Detroit Man Brings A Sword, A Kukri, And A Dagger To A Gunfight

With predictable results.

(Not actual footage of the incident)

The Detroit Free Press: Man fatally shot by police after pursuing, injuring officer with thrown dagger, police say

Chasing police while waving a sword around and throwing a dagger at them is no basis for a peaceful dialogue.

Of course, the usual suspects are protesting and demanding an independent investigation because police apparently should not defend themselves while being attacked by people with swords.

Chris White, director of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, issued a statement Thursday evening calling for an independent agency to investigate the shootings.

He expressed concern for what he says is a “shoot to kill policy," and the potential for more incidents that will hurt the city. 

“It doesn't take an expert in weaponry to know a dart doesn't compare to a bullet,” he said. “We understand the city is violent due to decades of disinvestment and erosion of access to public goods. However, we strongly feel that the department is using this violence as a rationale to shoot to kill.”

Yes indeed, Mr. White, who is Black, yet cannot comprehend any shades of Grey, and only sees the world in Black and White, clearly has no clue what he's talking about and is clearly not an expert in weaponry, nor even a rank amateur.

Thankfully, Chief Craig is properly backing his officers and Detroit is lucky to have him at the helm of the police force.

Another Step Back For Michigan

Gov Half-Whit decided to roll back Northern Michigan's opening by restricting indoor gatherings to 10 people and banning indoor alcohol sales by bars, while allowing the Detroit Casinos to open at 15% capacity. 

That's right, not 50%, but a measly 15% - after all her supporters in Detroit need the tax money those Casinos bring to the table - but not too much or we may get out of this government caused economic doldrums before the election rolls around.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit casinos to reopen at reduced capacity; new restrictions Up North

Yep, if you had a wedding with 50 people planned for an indoor wedding this weekend or some other event, you're now SOL - with no notice.

Gotta love arbitrary and capricious one-woman rule.

Detroit Will Breathe Goes Full Racist Potato

When Detroit's version of BLM has no examples of actual police racist misconduct, they have to make it up, and boy do they - by protesting the fact that Black people in the act of shooting police and pointing guns at police happen to get shot.

The Detroit News: Detroit Will Breathe wants Detroit's top cop fired over shootings

Oh they also are of the opinion that the police shouldn't chase Black shooting suspects, nor shoot such suspects when they point guns at police, either:

Members of the group Detroit Will Breathe on Tuesday criticized police officers who have shot three men this month, and said cops should have let a quadruple shooting suspect go free instead of chasing him at high speeds through residential neighborhoods.

No kidding, they're all for letting suspects of multiple murders get away.

One of the men is seen in the video with a pistol in his left hand. As he runs, he turns, raises the gun and appears to point it at an officer before the officer fires a single, fatal shot that hit the suspect in his torso, Craig said.

During Tuesday's press conference, Taylor said police should have never initiated the chase. He was asked whether police should have let a homicide suspect go free, and he replied: "Yes, I am saying that. There are other opportunities to apprehend them."

The group also doesn't like to take hard questions and reporters point out they have been lying about a police shooting by falsely claiming Hakim Littleton as shot while on the ground or had his hands up - and they turned their ire on the press:

Members of the group sparred with reporters, accusing them of phrasing questions to appease Craig and Mayor Mike Duggan. One member of the group said the journalists were "worthy of a spanking ... worthy of a whipping."

Burn, Loot, and Murder indeed.

And, of course, the race card was played, and played hard -

Activist Sandra Simmons said white people were to blame for problems in the African American community.

"Everywhere that a white man has been, he has caused hell," she said. "Every county that he has been in has caused trauma and drama all around the world."

Projection, much?

After castigating white people and throwing around the race card she then called for racial harmony - oh and for Black police officers to put their race ahead of justice and the law:

"Black, white, brown yellow, red — we need to walk together, because we’re all human beings, and when we all walk together, America will be greater than it ever was.”

She also had a message for minority police officers: "We are your family ... before you put on that blue uniform, you're Black."

You really can't make this stuff up.

Meanwhile, Detroit is experiencing killing after killing after killing of Black people by Black criminals.

But Detroit Will Breathe doesn't care about that.

Yesterday Quick Range Trip

Got a call from a couple of friends of mine wanting to go to the range.

Got my work done and we met up at the range.

For handguns we worked on shooting the plate rack with a timer, which they had not done before. I shot my Masada from a holster, and shot my IMI Jericho, and they shot their firearms from low ready.

Lots of fun. I got to try out a H&K Elite 9mm which has just an awesome trigger and overall feel as its a big hand cannon with negligible recoil as a result. I also got to shoot his Beretta 92X again, his Sig 365XL, and Canik TP9SFx. Yes he has some nice handguns.

The Sig 365 is impressive. A very thin grip for 12 rounds that almost feels like a single stack. Very nice and thin, but still able to knock the set of plates down in under 6 seconds with it when shooting it for the first time. First time I shot a Sig 365 and I may have to look into one of those.

The Canik TP9SFx was a definite sleeper hit - the trigger on it is out of this world good, its essentially their version of the Walther Q4 and the trigger was simply awesome right out of the box. He had an RMR mounted on it making knocking down plates a piece of cake.

Then off to the rifle range.

I shot my 6.5 Creeedmoor and the 3.5lb trigger proved a worthy improvement.

I then got to shoot his Begara bolt-action rifle in 6.5 which offered some very impressive accuracy and had a bolt like butter. Very impressed with that rifle - it's a .4 MOA rifle which is pretty darn nice.

I also shot his FN SCAR 20. With a good scope, I was regularly shooting groups at 100 yards with the bullet holes touching each other, not a fluke but repeatable, which is kinda crazy. He had some 155 grain hand-loads for it and they simply shot amazingly well. The harmonics coming off the SCAR are interesting - it's quite the ringing sound after each and every shot. That's an amazing and accurate rifle.

He also had a AR15 he had built up as a DMR rifle and tested some loads he made with it - consistently under .5 MOA with 77gr Berger bullets he loaded which was not bad at all. Yep, he's got some nice stuff.

That's another 100 trouble-free rounds through the Masada and 50 through the Jericho. A good time with friends for a short range trip.

We Still Haven't Reached Peak Woke Stupidity - Norwegian Flag Edition

The Detroit Free Press: Norwegian flag on St. Johns inn mistaken for Confederate flag. Owners take it down

You really can't make up how dumb people can be nor how they can be so easily offended and become threatening and send hate emails at the slightest pretext, even when completely wrong.

Let's review shall we:

The Norwegian Flag:

The Confederate Flag

If you're mixing these up to the point you're sending threats and claiming someone is racist for flying a Norwegian flag when you think its a Confederate flag, your most likely public education has failed you - badly.

Match Day - The Classifier Special

Today I went to the Wayne County Racoon Hunter's USPSA match. This is always a good time as they always run a good match.

It was a special classifier match. A normal match has one classifier. This one had six so you could get immediately classified in your division.

This meant relatively short courses of fire, and two other stages that were not classifiers but had small round counts as well. However, with 94 shooters it took awhile to get everyone through. Did I mention it was a hot day in the sun all day? I drank a tin of water over the course of the match and needed every drop.

Shooting the Masada with the optic, I ended up having an off day. Quite a few issues and while I shot a few C-level classifiers, I was also much of the time just missing the C classifier cut-off score by fractions of a point and ending up in the D category due to mistakes or lack of speed. Checking into it I hit 3 solid C classifiers and 3 Ds. Drat. Just not fast enough, and I need to pickup the pace. I was also tending to drop my second shot on a target a bit low which was annoying. Of course, on one classifier dropping a shot low and having it hit a no-shoot with that same shot really didn't help any.

We'll call that an off day, and a reason to get out and practice more. I can certainly make C-class and will just have to practice and shot some more matches to get my average up accordingly.

On the upside, the Masada was absolutely flawless for all 106 rounds fired.

This was also Tosh's first time at a USPSA match, and he had a good time trying it out, which is good. Now I have a match buddy for matches, which makes them more enjoyable.

Even an off day shooting is still a good day.

You Can't Have A Battle For Seattle

If the police aren't allowed to come out to play and only the rioters get to take to the streets.

The Chief of the Seattle PD just informed Seattle property owners that they were on their own this weekend, as the police would not be coming out to protect property:

Why?  Well, the Seattle City Council, in its woke wisdom, has banned the police from using less lethal substances such as OC and tear gas in handling riot and crowd control disturbances in Seattle.  The ordinance is citing both the First Amendment and the fear that tear gas and OC could cause the spread of COVID-19 (No, really - read the ordinance).

Since Seattle PD can't use less-lethal, and they certainly can't use lethal force to protect property, they have no real way to stop these riots and property damage.

The Seattle Police Chief's letter basically just informed property owners that they're on their own, as the PD will not be protecting property as they can no longer use appropriate tools to do so.

I expect the Seattle PD and the local prosecutor will however probably prosecute business owners protecting their property to the fullest extent.

Given there's at least 4 scheduled 'protests' set for this weekend with such charming objectives including ending capitalism and "fascism", it's gonna get sporty when they realize the police are not coming out to curb their enthusiastic 'peaceful' protests.

Good luck law-abiding citizens of Seattle - you're going to need it.

Seals of History: Huge Trove of Artifacts Dating From The Judean Kingdom Period Found In Israel

There's been a new and important discovery recently in Israel near the site of the US Embassy.

From The Times of Israel: Huge Kingdom of Judah government complex found near US Embassy in Jerusalem

One of the largest collections of royal Kingdom of Judah seal impressions has been uncovered at a massive First Temple-period public tax collection and storage complex being excavated near the new United States Embassy in Jerusalem. The main Iron Age structure is exceptional in terms of both its size and architectural style, said Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Neri Sapir, who co-directed the excavation.

Uncovered only three kilometers (1.8 mile) outside the Old City, the compound is believed by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists to have served as an administrative center during the reigns of Judean kings Hezekiah and Menashe (8th century to the middle of the 7th century BCE).

Over 120 jar handles were found (pictures at the link) along with many other artifacts from the period from what appears to be a government center.

The article also points out another intriguing mystery - artificially created stone hills that may be hiding more archaeological sites beneath them.

Another amazing historical find.

Portland Mayor Firmly On The Side Of The Rioters

This is why Trump had to send in Federal Law Enforcement to protect the Federal Courthouse in Portland.

The Detroit News: Portland mayor tear gassed by federal agents

Instead of enforcing the law against rioters and their acts of arson, assault, and destruction of property, the mayor of Portland is cheering them on and having the Portland police stand down.

The rioting in Portland has been going on for well over a month now, and its being aided and abetted by the Democrat political establishment there.

New 6.5 Creedmoor Rifle Makes Its First Appearance

I finally got a scope for my 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and took it to the range.

It's been a long time coming together, and I'm an absolute beginner to the scoped rifle game.

Now with a mounted Vortex Viper PST 5-25x, it is a beaut to shoot.

I got a good deal on the scope from a friend as he wanted to transition all his stuff to MRAD rather than MOA. To say he's a serious long-distance rifle shooter would be an understatement.

We mounted and bore-sighted the scope and then took it to his local 100-yard range to get a zero on it.

The zeroing began, and our boresighting resulted it being rather off to the left. Eventually I got it sighted in, and was then happily hitting a Shoot-N-C center:

After the bullseye shooting, I then did a nice three-shot group:

After that, a two-shot group that I was rather happy with using up the remainder of the ammo.

The scope is amazing. Bullet holes 100 yards away are as clear as day in it, and adjustments for zeroing are quick and easy. Vortex makes a very nice product.

I was shooting with the stock trigger I had put on it that gave a 6.5 pound pull when my friend measured it after we had finished shooting. He decided that 6.5 lbs was not proper for such a rifle, so when we were done, he added to the deal and threw on a Geissele two-stage flat trigger with a really beautiful, consistent, 3.5 pound pull which should make shooting it accurately a lot easier and that made the deal even better.

So I now have my entry gun into serious rifle shooting.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a very accurate and easy to shoot cartridge and with the new trigger and the quite fantastic scope, I should be able to learn to shoot it well. I still need to pickup a bi-pod and then I'll be set to begin learning longer range rifle shooting.

Detroit BLM To Police: You Need to De-escalate When Someone Shoots At You

You really can't make this up. Detroit BLM and other usual suspects, including the ACLU of Michgian, who one would think knows better as claiming Police should not have shot Hakim Littleton after he shot at a Police Officer at point blank range and luckily missed.

They're still at making attempted cop-killer Littleton a BLM model victim.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit organizations call for end to excessive force in response to Hakim Littleton death

More than a dozen Detroit groups banded together to demand the Detroit Police Department change practices and independently investigate the death of 20-year-old Littleton, who was shot by a DPD officer July 10 near San Juan Drive and West McNichols Road in the Bagley neighborhood of Detroit.

"Although Chief James Craig immediately characterized the killing as an appropriate use of force, members of the community are left with many questions, not the least of which is whether the death could have been avoided altogether if officers had used the law enforcement profession's best practices and employed de-escalation techniques," the organizations said in a joint statement.

Let's look at the bodycam footage:

No sure what de-escalation technique is appropriate when a guy fires two shots at your head, generally returning fire is the approve technique.

Apparently they want police to stop policing and going after gang members involved in crimes involving a prior shooting:

"In a period when the already tense relationship between law enforcement and Black communities has escalated to unparalleled heights, there is no place for sudden, aggressive police tactics. Such increases the likelihood that fear and impulse will control citizens' reactions, and serious injuries and death may be the consequence. Community and civil rights organizations call for an independent investigation to have important questions answered about police conduct in this instance."

Yep, they're working hard to make a thug on probation after na armed robbery who shot twice at a polcie officer a BLM Hero:

"Our community is outraged and heartbroken at the death of Hakim Littleton and at the brutality used against protesters and community members," reads the joint statement. "Particularly at this moment, as #blacklivesmatter has become ubiquitous, we demand accountability and proclaim that all state violence against the Black community must end!"

Maybe Hakim shouldn't have shot at the police, and then they wouldn't have to be heartbroken as a community.

Detroit BLM and the listed organizations have lost all credibility with their championing Littleton, assuming they even had any credibility to begin with.

First World Problems: Fedex You F'ing Tease

Yet again, Fedex is having intimate relations with a canine regarding a delivery.

My old pair of sandals broke after years of service so I ordered a new pair. Shipped from Grand Rapids Michigan via FEDEX it was supposed to be here last Wednesday.

As if.

Wednesday rolls around and nope, no delivery and a message that delivery will be sent later. Thursday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Thursday rolls around and nope, no delivery and a message that delivery will be sent later. Friday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Nope.

Saturday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Nope.

Sunday morning a notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Nope.

This morning another happy notice via email that delivery will be by the end of day.

Not exactly holding my breath in anticipation.

The package was shipped last Tuesday, and has apparently been sitting in Lake Orion since Wednesday after it inexplicably had a detour to Perrysburg, Ohio before arriving in Lake Orion. In lake Orion, it seems to be getting loaded and unloaded on a delivery truck and been out for delivery on a daily basis over the last six days. I'm sure its getting a tour of the local area and enjoying it profusely.

Per mapping software, walking from Grand Rapids to my house takes about 42 hours of non-stop stepping. The package has now been hanging out in Lake Orion for more than double that, so they could have sent it by foot courier with 12+ hour naps and breaks and still beaten their current time.

At some point I may need to go to Lake Orion and try and pick it up, but with the luck I've been having so far it will be on a truck driving aimlessly around promising to be delivered when I go there.

Definite first world problem, but annoying all the same.

Perhaps if they quit promising on a daily basis that it would be delivered and instead set a reasonable delivery schedule knowing their current capacity and capabilities, and then stuck to it, that would work better for everyone.

Gov Half Whit And AG To Hillsdale: Your Graduation Ceremony Is Prohibited. Hillsdale To Giov And AG: You Ever Hear Of The First Amendment?

Hillsdale College had announced that they were going to do an in-person outdoor graduation ceremony for their grads, with 6 feet social distancing, masks, sanitation, the works.

Both Governor Half-Whit and our AG Nasty Nessel quickly stated such a gathering was verboten, with a capital V.

Hillsdale responded that this was a once in a lifetime event for their hardworking graduates, and hadn't the governor just been seen mask-less among hundreds of people protesting, and Hillsdale was similarly exercising their First Amendment rights to assembly and in a safer manner than the governor to boot.

The Hillsdale County Sheriff Office when asked about enforcing the Governor and AG's ban noted they had better and more important things to do than enforce the Governor's ban on such a gathering and were too busy doing actual law enforcement activities to worry about such triffles.

The graduation ceremony went ahead uninterrupted, and congrats to the grads of Hillsdale and to the college for honoring its grads in a safe manner and standing up for their constitutional rights.

The Detroit News: Hillsdale College to host in-person graduation; AG office says event is prohibited

The Detroit News: Hillsdale College holds in-person commencement, defying Whitmer, AG

Cybersecurity At Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency Wasn't An Afterthought.

It apparently wasn't a thought at all.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit woman charged in $2M unemployment insurance fraud

A contract employee for the state of Michigan has been charged in a scheme that saw the fraudulent disbursement of more than $2 million in unemployment insurance funding intended to help people during the coronavirus pandemic.

Brandi Hawkins, 39, of Detroit, worked in the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency with duties that included reviewing, processing and verifying the legitimacy of unemployment insurance claims for the state, according to U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider's office.

Yes, it's hard to protect from insiders, but the real story here isn't that she was caught and terminated it's that after she was terminated they did not shut off her access to the system so she continued the embezzlement remotely:

Hawkins was assigned to work as an unemployment insurance examine in April. She was terminated June 17, according to the complaint.

But the complaint says the state's fraud investigation unit reviewed the audit logs for Hawkins's user account and determined that she continued to remotely access state systems after "her termination and was actively 'discarding' fraud-stops and releasing payment on hundreds of fraudulent claims until early July 2020."

That's a pretty major security fail right there - to the tune of 2 million dollars, plus identity theft costs for everyone who had a fake claim made in their name by this criminal. Expect your UI rates to go up as a result of this incompetence.

The Left Finally Vandalises An Actual Nazi Monument

It took them long enough, with much time busily taken up by defacing monuments to Lincoln, Grant, Churchill, and others, but the antifa-types have finally found an actual monument honoring Nazis to deface.

In Canada.

The Ottawa Citizen: Graffiti on memorial to Nazi SS division now being investigated as vandalism

Yes, the monument does indeed honor the Ukrainians of the 14th Waffen Grenadier (1st Galicia) SS Division, who were shipped over en masse to Canada at the end of World War 2.

The monument is a private one in Oakville, Ontario (near-ish Toronto) Oakville on the the grounds of the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery. The Toronto area has a very large Ukrainian community, many of them the actual SS members of the division or their descendants.

Adding to the irony, the vandalism when it was first discovered was initially being investigated as an anti-Ukrainian hate crime.

Deputy Has Excellent Shooting Performance Under Pressure

An Eaton County, Michigan Sheriff's Deputy demonstrated the importance of the Tueller drill in a rather dramatic fashion.

Knife attacks happen fast, as this scenario demonstrates.

She also demonstrated how to coolly and quickly clear a failure while being charged at by a multiple blade-wielding attacker. She also demonstrates that you need to keep shooting until the attack ceases, as one-shot stops are nice, but certainly not guarranteed against a motivated attacker, and in this case he took a lot of hits and was still talking at the end of the encounter.

While you may argue she let the attacker get too close before she started shooting, that encounter happened fast, and was still very good shooting and reflexes on her part. Next time someone ignorantly asks why the police can't just shoot an attacker in the leg, show them this video and ask them if they think they could do any better under the circumstances.

I'd say an excellent job on the part of this deputy, and lots can be learned from the video of this encounter.

Some Woke Cases Apparently Will Get Fast-Tracked, While A Much More Vital One Languishes

The Michigan Supreme Court will drop everything and take up a case of a juvenile sentenced by a good judge to a juvenile facility due to her violation of her probation conditions.

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan Supreme Court reviewing case of teenager incarcerated after not doing schoolwork

Again, she wasn't incarcerated for failing to do her school work, she was incarcerated for violating terms of probation for her theft and assault convictions, with a key term of that probation being she does her school work. In general, being on probation is a state of grace, and if you fail to abide by the terms of that probation you get sent to a facility, in this case Children's Village, to complete your sentence or until the judge decides you can get another chance. This isn't exactly a new nor a surprising thing.

Instead of owning up to failing probation, the woke crowd is crying it's not fair the judge required her to do her homework, and such a condition of probation is clearly racist.

A quick clue - it is not. Every single case I've seen with a student placed on probation, one of the key terms of that probation is they stay in school and do their homework - this is not a racial thing at all but a very standard condition.

Note however, that in this case the convicted juvenile in question is Black, and she's thus being used as a BLM cause celebre and the woke-sters are lining up, including our Democrat-dominated Supreme Court, becuase its unfair to lock her up in children's village for failing to do her homework.

Interesting isn't it how the Supreme Court will drop everything and intervene and fast track such a case affecting a convicted criminal beyond normal procedures.

But for a case that affects the entire state, well not so much.

The Detroit News: Supreme Court won't hear challenge of Whitmer's emergency powers before Court of Appeals

The Michigan Supreme Court denied permission on Thursday for the Republican-controlled House and Senate to argue their case challenging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency powers to the high court without first pleading their case to the Court of Appeals.

Yes, the Michigan Supreme Court will continue to slow-walk perhaps the biggest constitutional question this state has faced in a cengtury - Whether Governor Whitmer's use of the 1945 law and her establishment of a basically dictatorial executive ruling without any checks or balances from the legislative branch is constitutional - especially as it disregards the subsequent 1976 law on the same subject that specifically encompasses pandemics, and will probably continue slow-walking it until this pandemic is all over. But, for a minor BLMer who violated her parole, they'll drop standard procedure and rapidly intervene.

Curious, that.

Oh, Those White People And Their Values Of (Checks Notes) Hard Work, Timeliness, Politeness And Stable Families!

Nope, this is not a joke, its an actual real publication from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture:

Apparently rational linear thinking, stable families, a work ethic, and showing up on time are signs of whiteness.

If you can't figure out the racist absurdity of their publication, well, there's not much I suggest except, that in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts: The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

That it's the flippin' Smithsonian Institution publicizing this racist nonsense and classifying successful traits as White is rather insane.

In short, I'm not sure if the museum hired a Black Klansman to draw this up, as if successful traits are identified as being White, I'd really hate to see what they come up and describe as Black cultural traits.

This idiotic graphic is classifying and identifying traits that make one successful in the modern world as being White cultural traits.

I expect Asians including the Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese would beg to differ and object vociferously that their mastery of these traits somehow makes them White. Heck, I'd expect Nigerians and other successful African immigrants that embrace these successful cultural traits would similarly object to them being classified as "White".

"Happy" Tax Day

In case you didn't remember, your 2019 annual tax filing is due today.

I already had mine filed in April, but just had to cut a nice quarterly check today - ugh.

Flying: Up 6, Down 6

Finally got some time to go flying and the weather was perfect for some after work pattern work.

Winds were calm all day, which was nice. Not a cloud below 5,000 feet.

They stayed calm as I got to the airport.

A good preflight, I added another quart of oil to get it up to 6 quarts, and it was time to get going.

Listening to the tower frequency ahead of time, the pattern had been busy but as I started up to taxi, the pattern calmed down a bit. Instead of the pattern, most pilots were heading off to the practice area to the north and I pretty much had the pattern to myself.

With no wind, my first landing was a bit of a floaty mess. I came in at a bit of a high angle with too much speed and floated nicely down the runway and the plane didn't really want to land. Still put it down nice and gently with no thumps even as it did eat up a whole lot of runway doing so.

Then, off to do it again and again. The landings got better each time, with no thumpers or aircraft carrier landings. By landings 5 and 6, I had the airspeed dialed in and was flying near-perfect patterns. Much tighter landings right on the center-line resulted.

Great to get back in the air again and it was some good and productive practice.

That's .9, and 6 landings ranging from meh to very nice.