It Is Really Hard to See the Tragedy in This Execution

7/28/26 CNN:

James Aren Duckett, 68, was pronounced dead at 1:19 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. The 11th inmate executed by the state this year, Duckett was convicted of raping and drowning an 11-year-old girl while working as a police officer in a small central Florida city in 1987.

Show Me On the Doll Where the Doctor Mutilated You

 7/10/26 College Fix:

A University of Minnesota project to create “therapeutic” transgender dolls for children as young as 4 is officially launching this year.

However, the project continues to face criticism from medical leaders, as well as questions about whether public funding is involved.

“Join the waitlist” and “Launching in 2026,” the MyGender Dolls website tells visitors.

“Grounded in gender-affirming clinical practices,” the dolls will be a “therapeutic” resource for clinicians and educators who work with children ages 4-10, it states.

The new website only includes a few details about the dolls, a years-long project by faculty at the university’s Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health. Some of the links on the site are not working yet, but there is a “waitlist” form that people can fill out “to be kept up to date about the MyGender Dolls.”

The College Fix contacted the email address listed on the website and the project organizers via email on July 2 and 5, asking for information about the product and launch date. No one responded.

Previously, the university had a webpage dedicated to the project, but it was removed at some point after The College Fix first reported on it in December 2024.

According to the page, MyGender Dolls mimic classic paper dolls, featuring drawings of children of different ages, shapes, and skin colors to represent “all” kids. Children will be able to choose different internal and external genitals, clothes, and other accessories to help them “visualize their anatomy and genders,” the page stated.

21st Century Arrives

7/29/26 New York Post:

Stunning video taken by a covert sea drone shows a Chinese warship lingering inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

The 42-second clip shows a ship identified by Reuters as a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Type 052D guided-missile destroyer, floating 65 miles off Luzon Island in the Bashi Channel on June 16.

The ship was identified by “the deck layout, superstructure, crane and ​mast,” according to the company, “which matched archive imagery.”

Seasats, a San Diego startup, told The Post its drone, the Lightfish USV, was “conducting a commercial operation to prove the feasibility of autonomous operations in the Taiwan Strait.”

I hope this is a company either with, or on its way to, a government contract. Swarms of sea drones might make invading Taiwan so clearly impossible that we can avoid war with China. 

The Grand Tour

No, not the Top Gear sequel. It is a 1994 time travel movie with a different scenario than i have ever seen or read. That alone makes it worthwhile.  There is essence special effects. The science (other than time travel) is pretty good except the meteor collision as a byproduct of a meteor shower is wrong and the devastation is too localized.

There is a powerful story of paternal love as well. Language is pretty mild; sex is only implied; nothing too terrifying shown or even implied. 

Idaho Proposition 1

 I heard my first pro-1 ad on the radio this morning. Woman talks about how happy she and her husband were to be pregnant. Then her doctor told her that the baby was very sick and he would have her call a doctor in Utah because he could not even suggest a medically necessary abortion.

This is grossly deceptive, unless they recorded it two years ago. Idaho Code sec. 18-622 prohibits abortion with a few exceptions:

(i) The physician determined, in his good faith medical judgment and based on the facts known to the physician at the time, that the abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman. No abortion shall be deemed necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman because the physician believes that the woman may or will take action to harm herself; and
(ii) The physician performed or attempted to perform the abortion in the manner that, in his good faith medical judgment and based on the facts known to the physician at the time, provided the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive, unless, in his good faith medical judgment, termination of the pregnancy in that manner would have posed a greater risk of the death of the pregnant woman. No such greater risk shall be deemed to exist because the physician believes that the woman may or will take action to harm herself; or

The next section exempts abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest: if "the woman has reported to a law enforcement agency that she is the victim of an act of rape or incest and provided a copy of such report to the physician who is to perform the abortion."

Notice that a doctor makes this decision based on "his good faith medical judgment and based on the facts known to the physician at the time." Proving that a doctor was operating in bad faith would be quite an obstacle to overcome at trial. I think you would need a statement by the doctor (orally or in writing) that an abortion under these circumstances was a bad idea.

Things That Make You Ask, "How Stupid Are You?"

7/28/26 channel 2 Boise:

"BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Boise Police officers were dispatched on July 23 to a report of a dog locked in the back of a U-Haul moving truck around 6:05 p.m.

"Police report the outside temperature at that time was around 98-degrees. Responding officers made contact with the caller, and inspected the truck. One officer could hear heavy panting from within the back of the moving truck and determined the conditions were too dangerous, ultimately deciding to force open the back of the truck."

Moving is hard. But is there anyone that does not get the hazard of this to an animal?

Speech Therapy is Helping

A variety of exercises is making my speech clearer and less exhausting; the globus sensation is almost gone. This is nice because I will be speaking at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Dallas in late September. I have been polishing my PowerPoint and rehearsing endlessly until it is so easy that I do not get nervous and try speeding my way through.