Beydoun: Follow The Money

The Detroit News:  Republican senator wants U.S. DOJ to probe Whitmer's ties to Beydoun

Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt asked the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday to investigate Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's connections to businesswoman and political donor Fay Beydoun.

On May 6, state Attorney General Dana Nessel charged Beydoun of Farmington Hills with 16 felonies, alleging Beydoun had misused a $20 million taxpayer-funded grant 

Well, the money trail is certainly there and it all point to Beydoun heavily investing in Democrats. 

Beydoun gave heavily, as in tens of thousands of dollars to Democrat politicians and political organizations.  Including $10,500 to the Michigan Democratic State Central Cmte (D), Over $7,500 in multiple donations over time to Gretchen Whitmer's campaign coffers directly and another $7,500 to her campaign committee.

That kind of money buys access.

Its not just that politicians can be bought its how cheaply they can be bought.

That roughly 15k in direct contributions to Gov Whitmer and her campaign helped get Beydoun a $20 million dollar grant that she promptly misused.  

Heckuva return on political corruption, that.

A Nice Day For A Ruck

So with the weather improving it was time for some self-improvement.

After doing a thorough cleaning around the place, and having an electrician  friend assist me in adding some lights to some dark spots in the basement, it was time to go rucking again.

More than time to begin getting some of the winter hibernation worked off.

Unfortunately, I seem to have developed tendonitis in my right ankle which makes it ever so much more fun to do any workout at all over the past few weeks.

Today it had settled  down enough so I threw on the ruck with 35 pounds in it and headed out. 

I decided to take it relatively easy and did 2 miles and a bit in 45 minutes.

Nice and sunny and it was a pleasant ruck at a decent pace, 

The ankle while still tender, doesn't feel worse than when I began so that's a good thing. 

Might as well keep it up and get back in shape. 

Because The New York Times Won't Cover It

The link to the Silenced No More report documenting the sexual assault crimes of Hamas and participating Gaza civilians in the October 7 attack on Israel and in its aftermath can be retrieved and read here.

I'd strongly suggest not eating or drinking anything before reading it. 

Know that the sexual attacks were systemic, planned and organized by Hamas beforehand and part of a deliberate strategy of atrocities, and these deliberate acts were, by any definition, atrocities.

If you can't make it through the report, and you very well might not, a decent summary can be found at The Medialine: How the ‘Silenced No More’ Report Documents Sexual Violence on October 7 and Israeli Civil Commission Report Says Hamas-Led October 7 Attack Included Organized Sexual Violence.

Gallows Humor, And Lack Thereof

On a rather scenic route in northern Michigan, a rather large set of gallows has been setup:

 Daily Press: Gallows built along M-28, generating controversy

Tom Pegenau, owner of Pegenau Builders, set up a wooden gallows structure with a noose outside of the Pegenau Builders business on M-28 in Chocolay Township, later painted with the words “bureaucrats,” “justice” and “freedom,” along with a banner reading “United States of America 1776-2026 250 We the MFin People.”

Kind of a bureaucrat, rope, gallows, assembly of one of each approach to things. 

Mr. Peregnau, per the article is rather unhappy (as many people are) with government at the moment, and he stated he was rather frustrated with both sides of the aisle in many areas so he built the gallows as a matter of protest.

Chocolay Township, where the gallows are located, is unamused.

The Detroit Free Press:  Marquette-area township orders gallows along major U.P. highway moved

In short the setting up of gallows along the roadway is claimed to be a zoning violation in the area.  This may indeed make Mr. Peregnau even more annoyed with bureaucrats, but it is most likely that the gallows are headed for the gallows so to speak.

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.