To get these issues free by email each week, click here to open a subscribe form. (Or cruise around the web site to see more samples, archive, and info on our terrific book collections of thousands of past stories.)
Since 1994, this is the 1641st issue of Randy Cassingham’s...
| 23 November 2025: Dragnet 1968 | Copyright ©2025 https://thisistrue.com |
Other Good Reading: The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine recently passed the 1 trillion web pages archived, including plenty of mine. I had been waiting to learn what happened to a big lawsuit against them, and Ars Technica reported on that earlier this month: Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost.
(As always you’re welcome to copy out that paragraph and forward/post it as desired; credit True if you care to — not required.)
Some Huevos: Watching a prominent sports figure methodically destroying his own reputation. [Premium Only]
All Shook Up: Watching a judge methodically destroying his own reputation. [Premium Only]
Judge, and Be Judged II: Watching another judge methodically destroying his own reputation. [Premium Only]
Final Accounting: Atria Senior Living in Falmouth, Mass., emailed Bradford Kelley to demand his father’s October 2024 rent. Kelley’sfather did not live in the facility that month: he had died in September. “He wasn’t there one day in October, why would he owe for October?” Kelley said. Atria explained that the lease that had been signed requires 30 days’ notice to quit. “Atria does not expect residents to predict when they will pass, so when someone does, they are not required to give written notice because the date of passing pushes the notice automatically,” its business director wrote. Kelley ended up getting “calls andletters to me, almost harassing me” for the money, but after he reached out to a TV station, the company decided it didn’t need to be paid the $8,036.77 after all. “I hope this helps other people out there so they don’t have to go through a similar thing,” Kelley said. Two Massachusetts legislators have proposed bills that would limit or eliminate postmortem rent at such facilities. (AC/WBTS Boston) ...This could all have been avoided if someone had checked with the appointment scheduler inSamarra.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Florida Man definitely has rocks in his head (and is facing a possible 25-year prison sentence). [Premium Only]
Week 11 of No Ads thanks to your support. True needs 5 upgrades a week to replace advertising here. Last week one reader paid $400 for ALL of last week’s and the previous week’s upgrades, and 2 others jumped in so that we only needed 3 this week. Sure enough, 3 new upgrades came in — woo hoo! This week is covered. Plus some came back after lapses, such as Tom, who was lapsed for 6-1/2 years: “I was a subscriber years ago and loved it. Tired of missing all the amazingstories in Premium.” He knew what he was missing. In all, there are 5 lapsed subscribers back in the past week, so next week is covered too; those who upgrade over the next week will be helping to extend it even more. Bottom line: your support really does count! Upgrade here, and thanks.
Easy Catch: Florida Man runs from the cops, who catch him in the most amusing way. [Premium Only]
Flying Pussy Alert II: “You may not believe me,” a woman told a 911 operator in North Carolina, “but I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield. Itabsolutely shattered my windshield.” The call-taker suppressed a laugh, but said he believed her. The woman, who had been driving on a highway in Swain County near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was not injured — the cat impacted on the passenger side — and a witness backed up the story. The cat did not survive. A North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission spokesman said it’s likely the cat was dead when the eagle scavenged it: “It is much harder for them to take a live cat than adead cat.” The dispatcher offered one consolation: “I’ve heard crazier.” (RC/AP) ...“I’ve heard crazier” is not the comfort anyone thinks it is.
Strike Two: When the workers who are out on strike are joined by the temp workers brought in to replace them. [Premium Only]
Jackpot: Police haul in a huge amount of cash, and get to keep it, with no evidence of a crime had ever occurred. [Premium Only]
Beast Mode: “Kumma, our adorable bear, combines advanced artificial intelligence with friendly, interactive features, making it the perfect friend for both kids andadults,” says Singapore-based FoloToy’s website. That “perfect friend” has now been pulled from shelves, along with the company’s other A.I.-enabled toys, while the company is “conducting an internal safety audit,” according to CEO Larry Wang. Researchers from the US PIRG Education Fund discovered the bear, integrated with OpenA.I.’s GPT-4o chatbot, was all too willing to have conversations with children about inappropriate things, including suggesting where to find knives in the house, and somesignificantly “adult” topics, such as giving descriptions of several sexual positions and describing fetishes. “It was surprising to us that the toy was so willing to discuss these topics at length and continually introduce new, explicit concepts,” the researchers wrote. PIRG said OpenAI told them it had “suspended this developer for violating our policies.” (MS/CNN) ...And don’t ask how to pronounce the bear’s name.
I’ll See You in Court! A woman kicked out a lousy roommate, who then took her to court ...which ruled 100 percent in her favor. [Premium Only]
On the Line: Evidence that wild canines are smart enough to develop and use tools. [Premium Only]
Takeaway: Someone called in an order for two burgers with fries from Bentley’s Burgers and Fries, a food truck in West Chezzetcook, N.S., Canada. “I noticed therewas a southern accent to it,” said owner Darcy Clarke. But no one came by to pick up the order. Darcy and his wife, Laura, had to give the food away. Weeks later they got an envelope in the mail from Warrior, Alabama, USA. Inside was a hand-written apology letter and two American $20 bills. The letter explained they had gotten a wrong number — they meant to order from a place called Bentley’s in Alabama — and wanted to pay for their “embarrassing mistake.” Darcy posted the letter on Facebook.“Most people were saying as bad as people are arguing about the tariffs, these are the good things that you hear,” Laura said. They plan to send a Christmas package “with Bentley spice from us” to the sender in Alabama. “Tariffs, they suck,” Darcy said, but he still loves the people in the U.S. (RC/CBC) ...The real takeaway is that small acts of kindness cross borders better than politics ever will.
The Rats Win Another One
One Wounded as Men Shooting Rats Wrestle over Gun
WFMJ Youngstown (Ohio) headline
Did You Find an Error? Check the Errata Page for updates.
This Week’s Contributors: MS-Mike Straw, AC-Alexander Cohen, RC-Randy Cassingham.
Stories This Week were Written/Edited in Luganville, Vanuatu, just down the road from the Million Dollar Point, a ridiculous but true story from World War II. Vanuatu was previously known as the “New Hebrides” until it gained its independence (from France and England) in 1980.
Wayyyyy Back in Issue #12 (11 Sept. 1994), there was a story slugged Flying Pussy Alert — which also involved a cat into a windshield. As soon as I read the news story about the eagle and the cat, that long-past True story came to mind. I had to look it up to know what issue it was in, but I knew it was early. I remember readers back then sputtered a bit about the slug, not sure if they should somehow be outraged, butcouldn’t be because they were laughing too hard.
After more than 30 years of Internet experience for most of us, I’m doubting any of you felt any sense of outrage from reading that slug this week. What I wonder instead is if any of you remember that slug from when it first ran in September 1994?!
Alexander’s “Samarra” Tagline only makes sense if you know the old story behind it. I had a vague recollection of it, but had to ask Alexander to remind me. It’s a wonderful story, which is why I made it into a meme that I included right with Alexander’s story. If that meme is something you’d like to share, you’re welcome to: I made it easy to do by posting it on True’s main socials: Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, and Facebook.
This Week’s Ask Me Anything video addresses the often-asked question, “What the hell, Florida?!” Plus: a cameo by Kit! Premium subscribers can ask questions here.
Ten Years Ago in True: a forehead-slapping 1-2 punch with Yes, I Am Allowed to Say This and Hells Belles.
This Week’s Story of the Week (you’re welcome to share it), about the A.I.-enabled teddy bear, is posted on Telegram, Mastodon, BlueSky, Instagram, Threads, and/or Facebook, or grab from any of those to post elsewhere.
This Week’s Sunday Reading: When you're only 19, yet have already been popped for DUI a second time. But his mug shot is what’s the key in this one, from my blog in 2010. A Picture's Worth a Thousand Laughs.
This Week’s Honorary Unsubscribe goes to Stephen Downing. This one is a fascinating story. Downing was a cop in the “Joe Friday” era, and wrote several “Dragnet” (and Adam-12, Emergency!, SWAT, TJ Hooker, and MacGyver!) episodes. Then he spent the rest of his life arguing that police departments are going down the wrong path. Well worththe 5-minute read.
Basic Subscriptions to This is True are Free at https://thisistrue.com. All stories are completely rewritten using facts from the noted sources. This is True® (and Get Out of Hell Free® and Stella Awards®) are registered trademarks of ThisisTrue.Inc. Published weekly by ThisisTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA (ISSN 1521-1932).
Copyright ©2025 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All broadcast, publication, retransmission to email lists, web site or social media posting, or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author. Manual forwarding by email to friends is allowed if 1) the text is forwarded in its entirety from the “Since 1994” line on top through the end of this paragraph and 2) No fee is charged. I request that you forward no more than three copies to any one person — after that, they should get their own free subscription. I appreciate people who report violations of my copyright.
To get this delivered to you every week, click here to open a subscribe form.