Time to think about judges?

I just gave some money to a couple judicial races in Washington state. I think it's something conservatives maybe need to spend more time thinking about.

A bit of background first though. Washington state Supreme Court has nine judges. They are elected by the people, but if a vacancy occurs, the governor appoints a replacement to fill the remainder of that term. Given the dominance of Democratic, left wing, progressive politics in Washington state in the past twenty years (can you say "mail in ballots for everyone"?), this has led to a 9-0 progressive majority on the court that constantly strikes down the will of the people as expressed through referendums. They have, for example, ensured that tax and fee reduction votes were thrown out for covering "too many topics". How a referendum that covered one topic, taxes, could have too many topics is something for the lawyers to discuss, but that was their rationale.

Right now they are poised to rule on an income tax, the so-called "millionaires tax" that the Democratic controlled legislature just passed. Some history on that may be necessary for you out of state readers. The Washington state constitution unequivocally bans direct taxes that aren't equally levied on all Washingtonians. In other words, no income taxes allowed. Three times the Democrats proposed a Constitutional amendment to allow income taxes and three times the people overwhelmingly rejected it.

So this year, they passed on anyway. It was immediately challenged but it will be ruled on by the aforementioned 9 progressive judges. There is a certain expectation that they will either rule contrary to almost a 100 years of precedent and citizen preference, or (and this may be a long shot) rule that the whole bill is constitutional so long as paragraph 2, which limits the tax to those making over $1 million per year, is struck. This would then implement an income tax on everyone.

To make matters worse, emails have recently been released showing that at least two justices collaborated with the legislature to write the law in such a way that it could be challenged effectively and the constitutional ban then overturned. Those judges should, of course, recuse themselves, but they won't.

So to recap, we have a state judicial system that is completely captured by the progressive left and is working with the legislature to evade the constitutional requirements of state law.

Meanwhile, the Washington state GOP, which is consistently in some disarray, apparently stopped endorsing judicial candidates quite some time ago. Although I can't confirm the details, this is insane. They have left the state Supreme Court alone to be run by the progressive left, without even bothering to let their voters know who some positive options might be. To add insult to injury, apparently the five left wing judges, endorsed by all manner of establishment political types on the left, appear to have a combined war chest of about a half million dollars, according to election filings. The three candidates I'm listing below? About $1,000 in donations between them.

So I took the unprecedented step, for me, of doing some digging (wasn't hard because it's a story among the right wing blogosphere this year) and making some donations. Now I will recommend them.

Dave Larson https://www.larsonforjustice.com/

Scott Edwards https://votescottedwards.com/

David Stevens, currently a Mason County Superior Court judge. Did I mention disarray? He doesn't appear to have a website or a fundraising mechanism.

There's a fourth, King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell, but he's endorsed by Christine Gregoire, the governor who put us into this mess by introducing all mail balloting to the state. On the other hand, he's also endorsed by Rob McKenna, former AG of the state, who was pretty good in his job.

I reached out to Edwards, after having made a donation, to ask whether his campaign team had considered getting together with some of these other judges and running a combined campaign, pooling resources. Haven't heard back yet, but that was just yesterday.

Either way, absent getting rid of all mail balloting, absent a better way to clean the voter rolls in this state (Washington is one of the states that is refusing to cooperate with the Justice Department in cleaning voter rolls), and absent some sort of coordinated campaign to get some justices who are less coopted by the progressive left, this state is on a downhill slide that will be very difficult to reverse.

This Old House (is getting destroyed)

 Yup.  Flickers, occasionally seen around my bird feeders, have decided that the front of my house would make a great home.

Discovered this while unloading my car the other day, when I heard a knock-knock-knock behind me. There he was, drilling away at the third hole, furthest to the right. He flew away, but then the female came out of the middle hole. Turns out it's also a federal crime to interfere with an active nest since they are a protected species. Thankfully it's not an active nest yet, so some a Powershot staple gun and some wire mesh seems to have taken care of the problem. Now I just need to figure out a repair before something that can get through the mesh moves in.

The Motorcycle Diaries, Speedometer Edition

900 miles on the Road Glide, with new handlebars, this past weekend.  What a difference!  Handles way better, and more comfortable.  Python mufflers sound much better (quieter but also less echo) than the V&H 450s that came on it.  Also figured out that with a beanie helmet I can hear the stereo pretty well so actually listened to some music.  I do turn it down when I pull into town since the volume is very loud on the freeway and I don't want to be that annoying loud-stereo-guy when riding through town.

One problem that I discovered (and fixed) is that the speedometer was off by over 10%.  The law says no more than 10% high, no less than 0% low.   Mine was 12 to 13% at highway speeds.  How did I find out?  Leading a group and they said I rode like an old lady.  I had the cruise set at 80mph, they said I was barely doing 70.  Fired up the GPS on the phone and sure enough, I was way off.

Easy fix, though.  Turns out the Dynojet Power Vision tuner can adjust the VSS speed sensor for you.  Since I figured out that the bike was about 11% high on average, I multiplied the VSS setting in the tuner by 1.11 and typed in the new value.  Theoretically it should be pretty close now.  I may go back and do some fine tuning, but now that I know how, it's pretty easy.

What was not so easy is that when I took the seat off one of the heated wires pulled out of the plug, so I had to put a new connector on that.  Actually really easy except that my electrical tools are all out in my trailer and I a) kept forgetting to grab the right tools, and b) put on a socket instead of a pin, like an idiot, so had to cut it off and start over.

Also having problems with the detachable tour pack hardware.  Lost another mount.  I have some spares but not spare screws so now it's a trip to the hardware store, plus the chrome magnetic cover is gone since it fell off with the mount.  I don't know what's going on here since I torqued and used Locktite so that's making me unhappy.  Two of the mounting posts and broken free earlier and I used JB Weld to fix them, but I'm not sure how that could have caused this current problem.  Might be time for a new set of plates, but they aren't cheap.

I'm settling in to the new bike though.  I've put over 3,000 miles on it since I got it in November, and that's winter riding.  Clearly I enjoy it enough to keep it so now the only question is "Does the Road King go away?"  A lot of memories on that bike and I tend to get attached to stuff.  No real reason to keep it unless I'm going to ride it though.

The Motorcycle Diaries: Handlebar Edition

 Posted about the LA Choppers handlebar clamp here the other day.  They are supposed to be a good company but I've never been impressed with their designs or fitment.  Had bought the clamp because it was the only one currently available.  To recap, wouldn't clear the fork lock switch unless I turned it backwards (not the end of the world) but also was to wide to allow the Wild1 Chubby 1-1/4" bars with the necked down clamp area to even sit into the clamp.

Solution: Order a Wild1 handlebar clamp. Unfortunately back ordered, but I found a NIB on ebay and got it coming.

Yesterday, handlebar day so that I can take off for the weekend.  Got an 800 mile trip with two meetings and an overnight.  Left school as soon as possible and straight out to the garage.

Take the stock handlebars back off (no wiring because I already switched that, they were just there for pushability).  Take the stock clamp off, install the Wild1 clamp.

Which also doesn't fit around the fork lock assembly.  Sigh.  The CVO Road Glide has electronic locks.  A not completely useless feature as you can lock the forks, the saddlebags, and the tour pack with one push of a button.  In order to make this fork lock portion happen, it has a fork lock assembly where the ignition switch used to be, which looks like the old ignition switch, but which is larger to accommodate the electronic lock assembly.  Just like the LA Choppers, I turned it upside down so that it will fit.  It's not the end of the world, but at least I know that the Wild1 clamp will actually fit a pair of handlebars.  The wide part is supposed to go forward.  I'm really hoping that it doesn't matter that much, but it goes forward on every Harley ever built.  My experience suggests that it doesn't really matter at all, that the biggest problem could be tank clearance on some bikes, but the baggers it's all enclosed anyway so doesn't change the clearances.

So then mounted up the handlebars.  Wires didn't need extension (not sure if I can return the extension kit I bought so I may be out that as well).   The wires come straight across to where the plugs are sticking out of the bars.  In the picture the extensions are installed, but I took them out when I removed the black plastic "divider" that the plug are mounted on (top of picture).  This also made room for the hydraulic cable extensions from Fat Bagger.  These are pretty cool in that instead of replacing the hydraulic cables that run from handlebar to ABS module and clutch actuator (under the seat and down on the end of the transmission, respectively), you just add an extension.  They have spring loaded bleeder valves so once they are installed you open the valve (with a suitable hose and container attached), pump the lever a few times, and top up the cylinder.  The down side is tucking the extra hose away but that's why the divider was removed. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the tucked away hose as I was to focused on getting the bike done.

Anyway, done, test ridden, ready to go.  I'll ride to work today, just to make sure there are no problems, then 0500 KU (kickstand up) tomorrow morning.

Seen on the Harley forum

 The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.

The Motorcycle Diaries, Maintenance and Repair Edition

 Spring break.  Time to get caught up on projects.

Project 1: Install the new handlebars on the 2015 Road Glide CVO.  I bought 14" Wild 1 bars because I like them on my Road King and because the stock bars on the RG make my shoulders hurt.  Picked up hydraulic cable extensions for the brake and clutch, but everyone says that you don't need wire extensions.  Picked up an LA Choppers handlebar clamp and risers since the stock CVO bars don't neck down at the clamp.

Issue 1: Pull the bars, pull the wiring, wire the new bars, replace the clamp and "well that's weird".  It doesn't fit unless I turn it around backwards.  The fork lock assembly is in the way.  Well, I'll just turn it around.  Not the end of the world.

Issue 2: The wires don't reach so I'll need extensions.  Which "everyone" said I wouldn't need.  Local indei shop has a set though so I'll run down and grab them.  Crap, RK grinds when I try to start it.  Bendix going out?  Well, project for another time.

Issue 3: The clamp doesn't fit the bars cause it's wider than the necked down area on the handlebars.  Check the catalog, catalog says "Fits bars with 1" clamp area".  Doesn't say a damn thing about "but not if they are chubby bars that neck down".  Pull clamp back off, reinstall stock clamp, put stock handlebars back on (without wiring cause I'm not redoing that), and call a friend to help me push it up the little hill in the alley back to the garage.  Order Wild 1 clamp on ebay cause my indie shop says it's backordered til April 10  and that could mean "forever".

Project 2: Swap out the engine in my 1992 Fatboy.  I picked up a 1991 FXR motor, allegedly with about 30k miles on it.  I don't know about the miles but it seems in good condition and the price was right.  I trust the guy selling it to me to tell me what he believes, so there's that.

Since I've done a fair amount of upgrades to the Fatboy engine, I'll be switching those over to the new engine prior to install, including:

• Crane Fireball came and lifters
• NIB chrome cam cover
• NIB chrome pushrod covers
• S&S high volume billet oil pump
• Manley valve springs
• Screaming Eagle roller rockers

So first order of business is to strip the old engine, which is still in the Fatboy.  I don't have an extra bench right now, so the Fatboy goes into the trailer and onto the lift.  Rear rocker boxes off to free up the cam and lifters.  Lifters out, cam out, oil pump off.  Digging through my stuff to see if I can find oil pump gaskets and what should I discover?

Issue 1: The instructions for the oil pump letting me know that it will only fit 1992 and later engines as Harley changed the mounting area for oil pumps between 1991 and 1992.  Well that's crummy.  This was a NIB oil pump, retails for about $400, that was given to me in a box of stuff.  And now I can't use it.  Sad.

Oh well, moving on.  Install cam.  Measured pinion gear and cam and determined that pinion in old engine was a closer fit than pinion in new engine so swapped those out.  Had a Torrington cam bearing in my stuff but the packing grease was all dried out.  I lubed it and spent several minutes working it with my fingers til it rotated freely.  A bit nerve wracking but I want to get this job done so ...  I think it'll be fine.

Lifter blocks installed (and I now have a good set of lifter blocks that I should be able to sell.  They aren't generally available and aren't cheap, so that's nice.  (Or more parts to put in boxes and stack around my garage, if we are being realistic.)

Last chore of the day to move the oil filter mount over to the new engine.  I customized my oil filter feed lines to add an oil cooler., specifically having the return line bent by a pipe shop to go to the cooler before returning to the tank.  

Issue 2: There are no holes on the engine case for the filter mount.  Oh yeah, it's been a while, but now I remember that the FXR had the oil filter mount up under the transmission.  The good news, the bosses are there, (see image 1), the bad news, there are no holes as there are in the 1992 Fatboy cases (see image 2).  So I guess I'm drilling holes in my new engine.  That'll be fun.

Today my plan is to install the heads (Not sure if I have a good set of base or head gaskets so might have to hold off on that, but that's the plan).

I'm already tired and spring break has now been going on for two days.  I also have three phone calls from people with problems.  Not "can you service my bike" but "it just quits running at idle", and "it wouldn't start then it started and ran funny", and "I installed a clutch cable but it won't adjust properly".  Sigh.  I want to start saying "no".

X account update

 Not only does it continue to be "suspended", by feed is now 100% propaganda by the anti-Trump left.  Current top 10 stories showing:

• the WH ballroom is illegal, by  George Conway
• wealth taxes are good, by Bernie Sanders
• Oregon will fight to keep it's vote by mail, by Senator Ron Wyden
• Investigation into "reports" that Hegseth traded defense stocks, by Congressman Garcia
• Attack on "right to vote" by Senator Cantwell
• Millionaires want to pay more taxes, by Governor Ferguson
• Support for Dem politicians, by Barack Obama
• Kid Rock is bad because Trump, by Tom Ryan
• Trump's election security measures are a power grab, by Governor Evers
• Don Lemon could be President, by Tom Elliot
• Russia "destroyed" the naval blockade on Cuba, by Furkan Gozukara
• and it just keeps going

Not one single post on a conservative issue, not one single post by a conservative commentator, not one single post by anyone who I have followed (that list is gone).

Not one single response to my three requests that my account be unlocked.  I have to assume that someone hacked my account, someone has somehow changed how my feed is created, and that no one at X cares.  I don't get it.