An Actual Demonstration Of American Soft Power

Or: Walk Softly and Carry A Big Tariff.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quite a refreshing change, that.

Black Nazis - Are You Allowed To Hate Black Nazis?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brrr

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking Of Perjury

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So I do some digging.

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

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

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

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

Oops.

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

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

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

The Biden Crime Family Pardons Its Own

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verily, The Cabal Protects Its Own

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

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

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

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

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

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

That could get interesting.

Meme For The Morrow

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

 

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

2 More Years

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

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

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

The Detroit News:  Where's Whitmer?

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

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

.  .  .

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting The Kid Back To School

 

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

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

 

Fun was driving to the airport in the snow. 

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

 

The roads leading to the highway were absolutely snow covered. 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

Wrong.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Well....Bye

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

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

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

A Neat Hanukkah Discovery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clearly a gun violence problem, right?

Not so fast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now for the Chicken Sh*t. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thankfully this has stalled out.

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

Quite a lot more got pushed through.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

23 Years Since 9/11

And the FBI is still fundamentally unserious when it comes to Islamic Terrorism.

From Breitbart: FBI: New Orleans Ramming Suspect Identified as ‘Shamsud Din Jabbar’

The suspect accused of plowing a pickup truck through a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 10 and injuring at least 30 on New Year’s Day, is named Shamsud Din Jabbar, according to a law enforcement source, Nola.com reported.

The outlet also reported the suspect is 42 years old and that he was carrying an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) flag in the vehicle.

Police shot and killed him after the attack.

The attack occurred around 3:15 a.m.

FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Aletha Duncan first said the attack was not a “terrorist event.”

Not “a terrorist event”.

One wonders what act if any by Islamists would qualify as a terrorist event for the FBI?

Of course, they eventually said that yes, the Islamist running his truck into a crowd, with  IEDs in the truck, and flying an ISIS flag (which interestingly was covered up and concealed by the FBI initially), was indeed a terrorist attack. 

Amazing powers of deduction the FBI has.  Sherlock Holmes would be most impressed.

Happy New Year!!!

Well, 2024 sure brought a lot of changes. 

Some good of these changes were, some were very much not so good.

May 2025 be a great year for all of us.

A Streaming Option For Tonight

If you start Die Hard at exactly 9:57:10, then Hans Gruber falls off the Nakatomi Building and reaches the ground at exactly midnight to ring in the New Year!

The Latkas Are In The Pan

I repeat,  the Latkas are in the pan.

 

 

Aaron has a large dreidel, I repeat, Aaron has a large dreidel.

 

This,  of course, means Hanukkah has arrived!

Happy Hanukkah to all!

Merry Christmas 2024

To my Christian friends and readers, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

May it be a time of peace, joy, and love for you and your families.

Trial: Well, That Was Rather Unusual

Had a trial recently, and the outcome is still pending.

The overview:  Defendant Douche-Bag (DDB from here on in) is a handyman that not only conned a 90-year-old with dementia into doing $100k+ in "renovation" work on her condo, for which Adult Protective Services investigates and substantiates a finding of financial abuse - but nothing is done,  He also secretly obtains the deed top her condo under interesting circumstances.  

But wait, it gets better.

DDB also becomes her guardian - at the nomination of Adult Protective Services!, cuts off family and friends from seeing her, and then bilks the guardianship funds as well, including taking over $3,500 outof the account to clean it out after her death. Oh, and he does not tell anyone that she has died for 12 days, until the day before the hearing to remove him as guardian. But he does record the deed he got to the condo the very day she dies.

The deceased's remote family, who are out of state, then sues him for the money and condo that have been stolen when they find out the extent of what has happend.

The renovation work is, shall we say, sub par.

For example the new dining room floor, which we inspect at the condo during discovery:

Yep, it is that bad, it is also wavy and not level.  Click 'em to embiggen and see the suck-age in all its glory. 

Looks like scrap wood from multiple flooring kits with edges that don't even line up. No pattern at all. Other renovations DDB has done look about as bad - like repainting the bathroom wall and not moving the toilet tank while painting it, so there's a toilet-tank outline behind it in the original paint color that is really visible.

Many other renovations DDB charged for aren't even done at all, and it looks like he was making up the proposal quotes after the fact to cover himself after all the checks were written to him - checks he wrote out and either had her sign or forged her signature.

DDB is also representing himself which causes issues - he fails to comply with discovery leading the judge to sanction him, but the judge also gives him a lot of leeway as is often the case.

So we get to trial.

I had a nice opening argument prepared and the judge states no opening arguments, and to call my first witness.

Ah, well.

So,  I begin with the accountant expert I have and we start going over the accounts.

Lots of interesting things in those accounts as we trace funds he's taken and misappropriated for himself including lots of cash withdrawals, uisng her credit card to pay for his insurance and dog vet bills and more.

About 30 minutes in DDB stands up and asks the judge if we can stop so he can get an attorney as it is "more complicated than he thought".

The judge says no as we're in the middle of a trial, but if he can find an attorney to represent him before we re-start at lunch then that's fine.

DDB's mom, who is in the courtroom rushes out at that and I continue with my questioning.

Soon a fellow walks in up to the Defendant's podium and puts his name as Attorney Quickhire (never seen this guy before at court ever) on the record and states he'll be representing the Defendant.

Welcome to the party, pal.

I happily continue my questions, Attorney Quickhire never says a word, and I get more and more damning info out about the issues with the accounts and money being spent and the Judge asks me to pause.

The judge then states Attorney Quickhire has just left the courtroom.

Yep, he stood there for a bit then walked back to the mom, said something and left the courtroom.

Ooops.

Some of  my witnesses overheard him say to the mom that he can't represent him and that wasn't what they had told Attorney Quickhire this matter was about.  

Who knew that DDB's mom would lie too?  Shocker.

Unfortunately, Attorney Quickhire just committed malpractice and is on record representing DDB.  Not good for him at all.

We continue without him, and after luch the judge again notes Attorney Quickhire is not there.  We get through most of my witnesses on the first day.

Start of the second day, no Attorney Quickhire and Judge has DDB confirm Attorney Quickhire is not representing him.

I get through my witnesses.

DDB then represents himself as his only witness and I cross-examine the heck outta him.  I'll say this DDB is a very smooth liar and given the other person present for much of what went on is dead, the lies are a problem even when at times they defy belief.

I do get him to admit he is not licensed and never puled a single permit for all the work he did - including removing a wall that seems to have been load-bearing. Oopsies.

So, I have a damn nice closing prepared and ready to let it rip.

Of course the judge then says he doesn't want closing arguments.

Dammit, it was really good and I was ready to go. Ah, well.

Instead,  the judge wants very detailed briefs going into various aspects of the case as closing arguments, and he wants the financials presented differently in the closing brief to answer some specifics he wants answered.

Overall, feeling pretty good about where it is going, but one can never tell how a judge will rule but he was not impressed with the "work" DDB did at the condo and I had a lot of good evidence showing the deceased had severe enough dementia at the time, but we will see what happens.

So I get to do that now. That will be due late January, and the decision should be released in mid-February.

In short some helpful general advice: 

1. Don't rip off old ladies, you will get caught (now, if you do this in Oakland County you likely won't be criminally prosecuted as our Democrat progressive prosecuting attorney doesn't like going after such financial crimes - apparently they are too complicated and not headline-generating enough to get her interest);

2. Don't try to represent yourself at trial when you do get caught, for you are fun to play with, and will mess up, a lot;

3. Don't wait to the date of trial to try and find an attorney; and most importantly:

4.  If you're an attorney, Don't, for the love of professional responsibility, jump into a case at trial on the day of trial with no clue as to what is going on.  Nothing good will happen.

Attorney Quickhire didn't do himself any favors and may need to let his malpractice insurance carrier know about the mess he just got himself into. If DDB is bright enough to claim he committed malpractice by representing him and then disappearing without even being released by the court from representing DDB.  Really not good.

This was rather an unusual trial in many ways, and the decision isn't in yet.

Saturday Flyday- Cold And Crisp Approaches

This morning was cold but very clear out.  Winds at 110 degrees at 8-10 knots. So we would get to do Runway 9 approaches.

Went to the airport and met up with Shaun and did the preflight on the Archer.

I then got our VFR flight following setup and took off and headed to Flint.

 A gorgeous day to fly, and the cold air made the plane perform just beautifully - great climb performance, and we were getting 125 knots indicated lots of the time, which was pretty sweet.

 

I did the ILS 9 at Flint and it went well, did the start of it with the autopilot and switched to manual as the autopilot was slow to turn to intercept the localizer.  After that it was a good approach.

The we did the RNAV 9 which was great and I rode that sucker like it was on rails.

Then back to Pontiac and I did the ILS 9R, as we rarely get the 9 side and the opportunity for the ILS at Pontiac. That approach went perfectly and I brought it in to a smooth landing.

Then we taxi'd to Royal Air for fuel and brought the plane back to the hangar.

There was enough blown snow by the hangar that the plane got stuck in it, so I grabbed a shovel and cleared enough for the wheels to get a grip.

That worked.  We then got the plane in and I shoveled the rest of the snow out from in front of the Hangar so hopefully the sun will melt it off. It was a good time and fun flying with Shaun as the safety pilot. 

That's 1.6, 1 hold, 3 approaches, 1.0 simulated instrument time, and a 1 great landing. Instrument currency happily maintained.

First Solid Snowfall of Winter

So you know it's time for bad drivers and special idiot parking season.

What's wrong with this picture?

Mr or Ms. Mercedes is in the middle of the travel row and decided to make his/her own parking space, with tons of open spots available. Probably too entitled to walk an extra 3 feet. S/He will likely be very upset if the Cadillac pulls out and smacks the car as it is trapped by the Mercedes' front end with not enough room to get out (not that they are lined up nicely in their space either, but still).

On top of seeing the parking special when I arrived, it was fun just getting to the parking lot. A lady in a Lincoln decided the best way to drive was centered on the lane divider between two lanes while she toddled along at 23 mph on a 45 mph road. She endeared herself to everyone she was blocking in both lanes for over a mile.

Patience is certainly required when driving and indeed parking in the winter in Michigan, that's for sure.

Biden Talks Tough On Iran, Sends Them Another $10 Bilion

 The Detroit News: Biden approves national security memo on China, Iran, North Korea and Russia ahead of Trump's return

 The document includes four broad recommendations: improving U.S. government interagency cooperation, speeding up the sharing of information with allies about the four adversaries, calibrating the U.S. government's use of sanctions and other economic tools for maximum effectiveness, and bolstering preparation to manage simultaneous crises involving the adversaries.

Yet at the same time as this memo talks tough on Iran, the Biden administration is waiving sanctions and approving Iran getting $10 Billion dollars that it can use for more terrorism:

New York Post: Biden admin quietly renewed controversial $10B Iran sanctions waiver two days after Election Day

Does the left hand know what the farther left hand is doing in regards to Iran?

Is The Detroit Free Press Using AI To Write Headlines?

Here's the headline for the story: The Detroit Free Press: Township of 65,000 people elects new top official by 5-1 landslide vote

Except the "Township of 65,000 people didn't vote 5-1 for a replacement supervisor, the Township Board did.

Legions of fact-checkers and all that.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, and there isn't, but the headline and later the article implies it was the voters of the township that did it, making it appear a lot more impressive a landslide than it was. 

And then he was sworn in. But two days later, Supervisor Steve Kaplan resigned to take another job. What to do?

Following the state constitution, West Bloomfield, a community of about 65,000 residents, elected a new supervisor on Monday afternoon – by a vote of 5-1.

Board members held an unscheduled special meeting, heard comments for an hour, and then elected two-term trustee Jonathan Warshay to the full-time job of running the big, affluent township that's 27 miles northwest of Detroit.

 Even the article is written implying it was a community-wide vote rather than the Board voting 5-1 to appoint one of its members as the new interim supervisor. 

In any case I certainly wish the new Supervisor success, and wish the prior one had not run for re-election if he had no intention of actually serving for another term.  But, Kaplan's running as an incumbent certainly blocked any challengers to the spot, keeping it in Democrat control (which to be fair it likely would have in any case), so that was likely simply politics and gamesmanship on his part to block competitors from the slot.

The article headline and content is still rather misleading as the citizens of West Bloomfield did not get an opportunity to vote for their new Supervisor, much less endorse him by a landslide 5-1 vote.

When The Process Is The Punishment

Daniel Penny was found not guilty of manslaughter in a case that should never have been brought against him.

NBC New York: Daniel Penny found not guilty in Jordan Neely subway chokehold death

The jury appropriately found him not guilty. 

Note that neither of the two men assisting Penny in restraining the attacking Jordan Neely, who had been threading to kill passengers on the subway car, were charged in his death. The fact that one was Black and the other Hispanic clearly had no bearing on there not being charged by the progressive DA Alvin Bragg in this matter. Surely not.

Meanwhile, Mr. Perry’s suffered  legal expenses for his excellent defense by his attorneys, and his life and liberty were put in jeopardy by the two-tiered legal system instituted under the progressive DA's office under Bragg, where viewing crime through a racial lens and "equity" is more important than justice. Under Bragg, actual criminals are given a pass, and law-abiding citizens defending themselves and defending others, as in the case of Penny are prosecuted.

 

Here, the process was the punishment along with a message being sent to other good people.

 

The message is to not intervene against a favored minority committing crimes -- even if someone's life is at stake -- or you'll be prosecuted by the same state that knowingly let the criminals walk free to commit their crimes. 

 

Sunday Flyday

The weather was finally decent enough to get out and go fly.

Mr. B. flew in to Pontiac Airport and I got in his plane and we headed off to Flint to get some approaches in for him. We did three, The ILS 27 and RNAV 27 at Flint and then the RNAV 27L at Pontiac. He did a very nice jonb on all three approaches.

Then we parked his plane and put in a refueling order for it and then headed to get in the flying club's Archer so I could get some approaches in as well.

It took forever and a half to get a takeoff clearance. The controller, a newer one, was dealing with a lot of traffic on the north-side and didn't manage the spacing to get us out.

Verily, a damn Piper Cub lapped the field three times while we were waiting to depart. Nothing against Piper Cubs, but they're slow and there is space to get aircraft out when they're on base or even the beginning of final.

We had four planes stacked behind us and after 10 minutes I politely radioed the controller that we were still holding short, and other planes were stating they were holding in sequence.

We finally got a takeoff clearance.

 Clouds were a tad lower but still no factor, and it was calmer out than forecast

I headed to Flint and did the same approaches as Mr. B:  The ILS 27 and RNAV 27 at Flint and then back to do  the RNAV 27L at Pontiac.  Didn't have time to squeeze a couple more in. While doing the RNAV another aircraft requested priority as they had fumes in the cockpit - he didn't declare an emergency but the controller acted appropriately and got him in and down fast. All was well and they landed safely without incident. That pushed us out a bit more, but that was fine.

The approaches worked out quite well.  I did a very good ILS 27 and then absolutely nailed the RNAV 27 approach and the RNAV 27L at Pontiac ending with a very smooth landing.  We then got a right turn off, were told to cross 27R and was back on the north side and to the hangar in no time.

We then heade dout for a late lunch and then I got Mr. B. back to his plane and he headed home.

That's 1.6 for me, three approaches and one very nice landing and a great time hanging out with Mr. B for an afternoon.

Syrious Change - The Assad Regime Falls

The fall of the despot Bashar Assad has opened new risks and opportunities in the Middle East.

The Detroit News: Jubilation and gunfire as Syrians celebrate end of Assad family's half-century rule

This change, after a 50-year dictatorship passed down from father to son, opens both syrious opportunities and lots of syrious risks.

The big winner - Turkey - who backed the Sunni rebels against the Alawite Assad regime and its Hezbollah, Iranian and Russian Backers. Turkey gets to expand its sphere of influence, and pushes Iran and Russia away from one of its borders.

The big losers - Russia, Hezbollah and Iran.

Russia: Syria was Russia's greatest remaining client state, and that Russia could not preserve the regime, having most of its resources tied up in its ill-chosen war in Ukraine demonstrates Russian weakness to the world.  Expect lesser client states to take note. Russia also loses its warm-water port at Tartus in Syria which is a major blow to Russian maritime strategy, such as it is.

Iran: Iran loses a close ally in the region and a easy transit route to get weapons and support to its client Hezbollah in Lebanon. A stronger Sunni Turkey is a threat to Shiite Iran as both rivals contend to try and lead the Muslim world. 

Hezbollah: Hezbollah loses an easy line of communication to its patron and controller Iran. Hezbollah having been the major puppet force of Iran in propping up the Assad regime weakened itself by its choice to launch a war with Israel that saw its command and control networks neutralized, it's forces being beaten and being on the verge of defeat until Biden, Macron, et al imposed a ceasefire on Israel. It's war with Israel distracted it from propping up the Syrian regime which fell after rebels were heavily supported by Turkey.

The possible winners:  Israel and Lebanon - The Assads kept in power as an Alawite minority in the Sunni nation of Syria by doing the typical dictator move - blame everything bad on the Jews and Israel rather than themselves.  

Israel: A new regime that may be interested in peaceful relations with its neighbors instead of supporting terrorism and continually threatening war would be a very good thing for Israel, reducing tensions on its borders and further hampering Hezbollah from getting support and supplies via an overland route from Iran. 

Lebanon:  Syria heavily supported Hezbollah in Lebanon, preventing the Lebanese from controlling their own destiny. This change may give the rather fragmented and weak Lebanese state a chance to reclaim its control over its own territory and end Syrian and Iranian supported Hezbollah domination.

Or, Syrian could fall apart into civil war with instability and a foothold for the Islamic State and Al Qaeda that would be very bad for all its neighbors, including Israel, Lebanon and Jordan, and indeed the world as Al Qaeda likes to get around.

Time will tell but it will take time before this shakes out and we see who assumes control, who influences them, and what their stance will be on the world stage.  Interesting times indeed, and the maps sure have been all flag-y and arrow-y recently.

Interesting Move By Detroit Mayor Duggan

The Democrat Mayor of Detroit Mike Duggan is making a rather interesting move.

He just announced he will be running for governor.

As an independent candidate.

The Detroit Free Press: Mayor Mike Duggan aims to bridge division in gubernatorial run as independent candidate

From a lifetime as a stalwart Democrat and member of the Detroit Democrat Machine  - albeit as a highly effective and competent member of same, he's now dropping the "D" from his candidacy.

I wonder if he figures the Democratic Party has a rather tarnished image right now and he'd rather run from it than run with it.

Or it may be a matter of DEI Democrat politics, which may mandate a person of color rather than competence make the gubernatorial run.

Duggan has been regarded by many as corrupt but highly effective - which is pretty much the best you can expect or ask for when it comes to a Democrat Mayor of Detroit. Indeed, Duggan is, quite simply, the best mayor Detroit has had in decades.

We'll see if his surprise shift to independent and dropping of the Democrat brand works in his favor.

A Step In The Right DEIrection

The times, they are a changin', and DEI loyalty oaths may be on their way out at the University of Michigan.

The Detroit News: UM will no longer use diversity statements in faculty hiring, promotion, tenure

This is, of course, causing some consternation among the progressive faculty set, but it may open some opportunities for ideological growth, competition, and dare we say, actual diversity? 

After all, with 98.16% of University of Michigan faculty campaign donations going to Democrats, it is quite the ideological echo chamber at present. So, removing a filter and likely barrier to entry should be rather welcome.

It's a start, at least.

A Very Valuable Donation - But It's Not Rare

The Detroit News: Rare coin left in St. Clair Shores Salvation Army red kettle

An anonymous donor has been putting a Krugerrand in the  kettle each year.

A Krugerrand is a very nice donation, as its  a valuable one-ounce South African gold coin worth around $2,700. That the donor has been doing this for 12 years is highly impressive on the donor's part and very generous too.

But Krugerrands, while valuable, are not particularly rare, nor even scarce. In the 70s and 80s, millions were minted per year. In the 1980s Krugerrands were 90% of the gold bullion coin market with millions minted. In 2010, the most recent year with mintage figures being available, over 520,000 were minted and almost 750,000 the year before.

If you want to invest in gold, a Krugerrand is likely not a bad way to go. After all, you get to posses a very beautiful coin you can appreciate as it appreciates in value.

Just because a thing is valuable doesn't mean its rare, nor is rarity a synonym for valuable, and the headline writer should know that.

Everybody Was Kung Fu Firing

You don't get a bulk discount for shooting the bad guy plus bystanders. Spray and pray is a bad tactic with innocents around:

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit cop shot 3 people while responding to summer block party, department reveals

A Detroit police officer responding to a block party shooting this summer shot and injured three people — two described as innocent young women, and a third who allegedly pointed a gun at the officer but was never arrested.

That the third, who had pointed the gun at the officer was never arrested, which raises all sorts of questions.

The officer as it turns out, was responsible for 3 out of the 4 people shot at the scene of the ongoing shooting that she responded to:

Police said in a June news conference that a total of four people were wounded at the block party with an estimated 100 attendees after shots were fired from a vehicle driving by. Nearly 100 shell casings were recovered.

Talk about not improving matters. 

The bad guy got one hit, and the officer had three hits for five rounds fired. It also looks like everybody was Kung Fu Firing:

The investigation, he said, was complicated by the chaos of the incident. Eight guns were recovered, including an automatic weapon and an assault rifle. Police believed party attendees may have shot back at the vehicle involved in the violence.

"The officer responded to an active shooter, the officers heard a barrage of rounds being thrown back and forth, so we have to really get granular with what exactly occurred," White said.

93 fired casings were recovered at the scene with 5 from the officer. 

In short, this incident was one heckuva mess, and she didn't improve things by tagging two innocents plus the individual that pointed a firearm at her.

That Was Then, This Is Biden

How It Started: CNN: Biden says he won’t pardon Hunter Biden or commute his sentence in first public remarks after guilty verdict

President Joe Biden on Thursday offered his first public remarks about his son Hunter’s conviction on federal gun charges earlier this week, telling reporters in Italy he is “proud” of him and accepts the jury’s verdict.

“I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction, he’s one of the brightest, most decent men I know,” Biden said during a news conference on the margins of the G7 summit.

“I am satisfied that I’m not going to do anything — I said I’d abide by the jury decision. I will do that. And I will not pardon him,” he added. 

How It's Going: AP: Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

President Joe Biden pardoned his son,  Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.

....

In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”

Like most Biden promises, that one didn't age well.

To be fair he likely cannot even remember making that promise 6 months ago, nor his past public statement that he accepts the jury's verdict.

That anyone thought he wouldn't pardon his son likely believed Biden's statements that the inflation act was about reducing inflation. 

The pardon meshes well both with Joe bailing his son out on family grounds and the Democrats' general soft-on-crime outlook as long as the accussed's name is not Trump and has leftist politics.

On the upside, with pardon in hand, Hunter Biden can no longer refuse to testify regarding the Biden family crimes he committed and was involved in on Fifth Amendment grounds as he has immunity for them as the pardon covers any and all possible crime  "he has or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024".  

Hopefully, Republicans call him to testify accordingly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

The turkey I roasted came out great this year.

Possible Lebanon Ceasefire Agreement As IDF Reaches The Litani

Israel fought through Hezbollah and reached the Litani river in Lebanon yesterday.

This is rather a big deal.  The reason is that Hezbollah, per UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Lebanon War, was supposed to remain north of the Litani with nothing but the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL deployed south of the Litani.  Obviously Hezbollah ignored the resolution and it was unenforced - until now, by Israel.

So now, Hezbollah wants a ceasefire after launching thousands of rockets at Israel since October 7 of last year and finding out that was not a good choice on their part as Israel decapitated their leadership, destroyed their weapon depots and have been nailing their positions in Southern Lebanon and driving them across the Litani.

The Detroit News: Israel bombards Beirut suburbs as its leadership prepares to vote on ceasefire with Hezbollah

Assuming Hezbollah actually abides by the terms of the proposed ceasefire it would achieve the majority of Israel's aims in this conflict -  Hezbollah would have to actually stay north of the Litani, and stop shooting missiles at Israel so Israelis living in the north of Israel who have been displaced by the rocket and artillery fire since last October could come home. 

We will see if the ceasefire is implemented and how long it lasts before  Hezbollah starts breaking the terms - and if the world will try and stop Israel from enforcing the agreement, which is apparently a sticking point.

Kid Turns 21

Where does the time go?

Abby turned 21 this weekend. She came up from university with her boyfriend to celebrate her birthday with us.

Leah flew in for the celebration and to spend the Thanksgiving Break together.

As is tradition, breakfast on her birthday was a cherry cheesecake.

After cheesecake, she received her presents.

The kid is now legal to drink and celebrated with her first order of alcohol at a restaurant, and then buying a bottle of Ciroc at a store that she brought home and mixed her very first cocktail, with fresh-squeezed lime juice and including making her own simple syrup.  It was a rather tasty cocktail.

We along with her boyfriend, finished her day with a further celebration and birthday cake and she had a great day.

Local(ish) Game

Went with a friend after work yesterday to the MSU v Purdue Football game.

With an 8pm start it made for a long night including the over an hour drive to East Lansing in quite a bit of traffic.

 Quite a bit chillier than Florida, with a fair bit of wind and temps in the 40s.

I'm not a football aficionado, but it easy to see that it was quite a rough game.

To say it was an ugly game of football is an understatement.

MSU started out with a 24-3 lead, and that lead kept narrowing as the game went on into the second half.

MSU narrowly won, barely, but only by making slightly fewer mistakes than Purdue.  At times it seemed MSU decided the strategy was to run the ball as they couldn't complete a pass if their life depended on it. 

The only saving grace for MSU was that Purdue was worse including suffering a blocked field goal, a fumble, and throwing interceptions, and couldn't capitalize on the many mistakes the Spartans made. 

Still for all that it was a fun time, and good to see the home team win 24-17.

Finally got back home around 1:30 am. Quite a long day, but fun.

Woe Canada

The Loonie Drops For Thee.

CBC: Will the Canadian dollar slip below 70 cents US?

The Canadian dollar is dropping in value  not just due to the fall in the price of oil, but to lousy economic policy choices made by the Trudeau government.

The falling Canadian dollar matches the fall in Canada's standard of living under Trudeau:

"The really sad thing is, for me and you and the rest of Canadian citizens, our standard of living has dropped 35 to 40 per cent versus the United States in the last eight years," he said.

Progressives tend to run out of other people's money, and set their nations on a path to decline and ruin.  Hopefully, Canadians pull their collective head out and vote in a better government soon.

Who Knew That Lefty Progressives On Bluesky

Who knew that Progressive Lefties flocking to Bluesky are, [Checks Notes] so heavily into being purveyors and consumers of CSAM?

 

 

Yep, as proggys flock to Bluesky to recreate and double-down on the comfy ideological echo-chamber they used to have on Twitter, the posting of material depicting, promoting, and advocating for improper activities in regards to children has skyrocketed. 

So much so that the moderators there cannot keep up.

Funny, that.

Scuba Diving The Devil's Den

Devil's Den is a spring about 40 minutes from Gainesville that offers some fun diving practice in fresh water.

The UF Scuba Club had booked some of the gear setup areas with tables and it was very nicely organized. We arrived and the group all geared up and headed into the spring after checking in, doing waivers, paying the entrance fee and rental needed equipment.

Entry is through a tunnel heading downward and you need to mind your head as its rather tight.

Even though you enter through a cave entrance, there is direct sunlight through the ceiling of the collapsed cave.

That hole is rather pretty when viewed form under the water:

There's a nice platform set up that you then enter into the water.

There's a mound of rocks and rubble piled in the middle of the spring with deeper areas to the sides.

There's a few fish wandering about the spring;

There are some swim-throughs, meaning an overhead environment, but it was always a pretty quick transition through them,. and you can still see daylight,  and some swim-throughs turned out to end in blockages that require you to turn around which got a little tight but was fine.

 

There is a cave entrance, but entry into the cave is strictly prohibited.

Most springs with caves have the standard Grim Reaper with the "No Non-Cave Trained Divers Should Enter" sign.  This one is an outright prohibition.

Lights were needed as it was dark in the spring, and a lot of particulate in the water made for some difficult photos.

Leah loved her first certified dive experience, and she did great for a first dive as a certified diver without an instructor present, and did a very good job as a dive buddy.

We had a nice 54 minute run time with a max depth of 52 feet. The temperature ranged from 72-75 degrees depending on where you were in the water which made for a comfy dive.

A great dive and a great time with the kid.

Go Gators!

This weekend I went to Gainesville to visit Leah.

This was the UF Scuba Club Parent-Student dive weekend.  Leah has decided she want to get certified and she just earned her Open Water Certification last week through the club, so of course I had to be there for her first dive as a certified diver.

We had a number of activities planned, including attending a tailgate and going to watch the Gators play LSU.

The tailgate, hosted by the UF Scuba Club was a ton of fun.

Good food, fun people, and a good time had by all.

And, of course, there was a keg of beer. As no tailgate is complete without one.

After watching the kids do keg stands, there is a rumor that I was challenged to do one, and a further rumor that I then set the standard. Rumors only of course, but someone had to show them how it was done . . . .

After the Tailgate, we met up with some of Leah's friends and wandered into a frat house for some food which was also a fun experience. 

Then we headed to the game.  We had seats in the upper level endzone and it was a fun experience.

90,000+ fans. The energy was incredible.

Having 90,000 people belting out Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "I won't Back Down" was quite the experience.

The Gators, while not favored to win, recovered from a rocky start and beat LSU 27-16.

It was an amazing game to attend.

 And quite the celebrated win

Quite a great day.