A Case Of A Premature Takeoff

An Air Maroc jet had a little problem with catching air at Frankfurt airport.

You're really not supposed to do that on takeoff.

Well That's Frustrating - Courts, Law, and Hidden Forms

Since Court Clerk Counters are closed to the public dealing with the courts on matters is becoming increasingly difficult.

I had a commercial landlord-tenant eviciton case that I filed via a court's drop box outside the court on June 23rd.

It took them until today to process it and they decided to dismiss it.

Why did they dismiss? Because I hadn't said it was a commercial landlord-tenant eviction as the commercial tenant has not been paying the rent for the past three months.

Actually I had, rather specifically, prominently in the cover letter.

But they threw out the cover letter while processing the filing so they stated I had not informed them that it was a commercial landlord-tenant eviction.

Personally, I think the case caption of Landlord Company Name, LLC vs Tenant Corporation Name, Inc would have been a fricken clue even without the cover letter. Not to mention the property is listed by suites and both Landlord and Tenant are actually in the same office building.

Did they call, did they inquire? No, they just dismissed it so I have to file a motion to reopen it and I emailed them the cover letter to let them know I had in fact sent it.

I also had to add and send over a new form the state came out with that states the eviction is not from a CARES Act covered property, which it isn't, as again, its obviously commercial.

Said form is buried in the State Admin Office website on the second page of Landlord Tenant files and there's no announcement on the District Court or State Site site that its needed, it's basically a nice double-secret form.

Nice of them to require a new form without providing notice of it at all on the District Court site that states their requirements step-by-step (every district court in this state has their own idiosyncratic requirements for landlord tenant actions, and its rather stupid as the governors executive order banning residential evictions actually goes beyond the CARES Act restrictions but at least there's no additional form (that I know of) that you need to file that you're not violating the never-ending executive order banning residential evictions.

Ah, for the good ol' days when you could actually walk in, talk to the clerk, they would look at your filing, and get it all done and let you know about their idiosyncratic procedures instead of these days of delay and when they just dismiss instead of contacting you about adding a form you have no idea was needed.

Sheesh.

From The Play Stupid Games Department

The protestors in Detroit are getting bolder and more aggressive.

They're now openly confronting police, especially when the police presence is small.

A couple protestors learned that surrounding a police car, then breaking out a window and jumping up on the hood repeatedly are not conducive to avoidance of injury.

Stories complete with video of stupid in action:

The Detroit News: Chaotic scene as police SUV pushed through crowd after protesters climb on hood

The Detroit Free Press: Protesters thrown from Detroit police SUV after climbing on hood

Of course the protestor's line is they dindu nothin' -- but the video tells a rather different story. This is specially when you see them repeatedly jumping on the vehicle.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, and it looks more and more like the protestors want to amp up the stupid games this summer,

A Walk In The Woods

Yesterday we decided to get out of the house and get some walking in.

We headed to Kensington Metropark and took their longest trail in the woods.

It was another hot day, so the parts of the trail in the woods were welcome relief from the open field areas of the trail.

Interestingly, the chipmunks of Kensington have no fear of humans and no shame. They will literally bump into your feet while your walking on the trail on just stand there looking at you as you almost step on them when they sit on the trail, or look offended as they run under your feet and yopu have to avoid stomping on them. Since Kensington Metropark does not allow dogs on the trails, the chipmunks give zero Fs to all.

We also saw deer as we walked though the woods and then came upon two particularly large birds blocking the trail.

It was a little iffy getting by them on that bridge. One looked like he was going to try and peck at one of us with that beak.

The one in the background proceeded to make a voracious peck at that chipmunk sitting there to the right as we walked by. He went flying off the bridge as a result.

Thankfully no one got pecked and we got past the birds with all parties none the worse for wear.

It was a nice long walk, then we hit the beach for a swim and went home. A nice time in the outdoors.

Gun Skool - Red Dot Handgun by Steve Fisher of Sentinel Concepts

Drove to Alliance, Ohio with Tosh to attend a one-day class - Red Dot Sight Handgun - by Sentinel Concepts.

Since I'm now running a red dot, I decided I should get some instruction in how to get the most out of it and to get better at shooting.

We drove to the Alliance, Ohio PD range - located right beside the Alliance, Ohio Waste Treatment plant - to say the environment is rather pungent is an understatement.

A fun building adjacent to the police range:

Basically, it's a job for both the police and the sewage department.

The range is rather nice with a classroom building and has nice washrooms and potable water on site and given the heat was in the high 80-s that was a good thing. While we were drilling on the range, a SWAT team was practicing dynamic breaching entries in the adjacent shoot house - lots of booms and smoke rising into the air from there along with the cracks of rifles as they practiced.

Steve Fisher aka Yeti (if you ever see him in person you'll get where the name originates) is an excellent instructor.

He's friendly with a kinda gruff exterior, which helps him keep the class moving along. He's a rather no-nonsense and knowledgeable no-BS instructor, and that helps him both move the class along and get his instructional points across. He's very quick to identify issues students are struggling with and help students improve. It's one thing to be a great shooter, which he is, but another to be able to impart how to become better, which he does and does very well, and that's vital for an instructor to be able to do.

Steve definitely knows his stuff and can get it across to the students. He's very quick and able to diagnose issues students are having and can quickly propose methods to fix the problems. He also works to help students understand what didn't work with a particular shot or drill and how to move forward and fix it themselves. Since he had a lot of varied experience and levels of shooters on the line during the class, he was busy helping everyone improve, each at their own level. He also has a good practice of after every exercise going over it and getting feedback and diagnosis from every student as to what went well or wrong with the exercise. Good to listen to other students experience of the same drill and their thoughts what they did that went well, or did not go well. Very smart teaching technique.

We got a whole lot done in one day.

The class began with a bit of classroom work on choosing and installing red dots and some basics on using them. As well as the zero to use for them. Steve Fisher advocates and explains why a 25 yard zero is desirable and we got to see why. The main point was that shooting the red dot in essence requires the same fundamentals as shooting iron sights. Then to the range itself.

First we started zeroing our red dots from prone on a bag at 25 yards.

Since I had a 7-yard zero on the gun, my group was nice but high at 25 yards and we got it adjusted down to the 25. That zero then worked consistently well from 5-25 yards throughout the day. I can see why he uses the 25 yard zero and it makes a lot of sense.

Once we were all zeroed, He would demonstrate each technique before the class performed it. In short he walks the walk each time before he talks the talk and he consistently demonstrates each exercise in a very high-level manner. There were 24 students so we shot this in two relays of 12 with Tosh and I trading off on Target 3.

Once zeroed, we moved on to various drills starting at 5 yards - The first drill was Load 1, shoot 2 - which is actually a very effective drill for getting your speed and accuracy up. Then on to single shot draws, than two shots per draw, then three shots per draw all at a rapid cadence and with a focus on keeping each shot accurate.

Then shooting while only having the grip in the web of your hand and finger on the trigger with your remaining fingers away from the grip - yes you can shot accurately that way - done to show better grip management and not to choke the heck outta the gun with the strong hand. Pretty interesting drill.

Then out to 10 yards.

Then 15 yards.

Then 25 yards.

Fisher uses the B-8 repair center of the NRA 25 yard target as the target for each drill, with satisfactory hits being in the 10 and X. It's a pretty demanding standard, and the class did struggle with it. This is not a happy-fluffy course, it's a here's the tools to improve and let's push you to improve your shooting course.

I had some struggles myself - namely my grip - as I worked to change it following his analysis of my grip - basically my left hand placement is off. This threw me off my game quite a bit, as I was used to doing it as I was doing it before, but it is good to try and improve my grip.

After all, that's what a class is for - not to validate that you're already good, but to learn how to get better and it turns out that my grip really needs to be worked on.

He also has a neat technique of locking the strong hand thumb over the weak hand thumb with both pointing forward on the frame/slide which makes for a very solid hold on the gun - it really keeps the gun steady and returns it to a natural point of aim after each shot. Again need more practice to get this down but its an impressive improvement.

He also proposes actively pinching the scapula towards each other when shooting - it prevent over-extending the pistol and makes for better control. I tried it and it worked for me - so another thing to work on.

I'm going to be doing a lot of dryfire practice at home to learn the new grip and technique. It's really good, but I need to get my mind and unconscious on board.

Other struggles - yep, I had neglected to locktite the sight in place and sure enough even though I checked the screws before the class started, it came loose. This led to a really tight group that kept descending down the target face, but maintaining a tight group all the same. Oops. Rather embarrassing. Easy fix though, but it didn't hold its zero when reattached and tightened back down, which cost me nicely during the class.

I also had my first failure with the Masada - after one shot, the slide refused to open. It was shut fully closed rather tight and did not want to move. Took a hellacious tap rack to free it. Then it ran 100% the rest of the day without any other changes or anything. Not sure exactly what the cause was as I was in the middle of a drill but it was a bit of an off-putting failure. First failure, and could have been ammo induced.

The class was great, in general I was doing well but not as well as I wanted to do, as I struggled with the new grip and techniques. Good ego check, that. Obviously its going to take time to learn new techniques and make them second nature. Even with that, I hit a lot of Xs and 100s but again also hit a lot of 9, 8s and even 7 and the one 6 at 25 yards (ugh), I need to practice more to integrate these new techniques, not to mention get more practice in at 25 yards. Much learning occurred and I know how to get better which is the point. On the upside, I wasn't "That Guy" for the class which is a plus.

The class finished with shooting 10 rounds at 25 yards at the B8 target. I got all mine on the repair center with a few 10s and Xs or in the black but was clearly tired as the rest were hitting high and left (with one up in the 6 ring just outside the 7 ugh) for a total score of 85/100. I can do better, and with practice and implementing the new techniques learned will do so.

The class really showed the advantages of the dot and really helped brush up on shooting fundamentals and identify flaws. This is a very good thing.

That's another 450 rounds through the Masada for a total of 3,018 fired with now 1 failure.

Takeaways: The class was a great intro to shooting a red dot on a pistol and improving shooting fundamentals. Steve Fisher is a highly effective instructor. Well worth the time and money invested, and I got a lot out of it to work on. I'd recommend taking a class with him and this red dot class in particular if you're getting into red dots for your pistol, or even just want to improve your fundamentals. I will take more classes from him in the future.

Gun Skool On The Morrow

Off to take a shooting class tomorrow. Been far too long since I last took one. Looking forward to learning new things and how to better run what I’ve got.

Report to follow.

The Third Time Was Not The Charm - Or Weight And Balance Matter

Weight and balance is a key preflight step before you takeoff in an aircraft. When you mess it up, bad things tend to happen.

In this case the pilot scored a double - being both overweight and out of balance.

The Detroit News: Report: Plane over weight limit, attempted multiple takeoffs before crash last July

The aircraft involved is an Icon A5, an amphibian that's getting quite a reputation for accidents. This is due not to any particular fault with the craft itself, but instead due to it's pilot's attitudes when flying it - either beyond its envelope or otherwise in an ill-advised manner.

Thankfully no one was killed in this accident.

Detroit PD Chief Blames Violence Upswing On Corona, Protests

The Detroit Free Press: Coronavirus, protests cause for recent violent crime spike, DPD chief James Craig says

An upswing in violence that has led to:

June 21: Police: 1 dead, 11 wounded in weekend shootings across Detroit

June 22: Gunman opens fire outside Detroit home injuring man, 2 children

June 22: Man denied bond after fight in southwest Detroit ends in fatal shooting (Surprise - the perp turns out to be a felon in possession)

June 24: Overnight, bullets rain on Detroit in several shooting incidents, injuring 7 and killing 1

That's just some of the Detroit crime headlines from the past few days. Interestingly, there are no BLM protests on behalf of these particular black lives.

Violent crime in Detroit is up 7.5% this month.

Some of this is just nice weather letting the thugs come out. Some of it is pent-up aggression from the Coronavirus lockdown and then the protests whipping up anger. Much of it however is just Detroit criminals being Detroit criminals, and likely with the police shying away from aggressively enforcing the law in the City as the BLM and defund the police movement throws its weight around.

Unfortunately, I expect this crime trend to continue to increase, and expect spilalge from Detorir into the surrounding burbs, which is already occurring with Detroit thugs venturing forth - 2 wounded, 1 killed in encounter in West Bloomfield Twp. shooting.

Jiu Jitsu Returns

Now that Governor Whitner was slapped for her arbitrary and capricious ruling closing gyms, our Jiu Jitsu center opened back up.

It was fantastic to see jitsu friends in person again. It's been far, far too long.

Unfortunately, it's not quite the same as before, not yet anyways - class is reduced to 40 minutes in time, a maximum of 12 people in a room that holds many many more during normal times, no change-room usage, you show up in uniform and everyone has to wear masks and be 10 feet apart. Temperatures were checked and everyone showing up was healthy and hand sanitizer was copiously dispensed before entering the room.

Doing Jitsu while wearing a mask is a bit of an extra workout, and yes you do get noticeable carbon dioxide buildup and much more rapid breathing, and harder breathing, while wearing a mask.

One could go solo in your ten foot space or you could opt to partner up with another person for practice but there was no switching partners.

Since we're starting leg locks, doing them solo is akin to, and looks a lot like, a monkey being intimate with a football.

In short, solo leg lock practice is really not conducive to learning the technique.

So I paired up with Trevor and both in masks we worked on the foot lock. Much better with a partner as you can actually do the technique and it makes a lot more sense and you can learn it.

The class ended and there was an option to roll afterwards but not required or demanded in any way.

Everyone stayed to roll anyways as its been far too long since we had gotten any rolling time in and we've all been healthy throughout. Rolling again was limited in partners you had paired up with and there was a maximum of 4 rolling pairs on the floor at any one time with 10 feet of space in between rolling pairs, time was short and then the next set of 4 pairs would go.

So I was paired up with Trevor who is a solid head taller than me and a far (not fair bit, but far) stronger fellow. Oh Boy.

A great roll.

I was able to hold him off and block some attacks, did end up getting crushed a lot, but I managed to slip in the trap cross collar choke from guard - in short it ends up in a standard cross collar choke but doesn't start as one and as the attacker tries to avoid what they think is an impending choke they actually slip into it. Very fun when it works.

After the tap, we started again and I actually got a solid trap and roll on him which was great and held him off for the rest of the roll, including stopping a really good Kimura arm bar attempt. Lots of fun and it was great to get rolling again. Heckuva workout after all this time off.

A great short roll and a great back to it class.

Sadly No Zoom Zoom Trial Today, Maybe Tomorrow, There's Always A Zoom Tomorrow

I was scheduled to have a Bench trial in district court today.

I was all prepared and ready to go, exhibits already marked and filed with the court and mailed to the defendant last week.

I put my client in a conference room on my iPad, and we get connected to the court, client is ready to go, we've gone over the exhibits and line of questioning and I'm feeling pretty good for doing a trial by Zoom for the first time.

It's a dispute over a breach of contract. The guy my client hired to fix his house after a fire turned out to be not only unlicensed but also (surprise!) incompetent. The guy's work was not up to code and he then failed to show after being paid $24K. My client was obviously not very happy about that as he's had to spend $26k to fix the mess.

Like I said I'm ready to rock on this.

So we connect and the judge starts off with appearances. Now I've been in this case since April, and the case had been going on a lot longer than that before my client finally figured out he should stop trying to do it himself and needed an attorney (quick note he would have saved himself a lot of grief where he completely screwed up a major pre-trial hearing if he had an attorney then - he didn't and he lost a shot at attorneys fees as a result).

The judge starts of with appearances and then asks if we're ready to go.

I state we are, even though I can't get the building inspector as a witness as the municipal building is locked, their office is closed, they don't answer their emails or voicemails, and I can't subpoena him as a result, but we'll run with what we brung.

Since Defendant is representing himself and the facts are good for me, we're ready to go.

The Defendant then enters his appearance and the judge then states: Since we're doing this by Zoom both parties must agree to do the trial by Zoom.

I agree. The Defendant however . . . .

Defendant quickly sees a shot to delay the inevitable and says he now doesn't want to do it by Zoom and wants to go in person.

Crap.

Judge then says it'll be awhile and sets it for September 23 as we don't know when they will be able to do it in person.

Defendant just won himself a delay of three more months.

Drat. That would have been fun.

Seriously Governor Half-Whit? Mass BLM Protests Good - Trump Rallies Bad

Our dear Governor Half-Whit seems to have issues with the First Amendment, at least when it comes to Republicans.

The Detroit News: Whitmer would consider trying to block Trump rally in Michigan

So, after our Governor joined a mass political rallies, while both wearing and not wearing a mask, our dear Governor Whitmer is now concerned that political rallies may spread the Wu-Flu and should be prohibited, but only if those rallies are for Republicans.

Apparently, according to Governor Half-White's wanting to , the virus is woke enough to know the difference between a BLM rally, which is good and where the governor could be elbow to elbow with people while not wearing a mask, and a Pro-Trump rally which of course would be bad.

Someone still clearly wants to be VP.

Viewpoint discrimination much? Can't wait to see if she actually tries to block a Trump rally.

Father's Day

A very nice day for Father's Day.

Rain and thunderstorms were predicted but they've held off all day so far.

I received breakfast in bed and some nice presents from the kids.

Then, it was off to the Metropark for hours of kayaking and stand up paddle boarding.

It was a hot day and the tons of aquatic growth made paddling a tad difficult most of the time so it was a god workout as you could feel the weeds dragging on the kayak most of the time.

Then we hit the beach at the Metropark for a quick dip, changed and headed to Black Rock for a proper father's day dinner - a 12 oz Sirloin steak served raw on a 755 degree hot stone and you cut into the steak and cook the pieces yourself on the stone. A bit of a wait as they're at 50% capacity, and a limited menu, but it's good to get to a restaurant again. Yum.

Then home for a Zoom call with my dad and family to wish everyone a Happy Fathers Day.

It was a good one.

Great Range Trip Today

So I headed to the range and met up with Jason, Tosh, and Tosh's friend Anthony. It was going to be a nice hot day.

We started out shooting some pistol as Tosh wanted to try and run his ETS HK magazines through my P30s to see if they would work as they did not work in his P2000SK.

Interestingly enough, while they would lock into the gun if the slide was back, they would not do so with the slide forward when the mags were fully loaded. They had issues including not dropping free when hitting the paddle release and not holding the last shot open. Other than that, they did feed ok. They did run fine and functioned perfectly in Jason's VP9, including dropping free when the release was hit on the VP9. This was weird as the VP9 and the P30 use the same exact magazine. So, the ETS mags were good in a VP9, not so good in the P30 or P2000.

I hadn't shot the P30s in awhile, but they cleared plate racks with no issues.

We then switched to rifles, and I shot my IWI Tavor SBR and my M1A which was a lot of fun hitting the steel targets Tosh had brought hat were rifle rated. The M1A seriously made the steel targets and stands rock back when hit.

Then back to pistol and I switched to the Masada.

Anthony had brought a Sig P320 compact and we all got a chance to shoot it, it was good to finally try one of those out. Quite a nice and reliable firearm.

Battle Dots shooting competitions were had and we all had a good time.

Then under the timer. Twice the pressure of both the clock and having your friends watch you mess up.

5-4-3-2-1 drills (5 circles on an 8x11 paper decreasing in size down to 1". You shoot 5 at the largest circle, 4 at the next, and so on), it was a lot of fun.

Then we ran some FAST Drills.

Then we did the 3 yard portion of the Sentinel Concepts Warm-up Drill. Draw from concealment and hit the box with all three shots under 2 seconds. More challenging and frustrating than it sounds.

I managed the best time of 1.76 clean - but only after quite a few rounds of practice and then managed to get it under 2 seconds pretty regularly, which was a lot of progress compared to my prior range sessions where I wasn't getting near to that time. Good progress that.

We then switched to dot torture and I got a 49 because one was just outside the dot - drat, so close to a perfect run. The second and last Dot Torture I got sloppy and did 47/50.

It was an excellent range time. Another 350 trouble-free rounds through the Masada, and 50 each through both the P30 and P30Sk, and 120 rounds through the Tavor.

A great time with some good people.

BLM And The Mary Poppins Standard

There's currently a wave going across America attacking our history and historical figures on the grounds that if they aren't meeting the Mary Poppins standard, they must come down.

The Mary Poppins Standard you ask - why that means those figures from the past must have been practically perfect in every way.

If not, then down they must go.

Since no historical figure can meet that standard, all must come down, at least if they're of European origin.

Amazingly, some descendants of those historical figures have drunk deep the progressive Kool-Aid and have decided to kow-tow to the demands of the mob.

They've stated that since their ancestors were imperfect, and had done bad things, therefore no good can come form their memorization - no matter the good and accomplished things they did, and thus must be removed.

The Detroit Free Press: I'm a direct descendant of Gen. Alexander Macomb. It's time to take his statue down. | Opinion

I pity General Macomb for the weakness and pussification of at least some of his descendants. The earthquake you are soon to feel is Gen. Macomb rolling over in his grave at the pathetic weakness of his soy boy descendant.

Remove All The Things - Black People From Packaging Edition

Some Aunt Jemima is gone, and Uncle Ben is about to be shown the door, and Mrs. Butterworth better lose some weight as she's a tad too suggestive.

After all, in some people's minds any depiction of blacks is racist.

CNN: Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and the 'flesh'-colored crayon

I do love the way the opinion writer easily dismisses the success of the real Aunt Jemima - Nancy Green.

Apparently, removing images of black people from packaging will, according to the opinion write, progressives, and Pepsi, help the journey towards racial equality. After all it's "doing something".

Zakycon (A Russian maker of gourmet (and real hot) mustards and horseradish had no comment as to whether they would be changing their logo:

Now that's a caricature bordering on the offensive right there...

Quick Range Trip Today

I had a doctors appointment today, and since the doctor's office was about halfway to the range, I figured why not hit the range and then head back to work after that?

Basically the day was much frustration, so getting some group therapy in was certainly called for.

I shot sets of plate racks with a most satisfying clang as each one went down in sequence.

Then a dot torture with a bleh score of 47/50. Put a nice group of three just right under one dot. Needs more work.

Back to cleaning some plate racks at speed and then done.

Clean up the area and back in the car in under 45 minutes.

That's another 100 trouble-free rounds through the Masada and just a fun quick little range trip.

Smoking Beef Ribs For Dinner

Not just any Beef ribs, but Glatt Kosher Beef Ribs.

A friend of mine had a goodly amount of meat and knowing I do smoking gave me the ribs.

I got them covered in my homemade rub.

Then using locally sourced hickory wood I got the fire going and started smoking the ribs,

The hickory burned a little hotter than anticipated, and while I had started at 220 and the temp stayed there for awhile, the temp in the smoker at around 45 minutes in suddenly climbed to 400, necessitating some action on my part to get the temperature back down.

But, even with that, they came out looking great and tasting awesome.

Didn't need any BBQ sauce either, the rub gave some nice flavor to the beef.

BLM: Erase, Remove, And Rename All The Things!

At least anything tied to the history of this country.

First Columbus, now activists want to erase history in Michigan, because our current leftist moral judgment must replace the morals of the times and everyone must be judged by present standards.

Quick history lesson - it wasn't just the South that had slaves both the French and British had slavery in Michigan.

Since slavery is bad, anything accomplished by anyone even remotely related to slavery or even completely unrelated to slavery but done by people with any connection to slavery must be condemned and their memorials and names removed everywhere.

The Detroit News: Monuments to Detroit area’s past seen in new, troubling light: Slavery

Throughout Metro Detroit, slaveholders' names are immortalized on roads, schools and businesses. Some of their images are preserved in bronze or marble. Cass, Macomb, Livernois. Groesbeck and Dequindre, Woodward and Woodbridge. Beaubien, Brush, Beaufait.

Activists want to not just rename all these roads and schools but also Wayne County as its named after General Anthony Wayne, who wasn't nice to the Indians.

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” - 1984 by George Orwell

Orwell was not supposed to be a how-to guide.

Defund The Police, Let The Criminals Out Of Jail, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The progressive left seem determined to reverse the progress Detroit has made with reducing its (still really high) crime rate.

First they want to "Defund the Police" whatever that may mean and they carefully shift the definition depending on the response they receive, as they make ridiculous comparisons between the City's Department of Health budget and the police budget. Quick tip - most healthcare in this state and country doesn't come from the city level, whereas police protection does come form the city budget.

They want to do away with Project Greenlight as it's been rather too effective in reducing criminal activity in areas - criminals get caught on camera and facial rec identifies them. They don't like that so they've literally had car caravans block traffic near City Counsel members homes - and even the wokest city council member ain't havin' none o' that.

Then they want to simultaneously spring criminals out of jail without bail or any promise that they will show up for their hearings for offenses like, well, unarmed robbery: The Detroit Free Press: How nonprofits are getting people out of metro Detroit jails during COVID-19 pandemic - Do note that it takes until the bottom of the fifth paragraph before their poster child for no bail, who was worried about family members with cancer and catching the Wu-Flu in jail herself, was in jail for unarmed robbery. 

 Maybe she shouldn't have done the crime in the first place had she been so concerned about the consequences, right? The article of course sets her out as a sympathetic and of course discriminated against because she's Black. The victim of her unarmed robbery was apparently not available for comment.

So the mob in Detroit is calling for defunding the police, eliminating cameras in high crime areas, and allowing offenders to stay out of jail after committing crimes.

What could possibly go wrong?

Detroit Dumps Columbus Statue

The Detroit News: After 110 years downtown, Detroit's Christopher Columbus bust placed in storage

The bust of Christopher Columbus, which has been displayed in downtown Detroit for more than a century, was removed Monday and will be placed into storage.

John Roach, spokesman for Mayor Mike Duggan, said via text message that "the mayor decided it ought to be placed in storage to give us time to evaluate the appropriate long-term disposition of the statue."

We'll note the famous Black fist statute is not being discussed to be removed, but George Washington may be next.

the Louis Fist has historically been more controversial, as suburban guests have portrayed it as a threatening symbol of black power, while Detroiters believe it's a symbol of black pride and a way to pay homage to a boxer whose skills gave achievement and notoriety to a community that needed both.

Be interesting to see how much more history will be wiped away in this current progressive hysteria to get rid of anything that might be deemed offensive to the woke.

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” ― George Orwell, 1984

First USPSA Match Of The Season

Finally USPSA matches have resumed in Michigan. We didn't even have to call the assemblage of shooters a protest to do so.

A good first match and my first time shooting concealed carry optic.

Only one classifier stage was held, so my getting classified in CCO will take a while. It was CM 13-04 The Roscoe Rattle.

Fun, but I hadn't practice the turn 'n' draw recently, and it showed. The draws were decent thanks to my dry fire practice, now I need to get faster transitioning between targets, acquiring targets hidden in various locations, and moving around the stage.

On the very plus side, I did not fail to engage all targets and didn't miss any which happens as most were cleverly angled so they could be seen only from one position and then only if you really looked around. I'm still on the slow side compared to other shooters, but my accuracy is pretty darn good.

6 fun stages in addition to the classifier, and it was a darn good time with a good bunch of people.

I shot the match with the IWI Masada and Trijicon SRO, and both functioned flawlessly for another 168 rounds through the gun. I'm looking forward to the next match.

This Is Gonna Get Gud: Detroit Protesters Threatent to Put The Mayor On "Trial"

Get your popcorn and marshmallows ready folks, the more progressive left is about to smack the lesser progressive left.

At least they're sticking with the classics and threatening a "People's Tribunal". Not very original, but a classic is a classic.

The Detroit News: Protesters say they plan public tribunal against mayor, police

Protesters say they plan to put Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit Police Department on trial next Saturday over actions by officers during the first days of protests in the city two weeks ago.
Detroit Will Breathe, an organization formed from the outrage over the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd, will hold a public tribunal 4 p.m. on June 20 at a location to be determined, featuring protesters who were arrested, ticketed or "brutalized" by police to hold city leaders accountable.

Yep, that's go to go over real well.

Will the Mayor and Police Chief kow-tow to the mob? Will they ignore the trial? Will he instead send juice boxes and binkies, and maybe cartoon instructions on how to wear a mask properly (see the pics ion the linked Detroit News article)?

Stay tuned.

Who Ya Gonna Believe? Gov Half-Whit Or Your Own Lyin' Eyes?

Seriously, our dear Gov Half-Whit seems to have a compulsion to tell lies and more lies to fit her narrative, even when its not necessary, and especially when her lies are so easily disproven.

The latest: Her woke BLM claim that if Blacks had shown up armed at the Michigan Capitol to protest they would likely have been killed.

The Detroit News: GOP slams Whitmer over comment on armed black protesters

The problem is that Black and Hispanics already did show up armed at the capitol and to no one's surprise were not harmed in any way. The Detroit News: 'We have to arm ourselves': Black Michigan demonstrators protest brutality

In short the very same scenario where she claimed that Blacks would be killed for doing so, and Blacks had already done so before she made her claim and nothing happened.

Mainly this is so because they didn't riot, didn't damage property, didn't threaten anyone, were law-abiding, and properly exercised their second amendment rights like any other adults.

So yes, her latest woke BLM-themed lie was disproved even before she said it.

Gov Half-Whit Goes With The Rent Is Free Crowd Yet Again

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, Gov Whitmer extended the ban on residential evictions yet again, now through June 30.

The order is not yet even published on the Governors executive order page as she yet again announced it after normal government hours, just as it was due to expire.

It will be her 118th executive order of this year, with all but one being Wuhan-Flu related.

The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer extends freeze on residential evictions for non-payment of rent

After all, tenants not paying their rent are her kind of people and will be voting for her. Tenants have not had to pay rent since March 20.

Landlords on the other hand, still have to pay the mortgages on those properties or face foreclosure.

If You Pass A Law, Expect It To Be Enforced

When you pass a law, no matter how it may appear stupid or be for an offense most people would deem at most a minor annoyance, stupid, or even for things that shouldn't be an offense at all, expect that law to be enforced.

Take parking your vehicle, in this case a delivery van, with your wheel on the curb for example.

In Warren, as in most cities of this state and elsewhere, that is actually against the law. You can be ticketed for doing so. It's a civil infraction so you pay a fine and learn not to do it again. Is this a dumb law? Depends on who you ask.

Of course, in the current racially-charged environment, when an officer enforces such a law and the law-breaker happens to be Black, and said Black person then refuses to cooperate with producing his license, refuses further to the point of arrest, then resists arrest, and ends with getting taken to the ground, and being cuffed and stuffed into a police car, the outrage machine goes into action.

The Detroit News: Police investigate incident involving white Warren officer, black delivery driver

Yep, it's may be a stupid offense, but it is the law and there very well may be reasons for it, and if you have a law it will at some point be enforced.

Once the officer informed the driver of the offense and asked the driver for his license, and the driver decided to refuse to provide it and further resist, it went downhill and ended in his arrest.

That refusal to cooperate with providing a driver's license turned a stupid ordinance civil infraction ticket to charges of failing to produce a drivers license and felony resisting arrest.

Of course, the outrage machine then kicked into high gear, demanding the officer being fired, and James Fouts, the Mayor of Warren then tried to get in front of the mob by demanding the officer's firing:

"I have spoken with Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer and have ordered that this officer be terminated immediately."
"I have zero tolerance for this disgusting act against an innocent person. If the last two weeks have taught us anything, it is that bad behavior by ANY police officer will not be tolerated!
"The policy of the Warren Police Department and the training provided to every officer is to deescalate every situation. This officer did not follow policy or his training and is not fit to serve the citizens in Warren."

The only deescalation would have been to ignore the offense in the first place, or perhaps walk away after the refusal of the driver to provide his license after being asked. In which case, the problem is with the law not the officer.

The Mayor then took down his Facebook post demanding the firing likely after being more fully told of what transpired and facts began to trump the outrage.

However, about a half-hour after, Fouts asked media to wait to disseminate the information. He also removed the Facebook page post.
Later, the mayor posted a new statement on Facebook: "The previous post regarding an altercation was taken down at the request of the Warren Police Commissioner. I await further details based upon additional information.

In other words, he bashed one of his police officers and called for his firing based on second-or-third-hand outrage and a lack of actual information. Way to go there.

Mayor Fouts, if he's truly outraged about this situation would be far better off rescinding the city's law about parking on curbs than complaining about the officer properly enforcing it. Fouts, along with the city council, have the power to do so. Of course, then people would park on curbs, and someone would likely complain about it requiring a law against it, not to mention the city being deprived of ticker revenue for the offense.

Update: The Macomb County Prosecutor decided to not file any charges in the case - make of that what you will. Certainly would not suggest the prosecutor caved in the face of protests and threats of a riot if the driver was charged - after all the prosecutor said they "employ discretion to not authorize criminal charges as certain circumstances demand.”

Gov Half-Whit Even Lied About Always Wearing A Mask At The Protest

It is good to know that the Coronavirus has a sense of social justice and lack of social distancing is not a problem at a BLM protest, as that's socially importanter than the spread of the Coronavirus.

In other news, remember how Gov Half-Whit violated her own social distancing rule at the protest?

Remember how she claimed she didn't violate it because she was wearing a mask for the protest and not hugging or high-fiving anyone, even as she violated the 6-foot rule of her executive order?

Turns out she in fact did not wear a mask the whole time and it's caught on video.

Who ya gonna believe, Governor Half-Whit or your own lying eyes?

Breitbart: Gretchen Whitmer Falsely Tells MSNBC She ‘Wore a Mask the Whole Time’ During George Floyd Protest

Her speech with her mask off was rather trite and insipid. She really shouldn't have unmasked and potentially exposed herself for such a lousy speech.

Anyone able to keep track of the sheer number of lies Gov Half-Whit has made these past few months?

Detroit Protestors Make 11 Demands. None Will Shock You.

Unsurprisingly, the protestors have now proffered a list of demands to the City of Detroit, many of which have little to do with BLM and more with the overall leftist agenda.

The Detroit Free Press: Protesters pose 11 demands of city as rift erupts before Tuesday march

The demands are mostly vague, ethereal, and a cornucopia of leftist cant:

►Defund and demilitarize the police; - the cause du jour that really hasn't been thought through at all. Defund apparently doesn't mean what the word means but some other ethereal feel-good solution. Its apparently shorthand for letting criminals run free.

►End Project Greenlight, a public-private community partnership that uses real-time camera surveillance throughout the city, and facial recognition software to identify suspects; - Get rid of a solid means to catch criminals doing robberies and assaults because that's a crowd-pleaser among those committing said robberies and assaults and their supporters. Again making ti harder to catch criminals in the act does nothign for the citizenry and protects the criminal class in Detroit.
►Drop all charges and citations against protestors; - Red rioters for protestors. Yep we ought to just call this movement Black Criminals Matter at this stage. If they cave to this demand, the rule of law in Detroit is over.
►Do not carry out eviction orders; -Because who wouldn't want to live rent free without paying the rent, right?
►Drop citations received by Detroiters during the stay-at-home order; - Again, its amnesty for the criminal class in Detroit. Because partying at the gas station in defiance of the stay at home order is ok if you're from Detroit, neh? What happened to Black Lives Matter and preventing the spread of the disease killing Black folks disproportionately?
►End “consensual” sex between police officers and those under custody; - Ok, this one I fully support and that one should be the case already, really.
►Prosecute and fire any police officer involved in police brutality; - Sounds nice but lacking specifics and knowing Detroiters, police brutality means any force used when a Detroit is resisting arrest at all, so that's gonna be a pass.
►Do not criminalize homelessness; - It's another lovely idea lacking any specifics, and homelessness right now is not criminalized in any case. Likely it means allowing vagrants to take over the city, aggressively panhandle, crap in the streets a la San Francisco, and harass people unhindered by the police.
►Make Detroit a sanctuary city, a municipal jurisdiction that limits cooperation with the national government’s effort to enforce immigration law; - Detroit already is a sanctuary city in all but name, with the current exception that when illegal criminals are arrested when committing a crime, the Police will may ICE, and one would think getting rid of illegal criminals would be a good thing, but not to these folks.
►Create an independent office for disabled citizens, - What this has to do with BLM is anyone's guess, probably someone's favorite interest got a vote, just creating an other bureaucracy to staff with favored people here.
►Restore and maintain running water for all Detroiters. - Yay, free water paid for by others.

I'm a tad surprised they didn't demand a free pony as well. After all, who doesn't love a free pony?

In short it's the standard leftist wish-list of a multitude of desires and foremost the coddling and protecting criminals and the demanding of free stuff.

Meanwhile, the protesters are starting to squabble over who is leading the movement: Protester meets mayor, but others question legitimacy as leader - revolutions tend to eat their own.

Gov Half-Whit: I Was For Defund The Police Before I Was Against It, But I'm For It

Also Gov Half-Whit: I'm for defunding the police, but defund the Police doesn't mean defund the Police.

The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer says she supports 'the spirit' of 'defund the police,' then clarifies

The Detroit News: Whitmer supports 'spirit' of efforts to 'defund the police'

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday she supported the “spirit” of efforts to defund the police in the wake of George Floyd’s death last month at the hands of Minneapolis police, a statement that her office later clarified did not indicate support for eliminating funding for law enforcement.

How very sophisticated, the word Defund means "to stop providing the money to pay for something". Now we're being told that when the progs say it, it doesn't mean that.

Verily our dear Gov Half-Whit has gotten so woke she's gone through the looking glass and is taking a page from Humpty-Dumpty:

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.” ― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

The Left has been toying with language and the meaning of words for years, to suit whatever their cause of the day happened to be. Just don't ask them how it is that the Democrats were the ones in charge of the police in these cities all this time. They'll probably tell you that Democrat doesn't mean Democrat.

Smoked Trout - It's What's For Dinner

One of the benefits of working from home is you can keep half an eye on the smoker as you work.

Today the request was for smoked fish, and yesterday Tash had picked up some whole trout.

My first time smoking whole fish. I brinned them overnight in a water, salt, and brown sugar mixture.

I then took the out of the brine today around 4:30, drained and padded them dry, then broke a chopstick in parts and used it to prop the cavity each of the fish open.

Then I built the smoker fire using locally sourced mulberry wood. and some lump charcoal, which I found lights easier, burns better, and gives an overall better result than the Kingsford briquets.

This was my first time using mulberry wood alone for smoking. It gave off a rather delicate and sweet scent for smoking - quite perfect for the fish.

After two and a half hours on the smoker at 220, the fish was ready.

Really nice subtle smoke flavor and seriously good eating.

Quite a bony fish so serving it got a tad messy. The bones didn't want to separate and it took some effort to get it ready to eat.

Still, it was delicious and both kids liked it which was amazing. Especially so as Leah before the fish were smoked had declared the eyes on the fish kept following her and it was creeping her out, and she wouldn't eat it. Once the fish had been beheaded and she got to sample some she then dug in with gusto, separating the bones from the meat and enjoying it.

For a first attempt it turned out great, and I'd definitely make it again on the smoker.

Hey Gov Half-Whit - That Was A Nice Try To Create Felonies By Executive Order

Our Dear Governor Whitmer does love the power that comes from her state of emergency.

As a surprise to no one, she refuses to let it got and keeps trying to expand her one-woman rule in the name of keeping us all safe.

Thankfully, the legislature and the courts are waking up to her power grab.

A power grab that included creating felonies against business owners that failed to abide by her workplace safety based on edicts that solely emanate from the governor's office.

The Court of Claims just shut down her attempt to bypass the legislature and create law out of whole cloth from the governor's desk.

The Detroit Free Press: Judge: Felony penalties in Whitmer emergency order can't be enforced

While the courts are not doing enough to check her overreach, it's good to see some pumping of the brakes on what otherwise would be unchecked rule form the Governor's mansion.

Hey Fudds! They Really Are Coming For Your Guns

The culture war takes another icon in the name of progressive cant.

The Detroit Free Press: We're not doing guns': Elmer Fudd loses his rifle in HBO's 'Looney Tunes' cartoon reboot

Seriously, they're taking away the Fudd's gun. They're also taking away Yosemite Sam's pistols.

No word yet on whether Slowpoke Rodriguez loses his gun and gets eaten by a cat as a result - we'll have to see.

On the upside, they're taking the terrible, horrible, no-good, firearm and replacing it with nicer, cuddlier, and kinder things like dynamite and a scythe. This is because we all know that hunters use scythes and dynamite for rabbit hunting on the regular, and these things are perfectly ok in today's society - but not guns. Not even hunting guns van be shown - the kind banners always claim they're not trying to take away.

You really can't make this prog cultural insanity up.

What's Next? How About Pay Your Damn Rent?

The Detroit Free Press: With eviction ban set to expire Thursday, landlords and tenants ask: What's next?

Having to pay your rent may just become a thing again, unless Gov Half-Whit decides to extent the eviction ban yet again tomorrow.

Or perhaps not, if the non-paying tenants get their way:

"I feel like it should go through the end of the year," Detroit resident Dana Stuckey said of Whitmer's halt to residential evictions for nonpayment of rent....Though many Michiganders are saving on fuel costs by working from home, Stuckey, 36, who used public transit, said she is using more electricity and air conditioning and had to pay to upgrade her internet service.

Seriously? That's quite the sense of entitlement she's got there.

It's not like she didn't know she needed to pay rent, and with UI kick ups and the stimulus, not to mention she is apparently still has a job where she's working from home all this time, it's rather hard to say you couldn't afford to pay, you just chose not to do so, knowing there would be no consequence form doing so.

How about no to further rent holidays?

Especially because Gov Whitmer failed to pause any foreclosure actions against those landlords who now can't pay the mortgages as their tenants aren't paying rent, letting tenants stay for a whole year rent-free at their landlord's expense is laughable. In short Gov Half-Whit is placing all the burdens on Landlords to curry favor with tenants and providing no relief to landlords while doing so.

Of course, there's more tenants than landlords in Michigan, and the tenants tend to be her backers, so expect her to extend the rent-free-living yet again.

In a Time of Universal Deceit — Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act And Can Get You Fired

And Revolutions tend to eat their own, as a School Superintendent found out to his chagrin.

Apparently making a truthful statement that fails to fully buy into the left's dogma of today is enough to get one fired these days, especially if you speak "truth to power" about the wrong people.

Click On Detroit: Michigan school board votes to fire superintendent who made controversial remarks on George Floyd

Metcalf had said on Facebook that Floyd’s death in Minneapolis was “wrong.” But he also said “it all starts with being a law abiding citizen,” and that Floyd was suspected of using counterfeit money.

Nothing false about his statement in the least, it was in short 100% truthful and accurate, but that completely failed to protect him.

Nor did his later attempt to bend the knee, with his apology for daring to speak the truth and then offering to take diversity training.

Again, Floyd's death was wrong. But, it is an absolute fact that his allegedly trying to pass counterfeit money, and then resisting arrest led to the circumstances of his wrongful death.

The House: All Your Weekend Belong To Us

So yesterday I had more of a workout with the crushed granite.

Lining the side of the house:

This took quite a lot to get it done, but it now looks rather nice.

Then I lined the area off the porch where the hose and gas meter is with the crushed granite. It doesn't look like much but now the ground is level at the base, sloping away form the house and a lot safer to stand in when turnign the valve to use the garden hose as before that are was a complete mess.

Then the mulch arrived, all 5 cubic yards of it.

That's a lot of mulch and that's what we've been doing today - weeding the yard and mulching the flowerbeds. Quite the workout these past two days.

Much time spent loading the mulch into the wheelbarrow and taking it to where it is needed, and repeating ad infinitum.

Of course its beginning to look like we have too much mulch now as just about everything covered but a small mountain of about half a cubic yard remains. Ugh.

Sometime this summer I need to repaint the deck and replace a few deck pieces off wood that have warped. That should be fun.

Maybe First Alert Meant It In Dog Years

So at 4am one of the fire alarms began to chirp, randomly, and loudly.

This led to a game of which *%^! one is it? As there's one in every bedroom, every floor, and the kitchen, so it's quite a game to figure it out.

This ius especially fun as it doesn't keep chirping consistently as that would be far to easy to find. It's a random annoying chirp that's hard to track down as it goes off unpredictably and on a weird delay that's designed to have you walk to every alarm, listen, hear nothing, then try and chase it down again. A damn low battery indicator light or flashing or soemtghing would be nice, ya know?

Well after much trial, error and vocabulary expended, it was the one in the basement, that was near a vent of course so it threw its chirp all around the place. I should have know - after all it was the replacement for the First ALert alarm that died in December 2018.

A First Alert smoke alarm installed and turned on in December 2018, dated manufactured in September 2014 and now deader than a door-nail, even with a promised 10-year lifespan.

Of course, they also had to change the mount for its replacement model of the same type, because, why not annoy homeowners?

So, I had to unscrew the mount and replace that as well. At least the drywall screw holes lined up on the new mount, so there's that.

Considering this one replaced the one that died in December 2018 I am less than impressed with First Alert 's touted 10-year lifespan.

Gov Half-Whit Facing A Loss In Court Relents On Barber Shops

Sometimes better late than never is better than nothing. Michigan along with New Jersey are the last states to allow barber and hair salon facilities to open. Governor Half-Whit finally allowed Michigan to join the rest of the union with open barber shops.

Of course, she doesn't just announce they can open, she set a nice arbitrary ten days from the date of her announcement to let them do so, so she gets ten more days to keep fining and harassing Karl Manke:

The Detroit News: Whitmer set to reopen hair salons, barbershops June 15; gyms, theaters to reopen in northern Michigan

One of the obvious reasons she announced this is the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals ruling against Barber Karl Manke.

Typically, when Big Gretch gets sued, as happened with realtors suing her, she folds. So this will potentially moot out the case at least as far as it goes with her order banning barbers from opening, possibly Manke's attornrey can keep it going due to the fines and punishments hes facing under her closure orders.

Unfortunately this pandemic is letting governors get their control freak on, and even with allowing things to open (but not all facilities can open yet and she's still insanely socking it to drive-in theaters for some pernicious reason) there's a score of regulations, impositions, costs, and controls on business all in a one-size-fits-all model and woe betide any business that fails to comply.

We'll see if these controls start to relent or its a new wave of regulations on business that are here to stay - and given that she just created and appointed a "Coronavirus Work Safety Director", you can expect government micromanagement to continue now that she allows businesses to once again open.

Gov Half-Whit: 6 Feet Social Distance? Meh.

It is still a potential $1,000 fine for violating the 6 foot social distancing requirement in Michigan right now.

The Detroit News: With little social distancing, Whitmer marches with protesters

You know, the one she castigated protestors against the lockdown for violating .

For our dear governor Half-Whit those rules of course don't apply. And of course she lies about violating her own rules:

Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown told the Detroit News that Whitmer wasn't in violation of her executive order.

Note that her own FAQ states:

"Q: Does Executive Order 2020-110 prohibit persons from engaging in outdoor activities that are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?
A: No. Persons may engage in expressive activities protected by the First Amendment within the State of Michigan, but must adhere to social distancing measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including remaining at least six feet from people from outside the person’s household."

Who you gonna believe, Gov Half-Whit or your lyin' eyes?

Note she's not even close to a half-foot of social distance, much less her demanded 6 feet.

Rules for thee indeed.

Home & Personal Improvement: I'll Feel That In The Morning

Today provided plenty of exercise.

A friend has a landscape supply company and we've want to do some landscape improvements, and it's always good to buy from your friends, especially when they're pros.

He even came out to our house to check my estimates of material needed and gave some great advice. Since the grass area is marshy as heck it would take more crushed granite as its going to sink a lot.

Project #1 - extend the parking pad so it actually touches the driveway instead of a 11x9 feet of wasted space, turning it into a 2 car pad at the base of the Driveway of Doom™. This makes it easier for Abby to park. Also then to spread a layer of the crushed granite and cover up the crappy crushed concrete the driveway company used to make it the pad last year.

Project #2 - a lining of rocks along the side of the house to make it look better.

So I got a call today that the crushed granite would be arriving this afternoon, all 4.5 cubic yards of it.

Good thing I was working from home. I hurriedly laid down the weed should over the marshy grass between the existing parking pad and the driveway, and prepared for the arrival of the truck bearing the crushed gravel.

4.5 cubic yards turns out to be a lot of rocks. A lot of rocks. Did I mention a lot of rocks?

Just finished hauling a ton of rocks to the side of the house and spreading the rocks over the existing parking pad and creating the parking pad extension, and now I'm beat. Complete with a wicked blister on the palm of my hand, which is just great.

On the upside,the parking pad looks darn good if I say so myself.

The parking pad used to only extend to the large rock to the left level with the driver's side door in the picture, with a large strip of always wet grass before the driveway edge. Now it meets and looks good. I expect it to still settle some.

The remaining part of the pad is now covered in the crushed granite over the half-assed crushed concrete that had been put there before and looks much more appealing.

Between that and hauling rocks to the side of the house, I'm beat. Unfortunately, I still have a pile of crushed gravel left over and someone has a cunning plan to do something with it starting tomorrow.

Oh yeah, a truckload of mulch arrives this weekend.

On the upside, I've been making a habit of doing dry-fire practice drawing from concealment each night for at least 20 minutes a night. I can feel the improvement already and assuming I keep this up as a regular habit I should see better times at the range. Yes, after walking the dog tonight its down to downstairs to do some dry fire and then pass out.

Governor Half-Whit: Let Them Google How To Cut Hair

After allowing dentists to reopen for normal practice, and dog groomers as well, Gov Whitmer continues her ban on allowing barbers and salons to reopen, even for one customer at a time - even as other states have opened hair salons to no issues.

I halfway suspect this is because Karl Manke's continued defiance of the arbitrary and capricious order has led her to double-down on punishing hair stylists, as such defiance to the Governor's arbitrary orders cannot be tolerated by her.

My bet is the ban on hair salons continues until she has the satisfaction of seeing Karl Manke jailed and financially destroyed for his crime of maiestas against her rule.

Verily, since the Governor tolerates large protests of people congregating in the streets cheek by jowl without masks, how the heck can she continue to justify the ban on a barber cutting the hair of one person at a time?

So in response to complaints on her continued ban, she had her Marie Antoinette moment - if the people want a haircut, "Google how to do a haircut or throw your hair in a ponytail or curl it".

She then did the standard non-apology apology:

The Detroit News: Whitmer apologizes to stylists, barbers for suggesting people could "Google" how to cut hair

So if my comment offended anyone, I apologize for that,” she said

Yep, she's not apologizing she said it, nor for her dictatorial rule and unjustifiable continued closure, just that some people had the temerity to be "offended" by her remark.

Gov Half-Whit has learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

NY Times Conveniently Decides Protests Are Now Patriotic Again.

Not very long ago, the NY Times Opinion page was chock full of how protesting against the government was dangerous, un-American, and downright unpatriotic if not unconstitutional (yes, really).

Anti-Lockdown Rebels Don’t Get to Choose Their Own Constitution

and

The Anti-Lockdown Protesters Have a Twisted Conception of Liberty

In short, protests against the government according to the NY Times was bad, and racist too.

It had been so written.

But now - Hooray! Protests are Patriotic once again!

New York Times: In America, Protest Is Patriotic.

The NY York Times, it be a changin'.

So protests with looting and arson in the name of a politically favorable cause = good.

Peaceful protests against arbitrary and capricious lockdown decisions, with no violence, looting, vandalism, or rioting, not to mention leaving the protest grounds cleaner than how the anti-lockdown protstors found them = bad.

Got it.

Remember Folks, Everyone Who Doesn't Buy Into Your Political Preferences Is A Racist

The current Dem playbook on winning friends and influencing people apparently entails solely of calling them racists.

This is because there's nothing more effective and likely to get voters with disagreements with you over a variety of policy preferences to cross over and start voting Democrat than calling them racist.

The Detroit News: Michigan party leaders clash after Dem leader calls Trump voters 'racist'

Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes said supporters of President Donald Trump are "racist."

In a Sunday statement, Barnes said it was time to have “uncomfortable conversations" and end the silence surrounding black oppression, including efforts to suppress the black vote.

“If you support Donald Trump, you are a racist,” Barnes wrote. “Here is where it gets tricky and uncomfortable. Donald Trump is a racist, and if being a racist is not a deal-breaker for you, you are the reason black people are being murdered for being black.”

When she got called out on this nonsensical and quite frankly racist statement, she of course doubled down and claimed she was the victim in the situation.

Barnes fired back Monday calling Cox’s statement an attempt “to shame me for speaking truth to power.” She said the Republican leader’s response was an attempt to “deflect, blame and lie.”

Democrats love this "truth to power" BS. She's the freakin' Leader of the Democrat party in Michigan. Her party controls the Governors office, the Secretary of State's office and the Attorney General's office. What power be she speakin' truth to here? She sure doesn't seem to be talkin' to herself nor her fellow Democrats in power.

Funny how as the head of the Democratic party in Michigan she failed to call out the Democrat-run police forces, prosecutors, and governments in these Blue cities that are having all this "oppression" for their "racism". Instead jumped straight to blaming Trump who has no control over these cities policies on use of force and actions taken when someone is resisting arrest, has backed protests and condemned inappropriate use of force but has not condoned rioting and vandalism.

Funny that, isn't it?

Gov Half-Whit Relaxes Social Distancing - For Rioters

You can't make this up.

Gov Half-Whit just announced that social distancing will be loosened to allow outdoor gatherings up to 100 people immediately.

Meanwhile she is kindly opening up restaurants at 50% starting - but not until next week.

Still, hair salons, gyms etc will still be closed.

Of course the live press conference starring both her and the Lt. Governor both bashed President Trump.

Hilariously both claimed its the problem that those in power are not listening to Black people and those in power need to design a system to be more equitable and their voices heard.

Go ahead and watch it to hear lots of progressive-infested language and flowery rhetoric.

Ahem morons, you're the Governor and Lt. Governor of the state - you are the power in this state, so bemoaning a lack of power is a tad bit beyond trite. Your voices are being heard from a freaking press conference you're giving to the entire state. Sheesh. Of course, they noted their government is the most diverse evar, and it feels and sees you. This is nice I suppose, but it sure as heck hasn't been very effective.

Dear Governor Half Whit, You Can't Say You're Speaking Truth To Power. You Are The Power.

Our very special Governor Whitmer didn't have a word to condemn the riots.

Instead she tweeted:

To the good people of Michigan: we see you. We hear you. Your voice is what drives change now and always.

All of us must be the relief. We must organize. We must speak truth to power. We will get through this together.

Yay, leftist pablum from the Gov in the face of riots.

Ahem, dear governor you are the "power" in this situation. Nice of you to see and hear them, but interesting how you choose to see them over the peaceful protestors who were against your arbitrary shutdowns.

So, she had not one word about the protesters and rioters violating social distancing causing her to have to extend the lock-down?

Not one word condemning the destruction of property caused by the rioters?

The best she could do is send out her Lt. Governor (who was selected because he's Black and is the spokesman for this, because he's Black, to say property damage is bad:

The Detroit News: Amid protests, Gilchrist says relief won't 'come from smashing windows'

Nope, these are her people.

After all, they gave her Buffs and called her Big Gretch: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at last dons pair of Cartier 'Buffs' sunglasses in Detroit salute .