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.

Welcome to the Panoptican

FLOCK is not alone, of course, they are just the most well-known company building the surveillance state. When Every Streetlight Becomes A Surveillance Tower

For years, Americans were told that the greatest privacy battles would happen online. The debate centered around social media, smartphones, and internet tracking. Few imagined that one of the most controversial surveillance technologies would instead appear quietly on neighborhood streets, mounted atop poles at busy intersections and neighborhood entrances.

Today, those poles have become a flashpoint in a much larger debate over technology, artificial intelligence, and the future relationship between citizens and government.

Read the whole, disturbing thing, and the few signs that people have had enough of the creeping technology and are pushing back. (Hat tip to MaddMedic.)

And you vocabulary word of the day (Courtesy of Merriam-Webster): Panoptican

a circular prison built with cells arranged radially so that a guard at a central position can see all the prisoners

Periscope Up

Today we have a song that came to me by way of the Pandora streaming service, and a "radio station" based on the music of Buckethead.

Emancipator is the stage name for an American DJ/Producer. I know next to nothing about him.

This song is "Periscope Up" by Emancipator from the 2006 album Soon It Will Be Cold Enough.

The Chicago Weekend

HeyJackass! is on vacation... so we have to go with other sources. 3 dead, 15 hurt in Chicago weekend shootings, according to Chicago police - CBS Chicago

The don't say what the consider the weekend, but they do include Friday evening in the mix.

In the first shooting of the weekend, Chicago police officers responded to the 400 block of North Central Avenue around 7:47 p.m., where a 29-year-old man was shot while standing near the sidewalk.

The last shooting they include in the mix was from 3:43 AM Monday. Click thru for all the details.

Hat tip to Breitbart and Chicago: At Least 11 Shot Friday into Saturday Afternoon.

The Chicago-Sun Times noted that 228 have been murdered in Chicago thus far in 2026.

Don't Bring a Knife to a Gunfight

Things won't work out for you. Man armed with knife shot and killed by customer at Cerritos restaurant, sheriff's department says

[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department] Deputies said a preliminary investigation found that the armed man entered the restaurant and ran through the kitchen/service areas, "frightening customers and staff."

A customer who was "lawfully armed and possessed a valid concealed carry permit" confronted the man and ordered him to drop the knife, according to deputies. That's when the man reportedly charged toward the customer with the knife, and the customer shot him.

There is more. He apparently had a stolen truck, and stabbed himself at some point. Click thru for those details.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department source said an off-duty officer was present and witnessed the shooting, but did not fire their weapon.

Self-defense is a human right. We will have to wait to see what the LA District Attorney has to say about this incident. (Or why do you think the off-duty officer stayed out of it?)

U.S. Crime Rate versus Canada and Australia

When the Left actually talks about crime, as opposed to Social Justice of the courts and/or the police, they usually talk about "gun crime," and not crime in general. There is a reason for that. From John R. Lott Jr., at RealClearInvestigations: Mythbuster: U.S. Much Safer Than Many Peer Nations

The conventional wisdom is that Canad and Australia, thanks to their Draconian gun laws, are much safer than the US.

The data, however, undercuts this narrative. While the United States still leads in some categories, on the whole it has significantly less violent crime per capita than those two nations.

Regarding homicide, the most heinous crime of all, it’s true that in 2025, the U.S. murder rate was about four per 100,000 people – roughly twice Australia’s and Canada’s 2024 homicide rate. Yet it’s also true that homicides account for only a tiny fraction of violent crime. In 2024, homicides represented just 0.21% of violent crimes in the U.S., based on National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates of rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Murder comprises an even smaller fraction of crimes in Australia and Canada.

Click thru for the data presented in nice graphs.

I will just leave you with this bit about Australia and the attitude toward rape.

In Australia, there are numerous complaints that “Rape is effectively decriminalized.” In New South Wales, of the 9,138 sexual assaults reported to police in 2022, there were only 1,016 convictions – just an 11% conviction rate. Indeed, during a recent lecture that I gave to college students in New South Wales in February, several women said there was no reason to report rapes and sexual assaults to the police because they believed nothing would happen to the criminal and it was personally embarrassing to come forward publicly.

As a result, an analysis based solely on police statistics can be misleading when comparing countries. Victimization surveys tell a different story.

Read the whole thing.

Shooting Spree Is Family Execution

What were you doing when you were 16? I'm guessing mass murder wasn't on the agenda. ‘I love blood’: Officials reveal texts between teens accused of killing 5 family members

This wasn't a mass shooting. As he shot people at different times.

At 16 years old, Ja’ymier Davis is facing 12 charges as an adult, including five counts of first-degree murder.

The other person arrested in connection with the mass shooting is a 15-year-old girl who faces charges in juvenile court.

He killed his aunt. Then he killed his cousin while cleaning up the 1st crime scene, because he walked in and discovered the cleaning. It goes on from there.

East St. Louis, Illinois, is directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri.

Click thru for the details, including the antics of the defense attorney.

I miss living in a civilized society.

Tuesday Links - 21 July

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony starts us off with an AI story. Daily News Stuff 17 July 2026: Dwarves Are Back On The Menu Edition

1Password now lets Claude use your passwords - without giving it access to the passwords themselves. (Nerds xyz)

Claude sends a request to 1Password, the user approves it, and Claude ends up with access to the desired service without ever seeing the password. It's a pretty elegant solution to a situation set up mostly by crazy people.

Crime Research Org - Major Decision: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit Strikes Down New Jersey’s semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines bans. Copy of decision is available here.

As expected, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, in an en banc decision, has struck down New Jersey’s prohibitions on semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines. It is a major decision because he creates a circuit court split for the first time.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - DHS Finalizes Rule That Means Students Can’t Just Stick Around

Before Obama and especially Biden just started letting everyone in roughly 45% of illegal aliens were people who overstayed their visas. If they are closely monitored than reapplying after undergrad and grad should be no big deal.

Bearing Arms - Is China Also Meddling in Second Amendment Fight?

On Thursday night, President Donald Trump took to (most of) the airwaves to announce some disturbing evidence regarding China and its attempts to meddle in the 2020 election.

Not the Bee - Bodycam footage shows The View host Sunny Hostin trying to convince cops not to arrest her son for trespassing

Here's the host of The View, Sunny Hostin, appearing to use her fame and position to get her son out of trouble.

Again from Pixy Misa - Daily News Stuff 18 July 2026: Accidental Umpires Edition

AWS is experiencing a wee spot of bother with its billing system. (The Register)

Speculation is that it's a unit conversion error in the cost estimation tool, but all we know for sure is that people who barely use the service are being alerted to cost estimates in the billions of dollars, and for businesses that have active applications the predicted bills run into the trillions.

AWS say they are looking into it.

Clayton Cramer - New Jersey Assault Weapon & >10 Round Magazine Ban Overturned by 3rd Circuit

To my shock and pleasure they broadened the ruling to protect all the militia appropriate firearms as well as the LCMs. And yes, this is a case on which i worked.

The Other McCain - Knife-Wielding Psycho-Tranny Is Former Arizona Democratic Party Official

Just a typical Democrat in 2026:

Wombat-socho - Rule 5 Monday: Redhead in Denim

Son of Silvercon IV ended yesterday – great success! Here’s a redhead in overalls.

Beautiful Lie

Evanescence released their new album on Friday 5 June. I had been waiting for this album's release since I first heard the single that they released in April.

Evanescence is a Rock & Roll band fronted by singer/keyboardist Amy Lee. They had a lot of trouble when they released their first album in 2003, because the tiny minds running the music industry and radio stations refused to even listen to their music. "A chick and a piano" was not rock. Even though guys with pianos, e.g. Elton John, Freddie Mercury, etc., were staples of Rock & Roll.

The band consists of:

• Amy Lee – vocals and keyboards
• Troy McLawhorn – guitar
• Emma Anzai – bass
• Tim McCord – guitar
• Will Hunt – drums

This song is "Beautiful Lie" by Evanescence from their 2026 album Sanctuary.

International Summit on Radical Leftist Violence

From Andy Ngo at Ngo Comment: U.S. Hosts First Ever International Summit on Radical Leftist Violence

Before we dive in, here is the subtitle, and it is not surprising.

The summit has infuriated Democrats and their allies in the liberal media.

Color me shocked. Here is the thing, though. I don't care about your feelings.

The conference is in Washington, DC, and is hosted by the State Department, which probably has the liberals in even more of a fit.

Sec. Marco Rubio is the first U.S. Secretary of State to openly confront the growing scourge of radical left-wing violence and terrorism coming from the likes of Antifa and trantifa militants, and other far-left extremists.

That’s why the left and its media are in full meltdown over the summit in Washington. Acknowledging the threat undermines years of minimizing, excusing, or supporting the violence perpetuated by their side.

There is a video report from Newsmax, that is less than 7 minutes.

Portland Police to Citizens - You're On Your Own

Imagine that someone is trying to grab your 7-year-old child out of your arms, and police take 40 minutes to respond. Some parents in Portland do not have to imagine, because that is what happened.

Fox News has the details. Family stopped alleged child kidnapper as police say staffing shortage delayed response up to 40 minutes. So here is what happened:

Portland police say a staffing shortage contributed to a 30- to 40-minute response to an alleged attempted kidnapping of a 7-year-old tourist at a downtown waterfront park over the weekend, with newly released police data showing the city typically has about 59 patrol officers on the streets at any given time.

Police took 30 to 40 minutes to respond because of staffing issues.

Hughes said the bureau was operating with 41 patrol officers across Portland that night, along with 10 officers working overtime, a roughly 24% reduction from planned staffing. He said there are no reserve patrol officers who can be called in immediately when multiple major incidents unfold at once.

This is Colion Noir's video Portland Police Just Told Citizens They’re On Their Own

This is the statement made by the Portland Police Department:

We don't have the appropriate amount of police officers to handle the amount of demand for police services.

Translation: "Don't count on us to be there when you need us, because there are not enough cops to go around."

The attempted kidnapping was not the only example cited in the video. The video is only 6 minutes.

People Helping People

Wendy Laubach from Chicago Boyz brings a story about community. Bootstraps still work

After a disaster hit my community ten years ago, it became instantly clear whose instinct was to step up and whose to bemoan the failure of outside saviors to show up immediately and fix everything.

Not that an astounding number of outsiders didn’t show up; they did. They just weren’t the federal government, for the most part.

Click thru for an account of Americans helping each other, and a link to a similar story.

There Are Forces Working to Destroy Western Civilization

The Other McCain has a story about the forces arrayed to destroy western civilizaton. Communism, the Palestinian Death Cult and the Pro-Terrorism Red-Green Axis

The Soviet policy of fomenting rebellion. The Red-Green alliance of the radical Left and hard-line Islamists. More.

There is a reason why you rarely see me jumping into these arguments to denounce people by name. Sam Francis got purged from the Official Conservative Movement™ as a result of foreign-policy quarrels in the 1990s, and the only reason we are where we are now — i.e., with the populist grassroots energy of MAGA now the dominant force in Republican politics — is because some of us were wise enough to keep our powder dry, to be discreet in our communications, and to maintain our focus on truly important issues.

Click thru for more details. It is an interesting story. I'll leave you with this.

Just because the Soviet Union collapsed did not mean that Communism was no longer a threat.

Italian Bureaucrats Convicted Over Infrastructure Collapse

The Morandi Bridge, which was located in Genoa, Italy, collapsed in 2018, resulting in the deaths of 43 people. Former Italian motorway boss among 32 convicted over Genoa bridge tragedy

The former head of Italian motorway operator ‌Autostrade per l'Italia was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday for his role in a disaster that killed 43 people when a bridge collapsed near the city of Genoa in 2018.

Giovanni Castellucci was among 32 people convicted over the collapse of the Morandi bridge which sent vehicles plunging onto warehouses and a riverbed beneath the flyover during a summer storm.

At least some of the convictions are under appeal.

There isn't a lot of info, but the two sides of the debate seem to be that the collapse was either caused by the initial design, or the lack of maintenance. From my point of view, both can be true at the same time.

Here is a post from the 357 Magnum Archive: Everything Needs Maintenance – The Morandi Bridge Collapse. That post includes a link to a video of the explosive demolition of the remaining bridge structure, in preparation for new construction, and some info on the design of the new bridge.

This post contains more information on the replacement bridge. 357 Magnum Archive: Genova San Giorgio Viaduct Replaces Collapsed Bridge In Genoa, Italy

Some infrastructure collapse is clearly the result of negligence. The Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh, which collapsed on 28 January 2022, had received numerous warnings in the form of reports, photos, etc. before it collapsed. The bureaucrats and politicians ignored all the warnings, because maintaining infrastructure isn't sexy. It doesn't lend itself to ceremonies, and news stories. But it does keep people safe, and allow modern life to continue.

Some infrastructure can collapse as the result of a fire, such as the I-85 Bridge Collapse in Atlanta, or other external cause.

Maintenance you can plan for. Random acts of the universe, you cannot.

I'm not sure if these convictions in Italy represent Justice, or just the desire of the public to hold someone accountable, even if they aren't really the right person. I would like to see an incentive to make maintaining this stuff more likely, or we will continue to see bridges collapse, and dams collapse, and more types of infrastructure failure.

I Blame Global Warming

It may be summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but it is winter in the Andes. Ski Portillo Closes Indefinitely Ahead of Massive Winter Storm - POWDER

How does over 13 feet of snow before the end of July sound? That’s how much Portillo said could arrive, according to “reliable forecasts.”

This is after they had to delay the openning of the season for lack of snow.

After the snow hits, the slopes will be closed for "safety reasons." (How do you spell AVALANCHE?)

Hat tip to William Teach at Pirate's Cove: Over-Heated World Alert: Chilean Ski Restort Closes Ahead Of Blizzard

https://www.thepiratescove.us/2026/07/17/over-heated-world-alert-chilean-ski-restort-closes-ahead-of-blizzard/

The image above was stolen, shamelessly, from Pirate's Cove.

Why Men Left the Dating Pool

I first saw this short video from SmugAlana: Why Don't Men Approach Anymore? Which made me laugh, which isn't bad for less than a minute. (A woman complaining about men not approaching her, and - unintentionally - explaining exactly why they don't.)

So when this 2nd video showed up, I thought I would at least listen to a bit of it...

I always thought describing dating as a market, missed the point somehow, even back in the day when a lot of the clubs were described as "meat markets." But people do make rational decisions about how they spend their time, and their money. And the Pursuit of Happiness is something that we seem to have baked into the system. In this case, Gen Z, and maybe Millennial men, are making rational decisions about that dating market.

I'm older than dirt, so this is mostly of interest because I do know a handful of Zoomers, mostly kids of friends. But it is part of the fallout of late-stage feminism, and Woke. And those forces seem to be destroying society in new, and unexpected ways.

This is Kait Willett's video Women Are Starting to See The Damage

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 18 July

The Right Way is up first with Top of the News

Trump: We ‘Completed’ Goals in Iran, Strikes Will ‘Continue’ - Briebart News
Ro "The Rotard" Khanna - Evi. L Bloggerlady

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.15.26 (Afternoon Edition)

CDR Salamander: China Goes Island Grabbing Again
Don Surber: Trump Strait-ens out Iran

EBL - England vs. Argentina ⚽

England vs. Argentina
There can only be one to go on to the finals...
EBL: Argentina finishes off Egypt and Mexico vs. England

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 15 July 2026: Red Fish Blue Fish Edition

Microsoft has updated Windows Search and... Fixed it? (WCCFTech)
Well, they've at least stopped shoving it full of ads, which goes a big way toward fixing it.

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

The Democrat Party’s America: Victor Davis Hanson – Hit Iran hard. Islam commission.
Davos Carney’s Canada: The Blackie dance. Gun control. Green scam. Corrupt diplomats.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump Says China Messed with 2020 Election, Intelligence Covered for Them

Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt, "Notice how Nithya Raman just completely disappeared after they blocked us out of the general election? She's not campaigning at all. Like a pickpocket disappearing into the crowd.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.15.26 (Evening Edition)

Don Surber: Cheering a less-known military victory
First Street Journal: The Capitol kerfuffle is almost over

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 7/16/2026

Foreign Marxist Terrorist Group Built Influence in US Activism
A decades-old Marxist terrorist organization has successfully infiltrated American activist circles, establishing connections with several groups

The Glibertarians - Wednesday Morning Links

Mexican Government Sends Lawyers to Block ICE Deportations
Trump to shrink 2 Utah national monuments by 90%

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For July 17, 2026

The war with Iran is very much on again.
Also, the full blockade of Iranian ports is back on.
Rubio Convenes 60-Nation Summit To Confront Transnational Far-Left Terrorism.”

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Academic Ridiculousness: Queer Kids Lit; Asexual Hobbits; Indigenous Horse Science

What are “2SLGBTQI+ Picture Books”? This “queer early childhood educator” is going to find out! From the abstract:
Apparently there is a field of Queer Tolkien scholarship

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

U. Chicago Law School bans phones, laptops from classrooms ‘in response to AI’
Academics persist in being the ’20’ on the ’80-20′ issue of trans women in female sports

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 7/ 15 /26

Noah Rothman unveils a century of leftist violence in America.
The Ideas That Make Violence Possible

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Seizing the Day

• Trained to Nullify: How Civil Resistance Tactics Are Reaching American Juries - Insurrection Barbie
• 'Diversity' Is Not Our Strength if They Hate Us - David Strom

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 07/17/2026

President Donald Trump, in a primetime speech, alleged vulnerabilities exist in American election systems, though declassified documents his administration released largely discuss vulnerabilities that have been known for years.

I leave you with MIdweek Memes from Granite Grok, Friday Memes … from MaddMedic, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3938 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Friday's gifs from Wirecutter.

Oklahoma Is a Bad Place for Bad Guys

They take self-defense seriously in Oklahoma. Sheriff: Oklahoma homeowner hit attempted thief with baseball bat, shot him

The homeowner said he turned to go back inside his house, but the man followed him into the home.

At that point, the homeowner said he grabbed a baseball bat and hit the suspect.

The baseball bat wasn't enough to deter this guy. He charged the homeowner, who then drew a firearm, and shot him in the leg. He is clearly more charitable than I am. I would have gone straight to the firearm, and I would not have shot him in the leg.

Still, it ended the threat.

The suspect, who was identified as 37-year-old Joshua Arenas, was taken to the hospital for treatment.

After he got out of the hospital, he was arrested.

FBI - Houston Man Had Meth in His Car

The National Review - Houston Man Killed by ICE, Hailed as Father Chasing ‘American Dream,’ Had Meth in His Car, FBI Says

So not the choirboy the media would have us believe.

There has been intense outrage surrounding the incident, especially amid the broader unrest regarding U.S. immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.

Hat tip to Ed Driscoll at Instapundit

“HOUSTON MAN:”

This particular "Houston Man" was a citizen of Colombia.