Michigan Democrat Misleads About "Child" Marriage in Michigan

The Detroit Free Press: Opinion: Child marriage is legal in Michigan. That has to change.

First let's start off by saying the headline and opinion is as one might suspect, misleading.  Michigan doesn't allow "child" marriages if by child you mean little children, indeed, that has been banned since 1887.  Funny how the Democrat Rep in her op-ed fails to disclose that relevant and important fact that has a bearing on the discussion, neh?

But, current law does allow 16 year olds and 17 year olds to marry with parental consent or 18 year olds to do so on their own without consent, because we have a charming notion that 18 year olds are adults, sort of.   That is what this Democrat representative is against.

Of course in the gun death stats, Democrats declare 19-year-olds are children so there's that. 

So as one would imagine this op ed is an opportunity to try and dunk on the Republicans for not agreeing to the change (along with a lot of other junk in her bill as a reason for not passing it) while implying they are for "child" marriage. 

Then again, given the Democrats dominate the government right now they could pass such a ban if they wanted to, but they clearly do not really want to do so, and would rather make hay with the Republican's objection to the change (and the other lousy parts of the proposed bill) and claim this is about child marriage.

Now, I do believe that in this day and age,  given the maturity of today's teenagers, 16 for most is too young to get married. This 16-plus-parental-consent law is a carry-over from days gone by when there was both a need for such, and kids grew up a lot faster and weren't as infantalized as they are today. Now, some 16-year-olds may indeed be mature enough to be married and there's a current safety valve to allow such. In short, there's no evidence this law is actually causing a problem.

But, remember, according to Michigan Democrats, a "child" should be able to have an abortion at any age without parental knowledge, much less parental consent. Also, according to Michigan Democrats a "child" should be able to have surgery to change their gender at any age without parental knowledge, much less consent. 

But, to allow a 16- or 17-year-old to marry with parental consent?  Well, for the Democrats, that's just going too far and must be stopped. 

Memorial Day 2023

So for this Memorial Day,  we honor and remember all those who lost their lives in service to our country. I felt it fitting to specifically remember the sacrifice of some of our best within recent and living memory.

On October 3, 2009 beginning at 6 am, the Battle of Kamdesh took place in Afghanistan. Over 350 Taliban armed with heavy machine guns, RPGs, rockets, and numerous small arms, attacked the 79 soldiers at Combat Outpost Keating and Observation Post Fritsche.

Located at the bottom of a valley surrounded and dominated by Taliban-occupied mountains, the placement of the base was almost a deliberate affront to sound military tactics, and an insult to the realities of basic geography.

The base was quite simply dominated from the higher terrain, and fire could be poured down onto and into it from the surrounding heights. On top of that, there were no usable roads to the base, and the helicopter landing zone was across a river from the base and also massively exposed to enemy fire from the surrounding mountainous terrain.

Combine this with some bad leadership prior to the attack, and a stalled plan to shut down the base, resulting in defenses not being enhanced, and it went from horrendously bad to worse.

The battle and the events leading up to it are well recounted in both the book and the movie The Outpost, and the book Red Platoon by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha (the Audible audio book is narrated by Clinton Romesha and it's worth a credit if you like audio books).  If you haven't read both these books, you really should. The movie is also worth a watch. More than worth your time to learn about some incredible Americans in a horrendous situation.

Thanks to the professionalism and incredible heroism of the American soldiers on the ground (and two Latvians there as well), and the heroism and professionalism of US Army and US Air Force aviators,  the outpost was retaken after being initially partially overrun and the attack repelled.  To say it was a close-run thing, barely preventing the complete destruction of the outpost and the massacre of all within it, would be an understatement.

Eight American soldiers were killed in the battle that day, 14 years gone by now:

SSG Justin Timothy Gallegos, 27;

SGT Christopher Todd Griffin, 24;

SGT Joshua Mitchell Hardt, 23;

SGT Joshua John Kirk, 30;

SPC Stephan Lee Mace, 21;

SSG Vernon William Martin, 25;

SGT Michael Patrick Scusa, 23; and

PFC Kevin Christopher Thomson, 22.

Today, we take the time to remember them, and all those who died while serving in the US military.

Sunday Range Day - A Great Match

Shot a USPSA match today at Wayne County Racoon Hunters Club, which is always a challenging match.

Spencer came along and it was his first WCRHC match.

8 Stages, around 220 rounds.

Fun, challenging, sunny and warm out, and a good time was had.

Overall, I think I did rather well.

I shot two of the 8 stages clean with all Alphas, a personal best.

On top of that, I did not skip over and fail to engage a single target. Every target was addressed and engaged - even the rather tricksy ones.

On top of that, I had 2 and only 2 missed shots in the entire match -  I thought I only had 1 miss (a hit on the target but on the blacked-out hard cover rather than the brown scoring zone. But, in seeing the stats it says 2 so we'll go with the official count.

Overall I'm pleased with that performance and just have to start getting faster.

After that, we headed to meet up with friends from Jitsu at Great White Buffalo Brewing Co. Brew Pub in Northville, owned by a friend of ours and fellow jiu jitsu practitioner. The beer was excellent, and the bison burger rocked.

That was a very good day.

Electric School Bus 2: Electric Boogalo and A Little Democrat Corruption Too

Turns out Electric Buses aren't as reliable nor as cost-effective as they are cracked up to be, shocking, I know.

Washington Free Beacon: Biden Spent $1 Billion To Get Schools Electric Buses. This Michigan District Says Theirs Hardly Work. 

During an April 19 presentation to the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education, the district's environmental sustainability director, Emile Lauzzana, highlighted a number of issues with the district's electric bus fleet. Those buses, Lauzzana said, have "a lot of downtime and performance issues" and aren't "fully on the road," despite the fact that they are "approximately five times more expensive than regular buses." The infrastructure upgrades required to use the buses, meanwhile, were "originally estimated to be only about $50,000" but "ended up being more like $200,000," according to Lauzzana. "I have a number of colleagues in different states who are facing similar challenges," the district official lamented. "For the school bus market, it's been challenging for us."

Note that this is in solid-Blue Ann Arbor.  When even the enviro-nut, quasi-commies of Ann Arbor are complaining about these electric green busses, you know it's bad.

But, no worries, Democrats still made bank on the deal, and that, after all is what matters along with the "green" virtue signalling at the public' expense:

The Biden administration has faced intense criticism from congressional Republicans over its ties to electric bus maker Proterra. Administration officials repeatedly showcased the company while Biden's energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, held up to $5 million in Proterra stock. Granholm eventually sold her 240,000 Proterra shares in May 2021, with the former Michigan governor earning a cool $1.6 million.

Nice bit of insider trading if you can get it, neh?

Michigan Red Flag Laws And Democrat Double Standards

So the badly flawed Michigan Red Flag Law has been signed into law, and those who have signed it have yet to point out a single incident in the past that would have actually been prevented by its existence.

Quite a few Michigan County Sheriffs have expressed reservations with the lack of due process in the law and stated they will not enforce it.

This has further revealed that for Michigan Democrats,  when it comes to standards, that if they didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all.

Both Governor Whitmer and Attorney General Nessel are absolutely aghast and dismayed at the thought that the law might not be enforced by law enforcement or county prosecutors:

For those who are in law enforcement who refuse to enforce these important orders, let me say this loudly and clearly: I will make certain that I will find someone with jurisdiction who will enforce these orders," Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

Note this is the same AG Nessel who, less than a year ago, when enforcement of a law was on the subject of abortion, took the following stance:

Nessel says she won’t enforce the ban in Michigan, along with at least a dozen law enforcement officials across the country – a bold statement that sets the US up for a complex legal landscape with different enforcement regimes in different states, and even within them.

Governor Whitmer had this to say on the potential that a prosecutor or sheriff may not enforce the Red Flag law:

When it does take effect, Whitmer told reporters, law enforcement will be expected to enforce a judge's order.

"Every prosecutor has taken an oath to uphold the laws of the state of Michigan, and that's the expectation," said Whitmer, who did a stint as Ingham County's prosecutor before running for governor in 2018.

Verily, note well that this is the same Governor Whitmer who having taken an oath to uphold the laws of this state, that when the question came up on enforcing an abortion ban law in this state immediately sued the state to prevent that enforcement and ensure the law was not upheld. Again this was less than a year ago and they've both now flipped their principles as to the enforcement of laws 180 degrees.

Wonderful consistency there on their part, isn't it? Then again it is about power and politics, not principled enforcement of laws.

Detroit City Council Comes Up With The Expected Answer To Detroit Gun-Related Crimes

Detroit is currently going through a notable spate of violent crimes that is also hitting the downtown and Greektown areas where the casinos are  (and where the money is of course). This is hampering the happy image of Detroit being a safe place to come and do business or enjoy yourself.  This makes the Detroit City politicos a tad nervous as it is bad for their image and the sweet tax money the Greektown casinos bring in.

Now, Detroit politicians aren't urging a crackdown on the criminals doing this crime.  Of course not. They're not, for example, pressing the prosecutors and Detroit judges to require bail, and not so easily let violent criminals back out on the street.  They're not calling for strict enforcement of the law, nor curfews on bands of unaccompanied "youths".  They're certainly not calling to quit the revolving-door-justice system, and absolutely not pushing to - dare I say - fund the police.

Nah, they're not actually going after criminals. 

But they have a solution that fits their progressive Democrat ideals, and it's the one they always turn to as their one-trick pony: 

Gun Control! - this time more (legal) gun (owner) free zones!

The Detroit Free Press:  Detroit City Council moves ahead with proposing gun-free zones, if state agrees

Detroit City Councilmember Mary Waters has a message for state lawmakers: Change existing gun laws to allow cities to establish gun-free zones.

As a result of increased violence in and around downtown Detroit, Waters proposed the establishment of gun-free zones by calling on state lawmakers to expeditiously approve changes to current gun laws, which council members approved on Tuesday.

. . . 

Council passed the two resolutions. The first calls for urging state lawmakers to pass a Senate bill that would give municipalities control over establishing gun-free zones on public grounds and the second calls for drafting a gun-free zone ordinance, complying with existing laws, that would require public or private events of 500 people or more that receive a permit from the city to be established as gun-free zones.

The second resolution also suggests areas like the riverfront, Greektown, Hart Plaza, Spirit Plaza and Campus Martius be designated as gun-free zones.

So instead of actual crowd control, or maybe trying some criminal control and enforcing the law, hiring more police,  or something else that would be effective, they're decided to fall back on symbolic gun control. 

Proposing that these areas that people visiting Detroit want to go to become "gun-free zones" means people have to go unarmed into gun-free zones to ensure criminals have easy pickings, as criminals don't care about these gun-free zones.  

Basically this is a post-Bruen-tantrum proposed law to create a whole bunch of "sensitive places" out of just about every single public space in the city.  So, the idea seems to be to ban law-abiding people from carrying firearms to protect themselves instead of actually dealing with the crime wave they've created with their "Defund The Police" / BLM / criminal empowerment song and dance.

Unfortunately, we have a Democrat-dominated state government that may just give it to them, and allow for a patchwork of ridiculous no-carry zones for the law abiding around the state.

Out Of The Running For Mother Of The Year Award

When you think you've found the depths of depravity of the human condition, horrible depraved people dig down a little deeper:

The Detroit News: Detroit mother accused of giving her son, 4, fentanyl

As one would expect, the child died after being poisoned by his own mother with the fentanyl.

A Detroit mother has been charged in connection with the 2022 death of her 4-year-old son from fentanyl, officials said Monday.

Chavon Caprice Boone, 40, was arraigned Sunday on charges of felony murder, first-degree child abuse, and delivery of a narcotic-causing death, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said. If convicted, she faces up to life in prison for the murder charge.

 Words fail and are inadequate on this one.

It Would Take A Heart Of Stone Not To Laugh

So I'm LMFAO over this entirely predictable outcome.

You see, an anti-capitalist coffee shop opened in Toronto, run on good, solid, communist anti-capitalist principles.

It went pretty much exactly as you would expect it to:

The Calgary Sun: Anti-capitalist café shuts down due to lack of capital

Barely a year after opening, an “anti-capitalist” Toronto coffee shop is closing its doors due to a lack of capital.

The Anarchist — a provider of “sweet and savoury” pastries and “trendy” coffees — was founded last April as a “subversive” alternative to what it called the usual model of workers “producing wealth for their parasitic employers.

Instead, it will close permanently on May 30, according to a statement appended with the slogans “abolish work,” “people over profit,” and “land back.” The café was never able to employ more than one person, so the proprietor, Gabriel Sims-Fewer, will be its only layoff.

The Anarchist had featured a “pay what you can” option, but the café’s very lengthy FAQ page explained that the system lost them money, for which the rich were to blame.

Indeed, to no one's surprise, the good socialist nomenklatura patronizing the shop failed to pay according to their ability, and instead exercised their limousine liberal privilege:

“One of the issues with a lot of my ‘pay what you can’ oriented ideas is that the more money people have the less they’re willing to pay. I get people in designer suits paying $1 for a coffee"

Sad that, totes unpredictable, really. 

A definite pity that he didn't get some good socialist government subsidies to keep the whole thing going, or have the necessary and proper communist ability of having force to lock people in the coffee shop until he could make them pay according to his view of their ability.

As is par for the socialist course, everything but economic reality is to blame:

The café announced its demise with a lengthy screed denouncing its various enemies, including “professional class-traitors,” “Libertarians,” “the rich,” and Canada itself, which it called a “colonial death camp.”

Of course. It's always the wreckers and kulaks that are at fault when socialism collapses from its own inherent contradictions, isn't it?  

Everything but economic reality and the owner's inability to manage a business with a proper and realistic business plan is to blame. I mean if you can't get it right to generate sufficient support among the socialists in Toronto, of which their are many, to keep your anti-capitalist fever dream bean shop going,  what chance do you have?

We will note that so far Mr. Gabriel Sims-Fewer, who is clearly now possessing fewer dollars than he started with, is still living in his self-proclaimed "colonial death camp". 

One surely expects him to move to a more socialistic utopia, any day now, one that is more in accordance with his anti-capitalist principles.