And in record time, too.
The Detroit Free Press: GM CEO Mary Barra to meet with Black media owners days after they call her racist
The media owners refused to meet with GM's head of marketing, so Barra after being called a racist by them is going to meet with them.
Playing the race card sure brings in the Danegeld.
What's wrong with this headline from the The Detroit Free Press?
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Michigan surge 800% in March among people 40-49 years old
Well, it lacks a rather key bit of information: What's the actual number of patients that has increased in this age range by versus the percentage? After all going from 1 to 8 is an 800% increase but no need to get excited or panic.
The article doesn't say, and in fact instead reports that data, which could provide some definite context to the panic-inducing headline is not being released:
The association did not provide raw data in its release Wednesday. Spokesman John Karasinski told the Free Press that it is prohibited from sharing the raw data because of "data use agreements with our members."
So it could be eight patients or eight hundred but probably far less than that, as per the article, the entire Beaumont health system only has 350 Covid in-patients total, and that's one of the biggest systems in the state. We don't know, and neither does the author of this piece of journalism.
Whether done to advocate those in the 40-49 year age group to get vaccinated (which is funny as per the rules, most places are only vaccinating 50 and up right now with some profession exceptions) or just to keep the panic on, its a tad bit of irresponsible subterfuge with statistics and unsubstantiated panic-mongering.
The Detroit Free Press: Full-page ad blasts GM CEO Mary Barra as racist
As one might expect, it's all about the money.
A groupd of Black publications including Ebony which is now only available digitally after going bankrupt, demanded that Mary Barra meet with them to give them more advertising dollars or they'd play the race card. She didn;t immediately do so, so they did.
It's based on a false premise that presupposes that Blacks only use Black Media to see things, and eyeballs on ads and that the ads lead to the eyeballs going forth and buying the product is the only thing that matters in the world of advertising. How may subscribers to the now free digital edition of Ebony exist and are there, and are there more effective ways to advertise to them and many others such as on TV and other media with larger subscriber bases and regular viewers?
Basically this is another shakedown for money and we will see if GM bends the knee.
Compare and contrast:
NBC News: After Border Patrol release, asylum-seekers test positive for Covid in Brownsville, Texas
The Detroit Free Press: 'I can't believe this is happening': Travelers recount tales of getting stuck in Mexico after positive COVID-19 tests
So to summarize: Americans in Mexico can't come back to America without a negative Covid test. But, Mexicans and every other nationality other than American will be accepted after crossing the border illegally even with active and contagious cases of Covid.
Good job there Biden.
It appears the Democrats are hell-bent on bending to their will the last American institution to be both a credible threat to their transformational ambitions and had up till now eluded their control: The US military as a whole.
That lack of control is being worked on as we speak.
It certainly began in the Obama era, and it seems under Biden the hand is starting to tighten its grip.
For example, in the case of the Navy, one needs merely read CDR Salamander's blog (and if you're not reading it you should) to see what has been going on in the navy where diversity and reading the rather racist How to be An Anti-Racist is replacing maintenance and competency training among many other problems.
Special Operations Command just got its first zampolit or political officer, with more likely to follow.
The Washington Times: Special Operations Command gets 1st diversity chief
What diversity and inclusion has to do with special ops and lethality is a fun question - if you pass qualifications you pass the qualifications, if you don't then it shouldn't matter what you are, do not pass go, do not get to SOCOM.
Even better, the appointee is not exactly part of the culture of special operations or the military. Richard Torres-Estrada is instead a lifelong bureaucrat and for his latest bureaucrat job was an equal opportunity officer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. He's also got some seriously anti-Trump baggage and anti-cop baggage as well.
But hey, overseeing affirmative action and woke struggle sessions in a dysfunctional Mass Transit Authority that is one of the most-mismanaged and badly operated in the nation is totes the same as a mission-critical military force.
Expect further focus on diversity over competence and the appointment of bureaucrats and woke incompetents to oversee and interfere in the military chain of command.
Widener's has an interesting article up on their blog that answers the age-old question: Mythbusting: Does Shooting A Lock Work?
Check out the article, as it's a fun read and it may very well change how you buy padlocks, not to mention how you view people shooting them in movies.
Also, you should check Widener’s out for supplies, ammo, etc. I’ve always had a great experience shopping with them.
Went to the range this morning to try it out.
The 509T was almost perfectly zeroed and just needed a few clicks to get it right there.
The dot-in-circle aiming reticle makes finding the dot and getting on target a super fast process.
So far I like it a lot. I need to get used to the chopped grip a bit as my draws were slower than typical, but I was still doing sub-3 second bill drills from concealment at 7 yard A-zone target with all hits (still can use some improvement on that to get faster). Best draw to single hit on an A Zone at 7 yards was 1.4 seconds, and the 3&2 drill I was getitng 3 seconds and below.
I did clear a 6 rack plate in under 4 seconds form concealment, so that was something.
Zero malfunctions or issues with 244 rounds shot through it today.
Overall I do believe it's a keeper.
I had purchased a friend's used and kinda worn 3rd generation Glock 17 as he wanted to get something else and was offering it at a good price, complete with a gadget. He had previously had the grip chopped to a 19 length and had a stipple job done that works quite nicely.
I bought it and then dropped the slide off at ATEI to get it cut for a red dot - a Holosun 509T I had purchased for the project.
In chatting with ATEI, I decided to also get their enhanced serrations on the front and back, suppressor height sights added and have the whole slide given the black nitride treatment.
While that was being worked on, I added an Overwatch Precision TAC Trigger and awaited the slide to be ready for pickup.
It was ready today and I must say they did a beautiful job:
The Holosun sits on the slide cut like it was made for it, because it was, the sights are low in the window and perfect. The enhanced slide serrations look good and really are an improvement over the stock Glock serrations for manipulating the slide.
The 509T from a dryfire draw naturally gets on target and may become my favorite red dot. Just really nice.
ATEI did a fantastic job on it and I'm highly impressed.
I will take it to the range tomorrow and report how it shoots and if I get an appreciable speed increase from this setup. The only thing I might change further on it would be to get an undercut for the trigger-guard a bit for a higher grip.
I'm proud that I can now say I'm on the legal team involved in the lawsuit against the Wayne County Clerk's Office here in Michigan for their abject failure and refusal to timely issue and renew Concealed Pistol Licenses.
We are seeking a writ of mandamus and other relief to have the Clerk properly and timely process Concealed Pistol Licenses and renewals as required by law.
The complaint is now e-filed as of a few minutes ago.
Two mass murders, occurring days apart, but being treated rather differently by the media and politicians.
First, as keenly noted by ProudHillbilly, Al-Issa was known to the FBI. He thus joins the long list of many other "known wolves" that the FBI knew about but did little to interdict.
Second, and I'd like more confirmation of this, but it appears that the killer, now identified as Syrian refugee Al-Issa allegedly swore allegiance to ISIS before the attack.
He also drove 30 miles out of his way past lots of other supermarkets to attack this particular store which happens to advertise a large array of Passover items for sale.
Arutz Sheva: Report: Boulder shooter swore allegiance to ISIS, targeted 'Jewish store'
King Soopers website indeed advertises the grocery chain as “Your One-Stop Shop For Kosher Groceries.” The chain also has stores included on a Vaad Hakashrus of Denver list of stores that carry kosher items.
Citing a source in Boulder law enforcement, Loomer also told the National File that the shooter had sworn allegiance to ISIS before the attack.
Again, I'd certainly like further confirmation from other sources, but if this is confirmed, will the media start reporting this as a terrorist attack directed against Jews by a mentally-deranged ISIS enthusiast?
Or are they just going to bemoan "gun violence" and ignore any motives when it doesn't fit their narrative? Interesting how the media and Democrats fail to speculate on this shooting whereas they went all out to immediately establish an untrue and speculative narrative regarding the Atlanta killings.
Next issue: Why are we not seeing pledges and campaigns and bromides to end violence against Whites after this shooting?
After all, 100% of the 10 victims of the murderer were white, which is 25% more than the amount of Asian victims killed in Atlanta by the mentally deranged sex addict (6 out of 8 victims were Asian, two were White one of whom, incidentally enough hailed from Detroit) .
The media sought and did create a narrative then of white-based anti-Asian sentiment that the MSM and Democrats ran with even when the facts were out that the murderer in that case stated he did it for mentally deranged sex-related reasons and he was trying to kill sex workers and apparently clients of same rather than any particular racial group.
Now, with 100% White victims no such narrative of anti-White violence is being pushed and the murderer's Islamic and Syrian background and potential motives are not being discussed or speculated upon by the MSM. Quite a contrast in treatment.
It's quite possible at this stage of course that Al-Issa was simply a nutcase, but its also possible at this point that this was a racially- and religiously-charged attack especially given that he was on the FBI's very passive radar.
One would think that should get as much speculation to motive by the MSM and politicians as the prior attack did. But of course it does not - it doesn't fit the narrative being set.
The New York Times has a daily email service, The Morning Newsletter chock-full of all sorts of right-thinking (or is that left-thinking) progressive analysis about the news.
I like to read it to see what the progressive explanation of events, lack of same, or wish list du jour might be.
So, imagine my surprise with today's top article: Bad News Bias.
Sadly, when you click the link you'll likely hit a paywall, so I'll only except the portion I'm discussing from the email received.
The article title: Good morning. The U.S. media is offering a different picture of Covid-19 from science journals or the international media, a study finds.
The coverage by U.S. publications with a national audience has been much more negative than coverage by any other source that the researchers analyzed, including scientific journals, major international publications and regional U.S. media. “The most well-read U.S. media are outliers in terms of their negativity,” Molly Cook, a co-author of the study, told me.
About 87 percent of Covid coverage in national U.S. media last year was negative. The share was 51 percent in international media, 53 percent in U.S. regional media and 64 percent in scientific journals.
Of course, there's no reflection in the article as to why the mainstream media might, perchance, have wanted to convey a message that things were far more negative and worse than they actually were during a presidential election year when Trump was in office. Nope, none at all.
The author of the newsletter does however note :
If we’re constantly telling a negative story, we are not giving our audience the most accurate portrait of reality. We are shading it.
Nice that he gets to that point a little late in the game.
So, of course, now that the damage is done, he states he's glad the study gives the media a chance to do better and they'll likely endeavor to shade things more positively, just in time for the Biden-Harris administration.
Funny how that consistently just happens that way. See for example look to the media's coverage of "Kids in cages" under Trump vs "Kids in surge facilities" or even better "Kids? What kids? There is no problem to cover" under Obama and now Biden. See also how there's now a severe dearth of coverage of the current crisis at the border.
Not surprised that its happening but rather surprised that they're admitting to this kind of biased coverage, even as they explain it away as blaming the audience for wanting to see negative things. Still its a surprise to see they are admitting it was occurring, even a little bit - bit of course they'll use it to apologize for their negative bias and promise to be all positive for Biden-Harris.
Turns out the killer in the Boulder, Colorado supermarket shooting is going to mess with the MSM's narrative of white supremacists as perpetrators and white racism as the motive for such.
Turns out it is not quite that simple.
The arrested scumbag is named Ahmad Al-Iwi Al-Issa, or Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, or Alyssa depending on how the media chooses to spell his name. No motive has been released so we wont jump to any conclusions but it's unlikely to be the media narrative fave of "evil white maleness" - just sayin'.
We will note that making the supermarket a gun-free zone certainly didn't help any except to make sure those who would perhaps have lawfully carried there did not do so if they complied with the request:
Surprise, a mass murderer didn't obey a request not to bring a firearm into the store.
Of course, Biden et al are already using this crime as a rush to push thorough their gun control ban agenda before the bodies are even cold.
Instead of looking at reality, reality must be denied in place of critical race theory.
The Detroit Free Press: Why school isn't a safe place for every child
The op-ed is quite a bit of leftist cant and when they mean safe place its not what you would normally consider to be a safety concern. Of course, it claims Blacks are discriminated against by being punished in higher numbers that their exact proportion of the school population, which of course doesn't take reality into account. It then goes down the leftist rabbit hole from there.
According to the op-ed, due to the very curriculum itself, Michigan schools aren't safe for minorities, LGBTQEIEIO and to discrimination against "multi-lingual students".
The curriculum has also been unsafe. It has detached students of color, LGBTQIA+ students and multilingual children as they learn that they are not “normal.” The images, knowledge, people and values that permeate history, science and art, as well as mathematics, language and text are harmful. They distort the experiences of Indigenous people, of Black communities and of immigrant groups. They re-inscribe whiteness, heteronormativity and English as normal and desirable.
I find the multilingual children bit particularly hilarious. I've known a number of multi-lingual students and it's not like they're discriminated against and instead they tend to be rather brighter than most as they can speak multiple languages which tends to imply some good brain power. Do provide evidence for such an outlandish claim of discrimination, wouldja?
Instead, it's likely they mean when they say "multilingual students" they actually mean students that don't speak English and odds-on they likely are figuring out a cute new way to relabel illegal immigrants.
Speaking of English, let's look at a newly made up word in the op-ed that is simply more than very clunky:
"These patterns of unsafety in schools are harmful for everyone."
Seriously we're using "unsafety" as a word now? No wonder they do not consider proficiency in English to be normal and desirable.
Of course, these white leftists and educational theorists - rather than actual teachers - then go on decry a curriculum including
The images, knowledge, people and values that permeate history, science and art, as well as mathematics, language and text are harmful. They distort the experiences of Indigenous people, of Black communities and of immigrant groups. They re-inscribe whiteness, heteronormativity and English as normal and desirable.Yep, the California craziness of whiteness and math as racist has drifted eastward to Michigan's universities and is being pushed towards out schools. It's an interesting op-ed to read to see where the leftists want to push next.
Leah as a high school freshman decided to try out this year for the school's mock trial team.
She made the junior varsity team and in her first competition, a regional one that feeds into the state competition. She totally crushed it, on the prosecution side, on Zoom, no less.
Her team of 4 (two on prosecution, 2 on defense) drew an honorable mentions at the regional and then got slotted as a wildcard entry for the State Mock Trial competition, and was notified they got the slot six days ago for the competition being held today on Zoom.
Did I mention she also had to do half of the Defense team side as well for this competition as one of the Defendant team members dropped out, and learn and prep for it it in less than 6 days?
As such, she's been up today since 6:30 am, ensconced in the home office all to herself with the door securely shut and without direct contact except for food, water, and tea deliveries per the rules to prevent any hint of impropriety or assistance.
We've been watching her on Zoom on mute from another room. Occasionally even yelling at the screen at the judges for bad evidentiary rulings - ok, well, that may have been just me.
She's absolutely fearless and had one opponent in an initial round giving up completely on his objections in the face of her responses.
She did her 2 initial rounds, one on the prosecution side, one on the defense side and then her team advanced to the semifinals, so she was one of the top 4 teams in the state.
In the semi-finals, her team came in either 3rd or 4th in the state (we're still waiting on the official scoring), which is the farthest in the state competitions that her high school has even gone, and not bad at all for a first time competitor and her team.
She's finally able to be out of the room, 12 hours later, totally exhausted, but is going to watch the final round.
The kid is fast-thinking on her feet, and can deliver excellent direct and withering cross examinations. She's also getting bumped up to the varsity Mock Trial team as a sophomore next year as she did so well this year.
Much parental pride here.
Back in June 2020 someone placed a false unemployment insurance request under Tash's name. They got the home address right, but interestingly enough the fraudster changed her middle initial.
On June 6 we received a letter about the unemployment request from UIA asking for verification. That very same day we reported it as identity theft to UIA on their online system for fraud reporting as she never has made an unemployment claim.
Nothing further came of it, until yesterday when we got another notice from UIA that her benefits are apparently being extended and she will now get even more unemployment money under the .
Again, she never applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and we've never received any of the money, but it seems someone else sure has gotten it likely for over a year.
So let's see, UIA apparently ignored the need for a response to their verification of claim form, then they ignored the fraud report, and they still apparently seem to have allowed the false claim and are sending the funds off to somewhere.
Given the extensive fraud going on, including over $1 Million in false claims by a UIA state employee, and over 100,000 false claims one would think they would quickly handle a report of fraud, but apparently not.
Oh, and who is going to pay for this fraud - why the businesses that employ people in Michigan of course!
As seen on the UIA's website:
The Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance is below $2.5 billion. As a result, the taxable wage base for the 2021 calendar year is $9,500 for all contributing employers.
(That's a nice increase of 5.55% in the base amount from last year).
Yep, a lot of that trust fund is being drained by this fraud and government inefficiency if not outright corruption. So of course, businesses not responsible for the fraud (not to mention our Governor's lockdown policy that also led to massive unemployment) will now have to pay a higher rate to make up for it.
On top of it all, their fax number for reporting fraud is not working today. Perfect. Just sent it in via their electronic reporting system, same as in June, but since that didn't get anywhere then, so I doubt this repeated fraud report will either.
A new and amazing find of further scroll fragments in Israel.
Fox News: Israeli experts discover new Dead Sea Scrolls
Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden by Jewish refugees during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago.
. . .
The newly found fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been radiocarbon-dated to the second century A.D., according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The Qumeran cave complex is extensive, hard to access, and with more finds occurring as it continues to be explored.
The exploration of the cave located on a cliff face, the Cave of Horrors, so named for the many bodies found in it during an earlier exploration, resulted in the find of these scroll fragments.
In addition to the scroll fragments, and found even deeper in the same cave, was a neolithic woven basket 10,500 years old which is one of the oldest if not the oldest intact woven basket ever found, which is another impressive find.
Another annual commemoration of Tash's 30th Birthday took place today.
This morning began, as all birthdays here do, with a cherry cheesecake. I made this one and it worked out pretty well.
Then she got her presents from me and the kids, and then off to work we went.
At least this birthday there will be some restaurants open, unlike last year, so we can take her out for a celebratory dinner.
To absolutely no one's surprise, Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced she won't investigate Governor Half-Whit for her actions in causing the deaths of thousands of Michigan nursing home residents by ordering those nursing homes to take in coronavirus positive patients.
The Detroit News: Attorney General Nessel won't investigate Gov. Whitmer's nursing home policies
Sadly for the Dems, Gov Half-Whit lacks a sexual abuse scandal to get rid of her as is the case with Cuomo and his killing of thousands of nursing home patients in New York with the same order.
On the plus side, the new Republican Macomb County prosecutor is calling for such an investigation and appears poised to carry one out.
The Detroit Free Press: Macomb prosecutor wants to review COVID-19 nursing home deaths for possible crimes
Of course, should a Republican retake the governorship or the Attorney general position, the Democrats have now set a precedent for criminal investigations and prosecution of governors for acts they may or may not have committed once they leave office.
The Wuhan virus is the latest excuse for why the Robocop statute will not be put on public display.
The Detroit Free Press: RoboCop statue loses home at Michigan Science Center because of pandemic
It's a pretty weak and pathetic excuse - the statue was to be placed outside and the center is not going to have to pay for it, just simply provide the space for it to be put on display. It's not like they need to buy the land for it.
A lot of this silly refusal is due to the statue being politically incorrect as it highlights Detroit's ongoing crime problem and reputation for same. Even worse, it features a heroic, if science fictional, cop which is taboo in these days of BLM.
The Michigan Science Center should reconsider this latest refusal to house one of Detroit's finest.
Convenient delays in reporting, or outright blackouts on reporting that helped the Democrats were rather prominent this past electoral season.
We finally learn now that personal income was nicely up in 2019 under Trump.
The Detroit Free Press: Personal income in Wayne County increased in 2019, close to state and national averages
and Oakland County saw Michigan's largest personal income in 2019
Personal income among Michigan residents increased by 3% to $49,228 in 2019 compared with 2018.
And, per the Census bureau, nationwide was even better - national income in
2019 was about 4.1% higher than in 2018, indicating median household income in 2019 was the highest on record.
Sure would have been nice to have known that economic good news prior to election time, now wouldn't it?
So the upper rack of the dishwasher decided to have a pronounced downward sag to it. Rather bent out of shape it was, dipping downwards from the front and completely off the rails with the wheels on the sides that keep it on the rails having broken off the rack and sticking uselessly into the rails.
Not a good situation as the cups and such placed there were threatening to fall out and break.
Turns out this is not uncommon and there is an upper rack adjuster repair kit from Whirlpool that completely replaces the plastic adjusters on both sides with nice metal ones and a completely new positioning system.
No instructions come with the kit however, so you need to search YouTube for decent instructions. This takes awhile to find good instructions as quite a few miss a few steps so you view a couple and put it together to find out how to get this done.
Removing the old stuff took a bit of work. Putting the new stuff on took a bit longer as its completely different from the old units and is mounted in a different spot - count four tines in and place it there.Also it uses Torx T15 screws, luckily I had a T15 screwdriver bit, but they do supply a T15 driver that fits in front of a Phillips head screwdriver with the kit, which is kinda nifty.
Then after completing the install and snapping it all in place you realize that in the video they meant count 4 tines in from the back, not from the front, as they flipped the rack in the video without telling you, and some parts do not unsnap. Then figure out on how to release it without breaking it, and then redoing it all took a bit longer as well.
Some expansion of vocabulary occurred in each of these steps.
On the plus side, I now have a fully functional dishwasher again, after 49 bucks for the parts and shipping.
The Detroit Free Press: Michigan teen released from hospital after losing thumbs in explosion at school
Being stupid can have consequences.
Making your own homemade explosive device and then bringing it to school to show it off is the very definition of stupid.
Having it go off in your hands while doing so, and losing both thumbs and injuring 4 other students and a teacher in the boom that resulted is a sad consequence of immense explosive stupidity.
Really, don't try this at home (or school) folks.
Detroit, being the Motor City, while like most cities has its share of people Standing On Corner Minding Own Business, also kicks it up a notch and mechanizes it.
Detroit has SIVMOB - Sitting In Vehicle Minding Own Business.
The Detroit News: 2 men shot while sitting in SUV in Detroit
Two men were shot as they sat in an SUV on Detroit's east side late Wednesday night, police said.
The double shooting took place about 11:35 p.m. on the 10400 block of Cadieux, south of Morang.
Nothing good happens when you're SIVMOBing at that location in Detroit at 11:35 pm at night.
Yes, you can indeed do stupid, racist, thoughtless, and jerk-like acts and speech and still not commit a crime.
The Detroit Free Press: Grosse Pointe Park man who displayed KKK flag won't be charged with ethnic intimidation
The Detroit News: No charges against man who hung KKK flag at his Grosse Pointe Park home
In short , this is the correct result no matter how stupid and offensively people are behaving in this incident.
The story:
Neighbors are having a dispute, one is Black, one is White. They are clearly not getting along.
So things escalate - Black homeowner aims cameras at White person's home.
So, White person gives camera something to look at by putting up a KKK flag in view of the neighbor and the camera. Much uproar ensues.
Is this offensive? Heck yes.
Probably racist in intent? Yep.
Clearly done to upset or to get a rise out of the neighbor in return for her offensive (yet legal) aiming of cameras at his house? Most definitely.
Makes the one hanging the flag up look like a racist douchebag? Why yes, yes, it does.
In short this is two neighbors behaving badly and being idiots, with lots of social uproar, but neither one is committing a crime, at least not yet.
I'm rather impressed that Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy followed the law and didn't charge the goofball, even as the elements of ethnic intimidation were not met, just to send a message and have the process be the punishment.
But, I'm not surprised upon reading the articles to see that she's advocating criminalizing what the jerk is doing. It is clearly First-Amendment protected behavior, no matter how very distasteful, offensive, and stupid that it happens to be.
It's not criminal to be an offensive jerk, at least not yet anyways. But he's still got to live with the fact that he's an offensive jerk.
Perhaps the publicity will get these warring neighbors to chill out a bit and step back from stupid, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Well, now that marijuana has been legal in Michigan for a bit we've been noticing some of the effects.
Most notably the smell.
Why someone thinks smoking something that smells like it is the efluvia from a skunk's fundament is attractive or cool is beyond me. Yes you're getting high -- but you still smell like you've been skunked.
It hath no appeal to me at all and the smell is both rather pronounced and disgusting. You can smell someone smoking it from quite a good distance away. It reeks.
One nextdoor neighbor of mine had been partaking excessively even before it became recreational through a medical card. Now, he's apparently on a mission to be a one-man experiment to see if regular daily use does in fact impair your cognitive functions. So far, some cognitive decline has been detected in normal conversation with him - he really doesn't seem quite all there all the time - so, we'll see how the dope makes him more of a dope as this continues.
He's apparently also in the marijuana business, so one would think he could afford something less stinky, but apparently not.
While his body, his choice and all that, I'd rather he didn't choose to do it in such a manner that the smoke and stench constantly travels towards our house.
His wife apparently requires him to smoke outside away form the kids, which is a commendable thing. Unfortunately, he's literally put up a tent on his back deck and the smoke then wafts right towards our house. It is indeed most skunk-like.
Another observation is marijuana does not in fact chill out everyone who uses it.
It seems in his case to get him more aggravated, with this dude yelling and swearing at the top of his lungs at the TV in his tent outside, or on the phone outside while surrounded in a cloud of skunk stench. This, along with the stench, really adds to the attraction.
I do not think they considered this smelly unintended consequence when they legalized the electric lettuce.
USPSA just announced some rule changes that are very happy making.
The quick summary is that Carry Optics and Production shooters can now use appendix carry holsters without being moved to Open division, the handguns can have flashlights attached, so long as they actually work, and magazines can be carried forward of the hip, are also acceptable in those divisions.
In short, I can now compete using my carry gear with the PHLster Floodlight holster without getting booted to Open, which is very nice.
Definitely a nice and timely rule change to let people compete with their carry gear as more and more people are using appendix carry and slide-mounted optics.
I am unaware of any actual or continuing insurgency that has occurred or is ongoing in DC that would necessitate the continued stationing of our National Guard in our nation's capital.
Indeed, the National Guard could be put to better use in Portland to support the police there to quell the ongoing progressive civil disturbance,(none dare call it an insurgency), but that's been ruled out apparently. Funny, that.
On top of the insult to injury to have twenty-five thousand National Guard soldiers taken from their home states and jobs to be stationed in our capital for appearances, there's this:
Redstate: Michigan National Guard Served Undercooked, Moldy Food While in Washington D.C.
That's simply unacceptable and an outrage.
Yes, heads should darn well roll for whoever in charge gave out and administered that contract (doubly so if any kickbacks or backscratching, or political favors in awarding the contract occurred). The contractors should be fined and jailed for their conduct in foisting such garbage on our troops.
If you can't properly feed and house the troops -- in peacetime -- in our nation's capital, where there's no actual threat requiring their being stationed there, then in the words of the anti-war left, Bring the Boys Home. They've been sent there for an unpopular occupation with no end game, victory condition, or date of departure in sight and that's unacceptable.
Time to bring them all home.
In the latest Gov Half-Whit scandal, the head of the Department of Health, has left the office with a very nice severance agreement. A very sweet deal having a confidentiality clause.
Fox News: Michigan GOP demands state AG probe Whitmer's 'secret deal' with former top health official
Note the Health department director would know all about Whitmer and what she knew when she issued her executive order sending Covid patients to nursing homes. He would know how that resulted in about 40%+ of all deaths in Michigan due to Covid - and he knows where the data (much like in the cae of Cuomo and NY) would be buried that still hasn't been provided. he would also know all about how the partisan decisions the governor throughout the crisis have been made, which would prove very interesting indeed.
Now, in return for over $155K severance, he won't be talking. Nice deal if you can get it.
It turns out some other key officials in other departments that failed also got some nice severance agreements such as at UIA - the department beset with inefficiency and massive fraud to the tune of millions in false claims during COVID, so the per the Detroit News today, the UIA director resigned and got over $85,000 possibly in return for his silence as there's a confidentiality clause in his agreement just as was the case with the head of the Health Department.
Of course, asking the Democrat partisan AG Dana Nessel to investigate the possible wrongdoing is simply asking a fellow fox to check on the situation at the hen-house. This will undoubtedly get the same result as the last investigation of Gov Half-Whit's corruption by Nessel -he nothing to see here, nothing criminal occurred report created when one partisan Democrat investigates another to whom she is beholden.
Don't expect much from any such investigation, nor for the truth of what occurred to get out any time soon.
When dealing with NFA items, it often pays to consult an attorney, especially when it is for more complicated and uncommon issues. Relying on an FFL can be give less than satisfying results sometimes.
Our story: I had a client who was an avid firearms collector, shooter, and owner, not to mention a very nice guy. I had setup an NFA trust for him quite a few years back, and he had NFA items both in the trust and he had prior NFA purchases titled to himself individually.
Sadly he passed away in 2017.
I then handled his estate and transferred everything to his heir, who was his sister. She's a nice lady and has a long-term boyfriend who's also a great and friendly guy. I saved her a ton of money as a less-than-scrupulous FFL dealer had offered her $3,000 for his entire collection.
Let's put it this way - just one of his firearms was worth more than $3,000 alone. I managed to hook her up with honest direct buyers where she got fair prices for the firearms that netted her over ten times that of the FFL's massive low-ball offer.
I also transferred the NFA items via Form 5s to her.
Form 5 is a tax exempt transfer, so no $200 tax is required, and they tend to get processed reasonably quickly.
Had a bit of back and forth with the NFA Branch as they wanted some additional documents, but we got that all squared away and done and legally transferred to her. End of story.
Or so I thought.
I get a call a few weeks ago from her and her now husband, that ATF NFA Branch is asking for further documents. Even worse I get the bad news that she has stage 4 cancer.
This is peculiar. They said the NFA Branch letter was looking for certain documents on the transfer that they had never requested before, so I go through and retrieve the requested documents and send them to her ASAP. Most of them are probate closure documents showing the estate was completed in 2017, which it was.
Sadly she died that week.
I then meet her husband last week as they had just got another inquiry letter and I had him come in to take a look at what was wanted as over the phone it just didn't make any sense.
There was a reason for that.
It turns out the inquiry is not about the transfer of the items I assisted with in 2017.
It's about a transfer of the same items in 2020.
It turns out she sold all the NFA items to an FFL dealer in late 2020.
The dealer instead of doing Form 4s as transfers from the sister to him, instead did them all on Form 5s, naming the estate and the sister jointly as the transferors, and the dealer even signed as the transferor and as transferee.
No you really can't do that. Not when they've already been legally transferred out of the estate in 2017. Very much not the way to try and save $200 on each item. The dealer also messed up the serial number on one of the items to make it all even better.
Not good, and it now makes sense why NFA Branch is very unhappy with the paperwork. This is because the paperwork is fundamentally flawed junk.
This is what we call a mess. Thankfully it's not my mess. That FFL now has some explaining to do.
