No, Don't Do That

No, you really can't do this:

Fox2 Detroit: White Lake Township man who fatally shot burglar charged with manslaughter 

Months after a homeowner fired shots at several individuals breaking into his detached garage in White Lake Township, the 24-year-old resident has been charged with manslaughter, assault, and two other felony counts.

The details make it even worse.

He allegedly used a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and fired two shots into the garage through a windowless locked door. As the burglary suspects fled, Knapton then fired five more shots before going inside his house. 

So, 6 teens and apparently 1 adult broke into his detached garage, which had been broken into on multiple other occasions. Clearly raising his ire. But, his response is absolutely wrong.

In Michigan, you can legally use deadly force in only three circumstances - none of which were present here. 

In addition, the garage was detached so you don't get castle privilege for that. 

Even worse, he then randomly fired through a windowless door not identifying his targets.

On top of that, He did this in a county with a very anti-gun prosecutor. 

His situation can best be described as started with an F and ending in a ed. 

Dude should have called the police and at most threw a pepper spray grenade into the garage and called it a day. 

If You Want To Get Something Done, Sometimes You Gotta Do It Yourself

But you know, not that. Really.

The Jewish News:  Longtime Detroit Fertility Doctor Used Own Sperm to Inseminate Patients, DNA Tests Show

They’d both been conceived via artificial insemination at the Detroit practice of Dr. Philip Peven. Lynn’s sperm donor was an intern at Grace Hospital around the time she was born. And Jaime’s biological father, as suggested by DNA tests, was Dr. Peven himself.  

. . .

Dr. Peven, 104, delivered more than 9,000 babies during his career. But according to his son, Roger Peven, he has not taken a DNA test himself to help verify how many biological children he has.  

Yeah, there are just some things you really shouldn't do yourself.

Massachussets Followed The Same Insane Nursing Home Playbook

Just like Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, Massachusetts followed the same plan of ordering nursing homes to take in patients infected with the Wuhan Virus - with all experiencing the expected results of such an order - a massive die off among those most vulnerable to the Wuhan virus who were all packed together in nursing homes:

Boston Herald: Howie Carr: Nursing home pipeline to Beacon Hill

Of the 5,141 virus deaths in Massachusetts, 3,095 have occurred in the state’s nursing homes — more than 60%, double the percentage even in New York.

Who came up with the moronic idea for this order, and why did all these Democrat-controlled states jump to run with it in lockstep?

Little Mikey Better Get Himself A Food Taster

Rumor has it that Mike Bloomberg is considering Hillary Clinton as his Vice Presidential pick.

That's a very bad plan for a load of reasons.

Most importantly, a Vice Presidential pick these days (see Biden, Pence) is supposed to be assassination insurance, not assassination assurance.

Monorail! Now With Proposed New Expensive Connections To Toledo and Monroe!

The fever dreams of urban mass-transit planners and their love of trains is so quaint. At least it is until you realize taxpayers will be on the hook for these vanity choo-choo projects.

The Detroit Free Press: New 110-mph passenger train could connect Detroit, Toledo and Ann Arbor

A new study presented to Toledo officials looked at a rail concept — dubbed the T because of its layout — that would connect Detroit, Toledo and Ann Arbor and cities in between.

If it were built, you could leave Detroit and get to Toledo in about an hour, about the same as if you drove straight down I-75, assuming you didn't run into any construction detours, rush-hour traffic, major accidents — or make any stops to top off your tank with gas.

Toledo City Councilman Chris Delaney, who has championed the study, said Wednesday that the T would not be just for "the luxury of being able to board a train." He viewed passenger rail service as a means to longer-term economic development and prosperity.

Like we've never heard that before.

Note in the article they plan to use existing freight rail tracks, for at least some of the run. This means that their claimed 80-100 mile speed will not be so fast in reality as they're going to have to stop and wait for freight trains and no, you really won't get there as fast as you would in your own motor vehicle. Cost is estimated at $390-$524 million, and given the cost overruns we've seen on similar train projects, you can safely double those estimates to get an idea of the true cost for this project.

Of course, once you get to Toledo or Monroe, you're going to need to call an Uber or rent a car or something to get around, certainly negating the savings of taking a train, the ticket price for which will almost assuredly be higher than the mileage cost for driving that distance or will be heavily subsidized by you up front from your taxes - probably both.

These planners love the idea of train projects - nice, expensive, programs with lots of opportunity for graft, vanity naming rights, and union feather-bedding combined with their disdain of the proles for daring to drive themselves where and how they wish. Reality tends to indicate people don't actually want these trains to nowhere.

And an excellent example of the hand-waving and excuses made when these rail projects don't quite work as expected in reality is displayed in this very article when it looks at the regions latest choo-choo project that cost over $182 million:

In its first year, the QLINE was expected to deliver 3,000 to 5,000 rides a day, and it hit that goal for part of the year. But from November through March, average daily ridership dipped to 2,700, potentially because of colder weather.

Nice slight of hand there "potentially because of colder weather". Yes, because riders don't like to be in enclosed vehicles during colder weather, right? Not so much. Ridership of Qline didn't decline because of the weather, ridership actually dropped when riders had to actually pay for a train that moved as fast as a slow walk for all of 3.3 miles.

Also note that in order for QLine to break even, they need 5,000 rides per day, not 2,700 meaning guess who is going to pay the difference?

$524 million would be far better put to use repairing the multitude of potholes, bridges and infrastructure that already lies along that route. Not nearly as sexy, there's no opportunity to rename the route for favored persons or entities in that, and no guarantee of continued subsidies to operate it. But, people will actually use it to go where they want, how they want. Urban planners hate that.

Using The Internet To Shop For Illegal Substances Is Not A Good Idea

Apparently one fellow's bright idea to get drugs is to order a synthetic opiod from China on the "dark web".

He then takes some and promptly dies.

When your street-side pharmacist is now located a few thousand miles away, there's not much opportunity to complain about the product nor to check on the reputation of the provider.

The Detroit Free Press: White Lake man, 19, dies from injecting 'dark web' opioids

“Labs in Asia make this stuff and sell it,” McNulty said. “People have no idea what they’re actually getting and shooting up; there’s a lot of this synthetic stuff around and it's very dangerous.”

No kidding. The buyer had no idea about the reputability of the manufacturer, the product is being bought clandestinely, and there is no guarantee as to what is even in the powder you're about to place in your body or if it is even what you think it is.

What could possibly go wrong with that plan?

Seriously, Don't Try This At Home Kids

As the time comes near for Americans to make joyous festive noises celebrating our independence comes a cautionary tale:

The Detroit News: Walled Lake man dies after putting firework next to head

Walled Lake — A 47-year-old man died Sunday night after jokingly placing a powerful firecracker to his head, believing that it wasn't lit. It was.

As one would expect, alcohol was involved, as was the reckless handling of a powerful firework. That's one very dead man killed in a most stupid and avoidable act of negligence, in front of his family no less. It's a serious waste of a life for no reason whatsoever.

Just like firearms, fireworks and alcohol do not mix.

While a low order explosive, fireworks are still explosive devices and need to be handled with care and a healthy respect for the power they contain.

Be safe and careful out there and enjoy setting off your fireworks, but don't let your celebration end up as a warning to others of what not to do.

How About "No" For An Answer?

NBC Miami: Diver's Father Wants Tampa-Area Eagle Nest Sink Cave Closed After Deaths

After the completely self-inflicted, negligent and totally avoidable deaths of a father and son cave diving, the surviving grand-father and father of the duo wants the cave closed to all divers.

A Florida man wants the state to close an underwater cave system after his son and grandson died there in a diving accident on Christmas Day.

Chester Spivey Jr. says the 300-foot deep Eagle Nest Sink cave in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area is too dangerous for diving. Thirty-five-year-old Darrin Spivey and his 15-year-old son, Dillon Sanchez, were found dead Wednesday.

No the cave should not be closed, and No, it is not too dangerous for diving by trained and experienced divers.

It is however too dangerous to un-certified and untrained divers as in this case.

Understand that when these two proceeded un-certified and untrained to get into the cave system they had to pass by this sign:

Warnings do not get much clearer than that.

When you're dumb enough to ignore them and proceed past that sign without training and knowing how to handle the cave, you're proceeding at your own risk and it is likely that you will indeed die. Even a seven-year-old on reading that sign knew it meant you don't go past it.

We don't permanently shut down highways when idiot fathers get drunk and kill themselves and their kids while DWI because they ran off the road at a curve. We don't close down bridges because people jump off of them. Similarly we shouldn't close a cave system because some idiots sadly decided it was a good location to commit suicide.

The father/grandfather is clearly grieving their untimely and unnecessary deaths, and likely very much in denial that his offspring sadly died of a case of terminal stupidity.

However, he, like far too many others, instead of placing the blame correctly on the person(s) making poor decisions when a tragedy strikes, is seeking to shift the blame to an inanimate object.

Hopefully saner minds prevail and the cave will remain open, and their deaths can be used as a lesson for others to learn to not go into caves without training, the appropriate gear, and a dive plan.

This Is Why You Do Not Cave Dive Without Knowing How To Cave Dive.

People who aren't trained in Cave Diving should not try to go diving in a cave.

The main cause of death in cave diving is untrained divers venturing into overhead environments and dying there - typically due to silting out the environment and being unable to see the exit or otherwise getting lost and then running out of breathing gas when they don't even know how to make a survivable gas consumption plan and dive plan.

The Detroit Free Press: Father, teen son drown during 'extremely dangerous' underwater cave dive

Reading the article, we find out they had just got new gear and decided to test it by going into a cave. To add to the predictable disaster, the father was not a certified cave diver and the son was not even a certified diver.

The result is a Christmas Day forever ruined for their fiancee and mother.

A father and son who went diving on Christmas Day with new dive equipment were found dead in an underwater cave at a north Florida wildlife refuge.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office said Thursday that Holly King called authorities on Christmas after her fiancé, Darrin Spivey, and his son Dillon Sanchez didn't return home after a planned dive.

Sanchez had received new diving equipment for Christmas, and the two men wanted to try it out, King told deputies.

The men had told King that they were going to dive the 300-foot deep Eagle Nest Sink cave in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area in western Hernando County, about an hour and a half north of downtown Tampa.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sign near the pond entrance to the cave reads: "Cave diving in this area is extremely dangerous — even life threatening!! Do not dive unless you are a certified cave diver!!"

According to the Sheriff's office, Spivey was a certified diver; however, he was not a certified cave diver. Sanchez was not a certified diver, authorities said.

So they ignored the posted warnings, didn't know their equipment, and I guarantee didn't have a guidelines and then headed into one of the more complex cave systems in Florida.

To put it in firearms terms: They went into a gun store, bought a pistol, and then without even knowing how to load it challenged Jerry Miculek to a shoot-out thinking they would beat him. They lost.

Owning dive gear does not make you a diver.

Being a certified open water diver does not make you an overhead environment diver.

Do not go into overhead environments without training in how to handle them, a minimum of three lights, a guideline and a competent dive plan. No cave is worth your death.

Don't Greenlight Red Light Cameras In Michigan

Red Light Cameras are more about revenue than their claimed benefit of traffic safety.

Of course, in these revenue hungry times, even a Michigan Republican is pushing to allow communities to install them:

The Detroit News: Bill would let Michigan install red-light cameras

A measure recently introduced by Republican Rep. Wayne Schmidt of Traverse City would give local communities the power to put cameras in place.

I'm sad to see a Republican pushing for what is solely a revenue enhancing measure (that will likely decrease traffic safety at the expense of Michigan drivers. Shame on Wayne Schmidt for proposing such a stupid idea.

How do we know its simply a revenue grab? Well, under the details of the bill as reported:

Drivers wouldn't be penalized for citations that result from the camera on their driving record or toward their insurance.

Not about safety, just about increased revenue from fines. If passed, except communities that adopt them to start manipulating traffic light timing to catch more drivers going through red lights.

Michigan shouldn't succumb to such foolishness under the allure of some revenue from red-light fines.