NRA Convention - The IWI Tavor Booth

Yes, IWI was in the house!

Considering it won the NRA's rifle of the year award, it certainly deserved to be here.

That's Mike Kassanar, VP of Sales & Marketing IWI US, and one of the driving forces to getting the Tavor in production and for sale in the USA. If you've got a Tavor, thank Mike.

I had a great chat with him and with Shlomi Sabag, President of IWI Ltd about the Tavor.

Apparently the biggest hold-up to getting a 300 Blackout conversion into production is getting enough 300 Blackout ammo available for testing and development. They need 50,000 rounds to thoroughly test it in Israel before they will roll it out, and there's nothing like that amount of 300 BLK ammo available right now.

They're now holding off on making the 5.45x39 conversion kit available, now that the ATF has just slammed the door on cheap Russian 5.4.5x39 imports.

They do have 9mm conversion kits out, they use the AR15 9mm conversion magazine or you can easily convert UZI magazines to work and still work in your UZI.

They also demonstrated the stance and hold that provides an excellent supporting position using the Tavor, making for a rock-solid position for rapid accurate fire.

Murphy's Law tried out the Tavor in a left-hand setup and declared it good.

Good folks and a great rifle.

Close to IWI was the Geissele booth and yes, they had a demo of their drop in trigger enhancement for the Tavor.

The trigger upgrade seriously rocks and eliminates the only complaint most people have about the Tavor. Getting a chance to try it out certainly moved it onto my must-buy list. Unfortunately, they didn't have any here, otherwise a purchase would have been made.

We also tried out some of their other triggers and DMR trigger upgrade for the AR makes for a very nice precise rifle trigger.

It was a great opportunity meeting the people responsible for bringing the Tavor to market and seeing so many Tavors in one place. Judging form the interest around the booth, the future looks bright for the Tavor among NRA members.

NRA Indy Day 1

This morning at the hotel we had breakfast with OldNFO, and with Midwest Blog Chick and Mr. B.

Then we followed Midwest Blog Chick and Mr. B. from the hotel to the convention center, taking quite a scenic route.

After an extended tour of the ring around the center of Indianapolis, we arrived at the NRA Convention:

The NRA has this convention humming and they're running a very efficient show indeed. We were in, with our floor passes issued, in mere moments by some friendly and efficient volunteers and then we went onto the convention floor.

The convention floor is huge and it seems that every name in guns is there. So we started walking down a row at random and ran into some Radoms.

An excellent display of Radom VIS 35 pistols to be exact.

There were two more of the same sized racks on display and it was a very comprehensive collection indeed, along with very descriptive narratives of the different periods in Radom VIS 35 production and the variations.

Right by the Radoms was a display of Great Westerm manufactured Single Action Army revolvers:

Olympic Arms was there with an AR to suit every color preference.

They also have a new production run of the Whitney Wolverine available for sale if you want a futurist-looking .22 pistol.

Mec Gar is also here with a nice display of a magazine for all your pistol needs:

In case traffic gets bad on the way out, there's a gun jeep.

Then we stopped by a couple booths that deserve a post all to themselves.

Good Arrival In Indy

The drive to Indianapolis, while long was relatively pleasant. Traffic was manageable and I did not scream even once after Murphy's Law took over the driving for his shift, and we arrived unscathed.

We checked in at the hotel, ran into OldNFO in the parking lot and then went looking for dinner.

For dinner we went to the Black Swan Brewpub, which had some excellent beers and burgers which hit the spot. The Irish red beer was excellent and the burger was large and tasty.

At the Pub we met up with Keads and eiaftinfo and had an excellent and far-ranging conversation with these distinguished gentlemen and had a very good evening indeed.

Looking forward to the first day of the convention.

It's Three Hundred And Ten Miles To Indianapolis, We've Got A Full Tank Of Gas, Half A Pack Of Chips, It's Daytime, And We're Wearing Sunglasses.

Hit It.

Murphy's Law and I are off on the road to Indy.

We'll hopefully see you (if you're there) at the NRA Convention. Looking forward to meeting up with blogger friends and make some new ones.

Will blog from the convention as opportunities arise.

Tavor Sales Going Well In The USA

Over at Guns Save Lives, they've got a report that IWI Wanted to Sell 6,000 Tavors in US in 1 Year – They Sold 15,000 in 9 Months

That's some excellent sales numbers for a new middle/higher-end firearm product to the US firearms market.

Combine a great product; pent up demand waiting for a licensing/manufacturing deal to be setup here for it to comply with US Assault Weapons ban regulations; and add on fears that Obama and the Democrats pushed for a new assault weapons ban and it's easy to see why they've sold as well as they did.

Once you have one, you realize it's smaller and handier than non-NFA length AR-15s and has a natural point of aim and heft, ergonomic controls, and is a reliable fun to shoot firearm. There's plenty to like about the Tavor.

I certainly hope that IWI's success with the Tavor in the USA continues, and based on the quality of the Tavor, I have no doubt it will.

Detroit's Own Special Snowflake Makes An Affirmative Action Fool of Herself

Some people want 15 minutes of fame, some end up with 15 minutes of abject stupidity.

The farcical show put on by Brooke Kimbrough, the Detroit student whose grades and test scores were inadequate to get her admission into University of Michigan and has become as sort of progressive unworthy cause celebre continues.

In an interview with The Free Press's own Mitch Albom, which is about as softball an interviewer you can get, she comes across as nothing more than a Detroit version of Veruca Salt - spoiled and told she should feel good about herself and that she should be able to go anywhere she wants, test scores and grades be damned...because, you know, racism.

The Detroit Free Press: Mitch Albom: Denied Michigan hopeful learns tough lesson

As we'll see in the interview, she hasn't learned squat. Over at the article there's a pic of her holding a sign demanding her admission and an end to the "racist admission policy"...you know, racism based on ranking by grades without accounting for skin color, 'cause grades be racist.

First, we should remember that Brooke Kimbrough is still in high school. She is, as the Beatles once sang, just 17.

So even if she ruffled feathers this past week claiming she should have been admitted to the University of Michigan — despite lower grades and test scores — because she is African American and the school needs diversity, the best thing is not to insult her or dismiss her.

The best thing is to talk to her.

So I did.

Like I said, real softball.

I began by asking Brooke about her high school — because I’ve been there. University Prep Academy is one of the top charter schools in Detroit. It looks like a college campus, its teachers are first-rate, its classrooms are small — thanks to a $15-million gift from philanthropists Bob and Ellen Thompson.

The Thompsons are white. Most students at U Prep are black. So Brooke is already a beneficiary of cross-racial efforts; she didn’t have to endure an overcrowded, uninterested high school. In fact, the Thompsons demanded that U Prep retain at least 90% of its kids and get 90% of them into college every year.

In other words, they insisted on excellence.

When I asked Brooke why it’s wrong for U-M to set a similar bar (she was denied admission with below the U-M averages of a 3.6 GPA and a 23 on the ACT) she said U-M needed to “represent the state. Blacks are about 14% of the population, so it should be 14% roughly.”

So she's already getting to attend an excellent high school and has opportunities to succeed, but she then immediately discounts things like grades to insist instead on representation by racial composition.

After demanding such a proportional representation policy, she doubles down and refuses to let the facts and logical consequence of such a policy confuse her.

I pointed out that whites were 79% of Michigan’s population, but officially 57% of U-M’s, so should we adjust that up? “That’s ludicrous,” she said, claiming it should only apply to minorities. I then noted U-M was 11% Asian American, but our state was only 2%. Should we adjust down?

“I don’t understand what you’re asking,” she said.

In other words, affirmative action based on proportional representation for Brooke but not for thee.

Really, Brooke can't even answer softball questions from Mitch Albom. Remember, she was touted as a champion debater on her school's debate team, the competition may not have been all that bright or was she just getting affirmative action credit during her debates as well?.

Brooke will now ever be known as a whiner and a failure, and for her ludicrous yelling as if her deinal to be admitted was a civil rights violation on a par with past actual discrimination:

“I believe that I have been rejected because of the morals that I stand for! I am Harriet (Tubman)! I will take back my freedom as a tool to help the others. I have left the plantation. ...

“I am Ida B. (Wells)! I will make it my civic duty to document every noose of a rejection letter that the university produces to our black, brown and red bodies!”

Not rejected based on morals Brooke, you were rejected because your grades and ACT score didn't measure up and that over-the-top, poor me, whinging sure doesn't help.

While she likely lacks a bright future in the real world given that she now has a track record of pulling tantrums and screaming racism when she doesn't get her way, she likely has a bright future in the progressive race-baiter business.

Upholding Ending Affirmative Action Leads To The Tantrums Of The Clowns

The Supreme Court rightly upheld Proposal 2 of 2006 that added to the Michigan Constitution that public institutions cannot use race to discriminate or give preferential treatment to groups or individuals.

Now there's much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the self-proclaimed anti-racist progressive left here in Michigan.

First, we get Laura Berman's puff-piece in the Detroit News warning that Affirmative action ruling jeopardizes Michigan's progress against inequality

Short on you know, facts, the piece gives some fun quotes:

“I am deeply saddened and disappointed by this decision,” says Jocelyn Benson, interim dean at Wayne State University Law School. “Any state has been given the green light to ban affirmative action if the voters so choose.”

Had the Supreme Court struck down Michigan’s ban, “we would have revisited our policies to take a more holistic view of our applicants.”

Holistic of course being a euphemism for focusing on skin color. Which, to the race merchants is very holistic indeed and clearly determinative of the rightness of admitting or barring the admission of a student.

Apparently banning discrimination based on race will in Berman's words:

affirms the right of the people of Michigan to close doors that once swung open. And it points toward the closing of an era of social remedies, including affirmative action in education, despite the persistence of inequality.

So banning racial discrimination will close doors? really? Not to mention the laughable concept of social remedies - that you deserve to be either discriminated against or in favor of based not on what you did but what some group you are a part of based solely on your skin color may or may not have done in the past, and before you were born.

On top of that, the lawyer for BAMN then went off into far-leftist land with this inane statement:

“At the very moment that America is becoming a majority minority nation, this court is declaring its intention to uphold white privilege and to create a new Jim Crow legal system,” she said in a statement.

Can anyone parse that one out? Banning discrimination based on race upholds "white privilege" and prohibiting discrimination will create a "Jim Crow" legal system? Does she even understand that what she said and how it's rather contradictory?

But not to worry fans of social and group racial determination uber alles, the University of Michigan has pledged to work hard to ensure diversity by again, focusing on race where it can still get away with it:

We remain committed to the goal of a diverse, academically excellent student body, and will continue to seek to achieve that goal in ways that comply with the law.”

After talks with the Black Student Union, U-M agreed last week to initiatives aimed at increasing black enrollment and improving the campus climate for minority students. The school will partner with black students at university-sponsored events that encourage African-Americans who have been admitted to U-M to enroll.

U-M also will launch a pilot transportation project for black students living in more affordable housing outside Ann Arbor; improve security at the Trotter Multicultural Center; and create a website for emergency funds available to students.

Just imagine substituting the word white for black in those paragraphs and you'd have outraged protests if not full-scale riots breaking out at UofM.

BAMN now is demanding that the University of Michigan not look at SATs or ACTs, because objective scores can get in the way of subjective touchy-feely and makes it more difficult to use race-based admissions under the radar by having an easily discernible standard.

Expect a lot more, and louder, wailing and yelling from the race merchants as they come to realize the time for discrimination based on race is coming to an end.

Games The Obama Administration Plays In An Election Year

The level of political pandering by the Obama administration in this, an election year where Democrats are on the ropes for a moribund economy; the disaster of Obamacare; and the tragicomedy of American foreign policy, is rapidly descending from the blatantly obvious to the over-the-top ridiculous.

First, the Obama Administration will continue punt the decision on the Keystone Pipeline, blocking it until after the election in order to prevent annoying its Environmental and Labor interest blocks before the House and Senate elections take place. Environmental because approving it would make Gaia cry, and Labor because denial will prevent a lot of good paying union jobs.

The Detroit News: U.S. delays review of Keystone XL pipeline

On top of that, to pander to the Hispanic and illegal alien voting block, the Obama administration weighs extending its ban on deportations or illegals without criminal records by executive fiat to those immigrants who have only committed a little bit of crime. A little bit of crime is apparently akin to being a little bit pregnant, no biggie right?

The Detroit News: U.S. weighs curbing deportations

Tens of thousands of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally but don’t have serious criminal records could be shielded from deportation under a policy change being weighed by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

The change, if adopted following a review ordered by President Barack Obama, could limit removals of people who have little or no criminal record but have committed repeat immigration violations such as re-entering the country illegally after having been deported, or failing to comply with a deportation order.

That's quite an extension of an already questionable policy - already ICE and CBP are told to ignore illegals without criminal records and now the Obama wants to extend that immunity to those with criminal records that are not "serious".

Notice that both headlines state the "U.S." either "weighs" or "delays", not the Obama administration in an election year, naturally.

Meanwhile, in a demonstration of obtuseness that only an in-the-tank media commentator can have, Democrat supporter and water carrier Clarence Page asks if for Democrats: Will 2014 be the year of the race card?

Clarence, in case you haven't noticed, and apparently you haven't, from the time Obama first ran for President until the present, Democrats haven't stopped ceaselessly using the race card to deflect criticism from this administration. Sheesh.

The Pen, While Mightier Than The Sword, Turns Out To Be Not As Mighty As The Gun

The moral of the story: Don't bring a pen to a gunfight.

MSN news: FBI: Man dies after being shot by marshal in court

A defendant died after being shot by a U.S. marshal on Monday during an attack on a witness during a trial in a new federal courthouse in Salt Lake City, the FBI said.

Siale Angilau, 25, died at a hospital after he was shot in the chest as he rushed the witness with a pen in an "aggressive, threatening manner," the FBI said in a news release.

Angilau had an extensive criminal history and is no great loss, and indeed the shooting by the marshal to save the witness being attacked is commendable.

Heck, since a US Marshal did the shooting of a hardened criminal caught in an assaultive criminal act, you could say it was clearly Justified.

You Know The Ukraine Is A Lost Cause When Obama Sends Biden To Demonstrate Support

Instead of sending something or even someone useful, Obama sends the Ukraine.....Biden.

No word yet on whether Biden told them to just use a shotgun if armed men break into their border.

The Detroit News: Biden in Ukraine to show support as tensions rise

Vice President Joe Biden on Monday launched a high-profile visit to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to Ukraine and push for urgent implementation of an international agreement aimed at de-escalating tensions even as violence continues.

Biden planned to meet Tuesday with government leaders who took over after pro-Russia Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February following months of protests. The White House said President Barack Obama and Biden agreed he should make the two-day visit to the capital city to send a high-level signal of support for reform efforts being pushed the new government.

Yeah, Ukraine is hosed.

Affirmative Action Campaign Descends Into Farce

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad that proponents of affirmative action are choosing to back a whiner, because whining is all they've got left.

The Detroit News: Column: U-M race fight riles Gratz

Brooke Kimbrough, 17, is the Detroit high school senior who rallied against her recent rejection from U-M. She argued the university should admit her because she feels U-M ought to accept more minorities. Kimbrough, however, is now reportedly backing down from her rejection challenge.

. . .

Kimbrough attends a top charter school in Detroit and is a champion debater on the school’s debate team. She gets good grades and is highly involved in her school. But she got a 23 on the ACT, when the average U-M student scores between a 28 and 32 on the college entrance exam.

So she's at minimum 5 points away from being admitted and she wants to get in based on her skin color.

Now she's not being stopped form going to another university mind you, nor are racists are barring the gates or stopping her from competing for a spot to get an education, indeed she competed for a spot at UofM and fell short. But all is not lost:

Kimbrough’s scores were good enough to get her accepted into four other universities, with scholarships, and U-M encouraged her to transfer as a sophomore. She should be proud of that, but going to U-M was her dream.

So she gets into four other universities but really wants to go to UofM but doesn't want to do the work to transfer over but wants them to give her a special preference,

Quick, call a Wahmbulance, 'cause this isn't anything to do about race, just some spoiled brat whining that she didn't get her first pick and is just trying to use her race to get to the head of the line.

And this is the cause celebre that affirmative action proponents like the Trotskyitist/communist By Any Means Necessary organization chose to rally behind?

The radical, pro-affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) took advantage of this girl’s disappointment and took Kimbrough under its wing, organizing a rally Tuesday at which the teen spoke. BAMN is the lead plaintiff challenging Michigan’s affirmative action ban

Disappointment at not being good enough is now apparently the best rationale for affirmative action that BAMN and others can come up with. Expect more whinging as the progressive AA crowd realizes they've lost their little racial preference war.

More Detroit Area Follies

Poor Councilman Cushingberry just can't catch a break.

After skating on possessing marijuana in his car and a bottle of open alcohol during a traffic stop, he's now being sued for allegedly stripping his house in Detroit after he walked away form it in foreclosure.

The Detroit News: Bank: Detroit councilman Cushingberry stripped foreclosed home

A bank is suing the City Council’s president pro tem on claims he “willfully and maliciously” damaged his foreclosed home, a property that’s now being targeted as part of Mayor Mike Duggan’s anti-blight effort.

The Public Service Credit Union is seeking more than $56,000 from George Cushingberry Jr. and his wife, Maria Drew Cushingberry, on allegations the pair significantly damaged a home on Marygrove Street and removed its kitchen cabinets and fixtures.

Amazing how the Detroit City Council tends to have quite a history of property issues from foreclosures with all sorts of examples. One would think they don'recare much about the state of the city form how they treat their own property there.

Meanwhile, Wayne County, the County in which Detroit is located and electorally dominates, continues to spiral down fiscally as it following the blue state model runs out of other people's money and runs up a deficit of $175 million.

Move Before They Raise The Parking Rate

Detroit continues on its downward spiral, and the downward spiral is even reaching the parking department.

The Detroit Free Press: $45 for expired meter? Detroit's parking ticket plan sparks outrage

Tickets for an expired meter in Detroit would jump from $20 to $45 under Orr’s plan. And the $10 discount for paying tickets early would be eliminated. Violations that now trigger a $30 ticket, such as double parking and blocking a driveway, would increase to $45. If those tickets and the expired-meter tickets are paid a month late or more, fines would increase to $65.

City officials said an increase would be justified because Detroit hasn’t raised fines in more than a decade. They also said current fines are too low because it costs the city more than $30 to process a parking ticket.

So, instead of the obvious solution of increasing efficiency so it doesn't cost an outrageous $32 to process a $20 ($10 if paid early) ticket, like other cities seem able to handle, the solution is instead to just raise the ticket costs. Between that and half of the parking meters not working in the first place, it's a surefire solution to Detroit's revenue ills.

After all, raising the price of parking tickets will clearly help revitalize Detroit by making more people want to come and park and enjoy events there, right?

The change will make Detroit the third most expensive for fines, behind San Francisco at $75 and Chicago at $65 but ahead of Seattle at $44 and Philadelphia at $36. Let's face it, both Seattle and Philly have a lot more attractions than Detroit, as do San Fran and Chicago. Raising parking rates to match doesn't enhance Detroit's attractiveness.

No one ever said "If You Fine Them More To Park, They Will Come". They don't say it for good reason, no matter the wishful thinking among Detroit's officials.

Toronto Trip Report

Let's start this off with a shot of Toronto's iconic skyline:

The view from my mother-in-law's apartment is darn nice. On a clear day you can even see the lake in addition to the CN Tower.

Looking down eight stories from the balcony isn't too bad even for most acrophobes. When I pointed out that I regularly dive 80 feet down, no big deal, no problem, the family suddenly realized that 80 feet underwater isn't a small distance.

As part of this trip, we took my Mother-In-Law and ourselves went to Honest Ed's. Think a discount/dollar store that takes up an entire city block. Honest Ed's has everything from hats to mugs to prescription drugs in one place surrounded by old theater posters and pictures of stars from a bygone era. Sadly, this Toronto landmark is going to close in December 2016 so if you've never shopped for shlock until you drop, you've got a closing window of opportunity.

One of the mugs Honest Ed's had featured the closest thing Canadians get to a Gun Show these days. I saw this mug and immediately thought of Tam:

The trip also consisted of, as is usual, my on-site tech support calls for both my Mother-in-Law and my Dad in the computer and audio/visual departments. I'm working on turning Abby and Leah into my tech support minions and they were quite helpful with my Mother-In-Law for explaining how to work her new replacement TV and existing DVD player after I had it setup and working.

On a sadder note, the brutal cold winter has taken a severe toll.

My Dad and step-mom live in a nice 100-year-old house in midtown, and one day while they were away, the boiler shut down and then the water froze in the radiators and then cracked them, leading to a flood resulting in the home being stripped down to the boards and walls.

Now, mind you, they are nice 100-year-old boards with no particle board to be seen but the house is currently uninhabitable and a lot of stuff got flooded to destruction. This is extremely bad.

Also revealed was the extensive knob and tube wiring that while sure not up to code now served the house well all this time. Now that its revealed it will all have to be replaced to get up to code.

The structure of the house is still rock solid, but they're looking at a solid 6-9 months to get it restored, renovated, and up to habitable conditions, not to mention lots of expected battles with the insurance co along the way.

This also gave us accommodation issues as we normally stay with them and my Mother-In-Law's one bedroom apartment doesn't have space for 4 of us to stay there with her. There was a guest room in her apartment building that we rented which was unfortunately a big mistake in retrospect. The kids stayed on the floor in a "fort" in the apartment, while we occupied the guest room. The room was small with two single beds that if you shifted in any direction you'd fall out of bed.

Worse, the room was right by the front entrance and lobby so you heard every noise of people coming and going.

Even worse, this is an apartment of predominantly elderly residents. Elderly residents that thought it was a great thing to have loud conversations for hours sitting in the lobby starting at 4 am and loudly carrying on continuously until 6 am or so.

In short, in five days we had very interrupted sleep. Another downside is she has no internet service so I was out of touch most of this week except for the occasional visit to a coffee shop to feed my caffeine and wi-fi addictions simultaneously.

Yesterday, we headed over to my aunt and uncle's place for the first night of Passover and had a very nice time catching up with family and meeting our newest cousin - a cute six month old baby name Sophie.

Unfortunately, we received reports that the storm was moving in and so instead of staying another night, we jumped in the car and headed home, hitting a fair bit of the storm at the end of the trip but at least not driving through it all the way, leading to the picture from my recent post of our arrival at the house at 1:51 am this morning along with plenty of fresh global warming.

So yes, I'm rather tired at the moment. Now I'm busy catching up at work for the time I was in Toronto, and now Im having the fun of having a power outage at the office caused by the storm. What fun.

Overall, the Toronto trip was good but the lack of sleep and seeing the wrecked house were definite let-downs to a family gathering.

A Spring And A Miss . . . . .

And so, spring gave summer and autumn a miss and went straight back to winter.

There now stands quite a few inches of snow on the ground as we awoke after being exhausted from our midnight dash from Toronto homeward.

On the upside, we officially just beat the record to have the snowiest winter in the area ever with 94.8 inches of snow. So there's that.

The Detroit News: Metro Detroit breaks seasonal snowfall record

At least I can now say I made it through the snowiest, and not the second snowiest, winter in recorded history of the Detroit area. This is a good thing because saying you suffered through the second snowiest winter in recorded history is like winning the participation prize at the race - you may have showed up but you sure didn't win.

Al Gore Can Go Suck It

It was a lovely journey back home tonight from Toronto with lots of freezing rain and snow to make the drive back extra pleasant.

Global Warming my foot:

Blood Moon On Taxing Tuesday

Tomorrow is April 15, otherwise UN-fondly labelled Tax Day.

So it's only right that we get some astrological signs and portents for such an inauspicious day:

The Detroit Free Press: Blood moon eclipse on April 15 first in rare lunar phenomenon

A blood moon on the day when taxpayers are asked to squeeze blood from a stone to pay for the government's insatiable need for their money.

Coincidence? I think not.

And Another Home Invasion In Detroit Stopped Dead in Its Tracks

In what is becoming quite the pattern, Detroit's home invaders are finding out that residents are fighting back quite effectively against them.

The Detroit News: Detroit homeowner shoots 2 suspects during break-in attempt; 1 dead

One person is dead and another wounded after they were shot while allegedly trying to break into a home on the city’s west side early Wednesday morning.

According to police, the incident occurred in the 19100 block of Asbury Park, in an area between Seven Mile and Cambridge.

The unidentified male homeowner fired on the pair after the suspects tried to enter after breaking a window, police said.

It's getting to be quite a noticeable trend that home invaders are coming to a bad end in Detroit.

Zen And The Need For Dive Gear Maintenance

As the ice melts, a diver's mind turns to the need for the annual inspection of their dive tanks and maintenance on the dive gear.

Tanks need to be inspected annually in order to be certified to be refilled at dive shops, and they're hydrostatically tested every five years. Luckily this was not a hydro year and all I got dinged for was the annual and the annual O2 cleaning of the tanks that allows for them to be filled with Nitrox mixes, mixes that have a higher oxygen percentage than standard air.

O2 cleaning removes any impurities or hydrocarbons from the tank and makes sure only oxygen rated parts are used. Hydrocarbons and 100% oxygen do not mix - or rather they do mix, and very violently.

After passing inspection and being cleaned, the tanks were given a new sticker and they're good to go.

Also, my regulators had their annual maintenance and the annual wear parts replacement. Regulators do have parts that wear out,and replacing the high-wear parts on an annual basis can prevent a nasty surprise when you're 100 feet below the surfaceand your regulator decides to keep flowing after you'd prefer it had stopped. Regular maintenance helps prevent nasty surprises. One surprise found was a small tear in the rubber mouthpiece of the regulator that I had not seen. It was replaced with a fresh piece before any serious failure could occur, and all is well. This is life support equipment after all. Take care of it, and it will take care of you.

Picking up my gear I found a problem. The Phantom hi-pressure hose, the hose that connects from the left tank valve to the pressure gauge developed a leak and had to be replaced. This hose, made of braided Kevlar rather than rubber is nice because its a lot more flexible than the ol' rubber hose and makes for a very flexible pressure gauge that's easy to get to and swing around the arm and stage tanks for easy reading. This is the first Phantom hose I've had that has failed, if this happens again, I'm going back to the standard rubber hose as those have never failed me.

With the hose broken, the hose gave an evil hiss of escaping air and when closing the valve from the tank, the air would leave through the hose and the pressure gauge it was attached too then looked like this:

Now, a high pressure hose leak is not something to panic about if you're underwater as the air escapes quite slowly through it and you have tons of time to deal with the issue, unlike a low pressure hose where it comes gushing out when it bursts, and even when an LP hose goes, you still shouldn't panic but instead work your options namely calling the dive and making a slow ascent if you're on a single tank, or closing the valve to that tank if you're on doubles and calling the dive accordingly. Still, it's not something you want to deal with before you even get in the water, so it needed to be replaced.

After replacement, it would hold pressure and the gauge gave a much happier reading:

Regular preventative maintenance for life support equipment, whether its dive gear or guns or anything else your life may depend on makes a lot of sense.

Don't wait until you need it to think that you really should have had been maintaining it properly.

Oh, and for those who are curious, here's a humorous video demonstrating the difference in failures of a high-pressure and a low-pressure SCUBA hose underwater.

After all, as the text accompanying the video says:

"If you want to kill a scuba diver, should you cut the high pressure hose, or the regulator hose?

You don't want a scuba accident to go wrong - this video will show you the best hose to cut!":

Crime and Taxes

Just finished and filed my taxes. After hours of getting all the information in accurately, we ended up owing and paying more this year even though we earned less, which is always a real pleasure.

Meanwhile in Detroit, a couple Detroiters are caught doing some crime with taxes.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit mom, son get prison for filing false tax returns

A mother and son were sentenced to federal prison Thursday for bilking the government of more than $1 million by filing hundreds of false tax returns, including some for dead people.

Valerie Butler, 48, of Detroit was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Her son Garry Young Jr., 25, also of Detroit, was sentenced to serve a year and a day.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn also ordered them to pay nearly $1.1 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Butler and Young pleaded guilty in November to one count of conspiracy to obtain payment of a claim against the U.S. government.

According to court records, the scam started in 2009 when Butler and Young conspired to file 299 false returns that generated refunds of more than $1 million, which they deposited into bank accounts they controlled. Butler and Young tried to hide their involvement by failing to sign the returns as preparers.

No records as to whether they also voted for the dead people as well as filing their taxes.

That they only got eighteen months and 366 days respectively for bilking the government of over a million dollars, not to mention impersonating taxpayers while doing so means they got off rather lightly.

Your Sunday Walmart Ammo Report

The sun is shining, the snow is melting, it's getting warmer, so this means the opening of USPSA match season in Michigan and more range trips are in the near future. Range trips where I'm not thigh-deep in snow, and I'm looking forward to the change.

So on heading to Walmart, I had a chance to browse the shelves and hopefully pickup some needed ammo for restocking.

Unfortunately, both .22 LR and 9mm were completely out of stock, and tend to be so whenever I drop in to look for some.

There was however a decent quantity of 40 S&W in both 180 and 165 grain in 50 round boxes but no 100 round value packs.

Also present was a very sizable amount of 45 ACP, and a variety of 5.56 mm from cases of Turkish made (ZQ1) 62 grain to some Winchester 55 grain in boxes of 20. There was also some 7.62x39 and .357 about as well as the same few boxes of .270 that seem to have stayed in the same place for awhile now.

So I bought a few boxes of the 165 grain 40 S&W to feed my M&P 40 full-size and compact and went on my way.

9mm and .22 are both still hard to come by around here.

Keep Calm And Drive On: Beating Of Driver Leads To Some Ludicrous Official Statements

So in the wake of the attack by 10-12 black guys on an innocent white driver that caused him to still be in critical condition in hospital, what does the Mayor of Detroit do?

He ludicrously appeals for calm.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit mayor tweets for #calm #compassion in wake of attack on pickup driver

“We are asking all metro Detroiters to demonstrate our true character by exercising calm and patience during this emotionally charged time,” according to the statement.

Ok then. There must be a script in Detroit headquarters that says anything that has a racial component then go to -

Step 1: Appeal for calm.

That's cause Detroit's few remaining white folk might be inclined to riot doncha know? Well, probably not. But, you have to be even handed so you can appeal for calm when the reverse happens, right?

Step 2 in the checklist when its 10-12 black guys attacking a white guy is to quickly announce it was not a hate crime or a racially biased assault:

From social media to the east side neighborhood where the attack occurred, some questioned whether race was involved.

A police spokesman, however, said the initial investigation didn’t yield a race-related reason for the attack.

“No one has given us a statement that was indicative that this was a racially motivated crime or anything to that extent,” said the spokesman, Sgt. Michael Woody.

Well ok then, glad that's cleared up so easily.

Also, there's still no reports that Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson are planning to visit to decry this race-motivated violence, nor any reports of Eric Holder opening a federal hate crime investigation.

Funny, that.

Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys? The NSA Of Oakland County

Cell phone tracking, intercepting, and spoofing - it's not just for the Feds anymore.

The Detroit News: Secret military device lets Oakland deputies track cellphones

Oakland County commissioners asked no questions last March before unanimously approving a cellphone tracking device so powerful it was used by the military to fight terrorists.

Now, though, some privacy advocates question why one of the safest counties in Michigan needs the super-secretive Hailstorm device that is believed to be able to collect large amounts of cellphone data, including the locations of users, by masquerading as a cell tower.

Able to imitate a cell tower in order to track phones and intercept conversations, the big question is why does a County Sheriff's office need it, and what exactly are they planning on doing with it?

Of course, Oakland County didn't pay for this alone, the device, while in the first paragraph is stated to cost $176,000 in later paragraphs costs considerably more, but not to worry, a Federal grant covered all but $105,000 of the cost:

The county received a $258,370 federal grant that paid for all but $105,000 of the device, training and about $56,000 to purchase a vehicle to contain it, records show.

That would imply it costs $363,370 and whatever the vehicle purchased for it, at $56,000 it better be gold-plated.

Especially considering the Undersheriff has stated it would be illegal for the Sheriffs to listen in on phone conversations, which is a key point of having a Hailstorm device in the first place, its a lot of money to act as a cell phone locator.

Undersheriff Michael McCabe said, “Hailstorm helps us capture fugitives from the law, people wanted for murder and rape” and can be used only with a search warrant. He said the federal Homeland Security Act bars him from discussing Hailstorm, but he elaborated at length about what it doesn’t do.

“It’s not a tool to spy on people, unequivocally,” McCabe said. “It does not record cellphone conversations ... Hailstorm does not capture personal information on anyone or store unintended target data. It does not take photos of anyone. It doesn’t take videos or fly in the sky. It’s a tool used for criminal investigations and it’s legal and lawful.”

. . .

The commissioner said McCabe eased his concerns with written assurances that it’s illegal for local police in Michigan to listen in on phone conversations. Only federal policing agencies with warrants can do that, McCabe said.

It's a bad sign when an entity buys a showcase piece of very expensive and capable technology and then clams up when asked what they're going to do with it.

Ya Don't Stop In The D - Driver Stops To Render Aid, Gets Beaten By Mob

Brooks Patterson may have be onto something 30 years ago when he advised that people don't stop in Detroit.

After a minor accident caused by an 11-year old boy who walked into traffic by a gas station, the 54-year-od driver of the truck stopped and left the truck to render aid, much as any civilized person would do.

The uncivilized crowd of 20-30 people hanging around the gas station however decided to give him a major beat down, with at least 10-12 participating, and he's now in critical condition in hospital.

On top of the that, the crowd of thugs stole his cash and credit cards from his wallet. You could call them scum, but that would be an insult to scum.

The kicker? The driver is white, the mob was black, so expect federal hate crime charges in, ah heck, you and I both know that's not going to happen. Nor will Jesse Jackson nor Al Sharpton make an appearance to decry this racially-charged violence.

Now that stopping to render assistance and remain at the scene of an accident is now plainly unsafe in many areas in Detroit, your best bet is to call the police to reort the incident and then drive to the nearest police station to report it rather than remain and get mobbed on.

Last Night I Saw A (Plastic) Piece Of The Future

As part of the Law Of Cyberspace class I'm teaching, I have the students do a final presentation regarding some aspect of cyberspace and technology and related legal issues.

A pair of the students decided the future was

Plastics.

Plastics by way of a 3D Printer.

As part of their presentation, they brought in a friend 's 3D printer along with the friend (a prior graduate of the class, I might add) for a demonstration as they presented on both what a 3D printer was and its implications for democratized manufacturing and the legal landscape.

Here's the complete setup: The printer, the laptop for controlling it, the spools of ABS plastic that are the raw materials for the printer, and an XBox scanner used to scan 3D images for printing.

Here's a close-up of the Solid Doodle printer and some of the items made using it:

A GoPro mount, a couple square moving gears that actually work, a couple different iPhone 5 cases, and some legos.

He's also printed working rifle and pistol magazines, so yes, there was Second Amendment content.

The whole setup cost around $1,500 to have it up and running, and it is a very impressive machine. The tech-geek in me practically yelled out "Want!" at the top of my lungs seeing it and what it can do.

Heck, If you want to be your own action figure, there's an app for that. The XBox scanner and software can render you in 3D for printing in minutes as demonstrated by one of the presenters:

While doing their presentation, they had the class vote and decide what to make. The class chose an iPhone case, and the printer had one made in less than the time it took to do their presentation.

Oh, and that iPhone charger station beside the computer-the base is printed on the 3D printer and the iPhone cable is run through it.

The presentation touched on the various implications of copyright, patent and trademarks and both First and Second Amendment issues, such as the Liberator pistol which can be created by a 3D printer, or indeed a complete working metal 1911 made by Solid Concepts on a professional-class 3D printer, and the time isn't far off when such printers will be available on the consumer market. 3D printing creates lots of implications in all of these areas, and the law has yet to catch up.

Think of the Second Amendment applications - replacement of impossible to find broken parts from out-of-production firearms, not to mention creation of complete workable firearms. As 3D printers continue to drop in price, expect gun control to be functionally impossible. Already people have shown you can forge AK47 receivers out of shovel blades, just wait until you can print them out in perfect 3D functionality.

Also think of the implications when a person can simply print out a broken part to fix an appliance in the comfort of their own home rather than having to order the replacement from the manufacturer, or design their own prototypes for their inventions literally "in-house".

3D Printing has the potential to revolutionize how we do things, and it is going to be very interesting to see how the technology spreads, changes the physical and legal landscape while doing so, and how vested interests and politicians will try to stop it. New York, both city and state, for example, has already introduced legislation to ban the creation of 3D firearms. Making such a ban, and then enforcing it once thousands of homes have these devices with the plans easily obtainable form the internet will be as futile as Canute ordering the sea to cease rising.

Seat Belts Save Lives

In Detroit, two drivers on the exact same night serve as examples of why the use of seat belts is a darn good idea.

Fail to do so, and you run the risk of premature ejection and death.

The Detroit News: 2 Detroit motorists ejected in fatal crashes

Authorities are investigating two fatal crashes overnight in which drivers were ejected because they weren’t wearing seat belts, according to the Michigan State Police

Both drivers were on highways at the time they ended up wrecking, and lost control of their vehicles.

That seat belt not only stops you from getting thrown out of your car, but increases the chance you can stay in control of your car to prevent a wreck instead of being thrown around it when you lose control.

Don't die of the dumbs, wear a seat belt.

Minnesota Carping Crazily Concerning Carp

I wish this was an April Fools Day joke, but it's not.

The Detroit Free Press: Minnesota may rename Asian carp to less-offensive 'invasive carp'

Yes, really, and of course it's a Democrat leading the morphological mutilation.

The troublesome fish currently known as Asian carp may get a new name in Minnesota over concern that the current one casts people from Asian cultures in a negative light.

Proposals advancing in the Legislature would require the Department of Natural Resources to refer to the fish as “invasive carp,” a reference to the threat the non-native fish pose to Mississippi River-area ecosystems.

Sen. John Hoffman, the Champlin Democrat sponsoring a bill in the Senate, said some people of Asian descent have complained about the name.

Look, it's classified as an Asian carp (there are two main subspecies, the bighead carp and silver carp) as it comes from - you guessed it - Asia!

It's also a fish that Asians have been known to use a food. The fish is a fish, its neither bad no good, it just is, and changing its name to the stupid sounding invasive carp isn't going to improve things.

What's next, renaming Zebra mussels to invasive mussels to spare the feeling of our African equid friends?

Imagine going into a restaurant and seeing an invasive carp on the menu. Sheesh.

Did Government Motors Get A Government Blind Eye? The Curious Case of NHTSA And It's Slowdown Of The GM Ignition Recall

The recall of GM's Chevy Cobalt and other compacts is very much in the news. An interesting story that is developing is how slowly the government acted and how it waited to take action in regards to this serious fault at Government General Motors:

The Detroit Free Press: Government's safety agency missed clues to Cobalt issues

Missed clues seems to be quite the understatement.

For years, the U.S. government’s auto safety watchdog sent form letters to worried owners of the Chevrolet Cobalt and other General Motors small cars, saying it didn’t have enough information about problems with unexpected stalling to establish a trend or open an investigation.

The data tell a different story.

An Associated Press review of complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that over a nine-year period, 164 drivers reported that their 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalts stalled without warning. That was far more than any of the car’s competitors from the same model years, except for the Toyota Corolla, which was recalled after a government investigation in 2010.

Stalling was one sign of the ignition switch failure that led GM last month to recall 1.6 million Cobalts and other compact cars, including the Saturn Ion, Pontiac G5 and Chevrolet HHR. Another 971,000 cars from model years 2008-2011 were recalled late Friday to find faulty replacement switches, bringing the total to about 2.6 million.

It gets even more interesting:

The government opened an investigation into the Corolla in late 2009, which led to the 2010 recall of nearly 1.3 million cars to replace faulty engine control modules that could make the cars stall without warning.

The agency investigated the Toyota complaints even though there were no reports of deaths or injuries related to the stalls. By contrast, it had already learned about deadly crashes in the Cobalt.

NHTSA did go full-bore enforcement on Toyota, when there had been no reports of injuries or deaths, but was curiously slow to act with GM after deaths had already been reported.

Was this uneven enforcement perhaps due to a massive bureaucratic oversight?

Or instead, was it a happy coincidence that while there was swift enforcement against Toyota, a major competitor of GM, GM had just been bailed out and essentially owned by the US Government and certainly didn't need any negative news about its vehicles at the time these faults were being heavily reported?

Beating On the Germans - A Coin Of Probus

It's been quite awhile since I did an ancient coin post.

Next in the series is a coin of the Roman Emperor Probus.

Marcus Aurelius Probus was emperor of Rome from 276-282 AD. As typical for many of the later Roman emperors, he wasn't born in Rome but instead in the city of Sirmium a city in Roman Pannonia, located in what is northern Serbia and the current city of Sremska Mitrovica is located right on top of it. So much on top of it in fact that right beneath the city center is the only known unexcavated Roman hippodrome, a huge building 150 meters wide by 450 meters in length. Unexcavated to this day as they'd have to rip up much of the existing city center to get to it. Sirmium was a very important roman city and made some major cultural contributions to Roman life and indeed nine emperors were born there and many others born near or were proclaimed emperor there.

An emperor in this period needed to display military prowess, and there was no better way to show those abilities than beating back a Germanic tribe or two from the Roman Empire's limes.

The reverse: Victoria Germ. Two captives seated at the foot of a trophy. RAA in exerge.

The Obverse: Probus P F AVG. The emperor's radiate and cuirassed bust facing right.

Sear 3375.

While the coin proclaimed victory over the Germans, and Probus did win many battles against them, the reality of the overall strategic situation was quite different. Under Probus, while there were considerable military victories, the Romans began withdrawing from their fortifications along the Limes Germaicus and abandoned the Agri Decumates area of the Roman province of Germania Superior and retreated to move defensible positions along the Rhine and the Danube rivers.

Probus also worked on revitalizing the Roman economy but came to an early end. In 282 AD at Sirmium, the town of his birth, he was murdered by a bunch of mutinous soldiers who were angry at having been ordered to do construction on public works rather than military duties.

Inflation in the Roman Empire in this period has reduced the Antoninianus to a silver-washed piece of bronze. On this coin, while it weighs 3.92 grams, you can see the bronze coin through the areas where the silver plating has worn away over time and the weight is bronze not silver.

There's also an interesting factoid about some of the coins of Probus. He, or his mint-masters, liked to throw single letters of the word AEQVITI, or equity, on coins.

In the case of this coin, there's an added A found in the mint-mark. The RA of the mark stands for Rome (R), first workshop (A), so we know this coin was minted at Rome itself. The extra A is for the beginning of the word AEQVITI.

Interestingly enough these extra initials only appear on coins struck at the Rome or Ticium mints (mint-mark XXI) and none of the other mints operating during that period. Get enough coins of Probus from Rome and Ticium, and you can gather the extra letters, which are often found in the legend or on the field of the coin and spell AEQVITI at your leisure and feel very equitable while doing so. Why these two mints put that code in the series of coins is unexplained as is why it was limited to only those two mints and what the point was of adding them to the series of coins.

A nice coin commemorating a Roman victory while holding part of a hidden codeword and thereby presenting an interesting lost mystery to history.

Jett's Training Day

Jett's been getting an education.

As part of being a good canine, he's learning all the basic commands: come, sit, down, place, heel and others.

Today was his first large group lesson.

Kind of intimidating with about 20 dogs in attendance, but he fit right in and did real well and paid attention throughout.

He held his place even when other dogs were deliberately walked close by, and remained in a heel when his turn to take a circle around the other dogs came. You could see the wheels turning as he responded to stimuli from all the dogs, owners, and our commands.

After the lesson, some of the dogs left and then there was free play time. He really had a blast and made some new friends. As part of the lesson, he also responded well to a recall while playing in the pack.

Good puppy and good times indeed.

The Underpants Gnome Theory Of Some Michigan "Pro-Gun" Activists

One wonders if they really are pro-gun as their plan seems to guarantee an opposite result:

Step 1. Vote and work to elect known anti-gun Democrat Mark Schauer for Governor on the theory that a Republican House and Senate will be somehow motivated to send pro-gun legislation to him that he will veto, and then the Republicans and a few renegade Democrats will team up to override the veto. And the example of this ever happening in real life is when? Oh yeah, never.

Step 2. .......

Step 3. Pro-gun nirvana?!?

Oh, that plan will work out real well.

Seriously, these guys need to stay off my side. Many of them seem to be of the "I couldn't get everything I want so I'll take my ball and go home and complain" school of politics.

Heck, they're not even happy that Snyder passed SB610 and legalized SBS and SBRs, which is pretty darn pro-gun when you think about it, and a darn good start after quite a few disappointments with the governor to date.

They also have apparently short memories, not remembering that it was Republican Governor Engler that signed shall-issue into law (admittedly reticently, and under a lot of pressure I might add from pro-gun activists that didn't take the ball and go home after earlier disappointments from Engler, but with the pressure on, Engler did do it). They also forget that we haven't seen a lot of pro-gun moves from Democrat governors in this state, not to mention Schauer has a rock-solid rabid anti-gun pedigree. They also don't understand how politics works.

Even better, one rather rude proponent of the scheme in the comments flatly declared that he was already carrying a short-barreled shotgun for self defense -- legal or not -- and that Michigan's ban was a "bogus law". Ooooh, how tough. Turns out it was a Bond Arms Derringer which is not an short-barreled shotgun (I guarantee he still doesn't know why it isn't). But he thought it was such and bragged on the Internet of all places of how he thought he was breaking a law. That's smart right there, as is relying on a Bond Arms Derringer for personal protection.

I'm halfway figuring he's a Democrat troll 'cause no one can be quite that patently over the top, but he may just be for real. In which case again, he, like the rest of the Keyboard Kommando Krybaby Korps needs to stay off our side.

Considering they're loudly planning to elect anti-gun Democrats, I daresay they already are on the other side.

Michigan Ban On SBR And SBS Possession Lifted! Governor Signs Reform Bill Into Law!

Governor Snyder has signed SB 610, making it now legal for law-abiding Michiganians to own short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns so long as they comply with federal law.

He signed it at 9:10 pm yesterday, making it law 2014 PA 63.

Another great step forward for Pro-Second Amendment supporters here in Michigan.

As I've said before, if you had asked me if we'd get SBS and SBR reform in blue-state Michigan a few short years ago I'd have laughed at the suggestion.

Thanks to all of you who contacted your representatives and asked them to support the bill.

Another victory for civil rights in this great state.

Oh, Look! The Freep Is Carrying Free Ads For Obamacare!

Well it's as close as you can come to free advertising for the Obamacare train-wreck as you can get - a feature by "guest writer" to the Detroit Free Press - none other than the US Secretary of Health and Human services herself - Kathleen Sebelius.

The Detroit Free Press: Kathleen Sebelius: Time running out to enroll in Affordable Care Act

To call it a rah-rah puff piece would be an insult to rah-rah puff pieces.

Maybe the Freep got a waiver from Obamacare in return for running this piece of dreck.

Hard to claim the mantle of media objectivity when you run administration propaganda as a feature from a guest writer.

No Judge, They Didn't Mean That When They Sang "Can I Get A Witness?"

Wayne County Judge McCree removed for an affair with a plaintiff on one of his cases with some of the action taking place in his courtroom chambers.

Yes, he really got a witness, on a case he was presiding on, in his chambers. Not exactly an impartial display of justice when you're busy banging one of the parties in the case for six months, and unlike what you may see on TV, judges are not allowed to do that.

The Detroit News: Wayne Circuit Judge McCree removed from bench

Note when reading the article that Wayne County voters, of which Detroiters are the majority, may just reelect him to the bench. The Supreme Court, realizing the real possibility of that occurring, ruled that if he's reelected he's automatically suspended from office for six years without pay.

No, You Weren't Being Profiled When You Got Pulled Over, You Were Just Being Plain Stupid

Had a potential client, along with his mom, come in and tell his story of woe.

He gets pulled over and busted for possession of a certain green leafy substance.

His mom flatly and righteously declared that he was only pulled over 'cause he was Driving While Black.

All righty then.

So I begin to discuss the facts and learn the following:

The stop took place at night on December 31st, on a highway. Keep in mind that's New Year's eve.

The police car apparently came up, went ahead of him, and dropped back to then pull him over.

Asking further questions as to why the officer did that, she says, "well one of the headlights wasn't working". I point out that's a perfectly valid reason for a stop.

He then quickly pipes up that the cop wouldn't be able to tell that the headlight was broken.

"Why would that be?", I ask.

'Cause both headlights were working because he was driving with his high-beams kept on, on a major highway, at night, on New Year's Frickin' eve!

I explain that's a valid reason for a stop and to forget about challenging it on racial profiling grounds. They don't seem to like that response, what a surprise.

Then they state the leafy substance wasn't his but that it likely belonged to either her ex-boyfriend; their nephew with a medical marijuana card that she knows is driving suspended, but she lets him drive the car anyway; or her friend who is often a passenger in the car and has been know to smoke in it.

I ask if any of the above want to come forward and testify that the kid didn't know they had hidden the weed in the car. She states none of them would do that.

I then explain the concept of constructive possession and how if no one else is going to step up, it's on the kid, and a plea bargain is in order here.

They don't like that either, nor do they like the idea that they may, gasp, have to pay a reasonable amount for legal services and expect me to magically make it go away on the extremely cheap.

Well, No.

I wasn't retained, they're not my clients, none of the facts related in this tale are outside of the police report, and I suggested they ask for a court-appointed attorney who will likely tell them the same thing I just did assuming they don't want to actually hire an attorney to represent them.

Good luck with that.

Why Thank You So Bloody Much Obamacare

Just received my Health Insurance Co's bill for this month.

The bill jumped 23%.

Why? Well, the premium didn't change but all sorts of new Obamacare ACA and related taxes and fees listed below did, including retroactive taxes:

Other ACA fees $43.36

Retroactivity Other ACA fees $65.04

Federal and State Taxes and Fees PHIC $16.03

Retroactivity Federal and State Taxes and Fees PHIC $.88

Retroactive Adjustments $38.50

Sadly I certainly did not receive any retroactive benefits.

Some of the fees hidden under the line ACA fees include paying for other taxes for Obamacare including:

An Annual Fee on Health Insurance Carriers; the Transitional Reinsurance Program; the Risk Adjustment Admin Fee; the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Fee; and the Marketplace User Fee which is used to fund the operations of the Health Insurance Marketplaces.

In other words, my plan is becoming a 23% less affordable in order to subsidize affordable care for others and for supporting a broken marketplace I don't use.

Thanks oh so very much.

Here's to hoping the Obama true believers got hit with these fees as well and that shakes them out of their love fest with Obamacare.

Don't Let Your Mouth Write Checks That Your Body Can't Cash

Otherwise known as: Don't go around starting fights, 'cause it doesn't end well.

This video (with some rather NSFW language and violence) is a pretty good example of why you don't go around mouthing off and picking fights.

Amazingly enough, the aggressor in this video is actually trying to pick a fight with someone larger and tougher looking than he is.

Sumdood certainly graphically suffered from bad target selection.

I always figured that if I'm going to get attacked it's going to be by someone bigger, tougher, and meaner than I am, but this one turns that equation on its head a bit.

Note how the big dude being attacked keeps correctly backing off and trying to avoid the fight, and not fighting until Sumdood makes his move, and then he lets him have it.

It's both an educational and entertaining video where the idiot gets his comeuppance.

I hope he learns not to go around picking fights anymore after that one.

Just Wait A Muppet - Muppets Most Wanted Movie Review

Just got back from taking the kids to The Muppets Most Wanted Movie. This outing was a reward to Abby for getting excellent MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program - standardized testing for students in Michigan) scores. She did darn good in every area tested, and such diligence should be rewarded.

It's the Muppets, so you know its good clean family fun. Lots of good humor that the kids caught and even though the opening was a little scary for Leah, she warmed up to it, and the popcorn didn't hurt.

What I wasn't expecting was the sheer number of hilarious adult-aimed in-jokes that sailed right over the kids' heads to reach my funny bone.

There were even references and homages to other movies - scenes from a gulag reverse escape (yes, reverse, just go with it) that came straight out of the film The Way Back, but with a hilarious twist.

Tina Fey does a good job with her part, Ricky Gervais played his role to perfection, and the sheer number of stars who make a cameo appearance is too large to list.

The one head-scratcher in the movie was the Russian Gulag guards were all carrying Enfield #4 MK1s. I guess the production company didn't care to at least get some Mosin-Nagants or perhaps they thought the far more correct AK-74s would look too scary, or something.

In short, it's a couple hours of good clean family fun that even the parents, and most especially those parents raised on the Muppet Show, will enjoy profusely and not have to suffer through like other kid-intended movies.

Michigan: The Year Of The Pothole

Some years get the cool names like Year of The Dragon or Year of The Horse. This year Michigan gets the decidedly uncool Year of the Pothole.

Roads around here are more pothole than asphalt, and on one road I've traveled on about half of the right hand lane has crumbled into the side of the road.

Plenty of friends with flat tires and bent rims due to the damage, and it's sure not being fixed with any haste, speed nor competence. Now that the snow and ice are pretty much off the roads (except for the snow shower this morning - thanks so much Mr. Gore! - you'd think we could drive at normal speeds once again. Well, due to all the potgoles we sure as heck can't as people decide to slow to 5 mph whenever they see one or even stop dead when reaching a semi-submerged pothole field where there used to be a road.

I don't know if road commissions and various state politicians are just waiting for the situation to deteriorate more so that they can demand more money from the state to fix the roads or what.

Meanwhile, I'm not the only one noticing the execrable shape our states' roads are in:

The Detroit News: Michigan's potholes are scaring off investors

Considering we've got some of the worst roads in the US, it's well past time some effort went into fixing them, an effort beyond mere patching and flimsy repairs done only so that more road crews can fix the same piece of road next year in a lifetime-employment scheme for asphalt contractors.

I would not be against the state's proclaimed $1 billion dollar surplus going towards road repair and improvement. I support it if we knew that the money would be used well with resulting excellent roads that lasted and didn't need massive repairs in five years and the money wasn't wasted.

That's a big if.

SB 610: The SBR and SBS Reform Bill Passes The House And Senate, On To The Governor

SB 610, the bill to legalize Michigan citizens' possession and legal acquisition of short-barreled shotguns and rifles has passed the House, passed concurrence with the Senate and is on its way to Governor Snyder for his signature.

A very politely worded call or electronically submitted opinion to the Governor's office is in order.

If you're from outside Michigan and your state allows SBRs and SBSs, you can help too. Send an email politely pointing out that your state allows law-abiding citizens to possess SBRs and SBSs and there's been no serious criminal activity with such lawfully possessed firearms in your state and you expect that Michiganians can handle themselves similarly.

Oakland County To Detroit's EFM: No To THE DWSD Pig-In-A-Poke

Okaland County has formally announced they won't be the sucker in the regionalization of Detroit Water and Sewer Department.

Regionalization in this context appears to mean let Detroit reap the benefits of both its past use of the DWSD for corruption to enrich its politicians and for a future benefit of annual lease payments and the suburbs get stuck with all the costs such as deferred maintenance and pensions.

Thankfully the head of Oakland County, Brooks Patterson said no.

The Detroit News: Detroit area water authority talks hit cutoff

The whole article is worth reading to see the games Detroit is playing in this DWSD leasing arrangement. The games include not disclosing the financials; nor the actual expected and differed maintenance amounts for work that needs to be done on the system; putting the counties on the hook for pensions for personnel; and most especially for the extra 700 workers Detroit had already have stated aren't needed to run the system but will only be retired in 2022.

In other words, Detroit wants the surrounding counties to pay for all the undone maintenance that's not been performed for years while Detroit ran the system, and on top of that to pay 700 excess workers to go sit in a playroom and collect checks for the next 8 years - nice work if you've already got it.

I'm glad Patterson is keeping Oakland County far away from this mess and not being the sucker at the table.

Detroit's Democrats have ran out of their people's money and now they're trying to find another source of other people's money, and fast before the whole house of cards completely caves in.

Democrats Doling Out Dollars Didn't Drive Development

Who'da thunk it?

Who could possibly have known that Democrats Granholm and Obama's push to pick winners and fund battery development in Michigan to show they were doing something while pushing a green agenda and enriching their donors would have led to wasted money, few jobs developed, and a lot of the technology that was developed being scooped up by the Chinese for pennies on the dollar?

Well, we this was a story back in 2012 with A123s demise, but it takes the in the tank Freep two more years to write about it.

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan battery companies fall short of job claims

A quick summary: billions of dollars wasted, few real jobs actually created, lots of ribbon cuttings to make Democrats look like they were doing something and an impressive make-work failure to make any work.

The massive surge of Michigan tax credits and federal stimulus dollars that charged up the state’s nascent battery industry five years ago failed to generate the thousands of jobs that were promised.

Today, Michigan has only a few hundred battery workers in four plants — despite $861 million in Obama administration stimulus grants and $543 million in Michigan tax credits awarded by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration in 2009.

Since the Freep doesn't like to do math and would hate for us to be underwhelmed by exactly how few "a few hundred" workers would be, let's be charitable and say 900.

With a total of 1.4 billion in taxpayer money laid, out that's $1,560,000 per job on the optimistic side, and it's likely an even more lopsided result than that.

Former Michigan Governor Granholm, of course, regrets nothing.

Granholm still doesn’t regard Michigan’s incentives for battery makers as wasted money.

“Just because the jobs haven’t happened ‘yet,’ it doesn’t mean that cracking the code to vehicle batteries was the wrong strategy,” said Granholm, who is teaching at the University of California, Berkeley

When you're playing games with taxpayer's money, it means never having to say you're sorry.

Another Excellent CPL Class

Yesterday I had the opportunity to teach another excellent Michigan CPL class.

The class had six students, all of them part of a group of friends or the adult kids of the friends, so everyone knew each other.

It was a fun bunch with lots of good-natured ribbing and joking in between class sections.

It was also a very serious bunch who all listened attentively, asked good questions, and took the class extremely seriously.

For the written exam, I had the highest percentage of perfect scores with only one student missing a perfect score by one question and he knew what he had missed picked up on it immediately.

The range portion was a solid three hours going through all the class shooting exercises. Quite a few shooters improved quite markedly after some pointers regarding grip, stance and aiming fundamentals.

The whole class was a solid 10 hours with a working lunch.

Darn good class, and there's now a bunch of competent and trained people ready to start their CPL applications.

He's Gonna Need A Bigger Tinfoil Hat

One of The Detroit News' more far-left progressive columnists decided to hit one far out into murkiest left field today regarding the Detroit Waters and Sewage Department.

As you may or may not know, the DWSD was a hotbed of featherbedding and corruption and acted as a political slush fund for the Democrat powers-that-be in Detroit and has been suffering from neglected and deferred maintenance as the monies were diverted into Democrat politicians' preferred projects and pockets, which often amounted to the same thing.

The Emergency Financial Manager of Detroit, Kevyn Orr, has been busy trying to pull a fast one on the suburbs to have them pay big money for the original Detroit pig-in-a-poke.

Now Orr, instead of giving the suburbs the actual financials for the DWSD, is threatening to take his ball and go home by stating he's going to either privatize operations or sell the DWSD to a private vendor outright.

"Aha!" writes lefty opinion writter Rev. Robert Smith, that must have been the real plan all along!

Rev. Robert Smith: News flash: Kevyn Orr wants to sell the Detroit Water Department

Was that not the plan all the time? Come on, let’s not play games or pretend this is something that can’t be avoided.

We all know that Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr came to carry out the Republican plan to take over any and everything that gave Detroit and Detroiters clout.

Yep, Mr. Smith has gone the full leftard, and you really never want to go the full leftard. Then again, this isn't anythign especially new coming from Mr. Smith.

here has been a battle for the water department going on for 40 years. It was one of the jewels that beloved Mayor Coleman A. Young was hated for holding onto by the L. Brooks Patterson-types in the suburbs.

After Orr, there will be no more fighting for the jewels of Detroit.

We all will be Michiganians, and our claim will be the fact that we live in Michigan. Detroit will be only a byword heard every once and a while as we enjoy the state park we call Belle Isle and drink the water owned by millionaires.

Orr may be the executor, but the people who planned this takeover have been around for a long time.

Now that's quite the hilarious conspiracy theory.

After all, it was Detroiters that ran the city and the DWSD into debt through corruption and neglect. It was Detroiters that turned their jewels into paste by neglecting and dumping trash on them and otherwise failing to keep them in good condition.

I don't know if Smith just shared some of Cushingberry's stash, or if his current tinfoil hat shank a bit or what, but to spin such a silly whale of a conspiracy theory, he's gonna need a bigger tinfoil hat than what he's already got.