Ungodly Doings In Godley

August 24th, 2026

In a small city of some 5,000, you would expect there to be some overlap between the city council and other institutions in town, like the volunteer fire department, the PTA, or the Kiwanis Club. One thing you wouldn’t expect city council overlap with: a prostitution ring.

In recent years, the City of Godley has been wrapped up in a series of high-profile scandals. An ongoing lawsuit accuses multiple city officials of conspiring to arrest a city council member to block an important vote.

Godley is a small city on the western end of Johnson County, which is just south of Tarrant County (Fort Worth). It looks like there’s a tiny sliver of farmland left between them and the Metroplex sprawl, but it’s coming fast. (Johnson County is not to be confused with Johnson City in Blanco County, considerably further south and the birthplace Lyndon Baines Johnson.)

Many of the same actors were later arrested for their involvement in a prostitution ring.

I think Texas Scorecard’s Travis Morgan has buried the “juicy headline potential” lead a bit here.

In October 2022, Godley Police Chief Jason Jordan resigned after Officer Solomon Omotoya accused him of racial discrimination.

Before resigning, Jordan passed a folder around at a city council meeting with information supporting his belief that city officials—including his own officers—were violating state and federal law by targeting residents and city council members for the content of their speech.

After accepting his resignation, three city council members—Jennifer Thompson, Michael Papenfuss, and Roger Cornelison—reviewed Jordan’s folder and changed their minds. They sought to have him reinstated, which would displace then-Mayor Acy McGehee’s replacement candidate—Matthew Cantrell.

So far, so murky. I’m guessing this folder had some juicy but possibly non-actionable details.

This reportedly led to a heated political feud, with the three city council members effectively becoming the “opposition party” to McGehee and city employees. The feud led to a flurry of allegations in both directions, including complaints of corruption, sexual assault, false testimony, and more.

The Godley Police Department launched an investigation into Thompson and Papenfuss, alleging Thompson had tampered with a government record when adding items to a city council meeting agenda from a previous meeting that she believed should have been carried over.

She made the alterations on the document already signed by the city secretary, which Papenfuss later distributed on social media.

Officer Jeremy Arbuthnot took the case to the Johnson County District Attorney, who rebuked it.

According to Thompson, “Assistant District Attorney Ryan Eady immediately recognized the frivolity of the case and informed Arbuthnot that the facts and circumstances did not give rise to forgery in part because they negated intent to deceive … [H]e suggested that the pending [retaliation] complaints [by Thompson against the officers] created conflicts of interest that would taint any investigation and prosecution.”

Upon learning of this, Mayor McGehee and City Attorney Cass Callaway reportedly directed the department to find a way to “get it done.”

The department then sought to charge Thompson with a misdemeanor, meaning it would be prosecuted by the county attorney’s office rather than the district attorney’s office. In December 2023, officers submitted a probable cause affidavit to the county attorney.

Nothing more transpired until February 7, 2024, when there was a city council meeting at which Thompson planned to vote to remove former Interim Police Chief Cantrell and install a city attorney of her choosing.

That morning, the county attorney informed Arbuthnot that the warrant looked “good to go,” but then an officer erroneously entered it into the system as a felony warrant. Thompson alleges this was intended to require her to undergo a strip search upon booking.

A few minutes before the meeting began, Officer Spencer Templer arrested Thompson in the city hall parking lot—despite being ordered to conduct the arrest at her residence. Her absence left the council deadlocked in a 2-2 vote.

According to court records, “Mayor McGehee used his tiebreaking authority to secure his preferred appointees for City Attorney and City Secretary. Three days later, the County Attorney declined to prosecute.”

So far, so slimy, but let’s get to juicer (alleged) transgressions.

Many of the actors involved in the alleged collusion against Thompson were subsequently arrested for their involvement in a local prostitution ring.

Ashley Ketcherside sat on the Godley ISD Bond Oversight Advisory Committee and the School Health Advisory Council—which is responsible for advising the school board on the district’s sex education curriculum.

When parents notified the district of Ketcherside’s prior arrests for prostitution in Tarrant County, she was removed from her positions. She then started a podcast and an Only Fans. Parents then approached the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office with allegations that she was still selling sex.

In March, Johnson County sheriff’s deputies and the Texas Department of Public Safety reportedly raided Ketcherside’s home, seizing her electronics.

During the course of the investigation, Ashley’s husband, Michael Ketcherside, was accused of scheduling men to have sex with his wife for money.

Pimping out your own wife to cuckold you is particularly low. Enjoy your trip to the Eighth Circle of Dante’s Hell.

Cantrell and Omotoya were arrested, as evidence from Ketcherside’s phone reportedly showed their involvement in a prostitution conspiracy. They had both been recently released from jail for using the police department’s fuel card for personal vehicles.

Investigators reportedly found evidence of the Ketchersides working with Cantrell to compile information on adversaries—including “members of the Godley City Council, Godley Independent School Board, the former mayor of Godley, and former Chief of Police of the City of Godley.”

Arbuthnot was also accused of involvement.

Cantrell’s mother, Regina, was accused of misusing official information when looking for active arrest warrants on her son. She is a former Johnson County corrections officer.

On July 15, a series of indictments were handed down by a Johnson County Grand Jury.

Michael Ketcherside was indicted on charges of continuous promotion of prostitution. Both he and Ashley Ketcherside were indicted on charges of racketeering/money laundering between $150,000 and $300,000.

Matthew Cantrell was indicted on charges of sexual assault, stalking, promoting prostitution, and engaging in organized criminal activity. Regina Cantrell was indicted on charges of misuse of official information.

Omotoya was indicted on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and soliciting prostitution. Arbuthnot was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.

So the “prostitution ring” was Ashley Ketcherside, her husband, some other dude, and the former “cry racism” sheriff john? That sounds like an unsustainable pimp-to-ho ratio for a successful business. High administrative overhead means low profits.

But the New York Post suggests other women may be involved.

A Texas mom of three who pleaded her innocence when her hubby was arrested for allegedly running a prostitution ring frequented by local cops is now accused of coaching women to sell their bodies out of the couple’s home.

Snip.

She also rejected suggestions that she may be a prostitute herself, despite her two previous convictions.

When Omotoya was nabbed alongside Michael, he led investigators to former Godley Police Chief Matthew Cantrell, who revealed that Ashley charged $1,000 an hour for sex with her, according to court documents.

Those same rates were repeated in messages on Ashley’s seized burner phone, the publication reported.

Here’s one of the saucier photos the Post has of Ashley Ketcherside:

And here’s her booking photo:

That is not a $1,000 an hour mug.

Oh, the Ketcherside’s were also evidently involved in a feud with Kayla Lain, a Godley ISD board trustee.

Ashley Ketcherside launched a podcast, “Champagne and Pearls,” in which she said she was determined to expose the truth. She spoke candidly and displayed social media posts from a woman she said she intended to pursue in court, including comments about what girls would learn from her at school.

Lain was a frequent topic, as she was also active in a community Facebook chat group. Ashley Ketcherside later sued Lain and seven others for injury to her reputation, but the case was dismissed.

If you already have two convictions for prostitution, and are alleged to be a part of a prostitution ring, starting a podcast to attack your critics is not exactly a sound strategy for “laying low.”

Prostitution, government corruption: Those are some awfully big city sins for such a small city as Godley…

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Posted in Crime, Texas | 2 Comments »

Paramount Moving To Austin?

August 23rd, 2026

Paramount and Netflix continue to fight over control of Warner Brothers, with California’s state government continuing to oppose the Paramount bid, the sticking point reportedly being preserving liberal control of geriatric news network CNN. As a result, Paramount is threatening to move out of California over the state’s opposition to the merger and their generally business hostile environment. And one potential destination for Paramount’s new HQ is Austin.

Austin could soon be home to more film and television productions as a major Hollywood studio eyes Texas for a potential move.

Paramount is considering relocating some of its operations out of California as the company fights to close its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Austin has emerged as a possible destination.

The potential move is far from a done deal. But according to the New York Post, Paramount CEO David Ellison and his partners are in discussions about establishing a movie and television studio at the Bluebonnet Business Center at 9219 Old Manor Road in East Austin.

If Paramount follows through, the move could give Austin a new role as an operations base for one of the entertainment industry’s largest companies.

Austin already has a long history with filmmaking, from the independent movies that helped put the city on Hollywood’s radar to a growing network of production facilities. And if Paramount ultimately chooses the reported East Austin site, it would be joining a particularly film-heavy stretch of Old Manor Road.

Snip.

The nearly $111 billion deal has received approval from the U.S. Department of Justice and other regulators, but California and 11 other states have sued to block the merger, arguing that it would reduce competition in the entertainment industry.

And the Netflix bid wouldn’t? It would essentially mean the end of the movie theater business in America.

Paramount has agreed to delay closing the deal while the antitrust case proceeds. The trial is scheduled to begin March 2, 2027. But beginning Oct. 1, Paramount is expected to owe Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders $7 million per day in so-called “ticking fees” until the deal closes. Paramount has estimated that the fees could total roughly $1.3 billion if the case stretches into the spring.

According to Variety, Ellison has reportedly told senior executives that Paramount could begin the process of moving operations out of California on Oct. 1 if California Attorney General Rob Bonta does not agree to settlement negotiations by then.

The New York Post reported that Austin is among the possible destinations, with Paramount reportedly exploring the Bluebonnet Business Center. Paramount has not formally announced a move to Austin, and the company’s California exit remains contingent on the outcome of the antitrust dispute.

California Democrats seem to believe that private businesses should serve the needs of the Party, not the interests of shareholders. California’s high tax, high regulation environment has been sending businesses streaming toward the exits for decades, and now film-making, the industry that’s defined California’s image to the world for over a century, looks poised to exit “Hotel California” while they still have a chance to leave.

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Posted in Austin, Texas | 4 Comments »

VDH: America Dominates Tech

August 22nd, 2026

It’s easy for the uninformed to get black pilled about America’s comparative advantage in technology. “China’s AI efforts are eating our lunch!” Etc. Victor Davis Hanson is always good for a grounded take, and when it comes to technology, he says America is still far and away the country to beat.

  • “During this midterm summer and fall, don’t fall for the doom and gloom that we hear so often about America’s in decline, or we’re bogged down in Iran. In actuality, due to new deregulation, emphasis on energy production deregulation, pruning back the federal government and winning over the confidence of our tech sectors, the United States is waging a quiet technological revolution. And believe it or not, what people said 30 years ago, that we would be a second-class power, or just like all of the others, is not true. We are more preeminent in key technologies than we have ever been.”
  • “Take for instance tech companies. One way we measure their influence and power is their market capitalization. Of those tech companies in the United States that are worth over $1 billion, the number has grown to 850, and the aggregate value of them is $5.2 trillion. That means nationwide people are buying their products and investing in them. China that has four times our population* only has 380 companies. 380 companies and it has a market capitalization of only about 20%, $1.3 trillion. Think of that. All of a sudden, our tech companies are just outpacing the Chinese and the Europeans in a way nobody had imagined.”
  • “Look at the market capitalization alone of SpaceX, 1.8 trillion. It is larger than the market capitalization of all the Chinese tech companies combined, as well as the European companies. If you want to talk about satellites and space exploration last year, China put into space 400 satellites. That’s quite an achievement. SpaceX alone, that is not other competitors, just SpaceX alone launched 3500, almost nine times the amount of the entire Chinese space consortium.”
  • “If we look at rocket launches, the United States last year launched, depending how we calibrate the size of the rocket, about 190 launches. That was more than all the space rocket launches combined in the rest of the world. For example, China only 100 less. They only launched 93, Russia 17, Europe 8, India five. That is an incredible achievement what we have done. We’ve just sort of made a monopoly of sending rockets into space and satellites into the lower at the lower atmosphere of space.”
  • “One thing that everybody’s talking about is artificial intelligence. And so there’s a variety of ways to gauge the influence of a particular AI company. But rather than just market capitalization, there’s a lot of rankings by global traffic. What are people in South America, what are people in Africa, what are people in Asia doing when they want an AI consultation? Which platform do they go to? And it turns out that number one was ChatGPT in terms of traffic. Number two was Google Gemini. Number three was Claude Anthropic. Number four was Microsoft Copilot. Number five was Perplexity AI. And number six was Grok. Number seven was Midjourney. Stop. They’re all Americans.”
  • “And then we get the first number, eight was Dubio, that is Chinese, and Mistral, that I think is French, and the final tenth is Notion AI. What I’m getting at is of the 10 top AI platforms that people use every day, eight of them, the top seven, are all American.”
  • “Finally, another way of gauging American competitiveness, there’s a couple more, is software companies. And we can do that by market capitalization because they’re so different. The number one company in the world with $4.4 trillion in market capitalization is Apple.” My caveat in treating Apple as a “software” company is that their software exists to sell Apple hardware. “The number two is Alphabet-Google with 4.17 trillion. Number three, Microsoft $3.5 [trillion]. Number four, Meta, $1.4 trillion. Number five, Oracle, $422 billion. Number six, Palantir, $279 billion. Number seven, Palo Alto Networks, $118 billion. And we come to number eight, the first foreign company with $220 billion, just a fraction of what the top three companies market capitalization is, in SAP SE. Number nine, Salesforce. Number 10, Adobe. And what am I getting at? We have ten companies, and eight or nine of them are American, depending on how we gauge some of the foreign capital markets. In other words, for the most exciting and most influential and most determinative technology of the future, the United States has captured, in terms of influence and value, about 85 to 90% of them.”
  • “Finally, people are talking about genetic engineering. This has become a very relevant topic to myself, because after a health issue, I’ve discovered that, with genetic engineering, they can take a tumor out of your body, biopsy, chart your genetic mutations, give you a blood test every 90 days, and find one cell in your blood system that may have the cancer tumor, the same cancer tumor’s mutation, even though it will not show up on a scan for four or five months. But they will give you warning that you may have a recurrence of a malignancy.”
  • “The United States, there’s number one Natera, number two Illumina, number three Crystal [Genetics], number four Ionis Pharmaceuticals, number five Genomics. I could go on. There’s two that are not American and out of the top 10. So in genetic engineering, the same thing is true. 80 to 85% of the companies that are leading the field in what people wish to invest in are American.”
  • “As we finished the first quarter of the 21st century, if we had looked back at what people were saying in 2000, this was supposed to be a period of decline. The United States GDP has leaped forward at $31 trillion, $10 trillion more than the Chinese and more than the Europeans as well by $10 trillion. But in all the key emerging technologies that are going to determine our collective safety, security and prosperity that is satellites, space exploration, software engineering, genetic engineering, you name it, artificial intelligence.”
  • “The United States is not just leading but it is has a greater grasp control monopoly of these emerging technologies than the Chinese, the Europeans and the entire world put together.”

    • *It probably doesn’t.

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    Posted in Economics, Technology, video | 7 Comments »

    LinkSwarm For August 21, 2026

    August 21st, 2026

    Trump’s winning in Iran, Russia’s losing in Ukraine, Democrats committing fraud left and right, the data center debate rages on, a crappy movie in China gain sudden popularity because it’s crappy, and Orlando PD get to wrestle an alligator.

    It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!

  • National Review comes to the shocking conclusion that Trump’s Iran strategy might actually be working. 

    The “rhetoric” coming from both sides of the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz has “caused considerable confusion and doubt,” CNN’s David Goldman understatedly observed. Yet, at present, “The evidence is clear,” he conceded: “Iran is losing much of its control over the critical waterway.”

    One month ago, the number of commercial ships transiting through the strait via the U.S. approved route along the Omani coast was close to zero. Today, however, over 80 percent of the vessels that have made it through the strait are taking the U.S.-authorized lane. And even though the United States has not responded with kinetic force to every Iranian attack on commercial traffic in the strait, sometimes to the consternation of America’s Gulf partners, that has not dissuaded countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates’ tankers from making “dark traffic” runs on the strait.

    CNN could not independently verify Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s claim that “combined oil transits through the strait and rerouted around the waterway totaled around 15 million barrels per day,” which approaches the pre-war average of 20-million barrels. But it couldn’t gainsay the experts. As one industry analyst conceded, “It increasingly looks like Iran has at least partially lost control of the strait.”

    The Iranian regime is feeling the pain. As Hot Air’s Duane Patterson explained, the economic conditions on the ground inside the Islamic Republic are catastrophic. “Iran’s economy is currently experiencing around 90 percent inflation, and it turns out the worst may be yet to come,” he wrote. Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow Miad Maleki concurs. “Nearly every part of Iran’s oil economy,” he wrote, “owes massive, growing sums to each other, with no real money moving through the system to pay any of it back.”

    The gas lines are growing, and the petrol that Iranians are allowed to buy may soon be rationed. Iranian authorities are triaging their resources by prescheduling hours-long blackouts. The regime is ramping up executions and cracking down on dissent as the prospect of economic collapse brings with it the risk of renewed civil unrest.

  • “Socialists Now Say That Shoplifting Is A-OK.”

    Brooklyn Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher (D-50th District) wants New Yorkers to believe that walking out of a CVS with a fistful of stolen toothpaste isn’t a crime. It’s a “biological need.”

    Yes, really.

    Gallagher, who represents Greenpoint and other parts of northern Brooklyn, made her case Thursday at a news conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court, flanked by fellow far-left officials and activists from Court Watch NYC. The group said it monitored 360 arraignments over four days and found that more than half involved misdemeanor offenses. Gallagher used those numbers to argue shoplifters swiping basic necessities shouldn’t be prosecuted at all.

    “Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty-people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like, you know, soap,” Gallagher said. “And that means if you’re stealing those things, you need them.”

    Funny how all those films of riot never show people stealing soap and toothpaste, just flat screen TVs and Nikes. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.) 

  • “Minnesota Government’s ‘Outstanding Refugee’ Charged With Medicaid Fraud Connected To Sex-Trafficking Ring.”

    Salman Ahmed Elmi was charged last week with three counts of aiding and abetting by swindle and five counts of aiding and abetting by false representation.

    He made his first court appearance on Monday. Authorities say some of Elmi’s co-conspirators at Reva Health in Golden Valley have connections to a sex trafficking ring bust last week.

    Elmi is accused of billing Medicaid for more than $1 million in services that were not provided or not eligible. Reva Health provided autism services and adult rehabilitative mental health services.

    “The Minnesota Department of Human Services awarded Elmi an ‘Outstanding Refugee Award’ in 2021.” Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that “Outstanding Refugee” is an award for those that stole the most taxpayer money to give to Democrats?

  • “FBI Raids Eric Swalwell’s Home, Seizes Electronics in Connection with Sexual Assault Investigation.”

    FBI agents seized electronic devices from former Representative Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and then raided his home in connection with an investigation into sexual assault allegations against him, according to several reports.

    Federal authorities executed a search warrant at Swalwell’s home in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, law enforcement sources told CNN and the Associated Press.

    The FBI declined to comment.

    Swalwell resigned from Congress and suspended his campaign for California governor in April after a former staffer came forward with allegations that he had sexually assaulted her twice, including once at a hotel while he was in New York City for a charity gala in 2024.

    Three other women then accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct as well. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department opened criminal investigations into Swalwell in response.

    At the time, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg encouraged “survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to contact our Special Victims Division.”

    The reports that the FBI’s investigation into Swalwell is picking up steam comes days after the White House Transparency Task Force released FBI files indicating Swalwell previously admitted to having “physical relations” with suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang on a “handful of occasions,” providing confirmation of the public sphere’s longstanding suspicion that a sexual relationship had transpired.

    I’m hoping the investigation also sheds light on Swalwell receiving money from communist China.

  • Ukraine continues its war on Wildberries. “Best Wildberries Strike Yet! Koledino Near Moscow–Biggest Wildberries Hub in Russia.”
  • “Ukrainian forces hit at least five workshop buildings at Russia’s Kombinat Kamensky defense plant in Rostov region, penetrating several layers of air defenses from Pantsir to S-300 systems. The plant produces solid rocket fuel for Uragan, Smerch and Tornado-S MLRS, as well as other missile and aviation systems. Key workshops had anti-drone protection and were surrounded by earthworks. Several air-defense vehicles were also hit.”
  • “Drone Strike on Moscow Region: Atlant Warehouse Complex Hit.” Not technically a Wildberries warehouse.
  • “Big Flamingo Missile Strike on Russian Rocket Factory in Samara! Only Soyuz Rocket Factory.”
  • “Russian Convoy of Trucks Destroyed on Berdiansk-Mariupol Supply Road.”
  • Updated damage assessment from last week’s Novorossiysk strike. “Admiral Makarov & Admiral Essen Confirmed Out of Action in New Imagery!”
  • The Russian fuel situation has gotten so bad that even Russian newspapers are talking about it. “As of the 16th of August, across Russia, 28.1% of petrol stations had fuel. A week before, it was 41%.” Imagine more than two thirds of stations having no gas and long lines at the ones that do.
  • “Two federal agencies routed taxpayer dollars to terror-linked charities.”

    The State Department worked with World Vision to distribute $2 billion in global health foreign assistance even though an Israeli court convicted the nonprofit’s Gaza affiliate operations manager of sending up to $50 million to Hamas in 2022. Separately, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) provided nearly $80 million to 14 organizations linked to terrorism and extremism.

    The Middle East Forum (MEF) recently reported that 14 terror-linked and extremist organizations, led by CAIR, collected nearly $80 million from HHS through the Refugee Resettlement, Health, and Mosque Renovation grants. Through this fund, the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) California chapter received the most of any Islamist group, collecting $42.2 million in funding from the HHS to provide legal and social services to Afghan refugees.

  • Concerning: “Chinese Spy Official Who Is Also A Trained Sniper Buys Property Overlooking White House.”

  • “Liberal white woman fights fascism by defacing national memorial to soldiers who died fighting Hitler.” ‘This morning, we are filing two felony charges, Depredation Against Property of the United States and Destruction of Veterans’ Memorials, in Federal District Court against Melissa L. Farris, offenses that carry penalties of up to ten years in prison.” TDS strikes again.
  • How is this legal? “Karen Bass brags that Los Angeles will use tax dollars to provide a 6:1 match for every dollar donated to her campaign.”

    Karen Bass is very worried about losing her mayoralty to left-winger Nithya Raman, who squeaked past Spencer Pratt in the primary election due to a bunch of election shenanigans, and Bass has an interesting campaign strategy.

    Using city tax dollars to fund her campaign!…

    The city of Los Angeles “donates” money to Bass’s campaign in a matching program? If you give $10, the city chips in another $60? And she’s pushing this program?

    Through the foreign-donation-taking ActBlue, no less.

    Per the City Ethics Commission (I kid you not), the city charter allows for “public matching funds.”

    Left-wing group Common Cause California brags about “strengthening” this public match fund in 2019.

    The program is intended to help less-funded candidates get access to funding, but in actuality, all it does is take YOUR tax dollars to fund politicians you hate.

  • Background on the Frankfurt school, one of the intellectual fathers of the poison that is social justice.

    The Frankfurt School. You should know what it was, what it built, and why you are still living inside it.

    1. The Institute for Social Research was founded in Frankfurt in 1923 and relocated to Columbia University in 1934 when Hitler came to power. The civilization they had decided to dismantle gave them refuge when another tried to kill them. They spent the next five decades producing the theoretical infrastructure for that dismantling. Western civilization itself was the problem: reason, the Enlightenment, the family, tradition, authority. Not reformed. Dismantled.

    2. They called it Critical Theory – and the name is the program. Everything is to be criticized; nothing is to be built. In The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), Adorno and Horkheimer argued that Western reason — the reason that produced Newton and the rule of law — contained the seeds of Auschwitz. Not that reason had been misused, but that reason itself, taken to its conclusion, produces the death camp. This was not a critique of institutions. It was an indictment of the civilization itself.

    3. Adorno gave them the psychological weapon. The Authoritarian Personality (1950) classified conservatism, religious faith, patriotism, and the traditional family not as political positions but as symptoms of a proto-fascist personality. If you believe in the nation or the father’s authority, you are pre-fascist. The opponent was no longer wrong – he was sick. You don’t argue with a pathology. You treat it.

    This made dialogue impossible. You don’t persuade someone who is wrong; you diagnose someone who is sick. Politics becomes therapy, and disagreement becomes pathology.

    4. Marcuse gave them the political weapon. Repressive Tolerance (1965) argued that tolerating wrong ideas is itself oppression. True tolerance therefore requires suppressing intolerant ideas. The left decides which ideas are intolerant. Everyone else is silenced – not despite tolerance, but “in its name.” Censorship dressed in the vocabulary of liberation.

    5. The generation that read Marcuse at Columbia, Berkeley, and Yale went on to run universities, media, foundations, NGOs, content moderation departments, and the EU regulatory apparatus. They implemented the argument sincerely because they had been taught it as philosophy. This was the Frankfurt School’s greatest achievement: it produced true believers.

    6. French Theory picked up the tools and made them aesthetic. Foucault made the critique of power literary. Derrida made the critique of meaning philosophical. Deleuze made the critique of identity elegant. A political program became a cultural sensibility. You can argue with a program. A sensibility is in the air you breathe. By the time these ideas reached the American campus through the French conduit, they were no longer ideology. They were the water. The fish did not know they were wet.

    7. A civilization stands on three pillars: truth exists and is accessible to reason; good is distinguishable from evil; and there is an inheritance worth transmitting. The Frankfurt School attacked all three – systematically and with considerable intellectual sophistication. It produced a generation that knows how to deconstruct and has forgotten how to build. That sees power everywhere and beauty nowhere.

    The ultimate achievement was to make destruction feel like progress. Every inherited institution became suspect; every constraint became oppression; every act of preservation became reactionary. Deconstruction became the default, while construction became something that needed to justify itself.

    (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)

  • Kurt Schlichter: “The Death of Academic Fraud Jason Arday Won’t Shut Us Up.”

    Fake Professor Jason Arday was found dead in the wake of being exposed as a complete fraud, and if it were my choice, he would still be alive and suffering the humiliation that should be the result of his crimes. I would prefer that he did not likely choose to kill himself instead of facing the consequences of his actions. My preference is irrelevant. If he decided to do himself in, it’s crushing for his wife and kids, and that was a selfish, cruel, and stupid decision. But it was his decision, as was his decision to commit fraud upon fraud. I don’t celebrate his death, and his death changes nothing. We’re not going to stop rooting out the charlatans.

    Of course, the entirely predictable response of the institutional left to his cowardly and apparent self-deletion has been to insist, loudly and with quivering outrage, that his death is our fault. You see, we normal people pointed out that he lied about his background, his achievements, his credentials, and his work. The fact that we did what a functioning institution should’ve done itself outraged his boosters, so these moral illiterates now invert the moral calculus to keep the exposure of academic fraud from happening again. Arday lied pathologically and endlessly, enabled by a ridiculously solicitous academia, then likely killed himself when his lies were exposed. Obviously, the villains are the people who did not lie and did not choose to end his life.

    And you’ll never guess their key accusation in a million years.

    Okay, you guessed it: RACISM!

    Snip.

    Regardless, it was entirely predictable that the left would use his unfortunate demise to try to shut us up, to place all criticism of woke charlatans off limits because the subject of the critique might decide to do something desperate. They can’t help themselves but act out irrationally, you see. The fact that this tactic deprives the minority of any agency is no shock; there’s no racist like a leftist, who considers minorities to be nothing more than political marionettes unable to control their own actions. We’re supposed to give them a pass because the targets of our criticism have no agency. It’s like that NSFW scene in Blazing Saddles where the sheriff keeps the townspeople from lynching him by sticking a gun to his head—“He’s just crazy enough to do it!” Except this time the townspeople were not trying to lynch an innocent man and didn’t back off, and he did pull the figurative trigger.

    We’re not going to play their game. We’re not going to hold fire for fear of feelz. We’re not going to ignore the truth lest the liar lash out at himself or others. Sometimes the truth hurts, but the only people the truth hurts are people exposed doing something they shouldn’t be doing. The truth is more important than feelings. And the truth is more important than Arday’s life. If the choice we are presented with is that Jason Arday will go on living a lie and degrading our civilization by doing so, or that Jason Arday might hurt himself, it’s Option 2 every day of the week. We’re not going to be held hostage or intimidated or shamed into silence and, therefore, complicity.

    (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)

  • “Here’s a Look at the State of Firearms Access in Texas Tribal Territories.” The problem is tribal law enforcement seems to fall between state and federal stools.

    Texas has three federally recognized Native American tribes: Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, located in the western part of the state in El Paso; the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, located near Eagle Pass along the Rio Grande; and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, located in the eastern part of the state near Livingston.

    And two of those are along the Mexican border, which means drug smuggling is a big problem.

  • Bookseller Scott Brown has his own piece on destructive scanning of books for AI. I’m quoted in here, but Brown also points out that a lot more companies are doing such destructive scanning, including:
    • Anthropic
    • Meta
    • Amazon
    • He says Elon Musk has promised that SpaceX/xAI will not to do such destructive scanning, but expresses doubt.

    He also lists the company’s buying books for destructive scanning:

    • Zoom Books
    • Far Corner
    • Last Token
    • Innodata
  • “Here Are the Data Center Companies That Agreed to Comply With Gov. Greg Abbott’s Standards.”

    I’m going to quote a largish chunk here just so I can tag the various companies.

    In June, Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to require data centers to pay for their own electric infrastructure costs, scuttling at least one project planned for East Texas.

    Then, earlier this month, Abbott asked these agencies to audit all data center projects in the process of connecting to the Texas grid. According to his directive, data centers in the pipeline must provide and verify information about their water usage; their noise, light, and traffic mitigation efforts; how they plan to obtain electricity; whether they receive taxpayer money; and the real identities of their owners.

    A flurry of affirmative replies ensued, including assurances from some of the best-funded users and most prolific developers of data centers in the world.

    Many of these companies have already made use of a sales tax exemption for data center equipment — a 13-year-old state law passed before the remote work boom of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) this decade propelled the industry well past the state’s expectations.

    Here are the data center companies that have agreed to comply with Abbott’s standards, cross-referenced with the state’s list of companies that benefit from the tax break.

    QTS Data Centers

    On August 6, Virginia-based Quality Technology Services (QTS) “applauded” Abbott’s “efforts to increase transparency on power use, water and resource consumption, and community considerations associated with data center development.”

    QTS data centers built after 2019 use fans rather than water for cooling, according to the company.

    The company operates three facilities in Texas and has three more in the pipeline, according to its website. The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts certified one QTS facility, a 56-acre campus in Irving, to benefit from the state sales tax exemption.

    Vantage Data Centers

    Vantage Data Centers sent a letter of support to Abbott on August 7.

    The company, based in Denver, Colorado, only lists one active data center in Texas, at an undisclosed location in Shackelford County. However, it has secured a sales tax exemption for 12 projects listed by the comptroller, all for Oracle.

    Skybox

    Texas-based Skybox Datacenters agreed to Abbott’s standards on August 7.

    The company has built nine data centers around the state. Besides one in Wichita Falls, all are in the Dallas, Austin, and Houston metropolitan areas, according to its website. The comptroller’s list of qualifying data centers doesn’t include a project with Skybox in the name or one associated with its address at 3131 Turtle Creek Boulevard in Dallas, based on a search of the state’s franchise tax database.

    Digital Realty

    Digital Realty stated on August 7 that it would comply with Abbott’s standards. The Austin-based company claimed in its statement to be “the world’s largest cloud- and carrier-neutral data center platform.”

    Digital Realty operates more than 300 data centers that serve companies including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Nvidia and IBM. Twelve of its 14 Texas data centers are in the Dallas area, its website shows.

    Stream Data Centers

    Dallas-based Stream Data Centers agreed to Abbott’s standards on August 7.

    Altogether, nine Stream data centers are either active or in development across Texas, with one on the outskirts of Houston, three in San Antonio, one in Austin, and four in the Dallas area.

    Mara

    Mara agreed to abide by Abbott’s standards on August 7.

    The Florida-based company operates a Bitcoin mining fleet, and it “colocates data centers with power sources to convert stranded energy into digital capital,” its website states.

    The company name doesn’t appear on the comptroller’s list of qualifying data centers, nor do any subsidiary companies registered under the address of its Florida headquarters.

    Rowan

    Rowan Digital Infrastructure, another developer based in Denver, issued a press release in support of Abbott’s orders on August 7.

    The company owns and operates four data centers in Texas that benefit from the sales tax exemption, including one in Temple for Meta and another in Cinco for Google.

    Meta

    Meta, the California-based parent company of Facebook, pledged to comply with Abbott’s standards on Monday.

    Meta’s three Texas data centers are in Fort Worth, Temple, and El Paso, according to its map.

    Multiple data centers owned or used by Meta benefit from the state’s sales tax exemption. One subsidiary company, Polmer LLC, owns the certified data center in Temple and occupies two other data centers on the comptroller’s list of certified projects. The El Paso facility is owned by a Meta subsidiary, Wurldwide LLC, which also makes use of the exemption.

    OpenAI and Oracle

    California-based company OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, agreed to comply with Abbott’s standards on Monday. Oracle, also based in California, made the same commitment on Tuesday.

    OpenAI is collaborating with Oracle and SoftBank on Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure project based in Abilene and funded in part by chipmaker Nvidia. Lancium, a company backed by New York-based investment firm Blackstone, is constructing the facility, according to its website.

    Eleven Lancium data centers and projects appear on the comptroller’s list, spanning Fort Stockton, Turkey, Childress, and Abilene. Seven projects in Abilene are associated with Stargate, with Oracle listed as an occupant.

    Core Scientific

    Core Scientific issued a press release in support of Abbott’s directives on Monday.

    The company, based in Miami, Florida, operates three data centers in Texas: one in Austin, one in Denton, and one in the Callahan County town of Cottonwood, according to its website.

    All three benefit from the state tax exemption, the comptroller’s list shows.

    Google

    The California-based Big Tech titan expressed support for Abbott’s standards on Monday.

    The comptroller lists Google as the owner or user of nine data centers that benefit from the sales tax exemption.

    CleanSpark

    Data center developer CleanSpark Inc. agreed with Abbott’s standards on Monday.

    The Nevada-based company doesn’t publish a comprehensive map or list of its data center locations, but as of February, it owned two plots of land in Brazoria County and Austin County with plans to develop facilities there, according to an investor relations press release.

    Neither CleanSpark nor the only Texas entity registered to its corporate address, Eagles Nest 138 LLC, appear on the comptroller’s list of data centers.

    EdgeConneX

    Virginia-based EdgeConneX announced support for Abbott’s standards in its Tuesday press release.

    The company doesn’t specify how many discrete data centers it operates in Texas, but it’s only active in the Houston and Austin areas, according to its online map.

    The state has certified two EdgeConnex projects for the tax exemption, both in the Austin area.

    SB Energy

    SB Energy sent Abbott a letter on August 6 expressing support for his directives and publicized it on Tuesday.

    The Redwood City, California-based company is building a facility in Milam County in support of Stargate, with Orion listed as an occupant on two projects that benefit from the state sales tax exemption.

    Data Center Coalition

    The Data Center Coalition, a trade association that represents data center companies, expressed support for Abbott’s directives on Tuesday.

  • Speaking of data centers, Trump is in the pro-data center camp.
  • “Former Fauci Adviser David Morens Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Hide Covid-Related Records.”

    David Morens, a former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to hiding federal records from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Morens, a senior adviser at NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022 under Dr. Anthony Fauci, was charged by the Department of Justice in April with five counts related to the scheme.

    He agreed to a deal with federal prosecutors this week that would see him plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses or to defraud the United States. The charge carries up to five years in prison.

    Snip.

    The indictment came after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic found evidence that Morens had used his personal email to discuss Covid-19’s origins and National Institutes of Health grants with EcoHealth Alliance, including a terminated coronavirus grant, in an attempt to keep the communications hidden from hypothetical future FOIA requests.

    The committee obtained a communication between Morens and EcoHealth President Peter Daszak in which Morens wrote, “I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”

    Why it was almost like their was a conspiracy of secrecy against the American people…

  • “Tajik killer who avoided jail due to insanity ruling flees U.S. the moment his mental hospital grants him a day pass.”

    Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda left the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) on July 6 for an authorized 48-hour pass. He was required to return two days later, but he never did, FOX 5 reported, citing court documents.

    Instead, Toshpulodzoda traveled to Washington Dulles International Airport and boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul before continuing to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, court documents show.

    Snip.

    FOX 5 reported that Toshpulodzoda had previously been allowed to travel to Washington, D.C., in 2024 to obtain a passport, with support from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

    Sorry, a what? Passport? And then they gave him a 48-hour pass? And then they were surprised that he fled the country and never came back?

    Well done, everyone.

    You may not be surprised to learn that it was the office of far-left Steve Descano, the prosecutor for Fairfax County, that allowed him to get the passport.

    The Trump admin is suing Descano for releasing violent criminals. You may recall that Descano went viral for allowing a registered sex offender to change in the girls’ locker room at multiple HIGH SCHOOLS because the sex offender now identifies as a woman.

    Is Descano backed by George Soros? Of course he is.

  • It’s quite concerning that the USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, was was dead in the water for four days in the South China Sea due to a power systems failure.
  • Nigel Farage wins his election and returns to Parliament.
  • Very suspicious: “Bastrop City Council Holds Official Workshop 100 Miles Away from their Constituents.”

    On August 7th, the Bastrop City Council conducted official workshops not in Bastrop (where one might reasonably expect), but more than one hundred miles away in Fredericksburg. The posted agenda lists the location as the John Wm. Klein Meeting Room at 115 N. Crockett Street in Fredericksburg, roughly a two-hour drive from the city those officials were elected to serve.

    And no, these were not informal “retreats” for city council members to relax and blow off steam. These were formal City Council workshops covering the very decisions that hit taxpayer’s wallets and daily lives hardest: the city budget, setting the tax rate, Hotel Occupancy Taxes, capital projects, the Master Transportation Plan (including an East/West connection north of Highway 71), water and wastewater planning, street projects, and “Future Goals” that include a recreation center, expanded fire and police service, data center policies, and Legislative “advocacy.” An extensive list of hot-button issues all to be discussed far away from their constituents.

    State Rep. Stan Gerdes (R-Smithville), whose district includes Bastrop, correctly called out the problem: “The City of Bastrop is holding a City Council meeting hours away in Fredericksburg, making it nearly impossible for the people they represent to attend and participate.” He noted the agenda’s weight on budget, tax rate, data centers, and surveillance technology and announced plans to file legislation requiring city council meetings to be held inside the city they serve so residents can actually show up, speak, and hold officials accountable.

  • Flock says “I can change!” 

    Security camera company Flock Safety has announced changes to its privacy safeguards amid public opposition to use of the devices and concerns about law enforcement abuse.

    However, U.S. Rep. Keith Self (R–McKinney) told Texas Scorecard that although these changes are welcome, Flock is obviously “trying to gain acceptance and put lipstick on a pig amid the intense pushback they have received from Americans across the nation who are rightfully concerned about their privacy.”

    “The bottom line is Americans do not want to be spied on, and they reject the surveillance state operating in America,” said Self. “The Fourth Amendment is not a suggestion. Federal and state legislation are still needed to ensure the government cannot access this data without a warrant—and that taxpayer dollars are not spent purchasing or installing this invasive spyware. That’s why Congress needs to pass my bill, the PRIVACY Act.”

    Self filed the PRIVACY Act last month. It would require federal law enforcement to obtain official warrants before accessing or querying data collected by state and local systems, including automated license plate readers.

    Powered by artificial intelligence, Flock cameras have been a hotly debated topic across the U.S., with concerned Texans requesting that state lawmakers create guardrails for the technology during the upcoming legislative session.

    Since law enforcement officials do not need a warrant to access the Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) database, citizens are raising concerns about potential Fourth Amendment violations.

    Among the technology updates is a new default setting of 7-day data retention instead of the previous 30 days. This change is based on Flock’s analysis that all searches “without a full plate are done within a week.”

  • “Cami Clark, the low-profile wife of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, tried to court Jeffrey Epstein as an investor for her “luxury porn company.”
  • WNBA Reddit bans mention of WNBA player.
  • The Critical Drinker/Gamer covers a hacker group penetration of Rockstar games, evidently including full playable source code of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6. They’re even threatening to release the ending if Rockstar don’t promise to eschew the greedy enshitification of games (like ending physical media) that’s now standard practice in the industry.
  • Orlando PD vs. one pissed off alligator.
  • Ubobtanium cars.
  • Rick Beato and The Professor of Rock interview take 2.
  • Merica:

    (Hat tip: According to Hoyt.

  • Niu Lai is a sleeper hit in China, mainly because the animation is so bad, something that might have been a 3D animation demo reel in 1994. (Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has a new episode where a transporter malfunction turns most of the crew into Muppets.

  • In news that may be of interest only to me, both BattleSwarm and Futuramen had huge upticks in Views this week, at least ten times normal traffic, though a smaller uptick in unique Visitors, and I notice no single post generating such traffic. I can only assume some AI scanned the entirety of the site. 
  • “DeSantis Explains To Newsom Secret To Counting Ballots In One Night Is Not Committing Fraud.”
  • “Kentucky Derby Convenes Committee To Determine What Is A Horse.”
  • “Chicago Principal Concerned As High School Senior Only Assaulting Teachers At Fifth-Grade Level.”
  • You made me love you…

    (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ..)

    • I’m still between jobs. Feel free to hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.





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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Media Watch, Military, Social Justice Warriors, Technology, Texas, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | 8 Comments »

    Pro-Tip: If You Rob A Gun Store, Don’t Display Your Stolen Guns On Instagram

    August 20th, 2026

    Many people think today’s youth are stupider than than those in the past, and two teenagers who robbed a gun store and then displayed the stolen weapons on Instagram certainly argue in favor of the proposition.

    Three teenagers have been arrested in connection with a July break-in at a Pflugerville gun store where 34 firearms were stolen.

    For those unfamiliar with central Texas, Pflugerville is just north of Austin and just south of Round Rock.

    One of the teens, at just 15 years old, had two active warrants and an extensive history of burglaries and firearms.

    Two of the teens were arrested last month. On August 19, police said a third teen was arrested in the ongoing investigation.

    On July 2 at around 4:30 a.m., Pflugerville police responded to GT Distributors on New Meister Lane about a business alarm. When officers arrived, they saw two people crouching behind an SUV parked in front of the business.

    The two got inside the SUV and immediately fled the scene, passing directly in front of officers, who noted that the car had several distinctive characteristics, including a personalized license plate, five-spoke alloy wheels, two large roof-rack cross members, a chrome strip along the lower part of the doors and a distinct blue paint job.

    Officers found the front glass door of the business had been smashed by a large rock, and inside multiple firearm display and storage cases had been broken into and shattered glass littered the floor.

    I don’t want to be critical of the victims, but if the door to your gun store can be opened with a rock, you need better security.

    Surveillance footage from the store showed two people arriving in a blue Audi SUV parking, backing up into a parking space right in front of the store, then getting out. The two were seen using a large rock to smash into the door glass, then to break into the display cases. The suspects took multiple firearms, hiding them in their pockets.

    If they’re breaking in with a rock and stuffing guns in their pockets, this heist doesn’t exactly bespeak of months of meticulous planning.

    They made multiple trips between the display cases and the SUV. They were seen on video unsuccessfully trying to break into more cases with the rock, then fleeing the store. They then got into the SUV and fled the scene.

    As is so often the case in similar crimes, the SUV was stolen. Indeed, using a stolen vehicle seems to be the only semi-intelligent precaution the alleged perps took during the entire heist.

    The stolen SUV was later found by Austin police about 2.4 miles from where it was stolen.

    Police found multiple fingerprints and one on a door handle came back matching a 15-year-old boy who had a rap sheet and two active warrants.

    “Should I bother wearing gloves for my crime spree? Nah…”

    Pflugerville police went to the Austin ISD Police Department and obtained photos of the 15-year-old from an officer “personally familiar” with the teen, says the affidavit. The officer said he had investigated multiple cases involving the teen and provided PPD with photos from an Instagram account associated with the boy.

    The photos were posted over multiple days following the July 2 burglary, showing multiple Glock-branded firearms as well as large amounts of cash and multiple gun accessories including extended magazines and handgrip covers.

    What is it with today’s criminal youth that they can’t understand that documenting felonies on social media is a bad idea? Do they believe some sort of magical forcefield prevents police from viewing Instagram? “Sure, I’m spending several years in prison, but look how dope I looked holding those stolen guns!”

    Police also uncovered a Telegram account associated with the teen and reviewed paperwork from APD on a robbery at an East Austin apartment complex connected to the teen. Multiple suspects in the robbery fled into two apartments and were identified, one being the teen boy, prompting a request to apprehend him from APD.

    Further monitoring of the boy’s Instagram revealed a photo of the teen driving a Lexus, posted the same day as APD received a report about a stolen Lexus that was found empty less than half a mile from Gunter Street.

    Two days later, on July 27, another photo showed the teen driving an Audi SUV, also reported stolen. The owner reported the SUV also contained a firearm and that he had woken up to find his SUV was missing from his home on Margarita Street. The SUV was later found just a mile away at the Gunter Street apartment complex, so law enforcement placed a tracker on it with the owner’s permission.

    And poof goes the only non-stupid thing the perps did, since they failed to ditch the stolen car after the heist.

    DPS and APD later stopped the vehicle after a pursuit and found the 15-year-old boy at the wheel.

    Since the juvenile’s name is not being released, for the sake of convenience we’ll simply refer to him as Dummy McStupidKid.

    Pflugerville police then investigated the apartment complex, learning that management had received reports from a neighbor fearing for their safety after seeing multiple firearms with people associated with one particular unit. Multiple residents also reported seeing many people loitering outside the building the unit was in.

    Police learned that 17-year-old Jacob Vallejo lived in the unit with his stepbrothers and mother and had been arrested as part of a May 2026 robbery at the complex. Surveillance footage showed the same stolen Audi that the 15-year-old had been driving repeatedly visiting the building and multiple people entering and leaving the unit over a 24-hour period on July 27.

    The AISD police officer also told Pflugerville police that the unit had been previously searched due to social media threats, allegedly made by Vallejo.

    This is not exactly what people call “keeping a low profile.”

    On Aug. 13, police executed a search warrant on the Gunter Street apartment and spoke with Vallejo, who told police and ATF that guns were inside the apartment, and they were being “held for a friend.” He confirmed to police that the “friend” was the 15-year-old teen, the affidavit says.

    Add “not shutting the fuck up” to Vallejo’s long, long list of failures to adhere to Basic Criminal Competence 101.

    When asked if the guns were stolen, he allegedly replied, “Uh, I mean, I would say they are reported stolen because it’s your car hopping them;” ‘car hopping’ refers to when vehicles are stolen for short periods of time to avoid being caught by police.

    Vallejo also allegedly stated there was more than one firearm in the home with a “switch,” an illegal device allowing the Glock to fire continuously while the trigger is held.

    Ding Ding Ding! Vallejo and McStupidKid just leveled up to federal firearms violation charges, and could win a big, big prize of up to 10 years in federal prison!

    At the time of his arrest, the 15-year-old suspect had two active warrants for robbery and carrying a prohibited weapon. He also had several previous arrests for burglaries and firearms.

    The 15-year-old’s identity is being withheld due to his age. He was taken into custody and transported to the Gardner Betts Juvenile Facility.

    Vallejo has been charged with state jail felony theft of a firearm and third-degree felony prohibited weapon. His bond has been set at a collective $15,000 for both charges.

    Being a juvenile means that Dummy McStupidKid may well skate, despite his priors, especially since Travis County’s Soros-backed DA Jose Garza loves to put criminals back on the streets. But Vallejo is likely looking at hard time, especially if the feds decide to nail him on the machine gun conversion charges.

    There’s also a (non embeddable) Fox 7 video on the crime, where criminal defense attorney Gene Anthes discusses the amazing stupidity displayed.

    Criminals have never been the brightest lights, but today’s crop seems particularly dim.

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    Posted in Austin, Crime, Texas | 7 Comments »

    Abbott Wants Foreign Funding, H-1B Employment Banned In Public Schools

    August 19th, 2026

    Back in January, Texas Governor Greg Abbott froze H-1B visas for Texas state agencies and universities. Now pushing for the same in public schools, plus an end to foreign curriculum funding.

    Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on Texas lawmakers to ban foreign funding in public schools and prohibit districts from employing workers through the federal H-1B visa program.

    Abbott announced the proposals Tuesday as part of a broader push aimed at eliminating foreign influence in Texas classrooms.

    “The minds of our students are driven by influences that they are exposed to in our public schools,” said Abbott. “Those minds should be shaped by policies that are approved by state lawmakers.”

    Abbott pointed to Austin Independent School District’s acceptance of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Qatar to support Arabic language and culture instruction, as well as school districts that have participated in Confucius Classroom programs affiliated with Chinese government-backed entities.

    “We cannot condone the quiet indoctrination of our children in the classroom,” said Abbott.

    The governor said he will ask lawmakers to prohibit public schools from accepting gifts, money, or property from foreign sources or entering into partnerships or financial agreements with them.

    Abbott was joined at the announcement by officials from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who highlighted examples they say demonstrate foreign and Islamist influence in Texas education.

    Kate Bierly said public records obtained from Austin ISD revealed classroom materials associated with Arabic language and culture programs, including an activity in which second grade students were instructed to create a greeting card praising the Prophet Muhammad and attach a cutout of the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site.

    There’s no reason second graders should be studying Islamic culture, or indeed anything much beyond basic American history like Paul Revere and Thanksgiving.

    Bierly said the extent of foreign influence in K-12 education is difficult to determine because reporting requirements are less extensive than those governing higher education.

    “There is no circumstance in which it is acceptable that Texas children should be indoctrinated with radical Islamist ideologies in Texas schools,” she said.

    Abbott is also asking lawmakers to prohibit Texas public schools from employing H-1B visa holders.

    An H-1B visa is a temporary U.S. work visa that allows employers to hire foreign workers in certain specialty occupations that typically require at least a bachelor’s degree.

    “Exactly zero Texas public school employees should be here on H-1B visas,” said Abbott. “This expands on my prior directive, freezing new H-1B visa petitions in all state agencies and all state universities.”

    There’s a narrow case for a few H-1Bs at the university level highly specialized technical roles. There’s none for K-12, as there are plenty of Americans willing to fill those jobs.

    Is there anyone who thinks foreign money from non-democratic regimes like China and Qatar should be flowing into our public schools?

    Well, besides Democrats who seem to think commies, Jihadis, and foreign money are vital to their coalition…

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    Posted in Austin, Communism, Jihad, Texas | 5 Comments »

    While Swalwell Was Slipping Sausage To Chinese Spy, China Was Slipping Money To Him

    August 18th, 2026

    Remember all the way back in 2020 when we covered California Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell banging a Chinese spy? Well, National Review brings us the breaking news that he admitted it to the FBI all the way back in 2015.

    That’s not what I want to talk about today.

    Instead I want to talk how the FBI knew that Swalwell was taking money from communist China.

    The FBI developed evidence that a Chinese woman with direct ties to that country’s intelligence service had potentially compromised a Democratic congressman from California with sex, foreign interns and illicit donations while she was being recruited to become a bureau informant a decade ago, according to bombshell memos that expose another threat to America’s political system from Beijing.

    The files chronicling the relationship between Rep. Eric Swalwell and the Chinese national Fang Fang – also known by her English name Christine Fang – were declassified by President Donald Trump and released Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force as part of a broader effort to unmask foreign threats to U.S. political and election systems.

    They show the FBI opened a predicated investigation, which is a formal law enforcement inquiry backed by a factual basis or allegation that indicates a crime or national security threat already exists.

    Unlike unpredicated “assessments,” a predicated investigation allows agents to use advanced and intrusive methods like electronic surveillance or informants.

    The files provide significant new details about the long-rumored relationship between Fang and Swalwell, including that:

  • The FBI initially wanted to investigate the congressman for a bribery scheme in which he exchanged donations from Fang for her planting interns in his office, but eventually decided to narrow the case to seek criminal charges only against Fang for making illegal donations to the California Democrat through conduits.
  • Swalwell admitted to having sex with Fang, his staff placing Fang’s interns in Congress and not having a strong enough campaign finance system to detect the straw donations she allegedly passed through U.S.-citizen conduits.
  • The Justice Department declined to prosecute Fang despite strong evidence of the illicit donations after she fled the U.S. as the FBI began interviewing her associates and raided her home. The early steps in the investigation were overseen in part by controversial prosecutor Jack Smith, who would later pursue Donald Trump on criminal charges.
  • The FBI was recruiting Fang to be a confidential informant through an undercover agent, assigned her the code name Rusty Thumbs, planned to hire her through a cutout company and was still evaluating her suitability as a confidential human source when they discovered her alleged criminal behavior.
  • The FBI knew early on during the recruitment that Fang was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s notorious intelligence service. The bureau also identified her parents as MSS agents, knew she was raising money for California Democrats and was willing to use sex as a means of getting ahead in the world of U.S. politics.

    • Fang Fang’s efforts to influence U.S. politicians were first reported by Axios in 2020. According to the outlet’s comprehensive investigation, U.S. officials believed Fang sought to ingratiate herself with local politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area using campaign fundraising, networking, her charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships. Swalwell was identified as among the most significant targets of Fang.
    Swalwell threatened to sue the FBI

    Swalwell’s office told Axios at the time that he fully cooperated with the FBI and has reiterated that claim for years. “Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person — whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn’t seen in nearly six years — to the FBI. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story,” Swalwell’s office said in a statement.

    I’m not sure I’ve seen “his own ass” misspelled as “information that might be classified” before.

    Swalwell’s interviews with FBI agents, made public as part of the tranche of documents related to the case made public by the White House, confirm the former congressman’s claims that he cooperated with the bureau’s investigation.

    Earlier this year, Swalwell threatened to sue the FBI and asked the bureau not to release the files associated with the investigation. Swalwell’s lawyers made his case in a cease and desist letter sent to FBI Director Kash Patel in March.

    Snip.

    The FBI probe targeting Swalwell and Fang was opened on March 17, 2014, and codenamed “Freshman Fifteen,” according to a now-declassified “Interim Authority” memorandum, which was reviewed by FBI headquarters and the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section.

    The FBI assessment, which later became a full-fledged investigation, centered on allegations that Swalwell awarded internships at his offices in exchange for campaign contributions. The FBI identified Fang “Christine” Fang, a Chinese national, as the alleged facilitator of this exchange and alleged she employed conduits to route illegal donations.

    “Investigation has revealed Fang ‘Christine’ Fang, a Chinese foreign national residing in the United States, is the facilitator of a scheme to trade access to Swalwell and internships in his congressional office in return for campaign contributions […]” the memo reads. The FBI specifically gathered evidence that Fang “used conduits to conceal herself as a prohibited Foreign National source,” for illegal campaign contributions “at least twice in 2013 and at least two more times in 2014.”

    The agents found that the 2013 conduits “trace to Fang herself,” making them an “illegal source of campaign contributions.”

    The objectives of the probe were ultimately to “obtain sufficient evidence to indict and arrest Swalwell and Fang for violations of campaign finance laws and quid pro quo exchanges,” the memo adds.

    The FBI also caught Fang directly soliciting donations and promising to reimburse the contributor from her own funds, the memos state.

    In March 2015, Fang contacted an individual who was also an FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS). She asked the CHS to attend a fundraising event for Swalwell and solicited a contribution.

    The FBI agents on the case authored a memo on March 9, 2015 requesting approval for the CHS to “make a bona fide campaign contribution” in order to further the probe. That request was apparently approved. In a “CHS reporting document” dated March 24, 2015, an FBI agent reported that “CHS provided Christine Fang with his credit card number for the $1,000 donation.”

    In 2014, Fang invited an individual with whom she had a financial relationship to a fundraiser for Swalwell, according to an FBI-302 from June 2015 memorializing an interview with the individual, whose name is redacted. The individual claimed Fang told him he “just needed to bring his checkbook and that FANG would reimburse him for his donation.” The individual told investigators that he declined.

    Snip.

    In the early stages of the probe, the FBI team sent regular updates to the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), which was then headed by the now-controversial prosecutor Jack Smith. Smith would later lead the Biden administration’s investigations and prosecutions of Trump. PIN oversees investigations and prosecutions that involve federal crimes like bribery of public officials and election crimes, including campaign finance crimes.

    All the pieces start to click into place now, don’t they?

    Eventually, however, after interviewing Swalwell on multiple occasions, the FBI determined that the investigation had found no violations of federal statutes by the congressman. As a result, the FBI eventually reclassified the probe on February 8, 2017, dropping Swalwell as a subject and focusing the investigation solely on Fang’s alleged violations of campaign finance laws.

    Of course they did.

    The FBI had hard evidence that the campaign of a Democrat congressman was receiving money from communist China via the Chinese spy he was playing hide the salami with, and instead of pursuing it, they chose to close the case and chase the bogus Russiagate allegations.

    And did we mention that Swalwell was on the Committee on Homeland Security, and the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection? Don’t you think China would love to receive confidential information on America’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities?

    Instead of, at the very least, being forced to resign for banging a Chinese spy and taking campaign money from China, Swalwell was allowed to continue receiving classified information in congress because he had a (D) after his name.

    People should be fired.

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    Posted in Communism, Crime, Democrats, Social Justice Warriors | 13 Comments »

    “This Was PBS”

    August 17th, 2026

    You should backup your data. You should have multiple backups of your data. You should have multiple rotating or rolling backups of your data. You should have multiple rotating or rolling backups of your data saved to different types of backup media. Ideally, you should have multiple rolling or rotating backups of your data saved to different types of backup media including off-site backups.

    Evidently, a PBS station didn’t follow any of these rules. Instead they handed their data to a third-party, said “Here, we’ll pay you to store it for us,” and now they’re screwed because the company went defunct.

    Yeah, maybe tossing all of the physical media and using the cloud to store your memories wasn’t the best move?

    Especially if you’ve got 70 years of archival footage that could disappear at the drop of a hat, as this St. Louis PBS station has learned.

    They stored 50 terabytes of data with a cloud storage company, that company went kaput, and now they’re having to fight tooth and nail to get that data back.

    Here are more details from tech-news site Tom’s Hardware:

    Nine PBS is afraid that it will lose over 70 years of archival materials and programming after its contracted cloud storage vendor has apparently gone out of business. According to Current, the channel used Open Source Storage, or OSS, for storing over 50TB of data — but it suddenly lost access to its data earlier this year. Nine PBS has been working with OSS and its predecessor since 2019 and intended to renew its contract on March 6 of this year. The company never responded and abruptly cut off the station’s data access even though it still had 30 days to retrieve its data after the contract ended.

    The station dug a little bit deeper when it discovered that the OSS website no longer existed and was listed as delinquent under the Colorado Secretary of State.

    As it turns out, however, OSS used another data company, Iron Mountain, to host the archive.

    Iron Mountain is still in business, but since its client was OSS, it is refusing to hand over the files.

    The PBS station is now suing.

    More from Gizmodo:

    Nine PBS is now asking the court to make sure the company preserves the archive while the dispute gets sorted out. A judge granted temporary relief preventing Iron Mountain from deleting or overwriting the data.

    As another twist in this confusing mess, OSS was sold after the station first tried to take legal action, then reverted back to the original owners when the new owner claimed he’d been defrauded.

    Nine PBS sued OSS in April, but the station later paused the case after James Tramel, who identified himself as a managing partner of a group that had acquired OSS’s assets, contacted Nine PBS and confirmed that its data was being housed at Iron Mountain’s Denver facility.

    About a month later, Tramel stopped responding to the station too. An automatic reply from his email account said he was no longer affiliated with OSS. Nine PBS says Tramel later told the station by phone that he ‘had been defrauded’ into purchasing the company and that it had reverted back to its previous owners.

    Pretty sus, bro.

    Even though the court has now ruled in the station’s favor, Iron Mountain still hasn’t given them access and OSS remains in limbo.

    Iron Mountain still maintains that it doesn’t have to give PBS the files that PBS owns because PBS was not its client.

    When the station’s attorney again contacted Iron Mountain, the company acknowledged that it had the data and initially signaled that it wanted to comply with Nine PBS’s request. But Iron Mountain later declined to turn it over, citing OSS’s ownership of the infrastructure housing the data.

    This is a pretty bad look for Iron Mountain, a company big enough to be on the S&P 500. First level resistance for legal reasons (“You’re not our customer”) seems perfectly justified, but digging in your heels after a court ruling seems pig-headed. “Suck it, Elmo! We’re not giving your data back!”

    Is there a Louis Rossmann rant on the topic?

    Yes. Yes there is.

  • “Looking at their 990, we can see that there is a chief technology officer that makes $179,000 a year.”
  • “That is enough money that somebody was there that has some sort [of] technical know-how, to the point that they understand that if we have 70 years of our data on one server and that company is no longer responding to us, we need to download that shit right fucking now.”
  • “There’s no excuse for that.”
  • “Is $179,000 a year not enough to have a competent tech professional that understands that storing all of your data on one server from one company that is no longer responding to you means you should start downloading it immediately? Is Is that too much to ask?”
  • Nor can this PBS station plead poverty: “2022 their gross income was [about] $13.5 million expenses 12.8 million. Their net was 3/4 of a million. So the net that is what they got to keep after paying all the employee salaries, after paying the directors 700,000 bucks.” Yeah, they could afford a local backup solution.
  • “Maybe I should use some of that $1.7 million in net profit that came through this year to spend $2,000 on an NAS.”
  • “This is the most incompetence that I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s inexcusable.”

    • Remember, when you store your data in “the Cloud,” you’re simply storing your data on someone else’s computer. I have no philosophical objection to larger corporations using offsite cloud backup as part of a larger array of offsite backup solutions. And there are types of offsite data storage (iCloud and GitHub/Lab/Etc. come to mind) that are cheap or free and work perfectly well for their intended purposes. But cloud storage should never be your only data backup.

    In the case of this PBS station, if you’re backing up 50TB of data, you probably want to go with both a local NAS array and a cartridge tape backup system, the latter of which is going to run you some $5,000—$20,000 for the machine and $20 and up for multi-terrabyte cartridges. The startup cost is higher, but the monthly fees are lower than cloud storage, and you have your data right there if you need it, plus you can have multiple backups in a fire-proof safe and an off-site storage facility for less than it costs in continuing fees for cloud storage.

    There are other considerations (encryption or no encryption, regular tests of backup and restore software, etc.) that will vary from organization to organization, but that’s less important than having backups of your own data where you can lay hands on it, without having to trust third parties or pay lawyers.

    I have my most important data saved to a thumb drive, I run Time Machine backups of my Mac to an SSD, plus I burn periodic DVDs of important data. (I used to occasionally save files as attachments in GMail, but with Google using your data to train AI, I can’t really recommend that any more.) Every now and then I’ll rotate a DVD out to my car as a half-assed implementation of “offsite backup.” I’m not even as religious about backup as I should be, but I still have a manifestly more robust and secure backup policy than a St. Louis PBS station…

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    Posted in Technology, video | 10 Comments »

    Recall Petition Filed Against Seattle’s Far Left Mayor Katie Wilson

    August 16th, 2026

    Certainly the current crop of far-left “Democratic Socialists” mayors ruining American cities are not the sharpest knives in the drawer (though Zohran Mamdani seems to display the sort of unprincipled cunning exhibited by many confidence artists), but Seattle’s Katie Wilson, someone who was still being financially supported by her parents at age 43 when running for mayor, strikes one as possibly the very dullest in the lot. From refusing to investigate fraud at Somali-run daycare centers to encouraging capital flight from Seattle via a proposed “billionaire’s tax” (“I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if, you know, the ones that leave, like, bye!”), Wilson seems a particularly obtuse example of the breed. Now two Seattle citizens have filed a recall petition against her.

    Two Seattle residents filed recall charges against Mayor Katie Wilson on Tuesday, August 11, alleging she has neglected her legal duty to maintain public safety and peace in the city.

    Melinda Jacobson and Dale Osterud submitted the charges to the King County Elections Office, accusing Wilson of dereliction in addressing crime, gun violence, open-air drug activity and related issues across multiple neighborhoods during her first eight months in office. The filing also criticizes her decision to seek the resignation of Police Chief Shon Barnes.

    The charges are the initial step under Washington state law for seeking a recall of an elected official. The charges must undergo technical review by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. If these meet requirements, prosecutors will prepare a ballot synopsis for King County Superior Court, where a judge will determine whether the allegations meet the legal standard of misfeasance, malfeasance or violation of the oath of office. Only then could proponents circulate petitions.

    If approved, organizers would have 180 days to gather roughly 70,000 valid signatures from registered Seattle voters — equal to 25% of the total votes cast in the previous mayoral election. Sufficient verified signatures would trigger a special recall election.

    Wilson, a democratic socialist and former community organizer who co-founded the Transit Riders Union, took office January 1, 2026, after narrowly defeating incumbent Bruce Harrell in the November 2025 election by less than 1 percentage point, the closest Seattle mayoral contest by margin since 1906.

    The recall filing comes amid fallout from a July 26 shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival at Seattle Center, where three people were killed and others wounded in what police described as a possible gang-related exchange of gunfire involving multiple suspects, including a 15-year-old who was charged and a 19-year-old suspect who died at the scene. City officials faced criticism over delayed and inconsistent public communications after the incident.

    Wilson accepted Barnes’ resignation on July 30 and appointed Deputy Chief Andre Sayles as interim chief. The charges call the move a “hasty, rash decision” that created instability in the department, arguing Barnes had provided stability, improved recruiting and community engagement. Wilson has cited communication gaps between her office and the department as a factor.

    Presumably Barnes wanted to fight crime rather than let it flourish, something that’s anathema to “Democratic” socialists.

    The recall requirements are steep, and Seattle is a notoriously leftist city, so it’s quite possible the attempt will fall short, leaving Wilson to continue providing an abject lesson to the rest of the nation of what not to do.

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats | 6 Comments »

    Newest Drone Killer: AI Rifle Scopes

    August 15th, 2026

    “Smart rifle” technology seems to have finally arrived in the form of an “AI” enhanced scope that still requires you to pull the trigger, but picks the optimal time to actually fire to take out drones.

  • “High-tech, often AI powered scopes are something every major military has been working on for the past few years with more failures than successes. The [Smash] 2000L is arguably the most developed such system in existence. However, given the laughably poor records high-tech scopes have, it’s valid to ask if this new system currently in the process of testing and adoption with the US Marine Corps, the UK, Australia, and other countries, is actually worth the hype.”
  • It only works against small drones because, you know, rifle. “The drones of the Smash 2000L system are designed to take out a roughly the size of a DJI Mavic drone, a system used by both Ukraine and Russia before DJI blocked all exports to both countries, after which both sides continue to produce very similar drones domestically. This drone and other comparable designs are actually among the most used drones in the war, with either side launching around 10,000 of them every single month. That makes them the exact type of threat the Smash 2000L was designed to counter.”
  • “The Mavic E3 drone measures [roughly] 14 by 11 inches with a height of barely [4] inches. This makes it roughly the size of a large Domino’s pizza.”
  • “They’re capable of reaching and exceeding speeds of roughly 50 [miles] an hour. Some of them are even capable of doubling that.”
  • “Drones rarely operate individually. Swarm attacks are most effective as they guarantee results.”
  • “From February 2022 to today, Ukraine went from domestically producing a total of about 3,000 drones per year to being capable of producing 5 million of them. Russian figures are similar at around 3 and a half million drones a year.” I would like to know where these figures are coming from.
  • “The obvious solution is just jamming the living shit out of everything. Although autonomous drones are gaining ground in warfare nowadays, most drones are still operated in real time by an operator. That operator communicates with the drone via a radio link and by jamming that link, essentially flooding it with radio frequency, the drone is cut off from its operator. The jammers themselves exist in the form of rifles. One of which famously made an appearance at the funeral of Pope Francis in 2025, the
    very first time such a weapon was fielded at a papal funeral.”

  • Skipping over the jamming/fiber optic drone arms race we’ve covered before.
  • “Large and small surface-to-air missiles were launched, depending on the size of the approaching drone, and even other drones were used to take down drones.”
  • “However, the last ditch option for a soldier to use is their own primary firearm. And this is exceptionally difficult for a number of reasons. To take down a drone with their own assault rifle, a soldier who is high on adrenaline and reasonably afraid for their safety, has to hit a target roughly the size of a volleyball at a distance of between 50 and 200 meters as it buzzes around erratically at highway speeds. And they have to do that with a projectile that’s 5.56 or 7.62 mm in diameter.
  • “Because of this, both Russian and Ukrainian infantry squads have adopted shotguns as their go-to last ditch anti-drone firearm.”
  • “Shotguns have proven to be much more effective against drones as a last resort, which is why some manufacturers like Benelli have developed anti-drone shotguns with special ammunition.”
  • “Ukraine has also developed a special 5.56 anti-drone rounds that fires several sub projectiles instead of a solid bullet. The soldier still needs to fire five or six rounds while tracking the target, but the round is far more effective than standard ammunition because of its shotgun principle.”
  • The main problem is that shooting at drones that are trying to kill you is highly stressful, and accuracy suffers. “Aiming perfectly in such a stressful scenario is just borderline impossible, no matter how accurate you are. And this, of course, is where the Smash 2000L comes in.”
  • “The idea behind Smash is very simple. Turn every soldier into a sharpshooter. Smash is essentially a very advanced scope that can be installed on most firearms, and it’s allegedly capable of hitting targets, even very small moving targets like drones, with a 95% hit probability. For comparison, experienced shooters using red dot sites at a distance of about 100 m average a 20% hit rate.”
  • “With a Smash 2000L, even trainees average an 80% hit rate, with experienced shooters reaching the aforementioned 95%. Which is really pretty impressive.”
  • “Smash consists of a digital camera with an attached display that’s seen by the shooter, a trigger guard, and most importantly, a computer. That computer does all the work. It locks onto a target, analyzes its speed, heading, distance, and environmental conditions such as wind and humidity to estimate the best time for a soldier to take a shot. When it locks onto a target, Smash tracks it until it calculates the best time to shoot.”
  • “As long as the computer estimates that the hit probability is low, it will block the trigger using the trigger guard. The shooter presses their finger against the trigger, even though it’s blocked. And when the shooter takes aim at the very specific spot on the target, which the computer deems the highest hit probability spot, the computer unlocks the trigger guard, the trigger is pulled and a drone is shot out of the sky.”
  • “The shooter can also wait for the computer to unblock the trigger before pulling it. But the high hit probability time window is of course very short when it comes to fast flying drones. That’s why it’s easier for the shooter to keep pressing the trigger the whole time and simply wait for the computer to unblock it at the appropriate moment.”
  • “When testing in the United States, Smash took down loitering drones surprisingly casually. Fast moving drones are likely going to be more difficult, but certainly not impossible and certainly much easier to hit with Smash than without it.”
  • “The system can also be used to eliminate ground targets such as other infantry troops, and even more easily at that. In that mode, it’s accurate up to 300 m or close to 1,000 ft during the day, while the small drone elimination mode is accurate up to 100 m or around 300 ft in both day and night.”
  • “Aside from just destroying small drones, Smash is also marketed as being capable of destroying micro drones. These drones are usually used for reconnaissance, not direct attacks, and they’re sometimes so small that they can fit in the palm of your hand.” Like the super-tiny, super-expensive Black Hornet drone.
  • “The Smash system itself can also fit in the palm of your hand. It weighs 740 g or 26 oz and is smaller than most magnification scopes, with a battery capable of running for 72 hours before needing recharging.”
  • “Smash is a line of sight system, which means that you have to be able to see the enemy for it to track the enemy. That means a couple of things. For one, you need to expose yourself at least a little bit for Smash to do its job. And secondly, Smash can’t track an enemy behind cover. It can’t see through walls. This also means it’s impossible for the shooter to aim from thick brush, for example, as there’s no way for Smash to get around that.”
  • “With this in mind, Smart Shooter came up with an addition to the Smash 2000L in the shape of the Smash Hopper 5000, a remote control weapon station, and another thing with a fantastic, very 1990scoded name. A soldier who prefers not to expose themselves to the enemy can mount their rifle with its 2000L system attached on the Hopper 5000 and control it from the safety of cover.”
  • “The system weighs a substantial 25 kilos or 55 lbs. It’s clunky, takes a while to set up, and it can never have the maneuverability of a soldier.”
  • “Does the Smash 2000L completely solve the drone problem? No, absolutely not. But it is a step in the right direction, isn’t it? Accuracy and speed of aiming are the biggest hurdles an infantryman has to tackle when shooting down a drone with their firearm. And Smash is essentially just a
    system that does that job much more accurately and almost instantly.”

  • The IDF tried it with only one rifleman per squad. First problem? “Blue-on-blue incidents.”
  • “At the time of its introduction, the system could not tell the difference between friendly and enemy combatants.”
  • “Aside from the IDF, the Smash 2000L was purchased by the US primarily to be used by the Marine Corps, as well as the Netherlands, India, Germany, and the United Kingdom.”
  • “The Israeli manufacturer has since secured a $10.7 million contract with the US Army, making it the second service branch to join the program.
  • All well and good, but there were many previous “smart” scopes that didn’t work out.”

  • “Another one of those optic systems that came out of Israel is Arcus, an acronym for Assault Rifle Combat Application, developed by Elbert Systems. The system consists of an eyepiece that the operator attaches to their helmet and wears at all times. The second part is installed on the rifle, essentially acting as an extension of the operator’s eye, providing a live feed from the gun’s point of view.”
  • “Arcus is capable of recognizing the human body shape and marking the target on the operator’s eyepiece. It can easily detect motion. It provides the operator with a range estimation, and the feed is transmitted to command headquarters at the same time, allowing everyone to see what the operator sees.” Shades of “network-centric warfare.”
  • “The system also controls fire in a similar way to the Smash 2000L and improves accuracy in the field. It even provides the operator with a built-in compass that essentially allows them to navigate without having to constantly check a map or GPS. The two modes of operation, thermal or electrooptic, allow the operator to use the system in both daytime and nighttime. I mean, it even has a shot counter to let the operator know when they’re low on ammo, which is very video game-esque. It is an absolutely perfect solution for a lot of real problems that infantrymen truly do face, and it could change the way the wars are fought.”
  • “And yet, nobody’s using it. Not even Israel is using it, let alone any other military. Five years after presenting Arcus and no one has even tried adopting it, with its biggest accomplishment so far being just reminding everyone of the target tracking system from Aliens.”
  • “The story is not much more positive with the United States’s next generation squad weapon program, which includes the XM157 fire control system.”
  • “When it comes to the XM157, the test results are disappointing. During testing in 2024, the fire control system received negative reviews from soldiers who used it. To be more specific, the 2024 report says that quote, “The XM7 with mounted XM157 demonstrated a low probability of completing one 72-hour wartime mission without incurring a critical failure.” Is it Windows based?
  • “It seems like after years of hyping up the next fire control system, the scope has simply gone missing and we’re not going to see it fielded anytime soon because it’s simply not reliable.”
  • Skipping over the Russian example, since they can’t even get their SAM systems to work right.
  • “So when we draw the line under AI assisted high-tech scopes,the result is not proportional to the hype surrounding them. Russia’s not using them. The US Army’s not using them, in spite of really really wanting to spend a ton of money promoting them in the news. And even Israel, which has been developing several types of these scopes, is only kind of using them, nowhere close to issuing them across the board to the entirety of the IDF. And this brings us the most obvious question that we’ve been building to this entire video. Are these devices, which are hailed in the media as the next big thing that’s going to revolutionize the way wars are fought, just an endless money pit?”
  • “Even if scopes such as the XM157 on the Smash 2000L were perfected tomorrow and all their software glitches and battery issues were ironed out, there are still three main issues regarding high-tech optics that are keeping them from becoming the norm.”
  • “The first two problems relate to doctrine. Over-reliance on technology can only take a soldier or a unit a certain distance before achieving the adverse effect and nullifying their fighting capabilities with old school equipment. At the same time, decision-making tools cannot be blindly trusted. Taking the Smash 2000 as a direct example, what happens if infantrymen start relying on AI to do the aiming and trigger pulling jobs for them too much? Well, the result is that a soldier is demoted from a shooting combatant to somebody who just broadly handles a weapon and points it in roughly the right direction, with the most important part of the job being carried out by the fire control system.” Given current U.S./NATO/Israeli doctrine, I don’t see this as a problem anytime soon.
  • I’m cutting out a lot of Whistler’s “whatbouts,” as I assume a competent system will allow switchback to manual targeting. Indeed, he reaches much the same conclusion. “Using traditional scopes or iron sights will remain the norm in doctrine, and AI powered scopes will be used sparingly, mostly for specialized tasks such as taking down drones or targets that are particularly difficult for a traditional optic to get an angle on.”
  • His next point is that sea-based automatic systems still make mistakes as well, and still produce friendly fire incidents.
  • His conclusion: “It is easy to see why high-tech optics will never fully replace the Mark1 eyeball. They will, mind you, be introduced in huge numbers, and military forces will most definitely find use for them, such as taking down anti-infantry drones, for example, but it’s extremely unlikely that they will become the standard infantry fire control system anytime soon.”

    • He may be right, but possibly not for the reasons he thinks, namely that ground-based drones will probably take over more and more (but not all) infantry-based functions as those are further developed, though I doubt they will entirely replace infantry (AKA, the Queen of Battle) any time soon.

    I just want to note that these wonderscopes are not really AI as we’ve come to understand it, they are merely souped-up, shrunk-down targeting computers that we’ve had for a while. There’s no theoretical reason they can’t, it’s a question of when the system crosses the threshold of cost-effectiveness.

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    Posted in Military, video | 13 Comments »

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