Don't Defend Yourself in Manhattan

Alvin Bragg is soft on crime, but if you defend yourself he will do everything to make your life miserable. NYC bodega clerk Jose Alba would be cheered on Staten Island: pols

Staten Island pols on Saturday came to the defense of a Manhattan bodega clerk who faces murder charges for fighting off an assailant — saying he’d be cheered for such action in their borough instead of tossed in a jail cell to rot on notorious Rikers Island.

“In some parts of the world, that guy would be a hero for saving himself — he’d get a medal,” said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella during a rally in support of bodega clerk Jose Alba outside an Eltingville bagel store.

But not on the island of Manhattan. He was thrown in Rikers, with stab wounds received in the incident that were not treated, and now may be infected.

He isn't the only one, of course. Tracy McMaster (a black woman) defended herself against her violent, drunken, ex husband (a white man). She was charged with murder. DA Alvin Bragg Still Won’t Drop Charges Against Manhattan Woman Charged with Murder Who Says She Acted in Self-Defense

The grand jury that indicted McCarter under former District Attorney Cy Vance never heard about Murray’s alleged history of violence, or her claim that she was acting in self-defense. Judge Jackson later ruled that the grand jury was not required to know that information before making their decision.

Because HOW DARE YOU not rely on the state for your personal security, even when it is clear that the state cannot provide that security.

Death By Defenestration

Even in Chicago, that is not something you see everyday. 'I threw the b*tch out the window' Uptown man allegedly admits in call from police station; murder charge filed - CWB Chicago

An Uptown man threw a naked woman to her death from his fifth-floor apartment window minutes after his girlfriend arrived at his home on Wednesday evening, prosecutors said.

Because of course he did.

Since 2003, he has been sentenced to prison six times, primarily for drug-related offenses, according to O’Connor. He is now charged with first-degree murder.

Click thru for the details. And why do the quotes from the public defenders never make sense?

Should I assume that no one needs a definition? Defenestration: (noun) the action of throwing or pushing someone out of a window.

Democrats Don't Care About Your Safety

Does open borders ring a bell? An alarm bell, that is. So How's That Open Border Working Out for You? Drug Cartel Member Believed Behind Planned July 4 Attack in Va.

Two men arrested for planning an attack on a July 4 celebration in Virginia were not just in the country illegally, but one of them is also a suspected Mexican drug cartel member and the other is his roommate. So it seems that this whole open borders thing is working out “great” for law-abiding Americans. [SNIP]

“It was a very serious threat. Any threat against life and certainly that of a mass shooting is gravely serious,” police spokesperson Tracy Walker told WSET. “The suspect clearly announced a plan to carry this out and clearly had the means to do so based on the weapons and several hundred rounds of ammunition that was seized,” Walker told the station.

Hat tip to The Other McCain: Cartel Suspect in Richmond Arrest, in which it is noted...

Because Democrats and their media allies consider these people Future Democratic Voters, this story didn’t get much national coverage.

The Eagle Flies Alone

Warning: Death Metal, Death Growl ahead. Alissa White-Gluz does harsh vocals as well, or better, than anyone singing Melodeath (Melodic Death Metal) today.

I'm a bit surprised that I haven't featured this song before. It has been stuck in my drafts folders for a while. It is one of the most accessible Arch Enemy songs, because the song is just first rate.

Here's a link to the lyrics. I don't have trouble understanding Alissa White-Gluz through the Death Growl, but YMMV.

This is "The Eagle Flies Alone" by Arch Enemy from the 2017 album Will to Power.

Civilization Was Nice While It Lasted

Civilization is built on law and order. In our major cities, the Democrats, mostly through non-prosecuting attorneys, are dismantling the foundation of civilization. One of them anyway. Video shows teens fatally beat 73-year-old man with traffic cone in Philadelphia

Apparently for no reason, a group of "teens" who were out at 2 or 2:30 AM decided to beat a 73-year-old man to death. I guess they were bored, or something.

The video showed the man crossing a street north of downtown Philadelphia before one of the teens can be seen hurling a cone at him

The family of the guy who died is actually using the E word. “So Evil”: Family of Man Beaten to Death by Teens With Traffic Cone Speaks Out.

The video shows the young people leaving the scene, one even hopped on a scooter and appeared to be talking with another young person walking alongside him in the moments after the attack. A young person is also seen running down the sidewalk.

"Even I can't comprehend that teenagers would beat an old person in the street for no apparent reason," said Tania Stephens, Lambert's niece.

A couple of generations have been told that there is no such thing as good or evil. And also that right and wrong depends on who you are, or is flexible to account for past wrongs. Like, shoplifting is OK, because of past racism. (That whole "Thou shall not steal" is such an antiquated idea. Or something.)

If there is no good and evil, no right and wrong, and there is virtually no chance that you will held accountable for your actions by the state, why not kill someone because you are bored? How dare you be so judgemental.

So Philadelphia has enacted a curfew for teens. Will the cops arrest anyone? Will the DA prosecute? What are the penalties? If cops arrest or detain a similar group of 7 teens tomorrow night, how long will it be before they are accused of racism? Will they even bother to do anything?

Most large cities are short-handed when it comes to their police forces, in some cases all they do is respond to 911 calls. How much time is available for enforcing a law that the DA is probably going to ignore?

This is certainly what Hobbes called The State of War. There is no security, but what you can provide for yourself. Of course if this old man had a gun in his possession, and he defended himself, the Left would be beside themselves. How dare he not rely on the State. But as these events prove, the State, or at least the City of Philadelphia, cannot provide security.

Here is a section of the first stanza of "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

I'm not sure why this came to mind. Those "children" are not innocent. They brutally murdered a man, and went on with their day like nothing happened. (Hat tip to Bacon Time, and CTH.)

11 July 1972 - Fischer vs. Spassky Chess Championship

50 years ago, the Cold War played out in Iceland. Fischer vs. Spassky | World Chess Championship 1972

For a chess match, this generated a whole lot of attention in the US. And it inspired some people to learn the game, at least a little.

The match was held at the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland. The first game was played on July 11th.

Fischer's remarkable run in the Interzonal and Candidates' matches were he won 20 games in a row (the final seven in the Interzonal in Spain, two 6-0 match routs against Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen, and the first game in the finals against Tigran Petrosian).

But after winning The Candidates Tournament, he threatened not to attend the Championship. So the State Department got involved.

Fischer threatening to not attend the match at all, even eliciting the intervention of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who phoned the American to plead with him to attend.

Then there were accusations at the match itself of bugs, altered chairs, complaints about the cameras, etc., and Fischer forfeited the 2nd game.

In the end, Fischer won 12½ to 8½.

Nigerian Slavery in 2022

Somehow I don't expect the Woke media in the US to report on this. How can it be that bad things are happening in other parts of the world, and Western Democracies are not to blame? Nothing to see here. Ike Ekweremadu: Nigerian senator faces London organ-harvesting trial - BBC News

The Nigerian senator and his wife are in custody.

The alleged victim is said to have refused to consent to the procedure after undergoing tests at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.

It is alleged the Ekweremadus treated him as a slave before he escaped and went to Staines police station, Surrey.

Like I said, I don't expect the US media to say much. I could be mistaken.

Hat tip to Not The Bee: Nigerian politician and his wife arrested for bringing their literal slave to the UK to harvest his kidney.

The West is so preoccupied with our history of slavery that ended a century ago that we often forget that the practice is still rampant in most of the world in some form or another.

But if they acknowledged that, then they might have to admit that their sports shoes are made by slave labor in China. And then they might have to look at other stuff, like child laborers mining for cobalt in The Congo...

The Critical Drinker Watched This Movie So You Don't Have to

UPDATE: I've added a link to a spoiler-free review below the embedded video. The spoiler-free review (which is also not good) is from Heel vs Babyface.

The review contains spoilers, so you've been warned, but then I was NEVER going to see this movie in a theater, because I expected it to be hot garbage. To say that I am tired of the MCU, of Disney and their insistence on Strong Female Character, and all the rest is an understatement. (I wouldn't mind Strong Female Character if they were written well. They haven't been written well in the MCU since Black Widow in The Avengers).

Drinker also has a Twitter thread about the movie. One of the things that caught my eye on CGI Natalie Port-person: "Lady Thor was nowhere near as bad as expected." It didn't live down to his worst expectations. Is that what movies have become?

Anyway, this is the Critical Drinker video, Thor: Love And Thunder - It's Hot Garbage.

Here's a link to a spoiler-free review, from Heel vs Babyface, in case anyone thinks they're going to give Hollywood some money for this crap.

Another Failure of the Victim-selection Process

He tried to break into an occupied home. Shooting investigation underway in Washington County, Virginia | WCYB

According to Sheriff Blake Andis, a man attempted to break into the home and broke a window on a house before the homeowner shot the man.

After being shot, he fled, but called for help from a nearby intersection. He was taken to a local hospital. Charges are pending his release from medical care. And there may have been someone else involved in the robbery.

Self-defense is a human-right. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

The Srebrenica Massacre — 11 July 1995

I will be very surprised if governments do anything to mark this anniversary on Monday, because it was in many ways the failure of government. It is certainly a failure of the United Nations. Bosnia's Srebrenica massacre 25 years on - in pictures - BBC News. The referenced article is from 2 years ago.

The UN had promised safety, enforced by its "Peace Keepers" (so called). That didn't work out too well.

On 11 July 1995, Bosnian Serb units captured the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In less than two weeks, their forces systematically murdered more than 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) - the worst act of mass killing on European soil since the end of World War Two.

Ratko Mladic, commander of the Bosnian Serb units, told the terrified civilians not to be afraid as his forces began the slaughter. They did not stop for 10 days.

The Bosnian War broke out in the early 1990s as Yugoslavia disintegrated after the fall of the Soviet Union. There were a couple of interim states, but today, what was formerly Yugoslavia is divided between Bosnia and Herzegovina (one country), Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. Early on, Serbia did not accept some of the divisions, and declared war on Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia instituted a policy of ethnic cleansing to remove Bosniaks from the area in an effort to create Greater Serbia.

Srebrenica was a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina established as a UN safe zone. However the Useless Nitwits at the United Nations only could assign a lightly armed, quite small force of Dutch soldiers to provide "peacekeeping" force for Srebrenica.

In April 1993, the UN Security Council declared the enclave a "safe area... free from any armed attack or any other hostile act".

That sounds nice, but the UN (useless nitwits) did almost nothing to make that statement true. Srebrenica had been under siege since 1992. In 1993 supplies for both the citizens and the Dutch peacekeeping force gave out. People started dying of starvation. I don't know about you, but classic siege warfare sounds like fairly "hostile act" to me.

That is the beauty of the debating society known as The UN. They can say whatever the hell they want. Doesn't make it true.

On 6 July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces attacked Srebrenica in earnest. UN forces surrendered or retreated into the town, and Nato air strikes, called in to help, did little to slow the advance.

Five days later the city fell, and the killing began. 20,000 people were able to escape to the main UN base, but not all escaped.

Under-equipped Dutch soldiers witnessing the Serb aggression did nothing and about 5,000 Muslims sheltering at their base were handed over.

The Dutch military and government would later be blamed for 350 of the 8,000 deaths. The UN was never held accountable for anything.

Ratko Mladic would be captured in 2011, and convicted in the Hague in 2017. Serbia has apologized for the incident, but continues to deny that it constituted genocide.

The citizens of the disintegrating Yugoslavia in the 1990s, like the citizens of Ukraine in 2022, were not allowed to own arms. When a hostile neighbor decided that they were better off dead, there was little they could do, but put their faith in the UN and NATO. That didn't work out so well.

This is not a new phenomenon.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

That is an excerpt from "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" by Rudyard Kipling (1919)

Six Year Anniversary of Dallas of Officers Being Assassinated

Nothing to see here. Has this even been mentioned in the US? Dallas shooting: Gunman 'wanted to kill whites' says police chief - BBC News

Five police officers were killed and seven wounded during a march against the shooting of black men by police.

But he had a progressive Idea.

"The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated that he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers."

Mr Brown added that the man had said he was not affiliated with any groups and he had acted alone.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Homemade Gun Used to Kill Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe

There is more information at each of the links below than I have included here.

Impro Guns is up first, because they have the best photos. Gun used to Assassinate Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe

The improvised zip gun built and used by 41 year old army veteran Tetsuya Yamagami to assassinate former the former Japanese Prime Minister appears to be muzzle-loaded and electronically initiated. It appears to consist of two threaded gas pipes with end caps drilled to enable insertion of a wire which may be connected to a broken bulb or improvised electric match filled with black powder or match-head shavings to initiate a main propellant charge.

A photo of another weapon (apparently from the suspects home) is more elaborate, though much larger. Click thru for that photo, and a closeup of the firearm used in the assassination.

A commentor at Impro Guns notes that the security detail assigned to Abe didn't seem to be on top of things.

Tam at View from the Porch is up next: You Can't Uninvent The Wheel.

The only difference between it and a medieval handgonne is the construction material and the fact that it's fired by electronic ignition, probably a battery shorting across some steel wool, rather than a burning fuse.

Everything you need to make it is at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Finally The Other McCain: Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Assassinated With ‘Improvised Firearm’.

It’s not as if would-be assassins are so numerous that we must be eternally vigilant, but as the shooting of Shinzo Abe illustrates, it is difficult to prevent a truly determined killer: Where there’s a will, there’s a way. You outlaw gun ownership, and some murderous kook will manufacture a homemade weapon.

As homemade weapons go, this one is fairly simple.

Oh, and Biden and Company have decided that this is another excuse to talk about gun violence.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 9 July

Wombat-socho from The Other McCain if up first with In The Mailbox: 07.06.22

The Lid: Poll Ends Dem Hopes of Riding Roe Rage to Midterm Victory
Legal Insurrection: Google to Automatically Delete Tracking Info on Trips to Abortion Clinics

The Right Way - Top of the News

Alec Baldwin Threatens Twitter User: ‘I’ll Find You’ - IOTW Report
BRUTAL- American Digest
THE EXPERTS ARE FALLING - ACCORDING TO HOYT - Born Free

EBL - Jerone Davidson (R-AZ District 4) for Congress : Make Rifles Great Again 🤯🤗

Jerone Davidson for Congress
We need more Republicans like Jerone Davidson!
AoSHQ: Morning Repot 07.06.22

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Mandatory Wokeness In Academia: Mandatory Bias Test For Admission; Mandatory “Maoist” Diversity Training; Mandatory Power, Inequity, and Justice Classes

A British university will require students to accept “personal guilt” and agree with wokeness… just to enter the institution.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.07.22

EBL: Save Dutch Cows and Cheese, also, James Caan, RIP
Twitchy: Taylor Lorenz Calls Out Elon Musk For Procreating, also, “Well…Bye!”

A View from the Beach - DIY Politics Thursday

Ace of Spades HQEzra Miller's Victims Begin Talking
Woke Wednesday: Libs Happily Teaching 'Sex Pleasure' Classes to Kids. Wait Until You See the Curriculum. – PJ Media

Vlad Tepes - Sweden’s birthrate, CBC disinformation, Dr. Mark Trozzi, and more: Links 1, July 7, 2022

1. Sweden’s Birth Rate Dropping Precipitiously Every Month
2. CBC does what it does best, and only. Enemy government propaganda.
Kinda surprised they admit the deaths at all.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

My intrepid Mercatus Center colleague Veronique de Rugy warns of the dangers lurking in any revised version of Biden’s “Build Back Better” boondoggle.

Once again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 07.08.22

The Political Hat: Firing Line Friday – Psychiatry and the Law
This Ain’t Hell: Valor Friday, It can’t be any worse than the current mystery meats, and DHS to Whip Border Guards

Don Surber - Highlights of the News

ITEM 13: Politico reported, "President Joe Biden is preparing to alter some of former President Trump’s tariffs on China, with a decision expected this month.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 7/6/2022

Sweden and Finland Closer to Joining NATO as Member Nations Sign Accession Protocols
Sweden and Finland inched closer to joining NATO on Tuesday as ambassadors for all 30 member nations signed accession protocols for the two Nordic states to join the alliance

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

Confirmed Again: The Green Agenda Is Taking Us Backward
Joe Biden has allowed FIVE MILLION barrels of oil from US national supply to be shipped abroad after claiming they'd be released to help lower soaring gas prices

Pixy Misa at Ace of Spades HQ - Daily Tech News 6 July 2022

Closer to home but not much the EU has declared war on Apple. (MacRumors)
More specifically they've adopted legislation requiring big tech companies (including but not limited to Apple and Google) to allow developers to use third party payment providers

I leave you with Wednesday Memes … from MaddMedic, Skip! You're Back This Afternoon from Woodsterman, and finally from Bluebird of Bitterness Is there a doctor in the house?

How Drunk/High Do You Have to Be?

He ignored a warning shot. A lot of people ignore warnings, but how do you ignore gunfire aimed in your general direction? Sheriff: Homeowner Shot, Killed Student Trying to Get Inside

A homeowner shot and killed a possibly intoxicated college student who was trying to get into his house and ignored both orders to leave and a warning shot, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said Tuesday

Like I said, that is a few cocktails. Or whatever. They only said that he appeared to be intoxicated. Toxicology will take some time.

Surveillance video captures the warning shot, and the final shot.

“Unfortunately Tezeno was believed to be under the influence and his actions ... caused the homeowner to fear for his life,” the sheriff said.

Alcohol and drugs can be hazardous to your health, I guess.

And self-defense is a human-right. Also, Louisiana has not morphed into New Jersey.

NYC Clearly Needs Common Sense Wrench Control

It's a good thing NYC doesn't allow people to carry firearms; someone might have put an end to the attack with some fast-moving lead. Shocking moment man beats pregnant woman in the head with a WRENCH | Daily Mail Online

Heavy traffic rumbled past as the man chased his victim in the Fordham Heights neighborhood, before shoving her against a parked car, and striking her multiple times in the head with the wrench.

She was left with cranial lactations, and rushed to hospital for treatment. Further updates on her health have not been given.

And across the pond they are beginning to notice that not all is well in the City of New York.

Attacks across New York City are beginning to heighten as a Harlem bodega worker was attacked where he worked on July 1.

Jose Alba, 62, was working when Austin Simon, 35, attacked him after Simon's girlfriends card was declined trying to buy a bag of chips.

Civilization was nice while it lasted.

Heartbeat

Another song courtesy of WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback.

I generally like Progressive Rock from the late 1960s and 1970s, but for some reason I never warmed up to King Crimson. I liked some of the more extreme Post Punk stuff done by Robert Fripp, but even that was more of a novelty than a regular listen. Still, I do like today's song, and I don't think it's because it's from the 1980s.

This song is "Heartbeat" by King Crimson from their 1982 album Beat.

If you're wondering what Post Punk done by a progressive musician sounds like, see this link: Inductive Resonance.

Biden: Facts? We Don't Have No Facts. We Don't Need No Stinkin' Facts!

Lies and politicians go together like bread and honey. HOAX? Biden Repeats Unverified Story About 10-Year-Old Ohio Girl’s Abortion

This story checks so many boxes that fact-checking it is not considered necessary.

As always, of course, Democrats expect the media to let them get away with telling such stories without fact checking — indeed, the media is actively helping to promote this likely hoax. Because the story has now been made so notorious, however, more reporters now have an incentive to try to verify it and all I can say to them is, good luck.

No details could be provided, because just shut up and believe everything we say. Like inflation is Putin's fault. And blame high gas prices on the schmucks who own gas stations. And Russia, Russia, Russia. And...

Demi Moore - A Woman's Worth is (only) in Her Looks

That seems to be basically what she is saying. She’s Ready for Her Close-Up, Mr. DeMille

Isn't this somehow diametrically opposed to the old liberal mantra, "A woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle?"

At 59, she has decided to pose in swim suits because what else can she do?

And it isn't too often you can legitimately work a reference to Norma Desmond and Sunset Boulevard into a blog-post's title. (Nicely done Mr. McCain!)

She married Bruce Willis when she was 24, and they both had promising careers - Die Hard and Ghost were from that era.

But while Bruce’s career continued to yield hits (Armageddon in 1998, The Sixth Sense in 1999), things weren’t so good for Demi. G.I. Jane was awful and a total bomb at the box office, from which she never really recovered. She has kept working steadily, but she ceased to be a marquee name. And what’s with the swimsuit photos as an argument against being “less desirable” at 59? Desirable to whom?

Robert Stacy has more info: How she got her start, what went right, what went wrong. But I can't help but think that the whole message "be desirable" is straight out of the magazine she posed for when she was 18.

I don't know, maybe I'm selling her short. She has done some work as a producer. On movies that I recognize. And she did try directing, though the 2 short films I don't recognize.

But then again, when your principle achievement in life was being young, and beautiful, it must be hard to face life, when you are no longer young, and worried about whether or not you are still beautiful. I have to say it works better when set to the fears of an aging silent film star, than it does coming from an aging 1980s actress.

NFL Stars in Charity Chess Tournament

The image of the dumb jock, really doesn't hold up. Not really. Not at the highest levels of sport. Announcing BlitzChamps With NFL Stars Fitzgerald, Thibodeaux, Parsons, And More!

And that dumb jock thing is realatively new. There were times in history, when a warrior was expected to be good at sports, verse, and games like chess.

The event is happening on July 9 and 10 at 1 p.m. PT, with players competing for a piece of the $100,000 prize fund for their favorite charity, not to mention the bragging rights.

One of the greatest wide receivers of all time, Larry Fitzgerald, headlines the field. The second-leading receiver in NFL history and surefire future Hall of Famer is a longtime chess aficionado.

Blitz chess, or Speed Chess, is a time-controlled game of 1-10 minutes. So you don't have to get bogged down in hours long games. (Like The Candidates Tournament which just completed this past weekend.)

Click thru to the article for details on the Chess.com Twitch channel and their YouTube channel where the games will be available for viewing. Might be diverting.

As for The Candidates Tournament, the final round, Round 14, was played on July 4th. Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi won the tournament with a score of 9.5 out of 14. You get 1 point for a win, and 0.5 points for a draw. Ding Liren, of China, came in second with a score of 8 out of 14. Ian "Nepo" Nepomniachtchi will face the reigning champion, Magnus Carlsen, sometime next year for The World Chess Federation Championship.

Those two met in the last championship, which was COVID-19 delayed. The prize fund was 2 million Euros. Each player got an upfront payment I think it was something on the order of 50,000 Euros to cover travel expenses. (That contest was held in Dubai.) And they're expected to have a certain level of wardrobe, I believe. Then the winner gets a substantial portion of whatever remains of the €2 million, but the loser does get some compensation.

Oh, and FIDE is the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage.