Went and voted this morning.
Quite a strong turnout, with about a 25 minute wait but overall it went quite smoothly. Since this is a very Democrat-dominated area, make of that what you will.
Be informed, know who and what you're voting for, or who and what you're voting against, and have at it.
In a rather ironic twist, the perpetrator of vandalism at a New York Synagogue where "Kill Al Jews" and "Die Jew Rats" was written this week, and the setting of fires at seven other Jewish institutions has been identified as a Democratic activist and former New York City Hall intern who worked on anti-hate crime issues.
He may have worked on them, but seems to have used his experience there as a how-to guide.
The Daily Caller: NYC Synagogue Vandalism Suspect Is Former City Hall Anti-Hate Crime Intern
A rather dangerous leftist nutbar rather quite a number of Froot Loops short of a full cereal box. Interestingly, the arrest doesn't seem to be getting nearly as much play in the media compared to his acts of vandalism themselves, especially as it was blamed on the right side of the spectrum to gin up votes on Tuesday.
This Shabbat was a week after the attack in Pittsburgh.
Along with other synagogues around the USA, ours held a special service this Shabbat, appropriately hash tagged in this day of social media as #ShowUpForShabbat, both to show the community will not be intimidated and dissuaded from attending synagogue, but more importantly to together join in honoring and commemorating the eleven victims of the attack:
-Joyce Fienberg, 75;
-Richard Gottfried, 65;
-Rose Mallinger, 97;
-Jerry Rabinowitz, 66;
-Cecil Rosenthal, 59;
-David Rosenthal, 54, (brother of Cecil);
-Bernice Simon, 84;
-Sylvan Simon, 86, (husband of Bernice);
-Daniel Stein, 71;
-Melvin Wax, 88; and
-Irving Younger, 69.
Eleven memorial candles burned on the bima during the service.
We also said a prayer for healing of those injured in the attack and specifically named the brave officers wounded in responding to the attack:
Officers Daniel Mead, Michael Smidga, Anthony Burke and Timothy Matson all of whom were injured by gunfire as they attempted to stop the shooter at the synagogue.
Officer John Persin suffered a hearing injury, and Officer Tyler Pashel injured his knee during the incident.
May they all be swiftly healed.
There was a rather large turnout for a Shabbat morning service, and the sermon was very powerful in addressing that these kinds of attacks can happen as much as we did not believe they would, even here in the USA, as they have happened around the world. The sermon also was focusing on the need for good deeds and outspokenness to balance the evil of this attack and that these sort of attacks will not stop Jews being Jews and continuing to worship as we will.
A very meaningful singing by the congregation of God Bless America followed.
Quite a powerful service.
Ben and Jerry's, a rather leftist ice cream company, decided to make their leftism rather overt.
USA Today: Ben & Jerry's launches Donald Trump-inspired ice cream flavor, Pecan Resist
Because nothing sells ice cream like alienating half of your consumer market, natch.
The Internet was rather quick to cleverly mock this new flavor:
Yep, its the wokest ice cream out there.
The irony that at least a quarter of the funds will support the women's march headed by the anti-semitic and pro-sharia Linda Sarsour and other Farrakhan loving fellow travelers apparently escapes them. They've actually stated they don't have a problem with such associations. Rather tone-deaf with no enemies to the left I suppose.
I'll suggest the next flavor Ben and Jerry's can offer in their politically correct line:
They can call it Obamacares and offer a vegan, non-dairy, gluten-free treat with a tagline "If you like your ice cream you can keep your ice cream!"
Inside the container however there will be no ice cream. Instead inside will be a colored block of ice. Oh, and it'll cost double the normal pint.
Democrats will buy it like hot cakes.
So I was in court yesterday doing some Guardian Ad Litem work.
A case of ahead of mine became rather entertaining.
It was the first hearing in what looks like a very contested case over who gets to be guardian over X.
You have V and W who are represented by an attorney I've gone up against in trial and who is a very disagreeable personality, we'll call him D, short for well, Dumbass, and we'll see why in a moment. He's an older attorney that seems to think he walks on water.
There's also Y who wants to be X's guardian as well, and she's probably wondering why V and W have hired Dumbass. The GAL on that case is another attorney I know well and is a great guy with lots of experience, very professional and cordial, and has an impeccable reputation. We've dealt with each other before in cases and get along well.
The judge happens to have a lot of experience, likes to keep a smooth and efficient docket, and expects the attorneys to be prepared.
So, the judge has the GAL give his report. GAL is pissed at V and W, and I don't think I've ever seen him this disgusted before. V and W actually gave him tapes that showed V and W belittling X, attacking Y and basically beclowning themselves. How the heck they thought the recordings would help them is rather puzzling, though Y apparently doesn't take it lying down in those tapes and does respond, properly so in the mind of the GAL. So the GAL says that he's rather disgusted by V and W's behavior as evidenced by the tapes and recommends Y be the guardian/conservator based on their treatment of X and Y.
Dumbass then objects and states the GAL is misconstruing things on the tape.
The judge is rather bemused as she knows the GAL is a straight-shooter.
Judge: "So you're saying my GAL is not giving an accurate report?"
D: "No, he's not understanding what's on the tapes."
Judge: So did you listen to the tapes yourself then Mr. D?"
D: No.
Judge (a short and rather dangerous pause): Then how is it that you can claim my GAL is mistaken and attack his report when you haven't listened to them yourself, are you really just relying on your clients and not listening to the evidence yourself before the hearing?"
One wishes the deputy was around to hand out popcorn at this stage as this is now getting good. For whatever reason the deputy is not in the courtroom which is a shame as it could really have enhanced what happened next
D: No I didn't listen to them as this is the preliminary hearing and we're not at an evidentiary hearing yet.
Judge: You know I could rule on this right now had you listened to those tapes, but now we have to waste time with an issue that you can't even discuss at first hand.
D raising his voice: Judge this isn't my first rodeo.
Judge: Blink.
Judge: "What?"
D: (acquires shovel and begins to dig in deeper): I don't even need to listen to those tapes yet, this isn't my first rodeo and I know how this works.
Judge: "So you're basically wasting the court's time when we could resolve this right now but you don't even listen to the tapes your own client provided, why the heck not?"
D: Don't tell me how to practice Judge, in any case I was in a trial before and too busy to listen to them and don't need to now anyways.
Judge:"Is there a deputy available?, Why the heck did you take this case then if you were too busy?"
D: Pointing his finger at the judge, "This isn't my first rodeo, I know how this works!"
Judge: You don't ever point a finger at me. You've disparaged my GAL and wasted the court's time. I'm setting this for an evidentiary hearing and I expect you to be ready and there will be no adjournments, is that clear?"
He then gets his order and leaves. As he leaves a deputy shows up and chats with the judge for a sec and heads out of the courtroom following him. Didn't see him get hit with contempt but it would certainly be fitting.
In the case I had with D previously he had the stupidity to yell at the court's attorney, which certainly did not help his case. At that trial, all evidentiary rulings that could have possibly gone either way were solidly in my favor. Not saying his yelling and acting like a jerk was the main cause but it's likely. Clearly he didn't learn form that experience.
Meanwhile, his current clients need to get a new attorney asap, as I can guarantee that the judge will remember this incident and D's name is now mud in front of that court and anything he does from now on in front of that judge will be not very kindly received and his clients who apparently are not the sharpest tools in the shed anyways are hosed.
What's a PBJ-1 you ask?
It looks familiar, doesn't it?
The PBJ-1 is the World War 2 Navy/Marine Corps nomenclature for the B-25 Bomber. In World War 2 there were more B-25s produced than the Army Air Corps needed, so they sent some to the Navy, who then gave them to the Marines. The Marines used them for anti-ship and close air support missions.
The PBJ-1 instead of the clear nose had machine-guns installed for additional firepower for anti-ship and marine close air support missions.
Devil Dog is a B-25 that was restored and converted to the PBJ-1 variant by the Commemorative Air Force as there are no existing original PBJ-1s. The aircraft is named for the original Devil Dog that was lost in the Pacific with all its crew during a night operation.
Original or not, Devil Dog is still an absolutely stunning aircraft.
With the chance of winning today's 1.6 Billion prize being much less than the chance of being struck by lightning or bitten by a shark, may the odds ever be in my favor. Ok, yours too, and if I win the drinks will be on me. After taxes, its around $800 million, and I'm ok with that, just saying.
This reminds me of a prior lottery craze when Moishe was seen at morning prayers a week before the big lottery drawing.
During silent prayer he couldn't help it but burst out: "Please Lord, let me win the lottery!".
The congregation was rather aghast.
This continued every day all week and as the lottery with his plea becoming more and more fevered, much to the consternation, shock, and disapprobation of the congregation.
Finally on the day of the drawing, with the most beseeching and loudest plea yet, Moishe belted out "Please Lord, let me win the Lottery!"
Suddenly there was a rumble of thunder and then a heavenly voice boomed:
"MOISHE, I'M TRYING BUT YOU HAVE TO MEET ME HALFWAY....."
"BUY A TICKET!"
Good luck folks.
Not only were there airplanes and vehicles on display, there were also reenactors that put on a show.
A bunch dressed in Marine period uniforms staged an attack on an enemy hay bale strongpoint.
The highlight of the infantry assault was the flame thrower demo. An Amerikaner Flamen Werfer, it werfed a whole lot of flammen.
It lit up the enemy hay bales nicely and completely. Even from quite a distance away, you could feel the heat it gave off. Very impressive.
After the demo, one of the airport fire trucks came and spent quite a time and a considerable amount of spray putting the fire out.
That was a neat display of World War 2 weaponry.
A real crowd-pleaser was at the airshow.
Fifi the B29.
Not content to be static, FiFi's engines were turned over and she took to the sky.
Then back for a landing:
Note the very nose-high attitude on landing to protect the front gear, and check out the skid on the rear to protect the tail from a tail strike.
As she landed, you got a nice idea of her size as she rolled by an 8 seat Cessna 421C.
The presence of a flying B-29 is something to behold. She had a glorious sound and impressive size, watching Fifi fly is experiencing living history at its best.
After the visit to the swamp on Sunday we headed off to a nice Vietnamese restaurant nearby for some lunch.
Then after a power nap, we loaded up Murph's Kayak and headed to Bayou St John to go kayaking. I rented a kayak form the vendor there and it was a very smooth transaction.
Running through the city, the Bayou offers a very calming and quiet water experience.
We did a limbo under the first bridge as the water level was pretty high, but from then on it was pretty smooth paddling.
The we carried on up the bayou, passing by some very nice waterfront houses, including some still abandoned since Katrina.
We passed under a bridge where some fellows were fishing for crabs by hanging traps and lines from the bridge.
Then as dusk approached we realized we were about an hour out with 45 minutes remaining in the rental, so we picked up the pace a it.
We made it back with time to spare, beating out some other kayakers that had bene in front of us and returnign the kayak on time.
A darn good time was had, and it was a nice change of pace from the bar-hopping and burlesque shows. Of course, we had to head out for some food and celebratory drinks afterwards.
No trip to New Orleans is complete without a journey to its surrounding swamps and bayous.
So we headed off to the Barataria Preserve Sunday, after recovering somewhat from Saturday's rather epic day.
In the preserve, there were gators to see:
One moving through the swamp:
One close to the trail:
The gator stayed there sunning itself without a care or concern for the people walking by along the boardwalk close enough to reach out and pet it, which wisely none did.
Then on the way back along the trail, there was a danger noodle that was danger close:
The water moccasin was right on the trail and would have easily been stepped upon, and did not seem bothered by people walking by and refused to leave.
So Murph, of course, grabbed a stick and chivvied him off
The snake could tell when he wasn't wanted and headed off the trail for the water, flicking its tongue in annoyance.
A very nice walk through the swamp with an opportunity for some good up-close pictures of the native wildlife.
After the air show we took a breather and then headed out to a participate in my first Second Line parade ever.
It could have been held by the Crewe of Mew - it was a parade in honor of a cat.
Not just any cat, but an unnamed feline that managed to zap itself and knock out power to 70,000 people on one of the hottest days of the year.
Many in the parade felt the cat was really sticking it to "the man", and the parade was in the cat's honor.
In short, any excuse for a party will do in New Orleans.
So we headed down to where the parade was to start.
The brass band had assembles, and the crowd grew but the parade couldn't start until the police escort arrived.
Some but not all of the police escort arrived, so the starting time of 9:00 pm got pushed back further and further.
There were quite an array of characters ready to go:
The black cat:
People who thought they were cats:
Even dogs were there to honor the Zap Cat.
Then the rest of the escort arrived and the parade got started. The band and the banner led the way.
Quite a crowd paraded to honor the zapped cat.
Much bar-hopping occurred as the parade proceeded in fits and starts over 2 and a half miles.
Lot of fun was hard, my liver was exercised severely once more and thus is growing stronger, and my first second-line parade had taken place.
After such a venture where do you go to get some food to balance out all the alcohol? Why to the Tacocat Food Truck of course!
Those were some tasty, tasty tacos.
Why this weekend in New Orleans?
Well aside from cheap airfare and an opening in my schedule to get out for a guy's weekend out, there was something cool going on.
Lots of land vehicles on static displays that would soon be moving in a demonstration.
Aircraft on static display, many of which wpuld be flying in the airshow:
There were interviews with World War 2 veterans, which was quite interesting.
Singers in period costume sang the classic songs of the 40's, and then the airshow kicked off with them leading the crowd in the Star Spangled Banner.
While the ladies sang the national anthem, a pair of F-15s from the 159th Fighter wing came over with perfect timing to do a flyby just as the last note was sung.
They then performed a few passes, including some in the pattern with deliberate missed approaches.
Then they left on afterburner to the delight of the crowd.
A great way to open an airshow.
Many more pics from this airshow to come.
Arrived Friday after work, and a weekend of merriment, fun, stuff to see and do with Murphy's Law, and outright debauchery is well underway.
Good flight in on the Greyhound of the air, Spirit Airlines, but it was on time, passengers were happy and well-behaved and many were well lubricated even before arriving in the Big Easy.
On arrival Murph met me at the airport and we headed off to dinner at Siberia and then to a bar for some drinks.
Then off to a cabaret and burlesque show to enjoy the music, yea that's the ticket.
Actually they are pretty talented musicians and the other talent wasn't bad on the eyes either.
Then a bit of wandering around bar hopping and going to a party held at a bar and drinking until it was well into the wee hours and time to crash and prep for the next day's adventure.
My Liver to me: Remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint.Me: Shut up and hold my beer.
My Liver: That’s what I’m talking about!
The poor liver is getting quite a workout - more beer has been consumed in two days than I've drank in about 4 months.
So a progressive writer for the Colbert Report by the name of Ariel Dumas (apparently now to be pronounced dumb-ass) decided to post that she was at least glad that Justice Kavanaugh's reputation was ruined in the slime fest against him:
Not she said "we", that she and her media buddies had a hand in it, which of course she did.
The unfounded and not credible, and factually inconsistent accusations were hurled at him at the last minute to derail or at least delay his nomination. They now seem to be rapidly fading off to "oh, never-mind" territory now that he's been confirmed, and one would think if they were true such allegations would have continued to be pursued and investigated but the accusers now are recanting or deciding not to move any further forward with their claims, it certainly looks like a put-up job just to stop his nomination and for no other purpose.
The downside of course is that in the name of partisan politics, a man who is by all reports and every measure a boy scout has had his reputation smeared, his family threatened and his honor besmirched. The proggies while sad at being unable to stop his nomination by hook or by crook, seem content to have set the smear as well as the warning to anyone in the future that if they get nominated for a position as a Republican they can expect this sort of unverifiable and ill-defined accusations to happen to them.
And thus, a happy tweet that the aim of ruining his life had been achieved was sent out as a triumphant statement.
Making such tweets virtue signals to their tribe that the person is a brave outspoken individual who is very woke.
But, instead of receiving the expected accolades on how brave she is, she apparently got some very appropriate flack for it, she did the standard backpedal of claiming it was all a joke.
Since she's a writer for the Colbert Show it does rather fit the pattern well - throw a partisan bomb out there and if it fizzles then just walk it back claiming it's all just a joke, man. It fits the overall pattern of the media and those who work within it being a tool of Democrat and Progressive party politics.
Anyone actually believe she was joking rather than emoting?
Didn't used to mean beating your wife with a hockey stick.
But with Canada's embrace of Syrian refugees, it's becoming a thing. So is murder.
I had been contemplating witting a blog post on the murder of 13-year-old Marrisa Shen, in Vancouver, killed by a Syrian Refugee in Canada, who had been in the country all of three months before committing the murder. All the fabled vetting failed, and failed rather badly.
However, Daniel Greenfield at Sultan Knish wrote an article that said it all far better than I ever could, so please click and read it.
One thing that strikes me in his article, amongst all the hand-wringing of the do-gooders he quotes in the article who figured nothing ever bad would happen, is their certainty that they certainly shouldn't stop bringing more refugees in and these are just all isolated incidents.
After all you can't make an omelet without cracking some eggs, and Shen and others victims were just eggs cracked for the omelet of Canadian tolerance of tolerating the intolerant and the necessary celebration of diversity.
The amazing defense of the indefensible in the name of compassion and tolerance is rather amazing.
But back to hockey night in Canada, from Daniel Greenfield's article:
Mohamad Rafia, a Syrian refugee beat his wife with a hockey stick for half an hour and then claimed that he didn’t know it was illegal. “More should have been done to educate him,” his interpreter insisted.
It used to be that ignorance of the law was no excuse.
Indeed, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that beating your wife (or anyone else for that matter) with a hockey stick is wrong, m'kay? It's pretty much a given that it is bad by its very nature.
It's funny in a rather unfunny way how the advocates against violence against women are strangely silent or make excuses when it is a member of a protected class doing the beating. How about that Keith Ellison, right?
Part of this is a deliberate diminishing and loss of confidence in Western Civilization, where other cultures that hold women in less esteem cannot be judged comparably or asserted to be inferior to Western Civ in any way.
To say that Western culture is bad and shouldn't pass judgment on other cultures tends to create some problems. After all, if Western Civ is bad, how dare its adherents criticize other cultures?
Canada now merrily removes status of its founders for not conforming to present SJW ethos. But at the same time Canada pointedly ignores or excuses a far more barbaric import in the present with a trope that they simply don't know any better, or an excuse that they just have a different culture which should be respected and shouldn't be judged or dared to be compared, or its just another isolated incident.
It used to be that Western Civilization, for all its faults, did quite a bit to protect women, and it still does for that matter, and continues to improve. The evil of "Patriarchy" and all that, I know.
But it used to be when faced with another culture that held women's lives of far less value, Western Civilization and its leaders would step forth and yes, even with all its faults, assert the superiority of Western culture, state affirmatively that the other culture was wrong, and thereby save live.
General Sir Charles James Napier, when told that the burning of widows at their husbands funerals in India was a cultural practice that should be respected had this to say:
"Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."
Canada could use someone of the stature of Sir Charles today.
Had an interesting call from a potential client.
Fellow was recently ticketed in two different jurisdictions for both careless driving and driving while license suspended in each jurisdiction withing a few days of each other.
To say he's a slow learner would be an understatement.
But wait, it gets better. I asked him how did his license get suspended in the first place? After all, if we can clear up the underlying offense we can start to make this better....
His reply "I've never had a license".
As in, never ever.
Yep, he's driving merrily around without a license and driving badly enough to get stopped for it on the regular.
He now has 6 tickets this year alone for driving suspended.
You would think that after 6 such tickets he'd figure out that continuing to drive is contra-indicated, but it doesn't seem to be getting through.
People like this are why your insurance goes up. It's also why you want to bump up your uninsured and underinsured driver coverage on your policy as the base amount will be insufficient to protect you if you get into an accident with one of these bozos.
Since he most recently got stopped by the Michigan State Police in one of the two jurisdictions, he'll be dealing with the County prosecutor on this, a prosecutor who is rather known for taking a dim view of such things.
Most likely he will not be retaining me, as all his money will be going to the rather extensive fines he's about to face, not to mention potential jail time. So far the past few tickets he just paid fines and went right back to driving, Jail, which is now likely, may just get it through his head that he needs to stop.
His village is calling and wants him back, badly.
