FBI Interdicts Terrorist Cell In Dearborn

Its rather productive when the FBI focuses on actual threats rather than say parents at PTA meetings. 

The Detroit News; FBI arrests Michiganians accused of plotting terrorist attack over Halloween weekend

 Don't you love how the headline identifies the suspects in Dearbornistan as  Michiganians?

The Detroit Free Press: Terrorist plot thwarted in Michigan, FBI Director Kash Patel says: What we know

Very little has been released identifying the suspects or the nature of the plot so far, or it has been released, and the mainstream media here has decided revealing such would be too politically incorrect. 

Apparently the terrorist attack was to take place this weekend, so good job to the FBI for interdicting that.

Get Your Democrat Crony Capitalism Right Here

Once again Gov Whitmer is picking winners and losers, but, mostly losers.

After wasting millions on failed battery plant projects, subsidized to the tunes of millions of Michigan taxpayer 's dollars,  she's now moved on to subsidizing data centers. 

The Detroit News: Massive OpenAI data center planned for farmland near Ann Arbor

What could possibly go wrong?

Quite An Appealing Brief

Trump's attorneys have filed an appeal in the THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK v DONALD J. TRUMP case. The one where he was convicted of 34 very dubious felony counts in a proceeding  that very much was a case of "Give me the man and I will give you the case against him."

But, that conviction. as irregular as it was, gave the Democrats their ability to call him a felon during and after the election, and that is all that mattered.

While the very well-written brief is obviously written to favor Trump's side of the case, the facts and law in it are rather damning.

It's worth a read to see the documented multiple machinations and legal f--kery that went on in the case, and it points out a multitude of grounds for reversing the conviction  -- and all it takes it one. 

I'd expect this conviction to be reversed on appeal, much to the horror of the Left. 

Give it a read and decide for yourself.   It will be fun to see the brief in response.

Oopsies: House Democrats Fail Badly At Information Security

Democrats often put getting Trump ahead of all else, including competence at rather basic things.

Things like information security  and identities of people with Top Secret clearances working for Democrats open to the web for exposure and manipulation.

Wired: Hundreds of People With ‘Top Secret’ Clearance Exposed by House Democrats’ Website 

THE SENSITIVE PERSONAL details of more than 450 people holding “top secret” US government security clearances were left exposed online, new research seen by WIRED shows. The people’s details were included in a database of more than 7,000 individuals who have applied for jobs over the last two years with Democrats in the United States House of Representatives.

What could possibly go wrong? 

Democrats and websites really don't go well together.  Obamacare's failed roll-out; FAFSA's failed roll-out; and now their own job recruitment site. 

What does Borepatch often say?  "Security wasn't an afterthought; it wasn't thought of at all."

A Little Ruck and Tires

I did a 41 minute ruck around the neighborhood this morning still with the 35 pounds in the ruck, and managed to do almost two miles in that time, missing it by just a bit when I got a call while rucking involving tires.

Not much to see, just some Canadian Murder Chickens giving me the side-eye.

 

So, the ruck got cut short by needing to help a friend add air to their tires.  I have an inflator and the friend does not, and the TPM sensors on the car were screaming.  

Tires are showing low inflation today because since we've had a cold snap recently the air pressure dropped, and so it was time to add air to the tires. The pressure had dropped from the recommended 41 psi (found on the inside of the drivers door frame)  to 35 psi which is a pretty decent drop and enough to set off the warning.

I also checked and topped up my tires as well, as they too had dropped due to the cold below the recommend fill amount down to 38 psi. Not so much that they would kick off the TPM sensors.  Back up to the stated 41 psi they went as well.

Still it was a decent little working to get moving this morning, and everyone's tires are inflated to where they should be, so not a bad start to the day.  

So, if you've had a cold snap in your area now that autumn is here, you might as well check your tire pressure and adjust as required.

A Good Ruck With Eaton Rapids Joe

After the range I drove out to Kensington Metropark to meet up with Eaton Rapids Joe, who was coming from the other direction.

Met at the Nature Center, got our packs on, and headed out on the trail.

It was a beautiful fall day to get some rucking in.

 

We walked the trails, chatting and catching up as we did so. ERJ told me about how things are going on the farm, which is always interesting to learn about. Many more topics were discussed and much laughter was had as we moved down the trail.

Along the way, there were some Sandhill Cranes wandering about.

ERJ noted they are often called the Ribeye of the Sky. This sounds quite culinarily interesting. These ones, however, were not on any menu.

We rucked for an hour and 18 minutes, for a total distance of 2.98 miles.  So, we got some exercise in, which is a good thing. The trail was overall pretty moderate in grade and condition, so it wasn't bad. I only rolled my ankle on a hidden rock once, doing an impressive hop and skip performance to regain my footing and prevent from falling.

It was a darn good ruck, as rucking with a friend is better than rucking alone, and it was good to meet up with ERJ yet again.  He also got me some locally sourced organic wood for my smoker from his farm, which I highly appreciate.

We will need to meet up and do this again. 

Saturday Range Trip

So I went to the range today to get some live fire practice in.

I have not been doing dry fire practice on a daily basis as things like trips and other commitments are getting in the way but I got some practice in.

So I was once again doing so single shot draws form concealment at 7 yards.  This time in a sweatshirt hoodie as the cover garment to reflect the current temperatures.

So we would see if I got any improvement since my last outing. 

String 1 had a best time of 1.44 for a hit and the worst at 2.11 from way over-confirming the dot after a shot before that over-confirming shot missed. Average was 1.64 but 5 charlies in the string.

String 2  had a best time of 1.50 with a hit, 1.29 with a charlie, and one real slow over-confirming 2.13 but most were in the 1.5s and 1.6s for an average of 1.65.

String 3 got pretty consistent with only one miss and a high of 1.96, which hilariously was the miss  (don't ask) and a low of 1.50.  Average was  1.58 which was an improvement.

String 4  had a fastest time of 1.25 and a high of 1.69 with no misses which was good.  Average was interestingly again 1.58.

Did some Bill drills and more one shot drills, then shot the plate rack for fun from concealment.  The plate rack was at 15 yards and I got all six plates down regularly six seconds or below with my best time this round being 5.05. 

Did some more one shot drills but the times were pretty trashy and I could see I was getting slow so decided to call that drill a day.

I also ran a box of Federal 124gr HST through the Walther PDP which shot it without a hitch.  That's another 250 rounds through the PDP with zero issues.

I definitely need more practice, both live and dry, but already there are signs of improvement, which is nice.

Lack Of Standing, Much?

Some knowingly sloppy legal filing on the part of the anti-Trump left in an effort to be seen to do something to fight President Trump.

Politico: A Virginia couple is asking a judge to block Trump from tearing up the East Wing

A Virginia couple has gone to court to try to block President Donald Trump from proceeding with demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for a new ballroom.

Charles and Judith Voorhees filed a motion in Washington federal court Thursday afternoon, asking a judge to halt any further damage to the White House while the legality of the project is assessed.

There's some definite problems with this court filing.

First, there's no complaint to start the case, it is simply a motion for an injunction without any support nor any brief backing it up. Sloppy and it should be dismissed out of hand for that alone.

Second, for its basis, it cites a law that specifically exempts the White House from the law. Not a winning argument, that, especially when you're seeking an injunction and once of the main elements in the granting of an injunction is the seeker's likelihood of prevailing in court.

Third and most importantly is the lack of standing.  Standing means you have a dog in the particular dog fight you are complaining of, and they simply do not have it in this one.

A couple of progressives in Virginia have no standing to even bring the motion at all regarding construction at the White House. I also see no record that they filed such a motion when Obama paved over an area to make a basketball court and put a bowling alley into the White House, which is most curious.

If you argue that they do because its the people's house, then why were people who merely wandered through Congress given federal charges for trespassing there on January 6?  After all the legislature is clearly the people's house, far more so than the White House, neh?  

In short, this is an ineffectual stunt designed to attract attention, or to try and draw a fellow-traveler Democrat judge who will ignore the law and throw an injunction into the mix because Orange Man Bad. 

Quite simply, the lawyer who filed this dreck should know better and should be sanctioned for this nonsensical filing, but most likely will not be sanctioned. We will see if the case gets properly dismissed or not.

Ruckin' In The Rain

Yesterday after work I drove out and met up with the rucking group.

It had been raining during the day and the gray clouds threatened more to come.

I had just increased my weight to 35 pounds for this hike. For some reason it felt considerably heavier than the 32 pounds I had carried the last time.

Sure enough, not more than 3 minutes into the ruck, the skies opened up. Not a little rain, but not a torrential downpour either.  Still, we all managed to get good and soaked and was glad I had my rain jacket on.

It also got dark while we rucked so we hiked through the woods by flashlight, making it a bit more difficult to see the tree roots, rocks, slippery muddy areas and  other trip and slip hazards to make the ruck more enjoyable and slowed us down a bit as a result.

We did 2 miles in just under an hour under those conditions, which isn't all that bad.

Not a bad bit of exercise with a fun bunch of people. 

Weekend At Gainesville

Went to visit the younger heir at University of Florida last weekend. 

Little did I know when I booked the flight and trip that it was Homecoming Weekend.

Traffic was rather interesting as a result.

Made it through the traffic jams, and had a great weekend.  Took the kid shopping and errand running as I had a car and she did not.  We hit her favorite restaurants as well.

We also went to watch the Gators play the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

I got us some decent seats in the end zone.

A field goal narrowly passed over our heads.

A crowd of over 90,000, mainly Gator fans, with a sprinkling of diehard Mississippi State fans watched it with us. Lots of good-natured banter went back and forth.

It got rather loud whenever a penalty was called on the Bulldogs: 

 

The Gators seemed on the cusp of defeat when they were leading 23-21 in the 4th Quarter, with the Bulldogs inexorably advancing down the field into easy field goal range with little time remaining on the clock.

All seemed lost, and then the Bulldogs threw a pass and it was intercepted, and the Gators won!

 A very exciting game, and I''m now 2 wins watching for Gators football live.

It was a great visit and a great time with the younger heir.

No Kings, Just Oligarchs

Surprising absolutely no one, it turns out the "No Kings" rallies are heavily funded by the Left's oligarchs.

 Far from a grassroots protest, this one is the Left's fully-funded attempt at a color revolution when they can't tolerate losing an actual free and fair election.

No Surprise There

The Telegraph: Hamas is killing Palestinians. Unsurprisingly, the Left don’t seem to care

The Left celebrated when Hamas killed and kidnapped Jews, protested vociferously and created the false "genocide" canard when Israel fought back

 Now, the Left is totally silent now that Hamas is busy killing Arab civilians. Not even a whisper of condemnation.

No Jews (involved) so No News, of course. 

If It Were The Other Way 'Round

There would be protests, shops likely would be looted, cities might even get set on fire.

In a lovely example of Anarcho-Tyranny, and a two-tier justice system in Washington DC,  two of the Black teen assailants (of the multiple teens that committed the attack) of the white DOGE employee Edward Coristine were just sentenced.

The male teen was found guilty of felony assault, simple assault, robbery and attempted robbery in the incident, and the female was convicted of simple assault.

 They both got, yep, you guessed it:

Probation with no jail time. 

Fox News: Teens who assaulted former DOGE staffer get no jail time with probation-only sentences

Good to know you can commit felony assault, simple assault, robbery and attempted robbery in one attack and get probation and walk out of the courtroom free and clear.  Well, you won't.

Because this judge is all about rehabilitation rather than punishment for the two attackers in question.

Just imagine the outcome if the races in question were reversed.

Stupid Criminals: Do You Want To Get Shot? Because That Is How You Get Shot

The Detroit Free Press: Roseville man shot by police after rear-ending patrol SUV, pulling knife on officers

Yep, that is exactly how you do that. 

If you ram a police car right outside the police station, and then get out and advance on the officers with a knife in your hand, and refuse to drop the weapon, you are pretty much guaranteed going to get shot.

Attacker is now in hospital with charges pending. No other info on the attacker released at this point. 

Israeli Hostages Released

The last 20 living Israeli hostages have finally been returned. The bodies of the dead have yet to be exchanged.

The Detroit News: Living Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are freed as part of Gaza ceasefire

Unfortunately the release of the hostages meant releasing 1,900 Arabs many of whom were in prison for mass murder and other acts of terrorism.

The exchange rate as demanded by Hamas was practically 100 Arab prisoners for each living Israeli.

This may signal the start of a ceasefire that may hold for awhile.

Well, it will likely hold until Hamas or the PA feel frisky enough to break it again, just as Hamas broke the last ceasefire that was in place on October 7 2023. 

Dry Fire: Chasing The Beep

Since I was able to draw and hit the target at 7 yards in 1.17 seconds -- once, just once -- that means it is possible for me to do it.

So, I have decided that that is my current shooting skills challenge: A consistent hit on a 7-yard A zone in 1.17 seconds or less from concealment. 

This will not be easy, at least not for me, hence a proper challenge.

So today, I set the timer for a part time of 1.5 seconds in an effort to start getting my draw time more consistently lower.

After clearing the room of ammo, which is easy as ammo is never stored in that room, I then triple checked the pistol was clear, holstered up and began to practice.

Spent 25 minutes doing draws on an A-Zone at 7 yards away, trying to make sure I had a good sight picture onn the target and touching the trigger before the second beep.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes I rushed and did not have a good sight picture.

Stopped after getting it down to a consistent draw under 1.5 ending with a the dot right on the target and finger touching the trigger.

Next, I'm going to start chasing the 1.4. 

A decent bit of practice, and a step on the way towards the 1.17. 

A Ruck In The Woods-ish

After the range I went home, dropped things off in a secure manner, and did a ruck today on the nature trail.

The leaves are a-changing.

 

Overcast, but it was a very pleasant day to get out and move about. 

I did a 3 mile walk carrying 32 pounds in my ruck in the woods. I did it in an hour, with a varied pace, stopping or often walking at a slow and quiet pace to take the occasional snapshot of the wildlife.

  

 

Quite a number of deer were out asking to be photographed. 

Also got to see the ducks work on the synchronized mooning of passers-by.

 

It was a nice relaxing activity outdoors in very enjoyable weather.

Saturday Range Time

I've been doing some dry fire practice this week, every other night after work to see if I can show some improvement.

Went to the range this morning to find out.

 First did 18 rounds of single shot at 7 yards drawing from concealment.

Best time was 1.51 seconds, worst was 2.19 from way over-confirming the target after a miss of the A zone into the C area of the target.  Average of the 18 was 1.69, and four missing charlies, all off to the left of the A-Zone. 

 Not bad for a warm up.

Then on to some Bill Drills.

Average time for 6 Bills was 3.57 with the fastest at 3.22.

Then back to some 1x7s.

18 of them.  Fastest was a flow-state hit in 1.17!  Everything just jelled for that shot - from reacting to the beep, to the draw, to the presentation felt amazing. That was rather happy-making. 

Average of the 18 was 1.61 with 4 of the 18 being charlies. So I was showing some speed improvement in the second round. 

My fastest times other than the solitary 1.17 were 1.40, with two of those smacking the A-Zone, and the best average time for an 18-shot 1x7 string was 1.57.  Lots to work on there.

More Bill drills, with the best one of the day finally getting into the sub-3 second range with a 2.95 clean, which was nice.

So the dry fire is likely helping quite a bit as my times are down form before.  Will track this a bit more as I continue to practice and we will see how it goes. 

After finishing 200 rounds through the PDP,  I switched to the Tavor TS-12 and practiced some ammo select drills.  I worked on switching the ammo type form what was in the primary tube to a different ammo selection. 

I now have the action sequence down to do Ammo Selection Drills for the Tavor.

The sequence goes: 

1. Feed substitute ammo into a non-active tube.

2.  Rotate non-active tube to feeding position.

3. Smack the shell carrier lever.

4. Work the action, which removes the current round from the chamber and replaces it with the substitute ammo into the chamber.

5.  Fire the substitute round onto the target.

I find I am getting quicker with it with practice, and that adds to this shotgun's versatility.

It was a solid practice session at the range. 

In The Running For Detroit Mother Of The Year Award

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit student stabbed by classmate whose mother snuck a knife into school, officials say.

A student was stabbed by a classmate during school Wednesday at Gompers Elementary-Middle School, according to officials.

The stabbing occurred after the child’s mother reportedly gave her child a “small knife,” said a statement from the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

 How did the eighth grader get the knife in past the metal detectors?  Mom.

The mother entered the school through a metal detector that went off, the district said. The school’s security guard did not search the mother, according to DPSCD.

Bit of a security lapse there, and the guard was suspended for that breach in security.

Meanwhile, mom and child were arrested for the stabbing. 

AI: Don't Trust And Verify

Yet another set of attorneys are being properly sanctioned for using an AI tool that created fake caselaw and citations that the attorneys filed with the court.

The attorneys did not verify that the answer was actually truthful and the cited cases actually both existed and stood for the proposition the response claimed they did.

The citations in fact neither stood for that position nor even actually existed in reality as AI had completely fabricated them.

That is a problem. 

Filing fraudulent cases then led to appropriate sanctions on the attorneys when court staff checked and saw they did not actually exist. 

This is not the first time this has occurred, and you would think attorneys would have wised up by now and figured out that AI provides a response to your prompt, but that response is not necessarily going to be truthful and at times is completely fraudulent and it is incumbent on you to verify any answer it may give.

At this point if AI tells you the sky is blue, you need to stick your head out the door and verify it, otherwise you're going to miss the very visible oncoming storm that will bite you. 

When you're filing a document with the court, it is on you to verify what you are filing is truthful and correct and crucially that the citation supporting your position actually exist.

Too many attorneys are taking shortcuts trying to save time and using AI tools that do not give valid and correct answers but are not just spouting answers it thinks you want to hear, but are actively producing fabricated citations to back up the false information.

Since AI is this provably bad at providing factual answers for legal questions, what other things are people relying upon and using it for that also will be shown to be fabrications and false?

Back From T.O.

So the visit concluded, I got ready to return homeward.

Weather forecast was good, all electronic border crossing stuff was done, and I went to the Island.

I checked out of the FBO, did the pre-flight and got ready to depart.

I had the more complicated departure procedure with transition and arrival procedure already filed as I figured they would give it to me anyways, so might as well. 

They did.

So I did the run up and took off from Runway 26 and began the departure procedure, turning south over the Lake as I did so climbing to 2,000 feet which isn;t a lot when you're over the Big Lake.

 

However, Toronto Center soon climbed me higher and I was first cleared to 3,000 then 4,000 and finally up to 6,000.

The problem was a cloud layer that decided to be right at my flight level.

 The problem is this batch of clouds had an attitude problem. In that they liked to try and change my aircraft's attitude.

Yep, I was soon in IMC.

 

I would then be in and out of IMC for most of the flight, getting some light precip in the clouds and experiencing everything from mostly light chop to moderate chop, on  to moderate turbulence and one episode of severe turbulence which was not fun as it put the nose up at a very high angle and my airspeed started rapidly dropping into stall territory until it let up.

Trying to cloimb out didn;t help, I climbed up to 8,000 and was free for a bit but then a set of clouds from 10,000-5,000 feet loomed ahead.  so it was in and out of IMC for most of the flight.

On top of that, beverage selection was quite limited.

 Today's lunch was either a protein shake or the protein shake, so I chose the protein shake.  It was extra shaken from the turbulence as well.

Finally by the border the clouds lifted enough so 6,000 was just under the worst of it.

 A nice easy handoff to Selfridge ANGB controllers and across the border I went.

Then I got the ATIS at Pontiac and was handed off to Detroit Approach.

 Detroit Approach then had to give me some delay vectors as everybody had chosen to arrive at Pontiac just as I was coming in qnd he needed to create spacing to handle all the planes coming in.

The controller at Detroit Approach did an impressive job perfectly sequencing all the traffic in for landing with excellent separation and I was soon doing a visual straight in approach to 27L, which I backed up with an RNAV approach for practice as well.

I landed with a great landing, very nice and smooth and where I wanted to land.  I went to Customs, got cleared, and then taxi'd to the north side of the airport and shut down and took care of the plane.

That's 2.6 hours with .5 bouncing around in IMC, and a great landing. 

Saturday Flyday

 It was a beautiful day Friday when I headed to the airport after filing my flight plan and other required electronic paperwork, placed the required and recommended calls, and got ready to go.

I would be flying the Archer for this trip as the Dakota was down for maintenance. 

Soon, I was holding short of Runway 27R awaiting takeoff clearance.

 

I soon took off IFR, flying runway heading and climbing to 3,000, then Detroit Approach directed me to climb to 4,000, then turn due north and climb to 5,000.

Then I was turned on course and instructed to climb to my filed altitude of 7,000.  A fair bit of haze but it was a smooth flight and a beautiful day.

Handed off to Selfridge Air National Guard's friendly controllers, I soon crossed the border by Port Huron, flying by the Blue Water Bridge, which had a fair amount of traffic, and began talking with Toronto Control.

 

 

I then flew by Sarnia's airport.

 Then over the city of London.

Toronto Center, as I got closer to my destination then amended my flight plan by having me go past it to an initial waypoint for the localizer approach for Runway 26, way over the lake rather then direct to Toronto Island Airport.  I was then told to expect the visual approach from there and they started descending me down to 3,000 feet.

They gradually moved me closer to the shoreline, which I appreciated.

Soon I had the airport in sight and was heading for the downwind to Runway 26, maintaining 3,000 feet as instructed until I was passed over to Toronto Island Tower and had to start descending rapidly to pattern altitude.

 

It was a great view.

Then onto the downwind and an even better view of the skyline 

Turned a tight base  and made a great final approach - with speed and altitude just right, I came in for a great smooth landing. I let it roll a bit and was then off on Foxtrot taxiway and went to Stolport FBO.  I then got to play dodgeplane as  planes were coming out of the ramp as I was coming in on the same line on the ramp.

The Airport was hopping with an event where they were doing airplane rides etc, wiht lots of people wandering around, which accounted for why they had routed me a bit far over the lake towards the localizer and then had me come down quick and tightly enter for the landing.   All good.  I then made my Canada Customs arrival call and got my entry number. Then I got the plane all checked in at Stolport and then headed to the city.

That's 2.0 and one fantastic and scenic landing. 

Kudos To Grand Blanc Police Officers

Unlike other police agencies (cough Broward, cough Uvalde), when it came down to it, the Grand Blanc Police did their jobs, and did them very well.

The Detroit Free Press: Newly released body camera video shows Grand Blanc Twp. officers racing toward shooter

 The Detroit News: Two officers take on alleged Grand Blanc Mormon church shooter, bodycam video shows

The officers arrived quickly, took decisive action and advanced on the killer and put effective shots on him and stopped his rampage. Their rapid and effective intervention prevented this massacre from becoming even worse.

Well done indeed.

Peaceful Inner Struggle Right On Schedule

Unfortunately, just as expected given Muslims respect for holy days, there was an attack on Jews by Muslims on Yom Kippur with two killed and multiple people wounded in Manchester, United Kingdom.

 AP:  Attacker who killed 2 people and injured 3 at British synagogue is dead, police say

The attacker did a car ramming attack followed by a stabbing attack and was wearing an explosive device that did not go off. 

The attacker's name?  Jihad Al Shamie

Apparently he was not in the British Prevent system, which is rather an impressive oversight.  One would think someone named Holy War The Syrian should be proactively enrolled and kept under observation as he's kind telegraphing things just a tad. 

Police response time was seven minutes, and on arrival they did manage to kill one and wound one member of the synagogue in question, but at least they killed the attacker, so they have that going for them - as well as needing remedial marksmanship training ASAP.

Hamas And Holy Days

While the UN passed a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza for Ramadan, they made no effort to have one imposed for Yom Kippur.

Not that Hamas would have honored it in any case, as they certainly have a lack of respect for anyone else holy days, much less their own. The latest conflict, as you may remember, kicked off on October 7 with Hamas committing a massacre and kidnapping during a Jewish Holiday of Simchat Torah.

Sure enough, Hamas just did rocket attack during Yom Kippur  today.

Arutz Sheva: Rocket fire disrupts Yom Kippur silence in Ashdod

Sirens were sounded in the city of Ashdod and the surrounding area on Wednesday evening, at around 8:50 p.m., as Israelis observed Yom Kippur - the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

Residents of the area reported hearing explosions.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated that five projectiles were fired by Hamas terrorists from the northern Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.

No urgent resolution nor condemnation from the UN for this latest attack during the holiest day for Jews. 

Funny, that.

The Schumer Shutdown

Well Day 1 into the shutdown and so far the United States has continued to chug right along.  Indeed many would argue it is working better than before and saving money, too.

With essential government functions untouched, mayhaps everyday Americans will start asking themselves why are we are paying for all these non-essentials?

I'm not sure how well the Democrat's demands for funding for healthcare for illegal aliens and funding for NPR to end the shutdown are resonating with everyday Americans.  They're both rather poor hills to die upon.

Anyway, just gotta say, poor Senator Schumer. 

When even CNN is mocking him, reconsideration of the Schumer Shutdown be a thing to do:  Redstate: Watch: Rare Hilarious Moment on CNN When Senate Minority Leader Gets Owned Over Schumer Shutdown

I mean when you've lost CNN less than a day into your shutdown pageantry, and they use your own recent words about not doing shutdowns against you,  it may be time to reconsider the tactic. 

Or not.