Gladiator II - Just Why?

To say Gladiator 2 was a sequel no one asked for is an understatement.

The first Gladiator was fun, had some respect for historical accuracy, and was a pretty accurate reenactment of the Rome tactics and gladiatorial games of Marcus Aurelius' time.

 Gladiator 2, not so much.

To say it had so many blatant historical inaccuracies it would hurt a classicist's soul is accurate. Verily, it did.

Horrendously bad, it was. 

It begins with a Roman fleet attacking Numidia under the Emperors Caracalla and Geta sometime between 209 and 211 AD. The leader of Numidia at the time is named Jugurtha.

The problem is the Roman Republic's War with Jugurtha took place in 118 BC, prior to the Roman Empire, and Numidia had been under Roman domian and control since then.

This does let them get some DEI credit for the film though portraying Jugurtha as Black, rather than North African Berber so there's that. 

And no, the Roman generals at the time of Geta and Caracalla were not known to run ahead of their formation fighting enemies one-on-one.  Not how it worked.

It gets progressively, and dare I say diversely, worse from there.

Denzel Washington plays Macrinus, as the master of gladiators. He does a fine job chewing the scenery and basically portraying himself out of Training Day. He's an enjoyable actor, but it kills the history of the period all the more, but again awesome diversity DEI credit.

The real Macrinus was the commander of the Preaetorian Guard  and as far as is known was not involved in the death of Geta, but was involved in killing Caracalla and becoming Emperor for a short period before being killed himself.

Oh, and Macrinus, while from North Africa, wasn't Black, but again DEI cred.

Geta and Caracalla are portrayed as effeminate half-wit twin poofs.  Again for DEI credit I suppose, when the historical record is rather different. 

Also, they weren't twins with Caracalla being 11 months older. They were both active on military campaigns and Caracalla was held to be quite the military strategist and campaigner. They did hate each other though and far more than is portrayed in the movie.

Caracalla also never had a pet monkey.  Lawdog is likely happy to know that.

Gladiator 2 even literally jumped the shark by having sharks in the Colosseum during the nautical battle scene.

While Rome did stage a Naumachia in the Colosseum at least once, the Romans did not capture sharks and have them swimming around the Colosseum during such battles.

Hilariously and painfully the naval battle itself was announced as a remake of the Battle of Salamis and the "Trojans vs the Persians".

The Battle of Salamis was between the Greeks and the Persian  - in 480 BC. The Trojan war was much,much earlier, in the 12th or13th century BC between the Greeks and the Trojans.  

The movie then continues with more and more historical inaccuracies.

There's even people sipping coffee and reading newspapers during the movie. 

Coffee didn't come to Rome as a beverage before the 17th century AD,  and newspapers weren't invented until the 1400s - over a thousand years after the events in the film.

I mean you can take license with historical events, but asking thew audience to disbelieve a thousand years is asking for a but much. 

In short if you haven't seen Gladiator 2 yet,  I recommend you disbelieve it ever existed, and simply have a better and more enjoyable use of your movie-watching time by watching Gladiator again.

Surely, They Can't Be That Stupid

Apparently, they can indeed be that stupid, and stop calling me Shirley:

The term, Intelligence Community when applied to the American version of same, is rapidly becoming an oxymoron, if it hasn't already.

 

That level of incompetence is rather staggering.  But, perhaps, they were simply too busy having kinky and highly workplace inappropriate chats on secure government systems to pay attention to avoiding blowing the identities of CIA employees while they were chatting about a whole different kind of blowing:

 

Forbes: More Than 100 Intelligence Staffers Will Be Fired Over Sexually Explicit Texts In NSA Chatrooms, Gabbard Says

One would think members of the "intelligence community", being presumably both more tech-savy and intelligent than average, would know not to do something that the average American worker already knows is highly inappropriate to do in the workplace.  

Or they did know that, but figured the rules didn't apply to them.

That's Wrongly Using Your Head

The Detroit Free Press: Man busted in airport smuggling cocaine under toupee

Cocaine makes you do dumb things.  Smuggling cocaine even moreso. Indeed, it can make you wig out.

A Colombian man was arrested for attempting to smuggle cocaine worth thousands under his toupee, officials announced on Monday.

The suspect was caught before taking a flight to Amsterdam from Cartagena's Rafael Nunez International Airport, according to Reuters and Sky News.

He had about $10,000 worth of coke under his wig. 

Maybe he should have just opted for a comb-over.

Hamas Perfidy And A Michigan Connection

So Hamas murdered Ariel (age 10) and Kfir Bibas  (age 4 months) by strangling them to death and then disfigured their bodies, and then to add insult to injury handed over coffins that were locked, stuffed with Hamas propaganda along with the bodies, and did not actually return Shiri Bibas' body, instead putting an unknown woman's body int the coffin (The body of was later handed over Friday night).

Hamas, with Iranian backing, also attempted to carry out a massive series of bombings in Israel, only failing due to setting the timers to 9pm rather than 9 am.

Hamas is yet again violating the ceasefire with these acts and expecting to get away with it, as more and more Hamas terrorists are released to kill again in return for live and dead hostages.

Meanwhile, our own Governor Whitmer of Michigan is busy gallivanting around Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates  on a junket with a Hamas apologist and Hezbollah supporter, Osama Siblani, that she brought along for the visit: 

Washington Free Beacon: He Said He'd Take Jews 'Back to Poland.' Gretchen Whitmer Took Him on an Official State Trip to the Middle East. Details of the trip and who she is meeting on it while hanging out with Siblani makes it even worse.

Words would fail to express the disgust that I have right now for our dear  governor half-whit. 

To be jaunting around with a Hamas apologist as Hamas commits terrorist attacks and continues to hold people hostage is beyond the pale. 

Some 51st State Humor

President Trump was in the Oval Office when his telephone rang, "Hello, President Trump," a heavily accented voice said, "This is Archie, up 'ere at the Harp Seal Pub in Badger's Cove, Newfoundland, Canada, eh?

"I am callin' to tells ya dat we are officially declaring war on ya!"

 

"Well, Archie," The Donald said, "This is indeed important news!  How big is your army?"

 

"Right now," said Archie, after a moment's calculation, "there's myself, me cousin Harold, me next-door neighbour Mick, and the whole dart team from the pub.  That makes eight!"

 

Donald paused.  "I must tell you Archie that I have one million men in my army waiting to move on my command."

 

"Wow," said Archie.  "I'll have t' call ya back!"   Sure enough, the next day, Archie called again.

 

"Mr. Trump, the war is still on!  We have managed to acquire some infantry equipment!  We have two combines, a bulldozer, and Harry's farm tractor."

 

President Trump sighed.  "I must tell you Archie, that I have 16,000 tanks and 14,000 armed personnel carriers.  Also, I've increased my army to one and a half million since we last spoke."

 

"Lord above," said Archie, "I'll be gettin' back at ya."   Sure enough, Archie rang again, the next day.  "President Trump, the war is still on!  We have managed to git ourselves airbourne!  We up an' modified Harrigan's ultra-light wit a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from da Legion have joined us as well !"

 

Donald was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat.  "I must tell you, Archie, that I have 10,000 bombers and 20,000 fighter planes.  Huge.  My military complex is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites.  And you need to know, since we last spoke, I've increased my army to TWO MILLION!"

 

"Jumpins, Lord tunderin!"  "Two million, ye say!!" said Archie.  "I'll have ta call youse back.

 

Sure enough, Archie called again, the next day.  "President Trump!  I am sorry to have to tell ya dat we have had to call off dis 'ere war."

 

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Donald.  "Why the sudden change of heart?"

 

"Well, sir," said Archie, "we've all sat ourselves down and had a long chat over a bunch of pints, and come to realize dat dere's no way we can feed two million prisoners."

Now, it is true that the Canadian Forces are small but mighty.  They are rather confident in their capabilities, and they do punch far above their weight. 

Indeed, apocryphally, the Geneva Convention was started because of the Canadian military, who refer to it even today as the Geneva Checklist.

But in reality, should the Canadians kick off Defence Scheme No. 1 and  War Plan Red ever gets dusted off and updated in return, this can only end one way:

 

Inflation Isn't Rearing It's Ugly Head Again, It's Just Being Actually Accurately Reported Again

Right on time for President Trump to take office, the data now shows inflation increasing.

Reason: Trump May Have To Grapple with Returning Inflation

We will note that Reason, an ostensibly libertarian publication is no friend of Trump.  Verily, Reason seems to be having vapors about his actually reducing the size, scope, and spending of government - something you would think a libertarian would cheer for, neh?

One would think so, but no. Basically Reason at this point is all about marijuana legalization and wide open borders, and damn little else. 

It is not "returning inflation", instead it is that inflation is now being reported accurately again after the books have been cooked and the data tortured the past four years.

Politico: How Democrats Were Tricked Into Believing the Economy Was Strong

The Democrats, pace Politico, weren't being "Tricked" -- they were the ones running the trick.  

The Biden-run government agencies were the ones massaging the data and running the scam under reporting inflation and messing with job statistics to give the picture of a rosy economy under Biden that wasn't. 

The Biden Administration and the media establishment (But I'm repeating myself) had been busy boasting and talking up how wonderful the economy under Biden has been, how Biden achieved a "soft landing" and  try to give him a boost for his reelection and then for Harris when even the massaged stats couldn't get him to the finish line.

The administration and media both made themselves busy asking Americans - "Who are going to believe Biden and the Media, or your own lyin' eyes?"

Now that Biden is out, the stats are being reported, presumably more accurately, just in time for President Trump to have to deal with the results of the massive overspending and effects of the policies Biden has left behind. 

The Fed's decision on setting interest rates - including reducing them right before the election which just so happened to assist Biden, was doing so based on the statistics being manipulated.  

The deliberate false reporting of government statistics,  statistics relied upon to set economic policy, should be seen as one of the greatest scandals of the Biden era.  

Perhaps one day it will be.

I Did Not Know That Michigan's Libraries Are

Heavily, and in some case majorly, funded by traffic tickets and penal fines. 

I had figured that library mileages on property taxes were responsible for the bulk of the funding. Apparently not.

Nor did I know, but I should have guessed, that Wayne County would manage to screw up the accounting and distribution for that funding. Badly.

The Detroit Free Press: Accounting errors have cost Wayne County libraries millions

Over the last decade, 18 libraries in Wayne County have been shorted as much as $1.9 million, while 11 saw an influx in cash, all because of staff turnover at the county level and subsequent accounting errors.

The money at issue flows through the state and comes from penal fines, which are paid to courts in criminal and some civil violations, including most traffic fines. County treasurers collect and distribute the fines to libraries. This funding is baked into state law and it can account for anywhere between 3% to 70% of public libraries' annual budgets, according to the Library of Michigan.

 Wayne County lost the employee who calculated penal fines and the county did not replace that position, according to a report the Library of Michigan prepared for public library directors and boards.

So interesting to know that a goodly amount of the fines from court goes to the state's libraries, hopefully helping the True Crime shelves be well stocked, and that Wayne County can impressively mess up the distribution of those funds.

Lawyer, Please

So the fun with the unpleasant lying lawyer continues.

In the first bit of the latest fun, she has refused to produce unredacted copies of the appraisals of some of the firearms she had appraised and attached to her petition (notably not the handgun that she now suddenly claims they had all along, nor another rifle that we're pretty darn sure her felon brother now has).

Each appraisal has an area blocked out.  One of them is not well blocked out and we can tell it is a copy of a drivers license, and with the phone number that is seen we're pretty darn sure who was handling the firearms appraisal on behalf of the co-trustee.

The felon brother. 

Bit of a no-no, that.

Not a good look for a trustee of a trust to enlist a felon to posses and handle firearms.

So a motion to compel it is, and I have filed it and asked for attorneys fees for having to being it as the refusal has no proper basis.  The hearing unfortunately won't be for over a month, but I expect the unredacted copies will be ordered to be turned over as there's no privilege for this kind of malfeasance. 

The second of the latest news is so much more fun.

Unpleasant lying lawyer now demands the house my co-trustee and beneficiary client is living in now has to be sold to pay for trustee administrative expenses - i.e. the costs of the frivolous lawsuit her client has filed and caused to accrue.

In other words, they want to drive my client out of her marital home now that she has been widowed, and probably grab a fair bit of the value of it, which I suspect was the plan all along.

I reply to her that no, that's not going to happen. 

Instead, I note that such expenses are, by law, paid from the residue of a trust and not from specific distributions like the gift of a house.

Since the co-trustees distributed all the residue as no one thought the Unpleasant Lying Lawyer's client would engage in this ridiculous lawsuit there is no residue at present remaining.

But, instead we will need to clawback the distribution made to all the beneficiaries to cover this which means her client, her client's felon brother, and her client's sister, and my client as well proportionately, will need to opay these "expenses" as the law requires.  

So, as a result.  her family gets to pay a share not only of her client's "administrative expenses" brought on by this lawsuit - but they get to pay my client's expenses as well.

She's certainly not going to be happy with that, and it'll be fun to have her explaining to her family that they now need to cough up the money that they had been paid to cover both side's expenses as co-trustees in this ridiculous lawsuit.

Methinks her cunning plan just backfired a tad. 

But, this is what happens because when you FA, you get to FO.

So Hamas Violated The Ceasefire Agreement

And of course, they lied and claimed Israel had violated it. Hamas is now saying they will not release hostages until Israel makes new concessions.

This tends to be Hamas' modus operandi - agree to an agreement, violate the agreement while claiming Israel violated it, then make further demands beyond what were in the original agreement while only offering to do what they had already agreed to do under the agreement.

Unfortunately for Hamas, they don't have Biden in office anymore, and President Trump has agreed with Israel's demand that since Hamas has now violated the agreement, they must release all the hostages this week.

Given the condition the most recent batch of hostages were in when released, it may be that Hamas wants to delay to try and improve the health and enhance the appearance of the next set of hostages to be released - or there may not be any live hostages left to release.

 Oh, and USAID gave $3 million to a Hamas-affiliated rapper in Gaza (Which means $3 million was funneled to Hamas) to ostensibly create anti-Israel and anti-Semitic songs.

Because, of course they did.

You Can't Be Your Own Personal Representative, Even if You Select It Online

Or: Why doing an online Will may not work for you.

Had a client come in with his deceased brother's Will, and there is property that needs to be probated.

The brother decided to save some money, not hire an attorney, and do it himself online.  

He certainly had the right to do so.

But he lacked the ability to do it right.

He saved money, at least initially, but created a major headache and expense for his survivors.

The problem is he manged to name himself as Personal Representative (think Executor if your jurisdiction uses that term instead, its the person responsible for running the estate through the probate process) of his Will. 

Once you have shuffled off your mortal coil, you can't be personal representative of anything, much less your own Will and estate. It doth not work that way.

I don't know if the online tool he used glitched, or if he didn't understand what he was doing and filled it out wrong, or what.  But we now have a problem as a result.

But as a result, we have to do a lot of stuff that would otherwise be unnecessary and more costly than if it had been done right from the start. 

We now must do a formal probate process complete with a hearing before a judge rather, than the less expensive informal process, to get someone else appointed as the Personal Representative and allow the estate to get moving in probate.

Sometimes it makes sense to have a professional do things, and it can save a lot of time and money too.

Corruption And The Problem Of Scale

DOGE is finding an impressive amount of government corruption, fraud, and featherbedding networks in US Treasury payments.  Verily they are uncovering the Democrat-Progressive-NGO complex with their probe into USAID and Treasury spending.

In a single area of government spending, DOGE learned that $100 Billion (with a B) in entitlement payments were going out to people with no social security number or other identifiers attached to the payments. Treasury officials apparently stated that $50 Billion of that was outright fraud.  Yet the payments were made year after year. It is likely even more programs will show outright fraudulent transfers.

Now $50 Billion in fraud in a single program could be dismissed as just a rounding error in the US Treasury's annual spending of over 6 Trillion dollars. 

And therein lies the problem.  When $50 Billion in fraudulent spending in entitlement programs is just considered a rounding error, you've lost the plot.

 $50 billion is the equivalent of a an entire lifetime of income tax payments by 153,581 Americans. Every dollar in income taxes paid for their entire lives, wasted on fraud in a single program - in one year - every year.

This $50 Billion in spending isn't just a political disagreement over priorities or funding Democrat's friends and buddies in NGOs or throwing money at SPPL (Stuff Progressive People Like). It is an outright transfer of payments to fraudulent recipients.

One should note that $50 Billion is higher than the entire GDP in 112 countries!  

If the fraudulent payments were a country's GDP, the Country of Entitlement Fraudlandia with a GDP of $50 Billion has a GDP equivalent to 14 Haitis, and handily would beat out Bangladesh, Romania, Nigeria, Ukraine, and Morrocco in world rankings at 51st in the world.

The $50 Billion received by Entitlement Fraudlandia is far more than the amount of aid sent so far to North Carolina after Hurricane Helena, which is, depending on what source you look at as a clear answer is interestingly hard to find, anywhere from 3 billion to up to 9 billion total in the latest round of aid.

Even worse, a General Accounting Office report from late April estimated outright fraudulent spending by the Federal Government to be  233 Billion to $521 Billion each year.

That would make The Nation of US Spending Fraudlandia have a greater GDP than India and it would be a Country with the 11th highest GDP in the entire World.

Again, that's just from outright fraud, not even touching cutting what are arguably legitimate, while still being  rather objectionable, payments that are being made on rather questionable spending priorities and to reinforce the Democrat-Progressive NGO complex.

Making Cents - The Case For Ending The Penny

Inflation has made the penny barely worthwhile nowadays. 

Indeed, the early symbol for a penny originated with the Roman denarius - a coin that once was a day's pay for a Roman legionary. When English translations of the Bible referred to a penny they were, in fact, referring to the denarius.

The days when a penny was a day's pay are long, long, long gone. 

Verily, even most people's thoughts these days are more costly than a penny.

Inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the currency, and now the lowly penny may be making its final farewell.

The United States 1 cent coin costs 3.69 cents to make,  a 20% increase this year alone, currently costing the US Treasury a loss of $179 million dollars per year minting them for them to sit in people's drawers or jars, and weigh down their purses.

As such, Trump has instructed the Treasury to stop producing them.

While from a sentimental standpoint, keeping the penny is attractive as the US has had pennies since 1787, it is likely time to join other nations such as Canada in letting the penny make a graceful exit from our money supply.

Other US coins have gone by the wayside. For example, the last United States half penny was last minted  over 150 years ago in 1857 and the lack of 1/2 pennies hasn't been missed or remarked upon. 

Expect the penny to be removed for circulating currency if Congress agrees, and the costs of items to be rounded up or down accordingly.

The end of the penny, after all, just makes cents.

Every. Single. Time. Yet Again.

Surprising no one, President Biden's final jobs report was "revised" downward - yet again joining every other one of the Bureau of Labor employment statistics reports.

Revised downwards. Every. Damn. Time. 

That simply cannot be a happy coincidence.

Legal Insurrection: January Jobs Report: 2024 Employment Revised Down by 600,000

Well, at least it's not the 818,000 fewer jobs than first reported the last time around, but over counting by 600,000 is one heckuva statistical error.

Yet again, these stats aren't just bad because they let Biden trumpet a healthy economy and jobs market that simply wasn't there - in an election year no less.

A major problem when you cook the books on these reports is people do rely upon them.  For example the Fed, when considering adjusting interest rates relies on this report, among others. and in such reliance is not cutting rates probably as much as they should as they think the economy is growing just fine.  Unfortunately the economy under Biden was presented as being much better than it was due to these cooked statistics.

And Nothing of Value Was Lost

Talk about the devotees of the party out of power going insane.  

Having a medical procedure with some serious consequences to protest the President is pretty radical, especially as it is purely performative nonsense.

The Washington Beacon: Not Kidding: Michigan State Rep Says She Sterilized Herself To Protest Trump 

A Democratic Michigan state representative told protesters Wednesday that she underwent voluntary sterilization to avoid becoming pregnant during President Donald Trump's second term, a left-wing media outlet reported.

"Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump's America," Rep. Laurie Pohutsky told anti-Trump protesters gathered Wednesday outside the Michigan Capitol, according to a piece published by the Michigan Advance. "I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate."

                                                          . . .

Pohutsky insisted that her surgery was important, telling protesters, "If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I'm going to repeat myself: A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilization because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future."

So Rep. Pohutsky sterilizes herself per her announcement to prevent becoming pregnant during Trump's presidency and apparently believes having a child is a terrible thing. Kinda a drastic measure, no? 

Either this is purely political theater and she got sterilized for other reasons and is lying about it, or she is a complete moron.

This is because, as Rep. Pohutsky certainly knows, the right to an abortion and indeed contraception was enshrined in the Michigan constitution in 2020 via referendum and law.

How do we know she knows?  Well, she publicly celebrated it when it passed:

Today should most certainly be celebrated; it took a lot of hard work to get these bills to the governor’s desk, and while there is still work to be done, we should absolutely take time to appreciate this victory,” said Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), chair of the Progressive Women’s Caucus and spearhead of the House RHA bills. “This journey began over a decade ago, and I am honored to be a part of the continued efforts to guarantee Michiganders have access to abortion care. It was long past due for these obstacles to be diminished so people can make the decisions that are right for them without government interference."

So she's a die-hard pro-abortion progressive Democrat and is clearly announcing this sterilization for performative reasons, and likely lying about the reason for it.  If not, she is bug-house nuts and doesn't understand the laws she herself passed and advocates for, nor how the United States governmental system works, in which case she probably really shouldn't be a state representative.

On the upside, she's taken her craziness out of the gene pool.

For those who don't get it:  Abortion and contraception is now enshrined in the Michigan constitution per the referendum in 2020 and by law in the massive package of bills that Pohutsky herself helped pass. Trump cannot change that.

Letting Michigan Democrats continue to fear-monger on abortion when they have decisively enshrined abortion at the state level is simply allowing them to continue to deceive their constituents on what is now a settled issue.

The Democrat crazies here are like a dog chasing a car - they caught the car and now they don't know what to do with it, nor how to shift away from the fear-mongering on abortion they were using to fuel their campaigns.

Michigan's Sturgeon Season This Year

Was over faster than the time it takes for you to spell Acipenser fulvescens.

OutdoorLife: Michigan’s Shortest Fishing Season Lasted Just 17 Minutes This Year, a New Record

With a maximum of 7 fish allowed to be caught, the season closed in 17 minutes as the limit was reached.

Some of the fish caught were huge, with the biggest weighing  a whopping 78.3 pounds.

That's quite the fish.

Never Lie For Your Client

As an attorney you do not, contrary to what is shown in movies and tv shows, lie on behalf of your client.

Doing so tends to backfire.

Today's story can also be known as The Perjury Case Continues.  To summarize if you don't want to click the link:

1. I represent the widow of the maker of a trust.  She;s the co-trustee along with the daughter of the widow from his first marriage.

2. The other co-trustee is the daughter of the widow (DOW) from the prior marriage.

3. DOW claimed my client had the handgun that now belongs to the trust.  Handgun is a rather nice old Colt .22 target semiauto pistol. DOW provably lied as DOW herself sold it in November.

4.  This doesn't look good for DOW.

So I do a nice letter to DOW's attorney, attaching the transfer form and noting that her client just committed a fraud upon the court and upon my client and this needs to be settled. If it is not, we will notify the court and petition to remove DOW as co-trustee for her fraud and her causing a loss in time and money defending against this false and rather serious claim, not to mention selling the firearms for far below their fair market value.

What does Unpleasant Lawyer reply: 

Perhaps you should reconsider jumping to conclusions.  An “LR” is not a handgun.

 

Unpleasant Lawyer

[Tell me you know nothing about firearms without telling me you know nothing about firearms] I respond:

        Unpleasant Lawyer:

That is a handgun registration form. 

 

 You will note the box marked pistol is checked.  .22LR is indeed a handgun caliber, also a rifle caliber, but in this case it is indeed a pistol and this is confirmed with the store.

 She replies:

It's a rifle

I'm rather amused and bemused at this point that someone can be this obtuse, not to mention unable to read a form the size of an index card printed in English and respond:

I’d bet you $100 it is not, but you'd lose, and lose badly.

 

Here’s a link to pictures of Colt Huntsman pistols for sale:  https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/pistols/colt-pistols-huntsman.c1384_p1_o6.cfm

 

Funny how those pistols match the exact pistol your client picked up at the house, isn't it?

 

.22 LR while it stands for Long Rifle is a a rifle and pistol caliber popular as a target shooting round in both handguns and rifles.

 

In this case, it is beyond a reasonable doubt that we are talking about a pistol.

 She responds:

You’re acting like a petty juvenile.

 

In any event, the handgun the widow kept is a completely different gun from anything my clients ever had.  She knows it.

Funny how the story changes, eh? So I respond:

You hate to admit you’re wrong eh?  Juvenile is you refusing to read the form showing it is a pistol and arguing it is a rifle in face of all the evidence including the make and model that it is not.

 

Now you’re trying to claim there is another pistol when that was the only pistol in the house, quit spinning for your client and trying to duck that she has committed perjury on this matter and get this resolved.

She responds

Again, you are behaving like a child and I’m not wasting my time on your bad behavior.  There were two handguns.  If you email me again taking that tone, I am deleting it and will not respond.  You can act like a professional or you can deal with the consequences.

She's lying and lying badly. Also, I daresay she's projecting badly.

Her email is the first time it's mentioned that there were "two handguns" after she finally seems to concede that the handgun is not in fact a rifle.  They have never admitted to the existence of a handgun being in their possession before, ever.

Maybe she was talking with her client while emailing, but I doubt it. It appears she is not just spinning but outright lying on behalf of her client.  Not a good look at all.

Petition to remove her lying client as a co-trustee has been drafted and will be filed imminently.  This is going to get good.

David Hogg Just Became What?

So the Democrats have now appointed David Hogg, known only for his gun banner efforts, and no other accomplishments, as their Vice Chair.

New York post:  Parkland shooting survivor and gun-control activist David Hogg becomes DNC vice chair

Apparently, this is an effort to get back the youth and the masculine vote.

 
Verily, this choice, along with the statements and writings of various people who should know better claiming the Blackhawk/Jet collision is Trump's fault, is one of many indicators that provide proof of Megan McArdle's aphorism that:

 "The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane."

Democrats and their fellow travelers and orange-man-bad devotees are not handling the transition well at all. 

Let's hope that Republicans can keep the smugness and arrogance to a minimum, even in the face of the Democrats going full-on bug-house nuts.

No TDSers, The Helicopter - Jet Collision Is Not Trump's Fault

 The collision between a Blackhawk Helicopter and an American Airlines (flown by PSA Airlines) Regional Jet has brought all the anti-Trumpers out of the woodwork.

Those with severe Trump Derangement Syndrome are already blaming Trump for the accident - without any evidence. In some case ridiculously claiming it is due to chaos caused by Trump or his announcement ending DEI policies in government. This from many who should know better and are typically rational - except when it comes to Trump.

The NTSB will fully investigate and we will get answers in time. 

The DC area airspace is very congested and busy.  In fact a similar collision was narrowly averted the day before between a helicopter and a passenger jet.

So far, it appears to be likely the Blackhawk pilot was both flying above the appropriate corridor for helicopter traffic and the pilot identified the wrong aircraft.  The pilot apparently saw the departing one when the Tower Controller asked the pilot if the pilot had the traffic visually rather than the landing jet that was involved in the crash. Now,  the pilot responded they did have visual o the aircraft, which makes traffic separation primarily the pilot's responsibility at that point. Unfortunately, at night it appears the pilot identified the wrong aircraft and apparently did not have a visual on the PSA jet. 

The Tower controller meanwhile did not pick up on the fact that the Blackhawk was 200 feet above the 200 foot ceiling for helicopters in the area that put it in the flight path of the landing jet, nor did the helicopter pilot.

So were DEI policies to blame?  At this point it is quite simply too early to tell if those policies were a factor.

Indeed it is unknown if the controller or Blackhawk pilot were DEI-hires.  If they were there's going to be plenty of blame to go around. The Tower controller did not pick up on the fact that the Blackhawk was reportedly 200 feet outside of the appropriate flight path and in the flight path of the jet, and the helicopter pilot also seems to have made a series of mistakes leading to the incident.

Now, the Tower at Reagan is understaffed and apparently one controller was doing two jobs at the time of the incident which can lead to important things being overlooked and open the opportunity for accidents. Not hiring qualified white applicants to continue to try and find non-white DEI-scoring applicants may be a partial factor in the shortage of controllers.

In short, the full cause of the incident is not fully known and will not definitively be known until the NTSB completes its investigation. So no it cannot be definitively said what the cause was or if DEI was a factor in the crash but human factors certainly are the primary factor in this incident and DEI hiring doesn't enhance safety in aviation.

DEI has been reducing safety in aviation in a quest to hire a diverse workforce, reducing merit and aptitude as the key factor in hiring and repalcing it with diversity.

Did Biden and Obama adopt hiring polices based on DEI/Affirmative Action rather than merit and ability?  Yes, yes they did.

Did their administrations act in a way to hire unqualified controllers, including feeding Black applicants answers to the controller entrance exam to make sure they can pass the test and get hired?  Yes, yes they did.

Did the FAA even refuse to hire qualified applicants because they were white, while at the same time musing in presentations as to how much of a change in job performance is acceptable in performing diversity goals? Yes, yes they did.

In case you're wondering the answer to that question is that no change in job performance is acceptable  - you either can do the job competently or you cannot regardless of your race or background.  There are plenty of Black and female controllers that are more than fully capable and stand on their own merits and ability as controllers. That they were accepting lower performance in their quest to hire a DEI-workforce and get their ratios up is at the very least shameful and at worst horrific in reducing safety in a quest for DEI-compliance.

Time spent in DEI-sensitivity training could certainly be better spent on piloting skill improvement or aircraft controlling training.

So no, the collision is not President Trump's fault, and we don't know yet if or how much DEI hiring and focus was a factor in the incident.

Clearly The Problem Is Not Spending Enough Money on Education

An interesting report out of Illinois.

In over 30 public schools, none, as in not one, zero, not a single kid, is reading at their appropriate grade level.

Note that the per pupil spending ranges in these 30 schools from an outlying low of $8,861 up to an astonishing $56,311, with an average of $21,000 per student among the 30 schools and this is the result you get. That kind of spending is on par with private school tuition at some of the best private schools -with unquestionably far worse results.

Similarly, in all of Maryland Public Schools, half of all the third graders were not reading at grade level.

In Detroit Public Schools, 88% of third graders were under grade level in reading.

It's as if public schools were not there to educate but instead fund the Teacher's and Administrator's Unions to funnel money back to the Democrats in return for more public money for higher salaries and benefits and then rinse and repeat.

Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Heat....

I'm sure, you've heard that before, the US Postal Service Creed.

However, the Creed does not mention Cold, which apparently stops deliveries dead, even when its no longer -5F out and its now a balmy 19 degrees and sunny - practically t-shirt weather in Michigan.

Verily, the creed doth some more aspirational and not a code but more like guidelines.

I had a package ordered a couple weeks ago, properly and promptly shipped by the vendor in Texas on January 17,  the same day as it was ordered even which is great service, and it was supposed to be delivered January 20.

It arrived on January 20 at the Pontiac, Michigan Regional Facility and has not moved an inch since.  Tracking gives a deceptive message that it is "In Transit to next facility. Arriving Late."

No kidding USPS. No kidding it is arriving late, as the transit to next facility seems to be done by snails at best.  There have been no updates as to the whereabouts of the package since January 24, so I;m beginning to doubt the veracity of the statement that it is "in transit" - unless that means put in a postal worker's pocket and taken in transit to their home.

Update: Finally arrived after sitting at the Pontiac "Distribution" Center office for 9 flipping days.  Sheesh.

An Actual Demonstration Of American Soft Power

Or: Walk Softly and Carry A Big Tariff.

So, the leftist President of Colombia decided on Sunday to refuse to permit US repatriation flights of criminal illegal aliens back to Colombia.

President Trump was playing golf at the time, apparently on the third hole.

Instead of waiting for the State Department to wring its hands, President Trump ordered heavy tariffs of Colombian goods until the situation was rectified and the criminal illegals were taken back.

Democrats of course bemoaned this claiming he would make flowers and coffee more expensive for Americans. With performative drama by AOC and the usual suspects.

The President of Colombia caved before Trump even finished his golf game, even offering to send his presidential plane to pickup the illegals and return them to Colombia.

The New York Post: Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro buckles under Trump’s trade war threat — offers presidential plane for deportation flights

Talk about immediate and effective diplomacy right there. That was a real exercise of American "Soft Power" to protect American interests, compared to all the wishy-washy talk of such under Obama and Biden. 

Quite a refreshing change, that.

Black Nazis - Are You Allowed To Hate Black Nazis?

I mean, you have clear permission to hate Illinois nazis.

However, in today's weird world of teens with mental health problems, we get not only Black White Supremacists, but now we also have Black Nazis. Or at least we had one.

The Detroit Free Press: Antioch school shooting: What to know about attack in Nashville that left 2 dead

You wouldn't know a key fact if you only got your info from the Detroit Free Press on this murderous scumbag.

The killer mentioned in the article as a "teen boy" with "professing alleged alt-right extremist views about "race mixing," who did the shooting, and then saved everyone the cost of a trial, was Black.

Kind of a relevant and indeed surprising detail, neh?  Impressively not mentioned at all.

Townhall: After These Details, the Antioch High School Shooting Is Going to Get Suffocated by the Media

Yep the killer was indeed a Black Nazi.   Who knew?

That he was a Black nazi likely indicates his education up until he took himself out of the gene pool (sadly killing an innocent while doing so), was rather inadequate when it came to both history and political philosophy. Indeed, this is  likely yet another teen with mental illness acting out.

Brrr

It's a tad cold out there right now. Heck, it's downright chilly.

The Detroit News: Brutal cold keeps icy grip on SE Michigan

Some roads are closed in the area due to black ice and slipperiness.  Lone Pine Road with its hills is closed as you're an out of control roller-coaster in your car if you go on it right now - inclduign slipping backwards down the hills.

The roundabouts were just a treat to drive through today, as you slip sideways while going round the circle which is really not as much fun as it sounds.

It's almost cold enough to the point where you can throw a boiling pot of water up in the air and it is absorbed into the atmosphere before it hits the ground.  

We should hit that temperature soon and it'll be fun to do.

In short, yep, we officially are in winter conditions in Michigan.

Speaking Of Perjury

In a local case, I have come across some nice perjury by the other side.

I represent the co-trustee of her now deceased husband's trust.

The other co-trustee is the daughter of the husband from the prior marriage.

This is really bad planning on the now deceased husband's part, as daughter of the husband from the prior marriage is harassing the widow and trying to get her out of the house that the husband left to her so long as she lives there by making ridiculous demands as co-trustee.

She also has a very aggressive lawyer that is doing her best to make things as difficult and expensive as possible.

Indeed, they keep demanding, among other things, a key so they can access and insect the house whenever they want which is not provided for in the trust nor does my client want that, especially as some of the family are less than savory characters.

Now when the husband died, co-trustee daughter and brother came and picked up his firearms.

Whole the trust says this stuff should be sold (and my client gets 40% of it per the trust) they refused to sell them.

They have also been claiming my client still has the handgun. My client says no it was picked up with the long guns and there's a picture of it on the table with the guns the day they picked them up.

So I do some digging.

1.  We find out the brother is a convicted felon and shouldn't be in possession of the firearms. 

2.  I send the other attorney some discovery and in the answers find that they still claim my client has the handgun, claiming she told them she would keep it, and they sold firearms on November 11 2024 without notice to us - and while claiming they still had them and were refusing to sell them!  They were sold for very low amounts I might add.  But they don't reveal what they actually sold - but they did include a copy of the check showing the store they sold them at.

3. So, I subpoena the store for their records of the transaction, as one does.

Lo and behold, the handgun  --the very one they still claim my client has --  is one of the firearms sold to the store and the Michigan transfer form for the handgun is signed by the co-trustee herself. The same co-trustee who claims that my client still has the handgun.

Oops.

Incidentally, they sold a nice Colt .22 target pistol worth between $500-900 (given the condition of it seen in the picture likely nearer the high end) for $225.00.

Now the co-trustee has clearly lied in her discovery responses, which is likely why, in contravention to the court rules, she did not sign nor swear to their validity as is required.

I've asked her attorney to have her do so (obviously without telling her what I just found), and then we'll have some nice sworn perjury, which should help getting them to stop being such idiots and may help resolve the case.  We will see.

The Biden Crime Family Pardons Its Own

The news hasn't picked up that in addition to Milley, Fauci, and the Jan 6 committee, Joe just preemptively pardoned a lot of his family members:

Executive Grant of Clemency
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.
President of the United States of America
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING:

BE IT KNOWN, THAT THIS DAY, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PURSUANT TO MY POWERS UNDER ARTICLE II, SECTION 2, CLAUSE 1, OF THE
CONSTITUTION, HAVE GRANTED UNTO

JAMES B. BIDEN
SARA JONES BIDEN
VALERIE BIDEN OWENS
JOHN T. OWENS
FRANCIS W. BIDEN

A FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDON FOR ANY NONVIOLENT OFFENSES against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January I, 2014, through the date of this pardon.

Note that interesting January 1 2014 date.  It is the same period as that extended to Hunter Biden. Yep, that includes the time Hunter was off enriching the family's pockets and doing tax fraud among other things, and likely the other family members were benefiting from that corruption nicely.

Verily, The Cabal Protects Its Own

Fox News: Biden pardons Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, J6 committee members

The President's power to pardon is absolute. Presidential pardons are, of course, unreviewable and cannot be challenged.

Now, we've never had a situation where the president is less than compos in his mentis, and others are directing him as to the signing of pardons and even where to sign on the papers, but here we are. 

MSN: Full List of Joe Biden's Last Minute Pardons—Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, More

The MSN/Newsweek's "full list" isn't actually the full list of those pardoned, we'll have to wait for that to actually come out.  So far Cassidy Hutchinson whose hearsay testimony  we discussed before on this blog, the one who made the salacious claim that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel before the Jan 6 Committee and admitted she lied before the committee is not listed so far. Considering one of the potential claims against Liz Cheney is that she suborned Cassidy Hutchinson;s perjury before the committee, this may be interesitng.

While all those listed so far have been pardoned, it does make for an interesitng result in that none of therm can now can refuse to testify before investigative committees now as they no longer need fear being self incriminated as they cannot be prosecuted for their testimony.

That could get interesting.

Meme For The Morrow

Time to  move forwards and undo the damage of 4 years of Biden (or whoever was actually running the Presidency - more and more revelations are coming out that he was not fit to be president while in office).

 

I expect the media will halfheartedly apologize, if at all, for their lack of any watchdog mode and covering for Biden while he was in office and acting more like lapdogs.   I expect they will also swear to be extra alert watchdogs while Trump is in office - as they seem to do whenever control switches from a Democrat to a Republican president.

2 More Years

On the upside, we have only two more years of Gov. Whitmer to suffer through.

On the downside that's two more years of lost time and opportunities for her to do more damage to the state of our state.

On the upside, Gov. Whitmer now appears far less interested in governing than she is in travel out of our state and shopping for her next Democrat political post.

The Detroit News:  Where's Whitmer?

Whitmer was on her A-game when she thought there was a chance she could be the vice-presidential pick for a second Biden administration. She couldn’t stay offline or off the campaign trail, buttering up to be in Kamala Harris’ cabinet, once the winds turned that way.

But throughout the past year, she has shown little interest in Michigan’s real needs, favoring her book tour and out-of-state travel over more homegrown issues, many of which beg for her involvement.

.  .  .

Instead, she spent about 25% of her time in the first nine months of 2024 outside the state promoting her book on Martha’s Vineyard, San Francisco, and elsewhere, an amount of travel that exceeded her own past totals. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist was paid as acting governor for much of that time.

Another significant chunk of time was spent on content creation for her social media presence, which revolved around abortion, her book and Democratic campaigning — not governing. 

Whitmer then left Democrats in the Legislature on their own in lame duck, abdicating any leadership or role in negotiations. She gave lip service to legislative priorities, such as transparency, disclosure and economic development, that she did not see through.

At least she wasn't partying in Ghana on the taxpayer's dime as her city burned, so there's that. 

I suppose we can be thankful as the more she stays away from the state, the less damage she can do. After all this state suffered a lost decade under Gov. Granholm, who has ended up in Berkeley, California and served as Biden's Secretary of Energy, thus doing unto the country what she did unto our state.  

Looks like we will have a lost eight years under Whitmer, and if the Democrats regain power nationally in four years she'll be on her way to Washington to again give the country a taste of the failure (but progressive media star) that she has been at the state level.

Getting The Kid Back To School

 

With all the weather on Friday night/Saturday getting the kid back to U Florida from Michigan was quite a challenge.  

The original plan was DTW-ATL-GNV leaving at an ungodly early 4:45 am from DTW, so needing to be at the airport ugly early.

 

Fun was driving to the airport in the snow. 

Snow that not a plow had touched at all.  In fact while, driving I saw all of one plow on the entire route.

 

The roads leading to the highway were absolutely snow covered. 

The highways themselves had no lane markings visible under the snow.

 

Thankfully the snow was not slippery icy stuff but more of a packing-snow type, so while slow going, it was reasonably safe going. 

Oakland County seems to be busy spending money on DEI rather than basic competencies like snow removal.

 

DEI and other progressive gee-gaws are luxury spending that, while a waste of money, should only even be considered after you have your core competencies down pat. Sadly they're sexier to Democrats than things like safe and clean roads.

Get to the airport at 2:00 am, the flight was soon announced as cancelled due to the mess in Atlanta.  Weather will do that.

Got her rescheduled to Jacksonville (would have to have had her Uber all the way to Gainesville but it was something) and got her through security at 6am for an 8 am departure.  Should be good as a direct flight bypassing Atlanta, right?

 

Wrong.

That flight was then cancelled due to lack of crew availability due to the weather messing up the system.

 

Then, I got her rescheduled back onto a later DTW-ATL-GNV flight at 10 am, which then was pushed back to 11 am and then was announced for boarding which was a good sign.

 

The flight boarded. But there was then a 1 hour delay sitting at the gate due to Atlanta being stacked for receiving aircraft.

 

They then got clearance to go, and they were off without incident around 1pm and landed in Atlanta. The ATL-GNV flight, then got rescheduled quite a few times but they got clearance to go around 6pm and she finally got back to Gainesville.

 

Upon landing, the pilot wished them all a happy semester and “Go Gators!” which was a very nice touch.  She met friends on te plane as it was mainly students heading back and shared an Uber getting to the dorm.

Through all the delays and weather trouble, the Delta  customer service reps were super helpful in rescheduling her flights and working to get her there.  

 

Thanks to Delta, the flight crews, and all the customer service representatives for all their hard work yesterday under some very trying circumstances. 

 

Having around 2 hours of sleep and hanging around the airport for hours trying to get her home did not make me a happy camper.  But she got there safely and that's what matters.   We could not get here there earlier to beat the weather as the dorms weren't open for students to return until Saturday, which is stupid. 

 

But she's now safe and sound in happy warm Florida.  I'm done shoveling out from the latest snowfall and back at work. 

Well....Bye

The Detroit News: Canada's Trudeau announces resignation after nearly a decade as prime minister

After a decade of insipid, woke, and corrupt leadership, Trudeau is finally leaving before he can be defeated in an election.

This is why you don't elect a substitute teacher whose only qualifications were his looks and family name as the leader of your country folks.

A Neat Hanukkah Discovery

The Times of Israel: ‘Miracle’ hoard of Hasmonean coins discovered during Hanukkah in Jordan Valley dig

 The Hasmoneans were the descendants of the Maccabees, so finding a hoard of coins belonging to Alexander Jannaeus during Hanukkah is rather cool, and timely.

These coins, made of bronze,  are known as prutahs or lepta (plural: leptons).

 For my Christian readers, these prutahs of Jannaeus are agreed upon by scholars to be the coins referred to as the "Widow's Mite" in the Christian bible  (Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4).  These coins are rather inexpensive at $35-$75 or so, and are a nice addition to any coin collection or just to have as a very neat historic item with significance for both Jews and Christians.

Release Criminals, Let Them Kill, Call For Gun Control, Repeat

Note well the article subheading puts this under "What to know about the growing threat of gun violence".

The Detroit Free Press:  Suspects charged with murder, child kidnapping in Northfield Township tragedy

So Shuvonne Vinson along with her criminal associates breaks into a house, kills two of the three adults living there, wounds a third adult, and kidnaps 2 kids.

Clearly a gun violence problem, right?

Not so fast.

The buried lede of her criminal record and how she has been let off by a soft-on-crime criminal justice system gets let slip, a mere 21 paragraphs below the headline:

Vinson's previous criminal history includes a 2017 drug possession charge, which she pleaded guilty to, and a February 2024 case when she racked up 13 charges, the majority of them involving weapons. She ultimately pleaded guilty in June that year to carrying a concealed weapon. All other charges were dismissed, court records show.

So, in 2024 instead of a nice long time in jail, after getting hit with 13 charges all are dismissed in July, except for a felony concealed weapons charge.  She doesn't get much jail time for that, if she got any at all - she's then released and free to go out and about and participates in killing and kidnapping less than six months later.

This isn't a gun violence problem, this is a progressive judicial system releasing felons with mere slaps on the wrist until they go out and kill someone problem.

From Not A Terrorist Attack To "He Was Totes On His Own" In No Time Flat

So the FBI is now assuring us that not only was the New Orleans Islamic terrorist indeed committing an act of terrorism, but he completely acted on his own.

The Detroit News: FBI says driver in New Orleans rampage acted alone, was '100%' inspired by Islamic State group

Awfully quick and convenient to come to that conclusion, especially as the mosque he attended is telling its members not to talk to the FBI or other investigators.   Especially as up until the narrative needed to be changed they stated he had worked with others.

The mosque officials their post called it a terrible event (much along the lines of some people did something) and put in quotes  that the FBI is now calling it an "act of terror". 

The mosque and imams there are rather interesting, but likely not atypical.

Perhaps the FBI should investigate a bit more before jumping to conclusions, especially as their initial conclusion that it was not a terrorist event was, shall we say, rather missed the plot and was contrary to all evidence.

Of Lame Ducks, Chicken Eggs, and Chicken Sh*T

The Lame Duck session in Michigan is rapidly going from tragedy to farce as the Democrats who control the legislature and executive are trying to ram through as much of their progressive wish-list as they can.

Already their progressive agenda is causing both an egg shortage, and an increase in the price of eggs in Michigan from a law that had already passed and now goes into effect:

The Detroit Free Press:  Michigan to require cage-free eggs Jan. 1: What it means for you

Because with egg prices already up due to Bidenflation, it is the perfect time to ram through a massive and expensive change to practically all of Michigan's egg farmers in order to satisfy a progressive agenda.

Now for the Chicken Sh*t. 

Of course the Michgian Dems had to push through a lot of anti-gun bills:

 NRA-ILA:  Michigan: Anti-Gun Legislation Passed in the Middle of the Night Heads To Governor’s Desk

The Dems even introduced a bill to ban "deceptively colored firearms".

Why are Democrats so obsessed about color, whether in people or things?

The bill would ban not just possessing a firearm if it was not black, brown, dark gray, dark green, silver, steel or nickel - put also possessing any "deceptive coloring product" that could change the color of a firearm to something other than black, brown, dark gray, dark green, silver, steel or nickel.

Got some spray paint in your possession in anything other than the above approved colors?   

Under the bill, you have a "deceptive coloring product" and are now committing a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and/or a $500 fine.   Unsurprisingly, state and federal agencies are exempt from this law.

Thankfully this has stalled out.

But its amazing the stupid things that anti-gun right Democrats can do with control of the legislative and executive branches. (Thank you so much Tudor Dixon, Kristina Karamo, and Matthew Deperno for running the worst and most tone-deaf campaigns in 2020 when the race was yours to lose, and lose it you did, giving us this mess.)

Quite a lot more got pushed through.

- A tax break for data centers, including exempting their equipment from sales tax, because there's no capitalism like Democrat Crony Capitalism.  Note well the Democrats absolutely fought tooth and nail against lowering the sales tax for all the people of Michigan, but have no problems giving their buddies a complete exemption.

- increasing unemployment insurance benefits which will increase the costs to business that have to pay the premiums, and qualifying domestic violence victims to be able to get unemployment payments if they quit their job.

- and much more to the detriment of the people of this state.

And of course, it wouldn't be Dems running things without a farce, as even controlling the House, Senate and Governor's office they still couldn't get their act together.

The Detroit Free Press:  Michigan's Democratic trifecta hits logjam amid lame-duck chaos

As lawmakers entered the final stretch of the lame-duck session in Lansing on Wednesday, they seemed to turn finger-pointing into a competitive sport.

The absence of one House Democrat — state Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit — denied Democrats a quorum Wednesday with all House Republicans absent as they continued to prolong their protest to force votes on legislation to preserve Michigan's tipped minimum wage and preempt forthcoming changes to paid sick leave. Whitsett did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

 Yep, even controlling it all, they couldn't force all their agenda past the finish line.