Details, Details, Details

A stabbing on the University of Michigan Campus led to the following description of the attacker in the Detroit Free Press:

The alert, sent at 6:22 p.m., asked people to avoid the area of the Zina Pitcher and Catherine Street. A follow up alert, sent at 7:11 p.m., identified a suspect as a heavyset male wearing a white shirt, tie and jeans, and asked anyone who sees him to call 911. 

The Detroit Free Press:  Suspect arrested after stabbing causes emergency alert on University of Michigan campus

Funny how this news article giving the description of the alert failed to mention a rather salient, useful, and kinda distinctive identifying feature. 

I mean, there's a wide range of heavyset males wearing a white shirt, tie and jeans, even in Ann Arbor.

Oh yeah, that identifying feature, courtesy of the helpful campus alert.

You'd think that additional descriptor would be helpful in catching the attacker, but the mainstream media does not.

Anyhoo, the suspect is now thankfully under arrest and in custody. 

Well he is for now, at least until Washtenaw County's progressive prosecutor's focus on racial equity and progressive justice lets him out the revolving door. 

You Can Hope In One Hand . . .

The Detroit News: Macron hopes his recognition of a Palestinian state will be a landmark contribution to Mideast peace

Desperate to distract attention from his failures domestically in La Belle France, Macron decided to dip into the Middle East.

How'd his recognition announcement work out?  Well, not so good, at least not for anyone but Hamas and Macron's ego:

Politico: France’s recognition of Palestinian state scuttled Gaza truce talks, Rubio says

You mean rewarding a terrorist group after they committed terrorism and then throwing them a lifeline when they were on the ropes doesn't bring them to the bargaining table and lead to a cease fire and end to the fighting?

Sacré bleu! Who could have seen that coming?  Aside from, you know, everybody. 

Now, It Is Both

Charles Krauthamer had his finger on the pulse of the American body politic when he wrote:

To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.

This tracked well.  Conservatives generally thought liberals were simply being stupid about their beliefs and related policy choices, such as the liberal positions (manly of them impressively held together simultaneously) that:

    Men and women are the same;

    There are more than two genders;

    You can choose your own pronouns; 

    Men can be women, and can play in women's sports and wander into women's bathrooms; 

    Trans women are women; 

    Teens are too young for a tattoo without parental permission, but they can   have irreversible body-altering surgery without parental knowledge or   consent;

    DEI;

   ACAB;

    Law enforcement, jails and incarceration are a "sickness";     

   Michael Brown was a gentle giant that dindu nuthin';

   George Floyd was a saint; 

   The mentally ill just see the world differently; 

    No requirement for cash bail for criminals;

    A revolving door justice system; and many other positions that are far from mainstream but pushed often to the point that people opposing those views were cancelled, called racists, fascists or what have you.

Even after the murder of Iryna Zarutska, conservatives just thought liberals were really stupid to hold such policies that kept leading to terrible results for  innocents in society.

No cash bail for violent offenders, a revolving door justice system, and "equity" in the criminal justice system led the murderer to be released immediately after 14 arrests on a verbal promise he'd show up for his latest offense that all came together to lead to her murder.

Yep, conservatives still considered liberals to be stupid. 

After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and seeing the joyous reaction to that assassination both online and on the mainstream media by liberals, conservatives now consider liberals to be both stupid and evil.

Given where liberals considering conservatives to be evil has led, that conservatives are now considering liberals to be evil should be a rather sobering thought.

The Left: We Were Sure, But Now It's "Complicated"

Leftists and Anti-Republicans were busy publicly claiming the murderer of Charlie Kirk was MAGA or Republican and a Groyper, or that this was "Right on Right" murder.

Since those pronouncements, after furiously groyping for straws, the left has come up empty.

Even after going so far as to photo-shopping a Trump t-shirt on the killer to hide that it was a leftist, and claiming he must be Republican because his parents were Republican, the truth did indeed come out that he was quite left, was sleeping with a trans furry partner, and killed Charlie Kirk because had "enough of his hatred", likely because his disagreed with Kirk's take on transies - or more likely he disagreed with the views of Straw-Charlie Kirk created by the Left rather than Charlie Kirk's actual views.

So now, the leftists, after being shown pretty darn dispositively that the killer was not right wing, nor Groyper, nor Republican, are heading to their next rampart of  "oh, it's complicated and we don't know his ideology".

Funny how you were so darn sure he was right wing based on no real evidence, and now you claim you don't know, it's complicated, and you can shrug it off, eh? 

Notice how they just can't admit they were wrong.

And Just Like That, Senator Marie Hirono, A Progressive Democrat

Kills the Left's and the Democrats' rationale for having (trans or self-claimed to be trans) men play in women's sports:

"One question I had is that you are now requiring applicants to be able to do a certain kind of pull-ups, which a lot of women cannot because of physiological differences. Are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?" Hirono asked.

 Fox News: Patel defends FBI pull-up test after Hirono decries it as gender bias in Senate showdown

 Upcoming Dem talking point:  We were never for biological men playing in women's sports and we certainly didn't advocate polices punishing women who objected to it. 

Those Tolerant Dearborn Islamics

The Detroit Free Press: Dearborn mayor tells resident he's not welcome in city after opposing sign for Arab leader

Yes, Dearborn has named a street to honor someone who is Pro-Hamas, Pro-Hezbollah, and a piece of Shiite.

Then, the Muslim mayor had the temerity to tell a resident who objectedabout such an honor being bestowed on a terrorist sympathizer and propagandist that the resident is not welcome in the city. 

That tells you quite a lot about Dearborn and its government, doesn't it? 

Let's also note the Detroit Free Press really soft walked why there was an objection to honoring Siblani: 

because of Siblani's past statements on some Middle Eastern groups. 

"Past statements on some middle eastern groups".  Way to bury the lede there Detroit Free Press, and provide cover for the Islamics. Well done.

They honored Osama Siblani, a pro-terrorist scumbag who has said, among other things:

We the Arabs, Whether in Michigan or Jenin, Will Help Bring the Palestinians to Victory over Israel, with Stones, Guns, Planes, Drones, Rockets, and Our Voices 

says Arab-American Activist Osama Siblani during Dearborn, Michigan rally. 

During a pro-Hezbollah  demonstration Siblani also said:

September rally noted chants of “death to Israel” prompted an assurance from Siblani that Hezbollah “will take care of the job.”

and charmingly: 

Siblani also offered a message to Israel’s Jews led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We will take you back to Poland.”

 Yep, quite a man worthy of being honored in Dearbornistan. I will note that Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv,  Israel -- not Poland.

CBS, The New York Times,  The Detroit Free Press, Michigan's Democratic Party and many others owe an apology to The Wall Street Journal and Steve Stalinsky.

Short of the Henry Ford Museum, there's no reason to go to Dearborn and support muslim pro-terrorists, at all. 

Yep Pretty Much This Is The Left At The Moment

Credit to D.B. Brock for making this Meme:

 

Apparently, "Police Should Ignore ARMED Criminals" Is A Real Leftist Take

Yep, apparently in order to stop Black criminals from being shot, which makes progressives sad, there's a serious advocacy effort that police should not stop people who appear to be illegally armed in Detroit.

The Detroit Free Press: Stopped for a curfew violation, shot by police: When nonviolent stops spiral in Detroit

Yes, they're serious about this:

Futterman, the Chicago professor, questioned whether officers should chase for suspected guns, particularly when they do not see one. He helped that city craft one of the nation’s most restrictive foot chase policies after back-to-back March 2021 fatal police shootings involving foot pursuits over minor issues. 

How's crime been doing in Chicago since those policies ignoring crime and restricting chasing criminals have been implemented?  Oh, not so good.

Let's examine some of these chases described on the article: 

Detroit police were drawn to Walter Peete by his hand in his pocket.

The 29-year-old was leaving the corner store in February 2018 after picking up a deck of cards to entertain two young cousins who’d grown bored playing Uno. For the short walk, Peete had taken an unloaded gun he was not legally allowed to have. He’d later say it was because the neighborhood was dangerous — someone had once pulled a gun on him there and his sister had been robbed. 

Describing Peete’s hidden hand as gripped in a way that suggested he had an illegal gun, special operations officers driving by approached him. When Peete ran, they gave chase. 

The pursuit ended with an officer shooting Peete 13 times, leaving him laying bloody in his driveway with three generations of family in the house.

Well, the article fails to mention why poor little Peete (who ain't little per the pictures) can't legally have a firearm. Maybe, just maybe, it was because he was on parole for a felony conviction for drugs. I thought we wanted to keep guns out of the hands of criminals?

The article goes on:

Why chase Rayshawn Walden? 

Well, if you have to ask that question as a reporter when the following facts are in the very same article immediately following the question posed, I daresay you're a special kind of stupid:

It was a split-second decision made by a DPD officer who saw him standing at a gas station in the summer of 2020. Officer Bailey Rumschlag said his pursuit was touched off by a bulge on Walden’s hip indicating he had a weapon. As they ran, Rumschlag said Walden began turning on him with the gun in hand, prompting the officer to shoot. 

Yep, when after fleeing from police, you then turn towards a police officer with a gun in your hand, getting shot is highly likely.

Let's sum up the article -  Police are looking for criminals illegally carrying guns. If you're illegally carrying a gun,  making sudden moves with the illegal gun while being stopped by a police officer leads to you likely being shot.  The pro-criminal element in Detroit and elsewhere is upset by this.

Again, if you want to truly save Black Lives, teach Black criminals not to resist arrest, including that vital bit of information that apparently everyone  else but them already knows:

 If you pull a gun or you point a gun at a police officer while resisting arrest you are probably going to get shot. 

So much for the Left being all about getting "guns off the street". 

Head Clearing

To escape much of the ugliness online with Leftist's celebration of the murder of Charlie Kirk, including by many people whom I thought knew better and would act better (Boy, was I wrong about that), and the other horrible events of the week, I decided to get a bit of a break in this morning.

So, I drove out and then hit the West Bloomfield Nature Trail this morning, increasing the load in the rucksack with another 5 pound soft weight to 30 pounds for a solo ruck. 

30 pounds felt somehow markedly heavier than the 25 pounds from Tuesday, which of course was heavier than the previous 20.   I figure I will keep adding weight as I go to increase the workout.

That this ruck hopefully would clear my head a bit was the goal, as well as the bonus of getting a workout in. 

Of course, it started sprinkling rain as I began, which was not in the forecast, but that soon cleared up.

 Getting into the trees and away from the sounds of traffic and the day-to-day was rather nice.

 

Quite a few people about, but I soon managed to get on my own and just concentrate on maintaining a decent pace and enjoy the quiet.

I was doing a 19-minute mile pace for most of the ruck, but by mile 4 I was slowing down to a 20-minute mile pace.

Solo rucking is different from group rucking.  No banter or chit-chat or conversation, just moving along looking at the greenery and keeping moving. Quite calming, actually.

Certainly a bit more introspective, and it lacks the internalized peer pressure that makes you not back off your pace in a group.  You don't want to slow down the group or be one to give up during a task. It also lacks the outside encouragement that others in the group give including regular check-ins to see that people are ok.

Surprisingly, I'm not the slowest and most out of shape person in the rucking group, which is nice.

 I ended up doing 4.7 miles in 1.33 hours and an overall average pace of 19.55. Not a bad beginning.

It did help clear my head a bit, and I got to be inn a calm space and see some wildlife, too.

If you're getting all wound up about the terrible news and events of the past week, put the phone down, step away from the ugliness of social media, get outside, and get yourself refocused. 

The ugliness will sadly all still be there when you get back, but you deserve a break from it.

We Are Not The Same

In the case of George Floyd, a criminal with a record for drug possession, theft, trespass and aggravated robbery - a conviction resulting from his pointing a gun at a pregnant lady's belly while robbing her - dies or is killed - depending on who you believe - after resisting arrest and ingesting a lethal dose of fentanyl.

After his death, Democrat-led riots broke out, resulting in the deaths and murders of 26 people, injuries to hundreds, looting, arson, and over 2 billion dollars in property damage.

In the case of Charlie Kirk, a family man, is assassinated for merely winning debates and informing college youths that there is an alternative belief system to leftism.  

After his death, no riots break out, merely prayer vigils (that are disrupted by leftists, of course), no deaths, no looting, no arson, and no property damage. 

We are not the same. 

September 11 2001

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

2,977 people were killed and thousands injured when Islamic terrorists flew aircraft they had hijacked into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field after passengers on board that aircraft found out about what was happening and heroically fought to the end to stop their plane being used for more destruction.

Babies, policemen, firemen, everyday workers and people all died at the hands of the "Religion of Peace". 

Policemen, fireman, and both ordinary and extraordinary Americans were heroes that day, giving their lives trying to save lives in the face of unbelievable devastation.

That heroism should not be forgotten. 

The evil that caused the need for that heroism should not be forgotten.   

Meanwhile, our education system is continuing to fail us:

Daily Mail: One in five young Americans has a POSITIVE view of Osama Bin Laden: Disturbing Daily Mail poll results also reveal three in 10 Gen-Zers think the views of the 9/11 mastermind were a 'force for good'

They're taught by leftist progressives in schools to hate capitalism, hate conservatives and hate America.  Add the mental stress and mental illness caused by the completely wrong response to handling COVID, and we're living with the results.

The Left Needs To Knock This Off, Now

 Leftists in just the past year have:

1. Attempted to Assassinate President Trump and that's not counting the almost successful attempt in Butler PA in July of 2024 a year and a few months ago;

2.  Firebombed a Governor's Mansion to "Free Palestine"; 

3. Shot and killed two Jews outside a museum again to "Free Palestine";

4.  Firebombed a peaceful demonstration and set Jews on fire, killing an 82-year-old, again to "Free Palestine";

5.  Shot up a church, killing two children, and injuring 18 people.

6. And now they have assassinated Charlie Kirk, because they couldn't beat him and his conservative ideas in polite debate, and because to leftists, their violence is speech and a conservative's speech is violence.

This leftist violence and uncivil behavior is already beyond unacceptable, and if it continues, no one is going to like where it goes.  

A Gun Banning Democrat Undercuts One Of The Gun Banner's Main Arguments

Rep Jasmine Crockett (D), the rather outspoken and mouthy progressive, just opened her mouth again and demolished a cherished argument of the Democrats and gun banners.

You know,  it is the platitude they always make for gun bans: "You don't need a gun, the police will protect you!" 

The New York Post: Dem Rep. Jasmine Crockett sparks backlash with ‘stupid’ claim about law enforcement: ‘Truly one of the dumbest statements ever made’

A clip from Crockett’s appearance on the “Grounded” podcast — which premiered last Wednesday — went viral as critics seized on her remarks.

“I want to be clear that, like, law enforcement isn’t to prevent crime. Law enforcement solves crime, OK? That is what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to solve crimes, not necessarily prevent them from happening per se,” she said.

There goes the entire progressive gun banner "police will protect you" argument right out the gun banner's window.

She's somewhat right, you know. 

While Rep. Crockett is indeed simplistically glossing over the effect of the presence of police as a deterrent to crime, and the lucky events when police are able to arrive to interdict a crime in progress, and the fact that police are indeed preventing future crimes by apprehending criminals for prior outstanding crimes, she's not completely wrong in this case.

She is in fact right in that statement as the police have no legal obligation to protect general members of the public from criminals nor indeed to stop crime before it occurs.

But, the Democrats and progressives really didn't want to make that public knowledge and instead used the claim that "the police will protect you" as an argument for the general populace's disarmament.

And she just opened her mouth and put an end to that argument. 

Rucking

I have decided to try and get into better shape, so I joined a rucking group.

A friendly bunch of guys and there's all levels of rucking there. It's once every other week and a good way to met up with people and get some fitness in. Done it a couple times now and it has been fun and a good workout.

The group is held at one of Oakland County's parks with a decent trail course with a mix of fields and forest to traipse around in.

I had a backpack with a 20lb plate that I picked up, and I added a 5 pound scuba soft weight that I had around to it to bring it to 25 pounds this week. I figure I'll add more weight as we go.

Tonight was a 2.25 mile ruck with an added surprise. In addition to rucking, we got to rotate carrying a log in teams of three which was a challenge. Kinda fun challenge and I had not been expecting that. 

A very fun activity in the outdoors, good to get out and move around with a  good bunch of guys. We're apparently going to be building up to a 10 mile ruck which should be fun.

Dog Bites Man

Or: You Really Don't Hate The Media Enough.

The murder of Iryna Zarutska occurred on August 22 and its been only on mainly conservative sites where it has been getting coverage as the video of the murder was leaked until just now. 

The dam finally broke today and a slew of mainstream sites are finally covering it weeks later (note the datestamps of times of the stories in the Google search - mainly coming out today and indeed within hours before this post) with much of the coverage being about the accusation that the lack of coverage has been  politicized by MAGA types (yes, really) as the story spread while leftist and mainstream media sources blithely failed to cover it at all. 

So, why did the media not cover a story of a mentally-ill man killing an innocent woman?

Well, of course there's the racial angle, Black man killing White female is double-plus-ungood to mention, especially as there's no domestic violence angle to play here where you can blame western patriarchal family structures.

After all, Black on White violence is indeed Dog-Bites-Man to the mainstream media and statistically is the norm compared to White on Black violence.

It's a further issue not worthy of coverage as it goes directly against the left's soft on crime initiatives including no cash bail and releasing people on the happy belief criminals and mentally ill criminals at that, will show up in court on their own after being charged with violent crimes. he had been arrested and released 13 14 times prior to the murder, with the most recent release just before it took place with zero bail to reappear on his latest charge.

This also took place on mass transit in a Democrat controlled city.  Democrats love their mass transit and prefer to gloss over the crime that occurs on it.  And, it's in a Democrat city with soft on crime policies - so much so that the mayor in talking about the crime was more concerned and gave more time to the fact that the perpetrator had been homeless and the bromides of root causes than the fate of the victim.  

On top of that, mentally ill people attacking innocents in public is commonplace,  par for the course, and not to be remarked upon by the media progressives. After all, they have pushed for deinstitutionalization and hold the charming belief that the mentally ill just see the world differently from the rest of us.

Indeed, they do. 

Quite simply, unless the mentally ill person uses a gun and shoots up a school or a crowd so the media and progressives can use it to promote gun bans, they're simply not interested.

So, this story had all the reasons why the mainstream media didn't want to touch it with a 10-foot pole until they were forced to do so:  

An attractive and wholly innocent white victim, who was a refugee no less; a Black perpetrator who was mentally ill and had a violent criminal record a mile long who was let out to roam free again and again until he finally killed someone; and it taking place on public transit.

No wonder the media didn't want to talk about it until they were forced to do so. 

Flyday Sunday - Off To Marshall

Sunday morning I slept in until 8 am to recover from the night before,  I  then checked the weather and it was was rather good for flying.

 So I let Mr. B. know we were good to go for the fly to lunch plan.

We decided to go somewhere we had not met up before and chose KRMY, Marshall, Michigan.

So I did the preflight, got VFR flight following, and was up in the air just after 11 am.

 

On takeoff, Pontiac Tower had me turn directly south for traffic and once out of the airspace contact Detroit Approach. I did so and continued climbing up to 4,500 feet.

Beautiful clear skies and only a single scattered cloud layer. There was a headwind that got stronger the higher you went, so 4,500 was a decent altitude to pick heading out.

The same cloud layer kept getting thicker and lower.

 So, by the time it reached Marshall it was at 2,000 feet.

 I got handed off from Great Lakes Approach when I was 11 miles away from the airport.  It was surprisingly difficult to find the airport for some reason. It really blended in to the background scatter. I did eventually find it though, did my radio calls, and entered the downwind and then did a good pattern.

The landing was sublime, just buttering it in from flying to rolling, likely because there were no witnesses, which is when you make your best landings.

I then taxi'd in to the ramp.

 

The terminal has a numerical keypad entry and a rather clever entry code:

 

 

Unfortunately, with zee Google, anyone can figure out what Squawk VFR means and thus determine the entry code, but it is rather convenient.

 So, I wandered around as I waited for Mr. B. to arrive.

The terminal building is nice and clean and rather comfy with some nice couches and table where a pilot and his instruction were doing a ground session for an instrument rating.

Very nice and clean washrooms as well.  

There was also a nice library full of aviation books so you could pass the time rather enjoyably if you so wished to do so.

 

 

Wandering around outside the terminal there was a fair bit to see.

The historic hangar building is indeed still being used as a hangar.

 

 There was quite a derelict-looking C-45 Expeditor at the ramp.

 It did not look like it had been flown in quite some time.

To say she looks rough is an understatement. 

Tires are a tad flat.

 Mr. B. soon arrived.

 

We then called for a shuttle and headed off to lunch at Schuler's.

We then had a fantastic lunch.

 

The Prime Rib at Schuler's is highly recommended.

Fantastic food and service in just a lovely historic restaurant that has been open there since 1934, located on a very nice small town main street.

 Full and happy and after having a great conversation, we headed back to the airport.

The AWOS, which is the automated weather observation system at Marshall airport was reporting the sky was clear.

Not so much.

I think the AWOS was pointed up at a hole in the cloud layer and thus kept reporting it as skies clear. 

Yep, more dodge cloud on the way back in the heavily scattered layer. 

 I got flight following back and got some helpful traffic advisories along the way.

With a tailwind I was doing pretty good,

 132 knots ground speed and 118 knots indicated is not bad for a Piper Archer.

I was soon cruising at 3,500 feet below the cloud layer, along with a bit of light chop to bounce me around a bit.

Passing by Howell, I saw a plane takeoff from the airport there and fly the pattern.

Kinda neat to see the huge shadows the clouds were casting on the ground.

 Soon Pontiac was in sight.

As usual they had me setup for Runway 27L and then had me cut north to switch over to the right downwind for 27R. 

A bit of a crosswind from 310 degrees but I did a very nice landing again.

 Cleaned the bugs off the plan, got it refueled and it was the end of a great lunch trip.

That's 1.0 there, 0.9 back, 2 great landings and a great lunch catching up with Mr. B.

Saturday Sportsball Day

I got an invite to a tailgate at MSU on Saturday to watch them play Boston College.

So I met up with friends, and drove to East Lansing for the tailgate.

Passed by many places I remembered including my old place of employment. 

Got to the parking lot and parked the car, then walked to where the tailgate was held around 3:30.
 

 Everybody was in their best Greens and Whites for the game.

The tailgate had it all, food, beverages, and Sparty. 

Yes, the amazing fellow running the tailgate didn't just have music, he also had a TV to broadcast sports over the internet during the tailgate.  Rather cool. This tailgate had it all.

So, a lot of fun was had, chatted with quite a few people, ate some great food and drank some pre-game libations. I brought 100 doughnut holes as a contribution as that was on the sign-up list.

Then we helped close up the tailgate and get ready to go see the game set to start at 7:30.

I got some tickets on the 45-yard line in Seciton 9, for not too much, and they turned out to be pretty great seats except for two drunken young men right behind us that didn't just have outdoor voices, they had no setting but yelling at the top of their lungs the entire flipping game  You know you have the right to remain silent - these two lacked the ability for that completely.

Everyone else in the area was having a good time and enthusiastic and loud at the appropriate times.  There was one Boston College fan right in the row in front of us, and he was a good sport, and gave as good a ribbing as he got, and everyone was friendly and fun about it.

 The marching band began the opening festivities.

 Then the game was one.

Michigan got the first touchdown and easily made the extra point. 

 

For the touchdown and subsequent MSU touchdowns, fireworks went off in appropriate colors.
 

It was a nail-biter of a game finally going into overtime and then double overtime.

MSU won in double overtime with a 2 point conversion, 42-40.

 It was fun to watch live with friends.  It was a heckuva long game though. Then we along with the crowds headed out and I finally got home after 2 am.

 I managed to get to sleep and then sleep in a bit until 8am before my next weekend adventure on Sunday.

Scam? Scam.

Got the following email:

From: Craig Smith <csmith@CRAIGSMITHLAW.NET>

Subject: FW: The Aretha Franklin Estate

Date: September 6, 2025 at 12:05:22 PM EDT

 

 

I am counsel for Edward Franklin in the Aretha Franklin Estate., Oakland County, MI.

Ed is the eldest competent child of Aretha, one of her 4 sons.

 

My local counsel is going to withdraw,  and I asap need new local counsel.

 

You may be aware, the heavy lifting, the Will Contest jury trial, and  hearing on construction of  the handwritten Will are completed.

 

We have a series of mop up one day or less hearings December 1, 8,  and then January and February scheduled.

I historically fly in for the in person hearings,  been at it since October 2018.

 

Any interest in being local counsel for Edward Franklin in the Aretha Estate?

Craig Smith

Craig Smith Law, LC

314 502-4465

As you might guess there's a whole lotta red flags with it.

Awfully informal and sent on a Saturday.

There is no website for the email address of the sender, and the domain is hidden behind a privacy setting.

While a Craig Smith was the attorney in the case, it is not the one allegedly from Missouri, which is where Craig Smith Law, LC actually is located, and that is the right phone number for that law firm, nut even the formatting for the phone number is off.

Not sure what the scam is or how it works, but the scammers are getting more inventive at least, it's at least more plausible than the email "need an attorney for a dredging contract and escrow" scam that I get at least once a month.

Well, That Got Walked Back Quicky

Looks like Dearborn Heights isn't rolling out the Arabic police patches after all.

The Detroit News: Dearborn Heights walks back post about police patch with Arabic writing

The push-back that resulted from the announcement that they would be the first police department with Arabic patches has them not just reconsidering but claiming it the whole thing was just an "internal discussion". 

Sure it was. 

This Is Fine - DEI And Police Ediiton

The Dearborn Heights Police Department has decided to update their patches.

The update makes them the first police department in the United States with Arabic on their patches.

 Fox2 Detroit: Dearborn Heights first in U.S. with Arabic on police patch

So is it DEI or DIE? 

Labor Day Flight To Jackson

Got up this morning and headed out to the airport.

First of the month, so as the Flying Club Secretary, I did the first of the month tasks at the hangars such as retrieving all the fuel receipts, getting the log pages from August form each aircraft and transferring the Hobbs time, Tach time, and the Time before Next Oil Change to the September pages so all was in order for the month.

The I had to wait for fuel as one of our more special members hadn't refueled the plane last night after flying it and had been late this morning to call for fuel.

Then I had to reprogram the radios as the same special member had decided to use COM 2 instead of COM 1 and of course flip flopped all the frequencies.

 Then with the preflight complete, I got my taxi clearance, did the run up, and was on my way to the southwest.

 Beautiful day to fly.

Not a cloud in the sky, and the tiniest of crosswinds.

Keeping the power in I was soon cruise climbing at 114 knots and 121 knots ground speed.

 

Leveled off at 6,500 feet, and was heading to Jackson at 130 knots ground speed which isn't bad for an Archer at all.

Arrived at Jackson rather quickly, and entered the downwind for Runway 7.

I had a nice pattern going and then the tower wanted me to make a tighter base turn for traffic and keep it going into a final, which I did. But this meant I was a tad high on final and had a lot of speed to burn up as a result.  A very nice if both a high descent angle and high speed long landing. 

There in .7 from engine start at Pontiac to shut down on the ramp by the restaurant in Jackson. Not too shabby.

I then met Mr. B., who had arrived before me and saw my high angle of approach and my long landing. There's always an audience when it is less than perfect.

We had a good breakfast and even better conversation.  

The restaurant at Jackson is under new ownership and instead of The Apron is now known at Taildraggers - but the same favorites such as the Pilot's Omelette are still on the menu, the staff is much the same and it is still a great place to go.

After breakfast, we walked around a bit and then headed back to our respective aircraft to get them ready to depart. 

We started up and headed out at the same time and I followed Mr. B. on the  taxi to the runway and we both did our run-ups and took off in sequence.  He departed to the West, and I flew to the East.  

Again I made good time back to Pontiac.  A few clouds and some minor bumps but nothing serious and just another lovely flying day. 

The GM Proving Ground in Milford makes for both a great landmark and a great potential emergency landing location.

I soon had Pontiac Airport in sight and they had me cross over the departure end to the north and then enter the downwind for Runway 27R.

 

 I then entered the right downwind and got landing clearance and did a good landing with 0.8 from startup at Jackson to shutdown at the hangar.

It was a great time to get out and meet up with Mr. B.

That's 1.5 and 2 very nice landings.

If I Had A Nickel Every Time

That a Transi committed a mass shooting in quite recent times, then I'd have 9 nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's rather weird that it's happened 9 times.

Since all of 1% if the US population self-identifies as trans (whether they actually are or not, and the methodology to get to that amount is rather suspect), they certainly are having a disproportionate showing in school shooting rankings.

Then again as Trans is practically by definition an indication of being mentally unwell, even as the woke and politically correct have removed it as a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder this is likely not a huge surprise to most.

Oh, and boy did the New York Times really bury the lede on this one: 

The suspect: The authorities identified the attacker as Robin Westman, a 23-year-old who they believe was a former student at the school. The shooter was armed with three guns, all of which had been legally purchased. 

No mention the shooter was trans at all. Funny, that. And no idea of the motive, of course  -- even as they have the bat rastard's manifesto.

A Modest Proposal For Taiwan

Taiwan needs to learn from others how to get recognized as an independent state.

In order to get recognition from Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Australia, all of whom do not currently recognize Taiwan, it just needs to do the following:

Invade China, sack and burn the cities of Quanzhou, Putian, and Fuzhou, kill 177,600 mainland Chinese, and take 37,000 mainland Chinese as hostages to achieve the appropriate population ratio needed to get such recognition and then not surrender under any circumstances after China responds.

This seems to be the required process needed in order to get  Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Australia to grant recognition for Taiwan as an independent state, as that seems to be their current criteria for such recognition of states.

Good luck Taiwan!  

Some Internet Self-Defense Myths Refuse To Die

 

Saw this gem on Facebook yet again today.

If you don't have a gun, and even if you do, here's a way to wreck someone's evil plans for you. Did you know this? I didn't. I never really thought of it before. I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat. 

Wasp Spray -- A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead. 

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Thought this was interesting and might be of use. 

On the heels of a break in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self defense experts have a tip that could save your life. 

Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at Sylvania Southview High School . For decades, he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near your door or bed. 

Glinka says, "This is better than anything I can teach them." 

Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The cans typically shoot 20 feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says "spray the culprit in the eyes". It's a tip he's given to students for decades. 

It's also one he wants everyone to hear If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to the spray. "That's going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out." Maybe even save a life.

Please share this with all the people who are precious to your life. 

Did you also know that wasp spray will kill a snake? And a mouse! It will! Good to know, huh? It will also kill a wasp!!!
And best of all, immobilize a human.

No, no, it really will not.

 

Wasp spray is not an effective stopper against people, it does not quickly incapacitate people. 

It is not in any way as effective as pepper spray.

On top of that, it’s actually illegal to intentionally spray people with it. Whether you would actually get charged for it is an open question, assuming you survive the beat down by the now really annoyed person you just sprayed with it to even get charged.

This is, unfortunately, an internet myth that refuses to die. 

Most likely Val Glinka doesn’t exist or if Val actually does, Val. I'm reasonably sure, doesn’t teach high schoolers at a flipping high school to hit people with wasp spray for self-defense. 

 

 Now, if Val actually does do that, that's quite the commentary on teacher qualification in the school system these days.

Such A Good Thing That You Can't Legally Carry In A Hospital In Michigan

Because such prohibition clearly stops people intent on murder from carrying a firearm in there.

Or really not. 

WXYZ Detroit:  Suspect in deadly Henry Ford Hospital shooting now in custody, police say

The Detroit News: Police: Suspect in fatal shooting at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital in custody

Yep, that prohibition worked so well that the SOB who is the focus of the story was able to waltz right into the hospital, make his way to the basement of the hospital, shoot and kill his ex-wife who worked there, and waltz on out without being intercepted and then drove away not being caught (or possibly he turned himself in - reports differ) until 12 hours after the fact

So, the ex-wife, who had twice applied for PPOs against him after he committed various hostile acts including running her off the road (first application denied, second one granted but not served) was not allowed to be armed.  It would have been illegal for her to carry at the hospital, even as she had an extremely violent ex who had demonstrated time and again that he was a major and quite dangerous threat to her.

We will note that PPO in this case sadly, yet again, stands for Paper, Piece Of.

PPOs are a useful step to document a threat against you and get the police to hopefully take the situation more seriously.  They may even cause some Mope who doesn't get that No means No to leave you alone. Then again, they may not. Against someone clearly bent on harming you, they are of extremely limited effectiveness, as is a no-carry zone. 

The prohibition on carrying in a hospital disarmed the victim only in this case, the SOB simply ignored it, along with a host of other applicable laws.

The SOB in question was also a convicted felon with previous convictions for both arson and aggravated stalking and various probation violations. 

So legally he was: 1. Not allowed to even possess the firearm that he used to kill his ex-wife; 2. Not allowed to enter the hospital with it; and, of course, 3.  Not allowed to kill her with it.

On top of that, given the impressive lack of security at the hospital, the SOB did not even need a firearm to murder his ex.  

Quite A Scientific And Twisted Concept Of Morality

There is nothing worse than someone advocating  doing something to others, against their will, on the basis that doing so is moral.

 

You can certainly twist ethics and morality around to make atrocities become moral imperatives to suit your own worldview.

 

A couple scientists are proposing to do just that in a paper published in the scholarly journal  Bioethics.

 

With a straight series of keystrokes, if not a straight face, the authors Parker Crutchfield and Blake Heret in their article Beneficial Bloodsucking  propose that infecting Americans with  alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a condition caused by the bite of the lone star tick whose only effect is the creation of a severe but nonfatal red meat allergy would be not just good to do but should be required - because it is morally right, of course.

 

This is, per their world view, that as (per them) eating red meat is morally bad therefore a means to stop it, even if it is literally biological warfare, is not just good, but morally obligatory: 

The bite of the lone star tick spreads alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a condition whose only effect is the creation of a severe but nonfatal red meat allergy. Public health departments warn against lone star ticks and AGS, and scientists are working to develop an inoculation to AGS. Herein, we argue that if eating meat is morally impermissible, then efforts to prevent the spread of tickborne AGS are also morally impermissible. After explaining the symptoms of AGS and how they are transmitted via ticks, we argue that tickborne AGS is a moral bioenhancer if and when it motivates people to stop eating meat. We then defend what we call the Convergence Argument: If x-ing prevents the world from becoming a significantly worse place, doesn't violate anyone's rights, and promotes virtuous action or character, then x-ing is strongly pro tanto obligatory; promoting tickborne AGS satisfies each of these conditions. Therefore, promoting tickborne AGS is strongly pro tanto obligatory. It is presently feasible to genetically edit the disease-carrying capacity of ticks. If this practice can be applied to ticks carrying AGS, then promoting the proliferation of tickborne AGS is morally obligatory.

The problem is the underlying assumptions of morality in the Convergence Argument and its “if -- then” statement.

 

Under that sort of logic, anything is permissible, if not mandatory, so long as the person making the statement deems it to be morally required. Note especially how they hand-wave away infecting people with a biological agent to stop them form eating red meat is not considered to violate anyone's rights.

 

C.S.  Lewis really knew what he was talking about when he wrote:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

 

Yes, this is a published scientific paper advocating people be "cured" by being infected with an allergy in order to achieve the stated desired end to get people to stop eating red meat – for the best and most moral reasons, of course.

Ok, Who Had

From Walmart, no less.

LiveScience: FDA issues warning over possible radioactive shrimp

 The FDA is warning consumers not to eat certain frozen shrimp products sold at Walmart after other products from the same company tested positive for a radioactive substance  

The bad shrimp was imported by PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati aka BMS Foods. 

While at least one shipment contaminated with cesium-137 was caught upon insoection, the FDA is warning people not to eat BMS shrimp they may have bought from Walmart at this time.

Nope, I did not have Radioactive Indonesian Shrimp on my list of concerns for August, but  "Radioactive Indonesian Shrimp" would make a great name for a midget heavy metal band.

Yet Another Reason To Appreciate Being American

You can actually defend yourself if attacked.

Unlike say, Australia, where you can be criminally charged for pepper-spraying someone who is in the act of breaking into your home. 

 Not The Bee:  Australian man criminally charged for stopping home invader with pepper spray

 Yes, really.

Compare to a similar situation in the US but with a much happier ending for the victim in the home, in Illinois of all places:  

Daily Mail: Mom hid her baby in closet then shot and killed burglar who broke into her home in peaceful suburb late at night

The Anglosphere seems to be swiftly shrinking away from what it once was.