No Public School, You Don't Get To Pick And Choose Which Political Speech You Like

Dear Public Schools, If you're going to allow students to wear LGBT gear, you going to have to allow wearing LGB gear.

You're not allowed to have viewpoint discrimination on political speech, as the Tri County Area School Board is about to find out.

The Detroit Free Press:  Students sue Michigan school district for banning 'Let's Go Brandon' sweatshirts

After all, if the Supreme Court has acknowledged you have the right to wear "F the draft" on your shirt in a courthouse, and armbands protesting national government public policy can be worn schools, Let's Go Brandon fits the protest of public figures and policy speech in schools rather nicely.

Since Let's Go Brandon is not profanity,  indeed it is rather trite political commentary not just about Biden, but the media at large, and there's been no showing of any actual disturbance the school's argument to keep it out should not work.  

To top it off, the school, while claiming they do not allow clothing with political speech, does apparently allow kids to wear clothing with their favored political speech:

On May 26, 2022, the assistant principal had X.A. summoned to his office, where he ordered him to remove the sweatshirt, allegedly telling him "the school does not allow students to wear clothing with political speech."

X.A. complied, but the brothers' lawyers are now crying foul, alleging the school district in fact allows political speech by letting students wear gay pride and LGBTQ T-shirts to school.

Yep, assuming the allegation is true, that viewpoint discrimination is should sink the school's case right there.  

After all, you can't have LGBTQ without LGB.  Indeed, what happens when a student wears an LGBTQ shirt with a rainbow that then reads below it "Let's Get Brandon To Quit"?

Happy World Penguin Day!

World Penguin Day is a rather overlooked commemorative day.  After all, I was all of today years old when I found out that today is, in fact, World Penguin Day.

Since the Penguin is my spirit animal, this day cannot go by overlooked, even as I've apparently overlooked it every year -- until now learning about it being a thing.

As one would suspect, flying penguins are a vital part of the celebrations of this day (at least on this blog):

Part of the celebratory requirements of World Penguin Day is, of course, to watch all the Madagascar movies, and most especially the Penguins of Madagascar.

So, Happy World Penguin Day!

Remember, It Was Not A Rigged Election

That's because rigged elections only come from the Riggeaud Region in France.

Otherwise, it's just sparkling election fortification.

Just The News: Ex-top spy admits Hunter Biden laptop letter designed to influence 2020 election, Blinken involved

So yes, they knew the Hunter Biden laptop was not "Russian Disinformation" from the get-go, and the Democrats and 50 intelligence officials lied to the American public about it to help Joe Biden win the election.

Sunday Match Day - The Romulus 4 Seasons Match

I went to the USPSA match in Romulus this morning. It was their first outdoor match of the year and it was full, with 96 shooters coming out.

Why do I call it the 4 Seasons Match?

Because we got to experience all 4 of Michigan's seasons in a single match.

It was sunny and warm;

It went overcast and cold;

It rained;

It hailed;

It was sunny and warm;

It went overcast and cold;

It rained again;

It was even more cold, dropping into the 30s.

Did I mention the rain and hail?  There was repeated bouts of rain and hail.

Yep, we got to experience winter, spring, summer, and fall all in one match.

On our second stage, just as I got the standby command, the sky opened up, and I was then shooting in the rain.  It was heavy enough that they paused the match for it blown over - but only after I had done my run.

Kinda sucked as water was covering my the shooting glasses and optic,  and it was coming down in sheets in front of targets so that cranked up the difficulty level just a bit.

Overall, I had a good, if kinda shivery, match.

I actually was able to develop some stage plans and shoot the plans.

I did not skate by a single target this time on any stage, even as some others on my squad did. That was good.

I almost had a miss-free 8 stage match.  

Of course, on the very last stage, after not a single miss the whole day I then did two of them.  One on a fast moving swinger and one miss at a longer distance target.  I could blame my hands being numbed with cold for that.  Lots of people were showing reduced performance by the last stage.

No results yet, but overall, I think I'm improving performance-wise.

Oh, and after the match I got to experience Michigan's 5th Season - Road Construction. 

Both 696 and 275 are torn up but good, both down to 2 lanes and the traffic is fugly. Took quite awhile to get home.

A great way to spend a Sunday, aside from the being stuck in traffic parts.

When Buying And Selling Are Controlled By Regulations

Then, to paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke, the first things to be bought and sold are regulators.

P.J. O'Rourke certainly knew what he was talking about:

The Detroit News:  Businessman pleads guilty to bribing Michigan medical marijuana licensing board chairman

Oakland County businessman John Dawood Dalaly pleaded guilty Friday to providing bribes to Rick Johnson, the chairman of Michigan's medical marijuana licensing board, and told a federal judge he hired Johnson's wife as a consultant at a rate of $4,000 a month.

Dalaly now faces up to 10 years in federal prison and became the first person to plead guilty in court as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe, examining Michigan government's awarding of licenses to sell and grow medical marijuana.

Marijuana is an industry where right now the sellers can literally grow money like a weed, with weed. Currently it's a $2 billion dollar industry so a few hundred thousand in bribes and favors is relatively cheap, and, of course, sellers are going to influence or outright bribe regulators.

Next step after bribery, the more established marijuana businesses will get their people on the regulatory boards to regulate and shut out or at least increase the cost of entry for their competition -- all in the name of public safety.

No, Do Not Pass Go, Let's See If We Can Avoid You Going Directly To Jail

Lots of people for some reason are getting popped in Michigan for carrying handguns in their vehicles without a CPL recently.

Some are athletic stars at universities, who are getting star treatment with their charges dropped from a felony and the disappearing off their record once they finish their easy probation.

Some got a nice reduction from a felony to a misdemeanor due to Black skin privilege, and then went on to shoot up a University, leading to the current gun control push.

Of course, prosecutors are bit more edgy about this as a result.

So just had a potential client call got caught riding dirty after being in a traffic accident while carrying in the car.

-No CPL.

-Not even 21, which creates more issues.

-Loaded handgun in glove compartment.

-Tons of incriminating statements to police which yes, are indeed admissible.

And of course potential client got charged with the 5 year felony for doing so.

At least the firearm had been legally bought and then legally transferred to her, so there's that.

Again folks, if you do not have a Concealed Pistol License do not have a loaded handgun in your vehicle.  Do not pass Go, do not got forth with it in your vehicle (unless, of course, you are a University-level or higher athlete), you are asking to get a felony charge

Indeed, if you are transporting a handgun without a CPL in Michigan have it unloaded, preferably in a locked container, in your trunk. The farther away you are from those ideal circumstances, the potentially more expensive it gets.

Potential client didn't seem to get that PC is gonna have to pay quite a bit of money and a reasonably big retainer to be represented, as felonies get real expensive as there is a lot on the line. Likely won't get hired as a result, and if PC self-represents, they're gonna be toast.

Oh Joy, Michigan Now Has A Poet Laureate

Yep, as expected the choice was indeed politically correct.

The Detroit Free Press:  Meet Nandi Comer, Michigan's first poet laureate since the 1950s

She's the second poet laureate the state has had, after an absence of even having one for over 70 years, indicating the clear and desperate need for poet laureates in this state.

I know you're asking, Nandi who?  

So has everyone else.  

She's hardly a household name, and seems to be mainly known among the lefty Detroit artsy set. As is to be expected, she's African American and leftist, and has all of two poetry books on Amazon. Clearly the best possible candidate to represent this state as a poet laureate.

She is indeed skilled at lefty word salads that defy explanation:

Quality cant, that.

And, of course, race and blackness are key, and her work includes a charming poem to Dear Trayvon (Martin) and Michael (Brown) and the poem of course runs with the false hands up myth in the case of Michael Brown, and they both dindu nuffin, of course.

I daresay, we really didn't need a poet laureate, nor the expense of one, and even if one was needed, one would have hoped they would represent Michigan as a whole.

Gee, Thanks Fedex

A package was supposed to be delivered to me last Friday, per Fedex's estimate.

Never came.

Then it as supposed to be delivered to me Monday, per Fedex's delayed estimate.

Never came.

Then it as supposed to be delivered to me today, between 10-2pm, per Fedex's further delayed estimate.

Never came.

Then it as supposed to be delivered after 4 pm.

Then 4:28 pm rolls around and I get an email update that it has been delivered.

Well, it was apparently delivered, but not to me.

The problem is that is not my front door, at all. Nor my back door for that matter.

Their delivery photo is rather blurry, almost suspiciously so, but I certainly don't have that brick or that brick pattern at my front door - nor do my immediate neighbors.

No idea where the heck they have delivered my package.

Update:  A kind soul from the other still unknown but clearly nearby street where my package was delivered dropped it off in my driveway, unopened.  Thanks for doing a better job than Fedex, good person. 

Emusing

Apparently MeeMoo the Emu decided to make a break for freedom form the farm where he was living in Tennessee.

This led to the owner seeking assistance from the police and while the aviation unit was apparently not involved, it became a police car chase of an avian.

USA Today:  'He took off down the highway': MeeMoo the emu escapes owner, starts police chase in Tennessee

Thankfully MeeMoo was returned to his farm without incident after 8 hours being on the lam.

The score is thus Harriman PD 1, Emu 0.

As such, the Harriman PD did better than the Australian Army, as they're 0-1 against Emus.

It Wouldn’t Be Michigan Without

Snow in April.

Yesterday was beautiful, sunny and nice with temperatures up in the 80s.

So, of course,  today it snowed. Yes, really. 

Happily it’s not sticking around and piling up but it’s still making it a messy drive and an ugly grey day.

 

It's been snowing on and off all day, no accumulation until now, with a pittance sticking around for a bit, but not much. 

Detroit Reparations: Good Graft If You Can Get It

 The Detroit News:  Detroit Reparations Task Force gets to work: 'We are stewards of this process'

 So, Detroit is now spending $350,000 for a committee to begin exploring reparations for Black residents of Detroit. That $350,000 could surely be put to better use.

Reparations will be for slavery, even as Michigan was not a slave state (at least not since the time of the French and there seems to be no demand being made to France to cough up) and not a single surviving slave nor slaveholder lives in this state today.  

But "reparations" will also be for a litany of other grievances:

the razing of the Black Bottom neighborhood to build a freeway , the millions of dollars in over-assessments in property taxes, the thousands of homes lost to foreclosures, and the deep personal injustice their families endured and rose above.

Let's note that at the time Black Bottom was in decline, had a multi-ethnic population and the freeway needed to be put somewhere - and notice how no reparations are being proposed for the demolition of Poletown and Democrat and Black Mayor Coleman Young's displacing of Americans of Polish descent to make way for an automotive factory.  Funny, that.

So let's recap.  What party has exclusively held the mayor-ship in Detroit since 1962?  I'll give you one guess, and the answer is not Republicans.

In addition, for just about the last 50 years, from the 1974-2013, the mayors of Detroit have been uniformly Black, as has the majority of the city council.

So then, in short, this is reparations for acts of "racism" committed by Black Democrats upon Black Detroiters - namely the "over-assessments in property taxes, the thousands of homes lost to foreclosures, and the deep personal injustice their families endured and rose above" not to mention the corruption and decline under that leadership.  The non-Black Detroiters who have suffered along with them from these crappy policies apparently are counting for nought in this reparations drive.

Reparations in Detroit is quite simply a bad joke.   I'm sure the punchline will be taxes on businesses or a demand for the region or the state to hand over money yet again.

Beef Wellington - I Can Makes It!

Last night I learned how to make Beef Wellington and accompanying side dishes for a most delightful meal.

A private chef was holding cooking lessons and dinner, and we managed to snag two tickets.

4 couples were present for the instruction, which was held at the chef's house where she has an awesome kitchen. One of the couples included a retired F-15 pilot that probably knows juvat, (though he himself wasn't in the juvats). Fun conversation was had.

A nice bunch of folks.

The only disruption was at the steps leading to the house there was a very large garter snake that made its appearance known from the underbrush near the steps up to the front door.

Tash really doesn't like snakes. So after helping her recover from a heart attack of a snake appearing inches from her feet while she was wearing open toe sandals, we headed in to get cooking.

The meal consisted of a salad course, then the Beef Wellington was served alongside roasted carrots and fondant potato cylinders, and the dessert was Nutella and banana crepes.

We mad everything from scratch aside from the duxelles (mushroom filling for the Beef Wellington) because that takes hours to make all by itself, but we learned how to do it as well.

So everyone peeled a potato and carrots and we got things prepared.

For the Beef Wellington, the filet is first seared in a pan, removed, wrapped with a piece of prosciutto and sealed in saran wrap and placed in the fridge to cool.

After cooling, it is wrapped in puff pastry that is rolled out to size with its inner side covered in duxelles, and all edges closed so no meat is showing.  Then the whole thing is coated in an egg wash to seal the seams and the meat inside.   Into the oven it goes.

The pan is then deglazed with a good wine (never use cooking wine for this), and then reduced by half and it makes one heckuva nice sauce with beef stock added and then reduced again.

While others did the steps for the salad and such, Tash and I made the crepes for the dessert from scratch and it was so good I made that again for breakfast here and we just feasted on crepes for breakfast.  

Super easy and fun to do.

An impressive looking and tasting meal that is actually pretty easy to make.

Accompanied with a nice pinot noir that we brought along (the meal was BYOW), it was a most excellent dinner. It's visually impressive, tasty as all get out, and a rousing success and good time had by all.

I'm going to have to make this again for fancy occasions.

Michigan Dem Legislature To Pro Gun Side: We Won't Let You Speak Against These Bills

During the hearings on the gun control bills the Democrats are pushing (and of which both the "safe storage"  and "universal registration" bills have been signed into law), a curious thing happened.

The Gun banner side in favor of these bad laws was given lots of time to speak.

The Pro-Firearms ownership side that was against these defective and punitive bills?  Not so much. 

 In fact, in most hearings, they were completely blocked from testifying at all, and in the few hearings where they were allowed to speak, they were severely time-limited when those in favor of the bills were not.

Most speakers including those from Great lakes Gun Rights and Michigan Open Carry and were not allowed to speak, and even John Lott was limited to minutes for his opposition after they almost shut him out as well, declaring they were "out of time", after giving the antis all the time they wanted.

So both Great Lakes Gun Rights and Michigan Open Carry are now suing for this rather obnoxious treatment and probable due process and government free speech violation.

The Detroit News:  Gun groups sue Michigan Legislature over ability to testify on firearms bills

Passover 2023 Ends

After sundown, we celebrated the end of Passover in style -with a big bowl of Cacio e Pepe that I cooked up to celebrate having bread again.  Quite the tasty treat.

Followed up with some cake.

Now I'm rather carb-loaded indeed.

Contemplating compounding the damage by celebrating with a beer.

Yes, You May Do It By Yourself, But Can You?

You always have a right to represent yourself.  Whether in court, doing business, or what have you.  You may have the right, but the question is if you have the ability.

Let's take our latest example.

A fellow decided to use Legal Zoom to setup a company and then do a trademark. Legal Zoom is cheap after all.

Legal Zoom tends to give you (most of the time) what you pay for, and nothing more.

So he had Legal Zoom form Company X LLC.  It now exist in the state and is in business.  Easy enough.

But he then had Legal Zoom do a trademark application for him, and for some reason that has never been explained,  the trademark application was created with the owner of the mark not being Company X LLC but a Corporation Y Inc. He claims they told him the application would be more likely to succeed if he used the name Corporation Y Inc for the application, but that makes no sense at all.

This is not a minor error, the name of Corporation Y Inc is impressively different and distinct from Company X LLC.  Incs and LLCs are not the same thing either.

Corporation Y Inc does not actually exist.  That is, as you may guess, a problem.

On top of that, he or they or both of them together also screwed up the application in regards to the specimen required for the trademark, which suspended the trademark processing.

So I get hired to fix the specimen problem and was not told of the ownership problem - of course not, why would anyone bother telling me that? - I found out about that after I was hired.

As soon as I find out, I point out the issue and ask what the heck is going on and the client has no proper answer other than he claims Legal Zoom told him that's how the application should be done.  I note that fixing the ownership problem is a separate issue and needs an additional filling fee to the trademark office to fix as its a different matter altogether and a different correction you can't do at the same time you fix the specimen. 

Since I fixed the trademark specimen screw-up,  the application is going to be approved and the trademark issued - in Corporation Y Inc's name.

Client doesn't seem to understand,  nor does he want to listen, that yes, he needs to fix this problem. 

He doesn't get that he also needs to pay more to fix this, or that he will get a trademark that he applied for and will be issued a trademark that will be owned by a non-existent company which as a result would have zero value.

Does Michigan Really Need A State Poet?

With everything else facing this state, do we need to spend $67,000 for a post of State Poet Laureate, when the post has not even been filled?

Apparently the state has already budgeted or spent that amount for the position (hard to tell as the article is behind a paywall), and this is of course an excellent example of wise government spending. Not.

Of course, the choice of poet laureate, once the choise is made, if ever,  will be political.  Given our current governor, who is in charge of appointing such a useless position,  most likely it will be some woke poet that checks required diversity boxes that no typical Michigander has even heard much less read.

Of course, state poet laureates have a tradition of such worthlessness on the public dime. Indded, many seem paid to denigrate those who appointed them.

New Jersey appointed Amir Baraka as poet laureate and that worked out just great.  Not only did he bless the state with his misogynistic, anti-American, and Anti-Semitic poetry, but he was a 9/11 Truther with a capital "T" as well. That state sure got it's money's worth.

Expect a similar outcome if Michigan wastes the money to appoint our own poet laureate.

It's a pity we can't instead, if we have to spend money on figureheads, use the money to appoint Mike Rowe as the State's Skilled Tradesman Laureate. 

Given the need for skilled trades in this state, appointing him as such and having him go around promoting it would be better for Michigan than some poet laureate with a chip on their shoulder that no one has even heard of at all. 

Michigan doesn't seem to have a detectable poetry deficit at the moment, but we could sure use more skilled tradesman and tradeswomen.

The Fake Shooting Report At Great Lakes Crossing Mall: The Plot Begins To Thicken

Turns out the false report of an active killer was not merely a falsity that occurred out of the blue.

Instead it happened when some "youths" got into a fight near the food court, two of the juvenile female "youths" involved got handcuffed, and then during the ongoing fracas that's when someone apparently yelled shots fired.

This led to the two handcuffed youths escaping custody.

The Detroit Free Press: Auburn Hills police seek 2 juvenile girls after Great Lakes Crossing chaos

Before the massive panic, Auburn Hills police officers were at the mall in response to an unrelated theft report in the mall's food court when a group fight broke out, according to officials, prompting intervention by the officers and the deployment of a Taser to subdue an individual involved in the altercation. Two underage girls were handcuffed as a result of the fight.

It was during this altercation that someone shouted "shots fired," and panic overtook the mall. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene to manage the crowd of alarmed shoppers. 

The handcuffed girls managed to get away in the chaos, which may have been the point of the false alarm.

Idiots doth abound, and they're hanging out at the mall.

Spring Classifier Match And Happy Easter!

Quite a few shooters chose to celebrate Easter by shooting the Classifier match at the club in Brighton. Given that Brighton always does their matches on the second Sunday of the month and the first match of the year is always a special qualifier, it was today.

Overall, turnout was somewhat light with 4 squads of 8 shooters each.

I was RO on squad 4 and was joined by Spencer and Scott M for this match.  Always good to shoot with friends.  Had a good squad of nice folks and we got things going.

The first bay we shot in had two different classifiers so we did one after the other.

First one was a nice warm up for everyone while requiring some thinking. 

An array T1-T3, with T3 mainly covered by a no-shoot and T1 having a tuxedo on with only the width of the A-Zone available at about 15 yards.

Had to shoot T1 6 shots, then switch to strong hand only, and shoot T3 6 times.  Then reset shoot T2 3 times freestyle and then 3 times weak hand only. 

Of course I had one mag jam to slow me down.  The Henning extensions and magazine follower doesn't seem to like 150 grain 9mm and I had stupidly only tested them with 115 which worked fine.  The standard factory 21 round mags handle it fine but when you add the Hennings to turn them into 23 round magazines, they keep choking on the 150 grain bullets.  Learned that the hard way on that stage.

4 more fun classifiers including one with a lot of running - and with one shooter almost getting DQ'd as he almost broke the 180 running downrange from one port to get to another. He likely hit 179 degrees before getting the gun back in the right direction.  We finished with a freestyle course of 30 rounds on 15 targets in the shoot house, which was a lot of fun.

A darn good way to spend what had turned into a beautiful sunny morning and early afternoon. Good bunch of people to shoot with.

Scores are not out yet, so I'm not sure how I did. I suspect I didn't get up into B class, not yet anyways.  It will still be something to keep working towards. 

I hope all my Christian readers are having a very happy Easter.

Spring Seems To Bring Out The Idiots To The Malls In Michigan

Two serious false alarms at local malls today.

First there was a bomb threat at Nordstroms in Novi.

The Detroit News:  Nordstrom at Novi mall reopens after bomb threat

Police responded to the store around 12:03 p.m. after the threat was called in over the telephone, Zinser said.

"The caller was demanding $2,000 in gift cards or else he was going to blow up the store," Zinser said. "Since then, we've not found any suspicious packages."

So it was not just a stupid fake threat, but it was an attempt to gain money to boot. Hopefully they catch the moron.

Then, there was a false report this evening of a shooting incident at Great Lakes Mall.

Turns out that it was false as well.

The Detroit News: Police: No confirmed shooter, no injuries 'at this time' at Great Lakes Crossing

Police say there is no "confirmed shooter" and no injuries after responding Saturday night to a report of an active shooter at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills.

"There was a report of an active shooter at Great Lakes Crossing Mall," the Auburn Hills Police Department said in a tweet posted shortly after 7 p.m. "There has been no confirmed shooter, there is no one injured at this time. Police personnel are on scene clearing the mall at this time."

That's two fakes at two nearby malls in one day. 

Spring seems to be blooming a fine crop of idiots around here.

Happy Passover!

Passover has begun.

We had out first Seder last night and had a nice time as a family together except with Abby off at University it was down to the three of us.

Natasha made the haroset differently this year.  She used Georgia Pecans my dad had brought up to us on his way back north, instead of Walnuts.  

Apparently using pecans is a Texas Passover tradition and it is a really tasty switch that is worth trying whether you celebrate Passover or not, and I'm all in favor of it.

After the initial ceremony we had the festive meal with leg of lamb, smashed potatoes and  all the side dishes.

Leah when the meal was finished found the affikoman where I had cunningly hid it, and was rewarded accordingly.

It was a very nice festive meal and ceremony.

Stupid Criminals - The Art Of Bad Impersonation

In Michigan, impersonating a police officer is, amazingly,  only a misdemeanor on your first two  - yes two! - offenses.  It really should be a felony from the get-go, as fake cops cause no end of mischief, and reduce the public's trust in real police interactions. Again, don't try and be a wanna-be.

So our intrepid stupid criminal  - Christian Katan Mansoor, 18 - as young and dumb as they come, decided to play cop and tried to pull over another driver complete with flashing red and blue lights on his car.

Turns out, the other driver was a real police officer.

Much hi-jinks then ensued.

The officer asked for Mansoor's ID, and Mansoor went back in his car and quickly took off.  He then got chased by the real officer, then the Oakland County Sheriff deputies joined in, and after a brief foot chase he was arrested.

Nicely done by the real officers and deputies.

If You Need A Picture To Explain The Differences In Your Warning Terms

You probably need to use better words to explain it for dangerous hazards.

We're currently under a Tornado Watch - or is it a Tornado Warning? 

People are regularly confused by this.

What is the difference and can you explain it without looking it up?

Pictures of Tacos are cute, but if you have to refer to Tacos to explain the difference, then perhaps the terms Watch and Warning are too confusing. We need to probably choose better and more meaningful words that are not so similar as to be confused, especially for something more important than that.

I still think intuitively a watch is worse than a warning as a watch implies you can see it.  After all, watch means: "To look or observe attentively or carefully; be closely observant." That implies there's something to observe, like a tornado. 

While a warning by contrast, is a "A statement telling of or an indication providing evidence of impending danger, difficulty, or misfortune.'

That seems rather backwards from how the words are being used in regards to tornadoes?

They Probably Should Not Have Publicly Admitted That

The University of Michigan Graduate Students Instructors via their Union, are on strike.

A little problem is the strike is illegal.

Even worse, they admit on their union website that the strike is illegal:

Yes. UM is a public university, and it is unlawful for public sector employees to strike in Michigan. In addition, our contract has a “no-strike clause” specifying that we cannot strike. Striking would therefore be a breach of contract and the University could legally discipline or fire us. This was also the situation in our 2020 strike. The question is whether the University would retaliate against workers and the union rather than pay us a living wage. UM is highly unlikely to fire all of its GSIs and GSSAs because of how essential grad workers are to its day-to-day operations (see above). Striking is not a crime. Striking is a civil rather than a criminal offense.

Kinda problematic to publicly announce that you know what you are doing is illegal and a breach of your current contract.

But worry not, their defense seems to be:  They can't fire us all!

UM could legally fire striking workers, and will almost certainly threaten to do so. However, there are a variety of reasons why UM has never fired GSIs/GSSAs in previous GEO strikes (including the 2020 strike), and why no grad worker has lost their place at their university over the past decade of strikes. In addition, we would try to negotiate with the University for a non-retaliation agreement as part of any strike resolution. This is one reason why it is crucially important that we all stay on strike together to ensure all of our collective safety: Without enough strike power, we may not be capable of getting UM to sign a non-retaliation agreement at the end of the strike.

It's a cunning plan Cotton, let's see how it works out for them. The Air Traffic Controllers Union would like a word.

Then again, President Ono is no President Reagan, and we have pro-Union Democrats ensconced at every level of government from Ann Arbor up through the state (with Whitmer already publicly supporting the grad students in their illegal strike)  to the feds, so none of them will likely try to enforce the law against public sector strikes, so this tactic may indeed pay off.

Now the Graduate Student Instructors are indeed likely being underpaid, and they can thank their last union bargaining team for that one. 

The rest of their demands are impressive leftist pap - Their top demand: Defunding the Police on campus and exchanging them for unarmed security guards.  Verily, the Leftists have learned nothing and forgotten everything.   

Other demands include not allowing ICE on campus; Abortion rights for grad students - seriously have they forgotten the election results already?;  "Gender affirming care" - by reducing mental assessment of the person, not treating it as a mental illness,  and getting gender dysphoric people onto hormones faster - what could possibly go wrong with that?;  and more.

Most likely these demands will be dropped in return for money or some face-saving statement.

Should the GSIs be paid more? I'd say overall, yes.  

Should they be participating in an illegal strike that they know is illegal that is harming their fellow students and not the University, not to mention making idiotic demands?  No.

Saturday Fun Day - To The Henry Ford Museum

So my dad came in for a visit this week, arriving on Thursday evening.

This weekend has been marked by rain that would not cease, and it was full on overcast, windy and wet the whole weekend.

To entertain him, I took him to the Henry Ford Museum Saturday afternoon as he had not been there before. 

We entered, paid the admission fee, and started looking around.

First, to see the finer things:

The 1931 Model J Dusenberg:

Behind the Dusenberg, the  Bugatti Type 41 Royale:

At $43,000 in 1931 it would, per the helpful information sign,  take a worker at the time with an average wage of $1,388/year a total of 31 years to buy the car - assuming they put all their money towards it.

We then went to check out the performance car section,

Having been a racing physician (he would drive the medical chase car during Formula One races in Ontario), he has quite an interest in race cars.  Truth to be told, he still drives like he's in a chase car all the time.

They've got quite a display of race cars, including the winning Ford GT from Le Mans, 1967:

 

The winning car from the Hoosier Hundred in 1960:

 And of course, Formula One cars drew interest:

We then went by quite a well-done display of the history of the consumer automobile and we found this particular car, which made him exceptionally happy:

Yes, his first car was a 1966 Chevy Corvair (the floor model here is a 1960).  His had air conditioning and he noted that the car would eat fan belts like they were going out of style due to the lousy routing design of the belt.

Definitely a nice trip for him down memory lane.  His Corvair, for the record, was red rather than blue.

We then checked out the aviation section, because, airplanes!

Henry Ford's 1926 Flivver, his attempt to make airplanes like he made Model Ts.  Unfortunately, the Flivver was a Flop, and dangerous to fly, killing its test pilot.

A more successful Ford flying product was the Ford Trimotor:

 

 

A quality passenger and cargo aircraft. Some are still flying and giving rides today - complete with the original wood-and-wicker-type passenger seats for passengers.

We then headed out as the museum was closing and met up with the rest of the family for dinner.  It was a great outing.