This Should Not Be Controversial

But I'm sure it will be.

 Flying: FAA Orders Merit-Based Hiring at Airlines

In what it framed as a reversal of Biden-era policies, the FAA on Friday said it will require commercial airlines to commit to “merit-based hiring” for pilots.

The directive comes in the form of an “operations specification.” To comply, Part 121 carriers must certify that their hiring process for pilots is exclusively based on merit, as demonstrated by experience, technical aptitude, and other factors. The operations specification takes effect 30 days from February 13.

That merit was not the only and sole consideration the entire time is a sad commentary on the progressives woke-addled DEI-craziness that has been badly affecting safety.

Given some recent major aircraft accidents had DEI-oriented practices as a factor, such a return to only merit-based hiring is rather refreshing and indeed there should never have been a departure from a purely merit-based approach.

More On California's High-Speed Train Corruption

Not only is the corruption and over-spending in the California high speed rail project bad enough that it is at 135 Billion dollars in spending with no tangible results -- from a budget that was supposed to be 10 billion dollars total for the project when it was announced in 2009 with no end in sight.

It's now bad enough that the Democrats in California are pushing a law to make the  news of how corrupt the high-speed rail project has been, and continues to be, a secret from Californians.

Daniel Greenfield:  California Politicians Propose Law Hiding Corruption from the Public

 You could say the California Democrats are running a train on the residents of California, and you wouldn't be wrong.

Oh, and if you're not reading Daniel Greenfield on a regular basis you are missing out.

What Is It About Democrats And Choo-Choo Trains?

I suspect it is mainly about the opportunity for grift, massive government spending, control, and land speculation not to mention lots of make-work jobs for their supporters.

Our current Secretary of State and Democrat candidate for governor Jocelyn Benson is jumping on the train bandwagon.

 Bridge Michigan: Jocelyn Benson wants to bring high-speed rail to Michigan. What would it take?'

Democrats' high-speed rail programs have led to utter failure and the lack of real results. 

The massive spending as can been seen with high-speed trains to nowhere in California with over 17 billion spent without accountability, and not a track even laid in years, and a budget that has already gone over by 200% has been a massive failure - except that failure has been a boon for Democrat bureaucrats and grifters.

 It sure looks like Michigan Democrats want a similar failure here so they can get a piece of that high-speed massive wasteful spending pie.

Yet Another S-Hole Country That Needs Sorting Out

Hopefully, someone turns President Trump's attention to two pilots currently being improperly jailed in Guinea.

AVweb: U.S. Pilots Detained In Guinea During Fuel Stop

New York Post:  US pilots jailed in Guinea during fuel stop now asking Trump to step in: ‘Very scary’ 

Two American pilots have been imprisoned in the Republic of Guinea for six weeks — after authorities said they violated the country’s airspace for a simple fuel stop, The Post has learned.

Fabio Nicolas Espinal Nunez, 33, of Ewing, New Jersey and Bradley Scott Schlenker, 63, of Chicago are now asking the Trump administration to step in to secure their release as they remain locked up since Dec. 29 in a prison in Conakry, Guinea’s capital city.

Perhaps one of the aircraft carriers on their way to the Gulf could make a brief stop. 

The ATC tapes show they were cleared to land, but they've been jailed anyways on ridiculous charges without much action being done to free them from their captivity.

That should change. 

Two Months In, And He's Already Running Out Of Other People's Money

 Mamdani's grandiose plan of spending an additional 11 billion dollars to New York City's already grossly inflated budget is running into a brush with reality.

He can't fund it without raising taxes, and he'd prefer that other people do the tax raisin' and get other people's money to pay for it.

New York Post: Zohran Mamdani unveils record $127B budget — fueled by proposed NYC property tax hike

So, in searching for other people's money to fund this insane spending spree, he demanded that the New York governor increase everyone's taxes to pay it, which is going as well as can be expected:  IJR: Tax War Erupts Between Mamdani And Hochul.

With this budget, NYC will spend $127 Billion for the government of a single city.

The government for the entire State of Michigan by contrast, has a Budget of $88.1 Billion, even after the budget has been bloated over 50% by Governor Whitmer's increases over the course of her governorship.

Of course, the proposed speeding is chock-full of DEI and make-work jobs for his supporters, while defunding the police, even as the budget grows by 11 Billion.  Fox News: Mamdani plan pours millions into ‘racial equity’ offices and six-figure diversity jobs, cuts 5,000 NYPD jobs

New Yorkers are about to get what they wanted, good and hard. 

DEI Means Failing Upwards

So he went from being one of the reasons for the Flint. Michigan water crisis to heading what is now potentially the largest wastewater spill in United states history - in Washington DC.

Because of DEI and he's a Democrat and a favored minority both.

DEI: Why did Washington DC hire David Gadis after he lied to Flint residents that their water was safe to drink despite knowing it was contaminated with lead? Diversity, plain and simple. When he got to DC Water he fired all of the white male executives and replaced them with… pic.twitter.com/YTofhsO6MK

— @amuse (@amuse) February 18, 2026

So after failing and misleading the community in Flint about the lead contamination, he was then appointed to head DC's water system. He then systematically removed experienced white executives to replace them with minorities to ensure the executives looked like the people they served.

That all worked out just great: Daily Caller: DC Water’s CEO Oversaw $520 Million In DEI Contracts — And The Biggest Sewage Spill In US History.

Detroit Police Chief To Police: If You Don't Ignore Crime, You'll Be Fired

Traffic stops often catch criminals goign about their criminal business

For most people, traffic stops that help prevent crime and catch criminals is a good thing. 

In these two cases, it caught illegal immigrants, one with a felony warrant who apparently did not (or decided not) to speak English.

The officers contacted border patrol to communicate with them and indeed detain them as illegals. 

For this the Detroit police chef is going to fire them. 

The Detroit News: Detroit police chief plans to fire officers who used border agents at traffic stops

This won't make Detroit safer, indeed it will result in the opposite, but it will make the progressives feel good about themselves.

What other ongoing law violations, pray tell, are supposed to be ignored by police officers in Detroit?

Yet Another One

And yet another mentally ill Trans (kinda repetitive, that) did a mass killing, this time killing his own family and a family friend in a hockey arena.

Certainly it is a disturbing but unfortunately not an unexpected trend, and trans individuals are now quite disproportionately represented in mass killings.

The New York Post: Transgender father Robert Dorgan ID’d as RI hockey shooter who gunned down family as sick posts are revealed

In a less progressively enlightened age, we used to consider someone who wanted to cut off their genitals to be a danger to themselves.

Those who are diagnosed as a threat to themselves or others are typically are prohibited from buying and possessing  firearms, which seems more and more like a good idea, doesn't it?

This guy was indeed both a danger to himself and others, but instead of being declared mentally ill and treated for his psychosis he likely got celebrated and got some hormone treatments to make him even crazier and unstable to boot.  

Instead of treating mentally ill people as mentally ill, we just put them on opposing-gender hormones, and watch them go off and kill people. The left then gets more up in arms when the killers are "mis-gendered" than with the fact that they killed a bunch of people.  Oh, and the left instead of addressing the problem of feting the mentally ill will instead call for generalized gun bans against those who are not mentally ill and not a danger to themselves or others.

Maybe that approach and failed trendy belief system should change.

Hypocrisy And Double Standards Are A Progressives' Stock-In-Trade

Billie Elish made quite a show at the Grammys, stunningly and bravely declaring a progressive bromide that "No one is illegal on Stolen Land" to an approving left-wing audience.

That she doesn't appear to actually believe beyond the progressive required virtue signalling this is demonstrated by two separate incidents:

 1.  Her mansion sits on land, that if you buy her "stolen land" argument is thus not hers and instead is belonging to the Tongva tribe, and she has yet to give back her "stolen land".

2.  She has cetianly not come out in support of the Australian performative artist who was refused entry to the USA after announcing he was taking her up on her stolen land argument by announcing he was coming to occupy her stolen mansion:

Blast: Billie Eilish 'Got' Activist 'Deported From U.S.' After Her Mansion Was Targeted

An Australian activist’s viral stunt has come to an abrupt end at LAX. Drew Pavlou says he was deported from the United States after attempting to enter the country on what he describes as a “performance art” mission targeting Billie Eilish’s California mansion. The activist had publicly announced plans to camp outside the singer’s property following her controversial Grammy speech criticizing ICE. Instead of pitching a tent in Glendale, Pavlou found himself detained by immigration authorities for more than 30 hours before being sent back home.

So much for no one is illegal on stolen land. I didn't realize there was an exception for Australians.

Who knows, maybe she'll write a song about it.

Oh, and Billie, it was conquered, not stolen,  There's quite a difference. 

If Illegal Aliens Aren't Allowed To Vote . . .

Then why does an ICE office opening in Southfield, Michigan raise fears among Democrats of "Voter Suppression"?

The Detroit Free Press: ICE office lease in Southfield draws concern from advocates, Democrats

The move has sparked concern from immigrant advocates and some Democratic leaders who fear the site at One Towne Square near the M-10 and Interstate-696 freeways could be used to target some communities and be used for voter suppression in Michigan in the November elections. 

Rather curious, that.

Giggle Box Status: Resurrected

Saw this and couldn't stop laughing out loud:

It's by Dead on a Sunday. The full song is here and it's damn catchy and rather appropriate for Friday the 13th.

A very nicely done parody cover of an 80s Pop classic.

Yet Another "Known To Police" Trans Killer

So we have yet another Trans school shooter. This time in Canada.

In yet another abuse of language, the murderer first was  being referred to by Canadian authorities as a gun-person for they don't want to acknowledge it s a trans male that did the killing. 

The RCMP has now switched to calling the killer a female because that was how the killer referred to itself. The CBC is referring to the male killer as "she" and "her", because of course they are.

Had the killer called themselves a Queen would they have been referred to by the RCMP as her highness?

Of course the killer was well known to police to have mental problems and had been visited by police multiple times including being hospitalized  with no effective result.  

Let's see - taking someone who is known to be mentally ill, filling them with sex hormones that are not of their own biological sex, and add on people not just tolerating such mental illness but buying into it, and praising it, and add some recreational drugs into the mix, and turn them loose towards an undefended school and bad stuff is going to happen.

Trans are a very tiny subset of the mentally ill community, but they're certainly becoming a impressively disproportionate source of school killers. 

Then againm it is Canada, so they might just record these deaths as MAID deaths. After all it was the medical treatment "transitioning" this mentally ill individual that was a major cause in these deaths.

Certainly, it also didn't help that it s a rather small town and the local emergency room is only open from 9-5 Monday to Friday, and there often was not more than one ambulance and often no ambulances available - and no one did anything about a clearly mentally deranged person in their midst until it was too late.

Expect further calls for gun bans from the Canadian Liberal government to be made shortly.

Without Government, Who Would Create A Shortage Of Road Salt?

The Detroit Free Press: Salt shortage has Michigan scrambling to keep roads clear

Yep, there was a clear lack of planning ahead and the governments expecting a mild winter and not ordering enough.  Likely they bought into the idea that  global warming was making winter a thing of the past - which it clearly is not doing.

Slippery-er than normal winter roads are the result with not enough salt being used due to the failure to stock up when demand (and prices) were low.  Now they're ordering salt at highly inflated prices and waiting on deliveries due to production and shipping bottlenecks.

Seriously, if we placed these same government officials in charge of the Sahara Desert, within a couple years they would be announcing a shortage of sand.

How Much Fraud Is In The US Economy?

Mr. B. looked with some dread at the question: How much of the US economy is fake?

If you consider US state and federal government going to waste and fraud, the answer is a heckuva lot. 

US Government Accountability Office puts annual fraud in US government programs at 233 Billion to 521 billion per year.

Elon Musk had an estimate of annual fraud in US federal government spending at 1.5 trillion – equivalent to slightly over half of all the 2.5 trillion dollars in taxes collected from American individual taxpayers per year.

In other words, if we got rid of the fraud at the federal level, we could pay half the federal income taxes we pay now with the exact same results.

This isn't even touching wasteful government spending at the Federal and State level.

At the State level, there's quite a lot going on as we saw in Minnesota and California which ranges into the billions of dollars.

We've got some of that here in Michigan, such as the billion dollars  spent on increasing student reading scores, only to have the effect be minimal and barely measurable:

 

The Detroit News: Michigan falls short of reading goal despite $1 billion in spending

 

Any bets that some of that spending went straight to waste and fraud at the Michigan variation of Learing centers? 

 

Nor does it cover the golden parachutes politicians prepared for their cronies in Dearborn Heights, to the tune of millions of taxpayer money spent 

 

The Detroit News: Former Dearborn Heights mayor inked severance contracts worth over $1M, records show 

 

Nor even the $20 million that went from Gov Whitmer's MEDC diect to embezzler Fey Beydoun.  Small potatoes in the world of government spending fraud, but $20 million is $20 million, after all.

 

Nor does this cover the nominally non-fraudulent but inefficient government spending such as on internet broadband connectivity and EV chargers and California high-speed rail to nowhere (which may indeed have fraudulent spending as a part of it).

 

Nor does it count the wasteful spending of billions of dollars by businesses at government directive or urging such as the spending on trying to wholesale replace internal combustion vehicles with electric ones. 

 

Fraud and wasteful spending combined at the federal and state levels easily exceeds a couple trillion dollars each year and every year. 

 

Perhaps it is time that stops? 

When You Pay The Fulani-Geld, You Never Get Rid Of The Fulani

One Nigerian town under attack by Islamist Fulani-tribe gunmen decided that the best course of action was to buy them off.

It went as well as you might have expected. 

The Detroit News: In Nigeria, a deadly bandit attack exposes fragile local peace efforts

When leaders from Doma town in Nigeria's northern Katsina state struck a deal with local gunmen last September, everyone hoped the attacks would end and they could go back to tending their farms in peace.

The agreement held, at first. Then on February 3, armed men from the same gang charged back in, survivors said, shooting as they moved house to house, killing at least 21 people and leaving the six-month truce in tatters.

Paying jizya is not a guarantee against future Islamic bandit raids, but it did give them a hudna for 4 months, but no longer once the Islamic bandits ceased to be sated by the money they were paid.

A pity that they couldn't spend that money towards their own defense rather than using it to try to bribe their attackers to not attack them, which never really works as a long-term solution. 

Gov Whitmer Picking Losers and Supporters Yet Again

A Democrat proposing a tax reduction?  

Well, yes, but more as a political ploy: The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer budget to propose $90M property tax break for Michigan seniors

Now, property taxes aren't levied by the state here in Michgian. This proposal instead allows a favored group of some seniors to pay lower property taxes with the state making up the shortfall to the local governments for doing so - and it would be a property tax credit only.

Not all Michigan homeowners, nor even all seniors, would benefit from such a tax credit which of course will be income adjusted to disappear as you earn more (and likely pay more property taxes), thus benefiting few.

Democrats here really hate broad-based tax reductions where everyone who pays taxes can benefit.  Instead, they like convoluted tax reductions that can benefit their voters and supporters or that sound good but in actuality reduce very little in actual taxes paid by most people in this state - even going so far as to sue to prevent a reduciton int he state's sales tax.

This is more media gaming on Whitmer's part as she pivots towards a higher office and most likely a White House run. 

The Rather Bad Bunny Show

Watched the Superbowl yesterday with friends.

The game had impressive defenses on both sides and the Patriot's offense couldn't rise to the occasion.  Former Michigan State Spartan K-9 Ken Walker put in some serious work for the Seahawks to win but otherwise it did not feel like a particularly exciting game.

The half-time show was worse than the game.

All in Spanish, with lewd lyrics at that, complete with the Bad Bunny busily and repeatedly clutching his crotch, along with some shots of male dancers grinding on each other.

Not exactly representative of America.

It was, however, an interesting tale of Puerto Rican culture:  

It showed Puerto Ricans' transition from working in the fields; to opening a bodega in New York City; then falling through a roof for some reason; and then getting shocked to death after trying to steal copper from a power line atop a pole - all the while grabbing your crotch with one hand (which could explain how you got shocked to death stealing copper) - and then marching with a bunch of Latin American countries' flags during the funeral for the dead thief.

That may not have been the actual story.

But, with everything only in Spanish* including the subtitles that seemed to be the best explanation for what was going on.

*except for Lady Gaga's lyrics -- and due to the sound mixing her lyrics did not really come through at all and could not be heard which may well have been deliberate.

In short, the half time show was not exactly directed to the Superbowl and football fan audience at all.  Jay Z needs to turn over the half time show selection power to someone that actually gets the fans and football. Just saying.

Happy Superbowl Day!

Also known as "Happy Party with Pizza, Wings, and Chili Day" here in the currently really frigid environs of Metro Detroit.

That alternative name is because no Lions are involved, yet again. 

 

May your team of choice win, or at least score sufficiently so you win your square. May at least some of the commercials be clever or funny, and may you have a fun event with friends, family, or both.

When Government GEVeth, Government Can TakEV Away

GM, Ford and Stellantis all jumped on the EV bandwagon in compliance with President Biden's edict to shift to electric vehicles.  The edict came with the carrot of many government subsidies for doing so, including $7,500 direct to each consumer.

The problems that then ensued is that the infrastructure for such vehicles is still not in place even after billions spent by the Biden Administration to force such to be created - only to have it bogged down in  Democrat-created red tape that basically spent the funds to create jobs for Democrat functionaries with little actual results to show for it. Even Democrat cheerleader and mouthpiece John Stewart was appalled. Nor are the vehicles themselves suitable to fully replace ICE vehicles on a one-for-one basis.

But the market for electric vehicles was pretty much created and expanded by these edicts and subsidies.  Now that President Trump's administration has ended the taxpayer give-aways and drunken spending on electric cars, economic reality has set in.

The current limits on electric cars still make them a niche vehicle that are only good for certain conditions - and not for the Democrat-Greenie-demanded total replacement of internal combustion engine vehicles.

The results are that the manufacturers that went all-in and complied with the Biden Administration's edict and promise of government subsidies while ignoring economics and the actual current use case for electric vehicles are now realizing reality:

The Detroit News: Stellantis writes down $26.5 billion from EV investments

Yahoo Finance: What Ford Motor (F)'s $19.5 Billion EV Reset and Hybrid Pivot Means For Shareholders

 GM Authority:  GM Writing Down Another $6 Billion For Cutting Back On EV Investments

 Jumping on the Biden EV bandwagon cost the automakers over $58 Billion dollars so far and the losses continue to pile up.

Again, EVs do have some niche uses and appeal, but to expect based on government edict and the promise of tax breaks and subsidies alone that they would replace ICE cars and especially work trucks was foolhardy in the extreme. 

Michigan's AG Nessel Joins The ICE Tracking Bandwagon

The Detroit News:  Nessel launches ICE, fed action tracker as agency urges cooperation

Yes, the Democrat Attorney  General of a state is launching a tracker for people to report Federal immigration enforcement activity.

Again, we note that it was a most prominent Democrat, President Barack Obama, who successfully sued the states and ensured that enforcement of immigration laws is solely a federal matter.

Now why would she want a tracker?  Maybe because all these illegal aliens who support Democrats in Michigan are being removed: 

The Detroit News:  Venezuelan man accused of entering U.S. illegally arrested in Hazel Park

The Detroit News:  'Godfather of Chaldean Mafia' deported to the Middle East, attorney says

The Midwesterner: Detroit ICE raid ends in arrest of twice-deported illegal immigrant — and two agitators

The tracking will lead to more encounters like these: Bird-flipping driver pleads guilty to 'brake checking' Border Patrol van, and perhaps produce a martyr for the cause or two as Democrats believe they have a right to resist arrest after they try to obstruct immigration enforcement activities. 

What could possibly go wrong? 

Putting Up Barriers After The Car Has Crashed Through

Better late than never, and it's certainly about time that car-sized security hole was fixed.

The Detroit Free Press: Metro Airport adds barriers outside McNamara Terminal after crash

The new barriers aren't pretty, and do take up some of the drop-off lane as pictured, but they should be effective.

In related news, ten days after the deliberate ramming into the airport, the driver still has not been publicly identified nor apparently criminally charged, which is rather curious.

If You Can Keep Your Head When Others Are Donating Theirs

Your weird news of the day:

The Detroit Free Press:  Apparent human skull donated at Goodwill heads to U-M for analysis

Talk about losing your head, or just plain giving it away.

 It should be noted that Goodwill is not normally accepting of  body parts for donations.

Update:  Turns out after testing that it was not an actual skull but a man made "artifact".  

Mamdani Is Solving The New York City Homeless Problem

In the traditional Democrat/socialist way.

New York Post:  NYC homeless freeze to death in the icy grip of Mamdani’s ‘warmth of collectivism’

For a Democrat or socialist, you solve the homeless problem by either letting them die, or spending billions creating a bureaucracy to employ your adherents and not actually solve the problem.

Either way, it's a win, right? 

Progressives Suddenly All About (Some) Effective Border Control

So, the Minneapolis anti-ICE and anti-Trump mostly peaceful protesters have setup barriers and blocked roads in the city and are demanding and checking the ID of people entering those areas to keep ICE officers out.

Amazingly, the open border, pro-illegal immigrant, progressives have found the value in effective border walls, ID checks, and  the value of allowing residents of a territory being able to not allow entry to those who do not follow their rules and beliefs.

 Your News: Minneapolis Groups Erect Street Barricades, Stop Vehicles and Check IDs to Block ICE Activity

Interesting, that.