tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-198038262024-03-19T02:21:34.572-07:00BikeBubba's BoulangerieBike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.comBlogger3166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-89172435821299212442024-03-15T16:18:00.000-07:002024-03-15T16:18:07.175-07:00Makes sense to me<p>As I contemplate the firing of head basketball coach Juwan Howard at that school in Ann Arbor, I am compelled to remember the inauspicious way he started his tenure; by <a href="https://bikebubba.blogspot.com/2019/05/marsupials-in-congress.html">suggesting that the school re-hang banners</a> that were taken down because the school had been forced to vacate all of its wins because their athletes were taking payments from boosters.</p><p>Hail to the Cheaters, I guess. But more seriously, Howard's tenure at Michigan was a mess, and he threw away a golden chance to rebuild their basketball program. The alumni network and support of fans at Michigan has few rivals in the NCAA, and hence it really takes some doing to end up 8-24. </p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-44726378200939698462024-03-15T12:30:00.000-07:002024-03-15T12:30:21.880-07:00A Dying Nation?<p>Apparently, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/record-increase-in-disabled-russian-men-suggests-hidden-military-casualties/ar-BB1jY069?cvid=90c47d775d0b4ae4c824cd7a30762503&ocid=winp2fptaskbarent&ei=11&sc=shoreline">the number of disabled males in Russia</a> has risen by over half a million men, including 290 thousand men of age 18-30. Now part of this could be ordinary industrial accidents, and part of it could be young men deliberately injuring themselves to avoid military service, but all in all, it indicates that (yikes) Ukrainian estimates of dead and maimed Russian soldiers are somewhat conservative. </p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-50429206125151811282024-03-15T06:57:00.000-07:002024-03-15T06:57:52.034-07:00Definition of beauty<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-e7QI238qML9MngjOzRn6VQO7o993_M4PspOeqSn3_bdO910xolXsl43IIICwMsD22m3aWI0a3jGB_O9lrHhRBSC4SGNfy2V2_xd-qmJsUsieD_SW9jZXzT35vR7eIUcfWx7aJb6UB9v5bcC758BuyAMijvIqwYGV6VFmMFbpgz2fIXaoz6H/s1400/FayeSchulman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="1400" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-e7QI238qML9MngjOzRn6VQO7o993_M4PspOeqSn3_bdO910xolXsl43IIICwMsD22m3aWI0a3jGB_O9lrHhRBSC4SGNfy2V2_xd-qmJsUsieD_SW9jZXzT35vR7eIUcfWx7aJb6UB9v5bcC758BuyAMijvIqwYGV6VFmMFbpgz2fIXaoz6H/s320/FayeSchulman.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> The lovely lady above is Faye Schulman, a Jewish member of the Resistance against the Nazis during World War Two. She <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faye_Schulman">apparently survived the war</a> (with a bullet wound) and had a loving family with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Want to learn more? <a href="https://jewishpartisans.org/elearning">See here</a>. <p></p><p>I love the camoflage of the fur coat she's wearing, and am personally curious about how she apparently got hold of a Thompson submachine gun. Might have been a cast-off from the Red Army, which didn't like them much.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-45018207323044479492024-03-13T14:20:00.000-07:002024-03-13T14:20:47.481-07:00Definition of Chutzpah<p>Christine Blasey Ford, having seen all of her eyewitnesses deny her version of events, and having been found to have lied about a fear of flying under oath, and having been found to have lied about why her house has two front doors, writes a book in <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/justice-brett-kavanaugh-is-not-an-honest-person-and-must-know-he-assaulted-christine-blasey-ford-she-reportedly-says-in-memoir/ar-BB1jOOga?cvid=6fb1540b35114e1bb06ce7b18d115587&ocid=winp2fptaskbarent&ei=61&sc=shoreline">which she claims that</a> Justice Brett Kavanaugh is not an honest person. </p><p>Although obviously Anita Hill got away with about the same thing regarding Justice Thomas, I would still hesitate to accuse one of the nation's most eminent lawyers of such things when my own accusations against them had been thoroughly thrashed on national TV. It would seem to be a quick way to end up on the left side of the courtroom in a civil or criminal libel action.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-9226377386013908482024-03-13T07:22:00.000-07:002024-03-13T07:22:44.095-07:00An insider speaks up<p>Now as a Spartan, I should either hate Nick Saban because he took his talents away from East Lansing, or perhaps I should note that the man could really have been successful if he'd stayed, but <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/sport/nick-saban-college-sports-landscape-alabama-spt-intl/index.html">this interview</a> by CNN is something I really like to see. More or less, though Saban can be said to have benefited from a lot of the power politics of college football, he enunciates a traditional view of college athletics and sportsball, that it's not just about winning games, but also about developing young men into functional adults.</p><p>Lots of work to do there to achieve that, as the current system seems to be weighted on the side of big money programs more than it ever has been. We won't be able to go back to true amateurism, and haven't been there in my lifetime, really, but we can hopefully get away from a system that all too often sends young men and women out into the world without a meaningful degree, but with Cadillac tastes and horrendously sinful habits from the experience of college sportsball. </p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-23510886893758860822024-03-12T17:47:00.000-07:002024-03-12T17:47:20.290-07:00Sad, but true<p>The <a href="https://babylonbee.com/news/hamas-fighter-really-struggling-with-resolution-not-to-rape-anyone-during-ramadan">newspaper of record notes </a>that it is hard for Hamas fighters to abstain from raping infidels during Ramadan. OK, this is technically a joke, but after last October 7, they all deserve it richly, and it reminds me of something I learned about T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. "Lawrence of Arabia") after watching the epic movie; one of the things he noticed and experienced is that both Ottoman and Arab men were prone to homosexual activity, just as American soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan noticed a century later....</p><p>I hate to say it, but I'm seeing a pattern here.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-5344667546509747482024-03-07T15:18:00.000-08:002024-03-07T15:18:08.181-08:00A modest proposal for dealing with "trans" athletes in women's sports<p>The sad reality is that it would still take up a roster spot that ought to be held by a woman, but the NHL tradition of the "enforcer" comes to mind when contemplating "trans-women" participating in womens' soccer, basketball, hockey, and the like. The "enforcer", ideally a starting safety for the football team or a power forward, would stay on the JV team unless the varsity team was playing against a team with a trans player, and would only take the pitch/court when a "trans" player was out there. His only job would be to stymie and isolate the trans player so that the girls could actually play. </p><p>And yes, if the trans person hurt one of the ladies, the enforcer might be called upon to commit a couple of hard fouls or hard picks. </p><p><br /></p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-72739710124404596752024-03-07T14:50:00.000-08:002024-03-07T14:50:41.927-08:00Some study on "trans" issues<p>I do not have the time to go through all the footnotes and track down all of the references<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a45d683b0be33df885def6/t/65e6d9bea9969715fba29e6f/1709627904275/U_WPATH+Report+and+Files.pdf"> this paper </a>refers to, but it's a very interesting summary of the state of transgender "medicine". One interesting thing I learned is that a lot of the "innovators" in this area have some very troubling connections, including the fact that after performing an early sex reassignment surgery, Dr. Erwin Gohrbandt did pioneering, and criminal, hypothermia work.</p><p>In Dachau.</p><p>All in all, the sense I get from reading this is that first of all, those "doctors" engaged in this enterprise are not paying nearly enough attention to the likelihood that "trans" identity is merely a symptom of deeper underlying mental health problems. Going a bit more broadly, I'm not sure that a lot of mental health practicioners understand this, either. </p><p>Other observations; the document has a fair number of reports from transition "doctors" of detransitioning, which indicates that the real numbers for regret are probably a lot higher than advocates of transition surgeries would like to admit. The document also has a fair amount of evidence that these "doctors" are doing some "interesting" things to get things paid for by insurance (i.e. insurance fraud), that many practicioners are rubber stamping requests for surgery on minors, that many practicioners are fudging required wait times, and a lot more.</p><p>Looks like <a href="https://bikebubba.blogspot.com/2023/06/an-experience-relevant-to-trans-debate.html">my comments about the state of psychology</a> were, if anything, very optimistic and over-gracious to a broader scope of medical professionals, and they need to grasp a very basic principle;<i>body parts in the specimen bag do not grow back, and they do not reattach.</i> So you want to make for darned sure that it's the right path before you amputate.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-75902011449339430892024-03-06T08:03:00.000-08:002024-03-06T08:03:02.182-08:00Imbecilical moments in marketing<p>Doritos, apparently having learned nothing from the Dylan Mulvaney/Bug Light fiasco, has hired (and gratefully fired) a trans "influencer" <a href="https://www.outkick.com/culture/doritos-fires-transgender-samantha-hudson">who has admitted in public to tendencies of pedophilia</a>. And who, quite frankly, has a serious case of the uglies by any (male or female) standard.</p><p>Weird me, I'd thought that it's better to do marketing with people whose lives one might like to emulate, and I would at least hope that the proportion of hideously ugly pedophiles who are willing to admit that in public is small. </p><p>The bright side of this is that hopefully Doritos is helping traditional Spanish food culture by showing their product to be morally, as well as nutritionally, bankrupt.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-16724288418105763012024-03-04T13:38:00.000-08:002024-03-04T13:40:02.198-08:00A dish for Festa Della Donna; Chili Verde<p><span> In preparation for the Festa Della Donna, I made some carne asada with a dollop of chili verde last weekend. Let's just say it wasn't a good weekend for weight loss, and both recipes are courtesy of a coworker of mine from Sonora state. ("Il Dioses de la carne")</span></p><p>The carne asada was straightforward; take chuck steak sliced 1/2-3/4" thick, marinate with salt & pepper and lime juice for about a day prior to cooking. Grill over a smoky mesquite fire until it's done to your taste, allow to rest 10 minutes, slice, and serve.</p><p>The chili verde also involves the grill. Take 2-4 medium tomatillos, 2 jalapeno or serrano peppers (remove seeds unless you're a glutton for punishment), half an onion, and half a bulb of garlic. Throw vegetables on a grill, grill until lightly charred, and then blend them together with half a tsp of salt. Enjoy the burn on your lips and in your eyes.</p><p>On the light side, with two four daughters now married, we realized that if we help our sons-in-law celebrate Festa Della Donna correctly, we could soon be celebrating Festa Della Nonna (grandmother's festival).</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-91918467165113591312024-03-01T12:35:00.000-08:002024-03-01T12:35:22.312-08:00Festa Della Donna<p>Or, as it's called far less elegantly in English, "International Women's Day". Now I'm going to say something you might not have expected; despite the apparent feminism of the day, I'm thinking that this March 8, we'd do well to celebrate it. Let's buy the ladies in our life a mimosa (either the flower or the drink or both, really), cheer for womens' sports (Will Thomas, you're not invited), and celebrate real femininity.</p><p>And guys, don't worry about the imbalance--Pi Day and <i>Festa Bistecca e Pompino</i> (again using Italian for obvious reasons) are coming up on the 14th. Or maybe, just maybe, celebrating real feminity is a way to encourage the <i>belle donne</i> in our lives to celebrate real masculinity.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-63009202930445376872024-02-29T08:50:00.000-08:002024-02-29T08:50:28.157-08:00Great commentary on "America First" and isolationism<p><a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/ukraine-and-america-first/">Jay Nordlinger notes that</a>, as ssensible people have known for centuries, sometimes the world doesn't leave you alone, and foreign policy must go beyond a mere assertion of short term interests of a country. All the more true as more and more nations have the ability to lob a ballistic missile to the opposite end of the planet.</p><p>Which is why I donated $51.80 to Ukrainian relief in honor of Ksenia Karolina, a Russian-American ballerina imprisoned by Putin for donating that amount to Razom. Suggest that you do the same. Every bit of help to make Ukraine liveable and prosperous is another nail in Putin's coffin. May he reside there soon.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-28201262298560061952024-02-27T09:06:00.000-08:002024-02-27T09:06:44.518-08:00More great moments in injustice<p>The city of Houston <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/over-260k-houston-criminal-cases-suspended-due-lack-personnel-code-police-chief-says">has apparently suspended 260,000 criminal cases </a>in the past eight years because of a lack of personnel. Scary thing in the first regard is that this is only 10% of criminal cases in Houston in this time, meaning that about 300,000 crimes occur annually there, and scarier yet that these cases are "suspended", meaning that whichever victims (say up to thirty thousand families) are involved do not get justice, and also scary because innocent men and women still have the axe of justice hanging over their head, because the case is not dismissed, but rather suspended.</p><p>But you can always find Officer Friendly doing traffic patrol. Priorities, I guess.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-6163698399111363212024-02-20T16:04:00.000-08:002024-02-20T16:04:18.790-08:00Great moments in environmentalism<p>The state of Colorado is apparently banning the use of gasoline powered lawn equipment on public property, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-state-cracks-down-on-gas-powered-lawn-equipment-as-part-of-climate-crusade">an initiative sponsored</a> by the "environmentally mindless" people at "COPIRG". As a former Colorado resident, I remember COPIRG well. One day, they sent some people canvassing in a beat up Subaru with visible emissions....on a "red air quality" (smog) day when they could have simply taken the bus. </p><p>Oh well, given that a lot of power in Colorado is generated using coal, I guess this fits what COPIRG has always done, mess up the air quality while preening about as if they're cleaning things up. Sigh.</p><p>On another note, it makes sense that this "influencer" <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/london-based-influencer-owns-500-pairs-osneakers-spent-over-100k-needs-storage">lives near the royal family</a>, as I've noted for a while that the royals often lack a pleasure I get to enjoy all the time; the comfort of a well broken in piece of clothing. Seriously, 500 pairs of shoes for over a hundred grand? I calculated, even worse, that you'd need something like 100 linear feet of wall space to store all those shoes. So unless one wants to look at nothing but sneakers in one's house, we're talking a bigger house just to house all those stinkies.</p><p>So my hearty "Bronx Cheer" to the environmentalists of the week, COPIRG and Miss Nyame. </p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-35569231870948399042024-02-20T12:04:00.000-08:002024-02-20T12:04:18.515-08:00Horrors of Injustice<p>Here in Minnesota, we had a <a href="https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/02/the-burnsville-shooting-suspect.php">recent case where a man</a>, implicated in a (statutory?) <a href="https://www.shotinthedark.info/wp/?p=87020">rape of a 14 year old</a> girl, barricaded himself in a home with (his?) seven children and killed two police officers and a paramedic. The suspect is deceased, but thankfully none of his children are physically hurt. </p><p>That noted, what's of note in my mind is that while the suspect's record is not remarkable--a misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction, some traffic convictions (also misdemeanors), and a 2007 felony assault conviction--there is an interesting pattern of "what was not done?" that merits discussion. Specifically, at least two women requested protection orders after being involved with him since 2013, a reality that a judge honored when he refused to restore the man's firearm rights, but an interesting question comes to mind:</p><p><i>Did the judge look up the man's criminal history and ask the applicants for protection orders whether the man owned or possessed firearms, and did anyone visit afterwards if a positive answer was given?</i></p><p>I've done a bit of thinking about what is to be done about under-investigation of allegations, which of course benefits the guilty and hurts the innocent, and how to persuade the criminal justice system to take investigation seriously. I can think it might have to do with:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Jurors might refuse to convict based on very thin investigations.</li><li>Defense lawyers might point out a thin investigation as evidence the prosecution hadn't done its job per <i style="font-weight: bold;">Brady v. Maryland</i> and <b><i>Kyles v. Whitley.</i></b></li><li>Prosecutors might say the same to the police when cases are handed over.</li><li>Judges might rebuke prosecutors who bring thinly sourced cases to court.</li><li>The state might impose audits of cases to make sure cases are getting adequate investigation.</li></ul><div>But all in all, I can hardly imagine a better argument for good investigations than this:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>If the police and prosecutors do not insist on sound investigations, the failure to punish the guilty and acquit the innocent may periodically get police officers and other first responders killed.</i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div>Might be better than a law requiring audits. I still favor periodic audits, but there might be something even better.</div><p></p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-58280730827756482162024-02-16T08:43:00.000-08:002024-02-16T08:43:51.761-08:00A mocking term for Russia's President?<p><span> </span><span> A protester in Paris has referred to Vladimir Putin as "Poutine". For the uninitiated, poutine is a French/French Canadian dish of cheese curds and brown gravy on top of French fries.</span></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheXw1YDJBy9HHiHsOLkOL3jUR1TG0U6jDNzKygz9DSW8OvHsUMfJoS1nlyWKcjHwr_jPKIAhxWS4ov30xtjur0VjL2GX6gR0TmdZUGFrAOzYXXet6x_6Tf-SnELWF1PUXcaBtw79abk0cP4zN4TP92wvXI5W2knti5P9zKtFxPLGaYZdSJlo23/s2000/DeathToPoutine.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheXw1YDJBy9HHiHsOLkOL3jUR1TG0U6jDNzKygz9DSW8OvHsUMfJoS1nlyWKcjHwr_jPKIAhxWS4ov30xtjur0VjL2GX6gR0TmdZUGFrAOzYXXet6x_6Tf-SnELWF1PUXcaBtw79abk0cP4zN4TP92wvXI5W2knti5P9zKtFxPLGaYZdSJlo23/s320/DeathToPoutine.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I don't personally see what poutine ever did to deserve being associated with Putin, but the sentiment is interesting. Perhaps because poutine is linked to heart disease?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicny3oi-p2UsEapeefRugfC24AcXZZgEEpkiC5bpI_cZxRnA5h5q4BNG49P1hCST-ws9aA-VLJuTA8jMnSnS4O92TuyyW3FJRwcMAAVG2pUT4EgLqBfI77BSm8aa7YeM0R5LMWCNyHf3_TwgthY7CoqwB5jlMLS93VaXWKXVnSKEptui_4ld49/s1300/Poutine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="785" data-original-width="1300" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicny3oi-p2UsEapeefRugfC24AcXZZgEEpkiC5bpI_cZxRnA5h5q4BNG49P1hCST-ws9aA-VLJuTA8jMnSnS4O92TuyyW3FJRwcMAAVG2pUT4EgLqBfI77BSm8aa7YeM0R5LMWCNyHf3_TwgthY7CoqwB5jlMLS93VaXWKXVnSKEptui_4ld49/s320/Poutine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Seriously, my condolences to the loved ones of Alexei Navalny, almost certainly murdered at the orders of Vladimir <strike>Putin</strike> Poutine. May Mr. Putin soon get his ticket to Hell. <b><i>Putin delenda est!</i></b></p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-25068004813780352862024-02-13T15:28:00.000-08:002024-02-14T14:37:31.282-08:00Annals of injustice<p><a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/02/12/miranda-rights-indigent-defense-iowa">This article</a> caught my eye, as it illustrates a way authorities can really make the process of investigation and trial into a punishment that probably never would be implemented by a jury. More or less, 40 states allow the state to recover legal fees paid on behalf of a poor defendant, and those who are not able to repay face various sanctions like losing drivers' licenses and the ability to register a vehicle. </p><p>And since a person who cannot legally drive really cannot legally work, a person who is accused has a choice between debtor's prison and a life of criminality. I do believe that Charles Dickens wrote something about that, as did Victor Hugo. We may be creating career criminals by our approach to legal aid for the poor.</p><p>Worse yet, for crimes less than (and maybe including) murder, the police do not do a thorough job of investigating. A <a href="https://bikebubba.blogspot.com/2018/07/plenty-of-guys-giving-speeding-tickets.html">2017 Star-Tribune report </a>found that only <a href="https://www.startribune.com/when-rape-is-reported-in-minnesota-and-nothing-happens/487130861/">20% of rape allegations</a> got a good <i style="font-weight: bold;">basic</i> investigation, but 26% of them were referred to the prosecutor. One in four people whose cases are referred to a prosecutor are referred on the basis of a paper-thin investigation. </p><p>Now let's think of this in light of investigators' responsibilities from <i style="font-weight: bold;">Brady v. Maryland</i> and<i style="font-weight: bold;"> Kyles v. Whitley</i><span>--to seek out and provide exculpatory (exonerating) evidence</span><i style="font-weight: bold;">. </i>Probably the easiest way to avoid these responsibilities is to never collect the evidence in the first place. "<i>Oopsie. We put our guys with forensics degrees out on traffic patrol, so they really don't have time to interview rape victims and potential witnesses. Sorry about that!"</i></p><p>Wealthy defendants can get around this by hiring their own investigators to do the investigations the police do not do. The rest of us? Not so much. Again, it's a choice between a ruinous plea and ruinous debt. </p><p>So what should be done? My take is that the government needs to do (with private help) what businesses do; audits. Something along the lines of ISO9001, really, where an auditor would come by once a year, take a number of files from the police and the prosecutor's office, and examine them to see if basic standards are met. If they're not, corrective action (like taking Officer Friendly off traffic patrol and having him do investigations) would be required, and the next audit would use a much larger sample.</p><p>Ideally, any government auditors (who often get stymied, if my reading of the federal government is accurate) would be augmented by conscientious policemen, prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys, pushing back at inadequate investigations by saying "<i>This case was not investigated per basic standards--let's start from the beginning."</i></p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-87822968216888930422024-02-09T09:29:00.000-08:002024-02-09T09:58:22.688-08:00A country that needs to be de-Nazified<p>Russia, of course, as Vladimir Putin has <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/poles-pushed-hitler-putin-gives-cynical-reason-for-world-war-ii/ar-BB1i2bdE?cvid=84e9ceadf0e64305d49ad86cca528051&ocid=winp2fptaskbarent&ei=8&sc=shoreline">apparently just blamed Poland</a> for being invaded in 1939. Pro tip for Mr. Putin; if you're basically quoting Hitler in an interview, you can ST*U forever about trying to "de-Nazify" other countries. You're the problem, buddy. It fits, of course, with Russia's support of Iran, which of course earnestly desires a new Holocaust. Somehow I am reminded of the "Prayer for the Tsar" from <i><b>Fiddler on the Roof: </b> "Lord, bless and keep the Tsar....far away from us!".</i> With friends like Mr. Putin, Jews (and the rest of the world) don't need any enemies.</p><p>And a pro tip for Mr. Tucker; if you cannot figure out that your interviewee is sympathetically endorsing Hitler's foreign policy, and you don't call him on it, please don't call yourself a journalist. Stenographer, maybe, but definitely not a "journalist". </p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-2088729170924187662024-02-08T13:37:00.000-08:002024-02-08T13:37:55.779-08:00This one will be fun to watch<p>Hawaii's Supreme Court argues that the "<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hawaii-court-says-spirit-aloha-supersedes-constitution-second-amendment">spirit of aloha</a>" overrides the Second Amendment of the Constitution, as well as decisions like <b><i>Heller, MacDonald</i>, </b>and the like. My response is first that I'd expect that the Supreme Court will slap them down by at least a 6-3 margin (hopefully 9-0) under the Supremacy Clause, and that it's a pity that the Supreme Court doesn't have authority to administer a "Spirit of Disbarment" to Hawaii's "justices" and Attorney General. There are things in the law that can reasonably be debated, but the Supremacy Clause is really not among them, and those who argue or rule otherwise really ought to removed altogether, and permanently, from the practice of law.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-7693124913582630572024-01-25T09:55:00.000-08:002024-01-25T09:55:24.828-08:00Babylon Bee gets it wrong<p>...by claiming that a last stand against Biden <a href="https://babylonbee.com/news/texas-places-razor-wire-around-the-alamo-for-final-stand-against-biden">ought to be at the Alamo</a>. My thought, given Biden's well-known difficulties climbing the steps on and off Air Force One and elsewhere, is that it ought to be a place with steps. It would be impenetrable by the Biden team.</p><p>That, or there ought to be a voice activated door that Biden can open by voicing a coherent sentence.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-22677003707889207402024-01-23T13:14:00.000-08:002024-01-23T13:14:15.723-08:00And what can they do?<p>Mexican authorities are rejoicing over a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/01/23/us-appeals-court-allows-mexicos-10-billion-lawsuit-against-us-gunmakers-to-proceed/?sh=76041ebf3071">court decision </a>that claims that the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" does not apply to guns which end up in foreign nations. Now I'm not an expert on the PLCAA, but it does strike me that since all gun manufacturers must sell through FFL holders, regulated by the BATFE, responsibility for preventing those guns from getting into Mexico lies primarily with...</p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">the federal government of the United States.</i> It is also unclear what gun makers can do, given that they really have no control over the training and dispositions of gun dealers, nor is it clear that gun dealers can spot someone who intends to resell the gun. They could remove "scary looking guns" from their catalogs, but those are some of the most popular for purchase by U.S. buyers who have no intention of letting them leave the country. </p><p>And not surprisingly, all three judges are Democratic appointees. I'm looking for this one to be overturned on appeal and either an <i>en banc </i>review, or in the Supreme Court. If you doubt that it matters who you vote for, read the decision. It's appalling, right down to spelling errors.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-26260032296582670942024-01-20T16:17:00.000-08:002024-01-21T13:11:14.458-08:00Just wondering...<p>Apparently the Russian legislature, the Duma (say it in Yiddish, it fits), i<a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/world/2024/01/20/russia-to-consider-confiscating-property-of-those-who-discredit-army/72294899007/">s considering a law to confiscate</a> the property of anyone who discredits the Russian military. Beyond the obvious point that the Ukrainian army might be cheerfully saying "Molon Labe" to the Russians, it strikes me that if you want to confiscate the property of someone who's discredited the Russian military or spread false information about it, I'd start with Vladimir Putin, Sergey Lavrov, Pravda-Moscow, Izvestia, and of course the entire general staff of the Russian Army.</p><p>OK, yes, that's probably not how such a law would be interpreted or enforced, but the fact remains that if you want someone who's discredited the Russian military, there are plenty of guilty parties now collecting paychecks from the Russian government. Have at it.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-36843133415714905782024-01-17T13:38:00.000-08:002024-01-17T13:38:35.395-08:00And an inadvertent confession<p>Apparently the big hitch for a contract extension for Michigan concussion-ball coach Jim Harbaugh is that he <a href="https://www.totalprosports.com/ncaa/jim-harbaugh-extension-talks-michigan-hit-snag-major-issue-holding-things-up/">wants immunity from issues</a> related to NCAA investigations, of which there are currently two. One is minor--a meal provided to a recruit in violation of rules--and the other is the sign-stealing issue, which I see as major.</p><p>Given that Michigan has been investigated for the recruiting violations before, and Harbaugh was not punished for that, I'm guessing that this is an inadvertent confession by Harbaugh that yes, he was in the thick of it for sign stealing. At any rate, I can't bring myself to believe that he and his defensive coordinator didn't notice that the defense was in the right place an incredible portion of the time, quite a bit higher than when he was watching film as a QB for the Wolverines, as a QB for the Bears, Ravens, Colts, and Chargers, and as a coach for the Raiders, U. of San Diego, Stanford, the 49ers, and then back again at Michigan. You don't get to the top of the NFL and the top of the college game by missing these things when watching film, to put it mildly.</p><p>What's the significance? Well, in his first six years at Michigan, he was 49-23 (68% wins), and in the past three years, the Wolverines are 37-3 (92.5% wins). Two of the three losses were in bowl games, where of course the season for the opponent would be complete before Connor Stalions could visit.</p><p>It's not perfect proof, but I think the data are suggesting very strongly that without the sign stealing, the Wolverines would have kept up their pattern of losing to Ohio State and even Michigan State, and in their bowl games. In other words, it's a pretty big deal. </p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-13945577458360189152024-01-16T15:38:00.000-08:002024-01-16T15:38:38.046-08:00More on those electric vehicles<p>In Chicago, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/electric-vehicles-dead-robots-in-the-chicago-cold/">scores of Teslas are left cold and inoperable</a> because, surprise surprise, Arrhenius acceleration is a law of chemistry and physics, and it takes a lot longer to charge, and you get a lot less useful range, when it's cold out. Bonus, for those who are concerned about the environment, is that it takes a lot more energy to charge the battery because so much of the energy is used to keep the battery warm while charging. So more or less, the efficiency of your Tesla goes down by half to three quarters when it's 20 below.</p><p>In contrast, my real cars, powered by readily available gasoline, start at 20 below with no problem (even the 1997 GMC with 270,000 miles), and they only lose about 20% of their mileage at that temperature. Who would have thought that a 26 year old 5.7 liter (350 CID) V-8 would be the ecologically sound alternative to a Tesla?</p><p><a href="https://bikebubba.blogspot.com/2023/06/real-efficiency-of-electric-trucks.html">Besides me</a>, of course. And other people who can actually do math and science.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19803826.post-71028359431798397432024-01-11T08:05:00.000-08:002024-01-11T08:05:10.010-08:00Breathtaking stupidity from the NCAA<p> The<a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/2024/01/10/ncaa-president-charlie-baker-nobody-can-say-michigan-didnt-win-national-title-fair-and-square/72182893007/"> President of the NCAA is saying </a>that nobody can say that the University of Michigan didn't earn their "national championship" fair and square. OK, let's give it a try:</p><p>The cheating Michigan Wolverines didn't win their championship fair and square, since in the past couple of years, they've been caught with recruiting violations and stealing signs from their opponents in violation of NCAA rules.</p><p>One would figure that the president of the NCAA would have enough self-awareness to realize that a lot of people would assume that a program subject to multiple rules investigations might not have won fair and square, but apparently not. So I think we can dispense with the notion that the NCAA is about "student"-athletes who might know how to think.</p><p> But that said, college football is dying to me in many ways. Is this a sport, or a competition to see who can have the most tattoos? Is this an amateur sport, or are championships going to be determined by the amount to which corporations and alumni sponsor their team's athletes? It's never been pure as the driven snow--the 1987 MSU Spartans that I cheered on to the Rose Bowl had a lot of players on the muscle juice, and a few of them were arrested for very real crimes--but the mercenary spirit of the game seems to have grown exponentially since I was a young pup. It's pretty sad, really.</p>Bike Bubbahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08193546045614393425noreply@blogger.com0