Technology Rocks

Belle wanted an electric pressure cooker for Christmas, so I told her to pick one out.  We got it at WalMart, but once you see one in a store, you start seeing them everywhere.

She picked out the Power Cooker 8 Quart Digital, but the picture on the link looks nothing like what our cooker looks like.

Tomorrow, like all Southern families everywhere, the menu is cabbage, blackeyed peas, pork loin, and cornbread.  This has been our New Years Day menu for years.  And, I've cooked a lot of blackeyed peas over the years, in anything from cast-iron pots over a campfire, to stovetop pressure cookers, to ceramic slow cookers.  I've done it all, had a lot of success and a few disasters.  Such is the nature of cooking.

Belle hadn't tried out her newfangled cooker yet, so this morning she got it out.  "I want to cook those peas today.  If there's a problem, we'll find it early and won't have a disaster tomorrow."

That's good planning, so we read the instruction manual, washed and drained the peas, and found the ham bone from the Christmas ham.  Loaded it all into the pressure cooker, set it and let it do its thing.

Thirty minutes later, it was done.  After the pressure bled off, we looked inside.

The peas are tender, the little chunks of ham are falling off the bone, it looks like this thing works as advertised.  We'll let them cool, then refrigerate until tomorrow, when we'll re-heat them prior to lunch.  I am impressed.  A half-hour from three pounds of dried peas to savory, completely cooked peas is quite an eye-opener.  I can see that this thing will get a workout in the coming months  It's got a lot of functions that we have yet to learn, but I'm happy to try and learn them.

Yep, this thing is going to fit in nicely around here.

School Discipline, Crime Rates, and Implications.

As a practitioner (I'm a school-house cop), I've had great experience in the impact that discipline plays on the education process.  And the impact that the lack of discipline plays on the education process.  This morning, two articles come to my attention that speak directly to the problem of classroom discipline as it affects education and society at large.

The first is a study completed in 2008, before the Obama administration.  We're just now seeing the implications of eight years of Obama education policy

The increase in homicide among black youth, coupled with a smaller increase or even decrease among their white counterparts, was consistently true for every region of the country and nearly all population groupings of cities. The pattern also held individually for a majority of states and major cities. 

The second is an article from earlier this week.

The idea that such street behavior does not have a classroom counterpart is ludicrous. Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of white and Hispanic males of the same age. The lack of socialization that produces such a vast disparity in murder rates, as well as less lethal street violence, inevitably will show up in classroom behavior. Teens who react to a perceived insult on social media by trying to shoot the offender are not likely to restrain themselves in the classroom if they feel “disrespected” by a teacher or fellow students. Interviews with teachers confirm the proposition that children from communities with high rates of family breakdown bring vast amounts of disruptive anger to school, especially girls.  It is no surprise that several of the Christmas riots began with fights between girls.  School officials in urban areas across the country set up security corridors manned by police officers at school dismissal times to avoid gang shootings. And yet, the Obama administration would have us believe that in the classroom, black students are no more likely to disrupt order than white students. Equally preposterous is the claim that teachers and administrators are bigots. There is no more liberal a profession than teaching; education schools are one long indoctrination in white-privilege theory. And yet when these social-justice warriors get in the classroom, according to the Obama civil rights lawyers, they start wielding invidious double standards in discipline.

As a law enforcement officer in general, and a school-house cop in particular, I'll have to ponder this set of circumstances at more length.

Day Trippin'

Belle and I went to Natchitoches today, to rumble around and do a little planning for the shoot that we're hosting in April.  The beauty of Cowboy Fast Draw is that we can shoot our sport anywhere.  Wax bullets and low-powered cartridges, it's entirely possible to hold matches anywhere.  The City of Natchitoches has given us permission to close one block of Front Street and hold a state championship right in the middle of town.

That's the sidewalk near on Front Street, looking south.  We'll be shooting on the bricks of Front Street, right out in the middle of the road.  Belle is looking in a shop window.  Front Street is the main thoroughfare in town, the tourist trap.  Lots of little shops and restaurants.

That's the other end of the shooting venue, looking north.

The interior of Momma's Oyster House.  It's a cool little restaurant about 50 steps from where we'll be shooting.  They make the best oyster po'boy in town.  Of course, we had to eat one, It was lunch time, after all.  You'd think we had planned it like that.

It was a great day trip.  We got a lot done, and we're beginning cocktails.  I have a feeling it's going to be a quiet Friday night.

Another New "Old" Revolver

It's pre-SHOT show and the new guns are going to start rolling out.  We talked yesterday about Rugers GP100 in .44 Special.  I see now that another manufacturer is getting more serious about sheelguns.

TTAG has the scoop.

Colt has resurrected the Cobra.  The old Cobra was a 6-shot revolver, built on a smaller frame than the Python.  Colt discontinued it in 1981. It's main competition was the Smith J-frames that were 5-shot revolvers.  The snubby Colts were built on what Colt called the "D" frame.  I admit that I'm not very conversant on modern Colt revolvers.  When I was packing a revolver every day on duty, the Smith Model 66 dominated the lineup.  I know of exactly one State Trooper who carried a Colt Python, and two Parole Officers who carried Detective Specials.  The rest of us carried Smith and Wesson.

Still, it's good to see that Colt is bringing out the old revolver.  Their marketing guys must have seen a demand, or it wouldn't be on the market.  Good for Colt, although I am probably not in that market.  I've got my snubnose revolvers.

Now, if Colt really wants to get back into the niche revolver business, they should revive their Model P and make it a standard production gun, rather than a Custom-Shop-only revolver.  Get the price down to about $600 USD and compete with the Ruger New Vaqueor.  The SASS and CFDA crowd would buy a bunch of them.

I'm just sayin'.

The 44 Special

The .44 Special is an interesting cartridge.  I've talked about it before.  It was standardized in 1907, long before the advent of the .44 Magnum, And, like its smaller brethren, the .38/357 revolver, the Special can be fired in any Magnum revolver.  When Elmer Keith lobbied Smith and Wesson to build revolvers and Remington to produce the ammunition (back about 1955), the .44 Special became the weak sister of the team.  Everyone wanted the Magnum, so revolvers chambered for the Special were few and far between.

Oh, Charter Arms made the Bulldog, and occasionally you could find a Smith in the gun racks, but the Special was overshadowed by the longer Magnum.  That is simply a fact.

However, there were those of us who liked the .44 Special.  We found versatility in the shorter cartridge and learned that it's a handloader's dream.  No less than the late Skeeter Skelton was a fan of the cartridge and found a load that he promulgated to the point that we now call it Skeeter's Load.  I keep a supply of that load on hand, and if we're going to trot out the .44 revolver, some of that load is going with us.  That one Super Blackhawk I own is not a small revolver, and I use it for woods-cruising.  It's simply not amenable to being easily concealed.

I was surfing around the Book of Face this morning and saw a posting by Brownells.  It appears that Ruger is coming out with a new chambering in their GP100 revolver.  You guessed it, the .44 Special.

With a 3" barrel and a 5-shot cylinder, it looks like a nice little revolver.  I bet that a cylinder of Skeeter's load would make it a dandy piece.  The MSRP is something like $829.00, but the street price should drag that down a couple of hundred.  Down Range TV has a write-up on it.

I admit that I like the looks of that revolver.  I'll have to put it on my short list to keep an eye out for.

Cartridge Box

In Cowboy Fast Draw, it's cool to show up with a cartridge box, At sanctioned shoots, it doesn't matter much, because the host supplies the ammunition and it's waiting for us at the firing line.

But, for the smaller shoots we bring our own ammo.  It's one thing to walk up to the line with an MTM/Caseguard box, like I do.  I have several and they're certainly durable.  But, a cool little cartridge box is certainly a plus.  It doesn't help your shooting, but it does help your "cool" factor.  Ideally, a match is three rounds (Three up, three down.  Go sit down.)

I had made Belle a small box that held 12 rounds, which should be sufficient, but she wanted more capacity, in case a bout went long.  So, I started looking at some old Frankfort Arsenal boxes I had laying around, and decided to cut one down with the table saw.

On the outside, it's a small wooden box with her name stenciled on the lid.

When the lid is opened, it accepts 20 cartridges.  That should be sufficient for any single bout.  She has her own Caseguard box with plenty of ammo available.  You might wonder why the ammo is staggered in the box.  We've found that this method is the best for carrying ammo to the line.  Those lose primers are "fiddly" and easily lost.  Many of us have found that loading in that staggered manner makes it much easier when you're standing on the line.

I think she'll like this much better, and we'll call it version 2.0 of her cartridge box.

Thomas Sowell Retiring

Professor Thomas Sowell is retiring.  That may not be news to some of you, but the good doctor is perhaps one of the smartest men I've ever had the pleasure of following.  He's an economist by training, but his political wit, and insight into the human condition have educated and amused me for several decades.

I started reading his columns in the early '90s, probably about the time that he started writing them.  Every time I'd see his byline I'd stop what I was doing and read the column.  It wasn't until several years later that I learned he was an economist, and a year or so after that I learned he is a black man.  Not that it mattered.  Like most of the country, I had moved past the idea that race mattered.

When I was in college, back in the '70s, and in graduate school in the '80s, I studied economics as part of my curriculum.  A professor once told me that if I wanted to understand the human condition, to study economics.  It's a hard science (with lots of math) that tries to explain why people act the way that we do.  That's good advice, and Dr. Sowell's columns try to explain the human condition.

Here's a small sampling of his better quotes.

1. "It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance."

2. "Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."

3. "Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good."

4. "Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late."

5. "Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God."

6. "The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is: he confuses it with feeling."

7. "Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on 'income distribution,' the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned."

8. "Going back a hundred years, when blacks were just one generation out of slavery, we find that the census data of that era showed that a slightly higher percentage of black adults had married than white adults."

9. "The black family survived centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow, but it has disintegrated in the wake of the liberals' expansion of the welfare state."

10. "The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites."

11. "I have never understood why it is 'greed' to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money."

12. "Since this is an era when many people are concerned about 'fairness' and 'social justice,' what is your 'fair share' of what someone else has worked for?"

13. "No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems — of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind."

14. "Racism does not have a good track record. It's been tried out for a long time and you'd think by now we'd want to put an end to it instead of putting it under new management."

And, as it turns out, Dr. Sowell also has had his fill of meetings.   "People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything."

Thank you, Dr. Sowell.  I hope that you enjoy your retirement.  You have touched far more people than you will ever know.

Is the .30-30 Winchester Outdated?

When I read that title, my first thoughts were "Not Hardly".  The .30-30 Winchester continues to sell lots of ammo over the years.  It's a handloader's dream, and it's a cartridge that screams for cast bullets.  That long, lovely case neck, moderate velocities, good bullets, moderate recoil, and the handiness of a short lever action carbine all conspire to make the .30-30 Winchester one of the best cartridges ever made.

As it turns out, the author of the article agrees with me.

Why do people keep going back to the 30-30? Because it is a time-tested and proven cartridge. Hardly any other hunting cartridge has remained as popular for as long as the lever action in 30-30.
Regardless of what the engineering department of a gun company can dream up, regardless of what new cartridges hit the market, the 30-30 Winchester remains effective on whitetail deer-sized game.
Simply put, the 30-30 Winchester remains popular because it works.

I currently own four rifles in that caliber.  Three lever-actions and a single shot.    It's a handy caliber, ammo is found everywhere, and it takes deer-sized game with authority, out to about 150 yards.

Cooking Tuesday

The weather is not cooperating today.  December is supposed to be cold and we're stuck under competing systems that keep the temps high and muggy.  It is 70F out there right now and so muggy that the carport is sweating.

I've got the turkey carcass from Christmas that needs to be used, so I dropped it in a stock pot and boiled it until it fell completely apart.  I dredged out the carcass and it's cooling on the counter.  When it cools, I'll pick it clean and start making a turkey gumbo.  Yeah, it's too hot for gumbo, but I have to do something with that carcass, and gumbo freezes well.

While I was at the grocers getting veggies for the gumbo, I picked up a few russet potatoes.  I've never had any luck with hashbrown potatoes, and I wanted to experiment.  So, like all chefs these days, I went to YouTube and looked around.  YouTube is amazing for this kind of thing.  You can find anything on it if you dig a bit.

I went with this one.



And they turned out okay, but not what I'm looking for.  So, I'll keep playing with the recipe until I find something I like.  I might experiment with home fries as well.After all the experimentation, what I'll probably do is simply go back to those pre-formed hashbrown patties that the grocer keep in the frozen food section.  It's a whole lot easier to cook those than it is to grate and prep your own potatoes.

The .25-06 Remington

My love affair with the .25-06 Remington began back in 1978 as a young lieutenant in the Army.  Sitting at my desk one day, I happened to read an article in Gun Digest about the cartridge.  Some gun writer or another was talking about the cartridge in the Ruger Model 77 rifle.  I admit I was smitten, but on a lieutenant's pay, with one kid and one on the way, I didn't have the spare cash.

Designed by the renowned Charles Newton in 1912, it's certainly not a new cartridge.  It was a wildcat for many years, until being standardized by Remington in 1969.  It was a whiz-bang cartridge back then and it's a whiz-bang cartridge today.  I bought my first one in 2008, a used Ruger 77 off the resale rack at a pawn shop.  Even then, it was the older, tang-safety model and I got a good price on it.  I took it home, studied it, and started searching about for brass and bullets.  I started with a load of Reloder 22, 50.0 grains, which filled the cartridge to the case neck, then seated one of Sierra's 117 grain Gameking bullets on it.

When I took it to the range, I got settled on the bags and started shooting a string, it threw them all into 0.8" at 100 yards with boring regularity.  On a later trip, I got out my chronograph and pushed those little Sierrras over the screens.  The numbers showed 2971 fps with a low Sd and Es, and I said the hell with load development.  I was done.  An old used rifle, turning those numbers with MOA accuracy is nothing to sneeze at.

Since then, I've bought four rifles in that caliber.  Two Savages, and another Ruger, and they all turn in great accuracy, each of then below MOA with that same load.  I am of the same opinion now that I was in 2008; don't mess with it. And, I admit today that I don't currently own a rifle in .25-06.  They went to family members who showed a liking for the cartridge, like my daughter-in-law, who I featured earlier in a post.

That grin is the one that I usually get when someone shoots that rifle.  Women and young shooters find it easy to hit with an accurate rifle, and the .25-06 is accurate.  It has lighter recoil than many other long-action cartridges, the long, slender Gameking, or an equivalent bullet from Hornady or one of the other manufacturers carries well, and from what I can tell from the gong targets we shoot, it hits like the hammer of Thor.

I consider the .25-06 Remington to be one of the pre-eminent cartridges for medium game in the US today.  Why it hasn't caught on with more shooters today is a mystery.  Maybe because it's not a "new" cartridge and the gun writers don't talk about it much, but like its parent, the 30-06, it's just as useful today as it was when Newton designed it, over a hundred years ago.

Last week, my son came over and asked if I'd reload some for him.  We looked at my stock of bullets and I found that I was out.  There were no more of those lovely, slender 117 Gemkings on the shelf.  I fixed that today by ordering some bullets and some extra brass.  For a hundred-year-old cartridge, it's got a lot to offer.

George Michael Dead

Multiple sources are reporting that George Michael, British singer and nusician is dead at 53.

That's a shame.  I always liked dancing to his music.



RIP, George.

Stickers

One thing that we use during sanctioned events in CFDA is stickers.  Little stickers are used during equipment checks to show that a revolver has been checked.    That sticker on the gun butt is immediately visible to the line judges and the range master, and if that sticker isn't there, the line shuts down until the gun can be checked, or a backup gun is brought to the line.

Here, for example, is a sticker that I had made for our Invitational shoot in November.  It's nice enough, and distinctive, easily seen on the butt of the gun.

It's all covered in the rules.  But, that makes clubs buy stickers.So, like all poor clubs, I started searching around for a source of distinctive stickers.  Surfing around, I found an outfit called StickerYou.com.  I started fooling about on their website and before I knew what had happened, I had designed a sticker with our club logo.  Very distinctive, and the price was very reasonable.

Click on that link in the paragraph above, and look around.  They make lots of stickers in varying sizes and shapes.  I made mine round, with our club logo in it.  These are 3/4 inch, and come 88 to the sheet.

They look like they'd be just perfect for sticking on a gun butt during equipment checks.  Here's a closeup below.

The price was right, too.  I paid $36.15 for 352 stickers, so they're coming in the door at about 10 cents apiece.   That's a whole lot less expensive than the last stickers I bought.  I ordered them on December 16, and they came in the mail on December 24th.  Eight days from order to delivery, during Christmas, that isn't bad at all.

StickerYou.com has the PawPaw seal of approval.

Cowboy Jewelry

Belle and I got some cowboy jewelry for Christmas, suitable for blinging out the attire that we wear at Fast Draw events.

Belle acquired a very nice bracelet, with matching earrings.

It features .45 ACP rims and the spent primers are jeweled very nicely.

PawPaw got a belt buckle.

It features mixed-lot .40 SW rims, very well executed.  I know that .40 SW isn't a "cowboy cartridge", but if they're paying that much attention to my buckle then it serves them right to learn that it isn't period correct.

Thanks, Squirrel!  Ya done good.

Celebration

Luke tells us abut the reason for this celebration.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Then, the very first Christmas celebration erupted, filling the sky with song.

 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

It's a celebration, a time to party.  To indulge just a little bit at the Good News that Christ is born.  Sadly, some folks just don't get it.  This screenshot is from 2014, but it's just as timely as it was then.

There is no greater respecter of diversity than Jesus Christ, who exhorts us to love one another, turn away from sin, and follow him.  It's Christmas morning, a time to celebrate.  Make a little noise, Be joyous, and love one another.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Music

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Music

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Prep

We do our Christmas on Christmas Eve, so that the children can do Christmas with other family.  It works well for us, because we're done, basically, when the last car pulls out of the driveway on Christmas Eve.

I've got a turkey in the smoker, and Belle just finished stuffing kids stockings.  I walked next door because I heard the neighbor rattling around, and we did a shot of pecan pie moonshine.

Belle and I will be half-stepping, getting things ready for the rest of the day and tomorrow.  Should I forget to say it, I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas.

Oh, the Uncertainty!

When you want to know what the political class is thinking, just go over to Twitchy and look around.  The big concern of the day?  What kind of dinner will President Donald Trump host for the White House Correspondents Dinner?

Yeah, really.  Evidently, that's a leading concern.  The whining is nauseous.

The President will have a glorious opportunity here.  He could sit them all down around a big table, and issue them MREs.  "This is what the troops in the field eat."  Then, give them room temperature water to wash it down with.

Really?  Is this the most important thing that our journalistic whiners have to worry about?  Evidently so.  It's being reported as such.

Personally,, I'd tell the cooks to make a big pot of blackeyed peas, seasoned with salt pork, then serve it over rice, with boiled cabbage and corn bread.  Good, middle America fare, and the whole meal would cost what?  Maybe $20.00 total?  It's more than they deserve.

Pewberry

According to Angel, it's the top aromatherapy scent for 2017.

I know that it always does wonders for my mood.  It smells like freedom.

Which reminds me.  Right after Christmas, I need to load some .25-06 and some .30-06.

The Inauguration

When the new president is sworn in, it's customary to have a round of celebrations and parties.  I get it, people like to party.  However, Donald Trump is a mold-breaking president, and some A-list celebrities don't want to play his inauguration.  That's okay too.  America is still free, and about to become much more free.

However, what I'd like to see is  a total re-vamp of the inauguration.  It would go something like this.

Just after Ms. Justice Ginsberg administered the oath  (Wouldn't that be priceless), the new President would turn to the microphone, look at his watch, and give the first order of his presidency.

"We have a lot of work to do.  I'd like to meet with my Chief of Staff and Cabinet in one hour.  Let's get started."

The whole thing would take about fifteen minutes.  I think it wold set the proper tone that the US Government is serious, and that the government should be open for business.

That Racist MTV Video

So, MITV (remember them) put up this racist "white guy" video, where they presume to tell me that I can do better.  I understand that they've taken it down, but the internet has a long memory.

I watched it yesterday, and frankly it pissed me off.  I've embedded it for your pleasure.  Go ahead and watch it, I'll wait.



Frankly, I'm getting tired of young idiots telling me how I should act.  Just who the hell do they think they are?  Really?  What have they done to improve America?  Short answer?  Not a damned thing.

We'll keep playing that vieo, over and over, to remind you hot tstupid you are.  In the meantime, marry someone, raise a family, educate them, and launch them.  In the meantime (you pathetic assholes), take a look at this map.

You see all that red?  That's us.  That's what Trump won, county-by-county.  Those blue splotches, that's y'all.  Very nearly insignificant in the greater scheme of things.  The leftists and the Social Justice Warriors tend to congregate in those blue splotches, where the rest of us spread out and cover the country.    Yeah, Hillary won the popular vote.  So what?  We won the election that matters.  If you don't like it, too bad.  Learn the rules, and play by them.

In the meantime, sit down, shut up and listen.  The adults are talking now, and you have nothing to contribute to the conversation.  Yeah, I know you're butt-hurt, but that's because you've just been spanked.  It's supposed to hurt.  Get over it, grow up, and make American Great Again.

Another Muslim Hoax

It seems a student at the University of Michigan drummed up another hate crime that didn't happen.

A University of Michigan student claimed last month that a man had threatened to set her on fire unless she removed her hijab. Now police say the story was a hoax. From the Detroit Free Press:

And, this ain't the first time that some Mohametan dame has made up a story out of whole cloth.

At least two other reports involving Muslim college students who were allegedly targeted for wearing a hijab have turned out to be hoaxes. Most recently, 18-year-old Yasmin Seweid of New York was charged with filing a false report after she admitted to police she had made up an account of harassment on the subway by three white men who, she claimed, called her a terrorist and mentioned Trump’s name. 

Okay, we've now established that Muslim chicks lie a lot.  Don't believe anything any of them say.

Hate Crime

So, some guy vanalizes an African American church in Greenville, MS, by spray-painting VOTE TRUMP then setting fire to the place.  According to News3.

GREENVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi authorities have made an arrest in the burning of an African-American church spray-painted with the words, “Vote Trump.”

Probably some white, racist, Trump supporter.  You know, those evil, white racists that support our new President-elect?  You'd be wrong.

 Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain says Andrew McClinton of Leland, Mississippi, who is African-American, is charged with first-degree arson of a place of worship.

Heh!  Black guy, huh?  That puts a whole 'nuther slant on the story.  I wonder if they're going to charge him with a hate crime?

Merry Christmas

Last April, I did a posting for Widener's Reloading and Shooting Supply.  They sent me some stuff, and I reviewed it for them.  We enjoyed it, and the post I did for them is here.

I had pretty much forgotten about it, until yesterday when the mail clerk at work called me to the mail room.  I had a package.  So, I went to tbe mail room, and it was from Widener's.  I admit I was a bit confused, I handn't ordered anything.  So, I took the package out to the car and opened it.

There's an ammo can in the box.  Whoopee!  I like ammo cans.

And, the ammo can has something in it.  Merry Christmas to me!  I like ammo cans with stuff in them.  So, I opened the ammo can.

Left to right: A bag to put soap in.A bar of bath soap, a tube of lip balm, some hand cream and another bar of soap, this one has pumice.

But then I looked more closely at the bath soap.  Big Ass Beer Soap??

I laughed aloud.  Big Ass Beer Soap?  Are they trying to tell me something??  That's funny stuff, right there, I don't care who you are.

I appreciate it, Widener's.  The folks at the office got a laugh, and we needed it.  And, I'll use the soap.  And, yes, I'll use the ammo can.

Oh, the Irony

This is an interesting viewpoint, one I haven't considered.

If we assume that the Russians hacked the election (and we know what they say about assuming), then what actually happened is not that they got into our voting machines.



What actually happened is that the hackers revealed the truth about the DNC and the Clinton Crime Family to show America how arrogant and criminal they are.  No one is saying that the emails are false, only that they were hacked and revealed.  Oh, my!

In that case, the truth has set us free.  Ain't that ironic?

Oh, the Whining

They are still whining.  The New York Times had an editorial yesterday about the Electoral College.  The liberals in big cities are truly butt-hurt that Hillary won the popular vote, but lost the election.

By overwhelming majorities, Americans would prefer to elect the president by direct popular vote, not filtered through the antiquated mechanism of the Electoral College. They understand, on a gut level, the basic fairness of awarding the nation’s highest office on the same basis as every other elected office — to the person who gets the most votes.

It's like high school civics comes as a surprise to them.  So, let's go over this onne more time.  We are not a democracy.  We are a constitutional republic, and although many of the elected officials are chosen through the popular vote, the president is elected by the states.  And, every state matters.  Even Montana and Delaware gets a vote.

If they want to change that, if they want the president elected by a popular mojority, there is a mechanism for that.  Simply get two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states to agree.  The procedure is spelled out in the same Constitution that talks about the Electoral College.  Simply amend the Constitution.  Really, that's all there is to it.

But, be forewarned.  We shouldn't change the Constitution for light, or transient reasons.  In this case, changing the Constitution just because you're butt-hurt is exactly the wrong reason.

Trip Around The Sun

Yeah, it's that time of year again.  On this day in 1953 I came kicking and screaming into this world.

There is no sense arguing about it, it is what it is.  If my math is correct, that makes me 63 years old.  No rest for the weary, though, I'll work 12 hours today, from 7-7, hen go home, fall into bed, and get ready to do it all over again on Wednesday.



I don't know that I'd change a damned thing.

Russian Ambassador Assassinated in Turkey

It seems that the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated earlier today.  Everybody is covering it, but here's a link if you can't find one.

Assassinating ambassadors is bad juju.  Most countries don't take kindly to their diplomats being murdered.  I'm sure that president Putin is meeting with his staff right now, figuring out a way to .... well... do whatever it is that Russia does.

Turkey may have just stepped on their collective tallywackers.  Wars have been started over less than this, and even though Turkey is a NATO member, it should remember that Obama is still president and Kerry is SecState.  Don't expect any help from the US.

Probably The Video

The blame game continues in the Hillary camp.  I understand that the scapegoat now is Huma Abedin.

That's why she lost.  Nothing is ever her fault.  Someone else always has to take the blame.  Because Hillary is perfect, so nothing can ever be her fault.

Just for the record, I don't feel sorry for Huma Abedin.  She made her bed, and now she's sleeping in it.  She tied her boat to Hillary, and now the whole flotilla is sunk.  Too bad so sad.  She'll do okay, eventually, and she may actually thrive, but she needs to get on with her life.  o continue the nautical metaphor, Abedin needs to cast off her lines and set sail for another port.  From what I'm hearing about the FBI and the southern district of New York, this may be Hillary and Bill's last Christmas before a long sojourn behind bars.

But, hey!  If Hillary wants to blame someone, she need only look in the mirror.

The election will be over tonight, and we can all hope that the Clinton Crime Family enjoys it with their family.  Hopefully, this will be the last before they're all indicted.

Good Work

We went to Baton Rouge today to see my son, deliver some Christmas presents, and hang out for  several hours.  It was a turn-around trip, we left here this morning and got back home about dark.

We did get to see a project that is nearly complete, a competition rig that he's making for his sister.  The belt is a straight CFDA rig, and the holster is modeled on a CFDA standard, the Mernickle CFDA1.

He told us that it's not complete yet, but he gave us a preview.  Very nice leather, border stamped, with the proper cant.  He's getting very good at making these holsters.  His sister requested her CFDA alias on the belt and he stamped it, then highlighted it with teal paint.

His sister won't see it for several weeks, and the photo doesn't do justice to the quality of the work.  It's very nice, very nice indeed, and I feel that she'll get good service out of it.

His craft is improving by leaps and bounds.  Again, the picture doesn't do justice to it, but the quality of his work is improving by quantum leaps.  That is a very nice rig, worth a lot more than his sister is paying for it.

The Electoral College

Why do we have the Electoral College?  And why does it mater?  The founders were concerned that one particular state or region with a heavy population might elect a president to the detriment of the rest of the country.  If you look at this article, we find that in the case of our most recent election, they were very wise.

As we noted in this space earlier, while Clinton's overall margin looks large and impressive, it is due to Clinton's huge margin of victory in one state — California — where she got a whopping 4.3 million more votes than Trump.

She got, in California, 4.3 million more votes than Trump.  Impressive.  But, if you recall, she only beat Trump nationwide in the popular vote by some 2.8 million votes.  So, if we peel California out, how did she do nationwide?

If you take California out of the popular vote equation, then Trump wins the rest of the country by 1.4 million votes. And if California voted like every other Democratic state — where Clinton averaged 53.5% wins — Clinton and Trump end up in a virtual popular vote tie. (This was not the case in 2012. Obama beat Romney by 2 million votes that year, not counting California.) 

So, it looks like the Electoral College worked as designed, to prevent huge popular support in one populous region from overwhelming the rest of the country.

Hillary Clinton had the most winnable election in my personal memory.  She lost, based on her own hubris and arrogance.  She thought that she had a few small states in the bag, and didn't do the legwork necessary.  Little states count, and Hillary Clinton demonstrated the vision of the founders almost perfectly.  

Blue Christmas

Here, we turn away from the mundane, the political, to enjoy a little music.  It's the Christmas Season, after all, and we should remember to be thankful for the season.

Here's a fun little video I stumbled on.  And, it's gotta be true, it's on the internet.



Heh!  Merry Christmas.

The Final Push

It's the final push toward the Presidential election.  You thought that was over?  No, silly person, it doesn't happen until Monday.  That's when the Electoral College meets, in capitols all across the US to vote for the president.  The left is in its final throes of agony, trying to get the electors to not elect Donald Trump.  Fat chance of that.

Just a few minutes ago, I spoke with a gentleman, passing through the office who said that he wouldn't be in town on Monday, he had to go to Baton Rouge for the electoral college.  I asked if he were an elector, and he said No, he is an alternate and a witness.  We talked for a few minutes about the history of the College, and how it is often simply a formality, but in this election has been thrust to the forefront of the American political consciousness.

This fellow was telling me about one elector, a sweet, gentle woman from a neighboring town, who has had to shut down her email for the time being.  She awoke one morning to find over 40,000 emails.  I see reports from other states as well, that electors are being hounded to change their votes.

This effort is doomed to fail, but it is an interesting exercise in high-school civics.  Monday, it'll all be over and the left can get on with its next temper tantrum.  Like petulant spoiled children, the temper tantrum is all that is left to them.

But, they now understand how the American system elects a president.  And, I've been assured by a person who will be there, that all eight of Louisiana's votes will go to Donald Trump.  Louisiana's eight votes matter.

The Resistance

The resistance to Donald Trump's election continues apace, across the spectrum of the left.  The focus now is on trying to convince the electors not to vote for Donald Trump.  The "convincing" runs the gamut from high-brow "Hamilton" arguments to simple death threats.

One guy even brazenly talks about "armed resistance brigades" to stop electors from casting their ballots.

I’d assemble armed resistance brigades in and around states that voted for Trump. I’d make sure the participants are well-trained in urban combat. I’d do drills. I’d ensure that secure communications have been established to enable inter-state coordination. I’d impart to participants that they should be prepared to face severe state punishment for their rebellious acts— perhaps even death.

The writer was cautious enough to put plenty of disclaimers in his article.  But, he also highlights his ignorance of military operations.

One: Where is he going to find enough armed left-wingers to form resistance brigades?
Two: Training for an operation like this would take weeks, if not months.  The election is next Monday.  Good luck with that bit of pre-operation planning.
Three:  He's talking about insurrection, if not open treason.  Taking up arms against the US government is a death-sentence offense, and the electors for the President are a very important part of the United States.

I know that they are butt-hurt, but they should be very careful.  It's one thing to demonstrate, cry, protest.  That's okay, I get it.  But, once you cross that rhetorical Rubicon into armed resistance, you go to a dark place where there may be no turning back.

I understand your anguish, but I have taken an oath to Protect and Defend the Constitution, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  I do not believe that I have ever been relieved of that obligation.  So, I'm pleading with all my liberal friends; do not make me uphold that oath.  It won't be pleasant, There are millions of folks like me across the United States who have been trained for such things.

Take it from one who knows.  That kind of talk is dangerous.  Get a grip on yourself and don't go there.

Say What??

Yeah, I was reading this story about this professor at some college in California who has fled the state after the Trump victory.

Olga Perez Stable Cox, who teaches human sexuality at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, fled the state after a video of her rant -- secretly recorded by one of her students -- was posted on Facebook, prompting outrage and threats on her life, the Orange County Register reported on Monday.

Okay, I get it.  This liberal professor-woman goes on a rant, her students post it to Facebook, and things go south for her.  Too bad, so sad.

But, you know what struck me about that paragraph?  She teaches Human Sexuality.  Really.  To college-age students.  Really.  How very sad.  Most of us got by just fine without ever having formal instruction in human sexuality.  For the cast majority of my generation, it was a hands-on, self-taught course, often held in the back seat of a Ford. Of course, if her daddy found out, your whole life might change.

They teach Human Sexuality in college these days.  Heh!  No wonder college is so screwed up.

Voter Fraud

Voter Fraud, it never happens, except when it does.

The professor links to a story about Detroit, that stronghold of voter integrity.  Records: Too many votes in 37% of Detroit’s precincts.

Detailed reports from the office of Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett show optical scanners at 248 of the city’s 662 precincts, or 37 percent, tabulated more ballots than the number of voters tallied by workers in the poll books. Voting irregularities in Detroit have spurred plans for an audit by Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office, Elections Director Chris Thomas said Monday.

Enact Voter ID laws now, and prosecute those who commit voter fraud.  This should be a bi-partisan effort and every elected official should want clean voting laws.

On Healthy Males and Sex Objects

Evidently there is some confusion over the definition of misogyny and a healthy male sex drive.

This article breaks it down for you with eight, easy to follow guidelines.  I particularly like the intro paragraph.

One of the proofs that higher education makes those who attend college more foolish, more naive and often even more ignorant about life than those who never attended college is the widespread belief among the well-educated that when men sexually objectify women it means that they are misogynists, haters of women.

I'm surprised that any of this has to be explained to anyone.  Especially educated people.

The Election

The Presidential election, you thought it was over, right?  Not hardly.

As I was explaining to a friend yesterday, the presidential election hasn't even happened yet.  No, that's going to be on December 19th, a scant week away.  On that date, the electors will meet in their respective state capitols and cast votes to determine the next president of the United States.

The left, of course, has figured out this is happening.  It came as a shock to many of them, but they've finally grasped the basic civics lesson, and they're in full-throated unhinged fury, hoping (against all hope) that someone other than Donald J. Trump will ascend to the presidency.  They are appealing to "Hamilton" electors who will save the nation from what they consider to be the most mentally defective person ever to get this far in a presidential race.

For sheer lunacy, watch Keith Olbermann's rant.



For angst and anguish, outrage and courageousness, it's unequaled. Yet, it's what your Democrat friends are thinking.  They are truly outraged that they lost and don't quite know how to handle it.  The fact that they lost what should have been the easiest election in our lifetimes have them truly demoralized.  I can empathize with them, I understand what it is like to be on the losing side of an election where you believe that the winner is truly evil.  I've felt like that for the past eight years.

If the Democrats think this year is bad, they need only look forward to 2018 when the Democrats will be defending some 23 Senate seats.  The Republicans could end up with supermajorities in both the House and the Senate, and the Democrats would not even have to come to work in the mornings.  Their votes would be totally irrelevant to any debate.  Oh, joyous days.

OC Spray

I see Tam is carrying OC Spray.  Good for her.  It's a great middle ground.  I've been carrying OC for nearly 30 years and I'm a believer, although some small percentage of the population isn't affected by it, the vast majority of the population is affected.  I've run into just exactly three guys who were not affected, and one of those was on my side. That night, I was very happy he was on my side.

OC has other uses too, depending on how creative you get, but it's an excellent room-clearing device.  A dime-sized spray in the corners opposite the doors, and  in three or four minutes, the room will be clear.  Probably no one will even know what you did.  Just that mild, burning sensation in the eyes and they'll start looking for fresh air.

Personally, I prefer being tased to being OC sprayed.  Tasing is over immidately, while OC tends to linger.   And, every rookie cop has had the experience of getting OC'd in training, then going home later that evening for a shower.  The warm water runs down around your nether regions, and suddenly the little bits start tingling from the wash-off of the OC.  It's so much fun.

Disenfranchise

You know, we're told that it is t he evil Republicans who want to disenfranchise voters.  Little stuff like Voter ID is the evil bane of the Democrats.  But, stepping up the game to disenfranchise voters, we have the Green Party (which is a left-wing surrogate of the Democrats) trying to disenfranchise whole states.

If you don't like the results of an election, demand recounts, delay and obfuscate for as long as the system will put up with it.  If you hold out long enough, the electoral college electors won't be able to cast their ballots, and entire states will lose their vote in the election.  Luckily, a judge has seen through this despicable ploy and put an end to it.

Finally, granting the relief Plaintiffs seek would make it impossible for the Commonwealth to certify its Presidential Electors by December 13 (as required by federal law), thus inexcusably disenfranchising some six million Pennsylvania voters. For all these reasons, I am compelled to refuse Plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief.

 If you think it's bad (as I do) to deny someone the right to vote, how much more evil is it to invalidate an entire state's ballot?  It's utterly despicable.

Of course, that's the way I feel about Jill Stein in particular and her Green Party in general.  Utterly despicable.  We all know that they are simply a surrogate for the butt-hurt Hillary supporters.

Fake News, Huh?

I've been thinking about this Fake News meme that the MSM is pissing and moaning about.  They really need to clean up their act before they start talking about the problem they created.  Fake news is a problem, no doubt, but all of the biggest example of Fake News occurred in 2004 and was promulgated by no less than CBS News, then a big deal in the broadcasting world.

The face of the Fake News that night was no less than Dan Rather.  You remember him?  Yeah, he broadcast some documents that purported to harm George W. Bush's re-election bid.  Within hours, the internet in general, and Scott Johnson of Powerline along with Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs had thoroughly discredited the story.  You may remember the day that they took down the big boys.

It was like throwing a match on kerosene-soaked wood. The ensuing blaze ripped through the media establishment as previously obscure bloggers managed to put the network of Murrow and Cronkite firmly on the defensive.
The secret, says Charles Johnson, is "open-source intelligence gathering." Meaning: "We've got a huge pool of highly motivated people who go out there and use the tools to find stuff. We've got an army of citizen journalists out there."

Fake News, as far as I can tell, was born in the news room of CBS.  After those fateful several days in September, CBS was thoroughly discredited and the MSM was put on notice.  "We're watching your ass."

You want to talk about Fake News?  Go talk to Dan Rather.  If you can find him.

Oh, and if Hillary want to talk about fake news, she should talk about the Bosnian Sniper Fire story.

Christmas Party

Belle and I went to the only Christmas party we're liable to attend this season.  Oh, there will be get-togethers, but wide-open Christmas parties ain't in the plans.  This one was for the residents of the family nursing home that we own.  Regency House of Alexndria.

Here's a patner's photo.

I'm the guy in the back, in the hat.

Here's one of my and my Momma, one of the two most important people in my life.

And here is one of me and the other important lady in my life.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my boots off and let the TV watch the bottom of my feet.

Army-Navy Game

Today is the annual event that makes absolutely no difference in college football.  The Army-Navy Game.

Go Army!  Beat the midshipmen!

That is all.

More Glowball Warmening

It looks like the Canadian Coast Guard has put an arctic expedition to study global warming on hold.  The reason?? Too much ice.

The CCGS Amundsen, a Medium Arctic icebreaker and Arctic research vessel operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, was to travel throughout Hudson Bay, a body of water in northeastern Canada, but was rerouted to help ships who were stuck in the icy water.

Yeah, Al Gore lied to everyone to line his posckets.  The science may be settled, but the weather continues to confound the science.  It's not through making data yet, so the data can't be conclusive.

A Coast Guard officer said the conditions were the “worst he’s seen in 20 years,”

Of course, those of us who understand weather and know show to use Google, know that the arctic was supposed to be ice-free already.

Yeah, that ain't happening.  Believe in global warming at your peril.

Make America Great Again

Surfing around the news, we come to professor Reynold's piece up at USA Today.  It seems that hipsters are scared of a Trump presidency and might be moving out of DC, looking for greener, (or bluer) pastures.  That's not a bad thing, actually.  Hipsters should be scared.That should be their natural state.

But, the professor takes it a bit further, saying that the federal bureaucracy should take a hike as well, to more places where they can actually improve the local habitat.

So perhaps it’s time for a role-reversal. I propose that over the next several years, we transfer a lot of federal employees out of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, to parts of the country that aren’t doing so well economically. This would provide a boost to places like Buffalo, New York, or Quincy, Illinois, or Fresno, California, while getting federal bureaucrats out of the D.C. bubble.

That's good, as far as it goes, but I'd propose a much further reaching reform.  Transfer them to where they could do the least damage, while helping local economies with feeral largesse.  And, they don't really have to do anything.  For example, we could move the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to sleepy little Pollock, LA.  That would spur home construction, increase the tax base,  give local businesses an economic boost, and remind federal workers just exactly who they work for.

I think it's a great idea.  Soldiers and sailors have long been blessed by being posted at lovely little vacation spots all over the US.  What Air Force guy fails to remember Minot, or what Army dude doesn't wax eloquent about Leesville LA, or Dothan, AL, or yet Lebanon, MO.  No one can doubt the economic benefit that those towns receive from federal dollars, yet the local areas don't seem to have been harmed by the federal activity.

President-elect Trump should immediately order all federal agencies to pick a town in the US with a population under 50,000 and make immediate plans to move, lock, stock, and barrel.  I think it's a great idea, and would serve to de-centralize government i a way that we haven't seen in decades.

Fake News, Huh?

Pore ol' Hillary.  Doomed to irrelevance, she's trying to figure out just exactly what happened.  The current villan-du-jure?  Fake News.  It seems that people were talking bad about her.

“The epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda that flooded social media over the past year — it’s now clear the so-called fake news can have real-world consequences,” Clinton said during a speech on Capitol Hill.

Well, Hillary when they're talking about you, I don't know how much of it is fake.  Are they talking Whitewater?  Or the way you treated your husband's mistresses?  Or Benghazi?  Or the trail of mysterious deaths that seem to follow your close circle?  How about your extreme carelessness with national security?  Do you think that might have had something to do with it?  How about the fact that you called half the nation "deplorable"?  Do you think that might have had an impact?  Or, the credible allegations of pay-to-play when you turned the SecState gig into a personal bank account? But, if we really want to alk about fake news, how about that sniper fire you were under when you landed in Bosnia.  That never happened.  Fake news is bad, so why did you report it?

No, Hillary, the best thing you can do right now is simply to go away,  and hope that the American people let you fade into insignificant irrelevance.  If you keep your face in the news, we might remember how badly you treated the country and how criminally you acted during your last gig.  There will be a new AG at Justice in the next few weeks, and you don't want to maintain a profile that reminds us you exist.

Just go away, Hillary, please.

Yuletide Cheer

Peter has a post up about George Washington's personal recipe for eggnog.  It looks pretty good.  It looks like it makes, I dunno, about a gallon.

One quart cream, one quart milk, one dozen tablespoons sugar, one pint brandy, 1/2 pint rye whiskey, 1/2 pint Jamaica rum, 1/4 pint sherry—mix liquor first, then separate [a dozen] yolks and whites of eggs, add sugar to beaten yolks, mix well. Add milk and cream, slowly beating. Beat whites of eggs until stiff and fold slowly into mixture. Let set in cool place for several days. Taste frequently.

That should certainly get the party started, although my eggnog recipe is a bit simpler.  I recently discovered pecan-pie flavored moonshine.  I doubt it's real moonshine, and it proofs out at about  80  proof, so the old moonshiners I used to know would scoff at it.  But, a jigger of pecan-pie 'shine in a highball glass filled with eggnog sure makes the spirit bright.

Not that I don't trust Peter, but I found the same recipe in the Old Farmers Almanac.  So, there might be some historical legitimacy to this concoction.  For myself, I'll stick w with the store-bought variety.

Over-wrought, Much?

The left continues its descent onto parody.  I'm not sure where this falls on the "stages of grief" scale, but the hand-wringing is becoming amusing.  For example, this guy asks if Trump is setting himself up as King?  Oh, he gives a laundry-list of things that our President-elect has already done or promised to do in support of his claim.

And, he says that Obama set it all up by his reliance on executive orders, but he goes on to say that at least Obama had a senseof self-restraint.  His final paragraph is a real tear-jerker.  I was laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my face.

Even though our founders didn’t anticipate Twitter, they did warn us about Trump. It’s just too few of us bothered to care or understand. So now, our best chance to get something better than we deserve is based in little more than pure luck.

He doesn't sound angry, or in denial, so he's past that, but it looks like either the bargaining or depression stage.  It's good, I guess that the media goes through this process.   Still, his grief is amusing, only because it is so over-wrought.  He may still be in the bargaining stage, asking whatever deity he worships to not let Trump put on a crown.

Sometimes when I'm feeling blue, I put on this little clip to remind myself that it's not so bad after all.



Watching that makes me feel so much better.

The Recounts

It appears that some of the recounts are proceding, but not the way that some would like them to proceed.

For example, in Wisconsin, Trump is gaining votes.  The final tally is likely to be larger than the election day returns.  The strategy is clear; tie up the electoral college and deny Trump the win he won. Throw the election into the House of Representatives, where Trump will win handily, then piss and moan for the next four years that Trump wasn't really elected.

It was Hillary Clinton, I recall, who was horrified that someone might not accept the results of the election.  Now, the Democrats as a whole are not accepting the results of the election.

Jill Stein, of course, is the Hillary analog during this exercise in frustration.  She is nothing more than a surrogate for the frustrated, angst-ridden Democratic party.  They forgot the rules on nwinning a national election, and in winning the popular vote, they lost the election.  It's true, Hillary got more votes, but she didn't get the votes where it mattered.  In fact, her surrogate (Jill Stein) may have cost her the election.

In this recount, Stein stands to gain nothing.  She can certainly not expect a different outcome from the one that is already in motion.  As such, her gambit is truly despicable.

The election is over, Jill.  Accept it an move on.  All the recount is doing is prolonging the agony.

Lagniappe

At the Louisiana State Championship to be held in April, we just finalized the registration forms, which will soon be up on the CFDA website.

This is Louisiana, after all, and we do things a little different down here.  Hospitality for sure, and having fun is second nature.  For our out-of-state visitors, we want them to absorb culture,, and the French language is a part of that culture.  One thing they'll notice is a Lagniappe Match.  What is a Lagniappe Match?

Well, Lagniappe has a special place in Cajun culture. Lagniappe has various meanings, depending on use, but it generally means "something extra".   Lagniappe is important in Louisiana culture, it's a way of showing good will, of making sure that people are taken care of.  Our Lagniappe match will fill a small hole in the schedule, give the folks an extra match to shoot in, a chance to warm up before the main match on Saturday.  It's something extra, which is what Lagniappe is.

That's Funny, Right There!

I'm told that Castro's jeep/hearse/whatever broke down during the funeral procession and had to be pushed by his honor guard.

Mostly Cajun has pictures.

That's funny, right there, I don't care who you are.  And, it is probably a metaphor for Castro's whole revolution.

I was talking with a good friend last week, and the subject of Cuba and cigars came up.  My buddy is a bit of a cigar aficionado, and he opined that most of the good cigars these days come out of the Dominican Republic.  His view is that tobacco leaf for fine cigars takes many things, climate, care, proper soil.  With everything nationalized under Castro, the tobacco farmers suffered just as much as everyone else and as many of them that could leave, left long ago.

I have smoked Cuban cigars, and to my uneducated palate, they are nothing really to get excited about. But, I don't know if that's just my ignorance, or the state of the industry in this era.

Natchitoches

We took a ride this afternoon up to the town of Natchitoches, the place where we'll be shooting in April.  Zach and I did some measurements, getting the lay of the land.

Of course, you can click on the pics for a better view.  It's a lovely place, with lots of history.  Those red poles on the edge of the curb might be problematic, but they're spaced unevenly.  Some of them are over 60 feet btween them, the narrowest I measured was 43 feet between them.  It looks like Natchitoches put them up for specific reasons, without any plan to evenly space them.  It is what is is, and we'll work around them.

The width of that sidewalk varies as well, depending on if there is a bench concreted in place.  At some places there is barely four (4) feet between the curb and the edge of usable space.

It's a lovely place to hold the event, and I'm sure that we'll work it out, but we're going to have to wait until we're there, with ranges on the ground, to see how the final setup is going to look.

Another view of the sidewalk. This gives the planners some perspective of the issues.  They're workable, but we'll do some head-scratching.

In the next day or so, I'll be getting out the hotel information.  Natchitoches has a wealth of hotels within 5 miles of the shooting venue, and the folks there seem as excited about us coming as we are about beingn there.

Chilly

It's chilly out this morning.  Not terribly cold, but it is the wet, dreary cold that sinks into your bones.  It's wet, in the mid-40s, not truly cold, but for Louisiana it would be a perfect day for duck hunting.  The view down my suburban driveway shows grey skies and wet pavement.

But, the house is warm and the roof is good, so we're not terribly concerned.  This is merely uncomfortable, not a survival event.  Still, there are things to do on a day like this, and warm food will be necessary.  So, Milady got up early this morning and made a big pot of chili.  Good, red chili for a chilly day.

That's an eight-quart dutch oven, practically full of red goodness.  When the kids come over for lunch, we'll break out the crackers, and corn chips, and sour cream and shredded cheese, and let them build their bowl.

Yes, for the purists that turn their noses up at such things, this chili has beans in it.  Here in Louisiana, we eat our chili with beans.  And we stir it with a roux paddle.

Belt Fed

Sitting home on a rainy afternoon, surfing the book of Face, and we come upon this little jewel.

Indeed, Chuck, indeed.  Me and my Ma Deuce with a bustle rack full of ammo cans.  Or, my gunner running the 240 as a coax, with 5000 rounds of linked goodness in the ammo tray.  Those are good memories for an old Cavalryman.

Cold, Wet, Rainy

December came in like a lamb earlier this week, but it's showing its winter colors out there right now.  It's cold, wet, rainy.  A good day to stay inside and practice my sloth.  Alas, that is not meant to be.

Louisiana is hidden under that photo.  In another hour, we'll venture out and head to the range.  Lots of stuff going on, and we need to talk about it.  But, we'll be indoors, so that ain't bad.

Tomorrow looks like a great day for a pot of chili.

Thannks, Jill

Several people have pointed this out, but perhaps the most influential person in this election cycle is the lady who got the very least votes.  Jill Stein.  She may have pulled enough votes to elect Trump.

Trump's margin/Jill Stein's tally in the three decisive states, latest count:
MI: 10,704/51,463
PA: 46,765/ 49,678
WI: 22,177/31,006
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) December 1, 2016

Following that analysis, if Stein hadn't run, she may not have pulled votes away from Hillary, and in those three very important states, Stein's vote tally is more than Trump's margin over Hillary.  It may be that Stein's voters would not have voted for Hillary anyway, or it might have been that they would have stayed home, but the numbers are there, plain and simple.

Jill Stein may have been the most influential person in this year's presidential cycle.

Time In Bars

Jarlsberg nails it again.

I haven't spent much time in bars over the last eight years, but I have drunk a lot of whiskey.

As a matter of fact, it's Friday and late this afternoon I intend to declare Happy Hour.  Milady and I have an errand to run, and then we'll crack open a bottle to celebrate Friday.

Y'all have a great weekend.

Little Kim Wants to Talk?

Hot Air is reporting that the North Korean dictator wants to talk, to make a peace deal with the US.  What does he want in exchange?  A nuclear deal.  Yeah, really.

North Korea wants resources – specifically food – from suppliers other than China. That need leads them to make promises to other countries which they have no intention of keeping. As soon as they get what they want they move on to flip the bird at the rest of the world. I certainly hope that Donald Trump is smart enough not to fall for this bait and switch routine yet again. If Kim wants to cut a deal he should be the one putting one heck of a lot on the table (including all of his nuclear material on a ship heading for China) before he gets a single pound of additional rice.

It's fair to say that we've been in an adversarial relationship with the NorK leadership since the early 1950s, and any deal that lets Little Kim stay in power is a no-go.  It I were Donald Trump, I'd be crystal clear.  As soon as there is a change of leadership that shows little Kim swinging from a light pole in downtown Pyongyang, broadcast live on Fox News, we'd be happy to strike a deal with whatever successor wins free and open national elections.

Until then, little Kim can go piss up a rope.  Personally, I love the Korean people.  The ones I associated with while I was in the Army are marvelous folks.  But, little Kim needs to go.  Better by the hands of his own people.  A long drop to the end of a short rope would send a message that North Korea is willing to join the community of nations.