One of the hallmarks of the Clancy case is that she made lengthy and repeated efforts to seek help. In case you haven’t seen much about that, and would like a summary, this is pretty thorough and relatively easy to understand:
Open thread 8/26/2026
RIP Dolly Parton
Beloved country music star, composer, and actress Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80. She lost her husband of 60 years in March of 2025. Her nephew stated:
“My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you. She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family whether you liked it or not. Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us forever. Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy; he farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.”
Seaver ended his statement, saying, “Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly — Aunt, Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you.”
That last sentence is a reference to a song Parton wrote, the theme from the movie The Bodyguard.
This next song about her family was reportedly one of Parton’s favorites:
RIP.
The Lindsay Clancy case
Until a day or two ago I had tried to mostly ignore this case because it was so extremely upsetting and deeply disturbing. But finally the din was so loud that I took a long look.
This post isn’t going to be an in-depth definitive analysis of the details. But it is my overall impression and summary after digesting quite a bit of the evidence. I expect that many of you may differ from my conclusions.
Clancy’s defense rests on a claim that she had post-partum psychosis, exacerbated by a cocktail of drugs she was given over time by a series of health practitioners. Her previous behavior as a mother seems to have been exemplary (this was her third child, and she had been a labor and delivery nurse). She kept a diary that documented her decline after the birth of her third child. She claims that voices directed her to kill her children, and the actual act was committed when she had sent her husband out for various errands.
Post-partum mental problems are very real and poorly understood although there are many theories. For most women who have them they amount to a short period of “the baby blues,” and even that can be quite serious for the person experiencing the problem although it is quite common. There are also a smaller number of women who experience a more profound post-partum depression. Then there is a much smaller but real number who experience post-partum psychosis, a break with reality. The second group (post-partum depression) is somewhat at risk, like any depressed person would be, for suicide. The third group (psychosis) is somewhat at risk for suicide and even homicide, often directed at the children. Fortunately, this type of aggression is rare.
The questions in this trial are basically twofold: (1) Was Clancy suffering from post-partum psychosis? (2) Does it matter in terms of her criminal responsibility? I think that the answer to the first question is “yes.” I’m not sure about the answer to the second, but it depends on one’s general attitude towards psychosis and criminal responsibility, which varies from those who think it never matters and that all people should be held equally responsible to those who think it absolves a person of all responsibility. I’ve written and thought about these questions for a long long time and I cannot answer them except to say I don’t fall into either of the extremes of opinion. In this case, I simply don’t know and am glad I’m not on the jury.
When I look at commentary online about the case, there’s an incredible range of opinion. There are, for example, people (usually women) who blame Clancy’s husband. I think that’s preposterous and to be condemned. There are those who completely absolve Clancy herself, which I don’t think is correct although I do believe that – as I said – she was truly depressed and then went into a psychotic state in part because of a bad reaction to the many drugs she was given in rapid succession. I think that her health practitioners did not do right by her. I think her suicide attempt was real and that her resultant paraplegic state is evidence of that. I believe that those who say she is a cold-blooded monster who deeply desired to murder her children and that her psychosis was a feigned excuse are also wrong; the evidence is very strong that this was not the case, and her planning was not inconsistent with a very real post-partum psychosis. And I think it’s a very sad and awful case, almost unbearable in its pathos.
Here’s a discussion of the drug aspect:
I don’t know what the verdict will be. But if Clancy is found not guilty by reason of insanity, it doesn’t mean she goes free. It means she is confined to a mental hospital, probably for many years. That does not satisfy those who consider her guilty, of course. Different states have very different laws for this sort of thing – some, for example, have a possible verdict of guilty with mitigating factors; they confine the killer to a mental hospital, but then when the perp is released there is also a prison term (not necessarily for murder, but a substantial sentence) to be served. As far as I can tell, Massachusetts is not one of those states and she probably would not be going to prison at all if found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Open thread 8/25/2026
Roundup
(1) Hasan Piker celebrates and mocks Charlie Kirk’s death with a crowd of happy haters:
We have seen protesters on the left around the country mocking the assassination of Charlie Kirk, even reenacting his murder. Hate traffickers like Jennifer Welch have even justified his assassination. It is all shocking and depressing, but none reached the level of Hasan Piker leading a huge crowd in mocking Kirk and his faith. Before he was murdered, Kirk debated Piker and called him a “socialist hypocrite.” What is shocking is not the utter depravity and cruelty of Piker, but the ecstasy of the crowd in relishing the death of someone with opposing views. It is part of the conditioning in an “age of rage.”
In the video, Piker leads the crowd in the meme song “We Are Charlie Kirk” at a stop of his “Fear& LIVE” tour, including such lines as “We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame. We’ll fight for the Gospel, we’ll honor his name.” His co-hosts and the crowd seem to be laughing with joy.
(2) I guess it’s okay to be a “journalist” and not only celebrate Kirk’s death but make up fake quotes from him. The WaPo is forced to reinstate an employee who did just that.
(3) The Huck Finn wars.
(4) In the California governor’s race, Hilton is gaining on Becerra in the polls.
But I think there’s no way Hilton wins. However, I’d love to be pleasantly surprised.
(5) Boomers are doing more cannabis.
What a piece of work El-Sayed is
His mother worked for a designated terrorist group. And then there’s this from his sister:
Radicalism runs in the family.
Professor Eman Abdelhadi teaches at the University of Chicago.
On the morning of the October 7 attacks, she celebrated online by tweeting, “Good morning, freedom.”
After the massacres, she called for violent student uprisings on the streets of America.
“Let Palestine break this country wide open. Long live the student intifada.”
In October of 2025, she attended a protest at the Broadview ICE Detention Center outside of Chicago.
She was arrested for violence and spit on a police officer.
She’s currently charged with two counts of aggravated battery, along with two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest.
Her social media is flooded with antisemitic garbage and anti-American propaganda.
Did the Democrats vet him at all? Or maybe these things are considered plusses nowadays.
Even this?
From 2015 to 2017, the socialist Muslim Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, was executive director and health officer of the Detroit Health Department. In that capacity, he was in charge of Detroit’s Animal Control operation at a time when that department was engaged in some highly questionable activities. El-Sayed has boasted about how he “rebuilt the animal control system,” but he actually seems to have left a wide swath of destruction in his wake. And this is not just a story about the ethical treatment of animals.
The Daily Mail reported Thursday that “his record overseeing Detroit’s troubled animal-control system” includes “high rates of animal euthanasia,” particularly involving the killing of dogs. It seems that “nearly 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized by Detroit Animal Care and Control (DACC) during the period when El-Sayed was in his post at the Detroit Health Department,” and far more dogs than cats were put to death.
And then there’s his vile racism:
Abdul El-Sayed is facing a wave of backlash over a pair of posts taking aim at Second Lady Usha Vance and Trump aide Natalie Harp.
“So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…” El-Sayed posted after Vice President JD Vance took aim at his past… pic.twitter.com/IXHlt2tcHK
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 23, 2026
If you can’t access X:
Abdul El-Sayed is facing a wave of backlash over a pair of posts taking aim at Second Lady Usha Vance and Trump aide Natalie Harp.
“So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…” El-Sayed posted after Vice President JD Vance took aim at his past comments on Sharia law. Critics quickly accused the Michigan Senate candidate of making a racist reference to Usha Vance’s Indian ethnicity.
Then El-Sayed turned his attention to Trump aide Natalie Harp: “Natalie, I think he’s had a little too much iPad for the week. He needs his rest.”
The posts are now fueling accusations of racism and sexism, adding another flashpoint to El-Sayed’s escalating fight with Vance.
And back in April, from El-Sayed:
“What do you think is going through Usha’s head when he talks? She’s like, ‘Damn, I have to sleep with him,’” El-Sayed said on “The Allen Analysis Show” posted on Friday.
I guess she’s pregnant so something is happening,” El-Sayed continued, “Can you imagine, he’s got Brown kids, at some point he’s going to have a really awkward conversation with his kids, like, you made your career hating people who are different.” …
El-Sayed continued, “I love my Brown kids, and I think my Brown kids are just as American as everyone else. JD Vance has Brown kids who he thinks are less American than everyone else.”
El-Sayed also said on the podcast appearance that Vance has the “charisma of a doorknob” and the “aura of a toad” while urging Usha Vance to “get out” of the marriage.
El-Sayed has the charisma of a viper and the aura of a crocodile. He’s a despicable human being.
Another one of those days
My ex is having health problems again, so I’ve been busy with that. Probably will go to the ER soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Open thread 8/24/2026
More than you ever wanted to know about horned helmets:
Are rhythmic gymnasts tall?
This is clearly one of the burning questions of our times, and I’m willing to tackle it: are rhythmic gymnasts tall?
They certainly are thin; the quintessential ectomorphs, with elastic limbs and extreme grace. Their lean bodies and long legs in proportion to height make them look tall, but I began to wonder whether they really were. After all, I know that ballet dancers often look much taller onstage than they are (see the discussion in this post). Maybe the same is true of rhythmic gymnasts such as this champion:
Well, it turns out that rhythmic gymnasts really are tall, relatively tall. Not as tall as basketball players, but taller than other gymnasts – who tend to be very short. Here’s the explanation:
One of the most important physical quality a rhythmic gymnast must have is a slim and stylish body. According to Spanish ex gymnast Susana Mendizábal, rhythmic gymnastics must be tall with long limbs, narrow trunk and hips and very thin. With an average height of 5 ft 4 in and weight of 94.8 pounds stereotypical canon for rhythmic implies Gymnasts’ thinness is usually genetically determined.
That height combined with that weight makes for a very thin person. And some of them are as tall as 5’9″ – the Wiki entry for the gymnast in the video you just watched claims that she is that tall.
Also:
Taking away all of the figures and using common sense, rhythmic gymnasts that achieve elite also tend to be taller because as a lot of the routines involve throwing and catching it’s easier for them to retrieve the apparatus as their limbs are longer. The longer the reach and the strides, the less effort you have to do to perform a routine.
I find them quite amazing.
[NOTE: In my previous post on short ballet dancers, it’s so old that the YouTube videos have disappeared. One of the short dancers I discuss in the post is Daniel Ulbricht of the New York City Ballet. He seems to be retired from performing and is now teaching. There aren’t a whole lot of videos of him on YouTube, but I thought this one shows off his high jump.
Unfortunately, there’s a dark background and he’s wearing dark tights, which sometimes makes it hard to see the full height of his jumps.]
Gerald Posner: Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza
Good luck with that. The vast vast majority of people who say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza are immune to any facts to the contrary. It’s partly a case of not being able to reason people out of something they weren’t reasoned into in the first place. It’s also that what drives the genocide claims about Israel is the desire to claim an Orwellian reversal in which the Jews have become the Nazis.
And what drives that? Leftist hatred of Israel and decades of Soviet-generated and Arab-spread Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred. In Europe, the desire to be let off the hook for the Holocaust. In the US on the right – which is hardly immune – it’s good old-fashioned Holocaust denial and Jews-run-the-world-and-are-responsible-for-everything-bad-in-it sentiment. There’s also religious hatred among both Muslims and “Christian” nationalists of the Tucker variety. China also drives it internationally with TikTok algorithms favoring the promotion of anti-Israel anti-Jewish myths.
Autism redux
The topic of autism has come back into the news lately. Or perhaps it never left. So this might be as good a time as any to call your attention to this 2008 post of mine in which I deal with the explanations for the increasing numbers of diagnoses of autism.
An excerpt:
I am not going to present all the pros and cons of the research involved; that would require a book. But I will say that, having read a good deal of it, I come down fairly strongly at this point on the side of thinking the epidemic is almost entirely an artifact of statistics and diagnostic changes.
Increasing reimbursement also fuels the increase. And the vaccine connection theory was revealed a few years later to have been a hoax.
I also want to call your attention to a Frontline documentary I saw on television way back in 1993. It’s extremely sad and very well-done. The topic is facilitated communication in cases of profound autism. Parents desperately (and understandably) wanted to believe that their previously nonverbal autistic children were thinking deep thoughts and aching to communicate, and that the technique of facilitated communication had unlocked riches that had always lurked hidden within them. But it was actually – if not exactly a hoax, then a case of yearning and wishful thinking on the part of both health professionals and the relatives of the autistic children.
Here’s the link to the documentary: