Armed Homeowner Versus Four Miscreants

Even in Los Angeles, armed self-defense is catching on. LA homeowner opens fire after four armed men broke in to burglarize his home, killing one

Or how would you respond to multiple intruders?

A homeowner shot and killed a home invasion suspect in Los Angeles early Saturday morning while a grandmother and toddler were in the house in the fifth such crime reported in the area in the space of 10 days.

The homeowner was also defending his family.

There was also a grandmother and a toddler in the house at the time.

One of the four died at the scene. Police found a "trail of blood," so they believe that at least one other was injured.

Neighbors, for once, were not shocked.

Neighbors were alarmed by the incident but told KTLA that they aren't surprised.

Pat Walsh said: 'We’ve been having burglaries every day in this neighborhood.

'So I’m not surprised at all. It’s been a real problem. Residents here are fed up.'

So when law and order is abandoned by the authorities, people fall back on being responsible for their own safety, even in a Deep Blue Enclave like Los Angeles. I suppose that the powers-that-be in the Blue state are upset by that fact.

Self-defense is a human-right.

Cops Rarely Prevent Crimes. They Show Up After the Fact

From Miguel Gonzalez we get a story from two years ago. When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.

An 8-year-old girl called 911, and told dispatch that her father was threatening her stepmother.

9 minutes later cops kicked in the front door, and found 4 people dead. The little girl, her 4-year-old half-brother, and the parents had been shot.

Miguel Gonzalez only has a photo of a clipping. For the news story see this link.

Calling 911 is a fine thing to do, but it isn't always the solution to your problems.

London Towne

I ran across Ulysses Owens Jr. because he did a few things with Drumeo. That is a YouTube channel that features drummers. From there it was a short step to researching his band, Generation Y. Ulysses Owens Jr. is a teacher at the The Juilliard School, where he also serves as Small Ensemble Director.

Generation Y is a band whose membership if fairly fluid. The members, aside from Mr. Owens, are drawn from music conservatories, primarily those in NYC.

Musig im pflegidach is a musical program at the Murikultur (Cultural Center) in Muri, Switzerland. Most Sunday nights during the school year, they have a musical program.

This song is "London Towne" by Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y. It was recorded 19 March 2023 at "musig im pflegidach."

Tuesday Links - 22 October

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony is up first with Daily News Stuff 20 October 2024: Foofenator Edition

Why are Instagram and Facebook searches for "Adam Driver Megalopolis" being blocked for CSAM? (The Verge)

Because (a) "mega drive" is a code word used by very bad people, and (b) Facebook is dumb.

No Lawyers, Only Guns Money - International Gin & Tonic Day

October 19th is International Gin and Tonic Day. It was created by Jayne Withers in honor of her grandmother Mary Edith Keyburn. Mrs. Keyburn lived to the ripe old age of 95 and enjoyed her gin and tonics. Indeed, her family smuggled a gin and tonic into the hospital in water bottle and served it to her in a tea cup.

Wombat-socho - FMJRA 2.0: The God-Emperor Works A Shift At McD’s

This is without question one of the funniest episodes in this miserable election season: Donald Trump working the fry station and the drive-through at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s.

Area Ocho - They Will

To those who claim that the military won’t hunt down people on the right, simply because the President orders it:

Blazing Cat Fur - Trudeau the Magnificent offers foreign-interference inquiry a master class in redirecting attention

The big message of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s testimony this week before the foreign-interference commission was – as it so often is – an elaborate political version of, “It’s not me, it’s you.”

The Other McCain - ‘A Routine Patrol’ in Rafah

Good-bye and good riddance to this murderous monster, but if Israel had listened to Kamala Harris, Yahya Sinwar would have been safe in Rafah.

Gosh, it’s almost as if Kamala is pro-Hamas, and yet there are still Jews who will vote for her — liberalism is a suicidal psychosis.

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - Vice President Harris, about that Glock you claim to own …

The vice president should answer a few more questions. Keep in mind, the vice president is a California resident, a state with arguably the strictest gun control laws in the country.

From all appearances, the vice president has a serious case of "Gun control for thee. Not for me."

Mike Rowe - The Marble Man

None of the shoots on Dirty Jobs were easy. Some, obviously, were harder than others, but the thing that always surprised me about making that show was how so many seemingly innocuous jobs turned out to be weirdly difficult and surprisingly hazardous, once you got into them. Take marble making, for instance. I mean, really, how dirty can it be? And why would anyone give a damn?

Woman Shoots Man Climbing in Through Her Bedroom Window

Would someone on the Left tell me what she should have done besides shoot him? (I'm not holding my breath.) Poplar Bluff man shot while entering woman’s bedroom window, police say

[Police] say a resident of the home told them she shot at a man as he entered her bedroom window.

Officers found the man, later identified as Hopkins, who had a gunshot wound to his shoulder and hand. He was taken to a Poplar Bluff hospital for treatment and then transferred to a Cape Girardeau hospital.

Poplar Bluff, Missouri, is about 120 miles south of Saint Louis. This is the second story of self-defense from Poplar Bluff in the past 2 months. Considering that the population was 16,225 in the last census, I would say it is a bad place to be a bad guy.

After the guy who got shot was treated at that hospital, he was transferred to the county lockup.

So. What should a woman do to protect herself from a male intruder in the early morning hours? How would the world be better if she was disarmed? I wish that someone from the gun-hating part of the Left would try to explain it to me, but I doubt that they will.

Self-defense is a human-right. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0. (Hat tip to AmmoLand.)

Turns Out There Is No Risk From Second Hand Smoke

Or not enough risk to get worked up about. We Were Wrong To Panic About Secondhand Smoke?

The short answer is yes. You can't hear the long answer because it is drowned out by all of the shouting about "settled science."

In 2003, UCLA epidemiologist James Enstrom and I published a study of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)—also called "secondhand smoke" or "passive smoking"—in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Using data from the American Cancer Society's prospective study of 1 million adults, we concluded that ETS exposure was not associated with increased mortality.

Since that conclusion flew in the face of the conventional wisdom that had long driven state and local bans on smoking in public places, our study understandably sparked a controversy in the public health community. But the intensity of the attack on us in the pages of a medical journal—by critics who were certain that our study had to be wrong but typically failed to provide specific evidence of fatal errors—vividly illustrates what can happen when policy preferences that have taken on the status of doctrine override rational scientific debate.

Rational scientific debate? We can't have that. The 21st Century is all about feelings, and so my feelings trump your facts any day of the week.

As hard as it may be for some people to believe, science gave up claims to "ultimate truth" at the end of the 19th Century. If you're looking for ultimate truth, you should study religion or philosophy. That means the science is never settled.

Exposure to ETS is known to cause eye and throat irritation and to exacerbate preexisting respiratory conditions. In addition, it is simply disagreeable to many people (including me). But assessing the claim that ETS is potentially deadly requires dispassionate examination of the available scientific evidence.

That is not what Enstrom and I encountered when we published our BMJ paper. Critics were outraged by the article and demanded its retraction. But they were never able to satisfactorily explain why such an extreme step was justified.

Because the people screaming are not engaged in science; they are defending their religious position. In this case about 2nd hand or environmental smoke.

Hat tip to Small Dead Animals: The Sound Of Settled Scienc e

Because there’s no grift in “likely negligible”.

There is a link in that paragraph to some of the "grift." That is, some of the ways the lawyers got rich suing over a non-existent hazard.

Queens

The Gems is a band I found recently, but then they only formed recently. The band that was formed when vocalist Guernica Mancini, drummer Emlee Johansson and guitarist/bassist Mona “Demona” Lindgren left the Metal band Thundermother.

Here is a link to the lyrics. They are singing in English, but they are singing metal.

This song is "Queens" by The Gems from the 2024 debut album Phoenix.

I featured one song by Thundermother some time ago, but overall I never liked their stuff. Apparently there were some differences of opinion about the future of that band, and so the women listed above left that band. Now we have The Gems.

Father (Allegedly) Kills Man Found with His Missing Daughter

It will be interesting to see how the DA approaches this. Arkansas Father Allegedly Kills 67-Year-Old Found with His Missing Daughter

Michael Fosler was allegedly shot and killed by Arkansas father Aaron Spencer who confronted the man after discovering his reportedly missing 14-year-old daughter in a car late last week.

According to Fox News, the girl’s mother said in a Facebook post that there was a “no contact order” on Fosler concerning the girl because “she and her husband feared he might kill her.”

To me, this immediately brought to mind the case of Gary Plauche. Gary Plauche's son was kidnapped and molested by his karate instructor. When caught, he was transported by plane to face trial. Gary Plauche shot and killed that kidnapper on live television as he was being moved through the local airport. He was sentenced to probation and community service. See a couple of links below for more info on that story.

In the current case out of Arkansas, there is no video evidence, and so legitimate self-defense is still on the table. The dad was arrested, there was a dead body, after all, but he is out on bail awaiting a decision from the DA about what to do.

A 67-year-old man, a no-contact court order, a 14-year-old girl, and an angry father with a firearm. I would not want to be that district attorney. Justice is an important concept to me. I can see Justice in a couple of places. In the meantime, the father is innocent until proved guilty. He is claiming - by way of his wife - self-defense. We will have to wait for the evidence.

The best short version of the Gary Plauche story is the opening couple of minutes of the video Dad Kills Son’s Kidnapper - Recreating the Gary Plauche Shot. They were celebrating Gary Plauche as Father of the Year for 1984. If you can't handle dark humor about a disturbing subject, why are you reading this blog?

Gary's son, Jody Plauche, who had been kidnapped as a kid, did go on the Unsubscribe Podcast to tell the story of what happened. This is the 14 minute excerpt of that conversation. Gary Plauche's Son Jody Shares His Story ft. Brandon Herrera & Donut Operator | Unsubscribe Clips

Texas Sheriff Cannot Determine Who Is and Who Is Not Media

There is no such thing as state-approved media, in other words. I'm sure the Sheriff is distraught to find that there are limits to his power in his own county. In Win for Free Speech, Court Rules in Favor of Texas Citizen Journalist - Institute for Justice

Yesterday, a Texas court found that a Fort Bend citizen journalist’s First Amendment rights were violated by the county’s Sheriff. The United States District Court, Southern District of Texas ruling finds that Sheriff Eric Fagan infringed Justin Pulliam’s rights by excluding him from a press conference in a public park that he was trying to record for his YouTube channel. The court ruled not only that Fort Bend County violated Justin’s free-speech rights, but that his rights were so clearly established that Sheriff Fagan has no qualified immunity, a dubious doctrine the Supreme Court developed to shield officials from accountability for their constitutional violations.

The no-qualified-immunity part of the ruling is interesting. That means Mr. Pullman can sue for damages, and, I believe, even punitive damages. Fort Bend County better break out the checkbook.

Fort Bend County, Texas is suburban Houston.

There is another matter, in which Justin Pullman was arrested and charged with "interfering with police" for having the nerve to video police doing their job. It sounds more like he was arrested because he is frequently critical of police and local politicians. Or maybe just police. Click thru for those details.

“Today’s victory establishes that the government cannot give favorable access to the traditional media by discriminating against social-media journalists,” said IJ Attorney Christie Herbert. “To the First Amendment, all speakers are equal, a bedrock principle necessary for twenty-first-century journalism.”

Officials in general, and police in particular, don't like that. Because they like control. They like to give a story that will get no push-back.

The legacy media also don't like that, because they're special. They're "Professional Journalists," or something.

Math Is Racist

Because of course it is. DOJ Tells Four Police, Fire Departments That It’s Racist To Expect Employees To Know Basic Math

Firefighter test asked job candidates how many 60-foot hoses they'd need to bring if a fire was 350 feet away.

Are they actually saying that minorities are not smart enough to learn basic math? It sure sounds that way to me.

The Biden-Harris Department of Justice has undertaken a slew of lawsuits against local police and fire departments alleging that it is racist to require hires entrusted with public safety to know basic math.

I can't even stomach this.

Hat tip to Maggie's Farm:

Umm, basic math is handy

Gina Carano's Suit Against Disney/Lucasfilm Moves to Discovery

I hope the popcorn holds out! Gina Carano Gets Another Big Win Against Disney As Court Rejects Disney's Attempt To Block Discovery As It Appeals To Dismiss The Case

Gina Carano got another big win in her lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm as Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett rejected Disney’s request to block discovery as it appealed its failed motion to dismiss to the Ninth Circuit Court.

Gina Carano was fired from her role in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, because she dared to stray from the Progressive talking points. She is suing, with the financial assistance of Elon Musk. I just find the whole thing amusing. (How do you spell "Schadenfreude?")

Carano filed her lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company back in February with the lawsuit noting it “is a civil action arising from Defendants wrongful termination of Carano’s employment in retaliation for Carano’s lawful exercise of her right to speak and express her views. Specifically, Defendants—under the regime of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek—fired Carano because of her posts (‘the Posts’) on various social media platforms including X (formerly known as Twitter). Carano composed and published the Posts while she was off-duty and away from the workplace.”

The suit also alleges, “Defendants terminated Carano’s employment and took other retaliatory actions to limit and deny her future employment opportunities, including but not limited to making maliciously false statements about Carano with the intention of damaging her reputation and, thus, her ability to find and retain work.”

So now Gina and her legal team will get to see all of the emails, memos from Disney/Lucasfilm about how the person who doesn't tow the Progressive line must be destroyed. I don't know when, or even if, any of that will become public knowledge. Discovery is only just starting. It should be entertaining if and when it does come to light.

Another Disney/Marvel Flop Incoming

From World of Reel we get the following. ‘Captain America: Brave New World' Bombs at Test Screening

Two different cuts of the film test screened last week, and plot details for one of the cuts have leaked online. The person who attended didn’t seem to like the movie all that much.

Based on the folks I’ve spoken to, those who attended were either given a red or green bracelet and were split up into two different theaters. The reactions I’ve heard have not been very kind to this movie, which is being described as “inessential” and “flat.”

Given what the trailer showed us earlier in the year, this is not too surprising.

Sam Wilson, formerly The Hawk, should not have been given the mantle of Captain America. The Hawk is a perfectly good story, and they could have promoted him with a SOLO movie.

But the Disney/Marvel no longer do solo movies. The stakes have to be stupidly enlarged.

Of course they can't be bothered to actually write a story, or hire people who respect the legacy of Marvel, so it is hardly surprising that none of the stuff they are producing is working.

But even watching Disney set fire to a couple of hundred million dollars of cash a few times a year isn't really that entertaining any longer.

Dave Cullen gets the the hat tip with his video This Looks Meh…

The budget for this film is currently listed at $350 million. If they spend $100 million on marketing, which would be low by Marvel standards, they would need to make $950 million at the box office to break even. And the budget will turn out to be larger, if we ever get final numbers, and they will spend at least $150 million on marketing. Counting on making a billion dollars just to break even is a foolish choice.

A Yes Musical Interlude from Miguel Gonzalez

Miguel Gonzalez at Miguel's Substack we get Sunday Repose

A long song for a day of rest.

Click thru for "The Gates of Delirium" by Yes from their 1974 album Relayer. The song is just shy of 22 minutes, about as long as would fit on 1 side of a long-playing record.

The Yes lineup in 1974 was

• Jon Anderson singing lead vocals, and playing some additional instruments
• Steve Howe playing acoustic and electric guitars, and singing backing vocals
• Chris Squire playing bass guitar, and singing backing vocals
• Patrick Moraz playing keyboards
• Alan White playing drums, and other percussion instruments

Being a bit of 1970's Jazz Fusion mixed in with Progressive Rock, with maybe a side order of Psychedelic Rock added in a couple places, this won't appeal to everyone. And most of the children don't have the attention span for something this long anyway.

I'm Shocked to Discover that Criminals Don't Obey the Law

In particular, bad guys tend to ignore gun laws. Dispute at Circle K in Bossier City leaves one shot in pelvis, another shot in foot

Two men exchange gunfire outside a convenience store.

Through an investigation, Bossier City violent crimes unit detectives discovered there was a verbal dispute between the victim and the suspect, later identified Lamont Heyward, 47. After the argument, Heyward shot the victim, who then returned gunfire in self-defense and shot Heyward in the foot.

The victim was shot in the pelvic area, and is being treated for non-life-threatening wounds.

Bossier City, Louisiana is a either a suburb of Shreveport, or the eastern half, or third, of the city. Located in the northwestern corner of the state, it is separated from Shreveport by the Red River.

After a warrant was filed on charges of attempted 2nd degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm, [Heyward] was found and arrested. Heyward is being held on $425,000 bond in Bossier City Jail.

So he has a criminal record, which bars him from having a firearm. And yet he had a firearm, which he used to commit (allegedly) another felony. Maybe the powers that be should pass a bunch more laws to curb gun violence that the criminals will ignore.

But then if they were serious about stopping crime, this guy wouldn't be eligible for bail, and he would face a speedy trial. (And for the record, I'm not shocked that criminals break the law; it's what they do.)

There is a Saying about Vengeance and Two Graves

They went searching for vengeance, but targeted the wrong person. SFPD: 2 people dead in Thursday shooting

There was some altercation. They wanted revenge, but they identified the wrong people. They went after those wrongly identified people with baseball bats.

According to police, the 23-year-old man was “jumped” by people earlier in the night and thought the people responsible were a group of motorcyclists at a gas station. [SNIP]

According to police the three had bats and confronted a group of people with motorcycles. The 23-year-old man swung a bat at a 26-year-old.

The 26-year-old shot the 23-year-old with a gun and the 44-year-old, who also was swinging a bat at him, according to police. Clemens said the 42-year-old woman pointed a gun at the 26-year-old and he shot her as well.

All over a mistaken identity. The two guys who were shot did not survive. The woman who was shot was taken to a local hospital and then arrested.

How do you characterize this, aside from the complete breakdown of civilization? And I would like the gun-hating part of the Left to explain to me how this situation would have been better without a firearm in the hands of the law-abiding citizen. I would like them to (try to) explain their position, but I don't expect them to do so. This is the 21st Century. It is all about feelings.

The Sydney Wilson Shooting - Reality is Often Disappointing

You can also file this under "Crazy people are dangerous."

Sydney Wilson, a former Georgetown Women's Basketball player, attacked a cop with a knife, cutting him across is forehead, and ended up being shot. The usual suspects are trying to turn her into the female version of Saint George of the Floyd. The difference here is that the video is complete, and backs up the cop's actions completely.

The cop in question had been dispatched on a wellness check, since her doctors' had expressed concern about her condition.

This incident took place in Fairfax County, VA, which is basically suburban Washington, D.C. The edge of the county is about 7 or 8 miles from downtown Washington, though I haven't seen any info on where in the county this took place.

But don't take my word for it. Listen to Ruined Leon. (The title to this post is mostly a quote from Leon.)

This is the Ruined Leon video Sydney Wilson Shooting Is JUSTIFIED

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 19 October

Animal Magnetism gets things rolling with Animal’s Hump Day News

Yeah, it’s already too late.
National treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson on the state of the race.

The Right Way - Top of the News

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME - The Daley Gator
Why did they cut Kamala off mid-salad? - IOTW Report

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 10.17.24

Stoic Observations: Fishing Ain’t Casting
Postcards From Barsoom: Academia Is Womens’ Work
Upstream Reviews: American Soldier

EBL - The Witch of Halloween Is Coming🐈‍⬛💀👻🎃🧹

Hot Air: Do the Dem Elites want Kamala to lose?
Instapundit: Tension with Biden and Harris

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For October 18, 2024

Trump is on target to carry every single swing state.
The Harris-Walz campaign evidently feels the best use of Gwen Walz’s time is to have her read groomer books about gay dads.

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 10.18.24 (Afternoon Edition)

Dana Loesch: Kamala Does Special Report With Bret Baier
Don Surber: Two interviews. Two candidates. One winner.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - More Fox Fallout and The British are Coming!

Capt. Ed, Did Biden-Harris Really Only 'Follow the Law'?, and Jazz Shaw, Is the Election Over Yet? and Harris Interview Drew 7.8 Million Viewers, Beat '60 Minutes' (UPDATED) and Capt Ed. comments "Yeah ... I don't think that's good news for Harris or her campaign."

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, The Economist Part II!

Why did the Secret Service fail to protect Trump from being shot?
Shouldn’t the question be “Why did the Secret Service fail to assist in getting President Trump murdered?” Fixed it for ya!

Vlad Tepes - Ballots in the van, ballots in the can, North Korea sends 12,000 potential defectors to join Russia and more: Links 1 for Oct. 18, 2024

1. And so it begins
Note the blue or red zip ties which should make it much easier to see which ones should fail to be delivered

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 10.18.24 (Evening Edition)

Power Line: After Sinwar, DOJ Goes to Bat For Illegal Voting, Emmet Domain, and Thoughts from the ammo line
Protein Wisdom Reborn: Mental sorbet

Small Dead Animals - Friday On Turtle Island

Cackling Kamala’s America: Trump is beating Kamala this way. Harris plagiarized whole sections of the book. Projection, demonization and fear-mongering.
Blackie’s Canada: Trudeau cracks down on Jews.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 10/17/2024

Official Data Shows Kidney Failure Deaths Surging Among COVID-Vaxxed
Official government data has revealed that kidney failure-related deaths are surging among people who received Covid mRNA “vaccines.”

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Ramesh Ponnuru warns of the itch on the political left to “reform” American courts – that is, to make courts more political.
Here’s GMU Econ alum Ryan Young on the newest economics Nobelists.

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

Liberals Are Losing Their Minds Over Elon Musk
Inside America’s Fastest-Growing Criminal Enterprise: Sex Trafficking

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: The Plot to Manage Democracy

• Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin Discusses DOJ Lawsuit Against State Clean Voter Rolls - CTH
• Kamala's Plagiarism Scandal Just Got Worse - Matt Margolis

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 10/17/24

Celebrating suicide bombers and demonizing Jews.
Hamas Loyalist Professor: Noura Erakat at Rutgers University

I leave you with Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #2077 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Wednesday's gifs from Wircutter, and Wednesday Memes … from MaddMedic.

Self-Defense in Atlanta

This story makes less sense to me than usual, and I never really understand what the bad guys are thinking. Man says he shot, killed man who tried to rob him after inviting friends to his Atlanta home

Joe said he and his roommate invited a friend over to watch football on Sunday night. He believes that friend had two other people come to the door and pull on gun on him,

“I told them to leave. They left with no contest. When I turn around, there’s a barrel of a gun to my face. My roommate wrestled the victim to the ground with the gun pointed to me…which they separated and I opened fire in self-defense,” Joe said. “The victim had a gun in his hand and everything.”

With friends like this...

Police are not commenting, but they didn't arrest anyone.

You can file this under, "Another failure of the victim-selection process.

Self-defense is a human right.

Politicians or Liars?

Changing your position on something is one thing. Saying anything you think your current audience wants to hear is something else. From Rick Moran at PJ Media: Harris Praises Oil Companies for Record Output — but Threatened to Prosecute Them in 2019

Kamala Harris was against fracking before she was for it. She was for an EV mandate before she was against it. She was for the Green New Deal before she was against it.

Harris's energy policies are sphinx-like in their inscrutability. Perhaps it depends on the day of the week. Maybe it's the time of the month? (Yeah? So sue me.)

Why isn't the Left having a fit about her current position?

Her radical green base was strangely silent, probably because they know that if she's elected, she'll flip her position again and attempt to prosecute oil companies.

Click thru for the details.