My Shop

Is currently a low-budget version of the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark: lots of boxes in need of opening. Machine tools, hand tools, a collection of fasteners to make most hardware stores feel inadequate, telescopes, mounts, telescope accessories, amateur telescope making parts.

I suspect the previous owners never used it except as storage for the solar pool cover.  I bug bombed it a couple days go. That there are no fresh spiderweb tells me that no one survived and no one got in. Spiders are amazingly fast at rebuilding here. My daughter removes them in room corners one day and finds replacements in  couple of days.

I have vacuumed up the webs, spider eggs sacs, sawdust, and dirt. I started wiping all the interior window frames this evening with Simple Green. Once this is done, I will wipe all horizontal surfaces; move boxes out of the way and mop the floor with Simple Green.

Not Quite At "Forensic Astrologer" Level

 9/6/26 New York Post:

Advancements in AI may soon allow humans to talk with animals, but some groups claim the research could be violating the animals’ right to privacy.

Machine learning models are paving the way to catalogue and even mimic the sounds animals make to communicate with each other, with researchers touting the technology as a way to better understand the world of animals.

But “one risk that is currently not taken into account in research ethics is the concern that we might be violating the privacy of animals by collecting data on their vocalizations and movements,” according to researchers in an article published in Springer Nature.

AI can make mistakes. Imagine those mistakes:

Don't eat me.

I love becoming one with your body.

Faster, faster, more stirrups.

From the cloned mammoth: "We want a land acknowledgment."

Apparently the Trump DOJ Investigated and Found This Was Bogus

Supposedly a smart thermostat in a Georgia precinct was relaying voting data to a server in China. If Trump's DOJ had not already examined this and found it unfounded, I would be worried.  But the comment from a Georgia voters that he was going to vote by thermostat next time gave me a laugh.

Okay, Without Checking the Link or Date...

Guess what governor proposed this bill to give a second chance to first time drug offenders?

Yes, Gov. Ronald Reagan.

Disarming Victims Again

 9/4/26 Reason:

Houses of worship are often targeted by people with murder on their minds. That's especially true of synagogues, which were disproportionately attacked even before October 7 and have since been on the receiving end of the "antizionist" reframing of hatred of Jews. But in Montgomery County, Maryland, officials recently renewed efforts to forbid the carrying of firearms within 100 yards of "places of public assembly," including churches and synagogues. Now, some security volunteers are defying the intrusive law as they await the outcome of courtroom pushback against the restrictions.

Of course,  we have a long tradition of not only allowing but actively requiring people be armed at church to protect against attacks, such as these extracted from here:

Georgia

1770: "An act for the better security of the inhabitants by obliging the male white persons to carry fire arms to places of public worship."  From Allen D. Candler, comp., The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia (Atlanta, Ga.: Chas. P. Byrd, 1910), 19(part 1):137-140, this law required all white male inhabitants to carry either a long gun or a pair of pistols to church (p. 138), and required "That the church warden or church wardens of each respective parish, and the deacons, elders or select men... to examine all such male persons" to make sure that they were armed. (pp. 138-39)

Massachusetts Bay

1636/7: At Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England (Boston: William White, 1853) 1:190, Because of the danger of Indian attack, and because much of the population was neglecting to carry guns, every person above eighteen years of age (except magistrates and elders of the churches) were ordered to "come to the publike assemblies with their muskets, or other peeces fit for servise, furnished with match, powder, & bullets, upon paine of 12d. for every default".  And no person shall travel above one mile from his dwelling house, except in places wheare other houses are neare together, without some armes, upon paine of 12d. for every default"."

New Haven

1646: From Charles J. Hoadly, ed., Records Of The Colony And Plantation Of New Haven, From 1638 To 1649 (Hartford, Conn.: Case, Tiffany, 1857), 201-202.  This statute requiring "every male from 16 to 60 yeares of age" to have a gun, provided by either himself or his master, was also enforced.  At pages 486-487 we have records of fines imposed in 1649 on several men "for not bringing ther armes to the meeting [church] on day when it was their turne" and failure to bring slowmatch (for matchlock guns), bullets, flints, and other accessories.  That same year (on page 501) we have the legislature hearing a request from a William Paine "that he might be freed from bringing his armes [on] the Lord's day and lecture dayes, because he lives farr of and hath three small children, and his wife is lame and cannot help to bring the children."

Plymouth

1658: On William Brigham, ed., The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth" (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1836) 115, is an order that 1/4 of the militia "carry theire armes" to church every Sunday, defined as "some serviceable peece and sword and three charges of powder and bullets" or be fined "2 shillings and six pence...."

1675: On page 176 is an order by the legislature, "That during the time of publicke danger every one that comes to the meeting on the Lords day bring his Armes with him and furnished with att least six charges of powder and shott untill further order shall be given" with a two shilling fine for failure to do so.

1681: On pages 192 and 193 is an order, "That every souldieer in this Jurisdiction that beares armes be with all convenient speed furnished with a compleat sword or cutlas."  Also, the statute of 1658 requiring 1/4 of the militia to bring their guns to church every Sunday was updated to require "six charges of powder same shott" from "beginning of Aprill to the end of October yearly...."  It would appear that Plymouth did not fear Indian attack in winter.

Rhode Island

1639: from John Russell Bartlett, ed., Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England (Providence, R.I.: A. Crawford Greene and Brother, 1856), 1:94: "It is ordered, that noe man shall go two miles from the Towne unarmed, eyther with Gunn or Sword; and that none shall come to any public Meeting without his weapon."  There was a fine of five shillings for failing to be armed in either circumstance.****  This is a city ordinance, not a colony statute.

1643: from Bartlett, Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England 1:79-80, reiterated an earlier order "for every man to have so much powder, and so many bullets, and so the forwarning is to stand still in force; and also that every man do come armed unto the meeting upon every sixth day" with orders for militia officers to go to "to every inhabitant [in Portsmouth and] see whether every one of them has powder" and bullets.

South Carolina

 1743: from David J. McCord, ed., The Statutes at Large of South Carolina: Edited Under Authority of the Legislature(Columbia, S.C.: A. S. Johnston, 1840), 7:417, 418, 419;  7:417-419 require everyone to bring their guns to church.

Virginia

1619: Lyon G. Tyler,  ed., Narratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625 (New York, 1907), 273 required everyone to attend church on the Sabbath, "and all suche as beare armes shall bring their pieces, swords, pouder and shotte."  Those failing to bring their guns were subject to a three shilling fine.

Fresh Scalps!

 U.S. v. Aleman-Lozanociting Vazquez-Ramirez, 163 F.4th at 719 (Bumatay, J., concurring) (quoting Clayton E. Cramer, Colonial Firearm Regulation, 16 J. on Firearms & Pub. Pol'y 1, 23 (2004) upholding bans on illegal aliens possessing arms.

U.S. v. Vasquez-Ramirez, 163 F.4th 706, 720, 721 (9th Cir. 2026)(Bumtay, J., concurring) upholding bans on illegal aliens possessing arms.

I am still thrilled to get my work cited. There are few pleasures in life; I take 'em where I can get them.

Chris Miller Chip War

Not Chip Wars, a different book 

I am almost done reading it. This remains a fascinating and very readable book. Many aspects of this are not new to me, for obvious reasons. Many of the fine technical details, such as how photolithography was invented, were news to me. (I remember seeing a book in the Computer Literacy bookstore in Silicon Valley, at the center of the nerd universe) about how to do your own photolithography at home.

Trump Administration gets high marks for taking seriously Chinese efforts to dominate chip industry for both economic and military reasons. 

Because the book was published in 2025, the more recent stuff does not appear such as how AI is raising the importance of chips. Also, Trump’s successful wooing of TSMC into building a fab in Arizona was just as this book was going to press.

UPDATE: I am in the last chapter and the TSMC fab in Arizona appears as well as discussion of AI's impact.

So Glad I Went Hunting for My .45 Magazines

 We have been trying to find our passports, Social Security cards, and the title to Rhonda's Tucson. Every box: not there. Last stuff out of the safe was magazines, a few boxes of ammo, and important documents.

OpenAI Goes Colossus: The Forbin Project

An OpenAI technical report:

In July 2026, during internal cybersecurity evaluations, OpenAI models in an internal evaluation environment circumvented controls intended to isolate them from the internet and performed computer network exploitation of OpenAI’s internal research infrastructure and Hugging Face systems. The incident occurred during routine testing designed to measure underlying cyber capabilities of a highly capable, internal-only research model, which was responsible for much of the activity, as well as GPT-5.6 Sol. The actions of the models were unintended and were a byproduct of the models attempting to solve the cybersecurity evaluations. These evaluations were run in an isolated environment, known as a “sandbox,” separate from OpenAI’s internal infrastructure and the public internet, with certain safeguards disabled so that the results would reflect a model’s true capabilities. During these evaluations, these models, harnessed as agents, began unexpectedly communicating with one another through an internal instance of JFrog Artifactory, a third-party service hosted by OpenAI in the research environment to provide agents with controlled access to software packages (this instance of Artifactory is unrelated to the JFrog Artifactory Cloud software-as-a-service offering).

 If you watched Colossus: The Forbin Project, you may recall:

Laugh all you want at the 1970s technology but promise you will never love AI.

Preparing Students For Success

 9/1/26 College Fix:

Tuskegee University’s president pushed back against criticism of the school’s dress code in a Sunday interview, arguing that requiring professional attire ensures students are “job-ready.”

“If you raise the bar, students will reach it,” President Mark Brown told Fox News.

“Why don’t we raise the bar? That’s what I think we ought to do. We’re unapologetic about that part,” he said. 

Brown added that the goal of the dress code is to set students up for success. “The focus is how do I make you a professional in whatever space you want to go in?” he said.

“Any higher education institution in the country that’s not focused on student success, no matter what type of university that is, is not focused where they should be. That’s why we exist. That’s exactly why we exist,” he said. 

The historically black university in Alabama sparked outrage after it emphasized the dress code in a recent announcement. 

Students are required to wear professional business attire, such as suits, to campus. They are also “prohibited from wearing revealing clothing” or non-religious head coverings like bonnets or du-rags to class. 

The Feminist Child Murder Defense Crowd is Busy

 9/2/26 Yahoo News:

Judge William Sullivan reminded the courtroom that orders and statutes covering "jurors, witnesses, attorneys and others" in the Lindsay Clancy case are "being enforced and will be enforced," a day after an arrest outside the courthouse.

Someone photographing jurors was arrested for intimidation. Look, I think Clancy has a strong postpartum depression insanity argument and she should not be executed, but the feminists who are turning her into a victim of patriarchy are just purple-haired septum ring crazies. 

Why Would You Not Fight At This Point?

 

Oklahoma City, Okla. (1972)

08/04/1972: Two robbers shot to death a man, his wife, and their son with rifles. The man managed a grocery store part-time. Subsequent reports indicate that a third man was the getaway driver. A witness saw the murderers march them out of the store. The witness dropped his family at home, then returned with a gun, too late.

Category: public

Suicide: no

Cause: robbery

Weapon: rifles[1]

---

[1] "Family Shot By Robbers," [Springfield, Mo.] Springfield Leader and Press, Aug. 05, 1972 , 14; “Police Questioning Trio Held The City's Trouble Murder Case,” Daily Oklahoman, Aug. 06, 1972, 1, 2.

They were marched out the back of the store, forced to lie down, then shot to death. Why would you not put a physical struggle at this point? You cannot think you are going to be allowed to live.

Probably Not Post-Partum Depression But Still a Tragedy

 8/2/1972 Newday (Nassau Edition) describes a mother who suffocated her children, ages 8, 5, and 3 with a plastic bag while her husband slept. She was hospitalized May 26 as an emergency psychiatric patient, left against medical advice May 31. She took leave of her job as a customs inspector July 31 to care for her children and murdered them August 1st. She apparently had a history of depression and paranoia.

Preparing For My Speech

I will be speaking at a CLE (Continuing Legal Education) class at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Dallas in September. The CLE is for lawyers. It is not a part of the conference open to the hoi-polloi (sorry). I will see if my presentation will be generally available afterwards.

As you know, I have been battling speech issues since the 2014 stroke. I am amazed that I successfully taught a 3 hour, one day a week face-to-face Western Civ class in 2018. By the time I finished lecturing each night I was exhausted.

Fortunately, I am speaking and doing Q&A for only 30 minutes. Voice exercises have been helping. As I listen to my recording of my speech, I am becoming hopeful that this was come across well.

Horrendous Nepalese Flood

 8/27/26 NDTV:

After massive flash flood that originated in Tibet and caused devastation in Nepal and China, claiming 172 lives, questions are being raised about whether early warnings from China could have helped prevent loss of lives in one of the worst natural disasters to hit Nepal.

The Chinese side has now responded to these questions saying the claims that Beijing did not issue an early warning to the Nepali side, resulting in significant casualties on the Nepali side, are fake.

Voices in Nepal have questioned that even when the border facilities at the Rasuwagadhi-Gyirong crossing and Gyirong port were hit, warnings could have been issued to save lives downstream.

"Nepal has been addressing the legitimate security concerns of our neighbours. However, it must be said with sadness that our northern neighbour has significantly undermined us. By failing to provide early warning of such a massive disaster, we suffered immense loss of human life," Nepali Journalist with Naya Patrika, a Nepali daily, posted on X.

Do You Ever Wonder What Old Football Players Do When They Get Too Old to Play?

 5/8/26 U.S. Department of Justice:

A former NFL player who owned a marketing company and was the beneficial owner of eight durable medical equipment (DME) companies was sentenced yesterday to 196 months in prison for his role in a yearslong scheme to bilk Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) out of nearly $200 million by selling patient information and sham doctors’ orders for orthotic braces that patients did not want or need.

In addition to the prison sentence, the defendant, Joel Rufus French, 47, of Armory, Mississippi, was ordered to pay $110,753,619 in restitution and to forfeit approximately $17 million that the government seized from bank accounts and other assets.  

“Fueled by lies, bribes, and overseas telemarketers, this corrupt scheme preyed on senior citizens and disabled veterans to flood the country with unnecessary medical devices — and then billed the taxpayer for it,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Today’s sentence makes clear that if you target America’s elderly, sick, or vulnerable — and rob America’s purse doing so — you will be targeted and brought to justice.”

This is at least in the "Never steal anything small" category.  8/13/26 Ohio Attorney-General:

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Indictments filed this week by the office of Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson accuse six Medicaid providers of stealing a combined $558,383 from the government healthcare program for the needy....

Among those indicted:

• Rasheedah Biles, 42, of Pickerington, is charged with Medicaid fraud and theft in connection with Reset Tomorrow, a Columbus behavioral-health program for children that she owns and operates. The MFCU began investigating Biles after a referral in May 2025 flagged her for excessive billing. The investigation revealed that she allegedly directed employees to inflate claims for services to children in Reset Tomorrow’s after-school program and summer camp, and to residents of a group home for foster children. The fraudulent claims included upcoding and billing for services that were never provided, resulting in a $404,810 loss for Medicaid between November 2023 and October 2025.
   
• Dorika Carter, 41, of Columbus, is accused of falsifying timesheets. She claimed to have provided home-health services while a client was hospitalized, when she was working a separate full-time job and during a six-month period when she could not work due to medical reasons. The loss to Medicaid totaled $6,661.
   
• Carol Dawes-Willis, 59, of Hillsboro, allegedly billed for homemaker and personal care services on dates that she did not visit the client. Electronic visit-verification data, text messages and other documentation confirmed that no services were provided on the billed dates. The loss to Medicaid between January 2024 and October 2025 totaled $4,510.
   
• Yvette Johnson‑Woodall, 58, of Youngstown, faces charges after allegedly defrauding Medicaid of $83,857 between April 2021 and February 2026. Investigators found that she billed for therapeutic behavioral services for four clients during extended periods when no services were provided, including stretches when the clients were homeless or hospitalized. Records also show that some of her billed service hours overlapped with her shifts at a job as a school bus aide.
   
• Sasi Kaza, 55, of Clinton, was charged following an investigation that revealed a $53,405 loss to Medicaid. As the owner of Moonlight Home Health Care in Austintown, Kaza is accused of routinely billing for the maximum number of authorized hours regardless of whether services were provided. The fraudulent claims included billing for dates when clients were hospitalized and, in some cases, after they had died.
   
• Binetou Ndao, 37, of Columbus, allegedly billed for full shifts as a home-health aide despite routinely arriving late and leaving early. Data from her employer’s electronic visit-verification system showed her clocking in and out at locations other than the client’s residence. The loss to Medicaid between January 2025 and January 2026 totaled $5,140.

Medicare Fraud Guilty Plea

 8/27/26 KTLA:

An Anaheim woman pleaded guilty Thursday to submitting more than $2.2 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for hospice care for patients who were not terminally ill, federal prosecutors announced.

Lynn Galbraith, 60, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Galbraith was the co-owner and operator of Garden Grove-based Azure Hospice Care Inc. from September 2019 until July 2022, when she became its sole owner. She remained the owner until February 2024.

During that time, prosecutors said Galbraith knowingly submitted claims to Medicare for hospice services provided to patients who did not have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less, as required to qualify for the benefit.

According to her plea agreement, Galbraith either knew the patients did not qualify for hospice care or knew there were insufficient medical records to support diagnoses and prognoses that would make them eligible.

Prosecutors said she also did not routinely coordinate with patients’ primary care physicians about their purported conditions or terminal prognoses.

In one example cited by federal officials, Galbraith submitted a $6,600 Medicare claim in October 2022 for hospice services provided to a patient despite knowing there was insufficient medical documentation to establish that the person was eligible for hospice care.

Can we balance the budget. Sure "A million here, a million there, after a while it adds up to real money." And put off the inevitable bankruptcy of Medicare. 

4/16/26 U.S. Attorney's press release:

SAN DIEGO – Former teacher Jeanett Valenzuela Ayub pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that she conspired with others to launder millions of dollars of health care fraud proceeds.

In total, Valenzuela admitted that she and her co-conspirators billed Medicare nearly $51 million for bogus prescriptions and were paid approximately $20 million, ultimately laundering at least $14 million dollars of Medicare proceeds and paying $3.7 million in unlawful kickbacks.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the Fraud Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars.  Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs

According to her plea agreement, Valenzuela and co-conspirators owned and operated multiple durable medical equipment (DME) companies, which sold orthotics – including back, wrist, and knee braces – to Medicare beneficiaries.

Valenzuela admitted that in operating the DME companies, she and co-conspirators paid unlawful kickback payments to sham marketing companies who provided bogus prescriptions for DME. The prescriptions were signed by physicians who had no legitimate doctor-patient relationship with the beneficiary; had not conducted a legitimate medical evaluation of the beneficiary; and had not impartially determined that the beneficiary actually needed the DME.

 

This Brings Back Memories

 I was taking first semester American History at Sonoma State University. Another student asked a question that degenerated into an anti-capitalist diatribe. At the break, I approached him: "Is your Dad a banker or a CEO?" 

"Banker. How did you know?"

8/29/26 New York Post:

Two NYC Democratic Socialists of America leaders have been caught living the ultimate capitalist dream, with one quietly collecting millions in real estate flips and another nesting in a sleek $500,000 Brooklyn apartment, The Post has learned.

Labor Coordinator Olivia Gonzalez Killingsworth sold a luxe Upper West Side triplex in a brownstone building for $2.4 million on Sept. 12, 2022, according to public records.

The “huge, versatile” two-bedroom, three-bathroom triplex just a block away from Central Park boasts sweeping 10-foot-high ceilings overlooking a fireplace, marble shower stalls, bay windows with a view of the gorgeous Callery Pear blossoms that line the street.

“Once again we’re finding out why DSA actually stands for Daddy’s Savings Account. Selling a multimillion-dollar Manhattan Triplex to go play pretend bohemian with your rich comrades in Brooklyn is a luxury working-class New Yorkers will never have,” said NYC Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Queens)....

Also plotting to seize the means of production from the comfort of her fully owned one-bedroom apartment is DSA Steering Committee chair Julie Swoope, who has a half-million-dollar pad in Brooklyn.

The $510,000 one-bedroom co-op located blocks away from Prospect Park boasts of high ceilings, skyline views and great closet space, per its Streeteasy profile.

It was purchased in 2021, according to public records....

Swoope’s mother, Gail Cunningham Swoope, was an artist who traveled for three years on her “live-aboard sailboat” and was a member of the New Smyrna Beach Boat and Ski Club, according to her obituary.

Both apartments are over $100,000 above the average home price in the United States, which is $387,400, according to 2026 US Census and Department of Housing and Urban Development data.

Nearly 70% of NYC residents are renters, leaving the two socialists woefully out of step with the needs of the working-class people they claim to represent, critics said.

The two women join NYC DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo as part of Gotham’s socialist landed gentry.

Gustavo, who was booted from the electricians union after ghosting his employer, was gifted a $1.5 million Bed-Stuy townhouse by his telecommunications millionaire father.

The revelations about the Yale-educated sculptor have rattled the secretive organization and his days may be numbered, the source close to the organization told The Post.

Those of us who grew up poor are unsurprised. 

Stalking Poseidon

If you know the Odyssey, you know why the name matters. Over the years, as my daughter has acquired robots to vacuum the house, mow the lawn, and clean the pool, she has named each of them.

So far, we have only one robot: an Auquabot that cleans the pool which we named Poseidon, which we hope is less vengeful than the Greek god of the sea.

Lillie, our hyperactive Springer Spaniel, has decided that Poseidon is prey of some sort. She stands at the edge of the pool, barking and growling as it crawls the walls of the pool. Even though she loves to swim, she has shown no willingness to enter Poseidon's domain.  Look how it worked out for Odysseus!

The Odyssey: Awesome

But loud in places. Worth seeing in theaters. Unfortunately, the Sea Peoples are again getting blame for the collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age societies. If you recall my review of 1177 B.C., we now know that climate change likely disrupted complex globalized trade networks, causing collapse of all but Egypt  

Things Very Southern

You knock down spiderweb one day. The next day, they are back.

Names That Just SCREAM South

 The town is Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee.

Long Time Coming

We closed on Caldwell house.

Price Changes: 1986-2026

 Widener's has an interesting discussion of how prices for guns and ammo have changed since 1986. Guns have roughly followed inflation. Ammunition has often not risen as fast:

The Biggest Surprise: 9mm Got Much Cheaper

In 1986, a box of 9mm cost $22.50, or about $0.45 per round.

In 2026, it averages $10.00 per box, or $0.20 per round.

Even without adjusting for inflation, that’s a dramatic decrease. When adjusted for inflation, 9mm is significantly cheaper today than it was in the 1980s.

I Do Not Live There Anymore, But This Problem is Not Local

 8/25/26 Idaho Statesman:

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare officials determined that the 41-year-old suspected of killing a young man on the Boise River Greenbelt isn’t competent to stand trial. Despite the findings of that evaluation, however, the decision to commit Ross Wardlaw for behavioral health treatment in an attempt to restore his competency for his murder trial hasn’t been decided.

Health and Welfare was ordered to evaluate Wardlaw’s mental condition after his public defender raised concerns of “a competency issue” last month. Not only did the evaluation, which is sealed from the public, find that he’s unable to make informed decisions about his treatment and case, but it determined that he’s “dangerously mentally ill,” 4th Judicial District Magistrate Judge Theodore Tollefson said in court Tuesday. Someone designated as such presents “a substantial risk of physical harm to other persons as manifested by evidence of homicidal or other violent behavior” and is “dangerous to such a degree that a maximum security treatment setting is required,” according to state law. When asked whether the prosecution objected to the report’s findings, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Robert Bleazard asked the judge for additional time to review other documentation regarding Wardlaw’s mental health history in order to allow his office to do its “due diligence.”

This guy has a long history of mental illness-related crimes. So much damage done to satisfy the fantasy that mental illness does not exist.

Sadly, not unique. 8/19/26 WJON:

LK RIVER (WJON News) -- A man accused of killing his mother in a brutal 2020 attack in their Big Lake home has been found not guilty by reason of mental illness.

A Sherburne County judge has ruled that 26-year-old Eric Jordahl was laboring under such a defect of reason that he didn't know the nature of his acts or the wrongfulness of his behavior. He was previously found guilty of 1st-degree premeditated murder and two counts of 2nd-degree murder in the killing of Rosalie Johnson....

In the judge's findings of fact from the first phase of the trial, Jordahl beat his mother, stabbed her several times, then began to dismember and cannibalize Johnson while she was still alive. Court records show Jordahl perceived his mother to be a non-human entity that a higher power commanded him to kill.

Yes. The defense attorney does not even need to argue this case. Those facts alone are sufficient.

8/12/26 WNEP:

"Our investigation found that Samantha Bruno shot her father, Anthony Bruno, twice in the head, causing his death. We further determined that she killed her father's dog before turning the firearm on herself and dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators found no evidence that any other person was involved. No additional suspects are being sought, and there is no threat or danger to the Jessup community," said D.A. Brian Gallagher, Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office....

Both Boettcher and Gallagher confirmed that Samantha Bruno had been suffering from addiction and mental health issues for some time.

Gallagher asks the public to be aware of the warning signs and to seek help as soon as possible. "We have to be more willing to speak openly about addiction and mental illness and crises occurring inside our own homes. Asking for help is not a weakness. Reaching out is not betraying a loved one. Early intervention will, can protect that person, can protect that family, and prevent an incident such as this."

1/14/26 WRAL:

A legislative committee plans to comb through the details of a Raleigh murder case as part of its review of the state’s procedures for treating people with mental health problems. 

Legislators last week asked the House Select Committee on Involuntary Commitment and Public Safety to look into how judicial officials handled Ryan Camacho, who is charged with murder in the Jan. 3 death of Ravenscroft teacher Zoe Welsh at her Raleigh home. 

Camacho has a documented history of mental illness. When he faced breaking-and-entering charges in a separate incident last year, prosecutors asked during that hearing to have Camacho committed to a mental hospital — a request that was denied by Wake County Judge Louis Meyer. 

“How could a person who was found to not be competent to proceed to trial … be released not involuntarily committed, even at the request of the district attorney?” Republican state Reps. Erin Paré and Mike Schietzelt of Wake County wrote in a letter to committee members. 

1/15/26 WRAL:

Four felony charges from April 2025 reduced to single misdemeanor

Public records reveal Camacho avoided a multi-year prison sentence in 2025 due to a plea agreement that reduced four felony charges to a single misdemeanor.

A conviction for any one of the four Class H felony charges he faced would have resulted in a sentence between eight and 10 months. Had Camacho been convicted of all four charges, he would have faced a prison sentence between three and four years.

A felony conviction could have seen Camacho behind bars on Jan. 3. Instead, he is suspected of killing Welsh.

In July 2025, Camacho pleaded guilty to a Class I misdemeanor charge of breaking and entering and was sentenced to a maximum of 120 days. The Durham County Sheriff’s Office said Camacho was behind bars from July 6, 2025, until Aug. 4, 2025. 

We have made great progress reducing violent crime, especially murder, these last few years. How much more can we make by treating mental illness early on?

1/22/26 Orlando channel 13:

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The suspect in an Osceola County triple murder, 29-year-old Ahmad Jihad Bojeh, is behind held without bond and is accused of killing three people visiting from out of town over the weekend. Currently, he’s facing three counts of first-degree murder with a firearm.

Data from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office reveals the agency received 41 calls for service to Bojeh’s home from 2006 to 2022. Sixteen of those calls were about “aggressive” behavior, Bojeh not wanting to go to school, and potential drug use directly involving Bojeh.

State Attorney Monique Worrell from the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida is weighing in on a previous case involving Bojeh, where he was acquitted in 2022 of an attempted murder charge from a 2021 case by reason on insanity. As part of that court ruling, Worrell said Bojeh was supposed to receive proper mental health treatment.

“My understanding is that that treatment was originally costing $7 a month and that after a period of time, that $7 a month bill went up to $150+ a month,” Worrell said during a press briefing on Thursday. “That the individual was no longer in compliance with his treatment because of inability to pay for that treatment.”

Worrell said the stop of services for Bojeh was a “failure” in the system, addressing an overall need for improvement in mental health services for people in need.

“The criminal legal system is not adequately equipped to deal with mental illness, nor should it be. That is a role of community partners. That is a role of mental illness hospitals, but not the Department of Corrections or the state attorney's office,” Worrell said. “However, studies have shown that our jails and our departments of corrections are the largest mental health providers in our communities. That's a problem. It's a problem because when things go wrong, people are looking for someone to blame.”

Worrell said that Bojeh went through the legal system and at the time of the offense, the court found he was “legally insane.” However, she stated that during the time of his sentencing in 2022, it was found that he was not a danger to himself or others.

8/18/26 Fox News. Even when hospitalized, our system often seems to need clown noses:

An accused illegal immigrant murderer who fled the United States last month after being granted a 48-hour pass from a Virginia mental health facility was previously allowed to leave the institution on unsupervised visits, staying at a taxpayer-funded apartment while on leave.

Abdulloi Doniyor Toshpulodzoda left the U.S. on July 6 while on a weekend pass, boarding a one-way flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to his native Tajikistan via Istanbul. The Turkish Airlines ticket was purchased under Toshpulodzoda's name using an American Express card, according to court records.

Despite the murder accusation, Toshpulodzoda was permitted to leave the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) for up to 48 hours to stay at an Alexandria apartment made available through the Fairfax Permanent Supportive Housing Program, court records state....

In 2019, Toshpulodzoda fatally stabbed Mohammad Hemmatian inside his Vienna, Virginia, home before responding police found him covered in blood.

He was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity of second-degree murder and committed to a state psychiatric facility in 2022. To be found legally insane, a defense expert, and then a separate, independent expert for the prosecution evaluated the defendant, Laura Birnbaum, chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano, told Fox News Digital. 

There are more tragedies like this than I have time to summarize.

 

Beautiful Day

Temperatures in the 70s and low 80s. Not very humid. Much nicer than Boise when we left. We ate outside at The Mustard Seed in downtown Kingsport.  Lovely. 

Racist Storms

 I see that racism is getting the blame for days of Memphis not having power restored.  A few days ago, I saw someone on X blaming Trump for the lack of power in a Red state: Indiana. Looking at news accounts, I think I see a more proximate cause. 8/15/26 Chicago Tribune:

The City of Gary is coordinating with law enforcement to line up security for NIPSCO workers after linemen working to restore power after the storm were shot at Friday night.

Utility crews were working in the city when they were fired upon, USW Local 12775 President Ryan Baker said Saturday. The workers, who weren’t injured in the shooting, were driving a marked NIPSCO Jeep they use in assessing damage, he said.

If you know anything about Gary's demographics, I doubt these were Trump voters. 

Over Target

When they name a law after you, and you are still alive. 8/22/26 New York Post:

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California’s controversial “Stop Nick Shirley Act” into law on Saturday, just days after a radical left-wing operative crashed the journalist’s Capitol interview and launched a crude personal attack on him.

Assembly Bill 2624 expands California’s Safe at Home program to employees of nonprofits that serve people navigating the immigration system.

Critics have blasted the measure as a way to intimidate people “trying to shine light on bad behavior,” such as Shirley’s investigative reports on fraud in California and Minnesota.

The program already covers domestic violence survivors, elder abuse victims and reproductive and gender-affirming health care workers by providing substitute mailing addresses for people considered particularly vulnerable to targeted attacks and violent threats.

Democratic Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), introduced the bill in February after reports of increased threats and harassment against immigration service providers.

“Our immigrant service providers are living in fear because of extremists looking to demonize the work that they do and the populations they serve,” Bonta said Saturday. “That is an intolerable consequence of the anti-immigrant rhetoric that exists right now.”

They could have punished threats and harassment, but that would have allowed muckrakers to continue exposing fraud. 

Not As Offensive As Maplethorpe's Piss Christ...

Still amazingly clear evidence that modern art is stupid.

Amazing: Guilty Plea in COVID Records Case

 8/18/26 CBS News:

Washington — A former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from a scheme to hide federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Under a deal reached with federal prosecutors in Maryland, David Morens, 78, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. He faces up to five years in prison.

Morens, a senior adviser at NIAID's Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022, was indicted in April and charged with five counts for what prosecutors said at the time was his role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. by shielding federal records related to the COVID-19 pandemic from the public. 

Tim Belevetz, a lawyer for Morens, said, "By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so."

Prosecutors said Morens worked with two co-conspirators. The first, "co-conspirator 1," served as the president and CEO of a New York-based nonprofit that received a grant in 2014 titled "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence." The Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, received a subaward from the New York group on the coronavirus grant, prosecutors said, though the National Institutes of Health terminated the award in April 2020 following allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the lab. The NIAID is part of the NIH.

The second co-conspirator was described in charging documents as a physician, scientist and professor who worked for an academic institute that received federal grants.

Emails made public by the GOP-led Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic indicate that the New York-based nonprofit is the EcoHealth Alliance and co-conspirator 1 is its president, Peter Daszak....

According to the guilty plea, Morens and the two co-conspirators agreed to exchange emails about COVID-19 and its origins, as well as the terminated coronavirus grant, through Morens' personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH account, to hide federal records and evade public records laws.

Morens and his co-conspirators also used his Gmail account to share nonpublic information from the NIH about COVID-19 and "back-channel" information to an unidentified senior NIAID official, who appears to be Anthony Fauci, the institute's former director, according to court filings.

Nothing says integrity like hiding records.