Eat Meat, Be Immortal

Well, not exactly, but there is some evidence that red meat is good for you.

Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, found that people who scarf down higher levels of red meat and cheese are likely to live longer.

People who had three portions of dairy and 120 grams of unprocessed red meat per day benefited the most, the research team found...

 Those eating the most dairy and red meat saw their chances of early death fall by 25 percent and fatal heart attack decreased by 22 percent, according to the researchers, who in their methodology accounted for differences in wealth and education, as well as other health habits.

That works for me.

An Interesting Experiment

It appears that California is about to conduct a vast experiment in criminal justice reform.

California will become the first state to let people leave jail before trial without having to post bail, under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday that largely leaves pretrial release decisions up to local judges — a change praised by legislative and judicial leaders but condemned by some criminal defense advocates.

Posting bail has long been a way to make sure that persons accused of crime stay around to apppear in court.  If the judge requires a bal amount, then the defendant has incentive to appear.  Of course, poor folks may not be able to afford the bail amount.

 More than 48,000 county jail inmates in California — two-thirds of the jail population — have not yet been convicted of a crime, and most of them are being held because they are unable to post bail, according to a recent state study.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Of course, that's one of the benefits of our great republic.  One state can conduct an experiment and the rest of us can watch and see how it works.  In this case, I don't have any great expectations of success.    In this case, I predict utter failure, but I'm willing to be convinced.

Sale

Someone told me today that Super One was having a sale on pork butts.

I stopped by on the way home ad bought four of them.  All the had in the rack.  We use pork butts quite regularly for pulled pork and other things.  I haven't seen pork at 77 cents per pound in a long time.  I'll check back with them again tomorrow.  I don't mid filling the freezer with pork.

The Bane Drill

An interesting article over at Shooting Illustrated.

Hangun shooting is hard, probably one of the harder skill sets   I've maintained for a long time that handgun shooting skills erode very quickly if not practiced regularly.

The Bane drill focuses on two shots, as I see it.  A body shot at 50 yards, and a head shot at 25.   There is no time limit, nor even a position requirement.  Barricade, kneeling, even prone, it's up to the shooter.

Every shooter has to know their limitations, and shooting at longer ranges with a handgun will show you the limitations of  your equipment.  The coordination between hand, sights, and gun is important, and if you find yourself struggling with trigger or sights, then maybe it is time to consider an upgrade.  Handgun shooting is about trade-offs and sometimes we make compromises that limit our options.  I understand that.  I've made compromises and know that I have limitations.

But, stretching out your handgun, getting beyond your comfort zone, and knowing your limitations is a good idea.

The Clinton Emails

Liz Shield, in her morning brief at PJMedia, details a story that I hadn't heard about the Clinton email server that Comey refused to prosecute.

A Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington, D.C., area hacked Hillary Clinton’s private server throughout her term as secretary of state and obtained nearly all her emails, two sources briefed on the matter told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Chinese firm obtained Clinton’s emails in real time as she sent and received communications and documents through her personal server, according to the sources, who said the hacking was conducted as part of an intelligence operation.

The Chinese wrote code that was embedded in the server, which was kept in Clinton’s residence in upstate New York. The code generated an instant “courtesy copy” for nearly all of her emails and forwarded them to the Chinese company, according to the sources.

Just to recap; Clinton had a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State, ostensibly as a go-around for the responsibility to keep public records.  There was classified information on that server.  The Chinese obtained it in real time.

Why is Hillary Clinton not being prosecuted?

Bad Lip Reading

This is funny as hell, I don't care who you are.

Monday, By God

It was Monday, all day.  Nothing much to talk about.

We did have a shoot this weekend, ad I have a couple of nice pictures to share.

That's one of our new shooters, Bailey Boy.  He's been shooting for about six months, and he's coming along strong.  If he keeps practicing ad improving, he'll be a contender.

That's Whiplash o the left, coaching Brother Fred on the fine points of holster placement.   Whiplash is a seasoned competitor and a champion in his own right  He is a past Texas state champion and a past Louisiana state champion.  He's a great competitor and an all-around solid guy.  With his coaching, Brother Fred lopped a tenth of a second off his times, which is huge in this game.  We're normally a game of milliseconds.

We told the visitors from Texas that we intended to feed them heartily, to slow them down and make them sleepy.  They normally eat all the food and take home the trophies, but this weekend, we managed to keep the trophies at home.

The ladies winners were Two Step Cookie, of the Peacemakers, Squirrel Girl, of the Peacemakers, and Pistol Pearl, of the Red River Gunslingers (Shreveport).

Men's winners were Big Mark of Thorn Valley (Oakdale), Moon, of the Peacemakers and Cajun Greg of the Peacemakers.

It was a great weekend, even if Monday did suck.

Sunday Night Music

Bob Seger and Jason Aldean



I'm older now, and still running against the wind.

Yeah, That's Pretty Much Me

Seen elsewhere.

I believe all those things.  Things that have worked to advance civilization for thousands of years.

I do find it interesting that the feminists believe in labeling everyone.  Whereas we conservative (or libertarians, if you prefer), simply categorize people into broad categories:  Male, female, adult, child

But, anyone who believes that these things denote the male as supreme has never been in a loving, growing adult relationship..  I call those relationships "marriage".

The Free State

Several days ago, I posted a tongue in cheek post about Louisiana that included this map.

That No-Man's-Land (or neutral ground, or the Sabine Free State) has an interesting history.  Designed in the early 1800s as a buffer between French/Spanish/Anglo Louisiana and largely Spanish Texas, the agreement was never formally endorsed by either central government, but was an agreement between the military commanders to avoid encroaching on each other.  That neutral ground had no government protection and so was populated by brigands, ne'er-do-wells, and other unsavory characters, along with a population of folks who just wanted to be left alone.

It's an interesting history,  An attempt by two local commanders who wanted to keep hostility to a minimum, and it made an indelible stamp on the people that persists even now.   Local folks are proud of that history, and revel in it.

A Sad, Cautionary Tale

Maybe you've heard of the American couple who decided to bicycle around the world, and for their trouble, got murdered by ISIS.  Evidently, they bought in to the left's concept that evil is relative and that Islam is peace.

Evidently, they began their journey and made it as far as Tajikistan, wherever they were captured and murdered.  Because Islam is peace and evil is a made-up concept.

From the New York Times:

A grainy cellphone clip recorded by a driver shows what happened next: The men’s Daewoo sedan passes the cyclists and then makes a sharp U-turn. It doubles back, and aims directly for the bikers, ramming into them and lurching over their fallen forms. In all, four people were killed: Mr. Austin, Ms. Geoghegan and cyclists from Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Two days later, the Islamic State released a video showing five men it identified as the attackers, sitting before the ISIS flag. They face the camera and make a vow: to kill “disbelievers.”

The left doesn't believe that we should take at face value the threats that come to us.  They have watered-down the meaning of words like Nazi, and Fascist, and   They believe that borders are outmoded concepts and that nation-states are relics of another era.    Unfortunately, they paid with their lives for their naivete. 

It's a sad tale, and a cautionary one.  There is evil in the world, and not everyone is peaceful.

Collusion?

So, Cohen pled guilty to paying off trollops.

And, Manafort was found guilty of several counts of tax fraud, hiding bank accounts and bank fraud.

So, where's the Russian collusion?

That's The Question

So, the Professor talks about "what if", in the event that a blue wave rolls over Congress during the midterms.

SO WE AREN’T THERE YET, but we may reach a point at which the question has to be asked: Trump or Pence? It’s not Trump or Hillary as it was in 2016. The alternative to Trump now is Pence.

That is something that the Dems might not have considered. 

If the Democrats would have gone along with the Republicans in 1998, and impeached President Clinton, removing him from office with a Senate conviction, we wold have been left with President Al Gore, who might have been a shoo-in for re-election in 2000.   History may have changed, and the Democrats wouldn't be in the bind they are in now.  It's an interesting hypothetical. 

Hillary isn't even in the equation.  And, she certainly should not consider running in 2020.  She's a badly flawed candidate with a history of losing against at least two flawed opponents. 

So, the question become:  If you remove Trump, who are you left with?  The answer is Mike Pence.

14 Hours

It was a fourteen hour day today, with the finale of a School Board Meeting.  Local politicians who actually believe that they're doing something, and it's like watching paint dry, or grass grow.

So, in lieu of actual content, I'll give you an other Jerry Clower story.



That's funny right there, I don't care who you are.

Just Because

If you've never heard Jerry Clower tell a story, you're i for a treat.



I grew up listening to Jerry Clower, a fertilizer salesman from Yazoo, Mississippi.

Seen on the Book of Face

ADVICE FOR ANYONE MOVING TO LOUISIANA 

1. Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later how to use it.
2. Just because you can drive on snow and ice does not mean we can. Just stay home the two days of the year it snows.
3. If you do run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in the cab of a four wheel drive with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
4. Don't be surprised to find movie rentals & bait in the same store.
5. Remember: "Y'all" is singular. "All y'all" is plural. "All y'all's" is plural possessive.
6. Get used to hearing "You ain't from around here, are you?"
7. If you are yelling at the person driving 15 mph in a 55 mph zone, directly in the middle of the road, remember, many folks learned to drive on a model of vehicle known as John Deere, and this is the proper speed and lane position for that vehicle.
8. If you hear a redneck say, "Hey, y'all, watch this!" Stay out of his way, these are likely his last words ever.
9. Get used to the phrase "It's not the heat, it's the humidity". And the collateral phrase "You call this hot? Wait'll August."
10. There are no good delis. Don't ask.
11. In conversation, never put your hand on a man's shoulder when making a point, especially in a bar.
12. Hot dog chili does NOT have beans in it.
13. Brisket is not 'cooked' in an oven.
14. Don't tell us how you did it up there. Nobody cares.
15. If you think it's too hot, don't worry. It'll cool down-in December.
16. We do TOO have 4 Seasons: December, January, February, and Summer.
17. A Mercedes-Benz is not a status symbol, a Chevy, Dodge, or Ford is.
18. If someone tells you "Don't worry, those peppers aren't hot" you can be certain they are.
19. If you fail to heed my warning in #18 above, be sure to have a glass of milk and some bread handy. Water won't do it.
20. Rocky Mountain oysters are NOT oysters. Don't ask. DON'T GOOGLE IT EITHER! It's worse than regular oysters!
21. If someone says they're "fixin" to do something, that doesn't mean anything's broken.
22. Don't even think of ordering a strawberry daiquiri. What you really mean to say is 'Margarita.'
23. If you don't understand our passion for college and high school basketball just keep your mouth shut.
24. The value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but the availability of shade.
25. If you see a slower moving vehicle on a two lane road pull onto the shoulder that is called "courtesy".
26. BBQ is a food group. It does NOT mean grilling burgers and hot dogs outdoors.
27. No matter what you've seen on TV, line dancing is not a popular weekend pastime.
28. "Tea" = Sweet Iced Tea. There is no other kind.
29. Everything is better with Ranch dressing.
30. DO NOT honk your horn at us to be obnoxious, we will sit there until we die!
31. We pull over and stop for emergency vehicles to pass.
32. We pull over for funeral processions, turn our music off and men remove hats or caps. Some people put their hand over their heart.
33. Most of us own at least one gun.
34. "Bless your Heart" is a nice way of saying you're an idiot.

Oooh!

This cost somebody a lot of money.

Just damn!  Hat tip, Wirecutter.

The Powderhon Ranch Vaquero

I wrote about this earlier, and gun that I had won in a raffle.  Beautifully executed engraving by one of the masters of the craft.    I've tried to photograph it, but my photographic skills don't seem to be up to the task.

For the record, the revolver in question is a Ruger New Vaquero, in .45 Colt with the short-spur hammer.  It is entirely suitable for Cowboy Fast Draw.  Or any of the other Cowboy shooting sports.  The serial number reveals that is a -513- series, of new construction.  It is made of stainless steel and has rosewood grips.

Left side of the frame.  Of course, you an clink for lagter

The butt of the grip, with PHRR engraved.  The PowderHorn Ranch Regulators is a Cowboy Fast Draw Club.

The Top Strap, with beautiful scroll engraving.

I've been ogling it, admiring it s one would admire a piece of art.  Art is is, but I don't have a feeling of ownership.  It hasn't "spoken" to me yet.  And, it might not ever truly be mine.

I have sold exactly two guns in my lifetime.  And, I've regretted selling those guns.  But, I've given away a couple of dozen, and felt good about each and every one.    Of those guns I've given away, I feel like they went where they needed to be.

So, the question about this particular gun, is where does it need to be?  The PowderHorn Ranch Regulators is an old, venerable club from Mitchell South Dakota.  They have hosted the South Dakota State Championship for 15 years and this gun commemorates that.  The lady who called me hen I won it, Bonnie, told me that if I ever want to sell it, sh would like to make an offer.  I told her that I understood and that I would giver her first refusal.  That's only air.

Belle and I are considering options.  We have been entrusted with this revolver, and it falls to us to do the right thing.  The challenge is to find the proper place for this revolver and put it in the hands of people who will properly   It's a beautiful gun and I can appreciate the artwork, the craftsmanship and the sentiments that caused it to be created.  But, it's not truly mine, and it probably never will be.

Belle and I will ponder this for a while, and come up with a proper solution.

Friday Happy

Got home from work today and decided to clean revolvers, so I went out to the shop, sat down ad gave the CFDA revolvers a good cleaning.

Then, started thinking about a project that's been bugging me.  I want some wire racks to display handguns during club shoots, so that novices can try several without digging through bags, and Brownells sells them, but that incurs shipping costs, and they seem fairly simple.  Besides, homemade is better than factory-bought.  And I did have some 4-gauge copper left over from another project (building the shop).

Belle comes out to the shop with a Friday afternoon cocktail.  "What are you doing?"

"Making revolver stands."

"Why?"

I take a long pull on a very well  constructed vodka and tonic.  "Why not?"

That ain't half bad, ad if soft copper wire hurts a barrel, then we have no business shooting jacketed bullets through it.

Butt-Hurt Intelligence Officials

It seems that a bunch of officials from the intelligence community have issued a butt-hurt statement on President Trump's decision to yank John Brennan's security clearance.

Twelve senior intelligence officials issued a statement late yesterday butt-hurting (I just made that verb up) about Trump's decision to yank the security clearance from MSNBC star and Twitter celebrity John Brennan.

These twelve fools better be careful.  I once had security clearances, and I know that intelligence is disseminated on a need-to-know basis.  Brennan is a former official, and has no need to know.  I'm surprised that his clearance wasn't revoked the minute he left a position with a need to know.

“The president’s action regarding John Brennan and the threats of similar action against other former officials has nothing to do with who should and should not hold security clearances — and everything to do with an attempt to stifle free speech,” the statement reads.

 These fools are are amazing.  If a person has a TS clearance, they specifically CAN NOT talk about it.  Free speech is immediately curtailed with a clearance.  If I were their bosses, I"d yank their clearances too, for being to stupid to hold sensitive information.

Free speech, my aching ass.

Double Oak

At the grocers yesterday, making a wine run for Belle, I saw an interesting bourbon on the liquor aisle.  (Yeah, inn most places in Louisiana, we can buy hooch at the grocery store.)

Jim Beam, Double Oak.

I was intrigued enough to bring a bottle home.  Evidently, it's been matured twice, in two different oak barrels.    I have consumed enough Jim Beam over the years to know that it is a very workman-like bourbon.  I take mine, generally, with cola, but this little bottle might be good with just a splash of branch.

Responsible Fatherhood

In keeping with the post below, we come to an article (a link to a link) where a feminist professor at Cal State-Fresno claims that responsible fatherhood. reinforces "hegemonic masculinity".

A feminist professor at California State University-Fresno recently published an article lamenting that federal programs to promote "responsible fatherhood" among vulnerable men in fact perpetuate "patriarchy," "gender norms," and "hegemonic masculinity."

I don't think that's a bad thing.  In fact, if we want to break the cycle of generational poverty in the US we need responsible fathers to stand up and take charge, along with their wives, to raise children into responsible adults.

In the post below, we talk about the three things that a poor, disadvantaged youth can do to break the cycle of poverty and join the middle class.  1) Finish High School.  2) Get a full-time job, and 3) delay child-bearing until 21 and married.    There are other studies (Google is your friend) that claim that children in two-parent households have a better chance of doing those three things than children raised in a one-parent family.

It may be true that responsible fatherhood promotes "hegemonic masculinity".    That's a good thing, and we as a society should strive for it.    It also decreases poverty, reduces criminality, and reduces the cycle of dependency.  Hooray for responsible fathers!

Breaking The Cycle

As Americans, we're all concerned with lifting people out of poverty.  Since the '60s and LBJs war on poverty, we have spent untold billions of dollars on trying to help people who are struggling with poverty.  While these programs have helped some people get a leg up and avoid long-term poverty, the simple fact is that too many people become dependent on the assistance and fail to take the steps necessary to become independent.

The Brookings Institute has published a study on the point of breaking the cycle of poverty in the United States, and they find that it is pretty simple.  Even redneck like me can understand it.  The findings are fairly simple.  If a disadvantaged youth wants to break out of poverty and join the middle class.
They are:
1.  Finish high school.
2.  Get a full-time job
3.  Delay child-bearing until you are 21 and married.

That's it!  Do those three things and you are statistically almost certain to join the middle class, avoid jail, and become a productive member of society.   Don't do those things and your chances of joining the middle class decline precipitously. 

Is it possible to break the cycle of poverty without those three things.  Yes, anything is possible, and rags to riches stories can be found anywhere, but long-term success for the teeming masses basically depends on these three things.

The most interesting theing about this is that these choices are made in the early teen years.  Choices made early in life do affect you for the long tern.  Every parent, teacher, pastor, and administrator should be preaching this message to every teen they see.

Finish High School
Get a full-time job.
Don't have children until you are 21 and married.

Wednesday Weird

The amount of weirdness I had to deal with today was simply incredible.  I'm surprised that my IQ survived.

To take intellectual refuge, I went to YouTube and spent some time listening to Ben Shapiro videos.    I use Ben's snark like a whetstone, to sharpen my own.

On the way home, I stopped by what is going to be a new gun store, not three miles from the house. Liberty Arsenal, LLC.  I talked to the proprietor, who is cleaning out a building so that he can set up shop.  A gun store o the road to the house is a good thing, and I'm sure I'll be a frequent visitor.

Came home and signed up for a cowboy shoot next month, the Kentucky State Championship.  Belle and I have been attending for ...  this will be our third year.  We really like that shoot, and I need a road trip to maintain my sanity.

Now, I"m going to pour a vodka tonic and settle in for the evening.

Cowboy Church

CC asks in comments:

I'm curious - what exactly is a Cowboy Church?

I can't speak for all of them, but we are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.  A cowboy church is a Christian fellowship that celebrates the Good News of Jesus Christ from  a perspective of the rancher, the farmer, the country folk.  It's a way of worshiping that  seems to be growing.  I know that there are several Cowboy Churches within a hundred miles of us, and some of them are associated with different denominations, but the basic similarity is that we tend to reflect a cowboy philosophy.

The largest part of our physical plant is a rodeo arena.  We use it regularly, something multiple times per week.  For example, this Thursday night, we have what we call Prayer and Practice. We'll open the arena about 6:00 and horse trailers will start arriving.  We'll set up barrels and let the girls practice their barrel racing.  We'll work with new equestrians and help them along, and abut 7:00 we'll have a short devotional.

On Friday night, we'll have our monthly rodeo.  We rodeo normally on the third Friday night of the month and minister to whomever shows up.    We also make the best hamburger in the area.

Cowboy Church is a place where folks who like boots and chaps and cowboy hats can share the Good News with like-minded souls.  We're going to love everyone who shows up, and we hope that we can share our faith with them.  Not everyone who rodeos with us attends church, but it's a good outreach for the community.

The Real Scandal

If you click on any news outlet, mainstream or internet, you've probably hard about Omarosa, the former celebrity show participant and former aide to President Trump, who is writing a tell-all book and who recently revealed that she was taping conversations in, among other places, the Situation Room at the White House.

She was taping conversations in the Situation Room.  Full Stop.  That should be enough to get anyone fired, and it should be enough to get someone prosecuted. 

But, from all available evidence, she was planning to write a book all along.  She's a celebrity, after all, and has a deep need to keep her name in the newspapers.  The real scandal is not not that she was fired, or that she wrote a book, or that she tape conversations in what is arguably the most secure location in the United States.  No, the real scandal is that she was hired at all.

She's a celebrity and couldn't stand to be a faceless functionary in the highest halls of government.    The folks who do the hiring at the White House should have seen this coming.  As much as I support President Trump, a bad choice was made even letting her get a foot in the door.

At Church, Tonight

Our church is a Cowboy church.   Our ministry is leading people to Christ, but we focus on the Cowboy Way.  We do rodeo, and Cowboy Fast Draw, and our unofficial motto is: "We're going to love you and there's nothing you can do about it." 

They are a great congregation, and I love everyone who worships with us.  We worship on Monday might, because rodeo cowboys might be riding in some rodeo on Saturday night, and have trouble making it to church on Sunday, so we worship on Monday night.  The Lord doesn't care.  We keep the Sabbath in our own way, and some of us are coming home from a rodeo of a cowboy shoot on Sunday.

I've talked to our pastor, and our elders, and they're okay with me coming to services strapped.    Several o our members come to church with individual weapons.  This is post-911 America.

Someone noticed my gun this evening.  "Are you expecting trouble?"

"No," I replied.  "If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought a shotgun."

The congregant laughed, and walked away..   I love these people with all my heart.

Just Another Day

Just another day at the office.  Not mine, but President Trump's.  It seems that the nation's newspapers are upset with him for calling them "enemies of the people".  The Boston Globe is leading the charge.

The Boston Globe named itself America’s protector of the free press and is coordinating a day designated for newspapers across the country to run editorials declaring war on President Trump’s labeling of the press as the enemy of the people.

The nation's press, by-and-large, are still butt-hurt that they couldn't wheel Hillary across the finish line.   Instapundit calls them "democratic operatives with bylines", and that's not far from the truth.  Reading the nation's newspapers has been interesting, in that they seem to parrot the same line of outrage.  The editor of the Globe wants everyone to write their own editorial.

The newspaper’s request suggests editorial boards take a common stand against Trump’s words regardless of their politics. “Our words will differ.

It will be interesting to compare a few and see if the words do indeed differ, or if the sentence structure is similar enough that we might call it plagiarism.  In many instances, the nation's press (especially the largest metro dailies) have quit being reporters of facts and have instead opted to become arbiters of political correctness.

It will be interesting to see what happens on the 16th.  I wonder if each of the nation's papers can craft an original sentence?

Rain

Rain tonight.  That's not out o the ordinary, although it is the new normal.  So far, it has rained every day in August, which is decidedly weird for Louisiana.  Normally by now we're i the dry season, but this month has been nothing, if not wet.

Doing laundry on Sunday afternoon, Belle informs me that the dryer is out.  It's not heating, only blowing cool air.  Which ain't good.  The dryer is fourteen (14) years old, so I guess it has served honorably.  A quick search of parts and some research at YouTube tells me that replacing a heating element isn't that big a deal.  I'll stop by Appliance Pats on the way home tomorrow and pick up a replacement element.

Technology makes it easier to do these things.  I have the model and serial number in a photo on my cell phone, and YouTube will teach a fellow just about anything.  I bet you could learn how to do an emergency appendectomy if you searched long enough on YouTube.

There is nothing I can do about it, one way or the other, so I've defaulted to whiskey.  I'll go outside, sip my whiskey and watch it rain.

Universal?

There's this thing that keeps surfacing in the year of the Democratic Socialist, a pie-in-the-sky idea that government should protect the people from the long-term repercussions of their choices.  That thing is called the Universal Basic Income, and it's such a bad idea that I hardly know where to begin.  For starters, the name is a falsehood, because it's not universal.

Some things in this country are universal.  Like freedom of speech.  Everyone has it.  The rich, the poor, the educated or uneducated, even the Christian or the heathen.  Likewise the right to remain silent.  It is a universal right.  This Universal Basic Income is not universal because everyone will not get it.  Only the poor.  Or, more likely, some of the poor.

It's certainly not basic.  It won't be enough to live on.  If we go to one of the basic tenets of social scholarship, we find Maslow's hierarchy of needs/  It says basically, that we all need the same things.  Shelter, food, safety, for starters.  (Yeah, yeah, all you psych majors, I"m over-simplifying.)  So, if we all have the same basic needs, and it's universal, then the gov should supply everyone, the rich, the poor, the...  you get the idea.

It's not even basic.  It's certainly not enough to buy shelter and food.  If it were basic and universal, every citizen of the jurisdiction would get enough money to buy basic rent and groceries.   So, if it is neither basic nor universal, all we're left with is Income,   From all I'm able to read, it is income for the poorest of the poor, as defined by some government functionary, which means that there is yet another opportunity for graft.  And graft is something that Democrats are past-masters at

The Universal Basic Income is a lie.  And Chicago is toying with the idea.  Which should tell everyone with two working synapses that it is a bad idea.

Boudin

Boudin (Boo-dahn) is a spicy Cajun sausage, mixed with rice, stuffed in casing, then boiled or smoked.  Every meat market down here makes boudin, and everyone's recipe is different.  Aficionados  can tell which market made the boudin simply by tasting.  It might have some chicken liver in the mix, or red pepper, or garlic, or other spices, but it's all boudin and it's all good 

Depending on your individual palate, some is better than others.  This morning, I was at Guillory's, our local Cajun market and the lady behind the counter offered me a taste of a new recipe they've been making.  This is a low-carb version.  No rice.  It's made with cauliflower.  I tried a taste and bought a pound-and-a-half (three links).

I heated it in the broiler to "crisp" the casing, then cut it up and put it out for the club shoot this morning.  A little something-something for them to sample.  "Cauliflower boudin, huh"  They'd look askance at it, then try a bite. 

Ten minutes later I was washing the cookie sheet.  I should have bought five pounds, but I doubt the end result (Me, washing the cookie sheet) would have been any different.

Cauliflower boudin is pretty darned good, and if you're on a low-carb diet, it's an option.

Jihadis in New Mexico

I'm sure you've all read by now the story of the jihad compound in New Mexico that was raided by law enforcement and found children being trained to commit school shootings.  The trainers, of course, were Muslim extremists.

If you haven't read about it, it's a fascinating story about abducted children child trafficking, and a Muslim with ties to a radical mosque in Brooklyn, NY.  Of course, the mainstream media wants to push the story under a rug, probably a prayer rug.

Nicole Russell has an informative piece on it at PJMedia.

A phobia is an unreasonable fear of something.  A person can have an unreasonable fear of anything:  Spiders, snakes, being outside, or clowns  If it's unreasonable, it's a phobia.

Islamophobia is not a thing.  It's not unreasonable to believe that Islam is something to be watched with a wary eye..    They want to kill us.  Not all of them, but enough that we can draw reasonable conclusions based on the available evidence.

Finally Friday

It's finally Friday, and I've got noting.  Today was long, boring, and filled with mini-drama that doesn't bear repeating.  Maybe I'm getting older, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to deal wit people who don't have a clue, and expect their problem to be solved RIGHT NOW.

But, I'm home, in jeans and my slippers and in a few short minutes, Belle and I are going to declare Happy Hour.

Tomorrow, we have a club meeting in the shop.  It's going to be a lot of fun.

There Is Always One

Sheep.  Every flock has one trouble-maker.

Whatever Help We Can Get

So, this Florida woman is trying to elude police and jumps the fence into a pasture to try and run away.  Only problem, there is a herd of curious cattle out there who come over to watch the excitement.



We will take whatever help we can get. 

Back In The Day

Surfing around PJ Media, we come to this photo, showing political give-aways from back in the day.

Yep, cigarettes.  The caption reads:

Nancy Adams, 20, of Beuchel, Kentucky, holds brands of cigarettes named “I Like Ike” and “Stevenson For President”, novelty blends manufactured by Tobacco Blending Corporation, Aug. 9, 195,2 in Louisville, Kentucky. By comparing sales volume of each brand the company hopes to weed out the most popular candidate for president. (AP Photo/H.B. Littell)

Pretty girl.  Here's a closeup.

I don't think that giving away cigarettes would help a candidate today.  Heh!

Safe Schools

"Safe Schools" is an education (ie, government) mantra lately, and lots of states have established blue ribbon panels to evaluate school safety and recommend fixes where something is broken.

As it turns out, the tough gun laws in California didn't help school safety at all.  I don't know what gun laws have to do with school safety.  I;ll admit I've always been a bit confused about that.

Here lately, in the last 10 years or so, we've become more and more confused about the proper role of public education.  I say this as a close observer, who watches all these programs rise and fall.  It seems to me that lots of people want school to be a substitute for parents.  In my experience, the greatest indicator of a child's success is a two-parent home

We know that children raised by two parents tend to be more successful — at school, in the future labor market, in their own marriages 

I know, it's a old-fashioned concept, but I believe it to be true.  Another thing that I believe to be true is that gun laws don't deter criminals, and if you want your schools to be safe these days, it's best to have a trained, armed police officer in the schools.

I'm just sayin'

The Howdah Pistol

The first time I heard about the Howdah pistol was as a mere youth, reading about sultans from India using them to hunt tiger from the backs of elephants.  These big-bore pistols were used if the tiger decided to club up the elephant and re-arrange the Sultan.  It was a last ditch weapon.

Now, it seems that Hickock 45 is reviewing a more modern Howdah.



It's modeled after something that Ithaca produced in the 1920s, the Auto and Burglary gun.  A short, light shotgun with a pistol grip, it was made in 12 and 20 gauge, and existed prior to the 34 NFA, which made sawed-off shotguns practically illegal.  Original Auto and Burglary guns are NFA items today, and pricey as hell.

The newer version, made by Pedersoli is legal because it is chambered in .45 Colt/.410 and has rifling in the barrel.  Hickock tells us that the rifling is shallow and slow, probably 1:40, which ought to do cine for most work.  It's still pricey, though at over $1,000.

Still, it's cooler than hell, and I wouldn't mind playing with one

The Blind Hog

There's an old country adage that a bling hog finds an acorn once in a while.

I bought some tickets to a raffle, this past May.  I knew that the raffle was for a good cause, so I wrote the check and forgot about it.

The Powder Horn Ranch Regulators, a CFDA club out of South Dakota is celebrating their 15th year and were raffling an engraved Ruger New Vaquero to celebrate.

I got the call Saturday.  I won the darned thing.  I don't have it in hand yet, but I have some pictures.

Of course, you can click to enlarge, and they are fairly big files. 

That's the right side of the barrel.  The engraving was done by a CFDA shooter out of Wisconsin, who goes by the alias of Grey Ghost.   He does very nice work.

That's the right side of the frame.  It looks like very nice engraving, indeed.

I should take possession of the revolver on Saturday.  I can't wait to see it and I'll see if I can make some better pictures.

It seems that even a blind hog finds an acorn, occasionally.

Yeah, That Ain't Good

My elder son tells a story like this when he worked at an aircraft body-and-fender shop as an airframe mechanic.

It seems that a Gulfstream landed with a bird strike.  They hit a goose at almost 30,000 feet.  The bird took out the radar, penetrated the firewall, and extruded itself into the instrument panel.

Elder son says that when he looked into the cockpit, he saw feathers and bits of bird-snot hanging out of the instrument panel.

It was a helluva mess.

Edit to add:  Some may question the altitude, but we find this in Wikipedia:

The maximum flight ceiling of Canada geese is unknown, but they have been reported at 9 km (29,000 feet).

The geese may mot have calibrated their altimeter, or the pilot may have been stretching the story.  Either premise is understandable.

Good Guy With A Gun

John Lott tells us that a good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun at a Florida back-to-school event.

Thankfully, a heroic citizen with a permit to legally carry a concealed handgun was able to save countless lives in Florida Saturday when he shot a gunman who opened fire on a back-to-school event attended by over 150 students at a park in Titusville, Florida.

The full story is here, but you would think that the media would be trumpeting this story.  Not so much.

 The media rarely give national news coverage to incidents like this, but responsible gun owners have stepped forward in this way many times before to save lives. In fact, concealed handgun permit holders have prevented dozens of mass public shootings just in recent years, while receiving only brief mentions in local news coverage.   

Children saved from a crazed gunman by a good guy with a gun simply don't fit the media narrative.

Two Things

Two interesting news items this morning, both of them having to do with the socialist disaster area that is Venezuela.

First, their president admits that the economy has failed.   Yeah, it took him long enough to admit that.  It has been obvious to the casual observer for a while now.

Second, a single US dollar will buy 3.5 million liters of gasoline in Venezuela.  I can remember when a single US dollar would buy five gallons of gasoline in the US.  But that's been several decades ago.

That is the face of socialism everywhere it is tried.  it's a simple lesson, but one that many people never seem to realize.  Socialism fails everywhere it is tried.

Zach's Birthday

We celebrated the birthday of grandson, Zachary today.  His actual birthday is tomorrow, but this is close enough.

Younger son made him a new belt/holster rig for Cowboy Fast Draw, but made him work for it before the unveiling.  No pressure, you understand.  None at all.



It's a beautiful rig, done in the  stars and stripes.  The leather is hand-tooled and he estimates that the belt and holster together took over 10,000 tool strikes before it was finished.

It's a beautiful rig, and the pictures really don't do it justice.

Well done, son.

White Hats

I'm a hat wearer, and have been for years.  I've been wearing hats all my life.  Baseball caps sometimes, uniform hats for many years, and straw hats of various designs, depending on the decade.  My personal living area is festooned with caps and hats on every available hook or piece of furniture, and I'm sure that Belle sometimes wishes I'd cull through my hats and get rid of some of the older ones.

The white cowboy hat is a very wearable hat.  Mostly made of Shantung straw (which is actually paper, by the way), It's normally seen in white, light tan, or cream colors.  Worn properly, it sends a fashion message; Don't mess with me.

As illustrated in the video below.  It's a news video from April 2018.



Remember, the good guys wear white hats.

Revenge Porn?

Revenge Porn??  Evidently it's a thing, but I admit that I am a bit stunned at the very thought of such a thing, on several levels.

Evidently, it's considered acceptable these days to take nude, personal photos of your significant other.  And, when the relationship ends, some folks think it's cute to post those same pictures on social media to embarrass, humiliate, the ex-significant other.

It's a bad idea, a horribly bad idea on many levels, and it's also against the law in many places.  But, beyond the obvious legal repercussions, I can't imagine taking nudey photos of my gal.  It smacks of being tacky, it is certainly demeaning, and irresponsible. 

It's just tacky and trashy.  Not everything on social media is a good thing.  And this thing is particularly nasty.

The M73/M219 Machine Gun

During the Vietnam era and the cold war of the '70s, the infantry was humping the M60 machine gun.  This gun was chambered in 7.62 mm NATO, the ubiquitous military brother of the .308 Winchester.  At the same time, tank crews all over NATO were using the M73/M219 machine gun.

When I was introduced to it in the late '70s, it was the coaxial machine gun in the M60A1 tank.  A coax machine gun was supposed to track with the main gun and give the tank gunner the ability to change switches and go from the main gun to a light machine gun to a medium machine gun to engage personnel of materiel targets that are amenable to machine guns.

Developed by Rock Island Arsenal and produced by General Electric, this little gun had the reputation of being a steaming pile of crap.  The one in my tank, (C-21, aka Cap'n Crunch) would only fire single shot, which made it one of the more reliable guns in the company.  Most would not even fire single-shot.  We finally learned, just before tank gunnery, that if the loader would open the feed tray and and pour about a pint of ATF into the innards, it would reliably fire a complete belt of ammo, which got us through gunnery tables.

Of course, then it heated up, the ATF started to burn off, and we had to vent the turret from the noxious fumes of burnt ATF.  This machine gun may have been the worst ever fielded in the US Army.  Oh, it sucked.

Just after I left active duty, the M73/M19 was replaced by the M240, a gun produced by FN Herstal.  The M240 quickly gained a good reputation as a gun that would reliably go bang, and they were still being used in the M1A1 Abrams when I got back into the Cav during '97-98.  The M240 could be configured as either a tank-mounted coaxial machine gun, or as an infantry-style squad machine gun bu the simple expedient of installing a butt-stock. 

M240 mounted as a coax in the M1 Abrams.

Link to the M73 here.   Another M73 link here.   A link to the M240, here.

The M85 Machine Gun

Soldiers and Marines everywhere love the M2 machine gun.  Firing that big, heavy .50 cal bullet, there is no doubt that the M2 is a favorite and a pre-eminent design of military firearms.

As a young tanker in the '70s, I was introduced to a machine gun that seemed to be a variant of the Browning design.  The M85 machine gun.  It was designed for mounting in armored vehicles and had a shorter receiver than the M2.  It was also a bit lighter than the M2.  In the M60 series tank, it was mounted in the commanders cupola.

Designed for mounting in armored vehicles, space was at a premium, and the commander's cupola on the M60 series tank was cramped at best, and dominated by the machine gun and the ammo feeding trays.  It wasn't terrible to load or place into operation, but there were a series of steps you had to follow.

In my experience, it worked just fine.  Once loaded and ready to fire, it worked great, was very accurate, and I really enjoyed firing it.  It was the tank commander's basic weapon, and could be used independently of the main gun.  Normally, during Tank Table VIII, there would be at least one engagement where the main gun was firing at one target while the TC was using the M85 to engage another target. 

Unless you were an armored crewman, not many folks knew about or used the M85.

Wiki Page here.     Another page here.

The M3A1

In 1976 I was introduced to the M3A1 submachine gun.  Tank crews used it as a secondary, personal weapon and I had two assigned to my tank.  I loved that gun, and qualified with it on two occasions.  Firing standard .45 ACP ball from a 30 round magazine, it had a cyclic rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute, but that was unsustainable, as the magazine held only 30 rounds.

Oh, how I loved that gun.  The vast majority of them were made by GM Guide Lamp division, but a couple of hundred thousand were made by Ithaca.  The ones I used were GMs.  The initial cost oon each unit was about $18.00 per copy.  Which is a heck of a deal for a submachine gun that will throw a 230 grain, 45 cal ball round down range at roughly 900 fps.

The gun was surprisingly useful, although it had simple, fixed, stamped sights.  I remember engaging a pop-up target at 100 yards with a five-round burst and knocking it over.    The little gun is rudimentary as all hell, with a fixed firing pin, and firing from an open bolt.  Still, it's a fun little gun to shoot and if I had the spare coin, I'd buy a case of 12 of them.

More story here.

Red Beans

Belle and I have vastly different recipes for red beans.  They're both good, used for different purposes.  Hers take all day, slowly simmering dry beans.

Mine is quicker.  I use canned beans, and from start to finish, you're eating in about an hour.

PawPaw's Red Beans.

Ingredients

1 lb bulk breakfast sausage
1 lb smoked sausage
flor
salt
4 cans (regular cans) red beans

Cooking.

In a large black iron pot, brown your breakfast sausage.  Cut your smoked sausage into rounds, and add to the pot  When all that meat gets cooked, drain it.

Use the fat from the sausage, and make a roux.  Add a little water, and put the meat back in the pot.  Add four cans of beans, stirring thoroughly.  While the beans simmer, make a pot of rice.

Seriously, your're ready in about an hour.  About the time the rice is done, you're ready to eat.

It's mostly sausage and gravy with a few cans of beans, but it's quick, and it's what's for supper.

The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire - in Comments.

In comments, Anonymous asks about the .22 Winchester Rimfire Magnum.

Have you seen any 1st hand experience with the .22 Magnum ? I'm a hunter, not a LEO so have no experience of how effective the 22 Magnum is. I've seen the difference on flesh between it and the long rifle - definitely more damage. I am a confirmed fan of it.

No, friend, I have no experience whatsoever with the .22 magnum.  Although, from what I've read, heard, or seen, it's a fine cartridge.  My second son has a Henry lever rifle in .22 Magnum, and he says it's a fine shooter, when he can find ammunition for it.  (Yeah, I know, it's available online, but it is only available intermittently in the local stores).

However, several years ago I knew a City Marshal, an elected official, who carried a S&W Model  48.  He was an old-skool cop, and an elected official, and he loved that revolver, using it mainly to dispatch vermin (four-legged, furry vermin) that residents called in to complain about.  He was old-skool that way and popped many a raccoon or possum that was causing problems.

I have a cousin, who lives out west, who uses it in prairie dog towns.  He says it has a litttle more range and punch than the .22LR and he likes it a lot.

But, other than anecdotal, I have no experience with it whatsoever.  Sorry.