The Craziest True Crime Story, Ever?

Posted on | May 30, 2024 | 1 Comment

Two women are dead and five suspects from Cimarron County, Oklahoma, are behind bars, charged in a murder conspiracy so bizarre that, when my brother first told me about the story, he said, “You’re going to need some stick pins and a lot of yarn to explain this one.” The first article about it I read in Newsweek (“Missing Women Found in Oklahoma Freezer”) was quite confusing, but I eventually unraveled the tale, which is like a madcap comedy except for the fact that two women are dead. The story involves a Republican Party county chairwoman as the conspiracy leader, an obscure preacher named “Squirrel,” and a plot twist that sounds like Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner.

Cimarron County is in the westernmost tip of the Oklahoma panhandle, wedged between Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas. The area once “belonged to what was known as ‘No-Man’s Land’ . . . a relatively lawless area, with no organized government, and several outlaws sought refuge within its borders.” The county’s population is only 2,296, so “sparsely settled” would seem a fair description, and roughly half the people there live in the county seat, Boise City, population 1,166.

Cimarron County is one of the strongest Republican counties in America, where Donald Trump got 92% of the vote in 2020. And last year, the county GOP elected Tifany Adams as its chairwoman.

Tifany Adams — yes, that’s Tifany, with one “n” — is only 54 years old and, while it would be irresponsible of me as a professional journalist to engage in speculation, the reader is under no such restriction, so if your guess is that Ms. Adams has a history of substance abuse, I won’t argue with you. The phrase “rode hard and put up wet” comes to mind.

After Tifany-with-one-n was arrested on murder charges in neighboring Texas County in April, the chairman of the Oklahoma state Republican Party emphasized “that Ms. Adams was previously elected by a handful of people to the role of Chair in her county.” Yes, in a county where there is no Democratic opposition to speak of, with barely more than 2,000 people in the whole county, the local GOP meeting is a small enough gathering that a “handful of people” can elect a chairwoman who might not be entirely sane and who, indeed, might be a homicidal maniac.

Allegedly, I hasten to add. All things considered, the chairwoman of the Cimarron County GOP probably has more important things on her mind than filing a libel suit against a blogger who fails to include the word “allegedly” before calling her a homicidal maniac, but why take chances? However, the phrase “rode hard and put up wet” is merely an expression of opinion, so I’m in the clear on that one. Meanwhile . . .

Tifany-with-one-n Adams has a son whose name is Wrangler Rickman — yes, his name is Wrangler, like the blue jeans — and Wrangler sired two children with a woman named Veronica Butler. Alas, the love between Wrangler and Veronica did not endure, and when they split, there ensued what the media have called “a bitter custody battle.” Wrangler was awarded full custody, and Veronica was allowed only supervised visitation with the two children, ages 6 and 8. Anyone familiar with such cases would suspect something must be badly amiss with Veronica Butler, as it is unusual for a father to be awarded full custody, especially given the fact that Wrangler Rickman seems to have his own personal problems (which we will get to momentarily). Meanwhile . . .

Cole Twombly (left); Cora Twombly (right)

Tifany-with-one-n Adams was friends with Cole Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44. Along with Adams and her boyfriend, Tad Cullom, 43, the Twomblys were allegedly “part of an anti-government religious group known as God’s Misfits.’ Regular meetings are said to have occurred at the Twombly’s home.” Their membership in this group is disputed, as is the claim of an “anti-government” motive, by none other than the leader of God’s Misfits, a biker from South Carolina known as Squirrel.

The leader of a religious group in South Carolina called “God’s Misfits,” who goes by the name “Squirrel,” says the suspects involved in the killing of two Kansas moms do not share the same God as him.
“Not my God. … The God that I serve condemns such hate,” Squirrel said during an exclusive interview Friday with NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield.
Squirrel defended his religious organization, adding that he has no relationship with the four suspects, who also are part of a group with the name “God’s Misfits,” and has never been to Oklahoma.
“I have no relation with them at all,” Squirrel said . . .
Squirrel said the organization is “not anti-government at all.”
“The Scripture says that God puts in office who he wants in office. Even it doesn’t make me happy, I go with it. God’s word is true. We pray for our president, we pray for our country. I’m not anti-government at all. I’m not real happy about things that are going on right now, but that’s all around the world,” Squirrel said.

The Gospel According to Squirrel

The description of “God’s Misfits” as a group is perhaps misleading. Squirrel has a website, a Facebook page and a YouTube channel that comprise what he calls his “online ministry.” His most recent YouTube video, uploaded in February, was based on II Thessalonians 2:3-7 and, like much of his other content, was focused on the interpretation of end-times prophecy. You may not care for eschatology lectures from an untutored biker, but in terms of reading “the signs of the times,” let he who has ears hear! “Let’s talk about what’s going on in the world now,” Squirrel said, talking about the “bloodthirsty terrorists” who attacked Israel. Could this be interpreted as an event of apocalyptic significance?

Preach it, Brother Squirrel!

Far be it from me to say Squirrel is wrong about our temporal proximity to the Time of Tribulation and the Day of Judgment. I try not to dwell on such topics myself, believing that the Lord will return at the time of His own choosing, and that we therefore ought to be ready for the Second Coming at any time. Yet from my very cursory examination of Squirrel’s teaching, he’s not trying to lead people into one of those kooky doomsday cults. He’s merely saying, “Repent!” Which is just basic Christianity, and Squirrel is also correct when he says, “The Scripture says that God puts in office who he wants in office.” This is an orthodox reading of Romans 13, which begins, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” When we consider that God is sovereign, that the Divine Will is always being worked out in its mysterious way, then we understand how compliance with the “the powers that be” is a Christian duty. We ought to live lawfully, even if the people who win elections are not those we voted for, and even if their policies are obnoxious or sinful. “Owe no man any thing” (Romans 13:8) could be seen, in this context, as urging Christians to live in such a way that they are not dependent upon government favoritism. Here, I think especially of the Christian homeschooling movement as an example. Are the local public schools run by evil people? Is their curriculum wrongheaded and offensive? My ability to influence the government education system is negligible, but they can’t impose this wickedness on my children. “Maximum feasible non-cooperation,” I call this approach. The rest of y’all can keep following the Highway to Hell, but insofar as it is possible, I have traveled a different path and, when given the chance, urged others to do the same. But I digress . . .

However theologically sound Squirrel’s preaching may be, his putative disciples in the Oklahoma panhandle had their own agenda, particularly involving the custody dispute over Tifany-with-one-n’s grandchildren:

Adams, the mother of Butler’s former romantic partner, believed Butler’s brother was abusing the couple’s 8- and 6-year-old children, according to court documents in a prolonged custody dispute.
Butler was granted court-ordered visitation every Saturday, and because her usual supervisor was unavailable on the day of her disappearance [March 30], another supervisor, [Jilian] Kelley, went with Butler to pick up her kids from Adams.
When Butler’s family didn’t hear from her later, they called police.
On Monday [April 15], the two women were confirmed dead.

Murder victims: Veronica Butler (left); Jillian Kelley (right)

Kelley, age 39, was from Hugoton, Kansas (population 3,686), just north of the Oklahoma border, and roughly an hour’s drive northeast of Cimarron County. She was the wife of the pastor of the First Christian Church, and the mother of four children. It is genuinely shocking that such a woman, widely beloved in her community, should have been murdered because Tifany-with-one-n Adams was angry at her son Wrangler’s “former romantic partner” (which is a fancy journalistic euphemism for ex-girlfriend or baby mama). Jilian Kelley was trying to do a good deed, acting as court-approved visitation supervisor for Veronica Bulter, and the fact that she was killed in a plot (allegedly) devised by a county Republican Party chairwoman? Outrageous!

Brothers and sisters, do you not see how this dreadful event comports with what Preacher Squirrel is trying to tell us? Over the years, I’ve devoted many tens of thousands of words to coverage of crime in America’s urban hellholes — wicked places like Baltimore and Philadelphia, where no one is safe from the incessant violence — but verily we must be in the Last Days when a pastor’s wife in small town Kansas must fear the violence of a deranged county GOP chairwoman from the “No Man’s Land” of panhandle Oklahoma.

Wile E. Coyote’s ‘Unhinged’ Plot

While it is mere speculation to suggest that the “rode hard and put up wet” appearance of Tifany-with-one-n Adams reflects a history of long-term substance abuse, there is other circumstantial evidence. Many people don’t realize that heavy use of alcohol (or pain-killers, methamphetamine, etc.) tends to inflict damage to the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, impairing the higher cognitive function, including the exercise of prudence and moral judgment. Even after the addict kicks the habit or the drunk gets sober, their thought process may never fully recover, and their behavior may continue to be . . . Well, problematic is an overused word, but perhaps apt in the case of Tifany-with-one-n:

Tifany Adams is “unhinged,” acccording to Leanne Webb, who met Adams last year at a political event and became friendly with her. “She has a lot of weird beliefs, and thinks that the rest of the world is corrupt. It was all conspiracy theories and stuff that didn’t make any sense.”
In February, Adams, 54, reposted an article which claimed modern society was living in a simulation. “She posted a few times a day sometimes, but it was all stuff like that,” says Webb.
Adams and her boyfriend, Tad Cullum, would often meet with their friends, Cole and Cora Twombly, to discuss their roles in a fringe group called God’s Misfits.
The four of them often posted anti-government rants on their respective Facebook pages. “It was just bizarre, bizarre stuff,” said Webb, who later unfriended them. “And they were going to raise [her grandkids] to believe the same things.”

“Unhinged . . . weird beliefs . . . bizarre stuff.” You know, we all laughed at that scene in Animal House where the fraternity pledge Pinto, about to smoke marijuana for the first time, asks, “I won’t go schizo, will I?” To which Professor Jennings replies, “It’s a distinct possibility.”

Pinto gets high at Faber College in 1962

Turns out, however, that Pinto’s fears weren’t just a joke. Recent research shows a link between marijuana and mental health problems, including the risk of schizophrenia. We don’t know whether Tifany-with-one-n Adams was ever a marijuana user, nor do we have any clear evidence of other substance abuse beyond her unusually bedraggled appearance, but when she’s ranting on Facebook about “living in a simulation” and other bizarre beliefs, we certainly might suspect drug-induced brain damage as a contributing factor in her “unhinged” mental condition.

Did I mention that the conspiracy to murder Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley reportedly seemed to borrow from the plot of a “Road Runner” cartoon? You’ve got to smoke a lot of weed to do it this way:

Tifany Adams, 54, her boyfriend, Tad Bert Cullum, 43, along with Cora Twombly, 44, and her husband, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, are charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. A fifth person, 31-year-old Paul Grice, is facing the same charges. . . .
The warrants . . . say Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) agents searched a property in rural Texas County, Oklahoma, on April 13. Agents had tracked burner phones used by the suspects from the site of the alleged murders to a farm Cullum rented to raise cattle, according to the warrant. There, agents found a possible burial site. Investigators found the bodies of the two moms the next day after digging up the chest freezer. Detectives also reportedly recovered items belonging to the suspects. . . .
Butler and Kelley were traveling from their homes in southern Kansas to meet Adams to pick up the two kids on March 30. . . . The two set out around 9 a.m. to pick up the kids but the pair never made it to their destination.
Butler’s family members searched for her vehicle and found it abandoned shortly after noon March 30 along Highway 95 and Road L in Texas County near the border with Kansas. According to a probable cause affidavit, cops found “evidence of severe injury,” including blood surrounding the vehicle. . . .
Investigators with the OSBI quickly zeroed in on Adams after learning of the custody dispute, according to the affidavit. Adams’ son, the kids’ father, had full custody of the kids but she often took care of them.
“I think from the get-go once we arrived on scene and gained a little bit of information, we felt that this wasn’t a random deal,” Texas County Sheriff Matt Boley previously said. “We felt that it was more targeted and we started to look in those areas that we were pointed to.” . . .

(“We felt that this wasn’t a random deal.” The obvious question — who had a motive to murder these people? — had an equally obvious answer.)

Agents also talked with Butler’s attorney who said a judge was about to issue extended visitation to Butler. This apparently didn’t set well with Adams. Cops found recordings of Adams and Cullum allegedly making death threats toward Butler. Adams allegedly told family members that the custody battle wouldn’t last much longer because she “had it under control” and knew “the path the judge walked to work.” She also is accused of saying “we will take out Veronica at drop off.”
Detectives on April 3 interviewed a teenage family member of the Twomblys. The girl allegedly said Cora Twombly told her that she, her husband, Adams, Cullum and Grice were involved in the murders. She said Adams had provided her co-conspirators with the burner phones to communicate without using their own phones, the affidavit said. Adams also allegedly bought five stun guns at a local store. . . . .

(Burner phones, stun guns — the criminal geniuses thought of everything, except telling their plot to a teenage blabbermouth.)

The Twomblys allegedly told the girl on the day of the murders that they were going on a “mission,” the affidavit said. The pair returned home around noon on March 30 and told the girl “things did not go as planned, but that they would not have to worry” about Butler again, investigators wrote.
Cora Twombly allegedly told the teenager how the plan was for her and her husband to block the road and throw an anvil through Butler’s windshield to divert them off the road to where Adams, Cullum and Grice were waiting. They allegedly wanted to make it “look like an accident” because anvils fall onto the highway all the time. . . .

(Wile E. Coyote could not be reached for comment.)

The teenager asked Cora Twombly why Kelley had to die and she replied that Kelley “wasn’t innocent” because she “had supported Butler,” the affidavit said. According to the affidavit, the suspects had tried to kill Butler outside her home in February but she refused to come out.

Murder suspects Tad Cullum (left) and Paul Grice (right)

As I’ve often said, Crazy People Are Dangerous, but the combination of stupid and evil can also be risky. As criminal conspiracies go, this has to be one of the dumbest ever concocted. At any point in the planning of this “mission,” did none of these people realize that they were certain to get caught? Were the flaws in their plan not apparent to them?

You may wonder why the father of the children was not involved in this murder plot. It’s because Wrangler Rickman “was in a rehab facility in [Oklahoma City] at the time of Butler and Kelley’s disappearance.”

Now think about the two children. Mommy’s dead because Grandma (and her “God’s Misfits” buddies) killed her, and oh, Daddy’s in rehab. Those kids have got a bright future ahead of them, I’m sure.

Balance — my journalistic career has been driven by a desire for balance, an urge to offset the prevailing bias of the mainstream media. Routinely, I cover bizarre crimes committed in Democrat-dominated cities, perpetrated by the Usual Suspects, because you’re not going to hear about those crimes in the national news. More than a thousand people have been shot so far this year in Chicago, including 180 fatal shootings. How many of those crimes has CNN covered? Zero. And we know why.

Democrats endlessly rant about “gun violence,” trying to create the impression that guns, per se, are causing violence. And the national media ignore most urban crime because they know that such crimes don’t help Democrats portray “gun violence” as a problem that can be blamed on Republicans. Despite the media distortions, most Americans understand Trump voters aren’t doing drive-by shootings in Chicago.

So while urban criminals run amok in Democrat strongholds, and the media generally ignore this non-stop carnage, I’ve risked the accusation of racism — “RAAAAACISM!” — by covering such crimes, because of my desire for balance. But here were are, with a county Republican Party chairwoman in rural Oklahoma (allegedly) conspiring with “God’s Misfits” to murder two women, and certainly I can’t ignore that.

What can be done to prevent a crime like this? What political advantage could anyone gain by trying to make an issue of this? Gun control wouldn’t have stopped them. Maybe we need anvil control laws . . .

Oklahoma has the death penalty. Let’s hope they use it in this case.

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Category: Crime, Oklahoma

In The Mailbox: 05.29.24 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | May 30, 2024 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

well, what kind of water do YOU brew your coffee with?

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: The Iron Claw, also, Al Ruddy RIP
Twitchy: Boston Mayor Has A List Of Crimes She Wouldn’t Want Prosecuted, View Hosts Assure Us John Grisham Thinking Of Assassinating SCOTUS Judges Is Just Fiction, and City Leaders Cry Over “Desecration” Of Pride Street Mural, Begin Manhunt
Louder With Crowder: RuPaul’s Drag Race performer shows off disgusting double mastectomy “costume,” because trans joy or something
Vox Popoli: The Feast of St. Harambe, Thailand Sides with BRICS, None of the Above, Nothing is Real, and China Leads Charge Against USD
L’Ombre de L’Olivier: The Problem With Monarchy & Democracy
Toni Airaksinen: Remembering Danielle Conlon’s Fight With Anorexia

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: A Man’s Mission on Earth
American Conservative: Trump’s Bronx Rally May Show the Future of the GOP
American Greatness: House Coronavirus Panel Opens Probe Into NIH ‘Conspiracy’ to Evade FOIA Requests Regarding COVID Origins
American Thinker: Karl Marx is alive and well in 2024 America
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: Biden opens up access to U.S. banks to communist Cuba’s ‘private’ businesses, Castro dictatorship bans rap music performance at a ‘private’ business in Cuba, and Reports from Cuba: ‘Bread with sand’ suitable for human consumption, Las Tunas authorities say
BattleSwarm: Texas Runoff Results: Phelan Survives, Most Followers Don’t
Behind The Black: Red China launches four satellites from sea platform, OSIRIS-APEX survives closest fly-by of the Sun on its way to the asteroid Apophis, SpaceX launches European/Japanese climate satellite, Chang’e-6 to attempt landing on Moon’s far side on June 1st, The “Vulcan” exoplanet discovered in 2018 now refuted, and Scientists propose three scenarios for the creation of Dinkinesh’s contact-binary moon Selam
Cafe Hayek: On the Efficiency and Morality of Markets , also, Did ‘Food Choice’ Produce Segregated Supermarkets?
CDR Salamander: So How Is That National Commission On The Future Of The Navy Going?
Da Tech Guy: A day in the life of central Pennsylvania, also, The One Card in Trumps Favor
Dana Loesch: Witness Tampering or Family Mourning? also, Based Alito To Recusal Critics – Go Pound Sand
Don Surber: Justices may shrink the bureaucracy
First Street Journal: Tuesday morning rant, The pro #Hamas protests seem as though they are withering away, and Journolism: The credentialed media don’t exactly lie, but they conceal politically incorrect facts
Gates Of Vienna: Sick Trans on This Glorious Monday, “The Legitimization of Satanic Terrorism”, “A Country on the Way to a Moral, Economic and Social Abyss”, Health Care Crisis in Germany, A Pro-Life Christian Who Grew Up Under Sharia, and Ship Those German Racists to the Gulag!
The Geller Report: ETHICS COMPLAINT FILED: Corrupt Biden Judge Presiding Over Trump’s NY Sham Trial “Randomly” Gets Every Anti-Trump Prosecution Case, also, Children ‘Piled Up and Shot’: Gruesome Details Emerge of Islamic Genocide of Black Africans in Darfur Sudan
Hollywood In Toto: In a Violent Nature Turns Slasher Genre on Its Ear, also, Why Won’t Scorsese, De Niro Decry Goodfellas Trigger Warning?
The Lid: Biden’s National Park Service Shocked after Blowback from Policy Banning American Flags
Legal Insurrection: Ithaca (NY) Schools Superintendent Says Students Of Color Summit “Open To Everyone” – Reacting To Equal Protection Project Demand, North Dakota Officials Vent Frustration Over Northern Border Crisis to Congress, Democrats to Nominate Biden and Harris ‘Virtually’ Prior to Chicago Convention, Met Museum’s Native American Art Curator Accused of Faking Her Heritage, In Kharkov and In Rafah, and Al-Qaeda Leadership Cheers Anti-Israel Protests on College Campuses
Nebraska Energy Observer: Mourning Americans as Americans
Outkick: Louisville Detective Behind Scottie Scheffler Arrest Speaks Out, Cites Destroyed ‘$80 Pants’, Mets Reach Boiling Point As Pitcher Gets Ejected, Then Tosses Glove Into The Seats, Scottie Scheffler’s Lawyer Goes Off On Police For ‘Interrogating’ Star Golfer After Incident, Former Patriots Safety Logan Ryan Says Bill Belichick Caused Possible Locker Room Rift Over Personal Politics, and Don’t Rule Out Charles Barkley and ‘Inside the NBA’ Going to ESPN
Power Line: Exit Hackneyed Driver, A Working Writer in a Working Library, and Texas Turns Right
Shark Tank: “If Not Me, Then Who?”
Shot In The Dark: As Predicted, also, Verdict?
This Ain’t Hell: A CNN analyst is worried that Donald Trump may be acquitted
Transterrestrial Musings: No Convention Switcheroo, also, The Bureaucracy
Victory Girls: Chinese Names Become Political Virtue Signals In San Francisco
Volokh Conspiracy: Justice Alito’s Letter About The Flag Flap
Watts Up With That: GAO Information on Peaking Power Plants Report
The Federalist: ‘Lessons In Liberty’ Helps Us Work Like James Madison, Think Like Clara Barton, And Multitask Like RBG, Stefanik Complaint: Judge Merchan Was ‘Intentionally Selected’ To Ensure Trump Is Convicted, It’s Time To Ditch LGBT Month For A Holiday We Can All Take Pride In, From Dead Registrants To Inactive Mail Voters, Complaints Highlight Michigan’s Voter Roll Mess, Democrats, Not Trump, Are The Real Crooked Record-Keepers, Corporate Media Think Voters Are Dumb Enough To Believe Biden’s Border Invasion Is ‘Quieting’, Appeals Court Restarts Lawsuit Against Mayo Clinic’s Covid Jab Mandate, and Democrats’ Election Worker ‘Threat’ Narrative Is A Bald-Faced Scare Tactic We’ve Seen Before
Mark Steyn: The Swallows Skim, and All Is Hushed, also, Live Around The Planet – A Land Beyond Law

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In The Mailbox: 05.29.24 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | May 29, 2024 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 05.29.24 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Been having problems staying up late enough to do the evening half of these posts. Tonight for sure!
Today’s pic is left over from the days when Starbucks inflicted stupid activist hashtags on people’s cups of go-juice. The Dunkin’ crew thought it was hilarious.
Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Memorial Day – The Unofficial Start Of Summer in Chicago
EBL: Ferrari, MAGA Meltdown: Bobby DeNiro Rages Outside Trump Trial, and Is Biden’s $320 Million Gaza Boodoggle Pier Sinking?
Twitchy: Norks Sending Poop Balloons To ROK Really Stinks, NY Post Reports “Trump Deliberations Underway” & Twitter Reacts, and Sinking Pier Architect Brags To Voters He’s Also Leadng A “$60 Zillion” Bridge Project
Louder With Crowder: School won’t give this student his diploma after he dared speak about Jesus in his graduation speech, also, Libertarian Party Nominates “Armed And Gay” Radical BLM Activist Leftist As Preferred Presidential Candidate
Vox Popoli: Taiwan in Three Weeks, You Get What You’ll Pay For, RIP Bill Walton, For Once He’s Not Wrong, and The Intellectual Father of Clown World
Ammo.com: 2A Grades For 2024’s Alabama Candidates
Gab: A Golden Opportunity To Rebuild Christendom
Upstream Reviews: Off To Be The Wizard,

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: A Godly Woman
American Conservative: The Push Against Trump Really Is Unprecedented
American Greatness: Robert De Niro Melts Down During Biden Campaign Train Wreck Presser in Manhattan
American Power: The People’s Dictatorship, also, Holocaust
American Thinker: Punked, also, It’s High Time We Kicked All the Tyrants and Traitors to the Curb
Animal Magnetism: Animal Magnetism LIVE Ep. 9 – Big Animals And Dumb People, Goodbye, Blue Monday, and Animal’s Daily IQ Test For Congress News
Babalu Blog: China resumes direct flights to Cuba as it intensifies its presence in Caribbean, Despite the Castro dictatorship’s threats, Cuban mothers defending their children vow to ‘never back down’, and Protestors who desecrated Martí memorial in Coral Gables have ties to Cuban embassy in Washington
BattleSwarm: Memorial Day: Honoring Gordon Douglas Yntema, Memorial Day: Honoring John Harlan Willis, China Throws Money At Semiconductors Again, and Roundup For Today’s Texas Runoff
Behind The Black: A Martian lava flow so strong it eats mountains, Red Chinese pseudo-company files plans for 10,000 satellite constellation, SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites, North Korea’s orbital Chollima-1 rocket explodes shortly after launch, South Korea establishes its own version of NASA, Rocket Lab launches NASA climate satellite, and Need a kidney transplant? You better be poor according to new DEI proposed rules
Cafe Hayek: Averages Can Mislead
CDR Salamander: From Abbey Gate to Gaza
Chicago Boyz: Worthwhile Reading
Da Tech Guy: The Real Bottom Line and the Basis For The Lawsuits Soon to Hit Colleges Across the Country, USA Today Accidently Conforms the Nellie Bowles Story, To fight back against the left, I say we should refer to all Illinois criminals as “justice-impacted individuals”, I’m Glad Christ is God & King and not Me, and Who Did it Better? Graham Chapman or Pete Buttigieg
Dana Loesch: Last Week In Legal – The Defense Rests Edition
Don Surber: They lie because they get away with it
First Street Journal: Bidenomics and Bidenflation, You in a heap o’ trouble, boy, and Did the Libertarian Party just help the GOP?
Gates Of Vienna: It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again, Covid-19: All Lies. All Crime. — Chapter 3, In the Year of Geert and Wilders, Lest We Forget, and Nazis, Nazis, Everywhere!
The Geller Report: Biden Regime BLOCKING Allies From Censuring Iran Over Increase in Its Illegal Nuclear Weapons Program As It Reaches Completion, also, Pentagon Admits None of the Aid From the $320 Million US Built Pier in Gaza Actually Got to Gazans
Hollywood In Toto: Unwoke Comics Rife, Chappelle and Gervais Rule Netflix, Jerry Seinfeld: ‘I Miss a Dominant Masculinity’, Does Michael Richards Deserve a Second Chance? Seinfeld Shreds ‘Punching Down’ Comedy: It Doesn’t Exist, and What Is Clapter (And Why Do Late-Night “Comedians” Love It)?
The Lid: The Illinois Civil War General Who Helped Create Memorial Day, Lag B’Omer with the “Jewish Amazons” at the Pyramids, and Biden’s DOJ Claims ‘Deadly Force’ Order Necessary Because Trump Had ‘Knives’ in Mar-a-Lago Kitchen
Legal Insurrection: UNC System Board of Governors Votes to Eliminate DEI Offices, Lithium Battery Fire Smoulders in San Diego Area Warehouse, Won’t be Extinguished for “Weeks”, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman Announces Support for Trump, A 13th Oregon County has Voted to Join the “Greater Idaho” Secession Movement, Israel Eliminates Hamas’ West Bank Terror Chief And Deputy in Rafah Airstrike, Politico Panics: FL Gov. Ron DeSantis “Wildly Successful” In School Choice, Warns Public Schools Might Close, and Students of ‘Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee’ Renounce Protests in Favor of ‘Open Intifada’
Nebraska Energy Observer: Saturday – just for you, Trinity Sunday, Lest We Forget, and I need a breather
Outkick: Jason Kelce’s Wife Shuts Down Obnoxious Fan Who Went Off After Failed Photo Op, Cavinder Twins Praise Caitlin Clark’s Effect On Women’s Hoops, Stewart-Haas Racing Ceasing Operations After This Season, Cincinnati Reds Retire Viking Helmet Home Run Celebration, Replace With Secret Celly, Bronny James Reportedly Ignoring NBA Workout Invites, Has Sights Set On Just 2 Teams, Including The Lakers, NFL Players Association Proposal Could Eliminate Spring Football In NFL But Of Course There Are Issues, and Jennifer Lopez’s Bad Year Continues With Potential Las Vegas Residency Reportedly In Jeopardy
Power Line: Historians Need Not Apply, The Need for Memorial Month, and UK Tories: Life Imitates Art [With Comment by John]
Shark Tank: Gimenez Torches Biden For Border Crisis
Shot In The Dark: The Chicanes Of Leftist Economics, I Have To Figure, and It’s Been A Year
This Ain’t Hell: Disabled veteran’s quick thinking saved his life during a bear attack, Joe Biden plans to address Trump verdict from the White House, US Gaza Aid Vessels Aground, Memorial Day, You knew you liked Majorkas for a reason (Not really), Joe Biden’s Gaza pier is reportedly sinking, and Der Nazi Trump ge-exposed ist!
Transterrestrial Musings: No Re-Light, My Decision To Leave Academia, Memorial Day, Non-Profits, and From Abbey Gate To Gaza
Victory Girls: Sotomayor Says She Cries Over SCOTUS Decisions, Red Flags Fly Regarding U.S. Spec Ops Colonel And Chechen Trespassers In North Carolina, NewsGuard: The Ministry of Truth in Your Child’s Public School, and Pride Month Incoming – Is The Public Fed Up With It?
Volokh Conspiracy: Religious Exemption Claim Brought by Employees Who Objected to COVID Vaccination and Testing Can Go Forward
Watts Up With That: Environmentalism In America Is Dead, Of Heat Engines and Refrigerators, German Green Movement “A Run Amok At The Expense Of People And Nature”, and Claim: Biden’s Clean Energy Policies are Failing Because Everyone Elses Fault
The Federalist: Biden Pressers Confirm ‘Get Trump’ Lawfare Is A Campaign Stunt, The Unknown Soldier’s Name May Be Forgotten, But His Sacrifice Should Not, America Is Still Worth Fighting For, Democrats Promise Coordinated Assault On SCOTUS If They Don’t Get Their Way, A Federal ‘Clawback Clause’ Would Ensure We Never Get Another Fauci, Collins, Or Walensky, Michelle Obama’s Dark Money Group Launches Campaign To Turn Out Likely-Democrat Voters, and Republicans, Stay Off Left-Wing Networks Unless You’re Prepared To Go On Offense
Mark Steyn: Shower Curtains, Dirty Old Town: The City, Corruption and In Old Chicago, The End of the World, Fourteen Years On, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Mbube Switcheroonie!

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 05.28.24 (Morning Edition)

Posted on | May 28, 2024 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 05.28.24 (Morning Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: He Literally Shot Himself In The Foot
EBL: Invasion of the Star Creatures, also, Taking Chance: A Memorial Day Tribute
Twitchy: What Judge Merchan Told Parties About “Not Going Into The Law” Before Trump Jury Sounds Shady AF, Robert De Niro’s Batshit Rant At Biden Campaign Presser Outside NYC Court Only Helps Trump, and Story Of Mentally Ill Troon Who Stabbed Six People (Four Girls) Just Gets Weirder
Vox Popoli: Will NATO Go All In? She Pines for the Fjords, Definitely on the List, Brainstorm on Darkstream, and China Warns Japan
Upstream Reviews: Memorial Day 2024,
Stoic Observations: Memories of Crenshaw, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Memorial Day Redux,

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
CDR Salamander: Memorial Day In Halifax
Dana Loesch: Memorial Day
Don Surber: Trump train keeps a-rollin
STUMP: A Time To Remember – Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning, Memorial Day – U.S. Civil War Death Statistics,

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Why Memory Matters

Posted on | May 27, 2024 | Comments Off on Why Memory Matters

“People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.”
— Edmund Burke

Our Army son posted the photo above, showing his baby girl manning the machine gun, with the caption, “These gun teams get younger every day,” and I thought it was an appropriate illustration for this Memorial Day.

As Americans, we are the heirs of a tradition, profoundly indebted to earlier generations, and owing them a certain duty of gratitude. We must recall that “We the People” ordained the Constitution in order to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” If we are grateful for that inheritance — as we should be — then we ought to act in such a manner as to show ourselves worthy of our liberty, considering what tremendous sacrifices were required to obtain and keep it.

A few years ago, I told the story of my ancestor, Abraham Isham Bolt, who served in the South Carolina militia that defeated the British at the Battle of Cowpens, a crucial victory in the Revolutionary War, depicted in the climactic scene of the 2000 movie The Patriot. My ancestor was a mere teenager when he served in the militia, as I pointed out:

Every Fourth of July, we celebrate America’s independence, dating this to the anniversary of 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was made public. But it was not the fine phrases of the Declaration — those self-evident truths — that made the United States an independent nation. No, it was the soldiers who fought the war that won our freedom, and how many of those Patriot soldiers were just teenage farm boys like my ancestor?

Nine months of militia service for a 16-year-old is perhaps a small sum in the account balance of history, yet this is a priceless legacy of which I am immensely proud, and it is strange to me that so few Americans know anything about their ancestors, or care anything about history.

We had a little family gathering Sunday, with my son Jefferson in attendance. He’s just finished his second year of law school, and hasn’t been home since last Thanksgiving, so he brought with him a Christmas gift for me, delivered a few months belatedly: A family tree drawn by his girlfriend (who has a master’s degree in library science and does diligent research) showing five complete generations of my ancestors, going all the way back to my great-great-great-grandparents — all 32 of them!

How many people know the names of all 32 of their great-great-great-grandparents? And, I should point out, Abraham Bolt wasn’t among those; he was my great-great-great-great-grandfather, and his son James (b. 1783) was the earliest Bolt ancestor listed in the genealogy prepared by Jefferson’s girlfriend. An awareness of one’s ancestry provides a deeper appreciation of history, which is valuable to our sense of who we are, and gives us a perspective that we might not otherwise possess.

“To live for the moment is the prevailing passion — to live for yourself, not for your predecessors or posterity. We are fast losing the sense of historical continuity, the sense of belonging to a succession of generations originating in the past and stretching into the future. . . .
“Narcissism emerges as the typical form of character structure in a society that has lost interest in the future.”
— Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations (1979)

What could be more narcissistic than the impudence of the soft-handed intelligentsia who think themselves superior to that heroic generation of Patriots who fought for American independence? Patrick O’Donnell at Breitbart tells the history of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag about which liberals have recently become indignant. One suspects that none of those outraged at Justice Alito’s display of that flag could name even one of their ancestors as having served the Patriot cause.

“These gun teams get younger every day,” as my son says, and let’s hope our grandchildren will do better at remembering their heroic ancestors than most of the members of our generation have done.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Grateful as always for visiting readers, perhaps this would be an opportune moment to remind you that the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are:

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!

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Category: History, Military

Rule 5 Sunday: Pool’s Open

Posted on | May 27, 2024 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

When I was a young spud growing up in the suburbs of DC, my father used to haul me along on his weekend trips to the Knights of Columbus; in addition to the usual council hall with bar, this council had a swimming pool, which always opened on Memorial Day weekend and closed after Labor Day – never mind that it was usually hot and humid enough to open the pool at the beginning of May and keep it open until early October. So if you were wondering why I eschew swimsuit pics until this time of year, now you know. This week’s pic is courtesy of @kbdabear on X, he that linketh every post that falls from the keyboard of the Ewok and posteth copious quantities of attractive scantily-clad babes besides.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five Neanderthal Language Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Saturday Night Girls With Guns, Memorial Day, Scarlett Johannson & OpenAI, MAGA Margo Martin, Hayek Is Right, Red Lobster In Hot Water, The Harrison Butker Speech, Happy Birthday Roadhouse, and Happy Birthday Mr. President

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Allie Dunn, Fish Pic Friday – The Pluff Mud Princess, Happy World Turtle Day!, Thursday Tanlines, Wednesday Wetness, Nonsense, The Monday Morning Stimulus, More Random Celebrity News, Palm Sunday and Here’s Soap in Your Eyes

FLAPPR: T.I.T.S. for May 24, and Sundress Season

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: There Must Be Some Kind Of Way Out Of Here

Posted on | May 26, 2024 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: There Must Be Some Kind Of Way Out Of Here

— compiled by Wombat-socho

SOTD
It was Blowout Week for my Senators, who lost two out of three to the Hated Yankees 4-11 and 2-9 after staking Reggie Cleveland to a 9-2 win against Skip Lockwood in the first game; on Friday, Pat Dobson won the first game against the Twins 8-2 before we got pounded 3-15…well, maybe we could have beaten Dick Woodson in Game Three, which was a 1-2 loss, but the hitters weren’t hitting, even with John Lowenstein and Cookie Rojas back in the lineup after five days on the DL. Somehow the A’s did even worse, which means we’re two games out of the cellar in the Beta Division. People are after me for Pat Dobson, offering draft picks for ’73, but it’s way too early in the season to be throwing in the towel. This week we’re facing the Cardinals on Tuesday and the Tribe on Friday, and I’m hoping for at least a .500 week.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.