Just 55 days to the election. 

Time is running out. 

Plan accordingly. 

 A perfect example of Newspeak:

HERE

 Trust them with your ballot. 

THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN with Mail In Ballots. 

No one would ever stoop this low with ballots. Ballots are sacred, right? 

 Black Lives Matter!!!!

Except that in Chicago over the weekend, Black people killed 10 other black people….and shot 41 others on the South Side. 

That is more in one weekend than the cops killed this year…..

But Black Lives Matter…when the killing is done by police and when it gives and excuse to riot. loot, and steal. 

When it is black people killing other black people it doesn’t matter….

 Only the one for Breonna Taylor has any real validity. 

The sad part is that were it not for the false memes and faux outrage for the the others “deaths by police”…(I mean the George Floyd incident and the  Jacob Blake incident and all the previous ones where the outrage was carefully manufactured), she’d likely get some real justice. 

Of course, Justice is not what the folks that fomented this want, is it? 

 ETA: Divemedic has some other viewpoints …see comments

 So we went to see MC’s sister yesterday. Normally a 3 1/2 hour drive, even with our modern interstate system, but only a 1.2 hour flight. 

A quick preflight (I keep the plane ready to go most of the time, but still, do things the right way and one can prevent issues in the air) and a check of the weather via 1-800-WXBrief,  and we were off. A quick stop at VPZ for fuel (less than a total,of 15 minutes from pattern to departure), and we were on our way. Called for flight following from South Bend and settled in on course. It was a nice flight. Smooth. A layer of clouds at 3500 feet, but we found a hole and went up to 5500 for the trip up to KLAN.  133 knots ground speed. The forecast was for clear skies at KLAN and that is what we found. We got a “Straight In” approach and landing. Really helpful controllers at South Bend approach and Great Lakes approach. The Lansing folks were bored, but were professional. 

We spent a few hours, had some lunch, walked around the river area, and before I knew it we were back at the airport ready for departure. 

Took off, turned on course, and climbed to 6500 feet. Over the southern edge of Great Lakes airspace, we hand to climb to 8500 for the cloud layer to stay VFR, but that was no big deal. We had good ground speed too…148 knots .  Did see a (I think) Stearman biplane going the opposite way at 9500 feet with a Sonex as an escort. Had to be cold in the Stearman….our OAT was 42 F…he had to be cold. 

A gentle descent at the airport of arrival, and a decent landing with the wind at 4 nearly straight down the runway. 

2 and a half hours of flight time rather than 7 hours of driving. Makes for easy visits. Less tiring too. 

It’s what I learned to fly for. I’d have been doing more except for the Covid Lockdowns, but hey, I got to enjoy it yesterday. 

While I think that rural areas won’t have the issue as much as urban areas, it doesn’t take much to interrupt the steady flow and delivery of electrical power…a few hours by a few people each with a chainsaw could cause cause havoc. A few people willing to poke some holes in the casings of large large transformers to let out the coolant oil ,or take down a couple of steel towers for high tension supply lines can do long term damage..More importantly, it takes even less effort to cause enough fear among the utility workers that they will refuse to repair any damage unless guarded by police or other security.  

There are people willing to do that sort of damage to cause mayhem and panic and add to the civil unrest. 

Plan accordingly…..

Not many city services will work without electricity…In a city, will you have water? If in a high rise, can you get up and down to your apartment? Cool or heat that apartment? 

If in the ‘Burbs or in a small town or a rural location…Do you have a method of powering your home (or at least the most important portions of it)? Generators or solar? Can you live without electricity if not? DO you need electrical power to run your heating system? 

Refrigerators? Do you have an electric stove (if so, you might wanna plan an alternate means of cooking).  Can you live without power? Do you need refrigeration to keep your medication from spoiling? Do you meed power to make your well work? CAN YOU EVEN OPEN YOUR GARAGE WITHOUT POWER (Most can, but not all).  How much of your life needs electricity? Can you live without it? 

If you have a generator…..do you have fuel for it? How much? For how long can you deal without utility power Have you done a realistic assessment of how much you will need to run a standby generator to deal with the minimum time you will need power? (Hint: It is likely more than you realize.. say 4 hours a day, minimum, times say 2 gallons an hour, for say 2 weeks….do you have a hundred (plus) gallons stored?)…If you have a generator powered by natural gas, remember that, while the gas lines are underground and less vulnerable to mischief, the valving is often above ground, and the pumping stations are also easily accessible (and vulnerable) to someone determined to do them harm….Don’t plan for there being uninterrupted natural gas if someone should decide to mess with that service as well. 

Can you heat your home if there are disruptions to the piped gas supply?? (even if you do have electricity via a generator and fuel for it).

If you do have a generator, have you serviced it recently? Gas is only one part of running a generator….oil fuel and air filters, possibly oil filters…And oil. Have you enough oil to change it after the recommended runtime? Some portable generators require an oil change after as little as 50 hours….Do you have a spare spark plug? If a portable, do you have a means of securing the generator OUTSIDE your home when it is running? (they’ve been known to walk off, so have a chain or cable to keep it in your possession). 

If you live on propane, it might be a god idea to have your tank filled just before the election as well. Having a full tank of propane just before the winter is a good idea anyway, but especially THIS winter, what with the election and all. Depending on where you live, it may be that the propane delivery trucks may not leave the yard for a week or 3 due to protests. 

 You know who you are. 

No names to protect the innocent, but Happy Birthday nonetheless

 But this Daniel Prude story that just popped in the Mainstream Media (and, oddly, on ALL networks at the same time???)  is a pretty good example of collusion. 

Seems that back in March, in Rochester, New York Mr Prude was all messed up and high on PCP. Cops found him naked in the street. He was spitting and had other issues. He was restrained with handcuffs and his head covered with a “spit hood” to protect the officers. 

His death days later was ruled a homicide “caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.””. (In other words he aspirated his own vomit while handcuffed)

Now, I’m not a doctor. and I don’t know any other details about this case. I do find it interesting that days after his arrest, after his demise in the hospital, that a medical examiner was able to find a reason to blame the fact that police restrained a spitting, struggling man high on PCP for his death. 

I also find it interesting that, as the Jacob Blake mess dies down in Kenosha and in the national media that the same media (again, all at the same time) started up with this story from MONTHS ago. Strange, innit? I guess they felt that they had to have something to keep the Black people riled up enough to vote DNC. 

And innit strange, despite the fact that they keep telling us about how black men are being systematically murdered daily by racist cops, that the only story they can come up with to keep the heal on the bubbling pot of race relations is a story from March? A story about a man who died with a lethal dose of PCP in his system while having a “mental health crisis” running around naked in the streets in the snow? 

What with the wholesale killing of innocent black men by the cops one would thing they’d not have to go back nearly half a year to find an injustice to fan the flames with. 

And if you can’t see the careful manipulation of public opinion in all of this, then you are either blind or stupid. 

ETA: Notice that “black” is capitalized in the headline…..