A Cunning Plan to Catch Druggies in Genesee County

The Genessee County Sheriff has come up with a rather clever ruse to catch druggies.

The Sheriff put up a sign that reads:

Sheriff's Narcotic Checkpoint

The Sheriff's deputies then proceed to nail cars that do U-turns or otherwise break the law in a hurry to get away,

Of course, there is no drug checkpoint ahead as drug checkpoints are unconstitutional, so there's nothing to truly fear from the signs, unless you're both dumb, ignorant of your rights, and carrying drugs.

This hasn't stopped the ACLU and others from complaining.

MLive.com: Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell defiant, says he won't take down drug checkpoint signs

County Sheriff Robert Pickell said he won't stop using signs that warn drivers of drug checkpoints despite questions about the legality of the practice.

"People ought not be concerned if they are not carrying drugs ... They shouldn't have anything to fear," Pickell said today.

County Prosecutor David Leyton and the American Civil Liberties Union have raised questions about drug checkpoints.

The sheriff said he is not using a drug checkpoint despite posting signs along I-69 and elsewhere that warn of a "narcotics checkpoint" and "drug dog in use."

"If anybody (is saying otherwise) they are just lying," he said.

The county drug team -- known as The Posse -- is making traffic stops around the signs, including stopping drivers who make U-turns or commit other traffic violations to avoid passing through the area.

"I don't have checkpoints," Pickell said. "It's no different than a guy who puts up a 'Beware of Dog' sign and doesn't have a dog."

Ok, the whole "you have nothing to fear if you're not doing anything wrong", is a rather off-putting. That statement often covers some real civil rights violations and concerns, but this sign really isn't one of them.

This is more like the invitations to felons with oustanding warrants to come get free tickets to ball games and the like.

The sign is neither a search nor a seizure, and the Sheriff is just cleverly allowing dumb criminals to help get themselves caught.

Former Chairman of the Oakland County Democratic Party Pleads No Contest in Election Fraud Case

The Democrat Fake Michigan Tea Party affair just made the news again.

As related by RightMichigan and as reported in the Detroit Free Press:

Michael McGuinness, former chairman of the Oakland County Democratic Party, pleaded no contest last week to charges associated with a fake Tea Party scheme hatched for the 2010 elections.

Now for the next Democrat to face the music:

His alleged accomplice Jason Bauer, who worked for the county Democratic party, faces a Dec. 8 trial on the same charges.

Hot Pursuit - You're Doing it Wrong.

The Detroit News: Police: Detroit carjackers steal victims' other car after first one breaks down

Detroit police are looking for men who stole a vehicle that would shortly after break down during a chase from the victims, prompting them to steal the vehicle the victims were pursuing them in.

The men first stole a 1995 Chevy Suburban about 4:45 a.m. Monday from a home near Seven Mile and Riverview.

The occupants of the home, men ages 36 and 31 years old, chased after the Suburban and another suspect, who was driving a Pontiac Grand Am, police said.

During the chase, the stolen Suburban broke down and the man driving it fired at least one shot at the victims, who were in a Dodge Stratus, police said. The thieves then carjacked the victims and sped off in the Stratus, police said.

Yep, read that again, it's worth chuckling over twice.

Seriously, the victims decide to chase after the stolen car and then get their chase car jacked by the same thieves they were chasing.

Certainly this can be blamed on a lack of forethought before deciding to engage in what appears to be an unarmed pursuit of criminals. Such a pursuit is generally an idea that doesn't turn out too well.

Remember folks, "They went that-away, Let's go get 'em!" is not a coherent plan.

You gave a former Maoist What?!?

Instapundit relates that former Maoist EU Commission President Barroso is trying to propose a law to criminalize certain financial activities in order to provide some scapegoats for the hash he and other EU-crats have made of the EUconomy.

Who made a former Maoist the president of the EU Commission with the power to pass laws that can affect all of Europe and require EU nations to pass similar laws?

What the heck is the EU thinking?

Look, you do not give "former" arsonists easy access to matches and gasoline and unattended buildings. Similarly you do not give "former" Maoists positions as President of the EU Commisison and access to that much power.

The results are never good. It's that simple.

Has Consumers Factored La Nina Into Their Forecast?

The Detroit News: Consumers Energy says drop in heating costs ahead

Consumers Energy says it expects its natural gas customers to pay less for their home heating bill this winter.

The Jackson-based utility made the announcement on Monday.

Consumers projects heating costs will be about 3 percent less due to lower fuel prices. The estimate is based on normal weather patterns.

I was happy hearing this until I read Watts Up With That?: NCEP ensemble forecast shows deep La Niña coming.

I was looking forward to saving some heating expenses, but I'm assuming a deep La Niña isn't what Consumers would consider a normal weather pattern.

Expect another nasty winter folks.

Recent Reads to Recommend

For a sobering work of nonfiction, Theodore Dalrymple's Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses is a must read. It is a selection of his essays on the decline of British society. Written prior to the London riots of 2011, it reads quite prophetic now.

Mr. Dalrymple writes what are quite simply brilliant and erudite essays. He can draw on a classical education that seems to effortlessly move from how Shakespeare matters today, to Virginia Wolf and the removal of moral constraints on the British working classes and beyond. His work is a joy to read and you cannot fail to enjoy his prose and learn something new in each and every chapter.

His writing is a fantastic commentary on Britain today and how it came to be the place where Great Britain used to be.

Highly recommended if you want to understand what happens when a bunch of progressives grab ahold of a culture and give it a hard left twist.

In the Fiction Department, I just finished Tom Kratman's Countdown: The Liberators



Countdown certainly does feature much of what Tam describes in her review of it as construction porn - the building and staffing of a Regiment, its base camp and all sorts of interesting accoutrements needed for the mission. It is a fast-paced read with some pretty funny one-liners throughout.

Among the construction and deconstruction action sequences, the book has a lot of rather biting commentary on history and world affairs today.

Kratman's commentary ranges from commentary on progressives and the results of their activities, to piracy and how to rather decisively deal with it, to gays in the military. Think the lighter serious bits of Dalrymple combined with high explosive.

Highly recommended for a fun light read.

Home Guntinkering Do's and Don'ts

For the Do's

The PA-63 has a terrible stock trigger pull, requiring fingers of steel to get a shot off in double action.

So I purchased a Wolff Gunsprings Hammer spring pack and decided to change the spring.

I went with the middle weight 11 lb spring.

Changing the hammer spring is simplicity itself:

1. Ensure the PA63 is unloaded and remove the magazine and remove the grips;
2. Tap out the pin on the bottom of the frame;
3. Take off the plug at the base of the frame now freed by the removed pin;
4. Take out the old spring, replace with the new spring making sure the hammer strut is inside the spring;
5. replace the plug and pin, and screw the grips back on.

The whole process takes maybe 5 minutes.

The improvement is immediate and remarkable.

The PA-63 is now practically PPK-like in trigger quality, I may go to the 9lb just to see if it becomes even better once I test it fully at the range.

If you own a PA-63, you really owe it to yourself to get a new hammer spring set and get it installed.

As for the Don'ts:

The Glock factory extended slide stop release for the 3 pin Glock frame does not work when installed in a two pin Glock frame.

It will cause the slide to lock open after every shot which is rather embarrassing.

Ask me how I know.

Dollar Coins, Dollar Coins Everywhere But No One Wants to Use Them

The Baltimore Sun: Dollar coins piling up at Baltimore reserve bank

a dimly lit underground vault a block from Camden Yards, the Federal Reserve is holding millions of dollars in cash that nobody wants.

The money — stored in cloth and plastic sacks piled high on metal shelving units — is in the unloved form of dollar coins, some of them never used. But a 2005 law requires the reserve bank to keep ordering coins regardless of its stockpile, and so vaults in Baltimore and around the country are filling up.

Americans just don't appreciate dollar coins, even if they do cost less to make and last longer, not to mention actually make the US Treasury profit.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office reported in March that switching from paper to metal would save taxpayers $5.5 billion over 30 years.
....
It costs 30 cents to make a $1 coin, but the Fed purchases it for face value — and the U.S. Treasury pockets the difference. In 2010, the Mint put about 400 million $1 coins into circulation, which means the government made a profit of about $280 million.

We prefer greenbacks to the coins as they're lighter to carry and more convenient, and the shiny golden coins slightly bigger than a quarter don't feel like dollars to people.

Until the government makes a law and ends production of the $1 banknotes,as occurred in Canada when the loonie was rolled out, you're going to see this problem continue as people choose not to use them. From the Susan B. Anthony, to the Sacajawea, and now we're looking at a surplus of Rutherford B. Hayes dollars as people stick to paper.

Beck, who has worked at the Baltimore branch for 27 years, would not say how many coins are stored in Baltimore, but the Fed's board of governors told Congress in June that the reserve system is holding more than $1.2 billion in dollar coins at 28 cash offices across the country.

Officials expect the number of dollar coins sitting in storage to grow to $2 billion by 2016.

I, for one, would certainly be willing to take some off their hands if space is a concern.

Heck, I'd even promise to carry and spend them, and thus further stimulate the economy rather than let them tarnish sitting in a vault.

Stupid Criminal of the Day

And today's award goes to Theresa Jefferson of Maryland.

Findlaw: Walmart Bleach Fight Sends 19 to Hospital

Police have arrested Theresa Jefferson, 33, in connection with a Walmart bleach fight over the weekend.

Jefferson reportedly targeted her intended victim, and followed her into a Baltimore-area Walmart. Once inside, she attacked the woman with bleach, Pine-Sol and ammonia.

The chemicals mixed, creating a toxic gas. Hazmat crews were called, and nineteen people were sent to the hospital for eye and respiratory injuries.

Didn't her parents ever warn her never to mix ammonia and bleach? Certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed as her actions and picture seem to confirm.

Of course, its likely she's from a single parent (if any) family given the apparent reason for her attack:

It appears as though the Walmart bleach fight was part of an ongoing dispute between the two women. The unnamed victim is dating Jefferson's baby daddy, according to the Baltimore Sun.

When did "baby daddy" enter the lexicon of acceptable usage?

I realize "baby daddy" is a convenient short form for "someone Jefferson hooked up with, and got pregnant by, out of wedlock and probably then went right onto welfare", but really.

The term not only makes it acceptable for a man to forgo his responsibilities after fathering a child, but also condones this very destructive behavior of casual and unthinking reproduction and creates a continuing cycle of dependency and reinforcement of a series of poor decisions.

Some people suffer from extremely poor impulse control in many areas of their lives.

In addition to the assault charge, I'm surprised the prosecutor didn't up the ante and charge her with creation and use of a weapon of mass destruction because of the toxic gas she created.

If they Occupy Detroit, Would We Even Notice A Difference?

What would Occupy Detroit protest about exactly?

The decades of Democrat malfeasance, overspending, overtaxing, underserving, big-union feather-nesting that has sucked the life out of this once great city?

Or perhaps the decades of Democrat corruption and bribery that came to the forefront when done to excess under Kwame and that dragged the city even farther under?

I suspect not.

But, we will get the chance to find out on October 14. Or maybe it will be on October 21. Well, at least someday soon, coming to a dysfunctional city near you.

Anyone have a timely wisecracks on how leftists can't even plan an inchoate protest properly?

The pictures of the October 10 meeting are rather interesting as well and the captions need to be read to be believed, particularly the "blocking" one (how cute).

This protest, like the other Occupy ones around the country, seems to be comprised of predominently whites, the college-aged and the clueless.

This is rather interesting, given that the city of Detroit is 87.74% not white.

As you'll note from the article, some came from as far as San Francisco to be part of this spontaneous, local activity.

After all that Prep Work and Defiance, Underwear Bomber Pleads Guilty

On the second day of trial, after months of preparation, weeks of jury selection and posturing, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab decides to plead guilty on all counts.

Underwear bomber pleads guilty, warns: 'If you laugh at us now, we will laugh at you later'


Apparently all this was done just so he can make a public statement regarding his actions:

Abdulmutallab read from a statement saying he was guilty under U.S. law, but not under Islamic law, for the crimes charged. He said he tried to carry out the bombing in retaliation for the murder of innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Isreal and elsewhere by the United States.

He warned the U.S. that, if it continued to murder innocent Muslims, a calamity would befall the U.S.

“If you laugh at us now, we will laugh at you later,” he said.

And I say, in the immortal words of Nelson Muntz:

He said committing jihad against the United States is one of “the most virtuous acts” a Muslim can perform. ...

I wonder how virtuous it is considered for being an incompetent terrorist scumbag and burning your nuts in the process.

Outside the courthouse, Abdulmutallab's lawyer, Anthony Chambers, said he hadn't his client to plead guilty.

"It's disappointing," he said, adding that he never wants a client to plead guilty to charges that could result in a life sentence. He said Abdulmutallab made the decision on his own and announced it this morning.

He said he thinks he had a viable defense to some of the charges, adding that he questions whether the aircraft was damaged by the bombing attempt.

He said the guilty plea enables his client to get on with the rest of his life and read a statement in court to explain his actions.

So the entire farce of giving this guy a trial and his failure to plead out earlier is so this moron can read a pro-jihad statement while racking up time and costs in his lawfare bid?

Let's hope his statement brings him comfort during his life in prison that he should hopefully receive at his sentencing, and let's hope there's some reconsideration of the policy of granting foreign terrorists access to American civillian courts.

What Goes Clip-Clop, Snip, Clip-Clop, Snip?

An Amish drive-by hair cutting.

Findlaw: Amish Beard-Cutting: Gang Gives Rival Amish Unwanted Haircuts

Four suspects in an Amish beard-cutting attack were arrested in Ohio this week. The four men are from the small community of Bergholz.

Authorities say the attacks were perpetrated by a rival Amish group. The victims were held down against their will and given unwanted cuts to their beard and to their hair.

Potential gang retaliation being considered includes removing the reflective triangle from rivals' buggies.

The Amish manage to keep even gang violence rather subdued.

While forced beard and hair cutting is certainly an offensive and wrongful act, compare it to how warring gangs operate in the "civilized" world.

Useless Question of the Night

Question: If you slice a Ford Fusion into parts, do you call it a Ford Fission?

Pelosi Gets The Vapors Over Brown's Pithy Comeback to Warren

Nancy Pelosi is all upset that Scott Brown defended himself from Elizabeth Warren's crass cheap shot during the Democrat's primary.

Newsmax: Pelosi: Brown Wisecrack Show He's Clueless

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Sen. Scott Brown's wisecrack about Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren shows he is clueless about women.

During a Democratic primary debate Tuesday, Warren was asked about Brown's decision to pose nude in a magazine during law school. Asked how she paid for college, Warren said she kept her clothes on.

"Thank God," Brown laughed during a radio interview about the comment afterward. He later said he was joking.

Nonetheless, Pelosi said Brown should take that comment back.

"I thought it spoke volumes about how clueless Sen. Brown is," the California Democrat said on ABC's "This Week." ''It really spoke volumes about, really, disrespect for women he may not even realize."

So lets get this straight: Warren takes a dig at Brown for doing hard honest work to put himself through school. In other words a cheap shot at a working class American putting himself through school.

According to Pelosi, that's ok and does not require a retraction nor speak volumes of how Warren feels contempt for a claimed Democrat core constituency -- the working man.

Warren takes a shot at Brown by claiming that she, unlike him, didn't do any nude modeling herself.

Scott Brown, like many other males hearing her statement then and now, breathes a sigh of relief that Warren didn't do such a thing.

His clever and pithy response is astonishingly considered by Pelosi to speak volumes about his alleged disrespect for women.

Talk about your double standards and political gamesmanship.

Pelosi really needs some new material as this faux outrage doesn't even pass the laugh test.

Pelosi's outrage is just more of the Democrat's dish-it-out-but-can't-take-it standard in action.

A Qwik About-Face

Via Instapundit, we learn that Netflix has backed away from its ill-concieved spin-off of its DVD business to the goofily named Qwikster.

This is a good decision on Netflix's part. The reckless speed in dumping their DVD line onto the hastily and unfortunately named Qwikster line right after a hasty and hefty price increase certainly was damaging their brand.

Of course, they could have saved themselves some time, money, and embarrasment by first carefully considering the ramifications of such a split before charging blithely ahead with it.

Hasten slowly is rather timeless good advice, and it applies to many of today's decisions and decision-makers, and not just Netflix's Qwikster folly.

When the Left declares a kulturkampf, I reach for my Inglis....

My Inglis High-Power of course.

The title of this post is paraphrased from a rather well known national socialist of his time, Herman Goering.

Today we can see yet another leftist -- in German military uniform no less -- on Wall Street of all places calling for a class war. We also have the specter of these scumbags threatening violent acts against middle-class workers.

Do the fools realize what they're actually asking for, and the consequences? Probably not.

In any case, on to the Inglis Hi-Power.

This Hi-Power in my collection is an Inglis MKI*, with the black paint finish, British proofs, and rather excellent Inglis workmanship.

The Hi-Power fits the hand well and the sights line up quite naturally. The first 9mm pistol with a workable double column magazine, it offered 13+1 rounds of firepower.

The sights, while small, are quite usable and the trigger, which somewhat hampered crispness-wise by the magazine safety, is more than up to the task of accuracy for self-defense ranges. The small thumb safety takes some practice to quickly move from safe to fire, but overall the pistol serves its purpose well and even 70 years after it was made still functions perfectly and has been an enduring and excellent design.

This particular pistol was in the Nazi-killing business, and hopefully for this pistol and its fellows, business was good.

The Browning Hi-Power was developed in Belgium by Fabrique Nationale (FN). One of the last designs by John Moses Browning, it was refined and finished by Dieudonné Saive, and it went into production just in time for the factory to be occupied by the Nazi invasion and it then produced Hi-Powers for the Wehrmacht.

However, some brave Belgians smuggled the plans for the pistol to Canada where the Hi-Power was then produced by Inglis for the British Commonwealth military forces. As such the Hi Power, like Dieudonné Saive's later creation, the FN-FAL, fought on both sides of a conflict.

The Inglis name continues today and some Inglis pistols continue to serve in armies around the world, making them some of the longest-serving sidearms around and a testament to an excellent design.

Inglis, while it does not manufacture pistols today, is an example of the peace dividend Canada has been enjoying ever since the end of WWII. Inglis is now making home appliances including washing machines such as can be seen in my Dad's basement in Toronto:

From superb pistols to superb washing machines, the Inglis company (now having been taken over by Whirlpool in 1987 and the company having changed its name to Whirlpool Canada in 2001) has served Canada well.

The Detroit Free Press - Cheap Tuition For Illegals Will Do Wonderful Things To Enhance Michigan's Economy

The Detroit Free Press in its editorial Michigan universities should offer in-state tuition rates for immigrants advocates that Michigan's universities not offer in-state tuition to immigrants from other states of our union nor for legal immigrants arriving in our fair state, but for illegal immigrants.

Of course they euphemistically label them "undocumented immigrants" but illegals are what they in fact are.

The Freep claims that such a policy will "benefit all of Michigan" and would really "rev" Michigan's economy. How exactly?

After all, these illegals cannot legally work nor pay taxes in the state after graduation, and neither they nor their parents can legally work here currently so its rather hard to see how their remaining here and receiving the subsidy of in-stae tuition paid for by the legal residents of Michigan would be a benefit.

Apparently though, such a policy would keep more young illegals in our state. This, according to the Freep, is an unquestionable good.

Such a policy would help retain the young, educated [and illegal] people -- now leaving Michigan in droves -- who drive the knowledge-based economy of the 21st Century. Many of the college-age children of illegal immigrants have lived here most of their lives. They've attended Michigan public schools, and their parents have paid Michigan taxes.

That's quite the series of unsupported assertions by the Freep.

Are these youthful illegals really the "drivers of the knowledge-based economy"? Are their parents really net taxpayers, especially since being illegals they don't file Michigan state income taxes? More likely they are net recipients of state aid and resources.

It is, however, cute of the Freep to conflate legal immigration with illegal in this manner.

How about this if you really want to rev up Michigan's economy with educated workers: Make in-state tuition apply to anyone that comes legally to Michigan to study in return for a contract that they will stay in the state for at least 3 years after graduation.

That will do far more to rev Michigan's economy than any handout to illegals, even if they are the Democrat's and the Freep's favored interest group.

Better Late Than Never? Germany Decides To Investigate Nazi War Criminals 66 Years After WWII

USA Today: Germany reopens hundreds of Nazi probes

Nearly seven decades after the end of World War II, German authorities have reopened hundreds of dormant investigations of Nazi death camp guards in an eleventh hour attempt that could result in at least dozens of new prosecutions, The Associated Press has learned.
Special Nazi war-crimes investigators reopened the files after the conviction of former U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk, whose case set a new legal precedent in Germany, said Kurt Schrimm, the prosecutor who heads the unit.

Given the advanced age of all of the suspects, investigators are not waiting until the Demjanjuk appeals process is over, he said.

"We don't want to wait too long, so we've already begun our investigations," Schrimm said.

It only took them 66 years after the end of the Second World War to reopen these cases. Talk about the wheels of justice grinding slowly in Germany.

Glad they didn't wait much longer, as it appears up until now that they wanted all the murderers to die peacfully in their beds before they face any justice.

One reason among many for this inexcusable neglect is that six million dead Jews don't vote in German elections, but millions of former Nazis do, and often.

Robin Hood, You're Not.

I'm all in favor of re-enacting the classics, but this shows extrememly poor impulse control and criminal stupidity.

The Detroit Free Press: Man points bow and arrow in road rage

Authorities say a driver pointed a bow and arrow at another motorist's head in mid-Michigan during what's being described as a case of road rage.

The Grand Rapids Press reports a 23-year-old Shepherd man was facing felonious assault charges after Saturday's dispute involving a 24-year-old Vestaburg man in Montcalm County's Home Township, about 45 miles northeast of Grand Rapids.

Authorities say the dispute began after the Vestaburg man tried to pass the other man's pickup, and the pickup driver ran the man's vehicle off the road. Authorities say both men got out of their vehicles, and the pickup driver approached the other with the bow and arrow.

Running somebody off the road is criminally stupid.

Threatening them with a bow and arrow after running them off the road will get your stupid self into the newspapers as a prime example of how not to behave while behind the wheel.

The Joys of Home Repair

So this weekend, I got some needed repairs done around the house, thanks to a great deal of help from my friend Barry. He did the real serious work that required actual home improvement aptitude.

The reason for the repairs is simple: Apparently this house, prior to our purchase of it, was redone by drunken monkeys who sought to make the visible look good and then take every possible shortcut on that which is important but not readily discovered.

For example, a few of the things repaired this weekend:

-The fans from the bathrooms, instead of venting to the outside, had their hoses lying on the floor of the attic, which is a not good considering the water vapor those hoses carry.

-a return air vent wasn't capped, leaving a gaping hole right up into the attic.

-the skylight had no insulation around it at all.

-the basement rim joists are uninsulated (a job I'm still working on, but about a quarter of the way through). Thankfully, this is a very simple task so I can handle it.

-closet doors were messed up and threatening to fall off their tracks and land on the kids.

In addition, I also changed the lock mechanisms on the garage entry door myself which went quite well, and the family is happy with the improvement as they don't get locked out of their own home any longer.

In short, it has been a busy weekend with lots of trips, and return trips, and trips to return things, to Home Depot.