For the record, I believe the Blue Angels and other military PR programs are a complete waste of taxpayer funds that would be better spent in the combat zones.
Saturday, April 04, 2020
this is remarkable piloting. It's also foolishly stupid risking two lives a millions of taxpayer dollars of aircraft. Someone send these jet jocks to a war zone so they can find something useful to do with their time
For the record, I believe the Blue Angels and other military PR programs are a complete waste of taxpayer funds that would be better spent in the combat zones.
I just read that Michigan's Governor Whitmer was elected on a Fix the Damn Roads platform
Never heard about that before, I wonder how many roads have been fixed so far, and what the eventual result will be of electing Whitmer vs the road conditions before and after.
In her 2019 budget proposal, Whitmer offered Plan A: a proposal that included an unpopular fuel tax that was attacked by legislators on both sides of the aisle, although no counter was ever made formal.
This year, Whitmer announced Plan B: an additional $3.5 billion toward the Michigan Department of Transportation’s five-year plan, committed to fixing crumbling roads and bridges along the state’s major highways.
Estimates say the bonds will pay for 49 large-scale projects, and accelerate an additional 73 statewide.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a31710910/coronavirus-michigan-roads-trucks-supplies/
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/02/05/gov-whitmers-bonding-plan-what-fixing-damn-michigan-roads-looks-like/4666733002/
Her first time signing the state budget, and Whitmer vetoed $375 million dedicated to fixing roads and bridges.
Hours after vetoing millions to fix the roads, Whitmer convened the State Administrative Board — made up of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, state superintendent and the Department of Transportation director — to transfer additional funds, originally dedicated to roads, to local bus transit and rail roads.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2019/10/28/opinion-does-whitmer-really-want-fix-damn-roads/4081675002/
one decision in this past decade cost GM around 2 billion dollars. That ignition switch.
General Motors has reached a preliminary settlement in a lawsuit on behalf of owners of vehicles with faulty ignition switches and related defects, agreeing to pay $120 million.
It addresses economic harm due to resale, repairs, and other related losses due to the defect.It is unrelated to the $625 million settlement fund that GM initiated in 2014 to pay for 124 deaths and 275 injuries.
It is also unrelated to a settlement in 2015 that paid $275 million for more than 1380 death and injury claims that were not part of the compensation fund.
In 2015, when GM settled criminal charges with the U.S. Department of Justice for $900 million and paid $300 million to a New York teachers' pension fund for lost shareholder equity.
The only other associations that have employees that make such incredibly expensive bad decisions, are city police departments and county sheriffs departments. Those cost their cities and counties millions every year.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a31965015/gm-settles-lawsuit-ignition-switch-car-values/
Great News! I love to share good news, there is so damn little of it. The Aston Martin Heritage Works is now offering emergency repairs to keep the country's medical staff commuting, no matter what the make or model.
Now Aston Martin's Works division has found its own way to help, with boss Paul Spires offering the division's workshop facilities for emergency car repairs for local health-care workers.
With the U.K. in lockdown and almost all business suspended due to the crisis, Works has offered to carry out emergency repairs for locally based health-care workers to keep them mobile during the crisis.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32030576/aston-martin-works-servicing-cars-free-coronavirus/
a couple thoughts about the car industry
notice that many of them are asking the govt for a bailout, a stimulus package like cash for clunkers.
Must be interesting to make 17 million a year like Jim Hackett, and not be able to come up with an intelligent plan to keep your company afloat.
Or GM CEO Mary Barra who makes 22 million a year.
Neither of these CEOs has a clue. They simply do not have even a plan for increasing sales when the economy is doing good...
Isn't it simple? Build an inexpensive car for under 15k, you know, like every successful cool car that got major car companies into the black.
The T bird, Mustang, Camaro, Charger, Model T, Model A, 240Z, Mini, MG, Miata, F100, Meyer Manx, VW Bug... you get what I'm saying?
How are companies with 50 years and more unable to make a good cheap car? I get it, they want to make a wallop with every car sold, like Ferrari, but every expensive car company I can think of went bankrupt. Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Bentley, Spyker, Bugatti, Aston Martin.
What is the deal? Doesn't anyone point out that these mega corporations (Ford, GM, Chrysler/Fiat, even the US post Office) can get a loan on their assets?
Vice versa, if they can't make it, do they deserve a bail out when clearly they feel rich enough to pay upper management (board members) over a million a year apiece? Doesn't a monkey throwing handfuls of it's own crap at a grid of possible decisions have as much chance of picking a stradegy that barely keeps a company solvent? Airlines, cruise ships, etc... none of them seem to have the ability to succeed, no matter what industry they're in.
Amazon, Dominoes, liquor stores, grocery stores, Porn Hub... they all seem to be able to run their businesses no matter what the world is up to, or how the economy is doing.
Meanwhile 14 people have been charged with embezzlement from the UAW https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a31253503/uaw-embezzlement-scandal-gary-jones-arrest/
Must be interesting to make 17 million a year like Jim Hackett, and not be able to come up with an intelligent plan to keep your company afloat.
Or GM CEO Mary Barra who makes 22 million a year.
Neither of these CEOs has a clue. They simply do not have even a plan for increasing sales when the economy is doing good...
Isn't it simple? Build an inexpensive car for under 15k, you know, like every successful cool car that got major car companies into the black.
The T bird, Mustang, Camaro, Charger, Model T, Model A, 240Z, Mini, MG, Miata, F100, Meyer Manx, VW Bug... you get what I'm saying?
How are companies with 50 years and more unable to make a good cheap car? I get it, they want to make a wallop with every car sold, like Ferrari, but every expensive car company I can think of went bankrupt. Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Bentley, Spyker, Bugatti, Aston Martin.
What is the deal? Doesn't anyone point out that these mega corporations (Ford, GM, Chrysler/Fiat, even the US post Office) can get a loan on their assets?
Vice versa, if they can't make it, do they deserve a bail out when clearly they feel rich enough to pay upper management (board members) over a million a year apiece? Doesn't a monkey throwing handfuls of it's own crap at a grid of possible decisions have as much chance of picking a stradegy that barely keeps a company solvent? Airlines, cruise ships, etc... none of them seem to have the ability to succeed, no matter what industry they're in.
Amazon, Dominoes, liquor stores, grocery stores, Porn Hub... they all seem to be able to run their businesses no matter what the world is up to, or how the economy is doing.
Meanwhile 14 people have been charged with embezzlement from the UAW https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a31253503/uaw-embezzlement-scandal-gary-jones-arrest/
Friday, April 03, 2020
the James Dean Porsche was a major plot point of tv show Supernatural episode 5, season 5 "Fallen Idols"
Not only is it a good show, now and then they featured cool cars. No, a 4 door 67 Impala isn't cool. It's good, it's fine, it'll do... but it doesn't push the meter all the way to cool
https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Little_Bastard
http://www.supernatural-fan-wiki.com/page/Fallen+Idols+Full+Recap
https://www.motorshock.com/2012/07/la-porsche-di-james-dean-nel-telefilm-di-supernatural/
https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/1077/supernatural-5x05-fallen-idols
makes sense, right? Nope. There is no reason for tax payer funded enforcement of traffic laws need to be camouflaged.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut/
The next several posts are all going to seem to have a common theme, but just so you don't get the wrong idea, I'd like you to know I like good cops.
I simply do not have any forgiveness for bad, corrupt, unprofessional, hysterically egotistical cops.
So, good cops? Send me a link. Bad cops? Don't bother, any time anyone in the world needs any evidence of bad cops they only have to say to google, NYPD, LAPD, Sheriffs Deputy, Police, or Law Enforcement. There's simply an unlimited amount of proof of police being criminal and getting away with it, but getting caught at it.
NYPD just can't stop being pricks, they decided they had to tow semis which were doing their best to stay out of the way until they could get loaded.
A New York City Police Department precinct towed trucks from a residential roadway while the drivers waiting for a load were trying to get some much-needed rest amid the Coronavirus crisis, according to a new report.
The raids occurred early on March 23 on a residential road in the 66th Precinct of New York City
They even tweeted about what a good thing they were doing. What assholes
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut/comments/fqztaj/nypd_bragging_about_towing_semis_during/
https://cdllife.com/2020/report-nypd-towed-semis-while-drivers-slept-amid-coronavirus-emergency/
Any of you that praise cops because they simply have a badge? Wil be hard pressed to find anything resembling respect for NYPD after this, and the endless list of other shit NYPD has done. NYPD raping that guy with a toilet bowl plunger comes to mind.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, fine. Must be nice to be unaware of the things cops do, but here's the info
Abner Louima was assaulted, brutalized, and sexually abused in 1997 by officers of the New York City Police Department after he was arrested outside a Brooklyn nightclub.
His injuries were so severe as to require three major surgeries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima
On the ride to the station, the arresting officers beat Louima with their fists, nightsticks, and hand-held police radios. On arriving at the station house, they had Louima strip-searched and put in a holding cell. The beating continued later, culminating with Louima being sexually assaulted in a bathroom at the 70th Precinct station house in Brooklyn. Volpe kicked Louima in the testicles, and while Louima's hands were cuffed behind his back, he first grabbed onto and squeezed his testicles and then sexually assaulted him with a broken broomstick. According to trial testimony, Volpe walked through the precinct holding the bloody, excrement-stained instrument in his hand, bragging to a police sergeant that he "took a man down tonight."
Photo of Louima taken after his beating used in the criminal trial, as Government Exhibit #82 Louima's teeth were also badly damaged in the attack when the broom handle was jammed into his mouth.
So folks, if you don't think the police assault, terrorize, and torture people for fun? There's exhibit A.
Further, the police that knew about this and did nothing? As guilty as those that did it, it's known to everyone in the legal world as aiding and abetting. Plus the supervisors, and upper police management? Did nothing to to the cops guilty of this brutality, instead they assisted in the cover up. Ditto the police union.
So, forget trying to find a good cop. If you can't find a cop that does their sworn duty (police officers oath when accepting the job, badge and gun) to arrest anyone suspected of a crime (including other cops) then you can hope to find one you're simply not aware of the illegal and criminal things they've done. Hell, try and find one that will admit cops are dirty. Any questions about that should be directed to Exhibit A above, Abner Louima.
It's a damn pity that this shit goes on, but given immunity, and union protection, people that have a badge, and a gun, and lots of examples and training in how to plant evidence and get away with it (Rampart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_scandal ) simply don't make it through the career without abusing the privileged existance they have.
So, if you know of a good cop story, I'd love to post it. I've said that before, and I'll probably repeat it again now and then, but so far? No one has sent me a link to a story about one. It's easier to find proof of UFOs. That's pretty sad. But the NYPD sure as hell is never going to win awards for decency or professionalism from anyone but themselves
For any cool cop, on the job, or retired, just keep doing the right thing, do what you can to resist the temptation to turn to the dark side. Talk like yoda, or whatever it takes to walk the line like our good friend Johnny Cash sang about.
Be like agent Coulson, or Capt America, Sheriff Andy Taylor, or any respectable person... Roy Rogers, John Glenn, or John Wayne even.
What would R Lee Ermey say to these fucking NYPD cops?
lawenforcementtoday.com said " In this case, we simply cannot abide by what a member of the NYPD did.
NYPD Deputy Inspector James King, the commanding officer of the 66th precinct, tweeted about the operation right after it happened. He has since deleted the Tweet in which he actually bragged about having illegally parked tractor trailers towed in the middle of the pandemic.
Seriously, he did that.
Neither the NYPD nor the mayor’s office commented" Cowards. Despicable cowards.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/nypd-precinct-commander-has-truck-drivers-cited-while-they-sleep-along-brooklyn-streets/#more-100092
Cars must enter Florida weigh stations for COVID-19 checks, truckers told to bypass
Florida officials are using some of the state’s weigh stations as a checkpoint for motorists only to try to slow the spread of COVID-19/Coronavirus from other states.
Florida Highway Patrol will staff the checkpoint at I-10 at the Alabama/Florida line, 24 hours a day with approximately 16 troopers in 12-hour shifts.
Commercial motor vehicles should proceed in the left lane and may bypass the checkpoint to ensure timely delivery of products across the state.
Motorists who have been in areas with substantial outbreaks of Coronavirus including Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will be required to quarantine for 14 days before they are allowed into Florida.
http://cdllife.com/2020/cars-must-enter-florida-weigh-stations-for-covid-19-checks-truckers-told-to-bypass/
https://www.facebook.com/FLDOT/posts/2855385144547978
Best seat in the house was where Hunter Davis was, and had his cell phone camera recording before things got weird. He got it all from point blank range, front and center, when a cement truck driver decided to run from police
It reportedly began in Tunica County when the driver of the truck was involved in a crash and failed to stop, fleeing the scene and entering DeSoto County.
According to local news outlet WREG, the man behind the wheel of the truck shouted “I’m going to kill everyone” and rammed multiple vehicles before he was shot by police officers at the Goodman Road intersection between I-55 and Highway 51, where traffic was backed up.
The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital and has since been released and booked into the Shelby County Jail.
https://cdllife.com/2020/man-in-truck-caught-on-camera-ramming-multiple-vehicles-shot-by-police/
Thursday, April 02, 2020
seriously, imagine building a hot rod like this
'It must have been pretty damn cool to be in the fifties when junkyards were everywhere, and gas stations were all independantly owned mom n pop shops, and damn near everyone was able to troubleshoot, work on, and repair cars trucks and tractors, and lots of guys had experience in WW2 military mechanics, and having the fastest car was not a matter of money yet, it was all about smarts, effort, and know how
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1403861883181684/permalink/2619264381641422/
I dig the 1960s unheard of and unkown pacecars from small race tracks, and a 69 Camaro SS is very cool
https://www.facebook.com/groups/stiffspeed/permalink/2083338541812751/
"Fairgrounds Speedway" of Nashville
Thanks to Steve who recognized it as the 1967 Indy 500 pace car, one of 12 made
https://gramho.com/media/2208539897984003753
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1967-CHEVROLET-CAMARO-RS/SS-CONVERTIBLE-157368
https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0514-191387/1967-chevrolet-camaro-rsss-pace-car-edition/
thanks Gary B and William M for clanging my tip jar!
or more accurately, blogger unemployment fund. Jeez these are weird times we are in!
Best April Fools Day hoax? This following story was printed in the New York Times in 1982, and 5 days later, they learned they had been had. East German guards, a station wagon, an escapee, and three mannequins wearing fake Russian uniforms. (Thanks Kim! Kim fell for it, didn't realize he'd been had by a 38 year old hoax! )
Mr. Braun said today (Aug 2, 1982) that he first escaped to the West two months ago but returned to the East and then escaped again.
The escapee, who is 48 years old, appeared at a news conference where a translator and spokesman said Mr. Braun's station wagon, repainted to resemble a standard beige Soviet patrol vehicle, came through the Invalidenstrasse crossing. The mannequins dressed as Soviet officers were displayed on a table next to Mr Braun.
As representatives of the four Allied powers governing Berlin under the postwar occupation agreement, Soviet military patrols may cross freely between the East and West sectors, as may those of the United States, Britain and France.
Mr. Braun told reporters that he emigrated from West Germany to the East in 1959 and operated an automobile tire service in the Pankow district of East Berlin.
He said that he returned to East Berlin secretly after the first escape to look for his friend, but that she had gone back to her divorced husband.
The plan was devised by Wolf Quasner, one of the ''escape helpers'' in West Berlin. Mr. Quasner, who also appeared at the news conference, said he got the idea from observing ''the remarkable stiffness and masklike expressions'' of Soviet officers in their patrol vehicles.
Mr. Braun said he repainted his personal car, a Soviet Lada, to make it look like a patrol vehicle. A courier from Mr. Quasner brought him the three uniformed mannequins, he said, and he disguised himself as a Soviet Army sergeant.
At the Invalidenstrasse crossing, and three other checkpoints, East German guards waved him through.
Statistics kept by the West Berlin police show 4,902 Easterners have made it safely through, over or under the wall in the 25 years it has been up. Seventy-three people are known to have died trying to escape, according to Western statistics.
Aug. 2, 1986, Section 1, Page 4 New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/02/world/berliner-escapes-in-russian-disguise.html
The police spokesman said Mr. Braun, a former East Berlin tire salesman, had confessed that he had fabricated the tale he described at a news conference last Friday about escaping to the West, it was a hoax.
'The basic idea to say that his disguise had duped East German border guards was his,'' Mr. Quasner said. ''I added the detail of the mannequins dressed as Soviet officers.''
He said he and Mr. Braun had deposited notarized affadavits with a West Berlin lawyer that any money earned from the sale of the story would be returned, or donated to refugee aid organizations.
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/07/world/escape-was-hoax-berlin-police-say.html
For a real escape, that was very cool, and with an Austin Healey Sprite, https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/07/heinz-meixner-defects-from-east-germany.html
terrific residents from a neighborhood in England surprised a healthcare worker by making her a designated parking space in front of her house.
her husband expressed gratitude to his neighbors on the local Golborne & Lowton Facebook group, explaining that ‘like all busy streets, [his wife] normally ends up parking away from the house as there’s no space near it when she comes home from her shifts.’
https://www.unilad.co.uk/life/neighbourhood-surprises-healthcare-worker-with-parking-space-in-front-of-house/
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157995732281203&set=gm.2563330647255070&type=3
here's something fun for anyone bored of being stuck at home.... Can you find all 66 movies referenced in this image?
click on it for full screen
But it's best played on http://www.popcorngarage.com/ because they have it set up as a game
via https://enfantedeluna.tumblr.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)