Well, Team Blue Really Wants To Go There

Democrats in Blue states are gallivanting around removing Trump from the ballot in Illinois, Colorado, and elsewhere on the specious grounds that he committed insurrection when he has never been charged nor convicted of such.

Thus is a rather dumb interpretation and application of the 14th Amendment for many reasons, and also shortsighted on the part of the Democrats in the Blue States involved short-sightedly thinking such would never happen to their candidate.

After all, following the same logic of the Blue States, Red States are free, if they so choose, to also take a novel application of 14th Amendment, Section 3 and disqualify Joe Biden from the ballot in their states.

After all, Section 3 states:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

President Joe Biden indeed has demonstrably provided aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States:

$6 billion worth of aid and comfort to Iran, and even before that insanity, he also removed sanctions from Iran.  Iran, a country that is a sworn enemy of the United States, has committed acts of terrorism against Americans, and has directly and through surrogates attacked US military personnel.  This is the same country that annually has demonstrations where they shout "Death to America" - and mean it.

Joe Biden had also removed the Houthis from the terrorism list, again providing aid and comfort to an enemy of the United States.  These are the same Houthis whose slogan is:  God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.

Verily, it will be much easier to prove that President Biden has given aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States than proving that former President Trump had engaged in insurrection. If the Red States apply the same standards and "logic" that  the Blue states have applied, removing Biden form their ballots will be a cinch.

As such, it wouldn't take much for Red States to decided turnabout is fair play and start removing Biden on the grounds he has violated the 14th Amendment.

This of course would be stupid. 

I really can't recommend such a course of behavior, but since Democrats insist on playing stupid games, game theory dictates that turnabout is indeed fair play.  Should the Supreme Court not decide that the removal of Trump from the ballot is incorrect, having the Red States take this action may be the only way to get them to knock it off. 

Of course, this can have some bad unintended consequences, but the Blue States are already indulging in this bad behavior.

In short, should the Supreme Court not have the Blues knock this gamesmanship off, the Blue states should show some restraint and knock it off themselves before the Red states decide that two can play that game.

Your Lack Of Commitment Is Not That Disturbing

The pro-Hamas campaign to vote uncommited in the Michigan primary yesterday to try and push the Biden Administration to become even more pro-Hamas didn't amount to all that much, per the New York Times:

About 13 percent of Democratic voters cast ballots for “uncommitted” after activists suggested doing so to protest Biden’s policies. (By comparison, about 11 percent voted “uncommitted” when Barack Obama ran for re-election.)

A 2% increase compared to the amount that were uncommitted for Obama  a President that was very popular among Democrats really doesn't amount to all that much.  For all the sound and furry, that's a fizzle in terms of the Islamist vote flexing in Michigan.

Indeed, it does reveal that Tlaib & co, for all their caterwauling, yelling, and threats, the pro-Islamist vote isn't all that big of a factor, even in Michigan. 

At least not yet.

Slow Primary Today

In my precinct, when I arrived at 5:30 all of 115 people had voted all day in the presidential primary. It was no wait at all to get in and vote and with all of one choice to make on the ballot it didn't take long at all.

Partially this is due to the Michigan Democrats moving up the Michigan presidential primary for the first time to today, leaving all the other primaries on August 6.  

It's also due to a rather dearth of choices on either side. So, the primary is almost a non-event except for the pro-Hamas Islamist faction of the Democrat party that's trying to flex and push an uncommitted vote in the Democrat primary try try to sway Biden towards a more pro-Islamist foreign policy.

On Civillian Casualties In Urban Combat

Quite a number of ignorant people are complaining and falsely alleging Israel is inflicting "genocide" in Gaza based on the civilian casualties as a result of urban combat against Hamas. 

Urban combat unfortunately by its very nature leads to civilian casualties because that's where civilians are. Even under the best of circumstances, civilians often become collateral casualties of an urban battle.

Remember that Hamas is a foe that not only refuses to provide shelters for its civilians that it governs, but actively hides behind them using civilians as human shields and commits acts of perfidy by fighting from hospitals, mosques, schools, and UNRWA buildings - and then complaining about the resultant civilian casualties.

The critics of Israel point to the Gaza Health Ministry's claim without even a hint of skepticism, that 28,000 Gazans have been killed -  a number that includes combatants on the Hamas side as the GHM does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in their numbers - which is rather convenient for them.  The world accepts this number without any skepticism.

This, by the way, is the same Gaza Health Ministry that claimed 500 people were killed when an Islamic Jihad rocket landed in a hospital parking lot and they tried to blame Israel for it, claiming the entire hospital had been destroyed. The actual casualty count was probably around 100.  So you can likely divide the current estimate of 28,000 by 5 and you may get the actual casualty count.

Meanwhile, Israel has stated they have killed 10,000 Hamas fighters.  Assuming we accept the GHM number of 28,000 total casualties that means there were 18,000 Gazan civilians dead in the war so far.

This gives a ratio of 1:1.8 terrorists to civilians killed in this war.

 Israel has lost 422 service personnel in the war so far.

So let's do a comparison to another recent battle in an urban environment against a well entrenched terrorist group - The Battle of Mosul in 2016/2017.

Thew battle pitted US and allied forces, including the United Kingdom,  Iraqi Army, and others on one side and ISIS and friends on the other, with similar actions by ISIS to that of Hamas of using civilians as human shields and using protected structures to fight in violation of the laws of war.  

The casualty count in Mosul was:

Allied service personnel killed: 1,235. 

ISIS terrorists killed: 7,577-10,859

Civilians Killed: 40,000 (using the Arab estimate which again are likely inflated to a similar proportion of the GHM's estimates, in this case  it is potentially 4 times higher than the more reliable sources' reports of  9,000-11,000).

This gives a ratio of 1:5.2 terrorists to civilians killed on the low estimate of 7,577 ISIS terrorists killed or 1:3.8 terrorists to civilians killed on the higher end of 10,859 ISIS terrorists killed.

In short, even if we believe the inflated numbers coming out of the GHM, Israel is causing less than half the proportion of civilian casualties killed in urban combat than the lower of the two ratios, and doing a whole lot better with almost three times less the comparative ration of dead civilian casualties to dead terrorists than the higher ratio of civilians to terrorists killed in Mosul. 

Israel is killing far fewer civilians for every terrorist killed than the US & Co did in Mosul, by a lot and no one accused the US of committing genocide in Mosul or being "over the top" in its actions.

It's not genocide, it's instead sadly the byproduct of urban combat against an enemy that instead of protecting civilians hides behind them and uses them to up the casualty count.  

Credulous fools, including Biden, all should know better.

Flying - Instrument Practice Made A Tad Bit Exciting

The sun was out the sky was clear up to 25k and it was windy.

A lot of wind. Indeed a lot of crosswind.

10-22 kt gusting at Pontiac and  it was blowing from 180-200 degrees. Pretty much a direct crosswind for Runway 27L.

 I had James along as a safety pilot and we did the preflight and run up on the Piper Dakota, and I arranged for flight following to Flint to get my approaches in and regain my IFR currency.

Good takeoff with quite the gusty wind to keep me on my toes. The Dakotas has plenty of power and is heavier than the Archer and I'm still getting used to it, but that weight and power sure makes the winds a bit less of a factor. 

I then put the foggles on right after takeoff and got on the instruments. Adding to the fun, there was  a fair bit of chop and bounciness as well.

I contacted Detroit Approach and we headed to Flint.  Used the autopilot to try it out and it was rather nice.  Got handed off to Great Lakes Approach and setup for the RNAV 27 approach at Flint and all was going well. 

Got vectors and started the approach on autopilot, and was cleared for the approach and switched to tower and got the option for Runway 27 and soon things started getting weird.

After getting established, I had massive back-pressure on the yoke which was kinda disconcerting as it was trying to climb the plane, and how.   Disconnected the autopilot and it was still very heavy backpressure which was weird.  Pushed the trim forward and still a lot of backpressure.  The autopilot came back on at some point (there's a chance James hit the wrong button as we were diagnosing it bit that's not for sure) and backpressure remained and so we turned it off again, but still a lot of backpressue.

We decided to land to figure things out.

Did a good approach even fighting the yoke and did a very nice crosswind landing under the circumstances.  Taxi'd to the run up area and checked everything out and ran the autopilot preflight proceedure again, and checked its actions and it worked just fine.  I think the trim got out of whack at some point with the autopilot and once we re-trimmed the heck out of it, all was well again.

Then we took off again and no further problems, but I decided to hand fly it just in case.

We did the RNAV 27 again.  This went much better and even with a heckuva crosswind correction in I did a really great approach.  We went missed and then I did the ILS 27 approach. Even with the winds pushing us around a lot, causing the controller to give us some revised headings as the ones he gave initially didn't correct enough for the wind, I got on the localizer and glideslope and ran it like it was on rails. That was pretty happy making.

I still need to fly the Dakota more as I'm not nearly as intuitive with it as I am the Archer and the power adjustments need to be refined.

We then headed back to Pontiac and I did the 27L RNAV to land on 27L. I did a great approach, even though I was getting blown a lot by the wind and had to correct for it quite a bit so we were coming in at quite an angle with the nose pointing to the left of the runway.

22 knot direct crosswind and about 10 knots of wind shear on short final made for an exciting landing.  That was the most crosswind I've handled in a while and the wind shear made it even more challenging. Still, it was a darn smooth landing for all that.

I mean, James didn't scream even once during the entire flight.

So, I'm now IFR current again, and it is a real confidence booster that I can handle the plane in those rough and windy conditions and still make the approaches and landings happen. That was some great instrument practice.

That's 2.0, 1.6 simulated instrument time, 2 impressive crosswind landings, and 4 approaches.  This was also the final entry in my first logbook, on to logbook #2.

Saturday Short Range Trip

Went to the range this morning, it was sunny but cool out at 31 degrees with a touch of wind. 

 Decided to try out my new p365.

It's the P365XL Spectre Comp in FDE. Got it on sale last month, and just got a Holosun 507K2 to mount on it (EPS Carry was not in stock unfortunately, as I would have liked to give that a go). So, I took it to the range to get it zeroed today.

It was shooting quite low and left, and then I managed to adjust it.

 

Then I shot two B-8s with 10 rounds at 10 yards each, and I'd say it's been zeroed in now.

I was very happy with those results. I'll take 100 points any time, and getting 2 100s in a row was very happy making indeed.

Then I did some Bill Drills.

The slide's integrated comp really does reduce recoil quite measurably, and the dot stayed in the A-Zone box throughout each Bill Drill at 7 yards.

However, combine the winter jacket, sweatshirt, some very cold fingers, and a lack of practice, and my performance was rather off.  

While I wasn't throwing shots out of the A-Zone, the times themselves were rather sub-par, averaging 3.56 seconds per clean Bill Drill with a 1.5+ second draw.

So yep, more practice is certainly needed if I'm going to improve.

I ran 300 rounds through it on this first outing, with no issues whatsoever.  I was by then rather cold, especially my fingers, and decided to call it a day.

As a carry piece, the P365XL Spectre Comp certainly has a lot going for it.  

Recoil is less than the P365X, due to both the slightly longer slide and, of course, due to the integrated compensator which really does work. The trigger is very good right out of the box.  It carries a ridiculous amount of rounds in the magazine (12 flush fitting. 14 flush fitting with a mag guts internal change, or 17 slightly extended). It also is a very compact size and conceals perfectly in a PHLster Pro holster, while still carrying a full-size gun's capacity, and with the comp it feels like it shoots like a bigger gun, too.

In short, I do indeed like this P365XL Spectre Comp, and I'll be shooting it more, soon.

Dem's Act Blue Funding Hamas Supporters

MSN.com: Democrat Fundraising Juggernaut Processes Donations To Hamas-Sympathizers

MSN.com: Here’s How The Liberal Money Machine Is Fueling Pro-Hamas Activism

So, Act Blue has been sending money to Hamas sympathizers including the DSA, Palestine Legal, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights,  and others.

The Dem's major online fund-raising tool is busy being used to fund terrorist sympathizers.

Funny, that.

First Charges Under Michigan's New Gun Storage Law Go To A Pre-Exisitng Felon

Passed under the "If it saves just one life fallacy, Michigan's new gun storage  law is there mainly to make law-abiding owners ownership of firearms  more cumbersome.   

 So far, after being publicized loudly and touted as a panacea, it's not doing much to deter bad actors:

The Detroit News: Flint man whose toddler shot herself in face is first person charged under new storage law

Michael Tolbert, 44, faces multiple charges, including first-degree child abuse, a felony violation of Michigan's gun storage law, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and lying to a police officer in a violent crime investigation. He also faces several charges for possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.

We're all, of course,  totally surprised that a felon in possession of a firearm didn't comply with this new law that required him to safely store the gun he was not even allowed to illegally possess under laws that pre-existed this storage law.  

I'm sure this additional safe storage violation felony charge - in addition to the four other felonies he's facing will be the one that puts him over the top and sets him on the road to reform.

Biden Administration Succumbs To Green Pressure

It looks like the Biden admin really wants the pro-Hamas vote in Michigan and elsewhere in America for November.

Reuters: US pushes for UN to support temporary Gaza ceasefire, oppose Rafah assault

The United States has proposed a rival draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah, according to the text seen by Reuters.

Great, this is what happens when you combine the Arabists in the State Department and the Biden Admin's need for progressive and Islamist votes in November: Some Arab American, Muslim leaders meet with Biden officials in Wayne Co. amid protests.

Green On Blue: Pressures Build In The Democrat's Shaky Coalition

Arabs in Michigan are rather unhappy with Biden right now for not protecting Hamas.

So much so, that progressive squad member Rashida Tlaib (D-Dearborn Gaza) is now calling on Arabs in Michigan to not vote for Biden in the primary but instead vote uncommitted to show they're not happy that Biden is not doing their bidding to protect Hamas.

After all, Dearborn is indeed known as the jihad center of America, and with good reason.

The Detroit Free Press: Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges Michigan Democrats to vote 'uncommitted' in protest against Biden.

If Tlaib is heeded and the Arabs around here sit the November election out instead of voting Democrat, this could get interesting.

Archer Ferry Flight Accomplished!

So this morning we decided to try and get the Archer to Adrian.

Conditions were better than yesterday with Marginal VFR conditions and ceilings around 3,000 or so.

So we preflighted the planes and decided to launch.  This would be a flight of both the Archer and the Dakota.

We arranged for flight following, as our course would take us through Ann Arbor airspace and rather close to Detroit's Bravo airspace. So, it's always good to be talking with Detroit Approach where you're that close to their Bravo.

E. flying the Dakota, as it is a faster airplane, took off first and would scout the route.

Takeoff was good with gusty winds from 250.

The overcast layer got a tad lower as we headed southwest, and I was soon at 2,500 feet.

E.  reported light to moderate turbulence as he approached Ann Arbor, and indeed I soon hit the turbulence which made it a bit of a bouncy flight.

Detroit Approach cleared us through Ann Arbor's Delta airspace and I got some nice shots of The Big House as I flew on by.

 

 

  Yes, the Big House is Big!

The turbulence subsided as we got south of Ann Arbor and Detroit Approach  noted no other aircraft in the area, ended flight following, and had us squawk VFR.

At Adrian, winds were gusting 10-21 out of 250, so not bad for a landing on Runway 23.

Eric checked out the field at Adrian and radioed to me that it was nice and clean and no one else in the pattern.  So I did a practice RNAV approach to Runway 23 and did a very nice and smooth landing.  I then taxi'd off the runway and headed to the avionics shop to meet up with him.

1.1 on the way there with some strong headwinds, turbulence, and a great landing.

We dropped off the Archer, and then took off in the Dakota and I flew us back. We picked up flight following again, and again were cleared through Ann Arbor's class D.

I got to play with the autopilot and let it do most of the flying back. Again there was quite a bit of turbulence and we got bounced around quite a bit and had to stay around 2,500 to remain out of the clouds.

We then got back to Pontiac and landed in gusting 10-22 knots from 240, which again was not too bad.  First we were cleared for a left downwind to 27L, but this was soon amended to a left downwind for 27R.

0.6 on the way back, and another nice landing.

Best part of all, since these were ferry flights to get the avionics installed, the Flying Club covered the cost of the flights.  No flying is better than free flying.

Not Flying But Did Some Driving And Approaches Anyways

So today was the day we would finally fly the Archer and Dakota down to Adrian, leave the Archer to get the new autopilot installed and all fly back in the Dakota.

Weather forecast last night was favorable and I would fly the Archer, E. in the Dakota, and he was bringing as buddy along as well. 

Should be simple, about a 55 nautical mile flight, and we would finally have the Archer getting thew work done after waiting over a year since we ordered the autopilot.

Easy, right?

It was not to be.

So we got up early, and the weather basically sucked.

IFR conditions with light snow and icing over Pontiac airport, with another large cell in between Adrian and Pontiac, and Adrian also going IFR at times.

We went to the airport anyways, hoping for a break in the weather and there never really was one where Pontiac, Adrian, and the space between were all not IFR.

That kinda sucked. So we all got a chance to drive E.'s Chevy EV Equinox and drove to get some breakfast. 

E. works for GM and he has a pre-release of the 2025 Electric Equinox RS to test drive and it is rather interesting to drive.

Overall, it's a nice-looking EV SUV, and nicely trimmed out.

It does have very weird flush door handles that come out of the doors when you approach, but open towards the rear of the car.  While it looks aerodynamic, the feel when using them is that your hand is going to slip off the handle as you open the door. They really should have had them facing the other way.  Also, if you leave your car outdoors in freezing rain, these flush fit handles may give you issues.

Features on the Equinox EV include an interesting one-pedal mode, where if you're not applying force to the accelerator it begins to slow down and even stop the vehicle - that's quite a weird feeling. It is an option you can switch on and off while driving.

Handling was absolutely superb even in snow, and the traction control was really spot on in preventing slipping on snow-covered roads and made driving in the snow very easy even on turns. Acceleration is effortless,  the vehicle is rather nice and responsive and road noise is minimal. 

However, driving it is not completely intuitive. The shifter is on a stalk on the right side of the steering wheel and is really not intuitive to use at all. Wiper controls are rotating dials on the left stalk and again not exactly intuitive to find.

It has a great and large touchscreen but lacks tactile buttons for most selections, and, for whatever reason, the icons are small and close together which makes selections more complicated while driving, requiring you to take your eyes off the road to find the selection you want.  Most cars with touchscreens are like this and the loss of tactile buttons where you don't need to move your eyes from outside the car but can find your options by feel is a personal pet peeve.

Downside on the Equinox is the claimed 300 mile range on the battery isn't, especially in winter conditions.

If you're not doing road trips and just using it for an in-city trips and you can regularly charge it, it would make a lot of sense.  Taking long trips may turn your voyage to Chicago into a 14-hour trip rather than the 5 in a normal car.

If they made this model as a hybrid, I believe it would sell like hotcakes as that would solve the range problem by having a generator on board to recharge the batteries, but hybrids aren't, for whatever reason, the fashionable vehicle these days with the current crop of auto execs and politicians pushing EVs over everything.  

After driving the EV, we then used the simulator at DCT as it was available and  E. is a part-time instructor, so  each of the three of us logged two ILS approaches at "Flint" down to minimums in the sim.  The sim is as sensitive as I remember it, and flying an approach in it is indeed harder than in an actual airplane.  E.  made the scenario a bit challenging with some crosswinds, cumulus clouds to bounce one around,  and cloud cover opening right at minimums.

Good practice, and now I need 4 more approaches to get current, which I need to do, and soon.

The weather never lifted so we called it off and we will see if we get a break tomorrow.

He's Right, You Know

Over at the Volokh Conspiracy David Bernstein points out reality: When Hating Israel is Your Priority.

Just as Israel rescued two hostages from Rafah, you have various leftists around the world including in the Biden administration pressuring Israel not to continue to attack Hamas.

Now, if only these people claiming to be concerned for humanitarian reasons put as much effort into pressuring Hamas to surrender and end the bloodshed, or at least release all the hostages, that would be great. 

Their pressure on Israel instead emboldens Hamas and makes them think they can outlast the current military operation and have world pressure keep them in power and allow them to repeat October 7 again.

Hamas HQ Found Under UNWRA Gaza Headquarters

Hamas had a major bunker and tunnel complex right underneath the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza - even getting electricity for it form UNRWA.

NPR: Israel says it discovered tunnels under U.N. agency's Gaza headquarters

Of course UNRWA is claiming to be deaf, dumb and blind stating they haven't been at that the location since October 12.

The massive complex had clearly been there for far longer than October 12 - you can't build a bunker like that surreptitiously under another building in that amount of time, and it is pretty clear people at UNRWA headquarters knew exactly what was going on while it was being built and this adds to the already extensive proof of the close connections and cooperation and participation of UNRWA with Hamas.

Parallel Realities

With the most recent report that Biden will not be charged for having classified documents for years in multiple locations on the grounds that he's not just a currently serving president but an old man with a declining cognitive function, the media is going ga ga.

Hanging out with my Dad and his companion who are both big MSNBC viewers, and no there's no point arguing with them - they take what MSNBC says as gospel and won't be swayed - it's like arguing with a pig and it is not worth the effort.

So I get to see MSNBC as well as that's all they will watch.

Right now the story is Biden is fine all the time.

Joy Reid jumped in that the report was mean and then carefully showed 1 Trump gaffe (saying Nikki Hailey instead of Nancy Pelosi) and noted they always have known Biden is a Gaffe machine (showing one very old gaffe and none of the more current ones) and he's absolutely fine.  Because that's balance, right?

Of course, Reid and co doesn't show the multiple clips where Biden appears to have no idea where he is,  and his many current mistakes such as calling the President of Egypt the President of Mexico, this week right aftert the report came out. 

But don't worry, per MSNBC and pretty much every show on there that I've overheard the past day or so, this is nothing to worry about.  Verily, it is nothing as they haven't talked about it all. They haven't mentioned the Mexico/Egypt misstep even once so far.

There's also lots of analysis trying to state the Colorado side of the ballot issue is correct (even though pretty much everyone including many democrat constitutional scholars think it is not a particularly good argument regarding sec 3 of the 14th Amendment and for many good reasons), including giving the attorney that argued it a prime interview.

If you watch MSNBC your your narrative is that Trump led an insurrection, is a fascist, promises to destroy "our democracy", and Biden is hale, hearty, and just fine and is doing a great job on the economy and everything else. 

Verily, he is so hale and hearty and up for the job that he will be skipping an interview during the Superbowl.

Oh, and the current narrative is the execrable border bill was great and how dare the Republicans be against it when they claim to want border security? MSNBC never states what the Republican objections to the bill are, just that Trump is behind defeating it and therefore it's an election year ploy and Republicans really don't want a secure border and Democrats do. Yes, really.

In short, if all you watch is MSNBC you're missing a heckuva lot. 

It is however good to watch it to see what the other side is being told, and to see the many vast gaps there are in the narrative needed to sell it.

Cyberbullying To Imminently Backfire

High School kinds can be dumb.

High School kids can be cruel.

In this case we get a lovely combo of both.

It seems that a little bint by the name of Maria happens to, for some unknown reason, really, really dislikes Leah.  She also really dislikes a few other girls at the school as well, likely because they don't put up with Maria's drama. 

In reality, Leah has nothing to do with Maria and doesn't hang out with her and doesn't say a word to her at all as she doesn't need the drama but somehow and for some reason she's living in Maria's head rent-free.

So this slag Maria decides to take a shot at cyberbullying.

She decided to grab headshots from three girls's Instagram accounts, including Leah, then put them on a emailed/social media posted poster, complete with a QR code no less, asking everyone she sent it to to vote on which one of the three girls they think are "prego".

For the record, none of the three girls are "prego".  This is just an attempt to embarrass them in the school and start some malicious rumors going, and likely for Maria to feel good about being the center of the resulting shitstorm. 

Leah had found out about this plan a couple weeks ago as Maria showed the draft to a student who knew them both, and the student wisely told Maria not to do it, and told Leah and the other kids about it. 

So the matter rested for a while as everyone though Maria had thought the better of it.

But yesterday, for some undetermined reason, Maria decided to launch it.  During school time. All around the school.

That was a big mistake. Big. Huge.

So it got reported to the principal and that slag Maria seems to be getting in trouble as a result - which is a good opener, for starters. Hopefully the school will apply some appropriate sanction.

You see ticking Leah off by spreading false and malicious rumors about her is just a really bad idea, and Leah is not going to let this matter simply drop. I've stated to Leah that all options short of lethal force have my blessing and backing to put this cyber-bullying slag in her place.

Leah smiled and stated she was going to handle it. When Leah smiles like that, slags better start running.

Prepare the popcorn, stuff is about to get real.

Oh, and in Michigan such statements are defamation per se, with damages presumed. This could get fun and quickly.

Kinetic Cell Phone Disposal

Widener's has a neat post up as to will a Cell Phone Stop A Bullet?

In proper Widener's fashion, they scientifically smacked cell phones with a variety of calibers: 7.62x39mm, .45 ACP, 9x19mm, and .22LR and report on the results, complete with video.

As you likely may have guessed, the result is unsurprising:  

Don't rely on cell phones for ballistic protection. Just don't.

The upside: Once you're sufficiently frustrated with your phone and you replace it, you can send off the old model to Valhalla with a .22lr.  Just be sure to clean up the range, and leave no pieces behind when you're done.

Sunday Range Day

Went to the range today on a chilly day that began around 25 degrees but the sun was out and it got to 40 ish pretty quickly. I met up with Heath, Spencer and his friend Steve who I met for the first time today.

Steve, as it turns out knows his stuff, and was a firearms instructor in the army among other roles. Nice guy, and a solid and safe shooter. Steve had neat drill that we tried that was quite good.

I shot the IWI Masada with the can on it, the PSA Rock (which needed a red dot sight adjustment and is now nice and zeroed but still the Romeo Zero needs to be replaced by a better red dot), some SIGs, including my P365 from concealment.  Concealment on this day meant an open jacket and the P365 under a sweater, and with thin wool gloves on, so the draw took a bit of work but was quite achievable, and good winter weather practice.

I also brought out the Tavor and my latest SBR.

The ATI Galeo pistol which was on clearance. I've Form 1'd it into a Galil SAR.  I've always wanted a Galil SAR after shooting a real one years ago, and now I've got one.

Happily, it functioned 100% even with IWI magazines.  

One risk with the ATI line of Galil clones is that ATI often have them tuned to function with Tapco polymer Galil magazines, which are now pretty much unobtainium.  But, my IWI magazines fit and fed just fine, which was very happy making.

100% functionality is kind of expected, since the Galil is a later development and refinement of the Finnish Valmet, which is itself a later development and refinement of the AK-47 series of rifles and reliability is the touted hallmark of the system.

Everyone enjoyed shooting it, and it's a nice handy and reliable package of a firearm. Shooting 5.56, the recoil is negligible and it is easy to get rapid aimed shots on target. It can also be easily fired with the stock folded. The rock 'n' lock magazine as seen with the AK series makes magazine changes a little slower than an AR or Tavor, but with the charging handle set upward, the firearm can be charged with either hand, letting you keep your firing hand on the grip.

Due to a neat quirk in Michigan law, while it is federally an SBR, it is still considered a pistol in Michigan, so I could legally carry it concealed if I so chose to do so (talk about effective winter carry), or have it loaded in a vehicle, again, if I so chose to do so. Not saying I will, but it's nice to have legal options.

A great time at the range and everyone had a good time. Range time is always better shared with friends.

Went home and got other stuff done, and now I'm about to make Steak Frites for dinner, because, why not?

Better To Be On The Ground

So yesterday was an absolutely lovely day for flying and of course I was working.

The forecast for today, however, was very favorable with clear VF our conditions and light winds absolutely perfect to remain current with instrument flying.

I managed to find a friend who is available to act as a safety pilot and we arranged to meet at the airport this morning.

Of course, the forecast was not what we got. Instead of Nice clear conditions, it is currently low IFR with icing in the cloud/fog. That is very much no good.

Real IFR conditions are great for currency and keeping skills sharp - icing conditions with a plane not equipped for icing is very much not.

So we made the only appropriate decision which was to cancel.

So plans to keep current are currently canceled, and I’ll have to wait for another day to get current again.

Thanks, Phil

Puxsutawny Phill did not see his shadow today.