Very Convenient Timing By Kristoff And The New York Times

Quite interesting how the unsubstantiated opinion piece by Nicholas Kristoff in the  New York Times to bash Israel with lurid claims that Israel had prisons with dogs trained to sexually abuse prisoners, just happened to come out a day before a report on actual and documented sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas and the Gazans:

First on CNN: New report details ‘systematic’ rape and sexual violence during Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel

Why, one might almost think it was not a coincidence and deliberately run to get the factual report of Hamas and Gazan depravity from the headlines and distract attention from it.

The New York Times did not cover the report on the October 7 attack at all. 

Funny, that.

Funny also that one must point out that Israelis security personnel were previously criticized for refusing to rape Arab women, because racism, or something.   Yep, that claim actually happened, twice.

Gov Whitmer's Pal Procrastinatingly Prosecuted

As a Michigan Democrat, you can steal from the state, but you're not supposed to be overly blatant about it, or even worse, show highly conspicuous and gauche taste in doing so.

I mean, for Democrats, it's one thing to steal $20 million from the state as a non-profit, but to spend $4,500 of it on a coffee maker and $40,000 for personal furniture? How very déclassée! 

The facts have been known for over two years now, but only now is Fay Beydoun, a prominent Democrat and Governor Whitmer's friend and fundraiser, to whom the governor steered the grant,  getting prosecuted.

Michigan Department of Atotrney General: AG Nessel Charges Fay Beydoun with 16 Felonies for Stealing Global Link International Grant Funding

The Detroit News: Fay Beydoun hit with 16 criminal charges in $20M earmark scandal

The two year delay likely was done to further protect Whitmer from her role in arranging for the $20 million grant, and there are some cracks in the current Michigan Democratic coalition between the progressive-Islamic and the left-but-sane factions that are allowing some of this to bubble up.  

Given how the Beydouns are a clan with ties and sympathies with Hezbollah, it'll be an interesting question as to how much of the stolen money went back to Lebanon or was used for propaganda purposes here in addition to Democrat graft.

Interesting political times for Democrats in Michigan.

Flying: Knocking Off The Winter Rust

This morning was a perfect day to get up and fly.  Winds calm, sun bright and sky totally clear below 7,000 with only a few clouds above that.

I did the preflight and all was good.  First time flying the Archer since it got a new engine.

The Archer started up immediately and it climbed into the sky like a homesick angel.

For the first pattern I had to do a go around as the prior aircraft to me did a bomber pattern and then decided to take their sweet time departing the runway.

So I got a nice go round in to stay sharp.

 I then did 5 landings with three full stop and two touch-and -goes as most aircraft in the pattern were doing full stops, so Tower couldn't fit in my touch-and-goes in the traffic flow.

Lots of aircraft were flying this morning.

Landings were good and got better as I got more landings in. 

So, I'm now current for carrying passengers, now on to throwing a safety pilot in the right seat and getting my IFR rating back in currency.

That's 0.8 and 5 landings. 

Graduation 2026 The Saturday Ceremony

The main graduaiton ceremony took place on Saturday.

Held in the Big House, With 14,000 graduating, there was really nowhere else to hold them all along with their families and guests.

 Rather packed it was, and quite chilly, with temperatures starting in the high 30s and moving into the low 40s during the ceremony.

This was a landmark ceremony as the University was going to confer its one millionth degree since its founding.   Graduating students received a commemorative tassel with 1M on it in addition to their department tassel.

The ceremony, of course, began with a land acknowledgement, which was, of course, both politically correct and purely performative.

The acknowledgment, from the first speaker, stated the land had been ceded by the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa under the Treaty of Fort Meigs, which it was, to forma  college for educational purposes

The University of Michigan has, for some unknown reason, made no move to hand itself back to the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa, nor has the University offered the descendants of the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa a free education at the University's expense.

Funny, that. 

Then honorary degrees were given out.

Shirin Ebadi was honored with a well-deserved Doctorate of Laws.  Funny, as the majority of UofM students and much of the faculty are busy supporting the same theocracy that has stripped her of her titles and career and imprisoned her.

Michael Phelps alsp received an honorary doctorate, as did Jalen Rose. Engineer Ingeborg Hochmair received an honorary doctorate of engineering, which given her engineering accomplishments is only fitting. Regent Emeritus Ron Weiser and Kent Syverud, who was set to become the new president of the university before being diagnosed with brain cancer also received honorary doctorates.

Then a speech by Professor Peterson had to throw in a one-sided anti-Israel comment, supporting the pro-Hamas protesters on  campus and equating them with actual civil rights heroes -- and not more appropriately with civil rights villains with their attacks on Jewish students and blocking them from classes, disruptions of classes and ceremonies, and, of course, support for terrorism.

Unfortunately many students cheered this bit of crap, but many people in the audience shouted "Bull Sh#t" in response. 

In short, it went as one might expect from the progressives of the University of Michigan.

Aside from that bit of leftist performative foolery, the ceremony went quite well and each department rose in turn as graduates and were allowed to move their tassel to signify their new status as graduates. 

That's one down, one to go! 

Graduation 2026

Abby was awarded her degree this weekend in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Michigan.

The main graduation was on Saturday where 14,000 students earned their degrees and the University of Michigan conferred its one millionth degree since it was founded, which is quite a milestone. More on the Saturday ceremony later.

For the record, that she graduated with that degree means she is a heckuva lot smarter than I am.

In addition to that, at the smaller and much more personal graduation ceremony for the MCDB Department, on Friday evening, she walked and received her degree certificate and her thesis was announced.

She also received the award that is given to the honors undergraduate with the highest ranked thesis not just in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology but in the entire Biology Department. That make her the #1 graduate out of 600 graduates. The Review team for the award had comments that included that the thesis was not an undergraduate level but was instead a thesis at the doctoral level, which is amazing.

For the record, that means she is a heckuva, heckuva, lot smarter than I am.

The members of the lab she worked at, including the head professor of the lab, and two of her co-(and more senior) researchers and friends who had just earned their Ph.D.s were there to cheer her on. 

She's going to work in the lab this summer as an actual employed (and paid!) Research Aisstant and then she will be heading out of town to a PH.D. program in  Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology to make her mark in the world doing some cutting-edge research in the field.

To say I'm beyond proud is an understatement. 

Not What A Rainy Day Fund Is For

Michigan Democrats are indeed profligate spenders.

The state's budget and spending has increased by 50% just under Governor Whitmer's term to date alone.

But that's still not enough spending for Michigan's Democrats.

Instead they want to increase it, and to do so have to tap into the state's emergency fund to do so.

The Detroit News: Michigan Senate dips into rainy day fund for $88B budget plan.

Everyday budgeting is not what a rainy day fund is for, but the Democrats see a pool of money and want to spend it now rather than wait for an actual revenue shortfall where the funds would be needed. 

That means under this budget state government spending is around $8,800 for  each and every resident of Michigan. If asked I don't believe most residents of Michigan would say they're getting their money's worth under this plan - especially those actually paying the taxes to cover it.

The 19 Democrats in the Senate voted for this increase, and 18 Republicans were opposed, so yet again the headline is a tad misleading.  It wasn't the Senate, but the Democrats in the Senate pushing this through.

The House has not approved this yet, so there's still hope that some responsible budgeting may yet prevail.

Convenient And Interesting Timing On CNN's Part

So, what faction of the Democratic Party wants Mallory McMorrow out of the US Senate race for Michigan that they had CNN run with the dirt it found on her?

CNN: ‘Make me miss California’: In deleted tweets, Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow disparaged Middle America

 MSN: Mallory McMorrow campaign hit with resurfaced tweets showing progressive views

Not to mention the tweets show her clear disdain of Michigan, which is not a good look when you're running as the Democrat candidate for US Senate from Michigan. 

So, after the Michigan Democratic Party endorsed progressive pro-Hamas Defund ICEr Abdul El-Sayed as their preferred candidate, the two remaining opponents in the race for the Dem Primary were Mallory McMorrow who is essentially progessive-lite, and Haley Stevens, who is a mainstream-ish Democrat, with Mallory trailing in the polls right behind Abdul.

So, was this timely drop the progressive pro-El Sayed faction trying to get her eliminated to clear the progressive space on the ballot?

Or, was this the more centrist and less insane pro-Stevens faction that figured hopefully correctly, that Michigan really wasn't ready for an Islamist Progressive Marxist candidate that hangs out with the guy that calls for murdering his political opponents and that America deserved 9/11?

So, anyone got K-Files to retrieve El-Sayed's deleted tweets yet, as his existing ones are bad enough?