Some Goings on at Casa De Garabaldi

Well I went to court yesterday,  the solicitor wants me to return to get one ticket dismissed and the other amended.  my having a CDL and a clean record does wonders.  So I will return late next month.  after all is finished, I will provide details.  While I was there, 70% of the people whose names were called didn't bother showing up had bench warrants put on them...for something simple, now is made complicated. if they get stopped or license plate gets run for any reason...guess what...who goes to jail and their car gets impounded.  According to "Mack",  who is a popo, it is a lot of moved away from baby mama drama, to new address, summons goes to old address, or it goes to grandma house and they don't live there anymore, or they have old license and don't bother updating it and a bunch of other things so they get hemmed up for being lazy.  The court appearance was a better experience than expected, everyone was really nice, Mack told me "they were glad you showed up", LOL.

   Back to the regularly scheduled blog.

 I had decided to do a mod on the truck, there is a endemic problem with the headlights of the 2021-2023 headlights outer trim burns out and the replacements from Ford are about $1500.00.  Yeah ain't cheep.

   So I got some after-market lights to replace them...much cheaper.  Well I had gone to "Youtube university" to remove headlights on a 2021 F150 and it was more complicated than it was on the "Precious" my 1999 F150.  

   First thing I did was use my garage door to mark the centerpoints of the headlight beams, so when I install the replacements I can make adjustments.

    I proceeded to remove what was required to get access to the headlights.

      I had set up a table and labeled where each piece of hardware came from to make it easier to reinstall and keep it organize.

  I did everything with this little "gearwrench" 1/4 drive through ratchet set I bought years ago at AMT day. one of the best tool purchases I ever did.  Everything on that truck was 10mm, 8mm or the valance covers were 7mm.  

Truck looks kinda funny, that is the spousal units Edge next to the truck.

I had to route the accessory wire for the new headlight accessory function to the battery so I routed it through where it wouldn't get binded or kinked, and held it in place with zip ties, then cut the tails off the zip ties.(EWIS Training for the aviation bent folks, LOL)

    Put everything back together, this is what the truck looks like assembled except for the valence cover.

   Yes the headlights beams took a bit of adjustments to align up, but I got them there...

    It made the truck look totally different.  I am pleased and so is the spousal unit, it got that big ass box out of her office where it started to grow roots after a couple of months.  I was waiting for the weather to get better.

     To those that have been following my blog for years know that I built my first AR back in 1991 and the original barrel had the 

    yep, even had the 3 pronged flash suppressor, but the problem was that the rifle barrel shot to the left, no matter what I did, and finding a "original pencil AR barrel that wasn't labeled "Colt" with the associated price was very difficult.  I finally found one, PSA had some and I bought it.  The replacement had the "Birdcage " suppressor, I may eventually try to switch them out.    Yes that is a Chicfila cup there, can't work AR's without God's Chicken Sandwich 😉

suppressor

 Well anyway...

                    I was having my son shoot the rifle after I shot it..

        This was the group I had shot at 25 meters, I think the new barrel works great!  Finally it shoots where I want it to after 30 something years, LOL

     While I was at the range, I happen to see another rifle and it was one that I had wanted since the early 1980's where a friend of mine had one...except his had an AK74 muzzle brake on his, 

     Yep I bought a shorty AR, I always wanted a what I called a "Car-15" even tried to get one issued to me while I was in the service using us being around armored vehicles and the smaller size would be beneficial....Hah...was told "Not authorized by T.O&E"   damm.   and I saw a few come out in the early 2000's mid 90's and they wanted a lot of $$$ for them.   I did build a "Palmetto Shorty"  it is an "Angry Joe AR-14", I wanted to build a much lighter rifle after my 2nd AR (that I lost in that durn kayak accident) turned out to be heavy, very accurate, but heavy.  Go to the 3rd post I believe and you will see it on that link. 

      I gotta plan another kayak trip.........

   As a spur of the moment, I decided to replace the Cabin Air filter's in my truck and the spousal units Edge,  Keep in mind the dealership charges average $179 to do it.   

    Filter from Her Edge, she has 74,000 miles on her car. never changed.  Looks kinda bad.

      My truck, I have 93,000 miles.  her edge is a 2020 and my truck is a 2021.  It took me about 5 minutes to pop them out and put the new ones in. saved us a boat load of money, and "you tube University" for the win.  Check on how easy it is on your vehicles.  I never thought about it because on my older F150 it was a massive PITA. but on the newer vehicles, they tried to make some maintenance easier.

   I decided to go to the range again to run both my old school AR platforms, also my Springfield Range Officer .45 and my Glock 22C,

First one was the old school shorty AR, I used one of my old school G.I. Magazines, and she ran with no problem.  only issue I had was differentiating the front sight post and the target, it made sighting in the target more difficult than necessary.  Since it was a "free" target, man sized silhouette target, black rifle front sight post, black target...well I just had to aim center of mass and the rifle shot center of mass, all the shot hit inside the silhouette.

I then pulled out my old school AR, loaded another G.I 30 round magazine, and enjoyed shooting that rifle, had the same problem, Black Rifle Front sight post, black silhouette, just aimed center of mass.  All the shots hit inside the silhouette.  I gotta put some kind of paint or something on the front sight post to make it visible. 

   I stacked both rifles to cool off then grabbed the pistols.

   I had gotten new magazines Christmas before last, I had gotten 2 "Wilson Combat" from the spousal unit and my son had gotten me 2 "Colt" magazines.  I haven't fired my .45 in a while because of the cost of .45 ACP ammo.  But AMCHAR had a good deal on "Lawman" so I bought a couple of boxes.

I then pulled out the Glock 22C, she shot like a glock, but has the "Pumpkin" on the front sight and that made it easy to shoot the target.  I had bought several surplus magazines that were L.E. turnin's. 

                       What the "C" means on the 22.  Compensator. Compensates for the recoil.

       Got finished, loaded up my range bag, both rifles, cleaned up my mess and headed to the truck,

   Loaded the pistol and stuck the pistol in the console,  There has been dummies that case gun ranges that try to rob people after they leave figuring that they would be easy marks and worth the risk because they are carrying several firearms.  

   I also loaded the shorty AR.  I kept  3 mags in reserve. 

     For Just such... Emergencies....

    

    

  

Monday Music "I can't drive 55" by Sammy Hagar

   I was normally going to run another 70's song today, but today is a different day.  

I have to go to court to fight a ticket I got from one of our overzealous  constables,  I had driven on some striped lines making a right turn and he pulled me over and wrote me a ticket.  I own that one, but he also wrote me another ticket for ignoring a traffic control device.  it is one usually used for people who blow stop signs or run red lights.   I own the first one.....but the 2nd one is as our British cousins say " Not Cricket". so I have the footage from my dash cam and hopefully I can have the judge see things my way.  

     I have been away from Germany since 1991 and I still can't drive the "dreaded double nickel".  I am pleased that they raised the speed limit to 70 on the interstate, I honestly believe that artificially low speed limits are a revenue generation device for the municipality that is running the police in that area. 

    I do have a funny story to go along with this logo,  I had this one on the back window of my 1991 F150 that I had.  it was the late 90's and I had a bad day at the Ford Plant and I was on my way home and I was in the left lane doing down I-75 and it was 2:00 in the morning and I saw this car right on my bumper, so I stomped the gas petal and took off.  A moment later the car was back and the blue lights came on.  I looked at the speedometer and the needle was bouncing off the peg, you know the one that was way past the 85 MPH on the speedometer and I thought "Oh Crap".  Well I turned my turn signal on and moved to the far right and onto the shoulder.  I looked at my side view mirror and saw 3 police cars.

   Yeah kinda like that....Well I turn the truck off and am thinking "I am soo going to jail..."   I was going double the speed limit.   My record was clean though.  Well I saw the police officer with his maglight briefly illuminate the back window of my truck.  He then came to the window and I handed him my drivers license and my insurance card.  He then asked me "Mr XXXXXX, do you know why I pulled you over..?"  I replied "Yes sir, probably speeding."   he chuckled and then asked me " Do you know how fast you were going?"  I replied in the negative "Sir, I don't think my speedometer went that high."   The police officer again chuckled "I tend to agree with you and by the way I do like your can't drive 55 sticker on your back window.....very appropriate..Now you want to tell me why you were going soo fast?".  I figured I would be totally honest, and if I am going to jail, it will be for the proper reason.  "Well Officer, I had a real bad day at work at the Ford Plant, and I just wanted to get home and pretend that today never happened."  The officer nodded, "truthful answer.Now wait in the truck and I will be back."  I cringed and slid lower in my seat and mentally playing the phone conversation with the spousal unit "Hey Honey...I am in jail for speeding, can you bail me out?".  A few minutes later I saw him coming back and I was thinking.."dang...here I am, fixing to go to jail...Will I have a record?   My insurance will skyrocket, and the spousal unit will be pissed."   The officer handed me back my license and commented" Do me a favor...don't speed until you get out of my county.  Have a nice morning..."    I was in a total state of shock....that was the last thing I was expecting.  Well I saw 3 cruisers turn off their lights and move back into traffic.  I waited a few more minutes then headed home.....and I didn't speed until I got out of the county.

    
"I Can't Drive 55" was the lead single and first track from Sammy Hagar's eighth studio album VOA in 1984. Perpetuated by a very successful music video, it became a concert staple that continued throughout Sammy's tours as a member of Van Halen. The song is a reference to the National Maximum Speed Law in the United States, that originally set speed limits at 55 miles per hour (89 km/h).
It is the 100th song on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs.

     

"I was in a rent-a-car that wouldn't go much faster than 55 miles an hour. I was on my way back from Africa. I did a safari for three months throughout Africa. A really great vacation after Three Lock Box. I was traveling for 24 hours, I got to New York City, changed planes, Albany, New York. Got in a rent-a-car. Had a place in Lake Placid at the time, a little log cabin, I used to go there and write with my little boy. Aaron, at that time, went to North Country school when I was on tour. I would go there and see him. It was a really cool getaway. But it took two and a half hours to drive there from Albany. And I was driving from Albany, New York at 2:00 in the morning, burnt from all the travel. Cop stopped me for doing 62 on a four lane road when there was no one else in sight. Then the guy gave me a ticket. I was doing 62. And he said, 'We give tickets around here for over-60.' and I said, 'I can't drive 55.' I grabbed a paper and a pen, and I swear the guy was writing the ticket and I was writing the lyrics. I got to Lake Placid, I had a guitar set-up there. And I wrote that song there on the spot. Burnt."

—Sammy Hagar, 1994

The song's music video was directed by Gil Bettman. The video was shot on location at the Saugus Speedway in Santa Clarita, California.
The song's video includes Sammy and his band being chased and jailed by the California Highway Patrol for traffic violations. The video shows Sammy driving a black Ferrari BB512i which is later tuned up by Sammy's mechanic, Claudio Zampolli. Claudio was driving the Ferrari during the video's opening shot, where the Ferrari fish-tails across the speedway. Sammy claims in the commentary for the video on the DVD, "The Long Road to Cabo" that he burned out his clutch during the video. Sammy drove a 512, but a 308 was also used. Sammy claims it cost him $5800 to fix.
A trial scene is presided over by a judge played in a cameo appearance by John Kalodner. The judge's props were borrowed from director Robert Zemeckis, who had filmed the movie, Used Cars. Sets were built and the video was shot during the summer. There was no air conditioning in the jailhouse set, so the cast and crew were hot.
The yellow jumpsuit worn by Sammy in the video, can be seen at the New Orleans Hard Rock Cafe. A stuntman was used for Sammy's stunts. An exploding ramp was used to throw Sammy across the courtroom.

     
The song has been a signature track for Hagar during and after his tenure with Van Halen, and is commonly used on TV programs and commercials related to automotive racing. Most recently, the song was featured in a NAPA Auto Parts commercial, where NASCAR drivers Michael Waltrip and teammate Dale Jarrett are asking Hagar to keep the noise down during a recording session; in response, Hagar asked Waltrip if he could drive faster. Waltrip's car number at the time of the 2007 commercial was #55 and he had failed to qualify for some races.
In 2001, NBC Sports had Hagar record a "corrected" version, now known as "I Can't Drive 65," reflecting the common 65 MPH speed limit on freeways, for use during Budweiser Pole Award presentations on Winston Cup Series broadcasts on NBC and TNT. It was used from 2001 to 2003 during the broadcasts.
The accelerated version of the song was also available as a download for NHL Rivals 2004.
In 2008, Hagar recorded a newer version of the song that was used in NASCAR Dirt to Daytona 2008 called I can't drive 195, reflecting to the speeds used on NASCAR's biggest tracks Daytona and Talladega.
In 2011, the song became the opening theme for ESPN's NASCAR coverage for the 2011 season.
"I can't drive 55" was an achievement and Easter egg found in Forza Motorsport 4 for owning a Ferrari GTO, the car used in the music video.
The song also played in the 1989 science fiction movie Back to the Future Part II.

"The M-1 Garand wasn't that great...."

 I saw this on farcebook and read the article and initially was going to hiss and boo the author, but as I read it, I realized that he was accurate.  I own several other battle rifles used by the combatants of WWII,   

                                                                 2 of my enfields and my 03A3

                                                  My Garand and my 03A3

                       I also have a couple of nagants

                       Carbine Mosin with the "Dog Collars" and Garand, I also have a mosin made in 1939, it is considered "pre war" because the fit and finish is really good.   I have fired the bolt action rifles and yes the garand gave our guys the edge in a fight. You can use it like a rifle and if necessary, fix bayonets and go steel to steel with the other guys.  more difficult with the modern rifles of today.

I clipped this from Scott Duff on farcebook as part of his CMP postings

The M1 Garand Wasn’t That Great… (Yeah, I Said It)

Let’s just get this out of the way:

The M1 Garand wasn’t that great.

Go ahead, pause, clutch your pearls, fire off an angry comment. I’ll wait.

Because if you’ve spent any time around collectors, shooters, or historians, you know that saying anything less than glowing about the Garand borders on heresy. It’s the sacred cow of American military rifles. The untouchable. The legend. 

And that’s exactly the problem.

We’ve spent so much time polishing the mythology that we’ve forgotten something important: the M1 Garand wasn’t perfect. Not even close.

It was heavy.  

It was long.  

It had that infamous en-bloc clip that pinged like a dinner bell.  

It wasn’t exactly what you’d call “modular.”  

And let’s be honest it wasn’t the easiest rifle to maintain in the mud, snow, and chaos of war.

By modern standards? It’s downright clunky.

So no, the M1 Garand wasn’t that great.

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk about why that statement is both completely true and completely ridiculous.

Because here’s the reality:

The M1 Garand didn’t need to be perfect. It needed to be better than everything else on the battlefield at the time.

And it was.

While much of the world was still issuing bolt-action rifles, American soldiers were carrying a semi-automatic rifle as standard issue. That alone changed the equation. Faster follow-up shots. Greater firepower per soldier. A tangible advantage in real combat not just on paper.

The Garand wasn’t just a rifle. It was a force multiplier.

General George S. Patton didn’t call it “the greatest battle implement ever devised” because it looked pretty in a display case. He said it because it worked again and again, under conditions that would expose any weakness.

Sure, it had quirks. Every great tool does.

But those quirks came wrapped in rugged reliability, practical accuracy, and a design that could be mass-produced and trusted by millions of soldiers who depended on it.

And that’s the part we sometimes overlook.

The M1 Garand wasn’t great because it was flawless.

It was great because it was effective.

It was great because it gave ordinary Americans: farm kids, factory workers, clerks - a rifle that could stand toe-to-toe with anything they faced.

It was great because it helped win a war.

So yeah… the M1 Garand wasn’t that great.

It was something better. It was one of the greatest rifles of all time.

And if that stirs the pot a little? Good 

Because maybe it reminds us to appreciate these rifles not as untouchable icons but as hard-used tools that earned their place in history the only way that matters:

By proving it when it counted.

"EASA warns of more engine parts fraud after heist"

 

I had "blogged" several times about fake parts in the MRO supply system in the commercial aviation world, to put a part on a plane and have the repair recognized as "Legal" by the FAA and the EASA and other aviation regulatory bodies that control the commercial fleet of their respective countries, but they have reciprotive agreements across borders, like for example an "8130" is recognized around the world and is accepted.  EASA has their own versions and it also carries the same weight.  So if a part has that serviceable tag on it, it is considered "good to go" and meets the strict standards of the aviation world and is "airworthy" and safe to use and put on a plane that will carry passengers.  The parts are engineered to last literally years under normal use unless the manufacture has a scheduled maintenance check on the part where it is removed and sent to a shop to be tested and most of the time routed to inventory for the next plane or sometimes it has to be repaired.  The standards are strict for a reason and the parts are expensive. and the airlines accept it as the cost of doing business.  Now you get some unscrupulous dirtbag that get bad parts make fake tags, cleans the parts up so they look like new and sells them as "repaired" or "overhauled", the profit margins are huge, almost like drug cartel huge.  Hence the attraction.  Now a lot of the bad parts are sold to 3rd world airlines where oversite is far less stringent and "under the table remuneration is a way of life".

  I pulled this from "Aviationweek"

Airlines and MRO providers should be on the lookout for non-airworthy engine parts after 12 containers were fraudulently redirected from their intended destination, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has warned.

Spain’s National Aviation Authority informed EASA that a consignment of formally

declared non-airworthy turbofan parts was rerouted in late January 2026 from its destination.

The shipment consisted of 12 containers of engine parts, three of which contained critical or life-limited parts. These parts had not been rendered unairworthy by the contracted mutilation provider.

The theft covered more than 600 parts across four engine families: the CFM International CFM56, the IAE V2500, the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G, and the Rolls-Royce RB211.

EASA warned that the scale and method of the theft indicated the parts may be offered for sale on the open market.

It encouraged owners, operators and maintenance organizations to inspect their aircraft and inventories for the referenced part numbers and corresponding serial numbers; if any are found they should be removed and quarantined.

The notice appeared roughly a month after former techno DJ Jose Zamora-Yrala was jailed for four years by a British court for trading 60,000 parts with falsified documentation through his company, AOG Technics.

Airlines were forced to ground aircraft with AOG parts installed. While no in-service incidents were linked to the suspect parts, the disruption cost operators an estimated $53 million, the UK Serious Fraud office said.

The recent theft shows several similarities to that case, with low-value parts like bearings and seals targeted as well as an extensive array of serial numbers from the world’s most popular engines: the CFM56-5B and -7B.

Given tight supply and elevated pricing for legitimate parts, incentives exist for criminal activity in the aftermarket, although the industry will hope to avoid a repeat of the disruption and negative publicity generated by the AOG Technics case.

That case led to the creation of Aviation Supply Chain Integrity Coalition, an industry body that has recommended more investment in digital records, and wider adoption of electronic authorized release certificates (eARCs).

My Apologies and"Will America follow Europe"

 

Yep, I have a couple of medical conditions (Besides getting old), I get migraines, I take a daily migraine preventors as part of my pill loadout daily to keep it in check, but with spring and pollen, it still trips, I take medicine for it but it fogs my brain and I go to work and I try to make it through the day.  When I get those episodes, it zapes my creativity, I'm almost in a mental fog, I forget small things...yeah it sucks.  I'm able to function through the day but as far as blog anything.....fuhgeddaboudit.  Yeah that word actually is in my spell check.....I'm shocked, LOL.   

   I shamelessly clipped this from Michael Smith

President Trump is bringing the heat on the Euroweenies in the UK and across the Continent, and, as usual, he is doing it with all the finesse of a California framing hammer.

He is not just taking aim at Brussels or Berlin, he is lobbing a few well-placed shots toward the eastern flank of NATO as well, reminding everyone within earshot that security is not a subscription service billed indefinitely to the American taxpayer. His vituperative tone offends the diplomatic class, which prefers its criticism wrapped in passive voice and delivered at conferences with catered lunches, but like many long-delayed issues Trump has chosen to address, beneath the bluster is something more revealing than a policy dispute, it is a clash of governing philosophies, one that increasingly looks like a preview of America’s future if Democrats get their way.

For decades, the European Union has not just been a geopolitical partner, it has been a political aspiration for a certain Eurocratic wing of the American left. The EU is what modern Democrats imagine government should become once it has fully “evolved”, an administrative system run by credentialed experts, insulated from elections, buffered by layers of bureaucracy, and confident that dissent is less a signal to be heeded than a problem to be managed.

When Democrats talk about “protecting democracy,” what they often mean is protecting a system increasingly removed from the voters themselves, one that looks remarkably like Brussels with better branding. There is a profound irony in witnessing “No Kings” protests by people who want to replace individual liberty with the European model of monarchial bureaucracy.

The similarities are not subtle. Both systems elevate technocracy, process, and regulation over representation, results, and growth and both rely on a permanent administrative class that persists regardless of election outcomes, ensuring that while politicians may change, the direction of governance rarely does. Each share a quiet but unmistakable belief that ordinary citizens, left to their own devices, cannot be trusted to make the “right” decisions without guidance, nudging, or correction from above.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

That is why the EU model has always held such appeal. It promises control without the messiness of accountability. It offers the appearance of democracy while steadily migrating real decision-making power away from voters and toward institutions. For American Democrats who find constitutional limits inconvenient and federalism inefficient, Europe represents an end state, a system where outcomes can be managed, dissent softened, and policy insulated from the volatility of elections.

The uncomfortable truth for Democrats is that many of the policies they champion, expansive regulation, growing welfare states, centralized authority, and reliance on unelected administrative bodies, are not theoretical. They are already in operation across Europe, and the results are visible in slower growth, structural dependency, a political culture increasingly disconnected from the electorate but perhaps most obvious is the dilution of European history and culture through the importation of third world ideologies, religions and social mores.

The European model is not a promise, it is a case study and if elections across the Continent are any indication, people have noticed and are beginning to push back. People are recognizing the cultural destruction and right-wing nationalist parties are making historic electoral inroads. The outrage, the insistence that questioning the model is destabilizing, points to a deeper discomfort with the possibility that the bureaucratic technocrats might be losing their grip on European governance.

Trump’s critique, stripped of its rhetoric, lands squarely on this point. The United States has spent decades subsidizing a system abroad that mirrors what many on the left would like to build at home. NATO is the clearest example. An alliance premised on shared responsibility has drifted into a structure where America provides the backbone while European nations allocate resources toward expansive domestic priorities, assuming the security umbrella will remain in place.

When Trump demands that NATO members meet their commitments, he is not just talking about defense spending, he is challenging the underlying assumption that America will indefinitely support systems that are increasingly at odds with its own founding principles. That challenge extends eastward as well. Even nations with legitimate security concerns cannot operate under the assumption that American protection is automatic. Alliances require reciprocity, and reciprocity requires shared burden.

The leaders of Europe prefer tone over substance, so Trump’s “in your face” style ensures his message will be haughtily dismissed because they prefer nuance and ambiguity. However, leadership is not about comfort, it is about confronting realities that have been politely ignored. For years, American leaders have avoided acknowledging the growing alignment between European governance and the aspirations of the American left. Trump is not avoiding the historical evidence of where the European model leads and that it is profoundly anti-American.

The real question is not whether Trump is too harsh, the real question is whether Americans recognize the trajectory. Do we continue down a path that mirrors Europe, centralizing power, expanding bureaucracy, and distancing government from the governed, or do we reaffirm a system built on sovereignty, accountability, and the understanding that freedom, while untidy, is ultimately more durable?

Europe made its choice decades ago. The only question for the American people is whether enough will ignore the obvious negative outcomes to give Democrats control.