Redefining:

 So what with the election all close and shit, we are getting BOMBARDED by political ads from the city of Chicago and its environs. 

The new buzzword in the attack ads is “Extreme”.  (which might be effective if nearly every ad didn’t use it)..

A candidate is “Extreme” if he or she doesn’t want things like free shit, health care, abortion, etc. 

They are “Extreme” if they don’t want all the liberal goals….if they want normal conservative things.. law and order, not having the government pay for everything, if they think that people have choices, and their choices should have consequences…

In other words, anything that doesn’t go along with the Liberal Agenda is “Extreme”…even if that “Extreme” view was the nor  as little as 10 years ago.

I never realized how “Extreme” I was…..

Chutzpah

 SO it seems that Kenneth Walker is being sued for “Causing Emotional Distress“….by Louisville Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly….one of the officers who was involved in the ill fated no knock raid that ended up in the death of Breonna Taylor. 

Now, forget the controversy around Ms Taylor’s innocence or guilt (remember, she hadn’t been charged with anything, much less had a trial, so her innocence or guilt had not yet been established)…forget about the fact that this no-knock raid was unnecessary, be she innocent or guilty…

Here is a cop, who was all tac-ed up, ready for a gunfight, executing a no knock raid, who had ONE shot fired from the apartment, suing for “Emotional Distress”. 

“If you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen”. This lawsuit should be tossed. Getting shot at is a possibility when a cop goes on a raid…especially a no knock raid. That’s why they wear armor. When one of the sheep fights back, thinking his home is being invaded (Hint: It WAS being invaded, only the invaders were COPS) and a cop gets shot, well, that is part of the possibility of what might happen on this sort of job. This isn’t walking a beat, this is INVADING someone’s home.  

I hope this suit gets tossed out. Even more, I hope that Mr. Walker Mattingly gets sued for court costs. 

I’m all about supporting our police, but at some point, we gotta say “enough”. Now is that time. 

cognitive dissonance in reporting:

 So lessee here:

Trump is doing and has done everything wrong coronavirus wise….Hospitals are full to overflowing (or MIGHT be soon, anyway) there is a SURGE in cases across the country and this is entirely the fault of Donald J. Trump.

Next story: Coronavirus cases SURGE across europe and parts of Asia, despite these countries taking proper steps to corral and contain the virus. 

Who knew Trump could affect the rest of the world as much as he affects the United States, coronavirus wise? 

Look, newsie folks, I get that you dislike (if that is not too weak of a word) The Donald….But c’mon man, get a grip on rationality. 

A parody

 But a LOT of truth here:

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/3UvavR4AhLk” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>

And since Blogger doesn’t embed about half the time, a link to the video:

An Honest Ad From Your Democratic Party Spokesperson

Campaign ad questions:

 Why do the Democrats (and Liberals) hide the term “Abortion” with the phrase “A woman’s Right to Choose” and “Women’s health care choices”

Look: I am nether for nor against abortion. Not taking a stand either way here.

But call it what it is, stop hiding it with code words. 

Yes, I know it is too much to expect liberals to be honest, but still….

More looting in protest

 So a cop in Philadelphia killed a man with more melanin than the cop…

So the people in Philadelphia rioted and, of course, looted stores in their neighborhood.

‘Cause nothing shows your thirst for Justice like looting the neighborhood Family Dollar store, Amirite? 

Especially if it will give you a reason to complain later about “No one wants to invest in “Minority Neighborhoods”…”

And they keep the “Sky is falling!!!” meme going

 Have you noticed that although the number of deaths from Covid is not rising, the media keeps pushing the “hospitals are overwhelmed” story? 

The latest I have seen is “hospitals may soon need to ration care”….”MAY” being the operative word. we’ve heard it for the past two weeks, but they keep repeating it….That is the story we heard last time too, when they were pushing the fears of 2.2 million deaths…back when they said we needed to shelter in place for two weeks to “Flatten the Curve”….back in March. 

I think that this is another attempt to scare us and keep people afraid…..

But what is the end game? What do they get at this point? The election is essentially decided by now. Few people have not made their choice….if there is gonna be fraud, it is already in place. It can’t be the election, I don’t think

Why keep ratcheting up the fear? 

One week deadline:

 So, just as an exercise….

What items will you need to purchase to keep your life “normal” in the next 3 weeks?

Forget about the following weeks (which may well also be problematic) or the Thanksgiving or Christmas season, or anything beyond the next three weeks. Just think about the week leading up to the election and especially the two weeks beyond that.

Likely, you are stocked up on TP and such, (if not, get shopping!). What I am talking about is things you would normally buy to eat, clean your house, keep your routine (going to work, to other places, church(if that is an option) , etc)…..Got enough gasoline? 

If you can buy, and store, either on a shelf or in a fridge or a freezer the foods you would normally buy then I suggest that in the next few days, you do so. If you can buy, and safely store enough gasoline for a week or two of “normal” consumption, then you might be well advised to do so in the week prior to the election.

Medicines? Yeah, same same. Call yer Physician and see if you can get your maintenance medication filled this week. 

Remember, even if it is unlikely that there will be “Civil Unrest” in your immediate neighborhood, your grocery store gets it’s supplies via truck from a warehouse…likely in a larger city. So does your pharmacy. So, likely, does your gas station get it’s fuel from a tank farm near (or in) a larger urban area. 

It is quite possible that the Urban areas will get some sort of Blue fueled “Civil Unrest” should Donald Trump win the election. We have seen that the police are less than effective when such unrest has happened. 

Let us not forget that in many areas, the final vote count will likely not be known for at least a week past Nov 3rd.  So you gotta plan for a week of uncertainty and at least a week past that for things to flare up and fade out. 

Plan accordingly. 

Aaandd….a blogmeet:

 So Saturday at 8:35 central time, Aaron of the SHEKEL made the call that our blogmeet was a “GO”. The weather was good enough for him to fly VFR to the blogmeet and it was good enough for me as well. (I was only worried about icing, really)

So we planned our flights to arrive at KFPK at noon local…Winds were 070 at 8 at departure, and 360 at 5 at KFPK at the time of departure

I left my airport…filed IFR via ADIME then direct. (Keeps me out of South Bend Indiana class C airspace and prevents me overlying KSBN)…I departed at 9:35 local. 

South Bend Clearance gave me 3000 ft initially, 5000 ft in 10 minutes.

I climbed up to 3000 feet. Clouds at departure were 1400 broken, overcast 1900. IF I had not had my Instrument rating, I could not have departed as it was definitely NOT VFR….As I checked in with South Bend Approach, they immediately cleared me for 5000. On the way through the clouds though, I picked up a fair amount of rime ice…more than a trace, but not enough to worry about. Broke out of the clouds at 4700 feet and flew towards my first waypoint at 135 kias..the winds were near calm, so my ground speed was more or less my airspeed. Then ATC asked if I wanted to go KFPK direct, which was great, saving me 10 minutes or so, so I accepted the amended clearance and flew direct. In and out of the clouds until more or less the Michigan state line, then clear above the mostly broken, then scattered, clouds at about 3800 feet. (The ice melted off slowly). Total flight time, including startup, warmup and taxi, was 1.6 hours. The view en-route was AWESOME.

Notice the residual ice on the windshield??
notice the residual ice on the windshield??

At arrival, it was 220 at 9 about 35 miles out. So set up for the rwy 21 approach…when I crossed the numbers it was 010 at 6 so a kinda downwind landing, but not a big deal. I chose not to circle for the opposing runway and accepted the slightly higher landing speed…cause I am just stubborn and the winds were light enough that it wasn’t a big deal. I arrived just after Aaron and his friend Tosh while they were still parking their plane. Pulled up, turned and shut down, backed mine in right next to theirs, chocked the wheels, and we unloaded. 

Met everyone: Aaron I knew, shook hands with his friend Tosh, and met ERJ …and Scott of Providentia and his dad for the first time. We walked into the small airport office and used the facilities and planned our day. We had considered shooting a bit, but the available ranges were busy with either hunters sighting in for the deer season or Hunter Ed classes, so we chose to just have lunch. I did have to bring my rifle along with me (the Non-Ruger 10-22 in it’s case) for security as the plane is almost as secure as a high school locker, but it just stayed in the car as we had lunch. 

Lunch was great, a small place called the Eaton Place. good soup, good sandwiches and the Tosh and I had their house made pie….pie was awesome. Did I mention the pie? I mean the pie was AWESOME.…I didn’t need dinner that evening and likely won’t need lunch today, either. I think I ate 10,000 calories, half of which was pie. 

Conversation was great, lots of talk about lots of things. I miss blogmeets like this, as these folks are of my Tribe. 

All too soon, it was time to leave and return to the airport. Bummer. 

Preflighted and started up. Aaron taxiied first, I followed. A short runup and off we went. The wind kept changing, so Aaron had to change runways from a 21 departure to a 03 departure….Since I was at that end of the runway I took off while he was taxiing back to the 03 end from the 21 end. As I turned downwind I heard him call his departure and watched him climb out in the other direction. 

Great Lakes Approach gave me 3000 initially, 4000 (as I had filed) in 10 minutes. Cleared to 4000 feet, it was pretty bumpy so I asked for higher. They gave me 6000, which put me solidly in IFR in the clouds, which sucked as it was just at freezing and, while there was no ice formation, there was a lot of moisture on the plane…so I asked for higher again. Oddly, ATC gave me 7000 (westerly headings get even thousands normally), but I took it, as it got me out of the clouds. Later they amended that to the proper altitude, an even one (gave me the choice of 8 or 10)…I chose 8 which kept me out of the clouds. 

Passed over Kalamazoo at 132 knots (148 TAS, 121 ground speed), then began my descent to my airport just past South Bend…. 5000 feet, then cleared to 3000 feet. 19 minutes later I reported “Airport in sight” and cancelled my IFR flight plan. landed visually, and taxiied to the hangar. Fueled up and put the plane away. 

Over all,  the time going back, with taxi and startup and such, was 1.7. 

This is a 3-1/2+ hour drive, or an hour and a half flight. This is why I bought the plane. 

A great day, really, met some Internet friends in Meatspace, and that is a Good Thing. 

These folks, great people all, are my People.  

I look forward to doing it again soon.