Have ya noticed????

How there are lots of articles lately trying to whitewash the past actions of the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (and explosives now too)) and how now they are unable to do their (self defined) job because they are terribly underfunded and all?

Someone who wasn’t paying attention might think that the ATF has some pull with some folks in the Media and is trying to keep the agency from disappearing altogether or something…or at least gain funding.

420??

Joe is absolutely right.

If the Feds wanna say they can regulate pot, then why don’t they regulate the sales (and availability) of booze? Why can i buy it here in Indiana in a bar, but not in a package store on Sunday? Hows come I can buy it in Illinois on a Sunday but not in Indiana? How about county to county in Kaintuky? Some places you can buy it, some places you can’t. States rights mean something.

The way I see it, the Feds can prevent inter-state commerce, but not in-state commerce. This is, again, a States Rights issue.

And, as stated in the linked commentary, the best way for the GOP type folks to retain power is to let this go….to allow the STATES to make their choice.

But, realize that one cannot have the Feds stay out of pot and booze, and yet require Federal reciprocal carry rights.  Pick one way or the other.

And why didn’t we hear about this “investigation” during the election:

Who ordered the investigation stopped? Why?

The FBI has been investigating the Clinton Foundation for months, reviving a probe that was dialed back during the 2016 campaign amid tensions between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents about the politically charged case, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why did they stop investigating “dial back” during the presidential campaign?

Why are we only now hearing about this investigation, rather than during the campaign?
One wonders why it was stopped…Did the FBI think the case about the classified emails/Unsecured server would put her away (It should have, she WAS guilty, and folks have gone to prison for lesser failures with classified info)??? Or did someone…say a guy with big ears who lives in a pale house near a swamp, order Comey and his minions to stop? Perhaps it happened after another “chance meeting” with Loretta Lynch or something. One wonders what leverage the Clintons had over the higher ups in the Justice department…..Were they afraid of being “Fostered”? I cannot find any other reason as to why they would have stopped it.

I still want to know where the press was regarding this investigation before the election, and who ordered them to keep it quiet.

And I want to know why the FBI agents kept it quiet too? They talk about every other investigation, why keep mum on this one?

Weather is screwing with me…But I am getting there nonetheless.

So I was supposed to fly Wednesday. Nope. snow squalls all day, bad viz. So, no flying. It was, of course, clear and nice at my house, 9 miles away….

Same same today. Clear and sunny at my home, viz in excess of 10 miles, unlimited ceiling. But to the east, Lake Effect snow. Viz 1/2 to 3/4, ceiling at 1700. So no flaying at 10 AM.

So I cancelled flying at 10. At 3 pm, it was awesome clear and smooth and no clouds or haze. I went up and did stalls and steep turns and slow flight and then some some landings. Winds 310 at 12 gusting 22…. So runway 27. First approach, wind gust picked me up a quarter mile off the end of the runway. I chose to go around, even though I could have used some more of the 7000 foot runway to set down. Trying to learn to make good decisions.

Second landing was a bit flat, but not too bad. The wind dropped me at the last minute, but I was correcting for it and was prepared for it. I’m actually not having to THINK about it, I am just doing the corrections.

3rd landing was just about perfect.
4th was perhaps the best I’ve ever done. Just touched on the upwind wheel and then the downwind. If you’d had a cup of coffee it wouldn’t have spilled. Didn’t even squawk the tires, just a rumble to show I was down.

5th was smooth, but not as smooth as the 4th one.

Taxi back and call it good.
0.9 for the day.

I did learn how much fun a snow covered taxiway can be though.

Gonna do it again today. 

Not ready for prime time.

So all these folks pushing for electric cars: You know, Coal powered cars.

I actually took the time to look at electric cars: Not the expensive Teslas, but the Leafs and the Bolts and the Mitsubishi IMiEV (I tried to get some specs on the Fords, but their web pages either won’t load or go to an error page…I finally gave up, so I can’t comment on them).

I thought , Hey, much (90+%) of the time we go less than a hundred miles in a day, total, so why not check them out? Might save us a bit of cash, fuel wise, and we’d still have the other car for those longer trips……And the truck to carry anything heavy, long or large.

Ultimately, it comes to this: One can get a small (very small) car for about $30,000 after incentives….government rebates, power company rebates, etc. About $10K off the actual price. One with not a whole lot of features…(the features are available, but at a higher cost…like $5-$7 K more). Less room than most cars, even less cargo capacity. Performance that is not bad, but not great. Of course, the Bolt has a backup camera washer jet that is kinda cool, but not enough to offset the other negatives….

Charge time is more than overnight for most cars from full to empty; at least 6 hours for a half full battery, which only gives you about 100 miles range, tops.

So one gets a smaller car, with less performance, long refuel times, at a cost that is about 25% higher than an equivalent (or even nicer) gasoline fueled car….And a gas or diesel car can be refueled to full 250+ mile range in 10 minutes or so…

And in addition to that inconvenience, one must drive the car for about 45,000 miles to make up the difference in cost….yep, 45,000 miles to break even cost wise. And that isn’t figuring any resale value (which seems to be much less for full electric cars). And that isn’t counting the cost of the home charger and installation, either, nor the cost of the actual electricity to charge the car.

So:

More money, less car, less range, less convenience, for no monetary savings for at least 4 years for the average person (12K miles per year)…Not counting depreciation and resale losses.

Why should we buy these cars the “green” folks want us to? Less (much less), for more money?

And they are still coal powered cars! Somehow their CO2 savings calculations never take that into account. most of your electrical power still comes from burning a hydrocarbon of some kind….