Monday Updates

First up, the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent David Maland on January 20 in Vermont and subsequent manhunt has been tied to – and yes, this is NOT from The Onion – an anarchist vegan group on the West Coast.

The group believed in artifical intelligence theories, ethical reasoning and veganism, the outlet reported, citing a former friend of the pair, Jessica Taylor.

“They have this sort of anarchist, vegan critique of society,” Taylor told the outlet, saying that they believed “you might do some violence that your society disapproves of, but your society does violence anywhere.”

German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut were linked to Jack “Ziz” LaSota, a cult figure in the Bay Area in California, the Boston Globe reported.

The group believed in artifical (sic) intelligence theories, ethical reasoning and veganism, the outlet reported, citing a former friend of the pair, Jessica Taylor.  Fox News

Youngblut was taken into custody at the time, and Bauckholt was taken into custody. A third person linked to the group, Michelle Zajko, is the subject of an intense manhunt.

Anarchist vegans?  What’s next, militant bisexual hunchbacks?

Norway authorities had held a Norwegian-owned but Russian-crewed ship, the Silver Dania, as also suspected of damaging the undersea cable linking the island of Gotland, Sweden and Latvia.

Tromsø police district has now conducted a number of investigative steps and secured what we see as necessary, considering the request from Latvia. The investigation will continue, but we see no reason for the ship to remain in Tromsø any longer,” Tromsø police attorney Ronny Jørgensen said late Friday.

The Silver Dania was stopped on Thursday evening and brought into the port of Tromsø in northern Norway on Friday morning by a Norwegian coast guard vessel for inspection. They said that followed a request from Latvian authorities and a ruling by a Norwegian court.  CNN

No word that the Malta-flagged Vezhen, detained last week, has been released.

In an unexpectedly swift resolution, the knucklehead flying a drone which damaged a firefighting tanker in Los Angeles has agreed to plead guilty in court.

Peter Tripp Akemann faces up to one year in prison, and a judge will determine his sentence, acting U.S. attorney Joseph McNally said. As part of the plea agreement, he will have to complete 150 hours of wildfire-related community service and pay $65,000 in restitution for the damage to the plane, McNally said.

$65K is a lot of duct tape…

Authorities say Akemann launched the drone from the top of a parking structure in Santa Monica on Jan. 9 and flew it more than 1.5 miles toward the Palisades Fire before losing sight of it. It then crashed with the Super Scooper that was carrying two firefighters. The planes can scoop 1,500 gallons (6,000 liters) of water in just seconds. AP News

Akeman could face up to a year in prison. He is the former president of Skydance Interactive – you see their logo on several Tom Cruise movies.

Akemann’s attorneys released a statement on his behalf: “Mr. Akemann is deeply sorry for the mistake he made by flying a drone near the boundary of the Palisades fire area on January 9, 2025, and for the resulting accident. He accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgement and is cooperating with the government in effort to make amends. There are a number of mitigating factors that will come to light during the court proceedings including Mr. Akemann’s reliance on the DJI Drone’s geo fencing safeguard feature and the failure of that feature.” NBC Los Angeles

I read elsewhere that the drone flew out of sight and Akleman relied on a software “fence ” to keep it out of restricted airspace – which was not effective. Pretty expensive lesson in trusting Chinese software.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, None