Today is the Jewish New Year. Not only a day of importance all by itself, it marks the beginning of the days of awe that end in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Gemar chatimah tovah to all my readers, and may we all have a year of peace, prosperity, and blessing.
Interesting article on the upcoming mayoral election in Deaborn.
The Detroit Free Press: Dearborn candidate running for mayor vows to battle crime and blight, cut mayoral salary
One bit of info in the article stood out:
. . .and cut by 25% Mayor Abdullah Hammoud's salary, which was higher than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's salary last year.
Yep, the mayor of Pro-Hamas and Hezbollah, Muslim-majority Dearborn, a city with a population of 103,000 people, gets a salary higher than that of the Governor of the entire state. Funny, that.
In 2024 he was paid $172,038 - more than 171% higher than the average pay for a mayor. By contrast, Whitmer was paid $159,300.
Then again, Gov. Whitmer has under-performed rather markedly for this state, and Abdullah Hammoud has performed most admirably for Hamas and Hezbollah.
After all, if Hamas' leaders can feather their nests and become billionaires, why can't the pro-Hamas mayor of Dearborn make some big bucks?
I met up with Will at the range this morning.
When you're with him it is very important to never give the range command:
"Fire At Will".
Makes him nervous. Quite understandably so.
We started off with some shotgun patterning. I had recently changed the choke on the Tavor TS-12 to a cylinder choke, for reasons.
Patterning with it showed nice tight patterns at 10 yards with Flite Control, but it opened up considerably at 15 yards - patterning with three rounds, all pellets but one were still on the target but it had spread quite a bit at that distance.
I'll likely put the factory choke back in when not using the attachment that requires the cylinder choke attachment.
I did a bit more shotgun shooting and found even the el cheapo Euro buck still would stay on the target at 10 yards, but not nearly as tightly as the flite control, which is definitely preferred for self-defense.
We then switched to handguns.
Since the Sig 320 is currently pistola non grata both at the range and in local competitions and local firearm classes, at least for now, I had to go to an alternative which had just arrived this week, along with a new holster for it.
I'll do a more thorough write up on the alternative in just a bit. I zeroed the red dot on it, it had come mounted and was shooting a tad low for me. It didn't take long to get it right on, and I and quite pleased.
Ran it through its paces, and I'm quite pleased with it. Once home I changed the grip to a smaller one to fit my hand better, which was pretty easy to do.
Did some Bill Drills from concealment and I'm clearly out of practice with times in the low 4 second range for clean runs which sucks. Some of this is due to using a completely new firearm and holster, but mostly it is because I need to get out to the range more to practice.
We then shot plate racks, and again I was out of practice on that too. But I soon had times in the 5 second and below from concealment, not great but at least not terrible.
Oh, did I mention the other possible reason why my performance sucked - it was raining cats and dogs while we were shooting the Bills Drills and plate racks?
Because it was, a lot.
Shooting glasses are kinda hard to see out of when covered in rain, just saying.
So, after getting pretty thoroughly soaked we called it a morning as Will had an appointment to go to her.
So we packed up, cleaned up the range, and headed off.
It was a good time with Will, who I hadn't seen in awhile, and a clear sign I need to get more consistent with practicing in order to improve. Fun was had.
NBC News: Arrest made after shots fired at ABC affiliate in Sacramento
A 64-year-old man suspected of shooting into an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento was arrested Saturday, police said.
The Sacramento Police Department arrested Anibal Hernandezsantana after an investigation into a vehicle at the scene led them to a home in the 5400 block of Carlson Drive. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building and negligent discharge of a firearm.
Police spokesperson Anthony Gamble said it's unclear how many shots were fired at the ABC10 building, but "it does appear at least three rounds did strike the building."
Right after Jimmy Kimmel gets fired for lousy viewer ratings and lousier views, the left lashes out.
Meanwhile, over 90 Democrats in the House are unable to condemn political violence with 58 voting against the irresolution and 38 chickening out and abstaining.
Yet again the violence is coming form the Left, and the leaders of the Left refuse to condemn it.
Stupid and Evil both.
Update: In an example of the left's stupidity once again, and that of the leftist California justice system, Anibal Hernandezsantana was released on bail. He was then thankfully re-arrested by the FBI as the state justice systme had left him free to do it again.
Fox40.com: ABC10 alleged shooter arrested by FBI hours after release on bail, attorney says
NBC had this lovely headline: Family of Mexican father fatally shot by ICE near Chicago 'wants justice to be done'
Get down far enough in the article, and you see that justice, in fact, was done. But it takes quite some time, as NBC buried the facts either deliberately or in an act of journalistic malpractice.
And NBC posted this bit on Facebook on the same article:
Nearly a week after a Mexican immigrant was fatally shot by an immigration officer during a traffic stop in the Chicago area, his family in Mexico and community members continue to seek answers as they call for more transparency in the probe looking into the sequence of events surrounding his death.
According to ICE, two officers pulled Villegas González over, but he resisted arrest and attempted to flee the scene.
Yep, it's the whole resisting arrest decision by a criminal leading to things going pear-shaped.
But wait, there's more, a lot more:
Surveillance footage from a nearby nail salon broadcast by a local CBS News TV station shows an SUV blocking Villegas González's car. Two ICE agents are seen by Villegas González’s car, one on the passenger side and the other on the driver's side. Villegas González starts backing up. As he drives his car forward, the ICE officer standing by the passenger side attempts to go after Villegas González; the other officer is not visible in the video anymore.Oh, it was that kind of resisting arrest, where you drag an officer with your car and then get shot.
One ICE officer "was hit by the car and dragged a significant distance," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, which added the officer "sustained multiple injuries and is in stable condition."
"Fearing for his own life, the officer fired his weapon," striking Villegas González, DHS stated.Yep, it is just a complete mystery, at least to NBC, leftists, and his family as to why he was shot.
Surveillance footage from a nearby auto shop captured the sounds of at least two gun shots.
A video from a witness shows the two ICE officers removing an injured Villegas González from his car after he crashed into a cargo truck. A video from the cargo truck driver obtained by Telemundo Chicago shows both ICE officers providing first aid to Villegas González.
According to ICE, both Villegas González and the injured officer were taken to a hospital. Villegas González died of multiple gunshot wounds at the hospital. The ICE agent, who has not yet been named, was released from the hospital after receiving care for back injuries, lacerations to the hand and knee tears.
A stabbing on the University of Michigan Campus led to the following description of the attacker in the Detroit Free Press:
The alert, sent at 6:22 p.m., asked people to avoid the area of the Zina Pitcher and Catherine Street. A follow up alert, sent at 7:11 p.m., identified a suspect as a heavyset male wearing a white shirt, tie and jeans, and asked anyone who sees him to call 911.
The Detroit Free Press: Suspect arrested after stabbing causes emergency alert on University of Michigan campus
Funny how this news article giving the description of the alert failed to mention a rather salient, useful, and kinda distinctive identifying feature.
I mean, there's a wide range of heavyset males wearing a white shirt, tie and jeans, even in Ann Arbor.
Oh yeah, that identifying feature, courtesy of the helpful campus alert.
You'd think that additional descriptor would be helpful in catching the attacker, but the mainstream media does not.
Anyhoo, the suspect is now thankfully under arrest and in custody.
Well he is for now, at least until Washtenaw County's progressive prosecutor's focus on racial equity and progressive justice lets him out the revolving door.
The Detroit News: Macron hopes his recognition of a Palestinian state will be a landmark contribution to Mideast peace
Desperate to distract attention from his failures domestically in La Belle France, Macron decided to dip into the Middle East.
How'd his recognition announcement work out? Well, not so good, at least not for anyone but Hamas and Macron's ego:
Politico: France’s recognition of Palestinian state scuttled Gaza truce talks, Rubio says
You mean rewarding a terrorist group after they committed terrorism and then throwing them a lifeline when they were on the ropes doesn't bring them to the bargaining table and lead to a cease fire and end to the fighting?
Sacré bleu! Who could have seen that coming? Aside from, you know, everybody.
Charles Krauthamer had his finger on the pulse of the American body politic when he wrote:
To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.
This tracked well. Conservatives generally thought liberals were simply being stupid about their beliefs and related policy choices, such as the liberal positions (manly of them impressively held together simultaneously) that:
Men and women are the same;
There are more than two genders;
You can choose your own pronouns;
Men can be women, and can play in women's sports and wander into women's bathrooms;
Trans women are women;
Teens are too young for a tattoo without parental permission, but they can have irreversible body-altering surgery without parental knowledge or consent;
DEI;
ACAB;
Law enforcement, jails and incarceration are a "sickness";
Michael Brown was a gentle giant that dindu nuthin';
George Floyd was a saint;
The mentally ill just see the world differently;
No requirement for cash bail for criminals;
A revolving door justice system; and many other positions that are far from mainstream but pushed often to the point that people opposing those views were cancelled, called racists, fascists or what have you.
Even after the murder of Iryna Zarutska, conservatives just thought liberals were really stupid to hold such policies that kept leading to terrible results for innocents in society.
No cash bail for violent offenders, a revolving door justice system, and "equity" in the criminal justice system led the murderer to be released immediately after 14 arrests on a verbal promise he'd show up for his latest offense that all came together to lead to her murder.
Yep, conservatives still considered liberals to be stupid.
After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and seeing the joyous reaction to that assassination both online and on the mainstream media by liberals, conservatives now consider liberals to be both stupid and evil.
Given where liberals considering conservatives to be evil has led, that conservatives are now considering liberals to be evil should be a rather sobering thought.
Leftists and Anti-Republicans were busy publicly claiming the murderer of Charlie Kirk was MAGA or Republican and a Groyper, or that this was "Right on Right" murder.
Since those pronouncements, after furiously groyping for straws, the left has come up empty.
Even after going so far as to photo-shopping a Trump t-shirt on the killer to hide that it was a leftist, and claiming he must be Republican because his parents were Republican, the truth did indeed come out that he was quite left, was sleeping with a trans furry partner, and killed Charlie Kirk because had "enough of his hatred", likely because his disagreed with Kirk's take on transies - or more likely he disagreed with the views of Straw-Charlie Kirk created by the Left rather than Charlie Kirk's actual views.
So now, the leftists, after being shown pretty darn dispositively that the killer was not right wing, nor Groyper, nor Republican, are heading to their next rampart of "oh, it's complicated and we don't know his ideology".
Funny how you were so darn sure he was right wing based on no real evidence, and now you claim you don't know, it's complicated, and you can shrug it off, eh?
Notice how they just can't admit they were wrong.
Kills the Left's and the Democrats' rationale for having (trans or self-claimed to be trans) men play in women's sports:
"One question I had is that you are now requiring applicants to be able to do a certain kind of pull-ups, which a lot of women cannot because of physiological differences. Are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?" Hirono asked.
Fox News: Patel defends FBI pull-up test after Hirono decries it as gender bias in Senate showdown
Upcoming Dem talking point: We were never for biological men playing in women's sports and we certainly didn't advocate polices punishing women who objected to it.
The Detroit Free Press: Dearborn mayor tells resident he's not welcome in city after opposing sign for Arab leader
Yes, Dearborn has named a street to honor someone who is Pro-Hamas, Pro-Hezbollah, and a piece of Shiite.
Then, the Muslim mayor had the temerity to tell a resident who objectedabout such an honor being bestowed on a terrorist sympathizer and propagandist that the resident is not welcome in the city.
That tells you quite a lot about Dearborn and its government, doesn't it?
Let's also note the Detroit Free Press really soft walked why there was an objection to honoring Siblani:
because of Siblani's past statements on some Middle Eastern groups.
"Past statements on some middle eastern groups". Way to bury the lede there Detroit Free Press, and provide cover for the Islamics. Well done.
They honored Osama Siblani, a pro-terrorist scumbag who has said, among other things:
We the Arabs, Whether in Michigan or Jenin, Will Help Bring the Palestinians to Victory over Israel, with Stones, Guns, Planes, Drones, Rockets, and Our Voices
says Arab-American Activist Osama Siblani during Dearborn, Michigan rally.
During a pro-Hezbollah demonstration Siblani also said:
September rally noted chants of “death to Israel” prompted an assurance from Siblani that Hezbollah “will take care of the job.”
and charmingly:
Siblani also offered a message to Israel’s Jews led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We will take you back to Poland.”
Yep, quite a man worthy of being honored in Dearbornistan. I will note that Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv, Israel -- not Poland.
CBS, The New York Times, The Detroit Free Press, Michigan's Democratic Party and many others owe an apology to The Wall Street Journal and Steve Stalinsky.
Short of the Henry Ford Museum, there's no reason to go to Dearborn and support muslim pro-terrorists, at all.
Yep, apparently in order to stop Black criminals from being shot, which makes progressives sad, there's a serious advocacy effort that police should not stop people who appear to be illegally armed in Detroit.
The Detroit Free Press: Stopped for a curfew violation, shot by police: When nonviolent stops spiral in Detroit
Yes, they're serious about this:
Futterman, the Chicago professor, questioned whether officers should chase for suspected guns, particularly when they do not see one. He helped that city craft one of the nation’s most restrictive foot chase policies after back-to-back March 2021 fatal police shootings involving foot pursuits over minor issues.
How's crime been doing in Chicago since those policies ignoring crime and restricting chasing criminals have been implemented? Oh, not so good.
Let's examine some of these chases described on the article:
Detroit police were drawn to Walter Peete by his hand in his pocket.
The 29-year-old was leaving the corner store in February 2018 after picking up a deck of cards to entertain two young cousins who’d grown bored playing Uno. For the short walk, Peete had taken an unloaded gun he was not legally allowed to have. He’d later say it was because the neighborhood was dangerous — someone had once pulled a gun on him there and his sister had been robbed.
Describing Peete’s hidden hand as gripped in a way that suggested he had an illegal gun, special operations officers driving by approached him. When Peete ran, they gave chase.
The pursuit ended with an officer shooting Peete 13 times, leaving him laying bloody in his driveway with three generations of family in the house.
Well, the article fails to mention why poor little Peete (who ain't little per the pictures) can't legally have a firearm. Maybe, just maybe, it was because he was on parole for a felony conviction for drugs. I thought we wanted to keep guns out of the hands of criminals?
The article goes on:
Why chase Rayshawn Walden?
Well, if you have to ask that question as a reporter when the following facts are in the very same article immediately following the question posed, I daresay you're a special kind of stupid:
It was a split-second decision made by a DPD officer who saw him standing at a gas station in the summer of 2020. Officer Bailey Rumschlag said his pursuit was touched off by a bulge on Walden’s hip indicating he had a weapon. As they ran, Rumschlag said Walden began turning on him with the gun in hand, prompting the officer to shoot.
Yep, when after fleeing from police, you then turn towards a police officer with a gun in your hand, getting shot is highly likely.
Let's sum up the article - Police are looking for criminals illegally carrying guns. If you're illegally carrying a gun, making sudden moves with the illegal gun while being stopped by a police officer leads to you likely being shot. The pro-criminal element in Detroit and elsewhere is upset by this.
Again, if you want to truly save Black Lives, teach Black criminals not to resist arrest, including that vital bit of information that apparently everyone else but them already knows:
If you pull a gun or you point a gun at a police officer while resisting arrest you are probably going to get shot.
So much for the Left being all about getting "guns off the street".
To escape much of the ugliness online with Leftist's celebration of the murder of Charlie Kirk, including by many people whom I thought knew better and would act better (Boy, was I wrong about that), and the other horrible events of the week, I decided to get a bit of a break in this morning.
So, I drove out and then hit the West Bloomfield Nature Trail this morning, increasing the load in the rucksack with another 5 pound soft weight to 30 pounds for a solo ruck.
30 pounds felt somehow markedly heavier than the 25 pounds from Tuesday, which of course was heavier than the previous 20. I figure I will keep adding weight as I go to increase the workout.
That this ruck hopefully would clear my head a bit was the goal, as well as the bonus of getting a workout in.
Of course, it started sprinkling rain as I began, which was not in the forecast, but that soon cleared up.
Getting into the trees and away from the sounds of traffic and the day-to-day was rather nice.
Quite a few people about, but I soon managed to get on my own and just concentrate on maintaining a decent pace and enjoy the quiet.
I was doing a 19-minute mile pace for most of the ruck, but by mile 4 I was slowing down to a 20-minute mile pace.
Solo rucking is different from group rucking. No banter or chit-chat or conversation, just moving along looking at the greenery and keeping moving. Quite calming, actually.
Certainly a bit more introspective, and it lacks the internalized peer pressure that makes you not back off your pace in a group. You don't want to slow down the group or be one to give up during a task. It also lacks the outside encouragement that others in the group give including regular check-ins to see that people are ok.
Surprisingly, I'm not the slowest and most out of shape person in the rucking group, which is nice.
I ended up doing 4.7 miles in 1.33 hours and an overall average pace of 19.55. Not a bad beginning.
It did help clear my head a bit, and I got to be inn a calm space and see some wildlife, too.
If you're getting all wound up about the terrible news and events of the past week, put the phone down, step away from the ugliness of social media, get outside, and get yourself refocused.
The ugliness will sadly all still be there when you get back, but you deserve a break from it.
In the case of George Floyd, a criminal with a record for drug possession, theft, trespass and aggravated robbery - a conviction resulting from his pointing a gun at a pregnant lady's belly while robbing her - dies or is killed - depending on who you believe - after resisting arrest and ingesting a lethal dose of fentanyl.
After his death, Democrat-led riots broke out, resulting in the deaths and murders of 26 people, injuries to hundreds, looting, arson, and over 2 billion dollars in property damage.
In the case of Charlie Kirk, a family man, is assassinated for merely winning debates and informing college youths that there is an alternative belief system to leftism.
After his death, no riots break out, merely prayer vigils (that are disrupted by leftists, of course), no deaths, no looting, no arson, and no property damage.
We are not the same.
Where were you when the world stopped turning?
2,977 people were killed and thousands injured when Islamic terrorists flew aircraft they had hijacked into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field after passengers on board that aircraft found out about what was happening and heroically fought to the end to stop their plane being used for more destruction.
Babies, policemen, firemen, everyday workers and people all died at the hands of the "Religion of Peace".
Policemen, fireman, and both ordinary and extraordinary Americans were heroes that day, giving their lives trying to save lives in the face of unbelievable devastation.
That heroism should not be forgotten.
The evil that caused the need for that heroism should not be forgotten.
Meanwhile, our education system is continuing to fail us:
They're taught by leftist progressives in schools to hate capitalism, hate conservatives and hate America. Add the mental stress and mental illness caused by the completely wrong response to handling COVID, and we're living with the results.
Leftists in just the past year have:
1. Attempted to Assassinate President Trump and that's not counting the almost successful attempt in Butler PA in July of 2024 a year and a few months ago;
2. Firebombed a Governor's Mansion to "Free Palestine";
3. Shot and killed two Jews outside a museum again to "Free Palestine";
4. Firebombed a peaceful demonstration and set Jews on fire, killing an 82-year-old, again to "Free Palestine";
5. Shot up a church, killing two children, and injuring 18 people.
6. And now they have assassinated Charlie Kirk, because they couldn't beat him and his conservative ideas in polite debate, and because to leftists, their violence is speech and a conservative's speech is violence.
This leftist violence and uncivil behavior is already beyond unacceptable, and if it continues, no one is going to like where it goes.
Rep Jasmine Crockett (D), the rather outspoken and mouthy progressive, just opened her mouth again and demolished a cherished argument of the Democrats and gun banners.
You know, it is the platitude they always make for gun bans: "You don't need a gun, the police will protect you!"
The New York Post: Dem Rep. Jasmine Crockett sparks backlash with ‘stupid’ claim about law enforcement: ‘Truly one of the dumbest statements ever made’
A clip from Crockett’s appearance on the “Grounded” podcast — which premiered last Wednesday — went viral as critics seized on her remarks.
“I want to be clear that, like, law enforcement isn’t to prevent crime. Law enforcement solves crime, OK? That is what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to solve crimes, not necessarily prevent them from happening per se,” she said.
There goes the entire progressive gun banner "police will protect you" argument right out the gun banner's window.
She's somewhat right, you know.
While Rep. Crockett is indeed simplistically glossing over the effect of the presence of police as a deterrent to crime, and the lucky events when police are able to arrive to interdict a crime in progress, and the fact that police are indeed preventing future crimes by apprehending criminals for prior outstanding crimes, she's not completely wrong in this case.
She is in fact right in that statement as the police have no legal obligation to protect general members of the public from criminals nor indeed to stop crime before it occurs.
But, the Democrats and progressives really didn't want to make that public knowledge and instead used the claim that "the police will protect you" as an argument for the general populace's disarmament.
And she just opened her mouth and put an end to that argument.
I have decided to try and get into better shape, so I joined a rucking group.
A friendly bunch of guys and there's all levels of rucking there. It's once every other week and a good way to met up with people and get some fitness in. Done it a couple times now and it has been fun and a good workout.
The group is held at one of Oakland County's parks with a decent trail course with a mix of fields and forest to traipse around in.
I had a backpack with a 20lb plate that I picked up, and I added a 5 pound scuba soft weight that I had around to it to bring it to 25 pounds this week. I figure I'll add more weight as we go.
Tonight was a 2.25 mile ruck with an added surprise. In addition to rucking, we got to rotate carrying a log in teams of three which was a challenge. Kinda fun challenge and I had not been expecting that.
A very fun activity in the outdoors, good to get out and move around with a good bunch of guys. We're apparently going to be building up to a 10 mile ruck which should be fun.
Or: You Really Don't Hate The Media Enough.
The murder of Iryna Zarutska occurred on August 22 and its been only on mainly conservative sites where it has been getting coverage as the video of the murder was leaked until just now.
The dam finally broke today and a slew of mainstream sites are finally covering it weeks later (note the datestamps of times of the stories in the Google search - mainly coming out today and indeed within hours before this post) with much of the coverage being about the accusation that the lack of coverage has been politicized by MAGA types (yes, really) as the story spread while leftist and mainstream media sources blithely failed to cover it at all.
So, why did the media not cover a story of a mentally-ill man killing an innocent woman?
Well, of course there's the racial angle, Black man killing White female is double-plus-ungood to mention, especially as there's no domestic violence angle to play here where you can blame western patriarchal family structures.
After all, Black on White violence is indeed Dog-Bites-Man to the mainstream media and statistically is the norm compared to White on Black violence.
It's a further issue not worthy of coverage as it goes directly against the left's soft on crime initiatives including no cash bail and releasing people on the happy belief criminals and mentally ill criminals at that, will show up in court on their own after being charged with violent crimes. he had been arrested and released 13 14 times prior to the murder, with the most recent release just before it took place with zero bail to reappear on his latest charge.
This also took place on mass transit in a Democrat controlled city. Democrats love their mass transit and prefer to gloss over the crime that occurs on it. And, it's in a Democrat city with soft on crime policies - so much so that the mayor in talking about the crime was more concerned and gave more time to the fact that the perpetrator had been homeless and the bromides of root causes than the fate of the victim.
On top of that, mentally ill people attacking innocents in public is commonplace, par for the course, and not to be remarked upon by the media progressives. After all, they have pushed for deinstitutionalization and hold the charming belief that the mentally ill just see the world differently from the rest of us.
Indeed, they do.
Quite simply, unless the mentally ill person uses a gun and shoots up a school or a crowd so the media and progressives can use it to promote gun bans, they're simply not interested.
So, this story had all the reasons why the mainstream media didn't want to touch it with a 10-foot pole until they were forced to do so:
An attractive and wholly innocent white victim, who was a refugee no less; a Black perpetrator who was mentally ill and had a violent criminal record a mile long who was let out to roam free again and again until he finally killed someone; and it taking place on public transit.
No wonder the media didn't want to talk about it until they were forced to do so.
Sunday morning I slept in until 8 am to recover from the night before, I then checked the weather and it was was rather good for flying.
So I let Mr. B. know we were good to go for the fly to lunch plan.
We decided to go somewhere we had not met up before and chose KRMY, Marshall, Michigan.
So I did the preflight, got VFR flight following, and was up in the air just after 11 am.
On takeoff, Pontiac Tower had me turn directly south for traffic and once out of the airspace contact Detroit Approach. I did so and continued climbing up to 4,500 feet.
Beautiful clear skies and only a single scattered cloud layer. There was a headwind that got stronger the higher you went, so 4,500 was a decent altitude to pick heading out.
The same cloud layer kept getting thicker and lower.
So, by the time it reached Marshall it was at 2,000 feet.
I got handed off from Great Lakes Approach when I was 11 miles away from the airport. It was surprisingly difficult to find the airport for some reason. It really blended in to the background scatter. I did eventually find it though, did my radio calls, and entered the downwind and then did a good pattern.
The landing was sublime, just buttering it in from flying to rolling, likely because there were no witnesses, which is when you make your best landings.
I then taxi'd in to the ramp.
The terminal has a numerical keypad entry and a rather clever entry code:
Unfortunately, with zee Google, anyone can figure out what Squawk VFR means and thus determine the entry code, but it is rather convenient.
So, I wandered around as I waited for Mr. B. to arrive.
The terminal building is nice and clean and rather comfy with some nice couches and table where a pilot and his instruction were doing a ground session for an instrument rating.
Very nice and clean washrooms as well.
There was also a nice library full of aviation books so you could pass the time rather enjoyably if you so wished to do so.
Wandering around outside the terminal there was a fair bit to see.
The historic hangar building is indeed still being used as a hangar.
There was quite a derelict-looking C-45 Expeditor at the ramp.
To say she looks rough is an understatement.
Tires are a tad flat.
We then called for a shuttle and headed off to lunch at Schuler's.
We then had a fantastic lunch.
The Prime Rib at Schuler's is highly recommended.
Fantastic food and service in just a lovely historic restaurant that has been open there since 1934, located on a very nice small town main street.
Full and happy and after having a great conversation, we headed back to the airport.
The AWOS, which is the automated weather observation system at Marshall airport was reporting the sky was clear.
Not so much.
Yep, more dodge cloud on the way back in the heavily scattered layer.
With a tailwind I was doing pretty good,
I was soon cruising at 3,500 feet below the cloud layer, along with a bit of light chop to bounce me around a bit.
Passing by Howell, I saw a plane takeoff from the airport there and fly the pattern.
Kinda neat to see the huge shadows the clouds were casting on the ground.
As usual they had me setup for Runway 27L and then had me cut north to switch over to the right downwind for 27R.
A bit of a crosswind from 310 degrees but I did a very nice landing again.
Cleaned the bugs off the plan, got it refueled and it was the end of a great lunch trip.
That's 1.0 there, 0.9 back, 2 great landings and a great lunch catching up with Mr. B.
I got an invite to a tailgate at MSU on Saturday to watch them play Boston College.
So I met up with friends, and drove to East Lansing for the tailgate.
Passed by many places I remembered including my old place of employment.
Got to the parking lot and parked the car, then walked to where the tailgate was held around 3:30.
The tailgate had it all, food, beverages, and Sparty.
So, a lot of fun was had, chatted with quite a few people, ate some great food and drank some pre-game libations. I brought 100 doughnut holes as a contribution as that was on the sign-up list.
Then we helped close up the tailgate and get ready to go see the game set to start at 7:30.
I got some tickets on the 45-yard line in Seciton 9, for not too much, and they turned out to be pretty great seats except for two drunken young men right behind us that didn't just have outdoor voices, they had no setting but yelling at the top of their lungs the entire flipping game You know you have the right to remain silent - these two lacked the ability for that completely.
Everyone else in the area was having a good time and enthusiastic and loud at the appropriate times. There was one Boston College fan right in the row in front of us, and he was a good sport, and gave as good a ribbing as he got, and everyone was friendly and fun about it.
Michigan got the first touchdown and easily made the extra point.
For the touchdown and subsequent MSU touchdowns, fireworks went off in appropriate colors.
It was a nail-biter of a game finally going into overtime and then double overtime.
MSU won in double overtime with a 2 point conversion, 42-40.
I managed to get to sleep and then sleep in a bit until 8am before my next weekend adventure on Sunday.
Got the following email:
From: Craig Smith <csmith@CRAIGSMITHLAW.NET>Subject: FW: The Aretha Franklin EstateDate: September 6, 2025 at 12:05:22 PM EDTI am counsel for Edward Franklin in the Aretha Franklin Estate., Oakland County, MI.Ed is the eldest competent child of Aretha, one of her 4 sons.My local counsel is going to withdraw, and I asap need new local counsel.You may be aware, the heavy lifting, the Will Contest jury trial, and hearing on construction of the handwritten Will are completed.We have a series of mop up one day or less hearings December 1, 8, and then January and February scheduled.I historically fly in for the in person hearings, been at it since October 2018.Any interest in being local counsel for Edward Franklin in the Aretha Estate?
Craig SmithCraig Smith Law, LC314 502-4465
As you might guess there's a whole lotta red flags with it.
Awfully informal and sent on a Saturday.
There is no website for the email address of the sender, and the domain is hidden behind a privacy setting.
While a Craig Smith was the attorney in the case, it is not the one allegedly from Missouri, which is where Craig Smith Law, LC actually is located, and that is the right phone number for that law firm, nut even the formatting for the phone number is off.
Not sure what the scam is or how it works, but the scammers are getting more inventive at least, it's at least more plausible than the email "need an attorney for a dredging contract and escrow" scam that I get at least once a month.
Looks like Dearborn Heights isn't rolling out the Arabic police patches after all.
The Detroit News: Dearborn Heights walks back post about police patch with Arabic writing
The push-back that resulted from the announcement that they would be the first police department with Arabic patches has them not just reconsidering but claiming it the whole thing was just an "internal discussion".
Sure it was.
The Dearborn Heights Police Department has decided to update their patches.
The update makes them the first police department in the United States with Arabic on their patches.
So is it DEI or DIE?
Got up this morning and headed out to the airport.
First of the month, so as the Flying Club Secretary, I did the first of the month tasks at the hangars such as retrieving all the fuel receipts, getting the log pages from August form each aircraft and transferring the Hobbs time, Tach time, and the Time before Next Oil Change to the September pages so all was in order for the month.
The I had to wait for fuel as one of our more special members hadn't refueled the plane last night after flying it and had been late this morning to call for fuel.
Then I had to reprogram the radios as the same special member had decided to use COM 2 instead of COM 1 and of course flip flopped all the frequencies.
Then with the preflight complete, I got my taxi clearance, did the run up, and was on my way to the southwest.
Beautiful day to fly.
Keeping the power in I was soon cruise climbing at 114 knots and 121 knots ground speed.
Leveled off at 6,500 feet, and was heading to Jackson at 130 knots ground speed which isn't bad for an Archer at all.
Arrived at Jackson rather quickly, and entered the downwind for Runway 7.
I had a nice pattern going and then the tower wanted me to make a tighter base turn for traffic and keep it going into a final, which I did. But this meant I was a tad high on final and had a lot of speed to burn up as a result. A very nice if both a high descent angle and high speed long landing.
There in .7 from engine start at Pontiac to shut down on the ramp by the restaurant in Jackson. Not too shabby.
I then met Mr. B., who had arrived before me and saw my high angle of approach and my long landing. There's always an audience when it is less than perfect.
We had a good breakfast and even better conversation.
The restaurant at Jackson is under new ownership and instead of The Apron is now known at Taildraggers - but the same favorites such as the Pilot's Omelette are still on the menu, the staff is much the same and it is still a great place to go.
After breakfast, we walked around a bit and then headed back to our respective aircraft to get them ready to depart.
We started up and headed out at the same time and I followed Mr. B. on the taxi to the runway and we both did our run-ups and took off in sequence. He departed to the West, and I flew to the East.
Again I made good time back to Pontiac. A few clouds and some minor bumps but nothing serious and just another lovely flying day.
The GM Proving Ground in Milford makes for both a great landmark and a great potential emergency landing location.
I soon had Pontiac Airport in sight and they had me cross over the departure end to the north and then enter the downwind for Runway 27R.
I then entered the right downwind and got landing clearance and did a good landing with 0.8 from startup at Jackson to shutdown at the hangar.
It was a great time to get out and meet up with Mr. B.
That's 1.5 and 2 very nice landings.
