Friday Links - 31 July

The Other McCain starts us off with ‘Suburban Teens’ Make Headlines

Everything is ultimately about media bias. What would be the point of any conservative blogging, if the news media were remotely objective? And so it is that I encountered this headline: "Four suburban teens killed in Chicago crash; victim’s father questions police pursuit"

Tom Knighton at Bearing Arms - Anti-Gunners Discover Unintended Consequences of Gun Bans

I get that anti-gunners don't like these kinds of firearms, and there's all the rhetoric about mass killers using them, but mass killers have killed just fine without them, unfortunately. Virginia should know this, since Virginia Tech is still the deadliest school shooting in American history.

Michael Boldin at Granite Grok - BOLDIN: True Loyalty vs Sedition and Treason

Decades before the Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams understood the foundation of what became the American Revolution. It was a complete rejection of the ancient mode of humanity – allegiance to a person, or even a group of people.

Off Grid Survival - When Society Breaks: The Human Threats You’ll Face in a Real SHTF Collapse

When Katrina drowned New Orleans in 2005, the storm was over in a day. The hard part lasted weeks. Stores got cleaned out, some by desperate people grabbing food and water, some by folks hauling off TVs and DVD players through waist-deep water. There were carjackings and burglaries. In one neighborhood, Algiers Point, residents formed armed groups and there were actual gun battles in the streets.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 29 July 2026: Beware Of Doug Edition

If you send Claud Opus the character sequence - - - it writes a novella about an unnamed architect. (Austin's Nerdy Things)

Sadly only via the API. I tried it in the web interface and it just said "Huh?"

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Good News: Federal Agents Arresting Illegals At Airports

This has given the Credentialed Media a case of the sads

The Silicon Graybeard - SpaceX launch for NRO was by the book

It's hardly news when a Falcon 9 mission goes exactly as described, whether the customer is the National Reconnaissance Office, like this one, or some company we've never heard of.

Self-Defense Is Legal in Iowa

And the DA in question moved at light speed to make the determination in this case. No charges in fatal Fort Dodge shooting after self-defense ruling - KCCI

This incident took place on Friday the 24th of July.

According to investigators, the evidence showed Ahrens was actively attacking Byram, who retreated into his own home during the confrontation. Police said Byram then fired a single shot that struck Ahrens.

After the shooting, Byram called 911 to report what had happened.

Fort Dodge, Iowa, is roughly a 90 mile drive north-northwest of Des Moines. It is the county seat of Webster County, Iowa.

Cops not only completed their report in a week, but the DA reviewed the data and made the determination of justified self-defense in under a week. Some DAs will take months, even in the face of video evidence.

Following that review, the county attorney determined Byram's actions were justified under Iowa's self-defense laws. As a result, no criminal charges will be filed.

Darren Driscoll is currently the County Attorney for Webster County, Iowa. Hats off to you sir.

Self-defense is a human right.

Could It Be That Media is Biased Against Cops?

I would be shocked to find a regular media outlet NOT biased against cops. Bodycam appears to contradict details in man's story about teen trend arrest - CWB Chicago

Are we shocked that body cam video does not support the story of the guy who was arrested? Are we shocked that Fox Chicago accepted his version of events as "truth" without bothering to check the body cam video?

Police body camera footage appears to contradict parts of a television news report in which a Chicago man claimed CPD officers beat and wrongly arrested him while he was trying to rescue his younger brother from a Fourth of July “teen takeover.”

Quotangelo Temple, 19, was featured by Fox Chicago four days after his arrest in the 1200 block of South Fairfield Avenue.

Hat tip to Second City Cop: Body Cam Proves Lies....Again.

A criminal making false statements against the police? The "media" reporting these lies as fact?

CWB Chicago is a small media organization that covers crime in Chicago. It started by covering 2 sections of one of Chicago's neighborhoods, but now covers the entire city.  (The 2 sections of Lakeview East were Wrigleyville, and Boystown.)

That CWB Chicago is doing a much better job of actual journalism than the legacy media in Chicago can be bothered to do, is a shameful reflection on the Professional Journalists (so called) at those legacy media outlets.

Angry Cops versus Buffalo Public School System

Way back in April of 2025, Buffalo Detective Richard Hy called out the Buffalo Public School System for the system interfering with police investigations of crimes against students. Think about that. The school system, which parents trust with their kids for 6 or 8 hours a day, are not helping cops investigate crimes against children, and see to it that guilty people are punished.

Since then, there has been an internal investigation, and several school board members have either left on their own, or lost elections. Overall Detective Hy doesn't think things are going well.

The latest update is in the video we have today.

This is the Angry Cops video Buffalo School Scandal Gets Worse Each Day

America’s Murder Problem Is Concentrated in Small Areas

Are you shocked to discover that murder is concentrated in a small number of counties? America’s Murder Problem Is Smaller Than It Looks

World Cup visitors discovered something many Americans already know: The United States does not feel like the dangerous place they’ve been led to expect. That’s because America’s murder problem is not spread evenly across the country. Does the United States have a higher murder rate than its peer countries? Yes – but new research shows that statistic obscures how murders in the U.S. are extremely concentrated in very tiny areas.

There is good news even in the bad news. The 2025 murder rate for the entire country fell to 4 murders to 100,000 people, which was down from 5 per 100,000 people in 2024. Data from the first half of 2026 indicates that the rate fell another 18% in the 30 largest cities.

That 4% is historically low.

Since national recordkeeping began in 1900, the country has never recorded a murder rate this low. The previous record low was approximately 4.5 murders per 100,000 people.

As I noted in the title to this post, the problem is concentrated in small number of counties.

The research by the Crime Prevention Research Center, which I head, finds that 31 counties with the highest murder rates – just 1% of all U.S. counties – contain about 20% of the nation’s population but account for 41% of all murders.

There are more statistics on the concentration of murders, on the people who commit murder, etc. Click thru for that and more. (Hat tip to CPRC)

Chicago's Mayor Has Everyone Up In Arms

George Shay of Chicago Contrarian has the details. The Red Dawn of Realism: Why Brandon Johnson’s Base Is Fleeing Chicago's Progressive Circus

While I don't think Chicago is going to flip Red, I do think the Machine is seriously broken.

The 911 system is broken, not because of the 911 Center, or the operators, or dispatch, but because there are not enough police to maintain law and order. They can't investigate crimes, let alone respond to a crisis. (Click thru for those details. Call 911, and there is no patrol unit available to respond.)

By allowing our police districts to consistently fall into RAP [Radio Assignment Pending] status, the current administration has achieved something historic. They have bridged the traditional divides of Chicago geography. The South Side mother tired of local community centers being converted into unvetted migrant shelters now shares the exact same grievance as the Lincoln Park resident watching businesses shut down due to unchecked violence. They are both looking at a government that takes more and more of their money and, with property and other taxes, gives them more and more lawlessness in return.

As for the breakdown in the system:

The breakdown in the 18th District is a direct symptom of prioritizing political theater over core municipal functions. When an affluent North Side neighborhood experiences a two-hour window where zero police units are available to respond to an active, 50-person brawl, the social contract is completely broken.

It used to be a wonderful city. I went to college there. I worked there for a number of years. I spent Saturday afternoons in the art museums, and Saturday nights in the clubs. Now you couldn't pay me to set foot in the city, or at least not in any of the places I used to frequent.

Joseph Kahn on Saving Hollywood

From The Hollywood Reporter we get an opinion piece on how to save Hollywood. Bring Back the Hollywood Asshole: Joseph Kahn Opinion Column

Joseph Kahn is a Grammy-winning director, who has been involved, primarily, with music videos the past three decades. That apparently gets him an entry into Hollywood studios on a somewhat regular basis.

His radical idea? Hollywood needs to go back to making money, and for that Hollywood needs suits that understand business.

If you do not start making more movies about white guys flying fighter jets, the box office will not justify the monthly gardening bill at the Paramount lot, and you will be replaced by Larry Ellison’s AI or Netflix’s Deep-learning Algorithm Network Licensing Intelligence Node, aka DAN LIN™.

He talks a lot about what happened since COVID, but Hollywood's downfall started long before then.

So this is what we need you to do with your elite MBAs and high SAT scores: Get back to being a meritocracy. Drop the affectations. Best, most profitable idea wins. Hire crews and staff based on excellence, not what your favorite Harvard admissions counselor would love. Build movie stars. Learn what the poors want — people in flyover states who make less than $300,000 a year. Make sure those movie stars do not offend those poors by insulting Jesus or Tom Brady.

If they don't change the way they are running Hollywood, all we will get is the drek coming out of streaming. And yes, some of it is good. A lot of it is filler. Bad filler.

Remember that people's pensions are tied up with Hollywood. Not movie stars or executives, but people who build sets, and record sound, and do all of the other things that make movies and TV possible.

In my youth, back in the dark ages, going to the cinema was something we did on a regular basis. Dates consisting of dinner and a movie became so cliche that TBS adopted it as regular show from 1995 until 2011. Of course movies were not 3 hours, but closer to 90 minutes, which left time, for dinner, a movie, and a drink or dessert. 3 hour movies make that impossible, or at least unreasonable. And just groups of friends would go to the movies to watch the latest over-the-top action movie, or the romantic comedy.

Personally, I think it is too late for Hollywood, in the same way the auto industry will never again be concentrated in and around Detroit. And that's okay. I do hope it survives in some form, and not in the drek we've been getting from the likes of Amazon Prime (Rings of Power or The Wheel of Time) or Disney+ (Willow).

Wednesday Link Roundup - 29 July

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

Bustednuckles has relevant.
Don Surber has highlights of the week.

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.28.26 (Morning Edition)

Dana Loesch: Looking For Truth In Israel
Don Surber: Journalism 2026

EBL - Fake Jake Tapper and Dr. Fauxi

Federalist: Fauci Covid Corruption
Dr. Fauci and the Mystery of the Wuhan Wet Market

Political Hat - News of the Week (July 26th, 2026)

Can Arizona Republicans Moderate Enough to Win Back the State?
Some Republicans fear the party is poised to repeat past mistakes by nominating candidates in Tuesday’s primaries who are viewed as too extreme to sway moderate voters.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.28.26 (Evening Edition)

Don Surber: Diary of a felon named Fauci
First Street Journal: Yet more conspiracy theories about Mitch McConnell

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 7: The Hill reported, “Nicaragua’s Ortega moves to abolish elections.”
This will save money on stuffing the ballot box to re-elect him.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 7/25/2026

Finland Tops the Ranking
Finland recorded the highest unemployment rate among OECD countries at 10.8%, narrowly ahead of Spain at 10.3%.

Small Dead Animals - Saturday On Turtle Island

The Democrat Party’s America: Victor Davis Hanson – A counterrevolution. Jews should leave New York. Hollywood. White voters.
Conman Carney’s Canada: Wrecking ball revisionism. Accounting on graves. Muslim values.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - The Second Stab at the Nerd Prom

PJM's Cathy Salgado notes One Pennsylvania County Has 3,500 Noncitizens on Non-Juror List, Potentially Voting and Bob Spencer wonders Is Dem Fundraising Powerhouse ActBlue a Massive Money Laundering Machine? Yes …

The Glibertarians - Saturday evening Links

This one may actually hurt your brain.
The burn, it is sick.
Twofer.

Vlad Tepes - The Fabians and British politicians: Think of the DSA with a posh accent: Links post 1 for July 28, 2026

A primer on the Fabians. STRONGLY Recommended
2. Is it even possible to hate the CBC as much as it deserves without giving yourself a hemorrhagic stroke or a perforated ulcer?

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkange

The Shekel – Coins, Law, and Commentary – NYC: Allahu Akbar Yet Again
Woodsterman Babes ………….

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Michael Chapman explains what shouldn’t – but, alas, what today nevertheless does – need explaining: Mao Zedong was a mass-murdering monster.

Maggie's Farm - Monday morning links

Some Little Towns Are Trapped in Their Own Doom Loop
Is This the Reason Your Leftist Relatives Are Cutting You Off?

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 7/ 28 /26

How nonprofits used the “racial reckoning” to funnel millions of dollars into a radical agenda to transform St. Louis
A Decade After Michael Brown, Activists Still Rule Ferguson

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Apax Partners: Singham and the DNC

Canadian NATO Intern at Military HQ Arrested for Spying - CTH
Feds’ climate ‘attribution science’ report rebuked for influence from litigators, activists - Kevin Killough

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 07/28/2026

In this clip from the interview, [a CIA Officer] adds that it is known the Havana Syndrome is affecting government personnel, as well as civilians, and that CIA panicked at word Tulsi was investigating it, and one Officer destroyed some documents.

I leave you with Saturday’s You’ve Made it to the Weekend Meme Drop 7-25-26 from Midwest Chick's Place, Sunday Funnies For 07-26-26 from Stately McDaniel Manor, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3970 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Monday Morning Meme Madness from Twitchy, and Tuesday Memes … from MaddMedic.

Pensacola Police and Lawful Self-Defense

From WKRG in Mobile, Alabama. Pensacola police believe shooting that injured 1 was in self-defense

There was a shooting on July 24th that resulted in someone being shot in the arm.

According to police, the shot was fired in self-defense.

Detectives are working to determine how the shooting began and whether or not charges will be filed.

Florida is a bad place for bad guys. The bad guys keep not reading that memo.

Self-defense is a human right. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

You Cannot Fix a Problem You Don't Admit Exists

From Cops & Congress by Annie Dance we get the following. WATCH: Asheville Officials Link Deadly Downtown Shooting to Retaliatory Violence of 'Groups'

During questioning from reporters, Stepp was asked directly whether police considered the violence to be gang-related.

She stopped short of labeling the suspects as gang members.

“I would say these are two groups of individuals,” Stepp said. “I would say there are ties to them knowing each other and committing ongoing retaliatory acts against one another.”

But the problem is the legal gun owners in North Carolina, or so says Esther Manheimer, the Mayor of Asheville.

The mayor argued that North Carolina lawmakers have increasingly relaxed firearm laws over recent years, saying those policy decisions have contributed to more guns in communities.

Because she sees the law-abiding in the same frame as gang members, because she refuses to see that gangs exist. They are just groups of people. That's all.

“Personally, I would like to see gun ownership and the ability to carry a gun greatly restricted,” Manheimer said. “I don’t think it makes a community safer.”

Because otherwise she would have to deal with gangs and individuals, and not her totalitarian impulses to control the law abiding.

Choosin' Texas

Any excuse to piss off the libs...

Apparently the Left is still distressed by Country Music, especially when it becomes very popular. From The Western Journal by way of social media. Leftists Seethe as Ella Langley's Chart-Topping Country Song Makes History

Country music superstar Ella Langley suddenly finds herself in the company of legends.

But through no fault of her own, this development has apparently triggered the world’s most miserable people: Online liberals.

Her song, which is featured today, is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the 14th week in a row. The Left is distraught, because that is what Leftists do, wallow in misery.

“Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley is now tied as the longest-running non-holiday female solo #1 hit in history on the Hot 100.

While not all country singers love America, a lot do. And most folks who listen to Country love America. That is apparently enough

This song is "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley from here 2025 album Dandelion.

Hat tip to Gateway Pundit.

Tuesday Links - 28 July

Virtual Mirage is first with an update on the sad state of Privacy. Trading Privacy for Safety?

You’ve likely been flocked, possibly without your knowledge. There are also flocking deniers. “I’m sure I haven’t been flocked!” What am I talking about? If you don’t know what Flock cameras are, here is AI’s description…

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Oh Noes, Some American Cities Will Never Drop Below 50F By 2100

Obviously, no one will be fired for this bit of Scaremongering, because no one will remember it. It’s meant to scare people into giving up their money and freedom to Government right now

Libs of TikTok - WEEKLY WRAP: LOTT GETS 4 BIG WINS

2. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation staffer FIRED for not complying with ICE

Shannon Desherow, an Assistant General Counsel for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, posted a video of herself online having an unhinged meltdown, where she appeared to threaten ICE

Michael Schwarz, of The Western Journal, by way of The Gateway Pundit - Leftists Seethe as Ella Langley’s Chart-Topping Country Song Makes History

Older men, to be clear, probably have no business writing about contemporary music. After all, I confess that until today I had never heard of Langley.

The exercise, however, has not been in vain, for anything that irritates liberals is, by definition, a good thing.

No Tricks Zone - Greenland’s Ice Sheet Was Supposed To Be Rapidly Melting Away. It Hasn’t Been.

Greenland is halfway through its current (2025-2026) melt season. So far it’s not looking good for the alarmist narrative.

The Other McCain - Criminal Carnival in Madison, Wisconsin

The fact that a drug-addicted career criminal fresh out of prison was wandering the streets of Madison is not surprising. What is surprising is that, when the aforesaid criminal was accused of stealing bicycles and attempting to burglarize vehicles in broad daylight, the Madison police actually tried to arrest him:

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 26 July 2026: No Skorking Edition

The US has accused a citizen re-entering the country of giving the CBP a "duress" password that wiped his phone. (Tech Crunch)

Do not do this. Whatever you think about border agents scrolling through your sick memes, anything you don't want on your phone you should simply not have on your phone when you cross the border.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: At Last, The Draft

Son of Silvercon IV went well – Tim Powers was a fantastic guest, and everybody had a good time – but I came home with a terrible cold (or some kind of virus) and I’m only now starting to bounce back from.

Miguel Gonzalez - Their actions will always be right.

To denounce the 30-month sentence after the plea as unduly harsh when he could have gotten 20 years just reeks political idiocy or the firm belief that striking the head of the ICE agent with a rock was not only legally justified but morally righteous.

Defensive Gun Uses in February

From Crime Prevention Research Center: Defensive Gun Uses By People Legally Carrying Guns: 21 Cases During February 2026

The Crime Prevention Research Center is compiling lists of legal self-defense incidents.

From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on February 2nd, through Saint Louis, Missouri, on February 28th, there are 21 cases of self-defense by legal concealed carry license holders.

Sweden Is Lost

From Peter Sweden we get the following: The SHOCKING court verdict from Sweden.

What I’m about to tell you has barely been covered in the international news.

The things happening in Sweden now is beyond belief. I’m simply lost for words at this court ruling.

A 40-year-old raped a 14-year-old girl with autism and ADHD.

Not only did the court not deport the man, but he didn’t even get any prison. He was set free.

Click thru for the insane reason.

The prosecutor is not happy with the verdict and is appealing to the Svea Court of Appeal.

I miss Western Civilization.

Journalists Or Chinese Apologists?

Natalie Winters brings us a not-to-surprising story of "Professional Journalists." REVEALED: Here Are the Mainstream Journalists on China’s Payroll

I was going to call them agents, and maybe they are, but let's start with "apologists."

Foreign-agent filings reveal that operatives working for a Chinese Communist Party-linked influence organization planned free trips for American journalists based on the potential for “favorable coverage” and sought to “effectively disseminate positive messages” about Beijing.

But the filings did not plainly identify the reporters who received the access.

By cross-referencing the filings with archived newsletters, annual reports and contemporaneous accounts, this investigation has uncovered the names of prominent American journalists who participated in China trips organized or funded by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, or CUSEF.

Trips to China in exchange for favorable treatment of China in the press. Allegedly, anyway.

That is what passes for "Professional Journalistic Ethics." Some would call that quid pro quo.

Hat tip to The Twitchy Team, who called it exactly that.

In a breaking thread that is going viral on X today, White House Correspondent for the Bannon War Room, Natalie Winters, has just exposed a GIGANTIC list of 'journalists' who were treated to CCP-funded trips to China—and more—allegedly in exchange for favorable coverage of the country. The quid pro quo reportedly goes back as far as 2009.

Here is the original post from X.

REVEALED: Here Are the Mainstream Journalists on China’s Payroll 🚨

I exclusively uncovered the identities of prominent U.S. journalists flown to China by a CCP-linked influence operation seeking “favorable coverage” and “positive messages” about Beijing. 🧵

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) July 27, 2026

Why Does the Smith Chart Scare Engineers?

Is it really the scariest chart in electrical engineering? Maybe not.

It's scary, but it's also damn useful.

I think there are 2 reasons that engineers find the Smith Chart intimidating. The first is simple. People learn Cartesean Coordinates in middle school. They get exposed to just enough of the Polar Coordinate system to hate it, and not enough to know when it is useful. So in the end, they don't like anything that doesn't look like a standard X-Y plane.

The second reason is that the chart itself is based on Imaginary numbers (the Square root of -1), and they don't trust the math enough to just use it. even though it has been shown to work.

This is the Veritasium video The Scariest Chart in Electrical Engineering

Well, and a fair number of the charts do say "Black Magic Design" on the chart itself. It does simplify certain calculations around antenna design; that can seem magical.

We've verified that this crazy map switch from the complex plane to the reflection coefficient plane leading to these insane appearing circles, they actually mean something. Like, in real life we've used it to increase the power. Crazy. It is crazy.

I first encountered the Smith Chart in college, and later when I was getting/upgrading my Ham radio license. The video is long, at 40 minutes, but I enjoyed it.

Run

Floor Jansen is one of my favorite Heavy Metal singers. She was lead singer for After Forever until 2007 (?) when that group disbanded. She then joined Nightwish, which was one of my favorite bands before they parted ways with Tarja. Aside from a few other projects, she also started a solo career.

From Louder we get a fairly standard publicity blurb. “It feels like the start of something heavier and more direct”: Nightwish’s Floor Jansen returns with metallic new single Run and announces 2027 tour dates

The song brings the Dutch singer back to her symphonic metal roots, following her detour into pop-rock with her 2023 debut solo album Paragon. It also likely precedes the release of her second album, which is as-yet-unannounced. Listen below.

This is "Run" by Floor Jansen. It was released as a single on June 26th. So does this mean it is still "new music?"

I'm Not in Favor of Vigilantism

She found a 20-year-old hiding in her 13-year-old daughter's room. Woman charged with shooting man found under daughter's bed

This is a story out of Memphis.

The man, who has been identified as Rodderius Morton, was pronounced dead after suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of his head, police reported.

A woman, later identified as Kendra Scott, stated to police that she “saw a dude under my kids’ bed, and I did what I had to do.”

If that was the whole story, it might be different, but after she ordered him to leave, she shot him on the front porch/ front lawn of the home. She shot him at close range, in the back of the head. He did not survive.

Hard to claim he was an imminent threat to anyone under those conditions.

Once Scott and Morton made it to the front porch, the juvenile said she heard one gunshot.

Scott does not have a bond set and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Self-defense doesn't mean you can shoot anyone whenever you think it is a good idea. You cannot even shoot people who you believe are doing bad things to family members. You may think she was justified. You may think that a 20-year-old in a 13-year-old's bedroom is a problem, but I am not quite ready to give up on the idea of law and order.

I imagine that a lot of people will say she did it to save her daughter. How saved is her daughter, right now? Her mother is in jail, facing serious prison time for murder. (Hat tip to Concealed Nation.)

This is Colion Noir's take on the incident. Man Hiding Under Child’s Bed Shot In Back Of Head

Department of Justice versus Virgin Islands Gun and Magazine Ban

It is nice that the DOJ is sort of on the side of the gun owner these days. DOJ Targets Virgin Islands Assault Weapon and Magazine Ban

New Jersey tried to limit magazines at 10. The appeals court said no way. The US Virgin Islands selected 15 rounds. The DOJ says nope.

The filing came just five days after the en banc Third Circuit struck down New Jersey’s bans on semi-automatic rifles and magazines holding more than ten rounds in Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs v. Attorney General New Jersey, formerly known as the Cheeseman case.

Because the U.S. Virgin Islands falls within the Third Circuit, the DOJ argues that territorial officials cannot enforce essentially the same unconstitutional restrictions under a different numerical cutoff.

Click thru for details and SCRIBID document of the DOJ's filing.

Hollywood Is Dying

I love movies, but increasingly I say that I love old movies, because I haven't seen anything in years, that interested me. Even The Hollywood Reporter is covering the problems, so you know they're bad. Los Angeles Filming Levels Down Amid State Recovery Effort

Since I'm not really a fan of horror these days, I haven't seen Obsession, Iron Lung, or Backrooms. I suppose I will seem them eventually.

The number of shoot days in the three-month period from April to June fell 12 percent compared to the same period last year.

The article spends a lot of time covering the tax incentives in place, and that L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is lobbying to increase.

It doesn't cover all the other insane requirements of permitting in LA, or the dictates of the unions, but then you don't really expect that from The Hollywood Reporter. (I think of that "news outlet" more as a cheering section than real journalism at this point.)

Hat tip to the Film Threat News video LA FILMING LEVELS CONTINUE TO TUMBLE

The problem with Hollywood is it's a hostile work environment.
    — Alan Ng

The Other McCain on Tucker C.

From The Other McCain: My Own Tucker Carlson Theory

Raise your hand if you have a beef with the Republican Party establishment. Everybody’s hand is up, am I correct? Now, keep your hand up if you feel that the Official Conservative Movement is often ineffective and sometimes not really conservative at all. Pretty much everyone still has their hand up, I believe. It is fair to say that, the more conservative you are, the more discontented you are with the institutions and “leaders” who are supposed to represent your point of view.

At the same time, however, what are you going to do? We try as much as we can to steer things in the right direction, and occasionally express our outrage at the ballot box — hat-tip to those Texans who finally dumped John Cornyn — but we know that it’s bad tactics to form circular firing squads. Keep your fire aimed downrange is always good advice in politics, and there are always plenty of liberals targets to aim at.

Click thru for the whole thing.

Personally I have been mad at the Republicans in Congress for a very long time. At least since GWB was in office, and probably longer than that.

That said, I find the insanity on the right more of a distraction, than anything of interest.

Woke Games versus Profitable Games

Seplay is a YouTube channel that focuses on video games. While I might not follow that channel, this video on what Woke has done to an industry is interesting, especially since he does a credible job of tracking down the numbers.

This is the Seplay video Do Woke Games Actually Sell? The Numbers Don’t Lie

Over the past few years, we've been asking the same question to the gaming industry. Why do game studios insist, I mean really insist on political correctness and DEI on video games?

If you ask me, I think political correctness, aka wokeness, is killing the gaming industry. Sales are failing. There are giant layoffs. Studios are closing down. There are too many examples. Concord, Dragon Age, The Vanguard, Star Wars Outcast, ...

He does admit that some woke games, such as The Last of Us: Part 2, sold well. That was in part due to the excitement generated in Part 1. Though if I'm reading the market correctly, they killed all chance of continuing the franchise.

The video is about 12 and a half minutes.

I found this by way of Side Scrollers.

A Pirate's Cove Musical Interlude

William Teach at Pirate's Cove brings us a musical interlude. Music Saturday: Candy Dulfer

The album Live in Amsterdam was recorded during a live performance by Candy Dulfer and her band at the Paradiso concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in October 2000. [Grokipedia]

First up you will find "Lily Was Here (Live)" by Candy Dulfer, with accoustic guitar by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. It was released in 2001 as part of the album Live in Amsterdam.

The 2nd song at the link is "The Grand Conjuration" by Opeth from the 2005 album, Ghost Reveries.

Enjoy.

Self-Defense is Legal in New Mexico

This incident might be more about "reasonable doubt." DA declines charges in deadly Clovis shooting after citing self-defense claim

According to the Clovis Police Department, officers responded at about 11:06 p.m. to a report of a vehicle that had crashed into a home near 14th and Hull streets. When officers arrived, they found a white SUV and [28-year-old Abel] Abeyta suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

He did not survive his injuries.

Prosecutors determined the available evidence, including surveillance video, was insufficient to overcome a claim of self-defense, meaning the case did not meet the legal standard required for criminal prosecution.

Clovis, New Mexico is close to the Texas state-line. It is about a 100 mile drive northwest of Lubbock, Texas, about a 100 mile drive southwest of Amarillo, Texas, or about a 220 mile drive east of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

While I don't like stories with indeterminate outcomes, I do believe in "Proved Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." There was reasonable doubt.

To be clear, this might be unequivocally self-defense. We are given almost no information about the evidence, which includes some video evidence, regarding this incident.

Self-defense is a human right.

Chicago Teachers Union Hates America

From Warner Todd Huston at Chicago Contrarian: Chicago Teachers Union Pushes Radical, Anti-American Communist Event

The Chicago Teachers Union has once again proven that it is about radical, leftist revolution and not anything approaching educating our children with its latest stunt in support of an Iran-supporting, pro-Hamas terrorist, Israel-hating, communist event that called for sabotaging America's sea ports among other revolutionary acts.

It almost sounds like a joke, doesn't it? Why is the radical, left-wing "teachers" union jumping in to support an event for Marxists trying to take down and destroy the United States? What possible reason could a putative American education union have for helping an organization that wants to destroy our country?

Click thru.

Feds Use Fines to Convince Immigrants to Self-Deport

The New York Times most impacted. Trump Administration Pressures Some Immigrants to Self-Deport With Fines Up to $1.8 Million - The New York Times

The Trump administration is aggressively deploying a potent tool to pressure undocumented immigrants into self-deporting — civil fines that can total as much as $1.8 million.

More than 100,000 people have received letters from the Homeland Security Department informing them that they owe $998 for each day that they have stayed in the United States after an immigration judge has ruled they have no legal right to remain in the country.

The 1.8 million number is the $998 times 5 years, which is the time limit of the fine.

Some people are leaving.

Hat tip to William Teach at Pirate's Cove. Oh Noes: Illegal Aliens Can Either Pay Massive Fines Or Self Deport

OK, so, let’s say I built a life hiding on the property of a NY Times bigwig, and eventually get caught: are they going to let me stay on their land? Let’s say I build a cabin in the middle of a national forest, will they let me stay? Of course not. Will the Elites let me squat and build a life at their McMansions by the sea? Nope.

Many people have “built lives” after committing crimes, and, the cops and legal system do not allow them to go back to those lives when they are caught. The best thing for these illegals to do is simply leave.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 25 July

The Right Way is up first with Top of the News

Convicted Illegal Alien Files Lawsuit Against Trump — Demands $75M, Public Apology, U.S. Citizenship - Bongino Report

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.22.26

CDR Salamander: Cuba Libre
Don Surber: The Boasberg boomerang

EBL - Helen of Troy

EBL: The real tragedy, The Odyssey and Michael Knowles Review
AoSHQ: Morning Report 07.22.26

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 23 July 2026: Proximate Causal Inviolability Edition

Across the social sciences, half of research doesn't replicate. (Science)
And only 34% of it is confirmed by multiple reviewers.
But it gets worse.

The Glibertarians - Thursday Morning Links

House passes ‘Stop Insider Trading Act’ in bipartisan vote
Fifth Circuit Rules Illegal Aliens Do Not Have Constitutional Right To Roam Free In US

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 7/22/2026

Democrats are increasingly worried that Republicans’ overwhelming financial advantage among party committees and outside groups could undercut hopes of a strong midterm showing

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.23.26

Don Surber: They should have just kept Starmer
Racket News: On Substack’s New AI-Spotting Tool & The Importance of Human Thought

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For July 24, 2026

“Feds Flagged Daszak As ‘An Extremely High Person Of Interest’ – Then The FBI Told Them To Stand Down.”
“The Democrats Have a Communist Problem.”

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - What The He!! is John Thune Doing?

At PJM, VodkaPundit envisions Puting passing the hat, Buddy, Can You Spare 1.5 Trillion Rubles? "that's exactly what happened last week when the Kremlin attempted to sell OFZs (like U.S. Treasuries), but buyers said Nyet!

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

The Democrat Party’s America: Victor Davis Hanson – Middle class phonies. A new elite. America’s future.
Davos Carney’s Canada: Muslim values are Canadian values. The Singh family and friends.

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Friction For The Euthanasia Slippery-Slope: Bipartisan Oversight; Alberta Makes It Harder To Get; Scotland Says No

Canada making euthanasia harder to get? In the province of Alberta, at least, it’s becoming harder.
Scotland suprisingly isn’t too eager to start killing people.

Once Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.24.26

Dana Loesch: Midweek News Roundup
Don Surber: DSA is not in America’s DNA, also, Saudis go nuke

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

Teachers' Unions Must Be Banned
Housing and NYC politics

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 7/ 23 /26

Far-left, extremist ideology prevents an honest interpretation of crime and incarceration data.
Why Socialists Want to Shut Down Prisons

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Illegal Immigration Made The Average New House $30K More Expensive Under Biden

• If It Looks Like a Leftist: What the Murder of Ann Widdecombe Says About Politics in the UK - Raw Egg Nationalist
• how to not learn what you don't want to know - el gato malo

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 07/24/2026

GOP lawmakers send criminal referral to DOJ to investigate Jack Smith.
Modelling scout in Paris who helped Epstein acquire trafficking victims is found dead of a heart attack in his apartment in France.

I leave you with Midweek Memes from Granite Grok, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3962 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Midweek Memes from Granite Grok, Friday Memes … from MaddMedic, and Friday's gifs from Wirecutter.

US Virgin Islands Sued Over Right to Bear Arms

From myMotherLode. US Virgin Islands faces second lawsuit over right to bear arms as Florida resident seeks license

Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation are suing the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands and its police commissioner as a fight over the Second Amendment deepens.

The nonprofits are asking a federal judge to allow nonresidents to apply for and be issued licenses to carry concealed handguns in the U.S. territory.

They can't both be part of the US and ignore the Constitution.

“The Second Amendment doesn’t end at the shoreline,” Luis Valdes, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ outreach director for Gun Owners of America, said in a statement. “Americans don’t lose their constitutional rights simply because they travel to a U.S. territory.”

This will either be over in an instant, or take years. I don't think there will be a middle ground.

Climate Cultists Attack Microsoft Data Center

Climate Cultists Attack Microsoft Data Center With Acid-Filled Balloons

The acid attacks are taking place in The Netherlands.

Demonstrating is fine. Using acid for sabotage is not. Anyone who purports to save the world by destroying property or endangering people’s lives should be jailed and forced to pay restitution for their deeds.

Hat tip to William Teach at Pirate's Cove: If All You See…

Now I despise both Microsoft and all forms of AI, but this just seems like a bunch spoiled brats, throwing tantrums.

Dirty Diana

Shaman's Harvest is a band I found for the 1st time in June. I don't know much about them, aside that they are from Missouri, and they are described as Post Grunge, and Alternative Rock. I haven't heard much by them but that will change. As is usual, this song was served up by the Tidal streaming service.

This song is "Dirty Diana" by Shaman's Harvest. It is from their 2014 album, Smokin' Hearts & Broken Guns (Deluxe Edition).

Why Supergirl Sucks

As explained by Jedi Brooks. Why Supergirl SUCKS - A Scene Comparison. I'm not sure I have anything to add... Enjoy.

Friday Links - 24 July

Miguel Gonzalez starts things off with a story of Nashville's efforts to end pedestrian injury and death. They cannot be that dumb... yes, they are.

As long as the pedestrians keep thinking they are without responsibility for their lives and zero blame for their actions, they will keep getting killed.

The Other McCain - The Pro-Hamas Socialist Democrats

The Michigan primary is August 4, and it is fair to say that AIPAC is desperate to halt the slide of the Democratic Party into the de facto American branch of Hamas. Recent primary victories by anti-Israel candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America have set the alarm bells ringing.

George Shay at Chicago Contrarian - The Real Reason Behind Chicago's Teen Takeovers

What City Journal correctly identifies is that these events are fundamentally about intimidation. The point is not merely to gather. The point is to dominate public space, demonstrate power, create chaos, and show everyone else who controls the streets.

Lone Star Parson - Rapscallions

You know what? We moan and gripe about the collapse of Western Civ, and rightly so, but it's not over yet, not by a long way. On point, these young men don't vote Left, and guess what? They're armed.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - Credentialed Media Upset Trump Blames Canada For Wildfires And Not Climate Doom

I’ll admit, there was no need to really blame Canada in this manner, but, hey, they’re unhinged eco-wacko/climate cultist forest management policies were stupid, just like with California

Again from The Other McCain - Of Lawyers, Samoans and Journalism

Had there been a vote for “Most Likely to Become a Conservative Pundit,” certainly no one would have nominated me. While I showed some penchant for feature writing, as entertainment editor of the student newspaper at JSU, I had no interest in politics.

Bayou Renaissance Man - Brainwashed ideology runs headlong into common sense

Ms. Plata-Nino is clearly left-wing and populist in her approach, defending peoples' right to use SNAP benefits in any way they please. Notice how she avoids, evades and dodges any attempt to get her to admit that sugary sodas are in no way nutritional, and aren't really "food" as the SNAP program was originally intended to fund.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 22 July 2026: Summertime In July Edition

LLM company OpenAI says that LLM archive site Hugging Face was breached by hackers using OpenAI's LLMs to gain access to models hosted at Hugging Face in order to breach... I dunno. (Tech Crunch)

Seems legit.

Is Self-Defense Legal in Massachusetts?

Surely this is a sign of End Times, or something. Self-defense plea upheld in Springfield deadly shooting

The Hampden District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that no charges will be filed in connection with a deadly shooting in Springfield after investigators determined the involved individual acted in lawful self-defense.

According to Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, the investigation into the July 5 shooting found that the incident began with a dispute on social media involving 35-year-old Robert Murchison of Springfield.

Robert Murchison did not survive.

A Massachusetts District Attorney makes a determination of lawful self-defense in less than a month. I'm flabbergasted. It was actually less than a week. The incident took place on the 5th, and the first article on self-defense being upheld was published on 9 July. (Though it didn't end up in my news searches until more recently.)

Springfield, which is the county seat of Hampden County, is about a 90 mile drive west of downtown Boston.

For a Massachusetts DA to move this fast, the evidence must be overwhelming.

According to the DA’s Office, investigators reviewed statements from those involved, an independent eyewitness account, Ring camera footage, 911 recordings, physical evidence collected at the scene, and text messages and social media communications exchanged before the incident.

Hat tip to AmmoLand News: Armed Wife Fires One Shot to Save Husband From Gunman at Massachusetts Home

A Firearm Made the Difference

This case presents another straightforward example of why the right to keep and bear arms includes the ability to protect not only yourself but also the people you love.

The woman did not go looking for a confrontation. According to investigators, the confrontation came to her home. She did not initiate the physical altercation, and she did not introduce a firearm into the dispute. She acted only after an armed man allegedly pointed a handgun at her husband and pursued him.

Demographics of Murder

I expect that people will say reality, and statistics are racist. A deep dive into murders, who murders whom - Crime Prevention Research Center

We have updated our data on who extremely concentrated murders are in the US. The worst 1% of counties (the worst 31 counties) have 20% of the population and 41% of the murders. The worst 2% of counties (63 counties) contain 30% of the population and 54% of the murders. The worst 5% of counties contain 46% of the population and account for 71% of murders. But even within those counties, the murders are very heavily concentrated in small areas within those counties.

Click thru for graphs and details.

The Horror of a Post-Christian World

The Other McCain on Friedrich Nietzsche vs. Robert E. Lee

This is a complicated read, and no mistake. It covers a lot of ground, including - tangentially - why college students are so easily indoctrinated.

One of the benefits of being a bad student is that, by the time I began to take the world of ideas seriously, I was already an adult, with a job, a wife, three kids and a mortgage. It was in the early 1990s, when I was on the staff of the Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune, that I began haunting the local used book store, snapping up old volumes at 50 cents or a dollar each, pursuing an autodidactic course of remediation, to fill in the gaps in my knowledge that had by then become apparent to me.

I think you will find it an interesting read.

Self-Defense Is Legal in North Carolina

But then I thought it was. Homeowner who shot attempted burglar in chest won’t face charges, Gastonia police say

On the morning of Sunday, July 12, a homeowner fired one shot at a man who was trying to break into his home, Gastonia police reported on July 22. The man, identified as 57-year-old Cedric Ford, was hospitalized for a gunshot wound in the chest and later arrested, police said.

Security camera footage shared by police showed Ford appear to open the window of a home and try to push through it. He then used his backside to try to push through the front door before returning to the window, according to the video.

The homeowner, an elderly person with disabilities, fired once through the window.

“The homeowner told investigators he did not know he had struck Ford, but he did know his actions stopped the attempted break-in,” police said on social media on Wednesday.

Gastonia, North Carolina, is about a 20 mile drive west of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.

When he got to the hospital, Ford told a story about a drive-by shooting. That earned him an extra charge, obstruction.

Officials said Ford was taken into custody after his release from the hospital. Ford was charged with attempted first-degree burglary and felony obstruction of justice.

Self-defense is a human right.

Contrast the week that it took for officials to make a determination in North Carolina, with the two years it took officials in the UK to reach the same decision.

Leftist Violence

Andy Ngo of Ngo Comment has two stories of Leftist violence.

First up we have ties of ANTIFA to world communism. State Department Links Antifa's Lawyers to Decades of Cuban Communist Influence

The 100-page report, “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” released on Monday, details how Havana spent nearly seven decades cultivating left-wing American radicals, extremist organizations and sympathetic institutions to advance revolutionary leftism inside the United States.

The second story is Ngo: The Left’s Denial of Leftist Terrorism Is Empowering More Terrorists

On July 19, I joined GB News in London to discuss the significance of the U.S. State Department’s international summit on the growing crisis of left-wing terrorism.

The conference was met with ridicule from liberal media and Democrats. That reaction itself demonstrates how they play a key role in denying the existence of radical leftist violence.

Both are worth a look.

Chicago's Pensions Are a Mess

Meep at STUMP has an update on the insanity. Chicago Pension Watch: No, There Aren't Many Choices

Let me round up the latest “discourse” on the “way out” for Chicago pensions.

But first — where the pensions stand.

In 2025 Chicago's pension debt rose to $36.4 billion. That according the city itself.

One of the things that comes up is a Detroit-style, Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

The principal difference is that Detroit owned a bunch of art, which could be sold. Chicago doesn't own any art, or not on that scale.

If you are not a finance person (and some people who are in finance) do not necessarily understand what Chapter 9 bankruptcy can and cannot do.

It’s a legal process in federal court. It doesn’t cause money to appear from nowhere. It doesn’t cause art that a city doesn’t own to come into being — people get confused when proposing “Hey, let’s have a Grand Bargain like Detroit had in its bankruptcy!”, forgetting that Detroit for some odd reason owned art it could hold ransom. As far as I know, Chicago the city owns no such art.

Chapter 9 bankruptcy, i.e., municipal bankruptcy, is not the same thing as bankruptcy for an individual or a company. The city is not going to liquidate. Creditors know that. The creditors have limits on what they’re going to get — they will not necessarily get zeroed out (but some might).

The funding rates for the various pension funds are sad. The national average for municipal pension funds of 82.5%. The police pension is funded at 25.5% of liabilities. The firefighters pension is funded at 25.2% of liabilities. When you include all of the funds, and all of the liabilities, Chicago’s pension funds were only funded at 28.1% of liabilities.

Click thru for the details.

“But you promised” and “It’s not my fault” don’t mean much when the money runs out.

Wednesday Link Roundup - 22 July

Wombat-socho is first with In The Mailbox: 07.20.26

Racket News: Anatomy of a Struggle Session
STUMP: Sports (and other) Gambling – The Modern Scourge

EBL - MAGA Kamala Kamalot 🥥🌴☀️

Instapundit: AoSHQ: Kamala is going to give it another shot
What could possibly go wrong?

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 19 July 2026: Woolly Hippo To You Edition

China's Kimi K3 identifies itself as Claude, betraying its distilled origins. (WCCFTech)
You were saying, Bean?

The Glibertarians - Saturday Links of Even More Retardation

So who is more reliably retarded, Trump or the Team Blue cats chasing his laser pointer?
Seems like a lot for mediocre food.

Small Dead Animals - Saturday On Turtle Island

The Democrat Party’s America: The Trump speech. Dems find a worse candidate.
China Carney’s Canada: Forest fires. Carney creates jobs in Michigan.

Don Surber - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

Homeland Security tweeted, “She entered the United States on April 14, 2024, on a visa set to expire on September 6, 2024. In violation of our nation’s laws, she overstayed her visa and failed to depart.”

Vlad Tepes - Canada finally finds way to tax the air, UK and Canadian media shape reality in predictable ways, health Canada hides deadly detail about mRNA shots: Links 1 for July 19, 2026

3. There was a murder in the UK of a prominent politician. But the bigger threat to civilization than the killer is the media. This has become the new normal. The media fabricates or enforces a state narrative in a way that the public is mentally disarmed

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.21.26 (Afternoon Edition)

Upstream Reviews: The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin
John C. Wright: Aition & The Honor of Poets

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump Voting Speech Reactions Day 2

Mary Chastain at LI cites Mullin: ‘We’ve Identified 250,000 Noncitizens Registered to Vote’ in Four States, “We also worked with proactive states to identify 28,000 non-citizens on their voter rolls, plus 400,000 individuals that are still registered to vote that are deceased.”

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 7/19/2026

The United States added nearly 3.5 million new businesses in the first half of 2026, breaking previous expectations, according to a new report.

Political Hat - News of the Week (July 19th, 2026)

Mace, Norman still eyeing Senate bids despite Trump snub
Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) are both still considering bids for the U.S. Senate despite President Trump endorsing Darline Graham Nordone for a full six-year term.

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkange

Pirates Cove Bummer: Companies Are Blowing Off Their Climate Doom Commitments
Freedom Is Just Another Word.. .Saturday Memes…

Maggie's Farm - Saturday morning links

Expecting Tenants to Pay Rent Regarded as “Violence”
Trump Is Right About Voting Machines - And if you doubt that, just ask Obama-Appointed Judge Amy Totenberg.

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 7/ 21 /26

There’s nothing like seeing government waste and fraud firsthand to make you appreciate how pernicious it is.
Beyond Fraud: Citizen Journalists Unmask Crazy Government Waste

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Deep State crawls out of the woodwork: Meet former FBI executive Nikki Floris

• The Vance-Rogan Interview - Dana Loesch • Netanyahu slams NYC mayor’s arrest threat - Joshua Marks

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 07/18/2026

Is it a coincidence “Flock” is a term associated with herding Sheep? Does anyone think the Founders would have been down with the government grabbing this information about everyone, had it been around back in the days of the nations founding?

I leave you with Sunday Funnies For 07-19-26 from Stately McDaniel Manor, Sunday Funnies from Flopping Aces, Sunday’s the Weekend is almost over Meme Drop 7-19-26 from Midwest Chick's Place, and Gunday Monday from Bustednuckles.