This is a song I found by way of social media. I really like it. But as a result of the social media link, I know nothing about the artist. That will change in the future.
This song is "Quiet Fire" by Melody Gardot from her 2006 album Worrisome Heart
This came to me by way of the Sensei of Sarcasm Song Game.
His [Michael Jochum] blood pressure must be through the roof or probably he has already suffered a stroke.
William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Your Fault: Hotcoldwetdry Increase Gun Violence Or Something
No matter the issue the cult of climastrology will link itself
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 24 October 2026: Twelfth Of Never Edition
Speaking of things that nobody knows how to do a trailer has leaked for Mass Effect 4. (WCCFTech)
It had been in early development at BioWare when the storied company was shut down... In "early" development for six years.
Meep at Stump - RIP, Walter Koenig, age 90: On Natural v. “Unnatural” Causes of Death by Age
26 Oct 2026, Hollywood Reporter: Walter Koenig, the Russian Crewman Chekov on ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 90
Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Better Than Nothing
Another dreadful week for Senators fans, as we managed to win exactly two games, one from the Brewers and the other from the Angels. We are now 22-41, five games behind the fourth-place Brewers and 10.5 games behind the division-leading Red Sox.
Paul Vallas at Chicago Contrarian - Chicago’s “Fair Share Budget” Is Just More Brandon Johnson Gamesmanship.
If the mayor's 2027 budget version passes, Johnson would have raised annual taxes $1.3 billion, while his school board has raised property taxes another $857 million. These increases fall on residents and businesses regardless on income
Again from Wombat-socho - Rule 5 Sunday: Casual Friday Redux
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.
The Silicon Graybeard - 'More missions, more often' - NASA on selecting science missions
NASA is talking about overhauling how it selects and develops science missions, in an effort to reduce costs, and increase the pace of missions.
Gee, who'da thunk it? The Trace: Guns Are Toxic!
They have a "statistical study" to prove it. Or something.
The Trace wants gun owners to think about one word after leaving the range: toxic.
Dramatic framing? Sure. Completely invented? No.
For those of you not paying attention, The Trace was founded with money from Bloomberg, and is basically the media arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, which also has ties to Bloomberg. How do you spell "bias?"
Guns do produce toxic fumes. Some lead if you are using lead bullets. It is worse if you are shooting in an indoor range than if you are outdoors. You should wash your hands, but you should do that anyway.
The Trace is worried about, wait for it ..., the children.
The report estimates that roughly six million American children live in households where someone shoots lead-based ammunition but practices no post-shooting hygiene.
That number sounds alarming. However, it needs some important context.
They did not survey 6 million households. They reference a survey. (never talk to surveyors about your firearms.) Based on the answers they got they made some guesses.
The survey did appear in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, but that doesn't mean any inference from the survey will hold up to scrutiny.
Here is the critical distinction: The study did not test six million children.
It did not collect blood samples from the children, measure lead dust inside their homes or determine whether any particular range trip caused harmful exposure.
Read the whole thing; it isn't long. Hat tip to MaddMedic at Freedom Is Just Another Word…
On the subject of firearm-related surveys: If some rando opinion surveyor asks you if you own firearms, the only correct answer is "No." Or "Of course not; I'm insulted." Or something to that effect.
From Light Over Heat with Professor David Yamane we get an interesting map. Watch the Concealed Carry Revolution Unfold in 52 Seconds
In 1979 only Washington State had a Shall Issue concealed carry law, and Vermont never restricted concealed carry.
Indiana switched to Shall Issue in 1980. Florida followed in 1987.
[Florida] didn’t create shall issue, but it opened the floodgates. Look at how quickly the map turns blue through the late 1980s and 1990s.
The holdouts, the Bruen decision from SCOTUS in 2022. And the Constitutional Carry wave.
Alaska went that way in 2003, and today there are 29 states.
Using the map. If you teach, present or write about guns in America, you’re welcome to use it, but please credit: David Yamane, Gun Culture 2.0.
Some of useful definitions.
- Restricted (red): concealed carry was banned outright or permitted at officials’ discretion (“no issue” or “may issue”).
- Shall issue (blue): officials must issue a permit to any applicant who meets the statutory requirements.
- Permitless carry (green): anyone who can legally possess a handgun can carry it concealed in public without a permit.
I was going to take issue with the "restricted" definition, but after consideration I think it is the right breakdown. It meant you had to be someone special to get a CCW license in those states, which meant, for the average person, no issue.
OK, so absolutely no one is shocked that the BBC has a liberal bias. BBC education website used by millions takes down Leftist views after pushing 'extreme views' on migration and Net Zero | Daily Mail Online
The BBC has removed 'Left-wing' material from its education website that pushed 'extreme' views on migration and Net Zero after an exposé by The Mail on Sunday.
The corporation was last week accused of 'brainwashing' children after we revealed how BBC Bitesize encouraged them to play an online game in which they were rewarded for choosing 'open borders' and giving an amnesty to illegal migrants.
Click thru for details.
Zakk Wylde was the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, but they had a falling out in the middle 1990s, and so Wylde struck out in on his own. Black Label Society started as a solo project, but eventually morphed into a band.
This is "Name In Blood" by Black Label Society & Zakk Wylde from the 2026 album Engines of Demolition
Use whatever is at hand. Weedwacker-wielding Amish woman fends off alleged kidnapper - NewsBreak
Lancaster Online reports that on the afternoon of Oct. 14, a 23-year-old woman was working in her yard with a motorized weed trimmer when Junior Jose Davila-Moran allegedly approached her, holding a pair of handcuffs and a serrated knife. He allegedly demanded that she put on the handcuffs, and the victim then screamed and stepped forward with the weed trimmer. Davila-Moran allegedly fled the scene.
The bad guy was apprehended by cops a few days later, with the handcuffs still in his truck.
"Don't bring a knife to a weedwacker fight," is just wrong, so I didn't use that as a title.
Deep state? What deep state? Miranda Devine: FBI agents finally facing accountability after trying to smother the Hunter Biden corruption scandal
I'm shocked - shocked I tell you! - to discover that the FBI is a lying bunch of liars.
Two of the FBI agents most closely identified with the FBI’s politicized operation to smother the Hunter Biden corruption scandal are facing their first taste of accountability.
Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides were charged Friday with allegedly lying to Congress about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Because admitting that Hunter Biden was involved in a bunch of things most people would consider "unsavory" at best, and criminal at worst.
Benavides had known since as early as March 2019 about allegations that Hunter Biden had received millions of dollars from foreign entities when his father was vice president.
He was one of four FBI agents sent to Brussels to interview Gal Luft, the Israeli-American professor who tipped off the FBI that Hunter and his uncle Jim Biden were receiving corrupt payments from Chinese energy company CEFC.
Deep state. Shadow government. You say tomato ...
A few weeks after that briefing, Floris confided to a colleague: “I’m basically running a shadow government across the FBI,” as revealed in a recently declassified internal FBI chat from Sept. 25, 2020.
Read the whole thing. Your tax dollars at work, destroying the democracy.
The old guard of the Conservatives are so out of touch, they will die, rather than be rude. Some on our side still do not get it - by Miguel Gonzalez
Involved in an argument in Facebook about the quality of political ads by some Republican candidates that apparently have made some people aghast because they feel they denigrate the “conversation” and are not respectful. They are believers of the concept of a moral high ground that is somehow bulletproof and will triumph above the wishes of the other side, but we must play by proper and polite rules.
I almost said Republicans, but it is not limited to the US. It is why Paris, or all of France, is burning down right now. We can't oppose these policies of destruction, or people will call us names. Yeah, we are past the point of being polite.
Click thru for the image, if nothing else. (Page down.)
Robert Stacy McCain is back with Fake Polls, Real Bias: ‘Shaping the Narrative’ and the Bandwagon Effect
Excuse my long absence from the blog, but I have a day job that keeps me quite busy this time of year. Anyway, I was amused this week by the shocking revelation that fake pollsters were able to get away with their fakery, being cited as reliable by the New York Times and other media outlets.
Wedgewood Polls published fake data, which was then repeated in the New York Times. They were finally ratted out by FiftyPlusOne.
That follows on the heels of an earlier revelation, in August, that another polling company, Median Strategies, was similarly bogus.
It seems that if you tell the Left and the media (but I repeat myself) what they want to hear, and pretend to be an authority, they will swallow whatever you say down whole. My father would have said, "Hook, line, and sinker."
Leveraging the “bandwagon effect” is a fundamental aspect of political bias in the news media. This is true not just in terms of election “horse-race” coverage, but also in shaping which political causes and social issues are considered popular or important. The difference between “fringe” concerns and the social/political “mainstream” is, to a great degree, dependent upon the choices made by the editors of the New York Times and the producers of major network news programs.
I would include the late-night comedy (so called) hosts. Could this be why the Left is so outraged at the impending changes at CNN? Because I don't know anyone younger than myself who still watches network news.
The gold nugget:
The polls may be fake, but the bias is real.
There is more.
The Battle of Agincourt took place 25 October 1415.
The English army, led by King Henry V, famously achieved victory in spite of the numerical superiority of its opponent. The battle repeated other English successes in the Hundred Years’ War.
It was commemorated in the Shakespeare play Henry V.
There are several movie versions of Henry V, including ones staring Kenneth Branagh, and Laurence Olivier. One of my favorite versions of the Band of Brothers speech is from the 1994 movie Renaissance Man.
This is the transcript of Congressional testimony. A COUNTRY WITHOUT BORDERS: HOW BIDEN-HARRIS' OPEN-BORDERS POLICIES HAVE UNDERMINED OUR SAFETY AND SECURITY
What follows is from the Congressional testimony by former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott.
Border Patrol zones across Texas, Arizona, and California had no agent presence for weeks and months at a time. Those who did not want to be caught could simply walk in. We have no idea who and what entered our country over this time.
The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) gets the hat tip with During the Biden Administration, 80, 90 percent, sometimes 100 percent of the border agents pulled away from guarding the border
Too little too late? Maybe. French police fire tear gas during fresh protests
Police fired tear gas at protesters in Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier and Nantes, hours after Interior Minister Laurent Nunez warned: "We will not tolerate any violence or any disturbance of public order."
Riots are also breaking out in Marseille. Watch: French police deploy armoured vehicles in Paris and Marseille
In Paris, an armoured vehicle was stationed behind the National Assembly, while in Marseille, security forces patrolled the streets alongside armoured vehicles and a water cannon.
I don't believe that the Leftist governments in Europe can really stop the fall.
Meep at STUMP has the rundown. Current Round-up on the California Wealth Tax
The subtitle is pure gold.
“We’d like to take your money ONLY ONE time... HEY WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”
As for the tax.
As Election Day nears, and the dreams of various “our stupid wealth tax will get to fail in real time!” policy people cannot think farther than one reporting period, let’s see what various people are reporting and saying…
Go take a look.
The Right Way is up first with Top of the News
Trump Weighs Next Move Against Iran: ‘The Nice Way or the Not Nice Way’ - Briebart News
Cupertino - Evi. L Bloggerlady
Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 10.22.26 (Early Morning Edition)
Don Surber: Actually, it is rocket science, Canada
STUMP: Quick Graph – Credit Scores & Mortality By State,
EBL - Ohio Democrat Amy Action is a liar (ask her mom)
Hot Air: Amy Action Mom Video (My Daughter Is A Liar)
The video of Amy Action being drunk does not help.
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 22 October 2026: PHPeed Edition
Electronic Arts finally drove a stake through the chest of the shambling corpse of BioWare. (WCCFTech)
The company's last unreservedly good game came out in 2010.
Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For October 23, 2026
Are Democratic operatives looking to stage a color revolution over the midterms?
“A top Virginia Democrat is facing charges in connection with an alleged bribery, marijuana distribution, and money laundering scheme.
Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 10.22.26 (Evening Edition)
CDR Salamander: Royal Navy Submarine Legacy’s Sad Deathbed
Dana Loesch: That Ramaswamy Ad
Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island
The Democratic Party’s America: Victor Davis Hanson – Will it happen in America and the midterms. Mamdani sides with criminal.
Conman Carney’s Canada: Dispel misconceptions. Struggle session. Carney’s Senate.
Gates of Vienna - News Feed 10/22/2026
Former Google Executive Warns Public to Prepare for Coming ‘AI Dystopia’
A former senior Google executive is warning that humanity is approaching a coming AI-driven “dystopia” that is expected to begin in 2027 and last as long as 15 years
Political Hat - Quick Takes – Academic Praxis: Special Ed. Equity Audit; DEI Renamed; Trashing YAF
Now wokeness is coming for the most vulnerable and innocent amongst us.
Can’t push “anti-racist pedagogies” without DEI? Just use DEI under a different name!
Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 10.23.26
Upstream Reviews: Dead By Dawn
John C. Wright: Debating The Third Amendment
The Glibertarians - Wednesday Morning Links
He knew this would happen. It was all performative nonsense.
This was a bold strategy. Fortunately it did not ultimately pay off for him.
A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Did Ilhan Omar Flunk Her DNA Test?
Sundance hosts President Trump Holding an Oval Office Press Conference Following Announcement from Fraud Taskforce. Ace, Trump Creates $25 Million Fund to Pay Bounties to Whistleblowers Who Alert the Government of Fraud
Maggie's Farm - Thursday morning links
What's up with United Airlines?
Gullible Leftists Receive a Very Rude Awakening After Fleeing Trump’s America for a Life in ‘Progressive’ Europe
J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 10/21 /26
It’s an historic flag of the Islamic conquest of Christians and Jews.
Why Rioters Wave the ‘Palestinian’ Flag
Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Soros & Gates-Backed Activists Are Already Training For A Contested Election
The Crime and Immigration Numbers Europe and Democrats Refuse to Count Vaughn Cordle, - CFA
Destination: Color Revolution - David Strom
I leave you with Midweek Memes from Granite Grok, Bookworm Beat 10/23/26: The “Is Paris burning and is Ilhan squirming?” meme edition from Bookworm Room, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #4320 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Friday night's gifs from Wirecutter.
A school shooting that was stopped by an armed citizen. Bend school shooting: Hundreds of Bend residents apply for concealed handgun licenses following deadly shooting at Silver Rail Elementary
The Left and the media (but I repeat myself) always say that a good guy with a gun never does anything. But we have had two very high-profile cases recently, and one was in their part of Oregon.
Hundreds of Deschutes County residents have applied to obtain a concealed handgun license since a Bend resident gunned down a 16-year-old shooter at Silver Rail Elementary School last week.
The Left will be distressed.
Aside from the Oregon school shooting, there has been the In-N-Out Burger shooting.
What could possibly go wrong? AI Agents Are Accessing U.S. Bank Accounts Without Their Approval. Lenders Are Pushing Back. | IBTimes
Some automated assistants appear to be taking actions beyond users' instructions, prompting questions about account security and who bears responsibility when something goes wrong.
You can't have it both ways. You can't let a random AI agent access your financial accounts and then claim you are not responsible if anything goes wrong.
In the JPMorganChase third-quarter earnings transcript, Dimon also raised concerns about liability when customers rely on AI tools that subsequently misuse their information.
Translation: We know the hackers are chomping at the bit to be able to do funds transfer. Oh, you think the hackers won't take over AI? You haven't been paying attention. (Who do you think built the internet? Al Gore?)
Some of the more technical articles on this topic have mentioned that the banks are considering a read-only approach to letting AI have access to bank accounts. That would let the AI summarize the state of finances without risking "rouge actions."
I have trouble seeing why I would want an AI to look at my checking or credit card statements, though I guess you could ask it to forecast your expenses for the coming quarter, based on the prior quarter.
Ayron Jones is a singer-songwriter I stumbled across recently. It is hard to describe his music. I've seen one article say he sounds like a 1970s rocker. And elements of that are true, but he also draws on musical genres like Grunge, which is definitely not '70s.
Being a guitarist from the Pacific Northwest, he does get compared to Hendrix. I haven't heard enough of his music to say, but I think Hendrix was a better guitarist, and Jones is the better songwriter.
This song is "Blood In The Water" by Ayron Jones from his 2023 album Chronicles Of The Kid.
Real life™ has once again called my name, in a shrill, unyielding voice. That's why we have an abbreviated links today. I hope everyone has a good weekend.
William Teach at Pirate's Cove is up first with BTW, The French Riots Are Your Fault
Finding a way to link anything that happens to the climate cult is rather culty.
Lone Star Parson - Karma Strikes The Wood Cricket
"Karma's a bitch my little wood cricket," writes Gad Saad as a lib white woman cries out in shock and disbelief as the ferals she's supported in Paris loot her boutique. Suicidal empathy? That's part of it.
The Gun Writer - Europe on fire proves the value of our Second Amendment
As arsonists, rioters and looters swarmed the streets of Paris Sunday night, French police were completely ineffective and President Emmanuel Macron and his wife were off attending a concert, which featured Céline Dion.
LDS Gunsite - Beirut and Remembrances
Remember the Beirut bombing! On 23rd of October 1983 305 servicemen of the U.S. and France, and civilians, were killed when a vehicle with a 21,000-pound TNT bomb ran into their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
We need to remember these cowardly acts and the brave men and women who defend us!
Again from William Teach - Weird: LA Non-profit Took Lots Of Taxpayer Money And Failed To Spend It
It’s almost like it is a horrendous idea to give tons of taxpayer money to private entities with zero oversight, who basically just enrich themselves.
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 21 October 2026: 4 Edition
A Canadian expert in ransomware negotiations who recently wrote a book recommending you should always talk to the people holding you to ransom was allegedly in cahoots with the ransomers. (Krebs on Security)
And is now in FBI custody.
The Silicon Graybeard - Europe's first reusable spacecraft has a major "oops!"
Europe has been working for some time on a spacecraft called Space Rider designed to be reused. The European Space Agency (ESA) performed a drop test back on October 6 intended to test out its parachute system, and it failed. Badly.
Smaller than the bad guy? A firearm means that is not an issue. From WXYZ in Detroit: Prosecutors won't charge Dearborn woman who shot man inside shoe store
Three days after the shooting, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said it will not charge the woman who fired the shots, saying there is not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was not acting in self-defense or in defense of someone else.
That is because it sounds like she was acting in defense of someone else. (Is the DA disappointed he can't prosecute, or is that the Professional Journalist™ who is disappointed?)
Security video released by Dearborn Police shows the chaotic moments inside the store. The footage shows a woman in a pink jacket entering with her 36-year-old boyfriend, who is wearing a gray track suit.
After the boyfriend greets a man who appears to be a shopper, a man in blue attacks the boyfriend. That's when the woman can be seen taking a firearm out of her purse and pulling the trigger.
The guy who got shot is in critical condition.
In the face of video evidence, the DA apparently concluded he could not win. Not that a prosecution would not be justice. DAs, for the most part, care about winning, not Justice.
Hat tip to The Daily Caller and Woman With Carry Permit Turns Tables On Thug Beating Up Her Boyfriend
This is (I believe) the 2nd fatal alligator attack in 2026. 71-year-old man dies after alligator attack in Florida - WPBF
A 71-year-old man was killed while fishing in Winter Garden after being attacked by a nearly 12-foot alligator, police said.
I'm no expert on alligators, but this strikes me as an unusual attack for October.
The other attack was 28 June of this year when Brittany Clark was killed while swimming in the Econlockhatchee River at Little Big Econ State Forest.
This attack took place in Winter Garden, Florida, which is about 10 miles west of Orlando.
The victim, who was identified by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as Steven Hamilton from Winter Park, was killed at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park.
He was apparently standing on the bank, fishing when he was attacked, and pulled underwater. He was submerged for about an hour.
The alligator was killed. Another report said the alligator was relocated, but I think that was to soften things for the tourist trade.
If you're in Florida, and there is fresh water, even if it is a puddle, or a car wash, there is a distinct possibility that water contains a gator.
My first question is, "Why are 48 years of data online?" UK Legal Aid Agency: Hackers stole records dating back to 1978
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA), an executive agency of the UK's Ministry of Justice that manages the country's Public Defender Service, says attackers who breached its IT systems in April 2025 stole records dating back to 1978.
The agency employs around 1,250 staff, oversees billions in legal funding, and works with approximately 2,000 providers, including barristers, solicitor firms, and non-profit organizations that deliver civil and criminal legal aid services in England and Wales.
Apparently to billions of pounds of funding doesn't include much for security. It never does.
The hack included payment information for service providers, and a bunch of more generic information on providers are recipients of legal help.
But back the 48 years. How often does case information from 25 years ago, or more, actually NEEDED? Why couldn't it be in an offline system and requested?
I suppose someone thought that they went to all that trouble to computerize the data from 1978, it should all be in one big heap. Makes it "easy to ask questions."
But then I worked on systems that did exactly that, because storage space was expensive, back in the day.‡
And the wheel turns.
This week, the UK Housing Ombudsman Service, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing that settles disputes between social housing residents and social landlords in England, disclosed that it is investigating a third-party IT security incident that impacted its case management system.
Someday government and commercial organizations will take security seriously. Until that time we all need to deal with the fact that drivers license info has been hacked, credit cards, emails, etc. It used to be that the company or organization in question would give you one year of credit monitoring, but they don't even do that anymore. Too bad. So sad. Hope you have a lot of luck in the future.
‡ When I started working in tech, IBM was selling disk drives that cost 6 figures, were about the size of an average refrigerator, and held every bit of 9 gigabytes. Nine. Gigabytes.
You can never be sure in a Blue State. Benton County Prosecutor's Office says Prosser shooting suspect acted in self-defense
A man who was being held on suspicion of murder after a shooting that fatally wounded his brother was acting in self-defense and is being released from custody on an investigative hold, Benton County Prosecutor’s Office officials said.
Prosser, Washington, is approximately 100 miles east-northeast of Portland, Oregon.
The bad news is that the guy they initially arrested, was held in jail. The good news is that they only held him for 2 or 3 days (I can't tell from the article), before a review of the evidence said it was probably self-defense.
Benton County Prosecutor's Office investigators said further review and follow-up by law enforcement and prosecutors suggests Escobar acted in self-defense when he shot Salazar. Deputies said Salazar had engaged in threatening behavior before the fight, had continued threatening behavior after returning from a mental health crisis at a hospital, and approached Escobar in a threatening manner before the shooting.
Self-defense is a human right, and it might even be your legal right in a blue state.
Stephen Green at PJ Media asks Where Are the Gendarmes?
I've seen France's Gendarmerie Nationale up close and in person, and since I just looked up the French equivalent of tough hombres, they're the des durs à cuire you don't want to mess with.
It's almost as if the powers that be want chaos in the streets.
Lone Star Parson said it more plainly in Marking Time.
How long d'ye think the State would've taken to knock that protest down if they'd decided to engage? In about 10 minutes, but they didn't. What does this suggest?
Time to buy more ammo.
The mainstream entertainment press can't hide what is happening. From Variety: California Tried to Jumpstart the Film Economy. Production Keeps Falling.
The state of California and the City of Los Angeles have tried to work around the margins, but the film industry in California isn't hurting because of the margins. Production levels in LA dropped 3.7% in the third quarter, despite the efforts.
California’s $750 million bet on Hollywood has not reversed the overall decline in production, according to data released Wednesday by FilmLA.
Instead, production levels fell 3.7% in the third quarter — even as the share of projects receiving state subsidies continued to rise. Location shoots remain well below the five-year average.
And why would productions film in LA? Los Angeles was once a beautiful town. Today it is plagued by homelessness. From Christian Toto at Hollywood in Toto: New Films Give L.A.’s Homeless Crisis a Shocking Closeup
'Animals, 'Misty Green' can't hide what Democrats have done to city
The homeless are plagued by drug addiction, mental illness, and the violence that accompanies those two things.
How can you work under those conditions? Why would you want to?
Both of these articles make mention of the film credits that the state has on offer, but California is not the only state offering credits, to say nothing of places like the United Kingdom.
Things will need to get a lot worse in California, before they even recognize that they have a problem requiring more than tinkering around the margins.
William Teach at Pirate's Cove starts things rolling with Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup
Theo Spark has Minnesomalia.
Victory Girls Blog has Sunday morning cafe cocktails linkage.
Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 10.19.26
The Bugscuffle Gazette: Because I like it complicated
Born Lucky: Michael Tracey – Hero For A Crazy Time
EBL - Thaddeus Kosciuszko Polka
Thaddeus Kosciuszko Polka
18 October 1776 : Tadeusz Kościuszko get a commission in the American Continental Army
A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - France on Fire
Sundance sees Riots, Looting and Arson Erupt in France with Chaos across Urban Regions in Western Europe. Dr. Eli David @DrEliDavid, "As France is burning, I keep thinking of what the UAE Foreign Minister said a few years ago He accurately predicted this."
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 20 October 2026: Filthy Commie Edition
Elon Musk meanwhile plans to give a share in SpaceX to every child in America. (CNN)
Some of whom aren't communists or at least could grow out of it.
Small Dead Animals - Sunday On Turtle Island
The Democratic Party’s America: Victor Davis Hanson – A one-way street. Trump makes a phone call. A book review. Something to worry about. California fraud.
Mohammed Carney’s Canada: Crying in cabinet. Book review. Jason Kenney.
Political Hat - News of the Week (October 18th, 2026)
The Senate Is Breaking Closer
The headline Senate races have tightened, and the battlefield has widened. That means there is hope, but also a lot more peril, for Republicans.
The Glibertarians - Saturday evening Links
I’m pretty much done with this twerp. Go beg to the EU.
Speaking of the EU, Europe appears to be heading into the Find Out phase.
Don Surber - Highlights of the week
ITEM 13: Vote Hub still gives Republicans a 16% chance of keeping the House.
Democrats need to win just 3 seats.
1. Eric Zemmour is in a rare class along with Geert Wilders. Someone who is not Muslim, and manages to speak the truth about Islam and related issues publicly and still has a pulse.
Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links
Make Lightbulbs Great — And Safe — Again
Elon Musk exuberantly introduces flying cars
Federal Agents Are Searching Ilhan Omar's Trash. Something Else Might Be Going On
J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 10/20 /26
This is about people who want to destroy the West.
America Is Watching Its Own Future Unfold
Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Extreme Makeover: Democracy Edition
Macron Orders Curfew in Primary Tourist Regions of Paris to Stop Discussion of Riots, Arson and Looting CTH
This Is Perhaps The Most Dystopian Thing Ever... Tyler Durden
I leave you with Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Sunday’s Meme Drop 10-18-26 from Midwest Chick's Place, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #4312 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Monday Memes from Granite Grok.
What would you do if someone broke into your home, after pounding on your door at roughly 5:30 in the morning? Sheriff: Homeowner fatally shoots man after crash, vandalism and break-in | KTBS
Sheriff Jayson Parker of Webster Parish, had some strong words on self-defense.
Our citizens have a right to defend themselves in their own home.
It started when the guy who got shot attacked a woman, who was driving, causing her to crash. He then went to trailer park and broke into a home. It was described as starting as a domestic incident.
According to Parker, McFarland went to a nearby mobile home and began banging on the door. When no one answered, he went around to the back of the home, stood on an air-conditioning unit and cut through a window screen to get inside.
He smashed 2 car windows on his trip around the home.
The homeowner was armed and waiting for him when he entered through the window. The homeowner fired multiple times. The injuries were fatal.
An investigation is ongoing, but no charges are expected to be filed against the homeowner.
That is because this didn't happen in New Jersey.
Minden, Louisiana, is about 25 miles east of Shreveport, or about 195 miles east of Dallas, Texas.
Self-defense is a human right.
At least they have admitted that they have a problem. How Can This Be Real? | ZeroHedge
The Home Office in the United Kingdom is now handing asylum seekers a nine-page booklet and posters spelling out that rape is illegal, sex with children is a crime, women are equal to men, and you cannot mutilate girls' genitals.
What could possibly go wrong?
There are few links to X, and even the media in the UK is flabbergasted. Well, some of the media.
When Papa Roach released their breakout single, "Last Resort," in 2000, they were on the radio constantly. Then I sort of lost track of them, and then I stopped relying on the radio for my music, and I really lost track of them. It turns out they are still making music, and some of it is good.
Today's song is nothing like "Last Resort," however. (I'm not sure if I don't like "Last Resort," or I'm still sick of how much it was on the radio.)
Here is a link to the lyrics, though I don't think you will need them.
This song is "Leave a Light On (Talk Away The Dark)" by Papa Roach from the 2022 album Ego Trip. It was released as a single from that album in late 2024.
Allegedly. Wouldn't want to imply that I think cops are always the bad guys. Officers in North Carolina allegedly competed to pull over the most Black drivers, report says
A state investigation into the misuse of Flock Safety license plate reader cameras"uncovered text messages in which Charlotte police officers competed to pull over the most Black drivers, WBTV reported.
At least six officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were recommended to be fired or to resign after the messages were discovered, according to the CBS affiliate in Charlotte. In a statement to the station, the department neither confirmed nor denied the details.
This state of affairs was discovered when another officer, or one of these, was investigated for using Flock to help a friend who ended up on the wrong side of a drug investigation.
The details can be found in the video below. One of the details is that the racist (allegedly) behavior of the cops involved goes back a decade.
This is the Liberty Doll video EXPOSED: Cops Held Contest to Target Black Drivers
WSOC has an article from after the production of the Liberty Doll video. CMPD releases names of seven officers linked to racist text messages
Channel 9 first reported on the controversial messages last week, and CMPD Chief Estella Patterson said in a news conference that several of the officers had already resigned. She said all of the officers involved were cited for termination, and she was working to revoke their police licenses in the state.
And as bigots are almost never limited in their views...
CMPD Chief Estella Patterson revealed in last week’s news conference that the text messages dated back several years, and they included racist, sexist, and religiously biased messages.
Is anyone shocked?
Mike Rowe is up first with More than ‘Dirty Jobs:’ Mike Rowe’s fight for the trades, veterans, and America’s future workforce
The trouble with a generous article like this one is that it makes a long series of questionable career decisions look like a plan. I’m tempted to take the credit, but too many of you have been here long enough to know better.
The Silicon Graybeard - Blue Origin expanding its expansion
Blue Origin, already enlarging its operations launch facilities on Cape Canaveral, announced an expansion of this expansion with the intent to launch over a hundred times a year.
William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Netanyahu Tells Obama To Pound Sand On Stolen Land
Will Obama be giving back the land for his house and “Presidential Center” in Chicago to the Council of the Three Fires? Or his home on Martha’s Vineyard back to the Wampanoag? It’s stolen land, right? Oh, wait, that doesn’t apply to Democrats?
Again from William Teach - What Are The Best Horror Movie Endings Of All Time?
Entertainment Weekly has the list: do you agree?
Lone Star Parson - France is Revolting
Back in ye jolly olde Englande you'd read about revolting France and your average Clubland punter would typically write it off as "they're always at it." True, but as of today things seem a little more serious, with parts of Paris, Marseille, Lyons and elsewhere going up in flames, not least Limoges' beautiful town hall.
Womat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Ouch
We actually beat the Twins at RFK this week, but lost the other two games of the series before going to New York and getting swept by the DayTraders.
Stephen Kruiser at PJ Media - The Morning Briefing: The Burqafication of France Is Nearly Complete
Regulars here are familiar with my penchant for bashing the Eurotrash "leaders" who are continual embarrassments to all freedom-loving people in the West. I would prefer not to have a reason to, but they make it easier all of the time.
Again from Wombat-socho - Rule 5 Sunday: More Coffee Please
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.
The bad guys keep not getting that memo. Mesquite homeowner shoots intruder during early morning home invasion, police say | FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
How would you respond to a person breaking into your home at 4 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday?
Mesquite Police responded to a report of a shooting around 4:15 a.m. Saturday in the 2600 block of Brushwood Lane. Upon arrival, officers found a man outside the home with a gunshot wound and rendered first aid.
According to investigators, residents inside the house woke up to the sound of loud banging. When one resident went to investigate, they saw an individual breaking into the home and fired a weapon, striking the suspect.
The guy who got shot, was arrested by the cops, and taken to a local hospital by EMTs.
Mesquite, Texas, is about a 5 or 10 mile drive east of downtown Dallas.
Very little information, has been released about this incident, but I have a few of basic questions. The first being why on earth would anyone break into a home in Texas? This guy got shot. He could have been killed. What was he expecting to happen in Texas when he was banging on a door or window at 4 in the morning? What did he expect to get away with?
For all of this I want to believe that drugs must have been involved, but the truth is that people are just that stupid.
Self-defense is a human right, and this didn't happen in Massachusetts. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.
The predictions of the anti-gun crowd don't have a good track record of being correct. SAF FACT SHEET REFUTES ANTI-GUN RHETORIC AND PREDICTIONS - Second Amendment Foundation
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has compiled a new fact sheet refuting 85 documented claims from anti-gun groups, advocates and public officials who stated pro-Second Amendment court rulings and reforms would produce more shootings, more deaths and immediate surges in violence.
From the Bruen Supreme Court decision, to permitless carry across many states, the anti-gun crowd is always screaming about how blood will be running in the street. (If you go back far enough, that is exactly what they said about the change from "may issue" to "shall issue" concealed carry permit laws.)
That link above is to the press release. The actual PDF is at this link: The Bloodbath That Never Came.
I love learning about new music. New-ish, anyway. This particular band came to my attention by way of social media. It isn't too bad if you can ignore the insanity. It can be hard to do, even if you try to stick to movies and music.
Lex Legion is a super group. It consists of vocalist Nils K. Rue, with Andy LaRocque and Pete Blakk playing guitar, bassist Hal Patino, and Mikkey Dee on drums. Mikkey Dee (born Micael Delaoglou) played for the English, Heavy Metal band Motörhead from 1992 until 2015, and then he moved to the German band Scorpions. LaRocque, Blakk, Patino, and Dee were all part of the late 1980s lineup for King Diamond. Rue is one of the founders of the Progressive Metal band Pagan's Mind, which he started in 2000.
This is "Dreams of Darkness" by Lex Legion from their self-titled, debut album, which was released on 12 June of this year.
How should a 77-year-old woman defend herself, if not with a firearm? 77-year-old woman fatally shoots man who attacked her in Baker County parking lot, deputies say
A 77-year-old Baker County woman shot and killed a man who attacked her early Monday morning in the parking lot of Macclenny Veterinary Hospital, according to the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
This took place at 4:30 a.m., so I assume that she worked at the veterinary hospital, though they say almost nothing about her because she was the victim of a crime.
Without the means to defend themselves, the old and the infirm would be at the mercy of the young and the violent, the small could be preyed on by the large, and anyone could be overwhelmed by a number of attackers. I would really like someone from the gun-hating part of the Left to explain to me, how the world would be better, if that 77-year-old woman was disarmed. I'm not expecting an explanation. Or if an explanation is offered, I don't expect it to make sense.
Hat tip goes to 2 places. The first goes to AmmoLand: 77-Year-Old Florida Woman Shoots Attacker Outside Veterinary Hospital
A 77-year-old woman should not have to depend on winning a physical fight to survive a violent encounter. Carrying a firearm gives someone who may be smaller, older, or less physically capable a means of resisting an attacker who would otherwise hold the advantage.
That is a central purpose of the right to keep and bear arms. Constitutional protection does not expire with age, and it does not belong exclusively to people strong enough to defend themselves with their hands.
The second hat tip goes to to Keep and Bear Arms.
The Biden Adminstration weaponized the banking regulators and industry against its political enemies. I find this disturbing.
From the New York Post: Exclusive | Banks closed accounts of MAGA, pro-life and other conservative groups disfavored by Biden admin
If you ask them, the Democrats will tell you how much they love diversity. As long as you think and believe exactly the way they do. Otherwise you are evil.
And you don't even have to ask to hear how much Trump is going to destroy democracy. Or something. And then there is this.
Major banks closed accounts and refused credit to MAGA merchants, pro-life causes, religious groups, conservative organizations and sectors disfavored by the Biden administration, such as firearms, oil and gas, and private prisons, a bombshell report from the federal banking regulator has found.
The Debanking Review by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) investigated 100,000 complaints and scrutinized 50,000 internal bank records to reveal how customers were “debanked” based purely on their political, social, or religious beliefs.
The Southern Poverty Law Center was used to "justify" debanking organizations, because they weren't completely biased. Or were they?
The hat tip goes to EducatëdHillbilly™ on X.
The people screaming about fascism sure do a lot of it.
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) October 14, 2026
Someday people will take security seriously. Sadly, today is not that day. Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 14 October 2026: Sulfur Blond Edition
Meanwhile the password for the Danish national registry, holding the personal data of more people than actually live in Denmark, was reportedly 123456. (Tom's Hardware)
Oops.
That was reported by the hackers, after they had been in Denmark's system for 12 days.
I generally feel bad for the victims of hackers, but you can't protect people from their own stupidity.
Other instances of stupidity...
Indonesia realized that it had no backups when a ransomware attack in 2024 affected over 230 public agencies, while South Korea lost 858 terabytes of data after a catastrophic fire at a government data center last year. (reference)
How do you have no backups? How do you have no off-site backups?
From Geeks + Gamers. Greta Gerwig's $280 Million 'Narnia' Reportedly an 'Awful' Disaster as Netflix Scrambles to Fix Film
Greta Gerwig is the director behind the recent Barbie movie, in case you forgot.
She has at least destroyed (is destroying?) the Netflix adaptation of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew. This is a prequel, that was written by C.S. Lewis, to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
There are apparently numerous problems with the movie, from the pace of storytelling, to the use of Classic Rock, like Led Zeppelin, in the soundtrack. This is probably the deal breaker for me:
Meanwhile, the casting of Meryl Streep as the voice of Aslan has generated criticism among fans who consider the character's masculine identity and Christian symbolism fundamental to Lewis's original conception.
I will never understand why a Hollywood studio would pay millions of dollars for an established IP, with an established fan base, and then change it in ways - not just adapt it for the screen, big or small - that disrespect the material to which you just purchased the rights, and in doing so alienate the people who made that IP valuable in the first place, the existing fan base.
If you want to do a fantasy with a gender-bent talking lion, make something new; don't piss all over something beloved for generations.
As a result, we get this from Deadline Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria Exiting
Bela Bajaria is out at Netflix.
The news comes only 24 hours after the streamer underwent a massive cull, laying off around 1,000 employees.
The hat tip for all this goes to Benny Johnson and his video Netflix FIRES Obama! Thousands of Other Woke Staff GONE in BLOODBATH…Streamer PANICS, Bankruptcy?!
Benny J. covers a lot of the issues at Netflix, the bit on Narnia starts at about 3 minutes and 30 seconds in.
I think this post from X sums up my feeling on the Narnia debacle.
In a fair world, any Netflix executive who pushed to give Gerwig creative control over Narnia would be fired.
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) October 16, 2026
Because nothing says "we refuse to acknowledge your rights" like excess red tape. Exclusive: Trump DOJ launches probe into New Jersey City over ‘egregious’ firearm permit process
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday it was investigating Pennsauken, New Jersey, for violating the Second Amendment rights of citizens.
This isn't for a CCW license. This is to purchase a firearm.
Applicants for a concealed carry permit in Pennsauken must provide four references, an address history for the last ten years and submit fingerprints, according to the city’s website.
The DOJ also sent a letter to Philadelphia, and acutally sued San Jose, California, over similar issues.
Click thru for more info. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)
Dealer's park their cars close together because space is an issue. Fire damages 14 electric vehicles at Broken Arrow dealership | Harringtonsdiesel
As Pat in the embedded video below mentions, parking new cars close together should not be a big deal; they are new cars. When a fire does break out (problems or arson) that fire can spread quickly, especially if an EV battery goes into thermal runaway.
A Saturday evening fire at a local dealership near North Elm Place and Highway 51 spread to 14 electric vehicles, according to the Broken Arrow Fire Department.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, is a suburb of Tulsa, being about 10 or 15 miles southeast of downtown Tulsa.
This is the StacheD Training video 14 Electric Vehicles Burn at Oklahoma Dealership
Pat in the video takes the time to emphasize how toxic the smoke from an EV fire is. People have serious, permanent lung damage from breathing that smoke, and it can kill. Stay out of the smoke.
People don't realize how critical this really is. I did a story on the Sacramento firefighters who have permanent injuries because of being exposed to this smoke. It's a whitish gray vapor cloud. It contains fine metal particulate, aluminum, cobalt, manganese, copper. It's acidic, high levels of carbon monoxide. It's just a lot of stuff that you don't want to be breathing in.
The video is about four and a half minutes.
It takes so much for law enforcement to lose Qualified Immunity that most people say it should be called Unqualified Immunity. Genesee County Jail deputies lose immunity in wrongful hold case | Local | ABC12
The held him in Genesee County Jail, which is in Flint, Michigan, for three months on a Federal Hold. The only problem is that there was no such hold.
According to court documents, George E. Boyd was arrested on state charges in April 2022 and released on a $40,000 bond. But when a bail bondsman tried to post his bond on April 9, 2022, a jail deputy told the bondsman that Boyd had a federal hold and asked if he wanted to proceed, according to court documents. The bondsman retrieved the paperwork and Boyd remained in jail.
Documents add that there was no federal hold ever placed on Boyd. A U.S. Marshal Service representative later confirmed Boyd was not a federal prisoner and the agency had no hold on him.
Qualified Immunity is a legal construct invented by the courts that grants government officials immunity from prosecution or lawsuits for stuff they do on the job, unless the prosecutor or plaintiff shows that the official violated civil or constitutional rights, or went outside the bounds of their responsibilities. So when the SWAT team tears up your house looking for someone not there, you cannot sue.
So was this incompetence or malice? Could be both I guess. I honestly don't know, so I've labeled it as cops behaving both badly (malice) and stupidly (incompetence).
The jailers claimed Qualified Immunity. "You can't sue me; I was only doing my job." The court threw that out. So he can now sue them. Whether he wins is another question.
Hat tip to Steve Lehto. That is a 12 minute video, that I'm not sure I can recommend.
