Range Time

 Near Woodsworth, LA on Robinson Bridge Road, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries owns and operates a public shooting range.  Archery, pistol and rifle ranges, along with a shotgun range.  Use of the range is perfectly free, except they charge a modest amount at the shotgun range to defray the cost of clay targets. The ranges are open Thursday-Sunday from 8-5.

I went out this morning and took the Ruger 10/22 that I bought last year. I had never shot it and decided to get a little trigger time The Ruger 10/22 is the Barbie-doll of rimfire rifles. It is easily customized, with aftermarket support everywhere. 

I was concerned because I have been diagnosed with macular degeneration and have lost the center focus in both eyes.  I have not fired a scoped rifle in over five years, and I didn't know how rusty I might be.  Turns out, fairly rusty.  The Burris scope I have mounted has 1/4 minute clicks and that translates into a lot of clicks to move the reticule an inch at 25 yards.  Sixteen to be exact., so I snuck up on the bull, clicking and shooting, clicking and shooting. I finally got it zeroed at 25 yards, after about 30 shots, firing 5 shot groups.  It grouped fairly well, about 1/2 inch at 25 which is probably more an indictment of my eyesight than an indictment of the barrel.

Two immediate thoughts come to mind.  First, I need a cheek riser.  I had trouble getting aligned with the scope.  Second, that rifle needs a better trigger.  Luckily, stocks and triggers are readily available for that rifle. Right now, it is minute-of-possum.  If I get a varmint in the back yard, it is in trouble.

Kimmel Kancelled

 I heard last night that Jimmy Kimmel's sow on ABC has been indefinitely suspended.  This is long overdue. Kimmel hasn't been funny in years, and comedy is the king of late-night.

Lately, his brand of humor has gone from cliche to absolutely reprehensible.  His rating were in the toilet and ABC was catching flak from station owners. With ratings down, revenue is down and he was probably costing ABC more than he was bringing in.

I can enjoy good left-wing humor. I enjoy laughing and I can laugh at myself as easily as I laugh about other things. Good humor is more than an ice cream bar. Commercial television is a business and they cannot afford to lose money.  I don't feel sorry for Jimmy.  He can start a podcast and be irrelevant on his own money.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm off to the range.

Chicken n' Rice

 It's an ancient recipe and one that Belle's father loved to cook. So, Belle cooked it today.

In a medium Dutch oven, she put in a few chicken thighs, added salt, pepper, two chicken bouillon cubes with a goodly amount of water and started it to boil.   She reduced the heat to a simmer and let it go for an hour or so, to reduce the liquid and make the broth rich.  Then poured in four cups of rice and left it on the stove until the rice absorbed the liquid and was tender.

Chicken n' rice.  About as simple as it gets and a nice, filling lunch.  There is enough left over that I can nuke some later if I want to eat something before bedtime.  It's a one-pot meal too, which makes cleanup easy.

Joe Is Broke?

 I was watching Gutfeld! on Fox and they did a segment that Pore Ol' Joe Biden is not happy with his post-presidential income stream.  He's broke.

So, I did a quick Google and found this article.

I guess, after 50 years of government employment, his Lifeguard Certificate expired and he never renewed it.  He's too old to do roofing, or plumbing. Jeff Foxworthy once said that we are all three bad decisions from having to hang drywall for a living, and Joe can't even do that.

No, he wants speaking engagements.  He can't string three words together, and no one cares what he thinks. I guess Jill could go back to the classroom.  Or, she could hang drywall.

Joe gets a presidential pension of $250K per year.  If he can't live on that, he deserves to starve to death.

Charging Decisions

 The prosecutors in the murder of Charlie Kirk have some decisions to make, and we'll learn more about that this week.  The state charges should be pretty straightforward.  Capital murder under the Utah statute, for sure.

The federal charges will be a bit more complicated.  If I were a federal prosecutor, I'd be looking toward charges stemming from civil rights violations.  Charlie certainly had a right to be where he was, doing what he was doing.  If my memory serves, civil rights charges carry pretty stiff penalties, and they avoid the problem with double jeopardy.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see the decisions made at both the state and federal levels.  This investigation is just getting started.  They have to be careful that it doesn't take on the aspects of a witch-hunt as they delve into the online activity.  Separating the signal from the noise will be crucial.

It will be interesting to see who starts ducking for cover.

Ballast Bypass

 When our hose was built at the turn of the century, it came with a number of florescent lights.  In the kitchen, washroom and garage.

I don't know if that light in the washroom has ever been turned off.  Saturday, it started flickering and I decided to do a ballast bypass and install LED lights.  I found the breaker, turned it off, then climbed up on a ladder.  After watching this video.  If you are not afraid of basic wiring, it is easy.  A set of diagonals, a good wire stripper and a couple of wire nuts.  You are done.

One trick I learned when doing the wiring is to mark the end with the blue and red wires with a Sharpie marker.  A simple L on that end of the fixture.  Your LED tubes will be marked with an L on one end and an N on the other.  I'm told it makes a difference, so I plug the L end of the tube into the socket marked L.

Easy-Peasy, about an hour, including the trip to the electrical store.  It's a nice upgrade and I didn't have to change the fixture.

Questions

 At our club practice this morning, a member asked me a simple question, "Do you consider the .30-06 to be a high-powered rifle cartridge"?

Short answer, yes, I do.  I consider the .30-06 to be on the low end of "high-powered".  The .30-06 can do a lot of things, and if I had to list all rifle cartridges into three categories, low, medium and high, I would put the .30-06 in the high category. It can be loaded from mild to wild and your mileage might vary, but I consider the .30-06 to be a high-power cartridge.

The conspiracy theories have already started.  Example here.  I don't subscribe to those theories, but I do acknowledge them.

In Custody

 i see that they have arrested the little prick suspected of shooting Charlie Kirk.  I bet he is having a lousy day.  Lots of interrogation, and I'm sure that we'll learn more about him as the days go on.

I die hear this morning that the rifle used was an "imported bolt-action in .30 caliber".  Hell, that could bbe anything.  I know that Winchester, Browning and Wetherby all import their rifles.

I am reminded that in the aftermath of January 6th, the Democrats did everything they could to demonize all Republicans.  Fairly or unfairly, they painted everyone as in insurrectionist. Now, after two attempts on President Trump and the successful assassination of Charlie Kirk, it is time to paint all Democrats a as assassins.

The kid who shot Charlie Kirk was not a nutjob with a rifle, he was a Democrat.  The Democrats ar ethe party of assassins.  That seems like a logical conclusion.

UODATE** I just learned that the rifle in question is a Mauser 98 in .30-06. ATF is trying to run a trace.  Good luck with that. That rifle was probably imported long before traces began.

Reflecting

 I've been watching the wall-to-wall coverage of the Kirk assassination, and I'm struck by a few thoughts.

First, the shooter planned this.  He had ab objective and an escape route.  As I type this, about 1:00 CDT, I don't believe that he has been caught.  The shot doesn't appear to be particularly challenging.

If the shooter thought that he would accomplish something, he was absolutely right. The airwaves are awash with his eulogy and if anything, he is more well known than he was yesterday.

In the days to come, we will learn more about the shooter, and his motivations. It will be interesting to see how he was financed, his political leanings and who his friends are.

Chairman Mao famously said that all power flows through the barrel of a gun, and while that sentiment served Mao well, it may not apply in the way that he meant it.  That one gunshot in Utah yesterday may have unleashed a whirlwind of political activism that will resonate for many years to come.