Tuesday Links - 26 November

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit is first with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston Says He is Willing to Go to Jail to Protect Illegal Aliens from Trump’s Deportation Crackdown

His strategy includes mobilizing Denver police officers and thousands of residents to form human barricades to block federal authorities from carrying out deportations.

Colion Noir - Shooting Classroom Doors, Can This Lock Stop A School Shooter?

Classroom safety shouldn’t be optional, yet a shocking number of schools still lack basic safety features like doors that lock from the inside, according to a 2020 survey from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Clayton Cramer - I Just Updated the List of Court Cases That Have Cited My Work

It is a surprisingly slow process. Feel free to look for typos and broken links.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 24 November 2024: AI Toasted Honey Buns Edition

In a small bit of welcome news in the never-ending shitfest that is Australian federal politics, the government has abandoned one of its attempts to strangle free speech across the entire world. (ABC)

The so-called "misinformation bill" would have set up the government as the arbiter of truth, and anything untrue would have become illegal speech. The bill did not specify how this was supposed to work; it just legislated it into reality.

Don Surber - Highlights of the week

ITEM 3: NYT reported (no links for communists), “Florida Man Accused of Plotting Attack on New York Stock Exchange.”

Florida Man? His name is Harun Abdul-Malik Yener. Florida Man? Some guy who was arrested for having sex with an alligator should sue NYT for defamation.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: Not Thinking About Baseball For Once

I spent most of last week grinding on continuing education for the upcoming tax season and then yesterday got the news that my aunt Pat (Dr. Patricia O’Malley) had died peacefully in her sleep Saturday morning. My cousins, for reasons best known to themselves, decided to hold her memorial service and interment on Black Friday morning.

Moonbattery - California Educrats: XX ≠ XY = Swastika

Real girls get moved to junior varsity to make room for politically preferred transsexuals.

Second City Cop - San Fran vs Chicago

Both dem cities, run by morons, and the "justice" system that only protects criminals from having to serve time.

If you want to see something REALLY amusing, check out the biographies of Crimesha Foxx and Chesa Boudin - almost identical "progressive," Soros-funded, "de-carceration" freak shows that pretty much ruined two decent cities.

The Military’s New Rifle/Cartridge: An Overview

However, our military planners, apart from being as woke as possible, now believe we’ll be facing near-peer enemies like the Russians or Chinese, and they want an issue rifle firing ammunition that will penetrate combat armor at 500 yards. Whether that’s a rational requirement is very much up for debate, but they’re spending tens of millions developing the replacement for the AR family, the Sig XM7, known in its civilian version as the MCX-Spear, which fires a 6.8X51mm round, known as the .277 Fury on the civilian market.

More Self-Defense in California

A 70-year-old man defends his grandsons. 'My babies are alive': Man says deadly Rancho Cordova shooting was self defense

So how should a 70-year-old defend himself and his family from a much younger man?

"All of a sudden, the guy kicked the door. Boom and boom! It was that quick," he said.

That was the moment Robert, 70, said he was forced to defend his life and the life of his grandsons, ages four and 14.

"We'd have been dead if he would have got my gun when I pulled it out because he continued to go towards me, he wasn't afraid of me," Robert said.

His grandson woke him up. He didn't hear the glass break.

Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California. It is about 15 or 20 miles from downtown Sacramento.

Investigators said Robert has been cooperative and they do not believe he will be arrested or face charges.

Without the means to defend oneself, the old and the infirm would be at the mercy of the young and the violent. I really would like someone from the gun-hating Left to tell me how that would be a better outcome than what we have with this story.

Self-defense is a human right, and it is beginning to look like it might just be your legal right in California.

Scientists Have Their Pet Theory

And they don't want to give it up. No matter what.

Once upon a time I was getting a college degree in physics. I stopped doing that and switched to math for several reasons. As time goes by I am sure I made the correct choice, and watching Sabine Hossenfelder on YouTube has helped to convince me of that.

You have probably heard something about the theories surrounding Dark Matter. It shows up in the popular scientific press every once in a while. You probably haven't heard of the competing theory, which is Modified Newtonian Dynamics, or MOND. Why? Most physisists don't like MOND. Dark Matter should fit in nicely with some of their other pet theories, like Supersymetry.

The problem is that no matter how you twist the Dark Matter theories, they don't account for observations.

So what is a good scientist to do? Ignore the observational data.

This is Sabine Hossenfelder's video Webb Falsified Dark Matter Prediction – And No One Cares

This is a clear-cut case where two competing hypotheses were tested on data, one won, one lost, and no one even mentions the one that won. It’s like covering the US election results with “Kamala Lost” because you’re afraid to mention Trump.

Are you still wondering why I am sceptical of the idea that science self-corrects?

If you want more info on this topic, she has a follow on (sort of) video: Physicists Changed Their Mind about Dark Matter Particles

She has more videos about the problems in science.

• This is why physics is dying
• The crisis in physics is real: Science is failing

There are more, but I need to stop here, or go insane.

MUD

Strictly speaking Dorothy is categorized as Heavy Metal, but that is just a 21st Century label. She mostly reminds me of Hard Rock from the 1980s. This song does have elements of Metal. The only thing that matters is that there are enough screaming guitars for a Monday afternoon.

This song comes to us by way of X/Twitter. Social Media isn't bad if you can avoid the insanity. Some days that is hard to do.

While I don't think you will need them, here is a link to the lyrics.

This song is "MUD" by Dorothy. It was release to YouTube as a single this past Thursday, November 21st. I assume this means there is an album in the works, but I have not confirmed that.

More Concealed-Carry in Chicago

The law abiding people are taking advantage of their legal right to defend themselves. Austin, Chicago shooting: Man killed, food vendor with Concealed-Carry License hurt in 300-block of South Central Avenue, CPD says - ABC7 Chicago

In this case, Austin is one of the 77 neighborhoods in Chicago. It is one of the largest neighborhoods, both geographically and in terms of population, and HeyJackass! currently has it listed as the most dangerous neighborhood in the city.

A food vendor with a Concealed-Carry License shot and killed a man who pulled a gun on him Friday night, Chicago police said.

The would-be bad guy suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and the Concealed-Carry License holder was shot in the arm.

The 30-year-old, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his body, was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Self-defense is a human-right, and even in deep blue Chicago, it is being recognized as your legal right.

Someday Companies Will Treat Information Security With the Respect It Deserves

But today is not that day. Fintech Giant Finastra Investigating Data Breach

OK, so Finastra probably does do a lot around Security. However much they do, whatever priority security gets, it wasn't enough.

The financial technology firm Finastra is investigating the alleged large-scale theft of information from its internal file transfer platform, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Finastra, which provides software and services to 45 of the world’s top 50 banks, notified customers of the security incident after a cybercriminal began selling more than 400 gigabytes of data purportedly stolen from the company.

Finastra works with 8100 financial institutions around the globe.

A major part of Finastra’s day-to-day business involves processing huge volumes of digital files containing instructions for wire and bank transfers on behalf of its clients.

So that doesn't sound good, especially as someone who has a credit card at one bank, and does irregular transfers for payments coming from a different bank.

And I wonder how many of the regular, scheduled bill payments go through Finastra.

Hat tip to Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony. Daily News Stuff 22 November 2024: Trucked Up Edition

Well, that's less than ideal: Finastra, which provides technology services to 45 of the 50 largest banks in the world, got hacked and saw 400GB of data stolen. (Krebs on Security)

There's no need to worry, though, unless you or someone you know uses a bank.

A Miguel Gonzalez Musical Interlude

Miguel brings us Sunday Repose

A song from an era when bands actually did record instrumentals. Click thru for Focus performing "Sylvia" live.

Are We Ready for the Woke Demolition?

Might not get to that point. Roy Price at Price Point gives us the following. Woke is the New Disco: Hollywood and the Harris Campaign

Roy Price founded Amazon Video and Studios. The shows he produced won any number of awards. He has some things to say about entertainment.

For those of you not old enough to remember, Disco went from ruling the radio airways, to being the target of the Disco Demolition^‡. The change didn't come overnight, but it happened fairly quickly.

For the past seven years, every prospective film and television project has gone through an ideological filter before two or three Standards and Practices apparatchiks massage it further into conformity. This aligns all projects (with rare exceptions) with a subset of Americans and alienates the rest, which is not ideal for a business trying to be popular and make money. Consider the audience Hollywood has chosen to disdain and ignore: half the country's voters, 40% of Americans who own guns, another 40% who attend church monthly, and the 74% who live outside the West Coast, New York or New England. Add to this the roughly 50% of Americans who are male. This isn't just a demographic miscalculation – it's an industry-wide blind spot that precisely mirrors the Harris campaign's fatal error. Both Hollywood and Harris speak to an America that exists mainly in Hollywood HR departments, Columbia’s faculty lounge, and at CNN and MSNBC. America is changing the channel on all that.

The name calling. The lawfare. The "Trump is a fascist." The 11th hour accusations from decades ago. The endless parade of celebrities. None of it worked.

No one outside the bubble believed that Trump or the whole GOP was “fascist,” a “Nazi” or “literally Hitler.” One hundred percent of the time devoted to that name calling eroded credibility and was time wasted (especially while the left coddled anti-semitic protestors who actually were pretty close to being “literally Hitler”).

The prediction is that we are on the cusp of the anti-woke era. I'm not sure I believe that, but I do believe that we've seen peak woke. It remains to be seen how long the true believers try to hold on. (Just look at the Twitter/X rants of Rob Reiner - an example not chosen at random - or his experience on Bluesky.)

Anyway, go read the whole thing.

‡ The Disco Demolition night took place in July of 1979 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, home to the Chicago White Sox. It was organized by Chicago DJ Steve Dahl at WLUP. During the break between games of a double header, a crate filled with disco records was blown up. Since a lot of people were there to only see the explosion, and didn't care about the games, a "riot" ensued. (I wasn't there, but I submit, based on the news coverage, that it was "mostly peaceful.") The field was damaged by the explosion, and the people rushing onto the field. The White Sox had to forfeit the 2nd game to the Detroit Tigers.

From the Wiki - always a suspect source.

The popularity of disco declined significantly in late 1979 and 1980. Many disco artists carried on, but record companies began labeling their recordings as dance music. Dahl stated in a 2004 interview that by 1979 disco was "probably on its way out. But I think Disco Demolition Night hastened its demise." According to Frank, "the Disco Demolition triggered a nationwide expression of anger against disco that caused disco to recede quickly from the American cultural landscape". Episode 3 of the 2024 PBS series Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution notes that disco's popularity had already entered a general decline due in part to the public's negative perception of the scene's elitism and excesses, with many radio stations in the process of changing back from a Disco to a Rock format.

Self-Defense Is Legal in Florida

The DA didn't seem to think so in this case. Judge OKs Stand Your Ground defense in GVO nightclub shooting from '22

A Tallahassee circuit judge has dismissed murder charges against two men involved in a January 2022 shooting at the former Good Vibes Only, or GVO, nightclub on Railroad Avenue, finding the defendants were protected by Florida's Stand Your Ground law.

The DA was determined to prosecute, though the facts of the case, as spelled out in the judges order, make it clear that they were protecting someone.

And I'm sure that the fact they were protecting a rapper had nothing to do with anything. I mean, this is 2024, race wouldn't enter into a DA's decision to prosecute, would it?

It apparently started as an argument. Meyers at first seemed to leave, but then apparently decided he was going to fight with one of the two guys. It was a bad decision.

Meyers ran toward Blount, pushing him to the ground, after which Meyers can be seen raising a leg over him. There was a flash of gunfire from where Brown was standing, prosecutors said; Blount and Brown fired multiple rounds at Meyers, and there was an unidentified third shooter firing at Blount and Brown.

There is reported to be video, and while it is described, it is not presented. If someone pushes me down, and then raises a leg to stomp me, I think that might constitute a reasonable threat of great bodily harm. As I said, the DA didn't see things that way.

Religious Zealots in Public Education

What could possibly go wrong? Quebec investigating 17 schools for possible violations of secularism law

According to its statement Thursday morning, the ministry is sending auditors to those schools after receiving several complaints and reports regarding violations of the secularism law, commonly referred to as Bill 21.

The ministry says the information it received pertains to the secularism law's "four principles": the separation of the state and religions, religious neutrality, equality and the freedom of conscience and religion.

Click thru for the details. Well, I will share just one.

The decision came in the midst of a controversy involving Bedford elementary school, which is located in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. The school was the subject of a 90-page government report looking into the conduct of teachers accused of creating a toxic environment for both students and staff.

Those teachers, 11 in total, were suspended and had their teaching licences suspended.

The government report looked at their competence level, the effects of their behaviour on students and staff and the role religion may have played in their behaviour and the tensions at the school.

The situation is more complicated and nuanced than I can summarize here. Suffice it to say it isn't as simple as you may assume.

2024 World Chess Championship: 25 November - 13 December

The World Chess Championship match starts Monday. FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 - All the Information

FIDE, stands for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or the World Chess Federation in English. It is the governing body for chess on the world stage. The organization's name is pronounced like Fee-day.

The match will take place at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, and consist of best-of-14 classical games. There are tie-breaker protocols in place. Each player will receive 1 point of a win, and ½ point for a tie.

The Players are as follows.

The Defending Champion: Grandmaster (GM) Ding Liren, of China, is the current world champion. Ding finished second in the 2022 Candidates Tournament, but he earned the right to play for the crown when GM Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his title.

The Challenger: Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju, of India, is the youngest Challenger in chess history. He is 18 years old. The Indian prodigy qualified to play in the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament through the FIDE Circuit.

Much has been written about the match, but this article details the time limits. Gukesh Vs Ding: Here's What The Numbers Say

The 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship match will consist of a best-of-14 game match for the world championship between November 25 and December 13 at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. If the match is tied after 14 games, the players will compete in rapid tiebreaks and, if needed, blitz tiebreaks.

The standard games have a classical time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting on move 41. The players cannot agree to a draw during the first time control, so you can expect to see fighting chess.

I haven't looked to be sure, but the match is usually available to watch on Chess-dot-com. Given that a classic chess game between Grandmasters can be several hours long, I usually read about them the next day. Also given that they are being held in Singapore, I don't know what time of the day they will be live in the US.

The exact rules for becoming a Grandmaster are complicated. A lot of things in chess are that way.

In essence, you need a 2600+ performance rating in a nine-round FIDE tournament, and several of your opponents must be from federations/countries other than your own and also be titled.

There is a $2.5 million prize fund. Each player gets $200,000 up front. (In the past this was done, at lower levels of payout, to offset travel expenses. That is deducted from the prize fund. Each player gets $200,000 for each game they win, At the completion of the tournament, the balance is divided between the players. There are rules in the event the match is settled by a tie breaker. The winner would get slightly more than the loser.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 23 November

Animal Magnetism starts us off with Animal’s Hump Day News

Of course, they don’t get it.
Lots of things should have been a wake-up call for the Dems.

The Right Way - Top of the News

The $cam Continues - Theo Spark
Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation - Evi. L Bloggerlady

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 11.20.24 (Evening Edition)

EBL: Sean Duffy For Secretary of Transportation
Twitchy: While The Left Yells At Him, Cenk Uygur Realizes MAGA Is Willing To Listen To His Ideas

DaleyGator - WEEKEND LINKAGE

Pirates Cove covers Climate Games
The Other McCain has a Lotta mail.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 21 November 2024: Sky Pie Edition

The DOJ is seeking to break up Google, or rather to chip off a very small part of it. (AP News)
They want to break off the Chrome browser, which has multiple competitors, including some like Brave which use the same open-source core and behave virtually identically.

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - Greg Abbott Vs. Communist China

First he issued an order opposing Chinese efforts to harass and forcibly repatriate dissidents.
Abbott has also undertaken steps to protect Texas from foreign threats (including China and others).

Political Hat - Quick Takes – Crazy Colleges: Ecofeminist Ecomarxism; Planetary Healers; Radical Faeries

Magical healing of the planet is something that education is intended to dispel from students minds. Harvard, on the other hand, thinks saving Gaia requires confronting “structural racism”.

EBL - Rachel Maddow Gets A Haircut 💇🏻💈😭

Hot Air: Panic at MSNBC as NBC/Comcast severs access
Instapundit: Gravy train derail at MSNBC

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 11/21/2024

Democrat Rep Melts Down About ‘The White Man’ During Rant Against ‘Dismantle DEI Act’
Divisive Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) unloaded during a congressional hearing rant about “the white man.”

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 11.21.24 (Afternoon Edition)

CDR Salamander: Admiral Paparo Goes Salamander At Brookings
Don Surber: Senator, you don’t get to veto the people

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism – Yep, More from the Economist!

Democrats need to understand: Americans think they’re worse
This is one of those cases where “I read so you don’t have to” – their simple answer is that we Simpletons failed to appreciate the awesomeness of the Biden* occupation.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Appointments, We All Have Appointments

Insty, OF COURSE NOT. DEMOCRATIC HACKS ARE PRESUMPTIVELY QUALIFIED: Bonchie@bonchieredstate "How much transportation was in Pete Buttigieg’s bio? How much healthcare was in Xavier Bacerra’s bio? Surely you complained about those too, right?"

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

Blackie’s Canada: 32 billion every year. Youth in Justin’s Canada. Moderate preacher in B.C.
Dementia Joe’s America: Make America fun again.

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 11.21.24 (Evening Edition)

CDR Salamander: In Case You Missed It, The U.S. Is Seen As A Weak Horse
Chicago Boyz: “Evil Amazon”, How to Invest Political Power

Again from Lawrence Person - LinkSwarm For November 22, 2024

The Harris campaign spent $12 million doing polling on her strengths and weaknesses. I’m going to guess that the amount Trump spent on polling his strengths and weakness was “zero.”

Theo Spark - Substackies......

The Slippery Slope Begins: SPLC's Doxxing of Journalists Puts Press Freedom at Risk
Senator, you don't get to veto the peoplePresidents pick their cabinets.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Garry Kasparov blames today’s Democratic party for Donald Trump’s political success.
Jeff Jacoby is correct: “Trump didn’t earn an ‘unprecedented and powerful’ mandate.”

Once again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 11.22.24

Chicago Boyz: Schadenfreudelicious, Controlling the Archives, and What’s Wrong with this Meme?
Da Tech Guy: The Laughs Keep Coming Under the Fedora

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 11/22/24

The left is right to worry about a well-preserved, smarter, savvier Donald Trump
Unburdened By What Has Been, Trump Is Poised To Deliver Bigly

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

Italy and Czech Republic Plead for Nuclear Energy
Trump may save Ukraine. Much will ultimately depend on the United States

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Republicans Must Defend Matt Gaetz To End The Use Of Salacious Lies In Politics

• Kamala's 'Money for Nothing' - Roger Simon
• It's bureaucratic rot up and down the line - Tom Knighton

I leave you with Wednesday's gifs from Wircutter, Wednesday Memes … from MaddMedic, and Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #2158 from 90 Miles from Tyranny.

Black Homeowner Calls 911 - Is Shot Multiple Times By Police

Are we surprised? Las Vegas family questions police actions in fatal shooting of Brandon Durham

A 911 call about someone trying to break in. When cops get there they see a black man fighting with a person over control of a knife. So they shoot the black man. When he falls to the ground, they shoot him multiple times, despite the fact that he was on the ground.

"The most frustrating part about all of this is that it is very difficult for you to even watch, the man who is home minding his own business trying to call for assistance you shoot him? Instead of the one who is in the red hoodie and a ski mask," she added.

The video I've seen doesn't back up the ski mask, but this is still cluster fuck.

The police are investigating, and I feel confident that after a long and thorough review, they will decide that no one did anything wrong. Sorry.

If a Gun Had Been Involved, The Gun Grabbers Would Be Screaming

Since it was a knife he used, this won't be a big news story. Or hardly any news story. Young man allegedly kills older brother over $10

Both parties were in the wrong. Stealing from your brother is wrong. Killing your brother is wrong. But society in the 21st Century isn't built on morals. (Both of those are covered by the Ten Commandments, and other religious doctrines as well.) It also isn't built on rationality, only on emotion. He took ten bucks. The other guy was mad, and acted out. He regretted it immediately, but some things you can't take back.

Caleb Xavier Ingram, 21, stands accused of one count of murder, according to Madison County Sheriff’s Department records.

The defendant is believed to have almost immediately regretted the argument and the rare bout of violent rage, police say.

"Rare bout of violent rage," you say. I doubt that. I suppose it is possible, but most people don't go straight to murder. Over 10 bucks.

The incident occurred late in the evening on Oct. 30 at a residence on East Second Street in Anderson, a medium-sized city some 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

I Am With You

Patty Gurdy (Patricia Büchler) is a German hurdy-gurdy musician that I know nothing about. She releases her music to YouTube, so I don't know if there are albums. Albums being a very 20th Century idea, my guess is no, but I have not confirmed that.

Marko Hietala is one of my favorite musicians. He was formerly the base player, and lead, male singer for Nightwish. He retired from music and public life a few years back to deal with some personal issues. It is good to see him getting back into music.

And this song is by way of the YouTube algorithm. It is a bit of a shock whenever it suggests something I might actually like.

This song is "I Am With You" by Patty Gurdy featuring vocals by Marko Hietala. It was released to YouTube on Friday, November 22nd.

Friday Links - 22 November

Meep on Death and Taxes is up first with Research Fraud Follow-Up: What Happened to Fraudsters and How to Make It Less Common

Following up a prior episode on fraud in Alzheimer’s research, I look at what has happened to two of those researchers, talk about my own experience in preventing cheating in classes as well as what academic research was like as an RA (research assistant) in physics, and then look at what current research fraud prevention in the U.S. federal government looks like with some advice for future activities.

Miguel Gonzalez - Apparently we betrayed our race.

And now allow me to introduce you to the word “gusano.” Its literal translation is “worm” as in the crawly creature. But it also has the political meaning of traitor/collaborator and was made famous by Fidel Castro and almost every other communist asshole who managed to get power. The moment you were branded gusano by somebody in power or associated with power, your life and the life of your family became miserable. You lost your job and benefits, your family suffered, your kids were targeted in school and things got progressively worse till you either had to run away or you are taken to the nearest “re-education camp” in the prison system.

Flopping Aces - Biden to Trump: ‘I Got the Transition Covered, Also I Might Have Started WWIII’

Late last week, many folks were disconcerted by Joe Biden’s warmth and friendliness in welcoming President Trump to the White House. It seemed … unreal that Biden would happily help Trump’s transition. This weekend, the other orthopedic slipper dropped. A 100% anonymously sourced story appeared in Sunday’s New York Times headlined, “Biden Allows Ukraine to Strike Russia With Long-Range U.S. Missiles.” Nice transition you had there!

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 20 November 2024: Smirking Or Non-Smirking Edition

Two undersea communications cables in the Baltic Sea, one between Germany and Finland and the other connecting Lithuania and Sweden, were cut on the same day and absolutely nobody believes it was an accident.

Tam at View From The Porch - Russia Russia Russia

Vlad and Kim announced that they are strengthening economic and military ties. I don't know what North Korea has to export beyond 152mm artillery shells of apparently dubious quality and starving conscripts, but apparently Russia needs more of it.

The View From North Central Idaho - Already WWIII?

Is this just saber rattling? A bluff? Or is this a serious threat that requires I now need to head for the hills of Idaho?

The Price of Liberty - Death camps, concentration camps, and unemployable Americans

Those who know the history of democide both in the 20th and 21st centuries can see that is what the CDC proposed. And are not surprised. It is not a glitch of government, it is a feature. It is what governments do. And has been since Nimrod rebelled against his Creator.

The only solution is to get rid of government – and in the meantime (until we grow up as a human race) reduce it as much as possible.

Concealed Carry versus Road Rage

I have looked at several stories, none of them given any more information than this one. All over a "verbal altercation." Concealed Carrier Shoots Man in Self-Defense After Attempting to Flee Road Rage Pursuers in Urbana, IL - USA Carry

Something happened and two people decided that it would be a good idea to follow a driver. He pulled into a hospital parking lot hoping they would leave. They didn't so he got back on the road, and they still followed him.

The confrontation escalated when both occupants of the pursuing vehicle exited their car. The female, armed with a baseball bat, approached the solo driver alongside the male passenger, who allegedly kept one hand under his shirt, leading the solo driver to believe he might be armed. The solo driver, a concealed carry permit holder, remained inside his vehicle and drew his legally carried firearm. Fearing for his safety, he fired multiple rounds, striking the male passenger.

The guy who got shot is in intensive care. No word on charges for the woman.

The concealed carrier in this case tried to avoid conflict by driving away from the pursuing vehicle, but when the other drivers exited their car with weapons, he had to defend himself.

And it seems that concealed carry is really catching on in Illinois.

Disney and Other Entertainment Companies Return to X

Well, Disney at least never "left" X, but now they are once again paying for advertising on that platform. Bob Iger's Disney, entertainment firms resume X advertising

OK, I admit it. I signed up for Bluesky in the past week. Not because I was horrified by the election results, and was running for a safe space, but because I wanted to see what was going on. (I signed up for Mastodon, a few years back for similar reasons. I didn't sign up for Threads, because Meta and F*c*book are evil.) But more on that later.

Bob Iger’s Disney and other entertainment giants have reportedly resumed their ad spending on Elon Musk’s X — a year after the billionaire told companies that fled his social media platform to “go f— yourself.”

Disney, Comcast, Lionsgate Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery have spent roughly $3.3 million on ad buys on X this year, according to data from MediaRadar obtained by The Wrap.

That is less than they spent in past years, but advertising has been cut everywhere. (Look at what is happening on Twitch.)

A Disney spokesperson told The Post they resumed some advertising on X over the summer.

A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said some of its businesses are advertising on X. It denied a report that the resumed advertising was tied to Trump’s win.

No. Advertising spend is tied to how much traffic is on X.

As for Bluesky... Rob Reiner was one of the many people who "left" X for Bluesky. But he came back to complain about the trolling on Bluesky. Here is Ryan Kinel's video on Hollywood Elite MELTDOWN Over Trump Won't Stop! | Woke Celebs Can't Find An Echo Chamber! Ryan Kinel has a few things to say about Reiner's reaction to things on Bluesky.

Star Trek and Dealing With Death

Star Trek in recent years, in many years, has been destroyed. The people who control that franchise today have no talent, and even less idea of what Star Trek meant to several generations. That's okay. Nothing lasts forever, and they cannot destroy the stories that we love, even if they spend 100s of millions of dollars making stories that we despise.

One notable exception to the "Current Star Trek is awful" rule is a short, 11 minute film, 765874 - Unification. It manages to capture the essence of the original Star Trek with no dialog, and close out a couple of story lines that Paramount saw fit to bury. It is just shy of 11 minutes if you watch all of the credits. You won't find it by searching. I haven't seen why that is the case, but the consensus is that Paramount doesn't want it seen. It deserves to be seen.

How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.

This is the Critical Drinker's video Star Trek Unification - I'm Not Crying, You're Crying!I don't know whether you should watch the original or Drinker's take first. I think you should watch the original, but then I have seen both, multiple times.

It's a work that condenses down everything that I used to love about Star Trek into a dreamlike 10-minute sequence of Glorious visuals and perfectly balanced emotional impact, and conveys everything it needs to say and do without a single line of dialogue.