WATCH: Cops Tase Fleeing Felon, He Explodes Into a Human Fireball

Alex Parker reporting for RedState 

It’s been said many times: Resisting arrest is a bad idea. Such a lesson was particularly punctuated in Arkansas earlier this month.

According to dash cam video, just after 1 a.m. on October 13th, police spotted a man on a black sport bike without a license plate in Little Rock. When the cruiser activated its lights, the cyclist sped off.

The breakaway biker shot through residential areas at speeds surpassing 90 miles per hour. He raced through stop signs and red lights and into oncoming traffic, at one point nearly crashing into another vehicle.

Once on the freeway, his hightailing topped out at 120 mph.

After nearly 10 minutes, the on-the-lam lawbreaker cut across a Kroger parking lot and into a neighborhood. He grounded his crotch rocket near a tree and attempted to ditch the fuzz on foot. But the long arm of the law caught up.

The man had boldly blazed through town as if imagining he was John Wick. The comparison proved particularly apt — minus the “John.” As captured on camera, a member of the Arkansas State Police unholstered his taser and fired on the fleeing felon. When the barbs reached the suspect and delivered their jolt of justice, the culprit blew up like the Death Star. His torso burst into a furious fireball that consumed the rest of him.

One trooper shouted the obvious — “He’s on fire!”

The human torch ate dirt, rose up, stumbled forward then face-planted. After a time tumbling, he returned to his feet and ran in the opposite direction. That didn’t last long — he slammed into the soil, twirling like a Fourth-of-July Jumping Jack.

At some point, he decided he’d like to be friendlier with the cops and less on fire. Hence, his affable requests:

“Help me! Help me!”

Police fetched an extinguisher and put him out.

“I can’t breathe!” he complained to the officers.

Their response:

 

“None of us can. Put your hands behind your back.”

Another cop added, “Good reason not to run, man.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” the former firework replied.

So why did Mr. Motorbike go completely Captain Kerosene? The Police Pursuits YouTube channel offers an explanation:

Unbeknownst to the troopers, the suspect had a canister of gas in his backpack. The taser prongs likely punctured the can.

He’s one fortunate flamer:

Burns were mostly superficial, but obviously very painful. He is expected to make a full recovery.

He was reportedly taken to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, which houses a special burn unit.

It’s an excellent reminder, indeed — don’t resist arrest. That dictate should go double if you’re catastrophically combustible.

See the entire 30-minute video below:

Not Consensus, But Truth

Thoughts on some senses of the word “steal” 
(with a brief excursus on “consensus”).

by Roger Kimball for American Greatness

We use the word “steal,” as we use many words, in several distinct but related senses. Here is an illustration of the core meaning. Joe goes into a candy store, looks around furtively (from the Latin fūr, “thief”) and then, when he sees that the shopkeeper is distracted, pockets some M&M’s and walks out. Joe just stole the M&M’s. 

That act of theft is simple. There are plenty of more complex and nuanced ones, but the element of assuming as one’s own something that rightfully belongs to another is key. 

Our elaborate and often convoluted financial system is replete with examples. So is our political life. 

Perhaps the most popular meme floating about in polite society today is the contention that any hint of the 2020 presidential election being tainted is a “Big Lie.” It is so popular, in fact, that some journalists and politicians appear to present themselves to the Office of Acceptable Propaganda each day before setting off on their rounds. They collect their allotted quota of different ways of ridiculing and dismissing those imprudent enough to suggest that, as a matter of fact, there were lots of problems with the 2020 elections. 

It is important that these approved scribes and politicians engage in this ritual because there are many different ways in which this rhetorical epithet needs to be expressed if it is to achieve its goal: to silence debate by intimidating people. 

To this end, a number of different rhetorical registers must be sounded. Some are blunt and angry, as for example this tweet from a writer for The Bulwark, a marginal NeverTrump site supported by leftist billionaires: “Chris Sununu, Doug Ducey, Brian Kemp, and Glenn Youngkin . . . every single one of them is campaigning either for or with an election-denying lunatic.”

The obloquy is directed not simply against certain ideas, but also against the people who express, or might express, them. Thus we find Michael Steele, an anti-Trump Republican and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, castigating supporters of the former president as “lice, fleas, and blood sucking ticks.” The formula does have the advantage of clarity: I mean, partly because of its unsavory historical echoes, you know where you stand with Steele. 

But there are many other rhetorical gambits deployed in this effort to silence debate on the question. Some employ careful—or at least careful-sounding—analysis, sprinkled discreetly here and there with the imprecations against the Big Lie™. Some eschew personal abuse almost entirely, preferring instead to communicate an hauteur that signals how far beneath consideration any hint of an adumbration of electoral mischief would be. 

The aim, as I said, is to silence any and all criticism. The means is largely intimidation, but it is intimidation that aims first of all to create a consensus: a unanimity of sentiment so widespread that it no longer has to be prohibited because it is regarded as morally outrageous by polite society. 

I bring up the idea of consensus because it is a source of mischief and confusion not only in our understanding of history—did X actually happen when and where and how you say it did?—but also in science. Thanks to intellectual pied pipers like Thomas Kuhn (and Karl Popper before him), we have gotten used to sociological explanations masquerading as scientific ones. You will recall the popularity of the observation that “97 percent of climate scientists believe in global warming/climate change/etc.” As a matter of historical fact, there was never anything like that percentage of scientists who agreed with the Al Gore/Barack Obama mantras about climate change. This is something that Steve Koonin, a former science advisor for the Obama Administration who broke ranks by challenging the dominant narrative, showed definitively. 

But the key element here is the assumption that a consensus renders further discussion beyond the pale. It is just such an assumption that stands behind the mendacious application of the epithet “denier” to those who dissent from the reigning orthodoxy about climate. People who question the historical reality of the Holocaust are “Holocaust deniers.” That is a bad and dishonest thing. Why not use the same locution to render people who disagree with the reigning consensus about climate similarly radioactive? And if that worked, why not try the same thing with people who noticed the multiple anomalies that attached themselves like barnacles to the 2020 election? 

The point is that cognitive success in science, and indeed in any empirical inquiry, is not a matter of consensus but of truth. In Galileo’s time, the consensus was that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around the earth. That was the consensus. Everyone who was anyone knew it. But it was wrong. 

Blurring the distinction between consensus and truth was Thomas Kuhn’s great if crafty intellectual folly. It is the reason he made such a hit among sociologists and students of comparative literature. We see the results everywhere, with respect to climate and fossil fuels, COVID policy, and even in our understanding of elections. 

There is a lot more that might be said about the perils of mistaking consensus for the truth, but for now I want to return to the meaning of the word “steal” and its application to the 2020 presidential election.

We know that if Joe walks into a candy store and pockets some M&M’s without paying for them, he has stolen the M&M’s. What if he stays in his basement during an election and somehow accrues 81 million votes and manages to win several key states late at night only after a series of strange interventions in a handful of key cities? Might that also be a kind of theft? 

Perhaps the title of Mollie Hemingway’s Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections puts it more precisely. The election was not stolen outright. It was misappropriated by the forces Hemingway identifies: the media, which hated Trump, Big Tech (Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, etc.), and the Democrats, who in several states used the COVID emergency as an excuse to circumvent the Constitution and change election procedures by executive fiat rather than (as mandated by the Constitution) through the state legislatures. 

Did that constitutionally dubious procedure mean that the election was stolen? Maybe not. But surely it casts a shadow. And you can be sure if the partisan shoe were on the other foot the media would not be so quiescent. Just imagine if election procedures were changed by secretaries of state or governors and a Republican won! There would be hell to pay, and rightly so. 

Mark Zuckerberg spent nearly half a billion dollars in a (successful) effort to influence the election. Does that implicate the idea of stealing? Again, imagine if some conservative were to do the same thing and his candidate won. Would the New York Times nod approvingly? 

It is probably worth pointing out, too, that when Hemingway invokes “Democrats” we should not forget to include the FBI, an organization that has again and again shown itself to be the Democrats’ Geheime Staatspolizei. The recent revelation that the FBI leaned on Facebook, Twitter, and other media to bury the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop on the run up to the election should give us pause for about 27 different reasons. We know from multiple polls that had that story been allowed to stand thousands upon thousands of people who voted for Joe Biden would have changed their votes. Why was that action by the government not regarded as thief-like?

The examples pile up. Conrad Black, in a sobering article, listed some of them:

Everyone knows that there were potentially millions of harvested ballots that weren’t verified as authentically reflecting the voting preference of a real voter. And everyone knows that the judiciary at all levels refused to hear any of the cases that could have altered the election result. There were 19 of them, including the direct lawsuit of the attorney general of Texas in which he was joined by 18 other state attorneys general against the states that the plaintiff alleged had failed in their constitutional duty to ensure that national elections were conducted fairly in their states.

Was the 2020 election “stolen”? Perhaps that is not quite the right word. But, pace The Bulwark, what is “lunatic” is not distrusting the election but giving it a pass because, as every right thinking person will agree, it produced the desired result.

X22, On the Fringe, and more- Oct 23

 

Had web browser issues today, and since it took my tech savvy brother all afternoon to fix it, I've had to play catch up.

Based on what I just heard from a friend who has someone who has contacts with some peeps who work on the LA set, I think I'm getting closer to hearing when Linda will actually show up again! 🤞 Maybe sometime in the next 2 weeks!

Here's tonight's news:

With Drag Shows And ‘Genderfluid’ Internships, It’s No Wonder Military Recruiting Is Down

Woke policies are weakening our military’s morale and cohesion. 

The all-volunteer force needs new leaders before it is too late.

Elaine Donnelly reporting for The Federalist

Institutional groupthink and delusion have become endemic at the Pentagon. It started on Inauguration Day, 2021, when President Joe Biden directed all government agencies to devise and enforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates.

“Diversity” and “nondiscrimination” are important, but percentage-based “equity” goals differ from “equality.” Additional Biden administration orders reversed President Donald Trump’s nuanced policy regarding transgender military personnel and erased Trump’s directive eliminating controversial critical race theory (CRT) instruction programs.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin quickly ordered worldwide “anti-extremist” standdown sessions, which featured divisive CRT themes and unresolvable accusations of “systemic racism” or “white supremacy.” The demoralizing sessions diverted 5.3 million man-hours from normal operations, but investigators found fewer than 100 extremists among 2 million servicemembers.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and other lawmakers have received hundreds of messages and reports of “egregiously inappropriate” CRT training sessions. Judicial Watch obtained numerous documents confirming CRT indoctrination at West Point and is suing for more from the Naval Academy.

The Air Force Academy sparked controversy with a “diversity and inclusion” slide show combining platitudes with odd suggestions for “inclusive language,” such as “parents, caregivers, or guardians” instead of “Mom” and “Dad.”

More seriously, the CRT-influenced presentation disparaged the word “colorblind.” That characterization radically departs from the colorblind principles of Martin Luther King Jr., and President Harry Truman’s 1948 executive order ending discrimination in the military.

Claiming that the presentation had been taken out of context, Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark wrote, “We should respect everyone’s situation and not make assumptions.” This was ironic since CRT instructions are built on assumptions and stereotypes. Prejudgments based on sex or skin color alone define what prejudice is.

Discrimination Against White Males

Denials of woke-ism ring false when the academy hosts seminars like “Transgender Visibility and Awareness in our Air Force,” while excluding “cisgender men” from the academy’s Brooke Owens Fellowship program — a nine-week paid internship for cadets interested in aerospace.

Now the program is reserved for women and “non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, genderqueer, or another form of gender minority.” This type of brazen discrimination smacks of woke-ism, and it is not unique.

Red State reports that the Air Force was short 1,650 pilots in 2021, but officials plan to reduce white officers from 80 percent to 67.5 percent. They also plan to decrease white male pilots, currently 86 percent, by dropping prior flight training as a “plus” factor for selection.

Why would an experienced white male pilot join or stay in the Air Force knowing he will be the target of racial discrimination, especially when commercial airlines offer generous family and financial advantages?

The Army ended fiscal year 2021 short 15,000 recruits (25 percent), and the other services barely made their goals by accelerating delayed-entry recruits. This will make it harder to meet objectives next year, but Pentagon leaders expect recruiters to spend more time and resources trying to attract female prospects with a lower propensity to serve.

Woke-ism also manifests in disastrous Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Thousands of potential recruits, cadets, and experienced personnel have been rejected or discharged for expressing medical or religious objections. Each one conveys an “anti-recruiting” message to the military’s prime “market,” patriotic families with traditional values. 

Instead of repairing bonds with that core constituency, Pentagon officials keep catering to LGBT activists. “Pride” events are proliferating on military bases, sometimes with “family friendly” drag queen performances and “story hours.” 

Denials of biological reality descend into incoherence. Woke transgender training requires sex-confused pronouns, and Selective Service is registering men identifying as “women,” but not transgender “men” who have female DNA.

CRT Reaffirmed in DOD Schools and Academies

Now comes “anti-racist” activist Kelisa Wing, the new director of diversity and inclusion programs in the Department of Defense Education Activity — the largest K-12 school system in the world. Wing has authored several CRT books and tweets promoting racial “revolution,” defunding the police, and anti-white attitudes. 

Military children who otherwise might follow their parents’ service in uniform could be dissuaded by teachings such as this — another problem for recruiters. And many military children, a mostly captive audience whose parents must follow orders, will be exposed to even more transgender culture and controversial “gender affirming” treatments.

Also under current policies, male service academy athletes could dominate female cadets’ athletic teams, worsening declining applications. The Air Force Academy reports 28 percent fewer applicants for the Class of 2026, while West Point and Annapolis received 10 percent and 20 percent less, respectively.

Ignoring all this, Defense Secretary Austin expanded the Pentagon’s military diversity complex. Retired Air Force Gen. Lester L. Lyles, who chaired the notorious 2011 Military Leadership Diversity Commission (MLDC), will head the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (DACODAI).

Gen. Lyles’ multi-volume MLDC report, which presaged today’s woke military, recommended women in the infantry and “chief diversity officers” to ensure high-rank promotions only for candidates who fully support “diversity” metrics and the new definition of “equity” as group rights, not individual rights.

The concept, said the MLDC, is “not about treating everyone the same. This can be a difficult concept to grasp … especially for leaders who grew up with EO-inspired mandate to be both color and gender blind.”

The Pentagon does not need yet another DEI report stacked on top of countless diversity plans, blueprints, and directives. Most reports earnestly proclaim, in some form, “diversity is a strategic (or operational) imperative.” Special Operations Command’s 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan repeated that mantra 12 times on 20 pages.

Diverse working groups are beneficial, but most DEI manifestos cite studies having nothing to do with military requirements. The Air Force Academy slide show and Task Force One Navy report footnoted studies analyzing civilian business teams, not military fighting units.

Is there a cure for this military woke syndrome? Yes, but the first step in solving a problem is to acknowledge it exists. Instead, Pentagon officials keep emulating Baghdad Bob with dissembling denials of woke policies that are weakening morale and cohesion. The all-volunteer force needs new leaders who will restore clear thinking and sound priorities before it is too late.

The New 'Pride Flag' Is a Seizure-Causing Kaleidoscope of Color

Jim Thompson reporting for RedState 

I’ll start with some research on the origins of the Pride Flag, so here goes. You’re welcome in advance.

1978

The first Rainbow flag was made by San Francisco resident Gilbert Baker. He was buddies with Harvey Milk. Gilbert was also known by his drag queen name, “Busty Ross.”

1999

A biological man, now a  “woman,” invents a transgender flag because the pride flag doesn’t rep the transgender community.

2017

Racism! A cry of racism causes knees to jerk all over Philly. The city commissions a change in the Rainbow flag. After a lot of gnashing of teeth, Philadelphia adds black and brown stripes.

2018

A celestial object named Daniel Quasar zaps out something Quasar calls a “Progress Flag.” According to Quasar, he is a “queer non-binary celestial object having a human experience.” Quasar’s new flag mops together the Philadelphia flag brown and black, and added a multi-color triangle. Quasar (apparently communicating in human language) said the [triangle] “colors in the chevron represent trans individuals, people of color, those living with HIV/AIDS, and deceased members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

2022

But we’re not done. Once the box of crayons was spilled out on the floor, there was no going back, no end to the coloring. With “new genders” or “no genders” or celestial objects being added daily, Microsoft solicits suggestions from its massive staff.

This is the result. According to Microsoft:

“This flag combines 40 different flags from LGBTQIA+ communities around the world, including Abrosexual, Aceflux, Agender, Ambiamorous, Androgynous, Aroace, Aroflux, Aromantic, Asexual, Bigender, Bisexual, Demifluid, Demigender, Demigirl, Demiromantic, Demisexual, Gay/MLM/Vinician, Genderfluid, Genderflux, Genderqueer, Gender questioning, Graysexual, Intersex, Lesbian, Maverique, Neutrois, Nonbinary, Omnisexual, Pangender, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Polysexual, Transgender, Trigender, Two Spirit, Progress Pride, Queer, Unlabeled.”

What is the difference between Genderfluid and Genderflux?

What is “Maverique”? I’m glad you asked.

“A term for a non-binary gender identity that is defined by autonomy and view about one’s internal sense of self which is not related to or derived from manhood or womanhood, but also is not neutrois or a form of agender.” 

Yeah….

Don’t stare at the Five Times August GIF if you are: prone to seizures, blackouts, convulsions, hypertension, or swelling of the face. Microsoft’s Peter Max-like, kaleidoscope of color was predictable. Once you allow for one new gender, a “celestial object” in the back of the room will jazz hands and demand that [pick your pronouns] color be added. Next year, there will be more. And what about the two feathers in the bottom right? Is there a “two-feathers” gender? Are the pronouns “beak/talons”?

I noticed one thing right away. Do you see it? Way too much white. White Supremacy! Racism!

By the way, this isn’t “Pride” month, you bigots. That’s in June. This is October. October is LGBT+ month.

Confused? Yeah, me too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

Tiny Head

A little Sunday Photoshop fun with Tiny Head Fetterman.

posted by Dianny at Patriot Retort

I said Friday that I wanted to take that bizarre picture of Tiny Head Fetterman meeting Biden at the airport and Photoshop it to make his head even tinier, but Matt’s Idea Shop was already working on it.

Here is Matt’s Tiny Head Fetterman:

Okay, that’s funny.

Then last night for some reason I got the song “Once in a Lifetime” stuck in my head. And suddenly, I asked myself, “Well, how did I get here?”

Okay, not really.

Let’s try that again.

And suddenly, it dawned on me, “I could Photoshop Tiny Head Fetterman in David Byrne’s BIG SUIT!”

It’s perfect. Not only can I put Tiny Head Fetterman in a BIG SUIT but I can also make use of the Talking Heads movie, “Stop Making Sense,” which, when you get right down to it, is perfect for a guy who doesn’t make any sense.

Anyway. Here it is:

Hey, speaking of not making any sense.

Did you see this clip from Joe Biden’s MSNBC interview?

Frankly, I’m stunned that MSNBC let this portion of the interview air.

It’s as if deep down in Joe’s subconscious, he fact-checked himself in real-time.

He says it is his intention to run for reelection, then two seconds later, he demonstrates precisely why his intent isn’t worth a plug nickel.

Worse still, Joe inadvertently lets the cat out of the bag by acknowledging that it isn’t his intention to run. It’s Jill’s.

Just like Gisele Fetterman is the “de facto candidate” for her husband, Jill Biden is the “de facto” president planning a second term in the White House.

Both Tiny Head Fetterman and Joe Biden prove that behind every brain-damaged man, there is a scheming, power-hungry woman who is calling the shots.

The Albertsons and Kroger Merger Faces Legislative Scrutiny as European Company Ahold Assembles Competitive Bid

Sundance reporting for Conservative Treehouse 

Last week we discussed the announcement of a $24.6 billion merger deal between Kroger and Albertsons supermarkets {Go Deep}.  The majority stockholders in both companies are institutional investment groups, Blackrock, Vanguard and Cerberus.

The merger would consolidate the second and third largest food retailers in the U.S. and would certainly dilute the competitive dynamic amid the supermarket industry.  Concern over price controls and decreased competition has now arrived on the desks of DC legislators who are reviewing the deal.

(Reuters) – […] U.S. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican Senator Mike Lee were quick to say that they would hold a hearing to discuss the merger. A European interloper could make deal plans even harder.

Frans Muller, Chief Executive of Stop & Shop owner Ahold Delhaize (AD.AS), has made no secret of his desire to consolidate U.S. grocers. The Netherlands-based firm is already the fourth largest grocery chain. If it managed to cobble together a better offer than Kroger’s bid for Albertsons, it would become the second largest supermarket. Plane spotters tracked two Albertsons jets next to Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. base in Massachusetts in early August. Ahold declined to comment.

Ahold can also afford a chunky deal. The Dutch grocer has debt of just 2 times its $6.7 billion of EBITDA estimated for this year, according to Refinitiv. That’s 50% less than the average. If investors reckoned there was merit in a deal, Muller could also use equity to beef up the offer. At more than 12 times, Ahold’s price-to-earnings ratio is a fifth higher than Albertsons’, giving it currency.

Aspects of the deal might make it easier for antitrust authorities to get comfortable, too. Kroger and Albertsons would have a combined market share of 13%, whereas a deal with its Dutch rival gives much less of the pie. Ahold focuses on the East Coast of America whereas Albertsons has a big presence on the West Coast. So regulators wouldn’t have to worry about a larger Kroger shutting down competing Albertsons stores.

[…] U.S. senators who scrutinise antitrust issues expressed “serious concerns” about grocery company Kroger’s plan to buy rival Albertsons, and said they would hold a hearing in November on the $25 billion deal.

The announcement by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee antitrust panel, and Republican Senator Mike Lee confirmed a previous report by Reuters.

A Kroger spokesperson said the company looked forward to the hearing. “We welcome the opportunity to outline how this transaction will benefit America’s consumers by expanding access to fresh, affordable food,” the company said in a statement.

The Federal Trade Commission is expected to review the deal to ensure it complies with antitrust law. (read more)

This might be one of those rare times when a legislative and regulatory review may actually be beneficial to the outcome for the consumer.

December 16, 2020, Dozen Large Eggs $1.79

October 11, 2022, Dozen Large Eggs $7.29

(Source)

(DCBusinessDaily) – […] Scott Rasmussen Number of the Day shows 76% of voters have seen their grocery prices go up in the last month. The poll also found 60% of voters believe prices will continue to rise. Additionally, 54% of voters say gas prices have gone up in the last month and 59% believe gas prices will continue to go up. Ballotpedia’s poll methodology surveyed 1,200 registered voters from Oct. 6-8. According to the Ballotpedia website, the poll was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage and political party to reflect a fair balance of voters across the country. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2.8 percentage points.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) summary for the nation on Oct. 13, which found that the rate of inflation over the last 12 months stands at 8.2%. It rose 0.4% in September. In the last year, food costs have risen by 11.2%, energy costs have increased by 19.8%, gas prices have risen by 18.2% and the cost to purchase a new vehicle has increased by 9.4%. (more)