Friday the 13th roundup
(1) It’s Friday the 13th. Make of that what you will.
(2) The US ice dancing skaters were probably robbed of a gold by a French judge showing favoritism to the French ice dancing pair:
Still, it doesn’t seem like they have much of a chance at a reversal, despite the outcry regarding the questionable scoring by a French judge, Jezabel Dabouis, who favored the winning pair from France by a wide margin, while the other judges gave the two pairs much closer scores.
So, what else is new? Isn’t this sort of thing an old old story in a sport like ice dancing or ice skating in general?
(3) California’s a beautiful state. But not that beautiful; Mark Zuckerberg is planning a move to Miami to avoid the “billionaire tax.” See this:
With Zuck’s move to Florida, California’s total taxable wealth from billionaires has plummeted to well under $1T from over $2T just a few weeks ago. The loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever. All because Gavin Newsom stood motionless as this stupidly written bill, from a fringe union and a handful of socialist academics with an axe to grind, meandered its way into the public conversation without any action from him and freaked everyone out. These were all people that were paying 13%+ in state income tax every year WITH NO COMPLAINTS UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO.
(4) Virginia’s extreme pro-Democrat gerrymandering moves forward:
Republicans had argued that the referendum should be paused following a lower court ruling that found Democrats had “failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session; failed to approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election; and failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law.”
Nevertheless, Virginia’s Supreme Court is letting it go forward, and says they may rule on it after the referendum is voted on.
(5) In no surprise whatsoever, US talks with Iran have stalled:
… President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, had a series of talks with Iranians in Oman. The talks failed to end the deadlock, with the Iranian top negotiator and Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, threatening to attack U.S. military bases in the Middle East shortly after the meeting.
So now Trump’s sending another carrier to the area. Bluff, or not?
It is worth noting that during Operation Midnight Hammer last June, when the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear weapons facilities, two aircraft carriers were deployed in the region.
What’s going on in the New Mexico Senate race?
In the last decade or two, New Mexico has become a blue state. Thus, one might imagine that potential GOP candidates there don’t have a lot of enthusiasm about running for office. But usually the party has managed to field candidates. However, now they won’t have one in the 2026 Senate race; here’s the story:
If he rebuffs a primary challenge, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján is set to avoid a Republican opponent in his bid for a second term, after a potential GOP opponent was disqualified Tuesday for failing to meet ballot requirements.
The disqualification of Republican candidate Christopher Vanden Heuvel of Rio Rancho means that for the first time in modern state history the state’s general election ballot for a U.S. Senate race will have only one major party candidate.
In all, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver ruled four candidates did not turn in enough qualified voter signatures to appear on the June primary election ballot.
In addition to Vanden Heuvel, other disqualified candidates include Republican Carlton Pennington of Moriarty in the 1st Congressional District race and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Belinda Robertson of Las Cruces.
In addition, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., will avoid a primary election challenge from fellow Democrat Thomas Wakely of Columbus after Wakely was disqualified from the ballot. Vasquez would face the winner of a GOP primary contest between Gregory Cunningham of Las Cruces and Jose Orozco of Albuquerque in the November general election.
So, the fourth disqualification was of a Democrat, but that Democrat was opposing an incumbent Democrat member of the House of Representatives, who will be facing the winner of the GOP primary. The other three candidates who were disqualified seem to include every single Republican who was running for the Senate.
I noticed in some comments on sites on the right that there’s a lot of railing against the stupidity and loser-mentality of the GOP. But, although I read quite a few articles on what happened, I have yet to learn answers to the following relevant questions:
(1) Did the GOP candidates for the Senate simply fail to get enough signatures, period?
(2) Or did they get enough but some signatures were disqualified, enough to bump them off the ballot? And if so, how many?
(3) On what were the disqualifications based? Valid or not?
I could find no numbers or details on what happened and no answers to these questions. But where the blame should fall depends on those answers, I think.
The last Republican to win a statewide office in New Mexico was a judge, in 2016.
The present Republican candidate for governor is also facing a court challenge about residency. And the Secretary of State is, of course, a Democrat.
If you have more details that might answer my questions, please let us know in the comments.
[NOTE: And yes, disqualifying the opposition on the basis of signature flaws was a favorite ploy of Obama in his early years. See this.]
Open thread 2/13/2025
The Senate GOP and the SAVE Act
I’ve seen a lot of posts and comments around the internet expressing frustration with the GOP in the Senate for not yet passing the SAVE Act. It’s so important, according to just about everyone. It would codify as a federal matter many voting safeguards, such as IDs/proof of citizenship.
I agree that it’s important, and it would be wonderful if it were passed – although as soon as Democrats came to power they’d probably pass HR1, its mirror-image opposite.
And is it worthwhile to nuke the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act? Probably, many say. Plus, there’s little doubt the Democrats would end the filibuster – and will do it if they control the Senate – in order to finally pass HR1 after so many tries.
So, what’s the problem? Why not do it? Isn’t it just the usual stupidity, cowardice, and mendacity of the Republicans in the Senate (including of course McConnell and Murkowski), holding it back?
The Ruthless guys beg to differ. They’re very smart cookies, so it’s worth a listen. The clip is about 20 minutes long, but very informative and different from what you’ll hear elsewhere:
Today is Lincoln’s birthday
[NOTE: This is a slightly-edited version of a previous post.]
His actual birthday, that is.
When I was a child, Lincoln had a birthday all his own. Nowadays he’s lumped in with other presidents. And who knows where he’ll be in the future?
When I was a child, Lincoln also fascinated me more than any other president. One reason was a superficial one: he was just about the strangest-looking president ever (see this). Another was his eloquence, and a third was his sense of humor.
Which brings us to a series of Lincoln quotes. This first one seems especially apropos today:
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
More:
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
It’s not me who can’t keep a secret. It’s the people I tell that can’t.
I hope this prediction is correct:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
And of course, one of the most famous:
If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
This is how the media writes propaganda: about deportations or anything else
A textbook example is from CBS. In particular, the headline is misleading. There’s no question in my mind that this is purposely so, and perhaps the most important part of the game. The headline is often either the only thing people read, or the headline and the first paragraph or two, and articles are shaped by people who are well aware of that. Even if a person does read the whole thing, the headline tends to shape that person’s perceptions.
The headline of this particular article is, “Less than 14% of those arrested by ICE in Trump’s 1st year back in office had violent criminal records, document shows.” Wow, the reader is meant to think, I guess the right is lying when it says the focus right now is on criminals. How many people read articles with such a jaundiced eye that they’re aware of the trap there, the words “violent criminal records” and especially the definition of the word “violent”? Most of those who do read the headline with skepticism are probably not going to be Democrat voters and/or Trump haters, because of the phenomenon of confirmation bias.
I read all articles with skepticism, but that’s only because I have to write about them and need to try my best to get it right, and have learned over and over and over again how much of what we read is propaganda. It happens on both left and right, but more often on the left, and of course most of the MSM is on the left.
That’s why I immediately realized the key word there was “violent.”
Let’s get to the article. The first three paragraphs – again, that would be all most people would read – set up the premise that Trump and company are lying:
Less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News.
The official statistics contained in the DHS document, which had not been previously reported publicly, provide the most detailed look yet into who ICE has arrested during the Trump administration’s far-reaching deportation operations across the U.S.
The internal DHS figures undermine frequent assertions by the Trump administration that its crackdown on illegal immigration is primarily targeting dangerous and violent criminals living in the U.S. illegally, people Mr. Trump and his lieutenants have regularly called the “worst of the worst.”
It’s only in paragraph four that the reader might get a whiff of what’s going on, and by then a lot of people have either dropped out or have made up their minds that Trump has been lying:
Nearly 60% of ICE arrestees over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, the document indicates. But among that population, the majority of the criminal charges or convictions are not for violent crimes.
But Trump et al never said they were all murderers or rapists, just that many were and that most (not all) have some sort of criminal past. The article goes on; you can read it for yourself. It isn’t till paragraph 9 that you can read this:
Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, said in a statement after this story was published that “Drug trafficking, Distribution of child pornography, burglary, fraud, DUI, embezzlement, solicitation of a minor, human smuggling are all categorized as ‘nonviolent crimes.'”
I don’t think anyone got the idea that all the deportees are murderers or rapists. But those who’ve committed the above crimes are people most citizens don’t want here and would be in favor of deporting.
When you look at the actual figures, it becomes even more clear:
The figures below illustrate the categories of criminal charges or convictions among the individuals arrested by ICE between Jan. 21, 2025 and Jan. 31, 2026 who had criminal records. The DHS document says it listed the most serious charges or convictions at the time of arrest.
All Other
117,987
Assault
42,847
DWI / DUI
29,929
Dangerous Drugs
22,555
Weapons Offenses
6,146
Sexual Assault
5,365
Burglary
5,053
Robbery
2,725
Homicide
2,107
Kidnapping
1,116
Arson
346The document also says ICE arrested 22,600 individuals with charges or convictions involving dangerous drugs, while another 6,100 had weapons offenses on their records. Nearly 30,000 of those arrested by ICE had been charged with or convicted with driving while under influence or intoxicated. Another 5,000 arrestees had burglary charges or convictions.
The document says another 118,000 detainees had criminal charges or convictions for “other” crimes. Those could include immigration-related crimes, like entering the U.S. illegally, a misdemeanor for the first-time offense, or re-entering the country after being deported, a felony.
A lovely bunch of “neighbors.”
Often news is reported and the slant is what’s left out. This article is typical of a different and not-uncommon approach, which is to report more or less correctly but towards the latter part of an article, after the propaganda message has been driven home.
I said the article is more or less correct, but as far as I can see it does leave something out, which is the fact that some of the deportees have criminal convictions at home but not in the US.
The CBS article also reports the following, which is almost certainly a result of slanted coverage like this or worse:
A CBS News poll last month found that Americans’ support for Mr. Trump’s deportation efforts had fallen to 46%, down from 59% at the start of his second term.
Bravo, CBS. Mission accomplished!
NOTE: It turns out that one of those people with criminal convictions at home but not here is a person I wrote about two days ago, Irish national Seamus Culleton, who overstayed a visa for about two decades and has been complaining about his detention as a “concentration camp” and yet refuses to go back to Ireland although that’s been offered. Well, guess what? Turns out he’s wanted in Ireland on various charges:
McLaughlin said that he was offered the chance to be “instantly removed to Ireland” but that he “chose to stay in ICE custody” and took steps to “remain in detention”.
She said that being in detention “is a choice” and that the department encourages people in this position to “take control of their departure”.
McLaughlin added that the US is offering “illegal aliens” $2,600 (€2,000) and a free flight to self-deport.
It comes amid confirmation that Culleton had a number of charges against him before he left Ireland in 2009.
The Journal has established, via multiple sources familiar with his interactions with gardaí, that Culleton had a number of interactions with the justice system in Ireland before he moved to the US.
One incident involved the alleged possession for sale or supply of MDMA (ecstasy) and an attempt to get rid of the drugs when being searched by gardaí in 2008.
Culleton was charged with obstruction but did not appear in court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest in April 2009, after he had moved to the US. …
On another occasion, Culleton was arrested for his own safety while drunk in Glenmore in 2007.
Separately, another bench warrant was issued for Culleton’s arrest after he failed to appear in court when facing criminal damage charges in September 2007.
Speaking during a press conference yesterday, Culleton’s lawyer, Ogor Winnie Okoye, who is representing him in his fight to be released from detention, said she had not heard about her client’s charges until this week.
“This is the first time that we’re hearing about that,” Okoye said yesterday. “I can’t speak to a warrant.
“Mr Culleton will not be aware of any warrant that happened after he came to the United States.
“A warrant is not a conviction, a warrant is not a criminal entry, so I will leave it at that until I understand the specific facts of the case.”
So he apparently failed to tell his lawyer about those warrants – at least some of which (and perhaps all of which) occurred before he came to the US and are probably why he left Ireland as well as why he doesn’t want to return. Fancy that.
Open thread 2/12/2026
DC grand jury refuses to indict Democrat legislators who advised military members to disobey orders
A Washington, DC, grand jury refused to indict Democratic lawmakers who made a video urging military and intelligence agency members to disobey illegal orders, according to numerous outlets.
The government and courts did not reveal the charges or which members were named in the indictment.
Please read the whole thing.
This was one of those judgment calls in terms of whether the accused are actually guilty of seditious conspiracy. But I think it was madness to think a DC grand jury would ever indict them. Pick your battles. This result was a gimme to the left, which can self-righteously claim persecution and vindication.
On the other hand, I think it is highly likely that if the facts were all the same but it was Republicans who had made the statements, and Republicans facing a DC grand jury, they would have been indicted and then probably convicted.
[NOTE: Kelly may fall under military jurisdiction, but the others do not.]
School shooting in Canada – perp is alleged to have been trans
The terrible tragedy occurred in a small town in British Columbia, with at least seven victims dead at the school, and many more injured.
Initial reports were coy:
Authorities have only identified the shooter as a ‘female in a dress’.
But the later story is that the perp was 18-year-old Jesse Strang, “a biological male who identifies as a woman named Jess.” As with some other mass killers, he apparently started out by murdering two family members – his mother and a brother – went on to kill at least seven people at the school, and then killed himself.
At this point it’s quite clear that there’s a trend in recent school shootings towards perps who identify as trans. What might be going on?
“People who identify as trans” is not a unitary category. To start with, some are biological males and some – actually, the majority – are biological females. But those are hardly the only differences among them. Some – a higher-than-by-chance proportion – have a pre-existing autism or ADHD diagnosis (see this and this, for example). It is highly possible that, because of transgenderism’s recent rise in popularity, it attracts quite a few people with pre-existing problems and gives them an identity and support group.
Then there may be an amplification of problems for any number of reasons: surgical intervention may cause dysfunction and regret (although there’s no indication that any of the trans shooters have had surgery, and surgery is hardly a given within the trans population), social media support that magnifies anger at the world, and the administration of cross-sex hormones and/or puberty blockers. The hormones in particular are suspect, in my opinion. The male body is not meant to take in huge doses of females hormones, nor is the female body meant to be inundated with testosterone. If you look at the literature, however, you’ll see studies that say cross-sex hormone treatment improves mental health, and although of course that may be true for some, there are also many trans individuals who say the hormones messed with their minds and bodies. Many de-transitioners report that phenomenon as the motive for their reverting back to identifying as their biological sex.
School shooters are of course the exception and not the rule. So are trans people – which makes the intersection of the two a very noticeable and disturbing phenomenon.
RIP to the victims.
[NOTE: I am pretty sure that some readers will wonder if SSRIs were involved. I’ve written about the connection between SSRIs and violence in this post. I’ve also written about the connection between school shooters and fatherlessness here. In addition, please see this post about two previous school shooters who identified as trans.]
Open thread 2/11/2026
20-year illegal alien detained – and he’s Irish
I could not care less where this guy came from. Here’s the story:
An Irish national who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years has been detained for five months at a federal facility in Texas, where he compared conditions to a “concentration camp” without an end in sight.
In addition to being an illegal alien, he’s a Holocaust appropriator and an ignoramus about history.
More [emphasis mine]:
Seamus Culleton, a native of Glenmore, Ireland, said he’s been held at El Paso Camp East Montana in Texas since being arrested on September 9 despite not having a criminal record, The Irish Times reported Monday.
“Not even a parking ticket,” Culleton, 38, told the outlet during an interview from the facility.
Culleton described brutal conditions at the immigration detention center, which he described as “like a concentration camp, absolute hell,” according to the report.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Tuesday that ICE agents arrested Culleton in early September.
“He entered the United States in 2009 under the visa waiver program, which allows you to stay in the U.S. for 90 days without a visa,” McLaughlin told Newsweek in a statement. “He failed to depart the U.S.. He received full due process and was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on September 10, 2025. He was offered the chance to instantly be removed to Ireland but chose to stay in ICE custody, in fact he took affirmative steps to remain in detention.”
And in fact there’s more. From Ace:
The only argument in favor of keeping this guy around is that he 1, applied for a Green Card and is here provisionally while his case is considered and 2, he got married to a US citizen.
But here’s the thing: He only took those two steps when he was about to be deported.
The left, and Nick Gillespie, are claiming “he has a valid work permit.”
But that was only issued on the basis of his sudden application for a green card.
Which he only applied for in 2025, when Trump was about to deport him.
What did he do for the 20 years prior as far as work or money?
Did he work illegally using someone else’s social security number? Did he just sit on welfare for 20 years?
Did he, perhaps, engage in an actual criminal trade?
But we have to pretend his entire record began exactly when he took two desperate, last minute steps to confabulate a fraudulent set of facts to avoid deportation.
From that Newsweek article, just to clarify:
“Being in detention is a choice,” McLaughlin continued. “We encourage all illegal aliens to use the CBP Home app to take control of their departure. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
He had – and perhaps still has? – the chance to return to Ireland. And yet he chose to stay in a concentration camp. Go figure.
Oh, and this guy couldn’t be more wrong:
This is appalling and I hope cuts through to the ‘heritage American’ types who otherwise could care less about due process for immigrants …
Nobody on the right cares that he’s Irish. Also, he’s gotten due process.