Blackbird

Another round of my (fruitless) quest to make people understand that what goes by the name of Heavy Metal today is what we called Hard Rock back in the dark ages of the pre-Walkman 1970s.

Today's song is definitely Rock & Roll, if a bit low-key in parts. Guitars, drums, with no screaming and none of the Death Metal, Death Growl. And there is a nice guitar solo that that starts at about 4 minutes and 35 seconds in. It doesn't last long enough, of course. They never do.

Alter Bridge is made up of guitarist Mark Tremonti (Creed, Tremonti, etc.), vocalist and rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy (vocalist for Slash's backing band), bassist Brian Marshall (Creed), and drummer and keyboardist Scott Phillips (Creed).

I have been trying to decide if Myles Kennedy's singing reminds me of someone. He definitely sounds like his singing would have been at home on a 1970s Rock & Roll station. Here's a link to the lyrics.

This is "Blackbird" by Alter Bridge. It is the title song to their 2007 album.

David Drake Retires

I can't say that he was my favorite author, but I have read quite a bit of his work. Newsletter #123 – the last one

My health problems continue, whatever they are. I can’t concentrate enough to write a novel and I even had to give up my project with Ryan Asleben, (who couldn’t have been nicer).

Hat tip to Wombat-socho and FMJRA 2.0: Farewell To A Master

The Trial and the Verdict That Didn't Get National Media Attention

This verdict surprised me more than the Rittenhouse verdict, though that was surprising. Andrew Coffee IV found not guilty on all counts of murder.

Indian River County in Florida is on the Atlantic coast, about halfway between Palm Beach and Daytona Beach, or about 40 miles south of Cape Canaveral. It is just about due east of St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay.

In 2017, in Indian River County, Florida, Sheriff's deputies show up at the home of Andrew Coffee and his girlfriend Alteria Woods, and throw a flashbang grenade into his home. He thought that he was under attack, and opened fire. Sheriff's deputies returned fire, killing Ms. Woods. Coffee was charged with murder.

Before the case went to the jury's hand, Coffee took the stand to defend himself — blaming deputies for his girlfriend's death.

The defense said Coffee was asleep and thought the flash-bang was gunfire so he fired his gun because he thought the was under attack.

“I was trying to protect me and Alteria and I thought I was doing that, but I feel I didn't protect her. I can't sleep with that ... they killed her,” Coffee said.

Prosecutors maintain that deputies "announced" their presence, but I'm not clear on how they did that. It's clear that they didn't ring the doorbell, or do anything civilized. It was a "drug raid" in the middle of the night, so I read that as "no knock." The flashbang probably went off within seconds of someone shouting "Police!"

The DA was disappointed that the jury didn't pin the blame for everything that the cops did on who they had designated as the bad guy of the day. But then DAs HATE self-defense. I sort of wish I had a "Cops Behaving Recklessly" category of posts.

Coffee was found guilty on one count of "possession of a firearm by a convicted felon." He has yet to be sentenced for that. If he was in Chicago, there is a good chance that charge would have been dropped, but he is in Indian River County, Florida

How's That Bail Reform Working Out?

At least no one got murdered - for this story. Men are charged with having guns, selling drugs while on bond for shootings and murder, records show - CWB Chicago

[Cook County Board President Toni] Preckwinkle and [Cook County chief judge Timothy] Evans insist that the individuals who are released don’t contribute to increasing crime.

Recently, several people have been charged with new felonies while awaiting trial for allegedly murdering or shooting people, sometimes while on electronic monitoring. Here are some examples:

If you make something cheaper, you will see more of it. The cost of crime has been reduced - as far as the criminals are concerned - and so there is more crime. And the powers that be, stamping their feet and screaming that you are lying about it, won't change the facts.

Does This Mean that People are Waking Up to the Security/Privacy Issue?

Somehow I doubt it, though it may be a start.

Cybercrime and SPAM are at least in part a function of all the data that companies have about you, and it is data that they don't do a good job of protecting.

We are giving away our privacy for convenience, entertainment, and social media.

This is the video for Is Your Privacy An Illusion? (Taking on Big Tech) - Smarter Every Day 263

A Feral Irishman Musical Interlude

A song from Riverside. ♫♪♫ Acronym Love.... Riverside ♫♪♫.... I love the guitar work on this song.....

Is this a rock ballad? "Acronym Love" is a nice song, with a nice guitar solo, and still isn't too jarring, and though it starts as a ballad, it probably doesn't qualify overall, as the energy builds toward the end.

At least it ramps up, so it probably won't be too much to endure before the coffee kicks in.

Don't Tell Me How To Live

Liberals heads exploding in 3, 2, ...

Kid Rock versus the Left. [VIDEO] He’s Back: Kid Rock Releases New “Anti-Woke” Song That’ll Have Liberals Clutching Their Pearls

We interupt our regularly scheduled programmng to bring you a special, anti-woke musical interlude.

Here's a small sample of the lyrics.

Years ago, we all thought it was a joke, see?
That every kid got a motherf***ing trophy
But yo homie, here’s a situation
A nation of p***ies is our next generation
And these minions and their agendas
Every opinion has a millennial offended

Here's a link to all of the lyrics.

This is "Don't Tell Me How To Live" by Kid Rock. It was released on November 19th.

Yet Another Failure of the Victim-selection Process

He apparently thought that robbing a gas station was a good idea. Gas station clerk fatally shoots alleged armed robber at Circle K in Bossier City

Police officials say it happened around 3 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 14 at the Circle K in the 2800 block of Airline Drive. The clerk at the gas station fatally shot a would-be armed robber, police say.

The investigation is ongoing, but it sure sounds like the police think this is self-defense.

And self-defense is a human-right.

I Can't Wait For the USA to Have Socialized Medicine Like the UK

I'm sure that will be in next year's "infrastructure bill." Delays to ambulance handovers at A&E 'are costing lives' in scandal affecting up to 160,000 a year | Daily Mail Online

Shortages of staff and beds in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) Hospitals, and in particular in "Accident and Emergency Wards," what we call the ER, causes ambulances to queue up outside the hospitals, forcing patients to wait. They wait for hours in some cases. The chart to the right indicates how the wait to be seen in A&E wards has grown over time. And while the NHS is experiencing staff shortages, vaccine mandates are not expected untill next spring. These are just regular staff shortages.

A damning report revealed up to 160,000 patients each year may be affected due to the long periods waiting to be admitted. Of these, about 12,000 suffer 'severe harm', according to the document written by NHS ambulance bosses in England.

And since ambulances are stuck waiting outside of hospitals, it takes 55 minutes, on average, to get an ambulance to respond to an emergency call. Some people are waiting MUCH longer.

A 92-year-old diabetic spent nearly 14 hours lying on the floor covered in blood while waiting for an ambulance.

He had fallen.

But hey, it didn't cost him anything - except for his long-term medical issues from the fall.

People forget that just because you have health insurance, doesn't mean you will be able to find health care when you need it.

Mayor Groot Has Lost Her Mind

Let me count the ways why not. Lori Lightfoot Open to Chicago Exploring Buying Bears: ‘Why Not?'

Why not? Well here are a few reasons, not that I had to dig deep.

1. The team is not for sale
2. There is no reason to believe that the owners would sell
3. Chicago is flat broke
4. And you have more important stuff to worry about

So if she can get past all of that, then sure, Chicago could buy the team.

And Groot is worrying about the Bears because crime is down, and peace has broken out, and the schools are in top notch shape, and business is booming, and jobs are plentiful, and... Or maybe not.

Who Had "Plague of Scorpions" on Their World Disaster Bingo Card?

I was expecting alien invasion, but this actually more biblical. Egypt hit by plague of scorpions as bizarre 'scorpionado' leaves hundreds hospitalised

Reports of the "scorpionado" came after several days of hail, rainfall and flooding battered the region.

Situated on the banks of the River Nile, Aswan is one of the world's driest cities.

I could see Sweet Metor of Death, Alien Invasion, Yellowstone caldera Eruption, etc. but I didn't seen plague of scorpions coming.

And just because, here is "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 20 November

Wombat-socho at the Other McCain has been down with the flu. "At least it wasn’t Corona-chan." In The Mailbox: 11.19.21 (Morning Edition)

Vox Popoli: You Survived The Psyop, The Temptation Of Empire, and Gatekeeper U
Gab News: Why Christians Must Prepare For The Metaverse

Vlad Tepes - Sterility, Austria and the warriors of Reason: Links 1 on November 18, 2021

3. “One nurse reported EIGHT stillbirths in one day ...
4. Austria’s leader utters stern warning to the unvaxxed

Battleswarm Blog - LinkSwarm for November 19, 2021

Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty on all counts. Self defense is still legal in the United States. Now let the lawsuits against everyone ... begin.

EBL - MSNBC and NBC Intimidating Rittenhouse Jurors ⚖️😬

MSNBC Producer suspected of following Rittenhouse jurors, banned from courthouse
James J. Morrison was detained and released. Claimed to be working for MSNBC/NBC.

The Right Way - Top of the News

Whistleblower: The DOJ Has Begun Using Counterterrorism Tools To Track "Threats" By Parents Complaining About Schoolboards - AoSHQ
Kenosha: Media-Induced Mistrial? - The Other McCain

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Woke Medicine: Psychic Suffering; Black Revolutionary Feminism; Humanism, Equity, and Anti-Racism

What’s more important than developing new cures for diseases or new treatments to help the sick? Revolutionary Black Feminism, of course!

Don Surber - Highlights of the News

ITEM 10: Post Millennial reported, "The mysterious Jump Kick Man talked about during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, the man that was labeled as the one that stomped Rittenhouse's head when he fell to the ground, has been identified as a Kenosha man

Cafe Hayek - Some Non-Covid Links

Nick Gillespie busts an environmentalist myth about Bitcoin.
California gets ever-more-crazy and hostile to commerce.
Mike Munger pleads: “Don’t blame the ‘greedy wealthy.’”

A View from the Beach - DIY Russiagate Post

Rachel Maddow's Shocking New Low - by Matt Taibbi - TK News by Matt Taibbi
Russiagate has no rock bottom - by Aaron Maté - Aaron Mate
Clinton Operative Linked to Steele Dossier Did Not Disclose Work for Russia to Justice Department

And again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 11.19.21 (Evening Edition)

The Geller Report: Woke Professor Whines That Pedophile Is Offensive Term, also, Piles Of Bricks Randomly Started Appearing In Kenosha Yesterday
Hogewash: Journalism Or Jury Tampering?, I’m Not Making This Up

Splendid Isolation - News Roundup

Cardiologist Who Said He ‘Won’t Cry at Funeral’ For “Selfish” Unvaccinated People Suddenly Dies in His Sleep 2 Weeks After 3rd Covid Jab
…no reports on how many people showed up at his funeral, or whether there was laughter.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 11/17/2021

Nick Sandmann to Kyle Rittenhouse: ‘I Am Here for You’
Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann has offered a voice of support for 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report - 11/18/21

"If you're politically on the Right in America, you can no longer count on equal justice under the law."
"Criminal Justice Reform" Is Leftist Code for Punishing Conservatives

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

Why progressives ruin cities: A conversation with Michael Shellenberger
Why conglomerates break themselves up
Whitewashing Asian-Americans

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: FBI “counterterrorism” officials secretly tracked parents who argued with school boards

Whistleblower: FBI using “domestic terrorism” task-force to target parents: CTH
Rep. Jim Jordan: Email Shows FBI Using Counterterror Tools Against Parents: Katrina Trinko

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 11/18/2021

Police Officer finds suspicious pile of bricks in Kenosha back alley.
Marvel writer urges people to burn down the city of Kenosha over Rittenhouse trial verdict.

I leave you with Wednesday gifdump from Wirecutter, Thursday Memes .. from MaddMedic, and The Day of the Skipism ~ 1 from Woodsterman.

The Left Won't Be Happy Until They Destroy Everything

Everything must burn. Rittenhouse Verdict Reactions Show What ‘White Supremacy’ Means to the Left

First off, Race: The three men Kyle Rittenhouse shot, in Self-defense, were white. Kyle is white. But it is all about RACISM.

Then there is the strange list of things that is traumatic to the Left.

People who claimed to be traumatized by President Trump’s mean tweets had no such aversion to acts of violent destruction — far more harmful than anything Trump said — when this wanton vandalism could be justified, in their minds, as “racial justice” protests.

As for the destruction.

The Left’s rhetoric about “white supremacy,” “systemic racism,” etc., reflects a fundamental hostility to civilization, per se.

And that is the goal. To burn every city to the ground.

Click thru. There is so much more.

They Were In His Home

But he is still worried about being prosecuted. ‘I killed both of them’: 911 caller details why he shot 2 Fayetteville teens, claims self-defense. This incident took place in October, but the 911 call has just been released.

Maybe he knows that prosecutors HATE self-defense.

They apparently thought it would be a good idea to break into an occupied home. They were wrong, and they paid with their lives.

The caller said they “don’t know how many rounds I shot” when he took aim at 19-year-old Hunter Markham and a 17-year-old, whose identity was not released due to them being a minor.

According to the call, the thieves also had weapons.

The caller said after they shot the teens he put his gun on the counter of the home and went outside to help tend to his nephew who had been shot in the leg.

Police are willing to accept that the two guys who got shot broke in, but they are still investigating.

At 17 and 19 they had their lives ahead of them. Instead of doing something constructive, they turned to crime. In this case, crime didn't pay.

George Clooney on the Rust Movie Shooting

Clooney has a counterpoint to Baldwin's "It's not my fault" mantra. George Clooney calls Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' shooting 'insane'

The “Ocean’s Eleven” star said that despite having “been on sets for 40 years,” he has never heard of some of the apparent safety measures Baldwin’s Western had used on the deadly set.

“First of all, I’ve never heard the term ‘cold gun,'” he said of the doomed safe word that Baldwin believed meant the Colt .45 he fired would not have live bullets.

And Clooney says that even actors are expected to check their own weapons, and not just take someone's word that a gun is not loaded.

The former “ER” star said he was “friends” with Jon-Erik Hexum, who died from a blank in 1984, and “good friends — really good friends — with Brandon Lee,” the 28-year-old son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee who died in a similar on-set shooting while filming “The Crow” in 1993.

“After Brandon died, it really became a very clear thing of, open the gun, look down the barrel, looking in the cylinder, make sure,” he said of industry-wide safety steps that Baldwin appears to have skipped.

Of course given that these were (probably) single action revolvers, you needed a slightly esoteric knowledge of how to check that they were unloaded. Something you could have been shown how to do in under 2 minutes.

Meanwhile Alec's brother Daniel Baldwin says that he couldn't be expected to make his own safety checks.

Mediterranean Sundance

I think I have mentioned that I have been spending at least some of my musical-listening time revisiting the Jazz I listened to back in the dark ages of the late 1970s and 1980s. Some of it is quite good.

Al Di Meola came to my attention because he was - for a while - a member of Return to forever. (Return to Forever consists of Chick Correa, Stanley Clarke, and other musicians over time.)

This song is "Mediterranean Sundance" by Al Di Meola from his 1977 album Elegant Gypsy.

Did People Doubt That Skateboards Could Be Weapons?

Apparently someone said it "was only a skateboard," about a certain incident in Kenosha, and that comment gained some acceptance. Man dies after being hit in head with skateboard during fight in Santa Ana Starbucks - ABC7 Los Angeles

A man was killed after being hit in the head with a skateboard in an act of self-defense during a fight in a Santa Ana Starbucks.

Anyone who didn't think a skateboard would be a good weapon hasn't ever seen one, and they really haven't been paying attention to the Antifa/BLM/whatever "fighters" in Portland, Seattle, and elsewhere. It is a favorite weapon.

A piece of hardwood plywood (something like maple) ½ inch to ¾ inch by 5 or 6 inches by 2 feet or more. Much more if it's a longboard. And it will have some bits of metal screwed to each end. If you get hit with the edge, I would say that could do some damage.

Oh, and in a Self-defense situation, use whatever weapon you have available.

Friday Links - 19 November

The Other McCain starts things off with Kenosha: Verdict Today? Or Never?

The Ultimate Answer to Kings - Happily we now know that hyperinflation is a GOOD thing.

Sultan Knish - Worker Unions Endorsed Biden, Members Got Screwed. United Steelworkers endorsed Biden, now he has thrown them under the bus.

The Post Millennial - BLM protesters arrested outside Kenosha courthouse charged with felony, misdemeanors

Moonbattery - Biden Targets Energy Industry He Crippled

They break your legs because they are brutes. Then they yell at you for not marching fast enough. Welcome to Marxist rule.

Pirate's Cove - Climate Skeptics Are Now Attacking The Solutions Or Something

Chris Stigall at Town Hall - COVID Vaccines Are Shots in the Dark It is all about fear. Fear of losing your job, and other things.

Granite Grok - What’s in Your COVID Vaccine? FDA Asks judge If They Can Hide the Details for Another 55 Years

Battleswarm Blog - Is Austin Community College Breaking Federal Law By Discriminating Based On Race?

Again from Moonbattery - Bureaucrats Block Care for Special Needs Kids

Flopping Aces - Just Because the Stormtroopers Aren’t Kicking Down Your Door (yet) Doesn’t Mean You’re Free…

Again from Granite Grok - Parents Start Calling for Merrick Garland’s Resignation

Weasel Zippers - Pelosi Defends Supporting Tax Cut For Mega-Rich In Blue States She Would Benefit From

We Are The Mighty - 6 of the most notable pre-M16 military guns

Danna Loesch - Kyle Rittenhouse Isn't a Villain and There Is Nothing Wrong with Open Carry

DaTechGuy - My Question for the Left Attempting to Intimidate Jurors in the Rittenhouse case with threats of Violence…

Again from The Post Millennial - Marvel writer urges people to burn down the city of Kenosha over Rittenhouse trial verdict

Manhattan Contrarian - If You Read It In The Mainstream Media, It's Wrong -- Plastics Edition

Chicago Contrarian - Militant Media: Chicago Tribune Partners With Injustice Watch

Lone Star Parson - Morning

Behold early morning Texas.

SiGraybeard - The Big Gov Pretty Much Ruins Everything It Touches

Roberta X - Self-Defense Advice

Again from The Other McCain - Kenosha: Expect a Hung Jury AND Kenosha: Media-Induced Mistrial?

Diogenes Middle Finger - Reading Between the Lines

Again from DaTechGuy - How long can MSNBC viewers fall for the lies?

Small Dead Animals - I’ll Take “Alec Baldwin Gun Safety Tips For $1000”

Samizdata - Why the tabloids are the choice of adults

Broadsheet journalists are always concerned with carefully steering us, the dumb rabble, towards what they believe we should believe

Raconteur Report - Slam-O-Gram: Special Delivery

Manifestly, the 5th Circuit has had quite enough of Gropey Dopey's bullshit, and just shot it in the head. With a shotgun and slugs. Repeatedly.

Claire Wolfe at Living Freedom - We are — suddenly — not alone

Millions are just ordinary people who’ve had enough. Who will go no farther. And who are willing to risk all.

Juvat from Chant du Départ - Eh bien... C'était excitant ! * Juvat is dealing with the aftermath of a (minor) fire at the guesthouse.

OldAFSarge from Chant du Départ - Not Good AND Ch Ch Ch Changes ...

Flopping Aces - The “Justice” system is now entirely perverted The Justice you get depends on the party you support.

Campus Reform - Students demand revocation of assistant professors’ honorary degree for his Christian beliefs

Don Surber - 72% of office workers left Manhattan .I'm surprised the number isn't higher.

The Gateway Pundit - EXCLUSIVE: Potential Witness Tampering as Gaige Grosskreutz, the Felon Who Aimed His Gun at Kyle Rittenhouse, Had Two Prior Charges Dismissed by Prosecutors Only Days Before Trial And he was not charged as a felon in possession of a firearm. Maybe that's what they were holding back.

Again from Granite Grok - Sometimes You Actually Have to “Fight” for Freedom

As unpleasant as it sounds (and can actually be), sometimes one has to actually fight for freedom. Stern letters to the editor or tweets just don’t get the job done.

Bayou Renaissance Man - There are two Americas, and I refuse to live in one of them

Neighbors Were Shocked

And you should keep control of your dogs. Police say shooting of dog in Spanish Fort neighborhood justified

The dog was barking at and chasing people in the neighborhood. On a Sunday, I'm going to assume that "people" includes some kids.

He called out to the dog to distract it and that's when police say the dog charged at him.

The neighbors?

Some neighbors were taken back by the incident. "You know, people own guns, but you don’t think that it’s going to be discharged in your neighborhood."

Because this kind of thing only happens in "other kinds of places," and not in our suburban enclave. Or something.

As for the cops...

"Under the circumstances, he was legally carrying in a place he had a legal right to and he felt threatened. And if a hundred pound plus dog come charging at you, it can’t be a good thing. Coming at you aggressively, which he said it was, he did what he had to do to protect himself and his family," said [Sgt. Steven] Mooney [of the Spanish Fort Police Department].

Self-defense is a human-right.