40 Carried For 10

This is not a 10mm vs .40S&W post.

Instead its about the challenge I did today:  Rucking 10 miles carrying 40 pounds.

In one word:  Ouch.

Ten miles was a lot.

We drove out to Pontiac Lake Recreation Area and met up at 7:45 am.

We then did a little warm up stretching, and hit the trail.

 Beautiful clear and sunny day in the 30s, and we were soon more than warm enough as we rucked on.

 I had on a lot of safety orange as did some of the others in the group as this was an active hunting area, as well as a jogging and mountain bike area.

We passed by a few hunters and while we saw deer tracks we never saw a deer.  We were more in danger form the mountain bikers barrelling away on the trail than anything else really. The hunters we passed by all had excellent muzzle discipline and good situational awareness that there were other people in the woods, which is always nice to see.

The trail was quite rugged with many rocks and roots hiding under the leaves to trip you up. lots of slipping and recoveries from hidden roots occurred.

Switchbacks, and climbs, and dips added to the challenge, and we had an elevation gain of 1,219 feet during the walk.

We did a short break at 3 miles in and another at the 6 mile mark.

About 8.5 miles in,  I asked for a break as my feet and legs were killing me, feeling every rock underfoot and always fighting to maintain balance took a toll and I was starting to hit a wall. Others indicated they appreciated and needed the break as well.

A few minutes sitting down helped and I got up and carried on.

The last miles felt like they were forever, and the last was the hardest, with a lot of elevation change and even more damn rocks and roots.  The last mile was really the last mile plus making it a 10.46t mile ruck. But, no one gave up and we did it.

 

Afterwards we had a campfire and hot dogs to celebrate.

The group lead brought Teton Grass Fed Beef Hot Dogs for the group to cook over the fire, and while the hunger and effort of the ruck certainly made everything taste great, those were really amazing hot dogs.  I mean, best tasting hot dogs ever. Highly recommend.

 He also brought some non-alcoholic beverages and a pumpkin pie. All great stuff.  It was a great time with great camaraderie hanging around the fire after all the hard work.

Feet and legs are all sorts of sore right now.  But the accomplishment makes it worth it.

More Transit Attack Woes, Now In Chicago

On the Blue Line Train in Chicago, at 9:25 pm a 26-year-old white woman was set on fire by a 45 or 50 year old man. Depending on the reports, there was either an argument before the man doused her with a flammable liquid and set her on fire, or was simply sitting there when the man poured the liquid on her and set it on fire in an unprovoked attack.

The man is not being identified by the media, so you can draw your own conclusions.

While not identifying him nor providing identifying information, the media has helpfully reported almost every other detail about him.

He had previously been arrested 53 times, and has a record with 9 felony convictions with only having jail time for two of them. His latest assault before this one took place in August when he knocked out a female social worker causing a major head injury when he was being held in a psychiatric hospital. 

So much for replacing cops with social workers. 

He was released and set free, after that last attack, because of course he was. Set free by a Cook County Judge and sent home on home monitoring which was apparently not being monitored very well at all. Should we mention he has no home of record, either?

CWBChicago.com:  CTA fire attack suspect knocked a psych ward employee unconscious, but a judge decided to let him walk the streets: court docs

Yep, let mentally ill criminals continue to walk the streets no matter how many crimes they commit, let them roam free on public transit, then go on about how violence is down and Chicago and its transit system is very safe after an attack inevitably happens.  Much like the Iryna Zarutska  event a mentally ill criminal arrested multiple times but always given a slap on the wrist, if that, and returned to commit crimes again and again and again until someone gets killed or seriously maimed.

Anarcho-tyranny at its finest. 

3.5 Miles Going Uphill Both Ways

Met up with the Rucking Group last night after work on the east side of Oakland County.

It was raining, because of course it was.

That is a photo of me taken during the previous ruck group jaunt in the rain in October. I looked pretty much like that last night.  Except that I did add a blaze orange hat for yesterday's ruck .

The rain eventually petered out, and we continued on without it.  The rain made the roots and rocks a lot more slippery, and it was full on dark as we rucked through the woods. The pace is considerably slower in those conditions.

We went up hills, went around the trail and then did the same hills again.  Then the group leader indicated he wanted to do the hills one more time for good measure so we all obliged. 

Quite a good workout and a good bunch of guys.

Sunday Brunch With Mr. B.

Mr. B. Flew in to KPTK today. I wasn't flying as the Archer is still down getting its new engine, and the Dakota was out for the weekend with another pilot. So Mr. B. came to visit.

Not Mr. B.

 

 

He landed with one heckuva crosswind. It was blowing 18 gusting 25 knots at 280-310 for a 15 knot plus gusty crosswind component.

 He did it with style, and made it look easy, with a very nice landing.

 He taxi'd in and parked, and we headed off to a great brunch, which he kindly paid for.

After a great time catching up, I drove him back to the airport.  

He did the preflight, and as he did that I removed the nose chock, and he got the engines started and soon headed back home.

It was a darn good meet-up. 

Yesterday 4.5 Miles and 45 Lbs

Yesterday I hit the trail once again. I increased the ruck weight again to 45 pounds for this one.

Yet again, the same trail had a difference appearance as fall is really putting on a show and leaves cover the ground.

 Makes your footing a little bit more interesting as you can't see the rocks, ruts, and tree roots waiting beneath the leaves to make you do the Don't Fall Dance. 

I did multiple laps around the trail, keeping an average pace of just under 20 minutes a mile per lap.

Interestingly, I did not see a single deer this time. As it was Opening Day for firearms deer season, they may have decided to make themselves scare, even as there is no hunting allowed in the township, and the deer seem to know that.

Fewer people were on the trail than the last time, and that number will keep declining as fall falls into winter.

 Not a bad ruck of 4.5 miles.

Veteran's / Memorial Day 2025

On the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of 11th Month of 1918, the guns fell silent ending the First World War. 

The hope it would be the War To End All Wars did not last, and it seems almost naive looking back that it was believed that it could be so. 

On this day we can both honor our veterans, and remember the sacrifices of those who gave their lives to defend our county in all of the conflicts that have occurred.

The last of the veterans from the First World War have passed on, and approximately 66,000 American veterans remain who served in the Second World War.

Their experiences, both those who survived and who died in these conflicts, will be lost unless they are honored and remembered, and their stories told and recorded. 

That's One Turkey Who Won't Make It To Thanksgiving

The Jerusalem Post: Florida police kill Turkish man threatening Tallahassee synagogue, Ron DeSantis 

A Florida resident shot and killed a Turkish national on Thursday after deputies said they saw him reaching for a gun while they were serving him a warrant related to threats he had made against both a Tallahassee synagogue and public officials, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office said.

Ali Bayhan, 38, was suspected of making threats against multiple elected officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and of calling in a bomb threat to Temple Israel in Tallahassee, the office told local media station WCJB.

Threatening terrorist attacks on a synagogue and the governor of a state, and then pulling a firearm on sheriff's deputies when they come to arrest you is going to end in the appropriate result. 

The Gales Of November, Remembered

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Immortalized in a ballad by Gordon Lightfoot, the legend of the wreck lives on.

On November 10, 1975, the 725-foot-long Great Lakes freighter, the biggest freighter on the lakes when she was built in 1958, suddenly sank in a storm in Lake Superior, taking all 29 crew members with her.

The ship rests on the lake bottom 530 feet down from the surface, with the bow section upright and the stern upside down.

The Arthur M. Andersen, the ship that was last to see and communicate with the Fitzgerald, is now in long-term layup in Toledo, Ohio, and may be retired from service soon, ending a long career and an operating connection to that fateful day 50 years ago.

A documentary showing the Edmund Fitzgerald in its condition as of the last expedition in 1994 gives a lot of interesting footage of the wreck:

 

There may never be another expedition to the wreck, as it is considered a grave and requires a permit to be visited.  That permit is not being issued by the Canadian government since the 1990s expedition. The presence of at least one visible body of a crew member found during the 94 expedition is one of the factors for the denial of permits for the wreck. 

The deep and cold fresh waters of Lake Superior preserves the wreck, and as the song says, Superior does not give up her dead, even 50 years after the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Answer To This Question Is No

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan wants AI jobs and 100% clean energy. But can it do both?

At the same time Michigan's Democrats have required that power generation be from 100%clean  renewable sources by  2040, they now want to add a demand of gigawatts of power form their latest shiny fetish - Data Centers.

The power demand from data centers are daunting:

DTE also plans to provide power for the Stargate campus, OpenAI announced. In an Oct. 30 earnings call, DTE officials said they secured an agreement to power a 1.4-gigawatt data center. For reference, DTE’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant in Newport produces about 1.2 gigawatts of power, enough energy to power a city of a million people, according to the company. OpenAI said the power used for its Stargate campus will come from existing energy supply, and DTE said the data center will absorb electric costs, not local ratepayers.  

Not likely. Especially as the Democrats don't want increase reliable baseline production most especially not with nuclear power.

That one data center will take all of Fermi 2's generation just by itself, forget adding another data center.  They want even more. We're already susceptible to brown outs due to a lack of generation capability here,  and they want to add data centers to add to the load without increasing generation capability.

Unicorns and rainbows aren't going to power the Michigan Democrat's data center dreams. Until Dems get serious about power generation, this demand fir shiny hip data centers need to be stopped as it is unplugged from reality.

Apparently The German Words "Reichstag Feuer" May Just Be Pronounced In English As

"January 6 2021".

Bad enough that there were indeed Capitol Police officers letting demonstrators into the building, and after years of denial it turns out over 26 FBI confidential informants in the crowd on January 6, and there were 274 undercover FBI agents present at the demonstration after it began.  

The latest news, that makes this seem even more like a Reichstag Fire event, is the latest allegation that the heretofore unknown person who planted pipe bombs by both the Democrat National Headquarters and Republican National Headquarters was a Capitol Police Officer at the time. 

On top of that, after the incident the officer switched over to working for the CIA - not that there's anything wrong with that.

Blaze Media: Former Capitol Police officer a forensic match for Jan. 6 pipe bomber, sources say

That alleged analysis, if proven to be true, would certainly explain why federal law enforcement under Obama and Biden was impressively incurious and indeed seemingly the opposite of eager to find and arrest the suspect who had been caught on camera planting the devices - with one FBI agent stating they were pulled off surveillance of the residential area of the suspect at the time.  

 Video of the bomber walking away after planting the devices was only released to the public this year once President Trump was back in office. I'm sure there were some reasons to delay releasing it through the course of the entire Biden administration. 

One would hope this lead is followed up and confirmed and prosecuted appropriately, or found to be a case of mistaken identification quickly. 

It does make one wonder why they certainly did not apply the same zeal to identifying a person planting actual IEDs with the same zeal and unblinking focus that they went after identifying and arresting those who did no more than enter the Capitol without doing any damage. 

Rather curious indeed and quite an interesting development.

6 Miles

It was a chill 40 degrees outside as I got to the trail today.

Time to up my rucking game a bit.

 Since the Group 10-mile ruck is coming up on November 22, it was time to increase the mileage.

For additional difficulty, I added 5 pounds to the pack, bringing it to 40 pounds.

First three miles were done in just under an hour at an average 19.55 minutes a mile pace. 

The nature trail is different every time I ruck it now.

Can you spot the three deer in this photo? 

In addition to deer, many ducks were hanging out.

Not a ton of people on the trail,  as the cooler weather reduces people showing up, but still quite a few.   But most of the time I pretty much had a good portion of the trail all to myself, occasionally passing others or them passing me from the other direction.  All good and the solitude and quiet while moving through the woods was rather nice. The noisiest thing, aside from passing people talking on their phones, was the squirrels running through the brush.

By mile five, I could definitely feel the hike, and my feet were informing me that they were no longer enjoying the process, and why did I add another five pounds to the pack, anyway? 

But I pressed on, and completed my 6 mile goal.

 Pretty much achieved 6 miles in 2 hours which was the plan.

Not a bad way to spend a beautiful morning. 

No, Don't Do That

No, you really can't do this:

Fox2 Detroit: White Lake Township man who fatally shot burglar charged with manslaughter 

Months after a homeowner fired shots at several individuals breaking into his detached garage in White Lake Township, the 24-year-old resident has been charged with manslaughter, assault, and two other felony counts.

The details make it even worse.

He allegedly used a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and fired two shots into the garage through a windowless locked door. As the burglary suspects fled, Knapton then fired five more shots before going inside his house. 

So, 6 teens and apparently 1 adult broke into his detached garage, which had been broken into on multiple other occasions. Clearly raising his ire. But, his response is absolutely wrong.

In Michigan, you can legally use deadly force in only three circumstances - none of which were present here. 

In addition, the garage was detached so you don't get castle privilege for that. 

Even worse, he then randomly fired through a windowless door not identifying his targets.

On top of that, He did this in a county with a very anti-gun prosecutor. 

His situation can best be described as started with an F and ending in a ed. 

Dude should have called the police and at most threw a pepper spray grenade into the garage and called it a day. 

So It Is Now Ok To Hit Someone With A Sandwich In DC

NBC News: Jury acquits D.C. 'sandwich guy' charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent

Certainly not a great precedent and a decision based on politics rather than legal principles.

But, given it was a DC jury and the person hit by a sandwich was an ICE agent and because Trump, it is easy to understand how the jury ignored the evidence and found the thrower not guilty of a misdemeanor for the assault, buying into the argument that he had a First Amendment right to assault a federal officer.

Whether it would have been the ICE Agent's First Amendment right to then take said sub sandwich and shove it down Sean Dunn's throat is unresolved.

Hitting someone with an object is an assault.

It gets charged as an assault as we want to, theoretically, let the cooler-head government handle the criminal action rather than require the victim of an assault take matters into their own hands and school the assaulter to seek justice and thus lead to more violence. 

By allowing politics to degrade what was clearly an assault into a non-crime, the jury just harmed the very basis of the social contract in the District.

At this point, based on this precedent, you can now probably throw a sandwich at someone with no legal repercussions in DC. The knuckle-sandwich you may get in response, however, will be harder to avoid.

It is also an open question as to what else this ruling allows you to throw at federal agents with zero consequences and whether that immunity from criminal charges will continue when the Democrats are in charge. 

An Interesting Omission, That

The Detroit News reported on the motorist in France that deliberately rammed a bunch of cyclists.

The Detroit News: Motorist drives into pedestrians and cyclists on French Atlantic island of Île d’Oléron, 9 injured

The report managed to omit a rather interesting detail. 

The interesting detail the Detroit News and AP just happened to omit?

The driver shouted Allahu Akbar when he was arrested. 

A clearly unimportant detail, and, of course, the motive for this deliberate attack will clearly never be known. 

The Democrats Have Made Their Choices, Let Them Live With Them

The selections were all in blue strongholds, and Democrats made their choices.

In New York City the Democrats had a choice of Democrat-authoritarian Cuomo and a Democrat-Islamo-Socialist Mamdani, and they went for Mamdani for Mayor.  After all it was an easy sell when even as he's never held a managerial position ever he offerered free stuff and socialism as the panacea for NYC.  Not a particularly great choice either way, but that is the Democrat bench right now.

I guess if Democratic Socialists figure if they can make it there, they can make it anywhere.

But, given how the DSA's version of socialism has so far failed everywhere it has ever been tried, leading to financial ruin and social harm, I'd bet against them succeeding in New York City, too.

Good luck NYC, you're going to need it as you're about to get what you asked for, good and hard.  

California voted to gerrymander the Republicans out of existence in their state.  I guess as a result they won't have the Republicans to blame for the state of their state but will still blame them anyways.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, the NAACP endorsed a white woman over an African American woman, not that there's anything wrong with that.

More importantly, the Democrat voters of Virginia put into office as Attorney General a candidate who advocated and fantasized about shooting his opponent and the deaths of his opponent's family.

The next time a Democrat prattles on about "stochastic terrorism" tell them to text someone who cares, as they surely do not. At least, they do not so long as the stochastic terrorist is a Democrat. 

After All, If The Sharia Fits....

Of course, now that the attempted terrorist attack was stopped by the FBI, Islamic Civil Rights gorups in Dearborn are concerned

Because it makes Arabs and Muslims look bad, of course.

IJR: ‘Civil Rights’ Leaders Complain Media Coverage Of Terrorism Makes Arab Town Look Bad

 Norm Macdonald sure had it right.

No condemnation of the planned attack by these Arab Civil rights groups. 

No condemnation by these groups of the clear link to an Islamic radical imam that lives in Dearborn that apparently gave a coded green light for it either. 

Nope, just that talking about it makes Dearborn and the Islamic Arabs in it look bad.

Oh, and the attack's target for these Islamics?  Gay/LGBT Clubs in Ferndale.

It seems the Democrat's Green-Rainbow alliance is showing a little strain. Queers for Palestine may want to take note of the targeting choice, if only for self preservation purposes.

Jitsu: Sometimes You're The Fly, Sometimes You're The Windshield

In this case I got to be the fly.

Finally got to Jitsu after work yesterday.

Helped out in the white belt level class which was fun and good to work on my basic techniques.

Then I did the Rolling Techniques class which really helps refine your rolling and self defense capabilities.  

For example, it is amazing how simply moving a person's arm down towards their hip while doing an Americana arm lock massively increases the pressure and pain of the arm lock. Lots more effect for a lot less work.  

Great class.

Then on to the Master Cycle class for more advanced technique.

I was the only blue belt amongst 4 purple belts. 

I distinctly remember someone saying " Blue Belts Are Friends, Not Food." 

Did I mention this was also a fight sim class where there are punches being thrown as well as jitsu?

It worked out about as well as you could expect.

Yep, I got to be the fly hitting the windshield repeatedly. Much was learned as a result, including discovering the license plate on one of the trucks that hit me.

Upside, it is always a great ego check, especially if you start thinking you're good. Work with higher belts and immediately realize how much you still need to learn and work on in order to improve your technique. 

Great classes, great workout, and I was totally beat by the end of it and had no problem getting to sleep and staying asleep all night as a result, which was nice. I really need to do jitsu more often and get in better shape overall, which I'm working on.

Went To The Airport Today

On arriving at the hangar, there was a small issue with the Archer that I quickly picked up on during the preflight:

 

Yep, the initial preflight showed that it was clear the Archer was not going to be flying today.

Of course, I knew this before going to the airport, and the aircraft has already been scheduled as out of service.  

As Flying Club Secretary, the first of the month is when I need to go to the hangars and collect and record the flying times for the prior month and do some other duties to keep the club flying along.

We're doing the overhaul/replacement of the engine, as the replacement engine finally arrived from Lycoming after a wait time of over two years from date of initial order.

Yep, Covid delays have continued and really set back engine delivery dates, and painfully doubled the prices of engines as well.

So, the old engine has been removed from the air frame,and is currently still attached to the hoist.

It has done yeoman service, being rock solid and reliable, but it is over TBO. It is time for the overhaul to get the Archer equipped with a zero-time engine. This awesome engine's most excellent engine core will go back to Lycoming to be rebuilt and will likely make its next owner extremely happy.

But, the new engine sure looks all nice and shiny:

The install will take awhile, and we also need to replace the intake manifold as we've found a crack in it when the engine was removed, so that's a nice extra unexpected expense that needs to be done. 

Putting it all back together by the book will also take some time, and no shortcuts will be taken. Then the plane will get fully checked out and after that go back into service with the club after everything is back in tip-top shape.

Looking forward to getting this easy-handling and reliable bird back in the air. 

FBI Interdicts Terrorist Cell In Dearborn

Its rather productive when the FBI focuses on actual threats rather than say parents at PTA meetings. 

The Detroit News; FBI arrests Michiganians accused of plotting terrorist attack over Halloween weekend

 Don't you love how the headline identifies the suspects in Dearbornistan as  Michiganians?

The Detroit Free Press: Terrorist plot thwarted in Michigan, FBI Director Kash Patel says: What we know

Very little has been released identifying the suspects or the nature of the plot so far, or it has been released, and the mainstream media here has decided revealing such would be too politically incorrect. 

Apparently the terrorist attack was to take place this weekend, so good job to the FBI for interdicting that.

Get Your Democrat Crony Capitalism Right Here

Once again Gov Whitmer is picking winners and losers, but, mostly losers.

After wasting millions on failed battery plant projects, subsidized to the tunes of millions of Michigan taxpayer 's dollars,  she's now moved on to subsidizing data centers. 

The Detroit News: Massive OpenAI data center planned for farmland near Ann Arbor

What could possibly go wrong?

Quite An Appealing Brief

Trump's attorneys have filed an appeal in the THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK v DONALD J. TRUMP case. The one where he was convicted of 34 very dubious felony counts in a proceeding  that very much was a case of "Give me the man and I will give you the case against him."

But, that conviction. as irregular as it was, gave the Democrats their ability to call him a felon during and after the election, and that is all that mattered.

While the very well-written brief is obviously written to favor Trump's side of the case, the facts and law in it are rather damning.

It's worth a read to see the documented multiple machinations and legal f--kery that went on in the case, and it points out a multitude of grounds for reversing the conviction  -- and all it takes it one. 

I'd expect this conviction to be reversed on appeal, much to the horror of the Left. 

Give it a read and decide for yourself.   It will be fun to see the brief in response.

Oopsies: House Democrats Fail Badly At Information Security

Democrats often put getting Trump ahead of all else, including competence at rather basic things.

Things like information security  and identities of people with Top Secret clearances working for Democrats open to the web for exposure and manipulation.

Wired: Hundreds of People With ‘Top Secret’ Clearance Exposed by House Democrats’ Website 

THE SENSITIVE PERSONAL details of more than 450 people holding “top secret” US government security clearances were left exposed online, new research seen by WIRED shows. The people’s details were included in a database of more than 7,000 individuals who have applied for jobs over the last two years with Democrats in the United States House of Representatives.

What could possibly go wrong? 

Democrats and websites really don't go well together.  Obamacare's failed roll-out; FAFSA's failed roll-out; and now their own job recruitment site. 

What does Borepatch often say?  "Security wasn't an afterthought; it wasn't thought of at all."

A Little Ruck and Tires

I did a 41 minute ruck around the neighborhood this morning still with the 35 pounds in the ruck, and managed to do almost two miles in that time, missing it by just a bit when I got a call while rucking involving tires.

Not much to see, just some Canadian Murder Chickens giving me the side-eye.

 

So, the ruck got cut short by needing to help a friend add air to their tires.  I have an inflator and the friend does not, and the TPM sensors on the car were screaming.  

Tires are showing low inflation today because since we've had a cold snap recently the air pressure dropped, and so it was time to add air to the tires. The pressure had dropped from the recommended 41 psi (found on the inside of the drivers door frame)  to 35 psi which is a pretty decent drop and enough to set off the warning.

I also checked and topped up my tires as well, as they too had dropped due to the cold below the recommend fill amount down to 38 psi. Not so much that they would kick off the TPM sensors.  Back up to the stated 41 psi they went as well.

Still it was a decent little working to get moving this morning, and everyone's tires are inflated to where they should be, so not a bad start to the day.  

So, if you've had a cold snap in your area now that autumn is here, you might as well check your tire pressure and adjust as required.

A Good Ruck With Eaton Rapids Joe

After the range I drove out to Kensington Metropark to meet up with Eaton Rapids Joe, who was coming from the other direction.

Met at the Nature Center, got our packs on, and headed out on the trail.

It was a beautiful fall day to get some rucking in.

 

We walked the trails, chatting and catching up as we did so. ERJ told me about how things are going on the farm, which is always interesting to learn about. Many more topics were discussed and much laughter was had as we moved down the trail.

Along the way, there were some Sandhill Cranes wandering about.

ERJ noted they are often called the Ribeye of the Sky. This sounds quite culinarily interesting. These ones, however, were not on any menu.

We rucked for an hour and 18 minutes, for a total distance of 2.98 miles.  So, we got some exercise in, which is a good thing. The trail was overall pretty moderate in grade and condition, so it wasn't bad. I only rolled my ankle on a hidden rock once, doing an impressive hop and skip performance to regain my footing and prevent from falling.

It was a darn good ruck, as rucking with a friend is better than rucking alone, and it was good to meet up with ERJ yet again.  He also got me some locally sourced organic wood for my smoker from his farm, which I highly appreciate.

We will need to meet up and do this again. 

Saturday Range Trip

So I went to the range today to get some live fire practice in.

I have not been doing dry fire practice on a daily basis as things like trips and other commitments are getting in the way but I got some practice in.

So I was once again doing so single shot draws form concealment at 7 yards.  This time in a sweatshirt hoodie as the cover garment to reflect the current temperatures.

So we would see if I got any improvement since my last outing. 

String 1 had a best time of 1.44 for a hit and the worst at 2.11 from way over-confirming the dot after a shot before that over-confirming shot missed. Average was 1.64 but 5 charlies in the string.

String 2  had a best time of 1.50 with a hit, 1.29 with a charlie, and one real slow over-confirming 2.13 but most were in the 1.5s and 1.6s for an average of 1.65.

String 3 got pretty consistent with only one miss and a high of 1.96, which hilariously was the miss  (don't ask) and a low of 1.50.  Average was  1.58 which was an improvement.

String 4  had a fastest time of 1.25 and a high of 1.69 with no misses which was good.  Average was interestingly again 1.58.

Did some Bill drills and more one shot drills, then shot the plate rack for fun from concealment.  The plate rack was at 15 yards and I got all six plates down regularly six seconds or below with my best time this round being 5.05. 

Did some more one shot drills but the times were pretty trashy and I could see I was getting slow so decided to call that drill a day.

I also ran a box of Federal 124gr HST through the Walther PDP which shot it without a hitch.  That's another 250 rounds through the PDP with zero issues.

I definitely need more practice, both live and dry, but already there are signs of improvement, which is nice.

Lack Of Standing, Much?

Some knowingly sloppy legal filing on the part of the anti-Trump left in an effort to be seen to do something to fight President Trump.

Politico: A Virginia couple is asking a judge to block Trump from tearing up the East Wing

A Virginia couple has gone to court to try to block President Donald Trump from proceeding with demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for a new ballroom.

Charles and Judith Voorhees filed a motion in Washington federal court Thursday afternoon, asking a judge to halt any further damage to the White House while the legality of the project is assessed.

There's some definite problems with this court filing.

First, there's no complaint to start the case, it is simply a motion for an injunction without any support nor any brief backing it up. Sloppy and it should be dismissed out of hand for that alone.

Second, for its basis, it cites a law that specifically exempts the White House from the law. Not a winning argument, that, especially when you're seeking an injunction and once of the main elements in the granting of an injunction is the seeker's likelihood of prevailing in court.

Third and most importantly is the lack of standing.  Standing means you have a dog in the particular dog fight you are complaining of, and they simply do not have it in this one.

A couple of progressives in Virginia have no standing to even bring the motion at all regarding construction at the White House. I also see no record that they filed such a motion when Obama paved over an area to make a basketball court and put a bowling alley into the White House, which is most curious.

If you argue that they do because its the people's house, then why were people who merely wandered through Congress given federal charges for trespassing there on January 6?  After all the legislature is clearly the people's house, far more so than the White House, neh?  

In short, this is an ineffectual stunt designed to attract attention, or to try and draw a fellow-traveler Democrat judge who will ignore the law and throw an injunction into the mix because Orange Man Bad. 

Quite simply, the lawyer who filed this dreck should know better and should be sanctioned for this nonsensical filing, but most likely will not be sanctioned. We will see if the case gets properly dismissed or not.

Ruckin' In The Rain

Yesterday after work I drove out and met up with the rucking group.

It had been raining during the day and the gray clouds threatened more to come.

I had just increased my weight to 35 pounds for this hike. For some reason it felt considerably heavier than the 32 pounds I had carried the last time.

Sure enough, not more than 3 minutes into the ruck, the skies opened up. Not a little rain, but not a torrential downpour either.  Still, we all managed to get good and soaked and was glad I had my rain jacket on.

It also got dark while we rucked so we hiked through the woods by flashlight, making it a bit more difficult to see the tree roots, rocks, slippery muddy areas and  other trip and slip hazards to make the ruck more enjoyable and slowed us down a bit as a result.

We did 2 miles in just under an hour under those conditions, which isn't all that bad.

Not a bad bit of exercise with a fun bunch of people. 

Weekend At Gainesville

Went to visit the younger heir at University of Florida last weekend. 

Little did I know when I booked the flight and trip that it was Homecoming Weekend.

Traffic was rather interesting as a result.

Made it through the traffic jams, and had a great weekend.  Took the kid shopping and errand running as I had a car and she did not.  We hit her favorite restaurants as well.

We also went to watch the Gators play the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

I got us some decent seats in the end zone.

A field goal narrowly passed over our heads.

A crowd of over 90,000, mainly Gator fans, with a sprinkling of diehard Mississippi State fans watched it with us. Lots of good-natured banter went back and forth.

It got rather loud whenever a penalty was called on the Bulldogs: 

 

The Gators seemed on the cusp of defeat when they were leading 23-21 in the 4th Quarter, with the Bulldogs inexorably advancing down the field into easy field goal range with little time remaining on the clock.

All seemed lost, and then the Bulldogs threw a pass and it was intercepted, and the Gators won!

 A very exciting game, and I''m now 2 wins watching for Gators football live.

It was a great visit and a great time with the younger heir.

No Kings, Just Oligarchs

Surprising absolutely no one, it turns out the "No Kings" rallies are heavily funded by the Left's oligarchs.

 Far from a grassroots protest, this one is the Left's fully-funded attempt at a color revolution when they can't tolerate losing an actual free and fair election.

No Surprise There

The Telegraph: Hamas is killing Palestinians. Unsurprisingly, the Left don’t seem to care

The Left celebrated when Hamas killed and kidnapped Jews, protested vociferously and created the false "genocide" canard when Israel fought back

 Now, the Left is totally silent now that Hamas is busy killing Arab civilians. Not even a whisper of condemnation.

No Jews (involved) so No News, of course. 

If It Were The Other Way 'Round

There would be protests, shops likely would be looted, cities might even get set on fire.

In a lovely example of Anarcho-Tyranny, and a two-tier justice system in Washington DC,  two of the Black teen assailants (of the multiple teens that committed the attack) of the white DOGE employee Edward Coristine were just sentenced.

The male teen was found guilty of felony assault, simple assault, robbery and attempted robbery in the incident, and the female was convicted of simple assault.

 They both got, yep, you guessed it:

Probation with no jail time. 

Fox News: Teens who assaulted former DOGE staffer get no jail time with probation-only sentences

Good to know you can commit felony assault, simple assault, robbery and attempted robbery in one attack and get probation and walk out of the courtroom free and clear.  Well, you won't.

Because this judge is all about rehabilitation rather than punishment for the two attackers in question.

Just imagine the outcome if the races in question were reversed.

Stupid Criminals: Do You Want To Get Shot? Because That Is How You Get Shot

The Detroit Free Press: Roseville man shot by police after rear-ending patrol SUV, pulling knife on officers

Yep, that is exactly how you do that. 

If you ram a police car right outside the police station, and then get out and advance on the officers with a knife in your hand, and refuse to drop the weapon, you are pretty much guaranteed going to get shot.

Attacker is now in hospital with charges pending. No other info on the attacker released at this point. 

Israeli Hostages Released

The last 20 living Israeli hostages have finally been returned. The bodies of the dead have yet to be exchanged.

The Detroit News: Living Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are freed as part of Gaza ceasefire

Unfortunately the release of the hostages meant releasing 1,900 Arabs many of whom were in prison for mass murder and other acts of terrorism.

The exchange rate as demanded by Hamas was practically 100 Arab prisoners for each living Israeli.

This may signal the start of a ceasefire that may hold for awhile.

Well, it will likely hold until Hamas or the PA feel frisky enough to break it again, just as Hamas broke the last ceasefire that was in place on October 7 2023. 

Dry Fire: Chasing The Beep

Since I was able to draw and hit the target at 7 yards in 1.17 seconds -- once, just once -- that means it is possible for me to do it.

So, I have decided that that is my current shooting skills challenge: A consistent hit on a 7-yard A zone in 1.17 seconds or less from concealment. 

This will not be easy, at least not for me, hence a proper challenge.

So today, I set the timer for a part time of 1.5 seconds in an effort to start getting my draw time more consistently lower.

After clearing the room of ammo, which is easy as ammo is never stored in that room, I then triple checked the pistol was clear, holstered up and began to practice.

Spent 25 minutes doing draws on an A-Zone at 7 yards away, trying to make sure I had a good sight picture onn the target and touching the trigger before the second beep.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes I rushed and did not have a good sight picture.

Stopped after getting it down to a consistent draw under 1.5 ending with a the dot right on the target and finger touching the trigger.

Next, I'm going to start chasing the 1.4. 

A decent bit of practice, and a step on the way towards the 1.17. 

A Ruck In The Woods-ish

After the range I went home, dropped things off in a secure manner, and did a ruck today on the nature trail.

The leaves are a-changing.

 

Overcast, but it was a very pleasant day to get out and move about. 

I did a 3 mile walk carrying 32 pounds in my ruck in the woods. I did it in an hour, with a varied pace, stopping or often walking at a slow and quiet pace to take the occasional snapshot of the wildlife.

  

 

Quite a number of deer were out asking to be photographed. 

Also got to see the ducks work on the synchronized mooning of passers-by.

 

It was a nice relaxing activity outdoors in very enjoyable weather.

Saturday Range Time

I've been doing some dry fire practice this week, every other night after work to see if I can show some improvement.

Went to the range this morning to find out.

 First did 18 rounds of single shot at 7 yards drawing from concealment.

Best time was 1.51 seconds, worst was 2.19 from way over-confirming the target after a miss of the A zone into the C area of the target.  Average of the 18 was 1.69, and four missing charlies, all off to the left of the A-Zone. 

 Not bad for a warm up.

Then on to some Bill Drills.

Average time for 6 Bills was 3.57 with the fastest at 3.22.

Then back to some 1x7s.

18 of them.  Fastest was a flow-state hit in 1.17!  Everything just jelled for that shot - from reacting to the beep, to the draw, to the presentation felt amazing. That was rather happy-making. 

Average of the 18 was 1.61 with 4 of the 18 being charlies. So I was showing some speed improvement in the second round. 

My fastest times other than the solitary 1.17 were 1.40, with two of those smacking the A-Zone, and the best average time for an 18-shot 1x7 string was 1.57.  Lots to work on there.

More Bill drills, with the best one of the day finally getting into the sub-3 second range with a 2.95 clean, which was nice.

So the dry fire is likely helping quite a bit as my times are down form before.  Will track this a bit more as I continue to practice and we will see how it goes. 

After finishing 200 rounds through the PDP,  I switched to the Tavor TS-12 and practiced some ammo select drills.  I worked on switching the ammo type form what was in the primary tube to a different ammo selection. 

I now have the action sequence down to do Ammo Selection Drills for the Tavor.

The sequence goes: 

1. Feed substitute ammo into a non-active tube.

2.  Rotate non-active tube to feeding position.

3. Smack the shell carrier lever.

4. Work the action, which removes the current round from the chamber and replaces it with the substitute ammo into the chamber.

5.  Fire the substitute round onto the target.

I find I am getting quicker with it with practice, and that adds to this shotgun's versatility.

It was a solid practice session at the range. 

In The Running For Detroit Mother Of The Year Award

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit student stabbed by classmate whose mother snuck a knife into school, officials say.

A student was stabbed by a classmate during school Wednesday at Gompers Elementary-Middle School, according to officials.

The stabbing occurred after the child’s mother reportedly gave her child a “small knife,” said a statement from the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

 How did the eighth grader get the knife in past the metal detectors?  Mom.

The mother entered the school through a metal detector that went off, the district said. The school’s security guard did not search the mother, according to DPSCD.

Bit of a security lapse there, and the guard was suspended for that breach in security.

Meanwhile, mom and child were arrested for the stabbing. 

AI: Don't Trust And Verify

Yet another set of attorneys are being properly sanctioned for using an AI tool that created fake caselaw and citations that the attorneys filed with the court.

The attorneys did not verify that the answer was actually truthful and the cited cases actually both existed and stood for the proposition the response claimed they did.

The citations in fact neither stood for that position nor even actually existed in reality as AI had completely fabricated them.

That is a problem. 

Filing fraudulent cases then led to appropriate sanctions on the attorneys when court staff checked and saw they did not actually exist. 

This is not the first time this has occurred, and you would think attorneys would have wised up by now and figured out that AI provides a response to your prompt, but that response is not necessarily going to be truthful and at times is completely fraudulent and it is incumbent on you to verify any answer it may give.

At this point if AI tells you the sky is blue, you need to stick your head out the door and verify it, otherwise you're going to miss the very visible oncoming storm that will bite you. 

When you're filing a document with the court, it is on you to verify what you are filing is truthful and correct and crucially that the citation supporting your position actually exist.

Too many attorneys are taking shortcuts trying to save time and using AI tools that do not give valid and correct answers but are not just spouting answers it thinks you want to hear, but are actively producing fabricated citations to back up the false information.

Since AI is this provably bad at providing factual answers for legal questions, what other things are people relying upon and using it for that also will be shown to be fabrications and false?

Back From T.O.

So the visit concluded, I got ready to return homeward.

Weather forecast was good, all electronic border crossing stuff was done, and I went to the Island.

I checked out of the FBO, did the pre-flight and got ready to depart.

I had the more complicated departure procedure with transition and arrival procedure already filed as I figured they would give it to me anyways, so might as well. 

They did.

So I did the run up and took off from Runway 26 and began the departure procedure, turning south over the Lake as I did so climbing to 2,000 feet which isn;t a lot when you're over the Big Lake.

 

However, Toronto Center soon climbed me higher and I was first cleared to 3,000 then 4,000 and finally up to 6,000.

The problem was a cloud layer that decided to be right at my flight level.

 The problem is this batch of clouds had an attitude problem. In that they liked to try and change my aircraft's attitude.

Yep, I was soon in IMC.

 

I would then be in and out of IMC for most of the flight, getting some light precip in the clouds and experiencing everything from mostly light chop to moderate chop, on  to moderate turbulence and one episode of severe turbulence which was not fun as it put the nose up at a very high angle and my airspeed started rapidly dropping into stall territory until it let up.

Trying to cloimb out didn;t help, I climbed up to 8,000 and was free for a bit but then a set of clouds from 10,000-5,000 feet loomed ahead.  so it was in and out of IMC for most of the flight.

On top of that, beverage selection was quite limited.

 Today's lunch was either a protein shake or the protein shake, so I chose the protein shake.  It was extra shaken from the turbulence as well.

Finally by the border the clouds lifted enough so 6,000 was just under the worst of it.

 A nice easy handoff to Selfridge ANGB controllers and across the border I went.

Then I got the ATIS at Pontiac and was handed off to Detroit Approach.

 Detroit Approach then had to give me some delay vectors as everybody had chosen to arrive at Pontiac just as I was coming in qnd he needed to create spacing to handle all the planes coming in.

The controller at Detroit Approach did an impressive job perfectly sequencing all the traffic in for landing with excellent separation and I was soon doing a visual straight in approach to 27L, which I backed up with an RNAV approach for practice as well.

I landed with a great landing, very nice and smooth and where I wanted to land.  I went to Customs, got cleared, and then taxi'd to the north side of the airport and shut down and took care of the plane.

That's 2.6 hours with .5 bouncing around in IMC, and a great landing. 

Saturday Flyday

 It was a beautiful day Friday when I headed to the airport after filing my flight plan and other required electronic paperwork, placed the required and recommended calls, and got ready to go.

I would be flying the Archer for this trip as the Dakota was down for maintenance. 

Soon, I was holding short of Runway 27R awaiting takeoff clearance.

 

I soon took off IFR, flying runway heading and climbing to 3,000, then Detroit Approach directed me to climb to 4,000, then turn due north and climb to 5,000.

Then I was turned on course and instructed to climb to my filed altitude of 7,000.  A fair bit of haze but it was a smooth flight and a beautiful day.

Handed off to Selfridge Air National Guard's friendly controllers, I soon crossed the border by Port Huron, flying by the Blue Water Bridge, which had a fair amount of traffic, and began talking with Toronto Control.

 

 

I then flew by Sarnia's airport.

 Then over the city of London.

Toronto Center, as I got closer to my destination then amended my flight plan by having me go past it to an initial waypoint for the localizer approach for Runway 26, way over the lake rather then direct to Toronto Island Airport.  I was then told to expect the visual approach from there and they started descending me down to 3,000 feet.

They gradually moved me closer to the shoreline, which I appreciated.

Soon I had the airport in sight and was heading for the downwind to Runway 26, maintaining 3,000 feet as instructed until I was passed over to Toronto Island Tower and had to start descending rapidly to pattern altitude.

 

It was a great view.

Then onto the downwind and an even better view of the skyline 

Turned a tight base  and made a great final approach - with speed and altitude just right, I came in for a great smooth landing. I let it roll a bit and was then off on Foxtrot taxiway and went to Stolport FBO.  I then got to play dodgeplane as  planes were coming out of the ramp as I was coming in on the same line on the ramp.

The Airport was hopping with an event where they were doing airplane rides etc, wiht lots of people wandering around, which accounted for why they had routed me a bit far over the lake towards the localizer and then had me come down quick and tightly enter for the landing.   All good.  I then made my Canada Customs arrival call and got my entry number. Then I got the plane all checked in at Stolport and then headed to the city.

That's 2.0 and one fantastic and scenic landing.