In The Mailbox: 08.08.23 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | August 8, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 08.08.23 (Afternoon Edition)

Finally home.
Silicon Valley delenda est.

Our programming department’s motto. #SonOfSilvercon

OVER THE TRANSOM
Director Blue: Summarizing The Allegations Of Vote Fraud In The 2020 Presidential Election
357 Magnum: When The Only Safety You Have Is What You Provide For Yourself
EBL: The Right To Bear Butterfly Knives?, William Friedkin, RIP, Atomic Women, SAVED BY HIROSHIMA, and Mike Pence’s New Respect
Twitchy: “The Crack Team Of Degenerate Journos At The NYT”, Racist Texas Teacher Who Openly Bragged About Wanting To Kill White Men Has Been Fired, and Riley Gaines Takes Man Claiming To Be Lesbian Apart For Mansplaining Lesbianism
Louder With Crowder: Roseanne Barr’s BACK, teams with anti-woke company and is bringing new comedy show to Elon Musk’s X, Defiant Jason Aldean surprises restaurant with acoustic performance of anti-woke anthem “Try That in A Small Town”, Three Little Punks Attempt Armed Robbery, Wind Up Eating This Marine’s Fist Instead, Finally! The “not real” airplane freak-out lady has been identified and there’s backstory behind the meltdown, and Elon Musk savages NYT making excuses for a viral song calling for the killing of white people
Vox Popoli: Success is not Real, Comms by Meme, Electric Vehicles and Digital Currencies, One Race, the Canine Race, On Advice from Failure, and A Failure of Leadership
Gab News: Yes, You Can Legislate Morality, Gab Tells Governments Who Demand Censorship To Get Lost,
Flappr: Torts Illustrated – Danda, The Stick-Wielding Assbeater

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Baldilocks: Unhappy Camper,
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday, The USNR In Ukraine & More, An Unsophisticated Red Chinese Navy? Really?,
Don Surber: We Should Have Dropped Three Bombs, How Dare Americans Not Cheer For A Team That Hates The Country,

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Category: Linkagery

Who Is ‘Negasi Zuberi’?

Posted on | August 8, 2023 | Comments Off on Who Is ‘Negasi Zuberi’?

A kidnapping case in Oregon made national headlines last week, after federal officials announced an indictment:

A federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment today [Wednesday, August 2] charging a Klamath Falls, Oregon, man with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Seattle woman and forcing her into a makeshift cell he constructed in his garage.
Negasi Zuberi, 29, also known as Sakima, Justin Hyche, and Justin Kouassi, has been charged with interstate kidnapping and transporting an individual across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
According to court documents, on July 15, 2023, Zuberi was in Seattle when he is alleged to have posed as a police officer, pointed a taser at an adult woman, placed her in handcuffs, and forced her into the backseat of his vehicle. Zuberi then transported the woman approximately 450 miles back to his home in Klamath Falls, stopping along the way to sexually assault her and cover her face with a sweatshirt.
When Zuberi arrived at his residence, he moved the woman from his vehicle into a makeshift cell he had constructed in his garage. The woman repeatedly banged on the cell door until it broke open and she escaped. She retrieved a handgun from Zuberi’s vehicle, fled his garage, and flagged down a passing motorist who called 911.
The next day, on July 16, 2023, two Nevada State Patrol officers located Zuberi in a retail parking lot in Reno, Nevada. After a short standoff, Zuberi surrendered to law enforcement and was taken into custody.

That press release included this interesting paragraph:

Zuberi has lived in ten different states over the last ten years including California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, and Nevada, and federal law enforcement has reason to believe he may have victimized additional women.

Because of the unusual and terrifying nature of the case — a woman escaping from a “makeshift cell” — journalists have done a good bit of follow-up reporting on the suspect known as “Negasi Zuberi,” and among the things they’ve learned is that his original name appears to be Justin Hyche. This was the name by which he was known as a student at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama.

Portland’s CBS affiliate KOIN-TV investigated:

KOIN 6 dug into Zuberi’s past and tracked him to Alabama, where his original name was Justin Hyche. It is the name that appears in several records — including a 2016 conviction of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and a 2020 conviction of forcible copulation of a minor in California’s Alameda County. Hyche pleaded no contest in both cases. Doing so meant he no longer faced the requirement to register as a sex offender, which was a stipulation of the original charges in each case.
Records also show a 2018 eviction case in the Bronx, New York under Hyche’s name.
However, reporters also found a protective order and an assault case filed against another one of Zuberi’s aliases, Justin Kouassi, in 2022. Previously, a protective order in 2020 showed a name change request and a DUI charge that all appear under the Kouassi name.
In December 2022, Zuberi’s landlord would file for his eviction using the name Negasi Zuberi, which also appears in several court records leading to his arrest on July 16 in Reno, Nevada.
“The more we look into this case, the more we can become concerned as law enforcement that there may be more that we’re missing,” said Stephanie Shark, the FBI assistant special agent in charge of the case.
Officials are now looking for more potential victims, and say Zuberi has already been linked to at least four sexual assaults in four other states.

So he twice got plea bargains in sexual assault cases involving minors, after which he began using the alias “Justin Kouassi” before switching to “Negasi Zuberi.” He seems to have run a scam by renting houses and then subleasing rooms, telling tenants that he was the actual homeowner:

Before moving to Klamath Falls, a city of some 22,000 people, a few months ago, Zuberi lived in Vancouver, Washington, where court records show the landlord sought to evict him.
Landlord Abishek Kandar said in a text message that Zuberi didn’t pay rent for six months, illegally sublet the home, bred puppies, damaged the property and threatened neighbors.
“He is a horrible person,” Kandar said. “He deserves to be in jail.”

More about his time in Vancouver:

Neighbors also said Zuberi was combative and had a steady stream of young women coming in and out of the Vancouver townhouse.
“Danny,” one of Zuberi’s neighbors, told The Post Zuberi threatened him several times, especially after it was revealed Zuberi was lying to his tenants about owning the rental property.
Once Zuberi was evicted, Danny said he went into the home and was shocked at what he discovered.
“We went through the home with the owner because we wanted to help him since we are in the construction industry, but we found it in absolutely horrible condition,” Danny said.
“There was garbage piled up inside the garage and on the inside of house was blood on the walls. There was a lot of weird stuff in there that he left, like heavy chains on the bed. It smelled horrible.”

Still more:

Since news broke that a man living in Klamath Falls had allegedly kidnapped a woman and kept her in a cinderblock cell in his basement, his former neighbors and roommates in Vancouver have started reflecting on their time living near him.
From harassment orders to threats, neighbors say living next to 29-year-old Negasi Zuberi was a nightmare until he was evicted in May. . . .
Mark, a man who previously lived next door to Zuberi, said he was surprised to see FBI agents at his home Tuesday morning, but wasn’t shocked once he found out who they were investigating.
“I wasn’t surprised, personally. I knew something was gonna go down,” Mark said. “There was always something left to right going on that didn’t feel right.”
The investigation has prompted Mark to replay moments he witnessed during Zuberi’s time in Vancouver – like the time he saw a young woman in shorts locked out of the home in 30-degree weather.
“I’m like, ‘Can take you to a shelter. Do you want me to call the cops?’ She was like, ‘No, don’t call the cops’ – like freaked out,” Mark said. “And I’m like, OK, is there something going on inside the house that we know about?’ She’s like, ‘I can’t tell you guys anything that’s happened.’ Almost like her life was threatened if she did speak.” . . .
Neighbors tell KOIN 6 they were forced to contact authorities several times after a string of incidents. Including aggressive behavior. Mark says he and his roommate even began recording Zuberi to show the landlord.
“When we started going against his way of life, he started getting aggressive. You know, like showing a gun,” Mark said. “He started going on our property and cussing us out.”
Mark said certain details in the case also made sense in hindsight. For instance, investigators say Zuberi had posed as an undercover cop to get the woman into his car in Seattle before she eventually escaped from his basement a day later.
“For him, it was more like, you know, ‘I’m the man, I’m taking charge.’ And so, when I found out about even the whole pretending to be a cop, I’m like, that’s not surprising from him. You know? Because he’s a con artist,” Mark said.
Another resident filed a temporary anti-harassment order against Zuberi for allegedly sending threatening text messages against him and his family. . . .
Mark said he hopes no one was harmed in the time that Zuberi spent living in his neighborhood.
“I hope nothing happened like in that house, like as in anyone living there, or like if he held anyone captive,” he said.

My brother Kirby — who has a pretty good track record about predicting such things — expects Zuberi will turn out to be a serial killer.

Category: Crime

Rule 5 Monday: Public Benefactors

Posted on | August 8, 2023 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

I have previously mentioned in these posts @kbdabear, who regularly posts a fair amount of Rule 5 pics on Twitter along with links to stuff at AOSHQ, but I should also mention @Rule5Texan. This week’s appetizer is from @kbdabear’s Swimsuit Sunday tweets.
Silicon Valley delenda est.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule 5 Lousy Mass Shooting Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Saturday Night Girls With Guns, Charlotte McKinney, TMFINR, Bella Thorne, Les Deplorables, MAGA Martyr, Knock At The Cabin, Swiss Miss Women, and Random Sunday TwitterX Rule 5

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Aarika Wolf, Archers and Hunters and Trump, Oh My!, Fish Pic Friday – Lauren Canty, Thursday Tanlines, Trump Indicted Again, Dems Float ‘Illusion’ of Influence Defense for Biden, The Wednesday Wetness, Tattoo Tuesday, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Some Random Celebrity News, and Palm Sunday

FLAPPR: T.I.T.S. For August 24

thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: On The Road

Posted on | August 6, 2023 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: On The Road

— compiled by Wombat-socho

What with travel and funerals and all that, the Senators were only able to complete one series this week, a homestand against Pete’s Brewers in which we took two out of three games behind Juan Marichal and Joe Coleman. Depending on how things go tomorrow, I’ll be playing my road series against the Angels tomorrow night, hopefully from home but more likely from a hotel room in Las Vegas. Anyhow, those two wins boosted the Senators into second place in the AL West at 30-20, one and a half games behind Oakland and three ahead of Minnesota.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Fly the Curly W flag!

Banana Republic, U.S.A.
The DaleyGator
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Mark Lamb for U.S. Senate: The Candidate the Left Fears the Most
The DaleyGator
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Friday Evening News Dump: Biden ‘Speaks Out’ (But Not Really) About Cokehead Son’s Arkansas Love Child
A View From The Beach
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: SUUUURGE!
The DaleyGator
A View From The Beach
EBL

Rule 5 Sunday: Eri Yoshida
Animal Magnetism
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

The Taylor Lorenz-ing of Journalism
The DaleyGator
Flappr
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 07.31.23
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

The Trey Lance Mistake
The DaleyGator
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.02.23 (Field Expedient Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

The Preventable Death of Khaliyah Jones
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.04.23 (Albuquerque Afternoon Abbreviated Edition)
EBL
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum

Top linkers for the week ending August 4:

EBL (11)
357 Magnum (9)
A View From The Beach (8)
The DaleyGator (5)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Category: Uncategorized

First Person Plural Pronouns

Posted on | August 5, 2023 | Comments Off on First Person Plural Pronouns

The corruption and decadence of the elite is a topic about which not enough has been written, and if I were to dwell on this topic, I’d have no time to write about anything else. Some people always snipe in the comments when I use the word “elite” to describe our society’s overclass, because they do not consider such people truly superior, as the word “elite” would seem to imply. Yet such are the socioeconomic realities that people enjoy elite status who are inferior — especially in a moral sense — and there is nothing We The People can do about it. The graduates of prestigious universities have access to wealth and influence without regard to their moral character, and so it is that MIT alumnus Sam Bankman-Fried will go unpunished for his crimes:

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) informed a federal judge late Wednesday it did “not intend to proceed” with a campaign finance charge against disgraced FTX founder and Democrat super donor Sam Bankman-Fried.
Consultation with the Bahamas on the campaign finance charges in Bankman-Fried’s original extradition document last year were behind the decision as part of an effort to adhere to the legal obligations therein, Forbes reports.
The campaign finance violation charge was among eight counts present in the DOJ’s original indictment—which also includes wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering—in December.

Dianna Deeley has further thoughts on the way the Democratic Party — which now controls the Department of Justice — is protecting Sam Bankman-Fried.

Meanwhile, take note of how David Brooks uses first-person plural pronouns — “we,” “us,” “our,” etc. — in speaking of the decadent elite.

Category: Corruption

Everybody Keeps Indicting Trump, Without Regard for Consequences

Posted on | August 5, 2023 | 2 Comments

Having already said what I had to say about the most recent indictment of the former president (“Banana Republic, U.S.A.”), I thought perhaps readers might want to know what liberals are saying about it.

Trump’s surreal arraignment day
in Washington augurs ominous days ahead

That’s the headline on an “analysis” by CNN reporter Stephen Collinson, and this might be the first time I’ve ever seen the verb “augur” used in a headline. “Portend,” maybe, but “augur”? No, can’t recall ever seeing that one, and it might help to know that Collinson is not American. He’s from England, where I suppose schoolboys at posh academies are taught to use references to the ancient Roman practice of augury, but I digress . . .

As former President Donald Trump left Washington after answering charges of trying to subvert democracy, it felt like all the previous trauma and divisions of his eight-year journey into the nation’s psyche were just the start.
America now faces the prospect of an ex-president repeatedly going on trial in an election year in which he’s the Republican front-runner and is promising a new White House term of retribution. He is responding with the same kind of extreme rhetoric that injected fury into his political base and erupted into violence after the last election. Ominous and tense days may be ahead.
Trump spent the afternoon at a federal courthouse within sight of the US Capitol that was ransacked by his supporters on January 6, 2021. He pleaded not guilty in the gravest of the three cases in which he has so far been indicted – on four charges arising from an alleged attempt to halt the “collecting, counting and certifying” of votes after the 2020 election.
Live video of Trump motorcading to an airport and sweeping into yet another city for yet another indictment on his branded jetliner has become part of a sudden new normal. But if the arraignment of a former president seems routine, it’s a measure of the historic chaos Trump has wrought since he bulldozed into politics in 2015.
Wearing his classic dark suit and long red tie, Trump on Thursday rose to his full height in court and slowly and clearly elucidated the words “not guilty” in a hearing in which his fall from president to defendant was underscored when he had to wait silently for the judge to arrive. He was irked, sources familiar with his mindset told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, that the judge referred to him simply as “Mr. Trump,” rather than with the presidential title he still used at his clubs.
The 45th president and special counsel Jack Smith – who has also indicted him for the alleged mishandling of classified documents – shared several glances, before a proceeding that, unlike when he was president, means Trump’s fate is now out of his control.
The entire day was surreal, but given its historic implications – after Trump became the first ex-president formally charged in relation to alleged crimes committed in office – also sad.
Thursday was a day when the country crossed a point of no return. For the first time, the United States formally charged one of its past leaders with trying to subvert its core political system and values.
It was Trump who forced the country over this dangerous threshold. A man whose life’s creed is to never be seen as a loser refused to accept defeat in a democratic election in 2020, then set off on a disastrous course because, as Smith’s indictment put it, “he was determined to stay in power.”
Trump is steering a stormy course to an unknown destination. If he wins back the White House, the already twice-impeached new president could trigger a new constitutional crisis by sweeping away the federal cases against him or even by pardoning himself. Any alternative Republican president could find themselves besieged by demands from Trump supporters for a pardon that, if granted, could overshadow their entire presidency. And if Trump is convicted, and loses a 2024 general election, he risks a long jail term, which would likely become fuel for him to incite his supporters to fresh protest. . . .

Well, enough of that. Notice how Collinson pretends that all of this was Trump’s fault, as if nobody else involved — Attorney General Merrick Garland or Special Counsel Jack Smith — had any choice or discretion in the matter. No, they had to indict Trump. Because Trump “forced the country over this dangerous threshold,” which I suppose is pretty much how the Roundheads explained themselves after they beheaded King Charles I: “We had no choice! He made us do it!” The Roundheads then set up a “Republic” far more tyrannical than anything Charles ever did, much the same as those later regicides in France imposed a tyranny more brutal and repressive than the monarchy of Louis XVI, and likewise the Bolsheviks were infinitely worse than Czar Nicholas.

One might notice a historical pattern here, and then — since we’re speaking of ominous auguries — contemplate America’s future once Our Leaders save us from Trump’s alleged threat to “subvert democracy.”

But these people seem to have no proper sense of history, no more than they have any sense of irony or self-awareness, which explains the latest entry in John Hoge’s “I’m Not Making This Up, You Know” files:

The United States strongly condemns Russia’s conviction of opposition leader Aleksey Navalny on politically motivated charges. The Kremlin cannot silence the truth. Navalny should be released.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 4, 2023

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

Category: CNN

News From San Francisco: ‘A Lot of People Around Here Have Mental Issues’

Posted on | August 5, 2023 | 2 Comments

Say hello to Ryant Bluford of San Francisco and, while you’re at it, go ahead and say good-bye, because Mr. Bluford shuffled off this mortal coil last month in a manner that seems to be increasingly common. When a police officer points an AR-15 rifle at you and yells, “get your hands up,” this is not merely a suggestion. But the circumstances that led to this fatal encounter require us to contemplate law enforcement policy in many aspects, including the importance of maintaining public order.

What became known as “Broken Windows” policy, based on the influential work of James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, was based on the insight that enforcement of seemingly “minor” laws — against loitering, vandalism, public intoxication, etc. — had the effect of making neighborhoods safer and reducing violent crime. Explaining how and why this correlation functions would require more time than I’m willing to spend on the subject today, but the proven effectiveness of “broken windows” theory, as evidenced by the dramatic reduction in crime in New York City during Rudy Giuliani’s term as mayor, is beyond dispute.

This came to mind because bodycam video of this incident in San Francisco was posted to the YouTube channel Police Activity with the subject line, “Man Gets Shot by Police After Trying to interfere in an Arrest and Pointing a Gun at Officers.” The description posted with the video makes clear what happened, but I didn’t read the description until after watching the video. As a subscriber to the Police Activity channel, I watch nearly all of their videos, and thus probably see 150 or more police shootings a year. As I watched this one, it wasn’t immediately clear to me what was happening or where it was happening. I didn’t realize it was San Francisco. Anyway, the police are arresting someone who was wanted on a warrant, a routine activity that police do everywhere every day, and which very rarely leads to the shooting of anyone, much less a random dude who walks up and tries to stop the arrest.

The first impression I got from the video was a sense of disorder. When the police (whom I later learned were with the city’s anti-gang unit) went to arrest the wanted suspect, he was standing near a street corner talking to five or six other people. Cops handcuff the suspect and are apparently waiting for a patrol car to arrive and pick up the suspect. But here’s the thing — instead of dispersing, the group of people to whom the suspect was talking continue to hang around in close proximity to the officers. Dude, if the cops show up to arrest one of my buddies, I’m going to casually saunter away, like I barely know the dude. Probably because of my own past as a teenage dopehead, I always get nervous around cops, and so the behavior of these people in San Francisco made no sense to me. Why are you hanging around? The cops are here. Get moving.

It wasn’t one of the suspect’s buddies who got shot, however. About six minutes into the video, Bluford shows up and immediately starts shouting obscenities at the cops: “What y’all doing? What the f**k y’all doing in my neighborhood? . . . Uncuff him right now!”

Who behaves like this? Who thinks it is a good idea to accost police officers in an aggressive and threatening manner? The answer — perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn — is crazy people:

The Bayview man shot and killed [July 26] by San Francisco police officers, 41-year-old Ryant Bluford of San Francisco, was known as “Peanut” to friends and family. They recalled him as a loving father, brother, cousin and friend — while acknowledging the violent crime in his past.
Neighbors interviewed Wednesday night and Thursday morning said Bluford struggled with mental illness and had a disdain for the police, the result of more than a decade spent in prison for various serious offenses. . . .

(“Peanut” was loved by family and friends, despite his criminal history and mental illness, which finally got him shot by police.)

Bluford was convicted in the 2006 gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in San Francisco, and spent more than a decade in prison as a result. He was again charged, in 2022, for domestic violence and sexual assault. . . .

(Whoa! Gang-raping a 16-year-old? Do friends and family of “Peanut” not care about his victim? Click here to read the details of that crime.)

Neighbors described the shooting as a tragedy.
“He had four kids and a wife, two were twins. He did the best he could,” said a friend of Bluford’s, who gave his name as Tyke, saying Bluford’s mental health worsened after time in prison. “He was in the pen for 12 years; he had some mental issues from that.” . . .

(Who considers it a “tragedy” when a gang rapist gets shot by police? As for the “mental issues” which the friend blames on Bluford’s 12 years in prison, would the friend care to think about the “mental issues” suffered by a 16-year-old girl who was grabbed off the street, shoved into a van, threatened at gunpoint and sexually assaulted by four men in every manner imaginable? Because that was Bluford’s crime.)

At the Bayview intersection, Bluford’s family lit candles. They described Peanut as a man who had been through the wringer, and criminal records show past convictions for rape and other violent crimes.
He had a fearful association with police, neighbors said, one borne from a lifetime of negative experiences dealing with law enforcement: According to criminal records, Bluford was charged with kidnapping, rape, assault with a deadly weapon, and various other crimes in 2006; he was incarcerated in 2008, according to criminal records, and friends and family said he spent more than a decade in prison.
Then in 2022, he was charged again, with domestic violence, sexual assault, and criminal threats. It was not immediately clear if he was convicted and imprisoned for these alleged crimes.
“You have to think about the kind of trauma someone has experienced with the police,” said one neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. “He looked done, driven to suicide by cop.”
“He had a lot of mental health issues,” said another anonymous neighbor. “He had a family. He loved his kids. A lot of people around here have mental issues.”

Joe Biden got 85% of the vote in San Francisco, so yeah, we fully understand that a lot of people there have mental issues.

What part of ’cause and effect’ do I need to explain?

The police video of the shooting was released Friday, showing that Bluford had a pistol in his waistband, which he later aimed at police before he was shot. Despite all this, however, some people continued to ask why police couldn’t “de-escalate” the situation. The obvious answer is that Ryant Bluford didn’t want it to be “de-escalated.” Ryant Bluford was crazy and wanted to die in the proverbial hail of police gunfire.

Why? You know why. Crazy People Are Dangerous.