How Not To Get A Protest And Riots Named In Your Honor

So we will likely get a bit more rioting tonight.

Take people cooped and afraid up with nothing to do and no outlet for the pressure.

Add a stupid act by a police officer excessively kneeling on someone's neck that may not have been the sole factor in his death but likely was A factor, and that was sufficient to get riots breaking out amongst the blue state cities.

Now this could have been entirely prevented by two simple steps on the part of the departed Mr. Floyd:

1. Don't commit a crime; and
2. Don't resist arrest.

Most encounters with police start going downhill once you decide to resist a lawful arrest.

How far it rolls downhill depends on factors that can get out of control very quickly.

In this case it definitely went downhill and got out of control, badly.

A very quick refresher by Chris Rock (along with some better training for these blue state police departments) may help prevent these incidents in the future:

Range Trip: Focused Practice With The IWI Masada

Aside from the fun of shooting the Romanian Tokarev, I wanted to get some more practice in with the Masada.

First, I started with some 5x5 drills as I wanted to get my time down.

After a warm up of twenty rounds at the A box of a USPSA target, I started with a few 5x5 drills, setting the timer to random start with a par time of 5 seconds.

Drawing from concealment at the 5x5 targets 5 yards away, I managed to keep the hits in the circle with the following times:

First set of Five 5x5 Targets:
4.09
4.08
4.41
4.02
4.09

Second set of Five 5x5 Targets:
4.00
4.07
3.81
3.91
4.10

Much, much, better than the 4.71 when I first tried the drill, and I was deliberately trying to push it faster, not to mention less self-imposed stress as no one was watching to see if I messed up.

Now to see if I can keep it that low or better with friends watching. I'm getting better on the draw which is what is taking the most time - get the shirt out of the way, a good grip on the gun and getting the dot onto the target, the rest is easy(-ish). Still, with more practice I figure I can get faster while maintaining hits.

Then on to timed single shot draws from concealment.

I did 25 single round shots timed with the timer going off randomly onto a USPSA target, trying to keep it to A zone hits only. Times varied from a low of 1.23 with a C-zone hit and a qualifying low of 1.24 with an acceptable A-zone hit, up to 1.64 with an A zone hit for a high time on the drill. Average time for all 25 was 1.37. I'm going to do some regular dryfire practice to see if I can get better at this.

Then on to the 15 round Sentinel Concepts "Warm-Up Drill".

For a warm-up it's a tad challenging and a good drill to shoot.

No problem with getting good hits at 25, 15 and 10 yards on time as specified. Lots of problems at 7 yards in getting 3 rounds from the holster from concealment into the target box in 3 seconds. Typically just over the limit of 3 seconds and just couldn't seem to get the time down. I certainly need more practice. The three yard drills were fine typically, but I could tell I was getting tired and slowing down as the session wore on and started getting slower with the draw from concealment.

Overall, it was a good practice session and pointed out areas I need to work on. Mainly it's the draw and on occasionally finding the dot. I think a lot more dry fire and then repetitions of the drill is in store to fix that.

That's 200 more rounds through the Masada with zero failures.

Range Trip: Something To Tok About

Went to the range today.

I finally brought along the Romanian Tokarev.

The firearm even after being cleaned is still oozing cosmoline and it really started dripping off the firearm once it was sitting in the sun.

As I noted before, the sights on it are really rather good and large for a military pistol from the 50's.

The first five rounds shot from 7 yards - "On command, At the deserter's head - Fire!":

Not bad at all.

I'm rather pleased with it. The Tok's thin form really fits in the hand, the steel frame sucks up the recoil, and it chugged along shooting 50 rounds of 7.62x25 without a hitch. The Romanian add-on safety lever to let it be imported into the USA works well and is easy enough to manipulate.

A nice historic weapon from the Cold War, and it's one of the more affordable and relatively plentiful Curio and Relic firearms still out there.

Gov Half-Whit On Detroit Rioters Violating Social Distancing - Crickets

Hmm, not a single word of condemnation of this gathering in Detroit of way more than 10 people.

The Detroit News: Man shot dead, dozens arrested as protest in Detroit turns violent

No threat that their gathering may make her have to extend the lock-down for their own good.

No condemnation of the property damage and throwing of bottles at police, and physical assaults on police by the rioters.

Funny that.

Gov Half-Whit Caught Lying Yet Again

This one is more serious than the boat story,

Remember if you will, how Michigan just happened to select a no-bid contract to a major Democrat Donor firm working on her reelection campaign for contact tracing.

She the stated she had nothing to do with it, no idea how it was approved, and the whole thing was just an "Unnecessary Distraction", and tried to blame it all on underlings at the health department doing it without her knowledge.

Looks like that was a lie as well, the directives to go with the contract came form her office.

Washington Free Beacon: Internal Emails Contradict Michigan Governor’s Story on Controversial Coronavirus Contracts Whitmer's office gave 'green light' on contract awarded to Dem consulting firm

I'm sure that Gov Half-Whit's pet AG Dana Nessel is all over this in her investigation and will certainly not cover this malfeasance up, at all.

Yep, if you believe this very partisan AG will act in a non-partisan way and seek the actual truth of this rather than bury it, I happen to have a real nice bridge connecting the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan for sale at a great price - but only if you act today!

Casino or Casin-Yes?

Gov Half-Whit's order shut down all the casinos across Michigan.

This was but one of the many hits to the economy from her orders.

Unsurprisingly, The City of Detroit relies on the taxes form those casinos - to the tune of $170 Million per year - it's the city's most stable revenue source. This makes it more urgent as its not just small businesses getting hammered, its the city's and state's revenue that will suffer.

The Detroit Free Press: Closed casinos are huge loss for Detroit: How much it could hurt

They're all shut down, with no clue as to when under the governor's arbitrary reopening plan - a plan that is very specific in how very unspecific it is - that they might reopen.

But the tribal casinos are starting to reopen now, and considering the tribal casinos are under separate sovereignty rules, they don't have to wait for the governor's grace to do so.

The Detroit Free press: Michigan tribal casinos to begin reopening as soon as this week

Good for them. I think Michigan's residents have had enough of these arbitrary and capricious shut downs, and people need to get back to work, or in many cases there won't be work to get back to for them. The curve is more than flat, and this continued lockdown is causing more harm than good.

While You Were On Lockdown From Corona, Other Health Issues Weren't On Break

Well, Gov Half Whit is now graciously allowing elective medical procedures to resume this week.

These "elective" surgeries and appointments are now seriously backlogged.

This means people's quality of life is going to decrease, people who had treatable ailments may now find themselves requiring far more severe treatment than they otherwise would have needed, or even worse may now find their condition is now untreatable.

The Detroit Free Press: Backlogged surgeries from COVID-19 shutdown could take months to reschedule

You know, little things like mammograms, prostate exams, colonoscopies, hip surgery, wisdom teeth removal, pacemaker installations...the list goes on.

Also immunizations for kids (and adults too for that matter) were also not administered during this time, leaving exposure and potential outbreaks of yet more fun diseases waiting in the wings: The Detroit News: Health experts: Drop in Michigan immunizations during COVID crisis could lead to outbreaks

It's bad enough with the anti-vaxxers out there, now add in all the people who wanted the shots and couldn't get them due to the closures and we can expect outbreaks of stuff that should not be breaking out at all.

The rather macabre questions is will more people die due to the lockdown and its effects on our health and the economy, or will more people die due to the Coronavirus the lockdown was put in place to address?

Gov Half-Whit: Deny, Deny it Happened, Claim it's An Unfounded Rumor, Then Claim It's A Joke.

Following a similar pattern we've seen liberal politicians use before, Gov Whitmer had first claimed there wouldn't be any comment on the issue -

"We’re not going to make it a practice of addressing every rumor that is spread online," Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said Monday

Then her staff flat-out denied that it had occurred.

Now of course, with proof coming out that it did indeed happen, she's shifted to claim it was a joke.

Deadline Detroit: Update: Gov. Whitmer Says Husband Was Joking About Special Break for Boat

So now she's trying to memory hole the whole deal - her going up north after telling the citizens not to, trying to put her boat in the water ahead of others after she had previously been ticketing citizens for using motorized boats and all the rest.

Expect an army of "spontaneous" reviewers to just happen to leave bad reviews at the Marina's social media sites - this just happens to happen whenever someone criticizes this Governor.

The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer says husband's boat dock request was bad joke: 'I wasn't laughing either'

If you really believe that after all the obfuscation and denials form the Gov that it was a bad joke and not a politician and family trying to throw their weight around -- Well, all I can say in that case is I've got a bridge connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsula I'm got available for sale to you for a very special price today, but only if you act now.

Gov Half-Whit: Stay Sheltering In Place Peasants, I'm Going Boating Up North!

Or alternatively titled "Lock-down or thee but not for that woman governor me".

The New York Post: Embattled Michigan governor in hot water over hubby’s boat request

The Detroit News: Purported Northern Michigan boat launch request fuels controversy for Whitmer - Yeppers, it's been confirmed that this occurred.

So our governor, after coincidentally opening up the "up north" region just before Memorial Day, strongly warned against people from the regions still on lock-down form going up north and, on this Friday evening announcing she was maintaining her stay home order until June 12.

So of course, she didn't remain home to set a good example of abiding by her orders, edicts and warnings. Oh no, she went up to her tony vacation residence up north and her hubby asked to jump in line at the marina and get their boat in the water first so they could enjoy Memorial Day on the water.

Remember that just a few weeks ago she was banning motorized boating and having people ticketed for doing so due to it being arbitrarily unsafe per her edicts.

While she told everyone else to stay home, she apparently wanted to be first in the enjoy boating up north, and probably enjoying it being less crowded due to her telling the hoi polloi to stay home.

Memorial Day Monday Range Trip

This morning I got up early and joined Tosh and Jason at the range.

A fun time was had by all. We shot the Tavor, Galil, FAL, and their AR15s.

The Tavor is nicely dialed in for a 100 yard zero, so that the 4 line in the scope is dead on at 25 yards

Tosh had brought some rifle-rated steel to the range so shooting the rifles and ringing the steel was fun.

They really liked shooting the FAL.

We also did a lot of pistol practice - battle dots, dot torture, and 5x5 drills.

Running a timer on the 5x5 drill adds to the pressure, along with not wanting to mess up in front of your friends.  Add a friend videotaping your performance and it gets even more of a "please don't let me goof this up" pressure.

The 5x5 drill is 5 shots in the circle , at 5 yards,  in under 5 seconds par time from concealment.

I shot it clean and within the time at 4.71, which was nice.  Now to work on getting that time down.

That's 350 more rounds through the Masada with zero failures, and some 50 through my Glock shooting  and 100 rounds through the P99, shooting with zero failures as well.

It was a great morning out with some great people.

Now I'm home for a cleaning and prep of the house.  We have a few friends coming over for Memorial Day now that Gov Haf-Whit has graciously and arbitrarily allowed gatherings of up to 10 people.  So time to make the place spic and span.

I had the smoker going all yesterday, smoking some goodness, and it was in the oven all night stalled out and now getting to its final temp before pulling and serving.  Should be tasty and smells great already.

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day, no matter how locked down you may be out there.

Comforting The Bereaved

I had mentioned before our friend and his wife and child who had suffered the double loss of first his father, who had lived with them for 20 plus years dying, and then whose son committed suicide within days after his father's death.

Today was our day to bring them dinner. Basically, a bunch of friends and neighbors have all signed up to coordinate and check in with them regularly, bring them a meal, and offer what small amounts of comfort that is possible in such a situation, which really isn't much.

So we brought them a full meal, and talked with them. They've got their cousins there, who are staying over which certainly helps.

They get regular visitors from their church, and their strong connection to their faith is certainly helping, as is the flood of friends and family constantly being around. But, they're certainly living with a terrible sorrow and trauma.

You can tell that they've been having a rough time which is more than understandable. Losing a child is every parent's nightmare and they're living that right now. Add the loss of the grandfather of the family and it's a horribly heavy burden. Their grieving is perfectly normal and I would have been surprised if it was any less than it was.

They're the first people outside of our own family who we've hugged since this whole lock down thing, which was very surreal but needed.

We stayed and talked with them for awhile, reminisced about those they lost, and then had them get back to their family.

Really good people, and I hope they can recover from this family tragedy in due time.

Michiganders: Criminals Here Will Be Out Of Lock Down Long Before You Will Be

Gov Half-Whit has again decided to extended yet again the stay home order - while she foes to her her vacation home up north - epalingin t he partial reopenign ordered there to apply this weekend.

Just to keep the irony meter running, Ex-Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick is going to be out of jail before you're out of lock down, getting an early release due to the pandemic, after serving only 7 years of a 28 year sentence for corruption. So he's getting out now instead of in 2037.

On top of that, a Federal Judge is ordering the Oakland County jail to release "vulnerable" prisoners due to the Covids, and even better, newly caught "vulnerable" criminals, no matter their crime, "vulnerable" arrestees cannot be incarcerated under the judge's order - if you're "vulnerable" you now have an automatic "get out of going to jail free card" for any crime you may now go forth and commit.

I guess they need the jail space to punish small business owners who violate Gov Half-Whit's shut down.

You can't make this stuff up.

Bidenmentia: My Pick For VP is So Secret, I Don't Even Know Who it Is!

The Detroit Free Press: Joe Biden: I 'honest to God don't know who' VP pick will be

One would think he'd be moving along with this choice, as the pick would earn him some media attention when he's otherwise been nowhere to be found. But, so far he hasn't a clue who his advisors think will poll best as his running mate.

Tellingly, he actually declared that "no one has been vetted yet."

So after all this time and his many announcements about having a woman VP he hasn't gotten the task of vetting potential candidates going yet? Seriously?

An interesitng thing to say when news reportes are suggesting otherwise: Klobuchar reportedly being vetted to be Joe Biden’s running mate

Either he's lying on the lack of vetting, or he really is waiting for the winds to blow, and the polls and the various factions in the Democratic Party to come out with their choice of Vice President.

Bidenmentia: No, You Can't Leave The Democrat Plantation!

Democrats generally think the have a lock on the Black vote. The Dems expect and demand that they are entitled to having Blacks to get in line and vote D, and woe betide any Black person that dares leave the Democrat fold.

But they generally don't come right out and say that.

Joe Biden just let the mask slip and came right out and said it.

USA Today: Joe Biden, in testy interview, says 'you ain’t black’ if you're undecided over him vs. Trump

Charlamagne then urged Biden to visit when he came to New York and added, "It’s a long way until November. We've got more questions."

That was when Biden retorted: "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black."

It follows well the Democrats track record that anyone on their plantation can't really be that genuine person if they dare vote otherwise.

A woman is a "gender traitor" if she votes republican, Blacks are traitors if they vote Republican.

You need to earn every vote, you should not feel entitled to it, especially counting on it due to the voter's race or gender.

Fun to see Biden come out in public and say that entitlement belief out loud.

Of Mussels And Men

So, it's starting to look like the State of Michigan required the operators of the Edenville Dam (The one that just failed in Midland in a rather horrific and spectacular fashion) to keep water levels higher than was safe due to the risk to freshwater mussels.

The state actually took the Dam operators to court on May 1, and was fining them for failing to keep the water levels high, rendering it susceptible to the collapse - long after the Feds had pulled its power operating license in 2018 due to its inability to handle flood-level waters.

Let's repeat that: The state pressured the operators to keep the lake levels high this April and sued them to make them do so this month.

Yep, the safety of the populace and an increase risk of the damn collapsing was traded in favor of preserving the population of freshwater mussels in Wixom Lake.

The Detroit News: Dangers of Edenville dam failure evaded state scrutiny

Is there any decision our current state government can't mess up?

Never Missing An Opportunity To Miss An Opportunity: Covid-19 Edition

Bloomberg Quint: Palestinian Authority Rejects Aid From UAE Flown to Israel

Yes, the Palis have rejected the benefits of an historic flight from the United Arab Emirates that flew to Israel to deliver Coronavirus PPE supplies to the Palestinian Authority on the grounds that it would cause the start of normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel.

Note that the entity that is rejecting the aid because it arrived via Israeli is the Palestinian Authority - the supposedly "moderate" faction as compared to Hamas, yet still rejectionist enough to deny accepting aid from an Arab nation because it was processed through Israeli airspace and an Israeli airport.

What Is It That Happens When There's More Money Chasing Fewer Goods Again?

Oh yeah, that.

The Detroit Free Press: Food prices soar to highest one-month increase since 1974

Well, when you shut down all stores but those deemed essential, basically leaving groceries as the only thing to spend money on. Then combine it with the shutting down of processing plants and the collapse of the food supply chain when you shut down certain elements you managed to forget were essential, and add real problems at processing plants, and you get this.

Grocery store bills shot up April, showing the biggest monthly increase in nearly 50 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic's monthly Consumer Price Index report.

While overall the April CPI declined 0.8%, consumers on average paid 2.6% more for groceries. It's the largest one-month increase since February 1974. During the last 12 months, grocery prices rose 4.1%.

Price increases in the meat, poultry, fish and egg category were the steepest.

Happy Locked-Down 24th Anniversary To Me!

Well, it is my and Natasha's 24th wedding today.

Certainly, the most locked down one we’ve ever had.

Considering I distinctly recall the judge said I could have been a free man by now, being locked down for our anniversary is a tad ironic.

It’s been 24 amazing and loving years with Tash, with great adventures and wonders, including two wonderful kids, and I look forward to many, many more years together.

But - Next year for #25 though - we will get out and go somewhere special.

Gov Half-Whit Being Touted As VP Contender

Interesting how just yesterday Bankole was trying to diss the Governor for being insufficiently caring to African-Americans.

Today, the media is suddenly abuzz yet again with the prospect of her maybe becoming Biden's VP.

The Detroit News: Through praise and criticism, national spotlight stays fixed on Whitmer

The Detroit News: Whitmer says she's had 'opening conversation' on VP potential

The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer: I had 'conversation' with Biden campaign about vice presidency

She's also been making the rounds on the talk shows which are giving her nice easy softballs and not asking about her order requiring nursing homes to take in Wuhan-FLu positive patients and the subsequent deaths in Michigan nursing homes as a result.

Yep, someone is pushing Whitmer onto the national stage big time and the VP short list, to Stacy Abrams' detriment and Bankole and the Dem faction he's a part of is not happy.

Ouch, Bankole Stabs "Big Gretch" In The Back

After taking all this time to buildup a propaganda campaign including having select Detroit Democrats and the Detroit Free Press call her "Big Gretch", allegiedly earning her the "respect" of Detroiters. Her throwing a lawsuit to ensure Detroit public Schools get more funding at the expense of all the other schools in the state, Governor Gretchen "Half-Whit" Whitmer just can't get traction with the race card carryin' Detroit Democrat set.'

What more can a Democrat Gov do to earn that elusive (Detroit) Democrat Street Cred? She even got nominated to receive $2,500 Buffs (sunglasses that show you're all that in the Detroit rap and street gang scene.

But Bankole just threw her under the bus in his quest to get Stacy Abrams appointed as Vice President as Abrams, as a defeated candidate and unaccomplished state representative is, for all her defects, Black, and Big Gretch for all that she's been pandering to Detroiters, is not.

Detroit News: Bankole: Biden's running mate could decide November's election

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also been mentioned as a potential pick. But Whitmer is a typical white, moderate politician who has many of the same shortcomings as Biden. She’s not the kind of pioneering choice that would give black people and other communities of color something to embrace. Her record in Michigan among blacks is a trail of broken promises, despite her newfound political identity in the COVID-19 era.

That's gotta sting, to get thrown under the bus like that after all the pandering and propaganda to boost your "That Woman" image.

Or is the real reason Bankole is dropping her like a hot rock is her imperious leadership style that's kept this state shut down without evidence which is killing her popularity except among the Detroit street rap scene and the PSH Democrats who are convinced we're all gonna die if Whitmer allows people to use a motor boat?

Snowbird Down

A Canadian Forces CT-114 Tutor Aircraft of the Snowbirds Aerobatic team has gone down near Kamploops BC.

Global News: CF Snowbird crashes near Kamloops during B.C. stop of cross-Canada tour

There's video of the incident at the link

At least one of the occupants ejected from the aircraft, but there are unconfirmed report is that there is a fatality involved.

Here's to hoping that the report of a fatality is wrong.

Update: Sadly, it's confirmed that one of the team members has died in the crash and the other on board was seriously injured, but is expected to survive. A pilot and a team technician were on board. No names are being given out yet.

May there be a speedy and full recovery to the injured team member.

RIP to the lost Snowbird's team member in this crash, you were an inspiration and example of excellence not just to the people of Canada but also beyond its borders.

Further Update: It was just announced the lost team member was Captain Jenn Casey, the team's public affairs officer. The injured pilot is Captain Richard MacDougall.

Cracks Starting To Appear In The Michigan Lockdown

Quite a number of Sheriff Departments in our state are refusing to enforce the arbitrary and capricious lock down orders emanating from Governor Half-Whit and her Attorney General.

The latest to come out and state that they're a tad busy to enforce them and will get back to the governor later about enforcing her executive orders is Genesee County.

The Detroit News: Genesee County sheriff: 'Don't expect us' to enforce state pandemic orders

Sheriff Swanson isn't alone. Other Sheriffs have also indicated that they're a bit busy doing actual law enforcement to spare time to enforce the arbitrary executive orders of questionable legality, including the Shiawassee County where the Barber Karl Manke is located.

Speaking of the Barber v the Governor - while the case proceeds in court, the state has rather vindictively at the direction of AG Nesselsuspended his barber license, without a hearing for his violation of the executive orders in order to get around the court's refusal to grant an injunction on his operation of his barber shop.

Further cracks are opening with the Branch County drive in reopening for business even without the state's blessing - and they're doing it in a more than safe manner, but since Gov Half-Whit has not deigned to announce they can reopen, they're moving forward anyways in defiance of the orders that keep them shut for no valid reason.

Meanwhile, Michiganders can get haircuts and enjoy other "non-essential" services - but only if they're willing to leave the state and travel to Ohio.

While Gov Half-Whit keeps our state under lock and key and sliding toward economic ruin, only allowing those business she deems on her own as "essential" to function (while deliberately ignoring Federal recommendations), other states are opening for business and not acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

This lock down of hers isn't going to last much longer in the face of other states doing just fine without it, and her legion of frightened fans may stop supporting her as the economic pain continues while she blindly demands obedience to her arbitrary lock down order that continues to be more arbitrary and indefensible day by day.

George Takei Said What?

Some lefties really have no sense of irony, nor of self-reflection, nor history for that matter.

One would think George Takei -- of all people would not be one to go all-in for the panic-induced overbroad restricting of freedoms and the locking down of people in the name of public safety.

Massachussets Followed The Same Insane Nursing Home Playbook

Just like Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, Massachusetts followed the same plan of ordering nursing homes to take in patients infected with the Wuhan Virus - with all experiencing the expected results of such an order - a massive die off among those most vulnerable to the Wuhan virus who were all packed together in nursing homes:

Boston Herald: Howie Carr: Nursing home pipeline to Beacon Hill

Of the 5,141 virus deaths in Massachusetts, 3,095 have occurred in the state’s nursing homes — more than 60%, double the percentage even in New York.

Who came up with the moronic idea for this order, and why did all these Democrat-controlled states jump to run with it in lockstep?

Forensics - The YETIE

The Michigan forensics competitive season was cut short by the Wuhan virus.

While the season was cut short with in-person competitions halted and no regionals or state finals to be held.

The Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association decided to hold for all state competitors The Year End Tournament for Individual Events - The YETIE.

MIFA and its legion of enthusiastic organizing volunteers really did an excellent job organizing the tournament under very short notice and they made it work, as did the many volunteer judges who judged this video competition.

Each contestant submitted their piece via video - one-shot takes only, no video editing allowed, and with the same time constraints as with in-person events.

The videos were then judged by the same standards as if the contestant were there in person.

Some moved on to the Semi-Final round, Abby among them, and then to the final round.

The final results have now been announced and the award ceremony was conducted virtually.

The online video award ceremony began by featuring each of the High School senior competitors - this was their last high school forensics competition.

Then in alphabetical order, each category was announced.

In oratory, Abby took second place in the state!

The kid has got some definite forensic speaking skills.

So is There A Link Between

states ordering nursing homes to take in known coronavirus patients, and the resultant high death rates in those same states with those orders, with the deaths heavily coming from nursing homes?

Certainly there's a heckuva tight correlation.

New York.

New Jersey.

Pennsylvannia

Michigan.
Yes, Michigan also required nursing homes to take in patients with coronavirus, with predictable results. The executive order for same was renewed today. Sure enough that order requiring nursing homes to take in covid positive patients led to coronavirus ripping through nursing homes - because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Yep, Gov Half-Whit followed Cuomo et al, in passing executive orders requiring nursing homes, the location of those clustered togetherthe and most vulnerable to the Coronavirus, to be required to take in patients known to have coronavirus. To their surprise I'm sure, this lead to a spike in Corpnavirus in nursing homes.

If you wondered why it spread like wildfire through nursing homes and why most fatalities in these states have been in nursing homes, there's a good part of your answer.

Heads should roll for this kind of malfeasance.

Nothing But Blue Sky

The Blue Angels and Air Force Units from Selfridge Air Force Base including both A-10s and KC-135s did a flyover of the state of Michigan.

Unfortunately both skipped the majority of Oakland County while doing so, and I saw neither wing nor exhaust from any of them as the flight paths were way outside of my viewing area.

Much sadness.

Yep no sign of them and air show season is toast this year for much sadness all around.

The Barber v Gov Half-Whit - It Gets Even Better

Get your popcorn ready folks.

It seems the state just ran to court to close Karl Manke's barber shop.

The Circuit Court Judge assigned the case just denied the state's motion to have him shut down.

NBC25News:  A Shiawassee County judge sides with Owosso barber in battle with State of Michigan.

There's a definite legal question as to whether Gov Half-Whit's executive orders are even enforceable absent the legislature's approval, and on top of that they may have improperly issued the public health order shutting him down.

This is going to get gud as they say.

We'll see if Gov Half-Whit pulls her usual when challenged in court.  If so, expect that she, purely by coincidence of course, decides to graciously issue a new executive order allowing barber shops to open before the case moves on so she can moot it.

On the other hand, this may be the case where she decided that she can't allow any further acts of maiestas against her reign of error to stand. 

The Barber v Gov Half-Whit

It's continuing to get interesting as people react to the continued arbitrary lock down orders issued by Gov Whitmer.

There's already over 17 extant lawsuits over these executive orders - and they typiclaly come to an end as she backs off the particular arbitrary portion of the order that the litigant is suing her for enforcing - that's how and why the bans on motor boating, golf, and any real estate sales were resolved..

Barber Karl Manke of Owosso continues to cut hair in defiance of the shut down order.

This kind of defiance can't be tolerated.

After all, allowing the unionized automakers to start up their production lines with hundreds of people again is just fine, but a Barber allowing only one person in his shop at the time and sanitizing in between without being permitted under a new exception to the executive orders to do so -- Well, that really can't be allowed to stand.

Mr. Manke has been cited for violation the executive orders and  is facing a fine of at least $1,000.00.  We'll note Mr. Manke opened up after being unable to get any financial assistance during this shut down, including not being able to get unemployment form the state's woefully inadequate UI system.

He might as well just be charged with felony maiestas Whitmeri minuta - the crime of diminishing the majesty of governor Half-Whit.

Now Gov Half-Whit's confederate in arbitrary capriciousness, AG Dana Nessel, is also going after Mr. Manke and is threatening to send the Shiawassee County Sheriff after him.

The Shiawassee County Sheriff however has told both Gov Half-Whit and AG Nessel to go fly a kite.

The Detroit News:  Shiawassee sheriff won't enforce Whitmer orders amid Owosso barber dispute

He politely stated the Sheriff's department has unfortunately limited resources and  far more important and necessary life saving and protective activities to perform than to harass a barber.

Good on the Sheriff.

Well, Just Damn It

Just heard that the son of a friend of mine committed suicide today.  That's going to wreck his family's Mother's Day from here on out. 

He was a college kid, a good kid, at home due to the shutdown.  A whole lot of talent and promise.

His grandfather had died in early April, not from Covid, but in his sleep basically of old age, and the kid had been very upset about that and a lot of the things that have been going on these days. Now it will be two funerals  for that family, each a month apart.

Look, it's getting rough out there.  This situation and lock down is hard on everybody.

If you need help, get it.

If you feel the need to talk to someone, call and talk to a friend, a therapist whoever.

No one will think any less of you if you do.

We'd all rather you stick around to see what comes next and to live to see things get better.  Hang in there.

256 Days Until Approval

256 Days.  That's how long it took for the Form 4 to be approved by BATFE.

It finally arrived in my friendly FFL's hands this Friday, and transfer was then completed as I zipped over there to pick it up.

While the wait is mighty excessive, the end result, as one might say, is worth it.

Yes, its The Tavor X95 SBR.  I've been wanting this thing since the last NRA Annual Meeting, which feels like a lifetime ago.

After I bought it and while counting the days, I figured it would need accessories worthy of it, so I went out and found an excellent optic for it.

It's an Israeli Defense Forces surplus TA31I ACOG. Mounted on an ARMS 19 mount as the Israelis use them, together with the Tenebrex flash hider and adjustment caps.

Only downside with it, is that as it is surplus is its missing a couple of the screws in the back. So, if anyone knows those screw dimensions and where to get some repalcements, let me know so I can buy some to replace them.

The Tavor SBR shoots great and with a 13 inch barrel is a very handy firearm indeed.

We all shot it at both the 25 yard and 100 yard range and rang the 100 yard range steel nicely.   The X95 can shoot.

200 rounds through it and zero failures or issues of any kind.  Ran great, and it handled great, so I guess the wait was worth it.

A very nice handy firearm, I think I'll get it setup for a can sometime in the future and put a forward grip on it as well.

Saturday Snowy Range Trip Day

Yes, it is May 9, and it snowed here today. Not enough to stick, but enough to make you wonder about claims of global warming.

So, on with the winter jacket taken out of storage and off to meet two friends from jiu jitsu at the range for outdoor recreation activities.

I'll say this much, the whole shut down is getting me more range time than I've had otherwise by far. Also, speed limit on the highway is still 90 mph or so, but gas has gone up in price recently as more people are saying screw it and heading out and about. Aside from the impending doom of income drying up, it's all good, right?

Anyways I met both Tosh and Jason at the range and both are seriously good shooters and definitely gun culture 2.0.

Much fun was had, and it was darn good to see them again after all this time off the mats. Great guys.

I shot the Masada and they both tried it as well and liked it.

That's another 300 rounds through it with zero failures.

We did the casino drill which was fun. We also did a dot torture run and I got a 49/50 on it, my closest to perfect so far with the Masada.

We also did a battle dot shoot off, which was a lot of fun.

Battle dots is a fun little drill where two people each pick either the black dots or white dots and then each firing one shot in turn, the race is to see who finishes of all their dots first. I shot it clean each time which I was very happy about.

Tosh was rocking his customized Glock 17 that was cut stippled and down to take Glock 19 mags, had the gadget, and a flat trigger, and had an RMR mounted on it. It ran flawlessly and was very fun to shoot.

Jason had his Glock 17 and a new Glock 44 in 22 which was also fun to shoot.
We also shot my Walther P99 and shooting it was a case of put dot of the Walther's front sight on a dot, and hit the dot.

We also shot some rifles first on the pistol range at 25 yards against paper targets only.

Yep, the muzzle break on Tosh's rifle offered much flash for pictures. Amazingly, the hair on his knuckles remains unsinged.

Shooting it was an experience.

That rifle was a lot of fun to shoot.

The muzzle break on Jason's rifle, while not giving picture worthy flashes, gave muzzle blast that was physically perceptible both to the sides and behind him that was actually uncomfortable to experience.

 Good for the shooter, hellacious if close by otherwise. When shooting it however, the muzzle blast was directed completely away from the shooter making it very comfortable to shoot.

I brought along my 300 Blackout AR Pistol and we all shot it, which offered a nice respite from the noise.

I also brought a rifle that I hadn't shot before and one that I had waited a long time to get, which will be the subject of the next post.

A Friday Funny

We can certainly all use some humor these days, and this joke certainly made my day. I hope it makes yours:

A woman goes to her rabbi with a serious problem. Her two female parrots have picked up a bad habit. Any time she has visitors, the two parrots embarrass her by saying, in unison, "Hi ! We're hookers. Want to have some fun?"

To her surprise, the rabbi breaks into a smile, explaining that he has two male parrots which he has trained to pray and who've become very observant, spending much of the day praying in their cage.

He's confident that if the woman brings her two parrots over to his house, his two parrots will exert such a positive influence that her birds will turn into model parrots.

The next day the woman drives over to the rabbi's house and brings her two parrots into his home. As she looks around, she notices a large cage with two parrots, each wearing a little kippah and a tiny tallis as well as holding a miniature prayer book while they rock back and forth in prayer.

Sure enough, as soon as she places her female parrots in the cage, they shout out to their male counterparts: "Hi! We're hookers. Want to have some fun?"

One of the rabbi's parrots immediately turns to the other, squawking: "Moishe, put the fucking book down. Our prayers have been answered!"

Gov Half-Whit: Thousands At Work In An Auto Plant Is Ok, 2 People in A Barber Shop - Verboten!

Because Science!, and Data!, or something something Emergency Powers.

Governor Half-Whit both moved the goal posts and extended the state's shut-down order until May 28.

In short, we've flattened the curve here, the hospitals built to house the projected coronavirus sufferers were never really utilized (The TCF Ccnvention Center converted to a treatment facility to treat an expected overflow of 1,000 coronavirus patients treated all of 17 before being shut down as unnecessary.

Interestingly, while she announced that she was graciously allowing the peasants working in construction to reopen yesterday, her latest announcement allows for the large auto manufacturers to get started up . . . . but not small businesses.

No explanation as to why except her claim that she's using the best science and data - that she won't share with anyone else, naturally.

So hundreds on an assembly line - no problem.

A barber being open and attending one customer at a time - Danger! Forbidden!

To say she's making this up as she goes along would be an understatement.

Interestingly, the executive orders still refuse to adopt any revisions and recommendations made by the federal government that you know, would be based on science and facts:

For purposes of this order, critical infrastructure workers are those workers described by the Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in his guidance of March 19, 2020 on the COVID-19 response (available here). This order does not adopt any subsequent guidance document released by this same agency.

We're truly in the best of hands with Gov Half-Whit in charge.

Home Clippings - The First Quarantine Haircut

Well, the Wahl clippers finally arrived.

Very easy to use, we watched a couple videos on how to do a haircut and got to it.

The end result was not as good as when done by a professional, but perfectly serviceable and no ball cap needed.

Oh, But We Should Listen To Science!

Seeing a lot of posts on Facebook that we should listen to scientists during this crisis.

Unfortunately it's the "I Love Science!" Crowd herding us along towards far worse effects than the virus alone.

So do we listen to Ferguson of the Imperial College model fame, the one who has been prophesying doom and gloom in every crisis and saying millions would die if there wasn't a lockdown?

The one who then after the governments bought into his overstated models and the lock downs were declared revised his models on the current crisis downward by over a factor of 20?

While a stopped clock may be correct twice a day, he has in my opinion been consistently wrong in each of his past predictions, so the world has been listening to the wrong scientist.

But wait there's more! It turns out that the model software itself that made these projections and scared the globe into this whole lock down mess is a bunch of hot garbage.

But wait, there's even more!

While we are told that we should listen to Science, meaning Ferguson in his projections of doom and mass death if we don't lock down, he certainly has not been following his own advice and proclamations of doom if lock down is not followed.

Instead, he's been busy stepping out of lockdown for regular shtupping of his married mistress on the side. The best part, his mistress was married and living with her husband who by her account was having the symptoms of being an active Covid-19 case.

No, you really can't make this up.

So in following the advice of scientists, do you follow what they and their models, that have been consistently proven to be wrong, say and follow their prescription of a lock dow? Or do you do as they do and treat the situation as not serious enough to bother with a lock down?

Stupid Criminals: Really, Stop Spitting On People Already

Yet another village, in this case Lincoln Park, was looking for its idiot and found him.

The Detroit News: Lincoln Park man charged with spitting on front-line workers

Yep, this bozo didn't just spit on one hospital worker, he spat on workers at two different hospitals on two separate occasions about a month apart. Certainly he didn't figure out he messed up the first time.

You might say the assaults were spitting images of each other.

A Lincoln Park man has been charged with a threat of terrorism after prosecutors accused him of spitting on hospital workers to intentionally spread the coronavirus.

Richard Allen Kechego, 30, was charged in incidents at Wyandotte and Dearborn hospitals.

Yep, lots of people with poor impulse control are certainly letting loose under pressure, and that's not going to end well.

So, Governor Half-Whit, #WhatOrder?

It's getting interesting.

The Michigan Legislature has now sued the Governor for overstepping her authority on her lock down of the state as she is refusing to negotiate or get authroization from the legislature, which she is required to do under the 1976 Emergency Powers Act.

The Detroit News: GOP lawmakers challenging Whitmer's emergency powers as 'invalid'

Arguably, and there are some solid legal arguments to be made, the 1945 Emergency Powers Act she is now operating under without any legislative oversight neither allows her to do her stay home/stay safe order nor many other things she is enforcing as she regulates the state by the seat of her pants and continues to go beyond federal CISA guidelines as to what should be permissible.

In addition others are suing the governor including Sotheby's in a really well done complaint for her overreach and arbitrary and capricious restrictions.

There's a darn good argument all of her current orders are invalid as they are not authorized under the 1976 Act and not provided for in the 1945 Act.

So much so that Attorney General Nessel, Whitmer's close ally, just threw local law enforcement under the bus. Instead of stating the orders are valid and enforceable, she stated law enforcement should use their best judgment in enforcing the orders.

Unfortunately, some cops have lousy judgment: They're ticketing a barber for opening and cutting customer's hair.

Owosso barber reopens despite state orders: 'I was in despair, I had to go back to work'

Manke was violating Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's executive order for non-essential businesses to remain closed, but he didn't care. He needed to get back to work.

"(The shutdown) collapsed me, mentally, physically and spiritually," Manke said. "I was in despair, I had to go back to work...I don't have anybody paying me unless I'm doing work."

The 77-year-old barber received a citation Wednesday for violating the executive order on the third day he was open. Violating the order is a misdemeanor that carries a fine up to $1,000 and possible license sanctions.

The barber was unable to get unemployment through our state's mess of an unemployment system, he's received no relief at all, and is watching his life and business go under. He's following best practices to safely operate his business and did what anyone in his position should do to survive especially when the orders are of questionable legality now.

Given he now has customers coming from 100 miles away I'd daresay he's essential, and since Gov Half-Whit's orders due to her grandstanding as she view for the VP slot may now be unenforceable as she failed to get them reauthorized by the legislature,he may have a solid defense to the citation.

Meanwhile, a new hashtag is popping up around Michigan - #WhatOrder?

Stupid Criminals: A Spittin' Image Is Not One You Want

Over at View From The Porch, Tam notes of two different denizens of Michigan behaving badly in newsworthy ways.

It will be no surprise to anyone that the shooter in the Flint killing of a security guard is a felon in possession of a firearm.

This is no surprise, because, well, Flint.

Apparently the guard was shot because he disrespected a female memebr of the family by not letting her into the store unmasked.

To most people that's a senseless reason to kill someone doing their job. For some people however, it is normal for them (but still not excusable or appropriate by any civilized standard) to react in such a way when they feel their family is "disrespected".

Now we can add another example of a Michigander with poor impulse control behaving badly:

The Detroit Free Press: Roseville woman accused of assaulting employee, spitting on police in grocery store

A Roseville woman was charged after authorities said she spit on police officers at a St. Clair Shores grocery store, where she assaulted an employee who told her to leave because she wasn't wearing a face mask.

Not a particularly great way to win friends and influence people there.

Keep your spit to yourselves, ok?

Quarantine and the coronavirus and the pressure resulting from it is resulting in people getting their heads screwed on a little too tight right now and acting out in unacceptable ways.

Be careful out there, there's far too many people out and about under pressure with both poor impulse control and anger issues, and not many opportunities to relieve the pressure right now.

A Nice Attorney Group Range Trip

Since work is slow, I and 3 other attorneys that do firearms law decided to meetup at the range and discuss firearms law and shoot in a socially distant approved manner. Ok, we really showed up to shoot together, but some law was indeed discussed.

Socially distanced outdoor recreational activities, doncha know.

Nice toys were displayed and passed around and tried by all.

I got to shoot J's CZ Scorpion Evo - a pistol he had papered and turned into an SBR - complete with a very nice red dot on it and a silencer attached. The Evo could knock down plates rapidly and effortlessly. That thing is amazingly nice to shoot.

I also got to try Dean's homemade 1911s again, including one he brought along with a silencer, which were working much better since he bent the extractors a tad. No more did they jam on initial loading.

T brought a FN 5.7 pistol along - that thing is effortless to shoot, with no recoil to speak of at all. But, it was plagued with some major feeding problems - jamming after each and every shot, making it necessary to eject the next round, fire 1, eject 1 and so on. Most likely a bad magazine but still a neat firearm for all that. He also shot an SW M&P 9mm with excellent results.

Everyone liked trying my Masada pistol and its SRO.

J had brought a P80 Glock 19 with an SRO on it that I zeroed for him as it was way off. No idea how the SRO got that far off zero but it was impressively not zeroed - as in missing not just the 81/2x11 target but the entire cardboard silhouette target as well. I managed to get it on paper and on target after some fiddling to find out where it was actually hitting - turns out about half a mile high and left by a quarter mile or so (not quite that much but it sure felt that way).

Thence onto the rifle range. I shot my Tavor and let everyone else try it. D brought his old-school Colt AR-15 that is configured as an M16A1 complete with triangular hand-grips, light barrel, etc, which was fun to shoot.

Just for fun I shot the Masada at 100 yards. Once I got the hang of it, I was able to ring the steel targets hanging on the 100 yard line pretty regularly. The SRO makes it pretty easy. Not particularly practical, but fun. That's another 250 rounds through the Masada.

A good time was had by all and we cleaned up and headed off our socially distant separate ways.

The Poor Optimistic Buggers Had No idea What Was Coming

Over at Borepatch, both the titular author Borepatch himself and contributor ASM286 have series of the American past as a foreign country.

In a very real sense they're absolutely right, it's a bygone era with only fragments of memories left as to what was then.

Take a step back in time, and look at the City of Detroit's film that it made for it's bid to host the 1965 Olympic games:

Look at the optimism expressed, the pictures of a thriving and functional city looking forward to the future.

They had no idea what was soon to come, or how it would end in wrack and ruin.

Interlude: Coscto Corona Capping Capacity

So Costco today.

Wearing a mask was mandatory, but hardly a big deal.

The good news: mirabile dictu they had toilet paper. Yep, a badly needed package of 30 jumbo rolls made it into the cart for urgent home resupply. Much rejoicing.

The bad news: Yes the meat shortage is indeed a real thing due to the shutdown. Fresh meat purchases are being limited to three meat items per customer.

The excellent news: Scored a bottle of Four Roses small batch bourbon for under $40.

The hilarious news: Wearing a mask when the cashier was asked if he wants to see ID for the aforementioned bourbon -- The response: "Heck, at this point with the way things are, if you want to drink, drink.".
Brightened my day, it did.

Nice Day Yesterday

Yesterday the temp got into the high 70s and it was nice and sunny.

Everyone and their neighbor was out and about.

Our weed-smoking neighbor decided top throw a party and as you might guess social distancing practices were more like "What social distancing?". Also, I have now learned, from observation only, that weed can be smoked through a hookah. A lot of weed in this case, and the stinky smell doth travel quite a fargin' distance. Yuck.

On the plus side, it appears none of the neighborhood busy-bodies ratted their party out.

So, we walked the neighborhood and then drove to Northville downtown to walk around for a change of pace.

What should have been a bustling downtown was still in shut-down ghost town mode.

Even the shuttered stores had masked mannequins in the windows.

The downtown was pretty dead, with only a bicycle rental shop open doing a brisk business and just a couple restaurants doing carry out only.

Still, quite a few people around walking and soaking in the sunshine, especially in the parks, some masked, most not.

We decided to patronize Rebecca's Family Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlor and put our masks on and entered and place our orders, there was a fifteen minute wait so we headed to the park and got a picnic table and then went back to pickup the order, which was perfect, and gave a larger than normal tip to help out.

Tash and Abs shared a Reuben, I had a 1/2 lb burger, and Leah had a turkey burger - all were absolutely excellent, as were the fries. If you're near Northville, it's worth checking out.

Of course today, the temperature has dropped about 30 degrees form yesterday and is grey, solid overcast, and cold - perfect Monday weather.

Democrats Want Deeds Not Words

So let me get this straight.

The Dems want to throw out the guy who years ago talked about “Grabbing them by the pussy” with such language being beyond the pale for them and now they want to replace him with Biden who allegedly actually did grab ‘em by the pussy.

Gotta love the consistency.