Category Archives: Politics

A Good First Step

Posted on by
3

Quote of the Day

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has systematically denied thousands of law-abiding Californians their fundamental Second Amendment right to bear arms outside the home—not through outright refusal, but through a deliberate pattern of unconscionable delay that renders this constitutional right meaningless in practice.

The scope of this constitutional violation is staggering. Between January
2024 and March 2025, Defendants received 3,982 applications for new concealed carry licenses. Of these, they approved exactly two—a mere 0.05% approval rate that cannot be explained by legitimate disqualifying factors alone. This is not bureaucratic inefficiency; it is systematic obstruction of constitutional rights.

The mechanics of this obstruction are equally damning. Defendants force
applicants to wait an average of 281 days—over nine months—just to begin processing their applications, with some waiting as long as 1,030 days (nearly three years). The median delay is 372 days. These delays far exceed California’s own statutory
requirement that licensing authorities provide initial determinations within 90 days, demonstrating Defendants’ flagrant disregard for both state law and constitutional obligations.

The human cost is profound. As of May 2025, approximately 2,768
applications for new licenses remain pending, with interviews scheduled as late as November 2026—more than two years after some applications were first submitted. Numerous applicants simply gave up and withdrew their applications, often after waiting months in Defendants’ deliberately stalled process. These are not abstract statistics; they represent thousands of law-abiding citizens who have been stripped of their constitutional right to self-defense outside their homes.

U.S. Department of Justice
September 30, 2025
United States of America v. Los Angels County Sheriffs Department, and Robert Luna, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Los Angeles County (backup here)

According to numerous sources, and Copilot:

until the LA County concealed carry case, DOJ had never used § 12601 for Second Amendment violations. That makes this lawsuit a historic first—a signal that DOJ now considers systemic denial of gun rights a civil rights issue.

Copilot has this to say about my assertion the infringement will continue until criminal charges are pursued against the perpetrators:

Will Infringements Stop Without Criminal Charges?

Not likely. Civil suits can force policy changes, but they don’t carry the deterrent weight of personal accountability. Officials can stall, delay, or reinterpret rulings without fear of jail time. That’s why your call for criminal enforcement resonates—it’s about consequences, not just corrections.

Copilot offered to draft a model indictment. I accepted the offer:

United States District Court

Criminal Indictment United States of America v. [Defendants]

Count One – Conspiracy Against Rights (18 U.S.C. § 241)

The Grand Jury charges:

  1. Beginning on or about January 1, 2022, and continuing through the present, in the County of [X], State of [Y], the defendants [Name 1], [Name 2], and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, did knowingly and willfully conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate citizens in the free exercise and enjoyment of rights secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States, namely, the right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.
  2. The object of the conspiracy was to obstruct and delay the issuance of concealed carry permits to qualified applicants, through intentional administrative backlog, arbitrary denials, and the imposition of unlawful requirements not authorized by state law.
  3. In furtherance of the conspiracy, the defendants:
    • Directed staff to ignore or delay processing of applications.
    • Required applicants to submit additional documentation not required by law.
    • Denied permits without cause or explanation.
    • Maintained internal communications expressing intent to “slow-walk” approvals to discourage lawful carry.

All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 241.

Count Two – Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law (18 U.S.C. § 242)

The Grand Jury further charges:

  1. On or about [specific date], in the County of [X], State of [Y], defendant [Name] acting under color of law as [Title/Position], did willfully deprive [Victim Name], a citizen of the United States, of rights secured by the Constitution, namely the right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.
  2. The deprivation occurred when [Name], acting in his official capacity, denied [Victim] a concealed carry permit despite full legal eligibility, and did so based on personal bias against firearm ownership and in furtherance of the conspiracy described in Count One.

All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 242.

Notice of Special Findings

The Grand Jury finds that the offenses charged:

  • Were committed under color of law.
  • Involved multiple victims.
  • Were part of a pattern or practice of rights violations.

Here is what others are saying:

This is a good start. But I won’t be popping the cork on the champagne until the first perp goes to jail with all their appeals exhausted.

Mindset of Another Socialist

Posted on by
17

Quote of the Day

Our accelerating cavalcade of bloodshed rests on three pillars:

First, the massive tech media platforms, which feed us a daily diet of misinformation and tribal distrust. Sex sells. But Big Tech — 40% of the S&P 500 — has found something even better: rage. Eisenhower rightly warned us about the military industrial complex. In the decades after he left office, weapons manufacturers, think tanks, and politicians — the violence entrepreneurs of their era — conspired to make foreign wars and proxy conflicts into billion-dollar businesses. Today, Meta dwarves Lockheed Martin. “Make Memes Not War” is the trillion-dollar strategy.

My argument is not that politics is unrelated to the violence. (Or that there isn’t actual organized political violence, mostly from the far right, as has been well documented.) On the contrary, the ever more violent and inflammatory rhetoric and misinformation and the relentless demonization of every available scapegoat have left their marks all over the lives of the perpetrators. But demagoguery, dog whistles, and tribalism aren’t new. The dangerous novelty of our time is the fusing of capitalism and technology to make rage, and violence, profitable.

We’d go a long way toward dismantling the rage machine if we exposed its makers to liability, as we do with every other corporation. Reforming Section 230, which insulates online platforms from the externalities of the conspiracy theories and Chinese misinformation schemes they peddle, would be a massive first step. Age-gating social media would be a good follow-up.
And online media is an accelerant to our problem. As I often say, (including in my next book), the fire it fuels is disconnected rage. Rarely has a cohort fallen further, faster than young men. Most angry young men find peace. Some grasp a gun instead.

My friend Richard Reeves wrote a book, Of Boys and Men, that’s replete with good ideas: recruit more male teachers, invest in vocational training, destigmatize mental health problems. We should raise the minimum wage and create tax breaks for people paying off student debt and saving for home ownership. Implement national service to get young people off their devices and into their communities. Use tax credits that unleash the private building sector and anti-Nimby laws, to help us build 8 million new homes in 10 years. Enforce retirement ages and term limits so older people make room for the rising generation.

The third leg of this stool is the most obvious, but also the most politicized. This post comes nine days after Kirk was killed. In those nine days, 1,125 other Americans died from gun violence. Fifty were children. Two more people have been shot and killed since you began reading this post.

The U.K., where I’ve been living for the past three years, has much in common with the U.S. The problems are familiar: racial division, arguments over immigration, declining opportunity for young people. Yet one difference stands out. It will take more than a year for the U.K. to see as many gun deaths (per capita) as the U.S. experienced in the nine days since Kirk’s murder. Private handguns are outlawed here, and hunting firearms are tightly controlled.

This isn’t complicated: break Big Tech’s immunity, invest in boys, rein in guns. The hard part isn’t policy — it’s courage. The violence entrepreneurs aren’t selling solutions, they’re selling rage. And business is booming.

Scott Galloway
September 29, 2025
Violence Entrepreneurs | No Mercy / No Malice

Interesting… There probably is some truth in what he says about the problem. But what jumps out at me is the mindset of the proposed solutions. Or perhaps it would be better expressed as the lack of proposed solution types.

The concept of individual responsibility apparently does not occur to Galloway. All the solutions suggested are of the type one might use to control a herd of cattle. Individuals which are well behaved are treated the same as troublemakers. Group restrictions rather than individual punishment, treatment, and/or isolation. It is the mindset of a socialist with more government control of corporations, schools, wages, housing, forced labor, forced non-labor, and, of course, no guns.

The one final thing is probably the most mind boggling ignorant. He asserts, “The hard part isn’t policy.” He is certain to get a lot of pushbacks on the first two “pillars”. But regarding the third, he is an alternate reality if he is not aware of the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms. Ultimately, the pushbacks there come in small copper jacketed packets traveling at supersonic speeds.

Stay in Your Lane

Posted on by
9

Government projects are incredibly wasteful:

$2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Facility in California scheduled to be turned off after years of wasted money

Seen from the sky, the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert resembles a futuristic dream.

Viewed from the bottom line, however, Ivanpah is anything but.

The solar power plant, which features three 459-foot towers and thousands of computer-controlled mirrors known as heliostats, cost some $2.2 billion to build.

Construction began in 2010 and was completed in 2014. Now it’s set to close in 2026 after failing to efficiently generate solar energy.

In 2011, the US Department of Energy under President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in three federal loan guarantees for the project and the secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz, hailed it as “an example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.”

But ultimately, it’s been more emblematic of profligate government spending and unwise bets on poorly conceived, quickly outdated technologies.

“Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government subsidized energy schemes,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, an American energy advocacy group, told Fox News via statement this past February. It “never lived up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected, while relying on natural gas to stay operational.”

I remember reading about this type of design when I was a child (I loved reading Popular Science magazine even in grade school). The initial concept was in the 1960s-70s. Yet with all that time to get things right the estimate price for their electricity is “over $0.135 per kWh—significantly higher than utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar, which now averages under $0.03 per kWh in many regions.”

The plant should have never been built. With a price point for their product at 4.5 times the current market price it seems like that should have been easy to predict it could not compete.

It is easy to speculate that the “real” purpose was not to create electricity at a competitive price. It was to give taxpayer money to political cronies. If that is the case, then the money is not considered wasted by the politicians who advocated for the project. Such politicians should be prosecuted for corruption.

As usual, this could have all been avoided if the U.S. government would have “stayed in its lane” as specified by the U.S. Constitution.

Reeks of Political Bias

Posted on by
6

Quote of the Day

I have been asked by members of my community why there were two very different responses from my agency, when both riots appear to be the same to them at face value. It’s a shame that I can’t answer that question. I have heard U.S. Secret Service Police ask why their alleged assaulters during the summer of 2020 riots weren’t sought out like those who assaulted officers at the Capitol. Again, I can’t answer that question. We were once an apolitical organization, but I no longer see us as such looking from the ground up. We have been used as pawns in a political war, and FBI leadership fell into the trap and has allowed it to happen. We are supposed to call balls and strikes, regardless of political pressure, now we can’t even be trusted to be on the field.

I want to be clear so it’s not misconstrued, both the summer riots of 2020 and the Capitol Riot were repulsive. The FBI’s response to one and not the other is unacceptable in an organization that is supposed to be independent and apolitical. On May 3, 2018, TIME magazine published an article “The FBI Is In Crisis. It’s Worse Than You Think”. In the article, the writer Eric Lichtblau, describes the many failures that have accumulated most recently in the FBI. The most sobering stat referenced stated that an April 2018, PBS News Hour Survey showed a 10-point drop-from 71% to 61% among Americans who thought the FBI was “just trying to do its job”. I would not like to see the result of that same survey today, because I have not seen any faith restored in this organization. FBI leadership needs to be reevaluated in the strongest sense possible. We have been infiltrated by political pawns who are sinking the ship many of us work hard to make sail every day. Someone in a leadership position at WFO needs to step up and make things right again. That may mean pushing back when someone wants an outcome that appears political in nature, because our response to the Capitol Riot reeks of political bias.

Comment #4
After Action Report FBI-HJC119-J6IG-000001-000050.pdf (backup copy here), Page 13
Via FBI Bombshell: 274 agents sent to Capitol for J6, many later complained they were political ‘pawns’ | Just The News

I did not read the whole thing. This is just a sample. The general tone is very negative.

Until the Randy Weaver case I had an exceptionally high opinion of the FBI. I thought of them as near perfection. The reality of their actual behavior in the Weaver and shortly thereafter their handling of David Koresh in Waco changed their status in my mind to something approximating “The Enemy of the People.”

I still wonder where the U.S. Constitution authorizes their existence. If, after decades of misbehavior, they cannot get their act together then I would like to suggest it is time to disband them. Let state and local laws and officials protect innocent people in their justice systems.

Sure, there will be corruption and political bias in these organizations too, but you can move to a different city and/or state far easier than you can move to a different country. And cleaning up of the local pockets of bad actors will be much easier by journalistic and ballot box solutions than it is at the national level.

They Think they are the Good Guys–Part 2

Posted on by
12

Although I rationally know better, I am always stilled into quiet amazement and sadness by a psychological phenomenon I have known about since I was old enough to read history books. Here is just one small example of something that happens from the individual level to the scale of millions of people.

To be the evilest, people convince themselves they are the good guys.

Woman arrested for vandalizing Charlie Kirk memorial | U.S.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that it had identified and arrested two suspects in relation to the vandalism outside the Benton County Courthouse. The sheriff’s office said it had been made aware on Tuesday that vandals had targeted a memorial at the bottom of the courthouse steps dedicated to the late Christian conservative influencer and founder of Turning Point USA and TPUSA Faith.

Authorities arrested the sisters, Kerri Melissa Rollo, 23, and Kaylee Heather Rollo, 22, following a “swift investigation,” according to the press release on Wednesday. Both women have been charged with criminal mischief in the first degree, while Kaylee faces an additional charge of obstruction of governmental operations.

…

Footage circulating online of the vandalism shows two individuals ripping up signs and knocking over candles at the memorial for Kirk, who was murdered on Sept. 10 during a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, shortly after a member of the audience asked him about mass shootings by transgender-identifying individuals.

…

One of the women caught on camera vandalizing the memorial is seen flipping off the person recording and shouting, “F— Charlie Kirk!” The same woman who flipped off the person recording her also accused Kirk of promoting “violence.”

The video garnered attention online, prompting Kaylee to start a fundraiser on Tuesday on GoFundMe titled “FIGHT AGAINST F4CISM.” The 22-year-old also shared photos of people on social media condemning the vandalism of the memorial. 

…

After the recent events surrounding Charlie Kirk’s death, my sibling and I are being doxxed online. My sibling was fired from their job,” the younger sister wrote in a fundraising message on GoFundMe. “This is a direct violation of their First Amendment rights and unconstitutional,” she claimed.

“This is unfortunate, but anything helps,” Kaylee continued. “Please support my sibling as they look for another job and stand against the creeping tyranny in our country.”

What they did is so obviously wrong that I have no idea what words I could use to explain it to them. I would not think this behavior was acceptable even if it were a memorial for Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, or Hillary Clinton.

They Think they are the Good Guys

Posted on by
10

Quote of the Day

American physicist Steven Weinberg famously remarked that ‘with or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil – that takes religion’. It makes sense, then, to think of the social-justice movement as a kind of cult. Its members are generally decent people with good intentions. They have an unshakeable certainty that their worldview is correct. They feel the need to proselytise and convert as many of the fallen as possible. And even though they are capable of the most horrendous dehumanising behaviour, they think they are the good guys.

We are in this position because identity politics in its current form is a collectivist ideology. It does not value an individual for the content of his or her character, but instead makes prejudicial assessments on the basis of race, gender and sexuality. In the name of anti-racism, identity politics has rehabilitated racial thinking. This explains why an affluent and privileged person like Munroe Bergdorf can be invited on to national television to proclaim that ‘the white race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth’. How is well-intentioned racism even a thing?

A similar regression has occurred within the feminist movement. Fourth-wave feminism is predominantly victim-centred, and is based on the conviction that women are invariably oppressed and require the protection of authority figures. When the BBC promoted a smartphone app to help women speak up in meetings, it was merely toeing the standard feminist line on the intrinsic fragility of women. So we are left with the curious phenomenon of good people who are opposed to misogyny subscribing to an essentially misogynistic perspective.

Titania was an attempt to highlight the inescapable hypocrisies of such a mindset.

Andrew Doyle
March 12, 2019
Why I invented Titania McGrath – spiked

This has someremarkable similarities to what Lyle said just yesterday.

I would like to think that, at least for a generation, the death of Charlie Kirk put the last nail in the coffin of the illusion of “the most horrendous dehumanising behaviour” are the acts of the good guys. But I’m seeing strong indicators that the pendulum will swing too far in the other direction. I know people thinking they are “the good guys” and claim, “karmic justice” and/or “righteous violence” and even the necessity of evil acts. They too will demonstrate “they are capable of the most horrendous dehumanising behaviour” and “think they are the good guys.”

Believe Them

Posted on by
18

Quote of the Day

In a world full of structural
R@cism
Sexism
H0m0phonia
Transph0bia
And millions of cishet gendered Facists burning thru our limited resources, well Death kinda makes sense , doancha think?

JFKY
Vassar graduate
VP Diversity, Inclusion & Equity
Major Merchant Venture Bank
September 21, 2025
Comment to Instapundit » Blog Archive » FOR THE LEFT VIOLENCE IS BAKED IN:  Death is the Solution to all Problems.

When someone tells you they want you dead, believe them.

Further evidence from the same comment thread:

Not MY death, but a culling of undesirables….undeisarables as it were

Prepare appropriately.

Update: I have been reliably informed that it is a parody account. See the comments below for details.

Food for Thought

Posted on by
15

Quote of the Day

I can’t remember ever hearing of any teachers or school administrators, anywhere, picketing in favor of a free market.

Lyle
November 15, 2005
Comment to Solving the world’s problems

This observation is applicable to many other products and services provided by the government. And I’m certain the reason is something other than the quality and total cost of the products.

My hypothesis is that it is because the costs are hidden. You do not easily see the costs at the individual level. The product appears to be “free.” And when you chose a free-market alternative you do not receive the savings of not paying for the government product.

An Evolutionary Shift Like Never Before

Posted on by
11

Quote of the Day

If human survival and well-being increasingly depend on the cultural systems around us, what happens to individual genetic evolution? Will we see a future where humanity evolves not as a collection of genetically distinct individuals, but as a cooperative, culturally shaped superorganism?

The idea is that just as ants or bees operate as superorganisms, humans may one day operate similarly, with survival and reproduction dependent on the health of the cultural systems that define our societies.

Tibi Puiu
September 18, 2025
Researchers Say Humans Are In the Midst of an Evolutionary Shift Like Never Before

It would seem to me that we have been evolving via cultural systems for thousands of years. Didn’t that begin with specialization and small groups/tribes? Perhaps even earlier with sexual differentiation with males generally being stronger and females better able to care for their young?

Sure, with the technologies in the transportation, farming, communication, and sanitation areas cities could develop. And those cities developed new cultures which then evolved even more. But it is not anything really new.

Now, perhaps the claim is that the technology/culture evolution is proceeding at a far faster rate than before. In centuries past it might be claimed that genetic and cultural evolution were comparable in contribution to human changes. And now, the technology/culture change is so much faster that the genetic changes are irrelevant. Maybe.

What I expect is that instead of genetic changes being irrelevant is that the ant/bee superorganism will not come about in humans because human genetics will be a barrier to such systems.

I can’t help but wonder if there is a what, back on the farm, my family viewed as “city folk” thinking. Basically, a bias of thinking their way of life is superior to the country life. There certainly are far more “cultural” options available in cities and those cultures (fads, as we thought of them) change much faster than the changes you see in the country.

Death is the Solution to all Problems

Posted on by
21

Quote of the Day

Death is the solution to all problems. No man – no problem.

Joseph Stalin
See Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, 2003, p. 41. Also appears in The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), edited by Fred R. Shapiro.

I cannot help but think of this quote in the context of the shootings and planned shootings of various prominent Republicans such as House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, three Supreme Court Justices, the two attempts at killing Donald Trump, and of course the murder of Charlie Kirk.

Leftist and political violence seem to be strongly correlated*.

You also see this in the expression of political will. The number and magnitude of riots, the level of violence, looting, and arson of the political left dwarfs that of the political right in this country. I have to wonder are they inspired by Stalin and others of his ilk? Or is it a natural result of their political posture?

The political right seems to be far less inclined to use violence means to achieve their political goals. I’m not saying they are entirely ethical, honest, or consistent. But violence does not seem to be one of the primary tools in their toolbox.

* Yes, there is evidence the 2025 shootings of Minnesota legislators were politically motivated. But I don’t see Republicans excusing the murders or claiming the victims brought it on themselves.

We Are Not the Same

Posted on by
3

Quote of the Day

Perhaps the reason leftists and conservatives think so differently about guns, is because for conservatives it doesn’t even occur to us to shoot someone simply for disagreeing.

The response to Charlie’s assassination revealed that it occurs to the left all the time.

Nick Freitas @NickJFreitas
Posted on X, September 16, 2025

Via daughter Jaime.

And from the same thread we have this:

Her Cause is Hopeless

Posted on by
7

Quote of the Day

The gun-friendly Court has made a near-impossible feat Sisyphean. We have a Republican Congress utterly unwilling to pass meaningful legislation to stem the scourge of gun violence, backstopped by a Supreme Court that sees the Second Amendment as untouchable.

…

Still, dropping the subject cedes significant ground to the right. The United States is not the only country with hyper-partisanship and an irresponsible, bloodlusty leader. It’s the guns.

Kate Riga
September 11, 2025
We Don’t Even Talk About the Guns Anymore

Riga is delusional and/or stupid if she really thinks it is the guns rather than the culture and/or people. But that may be giving her too much credit.

At this point I don’t much care. She has an opinion that is just so much dust being swept into the dustbin of history. I’m just happy to see the acknowledgement that her desire to enable tyranny anytime soon is hopeless.

Blasphemy is still a crime

Posted on by
2

Quote of the Day

Blasphemy is still a crime, but you see, the Gods, they have changed.

friedcheese
September 17, 2025
Comment to JUST ANOTHER CLASS OF “EXPERTS” TO IGNORE

Whether the gods are spiritual, tyrants, or political beliefs it probably always has been a crime in one form or another. And as demonstrated last week, it carries a death penalty in certain social circles.

People do not like having their most cherished beliefs challenged. Especially when the challenger is correct.

This is why we have the First Amendment.

Controlling Your Crazies

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

Party politics has always had this weird aspect where the party that had a better handle on controlling its own crazies, usually captured the middle and won elections. The DEMs have been imploding since about 2017, and today the whole party almost sounds fringe. If the GOP wants to avoid the same fate, they have work to do.

Don Kilmer @donkilmer
Posted on X, September 16, 2025

The context in which he said this is important. It was this post on X:

Interesting assertion by Kilmer. I had not thought of it that way. Even after thinking about it some, I’m not sure I agree. But as I think of myself as more of an observer of the two major parties than a member of either, I may not be a “normal” person. The Libertarian party platform is a far better match for my understanding of the U.S. constitution. But it has an asymptotic close to zero chance of getting someone into national office. Hence, “winning an election” is an alien concept to me.

It is true that the Democrats have been riding the crazy train for many years now and do seem to have imploded. But I don’t have to do much more than close my eyes and point at a random Republican to see more crazy than I want in a national office holder.

For example, I’m flabbergasted that the AG of the U.S. in the video above did not know that “hate speech” is not a legal thing. That was crazy talk.

The political left could not prosecute people for it and the Republicans have no legal authority to “go after” speech that is not inciting violence or threatening imminent danger of permanent injury or death. It took some significant blowback before she “clarified her remarks“:

Still, it is always good advice to control your crazies.

FYI, I made this post and put it in the queue about an hour before I read Rolf’s comment on the same topic.

I Had Enough of His Hatred

Posted on by

As I expected, the number of data points and the error bands are narrowing with each passing day:

‘I had enough of his hatred’: Charlie Kirk suspect’s texts with roommate shed light on motive

Prosecutors shared new details about the attack in an information document – a formal accusation filed by a prosecutor – including the alleged text exchanges between Robinson and his roommate, which shed light on a possible motive.

On September 10, the roommate received a text from Robinson which said, “drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard,” according to the documents.

The note allegedly stated: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

Prosecutors shared the following text exchange that allegedly took place:

After reading the note, the roommate replied: “What?????????????? You’re joking, right????”

Robinson: I am still ok my love, but am stuck in orem for a little while longer yet. Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.

Roommate: you weren’t the one who did it right????

Robinson: I am, I’m sorry

Roommate: I thought they caught the person?

Robinson: no, they grabbed some crazy old dude, then interrogated someone in similar clothing. I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down. Its quiet, almost enough to get out, but theres one vehicle lingering.

Roommate: Why?

Robinson: Why did I do it?

Roommate: Yeah

Robinson: I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.

Roommate: How long have you been planning this?

Robinson: a bit over a week I believe. I can get close to it but there is a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don’t wanna chance it

Robinson: I’m wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle. … I’m worried what my old man would do if I didn’t bring back grandpas rifle … idek if it had a serial number, but it wouldn’t trace to me. I worry about prints I had to leave it in a bush where I changed outfits. didn’t have the ability or time to bring it with. … I might have to abandon it and hope they don’t find prints. how the f*** will I explain losing it to my old man. …only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in a towel. … remember how I was engraving bullets? The f***in messages are mostly a big meme, if I see “notices bulge uwu” on fox new I might have a stroke alright im gonna have to leave it, that really f***ing sucks. …judging from today I’d say grandpas gun does just fine idk. I think that was a $2k scope ;-;

Robinson: delete this exchange

Robinson: my dad wants photos of the rifle … he says grandpa wants to know who has what, the feds released a photo of the rifle, and it is very unique. Hes calling me rn, not answering.

Robinson: since trump got into office [my dad] has been pretty diehard maga.

Robinson: Im gonna turn myself in willingly, one of my neighbors here is a deputy for the sheriff.

Robinson: you are all I worry about love

Roommate: I’m much more worried about you

Robinson: don’t talk to the media please. don’t take any interviews or make any comments. … if any police ask you questions ask for a lawyer and stay silent

The information document provides the most insight into the suspect’s alleged motive yet, and details how Robinson had “started to lean to the left,” according to his mother.

His mom told investigators that Robinson had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights orientated” in recent years and that he had began to date his roommate, “a biological male who was transitioning genders,” the document states.

It resulted in “discussions” with family members, “especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views.”

“In one conversation before the shooting, Robinson mentioned that Charlie Kirk would be holding an event at UVU, which Robinson said was a ‘stupid venue’ for the event,” the document states. “Robinson accused Kirk of spreading hate.”

As a manhunt was underway, Robinson’s parents recognized their son in the surveillance images circulated by the FBI. The suspect’s father believed the rifle used in the shooting matched a weapon that was given to his son as a gift.

He texted his son and asked him to send him a photo of the rifle, the document said. When Robinson did not respond, his father spoke to him over the phone where his son allegedly “implied that he planned to take his own life.”

His parents persuaded their son to meet at their home, where “Robinson implied he was the shooter and stated that he couldn’t go to jail and just wanted to end it,” prosecutors allege.

“When asked why he did it, Robinson explained there is too much evil and the guy [Charlie Kirk] spreads too much hate,” the document states.

“Too much evil and …. too much hate”? That is an interesting claim from Robinson. I have not spent more than a minute or two of listening to and/or reading Kirk’s works. But the evidence clearly shows Robinson has the unsurmountable lead on evil and hate in the Kirk v. Robinson contest.

Projection and insults is the best they have so it is not surprising as they are losing political power, they crank the dial up on the only tools they know how to use.

I would like to think that the error bands are tightening on the range of viable conspiracy theories. But my experience is the crazies can always escape the constraints of reality.

None of this is Agency

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

I’m seeing a lot of us vs them rhetoric right now.

A man was shot and the timelines lit up with tribal chest beating.

There’s a sort of engineered frenzy that tells millions of strangers to feel attacked on cue and to answer with collective blame.

People graft their sense of self onto a mass identity because it is easier than standing alone. I get it. The group supplies ready-made meaning, ready-made enemies, and ready-made scripts for grief and anger.

When something happens to a figure near that group, the borrowed self experiences it as a personal wound. The nervous system fires as if family was hit. The algorithm notices, pours gasoline, and a person forgets they are a person.

They become a role. They perform the role loudly because the role rewards them with belonging. This is how the individual dissolves.

Parasocial attachment finishes the job. A commentator speaks into your head for years and your mind, built for villages, mistakes proximity for kinship. Suddenly the stranger is “ours,” and the event is “about me,” and the most primitive circuitry takes the wheel.

Outrage feels like virtue. Blanket blame feels like clarity. Calls for payback feel like strength. None of that is agency.

Power feeds on exactly this. Political machines live on attention, emotion, and fear. They need you sorted into blocs, preferably angry ones, because angry blocs are easy to mobilize and easy to tax.

The chant writes itself: “This proves everything I already believed!”

Notice how perfect that is. One incident becomes a voucher for every preloaded narrative. Nothing new is learned, but the leash is tightened.

The class that benefits is the same class that always benefits, and it is not you.

Dylan Allman @dylanmallman
Posted on X, September 10, 2025

I’ve always liked psychology and sociology.

This seems plausible.

The Meaning of I Couldn’t Care Less

Posted on by

Context is everything. Watch and listen to this video and think about what the phrase “I couldn’t care less” is referring to.

The transcript of the important part is:

EARHARDT: We have radicals on the right as well. How do we fix this country?

TRUMP: I’ll tell you something that’s gonna get me in trouble but I couldn’t care less. The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem.

Those on the political left interpret this as President Trump does not want to fix the country. Or, one person I know think he was answering the question, “Who could fix this country?”

I interpret him as saying he couldn’t care less about getting in trouble for saying the following words.

I will grant that I can see it being misinterpreted you only hear the first sentence as the complete response to the question. But in the full context it seems very close to unambiguous. Is this just my bias?

Yet, I see instance after instance of emphasis on the first sentence:

Do they honestly believe that is a truthful interpretation of what he said? Are they all deliberately lying? I find both conclusions inconceivable.

More than ever, I just want to be left alone in my underground bunker in Idaho. People have gone nuts.

This Time the Biggest Legal Gun in the Nation is on Our Side

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

We have the United States Department of Justice not only filing an amici brief on behalf of the challenges to the Illinois gun ban, they have asked for time to come in and argue the government’s position.

Todd Vandermyde
September 12, 2025
DOJ arguing against Illinois’ gun ban ‘monumental,’ advocate says

It is rare but not unheard of for the Feds to support the 2nd Amendment. See the DOJ amicus brief: Office of the Solicitor General | District of Columbia v. Heller – Amicus (Merits) | United States Department of Justice.

Still, it is definitely a worth celebrating when you find that you have the biggest legal gun in the nation on your side.

An End to Tiresome Speculation?

Posted on by

Via Andy Ngo:

Charlie Kirk Assassin Suspect Appears to Have Killed for Antifa, Confirmed Rifle Cartridge Messages Show

At a Friday morning press conference announcing the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox revealed new details about evidence collected at the scene of the shooting.

There had been confusion after the New York Times cited an unnamed law enforcement source countering reporting by The Wall Street Journal and Steven Crowder (via his ATF source) about Antifa and trans phrases on rifle cartridges. Gov. Cox’s remarks now confirm that Antifa phrases were indeed found.

According to Cox, one cartridge was inscribed with: “Hey fascist! Catch!” Another read: “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao.”

…

The governor noted that other casings read: “If you read this you are gay lmao” and “Notices, bulges OWO what’s this?” The latter appears to be a reference to a furry online meme.

Cox’s clarification narrows the speculation: the casings bear clear Antifa references but, at this stage, do not appear to contain any direct mention of trans ideology.

Via MSN:

Tyler Robinson, 22, facing capital murder and weapons charges: Details emerge about alleged Charlie Kirk assassin

A suspect in the assassination of conservative activist and close Trump ally Charlie Kirk has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced on Friday.

“We got him,” Cox said at a news conference to announce the arrest of Robinson who was taken into custody Thursday on suspicion of capital murder, weapons and obstruction offenses.

…

The suspect is said to be listed as politically “unaffiliated,” although both his parents are believed to be Republicans.

Cox said the suspect arrived on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday at 8:29 a.m. in a gray Dodge Challenger. He was wearing a plain maroon t-shirt, light shorts, and a black hat with a white logo, as seen in surveillance videos. He wore the same clothes when he was arrested on Thursday night.

Robinson was not a student at the Utah Valley University, where the shooting happened.

“He was living, and had lived for a long time, with his family in Washington County,” Cox said.

Utah voting information seen by The Independent shows his voter status is “inactive,” meaning he has not voted in the last two general elections or responded to notices sent by a county clerk. His party affiliation is listed as “unaffiliated.”

However, family members said Robinson had become “more political in recent years,” expressed negative views of Kirk and told family members he believed the Turning Point USA founder was “full of hate and spreading hate,” Cox said.

He revealed that the family member told investigators that at a recent family dinner, Robinson had mentioned Kirk’s upcoming Utah Valley event, and “they talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had.”

After the shooting, Cox said Robinson’s father recognized his son in photos that law enforcement released and reached out to a family friend, who happened to be a minster, to encourage Robinson to turn himself in.

My hope is this will end the tiresome speculation I have been reading in various places. It was obvious to me there was far too little information to make nearly all the conclusions asserted.

Years ago, I decided I did not have the time to correct everyone on the Internet, or even in the comments to my blog, that is wrong. Yes, many speculations were decent hypothesis, but as one of my physics professors once said, “We need lots of data with narrow error bands or else the theorists will drive trucks through them.” Decades later I still remember the three data points with error bands on the blackboard and the set of squiggly lines he drew through them.

We now have many more data points with much tighter error bands. The set of squiggly lines than can be fit through those error bands just became far fewer in number and significantly less squiggly.

But, as I have come to discover, people will vehemently believe what they want to believe. Or, as Paul Simon sang:

All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

<heavy sigh>

Mistake or Intentional? Leftist Speech or False Flag?

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

we all deserve gun safety. Gun violence is too prevalent in America.

Washington State Democratic Party
September 10, 2025
Washington state elected officials react to fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk | The Daily Chronicle

This seemed a little off and I wanted to verify the exact details. As this was posted on Bluesk I had to create an account and search from probably close to an hour before I finally found it. The text searches did not find it because the words were in an image:

That is interesting. Do you see the difference? It still throws in the idea that the assassination is a gun problem rather than a people or rhetoric problem. But it is not the primary point.

The article was written by Paige Cornwell at the Seattle Times. But it was picked up and posted elsewhere:

No one, apparently, noticed the error in the quote.

If you haven’t noticed the difference, I’ll point it out for you. Ms. Cornwell substituted “we all deserve gun safety” for “we all deserve safety.”

Perhaps I am hypersensitive to the phrase “gun safety.” Or perhaps Ms. Cornwell mistyped the quote in a hurry to get the article finished. Or the Washington State Democrats changed their post after Cornwell grabbed the quote. But a case can be made she did this intentionally. Copilot could not find any history of reporting on gun ownership in any form and tends toward it being an inadvertent error.

I have sent Ms. Page an email about the error. If I get a response, I will edit this post.

In related news, there are both Democrats and the Republicans jumping to conclusions about the motive of the shooter without evidence to support their beliefs. Some Rs claim the Ds are terrorists and should be hunted down and held responsible. Some Ds claim it was a false flag operation to distract from Trump’s involvement with Epstein and/or to justify the creation of a fascist state.

Having just finished Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and “Enemies of the State” (a good book, BTW), I can easily see the parallels to Nazis using political assassinations as justification for extermination of minorities/political-opponents. And, of course, the political left has a tendency to view violence as just another form of speech.

I’m going to wait for evidence before expressing an opinion. However, it is full speed ahead on getting the underground bunker in Idaho livable.

Update: It has been almost 24 hours since I sent her an email asking if it was intentional or not. I have not received a response.

Draw your own conclusions.