The NRA actually joined a Gun Rights Case.
Yes, That one:
the National Rifle Association.
Seriously, they did.
Unfuckingbelievable. I am shocked. Perhaps they can be redeemed after all.
I will be damned:
Reply
For the Ladies:
So….. “david7134″….
Where did you go? I am still waiting to learn how I am so unsafe as a pilot.
Feel free to educate me.
You were adamant in comments that I was unsafe and had put my passengers in danger. Yet when pressed, you failed to give details
If you have criticism, I am always willing to learn.
Or was all that hot air?
I am irritated by both Keyboard Commandoes and Google Experts.
You brought it up, back it up.
So….. if it is such a terrible word,
Why, then, did I hear it 5 times yesterday in otherwise civilized company?
Of course, it was from one black person to another. Had I used that word, there might have been….friction.
But they used it:
“yo nigga”
and
“Hey,, niggah, where you been”
and
“what’s up my niggah?”
plus
“Nigga you been gon a while”
along with
“Yo nigga, where my money?”
5 instances that I heard in about 3 hours…I would expect that there were more that I missed, despite being fairly observant…
Yet no one batted an eye.
This was a place where a lot of cultures mixed: white, black, hispanic, indian, egyptian korean, chinese, etc. No one misbehaved towards anyone else, people were polite and decent.
But still, if it is such a bad word, one that causes hurt and is an incitement to violence…. why can they use it without harming one another but for the rest of us it is a social sin of the highest order?
(I also saw a black couple selling cotton goods, but that is another question for another day)
Man, if ever there was evidence
That the Jewish population in the US was a powerful influence:
Consider the fact that all 4 major networks chose to preempt all other morning programming to carry Trump’s speech to the Knesset.
Yes, it was an accomplishment, but at the end of things, It is really just another day in the Middle East. Either Hamas will violate the cease fire after rearming during the Cease fire, or the Israelis will crack down on the folks in Gaza and start the fighting over again. Neither side really wants peace as peace means that they can’t use each other for political gain.
The citizens of Gaza (there is no such country as Palestine) hate the Israelis as much or more than the Jews hate the Gazans….And it ain’t never gonna change.
Internet fixt (ish)
And Comcast and my backup are both back, ETA: part time, they are intermittent at best
Blogging will resume tomorrow if I get constant internet.
I am still waiting for David 7134 to back up his claims with details and data…..
Internet outage
Both my regular (Comcast) internet AND my backup plan are out.
No blog for you.
Posted via a cell phone.
I must be something big as lots of local stuff is down.
So it appears
That one living Israeli hostage is worth about 20 Palestinian prisoners.
Interesting.
How long until Hamas violates THIS ceasefire?
I will go with 7 weeks. after the prisoner release happens.
Pick your square and put it in comments.
It is said: “Be careful whose toes you step on today….
….as they might be connected to the foot up your ass tomorrow”
Letitia James just learned that lesson.
And, apparently, the truth is that she DID commit fraud,:
“When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of hardworking people….Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them.
There simply cannot be different rules for different people.“
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) February 16, 2024
It’s a bitch to be held to the same standard that you hold others to, innit?
“The indictment, obtained by the Daily Mail, claims she signed a ‘Second Home Rider, which required James, as the sole borrower, to occupy and use the property as her secondary residence, and prohibits its use as a timesharing or other shared ownership agreement or agreement that requires her to rent the property or give any other person control over the occupancy or use of the property.
‘Despite these representations, the Peronne Property was not occupied by James as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental investment property, renting the property to a family of [three],’ it continues.”
She saved approximately $17.000 on the mortgage….. It is unknown how much she collected in rent.
It was, I am sure, just an oversight…..
‘Tis funny, she actually committed fraud, and got favorable loan terms….almost exactly what she claimed Donald Trump did…except no one was unhappy with Trump’s deal, which was a private bit of financing….Hers was apparently federally funded in part.
Of course, the Left is outraged, they don’t think that rules should apply to prominent Democrats…..Funny, innit, how they are claiming that the “Law has been weaponized” against her….The irony is amusing.
But this time she is getting what she dished out and being held to the same standard she tried to hold Trump….
“if one is going to strike at a God, then one had best strike true….”
And more flying
So I had a friend who wanted to take his wife to Mackinac Island for her birthday.
See, the thing is that they have 7 children and getting overnight childcare can be difficult….and since it is a 7 1/2 hour travel time each way, that makes for trips such as that to be difficult, logistics wise.
So, instead, we flew…. 2 hours, according to Foreflight (actual was just a bit longer).
We left that morning,, the plane having been preflighted the evening before. Opened the hangar door, pulled the 340 out, put the tug away and closed the big hangar doors.
The forecast was for clear with a very high layer of clouds, so I didn’t file, but went VFR. He is also a pilot, albeit single engine, so he sat up front with me….and the other 4 sat in back and chatted. (Kinda felt sorry for the single dude in back with three ladies having to listen to them chatter, but them’s the breaks)
Took off, climbed out to 3500 ft called for and got Flight Following and followed the lakeshore east for a bit due to traffic descending for arrival at Midway, then we turned north and climbed to 15.500 ft
Set the autopilot and just monitored the radios . First Chicago, approach, then South Bend, then Chicago Center above 10,000 ft, then (oddly) Minneapolis Approach as we got farther north.
Pretty far out over the lake, but it is the shortest route (and I fly a twin for a reason). Saw some ore boats down below but didn’t get any good pictures. 3 miles high is beyond the cell phone zoom.
Soon we were descending into Pellston. Michigan.
I decided to stop there for a bit of fuel, as there is no fuel available at Mackinac Island airport (KMCD) and while the 340 has the range to get there and back, it is marginal, and because we would be returning back in the dark…and it is unneedful to go into my reserve for no reason. So we stopped in KPLN for a splash of fuel and a potty break for all.
Of course by the time the folks had cycled through the bathrooms, the engines had had time to heat soak and vaporize the fuel, so the startup was long and difficult, (Hot starts are a thing with Continental TSIO-520 engines) but I got the engines to fire and we taxiied out for the 7 minute flight to the island.
It actually was kind of difficult, that short flight. I had to take off, climb out, look for traffic, get the ATIS, decide on a runway, (Your choices are east or west) and get to the right height for the visual approach…all in like 6 minutes…I chose to do the approach from the west, as the winds were marginally better for that runway, but it was still a 14 knot crosswind.
I actually did a pretty good landing, all things considered. Plane was heavy, and with a CG well aft. so that made for somewhat sluggish performance….and a pretty strong crosswind until short final when the trees along the runway broke the wind from the south. But I got it down more or less on the centerline and rolled out to the end and stopped and then we parked and paid the landing fee.
The walk from the airport to the downtown is all downhill. Lots of downhill…… did I mention it was downhill? But soon enough we were on the road where all the shops were,
We passed the Grand Hotel on the way down. What a magnificent building.
It is said that it has the longest front porch in the world.
Soon enough (after more downhill) we were on the road where all the shops and restaurants are…so the ladies had a blast shopping for souvenirs, fudge, candies, t-shirts, and all the other tourist stuff.
We ate an early dinner and then called for a cab…a horse drawn carriage. After waiting for about 40 minutes, it showed up and we piled aboard for the long trip back uphill to the airport.
We stopped alongside the road leading past the Grand Hotel for a photo of the sunset
and then rode in the ever darkening twilight until we got to the airport.
A quick check of the oil by flashlight , and a preflight, and a check the of the controls, pulled the chocks and the Pitot tube cover, and I fired up the right engine, then the left one and we taxiied out in the dark to runway 08. A short runup and we were ready. The departure is out over the water, and is not a good idea for a VFR pilot to do as there are no lights for reference to the ground….It is pretty much like an IFR departure in the dark there. .
Turned south and climbed to 16,500 ft, first talking to Minneapolis, then Chicago Center above 10,000 ft (several different frequencies) and then I began a descent towards home….Then South Bend approach and finally Chicago Approach.
The sky above Michigan was clear and the lights of the cites below were very pretty:
The engine were smooth and constant, cruising at about 212 knots at altitude. One of the passengers noticed the glow from the exhaust and turbocharger and commented on it. It can be a concern for people who don’t realize how hot exhaust pipes can get, be it a plane or a car:
As we crossed over from land to water, the moon lit the way:
The descent to home was smooth and before long I called “Field in sight, cancel Flight Following” (Which was what Chicago was waiting for as they can’t wait to get rid of low level folks as soon as they can) and we made straight in and landed. taxiied the long way back to cool the turbos, and pulled up to the hangar, opened the doors nd pushed the plane back in with the tug.
Times: 2.1, 0.2, 2.4 and 3 landings, one of them a nighttime landing.
A good time was had by all. 129 gallons for 4.6 hours of flight
The plane is just a way to get places faster, a Time Machine if you will….. But without it Dora wouldn’t have been able to go to see Mackinac Island for her birthday.