Funny Isn't It? "Global Warming/Climate Change" Can Do Everything

Including even messing up a Paris Olympics event: 

The Detroit News:  Olympics bet against climate change with swimming in Seine and may lose. Scientists say told you so

In short, the planners for the triathalon thought it wouldn't rain much during the Olympics so it wouldn't be a major issue to have the swim in the Seine.

It in fact did rain, a lot, which caused sewer runoff into the Seine. The fact that it rained is being blamed, of course, on Climate Change.

Now, where would the planners have gotten the idea that it wouldn't rain much?

Why, from the proclamations of scientists that climate change was causing drought and a lack of rainfall - as recently as 2022 and 2023: 

France 24:  France’s unprecedented drought shows climate change is ‘spiralling out of control’

euronews: ‘We can’t escape the reality’: France is preparing for 4°C of warming by 2100

So, the Olympics may have went with the prior proclamation from climate change scientists that Climate Change was going to cause droughts and lack of rain rather than today's proclamation -- conveniently after heavy rainfall too place --that climate change causes heavy rain. Or, maybe they just relied on a long-range weather forecast that proved to be wrong?

"Climate Change" bears far more similarity to an unfalsifiable religion than to science as everything, including contradictory things, can be conveniently to be blamed upon it in an ever-changing narrative.

Apparently He Was Not Deported Far Enough

The deliberately porous border, made so rather deliberately by the Democrats, lets lots of people in who we'd really rather not have here.

The Detroit News: Man accused in Shelby Twp. sex assaults had been deported, officials say

While he had been deported before, he then again  illegally entered the United States and this time committed numerous sexual assaults on a minor. He was then caught trying to flee the country.

He's now been caught, and likely will be convicted and will serve a life sentence for his crimes...which US Taxpayers will pay for of course. 

A pity there wasn't a secure border to prevent him from entering and committing the horrendous crimes in the first place. But as Democrats would say, omelettes and broken eggs, right?

Flight Review Done, Complete With Some Extra Excitement

Had my Flight Review yesterday.

Required every two years, you need to go out with an instructor and show you can fly.  It's basically an abbreviated reenactment of your Private Pilot Test.  It has opportunities to both correct issues that may have cropped up in your flying, and to learn more stuff, so it is worth doing.

I had Brian, our flying club maintenance officer who is also a CFI do the review with me yesterday.

We were taking out the Archer and the prior pilots, who had flown to Oshkosh on Friday reported the Ammeter gauge was showing zero and not being responsive both on the way there an back. Prior to our flight review Brian had tested it out and couldn't duplicate it. More on this later.

So we started with the ground portion and he quizzed me on basic airspace, the items required for a pilot and aircraft to be legal and other useful stuff such as personal limits, issues in flight etc, and the current bugbear around Pontiac - making sure you don;t have a runway incursion as too many students have recently been doing their best to land on the wrong runway here.  He was quite satisfied that I knew my stuff and noted a lot of pilots forget a lot of it right after the test.  So the ground portion was no problem and I apparently know my stuff.  I also learned some new things, so it was worth it.

For the flight part, he stated we'd be doing dead-reckoning without using the GPS, just like on the private pilot exam.  We'd be heading to Linden. This was shades of my private pilot exam as that was the same route for it. He was happy that I knew Linden was under Flint's Class Charlie airspace so we'd need to be under 2,000 feet when we got near there.

So I did the run up and again, the ammeter gauge worked just fine, no issues at all. You might guess where this is going to go.....

I did a decent job using dead reckoning and the sectional chart and we made it to Linden, and I did an ok and decent pattern entry and a nice if somewhat long-ish landing due to some fun crosswinds that had whipped up. All good, but it did show I've been focusing on doing IFR stuff and approaches and neglecting VFR pattern flying so that's something I should be working on.  We then did a bit more pattern work at Linden and headed back to Pontiac, on the way doing steep turns and stalls.

Since the Archer now has the GFC500 installed, the plane automatically activated the autopilot during the stall and forced a recovery, which was kinda neat. It also was not a fan of very step turns again sounding an alarm. Neat to see the protective mode of the autopilot system works. We turned the protective mode off and did the stalls to spec, and then put it back on so the next pilot wouldn't be surprised by a lack of the protective mode being on. It works and it doesn't like you putting the plane into a bad spot.

Just for fun, we played with the autopilot a bit and Brian showed me a few neat techniques that answered some questions I had about the autopilot and its quirks with altitude settings.  I now know how to handle those quirks better and that makes it even easier to use.

Then, as we were heading back, not only did the ammeter got to zero but the alternator warning light lit up.

So we shed all unnecessary power consumption, shutting down radio 2, the landing light, fuel pump, autopilot. Basically we were trying to avoid losing the radio and power before we made it in.

We then booked it back to Pontiac at full throttle and got in the pattern rather fast we got a landing clearance and zipped in to make it happen but had to stay high as we had to do a long downwind for spacing. Brian then took the controls to show a really full-tilt, high-speed, side-slip to drop altitude real fast to get us down quick and line up on the runway at the same time, which was fun. A rather long landing as we had a fair bit of speed to spare but we got it down very nicely.

So, we got down fine, and never lost electrical power, and after taxiing to the hangar we checked and the battery still had 12 volts and hadn't been fried. So, he's going to see what the issue may be and so far the suspect is a loose connection somewhere on the alternator circuit.

One guess is that when the autopilot got installed something got knocked loose.

So, the Archer is now grounded until we get that sorted out, but my Flight Review is complete and I'm good to go.  

Apparently I'm still the World's Okay-est Pilot.

That's 1.1 and a couple fun landings for me, and one very fun one for Brian.

1984 In 2024

 

It's interesting to watch the Media rewrite history in real-time to support their latest candidate for president. One problem in doing so with recent history is that people still remember the facts and often the old reporting that was rewritten still can be retrieved thanks to the Internet.

In an attempt to support their Party and refurbish appointed candidate Kamala Harris's image, elements in the media are literally rewriting their prior reports on her history.

 

Axios, for example, is now denying she was ever appointed as border czar in 2021, a job she didn't just fail at completely (visiting the border all of once and doing absolutely nothing) but failed so badly her appointment must now be rewritten from history. 

Axios, after previously reporting at the time she that was appointed "Border Czar" now comes out and states she was never appointed as border czar, it didn't happen, and they were "incorrect" in their past reporting: 

 

Eric Bolling: What Do You Mean 'Border Czar?': Axios Hit With Community Note After Contradicting Own Reporting on Kamala Harris

 

Many other Media talking heads are repeating the same revision to history, contradicting and denying what they themselves reported but a couple years ago.

GovTrack, also doing its part for Kamala, has now erased its prior record that showed her as having the most liberal voting record in the Senate in 2019. This removal just occurred in the last two weeks. 

 

It will be interesting to see what else gets rewritten or "re-explained" by the media to try and erase the problematic parts of her record as she moves on to be the Democrat's selected candidate.

"History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.". ― George Orwell, 1984.

More Democrat Political Violence - Pro-Hamas Protesters Eat Their Own

So the Pro-Hamas, Pro-terrorist leftists decided to storm the capitol today to protest Netanyahu visiting.

 

Note: if you're burning the American Flag, you're one of the bad guys.

None dare call it an insurrection mind you.

 The Detroit Free Press: Pro-Palestinian protestors try to force way into Rep. Dan Kildee's office

The Detroit News: Thousands descend on Washington to protest Israel ahead of Netanyahu's speech to Congress

We will note Kildee has been supportive of Hamas, being against sending Israel weapons to defend itself. So the protesters were going for an own-goal.

It is unlikely that Rep Kildee learned much from the experience. 

Then again, neither have the terrorist-supporting protestors learned anything in all this time, still backing terrorists and still falsely claiming there is a genocide that is provably not occurring.

More Democrat Political Violence

The Guardian:  Michigan man kills himself after running over 80-year-old Trump supporter

A Michigan man suspected of using an all-terrain vehicle to run over an elderly man for supporting Donald Trump died by suicide as police closed in on him, according to authorities.

Police in Hancock – a city located in the state’s upper peninsula – said the man in question was under investigation for allegedly running over an 80-year-old man at about 5.45pm local time on Sunday.

The elderly man was described as a supporter of the former president who was posting a political sign in his yard, according to police. Police also said he displayed stickers and flags that were supportive of law enforcement. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition with serious injuries after the man on the ATV struck him, authorities said.

Investigators said they had identified a suspect in the case by Monday evening, and he had been linked to a total of three cases which were apparently “politically motivated”.

A little impulse control and handling disputes without violence would be nice.  On the upside, the scumbag spared taxpayers the cost of a trial by offing himself. 

Dems Don't Have To Like It, But They Do Have To Get In Line

It looks like the party bosses have spoken and they're pushing hard for Kamala to be the candidate for the Dems for 2024.

Gov. Whitmer was quiet but soon got on board:  The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer stays quiet as Harris endorsements from other Democrats pour in within less than an hour of that being published, she had gotten the memo to endorse Kamala, and did so.

Lots of other Dems followed suit, likely trying to make her appointment as candidacy seem inevitable prior to the convention to prevent the party members from democratically voting on a replacement for Biden, to protect "Our Democracy", of course.

Meanwhile, Joe has yet to be seen in public.

Slow Joe Had To Go

So the sun sets on Joe Biden's candidacy in the race for 2024.

From "He's Fine, He Just Had a Bad Night" to being shown the door in  less than 30 days. Even as late as Friday they were swearing he was still in the race and the nominee.

So did he fall, or was he pushed? 

The Biden White House was rather like the Kremlin with Kremlinologists being needed to track which faction was in power and setting policy behind the figurehead that was Joe Biden. This will be even more interesting as the jockeying for his replacement becomes more intense.

Interestingly, he did not immediately come out and endorse Kamala Harris in his resignation announcement.  Instead, that endorsement came later on Twitter. So probably a Kamala backer has control over the Twitter account for the moment. Or, alternatively she's being the sacrificial candidate (but with access to the money in the Biden-Harris campaign cookie jar) for what the Dems know will be a losing campaign in 2024.

It's going to be interesting to see who the Democrat party elite decides to run now that Joe has been shown the door.  Be sure to have popcorn at the ready for the Democrat convention.

The fun question that also needs to be asked is: If Joe Biden is acknowledged to no longer be fit and cannot handle running for reelection due to his age and infirmities, why the heck is he still staying on as President?

The Ineffectiveness Of The Red Flag Law

As has been pointed out multiple times, one of the many problems with Red Flag laws, in addition to their lack of due process, is that they don't interdict someone known to be (or at least claimed to be) a dangerous threat to themselves or others from still being a threat.

And now you've made this dangerous person more angry by "red flagging" them, and yet leaving them free to roam and carry out their alleged violent actions.

It creates results like this one:

The Detroit News: Man with gun and axe killed after breaking into ex-girlfriend's Orion Township home

After being red flagged, the scumbag of the story goes off, gets a gun and an axe, and then breaks into his victims house looking to kill the occupants.

Luckily, there is a happy ending.

The happy ending, that of the violent scumbag attaining room temperature and being violent no more, is not due in the slightest to the red flag law he was tagged with.

Instead, it is due to the bravery of the step-son of the intended victim, who was in the house, obtained a firearm, and stopped the threat, unlike the red flag law. 

The red flag law not only did not prevent the deceased attacker from obtaining and axe and a gun -- after he had been red-flagged -- but it did not stop him in the slightest from breaking in to the victim's house and attempting to murder her and her adult son.

Even if the red flag law did take away the firearms he had prior to being red flagged, it sure didn't stop the jerk in the slightest from getting another one, and an axe!, and then going on his murder attempt. Indeed, it probably just made him mad - and left him free to plan and go on his attack.

Red Flag laws are not the panacea they're claimed to be, and by not actually interdicting the alleged threat and leaving them free to roam and commit their violent acts, seems to be as predicted, merely feel-good gun control legislation that forgets that it is the violent person, and not the tools they might use, that are the problem. 

The further problem is this feel-good gun control legislation will also be used to trample the rights of the non-violent when used as a tool by someone with an axe to grind against them.  But when that happens, it still leaves them, and the actual violent people the law was meant to stop, free to go get an axe.

As The (Figurative) Knives Come Out, It's Back To The Basement For Joe

When even Obama is starting to suggest Joe needs to go, you can tell the preference shift is underway and the party elite has gone from "Joe is just fine." to "How quick can he be pressured to step down?".

Democrats more and more are reading the tea leaves and the polls and realizing Joe is going to be a no-go.

So of course, in the middle of this preference shift, he conveniently comes down with Covid and instead of going to the White House (and the finest possible medical facilities close by), he goes home to the basement in Delaware. 

Well, his retreating to the basement, instead of being out in public to campaign and to be seen in person, should cut down on public gaffes and public signs of ineptness for him to campaign from the basement as he did in the last election.

Gradually, Then Suddenly

Democrats denied for years claims that Biden had cognitive difficulties.

They were agog and aghast when the special counsel noted he shouldn't be prosecuted as he's an elderly man with a poor memory. Instead they publicly all claimed he was just fine: Democrats flood the Sunday shows to insist Biden's mind is just fine.

Then after the debate, when it was abundantly clear that after the Democrats and media covering for him and making excuses for years, it couldn't be hidden any more from the public.

The Democrats went from being in lock-step and insisting that he's fine, to now a majority of Democrats wanting him to drop out.

Now it veers on a full on preference cascade for the Democrats to replace him with someone else:  The Detroit News:  Nearly two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to withdraw, new AP-NORC poll finds

The list of Democrat politicians calling for him to step aside keeps getting longer as well. 

So how does Joe Biden get removed from being the Democrat nominee?  As is oft then case in these situations, gradually, then suddenly.

In A Win For The Environment, Trump Chooses J.D. Vance As VP

Not a bad choice at all,  perhaps not the best, but certainly a solid choice. But, in this election, the choice of the Republican VP matters rather little.

The fact that J.D. Vance will absolutely mop the floor with Kamala Harris in the VP debate makes it a fine pick and he will be entertaining to watch doing so, but let's face it, that's a rather low bar to get over.

Well, with Trump choosing Vance, it also shows a careful eye towards preserving the environment.

This is because prior campaign signs can be easily re-used to save resources:

Well This Has Been Fun

In my absence from blogging, I took younger child to University if Florida for her orientation.  More on that later. In short, it was incredibly well organized, information flowed by the ton, and she's now really looking forward to attending and has already made new friends with some great kids.

However, at some point, whether it was during Preview, sitting in the airport, or on the plane ride home, or even in the shuttle on the way to get back to the car I got exposed to Covid.

So this is now my fourth bout of Covid. Yay.

Certainly worse than my third bout with it, which solely showed up on a test with no symptoms.

For the fourth exposure, instead of nothing, I got the ugly full on man-flu effect.  

Massive tiredness and lack of energy for the past three days, and a fever and congestion along with it.  Basically, I believed it was a flu until I did a Covid test, and that home test started glowing positive so quickly, it was impressive to watch.

Rations for the next few days will likely consist of pizza, pancakes, flounder, and whatever else is flat and can be slid under a door. 

Not pleasant, but it feels just like a flu with no more ugliness than that, and no respiratory distress.

I think I'm already starting to improve so blogging will catch up as I catch up with work etc.

Thankfully younger daughter, who was with me the entire time, has no symptoms whatsoever and likely didn't get covided. Go figure.

The Most Dangerous Part Of Yesterday

The time Mr. B. and I were in the most danger yesterday did not take place while we were in the air.

Instead, it took place when I drove towards a solid green at the T-intersection from the south side of the airport to turn left onto the M-59 Highway.

I was in the left turn lane and starting the turn on the already solid green when Mr. B. said "look out!" I had seen it as well, and was hitting the brakes as he said it, and we came to a sharp halt.

An idiot in a Jeep had decided decided to whip through the already very, very, solid red without looking to see if anyone was coming out of the airport drive. It's not like he was running a yellow, this had already been a solid red before he got near the intersection.

This led to some incredulous looks by both Mr. B. and myself, as well as some language not appropriate for a general audience -- much of which concerned the dubious parentage and proclivities of the Jeep driver.

Had I been moving faster to make that turn, it would have been rather bad.  I then finished the turn on the green, well behind the speeding Jeep and no one else tried to bash through the light like that. The Jeep then came to a stop at the very next red light as there were already cars stopped in front of it, and the idiot driver really hadn't saved himself any time, so there's that at least. 

It was far more dangerous on the ground than in the air yesterday.

Saturday Flyday - IFR Flying With Mr. B.

This morning I got up and headed to the airport.

I was going to fly the Archer, but I don't have my key back from when i dropped the plane off at the avionics shop.

Luckily, as the conditions were pretty marginal, the non-IFR rated club member had cancelled his flight in the Dakota, so I switched  to the Dakota, did the preflight and then drove to the south side of the airport to meet Mr. B.

I filed an IFR flight plan to fly to Troy and back to Pontiac for a round robin IFR hop as the clouds kept getting lower. We then drove back to the north side. I got the plane out, picked up my clearance, and after a run-up took off flying runway heading.

We then headed up into the clouds climbing to 3,000 and headed to Troy.

Kinda soupy, but pretty smooth.

Flew to Troy and did the full procedure RNAV 10 with a circle approach and it went pretty well.  Id did a missed approach and flew the published miss and got back in connection with Detroit Approach

Then back to Pontiac and did the RNAV 27L again in the soup.

Did a very nice approach and then went to do it again.

By the third approach the clouds had lifted a bit but not much.

 Flew the approach very well and did a very nice landing.

We then put the plane away after cleaning and refueling it, and headed back to the south side so Mr. B. could get some approaches in.

It was still quite soupy at 3,000 feet. 

 

We then flew up to Flint and Mr. B. Flew the approaches like they were on rails.

Great Lakes Approach handled the approaches a little weirdly.  Instead of putting us on an initial approach fix, they kept vectoring us to the final approach fix.

Mr. B. broke us out perfectly lined up on Runway 27.

Mr. B. did a missed and did it again.

Then we headed back to Pontiac and Detroit Approach put us on the initial approach fix on the RNAV 27L and Mr. B. did another great approach breaking out nicely.

 And he brought it in for a great landing in a touch of a crosswind.

 After getting our approaches in, we headed to lunch at a Mexican restaurant Mexico Lindo near the airport that turned out to be really good.

It was a great morning and we're both on track with our approaches and have maintained our currency on our instrument ratings.

A great time flying with Mr. B.

That's 1.3 and three approaches and a hold for me, and a darn good landing.

A Quick And Interesting Presidential Fact

George W. Bush is today younger, at 77 years of age, than both the current incumbent, and the contender for the oval office.

His term in office as President ended 15 years ago.

Make of that what you will.

Well, You Can Forget About That 3 A.M. Phone Call

CNN: Biden tells Democratic governors he needs more sleep and plans to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m,

Thank goodness that nothing of import ever happens after 8 p.m. that might impact the running of this country.

Forget about the implications of the effort going on by Democrats now to pressure Biden to drop out of the race to save democracy after he has already been democratically selected as their candidate. 

More importantly, is Biden even capable of acting as President right now?

Happy Independence Day!

The Declaration of Independence was passed by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

You can learn more about the history of Independence Day, including that it was only made a Federal holiday in 1941, here.

May you celebrate our Nation's continued independence with the appropriate beverage and vittles of your choice.

Happy Independence Day!

Well, Bye.

Some people take politics way too seriously, not to mention letting Trump live rent-free in their heads. 

One of my dive buddies from the Blackbeard's trip,  Gio the Californian has decided he can't be my dive buddy, nor come along with me and Jay (for the record, Jay is a Democrat) on another dive trip. 

This is solely because I'm not voting for Biden.

This was done complete via a rather long screed by text, most of which had a very tenuous connection to reality and facts, but was very emotionally laden.

Likely, Gio has been taking too much marijuana and MDMA, which he extols using, which is kinda pathetic.

Ah well, no great loss, really. 

I really shouldn't dive with a flippin' drug using clownfish anyway.

That Excuse Just Won't Fly

The Detroit Free Press: President Biden blames overseas travel for disastrous debate: 'I nearly fell asleep on stage'

"I didn't have my best night," Biden told supporters. "I wasn't very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, going through I don't how many times zones.

"I didn't listen to my staff. And then I came back and I nearly fell asleep on stage," Biden said, prompting laughs from some of the donors. “It’s not an excuse but an explanation."

Except it is neither.

Biden spent 6 days at Camp David after his "travel around the world"  doing nothing but resting up and preparing for his debate performance.

The leader of the free world can't handle a debate (where he very well may have even been slipped the questions in advance) and is blaming his performance on being too tired due to travel that took place before 6 days of rest and relaxation. 

If he can't function appropriately due to being too tired after six days of rest and preparation, how the heck is he capable of handling day-to-day matters, not to mention the crises of the office?

There's Reasons Areas Are Closed In Detroit During The Fireworks

The Detroit Free Press: Detroiters make the best of fireworks night, but deserve more 

The author of the article bemoans that certain areas of Detroit, especially the parks by the Riverwalk, that offer prime viewing,  are closed off for viewing the fireworks for the 4th.  Verily,  he feels the parks should be opened up for viewing.

Of course, the article then states exactly why the parks are closed.  It's  because some people really can't behave and end up shooting other people during the fireworks show at those parks.

In short they may "deserve more" access but they're part of the problem for the closures.

But the Detroit Police Department offers a pretty good reason for it [the closures]:

In 2017, a 46-year-old woman was shot just before the fireworks began, struck by a bullet during a dispute that didn’t involve her near the Spirit of Detroit statue. In 2013, a 37-year old man was killed about a mile from Hart Plaza during the fireworks show. In 2011, a 16-year old girl was shot in the leg as she and her friends walked near Atwater and Beaubien near the Renaissance Center. And in 2004, nine people were shot in Hart Plaza following an argument, according to Free Press archives.

Yes, the parks are closed because the Detroit Police can't be in every park on the 4th, and it's inevitable some hoodrat is going to feel disrespected and pop off some rounds as a matter of course. 

It's a bit more of a deterrent, and perhaps less likely to happen if its near where the police actually are out in force.

Meanwhile, another Detroit Free Press Writer notes exactly why the Detroit area can't have nice things:

The Detroit Free Press: Young people fighting at metro Detroit events is ruining safety, summer

Note how he says "Young people" or "teenagers and young adults" and draw your own conclusions. 

He doesn't come out and say that it's the hoodrats and yutes from Detroit and other certain environs that are ruining the area festivals, but that's exactly who is causing the problems at these summer events.

Orchard Lake St. Mary's had to close the Annual Polish Fair, of which I have very fond memories from taking my kids there, due to hoodrats coming in and causing fights and mayhem at night, due to the excess costs for security.

We can't have nice things both in Detroit itself and its surrounding environs because some people's kids just can't behave properly, and their community isn't cracking down on them or showing them the appropriate way to behave.

Pro-Hamas Students Disrupt MSU Trustee Meeitng

So the pro-Hamas types decided to disrupt a Michigan State University Board Meeting:

The Detroit News:  Pro-Palestinian students disrupt MSU board meeting, causing most trustees to exit

Yep their chant is very coherent and oh, so inspiring:

"One, we are the people. Two, we won't stop fighting. Three, end the fighting now, now, now, now," the protesters chanted, led by MSU student activist and organizer Jesse Estrada White. 

They're certainly not "the people and they clearly don't get the inherent irony and contradiction of their "Two" followed by "Three".  

I do have to worry about the quality of MSU's education these days with this low-quality level of chanting. It's barely a step above "Neener, Neener".

Instead of walking out like weaklings, the MSU Trustees should have stood their ground and handed the disruptive idiots some green and white binkies, and told them to shut up as adults were talking.