Jury Duty

Yep, yours truly got summoned for Jury Duty yesterday in the local District Court and had to appear by 9 am,

This led to some complications, as I had a Zoom motion set in another court yesterday morning at, you guessed it, 9am. A bit of a scramble, but I had an attorney friend cover it.

So I got to the Court and headed down to the jury assembly room, checked in and sat around for quite awhile.

I likely could have done the Zoom motion myself as nothing went on until past 10am. 

We then watched the jury film which gives some basics as to what the juror's role is in the justice system, which I kinda already had down pat.

At 10 am we headed up to the Courtroom.

The judge, who I had practiced in front of before,  and for whom I have considerable respect -- she's the very definition of tough but fair-- was very cordial and informative with the jurors.

The jury selection process began. 

We were introduced to the parties and everyone indicated they did not know them.

We found out the case was domestic violence, in this case a girl on girl assault -- allegedly. 

The first 7 jurors were drawn and questioning began. Questions included employment; to if anyone or their relatives were in law enforcement; if anyone had been a victim of a crime; if anyone had served on a jury before; and similar questions so the parties could get a feel for the jurors.

One juror indicated she would try to be fair as she had been assaulted previously. When asked by the judge if she could definitively be fair she said yes

She was preemptively challenged by the defense, thanked for her service, and another juror chosen from the pool to replace her. Very good call on the Defense attorney's part.

Another juror was chosen and the Defense counsel stated, once he found out the persons name, that his kids went to school with her kids (it was a very distinctive name) even as they don't personally know each other.  Good disclosure but all sides decided it was not an issue as they didn't actually know each other and had no bias either way.

2 more jurors got preemptively challenged and were replaced, and I wasn't randomly selected for either spot.

Probably for the best, as it was highly likely I would be preemptively challenged off by either or both sides if I had been selected.

I, and the rest of the jury pool, were then released and I got on with what became a very full day.

Very instructive to watch the process from the jury pool side of the bar, which will certainly be useful when I next do a jury trial.

696 Reversal

Yesterday  I got to drive on Highway 696 on the wrong side of the road --legally. 

Indeed, there was nowhere else to go on the Highway.

This felt very weird.  

You got to see the back of the signs as you zipped along

Traffic going westbound had been moved to the eastbound lanes, and eastbound traffic sent elsewhere.

A rather unique experience to zip along the highway while everything is feeling rather backwards. 

How About NO?

The Detroit News: Whitmer-created task force recommends ban on assault weapons

A group that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer created with the goal of making policy recommendations to save lives is urging state lawmakers to ban the possession of assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

How about No there sparky? 

 It's always the same ignorant proposals from Democrats instead of actual measures known to work to curb violence - because that would put many of their supporters in prison where they belong rather than out on the streets committing crimes.

The task force also said devices that convert semiautomatic guns into fully automatic firearms — known as Glock switches — should also be banned. 

Glock Switches already are banned under Michigan and Federal law both.  

That this Task force does not know this leads me to suspect the knowledge and credibility of same and instead to consider that this is yet another progressive task force that knows little about firearms and instead is just pushing the Democrat's agenda.

People proposing regulations on things should not be ignorant of the things they are attempting to regulate, much less try to outright ban. 

So What Kind of "Militants" Wall Street Journal?

Quite the headline at the Wall Street Journal:

 So, what kind of militants are they? Dare I say it ain't the Amish?

No, they are indeed not the Amish, but Islamists. 

On top of that, people who kidnap 300 children at gunpoint and march them into the jungle are not militants, they are terrorists. Period. Flippin' Dot.

The reluctance of the mainstream media to accurately label Islamic terrorists as Islamic terrorists rather than the milquetoast and unhelpful "We can't say what kind they are, but they are militants" is rather pathetic.

40 Carried For 10

This is not a 10mm vs .40S&W post.

Instead its about the challenge I did today:  Rucking 10 miles carrying 40 pounds.

In one word:  Ouch.

Ten miles was a lot.

We drove out to Pontiac Lake Recreation Area and met up at 7:45 am.

We then did a little warm up stretching, and hit the trail.

 Beautiful clear and sunny day in the 30s, and we were soon more than warm enough as we rucked on.

 I had on a lot of safety orange as did some of the others in the group as this was an active hunting area, as well as a jogging and mountain bike area.

We passed by a few hunters and while we saw deer tracks we never saw a deer.  We were more in danger from the mountain bikers barrelling away on the trail than anything else really. The hunters we passed by all had excellent muzzle discipline and good situational awareness that there were other people in the woods, which is always nice to see.

The trail was quite rugged with many rocks and roots hiding under the leaves to trip you up. Lots of slipping and recoveries from hidden roots occurred. I did the "Don't Fall Dance" many times.

Switchbacks, and climbs, and dips added to the challenge, and we had an elevation gain of 1,219 feet during the walk.

We did a short break at 3 miles in and another at the 6 mile mark.

About 8.5 miles in,  I asked for a break as my feet and legs were killing me, feeling every rock underfoot and always fighting to maintain balance took a toll and I was starting to hit a wall. Others indicated they appreciated and needed the break as well.

A few minutes sitting down helped and I got up and carried on.

The last miles felt like they were forever, and the last was the hardest, with a lot of elevation change and even more damn rocks and roots.  The last mile was really the last mile plus making it a 10.46t mile ruck. But, no one gave up and we did it.

 

Afterwards we had a campfire and hot dogs to celebrate.

The group lead brought Teton Grass Fed Beef Hot Dogs for the group to cook over the fire, and while the hunger and effort of the ruck certainly made everything taste great, those were really amazing hot dogs.  I mean, best tasting hot dogs ever. Highly recommend.

 He also brought some non-alcoholic beverages and a pumpkin pie. All great stuff.  It was a great time with great camaraderie hanging around the fire after all the hard work.

Feet and legs are all sorts of sore right now.  But the accomplishment makes it worth it.

More Transit Attack Woes, Now In Chicago

On the Blue Line Train in Chicago, at 9:25 pm a 26-year-old white woman was set on fire by a 45 or 50 year old man. Depending on the reports, there was either an argument before the man doused her with a flammable liquid and set her on fire, or was simply sitting there when the man poured the liquid on her and set it on fire in an unprovoked attack. Update:  It's been confirmed that there was no argument, this was an unprovoked attack.

The man is not being identified by the media, so you can draw your own conclusions.

While not identifying him nor providing identifying information, the media has helpfully reported almost every other detail about him.

He had previously been arrested 53 times, and has a record with 9 felony convictions with only having jail time for two of them. His latest assault before this one took place in August when he knocked out a female social worker causing a major head injury when he was being held in a psychiatric hospital. 

So much for replacing cops with social workers. 

He was released and set free, after that last attack, because of course he was. Set free by a Cook County Judge and sent home on home monitoring which was apparently not being monitored very well at all. Should we mention he has no home of record, either?

CWBChicago.com:  CTA fire attack suspect knocked a psych ward employee unconscious, but a judge decided to let him walk the streets: court docs

Yep, let mentally ill criminals continue to walk the streets no matter how many crimes they commit, let them roam free on public transit, then go on about how violence is down and Chicago and its transit system is very safe after an attack inevitably happens.  Much like the Iryna Zarutska  event a mentally ill criminal arrested multiple times but always given a slap on the wrist, if that, and returned to commit crimes again and again and again until someone gets killed or seriously maimed.

Anarcho-tyranny at its finest. 

3.5 Miles Going Uphill Both Ways

Met up with the Rucking Group last night after work on the east side of Oakland County.

It was raining, because of course it was.

That is a photo of me taken during the previous ruck group jaunt in the rain in October. I looked pretty much like that last night.  Except that I did add a blaze orange hat for yesterday's ruck .

The rain eventually petered out, and we continued on without it.  The rain made the roots and rocks a lot more slippery, and it was full on dark as we rucked through the woods. The pace is considerably slower in those conditions.

We went up hills, went around the trail and then did the same hills again.  Then the group leader indicated he wanted to do the hills one more time for good measure so we all obliged. 

Quite a good workout and a good bunch of guys.

Sunday Brunch With Mr. B.

Mr. B. Flew in to KPTK today. I wasn't flying as the Archer is still down getting its new engine, and the Dakota was out for the weekend with another pilot. So Mr. B. came to visit.

Not Mr. B.

 

 

He landed with one heckuva crosswind. It was blowing 18 gusting 25 knots at 280-310 for a 15 knot plus gusty crosswind component.

 He did it with style, and made it look easy, with a very nice landing.

 He taxi'd in and parked, and we headed off to a great brunch, which he kindly paid for.

After a great time catching up, I drove him back to the airport.  

He did the preflight, and as he did that I removed the nose chock, and he got the engines started and soon headed back home.

It was a darn good meet-up.