Number 5. NBC News. Nebraska teen accused of derailing train, recording video.
And now, in our “Well! That did not go as planned!” department, a Nebraska 17-year-old is in big trouble. He just happened to have his video camera set up filming a rural grain elevator. Like every rural elevator in the country, this one is served by a railroad track.
Speaking as a rural Kansan with lots of experience watching rural grain elevators go by, NOTHING ever happens at a rural grain elevator. With the possible exception of wheat harvest, nothing remotely interesting ever needs to be filmed there.
So when Video Boy — unnamed in the article — used his tripod to film a BNSF locomotive pulling loaded cars smashing into an empty coal car, he ran into a sudden payoff for his patience. His video was to gain attention on YouTube.
Perhaps a little too eagerly, the teen immediately phoned in the event, then waited around for railroad investigators to arrive. He asked one what caused the collision, and the investigator advised him it remained undetermined at that very early date.
Not willing to let the matter rest, the young man suggested to the experienced investigator that “obviously a switch was flipped the wrong way.”
This is obvious?
Perhaps not, thought the investigator, who subsequently found surveillance video showing the teen’s car had been in the area earlier in the day, and then again showed up only a few minutes before the scheduled arrival of the ill-fated BNSF train.
The investigator also found that the rail switch had indeed “been flipped the wrong way,” and the padlock to protect against tampering had been removed.
There were no casualties, and total damages were around $350,000, which does not sound too bad for freight cars, but the interest level of the videographer was enough to get him arrested.
When the coincidence is too good to be true, it probably is.
Number 4. Breitbart. Joy Behar: Young white males buying 50 rounds of ammo should be reported.
The apparent shooter in the barely-failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump started his last day on this earth by purchasing a box of ammunition. I have seen no article yet that specifies the type of ammunition used, but reports indicate the rifle chambers a 5.56 mm cartridge. This is a common chambering for a Modern Sporting Rifle on the AR-15 platform.
There are, of course, dozens of various loadings of 5.56 cartridges available at gun counters. Some of those come packaged 20 in a box, others 50 in a box.
The notion that every Young White Male purchasing a 50-round box of rifle ammunition ought to trigger a police report could be… impractical.
Per the ATF, in 2019, 8 billion rounds of rifle ammunition were sold in the U.S. That was 5 years ago. More recent estimates put the amount around 12 billion. At 50 rounds per box, and using 8 billion as our number, that would be 160,000 purchases someone would have to check up on.
Statistically speaking, something very near 100% of those investigations would fail to turn up a would-be assassin.
It almost makes one think the comment by the co-host of The View was more geared toward the politics of identity rather than toward the protection of the political candidate, whose head was very nearly exploded on live television.
Number 3. The Gateway Pundit. Tech company yanks Olympic ads following demonic opening ceremony.
Well, you can’t say the Olympic Committee is afraid of controversy.
Somebody had the bright idea to re-enact Leonardo Da Vinci’s portrait of Christ’s Last Supper as a drag show for the opening ceremony. I suppose, because… Paris.
Maybe it’s a natural leap from one of the most celebrated images of the Christian faith to a cross-dressing parody of the same in the context of international athletic events. This, now, is emblematic of how we share the unity of nations.
What some have seen as truly out of place is the pre-teen child, at the left, in the screen shot of the live action performance.
The Twixxer account for the Olympic Games, however, stressed that this was NOT an attack on Jesus or Christians. Rather it was merely a way to praise the Greek god Dionysus, who is maybe the same as Bacchus, but that would take more research than I am inclined to do.
As an Olympic Games spokesperson pointed out, the Committee’s aim was merely to celebrate tolerance, not to disrespect Christians. And nothing, apparently, shows tolerance like a naked male smurf on a salad plate surrounded by adoring fans.
C-Spire Wireless, headquartered in (wouldn’t you know it) Mississippi, publicly objected to the display and pulled their advertising from the Olympics. Their statement on X (Twitter) reads: “We were shocked by the mockery of the Last Supper during the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics. C-Spire will be pulling our advertising from the Olympics.”
Despite the fact that C-Spire’s website says the company clearly embraces diversity and equality, the faux Lord’s Supper was a bridge too far.
Now… I would not be at all surprised to see:
a) sales of C-Spire cellphones to explode
b) DOJ investigations of C-Spire’s financial reports
c) media outcry over inappropriate behavior on the part of C-Spire leadership
d) an IR$ audit.
The prince of this world is coming. — Jesus, in the Gospel of John
Number 2. Eater dot com. Banana ketchup should be everywhere.
Now, to lighten the mood, you might like this story about a new culinary craze: Banana ketchup.
Started by a Filipino about a hundred years ago, this has long been a staple of condiments in the Philippines.
Maria Orosa was reportedly fed up, so to speak, with having to depend on imported foods. To make something approximating the usefulness of ketchup, Ms. Orosa started with bananas, locally abundant, and added garlic, vinegar, sugar, spices, and red coloring. What she found was what this article calls a “potently spiced surprise with a rich but balanced flavor.”
In the 1940s, a Filipino businessman began producing it for the export market. It became a sensation throughout the Far East.
Banana ketchup is not exactly sweet. It is used on hamburgers and hotdogs, and as a marinade. Dress your roasted potatoes, use it in your curry. Spice up your party wings and grilled shrimp. About anything can use it as a dipping sauce.
I tried to buy it online. Amazon lists it but is out of stock. A dozen other sites show prices ranging from $2.99 to $29.99 per 14-oz bottle. (Maybe the market needs to stabilize a little.) I would have ordered some, but the sites that seemed to be in reach showed exorbitant shipping costs.
But I think YOU should order it. Put your review in the comments below.
I have talked myself into a “potently spiced surprise with a rich but balanced flavor.”
Number 1. Schiff Sovereign Newsletter. “Picks and shovels” AI investment is absurdly cheap.
This one is not from conventional media; it is a Substack article, like the ANR. I found it intriguing for how the history lesson blends into Artificial Intelligence. At the end, author James Hickman suggests an investment plan. It is his recommendation, not mine, but it seems logical. I think you’ll like the article.
Basically, Hickman reviews the Sutter’s Mill gold strike in California, 1849. The man who ran the dry goods store in Sacramento, one Samuel Brannon, also published a local newspaper. When he was approached by a customer who wanted to purchase goods with a gold nugget, and who told the proprietor where the nugget had been found, Brannon the newspaper man took over.
When Brannon published the story, it spread like wildfire. Some 300,000 prospectors eventually flooded California.
As Brannon the dry goods man had foreseen, every one of them needed a pick and a shovel. Soon, Brannon was selling $5,000 PER DAY of picks and shovels, in 1849 dollars. He became California’s first millionaire.
Turning the clock forward 175 years, Hickman’s story is about the rise of Artificial Intelligence. He points out that the vast quantities of computers required to develop AI will require similarly vast quantities of energy to run them.
The point is that natural gas is about the cheapest energy-related fuel available, so Hickman believes it is a market poised to sky-rocket.
He may be right, and I will probably watch it go by.
This story makes me feel like the farmer who was asked, “What would you do if you won the lottery for a million dollars?”
“Well,” the man drawled, “I’d probably just keep farming till it was all gone.”
And that is The Alligator News Roundup for Friday, August 2, 2024. Thanks for joining. Don’t forget to share the episode with someone who may never speak to you again.
And, as an added thought: Everyone has a story, but hopefully not everyone’s is about celebrating the god of debauchery and excess. If you want to tell your stories on Substack, reach out to me. You can learn how to put up a newsletter with a video in four virtual one-on-one sessions. Click the link below to schedule a brief discussion. Have a good weekend!
Share this post