Rainbow day

Or whatever you want to call the day that the "Pride" parades take place across the country.

This is, apparently, the 50th anniversary of something, which is a big deal if one is a gay man, I understand.

The claim that this is about "acceptance"....but they have always been accepted, both men and women, as long as they behaved in a decent manner, a manner that was the same as other, straight couples. Behave, don't have sex out in the open, etc.

I remember, as a child, being introduced to "Mr. Bruce" and "His good friend Mr Jacob". I didn't understand, as a child, what the connection was. Nor did anyone I knew care that much. It was just how it was.....and that most of 50 years ago.... This was true in the Midwest, and especially in the south.

And lest you think that that was an anomaly, here is a newspaper article (From 1905!) about a very strong willed, very well loved and respected woman.....and "her lifelong companion" living together...."spinsters"....living just outside of Chicago.....People knew...and they just didn't give a shit one way or the other.
No one cared about who she loved.

These two are but a few examples of how gay people lived among the straight people. By behaving decently....'Twas only the folks who DIDN'T behave decently in "Public" that were harassed and hounded by societies guardians.

I suppose every group has to have something to celebrate.
So happy "Rainbow Pride" day, folks.

(I personally don't care who a person loves (or how) but that's just me(as long as both are of legal age to make the choice)....But I don't care to see it out in the streets)

Odd

The Democrats can't find a Billion dollars for the "Wall"....


But they CAN find a TRILLION dollars for "Infrastructure.

I am all for rebuilding our nation's infrastructure.

So what gets cut? SNAP? Welfare? AFDC? What Social Program are they gonna cut to pay for all that infrastructure?  I mean, seeing as how they couldn't find the money for a border wall, we must be too broke....so where are they gonna get a thousand times that for their Graft "infrastructure" programs?

Point

HERE

Damned good observation, innit?

I didn't watch the debate myself. 

Gotta love folks who deny reality

I cannot help but laugh in disbelief.

In another forum, there is an argument about crime RATES...


It is claimed that illegal immigrant hispanic communities are (get this) MORE law abiding than the average "american" community. Especially "white" communities. 

Further, that these folks make communities safer and actually increase property values. 

This is the direct opposite of what I have observed myself, and moreso, is the opposite of what cops observe. But they spout study after study which claims the above. 

Funny, the Leftists seem to believe that if they repeat the lie often enough, it will become reality. 

I don't think that the average LEGAL immigrant is any more or less law abiding than the average "American". I do see that communities with a large percentage of illegal immigrants DO have greater crime and lower property values as well as more trash and such.

But perhaps both I and the police with whom I talk have a limited sample of observation. Perhaps we are wrong....

What are YOUR observations? 

Words to live by:

"Every tool has a hammer side"

E.O.

Qualifies as a hate crime:

I mean, she spit on him because he was named "Trump" and was the President's son.

The way I see it, she should be charged with a 'Hate Crime"....they charge conservatives for lesser offences.

But Eric Trump showed class and simply let it go. I'm not sure that I wouldn't have clocked her for spitting on me though, woman or not.

The owner of the bar has apologized.

3rd day

that's three days in a row without rain.

When will this deprivation end?

It could be my imagination, but I think the brass is turning slightly brown

Some diets work:

Ferinstance, The Irish Coffee Diet......

I lost 3 days last week

question:

So when the black population "Voted ("Call me Barry") Obama into office",

And thus, the Black population had a Black man as President...

And when they had a majority of Democrats in the House and Senate.....

Just where were those elected leaders when it came to "Reparations"?
Why did they spend all their time and political capital on socialist programs like Obamacare and increased illegal immigration instead of reparations?

Just wondering. 

Weather forecasting at it's finest

So, on Thursday, the forecast for Saturday was 64 degrees(f) and rain. 100 percent chance of rain Friday night, 90 percent chance of rain from 6 AM to 10 AM, and then partial clearing after noon.

So, on Thursday evening, we cancelled the work party we had planned for the range,...spring cleanup and moving about 15 yards of dirt.  The ground was already wet and even a small amount of rain would have made the job miserable and slippery and even dangerous....

Friday evening, the forecast was an 80% chance of rain in the evening and the early hours of Saturday  and possible clearing in the morning. Still a high of 64(f).

Saturday dawned bright and clear. No rain Friday evening nor on Saturday morning. In fact, there was no rain at all from Thursday until Early morning Sunday.
So much for forecast accuracy. Oh, and the high was 77 (f).

If the weather forecasters can't be accurate for weather 24-48 hours in advance, then how can their climate models be accurate in 50-100 years? In 100-200 years?

Yes, I know weather is not climate, but if one cannot model for short term with any accuracy, how can one model for the long term?

Today is the Solstice

Which means that yesterday was the last day of spring.


And yet, my furnace kicked on last night.

You Glowbal Warmening folks can kiss my ass

50 years ago

(this was supposed to have posted on the 18th, but apparently I flubbed it badly)


Ted Kenned, driving drunk, crashed his car into a pond.

Stories vary as to what happened next, but in the end, there is evidence that Mary Jo Kopechne drowned after being left behind, trapped in the car.

In today's world, Teddy Kennedy would be tried for homicide, even if he had come from such a prominent family. Back then, well....

Mary Jo was not available for comment.

Happy birthday

To my Dad.

Until I was 9 years old....

I really thought my middle name was "goddamnit!".

Srsly

Glmrfmp

Yeah, one of those days.

I'm off to see about getting the '27 Chrysler put back together today.

New clutch, new distributor drive gears (and a reworked gearbox for same) and then putting the trans back in.

Yes, I have someone doing it. They have a lift and better tools.

hopefully pictures soon. 

Don't break yer leg while hiking near Phoenix:

And if you do, then suck it up and hike out anyway....


'Cause the rescue might be worse than the injury:

Chaos reigns in the inner cities

Confusion and finger pointing and disappointment.

Happy Father's Day, everyone.

I was lucky. I grew up with a Father.
And I had a Dad.

And that is, indeed, a part of my "White Privilege".

Thanks, Dad. 

How very....French

So all those promises of money from the French Rich that were pledged to rebuild the Cathedral at Notre Dame?

Yeah, it would seem that they have been forgotten, and it is, instead, mostly Americans who are footing the bill for repair. 

Odd, I could have sworn that I'd heard this song before....Think WWII.

Funny how history repeats, innit? The French talk big, but in the end, they  just don't step up.

(and this is another way to show attribution for your source material)

'tis interesting:

The media refers to the President as "Trump".

They refer to Biden as "Joe Biden" or "Vice President Biden"

Odd difference. One is much less respectful than the other.

It's not like we don't know which the Media favors anyway. 

HEH

Sent from my brother, who (I think) got it from IFunny.

(This, also is an example of how to attribute the source of your content)

Which is it?

I mean, the meme from the DNC folks is that "Russians" or "Russia" chose to help Donald Trump get elected.

But......(from a comment in a post on Kenny's place)

Hillary won the popular Vote, so......

Did they help her?

(BTW, this an example of how you give attribution to a place where you found your subject material. It's common courtesy to do so)

Census

SO there is a big broughaha about Census questions;

In particular, about a question as to whether the respondent is a US citizen.

I think it is because the DNC types don't want anyone to know how many non citizens are there,

They claim that they are afraid that the non citizens won't respond to the census at all, and therefore the assets and tax money and, most especially, congressional seats, would therefore not be allocated properly.....(point here: are congressional seats supposed to be allocated by number of citizens or by number of population? Same same tax money and/or other assets.....)

There are many other questions on the Census...and the Census folks claim that it is a law that one answer those questions....but I know of no one who has ever been charged or fined or in any way punished for not answering the census questions...

I have always put the number of people and their genders and nothing else on the form sent to my household....

But riddle me this???Why should Non-Citizens get any representation?? Why should people who are in the country illegally get any assets allocated to their areas?

You gotta be Fookin' Kiddin' me.....?

So I have a friend who works with a person.
That person is darker in skin tone than we are (not that that is hard, as we are as pale as Canadian college kids on Spring Break...but I digress)

It was pointed out to my friend that there are subtle "Microagressions" everywhere....

Ferinstance:
The symbols on the traffic lights.
How, you might ask, would a traffic light be racist? (I was ignorant about this as well....Read on)

It would seem that they are racist because the traffic lights in common use here in Northwest Indiana have a white figure to tell you to walk and an orangeish hand to tell you not to walk....This was changed, apparently, many years ago to make it easier for blind visually impaired (there I go again with Microagression) people to more easily see the difference and thus not get run over by cars, trucks and busses....But, again, I digress.

Seems that it is perceived by (some) black people that "Its a WHITE hand that tells you to go but it is BLACK (Brown? Orange?) hand that stops you"....which is, somehow, racist.

Or something.

What a wonderful country we live in that this is the largest complaint....

One can find discrimination and/or racism anywhere, apparently, if you look hard enough and have an ambiguous enough definition....

Finally drying out

Or at least not so muddy that work cannot be done because the tractor can't be driven over the grass without getting mired in the mud.

Spent yesterday servicing the big  Bush Hog mower. It had been on the far side of the soft part of the yard, and had been sitting since last fall.

Greased the u-joints on the driveshaft, oiled the blade pivots and the coupler, checked the level in the gearbox. Spent a half hour putting a proper edge profile on the swinging blades with a flap disc.

Mowing and wholesale mayhem on tall grass today....while I can.

if it doesn't rain tomorrow, more of the same. 

'Cause he's just a bad ass

And he has a good marketing department:

CHUCK NORRIS HEARD YOU WERE THIRSTY, SO HE PUNCHED THE GROUND AND MADE THE EARTH CRY.

Just plain well water. But from a well on the property owned by Chuck Norris.

So it has badness built in.

Or something. 

BBBBBuuTTT the Tariffs won't work!

Yet, oddly, despite the DNC types claiming that the threat of tariffs wouldn't get any results, and that it was just gonna cost the US purchaser more....and that We (the US) needed Mexican made parts and produce more than Mexico needed the US....

Not only did Mexico choose to start closing their southern border to Central American migrants heading to the US (they already were closed to migrants intending to stay in Mexico....where the immigration laws are even harsher than those in the US) they also began investigating the sources of funds for those "Migrant Caravans"...

And, oddly enough, they found those funds came from "U.S., England, Cameroon, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala"...and those funds were funneled through some "26 individuals and entities"...all of who still have some assets in Mexico...and said assets are now frozen pending an investigation. 

The margin of savings when one considers the poorer productivity, increased transportation costs and other issues with production in Mexico for goods produced in Mexico but used in the US mean that the 10% (and soon higher) tariffs would make the savings in labor be nearly nonexistent at the user or consumption end....therefore there would be no reason to continue production in Mexico for many companies......a truism which was, no doubt, communicated by many US companies who source goods and assemblies from our southern neighbor instead of produce them here in the US. 

And Mexico desperately needs the money. So they capitulated.

So yeah, those threats from Trump of Tariffs on Mexican goods DID work..... and worked well, indeed. Odd, how when one plays for good, and a leader with balls is in place, and one who puts the good of the country first, how things get done

irritating

There may be nothing funnier or more touching (or irritating) than the glee with which a young cat attacks and shreds a roll of toilet paper.

Of course, cleaning up the mess and finding a replacement quickly when the needful is needing doing is frustrating.

Drought:

I mean, Lord God Almighty....

3 days without measurable rain. Three Whole Days...The yards and fields are parched.

I don't know what we are gonna do....

And they said he was insane:

To threaten tariffs on Mexican produced goods and services unless Mexico did something to stem the flow of invaders to our country through Mexico.....(Hell, if they'd just not FACILITATE their passage, it would be good...)


They said:
It wouldn't work...

The Mexican's didn't have the manpower to do anything about it.
It was impossible to stem the flow

and so on and so on....

Yet, oddly enough, it would seem that the Mexicans are at least making the attempt...or faking it, anyway.

Either way, they are arresting people and turning others away.

Funny, that....Threats of economic damage to THEIR country when their actions lead to economic damage to the US actually worked....
Whoda thought? 

D-Day-----75 years ago.

There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said.

But I would like to say this:

Those men had guts, Plain old hard to find GUTS. I'm not sure I could have walked out of those landing craft and done the job they did.

And THANK you to those who DID do that job.

That's all. 

Contrast

I would wager, with pretty long odds, that those men that dropped on D-Day would find only disgust with the reporters commenting on their bravery 75 years later...that they would like to discuss the reporter's politics, the policies those reporters promote, and the fact that those self same reporters show only disgust towards the current crop of military men and women.

I'd bet that they think that the reporters are not the kind of people they risked their lives for, and that the "journalists" are trying and helping to destroy the country for which they fought. 

'cause we spent the other tax money.....

So Illinois citizens get a new tax on fuels....an additional 19 cents per gallon....which goes into effect July 1.

Seems that the state had to find some way to pay for all that "Deferred Maintenance" on all the roads...some of that maintenance delayed for decades....since the state has diverted all those millions and millions of dollars that were collected from roads to social programs and to simply pay for the bloated government payrolls.

And now bridges are falling down and roads are breaking up... so like good socialists...they are adding an additional tax.

How long before this tax money is diverted and they have to add (again) yet another tax to pay for the deferred road and bridge repair? They CLAIM it can't be diverted, but this is, after all, Illinois....

What good little Socialists the Government of Illinois are...

"No Excuse"

For the "Coward of Broward".

“The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others,” said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen. “There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) announced Tuesday afternoon that officials arrested former Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson and charged him with “seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury.”

I'd rather see him shot for cowardice, but this is a good start.....

George flew us to lunch

So we flew, MC and I, along with my parents, to Champaign, Illinois for some badly needed Chinese food at her favorite restaurant.

Pulled the 182 out of the hangar

Time to get there: 44 minutes. (We had a nice tailwind going south)....Ground speed 154 knots for a while.

Got a Crew Car, had the FBO put in 25 gallons of 100LL and we were off to the Chinese place for some chow. Beef with Broccoli for me (over Fried Rice) and my Dad had Chicken and Mushrooms.  Mom had some LoMein and MC had (of course) Crispy Fried Tofu (her favorite).

lots and lots of food...yes, we took some home.

Some shopping on the way back for some odds and ends at the International Market for some odd and strange foods and snacks (Octopus Balls, anyone??? (sorry, no pics)),  and orange Kit Kats, Green Tea KitKats, strange flavors of Japanese Pop Rocks (and other stuff like that) not available elsewhere, and some more shopping at the Junque Store Consignment shop. Then we returned to the airport, preflighted the plane, loaded up, started the engine and we were off.

A quick conversation with Clearance, then switched frequencies to Ground, then a taxi, a runup then switched to Tower, (all the same dude) and we were given clearance to depart on Runway 32 with a right turn on course at 3000 or below.

Switched when told to to Departure (a different dude) then climbed to 3500 and tried there. (Pretty turbulent). Handed off to Chicago Approach and then we told 'em we were gonna climb to 5500 to find some smoother air. Not much smoother there (a bit less sharp), but less headwind.
At 3500, I could not let the Autopilot (George) fly, as it couldn't handle the turbulence...kept trimming up and down and trying to maintain a heading...I as afraid we'd burn out a trim motor....(Up/down/up down/up down/up/down.....) At 5500, "George" could handle the flying...less turbulence and steady(er) winds. So I let him fly for a while. What with the headwind, the ground speed wasn't as good, but we still made over 110 knots.

Since I wasn't flying, I had time to look down. Gotta feel sorry for the farmers. Many (2/5) of the fields still have either standing water or water just below the surface. I don't see how they are gonna get a crop in the ground anytime soon.

I'd think we'd have to have a week or more without rain before these fields could be planted

Soon enough, it was time to start the descent to my home airport. "Slow down to Go down"...so a bit of power reduction and a bit of trim and we descended from 5500 to 3500....made our "10 mile out" call on CTAF, then a slower descent to 2500 and a 5 mile out call. Did a base leg entry to the runway and fought the thermal on final. 16 gusting 24, so a bit fast. A gentle bounce on touchdown (just a bit too fast but there were gusty winds on final so there is that........and we were near gross for the density altitude also (That extra 350 lbs makes a HUGE difference in the sink rate)) and we turned off and called "Clear of the Active". ...I don't feel too bad as the dude with the TBM who landed right after me did the same bounce and had the same struggle on short final.

Taxiied back to the hangar, did the shutdown procedure, opened the hangar doors and put the plane away.

0.7 and one, and 1.1 and one...as Aaron likes to say

A good day spent with MC and my parents.

Being able to go to lunch 100 miles away and back in a day is why I learned to fly.

'Tain't cheap, but worth every cent.

Remember, the whole trip from Africa is less than 24 hours

Seems that there are reports that Congolese have crossed our southern border....and possibly some have ebola. 

Maybe true, and maybe not.

But.....do you want to find out what could happen if Ebola is let loose in the US?

At the end of the day, it is a perfect example of why we need border security....and while the Southern border is the biggest issue and the weakest link, the other borders are weak as well and need to be secured.