Random News and Notes 17 February
Editors note: Walt’s Early America series will resume next week.
There was another example of autoparts violence yesterday. In yet another case of trans madness, 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, also known as Roberta Esposito, opened fire on family members during a youth hockey game between Coventry and North Providence high schools, killing his son and ex-wife Rhonda Dorgan while critically injuring three others.
Dorgan died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a good Samaritan helped subdue him; no players were harmed. Police Chief Tina Goncalves called it a targeted family dispute tied to a troubled history, including Dorgan’s 2020 gender-reassignment surgery and prior divorce proceedings citing mental health issues. One of Dorgan’s daughters described her father as mentally ill outside the police station.
‘Mentally ill’ No shit. Why didn’t you or anyone else do anything about it? At least the cops here are being honest unlike the Canadian cops and the autoparts that shot up the school in BC.
Today marks the start of the Lunar New Year. Also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, it is the most important traditional holiday in many East Asian cultures, marking the beginning of a new year according to the lunar calendar with celebrations involving family reunions, feasts, red decorations, and fireworks for good luck.
We bid farewell to the outgoing Year of the Wood Snake (2025)—a time often associated with wisdom, introspection, and transformation—and welcome the incoming Year of the Fire Horse, symbolizing energy, freedom, speed, passion, and bold action ahead.
There is an interesting video making the rounds today. It was taken in Key Biscayne back in December and it shows a bunch of asswipe bicyclists taking up the entire road. An exasperated – and rightly so – driver decides he’s had enough and passes them in the median.
Florida law requires cyclists to ride no more than two abreast and yield by going single file if impeding traffic. Every last one of those cyclists needs to be ticketed for this. It should also be pointed out that Florida law allows you to drive through protesters blocking roadways. Maybe that’s what needed to happen here, just sayin’.
Kicking off our Sports coverage, there is news that Tony Clark, the MLB Players Association executive director is resigning. Clark, executive director since 2013 and a former big-league first baseman, plans to resign amid a federal probe in New York’s Eastern District examining alleged misuse of licensing revenue and self-dealing at ventures like OneTeam Partners and Players Way.
The timing leaves the union leaderless heading into spring training and a pivotal 2026 bargaining year, with the current CBA expiring December 1. No charges have been filed, and the union denies wrongdoing, but reactions range from concerns over labor battles to fans joking about job applications.
In today’s Olympic medal count, Norway remains on top with 13 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze. Host Italy is in 2nd with 9/4/11. Team USA moves back into 3rd with 6/9/5. The Dutch are in 4th with 6/5/1. New to the top 5 Austria rounds us out with 5/8/3. Team Canada is making moves. At press time they were 13th with 2/4/5.
Today’s meme takes us all the way back to an incident that happened in 2013.