Mergers and Acquisitions

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NGC 2623 is really two galaxies that are merging to become one. The pair lies some 300 million light-years distant toward the constellation Cancer. The are in the final stages their merger. The violent encounter between two galaxies that once may have been similar to our Milky Way has resulted in widespread star formation near a luminous core and along tidal tails. The opposing tidal tails extend more than 50,000 light-years from the combined nucleus and are filled with dust, gas, and young blue star clusters. Accretion by a supermassive black hole drives the activity near the nucleus. Star formation and the active galactic nucleus cause NGC 2623 to shine brightly across the spectrum.

BTW, in about 4 billion years, our galaxy, The Milky Way, will merge with the Andromeda Galaxy.

Image Credit: NASA / ESA

An Infrared View of the Trifid Nebula

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The Trifid Nebula, aka M20, is easy to find with a small telescope. It’s a well known object in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. Visible light pictures show the nebula divided into three parts by dark, obscuring dust lanes, but this infrared image reveals filaments of luminous gas and newborn stars. This false-color view was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The Trifid is about 30 light-years across and around 5,500 light-years away.

Image Credit: NASA

Team Kimberlin Post of the Day

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I probably should have titled this post Brett Kimberlin and the Case of the Missing Websites. Seven years ago today, I had a couple of posts about Kimberlin-related websites. The TKPOTD was about a site that had disappeared.

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The Gentle Readers who have been following The Saga of The Dread Pirate Kimberlin lo these many months may remember posts about a website called globalpharma dot biz. This was a site for a company that appeared to have a physical presence in Arizona but whose website was hosted in Holland on the same server as the Kimberlin-related off-shore sites. It’s name server was unmaskedhosting dot com, a domain apparently owned or controlled by Brett Kimberlin. globalpharma dot biz offered to sell me Schedule IV prescription drugs for sale with no prescriptions required.

When I checked yesterday afternoon, the website was missing.globalpharma_miaA bit of digging turned up this interesting information about the domain’s name server history.globalphama_nsChange of ownership?

Hmmmmm.

UPDATE—Here’s a couple of interesting thoughts that popped up while reviewing The Dread Pirate Kimberlin’s RICO suit against me. Neither it nor the state lawsuit he has filed mention any of my writing about globalpharma dot biz.

Also, there’s an interesting coincidence in the timing of globalpharma dot biz going dark. It happened around the time the RICO suit was being drafted and filed. I wonder if a review of 18 USC 1961 had anything to do with the site going down?

As used in this chapter—

(1) “racketeering activity” means (A) any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; … (D) any offense involving fraud connected with a case under title 11 (except a case under section 157 of this title), fraud in the sale of securities, or the felonious manufacture, importation, receiving, concealment, buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), punishable under any law of the United States …

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The second post, It’s Not Exactly Fraud … , was about a money raising site.

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… but it looks kinda shady. The Dread Pirate Kimberlin’s “charity” Justice Through Music Project runs a website called pussyriotdefensefund dot org. Just looking at the name, it would not be unreasonable for someone to assume that the site was involved in raising funds to help with the legal defense for members of the Russian rock band that have been prosecuted.

Here’s the top of the site’s home page. (Click on the image to embiggen it.)pussyriotdefensefund_orgZooming in on the text show this:pussyriot_zoomSee, Gentle Reader, the site’s not really a fraud because it comes right out and tells you that the donations go to JTMP.

BTW, TDPK has filed a federal RICO accusing me of mail fraud and wire fraud because I asked you to donate to funds supporting other bloggers and because I am now one of the beneficiaries of a fund to defend against a frivolous and vexatious lawsuit from Kimberlin. If you believe that the BomberSuesBloggers fund is a scam, please don’t contribute. If you think that blogs such as Hogewash! should be able to publish about potential scams, even if they might be run by Brett Kimberlin, then please go over to the BomberSuesBloggers  [Dead link. We took the site down after we won the LOLsuit.] site and find out how you can help.

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Kimberlin eventually pulled the plug on pussyriotdefensefund dot org. Perhaps it wasn’t generating enough cash flow to bother paying for its hosting. Or Kimberlin may have let lapse through inattention.

Whatever.

Meanwhile, the Justice Through Music Project website was still missing in action as of 9:30 pm ET, Saturday.

Quote of the Day

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Præcipium munus annalium reor, ne virtutes sileantur, utque pravis dictis, factisque ex posteritate et infamia metus sit. The principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.

—Tacitus

Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

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When I look at the star Betelgeuse through my backyard reflecting telescope, it appears to be a reddish-orange point of light. Phys dot org reports the star is smaller and closer than we previously thought. Because it is beginning to show signs that it might go supernova, we don’t want to be too close. It might hold off for 100,000 years, or it may already have blown up.

The new estimate for the distance to Betelgeuse is 530 light-year. That’s probably a safe distance, but the light show will be impressive when it comes.

The Other Podcast

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Stacy McCain and I will be at our mics again for Episode 12 of The Other Podcast Live at 7 pm ET this evening. Join us on Podbean.

Likely topics include Censorship, Our Betters, ACB, and Crazy People Are Dangerous™.

UPDATE—Well, that’s no fun! We lost our outgoing audio feed and were unable to do the podcast tonight. We’ll dig into the problem, fix it, and be back next Saturday.

Team Kimberlin Post of the Day

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Whilst poking about the Interwebz Friday evening, I had difficulty checking up on several of Brett Kimberlin’s websites, the ones hosted by Fintel Associates.

Indeed, I was unable to ping the server that had been hosting jtmp dot org and protectourelections dot org.

I was also unable to reach any of the Kimberlin sites hosted on another Fintel server—almightymedia dot org, indictbreitbart dot org, occupyforaccoutability dot org, and op-critical dot com—and I was unable to ping that server.

Hmmmmm.

The Hogewash Poll

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I’ll be running these polls from Friday through Thursday each week this month and a special poll from Friday through Monday before the election.

I could have included Mike Pence, but does anyone think the Democrats could come up with something believable about him?

UPDATE—FWIW, here’s my Fearless Forecast of the electoral college results: Biden 202, Trump 336.

Team Kimberlin Post of the Day

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Seven years ago today, I was sitting in the lobby of the Carroll County Historic Court House waiting for a hearing related to the Hoge v. Schmalfeldt peace order, when Brett Kimberlin walked up to me and handed me an envelope. He was attempting to serve me with an amended copy of his Kimberlin v. Walker, et al. LOLsuit and effect initial service of his Kimberlin v. National Bloggers Club, et al. (I) RICO Madness LOLsuits. Service was defective in both cases because Kimberlin personally served me. Parties can’t serve each other. If he’d simply handed the envelope to my lawyer who was sitting next to me, the service would have been proper.

This episode of Blogsmoke is from five years ago today.

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Blogsmoke

SOUND: MODEM CONNECTING FADES UP TO FULL MIKE—SINGLE SHOT—RICHOCHET

MUSIC: UP AND UNDER—RECORDED—CUT 1

ANNOUNCER: (VOICE OVER MUSIC) Around Twitter Town and in the territory of the net—there’s just one way to handle the harassers and the stalkers—and that’s with an Internet Sheriff and the smell of “BLOGSMOKE”!

MUSIC: THEME HITS: FULL BROAD SWEEP AND UNDER—RECORDED—CUT 2

ANNOUNCER: “BLOGSMOKE” starring W. J. J. Hoge. The story of the trolling that moved into the young Internet—and the story of a man who moved against it. (MUSIC: OUT)

JOHN: I’m that man, John Hoge, Internet Sheriff—the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It’s a chancy job—and it makes a man watchful … and a little lonely.

MUSIC: MAIN TITLE—RECORDED—CUT 3 Continue reading →

Bad Advice from Joe Biden

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Joe Biden seems to be having trouble with his memory. He is not only forgetting what did, he appears to be having false memories as well. However, he does seem to remember what he heard listening to The Lone Ranger as a kid. The Lone Ranger never shot to kill. Indeed, he tried disarm his opponents as painlessly as possible, often shooting their guns out of their hands. Things may have worked that way on old time radio, but in the Real World, the basic accuracy of the Lone Ranger’s Colt Single Action Army Revolvers and  round-to-round variability of even match quality ammunition makes repeatably hitting something the size of another handgun at range beyond a few feet statistically unlikely. One lucky shot, maybe. Two in a row, nope.

Joe Biden says that cops should try to shoot people in the leg. He’s wrong.

Most defensive handgun shootings (whether by civilian police or other citizens) occur at ranges less than 25 feet. 21 feet is the distance often used for part of many handgun qualification course. Most people are doing well to keep all of their hits within a 6 inch group at that distance when shooting on a target range. Under the stress of a gunfight, most people don’t do as well.

Any gunshot at someone is a use of deadly force. It may be justified against an attacker; it’s never justified against an innocent bystander. While a trained sniper with the proper equipment may be justified in taking a shot a a small target, most of us need to aim for something large. That’s why the proper place for a cop to aim is for the center of mass, the torso. He’s less likely to miss and risk injury to a bystander. Aiming for someone’s leg risks missing with the certainty that the bullet will hit someone or something unintended. Of course, if a luck shot should land in the leg, the risk of hitting the femoral artery is substantial, and such a wound can cause someone to bleed to death very quickly.

Team Kimberlin Post of the Day

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Team Kimberlin is a bunch of liars. For example, consider this Prevarication Du Jour from four years ago today.

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Last year, Breitbart Unmasked Bunny Boy Unread falsely reported on what happened in the 13 March and 14 May hearings on the peace order petition that Brett Kimberlin filed against me. The accuracy of its reporting under its current retread editor is no better. Indeed, it may be worse.bu210610151234zIn fact, the court made no such finding.

Of course, if the current editor of Breitbart Unmasked Bunny Billy Boy Unread believes that he can prove that I have engaged in stalking of the Kimberlin family, he can try to make that part of his defense in Hoge v. Kimberlin, et al. However, before he wastes his time, he might want to consider that when The Dread Pro-Se Kimberlin attempted to sue me for stalking in Kimberlin v. Walker, et al., he lost on summary judgment. Also, when he has tried raise the issue in further lawsuits, he lost again. More to the point, when TDPK filed his failed 2015 peace order petition, he alleged stalking as one of the bases, but the judge who reviewed his petition struck the stalking allegation from the temporary order.

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Meanwhile, returning to 2020, the current Kimberlin-related news operation EuroMaidanPR has taken no notice of the Hunter Biden Ukraine story that broke in the NY Post yesterday,

Hmmmmm.