Rock 'n' Roll Is Here to Stay

Every once in a while I run across a modern band that sounds like it would have been at home on a 1970s Top 40 Rock station. This is one of those bands.

I found this group by way of some YouTube videos, and one person compared the lead singer to Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickinson. Yes, he is that good. Though I have not heard much by the band, and sometimes the songwriting can bring them down. But I do like today's song, and I think you might as well. They are not a new band, just new-to-me, so maybe they have that part down.

This song is "Rock 'n' Roll Is Here to Stay" by Girish And The Chronicles from their 2020 album Rock the Highway.

Girish And The Chronicles are from India. They sound like they should hail from Ohio.

Solar Storms Increased Dramatically

Hence the increase in the Northern Lights. Why Solar storms have dramatically increased aurora activity this year | BBC Science Focus Magazine

That is interesting, but the really fun part is from Maggie's Farm.

I blame climate change

No Friday Links Today

Maybe next week.

Check out the blogs you can find in the sidebar.

Texans Are Still Armed

Bad Guys are still getting shot. Midtown shooting: Houston Police Department looking into alleged self-defense after man attempted to open shooter's door - ABC13 Houston

A man was shot and killed in a busy Midtown parking garage on Saturday afternoon in what police believe may have been an act of self-defense.

He was sitting in his car, when a stranger, who was armed with a knife, tried to open the driver's side door. That didn't work out too well.

Still, [a legal analyst] said he believes this will likely be considered a case of self-defense because the shooting victim opened the car door.

That is because this happened in Texas, which has not morphed into New York City.

The investigation continues, and it is my understanding that in Texas every homicide is presented to a grand jury to determine if charges will be filed against the shooter. Self-defense is a human-right.

France in the 1930s versus America Today

From David Foster at Chicago Boyz - An Unexpected Defeat

The French defeat by the Germans in 1940 was not what most people think it was.

This campaign has never received much attention in America; it tends to be regarded as something that happened before the “real” war started. Indeed, many denizens of the Anglosphere seem to believe that the French basically gave up without a fight–which is a considerable exaggeration given the French casualties of around 90,000 killed and 200,000 wounded. But I think the fall of France deserves serious study, and that some of the root causes of the defeat are scarily relevant to today’s world.

The political landscape in France of the 1930s was poisonous.

Many military factors were involved in the defeat–obsolete doctrine on armored forces, inadequate use of radio communications, a strange and cumbersome military organization structure. But the roots of the 1940 debacle are not to be found only–or perhaps even primarily–in strictly military matters. A major role was played by certain characteristics of French society and politics of the time–and some of these factors are spookily similar to things that are going on in America today.

Political Parties hated each other more than they hated the Germans. That is only one example that resonates today.

All Your Messages Are Belong To Us

Dictators hate privacy, and so apparently do a lot of EU politicians. Leaked Document Shows The EU Countries That Want To Ban Private Messaging

Makes you almost think they want to be dictators.

But, "It's for the children!" (That is what the almost always say. Next up would be, "It's for national security!")

“Ideally, in our view, it would be desirable to legislatively prevent EU-based service providers from implementing end-to-end encryption,” representatives from Spain said.

End-to-end encryption ensures that only the sender and receiver can see the content of a message. Even the owner of the platform does not have access to the content.

So people who don't understand math or encryption or computers are going to make laws covering all of those things. What could possibly go wrong?

(And yes, this did get stuck in the drafts for a while; it is worth noting.)

Is Canada Still a Free Country?

How dare you give your own money to causes the government does not deem worthy! Canadian cop punished for giving $50 to Freedom Convoy, forced to work 80 unpaid hours | Not the Bee

At the time Brisco made the donation, he wasn't even working for the police department since he was on unpaid leave for personally refusing the Covid jab!

This ruling is a vindictive punishment because this cop dared assert his rights.

So he didn't shut up and do what he was told, and he didn't shut up. I'm surprise the Canadian government didn't throw him in prison.

The People in Charge of Blogger/Blogspot are Morons

They have made changes around how they are managing images, So I can upload nothing right now. And of course Alphabet has no support mechanism, and their help is on the level of "Have you made sure that your PC is plugged in?"

I have stuff scheduled, but my tolerance for changes that serve no purpose, programmers who are incapable of documenting anything, or bothering to talk to anyone actually using their system, and the general insanity that is application development was used up a few decades back. (Being out of corporate America hasn't helped my tolerance for insanity recover.)

All that amounts to: I may or may not be posting anything.

Texans Are Still Armed, Home Invaders Still Getting Shot

You can file this under, "Another failure of the victim-selection process." Armed Texas homeowner thwarts suspected burglar, leaves him wounded in bathroom | Fox News

The Beaumont Police Department responded to a report of a burglary in progress just after midnight on Friday, the police department reported. On the way to the home, dispatch told the officers that the homeowner had shot the suspect, who was located inside the home.

Police applied a tourniquet, saving the would-be bad guy's life. He is currently in the hospital recovering from his wounds. When release from the hospital he will be taken to the county lockup.

A police spokesperson said the homeowner will face no charges and was acting within his rights when shooting the suspect.

That is because self-defense is a human-right, and also because Texas has not morphed into New Jersey.

The Catch and Release Strategy Does Not Work in Criminal Justice

What happens when you continually release offenders - in this case juvenile offenders - with little in the way of consequences? The Deadly Menace of Feral Youth

What happens is that you get more consequences, worse crimes, until someone dies.

On Sunday, police in Baltimore County, Maryland, wore black mourning bands on their badges to mark the five-year anniversary of the death of one of their own. Officer Amy Caprio was responding to a 911 call of a burglary in progress west of U.S. Highway 1 near Perry Hall when she confronted the driver of a stolen Jeep, who ran over her — a death captured on the officer’s bodycam video. Her death highlighted the problems in a juvenile justice system that endangers public safety by failing to incarcerate repeat offenders.

This one "kid" had 17 incidents, either arrests, missed court dates, or reported AWOL from his electronic monitoring. This was all in course of about 6 months.

He had his wrist slapped, but faced no real consequences until he killed a cop. Instead of being given a chance to learn from his mistakes, Dawnta Hall killed someone and then was sentenced to life in prison. His three accomplices were convicted of felony murder and also went to prison.

So in the end, what did all that Social Justice accomplish, aside from killing a cop?

Click thru for the details and conclusions.

Young People and Mortality

From Meep at Stump we get the following: Mortality Nuggets: "Young People", Actuarial Club Meeting, and Disparate Results Pre-Pandemic

As the title indicates, there are several topics covered by Meep, but I am interested in the shot she took at something from the Wall Street Journal. A publication that should be, but apparently is not, used to dealing with statistics. Numbers anyway. (I guess math is hard when you're a "professional journalist.")

It seems that the WSJ can't be bothered to do more than look at everyone under 24 as "young people." Which, of course makes no sense. Or do you think that the reasons 2-year-olds die, have anything in common with why 18-year-olds die?

Which really points out the problem of this analysis. It shouldn’t be lumping all “young Americans” together, because this is absurd. For mortality trends, there is a reason I split it up 1-4 (preschool or little kids), 5-12 (school age or just plain old “kids”), and 13-17 (teenagers). I don’t include 18-19 with these groups — 18-24 can be its own group of young adults.

The graphs are a bit disturbing, and I was going to include one, but you should click thru for that. If you look at the graph for cause of death, for 13 to 17 year olds, suicide, homicide, drug-overdoses, motor-vehicle accidents, and even cancer have all been increasing steeply since 2018 or 2019. Some appear to have been growing since 2013 or so anyway. Suicide for that age range has been generally increasing since 2007 or so.

Suicide death rates had been steadily increasing 2007-2016 and had a peak 2017-2018. Rates came down in 2019, and somewhat increased in 2020-2021, but were still below the 2017-2018 peak.

Now you can screen out COVID-19 and cancer as being out of anyone's control, and even if you don't consider drug overdoses in the age of fentanyl, the increase in suicide and homicide is a bit disturbing. Even some things, like motor vehicle accidents, which had shown great improvement over the years, got substantially worse. Suicide and homicide increasing the way that they are seems to indicate something fundamentally wrong with the culture.

“Indiana Jones and the Insufferable Feminist”

The continuing decline of Disney is more entertaining than any of the actual entertainment coming out of the various Disney divisions. Where Bud Light has been an exercise in "Get Woke, Go Broke" (almost) over night, it is taking Disney some time to get there, but they are getting there.

The current piece of "entertainment" to come out of Disney is from their Lucasfilm subsidiary. Namely, the latest Indiana Jones movie. Since the last one was so bad, I had no intention of seeing this one, even before the trailers were released.

This is the Nerdrotic video Disney PANICS! Indiana Jones 5 ROASTED | Lucasfilm is Sad and Broken. It is a 13 minute video, so plan accordingly.

As a bonus, this is the Critical Drinker video Indiana Jones 5 Destroyed - The Final Nail In Lucasfilm's Coffin. This is a 9 minute video.

Lucasfilm is, quite simply, a joke now. A cruel, expensive, destructive joke to be sure, but a joke all the same. A company founded by geniuses and inherited by morons. A studio that spent billions of dollars, and hasn't produced a single worthwhile product in decades. A parasite that sucks the life and soul out of everything it touches and leaves behind broken, withered husks in its wake.

Wednesday Link Roundup - 24 May

Don Surber is up first with Highlights of the week

ITEM 6: The Children’s Health Defense org bragged, “New York to Track Residents’ Food Purchases and Place ‘Caps on Meat’ Served by Public Institutions

Pirate's Cove - Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

Bookworm Room has the Bookworm Beat.
Bunkerville has passel of fun and mayhem.

Political Hat - News of the Week (May 21st, 2023)

Liberals Say: Let’s Kill Half the World’s People
The global liberal movement is trying to destroy modern, scientific agriculture. Liberals want organic farming–no intensive nitrogen fertilization–along with an end to animal husbandry

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 05.23.23 (Morning Edition)

American Conservative: The FBI Is Not Your Friend
American Greatness: Jim Jordan Threatens to Cut Funding for FBI

The DaleyGator - Weekend Politics/News/Opinion links

Pirates Cove reacts to DeSantis….
Pacific Pundit- OH This is sad
PJ Media- John Brennan-Enemy of America

EBL - Sai Varshith Kandula tries to crash White House security barriers in U-Haul with Nazi flag? 🤔😬

Legal Insurrection: 60,000 lbs of ammonium nitrate missing?
Townhall: Evidence in U-Haul van raising questions
The Blaze: Sai Varshith Kandula rams WH barrier

Small Dead Animals - Monday On Turtle Island

Biden’s America: The FBI is not your friend. Another Biden success story. The next election.
Trudeau’s Canada: Justin’s CBC warns about going to Florida

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - The Debt Ceiling Approaches, Scott Thrown Hat In Ring

At Da Caller, If You Liked The 2008 Crisis, You’re Going To Love Biden’s New Mortgage Rule. MRC TV, House Cmte.: “There Is No Such Thing as Debt ‘Forgiveness;’” Joint Resolution to Block ‘Biden’s Student Loan Scam’ Advances.

Vlad Tepes - Best not to injure yourself and sue after: Links 1 for May 23rd, 2023

2. Gates of Vienna did a story on how Sweden has changed its laws specifically to foil one man. Rasmus Paludan. Sweden felt it had to abandon freedom of speech in favour of blasphemy laws, likely because of fear of muslims. This means that Sweden didn’t actually have freedom of speech

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 5/23/2023

Former Child Star Speaks Out About Satanic Ritual Sacrifice
Beneath the glitz and glamor of Hollywood lurks a dark secret protected by the elite for ages.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Chris Edwards warns of the collateral damage of increased ‘enforcement’ by the IRS.
Mike Munger explains that all housing is indeed still affordable.

Maggie's Farm - Monday morning links

Deaths of Despair Now Significant Among the Young
How rotten is the FBI?

Bacon Time!!!! - Sunday Linkage

The Air Vent - Fixing Election Law
Watts Up With That? - The Snows Of Greenland

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 5/22/23

Victor Davis Hanson: "What cannot go on, will not go on and all the absurdities of the present will end with a bang not a whimper. "
The Absurdities of Our Age

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Why The Durham Report Matters – Remember the Russian Diplomats Expelled by Obama?

• California: The encampment state City Journal
• North Carolina’s Democrat Governor Declares Emergency Over School Choice ‘Scheme’ Tony Kinnett

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 05/21/2023

The FBI continued to abuse a powerful digital surveillance tool even after the Bureau promised reforms following its Trump-era abuses, according to a newly-unsealed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court document.

I leave you with Night Off from SiGraybeard, Sunday Funnies For 05-21-23 by Stately McDaniel Manor, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1111 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and The shit I posted on Facebook from Wirecutter.

Self-defense in Philadelphia

Because the state is not keeping crime in check. Homeowner shoots intruder in Holmesburg, police say - 6abc Philadelphia

A homeowner shot an intruder in the city's Holmesburg neighborhood.

The suspect fled, and despite a trail of blood has not been apprehended. Police are checking hospitals.

The homeowner was not injured, nor was he arrested.

So how would you respond to an intruder at 2 AM in your home? In this case the name "Kiladephia" was bestowed on the city because it has a high per capita murder rate.

Self-defense is a human-right.

“Euthanasia mutates a society’s soul.”

Western civilization was nice while it lasted. Quick Takes – Killing In The Name Of Welfare: Killing The Poor; Killing The Homeless; Killing The Mentally Ill

Canadians are already killing the old and the sick, the British are killing kids who are sick. Now we find that about ⅓ of Canadians are on board with "end of life" care to end the suffering of being poor or homeless.

Remember when it was the Left used to accuse the Right of wanting to kill the poor and homeless because they were such uncaring monsters who wanted to get the human speed bumps out of the way for their glorious economic future utopia?

Of course the Dutch are years ahead of the Canadians. They kill people who cannot consent. 115 mentally ill people and 288 people with dementia were killed in the Netherlands by the medical community. (Somehow that doesn't sound like "Do no harm" to me.)

But hey actual medical care is expensive, compared to a lethal injection.

There is more. Click thru.

Make It Rain

Shoshana Bean sounds like she came from the Big Band era, though Blues was really a bit later than that. I think you will enjoy this.

This song is "Make It Rain" by Shoshana Bean. It was recorded live at the Theatre at Ace Hotel at the album release party for her 2018 album Spectrum.

Quote of the Day - It's All Florida's Fault Edition.

From Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 20 May 2023: Hairy Wizard Edition

Curse you DeSantis probably: Disney is removing dozens of TV shows and movies from its Disney+ and Hulu streaming services because of those evil Nazis in Florida and totally not because the company is bleeding cash from every orifice. (The Verge)

Tuesday Links - 23 May

Gun Free Zone starts things rolling with You will not be allowed to call for help

The goal is to make people understand that when they are attacked by thugs from an oppressed group, they must not resist or call for help. They must submit and subjugate themselves. To resist or even call for help makes them more guilty of moral crimes. The black man may be stealing something, but resisting their stealing is racist.

Meep at Stump - Spending Dreams of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Waking to Reality

In which I discuss some of the fiscal plans for Chicago of the new mayor Brandon Johnson and some of his political friends… and the constraints they will labor under: a population that has already shrunk and a significant revenue target that has already threatened to up stakes and move out of Illinois entirely.

Tam at View from the Porch - Top. Men. Regarding Jack Teixeira.

So, basically this kid was caught multiple times and repeatedly told "Mr. Bunny Rabbit, those carrots aren't for you! Or the kids in your War Thunder Discord channel!"

I swear to Vishnu, this is the by-gawd dumbest Clancy novel I've ever been stuck in.

The Other McCain - Math Teacher Goes Berserk

In other words, this guy had been a known problem before he went berserk in the classroom.

Pirate's Cove - FBI Misused Surveillance Tool “Thousands” Of Times In Relation To J6, Others

Remember back during the Bush 43 years, when it was found that foreign surveillance picked up American citizens to a small degree, and the entire media freaked out? Was top news at all the Credentialed Media sites? Not now, and, it’s interesting to see where Credentialed Media outlets, like The Hill, are going with this

Again from The Other McCain - The Romance of Radicalism

Neo-Communists, generally influenced by older leftists who were objectively pro-Soviet during the Cold War, refuse to accept the verdict of 20th-century history, and wish to believe that Communism can exist without producing the kind of totalitarian horrors it produced in Russia, China, Cambodia and elsewhere.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 21 May 2023: Burning Trees Edition

Is the Internet of Things - what I call the Internet of Insecure Pieces of Crap - insufficiently broken? If so, surely the solution is to add ChatGPT. (Atomic14)

Yep. If it's not broken enough now, that will solve the problem.

The Other McCain again - NAACP: ‘Stay Out of Florida, Negroes’

As Karen Townsend of HotAir.com points out, the purpose of this bogus “travel advisory” has nothing to do with the safety of African-Americans — who are far more likely to get killed in Detroit or Baltimore than anywhere in the Sunshine State. Instead, this is about smearing DeSantis

Georgia Taking on Rogue DAs

There are apparently DAs in Georgia who are not interested in enforcing the law. One Georgia prosecutor feeling the heat of new law empowering the state

"The whole point of the bill is to restore public safety in places where you have rogue district attorneys who aren't doing their job," [Republican state Rep. Houston] Gaines said.

This article concentrates on one DA, Athens-Clarke County District Attorney Deborah Gonzale, who has apparently decided that Social Justice is more important than actual Justice, but I believe that there are actually more DAs than just the one mentioned.

In part this is in response to a writ of mandamus filed in the disctrict court, to get her to do her job. Despite what people think, DAs do NOT get to decide what is and is not against the law.

There are various claims about Gonzalez, but one centers on a memo Gonzalez allegedly sent to her office saying they would not prosecute any marijuana-related offenses or drug possession offenses, per WXIA.

“It is the legislature’s role to decide what conduct is criminal. Judges interpret their laws. Prosecutors enforce them," [Senior Judge of Superior Courts David] Emerson said in the ruling allowing the case to proceed.

Gonzalez of course disagrees; she believes she can do whatever the fuck she wants.