The Youngstown Commons

09/21/2026

DYK? Richard the Lionheart and the Massacre of Acre

On August 20, 1191, King Richard the Lionheart committed one of the most ruthless acts of the Crusades. But it was not in the heat of battle; it was in calculated logistical cold-bloodedness.

Outside the surrendered city of Acre, at a site called Ayyadieh, Richard ordered the systematic ex*****on of nearly 2,700 Muslim prisoners of war, including women and children, while Saladin’s army watched helplessly from the surrounding hills.

Why? Because negotiating their ransom, feeding them and guarding them was taking too long and costing too much.

In popular culture, Richard I is romanticized as the chivalrous, noble king of medieval legend. But at Ayyadieh, chivalry took a backseat to military expediency. When prisoners became a logistical burden that slowed down his march to Jerusalem, he simply liquidated the human inventory. It stands as a grim historical reminder that when political power meets military ambition, human lives are quickly reduced to a line-item expense.

09/21/2026

Theological Ponderings:

If Scripture is the only final authority, then the authority to know what is Scripture must come from Scripture itself.

Scripture does not tell us which books belong in the Bible.

Therefore, the decision of what belongs in the Bible relies on the historical authority of the Church/Tradition.

The real "missing artifact" is the theological justification for the selection process itself. By remaining completely silent on how to build a canon, Scripture leaves open a massive, permanent gap and one that requires either an immense leap of institutional faith in the early Church or an acceptance that the Bible is fundamentally an organic, humanly curated anthology rather than a single, seamless divine object.

09/21/2026

For those who want to catch up on what we have so far.

The Flock Files: The Document So Far

Over the last several weeks, we have been working through Flock Safety records from Youngstown and surrounding Mahoning Valley communities one municipality at a time. We have posted the contracts, invoices, ordinances, meeting minutes, amendments, pricing documents and other records as we obtained them, along with summaries of what each document appears to establish and what questions it leaves unanswered.

Now we are putting the links together in one place.

The point is not simply to tell people what we think about Flock. The point is to put the underlying documentary record in front of the public so other people can read it, check our work, find things we missed, compare jurisdictions, make additional public-records requests and contribute their own findings.

What we have already learned is that these systems are not identical from town to town and neither are the records being produced. Some packets are only a handful of pages. Others run 19 or 26 pages. Yet even the most extensive productions still appear incomplete. We have found blank software-feature sections, referenced exhibits that were not included, contracts without clear FlockOS entitlement lists, invoices without underlying agreements, missing implementation materials and varying descriptions of network access and product capabilities.

That leaves us with two ongoing questions.

What documents are missing from the public record?

And perhaps more importantly:

what information did the governments themselves actually possess and understand when these systems were authorized?

We are continuing to pursue those questions. Follow-up requests will focus on the missing exhibits, implementation guides, software entitlements, sharing permissions, deployment records, installation and validation dates, renewal deadlines, complete ex*****on packages, policies, audits and communications surrounding the approval and operation of these systems.

But there is another front that deserves much more attention: funding.

Hubbard and Cortland have reportedly not renewed their Flock systems because funding was not available. That should immediately get our attention.

If funding can stop or prevent renewal, then opposition does not have to be limited to debating the technology after it has already been installed. Residents can also scrutinize the appropriations, renewal votes, grant applications, operating accounts, ARP allocations, police budgets and other funding streams that keep these systems alive.

Youngstown is a good example. The initial Flock deployment was supported through American Rescue Plan allocations from council wards, while later costs were expected to come from police operating funds and other available sources. That means the surveillance system is not some abstract technological inevitability. It requires money and it requires appropriations. It also requires officials to keep choosing to pay for it.

And choices can be challenged.

That is an area where we would especially encourage others to dig in:

Who controls the funding?

When does the next appropriation occur?

When does the contract renew?

What notice is required to prevent renewal?

Can funding be withheld?

What account is paying for it?

Are grants involved?

Does council have to vote again?

Can residents organize before the money is committed rather than after?

These are practical questions, and in some places they may prove more consequential than another abstract argument over whether Flock is “good” or “bad.”

So consider this post an open invitation.

Read the documents. Download them. Compare them. Search the language. Look at the invoices. Follow the money. Attend the meetings. File records requests. Check renewal dates. Ask what software features are actually enabled. Ask who the data is shared with. Ask whether the people voting on these systems were ever shown the complete capabilities of what they were buying.

And if you find something, share it.

We will continue doing the same.

This project is not finished. In many ways, the first round of documents has only shown us what questions to ask next.

The records belong to the public and the investigation can too.

City of Youngstown Flock Contract
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xlfl2jPJSTBsqZZBy6ZEf9pFH0GFL5K7/view?usp=sharing

Boardman Flock Contract
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v8hd1MLwUF6W2YN5Jw6cY8Ex1qvGy9rW/view?usp=sharing

Youngstown Boardman Flock Camera Southern Blvd
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rIMa0kFjY9vGmU6YY910YAbHMRu-APbz/view?usp=sharing

Canfield Flock Contract
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k9UtsIjJKW3tae7KXtl2QlLIkPWn5oiq/view?usp=sharing

Poland Township Contract
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gc1-GC89NC2ZXNwAoWaO-3RWlPrIlUqq/view?usp=sharing

Austintown Contract
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fQQNwTOFwm90AhEvqfQSHacvYzfM-pC8/view?usp=sharing

Flock Product and Services Description
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FLp7nhBTJLvTVgx1NeMr8mipghx6VE8jCaG2pYrnVMQ/edit?usp=sharing

FlockOS Features & Description
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10aj_R-i3l1vhO8ztLsHvzIOHi1s3GyFDQ3tytQUhWE0/edit?usp=sharing

09/21/2026

If you feel like you are earning more money than you used to while somehow having less room to breathe, there is a very real reason for it. Over the last 15 years, average hourly pay has risen substantially. In fact, about 64%. But a larger paycheck does not automatically mean that life has become easier to afford.

During that same period, housing rose about 71%, utilities went up around 49% and groceries climbed roughly 41%. Worse yet, over just the last five years, those essential expenses have all risen as fast as (or faster than) average hourly pay.

That distinction is important. "Wages went up" and "people can afford more" are two entirely different statements. A paycheck can grow in size while the things you cannot avoid (shelter, food and electricity) consume a larger share of it than ever before.

This is why we cannot understand the real cost of living by looking at wages in a vacuum. The question isn't simply whether you are earning more money today; it’s what that money can actually buy once the essentials are paid.

09/20/2026

Sunday Over Easy

I came across Patrick Sweany on the Summit awhile back and have been a fan ever since.

For the slower cuts:

Provided to YouTube by Redeye WorldwideAfraid Of You · Patrick Sw...

09/20/2026

👊

A national backlash against AI-enabled license-plate readers is uniting Trump country and progressive strongholds alike.

09/20/2026

Rules for Thee, But Not for Me:
The Fine Art of Universal Transparency
(From a Safe Distance)

Have you heard the good news? The tech-billionaire class has solved human nature! According to our silicon overseers, human beings are on their best behavior when they know they are being constantly watched. It’s a beautiful, democratic vision: a world where your every sneeze, erratic lane change and late-night snack raid is logged, indexed and analyzed by a benevolent AI.

After all, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. Right?

There is just one tiny, microscopic catch. The rules of this grand, transparent utopia only apply if your net worth has fewer than nine zeroes.

The Grand Architectural Paradox
While the populace is told that privacy is an outdated, dangerous luxury that breeds bad behavior, the champions of universal transparency seem to be suffering from an acute case of agoraphobia. To protect themselves from the corrupting influence of... being seen... they have courageously retreated behind:

Subterranean Doomsday Bunkers: Extensively documented fortress-mansions tucked away in Hawaii or New Zealand, featuring blast doors and independent power grids. You know, just in case the "well-behaved" public gets a little too curious.

A Matryoshka (Russian) Doll of Shell Companies: Your local traffic violation is public record but their multi-million dollar real estate portfolios are wrapped in layers of Delaware LLCs, Cayman Island trusts and anonymous holding corporations.

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs): They demand to scan your face at the supermarke, but require the catering staff at their private functions to sign legal gags promising never to acknowledge their carbon-based existence.

Private Armies & Literal Gates: While public squares are blanketed in facial-recognition cameras to keep the peace, the elite reside behind triple-gated communities patrolled by private security details who will aggressively question you for looking too hard at a hedge.

The Double Standard of "Behavioral Modification"
It turns out that "radical transparency" is a one-way mirror. We are told that constant surveillance creates a polite, orderly society. Yet, the very people funding, building and cheering for this panopticon spend millions annually to ensure that their text messages, their private flight logs and their offshore bank accounts remain completely invisible to the public eye.

Apparently, the theory that "being watched makes you behave better" doesn't apply to the economic elite. They are already perfect. It's just the rest of us who need the digital shock collar.

09/20/2026

The watchers are now watching themselves.

09/19/2026

When bluecoats become redcoats.

09/19/2026

Trump “sort of likes them.”
🤡

https://reason.com/2026/09/16/trump-backs-flock-cameras-continuing-his-long-time-support-for-unchecked-police-power/