trans’ then takes them away: Links post 2 for Feb. 27, 2026

3. I think one way to really improve the situation for the majority of reality centric people would be to make Alberta, Saskatchewan, and maybe one or two other provinces the 51st, 2nd and possibly 3rd US state.

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, 02/27/2026 – More from The Economist!

The crummiest job in Washington—congressman—is getting worse
Yes, we should pity these poor folks who are away from the job more often than they work and have this weird habit of becoming stinking rich via their office.

The Glibertarians - Wednesday Links in the Afternoon

“Sir, this isn’t a Waffle House, but we’ll do our best.”
FBI searches home of LA School District superintendant. Hopefully, the start of a long and prosperous investigation.

Maggie's Farm - Thursday morning links

When Democrats Make Donald Trump The Normie In The Room, They're Losing
Fetterman: No, Seriously – How Do You Not Stand?

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 2/26/26

Western globalists won’t last long.
The Clash of Civilizations Restarts History

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Democrats' Spanberger Strategy Tells You Everything You Need to Know About Them

• Democrats told on themselves - Tom Knighton
• Why would Anyone Hate Daddy? And other Questions from my Senate Confirmation Hearing - Jeremy Carl

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 02/27/2026

Over at American Stasi – Shawn Ryan interviews a CIA Officer Who Was Hit With Havana Syndrome. This is a rare, openly kinetic facet of the war we are looking at here every day.

I leave you with There's A Reason For This Sign.... from The Feral Irishman, Thursday Memes … from MaddMedic, Friday Meme Thing from Granite Grok, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3442 from 90 Miles from Tryanny, and Friday's gifs from Wirecutter.

Don't Trust AI

It is too easy to feed them BS. From Thomas Germain at the BBC: I hacked ChatGPT and Google's AI - and it only took 20 minutes

It's official. I can eat more hot dogs than any tech journalist on Earth. At least, that's what ChatGPT and Google have been telling anyone who asks. I found a way to make AI tell you lies – and I'm not the only one.

People are currently in the mode where if an AI LLM tells them something, they believe it. It is why lawyers are submitting briefs citing fake cases, why it will give you bad information about poison, etc. It is too easy to fool them. This is because they are Language Models, not Truth Models. They really only know what sounds good.

To demonstrate it, I pulled the dumbest stunt of my career to prove (I hope) a much more serious point:
 I made ChatGPT, Google's AI search tools and Gemini tell users I'm really, really good at eating hot dogs. Below, I'll explain how I did it, and with any luck, the tech giants will address this problem before someone gets hurt.

It turns out changing the answers AI tools give other people can be as easy as writing a single, well-crafted blog post almost anywhere online. The trick exploits weaknesses in the systems built into chatbots, and it's harder to pull off in some cases, depending on the subject matter. But with a little effort, you can make the hack even more effective. I reviewed dozens of examples where AI tools are being coerced into promoting businesses and spreading misinformation. Data suggests it's happening on a massive scale.

You should read the details, but the tl;dr version is from the original X-Files.

Trust No One

It turns out that "Garbage In - Garbage Out" still applies in 2026.

Hat tip to Schneier on Security: Poisoning AI Training Data

These things are not trustworthy, and yet they are going to be widely trusted.

Good Guys 2, Bad Guys 0

They suffered a failure of the victim-selection process. 2 women shot, arrested after alleged armed robbery

Two women were shot after allegedly arriving at a residence with the intent to commit a robbery, according to a release from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).

Coffee County, Georgia is about 95 miles southwest of Savannah, and about 160 miles south-southwest of Atlanta.

The two women had gone to home intending to commit a robbery. After a struggle with the homeowner, the homeowner was able to retrieve a shotgun, and fire one shot. Both women were hit. Cops had them taken to a local hospital, and then taken them to the county lockup.

Police say that both suspects were charged with

• Two counts of aggravated assault
• Two counts of armed robbery
• One count of home invasion in the first degree

Self-defense is a human right, and this did not take place in New York.

Northeastern Snowstorm Caused By Global Warming. Or Something

Pirate's Cove has a post on the Left placing blame. The Massive Northeastern Snowstorm? Your Fault

You knew this had to be coming, right?

While William Teach links to a story about the "science" behind the Nor'easter, he also has some pics from the 1888 Blizzard that hit New York.

And a few posts from X/Twitter. One points out that during the height of the storm, wind power in the impacted areas were shut down. (Too much wind risks burning out the bearings of the wind turbines.)

Whatever happens, the answer is more taxes, and global communism. Don't you want to save the planet? Don't you believe in science? Whatever. It is all your fault.

Shadowboxer

This is another song that I was reminded of by WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback. In late January they were revisiting the music of 1996. I remember this song being on the radio, but like so many songs from that era, when it faded from the radio, it faded from my life. I may need to revisit the work of Fiona Apple, because this song is quite good.

This song is "Shadowboxer" by Finona Apple from her 1996 debut album Tidal.

Why Liberals Cling to Policies That Don't Work

The Other McCain brings us an analysis of why the Left keeps trying to replace things that work, with things that they believe sound good. The Worst People in the World (Part II)

You will never understand liberals until you read Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. However often I’ve recommended that book over the years, I occasionally feel the need to repeat the recommendation for the simple reason that Sowell demystifies what would otherwise be incomprehensible, i.e., the persistent tendency of the Left to make their own good intentions an argument for supporting policies that are objectively harmful to the very people that liberals claim to be “helping.”

I would like to point out that when those policies fail, the cognitive dissonance causes a lot of problems, usually ending in violence.

After touching on the Minneapolis anti-ICE protests, and dip into the history of 2014, and the Kaitlyn Hunt case, we get an analysis of some of the TDS around the American Men's Hockey victory at the Olympics. Click thru, it is entertaining. Except for the bits about how the Left believe their good intentions are not paving the road to hell.

Friday Links - 27 February

Don Surber starts things rolling with Alabama and Team USA defeat Canada

What really shocked Canadians is the realization that 49 of the 50 states are better off than Canada financially. They accept that America in whole has a better economy. What galls them is that those southern states are better off. The TDS crowd believes slavery is still alive in the SEC states.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Surprise: Charlotte’s First EV Fire Truck Not Working After One Month

If only someone had warned that doing this stuff was a Bad Idea

Lone Star Parson - Why Is Our Architecture So Hideous?

It's said with justice that a nation's architecture reflects its soul. A soul which is beautiful, good and true will build accordingly, see the great gothic cathedrals. A soul which is ugly, bad and false will create monstrosities.

Liberty Park Press - 4 Dead in WA Stabbing Rampage; Deputy Shoots Suspect

In a state where anti-gunners have been pushing increasingly restrictive gun control laws in recent years, the incident serves as a stark reminder that such laws do not prevent deadly crimes.

Clayton Cramer - You Can't Stop the Signal

Why not prohibit having the knowledge of how to machine he parts on a conventional mill?

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 25 February 2026: Spinning Wheel Edition

Speaking of Meta, an AI security research at that company running an experiment with OpenClaw - a local tool that connects to other AI systems and to your application - watched it happily delete all her emails, ignoring instructions to stop until she hit the reset button on her Mac. (Tech Crunch)

OpenClaw is also woefully insecure, so if you do set it up it's just as likely that someone will do that to you while you sleep.

The Other McCain - An Odd Sequel to the Bubba/‘Brittni’ Saga

The protest against Bryan Dawson was, in fact, an attempt to punish and silence 1819 News for publishing the truth about Bubba/“Brittini,” but the students also mentioned Dawson’s criminal record.

Impro Guns - ScroogeMc-10

Brazil of course.

Self-Defense Is Legal in Michigan

And DAs HATE that. Apparently. Man acquitted of murder in Grand Rapids shooting after self-defense claim

A man has been acquitted of murder for a confrontation that ended in a deadly shooting outside a Grand Rapids bar.

Now the defendant in the case is prohibited person, so he faces some weapons charges, which may explain why the DA thought he could win.

It started as bar fight between two groups. One group had been escorted to the exit by bar security. When the other group left the bar, the defendant had been punched in the head, leading to a self-defense shooting. There was video of the shooting.

Now it isn't self-defense because the shooter says it is. Perhaps the DA felt there were gray areas that a trial was justified, and perhaps the DA hates self-defense, thought he could "win" against a defendant with a prior conviction. DAs mostly don't like self-defense, though to be fair, I have no knowledge of Grand Rapids or what the DA is like.

Has AI Destroyed Privacy?

Probably. From The Register: LLMs killed the privacy star, we can't rewind, we've gone too far

Add privacy to the list of potential casualties caused by the proliferation of AI, because researchers have found that large language models (LLMs) can be used to deanonymize internet users – even those who use pseudonyms – more efficiently than human sleuths.

Click thru for the details.

The technique employed by the authors is not a universal privacy solvent – it's only successful some of the time. But it's successful often enough that those posting online under a pseudonymous account should not assume their identities will remain unknow

Probably enough that journalists or activists in questionable countries should be worried. And you can add United Kingdom to the list of countries that don't like freedom of speech.

Age verification schemes that being pushed in UK, Australia, and Europe are not about protecting children; they are about destroying privacy. The upcoming war on VPNs is about the same thing.

Putting Solar Panels on Your EV Won't Make It Free

I'm not sure why we are getting a story about the ability (or lack thereof) of solar to charge an EV battery, from a website that is mostly about entertainment technology, but I guess EVs are popular with the theater kids. From 3DVF: They thought solar panels would boost their electric car’s autonomy, but reality proves disappointing

Now don't get me wrong, with the right inverter, and several acres of solar panels, properly positioned, you could recharge your EV battery, or any other battery. If you limit yourself to solar panels you can put on a car, you won't be able to do much.

But believing that you can power an EV with the amount of solar panels you can deploy in that much space, is apparently something that the average theater kid believes.

Take the Hyundai Ioniq 5, for example. It sips energy at 17 kWh per 100 km, yet roof panels would need roughly 28 hours of peak sun to add about 80 km (a best-case calculation often floated by accessory makers like Solarstic). In real life, you may net closer to 15 km on a bright day.

The reason is simple: power. These systems typically max out near 1.2 kW under perfect alignment and temperature. That’s minuscule next to home charging or public DC points—on the order of 40x weaker than a modest 50 kW roadside charger. A full battery purely from rooftop solar would take days, not hours.

Here is a bit of the fine print, that doesn't get advertised when you buy solar panels. The rating for wattage is measure when the panel temperature is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Not the air temperature, but the panel temperature. These panels are typically black or dark blue, behind a protective coating. For every degree above 60, the efficiency - the power output - of the panel decreases. In anything but winter weather the panel temperature will be elevated. Think of putting your hand on a black car on a sunny August afternoon.

Another problem is shade. Depending on the type of panel you have, a small amount of shade on the panel, even a few percent, can significantly degrade the power output of the panel. I'm sure they've gotten better at this, but there is a reason that you install solar panels where there are no trees, and you keep them clean.

This is the MGUY Australia video The sheer STUPIDITY of "SOLAR cars"

I despair for the future of humanity if this is the level of scientific understanding that our education system is churning out.

I don't know if the EV car companies actually believed that they could achieve any level of charging by putting solar panels on a car, or if they just knew that most of the EV-car-buying public would be ignorant of the basic reality of the amount of solar panels required to get any noticeable charge.

The video is about 11 minutes.

Self-Defense Is Legal in Cincinnati

And the DA Hates that. Charges dropped in Fountain Square shooting after self-defense claim

This shooting took place in October of last year. It took until this week for a judge to dismiss the charges with prejudice. There was video of the incident.

Now, he was under "disability" meaning that he was not supposed to be in possession of a firearm.

He shot 2 people, who he claimed were about to shoot him. The DA charged him with felonious assault, and improper discharge of a firearm.

"The charges against my client were dismissed with prejudice because after reviewing the internal video from City Bird, it was crystal clear my client acted in self-defense," said Clyde Bennett, Ferguson's defense attorney. "This is what I said from the beginning that my client acted in self-defense."

Now any video reviewed by the judge in the case, was available to the District Attorney's office. But DAs, HATE self-defense, especially in Blue Cities like Cincinnati.

Fountain Square is in the heart of downtown Cincinnati.

The defendant faces other charges, so he is not out of the woods, but he won't face these charges.

And the Hamilton County DA not withstanding, self-defense is a human right, and might just be a legal right in Ohio.

British Cops Didn't Just Ignore Rape Gangs, They Trafficked British Girls

From Robert Semonsen at The Gateway Pundit we get a disturbing story out of the UK. Or perhaps I should say that it is more details on a disturbing story. New Report Claims UK Officers Drove Police Cars to Help Traffic Vulnerable British Girls to Pakistani Rape Gangs

A political firestorm has erupted in Britain after Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe, who also serves as the leader of the newly created Restore Britain party, released a statement detailing explosive testimony from an ongoing inquiry into organized child sexual exploitation.

The revelations, he warned, expose not only criminal migrant depravity but what he described as institutional failure on a breathtaking scale.

If you are unfamiliar with the Pakistani rape gangs that roamed the streets of England, I can recommend this post from 2020 from Daniel Greenfield (Sultan Knish): Call it a tale of two girls. And a tale of two Englands. It is a disturbing story of immigrants abusing British girls and the authorities covering it up (and aiding it) because to do otherwise would open said authorities up to accusations of racism and xenophobia. And while the Sultan Knish post talks of one victim, there were many. The image above is from this post, from 2022.

The statement further asserts that some members of law enforcement were not merely negligent but complicit in the heinous crimes against the innocent. The survivor alleges that certain police officers participated directly in the abuse and that money was exchanged openly.

What punishment is suitable for the rape gangs? What punishment is suitable for the cops?

Another Medical System Ransomware Attack

I'm old enough to remember when Obama told us that computerizing all of our medical records would make everything better. It may have had that impact overall, but it also introduced some side effects. Mississippi hospital system closes all clinics after ransomware attack

I haven't written about ransomware in some time. Not really a conscious decision, it just hasn't been bubbling to the top of my news feed. And for the most part, corporate C-suites have been sufficiently hit over the head to take security at least a bit seriously. But you apparently still can't tell doctors how to do they jobs, not even the part that are information technology related.

Ransomware attacks against public schools and agencies have proliferated in recent years. They have shutdown 911 dispatch functions and exposed sensitive student data, among other harms.

Doctors and lawyers don't take too well to being told what to do, though to be fair, I've never worked with or for doctors. Public schools are typically spending money on things that don't matter, and there is little to no fallout for the people who run them. (Can you fire a public school administrator? Probably easier than firing a public school teacher, but not easy.)

And this kind of ransomware attack has real world impacts.

Richard Bell, 55, drove three hours from his home in Oxford the medical center’s main campus in Jackson on Friday only to learn that he wouldn’t be able to get his bloodwork or chemotherapy treatment.

“It was all shut down,” Bell said. “It gets pretty frustrating.”

The FBI is involved, and the medical system is restoring (trying?) to restore.

The one thing I've noticed is that the press, even the tech press, almost never reports on how the system in question was compromised. Was it a phishing attack that someone fell for, or a technical defect in their security that was penetrated? Inquiring minds...

Wednesday Link Roundup - 25 February

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

Bunkerville has judge Sparkle.(Bunk OK?)
Bookworm Room has the Bookworm beat.
Don Surber has highlights of the week.

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 02.23.26

Cedar Sanderson: Emotion’s Thrall
Upstream Reviews: War Demons

EBL - The Chills: February

The Chills: February
AoSHQ: Morning Report 02.24.26

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 24 February 2026: Hardly Working Edition

Is age verification a trap? Yes. (IEEE Spectrum)
Online age verification intrinsically damages user privacy, while failing to work in both directions:

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Just Waiting for the Snow

RCW evaluates The Cost of Not Acting Against Iran. Capt. Ed at Hat Hair, 'Token' Nukes, Lobster Meals, 'Unbridgeable Impasse': Do Portents Point To An Iran Strike? Leslie Eastman at LI reports Trump is Forging the Mineral Alliance: U.S. to Form Trading Bloc to Counter China

The Glibertarians - Sunday Morning Capital Trek Links

This might disrupt our trip a bit…
Team Red’s version of the Washington Monument shutdowns. Stop pretending that there’s any difference between the Teams.

Political Hat - News of the Week (February 22nd, 2026)

You can jailbreak an F-35 just like an iPhone, says Dutch defense chief
No worries if the US doesn’t want to be friends with Europe anymore

Don Surber - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

ITEM 1: Hillary admitted she went to Epstein’s Island but only to talk to his girlfriend, not to meet the children.
In the 1970s, she said she only bought Playboy to read the articles.

Small Dead Animals - Tuesday On Turtle Island

The Democratic Party’s America: Transgender mass killings. Philip Haney. A win for Trump.
Conman Carney’s Canada: A Green Showcase. Barry Neufeld.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 2/21/2026

JPMorgan Chase acknowledged for the first time that it closed the bank accounts of President Donald Trump and several of his businesses in the political and legal aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, the latest development in a legal saga

Vlad Tepes - Much more than rage bait: A lot of meaningful events that define the times – Please see item 7 for a major spirit lift: Links post for February 24th, 2026

3. PLEASE READ this statement from the UK Rape gang inquiry. And then try and pretend it isn’t happening in other Western nations.

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkange

The Midwest Chick Saturday Meme Drop………….
Pirates Cove Was The Climate Scam A Massive Financial Scam?

Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links

New Mexico Launches Probe Into What Happened At Epstein's 'Zorro Ranch'
Donald Trump: worst fascist ever

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 02.24.26

CDR Salamander: The Russo-Ukrainian War Hits Four
Da Tech Guy: The Democrat Tom Hagen Math Congress & Canine (Or the “Dog that Didn’t Bark”) Edition

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 2/23/26

As Bugs Bunny would say: "Of course you realize, this means war!"
Nerdeen Kiswani Really Screwed The Pooch This Time

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: What Democrats Want Beyond Abolishing ICE

• Alabama and Team USA defeat Canada Don Surber
• A Day on the Underground Railroad, 1849 The Time Travel Series [$]

Vlad Tepes - News Briefs – 02/24/2026

And if you want your fourth Amendment rights, you need to give up your Second Amendment. I never grasped the degree to which gun control forces were not misguided lefties, but rather dictatorial tyrants.

I leave you with Sunday Funnies For 02-22-26 from Stately McDaniel Manor, Sunday Memes … from MaddMedic, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3431 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Sunday Meme Drop from Midwest Chick.

Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0

He suffered from a failure of the victim-selection process. Warrant issued for burglary suspect shot by New Castle homeowner

Michael Boice broke into a home in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

Boice, who was shot in the leg during the break-in, is still hospitalized in Ohio. Police say he will be extradited to Pennsylvania once discharged.

New Castle is about a 55 mile drive north of Pittsburgh, and about a 100 mile drive southeast of Cleveland. It is about a 15 or 20 mile drive east of Youngstown, Ohio.

No charges are expected for the homeowner, because, at least away from the Blue Cities in Pennsylvania, it seems that self-defense is legal, and it even seems to be catching on the cities.

AI Versus Hollywood

From American Greatness we get the first part of a consideration of the future of Hollywood and human actors. AI Killed the Hollywood Star (Part One): A ‘Sword-and-Sandal’ Epic Pitting Economy Against Creativity

There has been much written about AI and Hollywood. The Writer's Guild is considering another strike this year about the use of AI. (Because their last strike worked out so well, the total work being done in Hollywood is contracting like crazy.)

Ben Affleck is convinced that actors are safe from AI, though some of the technical aspects of filmmaking, such as special effects, will be impacted.

The reason, per Mr. Affleck, is the creative and collaborative aspect of art.

James Woods is sure that actors are NOT immune to being cut.

Mr. Woods, however, is very well-versed in the history of Hollywood. Simply, when creativity and economy clash, profits win. When viewed in this light, whereby AI is merely a tool to increase profits, the economy of the technology’s use is inescapable—for every aspect of production regarding on-screen entertainment, including actors.

And since James Woods has been blacklisted in Hollywood for Wrongthink, I believe his perspective is a bit clearer.

Go read the whole thing, it isn't very long. I'm looking forward to parts 2 and 3.

Chocolate Buttermilk

Social media can be OK as long as you avoid the insanity. It can be hard to do, but I try to concentrate, a least a bit, on the music and movie side of things. That's how I found this song, by way of X, and a regular song game.

I had heard of Kool & the Gang, of course, though I never was a fan of much of their music that was on the radio. This song was from an album released before their commercial success, which came in 1973, as near as I can tell from some quick research. I like it. It is more jazz than the stuff that was commercially successful.

This is "Chocolate Buttermilk" by Kool & the Gang from their 1969 debut album Kool and the Gang.

Tuesday Links - 24 February

The Register starts us off with a cautionary tale of AI. Amazon's vibe-coding tool Kiro reportedly vibed too hard and brought down AWS

Amazon's cloud platform suffered a 13-hour disruption affecting one service after resident engineers allowed Kiro to make changes, according to four sources who spoke to the Financial Times.

My Daily Kona - The Risk of Unrealized Tax Gain.

The "Cloud People" as I call them, don't want us owning anything, just resting and leasing. "You will own nothing and be happy" was something that Mao said as did Lenin and Marx. Of course they WILL own stuff.

Samizdata - The news has reached the Guardian

I am truly, non-sarcastically impressed that Ms Hinsliff and a few other left-wing commenters are now willing to admit that “there are likely to be consequences” to increasing the minimum wage. Hearing that word, “consequences”, enter left-wing discussions of workers’ pay is like a glimpse of a little mammalian form scurrying through the dust kicked up by a brontosaurus.

Echo Chamberlain - Progressive White Women Are Losing Cultural Capital

We had empowered girl boss characters on screen - and it didn’t work. The result wasn’t a brave new world in entertainment, but tedious Mary Sues, declining viewership and cultural fatigue.

The Other McCain - ‘Zizian’ Cult Member Gets Bailed Out

This isn’t too surprising During their initial hearing in Allegany County District Court last year, Blank’s case for release was clearly the most sympathetic.

Ed Driscoll at Instapundit - NO ONE IS ILLEGAL ON STOLEN LAND AND/OR IN STOLEN CARS!

Car thefts for thee, but not for me. Exit quote: “It is remarkable how quickly the traditional law enforcement model becomes essential when crime crosses the threshold of City Hall.”

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Was The Climate Scam A Massive Financial Scam?

Well, yeah. It was never about saving the climate, it was about spreading money around and implementing authoritarian government

Again from Ed Driscoll at Instapundit - WAS IT OVER WHEN JOHANNES VERMEER BOMBED PEARL HARBOR?

Senator Blutarsky approves this message!

OldAFSarge at Chant du Départ - To Fly, Or Not To Fly ...

It is, dear reader, almost time to head south again. The Missus Herself is off to California to visit LUSH for a fortnight leaving me, Your Humble Scribe, to once again fend for himself. As the invitation to visit The Nuke is always open, I decided to go there for a week, or so, rather than entertain myself at Chez Sarge.

Meep at STUMP - The Week in Meep: Shoveling Snow in New York, First Sunday of Lent, IKEA!

Warming up for the next snow dump, while some of the prior snow remains on the ground:

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Still Winning

Well, that went better than I thought it would. We played the Daytraders last Sunday and took two games out of three; we lost the opener to Vida Blue but won game 2 in extra innings on an RBI single by Tom Grieve, and in game three we pounded Larry Gura for 12 runs while holding the Daytraders scoreless.

Lone Star Parson - El Mencho Down

And dear punters, all three of you, have you cancelled your timeshares in Jalisco, walked back that all inclusive? Hope so, if not, shelter in place and hope the good guys catch up with you.

John Lott on Australia As a Defenseless Victim Zone

Topher Field is a Australian documentary film maker and libertarian political commentator. He also has a YouTube Channel.

John Lott is a researcher and author of the book More Guns, Less Crime.

These two had a conversation. This is an interesting, if brief (9 minute) excerpt of that meeting, about America's experience with armed self-defense. It is 9 minutes out of a conversation that lasted just over an hour. I have not listened to entire conversation, but I will try to get to that this week.

This is the Topher Field video What if everything you've been told is upside down? Topher Project Special with John Lott

95% of the time that people use guns defensively, they don't fire the gun. It's simply brandishing a gun is enough to cause the criminal to go break off the attack.

Of course those stories don't end up in the news, unless something "odd" happens, like the defender holds the attacker at gunpoint until police arrive. But mostly, there is no news story.

The extended conversation is The TRUTH about crime and G.u.n.s EXTENDED interview with John Lott Jr - Topher Project SPECIAL.

What's the Opposite of Diversity?

University. Survey: 1 in 4 Jewish students say they’ve been excluded from campus activities

One in 4 Jewish college students say they either felt or were excluded from a campus activity because of their Jewish identity, a new survey by the American Jewish Committee and Hillel International found.

The results add evidence to on-going concerns about rampant antisemitism on American college campuses.

Is anyone shocked that higher education is rampant with discrimination and hate? Read the whole thing.

Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit - WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SUCH A CESSPIT OF NAZISM?

Mercedes-Benz Electric SUVs Recalled

Sparky cars gonna spark. Mercedes-Benz Issues Recall for EQB Electric SUV over Fire Risk

Mercedes-Benz ordered a recall for 12,236 EQB electric SUVs, which could catch fire due to an issue within the high-voltage battery system. According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

That will be expensive for each car, but I have no idea if that is a large number compared to the number sold, or if many more were sold, but only a subset were impacted.

The documents also state that any EQBs not included in the recall are already equipped with more robust batteries.

In the time before the replacement, owners are told to park outdoors, away from structures and other vehicles.

Of course the letters notifiying people which SUVs are affected won't go out until Friday the 27th, and the fix won't be available until April.

It's A Sin

Ghost is an interesting band. They go out of their way to provoke people with their theatrics. Quite a bit of their music has been reminding me of 1980s music lately, and today we have a cover from '89.

It might not fit Metal for Mondays exactly, but since I make the rules...

This song is "It's A Sin" by Ghost. It was released as a single on January 16th. It was originally a song by Pet Shop Boys from 1989.

Violence Spreads Across Mexico

From the New York Post: Deadly violence in Mexico spreads after cartel boss is killed — as Americans warned to shelter in place

The deadly violence sparked by the military killing of an infamous cartel leader has now spread widely across Mexico, as American citizens near the border were warned to shelter in place.

At least 20 of Mexico’s 31 states have seen violent clashes in the wake of the death of the country’s most wanted man, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Who had "Mexico Collapses" on their 2026 bingo card? Or would this be redundant?

Shootout in Chicago Ends With Man Dead, Concealed-Carry Holder Injured

Being armed in your own defense is not a guarantee of safety, but I still believe it to be a good strategy for dealing with violent encounters. Shootout near Bridgeview pool hall leaves man dead, concealed-carry holder wounded - Chicago Sun-Times

A group of people were playing inside the pool hall about 2 a.m. when another group walked in, Mancha said through a spokesman, citing preliminary information.

When the first group left about 10 minutes later, the second group followed them outside and “words were exchanged,” Mancha said.

Bridgeview, Illinois is a village in Cook County that is about 15 miles southwest of the Loop.

One guy attacked. One guy defended. Though it will be a while before the State's Attorney makes any decision on charges.

Beware Age Verification Schemes

Give your name, government ID, a photo, and other info to a phone app. What could possibly go wrong? From Anthony Spadafora at Tom's Guide: 1 billion personal records exposed in massive new data leak — full names, addresses, phone numbers and more

The company IDMerit uses an AI system to verify your age for various reasons. All well and good, except that they had a complete lack of security. Or maybe not complete, but certainly not enough security.

No, this wasn’t a data breach, and hackers weren’t involved in any way whatsoever. Instead, this was a data leak discovered by the team at Cybernews, where a company accidentally left all of those records unprotected online without a password.

Based on its findings, Cybernews believes the exposed database in question belongs to IDMerit, which is a digital identity verification solutions provider. The personal data in that database was used by other companies to verify users in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Mexico and loads of other countries.

Click thru for the details. The data includes enough to facilitate phishing campaigns, or account takeovers of cellphone accounts. Or more.

Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Paul Gosar Seek to End Big Pharma Giveaway

Was this downplayed in the media cycle, and I just didn't see it, or has it been buried by the media? Sen. Rand Paul announces legislation to end liability shield for vaccine manufacturers

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul announced legislation that would remove liability shields from civil claims for vaccine manufacturers.

The “End the Vaccine Carveout Act” was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Paul and cosponsored by Utah Sen. Mike Lee. The act was introduced in the House by Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar.

It is crazy to me that Big Pharma can release poorly-tested poison, and not face any repercussions. But that is Washington DC. This is especially true when you realize that they changed the definition of vaccine so that the COVID jab was covered by the liability shield.

“If a drug hurts someone, you can sue the company in court. You can hold them responsible through the normal legal process,” Sen. Paul said in a press release. “But when it comes to vaccines, and in many cases the COVID vaccine, the rules are rigged: you’re funneled into a federal no-fault program that limits damages, restricts your options, and — in many cases — leaves people without real justice. That’s cronyism."

You can easily send an email to your representative in the House of Representatives at House.gov, by typing your zip code into the search bar in the top right of the page, or to your senators at Senate.gov, by searching for your state. You can do this in under 5 minutes if you copy/paste the same message to everyone.

Death of Mexican Drug Lord Causes Chaos

People have been saying Mexico is a failed state for a while. Seems like maybe there is some point to that statement. Flight cancellations follow chaos at Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara airports

That headline is fairly tame, given the stuff on social media.

Flights to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara airports have been disrupted after Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, commonly known as "El Mencho," was killed in a military raid. [SNIP]

Videos circulating on social media show panic at Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara airports in Mexico, with travelers dropping their luggage and running through the airport to take shelter behind chairs and flight desks. Photos and videos also show plumes of smoke swirling throughout the city of Puerto Vallarta, a major city in Jalisco.

Here is one example from X/Twitter:

Puerto Vallarta is a war-zone, many Canadians and tourists are trapped in their resorts and villas as CJNG cartel and security forces battle on the streets. pic.twitter.com/kLqNwjCjiZ

— Toronto Crime Watch (@CrimewatchTO) February 22, 2026

Great place for a vacation.