Detroit Man Brings A Sword, A Kukri, And A Dagger To A Gunfight

With predictable results.

(Not actual footage of the incident)

The Detroit Free Press: Man fatally shot by police after pursuing, injuring officer with thrown dagger, police say

Chasing police while waving a sword around and throwing a dagger at them is no basis for a peaceful dialogue.

Of course, the usual suspects are protesting and demanding an independent investigation because police apparently should not defend themselves while being attacked by people with swords.

Chris White, director of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, issued a statement Thursday evening calling for an independent agency to investigate the shootings.

He expressed concern for what he says is a “shoot to kill policy," and the potential for more incidents that will hurt the city. 

“It doesn't take an expert in weaponry to know a dart doesn't compare to a bullet,” he said. “We understand the city is violent due to decades of disinvestment and erosion of access to public goods. However, we strongly feel that the department is using this violence as a rationale to shoot to kill.”

Yes indeed, Mr. White, who is Black, yet cannot comprehend any shades of Grey, and only sees the world in Black and White, clearly has no clue what he's talking about and is clearly not an expert in weaponry, nor even a rank amateur.

Thankfully, Chief Craig is properly backing his officers and Detroit is lucky to have him at the helm of the police force.

Another Step Back For Michigan

Gov Half-Whit decided to roll back Northern Michigan's opening by restricting indoor gatherings to 10 people and banning indoor alcohol sales by bars, while allowing the Detroit Casinos to open at 15% capacity. 

That's right, not 50%, but a measly 15% - after all her supporters in Detroit need the tax money those Casinos bring to the table - but not too much or we may get out of this government caused economic doldrums before the election rolls around.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit casinos to reopen at reduced capacity; new restrictions Up North

Yep, if you had a wedding with 50 people planned for an indoor wedding this weekend or some other event, you're now SOL - with no notice.

Gotta love arbitrary and capricious one-woman rule.

Detroit Will Breathe Goes Full Racist Potato

When Detroit's version of BLM has no examples of actual police racist misconduct, they have to make it up, and boy do they - by protesting the fact that Black people in the act of shooting police and pointing guns at police happen to get shot.

The Detroit News: Detroit Will Breathe wants Detroit's top cop fired over shootings

Oh they also are of the opinion that the police shouldn't chase Black shooting suspects, nor shoot such suspects when they point guns at police, either:

Members of the group Detroit Will Breathe on Tuesday criticized police officers who have shot three men this month, and said cops should have let a quadruple shooting suspect go free instead of chasing him at high speeds through residential neighborhoods.

No kidding, they're all for letting suspects of multiple murders get away.

One of the men is seen in the video with a pistol in his left hand. As he runs, he turns, raises the gun and appears to point it at an officer before the officer fires a single, fatal shot that hit the suspect in his torso, Craig said.

During Tuesday's press conference, Taylor said police should have never initiated the chase. He was asked whether police should have let a homicide suspect go free, and he replied: "Yes, I am saying that. There are other opportunities to apprehend them."

The group also doesn't like to take hard questions and reporters point out they have been lying about a police shooting by falsely claiming Hakim Littleton as shot while on the ground or had his hands up - and they turned their ire on the press:

Members of the group sparred with reporters, accusing them of phrasing questions to appease Craig and Mayor Mike Duggan. One member of the group said the journalists were "worthy of a spanking ... worthy of a whipping."

Burn, Loot, and Murder indeed.

And, of course, the race card was played, and played hard -

Activist Sandra Simmons said white people were to blame for problems in the African American community.

"Everywhere that a white man has been, he has caused hell," she said. "Every county that he has been in has caused trauma and drama all around the world."

Projection, much?

After castigating white people and throwing around the race card she then called for racial harmony - oh and for Black police officers to put their race ahead of justice and the law:

"Black, white, brown yellow, red — we need to walk together, because we’re all human beings, and when we all walk together, America will be greater than it ever was.”

She also had a message for minority police officers: "We are your family ... before you put on that blue uniform, you're Black."

You really can't make this stuff up.

Meanwhile, Detroit is experiencing killing after killing after killing of Black people by Black criminals.

But Detroit Will Breathe doesn't care about that.

Yesterday Quick Range Trip

Got a call from a couple of friends of mine wanting to go to the range.

Got my work done and we met up at the range.

For handguns we worked on shooting the plate rack with a timer, which they had not done before. I shot my Masada from a holster, and shot my IMI Jericho, and they shot their firearms from low ready.

Lots of fun. I got to try out a H&K Elite 9mm which has just an awesome trigger and overall feel as its a big hand cannon with negligible recoil as a result. I also got to shoot his Beretta 92X again, his Sig 365XL, and Canik TP9SFx. Yes he has some nice handguns.

The Sig 365 is impressive. A very thin grip for 12 rounds that almost feels like a single stack. Very nice and thin, but still able to knock the set of plates down in under 6 seconds with it when shooting it for the first time. First time I shot a Sig 365 and I may have to look into one of those.

The Canik TP9SFx was a definite sleeper hit - the trigger on it is out of this world good, its essentially their version of the Walther Q4 and the trigger was simply awesome right out of the box. He had an RMR mounted on it making knocking down plates a piece of cake.

Then off to the rifle range.

I shot my 6.5 Creeedmoor and the 3.5lb trigger proved a worthy improvement.

I then got to shoot his Begara bolt-action rifle in 6.5 which offered some very impressive accuracy and had a bolt like butter. Very impressed with that rifle - it's a .4 MOA rifle which is pretty darn nice.

I also shot his FN SCAR 20. With a good scope, I was regularly shooting groups at 100 yards with the bullet holes touching each other, not a fluke but repeatable, which is kinda crazy. He had some 155 grain hand-loads for it and they simply shot amazingly well. The harmonics coming off the SCAR are interesting - it's quite the ringing sound after each and every shot. That's an amazing and accurate rifle.

He also had a AR15 he had built up as a DMR rifle and tested some loads he made with it - consistently under .5 MOA with 77gr Berger bullets he loaded which was not bad at all. Yep, he's got some nice stuff.

That's another 100 trouble-free rounds through the Masada and 50 through the Jericho. A good time with friends for a short range trip.

We Still Haven't Reached Peak Woke Stupidity - Norwegian Flag Edition

The Detroit Free Press: Norwegian flag on St. Johns inn mistaken for Confederate flag. Owners take it down

You really can't make up how dumb people can be nor how they can be so easily offended and become threatening and send hate emails at the slightest pretext, even when completely wrong.

Let's review shall we:

The Norwegian Flag:

The Confederate Flag

If you're mixing these up to the point you're sending threats and claiming someone is racist for flying a Norwegian flag when you think its a Confederate flag, your most likely public education has failed you - badly.

Match Day - The Classifier Special

Today I went to the Wayne County Racoon Hunter's USPSA match. This is always a good time as they always run a good match.

It was a special classifier match. A normal match has one classifier. This one had six so you could get immediately classified in your division.

This meant relatively short courses of fire, and two other stages that were not classifiers but had small round counts as well. However, with 94 shooters it took awhile to get everyone through. Did I mention it was a hot day in the sun all day? I drank a tin of water over the course of the match and needed every drop.

Shooting the Masada with the optic, I ended up having an off day. Quite a few issues and while I shot a few C-level classifiers, I was also much of the time just missing the C classifier cut-off score by fractions of a point and ending up in the D category due to mistakes or lack of speed. Checking into it I hit 3 solid C classifiers and 3 Ds. Drat. Just not fast enough, and I need to pickup the pace. I was also tending to drop my second shot on a target a bit low which was annoying. Of course, on one classifier dropping a shot low and having it hit a no-shoot with that same shot really didn't help any.

We'll call that an off day, and a reason to get out and practice more. I can certainly make C-class and will just have to practice and shot some more matches to get my average up accordingly.

On the upside, the Masada was absolutely flawless for all 106 rounds fired.

This was also Tosh's first time at a USPSA match, and he had a good time trying it out, which is good. Now I have a match buddy for matches, which makes them more enjoyable.

Even an off day shooting is still a good day.

You Can't Have A Battle For Seattle

If the police aren't allowed to come out to play and only the rioters get to take to the streets.

The Chief of the Seattle PD just informed Seattle property owners that they were on their own this weekend, as the police would not be coming out to protect property:

Why?  Well, the Seattle City Council, in its woke wisdom, has banned the police from using less lethal substances such as OC and tear gas in handling riot and crowd control disturbances in Seattle.  The ordinance is citing both the First Amendment and the fear that tear gas and OC could cause the spread of COVID-19 (No, really - read the ordinance).

Since Seattle PD can't use less-lethal, and they certainly can't use lethal force to protect property, they have no real way to stop these riots and property damage.

The Seattle Police Chief's letter basically just informed property owners that they're on their own, as the PD will not be protecting property as they can no longer use appropriate tools to do so.

I expect the Seattle PD and the local prosecutor will however probably prosecute business owners protecting their property to the fullest extent.

Given there's at least 4 scheduled 'protests' set for this weekend with such charming objectives including ending capitalism and "fascism", it's gonna get sporty when they realize the police are not coming out to curb their enthusiastic 'peaceful' protests.

Good luck law-abiding citizens of Seattle - you're going to need it.

Seals of History: Huge Trove of Artifacts Dating From The Judean Kingdom Period Found In Israel

There's been a new and important discovery recently in Israel near the site of the US Embassy.

From The Times of Israel: Huge Kingdom of Judah government complex found near US Embassy in Jerusalem

One of the largest collections of royal Kingdom of Judah seal impressions has been uncovered at a massive First Temple-period public tax collection and storage complex being excavated near the new United States Embassy in Jerusalem. The main Iron Age structure is exceptional in terms of both its size and architectural style, said Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Neri Sapir, who co-directed the excavation.

Uncovered only three kilometers (1.8 mile) outside the Old City, the compound is believed by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists to have served as an administrative center during the reigns of Judean kings Hezekiah and Menashe (8th century to the middle of the 7th century BCE).

Over 120 jar handles were found (pictures at the link) along with many other artifacts from the period from what appears to be a government center.

The article also points out another intriguing mystery - artificially created stone hills that may be hiding more archaeological sites beneath them.

Another amazing historical find.

Portland Mayor Firmly On The Side Of The Rioters

This is why Trump had to send in Federal Law Enforcement to protect the Federal Courthouse in Portland.

The Detroit News: Portland mayor tear gassed by federal agents

Instead of enforcing the law against rioters and their acts of arson, assault, and destruction of property, the mayor of Portland is cheering them on and having the Portland police stand down.

The rioting in Portland has been going on for well over a month now, and its being aided and abetted by the Democrat political establishment there.

New 6.5 Creedmoor Rifle Makes Its First Appearance

I finally got a scope for my 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and took it to the range.

It's been a long time coming together, and I'm an absolute beginner to the scoped rifle game.

Now with a mounted Vortex Viper PST 5-25x, it is a beaut to shoot.

I got a good deal on the scope from a friend as he wanted to transition all his stuff to MRAD rather than MOA. To say he's a serious long-distance rifle shooter would be an understatement.

We mounted and bore-sighted the scope and then took it to his local 100-yard range to get a zero on it.

The zeroing began, and our boresighting resulted it being rather off to the left. Eventually I got it sighted in, and was then happily hitting a Shoot-N-C center:

After the bullseye shooting, I then did a nice three-shot group:

After that, a two-shot group that I was rather happy with using up the remainder of the ammo.

The scope is amazing. Bullet holes 100 yards away are as clear as day in it, and adjustments for zeroing are quick and easy. Vortex makes a very nice product.

I was shooting with the stock trigger I had put on it that gave a 6.5 pound pull when my friend measured it after we had finished shooting. He decided that 6.5 lbs was not proper for such a rifle, so when we were done, he added to the deal and threw on a Geissele two-stage flat trigger with a really beautiful, consistent, 3.5 pound pull which should make shooting it accurately a lot easier and that made the deal even better.

So I now have my entry gun into serious rifle shooting.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a very accurate and easy to shoot cartridge and with the new trigger and the quite fantastic scope, I should be able to learn to shoot it well. I still need to pickup a bi-pod and then I'll be set to begin learning longer range rifle shooting.

Detroit BLM To Police: You Need to De-escalate When Someone Shoots At You

You really can't make this up. Detroit BLM and other usual suspects, including the ACLU of Michgian, who one would think knows better as claiming Police should not have shot Hakim Littleton after he shot at a Police Officer at point blank range and luckily missed.

They're still at making attempted cop-killer Littleton a BLM model victim.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit organizations call for end to excessive force in response to Hakim Littleton death

More than a dozen Detroit groups banded together to demand the Detroit Police Department change practices and independently investigate the death of 20-year-old Littleton, who was shot by a DPD officer July 10 near San Juan Drive and West McNichols Road in the Bagley neighborhood of Detroit.

"Although Chief James Craig immediately characterized the killing as an appropriate use of force, members of the community are left with many questions, not the least of which is whether the death could have been avoided altogether if officers had used the law enforcement profession's best practices and employed de-escalation techniques," the organizations said in a joint statement.

Let's look at the bodycam footage:

No sure what de-escalation technique is appropriate when a guy fires two shots at your head, generally returning fire is the approve technique.

Apparently they want police to stop policing and going after gang members involved in crimes involving a prior shooting:

"In a period when the already tense relationship between law enforcement and Black communities has escalated to unparalleled heights, there is no place for sudden, aggressive police tactics. Such increases the likelihood that fear and impulse will control citizens' reactions, and serious injuries and death may be the consequence. Community and civil rights organizations call for an independent investigation to have important questions answered about police conduct in this instance."

Yep, they're working hard to make a thug on probation after na armed robbery who shot twice at a polcie officer a BLM Hero:

"Our community is outraged and heartbroken at the death of Hakim Littleton and at the brutality used against protesters and community members," reads the joint statement. "Particularly at this moment, as #blacklivesmatter has become ubiquitous, we demand accountability and proclaim that all state violence against the Black community must end!"

Maybe Hakim shouldn't have shot at the police, and then they wouldn't have to be heartbroken as a community.

Detroit BLM and the listed organizations have lost all credibility with their championing Littleton, assuming they even had any credibility to begin with.

First World Problems: Fedex You F'ing Tease

Yet again, Fedex is having intimate relations with a canine regarding a delivery.

My old pair of sandals broke after years of service so I ordered a new pair. Shipped from Grand Rapids Michigan via FEDEX it was supposed to be here last Wednesday.

As if.

Wednesday rolls around and nope, no delivery and a message that delivery will be sent later. Thursday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Thursday rolls around and nope, no delivery and a message that delivery will be sent later. Friday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Nope.

Saturday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Nope.

Sunday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Nope.

This morning another happy notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Not exactly holding my breath in anticipation.

The package was shipped last Tuesday, and has apparently been sitting in Lake Orion since Wednesday after it inexplicably had a detour to Perrysburg, Ohio before arriving in Lake Orion. In lake Orion, it seems to be getting loaded and unloaded on a delivery truck and been out for delivery on a daily basis over the last six days. I'm sure its getting a tour of the local area and enjoying it profusely.

Per mapping software, walking from Grand Rapids to my house takes about 42 hours of non-stop stepping. The package has now been hanging out in Lake Orion for more than double that, so they could have sent it by foot courier with 12+ hour naps and breaks and still beaten their current time.

At some point I may need to go to Lake Orion and try and pick it up, but with the luck I've been having so far it will be on a truck driving aimlessly around promising to be delivered when I go there.

Definite first world problem, but annoying all the same.

Perhaps if they quit promising on a daily basis that it would be delivered and instead set a reasonable delivery schedule knowing their current capacity and capabilities, and then stuck to it, that would work better for everyone.

Gov Half Whit And AG To Hillsdale: Your Graduation Ceremony Is Prohibited. Hillsdale To Giov And AG: You Ever Hear Of The First Amendment?

Hillsdale College had announced that they were going to do an in-person outdoor graduation ceremony for their grads, with 6 feet social distancing, masks, sanitation, the works.

Both Governor Half-Whit and our AG Nasty Nessel quickly stated such a gathering was verboten, with a capital V.

Hillsdale responded that this was a once in a lifetime event for their hardworking graduates, and hadn't the governor just been seen mask-less among hundreds of people protesting, and Hillsdale was similarly exercising their First Amendment rights to assembly and in a safer manner than the governor to boot.

The Hillsdale County Sheriff Office when asked about enforcing the Governor and AG's ban noted they had better and more important things to do than enforce the Governor's ban on such a gathering and were too busy doing actual law enforcement activities to worry about such triffles.

The graduation ceremony went ahead uninterrupted, and congrats to the grads of Hillsdale and to the college for honoring its grads in a safe manner and standing up for their constitutional rights.

The Detroit News: Hillsdale College to host in-person graduation; AG office says event is prohibited

The Detroit News: Hillsdale College holds in-person commencement, defying Whitmer, AG

Cybersecurity At Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency Wasn't An Afterthought.

It apparently wasn't a thought at all.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit woman charged in $2M unemployment insurance fraud

A contract employee for the state of Michigan has been charged in a scheme that saw the fraudulent disbursement of more than $2 million in unemployment insurance funding intended to help people during the coronavirus pandemic.

Brandi Hawkins, 39, of Detroit, worked in the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency with duties that included reviewing, processing and verifying the legitimacy of unemployment insurance claims for the state, according to U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider's office.

Yes, it's hard to protect from insiders, but the real story here isn't that she was caught and terminated it's that after she was terminated they did not shut off her access to the system so she continued the embezzlement remotely:

Hawkins was assigned to work as an unemployment insurance examine in April. She was terminated June 17, according to the complaint.

But the complaint says the state's fraud investigation unit reviewed the audit logs for Hawkins's user account and determined that she continued to remotely access state systems after "her termination and was actively 'discarding' fraud-stops and releasing payment on hundreds of fraudulent claims until early July 2020."

That's a pretty major security fail right there - to the tune of 2 million dollars, plus identity theft costs for everyone who had a fake claim made in their name by this criminal. Expect your UI rates to go up as a result of this incompetence.

The Left Finally Vandalises An Actual Nazi Monument

It took them long enough, with much time busily taken up by defacing monuments to Lincoln, Grant, Churchill, and others, but the antifa-types have finally found an actual monument honoring Nazis to deface.

In Canada.

The Ottawa Citizen: Graffiti on memorial to Nazi SS division now being investigated as vandalism

Yes, the monument does indeed honor the Ukrainians of the 14th Waffen Grenadier (1st Galicia) SS Division, who were shipped over en masse to Canada at the end of World War 2.

The monument is a private one in Oakville, Ontario (near-ish Toronto) Oakville on the the grounds of the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery. The Toronto area has a very large Ukrainian community, many of them the actual SS members of the division or their descendants.

Adding to the irony, the vandalism when it was first discovered was initially being investigated as an anti-Ukrainian hate crime.

Deputy Has Excellent Shooting Performance Under Pressure

An Eaton County, Michigan Sheriff's Deputy demonstrated the importance of the Tueller drill in a rather dramatic fashion.

Knife attacks happen fast, as this scenario demonstrates.

She also demonstrated how to coolly and quickly clear a failure while being charged at by a multiple blade-wielding attacker. She also demonstrates that you need to keep shooting until the attack ceases, as one-shot stops are nice, but certainly not guarranteed against a motivated attacker, and in this case he took a lot of hits and was still talking at the end of the encounter.

While you may argue she let the attacker get too close before she started shooting, that encounter happened fast, and was still very good shooting and reflexes on her part. Next time someone ignorantly asks why the police can't just shoot an attacker in the leg, show them this video and ask them if they think they could do any better under the circumstances.

I'd say an excellent job on the part of this deputy, and lots can be learned from the video of this encounter.

Some Woke Cases Apparently Will Get Fast-Tracked, While A Much More Vital One Languishes

The Michigan Supreme Court will drop everything and take up a case of a juvenile sentenced by a good judge to a juvenile facility due to her violation of her probation conditions.

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan Supreme Court reviewing case of teenager incarcerated after not doing schoolwork

Again, she wasn't incarcerated for failing to do her school work, she was incarcerated for violating terms of probation for her theft and assault convictions, with a key term of that probation being she does her school work. In general, being on probation is a state of grace, and if you fail to abide by the terms of that probation you get sent to a facility, in this case Children's Village, to complete your sentence or until the judge decides you can get another chance. This isn't exactly a new nor a surprising thing.

Instead of owning up to failing probation, the woke crowd is crying it's not fair the judge required her to do her homework, and such a condition of probation is clearly racist.

A quick clue - it is not. Every single case I've seen with a student placed on probation, one of the key terms of that probation is they stay in school and do their homework - this is not a racial thing at all but a very standard condition.

Note however, that in this case the convicted juvenile in question is Black, and she's thus being used as a BLM cause celebre and the woke-sters are lining up, including our Democrat-dominated Supreme Court, becuase its unfair to lock her up in children's village for failing to do her homework.

Interesting isn't it how the Supreme Court will drop everything and intervene and fast track such a case affecting a convicted criminal beyond normal procedures.

But for a case that affects the entire state, well not so much.

The Detroit News: Supreme Court won't hear challenge of Whitmer's emergency powers before Court of Appeals

The Michigan Supreme Court denied permission on Thursday for the Republican-controlled House and Senate to argue their case challenging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency powers to the high court without first pleading their case to the Court of Appeals.

Yes, the Michigan Supreme Court will continue to slow-walk perhaps the biggest constitutional question this state has faced in a cengtury - Whether Governor Whitmer's use of the 1945 law and her establishment of a basically dictatorial executive ruling without any checks or balances from the legislative branch is constitutional - especially as it disregards the subsequent 1976 law on the same subject that specifically encompasses pandemics, and will probably continue slow-walking it until this pandemic is all over. But, for a minor BLMer who violated her parole, they'll drop standard procedure and rapidly intervene.

Curious, that.

Oh, Those White People And Their Values Of (Checks Notes) Hard Work, Timeliness, Politeness And Stable Families!

Nope, this is not a joke, its an actual real publication from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture:

Apparently rational linear thinking, stable families, a work ethic, and showing up on time are signs of whiteness.

If you can't figure out the racist absurdity of their publication, well, there's not much I suggest except, that in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts: The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

That it's the flippin' Smithsonian Institution publicizing this racist nonsense and classifying successful traits as White is rather insane.

In short, I'm not sure if the museum hired a Black Klansman to draw this up, as if successful traits are identified as being White, I'd really hate to see what they come up and describe as Black cultural traits.

This idiotic graphic is classifying and identifying traits that make one successful in the modern world as being White cultural traits.

I expect Asians including the Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese would beg to differ and object vociferously that their mastery of these traits somehow makes them White. Heck, I'd expect Nigerians and other successful African immigrants that embrace these successful cultural traits would similarly object to them being classified as "White".

"Happy" Tax Day

In case you didn't remember, your 2019 annual tax filing is due today.

I already had mine filed in April, but just had to cut a nice quarterly check today - ugh.

Flying: Up 6, Down 6

Finally got some time to go flying and the weather was perfect for some after work pattern work.

Winds were calm all day, which was nice. Not a cloud below 5,000 feet.

They stayed calm as I got to the airport.

A good preflight, I added another quart of oil to get it up to 6 quarts, and it was time to get going.

Listening to the tower frequency ahead of time, the pattern had been busy but as I started up to taxi, the pattern calmed down a bit. Instead of the pattern, most pilots were heading off to the practice area to the north and I pretty much had the pattern to myself.

With no wind, my first landing was a bit of a floaty mess. I came in at a bit of a high angle with too much speed and floated nicely down the runway and the plane didn't really want to land. Still put it down nice and gently with no thumps even as it did eat up a whole lot of runway doing so.

Then, off to do it again and again. The landings got better each time, with no thumpers or aircraft carrier landings. By landings 5 and 6, I had the airspeed dialed in and was flying near-perfect patterns. Much tighter landings right on the center-line resulted.

Great to get back in the air again and it was some good and productive practice.

That's .9, and 6 landings ranging from meh to very nice.

What, You Think Criminals And Their Supporters Don't Lie?

The protests continue about the thug who fired shots at Detroit police and was then killed when they returned fire.

Of course, his buddies and the Detroit branch of BLM are still protesting about it.

The lies began almost immediately, with the classic "He had his hands up" lie by his family member:

Loved ones on the scene cried and were incensed, with Asar Amen-Ra, who said he was Littleton’s uncle, questioning police, calling for Craig to speak straight to those gathered and saying the time for peaceful protest was over.

He said his nephew was like many young men, working all the time and hanging out with his friends.

"We hear one thing from the police, and another thing from the community. The community told us that the police pulled up, told (him) to get on the ground. He put his hands up, and these mother f------ shot him in the back of the head," he said, adding his sister had been to the hospital and saw his nephew's body.

"He has got two shots in back of his head, plus other bullet wounds."

Well, no, no he doesn't. He also didn't have his hands up, he pulled a gun and fired four shots at the police.

So yes, the "community" lied its tail off as to what actually happened, as had occurred in multiple other similar incidents, including the first false "Hands up don't shoot" canard.

Detroit's BLMers of course continued to protest even Sunday, long after the video had been released and there's no question as to what the facts actually are.

The Detroit News: Activist released after protest; prosecutor declines to charge, but police plan to refile

So why are they protesting the death of a thug who was firing at police at the time of his justifiable demise?

Apparently they figure its systematic racism, really. Certainly defining that ninsensical term even further down.

"This is systemic racism," Taylor told 150-plus people on the lawn outside the center on the city's east side, "being played out in real time."

Apparently, according to Detroit BLM, Detroit police should simply accept being shot at by thugs, and then having protestors throw bricks and bottles at them after surviving an ambush attack - to do anything else would apparently be systematic racism.

How Dare The Detroit Police Shoot Back At Someone Shooting At Them?

Yes, that is the current local BLM cause and outrage de jour - a criminal who shot at Detroit Cops as they were arresting another criminal and then was relieved of his mortal coil by those same cops who returned fire.

The Detroit News: Detroit Will Breathe returns to protest near site of police shooting

Protesters began marching at the intersection of McNichols and San Juan, near the location where Detroit Police officers shot and killed 19-year-old Hakim Littleton while making an arrest of another individual.

Talk about burying the lede - it took until the eighth paragraph before we learn form the article that Mr. Littleton did in fact do soemthing that made him rather worthy of getting shot by the police:

Craig said the shooting was justified and released footage showing Littleton shooting first at officers before police returned fire.

Yes, the camera footage has been released, mere hours after the shooting - and protesters are complaining it wasn't released quickly enough as after all, they've watched CSI on tv and investigations of a fatal shooting should be resolved in mere minutes before the next commercial, right?

There also complaining the police weren't nice to them when the protest initially started and the protestors threw bricks and bottles at police.

Well the body-cam footage certainly erased the myth that he dindu nothing, but his brother is still arguing he's a good guy:

Littleton's older brother, Rashad Littleton-Schafer, spoke after the protesters finished their route shortly after 8 p.m. and said he is demanding a sit-down with Police Chief James Craig and Mayor Mike Duggan.

"My brother was a good, good man. He was a warrior," Littleton-Shafer said. "I want to let everyone know this, including Chief James Craig, the mayor of Detroit. I want a meeting with them by next week."

It's good to want things, I suppose. We will note that his dear brother "warrior" Hakim was on probation at the time for armed robbery when he decided to take shots at the cops.

So yes, BLM and Detroit Will Breathe are busy protesting the justifiable shooting of a thug who without provocation took shots at the police. Expect his name to join those of other criminals celebrated by BLM.

Socially Distant Jiu Jitsu Party - With Brisket

I had invited friends from Jiu Jitsu over for a fun socially distant get together at the house today.

I enticed them with a promise of my homemade smoked brisket. So smoked brisket there had to be. I purchased a whole packer brisket earlier this week and got the preparations underway.

So I made the rub and applied it to the brisket, than into the smoker it went.

Then began 18 hours of smoking low and slow over locally-sourced hickory wood (I'm running out of hickory and apple wood now).

It came out rather awesome, if I do say so myself.

The meat from the flat was nice and lean but still moist and fork-tender. The meat from the point of the brisket was fatty as expected and described by some of my meat-loving jiu jitsu friends as "candy".

The brisket was a big hit and we pretty much devoured the whole thing.

Everyone brought a dish to pass (and some brought more than one - a generous group they are), and they brought beer to help wash the brisket and other delectables down.

A great time was had by all 10 guests as we sat around in a socially distant manner and had some good food among a good bunch of people.

Gov Half-Whit To Michigan Property Owners And Businesses: "F You, Pay Me."

MiBiz: Whitmer vetoes property tax deferment bills

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed two bills that would have effectively deferred summer property tax payments to relieve struggling businesses and property owners during the pandemic.

This is the same governor that has ordered that tenants have not had to pay the rent for the past four months with no fear of being evicted.

Now landlords, not having received any rent for those months by her order, are still expected to come up with the property taxes for those properties on time or risk them going into tax foreclosure.

Commercial ventures, closed for months by her orders, and some like gyms which are still closed, will still have to come up with their property taxes on time without relief or sympathy from the governor for their loss caused by that same governor-ordered inability to operate and have revenue to pay those taxes.

Also, she provides no relief for homeowners affected by the economic disruption - they have to pay their property taxes as well.

If you're a tenant, you're golden in her eyes, after all, she cares about them and they're her core voting block.

If you own property or run a business, she doesn't give a damn about you except for your tax payments which better be in on time.

Gov Half-Whit To Healthcare Workers: Thank You Medical Heroes, You (Checks Notes) Racist Bastiges!

3WWMT: Whitmer: Michigan healthcare workers must receive implicit bias training

Yep, she's passed an executive directive (as opposed to her typical executive order) that in order for any healthcare worker to have their license renewed, they must receive implicit bias training because healthcare workers must be unconsciously racist.

After all, how else could the disparities in Covid results that proportionally more Black people than White people are being hospitalized be explained, along with Blacks having higher mortality from heart disease and stroke? Quick note - Don't you dare raise lifestyle choices nor the many gas station parties held by Blacks in Detroit during the initial outbreak of the virus in this state under their rather head-shaking belief that they were were immune due to their race?

Well, her Lieutenant Governor did suggest the disparity was due to some Anti-Black conspiracy theory -

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II said the challenges that communities of colors face during the pandemic, were not "ordained by God, instead they were designed."

You just may have that tinfoil hat on a little too tight there Lt. Governor.

Some Democrat-connected diversity consultant is about to make serious bank. Maybe NGVP will be awarded the training contract on a no-bid basis.

So anyways, thank you healthcare heroes for your service. You're apparently all racists according to our governor, but you're heroes, so you've got that going for you, which is nice.

Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Michigan Roads Edition

Michigan roads are renowned as being rather lousy. So much so that there is a marked difference as you cross the state line with Ohio, even as there's never-ending road work in Toledo.

So why can't we have nice roads like Toledo?

One of the reasons is our rather inflated road construction cost.

The Detroit Free Press: Conner Street to get $4M in roadwork ahead of FCA Mack plant opening

That 4 million dollars will resurface all of 2 miles of road.

Yep, it's now $2 million per mile to fix a road. Hardly a bargain.

But hey! At least it'll have bike lanes right for those two miles beside a automotive factory, which is clearly something that every cyclist will want to cycle on by.

Expect A Lot More Injuries When People Resist Arrest In NYC

New York City has decided, and other jurisdictions in the spirit of wokeness may follow, to ban police from using a variety of control techniques.

This includes choke-holds, and any other restraining maneuvers that may restrict blood or air flow to an alleged perpetrator.

In other words, a ton of non-lethal control techniques will be out the door. Expect a lot more physical injuries to occur for if police can't use retraining techniques to effect an arrest on someone resisting, they're going to have to resort to a lot more physical force to do so.

Instead of defunding the police, what is needed is more funding for far better training in the proper and appropriate use of restraint techniques including chokeholds - they can be used to safely and effectively to incapacitate a criminal resisting arrest as long as proper training is followed.

In the Floyd situation, they officers pretty clearly were not appropriately trained -

At least one officer was worried: Mr. Lane asked if the officers should roll Mr. Floyd over on his side.
“No, staying put where we got him,” Mr. Chauvin replied.
“I am worried about excited delirium or whatever,” Mr. Lane said.
“That’s why we have him on his stomach,” Mr. Chauvin responded.

Turning him onto his side would have made sense and helped him breathe, but Chavin apparently responded that keeping him belly down was the appropriate way to keep someone with ED, which is completely wrong - a lack of effective training certainly didn't help here, amongst other issues, inlcuidng the obvious that you don't keep your knee on someone's neck fro over 8 minutes.

Proper training and use of proper restraint techniques on the part of Police can effectuate arrests without people getting badly hurt - banning these techniques and you'll see an increase of taser firearms usage, not to mention possible broken bones from harder hand-to-hand techniques when the soft techniques are outlawed.

The Left: We Must Take Down All Oppresive Racist Statues Including That Of . . .

The well known oppressor Fredrick Douglas!

Yes, that Frederick Douglas.

CBS News: Frederick Douglass statue ripped from base

Public Education's lack of focus on teaching civics and American history other than indoctrinating "America = Bad/Racist" is really shining through here.

They really do hate all the statues.

The Antifa types have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

Not Sure If These Will Be Reported As Deaths Caused By The Coronavirus

The New York Post: Pilots in Pakistan airliner crash were reportedly distracted by coronavirus

The pilots ignored the sterile cockpit rule while landing, instead chatting about the Coronavirus, and ignored the multiple alarms that their gear wasn't down and went to land anyways.

They then managed to scrape both engines along the runway and then compounded the error by doing a go-round with two damaged and failing engines and then unsurprisingly crashed and killed all 97 people on board.

This is one of the reasons why flying with many foreign airlines is highly contraindicated. Violating the sterile cockpit rule is a major problem that tends to allow an opportunity for disasters to strike. Then sterile cockpit rule is amazingly simple - no non-essential activities or communication is permitted during critical stages of flying such as takeoffs and landings.

Add to the mix that it appears that perhaps 30%+ of Pakistan Airlines' pilots have fake credentials, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

Heck, I fly a tiny plane by comparison, and always instruct passengers not to talk during takeoff or landing, except to let me know if they see another plane is on a collision course.

This was a completely and easily avoidable accident that should never have happened.

Independence Day In Ohio

For Independence Day we drove to Vermillion, Ohio to enjoy small town America, and to take the kids to Lake Erie for the first time.

Vermillion is on the shores of Lake Erie, A nice picturesque town where people from Cleveland come to go boating with their yachts, and there's some darn nice yachts there.

The town wasn't very crowded, and many people wore masks walking around, but most did not when outside. Stores had signs limiting guest to 5 at a time with masks on in the stores stores, so we checked out the various art galleries and other shops for a bit. Ohio tends to be less uptight about masks, etc., than Michigan and has opened up quicker and been les dictatorial about it throughout.

They also have a nice park with a couple naval guns on display:

They're 32-pounder smooth-bore Dahlgren guns from the US Civil War era with anchors signifying naval usage.

We had lunch in the park, doing takeout from the Main Street Soda Grill - burgers, fries, onion rings, milkshakes and ice cream floats. Everything was great.

Then on to Lake Erie:

We had a nice swim and relaxed on the beach.

Now the only Great Lake they haven't at least dipped their toes into is Lake Superior - and we'll fix that.

Then, home in time to watch fireworks and have dinner. It was a great Independence Day.

Happy Independence Day!

A Very Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow American readers and friends!

They Hate All The Statues

It started with Confederate Statues, and now its spread to the founding fathers, abolitionists, US Grant, Lincoln and Churchill and even Gahndi is next on the chopping block.

But now the progressive vandals have decided statues of Fauna have got to go too.

Oregon Live: Iconic Portland elk statue removed from downtown after fire set during protest

Apparently to the Left, the Elk must be a symbol of White-Tail Supremacy. Or something.

Wisconsin, After All, Must Have Been A Confederate State

I've been having a wonderful Facebook argument with some leftist relatives (including one very involved in his states Democratic party) who think taking down the various statues are just dandy because of feelings of people who see any statue of white people who might be identified as slave owners or fought for the confederacy and that the statues are only there solely for white supremacy.

I then brought up its gone far beyond that given the push to dismantle the Emancipation Memorial, desecration fo the Lincoln memorial, Churchill, and abolitionists such as the destruction of the Statue of Hans Christian Heg at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

The response - He defended it on the basis that the people who tore down Heg didn't know who he was, they saw a Civil War Soldier and figured it must be a statue to white supremacy so it had to go.

I replied: The mob of Wisconsinites should have known and learned about their hometown hero Hans Christian Heg.

Thus since they tore down a statue of a Union hero, while they may have been indoctrinated they clearly were not educated. Since the statue is in Wisconsin, geography dictates that Wisconsin is about as northern a state as you can get. History would show Wisconsin was, being not only geographically northern, but also politically firmly on the Union side as a free state as opposed to a slave state. Further, had they read the plinth they would have seen in rather big letters that he was the colonel of the 15th Wisconsin Volunteers – not a confederate unit by any means.

Why Wisconsin would have a confederate statute at their capital would bogle most people’s imagination, had they had any. Had they’d known history they could likely also have been able to figure out the difference between a Union and Confederate uniform as well.

Instead the mob decided statues of white people were bad and tore it down accordingly, so yeah we’re way beyond just confederate statues – which removal of same is basically the Democrats sanitizing their less than savory history as the pro-slavery party. Now, we’re at desecrating the Lincoln memorial and busts of Churchill, and mobs of lefties now seriously arguing about removing Gandhi’s statue.

1984 was not supposed to be a how-to manual.

This is really not going to end well, especially when someone who would consider himself a moderate Democrat party member is going out of his way defending such actions and unable to condemn them.

Happy Canada Day!

A very Happy Canada Day to my friends and family to the north.