Hip Report: Back To The Mats

Had a follow up appointment with the doctor a couple Fridays ago.

The not so good news:  Hip was kinda sore and it turns out I have Illotial Band Syndrome, likely due to the muscles and everything getting moved around and re-balancing now that the hip arthritis is now more.  Bit of an ache and I'm doing stretches for it.  Overall things are good and just the Illotial Band and the quad muscle are still angry at  me and everything else is looking great.

The good news:  I have been cleared for all activities except for falling, which is still a no-no.  In short, I was cleared to attend jitsu again once time came that it didn't feel quite so achy.  That time was today.

I decided to take a private lesson with the center's instructor, Heath, to see how much I've forgotten and see what the new hip can and can't do.

It turns out, it can do a lot. A whole lot.

My range of motion is so much better it is remarkable, and we both noticed it right away.

The lack of constant pain while moving was also remarkable.

I can do an elevator sweep without pain!  An elevator sweep is when someone is on top of you and props up to punch you, and then you basically sweep them off and end up on top, which is rather useful and pretty dispiriting for them.  

To do it, you have to get your leg in the right position up and inside their leg (and a few other things), and I could never do that without extreme discomfort and often couldn't even move the hip that way at all.  Now I can.

Ditto for scissor sweeps, and quite a few other maneuvers I used to be completely unable to do.  Other maneuvers I can now do quicker and easier than before, and even getting up off the ground is easier.

We did a half hour trying to figure out what the limits are and there's a few techniques I won't be doing (as in all the takedowns and falling as well as some ground stuff where the hip is kinda vulnerable) and will be telling partners not to do certain techniques on me, but other than that I am good to go, which is very exciting.

This is all very happy-making.  Now I can work on getting back in shape (been an immobile slug for much too long due to the surgery) and work on my jitsu again.

So, I'm a little sore now,  but it's a good kind of sore from a workout, and I'm far less sore than on any normal day with arthritis in the hip, much less a normal day after jitsu.

Next follow up appointment in about 5 weeks may even just clear me for some gentle falls.

It's great to be back in the game again.  Missed it and the people at the center a lot.

Flying IFR - Lesson 52 - Getting Rather Winded

So today I was up with Rocky in N6288J.

Downside - 6288J lacks a Garmin 430W but has the newer touchscreen one without a NAV 1 radio, so I got to try to mess with that a bit.

More Downside:  It was really rather windy and turbulent today, so a touchscreen really, really sucks for making selections - especially when you're not completely familiar with it as well.

Nothing like getting pushed side to side as well as getting lifted up on the regular to enjoy a flight.

Even more downside - The PTT switch on my yoke stopped working properly and was very intermittent even when being mashed down, so Rocky had to do all the radio work.

So yes, winds rocking from 200-240 at 16-22kts made for an interesting ride.

Went to 9G2 Linden and did the RNAV 27 and simulated a circle to 9 as we didn't want to be head on against local traffic as the wind was favoring 27 but the examiner will do a 27 circle to 9 at Linden now if the wind is blowing the other way,

Then to Troy, did a good approach but was getting constantly pushed around by the winds, very hard to drop altitude on the tight circle and the wind really pushed me over ,which sucks as you can't compensate as you're not allowed to be be more than a mile from the runway on the circle downwind or you fail.  As such, on turning base I got pushed hard past the runway  and had to gently come back.  Not great and I said so and that I would be going around from that approach.

Then to Pontiac for the Localizer Backcourse 27L.

First one sucked so hard as I get constantly blown this way and that, very crappy conditions, so we decided to do it again.  Partially the fault of Detorit Approach not quite vectoring me in right and then had dropped me way off the localizer and I had to fight hard to try and acquire it.

Second time was the charm, I rode it like it was on rails and down to a nice gusty crosswind landing.

Apparently, I redeemed myself sufficiently even with the prior mess-up that I will be getting the pre-checkride checkride soon once that can be arranged.

That's 1.9, 1.5 simulated instrument, 4 approaches, and 1 rather decent landing.

Memorial Day Range Trip

So for the morning of Memorial Day I headed to the range.

Met up with Tosh and his buddy Timo.  A good time was then had by all.

Had the Turknelli out and it ran like a top - even ran the lower powered 7.5 birdshot and the Federal Flite Control 8 pellet 00 Buck that it had choked on during its first time out.

 

In short no failures, fed everything it was given and seems good to go, and cleaning the pistons fixed the issue nicely.  

When I got it home, I took it down to clean it and  there was some solid carbon buildup on the pistons yet again, but not nearly as much this time, so hopefully the gunk is working itself out. Will need to keep an eye on it and I expect to make it a regular bit of maintenance to clean the pistons after each use.

Shot the Tavor as well out to 100 yards (longest range they've got at the range sadly)  and no issues. Did decided to give it a cleaning as it had not been cleaned in quite some time, and I think it appreciated it. Got a lot of build up out of it and it is nice and clean now.

Also shot my Glock and IWI Masada.  Definitely need to practice more as my draw is pretty slow and could use some work.  Accuracy with both is good and I'm hitting an A Zone at 7 yards on Bill Drills pretty consistently, but need to speed it up, especially the draw.

This means some regular dry fire practice which I keep telling myself I'm going to do, so might as well do it.  From now on it's 15 minutes of leg stretches for the hip rehab followed by 15 minutes of dry-fire a day.  Let's see if I can stick to this.

More Lies And Half-Truths From Journos About Firearms And NRAAM

Journalists continue to repeat the false statement that attendees at the NRA Annual Meeting are not allowed to carry at the convention.

This is false, they know or darn well should know by now it's false, yet they keep running this falsehood every year and each year they get called out for lying about it yet again.

The Detroit News: Juggling Act: If lawmakers don't act on gun laws now, then when?

The National Rifle Association, meanwhile, will hold its annual convention this weekend 4 ½  hours east of Ulvade in Houston. Attendees, ironically, won't be permitted to carry firearms during the convention, according to USA Today.

This is simply false, and this journo is simply passing along the falsehood from USA Today when she could, you know, fact check it herself assuming she doesn't already know she's lying.

The fact is, Attendees and NRA members can and do carry at the NRA Annual meeting.  

The only limitations to carry at NRA Annual Meeting events is when the US Secret Service declares an area of the convention a gun-free zone due to a dignitary being present such as former President Trump or others, and then it is only for a defined area and not the entire convention hall.   Or, it for example if it is for an ancillary concert at a facility separate from the convention hall that does not permit firearms, then you can;t break the rules of that facility. 

Otherwise, you absolutely can carry at the NRA Annual Meeting and convention.

Would be nice if journos stopped lying about that, as well as so many other things they lie about or tell half-truths when it comes to firearms.

Supernatural: Rickey Gervais Offers Actually Funny Stand-Up Comedy

It's on Netflix and well worth watching,

Gervais pulls no punches and goes after everybody in his stand up act - especially the current Woke cancel culture.

He dares say things on stage that everyone knows is true, but such truths would get many other people cancelled outright. Throughout, he says it in a very funny manner full of wit, irony, and sarcasm.

In short, if you aren't offended by at least something in the show, you likely weren't paying attention and better go back and watch it again, as pretty much everyone takes a hit, but it's still funny.  

If you were horribly offended by any of it however, laugh it off and grow up already.

The Woke are going to be massively offended within the first few minutes of the show and will likely be frothing at the mouth or running for a safe space before it is thirty minutes in. The Woke will then be found weeping in a fetal position a few minutes thereafter under his withering razor-sharp wit.

Damn funny show, so go watch it.   We can use some comedy right now.

Maybe Instead of Buying Votes, It's Time For Some Investment In Mental Health Treatment

Mental health treatment options in Michigan, if not the entire USA are underfunded and under-available.

Right now,  in-patient mental health facilities for youth in Michigan are 100% full with zero treatment beds available. 

If that doesn't scare you, it darn well should.

Especially with the Covid lockdowns, we’ve seen massive increases in substance abuse, mental illness, and suicides among youth and they’re simply not getting the treatment they need. The demands of mentally unstable kids is exceeding the supply of treatment

Horribly, some of them are going to go out and commit atrocities when they darn well should have been helped or stopped ahead of time.

We're sadly seeing more of that now across the US.

Whitmer needs to quit thinking of buying votes and instead put that surplus budget money into building in-treatment mental hospitals and expanding mental health treatment availability.

Biden needs to quit blaming firearms for the acts of the mentally ill and criminals and instead expand the treatment of the mentally ill across the US and work to end policies that are letting criminals run rampant.

Neither of these things are easy, but they would actually be effective.

Someone Is Stacking The Michigan Primary Election Deck

The most viable challenger to Gov Whitmer, the former Detroit chief of police James Craig ,has just been removed from running for governor.

This is due to a finding that his, along with four other Republican candidates all had fraudulent signatures collected by collectors, putting all of them below the number of valid signatures needed to run for office.

The Detroit News:  James Craig, Perry Johnson, 3 others ineligible for ballot, Bureau of Elections says

The Detroit News: Michigan petition forgery report spurs bipartisan calls for criminal prosecutions

This knocks 5 of 10 Republican candidates out after non-campaign signature collectors - 36 of them - apparently collected 68,000 invalid signatures which means they committed very widespread forgery, 

Dirty tricks and possibly the Democrats playing games, especially to knock out Chief Craig, the strongest contender against Whitmer, or it may very well be other Republican candidates doing so to knock out the competition. Or it just may be that 36 individuals all happened to decide to commit fraud in signature collecting for 5 specific candidates, but that seems rather unlikely.

There should be an investigation and those 36 and it will be interesitng if they were hired by the same unnamed "consulting firm", and they  should be squeezed until they reveal who hired them to do the forgery.

Flying IFR - Lesson 51 - Approaching Acceptable Approaches

Overall I'd say the practice on my own has paid off.

Approaches today were considered to be very good by Rocky, now I just need to fix altitude and heading while cruising as I was constantly up and down and couldn't get the trim on N5337F to trim the plane out level, nor would the bugger stay straight as it had a pronounced right turning tendency for me.  

As to staying level, it would not do it, either slightly up and or slightly down was the best I could manage, and often got both at the same time, which really shouldn't occur.

Since winds were out of 9 we went to Flint and I did the ILS 9 and the VOR 36 circle to 9 which was a fun change from the typical VOR 18 circle 9.

Did not bust minimums on any of them, did a good circle kept it in tight and would have had the landing made no problem so good there.

The back to Pontiac and did the Localizer 9 partial panel and did it just fine, had the minimums and held them and all was good.

Then back around for the RNAV 9R with one heckuva vectoring detour due to traffic and then rode the RNAV down like rails and then landed long as instructed by Tower, went all the was to the end, crossed 27R and parked the plane.

Overall, much improvement.

Unfortunately the examiner is apparently getting tricky and now adding the possibility of an RNAV at 9G2 followed by a circle to the other end of the runway.

Problem 1 - there are no circling minimums at 9G2, its an RNAV at either end so this is technically questionable but since you're doing the test under VFR conditions apparently you can do it.  That add some extra complexity to the test and now we need to have another lesson to practice that approach, yay, not.

So another lesson has to be flown, and if it goes well, then it will be time for the pre-checkride checkride.

 That's 1.7, with 1.3 simulated instrument, 4 approaches and a decent landing.

More Michigan Dem Lawfare Proceeds Apace

So Governor Whitmer is basically suing the state - she's actually suing 13 county prosecutors - the same state she runs and to whom she swore she would faithfully execute the laws thereof, because she wants to have Michigan's 1931 Abortion law declared unconstitutional.

Again, she's the governor of the state, and instead of acting through the executive or trying to persuade the legislative branch, she's basically suing her own branch of government, that she's in charge of, in Court.

Again, its a rather chummy play, with her basically suing without any actual case or controversy in question yet, and she's trying to bypass normal legal procedure by boosting it right to the Michigan Supreme Court, and ignoring a Michigan Court of Appeals case from 1997 that held there is no right to an abortion in the state constitution.

Not quite as blatant as the Planned Parenthood case where everyone involved including plaintiff, defendant, and judge is on the same side, but it's darn close.

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan Supreme Court agrees to take up procedural question in Whitmer abortion lawsuit

The Michigan Supreme Court asked a few questions, including the really important one: Whether there is an actual case and controversy requirement and, if so, whether it is met here. 

In short no, there isn't one yet so the case should be dismissed outright without even getting to the other questions and the governor should be sanctioned for this nonsense.

It seems that when it comes to abortion, the Michigan Dems are ready to throw all procedural and legal norms out the window to get the result they want quick.   

No way that this kind of game playing could go wrong or backfire on them, now could it?

Again, regardless of what you think about abortion, this kind of harm to both state level separation of powers and judicial norms is just plain wrong.

Lawfare: It's Awfully Convenient When All Sides Are Playing For The Same Team

So Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against Michigan's 1931 law banning abortions - even though it is not in effect, has not been enforced nor even threatened to be enforced against anyone,  and thus there is no case nor controversy before the court. But that didn't stop Planned Parenthood which has sought an injunction to prevent the law that is not being enforced from possibly being enforced in the future.

"Defending" the law, but not really, is AG Dana Nessel, who is busily acceding to the Defendant;s injunction of the law and hasn't argued that it should be dismissed due to the lack of case or controversy. She has also graciously announced she will not appeal the judge's decision to place an injunction on the law. How convenient.

Considering that AG Nessel has already announced she would not enforce the law under any circumstances, before she even "defended" this case, her lack of basic legal diligence defending on behalf of the People of Michigan it is rather unsurprising.

So that's both sides working together for the same result.

Even better, the judge in the case? She's a donor to Planned Parenthood and had represented Planned Parenthood in a major case in 1997.

Gleicher disclosed early on in the case that she was an annual donor to Planned Parenthood and had represented them in the key 1997 abortion rights case. Gleicher said she could remain unbiased.

Sure, of course she could.  

By the way, that 1997 case, Planned Parenthood lost and the Court of Appeals said there was no state right to an Abortion - but in this case Judge Gelicher is now finding one and trying to ignore and get around the 1997 ruling and claim there is a such a right in the Michigan Constitution.

In short, all three players in this case, Plaintiff, Defendant, and Judge are on the same side here. That's not how this is supposed to work.

Again, this should have been dismissed outright as there is not yet any case or controversy nor any attempt to even enforce the 1931 law yet.  Instead its been heard and all players are busy working to get the same result. This is the Democrats playing with the justice system for purely political ends and

Regardless of your thoughts, feelings, or views on abortion, this is a travesty of the law and not how the court system is supposed to operate. 

Update:  It turns out not only is Nessel importantly and improperly declining to appeal, but Nessel threw the case from the outset and the fix was well and truly in from the get-go:  Michigan conservative activists want Court of Appeals to overturn abortion law injunction:

"The attorney general, who already declined to file a motion to dismiss or file a brief opposing the requested preliminary injunction on the merits, now cheers her own defeat and the Court of Claims’ purported injunction," reads a portion of the center's filing with the court of appeals.

So, she did not file a motion to dismiss for lack of a case or controversy, and she didn't even file a brief opposing the injunction. This would be called malpractice if it was any other attorney and any other client.

Turknelli Trials And Tribulations

Took the Turknelli to the range and had some issues.

Basically, it would not eject, or would eject but not  chamber the next round. In short, it had become a lever operated shotgun.

Stripped it for cleaning and it was rather apparent why.

Turns out the gas pistons were frozen solid, completely locked up with massive carbon deposits.

As in really locked up:

 

 

 

That's solid carbon poking out of the piston tube under the barrel after hammering the piston downward to try and get it to move.   The pistons had to be removed by tapping on them with a hammer, a lot and rather hard.

 

Both O rings were found to be broken on the piston covers (that's the remains of one below between the piston covers and the pistons, so I ordered some new ones. I wonder if they broke during the first shooting session and that's why the other rounds wouldn't feed properly.

 

 

Look at all that carbon on those pistons, the one on the left with what looks like a black cap should look like the one on the right with the carbon removed. This stuff was packed on, solid 

Now the pistons move freely again, and I expect the Turknelli will work properly now.  They were rather impressively filthy and absolutely coated in chunks of carbon, as were the insides of the tubes they sit in.

Got everything back together and per the internet, it apparently will work even without the o rings in place but I expect the replacements will come in soon anyways so I'll pop them on before taking it to the range for its next trip.

Overall, the fit and finish of the Turknelli could be a touch better.  It takes a fair amount of effort to get the barrel lined up and inserted, and it seems to be a fair bit more effort than on Benelli M4s as seen by others showing disassembly/assembly on Youtube which is a bit of an annoyance. 

Then again, this is a budget version of the Benelli so if this now works, I won't complain all that much. Be interesting to see if this carbon build up  is due to some particularly dirty ammo or if it is some break in issue.

Gov. Whitmer's Proposed Vote Buying Spree

The State of Michigan is currently flush with cash - both from state tax revenue being up and lots of that sweet, sweet Biden money. So, since an election is coming up, it's time for her to buy votes with taxpayer money.

The Detroit News:  Whitmer urges $500 rebate; House, Senate push $2.6B in tax relief

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asked legislative leaders to consider sending $500 rebates to residents. . . . Revenue estimates for the current and coming fiscal years are expected to come in $4 billion to $5 billion higher than the state predicted in its last January estimate — a surplus not accounted for in current budget plans.

If you read the article, the Demas are proposing to target these $500 checks not to every resident but to lower income ones only as "inflation releif paymentrs" - so the plan is for relief provided by tax-payer money and debt from a Democrat Governor for the inflation caused by a Democrat President's policies. Not to mention giving out another $500 to be spent is itself inflationary. Awesome plan.

Quick question governor- Whatever just happened to the Governor's urgent need for money to "fix the damn roads" then? 

She was all for a tax increase to do that, but now that a tax increase isn't needed as the budget is fat on federal money, she wants to not channel it to "fix the damn roads" but instead hand it out to buy votes.  Of course, shes against a broad-based relief like a state income tax cut to provide relief to those who are paying into the system whose money made the surplus occur in the first place.

November can't come soon enough.

No Flying This Morning

The weather this morning was rather iffy for flying.  Had to head to the doc first for a checkup on the hip - some good news there, more on that later.

Forecast was for MVFR and forecasts of thunderstorms.

Cloud heights would have likely put me in the base of the clouds at 3,000-3,500 feet which would not have been good.

Sadly, an IFR-rated friend who was going to be a safety pilot couldn't make it so I would have been up solo.

Since the weather was forecast rather iffy and getting up and driving around I saw low clouds out the window I decided to call it off.

Overall, I think these times going out by myself has been helpful.

I figure I'll do a lesson Tuesday, and we will see if I get the nod for the pre-checkride-checkride.  If not back to more solo practice and a safety pilot if I can nab one.

RIP The Good Dog Mr. Audie Murphy

Some sad news to report.

Murphy's Law's dog Audie Murphy, after 12 years, with most of them spent living his best life with one of the best dog owners ever, has gone on to heaven to await his master and friend.

He'll be there waiting with Ms. Memphis Belle. Losing two dogs in two consecutive months is horribly tough.  Audie Murphy was a darn good dog, loyal and man's best friend to the end.

If you want to head over to Murphy Law's blog, Lagniappe's Lair, and extend some condolences, I'm sure he'd appreciate them.

ADL Issues A Biased Report, Leftists And New York Times Eat It Up

The ADL has unfortunately strayed far from their task of fighting anti-antisemitism.  

They've fallen to O'Sullivans First Law:“All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.”

Indeed the ADL has departed drastically form their core purpose and  The Anti-Defamation League Is Now a Tool of the Anti-Semitic Left.

The ADL just released a report claiming the majority of political violence is from the Right Wing.

 Of course the NY Times uncritically ate it up: The Right's Violence Problem.

In reading the ADL report, it sadly has a rather driven agenda and has at least one  rather glaring and blatant error on their executive summary page and throughout their report that makes their stats rather suspect.

"Most of the murders (26 of 29) were committed by right-wing extremists, which is usually the case. However, two killings were committed by Black nationalists and one by an Islamist extremist—the latter being the first such killing since 2018."

Considering 6 people were murdered by the Black Nationalist Extremist at Waukeesha in 2021, and yet they apparently decide to not even count that attack in their totals at all. 

How many more murders did they exclude to get to their desired result?

Then, you gotta wonder how they played with the numbers they had left, to shift them right so to speak, in order to decide what was and was not an "extremist murder". So how did they massage the numbers to get where they wanted to go?  We don't know.

Not to mention how they decide to classify a particular murdered as right or left wing can also be suspect.

Further if you take the time to read the report, it appears that some of what they decided were "extremist murders seem to be rather hinky and without any linkage to an ideological basis.  In one case they listed, they decide that a white nutcase who killed a white husband and white wife with no known ideological reason for the murders, is counted as an extremist murder.  Imagine counting every murder by a Black BLM supporter of a Black person as an extremist murder, the count would likely shift - a lot.

In short, it is not a useful nor an unbiased study at all.

Violence from the extremist Right is a problem, as is violence from the extremist Left - which has been growing by leaps and bounds and did about a Billion in damage to our cities recently. 

Here the ADL is deliberately downplaying and ignoring, if not outright covering up Leftist violence for political points.

It also gets interesting in terms of classification as the recent Buffalo shooter self-identified in his nutso manifesto as Left-Wing but is being classified as Right-Wing by the left.   So did a Left-Wing extremist just kill 10 people in Buffalo?  How will it be treated in their next report?

It's too bad we can't get an honest and unbiased study on the problem, as this surely isn't one.

Jesus Took The Wheel . . .

And promptly badly violated Michigan's Vehicle Code.

I kid thee not, the red SUV in front of me this morning had a license plate of "JESUS07".

Not sure if that meant the driver was from a long line of Hispanics named Jesus and the driver was the seventh in line, or if the driver was a gamer.

Well, JESUS07 was driving right along. Driving so far along in fact that the driver then drove right past a school bus that had its red lights and stop sign out but JESUS07 carried on its merry way.   You're really, really, not supposed to do that. Don;t know if that counts as a sin or merely a sign of stupidity and/or not paying attention.

I, on the other hand stopped for the school bus, and as a result never caught up with the driver who kept zipping along and then turned off the road before I did so I couldn't get a picture.  Maybe the school bus had a camera and got him.

Flying: A Short Fun Practice Flight

Beautiful day today, but it was rather bumpy and gusty once airborne. A few clouds just above 3500 made 3000 all sorts of bumpy.

Runway 27R was closed today for FAA inspection of the work they had done on it, so had fun doing a taxi around to 27L.

With the wind gusting 16-20 out of 310-330 I decided to give KVLL a try rather than Flint since when 27 side is in use the examiner tends to do the exam with VLL as a destination.

So I got VFR flight following and headed to Troy,

Troy pattern was rather busy today with quite a few pleanes there, but everyone was paying attention and communicating, so it worked out well.  Of course while doing so I needed to avoid some traffic taking off so I stayed a tad high above the glideslope,  and then had to drop down quick before starting the circle.

Did the circle and stayed above minimums which was good, didn't overshoot the 100 foot maximum either which was pretty darn nice too.  Was pretty high on final due to the recommended late descent but I believe I could have landed if I wanted to, even with the rather unpleasant gusty situation and all that, but went missed and headed back to Pontiac.

Then for the Localizer BC 27L.  Got vectored in, all established and had to break off the approach due to a Citation jet overtaking me without any effort on their part. So, broke off and was vectored to fly out 360 degrees and got turned back in to 180 degrees to reestablish.  Heavy wind from 330 at that point made that turn a pain.

But got back in, established perfectly on the localizer and flew the approach using the NAV2 VOR with reverse sensing and did the procedures, and was nice and lined up with gusting winds.  Still I managed just about one of my best landings ever.

Then off at Juliet, crossed the closed 27R and parked the plane.

Not a bad way to end it.

Overall I felt some improvement.  I want to get the altitude a bit more under control, but at least it's getting closer to acceptable and within that 100 foot range.

Friday I'm trying to find a safety sucker pilot willing to tag along and if its good I might return to DCT to do the pre-pre-checkride ride ride.  We will see.

That's 1.0 solo, 2 practice non-logged approaches, and 1 excellent landing. Not bad for a lunchtime practice flight.

The Gun Banners Finally Got One

There's been a spate of recent shootings that get in the news and then quickly drop out due to the facts of the incidents not matching the preferred narrative.

For example, the shooting at the South Carolina Mall:  Wrong color palette and dispute among rivals.

Or, for example, the Milwaukee shooting. Again wrong color palette.  Shooters do not fit the narrative. It seems to have really dropped out of the news rather quickly once that came out.

The California Church shooting?  Nope, again wrong color palette. Shooter does not fit the narrative. Expect this one to also drop from the media's interest.

But now with Buffalo, the gun banners are like:

After all it's finally a Male. White, dumb-ass, also a clearly racist dickhead per his manifesto (assuming its actually his).  Can't ask for a better fit for a gun control narrative.

Little problem with that, it seems he's a weird variety racist leftist greenie type (assuming his manifesto is even his).  On top of that it turns out he was known to police and was - surprising no one - known to have mental problems but yet again unaccountably, balls were again dropped and  yet again no follow-through and no action taken until he went off and committed.

The  Detroit News: Prior threat, hospital stay under scrutiny for accused Buffalo shooter

The Gun Banners, Democrats, and Biden are going to milk this one for all it's worth.

In A Most Courageous Fashion, MI Sec State Benson Throws Her Staff Under The Bus In Patrick Lyoya Censorship Scandal

Joselyn Benson was all for censoring the driving record of Patrick Lyoya and other criminals to support the BLM movement.  But when called out on it she back-tracked quickly and suddenly was against it.

And now she's put the blame on her staff, of course.  

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan SOS signed off, then pushed back on driving records policy change, emails show

 Quite a display of Courage and taking responsibility after winning a Profile in Courage Award, there Secretary Benson.  I daresay that the standard's for granting that award are not near where they used to be.

Again she was all for withholding the information that Patrick Lyoya was on a revoked license when he was stopped and subsequently died while rsisting arrest and assaulting a police officer

She was all for the policy and agreed to it:  

Benson appeared to sign off on the initial statement, writing "This all makes sense to me." 

But when called out on the department's censorship and deciding to go full on BLM,  she then walked it back when criticized:

"I have no doubt that each step that was taken yesterday was done with the best intentions in mind with an eye towards doing the right things furthering truth, equity and justice," she wrote to staff.

Oh, so they hid his records for "Truth, equity and justice" did they? - No, one of these things is not like the others. with the misguided focus on "equity" leading to the censoring of the driving record and denying both truth and justice.

If she had any courage actually left in her profile, she'd take responsibility (for this and her many other improper acts) and resign.  But she doesn't she will not.

Benson, along with Gov Whitmer and AG Nessel have consistently put their personal politics and ideology far ahead of their duties to the people of this state.  They need to be voted out of office come November.

Orchard Lake St Mary's Fair Cancelled This Year

Not due to COVID like last year, which as bad enough.

The Detroit Free Press: Orchard Lake police on Polish Country Fair cancellation: Don't blame us

No, not due to COVID, but due to the multitude of unruly "teens" that come to frequent the Fair and can't behave themselves, especially at night.

Orchard Lake St. Mary's Prep said months ago it was suspending — and potentially ending — its big annual fundraising event, citing security and safety concerns.

It's a shame considering the fair has been a community fixture and fundraiser for years, and a wonderful and fun place for families to go.

Sadly, between the police having their hands tied, and the "teens" being allowed to run wild, it's the end of what was a great community event and local tradition.

Regrets, They May Have Had A Few

Saw this on a car today.

 

That's a "Vote Blue No Matter Who" sticker that's been rather half-assedly torn off the bumper.

Perhaps they're having some regrets over voting for the Biden Administration.

After all we now have:

- A lack of deterrence leading to a war in Europe;

- Gas prices rising;

 -Diesel fuel shortages;

- Inflation Out of Control;

- Government spending out of control;

- A new agency designed to go against "disinformation" meaning against anyone dissenting from the government's line;

- Baby formula free for illegals but not available to purchase for Americans; and

-And don't forget a President with pretty clear signs of dementia and a Vice President that also struggles to do more than emit a mish-mash of veep thoughts.

Heck, I'd be regretting "Voting Blue No Matter Who" by now had I done so as well, but I would have actually taken the time and basic effort to remove the whole sticker.

Flying VFR Approach Practice On A Beautiful Day

Headed to the airport today to do some solo approach practice.  No safety pilot so no foggles and no actually logging the approaches or instrument time, but I was going to go out and practice the approaches anyways solo.  Aiming for perfection the whole time.

It was beautiful out. 

Good preflight, got flight following to Flint and got some practice in. Really working on locking in the altitude and headings.

As usual radio work and procedures were good and I believe I did everything properly.  Controllers were at the top of their games calling out traffic and there was quite a bit about.  They had me climb to 3,500 and another plane descend to 2,500 as we were apparently going to be head on as I was doing an approach.  I do appreciate the controller's noise abatement efforts.

I did a really excellent ILS 9 approach, with an excellent procedure turn, my best one there in weeks, really got right lined up and a great approach following the instruments and I'd say darn near perfect.  I do think I'd pass that one.

VOR 18 to 9 I still have issues with (not to mention the controller's vectors were off a tad but he then corrected which made it fun) not busting the minimums at circling but touching it and then trying not to ascend over 100 feet. Damn close, but still needs work, but I would have had the landing.

Then back to Pontiac for the RNAV 9R.  Detroit Approach had me keep my speed up so I couldn't do the standard final approach fix landing configuration setup as I was too fast for flap extension.  Then it was going well and then of course, Pontiac Tower wanted me to sidestep to 9L which I did for a nice landing.  Was a little high from the FAF forward, and I tend to be consistent doing that, so I need to fix that.  Still needs work for doing a sdtep-down non-LPV guidance approach there which is likely what the examiner will pull on the test by making it partial panel if the wind is going on the 9 side.

Nice landing, off the runway right by the hangar row, so told to taxi and just monitor ground and I did so and parked, put the plane away, washed off the bugs, and was done.

I think I will cancel next week's lessons and do this again.  

No point paying for an instructor and flight sdchool rates until I'm actually ready for the pre-pre check-ride-ride, then the pre-check-ride-ride and finally the actual check-ride. 

No, this will never end so might as well fly back and enjoy it.

That's 1.4, 1.4 solo time, no simulated instrument time, 3 non-logged approaches, and 1 good landing. 

Dear Michigan UIA: Maybe You Could Stop Making Fraud So Damn Easy?

Yet another Stupid Criminal busted for stealing over $700,000 from Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency. Stupid because he was dumb enough to post about it on social media.

The Detroit News:  Farmington Hills man who flaunted wealth sentenced in fraud scheme

Too bad he didn't claim the fraud was just reparations payments, maybe he would have walked then.

He apparently also had inside help at the Post Office for stealing mail and debit cards and then decided to go direct to UIA to ply his fraud directly.

The problem is Michigan's UIA among many other insanely open security holes, pays out benefits on debit cards - cards which are ridiculously easy to use without needing to show any identification and sent by mail apparently to any damn address a fraudster may desire.

At least with  a check or payments direct to a bank account there's at least some paper trail to ascertain the identity of the recipient and match the payment to the name of the actual recipient.   Not so much with a debit card.

UIA just doesn't seem to care much if it as an agency is enabling fraud by passing out debit cards to just about any claimant created online without even verifying their address and comparing it to wage reports of the actual worker.

That's hundreds of millions lost to fraud from the Unemployment Insurance Agency in Michigan alone, and over $300 Billion nationally in fraudulent UI payments - enough to send every American citizen a whole other payment of $1,400 or more and instead it went to fraudsters like this idiot and to scammers in Russia, China and Africa.

Quit making it so easy for criminals to commit this type of fraud.

Stupid Criminals: Now Invested With Some Extra Irony

The Detroit News: Felon with loaded gun, stun gun & tactical vest arrested after traffic stop on Detroit's west side

Felon in possession of a firearm caught in a  traffic stop after rolling through a stop sign -- in other words just another day in the D. 

Remember this among many other examples for when the left states police shouldn't pull over motorists for traffic offenses.

You would think felons while knowingly and illegally in possession of a firearm would obey traffic laws, but not so much.

But, what gives this an extra dose of stupid criminal irony is what's on the "tactical vest" that was found in the car:

Nothing says Stupid Criminal like a felon riding dirty while having a Thin Blue Line American Flag morale patch on his tac vest.

Update May 12; To follow up on Eaton Rapids Joe's question as to whether our stupid criminal du jour might be facing multiple charges, and the answer is: Yes, yes he is.

The Detroit News: Felon found with gun, stun gun and tactical vest in Detroit traffic stop charged

Eugene Edward Knight, 43, of Sterling Heights, was arraigned Wednesday in 36th District Court in Detroit on several charges, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of having a firearm during a felony, being a felon in possession of ammunition, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a stun gun without a license, being a habitual offender-fourth degree and driving with a suspended license

Yep, lots of charges came out of the stop. 

Amazingly, he was only given a paltry $1,800 bond by the Detroit 36th District Judge, and released.  We have a revolving door justice system indeed. So much for the claim that they want to have armed felons taken off the street.

Flying IFR - Now With A Safety Pilot!

Did things differently today, and had fun doing it.

No going to DCT, just to my flying club's hangar.  Luckily the hangar door opened this time and I got a preflight in.

Scott, another club memebr and IFR certified pilot (got his last October) came along this morning as a safety pilot.

I did the run up, and got flight following to Flint as again winds were gutisng out of the east at about 140, and did a set of practice approaches.

Took off and headed for Flint and did the ILS 9, then the VOR 18 circle to 9, and then back to Pontiac for the RNAV 9R with a circle to 9L, as 9R is closed as the FAA is out approving the repairs and improvements that were made last year.  To say the field was busy is an understatement. 

Below 2,500 feet it was all sorts of choppy with wind gusts pushing us around rather impressively. At 3,000 or above, smooth as silk, so of course Flint's controllers put us at no higher than 2,500. 

On the upside N8428S is a joy to fly.  She trimmed out perfectly for me, unlike all the DCT aircraft and just flew wonderfully.

Kinda a 3.6 Roentgen flight - not great not terrible.   Altitude control is still not where I want it and just outside the acceptable range, and I did a bit of hinting for the heading at times due to the wind gusts. Did a damn nice sidestep and landing on 9L though with some wind gusts trying to kick my tail while doing so, but I had it made.

Did the approaches overall ok, but not up to standards,  and just not as good as I want them. Again, I did dip a tiny bit below on the circle yet again for a tiny moment but corrected but that would fail it out, so not acceptable. It's damn hard to get right to 1,300 and not a drop below, and yet not overshoot 1,400 while trying.

Basically I ran the show, and he just got to sit there and enjoy the ride and look for traffic outside.

Overall Scott was impressed with how well I know the procedures and radio communication.  Heck, he didn't even scream or flinch even once. He thinks I'd pass with those skills for sure, but as always it's my flight control is what needs to be improved just a tiny bit.

Why haven't I done this before?  This is basically a control issue so i just need to fly the hell outta this and as Scott says, at this point there's damn little an instructor can teach me as to the procedures etc.

He did say I should be more aggressive with the throttle. So from now on, I shall.

So from here on out I will be grabbing a safety pilot whenever possible and doing the approaches under foggles, or just fly by myself sans foggles if no safety pilot is available.  No point paying flying school rates for an aircraft and instructor until I'm absolutely ready for sign off.

That's 1.5, 1.0 simulated, 3 approaches, a hold and 1 great landing and a first time flying with a safety pilot.

FAA Having Solved All of Aviation's Problems, Goes A Bit Woke

The FAA under Biden is getting a tad woke.

The NOTAM, the Notices To Airmen has now been changed to be more gender inclusive, as one can't have Airmen refer to all aviators as a default, that's no longer appropriate don'cha know.

Instead it's now Notices To Air Missions.

Yes, it's now a notice to an inanimate object "Air Missions" rather than actual to persons, the pilots, who are charged with knowing the contents of said notices before every flight.

Rather dumb. Such a good thing we changed it though as another step for gender equality right? Was there a huge protest demanding such a change that everyone missed somewhere rather than the really important stuff the FAA does like education, safety regulation, and enforcement? Did nothing else need to be done around the office that day?

Such a lost opportunity.  They could have been far more gender inclusive and still referred to people rather than an object by changing it, if they really felt they had to do so, to:

Notices To Aviating Miscreants; or

Notices To Alcoholic Muppets; or

Notices To Aspiring Millionaires (Q: How do you make a small fortune in aviation?  A: Start with a large one); or

Notices To Awesome Mankind (Pilots are by definition one of the awesome-est portions of mankind extant - don't believe me? Ask a pilot and they'll tell you); 

or

Notices To Aeronautical Monkeys - Yes, with enough time you could probably teach a monkey to fly, or it could be that humans, especially the flying sort, are kinda monkey-like (especially the alcohol imbibing ones above), you can take your pick.

Notice To Air Missions not only lacks style and flair, but it just sounds flat as heck and seems like a silly name-change pulled out of a hat for no better reason then to proclaim how gender-sensitive the FAA is now.

No Wonder Lyoya Ran: Drunk, Driving On A Revoked License, And With Open Warrants

The Detroit News: Lyoya super drunk under law when pulled over in fatal traffic stop, exam finds

Meanwhile BLM and progressives are saying the officer should have just let him run away instead of chasing him.

The blood-alcohol level of the man shot and killed by a Grand Rapids police officer last month was more than three times the legal limit, according to a Kent County Medical Examiner's autopsy and toxicology report released Monday to The Detroit News under a public records request. 

Lyoya's blood ethanol was 290 mg/dL, according to the report. That converts to a 0.29 BAC, more than three times Michigan's limit of 0.08 and higher than 0.17, which the state classifies as super drunk.

Well, that among many other factors certainly explains why he decided to run and then fought the officer - driving Super-Drunk, on a revoked license, on probation, and with an outstanding warrant for his arrest is no way to go through life.

Apparently BLM would have much preferred if he got a free pass to drive drunk and then went off and killed someone rather than have an officer try and arrest a choirboy multiple-offense criminal.

Can We Take Major Mental Problems For $100 Alex?

The Detroit News: Oakland County double homicide suspect found dead by apparent suicide

“This tragic situation has now been brought to a close, and our investigators will now pivot to see if we can answer the question on everyone’s mind – why?,” Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

Serious mental illness is screaming out as the cause for this one.  

Ruby Taverner, 22 shot and killed her boyfriend Ray Muscat and her twin brother Bishop Taverner.

Reading further in the article the mental health plot begins to thicken as one finds that Ray used to not be Ray, and Ruby used to not be Ruby:

Ruby Taverner was formerly known as Martin Taverner; Ray Muscat was formerly known as Amber Muscat, the release said.

Forget about issues, that relationship had subscriptions.

A Quick Tip For The Average Person To Stay Out Of Jail

I was Downriver (Areas south of Detroit along the shore of the Detroit River is colloquially known around here as Downriver) in a District Court today waiting for a scheduled trial.

Sadly for me and my client, the Judge adjourned our trial even though we had shown up ready to go.  

Scheduling conflicts bumped us and criminal cases beat civil cases in order of precedence.  So, I will get to do the trial soon and it's going to be EPIC.  Will blog about it once done, but suffice to say it has already been rather entertaining in the lead-up to trial.

But, as we were waiting to see if we got to go, the judge was going through criminal case after criminal case.

There was a clear ongoing set of commonalities amongst practically every criminal case called:

1. Drugs or excessive alcohol usage (or both) was involved; then

2.  Someone couldn't keep their hands to themselves, and/or off the steering wheel.

On top of that, many compounded the problem by stupidly failing to appear for their first hearing without any notice to the court causing them to catch new fun, expensive, and jail-able penalties now that they got caught after failing to show up.

For almost all of the people called it wasn't their first criminal call rodeo. 

One lady had 4 concurrent cases running right now in front of three different judges for 4 separate recent incidents. Sadly for her, judges can see your current proceedings even in another court and they're not impressed that you're trying to earn frequent court customer points. In fact it's rather the opposite as they can see you're really not learning and now they have to teach you a lesson.  

You will not like that lesson.

There was a very clear pattern of a lack of impulse control amongst all defendants.

So quite simply if you can both:

1. Stay off drugs and keep your alcohol usage under control so you don't get stupid drunk/drugged in public and then do stupid things; and

2.  Handle your inter-personal relationships while keeping your hands to yourself and not on a steering wheel if drunk or stoned,

Then, you're likely not going to be on the receiving end of the criminal justice system.

Should you choose to fail to do steps 1 and 2, then A) Get a lawyer; and B) Show up when you're scheduled to show up. 

Failure to do A and B is going to make things a whole lot worse for you.  

You really don't want a judge to say to you as a defendant: "You're just not getting this are you?"

Mother's Day 2022

Mother's Day went off rather well. Some planning ahead of time by myself and the kids made it run like clockwork.

A nice breakfast in bed, then the kids and I gave her some gifts.

Then we were off to the Birmingham Farmer's Market.

There were food trucks, including The Pita Post that made a chicken shwarma to seriously maim for.

 

Found a cheese vendor. The Cheese People of Grand Rapids. Wonderful selection including a Dutch goat's milk cheese that wasn't just Gouda, it was amazing.  They also had an apricot Brie and since Tash really likes Brie, we got some of that too.

So we had lunch there.  

We wandered around some more and Tash got some handmade yarn to make a new scarf and it was a very successful trip.

Then back for a nap, dinner, and then took her out for a massage and it was pronounced to be a very successful Mother's Day.

Flying IFR - Lesson 56 - Getting Better, Maybe?

Finally I was flying N8570F again, and it agreed with me. Still had Rocky for this hop as the instructor.

So today the conditions were still light precipitation with the winds from the East and overcast at 8,000 per the ATIS and Metars.

However, at around 3,000 there was an  unforecast solid foggy layer where you could see ground contact below you, but forward visibility was nil, zip, zilch.

So I picked up an IFR pop-up clearance in the air as a result, and was told to climb to 4,000, just as we entered the soup, which lasted until we were close to Flint when visibility improved back to VFR conditions just as we got to the Final approach fix for the ILS 9.

Headed to Flint and did the ILS 9 approach and I did it rather well, got kinda blown off in the procedure turn again following the GPS instruction so I need to figure that out as apparently it lies, but not always.  Did it well, stayed in parameters and all was good.

Then it started getting pretty choppy, bit I did the VOR 18 Circle to 9 and had it pretty good except again dipped just under the 1,300 circle to land minimum while I descended to it.  You basically need to touch it and bounce off of it and I keep having trouble doing that as I either go up too much over 1,400 which is a fail, or I don't pull up enough and go a skosh under which is also a fail, so  it still doth suck.   Anyways, I did the circle and was in a perfect setup to land on 9. 

Then back to Pontiac and into the soup again, now with some light turbulence.  This heading into the soup caused confusion as Great Laes Approach had us remain VFR but as we did the hand-off we headed into IMC conditions.  Managed to get it confirmed with Detroit that were were still an IFR flight and Great Lakes hadn't bounced us out of IFR to VFR flight following. 

Then went to Pontiac did the Localizer 9R approach partial panel and had it going well (did start the timer late but I'll fix that next time) but then Tower had me side step to 9L which ended that approach a bit early.  Personal critique - I need to descend a little earlier, but not too early.  Landing was good.

Rocky said I did a ton better than last time and just need to improve a bit more.  

Yep, I'm back to the purgatory of being "almost there".  Woop de doo.  Better than epic failure from last time, I guess.

So now what? 

Well, I've decided I'm not taking lessons next week as this is basically a control problem and no point paying for an instructor and flight school rental rates when I can fly my "own" Archer.   I have the radio and procedures down, I know what I'm supposed to do, the problem is doing it within the altitude tolerances.

So, next week I'm going to shoot the approaches just on my own VFR and may even have a safety pilot aboard so I can wear foggles while doing so and get control practice in. 

I think that once I can fly the approaches with no deviations and fully within standards then it will be time to go back and get a final lesson or two in and get signed off and be done.  Until then there's just no point.

That's 1.5 with .6 actual and .6 simulated instrument, and a great landing.

Andrei, have you lost another ship?

The Mirror:  Russia's Admiral Makarov warship 'on fire after being hit by Ukrainian missile'

So, a Russian frigate has apparently been hit by a Ukrainina anti-ship missile and is currently on fire.  

Be interesting to see if the Makarov's  damage control is on a par with the Moskva.

The cost to Russia in blood and treasure for their misguided invasion adventure in their near abroad is certainly mounting. 

Whether Putin's Russia can extract itself from this mess of their own making or will decide to further escalate this stupidity out of control will be an interesting question.

Whatever Happened To Silent Professionals?

Washington DC leaks like a sieve. It seems no one can keep their mouth shut about some elemental national security matters. 

Doing something is one thing, talking about it is something else.

The intelligence establishment apparently can't shut up.

CNN: US provided intelligence that helped Ukraine target Russian warship

NY Post: US intelligence reportedly helped Ukraine kill Russian generals

Again, doing it and providing Ukraine that intelligence is appropriate and that's one thing. 

Announcing you are doing it and broadcasting it to the world -- including to Russia -- that you're doing it is a rather stupid -- both as an unnecessary escalation, and stating that we're doing it needlessly confirms information for Russia that they shouldn't be given.

Simply stupid. 

Update:  Revealing this information isn't from a leak. It's amazingly an officially sanctioned policy to reveal and confirm this information:

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed to the Times that the US provides “Ukraine with information and intelligence that they can use to defend themselves,” while refusing to “speak to the details.”

This is unfathomably stupid.  Whatever happened to "No Comment"?

What the Supreme Court Dobbs Case Leak Portends

The leak on the Dobbs case has caused all sorts of wailing, gnashing of teeth and accusations that the current court is an "evil, racist, classicist, Christian-supremacist, activist court" (yes there's a lot of tweets out there many by people who should or do know better making that assertion).

The problem, of course, is that the Roe court was itself activist as heck (whether it was evil depends on your point of view). The Justices at the time announced they had found the constitutional right to an abortion "in a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma".  Actually they didn't, and instead they discovered it in a penumbra emanating from the Bill of Rights, which is much the same thing, really.

While Roe has been law for 50 years, it froze the abortion debate, satisfied no one, and only hardened the sides to it.  It has not allowing any functional debate to move through the democratic process to help the matter be resolved or find a workable middle ground, and being based on such a flimsy to almost non-existent reasoning that they insist is now a "super-precedent" just made everything worse.

It's led to both sides going to extremes, and there's no sign of these extreme reactions subsiding and if anything both sides are doubling-down.

For example, New York and Virginia now have laws where abortions can take place up to the very moment of birth, and a baby can still be killed if it survives an abortion attempt (at least they didn't go quite as far as permitting the ol' fashioned 'swing 'em by the heels and bash their head into a wall' technique, at least not yet). Interestingly, in New York the number of abortions exceeded the number of live births between 2012-2014 - 285k to 237k. Clearly abortion is very popular in New York.

Then we have other states, mainly in the south, where if upheld, a woman will need to get a pregnancy test and decide within 14 weeks of doing the deed if she wants to have an abortion -- regardless of whether the deed was done willingly or not.

In short, there's not a lot of middle ground currently, and both sides are viewing it as an all-or-nothing choice and refusing to compromise or come to any sensible and legally sustainable position.

If the decision remains substantially similar to the February draft (and leaking it was likely a ploy to put pressure on the Court to not do so), and it does overturn Roe, that doesn't make abortion illegal in the United States. 

Instead, all that happens is the matter unfreezes and goes back to the states and people in their own states can then democratically decide what they want about abortion in their state. Democracy right?  The whole power to the people thing?

Now, if proponents of abortion don't like that, and from the current protests and hissy-fits going around the Internet right now they really, really don't -- they need to read up on the process of amending the Constitution to actually add abortion to it, thus making it actually a constitutional right.   

It will take actual work to get such an amendment passed, and it is by no means certain, but that's how you would properly add a right to an abortion to the Constitution.

But, instead of doing the work all these years to make it an actual Constitutional Amendment, the proponents of abortion have been relying on the very thin reed of what even its proponents agree is a really legally flimsy and almost untenable decision that was simply an activist court making an outcome-based ruling for what they wanted rather than an opinion based on any real solid legal grounds. They've also been constantly pushing the boundary of that decision ever farther.

That decision may finally be facing judicial review from, depending on your point of view, an activist court or a court that is actually analyzing and applying constitutional law to the decision.

Flying IFR - Lesson 55 - Double Drat

Well I had high hopes for today. 

 I even had a plan. 

 I even did visualization and studied the plates I expected to use.

 I even did some studying last night for the orals just to keep all this crap in my head that will never be used again after the test.  I did all that and well, not so flipping much.

Weather was stable air with low clouds/fog and rain. Wind out of the east so off to Flint.

Some weirdness before the flight: I was chatting with Rocky my instructor and he noted their preferred examiner (who I have issues with but they want me to use...) has suddenly sprung having instrument examinees fly to D95 Lapeer and do an RNAV followed by a circle approach.

When looking at Lapeer's charts that's kinda funny as the circle approaches are weird.  Both 18 and 36 each have their own RNAV approach, so circling to them instead of following the RNAV in to the  runway makes very little sense, and circling is not allowed to the grass field 9/27, so it makes you even wonder why there's a circle for them in the first place --- just fly the other RNAV approach and use the guidance and safety benefits a nice RNAV approach provides.  Well, we'll circle that approach when we get to it, I suppose. Which won't be any f'ing time soon.

Yep, best laid plans have been known to fail, and fail hard.

Took off in N5337F and while it was officially called VFR flight conditions I'd beg to differ.  I could see down to the ground for the most part but forward visibility got worse and worse so I called for a pop-up IFR clearance.  Got some actual time in.  So far so good.

Went and did the ILS 9 at Flint.  Was ok-ish. Got a little off coming back in the hold as the GPS instruction was off which was interesting, so took awhile to get on the ILS but once on it I was fine.     I thought it was rather good.

Then on to the VOR 18 to 9 Circle, again ok, actually it turned into really breaking out at minimums which was neat as I couldn't see the runways until minimums but need much better  heading control and still a very right hand turning tendency on that plane.  

Could be the airplane has a major right turning tendency, even hands off it would turn right.  Getting stuck flying a variety of planes each with their own quirks is kinda sucky.

Then on to the RNAV 9R back at Pontiac.   Heading control was again pretty off, and got worse once he failed the G5s.  Was high on the course because I was too low initially and over corrected and then didn't come down fast enough. Still made out the runways and was set for the approach, and then Tower had us do a sidestep to 9L.  Thanks for that.  Came in high-ish but actually did a nice greaser of a landing, so there's that.

Rocky has no idea why I was doing so terrible, nor do I for that matter.  

Procedures and radio communications are great, briefing the approach, doing all the things that need to be done, yet it is aircraft control that hoses me again and again. That and whoever set out a 100 feet altitude max deviation up and 0 down in for the test, thanks for that, you jerk.

So yep, going nowhere fast and if anything going in circles, with some circles ascending and some descending.

1.7 with 3 approaches, 1.4 actual instrument, and 1 landing. and yet more frustration.

That didn't take long at all. Gov Whitmer Grandstands On The Leak

The Detroit News: Whitmer says she'll 'fight like hell' for abortion access in Michigan after court leak

Then again if she'll fight like hell for abortion to the same extent she's fighting to "fix the damn roads",  those who are against abortion have nothing to worry about from our Governor.

The most interesting part of that article is how many law enforcement officials are publicly announcing they will not do their duty and enforce a law:

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel repeatedly has said she would not enforce the law, arguing that doing so would “drive women to back alleys again."

"I will never prosecute a woman or her doctor for making the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy," said Nessel in 2019, suggesting that doing so would be "sending women to be butchered."

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald on Monday issued a similar promise: “If Roe v Wade is overturned, I will do everything in my power to protect the over half a million women in Oakland County and their right to make choices over their own bodies."

Quite an interesting precedent, that.  I can't wait for Republican prosecutors to announce which laws they will flatly refuse to enforce in turn on their preferred issues.  No need for legislative change, just get a prosecutor elected who will not enforce the law that is counter to your ideology or preferences, so much easier. 

Supreme Court Opinion Leak Breaks Longstanding Tradition

Not something you see everyday -  a supposed leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court on a hot-button issue. You don't see it everyday, as it has never happened before, ever.

Longstanding traditions, traditions maintained for a very good reason, are being destroyed in the name of political expediency.

Secrecy during deliberations is one of the hallmarks of the Court, as opinions can and do shift over time before being issued.  That someone for clearly political reasons decided to leak an opinion to Politico is a rather bad sign of the weakening of the bonds of the institution for political expedience.

This is the first time there has been such a leak.  Likely the leak, if it is of the real draft, is designed to put pressure on the Court prior to the official ruling being released. It will be very interesting to see if it is actually valid leak or yet another political fake to rally the Democrat base similar to the Steele dossier. 

Of course, protestors were conveniently ready-to-go once this leak was announced:  NY Post: Protests erupt outside of Supreme Court after Roe v. Wade opinion leak.

It's going to be interesting to see if the leak is indeed genuine or not, the identity of the leaker, assuming such is ever revealed, and it will be interesting to compare this draft to whatever the final opinion will look like.

Biden's Objectively Fascist Min Tru Is Run By A Pro-Censorship Nutter

Matzav.com: Biden’s Disinformation Chief Nina Jankowicz: Online Mockery of Kamala Harris a Threat to Democracy and National Security

Contrary to the rantings of this Marxist pro-censorship bint, I daresay that mockery of Kamala Harris and other politicians is instead vital for both democracy and national security.

The day you can't publicly mock a politician of whatever stripe is the day this is not America.

Attention the Biden Administration: 1984 is not supposed to be a how-to guide.

Proggies fail to realize that creating a government entity with the friendly name of "Disinformation Governance Board" (makes one think they will be promoting disinformation, doesn't it?) with the power of law to censor or ban speech in the name of prevention of disinformation or gender equality could ever be used against them when they're out of power. Lack of foresight, that.

Just imagine how proggies' heads would have exploded had Trump announced he was creating a disinformation board to censor the actually fake Russia, Russia, Russia, nonsense, and the many other lies the Prog's made online and elsewhere during is Presidency. Not to mention imagine their reaction to Trump announcing a board that urged censoring of first-amendment protected speech like the Prog's multiple acts of mockery of Trump they made at the time, and still do for that matter.

Social media companies, she [Nina Jankowicz] argued should “make the shift toward believing women” allowing them to identify and censor content. Jankowicz also called for tech companies to stop “a tacit pile-on instruction” from influential people with a lot of online followers.

Jankowicz said online mockery of women was a threat to democracy, warning that “gender disinformation” could prevent women from running for office.

Yeesh. With the "believe all women" line, one would expect she's on board for banning the investigative reporting that led to lots of Kavanaugh's accusers being shown to be frauds or less than believable. Or that she's supporting Amber Heard, perhaps.

Mockery of politicians of all parties is a time-honored American tradition, and Kamala Harris and other politicians male and female alike, certainly deserved to be mocked for their incompetence. To shelter female politicians from rather deserving mockery would certainly be rather sexist and even discrimination based on gender now wouldn't it?

That the Biden Administration even came up with this idea reveals how bad of a job Biden, Kamala, Whitmer and the rest of the gang are doing as they seek to censor criticism of their actions and idiotic pronouncements.