I think Orange County, California might need a new coroner.

Circa News reports,

"Hi Dad," Frank M. Kerrigan said over the phone to his father.

Sounds pretty normal, right? Well, that wasn't the case for Kerrigan's 82-year-old father, Frank J. Kerrigan.

That's because Frank J. Kerrigan had laid his son to rest 11 days before receiving that call, or so he thought.

It's unclear exactly what led Orange County coroner's officials to misidentify the body of a man who was found dead behind a Verizon store in Fountain Valley, California, in early May -- but they did.

Frank J. Kerrigan received a call from the coroner's office and was told the body belonged to his 57-year-old son who is mentally ill and had been living on the street.

When the grieving father asked whether he should come identify the body, an official said his son's body had been identified through fingerprints.

"When somebody tells me my son is dead, when they have fingerprints, I believe them," Kerrigan said. "If he wasn't identified by fingerprints I would been there in heartbeat."


Frank J. Kerrigan holds onto a funeral card for his son Frank, near Wildomar, Calif. Kerrigan, who thought his son had died, learned he buried the wrong man. (Andrew Foulk/The Orange County Register via AP)

On May 12, the family held a $20,000 funeral that drew friends and family from as far away as Washington State.

"We thought we were burying our brother," said Frank's sister, Carole Meikle. "Someone else had a beautiful sendoff. It's horrific."

The body was interred at a cemetery in Orange, near where Frank J. Kerrigan's wife was buried.

Then, on May 23, the grieving father received likely the most unexpected phone call of his lifetime. Frank J. Kerrigan's friend, Bill Shinker, called to say the 82-year-old's son was standing on his patio.

Kerrigan's attorney, Doug Easton said the coroner's office wasn't able to identify the corpse's fingerprints through a law enforcement database so they used an old driver's license photo. When the family notified authorities that Frank M. Kerrigan was, indeed, alive, they were able to match the prints to someone else.
5 of 6
A spokesman for the coroner's office has since apologized to the Kerrigan family "for any emotional stress caused as a result of this unfortunate incident."

The Orange County Sheriff's Department is conducting an internal investigation to determine what led to the mix-up and to prevent something similar from happening again.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

No collusion, no obstruction, so now what? Nancy Pelosi: "My decision about how long I stay as leader of the Democrats in the House is not up to the members!"

Like Hannity, Watters World comes at us from the right side of the spectrum. On his show last night, though, Jesse Watters had a liberal guest in Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz. Jesse asked him, "Since there is no collusion and no obstruction, What will be the focus of Mueller's investigation? Dershowitz said "whether or not General Flynn failed to put on his application form various meetings he participated in."

How about this comment from Nancy Pelosi: "My decision about how long I stay as leader of the Democrats in the House is not up to the members!"

Jesse goes to a convention of people advocating for recreational marijuana legalization. Jesse Ventura was there, so Jesse Watters asks him if he was high when he sued Chris Kyle's widow. Ventura says that is the kind of bullshit question he expects from Fox News. Jesse Watters explains when he safely returns to the Fox set that the case was "tossed," and Ventura never got any money from Chris Kyle's widow."

Another bad week for the #NeverTrumpers!

If you missed last night's Greg Gutfeld Show, here it is. It is a really good one. From Johnny Depp to Donald Trump, Greg and crew cover the whole scene with rapier sharp wit. Enjoy!

"Informal rule-making"

Oregon Muse recommends two other books that seem importantly relevant in today's America.

Liberty's Nemesis: The Unchecked Expansion of the State

...a dense work that will never be a bestseller but that nonetheless offers the most enduring conservative criticism of the Obama years. “Liberty’s Nemesis” (2016), edited by Dean Reuter and John Yoo and featuring some three dozen contributors, mixes scholarship, ideology and activism to argue that Obama has presided over an enormous and dangerous expansion of the administrative and regulatory state. “Its operations are so vast and its reach so sprawling that it lies beyond the control or comprehension of any one man or group of men,” Yoo writes, making “rational management impossible.”
Which is ironic, because the origin of the "administrative state" can be traced back to Woodrow Wilson who thought that government had grown too complex and technical for Joe Sixpak voters and politicians and instead, had to be managed by experts. So now apparently it has grown too complex even for the experts.

I'm glad to see that this issue has picked up a bit of traction. One of Glenn "Instapundit" Reynold's recent columns mentions The Administrative Threat by Philip Hamburger who traces the origins of adminstrative law back ever further:

Hamburger explains that the prerogative powers once exercised by English kings, until they were circumscribed after a resulting civil war, have now been reinvented and lodged in administrative agencies, even though the United States Constitution was drafted specifically to prevent just such abuses. But today, the laws that actually affect people and businesses are seldom written by Congress; instead they are created by administrative agencies through a process of “informal rulemaking,” a process whose chief virtue is that it’s easy for the rulers to engage in, and hard for the ruled to observe or influence. Non-judicial administrative courts decide cases, and impose penalties, without a jury or an actual judge. And the protections in the Constitution and Bill of Rights (like the requirement for a judge-issued search warrant before a search) are often inapplicable.

"A wee bit hypocritical?"

Bookworm writes about the abuse of gays in the seven countries from which President Trump sought a temporary travel ban. California opposed the president's actions. Now California has instituted a travel ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel to states in America that do not have laws to California's liking on LGBTQ issues.

In June 2017, California announced that it was banning all travel to states that it identifies as having policies discriminating in any way against LGBTQer conduct. This list currently includes Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Each of those named states has passed one or more laws holding that First Amendment religious liberty and freedom of association means that people whose faith disapproves of homosexual conduct cannot be forced to provide personal services for LGBTQ weddings, provide adoption services to LGBTQ couples, and share bathrooms with individuals who claim to be transgendered.

It is important to note that in none of those states are there official or unofficial policies calling for the physical abuse, imprisonment, or execution of people on the LGBTQ etc. spectrum. None of these states have laws preventing people in the LGBTQers from marrying or adopting children. Nevertheless, even as California extends an unlimited, un-vetted welcome to people coming from countries in which the law and the culture actively attack, imprison, and murder LGBTQers, it cannot bear to be in the same country as states that honor everyone’s First Amendment freedoms.

Is it just me or is California being a wee bit hypocritical here? Even worse than hypocrisy, it’s practicing a dangerous form of “soft” secession that would justify firing shots, just as Lincoln did against the South:

As we noted when California inaugurated this policy, American federalism is based on the agreement that different states can pursue different policies (within Constitutional bounds) while retaining equal status within the union. California’s decision to escalate the culture war with “sanctions” against states with different political orientations represents a direct challenge to America’s federal structure.

This new order could have a major symbolic impact—for example, by making it difficult or impossible for University of California sports teams to compete against the University of Texas. And could lead to retaliatory measures by the targeted red states: They could, for example, up the ante not only by enacting reciprocal travel bans but also by refusing to cooperate with California’s government in criminal investigations, declining to share tax data, or prohibiting companies from selling products to California’s state government. How long before a coalition of liberal states begins to collectively and systematically impose sanctions on conservative ones, or vice versa?

To say that Democrats don’t play well with others is an understatement. What’s worrisome is when this immature playground behavior extends to matters of core constitutionalism.

Read more here.

Why it took Hitler's troops so long to send supplies and reinforcements to Normandy

Did you know that Winston Churchill had a Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare? Oregon Muse tells us here about a book entitled

Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat by Giles Milton.

What is the new way to be clever and virtuous?

I was only able to listen to 41 minutes of this Mark Steyn interview with author Douglas Murray, but I enjoyed it, and I plan to finish it ASAP.

Politicians in Europe are totally changing the societies they are supposed to be looking after!

Murray says Europe suffers from thought diseases. "It's about us! It is about Islam, but it could have been anything that is assertive." Europeans need to "shake off the guilt!" No one predicted any of this. No one asked any of the serious questions.

Europeans are indulging in masochism. "The great problem for masochists is what happens when they meet a real sadist! We are meeting our sadists. You're in the bondage section, and you suddenly realize there is no safe word!"

"On the minus side, we've got a bit more gang rape and beheading than we used to have, but on the plus side, we've got a wider range of cuisine!"

The way millennials are persuaded to look at the world, everything is about "I'm great, you're Hitler! I'm good, you're evil. Hear me roar!"

What happens when two things thought to be virtues are in competition? Take mercy and justice. In the search to be merciful, we've grown up on the idea that there should not be any justice for the people of Europe. You've inherited something that is not being passed on. You've destroyed the whole thing for your short-term misunderstanding gains.

Traditions? Our students are taught mainly how to war on traditions. That is the new way to be clever and virtuous.

American youth do not think free speech matters.

Once you recognize there is a hole inside you, you don't necessarily turn back to what you've lost!

Democrats now the party of the rich and those who take care of them, and nobody in between?

What would Tucker Carlson have to talk about if there were no Democrats? Elizabeth Warren talks about political differences as moral crimes. Hillary Clinton says Republicans are the "party of death."

Tammy Bruce points out that the Left is all about getting and maintaining power. In the 20th century, three regimes killed 70 million people who opposed them: the Soviet Union, Communist China, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Left has been funding groups like #Black Lives Matter, setting the stage for violence.

Congress wants to call Loretta Lynch to testify again. In July 2016 she declined to answer questions about the Hillary Clinton email case more than 70 times. This time Congress wants to know if she blocked the FBI investigation.

John Moore has written an article in PJ Media about the catastrophic effects of an EMP attack. That would occur if there were a nuclear explosion above our atmosphere that would destroy our electrical grids. It would take civilization back to the 1800s. We have not stockpiled electric power, water, or gasoline, so we are not protected!

Seattle passed a $25 dollar gun tax in 2015. Murders have doubled since then. Shootings are way up. A guest says it is because of two criminal gangs operating there. Gun sellers fled to the suburbs, and the city is less safe.

Jeff Sessions has rescinded an Eric Holder memo to soften sentencing of persons convicted of drug crimes.

An obstetrician from Illinois talked about a law there that would require him to provide clients with a list of nearby abortion providers. He says as an obstetrician he has two clients, the mom and the baby. The law would require him to have one of his clients executed, and the other to be mortally wounded with regret for the rest of her life.

Hasbro no longer sells toys for boys and girls.

Bill Cosby, who has been accused of sexual assault by over 50 women, is going to be offering free seminars beginning next month on how to avoid sexual assault charges!

Tucker concludes by saying that the Democratic Party is now for the rich and those who take care of them, and nobody in between!

'The Clintons are the acid reflux of the Democratic Party," Using speech to hide truth, the Hollywood left's assassination fetish, why North Korea did not keep Dennis Rodman.

Greg Gutfeld says the Clintons are the acid reflux of the Democratic Party. Hillary may lose her security clearance. Greg points out how Democrats use speech to hide the truth. Investigation? No, "matter." Terror? No, "man-caused disaster'" or "workplace violence."

Considerable discussion about Johnny Depp's remarks that "maybe it's time" for an actor to assassinate a president again. Greg pointed out that if Depp really wanted to say something dangerous in Hollywood, he could say something good about Trump! Kimberley points out that Depp does have a history of domestic violence, including throwing his phone at his wife. His threat should be taken seriously.

Dennis Rodman also got a lot of air time on last night's program. Greg wondered aloud why North Korea didn't keep him. Probably because it wouldn't have been possible to put him in a coma. Get it? You have to have a brain to be put in a coma.

Jesse Watters gets under Jesse Ventura's skin. That will be on tonight's Watter's World.

"the FBI has failed to cooperate with congressional investigators seeking documents."

Paul Sperry reports at the New York Post

...The Senate Judiciary Committee is also investigating whether the FBI has wrongly relied on the anti-Trump dossier and its author, Christopher Steele — the old spy who was hired by Fusion GPS to build a Russia file on Trump — to aid its ongoing espionage investigation into the Trump campaign and its possible ties to Moscow.

The FBI received a copy of the Democrat-funded dossier in August, during the heat of the campaign, and is said to have contracted in October to pay Steele $50,000 to help corroborate the dirt on Trump — a relationship that “raises substantial questions about the independence” of the bureau in investigating Trump, warned Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Senate investigators are demanding to see records of communications between Fusion GPS and the FBI and the Justice Department, including any contacts with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, now under congressional investigation for possibly obstructing the Hillary Clinton email probe, and deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, who is under investigation by the Senate and the Justice inspector general for failing to recuse himself despite financial and political connections to the Clinton campaign through his Democrat activist wife. Senate investigators have singled out McCabe as the FBI official who negotiated with Steele.

Like Fusion GPS, the FBI has failed to cooperate with congressional investigators seeking documents.

"The Secret Service should take this seriously"

Ace writes about actor Johnny Depp's threats to assassinate our president. Some excerpts:

The name "Johnny Depp" is synonymous for "late in age one-note formerly famous person who is broke and is now making even more awful movies than he used to.

So now he's musing about the last time an actor killed a president, and wondering if it isn't time for another one to do the same.

The Secret Service should take this seriously -- Johnny Depp has been alleged to have a history of violence, though usually against women even smaller than himself.

...Depp accidentally severed the tip of his finger when raging about his suspicions that Heard was having an affair with much-more-manly actor Billy Bob Thornton. So he "dipped the stump" into blue ink and wrote "Billy Bob" and "Easy Amber" on a mirror.

Which isn't crazy or worrying at all, and the Secret Service should definitely not take a long look at this "volatile," drunk, financially distressed asshole.

We have nothing to fear from broken drunks with Nothing Left to Lose.

Read more here.

"mule-headed willful stupidity"

Ace has a piece up about the media being wrong again and again. Some excerpts:

Don Surber coincidentally has a piece demonstrating that they're literally always wrong about everything, noting that they have learned absolutely nothing since November.

That's not just laziness. Even a lazy person learns by osmosis.

To actively reject all information is a purposeful exertion. They're remaining proudly ignorant as a demonstration of mule-headed willful stupidity.

"Run in the opposite direction!"

Matthew Continetti writes at The Washington Free Beacon about media getting it wrong. Some excerpts,

Conjectures and guesswork continue to dog Trump in the form of "the Russia thing," the belief that the president, his "satellites," or his campaign worked with the Russians to influence the election in his favor. Months after the FBI opened its investigation into whether such collusion occurred, no evidence has been found. The charge itself is based on an unverified and gossipy and over-the-top memo prepared by a former British spy for Democrats.

Compounded by Trump's own mistakes, the Russia story has now traveled so far afield from the original suspicions that we in Washington are no longer all that interested in the underlying charges. What concerns us instead is the possible obstruction of justice in the investigation of a crime that seems not to have taken place. And yet Russia continues to dominate the headlines, command the attention of pundits, generate rumor and insinuations from people who ought to know better.

...So much more fun to pretend to be in the know, to assert with absolute confidence one's theory about the world, proclaim one's virtue, despite all evidence to the contrary.

"Like a bearded nut in robes on the sidewalk proclaiming the end of the world is near, the media is just doing what makes it feel good, not reporting hard facts," Michael Crichton once said. "We need to start seeing the media as a bearded nut on the sidewalk, shouting out false fears. It's not sensible to listen to it."

...But please, please, please be wary of the supposedly nonpartisan and objective experts who have looked at the DATA and determined which course history will take. In fact, be more than wary. Run in the opposite direction.

Read more here.

How public faith in our institutions collapses

At The Federalist, Ben Domenech writes about our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Here are some excerpts.

These institutions are as dysfunctional as all the others, with their own internal politics, defects, aspiring people, and conflicting forces that often cross the lines of law and ethics in pursuit of their goals. Not losing faith in them at that juncture is a difficult thing indeed.

...There’s no reason to beat around the bush here: what the FBI is claiming is mind-boggling when they claim the shooter had no target in mind. Consider the number of accidents of circumstance you would have to believe were going on here to not have the shooter doing what seems obvious from every piece of evidence we have: researching and planning for an attack on Republicans of some kind, particularly looking for an opportunity when security will be low and vulnerability will be high. This was an attack, not an “anger management” problem.

Step back, though, and think on the institutional conclusions here. Considering how ludicrous the FBI’s conclusions are as it relates to an attack on the third-ranking member of the House of Representatives, you might reconsider whether to trust the FBI’s conclusions in other areas, as well. And this is how our faith in institutions is degraded: steadily, gradually, with incident after incident where men in suits stand in front of microphones and make claims we know are not the whole truth.

At Ace of Spades, CDR M adds,

If CIA contractors are willing to hack vending machines, what else do you think they're willing to do with capabilities they have access to in their official capacity? No one has really been punished at the IRS for their political shenanigans and the DOJ obviously interfered with the Hillary private server investigation. Until big name folks are held accountable for their violations, public faith in these institutions will continue to crater.

The problems with Islam, Leftists hate racism almost as much as they hate Jews! Is someone trying to prepare us for a post-human world?

Here are the last two Andrew Klavan Shows (Wednesday and Thursday). Here are some of the ideas I thought were highlights. You will just have to listen to both to find out which one I am remembering!

The problems with Islam boil down to two, in Andrew's estimation. One, the words in the Koran are supposedly written by God (Allah), so change will not be easily forthcoming. And secondly, the Islam is a state religion. Jesus told us never to have a theocracy ("My kingdom is not of this world!") During the time of Constantine, Christianity had become very popular, so Constantine made it the state religion. that did not work out well. Saudia Arabia is planning to modernize under their new Crown Prince, but Islam will still be the state religion.

Andrew played a clip of a recent interview Sean Hannity conducted with Camille Paglia. Though she is and intends to remain a Democrat, she is very critical of the Democratic Party and the press. Democrats nowadays believe in nothing but fantasy, words, hallucinations, and Hollywood. Then she asks, what has happened to journalism? "My party has destroyed journalism. Journalists have turned themselves over to their childish fraternity and buffoonish behavior! It will take decades to recover! Camille is a professor of media studies, as well as being a professor of humanities.

Ted Cruz is trying to help get a good healthcare bill. Although Trump treated him badly in the primaries, he praises many things Trump has done, especially the appointment of Gorsuch and a conservative Cabinet. Trump, too, has been a better person in office than he was as a candidate. Let him learn! Give him a chance!

Every summer the blockbuster movies are either Marvel or DC Comicbook characters. When do we put aside childish things? Are we being prepared for a post-human world? Must you insist that I lie when you tell me you are a woman but your DNA says you are a man?

Andrew notices that Leftists hate racism almost as much as they hate Jews! Leftists hate racism almost as much as they hate Jews

"There might be tapes," Nancy Pelosi is not going to go silently into the night, the big issue with healthcare is cost

Laura Ingraham loves how Trump outfoxed Comey by saying, "There might be tapes."

Was Mother Theresa right when she said, "Americans have too many things?" Do we all need to set aside quiet time every day for prayer and meditation?

A judge stopped the deportation of some Iraqi Christians.

Nancy Pelosi, "I'm an ardent Catholic," is not going to go silently into the night. The Dems don't have enough votes to get rid of her as party leader. She is very good at fundraising, and what is more important to politicians? Trump is having fun saying, "let her stay!" He also wants "Cryin Chuck" Schumer to stay.

We the people want good jobs, rule of law, secure borders, the pursuit of happiness!

Senators Ron Johnson of Wis., Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul are holding back on endorsing the health care "reform and replace." Laura had as a guest a Cardiologist who writes for Lifezette. He says the big issue is with cost. If you own stock in health insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, or hospitals, then you are happy with this bill. It is just one indication of how corrupt our government has become.

Obamacare did absolutely nothing to address the cost of healthcare, and neither does this repeal and replace bill.

Larry Sabato was Laura's last guest. He notes that at age 77 Nancy Pelosi is actually middle age when comparing her with her peers in Congress! He also notes that between the time when they are elected and being sworn in, Congress people have already had to do lots of fundraisers!

Sabato also thinks there will be a third party candidate who will be a force in 2020.

"She led with a controversial, hard-to-defend statement, and then, when pressed, retreated to a safe, no-sane-person-can-be-against-this platitude. And then pretended the two are the same."

Oregon Muse reports at Ace of Spades,

I Never Knew This Had A Name
—OregonMuse

Feminist: All men are rapists.

OregonMuse: What, are you high? You know that's complete bullshit.

Feminist: No, it's not, it's why we need feminism -- to smash the patriarchy.

OregonMuse: Feminism is bullshit.

Feminist: You're obviously a h8r. "Feminism is the radical proposition that women are people, too." How could you be against that?

-----

Do you see what the feminist did there? She led with a controversial, hard-to-defend statement, and then, when pressed, retreated to a safe, no-sane-person-can-be-against-this platitude. And then pretended the two are the same. I've seen this in one form or another for years and it's just infuriating. But I never knew until about an hour ago that it has a name.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold, the Motte and Bailey trick:


Motte and Bailey (MAB) is a combination of bait-and-switch and equivocation in which someone switches at will between a "motte" (an easy-to-defend and often common-sense statement, such as "culture shapes our experiences") and a "bailey" (a hard-to-defend and more controversial statement, such as "cultural knowledge is just as valid as scientific knowledge") in order to defend their viewpoint. Someone will "support" the easy-to-defend (motte) temporarily, to ward off critics, but does not actually believe what they're saying. The "difficult" (bailey) version always remains the desired belief, but is never actually defended. For all intents and purposes, the MAB'er is defending a "ghost" belief.
So MAB is a specie of the genus "bait and switch."

"a politically motivated exercise in weaponized government."

Ace of Spades reports,

Court Dismisses 14 of 15 Charges in the Persecution of Those Who Exposed the Trade in Organs of Aborted Babies
—Ace

When you charge someone with 15 counts, and 14 of them are so obviously without merit a judge dismisses them pre-trial, it shows the prosecution to be a politically motivated exercise in weaponized government.

Read more here.

"Kill, Rape, Control"

Edwin Mora writes at Breitbart about how sanctuary cities block ICE from deporting members of the MS13 gang back to El Salvador after they commit violent crimes in the US.

Currently, there are “more than” 10,000 MS-13 gang members — accused of extortion, murder, and rape, among other crimes — operating in “at least” 46 states and the nation’s capital, according to the federal government.

“The MS-13 threat is everywhere in the U.S.,” warned Kenneth Blanco, the acting assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ), while testifying alongside Albence.

Asked by Sen. Kennedy, “I want to make sure I understand. These are evil people…If they’re arrested and they’re in a local jail, there are some cities in the United States that would prevent you from coming in and talking to them, interviewing them?”

“Correct,” responded ICE’s Albence.

The gang’s motto is known as “kill, rape, control.”

MS-13, primarily based in El Salvador, has taken advantage of the flow of illegal immigrants in the last few years, particularly unaccompanied alien children (UACs), to bolster their ranks within the United States.

UACs refer to illegal aliens under the age of 18.

Read more here.

Liberal boycotts backfire

Don Surber writes,

On Wednesday night, President Trump held a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

CNN and MSNBC boycotted the news.

Only Fox News carried it live.

Guess who viewers watched.

From TV Newser, the results:
8 PM Fox News 3,298,000, CNN 821,000, MSNBC 1,534,000
9 PM Fox News 3,362,000, CNN 963,000, MSNBC 2,337,000
For two hours, it was like the old days, with Fox News gathering as many eyeballs as CNN and MSNBC combined.

Oh, and in the demo -- those 25-54 -- Fox News was No. 1 in both hours.

What have I been saying? From Chick-Fil-A to Ivanka, liberal boycotts backfire.

Conservative boycotts hurt. Ask the Susan Komen breast cancer foundation. Revenues down 40 percent since conservatives discovered six years ago it helped fund Planned Parenthood.