No, Signs Really Don't Work That Way

Had a call from a person looking for a lawyer.

He had quite the request:

He wanted me to draft up a sign that could be posted on his property all legal-like alerting all persons including federal law enforcement most specifically ICE, that if they came onto his property without a warrant they would be met with deadly force.  

As you may suspect, I politely declined to acquiesce to his request.

In other words, I said "Hell No". 

Such a sign has no legal effect at all, and basically will help send the moron to jail if someone is ever shot by him on his property.

Apparently, the latest trend is thinking a sign magically stops ICE from enforcing immigration law, and the idiot thought he could get on the bandwagon with a clever sign.  

Some people think that so long as you post a sign with some legalese, or otherwise use some legalese you find on the internet (especially if it uses Latin for some reason) then you can do a dumb and illegal thing with no consequences. 

You cannot. 

In Michigan you can use deadly force for only three reasons.

Someone trespassing on your property, federal agent or not, is absolutely not one of them. 

1984 Was Not Supposed To Be A How-To Guide

But leftists keep using it as such.

Yet another example of them doing it at Instapundit. 

Minneapolis Mayor Tries To Straddle The Fence

Mayor Frey is now walking back some of his prior rhetoric that helped overheat the situation. 

Fox9: Minneapolis ICE shooting: Mayor Frey says city is being put in 'impossible situation'

"We're in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE agents on the street," Frey said.

The reaction from the Police Chief when he says that (about 12 seconds in on the video at the link) is rather priceless.

That Frey didn't immediately say that is absolutely bonkers as an idea, is all a part of the Democrat's on again/off again encouragement of rioting and bad behavior. 

The mayor is now sort of toning down his rhetoric after his fiery words that helped push the riotous conduct to begin with - not to mention his refusal to have MPD assist ICE in securing scenes and preventing situations where rioters are blocking federal agents doing their lawful jobs and the potential for incidents when "peaceful protestors" block vehicles and resist arrest leading to bad outcomes.

This call for the MPD to intervene is rather funny in a way. 

 After all, these residents asking police officers to fight ICE agents are the same activists that were calling for the defunding of the police not long ago, and likely still are calling for the police to be defunded. 

Calling for the MPD to take on ICE is rather insurrection-y, isn't it? 

Or, As The Rest Of The World Calls It, Tuesday

 From OSINT on X:

Yep, the Ayatollahs (and a large segment of the populace of Dearborn for that matter) have been constantly going on about "Death To America" and "Death To Israel".   Yet another call in the mullahs rather endless repetitive calls for global jihad is just same stuff different day.

Meanwhile brave men and women in Iran are busy protesting and fighting against the mullah's regime.

Meanwhile, I can still get better coverage of the momentous events in Iran on Instapundit and X than I can from the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press - as  both have not a peep about it today.  The lack of coverage is rather interesting.

As to why the media is impressively incurious with their coverage, one reason is that quite simply "No Jews, No News" as in no Jews to blame, so no coverage.

Another far more involved reason is given by Tahmineh Dehbozorgi and can be read here, and it is well worth reading in full. 

Same Players, Different Protest

Michigan has quite the crop of professional and enthusiastic amateur left-wing protesters.

So much so, the Detroit Free Press unironically juxtaposed this headline with the accompanying picture: 

Apparently this batch of protestors didn't have time to switch from Venezuelan that they had just got to anti-ICE flags.

It is rather hard for them to keep up with the cause du jour, after all. 

Iran Protests Finally Getting Some Notice

While no mention in either the Detroit News nor the Detroit Free Press -- Instapundit has better coverage than both of them which isn't hard because their level of coverage has been zero -- the massive protests in Iran are finally getting some media notice.  

Considering that the Iranian regime has blocked the country's internet services and  it is only thanks to Elon Musk and Starlink that we have an idea of what's going on.

And whats going on are very large protests against an actual theocratic and despotic authoritarian regime, where women get to unfortunately actually live A Handmaid's Tale, not just cosplay it.

Trump actively supporting the protesters is a big deal, unlike his predecessors who let them get crushed by the regime in for all intents and purposes silence, if not support for the regime.

An end to the terror-organizing mullahs would make for a far more peaceful Middle East and indeed the world at large.

Now That's A Take There Russia

A spit-take mind you, but quite a take all the same:

That the Russians are saying that is rather hilarious. 

That thread on Twitter of the Russians going on how the Maduro grab was unimpressive and they would have done it so much better is just amazing for its pure distortion and inversion of reality.

We will note the Russian special forces attempted just such a smash and grab in Ukraine and it happily failed spectacularly, leaving lots of dead "elite" Spetsnaz and VDV troops behind - smashing the myth of Russian Special Forces awesomeness and even their delusions of adequacy.

Heck, Russia went from being touted as the second best military in the world to being the second best military in Ukraine.

It Is Not Just That Politicians Can Be Bought

But how cheaply they can be bought.

The extensive Somali fraud that is now estimated at over $9 Billion dollars, while remarkable for the amount of the funds misappropriated, is unremarkable for the number  of kickbacks and donations the perpetrators were making to Democrat politicians.

Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz apparently received all of $10,000 in donations from Somali fraudsters: Washington Examiner: Walz received $10,000 from donors tied to Somali-run day care centers.

$10k in return for billions stolen with the state being remarkably, if not deliberately, incurious of the ongoing thefts and operations. 

The Feeding our Future scandal that bilked the state and feds of $250 million alone donated $50,000 to Minnesota Democrats.

A $50k payoff to the Dems in return for pocketing $250 million is not a bad investment at all for the fraudsters. 

Biden's Tweet Aged Like Milk

Yep, this tweet, among the many, didn't age well:

Funny how it took Trump to stand with the Venezuelan people and democracy to actually do something effective, eh?

2026 Starting Off With A Bang

Waking up to find Venezuela's dictator in custody, and Venezuelans around the world are celebrating is rather a nice way to begin a Saturday.

The US went in and grabbed Maduro, ostensibly for drug and terrorism charges and his role in importing illegal drugs into the United States.

The unsealed indictment makes for interesting reading.  

The drug conspiracy and terrorism charges  seem rather convincing, but some of the indictment, namely the firearms charges, reads like it was pulled off a domestic drug dealer form indictment.

The firearm charges - namely possession of machine guns, and the carrying of firearms in furtherance of a crime -  appear rather aout of place - considering there is no allegations that the firearms were ever carried in the US or US territory by any of the named defendants. 

Strange stuff indeed. On the upside that's one dictator removed and a chance for the actually elected opposition to have a chance to dismantle the chavismo dictatorship and have a free(r) country again.

In other news, protests against the regime continue in Iran, and those protests should be supported. With any luck the mullahs too will experience regime change and the middle east will become a lot more stable and free as well.

Certainly an interesting start to the year. 

The Sopranos Must Be Regretting Their Life Choices

All the drama, all the deaths, and all the hardship involved in racketeering, theft and garbage schemes -- and for what? A pretty mid take and most of their crew ending up in prison or in the ground.

Instead, they could have just opened some daycare centers and did some medicaid fraud in Minneapolis and stole billions the easy way.

MSN:  Somali scammers allegedly stole almost as much in Minnesota as entire Somalia GDP

Back After Quite The Voyage

Took the kids on a cruise last week.

It began well enough with a nice flight to New Orleans that was on time, easy transfer to the ship from the New Orleans airport, with the only downside that the fellow in front of me was coughing quite a bit -- more on this later. 

We then had a pretty quick embarkation onto the ship and settled in.

The first day at sea was great, a nice time wandering the ship, relaxing and having some nice meals, including a specialty meal at the steakhouse that was magnificent.

The second day we got to Cozumel and had decided to go to the Kuza beach and adventure park. 

We got there from the port and had a nice time on the beach and had a nice lunch, and more time on the beach, but then it started raining heavily. The rain would not stop and it was really coming down

So we got out of there a bit early and got back to the ship rather thoroughly soaked. 

Apparently, late December in the Western Caribbean is the rainy season. 

The next day we landed at Roatan.  It was raining a bit which meant the visibility for the planned dive would be less than great.

And it was rather choppy and wavy too. 

This meant the Leah got to experience being seasick for her first certified ocean dive.

She along with another diver were rather green.  She did the first dive anyways.

Luckily the surface interval was done back at the dock rather than on the boat.

Both she and the other diver decided that since the dock was still moving (it wasn't)  they were going to skip the second dive.

We then headed back to the ship.

The next day it was raining again as we docked in Belize.  The rain also came this time with a healthy dose of thunder and lightning.

Not good when you're signed up to do zip-lining.  High above the trees on a steel cable in a lightning storm- what could possibly go wrong?

Yep, that got cancelled.

We went ashore anyways in rain ponchos and wandered around a bit and went back to the ship. 

At this point I was coming down with a heavy cough and feeling rather lousy. 

I was feeling really out of it the rest of the day and the next morning, having coughed through the night and not gotten much sleep, and basically stayed in the room sleeping for most of it, coming out for dinner. 

The next day it was rough and rainy again so Costa Maya was skipped as a port and we had a day at sea. 

Still feeling lousy, I discovered that eating a honey packet actually stops a cough.  The ship had pretty much no cold or flu meds to buy and we had neglected to pack any.  But, the honey really helped.  Good to know.

We then had our scheduled day at sea.   Honey was consumed by me in mass quantities.

I was feeling a bit better.

The next day, Sunday,  we disembarked early and got to the airport early.  Had I known that early arrival and debarkation would happen, I would have booked the earlier flight out and the next bit of fun would not have happened.

The flight home was delayed, and then delayed some more, being stuck in Detroit for maintenance. So we were stuck in the airport for hours.

After a three-hour delay, the plane it arrived and the gate attendant said she had good news and bad news.

The good news - the plane was here.

The bad news - the flight attendants had timed out due to the delay and there was no replacement crew so the flight wasn't going anywhere. 

 That the airline hadn't anticipated this was a bit of a problem and was rather dumb. 

There were no scheduled flights to Detroit for the next day so they booked us on another airline through Chicago leaving at 6 am. At least they put us up in a hotel.

We finally got to the hotel after 9pm and went to sleep and then got up at 4 am and headed back to the airport.

At least we had some beignets and coffee for breakfast there.

The flight to Chicago was no problem.   Easy boarding and a smooth fliught with just a little turbulence

We then had to dash to the gate for the flight to Detroit, only to be told we were on standby as we were the last to check in and the flight was oversold.

We were the last to check in as we had just been delivered there.

 We did manage to get seats and were soon on the aircraft waiting to depart.

And waiting.

And waiting.

We got deiced and waited some more,

And more. Apparently waiting for the deicing paperwork.

We finally departed over an hour and a half later.

Quite a bit of turbulence. Funnily enough it didn't bother me at all but it really bothered the kids.

Finally got to the airport and then home and that was that. 

I promptly took some NyQuil and went to sleep. 

Not quite the vacation I wanted, but it was the one we got so we made the best of it.

MSU Chabad House Vandalised On Hanukkah

 Lansing State Journal: Police ask public for help after East Lansing Jewish Center vandalized twice

 Police are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the suspect who appears to have thrown rocks at the center, 115 Albert St., and painted Nazi symbols on its front door during Hanukkah, an eight-day holiday in the Jewish faith marked by the nightly lighting of candles.

Interestingly enough, neither the Detroit News nor the Detroit Free Press felt the two vandalism attacks apparently by the same black-clad mask wearing a-hole were worth mentioning.

The attacker first threw rocks at the building and then returned a few hours later to spray-paint the windows and throw more rocks. 

Unfortunately, this is just more of the globalizing the intifada that the left has been pushing.

Well Progressives, I Guess That's One Way To Get Crime Stats Down

Not by doing anything to actually stop crime mind you.  

Instead the progressive solution is to have police ignore crimes.

The Detroit Free Press: Could Detroit end minor traffic stops? Michigan cities offer road map

Detroit police oversight board members hoping to limit minor traffic stops after a series of police shootings that started with issues including alleged license plate and tinted window violations can look to the experiences of at least three Michigan jurisdictions that have restricted such stops in recent years.

“Driving equality”-style ordinances and policies in Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor and East Lansing have aimed to prevent racial profiling and reduce citizen contacts with police. . .

Yep, if you ignore low-level crimes, and don't pursue them, you let the more major criminals continue their actions uninterrupted, then you will get less interactions where criminals are caught by police.  

You will also get more serious crimes committed by these criminals as a result as they weren't stopped and then caught for lesser offenses on their way to commit more serious crimes.

People aren't being shot by police for license plate and tinted window violations nor for failing to have their cars registered and up to date.

They are getting shot when, after being pulled over, they're found to have more serious warrants, or are driving drunk, or otherwise committing illegal acts and THEN THEY FORCEFULLY RESIST ARREST.

If you want less people getting shot while committing crimes, great or small, maybe teach them to stop resisting arrest. 

But, that would imply personal responsibility (and lack thereof) is the cause of the issue, and not the systemic racism nonsense the progressives are spouting. 

Ann Arbor Passes An Ordinance To Be More Welcoming - To Criminals

Mlive.com: Here’s why ‘Neighborhood Crime Watch’ signs in Ann Arbor are going away

City Council voted 10-0 Monday night, Dec. 15, to direct city staff to remove all neighborhood watch signs in the city by July 15 as the city strives to be more welcoming and inclusive.

Because watching out for your neighbors and your property and theirs  and being against crime is, according to the city council, racist. 

 Because, of course it is.

And of course, they brought up the canard of Trayvon Martin:

a young Black teenager walking through a neighborhood he had every right to be in, yet perceived as a threat simply for being there.The tragedy of Martin being fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida, did not happen in isolation, Harrison said. It happened in a broader environment that normalized surveillance over relationship and fear over familiarity, she said.

She left out the part where dear, (not so) innocent Trayvon was  killed only after trying to bash that volunteer's head against the pavement.

Because of course she glossed over that. 

Then, of course, she runs with the progressive bromides for which an easy objection is that the bromides are simply not supported by any evidence that they are true:

“Neighborhood watch was built on an old idea that heterogeneous neighborhoods create danger,” she said. “Ann Arbor is built on the understanding that diversity creates strength.”

. . .

“As we remove signs that have long communicated warning, we also have an opportunity to replace them with messages that say something better,” she said. “When people feel welcome walking down the street, visiting family, looking for a place to live, or simply existing in public, our neighborhoods are not just more inclusive. They are safer.”

 There's no facts whatsoever that has shown that diversity creates strength, noir that Neighborhood watch was built on the idea that heterogeneous neighborhoods create danger - she just made that up.

Nor is there any facts that a neighborhood is safer by having people feel inclusive.  Indeed when criminals feel included and unwatched, crime tends to increase and a neighborhood becomes less safe. 

Mamdani Appoints An Armed Robber To Public Safety Team

Because of course he did.

New Yorkers are going to get exactly what they voted for, good and hard.

 Fox News: Mamdani appoints convicted armed robber to public safety transition team 

According to past reports, Linen, a Bronx native who was once signed to Def Jam, was convicted of two felony robberies in the late 1990s.In 1999, a Bronx jury is said to have found him guilty in two armed robberies of taxi drivers, per the New York Daily News.

Well, I guess an armed robber would know all about public safety and be all for Mamdani's "gun violence" initiatives.

Who's next on Mamdani's appointment list?  

Maybe he'll appoint Bonnie Blue for the NYC Health Department next. 

After all, she knows all about the risks of close contact with multiple people, communicable diseases, and the transfer of bodily fluids. but she may get beat out by Typhoid Mary.

Conflict Of Interest, Much?

Jocelyn Benson is Michigan's current Secretary of State charged with conducting, overseeing, and counting the results our state's elections.

She also happens to be running for governor now.

And, she also happens to have a history of being shall we say, awfully flexible with the rules, in ways that happen to favor herself and fellow Democrats?  

Indeed, she broke election and campaign finance laws when announcing her campaign from a state government facility. But, to no one's surprise, the fellow Democrat Attorney General and Benson Buddy Dana Nessel announced there would be no sanctions for the wrongdoing.

Quite the conflict of interest there, as the one charged to administer the election happens to be the same person running in it, especially as she has quite the history of not exactly abiding by the rules. 

Playing With Other People's Money Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry

The Michigan Municipal Employees' Retirement System is on a roll.  

It's a losing roll, but quite a roll nonetheless.

$155 million in losses -- in two transactions. 

The Detroit Free Press:  2 Swiss citizens caused $55M loss, municipal retirement manager says

A nonprofit corporation that manages employee pension funds for more than 1,000 Michigan local governments alleges it was defrauded out of about $55 million after entrusting the money to two Swiss citizens who weren't registered investment advisers.

The losses the Municipal Employees' Retirement System (MERS) suffered on investments in alternative energy projects — disclosed in a Sept. 30 lawsuit filed by MERS in federal court in Grand Rapids — are on top of $100 million MERS lost on a coffee-growing venture in Hawaii

That's $155 million lost in just two gonzo transactions that any responsible fiduciary would have not just walked away from, but ran. 

Why a Michigan entity tried to buy and run  a coffee plantation in Hawaii is  very questionable, but I'm sure the trips to Hawaii to look into it were great.

Don't worry, taxpayers will likely be picking up the pension losses for the government employees who lost money due to the ineptness of other government employees. 

The Archer Engine Replacement Continues

The new engine is now installed on the Archer.

 

Almost ready for testing.

The plane has also gone on a diet, and is feeling rather svelte.

Thirty pounds - yes 30 pounds! - of unused wiring has been removed from the aircraft after years of installers putting in new equipment and just leaving the old wiring for the removed items in place. 

 

The plane is going to get a new weight and balance done once the engine is fully installed and all the parts are reassembled. 

It's also going to be a lot easier to work on now that the excess wire is no longer getting in the way, especially under the panel.

Looking forward to flying it soon.

Stupid Criminals: Road Rage Is Not Good For You

Especially when you get out of the boat (ie your car).

The Detroit Free Press: Jackson County man killed in road-rage incident. What MSP says happened

A road-rage incident this past weekend in Jackson County left one man dead and another hospitalized after a third, uninvolved passerby struck both men while they were fighting in the middle of M-60 in Concord Township, the Michigan State Police said.

Yep, don't be scuffling in the middle of a highway at night - you're kinda hard to see rolling around down there, and may get hit by another vehicle as oxxured here.

According to police, the two younger men were involved in a road-rage incident. The drivers of the vehicles — a Chevy Malibu operated by the Concord man, and a Jeep Cherokee operated by the Parma man — pulled onto the shoulder of the road.

Once parked, they got out of their vehicles and began fighting in the road, where the Hanover man struck both of them

There were no winners in this incident, which appears to have been both voluntary on both their parts, and completely avoidable.

Stay in your vehicle and keep your hands to yourself. 

Nothing good happens when you try to fight it out over some slight in traffic. 

Throwing hands just because you got cut off, or the other driver is a moron is not going to improve your commute and it may just wreck your day, or life.